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Christ afcended up to Heaven in the glory of his Merits, and from thence poured down the Holy Spirit on men, that their blind eyes might be opened upon the mysteries of the Gofpel, and their hard hearts might be melted into repentance. Thus a fair way is opened to make fal'n man capable of Eternal Life.

Vix fieri poffe videtur, ut und & eâdem re & fatisfiat, & fimul exemplum relinquatur,

Socin. Præl. cap. 20..

6. Because the inward vital principles of Grace in men must needs flourish moft, when there is an outward excellent pattern of Holiness set before them; there was therefore in Christs sufferings a conjunction of Merit and Example: the Merit procured the principles of Grace, and the Example by its divine beauty drew them out into imitation. Socinus thinks,that a Satisfaction and an Example can very hardly meet together in the fame thing; the like fcruple. may be made touching Merit and Example: and the very truth is, Satisfaction and Merit are a Cup which we cannot drink of, a Sea in which we cannot trace or follow our Saviour. Neverthelefs, infinite Wisdom laid one plot under another; and under inimitable Satisfaction and Merit, couch'd an incomparable pattern of Holiness for us. We may clearly fee in him, how we are to mortifie corruptions, bear afflictions, learn obedience by fufferings, and obey unto the death. In these he hath left us an Example, that we might follow his steps, I Pet. 2. 21.

Having feen the contrivance in these rare Conjunctions, let us now confider how the Divine Wisdom fet Ambushments for our fpiritual Enemies: I mean, Sin, Satan, the World, and Death; all which are in a very admirable manner over

come

come by Jesus Christ. Sin, which meritoriously was the bloody crucifier of the Son of God, was crucified together with him when he fuffered; it was in his flesh condemned as an accursed thing worthy to die; no fooner are we in him by Faith, but it lofes its kingdom, and by a divine Virtue from his Crofs, it droops and languishes away in us.

Satan the arch-enemy, at Chrifts death feemed to be a Conqueror; that God Incarnate should be flain by his hellish Instruments, that the whole Church fhould die in its Head, looks like a mighty Victory: when the Head fhall die, what shall the Members do? when the Sun, the great Globe of Light in the spiritual World, fhall be turned into blood; what should remain but that darkness, which Satan hath the power of? of? Upon the death of the Duke of Guife, Henry the Third broke out thus, Nunc demum Rex fum. Now at last I am King. Upon the death of our Saviour, Satan might fuppofe himself abfolute Prince in the lower World ; a greater Adam than the first being fallen, no man can probably stand before him. But here infinite Wisdom fhews forth it self. Satan is taken in his own fnare; by that very death of Christ, which was procured by his own Agents, is he utterly overthrown. Chrift upon the Cross did fpoil Principalities and Powers, and triumph over them in it, Col. 2. 15. The fatisfaction in his fufferings, paid off divine Juftice, and the Merit in them cured that divine Spirit, which is able to bind and caft out Satan from the hearts of men. The Cross was now turned into a triumphant Chariot: and, as an Ancient hath it, there were two affixed to it; Christ

pro

Duo in cruce affixi funt,

Chriftus vifibiliter, sponte àd tempus, diabolus invifibiliter, invitus in perpetuum. Orig.

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Chap. 2. vifibly, freely, for a time; the Devil invifibly, coactively, for ever: that Cross was a final Victory over him. He was overcome not by a man only, but by a man fuffering, bleeding, dying upon a Crofs; the Lord reigneth & Eu, from the Crofs (as fome of the Ancients read that 10th verfe in the 96 Pfalm), through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, Heb. 2. 14. The Devil was destroyed by Death his own weapon, and overcome in that which he had the power of.

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The wicked World at the death of Chrift triumphed and infulted even to blafphemy, He faved others, himself he cannot fave, Matth. 27. 42; as if all his miraculous power were now fwallowed up in weaknefs; Let him come down from the Cross, and we will believe him, Matth. 27. 42; as if without a fresh Miracle all his holy Doctrines would vanish into nothing. The Jews, who were for Signs, stumbled and fell in the midft of thofe glorious Miracles which he wrought among them. The Greeks, who were for Wisdom, faw nothing but foolishness in the midst of the divine Myfteries, which he brought down out of his Fathers Bofom. A crucified Christ look'd like a fpectacle of weakness and folly. But here the divine Wisdom appears, in that, as the Apostle hath it, The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God ftronger than men. This crucified Chrift fhall attract a Church out of the corrupt Mafs of mankind; the foolishness of Preaching fhall do it. The Plato's or Ariftotles of the World shall not be employed in the work; no, there fhall be only Pifcatoria fimplicitas, a few Fishermen shall catch men, and draw them home unto God; to the effe&tually called, this despised Chrift shall be the power

and.

and wisdom of God. The divine Spirit,merited by him, Chap. 2. shall endue them with a wifdom much higher than that of Nature and Philofophy, and cloathe them with a power to make them live above all the hopes and fears of this World.

Death, the last Enemy, which had devoured fo much humane flesh, did not fpare that Sacred portion, which was affumed into the Son of God: but in his death, Death it felf was swallowed up in Vi&tor. It paffes indeed upon all men ; but when it comes to a Believer, it lays by its sting, and becomes only a paffage into life Eternal.

To conclude: In all these Conquests, we may fee one Contrary brought out of another: Life out of Death, Power out of Weakness, a Bleffing out of a Curfe, and a Victory out of Sufferings, which speaks no less than an admirable contrivance therein.

These appearances of Divine Wisdom naturally teach us humility of mind. Humane Reason is indeed in its own Orb an excellent Light; but a greater than it, the Reason of God himself, comes forth to us in fupernatural Mysteries, to make us fit down at his feet for Inftruction. Nothing can be more just and purely rational, than for our Intellect being finite, to be fubject to the infinite Truth; and being lighted up by God,to do homage to its great Original. It's true,e ver fince man tafted of the Tree of Knowledg, his Reason hath had a malignant pride in it: of a Minister it would be a Lord over our Faith; affuming the Magifterial Chair, it would fall a-judging Divine Mysteries; it would comprehensively span them within it felf: and what could not be fo comprized, it would out of enmity caft away as fpurious. This in the iffue hath, fo far as it hath prevail

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Chap. 2. ed, defperately overturned all Faith, in the act and in the object in the act, for to believe a thing, because I can comprehend it, is not faith in God, but trufting in my own heart; not a fealing to his Veracity, but a fubfcribing to my own Sagacity. Hence the learned Marefius faith of the Socinians, That they have manus oculatas, hands with eyes in them; that only do they believe which they fee; they will truft God no further than they fee him. Alfo in the Object; this hath been very fubverfive to the Gospel. In the Pagan Philofophers (whofe Motto was, Soli rationi cedo), it caft away Christ crucified as foolishnefs, and the Gospel as an abfurd Fable; it reflected on Christians as meer Simpletons, men of an easie and irrational faith; hence that jeer of Cato, Stultitia eft morte alterius fperare falutem; it's folly to hope for falvation in the death of another. In the Socinians, (whofe Rule is, Nihil credi poteft, quod a ratione nequeat capi, nothing can be believed, which cannot be comprehended by Reafon ); it hath blown up the fundamental Articles of Christianity: the facred Trinity to them is a contradiction; the Hypoftatical Union an irrational repugnancy; the Satisfaction of Christ a contumely to Gods grace: and in all this they do but build a Tower, a Name to their own Reason ; and, as a just punishment, in the doing of it they fall into confufion and inconfiftencies. Sometimes they Mar. Hydra. make the Law to exact a more perfect obedience than Tom. 2. 460. the Gofpel: Sometimes the Gospel to call for a more accurate righteousness than the Law. To evert Satiffaction, they lift up Grace; but to elevate Free-will, they deprefs it. They own a God, yet deny his Prefcience; they fay Chrift is but a creature, yet they worship him. Thus that great thing, Reason, falling

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