and suffer'd for us excites a just hatred of our sins sincere purposes and resolutions of a new life to live to him who died for us a great hope in God who hath provided such a Sacrifice and Atonement such a Mediator and Advocate for us and a stedfast expectation of a future reward This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ when these 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 Union to Christ as you heard above Now I take it for granted that there can be no better way to understand the nature of our Union to Christ than to consider the nature of those Sacraments which were designed as the Instruments and signs of our Union to him and if we will take that account the Scripture gives of them all the Union they signifie is only a publick and visible profession of our Faith in Christ and subjection to him as our Lord and Saviour and a sincere conformity of our hearts and lives to the nature and life of Christ. Fourthly I observe further that fellowship and Communion with God according to the Scripture notion signifies what we call a Political Union that is that to be in fellowship with God and Christ signifies to be of that Society which puts us into a peculiar relation to God that God is our Father and we his Children that Christ is our head and Husband our Lord and Master we his Disciples and followers his Spouse and his body thus in Iohn 1. 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ where I observe that our fellowship with the Father and Son is first founded on our fellowship with the Christian Church that is on our profession of the Faith of Christ obedience to his Laws subjection to his Government and Discipline which he now visibly exerciseth by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church this unites us into one Society and body politick and now by vertue of our fellowship with the Christian Church we have fellowship with Christ who is the supreme Head and Governour of his Church which is a plain argument that all the Apostle means by fellowship with God and Christ is such a Political Union as is between a Prince and his Subjects between Superiours and Inferiours in the same Society Now as you heard before if this profession be only external and visible without the conformity of our hearts and lives to the laws of Christ it gives us only an external fellowship or relation to God and Christ that is such men only appear to be in fellowship with Christ maintaining a visible fellowship with his Church when in truth they are perfect strangers to him such as Christ will not owne for his Disciples as the Apostle adds in Ver. 6. 7. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another c. That is we abuse our selves if we hope that God will owne himself our Father and bestow the inheritance of Children on us while we live in sin but when we join the practice of real righteousness with the visible profession of Christianity then God will owne us for his Children and Christ for the true members of his body So that this fellowship with God and Christ is such a state and condition as we are put into by a visible profession and sincere practice of Christianity and that in short is that we are united to God as his Sons and Children and are united to Christ as his Disciples and members of his body which intitles us to the Inheritance of Children and all the blessings of the Gospel Thus in the 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Iesus 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 immediately adds in the next Verse Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ for the honour and reputation of Christ and his Religion that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions nor 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 Unity which plainly evinces that this fellowship with Christ is that relation we stand in to him as Members of the Christian Church whereof he is Head And that the true notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render sometimes by Fellowship sometimes by Communion is as plain as we can wish in 2 Cor. 6. 14. where the Apostle disswades them from having any fellowship with Heathen Idolaters from eating of their Sacrifices c. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers that is have no society with those men whose Religion is so contrary to yours that you will be as uneasie to each other as two Heifers in the same yoke which draw different ways For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there common between them which they both alike partake of as a foundation of union and concord What communion hath light with darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the same thing what is there common to them both What concord hath Christ with Belial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what consent and harmony of mind to unite them into one fellowship What part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which seems to refer to those portions of Sacrifices which were distributed among them as a Symbol of their Union to each other and to the same God How can a Believer and Unbeliever a Christian and an Idolater have right to a part of the same Sacrifice What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there to unite them together in the same place to reconcile the Temple of God with the Worship of Idols All these expressions decypher to us the nature and foundation of fellowship the nature of it consists in the union of things which in rational Beings consists in mutual relations and common interests and the foundation of it is a likeness of nature and consent 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 Vers. 16. 18. Now because the Lords Supper is the only Act which the
was all the Righteousness he had while he was a Pharisee and this he accounts dung and loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Iesus Christ our Lord i. e. for the sake of the Gospel which is the knowledge of Christ as you hear'd above which contains a more excellent and perfect Righteousness than the Law did and that he might win Christ i. e. that he might attain to an Evangelical Righteousness such as Christ was the Preacher and example of and that he might be found in him not having his own Righteousness which is of the law that at the last day he might appear to be a sound and sincere Christian whose righteousness does not consist only in some external observances or an external Conformity to Gods Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith i. e. that inward and vital principle of holiness that new nature which the Gospel of Christ requires of us and which this Christian Faith will work in us which is a Righteousness of Gods own chusing which he commands and which he will reward To confirm all this we must observe a double Antithesis in the words the Righteousness of the law is opposed to the Righteousness which is by the Faith of Christ and my own Righteousness opposed to the Righteousness of God now the surest way to understand the meaning of this is to consider how these phrases are used in Scripture The Righteousness of the law as you have already hear'd is an external Righteousness which consists in washings and purifications and Sacrifices or an external Conformity to the moral Law the Righteousness which is by the Faith of Christ is an Internal Righteousness which consists in the renovation of our minds and Spirits in the government of our thoughts and passions which is therefore called being born again and becoming new Creatures and rising again with Christ and putting off the old man and being renewed in the spirit of our minds and putting on the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness The meaning of all which phrases is that that Righteousness which God requires of us under the Gospel must be an inward principle of love and obedience which changes our natures and transforms us into the image of God as much as if we were born again and made new Creatures Hence St. Paul tells us that the reason why God sent Christ into the World in our nature to die as a Sacrifice for our sins and to confirm and seal the new Covenant with his blood was that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of the law that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom expounds it that which the law was designed to work in them but was found too weak to effect it by reason of the greater power and prevalency of sin i. e. the inward holiness and purity of mind which was represented and signified by those external Ceremonies of Circumcision washing purifications and Sacrifices this was the design of the Gospel to work in us that internal holiness and purity which is the perfection and accomplishment of the Typical and Figurative Righteousness of the Law I know very well that this place is expounded of the imputation of Christs Righteousness that we fulfil the Righteousness of the Law not personally but imputatively but what reason can there be assigned for this besides that they will expound Scripture so which no man can help for is there any mention here of the Righteousness of Christ that he fulfilled all Righteousness for us and that his Righteousness is imputed to us and so we fulfil the Righteousness of the law in him And we ought to consider how consistent such an interpretation is with the Apostles design which is to show the great vertue and efficacy of the Gospel in delivering us from the power of sin which the law could not effect The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus that divine and spiritual law which Christ hath given us which governs our minds and spirits and is the principal of a new spiritual life makes us free from the law of sin and death from the power and dominion of sin which is called a law and the law in our members warring against the law of our minds Rom. 7. 21 23. for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh what the law could not do i. e. govern our minds and passions deliver us from the law of sin and death from the Power and Dominion of our lusts this God effected by sending Christ into the World to publish the Gospel to us and to confirm all those great promises and threatnings contained in it with his own blood That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit how can imputation come in here What pretty sense would this make of the Apostles Argument The Law was too weak to make men throughly good to conquer their love to sin and to reform their hearts and lives and therefore God sent his Son into the World What for To give them better laws and more excellent promises and more powerful assistances to do good No by no means but to fulfil all righteousness for them that they may fulfil the righteousness of the law not by doing any thing themselves but by having all done for them by having this perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed to them there was no reason surely to abrogate the law of Moses for this end it might have continued in full force still and have been as available to Salvation as the Gospel is with the supplemental Righteousness of Christ But the weakness of the law which the Apostle complains of was not the want of an imputed Righteousness which might have been had as well under the Law as under the Gospel if God had pleased but a want of strength and power to subdue the sinful appetites of men it was weak through the flesh by reason of the greater prevalency of sensual lusts which the law could not conquer and therefore the Gospel of our Saviour must supply this defect not by an imputed Righteousness but by an addition of greater power to enable men to do that which is good to fulfil the external righteousness of the law by a sincere and spiritual obedience Much to the same purpose the Apostle discourses in Rom. 7. Ver. 4 5 6. Wherefore my Brethren you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ who put an end to that imperfect dispensation by his death that you should be marryed to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God for when we were in the flesh under that carnal and fleshly dispensation of the
God by our own righteousness why doth not all our Wisdom of walking with God consist in our Acquaintance with Christ God is light and in him is no darkness at all we are darkness and in us no light at all He is life a living God we are dead dead Sinners dead in trespasses and sins He is holiness and glorious in it we wholly defiled an abominable thing He is love we full of hatred hating and being hated Surely this is no foundation of agreement or upon that of walking that is of Communion together nothing can be more remote than this frame from such a condition The foundation then of this peace that is of agreement and Communion with God is laid in Christ hid in Christ he saith the Apostle is our peace he hath made peace for us he is the new and living way into the holy of holies I am the way saith Christ and no man cometh to the Father but by me he is the Medium of all Communication between God and us in him we meet in him we walk So that if this Gentlemans memory had not failed him he would never have told us in the 8. Chap. that holiness is necessary to our Peace and Communion with God when a little before he had disclaimed this as wholly useless to that purpose But however holiness is very useful to all the purposes of life that it may be and not necessary to Salvation It serves for the Conviction of the Enemies of God How so When it is not essentially necessary to his Friends And it is for the Conversion of others Why so When men may be converted without it It keeps the judgments of God from other men as Ten good men would have preserved Sodom But why cannot the righteousness of Christ do this more effectually than the holiness of men But It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of justified Persons for they are accepted and received into Friendship with an holy God a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity c. and therefore they must cleanse and purifie themselves What need of this When they are Cloathed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness which is the only foundation of our Communion with God as you heard before But however holiness is necessary with respect to sanctification We have in us a new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. this new Creature is fed cherisht nourisht kept alive by the fruits of holiness to what end hath God given us new hearts and new Natures is it that we should kill them stifle the Creature that is found in us in the Womb that we should give him to the old man to be devoured The phrase of this is admirable and the reasoning unanswerable for if men be new Creatures they will certainly live new lives and this makes holiness absolutely necessary by the same Reason that every thing necessarily is what it is when it is but still we enquire after a necessary obligation to the practice of holiness and that we cannot discover yet Well! But Holiness is necessary as the means to the end This indeed is something to the purpose but let us hear how Though it be neither the cause matter nor condition of our justification mark the Hypothesis yet it is the way appointed of God for us to walk in for the obtaining Salvation and therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life purifies himself as he is pure and none shall ever come to the end who walketh not in the way for without holiness it is impossible to see God This I confess is all pertinent and home to the purpose but yet there are two little faults in it that it contradicts it self and overthrows their darling opinions which I can very well pardon if he can What the necessary way to Eternal Life and yet neither the cause matter nor condition at least you might allow the way to Eternal life to be the causa sine qua non without which we shall never get thither and that in spight of all your distinctions will entitle it to the nature of a condition But not to dispute about words I am content it should only be a necessary way to Eternal Life but what becomes of Christ then who is the only way the truth and the life is not the righteousness of Christ able to save us without an additional righteousness of our own doth the Active and Passive Righteousness of Christ both free us from guilt and punishment and give us an actual right and title to glory and yet can we not be saved without walking in the ways of holiness what becomes of free Grace then is not this to eke out the righteousness of Christ with our own to make Christ our justifier and our works our Saviour Thus you see how men wrest and pervert the Scripture to make it speak their sense and justifie their darling opinions and fancies though not always with the same success for some truths are so plain and stubborn that they will not bend but must be broke into the most palpable absurdities and contradictions before they can be fitted to their opinions and then they agree like new Cloath in an old Garment which makes the rent the wider It were easie to produce many more instances of this nature but this is enough to show you how dangerous it is to pre-possess our fancies with some arbitrary notions in Religion which naturally force men to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox language To this we owe all those nice and subtle 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 The Authority of Scripture is sacred and inviolable and it is dangerous to call that into question whatever acquaintance men have with the Person of Christ but as Mr. Chillingworth observes of the Church of Rome that to establish her Tyranny over mens Consciences she need not either abolish or corrupt the holy Scripture which in regard of the numerous multitude of Copies dispersed through all places translated into almost all languages guarded with all solicitous care and industry had been an impossible attempt but the more expedite way and therefore the more likely to be successful was to gain the opinion and esteem of the publick and authorized Interpreter of them and the Authority of adding to them what Doctrines she pleased under the title of traditions or definitions Thus though their fancies and the Scripture agree no better than the Church of Rome and the Scripture do yet they may be both retained so their opinions may but expound the Scriptures and add such limitations distinctions glosses c. as are necessary to make them Orthodox The sum of all is that to know Christ is not to be thus acquainted with his Person but to understand his Gospel in its full latitude and extent It is not the Person but