The Divine Life, Treatise 1 · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
10. AS we must know God as our Creatour, so also as our Redeemer; Of which I shall say but little now, because I have mentioned it more fully in the Directions for sound Conversion. It is life Eternal to know the Father, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, Job. 17. 3. The Father Redeemeth us by the Son, whom he sent, and whose Sacrifice he accepted, and in whom he is well pleased. And this must have these effects upon our souls.
1. We must be hence convinced, that we are not now in a state of innocency, nor to be saved as innocents, or on the terms of the Law of our Creation: Bue Salvation is now by a Redeemer: and therefore consisteth in our recovery and restauration. The objects of it are only lapsed sinful miserable men. Name the Creature if you can since Adam, that stood before God here in the flesh, in a state of personal perfect innocency, except the immaculate Lamb of God. If God as Creator should now save any, without respect to a Redemption, it must be on the terms of the Law of Creation, upon which it is certain that no man hath or shall be saved; that is, upon perfect personal persevering obedience. You cannot exempt Infants themselves from sin and misery, without exempting them from Christ the Redeemer, and the remedy, Rom. 3. 10, 19, 20, 22, 23. [There is none Righteous (in himself without a Redeemer) no not one—They are all gone out of the way—That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (And if all the world be guilty, none are innocent:) therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ] Isa. 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.] Rom. 5. 15. [Through the offence of one, many are dead] 16. And the judgement was by One to condemnation] 17. By the offence of one death reigned by one.] 18. By the offence of one, judgement came on all men to condemnation.] 19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners] Psal. 51. 4. [We were shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us] Eph. 2. 1, 3. We were by nature the Children of wrath, and dead in trespasses and sin] 1 Cor. 15. 22. [In Adam all die] 2 Cor. 5. 14 [We thus judge, that if one dyed for all, then were all dead] Eph 5. 23. Christ is the Saviour of the Body] & v. 25, 26, 27. [Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church—] If Infants have no sin and misery, then they are none of the Body, the Church, which Christ loved and gave himself for that he might cleanse it. But what need we further proof when we have the common experience of all the world? Would every man that is born of a woman without exception, so early manifest sin in the life, if there were no corrupt disposition at the heart? And should all mankind without exception, tast of the punishment of sin, if they had no participation of the guilt? Death is the wages of sin; and by sin death entred into the world, and it passeth upon all men, for that all have sinned, Rom. 5. 12. Infants have sickness, and torments, and death, which are the fruits of sin. And were they not presented to Christ as a Saviour, when he took them in his arms and blessed them, and said, Of such is the Kingdom of God? Certainly, none that never were guilty or miserable, are capable of a place in the Kingdom of the Mediator. For to what end should he mediate for them? or how can he Redeem them that need not a Redemption? or how should he reconcile them to God that never were at enmity with him? Or how can he wash them that were never unclean? Or how can he be a Physicion to them that never were sick? when the whole have no need of the Physicion, Mat. 9. 12. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, Luk. 19. 10. and to save his people from their sins, Mat. 1. 21. They are none of his saved people therefore that had no sin. He came to redeem those that were under the Law, Gal. 4. 5. But it is most certain that Infants were under the Law as well as the adult: And … a pa… of his people Israel whom he visited and Re… 1. 68. If ever they be admitted into Glory, they … him that Redeemed …. duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page God doth first justifie those whom he Glorifieth, Rom. 8. 30. And they must be born again that will enter into his Kingdom, J…h. 3. 3, 5. And there is no Regeneration or renovation but from sin, Col. 3. 10. Eph. 4. 22. Nor any Justification but from sin, and from what we could not be Justified from by the Law of Moses, Act. 13. 30. Nor any Justification but what containeth a Remission of sin, Rom. 3. 25. And where there is no sin, there is none to be Remitted. Nor is there any Justification but what is through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and his propitiation, Rom. 3. 24, 25. He is made of God Redemption to us, 1 Cor. 1. 30. And the Redemption that we have by him, is Remission of sins by his blood, Col. 1. 14. Eph. 1. 7. By his own blood entered he once into the holy place, having obtained eternal Redemption for us: The eternal inheritance is received by means of death for the Redemption of transgressions, Heb. 9. 12, 15.] so that all Scripture speaks this truth aloud to us, that there is now no salvation promised but to the Church, the Justified, the Regenerate, the Redeemed; and that none can be capable of these but sinners, and such as are lost and miserable in themselves. And till our necessity be understood, Redemption cannot be well understood. They that believe that Christ dyed not only for this or that man in particular, but for the world, methinks should believe that the world are sinners and need his death. He is called the Saviour of the world, Joh. 4. 42. and the Saviour of all men, especially of believers, 1 Tim. 4. 10. 1 Joh. 4. 14. We have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world] And from what doth he save them? From their sins, Mat. 1. 21. and from the wrath to come, 1 Thes. 1. 10. [For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners] Infants then are sinners, or none of those that he came to save. Christ hath made no man Righteous by his Obedience, but such as Adam made sinners by his disobedience, Rom. 5. 19. [For as by one mans disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many shall be made Righteous.] Infants are not made Righteous by Christ, if they were not sinners: And sinners they cannot be by any but Original sin, Rom. 5. 8, 9, 10. [God commended his Love to us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us: Much more being now Justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him: When we were enemies we were Reconciled to God by the death of his Son] so that it is sinners that Christ dyed for, and sinners that are justified by his blood, and sinners that are reconciled to God. Infants therefore are sinners, or they are none of the Redeemed, Justified or reconciled. And when Jesus Christ [by the grace of God did taste death for every man] Heb. 2. 9. Infants are sure included. [There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a Ransom for all, 1 Tim. 2. 5, 6.] therefore all had sin and misery and needed that ransome. [He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world] And is it not plain then that the whole world are sinners?
I speak all this for the evincing of Original sin only, because that only is denyed by such as yet pretend to Christianity; For actual sin is commonly confessed, and shews it self. And truly so doth Original sin in our proneness to actual; and in the earliness and commonness of such evil inclinations; and in the remnants of it which the sanctified feel, though they are such as were sanctified never so early, before actual sin had time to breed those evil habits, which therefore certainly were born with us.
And if the Image of God, consisting in true holiness, be not natural, or born in every Infant in the world, then Original sin must needs be born with them: for that sin is either only or chiefly the Privation of that Image or Holiness. He that will say that this Image is not requisite to Infants, and so that the absence of it is a meer negation, doth make them bruits, and not of the race of man, whom God created after his Image, and leaves them uncapable of Heaven or Hell, or any other life then beasts have. And he that thinks so of▪ Infants to day, may think so of himself to morrow. And he that will affirm that this Image or Holiness is born with every Infant into the world, so wilfully contradicteth common evidence which appeareth in the contrary effects, that he is not worthy to be further talkt with.
One thing more I will propound yet to the contrary-minded; Can they say that any Infants are saved or not? If not, either they perish as bruits (which is a bruitish opinion) or they live in misery; and then they had sin that did deserve it; yea if they think that any of them perish in the wrath to come, it must be for sin. If they think that any of them are saved, it is either by covenant or without; there is some promise for it, or there is none. If none, then no man can say that any of them are saved. For who hath known the mind of the Lord without his Revelation? It is arrogancy to tell the world of the saving of any that God did no way reveal that he will save. But if they plead a Revelation or promise, it is either the Covenant of Nature or of Grace; a promise contained in Nature, Law or Gospel. The former cannot be affirmed, (not only because the dissenters themselves deny any such Covenant to have been in nature or any way made to Adam, but) because there is no such Covenant or promise in Nature to be found, for the Salvation of all Infants (and if not for all, then for none:) and because it is contrary to abundance of plain passages in the Scriptures, that assure us there is but One Covenant of Salvation now in force: and that all the world shall become guilty before God, and every mouth be stopped, Rom. 3. 19. and that by the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be justified in his sight, v. 20. Gal. 2. 16. And if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain, Gal. 2. 21. For as many as are of the works of the Law, are under the Curse, Gal. 3. 10. And that no man is Justified by the Law in the sight of God, is evident; for the just shall live by faith; and the Law is not of faith; but, The man that doth them shall live in them And certainly the Law of nature requireth not less then Moses Law, to a mans justification, if not more. And [if there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily Righteousness should have been by the Law. But the Scripture hath concluded All under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that belive] Gal. 3. 21, 22.
By the fulness of this evidence, it is easie to see, that Infants and all mankind are sinners, and therefore have need of the Redeemer.
2. To know God as our Redeemer, containeth the knowledge of the great ends of our Redemption, and of the manifestation of God to man thereby. Having treated of these in the Book forecited, I shall now say but this in brief. It is beyond dispute, that God could have made man capable of Glory, and kept him from falling by confirming grace, and without a Redeemer setled him in felicity, as he did the Angels. He that foresaw mans fall and necessity of a Saviour, could easily have prevented that sin and necessity: But he would not; he did not: but chose rather to permit it, and save man by the way of a Redeemer. In which his Infinite wisdom is exceedingly manifested. And in Christ who is the Power and Wisdom of God, 1 Cor. 1. 24. among others these excellent effects are declared to us, which the way of Redemption attaineth above what the saving us on the terms of Nature would have attained.
1. God is now wonderfully admired and magnified in the person of the Redeemer. Angels themselves desire to pry into this mysterie, 1 Pet. 1. 12. As the frame of Nature is set us to see God in, where we daily as in a glass behold him and admire him; so the person of the Redeemer, and work of Incarnation and Redemption, is set the Angels for their contemplation and admiration, as well as us: Eph. 3. 10. [To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.] And in the glorious perfection and dignity of the Redeemer will God be everlastingly glorified; For his greatest works do greatliest honour him: And as the sun doth now to us more honour him then a star, so the glorified person of the Redeemer, doth more honour God then man or Angels. 1 Pet. 3. 23. [He is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, Angels, and Authorities, and Powers being made subject to him.] Eph. 1. 20, 21, 22. Being raised from the dead, God hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is his Body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.] Heb. 1. 3. [Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better then the Angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they▪ ]
And here a very great truth appeareth, which very many overlook, that the exaltation of the person of the Redeemer, and the glory that God will have in him, is a higher and more principal part of Gods intent in the sending of him to be Incarnate and Redeem us, then the glorifying of man, and of God by us. Christ will be more glorious then men or Angels, and therefore will more glorifie God; and God will eternally take more complacency in him then in men or Angels; And therefore (though in several respects) He is for us, and the means of our felicity; and we are for him, and the means of his glory (as the Head is for the Body, and the Body for the Head) yet we are more for Christ as a means to his glory, then he for us: I mean he is the more excellent principal end. [For to this end Christ both dyed, rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living] Rom. 14. 9. [who 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: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, both of things in heaven and things in earth and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father] Phil. 2. 6. to 12. Rev. 5. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. [And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands: saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing: And every creature which is in Heaven, and on Earth, and under the Earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, honour, glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.] So Rev. 15. 3, 4. & 20. 6. Rev. 21. 23. [The City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof] Rev. 22. 3, 4. [The Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him; And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.] These and many other Scriptures shew us, that God will be for ever Glorified in the person of the Redeemer, more then in either men or Angels: and consequently that it was the principal part of his Intention in the design of mans Redemption.
2. (I will be briefer in the rest) In the way of Redemption man will be saved with greater humiliation and self-denyal then he should have been in the way of Creation. If we had been saved in a way of Innocency, we should have had more to ascribe to our selves. And it is meet that all Creatures be humbled and abased, and nothing in themselves, before the Lord.
3. By the way of Redemption, sin will be more dishonoured, and Holiness more advanced, then if sin had never been known in the world. Contraries illustrate one another. Health would not be so much valued if there were no sickness: nor Life if there were no Death: nor Day if there were no Night: nor Knowledge if there were no Ignorance: nor Good if man had not known Evil. The Holiness of God would never have appeared in execution of vindictive Justice against sin, if there had never been any sin: and therefore he hath permitted it, and will recover us from it, when he could have prevented our falling into it.
4. By this way also, Holiness and Recovering Grace shall be more triumphant against the Devil and all its enemies: By the many conquests that Christ will make over Satan, the World and the Flesh, and Death, there will very much of God be seen to us, that innocency would not thus have manifested.
5. Redemption brings God nearer unto man: The mysterie of Incarnation giveth us wonderful advantages to have more familiar thoughts of God, and to see him in a clearer glass, then ever we should else have seen him in on earth, and to have access with boldness to the throne of grace. The pure Deity is at so vast a distance from us, while we are here in flesh, that if it had not appeared in the flesh unto us, we should have been at a greater loss. But now without controversie great is the mysterie of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of Angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory, 1 Tim. 3. 16.
6. In the way of Redemption, man is brought to more earnest and frequent addresses unto God, and dependance on him: Necessity driveth him: And he hath use for more of God, or for God in more of the wayes of his mercy, then else he would have had.
7. Principally in this way of saving miserable man by a Redeemer, there is opportunity for the more abundant exercise of Gods mercy, and consequently for the more glorious discovery of his Love and Goodness to the sons of men, then if they had fallen into no such Necessities. Misery prepareth men for the sense of mercy. In the Redeemer there is so wonderful a discovery of Love and Mercy, as is the astonishment of men and Angels. 1 Joh. 3. 1. [Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!] Eph. 2. 4, 5. [God who is rich in Mercy, for his great Love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace yee are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus: for by grace yee are saved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast] Tit. 3 3, 4. For we our selves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, &c. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his Mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost] Never was there such a discovery of God as he is Love, in a way of Mercy to man on earth, as in the Redeemer, and his benefits.
8. In the way of Redemption the soul of man is formed to the most sweet and excellent temper, and his obedience cast into the happiest mold. The glorious demonstration of Love, doth animate us with Love to God; and the shedding abroad of his Love in our hearts by the spirit of the Redeemer, doth draw out our hearts in Love to him again: And the sense of his wonderful Love and Mercy filleth us with Thankfulness: so that Love is hereby made the nature of the new man; and Thankfulness is the life of all our obedience: For all floweth from these principles, and expresseth them: so that Love is the compendium of all Holiness in one word; and Thankfulness of all Evangelical obedience. And it is a more sweet and excellent state of life, to be the Spouse of Christ, and his members, and serve God as friends and children, with Love and Thankfulness, then to serve him meerly as the most loyal subjects, or with an obedience that hath less of Love.
9. In the way of Redemption, Holiness is more admirably exemplified in Christ, then it was, or would have been in Adam. Adam would never have declared it in that eminency of Charity to others, submission to God, contempt of the world, self-denyal, and conquest of Satan, as Christ hath done.
10. And in the way of Redemption, there is a double obligation laid upon man for every duty. To the obligations of Creation, all the obligations of Redemption and the new Creation are superadded: And this threefold cord should not so easily be broken. Here are moral means more powerfully to hold the soul to God.
11. And in this way there is a clearer discovery of the everlasting state of man, and life and immortality are more fully brought to light by the Gospel (2 Tim. 1. 10) then for ought we find in Scripture, they were to innocent man himself [No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son that is in the bosome of the Father, he hath declared him, Joh. 1. 18.] For no man hath ascended up into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven, Joh 3. 13.
12. Man will be advanced, to the judging of the ungodly and of the conquered Angels: even by the good will of the Father, and a participation in the honour of Christ our head, and by a participation in his Victories, and by our own Victories in his strength, by the right of Conquest, we shall judge with Christ, both Devils and men, that were enemies to him, and our salvation: as you may see 1 Cor. 6. 2, 3. And there is more in that promise then we yet well understand, Rev. 2. 26, 27. [He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the Nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron, as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father.]
13. And that which Augustine so much insisteth on, I think is also plain in Scripture, that the Salvation of the Elect is better secured in the hands of Christ, then his own or any of his posterities was in the hands of Adam. We know that Adam lost that which was committed to him: But [we know whom we have believed, and are perswaded, that he is able to keep that which we commit to him, against that day] 1 Tim. 1. 12. Force not these Scriptures against our own Consolation, and the glory of our Redeemer, and then judge. [Joh. 7. 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him] Joh. 6. 3. [All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out] Ver. 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day] Joh. 10. 26, 27, 28, 29. [But yee believe not, because yee are not of my sheep, as I said unto you: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and none shall take them out of my hands: My Father which gave them me is greater then all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hands] Eph. 1. 3, 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love: Having predestinated us to the adoption of his children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved] [Being predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will] Ver. 11.
And if Faith, and Repentance, and the right disposition of the will it self, be his resolved gift to his Elect, and not things left meerly to our uncertain wills, then the case is past all question. 2 Tim. 2. 25, 26. [In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves our of the snare of the Devil] Eph. 2. 8. [By grace yee are saved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the gift of God] Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is Love, Faith—] Phil. 1. 29. To you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him—] Act. 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed] Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart] Ezek. 11. 19, 20. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you: and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God] Ezek. 36. 26, 27. [A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes]—See also Heb. 8. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. where this is called the new and better Covenant [I will put my Laws in their minds and write them in their hearts—] Jer. 31. 33. And Jer. 32. 39, 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them, and I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me] 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive▪ ] Much more may be produced, from which it is evident that Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith; and that the certainty of the salvation of his Elect, doth lie more on his undertaking and resolution infallibly to accomplish their salvation, then upon our wisdom, or the stability of our mutable free-wills: and that thus we are better in the hands of the second Adam, then we were in the hands of the first.
14. To conclude; Vindictive Justice will be doubly honoured upon them that are final rejecters of this grace. Though conscience would have had matter enough to work upon for the torment of the sinner, and the justifying of God, upon the meer violation of the Law of nature or works, yet nothing to what it now will have on them that are the despisers of this great salvation. For of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the Son of God?] when it is willful impenitency, against most excellent means and mercies, that is to be charged upon sinners, and when they perish because they would not be saved, Justice will be most fully glorified before all, and in the conscience of the sinner himself. All this considered you may see that (besides what reasons of the counsel of God are unknown to us) there is abundant reason open to our sight, from the great advantages of this way, why God would rather save us by a Redeemer, then in a way of Innocency as our meer Creator.
But, for the answering of all objections against this, I must desire you to observe these two things following. 1. That we here suppose man a terrestrial inhabitant cloathed with flesh: otherwise it is confessed that if he were perfect in heaven, where he had the Beatifical Vision to confirm him, many of these forementioned advantages to him would be none.
2. And it is supposed that God will work on man by Moral means; and where he never so infallibly produceth the good of man, he doth it in a way agreeable to his nature and present state; and that his work of Grace is Sapiential, magnifying the contrivance and conduct of his Wisdom, as well as his Power: otherwise indeed God might have done all without these or any other means.
3. The knowledge of God in Christ as our Redeemer, must imprint upon the soul those Holy Affections which the design and nature of our Redemption do bespeak, and which answer these forementioned ends. As 1. It must keep the soul in a sense of the odiousness of sin, that must have such a remedy to pardon and destroy it.
2. It must raise us to most high and honourable thoughts of our Redeemer, the Captain of our Salvation, that bringeth back l…st sinners unto God: and we must study to advance the Glory of our Lord, whom the Father hath advanced and set over all.
3. It must drive us out of our selves and bring us to be nothing in our own eyes, and cause us to have humble, penitent, self▪ condemning thoughts, as men that have been our own undoers, and deserved so ill of God and man.
4. It must drive us to a full and constant dependance on Christ our Redeemer, and on the Father by him: As our life is now in the Son as its root and fountain, so in him must be our faith and confidence, and to him we must daily have recourse, and seek to him, and to the Father in his Name for all that we need, for daily pardon, strength, protection, provision and consolation.
5. It must cause us the more to admire the Holiness of God, which is so admirably declared in our Redemption; and still be sensible how he hateth sin and loveth Purity.
6. It must invite and encourage us to draw near to God, who hath condescended to come so near to us; and as sons we must cry Abba Father, and though with reverence, yet with holy confidence must set our selves continually before him.
7. It must cause us to make it our daily imployment to study the Riches of the Love of God, and his abundant mercy manifested in Christ; so that above all books in the world, we should most diligently and delightfully peruse the Son of God incarnate, and in him behold the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Father ▪ And with Paul we should desire to know nothing but Christ crucified; and all things should be counted but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, Phil. 3. 8. That we may be able to comprehend with all Saints, what is the bredth, and length, and depth, and heighth, and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God.]
8. Above all, if we know God as our Redeemer, we must Live in the Power of holy Love and Gratitude. His Manifested Love must prevail with us so far, that unfeigned Love to him may be the predominant affection of our souls. And being free from the spirit of bondage and slavish fear, we must make Love and Thankfulness the sum of our Religion: and think not any thing will prove us Christians without prevailing Love to Christ, nor that any duty is accepted that proceedeth not from it.
9. Redemption must teach us to apply our selves to the holy Laws and Example of our Redeemer for the forming and ordering of our hearts and lives.
10. And it must quicken us to Love the Lord with a redoubled vigour, and to obey with double resolution and diligence, because we are under a double obligation. What should a people so Redeemed esteem too much or too dear for God?
11. Redemption must make us a more Heavenly people, as being Redeemed to the incorruptible inheritance in Heaven: [The blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation] 1 Pet. 1. 3.
12. Lastly Redemption must cause us to walk the more carefully, and with a greater care to avoid all sin, and to avoid the threatned wrath of God, because sin against such unspeakable Mercy is unspeakably great, and condemnation by a Redeemer for despising his grace will be a double condemnation, Joh. 3. 19. 36.