with whom God is yet in treaty, for they go under bail of Christ's death, that hath purchased this forbearance for them, as space to repent. These, I say, were never yet actually cast into hell (as the devils upon their first sin were), so as these are not actually prisoners, as those are that are entered into prison, and belong to it, although they have permission to go abroad. And to shew they are so, they carry chains of that prison about them (which what they are I stand not now to determine), which chains are badges that they are reserved unto a more open visible judgment of the great day. The conclusion of all is this; look, as hell itself is said to have been prepared for the devil and his angels, originally for them, so they sinning first go into hell fire, prepared, &c., and so the judgment of the great day was appointed for them first. They in both are the mensura and pattern of wicked men, and therefore both Jude and Peter mention their judgment first in the head and van; and then of wicked men, the old world, and Sodom, &c.

6

(2.) We are, secondly, to take notice that during this vacation or time of liberty to them, the account and score of their sinning runs on, and is daily added unto, so as they heap up thereby matter of judgment, which shall be brought forth, and charged upon them at that great day. Herein is one difference between the case and condition of the spirits of wicked men deceased, and of these devils. The spirits of such men are said to be in a strict sense in prison, 1 Peter iii. 19; and so the spirits of those in Sodom are said by Jude to have been made an example, suffering the vengeance of hell fire'; so as men's souls shall answer but for the sins they have done in the body, 2 Cor v. 10. Cain shall answer for no more sins than what his soul did in his body; his score of sinning runs not on since he was in hell; he is not only truly and actually a prisoner, but detained in prison, and suffers a fulness of wrath, as there a man's soul is sure to do, and that takes away the demerit of sinning; but with the devils that go abroad as prisoners in chains, and as belonging only to that prison, it is otherwise. What sins they commit personally, or in tempting us, shall then be accounted for, which is proved.

[1.] Because the devil is cursed for having tempted both Eve and Adam, thus it is pronounced, 'Cursed shalt thou be above all the herd or cattle of the field,' Gen. iii. 24. So that not his own first sin in falling from heaven shall be reckoned to him only, but also all his tempting of us.

[2.] And again he in after times should bruise the heel of Christ (which was four thousand years after), and of the whole seed of Christ; therefore his head is to be broken, namely, in vengeance for his bruising Christ's heel there is a total breaking of his head. Now if he be cursed for those, and his head to be broken for those, then he is to be judged and cast into hell for those as reckoned sins done by him, which are matter of judgment. For in that he says, Cursed shalt thou be above all cattle,' &c., he designs his punishment in hell, and his meaning is, thy punishment shall be greater than of all wicked men, the cattle of the field. And our saviour's words of them are, Go ye cursed into hell fire, prepared for the devils.' He is cursed, therefore, with hell fire for his sin, and that as the pattern of sinners, and all other that are cursed and punished in like manner.

[3.] It is expressly said, 1 John iii. 18, that he sinneth from the beginning, as continuing so to do, and what he doth being reckoned and imputed to him, it is not only that he sinned at the beginning, but he sinned continually from the beginning; and this suits his scope, which was to shew that that man that continued in a course of sinning was of the devil; that a

worker of iniquity was of the devil as his father; for lo! says he, in like manner the devil thus sins in a perpetual constancy.

(3.) You the saints are to be his judges, so 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. Christ had first declared this to be the privilege of the twelve apostles, to sit, and to judge the twelve tribes of Israel; this Paul enlargeth to all the saints, ver. 2, 4. Know you not the saints shall judge the world,' all the world, yea the angels? And he speaks of judging in a time and proper sense, then when the whole world is to be judged at the judgment-seat of Christ; as when causes are heard and judged in courts, and persons are condemned or acquitted, according to the nature of the fact. For he brings it as an argument why they should not carry or transfer the civil controversies amongst them about matters of this life to earthly judicatures, but rather to end and decide them among themselves. Ver. 1, 'Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?' And in the chapter afore he had shewn how God had given power to them as a church to judge them that are within, and so to cast out that wicked person. His argument to this had not been proper, if he had not intended the like time* and proper way of judicature at that great judgment to be committed to them; where though Christ shall be the great judge, yet they shall sit judging, as Christ says, as co-assessors, discerning the guilt, and carrying in the sentence, Luke xxii. 30, Mat. xix. 28. And έv vμ is by you, ver. 2; the world shall be judged by you, ver. 4. His inference is from hence set them, xailers, put them to the chair, that are least esteemed in the church, for at the latter day they shall sit and judge. And that he speaks it of all saints is plain; for, he saith, We shall judge the angels, and know you not that the saints shall judge the world ;' and not the greater saints only, but small and great; for he infers from it, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church,' having before founded it on this, 'that if the world shall be judged by you, are you not worthy to judge the smallest matters ?' And to heighten their dignity herein, he first says, 'they shall judge the word,' namely, of men; and then I tell you more, yea, the angels. As Christ's glory is, that God made two worlds for him, visible and invisible, Heb. i., Col. i., so our glory is, that we are constituted commissioners to judge two worlds, visible and invisible, such two large circuits we have. Thus much for the explanation and proof of it.

Now, then, my brethren, let us lift up our hearts, and raise up our thoughts, in the expectation of this 'great day,' as still the New Testament styleth it. It is termed great in respect of those great things which shall be done in it. A great and glorious day it will be, not only in respect of the splendour of the concourse of all of mankind unto one assembly, all that have been from Adam, all angels and saints will be there, 1 Thess. iii. 13, but also it is great in respect of the things and matters to be judged. All the human affairs of this world, which the apostle calls things of this life, ver. 4, which the great ones of the world are the judges of, he reckons among the smallest matters; so he terms them, ver. 2, in comparison of the things that then should be transacted in a way of judicature, which will be the exact scanning and trial of all actions as they pertain to eternity, that is, the spiritual good or evil that is in them, and as they tended to the honour or dishonour of the great God. These are the proper subjects that belong to the cognisance of that day. And now to have all the affairs of the whole world, of men, of all their thoughts, plots, counsels, actions, and that under the consideration, as good or evil, to have them all under

* Qu. 'true?'-ED.

this cognisance, laid open and committed to the censure of the saints with authority, what an infinite dignity must this be to them! Yet so he heightens it, If the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?' ver. 2, by which he means all those things that are brought before human courts, of what kinds soever; and then thereupon he rises higher, ver. 3, Know you not that we shall judge angels?' as those whose story and transactions afford higher and greater matters by far than the story of this whole world will do?

Now, then, how and in what manner the world of mankind shall be judged, in the same kind and manner shall the angels also be, for he casts the same line over both. Now, how shall the world of men be judged ? Why, every work, whether it be good or evil, shall have an exact trial: Eccles. xii. 14, For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil;' and, 1 Cor. iv. 5, 'Judge nothing before the time; the Lord will come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts;' importing that at that time all will so be discovered by the Lord, who is ready to judge the quick and the dead, as every saint shall be able to judge too.

Now, then, think with yourselves, if you knew but all the affairs of this present age, all the secrets of states, state ends, maxims, rules, principles, lusts of all the monarchs, of all the nobles in the world, to have (as he told the Assyrian king) all that is said in the king's chamber revealed, yea, that are in his thoughts, which are unsearchable, by which they rule and reign, and you had all the story of this age, past and present, nakedly spread before you, what infinite delight would this afford you! To have a prince's cabinet, a few letters or transactions published, how greedy are men of them! Now, you know (says the apostle) you shall have a greater story one day, and of infinitely higher worth and elevation; you shall judge the angels, 2 Pet. ii. 10, 11. The apostle, comparing earthly magistrates and dignities (and in his time they were the greatest that ever were, namely, those in the Roman empire), he says of the angels, that they are greater in power and might; and as the good, so the bad; for they contend each with other upon all occasions, as appears by the story of Daniel, chap. x. and chap. xi., and by that passage between the devil and Michael in Jude. The devil's monarchy is the greatest that ever was. The apostles and Christ, that had a prospect into that invisible world, termed him the prince of the world, greater than Cæsar, than the great Turk or Mogul, &c.; they are but as petty constables, as one comparing the power and state of our European princes with those eastern monarchs speaks. The angels they are the rulers of the world: Eph. vi. 12, 'So as we fight not against flesh and blood' (in comparison of them our contentions against the world are not considered), but against principalities and powers.' Men are but as the puppets above the stage, when these act all. And again, the transactions between God and Satan are many, as the story of Ahab and Job shews; and also those between the good and bad angels are great and various. Now, then, as these grandees of this invisible world excel in power and wisdom all the petty rulers of this world, so the passages and transactions amongst them and by them, their policies, enmities, animosities, &c., must needs excel all other. Satan is renowned for his stratagems, his wiles. He outwitted Eve, and soon deceived her; yea, and the whole world too, Rev. xii. 9. We are not ignorant of his devices, says Paul, 2 Cor. ii. 11. And further, his wickednesses are spiritual, sublimated wickednesses.

The worst of earthly tyrants and monarchs are but carnal wickednesses unto them; and all these shall be laid open, and sentenced to a suitable punishment. All the secret counsels of his heart, his over-reaching and going beyond poor souls, the utmost and extremity of that malice and envy he acted all with, shall be detected, and thou a poor believer shalt be a judge of all these. Then shalt thou see Beelzebub the great devil, and all hell with him (that is, his angels), brought forth in chains, and Christ opening all their sins, even here in this world, where they did all the mischief. What a glorious and triumphant sight (think you) will it be to the primitive Christians to see Nero or Julian stand forth, led and haled before the judgment-seat of Christ! How much more to see this dragon and his angels, that inspired all these in all their rage and malice, and to have all the stories of their actings ripped up for six thousand years' continuance. In Isa. xiv. 10-13, when the king of Babel was brought down to the grave, it is said all hell went forth, all kings and nations he had tyrannised over went out to meet him, so great a spectacle it was: How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!' And even that is an allusion (as the ancients have conceived) of Satan's fall and ruin.

Particularly for thy comfort, O thou tossed, and bruised, and weatherbeaten soul, how will it rejoice thee if it were but to hear Christ as on thy behalf openly to rebuke Satan, and to say thus to him, Didst thou, Satan, spite, malign, vex, and provoke unto sin this poor saint; those thoughts didst thou dart in, this train didst thou lay for him, as the fowler doth for a silly bird; and no sooner hadst thou drawn him into thy net to commit the sin, but thou didst run to God and accuse him of that which thou seducedst him to do, whilst he, poor soul, went weeping bitterly, as Peter when he had done evil? And now will Christ say, I will save him, and damn thee; and that for all the sins which he committed through thy instigation, of all which thou art the father more than he. And then how comfortable will it be to hear Christ excuse thee also, that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak; and then to lay the load on him, and adjudge him to so much the greater torment because of what he did to thee; this will be much and great joy. But further will Christ say, Come thou, even thou, weak soul, up hither, sit down here by me, thou shalt be his judge, thou shalt sit on my throne with me; yea, more, as I triumph over him, so do thou now, and not as over one vanquished only to thy hand, but as over one instantly to be condemned and adjudged to hell; and thou shalt see it enrolled before thy face ere thou stirrest off this bench, and when thy sentence hath concurred with mine, I have in readiness here about me, to revenge all their disobedience, the good angels, armed with another manner of power than ever before, who shall throw them down to hell, and take and burn them with fire and brimstone. What can be supposed a perfect victory, and triumph of Christ and his saints over the devils, if this is not?

CHAPTER XIX.

Christ's fulness for our justification.-His fulfilling the law for us.-That justification doth not consist only in pardon of sin, and therefore it is not Christ's passive obedience alone which is imputed to us.-That the whole righteousness which is in Christ is imputed to us for righteousness. Having largely proved and explained how Christ performed that part of our redemption, which consists in freeing us from the guilt, and curse, and

VOL. V.

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punishment of sin, which he did by himself being made sin and a curse for us, what remains is to prove that he fulfilled the law, and performed all righteousness for our justification; and that he is the Lord our righteousness,' as well as our sacrifice and ransom. I first lay down this general proposition.

Prop. That the whole righteousness which is in Christ is imputed to us for righteousness.

The terms or words of the proposition should he explained by some distinctions, to avoid all ambiguities, and to prevent mistakes; but instead of multiplying distinctions, which often confounds instead of clearing the truth, I shall premise two or three things, to shew in what limited sense the proposition is meant, and to be understood.

1. When I say, the whole righteousness which is in Christ, I do not understand that essential holiness of the divine nature which is in Christ, who is God; for I perfectly reject and abhor the dream of Osiander. I mean then that acquired righteousness of Christ God-man; for though Jehovah is called our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6, yet that righteousness which is of God is not ours.

2. We must also cautiously discern between the righteousness of the mediatorial office (from which Christ is deservedly called the alone mediator) and the merits of the righteousness of Christ the mediator. For as God will not give his glory to another, nor indeed can give it (and therefore I deny the essential righteousness, by which he is God, to be communicated), so neither will Christ give away the glory of his mediation. That righteousness of the office, by which he is mediator, cannot be imputed. But as in logic we say that the whole nature of the genus is communicated to the species, but not generical natures by which it is a genus, for then the species would be a genus too; in like manner I assert the whole righteousness of Christ the mediator to be communicated, but not the mediatorial righteousness.

3. We must also make some distinction concerning this righteousness of Christ, which I assert to be imputed to us. For I do not include in it the righteousness of Christ the mediator, as now glorified in heaven, which righteousness yet is continued; but the alone righteousness of Christ performed by him in his estate of humiliation on earth is to be understood. For though he is said to be raised for our justification, Rom. iv. 25, viz., that his righteousness and the merit of it might be applied to us, yet he cried out on the cross, It is finished,' John xix. 30, and after his death he ceased to merit anything, as he will also cease to make application of his merits to us after the day of judgment, when God shall be all in all. And when he is said to be a priest for ever, Heb. vii. 17, it is to be understood that he is so in his intercession, not in meriting for us. As also when his righteousness is called 'everlasting righteousness,' Dan. xi. 24, it is meant of the duration of its value and virtue, not of the continuance of its external acts.

4. Nor do we take in all which he did while he lived here on earth. All his extraordinary works, as miracles and the like, are not to be included. They rather transcend the predicaments of the ten commandments than are parts of the righteousness of the law. They were proofs of his divinity, and the signs and badges, rather than the duties, of his office. He indeed by them shewed himself to be the only mediator, but he did not act the mediator in them. And he did them that men might believe in his righteousness; but they were no ingredients of that righteousness on which they were to believe.