.<.'''.»,'l*iHH>in?iM'! C^^A-eci-^^.^€/-y/'/y ^. r^- 'yet they will sin outrage ously) even then when they roar and smart for sin. So that it is a clear evidence of a Presumptuous Sin, when a sin is committed against a man's o"wn conscience, against knowledge, and against con- "viction. This makes a sin to be a presugiptuous sin, when conscience cries out murder, murder, soul-murder ; when it beseeches, "with tears of blood that they draw from it, to desist from their sins, and yet is not heard nor regarded. This is presumptuous sinning ; sin ning, with a high hand, and with a brazen forehead. ii. Then a man sins presumptuously, when he sins upon long DELIBEEATION AND FOEECAST ; PLOTTING AND CONTEIVING "WITH HIMSELF, HOW HE MAY ACCOMPLISH HIS SIN. Some sins are committed merely through a sudden surprise : a temptation comes upon the soul unawares, and finds it unprovided to make any resistance : and so it prevails. So it was "with the Apostle Peter. His apostasy and perjury were indeed very dreadful : yet he "was overcome by a sudden sur prise. He had no foregoing thoughts and purposes to deny his Master : yea, his resolution was, to own and confess him to the very death : and, therefore, though his sins were foul sins, yet they can not be called Presumptuous Sins ; but rather sins of weakness and infirmity. And so there are divers Christians, that are overtaken "with faults against their resolutions and .prayers ; yea, and contrary to their owii expectations. Now the sins of such persons are not Presump tuous Sins : but then a sin becomes presumptuous, when it is com mitted after long deliberation, premeditation, and forecast. There is a twofold deliberation, that makes a sin presumptuous DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. H 1. When a man sins, after he hath deliberated with himself, whether he shall sin or not: when, upon debating the case at length, after much pondering and considerati®n, he consents to sin. And thus, though St. Peter denied his Master upon a surprisal, yet Judas betraye'd him upon deliberation. Now this is desperate presumption, to sin, when a man ponders and considers "with him self, and weighs the reasons on both sides, whether he shall sin or not. And yet, truly, of such Presumptuous Sins as these are, we may all of us be found guilty. Ask but yourselves : did you never commit a sin, after you had weighed in your deliberate thoughts all circumstances : putting in the beneficial consequences, the plea sure, profit and credit of sin, in the one balance ; and the danger ous and destructive consequences, that wrath and hell that are due to sin, in the other balance ? Who of us all can acquit himself from being guilty of sinning, after such comparisons as these have been made ; after the due weighing both of sin and our duty ? and, yet, have we not chosen the sin before our duty ? Truly, to sin after such deliberate comparisons as these are, is a provoking and a Presumptuous Sin. 2. When men do deliberate and contrive^Jww they may sin to the gre&test advantage, how they may mahe the most of their iniquities : when they plot and contrive with themselves, how they may squeeze and draw out the very utmost of all that pleasure and sweet that they imag ine sin carries with it : this mahes that sin a Presumptuous Sin. Thus, those drunkards contrived to prolong their sin : Isaiah Ivi. 12. Come ye, say they, we will fetch wine, and.,.. .fill ourselves with strong drinh ; and to-morrow shall he as this day, and much more abundant. Here they forecasted to make as great advantage as they eould of their drunkenness, and to get as much pleasure out of it as they could. This is most presumptuous sinning. Thus, the prophet Jeremiah also speaks of those, that were ¦wise to do evil: Jer. iv. 22 ; that could improve sin to the very utmost ; and could get more out of a sin by their husbanding of it, than another could that had not that skill and mystery ; these are wise to do evil. And such are Presumptuoijfi Sins : when men stretch and strain their "wits brimfull of sinful de"nces, either so as they may reap most from them, or so as they may keep their wickedness secret from the ob servation and notice of men, then theji sin presumptuously. Do not, therefore, flatter yourselves, that, though indeed you are sin ners, as who indeed is not? yet, you sin only through weakness and infirmity. Ask your o"Wn consciences : did you never sin : or do you not use to sin, upon premeditation and forecast ? When 12 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. you have conceived sin in your own hearts, do you not nurse it and nourish it there, till you find some fit opportunity to commit it ; plotting to lay hold on some fit occasion to act some wicked imagination that you have hatched in your o"wn heart ? If so, this is clear, your sinning is not out of weakness, but from stubborn ness and wilfulness. iii. The moee quiet and calm youe affections aee when YOU SIN, THE MOEE FBEE YOU ABE FBOM THE HUEE"inNGS AND PEETUEBATIONS OP PASSIONS WHEN YOU SIN, THE MOEE PEESUMP TUOUS ABB YOUE SINS. Indeed, it is no sufficient excuse, that you sin in a passion ; no more than it is for a murderer to say he was drunk when he did it : but, yet, this takes off something from the presumption in sinning. Then a man is a bold and arrogant sinner, when he can sin calmly ; and bid defiance to God and heaven, in cold blood. Now St. Peter's denial of Christ, was from the excessive passion of fear, that then surprised him, and scattered his graces ; but, when that passion was over, he recruited again : but Judas had no pas sion ; but the wickedness of his own heart "wrought quietly and calmly in him, to the braying of his Master. When the winds rage violejatly, no wonder if sometimes the tall est cedars are overthrown by them ; but those trees, that fall of their 0"wn accord, when the air is still and calm, it is a certain sign they were rotten. So it is in this case : when the tempest of pas sion rageth, be it fear or any other passion and perturbation of the mind, no wonder if sometimes the tallest and the strongest Chris tians fall, are cast down, and overwhelmed by it ; but, if men fall into sin when their intellectuals are clear, and "when their reason is calm and undisturbed, truly this is a certain sign these men are rotten, and these presumptuous sins have gotten dominion over them, for they fall like rotten trees of their own accord, "without any tempest of passion to stir them. iv. When at any time you commit a sin, consideb what THE temptations ABE THAT ASSAULT YOU, AND HOW YOU BEHAVE YOUESELVES UNDEB THOSE TEMPTATIONS ; FOE, |pOM THENCE, YOU MAY CONJECTUEB, WHETHEB YOUE SINS BE PEESUMPTUOUS OE NOT. Temptations, as they are strong inducements unto sin, so some times they are great mitig&tions of sin. The more violently the soul is baited and wearied with temptations, the less presumption is it guilty of if at length it yields. This, God doth judge to be weakness, not -wilfulness. He knows our frame ; that we are but dust and ashes; and that we are no match for principalities and DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 13 powers : and 4hose mighty enemies, that we are to combat "with, we can no more stand before than so much loose dust before a fierce and rapid whirl"wind. Yea, were there no Devil to tempt, yet the corruptions of our own hearts are much too hard for us : but, when both our own lusts and. the Devil shall conspire together, the one to betray us "with all its deceitfulness and the other to force us -with all its power, who then can stand ? If God, at such a time as this is, withdraw his grace and Spirit, as sometimes he doth from the best of his ser vants, where is the Christian that ever coped with these tempta tions, and was not vanquished and captivated by them ? It is true, when God assists him, the weakest Christian proves victorious over the strongest temptations. A dwarf may beat a giant, when he is manacled that he cannot stir nor resist. God sees that Satan is an over-match for us ; and, therefore, he ties his hands, before ho sets us out to the conflict ; and what wonder is it, if we then conquer ? When God hath trodden Satan under us, no won der, if, as weak as we are, we can then trample upon him too. But, that all our success may appear to be, not from our o-wn strength, but from God's might, he leaves us sometimes to Satan, and lets loose Satan upon us in all his /age. He leads us into temp tation, and he leaves us under temptation ; and, when we are buf feted, we then yield and fall, and the Devil shamefully triumphs over us. In this case, which is one of the saddest that a Christian can be in, though the sin be very foul and heinous ; yet the same power of temptation, that makes us sin heinously, keeps us from sinning presumptuously. Presumptuous Sins, are not to be measured by the bulk and ugliness of the action, but by the forward and head long consent 'of the will unto it ; and, therefore, a gross sin may sometimes be but a sin of infirmity, when yet a sin of a less nature is desperately daring and presumptuous. In the Law, if a person that was ravished struggled and cried out aloud for help, the crime was not imputed to her : so, if the soul be forcibly ra-vished by temptations, though it struggle and^trive .against them, though it call upon its God, crying aloud, "Help, Lord," though it call up its graces, " Arise, help ;" this sin shall not be imputed to it as a presumptuous sin. How then shall we judge by our temptations, whether the sins which we commit are presumptuous or not ? I answer : you may judge of it, by these following particulars. 1, If we commit sin, when we are not besieged and disturbed by violent 14 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. and invincible temptations, this is' too certain a sign, that then we sin presum,ptuously. This plainly shows a "will- strongly fixed and resolved to sin. When men will surrender and yield up their souls to the Devil, even before he summons them ; and when they "will consent to sin upon every small and trivial temptation, as soon as they have but a hint and glimpse of some sinful object passing before them, though it offer them no "violence, though it present nothing to them of so much pleasure and profit and credit in it, but that a generous Chris tian might easily disdain, if yet they run out after it, and "will sin merely because they "will ; these are most desperfte sinners,- that are impatient to wait the leisure of a lingering and lazy temptation. They know the Devil hath much work to do in the world ; many • thousands to tempt, deceive, and draw to perdition : and, therefore, they -will not trouble him ; and, for his ease, they will sin without a temptation, and ruin their own souls without any help of any other devil than what their own hearts prove to them. As those are the best and most stayed Christians, that are constant in the performance of holy duties, even then when they have no strong impulses and motions from the Holy Ghost unto duty : so, truly, those are the worst and most stubborn sinners, that even then commit sin "with greediness, when they have no violent impulses and temp tations from the De-vil to hurry them into sin. Now there are Two things, whereby it plainly appears, that then a Sin is Presumptuous, when it is committed "without strong and violent temptations to it. (1) Hereby we do e"vidently declare a fearful contempt of the great God. We never more "vilify and disparage God, than when we do that for nothing, which we know his soul hates. Should the De"vil, when he tempts you, take you, as he took, Christ, and show you the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them all, and promise to bestow all these upon you : yet, when God shows you the infinite glory of the kingdoms of another world, you can plead no natural reason why you should conseA to sin, ; God infinitely outbidding the Devil, even then when the Devil bids highest. But ,when you will prefer a sin that bids nothing, a barren, fruitless, and unprofitai- ble lust, before the holy will of the great God and the sure promises of eternal glory, what reason or pretence can you show why you should sin, unless it be, because you are resolved rather to despite and affront God, than to advantage your own souls ? And this- was tlie great aggravation of Judas's Sin, and that which made it so ex- DISCOUESES CONCEBN-ING SIN. 15 ceeding Presumptuous : what a poor temptation were thirty pieces of silver, to induce him to the "vilest wickedness that ever "was com mitted since the world stood 1 It was no more than the ordinary value and rate of a slave : as you may see in Exod. xxi. 32 ; amount ing much to about thirty seven shillings and sixpence : and, yet, so far aid he undervalue Christ, as that, for this small price, he sold'' the Lord of Life and Glory : and this, God himself takes notice of, as a great indignity done unto him ; Zech. xi. 13 ; A goodly price, says God by the Prophet there, was I prized at of them 1 I know that, at the very hearing of this, your hearts rise up in detestation of the cursed covetousness of Judas, that ever he should suffer him- selPto be tempted by so base a reward as a few shillings were, to betray Him to death, who was infinitely more worth than heaven and earth. Why, the case is yours : nay, wonder not at it : he be trayed him for thirty pieces of silver, and you daily crucify him and put him to open shame : you wound and pierce kim to the very heart, for much less than that is : look back upon your past life, can you not recal to mind, that you have been prevailed upon to commit many a sin by such poor and inconsiderable things, as scarce bear the show, or face, or appearance of a temptation ? have you not dealt very injuriously with God and- Christ, and set them at nought for a little gain, for some vanishing delight, for compliance sake, for the fickle favour of men ? yea, very feathers and empty nothings have weighed down the scales -with you against God ! The De"vil's first and greatest sin was pride, and contempt of God: and how much is he pleased and humoured, to see the same contempt of God rivetted in the hearts of men ; and to see him so much slighted in tbe world, that he can scarce bid low en6ugh when he tempts, but whatever he offers is greedily snatched at, and preferred before God and heaven, though it be but a very toy and trifle ! This, certainly, must needs be a very heinous contempt of the Great Majesty of Heaven, and must needs argue most desperate boldness and pre sumptuous sinning. (2) When men sin upon small or no temptations, they declare plainly a wretched neglect of their precious souls ; and, therefore, they sin presumptuously. I have read of a soldier, who,< being with two others for some crime condemned, drew lots for his life ; and, having dra"wn one lot that saved and pardoned him, seeing one of his companions come shivering and quaking to draw, told him, that, for two shillings, or thereabouts, he would take his lot, whatever it was : he drew again, and again it proved successful to him : ho wever, it was a most dar- 16 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. ing presumption, that after so narrow an escape, he should again hazard his life, and set it to sale for so small a price as that was. Truly, the like presumption we ourselves are guilty of: we pur chase toys and trifles, with the dreadful hazards of our souls ; those souls, that are infinitely more worth than ten thousand worlds : we make common barter and exchange for every base lust ; fad, as prodigals pay very dear for very toys only to satisfy their fancies, so do we lay do-wn our precious souls at stake for those lusts that usually have nothing in them besides the satisfaction of the hu mours and fancies of our own wills in sin. Would you not censure that man to be most desperately fool-hardy, that should venture to dive into the b6ttom of the sea, only to take up pebbles and gra"V%l ? How great deal of folly and presumption then are they guilty of, who dive even to the bottom of hell, only to get straws and fea thers, and such impertinent vanities and inconsiderable :;iothings, that certainly men would never hazard their immortal souls for, unless they thought they did themselves a courtesy to be damned! How many are there, that would not suffer, no not so much as a ¦ hair of their head to be twitched off,-to gain that, for which they will not stick to lie and swear ; sins that murder their souls ! They are so foolish, that th.e Lord complains in Isa. Iii. 3, they sell them- aelves for nought: either they stay not till the DevU comes to cheapen them, but sin beforehand ; or, else, they readily take any price, that he offers for them : any vile trifle is looked upon as a great pur chase, if they can procure it at so low a price as hell and damna tion is. What is it, that makes the swearer open his throat as .wide as hell against heaven and God himself: but only, that he fancies that a big, full-mouthed oath makes his speech more grace ful and stately ? And what is it, that makes the company-keeper run into all excess with riot, and dro"V5n himself in all sensuality ; but only, that he may comply with his debauched companions, and not disgust them by any singularity and reservedness ? And can these things be called Temptations ? Are these things ' matters of such weight, as deserve to be put in the balance against the soul's eternal happiness and glory ? Is it possible, that men, that have noble and immortal souls in them, should ever so far de base them, as to bring them into competition "with, nay to make them to be the price of, such vile nothings as these are ? And, yet, tell these men, that they hereby rouse up God's wrath* against them, that burns to the lowest hell ; tell them, that they destroy their precious souls ; tell them, that they get nothing by such sins as these are, unless they reckon damnation for gain : yet, let God DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 17 frown and hell triumph, and their souls perish, they will on; and will not raise the rate of sinning, nor put jhe Devil to more charges; and so they are damned -for nothing. Is not thi^ most desperate boldness and presumption? and) therefore, do not lay the blame of your sins upon the violence of temptation, or upon the restless importunities ofthe Devil. When God shall, at the Last Day, call, "Sinner, stp,nd forth: what is the reason you committed such and such sins, that had nothing in them to commend them, that left nettling after them but shame with6ut and terrors within?'' will you then plead as now usually you do, that Temptations were too hard for you, and the Devil too strong for you to resist? No, no: it will then be made apparent, that the Devil was falsely charged with multitudes of sins, that he never knew of till they were committed. And, therefore, when men sin upon slight Temp tations, it is not from the power of Temptations, it is not from the importunity ofthe Devfl, that they sin; but, only, from a presump tuous resolution, that they will sin whatever it cost them. And that is the First Trial, a ' ' .2. When a man wilfully and knowingly runs himself into tempta tions and upon occasions of sin, if he be overcome by these temptations, li£, sins presumptuoiisly notwithstanding. In this case, though the temptation be violent and irresistible ; yea, though, when we are entangled by it, we strive and struggle to qur very utmost : yet this doth not mitigate, but rather aggra vate our sin; because it was merely through our own presump tion, that we brought ourselves under the power of such a prevalent temptation, from which Christian fear and caution might easily have preserved us. If a man, that is wholly ignorant of the art of swimming, shall plunge himself into a deep river, though he struggle hard for life afterwards ; yet, if he sinks and is drowned, he perishes only through his own presumption. That man deserves to be blown up, that will make gunpowder in a smith's shop, when the sparks fly thick about him : truly, occasions of sinning are the De"VLrs forge, where he is continually heating and hammering out his fiery darts : now, for you, that know yourselves to be as catch ing as powder or tinder, wilfully to run yourselves into this forge, where his fiery darts glow, and sparkle, and fly about you ; what is this, but most desperate boldness and presumption ? What says the Wise Man, Prov. vi. 27 ? Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not he burnt f Can a man run himself upon such occa sions of sin, aiifi not run also into the commission of sin ? As the motion of a stone, when it falls downward, is still the swifter the Vol. II.— 2 18 DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. nearer it comes to its centre ; so, when you are running yourselves into the occasion^of sin, the more willingly you go to sin, the nearer, you come to it, there is no stop nor stay : when you put yourselves upon these occasions and temptations, you put your selves out of the protection of God's grace, and you stand wholly at the Devil's courtesy ; and, if you are overcome, blame nothing but your own venturousness and presumption. Consider this, therefore : hast thou not had frequent experience of many sad foils, that the Devil hath given thee, by thy rash venturing upon occa sions and temptations to sin ? Hast thou not found such and such company, such and such employments, and other like circumstances, always prove snares to thee ? Never plead these temptations were too strong for thee to resist : what ! canst thou not resist them ? And, believe it : if the experience of thine own weakness doth not make thee careful for the future to shun such snares and intangle- inents as these are, thy sins will be judged "by God, at the Last Day, to be wilful and presumptuous sins : for they are so, if not in them selves considered, yet at least ill t^ir cause ; for you presumptu ously run into those occasions and temptations, whereby, in 4II likelihood, you will be overcome : and this is to sin presump tuously. 3. Suppose that we are strongly tempted, without the betraying of ourselves to the temptation: then consider. If you commit the sin io which you are tempted, without vigorous and resolute resistance ;^his is a certain sign that you sin presumptu,ously. Let the temptation be never so strong and irresistible ; yet, if you yield to it without op position or resistailce made against it to your utmost, you then sin presumptuously. A child of God, when he acts like himself, falls fighting. The Devil gets not a foot of ground upon him, but by main force and strength. Though principalities and powers, though the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses 'in high places, set themselves all in array against him ; yet he encounters them all, and wrestles with them all : and though, sometimes, through weak ness, he is overcome ; yet he never basely yields : he fights stand ing, and he fights falling, and he fights rising; and, therefore, when he sins, it is through weakness, and not through presumption. But others, though they are very bold and presumptuous against God ; yet they are very cowards against their lusts, and against the temp tations of the Devil : when a temptation assaults them, they dare not presume to oppose that ; but they dare presume to offend and provoke God himself: that, they dare do. Believe it, Sirs: you DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. . 19 must be bold and resolute, either against the Devil, or against the Great God : one of thesfe you must grapple with : choose which you think you may best oppose, and soonest ^conquer. The Devil stands before you, armed with his fiery darts : God follows you, armed with everlasting vengeance. If you will not engage against Satan, and resolutely oppose him and all his force ; what do you else, but tum upon God, and challenge him to the combat, and make him your enemy, that is able to destroy hoth hody and soul in hell-fire fbr ever? What a most daring presumption is this, that ever we should basely surrender up ourselves to the De"vil, without striking one stroke in our own defence ; and yet, at the same time, we should dare to provoke that God, that can, with one look and frown, sink us into the lowest hell ! And, thus, in these Three particulars, we see when a sin is pre sumptuous, in respect of temptations: when it is committed, with out temptations ; when we run into temptations and occasions of sin ; and when we make no vigorous opposition against them. 4. Another trial is this : When men will dare to sin, under emi nent and 'remarkable judgments and afiiictions, that God brings upon them, then they sin presumptuously. What is this else, but, when God stands visibly in your way, yet , you will desperately run upon the thick bosses of his buckler ? Se hedgeth up your way with thorns, 'and yet you "will break through, though it be to the tearing of your flesh. He strikes at you by his judgments : and, oh the madness and presumption of vile dust and ashes, that they dare to strike at God again by their sins ! What is this else, Uut even to dare God to do his worst ? When God treads upon us, should such vile worms as we are, turn the tail, and threaten to take revenge upon the Almighty ? This is pre sumption and boldness, that God takes special notice of, in 2 Chron. xxviii. 22, Ahaz was brought very lo-W, says the text : and, yet, in the time of his distress, /je trespassed yet more against the Lord: This is that king Ahaz : God sets a mark and brand upon him, that he may be known to all posterity for a most daring sinner, that, when God had brought him so low, when so many enemies waged war against him and distressed him ; yet, even then, he provoked a greater enemy than they all, and challenged God against him : This is that king Ahaz. Truly, may it not be said of many among us, " This and this is that person, who, when God afflicted them, instead of humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God,.grew en raged at their sufferings, and sinned yet more and more against him ?" Oh, it is dreadful, when those punishments, that should break 20 DISCOUESESCONCEENING SIN. and melt us,. prove only to harden our hearts, and to exasperate and embitter our spirits against God. What can reform us, when we offend under the very smart of the rod? Hereby, therefore, judge of your sins : if so be God be gone out against you, if he have laid his band heavy upon you ; and yet you regard it not, but still persevere in your old sins, and still add new iniquities to them ; if, instead of humility and brokenness of hearts, your hearts rise vfp against God, and you are ready to say "with that "wicked king, This evil is of the Lord : why should I wait upon the Lord any longer f conclude upon it, you are those desperate presumptuous sinners, that scorn to shrink for whatever God can lay upon them. 5. When we can encourage ourselves with hopes of mercy, though we live in sin impknitently ; this is to sin presumptuously. You, that know yourselves to be sinners, what is it, that makes you to bear up with so' much peace and confidence ? Why do you not every moment fear, lest hell should open its mouth and swallow you up ; lest God should suddenly strike you dead by some re markable judgment ; lest the De"vil should fetch you away alive to torments ? Why do you not fear this, since you know yourselves to be sinners ? Why, truly, you still hope for mercy. And it is only from this very presumption, that men cry Peace, Peace to Hhemselves ; when yet God is at enmity "with them : they flatter themselves that it shall be well 'with them in the latter end, though God swears he "will not spare them ; but his -wrath and jealousy small smoke against them. In Deut. xxix. 19, 20, God says, If any man shall encourage himself when he goes on presumptuously in the way of his own heart, adding drunheiiness to thirst, I will not spare him ; but my -wrath and vaj jealousy shall smoke against him ; and all the curses, that are written in this hook, shall fall upon him. Were but sinners truly apprehensive of their wretched estate, how they stand liable every moment to the stroke of divine justice, how that there is nothing that interposeth betwixt them and hell but only God's temporary forbearance of them ; truly, it were impossi ble, to keep them from- running up and do"wn the streets, Kke dis tracted persons and madmen, crying out with horror of soul, " Oh I am damned, I am damned :" but their presumption stupifies them, and they are lulled asleep by the Devil ; and, though they live in sin, yet. they still dream of salvation: and thus their presumption flatters them, till, at length, this presumption ends then, where their damnation begins, and never before. And thus I have, in Five * Particulars, showed you what it is * Printed six in the first edition : the fourth a,ni fifth, heads being printed^* aijd sixth . -which mistakes are carelessly followed in the folio. - Editoe. DISCOURSES CONCEENING SIN". 21 that makes a sin to be presumptuous ; which is that, which David, in the Text, prays to God to keep him from : and, I doubt not, but these particulars have represented to you so much guilt and ugli ness in Presumptuous Sins, as that you also pray "with him, Lord, keep us also from Presumptuous Sins, II. Now, though possibly it may seem altogether needless to die scarlet redder ; yet, that your prayers against them may be more importunate, and your endeavours unwearied, I shall, in the next place, by SOME AGGEAVATING CONSIDEEATIONS engrain these scarlet crimson sins, and strive to make them appear, as they are in themselves, out of measure sinful. i. Consider, therefore, in the "first place, that the commission of PEESUMPTUOUS SINS DOTH . EXCEEDINGLY HAEDEN AND STEEL THE HEABT, with EESOLUTIONS to PEESEVEEE IN THEM WITHOUT EEPENTANCE. And what can be more dreadful than this is ? Eesolvedness to sin is a disposition likest to that of the Devil ; and it is a punish ment next to that of hell. A man, that is confirmed in wickedness, is not many removes off from a devil, in his nature ; and from a damned person, in his state. There is a fatal consequence, betwixt man's resol"ving to continue in sin to the end, and God's resolving to punish him with those torments that shall have no end. God hath two seals : the one, of the Spirit of Adoption, whereby he seals up believers to the day of redemption ; and, the other, of Obduration, whereby he seals up the impenitent to the day of de struction : he seals them up under sin, and sets them aside for wrath. Henbe the Apostle, in Eomans ii. 5, speaks of a hard and impeni tent heart, treasuring up wrath unto itself against the da,y of wrath? Now presumptuous sins have a twofold malign influence, thus to harden and make men resolute in wickedness : for, either, they make them secure under sin ; or, else, quite contrary, desperate for sin : and both these strongly conduce to the hardening of the heart. 1. The commission of Presumptuous Sins oftentimes make a sinner resolute and secure, under the blackest guilt the soul can contract, and thefearfullest threatenings God can denounce. Security under guilt arises from impunity. Sinners have read and heard terrible things against themselves, that God will wound the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their iniquities ; that he will destroy the incorrigible suddenly, and that without remedy : but yet none of all this is executed : their heads, instead of being wounded, are cro"wned -with blessings ; and this speedy destruction still loiters : they neither feel terrors -within, nor meet with troubles 22 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. without ; and, therefore, as Solomon observes because they go un- - punished they grow secure, in Eccl. viii. 11 ; — Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Carnal reason measures God's way of taking vengeance by its own. It is the custom of men, if they can, to revenge while an in jury is warm. Delay and forbearaiice usually cool them into for giveness : and, hence. Presumptuous Sinners argue, that, certainly were there any truth in God's threatenings, were there anything to be feared besides the huge noise they make, they should then have befen exemplarily plagued, when they committed such and such a daring sin, while the provocation was fresh. And from this it is, that the worst of sinners, after the commission of some vile and crying sins, are, for a while, troubled with, a trembling and tormenting conscience ; that the threatenings, that are denounced, should fall upon them by some visible appearance, and some signal hand of God against them : but, when they see no such thing come of it, but their condition is prosperous and all their ways sun-shine ; how doth this work with them ? Truly, instead of admiring God's patience and long suffering, they despise his wrath ; and scoff at those threatenings, that before they dreaded ; and think none of them true, because none of them are felt. We read of such bold sinners, as these are in 2 Peter, iii. 4, Where is the promise of his coming ? do not all things continue as they were ? So, these Presumptuous Sinners say in their hearts, " Where is the threatening of his coming against us ? Do not all things continue with us as they were ? Though preachers roar out whole pulpits'-fuU of hell and damnation, and singe our ears con tinually with fire and brimstone ; making fearful clamours of death, hell, and damnation, and everlasting torments : yet all things are with us as they were. Is not the sun's light as cheering, the air's breath as refreshing, and the earth's womb as fruitful as it was ?" Their greatest sins have not disturbed the least atom in the creation, nor moved so much as a hair of their head. For all that sudden and unavoidable destruction, that is denounced against them, they still flourish and prosper; and, because God doth not, as man revenge in the first heat, they think all threatenings are made rather to affright, than to do execution: and, hence it is, that they embolden and harden themselves in sin, and take up resolu tions, that they will' continue therein. And that is the first way, how the commission of Presumptuous Sins brings men to resolutions of sinning, by making them regard less of divine threatenings. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 23 2. The frequent commission of Presumptuous Sins haves meA des perate ; whereby they are hardened to continue in their sins. Nothing more -fortifies resolution, than despair. Make a coward desperate, and you make him invincible. -Now Presumptuous Sins usually end in desperate resolutions ; they make men despair of ever gaining power over them, andof ever obtaining pardonfor them. (l)Men,,that frequently commit Presumptuous Sins, despair of ever subduing them. Let your own hearts make answer : when you have sinned pre sumptuously against your own consciences and God's known Law, have you not been ready to conclude, that it were as good for you to abandon yourselves over to the swings of such a lust, as -still to strive Uhus in vain against it? When resolutions against sin prove unsuccessful, they commonly end in desperate resolutions to sin : and yet, truly, this is no other, than as if a man should there fore burn his house down about him, because it wants repairing. Are there none among t^s now, that, when we have sinned against light and against convictions, sit down under this despairing temp tation. That it is in vain for us ever to make head against such a lust more : it will prevail ; and why should we not, therefore, give ourselves to it ? Truly, -w'hat you have been tempted unto, others have practised: and, because the stream of their corruptions is violeiit, they therefore spread out their arms to it, and suffer^ them selves to be carried down by it into the gulf of perdition ; resolv ing to run after the stream and current of their own corruptions, because they find it so strong ; despairing of ever subduing them, having been so often overcome by them. (2) The frequent commission of Presumptuous Sins makes men despair of ever obtaining pardon for them ; and that hardens them in resolutions to continue in them, and then they cry out with Cain, My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven. Despair of pardon oftentimes exasperates to more and greater offences. As if a thief, when he is robbing of a man, should ar gue with himself, "If I am detected of this robbery, it will cost me my life; and, if I murder him, I can but lose my life :" just so do many argue : "My sins are already- so many and so great, thatj I cannot avoid damnation for them : I see my ntoe pricked down among reprobates : it is but in vain for me to struggle against my own fate and God's decrees : it is too nice a scruple, since God hath given me up to the Devil, for me not to give up myself to sin :" and, so, away they go to sin ; and sin at random, desperately and resolvedly. Oh, horrid hardness ! that when the thoughts of hell 24 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. use to quench and allay the "wickedness of other men, when it is most furious ; yet these "wretches never think of hell, but that that eternal fire inflames their lusts, and the thoughts of their own de struction do even confirm them in the practice of those very sins that destroy them ! And yet, to this pass doth the commission of Presumptuous Sins bring many a wretched soul in the world. Now resolution to sin, out of despair, is to sin as the Devil sins : indeed, it is to give the De"vil's image in the soul its last flourish : the dev ils and the damned spirits, as they lie always smothering and burn ing in hell, so they always hear that dreadful sound " For ever thus : for ever thus ;" and, because their chains are made strong and eternal by an Almighty decree, this makes them implacable : they fret, and look upward, and curse that God that hath plunged them into those torments, from which hell "will never free them : this makes them desperate in their resolutions to sin, because they despair of ever bettering their condition. Beware, therefore, lest you also, by frequent commissions of Presumptuous Sins, be given up to hellish despair, such as this is ; so to despair of mercy, as, at the same time, to provoke and defy justice. And that is the First great danger of sinning presumptuously : it "will make men resolute, either through security or through de spair, to continue in sin. ii. Presumptuous Sins, as they steel the heart with most despe rate resolutions, so they also BEAZEN THE FACE WITH MOST SHAME LESS IMPUDENCY. All shame ariseth from the apprehension of some e"vil suspected of us, or discovered in us ; and the eyes, that can discover it, are either the eyes of God and Angels, or the eyes of Men like ourselves. Now air presumptuous sinners are gro"wn bold and impudent, as to God and Angels. Though God be present "with them in the closest secresy, though his eye see them in the thickest darkness ; yet this doth not at all overawe them : they dare sin, even before his face, that must judge them. And, if some of them be yet so modest, as to conceal their wickedness from the notice of men : yet they are also so foolish and bold, as not to regard God's seeing them ; in comparison of whom, to sin in the sight of the whole world is but to sin m secret. But yet the frequency of presump tuous sinning will also quickly cause them, to abandon this shame too ; and to outface the face of men, which they more dread than they do the face of God or angels. The Lord himself takes notice of the impudency of such men : and, certainly, every sinner hath cause to blush, when God calls DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 25 him impudent. In Jeremiah vi. 15, says God, Were they ashamed, when they had committed all these abominations ? nay, they were not all ashamed, neither could they blush: and, in Jer. iii. 3, they have a whore's forehead, and they refuse to he ashamed: and, in Isaiah iii. 9, The show of their countenance, says God, doth witness against them : they declare their sin as Sodom ; they hide it not, There.are Three degrees of shamefulness in sinning, to which many of our grosser sinners do arrive. 1. Those, that will dare to commit foul sins, even publicly and knowingly. Some men lose half the pleasure of their sins, imless others may know how wicked they are, and how far they dare to affront the Al mighty. The swearer swears not in secret, where none can hear him ; but in company, and calls men to witness as well as God. The drunkard reels in our streets, in mid-day ; and is ready to dis charge his vomit, in the faces of- all that he meets -with. Truly presumptuous sinning "will at last grow to public sinning. Not only at the Last Day, that, which hath been done in secret, shall be di"vulged upon the house-top ; but, many times, even in this life : those sins, that, at first, wicked men durst not commit, but in secret where no eye saw them, after a while they are gro"wn bolder, and will act and awn before all men. 2. Others are advanced farther ; and, not only siu' openly, but boast and glory in their sins. The Apostle, in Phil, iii 19, speakg of those, whose glory was in their shame : they boast, as if they had done some notable exploit ; when, alas ! they have only murdered a poor soul of their 0"wn, that lay drawing on towards its death before. 3. There are others so shameless, that they boast of those very wicked nesses, that they never dared to commit. As cowaffds brag of their exploits in such and such a combat, which yet they never durst engage in : so there are a generation in the world, who dare not, for the terror of their consciences, commit a sin, that yet will boast that they have committed it ; as if it were a generous amd honourable thing, to be called and accounted a dar ing sinner. Shall I call these Men, or Monsters rather, that boast of such things as make them more like devils than men ? ai^ yet, even to this height of profligate impudence, -will Presumptuous Sins lead you. But, let all such know, God is resolved to try the foreheads of these men at the Last and Great Day of Judgment ; and, in despite of all their swaggering and boldness, shame and everlasting confasion shall cover their faces, as impudent as they are now. 26 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. iii. Consider this : what a feaeful thing it will be, if god SHOULD CUT OFF SUCH MEN IN THE VEEY ACT OF SOME PEESUMP TUOUS SIN, WITHOUT AFFOBDING THEM ANY TIME AND SPACE OF EEPENTANCE. And have they any security, that God will not ? What promise have they, that God -will forbear them one moment longer ? Nay, they have been often told, that God will make a speedy end with them ; that he will take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath : as it is ih Ps. Iviii. 9 : and, therefore, he strikes not, -vnthout giving them warning enough, though he strikes suddenly. God hath two chief attributes, that he especially aims to glorify in all his transactions with men ; his Mercy, and his Justice. These are the two great hinges, upon which all the frame of his Provi dence moves. The mighty affairs of eternal election and reproba tion were first agitated, out of design to magnify mercy and justice; and all temporal concernments are governed in such a way, as may most advance these two attributes of mercy and justice. Now Mercy hath already had a large share of glory, in forbear ing after so many provocations ; in waiting so long to be gracious ; staying year after year, expecting your repentance : and, if you contemn the riches of God's grace and mercy still, have you not reason to fear it will be the turn of Justice to deal wMi you hext ? And, believe, it, the' commission of Presumptuous Sms gives God a fair opportunity, to glorify his justice upon you to the utmost : and why should you think God will lose such an advantage ? All the world must needs fall down, and with trembling adore the just severity of God, when they see a notorious sinner cut off in the fcvery act of some notorious and presumptuous wickedness. In Deut. xvii. 12, 13, when a presumptuous sinner is punished, says God, all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously : and, if so much glory will accrue to God by destroying you, why- then should he spare you one moment longer than your next sin ? This is the best use you can make of Presumptuous Sinners, even to set them up as examples and monuments of his wrath and ven geance to terrify others : and why should you think then, since his Mercy hath been glorified already to you in waiting and forbear ing sc(.long, that he -will not upon the next sin you commit glorify his Justice also ? It may be, God hath begun to deal thus already with some of you. In the very midst of your sins, hath not the hand- writing of some re markable judgment appeared against you ? , Hath not God smitten some of you in your persons, in your estates, or in your relations ? DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 27 Well, take Christ's counsel : Sin no more, lest a worst thing befal you ; lest, on the next provocation, he strike you through, and sink you to hell. Oh, consider what a fearful thing it is, while your souls are all on flame in the commission of sin, then for God to hurl them down into everlasting and unquenchable fire ; as he may take just occasion and advantage to do, for the glorifying of his Justice. iv. Consider this : it is veey haed to being pbesumptuous SINNEES TO BEFOEMATION AND EEPENTANCE. The first step to evangelical sorrow, is legal terror ; which the Spirit of God works, by convincing the sinner of judgment and wrath to come. But, tell a Presumptuous Sinner what judgment and wrath are due to him, that it is impossible for him to escape the vengeance of God, that justice will overtake him ; read to him all the curses contained in the Book of God, and tell him that they are all entailed upon his sin : this moves him not : he knew and considered all this before. A Presumptuous Sinner must be a knowing sinner : he knows what hell is, as well as ever any man did, that hath not felt it : he knows what a precious soul he destroys, how glorious a heaven he forfeits, what dreadful condemnation he exposeth himself to : he knows all this, and yet he sins ; and, though this were enough, one would think, to daunt a devil, ye't he breaks through all this knowledge to his own lusts again. The Apostle speaks of such in Eomans i. 32, who knowing the judgment of God, that they, which comm,it such things, are worthy of death, yet presump tuously continue in the commission of such sins. Now what hope is there, of reforming and reclaiming such as these are ; that sin, after they have cast up their accounts what it will cost them ? Cer tainly, they, that dare sin when they see hell before them, there is no hope that they will leave sinning, till they see hell flaming round about them, and themselves in the midst of it. ^ III. Now, though these Presumptuous Sins be in their nature and aggravations so heinous, yet AEE THE BEST CHEISTIANS EXCEEDING PEONE TO COMMIT THEM. When the sea is tempestuous, did we only stand safe upon the shore, it were enough t6 behold the woeful shipwrecks of others with that horror and commiseration that such a spectacle deserves : but, when we are tossed in the same tempest, and see some split against rocks, and others swallowed up of quicksands, unto which naturally the stream strongly carries us also ; truly, then, our pity and detestation of their dangers, our horror and consternation of their ruin, are not sufficient without great care and diligence for our own security and preservation. !8 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. / Therefore, 0 Christians ! look to yourselves. The glorified saints n h^eaven see the dangers they have escaped, -with praise ; and the lajigers others fall into, "with pity : but thou, 0 Christian ! art not ret got to shore. Still thou sailest upon the same sea, wherein nost do perish ; even the raging sea of corruption, which is yet made nore raging by the storms of temptation : and, if thou seest many, hat are bound heaven- ward, make shipwreck of faith and a good sonscience, it is not enough for thee, to slight their dangers, or to sensure and pity their miscarriages ; but fear thou also, lest the lame corruptions and temptations overwhelm and dro-wn thee in he same perdition. This is the Apostle's caution : 1 Cor. x. 12 ; ' Let him, that thinketh 'he standeth, take heed lest he fall: and, in Eom. ri. 20 ; Thou standest by faith: be not high-mindedj but fear. And, indeed, because of that violent inclination that is in all unto lin, there is no state in this life so perfect, as to make this exhorta- ion useless and unseasonable. David himself prays for restraining frace : Keep bach thy servant from presumptuous sins. From which words I formerly collected,* and shall now prose- !ute this Proposition. that, in the best cheistians, thebe is geeat pboneness to :he wobst sins. In the handling of this so true a point, I shall, by some Demon- trations, make it evident, -thaf there is a strong inclination in the )est to the worst sins : and,' then, Search out the Original Cause, whence it is, that, since, in the irst creation, man's will was left yhollyfree and indeterminate, nthout any other inclination to good or evil, besides what its- free md arbitrary choice made ; yett in the new creation, whereby souls ire repaired, there should be still left in it that bias that strongly ways it unto e"vil. These Two things, God assisting, I shall at present do. i. For the demonstbations of the point, I shall give you them n these following particulars. 1. The Examphs of others may here be a convincing argument. If I should summon in the most excellent of God's saints, a man night wonder that drunkenness, incest, murder, and abjuration of jhrist, that such brats of Satan should ever be found in company nth such an angelical troop as they are : and, yet, Noah is drunk, [iOt is incestuous, David murders, and Peter abjures. These glori- )us stars have had their t\vinklings ; and, if the leaders and cham- nons are" thus foiled, what may we think then hath in all ages be* * See pp. 6, 7, of this Tolume. BmtoB. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 29 fallen the crowd of vulgar Christians? We may, with truth and boldness, say. Never was there a sin committed in the world, how horrid soever, unless the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, but God may find it "written down in his Book of Eemembrance under their names, whose names he himself hath written down in the Book of Life. And, what ! shall we say, when we see a stone falling, that there is no "weight nor propenseness in it to fall ? Shall we say, when we see such eminent Christians falling into sin, yea even into great and gross sins, that they have not strong propen- sions and inclinations to sin ? Yet, O ye Saints, divulge not these things to wicked men : whis per them softly one to another, with fear and trembling, lest some profane wretch or other overhear you, and take that for encourage ment that was only meant for caution. What is more common, than for the vilest sinners to plead for their excuse, or warrant rather, the foul miscarriages of God's dearest saints ? Thus, the drunkard looks upon holy Noah as a pot-companion ; whereby he discovers his nakedness in a worse sense than ever Ham did : and, thus, the unclean" sensualist quotes David, and calls him in to be the patron of his debauchery : certainly, if there be, any grief that can overcast the perfect joys of the saints in heaven, it is, that their names and examples should,to the great dishonour of God, be pro duced by wicked and sinful men, to countenance their grossest sins and "wickednesses. But, let such know, that though God hath set up these in his Church to be monuments of his mercy, to declare to humble and penitent sinners how great sins he can pardon ; yet, if any hereupon embolden themselves in sin, instead of being set up as monuments of mercy, God will set them up as pillars of salt. 2. It appears, that there is a strong proneness in the best to the worst sins, from those frequent and pressing Exhortations, that are given us in Scripture, to watchfulness against them, and to the mortifica- cation of them. Wherefore were these curbs necessary, but that God sees our lusts are headstrong, and ready to fly out and hurry us into all excesses ? Nay, these exhortations are not so particularly, nor with so great emphasis, given -to the wicked, as the||feire to the children of God. Of the wicked God saith. He, that will be wicked, let him be wick ed still : that is all the care God takes of them ; as we use to say of them^ that we despair to reclaim, Nay, let them take their own courses. But he especially warns and exhorts the godly to be ware of those sins, that one would think a godly man were scarce liable to commit. 80 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. See how Christ cautions his disciples : Luke xxi." 34 ; Talx heed to yourselves, says he, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life. Would not any man wonder, that our Saviour should so solicitously warn them against surfeiting and drunkenness, which are the sins usually ol a plentiful estate ? but, what ! warn them, against these sins, whose poverty was such and was to be such, that those, that gave unto them a cup of cold water, should receive a plentiful reward for their pains ! Were they in such danger, to be surfeited by the one, and drunk with the other ? And, what ! they like to be choked with the cares of this* life, and with carking to get what they had not, who had but just before renounced all that they had to follow Christ 1 Yea, but Christ knew, that, even in these poor abstemious disciples, there was a natural proneness to gluttony, and rioting, and drunkenness; and, therefore, he thus exhorts them: and he doth it, that grace may keep them from inclining to these sins, as their low and persecuted condition should be sure to keep them from committing them. So also the Apostle, in Col, iii. 5, speaking to them, that should certainly appear with Christ in glory, as yoii may see in verse 4, yet these he commands to mortify their members that were upon the earth. But what members are these ? It may be they are only vanity and inconstancy of thoughts, levity and unfixedness of affec tions, deadness and heaviness of heart, and such other less sins, that, should they be perfectly free from, they should be perfectly holy. No, says the Apostle : these members are the big limbs ofthe Old Man : they are fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil con cupiscence, and covetousness, And, in verse 8, he exhorts them again, to put off all these things ; anger, un-ath, malice, blasphemy, filthy com- vnunication, and lying : and so he goes on reckoning up foul and horrid sins ; and exhorts them to mortify these sins, who were to appear with Christ in glory. Those, who never lived in them, not at least after their conversion, is it not strange, that such eminent Christians as these were, should need exhortations against such foul sins ? There are many persons in a state of nature, that would count .their morals much wronge%if you should be officiously importu nate with them, not to commit adultery or blasphemy, not to be covetous or drunkards, or the like : this they would look upon as an injury done to them, that you should suspect such things as these are of them ^ould not they say, as Hazael did to the prophet. What ! are thy servants dogs, that they should do such great things as these are ? But the Apostle knew that the inclinations of the best DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 31 were too strong ; even to those sins, that a perfect moralist would think scorn that they should be suspected of: and, therefore, he exhorts them, -with all earnestness and frequent importunity, to mortify such foul sins as these are. 3. It appears, also, from the Irritating Power, that the Law hath. Even in the best of God's children, there is accidentally, through our corruption, such a malign influence, if I may so call it, in the holy, just, ani good Law of God, that instead of quelling sin, it doth the more enrage and provoke it : and this we call the Irritating Power of the Law. Thus, the Apostle tells us in Eom. vii. 8, that sin takes occasion by the Law, to work in us all jnanner of concu piscence. Now were it possible, that sin should grow strong by that Lawthat was given on purpose to destroy it, but that there are. in us violent propensions towards what is forbidden us, and eager desires after that which God hath denied us ? So strangely depraved are our corrupt natures, that we swell with our yoke, and labour to throw off whatever-may lay a restraint upon us : like green sticks, being bent one way, by natural strength we start as far back the other way. Can none of us call to mind some sins, that possibly we should never have committed, had they not been forbidden to us ? The command oftentimes gives corruption a hint, in what and how it may offend God. And is not this therefore a clear demonstra tion of that mighty proneness that there is in all of us unto sin, when that Law, that forbids sin, shall prove an incentive to it ? The more will a high-mettled horse foam and fling, the harder you rein him in. And if you stop a river in its course, it will rise and swell till it overflows its banks : and whence is this, but because there' is a natural proneness in it to run towards the sea ? And when God casts his Law before men as a stop to them in their sin ful course, they swell the higher, till they have borne away or overflown all those bounds and dams, that God hath set to bound them in. And whence proceeds all this, but only because there is a natural tendency and propension in men's hearts to sin ? and, therefore, the more they are opposed, the higher still do their cor ruptions swell, and the more do they rage. And, although the force of this sinful propension may be, in some of God's children, in a good measure broken ; yet, in the very best of them, is there some degree or other of this Irritating Power of the Law, to stir them up to sin, even by forbidding them to sim And that is the Last Demonstration. ii. The next thing propoimded, was to enquire into the OBlGlNAi 32 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN, CAUSE, WHENCE THIS SINFUL INCLINATION PBOCEEDS ; hoW it COmes . to pass, that there is, in all men, and even in the best Christians, such a strong propension unto sin. In the enquiry into this, I shall lead you on gradually, by these following steps. 1. In man^s first creation, the will had in it a natural power to de termine the specification of its own acts ; that is, freely to sway itself either unto good or e-vil, which of them it pleased ; and, if there was any bias in it to draw it more one way than another, as some there was, it was an inclination to that which is good. For man's faculties were then entire and perfect : his knowledge clear, to discern what was his chief good, and his highest happi ness : his will free, to choose it ; and his affections ready, to embrace and clasp about j.t. His love, his fear, his joy, his delight, were all of them centered in God : that, which is now in us from grace, was in him from nature. Since the Fall, we need a twofold assistance. One, a Common Influence and Assistance ; such, as is vouchsafed to all men, to enable them to the performance of the common and ordinary ac tions of this life : it is from God's immediate influence, that we are enabled to move, to think, to speak ; for in him we live, and move, and have our being. And then we need also a Special Influence, vouchsafed only to the children of God : whereby we are enabled to perform holy and spiritual actions ; as to love, fear, and obey God sincerely : and this special influence we commonly call grace ; whereby we are enabled to act divinely and spiritually. Now the difference bet"wixt Common and Special Influence lies in this : that what God works in 'us by ^ common influence, is wrought without any grudge or reluctancy in man's nature *to the contrary; but what is "wrought in us by a special influence, is brought to pass, nature gainsaying and contradicting. Thus, when God enables a sinner to act faith, or love, or any divine and heav enly grace, this is contrary to the tendency of corrupt nature, and therefore this is called Special Grace. Now while man stood in the state of innocency, there was noth ing in his nature, that contradicted his fear of God, his dependence on God, or his love to God ; and, therefore, to enable him to act all these, he needed no special influence of special grace, but only of a common and ordinary pro"vidence. Before the Fall, Adam stood in no need at all ^ any such thing as that special grace of which we now stand in need ; but the same assistance of God, for the kind of it, that enabled him to move, or to speak, or to think, was suf DISCOUlfSES CONCEBNING SIN. 33 ficient also to enable him to perform the most spiritual obedience : because, then, the most spiritual obedience was no more to him, than those actions which we call natural, as eating, and drinking, walking, and thinking, are to us now ; and, therefore, he required no more assistance from God for the performance of spiritual obe dience, than we now require from God for our natural actions. Now, as he had this perfection of power to perform what was good ; so, he had a proneness of will also to it : but, yet, in that prone ness there was not perseverance : he might, as afterwards he did, turn aside from God unto Satan ; and, notwithstanding his inclina tion to obedience and proneness to that which was good, yet, hav ing not a perseverance in that proneness, but being lord over his own will as he was over the rest of the visible creation, he volun tarily and wilfully consented to the commission of sin. 2. This voluntary inclination of Adam to sin hath ever since, by a dreadful yet righteous judgment of God, brought upon all his posterity a natural and necessary inclination unto sin : so that now, either what ever they do is sin, or there is sin in whatever they do. That we may clearly apprehend how Adam's first sin and provo cation, committed so many thousand years ago, causes such strong propensions to sin in all his posterity, you must observe these fol lowing particulars. (1) We and all mankind were in Adam, not only as in our com- , mon parent, from whom we received our being ; but as in our com mon head, surety, and representative, from whom we were to re ceive either our well or our ill being. He was the head of the covenant. Both he and we were parties in the covenant: he obeying, we obeyed; and, he sinning, we 'transgressed : what he did, as in this public capacity, was not alone his personal act, but it was ours also. Now what right Adam had to indent*for his posterity, and to oblige them to the terms of the covenant, I have long since opened to you on another occasion,* and I shall therefore pass it by now. (2) The thre^ening annexed to the Covenaat of Works was death. In the day that thou eatest thereof, says' God, -^Aom sJialt surely die: Gen. ii. 17. There is a threefold death, that, by the violation of this com mand, man was subject unto : a Temporal death ; consisting in the miseries of this life, and, at last, in a separation of the soul from * This probably refers to "The Doctrine of the Two Covenants," where the snbiect is fully discussed. That Treatise was not published, however, till several years alter this Discourse. Editob. Vol. II.— 3 34 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. the body : an Eternal death ; consisting in the everlasting separa tion of the soul from God : and a Spiritual death ; consisting in the loss and separation of God's image from the soul. And, upon Adam's sin, this threefold death was threatened ; namely temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Of these three, the spiritual death was pre sently inflicted upon man's fall ; consisting in the separation of the image of God from the soul : man was immediately deprived of that holiness and perfect righteousness, wherein the imagp of God did consist. 3. No action can be holy, that doth not flow from ihe image of God in the soul, as from itk principle. Every action is sinful, that hath not the glory of God for its end. Now no action can have the glory of God for its end, that hath not the image of God for its principle : and, therefore, man being de spoiled of this image of God, there is no action "of any man in the state of nature, but what is sinful and corrupt. And hence it i.s, that, in regeneration, God again stamps his image upon the soul : not, indeed, so perfectly as at man's first creation ; but, yet, in such a degree, as doth, through grace, enable him to act holily, and in some ineasure according to the will of God. 4. Though man he despoiled of the image of God, and cannot act holily ; yet he is a busy and active creature, and must and will he still acting. Se hath an active nature, and he hath active faculties, still left him ; though the image of God, that should make those actions holy, is justly taken from him. And here, at last, we have traced out the true cause of that strong propension, tha^ there is in all men unto sin. While the soul en joyed the image of God, it sought especially to do all in reference unto God: but, now that it hath lost that image, it cannot any longer raise up its actions to a suitableness to the will of God ; and therefore now it sinks them, and seeks only to jDlease its own car nal desires and .appetite. Take the whole resoliition of it in two or three words. The nature of the soul makes it prone and in clined to act ; for it is a busy, active creature : an%if it acts, it must sin ; because it hath not the image of God to raise its actions to a holy and divine conformity to the will of God : and, therefore, now to be prone to act, is to be prone to sin, and this is the-true ground of that strong propension, that is in all men, to that, which is evil and sinful. But, you will say, "if this proneness to sin be from the loss of God's image, how comes it to pas.s, that those, who are renewed again according to the image of God, do still complain of this strong proneness and propension to sin ?" DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 35 To this I answer,. that in those of fallen mankind, to whom God is pleased to, restore his image in regeneration, accordingly as this image is more or less perfect so is this proneness to sin more or less strong ; but, because the best are but in part renewed, therefore this sinful proneness is biit in part destroyed in the best : grace weakens it ,but grace ^th not quite remove it ; and therefore the holiest Christain hath and shall have as long as he lives in this world, cause to complain, with the Apostle, Eom. vii. 23, I see another law in my memhers, warring against the law of my mind. There is a car nal, sensual inclination in him ; strongly swaying him to sin, con trary to the bent and inclination of his renewed part : and, therefore, he shall have cause still to cry out, .with the Apostle, 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the hody of this death f Be cause the image of God is but in part restored in him, therefore there is partly also an inclination in him to sin. Yea, but you will say, " Possibly this inclination, in the best Christians, may be to smaller and lesser sins ; but it cannot be thought, that a child of God, who is renewed again according to the image of God, should have a strong proneness and inclination to those foul sins, that the wicked of the world lie in." To this I answer : The most that grace doth, in the best of God's children, in this life, is, to weaken and lessen that natural propen sion, that is in a child of God to every sin ; but not to destroy that propension to any one sin at all, no not to the foulest and- vilest sins. The Old Man, in this life, never loseth one limb ; though it be weakened and consuming away in his whole body. Take a child of God, that, before his conversion, had a strong propension to any sin ; suppose what sin you "will, though never so foul and horrid : the same propension still remains : it is not isdeed so violent and raging as it was ; but there it is : it is abated and over come by grace ; but still there is the same proneness to sin. It may be, a Christian is not so sensible of this propension to sin, nor so frequently as formerly he hath been : but, yet, the experience ofthe best sometimes? can inform them, that, even to the worst sins and most horrid temptations, they find a faction and party in their hearts to promove them ; and', it is as much work as grace can do, to subdue and quell these great sins. iii. I now come to enquire into the gbounds and beasons, why god should SUFFEE THIS PBONENESS TO SIN TO CONTINUE IN HIS DEABEST SAINTS AND CHILDEEN, AFTEE THEIB CONVEBSIOX AND BEGENEEATION. Possibly, some may think it would have been more conducible 36 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. to God's glory, as well as to their own peace and comfort, if God had at once, at their first conversion, utterly destroyed all seeds and remainders of corruption in them, and at first made them as perfectly holy as they shall be at last. Hereby, God would not have been so pro voked as he is, nor his Spirit so grieved, nor the Devil so rejoiced, at the daily miscarriages of the best Christians^Wherefore is it, that God hath perfected the saints now in glory, but that they might yield him perfect obedience and service ? Why, truly our services would be as perfect and as well pleasing unto God as theirs are, were our im perfect natures as theirs are ; and, therefore, God would have had a double heaven, an upper and a lower heaven, had he but destroyed sin in us upon earth : and, since it might seem so much to redound to his glory, why hath he not consummated our sanctification ; but hath still left thorns in our eyes, and goads in our sides, with which not only we but he himself also is grieved and vexed? What** should be the reason o^this? To answer this question : you must know the general and com prehensive reason thereof, is his own sovereign, unaccountable good-will and pleasure ; into which the reason of all things is most rationally resolved : and, therefore, that, among all mankind that lay all alike in the same mass of corruption, some are sanctified and some are not ; that, amojig them that are sanctified some are sanctified in one degree and some in another, and yet none so perfectly as to be freed from sin ; the best of God's saints may rest satisfied in this : it is God's good pleasure, to give forth his grace in such a measure ; to some more, to some less ; as shall only weaken, not utterly destroy, the corruptions of his people. There fore the Apostle, in Heb. x. 10, speaking of Christ's coming to do the will of ©od, by the -which will, says he, we are sanctified. That we are sanctified, when others are not, is from the -will of God : that we are sanctified in such a measure, not more nor less, must be re solved into the sovereign and uncontrollable will of God : by the which will we are sanctified. And yet, there are also many wise ends and reasons of this will of God, why he should leave still such sinful propensions and cor rupt inclinations, even in the best of his people. As, 1. Hereby, God maintains a beauty and h(j,rmony in the works of grace, as well as in the works of nature. The beauty and harmony of the universe consists in gradation ; whereby, as by little steps or rounds, we ascend from one kind of being to another. Thus, God hath placed man in the world, as it were a middle step betwixt brute creatures and angels; and, there- DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 37 fore, he partakes somewhat of the nature of both : his soul and hia intellectual part — that, is made like the nature of angels : and then there is in him a sensitive part, desires and propensions ; and, on this side, he is akin even to the beasts that perish. So is it also in the works of grace: a Christianis, as it were, a step betwixt a wick ed man and an angel:/, a wicked man hath no grace, and a holy angel hath no sin : now to makeup this great gap, God hath placed' a Christian as a middle step betwixt them, to tack and unite the moral world together : there is in him a heavenly and spiritual part ; and, by that, he is of affinity to the angels : and there are also in him sinful desires and sinful inclinations ; and, by these he holds hands -with wicked men, and is thereby joined to them. And thus God illustrates his wisdom, in causing such an admirable harmony and gradual difference in the works of grace : bringing men out of a state of mere sinful nature, to a state of grace mixed -with sin ; and, from a state of mixed grace, to a state of pure and complete grace, where, at last, a Christian shall be fully consummated, and be as the angels of God. Thus, from step to step, God gradually carries on the work of sanctification to perfection ; and, hereby, he maintains an admirable beauty and harmony in the works of grace, as well as in the works of nature. This sets forth the beauty of the world, that there is such a conveyance from one kind of crea tures to another : whereby they touch one another, and are tacked together by several orders, as inanimate aod sensitive ; then, rational, as men ; then, .intellectual, as angels. So also is it in grace : from a -wicked man, to a saint, partly wicked and partly gracious : from a saint on earth, to a saint in heaven ; where the imperfect work of grace, here on earth, is swallowed up by perfect grace and holiness. 2. Therefore doth God suffer sinful inclinations to remain in the best Christians, that he might have wherewithal continually to exercise the graces of Ms people. ^ Some graces are Graces of War, if I may so call them ; which would never be exercised, if we had not enemies to encounter with. And, therefore, as it is said in Judges iii. 2, that God would not utterly drive out all the nations before the children of Israel, but left some of them among them, that, by continual combating and fighting with them, they might learn war : so neither hath God utterly expelled the Spiritual Canaanites out of the hearts of his people, to this end, that, by daily conflicting with them, they might learn the wars of the Lord, and might grow expert in the handling and using every piece of their Spiritual and Christian Armour. How should we keep a holy watch and ward, if we had no enemies 38 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. to beat up our quarters ? and how should we exercise faith, which St. John tells us is our victory, if we had no enemies to conquer ? and shbuld we exercise repentance and godly sorrow, whereby the soul is recruited and whereby its graces are reinforced again, if so be we were never foiled nor overcome by our spiritual enemies ? Part of our spiritual armour would soon rust, but that our corrup tions and sinful inclinations put us daily upon a necessity of using it. Shortly, when we come to heaven, we shall have no need nor use of these graces : there, we shall be out ofthe reach of all enemies : and, therefore, God is resolved to exercise these graces here, and suffers corruption to abide in this life ; that so, grace, making way through this corruption, may enter into heaven, where it shall for ever rest and triMmph. These warring graces of the saints have no time nor place to be exercised in, but only in this life : and, because God will have all the . parts of holiness have their due exercise, therefore hath he left these corruptions in the soul, that their war ring graces might have enemies to encounter with. And, 3. Serehy also the almighty power of God is exceedingly glorified, in preserving us, through faith, unto salvation ; notwithstanding our own violent inclination and proneness to sin, unto our own destruction. Though St. Peter, when he walked upon dry land, was upheld by the po-v/er of Christ, as God : yet that power was not so remarkably glorious, in his preservation and walking upon the dry land ; as when Christ lent him his*hand and upheld him from sinking, when he walked and stood upon the surface of the water ; because tiien he had a proneness and propension in him to sink, more than when he stood upon the dry land. So, truly, I may say that the stand ing of the glorified saints in heaven in a state of holiness, although it may be and is a work of God's almighty power : yet it seems not altogether so much to magnify the power of God, in preserving them in that state of holiness and glory, no not to eternity ; as it doth to preserve a poor weak Christian one day in a state of grace : because there is no proneness in a glorified saint, to fall from his happiness into sin ; but there is in a saint on earth, to fall from grace, and from the. work of God upon his soul. 4. TMs glorifies also the prevalency of Christ's intercession, and tlie triumph of Gods pardoning grace and mercy. Oh, how exceedingly glorious is free grace ! in that God can and doth, for Christ's sake, pardon many and great sins, though he cer tainly knows there is sucb a sinful propension left behind in man's nature, that will again be breaking out into the same or greater provocations I DISCOUESES CONCEENINGSIN. 39 iv. The APPLICATION of this point shall be in these particulars. 1. Is there so strong a proneness in the best Christians, to the worst sins ? Hence, then, Let wicked men learn, not to insult over them when they fall, nor to reproach holiness with their foul miscar riages. • Truly, grace hat*h always found it ill-neighbourhood, to dwell in the same soul with sin : for wicked men, being themselves all of one piece, know not how to distinguish betwixt the propensions of the one and of the other : they know not how to distinguish when the Saint in a Christian acts, and when the Sinner : and, so, they very irrationally charge holiness with those crimes, that, were they not in part unholy, they should never commit. When a man, that makes a forward profession of religion, and in the general course of his life makes conscience of his ways, doth, through temp tation or inadvertency, fall into some sin that becomes notorious ; what is more common in the mouths of profane scoffers, than this ? " This is one of your godly ones ! This is one of the sanctified gang P' Thus they laugh and sneer at him. But, sinner, let me tell thee, thou mistakest the man. Did you ever hear him pray so as to charm heaven ; and, which is more, so as to melt even your hearts into affection ? Did you ever hear him discourse of spiritual things, as if he had been intimate with angels, and one of heaven's secretaries ? Have you formerly observed in him a blameless and exemplary conversation ? then, indeed, you might say this is one of the godly : holiness owns him, religion glories in him, while he thus adorns his profession ; "but, when he sins, say not, " Behold one of the godly :" this is blasphemy against religion. No : it is not the godly man that sins : no ; it is the corrupt and and unholy part in him-: it is' that part in him, that is most like to thee. In Eomans vii. 17, says the Apostle, It is no more I, but sin that dwell eth in me. And, if it be indwelling sin that is the cause of actual sin in the best, why then do you belie their graces ? Why do you accuse them, whom the Apostle vindicates ; telling you plainly, that it is not they, but sin in them ? Learn, therefore, to put a difference betwixt a Saint and a Sinner in every child of God : and, if it be the sinner in them, that exposeth them to your scorns and flouts, what else do you in upbraiding of them, but more upbraid yourselves, that are nothing but sinners throughout? Judge, there fore, how senseless and unreasonable it is for you to reproach them, whom, were they not so much like you, you would have nothing to reproach with. Therefore, let wicked men never more flout and jeer at the falls and sins of those, that are holy ; imputing them to 40 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. them, as holy : for it is the sinner in them that sins, and not the saint ; and, by upbraiding them for sin, they do more upbraid and reproach themselves. 2. Is there such a strong propension, in the best, to the worst sins ? See, then, what cause even the best have, to he contirmally humhli. Oh, this is that, which breaks the very heart, and rends the very bowels of a true Christian, that he should be so violently inclined to that, which, of all things in the world, his God is most averse to ; and which, of all things in the world, as it is the only thing he never made, so jt is that which he always hates. This is that, which makes him smite his breast with anguish ; and cry out, with the Apostle, 0 wretched man that I am ! And well, truly, may the best saint call himself a -wretched man, since he carries that in his bosom, that will be a perpetual torment and vexation to him as long as he lives. There are factions and rebellions, intestine discords and ci-vil wars within ; the Jlesh lust ing against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusting against the Jlesh: there is a sea of wickedness ; and yet, in the midst of it, true grace, like fire, striving to burn it up. Nay, no wonder this great combustion makes such a smoke and smother, as wrings tears from his eyes. For, when he meditates, this chokes his meditation : he begins with God ; but, through this sinful proneness, he falls, he knows not how, into some impertinent thought or other, and in a moment slides from heaven to earth : his thoughts are like ravelled thread : he knows not the method, order, nor end of them. When he prays, this corruption sits very heavy upon his heart : and as, at the even ing, the shadow of the body moves much faster ; so, truly, many times, the lips move apace in prayer, when yet the heart is dull and drowsy. Wherever he is, whatever he is about, lust ie intrud ing into his company : corruption will be thrusting itself into all his actions. This is that, which makes him weary of his very life, so that he could very well be content, nay he really and heartily wishes from his heart, that this house of clay were pulled do"wn about him. Truly, when we look abroad into the world, and take notice in what filthy sins it wallows ; what oaths and cursings, what blas phemies and drunkenness, what murders, uncleannesses, and riots have every where overspread the face of the whole earth ; what do we see, but the effects of that sinful nature, that is common to us, as well as unto them ? There we see our own hearts unbowelled ; and there we can discern what ourselves are, at the cost of other men's sins. What says the Wise Man, in Prov. xxvii. 19 ? As in DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 41 water, face answereih to face ; so doth ihe heart of a man to a man. It was the proud Pharisee's boast. Lord, / thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican : as it is in Luke xviii. 11. Yes, believe it, you, and I, and all, yea the best of us all, are even as others are. The vilogt sinners, are the truest glasses to represent to our view what our hearts are. Their "wickedness gives in a true inventory of what lies locked up in our breasts : there, we have the same vipers knotting and sprawl ing within, that crawl forth in others' lives : there, are rancour, and malice, and hatred, and slaughters, and adulteries ; and the whole spawn of all those black sins, that have made men either infamous in story, or mighty in torment. And, that we have not yet out- sinned all the copies that ever were set us, that we have not yet discovered some new unknown wickedness to the world, is not because our inclination to sin or our stock of corruption fails us ; but because God's grace, either preventing or renewing, fails not. Where then is the Christian, that hath hot cause to go mourning to his grave ? Can you blame him, when you see him sad and dis consolate ; -when he hath no less reason for. it, than a heart brimfull of sin ? Certainly, that man neither loves God, nor his own soul, that can hear that there is in him such a -violent propension to in jure the one and ruin the other, without exclaiming, with the Pro phet, Woe is me I fen- 1 am undone ; because I am a man of an un clean heart and of polluted lips I It is but just, yea it is all the reason in the world, that, while our hearts continue to be fountains of sin, our heads should continue to be fountains of tears. 3. Is .there, in the best, a strong proneness to the worst sins ? What cause have we then, to long and breathe after heaven I For, not till then, shall we be free from it. Indwelling sin hath taken a lease of our souls, and holds them by our own lives : it ¦will be in us to the last gasp ; and, as the heart is the last that dies, so also is that corruption that lodgeth in it. But, yet, die it must, and die it shall : and this is the comfort of a child of God, that, though he brought sin with him into the world, yet he shall not carry it with him out of the world. God hath so wisely ordered and appointed it, that, as death came in "by sin, so also shall sin it self be destroyed by death : as worms, when they creep into their holes, leave their slime and their dirt behind them ; truly, so is it ' with a Christian : when^he dies, he leaves all his slime, all his filth and corruption, at the mouth of the grave ; and his soul gets free from that clog, and mounts up into the bosom of God : and there alone is it, that it shall no more strive and struggle against sinful 42 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. propensions and inclinations : there, shall it be eternally fixed and confirmed, not only in glory, but in holiness also : we shall there be out of the reach of Satan's temptations. We read, indeed, that sometimes the Devil appears before God, as an accuser; but we never read, that he comes there as a tempter ; we shall no more feel the first risings and steamings-up of corruption, there : no more shall we cast kind glances upon our sins, nor have hovering thoughts towards them. 0 blessed necessity, when the soul shall be tied up to one all-satisfying good ! when it shall have as natural a prone ness and ardour to delight in God, as to love itself, and to delight in its own happiness ! And who then would desire to linger any longer here below ; and to spin out his wretched life, wherein sin and sorrow shall have the greatest share ? Here the best of us are in perpetual combats and quarrels betwixt sin and grace : the bne will not yield, and the other cannot : corruption compels one way, and grace commands another. Haste, therefore, 0 Christian, out of this scuffle : make haste to heaven, and there the controversy will be for ever decided : there, shalt thou no more live in fear of new sins, nor yet in sorrow for old sins ; but all sorrow *nd sighing shall flee away : all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, and all sin shall be rooted out of our hearts ; and we shall be perfectly holy, even as the angels themselves. 4. Is there such a strong proneness, in the best, to the worst sins ? TMs then should teach us, carefully to avoid all temptations to sin, and -whatever may he an occasion to draw forth that corruption that lies la tent within us. Wherefore is it, that one petition, of those few that Christ taught his disciples, was, that God would not lead them into temptation ; but because he knew that there are in all of us sinful natures, that do too, too well correspond with temptations? And he knew, that, if we were brought into temptations, it is very seldom that we are brought off from them without sin. Were we as free from inherent sin, as Adam was at first; or, were we confirmed in grace, as the saints in heaven now are ; we might then repel all temptations with ease : and therefore our Saviour, ' whose nature was spotless by an extraordinary conception, and whose holiness was secure to him by an unspeakable, union of the ¦godhead, tells us, in John xiv. 30, the prince of this world came, and. found nothing in hiiji. The Devil came to tempt him ; but, because he found nothing in him, therefore he could fasten nothing upon him: no' temptation could enter, because there iwas no corruption to receive it ; and, therefore, when he tempted Christ, he only cast DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 43 fiery darts against an impenetrable rock ; a rock, that will beat them back again into his own face. But our corruptions have niade'us combustible matter, that there is scarce a dart thrown at us in vain : when he tempts us, it is but like the casting of fire into tinder, that presently catcheth : our hearts kindle upon the least spark that falls ; as a vessel, that is brimfull of water, upon the least jog, runs over. Were we but true to ourselves, though the Devil might knock, by his temptations ; yet he could never burst open the everlasting doors of our hearts, by force or violence : but, alas ! we ourselves are not all of one heart and one mmd : Satan hath got a strong party within us; that, as soon as he knocks, opens to him. and entertains him. And, hence is it, that, many times, small temptations and very petty occasions draw forth great corruptions : as a vessel, that is full of new liquor, upion the least vent given, works over into foam and froth ; so, truly, our hearts, almost upon every slight and trivial temptation, make that inbred corruption, that lodgeth there, swell, and boil, and run over into abundance of scum and filth in our lives and conversations. Have we not great cause, therefore, to be jealous and suspicious of ourselves ; and to keep a watchful eye over all the motions of those bosom-traitors, our own hearts ? Se, that trusteth to his own. heart, says Solomon, is a fool: Prov. xxviii. 26. Certainly, it were the greatest folly in the world, to trust our hearts, after so frequent experience of their treachery and slipperiness. Venture them not, therefore, upon temptations. What security have you, that your sinful hearts will not sin ; yea and, it may be, betray you into such great abominations, as you cannot now think of -without horror ? As men presume upon the mercy of God, to pardon their lesser sins ; so they presume also upon their own strength, to preserve them from greater sins. They say of small sins, " Is it not a little one, and our souls shall live?" And they say of great sins, "Is i* not a great one, and our souls shall never commit it ?" Alas ! how know you, but, if once you lay your head in the lap of a temp tation, these Philistines will be upon you ? and you, like Sampson, think to go and shake yourselves, as at other times : but, alas ! your great strength is departed from you ; and you, left a prey to the foulest and worst of sins. And thus now you have seen in David's prayer, the best saints' proneness to the worst sins. IV. The next ' thing observable is, THE BEST SAINTS' WEAKNESS AND INABILITY TO PEESEEVE THEM SELVES, WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF DIVINE GEAGK 44 DISCOUESES GONCBENING SIN. And both these, namely, their proneness to commit sin, and their weakness to resist it, are evident demonstrations of the general pro position : The Almighty grace of God is their best, yea and their only security. Now, as the bottom and foundation of this present exercise, I shall lay down this point to be treated of. That it is not a cheistian's own, but god's powee only, that can peeseeve him feom thb commission of the most daeing and peesumptuous sins. And yet, truly, if any sins are easy to be resisted and overcome, they are the sins of the grosser sort : for, many times, it is with sins, as with overgrown bodies ; the vaster the bulk of them is, the less is their force and activity. i. The soul hath geeat advantage to lay hold on geeat SINS, AND TO EEEP THEM OFF AT AEM'S LENGTH ; WHEN LESS SINS SLIP IN, AND SEIZE UPON THE HEAET UNPEECEIVABLY. For, 1. Great and Presumptuous Sins seldom make an assault upon the soul, but they give warning b&forehand to prepare for resistance. The stratagems of war, if they are but discovered, usually prove unsuccessful : as strong liquors, taking vent, lose their strength and spirits. So is it in this holy war also : the soul may easily foresee gross sins, and therefore may more easily avoid them. If a man feel in himself sinful* thoughts stirring, and sinful desires strug gling, hereupon an assault is made, and the Devil hereby gives us warning what sins we should especially watch against : are they lascivious thoughts? beware of uncleanness: are they wrathful thoughts ? beware of murder : are they murmuring thoughts ? be ware of blasphemy : are they worldly thoughts and desires ? be ware of oppression and injustice. Thus these giant-like sins stand forth in view, and send open defiance to the soul, and bid it pre pare for the combat. Sinful thoughts and sinful desires go before, as armour-bearers use to go before their champions, and proclaim what great lust is about to make an assault upon the soul. • Now such fore- warnings as these are a great advantage, that we have, to repel and subdue them. Job xxxiv. 32, That, which I see not; teach thou me. And what follows ? If I have done iniquity, I xuill do so no more. When a man sees his enemy before him, this is a mighty advantage, either to avoid or to conquer. This advantage we have not against smaller sins. We cannot so easily escape sins of ignorance, because we cannot see them; nor yet the sins of our thoughts and desires, because we cannot foresee them. Who of us all knows what thoughts will next bub- DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 45 ble up in our hearts, whether holy and gracious, or whether sinful and profane ? These strike without warning ; and, as an enemy within, rise up in the midst of our hearts unseen. Si,ns are of two sorts : either those, by which we are tempted ; or those, to which we are tempted. The De"vil makes use of one sin,' to tempt to another ; of a less, to tempt to a greater. Thus, wicked thoughts are, at once, sins in themselves, and also tempta tions unto wicked actions. Now it is very hard, and the best Chris tians find it so, to kepp themselves free from sinful thoughts ; be cause these spring up immediately in the heart, without any fore going temptations to them : but, while the Devil is tempting us to sinful actions by sinful thoughts, then the soul hath leisure to re collect itself, to muster up all its graces, to set its guards, to call in divine help and assistance ; and, upon these preparations, it may more easily resist the sin and overcome the temptation. And that is one great advantage which we have, to keep our selves from Presumptuous Sins. 2. Natural conscience also abhors more, and doth more oppose, these outrageous. Presumptuous Sins, than it doth those sins, that it judgetk to proceed only from weakness and infirmity ; and this also gives us a mighty advantage to keep ourselves from them. Little sins do not much disturb the peace and quietness of a man's conscience ; and, therefore, the Apostle speaks of himself before his conversion, in Acts xxiii. 1, / have lived, says he, in all good conscience before God until this very day. And so, in Phil. iii. 6, touching the Law, says he, speaking of himself before his conver sion, I was blameless. How could that be ? What ! blameless ; and unconverted, and in a state of nature ! Yes, he was not guilty of notorious, scandalous sins ; and, as for lesser faults, his consci ence overlooked them, and never blamed him for them. And so, truly, is it with many a moral man : his conscience hath not a word to say against all his small and petty sins : let his heart be sensual, and his thoughts vain, and his discourse unsavoury , and his life unprofitable ; yet, still, conscience and he live very friendly to gether : But, let the Devil tempt such a sober sinner as this is, to murder, ot adultery, or drunkenness, or some such branded impiety, conscience then flings fire-brands and storms, and cries out, with Hazael, What ! is thy servant a dog, that he should do such things as these are? As subjects pay to their prince, in many little sums, "without grudging, that, which, were it exacted from them, all at once, in one great tax, would make them repine if not rebel ; so is it with us : we stand not with the Devil for small sins ; but, if he 46 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. tempt US to greater abominations, then conscience makes an alarm and uproar in the soul, and will not, nay cannot consent to damn itself by wholesale. Certainly, that man, that can, as our Saviour speaks of the Pharisees, swallow camels, sins of a huge bulk and size, without any check or straining at them, must needs have a conscience as wide-mouthed as hell ; and he, who hath so large a conscience, hath no conscience at all. And that is another advantage which we have against Presump tuous Sins. 3. The fear of shame and of infamy in the world, many times, puti a great restraint upon the lusts of men; and keeps them from breaking out into those daring and ' presumptuous wickednesses, that otherwise they would do, therefore, our Saviour describes the Unjust Judge to be one of a strange temper, that neither feared God, nor regarded man : Luke ' xviii. 2. Those, that have worn off all fear of God from their hearts, yet usually have some awe of man still left them : though they are so hardened, that they fear not God's judging them ; yet they are withal so childish, that they fear man's censuring them' : loth they are, that their names should be tossed to and fro, from tongue to tongue ; that the world should say ,of them, " This man is a drunkard," and " That man is an unclean person," and "That man is a thief" Tell me, 0 sinner, why else dost thou seek cor ners to hide thy wickedness in? why dost thou not do it in the face of the sun, and before the eyes of the whole world ? Why that very shame, that makes men skulk in secret when they sin, had they no secrecy to hide themselves in from the notice of men, would keep them also from the sin itself It doth not terrify men to con sider, that God writes down all their sins iji his book of remem brance ; but, should he write all their sins upon their foreheb,ds in visible letters, that all the world might read them, where is the wretch so impudent, that would dare to be seen abroad? Our streets would be desolate, and your pews would be empty, and the world would grow a wilderness ; and those, that we took for men, would appear to be but very monsters and beasts : such woeful transformation hath sin made in the world. How many swine are tbere, wallowing in their o"wn vomit! how many goatish sensualists are become brutish in filthy pleasures! how many earth-worms are there, crawling up and down in the muck of this world, loading themselves with thick clay ! Certainly, if every sinner should be seen in his own shape,'we should meet with very few men in the world. Now wicked men are ashamed to be seen abroad in such DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 47 disguises as these are, and therefore they study to sin in secret ; or, if that cannot be, they force themselves to abstain from sin ; an- Avilling they are to be pointed at in the streets. " There goes a drunkard, or an extortioner : there, a cheater, or an adulterer ;" and the like : and, for very fear thereof, sometimes they are kept from the commission of those infamous sins, that would make them a reproach to all their neighbours. And that is another advantage. 4. The fear of human laws and penalties doth many times keep men from the committing many great and horrid irnpieties, such as would fall under the notice of the law. It is a great mercy, that God hath instituted magistracy, that may be a terror to evil works ; as the Apostle speaks, Eom. xiii. 3. Were it not more for fear of human laws inflicting of corporal pun ishments upon men, than God's threatening of eternal punishments, the whole world would become worse than a savage wilderness : within, would be fears and tumults ; without, would be rage and violence : our dwellings, our persons, our possessions, would be all exposed to the furious lusts of ungodly men ; and, hy swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, men would break foiih, till blood toucheth blood; as the Prophet speaks : Hos. iv. 2. But the wise Providence of God, who hath subdued the beasts of the earth to man, hath also subdued man, who else would become more wild and brutish than they, to man : God hath there fore subdued man to man, so thstt those, that stand not in any awe of the God of Heaven, yet are awed by the gods of the earth ; and those, whom the thoughts of hell and eternal wrath cannot scare from sin, yet many times the thoughts of a prison and gibbet do. Now this fear is of great advantage, to keep men from the com mission of Presumptuous Sins ; which they have not, to keep them from the commission of lesser and smaller sins. And, what ! is not this security enough against them ? Is there need of any more ? Were it not strange, if the warning given be forehand to prepare for resistance, if the reluctancy of natural 'con science, if the shame of the world and the fears of human laws and penalties, should not be sufficient to preserve us from them ? Were not this strange ? Yes, it were so : yet so it is. ii. Notwithstanding all these advantages, still we have GEEAT CAUSE TO PEAY, WITH DAVID, Lord, keep back thy servants from Presumptuous Sins. All other defence is but weak, and all other security is but unsafe : Lord, therefore do thou keep us. And this I shall endeavoitr to demonstrate unto you, by two par ticulars : the one, from Scripture ; and, the other, from Experience. 48 DISCOUESES CONCE BTS" ING SIN, 1. From Scripture. All our ability, whether for the performance of duties or for the opposing of corruption, is, in Scripture, entirely ascribed unto the power of God. Thus, the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians, in chap. vi. 10. My brethren, be strong. But, in whom ? what, in yourselves ? no, says he, but, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might : for, in his almighty power, though mighty corruptions rush in upon you and threaten your ruin, though the Devil and the powers of hell push sore at you to make you fall"; yet God calls upon you to stand, and to withstand them all. " Stand, alas ! how can we ? such poor weak feeble creatures as we are, how can we stand ?" why, says the Apostle, he strong in the Lord: there is your security against allthe force of your spiritual enemies : lay hold on his almighty power, and engage that for you, and this will bring you off the field "with victory and conquest. So, again, in 2 Cor. iii. 5. We are not sufficient, says the Apos tle, of ourselves, to do anything as of ourselves : not sufficient to think a good thought, and therefore not sufficient to resist an e"vil thought. For our resisting of an evil thought must be by thinking a good one : if an evil thought rise up in our hearts, we cannot, of our selves, so much as think, that that thought is evil, nor think that it ought to be suppressed and stifled ; and, much less, can we then, of ourselves, suppress any sin. And what shbuld we do under this utter impotency and inability, but call in divine help and assist ance ? our sufficiency is of God. Yet, in this, we cannot think our sufficiency to be of God, nor can we depend upon the sufficiency of God to enable us to do it : For it is God, says the Apostle, that worketh in us both to will and to do of his oivn good pleasure, both to think and to act ; so you have it in Phil. ii. 13. So that it is most evident, to all, that will not wilfully shut their eyes against the light of truth, that both the first motions and the whole succeeding progress of the soul, either to the performance of duty or to the resistance of sin, are wholly from God's almighty power engaged for them, and strengthening them to the one and for the other. 2. Another demonstration of this truth shall be from the Com mon Experience of all. Have you not found, sometimes, that you could, with holy scorn and disdain, reject those very temptations to sin, that, at other times, when God hath absented himself from you, when he hath DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 49 withdrawn his power and grace, have sadly prevailed upon you, it may bd^to the commission of some daring and presumptuous sin ? Have you not found it to be so ? What else is this, but an evident argument; that it is not your own, but God's power, that keeps you from the worst sins ? We may conclude by our falls, when God doth forsake us, that, when we stand, we stand not by our o-wn strength, but by his.- Why do you not always fall'? or why do you not always stand ? will you say it is, because we are not al ways alike tempted ? if you be not, why, then, since the Devil is always alike malicious ? even herein, appear the mercy and power of God, who almightily rebukes him : but when you are alike tempted, whence proceeds it, that sometimes you yield, and some times you resist and conquer ; but only from hence, sometimes God is present to assist you, and sometimes he departs from you to hum ble you ? he is present sometimes, that you might not utterly sink and perish under your sins ; and he absents himself sometimes, that you inay be sensible by your falls, that formerly it was not your own, but his power that preserved you. And this may suffice for the demonstration of the truth ; That it is not in the power ofthe best Christians to keep themselves from Presumptuous Sins, but God's power only can do this. iii. Now, by this time, possibly it may arise up in the, hearts of some profane ones, to make the same objection, as some did, in the Apostle's days, against the doctrine of election : " If it be so, that it is not in my own power to keep myself from the commis sion of sin, yea of the greatest and worst sins, but only God's power can do this: "why doth he yet complain? why doth he yet find fault with us for doing that, which we cannot but do, unless he himself preserve us from it ?" I might here take occasion to vindicate the equity and righteous ness of God, in requiring from us the exercise of that power, that he bestowed upon our natures at first, and which we lost only through our own wilful default : but I have done this divers times already ; and, therefore, I shall only at present briefly consider what power men have still left them, both in a state of nature and in a state of grace, to keep themselves from the commission of sin : and that, in a few particulars, briefly. 1. Clear it is, that, whatever power men have, either to naturals or to spirituals ; yet they cannot act or exercise that power, without exciting influence from God to quicken and rouse it. Who will say, that a man, that sits, hath not power to rise ; and that a man, that stands, hath, not power to walk ? and yet it is cer- voi. n.— 3 50 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. tain, he neither shall rise nor walk, unless God move and excite and rouse that power of his, and put it upon that work : for, in Mm, as we live, so we move and have our heing. So, then, the power to use our power is from God's quickening, enlivening, and actuating of us. 2. A child of God, -who is regenerated and born again, hath a power to do something that is not sin : because he hath a gracious principle wrought "within him" ; and he acts for a right end, even the glory of God in the salvation of his soul. • But yet, this, withal, must be supposed, that he shall never so act, without the special aid and assistance of God, quickening and stirring up his graces. .3. A man, in a state of nature, hath rm power to keep Mmself from sin in general. That is, he hath no power to do any thing, but what is sinful ; for, whatever action is not sinful must flow from a gracious princi ple, and must be directed to a -right end; which no action of a wicked man can be, for both the first principle and , also the last end of every action, that a wicked man doth, are carnal self. 4. Though wicked men have not a power to do that, which is not sin ful; yet they have a power to resist this or that particular sin. They are sadly necessitated to act within the sphere of sin ; that is, whatever they act is sinful ; but, yet, they may, as it "were, choose which sin they will act. Neither doth this overthrow what was de livered before: for, when they choose a less sin rather than a greater, when they avoid the commission of a daring and presump tuous sin and choose rather to perform a duty ; this proceeds not merely from their own power, but from the power and infiuence pf God, raising and exciting their power. That men choose to feed upon wholesome meat rather than upon poison, though they have a free-will to do so ; yet this doth not merely proceed from their free-will, but from God's guiding and exciting that free-will, to choose wholesome food rather than poison. So it is here : what sin man avoids, is not to be ascribed to his own power, though a power he hath : but it is to be ascribed only to God's common or to his special grace and influence, whereby that power, that would otherwise lie dead and unacted, is quickened and actuated in us. What difference is there, betwixt- a man that hath no power, and a man that hath a power but yet cannot use it ? Truly, such are we; what power we have against sin, we cannot make use of, till God raise and- act us by his exciting grace : therefore have we still need to pray, with David, Lord, do thou keep me from sin : for, though DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 51 I have a power, yet it is but a latent and sleepy power ; and Avill not be available, till thou dost awaken and quicken it. V. The next 'thing to be enquired into, is HOW GOD KEEPS MEN BACK FEOM PEESUMPTUOUS SINS, even then, when their proneness to them is riiost violent and eager. For satisfaction to this, you must know, that God hath two hands, whereby he holds men back from their sins. The strong hand of his Providence. The powerful hand of Grace. And, sometimes, God puts both "these hands to it, in a mixed way of Providence and Grace together. These are, as it were, 3-od's left-hand and his right-hand : by the one he overrules the lotions ; and, by the other, he overrules the hearts of men : and both, almightily. i. God frequently "withholds men from the commission of sin, BY k STEONG HAND OF PROVIDENCE UPON THEM. , Frequently, he doth so :, and, that he doth not so always, is not because he is defective, either in power or goodness, whereby he should restrain them from evil ; but because he is infinite in wisdom, whereby he knows how to bring good out of evil. And, therefore, before I proceed to lay down those several ways that Providence takes to hinder the commission of sin,. I shall pre mise this : That it is no taint at all to the pure holiness of God, that he doth, by his Providence, concur to those wickednesses of men, that, if he pleased, he might prevent and hinder. That God doth so is clear : for Pro"vidence is not so often a re straint from sin, as it is a powerful temptation unto sin. It is a temptation, as it administers objects and opportunities, and as it suits them both unto the lusts of men. Thus, Cain killed his brother Abel, by a providence ; and Achan stole the wedge of gold : Judas betrayed his master, and the Jews crucified him, by a providence : yea, all that villainy, that ever was acted ^nder the sun, was all brought forth out of the cursed wombs of men's lusts, and made fruitful by God's Providences. • . _ ' Neither is it hard to conceive, how-God should, without sin him self, concur to sin in others : since his most sovereign will, being above all law, cannot possibly fall under any guilt. We are obliged to keep back men from the commission of sin, when it is in our power to do it; but no such obligation lies upon God, though he can easily keep all wicked men in the world from ever sinning more : yea, though they are so tied up, that they are not able to sin without his permission and concurrence ; yet he permits wisely, concurs holily, and yet notwithstanding at last punishes justly. In 52 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. brief, God doth whatever man doth : for, as the Prophet saith, he worketh all our works in us and for us ; and, in him, we live, and move, and have our being. And yet, in one and the same action, , man sins and God is holy : because man acts contrary to that laAV, which God hath set him ; but God himself is subject to no law, be sides his own sovereign will, and where there is no law, there is no transgression, as the Apostle speaks, in Eomans iv. 15. God is not bound to hinder the commission of sin as we are ; and, therefore, when he permits, nay when Providence accomplished it,, still is he holy, just, and good ; still is he righteous 'in all Ms ways and holy in all his works, though he works that together with men, that makes them unrighteous and unholy. This I thought fit to premise, that so, when you hear how many wa^s God is able to hinder the commission of sin by his Provi dence, you should not suffer any undue thoughts to rise up in your hearts against his holiness, when 'he chooseth sometimes rather to permit and concur to the sins of men, than to hinder and forbid them : who, when he permits sin, permits it righteously ; and, when he hinders sin, hinders it almightily. 1. There are Five* remarkable ways, whereby the all-wise Provi dence of God hinders the commission of a sin, even then when men are most bent and eager upon it. (1) Sometimes, Where his Grace doth not sanctify the heart, his Providence shortens the life, of the sinner. Where he doth not cleanse the fountain, yet there he removes the foundation of a sin ; that is^ he takes away the very life and being of the sinner. Many times, when wicked men have imag ined some presumptuous sin, and go big with it, God suddenly cuts them off from the land of the living ; and gives them no space to bring it forth, unless it be in hell among those Devils that inspired it: Ps. Ixiv. 6, 7, says the Psalmist, They search out iniquities: they acgompUsh a diligent search : but what follows ? God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they he wounded: while they are thinking and contriving wickedness in their hearts, in that very day they perish and their thoughts with them. Thus, proud Pha raoh resolves, in spite of God and all his miracles, to bring back the children of Israel to their, old bondage ; but, before he could bring his purpose into execution, God brings him to execution. 'And, so, Sennacherib intends the destruction of Jerusalem; but, before he can compass it, God slays his army and his own children also. Herod intends a bloody persecution against the Church : but * The former editions have /our, but the author enumerates ^!;e. Editob. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 53: God smites him : lice devour ' him'; and eat a way into that very heart, that conceived so wicked a purpose. It Avere endless to cite instances,'in this particular. Histories and hell are full of those, whom God's Providence hath cut off, before they could fulfil their ungodly, designs ; upon whom that threatening in Eccl. ¦ viii. 13, hath been signally verified. It shall not he well with the wicked, neither shall -he prolong his days because he feareth not before God. This Providence God doth usually, if not only, exercise upon wicked men ; snatching them away from their sins, and yet in their sins also.' Yea, and herein he deals with them also, in some kind of mercy, in that he abridges the time of his patience to them, who, he foresees, will only abuse it, and treasure up t(3 themselves v)rath against the day of wrath ; for, hereby, their account is lessened, and their torments made more tolerable. It had been better for sin ners, that they had dropped immediately from the womb to the tomb ; better, that they had been s-vy-addled in- their winding-sheets: yea, shall I say it had been better for them, that they had been doomed to everlasting torments, as soon as they saw the light, than that God should suffer them to live t-wenty, forty, or sixty years, adding iniquity to iniquity without repentance ; and God accord ingly adding torments to torments to punish them, never to be re pented of? Oh, the desperate condition, that sinners are in ! Un less God give them repentance, the sooner the}- are in hell, the bet ter it will be for them ; and it is a mercy, if God will damn them betimes ! Those, whom God doth not endear to his Grace by changing their natures, yet he indebts to his Providence by short ening their lives : ¦ and, yet^ are there none of us, that wish our lives were prolonged to a thousand years, were it possible ; not that we might have a longer time and space to repent, but that we might the longer enjoy our sins ? If God should grant your wish, and keep you alive tilt the Day of Judgment, would not that day become a thousand fold more gloomy and dreadful to you, than if God had cut you off at the ordinary time and age ? and, therefore, it is a great favour, that God vouchsafes both to the elect and to reprobates, in that, since the flood, he hath cut short the days of man upon earth : for, hereby, the elect come to enjoy the glory and happiness of heaven the sooner ; and reprobates feel the_ torments andpunishments of hell the lighter. Providence, by a speedy dis patch, preventing those sins, that otherwise would sink them the deeper into condemnation. (2) God providentially keeps men from sinning, if not by short ening their lives, yet by cutting short their pjwer, whereby they should be enabled to commit sin. 54 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. All that power, that wicked men have to sin, is either from them selves, or from?:their wicked associates whom they make use of as instruments for the accomplishment of their impieties : but Pro-vi- dence can strike them in both ; and, thereby, give their lusts a mis carrying womb and dry breasts. Sometimes, God, by his Provi dence, cuts off their evil Instruments ; and thereby disables them from sinning : sometimes, their instruments for counsel ; thus Provi dence, by overruling Absalom to reject the counsel of Ahithophel, prevents all Ijaat mischief that so wise and so wicked a statesman might have contrived; and thereupon he goes and hangs himself: sometimes he cuts off their instruments of execution ; and, so, God disappointed the hopes of blaspheming Eabshakeh, and sent an angel, that, in one night, killed almost two hundred thousand of the Assyrians dead on the place : certainly, it is great folly, for men, upon confidence of their wise and powerful instruments, to set themselves up against that God, that can, without or against all means and instruments, confound their designs and frustrate all their enterprises. And, as God thus strikes their instruments : so, sometimes, he strikes their Persons ; and takes from them the use of those natural faculties, by which they should be enabled to com mit their sins : sometimes, he hidps their wits from them, and be sots them ; so he did to'the Jews : ^John vii. 30. They sought to apprehend Jesus : who did hinder them ? was he not there among them ? Were there not enough of them to do it ? yet they only stand gazing at him, like men besotted,, till he escapes away from them : sometimes, God hides away their hands from them, and en feebles them ; as in Ps. Ixxvi. 5, None of the mighty men Iw.ve- found their hands : God hath benumbed them, and laid their hands out of the way when they should have used them : the Sodomites, you know, swarmed thick about Lot's house, intending villainy to' his guests; and God smote them with blind>ness, that they groped for the door, even at noon-day : Jeroboam stretcheth out his hand against the Prophet, and God suddenly withers it. This is God's frequent course with wicked men : when he doth not subdue their wills, yet he oftentimes subdues their power of sinning. Yea, and possibly, although we have not such frequent instances of it, God may deal thus sometimes with his own children : thus he hath threatened or promised rather to his Church, that he will hedge up her way with thorns, that she should not be able to break through to her idols, as formerly she had done : so you* have it in Hos. ii. 6. And, indeed, it is a great mercy, that God doth take awa,y that power from men that he sees they will only abuse to their own de- DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 55 struction. It is not cruelty, but Compassion, that chains up mad men ; and takes from them those swords, arrows and firebrands, that else they would hurl up and down abroad, both to their own and others' mischief : and, so, it is God's common pity to sinners, that are very madmen, that fetters and chains them up ; and lays such a powerful restraint upon them by his Providence, that, where their wills are not defective, yet their power to execute sin should be. What would wicked men think, if God should now suddenly strike them dumb, or blind, or lame, or impotent ? would they not account this a heavy judgment inflicted upon them ? they would so: and yet, believe it, it were better Jbr them that God should strike them dumb upon the place, than that they sheuld ever open their mouths more to blaspheme and rail at God and his people : better, they were struck blind, than that the Devil and vile lusts should enter into the soul by those casements : better, that God should maim them, than that they should have strength to commit those sins, that, if but willed, will damn them ; but, if executed, will sink their souls sevenfold deeper into condemnation. Now the Pro"vidence of God, by taking away their power, prevents their wickedness, and so mercifully mitigates their condemnation. (3) Sometimes, God keeps men from the commission of sin, by raising up another power against that, by which the sinner is to execute sin. Thus, when Saul would have put Jonathan to death for break ing a rash vow that he himself had made, God raiseth up the spirits of the people to rescue him ; and they plainly tell him, Jonathan shall not die. The Jews hated Christ, and would have killed him, but that they feared the people, whom his miracles had obliged to him, so that they durst not venture upon him till his hour was come. '• (4) Sometimes, Providence casts" in some seasonable diversion, that turns them off from the commission of that sin, that they intended. When they are hotly pursuing their wickedness, Providence starts some other game for them, and sets them upon some other work. Thus it fared with Antiochus, in Dan. xi. 30 : he sets himself against the Holy Covenant ; but, for all his rage against it, he shall return into his own land, says God: for the ships of Chittim shall come against him, and the ships of the Eomans ; and, instead of invading others' dominions, he must return to defend his own: thus God diverted him from his design of ruining the Jews. And, sometimes, where God doth not dry up the spring of corruption, yet he turns the streams of it which way he pleaseth : as a skilful physician, 56 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. when one part of the body is oppressed with ill humours, draws them to another part that is less dangerous ; so God, by his Provi dence, turns men from the commission of a greater to a lesser sin ; thus he overruled Joseph's brethren : they consulted to cast him into a pit, and there to let him starve, unless he could feed upon his dream of wheat sheaves ; but God, by his Providence, so orders it, that merchants pass by that way, and to them they sell him. There are, I believe, but few men, who, if they "will but examine back their lives, cannot produce many instances both of the De"virs Policy, in fitting them with occasions and opportunities of sin, and of God's Providence, in causing some emergent affairs, some unex pected action to interpose, and hinder them from thoSe sins that they purposed. (5) God, sometimes, keeps men from sin, by removing the object, against which they intended to commit it. Thus, when Herod intended to put Peter to death the next morn ing, that very night God sends an angel, and makes his escape, and S9 prevents that sin : and so, truly, in all ages, God hides away his children from the friry of ungodly men. There are, doubtless, many other various and mysterious Pro"vi- dences, whereby God hinders the sins of men ; but these are the most common and most remarkable ways : by shortening their lives ; by lessening their power ; by raising up another power to oppose thein ; by diverting them another way ; and by removing the objects of their sins. The next thing is, to show you how God hinders the commis sion of sin, in a way of Grace. 2. But I shall leave this till another time, and make some Ap plication of what hath now been spoken. (1) See here the sad and woeful estate of wicked men, whom Grace doth not change, but only Providence restrain. A mere restraint from sin, when the heart continues fully set and bent upon it, must needs cause torment and vexation. Their o"wn corruptions urge them forward ; but God's. Pro"vidence, that meets them and crosses them at every turn, and that disappointment, that they meet when they fully resolve upon sin, cause great vexa tion of spirit. As God will torment them hereafter for their sins ; so he torments them here, by keeping them from their sinfe. All the wicked in the world are strangely hampered by God's Provi dence, as so many bulls in a net : that, though they struggle, yet cannot possibly break through ; and, by their struggling only vex and weary themselves. God doth, as it were, give up the hearts of DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 57 "wicked men to the Devil : only he ties their hands. Let them in tend and imagine as much e"vil and mischief as they can ; yea, as ' much as, hell can inspire into them : yet none of these shall execute any of it, otherwise than as God permits them. Now if there be any real pleasure in sin, it is in the execution of it : that, which men take in the plotting and contri"ving of it, is merely the delight of a dream and fancy ; and herein lies the exceeding wretchedness of wicked men, that, though Providence almightily hinders them in the execution of sin, yet justice "will justly punish their intention , and plotting of it. (2) This should teach us to adore and magnify this sin-preventing Providence of God. v Our lives, our estates, yea, whatever is dear and precious to us hitherto, have been secured to us only by hj,s powerful hand, which hath curbed in the unruly lusts of men, and kept them from break ing forth into violence, and blood, and rapine. Should God slack the reins, should he throw them upon the necks of ungodly men, how would 'uproars, and confusions, murders, and slaughters over- Spread the face of the whole earth, and make the world a hell above ground! Eedemption and Providence are two wonderful works of God : by the one he pardons sin, that is committed ; and, by the other, he prevents sin, lest it be committed : both of them are con trivances of Infinite Wisdom ; and both of them are unsearchable, and past finding out ; and, therefore, we ought to ascribe the glory of both unto God, that hath laid both the design of Eedemption and of Providence for man's good, and for man's salvation. (3) If, at any time, we can recall to mind, as indeed who is there that cannot, thafGod hath thus by his Pro"vidence prevented us from the commission of sin, how should this oblige us thankfully to own this mercy of God to us ! May not all of us say, "Had. not God taken away our power, had he not taken away the objects of our lusts, had he not diverted us some other way, we had now been deeply engaged in those sins, that the merciful Providence of God hath diverted us'from?" He , it was, that hedged up the broad way with thorns ; that so he might turn us into the narrow way, that leads unto eternal life and happiness. (4) Hath God's Providence so many ways and methods to hinder the commission of sin ? then we may be assured, that he will never permit it, but when it shall redound to his own praise and glory. It is an excellent saying of Austin : " He, that is most good, will never suffer evil, unless he were also most wise ; whereby he is able to bring good out of evil." , Ahd, therefore, when we see 58 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. wicked men let alone to accomplish their hellish designs, we may then quiet ourselves with this : " God knows how to make his o"wn advantage out of their wickedness : to know how, from such dung and filth to reap a most fruitful crop of glory to himself" The rage of man, says the Psalmist, thou wilt restrain, and the residue thereof shall turn to thy praise : that wickedness, which God doth not restrain, he will make redound to his own praise and glory. (5) This may establish our hearts in peace, when we see the wickedness of men most raging and violent : " They cannot sin, un less God gives them a power." As Christ told Pilate, Thou hast no power over me, in John. xix. 11 ; except ithe given thee from above. And, certainly, that God, that gives them a power to sin, still keeps a p oy^er in his own hands to limit them in their sins ; and when their lusts are mo^t unruly, he can say to them, Siiherto shall ye go, and here shall your proud waves he stayed. He stints them, and bounds them ; and he also can totally restrain them, when he pleaseth, and when it shall be most for his own praise and glory. ii. Now, as God doth thus keep men-back from the commission of Presumptuous Sins by a strong hand of Providence : so, some times, he doth it by his geace. And this Grace is either merely restraining, or else it is sanc tifying and renewing. Both of them are of very great force and efficacy : by the one, he holds men back from sin ; and, by the other, he turns them against sin. 1. You have, doubtless, read much concerning Sanctifying and Eestraining Grace : but, yet, that your notions and apprehensions of them may be more clear and distinct, I shall give you ihe differ ence there is betwixt these two in several particulars. They differ, in their Subject : they differ, in their Essence : and they differ, in their Manner of Operation. (1) They differ, in respect of their Subject. Eestraining Grace is but common ; and it works upon "vricked men and reprobates, as well as upon others : but Sanctifying Grace is special ; and belongs only to those, who belong themselves to the election of grace. Esau, whom the Scripture notes as the great instance of reprobation, comes out against Jacob, with a troop of four thousand ruffians ; intending, doubtless, to revenge himself upon him for the loss of his birth-right -and blessing : but,' at their 'first meeting, God, by. a secret work, so mollifies his heart, that, in stead of falling upon him and killing him, he falls upon his neck and kisses him : here God restrains him from that Presumptuous Sin of murder, not in a way of mere external providence, but with DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 59 his own hand immediately turns about his heart ; and, by seeino- such a company of cattle bleating and bellowing, so many timor ous men and helpless children all bowing and supplicating unto him, he turns his revenge into compassion, and, with much urging, receives a present from him, whom before he intended to make a prey. The same power of restraint God laid upon the heart of Abimelech, that heathen king : you have it in Genesis xx. 6, when he had taken Sarah, Abraham's wife, intending to make her his wife br concubine, God tells him in a dream, / withheld thee from sinning against me : therefore suffered I thee not to touch her : here was nothing "visible to hinder Abimelech from so great a wickedness : but God invisibly wrought upon his heart, and unhinged his wicked desires. Now, from the instances of Esau and Abimelech, we may clearfy collect how Eestraining Grace differs both from Eestrain ing Providence, and also from Sanctifying Grace. From Provi dence it differs, because, usually, when God providentially restrains from sin, he doth it by some visible apparent means, that doth not work by bringing any change or alter'ation on the heart, but only by laying an external check upon men's actions: but, by Eestrain ing Grace, God deals in a secret way with the very heart of a sin ner ; and, though he doth not change the nature of his heart, yet he alters the present frame and disposition of it, and takes away the desire of coinmitting those sins that yet it doth not mortify. And, from Sanctifying Grace it differs also, in that God vouchsafes Eestraining Grace to wicked men, as ,you have heard ; but none partake of Sanctifying Grace besides the children of God, and the "remnant according to election : those whom he predestinates, them he also calls, that is, them he sanctifies ; as you have it in Eom. viii. 30. Election and sanctification are of the self-same breadth : election is the cause of sanctification, and sanctification is a sign of election. Those whom God will bring to himself in glory, he causeth a double separation to pas^ upon : the one, from eternity, when he calls them out from the mass of those that he lea"v;es to perish in their sins ; and the other in time, when those, whom he fihath set apart for himself by election, he brings home to himself by conversion. And, therefore, whatever measure of Eestraining Grace God may afford to wicked men and reprobates ; yet Sancti fying Grace is the fruit only of election, and the portion only of those who are elected. And that is the first difference. (2) They differ also, ih their Nature and Essence. Sanctifying Grace is a habit wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of.God ; called, therefore, a writing of the Law on the heart, and a 60 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. putting of God's fear into our inward parts : Jer, xxxi. 33. And St. John terms it, a seed, that remains : 1 John iii. 9. These ex-" pressions clearly denote it to be an internal pirinoiple or habit, deeply rooted and fixed in the soul : and, whatever holy actions a saint' performs, as they are caused^ by a divine influence without him, so they flow also from a holy principle within him : hence our Saviour tells us, in Matt. xii. 35, that a good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things ; that is, out of that inward habit and principle of grace, that the Holy Ghost hath wrought in him, in the work of regeneration. But Eestraining Grace hath no such habit and principle implanted in the soul ; but is only a merciful actual influence from God, hindering the com mission of those sins to which men's natural corruptions make them inclined. In brief. Sanctifying Grace is a quality wrough* in us ; but Eestraining Grace is only an action flowing frohi God. (3) Sanctifying and Eestraining Grace differ, in their manner of Working and Operation. And here we may observe a Fourfold difference. [1] Sanctifying Grace keeps the soul from sin, by destroying it ; but Eestraining Grace keeps the soul from sin, only by imprison ing it. God, many times, shuts up the sins of those in prison, whom not withstanding he will at last shut up in hell. It is Sanctifying Grace alone, that can do execution upon them : Eestraining Grace may debar them of their liberty ; but it is only Sanctifying Grace, that can deprive them of their life. There may appear but little differ ence betwixt the conversation of a child of God, whom Special? Grace doth sanctify , and one in a state of nature, whom Common Grace doth only restrain : doth the one walk blamelessly, without offence? doth he avoid the grosser pollutions of the world? so doth the other : a star is not more like a star, than these meteors may be like them. But here lies the difference : Eestraining Grace only ties the hands ; but Sanctifying Grace stabs the Old Man to the heart. It is one thing, to bind a thief to a tree ; and another thing, to nail him fast to the cross : Eestraining Grace only bind* corruption fast, that it cannot stir, not outwardly, but still it hath as much strength as ever ; but Sanctifying Grace crucifies it, and nails it to the cross of Christ, where it weakens and languishes and hangs a dying body of death. The earth is as dry and hard in a frosty winter, as it is in a parching summer ; yet there is a great deal of difference in -the cause of it : in summer, the sun dries up the moist ure ; and, in winter, the frost binds it in : truly, Eestraining and DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 61 Sanctifying Grace are, for all the world, like frost and sun : the ways of those, who have only a restraint laid upon them, may be altogether as fair and clean, as the ways of those, that are sancti fied ; but there is.a great difference in the cause : Sanctifying Grace dries up the filth and corruption in the heart of the one ; but Ee straining Grace only freezes in and binds up the filth and corrup tion of the other. . [2] Sanctifying Grace strikes especially at the sins of the heart ; but Eestraining Grace, usually, only hinders the sins of the life. An unregenerate man, though never so moral, hunts his sins only in purlieus : as soon as they are 'gotten within the pale, he ceaseth his pursuit. It is, usually, the highest care and upshot of a moral man's endeavours, to keep his lusts from boiling over, and raising 'smoke and ashes about him : and, if he can but obtain this, let the heart be brimfull of sin, let the thoughts soak and stew in malici ous, unclean, covetous designs and contrivances ; he never opposeth nor lamenteth them. A mere restraint walks only round about the outward man ; and, if it meets with any lust struggling abroad, it drives it in again into the heart ; but, for those sins that lie pent up there, it seldom molests, and never subdues 4hem. The heart may indulge itself in vain, filthy, destructive, and pernicious thoughts : it may sit brooding over cockatrice-eggs, till, it hatch them into serpents ; and, in them, be stung to death : it may toss a sin to and fro in the fancy ; and, thereby, make some kind of recom pense to the De"vil for not committing it : and yet this man be only under a powerful restraint from God's Eestraining Grace. But Sanctifying Grace doth more especially oppose the sins of tj;e heart and of the inward man ; for there, is its seat and residence, in the heart. Eestraining Grace watches without ; "but True Grace dwells within : and, as Christ speaks of the church of Pergamos, it dwells there, where Satan^s seat is : it rules in the midst qf its enemies ; and it is engaged so to do for its own security, that it may still crush them as they arise in the heart. Now, from this J)articular, we may be helped in judging, whether our abstaining from sin be only from common Eestraining Grace, or from Sanctifying and Eenewing Grace. See what sins they are, that you most of all labour to beat down^ Do you strive only against the sins of your lives, and not against the sins of your hearts that are the spring and fountain of the other? Are you con tent, when you have beaten your corruptions from the out- works, and driven them in, where they do not rage so furiously as they have done ? Whereas, before, they sallied forth at pleasure, and; 62 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. made havoc of your souls, and wounded your consciences ; now, they are pent up in a narrower room and compass ; doth this con tent you ? Do you think it enough to lay close siege to your cor ruptions by conviction and legal terror's ; and to shut them up,' that they may no more break forth as formerly they have done, to the gross defilement of your lives ? If this be all, then know, this is no more than what a mere Common Eestraint may effect upon you, without any work of Sanctifying Grace upon the heart. True grace; when it beats back sin, follows it and pursues it into the heart ; and there searches for it : and, if it sees it but breathe in a thought, or stir in a desire, presently it falls upon it and destroys it. [8] Sanctifying Grace, when it keeps a soul from sin, always en gages the will against' it ; but Common and Eestraining Grace only awakens and rouses up the conscience against it. The Will and the Conscience are two leading faculties of the soul : the one commands, what shall be done ; and the other informs, what ought to be done : and all the rest of the faculties and affec tions of the soul take part and side with these two. In a godly- man, these two are at an agreement : what conscience prompts, the will commands, and the inferior faculties are all ready to execute. Sanctifying Grace works immediately and specially upon the will, and makes a mighty change there ; so that, whereas, before con version, man's will is so utterly depraved, that it can like nothing but sin ; after grace hath touched it and mightily turned it about, it cannot now any longer give its full and free consent to the com mission of any sin : if such an one sins, he doth it truly, and pro perly gainst his will ; as the Apostle speaks in Eomans vii. 15 ; That, which I do, I allow not. Now a wicked man may sin against his conscience ; but it is impossible, that he should ever sin against his will ; that is continually set upon sin : and, were it not that God som^imes raiseth up natural conscience in him to oppose his cor rupt will, he would eyerj moment rush into the most damning im pieties, "without any of the least regret or sense of it. When the Devil presents a sin to the embraces of the will, and when the will closes with it, and all the faculties of the soul are ready to commit it, God sends his conscience among them. " What, Conscience, art thou asleep! Seest thou not how the' Devil and thine own devilish heart are now plotting and contriving thine eternal ruin ?" This rouses conscience, and makes it storm and threaten, and hurl fire brands into the face of sin, while it lies in the very embraces of tlie "will ; and, though it cannot change the will from loving it, yet it frights the will from committing it. This is the most usual way, DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 63 which Eestraining Grace takes for the prevention of sin, by sending in conscience to make strong and vigorous oppositions against it. There are none of us here, but, through divine grace, have been kept from many sin§, that we were in great danger, through the corruptions of our own hearts, to have committed : sin hath been conceived by us ; but God hath stifled and strangled it in the womb. Would you know whether this hath proceeded from God's Eestrain ing or from God's Sanctifying Grace ? then make a judgment ac cording to this rule : Where Eestraining Grace only resists and hinders sin, it doth it by setting one faculty and affection of the soul against another ; but, where Sanctifying Grace hinders it, it sets the same faculty and affection of the soul against itself. Ee straining Grace sets one affection against another; conscience, against will ; the fear of hell, against the love of sin ; hellish terrors, against . sinful pleasures ; God's threatenings, against the Devil's flatteries ; it martials up these, and so enters the combat : here^ are bandyings of one power of the soul against another : but the will is entirely .on sin's part ; and, if conscience prevail and pull away a belovdd lust from the embraces of the will, the sinner parts -with it very heavily and unwillingly, following it as Phaltiel did Michal weep ing, though he durst not make resistance. But when Sanctifying Grace opposes and hinders sin, it sets the same faculty and affec tion of the soul against itself ; "will, against will ; love, against love ; desire, against desire : he wills the commission of sin, it is true ; but yet, at the same time, he wills the mortification of it : he loves to gratify his sin ; but yet, at the same time, he wills the crossing of it too,: he desires to enjoy that pleasure and contentment, that he fancies he may take in sin'; and yet he desires, at the same time, to destroy it. Here is 'one and the same faculty bandying against it self: and the reason of this is, because a child of God hath two principles in every single faculty : there is in him a mixture of flesh and spirit ; a carnal part, that sides "with ¦ sin, and a spiritual part, that always contradicts and opposes it : and these two are spread over his whole soul, and are mingled with every power and faculty thereof; so that he can neither do the evil nor the good that he would do, without contradiction, strife," and reluctancy. No-w try yourselves by this, when you are tempted to sin : what is it, that resists it ? is it your will, or is it only your conscience ? are you only frighted from it? doth the fear of hell overcome the love of sin ? all this may be from a mere Eestraint ih those, who are altogether unacquainted with the power of Sanctifying Grace. This is "the symptom and character of a gracious soul, that, when it is 64 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. most inclinable unto sin ; yet at the same time, it is most averse from it : when it most wisheth the accomplishment of sin ; yet, even then, it strongly wisheth the subduing and mortifying of that sin. I know that this appears a riddle and a strange paradox to wicked men • but those, who have any true sense of the work of /grace upon their own hearts, know it to be a truth, and rejoice in the experi ences that they have of it. (4) Eestraining and Sanctifying Grace differ, in the Motives and Arguments, that they make use of for the resisting of sin. There are two general topics or common-places, whence all argu ments against sin are drawn ; and those are the Law and the Gos pel : both of these administer such weapons, as, if rightly used, are' very effectual for the beating down of sin. And, commonly, Ee straining Grace useth those only, that are borrowed from the Law : it urges the command : it thunders the curse : it brandishes the sword of justice : and makes reports of nothing but hell' and eternal damnation ; and such like arguments, that scare men from the com mitting of their sins, though still they love them. Now Sanctify ing Grace, though it also makes a most profitable use of these very arguments ; yet it chiefly useth more mild and more ingenuous mo tives, drawn |"rom the love of God, from the death of Christ, from the comforts of the Holy Ghost : and these, though they strike softer, yet they wound deeper. Now, hereby also, you may give a guess, whether your abstain ing from sin, be merely from Eestraining or from Sanctifying Grace. Observe what weapons you use. What considerations- do over-awe your hearts ? are they such, as are drawn only from the Law, and the sad reflections of the end and issue of sin ; that it brings shame, and death, and hell ? must you run down to hell, every time a temp tation comes, to fetch arguments thence to oppose agaiijst your Cor ruptions ? can you no where else quench the fiery darts of the Devil, unless it be in that lake of fire ? if this be all (though this too is well) yet know, if it be all, this is no more than what Eestraint and Common Grace may perform : it is the proper character of Eestrain ing Grace, to keep men back from the commission of sin only by dread and fear of punishment. But Sanctifying Grace especially betakes itself to Gospel Arguments ; and considers how disingenu ous it is to 'sin against a reconciled and a Gracious Father, against a crucified and a bleediflg Sa-viour, against a patient and long-suffer ing Spirit ; and heaps up many such like ingenuous arguments, that work kindly upon the heart: the Christian leads every temptation to tho* cross of Christ, and there shows it his Saviour hanging and . DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 65 bleeding; " And can 1 commit this sin, that hath drawn so much blood from my Saviour to expiate it, and would draw so much blood from my conscience to perpetrate it ? Did he die to free me from the condemnation of it, and shall I wilfully rush into the com mission of it ? No, 0 Lord :' thy love withholds me : I cannot do this thing and sin against so rich, so free, and infinite mercy and goodness, that thou daily extendest towards me." This true grace usually teacheth a child of God to argue against his sins ; and this keeps him from the commission of those sins, that others, rising up against them, only from the terrors and threatenings of the Law and othef such dreadful considerations, fall into notwithstanding. A wool-pack sooner damps a bullet, than a stone-wall : and, truly, soft arguments taken from the Gospel, from the love of God, from the death of Christ, from the patience and long-suffering of the Spirit ; these soft arguments sooner damp a temptation and resist a corrup tion, than more rigid and severe ones will when alone used by themselves. 2. Having thus, in general, showed you the Difference betwixt Sanctifying and Eestraining Grace, I shall now descend to more particular considerations of those Ways and Methods, that God useth in keeping men hack from sin, hy his Special and Sanctifying Grace. And, here, I shall premise this : That whatever sin God doth, I mean by his Sanctifying Grace, prevent his own children from the commission of, he doth it by exciting the inward principle of grace, to the actual use and exercise of it. There is a Twofold Grace, always necessary to keep the best Christians from sin : Habitual and Exciting Grace ; and God makes use of the one to quicken and stir up the other : he makes use of exciting grace to quicken habitual grace, that else would lie slug gish and dormant in the soul. Habitual Grace denominates the soul alive unto God ; but, yet, it is no otherwise alive than ajnan in a swoon is : it is Exciting Grace, that alone can enable it to per form the functions and offices of life. In the deepest -winter, there is life in the seed, that Ijes buried under ground ; but, yet, it acts not till the sun's influence draws it forth, and then it heaves and shoves away the earth that covered it, and spreads itself into the beauties of a flower : so is it here : Inherent, Habitual Grace is an immortal seed ; and it is but a seed, till the influences of the ap proaching and Exciting Grace of God awaken it, and chafe its be numbed virtue ; and then it stirs and thrusts away all that dung and filth of corruptions under which it lay buried, and then it flows forth into Actual Grace. Habitual and Exciting Grace must both "Vol. ii.— 5 66 DISCOUESES CONCE.BNING SIN.. concur, to the producing of Actual Grace ; as necessarily, as there must be the concurrence both of the heat of the sun and of life in the seed, to produce a flower. Now by God's Exciting of inherent, Habitual Grace in the soul, he keeps men from sinning Two ways. By Prevention and by. Suppression of Sin. (1) Hereby he prevents and excludes those sins, that, were we not employed in the exercise of grace, we should commit. When the soul is constantly employed in holy and spiritual affairs, sin hath then neither room nor opportunity to put forth it self It is kept out from the thoughts, when they are bruised in holy meditation : it is kept out from the affections, when they are set upon heavenly objects : it is kept out from the life and conversa tion, when the duties both of the general and particular calling are duly perfornjed in their respective seasons. The Apostle exhorts us, in Eph. iv. 27, not to give place to the Devil: truly, when God's Exciting Grace quickens our Inherent Grace into continual exer cise, when every faculty is filled with holy actings and every season with holy duties, the De"vil can have no place to tempt, nor cor ruption to stir. It is the best security God can give from the com mission of sin, to quicken to the performance of duty. Wien we pray, or meditate, or attend upon public ordinances, we ought to bless God for his Exciting Grace, whereby we have not only per formed a duty, but also escaped some foul and notorious sin, that we might ha,ve committed had we not been so holily employed : we, who are here now present before the Lord this day, had we neglected this present opportunity, who of us knows, what horrid temptations and foul sins we might have been exposed to in our own houses, which in the house of God we have avoided ? Da"vid, when he walks idly upon the roof of his house, lies open to the snares of the Devil, and sins foully : had he then been at his Harp or Psalms, he might thereby have driven the evil spirit from himse^, as formerly he did from his master Saul. Eunning streams pre serve" themselves pure and clean, when standing pools soon grow corrupt and noisome, and venomous creatures breed in them : so is it with the heart : whilst God's exciting and quickening grace puts it upon continual act, it is preserved from corruption ; but, when once it grows sluggish; and doth not freely, flow forth into the act ings of grace and performance of duties, the spawn of all manner of sin breeds there, and filthy lusts crawl to and fro in it without any disturbance : and, therefore, we should continually pray^ that God would vouchsafe us the quickening influence of his Spirit ; DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 67 that lie would fill our sails with that wind, that blows where it listeth :' Arise, 0 north wind; and come, thou south wind: and hhw upon our gardens, that the spices thereof may flow forth ; for if the spices do not, the stench will. (2) As God, by his Exciting Grace, hindereth those sins, that might arise in the heart ; so he also suppresseth those sins, that do arise. There is the greatest contrariety imaginable, betwixt Inherent Sm and Inherent Grace : when the one is vigorous, the other lan guishes ; when the one is acted, the other grows dull and sluggish. Now both these opposite principles have their seat and abode in the same heart ; and both' of them are in continual expectation of ex citing influence to call them forth into act. Indwelling Corruption is usually roused up by temptation ; when it stirs in the heart, and is ready to break forth in the life ; Habitual Grace, though it looks on, yet is of itself so feeble that it can make no opposition, till a kindly influ'ence from the Spirit of God calls out some particular grace, that is directly contrary to that sin that stirs; and this resists and subdues it. This method God used in keeping the Apostle from sinning: 2 Cor. xii. He was there under a sharp and pungent temptation, that is there therefore called a thorn in the flesh : v. 7. Satan buffets, and the Apostle prays : and God answers. My grace is sufficient for thee: "My grace is sufficient; not thy grace: that grace, that is in thee, is but weak and helpless; yea a very nothing, if I withdraw my influence from it ; but that quickening grace, that flows from me, that alone is sufficient to remove the temptation and to prevent the sin." Now, while God's Exciting Grace worked upon the Apostle's Inherent Grace, this temptation, this th&rn in ihe jlesh only made him more watchful and more industrious against it : but, if God should have suspended this his influence, this thorn in the fiesh would immediately, not"withstanding all his grace, sadly have wounded his conscience, by the commission of some great and foul sin. Now, as all manner of sin lies couched in that body of sin, that we bear about with us; so all manner of grace lies couched in that principle of grace, that God implants in his own children. Now, when the De"vil by his temptations calls forth some particular sin, God also at the same time by his Exciting Grace calls forth a particular grace, to hinder the commission of that sin : thus, when they are tempted to pride, God calls forth humility to prick that swelling, puffing bladder : when they are tempted to wrath and passion, he stirs up meekness ; when to murmuring and repining against the dispensations of God, he puts patience^ipon its perfect 68 ' DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. work. Briefly, there is no sin whatever, that the De"vil can by hia temptation stir up in the heart, but God also can stir up a contrary grace to it, to quell and master it. This is the method of God's Exciting Grace in the preventing of sin, that when the Devil calls forth a particular corruption out of the stock of corruption, God calls forth a particular grace, contrary to it, from the ^tock of grace. But yet there are some particular graces, that are more especially employed about this service, and which God doth most frequently exercise, and set on work to keep his children from the confinis- sion of sin. [1] God hinders the commission of sin, by keeping up the lively and vigorous actings of faith. Indeed if faith fail, all other graces must fail, by consequence. Faith is the soul's steward, that fetcheth in supplies of grace from Christ, in whom is the treasure of it ; and distributes them to all the other graces of the soul. Therefore, when Christ tells St. Peter, Luke xxii. 31, that Satan had desired to sift him by his temptations, lest he should be thereby discouraged and dejected, presently he adds, in v. 32, But I have prayed for thee, that iky faith fail not: and wherefore his faith, rather than any other grace, but because other graces must take their lot with faith, and must be strong or weak, victorious or languishing, a's faith is. And therefore it is called ihe shield of faith: Eph. vi. 16 : now the office of a shield is, to de fend, not only the body, but the rest of the armour also ; and so doth faith, when it is dexterously managed : it keeps both the soul, and its graces also, from the attempts ofthe De"vil. I might be large ¦ here, in showing you how faith preserves from sin : as, by deriving ¦virtue and strength from the death and blood of Christ ; by plead ing God's engagements and promises to tread Satan under our feet ; by urging and importuning Christ to fulfil in us the end of his coming into the world, which was to destroy the works of the Devil ; and many such ways I might name, by which faith prevents sin, and destroys it. But, wa"ving them, I shall only mention Two particulars, wherein this energy of faith, in keeping men from sin, is the most conspicuous. 1st. Faith .preserves from sin, by bringing in and presenting to the soul eternal Eewards and Punishments. And that is the peculiar office of Faith. These, indeed, are future unto sense, but they are present unto faith : for faith is the substance of things not seen : Heb. xi. 1. It ^ves them a being, before they are ; and what we hope for or fear, as to come, bv faith it is enjoyei or felt, as already present. What a mighty ad- DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 69 vantage is this, to preserve men from sinning I Would sinners treat with the De"vil, or hearken to a temptation, if they should now see the whole world on flame, angels hastening them to judgment, and Christ upon his throne ? here. Heaven, to receive and crown them ; there. Hell, "«dth all its horrors, to torment them ? Would any of you dare to sin, if all this were before your eyes ? Believe it, when faith acts lively, all this is as truly present to the soul, as it is certain it shall once be ; and, therefore, no more than we would com mit a sin if sentence were now passing upon us, either of absolution or of eternal damnation, at the judgment-seat of God ; no more shall we sin, while faith sets these things e"vidently before our eyes, and makes them as real to us as they are sure. ^ 2dly. Faith preserves from" sinning, by representing that God who must hereafter be our Judge, to be now our Spectator and Observer. It is only an eye of faith, that can discover things future as present, and things spiritual as real. God is a spiritual being, and there fore is invisible to the dull eyes of flesh ; but the quick eye of faith can see Mm who is invisible ; as it was said of Moses, Heb. xi. 27. It fixeth its eye upon the all-seeing eye of God, and alls the soul with a-wful thoughts of God's omnipresence and omniscience ; that all things are naked and bare before him, in whose company we are wherever we are, and with whom we have to do whatever we are doing. Now consider with yourselves : would you commit such or such a sin, to which possibly you are tempted, if some grave person were in the room with you, whom you did much respect ; And, what ! shall the presence of a mortal man keep you from sinning, and shall not the presence of the Great God much more ? Shall we dare to sin, when God's eye is fixed upon us ; when he views not only our outward actions, but also our inward thoughts, more clearly than we can see the faces one of another ? It was the "wise counsel, that a heathen-man gave to a scholar of his, That if he would pre serve himself from doing anything that was indecent, he should suppose some sober and reverend man present with him ; and this would keep him from doing that, which he would be ashamed to do before him. Truly, we need not make any such supposition : the Great and Holy God is present with us, in reality ; and the eye of faith discovers him so to be : he is always looking on us ; yea, always looking into us : and, certaiily, this, to one that can exer cise the discerning eye of faith, "will be a more effectual means to keep a man from sin, than if all the eyes of men and angels were upon him. 70 DISCOUESES C0NCEJ5NING SIN. , [2] As the exercise of faith, so the sprightly and vigorous exer cise of Divine Love, is an excellent preservative against sin.. Love will not willingly do any thing* that may offend and grieve the object loved. Love is an assimilating affection : it is the very cenient, that joins God and the soul together in the same spirit, and makes them to be of one heart and of one mind : it is the loadstohe of the soul, that toucheth all other affections, and makes them stand heaven- ward. When once God hath wrought the 'love of himself in our hearts, this will constrain us to love what he loves, and to hate what he hates. Sin is the only thing, that God hates ; and those, that love him, will not, cannot but hate sin : their love to God will constrain them to do it : Ps. xcvii. 10, Ye, that love the Lm-d, hate evil. And, certainly, the hatred of evil is the best se curity against the committing of it : will any one take a toad or a serpent into his bosom, to lodge it there ? Truly, as utterly im possible it is, while the Exciting Grace of God stirs up and quick ens our Love to him, that we should ever embrace a vile lust and lodge it in our hearts ; since our sight of the beauty of holiness hath made it ugly, and our love to God hath made it hateful. [3] To mention no more, a Holy Fear and Caution lest we should sin is a most excellent preservative against sin. None are so safe, as those, that are least secure. Fear is the best preservative of grace. Whereas those, that are rash and venturous and confident of their own strength, run themselves into many temptations, and come off with wounded and smarting consciences. Stand in awe, says the Psalmist, and sin not: Ps. iv. 4. The timor ous and trembling Christian stands firmest, because such an one is apt, upon every occasion, to suspect his own strength, and to call ia God's. And, indeed, when we consider the treachery of our own hearts and the subtlety of the Devil, tMs holy fear and jealousy is no more than is needful ; and it is less than sufficient. A man, that is to wade through a deep river, will first try his footing, be fore he takes his step : we are to wade through the depths of Satan, as the Apostle calls them : and, certainly, it is but a requisite cau tion, first to try our ground, before we venture upon it ; to look about, and consider whether such and such an action be grounded upon a command ^,nd secured to us by a promise ; whether, if we do it, we shall not lay ourselves open to such and such tempta tions ; or, if we do lie open to *hem, whether or not we are in God's way, and may expect his protection 'and preservation. Truly, such circumspection as this is will prove our best security : and, though we are not able, by all our own strength and diligence, to preserve DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 71 -ourselves ; yet, when God sees us so industriously solicitous to avoid sin, he will then come in by his almighty grace that helps not the slothful, but the laborious, and he will keep up from those sins that we cannot keep ourselves from. 3. Now for the Application of this. (1) If it be so, that it is the Almighty Power of God only, that can keep us froih sin, this may then be convictive of that error, that now-a-days is very rife in the world, that ascribes our preserva tion in our standing, not so much to the, Almighty Grace of God, as to the Liberty and Freedom of our own Wills. Truly, this is an opinion, that proceeds much from the pride and stomach of such, who are loth to be too much beholden to the grace of God for their salvation. It is true, no man sins, nor does any , man abstain from sin, but it is with his will ; but yet, still there is an almighty influence from God : an influence of Common Pro- "vidence to the wicked, without which they could not so much as will ; and an influence of Special Grace to the godly, "without which they could not abstain from sin ; It is God, saith the Apostle, that worketh in us both to will and to do, of Ms own good pleasure. It is not, whether or not the will be free in abstaining from sin : that, is acknowledged : but, whether the motion of the will be principally and primarily from God or from itsejf; and this, the Apostle concludes to be from God. From him it is, that we both will and do : he gives the first beginning : he adds the progress : and he con cludes. He first begets grace : then, he increases it : and, at last, he crowns it. All is from God. (2) This may instruct us, to Whom we . ought to ascribe the praise and the glory of our preservation from those foul and horrid sins, that we see others daily fall into. Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, hut unto thy name, be all the praise and glory. We have natures, as sinful as the worst of men evep had ; and, that such sinful natures should not produce as wicked lives, whence proceeds this, but only from the miracle of, God's grace ? for it is a miracle, that, when the fountain is as bitter, when . . our hearts are as bad as the hearts of others, yet the streams should / / not be so. Whence is it, since we have the same corrupt hearts with Cain and Judas and all the "wicked rabble in the world, whence is it, that we have not committed the same impieties with them, or worse than they have done? Why, God hath either restrained or sanctified us. But Sanctifying Grace is not enough : for, whence is it, that we have not been drunken, "with Noah ; adul terers or murderers, with David ; abjurers of Christ, "with Peter ? 72 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. are we more holy than they, or are we more sanctified than they ? No : it is only our gracious God's vouchsafing to us a constant in fluence of Exciting Grace, that hath thus kept us from those sins, into which he suffers wicked men to fall ; and, not only them, but sometimes his own dear children too. It is not a difference in our natures, it is not a difference from Inherent Grace within us, that makes this difference in our lives ; but it is only a difference from the unaccountable Exciting, influencing Grace of God : there lies the difference. Well then, let not the strong man ghry in Ms strength ; hut let Mm, that glorieih, ghry in the Lord, for he is our strength and our deliverer ; What have we, that we have not received; and if we have received, why do we boast as ihough we had not received? It ia not what we have of ourselves ; but it is what we have received from God, and what we do daily receive in a way of special influ ence, that makes us to differ from the "vilest and most profligate sinners in the world : and, therefore, let us ascribe the glory of aU to the Almighty Grace of God. (3) To shut up all, If our preservation from sin be from God, be ware then how you provoke him to withdraw and suspend the in fluence of his grace, whereby you have been preserved, and still are. Indeed, if we belong to him, he will never so far depart from us, as utterly to forsake us : but, yet, he may so far depart from us, as that we may have no comfortable sense of his presence, nor any visible supports from his grace. We may be left a naked and des titute prey to every temptation ; and fall into the commission of those sins, out of which we may never be able to recover ourselves to our former strength, comfort, and stability. We may fall, to the breaking of our bones : and we may rise again, possibly ; but it will be to the breaking of our hearts. So much for this time, and for this subject. DISCOUESES CONOEBNING SIN. 73 V. THE DEEADPULNESS OF GOD'S WEATH AGAINST SINNEES. For we hnow him that hath said. Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, And again. The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. X. 30, 31. Thebb are two principal attributes of God, which the Scripture propounds to us, as the most powerful and efficacious motives to restrain us from sin : and they are his Mercy and his Justice. Mercy, though it be a soft, yet it is a strong argument, to en courage us to purity and holiness. And, therefore, says the Apos tle, Eom. ii. 4 ; The goodness of God leadeth us to repentance. And, certainly, that mercy, that expresseth itself so ready to pardon sin, cannot but lay a mighty obligation upon the ingenuity of a Chris tian spirit, to abstain from the commission of it. He, that can en courage himself in wickedness, upon the consideration of the infi nite free-grace of God, doth but spurn those very bowels that yearn towards him, and strike at God with his own golden sceptre : yea he tears abroad those wounds, which were at first opened for him ; and casts the blood of his Saviour back again in his face. But, because ingenuity is perished from off the earth, and men are generally more apt to be -wrought upon by arguments drawn from fear than love, therefore the Scripture propounds to us the consideration of the dreadful Justice of God, arrayed in all the terrible circumstances of it ; that, if mercy cannot allure us, justice at least might affright us from our sins. And, as those, who are to travel throiigh wildernesses and deserts, carry fire with them to terrify wild and ravenous beasts, and to secure themselves ftom their assaults ; so doth the Great God, who hath to deal with brutish men, men more savage than wild beasts : he kindles a fire about him, and appears to them all in flames and fury ; that so he may fright them from their bold attempts, who otherwise would be ready to run upon Ms neck and upon the thick bosses of his buckler. Job xv. 26. And, therefore, in the four preceding verses, we find the Apos tle tbreatening most tremendous judgments against all that should wilfully transgress, after they had received the knowledge of the truth. He tells us, v. 26, that there remaineth no more mcrifice for their sins: nothing to expiate their guilt ; but that they themselves must fall a burnt-sacrifice to the offended justice of God ; consumed with that fiery indignation, that shall certainly seize and prey upon them for ever. And, in v. 28, 29, he sets forth the exceeding dread- 74 DISCOUBSES'CONCEENING SIN. fulness of their judgment, by a comparison between those that -vio lated the Law of Moses, and those that renounce and annul the Law of Christ. Se, that despised Moses' law, who himself was but a ser vant, and whose laws consisted of inferior d!nd less spiritual ordi nances ; yet a despiser and transgressor of these was to die without mercy : certainly, much sorer judgments await those, who reject the laws of Christ ; and trample him, who is the Son and Lord of the House, underfoot; accounting his blood unholy and profane, re nouncing his merits, and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by which our Saviour acted : such as these, says the Apostle, shall eternally perish with less mercy, than those that died without mercy. Where, by the way, observe the strange emphasis, that the Apostle lays upon this dreadful commination. He tells us that they shall be sorer punished, than those, that are punished without mercy : to let us know, that, as there are transcendant glories, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to con ceive, reserved in the highest heavens for those that love God ; so, also, are there woes and torments, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive how great and insupportable they are, prepared in hell for those that hate him. They shall die -with less mercy, than those, that die without mercy. Now that we might not wonder at such a paradox as this, the Apostle gives the reason of it in my text : For we know him, that hath said. Vengeance belongeth unto me. It is the vengeance of God, and a falling into the hands of God : and, therefore, it is no» wonder if their punishments shall be beyond all extremity. They fall under the power and wrath of an Infinite God ; which, when we have heaped superlatives upon superlatives, yet still we must ex press defectively : and all, that we can conceive of it, falls vastly short of reaching but a faint and languishing resemblance thereof It is a state so full of perfect misery, that Misery itself is too easy a name to give it : yea, whatsoever we can speak most appositely of it, is but dim'inishing it ; for, because it is the wrath and vengeance of an Infinite God, it can no more be known by us, than God him self. Pl-unge your thoughts as d^ep into it as you can, yet still there remains an infinite abyss, which you can never fathom. Oh, that the consideration of this wrath might cause us all to tremble before this Great and Terrible God ! that we might so fear it, as never to feel it ; and be persuaded to fall down at his feet, that we may never fall into his hands 1 And, that we may be thus affected, I have chosen this Text to DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 75 set forth the greatness and dreadfulness of that wrath and ven geance, which the Eighteous God will execute upon all stubborn and disobedient wretches. A Text, that speaks to us, as God did to the Israelites from Mount Sinai, out of the midst of the fire and black ness, darkness and tempest, in the voice of a trumpet. And, truly, we have all need to have such rousing truths fre quently inculcated upon us ; for the best of us are lethargical : and though, sometimes, when our consciences are pinched hard by, a severe and searching truth, we start up and look abroad,; yet, as soon as the present impression is over, we Suddenly close our eyes, and fall asleep again in sin and security. A strange dullness and stupor hath seized us ; that we can ho longer keep waking, than we are shaken. And, therefore, as we use to apply fire and burning coals to lethargic persons to awaken them : so we have need to heap coals of fire upon men's heads ; to speak with fiery tongues, and thunder woe and wrath and judgments against them, that we may rouse the secure, stupid world. ' In the words, we have these Two Parts observable. An Appropriation of Vengeance unto God : Vengeamce belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, The Dreadftilness of that Vengeance, inferred, from the consid eration of the Author and Inflicter of it : // is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the Living God, T. I begin with the first of these, GOD'S APPEOPEIATING AND OHALLENGIN'G VENGEANCE UNTO HIMSELF. Ven geance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. Which passage the Apostle citeS out of Deut. xxxii. 35, 36. To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense. And, the Lord shall judge Ms people. It is his great and royal prerogative, that he doth some times make use of in inflicting judgments upon the -wicked, in this world ; but, most especially, in the world to come : and, to this fu ture vengeance, the words ought particularly to be applied. From this consideration. That Vengeance in a peculiar manner belongs unto the Great God, we may observe, That GOD HIMSELF "WILL BE THE IMMEDIATE INFLICTEB OF THE PUNISHMENTS OP THB DAMNED. It is therefore here, likewise, called a falling into the hands of ihe Living God, which denotes his immediate efficiency in their tor ments. It is true, God doth use- several instruments of torture in hell. There ar^ the worm, that never dies ; and the fire, that never goes 76 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. out : which I suppose to be not only a metaphorical, but possibly a material fire ; elevated to such a degr* of subtlety, as that it shall, at once, torture the scml and not consume the body. And this fire the devils, who are their executioners, will be still very . officiously raking about them ; using all their malicious art to in crease their eternal misery. But, yet, these things are but small appendages, and only the slighter circumstances of their torments. The most exact and iu- tolerable part of their torture, they shall feel inflicted upon them from another fire ; an intelligent, everlasting, and therefore an un quenchable fire : and that is God himself ; for so he is said to be, Heb. xii. 29, Our God is a consuming fire. And, though we ordinarily speak only of Hell Fire ; yet not only Hell, but Heaven itself is full of this fire. Consult that place IsA. xxxiii. 14, . Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire f who among us shall dwell with everlasting bwm- ings ? Would not one think, at the very first sound of the words, that the Prophet speaks only of such as should be damned ; of such as should be cast into hell, to remain there in everlasting fire and burnings : and demands of them, who among them could en dure this ? No : but it appears plainly, that this fire and burning is in heaven itself; and the Prophet, by putting this question, Who shall dwell with the devouring fire, and everlasting burnings f asks who shall be saved, and not who shall be destroyed. And, there fore, in the 15th verse, he tells us, that he shall do it, who walketh uprightly, and speaketh uprightly; that despiseth the gain of oppres sions, that shaketh Ms hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth Ms ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil. Such an one shall dwell with the devouring fire : that is, he shall for ever dwell and remain with God in heaven. So that we see God is a fife, both to the wicked, and to the godly. To the wicked he is a penetrating and torturing fire ; and they are combustible matter for the wrath and vengeance of God to prey upon : but to the godly, he is a purifying and cherishing fire only. And, as lightning doth not only cleanse and refine the air, but rend trees and rocks in pieces, dissolve metals, and break through whatsoever opposeth it in its passage : so this Great and Almighty Fire, only refresheth and comforteth the godly ; whereas it breaks and "tears the wicked in pieces, and melts them down like wax he-_ fore the scorching heat of it. And, though I deny not but there may be somewhat like that which we commonly apprehend when we speak of hell,, some un- DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. -77 quenchable flames prepared by the wisdom and power of God for the eternal torment of tbose wretches that shall be cast therein ; jet, withal, I think that their most exquisite torments shall be from that Fire that is God himself. For, if we observe it, it is said to be everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels : Mat. xxv. 14. Now the devils are spiritual substances, and flames of fire themselves : He maketh Ms angels spirits ; and Ms ministers, that is his ministering spirits, whether good or evil, whether the ministers of his wrath and vengeance or the ministers of his mercy, he maketh them flames of fire : Ps. civ. 4. They are such pierdfeig and subtle flames, that lightning itself^ is but gross and dull compared to them. Yet here is a Fire, that shall torture Fire itself; a Fire, that shall bum those Flames of Fire : and that is God ; who, being a spirit and the God of Spirits, can easily pierce and insinuate into the very centre of their beings. So that the damned in hell shall for ever find themselves burnt up with a double fire : a material fire, suited and adapted to impress pain and torment upon the body, yet without wasting and consuming it ; and an invisible, intellectual fire, that shall prey upon the soul, and fill it with unspeakable anguish and horror, and this is no other than God himself And, in this, there is a true parallel between heaven and hell. For, as in heaven, though there are many created excellencies and glories, which contribute to the beatitude of the saints ; yet their most substantial happiness is derived from their immediate fruition of God : so, likewise, in hell, though there be many created, and, if I may so call them, many invented tortures ; yet the highest and most intolerable misery of the damned, is from the immediate infliction and infusion of the divine wrath into them, which no creature doth or can convey to them in such a manner and measure as they there feel it, but God himself pours the full "vials of it into their souls. And, therefore, as the saints are called vessels of mersy ; so the wicked are called vessels of wrath, fitted tox destruction : Eom. ix. 22 : vessels, into which God will pour of his vengeance, and which he will fill brimful with his wrath and fury, for ever. The Apostle, 2 Thess. i. 9, speaking of wicked men, tells us, that they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the ^pre sence of ihe Lord andfrom the glory of Ms power. Where we must not think that this phrase, from ihe presence of the Lord, denotes only that part of their punishment, which we call psena Damni, or " the punishment of Loss :" but rather that it denotes the efficient cause,. 78 DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. of their paena Sensus, or " the punishment of Sense :" not that their punishment shall only be, to be for ever banished from his presence ; but that this presence shall be active in inflticting punishment upon them. And we may well read it thus : They shall be punished with everlasting destruction, by the presence of the Lord, and by the glory of his power ; for, as God's glorious power is effective of their destruc tion ; so also is his presence of that consuming and tormenting fire. And, thus much, briefly, for the First thing observable in the Text; namely, God's Appropriating Venge.ance unto himself : Ven geance belongeth unto me, and it is a falling into the hands of the Living God. • II. I come now to the Second thing observable in the. words : and that is the DEEADPULNESS OF THIS VENGEANCE, in ferred from the consideration of the Author and Inflicter of it : for, because it is Divine Vengeance, and a falling into the Hands of the Living God, therefore it must needs be very terrible. And, here, I shall, i. Take notice op those expeessions that my text affoeds, TO SET FOETH THB TBEEOE OF THIS WEATH: and, then, Consider other demonstrations of it. 1. Consider, that all other Vengeance is as nothing, in comparison of that, which God takes on a damned soul. You may possibly have heard of strange and horrid revenges, that some cruel men have carved out unto themselves ; putting those, that have offended them, to such tortures, as were altogether unfit for men either to inflict or suffer. All histories abound -with such barbarities. I am loth to offend your ears so much as to re count them. Let us only take an estimate, by the dreadful revenge, that Da"vid took on the Ammonites : 2 Samuel xii. 31 ; where it is said. He put them under saws, and under harrows of iron and made them pass through tlie brick-kiln : and all this severity, if not to say cruelty, was to revenge the insolent affront done to his ambassa dors. It is, doubtless, no small torture to be burnt alive ; for fire is a searching thing, and eats deep into the senses : but, yet, -this , kind of death was a quick and merciful dispatch, in comparison of the others. Think what it is to be stretched along ; and to have the sharp spikes of a harrow tear up your flesh, and draw out your bowels and bones after them : or, what it is to be sa"wn asunder in the midst ; and to have those small teeth eat their way slowly thro"agh you, while they jar against your bones, and pull out your, nerves and sinews thread by thread. How many deaths, think you, were these poor miserable creatures compelled to suffer, before they were permitted to die ! DISCOUESES CONCEBNING' SIN. 79 Yet, alas ! these, and all the witty tortures that ever were in vented by the greatest masters of cruelty, are nothing, in compari son of the vengeance that God will take upon sinners in hell. And, therefore, he says, Vengeance is mine, I will recompense : as if he should say, " Alas ! all, that you can do one to another, signifies nothing : it is not to be called, nor accounted Vengeance : that is too great a name for such poor effects." It is a prerogative, that God challengeth to himself, to be the „ Avenger : and whatever creatures meddle with, if they have not a commission from him, it is their sin : and therefore private persons whom he hath not invested "with any such authority, ought not to take upon them to avenge their own cause ; or, if they have a com mission, yet all their execution of Vengeance -is feeble and weak. We find in Ecclesiastical History, that the holy martyrs have often mocked at all the cruel tortures of their enraged persecutors. And God hath either taken from them all sense of pain ; or else, given them such strong consolations, that they have triumphed and exulted in all the extremity of them. How have they hugged the stake, at which they were to be burnt ! courted the beasts, that were to devour them ! and been stretched upon the rack, with as much content, as formerly they have stretched themselves upon their beds ; and not. so much suffered, as enjoyed their deaths ! God hath so mercifully taken off the edge and keenness of their torments, to show that vengeance is his right and due; and that they are but contemptible things, that one man can inflict upon another, scarce worthy to be called Vengeance. And, besides, let it be never so sharp and cutting, y«et it cannot be long durable. The more intolerable any torments are, the sooner do they work our escape from them. And, though spite and mal ice may "vrish the perpetuity of our pain ; yet it is not possible for mortal men to prosecute an immortal revenge : the death, either of them or of ourselves, will put a period to our sufferings. And what a small matter is it, to undergo pain for a few days only ! This is not worthy to be called Vengeance ; nor is it like that, which the Great God will inflict : which is both insupportable and eternal. And, therefore, 2. The Apostle calls it a falling into the hands of ihe Living God, And this denotes to us the Perpetuity and Eternity of this Vengeance, God for ever lives, to inflict it ; and sinners shall for ever live, to suffer it : for they fall into his hands. God hath, ,as it were, leased out a life to every wicked man : he hath his term of years set him, wherein he lives to himself; enjoying his lusts, and the 80 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN, pleasures and profits of this present world ; and, all this while, Vengeance intermeddles but little with him. But, when his life is expired and his years run out, he then falls into the hands of the great Lord of all, and becomes the possession of his Vengeance and Justice for ever. And, then, he is the Living God; and such wicked wretches must for ever live, to endure the most dreadful execution of his power and wrath. Were there any term or period set to their torments, should they when they have endured them thousands of thousands of years afterwards be annihilated, the expectation of this release, at the last, would give them some support : yea, it would be some so lace to them in their sufferings, to think that, at last, they should be freed from them. But this is the accent of their misery,' and that which makes them altogether desperate, that it is for ever: for ever, they must lie and wallow in those flames, that shall never be quenched ; and shall always be bit and stung with that worm, that shall jiever die. They are fallen into the hands of the Living God, who will never let them go as long as he lives, that is, never to all eternity. He is a consuming fire, but yet spends not any part of his fuel : he consumes, without diminishing them ; and destroys, but yet still perpetuates their being. "A wise and intelligent fire," as Minutius calls him, "that devours" the damned, but yet still "repairs" them; and, by "tormenting," still "nourishes" them for future torments: Sapiiens ille ignis, urit et reficit, carpit et nutrit. And, when they have lain burning in this fire all the ages that arithmetic can sum up, millions after thousands, and thousands of millions ; yat, still, it is but the beginning of their sorrows. Oh, think for yourselves, how long and tedious a little time seems to you, when you are in pain ; ypu complain then, that time hath leaden feet ; and "wish the days and hours would roll away faster vnth you : and you never find them so slow paced, as when they pass over a sick bed. Oh, then, what "will it be, when you shall lie sweltering under the dread wrath and vengeance of the Living God? The intolerableness of your pain and torment will make every day seem an age, and every year as long as eternity ; and yet you must lie there an eternity of those long years. Methinks this consideration of Eternal Torments should astonish the heart, and sink the spirits of every wicked "wretch : for, though they were not to be so excessively sharp as they are ; yet the Eter nity of them is that, which should make them altogether intoler able. There is scarce any pain so small, but it would mkke us des perate, were we assured it would never weq,r off, that we should DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 81 never obtain any ease or freedom from it : whatever pain we suffer, our usual encouragement unto patience is, that shortly it will be over : but, in hell, there is no period fixed to the torments : they are all eternal ; and, therefore, whatsoever they are for the degree and measure of them, yet are. they utterly intolerable, at least for their duration and continuance. Couldst thou shove- away millions of years with a wish, yet all this would avail nothing : for there are as many years in eternity as there are moments, and as many millions of years as there are years ; that is, it is an infinite and boundless duration : and, when thou hast struck thy thoughts as deep into it as thou canst ; yet, still, thou art but at the top of the heap, and it is still a whole eternity to the bottom. 3. Consider, also, that the Wrath and Vengeance of Go'd is most dreadful, not only from the eternal continuance and duration there of, but also from the excessive Anguish and Smart of those Torments that he inflicts. ' Nothing, that we have ever felt or can feel in this present life, can come into any comparison with them : and therefore the Text calls it, a falling into the hands of God. Here, on earth, God's hand doth sometimes fall upon us ; and it falls very heavy too, and lays upon us sore and weighty burdens : but these are nothing consid erable, to our falling into the hands of God. There is as much dif ference, between his wrath and displeasure falling upon us, and our falling upon it, as there is, between our having a few drops of a shower falling upon us, and our falling into a river, or into the sea, and being Overwhelmed with the great waters thereof: and, yet, how dreadful is it, when God's hand only falls upon us ! It was a sad complaint of the Psalmist, Ps. xxxii. 4, that God's hand lay heavy upon him : and, Ps. xxxviii. 2, that God's hsmdi pressed him sore. Grievous burdens and sore pressures may be laid upon us by this hand of God ; and that, both as to outward afflictions, and in ward troubles. (1) As to Outward Afflictions, how dreadfully doth God stretch out his hand against some ! making wide and terrible breaches up on them : some, in their estates ; some, in their relations ; and some, in their bodily health and strength. Have you never been about the sick beds of those, that have roared out through the extremity of their pains ; when every limb hath been upon the rack, and God hath filled them with a complication of loathsome, torment ing, and incurable diseases ? And, yet, all this is but a falling of God's hand upon them. (2) As to Inward Tr®ubles, we see how God Cramps some men's Vol. ii.— 6 82 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. consciences, breathes fire and flames into their very souls, and makes deep wounds in their spirits ; forcing them, through the ex tremity of their anguish, to cry out, they are da'mned, they are damned. Yea, some have even "wished that they were in hell : supposing those everlasting torments would not be more unsuffer- able, than what they here felt. And, indeed, these inward troubles are far more grievous than any outward can be. We hear Heman crying out, that, because of these terrors of the Lord, he was ready to die from his youth up : and, whilst he suffered this "wrath of God, he was even distracted with it : Ps. Ixxxviii. 15. And Job, whose patience is celebrated for beariiig all his outward afflictions, his loss of estate, of his children, of his health, with 'a heroic constancy, ( Ye have heard, says St. James, of the patience of Job) yet, when God comes to .touch his spirit with his "wrath, then we hear of his impatience: he curseth the day of his birth ; and wisheth that God would dcr stroy him, that he would let hose Ms hand and cut him off: Job. "vi. 9 : and wherefore are these passionate ^requests? why he tells us, v. 4. The arrows ofthe Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit ; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me: and, therefore, though he could patiently bear all that the rage and spite of the Devil could do against him, when he touched his wealth, when he touched his children, yea when he touched his body ; yet his patience could no longer hold out, when God came to touch his soul and conscience. (3) And, yet, the greatest terrors of conscience, whether in the children of God to their reformation, or in the "wicked to their des peration, are still but light and small touches of his hand, in com parison with what shall be expressed hereafter on the damned in Hell. For, , [1] To the godly, all these afflictions are mixed "with love and mercy. They are brought upon them, not ag plagues; but. as medica ments, to do them good. But, in hell, all is "wrath, all is fury; pure wrath and judgment, without mercy. And, certainly, if those sufferings, which are inflicted in love and allayed with mercy, are yet so very dreadful to the people of God, how dreadful will the wrath of God be in hell, where it shall be pure and unmixed, and'noth- ing put into that cup which the damned' are there to drink of, but the rankest venom that can be squeezed out of all the curses that ever God hath denounced ! And, then, [2] To the wicked, all the troubles and terrors, which they here DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 83 endure; are nothing, in comparison with what they must eternally suffer in Hell. They are now only sprinkled with a few drops of God's wrath ; but, in hell, all his waves shall go over them for ever. Here, they do but sip a little of that cup, and taste a little of the froth of it ; and, should they drink deeper, earth could not hold them, but they would grow drunk, and reel and stagger into hell : but, there, they must for ever drink the very dregs of that cup of trembling and astonishment. And thou, who now roarest and strugglest like- a wild bull in a net, when God's hand is only upon thee, what wilt thou do, when thou shalt eternally fall into his mighty hands ? Thou now criest out of the intolerableness- of thy present pain ; but, alas ! hadst thou but felt one gripe of the torments of the damned in hell, thou wouldst choose to live for ever here on earth in the most exquisite torture that could be devised, choose to bear the sharpest paroxysms of the stone or gout, to be stretched upon the rack, to lie broke upon the wheel, to have thy flesh plucked off by fiery pincers ; thou wouldst choose to suffer all these to all eternity ; yea, and choose them too as recreations and divertisements, rather than return again to that place of torment, where, not only the eternity, but the smart and anguish of them, is infinite and uncon ceivable. And, as one day in the joys of heaven is better than a thousand days, nay than a thousand years, in all the impure and low delights of earth : so, one day in the torments of hell, is far worse than a thousand in the sharpest miseries we can possibly en dure in this life. Here, our pains usually are but partial : God ¦ aims and shoots -with his arrow but at some one part of us : if he wound our spirits ; yet this invisible shaft, like lightning, passeth through, without making a breach in our bodies, or in our 'estates ; we have still oilr health and our plenty left us : or, if he strike the body, usually it is but in one, or at most but in some few places, and we enjoy ease in the rest : But, in hell, God doth, as it were, wrap the whole man up in searcloth, and set it on fire round about him, so that he is tormented in every part ; neither soul nor body escaping, nor any power or faculty of the one, nor any part or mem ber of the other. When we fall into the hands of God, we are plung ed into an ocean of wrath, and are covered all over with his fury and indignation : the Understanding, Will, Conscience, Affections, are all as . brimfull of torments as they can hold : for what can be greater anguis'h to the Mind, than to know our misery, and to know it to be remediless ? and what can be greater anguish to the Will and Affections, than iftost ardently and vehemently to desire free- 84 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. dom from those torments, but yet to despair of ever obtaining it ? and what can fill the Conscience with greater anguish, than to re flect, with infinite horror and regret, that it was only sinners' own folly and madness that brought them to this woeful and miserable condition ? how will they be ready even to rend and tear them selves in pieces, their consciences curse their wills, and their wills curse their affections, and their affections the objects that enticed them to the commission of those sins, the revenges of which they must now eternally suffer ! And as for the Bodies of these damned souls, they shall, after the Eesurrection and dreadful Day of Judg ment, become all fire, like a live coal : fire shall be- imbibed into the very substance of them, and they not have so much as a drop of water afi'orded them to cool the tip of their tongues : Luke xvi. 24. And this is a Third Consideration of the dreadfulness of ever lasting vengeance : it is a falling into God's hands. 4. Consider, it is a falling into the hands of the Living God him- s'elf, and not of any Creature, Indeed, we read in 2 Sam. xxiv. 14, that Da-vid chose rather to fall into the hands of the Lord, than into the hands of men, It is true, when there are true repentance and hopes of obtaining mersjy, this is far more eligible : for the chastisements of the Lord are full pf mercy ; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. But, where. all hopes and expectation of niercy are excluded, as they are in hell ; certainly, there, it is infinitely more dreadful to fall into the hands of a sin-revenging God, than into the hands of all the crea tures in heaven, or earth, yea or hell itself. One would have thought it had been terrible enough, if the Apos tle had said, " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Devils."- And so indeed it were ; if we consider, either their power, or their malice. Certainly, they can easily find out such torment ing ingredients, and apply them also to such tender parts, that it would transcend the patience of any man on earth quietly to bear but what one devil can inflict. Do we not often see, in the illusions of black and sooty melancholy ; what strange fears and terrors they can imprint upon the fancy ; what horror and despair they can work in the conscience ; so as to make men weary of their lives, and many times persuade them to destroy themselves, only to know the worst of what they must suffer ? And all this he can do out of his own kingdom ! What then can he do, when he hath got sinners into his own territories, and under his own dominion ! What exact tortures can he inflict upon them there ! such, indeed, as we cannot tell what they are ; and may it please God we never may ! And, yet, the Devil is but a fellow-creature : but wicked men are DISCOUESES CONCERNING SIN. £5 to fall into the hands, not of a creature, but of the Great Creator ; into the hands of God himself, whose power is infinitely beyond the de-vils', so that he is the tormentor even of them. Think then with thyself, 0 Sinner, that, if God binds and scourges and torments the very devils, who yet do so insufferably torment the damned ; how infinitely intolerable then is that wrath, which God himself shall inflict upon them ! Consider with thyself, if thou canst not bear those pains and torments, which the devils inflict ; and if the devils cannot bear those pains and torments, which God inflicts upon them ; how wilt thou then, 0 Sinner, be able to bear the immediate wrath, fury, and vengeance ofthe Great God himself? Nay, let me go yet a great deal lower ; and suppose that God should make use of common and ordinary creatures, for the pun ishment of wicked men : who is there, that could bear even this ? If God should only keep a man li-ving for ever in the midst of a furnace of gross and earthly fire, how dreadful would this be ! If but a spark of fire fall upon any part of the body, consider what an acute pain it will cause : much more, if thy whole man should be all over on a light flame, and thou for ever kept alive to feel the piercing torment of it. And, yet, what is our dull, unactive fire : in comparison of that pure, intelligent fire ? Or, suppose God, who knows the several stings that are in all his creatures, should take out of them the most sharp ingredients ; and, from them all, make up a most tormenting composition : if he should take poison and venom out of one, and fire and scorching out of another, and smart and stinging out of a third, and the quint essence of bitterness out of a fourth ; and, by his infinite skill, heighten all these to a preternatural acrimony : if now God should apply this composition, thus fatally mixed and blended together unto any of us, what an intolerable anguish would it cause in us ! And, if Creatures can cause such tortures, what a dreadful thing then is it to fall into the hands of God himself ! For, when God con-veys his -wrath to us by creatures, it must needs lose infinitely in the very conveyance. When God takes up one creature to strike another, it is but as if a giant should take up a straw or feather to strike a man with ; for, though he be never so strong, yet the blow can be but weak because of the weakness of the instrument : and yet, alas 1 how terrible are even such weak blows to us ! What will it then be, when God shall immediately crush us by the unrebated strokes of his own Almighty Arm ; and shall express the power of bis wrath, "and the glory of his justice and severity, in our eternal destruction. 86 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. And this is the Fourth Demonstrp,tioA of the dreadfulness of di vine vengeance. 5. Consider, that the Apostle ^calls this wrath, which the Living God will inflict upon sinners by the name of Vengeance, Venge ance is mine, I mil recompense it. Now vengeance, when it is whet and sharpened by "wrath, will enter deep, aud cut the soul to the very quick. God acts a twofold part, in the punishment of sinners. (1) Of a Judge. In relation to which, their eternal torments are sometimes called Condemnation : so, 1 Tim. iii. 6, we have mention made of the con demnation of the devil; that is, that state of woe and wrath, to which the Devil is for ever sentenced. And, Damnation : Matt, xxiii. 38, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? And, sometimes, it is termed Judgment: Heb. x. 27; ^4 certain fearful hoking for of judg ment andficrij indignation: and, in Jude 15, to execute judgment upon all the ungddly ; which denotes that their punishment shall be in flicted upon them from God, as he is a Just and Eighteous Judge. (2) God is an Avenger, as well as a judge. He is a party concerned ; as ha"ving been wronged, affronted, and injured by their sins. And, in relation to this, the punishments, that God will inflict upon them, are called Wrath and Fury, smok ing Anger and Jealousy : Deut. xxix. 20, the anger of the Lord and Ms jealousy shall smoke against that man. Also, Fiery Indignation: Heb. X. 27. All which we find amassed and heaped together, Zeph. iii. 8. My determination, saith God, is, to gather the nations to pour upon them, mine indignation, even all my flerce anger : for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jeahusy. All these ex pressions signify to us, the terribleness of that vengeance, which God will take : for, when the wrath of man only stirs him up to revenge an injury, he will be sure to do it to the very utmost ex tremity of all his power : and, if the revenge of a poor weak man be so dreadful a thing; how insupportable vcill be the vengeance' of the Great God, who assumes it to himself as part of his royalty! Vengeance is mine. See that terrible place, Nahum i. 2, God is jealous, and the Lord revengeih: the Lord revengeth, and is furious: the Lord will take vengeance on Ms adversaries, and he reserveth vrraih for Ms enem-ies. God reserveth wrath for sinners, and keeps it up in store ; even that wrath, which they themselves have treasured up against the day of wrath. This Eevenging Wrath of God. hath these Two things in it, that justly make it dreadful. DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. 87 [1] In that, 'Eevenge always aims at Satisfaction ; and seeks to repair injuries received, by inflicting punishment on the offender. This gives ease to the party .grieved : and, if this revenge be com mensurate to the greatness of the offence, he rests satisfied in it. And, therefore, God, speaking of himself according to the passions and affections of men, solaces himself in the thoughts of that ven geance, which he would take upon sinners : Isa. i. 24, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, I will avenge me of mine enemies. And, oh think how dreadful that revenge must needs be, that shall ease the heart of God ; and give him satisfaction, for all the heinous provocations, that sinners have committed against him. For, consider, 1st; How great and manifold our sins and offences have been : and every act of sin, yea the least that, ever we committed, is an infinite debt ; and carries in it an infinite guilt, because committed against an Infinite Majesty. For all offences take their measures, not only from the matter of the act, but from the person against whom they are committed : as a reviling, injurious word against our equals, will but bear an ac tion at law ; but, against the prince, it is high treason, and punish able with death. So, here, the least offence against the Infinite Majesty of the Great God, becomes itself infinite : the guilt of it is far beyond whatsoever we can possibly conceive. And, yet, what infinite numbers of these infinite sins have we committed ! The Psalmist tells us, they are more than the hairs of our head: Ps. xl. 12. Yea, we may well take in all the sands of the sea-shore, to cast them up by. Our Thoughts are incessantly in motion : they keep pace with the moments, and are continually t-winkling ; and, yet, every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is evil: what multi tudes of them have been grossly wicked and impious ; atheistical, blasphemous, unclean, worldly, and malicious ! and the best of them have been very defective ; and far short of that spirituality and heavenliness, that ought to give a tincture unto them. And, besides the sins of our thoughts, how deep have our Tongues set us on the score ! we have talked ourselves in debt to the justice of God ; and, with our own breath, have been blowing up our ever lasting and unquenchable fire. And, add to these, the hum-berless crowd and smn of our sinful Actions, wherein we have busily em ployed ourselves to provoke the Holy and Jealous God to wrath : and we shall find our sins to be doubly infinite, in their own par ticular guilt and demerit. And, now, 0 Sinner, when an angry and furious God shall come to exact from thee a full satisfaction for 88 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. all these injuries, a satisfaction in which he may eternally rest and acquiesce, such as may repair and recompense his wronged honour; think sadly with thyself, how infinitely dreadful this must needs be. Assure thyself, God will not lose by thee : but will fetch his glory out of thee, and take such a revenge upon thee, as shall as much please and content him, as his Infinite Mercy doth in those, whom he saves and glorifies. And how great then must this vengeance be ! 2dly. Consider, how dreadful a revenge God took on his own Dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to satisfy his just ice upon him for our sins. His wrath fell infinitely heavy upon him : and the pressure of it was so intolerable, that it squeezed out drops of clotted blood from him, in the garden ; and that sad cry on the Cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? And, yet, (1st) Our Lord Christ was supported under all his sufferings by the Ineffable Union of the Deity. He had Infinite Power for him, as well as against him : infinite power to bear him up as well as to crush him : in Christ's suffer ings, the power of God seemed, as it were, to encounter with itself; and to run contrary to itself, in the same channel. And, as he had the support of infinite power in his sufferings ; so, likewise, had he in the greatest of .his agonies the Ministry of Angels, to comfort him, and to refresh the droopings and faintings of his human na ture. And, (2dly) The Infinite Dignity of Christ's Person, being God as well as man, might well compound for the rigour of his punishments ; and stamp such a value upon his humiliation, that less degrees of suffering from him might be fully satisfactory. For, indeed, it can not be but an infinite punishment, for an Infinite Person to be punished. But, thou, that art but a -vile contemptible creature, hast nothing in thy nature wherewith to satisfy the dread justfce of God, but only the eternal destruction and perdition of it. Thou hast no worth nor dignity, the consideration whereof might persuade the Almighty to mitigate the least of his wrath and fury towards thee : and, when it falls in all its weight and force upon thee, thou hast nothing to uphold or support thee. It is true, the almighty power of God shall continue thee in thy being : but thou wilt for ever curse and blaspheme that support, that shall be given thee only to perpetuate thy torments ; and, ten thousand times, wish that God would destroy thee once for all, and that thou mightest for ever shrink away into nothing. But that, alas ! poor miserable wretch, will not be granted thee : no ; thou shalt not have so much as the DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 89 relief and comfort of dying, nor escape the vengeance of God by annihilation ; but his power "will for ever so support thee, as for ever to torment thee ; which is only such a support as a man re ceives on the rack or on the wheel ; supported, so as they cannot come off: the very engine of their torture upholds them. And, as for any help or relief which the Ministry of Angels "will afford thee, think what solace it will bring thee, when God shall set on whole legions of infernal ghosts, black and hideous spirits, as the execu tioners of his wrath ; who shall for ever triumph in thy woes and add to them, hurl firebrands at thee, heap fuel about thee, and fully satiate their malice upon thee, as God satisfies his justice. And this is one consideration of the dreadfulness of this ven geance: in that it aims, at and exacts satisfaction for sin, which will be infinitely intolerable ; -because our sihs are infinite, both in number and . heinousness ; and because Jesus Christ, who was to satisfy not for his own but for the sins of others, though he were upheld by the di"vine nature and possibly underwent not such acri mony of wrath as the damned do, yet his sufferings were unspeak able and unknown sorrows : and how much sorer then shall wicked men bear for their own sins, when justice shall come to reckon with them, and to exact from them to the very utmost farthing of all that they owe ! [2] Consider, that Eevenging- Wrath stirs up all that is in God against a sinner. Wrath, when it is whet and set on by revenge, redoubless a man's force ; and makes him perform things, that he could not do in his cold blood : it fires all a man's spirits ; and calls them forth to ex press their utmost efforts. So, this Eevenging Wrath of God draws . forth all the force and activity of his attributes, and sets them against a sinner : and how dreadful then must that execution needs be ! We see what great works God can perform, when he is not stirred up thereunto by his wrath and indignation : he speaks a whole world into being, and speaks it "with a cold and calm breath : certainly, it was no small piece of work, to spread out the heavens and' lay the foundations of the earth, and to work all those wonders of creation and pro'vidence which we daily behold ; but, yet, all these things God did, if I may so speak, without any emotion. But, when he comes to take vengeance upon sinners, he is then enflamed : all, that is in God, is, as it were, on fire : Jealousy, says Solomon, is the rage of a man, Prov. vi. 34 : now, when God's jealousy shall be stirred in him,' think how impetuously it will break forth in the fearftil effects of it : Isa. xlii. 13 ; The Lord shall stir up jeahusy like 90 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. a man of war : he shall cry ; yea, roar : he shall prevail against Ms ene mies. If the calm ^nd sedate worlfs of God are so great and won derful, how great then will his vengeance be ; when anger, fury, and indignation shall excite and whet his power to show the very utmost of what it can do ! and, therefore, though God had infiicted dreadful plagues upoi^jthe Israelites in the wilderness, and had shown mighty eff'ects' of his power and vengeance, yet we find that the Church blesseth him, that he turned away his anger, and did not stir up all Ms wrath: Ps. Ixxviii. 38. But, in hell, God stirs up all his wrath : every thing is set and bent against the damned : and as, to the saints in heaven, every attribute of God concurs to make him inerciful and gracious to them ; so, to the wicked in hell, all the perfections of God conspire either to stir up and kindle his wrath, or else to assist him in the execution of it upon them : the infinite Wisdom of God contrives their punishments ; and which way to lay them on, so that they shall be most sharp and poignant : the Power of God rouses itself against them ; and proffers all its suc cours and assistance unto vengeance : the Eternity and Unchange- ableness of God come in as a dreadful addition ; and make that wrath, which of itself is unsupportable, to be also everlasting : yea, that sweet and mild attribute of God, his Mercy, the only refuge and the only comfort of miserable mankind, yet even this turns against them too ; and because they despised it when it shone forth in patience and forbearance, will not now regard them when they stand in need of its rescue and deliverance : so that all, that is in God, arms itself to take vengeance on sinners. And oh, think how sore and fearful that vengeance will be, when God shall put forth all that is in himself for tKe executing of his wrath upon impeni tent sinners ! And thus I have done with the Demonstrations of the Dreadful ness of God's Wrath taken from the Words, in the Text, Vengeance is mine, I will recompense it. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. ii. Let us now consider some otheb demonstbations op the GREATNESS OF THIS WBATH. And, 1. It appears to be exceeding dreadful, in that it is set forth to vs in Scripture hy all those things, which are most terribh to human nature. God maketh use of many metaphorical expressions of things most grievous to our senses, that from them we may take a hint to con ceive how intolerable his wrath is in itself. It is called a prison: 1 Peter iii. 19, where mention is made of the spirits in prison : that is, the souls of those men, to whom the DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 91 Spirit of Christ in Noah wenj;, and preached in the days of their mortal life ; but which, for their disobedience, are shut up under the wrath of God in hell. And, certainly, helL is a prison, large enough to hold all the world : Ps. ix. 17 ; The wicked shall he turned into hell, and all the nations that forget Ood. A prison it is, where the Devil and wicked Spirits are shackled with chains of massy and substantial darkness : 2 Peter ii. 4, they are, says the Apostle, reserved in chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. And they are there kept in everlasting chains under darkness ; there being not one cranny in this great prison, to let in the least ray or glimpse of light. It is' called a place of torment : Luke xvi. 28. It is a region of woe and misery : wherein horror, despair, and torture for ever dwell ; and are in their most proper seat and habitation. It is called, a .drowning of men in destruction and perdition : 1 Tim. vi. 9. One would think, that, to be drowned, might signify death enough of itself; but, to be drowned in perdition and destruc tion, signifies moreover the fatalness and the depth of that death, into which they are plunged. It is called, a being cast, bound hand and foot, into outer darkness : Matt. xxii. 13 : a being thrown into a furnace of fire, to be burnt alive : Matt. xiii. 42, 50.. It is called a l^ke of fire: Eev. xx. 15, into which wicked men shall be plunged all over ; where they shall lie wallowing and roll ing among millions of damned spirits, in those infernal flames. And this lake is continually fed with a sulphurous stream of brimstone : Eev. xix. 20. And this fire and brimstone is that, which never shall be quenched : Matt. iii. 12 ; Se will burn up the chaff with unquenchabh fire. And, lastly, to name no more, it is called everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels: Matt. xxv. 41. And now we are arrived at the highest pitch of what sense can feel, or imagination conceive. Or, if it be possible, that, in your deepest thoughts, you can con ceive any thing more dreadful than this, you may call it a sea of molten brimstone, set all on fire, and continually spewing out sooty dark flames : wherein endless multitudes of sinful wretches must lie tumbling to all. eternity ; burned up "with the fierceness of a tormenting and devouring fire ; scourged with scorpions ; stung "with fiery serpents ; howling and roaring incessantly, and none to pity, much less to relieve and help them ; grinding and gnashing their teeth, through the extremity of their anguish and torture. If now you can fancy any thing more terrible and dreadful than 92 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. this, hell is that ; yea, and much more : for these things are meta phorical ; and, though I cannot deny but Some of these may be pro perly and literally true, yet the literal sense of these metaphors does but faintly and "vveakly show us, what is the least part of those everlasting torments. 2. Another Demonstration of the Dreadfulness of this Vengeance is this, that it is a Wrath, that shall come up unto and equal all our Fears, You know what an inventive and ingenious thing fear is : what horrid shapes it can fancy to itself, out of every thing. Put but an active fancy into an affright, and presently the whole world will he filled with strange monsters and hideous apparitions. The very shaking of a leaf will sometimes rout all the forces and resolutions of men. And, usually, it is this wild passion, that doth enhance all other dangers ; and makes them seem greater and more dreadful, than indeed they are. But, now, here, it is impossible for a wicked man to fear more, , than he shall certainly suffer. Let his imaginations be hung round with all the dismal shapes, that ever frighted men out of their wits; let his fancy dip its pencil in the deepest melancholy, that ever any soul was besmeared with, and then strive to pourtray and express the most terrible things, that it pan judge to be the objects of fear, or the instruments of torment : yet the wrath of the Great God vastly exceeds all, that fear itself can possibly represent. , See that strange expression, Ps. xc. 11 ; Who knoweth ihe power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy ivrath: that is, ac cording to the fear men have of thee, as dreadful and as terrible as they can possibly apprehend thy wrath to be, so it- is, and much more. Let the heart of man stretch itself to the utmost bounds of imagination, and call in to its aid all the things that ever it hath heard or seen to be dreadful ; let it (as that painter, -wAo, to make a beautiful piece, borrowed several of the best features from several beautiful persons) borrow all the dreadful, all the direful representa tions, that ever it met with, to make up one most terrible idea : yet the wrath of God shall still exceed it. He can execute more wrath upon us, than we can fear. Some wicked men, in this life, have had a spark of this "wrath of God fall upon their consciences ; when they lay roaring out, imder despair, and fearful expectations of the fiery indignation of God to consume and devour them. But, alas ! this is nothing, to what they shall hereafter feel. God now .doth but open to them a small chink and crevice into hell : he now doth but Suffer a few small drops of DISCOUESES CONCERNING SIN. 93 his "wrath to fall upon them. And, if this be so sore and smart, that their fears could never think of any thing more dreadful than what they now suffer ; oh, what will it be then, when he shall over whelm them with a whole deluge of his wrath, and cause all his waves to go over them ? Fear him, says our Saviour, which is abh to de stroy both soul and hody in hell: yea, I say unto you, fear him: Matt. X. 28. Luke xii. 5. And, yet, when we have feared according to the utmost extent of our narrow hearts ; still, his infiijite power and wrath is infinitely more fearful than we can fear it. 3. Consider the principal and imm.ediate subject Of this ivrath of God; and, that is, the Soul, And this adds much to the dreadfulness of it. The acutest tor ments, that the body is capable of, are but dull and flat things, in comparison of what the soul can feel. Now when God shall im mediately, with his own hand, lash the soul, that refined and spir itual part of man, the principle of all life and sensation ; and shall draw blood from it at every stripa; how intolerable may we con ceive those pains and tortures to be 1 To shoot poisoned darts into a man's marrow, to rip up his bowels with a sword red hot ; all this is as nothing to it. Think what it is, to have a drop of scald ing oil or melted lead fall upon the apple of your eyes, that should make them boil and burn till they fall out of your heads : such torment, nay infinitely more than such, is it, to have the burning wrath of God fall upon the soiil. We find that spirits, which are infinitely inferior unto God, can make strange impressions upon the souls of men : and shall not the Great God, much more, who is the Father of Spirits ? yes : he can torture them by his essential wrath. And that God, who, as the prophet Nahum speaks, (ch. i. 5, 6,) can melt mountains, and make hills and rocks flow down at his presence, can melt the souls of the damned, like lumps of wax : for, in his displeasure, he doth sometimes do it to the best of men, even in this life : Ps. xxii. 14, My heart is melted like wax in the midst of my bowels, . 4. The Dreadfulness of this Wrath of God may be demonstrated by this, that the punishment of the damned, is reserved hy God as Ms Last Work. It is a work, which he will set himself about, when all the rest of his works are done. When he hath folded up the world, and laid it aside as a thing of no further use ; then will God set him self to this great work, and pour out all the treasures of his wrath upon damned wretches : as if God would so wholly mind this busi ness, that he would lay all other affairs.aside, that he might be in- 94 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. tent only«upon this, having no other thing to interrupt him. Think, then, how full of dread and terror this must needs be, when God will, as it were, employ all his eternity about this ; and have no other thing to take him off, from doing it with all his might. God hath reserved two works, and but two, for the other world: one, is the Salvation of the Elect ; and, the other is, the Damnation of Eeprobates. Now it is remarkable, that God's last works do always exceed his former. And, therefore, we find in the Creation of the World, God still proceeded on, from more imperfect kinds of creathres, to those, that were more perfect ; until he had fully built and finished, yea carved and as it were painted this great house ofthe universe: and, then, he brings man into it, as his last work ; as the crown and perfection of the rest. So God likewise acted, in the manner of Eevealing his Will unto mankind : first, he spake to them by dreams and visions ; but, in the last days, as the Apostle expresseth it, he hath spoken unto us by Ms Son, So, also, in the Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace and Exhibition of the Messiah : first, he he was made known only by promise to the fathers ; then, in types and obscure resemblances to the Jews : but, in the latter days, him self came and took upon him the form of a servant, and wrought out a complete redemption for us. So, usually, the last works qf God are more complete, perfect and excellent than the former. Now God's punishing- work is his last work ; and, therefore, it , shall exceed in greatness all that ever went before it. In his first work, the creation of the world, he demonstrated his infinite power,' wisdom, and godhead ; but, in the destruction of sinners, which is his last work, he will manifest more of power and wisdom, than he did in his creating them : and how fearful a destruction then must this needs be ! God hath variety of works, that he is carrying on in this world; and, if his glory doth not perfectly appear in one, he may manifest it in another. But, when he shall confine himself only to two, as he will in the world to come, the saving of the godly and the damning of the wicked, and this without any variety or change ; certainly, then these shall be perfoi-med to the very utmost of what God can do : for, as he will save the saints to the very utmost ; so, likewise, will he damn and destroy sinners to the very utmost. 5. Another Demonstration of the Dreadfulness of this Wrath shall be drawn from this consideration, that God will for ever inflict it for the Glorifying of Ms Power on the damned. Eom. ix. 22. What if God, willing to show Ms vjrath, and to make DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 95 his power known : and, 2 Thess. i. 9. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, andfrom the ghry of Ms power. Now, certainly, if God will inflict eternal punishments upon them to show forth his power, their punishments must needs be infinitely great. For, (1) All those works, wherein God shows forth his power, are great and stupendous. Consider what power it was, for God to lay the beams of the world, and to erect so stately a fabric^as heaven' and earth. The Apostle therefore tells us, that by the creation of the world, is under stood the eternal power of God : Eom. i. 20. When God showed his power in creating, oh what a great and stupendous work did he produce ! and, therefore, certainly, when God shall likewise show his po-wer in destroying, the punishments he will inflict will be wonderful and stupendous. (2) Consider, God can easily destroy a creature without showing any great power ; or putting forth his almighty arm and strength to .do it. If he only withdraw his power, by which he upholds all things in their beings, we should quickly fall all abroad into nothing : so easy is it for God to destroy the well-being of all his creatures. But, if God will express the greatness and infirliteness of his power in destroying sinners, whom yet he can destroy without ptitting forth his power, yea only by withdrawing and withholding it ; oh how fearful must this destruction needs be ! Alas, we are crushed before the inoth ; and must needs perish, if God do but suspend the influence of his power from us ; how dreadfully then will he de stroy, when he shall lay forth his infinite power to do it, who can easily do it without power ! And thus I have laid down some Demonstrations of the Dread fulness of the Wrath and Vengeance of God ; five of them dra-wn from Words of the Text, and five drawn from Other Considerations. III. I shall now shut up, with two or three words of APPLICA TION. i. Be PEESUADED to believe, that THEEE is a DEEADFUL WEATH to' come. I know well, you all profess that you- believe, that, as there are inconceivable rewards of glory .reserved in heaven for the saints, so there are inexhaustible treasures of wrath reserved and laid up in hell for all ungodly and impenitent sinners : but, oh, how few are there,, that do really and cordially believe these things ! Men's 0"wn lives 96 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. may be evident convictions to themselves; of their atheism and in fidelity : for all that dissoluteness, which we see abroad in the world, proceeds much from hence, that men are not persuaded that these dreadful terrors of the Lord which have, now been set before us, are anything but an honest artifice. They look upon them, as things only invented, to scare the world into- good order, and to awe men into some compass of civility and honesty : they think all those tremendous threatenings, that God hath denounced in his- Law to be things intended rather to fright men, than to do exe cution upon them." And, "flrhsf eas one of the most effectual motives to piety and a holy life, is, to be persuaded of the terrors of the Lord ; these^are not yet persuaded, that there any such terrors. But, assure yourselves, these are not the extravagant dreams of melan choly fancies! nor the politic impostures of men that design to amuse the world with frightful stories ; but they are sad and seri ous truths : such, as, however you may now slight and contemn them, yet shall you be woefully convinced of by your own experi ence ; when, after a few years, or possibly a few days, you shall be sunk down into that place of torment, that gulph and abyss of misery, where the Great God shall for ever express the art and the power of his vengeance, in your everlasting destruction. ii. This speaks abundance of comfoet to all those, whose sins are pabdoned, -and who abe delivebed fbom the weath to come. Look what spring-tides of joy would rise in the heart of a poor condemned malefactor, who every moment expects the stroke of ' justice to cut him off, to have a pardon interpose and rescue him from death ; such, yea far greater, should be thy joy, who artireed merely by a gracious pardon, from a condemnation infinitely greater and worse than death itself When we look into hell, and consider the wrath that the damned there lie under, oh, to behold them there restlessly rolling to and fro in chains and flames ; to hear them ex- claiim against their own folly and madness, and to curse themselves and their associates as the causes of their heavy and doleful torments; how should we rejoice, that, though we have been guilty of many great and heinous sins, and have ten thousand times deserved hell and everlasting burnings, yet our good and gracious God hath freely pardoned us our debts, and freed us from the same merited pun ishments. • iii. This also should excite Us to magnify the love of oub LOED JESUS CHBIST TOWAEDS US. Who, though he knew what the dreadful wrath of God was, how DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. 97 sore and hea"vy it wonlid lie upon his soul ^ yet, such was his infi nite compassion towards us, that he willingly submitted himself to be in our stead ; took upon him our nature, that he might take upon him our gum ; and first made himself wretched, that he might be made accursed. He drank off the whole bitter cup of his Fa ther's wrath, at one bitter draught ; received the whole sting of death into his body, at once ; fell and died under the revenges of divine justice, only that we might be delivered from the wrath that we had deserved, but could not bear. 0 Christian, let thy heart be enlarged "with great love and thankfulness to thy Blessed Eedeem- er : and, as he thought nothing too much to suffer for thee, return him this expression of thy thankfulness, to think nothing too much nor too hard to do or to suffer for him. iv. You, THAT GO ON IN SIN, CONSIDEB WHAT A GOD YOU HAVE TO DEAL "WITHAL. You have not to do with creatures, but "with God himself. And do you not fear that uncreated fire, that will "wrap you up in flames of his essential wrath, and burn you for ever ? Consider that dread ful expostulation, that God makes, Ezek. xxii. 14; Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands he strong, in the days that I shall deal vnth thee, saith the Lord ? The very weakness of God is stronger than man. God can breathe, he can look a man to death : Job iv. 9 ; By ihe blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance : Ps. Ixxx. le.'^Oh, then, tremble to think what a load of "wrath his heavy hand can lay upon thee : that hand, which spans the heavens ; and, in the hollow of which, he holds the sea : Isa. xl. 12. What pun ishment will this great hand of God, in which his great strength lies, inflict, when it shall fall upon thee in the full power of its might ! And tell me now, 0 Sinner, wouldst thou "willingly fall into the hands of this God, who is thus able to crush thee to pieces, yea to nothing? Oh, how shall any of us then dare, who are but poor weak potsherds ofthe earth, to dash ourselves against this Eock of Ages? Indeed, we can neither resist his power, nor escape his hand : and, therefore, since we must necessarily sooner or later fall into the hands of God, let us, by true repentance and an humble acknow ledgment of our sins and vileness, throw ourselves into his merci ful hands ; and, then, to our unspeakable comfort, we shall find that he "will extend his arm of mercy to support us and not his hand of justice to crush and break us. Vol. a.— 7 98 D I S 0 0 ,,U B S E S e 0 N G E R N I N G S I N. VI. ^ OP PABDON AND FOEGIVENESS OFSIN. I, even I, am he, thai hhtteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and udll not remember thy sins, ISAIAH xliii. 25. In the foregoing verses, we have a heavy accusation dra-wn np against the people of the Jews : in which they stand charged hoth with sins of omission and of commission. By the one, they showed tbemselves weary of God ; and, by the other, God became weary of them. " Thou hast not calhd upon me.„..TXOT brought me thy hurnt-offer- ings, nor honoured me with thy sacrifices but thou hast heen wear-y of me, 0 Israel: as it is in 22d and 23d verges. Thou thoughtest my commands grieyous, and my service burdensome: and though, as thou art my sworn servant, I might compel thee to work ; yet I have bprne with thy sloth, and suffered my work to lie undone. / have not caused thee to serve with offerings, nor wearied thee with in cense : as it is in the 23d verse. Nay, as if rejecting my service had not been indignity enough, thou hast even brought me into a kind of servitude ; even me, thy Lord and Master : thou hast wea ried my patience ; thou hast loaded my omnipotency : Thou hast made me serve with thy sins ; thou hast wearied me with thine in iquities:" verse 24. And what could we now, in reason, expect should be the close . of so heavy an accusation, but only as heavy a doom and sentence? " Thou hast brought me no sacriflces : therefore I will make thee a sacrifice to my wrath. Thou hast not called upon me; and, w-hcin thou dost call, I will not answer. Thou hast wearied me with thy sins : and I will weary thee with my plagues." But there is no such expected severity follows hereupon : hut, I, even I, am he, that hhtteth out thy tro.nsgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. The like parallel place we have concerning Ephraim : Isa. Ivii. 17, 18. Se went on frowardly in the way of his' own heart: Well, says God, / have seen Ms ways : and, what ! with the froward, shall I show myself froward ? no : but, I have seen kis ways, and I will heal Mm, Here is the prerogative of free grace; to infer pardon there, where the guilty themselves can infer only their own execution and punishment. It is the guise of mercy, to make strange and abrupt inferences from sin to pardon. The words* are a Gracious Proclamation of Forgiveness ; or, an Act of Pardon passed on the Sins of Men : and contain in them Three -things. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 99 First. Here is the Person, that gives out this pardon ; and, that is, God : accented here by a vehement ingemination, I, even lam he. Secondly. Here is the Pardon itself; which, for the greater con firmation of our faith and hope, is redoubled : I, even I, am he, that blottefh out thy trains gressions and will not remember thy sins. Thirdly. Here are the Motives, or the impulsive cause, that pre vailed with God, thus to proclaim pardon unto guilty malefactors ; and, that is, for his own sake. / am he, that hhtteth out thy trans gressions, for mine own sake. First. As for the First particular, /, even I, am he ; we may ob serve. That God seems more to triumph in the glory of his par doning grace and mercy, that he doth in any other of his attributes. I, even I, am he. Such a stately preface must needs usher in somewhat, wherein God and his honour is much advanced. Is it therefore, " I am he, that spread' forth the heavens, and marshalled all their host ; that hung up the earth in the midst of the air ; that breathed forth all the creatures upon the face of it ; that poured out the great deeps, and measured them all in the hollow of my hand ; that ride upon the wings of the wind, and make the clouds the dust of my feet ?" This, though it might awe and amaze the hearts of men, yet God counts it not his chiefest glory ; but, I, even I, am he, that hhtteth out transgressions, and forgiveih iniquities. So we find, when God condescends to show Moses his glory, he proclaims, not the Lord, great and terrible, that formed all things by the word of"*his mouth, and can destroy all things by the breath of his nostrils : no ; but he passeth before him with a still voice, and proclaims himself to be. The Lord, ihe Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth..,..fov giv ing iniquity and transgression and sin. So that, when God would be seen in his chiefest state and glory, he reveals himself to be a sin-pardoning God ; I, even I, am he, that hhtteth out thy transgressions. ...and udll not remember thy sins. Secondly. As for the Pardon itself, that is expressed in two things: I am he, that hhtteth out....and will not remember, t Blotting out implies, FirsL That our transgressions are written down. And, written they are, in a twofold book : the one, is in the Book of God's Eemembrance ; which he blots out, when he justifies a sin ner : the other, is the Book of our own Consciences ; which he blots out, when he, gives us peace and assurance. And, oftentimes, these follow one upon the other : when God blots his Eemembrance-Book in heaven, that blot diff'useth and spreadeth itself even to th^ Book 100 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. of Conscience, and blots out all that is written there also. Man blots his conscience by committing sin, but God blots it by pardon ing it : he lays a blot of Christ's blood upon a blot of our guilt ; and this is such a blot, as leaves the conscience of a sinner purer and ' cleaner than it found it. Secondly, Blotting out of transgression implies a legal discharge of the debt. A book, that is once blotted and crossed, stands void in law : whatever the sum and debts were before, yet the crossing of the book signifies the payment of the debt. So is it here : / will blot out thy transgressions ; that is, " I will acquit thee of all thy debts : I will never charge them upon thee : I will daSh them all out : I will not leave so much as one item, not one sin legible against thee." This is the proper meaning of this expression and notion, of blot ting out transgression and sin. And this is one thing, that pardon of sin is expressed by. It follows, in the next words, and I vxill not remember thy siiis. Not that there is truly any forgetfulness in God : no ; his memory retains every sin which we have committed, surer and firmer than if all our sins were -written in leaves of brass. But God speaks here, as he doth elsewhere' frequently in Scripture, by a gracious - condescension, and after the manner of men ; and it is to be inter preted only by the effects : / will not remember their sins ; that is, " I will deal so mercifully with them, as if indeed I did not remem ber the least of their provocations : I will be to them as one, that hath utterly forgotten all their injuries." So that this, not remem bering of sin, denies not the eminent act of God's knowledge, but only the transient act of his justice ; and is no more than his promis ing not to punish sin : as if God had said, " I will not be avenged on them, nor punish them for their sins." And here we may see what abundant security God gives his peo ple, that they shall never be impleaded for those sins, which once they have attained the pardon of : they are blotted out of his book of remembrance. And, that they may not fear he will accuse them without book, he tells them, that they are utterly forgotten ; and shall never be remembered by him, against them, any more. Thirdly. Consider the Impulsive Cause, that moves God's hand, as it were to blot out our transgressions : and, that is, not any thing without himself, but, says God, I will do it /or mine own sake. This admits of a twofold sense, efficient and final. First, For mine own sake : that is, because it is tny pleasure : I will dq it, because I will do it. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 101 And, indeed, this is the royal prerogative of God alone, to render his will for his reason : for, because his will is altogether sovereign and independent, that must needs be most reasonable, that he wills. If any should question, why the Lord passed by fallen angels, and stooped so low as to take up fallen man ; and, why, among men, he hath rejected many wise and noble, and hath chosen those that are mean and contemptible ; why he hath gathered up and lodged in his own bosom those, that wallowed in the filth and defilement of the worst sins, when others are left to perish under far less guilt : the most reasonable answer, that can be given to all, is this, " I have done it, for my own sake : I have done it, because it is my will and pleasure to do it : even the same reason, that God gave unto Moses : / vdll be gracious, because / will he gracious ; and I udll shew mercy, because / vAll shew mercy : Exod. xxxiii. 19 ; which was the same answer, that our Saviour gave to himself : Luke x. 21 ; Even so. Father ; because so it seemed good in thy sight, Secondty, For mine own sake : we may take in a final sense : that is, " I will do it, because of that gteat honour and glory, that will accru5 to my great name by it." The ultimate and chief end of God in all his actions, is his own glory. God bestows paMon and salvation upon us, chiefly for the manifestation of his own glory ; even the glory of his mercy and free grace. Our salvation is therefore accomplished, that it might be a means to declare to the world how merodful and gracious God is : not so much Tor our good, as forhis glory ; not for our sakes, but for his own sake. Such a parallel place we have in Ezek. - xxxvi. 22, " I do not this for your sakes, saith the Lord, hut for my holy rvamis sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen. I will show mercy unto you ; not so much that you may be delivered, as that my holy name, that you have profaned, may be redeemed from that dishonour, that you have cast upon it, and may be glorified among the heathen." And, thus, we have the full interpretation ofthe words ; and, from them, I shall raise and prosecute this Observation. Doctrina That the geace of god, whbeeby he blots out and FOEGIVES SIN, IS ABSOLUTELY FBEE AND INFINITELY GLOBIOUS. I, even I, am he, that hhtteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and vdll not remember thy sins. I. Though this doctrine of FEEE GEACE hath deserved well of all ; as being the best tenure of our present enjoyment, and the best prop for our future hopes : yet hath it, in all ages, found bitter enemies ; and, of old, like the procurer of it, been crucified between two thieves, the Gnostics and the Pelagian Heretics. 102 DISCOUESES CONCERNING SIN. The .Pelagians deprive it of its freedom, and enslave it to the will of man ; affirming, that God therefore pardons and saves some, because they will, by the power of their own nature, work faith in themselves : whereas, the truth is, therefore God works faith iu them, because he we will pardon and save them. Thus they make Free Grace a handmaid, to wait upon the motions of Free Will. Now this is greatly derogatory to Free Grace, for men to bottom their faith and pardon upon the arbitrariness of Free Will ; and not upon the almighty sovereign grace of God, that first moves the will to believe, and then pardons it upon believing." As these depress the Free Grace of God ; so there are others, that ascribe too much unto it : of old, Islebius, in Luthpr's time ; who was the first ringleader : of latter days, the Antinomians. And these think the grace of God is so free, as to supersede all necessity of working, for it or with it ; and that it is enough for us to sit still and admire it, and so to be hurried away to heaven in a dream. Nay, some, even in our days, have, upon this principal, arrived to that height of blasphemy, as to affirm, that we never so much glorify- Free Grace, as when we make work for it by stout sinning. • i. Now therefore, that we may avoid both these extremes, it "will be very necessary to state aright, HOW thb geace of god is feeb, and HOW IT is not feeb. ^ , • Now there are many sorts of freedom : a freedom from natural necessity ; a freedom .from violent co-action, and from engaging promises, and the like : but these- are not pertinent to our present .business. When Grace, therefore, is said to be Free, it must be taken in a Twofold sense. Free from any Procurement. Free from any limiting Conditions. And, accordingly, I shall propound the Eeso- lution of Two Questions. Whether the Grace of God be so Free, as to exclude all merit and desert. And, then, " Whether it be so Free, as to require no conditions. 1. Whether the Grace of God he so Free, as to exclude all merit and desert. In answer unto this Question, I shall lay down Three Propositions. (1) That the pardoning grace of God is not so freely vouchsafed- to man, as to exclude all merit and desert on Christ's part. There is .not the least sin pardoned unto any, but it first cost the price of blood, even the precious blood of the Son of God. It is this blood, that crosseth God's debt-book ; and blotteth out all those items, that we stand indebted to him for. As Christ now sues out our pardon, by his intercession in heaven ; .so he bought out our DISCOUESES CONCERNING SIN. 103 pardon, by his sufferings on the cross : for, without shedding of bhod tliere is no remission : Heb. ix. 22. And, This is my blood, says our Saviour himself which is shed ....for the remission .of sins: Matt. xxvi. 28. Ahd, we are not our own, but we are bought with a price ; even with the precious bhod of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: as the two great Apostles speak : 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 1 Pet. i. 19. Some have made bold, and possibly with no bad intention, to call Jesus Christ the greatest sinner in the world ; because the sins of .all God's people met in him, and were imputed to him : they were his, by a voluntary susception and un dertaking. And, if the foregoing expression may be allowed, there is one in 'heaven, the highest in glory, whose sins were never par doned ; for our Lord Christ paid down the utmost farthing that either the law or justice of God could exact, as a satisfaction for those sins that he voluntarify took upon himself : and, therefore, by - Law and Justice, and not by Free Grace, he hath taken possession of heaven for himself, and is there preparing mansions for us. In respect of Christ, we receive nothing of Free Grace, or of Free Gift ; but all is by purchase : and, as we ourselves are bought with a price ; so is every thing we enjoy : even cogimon and vulgar mercies come flowing in upon us in streams of blood : our lives, and all the comforts of them, much more our future life, and all the means tending to it, are paid for by the blood of Christ. So that the Grace of God is not so Free,' as to exclude all merit on Christ's part ; who hath^purchased all we enjoy or hope for, by paying a full and equitable price to the justice of God. (2) The infinite Grace of God, in giving Christ to us an,d his blood for us, through which we have pardon merited, is absolutely free ; and falls not under any merit, either of ours or of his. [1] It -falls "not under any merit of ours. For, certainly, could we have merited Christ out of heaven, we might as well have merited heaven "without Christ. When God, in his infinite -Wisdom, foresaw how we would reject and despise his Son ; first spill his blood, and then trample upon it ; he did not ac count this demeanour of ours to be meritorious of so great a gift. [2] Which is yet more to the glory of God's Free Grace, he be stowed Christ upon us ; not only without any merit of ours, but without any merit of his also. It is Free Grace, that pardons, that sanctifies, that saves us ; yet all this Christ purchased for us by a full price. God will have a price paid down for all other things of a less value ; that so he might hereby set forth his own bounty, in parting with his own Son for us without price. 104 DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. (3) Pardon and grace, obtained through the blood of Christ, in respect of any merit of ours is altogether free and undeserved. We cannot of ourselves scarce so much as ask forgiveness ; much less, therefore, can we do any thing that may deserve it. All, that we can do, is either sinful or holy ; if what we do be sinful, it only increaseth our debts : if it be holy, it must proceed from God's Free Grace, that enables us to do it ; and, certainly, it is Free Grace to pardon us upon the doing of that, which Free Grace only enables us to do. Far be it from us to affirm, as the Papists do, that good works are meritorious of pardon : what are our prayers, our sighs, our tears? yea, what are our lives and our blood itself, should we shed it for Christ ? All this cannot make one blot in God's remem brance-book : yea, it were fitter and more becoming the infinite bounty of God to give pardon and heaven freely, than to set them to sale for such inconsiderable things as these are : heaven needed not to have been so needlessly prodigal and la-vishing, as to have sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, to lead a miserable life and die a cursed death, had it been possible for man to have bought off his own guilt and to have quitted scores with God, by a lower price than what Cbeist himself could do or suffer. And, so much, for the ^esoluftion of the First Question : God's pardoning grace, though it be purchased, in respect to Christ ; yet is it absolutely free, in respect to any merit of ours. 2. The Second Question is. Whether ihe Grace of Qod he so Free, as to require no conditions on our part. Of gifts, some are bestowed absolutely, without any terms of lagreement ; and some are conditional, upon the performance of such stipulations and conditions, without which they shall not be bestowed. Of which sort, is this Grace of God ? I answer, (1) The Sanctifying and Eegenerating Grace of God, whereby the great change is wrought upon our hearts in our first conver sion and' turning unto God, is given absolutely, and depends not upon the performance of any conditions. Indeed we are commanded to make use of means, for the getting true and saving grace wrought in us ; but these means are not con ditions for the obtaining of that grace : for the nature of conditions is such, that the benefits which depend upon them are never be stowed, but where the conditions are first performed : and therefore we call faith and repentance conditions of eternal life, because eter nal life is never conferred upon any, who did not first believe and repent. But, certain it is, God hath converted some without the use of ordinary means ; as St. Paul, and the Thief on the Cross. Therefore, though we are commanded to use the means : yet the DISCOURSES CONCERNING SIN. 105 use of means and ordinances cannot be called conditions of our regeneration. And, indeed, if any thing could be supposed a con dition of obtaining grace, it must either be a work of nature, or a work of grace : now a work of grace it cannot be, till grace be "wrought ; and to go about to make a work of nature a condition of grace, is to re"vive that old error of the Pelagians, for which they stand anathematized in Count Pallestine many years since. Sancti fying Grace is given freely, excepted from any conditions, though not excepted frorh the use of means. (2) Justifying and Pardoning Grace, though it be free, yet is it limited to the performance of certain conditions, without which God never bestows it upon any ; and they are two. Faith and Eepentance. And these graces God bestows upon whom he pleaseth, without any foregoing conditions. Faith in Christ is the freest gift, that ever God bestowed upon any ; except that Christ, on whom we believe. But pardon of sin is restrained to faith and repentance, as the con ditions of it ; nor is it ever obtained without them. These two things the Scripture doth abundantly confirm to us: Whosoever believeth on Mm shall obtain remission of sins ; Acts x. 43 : Repent that your sins may may be bhted out; Acts iii. 19 : IVkosoever believeth on Mm : there Faith is made the condition of pardon : Repent. ...that your sins may be blotted out ; there Eepentance is made the condition of par don. These two particulars correspond with the twofold Covenant of Grace, which God made with man. His Absolute Covenant, where in he promiseth the first converting grace : this covenant is indepen dent of any conditions, a copy of which we have in Ezek. xxxvi. 2 6, 27, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.... and I imll.....cause you to vbalk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And theh there is God's Conditional Covenant of Grace, wherein he promiseth salvation only upon the foregoing conditions of faith and repentance : this we have, Mark x"vi. 16, Se, that believeth shall be saved. Thus I have stated the great question concerning the Free Grace of God. The first sanctifying grace of God is so free as to exclude all conditions; but the justifying and pardoning grace of God is lirhit- ed to the conditions of faith and repentance : and both sanctifying and justifying grace are freely bestowed, without any merit of ours ; but not without respect to the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath purchased them at the highest rate, even with his own most precious blood. ii. In the next place, I shall endeavour -to set before you some PAETICULABS, WHEBEIN the GLOEY of god's free GRACE IN PAR- 106 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. DONING SIN MAY BE MOEE ILLUSTEATED ; that it may appear God assumes to himself this, as the greatest honour, to be a sin-pardoning God. And, 1. This highly commends the Freeness of Pardoning Grace, in that God decreed to bestow it witkout any request or entreaties of ours. , No rhetoric moved him, besides the yearnings of his own bow els. I'his was a gracious resolution, sprung up spontaneously in the heart of God, from all eternity. He saw thee wallowing in thy blood, long before thou wert in thy being : and this time was a time of love ; even a time before all times. What friend couldest thou then make in heaven ? What intercessor hadst thou then, when there was nothing but God ? When this design of love was laid, there were neither prayers, nor tongues to utter them. Yea, Christ^himself, though now he intercedes for the application of pardon, did not then intercede for the decree of pardon : he could not then urge his blood and merits, as motives for God to take up thoughts of forgiving us ; for, had not God done so before, Christ had never shed his blood, nor wrought out salvation for us. What arguments, what advocates did then persuade him? Truly, the only argitment .was our misery : and the only advocate was his own mercy, and not Jesus Christ. 2. God pardons sin, when yet he is infinitely abh to destroy the sinner. And this greatly advanceth the Eiches and Freeness of his Grace. The same breath, that pronounceth a sinner absolved,' might have pronounced him damned. The angels, that fell, could not stand before the power and force of his "wrath ; but, like a mighty tor rent, it swept them all into perdition: how much less, then, could we stand before him 1 God could have blown away every sinner in the world, as so much loose dust into hell. It had been easy for his power and justice, if he had so pleased, to have triumphed in the destruction of all mankind, but only that he intended a higher and more noble "victory ; even that his mercy should tri umph and prevail over his justice, in the pardoning and saving of sinners. 3. God pardons sin, though he might gain to himself a great renown; as he hath on the damned. God might have "written thy name in hell, as he hath written theirs ; and might have set thee up a flaming monument, and in scribed on thee victory and conquest to the glory of his everlast ing vengeance : both books were open before him, both the Book of Life and of Death ; and the contents of both shall be rehearsed, DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 107 to his infinite glory, at the Last Day. Now what was it, that dic tated thy name to him? that guided his hand to write thee down rather in the Book of Life, than in the Book of Death ? that set thee down a saint, and not a sinner ? pardoned, and not condemned ? what moved him to do all this for thee ? Truly, the only answer that God gives, and which is the only answer that can be given, is the same, which Pilate gives concerning our Saviour, Wkat I kave written, I have written, 4. Consider the paucity and smallness of tke number of those, tkat are pardoned. Professors of Christianity are calculated, by some, to possess not above the sixth part of the known world ; and if, among them, we make a proportionable abatement for those that are professed idol aters, for the grossly ignorant, for the profane, and for the hypo critical ; certainly, there will be but a small flock remaining unto Jesus Christ : here and there one picked and culled out of the mul titudes of the world ; like the olive-berries, of which the Prophet Jeremiah speaks, left on the top of the uppermost branches, when the Devil hath shaken down all the rest into hell. Now is it not infinite mercy, that thou shouldest be found among these gleanings after harvest ? that thou shouldesf be.one of these few ? God might have left thee to perish upon the same reason that he left others ; but he gathered thee out of all nations, kindreds, and languages of the earth, to make thee a Vessel of Mercy for himself. Indeed, thou canst never, enough admire the peculiar love of God to thee herein, till the Last Day ; when thou shalt see the small number of those that are saved,^ standing on the right-hand of Christ, com pared with the vast numbers of those that perish standing at the left-hand of Christ, and seest thyself among the small number of those that are saved. 5. This also commends the Freeness of Pardoning Grace, that, whereas the Falhn Angels themselves were absolutely excepted' out of God^s Act of Indemnity and Oblivion; yet Fallen Man is again re stored unto Ms favour. Them, God hath reserved in chains of darkness, unto the judgment of tke Great Day : us, he hath brought into glorious light and lib erty. Our sins are blotted out of the book of God's remembrance : whereas, their names are blotted out of the muster-roll of God's heavenly host. . ? Now, here, there are Four things, that do greatly advance the glory of Free Grace. Their natures were more excellent than ours. 108 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. Their Services would have been much more perfect than ours. Their Sins were fewer than ours were. And, " Their Pardon might have been procured^at as cheap a rate, and at as little expense, as ours. And, yet, not them, but us, God hath chosen to be vessels of his mercy. (1) Their Natures were more excellent than ours. They were glorious spirits ; the top and cream of the creation : we, clods of earthy the lees and dregs of nature : our souls, the only part by which we claim kin to angels, even they are of a younger house, and of a more ignoble extract : how are they debased, by being confined to these lumps of flesh, which, with much ado, they make a shift to drag with them up and do"wn the earth ; rather as fetters of their bondage, than instruments of their service ! nay, so low sunk are we in this slime of matter, that we have not excel lency enough so much as to conceive what a pure, heavenly, orient substance a spirit is.. And, yet, such as we ate, dust and filth, hath God gathered up into his own bj)som ; though he hath disbanded whole legions of angels, and sent them down into hell. In these natures of ours, hath the Son of God revealed, or rather hid him self: even he, who tkougkt it no robbery to he equal with God, thought it no scorn to become lower than angels : Se took not on Mm ihe na ture of angeh ; but the seed of Abrpham, (2) Their Services would have been more perfect, upon their restoration, than ours can be. Indeed, when we arrive at heaven, our services, -our love, our joy, and our praises, shall then attain to a perfection exclusive of all sinful defects : but, even then, must we give place to the angels ; as in our beings, sq in our actings also. Had God restored them and given them a pardon, heaven would more have resounded with the shouts and hallelujahs of one fallen angel, than it can now with a whole concert of glorified saints : they would have burned much more ardently in love, who now must burn much more fiercely in torments : they would much more mightily and sweetly have sung forth the praises of God, their Eedeemer, who now curse and blas pheme him more bitterly ; and as far out-stripped a saint in the work of heaven, as they shall do a sinner in the punishment of hell. And, yet, Free Grace passeth by them, and elects and chooses narrower hearts to conceive, and feebler tongues to utter, the praises of their Eedeemer ; whose praises ought therefore to be the more, because he chooses not them that may give him the most. (3) Their Sins were fewer than ours are. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 109 We cannot exactly determine what their sins were : only the Apostle gives us a^int, that it was pride which gave them their fall : 1 Tim. iii. 6 ; Not a novice, lest, being lifted up witk pride, ke fall into tke condemnation of tke Devil, Whether it was pride, in that they affected to be God, or in that they scorned to be guardians and ministering spirits unto man, or in that they refused to become subject unto the Son of God who was shortly to become man, the Schools boldly enough dispute, but no man can determine : but, whatever it was; this is certain, God was speedy in the execution of wrath upon them ; tumbling them all down headlong into hell, upon their first rebellion. The time of their standing in their primi tive state is conceived to be very short ; for their creation, though the Socinians hold it was long before, must fall within the compass of six days; for, in that space, the Scripture tells us, God made heaven and earth, and all things therein ; ahd, therefore, within the space of six days, he created the angels also : some refer their cre ation to the First Day's Work ; others, to the Fourth Day : and it is probably thought, that Adam's continuance in innocency was not much above one day ; and yet, even then, there were fallen angels to tempt him : so that their glorious and blessed state could not, according to this computation, last above six, or seven days ; such a speedy issue did God make "syith them upon their very first sin. Butj how are his patience and forbearance extended towards sinful man ! he drives Adam out of Paradise ; but it was of Free Grace that he did not drive him into Hell, where he had but a little be fore plunged far more excellent creatures than Adam was : his pa tience is prolonged to impenitent, unbelieving sinners : he. bears with their proud affronts ; waits their returns ; and, with a miracle of mercy,. reprieves them for a much longer date, than he did the angels themselves. How much more then ought Free Grace to be extolled by us. which did not so much as reprieve the apgels for one sin ; and, yet, gvery moment grants out a free and absolute par don to his servants, not for one sin, but for reiterated provocations ! they could not obtain respite, and we obtain pardon. How many leaves in God's remembrance-book stand written thick with multi- •tudes of sins ; and, yet, no sooner doth God write down, but he also wipes out ! His pen and his spunge keep the same measure : our sins find constant employment for the one, and God's Free Grace and mercy find constant employment for the other. (4) Add to this, what some with great probability affirm. The same price, that bought out our Pardon, might have procured theirs also. 110 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. By which it plainly appears, that there is no other reason, "\^hy our estate differs from theirs, but only God's Free, sovereign Grace. Upon the same account, God might have damned all mankind that he damned the angels for ; and, at the same cost, he might have saved all the fallen angels, at which he saved some of mankind. The merits of Christ are the price of our pardon and redemption ; and these have in them an infinite worth, and an all-sufficient expi ation : not for our sins only ; but for the sins of the whole world, both men and devils : the streams of Christ's blood shed on the cross for us, were sufficient to quench the flames of hell, and utterly to have washed away the lake of fire and brimstone : hell might have been depopulated, and those black mansions left void without inhabitants for ever, and the devils and men might have been com mon sharers in that same common salvation ; for, Christ having an infinite dignity in his person, being God as well as man, his blood the blood of God, his sufferings the sufferings and humiliation of a God, this enhanced his merits to such a redundancy, as neither Fallen Angels nor Fallen Men, were their sins more and their miseries greater, were ever able to drain out : not a drop more of gall and wormwood should have been squeezed into the cup of Christ's sufferings, though it had proved a cup of health and salva tion to them, as well as to us. And, yet, such was God's dreadful severity, that he excluded the angels from the benefits of Christ's death, though he had been at no more expenses to save them ; the price of whose pardon and redemption would have been the same:, and yet we, such are the infinite riches of his grace and mercy, are redeemed by a price that infinitely exceeds the purchase ! Oh, the freeness and riches of God's grace, that he should thus pass by the angels, and pitch upon and choose such vile wretched creatures as we are ! 6. Pardoning Grace is Free ; whetker we consider the Generality of its Designation, or the Speciality of its Application. ¦(1) It is Free, in its General Designation ; in ttat God hath de- signe(^ and purposed, to forgive the sins of all the world, if they will believe and repent. It is the universality of grace, that mightily exalts its freeness.- ^ Now what can be more universal, than that proclamation of par don, that God makes to poor sinners, in Acts x. 43, Whosoever be lieveth in Mm shall receive remission of sins ? The whole world is under this coiiditional promise : not one soul of man excepted : be thy sins more than sands, greater than mountains ; though the cry of them reacheth up to heaven, and the guilt of them reacheth down to hell ; yet thou hast no reason, 0 Sinner, to exclude thy- DISCOURSES CONCEBNING SIN. Ill self from pardon, for God hath not : only believe and repent. But, as general as this pardon is, yet is there somewhat that is discrimi nating in it, that makes it more illustrious ; for it is not tendered to devils and damned spirits : Christ is not appointed to be a Savi our unto them, nor is his blood a propitiation for their sins : they are not under any covenant of grace, nor have they any promise of mercy, no not so much as conditional : it is not said unto them, "Believe, and you shall be rescued from the everlasting residue of your torments ; believe, and those unquenchable flames, you are now burning in, shall be put out :" no ; God requires no such duty from them, neither hath he made any such promise to them ; yea, should it be s'upposed, that they could believe, yet this their faith would not at all avail them, because God hath ordained no ransom for them, and resolves to receive no other satisfaction to his justice than their personal punishment. But, while we are alive, we are all the objects of God's, Free, pardoning Grace. And, if any man, that hears the sound of the Gospel, and upon what terms God hath proclaimed forgiveness of sin, shall notwithstanding perish in his sins, it is not because God hath excluded him from pardon, which he doth, seriously and with vehement importunity, offer and urge upon him ; but because he excludes himself, by his own impeni tency and unbelief, in not accepting of it. (2) Pardoning Grace is Free, in the Special Application of it. The application of pardon is not made unto any, till the perform ance of those conditioi^s upon which pardon is tendered ; and they are Faith and Eepentance. Now, herein, is God's Grace infinitely Free, who first fulfils these conditions in his children, that so he may fulfil his gracious promises unto them of life and pardon. The Conditional Covenant of Grace promises pardon and remission of sins, unto all, that shall believe and repent : but, notwithstanding all this, the whole world might perish under a contracted impo tency, whereby they could not believe nor repent, did not the Ab solute Covenant engage God's truth to work faith and repentance in the hearts of his people. So that one covenant promiseth par don, if we believe and repent ; and the other covenant bestows this faith and repentance upon us : the Conditional Covenant promiseth pardon of sin and salvation, if we believe and repent; and the Abso lute Covenant promiseth faith and repentance to us, to enable us to be lieve and repent. And what could God do more, that might farther express the Freeness of his Grace to us, than to pardon, upon con dition of faith and repentance, which faith and repentance he works in us ? This is to pardon us as freely, as if he had pardoned us without any faith or repentandte at all. 112 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 7. God sometimes sehcts out the Greatest and most Notorious sinners, to vouchsafe grace and pardon to them ; wken ke siffers otkers eternally to perish under far hss guilt. He makes a difference in his proceedings, quite contrary to the difference which he finds in men's demerits. And wherefore is this, but only to show forth the absolute Freeness of his Grace? Greater debts are blotted out, when smaller stand still upon the ac count, only that it may be known, that God is free to do what he will with his own ; and that he will show mercy to whom he will show mercy, and whom he will he patdons. How many heathens, men of improved natural endowments and proportionable "virtues, yet, not having faith in and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, are excluded from pardon and forgiveness, whose sins rather show them to be Men, than not to be Christians ! Whereas others, un der the noon-tide of the Gospel,*are guilty of such flagitious crimes, that show them to be monsters, rather than men ; and yet these, upon their faith and repentance, obtain pardon and remission : as if it were with God, as it is with men ; the more there is to be re membered, the sooner he forgets. These riches of pardoning grace, St. Paul admires and adores, when he tells us, concerning himself, I was a blaspkemer, and a persecutor, and injurious : hut I obtained mercy: 1 Tim. i. 13. 8. God decrees to pardon, witkout foresight of merit or worth in us. When we lay before him, as the objects of his mercy, Divine Love did not foresee any attractive comeliness in us, but made it. When we were cast forth to tke loatking of our persons, yet then was it a time of hve ; and even then, when we were in our bhod, God said to us, Live. When we were full of wounds, bruises, and putri- fying sores, divine love coijdescended to bind them up and cure them. Such miserable deformed creatures were we! and could there be anything amiable in such an object as this ? only, hereby, God puts an accent on the riches of his love ; laying it out upon such as were not worthy, with a design to make them worthy. 9. God pardons, not only tkougk ke saw -no merit in us ; but, which is more to tke ghry of his Free Grace, tkougk he foresaw that many fu ture wrongs and injuries would he added to those which we had already done. He foresaw all our provocations and rebellions ; how we would abuse his grace, and turn it into wantonness : he saw the rebellions of our unregeneracy, and the infirmities of our converted state. Yet, though he foresaw all before they were, he resolved not to see them when they are: Numb, xxiii. 21 ; Sekatk not beheld 'iniquity DISCOUESES CONCERNING SIN. 113 in Jacob, nor„,..perverseness in Israel. And this, though it ought not to encourage us in sin ; yet it may be a support and comfort to us, when, through weakness and infirmity, we have sinned ; that God, who loved us and decreed to pardon us, when he foresaw how sin ful we would be, will not certainly now cease to love us and par don us, when we are as vile and sinful as he foresaw we should be. 10. Tke Lord Jesus Ckrist, by whom alone we are pardoned, is freely given to vs by ihe Father, What price could we have offered, to have brought down the Son of his Eternal Love from his embraces ? What was there in us, to draw a Sa-viour out of heaven? Were we so amiable, as to move him to divest himself of his glory, and to eclipse his Deity in our mortal bodies, only that he might become like such poor worms as we are, and take us unto himself? Ask no more? but admire; God so hved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso ever believeth in him might not perish, hut kave everlasting life. Here is a mystery, that the whole College of Angels can never compre hend ! * What, God condemn his Son, that he might pardon rebels ! The Son of God blot his Deity in our flesh, only that he might blot out our transgressions with his blood ? This is such transcendently Free Grace and Love, that in this we haVe an advantage above the angels themselves ; standing higher in the face of God, upon this account, than they do. Now compact all these Ten Particulars, in your thoughts, to gether, wherein the freeness of pardoning grace most illustriously appears ; and you will find there is good reason for God, in the text, triumphantly to ascribe to himself, I, even I, am he, tkat hht teth out your transgressions. iii. The application, which I shall make of this truth, I shall only britefly mention. 1. Is the Pardoning Grace of God thus Fjee ? Take heed then, that you do not abuse nm- turn it into wantonness. Shall we continue in sin, because God so freely pardons sin ? God forbid ! who would make such an accursed inference as this, that ever had the least sense or touch of divine love upon his heart? Every one Ipves to have his ears tickled, with this soft, sweet, downy doctrine of i God's Free Grace and Love ; and, when they hear it, they stretch themselves upon it, and lull themselves fast asleep in sin : but what says the Wise Man, Prov. xxv. 27 ? It is not good to eat much honey. No : there is no such dangerous sur feit, as upon the sweet and luscious truths of the Gospel. This honey leaves a deadly sting in men, that abuse it to encourage Vol. ii.— 8 114 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. themselves in sin. It is such disingenuity, to argue from freeness of pardon to freedom in sinning, that, I dare say. No heart ever had a pardon sealed to it by the witness of the Spirit of God, but utterly abhors it. What I therefore to provoke God, because he is ready to forgive I What I to multiply sin, because God is ready to par don ! What is this, but to spurn at those bowels of mercy, that yearn towards us ; and even to strike at God with that golden scep tre, that he holds out to us, as a token of love and peace ? Cer tainly, they, who thus argue and who thus act, never knew what a sweet and powerful attractiveness there is," in the sense of pardon ing grace and love, to win over the heart, from the practice of those sins that God hath forgot to punish. 2. Tkis skould engage us to hve tkat God, who so loved vs, as freely, for Ms own sake, to forgive us such vast debts and such multiplied sins. This is the import of that speech of our Sa"viour, he loveth most, to whom most is forgiven. And, hence it is, and you may com monly observe it, that none are such great lovers and admirers of Free Grace, as those, who, before conversion, were the "vil6st and most flagitious sinners. 3. Since' God doth so freely pardon us, ht it teach lis, and prevail with us, to pardon and forgive the offences of others. This is that, which the Scripture doth urge, as the most natural inference of this doctrine of God's pardoning grace. Thus the Apostle : Eph. iv. 32 ; Be ye kind to one anotker, tender-hearted, for giving one anotker, even as God for Ckrisfs sake, hatk forgiven you. Say not, as ignorant people are wont to do, " I -will forgive, but I will never forget ;" for God doth forgive and forget too : I will blot out your transgressions, and I will remember your sins no more. Your sins against God are talents ; others' offences against you are but pence : and if, for every trivial provocation, you are ready ta take your brother by the throat, and wreak your wrath and ven geance upon him, may you not fear lest your Lord and Master, to whom you stand deeply indebted, should also deal so with you, for far greater crimes than others can be guilty of against you, and cast you into prison untU you have paid the utmost farthing ; especially considering that you pray for the forgiveness of your own sins, as you do proportionably forgive the sins of others : Forgive us our trespasses, as wefoi'pive them tkat trespass against us. And, thus, I have opened and demonstrated unto you the former part of the doctrine. That the Grace of God, whereby he blots out and forgives sin, is absolutely Free. II. I am now, in the next place, to prove, that it is infinitely QLOEIOUS ' DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 115 This I shall endeavour to do, by considering pardon of sin, in the Nature of it, in the Concomitants of it, and in the Effects and Consequences of it : from all which it will appear, both how great a mercy it is to us, and how great a glory it is to God, that he blots out and forgets sin. And, i. Let us consider the natuee of pardon of sin : what it is. And this we cannot better discover, than by looking into the Nature of Sin, Sin, therefore, as the Apostle describes it, is a transgression of tke Law. Now to the validity of any Law, there are penalties, literally expressed or tacitly implied, which are altogether neces sary. The g\iilt contracted by the transgressing of the Law, is noth ing but our liableness to undergo the penalty threatened in the Law. And this guilt is twofold : the one intrinsical and necessary ; and that is the desert of punishment, which, sin carries always in it : the other is extrinsical and adventitious, by which sin is ordained to be punished. These two things are in every sin. Every sin de serves death ; and God hath, >in his Law, ordained and threatened to inflict death for it. Now it being clear, that Pardon and Eemission of Sin is nothing but the removal of the guilt of sin ; tke question is, Whether it re moves that guilt, that consists in the desert of punishment ; or that, "vvhich consists in the voluntary appointment of it unto punishment ; or both. To this, I answer, Pa-rdon of Sin doth-not remove the intrinsical desert of punishment ; but only the adventitious appointment and ordination of it unto punishment, flowing from the will of God, who hath in his own Law, threatened to punish sin. Eemission doth ' not make, that the -sins, even of believers themselves, should not deserve death ; for a liableness to the penalty of the Law, in this sense, is a necessary consequent upon the transgression of the Law : but, because God, in the Covenant of Grace, hath 'promised not to reward his penitent servants according to the evil of their doings, therefore Pardoning Grace removes this guilt of sin arising from God's ordination of it unto punishment, As, suppose a traitor should accept of the proffer of a pardon, the guilt of his treason ceaseth not in the inward nature of it, but still he deserves to be punished; but this obnoxiousness of his, through the prince's favour and appointment is taken away, and so that guilt ceaseth : so every sin, which the repenting sinner commits, deserves death; but, upon his believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, this liableness unto death ceaseth, being graciously remitted to him by God. 116 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. The Scripture sets forth this Pardon of Sin, in very sweet and full expressions. It is called a covering of sin : Ps. xxxii. 1 ; Bhssed is the man, whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered: though our covering of our sins is no security from the inspection of God's eye, who clearly beholds the most hidden and secret things of darkness; yet, certainly, those sins, that God himself hath cov ered from himself, he will never again look into, so as to punish for them. Nay, yet farther, as a ground of comfort. Pardon of Sin is not only called a covering of our sins from God's sight, but a covering of God's face and sight from them : so we have it, Ps. H. 9 ; Side tky face from my sins, and bht out all mine iniquities. It is a casting of our sins behind God's back, as a thing that shall never more be regarded, or looked upon: so it is expressed to us, Isa. 'xxx"viii. 17. Tkou hast, in love to my soul, says good Heze kiah, when a message of death was brought to him by the prophet, cast all my sins behind thy back. It is a casting of them into the depth of the sea ; from whence they shall never more arise, either in this world to terrify our consciences, or in the world to come to condemn our souls : so we have it in Micah "vii. 19, / will cast all tkeir iniquities, says God, into the depths ofthe sea. It is a scatter ing of them, as a thick cloudt so it is called, Isa. xliv. 22 ; I ^will scatter their sins as a cloud, and their iniquities as a thick cloud. And, in the Text, it is called a blotting out and a forgetting of sin: I, even I, am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins : a blotting out, to show, that God will never read his debt-book against us ; and, a forgetting it, that we may not fear, that God will accuse us without-book. These, and such like expressions, "with which the Scripture doth abound, do very much illustrate the mercy of God, in pardoning of sin ; and I shall unfold it in these following particulars. 1. Pavdon and remission of sin', is no act of ours, but an act of God's only. It is nothing done, by us, or in us ; but an act of God's Free Grace merely, "without us : and therefore God ascribes it wholly unto himself: I, even I, am he. And when our Saviour cured the paralytic, the Scribes stormed at him as a blasphemer: Thou bks- phemest, say they to him, not kno"wing him" to be God : for wh, say they, canforgyue sins but God only ? But, be it an act of God's only, and not ours, and an act wholly without -us, what comfort is there in this ? Much : and that, upon these grounds ; because God's acts -withiu us are always imperfect in this life, but God's acts without us are DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 117 always perfect and consummate. Sanctification is a work of God's grace within us : now this work, because it meets with much op position in every faculty, from inherent sin which spreads itself over the whole soul, is therefore always in this life kept low and weak. But Pardon of Sire, is an act without us, in the breast of God himself, where it meets with no opposition or allay : nor doth it increase by small degrees ; but is, at once, as perfect and entire, as ever it shall be. I do not mean, as some have thought and taught, that God, at once, pardons all the sins of true believers ; as well those they do or shall commitj fas those they have already committed : but, only, that what sins God pardons, he doth not pardon gradually. There is nothing left of guilt upon the soul, when God pardons it; but there is something left of filth upon the soul, when God sanctifies it. And, therefore, as it is the grief of God's children, that their in herent holiness is so imperfect here, that they are so assaulted with teinptations, so dogged by corruption, so oppressed and almost sti fled to death by a body of sin that lies heavy upon them ; yet this, on the other side, may be for their comfort and e:Scouragement, that God's pardoning grace is not as his sanctifying grace is, nor is it granted to them by the same stint and measure. A sin, truly repented of, is not pardoned to us by halves ; half the guilt remit ted, and half retained : as the .Papists fancy, to establish their doc trine of purgatory : but it is as fully pardoned as it shall be in heaven itself. And hence it follows, (1) Though the guilt of sin be removed ; yet it is not our repent ance thdt removes it. For then, as no man's repentance is absolutely perfect, so no man's sins should be fully pardoned ; but still there would be re mainders of guilt left upon the conscience, a^ there is still a mix ture of impenitency in the best Christians. But pardon and remis sion is not mingled with £uilt, as grace is with sin ; because it is an act of mercy wrought, not in our breasts, but arising in God's only, where it meets with nothing to allay or abate it, and it is in finitely more perfect than our repentance can be. (2) Hence we may infer, That our pardon is infinitely more sure, than our assurance of it in our o"wn consciences can be satisfactory. For the sense of pardon is a work of God's Spirit within us, which commonly is mixed with some hesitations, misgivings, doubts, and fears : and, therefore, though our comforts be never so strong, though it be spring-tide with us, yet our ground for comfort is still much more. Oh what rich and abundant grace is this in God to- 118 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. wards us, that exceeds both our grace and our comfort ! and, there fore, though, 0 Christian, thy sanctificatipn be the best evidence of thy justification and pardon; yet is it not the best measure of it : for thou art justified and thou art pardoned, much more than thou art sanctified. Sanctifying grace in thee, indeed, is in its first rudiments and inchoation; but pardoning grace in thy God is consummate and perfect. Ai^d that is the first thing. 2. Remission' of sin makes sin to he, as if it had never been committed. Things, that are forgotten, are no more to us, than if they had never had a being. Now God tells us, that he forgets our sins : Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Nor is there any long tract of time required, to wear the idea of them out of his memory ; as is necessary among men, to make them forget the wrongs and injuries done to them by their fellow-crea tures : -for God forgets the sins of his children, as soon as they are repented of; yea, sometimes sooner than our consciences do: for, many times, a Christian, after a heart-breaking repentance for some great sin, lies under the upbraidings of conscience, when God hath forgiven it ; yea, and forgotten it also. God's officer is not so ready to acquit them, as God himself is. He forgets, as though no pro vocation or offence had ever been comnaitted. Se retainetk not his anger for ever, says the Prophet : Micah "vii. 18 ; not for ever; but, so soon as ever we grow displeased with ourselves, he begins to be well-pleased with us : no sooner do sorrow and grief overspread our faces, but favours and smiles clear up his face to us. See this gracious disposition of God, in Jer. xxxi. 19, 20. Eph raim is there brought in bewailing his sin : Surely, says he, after tkat Iwas turned, I repented; and, after tkat Iwas instructed, I smote upon my thigk : I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Now, what doth God, but presently , embrace him, with most tender and most melting expressions of love, as if he had never been angry, nor had any cause for it ? Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a phasanfcMld? for since I spah against him, I do earnestly remember Mm still: tkerefore my bowels are troubhdfor Mm : I will surely kave mercy upon Mm, saith the Lwd, And, therefore, 0 Christian, thou, who now perhaps criest out in the bitterness of thy soul, " Oh, that I had never committed this or that sin against God I Oh, that I had never offended him in this or that manner!" why thou hast thy wish, 0 Sinner, herein:. for God, when he pardons sin, makes it as if it had never been com mitted against him. 3. Hence it follows. That, upon remission of sin, God no longer ac counts of us as sinners, but as just and righteous. DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 119 It is true, after a pardon is received, we still retain sinful natures : still, original corruption is in us, and will never totally be dislodged out of us, in this life : but, when God pardons us, he looks not up on us, as sinners, but as just and righteous. A malefactor, that is discharged by satisfying the Law or by the prince's favour to him, is no more looked upon as a malefactor ; but as just and righteous, as if he had never offended the law at all. So is it here : we are both ways discharged from our guilt ; by satisfaction unto, the pen alty of the Law, in Christ, our Surety ; and by the free grace and mercy of God, who hath made and sealed to us a gracious act of pardon in Christ's blood : and, therefore, we stand upright in Law ; and are as just and righteous in God's sight, as if we had never sinned against him. Ohy how great consolation is here, unto the children of God ! They account themselves great sinners, yea, the greatest and worst of sinners ; but God accounts them just and righteous. They keep their sins in remembrance, as David speaks, My sin^is ever before me ; when God hath not dhly forgiven, but forgotten them. They write and speak bitter things against themselves; when God ia writing out their pardon, and setting his seal unto it. 4. Pardoning grace can as easily triumph, in tke remitting of great and many sins, as of few and small sins. What a great blot upon the heavens is a thick cloud, and yet the beams of the sun can pierce through that, and scatter it easily. God ¦will blot out our transgressions as a thick cloud; so himself tells us, by the Prophet : Isa. xliv. 22 ; I will blot out thy transgressions, as a cloud; and thine iniquities as a thick chud. A great debt may as easily be blotted out, as a small one. Ten thousand talents is a great sum ; yet it is as easily and freely forgiven, by the Great God, as a few pence. God proclaims himself, to be a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin ; that is, sins of all sorts and sizes. The greatest sins, repented of, are no more without the extent of divine grace and mercy ; than the least sins, unrepented of are without the cognizance of divine justice. Isa. i. 18 ; Though your sins be as scarlet, jet shall they become as white as snow: though tkey be red as crimson, yet tkey shall he as wool. And can there then be found a, desparing soul in the world, when the Great God hath thus magnified his grace and mercy above all his works ; yea, and above all ours also ? Say not then, 0 Sinner, " Mjs sins are greater than can be forgiven :" this is to stint and limit tne grace of God, which he hath made boundless and infinite ; and thou mayest,vwith as much truth and reason, say, thou aid 120 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. greater than God, as that thy sins are greater than his merey. Of all things in the world, take heed that thou be not injurious to this rich grace, to this free love and mercy, that pardons thee even for its o-wn sake. God pardons thee for himself, for his o"wn sake ; and dost thou fear, 0 penitent believing soul, that ever he will cdndemn thee for thy sins ? no ; but as much as God and his mercy are greater than our sins, so much more reason will he find in him self to pardon the repenting believing sinner, than he can find rea son in his sins to condemn him. Thus we see what cause of comfort there is in this Pardoning Grace of God. And thus also we have considered Pardon of Sin in its own Nature. ii. We shall now consider Pardon of Sin in its CONCOMITANTS and ADJUNCTS, , And so we shall take a view of those things, which do insepara bly accompany it : and thereby also we may see, how great and unspeakable a mercy it is. , It is a mercy, that is never bestowed upon the soul singly and alone ] but ever more comes environed with whole troops of asso ciate-blessings. As, 1. Pardon of Sin'is always enjoined witk the Acceptation of our Persons, Indeed these two are the twin parts of our Justification : and, . therefore, we have them coupled together, Eph. i. 6, 7 ; Se hath made us accepted in the Behved: In whom we have 'redemption through his bhod, even the forgiveness of sins. The whole mystery of our Justification stands in these two things, Eemission and Acceptation. Eemission takes away our liableness unto death, and Acceptation gives us a right and title unto life : for, to be accepted of God in Christ, is no other, than for God, through the righteousness and obedience of Christ imputed to us, to own and acknowledge us, as having a right and title unto heaven. And, therefore, we have mention made of Pardon and an Inheritance together, as the full sum of our Justification : Acts xxvi. 1-8 ; That they may receive for giveness of sins, and an inheritance among those that are sanctified. It is not, therefore, 0 Soul, a bare negative mercy, that God intends thee, in the pardon of thy sins : it is not merely the removing of the curse and the wrath, that thy sins have deserved ; though that alone can never be sufficiently admired : but the same hand, that plucks thee out of hell by pardoning grace and mercy, lifts thee up to heaven by what it gives thee together -with thy pardon, 'even a right and title to the glorious inheritance of the*saints above. DISCOUESES CON.CEBNING SIN. 121 2. Another concomitant is this : Whornsoever God pardons, ke doth also in some measure Sanctify, He subdues max sins, as well as blots them out : he abates their po-wer, as well as removes their guilt. And, indeed, it were no better than lost labour, for God to pardon sin, if he did not purify the sinner also : for, were but the least sin and corruption left to rule and reign in us, we should presently run ourselves as far into debt and arrears, as ever we were. Indeed, the best Christian, in whom grace is most prevailing and corruption weakest, yet even he stands daily and hourly in need of pardoning mercy : but yet, withal, his sins are not of so high a nature, nor so deep a stain, as usually the sins of wicked men are : his sins usually are such, rather for the manner of them, -than for the matter of them : God, by his pardoning grace, forgives infirmities, failings, and defects ; and, by his sanctifying gracejterdinarily keeps him from the commission of more gross and scandalous sins. And how then can we enough admire the rich grace of God, that not only forgives us our debts, but withal bestows a new stock upon us, to keep us from running into debt again, in any great and desperate sums ! 3. Pardon of Sin is always conjoined witk our Adoption into tke Family of Seaven, Herein is the love of God greatly seen : not only to pardon rebels ; but to make them his children : not only to forgive debtors ; but to make them heirs of his own estate. The same precious blood, that blots out our sins, writes us down heirs of glory and co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself Oh infinite and unspeakable mercy of God, thus richly and bountifully to give, as well as freely to for give ! that he should thus instate us, at present, in his love and favour ; and, hereafter, instate us in his glory ! This is not the man ner of men, 0 Lord ; but, as far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are the thoughts of God above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways : and, therefore, as far as tke east is from tke west, so far- hath he removed our sins from us : and why so far ? but only that he might make room for these great and unspeakable mercies of Justification, Sanctification, and Adoption to intervene. And,' so much, for the Second thing proposed, namely, the Con comitants and Adjuncts of Pardon of Sin. iii. Let us now consider. Pardon of Sin, in the effects and con sequences of it. And from hence also it will appear, how transcendent a mercy it is, and how just a title God hath to glory in it, when he saith, /, even I, am ke, tkat hhtteth out thy transgressions. 122 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. Mercies temporal and spiritual, the blessings of this life and the glory of a future, whatever indeed can be called a mercy or good thing, doth acknowledge itself a retainer to this priaaitive and foun tain-mercy of Pardon of Sin. ' In such a heap of them, I shall only cull some few that are most conspicuous. Eemission of sin may be considered, either as it lies in God's eternal Intention, or in the Spirit's temporal Application of it. The one, is God's purpose, before all time, to forgive us : the other, is the execution of that purpose, in time. 1. If we consider Pardon of Sin in God's Eternal Purpose and Intendment, so there are two blessed effects flowing from it : and they are these. The sending of Jesus Christ into the world. The great gift of Faith. ft (1) The sending of Jesus Christ into the world, who is the cause of all happiness unto sinful man, was itself the effect of this pur pose of God, to pardon and forgive sinners. It is very difficult to trace out the order of the di"vine decrees concerning the salvation of mankind ; and to pass from one of them to aaother, as they lie ranked and methodized in God's breast : and divers, that have attempted to search out these Arcana Dd, this art and mystery of justice and mercy, have trodden in paths differ ent from one another ; and, doubtless, many of them differing from the truth also. I shall not stand to draw a scheme of these decrees of God. Let it now suffice us to know, that God, from all eternity, foreseeing the sin and misery,' which man would, by his permission and his o"wn sin, involve himself in, did, for the manifestation of the riches both of his inercy and justice, enter into counsel, how to pardon and save him. This was the end of God's design, even to restore again to happiness some of mankind ; even as many, as he should select out of the mass and common rubbish of sin and mise ry, and set apart for himself But how shall this end be accomr plished and brought about ? Justice brandisheth its sword in the face of sinners ; and demandeth as great a share of glory in pun ishment, as mercy doth in pardoning : and God is resolved to glorify both of these attributes of his, in their several demands. This now put him upon ransacking of the deepest counsel that ever lodged in his heart, even of an adored Mediator ; in whom Justice receives fall satisfaction, and Mercy triumphs in a full pardon, and both are infinitely glorious. For this end, God sent do"wn his Son from heaven to earth, to become a propitiation for us ; and so, DISCOUESES, CONCEBNING SIN. 123 through the shedding of his blood, to obtain remission and forgive ness of sins for us. God.'s Mercy and his Beloved Son could not rest to gether in his bosom : and, therefore, his purpose of pardoning sin was so efficacious, that, to make room for the displaying of his Mercy, he sends his o-wn Son out of heaven, never to enter again there, till, by his merit and sufferings, he had procured remission of sins for all those that believe in him. Hence the Apostle, Eom. iii. 25, 26, tells us, that God hath set forth Christ to he a propitiation tkrougk faitk in his bhod, to declare his righteousness for the -remission of sins that are past, through God's forbearance„„,ihat he might be just, and ihejustifler of them that believe in Jesus: as if the Apostle had said, ¦God could not be just, if he should justify sinners that deserve his wrath, unless he had sent forth Jesus Christ into the world to be come a propitiation and sacrifice to his justice for their sins ; for, having threatened in his .unalterably word to inflict vengeance up on all that are guilty, his truth obliged him to this dreadful sever ity upon all, since all are guilty : but Christ, taking on him the guilt of sinners, by his undergoing the -wrath of God and the curse of the Law hath so fully appeased divine justice, that now God, though he doth not punish sinners in' themsel-ves, can yet be just and the justifier of sinners : therefore, he sent forth Christ to be a propitiation. God's eternal purpose, to glorify his justice in the punishing of sin, and yet to glorify his grace and mercy in pardon ing sinners, wrought this great effect of sending Christ into the world, whereby two such different ends might with infinite wisdom be accomplished. So that Christ, who is the cause of all our hap piness and mercy, is yet himself the effect of God's purpose and intent to pardon sin. And what can be said more to advance the greatness of this mercy ? a mercy so great, that one of the Fathers, St. Gregory by name, doubted whether it were more misery or happiness, that Adam fell ; since his sin and fall occasioned such a wonderful Eedeemer, and such a glorious salvation : Fselix culpa, says he, " 0 happy fall, that obtained such a Eedeemer !" (2) Another blessed effect of God's purpose in pardoning sin, is the great gift of Faith. Indeed, to give Jesus Christ were utterly in vain, did not God withal give faith to accept him. To tender Christ to an unbeliever, is to offer a gift where there is no hand to receive it. Hence, that God's purpose of giving pardon might stand valid, that the death of Christ might ^ot be fruitless, and that his blood might not be like water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up ^again, God decreed to bestow faith upon them that believe, that may con- 124 discourses CONCEBNING SIN. vey to them the benefits of Christ's merits in their pardon and remission.' ' • These two blessed effects follow in God's purpose and intention of pardoning sin ; even the Gift of Christ to procure, and the Gift of Faith to apply, pardon unto the soul. 2. And, more especially, let us consider Pardon of Sin in its Temporal and Real Application, And so the happy effects of it are ncianifold. I shall only instance in some, at present. (1) Pardon of Sin gives an inviolable security against the pur suits of avenging justice. . This is its formal, and most immediate effect. Justice follows guilty sinners close at the heels, and shakes its flaming sword over their heads : every threatening contained in this Book of God, stands ready charged against them ; and their sins make them so fair a mark, that they cannot be missed. Hence is that sad com plaint of Job, Why hast thou set me up as a mark ? into which he emptied his arrows as into his reins : Job vii. 20. Now while just ice is driving the sinner before it from plague to plague, resol-virig never to stop till he hath driven him into hell, the great assembly and meeting of all plagues ; mercy interposes, and lays its arrest upon it : and this gracious Act of Pardon rescues us, though under the ^hands of the executioner, and ready to be turned into hell. Here, the challenge, that justice makes to us, ceaseth ; and we are left to walk safely, under the protection of mercy : for, when God issues out a pardon, he calls off justice from its pursuit. Thus you have the Psalmist thankfully acknowledging, Ps. Ixxxv. 2 ; Tkou hast forgiven our hxiquities; and what follows; Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou htisttumedthyself from tke flerceness of thine anger. Noris it to be feared, 0 soul, that thou shalt ever more be questioned for those sins that are once forgiven thee : God's acts of oblivion can never be repealed : no ; God sets an everlasting sanction upon them, and justice shall never again molest thee: Jer. xxxi. 34; I will forgive their iniqui- ities, and I vdll remember tkeir sins no more. And, indeed, well may di vine justice cease its pursuit of the guilty sinner; for, always, when God pardons a sinner, he turns his pursuit after Christ, and satisfies all his just demands upon him : for, though we are the principals in the debt, yet our Surety, who stands bound for us in the Covenant of Eedemption, is far the more able and absolving person. Now is not this an unspeakable merCy, that justice and vengeance, the heaiVy strokes of which many thousand wretches lie under, and which thy sins have provoked and armed against thy own soul ; DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 125 that might, every sin thou committest, that is every moment of thy life, strike thee dead in the place ; in the dread of which, if thou hast any tenderness of conscience left in thee, thou must needs live in continual fearful expectations of this wrath of God, to destroy thee as his enemy ; is it not infinite mercy, that God should call in the commission given to his justice, that mercy might secure thee from it ? What is this, but the effect of pardoning grace, that gives this' destroyer charge to paSs over all those, upon whose con sciences the blood of Christ is sprinkled for the removal of their guilt? (2) Another blessed effect of Pardon of Sfn, is Peace and Eecon- ciliation -with God. And what happiness can be greater, than when the quarrel be twixt heaven and earth, betwixt God and the sinner, is taken up and compounded? Open wars have long been proclaimed, ahd long maintained on either part : ever since the first great rebellion, man hath stood in defiance with, and exercised great hostility against his Creator ; and God, on the other hand, hath thundered out whole peals of curses against these rebels, and hatl? slain whole generations of them eternally dead upon the place. God hath still maintained his cause with victory, and man his with obstinacy, and this war would never cease, did not God proclaim pardon and forgiveness to all that will lay down their arms and submit. Now, hereupon, peace is concluded fully : for, [1] God's pardoning of sinners manifests him to be fully recon ciled to them. So the Apostle tells us, Eom. v. 1, Being justified hy faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is a swom.enemy to all guilty sinners. Himself hath affixed this title to the rest of his name, that he will by no means char the guilty. Guilt hath a malign influence : not only on our consciences, to discompose them with terrors and affrightments ; but on God's contenance also, to ruffle into frowns and displeasure. Now when God pardons sin, he jripes away this overcasting cloud : and, the cause of enmity being removed, his face and favour clear up to us. And, then, [2] Pardon of Sin is a strong inducement to us, to lay down the weapons of our warfare, and be at peace with God. What argument can be more prevailing, where there is any prin ciple of ingenuity ? " When God thus proclaims peace, shall I con tinue war ? He, pardons, and shall I rebel ? He is reconciled, and shall I be implacable ? Shall I persist in those sins, which he for gives ? No : far be it from me. I submit to that God, whose rich" 126 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. . grace conquers by condescending, as well as his power by crushing." And thus the soul lays down its weapons at the feet of God ; and humbly embraces the terms of agreement propounded by him in the Gospel. (3) Pardon of Sin lays a good foundation for the soul's near acquaintance and communion with God. Guilt is the only thing, that breeds alienation. Your iniquities, says the Prophet, have separated between you andyow God: Isa. lix. 2. Nor, indeed, is it possible, that a guilty sinner should any more delight in conversing with God, than a guilty malefactor delights in the presence of his judge. And, therefore, we see, when Adam had contracted guilt upon himself by eating the forbidden fruit how childishly and foolishly he behaved himself I God calls him, and he runs behind a tree to hide himself ? What a sudden change was here ! Adam, who but a little "before was his Creator's familiar, now dreads and shuns him : his guilt makes him apprehend God's call, to be no other than a summons to the bar. Nor, indeed, can it be otherwise, but that guilt should produce alienation betwixt God and the souP; for look how distance grows between two familiar friends, so doth it here : if a man be conscious to himself, that he hath done his friend an injury ; what influence hath this upon him ? why, presently it makes him more shy and reserved to him than before : so is it here : consciousness of guilt fills us -with a trouble some, ill-natured shame : we are ashamed to look God in the face, whom we have so much "wronged by our sin ; and this shame is always joined with a sla"vish and base fear of God, lest he should revenge himself upon us, for the injuries that we have done to him ; and both this shame and fear take off from that holy freedom and bold ness, which reverently to use towards God, is the gust and spirit of our communion and fellowship with him ; and all these lessen that sweet delight in God, that formerly we relished in the intimacy of this heavenly fellowship. And what can be the final product of all this, but a most sad alienation and estrangement between God and the soul ? But Pardon of Sin removeth these obstructions ; and causeth the intercourse betwixt God and the soul to pass free,*be- . cause it gives the soul a holy and yet a"vrful boldness in conversing with the great and terrible majesty of God. So much sense of pardon end reconciliation as we have, so much boldness shall .we have ordinarily in our addresses to God ; what is the reason that the consciences of wicked men drag them before God'; and they come with so much diffidence, dejectedness, and jealousy ? it is, be cause they are conscious to themselves of guilt that lies upon them ; DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 127 and this makes them look on God, rather under ,the notion of a judge, than of a friend or father ; and this makes them perform their duties so distrustfully, as if they would not have God take any notice that they were in his presence! But, when a pardoned sin ner makes his addresses to God, he may do it with a holy freedom : the face of his soul looks cheerfully, and he treats with God with an open heart. What ground is there now, for such confidence as this is ? for poor, "vile dust and ashes, to appear thus before the Great God of Heaven and Earth ? — Guilt is removed : peace is made in* the blood of Christ : all enmity is abolished : all quarrels are deci ded : and it becomes not him, to serve God with such suspicious ness as guilty sinners do. Hence we have that expression ofthe Apos tle, Heb. X. 22, Let us draw near to him,.,.infull assiirance of faith, hav ing our hearts sprinkled 'from an evil conscience ; that is, frpm a guilty and an accusing conscience : now when the heart and conscience are sprinkled with the blood of Christ, whereby this guilt is taken off, then hath a man good ground to draw near to God, in full assur ance of faitk, (4) Pardon of Sin lays a good ground for peace, in a man's own conscience. I do not say, that Peace of Conscience is always an inseparable attendant upon Pardon of Sin ; for, doubtless, there are many so unhappy, as to have a wrangling conscience in their o"wn bosoms, when God is at peace with them : but this is certain, that Pardon of Sin lays a solid ground and foundation for Peace in a man's own Conscience ; and, were Christians but as industrious as they should be in clearing up their e"vidences for heaven, they might obtain peace whenever they are pardoned. What is there, that disquiets conscience, but only guilt ? nothing, but the guilt of sin, doth it : this is that, which rageth and stormeth in wicked men, and is as a tempest within their breasts : this is that unseen scourge, that draws blood and groans at every lash: this is that worm, that lies perpetually' gnawing at the heart of a sinner : this is that rack, that breaks the bones, and disjoints the soul itself In a word, guilt is the fuel of hell, and the incendiary of conscience : were it not for guilt, there were not a more pleasant aiud peaceable thing in all the world, than a man's own conscience. Now Pardon of Sih removes this guilt ; and, thereby, makes reconciliation between us and our consciences : and, therefore, says our Saviour, Matt. ix. 2, to the paralytic man. Son, be of good ckeer ; thy sins are forgiven thee. Might not some say, " This is an impertinent speech, to say to one that was brought to be cured of a sad infirmity of body, that his sins were 128 DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. forgiven him, whilst yet his disease was not cured ?" No : our Lord Christ knew, that there was infinitely more cause of joy and cheer fulness to have sin pardoned, than to have diseases cured : to have all calm and serene "within, not to have a fro"wn or "wrinkle upon the face of the soul, to.have all smooth thoughts and peaceful affec tions ; this is some faint resemblance of heaven itself, and is never vouchsafed unto any but where pardon and the sense of it are given to the soul. (5) He, whose sins are pardoned, may rest assured, that whatever calamities or afflictions he may lie under, yet there is nothing in them of a curse or punishment. It is guilt alone, that diffuseth poison through the veins, as of all our enjoyments so of all afflictions also, and turns them all into curses : but Pardon of Sin takes away this venom, and makes them all to be medicinal corrections ; good, profitable, and advantageous to the soul. See how God, by the^ Prophet, expresseth this : Is. xxxiii. 24 ; The inhabitants shall not say they are sick : why so ? for tke peoph, tkat dwell tkerein, skall be forgiven 'their iniquities. When sin is pardoned, outward 'afflictions are not worth complaining of: the inhabitants shall not say, we are sick. A disease then becom'es a medicine, when pardon hath taken away the curse and punish ment of it. God hath two ends "with respect to himself, for which he brings punishment upon us : the one, is the manifestation of his holiness ; the -other, is for the satisfaction of his justice. And, accordingly as any affliction' tends to either of these ends, so is it properly a punishment, or barely a fatherly chastisement. If God intend, hy the afflictions which he lays upon thee, the satisfaction of his jus tice ; then, thy afflictions are properly punishments, and they flow from the curse of the Law : but, if the manifestation of his holiness be all he intends by them ; then, are they only fatherly corrections, proceeding from love and mercy. [1] Those, whose sins God hath pardoned, he may afflict for the declaration of his holiness ; that they may see and know what a holy God they have to deal with : who, so perfectly hates sin, that he will follow it with chastisements, even upon those, whom his free grace hath pardoned. [2] God inflicts no chastisements upon those, whom he hath par doned, for the satisfaction of his justice : and, therefore, they are not curses, not properly punishments ; but only corrections and fatherly chastisements. Christ hath satisfied the demands of justice for their sins ; and God is more just, than to exact double satisfaction DISCOUESES CONCEBNING SIN. 129 for the same offence, one in Christ's punishment, and another in theirs. The Apostle tells us. Gal. iii. 13 ; Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of tke Law, heing made a curse for us. It is not the evils that we suffer, that makes them curses or punishments though never so great ; but only the ordination of these e"vils to the satis faction of divine justice upon us. And, therefore, Christ, in Scrip ture, is said to be made a curse ; not simply because he suffered : but because he was adjudged to his sufferings, that thereby satis faction might be made unto the justice of God. • Hence, therefore, with what calmness and peace may a Pardoned Sinner look upon any afflictions ! Though they are sore and heavy, though they seem to carry much of God's anger in them ; yet there is nothing of a curse, or of the nature of a punishment : the sting was all of it received into the body of Christ ; and now God's righte ousness will not suffer him to punish them again in their o"wn persons, whom he hath already punished in their Surety. Imagine what affliction thou canst. Art thou pinched with want and poverty ? Dost thou sustain losses in thy estate, in thy relations ? Art thou tormented with pains, weakened by diseases ; and will all these bring death upon thee, at the last ? Yet, 0 soul, if thy sins are par doned, here is nothing of a curse or punishment in all this : justice is already satisfied, by Christ's bearing the curse of the Law for thee. Come what will come, it shall not hurt thee. Afflictions are all weak and weaponless : they are only the corrections of a loving Father, for the manifestation of his holiness, and' for thy eternal gain and advantage. Very sad is the condition of Guilty, Sinners : for, whether they know .it or not, there is not the least affliction, not the least gripe or pain, not the lesfst slight or inconsiderable cross, but it is a pun ishment inflicted by God upon them, for the guilt of their sins. God is now beginning to satisfy his justice, and these are sent by him to arrest and seize on them : he now begins to take them by the throat ; and calls upon them to pay him what they owe him. Every affliction to them is part of payment, and is exacted from them as part of payment. Oh, the vast and infinite sums of plagues, that God will most severely exact from them in hell, where they shall pay to the utmost farthing ! There is not the least calam ity, that befals wicked and unpardoned sinners, but carries the venom of a curse in it ; and inflicted by God upon them, in order to the satisfaction of his justice on them : which complete satisfac tion he will work out upon them^ in their complete torments in hell. • So much for this time and text. Vol. n— 9. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO COVENANTS: WHEBEIN THE NATUEE OF OEIGINAL SIN IS AT LAEGE explained; AND ST. PAUL AND ST. JAMES BEOONCILED, IN THE GEEAT ABTICLE OF JUSTIFICATION. INTEODUCTION. For Moses descriheth tke righteousness wkick is of the law. That the man which- dpeth tkose tkings skall live hy tkem. But tke righte ousness wkick is of faitk speaketh on tkis wise : Say not in tkine keart. Who shall ascend into keaven ? (tkat is, to bring Ckrist down from above :) or, Wko skall descend into tke deep ? (that is, to bring up Ckrist again from the dead.) But wkat saith it ? Tke word is nigh thee, even in tky moutk, and in thy keart : tkat is, tke word of faitk, wkich we preack ; Tkat if tkou skalt confess wiik tky mouth the Lord Jesus, and skalt believe in tkine keart tkat God hatk raised him from tke dead, thou skalt be saved: EoM. x. 5 — 9. Of all the mysterious depths in Christian Eeligion, ther Jis none, more necessary for our information nor more influential upon our practice, than a right apprehension and a distinct knowledge of the Doctrine of the Covenants. For, if we be ignorant or mistaken in this, we must needs be liable to false or confused ' notions of the Law and the Gospel ; of our Fall in Adam, and Eestoration hy Christ ; of the true grounds of men's Condemnation, and the means and terms of their Justification ; of the Justice of God in punishing sinners, and his glorious Mercy in saving believers : and, con sequently, neither can many perplexing doubts and questions be resolved, the necessity and yet different concurrence of faith and obedience unto salvation cleared, the utter insufficiency of our own righteousness to procure acceptance for us with God e-vinced, his justice vindicated, nor his grace glorified. For all these great and important truths will readily own themselves to be buHt upon the foundation of God's covenant and stipulation with man ; as I hope to make appear in our farther progress. And yet, though this doctrine be thus generally serviceable both to knowledge and practice, how many are there, who call them selves Christians, that are grossly ignorant of these transactions he tween God and man ! that know not upon what terms they stand with the Almighty ; nor what they may expect, according to the tenor of their mutual compact and agreement ! I THE TWO COVENANTS. 131 This, therefore, I shall endeavour to tteat of, as briefly and as clearly as the subject will permit, from the words which I have now read unto you ; which are the transcript and copy of those Two great Contracts made between Heaven and Earth, God and Man : the one; from the beginning of his being, and that is the Covenant of Works ; the other, immediately upon his fall and ruin, and that is the Covenant of Grace : the one, called here the Eighteousness of the Law ; and the other, the Eighteousness of Faith. But, before I can particularly treat on this subject, I must first show you what a Covenant is, in its general notion ; and whether there is or can be any such thing as a proper covenant, between God and Man. Our English word Covenant seems to be borrowed from the Latin convenire or conventus ; which signifies a mutual agreement and accord, upon conditions propounded and accepted by the par ties concerned. And it may be thus described : A covenant is a mutual consent and agreement entered into between persons, where by they stand bound each to other to perform the conditions con tracted and indented for. And thus a covenant is the very same thing with a contract or bargain. Now to a strict and proper covenant there are two things pre supposed. First. That, in the persons contracting, there be a natural liberty and freedom the one from the other : that is, that the one be not bound to the other as to the things covenanted for, antecedently to that compact or agreement made between them. For where an obligation to a duty is natural, there it cannot be strictly and properly federal, or arising from a covenant. K chil dren should indent with their parents to yield them obedience upon condition that they on their part will afford them fit and conveni ent pro-vision, this cannot, in strict sense, be called a covenant ; be cause neither of the parties were free from the obligation of a natural law, which obliged them antecedently to this compact. In a proper covenant, the things promised by each party must be due, only upou consent and agreement : so that there must be an equal ity of the persons covenanting, if not in other respects, yet in re spect of that for which they do covenant, that the right of both in what they mutually promise be equal. If one man covenant with another to serve. him faithfully upon condition of sueh a reward and wages, though there may be much disparity upon other ac counts between them, yet, as to the things covenanted for, there is none : the one having as much right to the wages, as the other to 132 THE DOCTBINE.OF the service ; and neithel* having right to either before the agree ment. Secondly. In a proper covenant, there must be mutual consent of the persons covenanting. And this is called a stipulation, whereby each party doth freely and voluntarily engage himself to the other for his own particular benefit and advantage. For where both are free and disobliged, it is generally the apprehension of some good that will accrue unto them, that brings them to enter iuto a federal engagement. Now this being plainly the nature of a covenant, it clearly fol lows, that there neither is nor can be a strict and proper covenant between God and Man. For, First. Both parties covenanting are not naturally free the one from the other. God is, indeed, naturally and originally free, and hath no obU- gation to man antecedent to his o-wn gracious will and promise. But Man hath a double bond to duty: both his natural obligation, as he is a creature ; and ' bis federal, as he is a covenanter : and therefore he is bound to obedience, not only by his stipulation and engagement, but also upon that natural relation wherein he stands to God as his Creator, and which alone would have been a sufficient obligation upon him had he never entered into covenant. And, Secondly. The creature's consent and agreement is not necessary to the covenant which God makes -with it. And that, because the terms of it being so infinitely to our ad vantage, as there can be no reason imagined why we should dis sent ; so neither is there any to expect an explicit consent for the ratification of it. Neither are we lords of ourselves ; but he, that made us, may impose on us what laws he pleaseth : and, if he con descend to encourage us by promises of reward, this voluntary ob ligation, which God is pleased to lay upon himself, lays a farther obligation upon us to do what he requires out of love and thank fulness, faith and hope, whereby we cheerfully expect and embrace what he hath promised : which, likewise, of itself, is so vastly tran scendant and disproportionate to all our performances, that it can not be our due, upon a strict and proper covenant (for, in every such bargain, the datum and acceptum, that which is promised hy both parties, must be alike valuable, at least in the esteem of the covenanters;) but rather a free beneficence, upon an arbitrary promise. So that,, between Man and Man, a covenant is a mutual and an THE TWO COVENANTS. 133 equal obligation : but, between God and Man, it is only a mutual obligation ; on God's part to a free performance of his promises, and on man's part to a cheerful performance of his duty : wherein, as there is no equality, either in right or value ; so neither is there any necessity, that man should give an explicit and formal consent thereto. And, as God's transactions with us are not strictly and properly a Covenant, so neither are they strictly and properly a Law ; al though they are often called the Law of Works, and the Law of Faith. For God doth not deal with us merely out of absolute sov ereignty, but he is graciously pleased to oblige himself to us by promise ; which doth not belong to a sovereign acting as such, but carries some resemblance of a covenant. So that the agreement, which God hath made with man is not merely a covenant, nor merely a law ; but mixed of both. If God had only said Do this, without adding Tkou shalt live ; this had not been a Covenant, but a Law : and, if he had only said Tkou skalt li-ve, without command ing Do tkis : it had not' been a Covenant, but a Promise. Eemove the condition, and you make it a simple promise : remove the promise, and you make it an absolute law : but, both these being found in it, it is both a law and a covenant ; though both, in a large acceptation. And thus you see what a covenant is ; and how the transactions between God and man may be said to be a covenant ; and wherein they differ from the proper notion of one. Yet the difference is not so great, but that the Scripture most frequently makes mention of covenants ratified between God and Man, and chiefly insists upon, the two principal ones, which indeed are the argument and substance of the whole Bible, the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace ; in which not only particular persons were engaged, but the whole race of mankind : the sum mary contents of which were. Do tkis, and live; and Believe, and live. The former is the tenor of the Covenant of Works ; the lat ter, the tenor of the Covenant of Grace. And both these are ex pressed in my text : the Covenant of Works is called the Eighte ousness of the Law ; that is, the rule of Eighteousness by the Law, the sentence of which is, that the man, wkich doeth those things, skall live by tkem : the Covenant of Grace is called tke rigkteousness, which is of faiih; that is, the rule of obtaining Eighteousness by Faith, the purport of which is this, that if thou shalt believe on the Lord Jesus, whom God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. > 134 THE DOCTEINB OF » PEELIMINAEY EEMAEKS ON LAW AND EIGHTEOUSNESS. Now, here, before I can treat of the substance of these Two Cove nants, it will be requisite to explain to you, What IS meant by the LAW. And, what by eighteousness. I. To the first I answer, that the LAW is taken very variously in Scripture ; but, most commonly, by it is meant the whole sum of those commands, which Moses, from the mouth of God, delivered ¦ to the Israelites ; containing that, which we commonly call the Moral, Judicial, andX)eremonial Law. But, certainly, in this place, it cannot be taken in that latitude : for the Judicial and Ceremonial Law were not branches of that Covenant of Works, which God entered into with Adam ; nor are any guilty for not observing them, except the Jews to whom they were particularly delivered. This Law, therefore, which, according to the Covenant of Works, must be punctually fulfilled in order to our obtaining Justification by it, is the Moral Law ; the law and dictates of pure and uncor rupted nature. And this Law of Nature is no other but a bright and shining impression of divine light upon the soul : a kind of parely and reflection of the immutable, unsearchable, and eternal, law of God's holiness : a communication of divine attributes unto us ; whereby, in our first moulding, we were stamped after the similitude of God, and are said to bear his image. ¦ Of this Moral Law, God hath given the world two draughts : the one archetypal, being the fair strictures of his own likeness, in our first creation ; the other ectypal, in the Decalogue, wherein he hath in Ten Words limned out what man's nature was when it was per fect, and what it ought to be that it may be perfect. So that, for the matter and substance of them, there is no difference at all be tween the original law of man's first creation, the law of pure reason and uncorrupted nature, and the transcript thereof in the Moral Law delivered by Moses. And, therefore, as the Law of his Creation was to Adam a Cove nant of Works, so the Moral Law, being for the matter of it the very same, must also be acknowledged to be the matter and sub stance of the Covenant of Works. The same commands of both tables, which bind us to obedience, bound Adam himself, so far forth as his condition in Paradise was capable of an actual obliga tion by them : for parents, he had none, to honour ; neighbours and servants, he had none, to receive the offices of justice and char ity. But, had he continued in his first estate till these relations had sprung up about him, the same commands, from the innate the two covenants. 135 * principle of his reasqp, would have bound him to his respective duties towards them, as do now bind us. And this may hjB farther discerned, even by those obscure prints of the law of nature which yet remain upon the hearts of Heathens ; who, though they kave not the Law, jet, saith the Apostle, they do. by nature the things contained in the Law, i. e. in the Moral Law : Eom. ii. 14. As, when Moses brake the two tables of stone, yet something of the commandments was still left engraven by the fin ger of God upon the shattered pieces of them ; so, when man fell and brake that goodly frame of his nature, yet still some remains and parcels of the same law, written there likewise by the finger of God, may be observed still to continue upon it. So that, between the- Law of pure Nature and the Moral Law, there is as much agreement as bet"ween an indenture and its coun terpart. And, therefore, if the Law of Nature were to Adam a Covenant of Works, as doubtless it was, the Moral Law, being for the matter of it the same, must likewise for the matter of it be the same Covenant. . Now the Moral Law may be considered by us either as a Cove nant of Works, or as a Eule of Life. In the former respect, it is superseded to all believers by the mercy and grace of the Gospel : in the latter, it is explained, corroborated, and protected by the Gos pel ; and though it be no longer the measure of God's proceedings towards us, yet still it is the measure of our duty towards him. And, here, if a profitable digression may be allowed, give me leave to show you the Agreement and Difference that there is, be tween the Law and the Gospel. For, since they are vulgarly thought such opposite things, it will not, perhaps, be impertinent, to state and fix the limits, both of their opposition and concord. When we speak of the Law and the Gospel, the words are very equivocal ; and may cause many mistakes and errors in ignorant and confused minds. For, i. By the LAW, three things may be underwood. 1. The Law, as a Covenant of Works. And, then, as hath been already hoted, it must be taken for the sum and substance of the Moral Law, as originally imprinted in our natures. 2. By Law, may be rneant tke Moral Law, as it is tke Ruhfor our Duty and Obedience. And so we understand it, when we commonly say, the Law com mands this or that to be done, or this and that to be avoided. 3. By the Law, may be meant Legal Administrations and Ceremo- 136 the DOCTEINB OF nies, which, under the psedagogy of Moses, were a great part of the Jewish worship. And thus we call their sacrifices, purifyings,^ays of atonement, and other typical ntes. Legal Observances. ii. So, likewise, when we speak of the gospel, two things may be meant by it. , 1. Gospel Grace, purchased for lost mankind by Jesus Christ: both relative grace, for the change of our state, .in pardon, justification, adoption, &c., and real grace, for the change of our natures, in sanc tification and renovation. And thus we lifee to say, that the first Gospel, that ever was preached in the world, was to Adam, presently after his Fall, by God himself : Gen. iii. 15. The seed of the woman snail break the serpent's head : for this was the first discbvery of grace and mercy, through Jesus Christ. Yea, and the promise made to Abraham many ages before the coming of Christ into the world, is by the Apostle called the preaching of the Gospel : Gal. iii. 8 ; God, saith the Apostle, preacked before tke gospel unto Abrahapi, saying. In thee skall all ¦nations be hlessed. , 2. By Gospel, is sometimes meant ike Gospel Administration of tkis Grace, dispensed to the world by Christ himself and his min isters, in a more free and open way, than the shadows under the Law did exhibit it. iii. Now, according to these various acceptations of the Law and Gospel, we may observe a twofold diffebence and a twofold AGBEEMENT between them. 1. Their Difference is twofold. (1) If we understand by the Law a Covenant of Works, and by the Gospel the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel ; so, they are ex tremely opposite and contrary one to the other. For, take gospel grace for relative grace, such as whereby we are pardoned, reconciled, justified, and adopted ; these could have no place at all under the Covenant of Works. Yea, if we take gospel grace for the real grace of sanctification and renovation, so as these terms do imply the making of an unclean thing holy, and an old thing new ; it had not, neither could have, place under the Covenant of Works : because there was no uncleanness supposed to be done away, nor any thing old that should be renewed. For this cove nant makes no allowances for transgression, nor any admission of repentance. Yet, indeed, the habits of grace, which now sanctify us, were also in Adam, whilst' under this covenant : yea, and Christ also was the author of them ; but with this difference, that to him THE TWO COVENANTS. 137 Christ was the author of them merely as Creator, but to us as Ee deemer-; to him, only as God the Second Person, but to us as God- Man the Mediator. (2) If, by the Law, we mean a Legal Administration under types and figures, such as were the sacrifices and ceremonies in use under the Je"wish discipline ; and, by the Gospel, that clear and unvailed way of dispensing the Means of Salvation since the coming of Christ into the world : so, again, they as much differ each from other, as shadows do from substance, or clouds from sunshine. And thus may we understand that antithesis, John i. 17 ; Tke Law given by Moses ; i. e. the ceremonial, shady Law : but grace and truth came hy Jesus Ckrist ; i. e. a clearer and more full manifesta tion of grace, and the very substance and truth of those things which were before typified and adumbrated. These are the two differences between the Law and the Gospel ; in both which, the Gospel takes place upon the abrogation of the Law : Gospel Grace hath abrogated the Law as a Covenant ; and Gospel Dispensations have abrogated Legal Ceremonies. 2. Their Agreement is, like"vrise, twofold. (1) If we take the Moral Law as it is the directive Eule of our Obedience, so there is a perfect harmony and accord between it and the Gospel. For the duties of the Moral Law are as strictly required from believers since Christ's coming, as they were before : yea, as strictly as ever they were from Adam in innocence ; though not upon the same terms from us, as from him. The Gospel is, in this respect, so far from weakening the Law, that it doth rather much strengthen and confirm it. What saith our Saviour, Matt. v. 17 ? I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it : And, the Apostle, Eom. iii. 31 ? Do we then make void the Law through faitk ? God for bid: yea, we establish the Lo^, The Gospel receives the Law into its protection and patronage : so that, to the obliging power, which it had before from the authority of God the great sovereign of the world, enacting it ; hereby is added the farther sanction of Christ the Mediator, ratifying and confirming it ; who likewise gives us of his Spirit, whereby we are enabled to act in conformity to the Law, and to fulfil its commands. The Law is, therefore, now taken within the pale of the Gospel, and incorporated into it : so that it is no longer Law and Gospel ; but, rather, an Evangelical and Gospel Law. (2) If, by Law, we mean the Legal Administrations of Ceremo nies and Sacrifices, Types and Figures, used under the Mosaical Dis- 138 THE DOCTEINB OF cipline ; and if, by Gospel, we mean the' Grace exhibited by it of , Pardon, Justification, &c., so neither is thcBie any opposition or re pugnance between them, but a most perfect accord and agreement. For, before Christ's coming into the world gospel grace was un der a legal administration. When the sun is approaching us in the morning, though its body be under the horizon and in another hem isphere, yet then we see the dawning and glimmering of its light. So was it in the Church : though the Sun of Eighteousness was not\ risen upon them with his full brightness, yet they then saw and en joyed the dawn of our perfect ^ay ; and those Jews, who lived as it were in the other hemisphere of time before Christ's coming, were as much under grace as now we are, though not under such clear and glorious dispensations of it. We read, indeed, that the disci ples were first called Christians some few years after our Sa"viour's death ; but yet those saints, who lived many ages, before his birth, were as truly Christians as they, though not known nor distin guished by that name. Yea, ani I remember I have somewhere met with a passage of St. Ambrose :* Prius csepisse populum Chris tianum-, quam populum Judseorum: "There were Christian People in the world, before ever there was a Jewish Nation." They had then the same Christ to save them, the same promises to support them, the same faith to appropriate both unto them, as now we have. They were under as great an impossibility of obtaining life by the deeds of the Law, as we are ; and we under as strict an injunction to fulfil the commands of the Law, as was ever on them "imposed. The only difference between them and us consists in this, that they saw the Sun of Eighteousness under a cloud ; we, openly : they, by its reflection ; we, directly. And, thus much, for the opening of what is meant by the Law, in this text, which is the Moral Law, as a Covenant of Works. II. The Second Preliminary was, to^xplain what was meant by EIGHTEOUSNESS. Moses descriheth the righteousness which is of the Law, &o. And, indeed, unless we have a clear notion of this, we can neither know for what ends the Covenants were made, nor wherein the na ture of Justification doth consist : for, because we fulfil the cove nant made with us by God, therefore are we righteous ; and because we are righteous according to the terms of the covenant, therefore are we justified. So that a clear knowledge of this righteousness "will be serviceable to the unfolding of both ; since it is the end of the Covenant, and the matter of Justification. * De Saoram. 1. iv. o. 3. THE TWO COVENANTS. 139 This, therefore, I shall attempt, by gi"ving, first, several Distinc tions; and, then, several Theses or Positions, concerning Eighte ousness. i. There is, therefore, a twofold righteousness. Qualitative ; or that, which may be understood as a Quality or Habit in us. . < Eelative or Legal ; or that, which stands in Conformity to some Law. 1. A Qualitative Rigkteousness is nothing else, but the divine qualities of grace and holiness inherent in the soul. Holiness and righteoiisness, to be gracious and to be righteous, in this sense signify one and the same thing. Nothing doth more frequently occur in Scripture, than this use of the word. So Noah is called righteous : Gen. vii. 1 ; and Abra ham pleads with God for the rigkteous in Sodom : Gen. xviii. 23, 24 ; and Zacharias and Elizabeth have this testimony, that tkey were both righteous, because they walked in all tke commandments of tke Lord blameless : Luke i. 6. The ways of holiness are called the ways of righteousness : Ps. xxiii. 3 ; and the works of holiness, works of rigkteousness : Ps. xv. 2, Isa. Ixiv. 5 ; and 1 John iii. 7, Se, that doeth rigkteousness, is rigkteous. Many other places there are, too numerous to be cited, wherein righteousness is taken both for the inherent principle of holiness, and for the gracious actions that proceed therefrom. It is, indeed, improper to call our holiness, which is so imperfect and full of failings, by the name of righteousness. Nay, were it most perfect and consummate, yet it is not the same with righteousness strictly and properly taken : for righteousness, pro perly, is rather a denomination arising from the conformity of ac tions to their rule, than either the principle or substance of the ac tions themselves : for that is righteous, which is right ; and that is right, which is agreeable to the rule by' which it is to be measured. Even in Adam, whose holiness was perfect; yet was there this dif ference between it and his righteousness, at least in our clear con ceptions, that his grace, as it was conformable to its pattern, viz., the purity of God, so it was his holiness ; but as it stood in con formity to the law of God, so it was his righteousness. For, in strict propriety of speech, the rule of holiness is different from the rule of righteousness : holiness is measured by similitude to God ; righteousness, by conformity to the Law : holiness may admit of degrees, and be more or less perfect in several subjects in whom it is iniplanted ; but righteousness consists in an indivisible and un variable point, for if it be less than a perfect conformity it is not righteousness, and more than perfect it cannot be. 140 the docteine of Yet our defective and imperfect holiness may obtain the name of holiness : either because it flows from that principle, which, in its own nature, tends to a perfect conformity unto the Law ; or, else, because it is a necessary and inseparable concomitant of a true and proper righteousness, though not our own, yet imputed. 2. There is a Legal or Relative Rigkteousness : and this a man is said to have, when the Law, by which he is to be judged, hath nothing whereof to accuse him. Unto this righteousness there are required, (1) A Law established for the regulating of our actions. For as, where there is no Law, there can be no transgression ; so, neither can there be any proper positive righteousness. And, (2) There must be a perfect conformity unto this Law. The Law is the straight rule, by which all our actions are to be measured : I mean the law of nature and right reason, enacted to all mankind ; and the superadded law of diviije revelation, to those who enjoy it. Now, it is a contradiction, to affirm that there can be a righteousness, where there is any obliquity in actions, com pared to the rule and law, whereby they must be judged : for, in case of such obliquity and crookedness, the Law hath an advantage to lay in an accusation against the transgressor.. So, then, we may take a brief description of righteousness, prop erly so called, in these terms : Eighteousness is a denomination, first of actions, and consequently of persons, arising from their per fect conformity to the Law whereby they must be judged. It must be first of actions, and then of the person ; because the righteous ness of the person results from the conformity of his actions. Nor will it suffice that some of his actions be thus conformable to the Law, but every action that falls under its cognizance must be con formed unto it, or else the person can by no means be Accounted righteous. This perfect conformity being thus absolutely necessary to con stitute a person righteous, and yet as absolutely impossible to us in this our lapsed state, it might therefore seem to be alike impos- ' sible, that ever we should obtain a righteousness, that might avail to our justification. ii. And, therefore, for the clearer apprehension of the nature of righteousness, and the manner how we are denominated righteous which indeed is the Very critical point in the doctrine of Justifica tion, these following distinctions, if duly pondered, will be very serviceable. The Law consists of Two Parts. TEE TWO COVENANTS. 141 First. The Precept, requiring obedience : Do this. Secondly. The Sanction of this precept, by rewards and punish ments : The man, that doeth these things, shall live by tkem, is the re ward promised unto obedience ; and, Tke soul, tkat sinnetk, it skall die, is the punishment threatened against disobedience. Now according to these two parts of the Law, so there are two ways of becoming righteous by the Law ; so that it shall have noth ing to lay to our charge. THe one is, by obedience to the precept : the other is, by submission to the penalty : not only he, who per forms what the Law commands, is thereby righteous ; but he also, who hath suffered what the Law threatens. From hence we may again distinguish righteousness, into a Eighteousness of Obedience, and a Eighteousness of Satisfaction : the former ariseth from performing the Precept of the Law ; the latter, from undergoing the Penalty. Between these two righte ousnesses this remarkable difference may be observed, that the promise of life being annexed to the fulfilling of the precept, the righteousness of obedience gives a full right and title unto the life promised : but no such right results from the righteousness of satis faction ; for it is not said in the Law, " Suffer this, and live," since the suffering itself was death, but Do this, and live. So that, by mere satisfaction, a man is not accounted the fulfiller of the Law ; nor yet farther to be dealt withal, as a transgressor of it. Hence, then, the one may be called a Positive Eighteousness, because it ariseth from actual and positive conformity of our obedience to the rules of the Law : the other, only Negative Eighteousness, because satis faction is equivalent to innocency, and reduceth the person to a guiltless condition ; which I here call a Negative Eighteousness. Now each of these, both the Eighteousness of Obedience and that of Satisfaction, may again be twofold ; either Personal, or Imputed. I call that Personal Eighteousness, which a man in his own person works out, whether it be of obedience to the commands of the Law, or of satisfaction to the penalty thereof. Imputed Eighteousness is a righteousness -wrought out by another, yet graciously, by the Lawgiver himself, made ours ; and so accounted as effectual to all intents of the Law, as if we had in our own persons performed it. iii. These Distinctions being thus premised, I shall now proceed to lay down some positions, which may farther clear up this sub ject to our apprehensions. 1. If we could perfectly fulfil the Preceptive part of tke Law, we skould tkereby obtain a perfect Righteousness of Obedience ; and might l:y claim to eternal life, hy virtue df tke promise annexed to tke Coven ant of Works. 142 THE DOCTEINB OF This is most unquestionably true ; especially if we suppose' this perfect obedience by our own natural strength, -without the assis tance of divine and supernatural grace : because such an ability would infer the primitive integrity of our nature, and exclude the guilt of original sin, which hath involved all in the curse and malediction of the Law. 'i,. If we could undergo tke wkole of tkat Punishment wkick tke Law ikreatens for disobedience, tken aho skould we be accounted personally rigkteous by a Rigkteousness of Satisfaction. If an offender against a human law suffers the penalty which the law requires to be inflicted on him, according to the nature of his offence, whether it b'e imprisonment, a pecuniary mulct, or the like, that man thereby becomes negatively righteous, because the law is satisfied, so that it hath nothing farther to charge aga,inst him for that particular fact. Thus stands the case in reference to the Law of God. The transgressing of the command binds us over to suffer punishment ; which suffering if we can accomplish, and come from under, we shall be as righteous in the sight of God, as if we had never transgressed. 3. Because tke puniskment tkreatened hy tke Law of Works is such, as can never he eluctated, nor fully and comphtely borne hy us ; there fore, it is utterly impossible, tkat ever we skould obtain a personal right- eousness of satisfaction. Indeed, could we suffer it and come from under it, we should then be as righteous and innocent, as if we had i;ever transgressed. But this is utterly impossible. For, (1) Infinite justice cannot be satisfied under the rate of infinite punishment. In a full satisfaction, the punishment must answer the greatness of the offence. But every offence against God hath an infinite heinousness in it, and therefore the punishment for it must be infinite. Crimes are greatened, not only from the nature of the action as it is in itself flagitious ; but also from the quality and dignity of the person, against whom they are committed. Be- viling and injurious speeches against a man's equal are but actiona ble ; but, against the king, they are treasonable. A less offence against an excellent person, is more heinous than a greater against a more ignoble person. And, consequently, God being of Infinite Majesty and Perfection, every offence against him must needs be infinitely heinous ; and therefore must be infinitely punished, be fore full satisfaction can be made for it. (2) There are but two ways how a punishment can be imagined to be infinite. The one is intensively, when it is infinite in degrees: THE TWO COVENANTS. 143 the other is extensively, when it is infinite in duration and continu ance, though but finite in degree. If the punishment be either of these wkys infinite, it is fully satisfactory and commensurate to the divine justice, which is infinite. But, (3) We cannot possibly suffer a punishment which is infinite in degrees, because we ourselves are but finite in our natures ; and what is finite cannot contain what is infinite : yea, though God should stretch and widen our capacities to the utmost, yet we can never become vessels large enough to hold infinite wrath at once. Therefore, > (4) The punishment of sinners, because it cannot be infinite in degrees, that it may be satisfactory must be infinite in duration and continuance ; that so a finite, yet immortal creature, as the soul of man is, may undergo a penalty some way infinite as is the justice offended. (5) Because their punishment must be infinite in duration, there fore it is utterly impossible, that ever it should be completely borne and eluctated, since what is to last to all eternity can never be ac complished. And", therefore, it is impossible, that ever we should procure to ourselves a Eighteousness of Satisfaction ; as impossible as it is, to outlive eternity, or to find a period in what must con tinue for ever, [1] But, it may be objected : " Is not God's justice satisfied in the punishment of the damned ? why else doth he inflict it ? 'And, if justice be satisfied in their damnation, how then can satisfaction be a righteousness equivalent to innocence, since they shall never be discharged from their torments ?" To this I answer : 1st. That there shall never be any^time, wherein the justice of God ^hall be so fully satisfied by the damned in hell, as to require no more sufferings from them : for they shall be making satisfac tion to all eternity. The infinite justice of God is satisfied in this, that it shall be satisfying itself to all eternity : and yet, in all that eternity, there shall be no one moment, wherein the sinner shall be able to say it is finished, and justice is fully satisfied. 2dly. To this may be added, that the eternal succession of their torments is, in respect of God, a permanent instant, a fixed and abiding Now. So that the very infinity of their punishment in the everlasting continuance of it, is accounted by God (to whom a tkou- sand years, yea thousands of millions of years, are but as yesterday wken it is past) as now actually present and existing. For, in his essence, there is no variation ; and, in his knowledge, objects have no succession, besides that of method and order. • [2] "But how then," may some say, "were the sufferings of 144 THE DOCTEINE OF Christ satisfactory, since they were not infinite nor eternal?" 1 answer : 1st. That our Saviour Christ, being God as well as man, and sc an Infinite Person, might well bear the load of infinite degrees of wrath at once laid upon him, and thereby complete his satisfaction So that his sufferings might be intensively infinite, and yet not ex ceed the capacity of his nature. Or, if any should scruple whether the punishment of Christ were infinite in degrees, yet, 2dly. We may affirm that the dignity of his person, being God as well as man, might compound for the measure of his sufferings, and shorten their duration. For it is infinite suffering for an infi nite person to suffer, it being an infinite humiliation and abasement However, that punishment, which is stretched out by the line of eternity when laid upon the damned, was all wound up together when inflicted on Christ. He, at one large draught, drank off the cup of that fury, which they everlastingly drain by little drops, And could they, as he did, bear and eluctate the whole punishment at once, they would thereby obtain a Eighteousness of Satisfaction, and be proceeded with as innocent or negatively righteous. That is the Third Position. 4. Another position shall be this : Because we can nMtker fulfil the commands of the Law, nor yet undergo and eluctate tke utmost ex tremity of tke puniskment ; therefore, our righteousness cannot possibly be Inherent or Pergonal, We cannot be personally righteous by perfect ObediencCj because of the corruptions of our natures : we cannot be personally right eous by full Satisfaction, because of the condition of our natures, Our corrupt state makes our perfect obedience a thing impossible; and our limited finite state makes our full satisfaction as impossi ble. As we are fallen sinners, so we lie under a sad necessity of transgressing the Law : as we are vile creatures, so we lie undei an utter incapacity of recompensing divine justice. Well, there fore, might the Apostle cry out, Tkere is none rigkteous : no, not one; Eom. iii. 10. As for a personal righteousness of obedience, the Prophet unfolds that goodly garment: Isa. Ixiv. 6; All our right eousnesses are but as filtky rags : rags they are ; and, therefore, can not cover our nakedness : filthy rags they are ; and, therefore, need a covering for themselves. To think to cover filth by filth, is noth ing else, but to make both more odious in the sight of God. Nor can we hope to appear before God upon a Eighteousness of Satisfaction: for how should we satisfy his justice? Is it by Doing! THE TWO COVENANTS. 145 Whatsoever we can do, is, God's gift; our own duty, had wa never sinned ; and, can bear no proportion to the sin committed : for no duty is of infinite goodness ; but every sin is of infinite heinousness, as hath been demonstrated ; and therefore no duty can riiake satisfaction for it. Is it by Suffering, that we hopa we may satisfy God ? Alas ! this is nothing else, but to seek salvation by being damned : for that is the penal part of the Law ; and the only personal satisfac tion, that the justice of God will exact of sinners. Now, though it be thus in vain to seek for a rig]jteousness of our own, either of the one kind or of the other ; yet that corruption of our natures, which is the only cause why we have not a personal righteousness of o^iedience, still prompts us insensibly to trust to it : and ready we are, upon all occasions, to be drawing up an inven tory of our good works, as the merit of our justification ; which, if they be really found, are but good evidences of it. For, 5. The rigMeousness, wkick ahne can justify us, must he a Rigkt eousness either of Obedience or Satisfaction; eitker doing what the Law kath required, or suffering what it threate'iis : and, indeed, botk are ne cessary to bring us to keaven and happiness, in a way of Justification. Perhaps God might, by the absolute prerogative f)f his mercy, have pardoned and saved sinners, without requiring any Eighteous ness or Satisfaction. But I say, that it is utterly impossible and contradictious, that he should justify any without a righteousness ; for the very notion of Justification doth essentially connote and in fer a righteousness, since itis God's owning and dealing with men as righteous. For ought I know, God might, had ^e so pleased, have pardoned and saved us without any righteousness ; but, cer tain I am, he could not justify us without it. Now that is no righteousness, which doth not fully answer the law which is the rule of it : for the least defect destroys its nature, and turns it into unrighteousness. If it be here objected, that the Eule of our Eighteousness is not tbe Law of Works, but the Law of Faith : that the Covenant of 'Works is abolished, and that of Grace succeeds in the place there of which requires faith, repentance, and sincere obedience as the conditions of our justification ; and that these are now the Eight eousness- by which we are justified : I answer, by laying down 6. A sixth position : Tkat the Covenant of Works is only so far forth repeahd and abrogated, as it did require a Personal Righteous ness to our Justification ; but it is not n-pea.led, as it did require a Per fect Righteousness. " Vol. ii.— 10 146 THE DOCTEINE OF God did never so far disannul the Covenant of Works, that, whether or no his Law were obeyed or his Justice satisfied, yet we should be accounted righteous : but, it is only thus far repealed hy the Covenant of Grace, that, though we canndt perfectly obey nor fully satisfy in our own persons, yet we* may be pardoned and ac cepted through the satisfaction, and obedience of our Surety. Sb that, even now, under the Covenant of Grace, no righteousness can avail to our Justification, but what, for the matter of it, is perfectly conformable to the Law of Works. And, when' we say that the Covenant of Works is abrogated, and that we are not to expect Justification according to the covenant, the meaning is not, that the matter of that covenant is repealed, but only the personal obliga tion relaxed : for, still', it is the righteousness of the Law which justifies us, though performed by another.' And, therefore, in this sense, whosoever are justified, it is according to the Covenant of Works : that is, it is by that righteousness, which, for the sub stance and matter of it, this covenant did require. ^ For the proof of this, which is of very great moment for the clearing the doctrine of Justification, consider, (1) That there can be no sufficient reason given why our Saviour should suffer 4he penalty, who never transgressed the precepts of the Law, unless it be that his sufferings might be oui' satisfaction. Consequently, if Christ died for us, only to satisfy divine justice in our stead, and as our Surety, it must necessarily follow, that this his death is our Eighteousness of Satisfaction according to the Law and Covenant of Works. (2) That Law, according to the letter of which the far greater part of the world shall be judged, cannot be an abrogated, a re- pealed law. But, though true believers shall indeed be judged only accord. ing to the favourable construction of the Law of Works, which is the accepting the righteousness of their Surety for their own; yet all the rest of the world (and how vast a number is it ! ) shall he judged according to the strict letter of the Covenant of Works, aijd must either stand or fall according to the sentence of it : they must either produce a perfect sinless righteousness, wrought out person ally by themselves ; or else suffer the vengeance of eternal death Indeed, all men, at the Last Day, shall be judged by the Co'venaul of Works : and, when they shall stand before the tribunal of God this Law will be then produced, and every man's title tried by it and whoever cannot plead a righteousness conformable to the tenoi and import of it, must expect nothing else but the execution of thf THE TWO COVENANTS. 147^ punishment threatened. The righteousness of Christ will be the believer's plea ; and accepted, because it fully answers the matter of the Law. The rest of the world can produce no righteousness of their o-wn, /or all have sinned; nor can they plead this of Christ, because they have no faith, which alone can give this title and con vey it to them : so that their case is desperate, their doom certain, and their punishment remediless and insupportable ; and this, ac cording to the tenor of the Covenant of Works, Do this or Suffer this, by which God will proceed in judging ofthe world. Consider, again, (3) That the matter and substance of1;he Covenant of Works is nothing else but the Moral Law (as I showed before) the law of holiness and obedience: the obligation of which continues still upon us : and the least transgression of which is threatened -with death and condemnation " What, then, doth God speak contradictions ? and, in the Law of Works, tell us he -will punish every transgressor ; and, in the Law of Faith, tell he -will not punish every transgressor ?" No, cer tainly : his truth and his justice are immutable ; and, what he hath once spoken with his mouth, he will fulfil -with his hand. And his veracity is obliged to punish every offender ; for God can be no more false in his threatenings, than in ;his promises ; and, therefore, he punisheth those whom he pardons, or else he could not pardon. He pardons'their Persons, according to his Covenant of Grace ; he punisheth their Surety, according to his Covenant of Works : which, in a forsenic sense, being the punishing of them, they have in him made a satisfaction to the justice of God, and thereby have ob tained a righteousness according to the the terms of the Covenant of Works. I have the longer insisted on this Sixth Position, because it is the very critical . point of the doctrine of Justification, and the very hinge upon which all the controversies concerning it do turn. 7. Another position shall be this : I7i,at, though we have no Per sonal Rigkteousness, yet our Sdviowr Christ hath a Personal Righte ousness of both kinds, both of perfect Obedience to ihe commands of tke Law, and of full Satisfaction to the penalty threatened in 'it, (1) Christ hath -wrought out a Eighteousness of perfect Obedi ence ; and that,\by his absolute conformity to a Twofold Law. (1) The Law Natural, under the obligation of which he lay as a man. For both the First and Second Adam were made under the same Law of Works : the First, under the mutability of his own "wiU 148 THE DOCTEINE OF which forfeited his happiness ; the Second, under a necessity or in fallibility of entire obedience, through the union of the divine na ture with the human, whereby it became as impossible that Chrisi should fail in his obedience, as that the Godhead should fail the human nature which it had assumed. [2] To the Law National, under the obligation of which he was born, as being of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Judah. By this national law I mean both the Judicial and Ceremonial Laws of the Jews, of whom Christ was, according to the flesh, For even the Ceremonial Law was in a sense, national, and pecu liar to the Jews : yea, andlihey themselves thought so, seeing they did not impose the observation of the Mosaical rites and observan ces upon proselyted heathens (those wbom they called Proselyti Portx) but admitted them to the participation of the same common hope and salvation with themselves, upon the observation of the Law of Nature and the Seven traditional Commandments of Noah. Now Christ was made under both these laws : the Law of his Na ture, and the Law of his- Nation : imder the former, primarily and necessarily, as he was man ; and, therefore, he must obey the law of right reason : under the second, secondarily and by consequence ; because the law of nature and right reason dictates that God is to be obeyed in all his positive (feommands. Wherefore he himself tells us. Matt. iii. 15, that it became him to fulfil all righteousness. Thus, then, his Eighteousness of Obedience was both personal and perfect. And so, likewise, (2) His Eighteousness of Satisfaction was personal and plenary. As di"vine justice could exact no punishment from him, upon his o"wn personal account ; he being holy, harmless, and undefiled : so did it receive full satisfaction from him, for the sins of others im puted to him. Neither came he from under the penalty^ till he had discharged the very uttermost farthing that was due. And there fore his active and passive obedience, as they are commonly termed, were both perfect and complete. What the sufferings of Christ were ; how far he paid the idem, and how far the tantidem ; I shall not discuss. The Greek Liturgy checks our too curious inquisi- tiveness in this search, by calling them ayi/uj-a vtaOti, "unknown sufferings." Only it may be here queried, " Since that all righteousness is a conformity to some law, according to what law was Christ obliged to undergo the penalty for sin? Could the same law bind him to obedience and suffering too ? Or is it consistent "with the measures of justice, to inflict the penalty of the law on him, who had fully observed thfi f.fimTnn.nds nf t+. ?" THE TWO COVENANTS. 149 To this I answer : That the same law cannot oblige both to obe dience and to suffering : and, therefore, Christ Jesus was not bound over to undergo the penalty by that law, the precepts of which he had fulfilled. Had he been liable to suffer by the same law that we are, -he would not have been a Mediator, but a Malefactor. Christ was, therefore, under a Twofold Law, in conformity to -which he obtained his Twofold Eighteousness. [1] The common and ordinary Law of Obedience, unto which he, as well as others, was subjected upon the account of his human nature. [2] The peculiar Law of the Mediator. By the Law of the Mediator I mean, that compact and engagement, which. Christ entered into with God the Father, to become our Surety, to pay our debts, and to bear the punishment due to our sins ; which I shall hereafter more largely open to you, when I come to treat of the Covenant of Eedemption. Now when Christ had perfectly fulfilled the common and ordi nary Law, both of his Nature as a man and of his Nation as a Jew, it could in no wise be just, that he should also undergo the penalty by virtue of this law, which threatened it only against the trans gressors. And, therefore, when the ordinary law acquitteth and dischargeth him as righteous, the Law of the Mediator iaterposeth, seizeth on him, and bindeth him over unto punishment. And, if Christ had not borne this punishment, though still he would haye been personally righteous as a Man, yet he would not have been righteous as a Mediator, because not conformable to the Law of the Mediation or Suretyship, to which he had voluntarily subjected himself, and which obliged him to suffer : John x. 18 ; Phil. ii. 8 ; but, the obligation of both laws being fully answered, he bath thereby obtained a righteousness according unto both ; and, being both perfect in his obedience and perfected by his sufferings, he is become an Almighty Saviour, abh to save unto the uttermost all those ' who come unto God hy kim. That is the Seventb Position. 8. Christ havingisuch an abundant righteousness of his own, God, the Lawgiver, hath been graciously pleased to bestow tkat righteousness upon, and impute it unto us ; to all intents and purposes, as if it kad been our own Personal Righteousness, And in this particular lies the great mystery of our Justification. And therefore, to explain it, I shall lay do-wn these two things : (1) Imputed Eighteousness is not God's accounting us righteous when we are not so ; for that would be a false judgment, and utter ly inconsistent with the truth, wisdom, and righteousness of the 150 THE DOCTEINE OF divine nature : but, first, the righteousness of Christ is become ours by the con-veyance which God hath appointed to make it over unto us ; and, then, it is imputed or reckoned for oiir Justification. For -the imputation of Christ's righteousness is not res 'vaga, that which may agree with any person in any state and condition ; as if there were no more required to justify the most profligate sinner, but only that God reckon him righteous : no ; but there must be' something presuppos,ed' in us, either as a qualification, condition, or means, that must give us a title to the righteousness -of Christ. And that is, as shall appear in the next position, the Grace of Faith: so that, Christ's righteousness being made ours by faith, God doth then actually impute it to our Justification. And, therefore, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is not by God only thought to be ours ; but it is ours really and truly, in a law sense. To affirm, that God imputes that to be ours which indeed is not, would be to make it only a putative righteousness, to invade the di-vine verity, and to lay the imputation of a false and partial judgment upon him. The righteousness of Christ is not ours, he- cause God accounts it to be so ; but, on the contrary, therefore God accounts it ours, because it is so." It becomes not ours, by God's imputation ; for it must be ours, before any act of imputation can be true and just : but, rather, it becomes ours, by divine designa-' tion or donation, whereby God hath made over the righteousness bf his Son as a dowry and patrimony to faith. God doth not justi fy us, that we may be righteous ; but because we are already righte ous : and that, not only imperfectly, by the inherent righteous qualities that are implanted in our Eegeneration ; but most per fectly, by the righteousness of Christ consigned over unto us in our Eegeneration, by virtue of Faith, which is a main part of it. Certainly, that God, who hath told us, that ke, tkat justifieth the wicked....is an abomination unto. him : Prov. xvii. 15, will-never him self make that the process of his justice. It is true, the Apostle, Eom. iv. 5, saith, that God justifieth the ungodly : but this must be understood, either in a limited sense, for those who are in part so, being but in part sanctified : or, rather, it must be understood, not in a compounded sense, as if Ungodliness and Justification were states compatible to the same person ; but in a divided sense, that is, that he justifies such who heretofore were ungodly ; but their Sanctification intervenes bet-vyeen their Ungodliness and their Justi fication. In which order the Apostle recounts it, 1 Cor. vi. U; Suck were some of you: but ye are....sanctified, but ye are j'ustified. So that, in order of nature. Faith, which is a principal part of oui THJS TWO COVENANTS. 151 ictification, precedes our right to Christ's righteousness, because onveys it ; and our right to Christ's righteousness precedes God's ual imputation of it to our Justification, because it must first be :s, before it can be with truth accounted so. [t is very wonderful, that the Papists should so, obstinately re- ve not to understand this doctrine of Imputed Eighteousness ; t still cavil against it, as a contradiction. It being, say they, utterly impossible to become righteous through the righteous- 5S of another, as to become healthful through another's health, wise by another's wisdom. And some, besides this slander of contradiction, give us this scoff into the bargain : That the Pro- tants, in defending an Imputative Eighteousness, show only an iputative Modesty and Imputative Learning. But they might well to consider, that some denominations are physical ; others ly legal and juridical. Those, which are physical, do indeed cessarily require inexistent forms, from which the denominations ould result : thus, to be healthful, to be wise and learned, do re- .ire inherent health, wisdom, and learning. But, to be righteous, a,y be taken either in a physical sense, and so it denotes an inher- t righteousness, which in the best is irhperfect ; or else it may be icen in a forensic or juridical sense, and so the perfect righteous- ss of another, who is our Surety, may become ours, and be im- ted to our Justification. It is the righteousness of another, per- aally : it is our righteousness, juridically : because, by faith, we ve a right and title to it ; which right and title accrue unto us, by i promise and covenant of God, and our union to our Surety. Indeed, some there are, who refer, our Justification wholly to the ;rits of Jesus Christ ; but^yet lay down a scheme and method of s doctrine, not altogether so honourable to our Blessed Saviour they ought. These affirm,* that Christ, by his righteousness, th merited that God should account our Faith to be itself our ghteousness ! that his is only the procatarctic or meritorious cause Dcuring this grand privilege to Faith, that it should itself be our ghteousness and the matter of our Justification. Wherein they J so far injurious to the merits of our Blefesed Saviour, as to make 3m only the remote cause of our Justification ; and, consequently, 3essary, rather that faith might have an object, than that we ght have righteousness. But of this, perhaps, more hereafter. However, this, which hath been spoken, may serve to give us a 3re distinct notion of Imputed Eighteousness : which is not ours, 3rely because God imputes it to us ; but because he hath, by deed * Armin. Disp. Theol. Thes. 17. 152 THE DOCTEINE OF of gift in his promise, bestowed it upon us when we believe, and then imput'es it to our Justification. (2) That this righteousness of Christ, thus made ours, may serve to all ends ahd purposes for which we stand in need of a righteous ness, it is necessary, that both his active righteousness, or his Eighteousness of Obedience, and also his passive righteousness, the Eighteousness of his Satisfaction in suffering for us, be made ours, and imputed to us for our Justification. Though this position be much controverted ; yet, possibly, the truth of it "will appear from the grounds formerly laid, "viz.. That there are-two ends, for which we stand in need of a righteousness : the one, is a freeing of us from the penalty threatened : the other, is an entitling of us to the reward promised.- Now had we no other but the Eighteousness of Christ's Satisfaction made over unto us, this indeed would perfectly free us from our liableness to punish ment ; for, if our Surety hath undergone it for us, we ourselves are not liable : but, still, we should need a righteousness to entitle us to the reward ; and that must necessarily be a Eighteousness of perfect Obedience. For, as I noted before, it is not said Suffer this, and live ; but Do this, and live : and, consequently, it must be obe dience and not suffering, the active andjiot the passive righteous ness of Christ, that can give us a right unto eternal life. It is true, the satisfaction of Christ doth give a right unto eternal life con comitantly, but not formally; that is, wherever guilt is removed, there a title to heaven is procured : yet the formal reason of our title to heaven is different from the formal reason of the remission of our sins : this, results from the imputation of Christ's sufferings; that, of his obedience. But, if any should in this particular dissent, as many very or thodox di"vines, Piscator and others, have done, upon the account of the impossibility of a neutral estate, i. e. a condition neither of happiness nor misery, life nor death ; I will not earnestly contend about it : so that this foundation stand firm and unshaken, that we are saved only by the righteousness of Christ made ours by God's donation, and im^puted to our Justification. Yet Eom. v. 18, 19, votes for it. .^ 9. Tkis Righteousness of Ckrist is conveyed and made oiier unto us by our Faith, That is the grace, which God hath purposed to honour with oui Justification. I shall not long insist upon this, because I reserve the more full handling of it to another place. Only this is here to be observed THE TWO COVENANTS. 158 that faith gives us a title to the righteousness of Christ, and makes it ours, not only by the promise of God, but as it is the bond of union between Christ and the soul. By faith it is, that we are made mystically one "with Christ ; living members in his body ; fruitful branches of that heavenly and spiritual vine. We have the communication of the same Name: So aho is Ckrist, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. xii. 12, speaking there of Christ Mystical, both his Person and his Church. We have the same Eolations : / ascend unto my Fatker and to your Fatker ; John xx. 17. We are made partakers of the same Spirit : for if any man have not tke Spirit of Ckrist, he is none of Ms : Eom. viii. 9 ; Se, tkat is joined unto ike Lord, is one Spirit: 1 Cor. vi. 17. And, finally, the very Life, that we live, is said not to be ours, but . Ckrist livetk in us, and that we live hy tke faith ofthe Son of God: Gal. ii. 20. So that, being thus one with Christ, his righteousness becomes our righteousness, even as our sins became his : and God deals with Christ and believers, as if they were one person : the sins of believ ers are charged upon Christ, as though they were his ; and the righteousness of Christ is reckoned to believers as theirs. Neither is God unjust, either in the one or the other iniputation ; because they are mystically one : and this mystical union is a sufficient ground for imputation. Yet from this union flows the participation only of the benefits of his Mediatorship : for we are not hereby transubstantiated or deified, as some of late years have blasphemously conceited. Nei ther the Godhead of Christ, nor his essential ifighteousness as God, nor his divine and infinite properties, are made ours ; but only the fiTiits and effects of his mediation : so that, hereupon, God graci ously accounts of us as if we had done in our own persons, what soever Christ hath done for us; because, by faith," Christ and we are made one. These are the Positions, which I thought necessary, to instruct us in a true notion of righteousness, and the m'p,nner how we be come righteous. iv, I shall deduce from them a few coeollabies. 1. Hence we learn, the true Difference tkat tkere is, between tke Cove nant of Grac§ and ihe Covenant of Works, Whatsoever vast disproportion some have imagined; yet, in deed, these are not distinct covenants, for the matter and substance of them, but only in the distinct method and manner of participat ing the same righteousness. They both require full satisfaction, to obtain remission of sin ; and perfect obedience, to obtain eternal 154 THE DOCTEINE OF life. But, in this, lies the only difference ; that the rigour and se verity of the Covenant of Works requires that this righteousness be personal, and wrought out by ourselves ; which is relaxed to us by the Covenant of Grace, promising us remission and acceptation through the righteousness of our Surety, conveyed to us by our faith, 2. Hence see, what infiuence Faitk hatk into our Justification', It is not itself our Eighteousness, or the matter of our Justifica tion ; but the instrument or means, call it which you please, of conveying over unto us the righteousness of Christ our Surety, which is perfectly conformable to the Law of Works, and the mat ter by which we are justified. Some there are, who would have Faith to justify us, as it is the Fulfilling of the Condition of the Covenant of Grace, But, possibly, this difference might be soon compromised, if the tenor of both covenants be heedfully observed. The Covenant of Works promiseth life, if we obey in our own Persons : but the Covenant of Grace relaxeth this ; and promiseth life, if we obey in our Surety. The condition of both is perfect obedience: in the one, personal ; in the other, imputed. And the way how we should obtain a title to this obedience of our Surety, is, by believing. So that, when the Covenant of Grace saith, " Believe and you shall be saved," it speaks compendiously ; and, were it drawn out at length, it would run thus, " Procure the righteousness of Christ to be thine, and thou shalt be saved : Believe, and this righteousness, -which will save thee, shall be thincg" Here, then, are two conditions : the one, fundamental, primary, and immediate to our Justification ; and that is, the Eighteousness of Christ : the other, remote and secondary ; and that is, our Faith, which is the condition of the primary condition, and consequently of the covenant. This will appear more evident in this syllogism : If the righteousness of Christ be made thine, thou shalt be saved; if thou believest, the righteousness of Christ shall be made thine: therefore, from the first to the last, if thou believest thou shalt be saved. Now, 1;hough Christ's obedience be the principal, and our faith the secondary condition ; yet, usually, in propounding the Covenant of Grace, the former is silenced, and the latter only mentioned. And this may be for two reasons : (1) Because, though Christ's righteousness be more immediate to our Justification, yet faith is more immediate to our Practice ; and, therefore, it is of more concernment to know how Justification might be obtained, than critically to know wherein it doth consist. And, THE TWO COVENANTS. 155 (2) Beca"ase faith doth necessarily relate unto the righteousness of Jesus Christ. • So that, to say " Believe, and you shall be saved," doth "virtually and implicitly tell us also, that our Justification and Salvation must be by the righteousness of another. If,' therefore, those, who affirm that Faith justifies, as it is the Performance of the Condition of the Covenant, intend it only in this remote and secondary sense, I see no cause of controversy or disagreement about it. That is a Second Corollary. 3. Another inference may be this : That ive skould never expect Justification nor Salvation, upon any other terms than a Perfect Right eousness, fully answering the tenor of tke Covenant of Works. Answering it, I say, as to the substance of what it requires, al though the manner of obtaining that righteousness be not conform able thereunto, but unto the Law of Grace. If we cannot produce a righteousness every way perfect, and tender it to God as ours, we cannot with reason expect but that God should seek for satisfaction to his justice upon us in our everlasting destruction. Ours it must be, through our union to Jesus Christ by the bond of faith ; which is a sufficient foundation for a real communication of all benefits and interests. 4. Hence we may learn. That the two rigkteousnesses of wkick tke text speaks, the Eighteousness which is of Works, and the Eight eousness which is of Faith; do not differ, as to tke nature of tke things themselves, hut only as to tke manner of tkeir being made ours., Tke Rigkteousness, which is of the Law, must be of perfect Obe dience or of full Satisfaction ; the Rigkteousness, wkich is of Faitk, is both of Obedience and of Satisfaction : so that, for the matter, there is no difference between them ; for the Eighteousness of Faith is no other than what the Law of Works required. But, herein, lies the only difference, that the one must be personal, the other imputed. The Law requires obedience or satisfaction to be wrought out in our own persons : grace mitigates this strictness ; and is contented with the obedience and satisfaction of another, appre hended and applied to us by our believing. And thus you see, at large, the nature of Eighteousness, both Legal and Evangelical ; wherein they do consist ; aiid what is the true difference between them. The knowledge of these things is of absolute necessity to a clear perception of the Doctrine of the Covenants and of Justification. Some, perhaps, because these truths are abstruse and knotty, may think that I am teaching you, as Gideon is said to have taught the men of Succoth, Judges viii. 7, with the thorns and briers of the wilderness. Yet I doubt not but 156 ' THEDOCTEINE OP by a diligent recollection of what hath been delivered, you may even of these thorns, gather figs. Sure I am, that God, who once spake to Moses out of a bush, can speak to you out of these thickets. And, though they do not so immediately tend to the exciting of affections, yet those affections may be well suspected to be irregu lar, and experience shows they are seldom durable, that are not built upon a right information of the Judgment. These things being thus discussed and stated, let us now proceed to a more DISTINCT AND PAETICULAE CONSIDEEATION OF THE COVENANTS. Which I have told you were principally Two : the one, made with mankind in Adam, at bis first creation ; the other, niade with mankind, upon his restoration. The tenor of the former is. Do tkis, and live : the tenor of the latter. He, that believeth on Christ Jesus, shall be saved. 1. 1 shall first treat concerning the former, the COVENANT OP WOEKS : the sum of which is. Do this, and live ; or, in the words of my text, Tke man, wkich doeth those things, skall live by tkein. And, herein, two things are chiefly to be observed : the Promise, which is life ; and the Condition, which is Do tkis, or perfect obedience. i. I shall begin with the former, the PEOMISE MADE unto adam, AND ALL MANKIND IN HIM : Tke man, whick doeth tkose tkings, shall live ; which, by the rule of contraries, implies the threatening and curse against all transgressors. If he shall live, who fulfiUeth the Law ; then, by the contrary proportion, he shall die, who trans gresseth it. And this threatening we find expressly annexed to one particular command of the Covenant of Workg ; Gen. ii. 17 ; In tke day tkat tkou eatest tkereof that is, of the Tree of the Knowl edge of Good and Evil, tkou skalt surely die: and tb the general tenor of the whole ; Gal. iii. 10 ; Cursed is every one, tkat continueth not in all things, wkick are written in the book of the Law to do them. Concerning this Life and Death, much difficulty there is to state wherein they did consist : and, truly, the Holy Ghost having spoken so sparingly of it, it would be presumption, and an affectation of being wise above what is written, to determine any thing positively and magisterially herein ; God taking more care to inform us how we might recover our lost and forfeited bliss, than wherein it con sisted. Yet, possibly, something may, with modesty and probabil ity, be spoken of it ; that may give us some satisfaction in the clear ing up, if not of all, yet of some truths that are pertinent to this subject, and worthy our knowledge and acceptance. THE TWO COVENANTS. 157 1. As for the~i;«/e here promised, (1) There are two opinions, that carry a fair probability. [1] That, by Life here, is meant the Perpetuity and Continuance of that Estate wherein Adam was created ; being a state of perfect happiness and blessedness, free from sin, and therefore free from misery : he, the friend of God and lord of the visible creation ; all things being subject unto him, and himself subject only to his Maker : there being a perfect agreement between his God and him, and between him and himself; no tormenting conscience, no gnaw ing guilt, no pale fears, no pains, no sickness, no death. He might converse with God, boldly and sweetly : and God would have con versed with him, familiarly and endearingly. Then there would have been no desertion, on God's part ; because no apostasy, on his : no clouds in his mind, no tempest in his breast, no tears, nor cause for any ; but a continual calm and serenity of soul, enjoying all the innocent delights that God and nature could afford, and all this for ever. The whole world had been but a higher heaven and a lower. Earth had been but heaven a little allayed ; and Adam had been as an angel incarnate, and God all in all : and all this to be enjoyed eternally, without diminution, without period. Oh, how great a happiness may we conceive the state of upright man to be ! which nothing can resemble, nothing exceed ; unless it be the happi ness and bliss to which fallen man shall be restored. Had not sin soiled and drossed the world, it should never have felt the purga tion of the last fire ; the elements should never have been dissolved, the heavens folded up, nor the host of them disbanded ; but man had been the everlasting inhabitants of an everlasting world. This is the first opinion concerning the Life promised in the Covenant of Works. [2] Others again, to avoid some inconveniences which might follow upon the former opinion, wherof the greatest seems to be a populousness beyond what the world could contain, think it more probable to affirm. That when the multitude of mankind (which certainly had been far greater than all the generations since the beginning of it amount unto, since sin and the curse have hindered the fecundity of the first blessing) had so far increased as to straiten the bounds of their abode, God would have Translated them to Hea ven, without their seeing or tasting of Death. As, when a land is surcharged "with inhabitants, the state transplants whole colonies of them, to disburden itself: so, when this earth should have been crowded' with an overplus of mankind, God would have transplanted whole colonies of them ; and would have removed them from a 158 THE DOCTEINE OF terrestrial to a celestial Paradise. God doth now, indeed, remove believers to that state of happiness : but yet they first descend into the dust : death is their passage into life, and the grave their en trance into glory : we read but of two men only, who leaped.that ditch ; and they were Enoch and Elijah : of the one, it is said that God took him ; and, of the other, that God fetched him in a fiery chariot. But, had not sin come into the world, this might have been the common and ordinary passage out of it : Eve had never been terrified by the King of Terrors, nor struggled at his approach, nor feared nor detested the separation of those dear companions, the soul and body : for there had been no such thing as death ; but both soul and body, jointly and at once, should have been rapt up to the enjoyment of the same God and the same happiness, which our faith now embraces, and our hope expects. Which of these two is the very .truth I cannot determine ; though the grand inconvenience, Consequent upon the former, may inchne a considering mind to adhere rather to the latter. (2) Now here fall in Two Questions to be resolved. Whether Adam, in innocence, may be said to be immortal. What is meant by the Tree of Life, spoken of in the history of Adam,- and said to be planted in the midst of Paradise. [1] To the first I answer, that Adam, in his state of innocence, was immortal. For sin is not only the sting, 'but the cause and parent of death ; and gives it not only its terrors, but its being. What saith the Apostle, Eom. v. 12 ? By one man sin entered into ike world, and deaik hy sin : so that, had there been no sin, there had been no death. But yet, even then, Adam had in him the contemplation of con trary qualities ; and, therefore, the principles of death and corrup tion. And, therefore, his immortauty was not such, as the angels enjoy in heaven ; for they are not composed of jarring and quarrell ing elements, being pure spiritual substances : nor was it such, as the bodies of glorified saints shall hereafter possess ; for they shall be made wholly impassible, and set free from the reach of outward impressions, and the discords of elemental mutinies, that might impair their vigour or endanger their dissolntion. But it was aa immortality, by donation ; and by the privilege of an especial Pro vidence, which engaged itself to sway and overrule that tendency which was in his body to corruption, and, notwithstanding the con trarieties and dissentions of a terrestrial constitution, to continue bim in life, so long as he should continue himself in his obedience. [2] And, as the means and sacrament of this, God appointed the THE TWO COVENANTS. 159 fruit of the Tree of Life, that the eating thereof might perpetuate his duration. Which Tree of Life, what it was, and why so called, was the second query. Some suppose it was so named, because the fruit of it had a Na tural Virtue to preserve and prolong life ; and that Adam, using it as his ordinary food, should, by thte medicinal force of it, have kept off or repaired all incident decays. But this, I think, sounds some what of the EabM : for the guard, which God set upon this tree, lest fallen Adam should once taste it and live for ever, sufficiently overthrows this conceit ; and evinces that immortality could not be the natural effect and production of it. But the best and most received opinion is, that it was therefore called the Tree of Life, because it was a Sacrament added for the confirmation of the promise of life. That, as now, under the Cove-r nant of Grace, God hath instituted Baptism and the Lord's Supper, that, by being washed with the water of the one, and eating and drinking the bread and wine of the other, he might seal to us the stability of that covenant, wherein he hath promised eternal life to those yv-ho believe : so God gave Adam this Tree of Life, that, by his eating thereof, he might seal to him the faithfulness of the Cove nant of Works, wherein he had promised life to him if he would obey ; that, as sure as he tasted' of the fruit of that tree, so sure he should live, if he would perform the commands of God. For everj covenant hath its sacraments or seals annexed to it., The Old Cove nant of Grace was sealed by Circumcision, called therefore a seal of tke rigkteousness of faitk, Eom. iv. 11 ; and likewise the Passover was another Sacrament qf that covenant-: the New Covenant of Grace is sealed by Baptism and the Lord's Supper. And, in like manner, the Covenant of Works was sealed by the fruit o£ this Tree bf Life : which was so called, not from any inherent quality of its own, but only sacramentally, because it did, confirm the prom ise of life ; that, as surely as Adam did eat thereof, so surely he should live if he would obey. (3) By these obscure and uncertain things, which cannot be re commended unto you as undoubted verities, but only as probable conjectures, you may perceive how much we are in the dark, and how subject to error, when we pretend to define and positively determine what the Holy Ghost hath thought fit to conceal. Yet Two things I account most certain ; and, with which, it will be good to put a stop to our inquisitiveness. [1] That this Life, promised in the Covenant of Works, was a 160 THE DOCTEINE OF State, made happy and blessed, by the confluence of all good things, outward and inward, temporal and spiritual; whatsoever man's condition could need, or his will desire. ¦ So long as there were no defects of righteousness and holiness in his nature, there would have been none of happiness suitable to his capacities ; nor should he have any complaints to make, nor cause for them. [2] That this Life, whether eternal on earth or in heaven, though so perfectly happy in its kind ; yet was far short of that glory and happiness, which is now promised to believers under the Covenant of Grace. Christ not only died to redeem a forfeiture, but his obedience merited the purchase of a richer inheritance, and he will instate his in the possession of far more transcendent glory. Adam was never so happy in his innocence, as he is now, since his fall, by his faith and repentance. He is now exalted far 'higher than at first he stood. And, therefore, St. Gregory the Great, considering the advantage v,"hich we have gained by our restoration through Christ, could not forbear exclaiming. Of eiix culpa, quse talem meruit habere Bedemp- ' torem 1 " Happy sin, that obtained such a Eedeemer !" And Clemens Alexandrinus hath a like passage : 0 £ X aafa.bsi,a.>s visauv /teifov £rtax%5j5 aflToOi/ sfavisi art o Jiafi ^ ai/ e t. " His disobedieUCe CaSt Adam out of Paradise : his obedience instates him in a far higher and greater reward, even Heaven." So that, as Christ saith con cerning John the Baptist, Among all tkat are born of women, there hath not arisesn a greater ihan he : yet ke, tkat is hast in tke kingdom ' of heaven, is greater ; the same may I say concerning Adam in inno cence : Among all the -visible creation, there was none greater nor more happy than he ; yet the least believer, who is now in the Kingdom of Heaven, is far greater than he when he was Lord of Paradise. Yea, should we suppose, that Adam, after he had long continued in his innocence and obedience, should have been assumed into heaven ; yet a believer's glory there, purchased by the merits of his Saviour, shall far outshine whatsoever glory Adam could have acquired by his own obedience. For, so much approximation and union as there is of the creature unto God, the fountain of all glory; so much participation is there of glory from God, by the creature. Now Adam's union unto God was only moral ; such an union as love and friendship doth beget : but a believer's union unto God is nearer, and mystical, and ineffable ; and, therefore, from this nearer union will flow a greater glory. God hath wedded our nature to THE TWO COVENANTS. ^ 161 himself, in the hypostatical union ; and he hath wedded- our per sons to himself, in a mystical union : neither of which could have ha,d place under the Covenant of Works ; and, therefore, the union not 'being so great and close, the glory promised therein would not have been so glorious, nor"the life and immortality so blessed, as that which is now brought to light by the Gospel. This you may take, in answer to the First Question, What the Life is, that is promised in the Covenant of Works: Tke man, wkick doetk tkose tkings, skall live hy tkem. 2. Our neXjt inquiry is. What Deatk it is, that this Covenant threatens : In tke day tkat tkou eatest thereof, tkou skalt die the death. And herein, truly, we are almost as far to seek, as in the former. (1) Yet thus much is certain. [1] That, by death, is meant the separation of the soul and body, which is a Temporal Death : together with all its forerunners and concomitants ; pain, grief, weakness, sickness, and whatsoever doth either cause it or attend it. It is also certain, that he»e is meant Spiritual Death ; the loss of the image and favour of God ; a despoiling the soul of the ornaments of knowledge, grace, aner righteousness, with which in its first cre ation it was beautified. For, as the separation of the soul from the body is the temporal death of the man ; so the separation of the soul from the love and grace of God, is the spiritual death of the soul. And, [3] As certain it may be, that hereby is meant likewise an eter nal Death, to endure for ever, because to be inflicted by an infinite justice. (2) But the main difficulty is, whether this eternal death should have consisted in the utter annihilation of the 'soul, after its sepa ration from the body by 'a temporal death ; or whether both soul and body should have been again united,. to suffer eternal ly some torments proportionable to those, which the damned now suffer in heli. To this I shall give you what I judge most probable. And that is, [1] That the death threatened in the Covenant of Works would not have been the utter annihilation of the guilty soul, after its separation from the body. Because annihilation is not g, punish^aent suited to the eternally glorifying of God's justice and power ; since it would be in one moment transacted, and put the soul out ofthe reach and from under the dominion of omnipotency itself: for, although - wojj esse be maxi- Vol. ii.— 11 162 , THE DOCTEINE OF mum malum metapkysicum ; jet, certainly, God will not glorify himself by metaphysical notions, but by physical and sensible punishments. ^ [2] Whatsoever punishment bad been eternally inflicted, either upon the separate .soul alone, as some hold, or upon the whole man both soul and body, as others affirm, had been more mild and mitigated under the Covenant of Works, than now the torments of the damned will be, who have despised the Covenant of Grace. For, as the life promised then was inferior to the life promised now ; so the death threatened then was not so rigorous, so torment ing, as the death threatened now. Certainly, the tenders, that are made to men, of Christ, and salvation by him, are 'not mere indiffer ent things ; that, though they slight and reject them, yet they shall be in.no worse condition than when they were born : but a despised Saviour, an abused Grace, a neglected Salvation, are such things as will add rage to the unquenchable fire, and make it eat deeper into the soul, than if there had been no Saviour pro"vided, no Grace offered, no Salvation purchased ; but ftiey had been all left in their, first fallen estate, without hope, without)|pieans, 'without possibility of recovery. And, thus much, concerning the Life promised and the Death. threatened, in the Covenant of Works. (3) Only, it may be queried, how God verified this threatening upon Adam, The threatening runs thus : In tke day ikou eatest tkereof ikou shalt surely die: and yet we read that Adam lived nine hundred years, and more, after this peremptory sentence. How is this consistent -with God's justice and veracity, who not only did not inflict death on him, on the day of bis transgression, but re prieved him for many hundred years after ? To this I answer, briefly ; that, when it is said. In ihe day tkou eatest thereof thou shalt die : by this is not meant, that he should presently upon his sinning undergo actual death ; nor only that death should be then due unto him, as some would have it, for so it might, and yet never have been inflicted : but the mean ing is,- that he should be liable and obnoxious, yea and ordained, to • death ; death should certainly be inflicted on him in the time, that God had appointed, and which he foresaw would make most for the glory of his holiness and justice. " In that day thou shalt die," is no more, than " In that df y thou shalt be a mortal creature : tliy life shall be forfeited to justice, to be cut off whensoever the righte ous and hply God shall please." ii. Let us, in the next place, proceed to consider the Condition of THE TWO COVENANTS. 163 tke Covenant of WorJcs ; and that the Apostle tells us is, Do tkis. Tke man, whick doeth these things, shall live by tkem. By doing these things is meant obedience, both in its perfection and perseverance; fqr perfect obedience could not justify, unless it were persevering obedience ; for we find that Adam himself was not justified by his perfect conformity to the law for a tim^, because he did not con tinue in it. Concerning this obedience, which was required in the Covenant of Works, we may observe, 1. That tke rule of Adam's obedience in his state of innocence was principally tke dictates and promptings Of kis own nature, and second arily any positive law that skould he given Mm by God, So that, when God bids him do this and live, he doth but point him inwards to see what was written upon his own heart, and to act ^uitably thereunto. God gave him one command, which was not written there ; and that was, not to eat of the Tree of Know ledge of Good and Evil. And some suppose also the command of sanctifying the Sabbath-Day to have been a positive law given to Adam : Gen. ii. 3, where it is said God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : others suppose those words to be brought in only by way of prolepsis or anticipaticfti. However that be, yet certain it is, that God laid very few injunctions upon upright man, besides what the dictates of his very nature and reason did prompt him to : but, if many more had been then imposed on him, they would all have been ultimately resolved into that grand law of nature. That whatsoever God commands we ought to obey. And, therefore, though the not eating the fruit of such a tree were not a law of na ture, yet this was, that he- ought not to have done what God for bad him. So that. Do this, was to Adam no more than " Act only according to the rules of nature and right reason, and thou shalt live." 2. The Covenant of Works required pf Adam all tkose tkings, wkick are now required of us under the Covenant of Grace ; except it he tkose wkick suppose a sinful and a falhn state. Some duties there are, which are in themselves absolute and per fect, and do not pre-suppose any sin or'*corruption in our nature: and such are, to love God ; to reverence and worship him ; to de pend upon him, and believe in him ; and to commit all our affairs and the conduct of our whole lives, to his- guidance and govern ment. Other duties . there are, which do necessarily connote and pre-suppose imperfection and sin : as patience and submission un der afflictions ; confessing of guilt ; acts of repentance, and of faith 164 THE DOCTEINE OF in the merits of Jesus Christ ; relieving the necessities of the poor ; forgiving -wrongs and injuries ; and many other such like. Now the duties of the former sort, whicL are required of us, were like wise required of Adam ; and his continuance in them would have been his Justification ; but not the duties of the latter sort ; for a state of innocence and p^ection excludes all such duties, because it excludes all that imperfection and guilt, upon the account of which alone such duties are become necessary. Adam had the in nate radical power to do them ; but no occasion to exercise it." 3. Adam, in innocency, kad a power to do whatsoever tke Law or the God of Nature did require ; and, by tkis his perfect obedience, to 'have preserved the rigkteousness of his first estate, and his undoubted right unto tkat life tkat was promised, God is so just and merciful, that he lays no commands upon his ' creatures to any thing that is impossible, unless it be made so hy an impotency -vvilfuUy contracted. God may, indeed, justly require that from us, which is now beyond our power to perform ; as the perfect fulfilling of his Law : and that, because it was once possi ble for us in our representative. And if we have lost our power of obeying, that does not prejudice God's right of commanding: no more than the inability of a voluntary bankrupt dischargeth his obligation to his creditors. In the state of innocence, God suited the power of his creature? to the law which he intended to give him ; and made his obligation to duty commensurate -with his ability to perform it. ' 4. That obedience, wkick was tke condition of tke Covenant of IForfc, was to he performed by Adam in kis own person, and not by a surely m undertaker : and, tkerefore, tke Covenant oj^ Works hath no Mediator, And this is the great, yea, for ought I can see, the only real dif ference between the' Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. They both require the same obedience and righteousness to justify men : only, the Covenant of Grace allows it to be the righteousness of another ; but the Covenant of Works requires that it be wrougM out by the man himself. It is true, we livl by doing this, as well as Adam ; but we do it by our Surety, not in our own Persons, And hence we may learn what covenant it was, that Christ, the Second Adam, was made under. It was strictly the Covenant of Works, of personal righteousness ; the same, that God entered into with Adam : and, therefore, he is called by the Apostle the Second Adam ; because, the First Adam failing in his undertaking, he rose up in his stead to be our federal head and represerrtative : and, see ing the first did not rightly manage the trust deposited, Christ took THE TWO COVENANTS. 165 • the whole affair out of his hands, and hath perfectly, fully, and faith fully transacted it. We have thus seen, both the Promise and the Condition of the Covenant. f. iii. Our next enquiry should be concerning the peesons, with WHOM IT WAS FIBST MADE, AND BY WHOM IT WAS FIEST BEOKEN. 1. But before I come to that, it may not be impertinent to Re solve a Query, tbat may arise upon what hath been already said. And that is. Whether the afflictions and temporal evils, that be lievers suffer in this life, be not inflicted on them by "wrtue of the curse and threatening of the Covenant of Works : In ike day tkat tkou eatest tkereof tkou skalt die, and The soul, tkat sinnetk, it skall die. For the curse of dying comprehends in it, not only temporal death' itself ; but all other miseries and troubles, that we undergo in this present life. And, indeed, it is worth the enquiry, whether the af flictions and sufferings of true believers, be properly punishments, or not. To resolve this, we must know, that God hath two ends respect ing himself, for which he brings any evil upon men. The one, is the manifestation of his holiness : the other, is the satisfaction of his justice. And, accordingly as any affliction tehds to these, so it is either properly a punishment, or barely a chastisement and cor rection. If God intend by the. affliction to satisfy his justice, then it is properly a punishment ; and flows from the curse and threat ening of the covenant : but, if God intend thereby only to glorify and manifest his holiness, then it is not a proper punishment, nei ther hath it any thing of the rancour alid venom of the curse in it ; but it is only a fatherly correction, proceeding from love and mercy. But, 41) The afflictions and outward evils, that true Christians suffer, are fiiflicted by God upon them, to the end that he might manifest his purity and holiness. ^ ' Indeed, there are many gracious ends, respecting believers them selves, wherefore God doth afflict them : as, to exercise their graces, to keep them humble and dependant, to starve up their lusts, to wean them from the world, and to fit them for a better. But the great end, respecting God himself, is, that, by these afflictions, they might know and see how holy a God they have to deal with; who doth so perfectly hate sin, that he will follow it with chastisements wheresoever it be found. Though the sin be pardoned, though the sinner be beloved ; yet God will afflict him : not, indeed, to satisfy his justice, for *that is done for him by Jesus Christ : but to satisfy 166 THE DOCTEINE OF , his holihess, and vindicate the honour of his purity in the would, and himself too from contempt, when those, who will presume to offend, shall certainly smart for it : 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14. (2) The afflictions and evils, that believers suffer,'«are not inflicted by God, that thereby he might ^tisfy his justice upon them ; and, therefore, they are not from the curse of the Law, nor properly punishments for their sins. Punishment always connotes satisfaction for transgressing the Law. But this satisfaction to divine justice is not to be "wrought out by believers themselves ; and, therefore, whatsoever they suffer is not strictly punishment. Christ hath fully satisfied all the de mands of justice; tod, therefore, no farther satisfaction is expected from them, since that could not be consistent with the rules and measures of justice to punish both the surety and principal too. The curse of the Law poured all its poison into Christ ; and there is not one drop of it that falls besides upon believers : Gal. iii. 13. Ckrist katk redeemed us from tke cwse of the Law, being made a curse for us. For that death, and all those evils threatened in the Cove nant of Works, are curses: not merely because they are grievous and afflicting; but because inflicted on transgressors in order to the satisfaction of divine justice upon them. And therefore Christ is said to be accursed, and his death to have been an accursed death, (Cursed is every one, that kangetk on a tree) not because he died, nor because he died a most bitter, painful, and shameful death : but be cause he was ordained to undergo this death, as a satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of men. And, truly, should God inflict those very evils which he now doth upon believers, to the end that he might thereby raise some satisfaction to his justice, though the evils themselves would not be greater, nor more sharp and painfiil, yet they would all be curses, and make them too accursed cr«a- tures : for the true notion of a curse and of a punishment, co^ists not in the quality or the measure of the evil suffered ; but in the inflicting of it as penal, and in order to the satisfaction of justice. Hence, therefore, with what calmness and sweet peace may a true Christian look upon all his afflictions ! Though they be sore and heavy, and seem to carry much wrath in them, yet they have noth ing of the curse. The sting was received, all of it, into the body of Christ : so that now the Covenant of Works is disarmed to him; and he ^eed not fear the dreadful thunder of its threatenings, for the bolt is already dischip,rged upon another. Indeed, w«re it God's intent to satisfy his justice by the evils which he brings upon me, 1 might then tremble with horror and astonishment ; and account THE TWO COVENANTS. 167 every the slightest suffering a presage and pledge of far greater and eternal to come : but if I have an interest in the righteousness of Christ, justice is already satisfied, and the curse removed ; and all the sorrows and afflictions which L suffer, are but the corrections of a Gracious Father, not the revenge of an Angry God. Am I pinched by poverty ? that is no curse : God doth not seek revenge upon me ; but only keeps me from the allurements to sin and van ity. Am I afflicted with losses in my relations or estate ? that is no curse : God doth not thereby seek satisfaction to his justice ; but onl^ takes these from me, that he might be all in all. Am I tor mented with pain, and weakened with diseases; and will these bring^jdeath upon me ? yet diseases and death itself are no curses ; but only a necessary passage from life to life, a bad step to Canaan, a short night between one day and another. Eevenging justice is satisfied ; and, therefore, come what afflictions it shall please .God to try me with, they are all weak and weaponless ; -^thout sting, without curse in them, • But, most sad and miserable is the condition of wicked men, whose infidelity excludes them from having a right in the suA'criugs of Chrisk For there is not the least affliction that befals them, the ¦least gripe of any pain, the least loss in their estates, the most slight and inconsiderable cross that is, but it comes upon them through the Curse of the law. God is, by these, beginning to satisfy his jus tice upon them; and sends these to arrest and -seize them. He is 'beginning to take them by the throat, and to call upon them to pay him what they owe. Every affliction is to. them but part of pay ment of that vast and endless sum of plagues, which God will, most severely and to the very utmost farthing, exact of them in hell. A^^, so much, in answer to that query. 2. Let us now proceed to enquire wko are the Persons, witk whom this Covenant of Works was at first made, and tken by wkom it was broken. (1) But, in order to a clear and distinct resolution to this, I must first premise one or two thingsmostnecessary to be known; and which I shall lay as the basis and foundation of my_ ensuing discourse. [1] The first is this : that Adam may be considered under a Two fold capacity : As a Natural Eoot.^As a Federal Head. In the former respect we were in him as in our original : in the latter, as in our representative. , 1st. There is no difficulty at all in- concei-ving of Adam as our Natural Boot ; for that is only in regard of the traduction of the _ same nature to all his posterity. 168 THE DOCTEINE OF As all parents are the natural root of their posterity, so Adam was of all mankind, delivering his nature to his children, which hath since been handed down along from one generation to another, even unto us. 2dly. But all the difficulty lies in opening how Adam was our Federal Head, and what it signifies to be so. A federal head is a common representative or public person ; a person,- as it were dilated into rnany ; or many persons contracted into one, appointed to stand in the stead of others : so that what he doth, as acting in that public capacity, is as valid in law to all intents and purposes, as if those, whom he represents, had in their own persons done iti This is a federal head, surety, or representative. Now such a representative is supposed to have a power to ®blige those, for whom he appears, to any agreement or compact whatso ever, as though they themselves had personalfy entered into- it. And this power, that one man hath to oblige and bind another, may arise t"wo ways. From a voluntary Delegation. From a na tural, or at least a legal or acquired Eight, that the one hath over the other. (1st) A Eepresentative by Delegation is one, to whom those, whom he represents, have, by a free and joint consent, givite up their own power, and invested him in it. As, to use a known instance in the choice of a parliament, the people give away their power to those few select men whom they send ; each shire to its knight, and each corporation to its burgess : so that whatsoever these few do is, in law, not only the act of those men, but of all the people in the nation : what laws or taxes soever they impose on those whom they represent, are not only from^hem ; but, in a law sense, the people lay them upon themselves. But Adam was not thus the federal head or representative of mankind ; , because, ha-ving not as then received our being, we could not by a free consent choose him to transact "with God for us. (2dly) Therefore, there is in some a power to oblige others, aris ing merely from the flight that the one hath over the other. "And this right is twofold : either natural, upon the account of natural production ; or else legal and acquired, upon the account of purchase and redemption. For both he, that begets, and he, that purchases and redeems another, hath a ri||^t over ^im ; and, by that, may become his federal head, and bind- him to all just con ditions ; disposing of his person and concerns, as he thinks fit and expedient. Accordingly, the whole race of mankind never had but two federal heads or general representatives ; and they were the First and the Second Adam. The- power, that Christ, the Second THE TWO COVENANTS. 169 Adam, had to represent those, for whom h'e undertook, was founded upon a legal and acquired right over them ; as being their Ee deemer, who*had bought them to himself out of the hands of just ice, and therefore might dispose of them as he pleased. But the power, that the First Adam had to be our representative, arose from a natural right ; as being the common parent of all mankind, in whose loins we all lay, and from whoin we derived our beings ; and, upon that account, he might justly oblige us who owe our selves to him, as well as himself, to what terms soever God should propound, and he. accept. And the reason why we say, that Adam only was our representative or federal head, and not our other in termediate pai^nts from whom we spring as well as froin him, ia not, because other parents have not the same power to covenant for and obli*ge their children as_he had ; for still they have as much natural right over ^ose that descend from them ; but, because they are not so appointed and constituted by God. Should God make a distinct and different covenant with them, they would have as much power to bind theif posterity to the terms of it, as Adam had to bind all mankind to the Covenant of Works. _ That is the first thing premised. [2] Because Adam was thus our federal head, we are not to be considered as distinct from him ; but, as one aud the same person with him, entering into covenant with God. As the parliament is to be considered as the same with the whole body of the people, in all things wherein they do represent them ; so Adam and all mankind are to be considered as one and the same person, in all tbings wherein he represents us. Now our being thus one with Adam doth not denote any real physical unity or oneness : but it must be understood in sensu forensi, in " a judicial law sense." And this oneness with him in a- law sense (which is a term frequently used, and therefore it might help us to have it ex pounded) signifies nothing else but that there is a real foundation laid for the law justly to reward or punish us, upon Adam's obe dience or disobedience, as if we were one and the same person with him ; which foundation is the right he hath over us, to oblige us to covenant-conditions. (2) These things thus premised, which are of great moment in the Doctrine of the Covenants, [1] Take these Two particulars : 1st. That the Covenant of Works was not made with Adam, con sidered in his private and personal capacity ; but as a public per son and a federal head : and, therefore, it was made with us as well as "with him ; yea, with us in him. 170 THE DOCTEINE OF He was not a single person, but a whole world "wrapt and folded up together in one : so that all, who bave since sprung from him, are, in respect of the covenant, but one Adam unravelled and drawn out at length. What the Apostle -saith of Levi, Heb. vii. 9, 10; Levi...\.payed tithes in Abraham: For ke was yet in tke hins of his fa ther, wken MelcMsedec met him ; I may say in this case : we afl en tered into covenant at the very beginning of the world ; for we were then in the loins of our father Adam, when that covenant was made. So that, when we consider either Ad9,m or ourselves with relation to this covenant, we must so mould our apprehensions, as if all we were Adam, and Adam all of us : for, though we then lay so deep hid in our causes and the small principles of our bemgs, yet the covenant took hold of us ; and bound us, either to the obe dience which Adam promised both for himseK and us, or to the penalty which he exposed both himself, and us unto. Yet, still, our covenanting in Adam must be understood in a law sense : for it is utterly impossible, that we should personally and actually en ter into covenant before we were : but the meaning is only this, that the covenant, which God made with Adam, doth as lawfully and strongly bind us to obedience, and in case of failure to punish ment, as it did him ; because God made this covenant with him, considered not personally but representatively, he having a power to indent for his posterity, from Uhe natu;ral right he had over them as their common parent. And yet, possibly, it may be long enough disputed, without hopes of a certain resolution, whether, when God made this covenant with Adam, he then knew himself to be a pub lic person, and to stand as the represeiitative of all mankind. Prob able it is, that, this affair being of so vast and general concernment, some such apprehensions might be impressed upon him by God, either through natural instinct or divine revelation : and, if so, the more inexcusable was his fault, that, knowing himself intrusted with no less a stock than the happiness of all his race, he should so wilfully break, and thereby ruin both himself and them. • 2dly. In like manner, Adam brake this covenant, not only as considered personally, but as he was a common representative and a public person ; and, therefore, not only he, but we, by eating of the forbidden fruit, sinned 'and fell. We are not to look upon Adam as alone in the transgression; but we ourselves were as deep in it as he : he, indeed, by personal consent to ' the temptation, without which neither he nor we had sinned ; but we, by a covenant or federal obligation in him, our surety and representative. Every one will readily confess, that he THE TWO COVENANTS. 171 hath been and still is a transgressor of the Covenant of Works ; that his obedience falls infinitely short of the holiness and perfec tion of the Law : but, that he should transgress this covenant so many thousand years before he was born, even in the infancy of the world, that his hand should be lifted up against God in that primitive rebellion ; this some deny, few understand, and fewer la ment. Yet what saith the Apostle, Eom. v. ver. 12, 18, 19 ? In the 12th verse By one man sin entered into ihe world, and deatk by sin; and so deatk passed upon all men, «$' a tucwte; ii^aptoi-, for tkat all kave sinned, saith our translation ; in wkom all kave sinned, saith the margin : both are right ; for indeed both carry but the same sense : So v. 18 ; By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation: and, v. 19 ; By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. But how could many.be made sinners by the sin of one ? It is not by Imitation only, as the Pelagians held, maintain ing that Adam's sin had no more influence upon us, than the power that a bad example hath to sway that will to evil that is not neces sarily confirmed in good : but this cannot be, because death is here said to reign over those, who never sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, v. 14, that is, over infants, for they also die in wbom the example of Adam could never work any propension to disobedience : and, certainly, were there nothing else in Adam's sin to make men sinners, but only the setting of an ill example be fore- them, I can see no reason why the example of his penitence and after- obedience should not as effectually excite us to virtue, as that of his disobedience to sin : especially, methinks, the examples of the miseries and wretche(iness, that sin hath brought both upon Adam and upon his posterity, might much more deter them, than the examples of vice, if there were no corruption in their nature, allure them. It is not therefore by example only, that mankind are made sinners through the disobedience of one ; but we became sinners by his Disobedience, because in him we ourselves sinned and disobeyed ; not, indeed, actually, for so we were not in him ; but forensically and in a law sense, he being our representative and federal head, and God looking upon what he did as equivalent to the personal deed of all mankind : which imputation was built up on most just and righteous grounds, because Adam, being our first parent, had a natural right over us, and might bind all his pos- - terity to the terms of any co"s:enant, that God should be pleased to make with him, and which might have been so much to their advantage. And thus I hope these two things are sufficiently cleared, which 172 THE DOCTEINE OF are of great use and necessity to our right understanding the Doc trine of the Covenants ; with whom the Covenant of Works was made, and by whom it was broken. That many of these things are abstruse and difficult, I cannot deny ; but, that any of them are vain and frivolous, I do. It is a most ignorant and weak excuse of "many, who perhaps may be well- meaning people, that these things are too high speculations for them to search into ; that their eternal salvation may be secured well enough, thougb they know not such obscure points as these are, so long as they conscientiously practise those obvious truths and ex press duties which they know-. I will not, I dare not deny, but men may-be safe in not knowing what they cannot attain. But, if they pretend this for a shelter of slothful and affected ignorance, let them consider, that many of the great and precious truths of the Gospel are delivered obscurely ; not to excuse us from, but on pur pose to engage us a diligent search and study of them. ' If these things were not expedient to be known, why should the Holy Scripture so abound with them ? The Epistles of ^t. Paul are full of these profound mysteries, which he wrote to the Churches in common, and every member of them : these were read in public assemblies ; and it concerned all the people to hearken to them, and consider of them : and, if the pressing ofily of practical duties of Christianity had been sufficient, most part of the Apostle's writings had been needless and superfluous. It is true, we cannot deter mine what is the rhinimum quod sic, that is consistent with salva tion ; what is " the least degree," either of grace or knowledge, that may just serve to bring a man to heaven : but this we may say, that it is a very ill sign, to drive the bargain so hard "with God; to desire to be saved, at the least charges and. expenses possible. This I "vrill boldly say, that he, who despiseth a more high and elevated knowledge ofthe mysteries of Christianity, where the means to attain it are offered, though others who are destitute of those means may arrive at heaven and happiness, yet 1 must needs doubt whether ever he shall. To despise evangelical truths, which do not so imme diately tend to practice, is no other than to impute trivialness to the infinite wisdom of God, who hath revealed them, and so often and largely insisted on them ; and to withdraw the chiefest part of ourselves, whereby we most of all show ourselves to be men, from his obedience, even our understandings. Certainly, we serve God as well by endeavouring to know his truth, as by endeavouring to obey his commands ; and he, who resolves to obey God bidding do this, but not when he bids him understand this, serves him more like an engine, than like a man. THE TWO COVENANTS. 173 [2] From this, that hath been spoken, we may borrow some light to discover to us the manner how we are all become partakers of Original Sin, through the violation ofthe first Covenant of Works. Many are the disputes and great the difficulties about this matter. Very much is said and written upon this subject, to very little pur pose ; unless it be to show us, how miserable the blindness and ignorance of human nature is, which this sin hath brought upon us. It would be a labour, as fruitless as endless, to reckon up to you the great variety of opinions herein. No one point of divinity hath been more discussed and controverted than -this ; and, yet, if I may be allowed so to judge, all, that, ever I have yet seen, hath either been false in the hypothesis, or failed in the accommodation. Some deny the imputation of guilt, and some the corruption of nature ; and, because they cannot comprehend the way and manner of its conveyance, destroy original sin itself Others, that grant both, yet puzzle themselves and their readers with strange assertions : some holding that the soul is propagated from the parents even as the body is, and therefore no wonder that a defiled soul should beget another such : others, who hold the souls of men to be im mediately created by God, affirm that it contracts pollution by being infused into a polluted body. But, yet, the absurdities, that will" follow upon all these ways are so many, so very gross and palpable, and such hypotheses, instead of satisfying, must needs only disquiet and torment an inquisitive mind. And yet, if, after all these differences and disputes, the certainty of the truth in this matter could be evidenced, it would more than recompense the pains of all, and the errors of many who have attempted it : for, though it be certain that niceties in religion are not necesaties ; yet, if ever difficulty and usefulness were conjoined tof ether in any one point, it is in this of Original Sin. I intend not to handle the question at large ; but only briefly speak to it, as a deduction and corollary frojn this Doctrine of the Covenants. To enter into it, I must first premise a Distinction or two con cerning Original Sin; and then lay down some Positions, from which it may be cleared to you, that the true gound of our partaking of it is only the Covenant of Works. 1st. Original Sin therefore is twofold. The Imputation of Guilt. The Inhension of Corruption. (1st) There is an Imputation of Guilt. , To impute guilt, is, to reckon a person a transgressor of the Law ; and therefore liable to the punishment threatened, whether he hath in his own person transgressed the Law or not. And here lies a 174 THE DOCTEINE OF great part of the difficulty, how we can become guilty of another man's transgression, which we never acted in nor consented unto, and which was committed some thousands of years before we were born : and yet we shall be punished for it ; and that, as justly, as if we had in our own persons committed it. (2dly) Besides this imputation of guilt, there is in original sin an Inherent Corruption of Nature. The former is by the Schools called peccatum originans ; and this peccatum originatum : barbarously indeed, but yet significantly. . Inherent Corruption of Nature is commonly made to consist of two parts. [1st] The loss and privation of the image of God : the clarity of our understandings, the obedience of our wills, the order of our affections, the perfect harmony of the whole man in the subjection of his inferior faculties to his superior and all unto God. being utterly lost and renounced ; so that now we are become both un able and averse to every thing that is good. [2dly] Besides this, it is commonly affirmed, that there is some positive malignant quality in original sin, viz., a violent propension and strong bent of the whole man unto what is evil and sinful. The former is called the Privative, this latter the Positive part of Original Sin. Yet I think, if it be well weighed, as- there may be insuperable difficulties in admitting such a positive corruption in our frame and composition, so there is not any necessity to grant it. We need not, I say, superadd any positive corruption in original sin, to the privation of original righteousness : for a mere privation of rectitude in an active subject, will sufficiently solve all those phsenomena for which a positive corrujition is pleaded. We shall find man's na ture wicked enough by his fall, though there were no e"vil princi ples . infused into him (for from whence should they come ?) but only holiness and righteousness taken from him : for, the soul being a busy creature, act it must and will : without grace and the image of God adorning and assisting it, it cannot act regularly, nor hohly : its nature makes it active : the loss of God's image, which alone can ra^se the soul to act spiritually, makes all its actions defective: and this alone is sufficient to make all its actions corrupt and sinful, without admitting any positive corruption. There needs no more to make a, m.nn halt, that must walk ; but to lame him : and, certainly, he, that doth lame him, doth it, not by infusing into him any habit or principle of lameness, but only by destroying that strength and power which before he had. So stands the case here! we are all lamed by the fall we^ took in Adam: our natures are THE TWO COVENANTS. 175 despoiled of their primitive integrity and perfection, so that there needs not any positive vicious habit implanted in our original, to make our actions vicious and irregular ; but, it is sufficient, that we have lost those holy habits and principles of righteousness and knowledge, which we were at first endowed with, and which alone, could direct eyery action in ordine ad Deum, as the Schools speak; '' with a reference to God," and his honour and glory. Thus then you see. Original Sin may be either the Guilt of the First Transgression imputed to us, or the Corruption of Nature inherent in us : to which corruption nothing more is rgquired, than the loss of God's image in an ac};ive subject. 2dly. It remains now to open, how this Imputation* lies upon us, and this Corruption cleaves unto us, merely upon the account of the Covenant of Works ; whereby we may clearly understand how it is, that we become Partakers of Original Sin. This I shall endeavour to do as to both branches. (1st) As to the Imputation of Adam's' Sin to us, take these Two particulars ; which will explain how Original Sin, as to the Guilt of it, lies upon us. [1st] If Adam had not been our federal head, if the covenant had not been made with us in him but had respected him alone : yet his sin might have been justly so far imputed to us, as to sub ject us to Temporal Evils and Punishments ; because of that rela tion which we bear unto him as our Natural Head, and the com mon root from whence we all sprang. And the reason of this is, because God might justly have pun ished the transgression of Adam, in all his concerns, and in what soever was dear unto him ; as his posterity would have beeni So that, to us, these evils would bave been only a simphx cruciatus, " only painful,'' because inflicted without any respect to our own sin ; but, to Adam, they had been penal, and properly punishments. This I think may be made good by many places of Scripture, where God is set forth as punishing some for the sins of others, who WQje not their federal heads : Exod. xx. 5 ; Visiting tke iniquities of the faikers upon tke children. Isa. xiv. 20, 21. The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned. Prepare slaughter for kis ckildren,for the iniquity of their faikers : and so, for the sin of David, seventy thousand of his subjects are slain : and yet those fathers were not tbe representatives of their children, neither was David of his sub jects. But God might justly thus punish them in their relations : for a father is punished, in the evils that befal his children ; and a king, in tftiose that befal his subjects : and, th9ugh it be true that 176 THE DOCTEINE OF they have evil enough of their own, to deserve these, yea and greater plagues ; yet, if they should be supposed to be innocent and without sin, God might justly thus afflict them, not indeed as pun ishing them, but those that sinned, they being made only the pas- ' sive conveyers of those punishments to them. I remember Plutarch gave this reason, in his treatise " Of those who are Late Punished," why it may be just to revenge the fathers' offences upon the chil dren: n d E V S c iv ov, saith he, sS' atOTtov av e X £ i>v u V ovtss c X'">t, ¦? a ex £1 vuv " It is nothing strange nor absurd, that, since they belong to them, they should suffer what belongs to them." So, then, though we had never sinned in Adam, nor the covenant made with him hafl ever reached us ; yet God might justly have brought temporal evils upon us, because of the relation we bear unto him, as our natural head, and as we are parts of him. [2dly] That Adam's sin is imputed unto us, so far as thereby to make us liable to Eternal Death and Damnation, results not from his being our natural, but our Federal Head. Adam's sin is imputed to our condemnation, only because we 'covenanted in him, and not merely because we descended from him. It is an everlasting truth, Ezek. xviii. 20 ; Tke soul, tkat sinneth, it shall die : and, Tke son skall not hear tke iniquity of his Fatker, that is, the punishment of his father's iniquity. So, Gal. vi. 5 ; Every man shall bear kis own burden. These expressions cannot be meant^ of temporal sufferings ; for I have already showed, that God may and doth inflict them upon children, for the parents' sins : but they are meant of future punishments and eternal death ; that none shall eternally perish for his father's crimes, but only for his o-wn, " But," you will say, " how then comes it to pass, that we are liable to eternal death through the sin of another, if so be tke son shall not bear tke iniquity of his fatker, and only the soul, tkat sinneth,. shall die ?" I answer : This is still true, because we are the souls that sin ned ; we, in Adam, who then rose up our representative, in whom we covenanted with God, and in whom we brake that covenant: and therefore God inflicts death eternal upon his posterity, not as a punishment for his sin, but for their own ; for his sin was theirs, though not 'committed personally by them, yet legally and judioi- > ally charged.-upon them. The grounds of this I have before men tioned, and tnerefore shall spare to enlarge upon it here : only take the sum and abstract of it, in brief, thus : God was, at first, willing of free grace to enter into covenant with Adam ; that, if he would obey, he should live ; if he would disobey, he should die the. death; but, lest this grace should be too narroAV and stinted, if it had been THE TWO COVENANTS. 177 limited to Adam's own person only, therefore God extends it to all mankind, and bids Adam stand forth as the representative and surety of all his posterity, and indent for them as well as for himself; which he might justly ^o, being the common parent of mankind, and there fore having a natural right to dispose of them, especially when in all appearance and probability it would have proved so incompar ably to their advantage : he therefore disobeying, the death threat ened is as much due to us, as to him ; it being, in law, not only his act, but ours. And this is plainly the manner how we, who live so many thousand years after, are made liable to death by the first transgression. And, therefore, Alvarez de Auxil. d. 44. n. 5, saith well, "Proprie hquendo omnes filii Adse peccaverunt originaliter in eo instanti, in quo Adam peccavit actualiter : that is. All the children of Adam are not only then guilty of original sin when they are first conceived or born, but " properly they sinned originally in the same instant, in which Adam sinned actually " by eating the for bidden fruit ; because they were then in Adam as in their represen tative, and upon that account his transgression was legally theirs. And thus, I hope, I have made it clear, that, as for that part of Original Sin which consists in the Imputation of the guilt of the First Transgression, it lies upon us merely from the Covenant of Works, into which we entered with God in Adam. (2dly) -There is another branch of Original Sin, which consists in the Corruption of our Natures, through the Loss of the Image of God. This also had never seized on us, but by the Covenant of Works. Many perplexed disputes there are, how we became so totally depraved, and whence we derived that corruption. I shall, as clearly as I can; lay open to you the true and genuine grounds of it ; which, in general, I affirm to be the violation of the Covenant of Works. To make this evident, consider these Three particulars. [1st] It must again be remembered, that the loss of God's image, that is, of all that grace and holiness whertwith our natures were primitively endowed, is the true and only ground of all original corruption and depravation. Men's natures are not now become sinful, by putting anything into them -to defile them; but by taking something from them, which should have preserved them holy. We have nothing more in us by nature, than Adam had in innocency : and, if it be said we have corruption in us by nature, which he had not, that is not to have more, but less. He had the free power of obedience: he had Vol. ii.— 12 178' THE, DOCTEINE OF the perfect image of his Maker, in all the divine qualities of knowl edge and holiness, which we have not, and are therefore said to be corrupt ; not as though there were in our original any real positive qualities wbich were not in Adam, but because he had those holy qualities which were not in us. And, therefore, when we say that Adam communicated to his posterity a corrupted nature, it must not be understood as if that nature which we receive were infected with any vicious inclinations or habits, which should sway and determine ourwills unto evil ; but the meaning is, that Adam com municated to us a nature, which hath a power to incline and act variously;: but, withal, he did not communicate to us the image of God, nor the power of obedience, which should make all its inclina tions and actions holy and regular ; and, therefore, he communica ted a nature corrupted, because it was deprived of that grace which should have kept it from sin. That is the First particular. [2dly] The loss of this image of God was part of that death threatened in the Covenant of Works ; In tke day tkat thou eatest tkereof tkou skalt surely die; that is, thou shalt die a spiritual death, as well as a temporal and eternal death. And this spiritual death was the very despoiling him of the im age of God, and the habits and principles of holiness : so that cor ruption of nature seized upon Adam through the curse of the cove nant ; God taking from him his image, and thereby executing upon him this spiritual death literally, even in the very day wherein he transgressed. [3dly] Adam being our federal head, and we disobeying in him, God doth justly deprivcus of this image; that thereby also he might execute upon us the spiritual death threatened in the Covenant of Works, which covenant we brake in our representative. And this I take to be the true account of the corruption of our na- nature. It is a curse threatened in the covenant, to those, that shall disobey ; and inflicted upon us, because we were those, that did disobey, in Adam our federal head. We have our beings delivered down to us : but that grace, which should have enabled us to act without sin, is lost, because the Covenant of Works threatened' it should be lost upon the first transgreg'sion. And, indeed, this loss of God's image was the only death, that was immediately upon the Fall inflicted : God did not presently bring either temporal or eter nal death upon^ sinful Adam ; but he instantly brought spiritual death upon him, as judging him, who had a will to disobey, un worthy any longer to enjoy a power to obey, nor would he have his image profaned by being worn by a rebel and a malefactor. THE TWO COVENANTS. 179 And th-ps I have stated and answered that great and much con troverted question ; and think it to be the clear, yea indeed the only satisfactory way to resolve how we are become originally sin ners, both by the Imputation of Guilt, and Corruption of Nature. [3] And, yet, to add some more light and confirmation to this. Two particulars more are considerable. 1st. Most probable it is, that, though Adam had sinned, yet by that one act pf disobedience he would not utterly have lost the im age of God, had it not been taken away from him according to the terms of the Covenant of Works. It was rather forfeited by law, than destroyed by the contrariety of sin. So that, it is only upon the account of the covenant, that both his nature and the nature of his posterity were corrupted by that first transgression. For.it is very hard to conceive how Adam's sin, which was but one transient act, should formally eat out and "de stroy the innate habit of grace in him ; and therefore it did it, meri toriously and federally. All grace depends nefcessarily upon the influence of the Spirit of God, both to preserve and to'actuate it ; and sin provoked God to withdraw that influence, according as he had threatened to do : and, hence it came to pass, that Adam's grace decayed and perished, at once ; and left him nothing but mere na ture, despoiled of those divine habits and principles, with which it was before endowed. 2dly. Though Adam had lost God's image himself, yet, if he had not been our federal head and representative, I can see no reason but that we should have been created with the perfection of that image upon us, notwithstanding his sin and transgression. And, therefore, it is not merely our being born of sinful Adam nor of sinful parents, that must be assigned, as the true and princi pal cause, why our natures are corrupted ; but because we are born of that sinful Adam, who vvas our federal head, in whom we cove- nanteS, and in whom ourselves sinned and transgressed. Not our birth from him, but our sinning in him, derives corruption upon us. Though he had corrupted himself, yet, if he had -not been a public person, his oorruption had not infected our nature ; any more than the sins of intermediate parents do the natures of those, who descend from them. Nor doth Job contradict this, when he asks, chap. xiv. ver. 4 ; Wko can bring a chan tking out of an un clean ? for there he shows the impossibility of it, as the case now stands ; not, how it might and would have beien, if the whole mass had not been federally corrupted in Adam. And, he, who seriously considers the most pure and immaculate conception of 180 THE DOCTEINE OF our Blessed Saviour, will be convinced of the truth of this : for, though he descended from Adam as a natural root, yet he descen ded not from him as a federal head ; the Covenant of Works reach ing only unto those, who were to be his ordinary and common off spring : and, therefore, though he partook of his nature ; yet he did not partake of his guilt and corruption. And'thus I have, as I could, stated this much disputed and very difficult point of our partaking of Original Sin, both as to the Im putation ofthe Guilt of it, and the Corruption of our Nature by it; and have resolved all into the Covenant of Works, into which we entered with God, in our fir^t father and common representative. The Guilt of the primitive transgression lies upon us, because we both covenanted, and brake that Covenant in him ; so that his sin is legally become ours : the corruption of Nature, through the Loss of God's Image, cleaveth unto us, because this was part of the pun ishment contained in the death threatened against those, thatshould violate and break that Covenant. ' 3. Here then let us, vdili a silent awe upon our souk, tremble atthe hidden deptks of God's justice. It is the hardest task in the world, to bring carnal reason to sub mit to and approve of the equitableness of God's proceedings against us for the sin of Adam. "Is there any shadow of reason, that I should be condemned for the sin of another, which I never alsetted, never consented to, never knew of? a sin, which was committed so many, hundreds of ages before ever I was born ? If God be resolved I shall perish, why dotl; he thus seem to circumvent me ? why doth he use such am bages and captious circumstances of indicting me for Adam's sin, which I never entered into ? Were it not far more plain dealing, more direct proceeding, to cast me into hell, and to justify it by the mere arbitrariness of his will, and the irresistibleness of his power? Who can oppose the one, or prevail against the other? But to implead me before justice, and to urge equity in condemn ing me by a law made on purpose to ensnare me, seems only the contrivance of an almighty cruelty ; wbich yet might be safe enough in its own force, without any s'uch pretexts and artifices." ' Let every sueh" blasphemous mouith be stopped, and all flesh be come guilty before the Lord. Tell me, thou, who thus disputest against God'^s equity, and complainest of his severity in this par ticular, tell me, wouldst thou have been content, or thought thy self well dealt with, to have been left out of the Covenant of Works, and by name excepted, if, Adam had contimied in his THE TWO COVENANTS.. 181 integrity? and, when all others of mankind for whom he en gaged had been crowned -with life and happiness, that thou alone shouldst have no share in their blessedness, no title to it, no plea for it, it being due only upon a covenant -stipulation? Wouldst not thou have thought that God had dealt very hardly -with thee, to omit, to except thee only, for want of thy express consent ? so that, though thou hadst obeyed, yet life should not have been due to thee, nor couldst thou have had any plea for it. For I have heretofore showed you, that, if God had not entered in to this Covenant with Adam, though he had observed all that God commanded him, yet he could not challenge life and happiness as a debt due to his obedience. And, indeed, was God severe in threatening death to the transgressors of his Law, when yet he promised life to those who observed it, which life he was not bound to bestow ; and deposited this in the hands of one, who might as easily have kept as lost it, and whose interest did infinitely oblige him to a punctual observance ? What more equitable, what more reasonable terms could be offered than these, or more favourable to all mankind? Was this severity ? Was this a design to en trap or ensnare us ? Wouldst not thou thyself, hadst thou then lived, have consented to this transaction; and have infinitely blessed God, for the mercy of the condescension in making such a covenant, whereby, if man should prove any other than a vast gainer by it, it must be through the mere ' fault of his own will ? Again, to -vindicate the righteousness of God in invol"ving us in the guilt of the First Adam, consider. Do you not think it is just with God, to save your souls from everlasting condemnation, through the merits of the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, iiiiputed un to you ? and shall it not then be as just "with God, to account you liable and obnoxious to it, through the sin of the First Adam, im puted to you ? if the one be just because of the covenant made be tween God the Father and our Blessed Saviour, this likewise is just because of the covenant made between Adam and God : you gave no more consent to that, than to this ; and Adam had as much power to appear and undertake for you upon the account of pro duction, as Christ had'upon the account of redemption : only, such is the partiality of our self-love, that we are ready to think that God is only then just, when he is merciful ; and we reckon his deal ings with us equal, not by the strict measures of justice, but by our own successes, interests, and advantages. Let this, therefore, be an apology for God, to vindicate his pro ceedings w^h us upon the account of Adam's transgression. I had 132 THE DOCTEINE OF not so largely insisted on it, but that there are secret heart-risings in the very best, against the righteousness of God, in this particu lar. Flesh and blood can hardly brook it ; and, when it hath noth ing left to reply, yet still it will be murmuring and rebelling against this truth. When the mouth of carnal reason is stopped, yet then it will vent itself in carnal repinings. But it becomes us to lay our hand upon this mouth also, and to give God the glory of his just ice ; acknowledging it is most righteous, that we should be actually and personally wretched, who were federally disobedient and re bellious. 4. Many nice questions migkt be kere propounded; but because they are so, I shall only propound them. As : if Adam had continued in innocence for some certain time, whether God would have so confirmed him in grace as he hath done the holy angels, that he should infallibly have persevered in his original state. Whether, though Adam had stood, his posterity anight have sinned and fallen. Whether, upon their fall, their pos terity had been guilty of original sin. Whether, if Adam had stood some years in innocence, and afterwards had sinned, his children born before his fall had been involved in it. Whether, if Eve on ly had transgressed, and not Adam by her persuasion, mankind had thereby been originally sinful. But these things, being rather curious tban necessary speculations, which are not revealed to us in the Scriptures, I look upon> it, as an unprofitable, so a bold and rash undertaking, positively to determine what might have been in such cases ; and think it safest and most satisfactory, to acqui esce in sober and modest enquiries. 5. I shall, therefore, add no more for the Doctrinal part of this Covenant of Works, but shall close it up with some Practical Ap plication. (1) Is it the tenor of the Covenant of Works, that the man, which doth those things that the Law requires, he only shall live by them? This then may be for conviction to all the world. It is a doctrine, that will strike through all self-justiciaries, that trust to their own works and righteousness to save them. Let the Scripture tell them never so often, that there is none righteous, no not one ; that all have sinned and are fallen short of the glory of God : let God offer Christ unto 'them ; Christ ofi'er himself, his righteousness, his sufferings, his obedience, and a life ready pur chased to their hands : yet still they reti^eat.; and appeal from -him, to the works and righteousness of the Law, for Justiflc,ation. Well, then, to the Law they shall go. And, by Thisee Demon- THE TWO COVENANTS. 183 strations, I shall convince men, that it is utterly impossible for them to be justified by the Law, or according to the terms of a Covenant of Works. [1] It is utterly impossible for them to act answerably to the ex act strictness and holiness of the Law ; and, if they fail in the least jot, read but that terrible sentence pronounced against them. Gal. iii. 10. Cursed is every one, tkat continueth not in all tkings, wkick are written in tke hook of the Law, to do them. This is the tenor ofthe Law. And dare you now maintain your plea, and bring it to an issue with God? What, can you produce, that may justify you accord-" ing to this sentence ? Perhaps, among many thousand works of Darkness and ofthe De"vil, may stand up a few shattered prayers, a few faint wishes, a few pious resolutions ; but the prayers heartless, the wishes ineffectual, and the resolutions abortive. Is this the ^ righteousness of the Law, which Moses describes ? Is heaven grown so< cheap, as to be set to sale for this ? If you depend upon your works for life, bring forth an angelical perfection. Can you tell God, that you never had a thought in you, that stepped awry ? not an imagination, tainted with any the least vanity, impertinency, frivolousness, not to say uncleanness, malice, blasphemy, and athe ism ? Can you say, that you never uttered a word that so much as lisped contrary to the Law ? that you nevet did an action, which innocence itself might not own ? If not, as certainly there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, you can expect nothing but con demnation according to the sentence of the Law, and the tenor of the Covenant of Works, whicli thunders forth the curse against every transgressor. [2] It is alike utterly impossible for you to make any satisfac tion to justice for the violation ofthe Law. Thy own conscience, that tells thee thou hast sinned, summons thee before the great and righteous Judge, who demands full satis faction for the violation of his laws, and thy offences committed against him. Suffering cannot satisfy, unless it be in thy eternal damnation : and all, that thou canst, do, will not satisfy ; for all, that thou canst do, is but thy duty however. And yet, without a full personal satisfaction, thou canst expect no salvation, according to the Covenant of Works. Yet, farther, * [3] Could you perfectly obey, and in your ow^ persons meri toriously suffer, yet still there would be a flaw in your title ; for still there would be original sin, which would keep you from obtain ing a legal rigltteousness. It is true, the Law saith. Do tMs, and live; but to whom doth it 184 THE DOCTEINB OF speak ? not to fallen, but to innocent, upright man. It is not only a Do tkis can save you ; but the Law requires a " Be this," too. Now can you pluck down the old building, and cast out all thft ruins and rubbish ? Can you, in the very casting and moulding of your beings, instamp upon them the image of God's purity and holi ness ? If these impossibilites maybe achieved, then Justification by a covenant of Works were not a thing altogether desperate. But, whilst we have original corruption, which will cause defects in oui obedience ; whilst we have defects in our obedience, which will ex pose us to divine justice ; whilst we are utterly unable to satisfy that justice ; so long we may conclude it altogether impossible to be justified by a Covenant of Works. Instead of -finding life by it, we shall meet with nothing but death and the- curse. (2) This, therefore, might endear to us the unspeakable love of God, in the inestimable gift of his Son Jesus Christ; by whom both this Covenant is fulfilled, and a better ratified for us. Either obliga tion of the Law was too much for us : we could neither obey, nor suffer : but he hath performed both ; fulfilling the precept, and con quering the penalty ; and both, by a free aiid gracious imputation, are reckoned to our Justification, and the obtaining of eternal life. '(3) This declares the dSsperate and remediless estate of those who, by unbelief, refuse Jesus Christ, and the redemption he hath purchased : for they are still under the Covenant of Works ; and shall have sentence pass upon them, according to the tenor of that covenant. '' There are but two covenants between God and man. The one saith. Do tkis and live : the other saith. Believe, and live. Men are left to their own choice, to which they will apply. If they refuse the conditions of the latter, they-must perform the conditions ofthe former, or else perish eternally. Now every unbeliever doth actu- tally thrust Christ from him ; and reject that great salvation which he bath purchased: they will not have him to be their Lord and Saviour : and therefore God will certainly judge every such wretch, according to the strictest terms of the Covenant of Works; and then woe, everlasting woe unto him. For every the least trans gression of the least tittle of the Law will certainly, as God's threat enings are true, be punished with eternal death. And how many deaths and hells then must be put together, and crowded into one, to make up a just and fearful reward for him, who, scorning the way of salvation by believing, shall put himself upon bis trial by the Covenant of Works ! Whither will such an on^ fly ? what will be his refuge ? Plead his innocence, he cannot : conscience will take THE TWO COVENANTS. 185 him by the throat, and tell hirp. loudly he lies. Plead the righte ousness and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, he, cannot: he scorned it, he rejected it ; and, therefore, cannot expect it should ever appear « for him, or avail him. There is no hope, no remedy for such a wretch ; but, being thus cast and condemned by Law, he must for ever lie under the revenges of that wrath, which it is impossible for him either to bear or to evade. And, thus much, concerning the Covenant of Works. II. Let us no-w" proceed to consider and treat of the COVENANT OF GEACE : the sum and tenor of which is delivered to us from the 6th to the 10th verse. This Covenant of Grace is propounded to us, upon a supposed impossibility of obtaining Eighteousness and Justification accor ding to the terms of the Covenant of Works. And, lest it might seem as impossible to be justified by this Cove nant, the Apostle removes the two great objections, that lie in the way. For, it may be argued, That the abode and residence of Christ, the Son of God, who is to work out this righteousness for us, is in the highest heavens ; and how then shall he be brought down to earth, to fulfil the Law in our stead ? ¦To this the Apostle answers : Say not in tkine keart, Wko skall ascend into keaven ? that is, to bring Christ down from above. That care is already taken ; and God, the Eternal Son, hath left those glorious mansions, to shroud and eclipse himself in our vile flesh. He was born of a woman, and made subject to the Law, and hath wrought out all righteousness for us ; that, through his obedience sinners might be pardoned and justified. But then, again, it might be objected. That whosoever will ap pear to be our Surety, must not only yield perfect obedience to the Law of God, but pay down his life to the justice of God for our offences : and, if Christ thus die for us, how can he then appear be fore God in our behalf, to plead our cause, to justify and acquit us ? We cannot be justified unless Christ die ; neither can we be justi fied by a dead Christ : and wlio is there, that can raise this cruci fied and murdered Saviour to life again, that we might obtain righteousness by him ? To this also the Apostle ' answers : Say not in tkine keart.,.. Who shall descend into the deep ? that is, into the grave, where bis body lay entombed ;. or into Hades, the place and receptacle of separate souls : or, if you will, into both^^ese depths ; into Hades, to bring 186 THE DOCTEINE OF back the soul of Christ to his body ; and into the grave, to raise his body with his soul, and to rescue him from the power of death and corruption. That work is already done. He hath, by his Al mighty Spirit an^ Godhead, broken asunder the bands of death, and the bars of the grave : it being impossible that he should be holden of it ; and that, ha-ving discharged tbe debt, be should any longer lie under arrest and confinement. And thus the Apostle, as I conceive, answers these two objec tions against the possibility of our being justified by Christ, accor ding to the terms of the Covenant of Grace, taken from the grand improbability both of his incarnation and resurrection : how, being God, he should descend from heaven, and become man ; and how, being man, he should ascend out of the grave, and become a fit Mediator between God and Men. And, therefore, both these being •done, though the righteousness of the Law be impossible, yet you need not despair of a righteousness : the matter of your Justification is already wrought out : Christ, by his incarnation, hath subjected himself to all obedience both of the precept and penalty of the Covenant of Works ; and, by his resurrection and intercessicm, will take care to secure the application of his merits and righteousness unto you. These two objections being thus reijaoved, the Apostle proceeds on, in the 8th and 9th verses, to give us the sum and tenor of the Covenant of Grace. Wkat saitk it ? The word is nigk tkee, even in iky moutk, and in.thy keart : (expressions borrowed from Moses concerning the delivery of his Law : Deut. xxx. 12, 14, which the Apostle applies Jiere to the Gospel of Christ) and tells us, that tke word of faith, wkich we preack, is, tkat, if tkou skalt confess witk tky mouth tke Lord Jesus, and shalt believe with tkine keart that God katk raised Mm from the dead, tkou skalt he salved. As if the Apostle should have said: " God requires no impossible thing for thy salvation. He doth not bid thee pluck Christ from heaven, and thrust him into a body. He doth not bid thee descend into the bowels of the earth, and there rescue Christ from the power of the grave. These are not -within the compass of thy ability ; nor doth God require for thy Justifica tion and Salvation anything, that is impossible to be'done. No : but tke word of Eighteousness whick we preack, that is, the manner of obtaining righteousness which we exhibit in the Gospel, is no other than what lieth in the heart and in tbe mouth. -Thou need- est not go up to heaven, to bring Christ down from thence ; nor down to the grave, to raise him frpm the dead : these things are THE TWO COVENANTS. 187 already done ; and thou needest go no farther than thy heart and thy mouth for salvation. God hat]i placed the conditions of it in them : that, if thou believest on Christ in thy heart, and if thou con- fessest him with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved." This I suppose is the clear scope and intent of the Apostle in these verses. Yet here we must take notice. First. That, though the Apostle seem here to make the believing that Christ is raised from the dead to be a true, saving, and justify ing faith ; yet it inust not be so understood, as if only a dogmatical belief of this proposition. That Christ is risen from the dead, were faith sufficient to justify us : but, as it is common in Holy Scrip ture, by mentioning one principal object of faith to mean the whole extent of it ; so, here, though only the resurrection of Christ be mentioned, yet all his merits and righteousness are intended, which, by virtue of his being raised from the dead, may by faith be effec tually applied unto the soul. So that, " If thou believest that Christ is raised from the dead," is no other, than "If thou believest on Christ, who is raised from the dead." And so the Apostle himself expounds it, v. 11 ; Wkosoever helievetk on Mm skall not he askamed. For saving faith is not only a mere assent to any proposition con cerning Christ, whether it be his deity, his incarnation, his death, his resurrection, or the like ; for, so^ tke devils believe and tremble, and many thousand wicked Christians do believe that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and all the other articles of their creed ; but yet, this speculative faith, being overborne by their impious and unholy practices, "will not at all avail to -their Justification : but, if thou so believest that Christ is risen from the dead, that this thy faith hath an effectual influence to r&ise thee from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, thou shalt be saved. Secondly. What the Apostle speaks here, of confessing Christ with our mouths, must not be restrained only to a verbal confession of him ; but it comprehends, likewise, our glorifying him by the whole course of our professed obedience and subjection to him. So that, in these two, is comprehended the whole sum of Chris tian Eeligion ; faith, and obedience ; the inward affections of the heart, and the outward actions of the life. In brief, all, that here the Apostle speaks, falls into this, " If thou wilt believe on the Iftrd Jesus Christ, and if thou wilt sincerely obey bim, thou shalt be saved :" and this he gives as the sum and tenor of the righteousness of faith, and the Covenant of Grace. i. That we may aright conceive of the Covenant of Grace from the very first ground and foundation of it, I shall LEAD TOU THEOUGH THESE FOLLOWING POSITIONS. 188 THE DOCTEINE OF 1. God ha"ving, in his eternal decree of permitting it, foreseen the fall of man, and thereby the breach and violation of the Covenant of Works, graciously resolved not to proceed against all mankind according to the demerits of their transgression, in the execution of that death upon them which the covenant threatened ; but to pro pound Another Covenant unto tkem upon Better Terms, which whoso ever would perform, should obtain life thereby. Purposing, like- "wise, by his grace and Spirit so effectually to work upon the hearts of some, that they should certainly perform the conditions of this Second Covenant, and thereby obtain everlasting life. God would bave some of all those creatures, whom he made capable of enjoying him, to be brought to that most blessed and happy fruition. All angels did not fall, but multitudes of them kept their first estate and glory : and, therefore, as some think, God never found out a means to reconcile those that fell. But all mankind at once sinned, and fell short of the glory of God; and, therefore, lest they should all perish, and a whole species of rational creatures, who were made fit to , behold and enjoy him in glory, should for ever be cut off from his presence and the beatific vision ; be resolves, that, as the fall of all was by ,the terms of one cove nant, so the restoring of some should be by and according to the terms of another. And, thus, in reference to this eternal purpose, the Apostle calls it eternal life, which was promised before the world began: Tit. i. 2. And also, 2 Tim. i. 9 ; he speaks of the purpose and grace of God, wkick was given us in Ckrist Jesus, before ihe world began. * Now in this design of entering into another covenant, besides the restoring of fallen man, God the Father intended the glorifying of himself and bis Son Jesus Christ. (1) He intended to glorify himself: his manifold Wisdom and unsearchable Counsel : in finding out a means, to reconcile justice and mercy, to punish the sin and yet to pardon the sinner : his Eighteousness ; in the remission of sins through the propitiation of Christ, Eom. iii. 25. God katk set hira fortk to be a propitiation, tkrougk faith in Ms bhod; to declare his righteousness for theremission of sins: and, likewise, his rich and abundant Grace; in giving his Son to die for rebels ; to make him a curse, that we might receive the blessing ; and to make him sin for us, tlt&t we might be m'ade the righteousness of God through him'. ' (2) By the Covenant of Grace the glory of Christ Jesus was also designed ; God appointing him to be the Mediator of this-new cove-. nant ; and thereby gi"ving a glorious occasion to demonstrate the THE TWO COVENANTS. 189 riches of his free Love, in subjecting his life to such a death, and his glory to such, a shame ; and all to purchase such vile and worth - less creatures as we are, and to redeem us from eternal woe and misery : to exalt likewise the glory of his Almighty Power ; in sup porting the human nature under the vast load of the wrath of God and the curse of the law : the glory of his uncontrolable Sovereignty, in voluntarily laying down his life and taking it up again ; of his complete and all-sufficient Sacrifice, in fully perfecting all those who are sanctified ; of his effectual Intercession, in the gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit impetrated thereby. These may be some of the reasons, why, after the foresight of the breach of the Covenant of Works, God purposed from all eternity to establish another and a better covenant with mankind. 2. Upon this purpose.of God to abrogate the Covenant of Works, that it should no longer be the standing rule according to which he would proceed with all mankind,' tkere came in the room and stead tkereof a Twofold Covenant. A Covenant of Redemption. A Covenant of Reconciliation, The Covenant' of Eedemption was everlasting, from before all time ; made only between God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Covenant of Eeconciliation was temporal ; made between God and Men throug'h Christ, and took place immediately after the Fall : of which the first exhibition was that promise, that the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head. The Covenant of Eedemption, or of the Mediatorship, was made only between the Father and the Son, before the fbundations of the world were laid. And, though it was entirely for man's infinite benefit and advantage, yet he was taken into it as a party. The form of this eternal covenant we have, at large expressed, Isa. liii. from the 10th verse to the end : Wken tkou shalt make Ms soul an offering for sin, ke skall see kis seed, ke skall prolong kis days Se skall see of tke travail of his soul, and skall be satisfied.....Se shall di vide tke spoil witk tke strong ; because ke katk poured out kis soul unto deatk and, by Ms knowledge, i. e. by the knowledge and faith of him, he shall justify many. All which is spoken of the reward, which God would give unto Christ, for his great and arduous un dertaking of the redemption of fallen mankind. From this Covenant of Eedemption do flow, (1) Many of those Eolations, wherein God the Father and the Son do stand mutually engaged each to other, which are founded upon Christ's undertaking our redemption. As, from this eternal covenant it is, that Christ Jesus is related 190 THE DOCTEINE OF unto God, as a Surety to a Creditor : and, therefore, Heb. vii. 22. He is called tke Surety of a better testament. Hence, likewise, he bears the relation of an Advocate to a Judge : 1 John ii. 1 ; We kave fin Advocate with tke Fatker. Hence also, ariseth the relation of a Servant to his Lord and Master : Isa. xlii. 1 ; Bekold 'my Ser vant, wkom I uphold: and, again. It is a ligkt tking tkat tkou shouldest be my Servant, to raise up tke tribes of Jacob only / will also give tkee for a ligkt to tke Gentiles, tkat thou mayest he my salvation unto tke end of tke eartk : Isa. xlix. 6 : and so, again, Christ is called God's Servant, Tke Branck : Zech. iii. 8. Hence, likewise, it is, that, although Christ, considered essentially as God, be equal in glory and dignity, yea the same with the Father, John x. 30 ; / and my Father are one ; jet, because he entered into this Covebant of Eedemption, engaging himself to be a mediator and his Father's servant, in accomplishing the salvation of his elect, therefore he may be said to be Inferior 4o the Father. In which sense, he him self tells us, John xiv. 28 ; My Fatker is greater tkan I. It is no contradiction, for Christ to be equal with God, and yet inferior to the Father. Consider him personally, as the Eternal Son of God, and the Second Hypostasis in the Ever-Blessed Trinity; so, he tkougkt it no robbery to he equal witk God: Phil. ii. 6. Consider him federally, as bound by this Covenant of Eedemption to serve God, by bringing many sons unto ghry ; so, he thought it no debasement to be inferior unto God. And, therefore, whatsoever you meet with in Scripture, implying any inequality and disproportion between God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, must still be understood with reference to this Covenant of Eedemption. For, eS,sentia}ly, they are one and the same God : personally, they differ in order ai\d original : but, immediately, they differ in authority and subjection, and all the economy of man's salvation, designed by the one and accomplished by the other. (2) From this Covenant of Eedemption flows the mutual Stipu lation or Agreement between the Father and the Son, upon terms and conditions concerning man's salvation ; or rather, indeed, it formally consists in it. Christ was originally free ; and no way obliged to undertake this great and hard ser-vice, of reconciling God and man together. He well knew wbat it would cost him to perform it ; aill the contempt and reproach, the agonies and conflict, the bitter pains and cruel torments, which he must suffer to accomplish it. And, though the deity was secure in its own impassibility ; yet he" knew that the strict union between his human nature and di-vine would, by a com- T.HE TWO COVENANTS. 191 raunication of properties, make it the humiliation and abasement of God, the sufferings and the blood of God. And, therefore, God the Father makes Christ many promises, that, if he would under take this work, he should see kis seed, prohng kis days, and tke pha- sure of tke Lord should prosper in Ms kand: as in the forecited Isa. liii : yea, that all principality and dominion, both in heaven and earth, should be consigned over unto him ; and that he should be the Head, King^ and Governor, both of his Church and of the whole World. .And, therefore, when he had fulfilled and accom plished this great work, he tells his disciples. Matt, xxviii. 18; All power is given unto me, both in keaven and in eartk ; and, Eph . i. 20, 21, 22, the Father set Christ at kis own right hand.....Far above all principality, and power, and migkt, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in tkis world, but also in the world that is to come ; And kath pid all things under kis feet, and hath given him to be kead over all tkings to the Ckurck. Upon these articles and con ditions, Christ accepts the work ; and resolves to take upon him tho form of a servant, to be made under the authority of the Law, and to bear the "curse of it, and the whole load of his Father's wrath clue unto sin and sinners. Se shall hear tkeir iniquities : Tkerefore will I divide kim a portion with tke- great, and ke skall divide tke spoil wi§i the strong ; because ke hatk poured out kis 'soul unto death : Isa. liii. 11, 12. And thus the Covenant of Eedemption is, from all eternity, agreed and perfected between the Father and Jesus Christ. 3. Tkis undertaking and agreement of Ckrist in eternity was as valid and effectual for procuring all tke good things of tke Covenant of Grace, and tke making of tkem over unto believers, as kis actual performing of tke terms afterwards in tke fulness of time. Upon this lies the stress of ouj affirming the Covenant of Grace to be exhibited before Christ's coming into the world. For, had not Christ's undertaking been as effectual as his actual fulfilling, - this Covenant of Grace could have been of no force, till his coming in the flesh, and his dying upon the cross. And therefore he was the mediator of the new covenant, to the Jewish believers, under the administration of the Law ; to the patriarchs, before the pro mulgation of the Law ; yea, to Adam himself, instantly upon his Fall : because tbe Covenant of Eedemption, that he had entered in to with his Father, gave him present right and title to enter upon his office, and to act as Mediator upon the account of nis future suf ferings. As a man, that purchaseth an inheritance, may presently enter upon the possession, though the day for the payment of the price be not yet conie : so Christ, upon the contract and bargain 192 THE DOCTEINE OF made with the Father, of purchasing the whole world to himself at the price of his death and blood, entered presently upon his pur chase, though the day set for the payment of the price was some thousand years after. And thus Christ is called a Lamb, slainfrom tke foundation of tke world: Eev. xiii. 8 ; thou^ some, indeed, would refer these words, /toto tke foundation of tke world, to the writing of the names, and not to the slaying of the Lamb ; making the sense thus. Whose names were not written from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb slain : and for this interpre tation they allege, Eev. xvii. 8, yea, certainly, this slaying of the Lamb from the foundation of the world, may well be understood concerning the death of Christ, either typically represented in those sacrifices of lambs which Abel offered in the beginning of the world, or else decreed in God's purpose from all eternity, and there upon valid to procure redemption for believers in all ages, even before his actual suffering of it. These things I premise, that, in them, you might see upon what' bottom stands the whole transaction between God and man, in en tering into a Covenant of Grace. That man is at all restored, can be founded upon nothing but God's absolute purpose of having mercy on whom ke will kave mercy. That this restoring him to grace and favour, and consequently to eternal life, should be by a Cfve- nant of Grace sealed and confirmed in the blood of Christ, is founded only on the eternal Covenant of Eedemption made between the Father and the Son. The Covenant of Eeconciliation is built upon the Covenant of Eedemption; 'the covenant between God and Man, on the covenant between God and Christ. (1) Here, possibly, some, instead of glorifying the infinite wisdom of God in thus laying the model |pd platform of our salvation, may be apt to cavil against the tediousness* of the proceeding. " For, might not God, by one act of sovereign mercy, have pardoned our sins and remitted the punishment, though Christ had never died to satisfy justice ? Might he not have accepted the sinner to favour and salvation, though Christ had never been sent to work out a perfect righteousness for him ? What needed then this long and troublesome method, of designing him from eternity to be a Me diator, of appointing his own Son to so base a humiliation and so cursed a death ; since all, that is now purchased for us at so mighty a rate, mighvhave been conferred upon us by a free and absolute act of mercy ?" Thus, possibly, the thoughts of men may work. But to this I answer, • [1] It is saucy and unwarrantable presumption, for us to dis* THE TWO COVENANTS. 193 pute whether God could have saved us otherwise ; since it is infi nite love and mercy, that he will vouchsafe to save us any way. And, if so be it were not simply necessary that Christ should die to bring us to glory, this should the rather engage us to admire and adore the supererogation of the divine love : which designed him primarily a gift to men, as well as a sacrifice to God ; and sent him into the world, not so much upon the necessity of satis fying justice, as of demonstrating infinite love and mercy: John iii. 16. [2] Whether God might, according to his absolute pleasure, have saved us, without the satisfaction of Christ, is not necessary for us to know : since it is clearly revealed in Scripture, that this is flie way, that God designed from all eternity ; and, by which, in the fulness of time, he accomplished our salvation. Who can per emptorily determine, what God rnight or might not do, in this particular ? Can we set limits to his power, or bound his preroga- ' tive ? It should satisfy our enquiries, that this way of salvation is attainable ; and that God is resolved to save us no other way than this. Tkere is none other name under keaven, given among men, wkereby we must he saved: Acts iv. 12. [3] Yet, if any be farther inquisitive, only out of an awful rev erence to search out the wonderful mystery of his redemption, I assert that it is most probable that God might, according to his absolute power and good pleasure have saved fallen mankind, though Christ had never been appointed to the work of redemp tion, nor any Covenant of Grace been made with us in him. Nor ^oth this position hold any correspondence with Socinianism ; since we absolutely maintain, that it is God's revealed will and purpose to save none, but through the satisfaction of Christ. (2) If it be said, that "No other way could be consistent with God's justice ; and that therefore the Apostle tells us, Eom. iii. 26, that Christ was set forth as a propitiation tb declare the righteous ness of God, that he might be just, and the justifier of those that believe : and how could God be just, if he should pardon sin with out a satisfaction ; and by whom should this satisfaction be made, but by Christ the Mediator?" To this I answer, that the Justice of God may be considered. In its Absolute Nature, as an infinite attribute and perfection of the divine essence. As to the External Expressions of it in punitive acts, taking vengeance on offenders. . If we take the justice of God in the Former respect so it is es sential to- him, yea the same with him :. and it is as blasphemous Vol. ii.— 13 194 THE DOCTEINE OP a contradiction, to say thafGod can be, and yet not be just; as to say, that he may be, and yet not be holy, wise, almighty, &c. But, if we take the justice of God for the Eternal Expressions of it id a vindicative way upon offenders, I can see no contradic tion nor absurdity, in affirming that God might, if he had so pleased, have pardoned sinners without any satisfaction. If be punish with out pardoning, he is just ; and, if he should have pardoned with out punishing, still he had been just. God created this' world, to declare his power, wisdom, and goodness ; yet still he had been essentially almighty, wise, and good, if he had never expressed these attributes in any effects of them. So God punisheth sin, to declare and glorify his justice; yet he would have been as essen tially just, had he remitted if without exacting any punishment. And why should it be unjust with God, to acquit a guilty person without punishment ; seeing it is not unjust with him, to assign an innocent person, his own Son, to bear the punishment of the guilty? Certainly, there was no more natural necessity, antecedent to the free determination of his own will, to punish another, that he might show mercy unto us ; than there was, tp show mercy to another, only with a design to punish us : and, therefore, there wasno more need that God should punish Christ, that he might pardon us ; than there was, that he should pardon Christ all the sins imputed to him, that he might justly punish us. For, if punitive justice be natural to God, so also is pardoning mercy. Yet I suppose none will deny, that God might, without wrong to his nature, have damned all men for sin, without affording pardon to any of them : and there can be no reason imagined, why it should be more natural to God to punish, than to pardon ; unless we would make him, as the Mar cionltes and Manichees of old did, a ssevus et immitis Deus. Sin doth, indeed, naturally and necessarily deserve punishment ; but it doth not therefore follow, that God must, by the necessity of his nature, punish it : for then it would be as necess&ry for him to par don, because the sinner deserves it not ; because a sinner, deserv ing punishment, is as much the object of mercy, as of justice ; both being equally essential attributes of the divine nature. - The truth is, that though all the di-vine perfections be natural and necessary to God, yet his will governs the external expressions of them : omnipotency, wisdom, justice, and mercy, are in God naturally, and not subject to the determination of his will : so that it is not from his will that he is almighty, nor all-wise, nor holy and righte§us ; but from his nature. But the outward expressions of these are arbitrary, and subject to his will : omnipotence is nat- THE TWO COVENANTS. 195 ural and essential unto God ; yet it is his "will that applies his power to such and such effects : so, likewise, thouglj it be natural and ne cessary that God be just ; yet the particular expression and mani festation of his justice, in a vindicative manner, is not necessary, but subject to the free determination of his will. As God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hard ens : SO, he will have vengeance, on whom he will have vengeance, and whom he will he might hg,ve pardoned, and that merely by the prerogative of his will. (3) And if it be said, that " God, being a Holy God, must neces sarily hate sin, and therefore punish it :" I answer, that, though God's holiness doth necessarily infer his utmost hatred of sin, yet that hatred of sin doth not necessarily in fer his punishing of sinners. For it must be .acknowledged, that God may hate sin, odio simplici, et non redundanti in personam: i. e. " with a simple abhorrency and detestation of it, yet not with any ireful effects flowing from it upon the sinner." It is, indeed, abso lutely necessary, that sinners should deserve punishment: this flows not from the will_ and constitution of God, but from the nature of the thing itself. But, that they be actually punished ac cording to their deserts, depends wholly upon the determination of the divine will. That is the 'Third Position. 4. 'Whetker tkis way of salvation by .Ckrist were simply and abso lutely ¦necessary, or no : yet, certain it is, tkat no otker way could be so .suited to tke advancement of God's ghry as tkis ; and, therefore, it was most corigruous, and morally necessary, that our salvation should be wrougkt out by kis sufferings and satisfaction. For, (1) This is the most decent and becoming way, that God could take to reconcile sinners unto himself. So the Apostle says expressly : Heb. ii. 10 ; For it became him, for wkom are all tkings and by wkom are all tkings, in bringing many sons unto ghry, to make tke Captain of tkeir Salvation perfect tkrougk sufferings. It would not become the Great Majesty of Heaven and Earth, whose sovereign authority was so heinously "violated by such a vile and base creature' as man is, to receive him into his love and favour without some repair made unto his honour. And, if there must intervene a satisfaction, there is none whp could make it but only Jesus Christ. (2) No other way could so jointly glorify both tbe mercy and the justice of God, as this of bringing men to salvation by Christ. If God had absolutely remitted punishment, and accepted the sin ner to life by bis mere good pleasure, this indeed had been a glori 196^ THE DOCTEINE OF OUS declaration of his mercy, but justice had lain obsclired. If God had made a temporary punishment serve for an expiation of sin, here indeed both justice and mercy had been glorified ; justice in punishing, mercy in relaxing the eternity of the punishment : but neither the one nor the other had been glorified to the utmost extent of them. But, in this redemption by Christ, justice hath its full glory ; in that God takes vengeance on the sin to the very ut termost : and yet mercy is likewise glorified to the full ; for the ¦ sinner is, without his own sufi'erings, pardoned, accepted, and saved. That none but Christ could do this is evident, because no mere creature could bear an infinite p-imishment so as to eluctate and finish it, and no finite punishment could satisfy an infinite justice : he must be a Man, that satisfies ; else, satisfaction would not be made in the same nature that sinned : he must be God, likewise ; else, human nature could not be supported from sinking under the infinite load of divine wrath : and, unless we would have either the Father or the Holy Ghost to become incarnate, this work of man's redemption must rest on Christ. And, indeed, who so fit to be come a Mediator between God and man,- as the middle Person in the Godhead ? Thus then we see how expedient and fit it is, that our redemption should be accomplished hj Christ Jesus : ahd, therefore, because the divine wisdom takes that way which is most expedient, it is, in a moral sense, necessary, that it should be by him brought to pass ; though, simply and absolutely, God might have laid another design for our salvation. Potuit aliter fieri de potentia medici, sed non potuit commodius aut doctius prseparari ut esset medicina segroti. August. Serm. iii. de Annunt. Dom. And this, certainly, may commend the infinite love of God unto us ; since he would not go the thriftiest way, in accomplishing our salvation. Although it were not simply necessary, yet, if it be more conducible to make the mercy of our redemption glorious, the Son of God must become the Son of Man, and the Son of Man a Man of Sorrows. He gives bis natural Son, to gain adopted ones. He punisheth a righteous person, that he might pardon the guilty. God spares nothing, he saves nothing ; that he might spare and save fallen man, in a way most adapted to glorify, both the severity of his justice, and the riches of his grace and mercy. I shall not any longer detain you with preliminary truths. You see upon what the Covenant of Grace is grounded, "viz., the Covenant of Eedemption ; and how far forth it was necessary, that Jesus Christ should be our Eedeemer, and the Mediator of this Covenant of Eeconciliation. THE TWO COVENANTS. 197 iii. TO COME NOW MOEE IMMEDIATELY TO THE SUBJECT INTENDED, we must know, that the Covenant of Grace made by God with man, is twofold. There is the Absolute Covenant of Grace : and the Conditional. Indeed, if we lay stress upon the words, as some do, there can be no such thing as an Absolute Covenant ; because every cove nant supposeth conditions and a mutual stipulation : but, yet, we may be well contented with the impropriety of the word so long as we use Scripture language. 1. Frequentmentionismadeof this J.fooZwte Covenant: Jer. xxxii. 38 — 41. Ezek. xi. 17- — 20 : but, most fully and clearly, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Tkis skall be tke covenant, tkat I will malte witk tke kouse of Israel, after tkose days, saitk -tke Lord; I will put my law in their in ward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will he tkeir God, and tkey shall be my people: which the Apostles quotes a,nd transcribes. Heb. viii. 10. It is not this Absolute Covenant, or Promise, call it which you will, that I intend to insist on ; and, therefore, I shall only give you some brief remarks concerning it, and so proceed to treat of the Conditional Covenant. (1) That this Absolute Covenant is made only to those, whom God foreknew according to his eternal purpose : but the Conditional Covenant is made with all the world. God hath promised a new heart, only to some : but he promiseth life and salvation to all the world, if they convert and believe. And hence it follows, that the Absolute Covenant is fulfilled to all, with whom it is made : but the most part of nyinkind fall short of ob taining the benefits of the Conditional Covenant, because they wil fully fall short of performing the conditions. (2) The Absolute Covenant of Grace is so called, because the mercies promised in it are not limited nor restricted to conditions. For though, in the ordinary method of God's sanctifying grace, a sedulous and conscientious use of the means is necessary to our conversion, and the making of a new heart and spirit in us ; yet these means are not conditions, because God hath not limited him self thereto. It is certain and infallible, that no man shall ever at tain salvation without faith, repentance, and obedience : but no man can say it is impossible, that any should attain anew heart, faith, and conversion "without preparations and previous dispositions. (3) Faith is the very mercy itself promised in the Absolute Cove nant : but it is only a condition for obtaining the mercy promised in the Conditional Covenant. 198 THE DOCTEINE OF In this, God promiseth salvation to all men, if they will believe ; in the other, he promiseth grace to his elect, to enable them to be lieve. All the benefits of the Conditional Covenant we receive by our faith ; but our faith itself we receive by virtue of the Absolute Covenant : and therefore it follows, by necessary consequence that though no man can plead the promise of the Absolute Covenant for obtaining the gift of the first grace, yet likewise no man can receive comfort by the Conditional Covenant, till he be assured that the prom ise of the Absolute be performed to him. (4) In brief, the Absolute Covenant promiseth the first grace of conversion to God : the Conditional promiseth life, if we be con verted. The Conditional proniiseth life, if we believe : the Abso lute promiseth faith, whereby we may believe to the sa"ving of our souls. And therefore it is called an Absolute Covenant, because the first grace of conversion unto God cannot be given upon conditions. It is indeed commonfy wrought in men by the right use of means ; as hearing the word, meditation, prayer, &c., but these means are not conditions of grace, because we have found that, in some in stances, God hath not limited himself to them. And, indeed, what is there, that can in reason be supposed as a condition of God's be stowing the first grace upon us ? Either it must be some act of grace, or of mere nature : not of grace ; for then the first grace would be already given : nor of nature ; for then grace would be given accor ding to works, which is the sum and upshot of Pelagianism. Whence it follows, that the Absolute Covenant, of gi"ving grace and a new heart, is made only to those, who shall be saved ; but the Conditional Covenant, of giving salvation upon faith and obedi ence, is made with all the world, and we may and ought to propound it to ^ery creature. If thou wilt believe, thou shalt be saved. 2. It is not the Absolute, but the Conditional Covenant that the Apostle speaks of in the text. For life and salvation are here promised upon the terms and con ditions, of believing on Christ with the heart, and confessing him - with the mouth ; that is, of faith and obedience, as hath before been explained : and, therefore it is called the Conditional Covenant, because these conditions must be first fulfilled on our part, before any engagagement can lie upon God to give us the salvation prom ised. Here observe, (1) That the Salvation, which the text mentions, when it saith " If thou believest in thy heart, and confessest with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved," comprehends in it all the benefits of the Covenant of Grace. THE TWO COVENANTS. 199 Not only Glorification, which it doth most signally denote ; but also Pardon, Justification, Eeconciliation, and Adoption : all which are Galled Salvation, because -they all tend thereunto, and termi nate in it. , (2) Though conditions are required on our part, yet the mercies ofthe covenant are promised; to us out of mere free grace. For, tkerefore, saith the Apostle, are Justification and Salvation of faitk, tkat they migkt be of grace: Eom. iv. 16. For God's .grace and free mercy, in enabling us to believe and obey, and thereupon saving us, is altogether as glorious, as if he should savQ us without requiring faith and obedience from us at all. (3) Though faith and obedience are the conditions, which God requires for the obtaining of salvation, yet these conditions are themselves as much the free gift of God, as the salvation promised upon them. By whom they are required, by the same God tney are effectu ally wrought in the hearts of all those who shall be. saved. And, therefore, as there is no Absolute Covenant, properly so called ; so neither, in strictness of speech, is there any Conditional Covenant between God and man : because a condition, to which a promise is annexed, must, in propriety, be somewhat of our own, and within our own power ; otherwise, the promise is but equivalent to an absolute denial. But, the conditions of the Covenant of Grace are not simply in our power to work them in ourselves ; but to those, who shall be heirs of salvation, they are made possible by grace : to the rest they were once possible ; which power they have lost, nor is God bound to repair it. If it be said, " True : it is impossible for us to believe, unless God enable us ; yet this doth not prove that it is not in our own power to believe : for without the assistance of God, and his influence, we cannot think, nor speak, nor move .• In Mm, saith the Apostle, ive live, and move, and kave our heing : yet who is so unreasonable as to say, that, because these are God's gifts, tkerefore we do not perform them by our own power ? So, likewise, though f4ith be the gift of God, yet it may also be in the power of nature." This is the refuge of some, tp which they rgtire, when they are forced by Scripture evidence to acknowledge that faith is the gift of God : as if a common pro"vidential influence were alike sufficient to enable men to believe, and to perform any ordinary and natu ral action. » To this, therefore, I answer : That some actions depend only upon the concurrence of Common Providence ; others, upon the influence 2bo THE DOCTEINE OF of Special Grace. And this I apprehend to be the true difference between these two : that the former are wrought in us by God, with out the reluctance and opposition of our natural faculties ; but the latter, ggainst the bent and bias of our natures, which are now cor rupted by the Fall. And, therefore, we may affirm, that the obe dience, which Adam performed during his continuance in the state of innocence, was but a common work wrought in him by God's common influence ; but our faith, and the same obedience in us, though it be far more imperfect, is from special grace : because, in him, it was wrought suitably to the tendency of his nature ; but, in us, contrary to all its appetites and inclinations, which in this lapsed state -of mankind are wholly evil and corrupt. And, thus much, the Apostle intimates unto us concerning faith : Eph. i. 18, 19, 20 ; Tkat ye might know. ...wkat is the exceeding greatness of kis power to wards us wko believe, according to the working of kis migkty power, Which ke wrougkt in Ckrist, wkenke raised kim from tke dead: there fore was the power, which God declared in raising Christ from the dead, an extraordinary and special power, because it was contrary to the course of nature, and far above the ability of any created agent to effect ; and such, saith he, is the power that worketh faith in us. And so, again. Col. ii. 12 ; Ye are risen with Christ through tke faith of tke operation of God, wko katk raised kim from tke dead: by the faith of the operation of God, we may rather understand the faith of God's operation, that is, which he worketh and implanteth in us, than our faith in God's operation of raising Christfromthedead: so that the scope of the place is plainly this ¦: As Christ is raised, so are we raised with him by faith ; which faith is wrought in us by the same almighty operation, that raised him from the grave, and therefore wrought in us by the supernatural efficacy of divine grace. Hence all those places, which mention faith to be the gift of God, must be understood not as of a gift of course, and of common influence ; but of extraordinary power and special influence. So Phil. i. 29 ; Unto you it is given....not only to believe....but also to suffer : where, though it may seem that to suffer for the name of Christ denotes not any special work of God ; yet, to suffer from a right principle and to a right end, to suffer "with a calm submission and a conquering pa tience, is not less a gift and a special pri-vilege bestowed upon us by the special and supernatural grace of God, than we assert faith itself to be. So, 2. Pet. i. JL. 3 ; To tkem who have obtained like preci ous faitk witk us, tkrougk the rkjkteousness of God....According as kis divine power katk given unto us all tkings that pertain unto life and godliness. I omit Eph. ii. 8. Yea are saved hj faitk '; and tkat net of yourselves : it is tke gift of God; because, though this place be THE TWO COVENANTS. 201 commonly produced to prove that faith is God's gift, yet I suppose that the word gift refers rather to salvation, than to faith : for so it must needs be, according to grammatical" construction: Ej-s stffutfju.si'oi hia, t I'l i CiSEu;, *ai t « t a ©e« Supox; else it would not be * s * 0, but avi'n: so that the words do of necessity carry it, that this expression, not of yourselves, it is tke gift of God, must be understood, that the salvation, which we obtain by faith, is not of ourselves, but God's free gift. And thus you see that it is very well consistent, for faith and obedience to be conditions on our part, and .gifts on God's. iii. These things being premised, that which I shall now pursue is, to open to ypu, WHAT concuebence faith and obedience HAVE INTO OUB JUSTIFICATION AND SALVATION. Which certainly is as difficult a point to be explained, as it is necessary to be understood. And, in order to this, I shall enquire into the nature of Justifi cation itself: what it is, and signifies. Of justifying and sa"ving Faith. Of that Obedience, which the Covenant of Grace requires from believers, as necessary to salvation. And, lay down some Positions, in answer to the Question. And this I shall do with all the brevity and perspicuity, that the subject will permit. 1. Justification, therefore, in the most general and comprehensive notion of it, signifies the making of a man just and righteous. ' (1) And this may be done Two ways. [2] By making a real change in a man's Nature, through the infusion of the inherent qualities of holiness and righteousness. [2] By making a relative change in his State, in respect of the sentence of the Law : that is, when the Law acquits and absolves a man from punishment, whether he hath committed the fact or not. The former may be termed a Physical Justification ; the latter, a Legal. The former Justification is opposed to unholiness ; the latter, to condemnation : the one properly removes the filth ; the other, the guilt of sin. Now when we speak of the Justification of a sinner before God, it must still be understood of Justification in this latter sense, viz., as it signifies a judicial absolution of a sinner from guilt and pun ishment, according to a legal process, either at the bar of God or of conscience. And herein lies the great error of the Papists in the doctrine of Justification, that they will not understand it as a law phrase, and a relative transaction in the discharge of a sinner ; but still take it 202 THE DOCTEINE O-F for a real change of a man's nature, by implanting in him inherent principles of holiness. We grant, indeed, that, in order of nature, Sanctification is before Justification ; for we are justified by faith, which faith is one- great part of our Sanctification ; but, in respect of time, Sanctification and Justification are together ; for, in the very same instant that we believe, we are justified. Yet Justifica tion is not the making of a man's person inherently just or holy : if it were, certainly the Wise Man would not have said, Prov. xvii. 15; Se, tkat justifietk ihe wicked, and he, tkat condemnetk tke just, even tkey both are an abomination to tke Lord: that man certainly would not be an abomination to the Lord, who should be serviceable to the implanting habitual holiness in another; since Daniel tells us, ch.^xii. ver. 3 ; They, that, tum many to rigkteousness, shall shine as tke stars for ever and ever. Many differences might be assigned be tween these two Justifications; but the chief are these : that man is the subject of the one, because holiness is wrought in him ; but he is the subject of the other, for the judicial sentence of absolution is an act in God terminated upon the creature : the one, is by inherent grace ; the other, by imputed righteousness : the one, is gradual ; the other, complete at once : in brief, they differ as much as sancti fying our nature differs from acquitting and absolving our persons. (2) This- Justification doth always presuppose a righteousness in the per son justified : for God doth not make a man inwardly righteous, because he justifies him ; but therefore he justifies him, because he is righteous.The righteousness therefore, that a man must have before he can be justified, is either, [1] A Ei'ghteousness of Innocency, whereby he may plead the non^ransgression of the Law, and that it was never i violated by him. Or, [2] A Eighteousness of' Satisfaction ; whereby he may plead, that, though the command were transgressed, yet the penalty is borne and the Law answered. These t-wo respect the avoiding of the punishment threatened. Or, [3] A Eighteousness of Obedience, which be may plead for the obtaining of the good things promised ; and this respects the re- v/ard propounded. Now accordingly as any man can produce any of these righteous nesses, so shall he be justified. Iijnocency cannot be pleaded ; for all kave sinned, and come short of tke ghry of God : neither can we pro duce a personal Satisfaction, nor a personal Obedience wrou"-ht out by ourselves : and, therefore, our -Justification is either utterly im- THE TWO COVENANTS. 203 possible for want of a righteousness, or else we must be justified by the -righteousness of another imputed unto us. (3) Christ, therefore, as our Surety, hath wrought out for us, [1] A Eighteousness of Satisfaction, which, in the eye and ac count of the Law, is equivalent to innocency. And, by this, we are freed from the penalty threatened against our disobedience. [2] A Eighteousness of Obedience, whereby we may lay claim to-the reward of eternal life. I am now the briefer in these things, because I have before opened them at large. (4) We, therefore, having this twofold righteousness given to justify us, our Justification must accordingly consist of two parts : the Par don and Eemission of our Sins ; our Acceptation unto Eternal life. [1] Our Justification consists in the Pardon of Sin. And this flows from the righteousness of Christ's satisfaction im puted to us. For guilt is nothing else but our obligation to pun ishment ; and therefore pardon, being the removal of guilt, must needs remove our obligation to punishment. But no man can be justly obliged to that punishment, which he hath already satisfac torily undergone. And, therefore, Christ baving satisfactorily imdergone the whole punishment that was due to us, and God graciously accounting his satisfaction as ours, it follows, that we lie under no obligation to punishment; and are therefore, by the right eousness of Christ's satisfaction, pardoned and justified, ransomed and delivered from bearing the penalty of the Law. It is true, a pardon and full satisfaction are, in themselves, » s u f a f a and incon sistent : if a man receive satisfaction for an injury done unto him, he cannot be said to pardon and remit it: how the'n can God be said to pardon sin, since his justice is fully satisfied by Christ ? I answer : those very sins, which God doth pardon to tJie justified, he did not pardon to Christ, when they were made his by imputa tion : for his justice seized on him, and demanded and received the utmost farthing of all the debts he was surety for. And, therefore, pardon of sin is indeed inconsistent with personal satisfaction ; but not with the satisfaction of another imputed to us : if God had satisfied his justice on us for our sins, then he could not have par doned them : but to satisfy his justice on another for our sins, was at once to take- punishment, and vouchsafe pardon; to punish our Surety, and to pardon us. That is, therefore, the first part of our Justification, viz.. Pardon of Sin. [2] In Justification, there is the imputation of the active right eousness and obedience of Christ, whereby we obtain a Eight and Title and are accepted unto Eternal Lifb. 204 THE DOCTEINE OF He hath fulfilled all righteousness for us, and we are acce^ tke Behved. The Law saith. Do tkis, and live ; and God accounts Christ's doing it as ours. And, therefore, believers have as just a claim to life, as Adam could have had, had he never transgressed. I shall not again discuss, whether the right, which Justification gives us to eternal life, flow from Christ's righteousness of obedience or of satisfaction : to me, it seems to be from his obedience, and not so directly from his sufferings : for, though his sufferings be ours, yet the Law saith not Suffer this, and live, but Do this, and live ; as I observed before. And if it be objected, that, by a man's not being accounted a sin ner, he must needs be accounted righteous ; by his not being liable to damnation, he must needs have a right to salvation ; and, there fore, that there is no more required unto Justification, than the im putation of Christ's satisfaction, which carries with it b(5th pardon and acceptation to eternal life : To this I answer, 1st. That pardon of sins, through the satisfaction of Christ, doth give a man a negative righteousness ": i. e. he is no longer accounted unrighteous, and therefore not liable to punishment : but this gives him no positive righteousness, which consists in a conformity to the precepts of the Law, by that active obedience, which should entitle him to the promised reward. 2dly. Though- damnation and salvation be contrary states, so that he, who is not liable to the one, hath right to the other ; yet they are not immediate contraries in their own nature, but only by divine appointment and institution. And, therefore, though a man should not be liable to damnation, yet his right to salvation dotti not naturally result from this, but from God's appointment. ' It is true, if it be not night, it must be day : if the line be not crooked, it must be straight : because those are naturally opposite, and the one follows upon the denial of the other. But it is not true, that a » man must either be liable to eternal death, or have a right to eter nal life, because these states are not naturally and immediately op posite : for God, after he had pardoned a sinner, might justly an- n'ihilate him ; or otherwise dispose of him, without bestowing up on him the eternal joys of heaven. And, therefore, pardon of" sin and acceptation unto eternal life, beino" two such distinct things, may well be allowed to proceed from distinct causes : the one, from the imputation of Christ's sat isfaction ; the other, from the imputation of his active obedience. (5) So that^you may take a brief description of Justification in these terms : It is a gracious act of God, whereby, through the THE TWO COVENANTS. 205 righteousness of Christ's satisfaction imputed, he freely remits to the believing sinner the guilt and punishment of his sins ; and, through the righteousness of Christ's perfect obedience imputed, ho accounts him righteous, and accepts him into love and favour, and unto eternal life. This is Justification : which is thevery sum and pith of the whole Gospel, and the only end of the Covenant of Grace. For, wherefore was there such a covenant made with us through Christ, but, as St. Paul tells us, Acts xiii. 39, that, hy him, all tkat believe might be justified from all • things, from wkich they could not he justified by tke Law of Moses ? Possibly some things may occur, in the opening of this point, hard and rugged : and, though this doctrine be in itself sweet and re freshing, and like ri"vulets of water to the dry and parched earth ; ]fet this water must be smitten out of a rock. Eivers, generally, the deeper they are, the more smoothly do they flow : but these waters of the sanctuary are of a quite different nature, and the deeper they are, usually the more rough and the more troubled. But beware. you do not think every thing unnecessary, that is not plain and obvious. It is the fault of many Christians, and a fault that deserves reproof, to pass slightly over the great mysteries of religion, under a vilifying conceit which they have of them as un profitable and unpracticable notions. They do not find, when they sit under such discourses as these, that their affections are so moved, their hearts so warmed, their love so inflamed, their desires made so spiritually vehement, their whole souls so wrought upon and melted, as when threatenings are thundered, duties pressed, prom ises applied, and the more affecting part of religion dispensed ; and so they go away, reckoning they have but lost their time, and the opportunity of an ordinance. For my part, it should be my im portunate prayer, that all Christians were so taught of God and built up in the truths of the Gospel, that there might need no more instruction, but only admonition, exhortation, reproof, comfort, and the more practical part of the ministerial work : but, when we see so many old babes, so many monstrous and misshapen Christians, whose heads are the lowest and most inferior part about them, still we find abundant cause and need to inculcate truths, as well as to raise desires ; that so, their zeal and affections may be built upon, and regulated according to, knowledge. Certainly, the more you know of God and Christ, and the way of your salvation througli an imputed righteousness, the more will you admire, adore, and a(.l- vance divine love and wisdom, and the more humble and abase yoArselves. And, though some of these things be difficult, yet it ia 206 THE DOCTEINE OF very unworthy of a Christian not to take some pains to understand what God, if I may be allowed so to speak, took so much pains to contrive. 2. Having thus showed you what Justification is, the next thing propounded was to open tke Nature of Justifying and Saving Faitk, which is the great condition of the Covenant of Grace. And, indeed, of all Gospel Truths, it is most necessary to have a clear and distinct knowledge of this : for it is in vain to press men to this duty of belie"ving, as that whereon the whole weight of their salvation depends, if yet they know not what this Grace of Faith is, nor what it is to believe. There is no one duty, that the Gospel doth more frequently command or ministers inculcate, or hath so great a stress laid upon it : and, yet, because men know not what it is, and how they must act it, this ignorance either discouragetb them into an utter neglect, or else misleads them to exert other acts for saving faith, and to build their hopes of heaven and eternal happiness upon a wrong foundation. 4ind, truly, it is a point of some difficulty, precisely to state wherein lies the formal nature of this grace. For, (1) Many formerly, and those of the highest remark and emi nency, have placed true faith in no lower a degree than Assurance ; or the secure persuasion of the pardon of their sins, the acceptation of their persons, and their future salvation. ' But this, as it is very sad and uncomfortable for thousands of doubting and deserted souls, concluding all those to fall short of grace, who fall short of certainty ; so hath it given the Papists too great advantage to insult over the doctrine of our first reformers as containing most absurd contradictions. Nor, indeed, can their argument be possibly avoided or answered : for, if Pardon and Justification be obtained only by faith, and this faith be only an assurance or persuasion that I am pardoned and justified, then it will necessarily follow, that I must believe I am pardoned and justified, that I may be pardoned and justified : that is, I must be lieve I am pardoned and justified, before I either am or can be ; which is to believe a lie. This will necessarily follow upon limit ing faith to assurance. Faith therefore is not assurance : but this doth sometimes crown and reward a strong, "vigorous, and heroic faith ; the Spirit of God breaking in upon the soul with an evidenc ing light, and scattering all that darkness and those fears and doubts "which before beclouded it. (2) Some again place faith only in an act of Affiance or Incum- bence upon the Mercies of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ, re posing all our hope for heaven and happiness in them alone. THE TWO COVENANTS. 207 This indeed must be allowed to be one act of a true and saving faith, but cannot be the entire and adequate notion of it. (3) Others make faith to consist in an undoubting Assent to the Truths and Promises of the Gospel. An assent, not only forced and compelled by the mere evidence and light of the truths therein delivered : for so, the devils believe and tremble ; and, from their natural sagacity and woeful experience, know the great truths of the Gospel to be unquestionably so, as they are there revealed. But an asfeent, wrought in the soul from tbe reverend and due re gard of God's authority and veracity ; yielding firm belief to all that the Scripture propoundeth, because of the testimony of that God, who can neither deceive, nor be deceived : such an assent to truth, as prevails upon the conscience, and influenceth the conver sation : a belief, that is not overborne by corrupt and "vile affec tions, but conforms the life and practice, and makes them suitable, to the rules of God's Word. This many, and that with a great deal of reason, make to be the proper notion of a True and Saving Faith. And the Scripture doth so far affirm that such an assent as this is true faith, that, in very many places, it seems to require no more than barely to be lieve those ttuths concerning God and Christ, which are revealed in it : as, tkat Jesus is tke Son of God; that he came into the world to save sinners : 1 John iv. 15 ; and chap. v. 5 ; and that God raised him from the dead. Yet these places must not be so understood, as if nothing more were required to constitute a true believer, be sides a mere assent to these things ; but that this assent is then true faith, when it overcomes the will, seasons the affections, and regu lates our lives and actions. He hath true and saving faith, who believes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the true Messiah, is come into the world, and submits his conscience and his conversa tion, to the consequences of such a belief; that is to say, to love and obey him as the Son of God and the Saviour of the World. Now the very reason, why the Scripture doth express faith by an assent unto certain propositions, is, not that such a dogmatical faith as rests c^nly in notion and speculation will suffice to bring any to heaven and happiness,' but because the Holy Ghost aimed chiefly at that, which was least known and most gainsayed by the Jews and the unbelieving- world : for it was not ^t all unknown or con tradicted by them, that, if Jesus Christ were the Son of God all adoration and obedience ought to be paid unto him ; but they de nied that Jesus was this Son of God and the Saviour of the World. Therefore the Scripture requires an assent unto these propositions : 208 THE DOCTEINE OF that Jesus is ihe Christ: that he died for our sins and rose again from tke dead: and calls this true and saving faith, because, wheresoever this assent hath its due and proper effect to engage us to the per formance of all those duties which naturally depend upon it and flow from it, there this faith is undoubtedly justifying and saving. (4) Some make faith to consist in the hearty and sincere Accept ance of Christ Jesus, in his Person and Offices ; as he is represented and tenders himself unto us, in his Gospel. These Offices of Christ are three. [1] He is our Prophet, to instruct us in the will of God, and to declare unto us the way of salvation. [2] He is our Priest, to expiate our sins and reconcile us unto God by the sacrifice of himself, and to present our duties and ser- "vices to God by his prevailing and eternal intercession. . [3] He is our 'King, to rule and govern us, by the laws of his Word, and by the conduct of his Holy Spirit. And whosoever he be, that doth cordially and entirely receive Christ in all these offices and submit his soul to the authority of them, he is the person, whose faith will justify him ; for he believes to the saving of his soul. Now between this description of faith and the former, there is no such difference, but that they may very amicably conspire and be joined in one. For he, that gives a firm Assent to all the Truths of the Gospel, doth thereby own his subjection to the prophetical office of Christ, as the great teacher and doctor of his Church. And if this assent influence both bis affections and his conversation, it will make him likewise submit to the priestly office of Christ, in relying only upon his merits for the pardon of his sins and eternal salvation ; and also to his kingly office, in submitting to his scep tre and conforming his heart and life according to bis holy laws. - Yet, to proceed a little more exactly in this matter, let us ob serve, that when we speak of a true, saving, and justifying faith, it is not any one single act, either of knowledge or will ; but a com plicated grace, made up of many particular acts, and is nothing else . but the motion of the whole soul towards God and Chri^. For we are not now speaking of faith^ philosophically taken ; for that is no other than a bare act of the understanding, assenting to the trutli of a testimony : but we speak of faith in a theological and moral sense ; and so, though it bear the name but of one grace, yet it consists of .many acts ofthe soul. It supposes knowledge: it con notes assent : it excites love, and engages to obedience : yet still, that, which gives it the formal denomination of Faith, is Assent to THE TWO COVENANTS. 209 the Truth. As for Assurance, I look upon that, not as a distinct part of faith, but a high and exalted degree and measure of it : not vouchsafed to a]l,scarseto any at all times; but only to some few, through the special witness of the Holy Spirit with their spirits. So that, if we would at once see in brief what a True and Saving Faith is, we may take the sum of it in this description. It is when a sinner, being, on the one hand, thoroughly convinced of his sins, of the wrath of God due to him for them, of his utter inability either to escape or bear this wrath ; and, on the other hand, being likewise convinced of the sufficiency, willingness, and designation of Christ to satisfy justice, and to reconcile and save sinners ; doth hereupon yield a firm assent unto these truths revealed in the Scripture, and also accepts and receives Jesus Christ in all his offices : as his Prophet, resolving to attend unto his teaching ; as his Lord and King, resolving to obey his commands ; and as his Priest, resolving to rely upon his sacrifice alone ; and doth accord ingly submit to him, and confide in him sincerely and persever- ingly. This is that faith, which doth justify ; and will certainly save all those, in whom it is wrought. 3. The next thing propounded, was to open tke Nature of tkat Obedience, which tlie Covenant of Grace requires as necessary to Sal vation. This I shall do very briefly. And, therefore, I take it for granted, that obedience is required under the Covenant of Grace as strictly as ever it was under the Covenant of Works ; and required, not only to show our gratitude and thankfulness, but necessarily and indispensibly in order to the obtaining of heaven and eternal life. If I should quote to you all the Scriptures, which are plain proofs for this, I should repeat a great part of the Bible. The Moral Law requires perfect obedience from us, and condemns every failure as sinful : and this Moral Law is still in force even to believers them selves ; commanding and requiring from them the highest degree of obedience, as absolutely and authoritatively as if they were to be savpd by a Covenant of Works : fpr faith makes not void the pre ceptive part of the Law. But the Covenant of Grace insists not so much on the measure and degree of our obedience, as on the qual ity and nature of every degree, that it be. sincere and upright. Yet, certainly, that is not sincere obedience, which doth willingly and allowedly fall short of the highest degree of perfection. For this sincerity consists in an universal hatred of all sin, without sparing or indulging ourselves in any ; and in an universal regard of every command of God's Law, not dispensing with nor exempt- Vol. ii.— 14 210 THE DOCTRINE OF ing ourselves from the most difficult, severe, and opposite duty to flesh and blood, that is therein enjoined us. He, whose conscience can thus testify to him, that, though he doth loo often transgress and offend, yet he ever hates what he sometimes doth; that he abhors every false way ; that he opposes and resists, and is rather through the subtlety of Satan and the de ceitfulness of sin surprised unawares, than voluntarily and pre- mcditalcly conirives and determines to sin; and, though he doth fall infinitely short ofthe exact strictness and holiness of the Law, yet that he hath a cordial respect to all God's commandments, and doth both desire and endeavour to conform his life and conversa tion to that most perfect rule; that man may certainly know, that, let his obedience be more or less perfect, according to the greater or less measures of sanctifying grace received from God, yet it is such as the Covenant of Grace requires, and God will accept unto his salvation. But, let no one take this for an encouragement of sloth and negligence in God's service: for let not that man think that his obedience is sincere, who doth not, with unwearied pains and industiy, strive to his very utmost to please and serve God in all things. But, for those, whose consciences bear them witness that they do so, let them know, for their comfort, that, though they fall far short of what they should and would be, yet the sincerity of their obedience is accounted and accepted with God for perfection. When God first established the Moral Law, which was when he first wrote it upon the heart of Adam, he made it a covenant, that whosoever should answer the perfection of that law should obtain life : but, by the Fall we having lost the power of obedience, the grace of the Gospel promiseth acceptance to our imperfect obedi ence, if performed sincerely. The Law requires, as necessary to our conformity to God's purity and holiness, that our duties be per fect : the corruption of our nature makes them imperfect and de fective, both from their rule and pattern. The Covenant of Grace requires, as necessary to salvation, that that obedience, which ought to be perfect according to the rule, but is imperfect by reason of our corruption, should be sincere and upright : and this, God -will accept and crown with eternal life and glory. And thus I have opened to you, as briefly and clearly as I could. both what Justification, Faith, and,Evangelical Obedience are. 4. There remaineth but one thing more, which when I have fin ished, I shall close up this subject of the Doctrine of the Cove nants : and that is, to skow wkat influence Faitk and Obedience have into our Justification and Salvation. And here, THE TWO COVENANTS. 211 (1) I shall lay down these following Positions. [1] That faith doth not justify us, as it is in itself a Work or Act exerted by us. It is true, the Apostle tells us, 'Eom. iv. 22, that Abraham's faith was imputed to kim for rigkteousness: but this cannot be understood literally and properly, as if the very act of believing were his right eousness •; for then it would contradict many other places of Scrip ture, asserting that Christ Jesus is our righteousness. It must therefore be taken tropically, as relating to Christ : that is, faith is our righteousness no otherwise, than as it makes over the righteous ness of Christ unto us ; and not as it is in itself a work or grace. For, did it justify us as a work, then the Apostle, Eom. iv. 5, had very incongruously opposed him that worketk, t® him that believeth : To him tkat worketh not, but believeth kis faitk is counted for vight- eousness : ior were faith our righteousness as a work, then he, that believeth, would be he, that worketh ; and his work would be ac counted to him for righteousness. Neither, indeed, is it any whit less absurd, to think that our faith, which is an imperfect grace, can yet be a perfect and complete righteousness : for faith itself hath its manifold failings, and is, as one saith well, like the hand which Moses stretched out in working of miracles ; for, as that hand was smitten with leprosy, to show that it was no efficacy in the hand itself that wrought those wonders, so even the faith that justifies hath a leprosy, an uncleanness cleaving to it, to show that it justi fies not by its own virtue, not as it is a work and act of ours, for so itself needeth justification. [2] Neither doth faith justify, as it is the Fulfilling of the Con dition of the Covenant of Grace : Se, tkat helievetk skall be saved. For, as I have observed before, faith is not properly and imme diately the condition of this covenant, but remotely and secondarily. For we must resolve this covenant thus : He that can produce a perfect righteousness, shall be saved ; but he, that believes, shall have the perfect righteousness of Christ made his : so, from the first to the last, Se, tkat believeth shall be saved. Where itis to be noted, that faith is not made the immediate condition of salvation ; but only it is the immediate condition of obtaining an interest in a per fect righteousness, by which we are justified and saved. [3] Faith justifying neither as a work nor as a condition, and therefore not as being itself our righteousness, it remains, that it must needs justify as it ^ves us a Eight and Title to the Eighte ousness of another, even of Jesus Christ. So that we are not so properly justified by faith, as by the righte- 212 THE DOCTEINE OF ousness. which ^aith apprehends and applies : for, the righteousness of Christ being made ours, God is engaged in justice to justify us, because then we-are righteous persons. This virtue, that faith hath to justify, is not its own ; neither proceeds from itself, but from the object, which it apprehends and makes ours, viz., the Eighteous ness of Christ, by which we arc justified, directly and immediately ;- but by faith, only corrclativcly and metonymically, as it relates unto the righteousness of Christ. When the woman was healed only by touching of Christ's garments, the virtue that healed her proceeded not from her touch, but from him whom she touched : yet our Sa-viour tells her, that her faith had made her whole : Matt. ix. 22. which can no more be properly understood of her faith, than of her touch ; for still the healing virtue was from Christ, con veyed to her by her faith, and that faith testified byher touch : so, Avhen. we say that we are justified by faith, we must understand that faith doth it not through its own virtue, but by virtue of Christ's" righteousness, which is conveyed to us by our faith. This Eighte ousness of Christ, as I have observed before, is both a Eighteous- . ness of Satisfaction and of Obedience ; for we need both unto our Justification : and these must be made ours, or else we can never be justified by them : ours, they cannot be naturally, as wrought out by ourselves ; consequently, they must be ours legally, and by imputation ; the Law looking upon what our Surety hath done, as though we had done it, and accordingly dealing with us. Now if we can but apprehend how faith makes the righteousness of Christ to be ours, it will be very easy and obvious to apprehend the way and manner how we are justified. To clear up this, therefore, [4] Faith makes the righteousness of Christ's satisfaction and obedience to be ours,-' as it is the Bond of that Mystical Union, that there is between Christ and the believing soul. If Christ and the believer be one, the righteousness of Christ may well be reckoned as the righteousness of the believer. Nay, mutual imputation flows from mystical union : the sins of believers are imputed to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ to them ; and both justly, because being united each to other by mutual con sent (which consent on our part is faith). God considers them but as one person. As it is in marriage, the husband stands liable to the wife's debts, and the wife stands interested in the husband's pos sessions ; so it is here : faith is the marri^e-band and tie between Christ and a believer ; and, therefore, all the debts of a believer are chargeable upon Christ, and the righteousness of Christ is instated THE TWO COVENANTS. 213 upon the believer : so tbat, upon the account of this marriage-union, he hath a legal right and title to the purchase made by it. Indeed this union is a high and inscrutable mystery ; yet plain it is, that there is such close, spiritual, and real union between Christ and a believer : the Scripture often both expressly affirms it, 1 Cor. -vi. 17 ; Se, tkat is joined unto tke Lord, is one spirit ; and also lively illus trates it by several resemblances. It is likewise plain, that the band of this union, on the believer's part, is faith : consult Eom. chap. xi. ver. 17, compared with the 20th verse. And, therefore, from the nearness of this union, there follows a communication of interests and concerns : insomuch, that the Church is called Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12; Soaho is Ckrist; and their sufferings called the suffer ings of Christ, Col. i. 24. Acts ix. 4. So, likewise, from this mystical union, the sins of believers are laid upon Christ, and his righteousness imputed unto them : see this as to both parts, 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Se katk made Mm to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; tkat we migktfie made tke rigkteousness of God in kim : and. Gal. iii. 13, 14. He katk redeemed us from the curse of tke Law, heing made a curse for us. ...Tkat tke blessing of Abraham migkt come on us. It is still upon the account of this union, that Christ was reckoned a sinner, and we are reckoned- as righteous. And, therefore, as Faith is the bond and tie of this union, so it is, without more difficulty, the way and means of our Justification : by faith, we are united unto Christ ; by that union, we have truly a righteousness ; and, upon that righteousness, the justice of God, as well as his mercy, is engaged to justify and acquit us. And thus you see this great truth explained, of Justification by Faith ; which hath, indeed, been as great a torment and vexation to men's understandings to conceive how it should be, as it hath been peace and quiet to their consciences in the certainty it was so. And, if these things were duly pondered, they might perhaps put a' speedy issue to many laborious and testy disputes ; especially concerning faith's instrumentality and causality in our Justification. (2) Concerning Obedience, or Good Works, two things remain to be inquired into. Their Necessity and Infiuence into Salvation, or our obtaining the state of eternal glory. Their Necessity and Influence into Justification, which gives us a right and title to that eternal glory. [1] The Covenant of Grace requires Good Works of Believers, as Necessary to Salvation. * , There is a lazy and lethargic error, that hath seized on many, who make Christ not only their Surety to work out a righteous- 214 ' THEDOCTEINEOF ness, but also their Servant to work out an obedience and holiness for them. What need they pray, or hear, or perform any. other duty of religion or obedience ; for Christ hath done all for them, and if they believe they are sure of being accepted and saved ? and, therefore, they count it the sign of a legal spirit, to do any more than idly sit ^own, and believe ; expecting to be carried to heaven in such a vain dream and contemplation. Here, 1st. It is true, that obedience is not necessary as the Procuring or Meritorious Cause of salvation. In respect of merit, we are to sit down and believe ; and those good works are saucy and sacrilegious, that aim at heaven upon the account of desert : Eph. ii. B,%-, By grace are ye saved....not of works. Indeed the Scripture doth frequently call salvation by the name- of a reward : Col. iii. 24 ; Of the Lord ye shall receive tke reward of tke inkeritance. Heb. xi. 26 ; Se kad respect unto tke recompense of tke reward. And it doth as frequently call the obedient worthy of this reward : Luke xx. 35 ; Tkey wkick skall he accounted worthy to obtain the world to come, and the resurrection from tke dead. 2 Thess i. 5 ; Tkat ye may be counted wortky of tke kingdom of God. Yet neither of these expressions doth amount to a proper merit ; such as commutative justice may require, where the price must fully answer the value of the thing purchased : but only such a merit and worthi ness, as ariseth from the free promise of God. God hath promised salvation to those, who obey him ; and, therefore, because of this promise, it is bestowed upon them as a reward of their obedience : and they are said to be worthy of such a reward, not because their obedience is in itself worthy of it ; but, rather, because it is worthy of God to stand to his word, and to fulfil the promise he hath made. 2dly. Good works are necessary to eternal salvation, though not as the meritorious cause of the reward, yet as the Disposing Cause of the Subject ; for these are they, which do dispose and prepare us for salvation. And therefore the Apostle, Col. i. 12, speaks of being made meet to be partakers of tke inheritance with tke saints in ligkt. If a "wicked person should be made partaker of this inheritance, how strange, bow vexatious a thing would it be to him, to spend an eternity there in holiness, who had here spent all his time in sin and wicked ness! And, therefore, God accustoms them, whom he saves by ordinary means, unto the work of heaven while they are here on earth. Let those.consider this, to whom holiness is so irksome and unsuitable now : it is utterly impossible, that such men can be made happy and blessed ; for, if God should take them up to heaven with THE TWO COVENANTS. 215 their natures unchanged, unrenewed, he would only free them from a painful hell, to sentence them to a troublesome one. ¦ How shall they sing the Song of the Lamb, who never had their hearts and voices tuned unto it ? Or how shall they endure to behold the glorious majesty of God face to face, who never before saw him so much as darkly through a glass by the eye of faith ? It is a perfect torture, for eyes, locked up" in a long and dismal darkness, to be suddenly stretched open against the bright beams of the sun ; and so would it be, if men, who have long lived in a blind and wicked state, should suddenly be stricken "with the dazzling glory of hea ven flashing in their faces. And therefore God usually prepares them, both to do the work and to bear the reward of heaven, be fore he brings them thither. It is said of the godly, Eev. xiv. 13, that they rest from tkeir labours, and tkeir works do follow tkem : this is especially meant, I doubt not, of the reward of their works ; but yet it holds true also of the works themselves : though, in heaven, they rest from their labour in working ; in working against temp- .tations, against corruptions, and under affiictions ; yet they rest not from their working, for "those very works, in which they employed themselves on earth, they also perform in heaven, so far forth as they have there an object for them. Were it, therefore, only to dispose and qualify the soul for the everlasting work of heaven, this were reason and ground enough, to require obedience and good works as necessary to salvation. 3dly. I need not tell you, that good works are necessary, upon the absolute and sovereign Command of God. If God should command good works for no other end, but to show the authority which he hath over us, and for us to show our obedience again unto him ; yet that cannot be any longer an un-. necessary thin^ which the Great God of Heaven and Earth en joins. 1 Thess. iv. 3 ; This is tke vdll of God: i. e. this is the great command of his revealed will, even your sanctiflcation. And we are said to be the workmanskip of God, created. ....unto good -works, whick God hatk before ordained tkat we skould walk in them : Eph. ii. 10. 4thly. They are necessary, as a Debt of Gratitude. If we had no other law, yet Christian Ingenuity would oblige us to obey that God, who hath already done so mnch for us, and from whom we expect such great things for the future. Hath God given us a spiritual life in present possession, and an eternal life in re version ; and is it possible we should be careless of his honour and service ? Certainly, the love of Christ must constrain us to live no longer to ourselves ; but to him, who died for us : as the Apostle urgeth it, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. It is such a powerful and persuasive 216 TH* DOCTEINE OF motive, that we cannot resist it, without the blackest brand of dis- ingenuity and ingratitude. Thus, again, the Apostle urgeth, 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; Ye are hougkt witk a price : therefore ghrify God in your hody, and in your spirit, which are God's. So that, upon the account of our redemption, we are obliged, by the strictest and most sacred bonds of grautude, to serve and glorify our Eedeemer. Yet, though this be the sweetest, it is not the only tie to duty. It will indeed be so, when we come to heaven : but, whilst we have the mixture of a base and sordid spirit, God hath not left his service to stand at the courtesy of our ingenuity ; but hath laid as absolute and per emptory commands upon us, as though he dealt only with slaves and vassals ; and yet urgeth it as much upon our gratitude and in genuity, as if the only prerogative he hath over us, were but love and friendship. 5thly. Obedience and good works are necessary, as the Way and Means whereby we must obtain salvation. And so, though they have no necessity of causality in procuring it by their own merit, yet they have a necessity of order or method, according to which God will bestow it, and not otherwise. And therefore the Apostle tells us, that God hath fm-e-ordained good works, tkat we skould walk in tkem. They are the pathway, that he hath chalked out for us to heaven ; and, therefore, as ever we -will arrive thither, it is necessary that we walk in this way. Yea, should it be supposed that an elect or a regenerate person should forsake this way of obedience, and betake himself unto the broad way wherein the most walk, we affirm that he is going tbe direct and ready road to hell ; and hell he cannot escape, unless he stop and return. Let their rhouths, therefore, be for ever silenced, who ex claim against the doctrine of Justification and Salvation by Faith, as that, which destroys the necessity of Good Works. We are far from that libertinism, to conclude, that,-because Christ hath obeyed the whole Law for us, therefore we are exempted from obedience. He hath done for us whatsoever was required, in order to merit and satisfaction ; yet he hath not done for us whatever was re quired, in order to obedience and a holy conversation ; that is, Christ bath done bis own work for us ; but he hath not done Our work for us : he hath done the work of a Mediator and Eedeemer; but he never did the work of a sinner, that stood in need of a Ee deemer, so as to excuse him from it. And, therefore, though men may be justified by a surety, yet they cannot be sanctified by a surety, but, still, holiness, obedience, and good works must be per sonal, and not imputative. THE TWO COVENANTS. 217 Thus then you see the absolute necessity of good works, in those who are capable of performing them, in order unto eternal salva tion. They are necessary, not indeed as the meretorious cause of it, but as a preparing and disposing cause ; necessary, by God's absolute and indispensable command ; as a debt of gratitude ; and, lastly, as the way and means, by which alone it can be obtained. Thus the Apostle, Heb. v. 9 ; Christ is become tke Author of eternal salvation unto all tkem that obey kim. [2] The next thing to be inquired into, is, the Necessity and In fluence of Obedience and Good Works, into our Justification. And, in order tb this, I shall lay down these following particulars. 1st. Good works, or obedience, doth not justify us in the sight of God, as it is itself our righteousness. This is the main scope and drift of the "viirhole Epistle to the Eo mans, and of a great part of the Epistle to the Galatians. It were endless to cite all the texts : see only Eom. iii. 20 ; By tke deeds of tke Law tkere skall no flesh be justified in, kis sigkt: and v. 28, the Apostle lays down this great conclusion as the upshot of his dis pute, Tkerefore we conclude, saith he, tkat a man is justified.....ivithout tke deeds of tke Law : and. Gal. ii. 16; Knowing that a man is not , justified by tke deeds of tke Law. It is needless to add more. And, therefore, I shall only answer an objection or two, drawn from Scripture, against this doctrine. For, (1st) Some may say that the Scripture seems to attribute Justi fication unto Works, as well as unto Faith : for it is said of Phin eas, Psal. cvi. 30, 31, that he executed judgment (viz., in killing Zimri and Cosbi) and tkat was imputed unto kim for rigkteousness. But, to this, the answer is easy : That the Psalmist speaks only of the righteousness of that particular act of Phineas, that it was imputed to him for righteousness : i, e, it was accounted by God as a righteous deed ; though, perhaps, others might censure it, as pro ceeding from rash and unwarrantable zeal, acting without "a com-' mission. But, (2dly) The great place, most tirged a-nd insisted on, for Justifi- tion by Works, is James, chap, ii., from the 14th verse to the end ; especially verse 24 ; Ye see, tken, kow tkat hy works a man is j'usti fied, and not hy faitk only. Here the grand difficulty is, how we shall reconcile St. Paul, as serting, that we are justified by faith only without works, with St. James, affirming we are justified by works, and not by faith only. To this I answer : That there is no opposition at all between the two Apostles. For St. Paul only excludes works, from being the 218 THE DOCTEINE OF way and means of our Justification; and St. James only excludes that faith, which is without works. St. Paul disputes against Le galists and Self-justiciaries, who trusted to their o-wn works to just ify them ; and, against them, he lays do-wn this conclusion. That it is faith, and not works, that doth justify : but St. James disputes against the Gnostics and Libertines, who trusted to an outward and fruitless profession of faith, or rather indeed to a vain fancy instead of faith ; and, against them, he lays down this conclusion. That not by faith only, but by works, a man is justified. St. Paul's scope is, to show by what we are justified ; and that, he tells us, is by faith : St. James's scope is to show what kind of faith that is, which ¦ must justify us ; not an empty, vain, fantastical faith, but such as is operative and productive of good works : his intent is not, to ex clude faith from our justification, no nor so much as to join works with it in partnership and commission ; for, verse 23, he tells us, the Scripture was fulfilhd, wkich saitk, Ahrakam believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness : the very place, which St. Paul, Eom. iv. 3, Gal. iii. 6, makes use of to prove Justification by Fatth : and, therefore, when he saith a man is justified by works, he contends for nothing else but a Working Faith : Abraham, saith he, was, justified hy works, ver. 21 : if you ask how that doth appear,, he tells you it was because his faith was imputed unto kim for right eousness: now let any man declare, that can, what sense there can be in this proof, if, by being justified by faith, he should mean any thing else besides a working faith. So that the upshot of all that St. James here intends, is, to show us, that the faith, which justifies us, must be a faith bringing forth good works ; and that, we grant and contend for : and, likewise, to exclude a barren speculative faith, which is not accompanied with good works ; to exclude it, I say, from having any influence into our Justification. So, in the 14th verse, Wkat dotk it profit tkougk a man say he kath faitk, and have nft works? Can faitk save kim? i. e. Can such a faith as hath no works save him? This faith he calls a dead faith : v. 17; the faith of devils : v. 19 ; and the faith of a vain man : v. 20 : now a dead faith, a faith that may be in devils and vain men, is no true faith, nor can any affirm that it will justify. Thus you see St. Paul and St. James fully accorded, about this doctrine of Justifica tion by Faith. St. Paul affirms, that it is faith alone that justifies: St. James denies, that a lonely faith can justify : and we assent to both as true ; for the faith, which alone justifies us, is not a lonely or solitary faith, but accompanied and attended by good works. That is the first particular. Good works are not the righteous ness by which we are justified. THE TWO COVENANTS. 219 2dly. Though we are not justified by works, yet good works are necessary to our Justification, so that we cannot possibly be justi fied without them. There must, at least, be those inward good works of sorrow for sin, hatred of it, true repentance and humiliation, hope in the par doning mercy of God though Jesus Christ. Yea, faith itself must be in the soul as it is a good work, before it can justify : this is evi dent ; for if faith justify, and a justifying .faith be a good work (though it doth not justify as it is so) then some good work is abso lutely necessary to Justification. Yea, 3dly. Good works are absolutely necessary, to perserve the state of Justification when- once obtained. It is impossible that we should maintain our Justification, -with out believing, repenting, mortifying the deeds of the body, and performing the duties of new obedience ; all which are good works ; and the reason is, because, as soon as these cease, their contraries, which are utterly inconsistent with a justified estate, succeed in the room of them. If faith, repentance, and mortification cease, it is impossible that Justification can be preserved ; otherwise, a man might be a justified unbeliever, a justified impenitent, a justified slave to his lusts ; which is a contradiction. You see then that good works are necessary, both for the first obtaining of Justifica tion, and for the preservation of it when obtained. Hence, then, 4thly. We may easily determine that much debated question, Whether good works be required in the Covenant of Grace as a condition of Justification. For i:^ by a Condition of Justification we negatively.understand that, without which we cannot be justified, then certain it is, that, in this sense, good works are a condition of it. But, if we take condition posi tively, for that, whereby we are justified, so not works, but a work ing faith, is the condition. We are not justified by works, neither can we be justified without them. And, therefore, when the Apos tle tells us, Eom. iii. 28, that we are justified by faitk witkout tke deeds of the Law, this must not be understood without the presence of works, for that I have shown you is necessarily required, but without their causality and influence into our Justification. Con ditions we may call them, in a large sense, because they are indis pensable required in the person justified ; but they are, in no wise, causes or means of our Justification. ? So that, you see the doctrine of Justification by Faith is no pat ronage for looseness and libertinism. Good works are now as ne cessary under the Covenant of Grace, as ever they were under the 220 THE TWO COVENANTS. Covenant of Works ; but only to other ends and purposesj The Covenant of Works required them, that we might be justified by them ; but the Covenant of Grace requires them, that we might be justified by faith. Let none 'think, that the Covenant of Grace gives any dispensation from 'working ; or that an airy and specu lative faith, and a barren and empty profession, are enough to an swer the terms of this covenant : Can faitk save kim ? and yet what other is the faith of many professors ? Should I bid them show me their faith by their works, I much doubt, that, besides phrases and canting, we should have 'but very slender evidences of *-heir Chris tianity ; and yet these men are very apt to condemn others for carnal legalists, and low attainers. But let such notionists flatter them selves as they please ; yet, certainly, they will find such low attain ers, who work out their salvation with fear and trembling, more exalted saints in glory, than those, who think both working, fear, and trembling too slavish and servile, and below the free spirit of the gospel. Now tke Ood of peace, tkat brought again from tke dead our Lord Jesus Christ, tkat great Shepkerd of tke skeep, tkrougk tke bhod of tke everlasting covenant, make you perfect to do kis will, working in you tkat wkick is well-pleasing in his sigkt tkrougk Jesus Christ: to wkom be ghry for ever and ever. Amen. THE NATUEE AND. NE CE SSIT Y OF REI^ENERATION ; OR, THE NEW -BIRTH. •Jesus answered. Verily, verily, Isay unto tkee. Except a man be born of ivater and of tke Spirit, ke cannot enter into tke kingdom of God. John iii. 5. The former part of this chapter, in which division these words fall, reports the conference that passed betwixt Christ and Nicode- mus. Their discourse is concerning the great mystery of the New- Birth ; of which this night-disciple had but a dark and midnight conception. In the third verse, our Saviour startles him ; and as serts, as he doth again in the text, the absolute necessity of this great change : Eoccept a man be horn again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In the verse following, Nicodemus objects against it ; and thinks to refute the Second Birth, by such pitiful doting arguments, as might alone prove him twice a child : Can a man, says he, be horn wken he is old? Can ke enter tke second time into Ms mother's womb, and be horn ? No doubt but this learned Eabbi thought he had brought a gravelling instance against this new doc trine of the New-Birth. Such ignorant pieces are the most wise and learned, when they attempt by reason to search out those mys terious effects of Go^'s Spirit, which cannot be known otherwise than by illumination and experience. Our Saviour, therefore, in the words of the text, takes off this gross and ill-conceited objec tion: and tells him, that he speaks not of a carnal, but of a spirit ual regeneration and birth ; whereby we are begotten again to a lively hope, and are made the children of God : and so silenceth those impertinent impossibilities, on which Nicodemus insisted : Except a man he born of water and of tke Spirit, he can in no wise enter into tke kingdom of God. These words are a description of a Christian's New-Birth : which is here set forth both by the Efficient Cause of it. Water and the Spirit: and also by the absolute Necessity of it unto eternal life; without this no man can enter into the kingdom of God, that is, into heaven, the place where the throne of God's kingdom is es tablished. To be born of water and of tke Spirit, may admit of a double in terpretation : for either. First. By Water is meant Baptism ; the element being put for the ordinance, which is the sacrament of our regeneration : and thus you have it in Eph. v. 26. where the Church is said to be C221J 222 OF BEGENEEATION: sanctified and cleansed, through tke washing of water. There is, in deed, a Baptismal Eegeneration, whereby all, that are made par takers of that ordinance, are, according to Scripture language, sanc tified, renewed, and made the children of God, and brought within the bond of the covenant : but all this is but after an external man ner ; as being, in this ordinance, entered members of the Visible Church.' This external regeneration by water entitles none to eter nal life ; but, as the Spirit moves upon the face of these waters, and doth sometimes secretly convey quickening -virtue through them. Now if you take this being born of water to signify external re generation in the ordinance of Baptism, the question will be, how it can be verified, that, without this, none can enter into tke kingdom of God. It was a mistake of some of the Fathers, and among them of St. Austin, who excluded all, both infants and adult, out of heaven that died without Baptism ; although by no default of their own, but by an insuperable necessity ; unless they were such as died martyrs, their being baptized with their own blood, as St. Austin speaks, serving them instead of baptism by water. But this opin ion is unwarrantable, and contrary to the most received judgment of the Church in the Primitive Times : who, if they had thought this Baptismal Eegeneration was indispensibly necessary to salva tion, would not certainly have stinted and confined the adminis tration of it only to twO times of the year, Easter and Pentecost ; thereby to bring upon themselves the blood of their souls, that should in that interim have died without Baptism. Therefore that opinion was rather private, than the public judgment of the Church, though learned men were of it. Therefore, if you will understand Baptism by being born of wa ter, if it be true that none are saved that are not born of water ; we must distinguish of being unavoidably and inevitably deprived of the opportunity of Baptism, and a wilful contempt of it : and, in this latter sense, must our Saviour's assertion be understood. He, that contemns being born by Baptism, and out of tbat contempt finally neglects being baptised, shall never enter into tke kingdom of God: but, for others, whom not contempt, but necessity, deprives of this ordinance, the want of it shall not in the least prejudice their salvation. Secondly. To be horn of water and of tke Spirit, may denote to us the manner of the Spirit's proceeding in the work of regeneration. Except a man he born of water and of tke Spirit : that is, except he be renewed by the Holy Ghost, working as water ; leaving the OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 223 same effect upon the soul in cleansing and purifying it from sinful defilements, as water doth upon the body in washing oft' contracted dirt and filth. Nor, indeed, is this manner of expression strange to the Holy Scriptures : for John Baptist, St. Matt. iii. 11, speaking of Christ, tells them, that he should baptize them witk tke Soly Ghost and witk fire : that, is, he should baptize them with the Holy Ghost, working as fire : for, as fire eats out and consumes the rust and dross of metals ; so those, that are baptized with the Spirit, are as it were plunged into that heavenly flame, whose searching energy devours all their dross, tin, and base alloy. So then, here also, to he born of water and of the Spirit, may be no more than to be born of the Spirit, purifying the soul, even as water purifies the body So variously is the efficiency of the Holy Ghost, in the work of regeneration, expresse '. in Scripture language : it consumes our dross as fire, and washetb off our filth as water. These two interpretations may be given of the text, Eoccept a man be born of water and of the Spirit : that is, except he be externally regenerated by Baptism, when he hath such an opportunity to re ceive that ordinance, that nothing but his own wilful contempt of it can hinder it ; and be also internally regenerated by the Spirit of God working a mighty and thorough change upon his heart ; be shall never be saved. Or, again, it may be understood thus : Ex cept a man be renewed by the efficacy of the Holy Ghost, cleans ing the inward man from sin, as water cleanseth the outward man from filth, he shall never enter into heaven. In either o£ which senses you take it, the words will well bear it. Having given you this explication of the words, for the more full and clear prosecution of this Doctrine of Eegeneration, it wil be expedient to show you, I. WHAT THIS NEW-BIETH OE EEGENJ^EATION IS. And that I shall do, both Negatively and Positively. i. Negatively. And, here, to be Born Again or New-Born, 1. Is not io have any essential change pass upon tke essential parts of kuman nature. The essential parts of human nature I call the soul and body ; which remain the same, for substance, after Eegeneration, as they were before. Indeed Flagicius lUyricus, that held original sin to be of the substance of the soul, was driven by force of consequence also to affirm, that Eegeneration made a change in the substance and essence of the soul : and the Familists, of late, have entertained strange and blasphemous conceits concerning Eegeneration, as if it were a metamorphosis of the creature into the very being and 224 OF EEGENEEATION: nature of God , making that change, that is wrought thereby, to be not so much a new creature, as a new deity. But these are wild and uncouth fancies : for, if Eegeneration wrought any such change upon man, as that he is not now the same person regenerated, as ho was unregenerated ; how doth the Apostle say, 1 Tim. i. 13 ; I was before a blaspkem.er, and a persecutor, and injurious? then also grace, in stead of converting, destroyed the sinner ; and, consequently, no 'sinner yet was or shall be saved. But eno}igh of this. Grace, therefore, makes no such physical change upon the natural being or essence of man : but the understanding, will, and affections are the same for nature and essence, in the rej,enerate as in the unre generate ; but only they are rectified and endowed with infused habits. 2. Regeneration is not a conversion from an idolatrous and an erro neous way of worship, to the profession and ackowhdgment of tke true faitk. Much less, then, is it not a conversion from one sect and party of Christians to another : as many ignorant persons suppose, that, when they are won over from one truth it may be to an error, pre sently they think they are converted by it, because they join' in with another party of Christians. But there may be Proselytes gained over to the Church, either from Heathenism or from Popish Idolatry, whose souls notwithstanding may never be gained over unto Christ. As travellers, that come into a foreign land, still re main subjects to their natural lord : so these may come into the Church, which is the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth ; and yet still remain sla-v^s to their natural lord, the Devil. Indeed, I find in Scripture, that, when Christ and his Apostles laboured to convert the Jews or others unto the profession and acknowledgment of Christ, and to brjng them to a thorough work of Eegeneration, the ' chief thing that they insisted on was, to persuade them to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Saviour of the World. Now, though this Dogmatical Faith is not Eegeneration, yet it was then almost an infallible test of it ; and, to persuade them to be lieve that Jesus was the Christ, was to prevail upon them to be truly and really converted. It was seldom seen among those Primi tive Christians, where there were no carnal respects nor outward advantages that could commend the Gospel to the secular interests of men ; when the only reward of professing Christ, was reproaches, persecution, and martyrdom : seldom was it seen, that any were won over from Heathenism or Judaism, to make profession of the despised name of Christ, but such, as were inwardly renewed by that almighty grace, that can conquer all the dgspites and affronts OB, THE NEW BIETH. 225 of the world : few were so foolish as to profess Christ in hypocrisy, when that hypocrisy, would endanger their own lives ; and yet, be cause it was but in hypocrisy, it could gain them no benefit by his death. Therefore it is, that the Scripture speaks of those, that made a profession of the name of Christ, as if they were regener ated, because it was then almost an infallible mark of it : thus you have it in 1 John iv. 15. Wkosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelletk in kim, and he in God: so, again, in chap. V. 1 ; He, that believeth tkat Jesus is the Ckrist, is born of God. But now, when the very name of a Christian is become a title of honour, and the same punishments do now attend the denying of Christ that then attended the acknowledgment of him, men may indeed be called by his name that never were effectually called by his grace, and may make a profession of the true faith and yet remain Christian Infidels. 3. Tke reformationof a dissolute and -dehaucked life, falls skort of this spiritual N(:w- Birth This is that, with which many do soothe up themselves, when they reflect back upon the wild extravagances of their former times : how outrageously wicked they were ; drunkards, unclean, riotous, blasphemers, s^vearers, and the very worst of sinners : and, now that they find themselves deadened to these things, and that they are grown men of stayed and sober lives and conversations, straight they conclude, that, certainly, such a great change as this is could never be made on them otherwise than by a renewing work of the Spirit : and, yet, this amendment there may be, where there is no Eegeneration. Men may gather up their loose and dissolute lives within the compass of civility and moral honesty, and yet thev may be ufter strangers to a work of true and saving grace : and this may be ascribed to two grounds ; partly, to the convictions of God's Spirit awakening natural conscience to see the horror, and to foresee the danger, that is in such infamous sins ; and, partly, to prudence, gained from the frequent experiences that they have had of the manifold inconveniences brought upon themselves by such sins formerly. These two may make a great amendment in men's lives and conversations ; and, yet, both these convictioijs and pru dence fall far short of true regenerating grace. All the seeming amendment of such men's lives may be effected two ways : either by changing their sins, or by tiring out the sinner. (1) The life may seem to be reformed, when men only change their rude and boisterous sins, for such as are more demure and 'sober. "Vol. ii.— 15 223 OF BEGENEEATION: When men, from riotous, grow worldfy ; when from profane and irreligious, they grow superstitious and hypocritical ; from atheists, to be heretics; when men make this change of boisterous and roaring sins, for those that are more demure and sober, they are apt to think that this change must be a change of their natures : whereas, indeed, it is but only a changihg and bartering of their sins ; and usually it is such a change too, that, though it render the life more inoffensive, yet it makes the soul more incurable. St. Austin, long since, hath told us. That "vices may give place, when yet no virtue takes it ; but one vice gives place to another. (2) The life may seem to be reformed, when men are only tired out with' the r fins, or have outgrown their sins. There are sins, that are proper and peculiar to such a state and season of a man's life, upon the altering of which they vanish and disappear. The sins of youth drop off in declining age, being then incongruous. This is that, which 'deceives many : when they look back Upon those numberless vanities that they have forsaken and shaken off, and find how deadened their hearts are to those sinful ways which before they delighted in, they conclude, that, certainly, this great change must needs proceed from true grace ; whereas, indeed, they do not leave their sins but their sins leave them, and drop off from them as rotten fruit from a tree : the faculties of their souls and the members of their bodies, that before were instruments of sin unto unrighteousness, are it may be. blunted and become unserviceable. This maim of nature is far from regenerating. grace : that doth not disable a man from the ser"vice of sin ; but only sets him free from it. 4. To be endowed udtk eminent gifts and with tke common graces of the Spirit, is not to he Regenerated. ' These may be bestowed upon the worst of men. There is grace, that renders a man lovely in God's eyes ; and there is grace, that renders a man lovely only in men's eyes. Of both these, one and the same Spirit is the author. In some, the Spirit sanctifies the heart ; and, in others, it only illuminates the head. Balaam was irradiated with the supernatural light of prophecy. Judas was dignified with the extraordinary office of the apostleship ; and sent out to work miracles, together with the rest of the Apostles. Yea, so much are the gifts of the Spirit, the operations of the Spirit, that they are, in a peculiar manner, called the Holy Ghost himself See this in Acts i. 4. Christ commands his Disciples there, to wait at Jerusalem for tke promise of tke Fatker : that is fax the gifts of the Spirit ; for that was the promise of the Father : and - OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 227 he tells them, in the eighth verse, that they should receive power af ter that tke Soly Gkost was come upon them : certain it is, that they had already received the Holy Ghost, in the sanctifying graces of it : we cannot think that they were ih an unregenerate, unconverted estate, after Christ's death ^, but they had not as yet received the plentiful effusion of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, of speaking with tongues, of a bold and ready utterance, of working of miracles, and the like, which were then necessary to qualify them for the successful spreading of a new doctrine. And this is- more clear in Acts viii., when Philip preached at Samaria, it is said he con verted many, in verse 12, so that, doubtless, many of them had received the Spirit already, in its saving graces ; and yet it is said, in verse 16, that the Holy Ghost was not yet fallen upon any of them : that is, though they were converted, yet they were not endowed with those wonderful -gifts of the Spirit before mentioned, which afterwards they received. Had we been among them, and heard t-hem speak of Christ and Gospel Mysteries -with affections and con victions beyond natural capacities ; had we heard them speak un studied languages, and seen them working miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead ; could we have thought, that it was possible for any of those, who were so favoured and filled by the Holy Ghost, to be yet in an unregenerate state, in a state of wrath and damnation ? Yet, that there might some of them be so is cl^r : for the Apostle speaks of the like ; such, who had tasted of tke hea venly gift and were made partakers of tke Soly Gkost, and yet might fall away, Heb. vi. 4, 6 : that, is, there were those, in those Primi tive Times, that had an effusion of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost poured out upon them ; of speaking with tongues, of a bold and ready utterance, of working of miracles, and the like ; and yet such as these, that had -tasted of these heavenly gifts, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, fell away, that is, they, were never truly regenerate. And, certainly, if these extraordinary gifts might be found separate from true grace, much more may those inferior gifts, that the Spirit now dispenseth among Christians be without true regen erating grace. A man may discourse of spiritual mysteries copi ously and clearly : he may have gifts of knowledge and utterance : he may preach with evidence and demonstration, and pray with enlargement and affection ; and yet, notwithstanding all this, be an utter stranger to a saving work of grace. Gifts prove nothing: these gifts may be but the gilding of a rotten post, the varnish of a corrupt heart. As it -was a custom of old to crown those beasts' 228 OF BEGENEEATION: heads with garlands of flowers, that were ordained to be a sacriflce : so God may sometimes crown the heads of wicked men with flowery parts and gifts, whom yet he intends to make a sacrifice of to his wrath and justice. 5. A civil and karmless demeanor, is rmt this state of Regeneration. There are many, that are of a good nature, that live blamelessly as to the world, and that nearly resemble grace : such as St. Paul was ; who, speaking of himself saith, toucking ihe Law, ke was blame less : and s-uoh was the young man in the Gospel, that came to Christ and demanded what further lesson he should take out; having obeyed all the commands, as he thought: and, yet, this also is short of the regenerating grace of the Spirit, and argues only a sweet disposition, not a gracious heart. And thus' you see how easily men may mistake themselves in the great work of regeneration, upon which depends their eternal happiness ; for. Except a man he born again, he shall never see tke kingdom of God: and yet it is too much to be feared, that many, yea very many, rest upon these things ; and think the g^eat deter mining change is certainly wrought upon them, only because they are morally honest, or eminently gifted, or much reformed, or gained over to the profession of the truth with such a sect or party of professors ; whereas, indeed, the New-Birth consists in none of all these things. ii. Briefly, therefore, to inform you what it is, you may take it thus : Eegeneeation is a change of the whole man, in eveey PAET AND faculty THEEEOF, FBOM A STATE OF SINFUL NATUEE, TO A STATE OF SUPEENATUEAL GEACE ; WHEEEBY THE IMAGE OP GOD, THAT WE DEFACED AND LOST BY OUE FIEST TB.iNSGBESSION, IS AGAIN, IN SOME GOOD MEASUEE, EESTOBBD. 1. Now, as every science hath its Proper Terms, that are as so many keys to unlock the mysteries contained in it : so, especially, divinity abounds with terms, that 'are peculiar to its own doctrine; 'and, in no one point, more than in this of the great change, that a sinner undergoes, when he is translated from a state of nature to a state of grace. That grace, that concurs unto this great change, is of two sorts : Either such, as alters the relations, whereift we stand unto God ; or such, as alters the dispositions and habit of our souls. Of the former sort, are Election, which is antecedent to our Faith ; and Eeconciliation, Justification, Adoption, and Mystical Union', which are consequents unto it. Of these graces it is not my busi- OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 229 ness how to treat, because they lodge only in the breast of God ; and their formal effect is not a supernatural infusing of any new habits or principles, but only of new relations. When we speak of a person justified and adopted, the true adequate notion of these terms doth not declare how bis heart is changed towards God, but, if I may so speak, how God's heart is changed towards him ; not that he stands otherwise affected unto God, but otherwise related to God, than formerly : of a guilty malefactor, he becomes ac quitted and accepted, by the grace of Justification ; and, of an 'alien, he becomes a son and heir, by the grace of Adoption. But " then there are other graces, that are inherent in us, and work a mighty change in our moral habits and principles ; and whereby we also, though not so properly, are denominated gracious. God is 'denominated gracious, by the grace of Justification, Adop tion, Mystical Union, and Election : and we are denominated graci ous, by the habitual graces, that his Spirit infuseth into us and worketh ih us. And these are every where besparkled up and down in the Scripture, where it speaks of Faith, Love, Patience, Self denial. Meekness, Knowledge, -Temperance, and the rest of them : these, as so m'any stars, ought contiYiually to shine forth in a Christian's life, and, though they may appear very differently, some obscure and cloudy and others bright and glittering, some at one season setting and others, at another season rising, yet they all make up but one constellation, whereby we are translated, as the Scripture speaks, out of darkness into marvelhus ligkt. Now the framing of this complexion or body of grace in the heart, is that, which we call Eegeneration ; it being a fixed con stellation of all the several graces of the Spirit in the heart. The Scripture gives it divers other appellations. It is called the new man, in Eph. iv. 24 : the new creature : Gal. vi. 15 : a trans formation into the image of God : 2 Cor. iii. 18 : a participation of ike divin» nature : 2 Pet. i. 4 : and, in other places, too long to be insiOTed on now, it is called Conversion, Effectual Calling, Sancti fication, and Eeno vation : and sometimes, too, it is termed by the name of two principal graces, the two greatest limbs of the New Man, Faith and Eepentance, which are often put for the whole work of Eegeneration. All these expressions set forth the same- work of grace upon the heart, though they may be understood under different notions. The New Man denotes the greatness and entireness of the change. Tho New Creature denotes that almighty po"W"er, whereby that entire change is wrought. The Image of God and the Di"vine Nature de- 230 OF BEGENEEATION: . note that conformity, that is thereby made in us to the holy will and nature of God. Effectual Calling and Conversion denote our returning to God, after our wandering and straying from him. Sanctification denotes that influence, which this great change hath to sot us apart for God from common uses ; for sanctification, in propriety of speech, signifies a separation of a person or thing from profane and ordinary uses to the service and glory of God; indeed Sanctification doth, in strictness of speech, differ from Eegenera tion, though commonly we use them promiscuously ; for Eegene ration is the implanting of the habits and principles of grace, but Sanctification is properly the strengthening and increasing of them : it is the progress, that 'a holy soul makes, when it passes on from one degree of grace to another. Eegeneration is, in nature, before Justification ; but Sanctifica tion follows it. And, hence, we may observe the order, in which the Apostle rangeth them in that famous place, that climax, in Eom. viii. 29, 30, where every grace is a round of the scala cssli, that Jacob's ladder, whereby we ascend up to heaven. It is a place, if any in the Bdbk of God, that deserves our most serious thoughts. Says the Apostle, Wham he did foreknow, them he aho did predestinate. -If you ask wherein God's prescience and foreknowledge differ from predestination, a question that hath -caused much strife, I answer : Prescience here respects the end : predestination respects the means, how to obtain it. So that the sense is this : Whom God foreknew that he would save, them he did predestinate^ to the means of salvation. He bath predestinated us, says the Apostle, that we might he confor med to tke image of kis Son : that is, he prelestinated them to grace, which is the .way and means to glory. So, then where it is said whom God foreknew, that signifies God's purpose and intention of saving some : where it is said, those he did predestinate, that sig nifies God's purpose of calling those, whom he didintei-fd to save, unto the knowledge of bis Son, and to the means whereby he might save them. It follows, Wkom ke did predestinate, tkem ke also calhd: that is, with an effectual call, which is the same with regeneration : whom he predestinated, them he regenerated ; and wkom ke thus called, or regenerated, tkem ke aho justified. Here you see Justifica tion is put after Eegeneration, though, indeed, in order of nature, it follows Eegeneration : for we are justified by faith ; now faith is part of that new nature, that is bestowed upon us in Eegenertition : we are justified by faith ; wherefore faith is before our Justification, and is part of our Eegeneration. The Apostle now proceeds to the OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 231 last link of this golden chain : Wkom ke justifies, tkem ke also glo rifies : where we may observe, that it is at least probable, that the glorification, that the Apostle here speaks of, i^ay not be the Glory of Heaven, because he speaks of it as a thing already past and done ; whom he hath justified he hath glorified : we may, without offering violence to the words, interpret it of Sanctification ; whom he hath justified, them he hath glorified, that is sanctified : so that glorifi cation here is no more than Sanctification ; for Sanctification is also called glory, in 2 Cor. iii. 18. We also hekolding the glory of tke Lord, are ckanged into tke same image, from ghry to ghry, even as by tke Spirit of ihe Lord ; from glory to glory, that is, from one degree of Sanctification to another ; for, indeed, holiness, that is our Sancti fication, and the glory of heaven, are but one and the same thing for substance, differing in degrees and circumstances. So much now for the Names, whereby this great change is called. 2. Let us now proceed to consider the Nature of it. Which, because it is a mutation of the whole man, we cannot better do, than by considering the terms, both from which and to which, this mutation or change passeth. Let us, therefore, first take a view what man is, in his unregenerate state ; and, then, behold him, as he is new, and as he bear^ the g o- rious lineaments of God's image upon his soul. (1) In*his Unregenerate State. I shall not consider him, as he is obnoxious to di-vine wrath and vengeance ; for, so, he is a child of wrath, an heir of hell and per dition. But I shall consider him, as he stands alienated from the divine holiness and purity ; and as he is despoiled of all those choice perfections, wherewith his nature was at first endowed. And, here, give me leave to represent to your eyes a wretched and sad spectacle. Whose bowels cannot but yearn, to read that description, which the Prophet makes, Ezek. xvi. 4, 5, of a poor, forsaken infant, swathed in its own blood, cast out into the open field, helpless for its own weakness, and loathsome for its deformity ? This is the very emblem of wbat we ourselves are, in our unregen- er.icy ; cast out to the loathing of our persons, rolling ourselves in our own filth, and impotent that we cannot help ourselves. But I shall not stand to represent it tp you in generals. To came therefore to particulars, I shall give you these following posi tions ; which may clear up, both wherein consists the state of unre generacy, and also the misery of such a state. [1] The corruption of an unregenrate state consists, in blotting out the Divine image ; that resemblance of God, which was stamped upon our souls in our first creation. 232 OF EEGNEBATI on: What the Image of God is, I shall more clearly show you after wards ; and how it is again restored to us in Regeneration. In the mean time, it may suffice, that, by the Image of God, I mean those spiritual habits of linowledge and holiness, that were conferred on Adam in his first creation, and on us in him. These habits were natural to him, and concreated with him ; whereby bis understand ing was raised to a clear and satisfying knowledge of divine truths,- and his will inclined to a free and unforced performance of di"vine and spiritual actions : in this consisted a great part of the Image of God. It consisted also, in the harmonious subordination of the inferior' faculties to the superior ; the will being subject to the dic tates of the understanding, and the' affections subject to the com mands and sovereignty of the will. But, now, all this is lost : in our unregenerate state we are deprived of it; and there is nothing, but ruin and an undigested " chaos left in an unregenerate soul. Darkness covers the face of the understanding, that great deep ; and disorders and tumults sway the affections contrary to the guidance of the will, and these sway the will contrary to the dictates of rea son : so that it is a state of mere confusion, disorder, and rebellion; as of man against God, so also of man against himself It is a ^tate of utter blindness and impotency : When we were weak, then God sent his Son in the likeness of flesh. Yea, it is not only a state of weakness, but it is also a stijte of spiritual death : Y(m katk ke quickened, wko were dead in trespasses and sins: Eph. ii. 1. [2] The corruption of an unregenerate state consists, in our aver sion from God, and in our inordinate conversion to the creature. And this necessarily follows, upon the loss of God's Image. The soul of man is still an active, busy creature ; and must still be put ting itself forth in actions suitable to its own nature. Now while it did enjoy God's Image, it had power to point every motion of the soul to God, and to fix upon God both as the object and end of all its actions, and that made them all to be holy and di-vine : but, being now deprived of .the Image of God, the soul grovels here be low ; and, instead of aspiring unto God, pitches its affections and thoughts only upon the creature : and this becomes sin and misery to it ; not because it affects the creature simply, but because it af fects the creature in an inordinate manner, that is, without affect ing God the Creator. Briefly and plainly, the soul must have an inclination and propension, one way or other : to incline to the obeying and loving of God, it cannot now, without the Image of God, that should raise up the affections of the soul to a spiritual pitch. Now this Image of God we are deprived of, and that justly OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 233 too, by our Fall ; and, therefore, now the whole bent and inclina tion of the soul, that ought to be carried out to God, but cannot, pitcheth upon what it can, and that is upon tJie creature ; those things, that please. the carnal sensual appetite, and that in an inor, dinate manner, to the neglect , and slighting, yea to the contempt and hating, of God. And this is the state ofthe soul in its unre generacy. [3] This corruption of an unregenerate state is spread over every power and faculty of the soul ; not one escaping the contagion of it. >But, yet, as the sea is called by divers names, according to the divers countries and shores that it flows along by ; so also this cor ruption of our nature is termed diversely, according to the divers faculties and powers of the soul that it hath depraved. In the un derstanding, it is called blindness and darkness ; in the will, stub bornness and perverseness : in the affections, it is called* disorder, sensuality, and irregularity : and yet, still, it is the same corrup tion of unregeneracy, in every one of them, the same body of sin and death ; though styled thus diversely, according to the divers faculties that it doth infect. [4] This corruption of an unregenerate state is unweariedly working out itself, in every act and motion of our souls. Not so much as one good thought could ever yet escape to heavep free from it. It is as a corrupt fountain, continually sending forth corrupt and bitter streams ; and, though these streams take several courses, and wander severally into several ways and channels, yet they all taste ofthe same brackishness : so, though the soul is va rious in its actions, yet all its actions have a taint and relish from the same corruption, that corruption that hath tainted the fountain. [5] Hence it fbllows, that, whatsoever an unregenerate man doth, it becomes sin to him. And that, whether you consider his religious, or his civil and ordinary actions. If you take the most splendid and gorgeous du ty of an unregenerate man, when it is performed with the most pomp, when his affections are most upon the wing, when he is in the highest elevation of soul ; yet this glittering duty is nothing else but tbe steam and reeking of corruption, and so becomes of fensive unto God, there being nothing of grace in it to perfume it. Hence the Psalmist speaks, in Psal. cix. 7 ; Let kis prayer become sin : and, says the Wise Man, Tke prayer of tke wicked is an abomi nation to the Lord ; Prov. XV. 8. The best duties of unregenrate men are no better, in God's account and acceptance, than abomina tion, the cidting off' a dog's neck, or as tke offering up of swine's blood, 234 OTEEGENEEATION: or whatever else the soul of God doth most abhor ; and how then might such unregenerate men wish themselves rather stocks or stones, senseless and unacted things, than such as they are, men of •vigorous and active principles ; since every imagination of their hearts, and every motion of their souls, is only evil before God ! There is nothing, that such men do, in the whole course of their lives, but, at the Last Day, it "will be found in God's register-book among the catalogue of their sins. Yea, even their commendable and necessary actions : Tke plowing of tke wicked, says the Wise Man, is an abomination to tke Lord: this man eats and drinks, plows and sleeps, and hath done so many thousands of such and such natural actions ; but he hath done them in a state of unregeneracy, and therefore they stand all upon the account for so many thou sand sins. Nay, be hath prayed so often, and heard so often, made so many prayers, and heard so many sermons, and done many good works ; but yet, all this while, he was in an unconverted estate : these, therefore, are set down in God's day-book, in black ; and they are registered among those sins, that he must give an account for, not for the substance of the actions themselves, but because they come from rotten principles, that defile the best actions which he can perform. His eating, as well as his gluttony ; his drink ing, as well as his drunkenness ; his converse, negotiation, and trafficing, as well as his covetousness, and inordinate love of the world ; are all get down, and reckoned by God for sins, and such sins as he must reckon for with God. I speak not -these things to discourage any, that may suspect themselves to be in" an unconverted estate, from the performance either of the duties of religion, or the necessary and civil affairs of this life : you cannot possibly sit still and do nothing : or, if you do sit still and do nothing, yet your idleness will be a sin. But I speak this only to show the absolute necessity of Eegeneration ; for, without this inward principle of grace, no action, how moral, how precious, how religious or necessary soever, but "will be cata logued down m God's day-book among the number of men's sins. (2) Having now considered the ierminum a quo, from which we pass to this great change, let us now consider what it is, that we acquire by the term to which we pass. And that I told you, when I gave you the description of Eegeneration, is the Image of God. Of this I spake somewhat before, but shall now do it more fully. The image of ,God is taken, in Scripture, in two senses. First. For the Essential and Coeternal Image of God the Father. And, so, Christ is called the Image of God, in Col. i. 15. He- is the OK, THE NEW-BIETH. 235 image of ihe invisihh God, says the Apostle. So also, Heb. i. 3. He is tke brightness of kis glory, that is, of God's glory ; and he is tke ex press image of Ms person. Indeed, it is infinitely past our reach, to conceive what a wonderful impression that was, that stamped the Image of the Father upon the Son, in such a sort, as to be the same in substance and duration with the original itself Secondly. Therefore, to come nearer to our purpose, the Image of God is taken sometimes, in Scripture, for that Eesemblance of God, that is upon the Soul of Man. And so it is said, in Gen. i. 27 ; that God created man in kis own image. Now, to be this image, implies two things. First: a likeness and similitude, that man bears unto God. Secondly : it implies, that God made himself the pattern and exemplar, when he drew this likeness of himself upon man. Two things, or two persons may be like each to other, which yet properly are not said to be the one the image of the other, un less the one be made purposely to resemble and represent the other; as milk is said to be like milk, but yet one part is not said to be image of the other. ^So, then, when it is said, God made man after Ms own image, it implies a likeness in him unto God ; and it im plies also, that this likeness is wrought in him by God, purposely to resemble him. Now, here, to clear our passage, I shall consider Thifee things. Wherein the Image of God consisted, in which man was, in his primitive state, created. What parts of that Image are lost and defaced by the Fall ; ahd what of it still remains upon the soul. And, What of that linage is again renewed and restored, in our Eegeneration. [1] What that primitive Image of God was, in which he created man. I answer Negatively and Positively. 1st. Negatively. . The image of God doth not consist in any cor poreal resemblance of him, or bodily similitude to hini. For our bodies, though tBey are of an admirable composure, yet they carry in them no resemblance of God, vvbo is a spirit, and who is the God of tke spirits of allfiesk. The learned do well distinguish, betwixt Imago, and Vestigium Dei. There are qusedam vestigia Dei, "certain footsteps of God," printed upon every creature ; by the tracing of which footsteps, we may find out his infinite power and godkead, as the Apostle speaks. Thus, there is not the least pile of grass but points upwards to God, as its wise and powerful Maker : there is not the least leaf, but hath written upon it the wisdom and power of God. Every creature, brute -and inanimate, bears the print of God's footsteps upon it. And, of this rank, are our bodies ; 236 OF BEGENEEATION: bearing upon them qusedam vestigia, some footsteps and tracks of God : and, by how much the more wonderfully they are framed and organized, in which respect the Psalmist saitfh, / am fearfully and wonderfully made; by so much the more discernible are the footsteps of God seen in our bodies, than in the bodies of other creatures : but yet this is not sufficient to make them Images of God ; for they have not in themselves any resemblance of the di vine nature, neither are they spirits nor intellectual substances as God is ; and therefore, though they are said to bear the print of God's footsteps, yet they are not said to bear God's Image : indeed there were some, that were called Anthropomorphites, that fancied God to be corporeal ; am^ that ascribed to him all members in pro priety, that the Scripture ascribed to him in condescension, as hands, head, eyes, and feet, and the like ; and, consequently, thought that God framed man's body, according to the image of his own : but this is a stupid error ; and a heath,en orator had more true infor mation in this point, when he tells us. That the virtues of man make him to be more like to God, than his shape doth : so, then, it is not the body of man, that is the Image df God. 2dly. Positively. And so we may take notice, that the Image of God consists, (1st) In such perfections, as are spiritual : I say, in such spiritual perfections, as are essential and necessary to man as man : such as the rational soul itself, together with those powers and faculties that are necessarily subjected and seated in it ; as the understand ing, will, and affections. For, by these, man may be said to bear the Image of God, be cause these have in them some faint glimpses and shadows of divine essence. The soul is a spirit ; and so is God : the soul is an intel lectual and free agent ; and so is God. Indeed the resemblance betwixt God and us, even in this very thing in which we bear some resemblance of God; is infinitely unsearchable and great. Mark that place, for the confirmation of this, in Gen. ix. 6. He, that shedde.th man's blood, by man shall kis blood be sked: for in tke image of God made he man. Wherein lies the force of this reason ? Do not all affirm, that man lost the Image of God, by big sin and fall ? Or, did God hereby intend to secure the lives of the regenerate, that have this image a^ain restored to them ? No, but the weight of the reason lies in this, that every man, whether regenerate or wicked, still bears the Image of God, even in this, that he hath a spiritual soul, and that he hath an intellectual mind, that he hath a free and self-determining will : and, therefore, whosoever murders OE, THE NEW BIETH. 237 man deserves death, because he murders God in Effigies , he mur ders the Image of God. This now is one part of the Image of .God ; the spiritual soul, and the rational powers and faculties of it. (2dly) Another part of God's Image consists in those habitual perfections of man's human nature, that were not essential to him : but rather ornamentive ; and necessary, not simply to his being, but rather to his well-being. To make man a rational creature, it was simply necessary to breathe into him a rational soul ; and it was also necessary, that that rational soul should be endowed with faculties, with understanding, will, and affections. " But, over and above these necessary things, God gave him right eous habits, that might rectify those faculties: and these are Three: [1st] God darted into his Understanding a clear and exact know ledge ; not only of those things that are natural, but of those things that are divine also. Of his knowledge in things that are natural, we have a clear in stance ; when, as all creatures passed before Adam as servants to do liomage to their lord, he was able, by a transient view and in tuition of them, to give them all names according to their several natures. And his knowledge of the divine nature appeared hence, because his love of him was perfect : and how could he love God, if he had not known him ? Now, in this particular of knowledge, man nearly resembled God, in his first estate : for God's infinite de light is in the knowledge and contemplation of himself, and of his works ; and so also was man's. But yet this knowledge was not omniscience ; for there were many things, doubtless, that man was then ignorant of: but he knew whatever was necessary and ex pedient for him to know ; and that was sufficient for the happiness of his estate, and for the end for which he was created. [2dly] Man's will was endowed with a habitual proneness and inoiination to all good. » There were then no such bandyings in his will, as now the holiest saints complain of: but the will clasped about every good and holy object, that was presented to its choice ; and that it did, freely and fully, with entireness and delight. [3dly] His Affections also were all holy, and all of them subject to his holy will. Now, the best complain, it is seldom that they will what is good : and when they have a will to it, yet they cannot do what they would : the good, which they would do, they cannot do. But, in our first blessed estate, there was a harmonious obedience, in all 238 OF BEGENEEATION: the passions and in all the faculties of the sout, unto the command of the will, without the least tumult or disorder. There were, in deed, motions of the affections and passions in Adam, as of love, hope, joy, and the like ; but it was, as some di"vines express it, as the bubbling of clean water in a clear chrystal vial, that raised no defilement : whereas, now, it is in us like the working of the sea, that casteth out mire and filth. These affections were under the command of the will then ; and that, both as to the continuance and as to the degrees of them. a. As to the continuance of them. The will might command them on and off, at its pleasure. They fixed upon nothing, but what holiness directed them to: and they* made their stay no longer, than the same holiness commanded. Like the Centurion's Servants, they went and came at the word of their superior. b. As to the degrees of them. Now we find it a hard task, to set bounds to our love, fear, joy, and the like : we cannot give way to them, without running into strange excesses and intemperance : our loVe is become fondness : our joy is become wantonness : our fear is tutned into a chilling ague : and our anger into a burning fever. But, in our first blessed estate, all these passions were guided by holy reason : both for their objects, upon which they ought to fix; and also for their mea sures, how far they ought to let forth themselves. And thus I have opened the first proposal ; delineating to you obscurely the Di"vine Image : for the best and most comprehensive notions and words of men can but obscurely trace out the tracks, lines, and figures of the glorious Image of God, which the creating finger of the Almighty at first drew upon the soul of man ; which, when we compare it with the ruins and rubbish of our present^ state of misery, may administer just cause of shame, grief, and sorrow. , [2] Let us now consider, what parts of this Image are lost apd defaced by our Fall ; and what of it still remains in every man, as well unregenerate as regenerate. 1st. That part of the Image of God, that consisted in those things, that are essential to man, is not lost. As the soul ; and its faculties of understanding, will, and affec tions : these still remain the same, for substance, as they did before. 2dly. Some unregenerate men retain many rare natural perfec tions of these faculties. Some of them grow up in all ornamentive, excellent parts; searching judgBpents, deep knowledge: when others are born fools OB, THE NEW-BIRTH. 239 and idiots, and are deprived of the use of common reason. Now though reason and knowledge, even in natural things, be .some part of God's Image, that all men have equally forfeited ; yet God is pleased to restore this, in a great measure, sometimes, to some un regenerate men, when he denies it to others: yea, it may be, his- own children do not enjoy it in tbe same degree. This part of God's . Image is dispensed, in common, both to good and bad ; and, many times, the wicked have a greater share in it than the holy. These gifts, though they bear some weak and obscure resem-blance of God, he keeps in the hands of his Common Providence ; and scat ters upon the generality of men, in some measure : unto these we have all lost a right and title, but we have not all lost the actual possession of them ; but God restores them to unregenerate men, as he pfeaseth. 3dly. As for that part of the Image of God, that consists in holy habits, in spiritual knowledge and righteousness, these we have utterly lost and defaced. The mind is become palpably dark ; muffled up in error and ignorance : the will .and aff'ections are violently and unweariedly bent upon the pursuit only of what is evil. And this is the misery of our Fall : thus, is our glory stained, and our silver become dross, [3] Let us now consider, what of the Image of God is again re stored to us, in our Eegeneration. 1st. To this I answer, briefly : Eegeneration restores to us that part of God's Image, that consists in holy and spiritual habits, that rectify the operations of our natural faculties and powers. The mind is illuminated with true knowledge : the will is made compliant to God's will ; and the affections are called off from the pursuit of vanity, and set upon spiritual and heavenly objects. And this is that Image of God, that is drawn upon our souls in our Eegeneration, whereby we are made like to God ; yea, so like to him, that the Apostle, in 2 Pet. i. 4, calls it, a participation of tke divine nature. There are, indeed, some strictures and beams of the holiness of God himself shining in a regenerate soul ; though infi nitely more weak and waterish, than those in God's infinitely holy essence. And, here, observe Two things. (1st) That, in the very instant of our Eegeneration, all the graces of the Holy Spirit are implanted in us, at once : for they are all linked together ; and whoever receives any one grace, receives them all. There are faith and love, and the fea'r of God, and patience, and humility, and self-denial, and the rest of the train of glorious 240 OP BEGENEEATION. graces: for each of these is a lineament and feature of the Divine Image, without which it were not complete. And, therefore, that Christian, that can but find any one grace wrought and acted in him by the Spirit of God, may comfortably conclude that he hath all other graces, at least in the habits and principles of them : they may all be weak, indeed : but, yet, not any one of them is wanting. And it may also serve to stir us up, since we bave graces of all sorts that lie latent within us, not to yield to any corruption, or temptation : as that with which we cannot grapple, so as to come off with victory and conquest : for our Eegeneration furnishes us with all grace ; and there is no particular sin, but we may within ourselves find a particular grace opposite to it, if we would but stir up and rouse it. (2dly) Observe also. That the Holy Ghost is, in a peculiar way, the author of this our conformity and similitude unto God. For he it is, that, according to the oeconomy and dispensation of the Blessed Trinity, begets us after the image and likeness of God. And, therefore, the text speaks of being horn of tke Spirit. And, so, in Scripture, we have frequent mention made of the Seal of the Spirit : 2 Cor. i. 22, and Eph. i. 13. Now a seal doth two things : it not only confirms the deed, to which it is annexed ; but it also conforms the wax, upon which the seal is imprinted, to re ceive its own stamp and image. So, when the Spirit of God doth incubare animse, when it "rests upon the soul," it casts and moulds it into its owii image and shape ; and, of a fleshly carnal soul, it makes it become spiritual, like to itself: and therefore says our Sa viour, in John iii. 6 ; That wkick is horn of ike Spirit, is spirit ; be cause the Spirit of God begets in its own likeness. It is like the seal on the wax, that leaves its stamp upon it : so, the soul being sealed by the Spirit, it leaves its own stamp and impression upon it. , 2dly. But, betwixt that Image of God, which the Spirit stamps upon us, in our Eegeneration ; and that Image of God, in which we were created ; there is a twofold difference observable. (1st) That Image of God, which is restored to us in our Eegenera tion, though it hath a perfection of parts, yet bath not a perfection of degrees. The Image of God, in which man was at first created, had them both : it included all graces ; and it included them all, in their height and in their glory. Now, though the regenerate are as ex tensively holy as Adam was ; and have as many graces, yea more too, as some think, than ever Adam had : yet they are not intensively so holy, as he was ; but their graces are allayed with a mixture o-i OB, THE NEW-BIJITH. 241 sin and corruption. Their knowledge is not so comprehensive ; but it is subject to ignorance and errors : their will is not so per fectly guided by the will of God ; but, sometimes, it hath eccentri cal motions of their own : and their affections are'not so refined ; but that, sometimes, they are inordinate and earthly. Yea, and every faculty and every action are interwoven and intercheckered with grace and sin : so that, at once, the soul, though it be regener ate, yet bears a double image, God's and Satan's : it bears God's image, in its regenerate part ; and the Devil's, in its unregenerate part. The best men are like your plaited pictures : wherein, if you look on one side, you may see an angel ; and, if you look on the other side of the light, you may see a devil : so, truly, if you look upon the renewed and regenerate part of a child of God, that is angelical, and bears some -glimmerings .and resemblances of the Image of God upon it ; but, if you turn your eyes on the corrupt and unregenerate part, what appears there, but blackness and de formity, that shadow out the very Image of Satan ? (2dly) The Image of God, restored to us in our Eegeneration, differs from that, wherein we were first created, in this, that it shall never be totally lost and effaced, as the other was ; and, herein, it excels the other. You see how soon Adam lost his. One sin brought such a great blot upon it, that it was no longer discernible for the Image of God. But, now, though this Image shine not in such bright and orient colours as that did ; yet are they more lasting and durable colours, than the former image had. Yea, though the regenerate commit many sins, that stain and sully it:, yet the Spirit of God still refresheth it, by the continual influences of his grace ; and will preserve it entire, that, in that great day when God shall come to examine every soul, "Whose image and superscription do you bear ?" it may indeed be seen, that we bear the Image of God, and may be owned by him as his 'children, and as those that belong to him. The forming of this Image of God on the soul, is the product of the New-Birth. iii. Now, in that the Scripture calls the restoring of this image of God, a NEW-BIETH ; it will be expedient to consider "what this METAPHOE, TO BE BOBN AGAIN, DOTH IMPOBT. And, here, I shall touch upon some remarkable resemblances, that are- betwixt a Natural and a Spiritual Birth, between our First and our Second Birth. • 1. To be born again implies, ik&t, as no man can bestow upon Mm- Vol li.— i& 242 OF BEGENEEATION: self a natural being; so, much hss, can any man bestow upon kimself a supernatural heing. What ! where were all of us a hundred years since ? All in that vast wilderness' of nothing ; all sleeping in our own causes : we ourselves not ha"ving then so much existence, as our very dreams have now : and could we awake ourselves out of that sleep ? could we procure our own being? could we fetch from heaven those sparks of divine fire, those souls of ours which are now kindled in our breasts ? could we ourselves tie that vital knot betwixt our souls and bodies ? No more, certainly, can any carnal, natural maa, that is as much nothing in grace as we before we were born were mere nothings in nature, call down into his soul from heaven that living and active principle of grace, that should make him a ne-fr man and a new creature. 4-nd therefore the Scripture chooseth to express this New-Birth, by such terms, as do import in us an utter impossibility and im potency to effect it by our own power. It is called the quickening of the dead, in Eph. ii. 1 ; You katk he quickened, says the Apostle, wko w^re dead in trespasses and sins. Look, how impossible it is, for a dead man, that is shut down under the bars of the grave, that is crumbled away into dust and ashes, to pick up again every scattered dust, and form therfl again into the same members ; and how impossible it is for bim to breathe without a soul, or to breathe that soul into himself: alike impossible is it, for a natural man, who hath lain many years in the death of sin, to shake off from himself that spiritual death ; or to breathe into himself that spirit ual and heavenly life, that may make him a living soul before God. Moreover, the grace of Eegeneration is said to be created in us, in Eph. iv. 24 ; Put on tke new man, wkich after God is created in rigkt eousness and true koliness: in creation, the creature is formed out of nothing ; and what can nothing contribute to being ? Such is every natural man : he is mere nothing in respect of grace ! and, there fore, can work nothing of grace in himself Thus you see the Scrip ture carries it, that, no more than a child can beget itself, or a dead man quicken himself, or a non-entity create itself; no more can any carnal man regenerate himself, or work true saving grace in his own soul. Indeed, there are a growing number of men, who think that Ee generation is the effect of free-will, and that it is in our own power to convert and renew ourselves. Though it be abundant confuta tion of this spreading error, that it is against the common sense and experience of true Christians ; who, as they sadly complain of OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 243 the averseness of their wills to what is good, even after Eegenera tion, so they have found that, before.- their Eegeneration, the great est obstacle to it was the stubbornness and refractoriness of their own wills, that would never be brought to any terms of bompliance with divine grace, had not the Spirit of God, by a sweet and irre sistible efficacy, at once both persuaded and subdued them ; though this now were sufficient, yet let me add one argument^ which I think is unanswerable. If an unregenerate man can, by his own power, icgenarate himself, then one of these two absurdities must neces sarily follow ; either that there are still left some holy habits and principles in the will, that were never lost by the Fall ; or, else, that man may make himself truly holy, by a will that is totally corrupt and sinful : but it is very gross to admit either of these. (1) There are no holy habits or principles left in a carnal man, whereby he should be able to convert and regenerate himself. For what holy habits can there be in the will of a corrupt man, unless they are true graces ? And, to affirm that man, in a state of nature, hath true grace inherent in him, whereby he is able to convert and regenerate himself, is dull nonsense, and a flat contra diction ; for it is to affirm, that he hath grace before he hath grace. (2) A corrupt will cannot make a holy man. If there be no such habits and principles left in the will since the Fall, then the will must be totally corrupt ; and a corrupt will cannot make a holy man : grace is above and beyond its sphere. Yea, an unregenerate will, in all its inclinations, is utterly contrary unto grace : there is not any one act of the will, but it is evil and sinful : and it is strange divinity, to affirm that gracious habits may be wrought in us by sinful acts ; as soon may a man become just by cozenage, and merciful by oppression, sober by drunkenness, and bberal by griping ; as any man can become holy by acts of his own will, since every act of his will is before conversion sinful and unholy. Besides, the will of man, by the Fall, is become a fleshly will ; but, in Eegeneration, it is made a spiritual will ; now it is a most strange kind of production, that a fleshly will should beget a spiritual will ; nor would that, which our Saviour affirms, any longer hold true, in John iii. 6 ; That, wkich is horn of tke flesh, is flesh, if a fleshly will could beget a spiritual will. You see, then, by this, that no man, by the power and freedom of his own will, can regenerate himself As for previous dispositions and prepara tory works, I deny not but that an unregenerate man may, by tho common assistance of the Spirit, and by the industrious and care ful improvement of his own power, proceed very far in them, so as 244 ' OF BEGENEEATION: not to be far off from the kingdom of God ; but, still, the great change of Eegeneration itself is not wrought by our o-wn power, or by our own will ; so saith St. John, speaking of believers : and he affirms it, fn as express terms as may be, in John i. 13 ; Which were born, not of blood, nor of tke will of tkefle.sk, nor of tke will of man, but of God: a plain and undeniable proof, that our will is not the efficient cause of our New-Birth. 2. In that it is called a being born again, it is implied, that tkere must he a Father of tkis Divine and keavenly, as well as of tke natural birtk. Now God himself is this Father ; and hence is it, that the saints are said to be born of God, and to be the children of God. This is their parentage, their high original and extraction ; in which, though they are poor, despised, and distressed, they may more truly glory, than the great ones of the earth in the paint and empty glittering of a noble or honourable title. But, concerning the duty and dignity of a child under this con sideration of being born again, I may have occasion to speak when I come to the Application, and so I shall reserve it till then. I am yet on the doctrinal part. God is npw, under a different notion, a Father to his children, . by regeneration, and adoption. By Adoption, we receive the privi leges of children, and are numbered among the family of heaven ; made heirs of glory, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ our elder brother. By Eegeneration, we receive the divine nature, are made partakers of it ; and, as natural children often bear such lively representations and resemblances of their parents, that we may know by their Yerj countenances whose they are ; so, in the New-Birth, there is such a resemblance of God stamped upon the soul, that, by the con formity of our wills and affections to his, it may well be discerned that he is our Father. In Eegeneration, we receive his nature : in Adoption, we receive the privileges of his children : we are made sons by both. It is true, God is the author of all other things, as well as of the grace of Eegeneration. By him doth the whole frame of nature subsist, and all men owe their beings to his power and goodness: but, yet, the endearing and sweet name of Father he appropriates to himself j not because he gives natural beings to his creatures, al though in that respect too he is parens rerum, " the parent of all things ;" but because also be gives supernatural grace to his own children, which indeed is a giving them of his own nature. To give them natural beings, is but to communicate to them th'e. effects 0 E, -THE NEW-BIETH. 245 of his power and providence : but to give them supernatural grace, is to communicate to them of his own nature, and therefore more especialjy he is called their Father ; the Father of those, that he doth regenerate. The rest of his works are but the effects of his common goodness and bounty ; but this is the effect of his special grace : wherein God doth more show forth the effects of a Father, than in the production of all the world. 3. Tke seminal virtue or means, by wkick this New-Birth is effected, is tke Word of God. So you have it expressly, in James i. 18 ; Of his own good udll be gat ke us witk the word of trutk. In Ezek. xxxvii. 4, you read that the Prophet is commanded to prophesy over a heap of dry bones : such an almighty power was in his words, that it is said, in verses 7, 8, as he propkesied, tkere was a great noise, and.....skaking among- the bones and sinews andflesk came up upon them. An almighty power indeed, that could speak dry bones into living men ! The same, that the Prophet did only in a vision, the word of God preached doth in a reality. We are all of us dry bones, till this, almighty word breathe life and quickening into us. The preaching of the word is the great means, which God hath appointed for regeneration : Eom. X. 17 ; Faith cometk hy krnring, and hearing by tke word of God. When God first created man, it is said, that he breathed into Ms nos- irih tke breatk of life: but- when God new-creates man, he breathes into his ears. This is that word, that raiseth the dead ; calling them out of the grave : this is that word, that opens the eyes cflp^e blind, that turns the hearts of the disobedient and rebellious. An3, though wicked and profane men scoff at preaching, and count all ministers' words and God's word too but so much wind ; yet they are such wind, believe it, as is able to tear rocks, and to rend mountains ; such wind, as, if ever they are saved, must shake and overturn the foun dations of all their carnal confidences and presumptions. Be ex horted, therefore, more to prize, and more to frequent the 'preach ing of the word. How knowest thou, 0 sinner, but, whilst thou art slothfully absenting thyself from the public ordinances, that word is then spoken, that might have been thy conversion? How knowest thou, but that, whilst thou art sleeping in the congregation, that word is then spoken, that possibly, if thou hadst attended to it, might have awakened thee from the dead sleep of sin and security ? Such an energy is there in the word of God, when the Spirit of God clothes it with power, that it breaks in upon the conscience ; ruin ates and demolishes the frame pf sinful nature ; and, in an instant, conveys spiritjial light, warmth, and quickening into the soul. 248 OF EEGENEEATION: 4. There arb pangs and tkroes, tkat do accompany this New-Birtk, as well as tke natural birtk. And these are convictions and humiliations : when the soul is bowed down under the insupportable burden of its own guilt, and the sense of God's wrath : when it lies groveling in prayer ; rend- ing itself, and heaven too, with its cries. In the midst of all these agonies, Christ Jesus becomes formed in the soul ; and the work of grace is accomplished, which is the true ground of joy and comfort for ever after. Indeed these travailling pangs are not alike strong in all men. In some, they are distracting terrors ; terrors that break their bones, and drink up their spirits': and such, usually, they are in old and customary sinners, that will not be won by more gentle and mild courses : with such knotty pieces as these are, the Spirit of God deals terribly ; and, in their New-Births, cuts them out of the womb, and saves them after such a manner, that to their present apprehensions he could not deal more dreadfully with them if he had destroyed them. But those, that are converted in their youth, before customariness in sin and hardness of heart had made them impenetrable to the ordinary works of the Spirit of God, with these God deals more mildly ; and melts them down, by soft and sweet relentings of soul ; and delivers them into the glorious liberty of the children of God, without^those violent pangs and convulsions, that others do undergo : yet in all that are sanc- tliled and regenerated, after they arrive at the use of reason, it holds true in the New-Birth, as well as in the natural birth, that they do all of them bring forth in sorrow. II. Thus you see what this work of Eegeneration is, without which, our Saviour tells us, that no man shall enter into the king dom of heaven. And, to show both the certainty and weight of this truth, he doth twice assert it : once in the third verse ; and, then again, in the text. This is that very first doctrine, in which our Saviour instructs bis novice-discijale. Nicodemus, being convinced of Christ's ex traordinary mission by the miracles that he wrought, courts him with terms full of humble respect ; Rabbi, says he, thou art a teacker come from God; for no man can do ikese miracles that tkou doest, except God he with kim. To this our Saviour answers, more pertinently to his salvation than to his charesis. Except a man be born again, ke cannot enter into tke kingdom of God: as if he should say, "The miracles, that I do, prove my mission^ that I am sent of God ; but OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 247 I do greater miracles than any, which thou hast seen or hearc^ of Thou hast heard, perhaps, that I restore sight to those, that are ,blind ; and life to those, that are dead : but I am come to give eyes to those, that do already see ; and to give life to those, that do already live. I am come to cause those, that are already born, to - be born again : and this is a miracle, that must be wrought upPn thee, and upon all that shall be saved; to turn flesh into spirit, to fashion lumps of clay into the glorious similitude of the image of God. This is the greatest of all miracles, and this great miracle must be wrought upon all ; for, except this be done," says our Sa viour, "no man can enter into heaven." The wbrds contain in them, a general Proposition : A man can- .flot enter into the kingdom of heaven. An exceptive Limitation, ftdded to this general proposition : Except a man be born again. And both these do deliver to us this proposition, or Doctrinal Observation. That EEGENEEATION, OE THE NEW-BIETH, IS OF ABSOLUTE NECESSITY UNTO ETEENAL LIFE. There is no other change simply necessary, but only this. If thou art poor, thou mayest so continue, and yet fee saved : if thou art despised, thou mayest so continue, and yet be saved : if thou art unlearned, thou mayest continue so, and yet be saved. Only one change is necessary : if thou art wicked and ungodly, and con- tinuest so, Christ, who hath the keys of heaven, who shutteth and no man openeth, bath himself doomed thee, that thou shalt in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is also definitely pronounced by the Apostle, Heb. xii. 14 ; Without holiness no man skall see tke Lord. In the prosecuting of this doctrine, I shall first give you some Demonstrations of it, and then apply it. Very difficult it is to persuade men against the prejudices of their corrupt hearts. " This great change," say they, " is more than needs." Eegeneration begins now to be decried, by as great Masters in Israel, as ever Nicodemus was. Many understand not to what end the fabric of corrupt nature should be demolished ; and men as it were, turned out of themselves. They think, if they are baptized, whereby, as they suppose, the guilt of original sin is washed away ; and lead a sober religious life, keeping from gross actual sins ; that this is sufficient for the obtaining of heaven, with out those hard and inexplicable notions of Eegeqeration and the Ne-w-Birth. I shall, therefore, endeavour to convince you of the indispensable 248 OF EEGENEEATION: necessity that there is, of being born again ; that so, when you are persuaded of it, you may give no rest to yourselves nor unto God, till he cause his Spirit, which is that wind that bhweth where it listeth, to breathe spiritual life into you, without which it is im possible that you should inherit eternal life. i. There is AN identity OE sameness betwixt geace and GLOBY : and therefore it is, that Eegeneration is so necessary unto Salvation. What is that illustrious thing, that we call the Glory of Heaven ? Is it, that we shall outshine the brightriess of the sun ? or that we shall tread on a pavement of stars ? Is it a freedom from diseases, pains, and death ? Is it, that we shall hear the melody and songs of saints and angels ? These things indeed, and whatever the heart of man can desire or imagine to be excellent, do fill up this blessed estate : but, yet, that, which chiefly constitutes heaven, is holiness ; that very holiness, that wicked men, who yet presumptuously hope to inherit heaven, do yet despise and hate on earth. We shall there be united to God by love, depend on him by faith, obey him "vrith delight : and that, with the very same love, faith, and delight, as we do here on earth ; only these graces shall then be exalted above all imperfections and frailties. This is the Glory of Heaven. The glory of God himself consists, especially, in his infinite holiness ; and, therefore, in that most triumphant song of Moses, in Exod. XV. 11. God is styled ghrious in holiness, fearful in praises: now the glory of the saints in heaven is but a reflection cast upon them from the glory of God ; and, therefore, as he is especially glorious in his holiness, so are they also glorious in their holiness. If, then, grace and glory be the very same thing, canst thou, O Sinner, ever hope for glory without grace ? Or, is not this the heaven, that thou dost de sire and hope for ? Is it a place of ease and pleasure only, that thou wishest ; where thou mayest be free from cares and fears, from sor rows and sad hours ? why this is impossible : such a heaven God never made, nor canst thou in reasoh expect ; for God hath so link ed sin and the curse together, that heaven itself would be no sanc tuary to thee from the regrets and stingings of conscience, nor from the horror and ghastly fear of wrath, if sin and guilt should enter there with thee. ii. UnEEGENBEATE men ABE UTTEBLY UNSUITABLE TO THIS state of gloey ; and, therefore, there must necessarily intervene this great change of Eegeneration. All true pleasure and delight springs from the suitableness of the object of the power or faculty that receives it. Thus Solomon OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 249 tells US, It is a phasant tking for tke eye to behold tke sun, or Ijhe light : it is pleasant also for the ear to hear melody : because these objects are attempered and proportioned to the senses. Now as light brings no pleasure to a blind man, nor music to a deaf man : so there would be nothing pleasing in heaven tp us : but that God doth, beforehand, by his grace temper and proportion our souls to that glory, that he will then reveal unto us. Hence it is, that the Apos tle, in Col. i. 12, gives thanks unto God, that hath made us meet to be partakers of tke inkeritance of tke saints in ligkt. But wicked and unregenerate men are altogether unsuitable, both to the Work, and also to the Eeward of Heaven. 1. Tkey areunsuitabh to tke Work of Seaven, And what is the Work of Heaven, but the adoring, admiring, blessing, praising, loving, and serving of God for ever and ever? This is that work, wherein saints and angels spend an eternity. And dost thou, 0 profane Wretch, think to crowd in among that blessed company, and join with them in this blessed work? What ! must that heart of thine, which here on earth was used only as the Devil's pot to seethe and stew wicked thoughts in, be now on a sud den filled with the spiritual praises of the Great God ? Is this, thinkest thou, fit or likely ? Is it fit, that that tongue of thine, which fiath even been bliste:ftd with horrid oaths, cursed revilings, and reproaches of God and godliness, should first in heaven begin to set forl^t the high praises of God ? There are none admitted to be free citizens of the New Jerusalem, but only such as have first served out their time of holiness, some more, some fewer years, here on earth. The work of heaven must be learned in the time of our apprenticeship on earth. And tell me now, what delight do you take in holiness ? Is it not a task and burden to you ; I will not say always to keep alive in your thoughts, constant meditations of holy things, and vigorous affections towards them : but is it not a task and burden to you, to' be sometimes drawn to the external performance of holy duties ? Why else do you engage so seldom, and so slightly in them ? What makes it thus your task, but an unholy and an unchanged heart ? And what think you would it be, a heaven pr a hell, a happiness or a torment, to you, to spend an eternity in the most fixed contemplations, and in, a most ardent love of God ? You, who cannot bear the imperfect holiness of God's children, but rail at it as unnecessary and a punish preciseness, how will you be able to bear the most consummate holiness of hea ven 7 Now wicked men, though they vex at the purity of the saints and laugh at it at once, yet is it toilsome : though it is a devilish 250 OF EEGENEEATION: contentment to them, that they can reproach their defects : should these men enter into heaven with unchanged hearts, heaven would be a place of exact torture to them ; to find nothing there but that purity which they hate, and that perfect purity which hath no defects for them to abuse.. Behold, then, the certain and unavoidable misery of unregener ate men ; that even heaven itself cannot make them happy, nor is it scarce in the power of the Almighty to bless them ! Tell me, thou, that, in holy duties, grudgest at every word that is spoken, and at every sand that runs ; that thinkest every summons to the public worship, as unpleasant as the sound of thy passing-bell ; that sayest, " When will tbe Sabbath be gone, and the ordinances be- over ?" what wilt thou do in heaven ? what shall such an unholy heart do there, where a Sabbath shall be as long as eternity itself; where there shall be nothing but holy duties ; and where there shall not be a spare minute, so much as for a vain thought or an idle' word ? What wilt thou do in heaven, where, whatsoever thou shalt hear, see, or converse with is all holy ? And, by bow much more perfect the ^holiness of heaven is, than that of the saints on earth ; by so much the more irksome and intolerable would it be to wick ed men : for, if they cannot endure the weak light of a star, how will they be able to bear the dazzling light* of the sun itself? * I speak all this to convince wicked men, how weak, vain, and foolish a thing it is, for them to hope for happiness without en deavouring after this great change. Misery pursues them, even to heaven itself; and they would not be happy, even there. Certain it is, that God never bestows heaven upon any, but beforehand he makes them agreeable to its holiness by their own. As for swines and dogs, filthy and impure sinners, God will never punish them with the purity of heaven : no ; he bath provided another place for their torment; where they shall eternally and incessantly hate and blaspheme God, as the saints in glory love and praise God. It is therefore necessary, that, as musicians tune their instruments before they enter into the presence of any ; so our hearts should be t-imed to the songs and praises of heaven,''before we enter into the glorious presence of God, to be made his music for ever. 2. Unregenerate men are unsuitabh to tke Reward of Seaven, As the-work there is spiritual work, so the Eeward ijg a spiritual reward. And it consists, especially, in two things ; both of them unsuitable to a carnal heart : in a clear vision of God ; and an un- imagina'ble entireness of communion with him in heaven. And these two things, of all others, hnholy persons cannot bear. OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 251 (1) The Sight of God, to a sinner, is infinitely full of dread and terror. You read in Scripture what dreadful apprehensions, even God's own children have had, after some, though but restrained and re served, discoveries of himself to them ; and that, because they had still some remainders of corruption in them, that grace in this life could not destroy. .Thus, the prophet Isaiah cries out. Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of unchan &}js....and mine eyes have seen tke King, tke Lord of Sosts : and, so, when Christ put forth his divine power in working of a miracle, the glory of it was so terrible and so unsupportable, even to holy Peter, that he cries out, Luke V. 8 ; Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord. And if these faint discoveries of God, even to holy men themselves, were .so astonishing and unsupportable, what a confounding sight then will it be, to have all the glorious attributes of God break forth in a full flash upon the faces of wicked men ; when, among the rest of those attributes^ they shall behold the dread wrath and severe justice of God, to be sworn and armed against sin and sinners- ! Is this a sight, that will make heaven desirable to a wicked man ? How dost thou think to endure the rays of that excellent glory and majesty, which make even the eyes of the angels themselves to twinkle with the dazzling brightness of it ? (2) As for that near Bosom-Communion with God, wherein stands another part of the reward of heaven ; this is that, which wicked men hate : yea, they hate that any should pretend to it. Those sweet, endearing intercourses, that pass betwixt God and the soul, in ways of worship, of love for love, and of obedience for mercies received, they never knew on earth, and how then shall they be fit for them in heaven ? Certainly, to be for ever tied up to such spiritualities as these, will make heaven but an uncomforta- 'ble place to an ungodly, unchanged heart. Now tell me, after this representation made unto you, both of the Work and of the Eeward of Heaven, whether you are indeed "willing to be in this eternal state or no. A strange question, you .may think ! What! to ask men whether they are willing to go to heaven, and to be possessed of glbry ! But, let me tell you, it is an impossible thing, for. an unsanctified heart really to "wisi|||o be in heaven ; considering it under that notion of perfect pur^ and true holiness, which hath now been laid before you. Do you wish to be for ever employed in the loving, praising, serving, and enjoy ing of God, without interruption or cessation? why then do you not endeavour to fit yourselves for it, against the time of your ap- 252 OF EEGENEEATION: pearing in glory ? why do you not labour after true grace, that alone can fit you for that holy and blessed work ? That idea and notion, that wicked men frame to tbemselves of heaven, only as a place of ease, rest, and all blessedness, makes them to believe that they do really wish themselves possessed of it ; but, yet, if it could be supposed that such a person were 'taken up into heaven, he would find it a place so contrary to bis fancy and corrupt inclina tions, that he would soon wish rather to be on earth again in the pursuit of bis more sensible and suitable pleasures. I have the longer insisted on this particular demonstration, be cause I look upon this as a most convincing argument, to make every wicked man see how unfit be is, in a state of unregeneracy for the state of glory. As ever, therefore, you hope for heaven, and I dare assure myself that this is the hope of all of you, make sure to yourselves this great change.- It is no notion, that I have now preached unto you : your natures and your lives must be changed; or, believe it, you will be found at the L^st Day under the wrath of God. For God will not change or alter the word, that is gone out of his mouth : he hath said it, Christ who is the truth and word of God hath pronounced it, that, without this New-Birth or Ee generation, no man shall inherit the kingdom of God. iii. WhATSOEVEE a mas doth in a STATE OF UNBEGENEEACY IS SIN ; and, therefore, the change of Eegeneration is absolutely necessary, unto eternal Hfe. Whatever such a man's whole life is, it is nothing else but a con tinued course of sin, without either interruption or cessation: and, in this one particular lies a main difference betwixt a regenerate and unregenerate man. The regenerate man, through that corrup tion that is remaining in him, sins in every thing that he doth; but, whatever an unregenerate man doth is sin : there is the difference ; the one doth, as it were, tread awry, in a right path ; and the other runs out into a crooked and perverse one. And how then is it possible for such men ever to arrive at heaven, since every step they take leads down to the chambers of death and destruction? I spake somewhat to this before, in opening to you the misery , of an unregenerate state and condition ; and showed you then, that the ^ripture every where speaks of the civil actions and the reli- giouWuties of wicked men as sins : their ploughing is sin; and so also is their praying : yea, whatever they do is sin ; they sin in doing evil, and they sin in doing good. But I shall pass by that, and briefly enquire what it is, that makes all the actions and all the duties, that wicked m.en perform, OB, THE NEW-BIETH. 253 to be thus sinful. And this may be reduced to two particulars : and these are the Principle from which, and the End to which, their actions are done. 1. Tke Principhfrom wkence all ihe actions of an unregenerate man flow is corrupi; and when the fountain is corrupt, the streams also, that issue from thence, must needs be tainted. That prihciple, that is necessarily required to make our actions to be truly good and holy, is the sincere and superlative love of God. What we do becomes then a good action, when we do it from the commanding motive of Di"vine Love : and, therefore, our Saviour saith, in John xiv. 24 ; Se, tkat loveth me not, keepetk not my sayings. Our whole duty consisteth, either in that which im mediately respects God, or in that which immediately respects man; and, accordingly, God hath comprised the whole Law in Two Ta bles: in the one, he prescribes the services due to himself; and, in the other, he requires from us what is due to men : and both these are fulfilled by love. So, saith the Apostle, Eom. xiii. 10, Love is the fulfilling of the Law: and therefore, our Saviour reduceth all the^. Ten Commandments unto Two, in Matt. xxii. 37, 38, 39. Thou skalt hve the Lord tky God with all thy heart, and witk all thy soul, and witk all tky rmght. Tkis is the first.... Commandment. And the second is like unto it, tkou skalt hve thy neighbour as thyself. Our Saviour reduceth all unto two, and these two speak but one and the same thing. Love, which is the fulfilling of the commandment. Now this teacheth us, that, whatever external conformity our ac tions may carry in them to the letter of the Law, yet are they not true obedience to God's Commandments, if they flow not from a principle of love. Though you may perform each particular duty required in each particular command, yet this is not fulfilling but tra,nsgressing the Law, if what you do is not done out of a princi ple of divine love. This is that universal qualification, that can alone make our duties truly good and acceptable unto God. So that, either to do contrary to the Law, or to do actions that the Law requires without love to God, are both of them sins ; the one against the express letter, and the other against the true sense, of the Law. Now no unregenerate man can act any thing from this divine prin ciple of the love of God ; for this is implanted in us, only by Ee generation : and, therefore it is" said, 1 John iv. 7 ; Every c^ that loveth, is bom of God. The great moving principle in a carnal man, that sets him on to work every thing that he doth, is love mdeed, but it is only self-love ; not love to God, but love to self ; a love, that is enmity and hatred against God ; and, therefore, whafe ever he doth is sin. 254 OF EEGENEEATION: 2. As all unregenerate men fail in the Principle, so they also fail in tke End of all tkeir actions. For, such as a man's principle is, such also will be the end thai he propounds. Water will naturally rise no higher than the spring-head from whence it flows : so neither can any man's prin ciples carry him out to act above themselves. Now as the love of God is the moving principle to a regenerate man, so the glory of God is his determining end : and so, on the contrary, self-love be ing the only principle of an unregenerate man's actions, self-pre servation must be bis utmost end into which he resolves all. And, because God hath in bis word of truth threatened destruction to those who persevere in sin, and promised an unconceivable reward of glory to obedience, self-love here interposes ; and excites to the external duties of religion, that thereby it may escape the one and obtain the other. Now, herein, self-love is very blind : for, by propounding himself as his end, he loseth the reward sought for, and all his services become only sins. I would not be thought to condemn this kind of self-seeking in religion, for I know that it is one of the .greatest incentives to obe dience. Moses kad respect unto the recompense of tke reward, and en couraged himself by it : yea, of Christ, a greater than Moses, the Apostle saith, he had an eye upon the glory set before him, to en courage him to undergo those humiliations and abasements that he was sent into the world for. Only when a man's self-concernments stand so full in his eye, that he cannot look either beside them or above them, then do such self-ends become sinful in themselves, and turn also every action that is directed by them into sin. Here, then, let every carnal, unchanged sinner see the sad and deplorable condition he is in : what little ground he hath to hope for heaven and salvation. Alas ! Sinners, how do you hope to be saved ? The only way, that leads to heaven and happiness, is faith and good works : not such equivocal good works, as most men re ly upon ; but such genuine ones, as have the love of God for their principle, and glory of God for their end : and such no unregene rate man can produce. All the rest are but trash and lumber ; and such, as will rather burden, than crown your souls, at the Last Day. Think of it seriously : unless the foundation be laid in a real change of gif^ wrought upon your souls, all that afterwards you build is but hay and stubble ; such, as will only add fuel to your unquench able fire. Think not, therefore, as many ignorant, sottish people do, of balancing your e"vil deeds by your good : for, if you are in an unregenerate, in a natural state and condition, if in the same OE, THB NEW-BIETH. 255 that you brought into the world, there is nothing but what is evil and sinful. And it is very sad to consider, that, when God and your own consciences shall cohie, at the Last Day, to take a review of your lives ; those lives, that have been full of actions, perhaps for forty, fifty, or threescore years together ; that then they shall be found to be but one continued series of wickedness, one sin suc ceeding another without the least gap made in it by one good and holy work. This is the condition of every unregenerate sinner. AntJ, therefore, if ever you hope for heaven, endeavour for Eegene ration : for this change is absolutely necessary, for the raising of your actions from being sinful to be holy. iv. Heaven, in sceiptuee, is peomised to be given by way OF INHBBITANCE, AND NO OTHEEWISE. So you have it, in Acts xx. 32, and, in Acts xxvi. 18, and in many other places. Now an inheritance denotes sonship : God wiU ' not give that inheritance unto any, but to those, that are his o-wn chil dren. We are all of us naturally strangers to God : and, before we can become his children, we must be New-Born ; and, by this New- Birth it is, that we are made heirs of glory, and coheirs with Jesus Chri^ our elder brother : and, therefore, Eegeneration is absolutely necessary unto eternal salvation. V. It is not fob the honoue of god, to bestow heaven and HAPPINESS UPON SINFUL MEN, UNLESS THEY ABE CHANGED. The glory of God is chiefiy manifested in our "Eegeneration. Should he admit sinners into heajen, many of his attributes would suffer thereby. His Truth would suffer, in saNring those, whom in his word he had doomed to damnation. His Justice would suffer ; for, if he should save all wicked men, and leave none as vessels of wrath, what would become of the glory of his justice and severity ? if he should save some, and not all, this would be partiality ; see ing all, according to the terms of .the Gospel, are equally liable to damnation. His Holiness would suffer also, in the admitting of unholy and impure men to inhabit for ever before him, who is of purer eyes than to behold sin on earth with approbation, and there fore certainly will not behold sin in heaven with countenance. vi. Both the peesons and th-e peefdemances of uneegbne- EATE MEN, WHILE THEY AEE SUCH, ABE DISPLEASING UNTO GOD ; and, therefore, this change is necessary in order unto salvation. Certainly, if God neither loves what they are nor what they do, it will be impossible for them to enter into heaven, while God keeps it garrisoned against them ; unless they can break down the eternal fence, and take it by another force than ever John Baptist's bearers did. 256 OF EEGENEEATION: Now that God neither loves uhrege^ierate men's Persons nor Performances, neither what they are nor what they do, is cle^r. 1. Se hves not wkat tkey are: tkeir Persons are disphasing to kim. Neither is this displeasure founded upon a small dislike, but up on that most bitter and implacable passion of hatred : Psal. v. 5 : Tkou katest all workers of iniquity. And this hatred is reciprocal : for, as wicked men are hated by God, so they are haters of God : Eom. i. 30 ; Saters of God: 'Rence the Apostle^tells us expressly, tkey, tkat are in tkefiesk, that is. in their unregenerate state, cannot please God: Eom. -viii. 8 ; and he gives tae reason of it, in verse 7 ; Because, says he, tke carnal mind is enmity against God: thus you see the opposition is mutual : and amounts to no less than a hatred on both parts, both on God's and on the sinner's. Now, though anger be for the present a sharp and eager passion, yet is it soon pacified by a retribution of wrong for wrong ; but hatred is irre concilable, and rests satisfied in nothing less than in the utter de struction of its object : and thus wicked men hate God, and wish at least there were none, and do what they can to dethrone him ; and God again so liates them, that he resolves he -will have no peace with them, Tkere is no peace, saitk my God, to tke uncked, but will pursue them to destruction. Let sinners then seriously con sider, that they are mortally hated by that God, who is of infinite power ; and can, when he pleaseth, bring upon them the dreadful effects of his hatred. And is it like that such men shall ever enter into heaven, where there is such a hatred armed with power to their just and eternal perdition ? Are you stronger than God ? or are you more mighty than the Almighty ? Can you reverse bis de cree, whereby he hath doomed all the wicked unto hell ? or can you compel him to make other terms with you, than he hath al ready propounded in his unalterable word ? Can you distress him to surrender heaven to you ? or can you break do-wn the walls and ramparts of heaveq ; and burst open those e-yerlasting gates, that he hath shut and sealed against you ? Alas ! then, what are all your hopes ? Whereto is it, that you trust ? Do you think, at last, to enter heaven as friends, who now daily assault the God of Heaven as enemies ? Assure yourselves, so long as God is able to hold it out against you, not one wicked wretch shall ever enter there. When the angels rebelled, God chased whole millions of them out of heaven ; and do you think that ever he will admit re bellious men into heaven ? No : doubtless the same hatred, that cast them out headlong, and pursues them down to the pit of hell, will also pursue all the wicked of the world thither, who are as. OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 257 well enemies to God as the Devils themselves. Let all unrenewed sinners, therefore, sadfy snd seriously consider with themselves what hopes they have of heaven, since God counts them for enemies ; and professes that he bates them, nay, not only hates them, but hates the very place where they are for their sakes : so you have it, in Amos vi- 8 ; The Lord hath sworn hy himself. ....I abhor tke excellency of Jacob, and I hate Ms palaces. And should wicked men come into heaven, heaven would become a hateful seat unto God. 2. As their Persons are hateful, so also all their Performances are disphasing unto Ood. This follows upon the former : for where the person is not ac cepted, the ser-vices cannot be. And therefore it is said. Gen. iv. 4. The Lord kad respect unto Abel, and to kis offering ; first, to his per son ; and, then, to bis ser"vice. If your persons be hateful to God, never expect that your performances should be acceptable. And the reason is clear, because there is but one-way of acceptance for ourselves and for our duties, and that is through Christ. As the best are not, in this life, free from the remainders of sin ; so neither are their best duties free from the mixtures^of sin : now these sinful mixtures ar^ so manifest unto God, that he must needs reject and abominate them, were it not that. Christ, into whose hands they are first delivered, separates those mixtures, and fills up all their de fects by the redundancy of his own merits : but the duties of wicked men are not accepted in Christ : so audacious and bold are they, as to come before God without a mediator to present them ; and that God, who is pleased with nothing but what is absolutely per fect, if not so in itself, yet at least in the mediation of his Son, seeing so many faults and flaws in the services of wicked men, cannot but cast them back as dung and filth in their faces ; for God, accepting of nothing but what is perfect, and the services of wicked men wanting the merits of Jesus Christ, they come up before God as unsavory stenches instead of sweet smells. This is the fruitless issue of wicked men's duties : and; therefore, the Apostle tells us, in Heb. xi. 6, that without faith, it is impossible to phase God; because faith is that grace, that unites and makes us one with Christ, and gives us an interest in those merits that alone can procure accept ance for ourselves and for our services : but wicked and unregene rate men have not this faith ; and, therefore, nothing that they do is well-pleasing unto God : they may, for tbe good works that they do, be rewarded possibly with temporal blessings, and certainly with* the mitigation of future punishments : but the reward of Vol. II.— 17 258 OF EEGENEEATION: of eternal life belongs to none, but to those, whose ser"vices are ac cepted through him to "whom their persons are united. See here, then, the miserable shipwreck of all the hopes of carnal men : who regard not what they are, but look only, and tbat too with a too favourable eye, upon what they do ; and, with the boast ing Pharisee, make large inventories of their good works. They fast t"wice a v. eek, and give alms often : they are frequent in prayer, and constant at the ordinances : and therefore they think, certainly, that they shall enter into heaven with the forwardest. But, alas ! what is all this ? God respects what thou art, as well as what thou dost : and if all your duties proceed from an unchanged, unrenewed heart, he neither accepts them, nor regards them. Thou, perhaps, thinkest that thou hast laid up a great mass of treasure for thy soul, against the time to come ; whereas, at the Last Day, it will be found to be but great heaps of dung and filth; Nay, let me tell you> should you pray till your knees took root in the earth, could you nail your eyes to heaven, could you melt your hearts into tears, and vanish away into sight, yea and spend every moment of your lives far better than ever you spent the best, and yet should you remain unsanctified and nncbanged, all this would be of no accoimt with God ; but, instead of an Euge, Well done, good and faiikful servant, you would meet with that unexpected demand, Wko katk required these things at your hands ? Consider seriously and sadly oi this, you, who think that you have many duties upon the file in heaven, as so many evidences of your right and title unto heaven. As you would not have all these to be lost, and utterly in vain ; so look to it, that they proceed from hearts, that are truly sanctified and re newed : without which, they will be of no avail at all in God's esteem. And, so much, for the Demonstrations of this poiiit. in. I come now to take some USE and APPLICATION of what hath been spoken concerning this great and necessary doctrine of Eegeneration. It is not a particular doctrine, that concerns some persons, and not others : upon this lies the eternal salvation of the whole world. i. And, therefore, in the first place, seeing it is impossible ever to obtain life eternal without Eegeneration or the New-Birth, let us then by this TEY oue title to heaven. Put it seriously to the question : Are we indeed born again ? Are we become the children of God : such as have a right and title to the purchased inheritance ? The question is of vast concernment : and a mistake in this, either hazards our souls, by presumptuous OB, THE NEW-BIETH. 259 conceits that we are the children of God, when yet we are strangers and enemies to him ; or destroys our comfort, by sinister apprehen sions that we are aliens and outcasts, when yet we are begotten again by his Spirit, at least to the grounds of a lively hope. I shall endeavour to manage this Use of Trial, By laying down some particular Attainments of Carnal Men, that possibly they may mistake for evidences of their Eegeneration. By laying down some particulars, that the Scripture hath made infallible Marks and Tests of a Eegenerate Person. 1. As to the _/irs< of these, the usual mistakes of those, whose con victions ever awaken them to a self-examination, are in that they rely upon works preparatory to Eegeneration, for the work of Ee generation itself : for as, in natural generation, there is some previ ous disposition of naatter, before there is the existence of a form ; so, in Eegeneration, commonly, though not always, there are some preparations of the soul by the common works of the Spirit, before the New Creature is formed in it. Now, by Eegeneration, there is a Fivefold change "wrought. Upon the Understanding or Judgment, by enlightening it. Upon the Conscience, by awakening and pacifying it. Upon the Affections, by spiritualizing them. Upon the Will, by converting it. Upon the Life and Conversation, by reforming it. From each of these particulars, carnal men may collect mistaken e-vidences for their Eegeneration : and these I shall endeavour to discover to you. (1) Touching the Mind or Understanding : that may be greatly irradiated with a clear and sparkling knowledge of spiritual objects, -when yet the soul is nof truly regenerated. It is true, as, in the creation of the world, light was numbered amongst the first of God's works ; so, in this new creation, the first work of the Spirit of God is to shed abroad a heavenly light into the understanding ; and, therefore, we have this first in order, in the commission, that Christ gives unto St. Paul, Acts xxvi. 17, 18 ; / send tkee to the Gentiles, To open tkeir eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light ; and, then it follows, from the power of Satan unto God. But, yet, not-withstanding therfe is an illumination about spiritual things that may gild and beautify the understandings of unregenerate men ; who, like the toad, may be full of poison, though she hath a precious stone in her head. • The Apostle lays down this as one of the first attainments that unregenerate men may have, and yet be apostates : Heb. vi. 4, 6 ; For it is impossibh for those, who 260 OF BEGENEEATION: were once enligktened....If tkey skall fall away, to renew tkem again by repentance. They may not only have a deep knowledge of gospel mysteries, so as to see the whole compages and concatenation of the doctrine of Christ, and be able to unfold them also unto others ; but also have particular discoveries of tbe glory and beauty that is in those things. See it in Balaam's extasy, Numb. xxiv. 5 ; Sow amiable are tky tents, 0 Jacob, and tky tabernacles, . 0 Israel ! where, besides that prophetical illumination which was darted into him immediately by the Spirit of God, he had also a glorious dis covery made to him of the beauty and excellency of the spiritual state of the Church : it was not only a view of the order and disci pline of the Israelitish camp, that made bim break forth into high admfrations ; but also a seeing of them ranged under Jesus Christ the Captain of their Salvation, which was an extraordinary illumin ation to such an unregenerate wretched m^n as Balaam was. Such discoveries of the most spiritual objects, carnal hearts may have made unto them : they may see their lost estate by nature, the way of recovery by grace, the suitableness of Christ to their souls, the riches of his grace, the freeness of his love, the readiness of his heart to save them, the desirableness of happiness, and the beau ties of holiness ; and yet, for all this, remain still in a carnal and unregenerate state. Now such an illumination of carnal men falls short of being a good evidence of Eegeneration in two particulars. [1] Because it is a barren light. That illumination, that is saving, is not only light, but influence also. As the light of the sun doth not only serve to paint the world, and varnish over the variety and beauty of the several crea tures that are in it ; but, by the grateful heat that its influence in sinuates and soaks into them, doth also refresh them ; and, as its light discovers their beauties, as its influence increaseth them : so, saving illumination not only illustrates the soul by its light ; but, by its congealing influences, nourisheth it, draws sap into it and fruit from it. But the illumination of wicked men is but a barren light ; and hath no influences in it, to make the soul to grow and bring forth the fruits of holiness. [2] It is an ineffectual, idle light. The illumination, tbat is saving, is also transforming : 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; We all, witk open face, hekolding as in a glass ike ghry of the Lord, are ckanged into tlie same image from ghry to glory. If a beam ofthe sun fall upon a looking glass, it not only makes the glass to have a greater and a more glorious light, but it represents the im.- OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 261 age of the sun in it ; but let it beat never so eleariy against a mud- wall, though it doth enlighten it, yet it leaves no image upon it : so, truly, the illumination, that is saving, not only irradiates, but trans forms. If you look upon the sun when it is in its full strength, the light thereof -will imprint the shape and image on the eye : so that, look where you will, still the appearance of the sun is visibly before you : so, every sight, that a true Christian hath of the Sun of Eighteousness, makes a parallel, another sun in his soul. But the illumination of wicked men only enlightens, but doth not change them : their understandings may be irradiated with glorious dis coveries of God, and Christ, and the things of another world ; but this doth not transform them into the image and likeness of these. things. The illumination of a regenerate person is like light, that breaks through the air in an instant, and turns all the vast body throughout into light : but, in a carnal heart, it is but like light falling upon jet or ebony, tbat makes it shining, but changeth not its hue and blackness. Yea, it is with them, as it is with men that lie long tanning in the sun ; who, though they are enlightened by the sun, yet they are also made black and swarthy by it : so, though men may have the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ shinmg strongly upon them, yet that very light tans their souls, makes them more black and deformed, and aggravates their sins. So, then, thou mayest have as inuch notional knowledge of God and of the mysteries of the Gospel, as any regenerate person whatever ; yea, and much more : and yet, for all this, have no good evidence of thy Eegeneration ; for this knowledge is not therefore saving because it is olear, but because it is influential and transforming. And that is the First thing, which many mistake for Eegenera tion ; because they are enlightened. (2) As to the Conscience, neither the peace nor yet the trouble of conscience, are good evidences of a man's Eegeneration. [1] Not the Peace of Conscience. For though, where this peace is true, it is always an effect of grace ; and therefore we have them so often coupled together, as Eom. i. 7, and^l Cor. i. 3 ; Grace be unto you, and peace, from God the Father: yet there is that, which looks very like peace of con science, though it is not so in reality ; and that is a supine presump tion, a carnal stupidity and ossitancy of conscience, in men, that never have been troubled with the sight of sin or the sense of wrath, nor ever had any serious thoughts of their vileness by it : but it is with them, as it was with those presumptuous sinners in Deut, Kxix. 19, who hhss themselves in their hearts, saying, they skall 262 OF EEGENEEATION: have peace, though they walk on in the imagination of their hearts, adding drunkenness to tkirst. Now this peace is founded only upon a bold and confident persuasion, without any examination of their interest in God, and of his love and favour to them : " God is infi nitely merciful and gracious, and he will exalt his mercy above all his name ; and, therefore, as be bath exalted his power in creating and sustaining us, -will he not also much more exalt his mercy in sa-ving us ?" Thus, as madmen often fancy themselves to be kings or some great persons, when indeed they are wretched and misera ble spectacles ; so do these spiritually madmen : they not only, with the De"vil, look upon the glory of this world, and say, " All is mine ;" but they look upon tbe glory of heaven itself, and say presumptu ously, all this is theirs. This is a spiritual frenzy, that makes them speak of great matters, in which they have no interest at all. Yea, this presumption is often accompanied with a fiducial, or rather a confidential application to themselves, in particular, of the love of God, and of the merit of Jesus Christ, so as to appropriate them unto themselves as their own : now this is the highest act of faith, when it flowers up unto assurance, to say "with St. Thomas, My Lord and my God; jet, through a mere "wretchless security, sinners take it for granted that od is theirs, though they never examined their evidences, and scarce know upon what terms God hath prom ised to become ours. To such 1 may say, as our Saviour doth, God is not tke God of tke dead, hut of tke living: he is not the Father of such, as live in and love their wickedness : it were a dishonour to him, to be a Father to such children. As we must not discourage the broken and contrite spirit, but embolden bim to appropriate Christ to himself in particular : so we must let wicked men know withal, that they call God their God and Father in presumption, and in the security of their hearts only ; and their disappointment will be sad, when,' instead of finding bim their God and Father, they shall only find him their Judge. Now it appears that this peace of carnal man's conscience is only from a deep spiritual secur ity : because, if you come to examine tbe grounds of it, what is it that such plead, except the goodness of their hearte ? they bless God that their hearts are goo.d ; and in this they trust, and of this they boast and glory : though they live in the constant neglect of holy duties, and though they wallow in the filth of custornary sins, yet still they boast of this, that they have good hearts : but this is a mere self-delusion ; for it is as utterly impossible, that the heart should be good where the life is wicked and profane, as that a good root should bring forth evil fruit. Such a secure peace is no good' OB, THE NEW-BIETH. 263 e"vidence, that this great change is wrought upon the heart by Ee generation ; but is only founded upon mere obstinacy and careless ness of the great concernments of men's everlasting salvation. [2] As peace of conscience, is not, so neither is Trouble of Con science a good evidence of a man's Eegeneration. A dull lethargic conscience, thath hath lain long insensible un der the commission of gross sins, may at length by strong convic tions be startled, awakened, and troubled with the sense of sin, and frighted with the sight of wrath ; and yet, all this while, remain an impure and and polluted conscience. God may set an unre generate man upon the rack, break all his bones, and give bim some foretastes of that cup of trembling that he must for ever drink of; and, as he made himself a devil incarnate by his sins, so God may make his conscience a hell incarnate with his torments: you hear Cain, that primitive reprobate, crying out, My puniskment is greater tkan I can hear: nor could Judas find any other way to choke his conscience, than with a halter. Though, in a course of sinning, conscience may be dead and seared ; yet God will awaken ¦'this sleepy conscience : and, when it shall then see that it hath slept only on the top of a mast and on the brink of hell, and that it is falling into it irrevocably, what fears and terrors will this cramp it with ! and yet this may leave it short of true grace ; under the horrors of si n, and yet short of grace ; torment it here, and yet possibly leave it to be for ever tormented hereafter. Take heed, therefore, of collecting e"vi- dences of Eegeneration, only from the trouble of your consciences, which deceives many who take up with preparatory c6n"victions, which do often vanish away without leaving any sa"ving effects of true grace. Many, if their consciences are awakened to admonish, reprove, and threaten them, think this a good argument of the goodness of their condition: St. Paul saith of himself, in his unregenerate state, toucking tke rigkteousness, wkick is of tke law, he was blameless ; so strict and rigid an observer was he of the Law, that his conscience had little to accuse him of And "will you build your hopes upon a worse foundation, than he did in his unregeneracy ? not that con science hath nothing to accuse you of, but that it doth accuse you ? not that you are not guilty, but that you are sensible of your guilt ? what is this more than sinners shall find in bell ? it is a great and insuff'erable part of those torments, to be pursued with the stinging regret of an enraged conscience, which is that worm that never dies : and "will you take that for an evidence of grace, that must be for ever the punishment of sin ? And, yet, do not many of us rest only on this, that conscience is awakened, frighting us in sin 264 OF EEGENEEATION: and deterring us from sin ? " Those sins, that, before, we could swallow down without straining at and digest without nauseating, now conscience riseth at, and we dare not commit them for a world; and those duties, that, formerly, we lived in the neglect of, consci ence now straightly enjoins, and we dare not for a world neglect them : those sins, that, heretofore, we committed quietly, conscience now returns upon us with torment. And is not this a work of grace ? Is not this Eegeneration ?" No : it is not, if there be no more : all this only proves conscience to be awakened, but not to be sanctified. Conscience may be defiled, though it be not seared: a filthy puddle may be stirred and troubled, as well as- a clear stream ; and conscience may work horrors and terrors in that soul, where the Spirit of God never yet wrought grace. So that you see we cannot argue from the Peace of Conscience, nor yet from the Trouble of Conscience, that we are in a state df Eegeneration ; which is of absolute necessity to obtain heaven. (3) As to the Affections, those sweet motions of the heart, though they are usually much relied on, yet even these affections unto ho ly and heavenly objects are not always infallible evidences of a man's Eegeneration. In Matt. xiii. 20, some are said to receive the word with joy ; and yet they were unregenerate is clear, for it is said they had no root; and so, John v. 35, Christ tells the Jews, that they did rejoice for a season ih the light of John Baptist, that is, in his doctrine and preaching : and Herod also is said to hear him gladly. So that you see these affections, of delight in holy duties and ordinances, may be in those, that are yet without a saving work of grace. And as there may be these aff'ections of joy and delight, so also of sor row for sin: thus. Matt, xxvii. 3,. it is said expressly of Judas, that he repented kimself ; and Ahab's humiliation was so great, that God took special notice of it, 1 Kings xxi. 29. Now all these affections are but temporary and vanishing : and they may be excited from several advantages, that holy things. have in them to commend them to the hearts of carnal and unre generate men. [1] Sometimes, the very novelty and strangeness of them may affect us. . Novelty usually breeds delight, whicb longer custom and ac quaintance somewhat abate. And this may. be given as a true rea son, why, soon after conversion, a new convert's affections are more strongly drawn out in the ways of God, than, afterwards, when he is a grown and settled Christian : his affections then, may not have OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 265 such full spring-tidfe, as when he was but a novice in Christianity : the reason is, because novelty, in that way ahd course that he is entered upon, (Joth naturally affect him, besides the real desirable ness of the things themselves. And this also may satisfy us, though many have turned aside from the truth as it is in Jesus and from the ways of his worship that he hath appointed, and do yet boast that they have in those new ways found more new comfort and sweet affections than they did before, that yet this is not because those ways have any thing in them that really yields more comfort and delight, but only because they are new ways, and new things will for the present affect : after some continuance in those ways, they find that joy and delight, that they spake of, to flag; and then they seek out other new ways and commend them as much, having as great delight in them : and it is np wonder ; for new ways will stir up new affections. And thus may the affections of carnal un regenerate men be stirred up, by their entering upon the profession and external practice of religion, because of the novelty of it to* them. I [2] Good affections may be stirred in us, from the affecting na ture of spiritual objects ; for spiritual objects may affect us in a natural way. Who can read the history of Christ's passion, without being af fected with sorrow for all that sorrow that he underwent for us ? He hath a heart certainly harder than a rock, that can think of the agonies, reproaches, cruel scourgings, and cursed death, that so in nocent and so excellent a person as Christ was underwent, and that for sinners also, and ifot be moved and affected with grief and com passion to him. And yet it is possible, that these affections may be deceivable ; and move no other ways, than they would do in the reading of some tragical story in a romance. To read some sad and dismal story, will naturally affect the heart with grief and sorrow. And so it may be with the truths revealed in the Gospel : upon thy reading of them, they may aff'ect thee, according as -those truths are : if they promise blessings, they may affect thee with joy : if they threaten, and thou rea,^st sad and dismal events, they may affect thee with sorrow : and, yet, all this may be only from the nature of the objects, and not from any divine affections that ar.- in thy soul. [3] The affections may be stirred from or by the artificial rheto ric of others ; by the abilities of the ministers, whom you hear. And thus God tells the Prophet, Ezek. xxxiii. 32 ; Tkou art un to the-m as a very lovely song, as one tkat katk a pleasant voice, and 266 OF BEGENEEATION: canst play well on an instrument. They may have their judgments pleased with the learning showed in a sermon, and with the well methodizing of it ; and their affections may be pleased with the oratory, and po"werful utterance of it. Now, though these are good helps to spiritual affections, yet are they not good trials of them. [4] Pride and self-seeking may, in the performance of duties ex cite good affectioift. And men may be much deceived in this particular. As, in prayer, they may think they are affected with the things that they pray for : when as, possibly, their affections are moved only with the manner of their prayer ; with their words ; with that copious, free, and admirable gift, which they have, of expression : whereas a contrite heart, that is moved with true spiritual affections, may not be so adorned with such an admirable gift of expression. As the ground, that is fullest of precious mines, hath least grass grow ing upon it ; so is it, many times, with the children of God in holy .duties : where the heart is most full of grace, and where there are many precious affections stirring in it towards God, yet there are the least flourishings of expressions in their words. So that you see you cannot gather the truth of" regenerating grace from the strong workings of your aff'ections, which are very deceitful, even about spiritual things. (4) Every change wrought upon the Will is not an infallible evidence of Eegeneration. It is, indeed, the thorough change of the will, in which this great work principally doth consist. This is the first principle of spirit ual life ; without which whatsoever other change is wrought upon us, is no more than to set the hand of the watch right to the hour when the spring is broken. The will is, by the philosopher, called the commanding and swaying faculty of the soul ; which controls the affections and inferior faculties, and makes them obey its incli nation : so that, such as the will is, such is the man. And, there fore, the Scripture, in setting forth the twofold estate of men, of nature and of grace, doth it by sho"wing the temper of their wills ; what their "wills are. Unrege|grate men are described by their wilfulness : John v. 40 ; Ye will not come to me, says our Saviour, that ye migkt kave life. And the regenerate men are described by their willingness : Ps. ex. 3 ; Tky people skall hi a willing people in the day of tky power. Here I shall endeavour Two things. To show you after what manner the Spirit of God works this renewing change upon the will. To show you whaj; other changes may be wrought upon it, that are good evidences of man's renovation. OE, THE NEW-BIETH.- 267 [1] For the first, After what manner the Spirit of God works this renewing change on the will, you must know that there are two ways, whereby God doth effectually change the heart of a sin ner : and they are moral persuasions; and physical determinations, or real efficiency, which is nothing else but God's all-powerful grace, whereby he doth immediately turn the bent and inclination of the will towards himself. And both these always concur, in this great change of the will. God doth con"vincingly persuade us of our o"wn vileness, and of the emptiness of all those vain things that our desires are so' eagerly pursuing : and, on the other hand, he clearly represents to us the great excellency of himself and of his ways ; that he is the greatest good we can enjoy ; and that there is no other way of enjoying, but by loving and serving him. To do this, he makes use of moral persuasions ; working upon our reason by cogent and prevailing arguments : arid then diffuseth such a 'heavenly sweetness through the heart, as makes it disrelish all those fulsome delights of sin, that would separate us from that Infinite Good, with which they can hold no comparison : so that, finding more true delight in God and his ways, more charming and alluring joy than ever before we did in sensual pleasures, we are thereby carried forth to them by an infallible, yet altogether a free, voluntary, and amorous motion. And this is done by the real and immediate efficiency of the Spirit of God upon the will itself: and this operation of the Spirit of God upon the will is so sweetly attempered to the native liberty of the will, that it would be a pain and torment to the soul to be separated from that God, whom now its understanding apprehends, and its will clasps about as its chief and only good. Here, you see, are both a moral suasion and a real determination of the will, in the work of Eegeneration. God really determines it, by the efficacious touch of his own grace ; whereby he power fully turns the bent and inclination of it to himself, which before stood to sin and vanity. And, that this might be no infringement upon the "will's prerogative in acting freely, at the same time he morally persuades it ; representjjj^ himself as the best and most satisfying object for all its^ inclinations to centre in. And, thus, the efficacy of divine grace and the liberty of man's will do fully accord, in this work of Eegeneration, which some have thought to stand at an irreconcilable distance one from another. For the freedom of the will doth not consist in its indifferency to act or not to act ; either to love and fear God, or not to love and fear him : for, otherwise, the saints and angels in heaven, who are 268 OF EEGENEEATION: under that blessed necessity that they cannot but love God, should not then love him freely. But the liberty of the will consists in the will's acting upon rational grounds ; which, by how much the more strong the grounds and reasons are that the will acts by, so much the more do they, in a sort necessitate the will to act, and yet by so much the more free is the will in its actings ; so that here, that the liberty of the will may not violaite the certainty of God's purpose and decree, he changeth it by the power of his irresistible grace ; and, yet, that this irresistible grace may not "violate the liberty of the will, he persuades it by such powerful and rational arguments that it shouid not act freely if it should dissent from it. Though God useth an infinite power in regenerating and con verting a soul, yet he useth no violence : he subdues the will, but be doth not compel it. This is that victorious grace, that doth not, more overcome a sinner's resistances, than it doth his prejudices : it overcomes all oppositions, by its own irresistible power ; and it overcomes all prejudices, by its attracting sweetness : and, when it brings a sinner to submit to God, it makes him apprehend also that it is his chiefest happiness and joy so to do. This is the sweet nature of regenerating grace. And it is the same winning sweetness, that afterwards preserves the regenerate from a total apostasy from grace : for, though there is a constant supply of grace, to keep them that they shall never certainly draw back to perdition ; yet, withal, their own freedom is such, that they may if they will : but how can they will it, since the will never inclines but to that, which most pleaseth it ; and nothing pleaseth a regenerate and sanctified will, so much as that sovereign good, that comprehends in it all other good, and that is God himself? ' And thus you see how God disposeth of the "will of man, in changing it to himself, without constraining it ; turning it, as un- forcibly, so infallibly to himself; when he draws it by the sweet ness of his own efficacious inspirations. And thus I have dispatched the first particular, in showing you after what manner the Spirit of Qkid works this change on the "will, by persuading it with rational argunjents, that it cannot gain say ; and by overcoming it by his irresistible grace, that it cannot oppose. [2] The second particular is to show you. What other changes may be wrought upon the will, that are no good e"vidences of a man's renovation and regeneration. And 1st. An unregenerate man may have many faint velleities and wishes after grace. OB, THE NEW-BIETH. 269 When he hears so much spoken of the beauty and excellency of holiness, he is convinced, in his judgment, that thpse things are true : that without holiness no man shall see the Lord : that though now, whilst he is carnal, spiritual duties are tedious and burden some to him; yet, we]*e he himself but spiritual, they would be pleasing and delightful to hifli : that those very pleasures of sin which now keep him off from closing with grace, were he but re newed would all be but an unsavoury thing to him : and, that what he is afraid to lose should he turn to Christ, he would not value the loss of were he but in Christ. When an unregenerate man is fully convinced of this, it makes him break out into pangs of affec tionate "wishes for grace : " Oh, that I were holy and gracious ! Oh, that my heart were changed and renewed ! Oh, that I were better, and could do better!" Let every man appeal to his own conscience, whether, when he hath been convinced of the excellency and desira bleness of holiness, he hath not breathed forth such wishes as these. When you have seen a Christian, eminent and exemplary for piety, have you not wished yourself in his condition ; not only in respect of his future reward and glory, but also in respect of his present grace and holiness ? and wished not only with Balaam to die tke death of the rigkteous, and that your latter end may he like kis ; but also to live the life of the righteous ? and yet still you continue, notwithstanding these wishes, in the same sinful course and state as formerly you did. Now these are but empty velleities, and idle wishings and wouldings. An unregenerate man may possibly wish he were a saint ; as a man may wish he were an angel : but such a man's wishes put him not upon any serious and constant attempt ing of the means whereby he may become so. No man, that wishes he were an angel, is thereby put upon the means of making himself an angel : so, many wish they were saints, but never put themselves upon the use of those means, that might make- them such. Generally, their wishes and sighs vanish away together ; and the one leave no more impressions on their hearts, than the other do in the air : they run to the commission of sin, even with a wish in their mouths that they might not commit it ; and they neglect duty, and yet at the same time wish they were performing it. Such contradictory wishes have they ! They wish themselves holy ; and yet they are willingly sinful : they -wish themselves bet ter ; but yet they never endeavour and strive after their own amendment. These are Idle and empty wishes and velleities ; and are no good evidences of a man's Eegeneration. 2dly. An unregenerate man may not rest in these slight wishes> but he may rise up to resolutions. 270 OP BEGENEEATION: He may be resolved, that lust shall no longer enslave him, that the pleasurrs of the world shall no longer bewitch bim, that the difficulties of religion shall no longer fright him ; but that he -will break through all, and that he "vrill act like a man and a' Christian. With such generous resolutions as these, men, that are in a sinful estate, may fortify themselves. Grace they know they must bave, or they must eternally perish : and they know, withal, that God doth not use to be wanting to men's endeavours; and, they are peremptorily resolved, .therefore, that they will not be wanting to themselves. See the same strong resolutions, in those, that came to enquire of the Prophet Jeremiah, in ch. xlii. 5, 6 ; Tke Lord, say they, be a true and faithful witness hetween us, that we -will do even according to all things, for tke whick tke Lord tky God skall send tkee to us, Wketker it be good or....evil, we will obey tke voice of the Lord our God: and yet, in the next chapter, you find none so rebel lious against God, as these men, that had formerly made this re monstrance. • ' 3dly. But, yet, notwithstanding these wishes and resolutions, the will of an unregenerate man falls short of a saving change; usually in some of these particulars. (1st) In that it is fickle and inconstant. Their desires may sometimes be violent and eager, as if they would take heaven by force, and wrest mercy out of the bands of God : their prayers may be so importunate and earnest, as if they would take no denial from God : but yet this volatile spirit is soon spent, and this full bent of their souls soon flags ; and they return to the road of as dull and formal a profession as ever, and it may be to the commission of the same foul gross sins as before. Such a will as this, though at first it' seems to hurry men on apace, yet soon tires and leaves them far short of grace. A Christian's race is not run at so many heats, but by a constant course and progress ; still getting ground upon lust, and approaching daily nearer to the kingdom of God. It is with such men, as I have sometimes told you it is with the sea : which, when it is spring-tide, covers all its shores ; but, when it ebbs, it discovers that there is nothing but sand, where it seemed to be a deep sea before. So, these ebbing flowing Christians discover plainly, that there is nothing but a bar ren sand at the bottom : they are unstable as water, and cannot excel ; as Jacob speaks of Eeuben, Gen. xlix. 4. A Christian is not made in a fit: nor is Eegeneration wroTight in a passion; but it is a settled, solid, and constant frame of heart, that brings a man unto Christ, and makes him persevere to be a new creature. OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 271 (2dly) The "will of an unregenerate man is never universally changed; but he reserves still to himself some lust or other, that he will not part with. His resolutions are such as were the resolutions of Naaman the Syrian : 2 Kings v. 17, 18 ; Tky servant, says he, will kencefortk offer neitker burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto any otker god, hut unto ihe Lord, But, in this tking, tke Lord pardon tky servant, tkat wken my master goetk to worship in the house of Eimmon, and I how myself in the kouse of Rimmon....tke Lord pardon tky servant in tkis tking. So, many peremptorily resolve to forsake their sins ; but yet still there is some one dear lust or other, concerning which they cry out, with Naaman, tke Lord pardon tky servant in tkis tking : all their other sins they will willingly sacrifice to Christ, may they but be allowed to retain this one sin. Now that thin partition, that any one sin makes betwixt the soul and Christ, will keep it from ever closing with Christ : as, if there be but a thin film betwixt the scion and the stock, they can never be engrafted and grow together. (3dly) The will 6f an unregenerate man is usually very irrational. He would obtain the end ; but yet he will not use the means. Grace, he would willingly have ; but you cannot bring his averse will to close "with the performance of those unpleasing and irksome duties, wherein God usually bestows grace. Could they be holy with a wish, and suddenly metamorphosed to other men, none should be better Christians than themselves : could they enter into heaven by being willing to have it, none should shine higher in glory than they : but, when so much hard and unpleasing work must be done, first that they may be regenerate, and then after that they are regenerate to perfect them for glory, they look upon these things at a great distance and afar off; and so they sit down with idle wishes, far short of grace and glory. (4thly) The will of an' unregenerate man is usually a general, not a particular will. If God should ask them, " Sinners, what would you do to be saved ?" — " Oh, any thing, every thing," say they. — " Leave off such and such a sin : perform such and such duties." — " Yes, Lord : we will do any thing, but this duty ; or leave any thing, but that sin." Just so is it with many men : they will do any thing, every thing in general ; but, bring it down to particulars, to the doing pf this or that duty, or to the lea-ving of this, or that sin, and then they are willing to do just nothing. And thus you see how far the will itself may be -vrrought upon in unregenerate men, and what it is that usually hinders this change from being a thorough work of Eegeneration. 272 OF EEGENEEATION: (5) There may be also a great and wonderful change wrought in their Lives, and yet they may continue in their former unregene rate state. They may have escaped, as the Apostle speaks, tke pollutions of tke world tkrougk tke knowhdge of Christ, and yet be again entangled ; which shows them to be unregenerate : as it is in 2 Pet. ii. 20. To escape the pollutions of the world is no argument ,of the truth of grace, unless yourselves also are cleansed from the pollutions of your own hearts : for sins may be left merely from external, forced principles ; such as are the terrors of conscience, or the heavy judg ments of God ; when God sets a flaming sword, betwixt a sinner and those sins, that he counted his delight and paradise; To leave sin upon such constraints as these, is to leave sin with a great deal of reluctancy and unwillingness : as a mariner, in a storm, casts his goods overboard : he doth it, indeed, with a kind of will ; but it is with an un-willing willingness : he is frightened and terrified to it, for fear he and they should sink together. So, when a soul is tossed in a tempest of di-vine wrath, ready to split against the rock of ages, and to sink and be swallowed up in a sea of fire and brimstone, it is forced to lighten itself, and to cast this and that dear lust over board ; and this it doth from a will : but, yet, it is with such a forced will, as that with which the mariner throws his goods into the sea in a storm.; and, as soon as the tempest is allayed, the one gathers up his wreck, and the other gathers up his sins again. These men leave their sins, as Lot's wife left Sodom : they dare not longer con tinue in them, for fear fire and brimstone should rain down upon them ; and, yet, in lea-ving them, they give many a look back to wards them, and at last they return again to them. I have spoken to this formerly on this subject : I shall not therefore insist on it longer now : only, be sure you rely not upon these broken reeds, aa evidences of eternal life and glory ; for these things are deceitful, and have deceived many, at least for a time. And, so much, for the First Branch of this Use or Trial ; which was to -show you what changes may be wrought upon carnal men, which they may mistake for e"vidences of their Eegeneration. . 2. The Second Branch of this Use of Trial, is, to lay down sonie particulars, tkat tke Scripture kath made infallible Marks and Tests of a Regenerate Person. (1) But, before I come to mention these in their particular order, it will be expedient, briefly to premise something concerning the manner of obtaining Assurance of Grace, by the Signs and Charac ters of Grace. OE, THE NEW-BIETH. 273 [IJ It is possible for a Christian to attain an assured know ledge of his Eegeneration. I say, an assured knowledge, to carry it higher than the Papists do, who allow no more than a conjectural probability ; which may well enough preserve from despair, but yet iii. In applying this distinction to. Baptism, and to show you how it is that Baptism doth sanctify, I shall lay down these following PEOPOSITIONS. . 1. Baptism is fke immediate means of our external and relative sanc tification unto God. By this Holy Sacrament, all that are partakers of it are dedicated and separated unto him. There ar^, if I may so express it, but two regiments of men : the one is of the world ; the other is of the Church. And, in one of these, all mankind are listed, and do march. The great captain and commander of the world is the devil ; who is therefore called the prince and the god of this world : but the great captain of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ ; called therefore tke Captain of our Salvation, Heb. ii. 10. So that all, who belong not unto the Church of Christ, are of the world, and march under Satan's, ensign and banner : and all, who are not of the world, but are taken out of it, belong unto the Church, and are listed under Jesus Christ as his soldiers and servants. This Church of Christ may be considered, either as "visible or in visible. The visible Church of Christ on earth, is a sort of people who profess the name of Christ, and own his doctrine ; joining to gether in a holy society and communion of worship, where it can be enjoyed. The invisible Church of Christ on earth, is a number of true believers, who have internal and invisible communion "with Jesus Christ, by their faith and his Spirit. The visible Church is of a much larger extent than the_invisible : for it comprehends 318 THE DOCTEINE OF hypocrites, and too many ungodly persons ; yea, all those, who have given up their names unto Christ, and make a visible profession of his doctrine, though by their lives and practices they deny it. And, therefore, the Church, which is frequently in Scripture called^ the kingdom of heaven, is compared to a net, cast into tke sea, gathering of every kind of fish, both good and bad : Mat. xiii. 47 ; both sorts are embraced in the bosom of this net ; and no separation can ordi narily be made, until it be drawn ashore at the day of judgment: and then the good shall be gathered into vessels, and the bad cast away ; as it is there expressed. Again, the visible Church is com pared to a.flaor, wherein there is both ckaff and wheat : Luke iii. 17 ; and these will be mixed together, till the last determinating knd fan ning day ; and then shall the wheat be gathered into the garner, and the chaff burnt up with unquenchable firer The world out of which this Church of Christ is taken, is the whole company of those persons, who belong unto the devil, the god of this world. And this Ecchsia Malignantium, this Satanical church, may likewise be either visible or invisible, as the Church of Christ is. That, which is visibly such, are all such, who make no prg- fession of the name of Christ, nor o"wn his doctrine and religion, without which there is no salvation attainable : so that they do visibly belong to the church and kingdom of Satan, who are either trained up in heathenish idolatry, Mahometan stupidity, or Jewish obstinacy ; or else those, who revolt from the Christian profession to embrace any of these. Those, who are of the world, but yet more invisibly, are all such persons, who, though they make a profession of the name and doctrine of Christ, yet, through hypocrisy or other sins, reject that Christ, whom they profess; denying him in their works, whom they o-wn in their wor^s ; main taining no vital nor spiritual communion "with him. From this distinction it follows, (1) That all, that are of the visible Church of Christ Jesus, are taken out of the world ; so that it may truly be said of them, that they are not of the world. I caimot indeed deny, but that too many, yea, possibly the major part of tbe church visible of Jesus Christ, may still apper tain invisibly to tbe kingdom of the devil, which' is the world : and if any of those, who profess the name of Christ, fall into any public and notorious sin, they ought to be cut off by the censure of excommunication ; and, till they give satisfaction by repentance, are to be reputed as heathens and publicans ; but yet this is cer- THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 319' tain, that, till sentence pass upon them, they are to be looked upon as members of the "visible Church, and not visibly of the world. Yea, farther, excommunication itself doth not absolutely and simply cut men off from being members of the Church of Christ : for they, who are ¦ under an ordinance of the Church for their edification, are certainly still members of the Church : but, as those, who are outlawed, are debarred of the benefits and privileges of the state in which they live, and of which they are subjects ; so, excommunication, being a spiritual outla"WTy, deprives persons who lie under it of the privileges of the Church, and renders them as incapable of the visible communion of Christians as if they did visibly appertain to the malignant church and the kingdom of Satan. (2) Hence it follows, that all those, who are members of the visible Church, may truly be called saints, and members of Christ, and the children and people of God : because, by being taken into the Churcb, they are taken out of the world ; and so become God's portion, and the lot of his inheritance. Deut. xxxii. 9 ; " The Lord's portion is his people : Jacob is the lot. of his inheritance." Not that they are all so in an internal, spiritual, and saving manner : would to God they were ! and that all that are of Israel were Israel ! as the Apostle speaks, Eom. ix. 6 ; but only, because, though many of them are hypocrites, and many more profane; yet they* may bear these titles from the ex ternal relation wherein they now stand to Christ, by making pro fession of his name and religion. I look upon the Christian Church, now und§r the times of the gospel, to be in the same capacity, and to stand in the same rela tion towards God, as the Jewish Church did under the law. But, clear it is, that, in the most corrupt state of the Jewish Church, God still owned them for his people : Jer. iv. 22 ; " My people is foolish : they have not known me :" and Isaiah i. 3, 4 : " My people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquities, a seed of evil-doers !" Notwithstanding these great complaints of their universal wickedness, as you find throughout that whole chapter, yet are they God's people. " My people ;" and yet " a people laden with iniquity;" "My children;" and yet "a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters !" Yea, and in the New Testament we find sanctification and holi ness ascribed to those, who were never otherwise sanctified, than by their external separation from the world, ahd profession of the doctrine of Christ. St. Paul directs his epistle to the whole 320 THE DOCTEINE OF Church of Corinth, as to saints : " To them that are sanctifled in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints :" 1 Cor.j. 2 ; and it was the common beginning of all his epistleS. Yet were there some in this -Church of Corinth, that had not the knowledge of God, that denied the resurrection, and were grossly guilty of foul and flagitious crimes ; as be himself witnesseth against them, and for which be sharply reproves them in that epistle : saints they are called, only because they were visible Church-members, and made a profession of the Christian faith and name. Neither is it easy to be conceived, that all those saints, whose bowels Philemon refreshed, whose feet the widows or deaconesses washed, who had share of the collections and contributions of tbe Church, were such as were internally united unto Christ by- a sa"ving faith : or, that, when Saul persecuted the Church and shut up the saints in prison, his rage and madness looked no further bow to find them out, than merely by the profession of the name of Jesus ; for, surely, he had not then the gift of discerning between sincere and rotten pro fessors : Acts xxvi. 10 : " Many of tbe ' saints did I shut up in prison:" and who they were is clear: Acts ix. 2; all 'that were of that way ; that is, who professed the name of Christ Jes.us. Some are said to be redeemed, who yet certainly were never better than ecclesiastical saints : for, after, it is spoken of them, that they denied " the. Lord who bought them :" 2 Pet. ii. i. And some are said to be sanctified, who yet are .supposed to sin unpardonably : Heb. X. 29 ; accounting " the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." These places do irrefragably prove, that, in Scripture language, those are called saints, and sanctified, who were members of the Church of Christ, and thereby federally or relatively holy. Again, they are called "the children of God," and "the sons of God." So, Gen. -vi. 2 ; " The sons of God saw the daughters of men :" that is, they, who were of the Church, and made profession of the true service and worship of God, saw the daughters of those who were of the world, profane and wicked idolaters, by marrying of whom they were also perverted and drawn from the true wor ship of God. So, Deut. xiv. 1, it is spoken to the Israelites in general, "Ye are the children of the' Lord your God :" and, yet, " with many of them," saith the Apostle, " God was not well pleased," but slew them "in the wilderness:" there were among them murmurers, schismatics, and rebels ; and they were a hard hearted and a stiff-necked people, under all the miraculous dispen sations of God towards them ; as their guide and governor, Moses, THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 321 often complains. And the Apostle St. Paul, alluding to this place of Deuteronomy, tells the Galatians, chap. iii. 26 ; " Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus:" and yet the heresy of holding the necessity of Judaical observations woefully prevailed among them, so that they were generally infected, nay, bewitched with it; and yet an external profession of the name and doctrine of Christ, is, in the Apostle's judgment, sufficient to give them all the honorable style of tke children of God. So, again, Eom. ix. 4, the Apostle tells us, that to the Israelites, as they were a Church, pertained tke adaption: now adoption is making men sons of God : yet, certainly, they did not all of them enjoy the heavenly and effectual adoption, which would bring them all to the heavenly and glorious inheritance; but only they were the children of God, being separated from the world, and brought under an ecclesiastical economy, and dispensation of holy ordi nances. Again, to be members of the Church visible, is sufficient to style men, members of Christ. So our Saviour himself speaks of some branches in him, that bear not fruit : John xv. 2 ; and so, Eom. xi. 17, the branches of the true olive are said to have been broken off, and others engrafted in their stead. Certainly, thi.-^ vine, and this olive, is Christ; and these barren, and therefore broken branches, are members of his body : not, indeed, living members united unto him by the band of a saving faith, whereby they might draw sap and nourishment from him, for such shall never be broken off, nor burnt ; but yetihey are in Christ, and be long unto Christ, as his mmbers by an ecclesiastical or political incision, as they are parts and members of the visible Church. And thus, I suppose, I have made it sufficiently clear unto you, that all, who are taken out of the world into the visible Church of Christ, may, according to the phrase and expressions of Scrip ture, be called saints, the children and people of God, and members of Christ. (3) But, to bring this home to our present subject of Baptism : from all this it evidently follows, that those, who are baptized, may, ill this ecclesiastical and relative sense, be truly called saints, ttie children of God, and members of Christ ; and, thereupon, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Doubtless, so far forth Baptism is a means of sanctification, as it is the solemn admission of persons into the visible Church ; as it separates them from the world, and from all false religions in it, and brings them out of the visible kingdom of the devil into the visi- Vol. II 20 322 THE DOCTEINE OP ble kingdom of Jesus Christ. For, if all, that are admitted into the visible Church, are thereby, as I have proved to you, dignified with the title of saints and the children of God ; tben, by Bap tism, which is the solenin way of admitting them into tbe Churcb, they may, with very good reason, be said to be made saints, the children of God, and members of Christ. But this is only a rela tive sanctity, not a real : and many such saints and sanctified men there are, who shall never enter into heaven ; but, by their wicked lives, forfeit and lose that blessed inheritance to which they were called. Many there are, who are saints, by their separation, from Paganism and Judaism into fellowship with the visible Church ; but they are not saints, by their separation from wicked and un godly men into a spiritual fellowship with Christ. And yet, to such saints as these, all the ordinances of the Church are due, till, for their notorious wickedness, they be cut off from that body, by the due execution of the sentence of excommunication. Such a Baptismal regeneration as this is must needs be acknowledged by all, that will not wilfully shut their eyes against the clear evidence of Scripture ; from which I have before brought plentiful proofs to confirm it. Yet let me add once more ; and that shall be Gal. iii. 26, 27. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus :" i. e. believing and professing his doctrine : " For as many of you," saith the Apostle, " as- have been baptized into Christ ;" i. e. baptized into the religion of Christ, and in his name, "have put on Christ," i, e. bave professed him, and. thereby put upon yourselves his name, being called Christians : and this putting on of Christ in Baptism, the Apostle makes a ground to assert them to be all " the children of God." But still it mjist be remembered, that this sanctification, regeneration, and adoption, conferred upon us at our admission into 'the visible Church, is external and eccle siastical : and, though it alone will suffice to the salvation of infants, because they are thereby as holy as their state can make them capa ble of ; yet it will not suffice to the salvation of grown and adult persons, if they contradict it by the course of a wicked life :- for our Saviour hath told us, " that the children of the kingdom shall," themselves, many of them, " be cast into >outer darkness :" Mat. viii. 12. And thus much for'the first position, that Baptism is a means of our external and relative sanctification unto God ; because, by it, we are separated from the visible kingdom of the devil, and brought into the visible kingdom of Christ,- and are devote(J by vow and covenant unto the service of God. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 323 2. Another position is this. That Baptism is not so tke means of an internal a/ad real sanctiflcation, as if all, to wkom it is administered, were thereby spiritually renewed, and made' partakers of the Soly Ghost in kis saving graces. Though an external and ecclesiastical sanctification be effected by Baptism, ex opere operato, by the mere administration of that Holy Sacrament ; yet so is not an internal and habitual sanctifica tion : and that, whether we respect adult persons or infants. (1) For adult persons, we have a famous and incontroUable in stance, in the Baptism of Simon Magus, who believed upon the preaching of the gospel : (for so it is said. Acts viii. 13,) and, upon the profession of faith in Jesus Christ, was admitted to the holy ordinance of Baptism. ^ Yet, v. 23, St. Peter tells him, that he was " still in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity :" in the same state of sin and misery, and as much a blackamoor when he came out of the laver, as he was before he entered into it. And, (2) For infants, it is not easy to be conceived, what inward work can, in an ordinary manner, pass upon them. And, to feign an extraordinary and miraculous work there is no necessity, since their salvation may be safe without it. What the miraculous grace of God is able to do, is not fit to be disputed. But, surely, we have very little reason to think that there are any real habits of supernatural grace infused into the s^uls of infants, since neither are they ordinarily capable of it, nor of exerting any spiritual acts by it. However, Baptism was not instituted! to any such purpose, that it should be an instrument of working a real change upon infants : for neither can it work this change by any immediate and proper efficiency, since the washing of the body cannot thus affect the soul, nor infuse any gracious habits into it which itself hath not; neither can it work morally, by way of suasion and argument, because infants have not the use of reason to apprehend any such. Again, if this Baptismal regeneration be real, by the infusion of habitual grace, how comes it to pass that the greater part of those, who have received it, lead pro'fane and unholy lives, and tPo, too many perish in their sins ? They, who bave the seed of God in them shall never sin unto death ; and the perseverance of those, who are inwardly and effectually sanctified, is safe and certain : for, surely, true grace is saving, and true and sa-ving grace is the effect of our election unto eternal life; for " whom he did predestinate, them he also called :" Eom. viii. 30. And, therefore, I judge it unsound doctrine, to affirm, that Baptism 324 THE DOCTEINE Of doth confer real sanctification upon all infants, as well as upon some adult persons, who are made partakers of it. But bere may some say, " If Baptism doth not confer a real and internal regeneration on infants, who partake thereof, how then is it, that the Church bath appointed a prayer in the office of Bap tism, wherein we bless God, that it hath pleased him to regenerate the baptized infant with his Holy Spirit ?" To this I answer, that the Baptismal regeneration of infants is external and ecclesiastical. They are regenerated, as they are in corporated into the Church of Christ : for this is called Regenera tion, Mat. xix. 28. " Ye, which have followed me in the regenera tion shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel :" where, though some read the words otherwise, "in the re generation ye shall sit upon twelve thrones," meaning thereby the day of judgment and the last renewing of all things ; yet I see no enforcing necessity to alter the common and usual reading, "Ye, which have followed me in the regeneration," i. e, in planting my Church, which is the renewing of the world. And, therefore, the Apostle, 2 Cor. v. 17, saying, " that old things are passed away ...-.all things are become new," is thought to allude unto the Prophet Isaiah lxv. 17, " Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth : and the former shall not be remembered." And this state of the Gospel was, by the Jews, frequently called " The world to come :" and so likewise it is called by the Apostle, Heb. ii. 5, " Unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." To be admitted, therefore, by Baptism into the Church of Christ, is, to be admitted into the state of regeneration, or the renewing of all things, called therefore " the washing of regenera tion :" Tit. iii. 5. "But how then are infants said, in Baptism, to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, if he doth not inwardly sanctify them in and by that ordinance?" I answer : Because the whole economy and dispensation of the kingdom of Christ is managed by the Spirit of Christ : so that those who are internally sanctified, are regenerated by his effectual operation : and those, who are only externally sanctified, are re generated by his public institution. Infants, therefore, are in Baptism regenerated by the Holy Ghost, because the' Holy Spirit of God appoints this ordinance to receive them into the "visible Church, which is the regenerate part and state of the world. That is the 'second position. That Baptism is not so the means of sanctification, that all, to whom it is administered, must thereby be made partakers of the Holy Ghost in his saving graces. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 325 3. It is not so tke means of sanctification, as if none could he inter nally and really sanctifled, wko are necessarily deprived of tkat koly ordinance. Yea, indeed, all, that are converted from other religions unto Christianity, must first believe and make profession of that faith, before they can be admitted unto the sacrament of Baptism : and doubtless, many thousands were by the apostles converted, not only to the Christian professiom^but to a Christian and holy life, before they were baptized. We well know, that, in the primitive times, very many did delay their Baptism till their ^declining age, out of an erroneous opinion, that all voluntary sins after Baptism were unpardonable ; and yet it would be very uncharitable to judge, that none of these were sanctified and inwardly renewed by the Holy Ghost. Yea, and, perhaps, to beat down this misgrounded practice, some, on the other band, held, that Baptism "wias of absolute and indis; pensable necessity to eternal life : which was to cure a mistake in practice, by a most grievous mistake in doctrine. Yet this their opinion they grounded on John iii. 5, " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of hea ven :" whence they inferred, that Baptism was as absolutely neces sary to eternal life, as the renovation of the soul by divine grace ; so that they passed a peremptory doom of exclusion from the kingdom of heaven upon all, both infants and adult, that died withoiit the seal of this institution, although it were through no ¦ default of their own, but by insuperable necessity ; only they ex cepted such as died martyrs, whose Baptism, by their own blood, they thought might serve instead of Baptism by water. Thus, as St. Cyprian in one of his epistles relates, it was determined by an African council ; to which determination he also gives his assent. And St. Austin (called, therefore, Durus Pater infantum^ seems, in many passages of his works to be thus rigid in giving sentence against all who died unbaptized ; although probably, afterwards, the severity of his opinion relented: for in his fourth book against Donatus, he tells us, that not only suffering for the name of Christ may supply the want of Baptism, " Sed etiam fides con- versioque cordis, si fort^ ad celebrandum mysterium Baptismi in angustiis temporum succurri non potest :" " But faith also, and the conversion of the heart to God, if through unavoidable necessity we cannot celebrate the sacrament of Baptism." But whosoever were the authors or maintainers of this opinion, it is certainly un warrantable, and uncharitable, and contrary to the judgment of the '6'AI5 THE DOCTEINE OF higher primitive times : who, if they had thought that no person could possibly be sanctified or saved without Baptism, would cer tainly not have stinted the administration of it to their Dies Bap- tismatum, two special seasons of the year, Easter and Whitsunday ; nor would many of them have deferred their own Baptism to the end of their days : for how could they be sure, tbat no casualty should, in the mean time, intervene ; and cut off all opportunities of recei"ving it ? Baptism, then, is not of such absolute necessity as a means, that none can be saved without it: neither doth our Saviour in those words so assert it. For we must distinguish, between being inevit ably deprived of the opportunity of Baptism, and a wilful contempt of it. And of this latter, must the words be understood. He, that contemns being born again of Baptism, and out of that contempt finally neglects it, shall never enter into the kingdom of God : but, for others, who are necesaftrily deprived of that ordinance, the want of it shall not in the least prejudice their salvation ; for it is a stated rule,- Non absentia, sed contemptus sacramentorum, reum facit. 4. The last Position is this. That Baptism is an ordinary means appoiiited by Christ, for tke real and effectual sanctification of his Ckurck. For this is the great end of all gospel ordinances, that, through them, might be conveyed that grace, which might purify the heart and cleanse the life. And, though I do not affirm, that Baptism doth effect this in all to whom it is rightly applied : not in infants, who, while such, are incapable of that work ; nor in many adult persons, who, though baptized, may remain still in the gall of bit terness and bond of iniquity : yet this I do affirm and maintain, that there is no reason to doubt the salvation of any, who, by this holy ordinance, are consecrated unto God, until, by their actual and wilful sinning, they thrust away from them those benefits, which God intends them by it. And, indeed, whoso doth but seriously consider the vows that are upon him, and the solemn engagements which he hath made to be the Lord's, will find a pressing force upon his soul, unless he be lost to all modesty and ingenuousness ; urging bim really to fulfil, what he hath so justly and so sacredly pro mised : no argument can be more prevalent to enforce a holy life, than when the Spirit of God shall bring home to our consideration the oath that we have taken, to be God's, and to oppose all the enemies that oppose his glory and our salvation ; when we shall be reminded, that, so long as we continue in a state of sin, we live in perjury, having given our most serious promise to God, to yield THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 327 obedience to his will and laws, and to live as becomes his servants and soldiers. I beseech you, therefore, 0 Christians ! consider seriously with yourselves, what bonds and obligation lie upon you, that you have vowed and covenanted to be the Lord's:" a vow, that is binding upon your souls ; and which, if you do not fulfil it, will bind you over to everlasting condemnation. Sit down, and think with your selves, to what you stand obliged ; and either renounce your wicked life, or renounce your Baptism. Deal ingenuously: rescind the deed : and profess to all the world, that you look not upon your selves as listed under Christ's banner, nor engaged to be his ser vants and soldiers ; or, else, live as becomes Christians. What ! shall your names be in the register of Christ, and yet your souls be in the hands of the devil ? Will you carry his ensign in your forehead, and yet fight against him in his own camp ? This is not only hostility, but treason: and, as rebels and traitors are more severely dealt with than enemies, so shall you be ; and, believe it, ,the flames of hell burn the more furiously, for your being sprinkled with baptismal water. iv. From all this, that hath been said c«i this subject, I shall draw this one deduction and so conclude. Hence WE may leaen" WHAT TO JUDGE, AND WHAT TO HOPE, CONCEBNING THE STATE OF INFANTS, WHO DIE BAPTIZED. Certainly, since they are in covenant with God ; since they are the members of Christ, being members of his body, the Church ; since they are sanctified and regenerated, so far forth as their na tures are ordinarily capable of, without a miracle ; we have all the reason in the world comfortably to conclude, that all such die in the Lord, and are forever happy and blessed with hinr. With very good reaspn, therefore, and upon very clear evidence, hath our Church determined, that " it is certain, by God's word, that children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved :" Eubric after Baptism. For what should hinder? Actual sins, they are supposed to have none : and the guilt of their original sin is pardoned to- them, by "virtue of God's covenant : wherein he becomes their God, and takes them for his own children. Baptism is the sealing of this pardon: Acts ii. 38; "Be baptized for the remission of sins:" and, certainly, the grant is made, where the seal is added : and, since they pannot forfeit it, either by hypocrisy or profaneness, without doubt they enjoy the everlasting bpnefits of it. 328 THE DOCTEINE OF Yea, let me add, that not only infants baptized, but all infants of believing parents, though they should unavoidably die before Baptism, yea, before they see the light, are in the same safe and blessed condition, for they are in the same gracious covenant. For, since the promise is made to believers and to their children, God will not falsify his promise, where they break no conditions. Since the children of believing parents are holy, with all that holiness tbat their condition is capable of, this is sufficient to make them capable of heaven, into which no unclean thing can enter : therefore, if they be excluded, it is because they are unclean. which the Apostle expressly denies, 1 Cor. vii. 14. And lastly, since they are members of Jesus Christ, being members of his Church, he will certainly be the Saviour of his body, and present bis Church holy and unspotted to his Father. And, since they cannot, either by hypocrisy or any other sin, debar themselves from the privileges of God's children, they shall certainly enjoy them in their largest and utmost, extent. We may therefore well comfort ourselves for the death of such : for there is far more ground to be assured of their salvation, than of any other persons in the world : because there can be no danger of hypocrisy, nor close dissimulation; which might make our charity, or their souls, miscarry. Upon this account, David- comforts himself for the death of his spurious child: 2 Sam. xii. 23 ; "I shall go to him, but he. shall not return to me." Did David only mean, that he should go to the grave to him, there were as little comfort in that, as there are sense and enjoyment in death. But the consolation was, that he should go to that state of bliss and happiness, where the soul of this infant was made perfect : and that it was so, he could have no ' other assurance, but that his child was born within the pale of the Church ; born in the covenant, and had the seal of the covenant applied to him. ^ The like consolation may we have, whenever God takes from us any of our infant children, that they, dying in the bosom of the Church, in covenant with God, and consecrated to him by Baptism, are received to that heavenly felicity, by virtue of God's promise and covenant, to which we ought to aspire, by a continued course of faith, patience, and obedience. Tertullian calls "Fidelium filios, sanctitatis candidates; et sanctos, tam ex seminis prserogativS." Lib de Anima;. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 329 THE lord's supper; OR, THE HOLT COMMUNION OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. Wkoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, katk eternal life; and I udll raise kim up at tke last day: for myflesk is meat indeed, and my bhod is drink indeed. JoHN vi. 54, 55. 1. These words are altogether metaphysical and figurative. And to OPEN them, I shall inquire. What is meant by the flesh and blood of Christ. What is meant by a Christian's eating and drinking this flesh and this blood. For neither of these expressions must be taken according to its proper and literal signification. As to the first : by the flesh and hlopi of Christ, we must not only understand his natural body, consisting of true flesh and blood : but the phrase includes whole Christ, as the Mediator of believers ; especially in the course of his humiliation, to which he was subject by reasPn of that flesh and blood of ours which he took unto him ; that so he might, in all things, be like unto us, sin "only excepted. So that Christ, as our surety and Mediator" is this flesh and blood, which he here speaks of. And, that it is to be taken in this latitude, will appear from ex plaining the second phrase. What it is, to eat this flesh, and drink this blood. And, here, First. It is impiously gross to conceive, as the Papists do, that the words are to be expounded, of a carnally real eating of the natural body, and a proper real drinking of the blood of Christ, in their eucharist; which, besides all the gross contradictions , and huge impossibilities that they are forced to swallow down with it, is a creed fitter for cannibals, than for Christians. Secondly. Therefore there is a real eating of the flesh of Christ, and a real drinking of his blood, by faith. And of this, we must understand this place. Thus our Saviour expounds himself, v. 35, of this chapter : " I am the bread of life : he, that cometh to me, shall never hunger ; and he, that believeth on me, shall never thirst," As hunger is satisfied by eating, and thirst' allayed by drinking ; so here, it is coming unto Christ, this "bread of life," that satisfies a Christian's hunger; and believing on Christ, "the fountain of living waters," that allays his thirst. This eating, therefore, the flesh of Christ, and drinking his blood, being by Christ himself made one and the same with our coming unto him, and that being 330 THE DOCTEINE OF one and the same with our believing on him, it can be nothing else but an act of faith terminated upon Christ. This body and blood of Christ, which we must thus eat and drink, i, e. which we must believe in, is not to be confined only to the true natural body of Christ ; but to be extended to whatsoever he did and suSered in his body, as our Mediator, for our redemp tion and salvation. So, then, his being made a curse for us ; his being made under the law, in the form of a servant, subjected to human infirmities and exposed to human miseries ; his conflicting and wrestling with the wrath of God ; his stripes and scourgings ; his mockings and revilings ; the obedience of his life, and his obe dience unto death, even the shameful and accursed death of the cross; his bearing of our sins in his body on the tree; and his eluctating the whole load of wrath, that the justice and power of God could lay upon him, c^clared to the world by his triumphant resurrection : briefly, whatsoever in Christ tended to the satisfaction of divine justice and the salvation of our souls, that is this flesh and blood of Christ, which a believer's faith should feed upon. It followeth : "He, that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood:" i, e, he, that believeth on me as Mediator, " hath eternal life." This may be understood. First. That grace, being an incorruptible, immortal seed, he, that hath this life of grace, hath, in this sense, an eternal life ; a life, that shall never fade, nor die. Secondly. If this eternal life be taken for 'the life of glory, as indeed it seems most congruous, then a believer is said to have this life, both because he hath the seeds and principles, the dawn and beginning of it here ; and because God hath assured to him the possession of it hereafter, by his immutable word of promise : which is as good security as actual possession, and gives him a right and title to that blessed and glorious inheritance ; and, cer tainly, what we have a right unto, we may well call ours. Hence we may observe, that, Mark xvi. 16, it is said, "He, that believeth ....shall be saved;" there is assurance of salvation for the future: but John iii. 18 ; " He, that believeth not, is condemned a,lready." Unbelievers are no more actually conde'mned, than believers are actually saved ; but, o-nlj, what God threatens or promises, it is all one, whether he saith it is done or it shall be done : for damnation is as certain to the one, and salvation to the other, as if they were already in their final state! It followeth : " And I will raif e him up at the last day." Now here the whole cry of the schoolmen, taking advantage from some THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 331 expressions that dropped unwarily from some of the Fathers, do from this place assert, that there is left a semjnal virtue from the partaking of the eucharist, or Lord's Supper (for concerning that only most of them interpret these words of our Saviour), which hath a power to quicken, and raise the dead body at the last day. But this is so -wild and absurd a conceit, as needs no confuting : especially, since the words are not to be understood primarily and principally of the Sacrament ; but of faith in the merits of Christ, wrought out for us in his body, and by the shedding of his blood. Therefore, " I will raise him up at the last day," only declares to us Christ's promise and engagement, that he will be the author and efficient cause of our resurrection. And, though all men shall rise again, as well unbelievers as believers; yet Christ raiseth them in a different manner : those, who are unbelievers, he raiseth by hia power, as he is the Lord of all things, both in heaven and earth ; and, as their judge, he sends for these malefactors out of the pri sons of their graves, to appear before his tribunal : but he raiseth believers, as their head ; and, as they are parts of his mystical body, unto' a glorious and blessed immortality. So that, though Christ's miraculous resurrec'tion, was within three days after his death, yet his mystical resurrection shall not be till the end of the world ; for, when all the saints of all ages of the world shall together rise out of their graves, then riseth Christ's mystical body. It followeth, verse, 5 5, "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." What is meant by the flesk and bhod of Christ, you have already heard : and here, by meat and drink, is meant whatsoever the faith of a Christian pitcheth upon in the sufferings of Christ, which he underwent by reason of his flesk and bhod: whatsoever in Christ may feed and nourish his soul, that is here called meat and drink. " But why is this particle indeed added ? " My flesk is meat IN7 DEED, &c." I answer : We must not be so gross as the Transub- stantiatists are, to conceive that indeed is the same with carnally and properly : My jksk is meat indeed; that is, say they, it is pro perly meat, and so to be eaten, even in a corporeal manner in the Sacrament. For the text only calls it Bpwtn; a-ktjda;, and TtocK,; ax-vjea;, not sfftoSus or xvpiai. It is meat and drink indeed ; but it is not meat and drink essentially or properly. This indeed must be taken spiritually. It is meat indeed, and drink indeed ; but still spi ritual : neither the less truly so, for being spiritually so ; for all tropical and transferent speeches, though they take away from the propriety, yet they do not take from the truth and reality of the expression. 332 THE DOCTEINE OF Therefore, not to insist longer on the exposition, take a full view of the sense of the words, in this short paraphrase, wherein I will lay aside all that was figurative in them. "Whosoever believeth on me as Mediator, God-m^n; bearing the whole weight of God's displeasure, and the whole burden of the sins of the world in my body ; pouring out my blood for their remission, and by my death satisfying the justice of God ; he hath an eternal life of grace, and the seed-plot of an eternal life of glory, faith giving the believer a present prospect of it, and, by the gracious promise of God, a firm right and title to it. And such an one, being mystically united unto me, and incorporated in me, I "will certainly raise again, at the last day, to eternal bliss and joy : for the sufi'erings which I underwent by reaspn of that flesh and blood which I took upon me, are the food and nourish ment of the soul ; inasmuch as they are the right objects for a saving and justifying faith to pitch upon, and to terminate in." This I take to be the genuine meaning of those metaphorical expressions. The sum of all which, you may take contracted into this one Proposition : That Cheist, bepbesented in his meeitobious OBEDIENCE AND SUFFEEINGS, IS THE EIGHT AND PBOPEE OBJECT OF A SAVING AND JUSTIFYING FAITH. II. And, in handling it, I shall not speak of our acting faith on Christ in general ; but, according to my present design, shall con fine myself to the ACTING FAITH UPON HIM. AS EXHI BITED IN HIS BODY AND BLOOD IN THAT GEEAT GOSPEL-OEDINANCE OF HIS SUPPEE ; which is, in a very special manner, meat indeed and drink indeed; the food and nourish ment of a believing soul. , And here we must premise, that all the use and benefit of a Sacrament is comprehended in these two things : In its being a representation, as a sign. In its being an obsignation, as a seal. Now it is only faith, as fixed on Christ the Mediator, that makes this ordinance beneficial to us, either as to its signifying or as to its sealing office. To dream of any spiritual advantage that ac crues to the soul merely from the opus operaium, " tbe work done," though faith signifies nothing, though faith seals nothing, is so far from truth, though eagerly defended by the Eomanists, that the Apostle plainly tells ijs, such do but eat and drink damnation to themselves, who discern not the Lord's body. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 333 i. It is FAITH, AS EEPEBSENTING THE SUFFEEINGS OF CHEIST, THAT GIVES THIS SACBAMENT ITS SANCTIFYING USE AND OFFICE. One grand end why Christ instituted this ordinance was, that it might be signum rememorativum, "a remembrancing sign:" Luke xxii. 19, " This do in remembrance of me." So 1 Cor. xi. 26, " For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he come." But without faith, the admin istration of the Sacrament is no better than a dumb show, with out any signification at all. It is faith, that, in this ordinance, acts over the whole tragedy of Christ's sufferings ; and carries the soul through them all, in as lively representations, as if Christ were but now undergoing them. We are, I know, ready to "wish that we had lived in the time of Christ's abode here on earth ; that we had been conversant with him, as his disciples were, to have seen both his miraculous actions, and his no less miraculous passion. Why, truly, the disciples' sight of these things hath no advantage at all above our faith. If we can but exercise faith in this great ordinance, these things will be really present to us. There we shall see Christ crucified before our eyes ; yea, and crucified as truly and really to our faith, as ever he was to the sense of others. Our faith can carry us into the garden, and make us watch with him in his agony, and observe every drop of blood that the sense of his Father's wrath strained through him. Faith can carry us to the judgment-hall, to hear his whole trial and arraignment. Faith can lead us through the whole multitude and crowd of people to his cross ; and, in this ordinance, we may see his body broken and his blood poured out, and hear him crying, "It is finished," the work of redemption is completed, and see him at" last give up the ghost. And all this the faith of a Christian doth as lively represent, as if it were but now doing ; and thereby it makes the Sacrament a sign, and gives it its signifi cancy. Briefly, then, to enforce this. Whenever we come to partake of this great and solemn ordinance, let us be sure to set faith at work, to represent unto us "the whole sufferings of Jesus Christ. A strong faith can recall things that are long passed, and make them exist again : so that time devours nothing, but to an ignorant person or an unbeliever. And, truly, unless faith do thus recall the sufferings of Christ, not to our memories only, but to our hearts and afi'ections, they will all appear to us but as a story of somewhat done long ago ; and as a worn-out, antiquated 'thing. Consider : were there a sight to be represented, at which heaven. 334 THE DOCTEINE OF and earth, and hell itself, should stand amazed ; wherein God him self should suffer, not only in the form of a servant, but under the form of a malefactor : and the everlasting happiness of all mankind, from the creation of the world to the final dissolution of it, should be transacted ; in which we might see the venom and poisonous malignity of the sins of the whole world wrung out into one bitter cup, and this cup put into the hands of the Son of God to drink off the very dregs of it ; in which we might see the gates of hell broken to pieces, devils conquered, and all the powers of their dark kingdom triumphed over : I say were there such a sight as this, so dreadful and yet so glorious, to be repre sented to us, would we not all desire to be spectators of it ? Why, all this is frequently represented to us in the Sacrament. There, we may see the Son of God' slain, the blood of God poured out : we may see him, that takes away our transgressions, numbered himself among transgressors : we may see him banging upon the soreness of his hands and feet ; all our iniquities meeting upon him, and the eternity of divine vengeance and punishments contracted, in their full extremity, into a short space : we may see the wrath of God pacified, the justice of God satisfied, mankind redeemed, hell subdued, and devils cast into everlasting chains. All this is clearly to be seen in this ordinance, if we bring but faith to discern it; without which, indeed, all this will be no more to us, than a magnificent and exquisite scene is to a blind man. Indeed, the Apostle speaks of some, who did, in an ill sense, " crucify to them selves the Son of God afresh :" Heb. vi. 6. But, certainly, in a good sense, tbe faith of every believer ought to crucify to himself the Son of God afresh ; and so lively to represent to himself the whole course of bis sufferings, that the spectators themselves could not have been better informed of them, nor more affected with them, by their senses, than he by his faith. But, that in this we may not be deceived by the workings of a quick and lively fancy, and mistake them for the workings of a quick and lively faith, let us observe, that, when faith gi-ves the soul a view of the sufferings of Christ, it will stir up due and pro portionable affections. 1. It will excite a koly and ingenuous mourning. Can you see the body of Christ broken, and his blood poured out, and not have your hearts broken and bleeding within you ? All nature itself felt violent convulsions, when the God of Nature suffered : heaven put on its blacks in that miraculous eclipse : the bowels of the earth were rent with an earthquake : the silent THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 335 chambers of the grave disturbed, and forced to resign their in habitants, as if the whole frame of the world suffered with the Maker of it. And shall not we be affected, whose sins caused this sad tragedy, and whose interest wag so deeply concerned in it ? We ourselves had a share in crucifying the Lord of Glory : and, what St. Peter said to the Jews, Acts ii. 23 ; " Ye have taken, and by -wicked hands have crucified and slain him," may be truly said of us: we have crucified and slain the Lord of life and glory. And should npt this prick us to the very hearts, as it did them ? What ! that we should nail him to his cross ; and throw that load of sin and sorrew upon him, which made him cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" How should this cause us to melt in a holy and kind mourning, and to fulfil the prediction of the Prophet, Zech. xii. 10 ; " They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one that mourneth for bis only son ; and shall be in bitterness....as one that is in bitterness for bis first-born !" And where can we look upon a broken and a pierced Saviour more lively, than in that holy Sacrament, which he hath instituted to be a remembrance of his death and sufferings. 2. If faith, and not memory, not fancy only, represents to you the sufferings of Christ in this ordinance, it will stir up in you, as a holy mourning and sorrow for your sins, so a koly anger and indignation against tkem, ^ ' Look upon your Saviour with sorrow ; and upon your sins with hatred, as those, that were his bloody murderers, and squeezed so much gall and wormwood into the bitter cup of his passion. And shall I find pleasure in that, in which Christ found so much anguish and horror ? Shall I entertain, and lodge in my bosom, the bloody murderers of my God and Saviour ? Shall I delight and sport my self with those sins, "which caused unkno"wn dolors to him ; and must be, if not expiated by his blood, eternally repaid and revenged in mine own ? 3. Faith, representing the sufferings of Christ in this sacrament, will stir up a koly fear and reverential awe of God. When faith shows us, that the united force of all that wrath, which yet would have been insufferable though parcelled out among us to whom it was due, met all at once upon him, who was not only innocent but the Son of God himself, it will make the believing soul fear and tremble under the apprehensions of this strict and severe justice of God. How can he but think with him self, " Alas ! what a just God have I to deal with 1 a God, who, rather 336 THE DOCTEINE OF than sin shall go unpunished, will so dreadfully punish the very imputation of it, even in his own Son. And what if Christ had not stood in my stead, and undergone my punishment for me ? should not all his wrath have fallen upon me ? should not I have been s"wallowed up in eternal torments, and have lain under the vindictive justice of God forever ? How can our souls but be surprised with fear and trembling at such reflections as these, which faith ought to suggest to them at their attendance upon this holy ordinance ? 4. If faith represent the sufferings of Christ to us,- it will mightily enkindle and inflame our love unto Mm, How can the believing soul, when he is receiving the bread and M'ine, think that now he is taking that Christ, whose love was so great as to undergo no less than infinite wrath to satisfy the off'ended justice of God, and not dissolve into proportionable love towards Christ again ? To think, that Christ should lay by his robes of glory, wrap his deity in dust and ashes, hide and eclipse himself in our flesh, and all this abasement only to put himself into a farther capacity of suffering for us ; that he should be crucified for those, who crucified him ; that he should die for love of those, who killed him, and suffer for those from whom he still suffers ; if we have any, the least spark of gratitude and ingenuousness, it must needs constrain us, not only to admire tbe infinite riches of the love of Christ towkrds us, but to return reciprocal love unto him. These four affections, faith will excite in us when we partake of this ordinance, as it is a sign and a representation to us of the sufferings of Christ. For, without these, merely to recall to our minds those great transactions may be but the act of memory, or the representation of fancy ; no work of faith. And thus I have endeavored to show you, what is the object, which our faith ought to apprehend and pitch upon in this holy institution. For, as faith is, in every ordinance, the great purveyor and steward of the soul, that lays in provision for the soul to feed upon ; so especially in this. It is faith alone, that can find, out any thing jn material elements, that may be suited and accommodated to an immaterial soul. For there is a kind of holy chemistry in this grace, that can extract spirit out of visible and sensible objects. What is there in the bread, and in the wine, that can nourish the soul ? The body is, indeed, upheld by such earthly supports ; but these are too gross feeding for our spiritual part. It is, indeed, THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 337 said, that " man did eat angels' food ;" Ps. Ixxviii. 25, to set forth the excellency and delicacy of that provision of manna, that God made for his unthankful people in the wilderness ; yea, but a true believer hath better and choicer food set before him on the Lord's table, than the food of angels themselves. To a carnal eye, they appear but mere contemptible bread and wine ; but yet our enter tainment there is more refined, more spiritual. The bread and wine are but the dishes, in which this feast is served up ; not the feast itself. Faith feeds the soul, not in the vulgar common way, but nourishes it in a mystical manner. It eats, not the bread, but the breaking of it : it drinks, not the wine, but the pouring of it forth. The elements may seem lean, poor, and beggarly in them selves : but, when a transubstantiating faith shall turn the bread into the body of Christ, and the wine into his blood, it will make a belie"ving soul cry out, with the Jews, in this chapter, "Iiord, evermore give us this .bread ;" and, with the woman of Samaria, chap, iv., " Sir, give me of this water." It is a Christian''s faith, that makes it bread incarnate. And, as Christ, by a miracle of power, turned water into wine, so here the faith of the receiver turns wine into blood. And, thus, by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, they are incorporated into him, and made one with him, members of his mystical body; and shall' be certainly -raised by him to an incorruptible and glorious life. ii. We have thus considered the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup per, as it is a sign. I shall now proceed to consider it as a seal : and, under this respect also, it is only faith in the suffeeings OP CHEIST, THAT CAN MAKE IT ANY WAY USEFUL AND BENEFICIAL UNTO US.- For, as the ¦ Sacrament represents nothing, so it seals nothing, without faith. Now, here, I shall briefly inquire into these four things : Why the Sacrament is called a seal. . ¦Wbat it seals unto, or to what itis affixed. Whose seal it is ; whether God's, or ours. That faith alone, in the sufferings of Christ Jesus, makes its sealing pffice beneficial and advantageous to us. 1. Why tke Sacrament is called a seal. A seal, you know, is added for the confirmation and ratifying of any compact, bargain, or covenant between party and party. The Sacrament, therefore, is called a seal, because it is annexed to that bargain and covenant, that God hath made with man. For, herein, God is pleased to Ife so gracious to our infirmity, that he hath not Vol. 11.-22 338 THE DOCTEINE OF only passed his word, but hath also confirmed his covenant by seals ; " that by two immutable things, wherein it was not possible for God to lie, we might have abundant consolation." And there fore, the circumcision of Abraham, which was then the Sacrament of initiation, to which, in the Christian Church, Baptism succeeded, this circumcision is called, Eom. iv. 11, "A seal of the righteous ness of faith." And the cup, in this ordinance of the Lord's Sup per, is said by the Apostle, 1 Cor. xi. 25, to be "the new testament in " the " blood " of Christ. Now what else can be understood by that synecdoche, that the cup is the New Testament, but only that it is a seal set to the New Testament ; the last will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that covenant which he hath ratified with us in his blood ? Thus, therefore, it is called a seal, because it is a con firmation of the covenant, made- between God and man; even as a seal is a confirmation of any agreement, made between man and man. 2. Therefore let us inquire wkat tke Sacrament seak unto. The Sacrament's sealing being nothing else but the confirmation of the truth of that to which it is set, we may conceive that the Sacrament seals to, i. e. it attests and confirms two things, "viz.. Our faith ahd God's covenant. (1) It seals to our faith, two ways : [1] Directly and formally : in that we do, by receiving this holy ordinance, attest unto God the truth of our faith ; that we do in deed believe On Christ Jesus exhibited in it. And, therefore, as the Sacrament represents unto us the death of Christ, and what he suffered for our redemption and salvation, as it is a sign ; so, as it is a seal, it doth witness and attest, that we do indeed \^j hold on his death, and apply those sufferings by faith unto our own souls. Whensoever a true believer comes to par take of this ordinance, and sees the bread broken and the wine poured forth, signifying unto him the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of his blood, he ought then to lift up his heart to God ; and, in the silent devotions of bis soul, to say, " Lord, I believe on thy Son thus broken, and on his blood thus poured out for me : and, to attest and witness that I do indeed believe, behold, I now 'receive this thy Holy Sacrament ; and, by it, do set seal to the truth of my faith, accepting of my blessed Saviour, and sin cerely devoting myself unto him." [2] It seals to our faith consecutively, by way of effect and causality; as the receiving of it doth mightily confirm and strengthen our faith. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 339 For, there is no ordinance of God whatsoever, that is more ac commodated to the increase of faith than this : in that it doth, as it were, set the death of Christ before our eyes. For, though faith be evacuated where there is clear and perfect vision, yet where the representation is such as doth not fully discover the object, but only hint it unto us, as it is here in the Sacrament, faith- takes a mighty advantage from the type and resemblance that sense per ceives, to look into those more spiritual objects represented by these material signs, which to the eye of sense are altogether in visible. And, indeed, when we consider that God hath not only engaged his word, that whosoever believeth shall be saved ; but bath also instituted this ordinance, as a witness between him and us, that he will certainly perform this gracious promise, if we per form the condition ; we may well have strong faith, and strong con solation from that faith, since be hath been pleased to assure our salvation to us, both by his word, and by this pledge of the truth and fidelity of his word. And, in this sense, our faith may be said to be sealed by the Sacrament, because it is thereby greatly confirmed and strengthened. < (2) But, then, as the Sacrament seals to our faith; so, it seals also to God's covenant with us. • The brief tenor of this covenant you have expressly contained in those few words, Mark x-vi. 16; "He, that believeth....shall be saved." And to this covenant the Sacrament is affixed as a seal. And, in it, there are two things, that admit of sealing : The tenor of the covenant itself. Our propriety and interest in the mercy promised. The tenor of the covenant consists in this : If I believe, I shall be saved. Our interest and propriety in the covenant consist in this : But I do believe, and therefore I shall be saved. Now each of these may be sealed unto the soul : and, accord ingly, there is a twofold sealing : An external sealing, by the Sacrament. An internal sealing, by the Spirit. -Of these, the external sealing only respects the Sacrament. For, in this ordinance, God seals unto me, that, if I believe on the Lord Jesus, I shall be saved ; and gives me a visible pledge of this pro mise, that, as sure as I eat of the sacramental bread and drink of the wine, so surely, upon my faith, I shall inherit eternal life. And this, indeed, is the most proper sealing use, which the Sacrament ^lath. But the internal sealing of the Spirit, in our own consciences. 340 THE DOCTEINE OF respects our peculiar right and interest in this covenant. For, though the Sacrament seals to me, that, if I believe, I shall be saved ; yet it doth not properly seal and attest to me, that I do believe, and therefore shall be saved. But this is the work of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of adoption, which seals us up unto the day of redemption ; and works in the hearts of many believers a full assurance, that grace is already wrought in them, and that glory shall hereafter be bestowed upon them. And thus you see -to what it is, that the Sacrament seals. Prin cipally and primarily, it seals to the truth of the conditional cove nant, as a pledge of God's veracity : but, secondarily, it seals also to our faith, as it is a means instituted by God for the strengthen ing and increasing of it. 3. By what hath been spoken, we may easily give a resolution to the third questiftn, Wkose seal it is : wkether God's or ours : for it is both. (1) It is God's seal only, in respect of its institution. For he hath appointed this holy ordinance as a seal between him and us. And, indeed, this is so essential to the nature and being of a sacra ment, that nothing can be such, but what hath the stamp of divine institution to warrant it. • (2) It is God's seal, as it is affixed to his part of the covenant. : For, in this sacrament, he seals to us,- that, if we believe, we shall certainly be saved. But, then, (3) It is our seal, as we do, by receiving it, testify and declare the truth and reality of our faith ; and tbat we do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is exhibited unto us in this sacrament. 4. These things, therefore, being thus clear, I shall come to the fourth general head propounded, which indeed I principally in- - tended, viz : That it is faith ahne, in the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ, tkat makes tke Seal of the Sacrament ¦useful and beneficial fo our souh. (1) It is true, indeed, tbat, whether we believe or no, this ordi nance will still seal the truth and stability of God's covenant, that, if we believe, we shall be saved. Yet, if we do not believe, of what use or benefit will this be to us? Yea, it will rather be a fearful aggravation of our just con demnation : in that God hath not only given his word for our sal vation, but hath so far condescended as to set his seal to it in this holy ordinance ; and, yet, neither salvation promised, nor this pro mise sealed, can work upon us to act that faith, upon which heaven and happiness are assured. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 341 (2) The Sacrament, without faith in the partakers, will be still a seal. Yea, but it will only seal them up to the day of destruction. For, as to a belie-ving soul it seals his salvation, so to an unbeliev ing partaker it only seals his eternal damnation. This great ordi nance is never empty nor insignificant : it hath its signifying, it hath its sealing office, to the unbelieving receiver, as well as to the believing. So that I may say, to all those who join themselves in this communion, what Christ said to the Jews, " What come you hither to see ? or what come you hither to receive ? A little bread and wine ? Nay, I say unto you, more than bread and wine : for this is he, of whom it is prophesied. That, if ye eat his flesh, and drink his blood, ye shall have eternal life." If ye be believers, bere ye may see, as in a type, the whole load of that wrath, which Christ underwent for your sins : if any of you be unbelievers, here you may see, as in a type, the whole load of that wrath, which you, in your o-wn persons, must eternally undergo for your own sins. If you are believers, here you may receive a firm pledge and, security for- your salvation: if unbelievers, here you will re ceive your damnation too surely confirmed to your souls, under the hand and seal of God himself It will be in vain to think to plead with God at the last day, like those who pleaded in vain, Luke xiii. 25, 26, " Lord, Lord, open unto us for we have eaten and drunk in thy presence." ^rue : but did not God even then seal unto you, that, unless you would believe and bring forth the fruits of a true faith in a holy life, you should as certainly perish, as you did then eat and drink? You had his seal, indeed-: but it was only set to ratify your condemnation, so long as you should continue in your impenitence and unbelief. Had you performed the con dition of the covenant, this seal had been set to the promise, and confirmed your pardon and justification ; but, for want of it, you will at last with horror see it affixed to the writ tad warrant for your execution. Now how sad and deplorable a thing is this, that, when this holy ordinance is so full of consolation and ravishing delights to the worthy partakers, sealing unto them the remission of their sins and their acceptation to eternal life, it should, for want of a true and sa-ving faith, seal up any soul under wrath and condemnation I - This twofold sealing office, the Sacrament hath towards all that partake of it : it will seal to them the certainty of eternal life and salvation, if they believe ; or of eternal wrath and condemnation, if they remain impenitent and unbelieving. 342 THE DOCTEINE OF Without faith, the Sacrament can seal nothing to you, that is beneficial and profitable. When God holds forth to you in this ordinance Christ Jesus; and, through him, pardon, peace, and reconciliation, justification, adoption, yea, even heaven itself, and its everlasting glories; the believing partaker may boldly and sweetly say, that all these are his : for faith, indeed, is the convey ance of these things to the soul : and, therefore, wheresoever it is acted, it must needs make the Sacrament seal effectually. It is faith, that justifies; and therefore, this Sacrament, that seals unto you your justification, if you believe, seals effectually. It is faith, that makes you " accepted in the beloved ;" for, " without faith it is impossible to please God -.'] and, therefore, this Sacrament, which seals your acceptance, upon your belie-ving, seals effectually. It is faith, that saves you : and, therefore, this Sacrament, that seals unto you your salvation, if you believe, seals effectually. For it seals to you, that that shall be done, if you believe, which your believing will certainly do. But yet all this it doth, by leading the soul to the consideration of, and recumbence upon, the sufferings of Jepus Christ, by which these benefits are procured. For it would be utterly in vain for faith to apprehend, or for the sacraments to seal to us, that, which was never purchased for us. And, therefore, the Apostle calls it, the cup of the New Testament in Chj^st's blood, in the fore-cited place : i. e. it is the seal of the New Testament, or covenant, in the blood of Christ. This seal must be dipped in blood, before it can ratify or confirm any privilege and benefit unto us. These are all purchased with blood ; and they all come flowing do-wn to us, in a stream of blood. Whensoever, then, you come to this great seal-office of the Gos pel, be sure that you set faith on work : else, your frequent com munication in this ordinance, to say nothing worse, will be but the fastening and aflnexing of many seals to a large grant and charter, unto which you have no title. What a sad and wretched mistake will it be, if, after you have had the covenant so often sealed and confirmed, all those seals should prove of no more use or value, than if they were set to a blank ! For the promise is no better than a blank, if the condition on your part be not performed. Will it not be sad and dreadful, when men, at tbe last day, arraigned by the justice of God, shall stand forth and plead, " Lord, here is the covenant, wherein thou hast promised me life and salvation : bere are so many seals hanging at it, whereby thou hast confirmed that promise to me :" and then it shall be said, " True, here is the THB TWO SACEAMENTS. 343 covenant, and here are the Ibals ; but where is the performance of the condition ?" What a gross mistake, what shame and confusion of face, will this be, to look no better after tbe condition of that bond, and the nature of those seals that were to convey to us no less than an eternal inheritance 1 When, therefore, you have the elements, the bread and the wine, delivered into your hands, do but seriously think with yourselves, "Now God is delivering a broken, a bleeding Saviour unto me. If I will by faith receive him, he testifies and seals by this bread and wine, that I shall certainly receive remission of my sins and everlasting life through him." Let us therefore say, " Lord Jesus, I now accept of thee upon thine own terms ; on the very conditions, on which thou art pleased to tender thyself unto me. I take a broken Christ, for my entire Sa-viour ; a Christ crowned -with thorns, for my only King. He shall be my Prophet, whom the blasphemous Jews buffetted, and derided, with a ' Prophesy, Who smote "thee ?' As I reach forth my bodily hand, to receive the bread and the wine ; so I reach forth the spiritual hand of my faith, to receive that Christ, whose body was thus broken, and whose blood was thus poured forth." Now, to those only, who thus by faith receive Christ Jesus, who thus eat his flesh and drink his blood, this sacrament doth seal and confirm, that they shall have Vernal life by him, and shall be raised up at the last day to that glory with which he is invested. III. And now, my brethren, I am sent to you, by my Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, who is both the Lord of the feast and the feast itself, to invite you to come, and to tell you that all things are ready. Behold, he himself expects you : and, after such cost that he hath been at in furnishing a table for you, when he hath provided hi.'^ own flesh for your meat and his own blood for your drink ; after so many kind and endearing invitations that he hath made you ; he cannot but take it as a high contempt of his love, and an injury done to the friendship which he offers, if you should yet delay, or refuse his entertainment. Yet, I fear, it will befal this, as it did the wedding supper, that too many will make light of it ; and, either by slight excuses or downright denials, leave this table unfurnished with guests, which is so abundantly furnished with provision. Must I be sent back with a refusal ? Or shall I have that joyful answer from you all, that you will come? I hope I shall not return ashamed : that you will not turn your backs upon your Saviour, who hath given himself for you, and now offers himself unto you ; 344 THE DOCTEINE OF and that you will not damp the de-^otion of those, who present themselves to this holy institution, by the sad and discouraging consideration of the paucity of their number. Suffer me a little to expostulate with y5u : and I beseech of you only these two things : The one is, to lay aside all prejudice, and to consider things nakedly and impartially: weighing them only according to the clear evidence of truth ; and not by the deceitful balance, either of preconceived opinions, or former practices. The other is, that, in a matter which you yourselves must needs acknowledge to be doubtful and disputable, you would think it possible you may be mistaken. Let not contrary customs, nor the deep impressions of any other persuasion, bribe your judgment to give its vote against the manifest dictates of truth and reason. For, otherwise, if we come to the disquisition of any opinion with prepossession and a stiff adherence to formerly received principles ; though the proofs be clear and the arguments irrefragable, yet the affections will blindly mutiny and' murmur against the convictions of reason, and think that still there might be somewhat more said in their own defence, though they know not what. Therefore, I beseech you, let not your affections lead your judgment, but your judgment them. Take the bias out of your minds. Consider things indifferently, as if you had never heard of them before ; and be altogether unconcerned which side hath the truth, but only concerned to follow the truth .when it appears so to you. This is but an equal request ; not only in this, but in all other debates concerning the truth of doctrine: for, ^vhere the mind is forefetalled with an overweening conceit, that the notions which we have already taken up are infallibly true and cer tain, and that whatsoever can be said against them is but sophistry and delusion ; this will render us wholly incapable of being con vinced of our mistakes, and reduced from our errors. Prejudice is the jaundice of the soul, and colors every thing by its own distem per. Or, as a man, that looks through a painted glass, sees every object of the same color that the glass is ; so, when our understand ing is o^ce deeply tinctured with former notions, all that we look upon will receive a color.from them : nor can we ever hope to see things as they are, until our judgment is cleansed from all things whatsoever, with which our affection to such a way, or our admira tion of such persons, or any other perverter of reason, have painted and dyed them. Let me, then, argue the case with you, and I shall do it plainly THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 345- and freely : and, I hope, without any bitterness ; or giving offence to any, who will not be offended with reason, that contradicts them. May not most of the SCEUPLES, that have hitherto kept you from communion with us in this gospel-ordinance of the Lord's Supper, be reduced to these four heads ? Some scruple their fitness and preparedness. Others, the gesture of kneeling in recei-ving. Others, our promiscuous assemblies; and the admission of those to the Sacrament, who are ignorant, or scandalous, or both. Others^are afraid of gi"ving offence unto or grieving their weak brethren, who are not satisfied in the lawfulness of communicating with us upon the accounts before mentioned. I think I have faithfully collected the sum of all that any ha"ve to object, under these four beads. And, if there be any thing which is not reducible to one of these, I should gladly learn it, and endeavor to give full satisfaction. Now, whether any of these be such excuses, as may sirificiently justify your rejecting the in vitation I have made you to this gospel and spiritual feast, I shall leave to your own consciences to judge, after we have particularly examined them. i. To the first, who desireth to be held excused ; not because he judgeth the administration of the Sacrament in the way, wherein it is now dispensed, unla"wful ; but only because he looks upon HIMSELF AS UNPEEPAEED, AND THEBEFOBE IS AFEAID TO COME ; I answer, 1. Sast tkou not kad time and opportunities enough to prepare tky- self? How often hast thou been warned and admonished, to fit and put on thy wedding-garments, for that thou wert by the great King of Heaven expected shortly to be at his supper ! And dost thou make conscience not to come because thou art not prepared, and yet make no conscience to be prepared that thou mightest come ? But, 2. Judge tkou, wkich is the greater sin, eitker wkolly to neglect a duty, or ehe to perform it with sucji preparations as tkou kast, or canst make, tkougk tkey he not altogether such as tkey ougkt. We ought to be prepared, to pray unto God and to hear his word: yet,' certainly, if we neglect our due preparations, it will be our sin, it cannot be our excuse ; and we ought to perform these duties, the best we may, in the respective seasons pf them. We 346 THE DOCTEINE OF ought to be humbled for our want of preparation ; but our want of preparation must not cheat God of his service. We are to labor with our hearts in th'e very entrance upon holy duties, if we have sinfully neglected it before, to bring them into some holy and spiritual frame, fit to maintain communion and fellowship with God. And know, for certain, that thou dost but double thy crime, whosoever thou art, that neglectest thy duty, because thou hast neglected thy preparation for thy duty : for this, indeed, is nothing else, but that thou darest not but sin, because thou hast sinned. " But," some may say, " the Apostle terrifies me, in this matter of the Sacrament ; by pronouncing that dreadful sentence, 1 Cor. xi. 29 ; ' He, that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself And, therefore, because I have sinned in neglecting due preparation, I dare no more approach unto those holy mysteries, than I dare eat burning coals, or swallow whole draughts of fire and brimstone." It is true, the Apostle hath pronounced that terrible doom upon unworthy receiving: but, is it not as true, that he, that prays unworthily, prays damnation to himself; and be, that hears un worthily, hears damnation to himself ? If thou art not worthy to receive the Sacrament, neither art thou worthy to pray, saith St. Chrysost. ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 61. Now wilt thou,' or darest thou, omit the duties of praying or hearing, upon a pretence that thou art not sufficiently prepared to perform them ? Certainly, if to receive unworthily, be damnation ; then, not to receive at all, be cause thou art unworthy, is double damnation, being double gmlt ; unless thou canst sin thyself out of debt to God's commands; and make that to be no duty, upon thy offence, which was thy duty before it. And, then, as for preparation, though it be very fit and requisite, that, before so solemn an ordinance as this is, we should allot some time 'for a more serious scrutiny and search of our own hearts, and the stirring up of the graces of God within us : yet I must profess, that I look upon that man, who hath endeavored to serve God conscientiously in the ordinary duties of every day, to be sufficiently prepared for this holy and blessed ordinance, if he be suddenly called to partake of it ; and called to it he is, whensoever be hath an opportunity of receiving. And, that a pious and in offensive Christian life was looked upon as the best preparation to this holy ordinance, as this ordinance itself was looked upon to be the greatest obligation to such a life, appears by the histories of the primitive times ; wherein we have account given us, that the THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 347 Christians did every day, and,, at the farthest, every Lord's Day, communicate in the Lord's supper : yea, in St. Cyprian's time, 250 years after Christ, he tells us, Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibum salutis accipimus : in Orat. Dom. num. 48. So, that certainly, there could be no considerable space of time spt apart for a particular prepara tion ; but a holy, blameless life was thought sufficient to qualify them for worthy receivers : neither do we find that they put such a mock-honor upon the Holy Sacrament, as to advance it so high, that they durst not come near it ; and to neglect it, out of pure .respect. And this is all that I shall leave to the consideration of those, who absent themselves, becai^se they are not duly prepared. It is their great sin, that they are not prepared : but this sin cannot ex cuse them from their duty. To avoid one sin, they becpme guilty of two : to avoid receiving unworthily, they receive not at all ; but most unworthily forbear : and, because they sin in not pre paring, they resolve likewise to sin in not receiving. Which is just as good an excuse, as if a servant should therefore refuse to do any thing the whole day, because he rose not so early in the morning as he should have done. ii. Others scruple the very la"wfulness of receiving the Sacra ment in our way of administering it ; and say they are not satis fied as to the gestuee of kneeling ; for so, and not otherwise, hath authority commanded us to communicate. Two things they object against it : The one, that it symbolizeth too much with the idolatry of the Church of Eome. The other, that, not kneeling, but sitting, is a table-posture ; and that, which Christ used when he celebrated his last supper with his Apostles, whose example we ought to imitate. 1. It is objected, that It symbolizeth and agreetk too muck witk the idolatry of tke Romisk Ckurck. For they, according to their absurd and impious doctrine of transubstantiation, falsely believing the corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, that the bread is truly and properly his body and the wine his blood, do, consonantly enough to that error, fall down and worship him whom they be lieve to be there bodily present. If, therefore, we disavow that doctrine, why should we imitate that practice ? To this I answer : (1) It is well known that4ihe Pppe himself, the head and prince 348 THE DOCTEINE OF of that Anti-christian synagogue, receives the Sacrament sitting, and not kneeling : thinking it, •belike, the privilege and preroga tive of his supe/reminent dignity, to be more rude and unmannerly ; and more, as it were, of an equal fellow with our Saviour than is allowed unto others. Yet, we object it not to our dissenting brethren, that they imi tate this man of sin, who exalts himself above all that is called God : for they disavow it. Let them afford us the same charity ; and be more sober and modest than to object'to us, that we imitate his vassals : for this we equally disavow and renounce. I answer, (2) That a gesture abused to idolatry, becomes not therefore idolatrous. Otherwise, because the heathen used kneeling and prostration to their false gods, it would now be unlawful for Christians to use them to the true. And why do they not object to us, that the- Papists do idolatrously kneel to their images, and when they pray to their saints, and that therefore we must not kneel when we worship God ; but, that we may be at a perfect distance, both from Eome and reason, must sit, as too many of them most irreverently do in their choicest devotions ? I answer, (3) That the end, for which all outward postures of the body are used, determines them ; and makes them either morally good or evil : for kneeling, being of itself an indifferent action, it is only the end which we propound to ourselves in it, which can render it good or bad. Now, lest any should be either so weak or so ill-natured, as to surmise that this custom is retained as a relic of idolatry, and that it will prove an advantage for it to creep in again amongst us, see what the Church hath most expressly declared, in that excellent caution annexed at the end of the order for the Communion: " Lest," sa;^ they, " that kneeling should, by any persons, be mis construed and depraved, it is declared, that thereby no adoration is intended, or ought to be done either to the Sacramental bread and wine there bodily received, or to any corporeal presence of Christ's natural flesh and blood. For the Sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural substances, and there fore may not be adored ; for that were idolatry, to be abhorred by all faithful Christians. And the natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here : it being against the truth of Christ's natural body, to be at one time in more places THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 349 than one." A declaration, let me speak it without offence, th.i,;ta, or " Tkanks giving." And the administration of it is attended with prayer : " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul :" and, " The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life :" now he must have the knees of an elephant and the heart of 352 OF THE DOCTEINE an oak, who will not bow himself, and, with all humble adoration and worship, cry Amen to a prayer so pathetic, made by the minister to God on his behalf > And, so much, for the second great objection about the posture : wherein I hope I have sufficiently evinced, that kneeling, in the act of recei"ving, is neither idolatrous, nor improper, nor a deviation from tbe example of our Lord and Saviour. iii. Another great stumbling-block, which lies in the way, which yet I hope to remove if you yourselves do not fasten it by your prejudices, is tbat of peomiscuous beceivinG ; and the admission of those to the Sacrament, who are ignorant, or scandalous, or both. To answer this, 1. Dost ikou know any of tkem to be so? •If not, the standing rule of charity is, to think no evil : 1 Cor. xiii. 5. A doctrine, much to be pressed upon this wildly censori ous age ; wherein every one judgeth himself to be holy and godly, according as he can judge and condemn others to be "wicked and ungodly. And, let me tell you freely, this whispering and back biting, and entertaining of blind rumors and idle reports, screwing and wresting everything to the worst sense, and speaking e"vil of others at random and peradventure, is, according to the observa tions that I have been able to make, a great and reigning sin in this corner of the world: and it is a sin so contrary to the mild and gentle spirit of the Gospel, a sin so truly suspicious of hypoc risy and Pharisaism, that I profess I think I should as soon think a man a good Christian because he is proud, or because he is en vious or malicious, as I should because he is continually accusing, and censuring, and exclaiming against the faults of other men ; as if it were a certain mark of his Christianity, to set a mark- of in famy upon others. 2. But, then, suppose thou dost certainly know them guilty, and therefore refused to communicate with them, let me ask thee, Whetker tkou kast observed the ruh of Jesus Ckrist towards iky offend ing brotlier, before tkou thus account him a heathen and a publican. The rule, that he hath given us, we find Mat. xviii. 16, 16, 17. And it is a most observable place to this purpose : " If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between -thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy bro ther. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 353 may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church : but if he neglect to hear the Church, let hini be unto thee as a heathen-man and a publican." . This is a perpetual standing rule in this' case, from which we ought "not to vary. " If thy brother shall trespass against thee :" i. e, not only if. he shall "wrong thee, but if he shall wrong either his God or his religion, by any flagitious crime that gives offence and scandal to thee, and so is a trespass also against thee : what then ? must thou presently forsake the communion of the Church, because of such an one's offences ? No, saith our Saviour, first of all it is .thy duty to ad monish him privately : if, thereupon, he reform, thou savest thj- brother : if yet he persist, thou must not as yet break off commu nion "with him, but try another course. Take with thee grave and faithful witnesses, and again admonish and reprove him. Though this course should not prevail neither, yet still thou must own him as thy brother ; and communicate ii^ all ordinances with him, till thou hast tried the last remedy : and that is, to tell the Church : i. e. the Sanhedrim, who, in our Sa"viour's time, were both ecclesi astical and ci"vil judges : inform those of his miscarriages, who have the power of the keys committed unto them. And, if he hear not them neither, but still persist obstinately and resolvedly in his sins, then at last, " let him be unto thee as a heathen-man and a publican ;" that is, after the Church hath excommunicated, and cast him out from the assembly and society of the faithful : for that is supposed in those words, "if he hear not the Church," and will not obey tbeir sentence and decree. (1) " But suppose I should tell the Churcb, and yet the offender is not cut off by a due execution of the sentence of excommunica tion, may I not then look upon him as a heathen, and refuse com munion with him ?" By no means : for our Saviour, in this place, bids us to account such as a heatheirand a publican, on supposition only of Church - censures passed upon him. And therefojp he presently adds, v. 17, " Let him be untt> thee as a heathen-man and a publican ;" and, V. 18, " Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven :" i, e. whosesoever sins ye shall bind upon his soul by the dreadful sentence of excommunication, they shall be bourfd upon his soul by the God of -heaven, and your deed shall be ratified and confirmed by his justice. So, then, as long as he continues in the Church, so long thou oughtest to account him thy brother, and to communicate with him in all ordinances: for, though thou oughtest to be his reprover, yet thou art not to be V&l. H.— 23 ® 354 THE DOCTEINE OF his judge ; neither must thou remove thyself, because perhaps thou canst notremove him. What some men's opinion in this matter may be, I do not know ; but I am sure this is the mind of Jesus Christ, and his e:^ress command. Now thou, who refusest to come to the holy communion, be cause perhaps there may be some scandalous sinner there, hast thou discharged thy duty first towards him ? Hast thou rebuked him privately, between' him and thee ? Hast thou, upon contempt of that private admonition, rebuked him before select witnesses ? Hast thou, upon his continued obstinacy, complained to the Church of the scandal and offence which he bath given thee ? If not, whosoever thou be, I charge it upon thy soul, and answer it to God, his judge and thine, how darest thou to separate from the communion of the Church ? How darest thou contradict the ex press order and command of Christ ; and think thyself the more holy and more pure, for doing so? Is this conscience? Is this religion ? Is this strict piety and godliness ? Let me tell thee, it is a piece of gross hypocrisy and pharisaical pride, to separate, because of their sins, and yet never to reprove them for their sins. Never think, by this course, to escape being a partaker of their guilt. If they profane this holy ordinance, if they eat and drink damnation to themselves, thou art the cause of it, who oughtest, after admonition, to have accused them ; and art as much polluted by it, as if thou hadst joined with them ; yea, and more, since another man's sins cannot pollute me, unless I am defective in my own duty. Thou communicatest with them in tbeir guilt and sin, but only refusest to communicate with them in the worship and service of God. (2) But, possibly you will say, " Tell the Church ! To what purpose is that ? When is it, that we see any cut off for notorious and scandalous crimes ? It may be for disobeying the orders of the Church in point of government and discipline, some few may undergo this heavy cegsure ; but -fewer for transgressing the laws of God, and the great precepts of moral and Christian honesty." To this I answer : [1] It is a gross, though common mistake, to think, that disobe dience against the lawful commands of authority, is not as heinous a sin, as those open pollutions fvhich abound too much in the world, and appear black and ugly to every man's eye and reason : for, sure I am, it is as often and as expressly forbidden, as any sin whatso ever ; and the consequences of it are of more public mischief, than those of other sins, whidi may be more scandalous, but cannot be more damning. THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 355 [2] I ans")^er : That never was there, nor indised can there be, either in our Church or in any other Church, shape the government of it after what model you please, any person excommunicated, but only upon the account of contempt of its authority. Let his crime be what it will, in the first instance ; yet it cannot be for that, but only, for disobedience, that this dreadful sentence is denounced against any. For, if the offender submit and be penitent, there needs no such censure ; since it is appointed only to bring him to repentance. If he doth not submit, either to the trial of the cause, or the satisfaction imposed : in the first case, there can be no judg ment made concerning the crime of which be stands accused ; in the second, he is excommunicated, not because his guilt is proved, but because he obstinately refuseth to give due satisfaction for it i so that, in both, it is merely contempt and disobedience, that can involve any person in this censure. And this holds certainly and universally of all the Churches of Christ upon earth, of whatsoever ¦denomination or discipline they be. [3] But if so few are excommunicated, who are guilty of S(ftn- dalous and flagitious offences, I beseech you to consider, whether a graat part of this blame may not be laid upon yourselves, for not doing your duty in accusing and convicting them. Have you ever made any public complaints against obstinate and incorrigible sin ners, that were not heard and accepted ? If not, why do you accuse the Church, to which you ought to accuse others ? But, once for all, let me speak it to you who are of this parish, that, if any of you shall duly accuse any of those too few who com municate with us of a scandalous crime committed by bim, and will undertake to prove and justify his accusation, I will here under take ,not to admit such an one, until he hath given satisfaction according to the nature of his offence. But, howsoever, suppose that all the officers of the Church were negligent in their duty, that can be no excuse for not performing yours. If you do your duty, you leave it upon their consciences, and have delivered your own souls. But, in any case, you ought not to -separate from communion with any Church -member, till he ceaseth to be a Church-member, and is cut off by the sword of ex communication. Then, and not till then, you may look upon him as a heathen-man and a publican. For wicked men's communicat ing pollutes the ordinance, only to themselves, and not to you : if they eat and drink unworthily, they eal and drink damnation to themselves; but not to the worthy partakers. The "virtue and effi cacy of the ordinances come hot to you, through those who are B56 THE DOCTEINE OF communicants v^th you ; for then, indeed, it might receive a taint from their pollution : but it comes immediately from the institution and benediction of Jesus Christ. So that, when you bave per formed your duty, you may receive a pure sacrament in the assem bly, whereof some may be impure ^nd defiled. But here I know, flesh and blood "will tumultuate, and say, " This is the ready way to run my head into a bee-hive. What need "I, that may live quietly by my neighbors, provoke their enmity and hatred by turning informer ? For accusing them wifl prove but a thankless and trou'Blesome office." Truly, I know no necessity for it, besides tbe strict and express command of Jesus Christ. And wilt thou be thought to value the purity of his ordinances, who dost not value the authority 'of his commands ? " Tell it the Church," is his injunction : and, if this be to be an informer, know that the name is more honorable, than is vulgarly apprehended ; and it is far better to be an in former, than a schismatic. " $ (3) But the great place insisted on to invalidate all this that I have said, is 1 Cor. v. 11 ; " Bilt now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fo'mi- cator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; with such an one, no not to eat." And from this it is argued, that if I may not eat common .bread with them ; then, much less, may I eat sacred bread with them, at the Lord's table. I am sorry I have so just occasion to retort the argument against their practice. For, certainly, if our dissenting brethren would exclude all fornicators, and railers, and drunkards, from their so ciety, their sacraments would not be such general musters as they are, but perhaps be as thin as ours. But to pass tbat by, I return a double answer. [1] That we may well conceive the Apostle bere giving direc tion to the whole Church of the Corinthians, what method they should use towards those, who were profligates and notorious, sinners. And he bids them, that they should not company, nor eat with them : i, e. that they should cast them out of the Church ; not cast themselves out : they should excommunicate them from the body of the faithful ; but not that any of them should separate from the communion of holy ordinances, before they were excommuni cated. This sense seems very fair and full : for, in the foregoing part of the chapter, the Apostle had given them in charge, to cast out the incestuous person : who was a notorious example of "wick- THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 357 edness, and a great scandal to their Church : afterwards, he sets do"wn rules, how they stould demean themselves towards others, who were likewise guilty of known crimes: and these he^distin- guisheth into two sorts ; those, who visibly belonged to the world, and were professed heathens ; and those, who belonged to the "visible church, and were "wicked Christians. For the former sort, he tells them, that they might civilly eat "with them, vv. 9, 10 ; "I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to company with fornicators : Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolater^; for then must ye needs go out of the world :" that is, I meant not tbat you should wholly abstain from the converse of heathens, who are vile and wicked ; for, since the greatest part of the world are heathens, the necessity of human ¦ life requires that you should have commerce and dealing with them. But, for the other sort, those- who are lewd and wicked Christians, cast them out : company not : eat not with any brother that is a fornicator, or covetous, or a drunkard, or the like : account them as heathens, yea, worse than heathens, inasmuch as they deny tfcat faith by their practice, which they profess with their mouths. The whole scope of which seems to be, that the Apostle commands them to deal with such as with the incestuous person, and that the Church ought to cut them off by excommunication ; but not that any mem ber of the Church should separate from communion with them in the public ordinances, until that judicial act were passed upon them. But, , [2] Most likely it is, that, when the Apostle forbids us to eat with such, he means only familiar, domestical eating; and not ecclesiastical, in the participation of the Lord's Supper ; if so be they be not cut off by the censure of excommunication. And that a^ears, because the Apostle forbids them so to eat with "wicked Christians, as they might lawfully eat with wicked and idolatrous heathens. " I forbid not," saith he, " all converse "with heathens, that never made profession of the faith and religion of Jesus Christ : but I forbid you to company with a brother, that walketh disorderly ; yea, I would not have you so much as to eat with such an one." Now if they might eat with professed heathens, but not with licentious Christians, I suppose it will be evident to every one, that hath but underst)i,nding enough to name him a man, that this eating, here spoken of, was not eating at the Sacrament, - for what had heathens to do there ? but' only of -private, friendly, and familiar eating. But, still, it may be and it is urged, that, " If we may not eat 358 THE DOCTEINE OF with them civilly at their own table, muqh less then may we eat with them religiously at God's." To this, I answer, 1st. That we have now the same liberty allowed for our con verse "with wicked Christians, as the Apostle granted for converse "with wicked heathens ; or else, truly, as be saith, " we must needs go out of the world." And, therefore, the circumstances of times being so much altered, we may lawfully eat and converse with them, since, in many places, there are few others to converse with. I answer, 2dly. It doth not at all follow, that, if I may not eat familiarly with a loose Christian, therefore I may not eat sacramentally "with him : for the one is of mere choice ; the other is my necessary duty, till be be cast out of the Church. I may choose my ac quaintance and familiar friend, with whom to converse : and, if I choose those who are wicked and ungodly, I then sin ; because I show I have a delight in vain persons. But I cannot choose Church-members ; nor say I will communicate with this man, and not with this, till one of them be cut off from the body of Christ by excommunication, unless I intend to make a rent and a schism ; which certatnly they do, who depart from the communion of the Church, upon such a pretence. This, I think, may be sufficient, in answer to the third great objection, That it is unlawful to partake with us of the Lord's Supper, because sometimes "wicked men are admitted unto it. For, besides that our Saviour himself admitted Judas, whom he calls a devil ; and that the congregations of the schism are not so perfectly pure, but that we may, without breach of charity, tell them, all are not saints whom they admit : besides this, if you know any scan dalous persons among us, it is your own fault that they are ad mitted. And will you leave off that, which is your duty, for not doing your duty ? If, when you have done your duty, yet they are still retained, the fault ceaseth to be yours, and lies upon them whose care it ought to be to exclude such ; nor doth your commu nion in that case pollute the ordinance to you. We are not to eat with them after they are cut off by the censures of the Church; but we niay eat with them whil^ ' they continue members of the Church, although perhaps, it may be the sin of others to retain them. iv. Lastly, Some may think it unla"vrful to communicate with us, THE TWO SACEAMENTS. 3o9 because of the scandal and offence, that thebeby "will be GIVEN TO WEAK BEETHBEN. Though they have no such great doubts nor scruples in themselves, that should deter them from coming ; yet they are afraid of that woe, which Christ hath de nounced against those who offend any of the little ones. To this I answer only in brief. That if we are once fully satisfied in our consciences that it is our duty, we ought not to take any notice at all of the censures-and offences of the whole world. Yea, though the offence they take should not be only an offence of contristation, and cause sorrow in them when they see us do that which is contrary to their present judgment ; but though it should prove an occasion of sin unto them : yet we ought not to forbear it ; nor to sin ourselves, to keep others from sinning. For, as we must not do evil out of hope that good may come Ijjerebjc, so neither must, we forbear what is good out of fear that evil may ensue thereupon. When we approve ourselves to God and our own consciences, we ought not to value the censures of others, who decry our duties ; nor to put ourselves out of the way of our obe dience, to put others out of their groundless offences. If they "will be offended at my doing of my duty, let them be offended : and this shall be my comfort, that, if I have not their good word, yet I shall have the good word of my own conscience ; and, at last, the good word of my God, with an Eugh, " Well done, good and faithful servant ;" and then, let all the men in the world think and speak what they "will of me. And thus I have gone through those four grand objections, that usually keep men off from participating in the holy ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and hope I have answered them satisfactorily. Nothing now remains, but earnestly to beseech you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, who offers that flesh and blood to you, which he offered upon the cross to bis father, that you would no longer content yourselves in your separa^n; but come unanimously with us, to receive that bl^d, by which both you and we hope to be saved. And let not some little circumstances (which yet you see bow defensible they are, and how hard to be gainsaid by scripture or reason) inake you fly off from so substantial and' necessary a duty as this is. Certainly, it shows that we bave but little spi ritual hunger and thirst, if we camot endurdftwholesome food, though it be not in every particular dressed as we could fancy. THE ALLSUmCMCY OF CHKIST TO SAVE SINNERS, WITH THB PREVALENCY OF HIS INTERCESSION. Wherefore he is able aho to save tkem to tke uttermost, tkat come unto God hy him: seeing he ever livetk to make intercession for tkem, Heb. vii. 25. INTEODUCTION. The general design of the Apostle in this Epistle, is, to show the dignity of Christ, above the Levitical Priesthood : which he\ doth, as by many other deep and accurate arguments : so, likewise, by affirming him to be a priest, " after the order of Melchisedec," in the last verse of the foregoing chapter. In this chapter be prosecutes the argument, by drawing a long parallel, between the priesthood according to Melchisedec's order, and the priesthood according to Aaron's order : and, in every com parison, he gives the pre-eminence to the former above the latter ; and thereby proves, that Christ, who was a priest " after the order of Melchisedec," obtained a more excellent priesthood than they, who were priests according to the order of Aaron. 1. Now because, in this parallel, there are many things hard to be understood, I shall give you a brief EXPLICATION of them, and thereby bring you to the text. Concerning this Melchisedec, there is much inquiry who he was. Some think him to be Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Second Pers5n in the Blessed Trinity; who assumed human shape then, , when Abraham returned from pursuing the four kings : but this is altogether impossible, because the Scripture makes him tobe the " King of Salem," a visible and a temporal king- over Jerusalem ; for, by Salem, that must be inmlied, as is clear from Ps. Ixxvi. 2. Others conjecture this Melchisedec to be the same with Shem, the son of Noah ; but whether it was he or vm, it is not much mate rial : this is certain, that he was appointed and raised up by God to be an eminent and illustrious type of our High-priest, Jesus Christ. f .* i. Now; though the Levitical Priesthood was a -clear type of Christ's priesthood, yet this Melchisedee, who lived four hundred 360 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHBIST. 361 years before the institution of that order, WAS A moee close, ADEQUATE TYPE, and far superior to them. And this is here ex pressed : 1. In that he was King of Sahm, as well as priest of ihe Most Sigh God: V. 4. Now the Le"vitical Priests were not kings, as he was : as, in those first ages of the world, it was a usual custom, fpr the same person that was king to exercise the priestly office ; and therefore he was a more express resemblance of Christ, than the Aaronical priests were. . 2. In that he was described to he first King of Rigkteousness, and tken King of Salem: v. 2, that is, tke King of Peace. Herein, also, he is a most lively type of Christ, who observed the same order. Christ was " King of Eighteousness," to subdue our sins and sanctify our natures : and he was " King of Peace," to pacify our consciences, through the assurance of pardon and accept - ance ; for this peace he doth usually bestow upon us, as the fruits of righteousness formerly communicated to us. 3. In that he was witkout fatker or motker, witkout descent; kaving neitker beginning of days, nor end of life, as Melchisedec is described in the third verse. I And, herein, he outvies the Aaronical priesthood: for their birth and death the Scripture records ; but, of "Melchisedec, it wit nesseth that " he liveth :" v. 8. Now, herein, he is a nearer resem blance to Christ, than they: for Christ, as God, was "without mother;" and, as man, he was "without a father:" as God, he hath not " beginning of days ;" as God and man, he is without " end of life." 4. In that Aaron, wko was tke fatker of all the Aaronical Priests, did pay titke to him: so v. 4. And he received them from him: v. 6, which denotes that Abraham himself was inferior to him : as v. 7 ; and much more the children of Levi, the offspring of Aaron, who themselves are said to pay tithes to Melchisedec, being in the loins of their father Abraham : as we have it^in the 9th and 10th verses. As the public acts of the parent are interpretively the acts of a child, so like"wise Abraham's paying tithes to Melchisedec is recorded by God, as Levi's paying tithes in Abraham's loins ; and, thereupon, they were professedly inferior to bim. ii. That this comparison may be the more clear and evident, we must consider, that Melchisedec was a type of Cheist, under A twofold respect : 362 the all-sufficiency of christ . As he was in his own personal capacity. As described to us in the Scripture. For there is a great difference, as wp shall see anon. 1. If we consider his Personal Capacity, so be was king and priest : he was really, in himself, so : be met Abraham, received tithes from him, and conferred a blessing upon him. But there are other things spoken of this Melchisedec in the sixth chapter, which to understand as really agreeing to the person of Melchisedec were utterly impossible : as, that he was without fatker or motker, or with out descent, or beginning or end of life; as we have it in the third and eighth verses : and therefore some, considering that this de scription could not agree to any man, have fondly fancied that this Melchisedec was not true man ; but was either Christ or the Holy Ghost, or some angel. 2. Therefore, we must note, that these things were spoken of Mel chisedec, not as really he was in himself, but as ke is represented to ¦us in tke Scripture, Therefore he is said to be " without father or mother," because the Scripture mentions nothing of them ; records nothing of his parentage or pedigree, nothing of his birth or death, but is purposely silent in these things : v. 3 ; that he might; be made like unto tke Son of Qod. The Scripture_ is purposely silent con cerning the pedigree of Melchisedec, and the beginning and ending of his days, that he might be a more lively type of the Son of God; who himself, in his divine nature, was without beginning or end of days. So that, though truly and really Melchisedec was a man, born of parents by a long descent from Adam, whose life had a date both when it begun and when it ended ; yet it is truly said tbat be was* without these, because they are not mentioned and recorded in the Scripture. Now among these high privileges and prerogatives, Melchisedec doth typify the priesthood of Christ better than the Aaronical priests could typify him ; for he is one, that abideth &ndi continueth a priest: v. 3; and he liveth, as in the eighth "verse. The Scripture speaks' nothing, either of his layuig down his office or his life. Now, in this, he is an eminent and conspicuous type of Christ, our High-Priest. For, (1) He hath not laid down his life, so as to lose it : for he was made "^ after the power of the endless life ;" as v. 16. (2) Nor hath he laid down his Priesthood, so as not to exercise it : for he is " a priest forever ;" and, " because he continueth for ever," therefore he " hath an unchangeable priesthood ;" as in v. 24. The words of the text are a most comfortable inference, dravn TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOB SINNEES. 863 from all this discourse concerning the eternity of Melchisedec's priesthood : the eternity of it, I say ; because the Scripture speaks nothing of the cessation of it. So that my text is a comfortable inference : Christ "is able to save-them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him ; seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Doth Christ forever live, and forever sit at the right hand of God ? doth he continually lay open his wounds, repeat over his sufferings, plead hi^ death and merits, claim a right to a sure pur chase ? is he continually perfuming heaven with the odor of that sweet incense, which he daily offers up with prayers for all the saints? Believe it, such a Sacrifice must needs be acceptable: such an Advocate must needs be prevalent : such a Saviour must - needs be all-sufficient. " Wherefore he is able to Save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him ; seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." II. In these WOEDS we have, A position- couched under a supposition. The supposition is this : If feo be Christ shall ever live to make intercession for the saints. The position is: That Christ doth live forever to make intercession, &c., which the Apostle before proves : He is a High- Priest forever. There is an inference or corollary drawn from it : Therefore " he is able to save them to the uttermost," &c. FiEST. In the position observe these two things : First. The eternity of the life of Christ in the highest heaven. Secondly. The eternity of his priestly office. The former is this : " He liveth forever." The latter is. And he liveth for this very end, "to make intercession" for us. Secondly. In the inference we may observe. First. The truth inferred and asserte|,d : " He is able to save." Secondly. The measure and degree of this salvation : and that is, "to the uttermost," to all ends and perfections: he is able to save to all perfections ; that is, altogether. Thirdly. The persons, whom he is able thus perfectly to save : and they are those only, that " come unto God by him." And these are described. First, By their obedience : They " come unto God ;" that is, they perform ser"vice, obedience, and duty to God. Secondly, By their faith : They " come unto God hy him ;" that is, by Christ. All tbe duties and services which they perform, they tender up 364 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST by faith in Christ, and by Christ to God: They "come unto God by him." Thiedly. And, besides all these, here is a connexion of the in ference and the .position together, by the word wkerefore : " Where fore he is able to save," &c. In the connexion we have also tbe number of those, for whom Christ makes intercession : not for all men, but for those, " that come unto God thrbugh him." Oh, what a rich vein of Scripture is before our eyes, which lies as an inestimable and unsearchable treasure in golden mines! Though I may seem to have but broken and crumbled the words, yet there is abundance of preciousness in every part and parcel of them. I shall not now stand to raise and insist upon all those ob servations, that might pertinently and properly be made from the words thus divided ; but shall briefly speak to some few. i. From the teuth inferred, Se is abh to save to tke uttermost, observe, Doct. I. That Jesus Cheist is an almighty and all-sufpt,- CIENT SAVIOUE. He is a High-Priest and a Saviour all-sufficient : 1. By his Father's eternal designation: Ps. Ixxxix. 19, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty," &c. 2. By kis oum voluntary susception and undertaking for us: Ps. xl. 7, 8, " Then said I, Lo, I come : in the volume of thy book it is written of me.....to do thy will, 0 my God." And thpA.postle quotes it in Heb. x. 7. 3. By tke infinite glory and excelhncy of tke divine nature: which hath a double influence to make him an all-sufficient Sa"viour. (1) It puts an infinite vvorth and value upon bis sacrifice ; and so hath made his offering acceptable, and a full price and ransom for sinners. It "is called the blood of God : Acts xx. 28, " Feed the flock of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." And, certainly, the blood of God must needs be an all-sufficient expiation for the sin of man. (2) It gave Christ a power and an ability, to appease and satisfy infinite justice and wrath ; and to break the chains of death, and the bars of the grave, under which he had been detained, else our salvation had been a thing desperate and deplorable : but, herein, is he manifested to be the Son of God and Saviour of the world, even "with power, in that he died and rose again. TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOR SINNERS. 365 4. He is an all-sufficient Saviour by kis kuman capacity. As he would not bave been able to save us, unless he had been God ; so he would not have been capable to save us, unless he had been man. Now Christ's humanity hath a twofold influence into the work of our redemption. (1) In that, thereby, that person, who is God, became passive ; and a fit subject to receive and bear the wrath of (rod. (2) Hereby satisfaction is made to offended justice, in the same nature, which transgressed and offended. "By man came death; and by the man Jesus Christ came the resurrection from the dead :" 1 Cor. XV. 21. And therefore Christ saith, " a body hast thou pre pared me:" Heb. x. 5. To what end? The Apostle tells us, " that, throt^h death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Both natures are here required : his human nature, without which he could not suffer death ; and the Divine nature, without which he could not destroy him who had the power of death. . 5. He became an all-sufficient Sa"viour, by the overfiatidng and immeasurahh unction of tke Soly Gkost. ' Thus, Isa. Ixi. 1, "The Spirit of the Lord Go9 is upon me; be cause the Lord hath anointed mp to preach good tidings," &o. John iii. 34, " God gave not his Spirit in measure unto him ;" yea, "the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in him:" Col. ii. 9, and all this was on purpose to furnish him with gifts and graces, suit able to the discharge of the great work of his mediatorship. Now, certainly, since he was by God the Father designed, and of his own self ready and willing, by his humanity capacitated, by .his Divinity fortified, and by the unction of the Holy Spirit furiished to the work of our salvation, he must needs be an all-sufficient Sa viour ; " able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him." ii. In the next place, for the persons whom Christ is thus enabled to save, they are described by their faith and obedience : They come to God by Christ. Observe, Doct. II. That Christ kiMSELF, although he is an all-suf ficient Saviour, able to save to the uttebjiost, yet he is not able to save the disobedient and unbelibvees. He only saves those, " that come unto God by him.!' 366 THE all-sufficiency of CHRIST Now this, ' - ' 1. Is not for want of merit or virtue in that sacrifice, which our High-Priest "hath once offered up : not for want of any value or preciousness in his blood, or sufficiency in bis price ; for there is intrinsic virtue enough in the blood of Christ to save the whole world. 2. Nor is it/rowj any natural dependance, that salvation hath upon faitk and obedieMe ; for God was free, and might have disposed of the eternal inheritance upon other terms. But, 3. It was only upon tke ordination and appointment of God, who hath instituted the way of salvation to be by the .death of Christ, who Jiath appointed the virtue of his death to be applied to us only by the grace of faith ; whicb faith, without obedience and good works, is in. itself dead, and can neither justify nor ^ve us. So, then, without faith and obedience Christ cannot save us : because that virtue, whereby he should save us, cannot without these reach us ; faith being the conveyance of the virtue of Christ's merits to the soul. That is the second proposition. iii. The third and last shall be raised from the connexion of both parts of the text put together. Therefore " he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him ;" because " he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Observe from hence. \ Doct. III. That THE TEUE GROUND AND REASON OF CHEIST'S all-sufficiency TO SAVE SINNEES, IS LAID UPON THE PBEVA- LENCY OF HIS INTEBCESSION FOR US. And this, because it is the most comprehensive point, taking in both the former, is that, which I choose to insist upon." In the prosecution of which doctrine, I shall speak concerning Christ's intercession. His all-sufficiency to save, which depends upon and flows from it. I. Concerning CHEIST'S INTEECESSION, I shall inquire into throe things : What it is, and wherein it doth consist. What the extent and latitude of it is. What are the benefits, that do redound to believers by it. TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNERS. 367 i. For the opening what it is, we must know, that intercession is a law term, borrowed from courts of judicature ; and signifies the action of a proxy or attorney, either in suing out the rights of his client, or answering the cavils and objections brought against bim by the plaintiff. Thus doth Christ for believers. He appears for them : Heb. ix. 24. He is entered " into heaven," appearing " in the presence of God for us." Nay, he doth, in some sense, carry believers into heaven with him, and there set them before his Father's throne ; as we have it, Eph. ii. 6 ; '' And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly pla'ces in Christ Jesus." Even as the high-priest did bear the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast, when he entered into the holy of holies ; so Christ, when he entered into heaven, bears upon his heart tbe names and persons of all his, and presents them before his Father. He hath taken their cause, ai^d pleads it with God his Father ; as the Apostle speaks : " We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous :" 1 John ii. 1. This intercession is of three sorts. 1. CkaHtative intercession. And, thus, one man is bound by the duty of charity and con science to pray and intercede for another. And of this kind of intercession we have mention made, 1 Tim. ii. 1 ; " I exhort, there fore, that, first of all, supplication^ prayers, intercessions, and giv- idg of thanks, be made for all men :" that is intercession of mutual charity one for another. 2. There is an adjutory intercession, a helping intercession. And, thus, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for believers: Eom. viii. 26, 27; "Likewise the Spirit also belpeth our infirmi ties : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," &c. He makes intercession for us, because, by his holy inspirations, he makes those prayers and intercessions for us, which we make for ourselves. And this is an adjutory inter cession. Wp are indigent, and see not our owh wants, nor have we tongues to express them ; and, withal, we are dull and heavy, and make not importunate supplications ; and, therefore, God sends his Spirit into our hearts, to discover our necessities to us, to raise de sires in us, and to put words into our mouths and teach us what to pray for, and how to pray as we ought. 3. There is an official and autkoritative intercession. And this properly belongs to Christ. 368 ¦ THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST And this may be considered under a twofold respect. (1) His intercession, in bis state of humiliation. And this is in a congruity to that abased state, wherein, " with strong cries, and tears," and groans he made "supplications" to God : Heb. v. 7. Yea, when he was under the sharpest agonies ; when he was bruised by God and broken by men, suffering the wrath of the one, and the wrongs of the other ; when his own pains might have made his prayers selfish, or his enemies' malice might have made him revengeful: yet, even then, be forgets mot to intercede for them : Luke xxiii. 34 ; " Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do:" Although he was made in " the form of a servant ; despised and rejected of men" (Is. liii. 3) ; accursed of God (Gal. iii. 13); exposed to reproach and injuries;' devoted to death : notwithstanding all this, his intercession was not at all regarded the less, or the less prevalent ; but, even in this low estate and vile appearance, he prayed with majesty and authority, " Father, I will that that those whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory," &g., John xvii. 24. (2) His intercession may be considered as performed on our be half, in his state of glory and exaltation. After his offering up of himself here upon earth as a sacrifice upon the cross, be entered into the most holy place ; and there he prosecutes the same suit, which be here commenced : Eom. -viii. 34 ; " It is Christ that died ; yea, rathet, that is risen again," who is ascended into heaven, where he continually " maketh intercession for us." This glorious intercession of Christ doth principally consist in these following particulars, which I shall endeavor to illustrate and open. [1] In his appearing in the court of heaven in both natures, as our Mediator and Advocate ; ready to answer any charge laid ia against us, or suing out any good thing that b^ongs to us. Thus, when Joshua, the higb-priest, stood before the angel in filthy garments, Zech. iii. 1 ; Satan stood at his right hand to accuse him : the accusation was true : the crime was manifest : now, here, the angel (that is, Jesus Christ) interposeth : he appears for us, say ing, " The Lord rebuke thee, 0 Satan':" what though the garments be filthy, I will take them away : " I have caused" their " iniquity to pass from" them. And this may be for our abundant consola tion : though Satan, by his accusations and temptation, stand con tinually at our right hand to resist us ; yet Christ, in heaven, always TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNEES. 369 stands at the right-hand of God to plead for us and silence Satan. And this was typified to us, by the high-priest entering into the holy of holies, to make intercession for the people. [2] Christ presents, as his own person, so likewise the persons of all his blessed ones throughout the world, of all believers and the elect ones, to God the Father. ' And that, not only in the general or total sum, that they are so many thousands, for whom he obtained mercy, for whom he must obtain salvation ; not only as the high-priest among the Jews, who only had the names of the twelve tribes engraven upon their breast plates, but not the name of every particular person of those tribes : but Christ hath every particular saint's name engraven upon his breast, and makes mention of every particular saint in his inter cession to his Father : He is " the good shepherd," John x. 14, that knows every one of his sheep " by name :" v. 3. Let the meanest Christian, who is so obscure that his name stands unknown upon earth, take comfort and rejoice in this, that his name is well known in heaven : Christ hath often spoken, and God hath often heard it. Yea, though Christ hath so many to hear, so many to relieve and gratify, yet let not the meanest, the most inconsiderable saint on earth think that he forgets him ; for he knows him by name ; and takes a-s much care and solicitude for his salvation, as if there were not a soul in the world to save besides him ; making prayers for him, that his faith fail not, as Christ said to St. Peter : and what i.-^ said of him may be applied in truth to every believer : Luke xxii. 32. [3] Christ's intercession consists in presenting the performances of his people unto God. •. All the duties and ser-vices of all the saints on earth do only ascend to God, when as they are presented to him by Christ. For he is that angel, mentioned in Eev. viii. 3, "having a golden cen ser, with much incense, which he offers up with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar," &c. It was a true speech of him, John ix. 31, " God heareth not sinners :" and, therefore, he never heareth us, because we are sinners ; but he always heareth his Son, who speaks over for us the same prayers that we have before spoken : and so he hears us, speaking by him ; and he is well- pleased with those duties, that otherwise would be an abomination to him. [4] Christ presents to God as our services, -so also his own merits ; .ind that as the full ahd equitable price of all the mercies for which he intercedes. Vol. H.— 24 370 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OP CHBIST For Christ's intercession is not a bare begging of blessings, to be bestowed gratis upon ns ; but all his transactions in the court of heaven are in a way of satisfaction and purchase. Is sin to be pardoned ? lo, here is the blood of propitiation and atonement. Is mercy to be procured ? lo, here is the price of the purchase. All, that we receive through the intercession of Christ, is, at once, both the effect of free grace and bounty, and yet likewise the purchase of all-sufficiency and of a meritorious price. In respect of us, all is free : in respect of Christ's undertaking ; without our pre-ordina- tion, free, as to performance ; without our premonition, free, in the eff'ectual application of it to us. But, though all this is free grace, i n respect of us ; yet, in respect of Christ, it is the purchase of a full price, and cost him the laying aside of hifi own glory, the ob scuring himself in a veil of flesh, and the assuming of a body to prepare him for the work of our redemption: it cost him; the losing of his life, the shedding of his most precious blood to ac complish that redemption : 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Cor. vii. 23 ; " Ye are all bought with a price," &c. We are "not redeemed with cor ruptible 1?hings, as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ :" 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Now, as Christ once offered up him self upon, the cross, so he continually offers up himself in inter cession ; and presents that blood to his Father, that he formerly shed for sinners : and, therefore, it is remarkable, that where Christ is called our " advocate," he is called likewise our " propitiation :" 1 John ii. 1, 2 ; " If any man sin, we have -an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : And he is also the propitiation for our sins :" noting to us, that the validity of the intercession of Christ consists in the merits of his death and sufferings ; which price, offered up as a propitiation unto God in his intercession, is for the sins of all those that believe. [5] Christ also presents his will and desire to his Father, in his intercession : which, by virtue of his merits, is always heard and granted. And this he doth, not in a supplicatory manner, but by author ity ; by the absolute dominion, wbich he hath over those mercies for which he intercedes: "Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, may be with me," &c. All authority is given to the Son : John v. 22. Therefore it is said, Eom. viii. 34, that he " is at the right-hand of God making intercession for us :" whicb phrases import, that all power, both in heaven and earth, is Qon- signed over to Christ ; and, therefore, his intercession at the right- hand of God is an intercession with authority ; such an intercession as cannot, as shall not be denied. TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOB SINNEES. 371 So, then, in these five particulars, we may see wherein the inter cession of Christ consists : in presenting his o-wn person, and ap pearing in the court of heaven for us ; in offering up our duties and ser-vices; in presenting his own merits, and likewise his sover eign and uncontrolable will to his Father : by all which we may rest abundantly secured, that all the good things, which we ask in his name and that he asks on our behalf, shall be certainly conferred upon us. / So much for the first thing propounded, what the intercession of Christ is, and wherein it doth consist. li. Let us consider, according to the method proposed, this In tercession of Christ IN THE LATITUDE AND ESTENT OP IT. I shall do this under a twofold respect : In respect of the time, wherein it is made. In respect of the persons, for wbom it is prevalent. 1. Consider the intercession of Christ, in respect of the time. And so we may take notice too, how he performed it before his assumption of flesh, and likewise how it shall be performed after the consummation of all things to all eternity. ^ (1) As to the former, observe, that though it be most eminently performed since the hypostatical union of both natures in the per son of Christ ; yet it was also effectually performed before his taking of our flesh upon him. For, as -now Christ intercedes upon the account of those suffer ings, which he hath undergone in his body : so he interceded, and his intercession was prevalent, before he was made flesh ; though the merit, which made that intercession prevalent, was wrought out in the flesh. Therefore we find, in the Old Testament, Christ inter ceding before he was God-Man, actually ; but, as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, be was afterwards to be made God-Man ; Zech. i. 12 ; " The ahgel of the Lord (that is, Jesus Christ) answered and said, 0 Lord of Hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah," &c. Yea, the saints then alive made tise of the name of Christ, in their prayers to God the Father : so you have it, Dan. ix. 17 ; "Now, therefore, 0 our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, &c., and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." So that hence you see, that Christ's intercession began in heaven, Jong before his abode here upon earth : yea, it was the very first part of the office of his mediatorship that he entered upon : Christ did nothing as mediator, till after the fall : and the first thing which he did as in 372 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST that relation, was interceding for fallen manj to keep him from death threatened, and to restore him to life which he had forfeited. (2) Consider Christ's intercession, not only as performed from all eternity, but after the consummation of all things. He intercedes for his Church, not only while militant on earth, but when triumphant in glory ; " He ever liveth to make interces sion for us." Christ is said to be " a priest forever :" Heb. vi. 20 ; and to have " an unchangeable priesthood," in the verse before tbe text. The priesthood of Christ hath two parts, oblation and inter cession : his oblation was when he made 'bis soul an offering for sin, and offered up himself as a sacrifice to God upon the altar of tlje cross : now this part of his priesthood is ceased, Heb. x. 14 ; ix. 26. By once offering up himself "be hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified," &c. Christ being a priest forever, and not being a priest any longer in respect of his oblation, it remains, that the eternity of his priesthood descends upon his intercession only ; and, therefore, his intercession is eternal. But, you may ask me, " What need shall we stand in of the in tercession of Christ, when we are glorified with him; and what then shall he intercede for ?" To this I answer : The intercession of Christ is twofold, concilia tory and reconciliatory. The first is that, whereby mercy and all good things, both temporal, spiritual, and .eternal, are effectually procured for us, and bestowed upon us : the other is that whereby pardon, justification, and atonement are freely conferred upon us. While we are upon the earth, we stand in need to receive tbe benefit of both these intercessions : for they are aptly suited to our twofold state, of wants and miseries, and of sin and imperfection. Our wants are supplied, by his conciliatory intercession ; and our sins pardoned, by his reconciliatory intercession : and of both these we bave absolute need while we live here in this vale of tears. But, accordingly as the church and people of God do out-grow the state of want and sin, so likewise these intercessions of Christ, our High-Priest, cease. [1] Christ's reconciliatory intercession ever ceaseth in heaven, when he hath gathered together the number of his elect into one : for then they shall all be in a full, perfect, and sinless condition. We shall then never more offend God, never more be alienated and estranged from God by sin : and, when we are possessed of such a blessed state as this, there shall be no more need of a daysman, to make intercession and reconciliation for all distances ; and enmity shall be utterly abolished. Therefore, Christ's intercession doth not last forever, as to this part which is reconciliatory. TO SAVE and INTEECEDEFOE SINNEES. 373 [2] As for his consolatory intercession, whereby be obtains for us mercy and all good things, that is, those good things that are either temporal or spiritual, or that resp&ct either this life or the future state of glory in heaven ; the former part of this intercession of Christ shall likewise shortly cease, because this life itself shall shortly cease, and the saints themselves also : for, when all, that have been translated or that have died, shall be raised to a better life, all the wants which they do now sustain, a want of grace, or a want of peace, or a want of protection, or a want of provision, inward wants or outward worldly wants or e"vils, shall all cease there : and therefore the intercession of Christ, as it respects the mercies of this life, shall shortly cease. Christ's intercession for future glory, is either for the substance of it or for the continuance of it. As for the substance of their glory, Christ intercedes for that before he cro"wns them with it : John xvii. 24 ; "I will that those, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." The beatifical vision is the very glory and happiness of the saints in heaven ; and, when they are brought to behold this glory of Christ, this in tercession ceaseth. But, then, there is Christ's intercession for the continuance of their glory. And this is that intercession, which is everlasting ; that intercession, which he ever liveth to make. As our Saviour Christ ever lives, so he ever makes intercession for the saints ; that they may never be cut off from God's presence, nor fall from their happiness, nor forfeit their glorious inheritance : for, in heaven itself though we be there in a most perfect and sinless state, ye^ were it not for the intercession of Christ whereby every momerrt -he procures us a confirmation of that estate, we should have no more security of our continuance than the angels which fell, who were more holy and happy than evef we were ; we should have no .m'ore confirmation than Adam had in paradise, who forfeited his happiness by the mutability of bis own will. Therefore, I say, the continuance of the saints now in heaven depends upon the ever lasting intercession of Jesus Christ. Thus we have considered the extent of Christ's intercession, as to the time wherein he makes it ; and that, before his incarnation, and likewise after the consummation of all things. • 2. Let us now consider the extent - of Christ's intercession as to tke Persons, for whom he intercedes. And that is for all bis, in opposition to the wprld. We have 374 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST this plain in Christ's prayer on earth, which is the pattern and draugjit of bis intercession in heaven : John xvii. 9 ; " I pray not for the world ; but for them, which thou bast given me out of the world." I pray for them; those, that thou designest shall be brought to glory by my merits. Now, of these, some are yet in a state of nature ; disobedient, impenitent, unbelievers : others are in a state ' of grace ; actually converted and regenerated : Christ intercedes for both: for these latter he intercedes throughout the whole chapter. John x"vii. 20; "Neither pray I for these alone, but for all those, that shall believe on me through their .word:" many of which were tben living, and received the benefits of Christ's intercession in their effectual vocation and conversion. For unbe lievers, Christ prays that they may obtain grace ; for believers, that they may obtain more grace, and through it be brought to glory. And that is the second consideration in respect of the interces sion of Christ, as to the latitude and extent of it, both as to the time and persons. iii. Another thing propou-nded, is, to consider, the intercession of Christ, IN EESPECT OF THE BENEFITS THAT FLOW FEOM IT : and those are very great and manifold blessings, worthy to be obtained by so great an advocate. There are but two' things, wherein the office of an advocate pro perly consists : To defend his client from wrongs and injuries. To procure good things for him. The first he doth, by answering the accusations and exceptions, d|at are brought against him ; and the latter he doth, by suing out his right and title. Both' these the Lord Jesus Christ, our advo cate, doth for us. 1. Se defends us from tkose evih, tkat our adversaries, by their ac cusations, would bring against us. As we are sinners, God's justice, our own consciences, and Satan's malice come in as our adversaries, and all lay their several charges against us. Justice calls for vengeance, Conscience thunders, Satan rages, and all accuse us. God calls to tbe bar. "Sinner, such and such a sin thou art guilty of, tbat deserves eternal damnation." — " True, Lord," saith Conscience : " I will witness the same against bim, having warned him of it and checked him for it ;' but he hath fallen upon me, and wounded me, while I, in thy name, bave given bim these admonitions." — '' True, Lord," saith the devil too : "All this be did upon my suggestions and temptations, therefore resign bim over to me for punishment." TO SAVE AND INT E|E CEDE FOB SINNEES. 375 Now when the poor sinner stands mute and trembling, his mighty advocate pleads his cause ; and silences all these accusa tions that are brought against him, and sets him right. And this he doth two ways. (1) He doth it by reconciling God and conscience, through his own blood. Which blood, as it is the blood of atonement, so' it reconciles God and us ; and, as it is the blood of sprinkling, so it reconciles our own consQiences to us. As it is the blood of atonement, so we are reconciled to God, and God to us : Eom. v. 10. We are " re conciled to God by the death'of his Son :" and it is that blood, which " speaketh better things " for us " than the blood of Abel ;" for, as that cries to God for vengeance, so this cries louder for mercy and forgiveness. As it is the blood of sprinkling, so it re conciles our own consciences to us, and makes them at peace with us,: Heb. x. 22 ; " Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assur ance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an e"vil conscience, &c. :" an evil conscience, that is, an accusing and an affrighting con science : it is said to be sprinkled, because the blood of Christ must first produce purity in our souls, before it can procure any well- grounded peace. That is the first particular, how Christ defends us from the accusations of our adversaries, by reconciling the jus tice of God and our o"wn consciences to us. (2) Our advocate defends us, as by reconciling God and our own consciences to us, so by stopping the mouth of the devil, who, be cause he can never be reconciled, therefore he must be silenced. So we find that Christ stopped the mouth of that great accuser, Zech. iii. 2 ; " The I^ord rebul^e thee, 0 Satan ; even the Lord, that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee, &c." Thus our Lord Jesus Christ, by his powerful intercession, silenceth all the accusations that are brought against us, by the justice of God and our o"wn consciences, reconciling them unto us, and stopping the mouth of our implacable adversary the devil ; so that none of their accusa tions, though preferred against us, can prevail to our detriment or disadvantage. All this we have summarily collected together in Eom. viii. 33,-34 ; " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth. Who is he, that condemneth ? It is Christ, that died ; yea rather, tbat is risen again, who is even at the right-hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." This is the first grekt benefit, which we receive from the inter cession of Christ ; he defends us from those evils, which our ad - versaries, through their accusations, endeavor tO bring uppn us and prefer against us. 376 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHBIST 2. I now come to speak of those good tkings, wkich, hy Christ's merits we kave a rigkt and tith to. And innumerable are the beinefits, that redound to believers by the intercession of Christ. If you inquire what they are, I answer, (1) In general, the "whole work of our salvation depends, as well upon the life dnd intercession of Christ, as upon bis death and suf ferings. Though this may seem strange possibly to those, who .are wont to hear our salvation ascribed only to the death and sufferings of Christ ; yet it e"vidently appears from Scripture, that our salvation and all the benefits we are to receive and expect do as much flow from the virtues of his glorious life and intercession, as from the merits of his death and passion. There are two things requisite, before any good thing can be come ours. A meritorious procurement or purchase of the thing itself An actual and effectual application of it to us. Now the purchase is made by his death and sufferings ; but the effectual application of them is by his life and intercession. By the former, the mercies are purchased : by the latter, the purchase is enjoyed. Therefore, if Christ had only died, and not risen again, and overcome and triumphed over death in his o"wn empire,' and triumphed over the grave as in his own territories, his undertak ings had redounded to his own disappointment, but not at all to our salvation : but, herein, saith th6 Apostle, doth he declare himself, " to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead :" Eom. i. 4, our hopes of salvation had been all buried in the same grave with him, but that which he died to purchase he lives to bestow : for " he ever liveth to make intercession." There was no one prejudice, that hindered the gospel so much from taking place in the hearts of the heathens in the primitive times, as the death and cross of Christ ; for they believed that he was lifted 'up upon the cross : but would not believe, that he was raised from the grave. Their natural reason herein taught them this inference, that, to expect life from Christ, was to hope for it from him, that could not preserve his own, or restore it again after the loss of it. It is true, it seems to natural reason, to be folly thus to hope for life from a dead person : were it not that his life applied what his death purchased ; and our salvation, which was begun on the cross, is perfected on the throne. And therefore we have it in Acts ii. 24, TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 377 God raised him from the grave, because it was impossible that he should be held of it. "Why was it not possible that Christ should be held of the grave ?" I answer, upon these two accounts. One impossibility was in regard of his person ; another, in regard of his office : for, as he was inan, so he abhorred death, and a sepa ration from his body ; and, as he was God, so be was able to reunite them, to overcome death, and burst asunder the bars of the grave : so that, as man ba"ving a desire to live, and as Gqd baving power to live, it was impossible for him to be detained prisoner in the grave. But this is not all : there is another impossibility in regard of his office. He was appointed to redeem lost man, to rescue him from eternal death : and therefore it was impossible for him to be kept under the power of any temporal death, because this could not be done while he lay under a restraint of the grave : his death would have been but a dead thing to us, without his resurrection : it was his life, that put virtue into his death. The obedience of Christ hath a twofold virtue. As it is a satisfaction to offended justice. As it is a purchase of forfeited mercy. Both these become benefits to us, by Christ's life and interces sion. [1] His satisfaction to offended justice, whereby we are* recon ciled to God and God to us, that satisfaction which was purchased and procured by his death, becomes'beneficial to us by his life. So we have it, Eom. v. 10 ; " For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." But the actual applica tion of this is by his life : therefore it follows, in the same place, "much more shall we be saved by, his life." We were fully recon ciled by his death, in respect of merit ; but we are much more reconciled by his life, in respect of .the effectual application of that merit to us. [2] Christ purchased those blessings and mercies, which we had forfeited ; and they are made effectual and beneficial to us by his life. , . There are three great and principal mercies, which Christ pur chased for us :¦ justification and pardon, sanctification or holiness, and the future inheritance of life and glory. Th,ese three become effectual to us by Christ's life. 1st. Justification and the pardon of our sins become effectual and beneficial to us by the life of Christ. 378 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST Eom. iv. 25. He " was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." If he had not risen from the dead, he himself could not be justified ; much less could we be justified by him. And, therefore saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; " And with out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was mani fest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, &c.,"' that is, he was "manifested in the flesh," in his incarnation: he was "seen of angels," in his glorious ascension : but he was "justified in the Spirit," in his resurrection. Had he never been raised from the dead by his Spirit, that is, by the almighty power of the divine nature, he had not been declared just, nor could he ever have justified us. 2dly. Sanctification and holiness is the powerful effect of the life of Christ, though it was the purchase of his death. Therefore saith the Apostle, Phil. iii. 10 ; " That ye may know him, and the power of his resurrection ;" that is, that power, which, through his resurrection, he doth apply to us, and by which he raiseth us up also to newness of life. And this -he calls our being " planted together in the likeness' of his resurrection :" Eom. vi. 5 ; " For, if we bave been planted together in tbe likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resiirection." 3dly. Our future inheritance of life and glory, is likewise ascribed to the life of Christ, though it was purchased by bis death. John* xiv. 19 ; '' Because I live, ye shall live also :" that is, be cause I'live eternally in heaven, ye shall livp eternally in heaven, also. . So then, in tbe general, you 'see that there is no benefit redound ing to believers by the death of Christ, but the same doth redound ' to them likewise by the life of Christ : whicb life is ever employed in the work of intercession : " He ever liveth to make intercession" for us. See what the Apostle saith: "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." It might happily be 'inverted to us : Whether the Lord lives, he lives for us ; or, whether be dies, he dies for us ; ^nd, whether the Lord lives or dies, it is for our advantage. But this is only in the general ; and, therefore, (2) To come and descend to particulars : there are very many great benefits, that do redound to beliWers by the life and inter cession of Christ. [1] Hence we obtain the mystical union, by which we are united both to God ahd to one another. John x"vii. 21 ; Christ prays, that his saints " may be all one ; as TO SAVEAND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 379 thou,. Father, art in me, and I in thee." And from this union flows all that fellowship and communion, which they have either with God or with one another: their communion with God depends upon their being united to him in the sameness of spirit ; and their communion among themselves depends upon their mutual union in the same body ; and both depend upon this prayer of Christ. [2] The inestimable gift of the Holy Ghost, likewise, is the benefit of Christ's intercession. John xvi. 7 ; " If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you :" so, John xiv. 16, 17 ; "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever." All the motions, breathings, evidences, and supports of the Holy Spirit which you enjoy, as they were the purchase of Christ's death, so also are they benefits obtained by his life and intercession for us. Hence also was it, that, in the first age of the Church, there were those extra ordinary and miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost ; the gifts of tongues and healing, &c. Acts iii. 33. [3] Through this intercession, we have boldness and confidence at the throne of grace. > Heb. iv. 14, 15 ; " Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Eph. iii. 12 ; " In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through the faith of him." Who would not be encouraged to go boldly to God, that hath an advocate to plead for him, that never yet had the least denial ? [4] Hence, also, we receive all our strength and growth in grace. John xvii. 17 ; " Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth." Grace, together with all the measures and degrees of it, is derived to us, as from Christ's fulness, so by his intercession : it is received by our prayers, and conveyed to us by his prayer. [5] Hence we obtain, likewise, perseverance and continuance in grace. John xvii. 11 ; " Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." " I have prayed," saith Christ to Peter, " that thy faith fail not :" and, upon this incense of Christ's prayer, is built the perseverance of the saints in grace. - [6] Hence, likewise, we are preserved both against temptation ; and, from sin, when under temptation. John xvii. 15 ; "I pray that thou shouldst keep them from the 380 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST evil :" tbat is, from the evil of temptation, so that Satan never come near us ; or, from the evil to which be tempts us, so tbat though he assault us he may never prevail : that we may be either free from temptation, or at least victorious over it. So, Luke x. 17. The devil is bound up by this almighty prayer : and, though there be no saint on earth, that enjoys perfect freedom either from sin or temptations to sin ; yet these temptations would be much more frequent, and always prevalent over us, did noj Christ's prayer in terpose by mighty force and strength, and beat back Satan's fiery darts that they cannot reach us, or rebate their force and sharpness that they cannot hurt us. [7] From Christ's intercession we, likewise, do obtain accepta tion of all our duties. He sees the iniquity of our holy things, and cleanses us from all the imperfections, corruption, and sinfulness, that adhere to them : even by tbat incense, that he offers up with the prayers of all the saints, he makes them acceptable and a s"weet savor to God the Father. Not tbat tbe incense of the intercession of Christ casts a mist before God, that he should not discern the faults and infirmities of our best services : yea, he clearly sees them, and fully knows them ; yet those performances) which in themselves were abominable and sinful, through the perfume of his incense become a sweet savor to God, and be accepts of them with as much com placency and delight as he doth of *the perfect services of the angels themselves. [8] Frorn the intercession of Christ we receive the benefit of the Spirit's making intercession for us in our hearts ; -with prayer for us,- that We, through the Spirit, may be enabled to pray again. All our prayers are, indeed, but the echoing back of his ovra Spirit : Gal. iv. 6 ; " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." The Holy Ghost is here called "the Spirit of his Son," because Christ bath 'purchased Him for his by his death, and sent Him into the hearts of his by his authority and commission. Thus you see there are sundry great benefits and privileges, which we receive by the life and intercession of Christ in heaven. But you may say, " Doth Christ's intercession always prevail ? Is -he never denied ? And may we be certain to obtain all these benefits by bim?" I answer, we may : and this certainty is grounded upon three things. First. In that the Father always hears and grants him all his TO SAVE AND. INT E-B CEDE FOB SINNEES. 381 desires : John xi. 41, 42 ; "I know that thou hearest me always." He is the well-beloved Son of God ; and, therefore, a^ we are bid by that heavenly voice. Mat. xvii. 5, to hear bim, in all his com mands ; so will his Father hear him, in all his requests. Secondly. The Father himself loves us ; and is willing and ready to give forth those good things to us, of which we stand in need. So we have it, John xvi. 26, 27 ; "I say not.....that I will pray the Father for you :" you may be fully assured I will ; a.nd, therefore, whatsoever I ask shall be granted : " for the Father loveth you," and will deny me no request that is for your good. Thirdly. *That all these benefits are at the command and disposal of Christ himself: and, therefore, as he intercedes that these bene fits may be bestowed upon us, so he himself will bestow them ; for they are at his command, and under his authority : Mat. xxviii. 18; "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth:" and therefore all these things shall certainly be conferred upon you in due time and order, through the prevalence of the intercession of Christ. ' ' Thus I have cursorily run over these things, which might have been much dilated upon, because I will hasten to that which is more practical. Thus much for that position, That Christ " ever liveth to make intercession for us." II. The next thing, that remains to be treated of, is the infer ence deduced and drawn from the position : Therefore, " he is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him :" from which I shall handle CHEIST'S ALL-SUFFICIENCY TO SAVE ; and, therein, labor to set forth -the freeness and fulness of divine grace in the salvation of sinners. In order whereunto I have alread}' showed you, that Christ was made thus an all-sufficient Saviour, by the Father's designation, and his own, voluntary susception ; by the capacity of his human nature, fitting him to receive wrath ; by the power of the divine nature, enabling him to reluctate it ; and by an immeasurable unc tion of the Holy Ghost, furnishing him with all endowments re quisite to perfect our redemption. "Christ, being thus every way qualified for this great work, is made all-sufficient to save; and his all-sufficiency to save will appear in these following particular^. 382 THE, ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST i. In the geeatness of the nu'mbeb and the heinousness OF THE NAIUEB OF THOSE SINS, FBOM WHICH HE IS ABLE TO DELIVBB. Though your sins be as many as the sands, and as great as the mountains, swelled up with fearful aggravations that make them out of measure sinful; yet he can say to the mountains, "Be re moved, and cast into the bottom of tbe sea," even the red sea of his own blood ; and it shall be done. This was prefigured by tbe scape-goat. Lev. x"vi. 21, upon which the iniquities of all the child ren of Israel were laid, tbat he might carry them into the land of forgetfulness. And, as the scape-goat, so tbe paschal-lamb repre sented Christ, and his all-sufficiency to save: and therefore we bave that speech of John the Baptist, John i. 29 ; " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Yea, this was alluded to by the imposition of his name : Mat. i. 21 ; " Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their sins." There are two things in sin, from which we stand in need to be saved. From its pollution ; which, of itself, is enough to exclude us from heaven, into which no unclean thing shall ever enter. Front its condemnation ; by which we are excluded from heaven, and adjudged to hell. I From both these, he is able to save to the very uttermost. ' 1. Christ is able to save you from tke pollution and defihment of your foulest lusts and sins ; and that, " by the washing of regenera tion, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost :" Tit. iii. 5. Those, spots of defilement, that have so polluted and stained }it)ur consciences, that no tears, though your eyes were tifrned into ever- running streams, would ever be able to wash out, yet the sprink ling of the blood of Christ can. It can purge the heart and Con science " from dead works :" Heb. ix". 14, and change the scarlet and crimson complexion of it into whiteness and purity. There is no sinner her^ this day, though his heart be as foul and black as hell, though his life swarm with abominable lusts of all sorts, yet, Christ, by his Almighty Spirit and efficacious grace, can in an instant transform and new mould him ; and, of a desperate and outrageous sinner, make him an humble and broken-hearted saint. See tbat black catalogue, 1 Cor.«vi. 9 — 11 ; " Be not deceived : neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers nor thieves nor drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God." What saith tbe Apostle concerning such? " Such were some of you :" why, is it TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 383 possible that grace should change, or mercy pardon, or the devil lose such great sinners as these are ? Yet, " such were some of you : but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Yea, and this all-sufficiency of Christ to save and sanctify the ¦ vilest and most flagitious sinner, is made niiore eminently glorious in these particulars. (1) In that he is able to effect this- mighty change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, -without waiting upon the methods of previous preparations or dispositions. The Spirit doth not always stand knocking by common motions, persuasions, and con-victions, and legal terrors: but, sometimes, forceth and breaketh open the heart ; and, by his irresistible effi cacy, suddenly surpriseth the soul, and seizeth on it, and captivateth it to the obedience of the Lord Christ. As, at mid-day, when we remove the shutters of our -windows, light doth not enter in by degrees, first dawning and darting in some weak beams of light, and then some further degrees ; but it springs in at once, and at one moment, irradiates and enlightens the room with a perfect and full- grown brightness : so, sometimes, the Sun of Eighteousness doth arise upon the heart, without the circumstances of a dawning ; though this is n'ot, indeed, God's usual method in converting sin ners. Nay, sometimes, it darts both light and warmth, at once, through the whole heart ; by which our Almighty Saviour can, in a moment, work a greater change by far, than God wrought in all the six days' creation . he can, at once, melt do"wn tbe bard heart and subdue the stubborn will, tame headstrong passions and violent affections, and demolish the strong-holds of iniquity that have many years been fortifying against him : he can both "vvound and heal, kill and make alive, destroy sin and plant grace ; and that, with such dispatch, as can prevent, not only the endeavors, but the observation of a sinner. (2), The all-sufficiency of Christ to save and sanctify appears in this also, that sometimes he works this mighty change at such an unlikely season ; when the sinner is the hottest and the most eager in the prosecution of his lust. •It is easy to show, by some remarkable instances, what he is able to do, by converting a sinner to himself, not only without preparations to assist him, but against the strongest preparations that the .sinner and the deyil have made to resist him. Some have been surprised by grace in the very act of sin, that might have provoked justice to have damned them : mercy hath made it an 384 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST opportunity for their salvation : some circumstances in their sin have proved to be the beginning of their conversion. Thus St. Paul, in the midst of his threatening, in the height and heat of his persecutions, when he was going to Damascus, to hale and impri son those that made profession of the name of Christ, was, by the almighty grace of Christ, turned to be an apostle. And so, in Isa. Ivii. 18. Notwithstanding that he goes on to add sin to sin and iniquity to iniquity, " I have seen his ways," saith God, " and I will heal him :" by my efficacious and Almighty grace breaking ¦in upon him in a moment. (3) phrist's all^ufficiency to sanctify and save a sinner appears to be eminently glorious, in that he is able to work this great and mighty change by such contemptible means, as, to the eye of hu man reason, is altogether insufficient to achieve it ; and that is, by the preaching of the word. Should God himself speak out of heaven in thunder ; should we hear the voice of his terrible majesty in the clouds, "Eepent, repent,- or eternally perish ;" should some angel, that is now mi nistering among us, make himself visible, and from this placg denounce wrath and vengeance against impenitent sinners, and promise peace and pardon to all that shall believe, repent, and re form their lives ; should some damned wretch be released out of hell, and sent hither on purpose to warn you to repent, or for ever to be swallowed up in fiery wrath, if you should see him speaking flames at every word, this were a likely course to move you : for who would be so senseless and obdurate, as not to be convinced at such a sermon as this ? But know, that God bath committed tbe word of reconciliation not unto them, but unto us, " earthen ves sels " as we are. And yet, alas ! what can we do ? we can but stammer out a few words, that are soon lost, that are soon scat tered : we can but reprove men for their sins, threaten them with wrath, admonish them to fly to Jesus Christ for his righteousness, and beseech them through him to be reconciled to God. Now, that this should be of such force as to persuade conscience, to break the heart, to ransack the bowels, even of those very sinners, who perhaps came with prejudices, contempt, and scorn ; what is this, but a plain and evident demonstration of the almighty powerTif God, who, "by the foolishness of preaching, saveth those that do believe ;" thereby convincing the world that there is nothing so weak and contemptible, but God can by it bring to pass things wonderful and miraculous. That is the first thing, whereby it doth appear, that Christ is TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNEES. 385' all-sufficient to save sinners : the greatness of the number, the heinousness of the nature, and the pollution of those sins, from which he is able to deliver ; as I have showed in these three par ticulars. I « 2'. Christ is able to save, not only from the pollution of the foulest, hu.t from the guilt and condemnation of tke greatest sins f and that, by a free pardon and remission of them. What greater sins than blasphemy and persecution ? yet,' saith St. Paul concerning himself, 1 Tim. i. 13 ; "I was before a blas phemer, and a persecutor but I obtained mercy.'' Therefore, we cannot say with Cain, as the marginal note renders it, " My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven :" I bave out-sinned mercy ; and there is nothing remains for me, but the fearful expectation of the fiery indignation, which will certainly devour me." Is not that blood of infinite value, which God shed for thee ? Hath not this all-sufficient Sa"viour borne the whole wrath which thou should.'^t have borne ? Hath he not " brought life and immortality to light ;" and wilt thou be so injurious as to think thy sins more vile, than his blood is precious ? or, that there is more venom in them to de stroy thee, than there is virtue in his blood to save thee ? Let not the devil persuade thee, before the commission of thy sins, that they are so little, that they need no pardon ; nor, after the commis sion of them, that they are so heinous, that they cannot be par doned. Man is in nothing more pro-voking to God, than when he believes that his sins cannot be pardoned. There are but two sins which are unpardonable. The one, is the- dreadful sin against the Holy Ghost ; and the other is final unbe lief ' Final unbelief cannot be pardoned,' because the death o9 Christ, by which all pardon is obtained, can be applied to the soul by no other means than faith. The sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be pardoned, because it is a malicious rejection of the blood of Christ, and all pardon by it. Hast thou reason to think thyself guilty of either of these sins ?' Thou canst not say thou art guilty of final unbelief; for that cannot be, until th'e last moment of thy life. But that, which most of all troubles the despairing soul, is, lest it hath committed the unpardonable sin- against the Holy Ghost. And this many are afflicted with ; this they fear ; and so, in the extreme anguish and horror of their souls, they cry out tbat they are lost, that they are damned, that there is no hope, no pardon for them. If it be so indeed, that there is no pardon for fliee ; yet this outcry confutes itself: for the sin against the Holj' Ghost is. Vol. II.— 25 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST. of all others, the least jealous and suspicious. I am persuaded, that the ponsideration of the nature of this sin will persuade us, that there is no man guilty of it, but he, that is also given up by God to a reprobate mind and a seared conscience, and so grown' quite past feeling as never to complain of his miserable condition. Thy very troubles, therefere, thy very despairing thoughts, show that thou hast no reason to despair, and that thy sins are not un- ' pardonable : and, therefore, be what they will, the deformity of them never so ugly, the guilt of them as ghastly as thy guilty con science represents them, yet there is an all-su^ciency in Christ to save thee fully. Is it the numberless number of them, that affrights thee? Were they yet more, Christ can save thee from them : 1 John i. 7 ; "The blood of. ...Christ cleanseth from all sin." Dost thou com plain, 0 soul, that thy sins are as many in number as the sand upon the seashore ? yea, but dost thou not know likewise, that the sea can cover the sands ? so the overflowing blood of Christ can reach the uttermost borders and extent of all thy sins ; and keep them from the sight of God, that they shall never more appear. Is it the greatness and the heinous nature of thy sins, that afflict thee ? Possibly thou mightst think I flatter thee, to tell thee thou shouldst gather ground of hope rather than of despair : for thou bast now a plea for pardon. See how the prophet David urgeth this as an argument with God, for the forgiveness of them : '" For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity:" why? It may be they are so great, that they cannot in justice be pardoned : Yea, " 0 Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great'' It is a very strange argument, one would think, thus to plead with men : " Pray pardon me, because I have done you a great injury :" and yet, with God, whose thoughts are not as the thoughts of men, and whose ways are not as the ways of men, this strange argument is very forcible and prevalent : " Lord, pardon me, because I have sinned greatly :" thou speakest more reason by far, than -if thou shouldst say, thy sins are great and heinous, and therefore there is no hope of pardon for them. 3. Now Ckrist! s all-sifficiency to save th^ greatest and tke worst of sinners appears in tkese following particulars. (1) In that he is able to save the oldest and most accustomed sin ner ; and to make the last hour of his life the first of his eternal happiness. And, in this, if in any thing, the Almighty power of Christ to save is made most wonderfully glorious. When an old sinner, TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNEES. 387 that bath tiudged on apace to destruction, and hath arrived even at the very brink of hell, wheln there were but a few steps between him and eternal death, nay when he stuck there, and there was nothing to recover him, for Christ then to give him a lift over that vast gulf, and then give him another lift over to everlasting life, what can be said in this case, but what the Psalmist saith in Ps. Ixxxix. 13, " Thou hast a mighty arm : strong is thy hand?" Such a man's condition is very sad and dangerous : and, if anything were too hard for all-sufficiency to achieve, it were altogether desperate. Now there are several things, which advance the power of Christ in saving old sinners. As, [1] That the devil's possession of an old, overgrown sinner is mightily confi,rmed both in strength and title. In strength ; in that he hath had time to fortify every strong hold of iniquity, and to make them impregnable. In title ; because, through long possession, the devil pleads right by prescription, and time out of mind over, the soul, so that it seems almost a vain attempt to rescue that soul from sin : and, though all things were made by and for God, yet here you see God's title seems as it were to fail, and the devil's takes place ; for, by a long custom in sin, such outstand the offers of grace, abuse the patience of God, and provoke him to give them up judicially to hardness of heart; by long delay, they more strengthen the devil's title, and make their salvation the more difficult and hazardous. [2] Old sinners are so soaked and drenched .in tbe cares ahd concernments of this world, that, by a strange sottishness, the nearer they approach to the evil day, the further they put it off from them ; never thinking of eternity, until they are irrecoverably swallowed up in it. As those, that work in deep mines, see not the sun, and know not how the day passeth away : so those earth-worms, that toil and drudge to load themselves with thick clay out of the bowels of the earth, never consider how far their day is spent, nor how near their sun is to setting : never consider once how the day goes over their heads, but still work deeper and deeper till they hqve opened a passage through earth into hell, into which at last they fall head long. [3] • Old sinners have long built up and supported themselves with false 'and flattering hopes. ."^ Either presumptuous conceits of God's mercy, or proud conceits of their own merits, or some such rotten principle or other : and, because, with these, they have worn out many storms of conscience 388 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHE-IST and many powerful convictions, they will not forsake tbeir hopes, nor let go their vain confidence ; but cry out peace, peace to them selves, till they and their hopes perish together. [4] By a long course of sinning incorrigibly, they have wearied out Divine patience, and all the strivings of tbe Blessed Spirit of God ; till, at last, they have provoked tbe Lord to pronounce a curse and a judicial hardness upon these old sinners. And, because they would not be purged when he would have purged them, therefore they shall never be purged from their ini quities, till wrath seizes upon them, and seals them, and sets them aside for the devil. The condition, therefore, of old sinners is very dangerous and deplorable, and very seldom are such converted and saved. But, yet, this is not the cause : tbe oldness or customariness of their sins makes them not unpardonable, nor sets them out of the reach of Christ's all-sufficiency to save ; but, because they are so tough and stubborn, that they will not come to God through Christ, that they may be saved by him. Yet, notwithstanding their case is thus forlorn and desperate, the all-sufficiency of Christ may he extended unto such as these, to bring them to salvation, and to cure and heal them, and save them from those sins that would deprive them of it. Poor sinners ! did you never read that Christ stanched an issue of blood that had run twelve years ? Mark v. 25 ; and how he straightened a woman that was bowed together eighteen years? yea, bow he healed an impotent man, that had an infirmity thirty- eight years ? John v. 5. And shall a miracle of power be able to cure an old disease, and not a miracle of grace be able to cure an old sinner? Though your bloody issue of sin hath run long; though you have lain bound nnder sin not seventeen or eighteen, but perhaps eighty years ; yet come, though it be in the last hour of the day. Though your sins are as old, yet they are not so old as those mercies that are everlasting. You are not too old for grace, nor too old to be new-born. Lazarus riseth again, though he had lain four days in the grave ; and the same hand, that raised him, can raise you from the power of the devil, though you have lain there not four days, but fourscore years, dead in sin and tres passes. The thief on the cross, Christ saved, not many hours before his death : as though Christ would show the world, by this exam ple, what he can do in a desperate case. And could he thus save, when he suffered ; and cannot he much more save, now he is glo rified and triumphant'? Old houses, many times, are repaired and TO SA"V"E AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNEES. 389 made meet habitations" again : so you, though you have been an old tenement for the devil, may be so repaired by grace as to be come a temple for the Holy Ghost. Be persuaded, therefore, yet at length to accept of the tenders of an all-sufficient Saviour. Your day is almost spent, and your life stands upon the brink of the grave : if you now neglect so great salvation, as the Lord Jesus in the Gospel proffers to you, your death. inay be so soon as to pre vent another offer of him to you ; but it shall not, nay it cannot be so soon, as to prevent salvation by Christ, if you accept of this offer. (2) Christ is able to save those, who ha,ve frequently relapsed into the commission of the same sin. ¦ This is that, I know, which galls and stings the consciences of many sinners. It is not so much the multitude of their sins that affrights them, as the frequent commission of the same sins. " Oh," saith one, " I am guilty of reiterated and oft-repeated sins. I have committed the same sin, again and again ; notwithstanding I have been convinced of it ; notwithstanding I, have prayed, resolved, and vowed against it. Notwithstanding all the convictions and over tures which I have had, and notwithstanding all the resolutions which I have made, I have again relapsed into the same sins ; and those, not of ordinary infirmity and human frailty, but sins of a gross and scandalous nature And are such sins pardonable ?" "I answer : These relapses, although they are very dangerous, yet they are not altogether incurable. It is hard, to soften a heart, that is treacherous to-God and to itself, and very deeply engaged in some particular lust; when we are frequently overcome by the same corruption, by the same temptation ; but, yet, this is not such an aggravation, as should leave our sins unpardonable, or us desperate. The Jews; indeed, have a tradition among them, that the fourth re- l3,pse into the same sin makes it an unpardonable offence ; but we know that the mercy of God and the infinite merit of Christ, are not stinted by any number of sins, nor by any number of the same sins. It is not with us as with drowning men, that if they sink the fourth time they never rise again. Certainly, that Christ, who bids us to forgive our brother, though he should offend us to " seventy time seven" offences, and hath not excepted reiterated provocations, will, upon our repentance, so much oftener forgive us, as his great mercy is above our charity. Though we have committed those sins and provocations against himself; though it be matter of bitter and deep humilition, that any corruption should be so prevalent as frequently to overcome us, and that notwith- 890 THE ALL-S'tJFPICIENCY OF CHRIST standing conviction, contrition, and heart-breaking confession : yet it is no cause of despair of mercy. The grace of Christ can subdue such rooted sinners as these. And what sins soever the grace of Christ can subdue, tbcmercy of God can pardon. (3) Christ can save the profoundest and most notorious' 5ac&- slider. And backsliding is tbe greatest obstruction to a sinner's hope. This is that, which fills him with fears and terrors : " Oh, I have been guilty of apostacy. I have ' tasted' of the sweetness ' of the heavenly gift, and of the powers of tbe world to come :' yet I have fallen back to my carnal temper, from the holy ways of God ; and bave again backslided and wallowed in my former pollutions, from which I seemed sometimes to be cleansed and refined. And is this apostacy pardonable ?" • I answer : There is indeed an unpardonable apostacy, described in that dreadful place, Heb. vi. 4, 6 ; it is impossible for such a one to be renewed by repentance, &c. : this is the same with the sin against the Holy Ghost : and this no man is guilty of, but he, that hath cast off all means tending to salvation and eternal life, and all desires after it. There is also an apostacy from great attainments, both of gifts and graces : when a man's zeal to God's glory cools, when his vigor'in holy duties faints, when his relish to spiritual objects vitiates, and he returns to a lukewarm and indifferent tem per, and it m'ay be to a sinful and wicked life : though this be very sad and dreadful, yet the man is both pardonable and recoverable : see that most comfortable place, Jer. iii. 22 ; " Eeturn, ye back sliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee : for thou art the Lord our God." I shall not instance any other aggravations, which make sin out of measure sinful, and make the sinner out of measure dangerous ; since, if the old sinner, if the relapsing, if the apostatizing sinner be pardonable and salvable, none then bave reason to exclude themselves from the hopes of eternal life. Indeed, the only danger is, lest tbe wickedness of men abuse this most comfortable doctrine ; and turn that into presumption, which is only intended to arm them against despair. Indeed, both presumption and despair do tend, in divers manners, to enrage and harden men in sin. The despairing person judgeth, " If I must not be saved, if my sins are such as that there is no pardon for them, to what purpose do I then live strictly, and vex, and cross myself, and perplex my life? I will let loose the reins, and enjoy myself; and reap as TO SAVE A.ND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 391 great a crop as I can of pleasure : and, if I must go to hell, I will make the way as delightful as I can." And the argument, on the other side, that encouragetb and har- deneth the presumptuous sinner, is this : " Christ is able to save to the uttermost the vilest sinners. We hear no sins are beyond his all-sufficiency to save : therefore," say they, "what need we trouble ourselves to repent and reform ? We will yet awhile indulge our selves in sin : for the efficacy of Christ is as able to save in the last moment of our lives, as after many years' preparations." We see iniquity everywhere fearfully abounding : and, though we use to say despair kills its thousands, and presumption its ten thousands ; yet, if we narrowly consider, possibly it may be found that this kind of despair in men, arising from sloth and careless ness, is as great a source of impiety as presumption. Whence else is it, that many, who are convinced, and whose consciences are blackened with the sense of wrath, persist still to add iniquity to iniquity ; but because they think that there is no salvation for them, that their doom is fixed, and that their state is determined ? and, therefore, since they must pay so dear as eternal damnation, they are resolved to make up their pennyworths in their present plea sures of sin : like those in Jer. xviii. 12 ; " And they said. There is no hope : but we will walk after our own de"vices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." I should judge it one of the most conducible means to promote men's endeavors after godliness, if I could but bring them to a serious and settled belief that their salvation is attainable : for, certainly, so good a thing as salvation is, cannot but stir up affections and industry proportion able to our apprehensions of the valuableness of it. Hence, then, to tell men what great sins Christ can pardon, what great sinners he can save, is no encouragement to presumption, but rather to the exercise of holiness : for, since the way to heaven is cleared from impossibilities; it is most unreasonable for men to stick at difficulties. But, if any abuse this doctrine of Christ's all- suffi ciency to save the greatest sinners to sloth and the support of their wickedness ; promising themselves peace and happiness in the end, though they go on in sin presumptuously, adding iniquity to ini quity ; let me only tell them, and it will be enough to damp all their vain hopes, that, though Christ be able to save to the utter most, yet he is not able to save them in their sins, but only from their sins. That is the first demonstration of Christ's all-sufficiency to save. 392 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHBIST sinners, in these particulars. He is an all-sufficient Saviour, because he is able to save men from the greatest number, and from the most heinous sins in their nature ; though they be as many as the sands, and as great as the mountains; he is able, by his sanctifying grace, to remove the filth of o\ir sins ; and, by his justifying grace, to remove their guilt : and he is able to convert and change the sinner at such an unlikely season, when he is hottest and most eager in the prosecution of his lusts : he is able to do this by the most con temptible means : he is able to save the oldest sinners ; those, tbat have frequently relapsed into the same sins, and the greatest and most notorious backsliders, if they do but at last repent and return to him. ii. Another demonstration is this : Christ's all-sufficiency to save appears in this, that he is able to bestow upon us all-sdfpicing MEECY. He is able to instate us in the choicest and richest blessings, that we are able either to- receive or imagine ; and, therefore, " he is able to save to the uttermost." If I should now mention temporal bless: ings in this account, the instance would sink too low. The world stands but as an empty cipher, and ^signifies but a great round nothing, when it is reckoned up with blessings which flow in upon us through Christ's all-sufficiency : and, yet, what a big vanity is this world,. in the estimation of most men! If they bave but a little part of it to bestow : it maybe some slavish office, some slight and trivial gift ; what a distance do they keep at ! how are they over whelmed with suitors and floods' of attendance! and, when they see bow many stand in need of them, they are apt to think therdselves sufficient, and to stand in need of none. Should I say to the am bitious and proud man, Christ is able to make all the princes ofthe world crouch and humble themselves unto thee, and lick up the dust of thy feet : should I tell a covetous person, that Christ is able to make gold and silver not only as plenteous as stones, as in Solo mon's time ; but that he can turn stones into diamonds and dirt into gold, that he can sequester the estates of all men in the world- and bestow them upon bim : I need say no more unto such ; for these men would believe, that Christ, by this, would prove himself an' all-sufficient Saviour: this is that little, which they most regard and admire. Indeed Christ can do all this, for he is Lord of the whole world, and of all things in it : they are at his beck, and at his disposals. Yet had he no other, no better treasures to bestow than the whole world, it would not be satisfactory, since the whole world itself is but a poor insufficient thing : but Christ will have. TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 393 his all-sufficiency to be seen and glorified, by giving that to his people, which is an all-sufficing good. Three things, therefore, Christ doth bestow upon them, which indeed are all-sufficient. Christ giveth unto his people. An interest in an all-sufficient God. ' A possession of all-sufficient grace. An all-satisfactory inheritance. 1. He gives them an interest in an all-sufficient God. All-sufficiency is God's most comprehensive attribute; that which speaks out all the rest in one word. Wisdom, power, just ice, mercy, goodness, truth, are several perfections of the Divine nature, t]ip,t shine gloriously, each of them in its own sphere ; btit, all-sufficiency is as it were the gloss and lustre, that doth red6und or result from all these attributes combined together. Other attri butes are like several stars, that shine "with their proper and dis tinct light; but all-sufficiency is like a constellation, when all the stars make but one light. Therefore, when God proclaims himself to Abraham to be God 'Almighty, or God all-sufficient, Gen. xvii. 1, it was as much as if he had said, " I am wise in heart, mighty in power, merciful in disposition, just in proceedings, good in promises, faithful in performances :" for all-sufficiency is ihe issue and product of all the rest of God's attributes. Oh what a rich por tion have they, that have all God's attributes for their own ! This all-sufficiency, by Christ, becomes ours: Heb. xi. 16; "God is not ashamed to be called our God." What can Christ do more to ap prove himself to be a Saviour to the uttermost, than giving unto his an infinite boundless good ? If the power of God, the wisdom of God, the salvation of God can save them, they are sure to be saved to the uttermost ; and hence David so often glories, tbat God is his portion: Ps. xvi. 5; Ixxiii. 26; cxix. 57. And what con clusion doth he draw from all this ? Ps. xxiii. \ ; " The Lord is my shepherd : I shall not want." " No, soul : it is impossible for' thee to want : all things are thine own : God is thine, and all God hath is thine : while others seek to quench their thirst at the broken, leaky cistern; thou mayst lay thyself at the fountain and spring head of living waters, and there find complete satisfaction. Cer tainly, unless all-sufficiency may fail, unless God's attributes molder and drop away from him and leave him a destitute and indigent God, thou canst never be impoverished and without supply." God's .wisdom is full of counsel, his power, is full of protection, his mercy is full of pardon, his truth and faithfulness is full of security : and 394 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST those, certainly, must needs be ravenous and unsatiable desires, wliich such an all-sufficient God as our God is cannot fill ind satisfy 2. Christ also instates tke soul in an all-sufficing portion of grace. Grace hath a double signification. It may either be taken for subjective or objective grace ; or, "what is the same, for relative or real grace. Eelative grace is that, whereby a change is made in the relation in which we stand to God. In a state of nature, we stood in a threefold sad and wretched relation to God. We were strangers to God, rebels and enemies, and also guilty malefactors ; and, as such, were liable to eternal condemnation. But, the grace of God intervening, makes a blessed change in all these relations: of strangers, we are brojight near, and enrolled in the family of heaven ; and so are made children of God and heirs of glory, by the grace of adoption : of enemies, we are made friends and intimates ; and accepted through the Beloved, through the grace of redemption : of guilty malefactors, we are acquitted, and pardened, and accepted to eternal life, by the free and absolute grace of justification. Now this relative grace is not that, which is wrought in us ; but it abides in God, and is only ter minated upon us : indeed it is nothing else, but the acting of God's special love' and favor towards us ; and the word grace, in Scrip ture, is very seldom taken in any other sense but for relative grace, - the acting of God's love and favor determined to us. Subjective or real grace is that, whereby a change is wrought upon our natures, in our first regeneration ; and whereby iJ; is car ried on gradually to perfection, in our further sanctification. Universal habits of holiness are infused in our conversion by God; which, in Scripture, are called the new man and the new- creature: we usually call them the principle of grace, and the working of grace. Those specifical habits, which are as so many branches of this universal habit, are, as I may so speak, the several limbs and members of the new man : and are commonly called tbe graces ofthe Spirit, as the grace of faith, love, and hope; and like wise the Spirit's acting of these graces, is called the acting of grace. ' Of these two kinds, the former is properly called grace : the latter, improperly ; because, wherever it -is wrought, it denotes the special favor and grace of God towards that soul. Now both relative and real grace have an all-sufficiency in them, and are of an all-sufficing nature. (1) A Christian's portion in relative grace is an all-sufficing and satisfactory portion. TO SAVE 'AND INTEECED'E FOR SINNEES. 395 It is SO great, that you can desire no more : for this grace admits of no degrees ; and he, that hath any of it, hath as imuch as any can have. Here, therefore, the weakest Christian may have abund ance of comfort : others, possibly, may have greater measures of gifts and parts, and of the sanctifying graces of the Holy Ghost; but, in relative grace, all stand upon the same level. ' Adoption, justification, reconciliation, mystical union, all the privileges which Christ hath purchased for believers, are all common ; and no more belong to the strongest, than to the weakest and most feeble Chris tian. An infant may be as much a son and heir, as a grown man. Others may, possibly, have greater -measures of the Spirit of adop tion, whereby they cry "Abba, Father ;" but none can have a greater measure-of the grace of adoption, nor is God more a Father to one than he is to another, no more to the strongest than ]to the weakest Christian : others may have a greater familiarity and acquaintanpe with God, but none can be more reconciled to God than thou art, if a true believer : others may have a more comfortable sense of this adoption, yet none can be more adopted and more justified than thou art. We do not usually beg of God further measures and further degrees of these things ; but, if we stand under these relations to God, and have, but the evidence of it in our own con sciences, then we rest fully satisfied : therefore what Philip said to Christ, " Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," may every true Christian say, " Lord, show me my Father, show me, that God is my Father, that I am adopted into the number , of his children, and this sufficeth : I 'have no more to ask, no more to receive, in that particular." (2) As the Christian's portion in relative grace is satisfactory ; so, likewise, is his portion in the sanctifying graces of the Holy Spirit an all-sufficient and satisfactory portion. " How can that be ?" may some say. " Are not Christians always unsatisfied in their present attainments ; and think they have got nothing, if they fall short of absolute perfection ? Either they are not sufficient, or else their desires are most unreasonable." I answer. Though the truth of grace wrought in a Christian makes him always desirous of more than what he hath already ; yet is that grace sufficient and satisfactory, in three respects : [1] The least degree of true grace is sufficient to make the heart upright and sincere ; sufficient to break the reigning power of sin, and to cast Satan out of his throne : it is sufficient to sway the heart to God, as its chiefest good ; and to make his interest in the soul victorious and prevalent over the interest of the world and flesh. This sufficiency the weakest degree of true grace hath. 396 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST And, herein, is Christ's power and ability to save most eminently glorious. Grace is a creature, in its own nature, mortal* and cor ruptible ; and, should Christ, but for a moment, suspend his infiu ence, every temptation, every corruption would easily destroy it : now for Christ to preserve this weak and helpless creature in the midst of so many strong and mighty corruptions that oppose it, argues as all-sufficient a power, as it doth to preserve alive a single spark of fire in the midst of the raging and foaming sea. Now Christ not only preserves this, weak grace alive, but makes it "vic- - torious and triumphant over all tbe powers of hell : they are not able to stand before it : it batters down their strong-holds : it routs armies of lusts and temptations : it alters and changes every faculty of the soul) and reduces them all to obedience ; as if it were Christ's design, not only by his power to save the soul, but to do it in such a way as should most of all shame the devil, baffling and subduing him Ijy such a weak and contemptible thing as grace. And therefore St. Paul, when he prays against that tempta tion which sorely buffeted him, 2 Cor. xii. 9, God answers him, " My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is made perfect in weakness :" as boisterous and as raging as thy temptations are ; yet it shall appear, that thy weak grace, through my strength, shall at length overcome them. [2] "The least degree of true sanctifying grace is sufficient to en title the soul to heaven and glory. Let weak and doubting Christians, therefore, know this for their comfort, that the promise of eternal life is not made to the degrees of their grace, .but to the truth of it ; not to grace as strong, but to grace as true. Now the truth of grace may be in the least and in the weakest degree. That grace, to which our salvation is princi pally ascribed, is our faith : now it is not said, he only, whose faith is so strong as to overcome all temptations and all doubts and to flourish up into assurance, he only shall be saved ; but, whosoever ' believes shall be saved, though his faith be very weak and very wavering. And the reason of this is clear : for faith doth not save us as it is a sanptifying, but as it is a justifying grace ; for, if it saves us as it sancti^es, then must all perish, since the faith of the strongest believer is mixed with so many imperfections, that ren der him worthy of eternal death. Faith therefore saves, as it justi- , fies ; and justifies, as it entitles us to Christ's perfect righteousness : which title "we obtain' by being united to him and made one with him, through tl^is grace of faith. But a weak faith is a most sure and inviolable bond of union to Christ, as well as a strong faith: TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 397 a weak faith, can make a full conveyance of the righteousness arid merits of- Christ to the sdul, as well as a strong faith ; therefore, the weakest faith of the most trembling and timorous Christian doth as firmly entitle him to heaven and glory, as the most strong and undaunted faith of the most assured Christian. Thus, then, though the children of God complain sadly of tbe weakness of their grace : yet, in the very least and meanest degree of grace, there is a twofold sufficiency ; a sufficiency to break the reigning power and dominion of the strongest lust, and a sufficiency to give a firm title to heaven and glory. And what would you have more ? Hath not Christ approved himself an all-sufficient Saviour, in giving and dispensing such grace, that the weakest and lowest condition of believers hath such a great sufficiency as this is ? But this is not all: for [3] The least degree of true grace is a sufficient ground of joy and comfort ; for comfort and satisfaction, for joy and assurance. These overflowing joys, this glorious assurance, believers may abound .with, even then when they most of all complain of the poverty and weakness of their grace. It is not the degree of our graces, that gives us comfort and satisfaction; .but it is the know ledge and e"vidence of the truth of them in our o"wn consciences. The sun may be in a black and dismal eclipse, when many glitter ing and twinkling stars are not : the tallest cedars cast the longest shade : and so, many times, that Christian, that is the tallest and the most eminent in godliness, may be under the blackest and saddest desertions. The measures of comforts are not stinted by the measures of grace ; but the meanest grace is a ground of true and inward joy and satisfaction when the Spirit's witness doth irradiate it to us, as well as the greatesj; degree of grace. Joy and satisfaction flow from grace : both as" it is the possession of that which in itself is very desirable ; and because, more especially, it is the earnest of a future glorious inheritance. And hence it is, that there may be, at once, in the same heart, a complaining for the want of grace, and yet joy unspeakable and full of glory for what we have. As grace in itself is the most desirable good, so a Christian sadly complaineth that he hath no more, but is stinted and kept so short in his allowance : but then, as grace is the earnest of future glory, so it yieldeth joy in the verj possession ; as know ing that a penny is as good an earnest as a pound, and the weakest grace may as firmly assure a Christian of eternal glory as the strongest. Thus I have shown that there is an all-sufficiency and satisfac- 398 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST toriness in the weakest and lowest degree of grace, if it be but sin cere. For, it is sufficient to make the heart upj^ight and sincere : it is sufficient to break the reigning power of sin : it is sufficient to cast Satan out of his -throne ; it is sufficient to sway the heart to God : it is sufficient to entitle the soul to heaven and glory : and, consequently, is always a sufficient ground of true joy and comfort. Z, If an imperfect state of grace be of an an all-sufficing nature, what will itJbe, wken grace skall mount up into glory? If tkere be so much in tke earnest, what wkat udll tkere he in tke inkeritance itself? And this declares the all-sufficiency of Christ indeed, since he is able to instate us in such great and rich posgessions, that "the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither bath it entered into the heart of man" to conceive what they are, as the Apostle speaks. St. Paul^who once enjoyed a translation, and himself gives us a relation of his voyage into the other world, tells us no more than this, that he was caught up into paradise, and that he heard words unutterable, that it was not lawful or possible for him to utter ; 2 Cor. xii. 4-11 : the happiness of heaven is so great, that it cannot be fully kno"wn, till it be fully enjoyed : it is a remaining rest, an inaccessible light, fresh and overflowing pleasures, an incorruptible crown, an eternal kingdom, too much for me to utter or you to conceive. Neverthe less, if the sight and full fruition of God, if the society of angels and the spirits of just men made' perfect, if everlasting songs of praises and hallelujahs, if eternal raptures and ecstacies can be accounted a supporting and an all-sufficing good, all these serve to extol the all-sufficiency of Christ our Saviour, who can bestow upon. us this ravishing, satisfying joy and glory. God ig now to us the spring-head and fountain of all our mercies and comforts ; and we lie below at the fall of this spring, and draw refreshments from him .only through the conduit pipes of providences and ordinances, and live upon second-hand enjoyments ; but, in heaven, we shall be laid, close to the fountain itself, and drink in divine communica tions as they flow immediately from God, without ha-ving them deadened and flattened in the conveyance. Now we behold him through a glass darkly : then, we shall see him face to face, sec bim as he is, and know him as we are known by him. And, if it causeth now such raptures of joy in us, when he sometimes darts in half a glance of bis eye upon the soul, 0 then, within what bounds can our joy contain itself, when we shall constantly fix our eye upon God, and steadfastly behold his face ; tbat face, from which the most glorious angels, as conscious of their own unworthiness to behold it, cover and vail their own 1 If now, when God gives TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOE SINNEES. 399 US some glorious discoveries of himself, we,are ready to faint and melt down under them, certainly, in heaven,_when we shall lie under the glorious rays of the Deity beating fully upon us, they will be so great, that there were no living there did not the same God strengthen as well as fill our capacities. This is that beatific "vision, that, heaven of heaven, that glory wherein' the angels are satisfied ; that sight, wherein God shall bestow upon us a clearer eye than that of faith, and be always present with us in a nearer way than that "of comfort. This is that all-sufficient and all-satisfying state, unto which the Lord Jesus Christ can and will bring all his : a state of inconceivable and endless felicity, far surmounting in glory what ever our narrow conceptions can now apprehend : a state, wherein we shall forever join with angels in singing praises to the Lamb, who hath redeemed us with his own blood, and manifested himself to be an all-sufficient Saviour, " able to Save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him ;" purchasing so great and glorious an inheritance for them, and bringing them to the possession of it. That is the second demonstration. iii. Christ's all-sufficiency to save doth appear in' this, that he is able to save feom thb geeatest miseby, and to supply the geeatest wants. 1. There is but one estate of misery, out of which Christ cannot save : and that is a state of damnation. And yet the damned spirits are not finally irrecoverable, for want of intrinsical value and satis- factoriness in Christ to deliver them; but because Christ never intended to purchase salvation for them : had his sacrifice been in tended for them as it was for us, and the means applied to them as well as to us, those chains of everlasting darkness, which they are now reserved in, would have dropped off; and they would have been snatched as brands out of the fire, in which, for want of this, they must burn forever. Suppose what estate you -will short of hell, we are by Christ recoverable out of it. I shall instance in two particulars, wherein the very depth and bottom of our misery doth consist. We are, by our sins, forfeited to the justice and vengeance of God : and he, that can imagine a greater misery than this, never knew what it was to Ml into tbe hands of the living God. We are in the possession of the devil : and he is that strong man, that rules with rigor-; and, unto him, we are all naturally be come slaves and vassals. ' Now when we are thus liable and obnoxious to the wrath of 400 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST God as our judge, and fallen into 'the hands of the devil as our jailor, will it not be acknowledged, that Christ saves from the utter most misery, if he can rescue us ? Is there any, that can deliver us, when both God and the devil and all the powers both of heaven and bell set themselves against us ? Yes, the Lord Christ hath done it already. (1) In respect of God, and of Divine justice to which we stood obnoxious, he hath fully satisfied and paid down an, all-sufficient price for our deliverance. Therefore saith the apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; " Ye are bought with a price, &c." 1 Pet i. 19 ; " The precious blood of Christ." And this is such a price, as hath discharged for us the very utmost farthing of all that we owe to divine justice. And therefore saith God, in Job xxxiii. 24, " Deliver him from going down to tbe pit : I have found a ransom :" I bave discharged him from the guilt of his sins, and obligation to punishment : I am fully satisfied. (2) But, though the judge be thus satisfied, yet the devil, the jailor, would fain retain the prisoner, and is resolved not to part with him upon these terms : he hath' possession of bim, and he rules in him and over him, and therefore rescue him who can. There fore Christ saves us by conquest and plain force, in respect of tbe devil. After be bath satisfied God, he subdues Satan, and com pletes the work of our redemption. And, therefore, in Scripture, we read of the sufferings of Christ, by which our salvation is achieved, under both these notions. As Christ paid the price to God's justice : Mat. xx. 28 ; He gave " his life a ransom for many." 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; He "gave himself a ran som for all, to be testified in due time." And as a'victory gained over the devil : " Through death," Christ destroyed " him that had the power of death, that is, the devil :" Heb. ii. 14. Col. ii. 14, 15 ; " Blotting out the hand- writing of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." He hath exposed the devil and all the black host of hell to shame and in famy, in having their prey so strangely plucked from them : and be "triumphed over them in" his cross ; v. 15. And thus he saves us, by ransom in respect of God, and by con- , quest' in respect of the devil : he saves us from the greatest misery imaginable, from the dungeon of the lowest hell. So long as your case is not so desperate as to be in hell, be your misery more or less, this makes no difference in respect of Christ, though it calls TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOE SINNEES. 401 for greater love and thankfulness from you to him for your deliverance. Seeing, therefore, that Christ is thus able to save us from the utmost and greatest misery, it appears that he is an all-sufficient Saviour. 2. As he is able to save us from the greatest misery, so he is able to relieve us in our greatest and most pressing wants, be they inward or outward, be they corporal or spiritual. " My God " can abundantly " supply all your need, according to the riches of" his " glory by Christ Jesus :" Phil. iv. 19. Is it pardon you need? in Christ "we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ;" Eph. i. 7. Is.it peace with God? we have it with him, through Christ : Eom. v. 1 ; " We have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Is it peace of conscience ? " The peace of God, whigh passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus :" Phil. iv. 7. Indeed Christ is stich an over flowing fountain of all good, that he fills the empty and satisfies the thirsty : and all that rely upon him, " He is able to save them to the uttermost," yea, all "that come unto God by bim." iv. Another demonstration of Christ's all-sufficiency to save appears in this, in that he is able to save, when none else CAN. - ' He appears to save those, that come to God by him, when neither men nor angels stand up in their behalf ; and, if they did, they could not relieve nor help them : then Christ interposeth. And, as Christ alone procures salvation for us, so he alone can apply that salvation to us. And this he doth, more especially, at two seasons ; when all others are but miserable helpers or com forters to us. As, 1. Wken tke dreadful terrors of ike Almigkty surrcnind us. When God brandishes his sword over our heads ; when he makes deep wounds, %nd, instead of balm, pours into our consciences fire and brimstone ; 0, what Saviour can then deliver us ? then, when those insolent hopes and vain confidences of salvation, with which we formerly supported ourselves, forsake us ? tfcen, when our own right5busness,~^in which we formerly trusted, is as filthy garments ; or, like a searcloth, increaseth our torments ? then, when all the pleasures and debaucheries of the world, that men have formerly delighted in, are only to them as if a person stung with wasps should apply honey to assuage the smart ? So, truly, when their Vol. II.— .26 402 the all-sufficiency of cheist waspish consciences stung them -with the guilt of sin, they stuck to the honey, to the sweet delights and pleasures of the world : but, now, this honey is turned into gall and wormwood : God and they are enemies : he hath dipped his arrows in the lake which bums forever, and hath shot them all flaming into their souls ; so that they are all of them but one wound : and what relief is there for them? "A wounded spirit who can, bear?" Yet Christ bare it upon the eross, when he cried, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And be, that cured himself, can also cure another. His blood, poured into these wounds, i^ a present remedy, and gives present ease and relief. And, therefore, as he designs to make peace between God and us, so likewise between -man and himself; gi-ving him that peace of conscience, which quiets and appeases : Isa. Ixi. 1. It is no less work to reconcile man and conscience together upon good and warrantable grounds, than to reconcile God and man to gether : and it is only Christ's all-sufficiency, that can do either. 2. Another reason is, wken we shall appear iefore tke tribunal of God, at tke last and terrible day. What a dreadful sight will it be, to b'ehold' and see heaven and earth all wallowing in flames ; and angels flying through the air, and driving whole shoals of men before them to judgment ; the Judge being set, the books opened ; God, conscience, and the devil accusing ; and all the world crying out, " Guilty, guilty ;" and tbe seiitence passing on them accordingly, and millions of them being dragged to execution from the bar where they were condemned ! You cannot then cry to your honors and dignities to save you ; for you must all stand upon the same equal level. It is not your righteousness, that can then save you : no ; the defects of it shall then be found part of your charge. What then is there to save you? your guilt is manifest; your judge impartial: and, if once sentence is passed, the execution is speedy. And, certainly, now it is time for an all-sufficient Saviour to appear, when the whole world is burning about them, and hell under them : God frowning in tbeir very faces, and the devil attending them at their backs ready to hurry them away to torments. And now, when there is no pity to be expected from angels or men, then Christ appears to be an Advocate, to answer for his, and to silence all the accusations pro duced against them : and, by his satisfaction and perfect righteous ness, he brings them off with shouts, and tbe applause of glorious angels and saints. And thus it appears he is able to save them, when none else can. TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOB SINNEES. , 403 ^ V. Christ is able to save to the uttermost, in that he is able to SAVE THOSE, THAT CONDEMN THEMSELVES, AND THINK THEIB OWN SALVATION A THING IMPOSSIBLE. (^ There is a twofold judging and condemning of one's-self : one, in point of merit and desert ; the other,, in point of issue and event : the one judgeth himself, -as one now deser-ving condemnation ; the other, that he must suffer it: the one, as due; the other, as un avoidable. Now Christ saves from both these ; and that gloriously. 1. He saves those, tkat judge ikemselves wortky of eternal deatk. Yea, indeed, he saves no other :. 1 Cor. xi. 31 : " If we... judge ourselves, we shall not be judged." And why is this self-judging so necessary, in order to our being acquitted by God ; but only be cause it is Christ's design in saving sinners, to glorify his exceeding great and all-sufficient power? and, therefore, we must acknowl edge ourselves to be lost in ourselves, that so God's power may be owned to be exceeding great and glorious in saving us. 2. Christ can save those, who do not only Judge themselves worthy of eternal death, but those wko judge ikemselves appointed io li He can save those, who think it impossible that they should be saved. And, unquestionably, there is now many a soul in heaven, who on earth cried out, there was no hope, no mercy for them ; tbat hell and wrath were their only portion. And this shows what an all-sufficient Sa-viour Christ is, who can save beyond our hopes, and contrary to our expectations. And thus I have arrived at the end of the demonstrations of Christ's all-sufficiency, to save from the greatest misery, and to re lieve us in our greatest and most pressing wants. He is able to save us, when none else can ; and he is able to save those, that con demn themselves, and think their own salvation a thing impossi ble : he is able, both to save those, that think themselves worthy of eternal death ; and those, that think themselves appointed to it. III. Having thus displayed, though weakly, the all-sufficiency of Christ to save, we will proceed to close up the subject, with some brief APPLICATION of this doctrine. « . Use i. This should teach us, TO have most high and honobable THOUGHTS OF THE LOED JESUS ChEIST, WHO IS THUS ALL-SUFFI CIENT TO SAVE. \ 404 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHEIST Omnipotence, though it should destroy us, were justly the ob ject of our dread and reverence ; but omnipotence to save, deserves owmost affectionate esteem. It should raise wonder in us, when we consider God's power and goodness in the works of creation ; but, when we contemplate the work of redemption, it should raise our wonder to an ecstacy. Christ's almighty power was not so glo rious, then, when he spake the world out of nothing ; then, when he lighted up the sun in the firmament, and kindled the stars as so many shining torches that dart forth light upon the world and ex tend their influences to the whole universe ; as when he appeared in flesh, despised and of no account, in the form of a servant, to accomplish the wonderful work of our redemption. What he did in the former, was by the association and joint- workmanship of the other persons of the Blessed Trinity ; but, in this, the whole work lay upon him : he trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath alone. In the former, though he showed his power to be great, yet he did not put it forth to the uttermost : he could have created more worlds, and he might have made more of each sort of crea tures, 9,nd these far more beautiful and glorious than they are; but, in the work of redemption, Christ's infinite power is extended to the uttermost : his person was infinite, and his sufferings were infinite ; one proportionable to the other. His omnipotence as our Eedeemer is far more glorious, than his omnipotence as our Creator. Christ first gives the honor of his all -sufficiency to this end, that, for his undertaking so great an employment as the accomplishment of the work of our redemption, we might honor him in his own person, as we honor the Father in his : John v. 23. Certainly, there is good reason why we should ascribe honor to him, from whom we receive salvation. Use ii. Is Christ an All-sufficient Saviour ? Why do we THEN bely UPON THAT, WHICH IS ALTOGETHEE INSUFFICIENT? What the Prophet said, in another case, 2 Kings i, 6, 7, " Is it because there is no God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron ?" the same may I say : Is it be* cause there is none deputed to be a Saviour, because there is none appointed, none able to save, that men betake themselves to false refuges? to broken reeds, that are so far from supporting, that certainly they will both betray and wound them? It is a strange folly, of which most men are guilty, that, when G;od hath provided TO SAVE AND INTEECEDB FOR SINNERS. 405 them a Saviour to their bands, one that is able to save to the utter most, yet, with a great deal of toil and labor, they seek to set up other saviors of their own : as if it were just reason to distrust the mercy of God, because they have deserved his wrath. There is not one here, who has not hopes of heaven and a blessed eter nity : and something we all rely upon, as sufficient to heart us up in it. If I should ' go first to one, and then to another, and put the question, "Do you hope to be saved?" where sits the person, that will not show his strong hopes ; and almost disdain that such a question should be asked him ? " Yes," would every one say : "we have all good hopes ; and, though the most perish and few are saved, yet we bave all hopes that we are of the number of those few." Were but the grounds and reasons of men's hopes made visible, we should find, that that," upon which they most support themselves, is no better than that mentioned in the book of Job, to say of gold. Thou art my hope;' and of "the fine gold, thou art my confidence ;" Job xxxi. 24. 1. Some trust p-resumptuously -to the mercy of God to he saved. And this is the plea of many ignorant persons : here, it may be, it is a secret to those who can pretend more knowledge in ^;he mys teries of salvation^ that God is merciful and gracious, and that the world is but scared out of their wits, when we represent God in such furious shapes as if he were all vengeance ! his mercy is in finite ; and who would not hope ? It is true : but his justice and severity are as infinite as his mercy : why then dost thou not fear ? Must God remit the attribute of his mercy, if he doth not save thee ? Why thou thyself judgest he is infinite in mercy, though he hath condemned thousands of others. "-But we will never be lieve, that that God, which made us, will destroy us." If this be all, know that the devils have as good a plea as this : were not they the workmanship of God ? were not they more glorious creatures than thou art ? and he, that " spared not the angels" which fell, will least of all spare thee : doth not the Prophet direct us against this plea, Isa. xxvii. 11? "It is a people of no understanding: there fore, he, that made them, will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor." Quest. " But how can it consist with the goodness of God to punish momentary sins? Those, that are but as a flash, and gone in the' twinkling of an eye, how can he punish them With ever lasting destruction ?" Ans. It is true, the act of sin is momentary and tran-sient ; but yet there is something in sin, that is permanent and eternal : and 406 THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST that ariseth from the guilt of it. God doth not punish for the ac< of sin, that is past and gone ; but for the guilt of it, that remains : the black guilt of that sin, which was committed a hundred years ago, remains still upon the souls of tbe damned ; and therefore God justly punisheth them and will do so eternally, because all theii eternity of sufferings can never satisfy the offended justice of the Divine majesty. These hopes, therefore, are all vain. 2. Some tru?t to tkeir own righteousness: and set up tbeir o"wii good works and duties for their all-sufficient Sa"viour. There is nothing harder than to persuade men to look beyond themselves for life. As they have iDcen their o-wn destroyers, so they would fain be their own saviors : and yet what is this, but a delusory sottishness ? and those are har dii est beaten off from rely ing upon their own righteousness, who have the fewest good works. But this is a weak ground of hope, upon which men venture their souls for eternal happiness. It is observable, that the hope of a hypocrite is compared to a spider's web : Job -viii. 14 : spiders' webs, you know, are spun out of their • Own bowels : when the spider hath made its web with much pains, and set itself in the midst of it, it is but a weak and defenceless thing, easy to be swept away : so is it with these vain hopes of sinners ; they are spun out of their own bowels, out of their good works and righteousness, and, when they set up themsplves in the midst of them, expecting to catch heaven in their web, they will find it but a weak and indefensible thing : for conviction of sin will break this web ; if not, death and judgment will, and then the sinner will unexpectedly drop into hell. Now from the consideration of all this, it greatly concerns us not to trust to or rely upon our o"wn, but Christ's righteousness, lest we fall into condemnation. Christ hath done two things for us as our Saviour : He hath made a full satisfaction and expiation for the guilt of our sins. He bath procured acceptance of dur persons and performances "with God. Now if we trust to our o"wn righteousness for either of these, we make that our Saviour, and not Christ. Examine yourselves now ; and search what it is, that you pro pound to yourselves when you perform duties to"wards God. Do none of you perform duties to this end, that thereby you may be freed from the guilt of sin, and pay down a price for your former transgressions ? When you commit sin, many times, do not you think you will make amends to God by the next prayer and con- TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOR SINNERS. 407 fession, and bemoaning of yourselves for it ? That, upon which men rely to satisfy their consciences, they rely upon to satisfy divine justice. Now when conscience grows vexed and angry, what are the methods that men use to quiet it ? If they can but reckon up the number of their good works and duties, they value them, in stead of the blood of Christ. Do none of ypu rely upon your own righteousness and good works, to procure acceptance with God ? For mark, upon what account men hope their duties shall be accepted, upon the same they hope themselves shall be accepted. Put it to the trial : do not you hope that your duties shall be accepted for their own sake ? True it is, you pray that Gbd would bear and answer you for Christ's sake: but yet the generality of men rest upon the excellence of their prayer to make them acceptable ; for consider, have you not different hopes of the acceptance of your duties, upon your different performance of them ? If your hearts are sometimes drawn out in prayer and mightily enlarged, do not you rise up and say with full confidence, that your prayers are accepted with God as a. sweet savor ? but, at other times, when your hearts are more dead and flat, and your prayers hang heavy upon your lips, when you can but groan and chatter, then you conclude you are afraid that God doth not regard that prayer nor accept it. This is an e"vi- dence, that you measure the acceptance of your duties, by the worth and excellence of them : the one is dull and sluggish, and that you give over as lost and vain ; the other "vigorous and sprightly, and you doubt not but that pierceth heaven, and obtaineth audience with God : never thinking of the intercession of Christ, which alone can make them acceptable. .If this be the end which men make of performing their duties, to make them their .Christs, and rely upon them for salvation ; though it be a means to it, yet it is in sufficient of itself to obtain it. Use iii. Is Christ an all-sufficient Sa"viour, able to save to the uttermost ? Let us then be peesuaded to comb to him, to accept him for CUE Savioue. Were I now to press you to some hard and difficult duty, to the exercise of self-denial and mortification, to be' willing to lay down your lives for Christ, I might rationally suspect that these exhorta tions should be rejected ; unless they came with great powef, strong arguments, and prevalent motives : but, when it is only to accept of that Christ who hath laid down his life for you, and of 408 THE all-sufficiency of CHRIST that salvation which he hath laid up for you and tenders to you ; certainly, such an exhortation as this carries argument and motive enough in itself to prevail. But, because men are wedded to their own sins, and because they are resolved against their own happi ness, I shall lay down some considerations, which, if they do not persuade them to close with Christ, may at least convince them how unreasonably they put aWay salvation from themselves. And here, 1. Consider, that you all stand, in most absolute need of an all- sufficient Saviour, You are lost, beyond all the power and skill of men and angels - to recover you ; and God protests that he will save you no other way but by Christ : Acts iv. 12 ; "Neither is there salvation in any other : fot there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." There is no choice for you, but either Christ, ov eternal damnation ; either the Son of God, or the wrath of God. You are all under guilt, and there is no other way of satisfaction to divine justice, but either his blood or yours. You now bear these things ; and, possibly, slight them : but that day and hour are coming, and will not tarry, when death shall snatch you away to judgment ; and when you shall lift up those hands at the great bar, with which you .thrust away salvation from you. That Christ, whom you have scorned and contemned, as a merciful Saviour; you will tben tremble at, as a most severe and just Judge. 2. Consider, If you now come unto Christ, ke is willing and ready to receive you. He himself tells you so : John vi. 37 ; " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Indeed, all-sufficiency to save, with out willingness, serves only to increase the anguish of our ruin and destruction But this may be for our comfort, that Christ hath no more {)OWer in his hand to save us, than willingness in his heart. It is not indeed Christ's power, that despairing souls use to object against, but his will. "We know," say such, "that Christ is able to save us : but how know we that he is willing ?" Truly, his all- sufficiency gives us good security .of his will. Hath Christ left the bosom of his Father, hath he undergone no less than infinite wrath and sufferings, and all for this end, that he may be an all-sufficient Savi-our ? and shall we yet doubt, after all this, whether he is will ing to save us or not ? Certainly, if it stood Christ in so much to procure to himself ability to save, we bave no reason to doubt, that, since he hath obtained that ability, he should now want a will to do it. Therefore, since Christ was appointed by the Father to -TO SAVE AND INTERCEDE FOR SINNEES. 409 save sinners, and since he was fitted -with an all-sufficient power tc effect salvation, and since this all-sufficiency wants not willingness^ be persuaded to accept him ;. and be as willing to be saved by him, as he is willing to save you. 3. Consider, that tkougk Ckrist be an all-sufficient Saviour, andahh to save to tke uttermost ; yet ke is not abh to save tkem, tkat refuse and reject kim. A medicine doth not cure, b'^cause it is compounded of such and such ingredients, though never so well suited to that distemper ; but "because it is applied : so - neither doth Christ save us, as he is compounded of many precious ingredients that qualify and fit him to be an all-sufficient Sa-viour, as his deity, humanity, unction of the Holy Spirit, and his o-wn willingness ; but as received, as believed on, and applied to the soul by faith : and, therefore, what ever he hath done or suffered in his life, death, or resurrection, will all be but in vain to us ; and his precious blood -will run waste, if, through impenitence and unbelief, we reject this all-sufficient Saviour, and keep at a distance from him. 4. Consider, If you do not accept Ckrist and salvation hy kim, you mil he rejected hy kim to ytiur greater and sorer condemnation. Think you not, that it -will heighten your sin here, and your misery hereafter ; that, when God hath been at so much cost and so much care to furnish an all-sufficient Saviour for you, you •should be ^ound to neglect so great salvation? Think not, that the tenders of Christ and salvation,»which are made to you, are in different ; that, though you slight and neglect them, you shall be in the same condition you were before : no ; but the despising of Christ, and the abusing of grace, and the neglecting of so great sal vation, are those things, that inspirit and inflame hell -fire, and make the never-dying worm to gnaw more cruelly, and will sink you deeper into that scalding lake that burns with fire and brimstone where you shall be burnt in streams and drowned in flames. It had been better for you, that there never had been a Christ ten dered, grace exhibited, and salvation purchased for you by Christ. If we neglect this salvation, we are without hope or possibility of recovery forever. Pray observe what the Apostle speaks, after he had been comparing Christ and Moses, together with the wrath that should follow upon the despising of the one and the despising of the other : Heb. x. 28, 29 ; " He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy, under two or three witnesses: of bow much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God ; and hath counted the blood 410 THE all-sufficiency of CHRIST. of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing ; and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace ?" These shall not have so much mercy afforded them, as to die without mercy. And, thus, I have handled this excellent portion of Scripture, concerning Christ's intercession, and his all-sufficiency to save all that come unto God by him. . THE EXCELLENCE OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, wkere neither moik nor rust doth corrupt, and wkere thieves do not break ti.rougk nor steal: for wkere your treasure is, there will your keart be aho. Mat. vi. 20, 21, 22. INTRODUCTION. There is not a soul in the world so destitute and beggarly, but it hath somewhat that it may call, and doth esteem, its treasure. Not only he, that bath, as the Psalmist speaks, all that his heart can "wish, who 'grasps in possession whatever his covetousness and unbounded desires grasp in imagination; but he also, that pos- sesseth nothing but his own poverty, that hath no abundance but want and misery, such a one whom you would never suspect to be a hoarder, yet hath he tbat, the hopes and enjoyment of which be counts precious and his soul's treasure. In dangerous and difficult times, what is the first and chief care of every man, but so to dispose of this his treasure, that, whatever losses he may sustain in other accessory good things, that are but lumber and utensils to the soul, yet his treasure may be secured both from corruption and violence ? Our Saviour here throws open before our "view two repositories, or common treasuries : vast ones, they are ; wherein all the good things, that ever any man in the world enjoyed, are laid up : and they are earth and heaven. If you have any treasure, as certainly every one of you has, it must belong to one of these tWo places : you must deposit it either on earth or in bea-^en. " Look now," says \ Christ : "take a view of earth's exchequer ; and what see you there ? There, indeed, is the world's treasure : all, that many mil lions of men have been gathering together, and hoarding up fPr several ages." If you would have an inventory of all this store, St. John hath exactly cast it up, in 1 John ii. 16, and it amounts to this sum : " All, that is in the world," saith he, is " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life :" that is, there are pleasures, suiting the propensity of the flesh : there are riches, for the greediness of "the eye;" for, "What," saith the Wise man, "is laid up for the owners thereof, save the beholding of them with their eyes ?" And there are honor and dignity ; there is that planetary, airy, good thing, which puffs up ; viz., " the pride of life :" and this is 411 412 THE EXCELLENCE OF the world's all ; and that, which many thousands make their trea sure. ' Yea : but,' saith Christ, ' do not you see how rusty and worm eaten these things are? do you not see what a bustle there is among the jnen of the world to get them ? one pulls and hauls them from another, and. they are never certain in any man's pos session : " moth and rust corrupt" them, " and thieves break through and steal ;" and, therefore, '-' lay not up" your treasure here : thdre is another treasury for you to store up your good things in, and that is heaven ; a sure and safe place, where no corruption doth * infect, nor any -violence intrude : therefore, lay up your treasure there : lay up your treasure in heaven.' . And thus you have the scope of our Saviour in these words. In the words themselves, you have, A command or exhortatipn; and that is, to lay up treasure in heaven. You have the enforcement of this command. And that is from a double reason : First. From the security of that treasure, that is laid up in .heaven. It is there safe and free from all danger ; which it could not be, were it any where else deposited. All hurt and danger, that can befall a man's treasure, proceeds either, First. From inward principles of corruption, that do of them selves cause decay in it. And thus it is with all earthly treasures. They are, of thrai- selves, fading and perishing. Eiches perish with the using : they rot out and wear away, while we are using them. All earthly manna, the sweet and luscious things of this world, breed worms, that eat upon and devour them. All the riches and treasures of the world have rust, that attends on them, and consumes both them and their beauty and substance. But spiritual manna never turns into worms : treasure, laid up in "heaven, is never eaten with rust. No, saith Christ, there rust doth not corrupt : that is, they are free and safe from all inward decays and perishing, from their own in ward principle and nature. And, Secondly. Treasure may be unsafe, as from an inward principle that may corrupt, so also from outward accidents, that may consume them. And thus we see oftentimes it comes to pass. Sometimes,.. First. Insensibly, through a secret blasting curse of God, wasting them by little and little, and unperceived decays ; so that, while we hold them in our hands and look upon them, then they perish. HEAVENLY TREASURES. 413 • And this is here compared to the eating of a moth. A moth makes not a sudden rent in a garment, but spoils it by unseen degrees : so fares it oftentimes with the things of this world : if they be not torn and rent from us, yet are they moth-eaten comforts : the moth is got into them, and destroys them imperceptibly. And, some times. Secondly. By sudden violence ; compared here to thieves break ing through and stealing away good things ahd treasure. An un expected turn of providence doth, at once, many times snatch away all that men here prize and set their hearts on : and then, where is their treasure ? In Hos. v. we find God threatening, both these ways, to destroy Ephraim. In v. 12 ; "I will be unto Ephraim," saith God, " as a moth ; and to the house of Judah as rottenness :" that is, the Lord would consume them silently and imperceptibly, as a moth eats out in the spots of a garment. And v. 14 ; "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah :" and " I,, even I, will tear and go away : I -will take away, and none shall rescue ;" that is, I will destroy him by a violent and sudden destruction. But, treasures laid up in heaven are secured, both from insensible decays, and also from sudden violence; secured, both from the corruption of the moth, and from the stealing of the thief It is rich and sure treasure, that is laid up there. And now is the time of your laying up : some few years hence, and it cannot be long first, but you shall have these treasures opened to you, and you let in, to see how rich you are. And you will find them augmented above what you could believe : there is not the least of all that you have laid up lost or diminished. And then you will wonder and question with yourselves, who laid up this and that part of your treasure : you Will then ask, " Is this glory mine, and that glory mine? this throne and that brightness, this diamond and those stars, this robe and that sunbeam, all this precious and incon ceivable treasure, are they mine ? I cannot remember that ever I laid up so much and such precious treasure : my faith son^times pried through a crevice into this treasure, and it told me thS there were great and glorious things stored up, and it told me also that they did belong to me ; but, 0 my dim-sighted grace, that could not discover to me the one half of that glory, wherein I am now lost and swallowed up !" Thus a Christian will then wonder how he came by so much treasure, when he comes to the possession and enjoyment of it. There is a saying recorded in Plutarch, of a rich Roman, Crassus, that he did not think that man rich, that knew all 414 ' THE EXCELLENCE OF that he had : truly, in this man's account, a Christian is truly rich ; he hath laid up more treasure, than himself knows of But, though a Christian knows not how much he hath, yet he shall lose none : it is safe, being laid up in heaven : every star is as a seal set upon the treasure-door, that none may break in and violate it. And that is iJhe first argument : Lay up treasure in heaven, be cause there only it is safe : there, only, the moth doth not corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal. Secondly. And then, secondly, another enforcing reason you find in the next verse ; and that is, because, by laying up treasure in heaven, you lay up your hearts also in heaven : " for where your treasure is," says Christ, "there will your hearts be also;" and where your hearts are, there are you. What an argument is this, 0 Christians I Would you yourselves be laid up safely in heaven, before you come to be laid down in your graves? would you pre-occupy your o"vm immortality and glory ? would you send all your thoughts and all your desires, as spies into the land of promise, to discover the riches and beauty of it ? Then lay up your treasure there : this will center all your thoughts, this will fix all your affections on itself; and, though now you are on earth and walk on earth, yet this "will make your con versation to be in heaven, if your treasure be there. It is impossi ble that you and your treasure 'should be at a distance. If your treasure be oh earth, your minds will be there also: you "vrill grovel here below : the serpent's curse will be upon you ; " Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days ot thy life." But, if your treasure be laid up in heaven, it will attract and draw up your hearts unto it ; and make them heavenly hearts, as itself is a heavenly treasure. Now all this is backed -with another consideration, in tbe begin ning of the words ; and that is, " Lay up for yourselves treasures In heaven." You may indeed lay up treasure on earth, but it is a hazard whether it be for yourselves. Here men sweat and toil to ' get estates, and heap up treasures ; -but they know not who shall enjoyUnd possess them : they labor all their days to purchase a few uncertain riches; while, usually, by the time they purpose to reap the fruit of them, death comes and snatches away their souls ; and the greatest use they can make of them is, only to bequeath them unto others. He ' only, that " is rich towards God, layeth up trea sure for himself;" and lays up those riches, to dispose of which he needs no legacy. A Christian is his own heir ; and, what himself hath gotten, he himself shall eternally enjoy and possess. heavenly teeasuees. 415 And thus you have the parts of the text : "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." There is nothing in the words, that needs much explication : I shall, therefore, only in brief inquire into two things. What is here meant by treasure ? What is meai^t by laying up this treasure in heaven. First. What is here meant by treasure ? I answer : It is a metaphorical expression ; and denotes to us that, upon which we set the highest rate and value ; that, the get ting of which we most endeavor, the enjoyment of which we most prize, the loss of which we most bemoan. In a word, that, which we account our greatest and best good, is our treasure, be it what it will. Secondly. The next inquiry is, what is meant by laying up this treasure in heaven. I answer : It is nothing else, but to esteem heaven and the things of heaven, thus to be our treasure ; to rate and value them above all things else, and to look upon them as our chiefest good, and accordingly to seek and labor after them. I I might now propound many observations to you, as indeed every word of this precious Scripture is pregnant "with them : but I shall only mention one ; intending only to insist upon that : and it is this : Doct. "fhat HEAVENLY AND'SPIEITUAL THINGS ABE, AND OUGHT TO BE, OF THB GEEATEST VALUE "WITH EVEBY TEUE ChEISTIAN. Or thus : A TEUE ChEISTIAN DOTH ESTEEM, AND HE OUGHT TO ESTEEM, HEAVENLY, THINGS ABOVE ALL THINGS. What are these heavenly things, but God and, Christ, grace and glory, spiritual and eternal concernments?- These are the choice things of a Christiah : whatever else he may possess, yet &ese are his treasure. See how Abraham stings Dives "with a sad item