Copyright ©Monergism Books

The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures

by Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Epistle Dedicatory

To the Reader

What are the special remedies, means or helps against cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life?

What is that faith, which gives a man a saving interest in Christ, and in all those blessed benefits and favors which come by Christ?

Questions concerning the great day of the Lord, and the day of judgment.

Christ, bearing and enduring all these punishments for the elect.

Christ's spiritual sufferings.

Hell is a place of endless, easeless, and remediless torment.

The Divinity and Humanity of Christ

Applications and inferences

The justification of a sinner in the sight of God

Nine choice consolations of justification

Christ our representative and surety

Introduction

Serious and Weighty Questions Clearly and Satisfactorily Answered.

Several great points, which refer to the saints' present blessedness, and their future happiness, with the resolution of several important questions.

Here you have also the active and passive obedience of Christ vindicated and improved, against men of corrupt minds, etc. Who boldly, in pulpit and press, contend against those glorious truths of the Gospel.

You have farther eleven serious singular pleas, that all sincere Christians may safely and groundedly make, to those ten Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, which speak of the general Judgment, and of that particular Judgment, that must certainly pass upon them all immediately after death.

The Godhead and Manhood of Christ, is here largely proved, and improved against all gainsayers, by whatever names and titles they are distinguished and known among us. Several things concerning Hell, and hellish torments, opened, cleared and improved against all Atheists, and all others who boldly assert, that there is no Hell—but what is in us. Some other points of importance are here cleared and opened, which other authors have passed over them in great silence, all tending to the confirmation of the strong, and support, peace, comfort, settlement and satisfaction of poor, weak, doubting, trembling, staggering Christians.

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY

To his much honored and worthily esteemed friend, Sir Nathaniel Herne, Knight, Sheriff of London, and Governor of the East India Company.

Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you and yours.

Sir,

Much might be said, were it necessary, for the dedication of books unto people of worth, interest, service, and honor, this having been the constant practice of the best and wisest of men in all the ages of the world; and therefore I need not make any farther apology for my present practice.

What is written is permanent, and spreads itself farther by far, for time, place, and people—than the voice can reach. Augustine, writing to Volusian, says, "That which is written is always at hand to be read when the reader is at leisure." There are those who think—and, as they conceive, from Scripture grounds too—that the glory of the saints in heaven receives additions and increases daily, as their holy walk and faithful service when here on earth does, after they are gone, bring forth fruit to the praise of God among those who are left behind them. If this be so, what greater encouragement can there be to write, print, preach, and to walk holily in this world?

I must also confess that that general acceptance that my former labors have found, both in England and in foreign parts, that singular blessing that has attended them from on High. This has been a great encouragement to me once more to cast in my mite into the common treasury. Besides, I am not insensible of your candid esteem of some former endeavors of mine in this kind, neither do I know any way wherein I am more capacitated to serve the glory of God, the interest of Christ, the public good, reproached truths, and the interest of the churches, in my generation, than this, as my case and condition is circumstanced. I am very well satisfied that there is nothing in this treatise but what tends to the advantage, comfort, support, settlement, and encouragement of those whose concernment lies in peace and truth, in holiness and righteousness, throughout the nations.

Sir, the points here insisted on are of the greatest use, worth, weight, necessity, excellency, and utility imaginable. They are such wherein our present blessedness and our future happiness, yes, wherein our very all, both as to this and the eternal world, is wrapped up. It will be your life, honor, and happiness to read them, digest them, experience them, and to exemplify them in a suitable lifestyle, Deut. 30:15, 19, and 32:47, which, that you may, let your immortal soul lie always open to the warm, powerful, and hourly influences of heaven.

Let it be the height of your ambition, and the height of all your designs, to glorify God, to secure your saving interest in Christ, to serve your generation, to provide for eternity, to walk with God, to be tender to all who have anything of Christ shining in them, and so to steer your course in this world as that you may give up your account at last with joy, Mat. 25:21, seq. All other ambition is base and low. "Selfish ambition," says Bernard, "is a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the origin of vices, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts. Selfish ambition turns medicines into maladies, and remedies into diseases." [Cardinal Bourbon would not lose his part in Paris, for his part in paradise.] In the enthronisation of the pope, before he is set in his chair and puts on his triple crown, a piece of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, "The glory of this world is but a blaze." Luke calls Agrippa's great pomp a fantasy or vain show, Acts 25:23; and indeed all worldly pomp and state is but a fantasy or vain show. Matthew calls all the world's glory an opinion, Mat. 4:8; and Paul calls it a mathematical figure, 1 Cor. 7:31, which is a mere notion, and nothing in substance. The word here used intimates that there is nothing of any firmness or solid consistency in the creature; it is but a surface, external, empty thing; all the beauty of it is but skin deep.

Mollerus, upon Psalm 73:20, "As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies." concludes, "that men's earthly dignities are but as idle dreams; their splendid braveries but fantasies." [The Romans built Virtue's and Honor's temples close together, to show that the way to true honor was by virtue. —Augustine.] High seats are never but uneasy, and crowns are always stuffed with thorns, which made one say of his crown, "O crown, more noble than happy." May the Spirit of God, the grace of God, the power of God, the presence of God—arm you against all other sins, evils, snares, and temptations—as you are by a good hand of heaven armed against worldly ambition and worldly glory.

Sir, you know that is was a Saul that said, "Honor me before the people," 1 Sam. 15:30; and it was a Jehu that said, "Come, see my zeal for the Lord Almighty," 2 Kings 10:16. There were three Irish kings who rebelled in Henry the Second's days—being derided for their crude fashions. Those were some of the worst of cardinals who, when they were like to die, would give great sums of money for a cardinal's hat, that they might be elegantly styled in their coffins. And they were the Romans and other barbarous nations that were most ambitious of worldly honor and glory. It was a Julius Caesar whose excessive desire of honor made him to be mortally hated by the senators and all others. God grants no man a patent for honor, during his life—but during His own good pleasure.

All worldly honor and glory is subject to mutability. Honors, riches, and pleasures are the three deities, which all people adore, and to whom they continually sacrifice, their best thoughts and energies. These, for their unparalleled vanity, may well be called the vanity of vanities, Ecclesiastes 1:2. Worldly honors are but a mere conceit, a shadow, a vapor, a feather in the cap—without substance. And yet they are the most powerful charm of Satan, whereby he lulls men to sleep in the paradise of fools; to cast them, after they die, into the bottomless pit of eternal woe!

For had not Satan held them to be the strongest of all temptations, he would not have reserved them for his last battery against the constancy of our blessed Savior, as he did, Mat. 4:8-9. And although this roaring cannon of his, could not prevail against Christ, the rock of ages, Mat. 16:18—yet how many thousands in these days are captivated and deluded by the glistening of worldly honors! Men of great honor and worldly glory stand but in slippery places. Adonibezek, a mighty prince, was made a companion with the dogs, Judges 1:7; and Nebuchadnezzar, a mighty conqueror, was turned a-grazing among the oxen, Dan. 4:28; and Herod was reduced from a imagined god, to the most loathsome of men, a living carrion, arrested by the vilest creatures, upon the affront of his Creator, Acts 12:23. A great Haman is feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows the next, Esther. 7:10. In all the ages of the world God has taken a delight to stain the pride of all the glory of this lower world. "The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth." Isaiah 23:9. See it in a few instances:

Valerian, the Roman emperor, fell from being an emperor to be a footstool to Sapor, king of Persia—as often as he mounted his horse.

Bibulus the consul, riding in his triumphant chariot, by the fall of a tile-stone from a house—was made a sacrifice before he could reach the capitol, to offer up there the bulls and garlands he had prepared.

Aurelianus, the Roman emperor, brought Tetricus his opponent, and the brave Queen Zenobia of Palmyra—captive to Rome in golden chains.

Sejanus, that prodigious favorite, on the same day that he was attended by the senate—he was torn in pieces by the people. Seneca, speaking of him, says, that he who in the morning was swollen with titles, before night there remained not so much as a morsel of flesh for the hangman to fasten his hook in.

Belisarius, a most famous general under Justinian the emperor, after all the great and famous services that he had done—had his eyes put out in his old age by the Empress Theodora; and was forced to beg: "Give a crust to old blind Belisarius, whom virtue advanced—but envy has brought into this great misery."

Henry the Fourth, emperor, in sixty-two battles, for the most part, he became victorious—yet he was deposed, and driven to such misery, that he desired only a lowly clerk's place—which was denied him. Whereupon he broke forth into that speech of Job: "Have pity upon me, oh my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!" Job 19:21. He died of grief and poverty.

Bajazet was a proud emperor of the Turks. Tamerlane took him prisoner, and bound him in chains of gold, and used him for a footstool whenever he mounted horse. When he was at table, he made him gather crumbs and scraps under his table, and eat them for his food.

Dionysius, king of Sicily, was such a cruel tyrant that his people banished him. After his banishment he went to Corinth, where he lived a base and contemptible life. At last he became a schoolmaster; so that, when he could not tyrannize any longer over men, he might over boys.

Pythias, who once was able to maintain Xerxes his mighty army—pined to death for lack of bread.

Great Pompey had no coffin to be buried in. William the Conqueror's corpse lay three days unburied, his interment being hindered by one who claimed the ground to be his.

Caesar having bathed his sword in the blood of the senate and his own countrymen, was miserably murdered in the senate by his own friends, Cassius and Brutus.

King Guillimet, a powerful king of the Vandals, was brought so low as to entreat his friend to send him a sponge, a loaf of bread, and a harp; a sponge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his life, and a harp to solace himself in his misery.

A Duke of Exeter was reduced to begging barefoot.

By all these instances, and many more which might be produced, it is most evident that worldly glory is but a breath, a vapor, a froth, a phantasy, a shadow, an apparition, a nothing. Like in a dream, you imagine it a substance, a weight; you grasp at it and awake, and it is nothing. Pleasure and wealth will abide a sense or two—the one a touch or taste; the other a sight of the eyes. But worldly glory can neither be felt, seen, or understood. The philosophers are at strife among themselves where to fix it in any being or existence, whether in the giver or the taker. The inconstancy and slipperiness of it is discernible in the instances last cited. It has raised some—but has ruined more; and those commonly whom it has most raised, it has most ruined.

Sir, if there be anything glorious in the world, it is a mind that divinely contemns that glory; and such a mind I judge and hope God has given you. I have hinted a little at the vanity of worldly glory, because happily this treatise, passing up and down the world, may fall into the hands of such as may be troubled with that itch; and if so, who can tell but that that little that I have said may prove a sovereign salve to cure that Egyptian botch: and if so, I have my end.

Sir, let nothing lie so near your heart in all the world, as these eight things:

1. Your sins, to humble you and abase you at the foot of God.

2. Free and rich and sovereign grace, to soften and melt you down into the will of God.

3. The Lord Jesus Christ, to assist, help, strengthen, and influence you to all the duties and services which are incumbent upon you.

4. The blessed Scriptures, to guide you and lead you, "and to be a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your paths." [Col. 1:10-13; Phil. 4:12-14; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:10; Psalm 119:105; Amos 6:3-6; Neh. 1:1-5.]

5. The afflictions of Joseph, to draw out your charity, mercy, pity, sympathy, and compassion to men in misery.

6. The glory and happiness of the eternal world, to arm you and steel you against all the sins, snares, and temptations that your high places, offices, and circumstances may lay you open to.

7. The grand points in this treatise, which, being laid upon your heart by the warm hand of the Spirit, are able to make you wise unto salvation, and to secure your precious and immortal soul against those pernicious and most dangerous, may I not say damnable, errors and opinions, which are preached, printed, and cried up in this vain world, 2 Pet. 2:1.

8. The interest of Christ and his people, which will be your honor while you live, your joy and comfort when you come to die, and your crown of rejoicing in the great day of our Lord, 1 Thes. 1:19-20.

Sir, I shall not so far disgust you as to tell the world how great a sum of your money has passed through my hands towards the relief, refreshment, support, and preservation of such who, for their piety and extreme poverty and necessity, were proper objects of your charity; but I shall take this opportunity to tell you, and all others into whose hands this treatise may fall, that of all the duties of piety there are none—

1. More commanded than this duty of charity, pity, compassion, and mercy to men in misery, especially to those of "the household of faith."

2. There is no one duty more highly commended and extolled than this.

3. There is no one duty that has more choice and precious promises annexed to it than this.

4. There is no one duty that has greater rewards attending it than this. [Proverbs 3:9-10; Eccles. 11:1-2; Gal. 6:10; 2 Cor. 8:3-5, and 9:1-2; Isaiah 58:7-13, (ponder upon it;) Mat. 25:34-41.]

It is certain, that one day's being in heaven, will make a sufficient recompense for whatever a man has given on earth.

Neither shall I acquaint the world with those particular favors and respects which you have showed to myself—but treasure them up in an awakened bosom, and be your remembrancer at the throne of grace. Only I must let the world know that I owe you more than an epistle; and if you please, to accept of this mite in part of payment, and improve it for your soul's advantage, you will put a farther obligation upon me, to study how I may farther serve the interest of your immortal soul.

Let the luster of your prudence, wisdom, charity, fidelity, generosity, and humility of spirit, shine gloriously through all your places, offices, abilities, riches, employments, and enjoyments; for this is the height of all true excellency. And that it may be so, remember forever that the eyes of God, of Christ, of angels, of devils, of sinners, of saints, of good, of bad—are always fixed upon you. God is all ear to hear, all hand to punish, all power to protect, all wisdom to direct, all goodness to relieve, all grace to pardon. God is all eye, to observe the thoughts, hearts, words, ways, and walkings of men. "My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes." Jeremiah 16:17. "Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 32:19. "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths." Proverbs 5:21. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13

As the eyes of a well-drawn picture are fastened on us, whichever way we turn, so are the eyes of the Lord. Zeno, a wise heathen, affirms, that God beheld even the very thoughts of men. Athenodorus, another heathen, says that all men ought to be careful of the actions of their life, because God was everywhere, and beheld all that was done. Of all men on earth, magistrates and ministers had need pray with David, "Teach us your way, O Lord, and lead us in a plain path, because of our enemies," Psalm 27:11; or, nearer the Hebrew, "because of our observers." In all the ages of the world there have been Sauls and Doegs, who have looked upon God's Davids with an evil eye, and watched for their halting, Jer. 20:10. There are multitudes that will be still eyeing and prying into the practices, offices, lives, and conversations of magistrates and ministers—the more it concerns them to watch, pray, act, and walk like so many earthly angels in the midst of a crooked, perverse, and froward generation, Phil. 2:15.

Wise and prudent governors are an unspeakable mercy to a nation, which Jethro well understood when he gave Moses that good counsel, to select, "capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens." [Exod. 18:21-22.] But in the nations round, how rare is it to find magistrates qualified, suitable to Jethro's counsel! Alphonsus, king of Spain, coming very young to the crown, was advised that seven counselors should be joined to govern with him—who should be men fearing God, lovers of justice, free from filthy lusts, and such as would not take bribes; to which Alphonsus replied, "If you can find seven such men, nay—bring me but one so qualified—and I will not only admit him to govern with me—but shall willingly resign the kingdom itself to him!"

Wicked policies are ever destructive to their authors; as you may see in Pharaoh, in Ahithophel, in Haman, etc., Exod. 1:10, 22; 2 Sam. 16:and 23:23; Esther. 7:10. As long as the Roman civil magistrates, senators, and commanders of armies were chosen into places of honor and trust for their prudence and valor—their state did flourish, and did enlarge its dominions more in one century of years than it did after three centuries—when these places of honor came to be purchased. For then men of no abilities were promoted to highest dignities—for money; whereupon civil contentions were fomented, factions increased, and continual bloody internal wars maintained; by which the ancient liberties of that state were suppressed, and the last government of it changed into an imperial monarchy.

As long as the chief offices of the crown of France, and the places of judicature of the realm, were given by Charles the Fifth, surnamed the Wise—to men of learning, of wisdom, and valor in recompense of their loyalty, virtue, and merits—that kingdom did flourish, with peace, honor, and prosperity; and the courts of parliaments of France had the honor, for their justice and equity, to be the arbitrators and umpires of all the differences which happened in those days between the greatest princes of Christendom. But when these places of honor and trust began to be sold to such as gave most money for them, then was justice and equity banished, and that flourishing kingdom reduced to the brink of ruin and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody civil war.

The barbarous policy of Philip the Second, king of Spain, to banish two or three hundred thousand Moors, with their wives and children, under guise of religion, on purpose to confiscate all their land, was fatal to him and to all the Spanish nation; for the Spanish nation never thrived since, etc.

Were it not for exceeding the bounds of an epistle, I might show, in all the ages of the world, how destructive the wicked policies of rulers and governors have been to themselves and the states and nations under them, etc. But from such policies God has, and I hope will forever, deliver your soul. Sir, the best policy in the world is to know God savingly, to serve him sincerely, to do the work of your generation throughly, and to secure your future happiness and blessedness effectually, etc.

Sir, I do not offer you that which cost me nothing, or little, Mal. 1:13-14. God best knows the pains, the prayers, and the study that the travailing of this treatise into the world has cost me, in the midst of trials, troubles, temptations, afflictions, and my frequent labors in the ministry. The truths that I offer for your serious consideration in this treatise are not such as I have formerly preached, in one place or another, at one time or another—but such as, at several times, the Lord has brought to hand; and, I hope, in order to the service and saving of many, many souls. [Commonly men preach those points first, which afterwards they print—but not knowing how long the door of liberty may be open, I have sent this treatise into the world.]

And should you redeem time from your many and weighty occasions, and live to read it as often over as there are leaves in it, I am apt to think you would never repent of your pains when you come to die and make up your account with God. Sir, I must and shall say, because I love and honor you, and would have you happy for all eternity, that it is your greatest wisdom, and should be your greatest care, to redeem time from your worldly business to acquaint yourself more and more with the great and main points of true religion—to serve your God, to be useful in your day, and to make sure and safe work for your soul to escape hell and to get heaven, Eph. 5:15-16; Col. 4:5; Eccles. 9:10.

Sir Thomas More, one of the great wits of that day, would commonly say, "There is a devil called business, which carries more souls to hell than all the devils in hell beside." Many men have so many irons in the fire, and are cumbered about so many things, Luke 10:40-42, that upon the matter they wholly neglect the one thing necessary, though I hope better things of you. [When one presented Antipater, king of Macedonia, with a book treating of happiness, his answer was, "I have no time for this." The Duke of Alva had so much to do on earth, that he had no time to look up to heaven.]

Those who are least perplexed with a crowd of worldly business, are commonly nearest to God. Sir, as you love God, as you love your soul, as you love eternity, as you would be found at Christ's right hand at last, and as you would meet me with joy in the great day of the Lord—make much conscience of redeeming time daily from your secular affairs, to be with God in your closet, and in your family—to read the Scriptures, to study the Scriptures, and such men's writings which are sound in the faith, and which treat of the great things of the gospel. It is dangerous to be crying, "Tomorrow, tomorrow!" Manna must be gathered in the morning; the orient pearl is generated by the morning dew. There is nothing which puts a more serious frame into a man's heart, than to know the worth and preciousness of time. "Time," says Bernard, "would be a good commodity in hell, and the selling of it most gainful; where, for one day, a man would give ten thousand worlds if he had them."

One called his friends, "Thieves!" because they stole time from him. And certainly there are no worse thieves than those who rob us of our praying seasons, our hearing seasons, our mourning seasons, etc. There was an eminent minister who would often say, that he could eat the flesh off his arm in indignation against himself, for his lost hours. Blessed Hooper was spare of diet, sparer of words, and sparest of time. Bradford counted that hour lost wherein he did not some good by his tongue, pen, or purse. A heathen could say he lived no day without a purpose—that is, he did something remarkable every day. Cato was accustomed to say, that he abhorred to spend idle day.

It was good counsel that an ancient Christian, who is now triumphing in glory, gave to another, "Be either like Christ or Mary: the first was always doing good, the latter was still a-receiving good." This is the way to be strong in grace, and to be soon ripe for glory. Certainly time is infinitely precious in regard of what depends upon it. What more necessary than repentance? yet that depends upon time: Rev. 2:21, "I gave her time to repent of her fornications." What more desirable than the favor of God? This depends upon time, and is therefore called "the acceptable time," Isaiah 49:8. What more excellent than salvation? this likewise depends upon time: 2 Cor. 6:4, "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Pythagoras says that time is the soul of heaven.

But to draw to a close, what can there be of more worth, and weight, and importance—than eternity? Eternity is the heaven of heaven—and the hell of hell. Without eternity, heaven would not be so desirable—nor hell so formidable. Eternity depends upon time. Time is the prologue to eternity. The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of time. Whether our time here is longer or shorter, upon the spending of our time, depends either the bliss or the bane of body and soul to all eternity! This is our seed-time, eternity is the harvest. Whatever seed we now sow, whether of sin or grace, it comes up in eternity! "Whatever a man sows, the same shall he reap," Gal. 6:7-8; 2 Cor. 9:6. This is our market-time, in which, if we are wise merchants, we may make a happy exchange of earth for heaven, of a valley of tears for a paradise of delights. This is our working time: "I must work the works of him who sent me; the night comes, when no man can work," John 9:4. According as the work is we do now, such will be our wages in eternity. Though time itself does not last—yet whatever is everlasting, depends upon time; and therefore should be carefully improved to the best advantage for our souls, and for the making sure of such things as will go with us beyond the grave.

Shall your wife live to be an honor to God, to be wise for eternity, to be a pattern of piety, humility, modesty, etc., to others, to be a joyful mother of many children, and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Shall you both live to see Christ formed up in your offspring, and to see their souls flourish in grace and holiness, and God bestowing himself as a portion upon them? Shall you all be blessed with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," and shall you all be crowned with the highest glory, happiness, and blessedness in the world to come? Shall you all live in the sense of divine love and die in the sense of divine favor? [1 Pet. 3:3-5; 1 Tim. 2:9-10; Eph. 6:4; Proverbs 31:1-3; Gal. 4:19; 1 Tim. 1:5-6; Isaiah 44:3-4, and 59:21; Psalm 112:1-2; Eph. 1:3.] Now, to the everlasting arms of divine protection, and to the constant influences of free, rich, and sovereign grace and mercy, he commends you all, Gal. 5:22-23;

Your much obliged friend and soul's servant,

Thomas Brooks.

To the Reader

Christian Reader! Some preachers in our days are like Heraclitus, who was called the dark doctor, because he affected dark speeches; so they affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, uncouth phrases: making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard, etc. They "darken counsel by words without knowledge," Job 38:2. Men of abstract conceits and wise speculations are but wise fools: like the lark that soars up on high, peering and peering—but at last falls into the net of the fowler. Such people commonly are as censorious as they are curious, and do Christ and his church but very, very little service in this world.

The heathenish priests had their mythologies and strange canting expressions, of their imaginary inaccessible deities, to amaze and amuse their blind superstitions followers; and thereby to hold up their Popish and apish idolatries in greater veneration. The prudent reader can tell how to make application.

If you desire high strains of wit, or larded, pompous, and high-flown expressions, or eloquent trappings, or fine new notions, or such things that you may rather be amazed at than understand, I shall not encourage you to the perusal of this treatise. But,

First, If you would be furnished with sovereign antidotes against the most dangerous errors which are rampant in these days—then seriously peruse this treatise: 2 Pet. 3:16; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7-11.

Secondly, If you would be established, strengthened, settled, and confirmed in the grand points of the gospel—then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Pet. 5:10. But,

Thirdly, If you would know what that faith is, which gives you a saving interest in Christ and in all that fundamental good which comes by Christ—then seriously peruse this treatise: John 1:12, 16, and 5:24. But,

Fourthly, If you would have your judgment rightly informed in some great truths, about which several men of note have been mistaken—then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Cor. 2:6-7; Psalm 119:18. But,

Fifthly, If you would know what safe and excellent pleas to make to those ten scriptures that refer to the general judgment, and to your particular day of judgment—then seriously peruse this treatise: 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27. But,

Sixthly, If you would have your heart brought and kept in a humble, broken, bleeding, melting, tender frame—then seriously peruse this treatise: Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 57:15; 2 Chron. 34:27. But,

Seventhly, If you would always come to the Lord's table with such a frame of spirit, as Christ may take a delight to meet you, to bless you, to bid you welcome, and to seal up his love and your pardon to you—then seriously peruse this treatise, especially that part of it where the dreadful and amazing sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in body and soul, are at large set forth: Mat. 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-30. But,

Eighthly, If you would have a clear sight of the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love of Christ—then seriously peruse this treatise: Eph. 3:18; Psalm 146:8. But,

Ninthly, If you would have your love to Christ tried, raised, acted, inflamed, discovered, and augmented, etc.—then seriously peruse this treatise: Cant. 1:7, and 8:5-7. But,

Tenthly, If you are a strong man in Christ Jesus, and would have your head and heart exercised in the great things of God, and in the deep things of God, and in the mysterious things of God—then seriously peruse this treatise: 2 Tim. 2:1; Heb. 5:14; 1 Cor. 6-7; 1 John 2:14. But,

Eleventhly, If you are but a weak Christian, a babe, a little child, a shrub, a dwarf in grace, holiness, and communion with God, and in your spiritual attainments, enjoyments, and experiences—then seriously peruse this treatise, especially the first part of it: 1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:2; 1 John 2:1, 12-13. But,

Twelfthly, If you would know whether you are an indulger of sin, and if you would be stocked with singular remedies against your special sins—then seriously peruse the former part of this treatise: Job 20:11-14; Micah 6:6-7; Romans 13:14; James 4:3. But,

Thirteenthly, If you would be rooted, grounded, strengthened, and settled in those two grand points of the gospel, namely, the active and passive obedience of Christ, and be daily refreshed with those pleasant streams, with those waters of life that flow from thence—then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Pet. 5:10; Isaiah Heb. 10:10, 12, 14; Gal. 4:4-5; Romans 8:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21. But,

Fourteenthly, If you would be throughly acquainted with the sufferings of Christ, in his body and soul, with their greatness and grievousness, etc., and if you would understand the mighty benefits we have by his sufferings—then seriously peruse this treatise: Isaiah 53 and 63:2; 1 Pet. 2:21-24; John 10:11, 15, 17-18. But,

Fifteenthly, If you would be able strongly to prove, that there is a hell, a place of torment, provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly people—then seriously peruse this treatise: Mat. 25:41; Psalm 9:17; Proverbs 5:5. But,

Sixteenthly, If you would, in a scripture-glass, see the torments of hell, and know how to avoid them, and what divine improvements to make of them, and be resolved in several questions concerning hell and hellish torments—then seriously peruse this treatise. But,

Seventeenthly, If you would be able strenuously to maintain and defend Christ's eternal deity and manhood against all corrupt teachers and gainsayers—then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 John 1:2, 14; 1 Tim. 2:5. But,

Eighteenthly, If you would be rooted and grounded in that great doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and be warmed, refreshed, cheered, comforted, and delighted with those choice and singular consolations that flow from thence—then seriously peruse this treatise: Jer. 23:6; Isaiah 45:24, and 61:10; 1 Cor. 1:30. But,

Nineteenthly, If you would be set at liberty from many fears and doubts and disputes that often arise in your soul about your internal and eternal estate, then seriously peruse this treatise: Psalm 42:5, 11, and 55:5; 2 Cor. 7:5. But,

Twentiethly, If you would have all grace to flourish and abound in your soul, if you would be eminently serviceable in your generation, if you would be ripe for sufferings, for death, for heaven, if you would be temptation-proof, if you would be weaned from this world and triumph in Christ Jesus when the world triumphs over you—then seriously peruse this treatise: Psalm 92:12-14; Romans 15:13; Acts 13:36; 2 Cor. 12:9, 10; Rev. 12:1; 2 Cor. 14.

Reader, if you would make any earnings of your reading this treatise, then you must—

1. Read, and believe what you read.

2. You must read, and meditate on what you read.

3. You must read, and pray over what you read.

4. You must read, and test what you read by the touchstone of the word.

5. You must read, and apply what you read; that plaster will never heal that is not applied, etc.

6. You must read, and make conscience of living up to what you read, and of living out what you read. [Acts 18:8, and 24:14; Psalm 1:2, and 119:5, 18; Acts 17:11; Psalm 119:9; John 13:17; Psalm 119:105-106.] This is the way to honor your God, to gain profit by this treatise, to credit religion, to stop foul mouths, to strengthen weak hands, to better a bad head, to mend a bad heart, to rectify a disorderly life, and to make sure work for your soul, for heaven, for eternity.

Reader, in a sealed fountain and hidden treasures, there is little profit or comfort. No fountain compared to that which flows for common good, no treasures t compared o those who lie open for public service. If you get any good by reading this treatise, give God alone the glory; and remember the author when you are in the mount with God. His prayers for you are, that you may be a knowing Christian, a sincere Christian, a growing Christian, a rooted Christian, a resolute Christian, an untainted Christian, an exemplary Christian, a humble Christian, and then he knows you will be a saved Christian in the day of Christ; so he rests, who is your cordial friend and soul's servant,

Thomas Brooks

What are the special remedies, means or helps against cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life?

1st Question. What are the special remedies, means, or helps against cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life, against the Lord, or against the light and conviction of a man's own conscience?

Before I come to the resolution of this question, I shall premise a few things that may clear my way.

1. First, When men's hearts are sincere with God; when they don't indulge, cherish, or keep up any known transgression in their hearts or lives against the Lord, they may on very good grounds plead a saving interest in God, in Christ, and in the covenant of grace, though their corruptions prevail against them, and too frequently worst them and lead them captive, as is most evident in these special scriptures, 2 Sam. 23:5; Psalm 65:3; Romans 7:23, 25; Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; Jer. 14:7-9; Hosea 14:1-4, 8.

But now, when any man's heart does condemn him for dealing deceitfully and guilefully with God in this or that or the other particular, or for connivings or winking at any known transgression that is kept up, either in his heart or life against the Lord, and against the light of his own conscience, which he will not let go, nor in good earnest use the means whereby it should be subdued and mortified; it is not to be expected that such a person can come to any clearness or satisfaction about his interest in Christ and the covenant of grace and his right to the great things of that other world.

When a person will dally with sin, and will be playing with snares and baits, and allow a secret liberty in his heart to sin, conniving at many workings of it, and not setting upon mortification with earnest endeavors; though they are convinced—yet they are not persuaded to arise with all their might against the Lord's enemies—but do his work negligently, which is an accursed thing; and for this, God casts such a person into sore straits, and lets him wander in the dark, without any sight, sense, or assurance of their gracious estate or interest in Christ, etc.

The Israelites should perfectly have rooted out the Canaanites—but because they did it but by halves, and did not engage all their power and strength against them, therefore God left them to be as "thorns in their eyes, and as goads in their sides." So when men who should fight with all their might against those sins which war against them in their hearts, ways, and walkings, and pursue the victory to the utmost, until their spiritual enemies lie dead at their feet; and yet they do but trifle and make slender opposition against their sins; this provokes God to stand afar off, and to hide his reconciled face from them.

It is true, when men are really in Christ, they ought not to question their state in him—but yet a guilty conscience will be clamorous and full of objections, and God will not speak peace unto it until it is humbled at his foot. God will make his dearest children know that it is a bitter thing to dally with sin. Now, before I lay down the remedies, give me permission to show you what it is to indulge sin, or when a man may be said to indulge or cherish, or keep up any known transgression in his soul against the Lord. Now, for a clear understanding of me in this particular, take me thus—

[1.] First, To indulge sin or to cherish it, it is to make daily provision for it. Romans 13:14. It is to give the breast to it, and to feed it and nourish it, as fond parents do feed and nourish the sick child, or the darling child; it must have what it will, and do what it will, it must not be crossed. Now, when men ordinarily, habitually, commonly, are studious and laborious to make provision for sin, then sin is indulged by them. But,

[2.] Secondly, When sin is commonly, habitually, sweet and pleasant to the soul, when a man takes a daily pleasure and delight in sin, then sin is indulged. 2 Thes. 2:12 you read of those who had "pleasure in unrighteousness;" Isaiah 66:3, "And their soul delights in their abominations;" Proverbs 2:14, "Who rejoice to do evil," etc.

[3.] Thirdly, When men commonly, habitually, side with sin, and take up arms in the defense of sin, and in defiance of the commands of God, the motions of the Spirit, the checks of conscience, and the reproofs of others, then sin is indulged. But,

[4.] Fourthly, When men ordinarily, habitually, do yield a quiet, free, willing, and total subjection to the authority and commands of sin, then sin is indulged. That man who is wholly addicted and devoted to the service of sin, that man indulges sin.

Now in none of these senses does any godly man indulge any one sin in his soul. Though sin lives in him—yet he does not live in sin. Every man who has liquor in him is not drunk. A child of God may slip into a sin, as a sheep may slip into the mire. But he does not, and cannot wallow in sin as the swine does in the mire. Nor can he keep on in the path of sin, as sinners do: Psalm 139:24, "See if there be any way of wickedness in me." A course, a trade of sin is not consistent with the truth or state of grace: Job 10:7, "You know that I am not wicked." He does not say, "You know that I am not a sinner," or "you know that I have not sinned." No! for the best of saints are sinners, though the worst and weakest of saints are not wicked. Every real Christian is a renewed Christian, and every renewed Christian takes his denomination from his renovation, and not from the remainders of corruptions in him; and therefore such a one may well look God in the face and say, "Lord you know that I am not wicked;" weaknesses are chargeable upon me—but wickednesses are not chargeable upon me. And certainly that man gives a strong demonstration of his own uprightness, who dares appeal to God himself that he is not wicked.

That no godly man does, or can indulge himself in any course or way or trade of sin, mall be thus made evident.

[1.] First, He sins not with allowance. When he does evil, he disallows of the evil he does: Romans 7:15, "For that which I do, I allow not." A Christian is sometimes tossed and whirled away by sin before he is aware, or has time to consider of it. See Psalm 119:1, 3; 1 John 3:9; Proverbs 16:12.

[2.] Secondly, A godly man hates all known sin. Psalm 119:128, "I hate every false way." True hatred is against the whole kind. That contrariety to sin which is in a real Christian, springs from an inward gracious nature or principle, and so is to the whole species or kind of sin, and is irreconcilable to any sin whatever. As contrarieties of nature are to the whole kind, as light is contrary to all darkness, and fire to all water. Just so, this contrariety to all sin arising from the inward man, is universal to all sin. He who hates a toad because it is a toad, hates every toad; and he who hates a godly man because he is godly, he hates every godly man; and so he who hates sin because it is sin, he hates every sin: Romans 7:15, "What I want to do I do not do; but what I hate I do."

[3.] Thirdly, Every godly man would sincerely have his sins not only pardoned, but destroyed. His heart is alienated from his sins, and therefore nothing will serve him or satisfy him but the blood and death of his sins, Isaiah 2:20, and 30:22; Hosea 14:8; Romans 8:24. Saul hated David, and sought his life; and Haman hated Mordecai, and sought his destruction; and Absalom hated Amnon, and killed him; Julian the apostate hated the Christians, and put many thousands of them to death. The great thing that a Christian has in his eye, in all the duties he performs, and in all the ordinances that he attends—is the blood and death and ruin of his sins.

[4.] Fourthly, Every godly man groans under the burden of sin. 2 Cor. 5:4, "For we who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." Never did any porter groan more to be delivered from his heavy burden, than a Christian groans to be delivered from the burden of sin. The burden of affliction, the burden of temptation, the burden of desertion, the burden of opposition, the burden of persecution, the burden of scorn and contempt—is nothing compared to the burden of sin. Ponder upon Psalm 38:4, and 40:12; Romans 7:24.

[5.] Fifthly, Every godly man combats and conflicts with all known sin. In every gracious soul there is a constant and perpetual conflict.

"The flesh will be still a-lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh," Gal. 5:17; Romans 7:22-23; 1 Kings 14:30-31. Though sin and grace were not born together, and though sin and grace shall never die together—yet whiles a believer lives in this world, they must live together; and while sin and grace do cohabit together, they will still be opposing and conflicting one with another.

[6.] Sixthly, Every gracious heart is still a-crying out against his sins. He cries out to God to subdue them; he cries out to Christ to crucify them; he cries out to the Spirit to mortify them; he cries out to faithful ministers to arm him against them; and he cries out to sincere Christians, that they would pray hard that he may be made victorious over them. Now certainly it is a most sure sign that sin has not gained a man's heart, a man's love, nor his consent—but committed a rape upon his soul, when he cries out bitterly against his sin. It is observable, that if the ravished virgin, under the law, cried out, she was guiltless, Deut. 22:25-27. Certainly such as cry out of their sins, and that would not for all the world indulge themselves in a way of sin, such are guiltless before the Lord. That which a Christian does not indulge himself in, that he does not do—in divine account. But,

[7.] Seventhly, The fixed purposes and designs of a godly man, is not to sin. Psalm 17:3, "I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress," that is, I have laid my design so as not to sin. Though I may have many particular failings—yet my general purpose is not to sin: Psalm 39:1, "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me." Whenever a godly man sins, he sins against the general purpose of his soul. David laid a law upon his tongue. He uses three words in the first and second verses to the same purpose, which is as if he should say in plain English, "I was silent, I was silent, I was silent;" and all this to express how he kept in his passion, that he might not offend with his tongue.

Though a godly man sins—yet he does not purpose to sin, for his purposes are fixed against sin. Holiness is his highway; and as sin is itself a byway, so it is besides his way. The honest traveler purposes to keep straight on his way; so that if at any time he miss his way, he misses his purpose. Though Peter denied Christ—yet he did not purpose to deny Christ; yes, the settled purpose of his soul was rather to die with Christ than to deny Christ: Mat. 26:35, "Peter said unto him, Though I should die with you—yet will I not deny you." Interpreters agree that Peter meant as he speaks. But,

[8.] Eighthly, The settled resolutions of a gracious heart is not to sin. Psalm 119:106, "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep your righteous judgments;" Neh. 10:28-31, dwell on it; Job 31:1, etc.; Micah 4:5, "Even though the nations around us worship idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever." So Daniel and the three children.

Jerome writes of a brave woman, who, being upon the rack, bid her persecutors do their worst, for she was resolved that she would rather die than lie.

The Prince of Conde being taken prisoner by Charles the Ninth of France, and put to his choice—first, whether he would go to mass; or second, be put to death; or thirdly, suffer perpetual imprisonment, answered, "As for the first, I will never do, by the assistance of God's grace; and as for the other two, let the king do with me what he pleases, for I am very well assured that God will turn all to the best."

"The heavens shall as soon fall," said William Flower to the bishop who tried to persuad him to save his life by recanting, "as I will forsake the opinion and faith I am in, God assisting of me."

Just so, Marcus Arethusius chose rather to suffer a most cruel death than to give one halfpenny towards the building of an idol temple.

Just so, Cyprian, on the way to his execution, when the emperor said, "Now I give you space to consider whether you will obey me in casting a grain of frankincense into the fire—or be thus miserably slain." "Nay," says he, "I need no deliberation in the case." There are many thousands of such instances scattered up and down in history.

[9.] Ninthly, There is a sincere willingness in every gracious soul to be rid of all sin. Romans 7:24; Hosea 14:2, 8; Job 7:21. Saving grace makes a Christian as willing to leave his sin—as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his chains, or a beggar his rags. "Many a day have I sought death with tears," says blessed Cooper, "not out of impatience, distrust, or perturbation—but because I am weary of sin, and fearful of falling into it." Look, as the daughters of Heth even made Rebekah weary of her life, (Gen. 27:46;) so corruptions within makes a gracious soul even weary of his life. A gracious soul looks upon sin with as evil and as envious an eye as Saul looked on David when the evil spirit was upon him. "Oh," says Saul, "that I was but once well rid of this David;" and oh, says a gracious soul, that I was but once well rid of "this proud heart, this hard heart, this unbelieving heart, this unclean heart, this earthly heart, this froward heart of mine."

[10.] Tenthly, Every godly man complains of his known sins, and mourns over his known sins, and would be sincerely rid of his known sins, as might be made evident out of many scores of scripture, Job 7:21; Psalm 51:14; Hosea 2.

[11.] Eleventhly, Every gracious soul sets himself mostly, resolutely, valiantly, and habitually against his special besetting sins, his constitution sins, his most prevalent sins. Psalm 18:23, "I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity." Certainly that which is the special besetting sin of a godly man, is his special burden; it is not delighted in—but lamented. There is no sin which costs him so much sorrow as that to which either the temper of his body or the occasions of his life leads him. That sin which he finds his heart most set upon—he sets his heart, his whole soul, most against. The Scripture gives much evidence that David, though a man after God's own heart, was very apt to fall into the sin of lying; he used many unlawful shifts. We read of his often faltering in that kind, when he was in straits and hard put to it, 1 Sam. 21:2, 8, and 27:8, 10, etc. But it is as clear in Scripture that his heart was set against lying, and that it was the grief and daily burden of his soul. Certainly that sin is a man's greatest burden and grief which he prays most to be delivered from! Oh, how earnestly did David pray to be delivered from the sin of lying: Psalm 119:29, "Keep me from the way of lying." And as he prayed earnestly against lying, so he as earnestly detested it: ver. 163, "I hate and abhor lying." Though lying was David's special sin—yet he hated and abhorred it as he did hell itself. And he tells us how he was affected, or afflicted rather, with that sin, whatever it was, which was his iniquity: Psalm 31:10, "My life is spent with grief, and my years with sighings; my strength fails, and my bones are consumed," or moth-eaten, as the Hebrew has it. Here are deep expressions of a troubled spirit; and why all this? Mark, he gives you the reason of it in the same verse, "because of my iniquity:" as if he had said, there is a base corruption which so haunts and dogs me, that my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing. He found, it seems, his heart running out to some sin or other, which yet was so far from being a beloved sin, a bosom sin, a darling sin—that it was the breaking of his heart and the consumption of his bones.

Just so, Psalm 38:18, "I will declare my iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin." There is no sin that a gracious heart is more perfectly set against, than against his special besetting sin; for by this sin:

firstly, God has been most dishonored;

secondly, Christ most crucified;

thirdly, the Spirit most grieved;

fourthly, conscience most wounded;

fifthly, Satan most advantaged;

sixthly, mercies most embittered;

seventhly, duties most hindered;

eighthly, fears and doubts most raised and increased;

ninthly, afflictions most multiplied;

tenthly, death made most formidable and terrible.

Therefore he breaks out against this sin with the greatest detestation and abhorrency.

Ephraim's special sin was idolatry, Hosea 4:17; he thought the choicest gold and silver in the world hardly good enough to build his idols with. But when it was the day of the Lord's gracious power upon Ephraim, then he thought no place bad enough to cast his choicest idols into, as you may see by comparing of these scriptures together, Hosea 14:8; Isaiah 2:20, and 30:22. True grace will make a man stand stoutly and steadfastly on God's side, and work the heart to take part with him against a man's special besetting sins, though they be as dear as right hands or right eyes. True grace will lay hands upon a man's special besetting sins, and cry out to heaven, "Lord, crucify them, crucify them! Down with them, down with them, even to the ground! Lord, do justice, do speedy justice, do stern justice, do exemplary justice upon these special sins of mine! Lord, hew down root and branch; let the very stumps of this Dagon be broken all in pieces! Lord, curse this wild fig-tree, that fruit may never more grow thereon!" But,

[12.] Twelfthly, There is no time wherein a gracious soul cannot sincerely say with the apostle in Heb. 13:18, "Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do." Gracious hearts attempt that which they cannot effect. Just so, Acts 24:16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men;" in all cases, in all places, by all means, and at all times. A sincere Christian labors to have a good conscience, void of offence towards God and towards men: Proverbs 16:17, "The path of the upright leads away from evil," that is, it is the ordinary, usual, constant course of an upright man to depart from evil. An honest traveler may step out of the highway into a house, a forest, a meadow—but his work, his business, is to go on in the highway; so the business, the work, of an upright man is to depart from evil. It is possible for an upright man to step into a sinful path, or to touch upon sinful facts—but his main way, his principal work and business, is to depart from iniquity; as a bee may light upon a thistle—but her work is to be gathering at flowers; or as a sheep may slip into the dirt—but its work is to be grazing upon the mountains or in the meadows. But,

[13.] Thirteenthly and lastly, Jesus Christ is the real Christian's only beloved; he is the saint's only darling. Cant. 2:3, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste." ver. 8, "Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills." ver. 10, "My beloved spoke, and said unto me—Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me." Cant. 4:16, "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." Seven times Christ is called "the beloved of his spouse" in the fifth chapter of Canticles, and twice in the sixth chapter, and four times in the seventh chapter, and once in the eighth chapter. In this book of Solomon's Song, Christ is called the church's beloved just twenty times. I might turn you to many other scriptures—but in the mouth of twenty witnesses you may be very clearly and fully satisfied that Jesus Christ is the saints' beloved.

1. When the Dutch martyr was asked whether he did not love his wife and children, he answered, "Were all the world a lump of gold, and in my hand to dispose of, I would give it to live with my wife and children in a prison—but Christ is dearer to me than all."

2. Says Jerome, "If my father should stand before me, and if my mother should hang upon me, and my brethren should press about me—I would break through my brethren, throw down my mother, and tread under foot my father, that I might cleave the faster and closer unto Jesus Christ."

3. That blessed virgin, being condemned for Christianity to the fire, and having her estate and life offered her if she would worship idols, cried out, "Let money perish and life vanish, Christ is better than all."

4. Love made Jerome to say, "Oh, my Savior, did you die for love of me, a love more dolorous than death—but to me a death more lovely than love itself. I cannot live, love you, and be longer from you."

5. Henry Voes said, "If I had ten heads, they should all be chopped off for Christ."

6. John Ardley, martyr, said, "If every hair of my head were a man, they should all suffer for the faith of Christ."

7. Ignatius said, "Let fire, racks, pulleys, yes, and all the torments of hell, come on me—just so that I may win Christ."

8. George Carpenter, being asked whether he loved not his wife and children, when they all wept before them, answered, "My wife and children are dearer to me than all Bavaria—yet for the love of Christ I know them not."

9. "O Lord Jesus," said Bernard, "I love you more than all my goods, and I love you more than all my friends, yes, I love you more than my very self."

10. Austin says he would willingly go through hell to Christ.

11. Another says, "He had rather be in his chimney-corner with Christ, than in heaven without him."

12. Another cries out, "I had rather have one Christ than a thousand worlds!" by all which it is most evident that Jesus Christ is the saint's best beloved, and not this or that sin.

Now by these thirteen arguments it is most clear that no gracious Christian does or can indulge himself in any trade, course, or way of sin.

Yes, by these thirteen arguments it is most evident that no godly man has, or can have, any one beloved sin, any one bosom, darling sin, though many worthy ministers, both in their preaching and writings, make a great noise about the saints' beloved sins, about their bosom, darling sins. I readily grant that all unregenerate people have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins—but that no such sins are chargeable upon the regenerate is sufficiently demonstrated by the thirteen arguments last cited. And oh, that this were wisely and seriously considered of, both by ministers and Christians!

There is no known sin which a godly man is not troubled at, and that he would not be rid of. There is as much difference between sin in a regenerate person and in an unregenerate person—as there is between poison in a man and poison in a serpent. Poison in a man's body is most offensive and burdensome, and he readily uses all arts and antidotes to expel it and get rid—but poison in a serpent, is in its natural place, and is most pleasing and delightful. Just so, sin in a regenerate man is most offensive and burdensome, and he readily uses all holy means and antidotes to expel it and to get rid of it. But sin in an unregenerate man is most pleasing and delightful, it being in its natural place. A godly man still enters his protest against sin. A gracious soul, while he commits sin, hates the sin he commits.

O sirs! there is a vast difference between a besetting sin—and a beloved sin, a darling sin, a bosom sin. Noah had a sin, and Lot had a sin, and Jacob had a sin, and Job had a sin, and David had a sin, which was his special besetting sin—but neither of these had any sin which was their beloved sin, their bosom sin, their darling sin. That passage in Job 31:33 is observable, "Have I covered my sin as others do, by hiding my guilt in my heart?" Mark, in this text, while Job calls some sin or other his iniquity, he denies that he had any beloved sin; for says he, "Did I hide it in my bosom? did I show it any favor? did I cherish it or nourish it, or keep it warm in my bosom? Oh, no; I did not!" A godly man may have many sins—yet he has not one beloved sin, one bosom sin, one darling sin. He may have some particular sin, to which the unregenerate part of his will may strongly incline, and to which his unmortified affections may run out with violence to—yet he has no sin he bears any good-will to, or does really or cordially cling to.

Mark, that may be called a man's particular way of sinning, which yet we cannot, we may not call his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling sin; for it may be his greatest grief and torment, and may cost him more sorrow and tears than all the rest of his sins; it may be a tyrant usurping power over him, when it is not the delight and pleasure of his soul. A godly man may be more prone to fall into some one particular sin rather than another; it may be passion, or pride, or slavish fear, or worldliness, or hypocrisy, or this, or that, or another vanity—yet are not these his beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling sins; for these are the enemies he hates and abhors; these are the grand enemies that he prays against, and complains of, and mourns over; these are the powerful rebels which his soul cries out most against, and by which his soul suffers the greatest violence.

Mark, no sin—but Christ, is the dearly beloved of a Christian's soul. Christ, and not this sin or that, is "the chief of ten thousand" to a gracious soul—and yet some particular corruption or other may more frequently worst a believer and lead him captive—but then the believer cries out most against that particular sin. Oh, says he, this is my iniquity; this is the Saul, the Pharaoh that is always a-pursuing after the blood of my soul. Lord! let this Saul fall by the sword of your Spirit; let this Pharaoh be drowned in the Red Sea of your son's blood. O sirs, it is a point of very great importance for gracious souls to understand the vast difference that there is between a beloved sin and this or that particular sin, violently tyrannizing over them; for this is most certain, whoever gives up himself freely, willingly, cheerfully, habitually, to the service of any one particular lust or sin, he is in the state of nature, under wrath, and in the way to eternal ruin.

Now a little to show the vanity, folly, and falsehood of that opinion that is received and commonly avowed by ministers and Christians—namely, that every godly person has his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling sin—seriously and frequently consider with me of these following particulars—

[1.] First, That this opinion is not bottomed or founded upon any clear scripture or scriptures, either in the Old or New Testament.

[2.] Secondly, This opinion that is now under consideration runs counter-cross to all those thirteen arguments but now alleged, and to all those scores of plain scriptures by which those arguments are confirmed.

[3.] Thirdly, This opinion that is now under consideration, has a great tendency to harden and strengthen wicked men in their sins; for when they shall hear and read that the saints, the dearly beloved of God, have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, what inferences will they not be ready to make! "What are these they call saints? wherein are they better than us? Have we our beloved sins? so have they. Have we our bosom sins? so have they. Have we our darling sins? so have they. They have their beloved sins, and yet are beloved of God; and why not us—why not us? Saints have their beloved sins, and yet God is kind to them; and why then not to us, why not to us also? Saints have their beloved sins, and yet God will save them; and why then should we believe that God will damn us? Saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, and therefore certainly they are not to be so dearly loved, and highly prized, and greatly honored as ministers would make us believe. Saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, and therefore it is just to account and call them hypocrites, deceivers, dissemblers, who pretend they have a great deal of love to God, and love to Christ, and love to his word, and love to his ways? and yet for all this they have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins!"

[4.] Fourthly, If Christ be really the saints' beloved, then sin is not their beloved. But Christ is the saints' beloved, as I have formerly clearly proved; and therefore sin is not the beloved. A man may as well serve two masters, as have two beloveds—namely, a beloved Christ and a beloved lust.

[5.] Fifthly, Those supernatural graces or those divine qualities which are infused into the soul at first conversion, are contrary to all sin, and opposite to all sin, and engage the heart against all sin; and therefore a converted person can have no beloved sin, no bosom sin, no darling sin. Seriously weigh this argument.

[6.] Sixthly, This opinion may fill many weak Christians with many needless fears, doubts, and jealousies about their spiritual and eternal conditions. Weak Christians are very apt to reason thus: "Surely my conversion is not sound; my spiritual estate is not good; my heart is not right with God; a saving work has never yet passed upon me in power; I fear I have not the root of the matter in me; I fear I have never had a thorough change; I fear I have never yet been effectually called out of darkness into his marvelous light; I fear I have never yet been espoused to Christ; I fear the Spirit of God has never taken up my heart for his habitation; I fear that after all my high profession I shall at last be found a hypocrite; I fear the execution of that dreadful sentence, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed'—because I carry about with me my besetting sins." Ministers had need be very wary in their preaching and writing, that they don't bring forth fuel to feed the fears and doubts of weak Christians, it being a great part of their work to arm weak Christians against their fears and faintings. But,

[7.] Seventhly, This opinion that is now under consideration, is an opinion that is very repugnant to sound and sincere repentance; for sound, sincere repentance includes and takes in a divorce, an alienation, a detestation, a separation, and a turning from all sin, without exception or reservation.

One of the first works of the Spirit upon the soul, is the dividing between all known sin and the soul; it is a making an utter breach between all sin and the soul; it is a dissolving of that old league which has been between a sinner and his sins, yes, between a sinner and his beloved lusts. One of the first works of the Spirit is to make a man to look upon all his sins as enemies, yes, as his greatest enemies, and to deal with his sins as enemies, and to hate and loathe them as enemies, and to fear them as enemies, and to arm against them as enemies. Seriously ponder upon these scriptures, Ezek. 18:28, 30-31; Ezek. 6; 2 Cor. 7:1; Psalm 119:101, 104, 128.

True repentance is a turning from all sin, without any reservation or exception. He never truly repented of any sin, whose heart is not turned against every sin. The true penitent casts off all the rags of old Adam; he is for throwing down every stone of the old building; he will not leave a horn nor a hoof behind. The reasons of turning from sin are universally binding to a penitent soul. There are the same reasons and grounds for a penitent man's turning from every sin, as there is for his turning from any one sin. Do you turn from this or that sin because the Lord has forbid it? Why upon the same ground you must turn from every sin; for God has forbid every sin as well as this or that particular sin. There is the same authority forbidding or commanding in all; and if the authority of God awes a man from one sin, it will awe him from all. He who turns from any one sin, because it is a transgression of the holy and righteous law of God, he will turn from every sin upon the same account. He who turns from any one sin because it is a dishonor to God, a reproach to Christ, a grief to the Spirit, a wound to religion, etc., will upon the same grounds, turn from every sin.

QUESTION. In what does a true penitential turning from all sin consist? Answer, in these six things—

First, In the alienation and inward aversion and drawing off of the soul from the love and liking of all sin, and from all free and voluntary subjection unto sin—the heart being filled with a loathing and detestation of all sin, [Psalm 119:104, 128,] as that which is most contrary to all goodness and happiness.

Secondly, In the will's detestation and hatred of all sin. When the very bent and inclination of the will is set against all sin, and opposes and crosses all sin, and is set upon the ruin and destruction of all sin—then the penitent is turned from all sin, Romans 7:15, 19, 21, 23; Isaiah 30:22; Hosea 14:8. When the will stands upon such terms of defiance with all sin, as that it will never enter into a league of friendship with any sin—then is the soul turned from every sin.

Thirdly, In the judgment's turning away from all sin, by disapproving, disallowing, and condemning all sin, Romans 7:15. "Oh!" says the judgment of a Christian, "sin is the greatest evil in all the world! Sin is the only thing which God abhors! Sin brought Jesus Christ to the cross! Sin damns souls! Sin shuts heaven! Sin has laid the foundations of hell! Oh sin is the pricking thorn in my eye, the deadly arrow in my side, the two-edged sword that has wounded my conscience, and slain my comforts, and separated between God and my soul. Oh! sin is that which has hindered my prayers, and embittered my mercies, and put a sting into all my crosses; and therefore I can't but disapprove of it, and disallow of it, and condemn it to death, yes, to hell, from whence it came.

Fourthly, In the purpose and resolution of the soul; the soul sincerely purposing and resolving never willingly, willfully, or wickedly to transgress any more, Psalm 17:3. "The general purpose and resolution of my heart is not to transgress. Though particular failings may attend me—yet my resolutions and purposes are firmly set against doing evil." Psalm 39:1. The true penitent holds up his purposes and resolutions to keep off from sin, and to keep close with God, though he be not able in everything and at all times to make good his purposes and resolutions, etc. But,

Fifthly, In the earnest and sincere desires, and careful endeavors of the soul to abandon all sin, to forsake all sin, and to be rid of all sin, Romans 7:22-23. You know when a prudent, tender, kind father sees his child to fail and come short in that which he enjoins him to do—yet knowing that the child's desires and endeavors are to please him, and serve him, he will not be harsh, rigid, sour, or severe towards him—but will spare him, and exercise much tenderness and indulgence towards him. And will God, will God whose mercies reach above the heavens, and whose compassions are infinite, and whose love is like himself, behave worse towards his children, than kind fathers do towards their children? Surely not! God's fatherly indulgence accepts of the will for the work, Heb. 13:18; 2 Cor. 8:12. Certainly, a sick man is not more desirous to be rid of all his diseases, nor a prisoner to be freed from all his bolts and chains, than the true penitent is desirous to be rid of all his sins.

Sixthly and lastly, In the common and ordinary declining, shunning, and avoiding of all known occasions of sin, yes, and all temptations, provocations, inducements, and enticements to sin, etc. That royal law, 1 Thes. 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil," is a law that is very precious in a penitent man's eye, and commonly lies warm upon a penitent man's heart; so that take him in his ordinary course, and you shall find him very ready to shun and be shy of the very appearance of sin, of the very shows and shadows of sin. Job made "a covenant with his eyes," Job 31:1; and Joseph would not hearken to his bold tempting mistress, "to lie by her, or to be with her," Gen. 39:10; and David, when himself, would not "sit with vain people," Psalm 26:3-5. Now a true penitential turning from all sins lies in these six things: and therefore you had need look about you; for if there be any one way of wickedness wherein you walk, and which you are resolved you will not forsake, you are no true penitents, and you will certainly lose your souls, and be miserable forever!

[8.] Eighthly, This opinion that is now under consideration, is an opinion that will exceedingly deject many precious Christians, and cause them greatly to hang down their heads, especially in four days:

1. In the day of common calamity.

2. In the day of personal affliction.

3. In the day of death.

4. In the great day of account.

First, In a day of common calamity, when the sword is drunk with the blood of the slain, or when the raging pestilence lays thousands in heap upon heap, or when plagues and other diseases carry hundreds every week to their long homes. Oh, now the remembrance of a man's beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling sins—if a saint had any such sins—will be very apt to fill his soul with fears, dreads, and perplexities. "Surely now God will meet with me, now God will avenge himself on me for my beloved sins, my bosom sins, my darling sins! Oh, how righteous a thing is it with God, because of my beloved lusts, to sweep me away by these sweeping judgments which are abroad in the earth!"

On the contrary, how sweet and comfortable a thing is it, when in a day of common calamity, a Christian can appeal to God, and appeal to conscience, that though he has many weaknesses and infirmities which hang upon him—that yet he has no beloved sin, no bosom sin, no darling sin—which either God or conscience can charge upon him. Oh, such a consideration as this may be as life from the dead to a gracious Christian, in the midst of all the common calamities which surround him and which hourly threaten him.

Secondly, In the day of personal afflictions, when the smarting rod is upon him, and God writes bitter things against him; when the hand of the Almighty has touched him in his name, estate, relations, etc. Oh, now the remembrance of a man's beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling sins—if a saint had any such sins—will be as "the handwriting upon the wall," Dan 5:5-6, "that will make his countenance to be changed, his thoughts to be troubled, his joints to be loosed, and his knees to be dashed one against another." Oh, now a Christian will be ready to conclude, "Oh, it is my beloved sins, my bosom sins, my darling sins—which have caused God to put this bitter cup into my hand, and which have provoked him to give me gall and wormwood to drink!" Lam. 3:19.

Whereas on the contrary, when a man under all his personal trials, though they are many and great—yet can lift up his head and appeal to God and conscience, that though he has many sinful weaknesses and infirmities hanging upon him—yet neither God nor conscience can charge upon him any beloved sins, any bosom sins, any darling sins. Oh, such a consideration as this will help a man to bear up bravely, sweetly, cheerfully, patiently, and contentedly, under the heaviest afflicting hand of God, as is evident in that great instance of Job. Who so sorely afflicted as Job? and yet no beloved sin, no bosom sin, no darling sin being chargeable upon him by God or conscience, [Job 10:7, and 31:33,] how bravely, sweetly, and Christianly does Job bear up under those sad changes and dreadful providences that would have broke a thousand of such men's hearts—upon whom God and conscience could charge beloved sins, bosom sins, darling sins! But,

Thirdly, In the day of death; Death is the king of terrors, as Job speaks; and the "terror of kings," as the philosopher speaks. Oh how terrible will this king of terrors be, to that man upon whom God and conscience can charge beloved sins, bosom sins, darling sins! This is certain, when a wicked man comes to die, all the sins that ever he committed don't so grieve him and terrify him, so sadden him and sink him, and raise such horrors and terrors in him, and put him into such a hell on this side hell—as his beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling sins! And had saints their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, ah, what a hell of horror and terror would these sins raise in their souls, when they come to lie upon a dying bed!

But now when a child of God shall lie upon a dying bed, and shall be able to say, "Lord, you know, and conscience you know—that though I have had many and great failings—yet there are no beloved sins, no bosom sins, no darling sins, which are chargeable upon me! Lord, you know, and conscience you know:

1. That there is no known sin which I don't hate and abhor.

2. That there is no known sin which I don't combat and conflict with.

3. That there is no known sin which I don't grieve and mourn over.

4. That there is no known sin which I would not presently, freely, willingly, and heartily be rid of.

5. That there is no known sin which I don't in some weak measure, endeavor in the use of holy means, to be delivered from.

6. That there is no known sin, the effectual subduing and mortifying of which would not administer matter of the greatest joy and comfort to me!"

Now, when God and conscience shall acquit a man upon a dying bed of beloved sins, of bosom sins, of darling sins, who can express the joy, the comfort, the peace, the support that such an acquittance will fill a man with?

Fourthly, In the day of judgment, the very thoughts of which day, to many, is more terrible than death itself. Such Christians as are captivated under the power of this opinion, namely—that the saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins—such cannot but greatly fear and tremble to appear before the dread tribunal of God. "Oh!" says such poor hearts, "how shall we be able to answer for our beloved sins, our bosom sins, our darling sins. As for infirmities, weaknesses, and follies which have attended us, we can plead with God, and tell him—Lord! when grace has been weak, corruptions strong, temptations great, and your Spirit withdrawn, and we off from our watch—we have been beaten and captivated! But what shall we say as to our beloved sins, our bosom sins, our darling sins? Oh, these fill us with terror and horror, and how shall we be able to hold up our heads before the Lord, when he shall reckon with us for these sins!"

But now when a poor child of God thinks of the day of account, and is able, through grace, to say, "Lord, though we cannot clear ourselves of infirmities, and many sinful weaknesses—yet we can sincerely appeal to you and our consciences—that we have no beloved sins, no bosom sins, no darling sins!" Oh, with what comfort, confidence, and boldness will such poor hearts hold up their heads in the day of account, when a Christian can plead those six things before a judgment-seat, that he pleaded in the third particular, when he lay upon a dying bed! how will his fears vanish, and how will his hopes and heart revive, and how comfortably and boldly will he stand before a judgment-seat! But,

[9.] Ninthly, This opinion that is now under consideration, has a very great tendency to discourage and deaden the hearts of Christians to the most noble and spiritual duties of religion—namely,

1. Praising of God;

2. Delighting in God;

3. Rejoicing in God;

4. Admiring of God;

5. Taking full contentment and satisfaction in God;

6. Witnessing for God, his truth, his ordinances, and ways;

7. To self-trial and self-examination;

8. To the making of their calling and election sure.

I cannot see with what comfort, confidence, or courage such souls can apply themselves to these eight duties—who lie under the power of this opinion, namely, that saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins. But now when a Christian is clear, and he can clear himself, as every sincere Christian can, of beloved sins, of bosom sins, of darling sins—how is he upon the advantage ground to fall in roundly with all the eight duties last mentioned! But,

[10.] Tenthly and lastly, This opinion that is now under consideration, has a very great tendency to discourage multitudes of Christians from coming to the Lord's table. I would willingly know with what comfort, with what confidence, with what hope, with what expectation of good from God, or of good from the ordinance, can such souls draw near to the Lord's table, who lie under the power of this opinion or persuasion, that they carry about with them their bosom sins, their beloved sins, their darling sins. How can such souls expect that God should meet with them in the ordinance, and bless the ordinance to them? How can such souls expect that God should make that great ordinance to be strengthening, comforting, refreshing, establishing, and enriching unto them? How can such souls expect, that in that ordinance God should seal up to them his eternal loves, their saving interest in Christ, their right to the covenant, their title to heaven, and the remission of their sins—who bring to his table their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins?

But when the people of God draw near to the table of the Lord, and can appeal to God, that though they have many sinful failings and infirmities hanging upon them—yet they have no beloved sins, no bosom sins, no darling sins that they carry about with them—how comfortably and confidently may they expect that God will make that great ordinance a blessing to them, and that in time all those glorious ends for which that ordinance was appointed shall be accomplished in them, and upon them!

Now, by these ten arguments, you may see the weakness and falseness, yes, the dangerous nature of that opinion that many worthy men have so long preached, maintained, and printed to the world, namely—That the saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins; neither do I wonder that they should be so sadly out in this particular, when I consider how apt men are to receive things by tradition, without bringing of things to a strict examination; and when I consider what strange definitions of faith many famous, worthy men have given, both in their writings and preachings; and when I consider what a mighty noise many famous men have made about legal preparations, before men presume to close with Christ, or to give up themselves in a marriage covenant to Christ—most of them requiring men to be better Christians before they come to Christ, than commonly they prove after they are implanted into Christ, etc.

Now, though I have said enough, I suppose, to lay that opinion asleep that has been last under consideration, namely, That the saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins—yet for a close of this discourse, premise with me these five things:

[1.] First, That all unconverted people have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins. The beloved, the bosom, the darling sin of the Jews was idolatry. The beloved, the bosom, the darling sin of the Corinthians was uncleanness, wantonness, 1 Cor. 6:15, 20. The beloved, the bosom, the darling sin of the Cretans was lying, Titus 2:12. Jeroboam's beloved sin was idolatry, and Cain's beloved sin was envy, and Korah's beloved sin was gainsaying, and Esau's beloved sin was profaneness, and Ishmael's beloved sin was scoffing, and Balaam's beloved sin was ambition; Simeon and Levi's beloved sin was treachery, Manasseh's beloved sin was cruelty, and Nebuchadnezzar's beloved sin was pride, and Herod's beloved sin was uncleanness, and Judas' beloved sin was covetousness, and the young man's beloved sin in that 19th chapter of Matthew was worldly-mindedness, etc.

[2.] Secondly, Premise this with me, that the elect of God, before their conversion, had their beloved sins. Manasseh's beloved sin was cruelty; and Ephraim's beloved sin, before conversion, was idolatry, Hosea 4:17; and Zaccheus' beloved sin before conversion was worldly-mindedness and defrauding of others; and Paul's beloved sin, before conversion, was persecution; and the jailer's beloved sin, before conversion, was cruelty; and Mary Magdalene's beloved sin, before conversion, was wantonness and uncleanness, etc.

[3.] Thirdly, Premise this with me, namely, that after conversion there is no sin that the heart of a Christian is more seriously, more frequently, more resolutely, and more totally set against, than that which was once his beloved lust. The hatred, detestation, and indignation of a converted person breaks out and discovers itself most against that sin—which was once a beloved sin, a bosom sin, a darling sin. His care, his fear, his jealousy, his watchfulness is most exercised against that sin which was once the darling of his soul. The converted person eyes this sin as an old enemy; he looks upon this sin as the sin by which God has been most dishonored, and his own conscience most enslaved, and his immortal soul most endangered, and Satan most advantaged, and accordingly his spirit rises against it, Hosea 14:8; Isaiah 2:20, and 30:22. And all Christians' experience confirms this truth—but of this more before.

[4.] Fourthly, After conversion, a Christian endeavors to be most eminent in that particular grace which is most contrary and opposite to that sin which was once his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling sin. Zaccheus' beloved sin was worldliness and defrauding—but, being converted, he labors to excel in restitution and liberality. The jailer's beloved sin was severity and cruelty—but, being converted, he labors to excel in pity and courtesy. Paul's beloved sin was persecution—but, being converted, how mightily does he bestir himself to convert souls, and to edify souls, and to build up souls, and to strengthen souls, and to establish souls, and to encourage souls in the ways of the Lord—he gives it you under his own hand, "That he labored more abundantly than they all," 2 Cor. 11:23. Augustine's beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling sin, before his conversion, was wantonness and uncleanness—but, when he was converted, he was most careful and watchful to arm against that sin, and to avoid all temptations and occasions that might lead him to it afterwards.

If a man's beloved sin, before conversion, has been worldliness—then after conversion he will labor above all to excel in heavenly-mindedness. Or if his sin, his beloved sin, has been pride—then he will labor above all to excel in humility. Or if his beloved sin has been intemperance—then he will labor above all to excel in temperance and sobriety. Or if his beloved sin has been wantonness and uncleanness—then he will labor above all to excel in all chastity and purity. Or if his beloved sin has been oppressing of others—then he will labor above all to excel in piety and compassion towards others. Or if his beloved sin has been hypocrisy—then he will labor above all to excel in sincerity, etc. But,

[5.] Fifthly, Though no godly man, though no sincere gracious Christian has any beloved sin, and bosom, darling sin—yet there is no godly man, there is no sincere gracious soul—but has some sin or other to which they are more prone than to others. Every real Christian has his inclination towards one kind of sin rather than another—which may be called his special besetting sin, his peculiar sin, or his own iniquity, as David speaks in Psalm 18:23. Now the main power of grace and of uprightness, is mainly seen and exercised in a man's keeping of himself from his iniquity. Now that special, that besetting, that peculiar sin, to which a gracious soul may be most prone and addicted to, may arise—

1. From the temperament and constitution of his body. The complexion and constitution of a man's body may be a more prepared instrument for one vice rather than another; or,

2. It may arise from his particular calling. Christians have distinct and particular callings that incline them to particular sins. For instance, the soldier's calling puts him upon rapine and violence: Luke 3:14, "Do violence to no man." And the tradesman's calling puts him upon lying, deceiving, defrauding, and overreaching his brother. And the minister's calling puts him upon flattering of the rich and great ones of his parish, and upon pleasing the rest by speaking of smooth things, Isaiah 30:10, "and by sewing of pillows under their elbows," Ezek. 13:18, 20. And the magistrates', judges', and justices' employments lays them open to oppression, bribery, injustice, etc. If Christians are not very much upon their watch, their very callings and offices may prove a very great snare to their souls; or,

3. It may arise from his outward state and condition in this world, whether his state be a state of prosperity or a state of adversity, or whether he be in a marriage state or in a single state. Many times a man's outward state and condition in this world has a strong influence upon him to incline him to this or that particular sin, as best suiting with his condition; or,

4. It may arise from distinct and peculiar ages; for it is certain that distinct and peculiar ages do strongly incline people to distinct and peculiar sins. Youth inclines to wantonness and prodigality; and manhood inclines to pride and ambition; and old age inclines to covetousness and irritability. Common experience tells us that many times sexual immorality is the sinner's darling in the time of his youth, and worldliness his darling in the time of his mature age; and without controversy, Christians' distinct and peculiar ages may more strongly incline them to this or that sin rather than any other; or,

5. It may arise from that distinct and particular way of breeding and education which he has had.

Now to arm such Christians against their special sins, their peculiar sins—whose sins are advantaged against them, either by their constitutions and complexion, or else by their particular calling, or else by their outward state and condition, or else by their distinct and peculiar ages, or else by their particular way of breeding and education—is my present work and business; for though the reigning power of this or that special peculiar sin be broken in a man's conversion—yet the remaining life and strength which is still left in those corruptions, will by Satan be improved against the growth, peace, comfort, and assurance of the soul. Satan will strive to enter in at the same door; and by the same Delilah, by which he has betrayed and wounded the soul, he will do all he can, to do the soul a further mischief. Satan will be still a-reminding of the soul of those former sweets, pleasures, profits, delights, and contentments which have come in upon the old score, so that it will be a hard thing, even for a godly man, to keep himself from his iniquity, from his special or besetting, or peculiar sin, which the fathers commonly call, though not truly, a man's special darling and beloved sin.

Well, Christians, remember this once for all, namely—that sound conversion includes a noble and serious revenge upon that sin which was once a man's beloved, bosom, darling sin: 2 Cor. 7:11, "Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm." You see this in Cranmer, who when he had subscribed with his right hand to that which was against his conscience, he afterwards, as a holy revenge, put that right hand into the flames. Just so, Mary Magdalene takes that hair of hers. "Of all sins," says the sound convert, "I am resolved to be avenged on my once beloved, bosom, darling sins, by which I have most dishonored God, and wronged my own precious and immortal soul, and by which I have most endangered my everlasting estate."

Having thus cleared up my way, I shall now endeavor to lay before you some special remedies, means, or helps against cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life, against the Lord, or against the light and conviction of a man's own conscience.

1. First, Cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life, against the Lord, or against the light and conviction of a man's own conscience, will hinder assurance these several ways—

[1.] First, The cherishing of any special peculiar sin—will abate the degrees of our graces, and so make them less discernible. Now grace rather in its degrees than in its sincerity, or simple being only—is that which gives the clearest evidence of a gracious estate, or of a man's interest in Christ. Sin, lived in, is like a blight to the tree, which destroys the fruit. Grace cannot thrive in a sinful heart. In some soil, plants will not grow. The cherishing of sin—is the withering of grace. The casting of a favorable eye on any one special sin hinders the growth of grace. If a man has a choice plant or flower in his garden, and it withers and shrivels and is dying, he opens the ground and looks at the root, and there finds a worm gnawing the root; and this is the cause of the flower's fading—the application is easy.

[2.] Secondly, The cherishing of any special peculiar sin—will hinder the lively actings and exercise of grace; it will keep grace dormant, so that it will hardly be seen to stir or act; yes, it will keep grace so repressed, that it will hardly be heard to speak. When a special or peculiar sin is entertained, it will exceedingly mar the vigorous exercises of those graces which are the evidences of a lively faith, and of a gracious state, and of a man's interest in Christ. Grace is never apparent and sensible to the soul—but while it is in action; therefore lack of action must needs cause lack of assurance. Habits are not felt—but by the freeness and facility of their acts. Of the very being of the soul itself, nothing is felt or perceived—but only its acts. The fire that lies still in the flint, is neither seen nor felt—but when you smite it and force it into act, it is easily discernible. For the most part, so long as a Christian has his graces in lively action—just so long he is assured of them. He who would be assured that this sacred fire of grace is in his heart, he must blow it up and get it into a flame. But,

[3.] Thirdly, The cherishing of any special sin—so blears, dims, and darkens the eye of the soul, that it cannot see its own condition, nor have any clear knowledge of its gracious state, or of its interest in Christ, etc. Sometimes men in riding raise such a dust that they can neither see themselves nor their dearest friends, so as to distinguish one from another—the application is easy. The room sometimes is so full of smoke that a man cannot see the jewels, the treasures which lie before him; so it is here. But,

[4.] Fourthly, the cherishing of any special or peculiar sin—provokes the Lord to withdraw himself, his comforts, and the gracious presence and assistance of his blessed Spirit; without which presence and assistance the soul may search and seek long enough for assurance, comfort, and a sight of a man's interest in Christ, before it will enjoy the one or see the other. If by keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord, you set the Holy Spirit a-mourning, who alone can comfort you, and assure you of your interest in Christ, you may walk long enough without comfort and assurance, Lam 1:16. "The Comforter who should relieve my soul, is far from me;" so in that 1 John 3:21, it is supposed that a self-condemning heart makes void a man's confidence before God.

The precious jewel of faith can be held in no other place—but in a pure conscience; which is the only royal palace wherein it must and will dwell: 1 Tim, 1:19, "Holding faith and a good conscience:" Heb. 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." He who comes to God with a true, honest, upright heart, being sprinkled from an evil conscience, may draw near to God in full assurance of faith. Whereas guilt clouds, clogs, and distracts the soul, that it can never be with God, either as it would or as it should. A good conscience has sure confidence. Conscience is a thousand witnesses for or against a man. Conscience is God's preacher in the bosom. It is better, with Evagrius, to lie secure on a bed of straw—than to have a turbulent conscience on a bed of down. It was a divine saying of Seneca, a heathen, namely, "That if there were no God to punish him, no devil to torment him, no hell to burn him, no man to see him—yet would he not sin, for the ugliness of sin, and the grief of his own conscience." But,

[5.] Fifthly, The cherishing of any special peculiar sin—will greatly hinder his high esteem and reputation of Jesus Christ, and so it will keep him from comfort and assurance of his interest in him, so that sometimes his dearest children are constrained to cry out, "God has departed from me, and he answers me not, neither by dream nor vision, neither this way nor that," 1 Sam. 28:15. But,

[6.] Sixthly, The greatest and most common cause of the lack of assurance, comfort, and peace—is some unmortified lust, some secret, special, peculiar sin, unto which men give entertainment; or at least, which they do not so vigorously oppose, and heartily renounce as they should and might. This is that which casts them on sore straits and difficulties. And how should it be otherwise, seeing God, who is infinitely wise, holy, and righteous, either cannot or will not reveal the secrets of his love to those who harbor his known enemies in their bosoms? The great God either cannot, or will not, regard the whinings and complainings of those who play or dally with that very sin which galls their consciences; and who connive and wink at the stirrings and workings of that very lust for which he hides his face from them, and writes "bitter things against them."

Mark, all fears and doubts and scruples are begotten upon sin—either real or imaginary. Now, if the sin is but imaginary, an enlightened rectified judgment may easily and quickly scatter such fears, doubts, and scruples, as the sun does mists and clouds, when it shines in its brightness. But if the sin is real, then there is no possibility of curing those fears, doubts, and scruples arising from thence—but by an unfeigned repentance and returning from that sin. Now, if I should produce all the scriptures and instances that stand ready pressed to prove this, I must transcribe a good part of the Bible—but this would be labor in vain, seeing it seems to have been a notion engraved even on natural conscience, namely, that sin so defiles people, that until they are washed from it, neither they nor their services can be accepted; from whence arose that custom of setting water-pots at their entrance into their temples or places of worship.

Let him who lacks assurance, comfort, peace, and a sight of his interest in Christ, cast out every known sin, and set upon a universal course of reformation; for God will not give his cordials to those who have a foul stomach. Those who, against light and checks of conscience, dally and tamper with this sin or that sin, those God will have no commerce, no communion with; on such God will not lift up the light of his countenance: Rev. 2:17, "To him who overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in that stone, a new name written." These are all metaphorical expressions, which, being put together, do amount to as much as assurance—but mark, these are promised, "to him who overcomes," to him who rides on conquering and to conquer.

Oh, that Christians would seriously remember this! The dearer it cost anyone to part with his sins, the more sweet and comfortable will it be to call to mind the victory that through the Spirit of grace he has gotten over his sins. There is no comfort, joy, or peace, compared to that which arises from the conquests of sin, especially of special sins. When Goliath was slain, what joy and triumph was there in the camp! So here.

[7.] Seventhly, Cherishing of any special or peculiar sin—will hinder the soul from that warm, lively, fervent, frequent, seasonable, sincere, and constant way of duty, as contributes most to the increase of grace, peace, comfort, and assurance, etc.

[8.] Eighthly, Seriously consider of the several assertions and concurrent judgments of our best and most famous divines in the present case. I shall give you a taste of some of their sayings.

1. "A man," says one, "can have no peace in his conscience—who favors and retains any one sin in himself against his conscience."

2. Another says, "A man is in a damnable state, whatever good deeds seem to be in him—if he yields not to the work of the Holy Spirit for the leaving but of any one known sin which fights against peace of conscience." But,

3. "So long," says another, "as the power of mortification destroys your sinful affections, and so long as you are sincerely displeased with all sin, and do mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit—your case is the case of salvation." But,

4. Another says, "A good conscience stands not with a purpose of sinning, no, not with irresolution against sin." This must be understood of habitual purposes, and of a constant irresolution against sin.

5. "The rich and precious box of a good conscience," says another, "is polluted and made impure, if but one dead fly is allowed in it. One sin being quietly permitted, and allowed to live in the soul without being disturbed, resisted, resolved against, or lamented over, will certainly mar the peace of a good conscience."

6. "Where there is but any one sin," says another, "nourished and fostered, all other our graces are not only blemished—but abolished; they are no graces."

7. Most true is that saying of Aquinas, "All sins are coupled together, so that he who looks but towards one sin is as much averted and turned back from God as if he looked to all; in which respect James says, 'He who offends in one, is guilty of all,' James 2:10." Now, that you may not mistake Aquinas, nor the scripture he cites, you must remember that the whole law is but one whole, Exod. 16:18; Ezek. 18:10-13. Mark, he who breaks one command habitually, breaks all; not so actually. Such as are truly godly in respect of the habitual desires, purposes, bents, biases, inclinations, resolutions, and endeavors of their souls—do keep those very commands that actually they daily break. But a dispensatory conscience keeps not any one commandment of God. He who willingly and willfully and habitually gives himself liberty to break any one commandment, is guilty of all; that is, 1. Either he breaks the chain of duties, and so breaks all the law, being a whole; or, 2. With the same disposition of heart, that he willingly, willfully, habitually breaks one commandment, with the same disposition of heart he is ready pressed to break all. The apostle's meaning in that James 2:10, is certainly this, namely, that suppose a man should keep the whole law for substance, except in some one particular—yet by allowing of himself in this particular, thereby he manifests that he kept no precept of the law in obedience and conscience unto God; for if he did, then he would be careful to keep every precept. Thus much the words following import, and hereby he manifests that he is guilty of all. Some others conceive that therefore such a one may be said to be guilty of all, because by allowing of himself in any one sin, thereby he lies under that curse which is threatened against the transgressors of the law, Deut. 27:26.

8. "Every Christian should carry in his heart," says another, "a constant and resolute purpose not to sin in anything; for faith and the purpose of sinning can never stand together." This must be understood of a habitual, not actual; of a constant, not transient purpose. But,

9. "One flaw in a diamond," says another, "takes away the luster and the price." One puddle, if we wallow in it, will defile us. Just so, one sin lived in, and allowed, may make a man miserable forever. But,

10. One wrong turn, may bring a man quite out of the way. One act of treason makes a traitor. Gideon had seventy sons—but one bastard, and yet that one bastard destroyed all the rest, Judg. 8:31. "One sin, lived in and allowed, may destroy much good," says another.

11. "He who favors one sin, though he forego many, does but as Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another; yes, he does but take pains to go to hell," says another.

12. "Satan, by one lie to our first parents, made fruitless what God himself had preached to them immediately before," says another.

13. A man may, by one short act of sin, bring a long curse upon himself and his posterity, as Ham did when he saw his father Noah drunk: Gen. 9:24-25, "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, Cursed is Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Canaan was Ham's son. Noah, as God's mouth, prophesied a curse upon the son for his father's sin. Here Ham is cursed in his son Canaan, and the curse entailed not only to Canaan—but to his posterity. Noah prophesies a long series and chain of curses upon Canaan and his children. He makes the curse hereditary to the name and nation of the Canaanites: "A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," that is, the vilest and basest servant; for the Hebrew expresses the superlative degree by such a duplication as "vanity of vanities;" that is, most vain; a "song of songs;" that is, a most excellent song. Just so, here, "a servant of servants;" that is, the vilest, the basest servant. Ah, heavy and prodigious curse, upon the account of one sin! But,

14. Satan can be content that men should yield to God in many things, provided that they will be but true to him in some one thing; for he knows very well, that as one grain of poison may poison a man, and one stab at the heart may kill a man; so one sin unrepented of, one sin allowed, retained, cherished, and practiced, will certainly damn a man. But,

15. Though all the parts of a man's body are healthy, except only one, that one diseased and ulcerous part may be deadly to you; for all the sound members cannot preserve your life—but that one diseased and ulcerous member will hasten your death; so one sin allowed, indulged, and lived in, will prove killing and damning to you.

16. "Observe," says another, "that an unmortified sin allowed and willfully retained, will eat out all appearance of virtue and piety. Herod's high esteem of John and his ministry, and his reverencing of him and listening to him, and his performance of many good things, are all given over and laid aside at the instance and command of his master-sin, his reigning sin. John's head must go for it—if he won't let Herod enjoy his Herodias quietly." But,

17. Some will leave all their sins but one; Jacob would let all his sons go but Benjamin. Satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin which he allows and lives in, as the fowler can hold the bird fast enough by one wing or by one claw.

18. Holy Polycarp, in the time of persecution, when he was commanded but to swear one oath, he made this answer: "Eighty-six years have I endeavored to do God service, and all this while he never hurt me; how then can I speak evil of so good a Lord and Master who has thus long preserved me! I am a Christian, and cannot swear; let heathens and infidels swear if they will, I cannot do it, were it to the saving of my life."

19. A willing and a willful keeping up, either in heart or life, any known transgression against the Lord, is a breach of the holy law of God; it is a fighting against the honor and glory of God, and is a reproach to the eye of God, the omnipresence of God.

20. The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord may endanger the souls of others, and may be found a-fighting against all the cries, prayers, tears, promises, vows, and covenants that you have made to God, when you have been upon a sick-bed, or in eminent dangers, or near death; or else when you have been in solemn seeking of the Lord, either alone or with others. These things should be frequently and seriously thought of, by such poor fools as are entangled by any lust.

21. The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord, either in heart or life, is a high tempting of Satan to tempt the soul; it will also greatly unfit the soul for all sorts of duties and services that he either owes to God, to himself, or others; it will also put a sting into all a man's troubles, afflictions, and distresses; it will also lay a foundation for despair; and it will make death, which is the king of terrors, and the terror of kings—to be very terrible to the soul.

22. The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord, either in heart or life, will fight against all those patterns and examples in Holy Writ—who in duty and honor we are bound to imitate and follow. Pray, where do you find in any of the blessed Scriptures, that any of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, or saints are ever charged with a willing or a wilful keeping up, either in their hearts or lives, any known transgression against the Lord?

23. The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord will highly hinder against all clear, sweet, and standing communion with God. Parents do not smile at their children, nor keep up any intimate communion with them—-while they persist in disobedience. It is so here.

24. The keeping up, either in heart or life, of any known transgression against the Lord, will fight against the continual joy, peace, comfort, and assurance of the soul. Joy in the Holy Spirit will make its nest nowhere, but in a holy soul. Just so far as the Spirit is grieved, he will suspend his consolations, Lam. 1:16. A man will have no more comfort from God, than he makes conscience of sinning against God. A conscience good in point of integrity, will be good also in point of tranquility. "If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God," Acts 24:16. Oh, what comfort and solace has a clear conscience! he has something within to answer accusations without.

I shall conclude this particular with a notable saying of Bernard, "The joys of a good conscience are the paradise of souls, the delight of angels, the garden of delights, the field of blessing, the temple of Solomon, the court of God, the habitation of the Spirit."

25. The keeping up of any known transgression, either in heart or life, against the Lord, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye of God, of the omnipresence of God. It is well known what Ahasuerus, that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when coming in, he found him cast upon the queen's bed on which she sat; "What!" says he, "Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?" Esther 7:8. There was the killing emphasis in the words, "before my very eyes!" What! will he dare to commit such a villainy—as I stand and look on? O sirs! to do wickedly in the sight of God, is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him. "What!" says he, "Will you be drunk before me, and swear and blaspheme before me, and be wanton and unclean before me, and break my laws before my eyes!" This, then, is the killing aggravation of all sin—that is done before the face of God, in the presence of God! The very consideration of God's omnipresence, that he stands and looks on, should be as a bar, to stop the proceedings of all wicked intensions, and a great dissuasive from sin.

It was an excellent saying of Ambrose, "If you can not hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide yourself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun." God's eye is the best marshal to keep the soul in a lovely order. Let your eye be ever on him whose eye is ever on you. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good," Proverbs 15:9. There is no drawing of a curtain between God and you. God is all eye; he sees all things, in all places, and at all times. When you are in secret, consider conscience is present, which is more than a thousand witnesses; and God is present, which is more than a thousand consciences.

One had his chamber painted full of eyes, that which way soever he looked he might still have some eyes upon him; and he fancying, according to the moralist's advice, always under the eye of a keeper, might be the more careful of his behavior. O sirs! if the eyes of men make even the vilest to forbear their beloved lusts for a while, that the adulterer watches for the twilight, and "they who are drunken are drunken in the night," how powerful will the eye and presence of God be with those who fear his anger and know the sweetness of his favor! The thought of this omnipresence of God will affrighten you from sin.

Gehazi dared not ask or receive any part of Naaman's presents in his master's presence—but when he had got out of Elisha's sight, then he tells his lie, and gives way to his lusts. Men never sin more freely than when they presume upon secrecy; "They break in pieces your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They slay the widow and stranger, and murder the fatherless," yet they say, "The Lord does not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it," Psalm 94:5-7. Those who abounded in abominations said, "The Lord sees us not, the Lord has forsaken the earth," Ezek. 8:9, 12. The godly man is dissuaded from wickedness, upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience. "And why will you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger; for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings," Proverbs 5:20-21.

Joseph saw God in the room, and therefore dared not yield to lust. But Potiphar's wife saw none but Joseph, and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to immorality.

I have read of two pious men who took contrary courses with two harlots, whom they were desirous to reclaim from their wicked course of life.

One of the men told one of the women, that he was desirous to enjoy her company in secret. After she had brought him into a private room, and locked the door, he told her, "All your bars and bolts cannot keep God out!"

The other pious man asked the other harlot to be unchaste with him openly in the streets--which she rejected as an insane request. He then told her, "It was better to do it before the eyes of a crowd--than before the eyes of the all-seeing God!"

Oh, why shall not the presence of that God who hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames, make us ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare him to his face!

26. There have been many a prodigal, who, by one cast of the dice, have lost a fair inheritance. A man may be killed with one stab of a penknife; one hole in a ship may sink it; one thief may rob a man of all he has in the world. A man may escape many gross sins, and yet, by living in the allowance of some one sin, be deprived of the glory of heaven forever. Moses came within the sight of Canaan—but for one sin—not sanctifying God's name—he was shut out. And no less will it be to any man who, for living in any one sin, shall be forever shut out of the kingdom of heaven; not but that there may be some remainders of sin, and yet the heart taken off from every sin—but if there be any secret closing with any one way of sin, all the profession of godliness and leaving all other sins will be to no purpose, nor ever bring a man to happiness.

27. As the philosopher says, a cup or some such thing that has a hole in it is no cup; it will hold nothing, and therefore cannot perform the use of a cup, though it have but one hole in it. Just so, if the heart has but one hole in it, if it retains the devil but in one thing, if it makes choice but of any one sin to lie and wallow in, and tumble in, it does evacuate all the other good, by the entertainment of that one sin. The whole box of ointment will be spoiled by the dropping of that one fly into it. In the state of grace, no man can have a full interest in Christ until all reigning, domineering sin, is rooted out.

Thus you see the concurrent judgments of our most famous divines, against men's allowing, indulging, or retaining any one known sin against their light and consciences.

But that these sayings of theirs may lie in more weight and power upon every poor soul that is entangled with any base lusts, be pleased seriously and frequently to consider of these following particulars—

[1.] First, It is to no purpose for a man to turn from some sins, if he does not turn from all his sins. James 1:26. "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." This, at first sight, may seem to be a hard saying, that for one fault, for one fault in the tongue, all a man's religion should be counted vain—and yet this, you see, the Holy Spirit does peremptorily conclude. Let a man make ever so glorious a profession of religion—yet, if he gives himself liberty to live in the practice of any known sin, yes, though it be but in a sin of the tongue, his religion is in worthless, and that one sin will separate him from God forever. If a wife be ever so submissive to her husband in many things—yet if she entertains any other lover into his bed besides himself, it will forever alienate his affections from her, and make an everlasting separation between them. The application is easy.

To turn from one sin to another sin—is but to be tossed from one hand of the devil to another; it is but, with Benhadad, to recover of one disease and die of another; it is but to take pains to go to hell. If a ship spring three leaks, and only two be stopped, the third will sink the ship; or if a man has two grievous wounds in his body, and takes order only to cure one, that which is neglected will certainly kill him. It is so here. Herod, Judas, and Saul, with the scribes and Pharisees, have for many hundred years experienced this truth. But,

[2.] Secondly, Partial obedience is not true obedience. It is only universal obedience, which is true obedience. Exod. 24:7, "All that the Lord has said—will we do, and be obedient." Those only are indeed obedient—who have a desire to do all that is commanded; for to obey is to do that which is commanded, because it is commanded. Though the thing done is commanded—yet if it be not therefore done because it is commanded, it is not genuine obedience. Now, if this is the nature of obedience, then where obedience is genuine, it is not partial—but universal; for he who does any one thing that is commanded because it is commanded, he will be careful to do everything that is commanded, there being the same reason for all. Those who are only for a partial obedience, they do break asunder the bond and reason of all obedience; for all obedience is to be founded upon the authority and will of God, because God, who has authority over all his creatures, does will and command us to obey his voice, to walk in his statutes. For this very reason do we stand bound to obey him; and if we do obey him upon this reason, then must we walk in all his statutes, for so has he commanded us. And if we will not come up to this—but will walk in only those statutes of his we please, then do we renounce his will as the obliging reason of our obedience, and do set up our own liking and pleasure as the reason thereof.

God has so connected the duties of his law one to another, that if there is not a conscientious care to walk according to all that the law requires, a man becomes a transgressor of the whole law; according to James 2:10, "Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." The bond of all is broken, the authority of all is slighted, and that evil disposition, that sinful frame of heart, that works a man to venture upon the breach of one command, would make him venture upon the breach of any command, were it not for some infirmity of nature, or because his purse will not hold out to maintain it, or for shame, or loss, or because of the eyes of friends, or the sword of the magistrate, or for some other sinister respects. He who gives himself liberty to live in the breach of any one command of God, is qualified with a disposition of heart to break them all.

Every single sin contains virtually all sin in it. He who allows himself a liberty to live in the breach of any one particular law of God, he casts contempt and scorn upon the authority that made the whole law, and upon this account breaks it all. And the apostle gives the reason of it in verse 11; for he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not kill." Now, if you commit no adultery—yet if you kill, you have become a transgressor of the law; not that he is guilty of all individually—but collectively; for the law is a whole, there is a chain of duties, and these are all so linked one to another, that you cannot break one link of the chain—but you break the whole chain. No man can live in the breach of any known command of God—but he wrongs every command of God. He has no real regard to any of the commandments of God, who has not a regard to all the commandments of God. There is one and the same lawgiver in respect of all the commandments; he who gave one command gave also another. Therefore he who observes one commandment in obedience unto God, whose commandment it is, he will observe all, because all are his commandments; and he who slights one commandment is guilty of all, because he despises the authority of him who gave them all. Even in those commandments which he does observe, he has no respect to the will and authority of him who gave them; therefore, as Calvin does well observe upon James 2:10-11, "That there is no obedience towards God, where there is not a uniform endeavor to please God, as well in one thing as in another."

[3.] Thirdly, Partial obedience tends to plain atheism; for by the same reason that you slight the will of God in any commandment, by the same reason you may despise his will in every commandment; for every commandment of God is his will, and it is "holy, spiritual, just, and good," Romans 7:12, 14, and contrary to our sinful lusts. And if this is the reason why such and such commandments of God don't hold sway over you, then by the same reason none of them must be of authority with you.

[4.] Fourthly, God requires universal obedience: Deut. 5:33, etc., and 10:12, and 11:21-22, etc.; and Jer. 7:23, "Walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you;" Mat. 28:20, "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you," etc.

[5.] Fifthly, Partial obedience is an audacious charge against God himself, as to his wisdom, or power, or goodness; for those statutes of God which you will not obey—either they are as righteous as the rest, and as holy as the rest, and as spiritual as the rest, and as good as the rest—or they are not. If they are as holy, spiritual, just, righteous, and good as the rest—why should you not walk in them as well as in the rest? To say they are not as holy, spiritual, righteous, etc., as the rest—Oh what a blasphemous charge is this against God himself, in prescribing unto him anything that is not righteous and good, etc., and likewise in making his will, which is the rule of all righteousness and goodness—to be partly righteous and partly unrighteous—to be partly good and partly bad.

[6.] Sixthly, God delights in universal obedience, and in those who perform it: Deut. 5:29, "that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always." Upon this account Abraham is called the friend of God in Scripture three times, Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chron. 20:7; James 2:3. And upon the very same account God called David "a man after his own heart:" Acts 13:22, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who shall fulfill all my will,"—or, all my wills, to note the universality and sincerity of his obedience.

[7.] Seventhly, There is not any one statute of God but it is good and for our good; consequently, we should walk in all his statutes: Deut. 5:25, "You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you." What one path has the Lord commanded us to walk in—but as it concerns his own glory, so likewise it concerns our good?

Is it not good for us to love the Lord, and to set him up as the object of our fear, and to act faith on him, and to worship him in spirit and in truth, and to be tender of his glory, and to sanctify his day, and to keep off from sin, and to keep close to his ways? But,

[8.] Eighthly, Universal obedience is the condition upon which the promise of mercy and salvation runs: Ezek. 18:21, "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all his statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die."

[9.] Ninthly, Our hearts must be perfect with the Lord our God: Deut. 18:13, "You shall be perfect with the Lord your God;" and Gen. 17:1, "Walk before me, and be perfect." Now, how can our hearts be said to be perfect with God—if we do equivocate with him; if in some things we obey him—and in other things we will not obey him; if we walk in some of his statutes—but will not walk in all his statutes; if in some parts we will be his servants—and in another parts of our lives we will be the servants of sin. But,

[10.] Tenthly, If the heart be sound and upright, it will yield entire and universal obedience: Psalm 119:80, "Let my heart be sound in your statutes, that I may not be ashamed;" and verse 6, "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all your commandments." By these verses, compared together, it appears that the heart is sound and sincere—when a man has respect unto all God's commandments. Without a universal obedience, a man can never have that "hope which makes not ashamed." But,

[11.] Eleventhly, Either we must endeavor to walk in all the statutes of God, or else we must find some dispensation or toleration from God to free us, and excuse us, though we do not walk in all of them. Now, what one commandment is there from obedience whereunto, God excuses any man, or will not punish him for the neglect of obedience unto it? The apostle says, "That whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," James 2:10. If he equivocates with God, as to any one particular commandment of his, his heart is bad; he is guilty of all, he has really no regard of any of the rest of God's laws. But,

[12.] Twelfthly, The precious saints and servants of God, whose examples are recorded, and set forth for our imitation, they have been very careful to perform universal obedience. You see it in Abraham, who was ready to comply with God in all his royal commands. When God commanded him to leave his country, and his father's house, he did it, Gen. 12. When God commanded him to be circumcised, though it were both shameful and painful, he submitted unto it, Gen. 17. When God commanded him to send away his son Ishmael, though when Sarah spoke to him about it, the thing seemed very grievous unto him—yet as soon as he saw it to be the will of God, he was obedient unto it, Gen. 21. When God commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac, his only son, the son of his old age, the son of the promise, the son of his delight; yes, that son from whom was to proceed that Jesus in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and though all this might seem to cross both nature and grace, both reason and religion—yet Abraham was willing to obey God in this also, and to do what he commanded, Gen. 22. Just so, David was "a man after God's own heart," who fulfilled all his wills, as the original runs in Acts 13:22. And it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth, walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, etc., Luke 1:6; 1 Thes. 2:10, "You are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you who believe."

[13.] Thirteenthly, Universal obedience speaks out the strength of our love to Christ, and the reality of our friendship with Christ, John 15:14, "You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you." That child shows most love to his father—who observes all his precepts; and that servant shows most love to his master—who observes all his master's commands; and that wife shows most love to her husband—who observes all he requires in the Lord. Just so, here, etc.

[14.] Fourteenthly, Universal obedience will give most peace, rest, quiet, and comfort to the conscience. Such a Christian will be as an eye that has no mote to trouble it; as a kingdom that has no rebel to annoy it; as a ship that has no leak to disturb it: Psalm 119:165, "Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble." But,

[15.] Fifteenthly, Man's holiness must be conformable to God's holiness: Eph. 5:1-2, "Be followers of God as dear children;" Mat. 5:48, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Now "God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works," and so ought all to desire and endeavor to be—who would be saved: 1 Pet. 1:15-16, "But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy. For he himself has said—You must be holy because I am holy." But,

[16.] Sixteenthly, The holiness of a Christian must be conformable to the holiness of Christ, "Be followers of me, as I am of Christ," 1 Cor. 11:1. Now Christ was holy in all things. "It behooves us," said he, "to fulfill all righteousness." And this should be the care of everyone who professes himself to be Christ's, to endeavor "to be holy as Christ was holy." 1 John 2:6, "He who says he abides in him, ought himself to walk even as he walked." But,

[17.] Seventeenthly, Servants must obey their earthly masters, not in some things only—but in all things which are just and lawful: Titus 2:9, "Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things." What master will be content that his servant should choose how far forth he will observe and do those things which he does require of him? Much less may we think that such arbitrary and partial performances will please that God, who is our heavenly Master.

[18.] Eighteenthly, The promises of mercy, both spiritual and temporal, are made over to universal obedience, 1 Kings 6:12-13; Deut. 28:1-3; Ezek. 18:21-22, 27-28. Turn to all these promises and dilate on them, etc.

[19.] Nineteenthly, One sin never goes alone, as you may see in the falls of Adam and Eve, Lot, Abraham, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Job, David, Solomon, Peter, Ahab, Judas, Jeroboam. One sin will make way for more; as one little thief can open the door to let in many great ones. Satan will be sure to nest himself, to lodge himself in the least sins, as birds nest and lodge themselves in the smallest branches of the tree, and there he will do all he can to hatch all manner of wickedness. A little wedge makes way for a greater; and so do little sins make way for greater.

[20.] Twentiethly, The reasons of turning from sin are universally binding to a gracious soul. There are the same reasons and grounds for a penitent man's turning from every sin as there is for his turning from any one particular sin. Do you turn from this or that sin because the Lord has forbid it? why! upon the same ground you must turn from every sin; for God has forbid every sin as well as this or that particular sin. There is the same authority forbidding or commanding, in all; and if the authority of God awes a man from committing one sin, it will awe him from all, etc. But,

[21.] Twenty-firstly, One sin allowed and lived in, will keep Christ and the soul asunder. As one rebel, one traitor, hidden and kept in the house, will keep a prince and his subjects asunder; or as one stone in the pipe will keep the water and the cistern asunder; so here. But,

[22.] Twenty-secondly, One sin allowed and lived in, will unfit a person for suffering; as one cut in the shoulder may hinder a man from carrying a burden. Will he ever lay down his life for Christ, who can't, who won't lay down a lust for Christ? But,

[23.] Twenty-thirdly, One sin allowed and lived in, is sufficient to deprive a man forever of the greatest good. One sin allowed and wallowed in, will as certainly deprive a man of the blessed vision of God, and of all the treasures, pleasures, and delights which are at God's right hand, as a thousand. One sin stripped the fallen angels of all their glory; and one sin stripped our first parents of all their dignity and excellency, Gen. 3:4-5. One fly in the box of precious ointment spoils the whole box; one thief may rob a man of all his treasure; one disease may deprive a man of all his health; and one drop of poison will spoil the whole glass of wine: and so one sin allowed and lived in will make a man miserable forever. One millstone will sink a man to the bottom of the sea, as well as a hundred. It is so here. But,

[24.] Twenty-fourthly, One sin allowed and lived in, will eat out all peace of conscience. As one jarring string will spoil the sweetest music; so one sin countenanced and lived in will spoil the music of conscience. One pirate may rob a man of all he has in this world. But,

[25.] Twenty-fifthly and lastly, The sinner would have God to forgive him, not only some of his sins—but all his sins; and therefore it is but just and equal that he should turn from all his sins. If God is so faithful and just to forgive us all our sins, we must be so faithful and just as to turn from all our sins. The plaster must be as broad as the sore, and the scalpel as long and as deep as the wound. It argues horrid hypocrisy, damnable folly, and astonishing impudency, for a man to beg the pardon of those very sins that he is resolved never to forsake, etc.

OBJECTION. But it is impossible for any man on earth to walk in all God's statutes, to obey all his commands, to do his will in all things, to walk according to the full breadth of God's royal law.

SOLUTION. I answer, there is a twofold walking in all the statutes of God; there is a twofold obedience to all the royal commands of God.

(1.) First, One is legal, when all is done which God requires; and all is done as God requires, when there is not one path of duty—but we do walk in it perfectly and continually. Thus no man on earth does or can walk in all God's statutes, or fully do what he commands. "We all stumble in many ways," James 3:2. Just so, Eccles. 7:20, "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." 1 Kings 8:46, "For there is no man who sins not." Proverbs 20:9, "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" Job 14:4, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." 1 John 1:8, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

(2.) Secondly, Another is evangelical, which is such a walking in all the statutes of God, and such a keeping of all the commands of God, as is in Christ accepted of, and accounted of—as if we did keep them all. This walking in all God's statutes, and keeping of all his commandments, and doing of them all, is not only possible—but it is also actual in every believer, in every sincere Christian. It consists in these particulars—

[1.] First, Evangelical obedience consists in the approbation of all the statutes and commandments of God. Romans 7:12, "The commandment is holy, and just, and good." Ver. 16, "I consent unto the law that it is good." There is both assent and consent. Psalm 119:128, "I esteem all your precepts concerning all things to be right." A sincere Christian approves of all divine commands, though he cannot perfectly keep all divine commands. But,

[2.] Secondly, Evangelical obedience consists in a conscientious submission unto the authority of all the statutes of God. Every command of God has an authority within his heart, and over his heart. Psalm 119:161, "My heart stands in awe of your word." A sincere Christian stands in awe of every known command of God, and has a spiritual regard unto them all. Psalm 119:6, "I have respect unto all your commandments." But,

[3.] Thirdly, Evangelical obedience consists in a cordial willingness and a cordial desire to walk in all the statutes of God, and to obey all the commands of God. Romans 7:18, "For to will is present with me." Psalm 119:5, "O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes!" Ver. 8, "I will keep your statutes." But,

[4.] Fourthly, Evangelical obedience consists in a sweet delight in all God's commands. Psalm 119:47, "I delight in your commands because I love them." Romans 7:22, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man." But,

[5.] Fifthly, He who obeys sincerely—obeys universally. Though not in regard of practice, which is impossible—yet in regard of affection, he loves all the commands of God, yes, he dearly loves those very commands of God which he cannot obey, by reason of the infirmity of the flesh, by reason of that body of sin and death which he carries about with him. Ponder upon Psalm 119:97, "O how I love your law!" Such a pang of love he felt, as could not otherwise be vented—but by this heartfelt exclamation, "O how I love your law," vers. 113, 163, 127, 159, 167. Ponder upon all these verses. But,

[6.] Sixthly, A sincere Christian obeys all the commands of God; he is universal in his obedience, in respect of valuation or esteem. He highly values all the commands of God; he highly prizes all the commands of God; as you may clearly see by comparing these scriptures together, Psalm 119:72, 127, 128, 19:8-11; Job 23:12. But,

[7.] Seventhly, A sincere Christian is universal in his obedience, in respect of his purpose and resolution; he purposes and resolves, by divine assistance, to obey all, to keep all. Psalm 119:106, "I have sworn, and will perform it, that I will keep your righteous judgments." Psalm 17:3, "I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." But,

[8.] Eighthly, A sincere Christian is universal in his obedience, in respect of his inclination; he has an habitual inclination in him to keep all the commands of God, 1 Kings 8:57-58; 2 Chron. 30:17-20; Psalm 119:112, "I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes always, even to the end." But,

[9.] Ninthly and lastly, Their evangelical keeping of all the commands of God, consists in their sincere endeavor to keep them all; they put out themselves in all the ways and parts of obedience; they do not willingly and wittingly slight or neglect any commandment—but are striving to conform themselves thereunto. As a dutiful son does all his father's commands, at least in point of endeavor; just so, sincere Christians make conscience of keeping all the commands of God in respect of endeavors. Psalm 119:59, "I turned my feet unto your testimonies."

God esteems of evangelical obedience as perfect obedience. Zacharias had his failings, he did hesitate through unbelief, for which he was struck dumb—yet the text tells you, "That he walked in all the commandments of the Lord blameless," Luke 1:6, because he did cordially desire and endeavor to obey God in all things. Evangelical obedience is true for the essence, though not perfect for the degree. A child of God obeys all the commands of God—in respect of all his sincere desires, purposes, resolutions, and endeavors; and this God accepts in Christ for perfect and complete obedience. This is the glory of the covenant of grace, that God accepts and esteems of sincere obedience as perfect obedience. Such who sincerely endeavor to keep the whole law of God—they do keep the whole law of God in an evangelical sense, though not in a legal sense. A sincere Christian is for the first table as well as the second, and the second as well as the first. He does not adhere to the first and neglect the second, as hypocrites do; neither does he adhere to the second and despise the first, as profane men do.

O Christians, for your support and comfort, know that when your desires and endeavors are to do the will of God entirely, as well in one thing as in another, God will graciously pardon your failings, and pass by your imperfections. "He will spare you as a man spares his son who serves him," Mal. 3:17. Though a father sees his son to fail, and come short in many things which he enjoins him to do—yet knowing that his desires and endeavors are to serve him, and please him to the full, he will not be rigid and severe with him—but will be indulgent to him, and will spare him, and pity him, and show all love and kindness to him. The application is easy, etc.

What is that faith which gives a man a saving interest in Christ, and in all those blessed benefits and favors which come by Christ?

The second question or case is this—What is that faith which gives a man a saving interest in Christ, and in all those blessed benefits and favors which come by Christ? or whether that person who experiences the following particulars, may not safely, groundedly, and comfortably conclude that his faith is a true, justifying, saving faith, the faith of God's elect, and such a faith as clearly evidences a gracious estate, and will certainly bring the soul to heaven? Now, in answer to this important question, we may suppose the poor believer is ready to express himself thus—

[1.] First, Upon search and sad experience, I find myself a poor, lost, miserable, and undone creature—as the Scriptures everywhere do evidence, Eph. 2:1-2, 5, 12; Col. 2:13; Romans 8:7; Luke 19:10.

[2.] Secondly, I am convinced that it is not in myself to deliver myself out of this lost, miserable, and forlorn estate. Could I make as many prayers as might be piled up between heaven and earth, and weep as much blood as there is water in the sea—yet all this could not procure the pardon of one sin, nor one smile from God, etc.

[3.] Thirdly, I am convinced that it is not in angels or men to deliver me out of my lost, miserable, and undone condition. I know provoked justice must be satisfied, divine wrath pacified, my sins pardoned, my heart renewed, my state changed, etc., or my soul can never be saved; and I know it is not in angels or men to do any of these things for me.

[4.] Fourthly, I find that I stand in absolute need of a Savior to save me from wrath to come, 1 Thes. 1:10, "to save me from the curse of the law," Gal. 10, 13, "and to save me from infernal flames," Isaiah 33:14; so that I may well cry out with those in Acts 2:37, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" and with the jailer, Acts 16:36, "Sirs, what shall I do to be saved?"

[5.] Fifthly, I see and know that there is an utter impossibility of obtaining salvation by anything, or by any person—but by Christ alone. Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name" that is, no other person, "under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved." I know there is no Savior who can deliver me from eternal death, and bring me to eternal life and glory—but only Jesus, of whom it is said, "that he shall save his people from their sins," Luke 1:21; and therefore I must conclude that there is an utter impossibility of obtaining salvation by any other person or thing, etc. But,

[6.] Sixthly, I see and know that Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Savior, that he is a mighty, yes, an almighty Savior, a Savior who is able to save to the utmost, all those who come to him—as the Scripture speaks, Psalm 89:19, "I have laid help upon one who is mighty." Isaiah 63:1, "Mighty to save." Heb. 7:25, "Therefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." I know that the Lord Jesus is mighty to save me from that wrath, and from that curse, and from that hell, and from that damnation, which is due to me, by reason of my sins; and that he is mighty to justify me, and mighty to pardon me, and mighty to reconcile me to God the Father, and mighty to bring me to glory—as the Scripture does everywhere testify. But,

[7.] Seventhly, I know, through grace, that Jesus Christ is the only person anointed, appointed, fitted, and furnished by the Father, for that great and blessed work or office, of saving sinners' souls; as these scriptures, among others, do clearly testify, Isaiah 61:1-4; Luke 4:18-21; Mat. 1:20-21; John 6:27. Certainly were Jesus Christ never so able and mighty to save—yet if he were not anointed, appointed, fitted, and furnished by the Father for that great office of saving poor lost sinners, I know no reason why I should expect salvation by him. But,

[8.] Eighthly, I know through grace that the Lord Jesus Christ has sufficiently satisfied, as mediator, the justice of God, and pacified his wrath, and fulfilled all righteousness, and procured the favor of God and the pardon of sin, etc., for all those who close with him, that accept of him, as he is offered in the gospel of grace, Gal. 3:19-20; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; Heb. 9:14-15, and 12:24; Heb. 10:12, 14; Mat. 3:15; Romans 8:1-4, 33-34, and 5:8-10; Acts 13:39.

[9.] Ninthly, I find that Jesus Christ is freely offered in the gospel to poor, lost, undone sinners, such as I am. I find that the ministers of the gospel are commanded by Christ to proclaim in his name a general pardon, and to make a general offer of him to all to whom they preach the everlasting gospel, without excluding any: Mark 16:15, "And he said unto them, Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature." And what is it to preach the gospel unto every creature—but to say unto them, as the angels did to the shepherds, Luke 2:11, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"? etc.

[10.] Tenthly, I know, through grace, that all sorts of sinners are invited to come to Christ, to receive Christ, to accept of Christ, and to close with Christ, Isaiah 55:1-2; Mat. 11:28-29; John 7:37; Rev. 3:20, and 22:17, etc. But,

[11.] Eleventhly, Through grace, I do in my understanding really assent to that blessed record and report that God the Father, in the blessed Scriptures, has given concerning Christ, 1 John 5:10-12. The report that God the Father has made concerning the person of Christ, and concerning the offices of Christ, and concerning the work of redemption by Christ, I do really and cordially assent unto, as most true and certain, upon the authority of God's testimony, who is truth itself, and cannot lie. Now, though this assent alone is not enough to make a saving reception of Christ—yet it is in saving faith, and that without which it is impossible that there should be any saving faith. But,

[12.] Twelfthly, I can say, through grace, that in my judgment I do approve of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as a good—but as the greatest good, as a universal good, as a matchless good, as an incomparable good, as an infinite good, as an eternal good, and as the most suitable good in heaven and earth to my poor soul; as these scriptures do evidence, Psalm 73:25-26; Cant. 5:10, 45; Psalm 1:2; Phil. 3:7-10; 1 Tim. 1:15. I know there is everything in Christ that may suit the state, case, necessities, and needs of my poor soul. There is mercy in him to pardon me, and power in him to save me, and wisdom in him to counsel me, and grace in him to enrich me, and righteousness in him to clothe me, etc., and therefore I cannot but approve of the Lord Jesus, as such a good as exceeds all the good that is to be found in angels and men. The good that I see in Christ does not only counterbalance—but also excel all that real or imaginary good that ever I have met with in anything below Christ.

Christ must come into the will, he must be received there, else he is never savingly received. Now before the will will receive him, the will must be certainly informed that he is good, yes, the best and greatest good, or else he shall never be admitted there. Let the understanding assent ever so much to all propositions concerning Christ as true, if the judgment does not approve of them as good, yes, as the best good, Christ will never be truly received. God in his working maintains the faculties of the soul in their actings, as he made them.

[13.] Thirteenthly, So far as I know my own heart, I am sincerely willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in a matrimonial covenant; according to these scriptures, Hos. 2:19-20; 2 Cor. 11:2; Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 61:10; Isaiah 62:5; Cant. 3:11, etc. Through grace I am,

FIRST, Through grace I am sincerely willing to take the Lord Jesus Christ for my Savior and sovereign Lord. Just so far as I know my own heart, I do through mercy give my hearty consent—that Christ, and Christ alone, shall be my Savior and Redeemer. It is true, I perform duties—but the desire of my soul is to do them out of love to Christ, and in obedience to his royal law and pleasure. I know my best righteousnesses are but "as filthy rags," Isaiah 64:6. And woe would be to me, had I no other shelter, or savior, or resting-place for my poor soul—than rags, than filthy rags. And so far as I know my own heart, I am sincerely willing to give up myself to the guidance and government of Jesus Christ, as my sovereign Lord and king, desiring nothing more in this world, than to live and die under the guidance and government of his Spirit, his word, and his grace. But,

SECONDLY, Through grace I am willing, through grace, to give a bill of divorce to all other lovers, without exception or reservation. Just so far as I know my own heart, I desire nothing more in this world, than that God would pull out right-eye sins, and cut off right-hand sins. I am very desirous, through grace, to have all sins brought under control, by the power, Spirit, and grace of Christ—but especially my special sins, my besetting corruptions. I would have Christ alone to rule and reign in my heart, without any competitor. But,

THIRDLY, Through grace I am sincerely willing, through grace, to take the Lord Jesus Christ for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health; and in his strength I would go with him through fire and water, resolving, through his grace, that nothing shall divide between Christ and my soul. Just so far as I know my own heart, I would have Christ, though I beg with him, though I go to prison with him, though I go in agonies in the garden with him, though I go to the cross with him. But,

FOURTHLY, So far as I know my own heart, through grace I am sincerely willing,

First, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ presently, John 1:12.

Secondly, to receive him in all his offices, as king, prophet and priest, Col. 2:6; Acts 5:31.

Thirdly, To receive him into every room of my soul—to receive him into my understanding, mind, will, affections. etc.

Fourthly, To receive him upon his own terms, of denying myself, taking up his cross and following of him wherever he goes, Mat. 16:21; Rev. 14:4, etc.

FIFTHLY and lastly, So far as I know my own heart, I do freely consent, through grace:

1. To be really Christ's;

2. To be presently Christ's;

3. To be wholly Christ's;

4. To be only Christ's;

5. To be eminently Christ's;

6. To be forever Christ's, etc.

Certainly that Christian who has and does experience the particulars last mentioned under the second question, that Christian may safely, groundedly, boldly, and comfortably conclude—that his faith is a true, justifying, saving faith, the faith of God's elect, and such a faith as clearly evidences a gracious estate, and will never leave his soul short of heaven.

Now how many thousand Christians are there, that have this faith which is here described, which is doubtless a true, justifying, saving faith, which gives a man an interest in the person of Christ, and in all the blessings and benefits that comes by Christ—who yet question whether they have true faith or not; partly from weakness, partly from temptations, and partly from the various definitions which are given of faith by some, both in their preachings and writings. It is and must be for a lamentation, that in a point of so great moment the trumpet should give such an uncertain sound.

Questions concerning the great day of the Lord, and the day of judgment.

The third question, or case is this, namely—Whether in the day of general judgment, or in the particular judgment that will pass upon every soul immediately after death, which is the stating of the soul in an eternal estate or condition, either of happiness or misery; whether the sins of the saints, the follies and vanities of believers, the infirmities and enormities of sincere Christians shall be brought into the judgment of discussion and discovery, or not? Whether the Lord will either in the great day of account, or in a man's particular day of account or judgment, publicly manifest, proclaim, and make mention of the sins of his people, or not? This question is bottomed upon these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:36, and 18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Peter 4:5.] which I desire the Christian reader to consult; and upon the sad and daily complaints of many dear sincere Christians, who frequently cry out, "Oh, we can never answer for one evil thought of ten thousand, nor we can ever answer for one idle word of twenty thousand; nor we can ever answer for one evil action of a hundred thousand! How then shall we stand in judgment? how shall we look the judge in the face? how shall we be ever able to answer for all our omissions, and for all our commissions; for all our sins of ignorance, and sins against light and knowledge; for all our sins against the law, and for all our sins against the gospel, and for all our sins against sovereign grace, and for all our sins against the remedy, against the Lord Jesus, and for all the sins of our infancy, of our youth, and of old age? Job 9:3; Psalm 19:12, and 143:2; Ezra 9:6, etc.

What account shall we be able to give up, when we come to our particular day of judgment, immediately after our death, or in the great and general day of account, when angels, devils, and men shall stand before the Lord Jesus, Heb. 9:27, whom God the Father has ordained to be the judge of the living and dead, Acts 17:31?"

Now to this great question I answer, that the sins of the saints, the infirmities and enormities of believers, shall never be brought into the judgment of discussion and discovery; they shall never be objected against them, either in their particular day of judgment, or in the great day of their account. Now this truth I shall make good by an induction of particulars; thus,

[1.] First, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his judicial proceedings in the last day, which is set down clearly and largely in Mat. 25:34-42, does only enumerate the good works they have done—but takes not the least notice of the spots and blemishes, of the infirmities or enormities, of the weaknesses or wickednesses, of his people. God has sealed up the sins of his people, never more to be remembered or looked upon, Deut. 32:4-6; Dan. 9:24. In the great day the book of God's remembrance shall be opened and publicly read, that all the good things that the saints have done for God, for Christ, for saints, for their own souls, for sinners; and that all the great things that they have suffered for Christ's sake, and the gospel's sake, will be mentioned to their everlasting praise, to their eternal honor. And though the choicest and chief saints on earth have—

1. Sin dwelling in them;

2. Sin operating and working in them;

3. Sin vexing and molesting of them, being as so many goads in their sides and thorns in their eyes;

4. Sin captivating and prevailing over them, Romans 7:23-24; Gal. 5:17—yet in that large recital which shall then be read of the saints' lives, Mat. 25, there is not the least mention made either of sins of omission or commission; nor the least mention made either of great sins or of small sins; nor the least mention made either of sins before conversion or after conversion.

Here in this world the best of saints have had their "buts", their spots, their blots, their specks—as the fairest day has its clouds, the finest linen its spots, and the richest jewels their specks. But in the judicial process of this last and universal assize, there is not found in all the books that shall then be opened, so much as one unpleasant "but" to blemish the fair characters of the saints. Surely he who sees no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel, Num. 23:21, to impute it to them while they live, he will never charge iniquity or perverseness upon them in the great day, Rev. 20:12; Dan. 7:10. Surely he who has fully satisfied his Father's justice for his people's sins, and who has by his own blood balanced and made up all reckonings and accounts between God and their souls—he will never charge upon them their faults and follies in the great day. Surely he who has spoken so much for his saints while he was on earth, and who has continually interceded for them since he went to heaven, John 17; Heb. 7:25; he won't, though he has cause to blame them for many things, speak anything against them in the great day. Surely Jesus Christ, the saints' paymaster, who has discharged their whole debt at once, who has paid down upon the nail, the ten thousand talents which we owed, and took in the bond and nailed it to the cross, Heb. 10:10, 12, 14; Mat. 18:24; Col. 2:14; leaving no back reckonings unpaid, to bring his poor children, which are the travail of his soul, Isaiah 53:11, afterward into any danger from the hands of divine justice; he will never mention the sins of his people, he will never charge the sins of his people upon them in the great day. Our dear Lord Jesus, who is the righteous judge of heaven and earth in the great day of account, he will bring in his presentment, all fair and well, and accordingly will make proclamation in that high court of justice, before God, angels, devils, saints, and sinners, etc.

Christ will not charge his children with the least unkindness, he will not charge his spouse with the least unfaithfulness in the great day. Yes, he will represent them before God, angels, and men, as complete in him, as all fair and spotless, as without spot or wrinkle, as without fault before the throne of God, as holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight, as immaculate as the angels themselves who kept their first estate, Col. 2:10; Cant. 4:7; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 14:5. This honor shall have all the saints, and thus shall Christ be glorified in his saints, and admired in all those who believe, 1 Thes. 2:10.

The greatest part of the saints by far will have passed their particular judgment long before the general judgment, Heb. 9:27, and being therein acquitted and discharged from all their sins by God the Judge of the living and dead, 2 Tim. 4:1, and admitted into heaven upon the credit of Christ's blood, righteous satisfaction, and their free and full justification; it cannot be imagined that Jesus Christ, in the great day, will bring in any new charge against his children when they have been cleared and absolved already. Certainly when once the saints are freely and fully absolved from all their sins by a divine sentence, then their sins shall never be remembered, they shall never be objected against them any more; for one divine sentence cannot cross and rescind another. The Judge of all the world had long since cast all their sins behind his back, Isaiah 38:17; and will he now set them before his face, and before the faces of all the world? Surely not! He has long since cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, Micah 7:19,—bottomless depths of everlasting oblivion—that they might never be buoyed up any more! He has not only forgiven their sins—but he has also forgotten their sins, Jer. 31:34; and will he remember them and declare them in the great day? Surely not!

God has long since blotted out the transgressions of his people, Isaiah 43:25. This metaphor is taken from creditors, who, when they purpose never to exact a debt, will blot it out of their books. Now after that a debt is struck out of a bill, bond, or book, it cannot be exacted, the evidence cannot be pleaded. Christ having crossed the debt-book with the red lines of his blood, Col. 2:14; if now he should call the sins of his people to remembrance, and charge them upon them, he should cross the great design of his cross. Upon this foundation stands the absolute impossibility that any sin, that the least sin, yes, that the least circumstance of sin, or the least aggravation of sin, should be so much as mentioned by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth in the process of that judicial trial in the great day—except it be in a way of absolution in order to the magnifying of their pardon.

God has long since blotted out as a thick cloud the transgressions of his people, and as a cloud their sins, Isaiah 44:22. Now we know that the clouds which are driven away by the winds appear no more; nor the mist which is dried by the sun appears any more; other clouds and other mists may arise—but not those which are driven away and dried up. Thus the sins of the saints being forgiven, they shall no more return upon them, they shall never more be objected against them.

[2.] Further, The Lord says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool," Isaiah 1:18. Pardon makes such a clear riddance of sin, that it is as if it had never been. The scarlet sinner is as white as snow—snow newly fallen from the sky, which was never sullied. The crimson sinner is as wool, wool which never received the least tincture in the dye. You know scarlet and crimson are double and deep dyes, ingrained dyes—yet if the cloth dyed therewith be as the wool before it was dyed, and if it be as white as snow, what is become of those dyes? Are they any more? Is not the cloth as if it had not been dyed at all? Even so; though our sins, by reiterating them, by long lying in them, have made deep impressions upon us—yet, by God's discharge of them—we are as if we had never committed them.

[3.] Again, The psalmist pronounces him "blessed whose sin is covered," Psalm 32:1. A thing covered is not seen; so sin forgiven is before God as not seen.

The same psalmist pronounces him "blessed to whom the Lord imputes not sin," Psalm 32:2. Now a sin not imputed is as not committed. The prophet Jeremiah tells us that "the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found," Jer. 50:20. Now is not that fully discharged which shall never be found, never appear, never be remembered, never be mentioned?

Thus, by the many metaphors used in Scripture to set out forgiveness of sin, pardon of sin, you plainly and evidently see that God's discharge is free and full, and therefore he will never charge their sins upon them in the great day, Jer. 31:34; Ezek. 18:22. But

Some may OBJECT and say that the Scripture says, that "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," Eccles. 12:14. How then can this be, that the sins of the saints shall not be mentioned, nor charged upon them in the great day?

I answer, this scripture is to be understood respective, etc. with a just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged, Mat. 25:32-33. Sheep and goats, saints and sinners, sons and slaves, elect and reprobate, holy and profane, pious and impious, faithful and unfaithful. All the grace, the holiness, the godliness, the good of those who are godly, shall be brought into the judgment of mercy, that it may be freely, graciously, and nobly rewarded. And all the wickedness of the wicked shall be brought into the judgment of condemnation, that it may be righteously and everlastingly punished in this great day of the Lord. All sincerity shall be discovered and rewarded; and all hypocrisy shall be disclosed and revenged. In this great day, all the works of the saints shall follow them into heaven; and in this great day, all the evil works of the wicked shall hunt and pursue them into hell. In this great day—all the hearts, thoughts, secrets, words, ways, works, and walkings of wicked men shall be discovered and laid open before all the world—to their everlasting shame and sorrow, to their eternal amazement and astonishment. And in this great day the Lord will make mention, in the ears of all the world—of every prayer that the saints have made, and of every sermon that they have heard, and of every tear that they have shed, and of every fast that they have kept, and of every sigh and groan that ever they have fetched, and of all the good words that ever they have spoke, and of all the good works that ever they have dope, and of all the great things that ever they have suffered!

Yes, in this great day they shall reap the fruit of many good services which themselves had forgotten! "Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you; or thirsty, and gave you drink; or naked, and clothed you; or sick or in prison, and visited you?" Mat. 25:34-41. They had done many good works, and forgotten them—but Christ records them, remembers them, and rewards them before all the world. In this great day, a bit of bread, a cup of cold water shall not pass without a reward, Eccles. 11:1, 6. In this great day, the saints shall reap a plentiful and glorious crop, as the fruit of that good seed, that for a time has seemed to be buried and lost. In this great day of the Lord the saints shall find that bread which long before was cast upon the waters. But my

The second reason is taken from Christ's vehement protestations, that they shall not come into judgment: John 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation—but has passed from death unto life." Those words, "shall not come into condemnation," are not rightly translated. The original is, "shall not come into judgment," not into damnation, as you read it in all your English books. Further, it is very observable that no evangelist uses this double asseveration but John, and he never uses it but in matters of greatest weight and importance, and to show the earnestness of his spirit, and to stir us up to better attention, and to put the thing asserted out of all question and beyond all contradiction; as when we would put a thing forever out of all question, we do it by a double asseveration—truly, truly, it is so, etc., John 1:51, 3, 11, and 6:26, 32, 47, 53, etc.

Thirdly, Because his not bringing their sins into judgment does most and best agree with many precious and glorious expressions that we find scattered, as so many shining, sparkling pearls, up and down in Scripture; as,

FIRST, With those of God's blotting out the sins of his people: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins," Isaiah 43:25, and 44:22.

Who is this that blots out transgressions? He who has the keys of heaven and hell at his belt; who opens, and no man shuts; who shuts, and no man opens; he who has the power of life and death, of condemning and absolving, of killing and making alive. He it is, who blots out transgressions! If an under officer should blot out an indictment, that perhaps might do a man no good; a man might, for all that, be at last condemned by the judge. But when the judge or king himself, shall blot out the indictment with their own hand, then the indictment cannot return. Now this is every believer's case and happiness.

SECONDLY, To those glorious expressions of God's not remembering of their sins any more, Jer. 31:34; Isaiah 43:25. "And I will not remember your sins." "For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." So the apostle, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 8:12.

And again, the same apostle says, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds, I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts." Hebrews 10:16-17. [That which Cicero said flatteringly of Caesar, is truly affirmed of God, "He forgets nothing but the wrongs which daily are done him by his people."]

The meaning is, their iniquities shall be quite forgotten: I will never mention them more, I will never take notice of them more, they shall never hear more of them from me. Though God has an iron memory to remember the sins of the wicked—yet he has no memory to remember the sins of the righteous.

Thirdly, His not bringing their sins into judgment does most and best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting their sins into the depth of the sea, and of his casting them behind his back. "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," Mic. 7:19. Where sin is once pardoned, the remission stands never to be repealed. Pardoned sin shall never more come in account against the pardoned man before God; for so much does this speech import. If a thing were cast into a river, it might be brought up again; or if it were cast upon the sea, it might be discerned and taken up again—but when it is cast into the depths, the bottom of the sea—it can never be buoyed up again. By the metaphor in the text, the Lord would have us to know that sins pardoned shall rise no more, they shall never be seen more, they shall never come on the account more. He will so drown their sins, that they shall never come up before him the second time.

And so much that other scripture imports, "You have cast all my sin behind your back," Isaiah 38:17. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men, who are accustomed to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious soul has always his sins before his face, "I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me," Psalm 51:3, and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back. The father soon forgets, and casts behind his back those faults that the child remembers, and has always in his eyes; so does the Father of spirits.

FOURTHLY, His not bringing their sins into judgment does best agree with that sweet and choice expression of God's pardoning the sins of his people.

"And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me," Jer. 33:8. Just so, in Micah, "Who is a God like unto you, who pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage?"—as though he would not see it—but wink at it—"he retains not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy," Mic. 7:18. The Hebrew word that is here rendered pardons, signifies a taking away. When God pardons sin, he takes it sheer away; that if it should be sought for—yet it could not be found, as the prophet speaks, Jer. 50:20, "In those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve;" and these words, "and passes by," in the afore-cited Micah 7:18, according to the Hebrew is, "and passes over," "God passes over the transgression of his heritage," that is, he takes no notice of it; as a man in a deep muse, or as one who has haste of business, sees not things before him, his mind being busied about other matters, he neglects all to mind his business.

As David, when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend Jonathan, took no notice of his lameness, or any other defect or deformity; so God, beholding in his people the glorious image of his Son, winks at all their faults and deformities, Isaiah 40:1-2, which made Luther say, "Do with me what you will, since you have pardoned my sin; and what is it to pardon sin—but not to mention sin?"

FIFTHLY, His not bringing their sins into the judgment of discussion and discovery does best agree to those expressions of forgiving and covering, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered," Psalm 32:1. In the original, it is in the plural, "O, the blessednesses"; so here is a plurality of blessings, a chain of pearls.

The like expression you have in the 85th Psalm and the 2nd verse, "You have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have covered all their sin. Selah." For the understanding of these scriptures aright, take notice that to cover is a metaphorical expression. Covering is such an action which is opposed to disclosure; to be covered, it is to be so hidden and closed as not to appear. Some make the metaphor from filthy loathsome objects which are covered from our eyes as dead carcasses are buried under the ground; some from garments, which are put upon us to cover our nakedness; others from the Egyptians who were drowned in the Red Sea, and so covered with water; others from a great gulf in the earth, that is filled up and covered with earth injected into it; and others make it, in the last place, an allusive expression to the mercy-seat, over which was a covering.

Now all these metaphors in the general tend to show this, that the Lord will not look, he will not see, he will not take notice of the sins he has pardoned, to call them any more to a judicial account.

As when a prince reads over many treasons and rebellions, and meets with such and such which he has pardoned, he reads on, he passes by, he takes no notice of them, the pardoned person shall never more hear of them, he will never more call him to account for those sins; so here, etc. When Caesar was painted, the artists drew his finger upon his scar, his wart. God puts his fingers upon all his people's scars and warts, upon all their weaknesses and infirmities, that nothing can be seen but what is fair and lovely: "You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you," Cant. 4:7.

SIXTHLY, It best agrees to that expression of not imputing of sin. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit," Psalm 32:2. Just so, the apostle reiterates in Romans 4:6-8. Now not to impute iniquity, is not to charge iniquity, not to set iniquity upon his score, who is blessed and pardoned, etc.

SEVENTHLY, and lastly, It best agrees with that expression that you have in the 103d Psalm and the 11th and 12th verses, "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." What a vast distance is there between the east and west! of all visible latitudes, this is the greatest; and thus much for the third argument. The

[4.] The fourth argument which prevails with me to judge that Jesus Christ will not bring the sins of the saints into the judgment of discussion and discovery in the great day is, because it seems unsuitable to three considerable things for Jesus Christ to proclaim the infirmities and miscarriages of his people to all the world.

FIRST, It seems to be unsuitable to the glory and solemnity of that day, which to the saints will be a day of refreshing, a day of restitution, a day of redemption, a day of coronation—as has been already proved. Now how suitable to this great day of solemnity the proclamation of the saints' sins will be, I leave the reader to judge.

SECONDLY, It seems unsuitable to all those near and dear relations that Jesus Christ stands in, towards his people. He stands in the relation of a Father, a Brother, a Head, a Husband, a Friend, an Advocate. [Isaiah 9:6; Heb. 2:11-12; Eph. 1:21-22; Rev. 19:7; John 15:1; 2:1-2.] Now, are not all these by the law of relation, bound rather to hide, and keep secret—at least from the world—the weaknesses, and infirmities of their near and dear relations; and is not Christ, is not Christ much more, by how much he is more a Father, a Brother, a Head, a Husband, etc., in a spiritual way, than any others can be in a natural way? etc.

THIRDLY, It seems very unsuitable to what the Lord Jesus requires of his people, in this world. The Lord requires that his people should cast a mantle of love, of wisdom, of silence, and secrecy over one another's weaknesses and infirmities, etc.

Hatred stirs up strife—but love covers all sins—love's mantle is very large. Love will find a hand, a plaster to clap upon every sore, Proverbs 10:12, and 1 Pet. 4:8. Flavius Vespasianus, the emperor, was very ready to conceal his friends' vices, and as ready to reveal their virtues. Just so, is divine love in the hearts of the saints, "If your brother offends you, go and tell him his fault between him and you alone; if he shall hear you, you have gained your brother," Mat. 18:15. As the pills of reproof are to be gilded and sugared over with much gentleness and softness, so they are to be given in secret. Tell him between him and you alone. Tale-bearers and tale-hearers are alike abominable. Heaven is too hot, and too holy a place for them, Psalm 15:3. Now will Jesus Christ have us behave thus towards offending Christians, and will he himself act otherwise? Nay, is it an evil in us to lay open the weaknesses and infirmities of the saints to the world? and will it be an excellency, a glory, a virtue in Christ, to do it in the great day? etc.

[5.] A fifth argument is this, It is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression. "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense," Proverbs 19:11. Or to pass by it, as we do by people or things we know not, or would take no notice of. Now, is it the glory of a man to overlook an offense—and will it not much more be the glory of Christ, silently to to overlook an offenses of his people in that great day? The greater the treasons and rebellions are, that a prince passes over, and takes no notice of—the more is his honor and glory; and so doubtless it will be Christ's in that great day, to pass over all the treasons and rebellions of his people, to take no notice of them, to forget them as well as to forgive them.

The heathens have long since observed, that in nothing man came nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself, than in goodness and mercifulness. Surely, if it is such an honor to man, "to overlook an offense," it cannot be a dishonor to Christ, to overlook an offenses of his people, he having already buried them in the sea of his blood. Again, says Solomon, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing," Proverbs 25:2. And why it should not make for the glory of divine love, to conceal the sins of the saints in that great day, I know not. And whether the concealing the sins of the saints in the great day, will not make most for their joy and wicked men's sorrows; for their comfort and wicked men's terror and torment—I will leave you to judge, and time and experience to decide; and thus much for the resolution of that great question.

FIRSTLY. Now, from what has been said, in answer to this third question, a sincere Christian may form up this first plea as to these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:36, and 18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] which refer either to the general judgment, or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death.

"O blessed God! Jesus Christ has by his own blood balanced and made up all reckonings and accounts that were between you and me; and you have vehemently protested, that you will not bring me into judgment; that you will blot out my transgressions as a thick cloud, and that you will remember my sins no more; and that you will cast them behind your back, and hurl them into the depth of the sea; and that you will forgive them, and cover them, and not impute them to me, etc. This is my plea, O Lord, and by this plea I shall stand."

"Well", says the Judge of the living and the dead, "I own this plea, I accept of this plea, I have nothing to say against this plea; the plea is just, safe, honorable, and righteous. Enter into the joy of your Lord!"

SECONDLY. Every sinner at his first believing and closing with Christ, is justified in the court of glory from all his sins, both guilt and punishment, Acts 13:39. Justification does not increase or decrease—but all sin is pardoned at the first act of believing. All who are justified are justified alike. There is no difference among believers, as to their justification; one is not more justified than another, for every justified person has a complete remission of his sins, and the same righteousness of Christ imputed.

But in sanctification, there is difference among believers. Everyone is not sanctified alike, for some are stronger and higher, and others are weaker and lower in grace. As soon as any are made believers in Christ, all the sins which they have committed in time past, and all the sins which they are guilty of, as to the time present, they are actually pardoned unto them in general, and in particular, 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 1 John 2:1,12-14. Now, that all the sins of a believer are pardoned at once, and actually unto them, may be thus demonstrated.

[1.] First, All phrases in Scripture imply thus much. Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins." Jer. 31:34, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. 33:8, "And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me." Ezek. 18:22, "All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him." Heb. 8:12, "I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more;" consequently, all is pardoned at once. But,

[2.] Secondly, That remission of sins which leaves no condemnation to the party offending, is the remission of all sins; for if there were any sin remaining, a man is still in the state of condemnation—but justification leaves no condemnation. Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," and verse 33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies;" and verse 38-39, "Nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord;" and John 5:24, "He who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation—but is passed from death to life;" consequently, all sins are pardoned at once, or else they were in a state of condemnation, etc. At a sinner's first conversion his sins are truly and perfectly pardoned. Thus you see it evident that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore there is full remission of all sins, to the soul at the first act of believing. But,

[3.] Thirdly, A believer, even when he sins, is still united to Christ, John 15:1, 6, 17:21-23; 1 Cor. 6:17, "And he is still clothed with the righteousness of Christ, which covers all his sins, and discharges him from them, so that no sin can redound to him," Isaiah 61:10; Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9, etc. But,

[4.] Fourthly, A believer is not to fear curse or hell at all, which yet he might do if all his sins were not pardoned at once—but some of his new sins were for a while unpardoned, etc. But,

[5.] Fifthly, Our Lord Jesus Christ, by once suffering, suffered for all the sins of the elect—past, present, and to come. The infinite wrath of God the Father fell on him for all the sins of the chosen ones, Isaiah 53:9; Heb. 12:14, and 10:9-10, 12, 14. If Christ had suffered for ten thousand worlds, he could have suffered no more than he did; for he suffered the whole infinite wrath of God the Father. The wrath of God was infinite wrath, and the sufferings of Christ were infinite sufferings. Consequently, as Adam's sin was enough to infect a thousand worlds, so our Savior's merits are sufficient to save a thousand worlds. Those sufferings that he suffered for sins past, are sufficient to satisfy for sins present and to come. That all the sins of God's people, in their absolute number, from first to last, were laid upon Christ, who in the days of his sufferings did meritoriously purchase perfect remission of all their sins—to be applied in future times to them, and by them, is most certain, Isaiah 54:5, 6. But,

[6.] Sixthly, Repentance is not at all required for our justification—where our pardon is only to be found—but only faith; therefore pardon of sin is not suspended until we repent of our sins. But,

[7.] Seventhly, If the remission of all sins be not at once, it is either because my faith cannot lay hold on it, or because there are some hindrances in the way. But a man by the hand of faith, may lay hold on all the merits of Christ, and thereby, the pardon of all. There is no danger which attends this assertion, for it puts the highest obligation imaginable upon the soul, as to fear and obedience: Psalm 130:3, "If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" verse 4, "But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." Forgiveness does not make a Christian bold with sin—but fearful of sin, and careful to obey, as Christians find in their daily experience. By this argument it appears clear, that the forgiveness of all sins is made to the soul at once, at the first act of believing. But,

[8.] Eighthly, If new sins were not pardoned until you repent—then we would be left to an uncertainty, as to whether our sins are pardoned, or when they will be pardoned; for it may be long before we repent, as you see in David, who lay long under the guilt of murder and adultery before he repented; and you know Solomon lay long under many high sins before he repented, etc., and it may be more long before we do, or can know that we do truly repent of our sins. But,

[9.] Ninthly, If all sins were not forgiven at once, then justification is not perfect at once—but is more and more increased and perfected as more and more sins are pardoned, which cannot consist with the true doctrine of justification. Certainly as to the state of justification, there is a full and perfect remission of all sins—considered under the differences of time past, present, and to come. As in the state of condemnation, there is not any one sin pardoned; just so in the state of justification, there is not any one sin unpardoned; for the state of justification is opposite to all condemnation and curse and wrath. But,

[10.] Tenthly, All agree that as to God's eternal decree or purpose of forgiveness, all the sins of his people are forgiven. God did not intend to forgive some of their sins and not the rest—but a universal and full and complete forgiveness was fixedly purposed and resolved on by God. Forgiveness of sins is a gracious act, or work of God for Christ's sake, discharging and absolving believing and repenting people from the guilt and punishment of all their sins, so that God is no longer displeased with them, nor will he ever remember them any more, nor call them to an account for them, nor condemn them for their sins—but will look on them, and deal with them—as if they had never sinned, never offended him!

THIRDLY, Consider, that at the very moment of a believer's death, that all his sins are perfectly and fully forgiven. All their sins are so fully and finally forgiven them, that at the very moment of their souls going out from the body, there is not one sin of omission or commission, nor any aggravation or least circumstance left standing in the book of God's remembrance; and this is the true reason why there shall not be the least mention made of their sins in their trial at Christ's tribunal, because they were all pardoned fully and finally at the hour of their death. All debts were then discharged, all scores were then crossed, so that in the great day, when the books shall be opened and perused, there shall not one sin be found—but all blotted out, and all reckonings made even in the blood of Christ.

Indeed, if God should pardon some sins, and not others, he would at the same time be a friend and an enemy, and we would be at once both happy and miserable, which are manifest contradictions. Besides, God does nothing in vain—but it would be in vain for God to pardon some sins but not all, for as one leak in a ship unstopped will sink the ship, and as one sore or one disease, not healed nor cured, will kill the body—so one sin unpardoned will destroy the soul.

FOURTHLY, God looks not upon those as sinners, whose sins are pardoned: Luke 7:37, "And behold a woman in the city who was a sinner." A notorious sinner, a branded sinner. Mark, it is not said, behold a woman who is a sinner—but "behold a woman who was a sinner;" to note that sinners converted and pardoned are no longer reputed sinners, "Behold a woman who was a sinner." Look, as a man, when he is cleansed from filth, is as if he had never been defiled; so when a sinner is pardoned, he is in God's account as if he had never sinned. Hence those phrases in Cant. 4. 7, "You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you." Col. 2:10, "And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power," as though he had said, because in himself he has the well-head of glory and majesty, the which becomes ours; in that he is also the head of his church: Col. 1:21, "And you who were once alienated, and enemies in your mind, by wicked works—yet now has he reconciled;" verse 22, "In the body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblamably, and unreprovable in his sight," that is, by his righteousness imputed and imparted. Eph. 5:27, "that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing—but that it should be holy and without blemish." The word "present" is taken from the custom of solemnizing a marriage; first the spouse was wooed, and then set before her husband adorned with his jewels, as Rebekah was with Isaac's.

Rev. 14:5, "And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God." They are without fault by imputation. Hence Job is said to be a perfect man, Job 2, and David to be "a man after God's own heart," Acts 13:22. The forgiven party is now looked upon and received with that love and favor, as if he had never offended God, and as if God had never been offended by him, Hosea 14:1-2, 4; Isaiah 54:7-10; Jer. 31:33-34, 36, 37; Luke 15:19-23. Here the sins of the prodigal are pardoned, and his father receives him with such expressions of love and familiarity as if he had never sinned against him; his father never so much as objects any one of all his high sinnings against him.

Hence it is that you read of such sweet, kind, tender, loving, comfortable expressions of God towards those whose sins he had pardoned: Jer. 31:16, "Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears;" verse 20, "Is Ephraim my dear son, is he a pleasant child?" Mat. 9:2, "Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." Remission of sins is not only a removal of guilt—but an imputation of righteousness. Look, as he who is legally acquitted of theft or murder, is no more reputed a thief or murderer, so here, Jer. 50:20, "In those days, and in that time, says the Lord; search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare." Pardoned sin is in God's account no sin; and the pardoned sinner in God's account is no sinner; as the pardoned debtor is no debtor. Where God has pardoned a man, there he never looks upon that man as a sinner—but as a just man. Pardon of sin is an utter abolition of it; in this respect the pardoned man is as free as if he had never sinned. Therefore the believer, the penitent person, has infinite cause of rejoicing, that God has perfectly pardoned his sins, and that he looks upon him no more as a sinner—but as a just and righteous person.

O sirs! what can the great God do more for your comfort and consolation? and therefore, never entertain any hard thoughts of God, as if he were like those men who say they forgive with all their hearts, and yet retain their secret hate and inward malice as much as ever. But forever live in the faith of this truth, namely—that when God pardons sin, he takes it so fully away, as that the party acquitted is no more looked upon as a sinner. Now upon this consideration, what a glorious plea has every sincere Christian to make in the day of account! But,

FIFTHLY, Forgiveness of sin, takes off our obligation to suffer eternal punishment; so that, look, as a forgiven debtor is freed from whatever penalty his debt did render him liable to, so is the forgiven sinner from the punishment itself. In this respect Aristotle says, "To forgive sin is not to punish it." And Austin says, "To forgive sin is not to inflict the punishment due unto it." And the schools say, "To remit the sin is not to impute the punishment." When a king pardons a thief, his theft now shall no longer make him guilty. The guilt obliging is that whereby the sinner is actually bound to undergo the punishment due to him by the law, and passed on him by the judge for the breach of it; this is that which by the schools is called the extrinsic guilt of sin, to distinguish it from the intrinsic, which is included in the unlawfulness of the act, and which is inseparable from the sin. And if you would know wherein the nature of forgiveness immediately and primarily consists, it is in the taking off this obligation, and discharging the sinner from it. Hence it is that the pardoned sinner is said not to be under the law: Romans 6:14, and not to be under the curse; Gal. 3:13, and not to be under the sentence of condemnation. And according to this notion, all Scripture phrases are to be construed by which forgiveness is expressed, Romans 8:1. God, when he forgives sin, he is said to cover them, Psalm 32:1, 85:2; Romans 4:7; "to remember them no more," Isaiah 43:25; Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:12; "to cast them behind his back," Isaiah 38:17;" to throw them into the depth of the sea," Micah 7:19; "to blot them out as a cloud," Isaiah 44:22; and "to turn away his face from them," Psalm 51:9. By all which expressions we are not to think that God does not know sin, or that God does not see sin, or that God is not displeased with sin, or that God is not displeased with believers for their sins—but that he will not so take notice of them as to enter into judgment with the people for them.

Just so, that the forgiven sinner is free from obligation of the punishment, as truly, as surely, as fully, and as perfectly as if he had never committed the sin—but were altogether innocent. In every sin there are two things considerable: first, the offence which is done to God, whereby he is displeased; secondly, the obligation of the man so offending God—to eternal condemnation. Now, remission of sin does wholly lie in the removing of these two. So that when God does will neither to punish or to be offended with the person—then he is said to forgive. It is true there remains paternal and medicinal chastisements after sin is forgiven—but no offence or punishment strictly so taken. And is not this a noble plea for a believer to make in the day of account? But,

SIXTHLY, Consider that all the sins of believers were laid upon Christ their surety, Heb. 7:21-22. What is that? That is, he became bound to God, he became responsible to him for all their sins, for all that God in justice could charge upon them, and demand for satisfaction: Isaiah 53:5-6, "Our salvation was laid upon one who is mighty;" Psalm 89:19; Isaiah 63:1. "As Judah became a surety to Jacob for Benjamin, he engaged himself to his father: I will be surety for him, of my hand shall you require him; if I bring him not unto you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever," Gen. 43:9. Herein he was a type of Christ, who is both our surety to God for the discharge of our debt and duty, and God's surety to us for the performance of his promises. "Father," says Christ, "I will take upon me all the sins of my people; I will be bound to answer for them; I will sacrifice myself for them; at my hands you require satisfaction for their sins, and a full compensation unto your justice; I will die, I will lay down my life, I will make my soul an offering for sins; I will become a curse, I will endure your wrath." Oh, what unspeakable comfort is this, that there is a Christ to answer for that which we could never answer! Christ is a surety in way of satisfaction, undertaking for the debts, the trespasses, the sins of his elect. In this respect it is that Christ is most properly called a surety, in regard of his taking upon him the sins of his elect, and undertaking to answer and make satisfaction unto the justice of God for them. Christ interposes himself between the wrath of God and his people, undertaking to satisfy their debts, and so to reconcile them unto God. Christ had nothing of his own to be condemned for, nothing of his own to be acquitted from. He was condemned to pay your debt, as your surety, and therefore you cannot be condemned too. He was acquitted from it, being paid, as your surety, and therefore you must be acquitted too. He appeared the first time with your sin to his condemnation, he shall appear the second time without your sin unto your salvation, Heb. 9:28.

God the Father says to Christ, "Son, if you would have poor sinners pardoned, you must take their debts upon yourself, you must be their surety, and you must enter into bonds to pay every farthing of that debt poor sinners owe; you must pay all if you will undertake for them." Certainly these were some of those transactions that were between God the Father and God the Son from all eternity about the pardoning of poor sinners. If ever your sins be pardoned, Christ must take your debts upon himself, and be your surety; 2 Cor. 5:21, "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." Christ was made sin for us—firstly, by way of imputation, for "our sins were made to meet upon him," as that evangelical prophet has it, Isaiah 53:6; and, secondly, by reckoning, "for he was reckoned among malefactors," verse 12. The way of pardon is by a translation of all our sins upon Christ, it is by charging them all upon Christ's score. That is a great expression of Nathan to David, "The Lord has put away your sin;" but the original runs thus, "The Lord has made your sins to pass over;" that is, to pass over from you to his Son; he has laid them to his charge.

Now Christ has discharged all his people's debts and bonds. There is a twofold debt which lay upon us. One was the debt of obedience unto the law, and this Christ did pay by "fulfilling all righteousness," Mat. 3:15. The other was the debt of punishment for our transgressions, and this debt Christ discharged by his death on the cross, Isaiah 53:4, 10, 12; "And by being made a curse for us, to redeem us from the curse," Gal. 3:13. Hence it is that we are said to be "bought with a price," 1 Cor. 6:20, and 7:23; and that Christ is called our "Ransom," Mat. 20:28, and 1 Tim. 2:6. The words signify a valuable price laid down for another's ransom. The blood of Christ, the Son of God, was a valuable price, a sufficient price; it was as much as would take off all enmities, and take away all sin, and to satisfy divine justice-and indeed it has done so. Therefore you read that "in his blood we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins," Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14, 20; and his death was such a full compensation to divine justice, that the apostle makes a challenge to all: Romans 8:33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" and verse 34, "Who is he who condemns? it is Christ who died." As if he had said, Christ has satisfied and discharged all. The Greek word is of special emphasis. The force of the word properly signifies a counter-price, when one undergoes in the room of another, that which he should have undergone in his own person; as when one yields himself a captive for the redeeming of another out of captivity, or gives his own life for the saving of another's. There were such sureties among the Greeks as gave life for life, body for body; and in this sense the apostle is to be understood, when he says that Christ gave himself a ransom, a counter-price, paying a price for his people.

Christ has laid down a price for all believers, they are his "dearly bought ones," they are his "choice redeemed ones," Isaiah 51:11. Christ gave himself a counter-price, a ransom, submitting himself to the like punishment, which his redeemed ones would have undergone. Christ, to deliver his elect from the curse of the law, subjected himself to that same curse of the law under which all mankind lay. Jesus Christ was a true surety, one who gave his life for the life of others.

The Lord Jesus became such a surety for his elect, giving himself a ransom for them, John 6:51; Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18; Rev. 1:5, and 5:9.

Oh, what comfort is this unto us—to have such a Jesus, who himself bore our sins, even all our sins, left not one unsatisfied for; and laid down a full ransom, a full price, such an expiatory sacrifice as that now we are out of the hands of justice, and wrath, and death, and curse, and hell—and are reconciled and made near by the blood of the everlasting covenant! The blood of Christ, as the Scripture speaks, is "the blood of God," Acts 20:28, so that there is not only satisfaction—but merit in his blood. There is more in Christ's blood, than mere payment or satisfaction. There was merit also in it, to acquire and procure and purchase all spiritual good, and all eternal good for the people of God; not only immunities from sin, death, wrath, curse, hell, etc.—but privileges and dignities of sons and heirs; yes, all grace, and all love, and all peace, and all glory—even that glorious inheritance purchased by his blood, Eph. 1:14.

Remember this once for all, that in justification our debts are charged upon Christ, they are reckoned to his account. You know that in sin, there is the wicked and staining quality of it, and there is the resulting guilt of it, which is the obligation of a sinner over to the judgment-seat of God to answer for it. Now this guilt, in which lies our debt, this is charged upon Christ. Therefore, says the apostle, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," 2 Cor. 5:19; "And has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," ver, 21. You know in law, the wife's debts are charged upon the husband; and if the debtor is disabled, then the creditor sues the surety. The surety and debtor, in law are reputed as one person. Now Christ is our surety, "He is made sin for us," says the apostle; "for us"—that is, in our stead—a surety for us, one who puts our debts on his accounts, our burden on his shoulders. Just so, says that princely prophet Isaiah: Isaiah 53:4-5, "He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." How so? "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities;" that is, he stood in our stead, he took upon him the answering of our sins, the satisfying of our debts, the clearing of our guilt; and therefore was it that he was so bruised, etc.

You remember the scape-goat; upon his head all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins were confessed and put: "And the goat did bear upon him all their iniquities," Lev. 16:21-22. What is the meaning of this? Surely Jesus Christ, upon whom our sins were laid, and who alone died for the ungodly, Romans 5:6, "and bore our burdens away." Therefore the believer in the sense of guilt, should run unto Christ, and offer up his blood unto the Father, and say, "Lord, it is true, I owe you so much—yet, Father, forgive me; remember that your own Son was my ransom, his blood was the price; he was my surety, and undertook to answer for my sins! I beseech you, accept of his atonement, for he is my surety, my redemption. You must be satisfied that Christ has satisfied you, not for himself—what sins had he of his own?—but for me. They were my debts which he satisfied for! Look over your book, and you shall find it so; for you have said—He was made sin for us, and that he was wounded for our transgressions."

Now, what a singular support, what an admirable comfort is this, that we ourselves are not to make up our accounts and reckonings—but that Christ has cleared all accounts and reckonings between God and us! Therefore it is said that "in his blood we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins," Eph. 1:7.

Christ, bearing and enduring all these punishments for the elect.

QUESTION. Whether it were not against the justice of God that Christ, who was in himself innocent, without any sin, a Lamb without any spot—should bear and endure all these punishments for the elect, who were the offending and guilty and liable people? Or if you please thus—Whether God was not unjust to give his Son Jesus Christ to be our surety and mediator and redeemer and Savior, forasmuch as Christ could not be any one of these for and unto us but by a willing receiving of our sins upon himself, to be for them responsible unto the justice of God, in suffering those punishments which were due for our sins?

I shall speak a few words to this main question. I say, then, that it is not always and in all cases unjust—but it is sometimes and in some cases very just, to punish one who is himself innocent, for him or those who are the criminal and guilty. Grotius in his book, gives divers instances—but I shall mention only two.

First, In the case of conjunction, where the innocent party and the criminal and guilty party do become legally one party; and therefore if a man marries an indebted woman, he thereupon becomes liable to pay her debts, although, absolutely considered, he was not liable thereunto. But,

Secondly, In case of suretyship, where a person, knowing the weak and insufficient condition of another, does yet voluntarily put forth himself, and will be bound to the creditor for him as his surety to answer for him, by reason of which suretyship the creditor may come upon him, and deal with him as he might have dealt with the principal debtor himself. This course we do ordinarily take with sureties for the recovery of our right, without any violation of justice. Now, both these are exactly applicable to the business in hand; for Jesus Christ was pleased to marry our nature unto himself; he did partake of our flesh and blood, and became man, and one with us. And besides that, he did, both by the will of his Father and his own free consent, become our surety, and was content to stand in our stead or place, so as to be made sin and curse for us—that is, to have all our debts and sorrows, all our sins and punishments laid upon him; and did engage himself to satisfy God by bearing and suffering what we would have borne and suffered. And therefore although Jesus Christ, absolutely considered in himself, was innocent and had no sin inherent in himself, which would have made him liable to death and wrath and curse—yet by becoming one with us, and sustaining the office of our surety—our sins were laid on him. And our sins being laid upon him, he made himself therefore liable, and that justly, to all those punishments which he did suffer for our sins. I do confess, that had Christ been unwilling and forced into this suretyship, or had any detriment or prejudice risen to any party concerned in this transaction, then some complaint might have been made concerning the justice of God. But,

First, There was a willingness on all sides for the passive work of Christ. First, God the Father, who was the offended party, he was willing, which Christ assures us of when he said, "Your will be done," Mat. 26:42; Acts 4:25-28.

Secondly, We poor sinners, who are the offending party, are willing. We accept of this gracious and wonderful redemption, and bless the Lord who "so loved us as to give his Son for us."

And, thirdly, Jesus Christ was willing to suffer for us: "Behold I come," Psalm 40:7: "And shall I not drink of the cup which my Father has given me to drink?" John 18:11: "I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!" Luke 12:50. He calls the death of his cross a baptism, partly because it was a certain immersion into extreme calamities into which he was cast, and partly because in the cross he was so to be sprinkled in his own blood as if he had been drowned and baptized in it. The Greek word that is here rendered distressed, signifies to be pained, pressed, or pent up, with such grief as made him desire that it were once over. "There seems," says Grotius, "to be a similitude implied in the original word, taken from a woman with child, who is so distressed with the birth, that she would sincerely be eased of her burden."

John 10:11, "I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep." Christ is that good Shepherd who laid down his dear life for his sheep's safety: ver 15, "I lay down my life for the sheep" verse 17, "Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life:" verse 18, "No man takes it from me—but I lay it down of myself." A necessity there was, of our Savior's death—but it was a necessity of immutability—because God had decreed it, Acts 2:23—not a forced necessity. He laid down his life freely, he died willingly. But,

[2.] Secondly, None of the parties involved, receive any loss by it. We lost nothing by it, for we are saved by his death, and reconciled by his death. Christ lost nothing by it: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and enter into his glory?" Luke 24:26. "The Captain of our salvation is made perfect through sufferings," Heb. 2:10. You may see Christ's glorious rewards for his sufferings in Isaiah 53:10-12. And God the Father lost nothing by it, for he is glorified by it: "I have glorified you on earth, I have finished the work which you gave me to do," John 17:4. Yes, he is fully satisfied and restored again in all the honor which he lost by our sinning. I say he is now fully restored again by the sufferings of Christ, in which he found a price sufficient, and a ransom, and enough to make peace forever. In the day of account, a Christian's great plea is—that Christ has been his surety, and paid his debts, and made up his accounts for him.

II. Now, from what has been said last, a Christian may form up this second plea to the ten scriptures in the margin, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:36, and 18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment, which will pass upon every Christian immediately after death.

"O blessed Lord! upon my first believing and closing with Jesus Christ, you did justify me in the court of glory from all my sins, both as to guilt and punishment. Upon my first act of believing, you did pardon all my sins, you did forgive all my iniquities, you did blot out all my transgressions! And as upon my first believing you did give me the remission of all my sins, so upon my first believing you did free me from a state of condemnation; and gave me a saving interest in the great salvation. Upon my first believing, I was united to Jesus Christ, and I was clothed with the righteousness of Christ, which covered all my sins and discharged me from all my transgressions, Romans 8:10; Heb. 2:3. And remember, O Lord, you did really, perfectly, universally, and finally forgive all my sins. Every debt, was at that moment was discharged; and every score, was at that moment was crossed; and every bill and bond, was at that moment was cancelled, so that there was not left in the book of your remembrance one sin, no, not the least sin, standing upon record against my soul! And besides all this, you know, O Lord, that all my sins were laid upon Christ my surety, Heb. 7:21-22, and that he became responsible for them all. He died, he laid down his life, he made his soul an offering for my sins, he became a curse, he endured your infinite wrath, he gave complete satisfaction, and a full compensation unto your justice for all my sins, debts, trespasses. This is my plea, O Lord! and by this plea I shall stand!"

"Well," says the Lord, "I allow of this plea, I accept of this plea as just, honorable, and righteous. Enter into the joy of your Lord!" But,

SEVENTHLY, Consider, that whatever we are bound to do, or to suffer by the law of God—all that did Christ do and suffer for us, as being our surety and mediator. Now the law of God has a double challenge or demand upon us; one is of active obedience—in fulfilling what it requires; the other is of passive obedience—in suffering that punishment which lies upon us, for the transgression of it, in doing what it forbids. For as we are created by God, we did owe unto him all obedience which he required. And as we sinned against God, we did owe unto him a suffering of all that punishment which he threatened. And we being fallen by transgression, can neither pay the one debt, nor yet the other debt. We cannot do all that the law requires, nay of ourselves we can do nothing; neither can we so suffer as to satisfy God in his justice wronged by us, or to recover ourselves into life and favor again. And therefore Jesus Christ, who was God, made man, did become our surety, and stood in our stead or place; and he did perform what we should—but could not perform; and he did bear our sins and our sorrows. He did suffer and bear for us what we ourselves should have borne and suffered, whereby he did fully satisfy the justice of God, and made our peace, and purchased life and happiness for us. Let me a little more clearly and fully open this great truth in these few particulars.

(1.) First, Jesus Christ did perform that active obedience unto the law of God, which we should have performed—but, by reason of sin, could not perform; in which respect he is said, Gal. 4:4, "to be made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law." So far was Christ under the law—as to redeem those who were under the law. But redeem those who were under the law he could not, unless by discharging the bonds of the law in force upon us; and all those bonds could not be, and were not discharged, unless a perfect righteousness had been presented on our behalf, who were under the law, to fulfill the law.

Now there is a twofold righteousness necessary to the actual fulfilling of the law: one is an internal righteousness of the nature of man; the other is an external righteousness of the life or works of man: both of these do the law require. The former, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart," etc., which is the sum of the first table; "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself," which is the sum of the second table: the latter. "Do this and live," Lev. 18:5, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law," Gal. 3:10. Now both these righteousnesses were found in Christ.

First, the internal: Heb. 7:26, "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners;" Heb. 9:14, "And offered himself without spot to God;" 2 Cor. 5:21, "He knew no sin."

Secondly, external: 1 Peter 2:22, "He did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth;" John 17:4, "I have finished the work which you gave me to do;" Mat. 3:15, "He must fulfill all righteousness," Romans 10:4; "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

Now concerning Christ's active obedience to the law of God, these things are considerable in it.

[1] First, The universality of it: he did everything his Father required, and left nothing of his Father's will undone. He kept the whole law, and offended not in any one point. Whatever was required of us, by virtue of any law—that he did, and fulfilled. Hence he is said to be made under the law, Gal. 4:4, subject or liable to it, to all the precepts or commands of it. Christ was so made under the law—as those were under the law, whom he was to redeem. Now we were under the law, not only as liable to its penalties—but as bound to all the duties of it. That this is our being under the law, is evident by that challenge of the apostle: Gal. 4:21, "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law." Surely it was not the penalty of the law they desired to be under—but to be under it in respect of obedience. Just so, Mat. 3:15. Here Christ tells you, that "it became him to fulfill all righteousness," all manner of righteousness whatever; that is, everything that God required. But,

[2.] Secondly, The exactness and perfection of it. He kept the whole law exactly. As he was not lacking in matter, so he did not fail in the manner of performing his Father's will. There were no defects, nothing lacking in his obedience; he did all things well. What we are pressing towards, and reaching forth unto—he attained! He was perfect in every good work and stood complete in the whole will of his Father. And hence it is, that it is recorded of him, that he was without sin, knew no sin, did no sin—which could not be, if he had failed in anything. But,

[3.] Thirdly, The constancy of it. Christ did not obey by fits—but constantly. Though we cannot persevere in obedience—yet he "continued in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." This righteous One held on his way, he did not fail, nor was he discouraged; yes, when persecution and tribulation did arise against him, because of his doing the will of his Father, he did not give up—but did always do the things which pleased his Father, as he told the Jews, John 8:29.

[4.] Fourthly, The delight that he took "in doing the will of his Father." Psalm 40:8, "I delight to do your will, O my God; yes, your law is within my heart," or in the midst of my heart, as the Hebrew runs. By the law of God we are to understand all the commandments of God. There is not one command which Christ did not delight to do. Christ's obedience was without murmuring or grudging; his Father's commandments were not grievous to him; he tells his disciples, that it was his "food to do the will of him who sent him, and to finish his work," John 4:34. But,

[5.] Fifthly, The virtue and efficacy of it. For his obedience—his righteousness never returns to him void—but it always "accomplishes that which he pleases, and prospers in the thing whereto he ordains it," and that is the making others righteous, according to the apostle Paul: Romans 5:19, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the disobedience of one shall many be made righteous." 2 Cor. 5:21, "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Accordingly we are righteous, "for of God he is made unto us righteousness," 1 Cor. 1:30.

The perfect complete obedience of Christ to the law, is certainly reckoned to us. That is an everlasting truth, "If you will enter into life, keep the commandments," Mat. 19:17. The commandments must be kept either by ourselves—or by our surety—or there is no entering into life. Christ did obey the law, not for himself but for us, and in our stead. Romans 5:18-19, "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life; by the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous." By his obedience to the law, we are made righteous. Christ's obedience is reckoned to us for righteousness. Christ, by his obedience to the royal law, is made righteousness to us, 1 Cor. 1:30. We are saved by that perfect obedience, which Christ, when he was in this world, yielded to the blessed law of God.

Mark, whatever Christ did as mediator, he did it for those whose mediator he was, or in whose stead and for whose good he executed the office of a mediator before God. This the Holy Spirit witnesses: Romans 8:3-4, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us." The word "likeness," is not simply to be referred to flesh—but to sinful flesh, as Basil well observes; "Christ was like unto us in all things—sin only excepted." If with our justification from sin, there is joined that active obedience of Christ, which is imputed to us, we are just before God, according to that perfection which the law requires.

Because we could not, in this condition of weakness whereinto we are cast by sin, come to God, and be freed from condemnation by the law, God sent Christ as a mediator to do and suffer whatever the law required at our hands for that end and purpose, that we might not be condemned—but accepted by God. It was all to this end, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us; that is, which the law required of us, consisting in duties of obedience. This Christ performed for us. This expression of the apostle, "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh," if you will add to it that of Gal. 4:4—that he was so sent forth, as that he was "made under the law;" that is, submissive to it, to yield all the obedience that it does require, comprises the whole of what Christ did or suffered. And all this, the Holy Spirit tells us was for us, verse 5. He who made the law as God, was made under the law as God-man, whereby both the obligations of the law fell upon him—both the Penal and the Preceptive obligations. First, The penal obligation to undergo the curse—and so to satisfy divine justice. Secondly, The preceptive obligation—to fulfill all righteousness, Mat. 3:15. This preceptive obligation he fulfilled by doing; the penal obligation he fulfilled by dying.

Mark, this double obligation could not have befallen the Lord Jesus Christ upon any natural account of his own—but upon his mediatory account only—as he voluntarily became the surety of this new and better covenant, Heb. 7:22; so that the fruit and benefit of Christ's voluntary subjection to the law, redounds not at all to himself, "but unto the people who were given him of the Father," John 17, whose sponsor he became. For their sakes he underwent the penal obligation of the law, that it might do them no harm, "He being made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13; and for their sakes he fulfilled the preceptive obligation of the law, "do this," so that the law might do them good.

This the evangelical apostle clearly asserts, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone who believes," Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law." What end? why, the perfection and accomplishment of the law. He is the end of the law for righteousness, that is, to the end that by Christ's active obedience, God might have his perfect law perfectly kept, so that there might be a righteousness existing in the human nature, every way adequate to the perfection of the law. And who must wear this garment of righteousness, when Christ has finished it? Surely the believer who lacked a righteousness of his own; for so it follows, "for righteousness to everyone who believes," that is, that every poor naked sinner, believing in Jesus Christ, might have a righteousness, wherein being found, he might appear at God's tribunal. But his nakedness does not appear—but as Jacob in the garment of his elder brother Esau, so the believer in the garment of his elder brother Jesus, might inherit the blessing, even the great blessing of justification.

The only matter of man's righteousness, since the fall of Adam, wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of God, and consequently, whereby alone he can be justified in his sight—is the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of the mediator. There is not any other way imaginable, how the justice of God may be satisfied, and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice—but by the righteousness of the Son of God. Therefore is his name Jehovah Tsidkenu, "The Lord our righteousness," Jer. 23:6. This is his name; that is, this is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus, a matter that appertains to him alone, to be able to bring in "an everlasting righteousness, and to make reconciliation for iniquity," Dan. 9:24. It is by Christ alone, that those who "believe are justified from all things, from which they cannot be justified by the law of Moses," Acts 13:39.

III. Now from the active obedience of Christ, a sincere Christian may form up this third plea as to these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:36, and 18:23; Luke 16:2; Romans 14:10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:6.] which refer either to the general judgment, or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death.

"O blessed God, you know that Jesus Christ, as my surety, did perform all that active obedience unto your holy and righteous law that I should have performed—but by reason of the indwelling power of sin, and of the vexing and molesting power of sin, and of the captivating power of sin—could not!"

There was in Christ a habitual righteousness, a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the law: 1 Pet. 1:19, "For he is a lamb without spot and blemish." The law could never have required so much righteousness—as is to be found in him. And as for practical righteousness, there was never any aberration in his thoughts, words, or deeds, Heb. 7:25; "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me," John 14:30. The apostle tells us, that "we are made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21. He does emphatically add that clause, in him, that he may take away all conceit of inherent righteousness in us, and establish the doctrine of imputation. As Christ is made sin in us by imputation, so we are made righteousness in him by the same way. "God the Father," says Augustine, "made Christ to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be the righteousness of God, not our own; and in him, that is in Christ, not in ourselves. And being thus justified, we are so righteous, as if we were righteousness itself!"

"Oh, holy God, Christ my surety has universally kept your royal law, he has not offended in any one point!" Yes, he has exactly and perfectly kept the whole law of God; he stood complete in the whole will of the Father; his active obedience was so full, so perfect, and so adequate—as to all the law's demands. The law now says, 'I have enough, I am fully satisfied; I have found a ransom, I can ask no more.' Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or transient—but permanent and constant; it was his delight, his food and drink, yes, his heaven, to be still a-doing the will of his Father, John 4:33-34. Assuredly, while our Lord Jesus Christ was in this world, he did in his own person fully obey the law; he did in his own person perfectly conform to all the holy, just, and righteous commands of the law. Now this his most perfect and complete obedience to the law is made over to all his members, to all believers, to all sincere Christians; it is reckoned to them, it is imputed to them, as if they themselves, in their own persons, had performed it.

All sound believers being in Christ, as their head and surety—the law's righteousness is fulfilled in them legally and imputively, though it is not fulfilled in them formally, subjectively, inherently, or personally; suitable to that of the apostle, that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us," Romans 8:4. Mark, not by us—but in us; for Christ in our nature has fulfilled the demands of the law, and therefore in us, because of our communion with him, and our ingrafting into him. God has condemned sin in the flesh of his Son, that all that which the law by right could require of us—might be performed by him for us—as if we ourselves had in our own persons performed the same. The demands of the law must be met, before a sinner can be saved; we cannot of ourselves fulfill the demands of it. But here is the comfort—Christ our surety has fulfilled it in us, and we have fulfilled it in him.

Certainly, whatever Christ did concerning the law is ours by imputation so fully—as if we ourselves had done it. Does the law require obedience? says Christ, "I will give my obedience!" Mat. 3:15. Does the law threaten curses? says Christ, "I have borne all their curses!" Mat. 5:17-18. "The precept of the law," says Christ, shall be kept, and the promises received, and the punishments endured—that poor sinners may be saved!" Our righteousness and title to eternal life indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christ's active obedience to us. There must be a perfect obeying of the law, as the condition of life, either by the sinner himself or by his surety—or else no eternal life for us; which does sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the imputation of Christ's active obedience to us. The sinner himself being altogether unable to fulfill the law, that he may stand righteous before the great and glorious God; Christ's fulfilling of it must necessarily be imputed to him in order to righteousness.

There are two great things which Jesus Christ undertook for his redeemed ones; the one was to make full satisfaction to divine justice for all their sins. Now this he did by his blood and death. The other was to yield most absolute conformity to the law of God, both in nature and life. By the one he has freed all his redeemed ones from hell, and by the other he has qualified all the redeemed ones for heaven. "Christ alone is my plea, O Lord, and by this plea I shall stand!" "Well," says the Lord, "I accept of this plea as honorable, just, and righteous. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

(2.) Secondly, As Jesus Christ did perform for us, all that active obedience which the law of God required; so he did also suffer all those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the law of God, in which respect he is said, 2 Cor. 2:22, "To be made sin for us." 1 Pet. 2:24, "He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree." 1 Pet. 3:18, "For Christ also has once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust—that he might bring us to God." Phil. 2:8, "He humbled himself and to become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Gal. 3:13, "He was made a curse—an execration for us." Eph. 5:2, "He gave himself for us, as an offering and sacrifice unto God." Heb. 9:15, "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant."

Now concerning the PASSIVE obedience, or suffering of Christ, I would present unto you these conclusions.

[1.] First, That the sufferings of Jesus Christ were free and voluntary, and not constrained or forced. John 10:17, "I lay down my life." Verse 18, "No man takes it from me—but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again;" Gal. 2:20, "Who gave himself for me." Christ's sufferings rose out of obedience to his Father: John 10:18, "This commandment have I received from my Father;" and John 18:11, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" And Christ's sufferings also sprang and rose out of his love to us, "who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20. Just so, in Eph. 5:25, "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it." And indeed, had Christ's sufferings been involuntary, they could not have been a part of his obedience, much less could they have mounted to anything of merit for us.

Christ was very free and willing to undertake the work of man's redemption. When he came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offerings you would not—but a body have you prepared me. Look, I have come to do your will," Heb. 10:5, 7. It is the expression of one overjoyed to do the will of God.

Just so, Luke 12:50, "There is a terrible baptism ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished." There was no power, no force to compel Christ to lay down his life, therefore it is called the offering of the body of Jesus, Heb. 10:10. Nothing could fasten Christ to the cross—but the golden link of his free love. Christ was filled with love, and therefore he freely opens all the pores of his body, that his blood may flow out from every part, as a precious balm to cure our wounds. The heart of Christ was so full of love that he could not hold it in—but must needs burst out through every part and member of his body into a bloody sweat, "Being in anguish, He prayed more fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground." Luke 22:44. At this time it is most certain that there was no manner of violence offered to the body of Christ; no man touched him, or came near him with whips, or thorns, or spears, or lances. Though the night was cold, and the air cold, and the earth on which he kneeled cold—yet such a burning love he had in his heart to his people, as cast him into a bloody sweat.

It is certain that Christ never repented of his sufferings: Isaiah 53:11, "He shall see of the travail of his soul—and shall be satisfied." It is a metaphor that alludes to a mother, who though she has had hard labor—yet does not repent of it, when she sees a child brought forth. Just so, though Christ had hard travail upon the cross—yet he does not repent of it—but thinks all his sweat and blood well bestowed, because he sees the man-child of redemption is brought forth into the world. He shall be satisfied: the Hebrew word signifies such a satiating as a man has, at some sweet feast or banquet. And what does this speak out—but his freeness in suffering?

OBJECTION. But here some may object, and say, that the Lord Jesus, when the hour of his sufferings drew near, did repent of his suretyship; and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his sufferings: "Father, if it be possible—let this cup pass from me;" and that three times over, Mat. 26:39, 42, 44.

ANSWER 1. Now to this objection I shall answer, first more generally, and secondly more particularly.

[1.] First, in the general, I say that this earnest prayer of his does not denote absolutely, his unwillingness—but rather sets out the greatness of his willingness; for although Christ as a man was of the same natural affections with us, and desires, and abhorrences of what was destructive to nature, and therefore did fear and deprecate that bitter cup which he was ready to drink. Yet as our mediator and surety, and knowing it would be a cup of salvation to us, though of exceeding bitterness to himself—he did yield and lay aside his natural reluctancies as man, and willingly obeyed his Father's will to drink it, as our loving mediator. It is as if he should say, "O Father, whatever becomes of me, of my natural fear or desire, I am content to submit to the drinking of this cup; may your will be done." But,

[2.] Secondly, and more particularly, I answer, that in these words of our Lord there is a twofold voice. 1. There is the voice of nature; "Let this cup pass from me." 2. There is the voice of his mediatorial office; "Nevertheless, not as I will—but as you will."

The first voice, "Let this cup pass," expresses the voice of the inferior part of his soul, the sensitive part, proceeding from natural abhorrency of death as he was a creature. The latter voice, "Nevertheless, not as I will—but as you will," expresses the full and free consent of his will, complying with the will of his Father in that grand everlasting design of "bringing many sons unto glory, by making the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings," Heb. 2:10.

It was an argument of the truth of Christ his human nature, that he naturally dreaded the cruel sufferings and death. He owed it to himself as a creature to desire the conservation of his being, and he could not become unnatural to himself, "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh," Eph. 5:29: Phil. 2:8, "But being a son, he learned submission, and became obedient to the death, even the death of the cross;" that shameful, cruel, cursed death of the cross, the suffering whereof he owed to that solemn agreement, which from everlasting passed between his Father and himself, the third person in the blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit being witness. And therefore, though the cup was the bitterest cup which ever was given man to drink, as wherein there was not death only—but wrath and curse! Yet seeing there was no other way left of satisfying the justice of his Father, and of saving sinners—he most willingly he took the cup, and having given thanks, as it were, in those words, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" never did bridegroom go with more cheerfulness to be married to his bride, than our Lord Jesus went to his cross, Luke 12:50.

Though the cup that God the Father put into Christ's hand was bitter, very bitter, yes, the bitterest that ever was put into any hand—yet he found it sweetened with three ingredients. 1. It was but a cup, it was not a sea; 2. It was his Father, and not Satan, who mingled it, and who put in all the bitter ingredients that were in it; 3. It was a gift, not a curse, as to himself: "The cup which my Father gives me." He drank it, I say, and drank it up every drop, leaving nothing behind for his redeemed people, but large draughts of love and salvation, in the sacramental cup of his own institution, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, for the remission of sins; this do you in remembrance of me," 1 Cor. 11:25; Mat. 26:28. Thus, my friends, look upon Christ as mediator, in which capacity only he covenanted with his Father for the salvation of mankind; and there was not so much as a shadow of any receding from, or repenting of what he had undertaken. But,

Answer. 2. Secondly, As the sufferings of Jesus Christ were very free and voluntary, so they were very great and heinous. What agony, what torment was our Savior racked with! How deep were his wounds! How weighty his burden! How full of trembling his cup, when he lay under the mountains of the guilt of all the elect! How bitter were his tears! How painful his bloody sweat! How sharp his encounters! How dreadful his death! Who can compute how many vials of God's inexpressible, insupportable wrath which Christ drank off? In that 53rd chapter of Isaiah you may read of despisings, rejections, stripes, smitings, wounds, sorrows, bruisings, chastisements, oppressions, afflictions, cutting off, putting to grief, and pouring out of his soul to death; all these put together speaks out Christ to be a very great sufferer.

Isaiah 53:3, "He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief!" He was a man of sorrows, as if he were a man made up of sorrows: as the man of sin, as if he were made up of sin, as if he were nothing else. He knew more sorrows than any man, yes, than all men ever did; for the iniquity, and consequently the sorrows, of all men met in him as if he had been their center; and he was acquainted with griefs; grief was his familiar acquaintance, he had no acquaintance with laughter. We never read that Jesus laughed at all, when he was in the world. His other acquaintances stood afar off—but grief followed him to the cross. From his birth to his death, from his cradle to the cross, from the womb to the tomb, he was a man of sorrows, and never were sorrows like his; he might say, "Never grief or sorrow like mine!"

It is indeed impossible to express the sufferings and sorrows of Christ; and the Greek Christians used to beg of God, that for the unknown sufferings of Christ—he would have mercy upon them! Though Christ's sufferings are abundantly made known—yet they are but little known; eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it or can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what Christ suffered; "who has known the power of God's wrath?" Christ Jesus knew it, for he underwent it. His whole life was made up of suffering. He was no sooner born—but sufferings came trooping in upon him. He was born in an inn, yes, in a stable, and had but a feeding-trough for his cradle. As soon as his birth was noised abroad, Herod, under a pretense of worshiping of him, had a design to murder him, so that his supposed father was forced to fly into Egypt to secure his life. He was persecuted before he could, humanly speaking, be sensible of persecution. And as he grew up in years, so his sufferings grew up with him. Hunger and thirst, journeyings and weariness, scorns and reproaches, false accusations and contradictions still waited on him, and he had not where to lay his head.

1 Pet. 3:18, "Christ has suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous." This is the wonderment of angels, the happiness of fallen man, and the torment of devils, etc., that Christ has suffered. The apostle's words look like a riddle, "Christ has suffered;" as if he should say, "read if you can, what he has suffered; as for my part his sufferings are so many, that in this short epistle I have no mind to record them; and they are so grievous, that my passionate love won't allow me to repeat them, and therefore I content myself thus abruptly to deliver them, "Christ has suffered." Christ's sufferings were unspeakable, his sufferings were unutterable; and therefore the apostle satisfies himself with this imperfect, broken speech, "Christ has suffered." Oh, what woes and lamentations, what cries and exclamations, what complaints and sorrows, what wringing of hands, what beating of breasts, what weeping of eyes, what wailing of tongues—belong to the speaking and hearing of this doleful tragedy!

Even in the prologue I tremble, and at the first entrance I am as perplexed, that I know not with what woeful gesture to act it, with what moanful voice to pronounce it, with what mournful words, with what pitiful speeches, with what emphatic phrases, with what interrupted accents, with what passionate compassionate plaints to express it. The multiplicity of the plot, and the variety of the acts and scenes is so intricate, that my memory fails to comprise it! The matter so important, and the story so excellent, that my tongue fails to declare it! The cruelty so savage, and the massacre so barbarous, that my heart even fails to consider it! Therefore I must needs content myself, with the apostle here, to speak but imperfectly of it, and think this enough to say, "Christ has suffered!" And well may I think this enough, for behold what perfection there is in this seeming imperfect speech. For,

First, To say indefinitely, he "suffered" without any limitation of time, what is it but to say that he always suffered without exception of time? And so indeed the prophet speaks of him, namely, "That he was a man of sorrows," Isa, 53:3. His whole life was filled up with sufferings. But,

Secondly, To say only he "suffered," and nothing else, what is it but to say that he patiently suffered; he never resisted, never rebelled, never opposed? "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb is silent before the shearer, so opened he not his mouth," Acts 8:32; Isaiah 53:7. "And when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not," 1 Pet. 2:23. But,

Thirdly, To say precisely he "suffered," and no more, what is it but to say that he freely suffered, that he voluntarily suffered? Christ was under no force, no compulsion—but freely allowed himself to suffer, and voluntarily allowed the Jews to make him suffer, having power to stop himself from suffering if he had pleased. "I lay down my life, no man takes it from me—but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again," John 10:17. But of this before.

Fourthly, To say plainly he "suffered," what is it but to say that he innocently suffered, that he wrongfully suffered? For had he been a malefactor, or an offender, it would have been said that he was punished, or that he was executed—but he was full of innocence—he was holy and harmless; and so it follows in that 1 Pet. 3:18, "The just for the unjust." But,

Fifthly, To say peremptorily he "suffered," what is it but to say that he principally suffered, that he excessively suffered? To say he suffered, what is it but to say he was the chief sufferer, the arch-sufferer? and that not only in respect of the manner of his sufferings, that he suffered absolutely so as never any person did—but also in respect of the measure of his sufferings, that he suffered excessively beyond what ever any person did. And thus we may well understand and take those words, "He suffered."

That lamentation of the prophet, Lam. 1:12, is very applicable to Christ, "Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of His burning anger?" Now, is it not enough for the apostle to say that "Christ has suffered;" but will you yet ask what he suffered? But please, friends, be satisfied to know that Christ suffered for your sins. For what sufferings can you think of, that Christ did not suffer? Christ suffered in his birth, and he suffered in his life, and he suffered in his death. He suffered in his body, for he was diversely tormented. He suffered in his soul, for his soul was exceeding sorrowful. He suffered in his estate, they parted his clothing, and he had nowhere to rest his head. He suffered in his reputation, for he was called a Samaritan, a devilish sorcerer, a drunkard, an enemy to Caesar, etc. He suffered from heaven, when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He suffered from the earth, when, being hungry, the fig-tree proved fruitless to him. He suffered from hell, Satan assaulting and encountering of him with his most black and horrid temptations. He began his life lowly and basely, and was sharply persecuted. He continued his life poorly and distressedly, and was cruelly hated. He ended his life woefully and miserably, and was most grievously tormented with whips, thorns, nails, and, above all, with the terrors of his Father's wrath and horrors of hellish agonies!

"I am the man who have sinned—but these sheep, what have they done?" said David, when he saw the angel destroying his people, 2 Sam. 24:17. And the same speech may everyone of us take up for ourselves and apply to Christ, and say, "I have sinned, I have done wickedly—but this sheep—this Lamb of God—what has he done?" Yes, much more cause have we than David had to take up this complaint. For,

First, David saw them die, whom he knew to be sinners—but we see him die, who "knew no sin," 2 Cor. 5:21. But,

Secondly, David saw them die a quick, speedy death; we see him die with lingering torments. He was a-dying from six to nine, Mat. 27:45-46. Now in this three hours' darkness, he was set upon by all the powers of darkness with utmost might and malice—but he foiled and spoiled them all, and made an open show of them, as the Roman conquerors used to do, triumphing over them on his cross, as on his chariot of state, Col. 2:15, attended by his vanquished enemies, with their hands bound behind them, Eph. 4:8. But,

Thirdly, David saw them die, who, by their own confession, was worth ten thousand of them; we see him die for us, whose worth admits no comparison. But,

Fourthly, David saw the Lord of glory destroying mortal men, and we see mortal men destroying the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2:8. Oh, how much more cause have we then to say as David, "I have sinned, I have done wickedly—but this innocent Lamb, the Lord Jesus, what has he done? What has he deserved, that he should be thus greatly tormented?" Tully, though a great orator—yet when he comes to speak of the death of the cross, he lacks words to express it, "What shall I say of this death?" says he. But,

Answer. 3. Thirdly, As the sufferings of Christ were very great—just so, the punishments which Christ did suffer for our sins, these were in their kinds and parts and degrees and proportion—all those punishments which were due unto us by reason of our sins, and which we ourselves would otherwise have suffered. Whatever we would have suffered as sinners—all that did Christ suffer as our surety and mediator, always excepting those punishments which could not be endured without a pollution and guilt of sin: "The chastisement of our peace was upon him," Isaiah 53:5; and including the punishments common to the nature of man—arising out of imperfection and defect and distemper. Now, the punishments due to us for sin were corporal and spiritual. And again, they were the punishments of loss, and punishments of sense. All these did Christ suffer for us, which I shall evidence by an induction of particulars.

I. First, That Christ suffered corporal punishments is most clear in Scripture. You read of the injuries to his body—of the crown of thorns on his head, of the smiting of his cheeks, of spitting on his face, of the scourging of his body, of the cross on his back, of the vinegar in his mouth, of the nails in his hands and feet, of the spear in his side, and of his crucifying and dying on the cross: 1 Pet. 24, "Who himself in his own body on the tree bore our sins." 1 Cor. 15:3, "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." Rev. 1:5, "And washed us from our sins in his own blood." Col. 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Mat. 26:28, "For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

Christ suffered derision in every one of his offices.

First, In his kingly office. They put a scepter in his hand, a crown on his head, and bowed their knees, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Mat. 27:29.

Secondly, In his priestly office. "They put upon him a gorgeous white robe," such as the priests wore, Luke 23:11.

Thirdly, In his prophetic office. "When they had blindfolded him, Prophesy, say they, who it is that smites you," Luke 22:64. Sometimes they said, "You are a Samaritan, and have a devil," John 8:48; and sometimes they said, "He's out of his mind!" Mark 3:21.

And as Christ suffered in everyone of his offices, so he suffered in every member of his body. He suffered in his hearing, by their reproaches, and crying, "Crucify him, crucify him!" He suffered in his sight, by their scoffings and scornful gestures. He suffered in his smell—in his being in that noisome place Golgotha, Mat. 27:33. He suffered in his taste, by his tasting of vinegar mingled with gall, which they gave him to drink, Mat. 27:33. He suffered in his feeling, by the thorns on his head, blows on his cheeks, spittle on his face, the spear in his side, and the nails in his hands. He suffered in all parts and members of his body from head to foot. His head, which deserved a better crown than the best in the world, was crowned with thorns, and they smote him on the head.

Osorius, writing of the sufferings of Christ, says, "That the crown of thorns bored his head with seventy-two wounds." To see that head, before which angels cast down themselves and worshiped, as I may say—crowned with thorns—might well astonish us! To see those eyes, which were purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death; to see those ears which heard nothing but halleluiahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude; to see that face which was fairer than the sons of men—for being born and conceived without sin, he was freed from the contagious effects of it, deformity, and was most perfectly beautiful, Psalm 45:2; Cant. 5:10—to be spit on by those beastly, wretched Jews; to see that mouth and tongue, which "spoke as never man spoke," accused for false doctrines, nay blasphemy; to see those hands, which freely swayed the scepter of heaven, nailed to the cross; to see those feet, "like unto fine brass," Rev. 1:15, nailed to the cross for man's sins! Who can behold Christ thus suffering in all the members of his body, and not be struck with astonishment?

Who can sum up the horrible abuses that were put upon Christ by the vile guards? The evangelist tells us that they spit in his face and buffeted him, and that others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, "Prophesy unto us, you Christ, who is he who smote you?" Mat. 26:67-68; and, as Luke adds, "many other things blasphemously spoke they against him," Luke 22:65. What those many other things were, is not made known; only some ancient writers say, "That Christ in that night suffered so many and such hideous things, that the whole knowledge of them is reserved only for the last day of judgment." Maldonatus writes thus, "After Caiaphas and the priests had sentenced Christ as worthy of death, they committed him to their ministers, to keep until day, and they immediately threw him into the dungeon in Caiaphas's house; there they bound him to a stony pillar, with his hands bound on his back, and then they fell upon him with their palms and fists." Others add that the soldiers, not yet content, they threw him into a filthy, dirty puddle, where he abode for the remainder of that night; of which the psalmist seems to speak, "You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, and in the deeps, and I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing," Psalm 88:6, and 69:2. But that you may clearly see what horrible abuses were put upon Christ by his guards, consider seriously of these particulars—

[1.] First, "They spit in his face." Mat. 26:67. Now, this was accounted among the Jews a matter of great infamy and reproach: Num. 12:14, "And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?" Spitting in the face among the Jews was a sign of anger, shame, and contempt! Job 30:10, "They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spit in my face." The face is the place of beauty or loveliness—and when it is spit upon—it is made the seat of shame. Spitting in the face was a sign of the greatest disgrace that could be put upon a person; and therefore it could not but be very bitter to see base beggars spit in Job's face, which was accustomed to be honored by princes. But this we are not to wonder at, for there is no indignity so base and ignominious, but the choicest saints may meet with it in and from this evil world.

Afflicted people are sacred things, and by the laws of nature and nations, should not be misused and trampled upon—but rather pitied and lamented over. But barbarous miscreants, when they have an opportunity, they will not spare to exercise any kind of cruelty, as you see by their spitting in the very face of Christ himself! "I hid not my face," says Christ, "from shame and spitting," Isaiah 50:6, 2. Though "I was fairer than the children of men," Psalm 45:2, yet I used no mask to keep me fair. Though "I was radiant and ruddy," "the chief among ten thousand," Cant. 5:10, yet I preserved not my beauty from their nasty spittle. Oh, that that sweet and blessed face of Jesus Christ, that is so much honored and adored in heaven, should ever be spit upon by such beastly wretches!

[2.] Secondly, "They struck him." John 18:22, "One of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest so?" Because our Savior gave not the high priest his usual titles—but dealt freely with him, this impious officer, to curry favor with his master, strikes him with his hand, with his rod, say some, with his stick, say others; like master like man. Oh, that that holy face which was designed to be the central object of heaven, in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory does consist—that that face which the angels stare upon with wonder, like infants at a bright sunbeam—should ever be smitten by a base varlet servant in the presence of a judge! Among all the sufferings of Christ, one would think that there was no great matter in this, that a vain officer did strike him with the palm of his hand—and yet if the Scriptures are consulted, you will find that the Holy Spirit lays a great stress upon it. Thus Jeremiah: "He gives his cheek to him who smites him; he is filled full with reproach," Lam. 3:30.

Christ did patiently and willingly take the stripes that vain men did injuriously lay upon him; he sustained all kinds of vexations from the hands of all kinds of ungodly ones. Thus Micah, speaking of Christ, says, "They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek," Micah 5:1. Hugo, by this Judge of Israel, understands our Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed at his passion devastatingly "buffeted and smitten with rods upon the cheek," Mat. 26:67. By smiting the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek, they express their scorn and contempt of Christ. Smiting upon the face the apostle makes a sign of great reproach: 2 Cor. 11:20, "If a man smites you on the face." "There is nothing more disgraceful," says Chrysostom, "than to be smitten on the cheek." And the diverse reading of the original word does fully evidence it: "He struck him with a rod," or he struck him with the palm of his hand. Now, the word, say some, refers to his being struck with a rod, or club, or shoe. Others say it refers to his being struck with the palm of men's hands. Now, of the two, it is generally judged more disgraceful to be struck with the palm of the hand than to be struck with either a rod or a shoe; and therefore we read the text thus, "He struck Jesus with the palm of his hand," that is, with open hand, or with his hand stretched out.

Some of the ancients, commenting on this cuff, say, "Let the heavens be afraid, and let the earth tremble, at Christ's patience and his servant's impudence! O you angels! how were you silent? how could you contain yourselves when you saw that soldier's hand striking at God?" "If we consider him," says another, "who took the blow, was not he who struck him worthy to be consumed by fire, or to be swallowed up by the earth, or to be given up to Satan, and thrown down into hell." Bernard says, "That his hand that struck Christ was armed with an iron glove." And Vincentius affirms, "That by the blow Christ was felled to the earth." And Ludovicus adds, "That blood gushed out of his mouth; and that the impression of the soldier's fingers remained on Christ's cheek with a swelling and bruised color." If a subject should but lift up his hand against a sovereign, would he not be severely punished? But should he strike him, would it not be present death? Oh, what desperate madness and wickedness was it then to strike the King of kings and Lord of lords, whom not only men—but the cherubim and seraphim, and all the celestial powers above, adore and worship? Rev. 17:16; Heb. 1:6.

Those monsters in that Mat. 26:67 did not only strike Christ with the palm of their hands—but they buffeted him also. Now, some of the learned observe this difference between the two words; the one is given with the open hand, the other with the fist shut up; and thus they used him at this time. They struck him with their fists, and so the stroke was greater and more offensive; for by this means they made his face to swell, and to become full of bunches all over. One gives it in thus: By these blows of their fists his whole head was swollen, his face became black and blue, and his teeth ready to fall out of his jaws. Very probable it is that, with the violence of their strokes, they made him reel and stagger, they made his mouth, and nose, and face to bleed, and his eyes to startle in his head.

Now, concerning Christ's sufferings on the cross, I shall only hint a few things, and so close up this particular concerning Christ's corporeal sufferings. Take me thus,

1. First, The death of Christ on the cross, it was a bitter death, a sorrowful death, a bloody death. The bitter thoughts of his sufferings put him into a most dreadful agony: Luke 22:44, "Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground." The Greek word that is here used, signifies a striving or wrestling against, as two combatants or wrestlers do strive each against other. The things which our Savior strove against was not only the terror of death, as other men are accustomed to do—for then many Christians and martyrs might have seemed more fearless and courageous than he—but with the terrible justice of God, pouring out his high anger and indignation upon him on the account of all the sins of his chosen ones, which were laid upon him, than which nothing could be more dreadful, Isaiah 53:4-6. Christ was in a vehement conflict in his soul, through the deepest sense of his Father's wrath against sinners, for whom he now stood as a surety and Redeemer, 2 Cor. 5:21. And for a close of this particular, let me say that God's justice which we have provoked, being fully satisfied by the inestimable merit of Christ's sufferings—is the surest and highest ground of consolation that we have in this world! ut for the more full opening of this blessed scripture, let us take notice of these following particulars:

(1.) First, "His sweat was, as it were blood." Some of the ancients look upon these words only as a similitude or figurative hyperbole, it being a usual kind of speech to call a vehement sweat a bloody sweat, as he who weeps bitterly is said to weep tears of blood. But the most and best of the ancients, understand the words in a literal sense, and believe it was truly and properly a bloody sweat, and with them I close. But some will object, and say it was—as it were drops of blood. Now to this I answer, first, if the Holy Spirit had only intended that for a similitude or hyperbole, he would rather have expressed it—as it were drops of water, than "as it were drops of blood;" for we all know that sweat is more like to water than to blood.

But, secondly, I answer that 'as it were', as in Scripture phrase, does not always denote a similitude—but sometimes the very thing itself, according to the verity of it. Take an instance or two instead of many: "We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father." "Their words seemed to them as it were idle tales, and they believed them not." The words in the original are the same. Certainly Christ's sweat in the garden was an astonishing sweat, not a sweat of water—but of red gore-blood. But,

(2.) Secondly, He sweat great drops of blood, clotty blood, issuing through flesh and skin in great abundance—clotted or congealed blood. There is a thin faint sweat, and there is a thick clotted sweat. In this sweat of Christ blood came not from him in small dews—but in great drops, they were drops, and great drops of blood, crassy [thick, fat] and thick drops. Some read it droppings down of blood; that is, blood distilling in greater and grosser drops; and hence it is concluded as preternatural; for though much may be said for sweating blood in a course of nature, according to what Aristotle affirms, and Austin says that he knew a man who could sweat blood, even when he pleased; and it is granted on all hands that in faint bodies a subtle thin blood like sweat may pass through the pores of the skin—but that through the same pores thick, and great drops of blood should issue out—it was not, it could not be without a miracle. Certainly the drops of blood that fell from Christ's body were great, very great; yes, so great as if they had started through his skin to outrun the streams and rivers of his cross. But,

(3.) Thirdly, These great drops of blood did not only drip out—but run down like a stream, so fast, as if they had issued out of most deadly wounds. They were great "drops of blood falling down to the ground!" Here is magnitude and multitude; great drops, and those so many, so plenteous, as that they went through his apparel, and all streamed down to the ground; now was the time that his garments were dyed with crimson red. That of the prophet, though spoken in another sense—yet in some respect may be applied to this, "Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?" Isaiah 63:2. Oh, what a sight was here! His head and members are all in a bloody sweat, and this sweat trickles down, and bedecks his garments, which stood like a new sky, studded with stars, portending an approaching storm. The blood does not stay in the garment—but it falls down to the ground. Oh, happy garden that was watered with such tears of blood! Oh, how much better are these rivers than Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, yes, than all the waters of Israel; yes, than all those rivers which water the garden of Eden!

So great was Scanderbeg's ardor in battle, that the blood burst out of his lips. But from our Champion—not his lips only—but his whole body, burst out a bloody sweat. Not his eyes only were fountains of tears, or his head waters, as Jeremiah wished, Jer. 9:1—but his whole body was turned, as it were, into rivers of blood. A sweet comfort to such as are cast down, because their sorrow for sin is not so deep and penetrating as they could desire.

Christ's blood is put in Scripture by a synecdoche of the part—for all the sufferings which he underwent for all the sins of the elect, especially his bloody death with all its accompaniments, so called. First, because death, especially when it is violent, is joined with the effusion of blood: "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets," that is, of their death. Mat. 23:30. And so again, Pilate said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person," that is, of his death, Mat. 27:24.

Secondly, Herein respect is had to all the sacrifices of the law, whose blood was poured out when they were offered up. "Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin," Heb. 9:22; so that the blood of Christ is the antitype aimed at in the blood of those sacrifices, which were slain for sinners' sins. But,

2. Secondly, as the death of Christ on the cross, was a bitter death, a bloody death—so the death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death. It was more for Christ to suffer one hour—than for us to have suffered forever. But his death was lengthened out, he hung three hours on the cross, he died many deaths before he could die one: "from the sixth until the ninth hour"—that is, from twelve until three in the afternoon—"there was darkness over all the land," Mat. 27:45. About twelve, when the sun is usually brightest, it began now to darken, and this darkness was so great that it spread over all the land of Jerusalem; yes, some think over all the world. Just so, we translate it in Luke, "And there was darkness over all the earth," Luke 23:44, to show God's dislike of their horrid cruelty. He would not have the sun give light to so horrid an act. The sun as it were, hid his face that he might not see the Sun of righteousness so unworthily, so wickedly handled.

It was dark:

1. To show the blindness, darkness, and ignorance of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory;

2. To show God's detestation of the fact;

3. To show the vileness of our sins.

This darkness was not a natural eclipse of the sun; for, first, it cannot be so total, so general; nor secondly, it could not be so long, for the interposed moon goes swiftly away. Certainly this was no ordinary eclipse of the sun, seeing the Passover was kept at the full moon, when the moon stands right opposite to the sun on the other side of the heaven, and for this cause cannot hinder the light of the sun. this was a supernatural work of God coming to pass by miracle, "like as the darkness in Egypt," Exod. 10:22. The moon being now in the full, it being in the midst of the lunar month when the Passover was killed, and so of necessity the body of the moon—which sometimes eclipsed the sun by its interposition, and being between us and the sun—must be opposite to and distant from the sun the diametrical breadth of the hemisphere, the full moon ever rising at the sun's setting, and therefore this eclipse could never be a natural eclipse. Many Gentiles besides Jews observed this darkness as a great miracle. Dionysius the Areopagite, could say at first sight of it, "Either the world is ending, or the God of nature is suffering in this darkness."

Amos long before had prophesied: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day," Amos 8:9. The opinion of authors concerning the cause of this darkness are various. Some think that the sun by divine power, withdrew and held back its beams; others say that the obscurity was caused by some thick clouds which were miraculously produced in the air, and spread themselves over all the earth; others say that this darkness was by a wonderful interposition of the moon, which at that time was at full—but by a miracle interposed itself between the earth and sun. Whatever was the cause of this darkness, it is certain that it continued for the space of three hours as dark as the darkest winter nights.

About three in the afternoon, Mat. 27:46, the sun now beginning to receive his light, Jesus cried with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And then, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said "I thirst;" and when he had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," John 19:28, 30. And at last, crying with a loud voice, he said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit;" and having said thus, "he gave up the Spirit," Luke 23:46. Christ's words were ever gracious—but never more gracious than at this time. You cannot find in all the books and writings of men, in all the annals and records of time, either such sufferings or such sayings, as were these last words and wounds, sayings and sufferings of Jesus Christ. "And having said thus, he gave up the Spirit;" or as John relates it, "He bowed his head and gave up the Spirit," John 19:30. Christ would not come off the cross until all was done—which he was here to accomplish. Christ bowed not because he was dead—but first he bowed and then died; that is, he died freely and willingly without constraint, and he died cheerfully and comfortably without murmuring or repining. Oh, what a wonder of love is this, that Jesus Christ, who is the author of life, the fountain of life, the Lord of life, that he should so freely, so readily, so cheerfully lay down his life for us!

About four in the afternoon he was pierced with a spear, and there issued out of his side, both blood and water: "One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out." John 19:34. Out of the side of Christ, being now dead, there issues water and blood, signifying that he is both our justification and sanctification.

Thus was fulfilled that which was long before foretold: "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced," Zech. 12:10. Thus "Jesus came by water and by blood," 1 John 5:6. Thus was there "a fountain opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem," even to all the elect, "for sin and for uncleanness," Zech. 13:1. The soldier's malice lived when Christ was dead. The water and blood forthwith issuing out as soon as it was pierced with a spear, did evidently show that he was truly dead. It is very likely that the very pericardium was pierced. Now the pericardium is a film or skin, like unto a purse, wherein is contained clear water to cool the heat of the heart. The blood, says one, signifies the perfect expiation of the sins of the Church. And the water, the daily washing and purging of it from the remainder of her corruption. "Water and blood issued out of Christ's side," says another, "to teach us that Christ justifies none by his merit—but such whom he sanctifies by his Spirit." Christ was pierced with a spear, and water and blood presently issued out of his side, that his enemies might not object that he rose again because he was but half dead on the cross, and being so taken down he revived in the grave. To testify the contrary truth, John so seriously affirms the certainty of his death, he being an eye-witness of the streaming out of Christ's blood as he stood by Christ's cross. O gates of heaven! O windows of paradise! O palace of refuge! O tower of strength! O sanctuary of the just! O flourishing bed of the spouse of Solomon! Methinks I see water and blood running out of his side more freshly than these golden streams which ran out of the garden of Eden and watered the whole world. But here I may not dwell, etc.

But to shut up this particular, about five, which the Jews call the eleventh and the last hour of the day, Christ was taken down and buried by Joseph and Nicodemus. But,

3. Thirdly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death, so the death of Christ was a painful death. This appears several ways.

[1.] First, His legs and hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastenings, and then pierced through with nails. His hands and feet were nailed, which parts being full of sinews, and therefore very tender, his pains could not but be very acute and sharp.

[2.] Secondly, By this means he lacked the use both of his hands and feet, and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the cross, as being unable to turn any way for his ease, and therefore he could not but be under very dolorous pains.

[3.] Thirdly, The longer he lived, the more he endured; for by the weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged, his nerves and veins were rent and torn asunder, and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still. Now the envenomed arrows of God's wrath shot to his heart. This was the direful catastrophe, and caused that vociferation and outcry upon the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The justice of God was now inflamed and heightened to its full. Romans 8:32, "God spared not his Son;" God would not abate one farthing of the debt. But,

[4.] Fourthly, He died by piece-meals, he died little by little, he died not all at once. He who died on the cross, was long a-dying. Christ was kept a great while upon the rack; it was full three hours between his crucifixion and his expiration; and certainly it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Spirit. I have read that Andrew the apostle was two whole days on the cross before he died; and so long might Christ have been a-dying, if God had not supernaturally heightened the degrees of his torment. Doubtless when Christ was on the cross he felt the very pains of hell, though not locally—yet equivalently. But,

4. Fourthly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a painful death, so the death of Christ on the cross was a shameful death. Christ was hung between two thieves—as if he had been the principal malefactor, Mark 27:38. Here they placed him to make the world believe that he was the great ringleader of such men. Christ was crucified in the midst as the chief of sinners—that we might have place in the midst of heavenly angels. One of these thieves went railing to hell, the other went repenting right forth to heaven, living long in a little time, Zech. 3:7.

If you ask me the names of these two thieves who were crucified with Christ, I must answer, that although the Scripture nominates them not—yet some writers give them these names, Dismas and Gesmas; Dismas the happy, and Gesmas the miserable thief, according to the poet—

When Gesmas died, to hell he was sent;

When Dismas died, up to heaven he went.

Well might the lamp of heaven withdraw its light and mask itself with darkness, as blushing to behold the Sun of righteousness hanging between two thieves! He shall be an Apollo to me—who can tell me which was the greater, the suffering of the cross, or the shame of the cross, Heb. 12:2. It was a mighty shame that Saul's sons were hanged on a tree, 2 Sam. 21:6. Oh, what a shameful death was it for Christ to hang on a tree between two notorious thieves! But,

5. Fifthly and lastly, As the death of Christ was a shameful death, so the death of Christ was a cursed death. "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," Deut. 21:23. The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of death—"as the serpent was accursed above all beasts of the field," Gen. 3:14, both for the first transgression, whereof the serpent was the instrument, the tree the occasion. Since the death of any malefactor might be a monument of God's curse for sin, it may be questioned, why this brand is peculiarly set upon this kind of punishment; that he who is hanged is accursed of God. To which I answer, because this was esteemed the most shameful, the most dishonorable and infamous of all kinds of death; and was usually therefore the punishment of those who had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his wrath upon the whole land, and so were hanged up to appease his wrath, as we may see in the hanging of those princes who were guilty of committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, Num. 25:4; and in the hanging of those sons of Saul in the days of David, when there was a famine in the land, because of Saul's treacherous oppressing of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. 21:6.

Nor was it without cause, that this kind of death was both by the Israelites and other nations esteemed the most shameful and accursed; because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such execrable and accursed wretches, that defiled the earth with treading upon it, and would pollute the earth if they should die upon it; and therefore were so trussed up in the air as not fit to live among men; and that others might look upon them as men made spectacles of God's indignation and curse, because of the wickedness they had committed, which was not done in other kinds of death. And hence it was that the Lord God would have his Son, the Lord Christ, to suffer this kind of death, that even hence it might be the more evident, that in his death he bore the curse due to our sins, according to the apostle: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law—being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," Gal. 3:13. The Chaldee translates it, "For because he sinned before the Lord—he is hanged." The tree whereon a man was hanged, the stone wherewith he was stoned, the sword wherewith he was beheaded, and the napkin with which his face was covered—they were all buried, that there might be no evil memorial of such a one, to say—This was the tree, sword, stone, napkin—with which Jesus was executed.

This kind of death was so execrable, that Constantine made a law that no Christian should die upon the cross; he abolished this kind of death out of his empire. When this kind of death was in use among the Jews, it was chiefly inflicted upon slaves, who either falsely accused, or treacherously conspired their master's death. But on whoever it was inflicted, this death in all ages among the Jews had been branded with a special kind of ignominy; and so much the apostle signifies when he says, "He abased himself to the death—even to the death of the cross," Phil. 2:2. I know Moses' law speaks nothing in particular of crucifying—yet he does include the same under the general of hanging on a tree; and some conceive that Moses, in speaking of that curse, foresaw what manner of death the Lord Jesus should die. And let thus much suffice concerning Christ's sufferings on the cross, or concerning his bodily sufferings.

Christ's Spiritual Sufferings

II. I shall now, in the second place, speak concerning Christ's spiritual sufferings, his sufferings in his soul, which were exceeding high and great. Now here I shall endeavor to do two things: First, To prove that Christ suffered in his soul, and so much the rather because that the papists say and write, that Christ did not truly and properly and immediately suffer in his soul—but only by way of sympathy and compassion with his body to the mystical body; and that his bare bodily sufferings were sufficient for man's redemption. Second, That the sufferings of Christ in his soul were exceeding high and great. For the first, that Christ suffered in his soul, I shall thus demonstrate.

(1.) First, Express Scriptures do evidence this: Isaiah 53:10, "When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed," etc.; John 12:27, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour—but for this cause came I unto this hour;" Mat. 26:37-38, "He began to be sorrowful and very heavy." These were but the beginnings of sorrow: he began, etc. Sorrow is a thing which drinks up our spirits, and he was heavy, as feeling a heavy load upon him; verse 38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Christ was as full of sorrow as his heart could hold. Every word is emphatic—"My soul;" his sorrow pierced his heaven-born soul. As the soul was the first agent in transgression, so it is here the first agent in affliction. The sufferings of his body—were but the body of his sufferings. The soul of his sufferings—were the sufferings of his soul, which was now beset with sorrows, and heavy as heart could hold. Christ was sorrowful, his soul was sorrowful, his soul was exceeding sorrowful, his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death.

Christ's soul was in such extremity of sorrow, that it made him cry out, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass;" and this was with "strong cryings and tears," Heb. 5:7. To cry, and to cry with a loud voice, argues great extremity of sufferings. Mark 14:33 says, "And he began to be filled with horror and deep distress!" Or we may more fully express it thus, according to the original, He begun to be terrified with horror, and to be satiated, filled brimful with heaviness—a very sad condition! All the sins of the elect, like a huge army, meeting upon Christ—made a dreadful onset on his soul! Luke 22:43-44, it is said "He was in an agony." That is—a conflict in which a poor creature wrestles with deadly pangs, with all his might, mustering up all his faculties and force to grapple with them and withstand them. Thus did Christ struggle with the indignation of the Lord, praying once and again with more intense fervency, "Oh, that this cup may pass away! If it is possible, let this cup pass away!" Luke 22:42-43; while an angel strengthened his outward man from utter sinking in the conflict.

Now, if this weight which Christ bore, had been laid on the shoulders of all the angels in heaven—it would have sunk them down to the lowest hell! It would have cracked the axle-tree of heaven and earth. It made his blood startle out of his body in congealed clotted heaps. The heat of God's fiery indignation made his blood to boil up until it ran over; yes, divine wrath affrighted it out of its accustomed channel. The creation of the world cost him but a word; he spoke and the world was made! But the redemption of souls cost him bloody sweats and soul-distress. What conflicts, what strugglings with the wrath of God! With the powers of darkness! What weights! what burdens! what wrath did he undergo when his soul was heavy unto death "beset with terrors," as the word implies, when he drank that bitter cup, that cup of bitterness, that cup mingled with curses—which made him sweat drops of blood! which, if men or angels had but sipped of, it would have made them reel, stagger, and tumble into hell!

The soul of Christ was overcast with a cloud of God's displeasure. The Greek Church, speaking of the sufferings of Christ, calls them "unknown sufferings." Ah Christians! who can speak out this sorrow? "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity—but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Proverbs 18:14. Christ's soul is sorrowful—but give me that word again, his soul is exceeding sorrowful—but if that word be yet too low, then I must tell you that "his soul was exceeding sorrowful—even unto death!" Not only extensively sorrowful, such as must continue for the space of seventeen or eighteen hours, even until death itself should finish it—but also intensively such. Of this sorrow is that especially spoken, "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto Me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger," Lam. 1:12.

Many a sad and sorrowful soul has, no question, been in the world—but the like sorrow to Jesus'—has never been seen since the creation. The very terms or phrases used by the evangelists speak no less. He was "sorrowful and heavy," says one; "amazed, and very heavy," says another; "in an agony," says a third; "in a soul-trouble," says a fourth. Certainly, the bodily torments of the cross were much inferior, to the agony of his soul. The pain of the body—is the body of pain. Oh—but the very soul of sorrow—is the soul's sorrow, and the very soul of pain is the soul's pain.

(2.) Secondly, That which Christ assumed or took of our nature, he assumed to this end—to suffer in it; and by suffering, to save and redeem it. But he took the whole nature of man, both body and soul; consequently, he suffered in both.

First, the assumption is evident, and needs no proof; that Christ took upon him both our soul and body, the apostle assures us, where he says, "That in all things it became him to be like unto us," Heb. 2:17; therefore he had both body and soul as we have.

Secondly, concerning the proposition, namely, That what Christ took of our nature, he took it by suffering in it properly and immediately—to redeem us. Now this is evident by that blessed word, where the apostle says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15. Hence I reason thus, that wherein Christ delivered us, he took part with us in—but he delivered us from fear of death; accordingly, he did therein communicate with us. Now mark, this fear was the proper and immediate passion of the soul, namely, the fear of death and God's anger. And the text gives this sense, Because the fear of this death kept them in bondage—but the fear only of the bodily death does not bring us into such bondage; witness that Song of Zacharias; "That we, being delivered from the hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear," Luke 1:74. This then is a spiritual fear, from the which Christ did deliver us; consequently, he did communicate with us in this fear; for the apostle says, "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Heb. 2:18. Certainly that fear which fell on Christ was a real fear, and it was in his soul, and did not arise from the mere contemplation of bodily torments only, for the very martyrs in the encountering with them have feared little. Assuredly there was some great matter that lay upon the very soul of Christ, which made him so heavy, and sorrowful, and so afraid, and in such an agony.

But if you please, take this second argument in another form of words, thus: what Christ took of ours, that he in suffering offered up for us, for his assuming of our nature, was for this end, to suffer for us in our nature—but he took our nature in body and in soul, and he delivered our souls as well as our bodies; and the sins of our souls did need his sacrifice as well as the sins of our bodies; and our souls were crucified with Christ, as well as our bodies. Surely if our whole man was lost—then our whole man needs the benefit and help of a whole Savior; and if Christ had assumed only our flesh, our body—then our souls adjudged, adjudged to punishment, had remained under transgression without hope of pardon.

Several sayings of the ancients does further strengthen this argument. Take a taste of some. "If the whole man perished, the whole man needed a Savior. Christ therefore took the whole man, body and soul. If he had taken only flesh, the soul should remain liable to punishment of the first transgression, without hope of pardon. By the same reason, Christ must also suffer properly in soul, because not by taking our soul—but by satisfying in his soul, our soul is delivered."

"He took all our passions, or affections, to sanctify them all in himself—but Christ was sanctified and consecrated by his death, and so does he consecrate us," says Damascene. "For by one offering, he has perfected forever, those who are sanctified," Heb. 10:14. Consequently, by his offering of hid soul, and suffering in his soul, has he consecrated our soul and affections.

He took my heart to amend it, etc. Now he has amended it, in that he consecrated it by his offering, Heb. 10:14; He has taken that for us, which was most in danger for us, etc., that is, our soul. But Christ has not otherwise delivered us from the danger—but by entering into the danger for us; this danger of the soul is the fear and feeling of God's wrath.

(3.) Thirdly, Christ bore our sorrows, Isaiah 53:4. Now what sorrows should we bear—but the sorrows due unto us for our sins; and surely these were not corporal only—but spiritual also, and those did Christ bear in his soul. The same prophet says, verse 10, "He shall make his soul an offering for sin;" accordingly, Christ offered his soul as well as his body. Again, our Savior himself says, "My soul is very heavy unto death," Mat. 26:38. Certainly it was not the bodily death which Christ feared, for then he would have been weaker than many martyrs, yes, than many of the Romans, who made no more of dying, than of dining; therefore Christ's soul was truly and properly stricken with heaviness, and not with the beholding of bodily torments only, as some dream. But,

(4.) Fourthly, That whereby Adam and we ever since, do most properly commit sin (in our souls)—by his soul sufferings, has Christ, the second Adam, made satisfaction properly for our sin. But Adam did, and we all do properly commit sin in our souls; our bodies being but the instruments. Consequently, Christ by, and in his soul, has properly made satisfaction.

[1.] First, The truth of the proposition is confirmed by the apostle, "As by one man's disobedience we are made sinners, so by the obedience of one, the many shall be made righteous," Romans 5:19. Christ then satisfied for us by the same way wherein Adam disobeyed. Now Adam's soul was in the transgression as well as his body, and accordingly was Christ's very soul in his sufferings and satisfaction, and Christ obeyed, that is, in his soul; for obedience belongs to the soul, as one observes upon those words of the apostle: Phil. 2:8, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." "Who does not understand," says the same author, "that obedience belongs to the human soul?"

That there is a kind of dying in the soul when it is pierced with grief, besides the death of the soul, either by sin or damnation—is not disagreeing to the Scripture. Simeon says to Mary, "A sword shall pierce through your soul," Luke 2:35. Look, as then the body dies, being pierced with a sword, so the soul may be said to die or languish, when it is pierced with grief. What else is crucifying but dying? Now, the soul is said to be crucified, as is evident by that passage of the apostle, "I am crucified to the world," Gal. 6:14, when as yet his body was alive.

[2.] Secondly, For the assumption.

1. However it is admitted that the body is the instrument of the soul, both in sinning and suffering—yet the conclusion is this—that because sin is committed in the soul principally and properly, therefore the satisfaction must be made in the soul principally and properly. The bodily pains affecting the soul are not the proper passions of the soul, neither is the soul said to suffer properly, when the body suffers—but by way of compassion and consent.

2. We grant that in the proper and immediate sufferings of the soul, the body also is affected: as when Christ was in his agony in the garden—his whole body was therewith stirred and moved, and it did sweat drops of blood. But it is one thing when the grief begins immediately in the soul and so affects the body, and when the pain is first inflicted upon the body and so works upon the soul, there the soul suffers properly and principally; of which sufferings we speak here neither properly nor principally, which is not the thing in question.

3. It is not the reasonable soul which is affected with the body, for it is a ground in philosophy that the soul suffers not—but only the sensitive part. But the grief that we speak of, which is an atonement for sin, must be in the very reasonable soul where sin took the beginning, and so Ambrose says upon those words of Christ, "My soul is heavy to death." It is referred to the assumption of the reasonable soul, and human affection.

Pride, ambition and infidelity began in Adam's soul, and had their determination there. In the committing of those sins, the body had no part. Indeed with the ear they heard the suggestion of Satan—but it was no sin until in their minds they had consented unto it. Therefore seeing the first sin committed was properly and wholly in the soul—for the same the soul must properly and wholly satisfy.

Because sin took beginning from Adam's soul, the satisfaction also must begin in Christ's soul—as Ambrose says, "I begin there to win in Christ, where in Adam I was overcome." Then it follows that the sufferings of Christ's soul took beginning there, and were not derived by sympathy from the stripes and pain of the body. We infer, then, that therefore Christ's soul had proper and immediate sufferings, besides those which proceeded from sympathy with his body, and all Christ's sufferings were satisfactory. Consequently, Christ did satisfy for our sins properly and immediately, in his soul.

But if you please, take this fourth argument in another form of words, thus—The punishment which was pronounced against the first Adam, our first surety, and in him against us—that same punishment, did Christ, the second Adam, our next and best surety, bear for us—or else it must still lie upon us to suffer the punishment ourselves. But the punishment threatened and denounced against Adam for transgression, was not only corporal, respecting our bodies—but spiritual also, respecting our souls. There was a spiritual malediction due unto our souls, as well as a corporal, etc.

Look, as God put a sanction on the law and covenant of works made with all of us in Adam, that he and his posterity should be liable to death, both of body and soul; which covenant being broken by sin, all sinners became liable to the death in both of body and soul; so it was necessary that the redeemed should be delivered from the death of both by the Redeemer's tasting of death in both kinds, as much as should be sufficient for their redemption. O sirs, as sin infected the whole man, soul and body, and the curse following on sin left no part nor power of the man's soul free; just so, justice required that the Redeemer, coming in the place of the people redeemed, should feel the force of the curse both in body and soul. But,

(5.) Fifthly, "He shall see of the travail of his soul," Isaiah 53:11. Here the soul is taken properly, and the travail of Christ's soul is his sufferings; for it follows, "and he shall bear their iniquities." But,

(6.) Sixthly, Christ gave himself for his people's sins. "Who gave himself for our sins," Tit. 2:14; "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquities," etc., Eph. 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:6. But the body only is not himself; consequently, the apostle says, Phil. 2:7, "Christ did empty (or evacuate) himself;" or, as Tertullian expounds it, "he drew out himself, or was exhausted himself," which agrees with the prophecy of Daniel, chapter 9:26, "Messiah shall have nothing, being brought to nothing by his death, without life, strength, esteem, honor," etc. Hence we conclude that if Christ were exhausted upon the cross, if nothing was left him, that he suffered in body and soul, that there was no part within or without free from the cross—but all was emptied and poured out for our redemption.

Again, we read that Christ, "through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God," Heb. 9:14. Whatever was in Christ, did either offer or was offered; his eternal Spirit only did offer; consequently, his whole human nature, both body and soul, was offered. Thus Origen witnesses in these words, "See how our true priest, Jesus Christ, taking the censer of his human flesh, putting to the fire of the altar—that is, his magnificent soul, wherewith he was born in the flesh—and adding incense—that is, an immaculate spirit—stood in the midst between the living and the dead. Thus you see that he makes Christ's soul a part in the sacrifice."

(7.) Seventhly and lastly, Christ's love unto man, in suffering for him, was in the highest degree and greatest measure that could be; as the Lord says, "What could I have done any more for my vineyard that I have not done unto it?" But if Christ had given his body only, and not his soul for us—he had not done for us all he could, and so his love should have been greatly impaired and diminished. Consequently, he gave his soul also, together with his body, to be the full price of our redemption. And certainly the travail and labor of Christ's soul was most acceptable unto God. "Therefore I will give him a portion with the great, because he has poured out his soul unto death," etc., "and bore the sins of many," Isaiah 53:12. Doubtless the sufferings of Christ in his soul, together with his body—does most fully and amply commend and set forth God's great love to poor sinners. Before I close up this particular, take a few testimonies of the fathers, which do witness with us for the sufferings of Christ—both in soul and body.

It is evident that as his body was whipped—just so, his soul was truly and truly grieved, lest some part of Christ's suffering should be true, some part false. Consequently, Christ's soul as properly and truly suffered as his body. The soul had her proper grief, as the body had whipping; the whipping, then, of the body was not the proper grief of the soul. Whole Christ gave himself, and whole Christ offered himself; consequently, he offered his soul, not only to suffer by way of compassion with his body, as it may be answered—but he offered it as a sacrifice, and suffered all passions whatever incident to the soul. The same author expounds himself further thus: "Because this God took whole man, therefore he showed in truth in himself the passions of whole man; and having a reasonable soul, whatever infirmities of the soul without sin he took and bare." If Christ, then, did take and bear all the passions of the soul without sin, then the proper and immediate grief and anguish thereof, and not the compassion only with the body. To these let me add the consent of the Reformed churches: "Christ did suffer both in body and soul, and was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted."

Now the testimonies of the fathers, and the consent of the Reformed churches, affirming the same, that Christ was crucified in his soul, and that he gave his soul a price of redemption for our souls. . . . Who can then doubt of this—but that Christ truly, properly, immediately suffered in his soul, in all the proper passions thereof, as he endured pains and torments in his flesh; and if you please, this may go for an eighth argument to prove that Christ suffered in his soul.

2. Secondly, That the sufferings of Christ in his soul were very high, and great, and astonishing, both as to the punishment of LOSS, and as to the punishment of SENSE. All which I shall make evident in these four particulars:

[1.] First, That Jesus Christ did really suffer neglect from God; that he was indeed deserted and forsaken by God is most evident: Mat. 27:46, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But to prevent mistakes in this high point, seriously consider, 1. That I do not mean that there was any such desertion of Christ by God as did dissolve the union of the natures in the person of Christ. [Forsaken, 1. By denying of protection; 2. By withdrawing of solace: The union was not dissolved—but the beams, the influence was restrained. —Leo.] For Christ in all his sufferings still remained God and man. Nor, 2, do I mean an absolute desertion in respect of the presence of God. For God was still present with Christ in all his sufferings, and the Godhead did support his humanity in and under his sufferings. But that which I mean is this—that as to the sensible and comforting manifestations of God's presence, thus he was for a time left and forsaken of God. God for a time had taken away all sensible consolation and felt joy from Christ's human soul, so that divine justice might in his sufferings be the more fully satisfied. In this desertion, Christ is not to be looked upon simply as he is in his own person, the Son of the Father, Mat. 3:17, in whom he is always well pleased, Mark 1:11—but as he stands in the room of sinners, surety and cautioner, paying their debt; in which respect it concerned Christ to be dealt with as one standing in our stead, as one guilty, and paying the debt of being forsaken of God, which we were bound to suffer fully and forever, if he had not interposed for us.

There is between Christ and God, 1. An eternal union natural of the person; 2. Of the Godhead and manhood; 3. Of grace and protection. In this last sense, he means forsaken according to his feeling. Hence he said not, My Father, my Father—but, My God, my God; which words are not words of complaining—but words expressing his grief and sorrow. Our Lord Christ was forsaken, not only of all creature comforts—but that which was worse than all, of his Father's favor, to his present apprehension, left forlorn and destitute for a time, that we might be received forever. Christ was for a time left and forsaken of God, as David, who in this particular was a type of Christ's suffering, cried out, Psalm 22:1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from my help?" He was indeed really forsaken of God; God did indeed leave him in respect of his sense and feeling. ["My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." Christ spoke these words that thereby he might draw the Jews to a serious consideration of his death and passion, which he underwent, not for his own but for our sins.] So was Christ truly and really forsaken of God, and not in pretense or show, as some affirm. Athanasius, speaking of God's forsaking of Christ, says, "All things were done naturally and in truth, not in opinion or show." Though God did still continue a God to David—yet in David's apprehension and feeling he was forsaken of God. Though God was still a God to Christ—yet as to his feeling he was left of God, to wrestle with God, and to bear the wrath of God, due unto us. Look, as Christ was scourged, that we might not be scourged, so Christ was forsaken, that we might not be forsaken. Christ was forsaken for a time, that we might not be forsaken forever (Ambrose).

Fevardentius absolutely denies that Christ did truly complain upon the cross that he was forsaken of God; and therefore he thus objects and reasons: "If Christ were truly forsaken of God, it would follow that the hypostatic union was dissolved, and that Christ was personally separated from God, for otherwise he could not be forsaken."

To what he objects we thus reply, first, If Christ had been totally and eternally forsaken, the personal union must have been dissolved—but upon this temporal and partial rejection there follows not a personal or general dissolution. But secondly, As the body of Christ, being without life, was still hypostatically united to the Godhead, so was the soul of Christ, though for a time without feeling of his favor. The forsaking of the one does no more dissolve the hypostatic union than the death of the other. If life went from the body, and yet the deity was not separated in the personal consecration—but only suspended in operation, so the feeling of God's favor, which is the life of the soul, might be intermitted in Christ, and yet the divine union not dissolved.

Thirdly, Augustine does well show how this may be when he says, That the passion of Christ was the sweet sleep of his divinity; like as when in sleep the soul is not departed, though the operation thereof be deferred; so in Christ's sleep upon the cross the Godhead was not separated, though the working power thereof were for a time sequestered. Look, as the elect members of Christ may be forsaken, though not totally or finally—but in part and for a time, and yet their election remain firm still; the same may be the case of our head, that he was only in part forsaken, and for a time, always beloved for his own innocency—but for us and in our person, as our pledge and surety, deserted.

There are two kinds of forsaking; one is for a time and in part; so the elect may be, and so Christ was forsaken upon the cross: another which is total, final, and general; and so neither Christ nor his members ever was nor never shall be forsaken. Christ, in the deepest anguish of his soul, is upheld and sustained by his faith, "My God, my God," whereby he shows his singular confidence and trust in God, notwithstanding the present sense of his wrath.

QUESTION. But how can Christ be forsaken of God, himself being God; for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all three but one and the same God? Yes, how can he be forsaken of God, seeing he is the Son of God? and if the Lord leaves not his children, who hope and trust in him, how can he forsake Christ, his only-begotten Son, who depended upon him and his mighty power?

Answer. 1. First, By God here we are to understand God the Father, the first person of the blessed Trinity. According to the vulgar and common rule, when God is compared with the Son or Holy Spirit, then the Father is meant by this title God; not that the Father is more God than the Son—for in dignity all the three people are equal—but they are distinguished in order only; and thus the Father is the first person, the Son the second, and the Holy Spirit the third.

Answer. 2. Secondly, Our Savior's complaint, that he was forsaken, must be understood in regard of his human nature, and not of his Godhead; although the Godhead and manhood were never severed from the first time of his incarnation—but the Godhead of Christ, and so the Godhead of the Father, did not show forth his power in his manhood—but did as it were lie asleep for a time, that the manhood might suffer.

Answer. 3. Thirdly, Christ was not indeed utterly forsaken of God in regard of his human nature—but only as it were forsaken—that is, although there were some few minutes and moments in which he received no sensible consolations from the Deity—yet that he was not utterly forsaken is most clear from this place, where he flees unto the Lord as unto his God, "My God, my God," as also from his resurrection the third day.

Answer. 4. Fourthly, Divines say that there are six kinds of forsakings—

1. By disunion of person;

2. By loss of grace;

3. By diminution and weakenings of grace;

4. By lack of assurance of future deliverance and present support;

5. By denial of protection;

6. By withdrawing of all solace and comfort.

Now it is foolish and impious to think that Christ was forsaken any of the first four ways, for the unity of his person was never dissolved, his graces were never either taken away or diminished, neither was it possible that he should lack assurance of future deliverance and present support that was eternal God and Lord of life. But the two last ways he may rightly be said to have been forsaken, in that his Father denied to protect and keep him out of the hands of his cruel, bloody, and merciless enemies, no ways restraining them—but allowing them to do the uttermost that their wicked hearts could imagine, and left him to endure the extremity of their fury and malice. And, that nothing might be lacking to make his sorrows beyond measure sorrowful, withdrew from him that solace and comfort that he was accustomed to find in God, and removed far from him all things for a little time that might any way lessen and assuage the extremity of his pain.

[2.] Secondly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the wrath of God which was due unto us for our sins. The prophet Isaiah, chapter 53:4, says, "That he was plagued and smitten of God"; and verse 5, "The chastisement of our peace was upon him." To be plagued and smitten of God is to feel and suffer the stroke of his wrath. And so to be chastised of God, as to make peace with God or to appease him, is so to suffer the wrath of God as to satisfy God and to remove it. And truly how Christ should possibly escape the feeling of the wrath of God incensed against our sins, he standing as a surety for us with our sins laid upon him, and for them fully to satisfy the justice of God, is not Christianly or rationally imaginable.

And whereas some do object that Christ was always the beloved of his Father, and therefore could never be the object of God's wrath:

I answer, By distinguishing of the person of Christ, whom his Father always loved, and as sustaining our sins, and in our room standing to satisfy the justice of God; and as so the wrath of God fell upon him and he bore it, and so satisfied the justice of God, that we thereby are now delivered from wrath through him. Just so, the apostle, Romans 5:9, "Much more, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him;" 1 Thes. 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

It is a groundless conceit of some learned heads, who deny the cause of Christ s agony to be the drinking of that cup of wrath that was given to him by his Father, John 18:11, saying that the sight of it only, and of the peril he saw we were in, was the cause of his agony; for the cup was not only showed unto him, and the great wrath due to our sins set before him, that he should see it and tremble at the apprehension of the danger we were in—but it was poured not only on him—but into him, that he for the sins of his redeemed ones should suffer it sensibly, and drink it, that the bitterness thereof might affect all the powers of his soul and body; for the Scripture does sufficiently testify that not only upon the sight and apprehension of this wrath and curse coming on him the holy human nature did holily abhor it—but also that he submitted to receive it upon the consideration of the divine decree and agreement made upon the price to be paid by him, and that upon the feeling of this wrath, this agony in his soul, the bloody sweat of his body was brought on. [Heb. 5:7; Mat. 26:38, 39, 42, 44; 1 Cor. 6:20, and 7:23.]

QUESTION. But how could the pourings forth of the Father's wrath upon his innocent and dear Son, consist with his Fatherly love to him? etc.

ANSWER. Even as the innocency and holiness of Christ could well consist with his taking upon him the punishment of our sins; for even the wrath of a just man, inflicting capital punishment on a condemned person, even if it is his own child, can well consist with fatherly affection towards his child suffering punishment. Did you never see a father weep over such a son that he has corrected most severely? Did you never see a judge shed tears for those very people that he has condemned? There is no doubt but wrath and love can well consist in God, in whom affections do not war one with another, nor fight with reason, as it often falls among men; for the emotions ascribed unto God are effects rather of his holy will towards us, than properly called emotions in him; and these effects of God's will about us do always tend to our happiness and blessedness at last, however they are diverse one from another in themselves.

[3.] Thirdly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner. I readily grant that Jesus Christ did not locally descend into hell, to suffer there among the damned, neither did he suffer hellish darkness, nor the flames of hell, nor the worm that never dies, nor final despair, nor guilt of conscience, nor gnashing of teeth, nor great indignation, nor eternal separation from God. These things were absolutely inconsistent with the holiness, purity, and dignity of his person, and with the office of a mediator and redeemer. But yet I say that our Lord Jesus Christ did suffer in his soul for our sins such pain, horror, terror, agony, and consternation, as amounted unto, and are in Scripture called "The sorrows of hell." "The sorrows of hell did compass me about," Psalm 18:5, or the cords of hell did compass me about, such as with which they bind malefactors when they are led forth to execution. Now these sorrows, these cords of hell, were the things that extorted from him who passionate expostulation, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mat. 27:46. Christ's sufferings were unspeakable, and somewhat answerable to the pains of hell. Hence the Greek Litany, "By your unknown sufferings, good Lord deliver us."

Funinus, an Italian martyr, being asked by one why he was so merry at his death, since Christ himself was so sorrowful; "Christ," said he, "sustained in his soul all the sorrows and conflicts with hell and death due to us; by whose sufferings we are delivered from sorrow and the fear of them all." It was a great saying of a very learned man, that "setting the eternity of punishment aside, which Christ might not sustain, Christ did more vehemently and sharply feel the wrath of God than ever any man did or shall, no not any person reprobated and damned excepted." And certainly the reason annexed to prove this expression is very weighty, because all the wrath that was due for all the sins of the elect, all whose sins were laid on Christ, Isa 53:6, was greater than the wrath which belonged to any one sinner, though damned for his personal sinning. And besides this, if you do seriously consider those sufferings of Christ in his agony in the garden, you may by them conjecture what hellish torments Christ did suffer for us. In that agony of his, he was afraid and amazed, and fell flat on the ground, Mat. 14:33-34. He began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and says unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death," Luke 22:44; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. He did sweat clotted blood to such abundance, that it streamed through his apparel, and did wet the ground; which dreadful agony of Christ, how it could arise from any other cause than the sense of the wrath of God, parallel to that in hell, I know not.

Orthodox divines do generally take Christ's sufferings in his soul, and the detaining his body in the grave, put in as the close and last part of Christ's sufferings, as the true meaning of that expression, "He descended into hell," not only because these pains which Christ suffered both in body and soul were due to us in full measure—but also because that which Christ in point of torment and vexation suffered, was in some respect of the same kind with the torment of the damned. For the clearing of this, consider, that in the punishment of the damned there are these three things:

1. The perverse disposition of the mind of the damned in their sufferings;

2. The duration and perpetuity of their punishment;

3. The punishment itself, tormenting soul and body.

Of these three, the first two could have no place in Christ. Not the first, because he willingly offered himself a sacrifice for our sins, and upon agreement paid the ransom fully, Heb. 9:14, and 10:5-8. Not the second, because he could no longer be held under sorrows and sufferings than he had satisfied divine justice, and paid the price that he was to lay down, Acts 2:24. And his infinite excellency and glory made his short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our everlasting sufferings, 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Cor. 6:20. The third, then, only remains, which was the real and sensible torments of his soul and body, which he did really feel and experience when he was upon the cross. O sirs! why must you question Christ's undergoing of hellish pains, when all the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which were due to the elect—fell on Christ, until divine justice was fully satisfied. Though Christ did not suffer eternal death for sinners—yet he suffered that which was equivalent, and therefore the justice of God is by his death wholly appeased.

It is good seriously to ponder upon these scriptures: Psalm 18:51, "The sorrows of hell compassed Me about." Psalm 88:31, "My soul is filled with evil, and my life draws near to hell;" Psalm 86:13, "You have delivered my soul from the nethermost hell." In these places the prophet speaks in the person of Christ, and the Papists themselves do confess that the Hebrew word Sheol, that is here used, is taken for hell properly, and not for the grave; therefore these places do strongly conclude for the hellish sorrows or sufferings of Christ. Just so, Acts 2:27, "You will not leave my soul in hell." If Christ's soul be not left or forsaken in hell—yet it follows it was in hell; not that Christ did feel the sorrows of hell after death—but that he did feel the very sorrows of hell in his soul while he lived.

Certainly the whole punishment of body and soul which was due unto us, Christ our Redeemer was in general to suffer and satisfy for in his own person—but the torments and terrors of hell, and the vehement sense of God's wrath, are that punishment which did belong to the soul; consequently, Christ did suffer the torments and terrors of hell. By the whole punishment you are to understand the whole kind or substance of the punishment, not all the circumstances, and the very same manner. The whole punishment then is the whole kind of punishment—that is, in body and soul—which Christ ought to have suffered, though not in the same manner and circumstance.

1. Neither for the place of hell locally; nor

2. For the time eternally; nor

3. For the manner sinfully.

When we say Christ was to suffer our whole punishment, all such punishments as cannot be suffered without sin, as desperation and final reprobation, are manifestly excepted. Christ bore all our punishment, though not as we would have borne it—that is, 1. Sinfully; 2. Eternally; 3. Hellishly. But he did so bear all our punishment as to finish all upon the cross; and in such sort as God's justice was satisfied, his person not disgraced, nor his holiness defiled, and yet man's salvation fully perfected, Col. 2:14-15; Heb. 9:14, and 10:15. We constantly affirm that Christ did suffer the pains of hell in his soul, with these three restrictions—

1. That there be neither indignity offered to his royal person;

2. Nor injury to his holy nature;

3. Nor impossibility to his glorious work. All such pains of hell then as Christ might have suffered—

1. His person not dishonored;

2. His nature with sin not defiled;

3. His work of our redemption not hindered, we do steadfastly believe were sustained by our blessed Savior. Consider a few things.

First, Consider the ADJUNCTS of hell, which are these four:

1. The place, which is infernal;

2. The time, which is perpetual;

3. The darkness, which is unspeakable;

4. The tormentors the spirits and devils, who are irreconcilable. Now these adjuncts of hell Christ is freed from. For the dignity of his person, it was not fit that the Son of God, the heir of heaven, should be shut up in hell, or that he should forever be tormented, who is never from God's presence sequestered, or that the light of the world should be closed up in darkness, or that he who binds the evil spirits should be bound by them, etc.

Secondly, Consider the EFFECTS, or rather the DEFECTS, of hell, which are chiefly these two:

First, The deprivation of all virtue, grace, holiness;

Secondly, The real possession of all vice, impiety, blasphemy, etc.

Now the necessity of the work of Christ does exempt him from these effects; for if he had been either void of grace, or possessed with vice, he could not have been the Redeemer of poor lost souls; for the lack of virtue he could not have redeemed others; for the presence of sin he would need to have been redeemed himself; and from fretting indignation and fearful desperation, the piety and sanctity of his nature does preserve him, who, being without sin, could neither by indignation displease his Father, nor by desperation destroy himself. Just so, that, if you consider either the adjuncts of hell or the effects, then I say we do remove all them as far off from the holy soul of Christ as heaven is from hell, or the east from the west, or darkness from light, etc.

Thirdly, Consider the punishment itself. Now, concerning this, we say that our blessed Savior, as in himself he bore all the sins of the elect: so he also suffered the whole punishment of body and soul in general that was due unto us, for the same which we would have endured if he had not satisfied for it; and so consequently we affirm that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of God's wrath, and so in soul entered into the torments of hell for us, sustained them and vanquished them. Calvin, speaking in honor of Christ's passion, says, "When he saw the wrath of God set before him, presenting himself before God's tribunal laden with the sins of the whole world, it was necessary for him to fear the deep bottomless pit of death." Again says the same author, "Such an object being offered to Christ's view, as though God being set against him, he were appointed to destruction; he was with horror affrighted, which was able a hundred times to have swallowed up all mortal creatures—but he, by the wonderful power of his Spirit, escaped with victory." "What dishonor was it to our Savior Christ," says another Fulk, "to suffer that which was necessary for our redemption," namely, that torment of hell which we had deserved, and which the justice of God required that he should endure for our redemption; or rather, what is more to the honor of Christ, than that he vouchsafed to descend into hell for us, and to abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer eternally; and what may rather be called hell than the anguish of soul which he suffered, when, he being yet God, complained that he was forsaken of God? O sirs, this we need not fear to confess, that Christ, bearing our sins in himself upon the cross, did feel himself during that combat as rejected and forsaken of God and accursed for us, and the flames of his Father's wrath burning within him; so that to the honor of Christ's passion we confess that our blessed Redeemer refused no part of our punishment—but endured the very pains of hell, so far as they tended not neither to the derogation of his person, deprivation of his nature, destruction of his office, etc.

Here it may be queried whether the Lord Jesus Christ underwent the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone, or only that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto? To which I answer, that in different respects both may be affirmed. The punishment which Christ endured, if it be considered in its substance, kind, or nature, so it was the same with that the sinner himself would have undergone. But if it be considered with respect to certain circumstances, adjuncts, or accidents which attend that punishment, as inflicted upon the sinner, so it was but equivalent, and not the same. The punishment due to the sinner was death, the curse of the law, upon the breach of the first covenant. Now this Christ underwent, for "he was made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13. The adjuncts attending this death were the eternity of it, desperation going along with it, etc. These Christ was freed from, the dignity of his person supplying the former, the sanctity of his person securing him against the latter; therefore in reference unto these, and to some other things already mentioned, it was but the equivalent, not the identical sufferings. But suppose there had been nothing of sameness, nothing beyond equivalency in what Christ suffered—yet that was enough, for it was not required that Christ should suffer every kind of curse which is the effect of sin—but in the general accursed death. Look, as in his fulfilling of the law for us, it was not necessary that he should perform every holy duty that the law requires; for he could not perform that obedience which magistrates or married people are bound to do—it is enough that there was a fulfilling of it in the general for us. So here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was liable unto—but if he shall undergo so much as may satisfy the law's threatenings, and vindicate the lawgiver in his truth, justice, and righteous government, that was enough. Now that was unquestionably done by Christ.

Objection 1. But some may object and say, How could Christ suffer the pains of the second death without disunion of the Godhead from the manhood? For the Godhead could not die. Or what interest had Christ's Godhead in his human sufferings, to make them both so short and so precious and satisfactory to divine justice for the sins of so many sinners, especially when we consider that God cannot suffer?

Answer 1. I answer, It follows not that because Christ is united into one person with God, that therefore he did not suffer the pains of hell; for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his body, for the union of his person could have preserved him from sufferings in the one as well as in the other, and neither God, angels, nor men compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work—but his own free and unspeakable love to mankind, as himself declares, John 10:17, "Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life;" verse 18, "No man takes it from me—but I lay it down of myself." If Christ had been constrained to suffer, then both men and angels might fear and tremble—but as Bernard says well, "The willingness of him who died pleased God, who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man." Isaiah 53:12; Pa. 40:7-8; Heb. 10:9-10.

Answer 2. But secondly, I answer from 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." The person dying was God, else his person could have done us no good. The person suffering must be God as well as man—but the Godhead suffered not. Actions and passions belong to people. Nothing less than that person who is God-man could bear the brunt of the day, satisfy divine justice, pacify divine wrath, bring in an everlasting righteousness, and make us happy forever. But,

Answer 3. Thirdly, I answer thus, Albeit the passion of the human nature could not so far reach the Godhead of Christ, that it should in a physical sense suffer, which, indeed, is impossible—yet these sufferings did so affect the person, that it may truly be said that God suffered, and by his blood bought his people to himself; for albeit the proper and formal subject of physical sufferings is only the human nature—yet the principal subject of sufferings, both in a physical and moral sense, is Christ's person, God and man, from the dignity whereof the worth and excellency of all sorts of sufferings, the merit and the satisfactory sufficiency of the price did flow, Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:20, and 7:23.

O sirs! you must seriously consider, that though Christ as God in his Godhead could not suffer in a physical sense—yet in a moral sense he might suffer and did suffer. For he being "in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God—but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Phil. 2:6-8. Oh, who can sum up the contradictions, the railings, the revilings, the contempts, the despisings and calumnies that Christ met with from sinners, yes, from the worst of sinners!

Objection 2. But how could so low a debasing of the Son of man, or of the human nature assumed by Christ, consist with the majesty of the person of the Son of God?

Answer. We must distinguish those things in Christ, which are proper to either of the two natures, from those things which are ascribed to his person in respect of either of the natures or both the natures; for infirmity, physical suffering, or mortality are proper to the human nature. The glory of power, and grace, and mercy, and super-excellent majesty, and such like, are proper to the Deity. But the sufferings of the human nature are so far from diminishing the glory of the divine nature, that they do manifest the same, and make it appear more clearly and gloriously; for by how much the human nature was weakened, depressed, and despised for our sins, for our sakes, by so much the more the love of Christ—God and man in one person—toward man, and his mercy, and power, and grace to man, do shine in the eyes of all who judiciously do look upon him.

Objection 3. How could Christ endure hell fire without grievous sins, as blasphemy and despair, etc.?

Answer. 1. I answer, That we may walk safely and without offence, these things must be premised: First, That the sorrows and sufferings of hell be no otherwise attributed to Christ, than as they may stand with the dignity and worthiness of his person, the holiness of his nature, and the performance of the office and work of our redemption.

[1.] First, then, For the soul of Christ to suffer in the local place of hell, to remain in the darkness thereof, and to be tormented with the material flames there, and eternally to be damned, was not for the dignity of his person, to whom for his excellency and worthiness both the place, manner, and time of those torments were dispensed with.

[2.] Secondly, Final rejection and desperation, blasphemy, and the worm of conscience, agrees not with the holiness of his nature, "Who was a lamb without a spot," Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19, and therefore we do not, we dare not ascribe them to him. But,

[3.] Thirdly, Destruction of body and soul, which is the second death, could not fall upon Christ; for this were to have destroyed the work of our redemption, if he had been subject to destruction. But,

[4.] Fourthly and lastly, Blasphemy and despair are no parts of the pains of the damned—but the consequents, and follow the sense of God's wrath in a sinful creature that is overcome by it. But Christ had no sin of his own, neither was he overcome of wrath, and therefore he always held fast his integrity and innocency, Rev. 16:9, 11. Despair is an unavoidable companion, attending the pains of the second death, as all reprobates do experience. Desperation is an utter hopelessness of any good, and a certain expectation and waiting on the worst that can befall; and this is the lot and portion of the damned in hell. The wretched sinner in hell, seeing the sentence passed against him, God's purpose fulfilled, never to be reversed, the gates of hell made fast upon him, and a great gulf fixed between hell and heaven, which renders his escape impossible; he now gives up all, and reckons on nothing but uttermost misery, Luke 16:26.

Now mark, this despair is not an essential part of the second death—but only a consequent, or, at the most, an effect occasioned by the sinner's view of his remediless, woeful condition. But this neither did nor could possibly befall the Lord Jesus. He was able, by the power of his Godhead, both to suffer and to satisfy and to overcome; therefore he expected a good outcome, and knew that the end should be happy, and that he should not be ashamed, Isaiah 50:6-7, etc.; Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 2:26, 28, 31. Though a very shallow stream would easily drown a little child, there being no hope of escape for it unless one or another should step in seasonably to prevent it—yet a man who is grown up may groundedly hope to escape out of a far more deep and dangerous place, because by reason of his stature, strength, and skill he could wade or swim out. Surely the wrath of the Almighty, manifested in hell, is like the vast ocean, or some broad, deep river; and therefore when the sinful sons and daughters of Adam, which are without strength, Romans 5:6, are hurled into the midst of it, they must needs lie down in their confusion, as altogether hopeless of deliverance or escaping. But this despair could not seize upon Jesus Christ, because, although his Father took him and cast him into the sea of his wrath, so that all the billows of it went over him, Isaiah 63:1-3, seq.—yet being the mighty God, with whom nothing is impossible, he was very able to pass through that sea of wrath and sorrow, which would have drowned all the world, and come safe to shore.

Objection 4. But when did Christ suffer hellish torments? They are inflicted after death, not usually before it—but Christ's soul went straight after death into paradise. How else could he say to the penitent thief, "This day shall you be with me in paradise"? Now, to this objection I shall give these following answers:

Answer 1. First, That Christ's soul, after his passion upon the cross, did not really and locally descend into the place of the damned, may be thus made evident:

[1.] First, All the evangelists, and so Luke among the rest, intending to make an exact narrative of the life and death of Christ, has set down at large his passion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; and besides, they make rehearsal of very small circumstances; therefore we may safely conclude, that they would never have omitted Christ's local descent into the place of the damned, if there had been any such thing. Besides, the great end why they penned this history was, that we might believe that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God; and that thus believing we might have life everlasting," John 20:31. Now there could not have been a greater matter for the confirmation of our faith than this—that Jesus, the son of Mary, who went down to the place of the damned, returned thence to live in all happiness and blessedness forever. But,

[2.] Secondly, If Christ did go into the place of the damned, then he went either in soul, or in body, or in his Godhead. Not in his Godhead, for that could not descend, because it is everywhere, and his body was in the grave; and as for his soul, it went not to hell—but immediately after his death it went to paradise—that is, the third heaven, a place of joy and happiness: "This day shall you be with me in paradise," Luke 23:43; which words of Christ must be understood of his manhood or soul, and not of his Godhead; for they are an answer to a demand, and therefore unto it they must be suitable. The thief makes his request, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom," verse 42; to which Christ answers, "Truly I say unto you, Today shall you be with me in paradise." "I shall," says Christ, "this day enter into paradise, and there shall you be with me." Now, there is no entrance but in regard of his soul or manhood, for the Godhead, which is at all times in all places, cannot be properly said to enter into a place, Psalm 139:7, 13; Jer. 23:23-24. But,

[3.] Thirdly, When Christ says, "Today shall you be with me in paradise," he does intimate, as some observe, a resemblance which is between the first and second Adam. The first Adam quickly sinned against God, and was as quickly cast out of paradise by God. Christ, the second Adam, having made a perfect and complete satisfaction to the justice of God, and the law of God, for man's sin, must immediately enter into paradise, Heb. 9:26, 28, and 10:14. Now to say that Christ, in soul, descended locally into hell, is to abolish this analogy between the first and second Adam. But,

Answer 2. Secondly, It is not impossible that the pains of the second death should be suffered in this life. Time and place are but circumstances. The main substance of the second death is the bearing of God's fierce wrath and indignation. Divine favor shining upon a man in hell, would turn hell into a heaven. All sober, seeing, serious Christians will grant, that the true, though not the full joys of heaven may be felt and experienced in this life: 1 Pet. 1:8, "Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not—yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory," or glorious; either because this their rejoicing was a taste of their future glory, or because it made them glorious in the eyes of men. The original word is glorified already; a piece of God's kingdom and heaven's happiness aforehand. Ah, how many precious saints, both living and dying, have cried out, "Oh the joy! the joy! the inexpressible joy that I find in my soul!" Eph. 2:6, "He has made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." What is this else—but even while we live, by faith to possess the very joys of heaven on this side heaven!

Now look, as the true joys of heaven may be felt on this side heaven, so the true, though not the full pains of hell, may be felt on this side hell; and doubtless Cain, Judas, Julian, Spira, and others have found it so. That writer hit the mark, who said, "The judge's tribunal-seat is in your soul, God sits there as judge, your conscience is the accuser, and fear is the tormentor." Now if there be in the soul a judge, an accuser, and a tormentor, then certainly there is a true taste of the torments of hell on this side hell.

Answer 3. Thirdly, The place hell is no part of the payment. The laying down of the price makes the satisfaction. This is all that is spoken and threatened to Adam, "You shall die the death," Gen. 2:17; and this may be suffered here. The wicked go to hell as their prison, because they can never pay their debts, otherwise the debt may as well be paid in the market as the jail. [Peter says, the devils are cast down to hell, and kept in chains of darkness, 2 Pet. 2:4. And Paul calls the devil the prince that rules in the air, Eph. 2:2. The air then is the devil's hell. Well, then, seeing this air is the devil's present hell, we may safely conclude that hell may be in this present world; and therefore it is neither impossible nor improbable that the cross was Christ's hell.]

Now Christ did discharge all his people's debts in the days of his flesh, when he offered up strong cries and tears, Heb. 5:7, and not after death. Look, as a king entering into prison to loose the prisoners' chains, and to pay their debts, is said to have been in prison; so our Lord Jesus Christ, by his soul's sufferings, which is the hell he entered into, has released us of our pains and chains, and paid our debts, and in this sense he may be said to have entered into hell, though he never actually entered into the local place of the damned, which is properly called hell; for in that place there is neither virtue nor goodness, holiness nor happiness, and therefore the holiness of Christ's person would never allow him to descend into such a place. In the local place of heaven and hell, it is not possible for any either to be at once, nor yet at sundry times successively, for there is no passing from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven, Luke 16:26. The place of suffering is but a circumstance in the business. Hell, the place of the damned, is no part of the debt, therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the payment of it, no more than a prison is any part of an earthly debt, or of the payment of it. The surety may satisfy the creditor in the place appointed for payment, or in the open court, which being done, the debtor and surety both are acquitted, that they need not go to prison. If either of them go to prison, it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt; for all that justice requires is to satisfy the debt, to the which the prison is merely extrinsic. Even so the justice of God cannot be satisfied for the transgression of the law—but by the death of the sinner—but it does not require that this should be done in the place of the damned. The wicked go to prison because they do not, they cannot, make satisfaction; otherwise Christ, having fully discharged the debt, needed not go to prison.

Objection 5. But the pains and torments which are due to man's sins are to be everlasting, so how then can Christ's short sufferings counterbalance them?

Answer 1. That Christ's sufferings in his soul and body were equivalent to it; although, to speak properly, eternity is not of the essence of death, which is the payment of sin and threatened by God—but it is accidental, because man thus dying is never able to satisfy God, therefore, seeing he cannot pay the last farthing, he is forever kept in prison, Mat. 18:28, 35. Look, as eternal death has in it eternity and despair necessarily in all those who so die, so Christ could not suffer. But what was lacking in duration was supplied—

1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of God's wrath, because of our sins imputed to him, so that he suffered more grief than if the sorrows of all men were put together. Christ's hell-sorrows on the cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory for our everlasting punishment, and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other men's sorrows, as being answerable to God's justice.

2. By the dignity and worth of him who suffered. Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God. The damned must bear the wrath of God to all eternity, because they can never satisfy the justice of God for sin. Therefore they must lie in hell, world without end. But Christ has made an infinite satisfaction in a finite time, by undergoing that fierce battle with the wrath of God, and getting the victory in a few hours, which is equivalent to the creatures bearing it and grappling with it everlastingly. This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance, not of any necessary consideration in this case. Suppose a man indebted £100, and likely to lie in prison until he shall pay it—yet utterly unable, if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours' warning, is not this as well, or better done? that which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time, what need is there to draw it out at length? The justice of the law did not require that either the sinner or his surety should suffer the eternity of hell's torments—but only their extremity. It does abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment, that the person who suffered was the eternal God. Besides, it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death, Acts 2:24. And if he had been so detained, then he had not "spoiled principalities and powers, nor triumphed over them," Col. 2:15—but had been overcome, and so had not attained his end. But,

Answer 2. Secondly, The pains of hell which Christ suffered, though they were not infinite in time—yet were they of an infinite price and value for the dignity of the person who suffered them. Christ's temporal enduring of hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious, as if they had been perpetual. The dignity of Christ's person did bear him out in that which was not fit for him to suffer, nor fit in respect of our redemption; for if he should have suffered eternally, our redemption could never have been accomplished. But for him to suffer in soul as he did in body, was neither derogatory to his person nor harmful to his work. Infinitely in time Christ was not to suffer.

Times are in the world where the sun rises and sets. Unto this time he died. But where there is no time, there he was found, not only living—but conquering. Christ, God-man, suffered punishment in measure infinite, and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it eternally; and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be held by death, Acts 2:24, because he was both the Lord of life and the Lord's Holy One, 1 Cor. 2:8; Acts 2:27. But,

Answer 3. Thirdly, If the measure of a man's punishment were infinite, the duration needs not be infinite. Sinful man's measure of punishment is finite, and therefore the duration of his punishment must be infinite, because the punishment must be answerable to the infinite evil of sin committed against an infinite God. O sirs, continual imprisonment in hell arises from man's not being able to pay the price; for could he pay the debt in one year, he needs not lie two years in prison. Now the debt is the first and second death; and because sinful man cannot pay it in any time, he must endure it eternally. But now Christ has laid down the price to the full, for all his chosen ones, and therefore it is not required of him, that he should suffer forever, neither can it stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second death, he having paid the debt to the utmost farthing. Now that he has fully paid the debt himself, witnesses John, chapter 19:30, saying when he had received the vinegar, "It is finished;" so verse 28, "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished." Though there are many interpretations given of this—yet doubtless this alone will hold water—namely, that the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ, and the second death which filled him with grievous terrors, is now over and past, and man's redemption finished. He speaks here of that which presently should be, and in the yielding up his Spirit was accomplished.

And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner; and you see also that Christ did not locally descend into hell. We shall make a few INFERENCES from hence:

1. First, then, Oh, how should these sad sufferings of Christ for us endear Christ to us! Oh, what precious thoughts should we have of him! Psalm 136:17-18. Oh, how should we prize him! how should we honor him! how should we love him! and how should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him! As his love to us has been matchless, so his sufferings for us has been matchless. I have read of Nero, that he had a shirt made of a salamander's skin, so that if he did walk through the fire in it, it would keep him from burning. Just so, Christ is the true salamander's skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings, Isaiah 33:14; and therefore well may Christians cry out with that martyr Lambert, "None but Christ, none but Christ!" So every believer should esteem nothing worth a looking on—but that Jesus who has redeemed him with his own blood, 1 Cor. 6:20; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19.

Oh, then, what infinite cause have we to exalt and cry up our dear Lord Jesus, who by the hellish sorrows that he suffered for us, has freed us from that more dreadful bondage of sin, Satan, and wrath that we lay under! Oh, prize that Jesus! Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh, extol that Savior, who has saved you from that eternal wrath—which all the angels in heaven, and all the men on earth could never have saved you from!

"The name of Jesus," says Chrysostom," has a thousand treasures of joy and comfort in it, and is therefore used by Paul some five hundred times." "The name of a Savior," says Bernard, "is honey in the mouth, and music in the ears, and a jubilee in the heart." "Christ is a whole paradise of delight," says Justin Martyr. "I had rather," says Luther, "be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without him, for Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heaven." Austin says, "that he would willingly go through hell to Christ." Bernard says, "he had rather be in his chimney-corner with Christ, than in heaven without him." One cried out, "I had rather have one Christ, than a thousand worlds!"

Jesus, in the Chinese tongue, signifies the rising sun, and such a rising sun was he to Julius Palmer, that when all concluded that he was dead, being turned as black as a coal in the fire, at last he moved his scorched lips, and was heard to say, "Sweet Jesus!" Mal. 4:2. It was an excellent answer of one of the martyrs, when he was offered riches and honors if he would recant: "Do but," said he, "offer me something that is better than my Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall see what I will say to you." Now, oh that the hellish sorrows and sufferings of Christ for us, might raise in all our hearts such a high estimation, and such a deep admiration, as has been raised in those worthies last mentioned! It was a sweet prayer of him who thus prayed, "Lord, make your Son dear, very dear, exceeding dear, and alone dear and precious to me." Whenever we seriously think of the great and sore sufferings of Christ, it will be good to pray as he prayed. But,

2. Secondly, If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, (though not after a hellish manner,) then let me infer—that certainly there is a hell, a place of torment provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly people. Danaeus reckons up no less than nineteen different kinds of heretics, which deny the doctrine of hell; and are there not many erroneous and deluded people, who stoutly and daily assert that there is no hell but what men feel in their own consciences? Ah, how many are there that rejoice to do evil, and delight in their abominations, and take pleasure in unrighteousness! [Jer. 11:15; Proverbs 2:14; Isaiah 65:3; 2 Thes. 2:11; Mat. 25:41; Isaiah 30:33.] But could men do thus, dared men do thus—did they really believe that hell was prepared and fitted for them, and that the fiery lake was but a little before them? Heaven is a place where all is joyful, and hell is a place where all is doleful. In heaven there is nothing but happiness, and in hell there is nothing but heaviness, nothing but endless, easeless, and remediless torments. Did men believe this, how could they go so merrily on in the way to hell?

Cato once said to Caesar, "I believe that you think all that is said of hell to be false and mythical." Just so, I may say to many in this day, Surely you think that all that is spoken and written of hell is but a story. Don't you look upon the people of God to be of all men the most miserable, and yourselves of all men the most happy? Yes! Oh—but how can this be, did you really believe that there was a heaven for the righteous and a hell for the wicked? It is an Italian proverb, "He who has not seen and lived some time in Venice does not understand what a city it is." This in a sense is true of hell.

Hell is a place of endless, easeless, and remediless torment.

But now for the fact, that there is a hell, that there is such a place of misery prepared and appointed for the wicked—I shall briefly demonstrate against the high atheists and Socinians of this day.

[1.] First, God created angels and men after his own image. Man must be so much honored as to be made like God; and no creature must be so much honored as to be made like man. The pattern after which man was made is sometimes called image alone. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him," Gen. 1:27. Sometimes likeness alone: Gen. 5:1, "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him." Sometimes both: Gen. 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;" which makes a prudent interpreter think that when they are joined, that the Holy Spirit means an image most like his own. It is exceeding much for man's honor that he is an epitome of the world, an abridgment of other creatures, partaking with the stones in being, with the stars in motion, with the plants in growing, with the beasts in sense, and with angels in knowledge. But his being made after God's image is far more. You know, when great men erect a stately building, they cause their own picture to be hung upon it, that spectators may know who was the chief builder of it. Just so, when God had created the fabric of this world, the last thing he did was the setting up his own picture in it, creating man after his own image.

When the great Creator went about that noble work, that prime piece of making of man, he does, as it were, call a solemn council of the sacred persons in the Trinity: "And God said, Let us make man in our image," etc., Gen. 1:26. Man before his fall was the best of creatures—but since his fall he is become the worst of creatures. ["Man," says one, "in his creation is angelic; in his corruption diabolical; in his renovation theological; in his translation majestical. Man was angel in Eden, a devil in the world, a saint in the church, a king in heaven.] He who was once the image of God, the glory of Paradise, the world's master, and the Lord's darling, has now become an abomination to God, a burden to heaven, a plague to the world, and a slave to Satan. When man first came out of God's mint, he did shine most gloriously, as being bespangled with holiness and clad with the royal robe of righteousness; his understanding was filled with knowledge; his will with uprightness; his affections with holiness, etc. But yet, being a mutable creature, and subject to temptations, Satan quickly stripped him of his happiness, and cheated and cozened him out of his imperial crown—with an apple.

If God had created angels and men immutable, he had created them gods and not creatures—but being made mutable we know they did fall from their primitive purity and glory; and we know that out of the whole host of angels, he kept some from falling; and when all mankind was fallen, he redeemed some by his Son. Now mark, as he shows mercy upon some in their salvation, so it is fit that he should glorify his justice upon others in their condemnation, Romans 7:21-23. And because there must be distinct places for the exercise of the one and for the execution of the other, which are in God equally infinite by an irreversible decree from the foundation of the world—a glorious habitation was prepared for the one, and a most hideous dungeon for the other. "These shall go into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal," Mat. 25:46. Yes, so certain are both these places, that they were of old prepared for that very purpose. "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" and so, "Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," verse 41.

Look! As God foresaw the different estates and conditions of men and angels, so he provided for them distinct and different places. Doubtless, hell was constituted before angels or men fell. Hell was framed before sin was hatched—just as heaven was formed and fitted before any of the inhabitants were produced. But,

[2.] Secondly, That there is a hell, both the Old and New Testament cloth clearly and fully testify. Take some instances: Psalm 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." In the Hebrew there are two "intos," "into, into" hell; that is, "The wicked shall certainly be turned into the nethermost hell;" yes, they shall forcibly be turned into the lowest and darkest place in hell. [Sheol is often put for the grave, Psalm 16:10—but not always.] God will, as it were, with both hands thrust him into hell. If Sheol here signify the grave only, what punishment is here threatened to the wicked, which the righteous is not equally liable to? Doubtless, Sheol here is to be taken for that prison or place of torment where divine justice detains all those in hold that have all their days rebelled against him, scorned his Son, despised the means of grace, and died in open rebellion against him.

"The psalmist," says Mollerus, "declares the miserable condition of all those who live and die in their sins—They shall be everlastingly punished." And Musculus reads the place thus: "The souls of the ungodly shall be punished in hell with deserved torments." Certainly, the very place in which the wicked shall lodge and be tormented to all eternity—namely, hell, the bottomless pit, a dungeon of darkness, a lake of fire and brimstone, a fiery furnace,—will extremely aggravate the dolefulness of their condition. O sirs, were all the water in the sea ink, and every blade of grass a pen, and every hair on all the men's heads in the world the hand of a ready writer, all would be too short graphically to delineate the nature of this dungeon, where all lost souls must lodge forever. Where is the man who, to gain a world, would lodge one night in a room that is haunted with devils; and is it nothing to dwell in hell with them forever?

So Solomon, Proverbs 5:5, says of the harlot, "that her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell." Here Sheol is translated hell, and in the judgment of Lavater is well translated too: "which," says he, "is spoken not so much of natural death as of spiritual, and that eternal destruction which follows thereupon." And he gives this for a reason why we should understand the place so, because whoredom being an abominable sin, defiling the members of the body of Christ, dissolving and making void the covenant between God and man, must needs be accompanied with an equivalent judgment, even excluding those who are guilty thereof, without repentance, the kingdom of heaven, into which pure and undefiled place no unclean thing can enter. ["By death and hell is in this place meant not only temporal death and the visible grave—but also eternal death and hell itself, even the place of the damned." The Dutch Annotations.]

And mark those words of the apostle, "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." If men will not judge them, God himself will, and give them a portion of misery answerable to their transgression. [1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Rev. 21:27; Heb. 13:4.] Though the magistrate be negligent in punishing them—yet God will judge them. Sometimes he judges them in this life, by pouring forth of his wrath upon their bodies, souls, consciences, names, and estates—but if he does not thus judge them in this life—yet he will be sure to judge them in the life to come; which Bishop Latimer well understood when he presented to Henry the Eighth, for a New-year's gift, a New Testament, with a napkin, having this note on it, "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge;" yes, he has already adjudged them "to the fiery lake of burning sulfur," Rev. 21:8. "Nothing," says one, "has so much enriched hell as beautiful faces." The Germans have a proverb that "the pavement of hell is made of the skulls of shaved priests and the glorious crests of gallants." Their meaning is, that these sorts of people being most given up to fleshly lusts and pleasures, they shall be sure to have the lowest place in hell. The harlot's feet go down to death, and her steps take hold on hell. Immorality brings men to hell. "Whoremongers shall have their part in fiery lake of burning sulfur," Rev. 21:8. "For fornication and uncleanness the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience," Col. 3:5-6. The adulterer herself goes there; and is it not fit that her companions in sin should be her companions in misery? "I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation," Rev. 2:22. She hastens with sails and oars to hell, and draws her lovers with her. All her courses tend towards hell. The unchaste are the foundations and upholders of hell; they are the devil's best customers.

Oh, the thousands of men and women who are sent to hell for sexual immorality! Hell would be very thin and empty were it not for these. Other sins are toilsome and troublesome—but sexual immorality is pleasant, and sends men and women merrily to hell.

I have read a story, that one asking the devil which were the greatest sins? he answered, "Covetousness and lust." The other asking again, whether perjury and blasphemy were not greater sins? the devil replied, "that in the schools of divinity they were the greater sins—but for the increase of his revenues the other were the greater." Bede, therefore, styles lust, "the daughter of the devil, which brings forth many children to him." Oh, that all wantons would take that counsel of Bernard, "Let the fire of hell extinguish the fire of lust in you; let the greater burning overcome the lesser," 1 Tim. 5:6. Ponder upon that Proverbs 9:18, "But he knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Namely, those who are spiritually dead, and who are in the highway to be cut off, either by filthy diseases, or by the rage of the jealous husband, or by the sword of the magistrate, or by some quarrels arising among those who are rivals in the harlot's love, and are as sure to be damned as if they were in hell already. It is a metaphor from a dungeon. He knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Aben Ezra will have the original word "there," to be referred to hell; and the meaning of the whole verse to be more plainly thus, "He knows not that her guests being dead are in the depth of hell."

But the Hebrew word here used and translated dead, is Rephaim, which word properly signifies giants. The meaning of this place seems to be no other—but that the immoral woman will bring those who are her guests to hell, to keep the apostate giants company,—those mighty men of renown of the old world, whose wickedness was so great in the earth, that it repented and grieved God that he had made man, Gen. 6:4-5; and to take vengeance on whom he brought the general deluge upon the earth, and destroyed both man and beast from the face thereof. These giants are called in Hebrew Nephilim, such as, being fallen from God, fell upon men, and by force and violence made others fall before them, even as the beasts of the field do fall before the roaring lions. These great oppressors were first drowned, and then damned, and sent to that accursed place which was appointed for them. Now to that place and condition, in which they are, the harlot will bring all her wanton lovers.

Take one scripture more: Proverbs 15:11, "Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more then the hearts of the children of men." [Destruction is put as an epithet of hell.] Some by Sheol understand the grave, and by Abaddon hell. There is nothing so deep, or secret, that can be hid from the eyes of God. He knows the souls in hell, and the bodies in the grave, and much more men's thoughts here in this place, Proverbs 15:11. The Jews take the word Abaddon, which we render destruction, for Gehenna, that is, elliptically for Beth-Abaddon, the house of destruction.

Though we know not where hell is, nor what is done there—though we know not what is become of those who are destroyed, nor what they suffer—yet God does; and if the secrets of hell and devils are known to him, then much more the secrets of the hearts of the children of men. The devil, who is the great executioner of the wrath of God, is expressed by this word; as hell is called destruction in the abstract, so the devil is called a destroyer in the concrete. "And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, or hell, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon—but in the Greek tongue has his name Apollyon," Rev, 9:11. Both the one and the other, the Hebrew and the Greek, signify the same thing—a destroyer. The devil, who is the jailer of hell, is called a destroyer, as hell itself is called destruction. Oh, sirs! hell is destruction; those who are once there are lost, yes, lost forever, Rev. 14:11. The reason why hell is called destruction, is because those who are cast to hell are undone to all eternity. "If hell," said one, "were to be endured a thousand years, methinks I could bear it—but forever—that astonishes me."

Bellarmine tells us of a learned man, who after his death appeared to his friend, complaining that he was adjudged to hell-torments, which, says he, were they to last but a thousand thousand years, I should think it tolerable—but alas! they are eternal. The fire in hell is like that stone in Arcadia I have read of, which being once kindled, could not be quenched. There is no estate on earth so miserable—but a man may be delivered out of it—but out of hell there is no deliverance. No prayers can rescue any who are once become hell's prisoners! I might add other scriptures out of the Old Testament—but let these suffice.

That there is such a place as hell is, prepared for the torment of the bodies and souls of wicked and impenitent sinners, is most clear and evident in the New Testament as well as in the Old. Among the many that might be produced, take these for a taste: Mat. 5:22, "Whoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." "You fool," the word signifies unsavory, or without relish; a fool here is, by a metaphor, called insipid, Hebrew, Sote, which we call Sot.

"Shall be in danger of hell-fire," or to be cast into Gehenna. Gehenna comes from the Hebrew word Gettinnom, that is, the valley of Hinnom, lying near the city of Jerusalem; in which valley, in former times, the idolatrous Jews caused their children to be burned alive between the glowing arms of the brazen image of Moloch, imitating the abominations of the heathen, Josh. 15:8. And hence the Scripture often makes use of that word to signify the place of eternal punishment, where the damned must abide under the wrath of God forever, 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31, 32:35, and 19:4- 6.

There were four kinds of punishments exercised among the Jews—

1. Stranglings;

2. The sword;

3. Stoning;

4. The fire.

Now this last they always judged the worst. In these words, "shall be in danger of hell-fire," Christ alludes to the highest degree of punishment that was inflicted by them, namely, to be burned in the valley of Hinnom, which, by a known metaphor, is transferred to hell itself, and the inexpressible torments thereof. For as those poor wretches being inclosed in a brazen idol, heated with fire, were miserably tormented in this valley of Hinnom; so the wicked being cast into hell, the prison of the damned, shall be eternally tormented in unquenchable fire. This valley of Hinnom, by reason of the pollution of it with slaughter, blood, and stench of carcasses, did become so execrable, that hell itself did afterwards inherit the same name, and was called Gehenna of this very place. And that,

1. In respect of the hollowness and depth thereof, being a low and deep valley.

2. This valley of Hinnom was a place of misery, in regard of those many slaughters that were committed in it through their barbarous idolatry; so hell is a place of misery and sorrowfulness, wherein there is nothing but sorrow.

3. Thirdly, by the bitter and lamentable cries of poor infants in this valley, is shadowed out the cries and lamentable torments of the damned in hell.

4. In this valley of Hinnom was another fire which was kept continually burning for the consuming of dead carcasses, and filth, and the garbage that came out of the city. Now our Savior, by the fire of Gehenna, in Mat. 5:22, has reference principally to this fire, signifying hereby the perpetuity and everlastingness of hellish pains. To this last judgment of burning, does Christ appropriate that kind of open reviling of a brother, that he might notify the heinousness of that sin.

See also Mat. 5:29-30, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell-fire." Julian, taking these commands literally, mocked at the Christian religion, as foolish, cruel, and vain, because they require men to maim their members. He mocked at Christians because no man did it; and he mocked at Christ because no man obeyed him. But this apostate might have seen from the scope that these words were not to be taken literally—but figuratively. Some of the ancients, by the right hand, and the right eye, do understand relations, friends, or any other dear enjoyments which draws the heart from God. Others of them, by the right eye, and the right hand, do understand such darling sins which are as dear to men as their right eyes or right hands. That this hell here spoken of is not meant of the grave, into which the body shall be laid, is most evident, because those Christians who do pull out their right eyes, and cut off their right hands—that is, mortify those special sins which are as dear and near to them as the very members of their bodies—shall be secured and delivered from this hell, whereas none shall be exempt from the grave, though they are the choicest people on earth for grace and holiness.

Death knows no difference between robes and rags, between prince and peasant. "All flesh is grass," Isaiah 40:6. The flesh of princes, nobles, counselors, generals, etc., is grass, as well as the flesh of the lowest beggar that walks the streets. "The mortal scythe," says one, "is master of the royal scepter, it mows down the lilies of the crown, as well as the grass of the field." Never was there orator so eloquent, nor monarch so potent, who could either persuade or withstand the stroke of death when it came! Death's motto is, "I spare none!" It is one of Solomon's sacred aphorisms, "The rich and the poor meet together," Proverbs 22:2, sometimes in the same bed, sometimes at the same board, and sometimes in the same grave. Death is the common inn of all mankind. "There is no defense against the stroke of death, nor no discharge in that war," Heb. 9:27; Eccles. 8:8. Death is that only king against whom there is resistance, Proverbs 30:31. If your houses be on fire, by good help they may be quenched; if the flood breaks out, by art and industry it may be repaired; if princes invade by power and policy, they may be repulsed; if devils from hell shall tempt, by assistance from heaven they may be resisted. But death comes into royal palaces, and into the poorest cottages, and there is not a man to be found, who can make resistance against this king of terrors and terror of kings.

Thus you see that by hell in Mat. 5:29-30, you may not, you cannot, understand the grave; and therefore by it you must understand the place of the damned.

But if you please you may cast your eye upon another scripture, namely, Mat. 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." We should not fear man at all—when he stands in competition with God. Just so, Victorian, the proconsul of Carthage, being solicited to Arianism by the ambassadors of King Hunnerick, answered thus, "Being assured of God and my Lord Christ, I tell you, what you may tell the king, Let him burn me, let him drive me to the beasts, let him torment me with all kinds of torments, I shall never consent to be an Arian!" And though the tyrant afterwards did torture him with very great tortures—yet he could never force him over to Arianism. The best remedy against the slavish fear of tyrants, is to set that great God up as the object of our fear, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mark, Jesus does not say to destroy soul and body simply or absolutely, so that they should be no more—but to punish them eternally in hell, where the worm never dies, nor the fire ever goes out. Now by hell in Mat. 10:28, the grave cannot be meant, because the soul is not destroyed with the body in the grave, as they both shall be, if the person be wicked, after the morning of the resurrection, in hell, Eccles. 12:7, and Phil. 1:3.

From the immortality of the soul, we may infer the eternity of man's future condition. The soul being immortal, it must be immortally happy or immortally miserable.

Take one scripture more, namely, 1 Pet. 3:19-20, "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which once were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." [Spirits, that is, the souls departed, not men—but spirits, to keep an analogy to the 18th verse, Christ suffered, being made dead in the flesh, and made alive by the Spirit; in which Spirit he had gone and preached to those who are now spirits in prison, because they disobeyed, when the time was, when the patience of God once waited in the days of Noah.] That is, Christ by his Spirit, in the ministry of Noah, did preach to the men of the old world, who are now in hell. In Noah's time they were on earth—but in Peter's time they were in hell. Mark, Christ did not preach by his Spirit, in his ministry, or any other way, to spirits who were in prison or in hell while he preached to them. There are no sermons in hell, nor any salvation there. The loving-kindness of God is abundantly declared on earth—but it shall never be declared in hell. Look, as there is nothing felt in hell but destruction, so there is nothing found in hell of the offers of salvation. One offer of Christ in hell would turn hell into a heaven!

One of the ancients has reported the opinion of some in his time who thought, that though there is destruction in hell—yet not eternal destruction—but that sinners should be punished, some a lesser, others a longer time, and that, at last, all shall be freed. "And yet," says he, "Origen was more merciful in that point than these men, for he held that the devil himself should be saved at last." Of this opinion I shall say no more in this place, than this one thing which he there said. These men will be found to err by so much the more foully, and against the right words of God so much the more perversely, by how much they seem to themselves to judge more mercifully; for indeed the justice of God in punishing of sinners is as much above the reach of man's thoughts—as his mercies in pardoning them are, Isaiah 55:7-9. Oh, let not such who have neglected the great salvation when they were on earth, Heb. 2:3, ever expect to have an offer of salvation made to them when they are in hell! Consult these scriptures, Mat. 25:30, 13:41-42; Rev. 9:2, 14:19-20, 20:1-3, 7. I must make haste, and therefore may not stand upon the opening of these scriptures, having said enough already to prove both out of the Old and New Testament that there is a hell, a place of torment, provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly men. But the third argument to prove that there is a hell, is this,

[3.] The beams of natural light in some of the heathens have made such impressions on the heart of natural conscience, that several of them have had confused notions of a hell, as well as of a judgment to come. Though the poor blind heathens were ignorant of Christ and the gospel, and the great work of redemption, etc.—yet by the light of nature, and reasonings from thence, they did attain to the understanding of a deity, who was both just and good; as also, that the soul was immortal, and that both rewards and punishments were prepared for the souls of men after this life, according as they were found either virtuous or wicked. Profound Bradwardine, and several others, have produced many proofs concerning their apprehensions of hell, of wrath to come. What made the heathen Emperor Adrian when he lay a-dying, cry out, "O my little wretched wandering soul, where are you now hastening? Oh, what will become of me! Live I cannot, die I dare not!" Look, as these poor heathens did imagine such a place as the Elysian fields, where the virtuous should spend an eternity in pleasures; so also they did feign a place called Tartarum, or hell, where the wicked should be eternally tormented. Tertullian, and after him Chrysostom, affirms that poets and philosophers, and all sorts of men, speaking of a future retribution, have said that many are punished in hell. Plato is very plain, that the profane shall go into hell to be tormented for their wickednesses, with the greatest, most bitter and terrible punishments, forever in that prison in hell.

And Jupiter, speaking to the other gods concerning the Grecians and Trojans, says—

If any shall so hardy be,

To aid each part in spite of me;

Him will I tumble down to hell,

In that infernal place to dwell.

So Horace, speaking concerning Jove's thunderbolts, says—

With which earth, seas, the Stygian lake,

And hell with all her furies quake.

And Trismegistus affirms concerning the soul's going out of the body defiled, that it is tossed to and fro with eternal punishments. Nor was Virgil ignorant thereof when he said—

They all shall pack,

Sentence once past, to their deserved rack.

The horror of which place he acknowledges he could not express,

No heart of man can think, no tongue can tell,

The direful pains ordained and felt in hell.

It was the common opinion among the poor heathen that the wicked were held in chains by Pluto—so they called the prince of devils—in chains which cannot be loosed. To conclude, the very Turks speak of the house of perdition, and affirm that they who have turned the grace of God into impiety, shall abide eternally in the fire of hell, and there be eternally tormented. I might have spent much more time upon this head—but that I do not judge it expedient, considering the people for whose sakes and satisfaction I have sent this piece into the world. But,

[4.] Fourthly, The secret checks, gripes, stings, and the amazing horrors and terrors of CONSCIENCE, which sometimes astonish, affright, and even distract sinful wretches—do clearly and abundantly evidence that there is a hell, that there is a place of torment prepared and appointed for ungodly sinners. ["Every man is tormented with his own conscience," says the philosopher.] Doubtless, it was not merely the dissolution of nature—but the sad consequences, which so startled and terrified Belshazzar when he saw the handwriting on the wall, Dan. 5:5-6. Guilty man, when conscience is awakened, fears an after-reckoning, when he shall be paid the wages of his sins, proportionate to his demerits.

Wolfius tells you of one John Hufmeister, who fell sick in his inn as he was traveling towards Augsburg in Germany, and grew to that horror that they had to bind him in his bed with chains, where he cried out that "he was for ever cast off from before the face of God, and should perish forever, he having greatly wounded his conscience by sin," etc.

James Abyes, who suffered martyrdom for Christ's sake and the gospel's, as he was going along to execution he gave all his money and his clothes away to one, and another to his shirt, upon which one of the sheriff's attendants scoffingly said that "he was a madman and a heretic;" but as soon as the godly man was executed this wretch was struck mad, and threw away his clothes, and cried out that "James Abyes was a godly man, and gone to heaven—but he was a wicked man, and was damned!" And thus he continued crying out until his death.

Dionysius was so troubled with fear and horror of conscience, that, not daring to trust his best friends with a razor, he used to singe his beard with burning coals—says Cicero.

Bessus having slain his father, and being afterwards banqueting with several nobles, arose from the table and beat down a swallow's nest which was in the chimney, saying they lied "to say that he slew his father," for his guilty conscience made him think that the swallows, when they chattered, proclaimed his parricide to the world.

Theodoricus the king having slain Boetius and Symmachus, and being afterwards at dinner, began to change countenance, his guilty conscience so blinding his eyes that he thought the head of a fish which stood before him to have been the head of his cousin Symmachus, who bit at him and threatened him, the horror whereof did so amaze him, that he presently died.

Nero, that monster of nature, having once slain his mother, had never more any peace within—but was plagued with horrors, fears, visions, and clamors which his guilty conscience set before him and suggested unto him. He suspected his nearest and dearest friends and favorites, he trembled at the barking of a puppy, and the crowing of a rooster, yes, the shaking of a leaf, and neither dared speak unto others nor could endure others to speak to him, when he was retired into a private house, lest the noise should be heard by some who lay in wait for his life.

Now were there not a hell, were there not a place of torment where God will certainly inflict unspeakable miseries and intolerable torments upon wicked and ungodly men, why should their consciences thus plague, torture, and torment them? Yes, the very heathen had so much light in their natural consciences, as made such a discovery of that place of darkness, that some of them have been terrified with their own inventions concerning it, and distracted with the very sense of those very torments which they themselves have described. The very flashes of hell-fire which sinners daily experience in their own consciences—may be an argument sufficient to satisfy those who there is a hell, a place of torment provided for them in the eternal world.

[5.] Fifthly, Those matchless, easeless, and endless torments that God will certainly inflict upon the bodies and souls of all wicked and ungodly men, after the resurrection, does sufficiently evidence that there is a hell—that there is a place of torment provided, prepared, and fitted by God, wherein he will, "pour forth all the vials of his wrath upon wicked and ungodly men."

Isaiah 30:33, "Topheth has long been prepared. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze." This place that was so famous for judgment and vengeance is used to express the torments of hell, the place of the damned. Tophet was a place in the valley of Hinnom; it was the place where the angel of the Lord destroyed the host of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, Isaiah 30:31, 33; and this was the place where the idolatrous Jews were slain and massacred by the Babylonian armies, when their city was taken and their carcasses left, for lack of room for burial, for food for the fowls of heaven and beasts of the field, according to the word of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, Jer. 7:31-33, and 19:4-6. And this was the place where the children of Israel committed that abominable idolatry in making their children pass through the fire to Moloch; that is—burnt them to the devil, 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 33:6. Therefore king Josiah polluted it, and made it a place execrable, ordaining it to be the garbage dump where dead carcasses, rubbish, and other unclean things should be cast out. For consuming whereof, to prevent annoyance, a continual fire was there burning, 2 Kings 33:8. Now this place, being so many ways execrable for what had been done therein, especially having been as it were the gate to eternal destruction, by so remarkable judgments and vengeance of God there executed for sin, it came to be translated to signify the place of the damned—as the most accursed, execrable, and abominable place of all places.

The Spirit of God, in Scripture, by metaphors of all sorts of things which are dreadful unto sense—sets forth the condition of the damned, and the torments that he has reserved for them in the life to come. Hell's punishments do infinitely exceed all other punishments, that there is no pain so extreme—as that of the damned. Look, as there are no joys which can compare to the joys of heaven, so there are no pains which can compare to the pains of hell, Psalm 116:3. All the cruelties in the world cannot possibly make up any horror comparable to the horrors of hell. The brick-kilns of Egypt, the furnace of Babylon—are but as a fleeting spark—compared to this tormenting Tophet which has been prepared of old to punish the bodies and souls of sinners with. Hanging, racking, burning, scourging, stoning, sawing asunder, flaying of the skin, etc., are not to be compared with the tortures of hell. If all the pains, sorrows, miseries, and calamities which have been inflicted upon all men, since Adam fell in Paradise, should meet together and center in one man--they would not so much as amount to one of the least of the pains of hell.

Who can sum up the diversity of torments which are in hell!

1. In hell there is darkness; hell is a dark region.

2. In hell there are sorrows!

3. In hell there are bonds and chains!

4. In hell there are pains and pangs!

5. In hell there is the worm that never dies!

6. In hell there is a lake of fire!

7. In hell there is a furnace of fire!

8. In hell there is the devil and his demons! And oh, how dreadful must it be to be shut up forever with those roaring lions!

9. In hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth! [Jude 13; Psalm 116:3; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Mark 9:44; Rev. 20:15; Mat. 13:41-42, 25:41, 24:51, 25:30, 13:42.]

10. In hell there is unquenchable fire! Mat. 3:12, "He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire;" in hell there is "everlasting burnings." "The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless—Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" Isaiah 33:14 Wicked men, who are now the only jolly fellows of the time, shall one day go from burning to burning; from burning in sin to burning in hell; from burning in flames of lusts to burning in flames of torment, except there be found true repentance on their sides, and pardoning grace on God's. [Gen. 4:17; Amos 6:7; Job 21:12; Dan. 5:21; Amos 6:4.]

O sirs! in this devouring fire, in these everlasting burnings, Cain shall find no cities to build, nor shall his posterity have any instruments of music to invent there; none shall take up the timbrel or harp, or rejoice at the sound of the organ. There Belshazzar cannot drink wines in bowls, nor eat the lambs out of the flocks, nor the calves out of the midst of the stall. In everlasting burnings there will be no merry company to pass time away, nor any dice or cards to pass care away. Nor shall there be bottles of wine wherein to drown the sinner's grief. By fire in the scriptures last cited, is meant, as I conceive, all the positive part of the torments of hell; and because they are not only upon the soul but also upon the body. As in heaven there shall be all bodily perfection, so there shall be also in hell all bodily miseries. Whatever may make a man perfectly miserable shall be in hell; therefore the wrath of God and all the positive effects of this wrath is here meant by fire.

I have read of Pope Clement the Fifth, that when a nephew of his, whom he had loved sensually and sinfully, died, he sent one to a necromancer to learn how it fared with him in the other world. The conjuror showed him the nephew lying in a fiery bed in hell; which when it was told the Pope, he never more joyed after it—but, within a short time after, died also. Out of this fiery bed there is no deliverance. When a sinner is in hell, shall another Christ be found to die for him, or will the same Christ be crucified again? Oh, no!

O sirs, the torments of hell will be exceeding great and dreadful, such as will make the stoutest sinners to quake and tremble! If the handwriting upon the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, made Belshazzar's "countenance to change, his thoughts to be troubled, and his joints to be loosed, and his knees to knock one against another," Dan. 5:5, 6:25. Oh, how terrible will the torments of hell be to the damned! The torments of hell will be universal torments. All torments meet together in that place of torment. Hell is the center of all punishments, of all sorrows, of all pains, of all wrath, and of all vengeance, etc.

One of the ancients says that, "the least punishment in hell is more grievous than if a child-bearing woman should continue in the most violent pangs and throes a thousand years together, without the least ease or intermission."

A heathen poet, speaking of the multitude of the pains and torments of the wicked in hell, affirmed, "that although he had a hundred mouths, and as many tongues, with a voice as strong as iron—yet were they not able to express the names of them." But this poet spoke more like a prophet, than a poet. The poets tell you of a place called Tartarum, or hell, where the impious shall be eternally tormented. This Tartarum the poets did set forth with many fictions to affright people from wicked practices, such as of the four lakes of Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon, and Cocytus; over which Charon, in his boat, did waft over the departed souls. They also tell of the three judges, Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus, who were to call the souls to an account, and judge them to their state. They also tell of the three furies, Tisophone, Megaera, and Alecto, who lashed guilty souls to extort confession from them. They also tell of Cerberus, the dog of hell, with three heads, which would let none come out when once they were in. They also tell of several sorts of punishments inflicted, as iron chains, horrid stripes, gnawing of vultures, wheels, rolling great stones, and the like. In the chapel of Ticam, the China Pluto, the pains of hell were so pictured, that they could not but strike terror into the beholders—some roasted in iron beds, some fried in scalding oil, some cut in pieces, or divided in the middle, or torn by dogs, etc. In another part of the chapel were painted the dungeons of hell, with horrible serpents, flames, devils, etc.

"In hell," says one "there is the floor of brimstone, smoky, pitchy, with stinking flames, deep pits of scalding pitch, and sulphurous flames wherein the damned are punished daily." There the wicked shall be fed with the tree Ezecum, which shall burn in their bellies like fire; there they shall drink fire, and be held in chains. In the midst of hell, they say, is a tree full of fruit, every apple being like to the head of a devil, which grows green in the midst of all those flames, called the tree of bitterness; and the souls that shall eat thereof, thinking to refresh themselves, shall so find them, and by them and their pains in hell, they shall grow mad; and the devils shall bind them with chains of fire, and shall drag them up and down in hell; with much more which I am not free to transcribe.

Now, although most of those things which you may find among many poets, heathens, and Turks, concerning the torments of hell, are fictions of their own brains—yet that there is such a place as hell, and that there are diversity of torments there, the very light of nature does witness, and has forced many to confess, etc.

And as there are diversity of torments in hell, so the torments of hell are everlasting. Mark, everything that is conducible to the torments of the damned is eternal.

1. God himself, who damns them, is eternal, Deut. 33:27; 1 Tim. 1:17.

2. The fire which torments them is eternal, Isaiah 30:33, and 66:24; Jude 7.

3. The prison and chains which hold them are eternal, Jude 6-7, 13; 2 Pet. 2:17.

4. The worm which gnaws them is eternal, Mark 9:44. 5.

5. The sentence which shall be passed upon them, shall be eternal, Mat. 25:41, "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire."

You know that fire is the most tormenting element. Oh, the most dreadful impression that it makes upon the flesh—everlasting fire! There is the vengeance and continuance of it—You shall go into fire, into everlasting fire—which shall never consume itself, nor consume you. The eternity of hell—is the hell of hell.

The fire in hell is like that stone in Arcadia, which being once kindled could never be quenched. If all the fires which ever were, or which be in the world, were contracted into one fire—how terrible would it be! Yet such a fire would be but as a painted fire—compared to the fire of hell. For to be tormented without end, this is that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation. Grievous is the torment of the damned, for the bitterness of the punishments—but it is more grievous for the diversity of the punishments—but most grievous for the eternity of the punishments! If, after so many millions of years as there are drops in the ocean, there might be a deliverance out of hell, this would yield a little ease, a little comfort to the damned. Oh—but this word Eternity! Eternity! Eternity! this word Everlasting! Everlasting! Everlasting! this word Forever! Forever! Forever! will even break the hearts of the damned in ten thousand pieces!

Oh, that word 'never', said a poor despairing creature on his deathbed, breaks my heart. "The reprobate shall have punishment without pity; misery without mercy, sorrow without support, crying without compassion, mischief without measure, and torment without end," (Drexelius.) Plato could say, "That the profane shall go into hell, to be tormented for their wickedness, with the greatest, the most bitter and terrible punishments, forever in that prison of hell." And Trismegistus could say, "That souls going out of the body defiled, were tossed to and fro with eternal punishments." Yes, the very Turks, speaking of the house of perdition, do affirm, "That they who have turned God's grace into wantonness, shall abide eternally in the fire of hell, and there be eternally tormented."

A certain man going to visit Olympius, who lived cloistered up in a dark cell, which he thought uninhabitable, by reason of heat, and swarms of gnats and flies, and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place, he answered, "All this is but a light matter, that I may escape eternal torments: I can endure the stinging of gnats, that I might not endure the stinging of conscience, and the gnawing of that worm that never dies; this heat you think grievous, I can easily endure, when I think of the eternal fire of hell; these sufferings are but short—but the sufferings of hell are eternal." [There is no Christian which does not believe the fire of hell to be everlasting. Jackson]

Certainly, infernal fire is neither tolerable nor terminable. Impenitent sinners in hell shall have end without end, death without death, night without day, mourning without mirth, sorrow without solace, and bondage without liberty. The damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven. Their imprisonment in that land of darkness, in that bottomless pit, is not an imprisonment during the king's pleasure—but an imprisonment during the everlasting displeasure of the King of kings.

Suppose that the whole world were turned to a mountain of sand, and that a little bird should come once every thousand years and carry away from that heap, one grain of sand. What an infinite number of years, not to be numbered by all finite beings, would be spent before this great mountain of sand would be fetched away! Just so—if a man should lie in everlasting burnings so long a time as this, and then have an end of his woe—it would give some ease, some hope, and some comfort to him. But when that immortal bird shall have carried away this great mountain of sand—a thousand times over and over—alas, alas, sinful man shall be as far from the end of his anguish and torment as ever he was! He shall be no nearer coming out of hell, than he was the very first moment that he entered into hell! If the fire of hell were terminable, it might be tolerable—but being endless, it must needs be easeless, and remediless. We may well say of it, as one does, "Oh, killing life! oh, immortal death!"

Suppose, say others, that a man were to endure the torments of hell as many years, and no more, as there be sands on the sea-shore, drops of water in the sea, stars in heaven, leaves on trees, blades of grass on the ground, hairs on the heads of every person who ever was, or shall be in the world, from the beginning of it to the end of it—yet he would comfort himself with this poor thought, "Well, there will come a day when my misery and torment shall certainly have an end." But woe and alas, this word, "Forever! Forever! Forever!" will fill the hearts of the damned with the greatest horror and terror, anger and rage, bewilderment and astonishment.

Suppose, say others, that the torments of hell were to end, after a little bird should have emptied the sea, and only carry out one drop once in a thousand years.

Suppose, say others, that the whole world, from the lowest earth to the highest heavens, were filled with grains of sand, and once in a thousand years an angel should fetch away one grain, and so continue until the whole heap were gone.

Suppose, say others, if one of the damned in hell, should weep after this manner, namely—that he should only let fall one tear in a thousand years; and these tears should be kept together, until such time as they should equal the water in the sea. How many millions of ages would pass! And when that were done, that he must weep again after the same manner, until he had filled a second, a third, and a fourth sea!

If then there should be an end of their miseries, there would be some hope, some comfort, that they would end at last. But that they shall never, never, never end—this is that which sinks them under the most tormenting terrors and horrors.

You know that the extremity and eternity of hellish torments is set forth by the worm which never dies. And it is observable that Christ, at the close of his sermon, makes a threefold repetition of this worm: Mark 9:44, "where their worm never dies;" and again, verse 46, "where their worm never dies;" and again, verse 48, "where their worm never dies, and their fire never goes out." Certainly, those punishments are beyond all conception and expression, which our Lord Jesus does so often inculcate within so small a space.

Now if there be such a diversity, extremity, and eternity of hellish pains and torments, which the great God will certainly inflict upon the bodies and souls of all impenitent people, after the day of judgment; then there must certainly be some hell, some place of torment, wherein the wrath of God shall be executed upon wicked and ungodly men. But,

[6.] Sixthly, The greatest part of wicked and ungodly men escape unpunished in this present world. The greatest number of ungodly people spend their days in pride, ease, pleasures, and delights, in lust and luxury, in voluptuousness and wantonness. "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. They say, 'How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?' This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth." Psalms 73:3-12

"Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful? Their homes are secure and free of fear; no rod from God strikes them. Their children skip about, singing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoicing at the sound of the flute. They spend their days in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. Yet they say to God: Leave us alone! We don't want to know Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?" Job 21:7-15

God does not punish all here on earth, that he may make way for the displaying of his mercy and goodness, his patience and forbearance. Nor does he forbear all here, that he may manifest his justice and righteousness, lest the world should turn atheist, and deny his providence, Romans 2:4-5; 2 Pet. 3:9-15. He spares that he may punish, and he punishes that he may spare. God smites some sinners in the very acting of their sins, as he did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and others, Num. 16; not until they have filled up the measure of their sins, as you see in the men of the old world, Gen. 6:5-7. But the greatest number of sinners God reserves for the great day of his wrath, Mat. 7:13.

There is a sure punishment, though not always a present punishment, for every sinner, Eccles. 8:12-13. Those wicked people which God allows to go uncorrected here, he reserves to be punished forever hereafter, 2 Thes. 1:7-10. Sinners, know your doom—you must either smart for your sins in this world, or in the world to come. Augustine hit the mark when he said, "Many sin are punished in this world, who the providence of God might be more apparent; and many, yes, most, reserved to be punished in the world to come, that we might know that there is yet judgment behind."

Sir James Hamilton, having been murdered by the Scottish king—he appeared to the king in a vision, with a naked sword drawn, and strikes off both his arms, with these words, "Take this, before you receive a final payment for all your impieties;" and within twenty-four hours—two of the king's sons died. If the glutton in that historical parable being in hell, Luke 16:22-24, only in part, namely, in soul—yet cried out that he "was horribly tormented in that flame," what shall that torment be, when body and soul come to be united for torture! It being just with God, that as they have been, like Simeon and Levi, brethren in iniquity, and have sinned together desperately and impenitently, so they should suffer together jointly, eternally, Gen. 49:5.

The Hebrew doctors have a pretty parable to this purpose: A man planted an orchard, and going from home, was careful to leave such watchmen as both might keep it from strangers and not deceive him themselves; therefore he appointed one blind—but strong of his limbs, and the other seeing—but a cripple. These two, in their master's absence, conspired together; and the blind man took the lame man on his shoulders, and so gathered and stole the fruit. Their master returning, and finding out this subtlety, punished them both together. Just so, shall it be with those two sinful yoke-fellows, the soul and the body, in the great day; they have sinned together, and they shall suffer at last together, 2 Cor. 5:10-11.

But now, in this world the greatest number of transgressors do commonly escape all sorts of punishments; and therefore we may safely conclude that there is another world, wherein the righteous God will revenge upon the bodies and souls of sinners the high dishonors that have been done to his name by them. But,

[7.] Seventhly, In all things natural, and supernatural, there is an opposition and contrariety. There is good, and there is evil; there is light and darkness, joy and sorrow. Now as there are two distinct ways, so there are two distinct ends:

1. Heaven, a place of admirable and inexpressible happiness, where the holy angels convoy the souls of the saints who have, by a holy life, glorified God, and adorned their profession, Luke 16:22.

2. Hell, a place of horror and confusion, where the evil angels hurry the souls of wicked, incorrigible, and impenitent wretches, when they are once separated from their bodies. "The rich man also died and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments," Luke 16:22-23.

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal," Mat. 25:46. In these words we have described the different estate of the wicked and the righteous after judgment, "They shall go away into everlasting punishment—but these into life eternal." After the sentence is past, the wicked go into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal. Everlasting punishment, the end thereof is not known, its duration is infinite. Hell is a bottomless pit, and therefore shall never be fathomed. It is an unquenchable fire, and therefore the smoke of their torments ascends forever and ever, Rev. 14:11. Hell is a prison from whence is no escape, because there is no ransom to be paid. No price will be accepted for one in that estate. And as there is no end of the punishments of hell, into which the wicked must enter, so there is no end of the joys of heaven, into which the saints must enter.

"In your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore," Psalm 16:11. Here is as much said as can be said. For quality, there is in heaven joy and pleasures; for quantity, a fullness, a torrent; for constancy, it is at God's right hand; and for perpetuity, it is for evermore. The joys of heaven are without measure, mixture, or end.

Thus you see that there are two distinct ends, two distinct places, to which the wicked and the righteous go. And, indeed, if this were not so, then the bloody Nero would be as blessed a man as Paul, and Esau as happy a man as Jacob, and Cain as blessed a man as Abel. Then as believers say, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable," 1 Cor. 15:19; because none out of hell ever suffered more, if so much, as the saints have done. So might the wicked say, "If in this life only we were miserable, we were then of all men most happy." But,

[8.] Eighthly, and lastly, You know that all the princes of the world, for their greater grandeur and state, as they have their royal palaces for themselves, their nobles and attendants; so they also have their jails, prisons, and dark dungeons for rogues and robbers, for malefactors and traitors. And shall not he who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. 19:16; he who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, Rev. 1:5; he who removes kings and sets up kings, Dan. 2:21; shall not he have his royal palace, a glorious heaven, where he and all his noble attendants, angels, and saints shall live forever? Shall not the great king have his royal and magnificent court in that upper world, as poor petty princes have theirs in this lower world? Surely he shall, as you may see by comparing these scriptures. [Eph. 2:3 John 14:1-4 Luke 12:32; Neh. 9:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21.]

And shall not the same great King have his hell, his prison, his dungeon, to secure and punish impenitent sinners in? Surely yes! And doubtless, the least glimpse of this hell, of this place of torment, would strike the proudest, and the stoutest sinners dead with horror. O sirs! those who have seen the flames, and heard the roarings of Mount Etna, the flashing of Vesuvius, the thundering and burning flakes evaporating from those lava rocks, have not yet seen, no, not so much as the very glimmering of hell. A painted fire is a better shadow of these, than these can be of hell torments, and the miseries of the damned therein!

Now these eight arguments are sufficient to demonstrate that there is a hell, a place of torment, to which the wicked shall be sent at last. Now certainly, Socinians, atheists, and all others who are men of corrupt minds, and that believe that there is no hell—but what they carry about with them in their own consciences; these are worse than those poor Indians, who believe that there are thirteen hells, according to the differing demerits of men's sins; yes, they are worse than devils, for they believe and tremble, James 2:19. The original word seems to imply an extreme fear, which causes not only tremblings—but also a roaring and shrieking out. Their hearts ache and quake within them, they quiver and shake as men do when their teeth chatter in their heads in extreme cold weather, Mark 6:49, and Acts 16:29.

The devils acknowledge four articles of our faith: Mat. 8:29, "And behold, they cried out, saying—Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"

1. They acknowledge God;

2. They acknowledge Christ;

3. They acknowledge the day of judgment;

4. That they shall be tormented then.

Those who scorn the day of judgment are worse than devils; and they who deny the deity of Christ are worse than devils. The devils are, as it were, for a time respited and reprieved, in respect of full torment, and they are allowed as free prisoners to flutter in the air, and to course about the earth until the great day of the Lord, which they tremble to think on. But those who mock at, or make light of the day of judgment, are worse than devils. The devils knew that torments were prepared for them, and a time when these torments shall be fully and fatally inflicted on them, and they were loath to suffer before that time. Ah, sirs, shall not men tremble to deny what the devils are forced to confess! Shall I now make a few short INFERENCES from what has been said, and so conclude this head?

1. First, then, Oh labor to set up God as the great object of your fear. This grand lesson Christ commands us to take out, "Fear not those who kill the body—but are not able to kill the soul—but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell; yes, I say unto you, fear him!" Mat. 10:28. Christ doubles the precept, that it might stick with more life and power upon us, Luke 12:5. As one fire drives out another, so one fear drives out another. Both the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense may be the objects of a filial fear—the fear of a son, of a saint, of a soul who is espoused and married to Christ. The fear of God, and the fear of sin, will drive out the fear of death, and the fear of hell, 2 Cor. 11:2; Hos. 2:19-20.

O sirs, will you not fear that God who has the keys of hell and death in his own hand, who can speak you into hell at pleasure, who can by a word of command bring you to dwell with a devouring fire, yes, to dwell with everlasting burnings? Rev. 1:18.

Ah, friends, will you fear a burning fever, and will you not fear a burning in hell? Will you fear when your house is on fire, and when the bed you lie on is on fire, though it may be quenched; and will you not fear that fire which is unquenchable? Isaiah 33:14. When men run through the streets and cry, Fire! fire! fire! how do your hearts quake and tremble in you. And will you not fear the fire of hell? Will you not fear everlasting fire? Mat. 3:12, 25:41.

Sir Francis Bacon, in his history, relates how it was a byword of Cordes, who was a profane, popish, atheistical French Lord, that he could be content to lie seven years in hell, so he might win Calais from the English. But had this popish Lord lain but seven minutes under unsupportable torments, he would quickly have repented of his mad bargain. It was good counsel which Bernard gave, "Let us go into hell while we are alive, by a serious meditation and holy consideration, that we may not go into it when we be dead, by real miseries."

God can kill, and more than that, he can cast into hell. Here is both temporal and eternal destruction, both rods and scorpions. He can kill the body, and then damn both body and soul, and cast them into hell. Therefore it behooves every person to set up God as the great object of their fear. "Yes, I say unto you, fear him! Yes, I say unto you, fear him!" This redoubling of the speech adds a greater enforcement to the admonition. It is like the last stroke of the hammer, that rivets and drives up all to the head. Thus David uses this reinforcement, "You, even you, are to be feared; who may stand in your sight when you are angry—you can look them to death, yes, to hell," Psalm 76:7.

O sirs, temporal judgments are but the smoke of his anger—but in hell there are the flames of his anger! That fire burns fiercely, and there is no quenching of it. Thus said the martyr, "You threaten bonds and imprisonments, O emperor—but God's threatenings are much more terrible. He threatens hell torments and everlasting damnation!" Certainly, where there is the greatest danger, there it is fit that there should be the greatest dread. But,

2. Secondly, Then flee from the wrath to come! "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" Luke 3:7. O sirs, that you would seriously and frequently dwell upon those short hints!

[1.] The coming wrath is the greatest wrath. It is the greatest evil which can befall a soul. "Who knows the power of your wrath?" Psalm 19:11. Wrath to come is such wrath as no unsaved man can either avoid or abide, and yet such is most men's stupidity, that they will not believe it until they feel it! As God is a great God, so his wrath is a great wrath. I may allude to that which Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, "As the man is, so is his strength," Judges 8:21. Just so, may I say, "as the Lord is, so is his wrath!" The wrath of an earthly king is compared to the roaring of a lion, Proverbs 19:12; that is—of a young lion, which, being in his prime, roars most terribly. He roars with such a force that he terrifies the creatures whom he hunts, so as that they have no power to fly from him. Now if the wrath of a king is so terrible, oh how dreadful must the wrath of the King of kings then be! The greater the evil is, the more cause we have to flee from it. Now wrath to come is the greatest evil, and therefore the more it concerns us to flee from it, Rev. 17:14. But,

[2.] The coming wrath is treasured-up wrath. Sinners are still "a-treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath," Romans 2:5. In treasuring there is, 1. Laying in; 2. Lying hid; 3. Bringing out again as there is occasion.

While wicked men are following their own lusts, they think that they are still adding to their own happiness—but alas, they do but add wrath to wrath, they do but heap up judgment upon judgment, punishment upon punishment! Look, as men are daily adding to their treasure more and more, so impenitent sinners are daily increasing the treasury of wrath against their own souls. Now, who would not flee from this storehouse of wrath? But,

[3.] The coming wrath is pure wrath. It is "judgment without mercy," James 2:13. The cup of wrath which God will put into sinners' hands at last will be a cup of pure wrath, all wrath, nothing but wrath, Rev. 14:10, "They must drink the wine of God's wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb." Look! as there is nothing but the pure glory of God, which can make a man perfectly and fully happy; just so, there is nothing but the pure wrath of God, which can make a man fully and perfectly miserable. Reprobates shall not only sip of the top of God's cup—but they shall drink the dregs of his cup. They shall not have one drop of mercy, nor one crumb of comfort. They have filled up their lifetime with sin, and God will fill up their eternity with torments. But,

[4.] The coming wrath is everlasting wrath. Rev. 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever!" "Would to God," says Chrysostom, "that men would everywhere think and talk more of hell, and of that eternity of punishment—which they shall never be able to avoid, or to abide." See the scriptures in the margin. [2 Thes. 1:8; Jude 6, 7; Mat. 25:46; Isaiah 33:14, etc.] "The damned," says Gregory, "shall suffer an end without end, a death without death, a decay without decay; for their death ever lives, their end ever begins, their decay never ceases, they are ever healed to be newly wounded, and always repaired to be newly devoured; they are ever dying and never dead, eternally broiling and never burnt up, ever roaring in the pangs of death, and never rid of those pangs; for they shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without support, crying without comfort, mischief without measure, and torment without ease—where the worm dies not, and the fire is never quenched." The torments of the damned shall continue as many eternities as there are stars in the skies, as there are grains of sand on the sea-shore, and as there are drops of water found in the sea! When the present worlds are ended, the pains and torments of hell shall not cease—but begin afresh, and thus this wheel shall turn round and round, without end.

Oh the folly and vanity, the madness and baseness of poor wretched sinners who expose themselves to everlasting torments, for a few fleshly momentary pleasures! O sirs! "Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence!" Nahum 1:6. Now how should these things work poor sinners to flee from wrath to come by fleeing to Christ, "who alone is able to save them from wrath to come," 1 Thes. 1:10.

Themistocles, understanding that King Admetus was highly displeased with him, he took up the king's young son in his arms, and so talked with the father, holding his darling in his bosom; and by that means pacified his wrath. Ah sinners, sinners! the King of kings is highly offended with you, and there is no way to appease his wrath—but by taking up Christ in your arms, and so present your suits to him. But,

3. Thirdly, If there is a hell, then don't let fly so fiercely against those faithful ministers who seriously and conscientiously do all they can to prevent your dropping into hell. 2 Cor. 5:20, 12:15. Don't call them legal preachers, who tell you that there is a hell, and that there are no torments compared to hellish torments, if either you consider their extremity or eternity. Be not so hot nor so angry with those ambassadors of Christ who are willing to spend and be spent that they may keep you from running headlong to hell. "To think of hell," says one, "preserves a man from falling into it!" Says the same author, "I could wish men would discourse much and oft of hell." It was a saying of Gregory Nyssen, "He who does but hear of hell is, without any further labor or study, taken off from sinful pleasures." But what minister can say so now? Surely men's hearts are grown worse since, for how do most men run headlong to hell, and take a pleasure to dance hoodwinked into everlasting burnings! [Millions of years multiplied by millions, make not up one minute to this eternity—but who considers it, who believes it? etc.] Oh, had but the sinners of this day who swear and curse, drink and party, and drown themselves in fleshly pleasures—but one sight of this hell, how would it shut their mouths, appall their spirits, and strike fear and astonishment into their hearts!

I cannot think that the high transgressors of this day dared be so highly wicked as they are, did they but either see or foresee what they shall one day certainly feel—except there be sound and serious repentance on their sides, and pardoning grace on God's. Bellarmine was of opinion that one glimpse of hell were enough to make a man, not only turn Christian and sober. And yet, he tells us of a certain advocate of the court of Rome, who being, at the point of death, stirred up by those who were about him to repent and call upon God for mercy, he, with a constant countenance, and without sign of any fear, turned his speech to God, and said, "Lord, I have longed much to speak to you, not for myself—but for my wife and children; for I am hastening to hell, I am now a-going to dwell with devils, neither is there anything that I would have you to do for me." And this he spoke with as placate, serene and tranquil a mind, as if he had been speaking of going to the next town or village. Ah, who can read or write such a story without horror and terror! But,

4. Fourthly, If there is a hell, then do not fret, do not envy the prosperity and flourishing estate and condition of wicked and ungodly men; for God has given it under his hand, that they shall be turned into hell: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God," Psalm 37:1-2, 73:21; Proverbs 3:31; Psalm 9:17. It was a wise saying of Marius to those who envy great men their honor, "Let them envy them their burdens!" I have read a story of a Roman, who was by a court-martial condemned to die for breaking his rank to steal a bunch of grapes; and as he was going to execution, some of the soldiers envied him—that he had grapes, and they had none. Says he, "Do you envy me my grapes, I must pay dearly for them!" Ah sirs! do not envy wicked men's grapes, do not envy their riches, their honors, their greatness, their offices, their dignities; for they shall one day pay dearly for their things.

High seats to many are uneasy, and the downfall terrible: "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" Isaiah 14:12. It is spoken of the Chaldean monarch, who, though high—yet had a sudden change befell him. It is not a matter of so great joy to have been high and honorable, as it is of grief, anguish, and vexation to be afterwards despicable and contemptible: "Come down, and sit in the dust," Isaiah 47:1. Babylon was the lady of kingdoms—but, says God, "sit in the dust; take the mill-stones, and grind," verse 2; "The Lord Almighty has purposed to stain (Hebrew, to pollute) the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth," Isaiah 23:9; "He shall bring down their pride together," Isaiah 25:11; "Woe to the crown of pride: the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet," Isaiah 28:1, 3. God will bring down the crown of pride to the dust, to ashes, yes, to hell; and, therefore, do not envy the crown of pride.

Croesus was so puffed up with his crown of pride, with his great riches and worldly glory, that he boasted himself to be the happiest man who lived—but Solon told him, that no man was to be accounted happy before death. Croesus little regarded what Solon had said unto him, until he came, by miserable experience, to find the uncertainty of his riches, and all worldly glory, which before he would not believe. For when he was taken captive by King Cyrus, and condemned to be burned, and saw the fire preparing for him, then he cried out, "O Solon, Solon!" Cyrus asking him the cause of the outcry, he answered, that now he remembered what Solon had told him in his prosperity—that no man was to be accounted happy before death. Who can sum up those crowns of pride that in Scripture and history God has brought down to the dust, yes, to the ash-heap! Have not some wished, when they have been breathing out their last, that they had never been kings, nor queens, nor lords, nor ladies? etc. Where is there one of ten thousand who is advanced, and thereby anything bettered?

Few men believe what vexations lie under the pillows of princes. "You look upon my crown and my purple robes," says Artaxerxes—"but did you know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up." Damocles highly extolled Dionysius. Dionysius, to convince him of his mistake, provides a royal feast, invites him to it, commands his servants to attend him. No dainties, no mirth, no music are lacking—but over the table, a sharp sword was hung by a horse hair, which made Damocles tremble, and to forbear both food and mirth. "Such, even such," says Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant, "is my life, which you deem so pleasant and happy." O sirs! there is a sword of wrath which hangs over every sinner's head, even when he is surrounded with all the mirthful and gallant things of this world!

Outward prosperity is commonly given in God's wrath, as you may see by comparing these scriptures. [Hos. 13:11; Psalm 73 and 78:30-31; Proverbs 1:32; Luke 12:16-22; Eccles. 5:12-13.] Prosperity kills and damns more than adversity. It had been infinitely better for the great men of this world that they had never been so great, for their horrid abuse of God's mercy and bounty will but increase their misery and damnation at last. Augustine hit it on the head when he said, "Because they have tasted so liberally of God's kindness, and have employed it only against God's glory, their felicity shall be short—but their misery shall be endless; and therefore to see the wicked prosper and flourish in this world is matter rather of pity than envy. It is all the heaven they must have." ["The whole Turkish empire is nothing else but a crust cast by our Father to his dogs, and it is all they are likely to have, let them make them merry with it," said Luther.]

These are as terrible texts as any in the whole Book of God: Mat. 6:2, "Truly I say unto you, they have their reward." Luke 6:24, "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." James 5:1-3, "Go now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire!" Gregory, being advanced to places of great preferment, professed that there was no scripture that went so near his heart, and that struck such a trembling into his spirit, as that speech of Abraham to Dives, Luke 16:25, "Son, remember you in your lifetime received your good things." Those who have their heaven here—are in danger to miss it hereafter. "It is not God's usual way," says Jerome, to move from delights to delights—to bestow two heavens, one here and another hereafter!" Doubtless hence it was, that David made it his solemn prayer, "Deliver me from the wicked, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly you fill with your hid treasure," Psalm 17:14. It is a very difficult thing to have earth and heaven too. God did not turn man out of one paradise, that he should here provide himself of another. Many men with the prodigal cry out, "Give me the portion that belongs to me," Luke 15:12. "Give me riches, and give me honor, and give me preferment, etc." And God gives them their desires—but it is with a vengeance; as the Israelites had quail to choke them, and afterwards a king to vex them, and a table to be a snare unto them, Psalm 78:24-32. When the Israelites had eaten of their dainty dishes, justice sent in a sad reckoning which spoiled all.

Ah friends, there is no reason why we should envy the prosperity of wicked men. "Suppose," says Chrysostom, "that a man one night should have a pleasant dream that for the time might much delight him; yet for the pleasure of such a dream should be tormented a thousand years together with extreme torments; would any man desire to have such a dream upon such conditions? All the contentments of this life are not so much, compared to eternity—as a dream is to a thousand years! And, oh, how little is that man's condition to be envied, who for these short pleasures of sin must endure an eternity of torments!

O sirs! do wicked men purchase their present pleasures at so dear a rate as eternal torments? And do we envy their enjoyment of them so short a time? Would any envy a man going to execution, because he saw him in prison nobly feasted and nobly attended and bravely courted? or because he saw him go up the ladder with a gold chain about his neck and a scarlet gown upon his back? or because he saw him walk to execution through pleasant fields or delightsome gardens? or because there went before him drums beating, colors flying, and trumpets sounding, etc.? Surely not! Oh, no more should we envy the grandeur of the men of the day, for every step they take is but a step to an eternal execution! The sinner is cursed, and all his blessings are cursed! Who in their wits would envy a man under a curse? Oh, how much more worthy of our pity than envy, is that man's condition who has all his happiness confined to the narrow compass of this life—but his misery extended to the uttermost bounds of an everlasting duration! Mal. 2:2. But,

5. Fifthly, If there is a hell, then, Christians, spend your days in admiring and in being greatly affected with the transcendent love of Christ—in undergoing hellish punishments in your stead! Oh pray, pray hard that you "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of Christ, which passes knowledge," Eph. 3:18-19—of that love of Christ, which put him upon these bodily and spiritual sufferings which were so exceeding great, acute, extreme, universal and continual—and all to save us from wrath to come! 1 Thes. 1:10. Christ's outward and inward miseries, sorrows, and sufferings are not to be paralleled, and therefore Christians have the more cause to lose themselves in the contemplation of his matchless love. Oh, bless Christ! oh, kiss Christ! oh, embrace Christ! oh, welcome Christ! oh, cleave to Christ! oh, follow Christ! oh, walk with Christ! oh, long for Christ! who for your sakes has undergone insupportable wrath and most hellish torments, as I have evidenced at large before, and therefore a touch here may suffice. [Psalm 103:1-2, and 2:12; Cant. 3:4; Rev. 14:4-5; Isaiah 63:8; Gen. 6:9; Cant. 8:14.]

Oh, look up to dear Jesus, and say, "O blessed Jesus, you were accursed that I might be blessed, Gal. 3:13; you were condemned that I might be justified, Isaiah 53; you did for a time undergo the very torments of hell, that I might forever enjoy the pleasures of heaven, Romans 8:30, 34; Psalm 16:11; and therefore I cannot but dearly love you, and highly esteem you, and greatly honor you, and earnestly long after you!"

But, for a close, you will say, "Where is hell? where is this place of torment? where is that very place that is so frequently called hell in the Scripture? That there is a hell, you have sufficiently proved—but, please, where is it? where is it?" Now, to this I answer,

[1.] First, That it becomes all sober, serious Christians to rest satisfied and contented with those scriptural arguments that do undeniably prove that there is a hell, a place appointed where the wicked, the damned, shall be tormented forever and ever—though they do not know, nor for the present cannot understand, where this hell is. But,

[2.] Secondly, I answer, Curiosity is one of the most dangerous engines, which the devil uses to undo souls with. When Satan observes that men do in good earnest set themselves to the obtaining of knowledge, then he strives to turn them to vain inquiries and curious speculations; so that, if they will are knowing, he may keep them busied about unprofitable curiosities. [Curious inquirers have always lain under the lash of Christ, as you may see by comparing these scriptures together: Job 21:22; Acts 1:6, 7; Luke 13:22, 24.] The way to make us mere fools, is to attempt to know more than God would have us to know. Adam's tree of knowledge made him and his posterity fools, Gen. 3:5-6. Curiosity was the bait whereby the devil caught our first parents—and undid us all! Curiosity is the spiritual adultery of the soul. Curiosity is spiritual drunkenness. Look, as the drunkard, be the cup ever so deep, he is not satisfied unless he sees the bottom of it; so the curious searcher into the depths of God, he is unsatisfied until he comes to the bottom of them, and by this means they come to be 'mere fools', as the apostle says, Romans 1:22. Adam had a mind to know as much of God as God himself; and by this means he came to know nothing. Curiosity is that green-sickness of the soul, whereby it longs for novelties, and loathes sound and wholesome truths; it is the epidemic distemper of this age.

Ah! how many are there who spend their precious time in inscrutable and curious questions! [Basil says that multitudes of questions may be made about 'a fly'—which no philosopher is ever able to answer; how much rather about heaven, hell, or the work of grace!] Ah, what did Christ dispute of, among the doctors? Where did Paradise stand? In what part of the world is local hell? What fruit was it that Adam ate, and ruined us all? What became of Moses his body? How many orders and degrees of elect angels are there? etc. Oh, that we could learn to be contentedly ignorant, where God would not have us knowing; and let us not account it any disparagement to acknowledge some depths in God's counsels, purposes, decrees, and judgments, which our shallow reason cannot fathom, Romans 11:33.

It is sad when men will be wise above what is written, and love to pry into God's secrets, and scan the mysteries of religion by carnal reason, Romans 12:3, and 1 Cor. 4:6. God often plagues such pride and curiosity by leaving that sort of men to strange and fearful falls. When a curious inquisitor asked Austin what God did before he created the world, Austin told him that "God was making hell for such busy questionists, for such curious inquirers into God's secrets!" Such sharp replies are the best answers to men of curious minds. But,

[3.] Thirdly, I answer, It concerns us but little to know whether hell is in the air, or in the concave of the earth, or of what longitude, latitude, or profundity it is. ["Let us not be inquisitive where hell is—but rather let our care be to escape it!" says Chrysostom.] Let hell be where it has pleased God in his secret counsel to place it—to men unknown, whether it is in the north or in the south, under the frozen zone, or under the burning zone, or in a pit or a gulf. Our great care should be to avoid it, to escape it, and not to be curiously inquisitive about where it s—which the Lord in his infinite wisdom has not thought fit clearly to reveal or make known to the sons of men.

In hell there's nothing heard but yells and cries;

In hell the fire never slacks, nor worm ever dies.

But where is this hell placed? My muse, stop there:

Lord, show me what it is—but never where!

Look, as there are many who please themselves with discourses of the degrees of glory—while others make sure their saving interest in glory; just so, many please themselves with discourses of the degrees of the torments of hell—while others make sure their escaping those torments! Look, as many take pleasure to be discoursing about the place where hell is—so some take pleasure to make sure their escaping of that place; and certainly they are the best and wisest of men who spend most thoughts, and time, and pains how to keep out of hell—than to exercise themselves with disputes about it. ["As in heaven one is more glorious than another, so in hell one shall be more miserable than another." Augustine.] But,

[4.] Fourthly, I answer, That it has been the common opinion of the fathers, that hell is in the heart of the earth; yes, Christ and the blessed Scriptures, which are the highest authority, do strongly seem to favor this opinion, by speaking of a descent unto hell, in opposition unto heaven; and, therefore, we may as well doubt whether heaven be above us, as doubt of hell being beneath us. Among other scriptures ponder upon these: Psalm 140:10, "Let them be cast into the deep pits, that they rise not up again. Bring them down into the pit of destruction." Proverbs 9:18, "Her guests are in the depths of hell." Proverbs 15:24, "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." Sheol is sometimes taken for a pit, sometimes for the grave, and sometimes, and that significantly too, for hell—all downwards. One says that Sheol generally signifies all places under the earth; whence some conclude that hell is in the heart of the earth, or under the earth. Without doubt it is below, because it is everywhere opposed to heaven, which is above. It is therefore called Abyssus, a deep pit, a vast gulf; such a pit as, by reason of the depth thereof, may be said to have no bottom. The devils entreated Christ that he would not send them to this place, Luke 8:31, in Abyssum, which is, says one, "a gulf of immeasurable depth," etc.

The apostle, 2 Pet. 2:4, speaking of the angels that sinned, says, "God cast them down into hell." So Beza, in his Annotations, tells us the Greeks called that place which was ordained for the prison and torment of the damned. And reason itself does teach us that it must needs be opposite and contrary to that place in which the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. 12:23, do reside, which, on all hands, is granted to be above. Some have been of opinion that the pit spoken of, into which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram went down alive, when the earth opened up and swallowed them up, was the pit of hell, into which both their souls and bodies were immediately conveyed, Num. 16:33.

As we know little in respect of the height of heaven, so we know as little in respect of the lowness of hell. Some of the upper part of the earth is to us yet an unknown land—but all of the lowest parts of hell is to us an unknown land. Many thousands have traveled there—but none have returned thence, to make reports or write books of their travels. That piece of geography is totally unknown to us. Heaven and hell are the greatest opposites, or remotest extremes: "And you people of Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to hell!" Mat. 11:23. Heaven and hell are at farthest natural distance, and are therefore the everlasting receptacles of those who are at the farthest moral distance—believers and unbelievers, saints and impenitents. And it is observable, that as the height of heaven, so the depth of hell, is ascribed to wisdom, to show the unsearchableness of it. "Oh the depth," as well as "Oh the height," "of the wisdom of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33. Certainly God's depths, and Satan's depths, and hell's depths, lie far out of our view, and are hard to be found out, 1 Cor. 10, and Rev. 2:24.

Though I ought piously to reverence the wonderful wisdom of God, and to wonder at his unsearchable judgments—yet I ought not curiously and profanely to search beyond the compass of that which God has revealed to us in his word.

The Romans had a certain lake, the depth whereof they knew not. Doubtless hell is such a lake, the depth whereof no man knows; it is such a bottomless pit that no mortal can sound. But,

[5.] Fifthly and lastly, I answer, Some of the learned are of opinion, that hell is outside this visible world, which will pass away at the last day, 2 Pet. 3:10-13, and removed at the greatest distance from the place where the righteous shall forever inhabit: Mat. 8:12, "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness." Mat. 22:30, "Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness." Mat. 25:30, "And cast you the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." Into a darkness beyond a darkness, into a dungeon beyond and beneath the prison. The darkness of hell is compared to the darkness of those prisons, which were oftentimes outside of the city.

A prison was outside the gate, near mount Calvary, and it was the loathsomest and vilest prison of all, for in it the thieves who were carried to Calvary to be executed were kept; and Christ alludes to this prison in Mat. 8:12, and Mat. 22:13, and that Mat. 25:30, "Cast him into utter darkness;" which allusion could not be understood, unless there had been a dark prison without the city, where was utter darkness. 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Acts 12:10. By outer darkness, the Holy Spirit would signify to us that the wicked should be in a state most remote from all heavenly happiness and blessedness; and that they should be expelled out of the blessed presence of God, who is highest good. By outer darkness we are to understand the greatest darkness that is, as in a place most remote from all light. They shall be cast into outer darkness, that is, they shall be cast into the palpable darkness of the infernal prison. Immediately after death, sinners' souls shall be cast into the infernal prison, and in the day of judgment both their souls and their bodies shall be cast into outer darkness. Darkness is no other thing than a privation of light. Now light is twofold, namely,

1. Spiritual light—as wisdom, grace, truth. Now the privation of this light is internal darkness, and ignorance in the spirit and inward man.

2. There is a sensible and physical light, whose privation is outer darkness; and this is the darkness spoken of in the three scriptures last cited. For although there is fire in hell—yet it is a dark and smoky fire, and not clear, except only so as the damned may see one another, for the greater increase of their misery, as some write. Now I shall leave the ingenuous reader to conclude as he pleases concerning the place where hell is—desiring and hoping that he will make it the greatest business of his life to escape hell, and to get to heaven, etc.

The Divinity and Humanity of Christ

6. Sixthly, If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner, then let me infer that certainly the papists are greatly mistaken, and do greatly err—who boldly and confidently assert that Christ's soul in substance, went really and locally into hell. Bellarmine takes a great deal of pains to make good this assertion—but this great champion of the Romish church may easily be confuted. First, Because that limbus patrum, and Christ's fetching the fathers from the skirts of hell, about which he makes so great a noise, is a mere fable, and not founded upon any solid grounds of Scripture. Secondly, Because upon Christ's dying, and satisfying for our sins, his soul went that very day into paradise—as Adam sinning was that very day cast out of paradise—and his soul could not be in two places at once. Thirdly, Because this descent of Christ's soul into hell was altogether needless, and to no purpose. What need was there of it, or to what end did he descend? Not to suffer in hell, for that was finished on the cross; not to redeem or rescue the fathers out of hell, for the elect were never there, and redemption from hell was wrought by Christ's death, as the Scriptures do clearly evidence; not to triumph there over the devils, etc., [Luke 23:43; Gen. 3:23-24; John 18:30; Heb. 9:12; 1 Thes. 1:10; Eph. 4:8; Heb. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14-15.] for Christ triumphed over them when he was on the cross.

Christ, in the day of his solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin, death, devils, and hell. When Christ was on the cross, he made the devils a public spectacle of scorn and derision; as Tamerlane did Bajazet the great Turk, whom he shut up in an iron cage made like a grate, in such sort as that he might on every side be seen, and so carried him up and down all Asia, to be scorned and derided by his own people. By these few hints you may see the vanity and folly of the papists, who tell you that Christ's soul and substance went really and locally into hell. I might make other inferences—but let these suffice at this time.

7. Seventhly, As Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner, so Jesus Christ was really, certainly made a curse for us. Jesus Christ did in his soul and body bear that curse of the law, which by reason of transgression was due to us. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," Gal. 3:13. He does not say that Christ was cursed—but made a curse, which is more: it shows that the curse of all did lie upon him. The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of deaths, as the serpent was accursed above all the beasts of the field, Gen. 3:14. This scripture refers to Deut. 21:33, "Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse." [Not that all who are hanged should be damned, for the contrary appears in that Luke 23:43. Neither is hanging in itself, or by the law of nature, or by civil law, more execrable than any other death.]

The holy and wise God appointed this kind of punishment, as being the most cruel and reproachful, for a type of the punishment which his Son must suffer to deliver us from the curse. Hanging on a tree was accounted the most shameful, the most dishonorable, the most odious and infamous, and accursed, of all kinds of death, both by the Israelites and other nations, because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such execrable, base, vile, and accursed wretches, that they did defile the earth with treading on it, and would pollute the earth if they should die upon it, and therefore were hanged up in the air, as people not fit to converse among men, or touch the surface of the ground any more.

But what should be the reason why the ceremonial law affixed the curse to this death rather than any other death?

I answer, first, because this was reckoned the most shameful and dishonorable of all deaths, and was usually therefore the punishment of those who had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his wrath upon the whole land, and so were hanged up to appease his wrath; as you may see in the hanging of those princes that were guilty of committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, Num. 25:4; and in the hanging of Saul's seven sons in the days of David, when there was a famine in the land because of Saul's perfidious oppressing of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. 21:6-9; and in Joshua's hanging of the five kings of the Amorites, Josh. 16:26.

But, secondly and mainly, it was with respect to the death Christ was to die. God would have his Son, the Lord Jesus, to suffer this kind of death, that hence it might be the more evident that in his death he bore the curse due to our sins, according to that of the apostle, Gal. 3:13. Christ was certainly made that curse which he redeemed us from, otherwise the apostle does not reason either soundly or fairly, when he tells us we are redeemed from the curse because Christ was made a curse for us; he remits that curse to us which he received in himself. He hit the mark on the head, who says, Christ has taken our punishment without guilt, to loose the guilt and end the punishment. We were subject to the curse, because we had transgressed the law; Christ was not subject, because he had fulfilled it. He therefore took that curse, to the which he was not subject, when he hanged upon the tree, to loose the curse which was against us. Such a curse or execration was Christ made for us, as was that from which he redeemed us; and that curse from which he redeemed us was no other than the curse of the law, and that the curse of the law included all the punishment which sinners were to bear or suffer for transgression of the law, of which his hanging on the cross was a sign and symbol; and this curse was Christ made for us, that is—he did bear and suffer it to redeem us from it. Christ was truly made a curse for us, and did bear both in his body and soul that curse, which by reason of the transgression of the law was due to us; and therefore I may well conclude this head with that saying of Jerome, "The Lord's injury is our glory."

The more we ascribe to Christ's suffering, the less remains of ours; the more painfully that he suffered, the more fully are we redeemed; the greater his sorrow was, the greater our solace; his dissolution is our consolation, his cross our comfort; his annoy our endless joy; his distress in soul our release, his calamity our comfort; his misery our mercy, his adversity our felicity, his hell our heaven. Christ is not only accursed—but a curse; and this expression is used both for more significancy and usefulness, to note out the truth and realness of the thing, and also to show the order and way he took for bringing us back unto that blessedness which we had lost. The law was our righteousness in our innocent condition, and so it was our blessedness. But the first Adam, falling away from God by his first transgression, plunged himself into all unrighteousness, and so inwrapped himself in the curse, James 1:24. Now Christ the second Adam, that he may restore the lost man into an estate of blessedness, he becomes that for them which the law is unto them, namely, a curse; beginning where the law ends, and so going backward to satisfy the demands of the law to the uttermost, he becomes first a curse for them, and then their righteousness, and so their blessedness, Romans 10:24.

Christ's becoming a curse for us, stands in this, that whereas we are all accursed by the sentence of the law because of sin, he now comes in our place, and stands under the stroke of that curse which of right belongs to us; so that it no longer lies on the backs of poor sinners—but on him for them and in their stead; therefore he is called a surety, Heb. 7:22. The surety stands in the room of a debtor, malefactor, or him who is any way liable to the law. Such is Adam and all his posterity. We are by the doom of the law, evil-doers, and transgressors, and upon that score we stand indebted to the justice of God, and lie under the stroke of his wrath. Now the Lord Jesus, seeing us in this condition, he steps in and stands between us and the blow; yes, he takes this wrath and curse off from us—unto himself. Christ Jesus does not expect that we should pay the debt ourselves—but he takes it wholly to himself. As a surety for a murderer or traitor, or some other notorious malefactor, that has escaped prison and has run away—he undergoes whatever the malefactor is chargeable with for satisfying the law; even so, the Lord Jesus Christ stands surety for us renegade malefactors, making himself liable to all that curse which belongs to us, that he might both answer the law fully and bring us back again to God.

As the first Adam stood in the place of all mankind fallen; so Christ the second Adam stands in the room of all mankind which is to be restored; he sustains the person of all those which do spiritually descend from him, and unto whom he bears the relation of a head, Eph. 1:22-23. Christ did actually undergo and suffer the wrath of God, and the fearful effects thereof, in the punishments threatened in the law. As he became a debtor, and was so accounted, even so he became payment thereof; he was made a sacrifice for sin, and bore to the full, all that ever divine justice did or could require, even the uttermost extent of the curse of the law of God. He must thus undergo the curse, because he had taken upon him our sin. The justice of the most high God, revealed in the law, looks upon the Lord Jesus as a sinner, because he has undertaken for us, and seizes upon him accordingly, pouring down on his head the whole curse, and all those dreadful punishments which are threatened in it against sin; for the curse follows sin as the shadow the body, whether it be sin inherent or sin imputed; even as the blessing follows righteousness, whether it be righteousness inherent or righteousness imputed. But,

8. Eighthly, He who did feel and suffer the very torments of hell—though not after a hellish manner—was God man. Christ participates of both natures, being God and man, God-man. Such a mediator, sinners needed. No mediator but such a one who has interest in both parties, could serve their turns or save their souls, and such a one is the Lord Jesus; he has an interest in both parties, and he has an interest in both natures—the Godhead and the manhood. The blessed Scriptures are so express and clear in these points, that they must shut their eyes with a witness against the light, that cannot see Christ to be God-man, to be God and man.

I shall first speak something of the DIVINITY of Christ. Now here are fathomless depths and bottomless bottoms, if I may so speak; here are stupendous and amazing mysteries, astonishing and confounding excellencies, such as the holy angels themselves desire to pry into. God is dwelling in inaccessible light: 1 Tim. 6:16. Here are such beauties and perfections that had I, as the poet speaks, a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and a voice of steel—yet I could not sufficiently describe them! Nevertheless give me permission to say something concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one eternal God with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. I might produce a cloud of witnesses in the case—but it is enough that we have the authority of the sacred Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament, confirming of it; and therefore I shall lay down some proofs or demonstrations of the eternal godhead of Christ, which I shall draw out of the blessed Scripture. This is a point of great concern, that Christ is God; so great, as whoever builds not upon this, builds upon the sands. This is the rock of our salvation, "The Word was God," John 1:1. Concerning this important point, consider—

1. First, That the godhead of Christ is clearly asserted, and manifested both in the Old and New Testament. Take a taste of some of those many scriptures which may be cited: Isaiah 43:10-12, "That you may know and believe, and understand that I am he, I, even I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no Savior." Isaiah 41:21-25, "There is no God else besides me: a just God and Savior, there is none besides me. Look unto me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. To me every knee shall bow. . . . . In Jehovah have I righteousness. . . . In Jehovah shall the seed of Israel be justified." [Compare these scriptures of the Old Testament with these in the New Testament. Heb. 1:2, 8; 1 John 1:7; Acts 4:12; Eph. 4:8; Romans 9:30; and also Jer. 33:23; Psalm 6, 68:18-20.] Compare this with Romans 14:10-11. We ought to conclude from these scriptures, that Jesus Christ is not a different God from the Father—but is one and the same God with him. Just so, he is called "The mighty God, the everlasting Father," Isaiah 9:6.

Take a few clear places out of the New Testament, as that in Romans 9:5, "Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for evermore." Christ is here himself called God blessed forever. Just so, Titus 2:13, "Looking for that hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ." Who is it that shall appear at the last day in the clouds—but Christ? who is called the great God and our Savior? "God blessed forever," says Paul to the Romans. "The great God," says Paul to Titus. 1 John 5:20, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." Phil. 2:6, "He was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God." Col. 2:9, "In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily." John 20:28, "My Lord, and my God." 1 Tim. 3:16, "God manifested in the flesh." To which of the saints or angels did God say at any time, "You are my Son?" Heb. 1:1. "The heir of all things, the illustrious brightness of my glory, and lively character of my person." "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and all the angels of God shall worship you."

Certainly he who is God's own proper, natural, consubstantial, co-essential, only-begotten Son, he is God; wherever this sonship is, there is the deity or the divine essence. Now Christ is thus God's Son, therefore he is God. What the Father is as to his nature, that the Son must also be. Now the first person, the Father of Christ, is God; whereupon he too who is the Son must be God also. A son always participates of his father's essence, there is between them evermore an identity and oneness of nature. If therefore Christ is God's Son, as is most evident throughout the Scripture he is, then he must needs have that very nature and essence which God the Father has, insomuch that if the second person be not really a God, the first person is but equivocally a Father. These scriptures are so evident and pregnant to prove the godhead of Christ, that they need no illustration; yes, they speak so fully for the divinity of Christ, that all the Arians and Socinians in the world do but in vain go about to elude them. But,

2. Secondly, Let us ponder seriously upon these scriptures: John 3:13, "And no man has ascended up to heaven—but he who came down from heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven;" verse 31, "He who comes from above is above all: he who comes from heaven is above all." John 8:23, "You are from beneath, I am from above." John 16:28, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; and again I leave the world, and go to the Father." Now from these blessed scriptures we may thus argue: he who was in heaven before he was on the earth, and who was also in heaven while he was on the earth, is certainly the eternal God—but all this does Jesus Christ strongly assert concerning himself, as is evident in the scriptures last cited; therefore he is the eternal God, blessed forever. But,

3. Thirdly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and consubstantiality with the Father, may be demonstrated from his divine names and titles. As,

(1.) First, Jehovah is one of the incommunicable names of God, which signifies his eternal essence.

The Jews observe that in God's name Jehovah, the Trinity is implied. Je signifies the present tense, ho the preterperfect tense, vah the future. The Jews also observe that in his name Jehovah, denotes rest, implying that in God and from God is all our rest. Every gracious soul is like Noah's dove, he can find neither rest nor satisfaction but in God. God alone is the godly man's ark of rest and safety. Jehovah is the incommunicable name of God, and is never attributed to any but God: Psalm 83:19, "You whose name alone is Jehovah." Jehovah is a name so full of divine mysteries, that the Jews hold it unlawful to pronounce it. [Exod. 15:3; Gen. 2:4. The Jews called it nomen Dei inefabile. But this name Jehovah is not unspeakable in regard of the name—but in regard of the essence of God, set forth by it, as Zanchius notes. This name was always thrice repeated when the priest blessed the people, Num. 6:24-26.] Jehovah signifies three things—

[1.] That God is an eternal, independent being of himself.

[2.] That he gives being to all creatures, Acts 17:28.

[3.] That he does, and will give, being to his promises.

God tells Moses, Exod. 6:3, that he "appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, God Almighty—but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." The name Jehovah was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—but not the mystery of the name. [Gen. 20:14, "Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will see, or provide." Besides, the fathers of old are said not to have known God by his name Jehovah—in comparison of that which their posterity knew afterwards; for to them God made himself more clearly and fully known.] This was revealed to Moses from God, and from Moses to the people. It is meant of the performances of his great promises made to Abraham. God did promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham's seed for an inheritance, which promise was not performed to him—but to his seed after him; so that this is the meaning, God appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, El Shaddai, God Almighty, in protecting, delivering, and rewarding of them—but by his name Jehovah, he was not known to them. God did not perform his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—but unto their seed and posterity after them.

This name Jehovah is the proper and peculiar name of the one, only true God, a name as far significant of his nature and being, as possibly we are enabled to understand; so that this is taken for granted on all hands—that he whose name is Jehovah is the only true God. Whenever that name is used properly, without an image or figure—it is used of God only.

Now this glorious name Jehovah, that is so full of mysteries, is frequently ascribed to Christ: Isaiah 6:1, he is called Jehovah, for there Isaiah is said to see "Jehovah sitting upon a throne," etc. And, John 12:41, this is expressly by the holy evangelist applied to Christ, of whom he says, that "Isaiah saw his glory, and spoke of him." Exod. 17:1, the people are said to "tempt Jehovah;" and the apostle says, 1 Cor. 10:9, "Let us not tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." It is said of Jehovah, "Of old have you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they shall perish—but you shall endure," etc., Psalm 102:25-26; and the apostle clearly testifies, Heb. 1:10, that these words are spoken of Christ. Just so, Jehovah rained fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of heaven, Gen. 19:24; that is, Jehovah, the Son of God, who stayed with Abraham, Gen. 18, rained fire and brimstone from Jehovah the Father; and Christ is called Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness; and in that Zech. 13:7, Christ is called the Father's fellow. The Lord Christ is that Jehovah, to whom every knee must bow, as appears by comparing Isaiah 45:21-25, compared with Romans 14:9-12 and Phil. 2:6, 9-11.

I might further insist upon this argument, and show that the title of 'Lord', so often given to Christ in the New Testament, does answer to the title of Jehovah in the Old Testament. And, as some learned men conceive, the apostles did purposely use the title of Lord, that they might not offend the Jews with frequent pronouncing of the word Jehovah: "You shall fear Jehovah your God." Deut. 6:13 and 10:20 is rendered by the apostle, "You shall worship the Lord your God;" and so Deut. 6:5, "You shall love Jehovah your God," is rendered, Mat. 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God." Thus you see that in several precious scriptures Jesus Christ is called Jehovah; and therefore we may very safely and confidently conclude that Jesus Christ is very God, God blessed forever. But,

(2.) The second name or title which denotes the essence of God is Ehieh, "I am that I am," or, I will be what I will be, Exod. 3:14. [The Hebrew Ehieh properly signifies, "I will be that I will be." The Septuagint renders it, I am he who is; and in that Rev. 16:5, God is called, He who is, and that was, and that will be.] It has the same root with Jehovah, and signifies that God is an eternal, unchangeable being. Some make this name to be God's extraordinary name. Damascene says this name contains all things in it, like a vast and infinite ocean without bounds. This glorious name of God, I AM THAT I AM, implies these six things.

[1.] God's incomprehensibleness: as we say of anything we would not have others pry into, it is what it is, so God says here to Moses, I AM WHAT I AM.

[2.] It implies God's immensity, that his being is without any limits. Angels and men have their beings—but then they are bounded and limited within such a compass—but God is an immense being that cannot be included within any bounds.

[3.] It implies that God is of himself, and has not a being dependent upon any other. "I am," that is, by and from and of myself.

[4.] It implies God's eternal and unchangeable being in himself. It implies God's everlastingness. "I am before anything was, and shall forever be." There never was nor shall be time wherein God could not say of himself, "I am."

[5.] It implies that there is no succession of time with God. And,

[6.] It implies that he is a God who gives being to all things. [Every creature is temporary and mutable. No creature can say, I will be that I will be.] In short, the reason why God names himself, "I AM THAT I AM," or will be that I will be, is because he is the Being of beings, subsisting by himself; as if he should say, "I am my being, I am my essence; my existence differs not from my essence, because I am that I am, and as I am, so will I be to all eternity," "the same yesterday, today, and forever." "There is no shadow of change, no variableness at all in me."

Now this glorious name is given to Jesus Christ: Rev. 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." [In this verse you have a clear and pregnant proof of Christ's deity.] This kind of speaking is taken from the Greek alphabet, in which language John wrote this book. Alpha, being their first letter, and Omega, the last. The sense is, I was before all creatures, and shall abide forever, though all creatures should perish; or I am he from whom all creatures had their beginning, and to whom they are referred, as their uttermost end. Christ, in calling of himself Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; and that absolutely, does therein assume unto himself absolute perfection, power, dominion, eternity, and divinity, which is, and which was, and which is to come. Christ assumes all those epithets here to himself by which John, verse 4, described God; and what wonder is it if Christ, who is God, does take to himself whatever is due to God?

The Almighty: this is another epithet proper to God, which Christ also takes to himself, showing that he is the true, eternal, and omnipotent God, in all things equal and co-essential with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the first and the last, who is, was, and is to come, and the Almighty, and therefore he is, without any question—God eternal; for so Jehovah says of himself, "I the Lord, the first and the last, I am he; I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God; I am God Almighty." [Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, and Gen. 17:1.] But Christ does take to himself, all these divine attributes; therefore he is Jehovah—that one, eternal, and omnipotent God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Oh, the stateliness and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ! What an excellent and stately person is he, there being not a property attributed to God, but is agreeable to Christ! Every word in this Rev. 1:8, is a proper attribute of God. He is infinite in power, sovereign in dominion, and not bounded as creatures are. And that this is clearly spoken of Christ is most evident, not only from the scope, John being to set out Christ, from whom he had this revelation—but also from the 11th and 17th verses following, where he gives him the same titles over again, or rather, if you please, Christ, speaking of himself, takes and repeats the same titles. [See Rev. 21:6, and 22:13.]

Heb. 13:8, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever." "Yesterday," that is, the time past, before his coming in the flesh; "today," while in the flesh; and "forever," that is, after time. The same—before time, in time, and after time. "Jesus Christ the same," that is, unchangeable in his essence, promises, and doctrine. Jesus Christ was always the same, and is still the same, and will abide forever the same, as being one selfsame God, and one selfsame Mediator, as well in the Old as in the New Testament.

John 8:58, "Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, before Abraham was—I am." According to my divine nature, which is from everlasting, before Abraham was—I am. I who, according to my humanity, am not above fifty years old, according to my divine nature am eternal, and so before Abraham and all the creatures, Micah 5:1-2. I have a being from all eternity, and so before Abraham was born; and therefore, as young as you take me to be in respect of my age here, I may well have seen and known Abraham, though he died over two thousand years since. But,

(3.) The third name or title which denotes the essence of God is Elohim, which signifies the persons in the essence. It is a name of the plural number, expressing the trinity of persons in the unity of essence; and, therefore, it is observed by the learned, that the Holy Spirit begins the story of the creation with this plural name of God, joined with a verb of the singular number, as the mighty Gods, or all the three persons in the godhead, created, Gen. 1:1-2. Just so, Gen. 3:22, "And Jehovah Elohim said, Behold, the man has become as one of us." It is a holy derision of man's vain affectation of the deity. God upbraids our first parents for their vain attempt of being like unto him in that ironical expression, "Behold, the man has become as one of us—knowing good and evil;" meaning, that by his sin he was become most unlike him.

This name Elohim, by which God expresses his nature, denotes the power and strength of God; to show us that God is strong and powerful, and that he can do great things for his people, and bring great desolations and destructions upon his and his people's enemies. O sirs, God is too strong for his strongest enemies, and too powerful for all the powers of hell! Though Jacob, a worm in his own eyes, and in his enemies' eyes—yet Jacob need never fear; for Elohim, the strong and powerful God, will stand by him, and help him, Isaiah 41:10, 13-14.

Now this name is also attributed unto Christ: Psalm 45:6, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a righteous scepter." "Your throne, O God," Hebrew, gods—"Your throne, O Gods," Elohim. It signifies the trinity of persons in the unity of essence, as I have before noted. The prophet directs his speech, not to Solomon but to Christ, as is most evident by the clear and unquestionable testimony of the Holy Spirit: Heb. 1:8, "But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom." Christ is called God, not by an excellency only as the angels are, nor by office and title only as magistrates are called gods, nor ironically as the heathen gods are called, nor a diminutive God, inferior to the Father, as Arius held—but God by nature every way, co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. [Psalm 8:5, compared with Heb. 2:6-8, and Psalm 82:16.] Hold fast all truth—but, above all, hold fast this glorious truth—that Jesus Christ is God blessed forever!

(4.) The fourth name or title which denotes the essence of God is El Gibbor, the strong and mighty God. God is not only strong in his own essence—but he is also strong in the defense of his people, and it is he who gives all strength and power to all other creatures, 2 Chron. 16:9. There are no men, no powers, which are a match for the strong God.

Now this title is also attributed to Christ: Isaiah 9:6, "El Gibbor, the strong God, the mighty God." The word signifying God, does also signify strong. He is so strong that he is almighty, he is one to whom nothing is impossible. Christ's name is God, for he is the same essence with God the Father. This title, "the mighty God," fits well to Christ, who has all the names of the deity given to him in Scripture; and who, by the strength and power of his godhead, did satisfy the justice of God, and pacify the wrath of God, and make peace, and purchase pardon and eternal life for all his elect.

(5.) The fifth name or title which denotes the essence of God is El Shaddai, God omnipotent or all-sufficient, Gen. 17:1. He lacks nothing—but is infinitely blessed with the infinite perfection of his glorious being. By this name, God makes himself known to be self-sufficient, all-sufficient, absolutely perfect. Certainly that man can lack nothing who has an all-sufficient God for his God. He who loses his all for God, shall find all in an all-sufficient God, Mat. 19:29. Esau had much—but Jacob had all, because he had the God of all, Gen. 33:9-11. "What are riches, honors, pleasures, profits, lands, friends, yes, millions of worlds, compared to one Shaddai, God Almighty, God All-sufficient?" (Augustine.) [This name Shaddai belongs only to the godhead, and to no creature; no, not to the humanity of Christ.] This glorious name Shaddai, was a noble foundation for Abraham to act his faith upon, though in things above nature or against it, etc. He who is El Shaddai is perfectly able to defend his servants from all evil, and to bless them with all spiritual and temporal blessings, and to perform all his promises which concern both this life and that which is to come.

Now this name, this title Shaddai, is attributed to Christ, as you may clearly see by comparing Gen. 35:6, 9-11, and 32:24-30, with Hosea 12:3-5. That angel who appeared to Jacob was Christ—the angel of the covenant. Mark, you shall never find either God the Father or the Holy Spirit called an angel in Scripture; nor was this a created angel, for then Jacob would never have made supplication to him—but he was an uncreated angel, even the Lord Almighty, the Almighty God, who spoke with Jacob in Bethel. He who in this divine story is said to be a man, was the Son of God in human shape, as is most evident by the whole narration. The angel in the text is the same angel who conducted the Israelites in the wilderness, and fought their battles for them, Exod. 3:2; Acts 7:30; 1 Cor. 10:4, 5, 9, even Jesus Christ, who is styled once and again the Almighty, Rev. 1:8, and 4:8. In this last scripture is acknowledged Christ's holiness, power, and godhead. Ah Christians! When will you once learn to set one Almighty Christ against all the mighty ones of the world, that you may bear up bravely and stoutly against their rage and wrath, and go on cheerfully and resolutely in the way of your duty.

(6.) The sixth name or title is Adonai—my Lord. Though this name Adonai is given sometimes analogically to creatures—yet properly it belongs to God alone. This name is often used in the Old Testament; and, in Mal. 1:6, it is used in the plural number to note the mystery of the holy Trinity, "If I be Adonim, Lords, where is my fear?" Some derive the word Adonai from a word in the Hebrew that signifies judicare, to judge, because God is the Judge of the world; others derive it from a word which signifies basis, a foundation, intimating that God is the upholder of all things, as the foundation of a house is the support of the whole building.

Now this name is given to Christ: Dan. 9:17, "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary." Daniel pleads here no merits of their own—but the merits and mediation of the Messiah, whom God has made both Lord and Christ. Just so, Psalm 106:1, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." [Acts 2; Luke 1:43, and 2:11-12; Heb. 1:13.] Christ applies these words to himself, as you may see in that Mat. 22:24, "Jehovah said," that is, God the Father said, La-adoni, "unto my Lord," that is, to Christ; "sit at my right hand," sit with me in my throne. It notes the advancement of Christ, as he was both God and man in one person, to the supremest place of power and authority, of honor and heavenly glory, Mat. 28:18; John 3:35. God's right hand notes a place of equal power and authority with God, even that he should be advanced far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, Eph. 1:21; Heb. 1:3; Luke 22:69.

Christ's reign over the whole world is sometimes called "the right hand of the majesty," and sometimes the "right hand of the power of God." "Until I make your enemies your footstool." This implies,

[1.] That Jesus Christ has ever had, and will have enemies, even to the end of the world.

[2.] Victory, a perfect conquest over them. Conquerors used to make their enemies their footstool. Those proud enemies of Christ, who now set up their crests, look up to heaven, and strut it out against him; even those shall be brought under his feet.

[3.] It implies ignominy, the lowest subjection. Sapores, King of Persia, overcoming the Emperor Valerian in battle, used his back for a stirrup when he got upon his horse. Just so, Tamerlane served Bajazet.

[4.] The footstool is a piece of state, and both raises and easeth him who sits on the throne; so Christ will both raise himself and ease himself by that vengeance that he will take on his enemies, etc.

Now from these divine names and titles which are given to Jesus Christ, we may thus argue—He to whom the incommunicable titles of the most high God are attributed, he is the most high God. These incommunicable titles of the most high God are attributed unto Christ, consequently, he is the most high God. But,

4. Fourthly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and con-substantiality with the Father may be demonstrated from his divine properties and attributes. I shall show you for the opening of this—that the glorious attributes of God are ascribed to the Lord Jesus. I shall begin,

(1.) First, with the ETERNITY of God. God is an eternal God. "From everlasting to everlasting you are God," Psalm 90:2. "The eternal God is your refuge," Deut. 33:27. "He inhabits eternity," Isaiah 57:15. He is called "the ancient of days," Dan. 7:9; and he is said to be "everlasting," and to be "king of old," Psalm 74:12. This shows he had no beginning. In respect of his future eternity, he is called "the everlasting God," Romans 16:26. "The everlasting king," 1 Tim. 1:17. That there is no change with God—he is from everlasting to everlasting the same, we may see Psalm 102:26-27, "The heavens shall perish—but you shall endure; yes, all of them shall wax old like a garment, and as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed. But you are the same, and your years shall have no end." There is no succession or variation in God—but he is eternally the same. Eternity is an interminable existence and duration before any time, and beyond all time; it is a fixed duration, without beginning or ending. [Eternity is taken three ways. [1.] Properly, so it notes to be without beginning and end, so God only is eternal. [2.] Improperly, so it notes to have a beginning but no ending; so angels, so the souls of men are eternal. [3.] Abusive, so some things are said to be eternal which have had a beginning, and shall also have an end. They are called eternal in respect of their long continuance and duration; so circumcision and other Mosaic ceremonies were called eternal or everlasting.]

The eternity of God is beyond all possible conception of measure or time. God ever was, ever is, and ever shall be. Though the manifestations of himself unto the creatures are in time—yet his essence or being never did, nor ever shall be bound up by time. Look backward or forward, God from eternity to eternity, is a most self-sufficient, infinite, perfect, blessed being—the first cause of our being, and without any cause of his own being—an eternal infinite fullness, and possession to himself and of himself. What God is, he was from eternity; and what God is, he will be so to eternity. Oh, this glorious attribute drops myrrh and mercy, oil and honey!

Now this attribute of eternity is ascribed to Jesus Christ: John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word;" "was" notes some former duration, and therefore we conclude that he was before the beginning, before any creation or creatures, for it is said he was God in the beginning, and his divine nature whereby he works is eternal, Heb. 9:14. "He is the first and last," Rev. 1:17. Hence it is that he is called "the firstborn of every creature," because he who created all, and upholds all, has power to command and dispose of all, as the firstborn had power to command the family or kingdom, Col. 1:15-17; compare Isaiah 66:6, with Rev. 22:13.

John 17:5, "Father glorify you me with your own self, with the glory I had with you before the world was." Such glory had the Lord Christ with his Father, namely, in the heavens, and that before the world was. This glory he had, in regard of actual possession. "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way," says Christ the Son of God, Proverbs 8:22. And as his Father possessed him, so he was possessed of the selfsame glory with his Father before the world was, from eternity. "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," from the days of eternity, says the prophet Micah, speaking of the Messiah, Micah 5:2. See the eternity of Christ further confirmed by these scriptures. [John 8:58, and 17:24; Rev. 1:8, 17; Heb. 1:10-12, and 7:3; Isaiah 9:6, etc. Christ is without beginning of days—or end of time.] But,

(2.) Secondly, As the attribute of eternity is ascribed to Christ, so the attribute of OMNISCIENCE is ascribed to Christ; and this speaks out the godhead of Christ. He knows all things: John 21:17, "Lord, you know all things!" "All things present and future; what I now am, and what I shall be," says Chrysostom on the words: John 2:25, "He needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man." Shall craftsmen know the nature and properties of their crafts, and shall not Christ know the hearts of men, which are the craft of his own hands? Rev. 2:23, "And all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the thoughts and hearts." Now of all a man's inwards—the heart and the thoughts are the most inward. Christ is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. The Greek word that is here rendered searches, signifies to search with the greatest seriousness, exactness, and diligence that can be; the word is metaphorically taken from such as use to search in mines for silver and gold. Christ is also frequently said to know the thoughts of men, and that before they betrayed themselves by any outward expressions. [Mat. 9:24, and 12:26; Luke 5:22, 6:18, 11:17, and 24:38, etc.]

Now this is confessedly God's peculiar, "God—who knows the hearts." He is the wisdom of the Father, 1 Cor. 1:24. He knows the Father, and does, according to his will, reveal the secrets of his Father's bosom. The bosom is the seat of love and secrecy, John 1:18. Men admit those into their bosoms, with whom they impart all their secrets. The bosom is the place of counsels; that is, Christ reveals the secret and mysterious counsels, and the tender and compassionate affections of the Father to the world. Being in the bosom implieth communication of secrets: the bosom is a place for them. It is a speech of Tully to a friend that had betrusted him with a secret, crede mihi, etc., Believe me, says he, what you have committed to me, it is in my bosom still, I am not ungirt to let it slip out. But Scripture adds this hint too, where it speaks of the bosom as the place of secrets: Proverbs 17:23, "A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of judgment," speaking of a bribe: Proverbs 21:14, "A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a reward in the bosom expiateth wrath." Here is "secret" and "bosom" all one, as gift and reward are one. Just so, Christ lies in the Father's bosom; this intimates his being conscious to all the Father's secrets. But,

(3.) Thirdly, As the attribute of God's omniscience is ascribed to Christ, so the attribute of God's OMNIPRESENCE is ascribed to Christ; Mat. 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name—there am I in the midst of them;" and chapter 28:29, "I am with you always, even to the end of the world." He is not contained in any place—who was before there was any place, and did create all places by his own power. Proverbs 8:22, and John 1:1, 3.

While Christ was on earth in respect of his bodily presence, he was in the bosom of his Father, which must be understood of his divine nature and person. He did come down from heaven, and yet remained in heaven. [John 1:18, 3:13; Psalm 139:7-11.] Christ is universally present, he is present at all times and all places, and among all people; he is universally everywhere, inclusively nowhere. Diana's temple was burnt down when she was busy at Alexander's birth, and could not be at two places together—but Christ is present both in paradise and in the wilderness at the same time. Where he is not by his gracious influence, there he is by his vindictive power. Empedocles could say that God is a circle, whose center is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere. The poor blind heathens could say that God is the soul of the world; and thus, as the soul is, so is he, that his eye is in every corner, etc. To which purpose they so portrayed their goddess Minerva, that whichever way one cast his eye, she always beheld him. But,

(4.) Fourthly, As the attribute of God's omnipresence is ascribed to Christ, so the attribute of God's OMNIPOTENCY is ascribed to Christ, and this speaks out the Godhead of Christ, "All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth," Mat, 28:18; John 5:19. "Whatever things the Father does, these also does the Son," Phil. 3:21. He is called by a metonymy "the power of God," 1 Cor. 1:24. "He is the Almighty," Rev. 1:8. "He made all things," John 1:3. "He upholds all things," Heb. 1:3. "He shall change our vile body," says the apostle, "that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself," Phil. 3:21.

Now from what has been said we may thus argue, He to whom the incommunicable properties of the most high God are attributed, he is the most high God. The incommunicable properties of the most high God are attributed to Christ, consequently, Christ is the most high God. [See Col. 1:16-17, Psalm 102:26, compared with Heb. 8, 10, John 1:10.] But,

5. Fifthly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and con-substantiality with the Father, may be demonstrated from his DIVINE WORKS. The same works which are peculiar to God, are ascribed to Christ. Such proper and peculiar, such divine and supernatural works as none but God can perform—Christ did perform. As,

[1.] Election. The elect are called his elect, Mat. 24:31; John 13:18. "I know whom I have chosen," John 15:16. "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain;" verse 19, "But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

[2.] Redemption. O sirs, none but the great God could save us from wrath to come, none but God blessed forever could deliver us from the curse of the law, the dominion of sin, the damnatory power of sin, the rule of Satan, and the flames of hell. [1 Thes. 1:10; Gal. 3:13; Romans 6:14, and 8:1; Luke 1:68-80.] Ah, friends, these enemies were too potent, strong, and mighty for any mere creature, yes, for all mere creatures, to conquer and overcome. None but the most high God could everlastingly secure us against such high enemies.

[3.] Remission of sins. Mat. 9:6, "The Son of man has power to forgive sins." Christ here positively proves that he had power on earth to forgive sins, because miraculously, by a word of his mouth, he causes the palsy man to walk, so that he arose and departed to his house immediately. Christ forgives sin authoritatively. Preachers forgive only declaratively, John. 20:23, as Nathan to David, "The Lord has put away your iniquity," 2 Sam. 12:7. I have read of a man who could move mountains—but none but the man Christ Jesus could ever remit sin. All the persons in the Trinity forgive sins—yet not in the same manner. The Father bestows forgiveness, the Son merits forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit seals up forgiveness, and applies forgiveness.

[4.] The bestowing of eternal life. John 10:28, "My sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life." Christ is the prince and principle of life, and therefore all out of him are dead while they live, Col. 3:3, 4. Eternal life is too great a gift for any to give, but a God.

[5.] Creation. John 1:3, "All things are made by him;" and verse 10, "The world was made by him." Col. 1:16, "By him were all things created which are in heaven, and which are in the earth, visible and invisible." Now the apostle tells you "he who built all things is God;" Christ built all things, consequently, Christ is God. The argument lies fair and undeniable. The all things that were created by Christ, Paul reduces to two heads—visible and invisible; but Zanchius adds a third branch to this distinction, and makes it more plain by saying that all things that were made are either visible or invisible, or mixed. Visible, as the stars and fowls and clouds of heaven, the fish in the sea, and beasts upon the earth; invisible things, as the angels, they also were made; then there is a third sort of creatures which are of a mixed nature, partly visible in regard of their bodies, and partly invisible in regard of their souls, and those are men.

Eph. 2:9, "Who created all things by Jesus Christ." Heb. 1:2, "He has, in these last days, spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds." This may seem somewhat difficult, because he speaks of worlds, whereas we acknowledge but one—but this seeming difficulty you may easily get over if you please but to consider the people to whom he writes, which were Hebrews, whose custom it was to style God Rabboni, the Lord of the worlds. They were accustomed to speak of three worlds—the lower world, the higher world, and the middle world. The lower world contains the elements, earth and water and air and fire; the higher world that contains the heaven of the blessed; and the middle world that contains the starry heaven. They now being acquainted with this language, and the apostle writing to them, he says that God by Christ made the worlds—those worlds which they were accustomed to speak so frequently of. And whereas one scruple might arise from that expression in the Ephesians, "God created all things 'by' Jesus Christ," and this to the Hebrews, "by whom he made the worlds," as if Christ were only an instrument in the creation and not the principal efficient; therefore another place in this chapter will clear it, which speaks of Christ as the principal efficient Creator of all things. Heb. 1, compare the 8th and 10th verses together, "To the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;" then Christ is God. Then, "You, Lord," verse 10, "have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands." Namely "your," that is, the Son, which he spoke of before. Christ is the principal efficient of the creation; and in this sense it is said, "By him were all things made," not as by an instrument—but as by the chief efficient.

[6.] The preservation and sustentation of all things. Col. 1:17, "By him all things are held together." They would soon fall asunder, had not Christ undertaken to uphold the shattered condition thereof by the word of his power. All creatures which are made, are preserved by him in being, life, and motion. Heb. 1:3, "He upholds all things by the word of his power." Both in respect of being, excellencies, and operations, sin had hurled confusion over the world, which would have fallen about Adam's ears—had not Christ undertaken to uphold the shattered earth. "He keeps the world together," says one, "as the hoops do the barrel." Christ bears up all things, continuing to the several creatures their being, ordering and governing them, and this he does by the word of his power. By this word he made the world. "He spoke, and it was done." And by this word he governs the world—by his own mighty word, the word of his power. Both these are divine actions, and being ascribed unto Christ, evidence him to be no less than God.

Now from what has been said we may thus argue, he to whom those actions are ascribed, which are proper to the most high God—he is the most high God—but such actions or works are ascribed to Christ, consequently, he is the most high God. But,

6. Sixthly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from that divine HONOR and WORSHIP that is due to him; and by angels and saints given unto him. The apostle shows, Gal. 4:8, that pious worship ought to be performed to none but to him who is God by nature; and that they are ignorant of the true God who worship those who are no gods by nature; and therefore, if Christ were not God by nature, and consubstantial with the Father, we ought not to perform worship to him. [This is a clear and full evidence that Jesus Christ is, and must be more than mere man, or yet a divine man.] Divine worship is due to the second person of this co-essential Trinity—to Jesus Christ our Lord and God. There is but one immediate, formal, proper, adequate, and fundamental reason of divine worship or adorability, as the schools speak, and that is the sovereign, supreme, singular majesty, independent and infinite excellency of the eternal Godhead; for by divine worship we do acknowledge and declare the infinite majesty, truth, wisdom, goodness, and glory of our blessed God. We do not esteem anything worthy of divine honor and worship which has but a finite and created glory, because divine honor is proper and peculiar to the only true God, who will not give his glory to any other who is not God. God alone is the adequate object of divine faith, hope, love, and worship, because these graces are all exercised, and this worship performed, in acknowledgment of his infinite perfection and independent excellency; and therefore no such worship can be due to any creature or thing below God.

There is not one kind of divine honor due to the Father and another to the Son, nor one degree of honor due to the Father and another to the Son; for there can be no degrees imaginable in one and the same excellency, which is single because infinite; and what is infinite does excel and transcend all degrees and bounds. And if there are no degrees in the ground and adequate reason of divine worship, there can be no reason or ground of a difference of degrees in the worship itself. The Father and the Son are one, John 10:30—one in power, excellency, nature—one God, and therefore to be honored with the same worship, "that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father," John 5:23.

Every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ, who is man, is God also, and therefore equal to his Father, Phil. 2:6, 11-12; and it can be no robbery, no derogation to the Father's honor, for us to give equal honor to him and his co-equal Son, who subsists in the form of God, in the nature of God. Thus you see the divine nature, the infinite excellency of Jesus Christ, is an undeniable ground of this co-equal honor; and therefore the worship due to Christ as God, the same God with his Father, is the very same worship, both for kind and degree, which is due to the Father. But, for the further and clearer opening of this, consider,

(1.) First, that all INWARD worship is due to Christ. As,

[1.] Believing on him. Faith is a worship which belongs only to God, enjoined in the first commandment, and against trusting in man there is a curse denounced, Jer. 17:5-6. But Christ commands us to believe in him, John 14:1, "You believe in God, believe also in me." John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish—but have everlasting life." Verse 36, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who believes not the Son, shall not see life—but the wrath of God abides on him." John 6:47, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who believes on me has everlasting life." The same respect that Christians give unto God the Father, they must also give unto the Son, believing on him; which is an honor due only to God. Other creatures, men and angels, may be believed—but not believed on, rested on. This were to make them gods; this were no less than idolatry.

[2.] Secondly, Loving of Jesus Christ with all the heart, commanded above the love, nay, even to the hatred, of father, mother, wife, children, yes, and our own lives! Luke 14:26. He who is not disposed, where these loves are incompatible, to hate father and all other relations, for the love of Christ, cannot belong to Christ. I ought dearly and tenderly to love father and mother—the law of God and nature requiring it of me—but to prefer dear Jesus, who is God blessed forever, before all, and above all, as Paul and the primitive Christians and martyrs have done before me. "Your house, home, and goods, your life, and all that ever you have," says that martyr, "God has given you as love-tokens, to admonish you of his love, to win your love to him again." Now will he try your love, whether you set more by him or by his tokens, etc. When relations or life stand in competition with Christ and his gospel—they are to be abandoned, hated, etc. But,

(2.) Secondly, All OUTWARD worship is due to Christ. As,

[1.] First, Dedication in baptism is in his name. Mat. 28:19, "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:" into the name, by that rite initiating them, and receiving of them into the profession of the service of one God in three persons, and of depending on Christ alone for salvation. Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is the consecrating of them unto the sincere service of the sacred Trinity.

[2.] Secondly, Divine invocation is given to Jesus Christ. In Acts 7:59, Stephen calls upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit. 1 Cor. 1:2, "All who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Thes. 3:11, "Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you." Eph. 1:2, "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ." It is the saints' character that they are such as call on the Lord Jesus, Acts 2:21; Acts 9:14. [Ponder upon these scriptures: 2 Cor. 12:8, 9; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:1-2; 2 Cor. 1:2.] But,

[3.] Thirdly, Praises are offered to our Lord Jesus Christ: Rev. 5:9, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Verse 11-12, "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" [This is taken out of Daniel, chapter 7:10, whereby the glory and power of God and Christ is held forth, they being attended with innumerable millions of angels, which stood before the fiery throne of God, etc.] Verses 13-14, "Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen!' and the elders fell down and worshiped." Here you have a universal confession of Christ's divine nature and power. All the creatures, both reasonable and unreasonable, do in some sort set forth the praises of Christ, because in some sort they serve to illustrate and set forth his glory. Here you see that Christ is adored with pious worship by all creatures, which does evidently prove that he is God. Since all the creatures worship him with pious worship, we may safely and boldly conclude upon his deity. Here are three parties that bear a part in this new song: 1. The redeemed of the Lord; and they sing in the last part of the 8th verse, and in the 9th and 10th verses. Then, 2, the angels follow, verses 11th and 12th. In the third place, all creatures are brought in, joining in this new song, verse 13. That noble company of the church triumphant and church militant, sounding out the praises of the Lamb, may sufficiently satisfy us concerning the divinity of the Lamb. But,

[4.] Fourthly, Divine adoration is also given to him: Mat. 8:2, "A leper worshiped him." Mark says he kneeled down, and Luke says he fell upon his face, Mark 1:40; Luke 5:12. He showed reverence in his gesture. "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." [So that he touched Christ's feet, as the word signifies; not kneeled, as the word is translated, Mark 1:40. This leper came to know Christ was God, 1. By inspiration; 2. By the miracles which Christ did.] He acknowledged a divine power in Christ, in that he says he could make him clean if he would. This poor leper lay at Christ's feet, imploring and beseeching him, as a dog at his master's feet, as Zanchy renders the word, which shows that this leper looked upon Christ as more than a prophet or a holy man; and that believing he was God, and so able to heal him if he would, he gave him pious worship. He does not say to Christ, "Lord, if you will pray to God, or to your Father for me, I shall be whole." He says, "Lord, if you will, I shall be whole." He acknowledges the leprosy curable by Christ, which he and all men knew was incurable by others, which was a plain argument of his faith; for leprosy, physicians acknowledge incurable.

As Avicenna observes on Mat. 2:11, "Though the wise men of the east, who saw Herod in all his royalty and glory, worshiped him not—yet they fell down before Christ." No doubt but that by divine instinct they knew the divinity of Christ, hence they worshiped him, not only with civil worship, as one born king of the Jews—but with divine worship; which was, it is like, the outward gesture of reverence, and kneeling, and falling down, for so the Greek words signify. Is it probable that they would worship a young babe, that by reason of his infancy understands nothing, except they did believe some divine thing to be in him? and therefore not the childhood—but the divinity in the child, was worshiped by them, (Chrysostom.) Certainly if Christ had been no more than a natural child, they would never have undertaken so long, so tedious, and so perilous a journey to have found him out; principally, considering, as some conceive, they themselves were little inferior to the kings of the Jews. It is uncertain what these wise men, who were Gentiles, knew particularly concerning the mystery of the Messiah—but certainly they knew that he was something more than a man, by the internal revelation of the Spirit of God, who by faith taught them to believe that he was a king though in a cottage, and a God though in a cradle; and therefore as unto a God they fell down and worshiped him, etc. But,

[5.] Fifthly, When Jesus Christ was declared to the world, God commanded even the most glorious angels to worship him, as his natural and co-essential Son, who was begotten from the days of eternity, in the unity of the Godhead; for, when he brought in his first-begotten and only-begotten Son into the world, he said, "And let all the angels of God worship him," Heb. 1:6—the glorious angels who refuse divine honor to be given to themselves: "No, don't worship me!" says the angel to John, when John fell at his feet to worship him, "I am your fellow-servant," etc., Rev. 19:10, and 22:9—yet they give, and must give, divine honor unto Christ, Phil. 2:9. The manhood of itself could not be thus adored, because it is a creature—but as it is received into unity of person with the Deity, and has a partner agency therewith, according to its measure in the work of redemption and mediation. All the honor due to Christ, according to his divine nature, was due from all eternity; and there is no divine honor due to him from and by reason of his human nature, or any perfection which does truly and properly belong to Christ as man. He who was born of Mary, is to be adored with divine worship—but not because he was born of Mary—but because he is God, the co-essential and eternal Son of God. From what has been said we may thus argue—He to whom pious worship is truly exhibited, is the most high God. But pious worship is truly exhibited unto Christ, consequently, Christ is the most high God. But,

7. Seventhly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from Christ's oneness with the Father, and from that claim that Jesus Christ does lay to all that belongs to the Father, as God. [Never did any mere creature challenge to himself the honor due to God—but miscarried and were confounded. Witness the angels that God cast out of heaven, 2 Pet. 2:4; and Adam whom he cast out of paradise, Gen. 3:22-24; and Herod, whom the angel smote with a fatal blow, Acts 12:23; and those several Popes that we read of in ecclesiastical histories; and therefore had Jesus Christ been but a mere creature, divine justice would have confounded him for making himself a God.] Now, certainly, if Jesus Christ were not very God, he would never have laid claim to all that is the Father's, as God.

John 16:15, "All things that the Father has," as God, are mine. "The Father has an eternal godhead, and that is mine. The Father has infinite power and wisdom, and that is mine. The Father has infinite majesty and glory, and that is mine. The Father has infinite happiness and blessedness in himself, and that is mine," says Christ. The words are very emphatic, having in them a double universality. [1.] "All things:" there is one note of universality; [2.] "Whatever:" there is another note of universality. Well, says Christ, there is nothing in the Father, as God—but is mine. "All that the Father has is mine;" the Father is God, and I am God; the Father is life, and I am life; for whatever the Father has is mine.

John 10:30, "I and my Father are one;" we are one eternal God, we are one in consent, will, essence, nature, power, dominion, glory, etc. "I and my Father are one;" two persons—but one God. He speaks this as he is God, one in substance, being, and deity, etc. As God, he says, "I and my Father are one;" but, in respect of the form of a servant, his assumed humanity, he says, John 14:28, "My Father is greater than I." John 10:37, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." Verse 38, "But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works," etc. The argument of itself is plain. No man can of himself, and by his own power, do divine works, unless he is truly God. I do divine works by my own power, yes, "I do the works of my Father;" not only the like and equal—but the same with the Father. Therefore I am truly God; neither deserve I to be called a blasphemer, because I said I was one with the Father.

1 John 5:7, "And these three are one," one in nature and essence, one in power and will, and one in the act of producing all such actions, as without themselves any of them is said to perform. Look, as three lamps are lighted in one room, albeit the lamps be different—yet the lights cannot be severed; so in the godhead, as there is a distinction of persons, so a simplicity of nature. From the scriptures last cited we may safely and confidently conclude that Christ has the same divine nature and godhead with the Father, that they both have the same divine and essential titles and attributes, and perform the same inward operations in reference to all creatures whatever.

To make it yet more plain, compare John 17:10 with John 16:15. "All things that the Father has are mine," John 16:15; "Father, all mine are yours, and yours are mine," John 17:10. That is, whatever belongs to the Father, as God, belongs to Christ; for we speak not of personal but essential properties. Christ does lay claim to all that is natural, to all that belongs to the Father, as God, not to anything which belongs to him as the Father, as the first person of the blessed Trinity. "All things that the Father has are mine." This he speaks in the person of the mediator, "Because of his fullness we all receive grace for grace," John 1:16; and herein shows the unity of essence in the holy Trinity, and community of power, wisdom, sanctity, truth, eternity, glory, majesty. Such is the strict union of the persons of the blessed Trinity, that there is among them a perfect communion in all things, for "all things that the Father has are mine." And let thus much suffice for the proof of the godhead of Christ.

Concerning the MANHOOD of Christ, let me say, that as he is very God, so he is very man. 1 Tim. 2:5, "the man Christ Jesus." Christ is true man—but not mere man. The word is not to be taken exclusively, as denying the divine nature. Christ is both God and man; sometimes denominated from the one nature, and sometimes from the other; sometimes called God, and sometimes man—yet so as he is truly both, and in that respect fitly said to be a mediator between God and men, having an interest in and participating of both natures. This title, "the Son of man," is given to Christ in the New Testament eighty-eight times, the design being not only to express Christ's humanity, who was truly man, in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; nor only to intimate his humility, by calling himself so often by this humble name—but also to tell us to what a high honor God has raised our nature in him, and to confute their imaginations who denied him to be very man, flesh, blood, and bones, as we truly are; and who held, that whatever he was, and whatever he did, and whatever he suffered, was only seeming and in appearance, and not real; and to lead us to that original promise, the first that was made to mankind, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," Gen. 3:15, so that he might intimate, that he himself was the party meant, intended, and foretold of by all the prophets, who was to come into the world, to all nations in the world.

Jews and Gentiles originally alike descended of the woman, who both had a like interest in the woman and her seed, though the Jews did and might challenge greater propriety in the seed of Abraham than the Gentiles could, Romans 3:1-2. But they having been a long time, as it were, God's favorites, a selected people, a chosen nation, did wholly appropriate the Messiah to themselves, and would endure no co-partners, Exod. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9; nor that any should have any right, title, or interest in him but themselves; and therefore they would never talk otherwise than of the Messiah, the King of Israel, the son of David, never naming him once, as the light of the Gentiles, the expectation of the Gentiles, the hope and desire of the eternal hills, the hope of all the ends of the earth, the seed of the woman, the Son of man, as descending from Eve, extracted from Adam, and allied unto all mankind. [Isaiah 42:6; Hab. 3:6; Psalm 65:5; Gen. 3:15; Luke 3:23, to the end.]

And it is observable that the evangelist Luke, at the story of Christ's baptism, when he was to be installed into his ministry, and had that glorious testimony from heaven, derives his pedigree up to the first Adam, the better to draw all men's eyes to that first promise concerning the seed of the woman, and to cause them to own him for that seed there promised, and for that effect that is there mentioned of dissolving the works of Satan. And as that evangelist gives that hint when he is now entering this quarrel with Satan, even in the entrance of his ministry, so does he very frequently and commonly by this very phrase give the same intimation for the same purpose. No sooner had Nathanael proclaimed him the Son of God in John 1:49, "Nathanael answered, and said unto him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel," but he instantly titles himself the Son of man, verse 51; not only to show his humanity, for that Nathanael was assured of by the words of Philip, who calls him Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, verse 45—but also to draw the thoughts of the hearers to the first promise, and to work them to look for a full recovery of all that by the second Adam which was lost in the first. Though the gates of heaven were shut against the first Adam by reason of his fall—yet were they open to the second Adam: verse 51, "And he said unto him, Truly, truly, I say unto you"—this double asseveration, "Truly, truly," puts the matter beyond all doubt and controversy—"hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man,"—the Jacob's ladder, the bridge that joins heaven and earth together—as Gregory has it. This 51st verse does greatly illustrate Christ's glory, and further confirm believers' faith, that Christ is Lord of angels even in his state of humiliation, and has them ready at his call, as he or his people shall need their service, to move from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth. This title, "the Son of man," shows that the Son of God was also the Son of man; and that he delighted to be so, and therefore does so often take this title to himself, "the Son of man."

Now concerning the manhood of Christ, the prophet plainly speaks: Isaiah 9:6, "Unto us a child is born, and unto us a son was given." Parvulus, a child, that notes his humanity; Filius, a Son, that notes his deity. Parvulus, a child, even man of the substance of his mother, born in the world, Mat. 1:25; Filius, a Son, even God of the substance of his Father, begotten before the world, Proverbs 8:22 to the end. Parvulus, a child: behold his humility, "she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger," Luke 2:7; Filius, a Son: behold his dignity; when he brings his first-begotten Son into the world, he says, "And let all the angels of God worship him," Heb. 1:6.

To prove that he was man, it is enough to say, that he was born, he lived, he died. God became man by a wonderful, unspeakable, and inconceivable union. Behold God is offended by man's affecting and coveting his wisdom and his glory—for that was the devil's temptation to our first parents, "You shall be as gods," Gen. 3:5. And man is redeemed by God's assuming and taking his frailty and his infirmity. Man would be as God, and so offended him; and therefore God becomes man, and so redeems him. Christ, as man, came of the race of kings. As man he shall judge the world, Acts 17:31. As man, he was wonderfully born of a virgin, Mat. 1:23; Isaiah 7:14; called therefore by a peculiar name, Shiloh, intimating that Christ is he who has brought us peace and tranquility; and that he might be our peacemaker, it was necessary that he should be Shiloh, born of the sanctified seed of a woman without the seed of man.

The apostle expounds the name where he says of Christ, that he was "made of a woman," not of a man and woman both—but of a woman alone without a man, Gal. 4:4. Christ as man was foretold of by the prophets, and by sundry types. Christ as man was attended upon at his birth by holy angels, and a peculiar star was created for him, Luke 2:13-14; Mat. 2:1-2. Christ as man was our sacrifice and expiation; he was the redemption price, such as we could never have paid—but must have remained, and even rotted in the prison of hell forever. Christ as man was conceived of the Holy Spirit, Mat. 1:18. Christ as man is ascended into heaven, Acts 1:9-10. Christ as man sits at the right hand of God, Col. 3:1.

Now what do all these things import—but that Jesus Christ is a very precious and most excellent person, and that even according to his manhood? Christ had the true properties, affections, and actions of man. He was conceived, born, circumcised; he did hunger, thirst; he was clothed; he did eat, drink, sleep, hear, see, touch, speak, sigh, groan, weep, and grow in wisdom and stature, etc., as all the four evangelists do abundantly testify. But because this is a point of grand importance, especially in these days, wherein there are risen up so many deceivers in the midst of us, it may not be amiss to consider of these following particulars—

(1.) First, Of these special scriptures that speak out the certainty and verity of Christ's body. John 1:14, "And the Word was made flesh;" 1 Tim. 3:16, "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh." Christ is one and the same, begotten of the Father before time, the Son of God without mother; and born of the Virgin in time, the Son of man without father; the natural and consubstantial son of both; and, oh! what a great mystery is this! Heb. 2:14, 16, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. For truly he took not on him the nature of angels—but he took on him the seed of Abraham." According to the Greek, He assumed, caught, laid hold on, as the angels did on Lot, Gen. 19:16; or as Christ did on Peter, Mat 14:31; or as men use to do upon a thing they are glad they have got, and are loath to let go again.

O sirs! this is a main pillar of our comfort—that Christ took our flesh, for if he had not taken our flesh, we could never have been saved by him!

Romans 1:3, "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." Rom, 9:5, "Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen." This is a greater honor to all mankind, than if the greatest king in the world should marry into some poor family of his subjects. Christ's flesh was flesh indeed; as true, real, proper, very flesh as that which any of us carry about with us.

Col. 1:22, "In the body of his flesh through death;" Heb. 10:5, "Therefore when he comes into the world he says, Sacrifice and offering you would not—but a body have you prepared me." It is a metaphor taken from mechanics, who skillfully fit one part of their work to another, and so finish the whole. God fitted his Son's body to be joined with the deity, and to be an expiatory sacrifice for sin. 1 Pet. 2:24, "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree," etc. The word himself, has a great emphasis, and therefore that evangelical prophet Isaiah mentions it no less than five times in Isaiah 53:4-5, 7, 11-12. Christ had none to help or uphold him under the heavy burden of our sins and his Father's wrath, Isaiah 63:3. It is most certain, that Christ accomplished the work of man's redemption alone. He who did bear our sins, that is, the punishments that were due to our sins, in his own body on the tree; he did assume flesh, cast into the very mold and form of our bodies, having the same different parts, members, lineaments, the same proportion which they have. Christ's body was no specter or ghost, as if it had no being but what was in appearance and from imagination—as the Marcionites, Manichees, and other heretics of old affirmed, and as some men of corrupt minds do assert in our days. His body was as real, as solid a body as ever any was.

And therefore the apostle calls it a body of flesh, Col. 1:22—a body, to show the organization of it; and a body of flesh, to show the reality of it, in opposition to all aerial and imaginary bodies. Christ's body had all the essential properties of a true body—as all the evangelists do abundantly witness. Take a few instances for all: Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have." Christ here admits of the testimony of their own senses to assure those who it was no vision or ghost—but a true and real body risen from the dead, which they now saw. Certainly whatever is essential to a true glorified body, that is yet in Christ's body.

Those stamps of dishonor which the Jews had set upon Christ by wicked hands—those scars he retained after his resurrection, partly for the confirmation of his apostles, and partly to work us to a willingness and resoluteness to suffer for him when we are called to it.

1 John 1:1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life." He alludes to the sermons which he and the other apostles heard from Christ's own mouth, and also to the glorious testimony which the Father gave once and again from heaven to Christ. He alludes also to the miracles that were wrought by Christ, and to that sight that they had of his glory in the mount, and to his resurrection and visible ascension into the highest heaven, Mat. 17, Acts 1. He alludes to the familiar conversation which the apostles had with Christ for about three years, and also to that touching, when after the resurrection Christ offered himself to the apostles who believed not in him, to touch him, Luke 24. The truth of these things were confirmed to them by three senses—hearing, seeing, handling; the latter still surer than the former; and this proves Christ to be a true man, as his being from the beginning sets out his deity.

Christ had also those natural affections, passions, infirmities, which are proper to a body—such as hunger. Mat. 4:2, "When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterwards became hungry." All Christ's actions are for our instruction, not all for our imitation. Matthew expressly makes mention of nights, lest it should be thought to be such a fast as that of the Jews, who fasted in the day, and did eat at the evening and in the night, (Chemnitius.) He would not extend his fast above the term of Moses and Elijah, lest he should have seemed to have appeared only, and not to have been, a true man. He was hungry, not because his fasting wrought upon him—but because God left man to his own nature, (Hilary.) It seems Christ felt no hunger until the forty days and forty nights were expired—but was kept by the power of the Deity, as the three Hebrew children, or rather champions, from feeling the heat of the fire, Dan. 3:27. Christ fasted forty days and forty nights, and not longer, lest he might be thought not to have a true human body; for Moses and Elijah had fasted thus long before—but never did any man fast longer. When Christ began to be hungry the tempter came to him, not when he was fasting. The devil is cunning, and will take all the advantage he can upon us. During the forty days and forty nights the devil stood doubtful, and dared not assault the Lord Jesus, partly because of that voice he heard from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Mat. 3:17, and partly because his forty days and forty nights' fast did portend some great thing—but now, seeing Christ to be hungry, he impudently assaults him. Christ was not hungry all the forty days—but after, he was hungry, to show he was man.

Some think that Christ by his hunger did objectively allure Satan to tempt him, so that he might overcome him, as soldiers sometimes feign a running away, that they may the better allure their enemies closely to pursue them, so that they may cut them off, either by an ambush or by a facing about: so the devil tempted Christ as man, not knowing him to be God; or if he did know him to be God, Christ did as it were encourage his cowardly enemy, who dared not set upon him as God, showing himself to be man.

And as Christ was hungry, so Christ was thirsty. John 4:7, "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me drink." Here you see that he who is rich and Lord of all—became poor for us, that he might make us rich, 2 Cor. 8:9; and he who gives to all the creatures their food in due season, Pa. 104:27, he begs water of a poor woman to refresh himself in his weariness and thirst. John 19:28, "Jesus said, I thirst." Bleeding breeds thirsting.

Sleeping. Mat. 8:24, he was asleep, to show the truth of the human nature, and the weakness of his disciples' faith. Christ was in a fast and dead sleep, for so much the Greek word signifies: his senses were well and fast bound, as if he had no operation of life, and therefore the disciples are said to raise him, as it were from the dead. The same Greek word is used in many places where mention is made of the resurrection, as you may see by comparing these scriptures together. [John 2:19; Mat. 27:52; 1 Cor. 15:12.]

He was asleep, [1.] By reason of his labor in preaching and journey he slept; [2.] To show forth the truth of his human nature. Some think the devil stirred up the storm, hoping thereby to drown Christ and his disciples, as he had destroyed Job's children in a tempest before, Job 1:18-19. But though Satan had the malice and will enough to do it—yet he had not the power; yes, though Christ slept in his human nature—yet was he awake in his deity, that the disciples being in danger might cry unto him more fervently, and be saved more remarkably.

And as Jesus slept, so he was also weary. John 4:6, "Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime." In the heat of the day Christ was weary. Christ took on him not only our nature—but the common infirmities thereof, and he is to be as seriously eyed in his humanity, as in the glory of his Godhood. Therefore it is recorded that he was weary with his journey before half the day was spent.

But, in a word—he was conceived, retained so long in the virgin's womb, born, circumcised, lived about thirty years on earth, conversed all that time with men, suffered, died, and was crucified, buried, rose again, ascended, and sat down with his body at the right hand of God, and with it will come again to judge the world. Now what do all these things speak out—but that Christ has a true body? and who in their wits will assert that all this could be done in, and upon, and by, an imaginary body? But,

(2.) Secondly, The several names which are given to Jesus Christ in Scripture, do clearly evidence the verity and reality of his human nature. He is called:

(1.) The son of the virgin, Isaiah 7:14.

(2.) Her first-born son, Luke 2:7.

(3.) The branch, Zech. 3:8 and 6:12.

(4.) The branch of righteousness, Jer. 33:15, and 23:5.

(5.) A rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots, Isaiah 11:1.

(6.) The seed of the woman, Gen. 3:15.

(7.) The seed of Abraham, Gen. 22:18.

(8.) The fruit of David's loins, Psalm 80:36, and 132:11; Acts 2:30.

(9.) Of the seed of David according to the flesh, Romans 1:3; 2 Sam. 7:2.

(10.) The lion of the tribe of Judah, Rev. 5:5.

(11.) The seed of Jacob, Gen. 28:14.

(12.) The seed of Isaac, Gen. 26:4.

(13.) A son born to us, a child given to us, Isaiah 9:6.

(14.) The son of man, Mat. 8:20, and 17:13; Rev. 1:13; Dan. 7:13; John 3:13.

(15.) He is called the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 15:21, "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." God's justice would be satisfied in the same nature that had sinned.

(16.) God's Son made of a woman, Gal. 4:4.

(17.) Man, 1 Tim. 2:5; the man Christ Jesus.

(18.) The son of David, Mat. 1:1; Mark 12:35. "How say the scribes, that Christ is the son of David?" In that the scribes and Pharisees knew and acknowledged, according to the Scripture, that Christ should be the son of David—that is, should be born and descend of the stock and posterity of David according to the flesh—hence we may easily gather the truth of Christ's human nature, that he was ordained of God to be true man as well as God, in one and the same person; for else he could not be the son of David. Now, that he must be the son of David, even the scribes and the Pharisees knew and acknowledged, as we see here; and this was a truth which they had learned out of the Scriptures; and not only they—but even the common sort of Jews in our Savior's time.

John 7:42, "some of the common people spoke thus, Has not the Scripture said that Christ comes of the seed of David?" And the Messiah was then commonly called the son of David, Romans 1:3. Just so, then, Christ being of the seed of David after the flesh, he must needs be true man as well as God; for which cause he was incarnate in the due time appointed of God; that is to say, he being the Son of God from everlasting, did in time become man, taking our nature upon him, together with the infirmities of our nature, sin only excepted, John 1:14.

Now thus you see that the eighteen names which are given to Christ in the blessed Scriptures, do abundantly demonstrate the certainty of Christ's human nature. But,

(3.) Thirdly, Christ took the whole human nature. He was truly and completely man, consisting of flesh and spirit, body and soul; yes, that he assumed the entire human nature, with whatever is proper to it. Christ took to himself the whole human nature, in both the essential parts of man, soul and body. The two essential and constitutive parts of man are soul and body; where these two are, there is the true man. Now Christ had both, and therefore he was true man.

[1.] First, Christ had a true human and reasonable SOUL. The reasonable soul is the highest and noblest part of man. This is that which principally makes the man, and has the greatest influence into his being and essence. If, therefore, Jesus Christ had only a human body without a human soul, he had lacked that part which is most essential to man, and so he could not have been looked upon as true and perfect man. O sirs! Christ redeemed and saved nothing but what he assumed. The redemption and salvation reach no further than the assumption. Our soul then would have been never the better for Christ, had he not taken that as well as our body. Hence said Augustine, "Therefore he took the whole man, without sin, that he might heal the whole of which man consists, of the plague of sin." And Fulgentius, to the same purpose: "As the devil smote by deceiving the whole man, so God saves by assuming the whole man." "If he will save the whole man from sin, he will assume the whole man without sin," says Nazianzen.

The Scriptures do clearly evidence that Christ had a real human soul: Mat. 26:38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Every word is emphatical: "My soul;" his sorrows pierced his soul, and "sorrowful round about," even to death,—that is, "heavy round about," Psalm 22:16. Look, as the soul was the first agent in transgression, so it is here the first patient in affliction. "To death;" that is, this sorrow will never be finished or intermitted but by death. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful." Then Christ had a true human soul; neither was his deity to him for a soul, as, of old, men of corrupt minds have fancied; for then our bodies only had been redeemed by him, and not our souls, if he had not suffered in soul as well as in body. The sufferings of his body were but the body of his sufferings; the soul of his sufferings were the sufferings of his soul, which was now beset with sorrows, and heavy as heart could hold.

John 12:27, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?" The Greek word signifies a vehement commotion and perturbation; as Herod's mind was troubled when he heard that a new king was born, Mat. 2:3; or as the disciples were troubled when they thought they saw a ghost walking on the sea, and cried out for fear, Mat. 14:26; or as Zacharias, Luke 1:12, was troubled at the sudden sight of the angel. The rise and cause of Christ's soul-trouble was this: the Godhead hiding itself from the humanity's sense; and the Father letting out, not only an apprehension of his sufferings to come—but a present taste of the horror of his wrath, due to man for sin. He is amazed, overwhelmed, and perplexed with it in his humanity; and no wonder, since he had the sins of all the elect, laid upon him by imputation, to suffer for. And so this wrath is not let out against his person—but against their sins which were laid on him.

Now though Christ was here troubled, or jumbled and puzzled, as the word imports—yet we are not to conceive that there was any sin in this exercise of his, for he was like clean water in a clean vessel, which, being ever so often stirred and shaken—yet still keeps clean and clear. Neither are we to think it strange that the Son of God should be put to such perplexities in this trouble as not to know what to say; for considering him as man, encompassed with our sinless infirmities, and that this heavy weight of wrath did light upon him suddenly, it is no wonder that it did confound all his thoughts as man. O sirs! look, that as sin has infected both the souls and bodies of the elect, and chiefly their souls, where it has its chief seat, so Christ, to expiate this sin, did suffer unspeakable sorrows and trouble in his soul, as well as torture in his body; "for my soul is troubled," says he. Though some sufferings of the body are very exquisite and painful, and Christ's in particular were such—yet sad trouble of mind is far more grievous than any bodily distress, as Christ also found, who silently bore all his outward troubles—but yet could not but cry out of his inward trouble, "Now is my soul troubled."

Isaiah 53:10, "You shall make his soul an offering for sin," Isaiah 53:7; 1 Pet. 2:24. When Christ suffered for us, our sins were laid upon him, verse 5-6, as by the law of sacrificing of old, the sinner was to lay his hands upon the head of the animal, confessing his sins, and then the animal was slain, and offered for expiation, Lev. 8:14, 18, 22; thus having the man's sins as it were taken and put upon it, and hereby the sinner is made righteous. The sinner could never be pardoned, nor the guilt of sin removed—but by Christ's making his soul an offering for sin. What did Christ in special recommend to God, when he was breathing out his last gasp—but his soul? Luke 23:46, "When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit; and having said thus, he gave up the Spirit;" that is, "To your safe custody and blessed wisdom I commend my soul, as a special treasure or jewel, most carefully and tenderly to be preserved and kept.

Luke 2:52, "He increased in wisdom and stature;" here is stature for his body, and wisdom for his soul. His growth in that speaks the truth of the former, and his growth in this the truth of the latter: his body properly could not grow in wisdom, nor his soul in stature, therefore he must have both.

There are two essential parts which make up one of his natures, his manhood, namely, soul and body—but both of these two of old have been denied. Marcion divests Christ of a body, and Apollinaris of a soul; and the Arians held that Christ had no soul—but that the deity was to him instead of a soul, and supplied the office thereof, that what the soul is to us, and does in our bodies, all that the divine nature was to Christ, and did in his body. And are there not some among us, that make a great noise about a light in them, that dash upon the same rock? But the choice scriptures last cited may serve sufficiently to confute all such brain-sick men. But,

[2.] Secondly, As Christ had a true human and reasonable soul, so Christ had a perfect, entire, complete BODY, and everything which is proper to a body; for instance,

(1.) He had blood Heb. 2:14, "He also took part of the same flesh and blood." Christ had in him the blood of a man. Shedding of blood there must be, for without it there is no remission of sin, Heb. 9:22. The blood of brute creatures could not wash away the blots of reasonable creatures, Heb. 10:4-5, 10; wherefore Christ took our nature, that he might have our blood to shed for our sins. There is an emphasis put upon Christ as man, in the great business of man's salvation, "The man Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. 2:5; the remedy carrying in it a suitableness to the malady, the sufferings of a man to expiate the sin of man.

(2.) He had bones as well as flesh: Luke 24:39, "A spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have."

(3.) Christ had in him the affections of a man, Phil. 2:8, which affections he fully expressed when he was on earth, Mat. 12:18-20; nay, he retains those affections now he is in heaven; in glory he has a fellow-feeling of his people's miseries: Acts 9:4, "Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?" See Mat 25:35, to the end of that chapter. Though Christ in his glorified state be freed from that state of frailty, mutability, mortality—yet he still retains his sympathy and pity.

(4.) He had in him the familiarity of a man; how familiarly did Christ converse with all sorts of people in this world, all the evangelists do sufficiently testify. Man is a sociable and familiar creature; Christ became man who he might be a merciful high priest, Heb. 2:17; not that his becoming man made him more merciful, as though the mercies of a man were more than the mercies of God—but because by this means mercy is conveyed more suitably and familiarly to man. But,

(4.) Fourthly and lastly, Our Lord Jesus Christ took our infirmities upon him. When Christ was in this world he submitted to the common accidents, adjuncts, infirmities, miseries, calamities, which are incident to human nature. For the opening of this, remember there are three sorts of infirmities:

(1.) There are sinful infirmities: James 5:7; Psalm 77:10. The best of men are but men at the best. Witness Abraham's unbelief, David's security, Job's cursing, Jonah's passion, Thomas's unbelief, Peter's lying, etc. Now these infirmities Jesus Christ took not upon him; for though he was made like unto us in all things—yet without sin, Heb. 4:15.

(2.) There are personal infirmities, which from some particular causes befall this or that person; as leprosy, blindness, dumbness, palsy, dropsy, epilepsy, stone, gout, sickness. Christ was never sick. Sickness arises from the unfit or unequal temperature of the humours, or from intemperance of labor, study, etc.—but none of these were in Christ. He had no sin, and therefore no sickness. Christ took not the passions or infirmities which were proper to this or that man.

(3.) There are natural infirmities which belong to all mankind since the fall; as hunger, thirst, wearisomeness, sorrowfulness, sweating, bleeding, wounds, death, burial. Now these natural infirmities which are common to the whole nature, these Jesus Christ took upon him, as all the evangelists do abundantly testify. Our dear Lord Jesus lay so many weeks and months in the Virgin's womb; he received nourishment and growth in the ordinary way; he was brought forth and bred up just as common infants are; he had his life sustained by common food, as ours is; he was poor, afflicted, reproached, persecuted, tempted, deserted, falsely accused, etc.; he lived an afflicted life, and died an accursed death; his whole life, from the cradle to the cross, was made up of nothing but sorrows and sufferings; and thus you see that Jesus Christ did put himself under those infirmities which properly belong to the common nature of man, though he did not take upon him the particular infirmities of individuals. Now what do all these things speak out—but the certainty and reality of Christ's manhood?

QUESTION. But why must Christ partake of both natures? was it absolutely necessary that he should so do?

ANSWER. Yes, it was absolutely necessary that Christ should partake of both natures; and that both in respect of God, and in respect of us:

(1.) First, in respect of US; and that,

[1.] First, Because man had sinned, and therefore man must be punished. By man came death, therefore by man must come the resurrection of the dead, 1 Cor. 15:21. Man was the offender, therefore man must be the satisfier; man had been the sinner, and therefore man must be the sufferer. It is but justice to punish sin in that nature, in which it had been committed. By man we fell from God, and by man we must be brought back to God. By the first Adam we were ruined, by the second Adam we must be repaired, Romans 5:12. The human nature was to be redeemed, therefore it was necessary that the human nature should be assumed. The law was given to man, and the law was broken by man, and therefore it was necessary that the law should be fulfilled by man. But,

[2.] Secondly, That by this means the justice of God might be satisfied in the same nature which had sinned, which was the nature of man. Angels could not satisfy divine justice, because they had no bodies to suffer. The brutish sensible creatures could not satisfy the justice of God, because they had no souls to suffer. Therefore man, having body, soul, and sense, must do it; for he had sinned in all, and he could suffer in all.

(2.) Secondly, There are reasons both in respect of GOD and in respect of ourselves, why Jesus Christ should be God, and God-man also; and they are these five—

[1.] First, That he might be a meet mediator between God and man. Christ's office, as mediator, was to deal with God for man, and to deal for God with man. Now that he might be fit for both these transactions, for both parts of this office, he must partake of both natures. That he might effectually deal with God for man, he must be God, "If a man sins against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" says Eli to his sons, 1 Sam. 2:25. And that he might deal for God with man, he must be man. He must be God, that he may be fit to transact, treat, and negotiate with God; and he must be man, that he may be fit to transact, treat, and negotiate with man. When God spoke unto Israel at Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, the people were not able to abide that voice or presence, and therefore they desired a mediator, a man like themselves, who might be as a mediator to go between God and them, Exod. 20:18-19.

Now upon this very ground, besides many others that might be mentioned, it was very requisite that Jesus Christ should be both God and man, that he might be a meet mediator to deal between God and man, Heb. 12:18. Jesus Christ was the fittest person, either in that upper or in this lower world, to mediate between God and us. There was none fit to umpire the business between God and man—but he who was God-man. Job hit the nail on the head, when he said, "If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both," Job 9:33. There was a double use of the arbitrator, and his laying his hand upon them: (1.) To keep the dissenting parties asunder, lest they should fall out and strike one another; (2.) To keep them together, and compose all differences, that they might not depart from each other. The application is easy.

Man is not fit to mediate, because man is the person offending; angels are not fit to mediate, for they cannot satisfy divine justice, nor pacify divine wrath, nor procure our pardon, nor make our peace, nor bring in an everlasting righteousness upon us. God, the Father, was not fit for this work, for he was the person offended; and he was as much too high to deal with man, as man was too low to deal with God. The Holy Spirit was not fit for this work, for it is his work to apply this mediation, and to clear up the believer's interest in this mediation. Just so, then there is no other person fit for this office but Jesus Christ, who was a middle person, between both, that he might deal with both. Christ could never have been fit to be the mediator in respect of his office, if he had not first been a middle person in respect of his natures; for, says the apostle, Gal. 20, "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one—but God is one." "A mediator is not a mediator of one," that is, of one party—but is always of two differing parties to unite them; "not of one;" that is,

(1.) Not of one person, because mediation implies more persons than one; it necessarily supposes different parties between whom he does mediate. Christ, to speak after the manner of men, lays his hand upon God, the Father, and says, "O blessed Father, will you be at peace with these poor sinners? will you pardon them? and will you lift up the light of your countenance upon them? If you will, then I will undertake to satisfy your justice, and to pacify your wrath, and to fulfill your royal law, and to make good all the wrong they have done against you." And then he lays his hand upon the poor sinner, and says, "Sinner, are you willing to be changed and renewed? are you willing to come under the bond of the covenant? are you willing to give up your heart and life to the guidance and government of the Spirit? Then be not discouraged, for you shall certainly be justified and saved."

(2.) Not of one nature—the mediator must necessarily have more natures than one—he must have the divine and human nature united in his single person, or else he could never suffer what he was to suffer, nor never satisfy what he was to satisfy, nor never bring poor sinners into a state of reconciliation with God. It is further observable that the text last cited says, "God is one," 1 Tim. 2:5; namely, as he is essentially considered, and therefore as so he cannot be the mediator—but Christ, as personally considered, he is not of one, that is, not of one nature, for he is God and man too, and therefore he is the only person that is fitted and qualified to be the mediator; and it is observable that, when Christ is spoken of as mediator, his manhood is brought in, that nature being so necessary to that office.

1 Tim. 2:5, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." Jesus Christ was God and man; as man he ought to satisfy—but could not; as God he could satisfy—but ought not. But consider him as God and man, and so he both could satisfy and ought to satisfy, and accordingly he did satisfy, according to what was prophesied of him.

Dan. 9:24, "He did make reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness." He did not begin to do something and then faint and leave his work imperfect—but he finished it, and that to the glory of his Father.

John 17:4, "I have glorified you on the earth, I have finished the work which you gave me to do." And it is good to observe the singularity and oneness of the person mediating; not many, not a few, not two—but one mediator between God and man. There was none with him in his difficult work of mediatorship—but he carried it on alone. Though there are many mediators among men—yet there is but only one mediator between God and men: and it is as high folly and madness to make more mediators than one, as it is to make more Gods than one, Isaiah 63:3. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men." For look, as one husband satisfies the wife, as one father satisfies the child, as one master satisfies the servant, and one sun satisfies the world—so one mediator is enough to satisfy all who desire a mediator, or who have an interest in a mediator. [I confess the word Mesites is given to Moses, in that Gal. 3:19—but Moses was but a typical mediator, and you never find that Moses is called a mediator in a way of redemption, or satisfaction, or paying a ransom; for so dear Jesus is the only mediator: so the word is used in that 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6-8, 9:14-15, and 12:22-24.]

The true sense and import of this word a mediator, is a middle person, or one who interposes between two parties at variance, to make peace between them. Though a mediator is rendered variously, sometimes an umpire or arbitrator, sometimes a messenger between two people, sometimes an interpreter imparting the mind of one to another, sometimes a reconciler or peace-maker—yet this word does most properly signify a mediator or a middler, because Jesus Christ is both a middle person and a middle officer between God and man, to reconcile and reunite God and man. This of all others is the most proper and genuine signification of this name. Jesus Christ is the middle, that is, the second person in the Trinity, between the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is the only middle person between God and man, being in one person God-man; and his being a middle person fits and capacitates him to stand in the midst between God and us.

And as he is the middle person, so he is the middle officer, intervening or interposing or coming between God and man by office, satisfying God's justice to the full for man's sins by his sufferings and death, and maintaining our constant peace in heaven by his meritorious intercession. Hence, as Gerhard observes, "Jesus Christ is a true mediator, is still found in the middle. He was born, as some think, about the middle of the night; he suffered, Heb. 13:12, in the middle of the world, that is, at Jerusalem, seated in the middle of the earth: he was crucified in the midst, between the two thieves, John 19:18: he died in the air on the cross, in the midst between heaven and earth: he stood after his resurrection in the midst of his disciples, John 20:19; and he has promised, that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in the midst of them, Mat. 18:20: and he walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, Rev. 2:1, that is, the churches: and he as the heart in the midst of the body, distributes graces and virtue to all the parts of his mystical body, Eph. 4:15-16." Thus Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man; middle in person and middle in office. And thus you have seen at large what a fit mediator Jesus Christ is, considered in both his natures, considered as God-man. But,

[2.] Secondly, If Jesus Christ is not God, then there is no spiritual nor eternal good to be expected or enjoyed. If Christ is not God, our preaching is in vain, and your hearing is in vain, and your praying is in vain, and your believing is in vain, and your hope of pardon and forgiveness by Jesus Christ is in vain; for none can forgive sins but a God. Christ has promised that "believers shall never perish;" he has promised them "eternal life," and that he will "raise them up at the last day," he has promised "a crown of righteousness," he has promised "a crown of life," he has promised "a crown of glory," he has promised that conquering Christians shall "sit down with him in his throne, as he is set down with his Father in his throne." He has promised that they shall not be hurt of "the second death." [Mark 2:7; John 3:16; John 10:28; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 3:21, and 2:11.] And a thousand other good things Jesus Christ has promised—but if Jesus Christ be not God, how shall these promises be made good? If a man who has never a foot of land in England, nor yet worth one groat in all the world, shall make his will, and bequeath to you such and such mansions and lands, in such a county or such a county; and shall by will, give you so much in gold, and so much in jewels, and so much in money; whereas he is not, upon any account, worth one penny in all the world; certainly such legacies will never make a man the richer nor the happier.

None of those great and precious promises, which are hinted at above, will signify anything—if Christ is not God. For they can neither refresh us, nor cheer us in this world, nor make us happy in the eternal world. If Christ is not God, how can he purchase our pardon, procure our peace, pacify divine wrath, and satisfy infinite justice? A man may satisfy the justice of man—but who but a God can satisfy the justice of God? "Will God accept of thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, or the firstborn of your body for the sin of your soul?" Micah 6:7. Oh, no! he will not, he cannot! That scripture is worthy to be written in letters of gold!

Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers; to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood." This must needs relate to Christ, and Christ is here called God, and Christ's blood is called the blood of God; and without all question, Christ could never have gone through with the purchase of the church, if the blood he shed had not been the blood of God. This blood is called God's own blood, because the Son of God, being and remaining true God, assumed human flesh and blood in unity of person. By this phrase, that which appertains to the humanity of Christ is attributed to his divinity, because of the union of the two natures in one person, and communion of properties. The church is to Christ a bloody spouse, an Aceldama or field of blood: for she could not be redeemed with silver and gold—but with the blood of God, 1 Pet. 1:18-19: so it is called by a communication of properties, to set forth the incomparable value and virtue thereof. But,

[3.] Thirdly, If Christ be not God, yes, God-man, then we shall never be able to answer all the challenges that either divine justice or Satan can make upon us. Whatever the justice of God can exact—that the blood of God can discharge. Now the blood of Christ is the blood of God, as I have evidenced in the second reason. By reason of the hypostatic union, the human nature being united to the divine, the human nature did suffer, the divine did satisfy. Christ's godhead gave both majesty and efficacy to his sufferings. Christ was sacrifice, priest, and altar. He was sacrifice as he was man, priest as he was God and man, and altar as he was God. It is the property of the altar, to sanctify the thing offered on it, Mat. 18:19; so the altar of Christ's divine nature sanctified the sacrifice of his death, and made it meritorious. Man sinned, and therefore man must satisfy. Therefore the human nature must be assumed by a surety, for man cannot do it. If an angel should have assumed human nature, it would have polluted him. Human nature was so defiled by sin that it could not be assumed by any but God. Now Christ being God, the divine nature purified the human nature which he took, and so it was a sufficient sacrifice, the person offered in sacrifice being God as well as man.

This is a most noble ground upon which a believer may challenge Satan to say his worst and to do his worst. Let Satan present God as dreadful, yes, as a consuming fire, Heb. 12:29; let him present me as odious and abominable in the sight of God, as once he did Joshua, Zech. 3:2-3; let him present me before the Lord as vile and mercenary, as once he did Job, chapter 1:9-11; let him aggravate the height of God's displeasure, and the height and depth and length and breadth of my sins—I shall readily grant all. But against all this, I will set the infinite satisfaction of dear Jesus. This I know, that though the justice of God cannot be avoided nor bribed—yet it may be satisfied. Here is a proportionable satisfaction, here is God answering God. It is a very noble plea of the apostle, "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died," Romans 8:34. Let Satan urge the justice of God as much as he can, I am sure that the justice of God makes me sure of salvation; and the reason is evident, because his justice obliges him to accept of an adequate satisfaction of his own appointing, 1 John 1:7-9.

The justice of God makes me sure of my own happiness, because if God is just—when that satisfaction is made, justice requires that the person for whom it is made shall be received into favor. I confess that unless God had obliged himself by promise, there were no pressing his justice thus far. There was mercy in the promise of sending Christ, out of mercy to undertake for us; otherwise we cannot say that God was bound in justice to accept of satisfaction, unless he had first in mercy been pleased to appoint the way of a surety, Gen. 2:15. [Had not Christ stepped in between man's sin and God's wrath, the world had fallen about Adam's ears.] Justice indeed required satisfaction—but it required it of the person who sins: Gen. 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die"—or dying you shall die; or, as others read the words, "you shall surely and shortly or suddenly die!" And without controversy, every man would die the same day he is born. "The wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23; and this wages should be presently paid, did not Christ, as a blessing, beg poor sinners' lives for a season. For which cause he is called the Savior of all men, 1 Tim. 4:10—not of eternal preservation—but of temporal reservation. It was free and noble mercy to all mankind, that dear Jesus was promised and provided, sealed and sent into the world, John 6:27, that some might be eternally saved, and the rest preserved from wrath, for a time. Here comes in mercy, that a surety shall be accepted; and what he does is as if the person that offended should have done it himself. Here is mercy and salvation surely founded upon both. Ah, what sweet and transcendent comfort flows from this very consideration, that Christ is God But,

[4.] Fourthly, The great and glorious majesty of God required it, that Christ should be God. God the Father being a God of infinite holiness, purity, justice, and righteousness; none but he who was truly God, who was essentially one with the Father, could or dared interpose between God and fallen man, John 10:30, and 14:9-11, etc. The angels, though they are glorious creatures—yet they are but creatures; and could these satisfy divine justice, and bear infinite wrath, and purchase divine favor, and reconcile us to God, and procure our pardon, and change our hearts, and renew our natures, and adorn our souls with grace? And yet all these things must be done—or we undone, and that forever! Now if this were a work too high for angels, then we may safely conclude that it was a work too hard for fallen man. Man was once the mirror of all understanding, the epitome of wisdom—but now there is a great alteration; for poor sorry man is now sent to school to learn wisdom and instruction of the beasts, birds, and creeping things. He is sent to the ant to learn providence, Proverbs 6:6, to the stork and to the swallow to learn to make a right use of time, Jer. 8:7, to the ox and the donkey to learn knowledge, Isaiah 1:3, and to the fowls of the air to learn confidence, Mat. 6. Man who was once a master of knowledge, a wonder of understanding, perfect in the science of all things, is now grown blockish, sottish, and senseless, and therefore altogether unfit and unable to make his peace with God, to reconcile himself to God, etc. But,

[5.] Fifthly and lastly, That Christ's sufferings and merits might be sufficient, it was absolutely necessary that he should be God. The sin of man was infinite, I mean infinitely punishable; if not infinite in number—yet infinite in nature, every offence being infinite, it being committed against an infinite God. No creature could therefore satisfy for it—but the sufferer must be God, so that his infiniteness might be answerable to the infiniteness of men's offences. There was an absolute necessity of Christ's sufferings, partly because he was pleased to substitute himself in the sinner's stead, and partly because his sufferings alone, could be satisfactory. Now, unless he had been man, how could he suffer? and unless he had been God, how could he satisfy offended justice? Look, as he must be more than man, that he may be able to suffer, that his sufferings may be meritorious; so he must also be man, that he may be in a capacity to suffer, die, and obey; for these are no work for one who is only God. A God alone, cannot suffer; a man alone, cannot merit; God cannot obey, man is bound to obey. Therefore Christ, that he might obey and suffer, he was man; and that he might merit by his obedience and suffering, he was God-man; just such a person did the work of redemption call for. That Christ's merits might be sufficient, he must be God; for sufficient merit for mankind could not be in the person of any mere man, no, not in Christ himself, considered only as man; for so all the grace he had he did receive it, and all the good he did he was bound to do it; for "he was made of a woman, and made under the law," Gal. 4:4—not only under the ceremonial law as he was a Jew—but under the moral as a man, for it is under that law under which we were, and from which we are redeemed, Gal. 3:13, therefore in fulfilling it he did no more than that which was his duty to do; he could not merit by it, no, not for himself, much less for others, considered only as man; therefore he must also be God, that the dignity of his person might add dignity, and virtue, and value to his works.

In a word, God could make satisfaction—but he was not bound to do so. Man was bound to make satisfaction—but he could not do it. Therefore he who would do it must be both God and man. As the prophet speaks, "Is not this a firebrand taken out of the fire?" Zech. 3:2. You know that in a firebrand taken out of the fire, there is fire and wood inseparably mixed, and in Christ there is God and man wonderfully united. He was God, else neither his sufferings nor his merits could have been sufficient; and if his suffering could not atone, much less any other man's. For all other men are both conceived and born in original sin, and also much and often defiled with actual sin, and therefore we ought forever to abhor all such Popish doctrines, prayers, and masses for the dead, which exalt man's merits, man's satisfaction: "For no man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever," Psalm 49:7-8. And therefore all the money that has been given for masses, dirges, etc., has been thrown away; for Jesus Christ, who is God-man, is the only Redeemer, and in the eternal world, money bears no mastery. Let me make a few applications and INFERENCES from what has been said.

Applications and Inferences

Let me make a few applications and inferences from what has been said about the Divinity and Humanity of Christ.

1. First, Is it so, that Christ is God-man, that he is God and man? Then let this raise our faith, and strengthen our faith, in our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is built on God, 1 Pet. 1:21. Now, Jesus Christ is truly God, and therefore the fittest foundation in the world for us to build our faith upon. "God manifest in the flesh" is a firm basis for faith and comfort. "He is able to save to the uttermost," Heb. 7:25. Christ is a thorough Savior, he saves perfectly, and he saves perpetually; he never carries on redemption work by halves. Christ being God as well as man, is able, by the power of his godhead, to vanquish death, devils, hell—and all the enemies of our salvation! And by the power of his godhead is able to merit pardon of sin, the favor of God, the heavenly inheritance, and all the glory of the heavenly world; for this dignity of his person adds virtue and efficacy to his death and sufferings, in that he who suffered and died was fully God; therefore God is said to have "purchased the church with his own blood," Acts 20:28. Christ having suffered in our nature, which he took upon him, that is, in his human soul and body the wrath of God, the curse, and all the punishments which were due to our sins, has—paid the price of our redemption, pacified divine wrath, and satisfied divine justice, in the very same nature in which we have sinned and provoked the Holy One of Israel; so that now all believers may triumphingly say, "There is no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus!" Romans 8:1.

Christ having, in our nature, suffered the whole curse and punishment due to our sins, God cannot in justice, but accept of his sufferings as a full and complete satisfaction for all our sins, 1 John 1:7, 9; so that now there remains no more curse or punishment for us to suffer, either in our souls or bodies, either in this life or in the life to come—but we are certainly and fully delivered from all; not only from the eternal curse, and all the punishments and torments of hell—but also from the curse and sting of bodily death, and from all afflictions as they are curses and punishments of sin, 1 Cor. 15:55-56. That Jesus, who is God-man, has changed the nature of them to us, so that of bitter curses and heavy punishments have become fatherly chastisements, the fruits of divine love, and the promoters of the internal and eternal good of our souls, Heb. 12:5-7, and Rev. 3:19.

Oh, how should these things strengthen our faith in dear Jesus, and work us to lean and stay our weary souls wholly and only upon him who is God-man, "and who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. 1:30. Among the evangelists we find that Christ had a threefold entertainment among men: some received him into house, not into heart, as Simon the Pharisee, who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet, Luke 7:44. Some received him neither into heart nor house, as the graceless, swinish Gergesites, Mat. 8:34, who had neither civility nor honesty. Some received him both into house and heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha, etc., John 11:16. Certainly that Jesus who is God-man deserves the best room in all our souls, and the uppermost seat in all our hearts. But,

2. Secondly, If Jesus Christ be God-man, very God and very man, then what high cause have we to observe, admire, wonder, and even stand amazed at the transcendent love of Christ in becoming man! Oh! the firstness, the freeness, the unchangeableness, the greatness, the matchlessness of Christ's love to fallen man—in becoming man! Men many times show their love to one another, by hanging up one another's pictures in their homes—but, ah, what love did Christ show when he took our nature upon him Heb. 2:16, "For truly he took not on him the nature of angels—but he took on him the seed of Abraham;" he assumed, apprehended, caught, laid hold on the seed of Abraham, as the angel did on Lot, Gen. 19:16, as Christ did on Peter, Mat. 14:31, or as men do upon a thing they are glad they have gotten, and are loath to let go again. O sirs! it is a main ground and pillar of our comfort and confidence, that Jesus Christ took our flesh; for if he had not took our flesh upon him, we could never have been saved by him.

Christ took not a part—but the whole nature of man, that is, a true human soul and body, together with all the essential properties and faculties of both; that in man's nature he might die, and suffer the wrath of God, and whole curse due to our sins, which otherwise, being God only, he could never have done; and that he might satisfy divine justice for sin, in the same nature that had sinned, and indeed it was most fit, that the mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should partake in the natures of both parties to be reconciled, Heb. 2:14.

Oh, what matchless love was this, that made our dear Lord Jesus to lay by for a time all that "glory that he had with the Father before the world was," John 17:5, and to assume our nature, and to be "found in fashion as a man," Phil. 2:8. To see the great God in the form of a servant, or hanging upon the cross, how amazing and astonishing was it to all that believed him to be God-man! "God manifested in our flesh" is an amazing mystery, 1 Tim. 3:16, a mystery fit for the speculation of angels, 1 Pet. 1:11, that the eternal God—should become the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 2:5; that a most glorious creator—should become a poor creature; that the ancient of days, Dan. 7:9, 13, 22—should become an infant of days, Mat. 2:11; that the most high should stoop so low as to dwell in a body of flesh—is a glorious mystery, which transcends all human understanding. It would have seemed a high blasphemy for us to have thought of such a thing, or to have desired such a thing, or to have spoken of such a thing, if God, in his everlasting gospel, had not revealed such a thing to us! Oh, what a demonstration of Christ's love is it! and what a mighty honor has Jesus Christ put upon mankind, in that he took our nature upon him, in that he lived in our nature and died in our nature, and rose in our nature, and ascended in our nature, and now sits at his Father's right hand in our nature! Acts 1:10-11.

Though Jacob's love to Rachel, and Jonathan's love to David, and David's love to Absalom, and the primitive Christians' love to one another was strong, very strong—yet Christ's love in taking our human nature upon him does infinitely transcend all their loves. "I think," says one speaking of Christ, "he cannot despise me, who is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; for if he neglects me as a brother—yet he will love me as a husband; that is my comfort." "O my Savior," says Jerome, "did you die for love for me? a love more dolorous than death—but to me a death more lovely than love itself; I cannot live, love, and be longer from you!" I read in Josephus, that when Herod Antipater was accused to Julius Caesar as no good friend of his, he made no other apology—but stripping himself stark naked, showed Caesar his wounds and said, let me hold my tongue, these wounds will speak for me how I have loved Caesar.

Ah, my friends, Christ's wounds in our nature speak out the admirable love of Jesus Christ to us; and oh, how should this love of his draw out our love to Christ, and inflame our love to that Jesus who is God-man blessed forever! Mr. Welch, a Suffolkshire minister, weeping at table, being asked the reason, said, "it was because he could love Christ no more!" Ah, what reason have we to weep, and weep again and again, that we can love that Jesus no more, who has showed such unparalleled love to us in assuming of the human nature! "I must hate my very soul, if it should not love my Jesus!" says Bernard. Ah, what cause have we even to hate ourselves, because we love that dear Jesus no more, who is very God and very man. But,

3. Thirdly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then we may very safely and roundly assert that the work of redemption was a very great work. [Consult these scriptures, Isaiah 61:1; Dan. 9:24; 1 John 3:8; Luke 1:74-75; Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:4.] The redemption of souls is a mighty work, a costly work. To redeem poor souls from sin, from wrath, from the power of Satan, from the curse, from hell, from the condemnation, was a mighty work. Why was Christ born? Why did he live, sweat, groan, bleed, die, rise, ascend? Was it not to bring "deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound"? Was it not to "make an end of sin, to finish transgression, and to bring in everlasting righteousness," and "to destroy the works of the devil," and to "abolish death," and to "bring life and immortality to light," and to "redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify us to himself, and to make us a peculiar people, zealous of good works"?

Certainly the work of redemption was no ordinary or common thing; God-man must engage in it, or poor fallen man is undone forever. The greater the person is, who is engaged in any work, the greater is that work. The great monarchs of the world do not engage their sons in poor, low, mean, and petty services—but in such services as are high and honorable, noble and weighty; and will you imagine that ever the great and glorious God would have sent his Son, his own Son, his only-begotten Son, his bosom Son, his Son in whom his soul delighted before the foundations of the earth was laid—to redeem poor sinners' souls, if this had not been a great work, a high work, and a most glorious work in his eye? John 1:18, and Proverbs 8:22-33.

The creation of the world did but cost God a word of his mouth, "Let there be light, and there was light," Gen. 1:3—but the redemption of souls cost him his dearest Son. There is a divine greatness stamped upon the works of providence—but what are the works of providence, compared to the work of redemption? What are all providential works, compared to Christ's coming from heaven, to his being incarnate, to his doings, sufferings, and dying; and all this to ransom poor souls from the curse, hell, wrath, and eternal death? Souls are dear and costly things, and of great price in the sight of God. Among the Romans, those goods and estates which men had gotten in the wars with hazard of their lives, were called Peculium Castrense—a special purchase. Oh, how much more may the precious and immortal souls of men be called Christ's Peculium Castrense—his special purchase, gotten, not only by the jeopardy of his life—but with the loss of his life and blood! "You know," says the apostle, "that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God!" 1 Pet. 1:18-19.

Christ, who alone paid the price of souls, has told us that one soul is more worth than all the world, Mat. 16:26. Christ left his Father's bosom, and all the glory of heaven—for the good of souls; he assumed the nature of man—for the happiness of the soul of man; he trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath for souls; he wept for souls, he sweat for souls, he prayed for souls, he paid for souls, and he bled out his heart blood for the redemption of souls!

The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils. It is of an angelical nature, it is a heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring. It is capable of the knowledge of God, of union with God, of communion with God, and of an eternal fruition of God, John 14:8, and Psalm 17:15. There is nothing that can suit the soul below God, there is nothing that can satisfy the soul without God. The soul is so high and so noble a piece, that it scorns all the world. What are all the riches of the East or West Indies, what are heaps of diamonds, or mountains of gold, compared to the price that Christ laid down for souls? It is only the blood of him who is God-man, which is an equivalent price for the redemption of souls. Silver and gold has redeemed many thousands out of Turkish bondage—but all the silver and gold in the world could never redeem one poor soul from hellish bondage, from hellish torments.

Souls are a dear commodity. He who bought them found them so—and yet at how cheap a rate do some sinners sell their immortal souls! Callenuceus tells us of a nobleman of Naples who was accustomed profanely to say that he had two souls in his body, one for God, and another for whoever would buy it—but if he has one soul in hell, I believe he will never find another for heaven. A person of quality, who is still alive, told me a few years since, that in discourse with one of his servants he asked him what he thought would become of his soul if he lived and died in his ignorance and enmity against God, etc. He most profanely and atheistically answered that when he died, he would hang his soul on a hedge, and say, Run God, run devil, and he who can run fastest let him take my soul. I have read of a most blasphemous wretch that, on a time being with his companions in an inn, carousing and making merry, asked them if they thought a man had a soul or no; whereunto when they replied that the souls of men are immortal, and that some of them after death lived in hell and others in heaven—for so the writings of the prophets and apostles instructed them—he answered and swore that he thought it nothing so—but rather that there was no soul in man to survive the body—but that heaven and hell were mere fables and inventions of priests to get gain; and for himself, he was ready to sell his soul to any who would buy it. Then one of his companions took up a cup of wine, and said, sell me your soul for this cup of wine; which he receiving, bade him take his soul, and drank up the wine. Now Satan himself being there in man's shape, bought it again of the other at the same price, and by and by bade him give him his soul, the whole company affirming it was fit he should have it, since he had bought it, not perceiving the devil. But presently, he laying hold of this soul-seller, carried him into the air before them all, to the great astonishment and amazement of the beholders; and from that day to this he was never heard of—but has now found by experience that men have souls, and that hell is no fable! "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26 [We laugh at little children to see them part with rich jewels for silly trifles, and yet daily experience tells us that multitudes are so childish as to part with such rich and precious jewels as their immortal souls for a lust, or for base and unworthy trifles; of whom it may be truly said, that they are like a man who fishes with a golden hook; the gain can never recompense the loss that may be sustained.]

Ah, for what a trifle do many thousands sell their souls to Satan every day! How many thousands are there who swear, curse, lie, cheat, deceive, etc. for a little gain every day! I have read that there was a time when the Romans did wear jewels on their shoes. Oh, that in these days men did not worse! Oh, that they did not trample under feet that matchless jewel, their precious and immortal souls! O sirs, there is nothing below heaven so precious and noble as your souls, and therefore do not play the courtiers with your poor souls. Now the courtier does all things late. He rises late, and dines late, and sups late, and goes to bed late, and repents late. Christ made himself an offering for sin, that souls might not be undone by sin; the Lord died that slaves might live; the Son dies that servants might live; the natural Son dies that adopted sons may live; the only-begotten Son dies that bastards might live; yes, the judge dies that malefactors may live. Ah, friends, as there was never sorrow like Christ's, so there was never love like Christ's love; and of all his love, none to that of soul love. Christ, who is God-man, did take upon him your nature, and bare your sins, and suffered death, and encountered the cross, and was made a sacrifice and a curse, and all to bring about your redemption; and therefore you may safely conclude that the work of redemption is a great work. But,

4. Fourthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then let this encourage poor sinners to come to Christ, to close with Christ, to accept of Christ, to match with Christ, and to enter into a marriage union and communion with Christ. The great work of gospel ministers is like that of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, to seek a match for our Master's Son. Now our way to win you to him, is not only to tell you what he has—but what he is. Now he is "God-man in one person." He is man, that you may not be afraid of him; and he is God, that he may be able to save you to the uttermost; he is "the Prince of the kings of the earth;" he is "Lord of lords and King of kings;" he is the "Heir of all things;" he is "fairer than the children of men;" he is "the chief of ten thousand;" he is "altogether lovely." [Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:5, and 17:14; Heb. 1:3; Psalm 45:1; Cant. 5:10, 16.]

There is everything in Jesus, who is God-man, to encourage you to come to him. If you look upon his names, if you look upon his natures, if you look upon his offices, if you look upon his dignities, if you look upon his personal excellencies, if you look upon his mighty conquests, if you look upon his royal attendance —all these things call aloud upon you to come to Christ, to close with Christ. If you look upon the great things that he has done for sinners, and the hard things that he has suffered for sinners, and the glorious things that he has prepared and laid up for sinners, how can you but readily accept of him, and sweetly embrace him? Though you have no loveliness, nor beauty, nor glory, Ezek. 16:4-5, and Isaiah 55:1-2; though you have not one penny in your purse, nor a rag to hang on your back—yet if you are but really and heartily willing to be divorced from all your sinful lovers, and accept of Christ for your sovereign Lord, he is willing that the match should be made up between you and him, Hos. 3:3, and Rev. 22:17.

Now shall Christ himself woo you, shall he declare his willingness to take you who have nothing, shall he engage himself to protect you, to maintain you, and at last, as a dowry, to bestow heaven upon you—and will you refuse him, will you turn your backs upon him? O sirs! what could Christ have done, that he has not done, to do you good, and to make you happy forever? Lo! he has laid aside his glorious robes, and he has put on your rags; he has clothed himself with your flesh; he came off from his royal throne, he humbled himself to the death of the cross, and has brought life, immortality, and glory to your very doors; and will you yet stand out against him? Oh, "how shall such escape, who neglect so great salvation," Heb. 2:3; who say, "This man shall not rule over us," Luke 19:14; who "tread under foot the Son of God"? Heb. 10:28. Oh, what wrath, what great wrath, what pure wrath, what infinite wrath, what everlasting wrath—is reserved for such people! John 3:36. Doubtless, Turks, Jews, and Pagans will have a cooler and a lighter hell than the despisers and rejecters of Christ, John 5:40, and Mat. 23:13-14. The great damnation is for those who might have Christ—but would not. And no wonder! for the sin of rejecting Christ is not chargeable upon the devils.

Ah sinners, sinners! that you would labor to understand more, and dwell more upon, the preeminent excellencies of Christ! for until the soul can discern a better, a greater excellency in Christ than in any other thing—it will never yield to match with Christ. Oh, labor every day more and more to understand the height and depth and breadth of the excellency of Christ. He is the chief and the choicest of all, both in that upper and in this lower world. The godhead dwells bodily in him; he is full of grace; he is the heir of glory; the holy one of God; the brightness of his Father's image; the fountain of life, the well of salvation, and the wonder of heaven. Oh, when will you so understand the superlative excellency of Christ as to fall in love with him, as to cry out with the martyr, "Oh, none but Christ! Oh, none to Christ!" It is your wisdom, it is your duty, it is your safety, it is your glory, it is your salvation, it is your all—to accept of Christ, to close with Christ, and to bestow yourselves, your souls, your all on Christ. If you embrace him, you are made forever—but if you reject him, you perish forever. Bernard calls Christ, the Bridegroom of Bloods, because he espoused his church to himself upon the bed of his cross, his head begirt with a pillow of thorns, his body drenched in a bath of his own blood. To turn your backs upon this bridegroom of bloods will certainly cost you the blood of your souls; and therefore look to it. But,

5. Fifthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Oh, then, honor him above all. Oh, let him have the preeminence, exalt him as high as God the Father has exalted him. It is the absolute will of the Father that "all should honor his Son, even as they honor himself," for he having the same nature and essence with the Father, the Father will have him have the same honor which he himself has; which whoever denies to him reflects dishonor upon the Father, who will not bear anything derogatory to the glory of his Son. [Col. 1:18; Phil. 2:6-10; John 5:23. This text looks sourly on Jews, Turks, Papists, Socinians, and others.] Certainly there is due to Christ, as he is God-man, the highest respect, reverence, and veneration, which angels and men can possibly give unto him. Oh, look upon the Lord Jesus as God; and according to that honor that is due to him as God, so must you honor him.

The apostle speaks of some who, "when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God," Romans 1:21; so several pretend to give some glory to Christ—but they do not glorify him as God. O sirs, this is that which you must come up to, namely, to honor Christ in such a manner as may be suitable to his natures; and as he is the infinite, blessed, and eternal God; and ah! what honor can be high enough for such a person? Christ's honor was very dear to Bernard, who said, "Lord, use me for your shield to keep off those wounds of dishonor, which else would fall on you." Luther, in an letter to Spalatinus, says, "They call me a devil—but be it so, so long as Christ is magnified, I am well a-payed."

The inanimate creatures are so compliant with his pleasure, that they will thwart their own nature to serve his honor; fire will descend, as on Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. 19; and water, though a fluid body, stand up like a solid wall, as in the Red Sea, Exod. 14:22; if he does but speak the word. Oh, let not the inanimate creatures one day rise in judgment against us, for not giving Christ his due honor. If we honor Christ we shall have honor, that is a bargain of Christ's own making—but if we dishonor him, he will put dishonor upon us, as Scripture and history in all ages do sufficiently evidence, 1 Sam. 2:30.

In history we read of an impostor who said that he was that star which Balaam prophesied of, which was a prophecy of Christ, Num. 24:17; this fellow called himself Ben-chomar, the son of a star. This man professed himself to be Christ—but he was slain with thunder and lightning from heaven, and then the Jews called him Ben-cosmar, which signifies the son of a lie. Buxtorf tells us that the Jews call Christ Bar-chozabb, the son of a lie, a bastard; and his gospel Aven-gelaion, the volume of lies, or the volume of iniquity; and has not God been a-revenging this upon them for above this sixteen hundred years? Rabbi Samuel, who long since has written a tract, wherein he does excellently discuss the cause of their long captivity and extreme misery, and after that he had proved it was inflicted for some grievous sin, he shows that sin to be the same which Amos speaks of. "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes," Amos 2:6. The selling of Joseph he makes the first sin, the worshiping the calf in Horeb the second sin, the abusing and killing God's prophets the third sin, and the selling of Jesus Christ the fourth sin. For the first they served four hundred years in Egypt, for the second they wandered forty years in the wilderness, for the third they were captives seventy years in Babylon, and for the fourth they are held in pitiful captivity, even to this very day. Oh, how severely has God revenged the wrongs and indignities done to Christ the Lord, by this miserable people, to this very hour and yet, oh, the several ways, wherein this poor people do every day express their malice and hatred against the Lord Jesus! Oh, pray, pray hard, that the veil may be taken away, which has been so long before their eyes.

Herod imprisons Peter, and kills James with the sword, Acts 12:1-4; this God puts up with—but when he comes to usurp the honor due to Christ, he must die for it, verse 23. Herod might more safely take away the liberty of one, and the life of another, than the glory due to Christ. Thus you see how dearly they have paid for it, who have not given Christ his due glory; and let these instances of his wrath alarm all your hearts so, that we may make more conscience than ever, of setting the crown of honor only upon Christ's head, "for he alone is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise," Rev. 14:10-11. But,

6. Sixthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then from hence as in a mirror, you may see the true reasons why the death and sufferings of Christ, though short, very short—yet have a sufficient power and virtue in them to satisfy God's justice, to pacify his wrath, to procure our pardon, and to save our immortal souls—namely, because of the dignity of his person who died and suffered for us, the Son of God, yes, God himself. There was an infinite virtue and value in all his sufferings; hence his blood is called "precious blood," yes, "the blood of God." [Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19; Acts 9:28; Gal. 4:4-6.] Did man transgress the royal law of God? behold God himself is become a man to make up that breach, and to satisfy divine justice to the uttermost farthing, Romans 8:2-4. For the man Christ Jesus to stand before the bar of the law, and to make full and complete reparation to it, was the highest honor that ever was done to the law of God. This is infinitely more pleasing and delightful to divine justice than if all the curses of the law had been poured out upon fallen man; and than if the law had built up its honor upon the destruction of the whole creation. To see one sun clouded is much more than to see the moon and all the stars in heaven overcast. Christ considered as God-man was great, very great; and the greater his person was—the greater were his sorrows, his sufferings, his humiliation, his compassion, his satisfaction to divine justice. Had not Christ been God-man, he could never have been an able surety, Heb. 7:25—he could never have paid our debts, he could never have satisfied divine justice, he could never have brought in an everlasting righteousness, Dan. 9:24, he could never have "spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them on the cross," Col. 2:15—a plain allusion to the Roman triumphs, where the victor ascending up to the capitol in a chariot of state, all the prisoners following him on foot with their hands bound behind them, and the victor commonly threw coins abroad to be picked up by the common people. Just so, Christ, in the day of his solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin, death, devils, and hell, "and gave gifts to men." And had he not been God-man, he could never have merited for us a glorious reward.

If we consider Christ himself as a mere man, setting aside his godhead, Eph. 4:8, he could not merit by his sufferings; for, 1. Christ as he was man only, was a creature. Now a mere creature can merit nothing from the Creator. 2. Christ's sufferings, as he was man only, were finite, and therefore could not merit infinite glory. Indeed, as he was God, his sufferings were meritorious—but, consider him purely as man, they were not. This is wisely to be observed against the papists, who make so great a noise of men's merits; for if Christ's sufferings, as he was mere man, could not merit the least favor from God, then what mortal man is able to merit, at the hand of God, the least of mercies by his greatest sufferings? But,

7. Seventhly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then from hence we may see the greatest pattern of humility and self-denial that ever was or will be in this world. That he who was the Lord of glory, that he who was equal with God, that he should leave the bosom of his Father, Phil. 2:6; John 1:18, which was a bosom of the sweetest loves and the most ineffable delights, that he should put off all that glory that he had with the Father before the foundation of the world was laid, John 17:5, that he should so far abase himself as to become man, by taking on him our base, vile nature, so that in this our nature he might die, suffer, satisfy, and bring many sons to glory, Heb. 10,—oh, here is the greatest humility and abasement that ever was! And oh, that all sincere Christians would endeavor to imitate this matchless example of humility and self-denial! Oh the admirable condescensions of dear Jesus, that he should take our nature, and make us partakers of his divine nature! 2 Pet. 1:4, that he should put on our rags—and put upon us his royal robes! Rev. 19:7-8, that he should make himself poor—that we might be rich! 2 Cor. 8:9, that he should make himself low—that we might be high! accursed that we might be blessed! Gal. 3:10, 13. Oh wonderful love! oh grace unsearchable!

Ah, Christians, did Christ stoop low—and will you be stout, proud, and high? Was he content to be accounted a worm, a drunkard, an enemy to Caesar, a friend of publicans and sinners, a devil—and must you be all in a flame when vain men make little account of you? Was he willing to be a curse, a reproach for you—and will you shrug, and shrink, and faint, and fret when you are reproached for his name? Did Jesus Christ stoop so low as to wash his disciples' feet, John 13:14, and are you so stout and proud that you cannot hear together, nor pray together, nor sit at the table of the Lord together, though you all hope at last to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven? Mat. 8:11. Shall one heaven hold you at last; and shall not one table, one church, hold you here? Oh, that ever worms should swell with such intolerable pride and stoutness! He who was God-man, was lowly, meek, self-denying, and of a most condescending spirit; and oh, that all you, who hope for salvation by him, would labor to write after so fair a copy.

Bernard calls humility a self-annihilation. "You will save the humble," says Job, chapter 22:29; in the Hebrew it is, "him who is of low eyes." A humble Christian has lower thoughts of himself than others can have of him. Abraham is "dust and ashes" in his own eyes, Gen. 18, Jacob is "less than the least of all mercies," Gen. 32:10. David, though a great king—yet looks upon himself as a worm; "I am a worm, and no man," Psalm 22:6. The word in the original signifies a very little worm—a worm that is so little, that a man can hardly see it or perceive it. Oh, how little, how very little was David in his own eyes. Paul, who was the greatest among the apostles—yet, in his own eyes, he was "less than the least of all saints." Says Ignatius, "I am not worthy to be called the least." "Lord! I am hell—but you are heaven," said blessed Cooper. "I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me," said holy Bradford. Luther, in humility, speaks thus of himself; "I have no other name than sinner; sinner is my name, sinner is my surname; this is the name by which I shall be always known. I have sinned, I do sin, I shall sin, in infinitum." Ah, how can proud, stout spirits read these instances and not blush! Certainly the sincere humble Christian is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the head down, and hides itself with its own leaves; and were it not that the frequent smell of his many virtues manifests him to the world, he would choose to live and die in his self-contenting secrecy. But,

8. Eighthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then hence we may see how to have access to God; namely, by means of Christ's human nature, which he has taken upon him, to that very end, that he might in it die and suffer for our sins, and so reconcile us to God, and give us access to him, Romans 5:1-2; Eph. 3:12, and 2:18. "By him we have access to the Father." The word signifies "a leading by the hand," an introduction. "It is an allusion," says Estius, "to the customs of princes, to whom there is no passage, unless we are brought in by one of their favorites." Esther 1. Though the Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to hold off their best friends, who might not come near them—but upon special license. Yet the great King of heaven and earth counts it his glory to give us free access at all times, in all places, and upon all occasions, by the man Christ Jesus.

1 Tim. 2:5, "There is one mediator between God and us, even the man Christ Jesus." Christ was made true man, that in our nature he might reconcile us to God, and give us access to God, which he could never have done, had he not been true God and true man. Without the human nature of Christ, we could never have had access to God, or fellowship with God; being by nature enemies to God, and estranged from God, and dead in trespasses and sins, Romans 5:10, it is only by the mediation of Christ incarnate, that we come to be reconciled to God, Eph. 2:1, 12-14, to have access to him, and acceptance with him. In Christ's human nature God and we meet together, and have fellowship together, 1 John 1:1-3. It could never stand with the unspotted holiness and justice of God, who is "a consuming fire," Heb. 12:29, to honor us with one cast of his countenance, or one hour's communion with himself, were it not upon the account of the man Christ Jesus. The least serious thought of God out of Christ, will breed nothing in the soul but horror and amazement; which made Luther say, "Let me have nothing to do with an absolute God."

Believers have free and blessed access to God—but still it is upon the credit of the man Christ Jesus, Heb. 4:15-16. "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace," says the apostle, speaking of Christ, "that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." The apostle's phrase signifies liberty of speech, and boldness of face; as when a man with a bold and undaunted spirit, utters his mind before the great ones of the world without blushing, without weakness of heart, without shaking of his voice, without imperfection and faltering in speech, when neither majesty nor authority can take off his courage, so as to stop his mouth, and make him afraid to speak. With such heroic and undaunted spirits would the apostle have us to come to the throne of grace; and all upon the credit of Christ our high priest, who is God-man. But,

9. Ninthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then you may be very confident of his sympathizing with you in all your afflictions, Ezek. 35:10-13; Isaiah 37:23, 24; then this may serve as a foundation to support you under all your troubles, and as a cordial to comfort you under all your afflictions, in that Christ partaking of the same nature, and having had experience of the infirmities of it, he is the more able and willing to help and support us.

"For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Hebrews 2:16-18. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin." Hebrews 4:15

If one comes to visit a man who is sick of a grievous disease, who has himself been formerly troubled with the same disease, he will sympathize more, and show more compassion than twenty others, who have not felt the same disease. So here, from Christ's sufferings in his human nature, we may safely gather that he will show himself a merciful high priest to us in our sufferings, and one who will be ready to help and support us in all our afflictions and miseries, which we suffer in this life, inasmuch as he himself had experience of suffering the like in our nature; "for in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to support those who are tempted." And this should be a staff to support us, and a cordial to comfort us in all our sorrows and miseries. It is between Christ and his church as it is between two lute strings which are tuned one to another; no sooner is one struck but the other trembles.

Isaiah 63:9, "In all their afflictions, he was afflicted." These words may be read thus: was he in all their afflictions afflicted? Christ took to heart the afflictions of his church, he was himself grieved for them and with them. The Lord, the better to allure and draw his people to himself, speaks after the manner of men, attributing to himself affection, love, and compassion to men in misery. Christ did so sympathize with his people in all their afflictions and sufferings, as if he himself had felt the weight, the smart, the pain of them all. "He was in all things made like unto his brethren," not only in nature—but also in infirmities and sufferings, and by all manner of temptations, "that thereby he might be able," experimentally, "to support those who are tempted." He who touches them touches not only his eye, but the pupil of his eye—which is the tenderest piece of the tenderest part—to express the inexpressible tenderness of Christ's compassion towards them. Let persecutors take heed how they meddle with God's eyes, for he will retaliate eye for eye, Exod. 21:24. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, and sinners shall one day pay dear for touching the apple of his eye.

Christ counts himself persecuted, when his church is persecuted; "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Acts 9:4. And he looks upon himself as hungry, thirsty, naked, and in prison, when his members are so, Mat. 25:35-36; so greatly does he sympathize with them. Hence the afflictions of Christians are called "the remainders of the afflictions of Christ," Col. 1:24: such as Christ, by his fellow-feeling, suffers in his members, and as they by correspondency are to fill up, as exercises and trials of their faith and patience.

Christ gave many evidences of his sympathy and compassion to our infirmities when he was on earth, as he groaned in his spirit, and was troubled, John 11:33; when he saw those who wept for Lazarus, he wept also, verse 35; as he did over Jerusalem also, Luke 19:41. It is often observed in the Gospel that Christ was moved with compassion; and that he frequently put forth acts of pity, mercy, and support to those who were in any distress, either in body or soul. Christ retains this sympathy and fellow-feeling with us, now that he is in heaven; and does so far commiserate our distresses, as may stand with his glorified condition. Jesus Christ grieves for the afflictions of his people; "the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem," Zech. 1:12. The angel here is that Jesus, who is our advocate with the Father, 1 John 2:1-2. He speaks as one intimately affected with the state and condition of poor Jerusalem. Christ plays the advocate for his suffering people, and feelingly pleads for them; he being afflicted in all their afflictions, it moved him to observe that God's enemies were in a better case than his people; and this put him upon that passionate expostulation, "O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem!"

Oh, what an honor is it to such poor worms as we are, that Jesus Christ, who is God-man, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, that he should have a fellow-feeling of all our miseries, and sympathize with us in all our troubles Rev. 1:5. But,

10. Tenthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then from hence you may see the excellency of Christ above man, above all other men, yes, above Adam in innocency. Christ, as man, was perfect in all graces: Isaiah 11:1-2, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord." God gave the Spirit of wisdom to him not by measure; and therefore, at twelve years of age, you find him in the Sanhedrim disputing with the doctors, and asking them questions, John 3:34; Luke 2:46-47; John 1:16, "And of his fullness have all we received grace for grace;" Col. 1:19, "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;" 2:3, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

The state of innocency was an excellent state, it was a state of perfect holiness and righteousness, Gen. 1:27. By his holiness, Adam was carried out to know the Lord, to love the Lord, to delight in the Lord, to fear the Lord, and to take him as his chief good, Eph. 4:22-24. A legal holiness consists in an exact, perfect, and complete conformity in heart end life to the whole revealed will of God; and this was the holiness that Adam had in his innocency, and this holiness was immediately derived from God, and was perfect. Adam's holiness was as co-natural to him as unholiness is now to us. Adam's holiness was as natural, and as pleasing, and as delightful to him as any way of unholiness can be natural, pleasing, and delightful to us. The state of innocency was a state of perfect wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Witness the names that Adam gave to all the creatures, suitable and apposite to their natures, Gen. 2:20. The state of innocency was a state of great honor and dignity. David brings in Adam in his innocent estate with a crown upon his head, and that crown was a crown of glory and honor: "You have crowned him with glory and honor," his place was "a little lower than the angels," but far above all other creatures, Psalm 8:5. The state of innocency was a state of great dominion and authority, man being made the sovereign Lord of the whole creation, Psalm 8:6-8. We need not stand to enlarge upon that one parcel of his domain, namely, that which they call paradise, since the whole both of sea and land, and all the creatures in both, were his possession, his paradise.

Certainly man's first state was a state of perfect and complete happiness, there being nothing within him but what was desirable, nothing without him but what was amiable, and nothing around him but what was serviceable and comfortable—and yet Jesus Christ, who is God-man, is infinitely more glorious and excellent than ever Adam was; for Adam was set in a mutable condition—but Christ is the Rock of ages. He is steadfast and abiding forever; he is "yesterday, and today, and forever the same," Heb. 13:8. He is the same before time, in time, and after time; he is the same, that is unchangeable, in his essence, promises, and doctrine. Christ is the same in respect of virtue, and even his manhood, before it was in being, was clothed with perfection of grace, and so continues forever.

And again, Adam was a mere man, and alone by himself—but in Christ the human nature was hypostatically united unto the divine; and hence it comes to pass that Christ, even as man, had a greater measure of knowledge and revelation of grace and heavenly gifts than ever Adam had. The apostle tells us that in "Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead," bodily, that is, essentially; that is, not by a naked and bare communicating of virtue, as God is said to dwell in his saints—but by a substantial union of the two natures, divine and human, the eternal Word and the man, consisting of soul and body, whereby they become one—one person, one subsistence. Now from this admirable and wonderful union of the two natures in Christ, there flows to the manhood of Christ a plenitude and fullness of all spiritual wisdom and grace, such as was never found in any mere man, no, not in Adam while he stood in his integrity and uprightness. But,

11. Eleventhly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very man? Then this truth looks very sourly and frowningly upon all such as deny the godhead of Christ; as Arians, Turks, Jews. How many are there in this city, in this nation, who stiffly deny the divinity of Christ, and dispute against it, and write against it, and blaspheme that great truth, without which, I think, a man may safely say, there is no possibility of salvation. In ancient times, near unto the period of the apostles, this doctrine of Christ's godhead, and eternal generation from the Father, was greatly opposed by sundry wicked and blasphemous heretics, as Ebion, Cerinthus, Arius, etc., who stirred up great troubles, and bloody persecutions against the church, for maintaining this great truth of Christ's godhead. They asserted that Christ had no true flesh; it was only the likeness of flesh which he appeared in, and that his body was only an imaginary body. But had the body of Christ been only such a body, then his conception, nativity, death, resurrection, are all too but imaginary things; and then his sufferings and crucifixion are but mere fancies too; and if so, then what would become of us, what would become of our salvation? then our faith would be in vain, and our hope would be in vain, and our hearing, preaching, praying, and receiving, would all be in vain; yes, then all our religion would vanish into a mere fancy also!

When a man's conscience is awakened to see his sin and misery, and he shall find guilt to lay like a load upon his soul, and when he shall see that divine justice is to be satisfied, and divine wrath to be pacified, and the curse to be borne, and the law to be fulfilled, and his nature to be renewed, his heart to be changed, and his sins to be pardoned—or else his soul can never be saved; how can such a person venture his soul, his all, upon one who is but a mere creature? Certainly, a mere man is no rock, no city of refuge, and no sure foundation for a man to build his faith and hope upon. Woe to that man, that ever he was born, that has no Jesus—but a Socinian's Jesus to rest upon! Oh, it is sad trusting to one, who is man—but not God; flesh—but not spirit. As you love the eternal safety of your precious souls, and would be happy forever; as you would escape hell, and get to heaven, lean on none, rest on none—but that Jesus who is God-man, who is very God and very man.

Apollinaris held that Christ took not the whole nature of man—but a human body only, without a soul, and that the Godhead was instead of a soul to the manhood. Also Eutyches, who confounded the two natures of Christ, and their properties, etc. Also Apelles and the Manichees, who denied the true human body, and held him to have an aerial or imaginary body. Just so, may it be said of Jesus Christ our Savior, though myriads of angels and saints acclaim he is a God, consequently, immortal; and a crew of heretics disclaim him to be a true man, as the Marcionites averred that he had an imaginary body, and Apelles who conceived that he had an ethereal substance—yet the streams of blood which flowed from him, makes it sure that he was perfect man; consisting of a reasonable soul and human flesh.

And as this truth looks sourly upon the above-mentioned people, so it looks sourly upon the papists, who, by their doctrine of the real presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, do overthrow one of the properties of his human nature, which is to be but in one place present at once. This truth also looks sourly upon the Lutherans or Ubiquitaries, who teach that Christ's human nature is in all places by virtue of their personal union, etc. I wonder that of all the old errors, swept down into this latter age, as into a sink of time, this of the Socinians and Arians should be held forth among the rest. O sirs, beware of their doctrines, shun their meetings and those who come to you with the denial of the divinity of Christ in their mouths.

This was John's doctrine and practice. Irenaeus says, that after he was returned from his banishment, and came to Ephesus, he came to bathe himself, and in the bath he found Cerinthus, who taught that Christ had no being until he received it from the Virgin Mary; upon the sight of whom, John skipped out of the bath, and called his companions from thence; saying, let us go from this place, lest the bath should fall down upon us, because Cerinthus is in it, who is so great an enemy to God. You see his reaction, see his doctrine too: "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work." 2 John 1:9-11

What that doctrine was, if you cast your eye upon the scripture, you shall find it to be the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. Show no love where you owe nothing but hatred: "I hate every false way," says David, Psalm 119:118. "I shall look upon Auxentius as upon a devil, so long as he is an Arian," said Hilarius. We must show no countenance, nor give no encouragement to such as deny either the divinity or humanity of Christ.

I have been the longer upon the divinity and humanity of Christ,

1. Because the times we live in require it.

2. That poor, weak, staggering Christians may be strengthened, established, and settled in the truth, as it is in Jesus.

3. That I may give in my testimony and witness against all those who are poisoned and corrupted with Socinian and Arian principles, which destroy the souls of men.

4. That those in whose hands this book may fall may be the better furnished to make head against men of corrupt minds; who, "by sleight-of-hand and cunning craftiness, lie in wait to deceive," Eph. 4:14.

[6.] Sixthly, As he who did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner, was God-man; so the punishments that Christ did sustain for us, must be referred only to the substance, and not unto the circumstances of punishment. The punishment which Christ endured, if it is considered in its substance, kind, or nature—so it was the same with what the sinner himself should have undergone. Now the punishment due to the sinner was death, the curse of the law, etc. Now this Christ underwent, for "he was made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13. But if you consider the punishment which Christ endured, with respect to certain circumstances, adjuncts, and accidents—as the eternity of it, desperation going along with it, etc., then, I say, it was not the same—but equivalent. And the reason is, because, though the enduring of the punishments, as to the substance of them, could, and did agree with him as a surety—yet the circumstances of those punishments could not have befallen him unless he had been a sinner; and therefore every inordination in suffering was far from Christ, and a perpetual duration of suffering could not befall him, for the first of these had been contrary to the holiness and dignity of his person, and the other had made void the end of his suretyship and mediatorship, which was so to suffer, as yet to conquer and to deliver, and therefore, though he did suffer death for us in the substance of it. Yet he neither did nor could suffer death in the circumstances of it, so as forever to be held by death; for then, in suffering death, he would not have conquered death, nor delivered us from death. Neither was it necessary to Christ's substitution that he should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was liable unto—but if he underwent so much punishment as did satisfy the law, and vindicate the lawgiver in his holiness, truth, justice, and righteousness, that was enough. Now that was unquestionably done by Christ, as the Scriptures do abundantly testify. [Whether the work of man's redemption could have been wrought without the sufferings and humiliation of Christ is not determinable by men—but that it was the most admirable way which wisdom, justice, and mercy could require, cannot be denied.]

It must be readily granted that Christ was to suffer the whole punishment due unto sin, so far as it became the dignity of his person and the necessity of the work—but if he had suffered eternally, the work of redemption could never have been accomplished; and besides, he should have suffered that which would not befit him. And therefore the apostle says, Heb. 2:10, "It became him to be consecrated through sufferings." Christ was only to pass through such sufferings as became him, who was ordained to be the prince and captain of our salvation. It became him to be man, and it became him in our human nature to suffer death, and it became him to sustain for us the substance of those punishments, which we should have undergone; and accordingly he did. What our sins deserved, and what justice might lay upon us for those sins—all that did Christ certainly suffered. Jesus Christ did so suffer for our sins, as that his sufferings were fully answerable to the demerit of our sins. And I think I may safely say that God, in justice, could not require any more, or lay on any one more punishment than Jesus Christ did suffer for our sins; and my reason is this, because Christ bore all our sins, and all our sorrows, and was obedient unto the death, and made a curse for us, Isaiah 53, and Gal. 3:13; and more than this the law of God could not require. And if Christ did suffer all that the law of God required, then certainly he suffered so much as did satisfy the justice of God, namely, as much punishment as was commensurate with sin. But,

[7.] Seventhly and lastly, The meritorious cause, the main end, and the special occasion of all the sufferings of Christ—were the sins of his people. Isaiah 53:4, 5. There were other subordinate ends of his sufferings; as,

(1.) To sanctify sufferings to us.

(2.) To sweeten sufferings to us.

(3.) To support us experimentally under all our sufferings, Heb. 2:17-18.

(4.) That he might be prepared to enter into his glory, Luke 24:26.

(5.) That he might be a conqueror over sufferings, which was one piece of his greatest glory, etc.

Christ was our surety, and he could not satisfy for our sins, nor reconcile us to God without suffering: Isaiah 53:5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions." The Hebrew word for wounded has a double emphasis: either it may signify that he was pierced through as with a dart, or that he was tormented or pained, as women are accustomed to do, who have pain at the time of their travail; for the word in the text last cited comes regularly from a root that signifies to be in pain, as women are when they bring forth. It was our transgressions which gave Christ his deadly wounds; it was our sins which smote him, and bruised him!

Look, as Zipporah said to Moses, Exod. 4:25, "Surely a bloody husband are you to me," so may Christ say to his church, Surely a bloody spouse have you been to me. Christ's spouse may look upon him and say, "I was that Judas who betrayed you! I was that soldier who murdered you! It was my sins which brought all sorrows and sufferings, all mischiefs and evils upon you! I have sinned—and you have suffered! I have sinned—and you have died! I have wounded you—and you have healed me! It is the wisdom, and oh, that it might be more and more the work of every believer to look upon a humble Christ with a humble heart, a broken Christ with a broken heart, a bleeding Christ with a bleeding heart, a wounded Christ with a wounded heart; according to that, Zech. 12:10, Christ was wounded, bruised, and cut off for sinners' sins.

When Christ was taken by the soldiers, he said, "If you seek me, let these go their way," Christ was willing that the hurt which sinners had done to God, and the debt which they owed to him, should be set upon his score, and put upon his account; and the apostle mentions it as a remarkable thing, that "Christ died for the ungodly," Romans 5:8; "the just for the unjust," 1 Pet. 3:18. Our sins were the meritorious cause of Christ's sufferings, Heb. 4:15, and 7:26. Christ did not suffer for himself, "for he was without sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth." The grand design, errand, and business about which Christ came into the world, was to save sinners, 1 Tim. 1:15. He had his name Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins, Mat. 1:21. He died for our sins; not only for our good, as the final cause—but for our sins, as the procuring cause of his death. "He was delivered for our offences," "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," Romans 4:25, and 1 Cor. 15:3; that is, according to what was typified, prophesied, and promised in the blessed Scriptures.

Gal. 1:4, "He gave himself for our sins." "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree; by His wounds you have been healed." 1 Pet. 2:24. Here you see that the physician's blood became the sick man's salve! Here is the gospel mystery--that the wounding of one, should be the cure of another!

Oh, what an odious thing is sin to God, that He will pardon none without blood, yes, without the precious blood of His dearest Son! Oh, what a hell of wickedness must there be in sin--that nothing can expiate it but the best, the purest, the noblest blood that ever ran in veins! Oh, what a transcendent evil must sin be--that nothing can purge it away but death--the accursed death of the cross! Oh, what a leprosy is sin, that it must have blood, yes, the blood of God, to take it away!

Now thus you have seen:

(1.) That the sufferings of Christ have been free and voluntary, and not constrained or forced.

(2.) That they have been very great and heinous.

(3.) That the punishments which Christ suffered for our sin, were, in their parts, and kinds, and degrees, and proportion—all those punishments which were due unto us by reason of our sins; and which we ourselves would otherwise have suffered.

(4.) That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner.

(5.) That he who did feel and suffer the torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner, was God-man.

(6.) That the punishments that Christ did sustain for us, must be referred only to the substance, and not to the circumstances of punishment.

(7.) That the meritorious cause of all the sufferings of Christ, were the sins of his people.

Now thus you have seen:

(1.) That the sufferings of Christ have been free and voluntary, and not constrained or forced.

(2.) That the sufferings of Christ have been very great and heinous.

(3.) That the punishments which Christ suffered for our sin, were, in their parts, and kinds, and degrees, and proportion—all those punishments which were due unto us by reason of our sins; and which we ourselves would otherwise have suffered.

(4.) That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner.

(5.) That he who did feel and suffer the torments of hell, though not after a hellish manner, was God-man.

(6.) That the punishments that Christ did sustain for us, must be referred only to the substance, and not to the circumstances of punishment.

(7.) That the meritorious cause of all the sufferings of Christ, were the sins of his people.

IV. Now to that great question of giving up your account at last, according to the import of these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:12, 14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:3; Romans 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:7.] you may, in the fourth place, make this safe, noble, and happy plea. "O blessed God, Jesus Christ has suffered all those things that were due unto me for my sin; he has suffered even to the worst and uttermost; for all that the law threatened was a curse, and Christ was made a curse for me, Gal. 3:13; he knew no sin—but was made sin for me, 2 Cor. 5:21; and what Christ suffered he suffered as my surety, and in my stead; therefore, what he suffered for me, is as if I had suffered all that myself; and his sufferings has appeased your wrath, and satisfied your justice, and reconciled you to myself!"

2 Cor. 5:19, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." "And he has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles unto God, in one body, on the cross; having slain enmity thereby." Jesus Christ took upon him all my sins—all of them were laid upon him, and he bore or suffered all the wrath and punishment due for them, and he suffered all as my surety, in my stead, and for my good; and you designed him for all this, and accepted of it as sufficient and effectual on my behalf. Oh, with what comfort, courage, and confidence, may a believer, upon these considerations, hold up his head in the great day of his account.

Let me now make a few INFERENCES from the consideration of all the great and grievous sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ—

1. First, Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that he should rather die for us, than the fallen angels. "For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants." Hebrews 2:16. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God. Yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory—oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this! [This is the envy of devils, and the astonishment of angels and saints.] The fallen angels were more honorable and excellent creatures than we. They were celestial spirits; we earthly bodies, dust and ashes. They were immediate attendants upon God, they were, as I may say, of his privy chamber; we servants of his in the lower house of this world, farther remote from his glorious presence. Their office was to sing hallelujahs, songs of praise to God in the heavenly paradise; ours to dress the garden of Eden, which was but an earthly paradise. They sinned but once, and but in thought, (as is commonly thought)—but Adam sinned in thought by lusting, in deed by tasting, and in word by excusing. Why did not Christ suffer for their sins—as well as for ours? Why, if he suffered for any sins—why not for theirs, rather than ours? "Even so, O Father, for so it pleased you," Mat. 11:26.

"We move this question, not as being curious to search your secret counsels, O Lord—but that we may be the more swallowed up in the admiration of the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which passes knowledge." The apostle, being in a holy admiration of Christ's love, affirms it to pass knowledge, Eph. 3:18-19; that God, who is the eternal Being, should love man when he had scarcely a being, Proverbs 8:30-31, that he should be enamored with deformity, that he should love us when in our blood, Ezek. 16, that he should pity us when no eye pitied us, no, not even our own. Oh, such was Christ's transcendent love, that man's extreme misery could not abate it. The deploredness of man's condition did but heighten the holy flame of Christ's love. It is as high as heaven, who can reach it? It is as low as hell, who can understand it? Heaven, with all its glory, could not contain Him. Neither could all hell's torments make Him refrain! Such was His perfect matchless love to fallen and miserable man. That Christ's love should extend to the ungodly, to sinners, to enemies who were in rebellion against him, Romans 5:6, 8, 10; yes, not only so—but that he should hug them in his arms, lodge them in his bosom, dandle them upon his knees, and lay them to his breasts, that they may suck and be satisfied—is the highest degree of love, Isaiah 66:11-13.

It is astonishing that Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father, to a region of sorrow and death, John 1:18; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature, Isaiah 53:4; that he who was clothed with glory, should be wrapped with rags of flesh, 1 Tim. 3:16; that he who filled heaven, should be cradled in a manger, John 17:5; that the God of Israel should fly into Egypt, Mat. 2:14; that the God of strength should be weary; that the judge of all flesh should be condemned; that the God of life should be put to death, John 19:41; that he who is one with his Father, should cry out of misery, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" Mat. 26:39: that he who had the keys of hell and death, Rev. 1:18, should lie imprisoned in the sepulcher of another, having, in his lifetime, nowhere to lay his head; nor after death, to lay his body, John 19:41-42. That He would do all this for man, for fallen man, for miserable man, for worthless man--is beyond all conception!

The sharp, the universal and continual sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, does above all other things speak out the transcendent love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners. That wrath, that great wrath, that fierce wrath, that pure wrath, that infinite wrath, that matchless wrath of an angry God, that was so terribly impressed upon the soul of Christ, quickly spent his natural strength, and turned his moisture into the drought of summer, Psalm 32:4—and yet all this wrath he patiently underwent, that sinners might be saved, and that "he might bring many sons unto glory," Heb. 2:10. Oh wonder of love!

The Curtii laid down their lives for the Romans, because they loved them. Just so, it was the greatness of his love, which made our dear Lord Jesus lay down his life, to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven. As the pelican, out of her love to her young ones, when they are bitten with serpents, feeds them with her own blood to recover them again. Just so, when we were bitten by the old serpent, and our wound incurable, and we in danger of eternal death—then did our dear Lord Jesus, that he might recover us and heal us, feed us with his own blood, Gen. 3:15; John 6:53-56. Oh unspeakable love! This made one cry out, "Lord, you have loved me more than yourself; for you have laid down your life for me." It was the golden link of love, which alone fastened Christ to the cross, John 10:17, and which made him die freely for us, and which made him willing "to be numbered among transgressors," Isaiah 53:12, that we might be numbered among the "general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven," Heb. 12:23.

If Jonathan's love to David was wonderful, 2 Sam. 1:26, how wonderful must the love of Christ be to us, which led him by the hand to make himself an offering for us, Heb. 10:10, which Jonathan never did for David. For though Jonathan loved David's life and safety well—yet he loved his own better; for when his father cast a javelin at him to smite him, he flies from it, and would not abide his father's fury, notwithstanding his wonderful love to David, 1 Sam. 20:33-35; making good the philosopher's notion—that man is a life-lover.

Christ's love is like his name, and that is Wonderful, Isaiah 9:6. Yes, it is so wonderful, that it is above all creatures, beyond all measure, and contrary to all nature. Christ's love is above all creatures, for it is above the angels, and therefore above all others. Christ's love is beyond all measure, for time did not begin it, and time shall never end it; place does not bound it; sin does not exceed it; no estate, no age, no gender is denied it; tongues cannot express it; minds cannot conceive it. Christ's love is contrary to all nature; for what nature can love where it is hated? what nature can forgive where it is provoked? what nature can offer reconcilement where it receives wrong? what nature can heap up kindness upon contempt, favor upon ingratitude, mercy upon sin? And yet, Christ's love has led him to all this; so that well may we spend all our days in admiring and adoring of this wonderful love, and be always ravished with the thoughts of it. But,

2. Secondly, See that you love the Lord Jesus Christ with a superlative love, with an overtopping love. There are none who have suffered so much for you as Christ; there are none who can suffer so much for you as Christ. The least measure of that wrath that Christ has sustained for you, would have broken the hearts, necks, and backs of all created beings. O my friends! there is no love but a superlative love, which is any way suitable to the transcendent sufferings of dear Jesus. Oh, love him above your lusts, love him above your relations, love him above the world, love him above all your outward contentments and enjoyments; yes, love him above your very lives; for thus the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, primitive Christians, and the martyrs of old, have loved our Lord Jesus Christ with an overtopping love: Rev. 12:11, "They loved not their lives unto the death;" that is, they slighted, scorned, yes, despised their lives, exposing them to hazard and loss, out of love to the Lamb, "who had washed them in his blood." [Acts 20:24, and 21:12-13; 2 Cor. 1:8-10, 4:11, and 11:23; Heb. 11:36-39.]

I have read of Kilian, a Dutch schoolmaster, who being asked whether he did not love his wife and children, answered, "Were all the world a lump of gold, and in my hands to dispose of—I would leave it at my enemies' feet to live with them in a prison. But my soul and my Savior are dearer to me than all." "If my father, "says Jerome, "should stand before me, and my mother hang upon, and my brethren should press about me—I would break through my brethren, I would throw down my father, I would tread my mother underfoot—to cleave to Jesus Christ!" "Had I ten heads," said Henry Voes, "I would allow them all to be chopped off in martyrdom for Christ." "If every hair of my head," said John Ardley, martyr, "were a man, they should all suffer for the faith of Christ." "Let fire, racks, pulleys," said Ignatius, "and all the torments of hell come upon me—just so that I may win Christ."

Love made Jerome to say, "O my Savior, did you die for love of me? —a love more dolorous than death—but to me a death more lovely than love itself. I cannot live, love you, and be longer away from you." ["They do not love Christ, who love anything more than Christ," Augustine. The more Christ has suffered for us, the dearer Christ should be unto us. The greater and the bitterer Christ's sufferings have been for us, the greater and the sweeter should our love be to him.]

George Carpenter, being asked whether he did not love his wife and children, which stood weeping before him, answered, "My wife and children!—my wife and children! are dearer to me than all Bavaria—yet, for the love of Christ, I know them not." That blessed virgin in Basil, being condemned for Christ to the fire, and having her estate and life offered her if she would worship idols, cried out, "Let money perish, and life vanish—Christ is better than all." Sufferings for Christ are the saints' greatest glory; they are those things wherein they have most gloried: "Your cruelty is our glory," says Tertullian. It is reported of Babylas, that when he was to die for Christ, he desired this favor, that his chains might be buried with him, as the ensigns of his honor.

Thus you see with what a superlative love, with what an overtopping love, former saints have loved our Lord Jesus; and can you, Christians, who are cold and low in your love to Christ, read over these instances, and not blush? Certainly the more Christ has suffered for us, the more dear Christ should be unto us; the more bitter his sufferings have been for us, the more sweet his love should be to us, and the more eminent should be our love to him. Oh, let a suffering Christ lie nearest your hearts; let him be your manna, your tree of life, your morning star. It is better to part with all, than with this pearl of price. Christ is that golden pipe through which the golden oil of salvation runs; and oh, how should this inflame our love to Christ! Oh, that our hearts were more affected with the sufferings of Christ! Who can tread upon these hot coals, and his heart not burn in love to Christ, and cry out with Ignatius, "Christ my love is crucified!" Cant. 8:7-8.

If a friend should die for us, how would our hearts be affected with his kindness! and shall the God of glory lay down his life for us, and shall we not be affected with his goodness? John 10:17-18. Shall Saul be affected with David's kindness in sparing his life, 1 Sam. 24:16, and shall not we be affected with Christ's kindness, who, to save our life, lost his own? Oh, the infinite love of Christ, that he should leave his Father's bosom, John 1:18, and come down from heaven, that he might carry you up to heaven, John 14:1-4; that he who was a Son should take upon him the form of a servant, Phil. 2:5-8; that you slaves should be made sons, that you enemies should be made friends, that you heirs of wrath should be made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17; that to save us from everlasting ruin, Christ should stick at nothing—but be willing to be made flesh, to lie in a manger, to be tempted, deserted, persecuted, and to die upon a cross! Oh what flames of love to Christ, should these things kindle in all our hearts!

Ah! what sad metal are we made of, that Christ's fiery love to us—cannot inflame our love to him! Moses wondered why the bush was not consumed, when he saw it all on fire, Exod. 3:3—but if you but look into your own hearts, you shall see a greater wonder; for you shall see that, though you walk like those three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, Dan. 3, even in the midst of Christ's fiery love flaming round about you—yet there is but little, very little, true smell of that sweet fire of love to be felt or found upon you or in you.

Oh, when shall the sufferings of a dear and tender-hearted Savior kindle such a flame of love in all our hearts, as shall still be a-breaking forth in our lips and lives, in our words and ways—to the praise and glory of free grace? Oh, that the sufferings of a loving Jesus might at last make us all sick with love! Cant. 2:5. Oh let him forever lie between our breasts, Cant. 1:13, who has left his Father's bosom for a time, that he might be embosomed by us forever. But,

3. Thirdly, Then in the sufferings of Christ, as in a gospel-mirror, you may see the odious nature of sin—and accordingly learn to hate it, arm against it, turn from it, and subdue it. Sin never appears so odious as when we behold it in the red glass of Christ's sufferings, Psalm 119, 104, 113, 128, and Romans 7:15, and 12:9. Can we look upon sin as the occasion of all Christ's sufferings, can we look upon sin as that which made Christ a curse, and which made him forsaken of his Father, and which made him live such a miserable life, and which brought him to die such a shameful, painful, and cruel death—and our hearts not rise against it? Shall our sins be grievous unto Christ—and shall they not be odious unto us? Shall he die for our sins—and shall not we die to our sins? Did not he suffer for sin—that we might cease from sin? Did not he "bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live to righteousness"? 1 Pet. 4:1, and 2:24. If one would kill our father, would we hug and embrace him? Surely not! We would be revenged on him. Sin has killed our Savior, and shall we not be revenged on it. Can a man look upon that snake that has stung his dearly-beloved spouse to death, and preserve it alive, warm it at the fire, and hug it in his bosom? Would he not stab it with a thousand wounds? It is sin which has stung our dear Jesus to death, which has crucified our Lord, clouded his glory, and shed his precious blood! Oh, how should this stir up our indignation against sin!

Ah, how can a Christian make much of those sins, which have killed his dearest Lord! how can he cherish those sins which betrayed Christ, and apprehended Christ, and bound Christ, and condemned Christ, and scourged Christ, and which violently nailed him to the cross, and there murdered him! It was neither Judas, nor Pilate, nor the Jews, nor the soldiers—which could have done our Lord Jesus the least hurt, had not our sins, like so many butchers and hangmen, come in to their assistance!

After Julius Caesar was treacherously murdered, Antonius brought forth his coat, all bloody, cut and mangled, and laying it open to the view of the people, said, "Look, here is your emperor's coat!" Whereupon the people were all in an uproar, and nothing would satisfy them but the death of the murderers, and they ran to the houses of the conspirators and burnt them down to the ground. But what was Caesar's coat, compared to the body of our dear Lord Jesus, which was all bloody, rent, and torn for our sins? Ah, how should this provoke us to be revenged on our sins! how should we forever loathe and abhor them! how should our fury be whetted against them! how should we labor with all our might to be the death of those sins that have been the death of so great a Lord, and will, if not prevented, be the death of our souls to all eternity!

To see God thrust the sword of his pure, infinite, and incensed wrath through the very heart of his dearest Son, notwithstanding all his supplications, prayers, tears, and strong cries, Heb. 5:7, is the highest manifestation of the Lord's hatred and indignation of sin that ever was, or ever will be! It is true God revealed his great hatred against sin, by turning Adam out of paradise, and by casting the angels down to hell, by drowning the old world, and by raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and by the various and dreadful judgments that he has been a-pouring forth upon the world in all ages. But all this hatred is but an emblem of hatred, compared to that hatred which God manifested against sin in causing the whole curse to meet upon our crucified Lord, as all streams meet in the sea. It is true God reveals his hatred of sin by those endless, easeless, and remediless torments that he inflicts upon devils and damned spirits—but this is no hatred, compared to that hatred against sin, which God revealed when he opened all the floodgates of his envenomed wrath upon his Son, his own Son, his only Son, his Son who always pleased him, his Son who never offended him, Isaiah 53:5-6, and Proverbs 8:30-31, and Mat. 3:17.

Should you see a father who had but one son, and he such a son in whom he always delighted, and by whom he had never been provoked; a son who always made it his business, his work, his heaven to promote the honor and glory of his father, John 8:49-50, and 9:4; a son who was always most at ease when most engaged in his father's service; a son who counted it his food and drink to do his father's will, John 4:34: now should you see the father of such a son inflicting the most intensified pains and punishments, tortures and torments, calamities and miseries upon this, his dearest son—would you not wonder at the cause of the father's exercising such amazing, such matchless severity, fury and cruelty upon his only son? [Jer. 44:4, and Zech. 8:17.] Now cast your eye upon the actings of God the Father towards Jesus Christ, and you will find that he has inflicted more torments and greater torments upon the Son of his dearest love, than all mortals ever have or could inflict upon others. Isaiah 53:6, "The Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all." God made all the penalties and sufferings that were due to us—to fall upon Jesus Christ. God himself inflicted upon dear Jesus whatever was requisite to the satisfying of his justice, to the obtaining of pardon, and to the saving of all his elect: verse 10, "It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief." Neither all the devils in hell, nor all the men upon earth, could never have bruised or put to grief our Lord Jesus. If it had not pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief, he had never been bruised or put to grief. Oh, how should this work us to look upon sin with indignation!

Suppose a man should come to his dinner table, and there should be a knife laid down, and it should be told him, "This is the very knife that cut the throat of your child!" If this man would use this knife as a common knife, would not everyone say, "Surely this man had but very little love to his child, who can use this bloody knife as a common knife!" Just so, when you meet with any temptation to sin, oh, then say, "This is the very knife which cut the throat of Jesus Christ, and pierced his sides! This very knife was the cause of his sufferings, and made Christ to be a curse!" Accordingly let your hearts rise against sin!

Ah, how well does it befit Christians to look upon sin as that accursed thing, which made Christ a curse—and accordingly to abhor it! Oh, with what detestation should a man fling away such a knife! and with the like detestation should every Christian fling away his sins, as Ephraim did his idols: "Get away from me! What have I any more to do with you?" Hosea 14:8. "Sin, you have slain my Lord; you have been the only cause of the death of my Savior!" Isaiah 2:20, and 30:22. Let us say as David, "Is not this the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" 2 Sam. 23:17. Just so, is not this the sin which poured out Christ's blood? Oh, how should this enrage our hearts against sin, because it cost the Captain of our salvation, Heb. 2:10, not the hazard—but the very loss of his life!

God showed Moses a tree with which he might make the bitter waters sweet, Exod. 15:25. But, lo! here is a tree with which you may make the sweet waters of sin, to become bitter. Look upon the tree on which Christ was crucified, remember his cross, and the pains he suffered thereon, and the seeming sweetness that is in sin will quickly vanish. When you are solicited to sin, cast your eye upon Christ's cross, remember his astonishing sufferings for sin, and sin will soon grow distasteful to your souls. How can sin not be hateful to us--if we seriously consider how hurtful it was to Jesus Christ? Who can look upon the cross of Christ—and excuse his sin, as Adam did, saying, "The woman which you gave me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat"? Gen. 3:12. Who can look upon the cross of Christ and emblazon his sin, as Judas did, saying, "Hail, Master"? Mat. 26:49. Who can look upon the cross of Christ and deny his sin, as Gehazi did, saying, "Your servant went no where"? 2 Kings 5:25. Who can look upon the cross of Christ and defend his sin, as Jonah did, saying, "I do well to be angry"? Jonah 4:9.

O sirs! where is that hatred of sin that used to be in the saints of old? David could say, "I hate vain thoughts and I hate every false way," Pa. 119:104, 113, 128. And Paul could say, "I do the very thing I hate," Romans 7:15. "It is better," says one, "to be in hell with Christ, than to be in heaven with sin." Oh, how odious was sin in the saints' eye! The primitive Christians chose rather to be cast to lions without—than to be left to lusts within—so great was their hatred of sin. "I had rather," says Anselm, "go to hell pure from sin, than to heaven polluted with that guilt." "I will rather," says another, "leap into a bonfire—than willfully to sin against God." Under the law, if an ox gored a man so that he died—the ox was to be killed, Exod. 21:28. Sin has gored and pierced our dear Lord Jesus—oh, let it die for it! oh, avenge yourselves upon it, as Samson did avenge himself upon the Philistines for his two eyes! Judg. 16:28.

Plutarch reports of Marcus Cato, that he never declared his opinion in any matter in the senate—but he would close it with this passage, "I still think that Carthage should be destroyed." Just so, a Christian should never cast his eye upon the cross of Christ, the sufferings of Christ, nor upon his sins—but his heart should say, "I think pride should be destroyed, and unbelief should be destroyed, and hypocrisy should be destroyed, and earthly-mindedness should be destroyed, and self-love should be destroyed, and vain-glory should be destroyed, etc." The Jews would not have the pieces of silver which Judas cast down in the temple put in the treasury, because they were the price of blood, Mat. 27:5-6. Oh, lodge not any one sin in the treasury of your hearts, for they are all the price of blood! But,

4. Fourthly, Let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus raise in all our hearts a high estimation of Christ. Oh, let us prize a suffering Christ—above all our duties, and above all our graces, and above all our privileges, and above all our outward contentments, and above all our spiritual enjoyments! Mat. 10:37; Luke 14:26. A suffering Christ is a commodity of greater value than all the riches of the Indies, yes, than all the wealth of the whole world. "He is better than rubies," says Solomon, "and all the things you can desire are not to be compared to him," Proverbs 8:11. He is that pearl of great price, which the wise merchant purchased with all that ever he had, Mat 13:46; no man can buy such gold too dear. Joseph, (who was a type of the Lord Jesus,) —then a precious jewel of the world, was far more precious, had the Ishmaelitish merchants known so much, than all the balms and myrrhs that they transported, Gen. 37:25. And just so, is a suffering Christ, as all will grant, who really know him, and who have experienced the sweet of union and communion with him.

Christ went through heaven and hell, life and death, sorrow and suffering, misery and cruelty—and all to bring us to glory—and shall we not prize him? When in a storm, the nobles of Xerxes were to lighten the ship to preserve their king's life—they leaped into the sea! But our Lord Jesus Christ, to preserve our lives, our souls—he leaps into a sea of wrath! Oh, how should this work us to set up Christ above all!

What a deal of stir has been made about Alexander the Great, and Constantine the Great, and Pompey the Great—because of their great power and authority. But what was all their greatness and grandeur, compared to that greatness and grandeur which God the Father put upon our Lord Jesus Christ when he gave all power in heaven and in earth unto him, and set him down at his own right hand? Mat 28:13; Heb. 1:13; Eph. 1:20. O sirs! will you value men according to their titles, and will you not highly value our Lord Jesus Christ, who has the most magnificent titles given him? He is called King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. 17:14, and 19:16. It is observed by learned Drusius, that those titles were usually given to the great kings of Persia. Yet the Holy Spirit attributes these great titles to Christ, to let us know that, as God has exalted Christ above all earthly powers, so we should magnify and exalt him accordingly.

Paul, casting his eye upon a suffering Christ, tells us that he esteems of "all things," Phil. 3:8, as rubbish in comparison of Christ. "All things" is the greatest account that can be cast up, for it includs all prizes, all sums; it takes in heaven, it takes in the vast and huge globe and circle of the capacious world, and all excellencies, within its bosom. "All things" includes all nations, all angels, all gold, all jewels, all honors, all delights, and everything else besides—and yet the apostle looks upon all these things but as "dung," dogs' dung, as some interpret the word, or dogs' meat, coarse and contemptible, in comparison of dear Jesus. [The original word notes the filth that comes out of the entrails of beasts, or offal cast to dogs.]

Carraciolus, that noble Italian marquis, was of the same mind and metal with Paul, for when he was strongly tempted, and solicited with great sums of money and preferments, to return to the Romish church, he gave this heroic answer, "Cursed be he who prefers all the wealth of the world to one day's communion with Christ!" What if a man had large domains, stately buildings, and ten thousand rivers of oil! What if all the mountains of the world were pearl, the mighty rocks rubies, and the whole globe a shining diamond! yet all this were not to be named in the same breath, wherein there is mention made of a suffering Christ. Look, as one ocean has more waters than all the rivers in the world, and as one sun has more light than all the luminaries in heaven, so one suffering Christ is more "all" to a poor soul, than if it had the all of the whole world a thousand times over and over.

O sirs! if you cast but your eye upon a suffering Christ, a crucified Jesus! There you shall find righteousness in him to cover all your sins, and plenty enough in him to supply all your needs, and grace enough in him to subdue all your lusts, and wisdom enough in him to resolve all your doubts, and power enough in him to vanquish all your enemies, and virtue enough in him to heal all your diseases, and fullness enough in him both to satisfy you and save you—and that to the utmost, Heb. 7:25. [I have read of a Roman servant, who knowing his master was sought for by officers to be put to death, he put himself into his master's clothes, that he might be captured in his place; and so he was, and was put to death for him; whereupon his master, in memory of his thankfulness to him and honor of him, erected a brazen statue. But what a statue of gold should we set up in our hearts to the eternal honor and exaltation of Jesus, who not in our clothes, but in our very nature, has laid down his life for us!]

All the good things that can be reckoned up here below have only a finite and limited benignity. Some can clothe but cannot feed, others can nourish but they cannot heal, others can enrich but they cannot secure, others can adorn but cannot advance. All serve some good purpose—but none can fully satisfy. They are like a beggar's coat, made up of many pieces, not all of which, are enough either to beautify, defend, or satisfy. But there is enough in a suffering Christ to fill us and satisfy us to the full.

Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him. Look, as the worth and value of many pieces of silver is to be found in one piece of gold; just so, all the petty excellencies which are scattered abroad in the creatures, are to be found in a bleeding, dying Christ! Yes, all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth, is epitomized in him who suffered on the cross! A man cannot hyperbolise in speaking of Christ and heaven—but must entreat his hearers, that they would conceive much more than he was able to express. Certainly it is as easy to compass the heavens with a span, and contain the sea in a sea-shell—as to relate fully a suffering Christ's excellencies, or heaven's happiness. O sirs! there is in a crucified Jesus something proportionable to all the straits, needs, necessities, and desires of his poor people. [John 6:5-6, 37; Rev. 13:14; Mat. 9:12; Isaiah 9:6; Heb. 2:10; Acts 5:31, and 7:37-38; Heb. 2:17-18, and 4:15-16; 2 Cor. 11:2; Isaiah 9:6-7; John 20:17; 28:16; Rev. 22:16; Eph. 1:22-23.] He is bread to nourish them, and a garment to cover and adorn them, a physician to heal them, a Counselor to advise them, a captain to defend them, a prince to rule them, a prophet to teach them, and a priest to make atonement for them; a husband to protect them, a father to provide for them, a brother to relieve them, a foundation to support them, a root to quicken them, a head to guide them, a treasure to enrich them, a sun to enlighten them, and a fountain to cleanse them. Now what more can any Christian desire--to satisfy him and save him; and to make him holy and happy, in time and eternity?

Shall the Romans and other nations highly value those who have but ventured to lay down their lives for their country—and shall not we highly value the Lord Jesus Christ, who has actually laid down his life for his sheep? John 10:11, 15, 17. I have read of one who, walking in the fields by himself, suddenly fell into loud cries and weeping, and being asked by one who passed by and overheard him the cause of his lamentation, replied, "I weep to think that the Lord Jesus Christ should do so much for us men, and yet not one man of a thousand so much as minds him or thinks of him." Oh what a bitter lamentation have we cause to take up, that the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered so many great and grievous things for poor sinners, and that there are so few who sincerely love him, or who highly value him; most men preferring their lusts, or else the toys and trifles of this world, above him. But,

5. Fifthly, Let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ work us into a gracious willingness to embrace sufferings for his sake, and cheerfully and resolutely to take up his cross and follow him. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24. Did Christ suffer—who knew no sin; and shall we think it strange to suffer—who know nothing but sin? Shall he lie sweltering under his Father's wrath, and shall we cry out under men's anger? Was he crowned with thorns—and must we be crowned with rose-buds? [Godfrey, king of Jerusalem, refused to be crowned with a crown of gold, saying that it was not fitting for a Christian to wear a crown of gold, where Christ, for our salvation, had worn a crown of thorns.] Was his whole life, from the cradle to the cross, made up of nothing but sorrows and sufferings—and must our lives, from the cradle to the grave, be filled up with nothing but pleasures and delights? Was he despised—and must we be admired? Was he debased—and must we be exalted? Was he poor—and must we be rich? Was he low—and must we be high? Did he drink of a bitter cup, a bloody cup—and must we have only cups of consolation? Let us not think anything too much to do for Christ, nor anything too great to suffer for Christ, nor anything too dear to part with for such a Christ, such a Savior—who thought nothing too much to do, or too grievous to suffer—so that he might accomplish the work of our redemption. He left heaven for us—and shall not we let go this world for him? He left his Father's bosom for us—and shall not we leave the bosoms of our dearest relations for him? Psalm 45:10-11; Mat. 10:37. He underwent all sorts of sufferings for us—let us as readily encounter with all sorts of sufferings for him.

Paul was so accustomed to sufferings for Christ, that he could rejoice in his sufferings, he gloried most in his chains, and he looked upon his scars, buffetings, scourgings, stonings for Christ—as his greatest triumphs, 2 Cor. 12:10, and 11:23-28. And how ambitious were the primitive Christians of martyrdom in the cause of Christ? And of late, in the times of the Marian persecution, how many hundreds cheerfully and willingly laid down their lives—mounting Elijah-like to heaven in fiery chariots! And oh, how will Christ own and honor such Christians at last, who have exposed themselves to hazards, losses, and sufferings for his sake! Rev. 3:21, as those brave souls, who loved not their lives unto the death, Rev. 12:11; that is, they despised their lives in comparison of Christ; they exposed their bodies to horrible and painful deaths, their temporal estates to confiscation, and their persons to all manner of shame and contempt, for the cause of Christ, Heb. 11:33-39, and 10:34. In the days of that bloody persecutor Dioclesian, the Christians showed a glorious faith in the face of martyrdom, and the savageness of the persecutors. This bred wonder and astonishment in beholders. In all ages and generations, those who have been born after the flesh have persecuted those who have been born after the Spirit, Gal. 4:29; and the seed of the serpent have been still a-multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman.

"Would any man take the church's picture," says Luther, "then let him paint a poor silly maid, sitting in a wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears, and with all manner of other cruel hurtful beasts; and in the midst of a great many furious men, assaulting her every moment and minute." And why should we wonder at this, when we consider that the whole life of Christ was filled up with all sorts and kinds of sufferings? Oh, where is that brave spirit, which was upon the saints of old? Blessed Bradford looked upon his sufferings for Christ as an evidence to him who he was in the right way. "It is better for me to be a martyr than a monarch," said Ignatius when he was to suffer. ["If one man did suffer all the sorrows of all the saints in the world—yet they are not worth one hour's glory in heaven!" Chrysostom.] "Happy is that soul, and to be equaled with angels, who is willing to suffer, if it were possible, as great things for Christ, as Christ has suffered for him," says Jerome. "Sufferings are the ensigns of heavenly nobility," says Calvin. Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, said to Julian, "While those Christians suffer they deride us," says he, "and the torments are more fearful to those who look on—than to the tormented themselves!"

Vincentius laughed at those who slew him, saying, "that to Christians, tortures and death were but sports." And he gloried when he went upon hot burning coals, as if he trod upon a bed of roses. It was a notable saying of a French martyr, when the rope was about his fellow martyr's neck, "Give me that golden chain, and dub me a knight of that noble order." "Paul rattled his chain, which he bore for the gospel, and was as proud of it as a woman of her ornaments," says Chrysostom. "Do your worst, do your worst," said Justin Martyr to his persecutors; "but this I will tell you, that you may put all that you are likely to gain by the bargain—into your eye and weep it out again." Basil will tell you, that "the most cruel martyrdom is but a trick to escape death, to pass from life to life; for it can be at most, a day's journey between the cross and paradise. "Their names which are written in red letters of blood in the church's calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's register, in the book of life," says Prudentius.

Though the cross be bitter—yet it is but short. "A little storm," as one said of Julian's persecution, "and an eternal calm follows!" "Methinks," said one, "I tread upon pearls, (when he trod upon hot burning coals,) and I feel no more pain than if I lay in a bed of down, (and yet he lay in flames of fire.) "I am heartily angry," says Luther, "with those who speak of my sufferings, which, if compared to that which Christ suffered for me, are not once to be mentioned in the same breath." Paul greatly rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ; and therefore oftentimes sings it out: "I Paul a prisoner," as you may see by these scriptures, [See Acts 28:17; Eph. 3:1, and 4:1; 2 Tim. 1:8; Phil. 1, 9: 2 Cor. 11:23; Romans 16:7; Col. 4:10; Phil. 23.] It is not, "I Paul an apostle," nor "I Paul enrapt up in the third heaven." Christ showed his love to him, in rapping him up in the third heaven; and he shows his love to Christ in suffering for him.

During the cruel persecutions of the heathen emperors, the Christian faith was spread through all places of the empire, "because the oftener they were mowed down," says Tertullian, "the more they grew." "I am the the most unfit man for this high office of suffering for Christ, that ever was appointed to it," said blessed Sanders. Austin observed, that "though there were many thousand Christians put to death for professing Christ—yet they were never the fewer for being slain." Cyprian, speaking of the Christians and martyrs in his time, said, "They may kill them—but they cannot overcome them." "The more we are cut down by the sword of persecution, the more we increase," says Tertullian. Eusebius tells us of one who wrote to his friend from a stinking dungeon, and dates his letter from, "My lovely orchard." "Burn my foot if you will," said that noble martyr, "that it may dance everlastingly with the blessed angels in heaven." The young child, who, when his flesh was pulled in pieces with pincers, by the command of Antiochus, said with a smiling countenance, "Tyrant, where are those smarting pains with which you threatened me? Make me to flinch and cry out if you can!" Bainam, an English martyr, when the fire was flaming about him, said, "You Papists talk of miracles, behold here a miracle, I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of down; it is as sweet to me as a bed of roses!"

Lawrence, when his body was roasted upon a burning gridiron, cried out, "This side is roasted enough, turn the other side." Marcus of Arethusa, when his body was cut and mangled, and anointed with honey, and hung up aloft in a basket, to be stung to death by wasps and bees, looked down, saying, "I am going to glory, despising you who are below." Henry Voes kissed the stake. Hawks clapped his hands in the flames when they were half consumed. John Noys blessed God that ever he was born to see that day. Ridley called his execution day, his wedding day.

Thus you see a "cloud of witnesses" to raise and inflame your hearts into a free, ready, willing, cheerful, and resolute suffering for that Jesus who has suffered so much for you. O sirs, when we see all sorts of Christians, divinely defy and scorn their torments and tormentors, when we see them conquering in the midst of hideous sufferings, when we hear them expressing their greatest joy in the midst of their greatest sufferings, we cannot but conclude that there was something more than ordinary that did thus raise, cheer, and encourage their spirits in their sufferings. And doubtless this was it, "the recompense of reward" on the one hand, and the matchless sufferings of Jesus Christ for them on the other hand, Heb. 11:24-26, and 12:2. The cordial wherewith Peter is said, by Clemens, to comfort his wife when he saw her led to martyrdom, was this, "Remember the Lord, whose disciples if we are; we must not think to speed better than our master."

It is said of Antiochus that, being to fight with Judas, captain of the army of the Jews, he showed unto his elephants the blood of the grapes and mulberries, to provoke them the better to fight, 1 Mac. 6:3-4. Just so, the Holy Spirit has set before us the wounds, the blood, the sufferings, the dying of our dear Lord Jesus—to encourage us to suffer, with all readiness and resoluteness, whatever calamities or miseries may attend us for Christ's sake, or the gospel's sake. Ah, what a shame would it be if we should not be always ready to suffer anything for his sake, who has suffered so much for our sins as is beyond all conception, beyond all expression! Never was Jacob more gracious and acceptable to his father Isaac, than when he stood before him clothed in the garments of his rough brother Esau. Then the father, smelling the savor of the elder brother's garments, said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed," Gen. 27:27. And never are we more gracious and acceptable to our heavenly Father, than when we stand before him clothed in the rough garments of Christ's afflictions and sufferings. O Christians, all your sufferings for Christ, they are but inlets to your glorious reigning with Christ.

Justin Martyr says that when the Romans did immortalize their emperors, as they called it, they brought one to swear that he saw him go to heaven out of the fire. But we may see, by an eye of faith, the blessed souls of martyrs fly to heaven, like Elijah in his fiery chariot, or like the angel who appeared to Manoah, in the flames. By the consent of the schoolmen, all martyrs shall appear in the church triumphant, bearing the signs of their Christian wounds about them, as so many speaking testimonies of their holy courage, that what here they endured in the behalf of their Savior may be there an addition to their glory. But,

6. Sixthly, Has Jesus Christ suffered such great and grievous things for you? Oh then, in all your fears, doubts, and conflicts with enemies, within or without—fly to the sufferings of Christ as your city of refuge! Did Christ endure a most ignominious death for you? Did he take on him your sinful person, and bear your sin and death and cross, and was made a sacrifice and curse for you? Oh then, in all your inward and outward distresses, shelter yourself under the wings of a suffering Christ, Psalm 90:1, and 91:1, 4, 9. I have read of Nero, that he had a shirt made of a salamander's skin, so that if he went through the fire in it, it would keep him from burning. O sirs, a suffering Christ is this salamander's skin—which will keep the saints from burning in the midst of burning, from suffering in the midst of sufferings, from drowning in the midst of drowning, Dan. 3:24, 29, and Isaiah 43:2. In all the storms that beat upon your inward or your outward man, eye the sufferings of Christ, lean upon the sufferings of Christ, plead the sufferings of Christ, and triumph in the sufferings of Christ, Zech. 12:10; Cant. 8:5; 2 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 6:14.

It is storied of a martyr, that, writing to his wife, where she might find him when he was fled from home, "Oh, my dear," said he, "if you desire to see me, seek me in the side of Christ, in the cleft of the rock, in the hollow of his wounds; for there I have made my nest, there will I dwell, there shall you find me, and nowhere else but there." In every temptation let us look up to a crucified Christ, who is fitted and qualified to support tempted souls, Heb. 2:17-18, and 4:15-16. Oh my soul, whenever you are assaulted, let the wounds of Christ be your city of refuge where you may fly and live! Let us learn, in every trouble which presses us—whether it be sin, or death, temptation, or any other evil—to translate it from ourselves to Christ! And all the good in Christ—let us learn to translate it from Christ to ourselves!

Look, as the burgess of a town, sitting in the Parliament-house, bears the persons of that whole town, and what he says the whole town says, and what is done to him is done to the whole town. Just so, Christ upon the cross stood in our place, and bore our sins, Isaiah 53:4-6; and whatever he suffered we suffered; and when he died all the faithful died with him and in him.

I have read of a gracious woman who, being strongly tempted by Satan, replied, "Satan, if you have anything to say to me, say it to my Christ, say it to my surety, who has undertaken all for me, who has paid all my debts, and satisfied divine justice, and set all reckonings even between God and my soul." Do your sins terrify you? Oh then, look up to a crucified Savior, who bore your sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Pet. 2:24. When sin stares you in the face, oh then turn your face to a dying Jesus, and behold him with a spear in his side, with thorns in his head, with nails in his feet, and a pardon in his hands. ["The strongest antidote against sin is to look upon sin in the red glass of Christ's blood!" Austin.] Have you wounded your conscience by any great fall or falls? Oh, remember that there is nothing in heaven or earth more efficacious to cure the wounds of conscience than a frequent and serious meditation on the wounds of Christ. Does death, which rides upon the pale horse, Rev. 6:8, look ghastly and deadly upon you? Oh then, remember that Christ died for you, Romans 5:6, 8, and that by his death he has swallowed up death in victory, 1 Cor. 15:55-57. Oh, remember that a crucified Christ has stripped death of his sting, and disarmed it of all its destroying power. Death may buzz about our ears—but it can never sting our souls.

Look, as a crucified Christ has taken away the guilt of sin—though he has not taken away sin itself, so he has taken away the sting of death—though he has not taken away death itself. He spoke excellently, who said, "That is not death—but life, which joins the dying man to Christ! And that is not life—but death, which separates the living man from Christ!" [Death will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory!] Austin longed to die, that he might see that head which was crowned with thorns. "Did Christ die for me," says one, "that I might live with him? I will not, therefore, desire to live long away from him." All men go willingly to see him whom they love—and shall I be unwilling to die that I may see him whom my soul loves? Bernard would have us never to let go out of our minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ. "Let these," says he, "be food and drink unto you; let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your contemplation, your life, death, and resurrection!" Certainly he who shall live up to this counsel, will look upon the king of terrors as the king of desires!

Are you apt to tremble when you eye the curse threatened in the law? Oh then, look up to a crucified Christ, and remember that "he has redeemed you from the curse of the law, being made a curse for you," Gal. 3:13. Does the wrath of God bewilder you? Oh then, look up to a crucified Christ, and remember that Christ has trod the winepress of his Father's wrath alone, Isaiah 63:3, that he might deliver you from wrath to come! 1 Thes. 1:10. Is the face of God clouded? Does he who should comfort you stand afar off? Oh then, look up to a crucified Christ, and remember that he was forsaken for a time—that you might not be forsaken forever!

Are you sometimes afraid of condemnation? Oh then, look upon a crucified Christ, who was condemned that you might be justified. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died." Romans 8:33-34.

Ah, Christians, under all your temptations, afflictions, fears, doubts, conflicts, and trials—be persuaded to keep a fixed eye upon crucified Jesus; and remember that all he did he did for you, and that all he suffered he suffered for you! This will be a strong cordial to keep you from fainting under all your inward and outward distresses, according to that saying of one of the ancients, "I may be troubled—but I shall not be overwhelmed, because I remember the print of the nails and of the spear in the hands and side of Jesus Christ!" Oh, that Christians would labor, under all their soul-troubles, to keep a fixed eye upon a bleeding Christ; for there is nothing which will ease them, quiet them, settle them, and satisfy them like this. Many, may I not say most, Christians are more apt to eye their sins, their sorrows, their prayers, their tears, their resolves, their complaints, than they are to eye a suffering Christ; and from hence springs their greatest woes, wounds, miseries, and dejection of spirit. Oh, that a crucified Christ might be forever in your eye, and always upon your hearts! But,

7. Seventhly and lastly, Has Jesus Christ suffered such great and grievous things? Then this truth looks sadly and sourly upon the papists. In this red glass of Christ's blood, you may see how vain and wicked, how ridiculous and superstitious, the devices of the papists are—who for pacifying of God's wrath, and for the allaying of his anger, and for satisfying his justice, and for the obtaining of pardon, etc., have appointed penances and pilgrimages, and self-scourgings and soul-masses, and purgatory, and several other suchlike abominations, which the Scripture nowhere commands—but everywhere forbids; which inventions and abominations of theirs tend only to derogate from the dignity and sufficiency of Christ's sufferings, and to reflect dishonor and disgrace upon that full and perfect price which Christ has paid for our ransom, and to set up other saviors in the room of our blessed Redeemer. [Surely that religion which loves to lap blood, and which is propagated and maintained by blood, and which prefers their own inventions and abominations before the blood and sufferings of Christ—that religion is not of God. But such is the Romish religion; consequently their religion is not of God.]

Certainly all Popish pardons, penances, pilgrimages, masses, whippings, scourgings, etc., they unavoidably fall before the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ—as Dagon fell before the ark, Goliath before David, Haman before Mordecai, and as the darkness falls before the morning light. And as for their purgatory, they do not know certainly where it is, nor how long it will last, nor what sort of fire is there; neither can they show us how corporeal fire should work upon the souls in purgatory, they being spiritual and incorporeal; they cannot tell us whether the pains of purgatory be at all times alike, neither can they tell us whether the good or evil angels are the tormentors of the souls in purgatory. And as for the whipping, scalding, freezing of souls in purgatory, they are but "old wives' fables," and the brain-sick fancies of some deceitful people, to cheat poor ignorant people of their money, under a blind pretense of praying their souls out of purgatory.

Christ offered himself "once for all," Heb. 10:10. But the Romish priests offer him up daily in the mass, an unbloody sacrifice; and so they do what lies in them to "tread under foot the blood of God, the blood of the covenant," Acts 20:28; Heb. 10:29. To be short, Popery in effect is nothing else but an underhand, secret witness-bearing against Christ in all his offices, and against all that he has done and suffered for the redemption and salvation of sinners, as might be made abundantly evident—but that I may not now launch out into that ocean. I only give this brief touch by the way, that I might raise up in all your hearts a greater detestation of Popery, in this day wherein many are so warm for it, as if it were their only Diana.

And let thus much suffice, concerning the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the improvement that we should make of them.

Thus you may clearly see, by what I have said concerning the active and passive obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, that whatever we are bound to do or suffer by the law of God—all that did Christ do and suffer for us, as being our surety and mediator. Now the law of God has a double challenge or demand upon us: one is of active obedience, in fulfilling what it requires; the other is of passive obedience, in suffering that punishment which is due to us for the transgression of it, in doing what it forbids. For as we were created by God, we did owe unto him all obedience which he required; and as we sinned against God, we did owe unto him a suffering of all that punishment which he threatened. And we being fallen by transgression, can neither pay the one debt, nor yet the other. Of ourselves we can do nothing that the law requires; neither can we so suffer as to satisfy God in his justice wronged by us, or to recover ourselves into life and favor again.

And therefore Jesus Christ, who was God-man, did become our surety, and stood in our stead or room, and he did perform what we should, but could not perform; and he did bear our sins and our sorrows; he did suffer and bear for us—what we ourselves should have borne and suffered, whereby he did fully satisfy the justice of God, and made our peace, and purchased pardon and life for us.

Christ did fully answer to all the demands of the law, he did come up to perfect and universal conformity to it. He did whatever the law enjoins, and he suffered whatever the law threatens. Christ, by his active and passive obedience, has fulfilled the law most exactly and completely, Gal. 3:13. As he was perfectly holy, he did what the law commanded; and as he was made a curse, he underwent what the law threatened. And all this he did and suffered in our steads and as our surety. Whatever Christ did as our surety, he made it good to the full; so that neither the righteous God, nor yet the righteous law, could ever tax him with the least defect. This must be our great plea, our choice, our sweet, our safe, our comfortable, our acceptable plea, both in the day of our particular accounts when we die, and in the great day of our account, when a crucified Savior shall judge the world.

Although sin, as an act, be transient—yet in the guilt of it, it lies in the Lord's high court of justice, filed upon record against the sinner, and calling aloud for deserved punishment, saying, "Man has sinned, and man must suffer for sin!" But now Christ has suffered, that plea is taken off. "Lo here," says the Lord God, "the same nature that sinned, suffers; my own Son, being made flesh, has suffered death for sin in the flesh; the thing is done, the law is satisfied." Thus whereas sin would have condemned us, Christ has condemned sin; he has weakened, yes, nullified and taken away sin—in the guilt and condemning power of it—by that abundant satisfaction that he has given to the justice of God by his active and passive obedience. So that, "there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," Romans 8:1, 3; for the blood of the mediator outcries the clamor of sin; and this must be a Christian's joy and triumph and plea in the great day of our Lord Jesus.

As Christ was "made sin for us," 2 Cor. 5:21, so the Lord does impute the sufferings of Christ to us—that is, he accepts of them on our behalf, and puts them upon our account; as if the Lord should say unto every particular believer, "My Son was your surety and stood in your stead, and suffered and satisfied and took away your sins by his blood. In his blood I find a ransom for your soul; I do acknowledge myself satisfied for you, and satisfied towards you, and you are delivered and discharged. I forgive you your sins, and am reconciled unto you, and will save you and glorify you for my Son's sake. In his blood you have redemption, and the forgiveness of your sins."

As when a surety satisfies the creditor for a debt, this is accounted to the debtor, and reckoned as a discharge to him in particular. "I am paid and you are discharged," says the creditor. Just so it is in this case; "I am paid, says God, and you are discharged, and I have no more to say to you but this. Enter into the joy of your Lord!" Mat. 25:21.

The Justification of a Sinner in the Sight of God

V. The fifth plea that you are to make in order to these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:3; Romans 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] which respects the account that you are to give up in the great day of the Lord, is drawn from the imputed righteousness of Christ to us. The justification of a sinner in the sight of God, upon the account of Christ's righteousness imputed to him, whereby the guilt of sin is removed, and the person of the sinner is accepted as righteous with the God of heaven, is that which I shall open to you distinctly in these following branches—

1. First, That the grace of justification in the sight of God is made up of two parts—

1. There is forgiveness of the offences committed against the Lord.

2. There is acceptance of the person offending—pronouncing him a righteous person, and receiving him into favor again, as if he had never offended. This is most clear and evident in the blessed Scriptures.

[1.] First, There is an act of absolution and acquittal from the guilt of sin, and freedom from the condemnation deserved by sin. The desert of sin is an inseparable attendant of sin, which can never be removed. It may be truly said of the sins of a justified person, that they deserve everlasting destruction—but justification is the freeing of a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity, whereby he was actually bound over to condemnation. [Romans 8:1. Condemnation is a forensic word, relating to what is in use among men in their courts of judicature to condemn. It is the sentence of a judge decreeing a penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty person.]

As soon as any man does sin, there is a guilt upon him, by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God; and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin; the sin does deserve no less than everlasting damnation. Now, forgiveness of sin has a peculiar respect to the guilt of sin, and removal of that. When the Lord forgives a man, he does discharge him of that obligation by which he was bound over to wrath and condemnation: Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;" verse 33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies;" verse 34, "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died." Beloved, the Lord is a holy and just God; and "he reveals his wrath from heaven against all unrighteousness," Romans 1:18; and there is a curse threatened to every transgression of the law, Gal. 3:10; and when any man sins, he is liable unto the curse, and God may inflict the same upon him, Romans 1:32. But when God forgives sins, he therein does interpose, as it were, between the sin and the curse, and between the obligation and the condemnation, Romans 6:23.

When the sinner sins, God might say unto him, "Sinner, by your sinning you are now fallen into my hands of justice; and for your sins I may, according to my righteous law, condemn and curse you forever! But such is my free, my rich, my sovereign grace, that for Christ's sake I will spare you and pardon you, and that curse and condemnation which you have deserved, shall never fall upon you. Oh, my affections, my affections, are yearning towards you, Jer. 31:20; and therefore I will have mercy, mercy upon you, and will deliver your souls from going down into the pit!" Job 33:13, 24, 28, 30.

When the poor sinner is indicted and arraigned at God's bar, and process is made against him, and he found guilty of the violation of God's holy law, and accordingly judged guilty by God, and adjudged to everlasting death, then mercy steps in and pleads, "I have found a ransom! Job 33:24. The sinner shall not die—but live!" When the law says, "Ah, sinner, sinner! thus and thus have you transgressed, all sorts of duties you have omitted, and all sorts of sins you have committed, and all sorts of mercies you have abused, and all sorts of means you have neglected, and all sorts of offers you have slighted!" Then God steps in and says, "Ah, sinner, sinner! what do you say, what can you say, to this heavy charge? Is it true or false? Will you grant it or deny it? What defense or plea can you make for yourself?" Alas! the poor sinner is speechless: Mat. 22:12, he was muzzled or haltered up, that is, he held his peace as though he had a bridle or a halter in his mouth. He has not one word to say for himself; he can neither deny, nor excuse, or extenuate what is charged upon him.

"Why now," says God, "I must and do pronounce you to be guilty; and as I am a just and righteous God, I cannot but adjudge you to die eternally. But such is the riches of my mercy, that I will freely justify you through the righteousness of my Son; I will forgive your sins, and discharge you of that obligation by which you were bound over to wrath, and curse, and condemnation!" The justified person may now triumphingly say, "Who is he who condemns?" He may read over the most dreadful passages of the law without being terrified or amazed, as knowing that the curse is removed, and that all his sins, which brought him under the curse, are pardoned, and are, in point of condemnation, as if they had never been! This is to be justified, to have the sin pardoned and the penalty remitted.

Romans 4:5-8, "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works—Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." It is observable that what David calls forgiveness of sin, and not imputing of iniquity, Paul styles a being justified. But,

[2.] Secondly, As the first part of justification consists in the pardon of sin, so the second part of justification consists in the acceptance of the sinner's person as perfectly righteous in God's sight, pronouncing him such, and dealing with him as such, and by bringing of him under the shadow of that divine favor which he had formerly lost by his transgressions: Cant. 4:7, "You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you;" that is, none in my account, nor no such spots as the wicked are full of, Deut. 32:5. Look, as David saw nothing in lame Mephibosheth but what was lovely, because he saw in him the features of his friend Jonathan, 2 Sam. 9:3-4, 13-14. Just so, God, beholding his people in the face of his Son, sees nothing amiss in them. "They are all glorious within and without," Psalm 45:13. Look, as Absalom had no blemish from head to foot, so they are blameless and "without blemish before the throne of God," Rev. 14:5.

The pardoned sinner, in respect of divine acceptance, is "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," Eph. 5:26-27. God accepts the pardoned sinner as complete in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power, Col. 2:10. Christ makes us lovely through his beauty; he gives us white raiment to stand before the Lord. Christ is all in all, in regard of divine acceptance: Eph. 1:6, "He has made us accepted in the beloved." "He has made us favorites," so Chrysostom and Theophylact render it. "God has ingratiated us," he has made us gracious in the Son of his love. Through the blood of Christ, we are lovely and beautiful in God's eyes. Isaiah 62:4, "You shall no more be termed forsaken—but you shall be called Hephzibah; for the Lord delights in you." [All people outside of Christ are cursed enemies, objects of God's wrath and justice, displeasing, offending, and provoking creatures; and therefore God cannot but loathe them and abhor them.]

The acceptance of our persons with God takes in six things:

(1.) God's honoring of us;

(2.) His delight in us;

(3.) His being well pleased with us;

(4.) His extending love and favor to us;

(5.) His high estimation of us;

(6.) His giving us free access to himself.

It is the observation of Ambrose, that though Jacob was not by birth the first-born—yet, hiding himself under his brother's clothes, and having put on his coat, which smelled most fragrantly, he came into his father's presence, and got away the blessing from his elder brother, Gen. 27:36; so it is very necessary, in order to our acceptance with God, that we lie hid under the precious robe of Christ, our elder brother; that, having the sweet savor of his garments upon us, our sins may be covered with his perfections, and our unrighteousness with the robes of his righteousness, 1 Cor. 2:15; so that we may offer up ourselves unto God "a living and acceptable sacrifice," Romans 12:1; "not having our own righteousness, which is but as filthy rags," Isaiah 64:6 but that which is "through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," Phil. 9.

Thus you see that justification, for the nature of it, lies in the gracious pardon of the sinner's transgressions, and in the acceptance of his person as righteous in God's sight. But,

2. Secondly, In order to the partaking of this grace, of the forgiveness of our sins and the acceptance of our persons, we must be able to produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord, and to present it and tender it unto him. And the reason is evident from the very nature of God, who is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," Hab. 1:13, that is, with patience or pleasure, or without punishing it. [Heb., "And to look on iniquity, you cannot do it."] There are four things that God cannot do:

(1.) He cannot lie;

(2.) He cannot die;

(3.) He cannot deny himself;

(4.) He cannot behold iniquity with approbation and delight.

Josh. 24:19, "And Joshua said unto the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins." Such is the holiness of God's nature, that he cannot behold sin, that he cannot but punish sin wherever he finds it, Psalm 5:4-6. God is infinitely, immutably, and inexorably just, as well as he is incomprehensibly gracious. Now, in the justification of a sinner God does act as a God of justice, as well as a God of compassion. God is infinite in all his attributes, in his justice as well as in his mercy: these two cannot interfere with each other. As justice cannot encroach upon mercy, so neither may mercy encroach upon justice; the glory of both must be maintained. Now, by the breach of the law, the justice of God is wronged; so that although mercy is apt to pardon—yet justice requires satisfaction, and calls for vengeance on sinners. "Every transgression must receive just recompense," Heb. 2:2, and God will not in any case absolve the guilty, Exod. 34:7; and until this is done, the hands of mercy are tied that she cannot act. And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite Majesty—but by an equal person and price; therefore the Son of God must become a curse for us, by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death. By this means, justice and mercy are reconciled and kiss each other, and mercy now being set at liberty, has her free course to save poor sinners. God will have his justice satisfied to the full, and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sins; or else God cannot set us free, for he cannot go against his own just will.

Observe the force of that phrase, "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things," Luke 24:26; Mat. 26:54, "It must happen in this way." Why must? but because it was,

(1.) So decreed by God.

(2.) Foretold by the prophets. Every particular of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets, even to their very spitting in his face.

(3.) Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice; this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world.

A necessity then there was of our Savior's sufferings; not a necessity of co-action, for he died freely and voluntarily—but of immutability and infallibility, for the former reasons mentioned, John 10:11, 14, 17, 18.

An earthly prince who is just, holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactor or his surety. It stands upon his honor; he says, "It must be so, I cannot do otherwise." This is true much more of God, who is justice itself. God, "who is great in counsel and excellent in working," had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost mankind—yet he was pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to pitch upon this way of atonement, as being most agreeable to his holy nature, and most suitable to his high and sovereign ends—namely, man's salvation and his own glory. And that God does stand upon full atonement, and will not forgive one sin without it, may be thus made evident.

[1.] First, From the nature of sin, which is that "abominable thing which God hates," Jer. 44:4. [God could not simply pass over the sin of man, so as absolutely to let it go unpunished.] The sinner deserves to die for his sins: Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Every sinner is worthy of death; "those who commit such things are worthy of death," Romans 1:32. Now God is just and righteous. "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who trouble you," 2 Thes. 1:6. Yes, and God did, therefore, "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice," Romans 3:25; "he did it to demonstrate his justice," verse 26.

Now, if God is a just and righteous God, then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished; for it is just with God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment; and certainly God must deny himself if he will not be just, 2 Tim. 2:13—but this he can never do. Sin is of an infinite guilt, and has an infinite evil in the nature of it; and therefore no person in heaven or earth—but that person our Lord Jesus, who is God-man, and who had an infinite dignity—could either procure the pardon of it, or make satisfaction for it. No prayers, no cries, no tears, no humblings, no repentings, no resolutions, no reformations, etc., can stop the course of justice, or procure the guilty sinner's pardon. It is Christ alone, who can dissolve all obligations to punishment, and break all bonds and chains of guilt, and hand a pardon to us through his own blood, Eph. 1:7. We are set free by the blood of Christ. "By the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit," Zech. 9:11: it is by his blood that we are justified and saved from wrath: Romans 5:9, "Much more being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath by him." What is it to be justified—but to be pardoned; and what is it to be saved from wrath—but to be delivered from all punishment? and both these depend upon the blood of Christ, Eph. 2:13; Col. 1:20. But,

[2.] The veracity of God requires it. Look, as God cannot but be just, so he cannot but be true. And if he cannot but be true, then he will make good the threatenings which have gone out his mouth: Gen. 2:17, "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die!" Heb. "In dying, you shall die." [Under the name of death are comprehended all other calamities, miseries, and sorrows.] Death is a fall that came in by a fall, and without all question, every man should die the same day he was born, for "the wages of sin is death," and this wages would be presently paid, did not Christ reprieve poor sinners' lives for a season, upon which account he is said to be the Savior of all men, 1 Tim. 4:10; not of eternal salvation—but of a temporal preservation. "He will by no means clear the guilty." Exod. 34:7. "The soul that sins, it shall die." "The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Ezek. 17:20. "He will render to every man according to his deeds." Romans 2:6.

O sirs, God can never so far yield as to abrogate his own law, and quietly to sit down with injury and loss to his own justice, he himself having established a law, etc. "The law pronounces him cursed, who continues not in all things which are written therein, to do them," Gal. 3:10. Now, though the threatenings of men are frequently vain and frivolous—yet the threatenings of the great God shall certainly take place and have their accomplishment! Though many ten thousand millions of sinners perish, not one tittle of the dreadful threatenings of God shall fail until all be fulfilled, Mat. 5:18.

Josephus says that from that very time that old Eli heard those terrible threatenings, that made their ears tingle and hearts tremble that heard them—that he never ceased weeping, 1 Sam. 3:11-14. Ah, who can look upon the dreadful threatenings which are pointed against sinners all over the book of God, and not tremble and weep! God cannot but in justice punish sinners; neither is it in his choice or freedom whether he will damn the obstinate impenitent sinner or not. Look, as God cannot but love holiness wherever he sees it, so he cannot but loathe and punish wickedness wherever he beholds it; neither will it stand with the infinite wisdom of God, to admit of a dispensation or relaxation of his threatenings without justice. God had passed an authoritarian doom, and made a solemn declaration of it in his word, that "he who sins, shall die the death!" He will not, he cannot break his word.

You know he had foreordained Jesus Christ, and set him forth to take upon himself this burden, to become a propitiation for sin through his blood, Romans 3:25; 1 Pet. 1:20, and made known his mind concerning it in his written word plainly, Isaiah 53:7. If we read the words, "it is exacted or strictly required," meaning the iniquity or punishment of us all, verse 6. It is required at his hands, he must answer it in our stead, and so he is afflicted, and this affliction reaches even to his death, verse 8. Therefore when Christ puts this work upon an ought and must be, he lays the weight of all on the Scriptures, "Thus it is written," as you may see in the texts lately cited; as if he should say, "God has spoken it, and his truth engages him to see it done." Just so, God has threatened to punish sin, and his truth engages him to see it done.

O sirs, there is no standing before that God that is "a consuming fire," a just judge, a holy God, except I have one to "undertake for me," Heb. 12:29, who is "mighty to save," Isaiah 63:1, and mighty to satisfy divine justice, and mighty to pacify divine wrath, and mighty to bear the threatenings, and mighty to forgive sin!

When God forgives sin, he does it in a way of righteousness, Isaiah 19:20. 1 John 1:9, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He does not say he is merciful—but "just, to forgive us our sins;" because they are atoned and satisfied for, and God's justice will not let him demand the same debt twice—of the surety and of the debtor also. It will never stand with the unspotted justice and righteousness of God, to require such debts of us, which Christ, by shedding his most precious blood, has discharged for us, Romans 3:25. Mark—the maledictory sentence of death, denounced by the law against sinners, was inflicted by God upon Christ. This is that which the prophet Isaiah positively asserts, where he says, "The chastisement," that is, the punishment (called a chastisement, because inflicted by a father, and only for a time,) "of our peace was upon him." And again, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted," Isaiah 53:5, 7; which, according to the genuine sense of the original, is better rendered, "It was exacted," that is, the punishment of our sin; and he was afflicted, or he answered, to the demand of the penalty.

"The curse to which we are subject," says Theodorus, "he assumed upon himself of his own accord." "The death that was not due to him—he underwent; that we might not undergo that death which was due to us," says Gregory. "He made himself a debtor for us, who were debtors; and therefore the creditor exacts it from him," says Arnoldus.

Now God's justice being satisfied for our offences, it cannot but remit those offences to us. As the creditor cannot demand that of the debtor which the surety has already paid—just so, neither can God exact the punishment of us which Christ has suffered; and therefore "it is just with God to forgive us our sins."

It will be altogether needless to inquire whether it had been injustice in God to forgive without payment and satisfaction. Austin's determination is very solid: "There was no lack in God to provide another possible way, and if it were unjust, it were impossible—but this way of satisfaction was most agreeable to divine wisdom. Before God did decree this way, it might be free to have used it or not—but in decreeing, this seemed most convenient, and after, it became necessary, so that there can be no remission without it; and however it might not have been unjust with God to have forgiven without it—yet we are sure it is most just with him to forgive upon satisfaction." [When you are forgiven, you are then released, and forever acquitted from any after-reckonings with the justice of God. Divine justice has no more to say or do against you, for, if the fault be forgiven, then also is the punishment forgiven; nay, let me speak with a holy and humble reverence, God cannot in his justice punish—where he has first pardoned.]

Indeed, the debt being paid by Christ, God's very justice, as I may say with reverence, would trouble him if he should not give out an acquittance. The believing penitent sinner may, in a humble confidence, sue out his pardon, not only at the throne of grace—but at the bar of justice, in these or the like expressions: "Lord, you have punished my sins in your Son; will you punish them in me? You have accepted that suffering of your Son as the punishment of my sin, therefore you cannot in justice exact it of me; for this were to punish twice for one offence—which your justice cannot but abhor." O sirs! God does not pronounce men righteous when they are not—but first he makes them so, and then he pronounces them to he such; so that if a man will be justified, he must be able to produce such a complete righteousness wherewith he may stand before the justice of God. Ah sinners! the Lord is infinitely just, as well as merciful; and if ever your sins are pardoned, it must be by an admirable mixture of mercy and justice together. It was one of the great ends of the gospel dispensation that God might exalt his justice in the justification of a sinner: Romans 3:26, "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus." But,

3. Thirdly, The only matter of man's righteousness, since the fall of Adam, wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of God, and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight—is the obedience and suffering of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of the mediator. There is not any other way imaginable, how the justice of God may be satisfied, and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice—but by the righteousness of the Son of God; and therefore this is his name, "Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness," Jer. 23:6. "This is his name," that is, this is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus, a matter that appertains to him alone, to be able to "bring in everlasting righteousness, and to make reconciliation for iniquity," Dan. 9:24.

The costly cloak of Alcisthenes, which Dionysius sold to the Carthaginians for an hundred talents, was indeed a base and beggarly rag, compared to that embroidered mantle of Christ's righteousness, which he puts upon us. Isaiah 61:10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and a bride adorns herself with her jewels." [It is a sign of great favor from the Great Turk, when a rich garment is cast upon any that come into his presence. —Knolles History. The application is easy.]

Christ's righteousness is that garment of wrought gold, which we all need, to cover all our imperfections, and to render us perfectly beautiful and glorious in the sight of God. [Psalm 45:13; Romans 5:19; Col. 2:10; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 14:5; Romans 3:21-22, 25-26.] In this robe of righteousness we are complete; we are without spot or wrinkle; we are without fault before the throne of God. Through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, we are made righteous in the sight of God. God looking upon us, as invested with the righteousness of his Son, accounts us righteous. All believers have a righteousness in Christ as full and complete, as if they had fulfilled the law. "Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to believers," Romans 8:3-4, invests believers with a righteousness every way as complete, as the personal obedience of the law would have invested them with.

When men had violated God's holy law, God in justice resolved that his law should be satisfied, before man should be saved. Now this was done by Christ, who was the end of the law; he fulfilled it actively and passively, and so the injury offered to the law is recompensed. God had rather that all men should be destroyed, than that his law should not be satisfied. No man can perfectly be justified in the sight of God without a perfect righteousness, every way commensurable to God's holy law, which is the rule of righteousness, "Do this and live." Neither can any person have any choice, spiritual, lively communion with a righteous God, until he is clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. All Christ's active and passive obedience was either for himself, or in our stead and behalf. But it was not for himself—but for us, that he suffered and obeyed. Whatever Christ did or suffered in the whole course of his life, he did it and suffered it as our surety, and in our steads. For as God would not dispense with the penalty of the law without satisfaction, so he would not dispense with the commands of the law without perfect obedience.

Remember, once for all, that the actions and sufferings of Christ make but up one entire and perfect obedience to the whole law; nor had Christ been a perfect and complete Savior, if he had not performed what the law required, as well as suffered the penalty which the law inflicted. The imputation of Christ's righteousness to us is a gracious act of God the Father, according to his good will and pleasure, whereby as a judge, he accounts believers' sins unto the surety, as if he had committed the same; and the righteousness of Christ unto the believer, as if he had performed the same obedience which Christ did in his own person. So Christ's imputed righteousness is as effectual to the full, for the acceptance of the believing sinner, as if he had yielded such obedience to the Lord himself. Hence his righteousness is called "our righteousness," Jer. 23:6. Now without this righteousness there is no standing with acceptance, before the justice of God. But,

4. Fourthly, As this great design of Christ's redeeming sinners by his blood and sufferings, and by his being made a curse for them, does sound aloud the glory of divine JUSTICE, and the glory of God's VERACITY—so it sounds forth the glory of his WISDOM; for hereby he maintains the authority of his righteous law. [Solon, that wise lawmaker, could never find out a law to put all other good laws in execution—but such as are living laws, will make the laws to live: and will not the wise and living God make his laws and threatenings to live? Surely he will.] When a law is solemnly enacted, with a penalty in case of transgression, all those whom it concerns may conclude for certain, that the lawgiver will proceed accordingly; and it is a rule in policy, that laws once established and published, should be vigorously preserved. If the Lord should have wholly waived the execution of the law upon sinners or their surety, it might have tended greatly to the weakening of its authority, and the diminishing of the reverence of his sovereignty in the hearts of the sons of men. How often does God use that oath, "As surely as I live," for the fulfilling of his threatenings as well as of his promises, Jer. 22:24, and Ezek. 5:9-11. The Lord Jehovah is as true, faithful, and constant in his threatenings as he is in his promises. What he has threatened shall undoubtedly come to pass; he will be made known by his name Jehovah in the full execution of all his threatenings. The old world found it so, and Jerusalem found it so; yes, the whole nation of the Jews have found it so to this very day, see Ezek. 5:13, 15.

Look, as all the saints in heaven will readily put to their seals, that God is true and faithful in all his promises; just so, all the damned in hell will readily put to their seals, that God is faithful in all his threatenings. Men frequently deride the laws and threatenings of great men, when they are not put into execution. It is the execution of laws, which is the very life and soul of good laws, Eccles. 8:11. Should God pardon sin, without exacting the penalty of the law, how would sinners be hardened, and emboldened to say, with those men, or rather monsters, in Malachi 2:17, "Where is the God of justice?" That is, nowhere; either there is no God, or at least not a God of that exact, precise, and impartial justice, as some men say and as others teach. But now when God lets sinners see that he will not pardon sin without exacting the penalty of the law, either of the sinner or of his surety, then the sinner cries out, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Romans 11:33.

God stood so much upon the complete satisfaction and accomplishment of his law, that he was willing that Christ should be a sacrifice—that the law might be satisfied in its penalty; and that Christ in his own person should fulfill the righteousness of the law—that it might be satisfied in its commands, Romans 8:3-5. Now in this full satisfaction made to the law, the wisdom of God does gloriously shine. The heart of God was so set upon a full satisfaction to his law, that rather than it should not be done, his own Son must come from heaven and put on flesh, and be himself made under the law, Gal. 4:4-5; he must live a holy life, and die a cursed death—and all to satisfy the law, and to keep up the authority of it. But,

5. Fifthly, God does stand upon full satisfaction, and will not forgive one sin without it, that he might hereby cut off all occasions, which the devil, his arch-enemy, might take to calumniate and traduce him; for if God did not stand upon full satisfaction, the devil might accuse him—

(1.) of inconstancy and changeableness, that having threatened death to transgressors, he did quite forget himself, in waiving the threatening, and dispensing wholly with his law, by granting them free remission; yes,

(2.) of partiality and respect of people, that he should be so easy and forbearing, as to let them pass without any punishment at all; having been formerly so severe and rigid against Satan himself, in casting him and his angels down to hell, and keeping them in everlasting flames and chains of darkness, without the least hope of recovery, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6. Satan might say, "Lord, you might have spared me, as well as man!" But the Lord can now answer, "Man has made satisfaction, he has borne the curse, and thereby fully discharged all the demands of the law; if he had not, I would no more have spared him than you!"

Ambrose brings in the devil boasting against Christ, and challenging Judas as his own; "he is not yours, Lord Jesus, he is mine, his thoughts beat for me; he eats with you—but is fed by me; he takes bread from you—but money from me; he drinks with you—but sells your blood to me." Had God pardoned sin without satisfaction, ah how would Satan have boasted and triumphed over God himself But,

6. Sixthly, God's standing upon full satisfaction, and his not forgiving one sin without it, bears a visible character of his goodness and loving-kindness, as well as it sounds out aloud the glory of divine justice. "The great and the holy God, whose name is holy," Exod. 15:1, 11, might have rigorously exacted the penalty of the law on the persons of sinners themselves—but he has so far dispensed with his own law, as to admit of a surety, by whom the end of the law, that is, the manifestation of his justice and hatred of sin, might be fulfilled, and yet a considerable part of mankind might be preserved from the jaws of the second death, which otherwise must unavoidably have perished to all eternity, Rev. 20:6. God seems to speak at such a rate as this, "I may not, I will not, allow this high affront of Adam and his posterity against my 'holy and righteous law,' Romans 7:12, 14, whereby the honor both of my justice and truth is in danger to be trampled underfoot. And yet if I should let out all my wrath upon them, they would never be able to stand under it." Psalm 78:38; Isaiah 57:16. "I will therefore let out all my wrath upon their surety, and he shall bear it for them, that they may be delivered!" And thus the Lord "in wrath remembers mercy," Hab. 3:2. But,

7. Seventhly, We can receive no benefit by the righteousness of Christ for justification in the sight of God, nor can we be pardoned and accepted thereupon, until that righteousness become ours, and is made over unto us. How can we plead this righteousness before God, unless we have an interest in this righteousness? Isaiah 45:24-25. How can we rejoice and triumph in this righteousness, if this righteousness is not made ours? How can we have peace with God, and boldness at the throne of grace, through this righteousness, except we can lay claim to this righteousness? How can we conclude that we are happy and blessed upon the account of this righteousness, except it be made over to us? [2 Cor. 2:14; Gal. 6:14; Romans 5:1; Heb. 4:15-16; Psalm 32:1-2; Romans 4:7-11; Romans 4:8. If Christ's obedience is imputed to us, it must be so imputed as to be our righteousness before God; no imputation below this will serve our turns, cheer our hearts, and save our souls. Rev. 14:8; Isaiah 63:1; Rev. 3:18.]

There are none of us, who have such an inherent righteousness in ourselves, which we dare plead before the bar of God. And though God has provided such a glorious robe of righteousness for poor sinners, as is the wonder and amazement of angels—yet what would all this avail the poor sinner, if this righteousness be not made over to him? O sirs! remember this, Christ's righteousness must be yours—it must be made over to you, or else it will never stand you in good stead. Romans 5:17, "For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in glory by one, Jesus Christ." Except they receive the righteousness of Christ, it is nothing to them. Christ's righteousness is in itself white raiment, and beautiful and glorious apparel—but it will never cover our nakedness, except it be put on, and we are clothed with it. It must be made over to us, or we can never be justified by it. 1 Cor. 1:30, "He is made to us righteousness;" if he is not made to us righteousness, we shall never be righteous. Though man has lost a righteousness to be justified by—yet there is an absolute necessity of having one. God cannot love nor delight in anything but righteousness. God is a holy God, a righteous God, and therefore can only love and take pleasure in those who are righteous, both by a righteousness imputed, and a righteousness imparted. Isaiah 45:24, "Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength;" verse 25, "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory;" Isaiah 54:17, "Their righteousness is of me, says the Lord." Psalm 71:16, "I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone." Look, as no man can be made rich by another man's riches, except they are made his; so no man can be made righteous by the righteousness of Christ, except his righteousness be made over to him; hence he is called, "The Lord our Righteousness," Jer. 23:6; and hence we are said to be "the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21; hence we are said "by his obedience to be made righteous," 2 Cor. 5:21.

8. Eighthly and lastly, The way whereby this righteousness of God's providing is conveyed and made over to us, that we may receive the benefit thereof, and be justified thereby—it is by way of IMPUTATION. The meaning is this: God does reckon the righteousness of Christ unto his people—as if it were their own. He does count unto them Christ's sufferings and satisfaction, and makes them partakers of the virtue thereof—as if themselves had suffered and satisfied. This is the genuine and proper import of the word imputation, when that which is personally done by one, is accounted and reckoned to another, and laid upon his score—as if he had done it. [Romans 3:21, and Isaiah 53. Imputed righteousness seems to be prefigured by the skins wherewith the Lord, after the fall, clothed our first parents. The bodies of the animals were for sacrifice, and the skins, to put them in mind that their own righteousness was like the fig leaves, imperfect, and that therefore they must be justified another way.]

Thus it is in this very case: we sinned and fell short of the glory of God, and became liable to the vindictive justice of God; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience and death, has given full satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf. Now when God does pardon and accept us hereupon, he does put it upon our account, he does reckon or impute it unto us as fully, in respect of the benefit thereof—as if we ourselves had performed it in our own persons. And this is the way wherein the Holy Spirit frequently expresses it: Romans 4:6, "Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works;" and verse 11, "That righteousness might be imputed to them also." And therefore it highly concerns us to mind this scripture rule, that in order to the satisfaction of the justice of God, the sins of God's people were imputed and reckoned unto Christ. And in order to our partaking of the benefit of that satisfaction, or deliverance thereby, Christ's righteousness must be imputed and reckoned unto us.

The first branch of this rule you have, Isaiah 53:5-6, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities," etc., and "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." And for the other branch of the rule, see Romans 5:19, "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous;" verse 17, "As by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." From the comparison between the first and second Adam, it is evident that as Adam's transgression of the law of God is imputed to all his posterity, and that in respect thereof they are reputed sinners, and accursed and liable to eternal death; so also Christ's obedience, whereby he fulfilled the law, is so imputed to the members of his mystical body, that in regard of God, they stand as innocent, justified and accepted to eternal life.

Look, as Adam was the common root of all mankind, and so his sin is imputed to all his posterity; just so, Jesus Christ is the common root of all the faithful, and his obedience is imputed to them all. For it would be ridiculous to say that Adam's sin had more power to condemn, than Christ's righteousness has to save. And who but fools in folio will say that God does not impute Christ's righteousness, as well as Adam's sin? The apostle's parallel between the two Adams does clearly evidence that as the guilt of Adam's disobedience is really imputed to us, insomuch that in his sinning we all sin; just so, the obedience of Christ is as really imputed unto us, insomuch that in his obeying, imputatively and legally we obey also.

How did Adam's sin become ours? Why, by way of imputation. He transgressed the covenant, and did eat the forbidden fruit, and it was justly reckoned unto us. It was personally the sinful act of our first parent—but it is imputed to all of us who come out of his loins; for we were in him not only naturally, as he was the root of mankind—but also legally, as he was the great representative of mankind. In the covenant of works, and the transactions thereof, Adam stood in the stead, and acted in the behalf, not only of himself—but of all his posterity, and therefore his sin is reckoned unto them. Even so, after the same manner, the obedience and righteousness of Christ is made over to many for justification. I cannot understand the analogy between the two Adams, wherein the apostle is so clear and full, unless this imputation, as here stated, is granted.

Look, as Christ was made sin for us only by imputation, so we are made righteous only by the imputation of his righteousness to us, as the Scripture everywhere evidences, 1 Pet. 2:22; 2 Cor. 5:21, "He has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." How was Christ made sin for us? Not sin inherent, for he had no sin in him; he was "holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," Heb. 7:26—but by imputation. Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, in that way wherein our sin was imputed to him. Now our sin was imputed to Christ, not only in the bitter effects of it—but he took the guilt of them upon himself, as I have in this treatise already evidenced; so, then, his righteousness or active obedience itself must be proportionably imputed to us, and not only in the effects thereof. The mediatorial righteousness of Christ can only become the believer's, only as the first Adam's disobedience became his posterity's, who never had the least actual share in his transgression; that is, by an act of imputation from God as a judge. The Lord Jesus having fulfilled the law as a second Adam, God the Father imputes it to the believing soul, as if he had done it in his own person. I do not say that God the Father does account the sinner to have done it—but I say that God the Father does impute it to the believing sinner—as if he had done it, unto all saving intents and purposes. Hence Christ is called "the Lord our Righteousness," Jer. 23:6.

An awakened soul, who is truly sensible of his own baseness and unrighteousness, would not have this golden sentence, "The Lord our Righteousness," blotted by a hand of heaven out of the Bible, for as many worlds as there are men in the world. Just so, is that text to a believer, living and dying, a strong cordial, namely, 1 Cor. 1:30, "Christ Jesus is made unto us of God wisdom, righteousness," etc. [In 1 Cor. 1:30, the apostle (1.) distinguishes righteousness from sanctification, imputed righteousness from inherent righteousness; (2.) he says that Christ's righteousness is made ours of God. See Romans 4:6; Psalm 71:16.]

And pray how is Christ made righteousness to the believer? Not by infusion—but imputation; not by putting righteousness into him—but by putting a righteousness upon him, even his own righteousness, by the imputing his merits, his satisfaction, his obedience unto them, through which they are accepted as righteous unto eternal life, Romans 5:19. Christ's righteousness is his in respect of his inherent nature—but it is ours in respect of imputation; his righteousness is his personally—but ours meritoriously; we are justified by another's righteousness, and that alone—by imputed righteousness; for another's righteousness can no other way be made ours—but only by imputation. Romans 5:18, "By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification." Were it any other than imputed righteousness, it would be as manifold a righteousness as there are people justified—but it is said to be "the righteousness of one, which comes upon all men for justification of life."

That is a choice word that you have in Rev. 19:8, "And to her," that is, Christ's spouse, "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." The Greek word here is "righteousnesses" or "justifications." This, say some, signifies a double righteousness given to us—

(1.) The righteousness of justification, whereby we are justified before God.

(2.) The righteousness of sanctification, by which we evidence our justification to men.

But others say it is a Hebraism rather, by the plural righteousnesses noting the most absolute, complete, and perfect righteousness which we have in Christ. [So the Hebrew word is used, Isaiah 45:24.] Now though I would not exclude inherent righteousness—yet I judge that imputed righteousness is the righteousness here meant; and that,

(1.) Because this clothing is that which is the righteousness of all saints, by which they stand before God. Now there is no standing before God in our inherent righteousness; for though, next to Christ, our graces are our best jewels—yet they are but weak and imperfect, they have their specks and spots, they are like the moon, which, when it shines brightest—yet has her black spots. [Psalm 76:7, and 143:2; Job 9:15, 22:2-4, and 35:7. The saints are said (Rev. 7:15) to be clothed in white robes, not because they had merited, or adorned themselves with good works—but because they had washed and made white their robes in the blood of the Lamb.]

(2.) Christ's righteousness is the only pure, clean, white, spotless righteousness. There is no speck or spot to be found upon Christ's righteousness—but "we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," as that evangelical prophet speaks, Isaiah 64:6, 3. The word here is plural, "righteousnesses." Christ has many righteousnesses—

First, He has his essential and personal righteousness as God. Now this essential personal righteousness of Christ cannot be imputed to us. Osiander was of opinion that men were justified by the essential righteousness of Christ as God, which was a most dangerous opinion, and learnedly and largely confuted by Calvin in his Institutions, and by others since.

Secondly, There is the mediatory righteousness of Christ. Now this is that righteousness which he wrought for us as mediator, whereby he did subject himself to the precepts, to the penalties, commands and curses, answering both God's vindictive and rewarding justice. There is Christ's active righteousness, and there is Christ's passive righteousness, etc. Of these I have spoken already in this treatise, and therefore a hint here is enough.

Thirdly, There are some expressions in the text which is under consideration that do best agree with the righteousness of Christ; as first that, "that she is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white." This clearly points at imputed righteousness, which Christ puts upon his bride as a royal robe. That which makes Christ's bride beautiful, yes, whiter than the snow, and more glorious than the sun in his eyes, is not any beauty of her own, nor any inherent righteousness in herself—but the white robe of Christ's own righteousness, which he puts upon her. Second, that expression in the text, "to her it was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen," etc. "It was granted to her," to show that this fine linen was none of her own spinning, it was a free gift of Christ unto her. Saints have no other righteousness, to make them lovely and acceptable in the eyes of God—but the robe of Christ's righteousness, which is that fine white linen, which Christ gives them, and which he puts upon them. Lastly, observe the confirmation and ratification that is given to these words in the 9th verse, "Write, these are the true sayings of God." These are not my sayings, nor the sayings of angels—but they are the sayings of that God who is truth itself, who cannot die, nor lie, nor deny himself, nor deceive the sons of God. And therefore you may safely rest upon these sayings of God, both in the 8th and 9th verses, as most sure and certain.

Surely the righteousness which the believer has is imputed; it is an accounted or reckoned righteousness to him; it is not that which he has inherently in himself—but God through Christ does esteem of him as if he had it, and so deals with him as wholly righteous—

(1.) It stands with reason that that satisfaction should be imputed to me, which my surety has made for my debt. Now Christ was our surety, as the apostle calls him, Heb. 7:22.

(2.) Adam's sin was justly imputed by God to all his posterity, though it was not their own inherently and actually, as the apostle tells us, Romans 5:14. All the sins of all the elect were imputed unto Christ, though they were not his own inherently and actually. "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," says the apostle, 2 Cor. 5:21; and "upon him was laid the iniquity of us all," Isaiah 53:6. [This must be Luther's meaning when he says, Christ was the greatest sinner; he was Manasseh that idolater, David that adulterer, Peter that denier of his Master, etc., namely, by imputation only, he being made sin for them, as the apostle speaks.]

All the sins of all the believers in the world, from the first creation to the last judgment, were laid on him. How were they laid on him—but by imputation? Surely there was in Christ no fundamental guilt! No, no—but he was made sin by imputation and law-account; he was our surety, and so our sins were laid on him in order to punishment. And to prefigure this, all the iniquities of God's people were imputed to their sacrifice, though they were not inherently his own, as we read, Lev. 16:21, 22, "Aaron shall put all the iniquities of all the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, upon the head of the goat; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities." And why then should it seem strange that the perfect righteousness of our sacrifice and surety, though it be not our own inherently, should be imputed to us by the Lord, and made ours? [To impute in the general, is to acknowledge that to be another's, which is not indeed his. It is used either in a good or bad sense, so that it is no more than to account or reckon. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and accepted for us, by which we are judged righteous.]

Frequently and seriously consider that the word answering this imputing is in the Hebrew and in the Greek, of which the sum, as the learned say, comes to this—that though the words in the general signify to think, to reason, to imagine, etc.—yet very frequently they are used to signify to account or reckon, by way of computation, as arithmeticians use to do, so that it is, as it were, a judgment passed upon a thing when all reasons and arguments are cast together. And from this it is applied to signify any kind of accounting or reckoning; and in this sense imputation is taken here for God's esteeming and accounting of us righteous; the Hebrew signifies to reckon or account.

It is taken by a borrowed speech from merchants' reckonings and accounts, who have their debt-books, wherein they set down how their reckonings stand in the particulars they deal in. Now, in such debt-books merchants use to set down whatever payments are made, either by the debtors themselves, or by others in the behalf of them. An example whereof we have in the Epistle of Philemon, verse 18, where Paul undertakes to Philemon for Onesimus, "If he has wronged you, or owes you anything, put that on my account;" that is, account Onesimus his debt to Paul, and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus, which answers the double imputation in point of justification; that is, of our sins to Christ, and of Christ's satisfaction to us, Psalm 32:1-2; both which are implied, 2 Cor. 5:21, "He made him to be sin for us;" that is, our sins were imputed to him, "that we might be the righteousness of God in him;" that is, that his righteousness might be imputed to us. The language of Jesus Christ to his Father seems to be this, 'O holy Father, I have freely and willingly taken all the debts and all the sins of all the believers in the world upon me; I have undertaken to be their paymaster, to satisfy your justice, to pacify your wrath, to fulfill your law, etc. And therefore, lo, here I am, ready to do whatever you command, and ready to suffer whatever you please. I am willing to be reckoned a sinner, that they may be reckoned righteous. I am willing to be accounted cursed, that they may be forever blessed. I am willing to pay all their debts, that they may be set at liberty. I am willing to lay down my life, that they may escape the second death. I am willing that my soul should be exercised with the most hideous agonies, that their souls may be possessed of heaven's happinesses!" Psalm 40:6-8; Heb. 10:4-9; John 10:11, 15, 17-18; Rev. 20:6. Oh, what wonderful wisdom, grace, and love is here manifested! that when we were neither able to satisfy the penalty of the law, or to bring a conformity to it—that then Christ should interpose, and become both redemption and righteousness for us!

Now, from the imputed righteousness of Christ, a believer may form up this fifth plea, as to all these ten scriptures—that refer to the great day of account: [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:3; Romans 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] "O blessed God, you have given me to understand that the mediatorial righteousness of Christ includes, first, the habitual holiness of his person, in the absence of all sin, and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and requisite qualities; secondly, the actual holiness of his life and death by obedience. By his active obedience--he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the law; and by his passive obedience, his voluntary sufferings—he satisfied the penalty and demands of the law for transgressions. That perfect satisfaction to divine justice, in whatever it requires, either in the way of punishing for sin, or obedience to the law, made by the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, the mediator of the new covenant, as a common head, representing all those whom the Father has given to him, and made over unto those who believe in him. This is that righteousness which is imputed to all believers in their justification, and this imputed righteousness of your dear Son and my dear Savior, is now my plea before your bar of justice."

Imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the law requires. It is obedience to the law of God, exactly and punctually performed, to the very utmost iota and tittle thereof. Without the least abatement, Christ has paid the uttermost farthing. He is the fulfilling of the law for righteousness, and he has fulfilled the law in the human nature, to the intent that it might be fulfilled in the same nature to which it was at first given; and all this he has expressly done in all their names, and on all their behalfs—who believe in him, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them," Romans 8:3-4. [The righteousness which the law requires, upon pain of damnation, is a perfect obedience and conformity to the whole law of God, performed by every son and daughter of Adam in his own person. Now imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the law requires.]

It is as if our dear Lord Jesus had said, "O blessed Father, this I suffer, and this I do—in the stead and room of all those who have ventured their souls upon me, that they may have a righteousness which they may truly call their own, and on which they may safely rest, and in which they may forever glory." Isaiah 45:24-25. Now it will never stand with the unspotted holiness, justice, and righteousness of God, to reject this righteousness of his Son, or that plea which is founded upon it. Oh, the matchless happiness of believers, who have so fair, so full, and so noble a plea to make in the great day of our Lord Jesus!

Nine Choice Consolations of Justification

QUESTION. But some may say, What blessed fruit grows upon this glorious tree of paradise—namely, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to all believers? What strong consolations flow from this fountain—the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ? I answer, there are these nine choice consolations, which flow in upon all believers, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them—

1. First, Let all believers know for their comfort, that in this imputed righteousness of Christ—there is enough to satisfy the justice of God to the uttermost farthing, and to take off all his judicial anger and fury. The mediatorial righteousness of Christ is so perfect, so full, so exact, so complete, and so fully satisfactory to the justice of God, as that divine justice cries out, "I have enough, and I require no more! I have found a ransom, and I am fully pacified towards you!" Ezek. 16:61-63; Heb. 10:10-12, 14; Isaiah 53:4-6.

It is certain that Christ was truly and properly a sacrifice for sin; and it is as certain that our sins were the meritorious cause of his sufferings. He did put himself into poor sinners' stead, he took their guilt upon him, and did undergo that punishment which they should have undergone. He died, and shed his blood, that he might thereby atone God and expiate sin, Romans 5:6-12. And therefore we may safely and boldly conclude, that Jesus Christ has satisfied the justice of God to the uttermost; so that now the believing sinner may rejoice and triumph in the justice, as well as in the mercy of God, Heb. 7:25; for doubtless the mediatorial righteousness of Christ was infinitely more satisfactory and pleasing to God, than all the sins of believers could be displeasing to him. God took more pleasure and delight in the bruising of his Son, in the humiliation of his Son, and he smelt a sweeter savor in his sacrifice—than all our sins could possibly offend him or provoke him, Isaiah 53:10.

When a believer casts his eyes upon his many thousand sinful commissions and omissions, no wonder if he fears and trembles! But then, when he looks upon Christ's satisfaction, he may see himself acquitted, and rejoice! For if there is no charge, no accusation against the Lord Jesus, there can be none against the believer, Romans 8:33-37. Christ's expiatory sacrifice has fully satisfied divine justice; and upon that very ground every believer has cause to triumph in Christ Jesus, and in that righteousness of his by which he stands justified before the throne of God! 2 Cor. 2:14; Rev. 14:4-5. Christ is a person of infinite, transcendent worth and excellency, and it makes highly for his honor to justify believers, in the most ample and glorious way imaginable, etc. And what way is that—but by working out for them, and then investing them with, a righteousness adequate to the law of God; a righteousness that should be every way commensurate to the miserable estate of fallen man, and to the holy design of the glorious God.

It is the high honor of the second Adam that he has restored to fallen man a more glorious righteousness than that he lost in the first Adam. And it would be high blasphemy, in the eyes of angels and men, for any mortal to assert that the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, was less powerful to save, than the first Adam was to destroy. The second Adam is "able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him," Heb. 7:25. "The second Adam is able to save to all ends and purposes perfectly," says Beza. "He is able to save perpetually, or forever," says Tremellius. [He is able to save to the uttermost—of time, at all times, and forever, etc.] He is able to save to the uttermost obligation of the law, preceptive, as well as penal; and to bring in perfect righteousness, as well as perfect innocency. He is able to save to the uttermost demand of divine justice, by that perfect satisfaction that he has given to divine justice.

"Christ is mighty to save," Isaiah 63:1; and as he is mighty to save, so he loves to save poor sinners, in such a way wherein he may most magnify his own might; and therefore he will purchase their pardon with his blood, 1 Pet. 1:18-19, and make reparation to divine justice for all the wrongs and injuries which fallen man had done to his Creator and his royal law; and bestow upon him a better righteousness than that which Adam lost; and bring him into a more safe, high, honorable, and durable estate than that which Adam fell from when he was in his created perfection. All the attributes of God do acquiesce in the imputed righteousness of Christ, so that a believer may look upon the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God, and rejoice, and lay himself down in peace.

I have read in story, that Pilate being called to Rome, to give an account unto the emperor for some misgovernment and mal-administration, he put on the seamless coat of Christ; and all the time that he had that coat upon his back, Caesar's fury was abated. Christ has put his coat, his robe of righteousness, upon every believer, Isaiah 61:10; upon which account all the judicial anger, wrath, and fury of God towards believers ceases! Isaiah 54:10, "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed—but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you." But,

2. Secondly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed, this mediatorial righteousness of Christ—takes away all your unrighteousness. It cancels every bond; it takes away all iniquity, and answers for all your sins, Isaiah 53:5-7; Col. 2:12-15. "Lord, here are my sins of omission, and here are my sins of commission—but the righteousness of Christ has answered for them all. Here are my sins against the law, and here are my sins against the gospel, and here are my sins against the offers of grace, the strivings of grace, the affections of grace—but the righteousness of Christ has answered for them all."

I have read that when a cordial was offered to a godly man who was sick, "Oh," said he, "the cordial of cordials which I daily take is—that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins!" 1 John 1:7. O sirs! it would be high blasphemy for any to imagine that there should be more demerit in any sin, yes, in all sin, to condemn a believer; than there is merit in Christ's righteousness to absolve him, to justify him, Romans 8:1, 33-3.5. The righteousness of Christ was shadowed out by the glorious robes and apparel of the high priest, Exod. 30. That attire in which the high priest appeared before God—what was it, but a type of Christ's righteousness? The filthy garments of Joshua, who represented the church, were not only taken off from him, thereby signifying the removal of our sins, Zech. 3:4-5—but also a new, lovely garment was put upon him, to signify our being clothed with the wedding-garment of Christ's righteousness.

If any shall say, "How is it possible that a soul which is defiled with the worst of sins, should be whiter than the snow, yes, beautiful and glorious in the eyes of God?" Psalm 51:7. The answer is at hand, because to whoever the Lord gives the pardon of his sins, which is the first part of our justification; to them he also imputes the righteousness of Christ, which is the second part of our justification before God. Thus David describes, says the apostle, "the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works; saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered," Romans 4:6, 7. Now to that man whose sins the Lord forgives—to him he does impute righteousness also: "Take off his filthy clothes," says the Lord of Joshua; "and he said unto him, See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Zech. 3:4. And what was that rich garment? Surely the perfect obedience and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, which God does impute unto us; in which respect also we are said, by justifying faith, to put on the Lord Jesus, Romans 13:14; and to be clothed with him as with a garment, Gal. 3:27. And no marvel if, being so appareled, we appear beautiful and glorious in the sight of God! "To her," that is, Christ's bride, "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints," Rev. 19:8. This perfect righteousness of Christ, which the Lord imputes to us, and wherewith, as with a garment, he clothes us, is the only righteousness which the saints have to stand before God with; and having that robe of righteousness on, they may stand with great boldness and comfort before the judgment-seat of God. But,

3. Thirdly, Know for your comfort, that this righteousness of Christ, presents us perfectly righteous in the sight of God. "He is made to us righteousness," 1 Cor. 1:30. The robe of innocency, like the veil of the temple, is rent asunder; our righteousness is a ragged righteousness, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:4. Look, as under rags the naked body is seen, so under the rags of our righteousnesses the body of death is seen. Christ is all in all in regard of righteousness. Christ is "the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe," Romans 10:4.

That is, through Christ we are as righteous as if we had satisfied the law in our own persons. The end of the law is to justify and save those who fulfill it. Christ subjected himself thereto; he perfectly fulfilled it for us, and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. Christ fulfilled the moral law, not for himself—but for us; therefore Christ doing it for believers, they fulfill the law in Christ. And so Christ by doing, and they believing in him who does it, do fulfill the law. Or Christ may be said to be the end of the law, because the end of the law is perfect righteousness, that a man may be justified thereby, which end we cannot attain of ourselves, through the frailty of our flesh—but by Christ we attain it, who has fulfilled the law for us. Christ has perfectly fulfilled the decalog for us, and that three ways:

(1.) In his pure conception.

(2.) In his godly life.

(3.) In his holy and obedient sufferings. And he did this all for us. For whatever the law required that we should be, do, or suffer—he has performed in our behalf. We are discharged by him before God. Christ, in respect of the integrity and purity of his nature, being conceived without sin, Mat. 1:18; and in respect of his life and actions, being wholly conformed to the absolute righteousness of the law, Luke 1:35; and in respect of the punishment which he suffered, to make satisfaction unto God's justice for the breach of the law, 2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 1:20. In these respects Christ is the perfection of the law, and "the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe." Jacob got the blessing in the garment of his elder brother; so in the garment of Christ's righteousness, who is our elder brother, we obtain the blessing; yes, "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places," Eph. 1:4. We are made "the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21.

"The church," says Marorate, "which puts on Christ, and his righteousness, is more illustrious than the air is by the sun." The infinite wisdom and power of dear Jesus in reconciling the law and the gospel, in this great mystery of justification, is greatly to be magnified. In the blessed Scriptures we find the righteousness of justification to take its various names. In respect of the material cause, it is called the righteousness of the law, Romans 5:17. In respect of the efficient cause, it is called the righteousness of Christ, 1 Cor. 1:30. In respect of the formal cause, it is called the righteousness of God, he imputing of it, Romans 3:22. In respect of the instrumental cause, it is called the righteousness of faith, Phil. 3:9. In respect of the moving and final cause, we are said to be justified freely by grace, Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7.

The law, as it was a covenant of works, required exact and perfect obedience, in men's proper persons; this was legal justification. But in the new covenant, God is contented to accept this righteousness in the hand of a surety, and this is evangelical justification. This righteousness presents us in the sight of God as "all fair," Cant. 4:7; as "complete," Col. 2:10; as "without spot or wrinkle," Eph. 5:27; as "without fault before the throne of God," Rev. 14:5; as "holy, and unblamably, and unreprovable in his sight," Col. 1:22. Oh, the happiness and blessedness, the safety and glory—of those precious souls, who, in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, stand perfectly righteous in the sight of God! But,

4. Fourthly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed righteousness of Christ will answer to all the fears, doubts, and objections of your souls. How shall I look up to God? The answer is—in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. How shall I have any communion with a holy God in this world? The answer is—in the righteousness of Christ. How shall I find acceptance with God? The answer is—in the righteousness of Christ. How shall I die? The answer is—in the righteousness of Christ. How shall I stand before the judgment-seat? The answer is—in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your sure and only way, under all temptations, fears, conflicts, doubts, and disputes, is, by faith, to remember Christ, and the sufferings of Christ, as your mediator and surety; and say, "O Christ, you are my sin, in being made sin for me, 2 Cor. 5:21; and you are my curse, being made a curse for me, Gal. 3:13. Or rather, I am your sin, and you are my righteousness. I am your curse, and you are my blessing. I am your death, and you are my life. I am the wrath of God to you, and you are the love of God to me. I am your hell, and you are my heaven.

O sirs! if you think of your sins, and of God's wrath; if you think of your guiltiness, and of God's justice—your hearts will faint and fail; they will fear and tremble and sink into despair—if you do not think of Christ, if you do not stay and rest your souls upon the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ. The imputed righteousness of Christ answers all cavils and objections, though there were millions of them, which can be made against the good estate of a believer. This is a precious truth, more worth than a world—that all our sins are pardoned, not only in a way of truth and mercy—but in a way of justice. Satan and our own consciences will object many things against our souls, if we plead only the mercy and the truth of God; and they will be ready to say, "Oh—but where is then the justice of God? Can mercy pardon without the consent of his justice? But now, while we rest upon the satisfaction of Christ, "justice and mercy kiss each other," Psalm 85:10; yes, justice says, "I am pleased!"

In a day of temptation, many things will be cast in our dish, about the multitude of our sins, and the greatness of our sins, and the grievousness of our sins, and about the circumstances and aggravations of our sins—but that good word, "Christ has redeemed us from all iniquities," he has paid the full price that justice could exact or require; and that good word, "Mercy rejoices against judgment," James 2:13, may support, comfort, and bear us up under all!

The infinite worth of Christ's obedience, did arise from the dignity of his person, who was God-man; so that all the obedience of angels and men, if put together, could not amount to the excellency of Christ's satisfaction! The righteousness of Christ, is often called the righteousness of God, because it is a righteousness of God's providing, and a righteousness that God is fully satisfied with; and therefore, no fears, no doubts, no cavils, no objections, no disputes, can stand before this blessed and glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to us. But,

5. Fifthly, Know for your comfort, that the imputed righteousness of Christ is the best title that you have to show, for "a kingdom that shakes not, for riches that corrupt not, for an inheritance that fades not away, and for an house not made with hands—but one eternal in the heavens," Heb. 12:28; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 5:1-4. It is the fairest certificate that you have to show for all that happiness and blessedness that you look for, in that other world. The righteousness of Christ is your life, your joy, your comfort, your crown, your confidence, your heaven—your all. Oh, that you were still so wise as to keep a fixed eye and an awakened heart, upon the mediatorial righteousness of Christ; for that is the righteousness by which you may safely and comfortably live, and by which you may happily and quietly die. It was a very sweet and golden confession, which Bernard made, when he thought himself to be at the point of death. "I confess," said he, "I am not worthy, I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven by—but my Lord had a double right thereunto; an hereditary right as a Son, and a meritorious right as a sacrifice. He was contented with the one right himself, the other right he has given unto me; by the virtue of which gift I do rightly lay claim unto it, and am not confounded."

Ah, that believers would dwell much upon this—that they have a righteousness in Christ, which is as full, perfect, and complete, as if they had fulfilled the law. "Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to believers," invests believers with a righteousness, every way as complete, as the personal obedience of the law would have invested them with, Romans 8:3-4. Yes, the righteousness that believers have by Christ is, in some respect, better than that they would have had by Adam:

(1.) Because of the dignity of Christ's person, he being the Son of God, his righteousness is more glorious than Adam's was; his righteousness is called "The righteousness of God;" and we are made the "righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21. The first Adam was a mere man, the second Adam is God and man.

(2.) Because the righteousness is perpetual. Adam was a mutable person, he lost his righteousness in one day, say some, and all that glory which his posterity should have possessed, had he stood fast in innocency. But the righteousness of Christ cannot be lost. His righteousness is like himself, from everlasting to everlasting. It is an everlasting righteousness, Dan. 9:24. When once this white raiment is put upon a believer, it can never fall off, it can never be taken off. This splendid glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ's, is as really a believer's, as if he had wrought it himself, Rev. 19:8. A believer is no loser—but a gainer, by Adam's fall. By the loss of Adam's righteousness is brought to light, a more glorious and durable righteousness than ever Adam's was; and upon the account of an interest in this righteousness, a believer may claim all the glory of that upper world as his own. But,

6. Sixthly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed righteousness of Christ is the only true basis, foundation, and ground—for a believer to build his happiness upon, his joy and comfort upon, and the true peace and quiet of his conscience upon. What though Satan, or your own heart, or the world, condemns you; yet in this you may rejoice—that God justifies you. You see what a bold challenge Paul makes, Romans 8:33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? it is God who justifies." Some read it question-wise, thus, "Shall God—who justifies?" In no way! And if the judge acquits the prisoner at the bar, he cares not though the jailer or his fellow-prisoners condemn him. Just so here, there are no accusers that a believer needs to fear, seeing that it is God himself, who is the supreme judge—who absolves him as just. God absolves, and therefore it is to no purpose for Satan to accuse us, Rev. 12:10; nor for the law of Moses to accuse us, John 5:45; nor for our own consciences to accuse us, Romans 2:25; nor for the world to accuse us. God is the highest judge, and his tribunal-seat is the supreme judgment-seat; therefore from thence there is no appealing.

As among men, people accused or condemned, may appeal, until they come to the highest court—but if in the highest, they are absolved and discharged—then they are free, and safe and well. Just so, the believer being absolved before God's tribunal-seat, there are no further accusations to be feared, all appeals from thence being void and of no force. The consideration of which should arm us and comfort us and strengthen us against all terrors of conscience, guilt of sin, accusation of the law, and cruelty of Satan; inasmuch as these either dare not appear before God to accuse us or charge us; or if they do, it is but lost labor.

"It is God who justifies." Ambrose gives the sense thus, "None can or dare retract the judgment of God; for he confidently challenges all adversaries, if they dare come forth to accuse; not that there is no cause—but because God has justified." "It is God who justifies;" therefore it is in vain to accuse them. "It is God who justifies them;" if God does it none can reverse it, for there are none who are equal with God. Let all the accusations, which shall come in against you, from one hand or another, be true or false—they shall never hurt you; for he from whom there is no appeal, has fully acquitted you, and therefore no accusation can endanger your peace!

Ah! what a strong cordial would this be to all the people of God, if they would but live in the power of this glorious truth—that it is "God who justifies them," and that there lies no accusations in the court of heaven against them! The great reason why many poor Christians are under so many dejections, despondencies, and perplexities—is because they drink so little of this water of life, "It is God who justifies." Did Christians live more upon this breast, "It is God who justifies," they would be no more like Pharaoh's lean cows—but would be fat and flourishing, Gen. 41:1-3. Did they but draw more out of this well of salvation, "It is God who justifies," how would their spirits revive, and a new life rise up in them, as did in the dead child, by the prophet Elisha's applying himself to it, 2 Kings 4:34-37.

The imputed righteousness of Christ is a real, sure, and solid foundation, upon which a believer may safely build his peace, joy, and everlasting rest. Yes, it will help him to glory in tribulations, and to triumph over all adversities; Romans 5:1-3; Isaiah 45:24, "Surely, shall one say—in the Lord I have righteousness and strength." That which is the greatest terror in the world to unbelievers, is the strongest ground of comfort to believers—that is, the justice and wrath of God against sin. Look how it was when the angel appeared at the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, "The keepers were affrighted, and became as dead men;" but it was said to the women, "Fear not, for you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified," Mat. 28:4-5: so it is much more in this case. When God's justice is powerfully manifested, the sinners of Zion and the world are afraid and terrified, Isaiah 33:14. But yet, poor believers, seek for Christ who was crucified; you need not fear anything; yes, you may be wonderfully cheered at this, and it is your greatest comfort that you have to deal with this just God, who has already received satisfaction for your sins.

It is observable that the saints triumph in the justice and judgments of God, which are most terrible to the enemies of God, in that which is the substance of the song of Moses and the Lamb, Rev. 15:3-5. Just so in Luke 21:28, where the day of judgment is described, say some, and that in it, "there shall be distress of nations, and men's hearts failing them for fear"—namely, of the justice and wrath of God. Why so? It is for "looking after those things which are to come upon the earth; for the powers of the earth shall be shaken," etc. "But when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near." This day is the most dreadful day that ever was in the world to all the ungodly. But the just and faithful then shall be able to lift up their heads, to see all the world on fire about them, and all the elements in terrible confusion. But how dare a poor creature lift up his head in such a case as this? "They shall see the Son of man, coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." Here is enough to comfort the poor members of Christ—to see Christ, on whom they have believed, and who has satisfied God's justice for them, and imputed his own righteousness to them: to see him set upon his judgment-seat, cannot but be matter of joy and rejoicing to them. Now they shall find the power of that word upon their souls: Isaiah 40:1-2, "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins;" that is, their conflict with the wrath of God is at an end, the punishment of their iniquity is accepted, they have received in their head and surety, Christ Jesus, double for their sins; that is, justice has passed upon them, in their head, Christ Jesus; and they are sure that the judge of all the earth will do right, and will not punish their sins twice. The exactness of God's justice cannot do this.

Job 34:10, "Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity;" verse 12, "Yes, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice." It would be high injustice in a magistrate to punish the same offence twice; and it would be high blasphemy for any to assert that ever God should be guilty of such injustice. While Christians set up a righteousness of their own, and build not upon the righteousness of Christ, how unsettled are they! Romans 10:3; how miserably are they tossed up and down, sometimes fearing and sometimes hoping, sometimes supposing themselves in a good condition, and afterwards seeing themselves upon the very brink of hell! But now all is quiet and serene with that soul that builds upon the righteousness of Christ; for, he being "justified by faith, has peace with God," Romans 5:1. Observe that noble description of Christ in that Isaiah 32:2, "And a man," that is, the man Christ Jesus, "shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." When a man is clothed with the righteousness of Christ, who is God-man, it is neither wind nor tempest, it is neither drought nor weariness, which can disturb the peace of his soul; for Christ and his righteousness will be a hiding-place, a covert, and rivers of water, and the shadow of a great rock unto him; for, being at perfect peace with God, he may well say with the psalmist, "I will lay me down in peace," Psalm 4:6-8.

The peace and comfort of an awakened sinner can never stand firm and stable—but upon the basis of a positive righteousness. When a sensible sinner casts his eye upon his own righteousness, holiness, fastings, prayers, tears, humblings, meltings—he can find no place for the sole of his foot to rest firmly upon, by reason of the spots, and blots, and blemishes, which cleave both to his graces and duties. He knows that his prayers need pardon, and that his tears need washing in the blood of the Lamb, and that his very righteousness needs another's righteousness to secure him from condemnation. "If you, Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand?" Psalm 130:3, and 1:5; that is, "stand" in judgment. Extremity of justice he deprecates; he would not be dealt with in rigor and rage. The best man's life is fuller of sins than the sky is of stars, or the furnace of sparks; and therefore who can stand in judgment, and not fall under the weight of your just wrath, which burns as low as hell itself? that is, none can stand. Were the faults of the best man alive but written in his forehead, he was never able to stand in judgment.

When a man comes to the law for justification, it convinces him of sin. When he pleads his innocence, that he is not so great a sinner as others are, when he pleads his righteousness, his duties, his good meanings, and his good desires—the law tells him who they are all weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, and found too light, Dan. 5:27; the law tells him who the best of his duties will not save him, and that the least of his sins will damn him; the law tells him who his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags, do but defile him, and that his best services do but witness against him. The law looks for perfect and personal obedience, and because the sinner cannot come up to it—it pronounces him accursed, Gal. 3:10. And though the sinner sues hard for mercy—yet the law will show him none, no, though he seeks it carefully with tears, Heb. 12:17.

But now, when the believing sinner casts his eye upon the righteousness of Christ, he sees that righteousness to be a perfect and exact righteousness, as perfect and exact as that of the law. Yes, it is the very righteousness of the law, though not performed by him—yet by his surety, "The Lord his righteousness;" and upon this foundation he stands firm, and "rejoices with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." The saints of old have always placed their happiness, peace, and comfort, in their perfect and complete justification, rather than in their imperfect and incomplete sanctification, as you may see by these scriptures, with many others which are scattered up and down in the blessed book of God. [Jer. 23:6; 1 Peter 1:8; Luke 7:48, 50; Romans 4:6, 8, and 5:1, 3; Isaiah 38:16-17, and 45:24-25; Phil. 4:7.]

That text is worthy to be written in letters of gold: Isaiah 61:10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord," says the sound believer, "my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation." He has imputed and given unto me the perfect holiness and obedience of my blessed Savior, and made it mine. "He has covered me (all over, from top to toe) with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Though a Christian's inherent righteousness is weak and imperfect, maimed and stained, blotted and blurred, as it is—yet it affords much comfort, peace, joy, and rejoicing, as you may see by comparing these scriptures together. [1 Chron. 29:9; Job 27:4-6; Neh. 13:14, 22; Isaiah 38:31; Proverbs 21:14; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Pet. 3:3-4, and 5:4.]

Job was much taken with his inherent righteousness: Job 29:14, "I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban." Look, as sober, modest, lovely apparel does much set forth and adorn the body in the eyes of men; just so does inherent grace, inherent holiness, inherent righteousness, when it sparkles in the faces, lips, lives, and good works of the saints, much more beautify and adorn them in the eyes both of God and man. Now if this garment of inherent righteousness, that has so many spots and rips in it, will adorn us, and joy us so much, what a beauty and glory is that which the Lord our God has put upon us, in clothing us with the robe of his Son's righteousness; for by this means we shall recover more by Christ than we lost by Adam. The robe of righteousness which we have gotten by Christ, the second Adam, is far more glorious than that which we were deprived of by the first Adam. But,

7. Seventhly, Then know for your comfort, that you have the highest reason in the world to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus, Gal. 6:14: Phil. 3:3, "For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus." We rejoice in the person of Christ, and we rejoice in the righteousness of Christ: 2 Cor. 2:14, "Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ." Deo gratias was ever in Paul's mouth, and should be ever in a Christian's mouth, when his eye is fixed upon the righteousness of Christ. Every believer is in a more blessed and happy estate, by means of the righteousness of Christ, than Adam was in innocency. And that upon a threefold account; all which are just and noble grounds for every Christian to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus.

(1.) That righteousness which Adam had was uncertain, and such as it was possible for him to lose, Gen. 3; yes, he did lose it, and that in a very short time, Psalm 8:5. God gave him power and freedom of will either to hold it or lose it; and we know soon after, upon choice, he proved a bankrupt. But the righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ is made more firm and sure to us. It is that good part, that noble portion, which shall never be taken from us, as Christ said to Mary, Luke 10:42. Adam sinned away his righteousness—but a believer cannot sin away the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is not possible for the elect of God, so to sin as to lose Christ, or to strip themselves of that robe of righteousness which Christ has put upon them, 1 John 3:9; Romans 8:35, 39. The gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against that soul who is savingly interested in Christ, who is clothed with the righteousness of Christ, Mat 16:18. Now what higher ground of joy and triumph in Christ Jesus can there be than this? But,

(2.) The righteousness that Adam had was in his own keeping; the spring and root of it was founded in himself, and that was the cause why he lost it so soon. Adam, like the prodigal son, Luke 15:12-13, had all his portion, his happiness, his holiness, his blessedness, his righteousness—in his own hands, in his own keeping; and so quickly lost it all. Oh but now, that blessed righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ, is not in our own keeping—but in our Father's keeping. Look, as our persons, graces, and inherent righteousness are kept, as in a strong refuge, by the power of God unto salvation, 1 Pet. 1:5; so that righteousness which we have by Jesus Christ is kept for us by the mighty power of God unto salvation.

God the Father is the Lord Keeper, not only of our inherent righteousness—but also of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ unto us. "My sheep shall never perish," says our Savior, John 10:28, 29, "neither shall any pluck them out of my hand; my Father who gave them me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hands." Though the saints may meet with many shakings and tossings in their various conditions in this world—yet their final perseverance, until they come to full possession of eternal life—is certain. God is so unchangeable in his purposes of love, and so invincible in his power—that neither Satan, nor the world, nor their own flesh—shall ever be able to separate them from the "crown of righteousness," 2 Tim. 4:7, 8; "the crown of life," Rev. 2:10; "the crown of glory," 1 Pet. 5:4. The power of God is so far above all created opposition, that it will certainly maintain the saints in a state of grace. Now what a foundation and ground for rejoicing and triumphing in Christ Jesus is here! But,

(3.) Admit, that the righteousness that Adam had in his creation had been unchangeable, and that he could never have lost it—yet, it had been but the righteousness of a man, of a mere creature; and what a poor, low righteousness would that have been, compared to that high and glorious righteousness which we have by Jesus Christ, which is the righteousness of such a person as was God as well as man. Yes, that righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ is a higher righteousness, and a more excellent, transcendent righteousness than that of the angels. Though the righteousness of the angels be perfect and complete in its kind—yet it is but the righteousness of mere creatures—but the righteousness of the saints, in which they stand clothed before the throne of God, is the righteousness of that person who is both God and man. Look, as the second Adam was a far more excellent person than the first Adam was: "The first man was of the earth, earthy," as the apostle speaks; "the second was the Lord from heaven," 1 Cor. 15:47; not for the matter of his body, for he was made of a woman—but for the original and dignity of his person; whereof you may see a lively and lofty description in Heb. 1:2-3; so his righteousness also must needs be far more excellent, absolute, glorious, and every way all-sufficient to satisfy the infinite justice of God, and the exact perfection of his holy law—than ever Adam's righteousness could possibly have done.

Remember, sirs, that that righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ is called the righteousness of God: "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," says the apostle in 2 Cor. 5:21. Now that righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ, is called the righteousness of God:

(1.) Because it is such a righteousness as God requires.

(2.) As he approves of and accepts.

(3.) As he takes infinite pleasure and delight and satisfaction in.

The righteousness the apostle speaks of in that scripture last mentioned, is not to be understood of the essential righteousness of Christ, which is infinite, and no ways communicable to the creature, unless we will make a creature a God. But we are to understand it, of that righteousness of Christ which is imputed to believers, as their sin is imputed to him. Now what a well of salvation is here! What three noble grounds and what matchless foundations are here for a Christian's joy and triumph in Christ Jesus, who has put so glorious a robe as his own righteousness upon them! Ah, Christians, let not the consolations of God be small in your eyes, Job 15:11. Why do you take no more comfort and delight in Christ Jesus? Why do you not rejoice more in him? Not to rejoice in Christ Jesus is a plain breach of that gospel command, "Rejoice in the Lord always," that is, rejoice in Christ, "and again I say, rejoice," says the apostle, Phil. 4:4. He doubles the mandate, to show the necessity and excellency of the duty. Phil. 3:1, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." Now, in some respects, the breach of the commands of the gospel are greater than the breach of the commands of the moral law; for the breach of the commands of the gospel carries in it a contempt and light esteem of Jesus Christ, see Heb. 2:2-3, 8:6, and 10:28-29. Men's not rejoicing in Christ Jesus must flow from some dangerous sin, and base corruption or other, which highly distempers their precious souls. If all created excellencies, if all the privileges of God's people, if all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them, were to be presented at one view, they would all appear as nothing and emptiness—in comparison of the excellency and fullness which is to be found in Christ Jesus. Therefore the greater is their sin, who rejoice not in Christ Jesus.

"Do you ask me where be my jewels? my jewels are my husband and his triumphs," said Phocion's wife. "Do you ask me where be my ornaments? my ornaments are my two sons brought up in virtue and learning," said the mother of the Gracchi. "Do you ask me where be my treasures? my treasures are my friends," said Constantius, the father of Constantine. But now, if you ask a child of God, when he is not clouded, tempted, deserted, dejected, where be his jewels, his treasures, his ornaments, his comfort, his joy, his delight; he will answer with that martyr, "none but Christ, none but Christ! Oh! none to Christ, none to Christ! Christ is all in all unto me!" Col. 3:11. That joy lasts forever, whose object remains forever. Such an object is our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the joy of the saints should still be exercised upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Shall the worldling rejoice in his barns, the rich man in his bags, the ambitious man in his honors, the voluptuous man in his pleasures, and the wanton in his Delilahs; and shall not a Christian rejoice in Christ Jesus, and in that robe of righteousness, and in those garments of salvation, with which Christ has covered him? Isaiah 61:10.

The joy of that Christian who keeps a fixed eye upon Christ and his righteousness cannot be expressed, it cannot be painted. No man can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, nor the sweetness of a cluster of Canaan's grapes, nor the fragrance of the rose of Sharon. As the being of things cannot be painted, so the sweetness of things cannot be painted. The joy of the Holy Spirit cannot be painted; nor can that joy be painted, which arises in a Christian's heart, who keeps up a daily converse with Christ and his righteousness; it cannot be expressed. Who can look upon the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and seriously consider, that even every vein of that blessed body did bleed to bring him to heaven—and not rejoice in Christ Jesus? Who can look upon the glorious righteousness of Christ, imputed to him—and not be filled with an exuberance of spiritual joy in God his Savior?

There is not the pardon of the least sin, nor the least degree of grace, nor the least drop of mercy—but cost Christ dear, for he must die, and he must be made a sacrifice, and he must be accursed—that pardon may be yours, and grace yours, and mercy yours. And oh, how should this draw out your heart to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus! The work of redemption sets both angels and saints a-rejoicing and triumphing in Christ Jesus, Rev. 5:11-14; and why not we, why not we also, who have received infinitely more benefit by the work of redemption, than ever the angels have? Rev. 1:5-6, and 5:8-10. A beautiful face is at all times pleasing to the eye—but then especially, when there is joy manifested in the countenance. Joy in the face puts a new beauty upon a person, and makes that which before was beautiful, to be exceeding beautiful, it puts a luster upon beauty. Just so, does holy joy and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, put, as it were, a new beauty and luster upon Christ. Though the Romans punished one who feasted, and looked out at a window with a garland on his head, in the second Punic war—yet, you may be sure, that God will never punish you for rejoicing and triumphing in Christ Jesus, let the times be ever so sad or bad, in respect of war, blood, or misery. But,

8. Eighthly, The imputed righteousness of Christ may serve to comfort, support, and bear up the hearts of the people of God, from fainting and sinking under the sense of the weakness and imperfection of their inherent righteousness. The church of old have lamentingly said, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags," Isaiah 64:6. When a Christian keeps a serious eye upon the spots, blots, blemishes, infirmities, and follies, which cleave to his inherent righteousness—fears and tremblings arise, to the saddening and sinking of his soul. But when he casts a fixed eye upon the righteousness of Christ imputed to him—then his comforts revive, and his heart bears up. For though he has no righteousness of his own, by which his soul may stand accepted before God—yet he has God's righteousness, which infinitely transcends his own, and such as, in God's account, goes for his, as if he had exactly fulfilled the righteousness which the law requires; according to that verse of the apostle, Romans 9:30, "What shall we say then? the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith."

Faith wraps itself in the righteousness of Christ, and so justifies us. The Gentiles sought righteousness, not in themselves but in Christ, which they apprehending by faith—and were by it justified in the sight of God. But the Jews, seeking righteousness in themselves, and thinking, by the goodness of their own works, to attain to the righteousness of the law, missed of it; it being in no man's power perfectly to fulfill the law. Only Christ has exactly fulfilled it for all who by faith close savingly with him. O sirs! none can be justified in the sight of God, by a righteousness of their own making. But whoever will be justified, must be justified by the righteousness of Christ, through faith, Romans 3:20, 28, and 10:3; Gal. 2:16; Tit. 3:5. The Gentiles by faith attain the righteousness of the law, therefore the righteousness of the law and of faith are all one; namely, in respect of matter and form; the difference is only in the worker. The law requires it to be done by ourselves; the gospel mitigates the rigor of the law, and offers the righteousness of Christ, who performed the law, even to a hair's-breadth. The right way to righteousness for justification is by Christ—who is the way, the door, the truth, and the life. Because we lack a righteousness of our own, God has assigned us the righteousness of Christ, which is infinitely better than our own, yes, better than our very lives—may I not say, yes, better than our very souls? "The branch," Christ Jesus is called, "Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness."

Jer. 23:6, "And this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness." Where note, first, to be called by this name is to be so really, for Christ is never called what he is not; and so he is to the same purpose elsewhere called "Immanuel, God with us," Mat. 1:23; that is, he shall be so indeed, "God with us." So here he shall be called, "the Lord our righteousness;" that is, he shall be so indeed. Secondly, observe this is one of his glorious names; that is, one of his attributes, which he accounts his excellency and his glory. Now all the attributes of Christ are unchangeable, so that he can as easily change his nature as his name. Now remember that this imputed righteousness of Christ procures acceptance for our inherent righteousness.

When a sincere Christian casts his eye upon the weaknesses, infirmities, and imperfections, which daily attend his best services, he sighs and mourns—but if he looks upward to the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, that shall bring forth his infirm, weak, and sinful performances perfect, spotless, and sinless, and approved according to the tenor of the gospel, so that they become spiritual sacrifices, he cannot but rejoice, 1 Pet. 2:5. For as there is an imputation of righteousness to the persons of believers, so there is also an imputation to their services and actions. As the act of Phinehas was imputed to him for righteousness, Psalm 106:31, so the imperfect good works which are done by believers are accounted righteousness, or, as Calvin speaks, "are accounted for righteousness, they being dipped in the blood of Christ," that is, they are accounted righteous actions. And so sincere Christians shall be judged according to their good works, though not saved for them, Rev. 11:18, and 20:12; Mat 25:34-37.

And it is observable, in that famous process of the last judgment, that the supreme judge makes mention of the bounty and liberality of the saints, and so bestows the crown of life and the eternal inheritance upon them; so that, though the Lord's faithful ones have eminent cause to be humbled and afflicted for the many weaknesses which cleave to their best duties—yet, on the other hand, they have wonderful cause to rejoice and triumph that they are made perfect through Jesus Christ, and that the Lord looks at them, through the righteousness of Christ, as fruits of his own Spirit, Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Cor. 6:11. The Sun of Righteousness has healing enough in his wings for all our spiritual maladies, Mal. 4:2. The saints' prayers, being perfumed with Christ's fragrance, are highly accepted in heaven, Rev. 8:3-4. Upon this foundation of imputed righteousness, believers may have exceeding strong consolation, and good hope through grace, that both their persons and services do find singular acceptance with God, as having no spot or blemish at all in them. Surely imputed righteousness must be the top of our happiness and blessedness, Romans 4:5-6. But,

9. Ninthly and lastly, Know for your comfort, that imputed righteousness will give you the greatest boldness before God's judgment-seat. There is an absolute and indispensable necessity of a perfect righteousness wherewith to appear before God. The holiness of God's nature, the righteousness of his government, the severity of his law, and the terror of wrath, calls aloud upon the sinner for a complete righteousness, without which there is no standing in judgment, Psalm 1:5. That righteousness alone, is able to justify us before God which is perfect, and which has no defect nor blemish in it, such as may abide the trial before his judgment-seat, such as may fitly satisfy his justice, and make our peace with him; and consequently, such as whereby the law of God is fulfilled. Therefore it is called the righteousness of God, such a righteousness as he requires, as will stand before him, and satisfy his justice, Romans 10:3. Just so, the apostle says, "The righteousness of the law must be fulfilled in us," Romans 8:4. Now there is no other righteousness under heaven whereby the law of God was ever perfectly fulfilled—but by the righteousness of Christ alone. No righteousness below the righteousness of Christ was ever able to abide the trial at God's judgment-seat, and fully to satisfy his justice, and pacify his wrath. A gracious soul triumphs more in the imputed righteousness of Christ, than he would have done if he could have stood in the righteousness in which he was created. This is the crowning comfort to a sensible and understanding soul, that he stands righteous before a judgment-seat, in that full, exact, perfect, complete, matchless, spotless, peerless, and most acceptable righteousness of Christ imputed to him.

The righteousness of Christ is therefore called the righteousness of God, because it is it which God has assigned, and which God does accept for us in our justification, and for and in which he does acquit and pronounce us righteous before his seat of justice, Romans 3:21-22, and 10:3; Phil. 3:9. There is an indispensable necessity which lies upon the sinner, to have such a righteousness to his justification as may render his appearance safe and comfortable in the day of judgment. Now there is no righteousness which can abide that day of fiery trial—but the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Paul, that great apostle, had as fair and as full a certificate to show for a legal justification as any person under heaven had, Phil. 3:4-6; Acts 23:6; 2 Cor. 11:22; but yet he dared not stand by that righteousness, he dared not plead that righteousness, he dared not appear in that righteousness before the dreadful judgment-seat.

But oh, how earnest, how importunate is he, that he may be found, in that great day of the Lord—in the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, and not in his own personal righteousness, which he looked upon as filthy rags, as dross, dung, dogs' meat, Phil. 3:9-10. The great thing that he most strongly insists upon is, that he might be clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness; for then he knew that the law could not condemn him, and that the judge upon the bench would pronounce him righteous, and bid him enter into the joy of his Lord, Mat. 25:21, 23, 24; a joy too great to enter into him, and therefore he must enter into that. When the match is made up between Christ and the soul, that soul bears her sovereign's name. The spouse of the first Adam and her husband had both one name, "God called their name Adam, in the day that he made them," Gen. 5:2; so the spouse of the second Adam, in the change of her condition, from a single to a married estate with Christ the Lamb, had a change of her name. The head is called, "the Lord our righteousness," Jer. 23:6; and so is the church: Jer. 33:16, "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness." Here is a sameness of name. [Christ and Christians are namesakes. The head is called Christ, and the members are called Christ, 1 Cor. 12:12. Christ is called Solomon, Cant. 1:1, and 3:11, in Hebrew, Shelomah of peace, and the church is called Shulamite, by her bridegroom's name, Cant. 6:13.] As Christ is called, "the Lord our righteousness," so his spouse is called, "the Lord our righteousness." Oh, happy transnomination! Christ's bride being one with himself, and having his righteousness imputed to her, is called, "the Lord our righteousness;" and therefore they may, with the greatest cheerfulness and boldness, bear up, in the great day of account, who have the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to them, especially if you consider,

(1.) That this righteousness is of infinite value and worth.

(2.) That it is an everlasting righteousness, a righteousness that can never be lost, Dan. 9:24.

(3.) That it is an unchangeable righteousness. Though times change, and men change, and friends change, and providences changes, and the moon changes—yet the Sun of Righteousness never changes, "in him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," Mal. 4:2; James 1:17.

(4.) That it is a complete and unspotted righteousness, an unblamably righteousness, and unblemished righteousness. And therefore God can neither in justice except it, or object against it. In this righteousness the believer lives, in this righteousness the believer dies, and in this righteousness believers shall arise, and appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to the deep admiration of all the elect angels, and to the transcendent terror and horror of all reprobates, and to the matchless joy and triumph of all on Christ's right hand, who shall then shout and sing, Isaiah 61:10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorned herself with jewels."

Oh, how will Christ, in this great day, be admired and glorified in all his saints, 2 Thes. 1:10, when every saint, wrapped up in this fine linen, in this white robe of Christ's righteousness, shall shine more gloriously than ten thousand suns! In the great day of the Lord, when the saints shall stand before the tribunal of God, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, they shall then stand and be pronounced righteous, even in the court of divine justice, which sentence will fill their souls with comfort, and the souls of sinners with astonishment, Rev. 20:12, and 12:10. Suppose we saw the believing sinner, holding up his hand at God's bar; the books opened, the accuser of the brethren present, the witnesses ready, and the judge on the bench thus bespeaking the sinner at the bar, Romans 7:12, 14, 16, and Gal. 3:10. "O sinner, sinner, you stand here indicted before me, for many millions of sins of commission, and for many millions of sins of omission; you have broken my holy, just, and righteous laws beyond all human conception or expression, and hereof you are proved guilty! What have you now to say for yourself, why you should not be eternally lost"? Upon this, the sinner pleads guilty—but withal he earnestly desires that he may have time and liberty to plead for himself, and to offer his reasons why that dreadful sentence, "Go, you cursed," etc., Mat. 25:41, should not be passed upon him. The liberty desired, being granted by the judge, the sinner pleads that his surety, Jesus Christ, has, by his blood and sufferings, given full and complete satisfaction to divine justice, and that he has paid down upon the penny, the whole debt at once, and that it can never stand with the holiness and unspotted justice of God to demand satisfaction twice, Heb. 10:10, 14. If the judge shall further object, "Ay—but sinner, sinner, the law requires an exact and perfect righteousness in the personal fulfilling of it; now, sinner, where is your exact and perfect righteousness?" Gal. 3:10; Isaiah 45:24. Upon which the believing sinner very readily, cheerfully, humbly, and boldly replies, "My righteousness is upon the bench—in the Lord have I righteousness. Christ, my surety, has fulfilled the law on my behalf!"

The law's righteousness consists in two things,

(1.) In its requiring perfect conformity to its commands.

(2.) In its demanding satisfaction, or the undergoing of its penalty, upon the violation of it.

Now Christ, by his active and passive obedience, has fulfilled the law for righteousness; and this active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ is imputed to me. His obeying the law to the full, his perfect conforming to its commands, his doing, as well as his dying obedience—is by grace made over and reckoned to me, in order to my justification and salvation; and this is my plea, by which I will stand before the judge of all the world. Upon this, the sinner's plea is accepted as good in law, and accordingly he is pronounced righteous; and goes away, glorying and rejoicing, triumphing and shouting it out, Righteous, righteous, righteous, righteous! "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory," Isaiah 45:25. And thus you see that there are nine springs of strong consolation that flow into your souls, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness unto you.

Christ our Representative and Surety

VI. The sixth plea that a believer may form up, as to these ten scriptures [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:3; Romans 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 12:17; 1 Pet. 4:5.] which refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account, may be drawn from the consideration of Christ as a common person—a representative head, one who represents another man's person, and acts the part of another, according to the appointment of the law, and the acceptance of the judge; so that what is done by him, the person is said to do, whose person he does represent. And so was Adam a common person, and that by an act of God's sovereignty appointing him, in making a covenant with him so to be, and he did represent all mankind, Romans 5:15-19. And hence it comes to pass that his sin is imputed unto us, and made ours. [We were all in Adam, and although we chose not—yet God chose for us.]

So in our law an attorney appears in the behalf of his client, and so Christ is said to be gone to heaven as our attorney, to appear in the presence of God for us, Heb. 9:24. The Greek word signifies to appear as a lawyer appears for his client, opens the cause, pleads the cause, and carries it. The word appear is verbum forense, an expression borrowed from the custom of human courts; for in them, when the plaintiff or defendant is called, their attorney appears in their behalf; so 1 John 2:1.

You know that the Levitical priest was accustomed to appear before God in the people's name. Now he was but a figure; in Christ is the solid truth, and full effect of the figure. Or as taking possession, livery, and seizing by an attorney is all one as if done by the person himself who is represented, and is valid. Just so, the Lord Jesus, he is a common person by an act of God's sovereignty, representing the persons of all the elect of God, being designed and appointed by God to be a second Adam. And as the first Adam did represent all in him, so the second Adam does represent all in him also. And therefore as judgment came upon all who are in the first Adam, so righteousness comes upon all who are in the second Adam. We all transgressed the royal law in Adam, we were all in Adam's loins; what he was, we were; what he did, we did. Although we did not in our own persons either talk with the serpent, or put forth our hands to take the fruit—yet we did eat the forbidden fruit as well as he, and so broke the holy law, and turned aside in him; for he was not a single person, standing for himself alone—but a public person, standing in the room and stead of all mankind. Therefore his sin, being not merely the sin of his person—but of the whole nature of man, is justly imputed to us all.

If Adam had stood fast in his uprightness, in his primitive purity, glory and excellency, we would all have shared in his happiness and blessedness, Eccles. 7:29. But he falling and forfeiting all, we must all share with him in his loss and misery. Ponder upon Romans 5:12, "In whom all have sinned." As the murrain infects the whole flock, so sin and the curse seize upon all the whole world, as well as upon Adam and Eve. And verse 19, "By one man's disobedience, the many are made sinners." "The many" is here put for "all," as "all" elsewhere is put for "many," 1 Tim. 2:3. All sinners are tainted with Adam's guilt and filth. Adam was the head, all his posterity the members. If the head plots and practices treason against the state—is not this judged the act of the whole body? Adam was the tree, we the branches; when the tree falls, all the branches fall with it.

When Christ died on the cross, he did stand in our room, and place, and stead; for he did lay down his life for us as a ransom. Now when one dies for another in way of ransom, he does not only die for the benefit and profit of the ransomed—but in the place, and room, and stead of the ransomed; and thus Christ died for us, as himself testifies: "The son of man came to give himself a ransom for many," Mark 10:45. Christ rose as a common person, representing all his elect; and Christ was sanctified as a common person, representing all his elect; and Christ was justified as a common person, representing all his elect. Look, as we were condemned in Adam, as he was a common person; just so, are we are justified by Christ, as in a common person also; so that every believer may well look upon himself as acquitted, in his justification, from the guilt of his sins, they being laid upon the head of his surety, Heb. 9:28.

It is a very great part of a Christian's wisdom to be often looking upon Christ as a representative-head, as one in whom he died, in whom he rose, in whom he is sanctified, and in whom he is justified, Eph. 2:6. How would such a daily eyeing of Christ scatter a Christian's fears, arm him against temptations, support him under afflictions, weaken his sins, strengthen his graces, cheer his soul, and mend his life!

It is very observable, that in the Levitical expiatory sacrifices there was the substitution of them in the place and stead of the offenders themselves. The people's sin, and the punishment due to them thereupon, was laid upon the poor animals which died for them. I might multiply scriptures to evidence this—but I shall only hint at one or two plain, pregnant texts to clear it. Take Lev. 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." Mark here, the blood is to make atonement for the souls of the people of Israel—that is, in the room and stead of their souls, and accordingly it did make atonement for their souls; so that in the blood sacrificed, which was a type of the blood of Christ, there was soul for soul, life for life; the soul and life of the sacrifice—for the precious soul and life of the sinner. Now here you see substitution of the one in the room of the other. The transferring of the guilt and punishment of the people's sins over to their sacrifices in those days, was the reason why the sacrifices were said to bear the iniquities of the people, Lev. 16:22, and 10:17, etc.

And it is observable that at the great expiation, Aaron was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and to confess over him all the sins of the children of Israel, etc., Lev. 16:21. By this ceremony of imposition of hands, is signified the transferring of their sins upon the goat. Herein was a type of Christ—upon whom God "did lay the iniquity of us all," Isaiah 53:6. Certainly the main thing that is held forth by this rite—namely, Aaron's laying both his hands upon the head of the live goat, is the translation of the sinner's guilt to the sacrifice, and the substitution of it in his stead. Typically, the very sins of the people were imposed upon the goat, who herein was a type of Christ who did in fact, bear our sins.

Yes, the Hebrews [Maimonides] themselves hold that the scapegoat made atonement for all their sins, lighter and greater, presumptuously and ignorantly committed. Certainly the scapegoat was a most lively type of our blessed Savior—

(1.) In that "the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all," as the sins of Israel were laid upon the head of the goat.

(2.) As the goat was carried away, so Christ was "cut off from the land of the living, his life was taken from off the earth," Isaiah 4:3, and 53:8.

(3.) As this goat was not killed, so "Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself," whereby he was made alive after death, Acts 9:33; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 3:18. Though Christ Jesus died for our sins according to his humanity—yet death could not detain him nor overcome him, nor keep him prisoner, Hosea 13:14—but, by virtue of his deity, he rises again and triumphs over death and the grave, and over principalities and powers, Col. 2:15.

(4.) As this goat went into an inhabitable place, so Christ went into heaven—"where I go you cannot come," John 13:33. Christ speaks this not to exclude his disciples out of heaven—but only to show that their entrance was put off for a time, verse 36. Saints must not expect to go to heaven and rest with Christ until they have "fought the good fight of faith, finished their course, run their race," and "served their generation." [2 Tim. 4:7-8; Heb. 12:1; 1 Cor. 9:24; Acts 13:36; John 14:1-3.] Christ's own children, by all their studies, prayers, tears, and endeavors, cannot get to heaven unless Christ comes and fetches them there. Christ's own servants cannot get to heaven presently nor of themselves, no more than the Jews could do.

Now if you cast your eye upon the Lord Jesus, you will find an exact correspondence between the type and the antitype, the one fully answering to the other. Did they carry substitution in them? that eminently was in Christ. He indeed substituted himself in the sinner's room; he took our guilt upon him, and put himself in our place, and died in our stead; he died that we might not die. Whatever we should have undergone, that he underwent in his body and soul; he did bear as our substitute all the punishments and torments that were due to us. Christ's suffering, dying, satisfying in our stead, is the great article of a Christian's faith, and the main prop and foundation of the believer's hope. It is founded, as an eternal and unmovable truth, upon the sure basis of the blessed word.

Substitution, in the case of the old sacrifices, is not so evidently held forth in the law—but substitution with respect to Christ and his sacrifice is more evidently set forth in the gospel. Ponder seriously upon these texts: Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly;" verse 8, "For God commends his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Herein God lays naked to us the tenderest affections of his Fatherly compassions, as in an anatomy. [This shows us the greatness of man's sin and of Christ's love, of Satan's malice and of God's justice. And it shows us the madness and blindness of the popish religion, which tells us that some sins are so light and venial as that the sprinkling of holy water and ashes will purge them away.]

There was an absolute necessity of Christ's dying for sinners, for,

(1.) God's justice had decreed it.

(2.) His word had foretold it.

(3.) The sacrifices in the law had prefigured it.

(4.) The foulness of man's sin had deserved it.

(5.) The redemption of man called for it.

(6.) The glory of God was greatly exalted by it.

Just so, 1 Pet. 3:18, "For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." To see Christ the just suffer in the stead of the unjust, is the wonderment of angels and the torment of devils! 1 Pet. 4:1, "Forasmuch then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh," etc., that is, in the human nature, for the expiation and taking away of our sins. 1 Pet. 2:21, "Because Christ also suffered for us." John 10:11, "I lay down my life for the sheep." This good shepherd lays down life for life, his own dear life for the life of his sheep. John 11:50, "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." Caiaphas took it for granted, that either Christ or their nation must perish, and, as he foolishly thought, that of two evils he designed the least to be chosen, that is, that Christ should rather perish than their nation. But God so guided his tongue that he unwittingly, by the powerful instinct of the Spirit, prophesied of the fruit of Christ's death for the reconciliation and salvation of the elect of God.

Heb. 2:9, "That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man," or, for every creature. Who all these are, the context shows—

(1.) Sons, who must be led unto glory, verse 10;

(2.) Christ's brethren, verse 11;

(3.) Such children as are given by God unto Christ, verse 13.

In all which scriptures the preposition is used, which most commonly notes substitution, the doing or suffering of something by one in the stead and place of others, and so it is all along here to be taken.

But there is another preposition that proves the thing I am upon undeniably: Mat. 20:28, "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto—but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." A ransom signifies a redemptory price, a valuable rate; for it was the blood of God with which the church was purchased, Acts 20:28: 1 Tim. 2:6, "Who gave himself a ransom for all." The Greek word signifies a counterprice, such as we could never have paid—but must have remained everlasting prisoners to the wrath and justice of God. O sirs! Christ did not barely deliver poor captive souls—but he delivered them in the way of a ransom, which ransom he paid down upon the nail. When their ransom was ten thousand talents, and they had not one farthing to lay down, Christ stands up in their room and pays the whole ransom! Mat. 18:24. Christ gave himself as a ransom in the room and stead of sinners. John 2:28-29.

Certainly no head can invent, no heart can conceive, nor no tongue can express more clear, plain, pregnant, and appropriate words and phrases for the setting forth of Christ's substitution, than is to be found in that golden chapter of Isaiah 53. In this chapter, as in a holy armory, we may find, had I time to go through it, many pointed daggers, and two-edged swords, and shields of brass—to arm us against the corrupt notions and opinions of the blinded and deluded Socinians, who fight with all their might against the doctrine of Christ's substitution. Verse 4, "Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows," etc.; verse 5, "The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed;" verse 6, "The Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all;" or, "the Lord has made the iniquity of us all to meet on him;" verse 7, "He was oppressed and he was afflicted," verse 8, "For the transgression of my people he was stricken;" verse 11, "For he shall bear their iniquities;" verse 12, "And he bore the sin of many." All men of worth and weight conclude that all this is spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what more clear and evident proofs can there be of Christ's assumption of the sinner's guilt, and of his bearing the punishment due for it? The priests of old, you know, are said to bear the iniquity of the people: Lev. 10:17, "God has given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord." The sinner bears his iniquity subjectively, the priest typically, and the Lord Christ really!

Exod. 28:38, "That Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things." Herein the high priest was a type of Christ; answerable to which, the prophet Isaiah tells us that Christ, our high priest, had the iniquities of all believers laid upon him, and that he bore them in his own person, Heb. 4:14-15. Just so, the apostle in Heb. 9:28, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," etc. It is an allusion to the priests who carried up the sacrifice, and with it the sins of the people, to the altar. Christ our priest did carry up the sins of his people upon the cross, and there made satisfaction for them, in their room or stead, by the sacrifice of himself.

That scripture is more worth than the Indies—namely, 1 Pet. 2:24, "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree," "he bore them aloft"—namely, when he climbed up his cross, and nailed them thereunto, Col. 2:13-15. Christ in the human nature, when he was upon the cross, did suffer all the punishments and torments that were due to our sins; he cancelled all debts, annihilated the curse; in which respects he is said "to bear our sins in his own body on the tree."

But to prevent wordiness, I shall produce no more scriptures, though many more might have been produced, to prove Christ a common person, a representative head of all his elect; and that he did really substitute himself in their room, and took upon himself their guilt, and put himself in their place, and did undergo whatever they should have undergone.

Now from all these considerations, a child of God may form up this sixth plea as to these ten scriptures, [Eccles. 11:9, and 12:14; Mat. 12:14, and 18:23; Luke 16:3; Romans 4:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27, and 13:17, and 1 Pet. 4:5.] that refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account. "O blessed God, Jesus Christ was a common person, a representative head: I am to be considered in him, who is my surety, and therefore he is bound to pay all my debts: and as he is a common person and stood in my stead, so the satisfaction that is made unto your justice by him, is legally to be accounted mine, as really as if my attorney should pay a debt for me. Therefore, I must rest satisfied that the debt is paid, and in law shall never be exacted of me; though it was not paid by myself in person—but by another who did substitute for me in that act, and did it for me and in my behalf.

Christ was a common person, personating as a second Adam, the first Adam and all his posterity; offering the same nature for sin, which fell by sin from the pattern of perfection, God himself. "By man came death, and by man came the resurrection from the dead," 1 Cor. 15:21, man for man, person for person, nature for nature, and name for name. There are two roots out of which life and death springs.

(1.) As all who die, receive their death-wounds by the disobedience of the first Adam; so all who live, receive life from the obedience of the second Adam.

(2.) As all die who are the sons of the first Adam by natural generation; so all live, who are the sons of the second Adam through spiritual regeneration. "O holy and blessed God, you have set up Jesus Christ as a common person, as the representative head of all your elect, and I am to be considered in that common head. All that he has done as my head, and in my stead and room—is to be reckoned to me—as if I had done it in my own person, and by this plea I will stand, rejoice, and triumph. Upon this God accepts of the plea, as sound and good, and says to him who pleads it, "enter into the joy of your Lord!" Mat. 25:21.

VII. The seventh plea that a believer may form up, as to the ten scriptures formerly cited, which refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account, may be drawn from the consideration of Christ's suretyship. Christ is called a surety: Heb. 7:22, "Jesus has become the surety of a better covenant." A surety is one who willingly promises and undertakes to pay and discharge the debt, if the debtor fails, and is not able to make satisfaction himself. Thus Paul willingly and spontaneously, from the love he had to his new convert Onesimus, promised and undertook to make satisfaction to Philemon, for any wrong that Onesimus had done him: Philem. 18, 19, "If he has wronged you, or owes you anything, charge it to my account; I Paul have written it with my own hand, I will repay it." That is, account Onesimus' debt to Paul, and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus; which answers the double imputation in point of justification, that is, of our sins or debts to Christ, and of Christ's satisfaction to us. Consider Christ as a surety, and so he has fully paid all our debts, and set us perfectly free forever. A surety is one who enters into bond, and engages himself for the debt of another; and so Christ is become our surety. Therefore he was bound by our bond, and engages himself for the debt of another. For our debt he was made under the law, and so as a sacrifice, he stood in the stead of a sinner, and the sacrifice was to be offered for the man.

And so some expound that verse, "He was made sin for us," 2 Cor. 5:21, that is, a sin-offering; therefore he does take our sins upon him as his own, Isaiah 53; and so the Lord does impute them and lay them upon him as his own: verse 6, "He did make to meet upon him the iniquities of us all." The original word here used comes from a word in its native propriety intends a kind of force or violence—they met with all their violence upon him, and therefore "he was made sin for us," that is, as a surety in our stead, "he did bear our sins in his body upon the tree; he was delivered for our transgressions." Our surety has paid all our debts.

"The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and it pleased the Father to bruise him," Isaiah 53:5, 10. The original word signifies to break him to pieces as in a mortar. By the great things that our surety has done for us, and the great things that he has suffered for us—he has given most perfect and complete satisfaction both to his Father's law, and to his Father's justice; and this pleased the Father.

Weigh well Col. 2:14, "He canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Christ has crossed out the black lines of our sin, with the red lines of his own blood. The written code, some do take here for a writing written with God's own hand in tables of stone, as the law of the ten commandments were, Exod. 34:1; and this is by them understood of the moral law, or of the ten commandments, which are said to be against us, in respect of their strict requiring of perfect obedience, or in default thereof, by reason of its curse, which Christ as our surety has borne for us on the cross, and delivered us from it, Gal. 3:10, 13.

But others by this written code do understand the law of the ceremonies of the Old Testament. In the general, it was something that God had against us; to show or convince, or prove, that we had sinned against him, and were his debtors. I suppose that this written code was principally the moral law, obliging us unto perfect obedience, and condemning us for the defect of the same, and likewise those ceremonial rites, which, as Beza observes, were a kind of public confession of our debts. Now these were against, and contrary unto us, inasmuch as they did argue us guilty of sin and condemnation, which the moral law threatened and sentenced, etc. But says the apostle, "Christ has canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." That is, Jesus Christ has not only abrogated the ceremonial law—but also the damnatory power of the moral law, as our surety, by performing an act of obedience which the law did require, and by undergoing the punishment which the law did exact from the transgressors of it. And so Christ doing and suffering, what we were bound to do and to suffer—he did thereby blot out the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Therefore we may safely conclude, that the creditor is fully satisfied, when he gives in his bond to be cancelled. The bond is cancelled, blotted out—and can no more be read than if it had never been; the obligatory power of the law as a covenant is taken away.

God delivered his people from Pharaoh by force, and from Babylon by favor—but that deliverance that Christ, as our surety, hands out to us, from sin, from wrath, from hell, from the curse, and from the moral law as it is a covenant of works—is obtained by paying a full price; by which one becomes satisfied, and another thereupon delivered.

Heb. 9:26, "He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" to put away sin, Dan. 9:24, is to abolish or make void the guilt or obligation of sin, whereby it binds over unbelievers to condemnation. To put away sin is to abrogate it, it is to bind it up in a bundle, to seal it up in a bag, to cast it behind him, as cancelled obligations, Isaiah 38:17; Micah 7:19; it is to blot out the black handwriting with the red lines of his blood drawn over it; so that sin has no force, no power to accuse or condemn, or shut such poor souls out of heaven—who have that Jesus for their surety—who made himself a sacrifice to put away sin. Christ as our surety laid down a satisfactory price, not only for our good—but also in our stead or room: 1 Pet. 3:18, "Christ also has suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." What the unjust sinner should have suffered, that the just Christ suffered for him: 1 Cor. 5:21, "He was made sin for us;" that is, an offering, a sacrifice in our stead, for the expiation of our sins.

"Christ was made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13. Now Christ's becoming a curse for us stands in this, that whereas we are all accursed by the sentence of the law because of sin, he now comes into our room, and stands under the stroke of that curse which of right belongs to us; so that the curse no longer lies on the backs of poor sinners—but on him for them and in their stead; therefore he is called a surety, Heb. 7:22. The surety stands in the room of a debtor, malefactor, or him who is any way liable to the law. Such are Adam and all his posterity. We are, by the doom of the law, evildoers, transgressors; and upon that score we stand indebted to the justice of God, and lie under the stroke of his wrath. Now the Lord Jesus Christ seeing us in this condition, he steps in and stands between us and the blow; yes, he takes this wrath and curse off from us unto himself; he stands not only or merely after the manner of a surety among men in the case of debt, for here the surety enters bond with the principal for the payment of the debt.

Christ Jesus does not expect that we should pay the debt ourselves—but he takes it wholly upon himself. As a surety for a murderer or traitor, or some other notorious malefactor who has broken prison and is run away, he lies by it body for body, state for state, and undergoes whatever the malefactor is chargeable with, for satisfying the law. Even so the Lord Jesus stands surety for us runaway malefactors, making himself liable to all that curse that belongs to us, that he might both answer the law fully, and bring us back again to God. As the first Adam stood in the room of all mankind who are fallen; so Christ, the second Adam, stands in the room of all mankind who are to be restored. He sustains all those who spiritually descend from him, and unto whom he bears the relation of a head.

When God appointed his dearest Son to be a surety for us, and charged all our debts upon him, and required an exact satisfaction to his law and justice, insomuch that he would not abate the Son of his love one farthing-token of the debt—he demonstrated a greater love to justice than if he had damned as many worlds as there are men in the world. Oh, let us never cast an eye upon Christ's suretyship—but let us stand and wonder, yes, let us be swallowed up in a deep admiration of Christ's love, and of his Father's impartial justice!

Ah, what transcendent wisdom also does here appear in reconciling the riches of mercy and infinite justice both in one by the means of a surety! If all the angels in heaven, and all the men on earth, had been put to answer these questions, "How shall sin be pardoned? How shall the sinner be reconciled and saved? How shall the wrath of God be pacified? How shall the justice of God be satisfied? How shall the redemption of man be brought about, in such a way whereby God may be most eminently glorified?" they could never have answered the questions. But God, in his infinite wisdom, has found out a way to save sinners, not only in a way of mercy and grace—but in a way of justice and righteousness; and all this by the means of Christ's suretyship, as has been already declared.

Now, from the consideration of Christ's suretyship, a believer may form up this seventh, safe, comfortable, and blessed plea as to the ten scriptures formerly cited, which refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account: "O blessed Father, remember that your own Son was my ransom, his blood was the price; he was my surety, and undertook to pay for my sins. I know, O blessed God, that you must be satisfied—but remember my surety has satisfied you; not for himself, for he was holy and harmless, a lamb without a spot—but for me. They were my debts he satisfied for; and look over your books, and you shall find that he has cleared all accounts and reckonings between you and me. [When a man marries a woman, he takes her debts too; just so, does Christ when he takes us to be his, he takes our sins also to be his.] The guilt of all my sins have been imputed to my surety, who presented himself in my stead, to make full payment and satisfaction to your justice."

As Paul said to Philemon, verse 18, concerning his servant Onesimus, "If he has wronged you, or owes you anything, charge it to my account," so says Christ to the penitent and believing soul, "If you have any guilt, any debt to be answered for unto God—charge them all to my account. If you have wronged my Father, I will make satisfaction to the uttermost: for I was made sin for you, Isaiah 53:12; 2 Cor. 5:21. I poured out my soul for your transgressions. It cost me my heart's blood to reconcile you to my Father, and to slay all enmity!" Acts 20:28.

And as Rebekah said to Jacob in another case, "Upon me, my son, be the curse," Gen. 27:13, so says Christ to the believing soul, "Why, your sins exposed you unto the curse of the law—but I was made a curse for you, Gal. 3:13. I did bear that burden myself upon the cross, and upon my shoulders were all your griefs and sorrows borne; I was wounded for your transgressions, and I was bruised for your iniquities!" Isaiah 53:4-8, 10. Therefore we are said to have "redemption and remission of sins in his blood," Eph. 1:7.

"O blessed God! you know that a surety does not pay the debt only for the debtor's good—but as standing in the debtor's stead, and so his payment is reckoned to the debtor. And thus the case stands between Christ and my soul; for, as my surety, he has paid all my debts, and that very payment that he has made, in honor and justice, you are obliged to accept of as made in my stead. O dearest Father! that Jesus, who is God-man, as my surety, he has done all that the law requires of me, and thereby he has freed me from wrath to come, and from the curse that was due to me for my sins, 1 Thes. 1:10. This is my plea, O holy God, and by this plea I shall stand." Hereupon God declares, "This plea I accept as just and good, and therefore enter into the joy of your Lord!"

Christian reader, I have gone as far in the opening and clearing up of those grand points of the gospel that have fallen under our consideration, as I judge fit at this time. By the title-page you may safely conclude, that I have promised much more than in this treatise I have performed—but be a little patient, and by divine assistance, I shall make sure and full payment.

The covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption, with some other points of high importance, I shall present to you in the second part, which will be the last part. In this first part I did not offer you that which cost me nothing. I desire that all the interest you have in heaven may be so fully and duly improved, that this first part may be so blessed from on high, as that saints and sinners may have cause to bless God to all eternity, for what is brought to hand; and beg hard, that the other part, which is drawn up and fitted for the press, may also be crowned with many blessings. Hereby you will put a high obligation upon the author, to do all he can, to be yet a little further serviceable to your soul and others', to your salvation and others', before he goes hence and shall be seen no more.

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MONERGISM BOOKS

The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures by Thomas Brooks, Copyright © 2020

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Epistle Dedicatory

To the Reader

What are the special remedies, means or helps against cherishing or keeping up of any special or pec

What is that faith, which gives a man a saving interest in Christ, and in all those blessed benefits

Questions concerning the great day of the Lord, and the day of judgment.

Christ, bearing and enduring all these punishments for the elect.

Christ's spiritual sufferings.

Hell is a place of endless, easeless, and remediless torment

The Divinity and Humanity of Christ

Applications and inferences

The justification of a sinner in the sight of God

Nine choice consolations of justification

Christ our representative and surety