Chapter II
That in Christ alone there was sufficient ability to take away sin. The weak
ness and insufficiency of any creature for this work demonstrated. That it
isfor the greater honour of Christ to effect that, which none could do besides him. The insufficiency of any creature proved by an enumeration of par ticulars. That the blood of all sacrifices could not have such an efficacy. That we were unable to satisfy God by anything which we could suffer, or
do. That all the saints are as unable to help us in this case. That it is
beyond the power of angels themselves.
These observations having been sent before to make way, we come now to the main point at the first propounded, viz., That in Christ, and in him
alone, there is an allsufficiency of abilities to take away sins ; and that
seeing God stood upon a full and perfect satisfaction, he alone was able to
effect it. Which proposition we will branch out into two, and those both of them founded upon the text.
I. That it was not possible for any of the creatures to have made satis
faction, and to have taken sins away.
II. That in Christ s offering up himself as a sacrifice, there was an all-
sufficiency to do it.
I. The creatures could not satisfy God, nor take away sin. The hand
ling and proving of this tends so much the more to set forth and advance Christ s all-sufficiency. As therefore, in shewing his fitness, we made it ap pear that his office was fit for no creature, but only for himself, so now in
declaring his abilities for this office, we will shew that none besides him was able to perform it. And for proof of this, we need go no further than the apparent drift and scope of this text, and of this epistle, which as it is to shew the perfection of Christ s oblation once offered, so it was withal to shew the weakness of all other offerings, even of those appointed by God himself under the old law ; and to that end, comparing them all along with
this sacrifice of his Son. In which comparison you may observe, 1 . That a sufficient worth and value was the thing that God stood upon,
(as hath been said). So Heb. ix. 23 : It was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. The apostle speaks of the worth and betterness of sacrifices, better sacrifices than these. So he speaks of a sacrifice that should perfect them for whom it was offered : Heb. x. 14, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. And chap. vii. 26, 27, he mentioneth abilities to save, as being required in him who was our high priest
: Heb. vii. 25-27, Wherefore he
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Ver. 26, For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; ver. 27, Who needeth not
76 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people s : for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
2. You may observe, all other sacrifices were laid aside as weak, and
wanting of this worth and value. So the apostle saith, The law made men high priests who had infirmities : Heb. vii. 28, For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. There was an infirmity and a weakness that accompanied all the sacrificers and sacrifices. And for this weakness of theirs, there was a disannulling of that commandment, for the
* weakness and unprofitableness of it, ver.
* They could not make him perfect who did the service, and also that all those sacrifices, as they could not make the offerer himself that did the service perfect, much less could they make them perfect for whom they were offered : Heb. ix. 9, Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience : Heb. x. 1, For the law having a shadow of good things to
18. And Heb. ix. 9, he tells us,
come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto
perfect. All which argues, that God would have such a satisfaction as should make men perfect, that is, should be fully able to satisfy his justice, and their consciences. And therefore also here in the text God is brought
in, consulting about, or considering and weighing all other sacrifices ; and when he had found them all too light, the text says, he laid them all aside,
and pitched upon, and established this of Christ. And therefore you see
this proffer of Christ, Lo, I come, comes in after God s refusal of all
others as ineffectual ; then said I, Lo, I come : Heb. x. 5-7 Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
* In burnt-offerings and
not, but a body hast thou prepared me : ver. 6,
: ver. 7, Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God. Thus Gal. iii. 21, If there had been a law that could have given life,
sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure
righteousness had been by the law. The apostle speaks as if God would have taken that, or any other course, if it could have been sufficient. And
Gal. ii. 21, Do I frustrate the grace of God ? says he, If righteousness be by the law, then Christ died in vain. What he says of the law may be
said of all means else, if any other could be supposed. The same reason
that is there given against the law (namely, that the grace in Christ s dying and justifying us, would be frustrated) holdeth as well, to exclude the sup posed possibility of any other means to make us righteous. For by that reason it appears, that God s aim and end in Christ s dying was to advance the glory of his grace, which consists in having the monarchy and sole pre
rogative in saving sinners attributed unto it ; the height of whose honour and eminency is this, that it alone reigns, and hath nor could have any competitor therein. And therefore if there could be supposed to be any other means, Christ s death would then lose something of its peculiar glory ; which if it should, he would account himself to have died in vain ; for the
glory of his aim had been defaced and frustrated, and his end in his account
as good as lost. As it is the excellency of God, that he is God alone, and
there is none besides him, so of Christ, that he alone is our saviour, and
that there is none besides him. But take this as still spoken in opposition to all creatures only ; for otherwise that former supposition, that God could have pardoned us by a mere act of grace without Christ s satisfaction, doth
CHAP. II.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 77
not detract from this glory of Christ s death, which is not to take away from
free grace, and to be accounted in comparison of it, the principal and only saviour. Christ is content that the free grace of his Father should share
with him in it, and himself to be in this work God s servant. But this
competition of Christ is with all other means by creatures ; the excluding the possibility of which to perform our redemption, makes Christ sole heir
to this kingdom and monarchy of grace, which is destructive of the domi nion of sin, and so endears his death to us : He hath a priesthood that
passeth not away, Heb. vii. 24, as the high priest did by reason of death. But he dies not ; and his office is such, as if he should lay it down, there is not any creature in heaven or earth that could take It up. The fullest trial and manifestation of this is made in a case of less diriiculty (which evidently reacheth this of satisfaction), in the fifth chapter of* the Revelation, where, as a prologue to that ensuing prophecy (which begins chap, vi.), there is a solemn proclamation made by a strong angel, who
* spake with a loud voice, ver. 2 (as that which might come to the hearing of all creatures)
: and the matter of this proclamation was this challenge,
* Who is worthy to open the book (namely of the Revelation, which was sealed in the hand of God, that sat upon the throne, ver. 1),
* and to loose the seals thereof? And
there was none (so it is in the original, that is, no reasonable creatnre ; we read
* no man, but that is too much limited), man or angel, in heaven, or in earth, or under the earth, that was able to open the book, or so much
as to look thereon. And John was at this discouraged, and wept much, ver. 4, as thinking, here must be an end of all, and that he should have no
further vision. But God did premise this on purpose to shew the difficulty of the work, and to spoil all creatures of the glory of it, and the more to
set off and make illustrious the sole power and worth that was in Jesus Christ for this work ; even as men in their fictions use to do, when they would greaten some one man, whose story they write. For after this non
* not weep :
plus and dejection, a stander-by comforts him, and bids him
for lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath obtained to open the book, &c. And presently a lamb comes, approacheth the throne, and takes the book out of his right hand, ver. 6, 7. And upon that all the chorus of twentyfour elders and four beasts (who are there the church representative of
saints on earth), do fall down before the lamb, and set this crown of glory upon his head alone, with this new song and shout, Worthy art thou, &c., and thou alone ; unto which the angels give a respond of praise, ver. 11,
12, and heaven, and earth, and all creatures, echo to it, ver. 13. Now how much more might all this solemnity have been used about satisfaction to be made for sin ? To approach the throne, and take the book, and open it, was far less than to have the heart to break through an army, and approach God in his fury and fulness of wrath for sin, and to sustain that wrath, and
satisfy it by overcoming it. And this is more than intimated in that very chapter ; for (ver. 9) the elders in their song do attribute this power of Christ to open the book, unto the merit of a far greater work done, even
this of our redemption, and Christ s satisfaction for sin : Thou art worthy, say they, to take the book, because thou wast killed, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. And how far off then will all creatures be found
to be, and how short of worth and power to redeem a sinner by their blood, who were all not worthy so much as to look on that book, much less to open it, not worthy to reveal this redemption, much less to effect it ? Than which there cannot be a stronger proof for this my assertion. Thus much in general. Now secondly,
78 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
II. To demonstrate this by an induction and an enumeration of all par ticular means, which may be any way supposed able to help us.
1. First, Take the blood of bulls and goats, and add to them all the creatures which man is lord of, and which are his to give ; yet this whole world of creatures would not be a sufficient sacrifice for sin. In Micah vi.
7, there is one comes off with a good round price, Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with thousands of rivers of oil ? or shall I give my first-born for my transgression ? And nature is apt to be thinking of such sacrifices. But if justice could have afforded it so cheap, God would not have turned away so fair a chapman ; yet he there turns him away. One reason for which is there intimated, namely, that sin is the sin of the
soul, but all these are but the appurtenances of, or at the highest, but
: Shall I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? The soul, which is lost and forfeited by sin, is (as Christ says) more worth than a whole world, Mat. xvi. 26. Yea, the life of the body is more worth in a man s own estimation than all that he possesseth ; All
fruits of the body
* redemption of the soul is yet much more
that a man hath will he give for his life, Job ii. 4 ; but the
* precious, as the psalmist speaks, Ps.
xlix. 8. And as a king s ransom is more than another man s, so is the
redemption of the soul, which in worth exceeds all creatures, more than of
all other creatures besides. And yet further, the sin of the soul cannot be
recompensed by the loss and sacrifice of the soul itself ; for by sin the glory of God suffers detriment, but by a soul s loss the good of a creature only is
damaged. It is a^rule current in cases of morality and justice, that the
injury of a supreme order is not made good by things of an inferior rank unto it. What recompence will the forfeiture of a murderer s goods give to a man for his life, or for that of his friends ? What satisfaction can money give for a dishonour cast upon a man s good name, which Solomon
* better than riches ? Prov. xxii. 1. So what is the fruit of a man s
says is
body (as it is in Micah vi. 7) to the sin of his soul ? Verily there is no
proportion. Yea, it falls short in the estimation of a man s own conscience. Unto this disproportion the apostle adds another, Heb. ix. 23, that the
blessings to be purchased and obtained by this satisfaction are heavenly ; but all such sacrifices as these are but things earthly ; and therefore better
sacrifices than these are required. All such external sacrifices are but
enough^if enough) to sanctify the pattern of heavenly things ; that is, the types of the law ; and this too, but only as they were shadows of things to come. Wherefore it was necessary that the heavenly things themselves
(the substance) should be purified with better sacrifices than these. Now
grace is heavenly, and pardon of sin must come from heaven, even out of God s bosom ; and will God (think we) exchange heavenly commodities for
earthly treasures ?
Again, the apostle adds a third disproportion unto these, Heb. ix. 14,
all such sacrifices cannot reach to the conscience. We have consciences to be purged, and what are such outward things to purge a man s conscience ? As plasters outwardly applied cannot reach to benefit the heart or lungs ; so neither can these reach the conscience. They might sanctify the out ward man (as he there speaks), to purge away a ceremonial outward un-
cleanness, but not the inward, Jer. ii. 22, Though thou wash thee with
nitre, thy iniquity is open before me, says the Lord. All these could not
satisfy a man s conscience, much less God s justice. Therefore those that were exercised in sacrifices, their consciences were unquiet, as both the Jews and heathens were.
CHAP. II.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 79
2. As for ourselves, there was no hope that ever we should satisfy God
by aught that either we can do or suffer.
(1.) Not by suffering anything. And for this, take the highest instance.
If there were any hope to satisfy by sufferings, it would be by the suffer
ings of men in hell, because they are the utmost and the most extreme
punishment that are threatened as the reward of sin, and whereby God re
covers all that may be had out of the creature. A man would think that
after millions of years expired, the torments which men there suffer should
satisfy for sin ; but they do not. Those eternal flames in which their
souls are scorched do nothing purify or diminish the stain of one sin : they may indeed destroy the sinner, but they can never take away the sin ; for
therefore it is that they shall for ever suffer. He must for ever remain to be punished, because for ever he remains a sinner. And it is also a certain and sure rule, that nulla pcena nocentis est peccati deletiva ; no punishment of a person nocent is deletive of sin. The sin can never be taken away or
blotted out by it.
(2.) Nor by doing ; for,
First; We are not able by all our works to satisfy our own consciences, which still prick us in the midst of them ; much less can we satisfy God, who is greater than our consciences. .In Eom. v. 6, the apostle gives us
* When we were without strength,
all up for desperate and past recovery ;
says he, Christ died for us. We had no strength left us wherewith to do
anything ; neither could all the strength that the law could put into us, by quickening and exciting our consciences to do good w^orks, anything avail
us. So, Eom. viii. 3, the apostle tells us, that what the law could not
do, for that it was weak through the flesh, that Christ came to do. If
anything had been done by us, it must have been by the help of the law in our consciences, directing, inciting, and carrying us on to obedience. But, saith he, our corruption still weakeneth the power of the law, that it cannot do any good upon us, in us, or by us. As when nature is spent, physic is
said to do no good through the weakness of the patient, so nor the law
through the weakness of the flesh. And therefore it follows, there being no help in ourselves, God sent his Son in the similitude of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh. Neither,
Secondly; Are we thus weak only, but also ungodly ; and so are all our works. There is not only a weakness in all that the flesh can do, but also a wickedness or enmity ; so that
* they who are in the flesh can never please God ; as Rom. viii. 8. Yea, it is impossible they should, for their works
are all defiled ; and though they were good, yet, Thirdly; They could not bring our persons into favour. For sin, breaking the first covenant, by the tenor of which our works did keep our persons in favour ; hence we have forfeited all honour to our persons for ever, and so unto all our works also, that look, as traitors when their persons are con demned, all their works are void in law, so are ours. So that if we could
suppose ourselves to love God, yet dilectio ilia nos quidem faceret dilectores, sed non dilectos ; though thereby we might be called lovers of God, yet they could not make us beloved of him again.
Fourthly ; As we have forfeited all favour to our persons for ever, so we have forfeited too the having any graces, or gifts of grace, whereby we might be supposed to come into favour. For sin hath put in a bar against us, this being the eternal demerit of it, that the former grace be never more bestowed upon any of that former interest ; for it is wholly made void unto
all ends and purposes. And therefore, ere ever new grace be bestowed, the
80 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
guilt, and forfeiture, and desert of sin must be forgiven ; and how can we ever come to obtain that for ourselves ?
Fifthly ; If that demerit be cut off by free pardon, and grace be anew
bestowed, then that grace becomes a new favour, for which alone we can never be thankful enough by the power of all the grace we receive. We run into a new debt, which we can never requite or satisfy for, much
less by that can we pay our former debts. Therefore,
Lastly; Grace received anew, though in and through Christ, it may indeed come to please God, as a token of our thankfulness (and so it doth), yet can it never so much as justify us. The graces of godly men made
perfect in heaven shall (it may be) be as much and more than that of the
angels. Now then, suppose it such in this life, yet all that grace would not justify us, because we once forfeited all of it, and the receiving of it now were a new mercy. The grace of them who are in heaven may indeed
please God, but it cannot justify them, and therefore much less could it ever come to satisfy God for sin. And besides, debitwn peccati est infinitum, the debt and guilt of sin is infinite, because against an infinite God. Graces would be but finite, because in us, and because ours, who are finite
creatures, as our graces also are. So then, you see, ourselves could not make God any satisfaction.
3. If you go to all the saints, they are unable to help you ; Mat. xxv. 1,
2, 8, 9, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom
: ver. 2,
* And five of them were wise, and five were foolish : ver. 8, And the
foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out :
ver. 9, But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you ; but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for your selves. The foolish virgins go to the wise, and say, Give us some of
your oil, that is, of your grace. They would have had some of the others
graces to help them, but the wise virgins answered, No, lest there be not
enough for us and you ; but go you rather and buy of them that sell. The
saints then (you see) have grace little enough for themselves ; all the grace they in heaven have is little enough to save them, and all the grace they have is borrowed, and cannot justify themselves, much less therefore can
it satisfy for another. The papists, who so much extol works, though they
say, indeed, that good works do merit for the saints themselves, yet not
that they can satisfy for another.
4. Go from them to the angels. If they were a grain lighter, they would be found too light, and their kingdom would depart from them, and them
selves would be stripped of all their happiness. They need confirmation
in their estates themselves ; it is well that they keep their own standing, and their heels from being tripped up. All they can do in obedience to the
law, they owe it ; and how can one debt be paid with another ? God says of them, Job iv. 18, that he finds folly in them. If God s curious
eye inquire and search into them, they will be found defective of that holi
ness which he desires, though they be the works of his hands, and though
they have such a holiness as is the perfection of their natures ; and (so far
as such creatures can be), they be perfectly righteous. But yet if they be compared to that holiness wherewith God is delighted, and that which
the curious eye of his purity would require, he finds a folly in them. And
therefore they need not only a mediation of union to confirm them in grace, but further, for this end, that God may be pleased with them and their works ; he being so curious, that but for a mediator (whose holiness wholly
CHAP. III.j OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 81
satisfies his exact eye), he would be pleased with no works of his own hands whatever, but would rend, and tear, and throw all away, as not yet worthy enough of him, even as curious artists do their best draughts, as
not satisfied with them. Yea, if the angels were but one grain wanting,
scruple not to say, they would be cast down, yea, fall down, and become
devils. And therefore how can all that they can do be able to help you,
seeing they have little enough for themselves ?
So you see, upon a survey of all particulars, that no creature could make
satisfaction to God for sin.
CHAPTEE III.
That the most perfect creature, though having all the perfections of Christ s human nature, yet could not be our redeemer. The utmost extent to which
the power of any creature can reach, to save himself or others, which yet all
fall short of that which was to be performed for our redemption.
Add to all these the utmost supposition that can be made, of the most
transcendent perfection of grace that may possibly be bestowed upon any mere creature. Take the supposition which some of the schoolmen have
made, that as God appointed Adam, a mere creature, to convey and derive
grace to all his posterity, so if we with them suppose, first, some one mere creature as a head, appointed to satisfy for sin, and convey grace to
sinners (as Christ doth) ; and, secondly, suppose this mere creature filled with as much grace habitual as Christ had, as much love, humility, &c.,
only that grace of union to a divine person set aside, which so transcend-
ently elevates all in him above created perfections, and then such a suppo sition cannot be denied. Thirdly t Suppose a transcending degree of favour and glory appointed as the reward of that grace, more than is borne towards all other creatures ; yet though this creature should lay down all
that glory, quit itself of all that happiness, and subject itself to all those torments which Christ s soul underwent for us, to the end that our punish ment might be cut off, and we brought unto favour, all this could no way deal with justice to satisfy for sinners, and restore them to favour. Which now we will endeavour to make good from those more near and intimate
demonstrations, which hold forth in them the true grounds why no mere creature can satisfy for sin, upon no supposition, how high soever. By all which the superabundant grace and glory of Christ will the more appear, whose cause herein we plead, and who pleadeth ours in heaven.
And, first, to make the clearer entrance, and the better explication and
stating of this point, let us consider and examine how far the graces of a mere creature, how great soever, have gone, or can go, to advantage and
promote either the owner of them, or another, in the way of salvation ; and so see the utmost extent of their abilities, and where they have and must
fall short. Which will likewise afford us evident demonstrations how far short they come of satisfaction for sin, or justifying of a sinner.
I. Let us see what they can do for the owner and possessor of them.
1. They can and do justify the possessor of them, if he have never sinned. Thus the grace and works of the angels do justify them before God ; which
yet is much for God to accept of, for he seeth folly in his angels ; yet this privilege he vouchsafes to their own grace. And thus to be justified, is VOL. V. F
82 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
no more than to be accounted righteous before God s tribunal, and so worthy to live in his sight, and by means of it to enjoy their present condition of happiness. And thus Adam s grace in innocency did justify him : God by his law and ordination pronouncing him righteous by it (whilst he con tinued in it), as wanting nothing which his law required in him for happiness and life. And though grace in Adam and in the angels did, by a natural law and just ordination of God, justify them before him, so as, God look
ing on their works, did pronounce them righteous in his sight, according to his law, yet this law or ordinance was founded upon no other obliga tion from God than the ordinances and laws of providence towards other
creatures, even such as the ordinances of day and night (as he speaks of
them) ; and so it was but such as when God saw all the creatures which he had made keep the ordinances which he had set them in, he pronounced that they were all good, namely, in their kind, Gen. i. 81, they continuing
(as the psalmist says, Ps. cxix. 91) according to their ordinances. So whilst man continues in the ordinances which God hath set him in, he
pronounceth him good in his kind, that is, righteous ; righteousnsss being his proper goodness, and such to him, as the proper goodness of all crea tures are in their kind unto them. And as this righteousness was due to him, and so created in him, not by merit, but as the native perfection without which he could not be a man, so was this pronouncing of him
righteous (and to be in God s favour whilst he continued in that goodness) not due of merit (for what can we do towards it ?), but only as a due appro bation and suitable reward and consequence of his goodness, meet for God
to bestow, according to that special law of nature which God had created him in. And so I understand that same ex debito, Rom. iv. 4, where the
apostle, speaking of the covenant of works (which was the covenant of
* the reward was of debt, not of grace ; that is, there was a reward that was a natural due to it (which is opposed to mere grace), which notwithstanding is not of merit, nor could that deserve it at God s hands ; only it was meet and due, in a natural way, that God should so re ward it.
nature), he says,
2. The grace of such a mere creature can preserve itself, and increase it
self. Therefore Christ compares it unto mustard-seed, the least of all seeds, which yet grows up to be a great tree ; and so the stock that Adam had he
might have kept, by the power that God had given him. As Adam might have maintained his bodily life unto eternity by food, so his spiritual life
by keeping the law do this and live. So that grace in a pure creature
before the fall might possibly have kept its station. Yet,
8. It could not, nor cannot absolutely confirm and establish such a crea
ture in a state of justification, which is a further thing than simply to jus
tify, as to give perseverance in grace is more than to give grace. Thus
the angels, though always they be justified by their own grace, }
ret no acts
of their own did, or could, procure a confirmation in that grace, or strength and security that they should not, nor could not, fall. It is an incommuni
cable property of Jehovah not to change, and to have no shadow of turn
ing, James i. 17. It is therefore judged by all divines that this benefit
they have by Christ.
4. Much less can the grace of a mere creature (or ever could) merit a
higher condition ; to do which is more than to confirm the continuance of
the present condition. Adam could not earn a condition of a higher rank, nor by all his works have bought any greater preferment than what he was
created in. To compass it was ultra suam splueram, above his sphere; he
CHAP. III.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 83
could never have done it. As, for instance, lie could not have attained
that state in heaven which the angels enjoy. What says Christ ? When
you have done all you can, say, You are unprofitable servants, Luke xvii.
10. This he could no more do than other creatures by keeping those their
ordinances can merit to be translated into the glorious liberty which they wait for, and shall have at the latter day. The moon, though she keep all
her motions set her by God never so regularly, yet she cannot thereby attain to the light of the sun as a new reward thereof. And thus no more can any pure creature of itself, by all its righteousness, obtain in justice a
higher condition to itself. And therefore the angels, by all their own
grace, have not to this day earned a better condition than they were
created in. And yet all this falls short of satisfying for sin, as we shall
see anon.
II. We have taken a view of all that which all the grace of a mere crea
ture can do for the owner of it ; let us now, secondly, see what it can do for
another. And, & First, We may safely say, it can avail less for another than for the person himself. For what it doth for another it doth by virtue of what it first doth
for itself. If it brings another into favour, it must needs be much more beloved itself.
Secondly, We grant that it might have been a means of conveying right eousness, through God s goodness and appointment of it, unto another. For so Adam s grace should have done to all his posterity. For as he
falling we now inherit his sin, so if he had stood we by the same law should have had his righteousness conveyed unto us ; and so much indeed may the grace of a creature that never fell do for another. But then take
in these cautions with it.
1. That other must be one who also never fell, it could not do thus for
those that were once sinners, though it might convey righteousness to an
other that never sinned.
2. Though a creature that never sinned might have a stock of righteous ness conveyed from another (as we should have had from Adam), yet that
creature must still continue to be justified by its own righteousness, besides
by what was conveyed from that other (even as well as the conveyer him
self was by his own righteousness to have lived), and so might notwith
standing have fallen away. For Adam s righteousness, and the imputation of it, would riot alone have been sufficient to justify us eternally ; but our
justification must have been continued by our own righteousness. For as
although we have Adam s sin conveyed to us, yet we are condemned for our own sins besides, and not only for his ; so Adam s righteousness being conveyed to us, we must afterwards have had, and must have continued to
work, a righteousness of our own. He was only a means to give us a stock wherewith to begin, all which we might have spent, and it was likely we should.
So that, in the last place, to draw up all, by a comparison from the less
to the greater, it will appear how far short the power of grace in mere crea
tures doth come of satisfying for another s sin. You see how little it can do for itself; and it must needs be able to do less for another than for it
self, and less for a sinner than for either. It may justify itself, and the
possessor of it may actually live by it; but not so another. For though that other may have righteousness conveyed to him at first, yet he must ever after live upon his own. The creatures grace cannot confirm itself in a perpetual state of justification for time to come, much less merit a
84 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III*
better condition. But to satisfy for sin is beyond all these ; it is as much
as to merit a better condition, and more.
(1.) It is as much, for satisfaction hath to do with justice as well as
merit; for to merit is to do that which justice itself shall count truly worthy of such a reward. And so to satisfy is at least to offer that for a
satisfaction, which justice itself offended cannot but think worthy to be ac
cepted in recompence. The one undertakes to deserve of justice reward
ing, the other to pacify and fully content justice offended. And,
(2.) It is more ; and therefore the papists themselves, who say that a man s own grace may merit for himself, yet deny it to be able to satisfy for another s sin. And reason is for it ; for, First ; In meriting a better condition, a man earns but of another s goods, and undertakes to do something worthy of a better reward ; and there is in
it but comparatio rei ad rem. But in satisfying for injuries, he undertakes
to repair personal wrongs ; which it is so much harder to repair, as men
love their own persons more than their goods. A poor man may earn some
of a nobleman s goods by a day s work ; but can never satisfy him for a
disgrace.
Secondly ; To satisfy for sin is more than to do something worthy of a
higher and better condition ; because there is a greater distance between a
sinner s estate, and justification to be attained, than is between the estate
of one already justified, and a higher condition of favour ; such as was be tween the estate of Adam and that of an angel. There was not such a gulf
(as Christ says) or distance between Adam s earthly state and theirs, as is between an offender and the favour of God ; which by his offence is wholly forfeited. He when innocent was much nearer the most glorious condition which any creature was capable of. Even as a good subject, though never
so poor and mean, who yet never offended, is nearer the dignity of a duke, and more capable of it, than one who is a traitor, and so hath forfeited not
only his honour, but his life and the privilege of a subject.