Sermons Preached on Romans 8

rector mundi he must do that which shall speak him to be just and righteous in his Government: now were not these great and weighty reasons for God to do what he did? and could these high ends have been attained without satisfaction? All his Attributes were equally dear to him, and thereupon shall all be advanced alike; he was not for the advancing of Mercy only but of Justice also; and therefore he will so carry it in his dealings with man▪ as that he may glorify the one as well as the other. If he justify the Sinner (wherein he displays so much of Mercy ), he'l do it in such a way as that he may display his Justice too; wherefore Christ must be a Sacrifice, first to expiate Sin by his blood and then God will not charge it upon the Sinner: Rom. 3.25, 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past &c. (he goes over it again) To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; (wherein or son what end?) that be might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus: what could the Apostle have spoken fuller & plainer to determine the business in hand? how can the Denyers of Christ's Satisfaction and of the necessity thereof stand before the light of this Scripture? Propitiation must be made by blood, by the blood of Christ, that thereby God might declare his righteousness; that he might be just, not so much in himself and in the general, as in this special act of the justifying of a Sinner. Had we no other Text in all the sacred Records but this one, methinks it should be enough to silence and convince gain-sayers; 'tis a bulwark for Faith which will stand firm in spite of all the little batteries that men can make against it. But the truth of Christ's satisfying divine Justice will yet more fully appear from what follows in the next Head, therefore I go on to that.

2. Secondly, this may help us to right notions concerning the Nature and Ends of Christ's death. For if it be asked, How or in what manner he died? we see he died as a Sacrifice: if it be further asked, Wherefore did he die or what were the main ends of his dying? I answer, he died chiefly for such ends as are most proper to Sacrifices. If God's own Son die undoubtedly there must be something special in his death, and some great ends must be designed to be promoted thereby, ( died Abner as a fool dieth? ) but what were they? Answ. such as may best comport and suit with the common ends of all Sacrifices, especially of those by which he was more directly typified: & therefore the pacifying of an angry God, the purifying of a guilty Sinner, being the principal ends in the death of the typical Sacrifices (as you have heard), answerably these must also be the principal ends of the death of Christ, the real Sacrifice.

The SOCINIANS in this matter run into two dangerous Errors;

• (1.) they make that in Christ's death to be supreme and principal which was indeed but subordinate: nay
• (2.) they make that which was but subordinate to be the sole thing therein, altogether excluding and denying what was supreme and principal.

Now this one thing which I am upon (viz.) Christ's being and dying as a Sacrifice (in correspondency with the Ends of the Levitical Sacrifices ), was it rightly understood and firmly believed would be a sufficient confutation of, and antidote against their pernicious tenets: For do they say that the main end of the death of Christ was to turn men from sin? the contrary appears because that was not the main end in the Law-Sacrifices: or do they say that Christ died only for our good? 'twas not so because that doth not agree with the Law-Sacrifices, which were offered not only for the Sinners good but in the Sinners stead: or do they say that he died only as a Witness of the Truth, as an Example, &c. 'twas not so neither because it shuts out that which was the principal intendment of the Law-Sacrifices.

But besides this there are some other things of considerable strength, which that we may the better take in we must more particularly inquire into those Causes or Ends of Christ's death which they assign; that by the removal of false Causes and Ends (I mean in their exclusive sense ), the true ones may the better appear.

They say therefore (1.) Christ died for this End, that he might bear witness to the truth, confirm the Evangelical Doctrine, and give assurance to the world of the verity of what he had taught: To which we reply, the question is not whether these were true and proper Ends (that we readily grant), but whether they were the principal, much more the sole Ends of Christ's death (that we utterly deny). And our denial is grounded upon these Reasons:

• 1. All along in Scripture the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel is laid upon Christ's Works and Miracles, not upon his Death: (read Act. 2.22. Joh. 10.25. & passim ). And he having by these given a sufficient proof or evidence of the truth of what he had taught, it cannot be imagined that he died only or chiefly for this, that by his death he might give a further proof or evidence thereof. Besides, if this was the main thing designed and effected thereby, then in the remission of sin, reconciliation with God &c. we should owe as much to Christ's Miracles as to his Death; than which nothing can be more repugnant to the whole tenor of the Word.
• 2. This would take away the peculiarity or speciality of Christ's death. For if there was nothing in it more than bearing witness to the truth, or confirmation of the Gospel-doctrine, then all the Apostles and Martyrs (whoever died) did the same, in as much as they by dying bore witness also to the truth, and confirmed the Gospel-Doctrine: then as he saith to us What do ye more than others? we may say the same to him What (blessed Jesus!) dost thou more than others? (and would not this be a fine question?) Certainly the death of the Mediator and the death of the Martyr are two different things; not only quoad gradum but quoad speciem: but if it was as this sort of Men would have it, there might be a gradual difference betwixt them but nothing more. Must Christ's dying for us amount only to his dying as a Martyr for the truth? here's the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 but where's the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ? Paul laid down his life upon this account, and yet (saith he) Was Paul crucified for you?
• 3. Nay thirdly, if Christ had died only upon this ground and for this end, then several of the Martyrs had gone beyond him. How readily and cheerfully did many of them die! how desirous were they of laying down their lives for the Gospel! they did not fear death, all their fear was that God would not so far honor them as to call them out to suffer it for his sake: And when they came to die what abundance of inward peace and comfort had they! how were their Souls brim-full of heavenly consolation! they had as much thereof as ever heart could hold, so much that all their outward torments were nothing to them. But was it thus with Christ? true, he was very ready and willing to die, yet there was a time when he prayed again and again that the Cup might pass from him; Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me: and he had an innocent, sinless fear of death, for be was heard in what he feared Heb. 5.7. And had he such raptures and ecstasies of joy at his death as several of the Martyrs had? O no! his Soul was exceeding sorrowful, he was under bitter agonies and conflicts, had great terrors in his Spirit, &c. Now had he died only as they did, merely to have borne his testimony to the truth, and for the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel, would it have been thus? what? Saints so full of joy and God's own Son so full of sorrow? Saints in their sufferings to have such a mighty presence of God with them, and God's own Son to cry out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Surely there must be something special and extraordinary in his death above theirs; and so there was, for he had the guilt of all Believers upon him, lay under the wrath of God, bare the punishment due to Sinners, was under the curse of the Law &c. these were the sad ingredients in his death which put such a bitterness into it. Had there been nothing more in it than bare Martyrdom or what is proper to that, how would he have been said to be a curse for us? what singular thing would there have been in his being obedient to death, even the death of the Cross?

2. Secondly 'tis said, Christ died for this end that he might set before men an example of obedience, patience, submission to God's Will, zeal, (and the like). I answer, that this was one end is very true, but that this was the only end is very false: Christ did not design his death to be only exemplary to us, but that it should also be satisfactory to God; he had in his eye the expiation of our sin as well as our imitation of his example. Christ (saith the Apostle) also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps, 1 Pet. 2.21. but was that all? no, (Vers. 24.) who his own self, bare our sins, in his own body on the tree: here was substitution in our stead, susception of our guilt, as well as the propounding of an example. If Christ should further the happiness of Sinners only in this exemplary way, what then would become of the Fathers and of all those who lived before he came and died in the flesh, who therefore could reap no benefit by his example? And this would make the effects of his death to terminate wholly in us, and not at all to reach to God, whereas he is a Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17.

3. They say, Christ died for this end, that by his death he might strengthen and encourage faith, and thereby raise up men to the assurance of the remission of sin, freedom from eternal death, the possessing of eternal life &c. Answ. We grant that Faith receives eminent support and encouragement from this, that it gives the highest satisfaction that is possible as to the certainty of Gospel-blessings; yet this must not be looked upon as the primary, much less as the only end of Christ's death. For

• (1.) the blessing must be procured before there can be any assurance of it; the thing must be supposed to be before persons can be sure of it: now how was that brought about but by the death of Christ? and if so, then the only end thereof was not assurance, but there must be another antecedent end (viz.) the purchasing or effecting of the thing which was to be the matter of that assurance. And by that the Scripture mainly represents Christ's death; Matth. 26.28. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins: mark it, 'twas shed for the procuring of this great blessing, not for the assuring persons of it.
• (2.) This assurance is as much (if not more) the effect of Christ's resurrection as of his death: Indeed for him to die that contributes very much, but 'tis his dying and rising again that hath the greatest influence upon it; 1 Pet. 1.3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, (by what?) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As to purchase and impetration we owe more to Christ's death than to his resurrection, but as to assurance and subjective certainty we owe more to his resurrection than to his death; therefore the Apostle brings this in with a rather, Rom. 8.34. It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again. He is said to be delivered for our offenses, and to be raised again for our justification, Rom. 4.25. the Sinners justification was merited by his death, but it was manifested by his resurrection; thence therefore Faith, in its being assured of that privilege, must fetch its main encouragement: so that this cannot be the only thing aimed at in his death, since it more properly belongs to another Head.
• (3.) The old-Testament Saints were high in their assurance, and yet they lived before the death of Christ.
• —(4.) His death simply considered gives no such encouragement to faith or ground of assurance: consider it indeed as we state it (that is) as he died in our stead, to satisfy God's Justice, appease his Father's wrath, expiate our sin, &c. and so 'tis highly strengthening to Faith; but if you take it in it-self and as our Adversaries state it, so there's but little in it for Faith's advantage. What inducement or encouragement would this be to Sinners to believe, to set before them the death of Christ (unless those Ends and Considerations about it be taken in which our Antagonists oppose)? without which it would rather draw out men's fear than their faith, rather drive them from God than to God; for so, more of his justice and severity would therein appear to deter them, than of his Mercy to allure and encourage them: O did God deal so with his own Son, who too was innocent and blameless, what then will he do to such vile, wretched, guilty creatures as we are? must Christ so die? would not God spare him in the least? what then will become of such as we? Upon the whole matter, the Soc. say Christ's death was not at all intended to be satisfactory to God, I am sure (according to their stating of it) 'tis not at all consolatory to Sinners.

4. They say, Christ died for this end that he might have a right and power after his death, when he should be in heaven, to forgive sin: Answ. Whilst he was here on earth before his death he had that right or power; therefore that could not be any end thereof; Matth. 9.2. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee: and when some murmured at this see how he stood upon the asserting of it, (Vers. 6.) That ye may know that the Son of man hath power [on earth] to forgive sins &c.

5. 'It is said, Christ died for this end that he might procure for himself such and such power, dignity and glory: But to this we say, it was so far from being the main end, that it was indeed no end at all; it being but the Co ••••• ent not the End of his death; (see Phil. 2.8, 9.).

These defective Causes and Ends being removed, it remains that I set down those which were the chief and principal. And they were such as these: Christ died to be a Sacrifice for Sin, Heb. 9.26.—10.12. a Ransom 1 Tim. 2.6. Matth. 20.28. a Propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2. to reconcile God to us and us to God, Rom. 5.10. 2 Cor. 5.19. Eph. 2.13, 14. Col. 1.20. &c. to deliver us from the curse of the Law by his being made a curse for us, Gal. 3: 13. to save from wrath to come 2 Thes. 1.10. to justify and make righteous 2 Cor. 5.21. Rom. 5.9. to procure remission of sin by his blood 1 Joh. 1.7. Eph. 1.7. Matth. 26.28. to overcome death by death Heb. 2.14. to purchase eternal life Joh. 6.51. Heb. 9.12. As he died in our place and stead (taking our guilt and bearing our punishment ) so he died for these ends, that he might restore us to God's love and favor, and expiate all our sins by his making satisfaction for them: these were not only Ends but the supreme and primary ends of his Death. I do not exclude the former, provided that

• (1.) they be taken in conjunction with these; nay
• (2.) in subordination to them: Christ in his dying might intend this and that, as his bearing witness &c.

but his main and principal intendments were satisfaction, reconciliation, forgiveness of sin, &c. in the revealing of which the Holy Scriptures are so express and plain, that (to me) 'tis very strange that any opposition (much more that so vehement opposition ) should be made against it: Good Lord! how are Opposers fain to strain their wit, to summon in all their invention & subtlety, for the finding out of some forced and pitiful interpretations of the Texts alleged, thereby to evade the true sense and meaning of them! how do they set these Scriptures (and themselves too) upon the rack, that they may seem to reconcile them with their hypotheses's! but all in vain (as is abundantly proved).

3. Thirdly from hence I infer the vanity and falsehood of all human Satisfactions. Was the Lord Jesus himself a Sacrifice for sin? and did he thereby condemn, abolish, expiate all sin for his members? then what needs to be done (or can be done) further by any Creatures in the way of Satisfactions? What can the man do that cometh after the King? I cannot but take notice, how whoever will engage in these weighty Points he must tread upon thorns and briars every step he takes; no sooner shall he have got off from one Enemy but there will be some other at hand with whom he must encounter also: I find it (I am sure) to be so, for no sooner have I quit myself of the SOCINIANS, but the PAPISTS (in a full body) make head against me: The former would wholly take away Christ's Satisfaction, the latter would add Mans to it; the One denies the verity, the Other the perfection of it. For they tell us, 'tis very true that Christ did fully satisfy the Justice of God by his being a Sacrifice for sin, and fully expiate the sins of Believers, in respect of their guilt and of the eternal punishment due thereupon; but not in respect of temporal punishments: these (they say) they are yet liable unto (notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered), and that too not only in the present but (for some time) in the future state; for the preventing or removing of which, satisfaction must be made to God, either by themselves or by others: (this is the ROMISH-Doctrine ). In which so far as I have gone we have falsities enough, but should we go farther to their particular explication and stating of the latter branch (men's satisfying by themselves or by others), what a mass and heap of ungrounded, unscriptural, absurd Opinions should we there meet with! for there come in their penances, fastings, pilgrimages, corporal punishments, voluntary poverty, masses and prayers for them who are in Purgatory, Indulgences &c. O what a big-bellied Error is this of human Satisfactions! what a numerous train of falsities is it attended with! Contrary to this we hold, that Christ by the once offering up of himself to God, did so fully free from all guilt and from all punishment too whatsoever, as that there is no need of any satisfaction at all to be added to his.

The truth of ours, the falsehood of their Opinion might very largely be made out from these following Considerations:

• 1. In the Jewish Sacrifices (with which our Lord's doth correspond) there was no Satisfaction or compensation, but only what was in and by the Sacrifices themselves. Indeed in them God ordered, in case any private person had been injured that Satisfaction should be made to him by the Sacrificer, but otherwise as to the expiation of all guilt before God & exemption from all punishment, the Sacrifices themselves (their absolute and relative notion too being taken in) were sufficient. Respect being had to Christ and moral conditions being performed, they alone did acquit from guilt and from eternal punishment, and they too of themselves did acquit from temporal punishment; without the intervention of any other Satisfaction: if the guilty person did offer up his Sacrifice that was judged enough to free him from all the penalties which otherwise he was obnoxious unto. And shall more be done by the type than by the antitype? must they not agree in this as well as in other things?
• 2. All punishment (in order to Satisfaction ) is inconsistent with the nature and tenor of the remission of sin. This gracious act is set forth by blotting out of sin Isa. 43.25. by covering it Psal. 32.1. not imputing it Rom. 4.8. not remembering it Isa. 43.25. casting it into the depths of the sea Mic. 7.19. It goes so high in its degree as that God promises upon the Sinners repentance his sin should not be so much as mentioned Ezek. 18.22; if it should be sought for it should not be found Jer. 50.20. and 'tis so universal in its extent, that where one sin is pardoned every sin is pardoned; (Isa. 38.17. Mic. 7.19. Col. 2.13.) Now how is punition reconcilable with this? for God to do all this and yet to punish (in a vindictive way or in order to Satisfaction, for I only speak of punishment in that notion,) is a contradiction. I know what our Adversaries say, that in remission God acquits from the guilt but not from the temporal punishment: I reply, this is their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that rotten foundation upon which their whole superstructure is built. I am not afraid (notwithstanding the Decree and Anathema of the Council of TRENT ) to aver it to be an utter falsehood: for if the guilt be done away (as they affirm) what room is there then for punishment? that being the ground of this, if it be removed this must be removed also: pray let me ask, a person by pardoning grace being made guiltless whence should the punishment of this person arise? That common maxim (which our Writers so much insist upon) viz. Sublatâ culpâ tollitur pana is of most unquestionable truth, and backed with the concurrent suffrages of the Ancients; the guilt being taken away the punishment is taken away also (saith Tertullian ); and where there is pardon there is no punishment (saith Chrysostom ). And indeed to assirm the contrary is to make the remission of sin little better than a ludicrous thing; 'twould then be as if the Creditor should say to his debtor, I freely forgive thee all thou owest me only I must throw thee into prison there to lie all thy days; or as if the Judge should say to the Offender, I acquit thee from all thy crimes only thou must die for them: just so it would be here if God should remit the fault and yet exact the punishment. I do not deny but that he may lay many evils even upon pardoned persons, but then I deny them to be (properly and strictly) punishments; for the matter of them they may be so but formally they are not so; ohastisements they are but not punishments; medicinal but not penal; they do not come from God's vindictive wrath, nor doth he design them for the satisfaction of his Justice, but they proceed from other Causes and are designed for other Ends; (as namely to quicken them to repentance, to make them more sensible of the evil of sin, to refine them more from their dross, to heighten their graces, to draw out their patience, to make themselves and others to fear &c). For God thus to afflict or correct is very well consistent with pardoning grace, but to punish (under any notion of satisfaction, save only that of Christ's ) is not. In different respects we may (and do) both affirm and deny punishment to be incident to God's people; for when we have to do with the Antinomian (in such a sense ) we affirm it, but when with the Papists (who would have it to be satisfactory to divine Justice ) we utterly deny it.
• 3. Thirdly, human Satisfactions are but mere human inventions, groundless, unnecessary, because Christ himself hath made satisfaction, yea, full and plenary satisfaction: his expiatory Sacrifice being complete and perfect why should anything be added to it? Heb. 10.10. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all: —Vers. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are Sanctified: for by that he procured remission of sins, Now (saith the Apostle Vers. 18.) where remission of these is, there is no more offering for Sin, (that is, no need of any further expiatory Sacrifice). Hath the Lord Jesus (by the Sacrifice of himself) satisfied, or not? if he hath (for that our Opposers dare not deny), then I argue shall He satisfy and the Sinner too? will God have the debt twice paid? shall the surety pay it and the debtor too? this double satisfaction would impeach both the Justice and also the Grace of God. I ask further hath Christ fully satisfied, or not? if he hath (for this is not denied neither), then I ask what need is there of any additional or supplemental Satisfaction? if he hath paid the utmost farthing what hath the Creature then left to pay (but only duty, love, thankfulness &c.)? The PAPISTS speak very high concerning this Satisfaction of our Savior, for they say 'tis not only sufficient and full, but redundant and overflowing; they talk of a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a superfluity or pleonasm and overplus, there's enough in it & to spare: (and this overplus they make to be the matter of that treasure which is deposited in the Churches -hands out of which the POPE fetches his Indulgencies ). That speech of CLEMENT the Sixth is famous, One drop of Christ's blood was sufficient for the redemption of all mankind; (as if all the rest might have been spared, which in effect speaks the Father to be too profuse and prodigal of his Sons blood ). But notwithstanding all these high words they are not contented with Christ's Satisfaction alone, but there must be some assumenta some of their own Satisfactions to piece with it. We do not greatly fancy such high expressions, yet as to the thing we go higher than they; for we fully acquiesce in our Lord's most perfect satisfaction, without adding anything (under the notion of satisfaction ) thereunto.

All that they say is this, Christ hath fully satisfied with respect to guilt and to eternal condemnation, but not with respect to teniporal punishments. Answ. The vanity and unsoundness of this distinction hath been already refuted; all punishment resulting from guilt, if there be a full expiation of that the punishment ceases (let the kind of it be what it will). But where do we find in the Word any such restriction or limitation, that Christ satisfied for eternal, not for temporal punishments? did he not bear the one as well as the other? Isa. 53.4. Surely he hath born our grief and carried our sorrows &c. and did he not take off from the Sinner whatever he bare in his own person, (so far as satisfaction is concerned)? As to that Question of Bellarmine If Christ hath satisfied for our whole guilt and punishment, why after the remission of the guilt do we suffer so many evils? it hath been already answered, they are but chastisements, not punishments; corrections to us, not satisfactions to God.

4. Take one thing further: To satisfy an offended God is Christ's peculiar, an act wherein no Creature must share with him. Human Satisfactions do not only derogate from the perfection of his satisfaction (in which the strength of the former Head did lie), but they also entrench upon the confinement of it to himself: 'tis for Man to Sin, but 'tis only for the Son of God to satisfy; this carries glory in it wherein there must be no partner or corrival with Christ. Heb. 1.3. When he had by himself purged our sins: (mark that by himself, he & he alone could do such a thing as this). What can Creatures do in God-satisfying work? can they do anything for themselves that shall amount to a compensation for faults committed? 'tis not satisfaction unless it be the payment of the whole debt, but (alas!) they cannot pay so much as a farthing; they who when they have done and suffered all they can must say they are unprofitable, are very unfit persons to compensate injurys done to God. And if they cannot satisfy for themselves much-less can they do it for others, (as he that cannot pay his own debts is very unfit to pay the debts of others ): the wise Virgins had but just oil enough for their own lamps, they could spare none for the supply of the foolish Virgins, Matth. 25.8, 9. There's a great difference betwixt suffering for the good of others, and satisfying for the fault of others; a Paul may do the former (2. Tim. 2.10. Col. 1.24.) a Christ only can do the latter.

Obj. But Christ satisfied that the Saints might satisfy: Answ. we desire a Scripture-proof of that; otherwise our negation is as authentic as their affirmation.

Obj. But Christ's Satisfaction is applied by the Saints satisfactions. Answ. We find no means of applying his Satisfaction, but only the Word and Sacraments without and the Spirit working faith and repentance within.

Obj. But we (say they) make the Saints only subordinate, not co-ordinate Agents with Christ in the matter of Satisfaction: Answ. 1. Even that is too much: 2. They go higher; for their great Writers maintain, that the Saints apart, by and of themselves, without being beholden to Christ's merit or satisfaction, may as to temporal punishments make full satisfaction. These are but very weak pretensions to build an Opinion upon which doth so much entrench upon the glory of Christ's person and the perfection of his Sacrifice. There is but one Argument for human Satisfactions which is considerable, and that is that vast profit, those large incomes and revenues which this brings in to the dispensers of them; and this I confess I cannot answer: were but these taken away I assure myself this Controversy would soon be at an end; 'tis the satisfying of corrupt men (in their pride, avarice, filthy lucre ), rather than the satisfying of a punishing God that is at the bottom of these Disputes. I look upon this point (with its appurtenances ) to have as much of the core and venom of POPERY in it as any one point whatsoever, therefore I could not omit to speak a little about it: but for those who desire to look further into it, to see the things (which I have but touched upon) fully made out and vindicated, the Arguments to the contrary answered, they may peruse the Authors cited in the margent.

4. Fourthly, hence ariseth matter of information concerning the true Nature and Ends of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: (when I have spoken something to this I hope I shall be off of all briars). The difference betwixt PAPISTS and PROTESTANTS was not so great about the foregoing Head, but 'tis every way as great about this: they hold, that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (or Mass as they are pleased to call it,) under the Elements of Bread and Wine, as broken and poured out, the body and blood of Christ are offered up to God as a true and proper propitiatory Sacrifice, and that too not only for the living but also for the dead: The Other hold that the Sacrament neither is nor ever was designed to be a propitiatory Sacrifice, but only a commemoration and application of that one and only Sacrifice which the Lord Jesus when he died upon the Cross offered up to God: (now which of them in these different Opinions have truth on their side, it is our present work to inquire after).

In order to which I have two things to do,

• (1.) to show what the Sacrament is not;
• (2.) to show what it is.

For the first, 'tis not a Sacrifice, I mean 'tis not a propitiatory Sacrifice; as if there was any proper oblation of Christ's body and blood in it (further than what is done in a Symbolical and Sacramental manner) for propitiation and expiation. There is in it indeed (in a Sacramental way ) that body and blood which was really offered up to God upon the Cross, but not as so offered up in this Ordinance. I say 'tis not a Sacrifice, for 'tis a Sacrament therefore not a Sacrifice: these two carry a great difference in them; there's giving in the one, receiving in the other; in the one we offer to God, in the other God offers to us. Accordingly with respect to Christ, as a Sacrifice he was offered for us, in the Sacrament he is offered to us; which are two things of such different notions as must needs be the ground of an inconsistency betwixt them; for can he at the same time be offered for us and to us too? If the Lord's Supper be a Sacrifice it must cease to be a Sacrament, for it cannot be both. True the Passover was both; it was a Sacrament (as it was a sign or token of Israel's deliverance in Egypt, and as it was to be eaten ), and it was also (in respect of the mactation and killing of the Paschal Lamb ) a Sacrifice; therefore we read of sacrificing the Passover Deut. 16.5, 6. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover &c.— there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even &c.—But the reason of its being a propitiatory Sacrifice as well as a commemorative Sacrament was this, because it was a special type of Christ the great propitiatory Sacrifice, whereupon 'tis said 1 Cor. 5.7. Christ our Passover is sanctified for us: had it not been for this its typical nature and reference, it could not have been both. Now in the Lord's Supper there being nothing of this (it being wholly a representation of what is past, not at all a type of what is to come ), it is not capable of being a Sacrifice and a Sacrament too; so that if we give to it the nature and notion of the former, we take from it and destroy the nature and notion of the latter.

But to argue more closely! That the Eucharist is no propitiatory Sacrifice, I prove by these Arguments.

• 1. As Isaac once to his Father Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the Lamb for a burnt-offering? so I would say, behold the bread and the wine, the body and the blood, but where's the Priest to turn these into and to offer them up as a Sacrifice? Are there Priests now under the Gospel entrusted with an Office and invested with a power of sacrificing? 'twas always thought that with the ceasing of the old Law-sacrifices the sacrificing Priesthood ceased also. I know 'tis very usual to give the title of Priests to Gospel-Ministers (which if taken in such a sense may be admitted); but if by Priests you understand persons in Office to whom it should appertain to offer up new expiatory Sacrifices, in that sense all PROTESTANTS deny any such now to have a being: whence it follows, that as where there are no Sacrifices there there is no Priesthood, so where there is no Priesthood there there are no Sacrifices (for these two mutually depend each upon the other); and consequently that the Lord's Supper is no Sacrifice upon the defect of this Priesthood. We are told indeed that our Savior when this ordinance was instituted by him, did authorize and impower his Apostles, and after them all Ministers successively, at the consecration of the Elements to turn them into a Sacrifice, whereupon they may strictly and properly be looked upon as Priests: Which if it be so (as it is not) they must then be Priests either according to the Aaronical order or according to that of Melchizedek, (those being the two Orders to which the sacrificing Priesthood did belong); but neither of these can be true; not the first, the Aaronical Priesthood being abrogated; not the second, the Priesthood of Melchizedek being incommunicable to any but to Christ himself (as the Apostle strongly proves Heb. 7.). 'It is observable amongst the Levitical Priests, whilst the High Priest himself was ministering in the Holy of Holy's, such as were of a lower rank were not at that time to sacrifice without: and why not so here? Christ our High Priest is now in Heaven, presenting the merit of his great Sacrifice offered upon the Cross; and he himself being so employ'd, 'tis not for any ordinary Priests to be sacrificing (in an expiatory way) here on earth. And further, those Priests so long as they lived were to execute their office themselves, into which none were to intrude till by their death room was made for others succession; so that if they had lived forever none had meddled with sacrificing but they: Christ therefore living forever to manage the business of what is propitiatory, none without great intrusion can pretend in a thing of that nature to join with him. Heb. 7.23, 24. And they truly were many Priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable Priesthood, (or that Priesthood which passeth not from him to another ): When Christ was here on earth he offered up himself as a propitiatory Sacrifice, if any now after him should pretend in that way to offer up his body and blood, as to the matter of the Sacrifice they would (in part) do that which he himself did; and so there would be a passing of his Priesthood (in some way of equality though not of cessation) to others.
• 2. It hath been observed, that in every expiatory Sacrifice there was the destruction or consumption of the thing sacrificed, either in part or in the whole; there being therefore no such thing in the Lord's Supper, it cannot be looked upon as a true and proper expiatory Sacrifice. Pray what is destroyed therein? doth Christ's body and blood cease to be what they were? in his Sacrifice upon the Cross there was a destruction (in the separation of his Soul and Body for a time), but what is there like to this in the Sacrament? BELLARMINE having taken notice of this Argument thinks to elude it with a very pretty distinction; viz. that Christ's body in it-self is untouched in the Sacrament, it loosing nothing of its esse natural when 'tis eaten there; yet it doth loose its esse sacramentale, the bread being eaten by which it was signified and made visible. Answ. As if the ceasing of something which was but external, visible and representative, the thing itself remaining untouched and the same that it was before, would amount to that destruction which was in the Levitical Sacrifices? and which was necessary to be made upon the body of Christ at his death in order to his being an expiatory Sacrifice? Surely either we are a sort of men so weak and sottish as that we'l believe anything, or they are a sort of men so wedded to their Opinions as that they'll say anything that will but suit with their purpose; otherwise so great a Man had never given so pitiful an Answer to so considerable an Objection.
• 3. Thirdly, if the Sacrament be a real, propitiatory Sacrifice, then so many Sacraments so many propitiatory Sacrifices; and as oft as that is administered so oft there is a real, substantial oblation of Christ's body and blood, in a propitiatory way: but this is directly contrary to what the World saith; therefore 'tis by no means to be admitted. For that speaks but of one only propitiatory Sacrifice, of Christ's once offering himself (namely when he died upon the Cross); which one offering was so full and perfect, so effectual to all intents and purpoles for redemption, propitiation &c. as that it is not in any wise to be repeated or reiterated: Heb. 7.27. Who needeth not daily as those high Priests, to offer up Sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's; for this he did [once] when he offered up himself: Heb. 9.12.— by his own blood be entered in [once] into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us: —Vers. 26, 27, 28. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now [once] in the end of the world hath be appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; So Christ was [once] offered to bear the sins of many, &c. Heb. 10.10, 12, 14. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ [once] for all. But this man after he had offered [one Sacrifice] for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God: For by [one offering] he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified: Now how shall we reconcile the multiplication of propitiatory Sacrifices, the reiteration of Christ's offering, with these Texts? there is (saith the Apostle) but one only propitiatory Sacrifice (that which our Savior offered upon the Cross ); nay (say our Adversaries) but there is, the MASS is a propitiatory Sacrifice also: the true propitiatory Sacrifice (saith he) was made but once; nay but (say they) 'tis not so, it is renewed, repeated, and made over and over again: Christ (says he) did once (and but once) offer up himself; nay (say they) but he is offered again and again, as often as the MASS is celebrated, (in which his body and blood are as really offered as they were when he died upon the Cross ): Christ (saith he) by the one oblation of himself hath obtained eternal redemption, put away sin, perfected forever them that are sanctified; nay (say they) but he hath not, for besides that there must be the propitiatory oblation of him in the Sacrament. Now let every person judge whether these things be not flat contradictions to the Word of God (according to what we charge them with).

For the solving of this therefore they give us another pretty distinction, (viz.) of our Savior's bloody and unbloody Sacrifice, of that which was offered on the Cross and that which is offered at the Mass: that (they say) 'tis very true was but once and is not to be iterated, but 'tis not so with the latter; wherefore the Apostle in all that hath been cited, must be understood as designing to exclude only the multiplying and repeating of the bloody but not of the unbloody Sacrifice; and so the Mass is not at all concerned therein.

To which I answer, in shunning one contradiction they run upon another; for what can be more contradictory to the Word (as also to the nature of the thing ) than an unbloody, propitiatory Sacrifice? it says Without shedding of blood there's no remission: yes (say they) but there is, in the Sacrament there's no shedding of blood and yet thereby there is remission: do they not still maintain that which plainly contradicts the Scripture? and instead of stopping one gap do they not make another? The Apostle after he had been speaking so fully of Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross, in the perfection and unrepeatableness thereof, draws an inference universally to exclude all other propitiatory Sacrifices; Heb. 10.18. now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin: they then must be highly bold who will presume to except and limit where the Spirit of God doth not, and where the matter spoken of doth not require any such exception or limitation: nay, where indeed the matter will not bear any such thing (as here it will not); for if by Christ's oblation sin be fully remitted, how can any further Sacrifice be joined with it in order to remission? To me this is a most necessary principle, (viz.) when men will distinguish upon the letter of the Scripture, so as to affirm what that denies or to deny what that affirms, or so as to enlarge what that straightens and to straighten what that enlarges; it highly concerns them to look to this, that their distinctions be well grounded upon other Scriptures and consonant thereunto; for otherwise they must run themselves into dangerous errors without all possibility of being convinced; and without this all Religion will be undermin'd, and the Word of God made wholly insignificant: Now to apply this Rule! our Dissenters when we urge the forementioned places (which are so clear and cogent for what we hold,) would put off all by distinguishing of a bloody and unbloody Sacrifice; I desire to know what Scriptureground or warrant they have for this distinction (in the sense wherein they use it)? what is there to be found there to justify such a thing as an unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice?

Something I know they offer at, but (alas!) 'tis that which will not satisfy or command the faith of such who are serious and considerative. For instance, Gen. 14.18. And MELCHISEDECH King of SALEM brought forth bread and wine, and be was the Priest of the most high God: whence they thus argue, MELCHISEDECH did sacrifice bread and wine, there (say they) was an unbloody Sacrifice, and that which was typical of Christ's Sacrifice, and of his being offered at the Sacrament modo incruento under the Species 's of bread & wine: therefore there was such a Sacrifice thereat to be offered; which accordingly was done first by Christ himself, and yet is done successively by his Ministers: yea, they tell us that this unbloody Sacrifice was the great thing in respect of which he is said to be a Priest after the order of MELCHISEDECH. Answ. all this is denied with the same (but better grounded) confidence with which it is affirmed: 'tis sad that any should build so great an Article of Faith (as this is amongst the ROMANISTS ) upon so weak and sandy a bottom; but how much more sad is it, that men's zeal should be so fierce upon it as to make it a matter of Life or Death, accordingly as 'tis believed or not believed? (for the truth is, that which they call the unbloody Sacrifice hath occasionally been made bloody enough, in the death of thousands of Martyrs who could not look upon it as Others do). But as to the Argument our DIVINES reply,

• (1.) 'It is not evident, that what MELCHISEDECH here did was done in the way of a Sacrifice to God: 'tis said he brought bread & wine, 'tis not said that he offered bread or wine to God; there's a great difference betwixt protulit and obtulit, betwixt a civil gift to Men and a religious offering to God. JOSEPHUS carries this bringing of bread and wine, no higher than MELCHISEDECHS kindness or hospitality to ABRAHAM and his weary Soldiers.
• (2.) Suppose this was done in the way of a Sacrifice, how will it be proved that it was done in the way of a propitiatory Sacrifice? since 'tis only said that he blessed Abraham (Vers. 19.). Nay
• (3.) suppose that too, yet what will it be to those who cannot (justly) pretend to be • riests according to the order of MELCHISEDECH, (that being an incommunicable order )? And
• (4.) the Apostle Heb. 7. opening this MELCHISEDECH (in his Priesthood, and in this very act, showing how he was the type of Christ and wherein Christ the antitype suited with him), doth not at all instance in his bringing of bread and wine or in his offering any unbloody Sacrifice (which surely he would have done, had the resemblance or analogy betwixt Christ and him lie'ne in that), but he instances in the oneness of Melchizedek's Priesthood, in his eternity, in his authoritative benediction (even of Abraham himself), in Abraham 's paying tithes to him &c. these are the things wherein all along in that Chapter he illustrates Christ's agreement with MELCHISEDECH.

So that for any to infer, from his bringing of bread and wine that Christ at the Sacrament (for I do not love the word MASS ) is offered up to God, by every ordinary Priest, as an unbloody, propitiatory Sacrifice; I say, for any to make such an inference from such premises, it argues them to be either injudicious or over credulous, or too much devoted to a party. The Paschal Lamb also is alleged for the making good of this distinction (with some other things), but neither barrel better herrings, (as is fully made out by our PROTESTANT Writers where persons are not resolved to shut their eyes upon the clearest light).

4. Fourthly, In the present contest 'twill be best to have recourse to the institution of the Sacrament. Now if that (with the whole administration about it) be consulted, what shall we find to give it the notion of a Sacrifice? Obj. 'It is said this we find, Christ there faith Do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19. 1 Cor. 11.24. now this hoc facite is as much as hoc sacrificate. Answ. What is it to play with the Scripture if this be not so? a few things being considered the vanity of this Criticism will soon appear. If this do was as much as this sacrifice, certainly that would have been a thing of such high import, as that of the three Evangelists (which set down the Sacramental institution ) two of them would not have wholly omitted it; and yet so it is, LUKE recites it but MATTHEW and MARK make no mention at all of it. And if that was the sense of the word, then the sacrificing act would lie upon the people as well as upon the Priests, for as the Do this was spoken by Christ to the Disciples Luk. 22.19, so it was also spoken by Paul to the body of the Saints at CORINTH 1 Cor. 11.24. When there's nothing spoken in the whole Institution of the Lord's Supper as referring to a Sacrifice, 'tis somewhat strange that this word should come in by it-self and carry such a Sacrificial sense in it. Besides, doth not that which follows sufficiently clear it up? Do this, how? or for what end? to be a Sacrifice? no, but in remembrance of me. We deny not but that facere doth sometimes signify to sacrifice (answerably to the Hebrew word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ): but where hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (which is here used) that signification? nay, where have the other words that signification, but when they are join'd with a Noun setting forth a thing that is usually designed and set apart for Sacrifices? whereas the word here is join'd with a bare Pronoun.

Object. But they have a stronger plea than this, grounded upon the words of the Institution: where Christ saith This is my body which is given for you, (and broken for you &c.) This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you &c. now doth not this body as given and broken, and this blood as shed, prove a Sacrifice? yea, that under the bread and wine there was a real oblation of Christ's body and blood?

Answ. No; unless it be understood (as it ought to be) of his oblation upon the Cross, and not at the Table. When he saith This is my body which is given for you &c. and this is my blood which is shed &c. did he mean that giving of his body or that shedding of his blood which was done just at the Sacrament? that we utterly deny: What then did he mean? why, that which would shortly be when he should die on the Cross; then his boody should be broken and his blood poured out in a real and substantial manner, but not till then. And this Interpretation is not at all weakened by Christ's expressing himself in the Present Tense [which is given, which is shed], it being usual in the Scripture to put that Tense for the Paulo-post-futurum: and (I hope) this Answer will not be either opposed or slighted by our Adversaries, since the Vulgar translation itself renders the words in the Future tense, which shall be given, shall be shed; yea, in their Canon Missae too they are so rendered.

2. But Secondly having shewn what the Lord's Supper is not, I am now to show what it is. As to that (in brief) 'tis a lively representation & solemn commemoration of that Sacrifice which the Lord Jesus offered up to God when he died upon the Cross: 'tis not a Sacrifice but a memorial of a Sacrifice; herein lies the nature of this Ordinance and this was the great end of Christ in the instituting of it: Do this (saith he) in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19. As oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26. This too was the great end of the Passover (unto which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper succeeds); Exod. 12.14. And this shall be unto you for a memorial. Great mercies have always had their memorials that they might not be forgotten; what a mercy was Christ's dying and sacrificing himself! what glorious and unspeakable benefits do believers receive thereby! therefore least this should wither and decay in their memories this Ordinance was appointed to be a standing memorial thereof. And this is that notion which the FATHERS had of the Sacrament (though some would fain draw them to be of another Opinion, then which nothing more false): 'tis not to be denied but that they very often did call it a Sacrifice; yea, sometimes they speak of unbloody Sacrifices; but did they thereby mean any real, propitiatory, unbloody Sacrifice in the POPISH sense? no, they explain themselves by the commemorating of Christ's Sacrifice, by the offering up of praises, thanksgivings, penitential tears to God (& the like); in which respects only they did so speak of it.

To this also we may add, the Lord's Supper is not only a memorial of but a Feast upon Christ's Sacrifice; the believing Soul doth therein by Faith feed and feast itself upon a crucified Savior. Antiently Sacrifices were attended with Feasts, nullum Sacrificium sine epulo; as soon as the Sacrifice was over men used to have a Feast, to eat and drink together: and this custom prevailed both amongst Jews and Gentiles. Gen. 13.54. Then Jacob offered Sacrifice upon the Mount, and called his brethren to eat bread &c. Exod. 18.12. And Jethro, Moses father-in-law, took burnt offerings and Sacrifices for God: and Aaron came and all the Elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God: (See also Exod. 34.15. Numb. 25.2. 1 Cor. 10.18. &c.) Now parallel to this, after Christ's Sacrifice there's the Sacramental Feast, wherein the Communicant doth spiritually feed upon the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, eats and drinks of the bread and water of Life: here is not oblatio but participatio Sacrificii. The Apostle having spoken to the Sacrifice, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, he presently subjoins the Feast which was to go along with that Sacrifice, Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven &c. 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. At the Sacrament there is not only a commemoraion of Christ's death, but there is the Christians fetching out of the sweet and comfort thereof for inward strength and nourishment.

Yet further, the Lord's Supper is a Seal of all those blessings which Christ by his Death and Sacrifice did purchase for his; (but this I must pass over). I have been very long upon this Fourth Inferenee, but no longer than what the Nature of the thing and our present state did make to be necessary: 'tis highly requisite that we should all have right apprehensions concerning the blessed Sacrament; therefore to help you therein, and to obviate all POPISH delusions, I have been thus large upon this Head.

5. Fifthly, I infer the happiness of such who live under the Gospel above those who lived under the Law. 'It is none of the least of our mercies that we are cast under the Evangelical, rather than under the Legal administration: Old-Testament believers were the elder brethren, but the younger (those who live under the New-Testament) are the best provided for. For the making out of this, I shall not insist upon the comparing of Sacraments and Sacraments, Priesthood and Priesthood, Privileges and Privileges, but only touch upon the matter of Sacrifices. In reference to which we have the advantage in sundry respects: for they (in a manner) had but the shell, 'tis that we have the kernel; they had but the shadow, 'tis we that have the substance: they had but the type, 'tis we that have the antitype. All their Sacrifices were but darker adumbrations of that great Sacrifice which is now fully revealed to us and actually exhibited for us: they had variety and multiplicity of them, we have all in one; theirs were costly and burdensome, ours costs us nothing but thankful application; theirs (of themselves) could only cleanse from ritual and civil guilt, ours from all guilt whatsoever; they had the blood of Beasts, we the blood of God's own Son. One of the great differences 'twixt the Covenant of Grace as then and as now dispensed, lies in the difference of the Sacrifices: to them, it was testified and ratified by the blood of ordinary Creatures; to us, 'tis so by the blood of Christ; (compare Exod. 24.8. with Matth. 26.28.). Surely we have the advantage over them, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect, (as 'tis Heb. 11.40.): O what degree of thankfulness can be high enough for that knowledge of, interest in, benefit by Christ's Sacrifice which we now have under the Gospel, above what they had who lived under the Jewish Sacrifice!

And if our state be better than theirs, how much more is it better than the state of the poor Gentiles! As to Jews and Christians 'tis happiness and happiness compared together, but as to Gentiles and Christians 'tis happiness and misery: the Jews had their Sacrifices from God himself, to whom they were offered, and by whom they were owned; but in the Pagan Sacrifices there were none of these; they were neither instituted by God, nor directed to him, therefore it could not be expected that ever they should be blessed by him. And besides this, there was nothing of Christ in their Sacrifices; Men-Sacrifices they had, but as to the Sacrifice of Christ God-Man that they knew nothing of: without which, what could all their Sacrifices signify for the purging away of guilt? They had great variety of them, some blind notions of expiation, purgation, atonement by them, but (alas!) not being offered to the true God, nor backed with the true and only propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ, they were all in vain. They used to twit Christians with their want of Temples, Altars, Sacrifices &c. but we can easily answer them, we have all in Christ; whose one Sacrifice upon the Cross was more than all their Hecatombs and Sacrifices whatsoever: we may be the objects of their derision, but surely they should be the objects of our compassion; and whilst we pity them let us be highly thankful for ourselves, that ever this one, only, perfect Sacrifice was made known to us as well as offered for us.

6. Sixthly, we may from hence take notice of the excellency of Christ's Priesthood and Sacrifice: (I put them together, because they do mutually prove the excellency each of the other; his Priesthood must needs be excellent because he offered up such an excellent Sacrifice, and his Sacrifice must needs be excellent because it was offered by such an excellent Priest). The setting forth of the excellency of both, is the main scope and business of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews (that full and most Evangelical Commentary upon the Levitical Sacrifices ); but he reduces the latter under the former, proving the glory and excellency of the Priesthood of Christ from the excellency of his Sacrifice. Indeed in the making out of that, he makes use of several other Mediums or Arguments: as

• (1.) the greatness and dignity of Christ's Person, Heb. 4.14;
• (2.) the extraordinariness of his Call, Heb. 5.4, 5.
• (3.) the preeminence of the Order (according to which he was Priest) above the Aaronical order, (he being Priest after the order of MELCHISEDECH ) Heb. 5.6.10.—Chap. 6.20.
• (4.) his oneness and singleness in this office, Heb. 7 23, 24.
• (5.) his solemn inauguration into it, Heb. 7.20, 21.
• (6.) its perpetuity and everlastingness, Heb. 5.6. Heb. 7.16, 24.
• (7.) the excellency of the Sanctuary where 'tis discharged, Heb. 8.1. &c. Heb. 9.11, 12, 24.
• (8.) the betterness of the Covenant to which it refers, Heb. 8.6. &c.

All these Heads the Apostle doth distinctly insist upon; but that Medium or Argument which he is most large upon to prove the excellency of Christ's Priesthood, is the excellency of his Sacrifice above all the Law-Sacrifices: and that he makes out

• (1.) from the matter of it. The Priests under the Law offered such and such things only, not themselves: but Christ offered himself; they the blood of Creatures, he his own blood; Heb. 9.12. Neither by the blood of Goats and Calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place &c.—Vers. 14.— How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself &c.—Vers. 23. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these (i.e. the blood of beasts), but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these: Heb. 1.3. When he had by himself purged our sins: so Heb. 7.27.—9.26.
• (2.) From the virtue and efficacy of it: The Law-Sacrifices were weak and unprofitable, could make nothing perfect, Heb. 7.18, 19. could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the Conscience; they only sanctified as to the purifying of the flesh, Heb. 9.9, 13. It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins, Heb. 10.4. But Christ by his Sacrifice hath obtained eternal redemption Heb. 9.12. that reaches the Conscience to purge it from dead works &c. Heb. 9.14.—
• (3.) Those Sacrifices being thus weak were many, and often to be repeated; but this of Christ having such an efficacy in it was but one, and but once offered, never anymore to be repeated: Heb. 7.27. Who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up Sacrifice, for this he did once when he offered up himself: Heb. 9.12. by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place —25. &c. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high Priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others: For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself: Heb. 10.1. &c. The Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those Sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect: For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged, should have had no more Conscience of sins &c. to these now the Apostle opposes Christ's Sacrifice Vers. 5, 6, &c. and of that he saith, Vers. 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all: Vers. 11, 12. And every Priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins: But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God: Vers. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The HEATHENS had their Sacrifices which they called Hostiae succedaneae, which they offered up to their GOD'S in case those which they had offered before did not succeed: the Lord Jesus by his one Sacrifice did so effectually do what he designed and the Sinner needed, as that there is no room for or need of any hostia succedanea. —
• (4.) The Apostle makes it out from the sanctity of Christ's Person and the perfection of his Sacrifice. The Law-Priests offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people Heb. 7.27. they ought, as for the people, so also for themselves, to offer for sins Heb. 5.3. the High Priest went once every year into the second Tabernacle, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people, Heb. 9.7. But now as to Christ he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, Heb. 7.26. he had no sin (of his own ) to expiate by his Sacrifice; he was made sin, but yet he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21. Under the Law both Priest and Sacrifice were to be perfect, (i. e.) without any open and external blemish: as to the first, read Levite. 21.17. (to the end); as to the second, God gave several precepts about it; the Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish Exod. 12.5. the oblation for Vows and for Free-will-offerings, the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings were to be without blemish, perfect, otherwise they should not be accepted, Levite. 22.18. to 25. so the red Heifer was to be without spot, and wherein there was no blemish, Numb. 19.2; so the Firstlings of the Cattle, Deut. 15.21; and all Sacrifices whatsoever, Deut 17.1. (And this the HEATHENS themselves made conscience of in their Sacrifices). In correspondency to all this, in a moral and spiritual sense our Lord's Sacrifice was perfect, without the least blemish; he offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14. he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19.—
• (5.) The excellency of Christ's Sacrifice appears from the great effects of it;—he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26. so that there is no more offering for sin Heb. 10.18. being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9. by this Sacrifice sin was condemned, abolished, expiated; God appeased; the Law satisfied; eternal redemption obtained; O what an excellent Sacrifice was Christ's Sacrifice! and consequently what an excellent Priesthood was Christ's Priesthood!

7. Seventhly, was Christ a Sacrifice for sin in order to the condemning of it? and could it be condemned by nothing short of that? hence we are informed that Sin is a very evil thing and of a very heinous nature. Had it not been a notorious and capital Offender, would God have condemned, and thus condemned it? would he so severely have punished it in the flesh of his own Son? must even this Son be offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice for the expiation of it? O what a cursed heinous thing is sin! that had made such a breach between God and his Creatures, that Christ must die or else no reconciliation; that had so highly struck at the Honor of the great God, that nothing below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son could make Satisfaction for it; its poison and venom was such, that there was no cure for the Sinner (into whom that poison had got) but only the precious blood of Christ himself: God had such an hatred and abhorring of it, as that for the testifying thereof, even he (whom he loved from all eternity) must be made a Curse; what a demonstration was this of the transcendency of the evil of Sin! Would you take a full view thereof? pray look upon it in and through this glass; a sacrificed Christ gives the clearest, the fullest representation of sins heinousness. True, we may see much of that in Sins own Nature (as 'tis the transgression of God's most holy and most excellent Law ); as also in the threatenings which are denounced against it; and further in the dreadful Effects of it, both here and hereafter, (the loss of God's image, and favor, and eternal damnation ); is it not a very evil thing? What a mischievous thing hath this sin been! it cast the falling Angels out of Heaven into Hell and turned them into Devils; it thrust Adam out of Paradise, made God to be an enemy to him who but now was his favourite, cut off the entail of happiness, and instead thereof entailed misery and a curse upon all his posterity; it made God at once to drown a whole world, it laid Sodom in ashes, level'd Jerusalem it-self to the ground, caused God to forsake his own people the Jews &c. ('twould be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of Sin).

Now (I say) in these things we may see much of the evil of it, but not so much as what we see in the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Christ; there, there is the highest discovery and fullest representation of it: He to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? he to be bruised and broken, yea and his Father to be pleased in the bruising of him? he in his own person to undergo the Laws penalty? to tread the winepress of the wrath of God? he to be obedient to death, even the death of the Cross? he to cry out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? he to be killed, and slain, and hanged upon a tree? and all this for sin? O what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to be in it! Indeed that the poor Creatures should be so destroyed in the Law-Sacrifices, that so many millions of them (they in themselves being harmless and innocent ) should die and be sacrificed for man's sin, this represents very much of its cursed nature; but yet that comes infinitely short of that representation thereof which we have in a dying, crucified, sacrificed Christ: the death of all those Sacrifices was nothing to the death of this one Sacrifice; whereby Sin eminently appears in its own colors. What a sad thing is it that men generally make so little a thing of it (as though there was not much evil either in it or by it )! but in so doing how do their thoughts differ from God's thoughts! for surely if he had not judged it to be very heinous, he had never carried it towards his Son as he did. I would desire Sinners to take their prospect of it through this medium, of Christ's being a Sacrifice for it; if anything in the world will bring them to the sight of its malignity, this will do it. It pleases God to look upon believers through a dying Christ, and so he loves them; but could we but look upon Sin (a thing never to be loved) through a dying Christ, how should we hate it!

8. Eighthly, this demonstrates also the severity, impartiality, terribleness of God's Justice. By Christ's death and Sacrifice we have not only a declaration of the Justice of God in it-self, (in that he would not remit sin without blood for satisfaction Rom. 3.25.), but a declaration also of the adjuncts and properties of his Justice, (viz.) that 'tis very severe, impartial, and terrible. He was inflexibly set upon the punishment of sin; such was his hatred of it and his respect to the honor of his Law, that Sin shall not by any means escape his punishing hand: and every punishment too shall not suffice, but if shall be such as may fully answer the heinousness of the offense; I and if his own Son shall interpose in the Sinners stead, and take his guilt upon him, and become his Surety, even he (be he never so dear to God) must undergo the utmost punishment (that ever he was capable of) both for matter and degree; God will fall upon him and not spare him, no not in the least; O how severe and impartial is his Justice! Never was there such an instance or demonstration of these, as in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus: For (pray consider) what it was that he suffered; besides all the sufferings of his Life, at last he suffered death; and that not a common or ordinary death, but the very worst of deaths; a death that had all ingredients into it to make it bitter, wherein was all that bitterness which either the wrath of man or (which was much worfe) of God himself could sqeeze into it: And though Christ (foreseeing what this death was) prayed again and again that he might be saved from it, that this cup might pass from him, yet his Father was inexorable and would not hear him; but die he must, and so die too; surely here was divine Justice under the highest severity and impartiality, (yet without the least mixture of injustice ). And when the thoughts and sense of this were upon Christ, they made his Soul exceeding sorrowful, cast him into most bitter agonies, insomuch that he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; how dreadful and terrible is punitive Justice! what a fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God! this we see and know in our Savior's case, O that we may never know and feel it in our own experience!

I might further infer from the premises (9.) the unsearchable Wisdom of God. (10.) also his inconceivable Love and Grave: (11.) the preciousness of Souls: (12.) the costliness of Salvation. (13.) the great dignity of Christ's person, from which his Sacrifice derived all its vir • ue & efficacy: (but I must not speak to all that this vast Subject would lead me to). So much for the Inferences drawn from the main Point.

2. The next Use shall be Exhortation, in which I would press some of those Duties which do best suit with the Truth before us: hitherto I have chiefly been upon the informing of the judgment, I now come to matters of practice.

1. And first, as Christ's Sonship and Incarnation (of which before) so his being a Sacrifice, and thereby condemning sin, should be very much the object of your study and meditation. This you are to study that you may know more of it; to meditate upon, that you may draw out and improve what you already know about it, (for so I would at present distinguish betwixt these two, supposing the one to be like the filling of the vessel, the other like the drawing out of that vessel ). As to the first, I would be earnest with you to be much in studying a sacrificed, crucified Christ; if the knowledge of him as taking flesh is to be labored after (as you have heard it is), surely the knowledge of him as dying in flesh, and as condemning sin in his flesh, is also to be labored after. In this Sacrifice of Christ you have the very mirror of the Grace of God, the masterpiece and highest elevation of his Love, the glorious product of his infinite Wisdom, the great basis and foundation of man's happiness; should it not therefore with the greatest diligence be looked into? Our excellent Apostle determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2. the preaching of this was the great matter of his Ministry, 1 Cor. 1.23. We preach Christ crucified —; and he makes the Gospel in its revelation mainly to point to this, which therefore he calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the word of the Cross 1 Cor. 1.18. it being so, how should the consideration hereof heighten our endeavors after a full and distinct knowledge of it! God's own Son to be offered up as a Sacrifice for the sin of man? O admirable and wonderful dispensation! what a mystery is this! how should all be prying into it! Here we have Christ at his worst; now the knowledge of him as at the worst is the best knowledge for Christians; for they having their best by his worst, the knowledge of him (under that notion ) must needs be the best knowledge for them. If Christ, as a Sacrifice, in the full import thereof, was but better understood by Sinners, O what benefit and advantage would thereby accrue to them! how steadily would they believe, how ardently would they love, how patiently would they suffer, how thankfully would they adore, how cheerfully would they walk! should not these be prevailing inducements to such to labor after a fuller knowledge of him (as so considered)? But in the enforcing of this duty let me not be mistaken; 'tis not a notional, historical knowledge only of Christ as sacrificed that I would have you to pursue after, but I would state it as practical, as operative and powerful; this, this is that knowledge which is to be desired. When Paul had spoken so high of the knowledge of Christ, Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; see how he opens that knowledge of him which he looked upon as so excellent; Vers. 10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. 'It is a poor thing to have light about this in the head, if that light be not attended with power and efficacy upon the heart and life; the clearest notions concerning Christ's death without suitable impressions within, and that which in the Sinner himself may bear some analogy and conformity thereunto, do not profit: O therefore so study a crucified Savior as to be crucified with him, dead with him; so as to feel the energy of his death in the heavenliness of your affections, and holiness of your conversations; this is the knowledge which we should study and pray for and aspire after.

For the Second, Christ as a Sacrifice is also much to be meditated upon: O how frequent, how serious and fixed should our thoughts be upon this! how should we be often reviving this upon our minds, never suffering it to decay or wither in our memories! This is so great and necessary a duty, that we have an Ordinance instituted by Christ on purpose and for this very end, often to inminde us of his dying (as our Sacrifice ) and to keep it fresh upon our memories forever: Do this in remembrance of me; As oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. But 'tis not enough to think of this just before or at the Sacrament, but we should live in daily, frequent meditation upon it: I say we should do so, but (alas!) 'tis to be feared we do not so; O how little is a dying, crucified Christ thought of! the dying Friend or Relation is remembered, but the dying Savior is forgotten: this proclaims to the world that we have but a low sense of his great love, that we see but little in his oblation; for surely if we did, we should think oftener of it, and after another manner, than now we do. Christians! pray be sensible of former neglects, and let it be better for the future; let not a day pass over you wherein some time shall not be spent in remembering and considering what Christ your Sacrifice upon the Cross suffered for you. Upon this also you would reap great advantages; for certainly was Christ's death but duly thought of and improved, Oh 'twould highly embitter sin, effectually wean from the world and the sensual delights thereof, mightily encourage and strengthen Hope and Faith, strongly engage the Soul to Obedience &c. therefore pray be persuaded to think less of other things and more of this! And do not barely think of it but think what there's in it; yea labor to go to the very bottom of it, and by serious meditation to press out all that juice and sweetness which is in it: the believer should be always sitting upon this flower and sucking comfort from it. What's the full breast to the child that doth not draw it? Christ as a Sacrifice for sin is a full breast, but yet if Sinners by Faith, Prayer and Meditation, do not draw from this breast, they will be little the better for it. He was indeed but once offered, but that one oblation is often to be remembered and continually to be improved (with respect both to Duty and Comfort ): how that is to be done the following particulars will show.

2. This should have a very powerful influence upon you to break your hearts for sin and from sin. First for sin: was Christ indeed made a Sacrifice? as such was his body broken and his precious blood poured forth? did he undergo such sufferings in his life, and then complete all in his dying on the Cross? and all for sin? how can this be thought of (with any seriousness) and the heart not be kindly and thoroughly broken! what will cause the hard heart to melt and thaw into godly sorrow for sin, if the consideration of Christ's Sacrifice and death will not do it! Oh me thinks his blood (as shed for Sinners) should soften the most Adamantine heart that is. Did we but consider our Savior's passion in the matter and quality of it, in its bitter ingredients and heightening circumstances; and then also consider that our sins were the meritorious cause of it, that they brought him to the Cross and laid the foundation of all his sorrows; did we (I say) but consider this, certainly we should be more deeply afflicted for Sin than now we are. What? that I should be accessory to the death of the Son of God? that I should bring the nails and spears which should pierce him? that I should be the occasion of all his sufferings in Soul and Body what a cutting, heart-breaking consideration is this! Zech. 12. 10.— they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, (what follows?) and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son; and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born: the true penitent cannot look upon a crucified Savior (especially when he considers what he hath done to further his Savior's crucifixion,) without the highest degree of holy grief. But especially this heart-brokenness should be in us when we are at the Sacrament, where we have such a sensible and lively representation of Christ's Death and Sacrifice: Oh shall we there see his broken body, and yet our hearts be unbroken? shall we view him there shedding his blood, and we shed no penitential tears? shall we there behold what he endured and felt for Sin, and we yet have no pain, no contrition for it? how unsuitable is such a frame to such an object, under such a representation! What was the temper think you of the Women who were spectators of Christ when he was hanging upon the Cross? unquestionably they were filled with inexpressible sorrow: why (Sirs!) when you are at the Lord's Table, in a spiritual way you see him also as dying upon the Cross, he is there before your eyes evidently set forth and crucified among you (Gal. 3.1.); Oh how should your eye affect your heart, even to fill you with Evangelical sorrow!

But this is not enough, therefore (2.) there must be brokenness from sin as well as for sin: surely after such a thing as Christ's death Sin must be loved and lived no more; the heart must eternally be broken off from it. Pray look into the Text and see what pressing motives there are in it for this:

• (1.) Here's Christ dying as a Sacrifice, making his Soul an offering for sin. Now (Sinners!) shall that live in you or will you live in that which made your Savior to die? shall he die for sin and will you yet live in sin? shall his death (as to you) be in vain? will you continue sin upon the Throne when Christ was upon the Cross? do you desire to have him there again, crucified afresh (as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6.6.)? would you renew his wounds and cause them to bleed again? was it not enough for such a person to be once sacrificed? can you made even through his precious blood to the gratifying of your base lusts? O dreadful! I remember that passage of DAVID 2 Sam. 23.15. &c. where you find him longing for the waters of Bethlehem, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the Well of Bethlehem which is by the gate: upon this his earnest desire, three of his mighty men brake through the Host of the Philistines and brought him some of this water; but (saith the story) he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord: why so? O (saith he) be it far from me that I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? So here; sometimes your desires and inclinations are strongly carried out to such and such sins, but pray consider there's blood in the case; those sins cost Jesus Christ his blood, he did not only jeopard but actually lose his life; will you then meddle with them (be they never so sweet or pleasing to the flesh)? I hope you will not, I am sure you should not. To strengthen this further, pray consider what Christ's end (or ends ) were in his being thus a Sacrifice: they refer either to God or to you; to God, as he designed to satisfy his Justice, appease his Wrath, vindicate his Honor &c. to you, as he designed your Sanctification, Holiness, the abolition of Sins power &c. (I say, the abolition of sins power; for though the primary end and the most immediate effect of Christ's Sacrifice was the expiation of its guilt, yet in subordination to this (however in conjunction with it), the breaking of its power and freedom from its evil acts were by him also aimed at therein: Gal. 1.4. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, and our Father. Tit. 2.14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 1 Pet. 2.24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. Now was this one of Christ's great Ends in his sacrificing of himself, and shall he not have it? hath he accomplished his ends with respect to God and shall he not accomplish his ends with respect to you? would you divide and compound with him to let him have half of what he designed and purchased, but no more? would you separate between Justification and Sanctification? (that will not be allowed). How smartly doth the Apostle argue for the death of sin from the death of Christ! Rom. 6.3. to the 11. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For be that is dead, is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin o • e: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Sirs! was Christ sacrificed for sin? I will tell you what we should now do, let us sacrifice our sins for Christ; there's a great difference in the sense of the one and of the other, yet (take but that aright) and both are true; Christ was a blessed Person and he was sacrificed out of love, but Sin is a cursed thing which therefore must be sacrificed out of hatred; 'twas pity that Christ should die, 'tis pity that sin should live: He was sacrificed for our sin that he might take that away which was injurious to us, we must sacrifice our sins for him that we may take that away which is so injurious and offensive to him. But to go on in the Text!
• (2.) God condemned sin: there's very much in this also to set us against sin (in whatever notion the word condemning be taken); did God condemn it, and shall we approve of it? hath he passed a sentence of death upon it, and shall we yet be for the life of it (as if we would reverse or contradict his sentence or hinder the execution of it)? did he look upon it as a traitor, rebel, capital offender, and shall we look upon it as an harmless and innocent thing? hath he in the death of his Son given out such a declaration of his hatred of it, and shall we yet love it, and like it, and live in it? Yea
• (3.) God condemned sin in the flesh of Christ: now shall it be judged, punished, abolished in Christ's Flesh, and yet reign in ours? shall he in his flesh suffer for it, and we in ours commit it? what an absurd incongruous thing would this be! Upon the whole matter therefore, how do we all stand engaged by the strongest obligations that are possible, to be holy and not to sin! let it be condemned in our flesh as (in a different respect ) it was condemned in Christ's; as God hath condemned it (so as that we shall not die for it), so let us condemn it (so as not to live in it ). And (in special) whenever it shall come to tempt you to what is evil, pray remember that Christ was made a Sacrifice for it; and let it appear by your holy and circumspect walking that you have a due sense, thereof, and that you do not from thence fetch any encouragement to sin against God, (which was one of PORPHYRY's Objections against Sacrifices in general, viz. they would encourage men to be wicked).

3. Thirdly, I would excite you to labor after, and to make sure of a personal interest in this great Sacrifice, and in the benefits resulting from it. For 'tis a thing to be resented with the greatest sadness imaginable, that where • ere is such a Sacrifice (so at first offered up to God, and now so revealed to men, ) that yet so many millions of Souls should perish, and (as to their spiritual and eternal state) be little the better for it; because they regard not (as to themselves) either the thing or the good that flows from it. My Brethren! I beseech you (if you have any love for your Souls) let it not be so with you; but let it be your greatest care to secure an interest in this Sacrifice, and to partake of the blessings procured by it: be often considering and questioning with yourselves, here's a Sacrifice for expiation and atonement, but what's this to us? here's a dying Christ, but did he die for us? shall we be ever the better for his death? if this propitiatory oblation be not ours what will become of us? Under the Law the Gentile-strangers were to offer Sacrifices as well as the born-Jews, (see Numb. 15.14, 15. Lev. 17.8.); and amongst the Jews the poor as well as the rich; with respect to which difference in men's outward condition, God accordingly appointed different Sacrifices (Lev. 14.21.); but yet something or other both were to Sacrifice: and in their offerings for the ransom of their Souls all were to give alike; Exod. 30.15. The rich shall not give more, the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel: Now all this was to shadow out two things about Christ's Sacrifice;

• (1.) its equal extent to all men, notwithstanding all national or civil differences; be they Jews or Gentiles, rich or poor, 'tis the same Christ to all (if they believe), for there is no difference Rom. 3.22.—
• (2.) the equal obligation lying upon all men to look after, make sure of, and rest in this one and the same all-sufficient Sacrifice; none (in order to remission, justification, atonement, eternal life) need to carry more to God (by Faith and Prayers), and none must carry less.

Sirs! let us all put in for a share in Christ's offering, and in the benefits purchased thereby; for if we should come short of that, we are lost eternally. Are not reconciliation with God, the expiation of sin, eternal redemption &c. things most necessary and most desirable? if so, where can we hope to have them but in a sacrificed Redeemer? but in the imputation of the merit of his death and Sacrifice? And I add, do not only make sure of the thing (objectively considered), but labor also after the subjective assurance of it: Oh when a Christian can say Christ died for me, gave himself for me, his body was broken and his blood shed for me, he took my guilt and bare my punishment; how is he filled with joy unspeakable, with peace that passes all understanding! what a full-tide of comfort is there in his Soul! This is the receiving of the atonement (as some open it), and that is very sweet; Rom. 5.11. And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

4. In the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice for sin, and there let all your hope and confidence be bottomed. I say, in the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice; for indeed this grace hath to do with him mainly and principally as dying and sacrificed: the Apostle speaks of Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25. 'tis a bleeding, crucified Savior that is the great and most proper object of Faith: true it takes in a whole Christ, all of Christ, his Nativity, holy Life, Resurrection, Ascension, Intercession &c. but that which it primarily and chiefly fixes upon is his death and passion. When a Soul is brought into Christ to close with him in the way of believing, what of him is first in its eye in that act? is it a Christ as ascending, as sitting at the right hand of God, as interceding? no, (thus it beholds him for the after-encouragement and support of Faith); but that which it first considers is a Christ as dying upon the Cross, and so it lays hold upon him. And no wonder that 'tis so, since all the great blessings of the Gospel do mainly flow from Christ's death; they are assured and applied by his Resurrection, Ascension and Intercession, but they were procured and purchased by his death (as the Scriptures abundantly show, Rom. 5.9, 10. Eph. 1.7. et passim ): now tnat which hath the most causal and most immediate influence upon these, that deserves to be first and most eyed by Faith. Here's the difference 'twixt Faith and Love; this chiefly looks to the excellencies of Christ's Person, but that to the merit and efficacy of his Sacrifice. When the Apostle Gal. 2.20. had spoken so high of his Faith in the Son of God, he tells you in what notion he did therein consider him, by adding who loved me and gave himself for me. The stung Israelite was to look upon the brazen Serpent as lifted up, and so he was healed; do you desire to find healing, redemption, salvation by Christ? O look upon him as lifted up upon the Cross, so all good shall come to you.

Further I say, let all your hope and confidence be bottomed here: this is that firm rock which you must only build upon for pardon, peace with God, salvation, for all. Oh take heed of relying upon anything besides this Sacrifice; Gal. 6.14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: he that glory's or trusts in anything besides that, his glorying is vain. The forlorn undone Sinner should be always clasping and clinging about this Cross, resting upon the merit of Christ thereon, and upon that only; for all that hope will be but dying hope which is not solely bottomed upon a dying Savior. The Heathens could not believe that ever the death of Sacrifices should do the guilty person good, they looked upon it as folly to hope for life by another's death: but (blessed be God) we see that which they did not! we firmly believe and steadily hope for expiation and Salvation by Christ's one offering of himself, and lay the sole stress of our Faith and happiness upon that which they counted folly. But let us be sure we do not mistake here, I mean let us indeed place our whole confidence in Christ's meritorious death, for if we rely partly upon that, and partly upon something else, we spoil all.

5. Fifthly, you must so confide and rely upon Christ's one, most perfect, and all-sufficient Sacrifice, as yet withal to be careful that you (on your part) do perform those Gospel-conditions which God enjoins and requires of you, in order to remission, justification, glorification: (this word of advice is so necessary that 'tis by no means to be passed over). Christians! 'tis a thing of very high importance for you rightly to understand yourselves in this matter; therefore take it thus: All your trust and reliance is solely to be bottomed upon the Death and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus; but yet you can • ot regularly and warrantably act this trust and reliance upon this • nly ground or foundation, unless in your own persons you perform those conditions which God prescribes in his Word. The whole business of merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ, that is wholly out of your hands and only in his; but as to believing and repenting (the two grand Gospel-conditions ) they lie upon yourselves, (I speak with respect to the act, not to the power, ) and must be done by yourselves: yea, and the doing of these is as necessary on your part under the notion of Conditions, as suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the notion of merit. And 'tis most certain that the latter without the former will not profit you, because Christ never designed to impute or make over his merit to any, further than as they should make good these Conditions of Faith and Repentance. We have here two dangerous rocks before us (and it must be our care and skill to shun both of them); the one is the setting of inherent grace or duty too high, as when we make it to share with Christ in merit and trust; the other is the setting of inherent grace or duty too low, as when upon the pretence of Christ's alone merit and full satisfaction, we quite throw it off and are altogether careless about it, as supposing it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary: Now we are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the other of these rocks; either we run ourselves upon POPERY (in the former ), or upon ANTINOMISM and LIBERTINISM (in the latter ); O what need have all to beg the guidance of the unerring Spirit, that thereby they may eavenly steer betwixt both and avoid each extremes! which they shall most happily do, if Christ and his Sacrifice be only eyed by them in the way of reliance, and yet Holiness, Obedience, Faith, Repentance have also that respect which is due to them as means and conditions. Much hath been said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice, that he hath thereby put away all sin, fully expiated its guilt, perfected forever them that are sanctified &c. shall any now from hence infer that all is done by Christ, that the Creature hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits prepared and purchased? God forbid! True, Christ's Sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni genere; 'twas perfect as to what was meritorious and satisfactory, so as to exclude all other Sacrifices and supplements whatsoever upon that account; but not so as to exclude all Conditions which God will have the Creature to perform: which though they can add nothing to the perfecting of the believers great Sacrifice, yet they do prepare and fit Sinners for the participation of the benefits merited thereby.

To instance in all these Conditions, or to enlarge upon any one of them, would be a long work; briefly therefore, as ever you desire to be the better for a dying Savior, to share in the great and blessed effects of his Sacrifice, look to it that you repent and believe. O if you be found at last in the number of the impenitent and unbelieving, all that Christ hath done or suffered will be a very nothing to you; notwithstanding all that you will eternally perish. Here is indeed an expiatory Sacrifice, I but yet (as to you) no repentance, no expiation; here is Sin condemned by Christ's oblation of himself, I but yet if the Sinner doth not penitentially condemn • n in himself and himself for sin, for all this he'l be judicially condemned at the great day. The Scripture everywhere makes repentance the way to and condition of remission of sin, Acts 2.38. Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins & Acts 5.31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins: (with very many other places to this purpose). The Apostle having said 1 Joh. 1.7. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin; presently subjoins Vers. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: great is the efficacy of Christ's blood, but 'tis upon condition of the Sinners Repentance, if we confess our sins &c. At the JEWISH anniversary Expiation all the sins of the people were by the Sacrifices done away, yet God would have them then to afflict their Souls Levite. 16.29. and the High Priest was (in their stead) to confess their iniquities and all their transgressions in all their sins (Vers. 21.): we under the Gospel have our great expiation by the death of Christ, but this also must be attended with penitential abasement and humilation. So likewise as to Faith: this too is a grace or condition indispensably necessary to the partaking of the benefits of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice. Therefore the Apostle (speaking of propitiation ) brings in our Faith as well as Christ's blood, it having an instrumental as well as that a meritorious influence thereupon; Rom. 3.25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood &c. To the blessings of the new Covenant as the blood of Christ was necessary, that thereby there might be impetration; so Faith also is necessary, that thereby there may be application. Our Lord's Sacrifice is every way sufficient for atonement, yet he that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him, Joh. 3.36; so also 'tis sufficient for expiation, yet 'tis only whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins, Acts 10.43. Under the Law the blood of the Sacrifice was to be so and so sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop, (to which custom David alludes Psal. 51.7. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean ): now answerably to this, Paul speaks of the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24. 'twas not enough for Christ only to shed his blood, but that must be sprinkled upon the Sinner, how? why by Faith (which under the Gospel answers to the hyssop under the Law ). Well! after our Savior's being an offering for sin as we have nothing further to do but only (through Grace enabling of us) to perform these Evangelical conditions; so nothing less than that will serve our turn for a share and interest in the great effects and fruits thereof.

6. Sixthly, you are not to rest in someone, single application of yourselves, or in the first application of yourselves at your first believing to this great Sacrifice, for expiation and remission; but you are to repeat and renew it daily. For though ('tis true) all the guilt of believers is removed thereby, yet that is done in this method, 'tis removed as 'tis contracted, and as the benefit of it is accordingly drawn forth by the fresh applications of it. O do not rest in what you did at your first Conversion, but be you every day applying yourselves to a sacrificed Christ! new guilt must have new pardons, and daily sins call for daily expiations. 'It is observable, that Christ is set forth not only by the yearly expiatory Sacrifices, or by those that were but seldom offered; but also by the daily Sacrifices; Joh. 1.29. Behold the Lamb of God &c. We should not lie down in our beds at night, before we have applied ourselves to a dying Christ, for the cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins of the day past. Yea, we should never go to God in duty but we should revive upon our thoughts and make use of this Sacrifice: Under the Law the blood was to be sprinkled even upon the Mercy-seat, Levite. 16.14. God sits upon a Throne of Mercy, but even that requires the blood of Christ; no mercy from him, no acceptance with him can be expected, but upon the intervention of this Sacrifice.

7. Seventhly, Upon this Sacrifice and what followed thereupon God and Christ are highly to be admired and adored by you. This holy admiration hath been already again & again pressed upon you, under the foregoing gracious acts mentioned in the Text; but surely that (which is now before us) doth as much deserve and call for it as they or any other whatsoever: Is God to be admired because he sent his own Son? because he sent this Son in flesh? yea in the likeness of sinful flesh? and is he not to be admired also for his making of him to be a Sacrifice for sin? and for the condemning of sin in his flesh? doubtless he is! What? Christ a Sacrifice? a Sacrifice for such as we? such great things brought about thereby? O what matter is here to draw out admiration! what so great, so wonderful as this! how much are the highest thoughts, the most raised affections below the greatness of this mystery! It hath (my Brethren) been largely set before you, now I would ask How are your hearts affected with it? 'tis very sad, if we can hear of such stupendous mercy and yet be but little wrought upon under the hearing of it. Pray fancy to yourselves what the Angels thought of this, what frame they were in when they saw the Son of God hanging and dying upon the Cross (as an expiatory Sacrifice ); Oh you may well suppose that it filled them with astonishment, they were even amazed at this strange and wonderful spectacle; never such wondering in Heaven as when the Lord Jesus was thus suffering on earth: now shall that be little to you which was so great to them? shall they thus admire, and will you (who were most concerned in the thing and the greatest gainers by it) be stupid and unaffected? In Christ's being a Sacrifice God (on his part ) hath displayed and advanced all his Attributes, yea, they by this have received their utmost advancement; infinite Wisdom, Justice, Holiness, Mercy, could go no higher than a Christ crucified: and (on your part ) by this your work is done, your happiness being every way secured and your misery fully prevented; by this you are reconciled to God and God to you, condemning-sin is condemned it-self, all its guilt expiated, the righteousness of the Law fulfilled &c. by a strange and unthought -of method God hath fetched the greatest good out of the greatest evil, by Christ's dying you live: all which being considered, is there not sufficient ground why you (and all) should admire and adore God? And (amongst other things) pray in special admire his love, his transcendent, superlative, matchless love: what manner of love was this that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice for you! 1 Joh. 4.10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Rom. 5.8. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Had not Christ been a person infinitely dear to God, the thing had not been so much; but that he should devote him to be sacrificed whom he so dearly loved, there's the incomprehensibleness of his love. 'It is reported of the PHOENICIANS that in their Sacrifices they did not use to Sacrifice an enemy or a stranger, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 someone that they had a special love for: this I am sure was done by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a Sacrifice for us; therefore what admiration can be high enough for him! When Abrahaham had the knife in his hand and was just going to offer his Son Isaac, God stopped his hand, and provided a cheaper Sacrifice for him: this was more than what he did for his own Son, him he would have to be offered up, and would admit of no other Sacrifice; and when the hand of Justice was lifted up, ready to destroy us, then God (to secure us) interposed and found out a Sacrifice of propitiation, not a Ram but his only begotten Son: O the heights, bredths, lengths, depths of his love!

And must not Christ be admired also? surely yes! was not his love too admirable as well as the Fathers? Oh well might the Apostle say Gal. 2.20. Who loved me, and gave himself for me: Eph. 5.2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor: Vers. 25.— as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it. Rev. 1.5. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood: this was loving indeed! When the JEWS saw Jesus weeping over LAZARUS, they said, Behold how he loved him! but (alas!) what was Christ's weeping over him to his dying for us! what was the shedding of a few tears to the shedding of his blood! how may we come with a more emphatical Behold, behold how he loved us! He that knew no sin was willing to be made sin, to bear our sins in his own body upon the tree, to put himself in our stead, yea to die in our stead, for our sakes to be obedient to death even the death of the Cross, to let out his precious blood for the expiation of sin (when nothing else would do it), and when all Mosaical Sacrifices were weak he (by a far higher Sacrifice ) undertook the work, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God: was not here love? even love passing knowledge? such high affection on his part should draw out high admiration on our part.

Let me here add, we should so admire God and Christ as to love them and to be thankful: Have they so loved us and shall not we return love for love? what monsters and prodigies shall we be, if after such a manifestation of their love to us there be not reciprocation of our love to them! God designed and prepared the Sacrifice, therefore he must have our love; Christ was the Sacrifice, therefore he must have our love too: both deserve it, both must have it. Joh. 10.17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life —; now doth the Father love him for this, and shall not we much more? did we but think of this Sacrifice and hold our hearts close to it in holy meditation, surely it would cause them to love Christ!

Then (I say) be thankful; yea, let your whole Soul upon this go out in thankfulness; be ever praising, magnifying God for his unspeakable mercy in Christ your Sacrifice,