Union and what better proof can be of it than that divine Life which issues from thence Our Saviour hath put it out of all doubt He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Joh. 6.56 And in another place he tells them Abide in me and I in you Joh. 15.4 What can be more emphatical and expressive of our Mystical Union If such words do not signifie it what can We are said to be in him that is true even in Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 5.20 And Christ is said to be in us the hope of glory Col. 1.27 And how full are these Expressions This our Saviour prayed for in that solemn Prayer Joh. 17. As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us This he promised At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Joh. 14.20 Surely that Union which is set forth by the Union of the Father and the Son in the blessed Trinity must be a mystical one The Bonds of this Union are no less pregnantly expressed touching the holy Spirit which as Bishop Davenant tells us is Primaria Commissura by which Christ and we touch the Scripture speaks negatively If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 that is he hath no Union or Communion with him and positively or affirmatively He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 Touching Faith which as the Learned Vsher saith is the Soul of all other Graces the Scripture teaches us that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith Eph. 3.17 and that Faith comes receives leans on puts on feeds on and in a word possesses Christ In one place Gal. 2.20 we have both these Bonds together I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me that is by his Spirit and I live by the faith of the Son of God these two Make up the Mystical Union The Name of this Union is also expresly in Scripture Fancy did not baptize it Mystical but the holy Ghost This is a great mystery to be members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 32. Nay The riches of the glory of the mystery is Christ in us the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 The ancient Fathers were no strangers to this Union that of Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Eph. points it out to us In the times of St Cyprian and Julius Bishop of Rome the Church in the Lord's Supper which is a divine Seal of this Union used over and above to note it out by mixing Water with the Wine Hence St. Cyprian saith Cypr. E. pist 63. Decret Julii in Concil Quando in calice vinum aquâ miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur And Julius saith Si sit vinum tantùm est Christus sine populo si aqua sola populus sine Christo St. Hilary and St. Cyril of Alexandria compare our Union with Christ with that high Union which is between the Father and the Son St. Cyril upon John tells us as I have him quoted by the Noble Sadeel that Christus per fidem ingreditur in nos per Spiritum sanctum inhabitat St. Basil speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intellectual mouth in the inner Man by which we feed upon Christ the Bread of Life St. Chrysostom saith Hom. 11. in Ephes that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit flowing from above which touches all the Members of Christ Diximus fratres saith St. Austin hoc Dominum commendasse in manducatione carnis suae potione sanguinis sui Tract 27. in Joh. ut in illo maneamus ipse in nobis maneamus autem in illo cùm sumus membra ejus manet ipse in nobis cùm sumus templum ejus And in another place De peccator Mer. cap. 31. Homines sancti fideles ejus siunt cum homine Christo unus Christus unus Christus caput corpus magna est mira dignatio Theophylact saith In Joh. 15. that a man is by Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 part of the Root united to the Lord and incorporated in him And to name no more generally those Sayings of the Fathers which the Papists plead for an oral Manducation of Christ are so many proofs of the Mystical Union The Schoolmen concurr in the same thing Aquinas saith that Christ and his Members are but una Persona mystica And Barthol Medina expresses it fully In 3. partem Thom. qu. 8. Cùm efficimur membra sub Capite Christo mirabili quâdam Spiritûs sancti operatione unimur transimus in Christum induimúsque illum deiformi quâdam insitione atque Vnione illi inserimur Modern Divines go the same way to name but a few Bishop Vsher saith Imman pag. 50. The Bond of this Mystical Vnion between Christ and us is on his part the quickning Spirit and on ours Faith Est inter Christum omnia Christi Membra continuitas quaedam ratione Spiritûs sancti qui plenissimè residens in Christo Capite In Col cap. 1. ver 18. unus idem numero ad omnia ejus membra diffunditur vivificans singula uniens universa so Bishop Davenant The Spirit knitteth us as really though mystically Life of Christ 457. unto Christ as his Sinews and Joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred Body together thus Bishop Reynolds But I shall shut up all with the Authority of our Church In the Lords Supper there is no vain Ceremony no bare Sign nor untrue Figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the Bread and Cup of the Lord the Memory of Christ the Annunciation of his death the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation 1. Hom. of the Sacrament which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very Bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful the true Vnderstanding of this Fruition and Vnion between the Body and the Head between Believers and Christ the ancient Catholick Fathers perceiving themselves and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper the Salve of Immortality a Deifical Communion pledge of eternal health and food of immortality This Mystical Union we see is no Fancy no very great moments depend upon it Tota veraejustitiae salutis vitae participatio ex hâc pernecessariâ cum Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pendet saith the Learned Zanchy Without it how should Christ profit us which way should his blood wash or righteousness cover us What illapses of the holy spirit or vital influences of Grace could we look for in a state
being not in any Son of Adam naturally so much Goodness the only reason according to the Author of divine Love as might attract the least crumb of Comfort on Earth or the least moments Reprieve from Hell But saith the Author Should he love a wicked man the Reason and Nature of his Love would change He cannot love a wicked man with a Love of Complacence but cannot he love him in Design or with a Love of Benevolence Then though as the Author tells us pag. 88. he did passionately desire and design the Happiness of Man yet he could not design to him being in a lapsed corrupt Estate a Christ or a Gospel or any the least Means of Salvation Goodness the only reason of Love being gone by the Fall nothing that is good could be intended to him The Author acknowledges that God loves Goodness in Men but whence came that Goodness Was it a Donative of Divine Love or not If so then he loved them before they were such if not then may we say with the Pelagians A Deo habemus quòd homines sumus à nobis ipsis quòd justi sumus though God be necessary to our Being yet he is not to our Goodness Tract 81. in Joh. as St. Austin observes I shall add no more to this having spoken before touching irresistible Grace Christ being God and Man Mr. Sherlock made him an endless bottomless Fountain of Grace to all that believe Thus the Dr. upon which the Author glosses This he was as God as we were told before and his Grace was never the more bottomless for becoming Man The design of all this is to make the Person of Christ the Fountain of all Grace from whence we must drink Pardon and Mercy as long as we need any His Grace was never the more bottomless for becoming Man Answer yet as God and Man he is the Fountain of all Grace to us and unless he had been Man there would have been no Communication of Grace to us The most Reverend Vsher upon that Text He that eateth my flesh Imman pag. 52. and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him saith Three things 1. That by the mystical and supernatural Vnion we are as truly conjoyned with him as meat and drink is with us 2. That this Conjunction is immediately made with his Humane Nature 3. That the Lamb slain that is Christ crucified hath by that death of his made his flesh broken and his blood poured out for us to be fit food for the spiritual nourishment of Souls and the very Well-spring from whence by the power of his Godhead all Life and Grace is derived to us To the same purpose speaks the Learned Zanchy To begin with the Fulness of Christ Mr. Sherlock and the first place wherein we meet with it is Joh. 1.16 And of his fulness we all received and grace for grace Now what is meant by this Fulness we may learn from ver 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth This Fulness which was in Christ is a Fulness of Grace and Truth and if we consult ver 17. we shall find that this Grace and Truth is opposed to the Law of Moses The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ So that Grace and Truth signifie the Gospel which is a Covenant of Grace and is expresly called the Grace of God Tit. 2.11 and conteins the most clear and perspicuous Revelation of the Divine Will in opposition to the Types and Shadows under the Law is Truth in opposition to Types and Figures this is the Fulness we receive from Christ a perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which conteins so many excellent Promises that it may be well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Nations of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth This Fulness dwelt only in Christ and from him alone we receive it for none of the Prophets who were before him did so perfectly understand the Will of God as he did No man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him v. 18. No man ever before had so perfect a knowledge of the Will of God which is here called seeing God because sight gives the most perfect knowledge but the Son who understood all his most secret counsels hath perfectly declared the Will of the Father to us and hence that Fulness we receive from Christ is explained by Grace for Grace which signifies the abundance of Grace manifested in the Gospel St. Austin expounds it Pro Legis gratiâ quae praeteriit gratiam Evangelii accepimus permanentem but this seems to be a forced sence for the Law is no where called Grace but Grace is opposed to to the Law in the next verse But however this they agree in that by the fulness of Grace and Truth they understand the Gospel that perfect declaration which Christ hath made to the World This Fulness was first in the Person of Christ before he could communicate it to us yet it is not this Personal Fulness we are to attend to but the Fulness and Perfection of his Gospel from whence we must fetch the knowledge of the Divine Will Joh. 1.16 And of his fulness we all received and Grace for Grace Arswer Upon this Text the only Quaere is Whether by Fulness is meant the Fulness of Christ's Person or the Fulness of his Gospel I conceive here is clearly meant the Fulness of Christ's Person it is in the Text his fulness his who is God the Word ver 1. his who was in the beginning with God ver 2. his by whom all things were made ver 3. his who is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world ver 9 his who was made flesh and dwelt among us ver 14. None of these his's can be attributed to the Gospel but they are all proper to the Person of Christ his fulness therefore must signifie the Fulness of Christ's Person from whence all Grace is derived as Light is from the Sun and Sense from the Head All true Believers receive from him grace for grace that is say some Gratiam cumulatissimam abundant Grace or as others Grace answering to the Grace in Christ as the Child receives from his Parents Limb for Limb or the Glass from the Face Image for Image It is further to be noted that the words are we received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his fulness Had the Fulness meant here been the Fulness of the Gospel the words would have been We re-received of his Fulness even the whole Gospel but because here was intended the Fulness of Christ's Person the words are We received of his fulness that is
Glory of them all from our Likeness to God from the Peace of Conscience from the Conviction and Conversion of others from the aversion of Judgments from the State of justified Persons from the Work of Sanctification are but poor insignificant things with the Author which yet with me are of great Moment This is all pertinent saith the Author but it contradicts it self and overthrows their Darling-opinion What the necessary way to eternal Life and yet neither Cause Matter nor Condition At least it might be Causa sine qua non and so a Condition But the Author might have observed that the Doctor did not speak ad idem to one and the same thing his words are Holiness is neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of Justification yet it is the way to Salvation both stand well together without any shadow of Contradiction Obedience is subsequent to Justification and so neither Cause Matter nor Condition of it but it is antecedent to Salvation and the way thereunto Well the Author is content that it only be a necessary way to eternal Life but what then becomes of Christ the only way What of Christ's Righteousness and of free Grace I hope there is no matter of fear our Holiness unless it be lifted up above it self into the room and Throne of Christ very well comports with Christ and Grace it is a way but not as Christ an Expiatory Meritorious one it stands as necessary in Sanctification but eeks not out Christ's Righteousness in Justification It flows from free Grace and doth not overturn but magnifie its Fountain Afterwards our Author draws up a long Charge against these men That they prepossess their Fancies with arbitrary Notions pervert the Scriptures to justifie their Darling-opinions and that sometimes with so ill success as to break some stubborn Truths into palpable absurdities and contradictions their Fancies and Scripture agree no better than the Church of Rome and Scripture do They add such limitations distinctions glosses to Scripture as are necessary to make them orthodox Their Acquaintance with Christs Person is only a work of Fancy teaches men Hypocrisie undermines the Design of the Gospel makes men incurably ignorant yet conceited of knowledge impertinent talkers and censurers of Mankind despisers of their Teachers as if ignorant and meer Moral Preachers Their Acquaintance with Christ's Person warms their Fancies moves their Passions sometimes they find breakings of heart and feel the horrors of damned Spirits sometimes they are ravish'd with his love and Beauty refresh'd with the sweet caresses of his love All which may be no more than the working of a warm Enthusiastick Fancy the transportation of frantick Raptures and Extasies of Love Unto all which I say two things only the one is this In general Charges which may be drawn up against the most innocent Souls under Heaven the intelligent Reader must measure the truth of them only by the Instances which before have been examined The other is this that the Author tells us That their breakings for sin and ravishments in Christ may be but the working of a warm Enthusiastick fancy In which Censure I suppose there is no over-measure of Charity There are yet Two things behind which because interwoven with the general Charge I have hitherto omitted but shall now recite them the one is this Prepossessed Fancies force men saith the Author to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox Language to this we owe all those nice and subtil Distinctions which constitute the Body of Systematical Divinity which commonly have no other design than to evade the force of Scripture or to bribe it to speak on their side I will now wonder no longer that the Author treats a few Nonconformists with such rough hands Behold an universal blast put on those excellent Divines which have stood in the Protestant World like burning and shining Lights and have set forth so many learned and worthy Systems of Divinity for the Churches use But this is All-a-mode with the Remonstrants who as Vedelius tells us De Arcan Armind have poured forth convitia atrocissima in Formulas not being afraid to say Ista ars est Sathanae calling them humanam tyrannidem and proceeding so far as to say That that Preface in Athanasius his Creed Qui vult salvus esse ante omnia credat c. was a proud one Systems of Divinity are to them as Bonds and Fetters which they would willingly break off that they might have the better Scope to introduce their unsound and novel Opinions The other is this It is not saith the Authour the Person but the Gospel of Christ which is the way the truth and the life It seems the new and living Way through his Flesh may be stop'd up the great Prophet may want the Title of Truth the vital Influences of Grace from Christ may be intercepted and all this after Christ himself hath told us expresly I am the Way the Truth and the Life These things I suppose will hardly be passable with Christian Ears or Hearts If he be not the Way there is no approach for us to the Father if not the Truth we are not bound to believe him or his Gospel if not the Life to quicken our dead and unbelieving Hearts we should never believe in him though he were both the former CHAP. IV. Sect. I. NExt to the Knowledge of Christ Mr. Sherlock there is not a greater Mystery than our Vnion to him and Communion with him on which as these men represent it are built all those wild and fanciful Conclusions which directly oppose the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity Therefore it is of great concernment to state this matter and to examine what is meant in Scripture by Vnion to Christ and Communion with him for the Scripture mentioneth such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be expressed by an Vnion and the phrases of being in Christ abiding in Christ can signifie no less The Author owns some kind of Union Answer but our enquiry is after a spiritual mystical union between Christ and believers who are knit together by the Divine Ligatures of the holy Spirit and Faith The quickning Spirit as the right Reverend Vsher hath it descending downward from the Head Serm. before the Commons 1620. to be in us a Fountain of supernatural Life and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit ascending from us upward to lay fast hold upon him This Union is fully set forth in Scripture We are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion cannot but import Union We are said to have the Son and to have life by him 1 Joh. 5.12 To eat his flesh and drink his blood so as to live by him Joh. 6.56 57. And unless we dream of an oral Manducation what can this be but a Mystical
collectio sed fideles singuli rectè appellantur Templum quia in ipsorum mentibus Spiritus Dei habitat Mr. Sherlock Eaptism and the Lords Supper represent and signifie both our external and real union to Christ Baptism doth signifie to all baptized an admission into the Church Visible Answer and to Believers it seals the Mystical Union with Christ Thus the Apostle speaking of Believers such as are the children of God by faith in Christ Gal. 3.26 saith As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ you are mystically united to Christ and Baptism seals up that Union to you The Lord's Supper doth import to all receivers a Communion with the Visible Church and to Believers it seals the Mystical Union hence the cup is the Communion of Christs blood and the bread is the Communion of Christ's body 1 Cor. 10.16 The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and why was it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrysostome upon the words answers Because the Apostle would shew something more even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Conjunction with Christ Baptism signifies our profession of becoming new men Mr. Sherlock of Conformity to Christ in his Death and Resurrection We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life Rom. 6.4 Baptism signifies our dying to sin and walking in newness of life He that is baptized into Christ hath put on Christ Gal. 3.27 that is hath engaged himself to be conformed to Christ's image and likeness Baptism signifies our profession of Conformity to Christ very well Answer But first of all it signifies our Union to him without which there can be no participation of his Death and Resurrection nor conformity thereunto In that place Gal. 3. putting on of Christ imports an Union with him and in that Rom 6. after that discourse of Conformity to Christ's Death and Resurrection the Apostle immediately raises up himself to the Fountain of that Conformity and tells us that we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implanted in the likeness of his death and resurrection ver 5. Aptissimâ translatione arctissimam illam nostri cum ipsa Christi substantiâ conjunctionem vivificam illam virtutem inde in nos manantem expressit saith Beza on the place The Apostle by that Metaphor of a Plant expresses our intimate Conjunction with the very Substance of Christ and the quickning virtue flowing from thence unto us to assimilate us to his Death and Resurrection Thus the Lord's Supper is a spiritual feeding on Christ Mr. Sherlock eating his flesh and drinking his blood which signifies the most intimate Vnion with him that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Eph. 5.30 That as we are redeemed by his death and so taken out of his crucified Body so by this spiritual feeding on Christ we are transformed into the same Nature with him as much as if we were of his flesh and bones This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ when the visible figures of his death and sufferings affect our minds with such a strong and passionate sense of his love to us and excite in us such a firm hope in God as transforms us into a divine Nature And this is our real Vnion to Christ In the Lord's Supper all true Believers feed upon Christ Answer Those words of our Saviour He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Immanuel 52. Joh. 6.56 declare as the most Reverend Vsher hath it That by a mystical and supernatural Vnion we are as truly conjoyned with him as the meat and drink we take is with us And what this Mystical Union is the same Author tells us That it is made by the Spirit and Faith But saith our Author This spiritual feeding on Christ is when we are transformed into the divine Nature But I take it that transformation cannot possibly exist without a Mystical Union to Christ who is the great Treasury of Grace nor without the Spirit and Faith which are the bonds of that Union Therefore our Saviour tells us He that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6.57 Spiritual Life follows after eating or Union to Christ No man saith the Reverend Vsher can participate in the benefits of Christ Serm. before the Commons 1620. except he first have comunion with Christ himself We must have the Son before we have Life and eat him we must that is as truly be made partakers of him as of our food if we will live by him The Apostle tells us how the divine Transformation comes Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The heavenly Change is from the two bands of the Mystical Union that is from the Spirit which is called the Spirit of the Lord and from Faith which is set forth by a transformative View of Christ Excellent is that of Calvin and by him quoted out of St. Chrysostome Inst l. 4. c. 17. Vinculum istius conjunctionis est Spiritus Christi cujus nexu copulamur Et quidem veluti canalis per quem quicquid Christus ipse est habet ad nos derivatur The Spirit of Christ is the Bond of Vnion between Christ and us and the Chanel of derivation whereby Christ and all that he hath is conveyed to us 1 Joh. 1.3 Mr. Sherlock That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ Observe that our fellowship with the Father and Son is first founded on our fellowship with the Christian Church 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord where the fellowship of Christ can signifie no more than the fellowship of the Christian Church whereof Christ is Lord and Head and therefore the Apostle adds in the next Verse Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions or schisms among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Where he argues from the nature of their Faith in Christ to the Obligations of Peace and Vnity which plainly evinces that this fellowiship with Christ is that relation we stand in to him as Members of the Christian Church whereof he is Head The true Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plain 2 Cor. 6.14 where the Apostle disswades from fellowship with heathen Idolaters where we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which Expressions decypher to us the Nature and Foundation of Fellowship The
it may be appears in a Threatning and the Heart trembles at the Word Heaven opens in a Promise and the Heart leaps up in the triumphs of Faith the Rayes of the divine Purity break forth in a Command and the holy Principles in the heart sparkle in a beautiful Correspondence thereunto and is not this Communion with God Who would not say God is here of a truth When God in Ordinances impresseth something of himself upon the Soul and draws answerable Affections of the Soul to himself there is Converse with God indeed Further a true Believer hath Communion with God in Providences If Providence pipe in Prosperity he dances before the Goodness of the Great Donor in whom are all the Springs of Happiness If it mourn in Adversity he complies in an holy Silence under the Will of that infinite Mind that orders all He looks upon himself as the excellent Mr. Shaw hath it not as in himself but in God Welcome to she Plague and labours to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly God's and to live in the world only an Instrument in the hand of him that worketh all things according to the counsel of his own Will Nay I may add a Believer as far as he acts like himself and expresses the Purity of the divine Life hath Communion with God in every thing how low soever his Calling be therein he abides with God and the works that he doth are wrought in him he would not live a moment without God in the world but be ever receiving Impressions from him giving up himself to him After the similitude of a Plant that is influenced by the benign Beams of the Sun and in the Virtue of those Beams spreading it self towards Heaven as Mr. Shaw speaks As for the Authors Simile That a Poor man who begs of a Prince hath not Communion with him it is enough to say That Alms is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 15.26 God such is his condescending Grace takes us into Communion with himself notwithstanding that infinite distance which is between him and us incomparably greater than that which is between the greatest Monarch on earth and the poorest Almesman SECT II. NOthing more easie to be understood than our Vnion with Christ Mr. Sherlock and it had certainly continued so had not some men undertook to explain it who have made it more than mystical that is an unintelligible Vnion When we enquire what this Vnion is they answer in general that it is a mystical Vnion through the Spirit and Faith This Mystical is a hard word and therefore to explain it they tell us that it is an Vnion of Persons but no Personal Vnion Dr. Jacomb pag. 45. The Person of Christ is united to the Person of the Believer and the Person of the Believer is united to the Person of Christ as it must needs be where the Person of Christ is united to the Person of the Believer Which Union is made by Faith which receives the Person of Christ and therefore must unite to the Person of Christ I doubt that consequence is not good for men are not united to every thing they receive but yet what follows may help it out As it is in the Marriage-union which joyns person to person This is not very clear yet and therefore the same Author describes it thus This Mystical Union is that supernatural spiritual intimous Oneness and Conjunction which is between the Person of Christ and the Person of Believers through the Bonds of the Spirit and Faith upon which follows mutual and reciprocal Communion with each other This Oneness and Conjunction are hard words still and therefore to explain them you must observe that Christ and Saints are united how Why in respect of that Oneness and Conjunction which is between them This is as plain as one could wish they are one by their Oneness Vnion is Vnion and Christ is Christ and Believers are Believers and Oneness is Oneness and thus Christ and Believers are united by their Oneness But what are the Bonds of this Vnion though it had been convenient first to have understood the Vnion better Why they are the Spirit and Faith the Spirit unites Christ to us and Faith unites us to Christ And who can deny this to be a very Mystical Vnion But besides this mystical Vnion there is a Legal or Law-union between Christ and Believers as he is their Surety a Moral Union the foundation of which is Love And thus Christ and Believers are united mystically legally morally The design of these distinctions is to prove the Vnion of persons between Christ and Believers And because I find this Author hath bewildred himself I will help him out for it is a very plain case if Christ and Believers are united their persons must be so For the Person of Christ is Christ himself and the persons of Believers are Believers themselves I cannot understand how they can be united without their persons that is without themselves But then they are united by mutual Relations or mutual Affections or Common Interest not by a natural Adhesion of Persons Never did I like Scoptical Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almost every where in this Passage there is a flurt and a sting at worthy Dr. Jacomb who yet may comfort himself that Sadeel Zanchy Davenant Vsher Reynolds with many more are Co. sufferers with him all of them however the Author be so civil as not to name them hold the very same Mystical Union as Dr. Jacomb doth But what saith the Author Nothing is more easie to be understood than our Vnion to Christ Nothing how so St. Paul calls it a great Mystery our Church a marvellous Incorporation Bishop Reynolds one of the deep things of God not discernible without the Spirit and yet nothing more easie to the Author Only some men have made it as he tells us more than mystical that is an unintelligible Vnion More than mystical they have not made it yet the Learned Whitaker saith De Feâ—les Visib quest 2. it is Maximè mystica planè mirifica Neither do they make it unintelligible though they would have it received in Faith according to the measures of Scripture and not of meer Reason This latter in the Socinians cashier'd the Hypostatical Union in Christ because it could not pierce into the Vinculum Vnionis Racov. Cat. deperson Christi which tacks mortal and immortal eternal and temporal together in one Person and unless it be subjected to Scripture it may do as much in us touching the mystical one But the Dr. saith Faith receives Christ and so unites to him which consequence is not good for men are not united to every thing they receive But Faith receives Christ as spiritual Food and eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood as the Author tells us pag. 184. signifies the most intimate Vnion with him besides the Marriage union which might have prevented the Exception But Christ and Saints are
Gen. 22.18 That is with all spiritual and eternal blessings in Christ It is not imaginable that God should suffer the Faith of so great a Believer as Abraham to hang in the thickets of carnal things when he had such spiritual Promises before his eyes our Saviour saith Abraham saw his day and rejoyced Joh. 8.56 He saw the day of his Incarnation and as some the day of his Passion How far God carried the eyes of his Faith I know not however he saw so much as put him into those joys and triumphs of Faith which pointed beyond this World to that Salvation which is the end and center of Faith To me it suffices to say that Abraham rested upon Christ for Salvation and then Christ's Righteousness though unknown to Abraham was imputed to him The Author saith That from in thy seed shall all nations be blessed to imputed righteousness is a train of thoughts beyond Mr. Hobs and yet Abraham discerning the Messiah in that Promise it may be absolved in two short words that the Messiah shall merit Spiritual Blessings for us and that that merit shall be applyed to us there being no other way of applying of what is anothers but by Faith on our part and Imputation on Gods The Author ask's the question Is there no possible way for God to bless the world but by imputed Righteousness I answer had not Christ dyed for us which involves an imputation nothing of blessing could have been expected the wrath of God would no more have spared us than it did lapsed Angels The Jews about Christ's coming thought only of a temporal Messiah the very Apostles for a time thought not of Christ's death but this was because they then lived in the dregs and darkness of the Jewish Church I suppose in former ages the Jews had another manner of Prospect of Christ and above others Abraham whose Faith stands in Scripture with a more than ordinary crown on it probably had so Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham and if all good men in ancient times was Mr. Sherlock the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it Heb. 11. that he discourses there of a justifying Faith that is such a Faith as renders men approved of God and which he will count for Highteousness appears from the tenour of this Chapter in the second verse he tells us That by this the elders obtained a good report that is the Fathers were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith as he shews particularly That Abel obtained witness that he was righteous ver 4. That Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God ver 5. That Noah became heir of righteousness which is by Faith ver 7. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A firm and confident expectation of those things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an argument of the being of those things which we do not see Faith is such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things which are not evident to sense as makes us confidently hope for them the object of Faith must be unseen things and the nature of it consists in such a firm assent to those unseen things as produces some answerable effects in our lives This is the general notion of Faith by which the elders obtained a good report Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Answer Heb. 11. This saith Erasmus is encomium fidei rather than definitio Dialectica However be it that justifying Faith is here meant Christ the marrow and center of the Covenant must be included in it Faith is the substance of things hoped for that is hoped for by vertue of the Promises and in a special signal way by vertue of the prime fundamental promise touching the Messiah which as we see Gen. 3.15 was delivered to Adam as an heavenly treasure more worth than a world and by him was no doubt handed down to his posterity not meerly in the bare words and letters of it for that protevangelium or first Promise of the Gospel was ministerium spiritûs but with such Divine Commentaries upon it as the illuminating spirit was pleased to give in to the heart of believing Adam Faith such is its excellent nature presentiates and makes to subsist the good things hoped for in such a lively manner as if they were actually at hand and before our eyes Nay as learned Pareus observes on the place it makes them subsist not only speculatively and assentively in the mind but fiducially in the heart Now by Faith in the Messiah the Elders had their divine Testimony Abel was righteous before God Enoch pleased God Noah was an heir of Righteousness all of them were Justified and accepted in their persons and holy walking The Author makes Faith to consist in a firm assent only without any thing more in the nature of it Thus the Romanists Thus Bellarmine proves it to be only assensum firmum 〈◊〉 certum ad ea omnia quae Deus credendae proponit And to that purpose among others quotes this Text Heb. 11. But I cannot find that this will down with Protestants Faith is set forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm perswasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion with full sails 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial subsistence of things hoped for which expressions speak more than a naked assent Faith receives Christ puts on Christ feeds upon Christ such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was to the Fathers in the days of Moses that they did eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God even before his Incarnation 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Meer assent cannot do this Through faith we are justified and have peace with God Rom. 5.1 We have our hearts purified Act. 15.9 We have the Spirit of all grace Joh. 7.38 We quench the fiery darts of the Devil Eph. 6.16 We have a victory over the world 1 Joh. 5.4 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 Nay not only in the hope of it but with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 as if we had a piece of heaven here below meer assent cannot reach such admirable effects Nay it may be in wicked men who have not the least mite of those Graces or Comforts Our Saviour hath excellently expressed the nature of true Faith Every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him hath eternal life Joh. 6.40 Here are two acts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see the Son to assent that he is the Redeemer of the World the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe on him by fiducial recumbency by which saith Bishop Davenant Dav. Det. 165. Vitam à vitae fonte haurimus in
may we receive Christ and be as we were Doth he bring nothing at all with him May we receive him and not have his righteousness imputed and his spirit imparted to us It is utterly vain and impossible But now a touch for worthy Mr. Watson Christ Mr. Sherlock as Mr. Watson hath it saith to a believer with my body yea with my blood I endow thee and a believer saith to Christ with my soul I thee worship As if saith the Author Christ and a Believer were married by the Liturgy I suppose our Church intended some such thing Answer and I mean it in good earnest for in the Communion Service she tells us That we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us and excellently prayes That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our Souls washed through his most pretious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us Sure such passages import a near Union and Communication between Christ and believers But saith Mr. Watson When a Soul is united to Christ no condemnation can fall upon him a woman being married her debts light upon her husband O blessed priviledge saith the Author And who would be afraid of running into debt with God when he hath such an Husband to discharge all and then how vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ and his beauty is put upon them To which I answer No men are more afraid to run into debt with God than those who taste of that Grace which forgives all and drink of that blood which pays for all Our love to Christ is a pure principle of Obedience and his love to us is a Divine inflammative of ours because he will discharge all shall we be presumptuous and extravagant Some Gallants in Queen Elizabeths time hoping for some Church-lands run out desperately crying out Solvat Ecclesia but shall believers who have past through the pangs of the new birth and tasted the hidden Manna of Gods love sin on and say Solvat Christus Nothing is nor can be more unnatural because they know themselves espoused to such an husband as Christ shall they be adulterous Because Christ will be their friend shall they be enemies These are strange repugnancies indeed As to what the Author adds How vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ those words how vile and impure soever men are are none of Mr. Watson's but added by the Author after which rate one may turn any thing into non sence or blasphemy And to crown all Mr. Sherlock when they are once ingraffed into Christ they are secure to eternity Christ is not divided a member cannot be lost the union cannot be dissolved This indeed is that Answer wherein the Covenant of Grace lifts it self up above the Covenant of works in that of works the stock was in mans hand but in this of Grace it is in Gods in that there was no promise of perseverance but in this there are many such promises God shall confirm you unto the end 1 Cor. 1.8 He will put his fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 The Apostle praying for the Thessalonians that they may be preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ immediately adds Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.23 24 Evidently God undertakes it and engages his faithfulness in it shall we take the matter out of Gods hand into our own or turn about to the old Covenant Shall we take these promises conditionally Then we must utterly evacuate these promises for they must run thus if we will persevere we shall persevere and so much was true under the old Covenant and without any promise at all Mr. Watson argues thus If any branch be plucked away from Christ it is either because Christ is not able to keep it or because he is willing to lose it But saith the Author May not sin dissolve the union What if the believer will not stay with Christ I answer This doth not at all answer the Argument from Christs power Hath he not power to prevent sin from being or from being final Hath he not power to strengthen believers in that which is good or if they lapse to raise them up again If so his promise cannot fail his faithfulness will make it good neither doth sin committed un-saint a believer as the Author hints this was the remarkable difference between the two Covenants in Adam one sin expelled perfect holiness but in believers it doth not extinguish inherent Grace though imperfect still there is a seed of God abiding in them a well of water springing up unto everlasting life through Grace they shall be revived again But saith Mr. Shepherd Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse upon which the Author If she be not purged whose fault can it be but his own To which I answer Christ hath undertaken to purge believers but not so as to prevent all lapses when they are purged it is meerly of Grace but when they sin it is of their own By such lapses God lets them know as he did Hezekiah what is in their heart Let us now consider the consequential Mr. Sherlock conjugal affections the Soul must be enamoured with Christ sick of love to him he is maximè diligibilis the very abstract and quintessence af beauty you must delight in his embraces thirst after more intimate acquaintance with him follow him from one ordinance to another and never be satisfied unless you meet with him in ordinances there they hear of his Beauty Riches Fulness All-sufficiency of all truths they savour the truths of Christ best And what needs all this Answer These truths are too plain to be denied and too sacred to be laughed at Such sanctified Souls loath all dull Mr. Sherlock insipid moral discourses which are perpetually inculcating duty and troubling them with a great many rules for a good life Which Mr. Watson calls the quaint points of virtue and vice For this is not to enjoy Christ in ordinances I suppose they cannot loath discourses of duty Answer For as our Author tells us a little after they make Obedience to Christ their husband a conjugal act and in order to that they must hear of duty Only I take it they had rather hear duty spread before them in a plain Scriptural dress than in curious speculations of meer humane reason They would have duty inculcated but not so perpetually as to exclude the preaching up of that Divine Grace which enables thereunto without this they despair of doing any thing aright but saith the Author It is very hard to find a proper place for Obedience in this new Religion for this is not necessary at all to our coming to Christ and closing with him nay it is a great hinderance to it
for we must bring nothing to Christ with us the marriage is consummated without it and then we have less need of it than before for then we are adorned with Christs Beauty holy with his holiness delivered by his expiation righteous with his righteousness which gives us an actual right to Glory we need no righteousness of our own to save us which were to suppose a defect in the righteousness of Christ unto which I answer Though a man with his arms of rebellion in his hands cannot possibly whilest in that posture close with Christ yet I take it Faith which espouses Christ doth precede true Obedience Without faith saith the Apostle it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Without saith saith our Church in the Homily of good works All that is done of us is but dead before God although the work seem never so gay and glorious before man even as the picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing it self so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God they do appear to be lively works and indeed they be but dead not availing to the everlasting life they be but shadows and shews of lively and good things and not good and lively things indeed thus our Church excellently which tells us what manner of Obedience we can bring to Christ After our espousals to Christ by faith Obedience follows as a fruit and effect of Faith though the Author fasten this opinion expresly on those whom he opposes calling them in sport intimate acquaintances of Christ yet our Church tells us in the twelfth Article That good works do spring necessarily out of a true and lively Faith Christs righteousness makes us righteous in Justification but doth it thence follow that Obedience is needless No sure It is a thing noted in the Papists that they confound Justification and Sanctification together but we must not do so if it be necessary to do Gods will or promote his Glory or to give evidences of our Faith in and gratitude to Christ or to walk in the way to Heaven and Salvation then such is Obedience but the Author cannot understand this gratitude unless our Righteousness and Obedience be due to Christ in thankfulness to him for saving us without Obedience and Righteousness which is just as broad as long and we get nothing by the bargain To which I answer our Obedience is a due gratitude to Christ who saves us by his Blood and Righteousness and and that without a perfect personal sinless Obedience in our selves and withal it is necessary as a proof of our faith and as the way to Heaven which our Saviour hath chalked out to us The Soul saith Dr. Owen consents to take Christ on his own terms Mr. Sherlock to save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had thee and salvation in my way that it might have been partly of mine endeavours and as it were by the works of the Law but I am now willing to receive thee and to be saved in thy way meerly by Grace that is Without doing any thing without obeying of thee as the Author doth interpret him Without doing any thing Answer without obeying of thee Is this the Doctors meaning Do his words import so Nothing more remote from him he shews how the Soul closes with Christ and takes him on his own terms it will not now be justified by its own works or legal righteousness but by Christ and his righteousness it will not now endeavour in its own strength but under the duct of Grace this is his plain meaning For before the words quoted he speaks of accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour and after them of giving up our selves to be ruled by the Spirit which cannot be without Obedience It s true the Author calls this a pretty complement but the Doctor speaks it as his serious judgment In the eighth Chapter of the book quoted he tells us Obedience is indispensibly necessary if Gods Sovereignty is to be owned if his Love to be regarded if the whole work of the ever blessed Trinity for us in us be of any moment our Obedience is necessary Thus fully the Doctor who yet is here construed by the Author to exclude Obedience what measure this is let others judge The Soul gives up it self to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ to be passively Mr. Sherlock not actively good to submit as needs it must to the irresistible working of the Divine Spirit and to obey when it can rebel no longer Thus the Author sports with his Opposites Touching irresistible Grace Answer I have spoken before the Soul in the first act of Conversion is meerly passive but after the Divine Principles infused acta agit it moves under the sweet influences of the Spirit without whose inspiration as our Church tells us in the thirteenth Article Works done are not pleasant to God yet that inspiration doth not as the Author hints force the will of man but sweetly lead it in a way congruous to its liberty And now the Author shuts up this Section thus I have given thee Reader an entire scheme of a new Religion resulting from an acquaintance with Christs person in all its principles and practices I think there needs no more to expose it to the scorn of every considering man who cannot but discover how inconsistent the religion of Christs Person and of his Gospel are To which I shall only say the Author hath done his endeavour to expose his Opposites to scorn but how new their Religion is how inconsistent with the Gospel and how just the scorn I leave to considering men to determine SECT III. THese men pretend to learn a Religion from Christs Person Mr. Sherlock but this is at best to build Religion upon uncertain conjectures or ambiguous reasons suppose them to be cautions yet what assurance can they have that their inferences are true and as a reason of this the Author afterwards adds There is not a natural and necessary connexion between the person of Christ and what he did and suffered and the salvation of Mankind the Incarnation Life Death Resurrection of Christ were available to those ends for which God designed them but the vertue and efficacy of them doth depend upon God's Institution and Appointment and therefore can be known only by Revelation We cannot draw a Conclusion from the Person of Christ which his Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of the design of it than what is there revealed They learn from Christ's Person Answer but what without the Gospel No by no means without this they cannot pretend not to know whether there be such a Person as Christ or no or what are the Ends of his Incarnation Life Death and Resurrection These depend upon God's appointment and that is set forth in the Gospel But having the Gospel as an outward Medium they see Christ and many Mysteries in him
neither without the imputation of these we cannot be entitled to them to our Justification Now that Faith justifies not absolutely and as our Act may appear In Justification there is a judicial proceeding and we must answer to something to the Gospel only or to the Law also if to the Gospel only then Evangelical Justification is in a way frustrative and not perfective of the Law there needeth only Faith to answer the Gospel and not perfect Righteousness to answer the Law But what saith the Apostle to this Having concluded Justification to be by Faith Rom. 3.30 he immediatly adds Do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law ver 31. And how is this That Faith which answers to the Gospel receives that perfect Righteousness of Christ which answers the Law in every point Christ being the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth as we have it Rom. 10. Without this it is not at all imaginable how Faith or Justification by it should establish or complete the Law our sincere Obedience which flows from Faith can no more do it than imperfection can reach perfection Again if to the Gospel only then all the Pagans must needs be justified for they have nothing to answer unto not to the Gospel that is not reveiled to them not to the Law of Nature that is but the relicts and broken pieces of the Moral Law And if Christians who have the Moral Law in its entire perfection are not to answer to it then surely Pagans who have only some little Fragments of it need not answer thereunto and by consequence they must be recti in Curia before God But if as of necessity we must we must answer to the Law also then Faith as it is in it self and our Act cannot possibly justifie it being but a piece of the Law and that imperfect God who judgeth according to truth will not esteem those perfectly righteous who are not so indeed nor accept of a partial Righteousness for a total one If reply be made This is true when God judgeth Judicio Justitiae but not when he judges Judicio Misericordiae he in his condescending Mercy accepts of Faith in the room of total perfect Righteousness I answer this cannot possibly stand God's Mercy and Truth are never at variance his Truth will not esteem us righteous upon account of a partial imperfect righteousness and his Mercy will not condescend so far as to interfere with his Truth But when he esteems us righteous upon account of a perfect Righteousness which is not our own but Christ's then Truth and Mercy both shine forth Truth in that there is a perfect Righteousness to answer the Law and Mercy in that it is not our own but our Sureties But further If Faith be taken for a perfect Righteousness then it is lifted up into the room of Christ and his Righteousness If you say no Christ's Righteousness is the foundation of this acceptance of Faith I answer Then will it follow that Christ died not so much for Persons to justifie them as for Graces to elevate Faith above it self into the estimation of a perfect Righteousness and withal that Faith is our proper Righteousness in an immediate formal way and Christ but a remote Cause only much after the same rate as the Papists say Bona opera tincta sanguine Christi justificant Works are made the immediate Cause of Justification and Christ the remote Moreover it is to be remembred that nothing can be Instrumentum instrumentatum the Artificers Tools are not the House he makes the Hysops sprinkling of Blood in the Jewish Sacrifices was not the Blood of Christ Faith is not our Righteousness but the Medium to it Hence Phil. 3.9 we read of righteousness by faith it is not it self our Righteousness but a means to it Thus it appears that Faith in it self and as our Act justifies not therefore it justifies as it is that Evangelical Medium which receives Christ and his perfect Righteousness Thus the Reverend Hooker Faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ to Justification and Christ the only Garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled Natures hideth the imperfection of our Works preserveth us blameless in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weakness of our Faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable yea to shut us from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter Thus our Church 2. Hom. of salvation The true understanding of this Doctrine That we are justified by Faith in Christ is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification for that were to count our selves justified by some Act or Vertue that is in our selves And in another place This Righteousness 1. Hom. of salvation which we receive of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits embraced by Faith is accepted by God for our perfect Justification But this is past all doubt Mr. Sherlock when it is confirmed by a Metaphor or two A Ring which hath a precious Stone in it which will stanch blood may be said to stanch it but the Virtue lies in the Stone Faith is the Ring Christ the precious stone all that Faith doth is to bring home Christs Merits to the Soul and so it justifies an invention I never met with before And again In the Body are Veins that suck nourishment from the Stomach Faith is a sucking Vein that draws Virtue from Christ Is not this plain that we are saved by Christ as the Body is nourished by the Stomach That of the Ring is no new or absurd invention Answer it was many years since used by Dr. Pomeran Melch. Ad. in Vita Georg. Anhalt in these words Vt Annulus magnò estimatur amatur propter gemmam non propter aurum sic dicitur fide justificari homines propter gemmam Filium Dei hanc autem gemmam fide amplectimur With this Similitude George Prince of Anhalt was much delighted Neither need the Author have found fault with that other Similitude of a sucking Vein all spiritual nourishment is drawn from Christ and that by Faith Now to make all clear Mr. Sherlock we may give a Philosophical Account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification Because it is an humble Grace and gives the Glory of all to Free Grace If Repentance should fetch Justification from Christ a man would be ready to say This was for my Tears strange deserving Creatures these who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears But Faith is humble it is an empty Hand and what merit can there be in that Doth the poor man's reaching out his hand merit an Alms yes just as much as a few tears merit Heaven Faith is only a golden Bucket that draws water out of the Well of Salvation But why may not
Nature of it consists in the Vnion of things which in Rational Beings consists in mutual Relations and common Interests and the Foundation of it is a likeness of Nature and Harmony of Wills And therefore the Apostle explains our fellowship with God by our being the Temple of God and that God dwells in us and walks in us ver 17.18 As for that place 1 Joh. 1.3 Answer I have answered before As for the other 1 Cor. 1.9 Ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ it is to be considered that in the Epistles written to Visible Churches some things are common to all some proper only to Believers Those Churches are made up of Believers and Unbelievers and all things do not quadrate to all Thus in the quoted Chapter that touching schisms and divisions is an Item to all ver 10. but that fellowship of Christ ver 9. is proper to Believers such as shall be confirmed unto the end ver 8. This place evinces not that our Fellowship with Christ is founded on our Fellowship with the Visible Church all that are in it have not Communion with Christ those therefore who walk in darkness have it not and if they say that they have it the Apostle gives them the lye in plain terms 1 Joh. 1.6 Where by the way it appears that the fellowship with Christ mentioned ver 3. consists not in Fellowship with a Visible Church on the other hand all that are out of it want not Communion with Christ The unbaptized and unjustly excommunicate if Believers have it and yet are not in a Visible Church But saith the Author the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.10 argues from the nature of their Faith in Christ to the obligations of Peace and Vnity To which I answer that the Apostle argues from the precedent Commendations that the Grace of God was given to them ver 4. that in every thing they were inriched ver 5. that they came behind in no gift ver 7. that they had fellowship with Christ ver 9. which were only proper to the Believers among them and from thence exhorts all to Unity ver 10. Because the Believers among them were really such and the rest would seem to be such Afterwards the Author tells us That the Foundation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion is a likeness of Nature and harmony of Wills Now if we speak of Communion with a Visible Church made up of Believers and Unbelievers these have not a likeness of Nature the one having a divine Nature in them the other only an humane and that corrupt nor an harmony of wills the Will of the one being sanctified of the other carnal and vitious which shews that a Visible Church in the whole Complex of it hath only external Ligaments to tye the Members of it together If we speak of Communion with Christ which is proper to believers they are mystically united to Christ by the Spirit and Faith and withal have an heavenly Nature and Will suting to his Now because the Lord's Supper is the only Act which the Scripture mentions Mr. Sherlock whereby our Fellowship with God and Christ is expressed hence it is called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion 1 Cor. 10.16 The cup is the Communion of Christ's blood the bread of his body And he calls it the Communion 1. Because it signifies the Communion of Christians with each other that they are all Members of Christs body ver 17.2 Because it signifies our fellowship with God ver 18. Behold Israel after the flesh are not they that eat of the sacrifice partakers of the Altar The sacrifice on the Altar was reckoned as God's meat as the Temple was his House therefore those who eat of the Sacrifice were entertained at God's Table which was a signification of their Fellowship with him Thus the Lords Supper is a Feast upon a Sacrifice even that great stupendious one of the Body of Christ which was offered on the Cross Therfore to eat the Bread and drink the Wine which are Figures of his Body and Blood is to eat of that Sacrifice that spiritual food God hath provided for us Thus God entertains us at his Table as his own Children who are of his Family as Members of Christ who have a right to all the Blessings of the New Covenant which was sealed with his Blood This is the only Act of Religion which in Scripture signifies Communion with God But Prayer Meditation and such like Acts of Devotion are no where called Communion with God though a prevailing custom hath in our days almost wholly appropriated that name to them Fellowship with God doth not consist in transient acts but is a state of life that relation we stand in to God and Christ and no act of religion properly signifies this fellowship with God but only eating at his table You will not say that a poor man enjoyes communion with his Prince when he puts up his petition to pray to God is an act of homage which we owe him a Duty which results from our fellowship with God but it is not in its own nature an act of communion The Lords Supper is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answer or Communion but Prayer Meditation and such like acts of Devotion are no where called so thus the Author But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned 2 Cor. 13.12 cannot be spared out of Divine Ordinances unless we would strip them of their Divine excellency and write upon them that Ichabod which is proper to their departure And what if there were no such word as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture No more was the Nicene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the Ephesine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing it self being there will suffice all men but Chimers who only follow the sound of words True Believers as they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Partakers of the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 moulded and formed into the Resemblance and beautiful Image of God so they have Communion with God in all holy Ordinances there God meets them and dispenses out spiritual Blessings to them there is a divine Converse and Entercourse between God and believing Souls the drawings of God are answered with the Soul 's running Cant. 1.4 God saith Seek ye my face and the Antiphon in the Soul is Thy face Lord will I seek Psal 27.8 In Prayer the holy Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.26 lifts over against us to help up our devotions and the Great God above makes such sweet returns of Grace and Mercy as if he were present and vocally said Here I am Isai 58.9 While we are devoutly musing the holy Fire will perhaps drop down from Heaven and set the Heart as a spiritual Altar burning and aspiring upwards towards the great Origen of all Goodness and Perfections In the Dispensations of the Word oh what divine Influences and Spirations are there on Gods part What Compliances and Responses on the Believer's Justice
Moses under which they never were God sent forth his Son made of a woman Answer made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons Thus the Apostle Gal. 4. 4 5. The Son of God was made of a woman in his Incarnation made under the Law under the rule of it in his active obedience under the curse of it in his passive and the end of all was that he might redeem us that we who were captives under the wrath of God might be redeemed ones And further that we might receive the adoption of sons that we who were children of wrath might be sons of God and so heirs of eternal life and that it may be thus indeed that Christ's being under the Law his active and passive obedience may procure such a redemption and adoption such an exemption from wrath and title to heaven for us His obedience must be applyed to us and become ours which cannot be but by imputation But saith the Author This us is not in the Text it is not to redeem us but to redeem them that were under the Law that is the Jews But was not Christ a Redeemer of the Gentiles also Or is he not their Redeemer within this Text Yes surely observe the words of the Apostle To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons The Apostle alters his phrase and turns them into we which takes in the Galatians into the adoption and by consequence into the redemption too and to make it more clear he alters his phrase again and turns we into ye in the next verse which hangs upon the former And because ye are sons vers 6. ye Galatians ye Gentiles are sons and ye Galatians ye Gentiles are redeemed ones within the Text Otherwise which is very strange the Apostle should argue from the Redemption of the Jews only to the Adoption of the Gentiles But to go on Christ saith the Author redeemed the Jews from the bondage of the Mosaical Law that is I suppose the Ceremonial Law and introduced a better Covenant the adoption of sons To which I answer Christ did indeed redeem from the bondage of Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies But is this all the Redemption within the Text If we stop here we fall in with the gloss of Socinus who understands only a freedom A jugo legis De servat part 2. cap. 24. ut Spiritûs servilis loeo filialem spiritum adipiscerentur The Redemption here is not to be restrained to a freedom from Mosaical Ceremonies only Christ was made under the whole Law and the Redemption which must be parallel to his being under the Law must not only be a Redemption from the Bondage of the Ceremonial Law but a Redemption from the curse of the Moral of which the Apostle had discoursed but a little before Gal. 3.13 Our Saviour was never made under the whole Law to redeem from a part of it only Again Redemption from the Ceremonial Law was peculiar to the Jews But the Redemption here spoken of reaches as far as the Gentiles also who as I before noted have a share in the Adoption of Sons as well as the Jews The Redemption here spoken of is not a part or piece of Redemption but Redemption in its fulness and excellency Christ by coming into the flesh introduceth a better Covenant that is the beams of Evangelical Light were purer and the effusions of the holy Spirit larger than before But still we must remember that the Covenant of Grace was for substance one and the same under both Testaments Under the Old Testament true Believers had the Law in their heart the Adoption of Sons the free Spirit and a true title to eternal Life And on the other hand under the New Testament unbelievers have the Law and Gospel too but in the Letter their bondage is far greater than that of beggarly Elements The unclean spirit dwells and works in them and the dreadful wrath of God abideth on them Christ's being under the Law saith the Author is his being such a person as should exactly answer all the Types and Figures of the Law Unto which I add His being under the Law is his being such a person as should exactly answer all the demands of the Moral Law in its mandatory and minatory parts I shall now examine what influence the Sacrifice of Christ's Death Mr. Sherlock and the Righteousness of his life have upon our acceptance with God And all that I can find in Scripture about this is that to this we owe the Covenant of Grace that God being well pleased with the obedience of Christ's Life and the sacrifice of his Death for his sake entred into a new Covenant with mankind wherein he promses pardon of sin and eternal life to those who believe and obey the Gospel This is very plain with reference to Christ's death Hence the Blood of Christ is called the blood of the covenant Heb. 10.29 And Christ is called the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls through the blood of the everlasting covenant Heb. 13.20 And the Blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling which speaks better things than the blood of Abel Heb. 12.24 which is an allusion to Moses his sprinkling the blood of the Sacrifice whereby he confirmed the Covenant between God and the children of Israel Heb. 9.19 20 21. For when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law when he had declared the terms of this Covenant to them he took the Blood of Calves and Goats with Water and scarlet Wool and Hysop and sprinkled both the Book and all the People saying This is the blood of the testament which God hath ordained to you Thus the Blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling Because by his Blood God did seal and confirm the Covenant of Grace as the sprinkling of the blood of beasts did confirm the Mosaical Covenant Hence we are said to be justified by the blood of Christ Rom. 5.9 that is by the Gospel-Covenant which was confirmed with his Blood Christ is called a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 that is by a belief of his Gospel Hence the Scripture uses these phrases promiscuously To be justified by Faith and to be justified by the faith of Christ and to be justified by Christ and to be justified through Faith in his blood to be justified and saved by grace Nay by believing that Christ is the Son of God Joh. 20.31 And that God raised him from the dead Rom. 10.9 All which signifie the same thing that we are justified by believing and obeying the Gospel for faith or faith in Christ signifies such a firm belief of the Gospel as brings forth all fruits of obedience and the Grace of God is the Gospel of Christ expresly so called Tit. 2.11 As being the effect of Gods Grace and Faith in the Blood of Christ