A Conciliatory Discourse Upon Crisps Sermons, Head 2
Head 2.
The laying the Sins of the Elect upon Chriſt is not their Diſcharge from their Sins; This is oppos'd to what Dr. Criſp hath ſaid; All the Weight, and all the Burden of Sin, the very Sin it ſelf is long ago laid upon Chriſt; and that laying it on him, is a full Diſcharge and Releaſe to that, &c.
The Conciliation. To an Eternal Being, there muſt needs be an Eternal Juſtification, becauſe there is no new thing to him; The Apoſtle therefore makes the whole Chain of Salvation of an Eternal old Style; whom he Foreknew, he Called, he Juſtified, he Glorified; Rom. 8. 30. All in the Time paſs'd, not in the Style of Time, but of Eternity: But when we ſpeak in new Style, Style of Time; there is not an actual Diſcharge of Sin, or a Juſtification of a Sinner by Election; but according to the order of things fix'd by God in Time; Even ſo if we conſider Sins lay'd upon Chriſt, even the Sins of all the Elect in the Fulneſs of Time, as the Apoſtle ſtyles it, That Fulneſs of Time may be very well ſuppoſed to collect into it ſelf all Time; And as the Sins that were paſt were Recollected, ſo the Sins to come were Forepriz'd into it: And all this iſſues into the Fulneſs of Times, that is, of all Time in the Kingdom of Chriſt; For as Chriſt dyed in the Fullneſs of Time, ſo the Glory of his Redemption appears in the Fulneſs of Times, Eph. 1. 10. of All Time, when all Things, in Heaven and Earth, ſhall be Recapitulated in him, which yet, we know, they are not. The Offering of Chriſt therefore is an Offering once for all; and it is one Offering, that forever Perfects; and Jeſus Chriſt is Yeſterday and to Day the ſame forever; As then all Time is gather'd into that Fulneſs of Time, So that Fulneſs of Time redounds upon all Time, and Flows out upon it, till it Flows into that Fulneſs of Times.
Now, as the Lord of Time, offered Himſelf in the Fulneſs of Time; he expiated all Sins in that Fulneſs, and what was expiated in the Fulneſs, can never be charged in the Retail of Time, for then it was not expiated.
Although therefore, when we are ſpoken of, and unto, as not the Lords of Time, but the Subjects of Time, we are oblig'd to meaſure it out by Parts, as being Inferiors to it; and below the Hill to it, we ſee the Approaches of its Events, one after another only; but the Lord Paramount of it, being ſo high above it, ſees all at once; we are Creatures but of the Parts of it; ſo indeed we are not Diſcharged from Sin in the Diſcharge of Chriſt.
But from hence to conclude, we are not in higheſt Senſe Diſcharg'd, but that, if the Elect dye before Faith and Repentance, they are loſt for ever, is to make ſuppoſition of Impoſſibilities; it is to ſet Time, the ſmall outlet of Eternity, to riſe up and Encounter, and lead Captive Eternity; even the Eternity of Election; and that the parts of Time may be ſet in Battel Array, and ſubdue the Fulneſs of Time. But this can by no ſerious Conſiderer be allow'd; I find not then, but as there is juſt Reaſon to repreſent to Men, that till they find within themſelves the Efficacies of the Death and Redemption of Chriſt by Faith and Repentance, they ſtand in the ſight of their own Conſciences, as Perſons, who have no Intereſt in that Death, in that Redemption; And that this is proper on one ſide, repreſenting God and Chriſt, therein as the Rector and Governor of the World, to move them to Repentance; and it is that which Scripture does very largely and frequently inſiſt upon; So on the other ſide, it is moſt true, That the Foundation of God ſtands ſure and cannot ſhake, nor totter even under this very Seal ſingle and alone; That the Lord knows who are his, and that his Election ſhall break out with all the mighty Effects he hath pitch'd upon, as moſt ſuitable and Connatural to it; So that it ſhall produce in all its own the Derivative Stamp; Let him, that nameth the Name of Chriſt, depart from all Iniquity: 2 Tim. 2. 19. And that Chriſt is, in all Senſes, the Certain and Infallible Sanctifier of his People by his Blood; That he not only as a Judge, and a Lawgiver, but as a Prince, gives Repentance and Remiſſion of Sins; This may be as hopeful to move the Spirits of Men, and be as gracious a Conveyance of the mighty Efficacy of the Divine Grace and Spirit; For as theſe are rich Truths of Scripture, ſo they have an admirable mooving Stroke upon the Hearts and Minds of Men; And he that Miniſters them, is a Miniſter far more immediately of the Spirit, that giveth Life; of that without which the Evangelick Law is a Letter that kills.