as the fickle Will of Man doth that standing there is an Election that falling there is none and so toties quoties as often as it pleases man to shew himself variable Election will be something or nothing as it happens This Opinion doth not ascribe Eyes and Hands to God as the gross Anthropomorphites did but it assimilates him to the filly turnings and windings of the Creature But to speak more directly to the Author God's electing Love antecedes all Goodness in in Men and if his elect Vessels fall into great sins as holy David did and this after their Conversion however the Light of God's Countenance be for a time suspended however their habitual Graces be weakned and their Consciences wounded yet the Foundation of God stands sure electing Love remains unvariable and will revive them again by Repentance When God elected a People to himself he did not as Mr. Shaw speaks in allusion to the words of the Apostle use lightness or purpose according to the flesh after the manner of men unsteady and wavering in their determinations no the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his But if the Love of Christ be infinite Mr. Sherlock eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and Misery came into World for if this Love be so because the Divine Nature is so then it was always so for God always was what he is and that which is eternal could never be other than it is now And why could not this Love as well preserve us from falling into Sin Misery and Death as love Life and Holiness into us for it is a little odd first to love us into Sin and Death that then he might love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love were always so unchangeable and fruitful as the Dr. perswades us For if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us how should it happen that we should sin and die The gracious Decree of Election is Answer as becomes the Divine Nature eternal unchangeable fruitful yet was it a free Act terminating upon what Object it pleased Hence God saith Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated he infallibly brings his Elect to Glory But no man may be so vain or presumptive as to limit the holy One or chalk a Way or Method for him to walk in who works all things according to the counsel of his own will But how then came sin and death into the World Why surely it came in by Man's Transgression and under God's-Permission But why could not this eternal unchangeable fruitful Love preserve us from falling I doubt not at all but God who is Almighty could have kept up Man and all his Posterity in their primitive station as well as he did the standing Angels but if you ask on Why did he not do it I have nothing to answer but that it was not his pleasure God loves no man into sin the Expression is too odd for a Christians Mouth or Ear but he suffers his very Elect to fall into sin yet is his Love eternal unchangeable fruitful towards them if I may allude to that of Hezekiah Isai 38.17 He loves them from the pit of corruption he fetches them out of the corrupt Mass of Mankind by his effectual Grace and though afterwards they have many falls and lapses yet electing Love sets to its hand again and revives them by a fresh Repentance shewing it self fruitful in their recovery and safe conduct to Heaven and all this is managed in a way of unaccountable Sovereignty Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal Mr. Sherlock unchangeable fruitful that is that God was alwayes good and alwayes continues good and manifests his love and goodness in such wayes as are suitable to his nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being alwayes determined to the same object but in that he alwayes loves for the same reason that is that he alwayes loves true virtue and goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good and then the immutability of his love is the reason why he loves no longer for should he love a wicked man the reason and nature of his love would change and the fruitfulness of Gods love with respect to the Methods of his Grace and Providence doth not consist in producing what he loves by an omnipotent and irresistible power for then sin and death could never have entered into the world but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such wayes as are most suitable to their Natures he governs reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason as he doth the material World by the necessary Laws of Matter and bruit Creatures by the instincts and propensities of Nature After all the rest Answer the Author himself confesses that there is in God an eternal unchangeable fruitful Love how so There is a Love of Virtue and Goodness and is there not a Love of Persons too The Scripture is express in it St. Paul is a chosen vessel Act. 9. Jacob was loved and that before he was born or had done any good at all Rom. 9. The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2. He calleth his sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 Some are drawn of the Father Joh. 6.44 Some are called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 On some God will have mercy when he hardens others Rom. 9.18 All which places places prove that electing Love is of particular persons who as St. Austin hath it certissimè liberantur are certainly saved when others are left in massa perditionis Unless this be owned that great Design of a Church which is the Master-piece of Providence must be carried on in such a lame and imperfect manner as if God which is unworthy of him should say I would have a Church but I intend not who shall make it up Such a Jeofail is hardly to be found in a prudent Man But saith the Author The Vnchangeableness of God's Love doth not consist in being determined to the same Object but in that he always loves for the same Reason that is he always loves true Vertue and Goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good he always loves for the same Reason where Goodness is there he loves where Goodness is not there he loves not This is the Author's meaning this is loving for the same Reason But if this had been so what could have become of Man corrupt lapsed Man in whom as our Church tells us there is not a spark of Goodness How desperate must his case have been Divine Love could not possibly have let out a drop of Mercy to such an one much less have shewed forth it self in such an unparalle'd Act as the Mission of his own Son for our Redemption there
opening of it all vanishes into nothing God's holy Ordination was his pleasure but Man's Sin is hateful and provocative of wrath This cannot be strange to any one versed in Scripture The Assyrian Tyrant was the Staff and the Rod in Gods hand sent by him against his people yet when the work was done God would punish the fruit of his stout heart and kindle a fire under his Glory Gods Hand and Gods Counsel was in the Crucifixion of Christ and yet what an horrible tempest of wrath came down on the Jews for it The other Expression is this This falls hard upon those miserable wretches who without any fault of theirs were left out of the Roll of Election To which I answer It is very hard if God may not have his Royal Prerogative of putting in or leaving out whom he pleases in the Book of Life the Apostle is clear He will have mercy on whom he will whom he will he hardens Rom. 9. And if any murmur he must hear Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God As if the Apostle had said If thou hadst O Man but any Sentiments of thy own Nothingness or true Rayes of the divine Glory thou wouldst never dare to implead thy Maker Thou wouldst not endure to see a little Fly or Ant had it Reason enough to draw an Earthly Prince into question and wilt thou do so to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth There is no Commune Jus or Common Measure between him and thee to warrant such a presumption This is not enough Mr. Sherlock said the Doctor that we are not guilty we must also be actually righteous not only all sin is to be answered for but all righteousness is to be fulfilled Now this Righteousness we find only in Christ we are reconciled to God by his Death and saved by his Life that actual Obedience he yielded to the whole Law of God is that Righteousness whereby we are saved we are innocent by virtue of his Expiation and righteous with his Righteousness Upon which words the Author infers This is a mighty comfortable discovery how we may be righteous without doing any thing that is good or righteous but the Gospel tells us that he is righteous who doth righteousness that without holiness no man shall see God that the only way to obtain pardon of sins is to repent of and forsake them The only thing that gives a right to the promises of future Glory is to obey the Laws and imitate the Example of our Saviour and to be transformed into the Nature and likeness of God The Doctor is no enemy to Holiness Answer but cannot assign it an Vbi in Justification no more doth our Church who in the Homily touching the Salvation of Man saith All men are sinners and breakers of the Law therefore can no man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God but every man is constrained to seek for another Righteousness which afterwards is declared to be Christ's fulfilling the Law and making satisfaction In Justification no other Righteousness can take place but that Active and Passive one of Christ which answers the pure and righteous Law in every point He that doth righteousness is righteous that is his doing shews but doth not make him righteous in Justification Repentance is an Evangelical Condition but no Cause of Pardon Holiness and Obedience are the way to Glory but not the Cause of it A Transformation into God's Image makes us meet for Heaven but the Righteousness of Christ alone purchased a Title for us As to what the Author adds Though our Obedience be not perfect if it be sincere we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ I answer Our Obedience is accepted but not to be the matter of our Justification Christ's Righteousness alone is that which answers the Law for us The third part of our Wisdom is to walk with God Mr. Sherlock saith the Doctor and to that is required Agreement Acquaintance a Way Strength Boldness and aiming at the same Ends and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in the Lord Jesus The sum of which saith the Author in short is this That Christ having expiated our sins and fulfilled all righteousness for us though we have no personal righteousness of our own but are as contrary to God as darkness is to light and death to life and an universal polution to an universal holiness and hatred to love yet the Righteousness of Christ is a sufficient nay the only foundation of our agreement and upon that of our walking with God though St. John tells us If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth Christ the sufficient and only Foundation Answer No doubt he is so who can who dares lay any other Had not he satisfied divine Justice there could have been no room for agreement or walking with God but as cursed Exiles we must have gone to our own place in the lowest Hell But what Foundation is he Is he such an one that prophane persons contrary to God as Darkness to Light Death to Life Polution to Holiness and Hatred to Love may whilest such agree or walk with God Is he such that such wicked ones walking in darkness may have fellowship with him contrary to that of the Apostle Or that such may as the Authors phrase is become bold and look Justice in the face and whet their knife at the Counter-door all their debts being discharged by Christ Doth the Dr. say so or mean any such thing No surely hear what he saith not in remote places but upon this very point God is Light we darkness he Life we dead sinners he Holiness we defiled he Love we hatred surely this is no foundation of agreement or upon that of walking together nothing can be more remote than this frame from such a condition The foundation then of this is laid in Christ he is our peace he slew the Enmity in his Body on the Cross he made an atonement with God God lays down the Enmity on his part and proceeds to slay the Enmity on ours We receive the Atonement lay down our Enmity to God and have access unto the Father Christ gives us an Vnderstanding to know him that is true he consecrates a new and a living way into the holiest of all and this way is no other but himself he is the Medium of communication between God and us all influences of Love Kingness Mercy from God to us are through him all our returns of Love Delight Obedience to God are all through him nay all our Strength is from him by the Spirit of life and power he bears us on Eagles Wings in the paths of walking with God and in him we come to have an aim and design at Gods Glory Thus and much more saith the Dr. in that place his excellent
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
as the Apostle mentions That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.10 And whence had they this Learning they heard him and were taught by or in him not from the personal Preaching of Christ in the flesh but in and by his Ministers and holy Spirit I add his holy Spirit because the Gospel alone cannot do it which made St. Austin say De Praed Sanct. cap. 8. Cùm Evangelium praedicatur quidam credunt quidam non credunt sed qui credunt praedicatore forinsecùs sonante intùs à Patre audiunt atque discunt qui autem non credunt foris audiunt intùs non audiunt neque discunt that such is the Learning meant here appears from the after words As the truth is in Jesus Truth is in the Gospel notionally but in Christ practically all Graces being exemplified in him and the true learners are conformed to his Image and as the Apostle hath it in the next Verses they put off the old man and put on the new and so are assimilated to his Death and Resurrection It is acknowledged by all Mr. Sherlock that Christ sometimes signifies the Church which is his Body Thus we must understand those Phrases of being in Christ engrafted into Christ and united to Christ It is acknowledged by all Answer that Christ sometimes signifies the Church how then can he charge those whom he opposes that where-ever they meet with the word Christ in Scripture they always understand by it the Person of Christ pag. 4 As for the Phrases of being in Christ c. I shall reserve them till I come to the Mystical Union To what the Author infers from the various significations of the Name Christ That such mistakes have been occasioned thereby that some are very zealous to advance Christ's Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion I shall only say It is not so Instead of the substantial Duties of the Love of God and Men Mr. Sherlock and an universal Holiness of Life they have introduced a fanciful Application of Christ to our selves and Vnion to him set off with those choice Phrases of closing with Christ and embracing Christ and getting an interest in Christ and trusting and relying and rolling our selves on Christ Fanciful Answer alas that a Christian a Divine should let drop such a reproachful word on so sacred a thing as the Application of Christ Without this the excellent Scripture must I fear labour under very odd Glosses such as these A Believer may be in Christ and out of him he may put him on and off at the same time he may have Communion with him without Union and feed on him without so much as reception Christ may dwell in the Believer at a Distance and abide in him without the least approach Which are such kind of Absurdities as a man would hardly name for fear of grating pious Ears and Hearts But this is not all Without this true Faith which as Learned Dr Ward observes is uppropriativa Christi must forfeit its Nature unless it can appropriate without Application and Christ its precious Object must lose the Vertue of his Blood and Merits unless they can heal at a distance For what shall we say May an unapplied Christ be in us the hope of Glory or may his unapplied Obedience make us righteous or his unapplied Blood justifie us or his unapplied Death reconcile us to God It is not for ordinary Capacities to apprehend it However if Application fail may the Universal Holiness of Life which the Author speaks of consist Our Saviour tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate from me ye can do nothing Joh. 15.5 In which words the Melevitan Fathers observe a great Emphasis Non dicitur sine me difficiliùs potestis facere sed sine me nihil potestis facere And how any man should either not be separate from an unapplied Christ or lead a Life of Universal Holiness in such a statu separato I cannot imagine But what speak I of Universal Holiness Never any man off from that divine Root of Grace hath since the Fall bore so much as a Blossom of true Sanctity Instead of Obedience to the Gospel and Laws of Christ Mr. Sherlock they have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick Devotion which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ in admiring his personal Excellencies Fulness Beauty Loveliness Riches c. the foundation of all which Riddles and Mysteries is that they may make the Person of Christ almost the sole Object of the Christian Religion To slight the Fulness Answer Beauty Loveliness Riches of Christ is very hardly tolerable among Christians and to question why they so passionately love such an one is as the Philosopher told him who asked why men were so taken with outward Beauty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a blind man's question none but the spiritually blind can wonder at the loving of one altogether lovely But these men are for an Amorous and Enthusiastick Love Amorous all Love is so but what in a gross and carnal way No it is far from those Men who are not at all a kin to Castalio who as is said called the Song of Solomon an obscene Ballad not relishing that divine Love between Christ and the Church which all along is pourtraied therein in Allegories and beautiful colours Enthusiastick why so possibly because it is a thing inspired from the Spirit it is so Scriptures and Fathers will own such a blessed Enthusiasm Ipse nobis fidem amorem sui inspirat saith the Arausican Council But which is the fundamental mistake they make the Person of Christ almost the sole Object of the Christian Religion I confess and it is no shame to say so they esteem themselves compleat only in Christ they trust in him they love and obey him their acceptance is in his Merits therir assistance from his Spirit their Graces hang on him as Beams on the Sun their good Works are perfumed with his sweet-smelling Sacrifice they look on him as their great All and do all they do in him and for him Quicquid oratur docetur vivitur extrà Christum est Idololatria coram Deo peccatum said Luther CHAP. II. THose men who talk so much of the Person of Christ Mr. Sherlock frequently without any Sense and Generally without any just Ground from Reason or Scripture are very clamorous and alarm the world with strange jealousies and fears as if there were a Party of men started up who design to make Christ useless What! without Sense Reason Answer and Scripture too Alas poor inconsiderable Creatures What need such strong impetuous opposition be made against them or how are such men likely to alarm the World with fears But for the thing it self I hope the Author designs not to make Christ useless but what he doth towards it in denying
imputation and who ever heard of a Mediator made such by imputation or by that Righteousness which another performed for him The Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us but what Secundum totam latitudinem to all intents and purposes whatsoever Oh no it is not imputed to us to do that which is impossible to make us Mediators or the Efficients of it but so far only as to make us Righteous before God by the imputation of it we are justified and saved but we are not Mediators and Saviours The Righteousness is formally Christ's the one Mediators but materially it becomes ours by imputation so far forth as to justifie us The Righteousness it self is one thing and the manner of application another Bellarmine himself who made the objection can say in another place passiones Christi quae sunt infiniti pretii De Indulgent l. ◠cap. 4. applicari per indulgentias finiso modo So say I the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us not to all intents and purposes not to translate a Mediatorship upon us but in a limited manner to justifie and save us who are the receivers of it It is imputed to every Believer but it makes never an one of them God-man and no man that is a meer man or less than God-man can be an expiating and saving Mediator or if he could he could not be such without a Divine Call or Ordination which no Believer can pretend to The Mediatorship is totally solely Christ's but the Righteousness which he performed is so far imputed to us as to justifie and save us The satisfaction of Christ's death is made ours and that by imputation or else we must be pardoned without a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet that imputation doth not make us satisfying Mediators Our Church tells us 1. Hoim of Salvation Christ is the Righteousness of them that believe he for them paid the ransom by his death he for them fulfilled the Law in his life So that now in him and by him every true Christian may be called a fulfiller of the Law And yet our Church never dreamed of any such thing as that such an imputation would turn a Believer into a Mediator there is therefore no ill consequence but an infinite comfort in this assertion that the Righteousness of Christ our Mediator is imputed to us The Doctor tells us Mr. Sherlock That Christ was under no obligation to obey these Laws himself And to make this appear he discourses particularly of the Law of our Creation and the Ceremonial Law given to the Jews And for the first the Law of Creation that comprehends those eternal Laws which result from the essential difference of good and evil which all mankind are bound to observe by the very frame of their natures Now he dares not deny that Christ was bound to obey this Law for himself but then his obedience was voluntary And what of that For so the obedience of every good man is for by voluntary he tells us he doth not mean That it was meerly arbitrary and at his choice whether he would obey or not but on supposition of his undertaking to be Mediator it was necessary it should be so but he voluntarily and willingly submitted to it and so became really subject to the commands of it And is it not very plain now that Christ was not obliged to obey those Laws because he willingly submitted to them but he means somewhat more by this voluntary than he could tell how to express and all that I can guess is that whereas we are bound to obey these Laws antecedently to our choice it was not so with him for his obligation was consequential upon his being born and becoming man which was his own choice and yet even then as he tells us As he was Mediator God-man he was not by the institution of that Law obliged to it being as it were lifted up above that Law by the hypostatical Union Now this is very profound reasoning for the meaning of it is this That Christ had not been bound to live like a man unless he had become man and yet I can grant something more that it was impossible that he should have lived like a man without being man But when he chose to be man he was bound to discharge all the duties of a man for himself But how could he be exempted from this Law by being Mediator God and Man When the Doctor acknowledges that upon supposition of his being Mediator it was necessary it should be so that is that he should obey now not to be obliged by the Institution of the Law as Mediator and that it should be necessary for him to obey as Mediator are at so great a distance that it may serve for another trial of skill to reconcile them Christ Answer when he assumed the humane Nature was as man subject to the Law of Creation for his humane Nature was but a Creature and its will not being Supreme in it self was under the Divine Will but Christ freely and voluntarily became man and so put himself of his own accord into the state of subjection and as he was not made man for himself but for us So neither was he made under the Law for himself but for us Hence the Apostle joyning both these together He was made of a woman made under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Superadds as the end common to both that he might redeem us he assumed humanity and with it duty neither for himself but both for us that he might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfil the Law Matth. 5.17 for us not only doctrinally by opening the pure Spirituality of it but practically too by fulfilling all the Righteousness thereof Christ as man was bound by the Law but this hinders not but that his obedience may be for us and may be imputed to us in justification No sooner was that Divine Decree which put a must upon Christ's sufferings made known to him as man but he was bound to dye and yet his death was a sweet Sacrifice for us and a propitiation for our sins And as the Blood of Christ was the Blood of God so the obedience of Christ was the obedience of God being stamped with his Deity it amounted to an infinite summ enough for himself and a world besides Christ was in some sence as it were exempted and lifted up above the Law by the hypostatical Union he might have carried up the Humane Nature into heaven in the very first instant of its assumption he need not have performed the Law in such a debased manner for such a space of time and in such a place as earth he was not simply and absolutely bound to it in himself but upon supposition that he took upon him the Mediatory Office he was bound to fulfil the Law for us as he did Though we suppose Mr. Sherlock that Christ as man was bound to yield obedience to the Law of Creation yet the
justifying Grace to be donum in Animainhaerens Renovation and Regeneration Against this our Protestant Divines have sufficiently testified Indeed no man who understands either himself and his own Errata's or the necessary distinction which is to be made between Justification and Sanctification can assert it And now nothing remains to be our Righteousness in Justification but the Obedience and atoning Blood of Christ and these cannot be applied to us and become ours but by Imputation By this it appears that the Blood of Christ doth not only confirm the Covenant but that it justifies us also And this further appears by the place quoted by the Author Moses sprinkled the blood on the book and on all the people Heb. 9.19 He did not only confirm the Covenant but sprinkled the People too this was the Type or Figure but Christ who is the Substance not only confirms the Covenant but sprinkles the hearts of Believers by his Blood Hence their hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. 10.22 and they have the sprinkling of the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 But to go on The Scripture saith the Author uses these phrases promiscuously to be justified by Faith by Christ by Grace nay by believing that Christ is the Son of God or risen from the dead To which I answer All these concurr to the same Justification but not in the same manner Grace which is the inward impulsive Cause of Justification is not Christ or his Blood the Blood of Christ which is the Matter of our Righteousness is not Faith Faith which is the Hand to receive Christ and Grace is not the Gospel the Charter of Justification which contains the Evangelical Axioms such as those touching Christ's being the Son of God or touching his Resurrection from the dead are These are distinct things and not to be confounded As for that place Eph. 2.14 15 16. the Apostle speaks indeed of reconciling Jews and Gentiles but that is not all he speaks too of reconciling both to God ver 16. and of making them one new man in himself ver 15. which notes a further reconciliation than that among themselves even a conjunction with God and Christ according to our Saviours Prayer That they maybe one in us Joh. 17.21 Christ saith the Author abrogated the Mosaical Law I answer He did so as to Types and Ceremonials but the Moral Law which is immortalized by its intrinsecal Sanctity stands to this day and the Grace which was under the Old Testament was not abrogated but made more illustrious than it was before The Gentiles saith the Author were at a distance from God But if they had natural Faith and could by it please God the distance was less and more tolerable though they were but in the outward Court of the Temple nay though they were a thousand miles off from it they would do well enough in the other world Mr. Sherlock Thus the Jews are said to be redeemed from the curse of the Law by the accursed death of Christ upon the Cross Gal. 3.13 Because the death of Christ put an end to that Legal dispensation and sealed a new and better Covenant between God and Man and the Gentiles were redeemed from their vain conversation received from their fathers that is from those idolatrous and impure practices they were guilty of not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 1.18 19. Now the Gentiles were delivered from their Idolatry by the preaching of the Gospel which is called their being redeemed by the blood of Christ because we owe this unspeakable blessing to his death Thus the Jews are redeemed from the curse of the Law by the accursed death of Christ Answer Gal. 3.13 so the Author and thus Socinus De Servat part 2. cap. 1. Ad Judaeos tantùm pertinet This belongs only to the Jews But the Curse which fell upon Christ was not a ceremonial one but a real such as put him into Agonies and a bloody Sweat neither were the Jews only redeemed from it but the Gentiles also what else was this to the Galatians who were Gentiles Were not the Gentiles also under the Curse and by nature children of wrath No doubt they were the Apostle saith That Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ver 14. And surely he would not argue from the Redemption of the Jews only to the Benediction of the Gentiles but from what was common to both of them The Gentiles were redeemed from their vain conversation that is from their idolatrous practices with the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. that is they were delivered by the preaching of the Gospel So the Author But when they were redeemed from their vain Conversation they were redeemed from the guilt of it and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this was not the Gospel but the precious Blood of Christ who was a Lamb without blemish and without spot Those men are injurious to the Blood of Christ Mr. Sherlock who attribute no more to it than a non-imputation of sin That by his death Christ Dr. Owen Com. 193. bearing and undergoing the punishment due to us paying the ransom due for us delivered us from the wrath and curse of God And thus by Christ's death all cause of quarrel is taken away But then this will not complete our acceptation the old quarrel may be laid aside and yet no new friendship begun we may be not sinners and yet not so far righteous as to have a right to the Kingdom of heaven So that the Blood of Christ only makes us innocent delivers us from guilt and punishment but if we will take the Doctor 's word for it it can give us no title to Glory this is owing to the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Obedience of his Life But you see the Scripture gives us a quite different account of it we are said to be justified and redeemed by the Blood of Christ nay We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus Heb. 10.19 which is an allusion to the high Priest's entring into the Holy of Holies which was a Type of Heaven with the blood of the Sacrifice Thus by the Blood of Christ we have admission into heaven it self though the Dr. says That the Blood of Christ makes us innocent but cannot give us a Title to Heaven The Scripture takes no notice of their artificial Methods That the guilt of sin is taken away by the death of Christ and that we are made righteous by his Righteousness But the Blood of Christ is said to justifie us and to give us admission into the holiest of all into heaven it self nay we are made righteous by the death of Christ too 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him That is Christ died as a Sacrifice for our sins that we might be reconciled to God So that our Righteousness as well as Innocence is owing to the death of Christ to that Sacrifice he offered for our sins his Blood had a great vertue in it to make us righteous to purge our consciences from dead works that we might serve the living God and our righteousness and accceptance with God is wholly owing to that Covenant which he purchased and sealed with his Blood I suppose the Author to be a very unfit man to put in this accusation Answer Who attributes most to that Blood the Author or these men is a very short issue and will soon he tried Christ's Blood sealed and confirmed the Covenant this is the all of it saith the Author These men though they do not stint it with an All yet they freely own That Christ's death did seal and confirm the Covenant evidently therefore they attribute as much to Christ's blood as the Author doth But do they stay here No they say with the Apostle That we are justified by Christ's blood Rom. 5.9 And doth the Author do so No surely We are justified by his blood that is by the Gospel-Covenant which was confirmed with his blood Thus the Author Now if justifying and confirming the Covenant be one thing then the Author allows justification by Christ's blood But justifying and confirming the Covenant are not one thing Christ's blood according to the Author confirmed the Covenant for all but it doth not justifie all Hence it appears that the Author allows not justification by Christ's Blood and yet he charges these men with being injurious to it to which they attribute remission or non-imputation of sin But for the matter it self I conceive that the Obedience and Blood of Christ are to be taken in conjunction both together are the completure of the Law both are imputed to us both justifie us unto life eternal Hence I conceive where one is expressed in Scripture the other is implyed when the Scripture saith That we are justified by Christ's blood Rom. 5.9 It doth include his Obedience and when it saith That we are made righteous by his obedience Rom. 5.19 it doth include his Blood also Hence our Church takes in both into justification 1. Hom. of Salvation He paid the ransom for them by his death he fulfilled the Law for them in his life so that in and by him every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller of the Law But though our pardon and justifieation be attributed to the Blood of Christ Mr Sherlock yet I could never perswade my self that this wholly excludes the perfect Obedience and Righteousness of his life For the Apostle tells us That we are accepted in the beloved Eph. 1.6 Whatever rendred Christ beloved of God did contribute something to our acceptance For because he was beloved we are accepted for his sake No man will deny that God was highly pleased with his perfect Obedience We know how many blessings God bestowed upon the children of Israel for the sake of their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob who were great examples of Faith and obedience which made them very dear to God and no doubt God was more pleased with the Obedience of Christ than with the Faith of Abraham and therefore we ought not to think that we receive no benefit by the Righteousness of Christ when Abraham 's posterity was so blessed for his sake But then Christ's Righteousness and Death serve not two such different ends as these men fancy but they both serve the same end to establish the Covenant God was so well pleased with what Christ did and suffered that for his sake he entred into a Covenant of Grace with man As Abraham 's Faith was not imputed to his Posterity as their act but for Abraham 's sake God entred into Covenant with them and chose them for his peculiar people Here we have the Author acknowledging Answer that the obedience of Christ did contributé something to our acceptance with God The children of Israel were blessed for Abraham 's obedience and why may not we for Christs The confequence is undeniable but there is a vast disproportion between Abraham's obedience and Christs Abraham's was but the obedience of a man and of an imperct man but Christs was the obedience of God His Blood is called the blood of God and for the very same reason his obedience may be stiled the obedience of God Abraham's had not a jot or tittle of merit in it he had nothing to glory in before God But Christ's was so richly meritorious as to purchase the Blessings of both Worlds Abraham's was not imputed to his Posterity it was little enough and without Christ's Righteousness to cover its defects too little for himself But Christ's is imputed to us and is long enough and broad enough to cover a multitude of Believers and to justifie them before God The Covenant made with Abraham was the very Covenant of Grace The Gospel was preached to Abraham Gal. 3.8 And Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoyced Joh. 8.56 And hence it appears that the Covenant with Abraham was not founded in Abraham's Righteousness but in Christ's and therefore the Apostle tells us expresly That it was confirmed before of God in Christ Gal. 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before confirmed The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tells us that the Gospel was in Abraham's time The obedience of Christ's life was one thing Mr Sherlock which made his Sacrifice so meritorious which was the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and spot And this is the most that can be made of Rom. 5.18 19. As by the offence of one judgement came upon all to condemnation So by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous There is no necessity of expounding this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obedience of the Righteousness of Christ's life for it may well signifie no more than the obedience of his death notwithstanding the Doctors distinction that doing is one thing and suffering another For the Apostle tells us That he became obedient unto death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.8 And his offering himself in Sacrifice is called doing God's will Heb. 10.9 10. And whether this be properly said or not I will leave the Doctor to dispute with the Apostle It is plain that in this Chapter there is no express mention made of any act of obedience and righteousness whereby we are reconciled to God But only his dying for us in vers 8. the Apostle tells us That Christ dyed for us In vers 9. That we are justified by his blood In the 10. That we are reconciled by his death which makes it more than probable that by his Righteousness and Obedience here the Apostle understands