100 A SERMON on Fir!l, For the Law. Is not the leaft IOta of the Law worfh Heaven and Earth ? Becaufe God's Prerogattve hes at the !lake mu. Is not the Re ttla the Original of all the Grace they have? For all Grace is but the Copy of th' 1 Law; Doth it not bind and command all that is in them? What have the; worth it to be de!lroyed? Secondly, FortheMani(ejlatiottof God's Glory, how doth all their excel– lency infinitely fall fhort o( the lea!\ beam of it? Better they were all de!lroyed than the leaft foyl fhould be call on it. Is it not the end for which they wer~ made, andtheref~re is better than they are? Do they not owe all they have to the advancmg of tt ? What then can they lofe, whtch can hold proportion with it ? Moralifts obferve, That of all Injuries elfe, wrongs in points of Honour from Inferiours to Superiours, do moft tranfcend Satisfaction. If they tak~ Goods away from a Superiour, the reftoring of them {arislies him as much as an Inferiour; yea, it is lefs, becaufe to rob a Poor man is n:~ore, than one that is Rich; but if in point of Honour, how can he do it but by Submiffion ? And if he fubmits to give Honour to him, it is no more than he ought to do as an In– feriour. How ~uch more doth a wrong to God, in point ot Honou;, exceed l Who are fo Infenour, as Heaven and Earth are not worthy to be his ThrQne and Footftool. MyG/ory I willnotgivetomtother. Thirdly, We are but fhadows of Being; He is the fubftance, whofe Name is I am. Therefore, but the overfhadowing of his Being, is more than the reai tle!lrudion of ours. In the Third place, Suppofe it may be faid, That tj Lives went for o 1111 they mtght {atu{it M well M We can, fteing they are M goodM Otlrs; and thtrt: fore if EttrMI death in tu bt a fatufa[Jion to God's Jzif/ict, (or elfe, God loftth 6y Sm, then he would not have let it come into the World,) thm it mtght 6e Jo in thtm fo~ us, and Jo W( might h frted. Thefe Inconveniencies fo!. low. Firft; Confider, that they muft ~lwaies be11 fatisfying, anti it coufd never be faid, it;, fimjbed; they mull lie by it till they pay the tlfmojl F&rthing, which they can never do, no more than we our felves,. and fo they could not takeaway /i11s from us; for we could not have an Acqmttance, ttll the Debt were rzaid • we could not be Ju!iined, till ourSurety were acquitted. Therefore, fays Paul, if Chnjl had 110t rifen, we had6tttl yet i11 oz1rfins; and therefore the P[al– mifl faith, It ceajeth (or e7>er, }hall nevtr 6t accompltjhed, Pjal.49· So prectous is the Redemption ot a Soul, that it ceafeth for ever, that is, fhall never be ac– complifht; fo the phrafe is taken elfewhcre. It is fo precious, as it requires an Eternity to do it in, and fo fhall alwaies be doing, and never be ended, and fo we fhollld never be the better; never come to have our Bonds cancell'd : And for this reafon Sacrifices might not be rejected (as'in theVerfc before my Tc:n,)they were fain toofferevery year, He6.to.~. Secondly, Suppofu that God, to whom Eternity is but an inftant, fhould therefore give us in our Bond, when the other had emred into his; becaufe, though it be an Eternity ofpaying,yet to him it is prefent.Well,yet one Ju!i man, or Angel, could but fatisfie for one of us; Life could but go for Life,aTooth for a Tooth, as the Law requires; and fo he fhould facrifice as many Creatures as good as we, for ever. His Obedience, as Adam's Righteoufnefs, could fnot extend to many,forthat was a favour, but this a debt; whom alfo, for his Obedience, (if he did it for his fake, or elfe he would not accept it,) he could never reward, bc– canfe they were to fuffer eternally. Thirdly, If we grant all this, yet what Creature could have fo much Love in it towards us as to focrilice, as to facrifice it felf willingly; which it mull fully do, for Nolenti fit i11juria in this cafe; (o it cannot be fatisfadion, Sati!factio tft redditio voluntaria, fay the Schools. Rom.)·7· Peradventure, for a goodman Jome wottld dart to die. Mark it; he makes a Ptradvtnture of it, and it muft be for aGoodma11, that is, oneprofitable to him, as they expound it, and Death is ,.c,r;;;, ~·C•ei"'1", he muft be hardy, and dare well, that would do it; but to en– counter God's Wrath, who dare do it? Jer 1 jO.
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