This is another important part of the mystery of the gospel, and that which unbelief greatly dislikes; that is, it is apt to beget in the soul a dislike of it. And a great instance we have in the world of its power and efficacy to draw men off from the gospel; for un- belief in this matter is the real foundation of the whole Papacy. They cannot rest in Christ alone for righteousness and forgiveness of sins. Hence hath sprung their sacrifice of the mass for the quick and dead; hence their indulgences from the treasures of the church; hence their penances and works satisfactory for sin; hence their purgatory, religious houses, pilgrimages, intercession of saints and angels, confessions and absolutions, with the remainder of their abominations. All these things spring from no other root but this, —namely, that from the power of their unbelief, men think it a
VER. 12-14.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 121
foolish thing to look for pardon and righteousness solely from an- other, and not to trust to themselves in any thing. And the reason why they have multiplied instances to the same purpose is, be- cause they can indeed find rest and satisfaction in none, and do therefore please and deceive their souls with this variety. And what is it that hath driven a company of poor deluded souls amongst ourselves to trust unto a fancied light within them, and a feigned perfection in their ways? They cannot think it wise, prudent, safe, they like it not, to rest, to trust for their all upon one who lived and died so long ago. Men make sundry pretences, use divers arguings and pleas, for their turning aside unto their crooked paths, —endeayour by all means possible to justify themselves; but the bottom of all lies here, that this doctrine of the cross is foolishness unto them, and they are under the power of their unbelief, which dislikes the mysteries of it.
(Thirdly,) Another principle of the same mystery is, That the way and means whereby forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and acceptance with God for sinners, are attained by this Jesus Christ, is, that by the sacrifice of himself, his death, and blood-shedding, with the punish- ment for sin which he voluntarily underwent, God ‘was atoned, his justice satisfied, and his law fulfilled; and that because he had ordered, in his infinite wisdom and sovereignty, with the will and consent of Christ himself, to charge all the sins of all the elect upon him, and to accept of his obedience for them, he undertaking to be their Surety and Redeemer. To clear this principle the’ gospel teacheth,— .
[First,] That notwithstanding all that was visibly done unto Jesus by the Jews and others, yet the hand and counsel of God were in the whole business, designing him thereunto. See Acts i. 22, 23; Rom. ii. 25.
[Secondly,] That his own merciful and gracious goodness con- curred herein. However the Jews seemed to hale him up and down as a malefactor, and violently to slay him, yet if his own will had not been in the work, unto another end than what they had in design, they had had no power over him, John x. 18. But he came on set purpose to lay down his life a ransom, Matt. xx. 28, and to offer him- self a sacrifice for sinners; which he performed accordingly, Eph. v. 2; Gal. ii. 20; Rev. i 5; Heb. i. 3.
[Thirdly,] That the end of all this was that which we before laid down, namely, that he might be “ made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” 2 Cor. v. 21. So also, Gal. iii. 13; Isa. lit, 4-6, 11; 1 Pet. i 18, 19.
And against this principle also unbelief riseth up with great power and efficacy in many, and that on sundry accounts; for,—
[ First,] That God should comply as it were, and have a hand in that
122 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [ CHAP. III.
work, for any end of his, wherein Satan, and men as wicked as ever the sun shone upon, did execute the fulness of their rage and villany, and for which he afterwards utterly and miserably destroyed those murderers, is folly to some. Hence were a thousand fables raised of old about the passion of Christ: some turned the whole story into an allegory; some said it was acted only in show and appear- ance, and not in, reality and truth; some, that he was conveyed away, and Barabbas crucified in his stead, with sundry other such foolish abominations.
[Secondly,] Some of late, refusing to see the wisdom, holiness, and righteousness of God in this matter, in bringing about his own coun- sels, and doing his own work, notwithstanding the interposition of the sins of the worst of men, deny that God determined any thing herein, but left it wholly unto the liberty of the Jews, on the deter- mination of whose wills the whole work of salvation was suspended.
[Thirdly,] Some reject the whole matter itself. That the just should suffer for the unjust, the innocent undergo the punishment due to the guilty, that one should sin and another suffer,—that he whom God loved above all should undergo his wrath for them and their deliverance whom he had grounds of righteousness to hate and destroy, is a foolish thing unto them. This all the Socinians in the world despise. And it is rejected by the Quakers amongst ourselves, and variously corrupted by the Papists and others. And there is none of all these but will plead reasons and arguments for their opinions. But this that we insist on is the true and real ground of their miscarriages. They are under the power of that unbelief which acts itself by a dislike of the mysteries of the gospel. Pre- tend what they will, it is unbelief alone that is the cause of their apostasy. I might instance in other principles of the like nature and importance, but I should dwell too long on this digression.