Veneer on Article XV: Of Christ alone without Sin

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The Exposition.

HAT Christ was a Man, as well as, and as much as ourselves, is declared

Heh. ii. 14. For af much then as the Children arePartakers ofFleJJo and Bloody he also himself Ukewife took Part of the fame j that thro Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is*, the Devil, His being intirely free from Sin, is apparent from chap, iv. ver. 15. For we have not an High-Prteft which cannot he touched with the Feeling of our In- firmittes hut was in all Points tempted like as we are yet without Sin, Vxom John xiy, %o Here* z ajtet

34^ -^^ Exposition on the

\rticle after I will not talk much with you ; for the yy* Prince of this World cometh and hath nothing in me. And from i Pet. ii. 22. where ‘tis said, that he did no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth. To the fame Purpose is that oilrenus t. If any Man fay that the Flesh of our Lord dif- fered from ours in this refped:, because it com- mitted no Sin, neither was Guile found in his Soul, but that we are Sinners, he fpeaketh risfhtlv.

And, indeed, if Christ had been guilty of any Sin, he would have wanted a Redeemer as well as ourselves. But where could a Redeemer have been found for him ?

That he came to be a Lamb without Spot, who by the Sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the Sins of the World ; and that St. John faith, that Sin was rot in him, appears from the following Places of Holy Writ, John i. 29, ‘he next Day John feeth Jesus coming unto him and faith Behold the Lamh of God which taketh away the Sins of the IVorld. Heb. ix. 14, 26, How much more fioall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered him- self without Spot ’ to Gody purge your Conscience from dead Works . to serve the living God ? — Now once in the End of the IVorld hath he appeared to put away Sin hy the Sacrifice of himself. i John iii. 5. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins , and in him is fio Sin. f

•^ Lib. 5-. cap. 14.

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But

Thirty-Nme Articles. 3 47

But as for us, there is no mortal Man that Article xv. is, or ever was perfedtly good, Chrifl only ex- -/“V"" cepted : Some few, indeed, are said in the no Man elfe Scripture to be Righteous, as Noah for Instance, ‘ithout Sin, Johj Zacharias &c. but comparatively only, and according to the free and undeferved Favour and Compaflion of God, who is pleased to accept of the Sincerity of the Mind for absolute Perfed:ion : For as St. James tells us, chap. iii. ver. 2. /;/ 7nany I’hings ii’e offend all. And St. John I Epift. chap. i. ver. 8. tells us, That if we fay we have no Sin we deceive otirfelves and the Sruth is not in us. There are fome Sins, as fertullian observes, which we run into every Day, to which we are all liable. For who is there who hath not happened to be angry without just Cause, and to continue his Anger after the Setting of the Sun, and even to strike, or to speak against another Person with too much Freedom, or to swear rafhly, or to be worse than his Word, or to tell a Lye through Shame- facednefs or NecefHty ? How much are we tempted in our Employments, Duties, and Ways of getting our Living by our Food, Sight and Hearing? So that if there be no Pardon for thele Sins, no Man can be saved §.

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Article

Jn Exposition on the

Notes

• Be Tudichift, cap. 19. See Nowelli Cat. pag. 40, 228, yer^el’s A’^ol. Def. Part II. chap. 19. Divi£ i. Mason de Miniji. Angl lib. ^. ch. f. §. 8. Tidd of the Church, page 293.