SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
NOTE.
' Sin's Antidote ' forms No. 25 of the original edition of Saint's Cordials, 1629. It was not gives in the other two editions. Its separate title-page will be found below.* G.
« SINNES ANTIDOTE.
In One Sermon.
Wherein is shewed, What sinne is. The misery of it.
How it bindes over to condemnation. Hoiu and in what sense it is said to be remitted. How lustice and Mercy joy ne in this act of remission of sinnes. That all the benefits of the new Covenant are given with remission of sins. That it is possible to attaine unto the knowledge that our sins are remitted. ^ Lastly, how this knowledge is attained by the spirits threefold conviction.
Praelucendo Pereo.
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.
1 lOHN 1. 9. If we confesse our sinnes, hee isfaithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse.
RoM. 3. 19. For as hy one mans disobedience many u-ere made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall ma- ny be made righteous.
LONDON, Printed in the yeare 1629.
SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
i
For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. — IVIat. XXVI. 28.
I HAVE already noted three things in the text.*
1. The name or title that is here given to the sacrament: it is called 'the blood of the new testament.' I have shewed the reason of it, and how all our good is made over to us by a new covenant which is sealed with the blood of Christ.
2. I have shewed also how this testament is coafirmed, ratified, and established by the blood of Christ.
3. I have shewed the fruits and benefits by this covenant thus established, in the extent of it, which we spake of the last day, ' It is shed for many,' where I proved that many shall reap benefit by it ; and not few, but many ; and again, not all, but many ; though many, not all.
Now it remains that we come to the main benefit itself, and that is, the remission of sins, which, that you may the better understand and make use of, I will first open the phrase clearly, what is meant by this same 'remis- sion of sins.' Secondly, We will answer some doubts about the sense. Thirdly, We will gather the main conclusion, collect the main point intended, make application of it, and so conclude.
First, for the phrase that is here used, the great benefit that we have by the covenant, and by the blood of Christ, it is remission of sins : ' Shed for many for the remission of sins.' The word in the Greek, a(pssiv, 'remis- sion,' properly signifieth the sending of a thing back again tothe place from whence it was taken ; so remittere is retromittere, to send a thing back again, as old Jacob in his prayer, ' The good Lord be merciful to you, my sons, and give you favour in the sight of the man, that he may send back again that my other son, and Benjamin also,' Gen, xliii. 14 ; there, to 'remit,' is to send them back again to the house from whence they came.f
So likewise Paul sent Onesimus back again to Philemon, in this sense, when he came away ; that is the proper sense of the word, ver. 12. ^ And if it should be taken properly, then to remit sin is to send it back again from
* The previous Sermon or Sermons have not been preserved.— G. t Cf. Kobinson sub voce in Greek, and Freuud in Latin. — G.
2G4 sin's antidote.
whence it had its first heing and beginning. Satan, the devil, tempted man, it is to send sin back from man to him, from whence it came first. But we need not tie the word so strictly. I say therefore the word is a metaphor, and so here only alludes to that same custom of releasing captives, or of releasing servants that were bound, in the year of jubilee, and the like ; to release them from that yoke, bondage, and subjection to which they were tied : and so rcmhtcre is as much as relaarire, so it is used, to release and to free one from a yoke and bondage. Thus we have obtained remission of sins, when we are released from that bondage under which sin held us. That you may yet more clearly understand this, you must consider what opposition sin hath —
1. Against God.
2. Against his law.
1. By discerninff of these we shall knoiv uhat it is to have sin remitted to a man, howsoever these in the thing are but one and the same. There is no man transgresseth the law, but he sins against God, and there is no man that sins against God, but he transgresseth the law ; yet, for doctrine's sake, and for your understandings, we will distinguish them, and shew yon what that is that sin doth more directly against the majesty of God ; and then what it doth against the law of God, and how it is said to be remitted in both these.
Every sin is an injury and wrong offered to God. Now, when God remits sin, he passeth by the wrong done to himself. In point of his honour and sovereignty, the creature is bound to his Creator, to give all his strength to his service. Now, when a man employs any of his strength, either of soul or body, in the service of anything against God, God is so far wronged, and therefore sometimes God takes this as a dishonour to himself, sometimes he accounts it as a rebellion against himself; so that in sin there is an enmity against God, and a dishonour to God. There is an enmity: so Eom. viii. 7, 'The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God ;' and he shews the reason why he calls it enmity against God, ' because it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ;' that is, it doth not yield that orderly subjection to God which the creature should to the Creator, that subjection to the Lord that children should shew to their father ; and therefore David, when he comes to confess his sins, Ps. li. 4, says, ' Against thee, against thee have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight.' He notes two things there in sin that aggravates it, and makes the sense more grievous, that it was before God, and done in his sight ; and then, it was against God, ' Against thee have I sinned, and against thee have I done evil.' So that, when God doth remit sin, he doth as it were forgive that rebellion ; he doth not account a man longer a rebel against himself ; and though he have rebelled before, and have rebelled never so much, yet now he accounts him as a loyal subject, and now he recounts him a faithful servant, and an obedient child, because his rebellion is pardoned. That is the first thing.