A Conciliatory Discourse Upon Crisps Sermons, Heads 3-8
Head 3, to Head 8.
I put theſe Heads together, becauſe there cannot be any difference in the main Notions, but only in the different ways of Expreſſions, and what each part may think, will moſt lively illuſtrate and make the deepeſt imprint of the great Scripture-truths upon the Heart; I ſay, there can be no difference in the main Truths between Perſons ſober, and Reverent of God, and of Chriſt; for who can think the filth of Sin tranſacted on Chriſt in ſuch a ſenſe, as that Chriſt ſhould be defiled by it?
But now there muſt needs be a Moral Impurity in every Sin, as it is a Receſs from the Holineſs of God, from the Righteouſneſs of the Divine Law; there is a Diſhonour, a Blot, a Stain and Blemiſh, a Deformity, a loſs of Beauty and Honour, and Happy Conformity to Goodneſs and Righteouſneſs. This is intended by Reatus Culpae, another thing from the Reatus Poenae, or a meer Obligation to Puniſhment. I demand then, What becomes of this Obliquity, the Guilt of the very Fault of Sin reſting upon the Sinner? Sure thoſe Acts of Diſhonour do not remain upon the beautified Believer in Chriſt; How then can it be removed? The Acts of Holineſs a Believer does, cannot purge it; for there is Impurity in them; nor are they able to raſe the Records: If then they be taken off, ſurely it muſt be by the Supreme Obedience, Righteouſneſs, Sanctification of Jeſus Chriſt, by the tranſcendent Act of Holineſs, and Reſignation to the Divine Will; the Glory, and Honour and Perfection of which imputed to the Believer, is able to ſanctifie him; as Chriſt ſaid, John 17. I ſanctifie my ſelf, I draw up my Obedience to the higheſt point of Holineſs, by that abſolute, perfect Reſignation to the Will of my Father, for their ſakes, that they by the Communication of that very Holineſs might be ſanctified in Truth; that is the Moral Impurity, and Obliquity and Diſhonour of the Sins they have committed may be removed. So Sanctification, thus ſpoken of may be ſomething higher than a Juſtification only in Foro Poenae, if I may ſo ſpeak, in the Court, where puniſhment is conſider'd, but in Foro Honoris, in the Court of Honour, where Attaints are purg'd off, and Blood, as they ſpeak, reſtor'd. If there be only acquittal from Guilt, binding over to Puniſhment; even the Blemiſh, the Stain, Taint, and Diſhonour Sin brings and leaves, is not effaced. This the high Honour of the Holineſs and perfect Purity of Chriſt, eſpecially in obedience to Death, even the Death of the Croſs, fully purges off, as imputed to all his; by which they are not only delivered from Puniſhment, but conſtituted Righteous, Rom. 5. By the Will of God ſo fulfill'd, they are ſanctified, in the ſenſe given; and he hath by one Offering, perfected or conſecrated, ennobled them in Blood to be Kings and Prieſts, by the Imputation of the Honour of Holineſs to Them that are ſanctified; and that he might ſanctifie his People by his own Blood, he ſuffered without the Gate; He hath loved, and waſhed us from our Sins in his own Blood, to make us Kings and Prieſts, (Heb. 10. c. 13.) From them all the Labes, the Macula, the Spot of Sin is taken off, and he preſents his Church without Spot, Wrinkle, or any ſuch Thing, and without Blame, Epheſ. 5. Coloſſ. 1. This is the Higheſt and moſt Honourable Notion of the Redemption of Chriſt, and may deſerve a Rhetorick, that may ſeem extravagant, like David's dancing before the Ark, not ſo grave and ſo ſolemn; that may foreign conſtrain, or tranſport rather, it being before ſo gracious a Redeemer.
Now if Chriſt takes off the Stain and Diſhonour of Sin, it muſt be laid upon Him; on which account it is ſaid, Eſay 53. He was Number'd among Tranſgreſſors, as a ſhade of this Truth; and it is ſpoken of Chriſt, though he was ſeparate from ſinners, yet as if he offered for his own ſins, he needed not daily, as thoſe Prieſts, Heb. 7. 27. offer for his own ſins; and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us All; and he was made ſin for us, who knew no ſin. And he was in the likeneſs of ſinful fleſh. And it is made the Diſtinction of his Second Appearance, that he appears the ſecond time without ſin to ſalvation, Heb. 9. 28. thereby ſignifying his First Appearance was as much under ſin, as it could be without inherent ſin; He went as a leprous, a defiled, an accurſed Perſon, a Criminal of Diſhonour without the Camp, and without the Gate; all under a Divine Ordination, to put him to open ſhame, as under the diſhonour of ſin. By all which it appears, Chriſt as our Surety and Mediator, as our foreign, every way bare as deep a ſhare of adherency in our ſin, as could conſiſt with an unſpotted Purity from any inherency of ſin in himſelf, and hereunto all Scripture expreſſion even labours. And if Humane Speaking, endeavouring to fathom and expound ſuch Expreſſions, as may moſt be to the Capacity, and to make impreſſion upon Hearers, (For is there not a cauſe?) If there be ſomething Humane found, and not with the admirable exactneſs of Scripture, it ought not to be ſo much expos'd; for, I doubt not, our Expreſſions fall generally more too ſhort of the Divine Senſe of Scripture in theſe things, than other good Mens exceed; it being always to be firmly believ'd, no good Man, while he ſo ſpoke, could have it once enter into his thoughts; That there could the leaſt ſhade of proper Inherent Filth fall, or enter into the Humanity of the Mediator, united to the Eternal Word; However Scripture, however he might thus ſpeak, as hath been declar'd. But theſe things cannot, ſince the ſpeaking of Scripture it ſelf, if we go about by Preaching to enlarge upon them, be ſpoken of ſo accurately, but we either add or diminiſh from ſpeaking this thing as it is; nor ſhall we be able; till within a ſhort time, That, as it were, new Song be ſung on Mount Zion, Rev. 14. Then I truſt we ſhall learn it.
Even ſo, That our Sins are our own, and not Chriſts, is moſt true in the ſenſe intended; yet that they became Chriſts in his great Offering for Sin, and that they are neither Believers, nor Chriſts when he had born them off in a ſenſe worthy of and agreeable to the Goſpel; The ſetting out Sin then as our own, for Humiliation, Faith, and Repentance, is moſt Evangelical; So to ſet them out, ſo Chriſt's, in his act of ſuffering, as to repreſent him a perfect Offering for them, and neither ours, nor Chriſt's, when he had born them away; and God upon it ſo acquitted Chriſt, as to caſt them into the depths of Sea, ſo that when they are ſought for, there ſhall be none to be found, and plainly none, Jer. 50. 20. This is moſt Evangelical alſo, and muſt be the ſublimeſt Evangelical; becauſe, abating the ſhort moments of time, in which it may be otherwiſe repreſented, it is eternally ſo: So in the ſtate of ſeparated Spirits with Chriſt; ſo in the Kingdom of Chriſt, when it is granted to the Lamb's Wife to be arrayed in Linnen white, and clean which is the Righteouſneſs of the Saints, Rev. 19. and to each Saint to appear in Robes waſhed white in the Blood of the Lamb. And ſo in the Kingdom of Eternity, Deliver'd up to God all in all; And Leave is given to the Preachers of the Goſpel to deſcribe things, as in God's Eternity, and if not to ſpeak the moſt in number, yet the moſt important and ſignificant of Scripture words: For why ſhould we keep our ſelves and hearers ſo cloſe muffled up in this thick Atmoſphere of time, and not let out more into the open Air of Eternals? This ſtifles and ſmothers nobler Thoughts and Elevations of Mind, and the lofty Conſiderations for Holineſs, as well as Conſolation.
But to go on further; The Sins of Believers were in the fulneſs of Time moſt conſpicuouſly laid upon Chriſt, as it was an Act of God in Time; as the very Nature of the fulneſs of Time may aſſure us; but it is true, they were in proper ſenſes laid upon Chriſt before, as he was a Lamb ſlain from the Foundation of the World, and as his Blood was the Blood of the Everlaſting Covenant; and ſo proportionably, when he was born in ſo low and mean an appearance, who had as the Eternal Word, Right to have appear'd all in glory; yet ſtill Let the fulneſs of Time have its pre-eminence; And ſo ſure there can be no injury done, when all the Aerumnae, the Sorrows of the Life of our Redeemer meet there.
I go on: That Jeſus Chriſt was not abhorr'd by the Father, is moſt true; For if there could be a difference, he was; even while he bore our Sins (for then he was in the higheſt act of Self-reſignation and Obedience) above any time, the Son, in whom he was well pleaſed; yet that he was made a Curſe; that the Lord bruiſed him and put him to grief; that he look'd like a Man ſmitten of God; that God loathing and abhorring the ſins, with which he was loaden, would not ſhew himſelf to him; but that, He cried out, My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me, is alſo moſt true; In that Oeconomy or Diſpenſation Chriſt ſtood under the Imputation of the Sins of all the Elect; which Sin God hates: whoever therefore bears Sin, muſt bear that Abhorrence of God, Sin draws upon it ſelf, till he hath purg'd it off. Thus Chriſt did, till He had overcome it; therefore he ſtood bearing, that God abhorr'd; and ſo muſt bear ſuch an Abhorrence as the Sins deſerved. Chriſt, under the multitude of our Sins, was ſo cover'd, that, as, I may ſay with reverence, He could not look up, ſo he could not be ſeen; the Sins then, wherewith he was ſo compaſs'd, drew Abhorrence, as upon himſelf. And I know not what difference there is between Chriſt made a Curſe, and as Abhorr'd of God; whatever explains and reconciles the one to our thoughts, will reconcile the other alſo. And in no other ſenſe, can a ſober and good Man be thought to ſpeak it. And ſo underſtood, it hath its great Scripture-Uſe, to ſhew us, how truly and really Chriſt hath by his Death devour'd all that Curſe, Hatred, and Abhorrence due to us for Sin, by expiating it in himſelf: For if it had not in that Diſpenſation been upon him, he had not fully and effectually aſſur'd its Abolition; we may humbly imitate Scripture in ſo ſpeaking, while we yet know Chriſt was always the beloved Son. This ſhews alſo Sin's hateful Nature.
I ſtill go on: Chriſt taking us as his Members, whatever unworthineſs we have, muſt redound upon him, ſo, as that he hath reaſon to diſcharge himſelf of it; and ſo to attone his Members: And what is His, is ſo far his Members, each one in particular, as is neceſſary to us, as Members: But ſo is not his Mediatorial Righteouſneſs, nor his Perfection of Holineſs. No word of which Mediatorial Righteouſneſs I find cited; but that Exchange of Perſons and Perfection of Holineſs ariſing from it, are only exuberant Repreſentatives of two great Truths. 1. That our Sins were fully and perfectly taken by Chriſt upon himſelf, and expiated in himſelf; For by his Sacrifice for Sin, he condemned Sin in the Fleſh, viz. in his own Humane Nature; And that his Righteouſneſs is ſo ours by his communication of it, as to his Members, Fleſh of his Fleſh, and Bone of his Bone, and one Spirit with him; that there is, and was as it were real Exchange of Perſons. There is; For the True Believer by ſuch a Reception into Chriſt is changed into that Righteous Perſon, he is made by Chriſt, and is, as in him. There was; For Chriſt in the very Act of Expiation, did as it were put on the ſinful Perſon of every Believer, made Sin for them. Why ſhould we be afraid to uſe ſuch Full Sounds as Scripture hath done, however reduced by Interpretation to the Analogy of Faith? Sure it ſanctified ſuch Sounds as it made. And how great Exundancies of Expreſſion are found, and not blamed in the beſt of the Ancient Fathers? and had they not been preſs'd beyond their Intentions, had ſweeten'd and made acceptable greateſt Truths to Hearers and Readers; Had no Monſtrous and Portentous Conſequences been rais'd from them; The Debtor and Surety paying the Debt, change perſons; ſo does the foreign, or foreign; Chriſt is made our Sin, and a Curſe for us. The Church foreign is called the Lord our Righteouſneſs, Jer. 33. 16. even as Chriſt himſelf, c. 23. 6. which however, I know is otherwiſe rendred, yet is moſt naturally and eaſily ſo to be underſtood: Even as Jehovah, Shamah, Ezek. ult. Which comes very near a Concionatory or Popular Aſcribing the Mediatorial Righteouſneſs of Chriſt to Believers: Maſſy Truths will endure to be beaten out ſo into Leaf Gold, while the Solid Bulk is preſerv'd ſafe in Doctrinal Forms of Sound Words: Thus Scripture, repreſenting the mighty Powers of Divine Action and Providence in God, aſcribes to him the Parts of Body, by which Men act, ſo well known to them: Yet let no Men from hence Dogmatize, as the Anthropomorphites, that God is Corporeal; No more, that Chriſt was indeed a Sinner, or Accurſed, or that Believers are Saviours, and Mediators one to another; For ſo, there would be none to be ſaved, except Chriſt himſelf by his own ſaved, and redeemed; which who can believe, any one not Phrenetic would aſſert?
To conclude theſe Heads. It is moſt evident, that the Debate concerning the Perfection of Holineſs in Believers can only reſt here; Whether the Holineſs of Chriſt may not be imputed to make up the Imperfection of our Sanctification, which is indeed, but the ſame thing, with the Imputation of the Righteouſneſs of Chriſt; and ſo that in regard of the Imputation of the Holineſs of Chriſt to Believers, they may be ſaid to be Holy, as Chriſt is Holy; of which was ſpoken in the laſt Head: And that Perfection of Holineſs can be no otherwiſe meant, is moſt undeniable by the whole ſtream of Dr. Criſp's Diſcourſe, and Mr. Williams his Objection; particularly in that part of Dr Criſp, concerning Goſpel-Marks, which he argues againſt upon the Imperfection of Sanctification, and therefore could in no other ſenſe think Believers holy, as Chriſt.