1. God himself hath fully and plainly declared it to be so, 2 Sam. xii. 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 14. "" Wherefore hast thou despised the com- " mandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight ? Now therefore, "' the sword shall never depart from thy house," &c. Here is the sword, a terrible and painful evil upon David's house, a man after God's own heart, and that expressly for his sin in the matter of Uriah. So Moses, one of the greatest favourites of heaven, for his sinful shifting of the Lord's work, " The anger of the Lord was " kindled against Moses," Exod. iv. 13, 14. " For the multitudes *' of thine iniquities, because thy sins were increased, I have done " these things unto thee," saith God to his own Israel, Jer. xxx. 15. To instance in all the declarations made by God himself in this case, were to transcribe a great part of both testaments.
2. And, as God hath declared the sins of his people to be the provoking causes of his rods upon them ; so they have freely and ingenuously confessed and acknowledged the same. Lam. iii. 39, 40. " Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the pu- " nishment of his sins ? Let us search and try our ways, and turn " again to the Lord." This was spoken by Jeremiah in the name of tlie whole captive church ; so Psal. xxxviii. 3, 5. " There is no " soundness in my flesh, (saith David) because of thine anger ; " neither is there any nst in my bones, because of my sin. My
OF ANTINOMIANISM. 577
wounds stink, and are corrupt because of my foolishness.'*' And Avere it not an hideous and unaccountable thing to hear a child of God, under his rod, to stand upon his own justification, and say, Lord, my sins have not deserved this at thy hand, nor is it justice in thee thus to chastise me after thou hast received satisfaction for all my sins from the hand of Christ ? Would it not look like an horrid blasphemy to hear the best men in the world disputing and denying the justice of God in the troubles he lays him under ? For my own part, let the Lord lay on as smartly as he will upon me, I desire to follow the holy patterns and precedents recorded in scrip- ture for my imitation, and to say with the people of God, Ezra ix. 13. " Thou hast punished me less than mine iniquities deserve.'' And Micah vii. 9. '' I will bear the indignation of the Lord, be- " cause I have sinned against him." And he that refuses so to do gives little evidence of the spirit of adoption in him, but a very clear proof of the pride and ignorance of his own heart. Job indeed stiffly stood upon his own vindication ; but that was when he had to do with men wh^o falsely charged him, laying those sins as the causes of his troubles, Avhich he was innocent of. Job xxii. 5, 6. But when he had to do with God, he disputes no more, but saith, Behold^ I am vile, what shall I answer thee ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth, q. d. I have done, Father, I have done; whether these chastisements be for my sin or no, sure I am, my sin not only de- serves all this, but hell itself; thou art holy, but I am vile.
3. Nor can it at all be doubted, but that these fatherly corrections of the saints for their sins, are reconcileable to, and fully consistent with his justice, satisfied by the blood of Christ for all their sins. For, (1.) If it were not so, the just and righteous God would never have inserted such a clause of reservation in his gracious covenant with his people, to chasten them as he saw need, after he had taken them into the covenant, Psal. Ixxxix. 30, 31, 32, 33. " If " they transgress, I will visit their transgressions with a rod, and " their iniquities with stripes; nevertheless (saith he) my loving- " kindness will I not take away." That [nevertheless'] clearly proves the consistency of his stripes for sin, with his loving-kindness to his people, and with Christ's satisfaction for their sins. (2.) If this were not consistent with the justice of God, to be sure he would never single them out to spend his rods upon, rather than others. It is most certain the holiest men have most lashes in this life; Asaph said, Psal. Ixxiii. 12, 14. "The ungodly prosper in the *' world, but he was chastened every morning ;" and ver. 5. '^ The wicked are not in trouble as other men." 1 Pet. iv. 17. " Judgment must begin at the house of God ;" and if piety would give men an exemption from all troubles, pains and chastisements, tlien men might discern love or hatred by the things that are
^78 THE SECOND APPENDIX.
before tliem, contrary to Eccl. ix. 1, 2. Neither could those that are in Christ, suffer the painful agonies of death, because of sin, expressly contrary to Paul, Rom. viii. 10. " And if Christ be in " you, the body is dead because of sin." (3.) In a word, As Christ never shed his blood to extinguish or abolish God's displeasure against sin, in whomsoever it be found, so he never shed it to de- prive his people of the manifold blessings and advantages that ac- crue to them by the rods of God upon them. It was never his in- tent to put us into a condition on earth, that would have been so much to our loss. So then if the hand of God be upon his people for sin, and consistently enough with his justice, it must be an error to say, God smites not believers for their sins, and it would be in- justice in him so to do; which is their sixth error.
Error 7. They tell us, That hy God^s laying cmr iniquities upon Christ, he became as completely sinful as we, and we as completely righteous as Christ: That not only the guilt and jmnishment of sbi ivas laid upon Christ, but simply the very faults that men com- mit, the transgression itself became the transgression of Christ; iniquity itself, not in any figure, but plainly sin itself was laid on Christ; and that Christ himself was no mo7'e righteous than this person is, and this person is not more sinful than Christ was.
Refutation. These two propositions will never go down with sound and orthodox Christians : the first sinks and debases Christ too low, the other exalts the sinful creature too high. The one represents the pure and spotless Lord Jesus as sinful : the other re- presents the sinful creature as pure and perfect : and both these propositions seem evidently to be built upon these two hypothesis. (1.) That the righteousness of Christ >s subjectively and inherently ill us, in the same fulness and perfection as it is in Christ; grant that, and then it will follow indeed. That Christ himself is not more righteous than the believer is. (2.) That not only the guilt and punishment of sin was laid on Christ by way of imputation : but sin itself, tike very transgression, or sinfidness itself, was trans- ferredfrom the elect to Christ : and that by God's laying it on him, the sinfulness or faidt itself was essentially transfused into him ; and so sin itself did transire a subjecto in subjectum. Grant but this, and it can never be denied but that Christ became as com- pletely sinful as we.