sayes he for though it be not exact and perfect in every thing yet if it be sincere we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ by vertue of the Covenant that he hath Sealed with his Blood But I am afraid he has conjured up a Spirit that he cannot lay again with so sorry a Charm For 1. I do not find that God has abated any thing of his Law but is as peremptory as ever for Do this and live Nothing will please God less than exact and perfect Obedience though in the Covenant of Grace he is pleased to admit Another a Mediator to doe it for Believers I had rather he would hear the Reverend and Learned Bishop Reynolds upon Psal. 110. p. 492. In point of Validity or Invalidity there can be but Five things said of the Law 1. Either it must be Obeyed and that it is not for all have sinn'd and come short of the Glory of God Rom. 3. 23. Or 2. it must be Executed upon Men and the Curse and Penalty thereof inflicted and that it is not neither for there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jâ—…sus Rom. 8. 1. Or 3. it must be Abrogated or extinguish'd and that it is not neither for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass away If there were no Law there would be no Sin for sin is the Transgréssion of the Law And if there were no Law there would be no Iudgement for the World must be judged by the Law Or 4. it must be Moderated and favourably interpreted by Rules of Equity and that it cannot be neither for it 's inflexible and one jot or tittle must not be abated Or lastly the Law it self remaining the Obligation thereof notwithstanding must towards such or such Persons be so far forth dispensed withall as that a Surety shall be admitted upon a Concurrence of all their Wills who are therein interested God willing to Allow Christ willing to Perform Man willing to Enjoy both to doe all the Duties and to suffer all the Curses of the Law in behalf of that Person who in Rigor should have done or suffer'd all so that the Law nor one jott or tittle thereof is abrogated in regard of the Obligation therein contained but they are all reconciled in Christ Thus far he But 2. That Sincerity which he talks of is indeed allow'd in the Gospel in the Matter of Inherent Righteousness and Sanctification there it has a proper and excellent place but comes not into the business of Iustification at all And 3. This Sincerity will be but a Cover-slut for the Omission and Neglect of our Duty for if Sincerity will do the work without Universality and Integrity of Obedience the best way will be to shrowd our selves under a profound Ignorance of Gods Commandements and then the less we know of Gods Will the safer we are under the shelter of Sincerity And 4. The Question will be How much shortness of Obedience will this Sincerity compound for It may be our Author will prescribe a Drachm of Sincerity to a Scruple of Disobedience but then Another will make a Grain of Sincerity a very little upon a knifes point serve to sweeten a whole Pound of Defect in Duty and thus every Mountebank with a dose of his Electuary of Sincerity will pretend to heal mens Consciences of those wounds that Sin has given them 5. Whereas our Author addes that we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ it 's a meer Iuggle for when he comes to enquire What Influence the Righteousness and Death of Christ have upon our acceptation with God he professes he can find nothing in the world but that God will pardon us if we believe and obey the Gospel p. 320. which doubtless he would have done without him But this is onely to make the same use of Christ that Politicians doe of the Foxes Case to piece the Lyons skin when it 's too short just so must Christ serve to eke out the shortness of their Obedience with his own and when they have stretcht their own Righteousness upon the Tenters as far as it will hold to be beholden to Christ for the Rest God for Christs sake does indeed accept our imperfect Duty Obedience Service and pardon the shortness of it according to the Tenour of the Covenant of Grace but not that it should thereby stand for our Iustification which we have onely upon the Account of what he has done and suffered for us made ours by accepting him upon his own Terms 3. We are come with much adoe to the third and last Addition that these men make or are supposed to make to the Gospel Viz. Concerning our Wisdom to walk with God To which thinks Doctor Owen there is required Agreement Acquaintance Way Strength Boldness and aiming at the same End and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in the Lord Iesus It were worth the while to transcribe the Doctors discourse upon all these Heads but our Author has saved me the Labour The summe of all 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 Pollution and Defilement to an universal and glorious Holiness and Hatred to Love yet the Righteousness of Christ is a sufficient nay the onely Foundation of our Agreement and upon that of our walking with God Now without doubt our Author would have his Reader believe that the Doctor has said all this and that he intends we may have Communion with God whilest we continue thus I confess at the reading hereof I was amazed knew not what to think Have I been all this while so narrowly watching the Doctor that a false Print much less a false Doctrine could not escape me and is our Author come after me and findes all this filth and abominable stuffe Once again therefore because I durst not trust my own Eyes or Ears and am under a Vow never to trust our Authors Tongue or Pen speaking evil of the Doctor I took down the Book and what I find I will transcribe and let all the world judge Com. p. 119. The Prophet tells us that two cannot walk together unless they be agreed Amos 3. 3. Untill Agreement be made there is no Communion God and Man by Nature or whilest Man is in the state of Nature are at the greatest Enmity He declares nothing to us but wrath neither do we come short of him yea we first began it and continue longest in it In this state the wisdom of walking with God must needs be most remote from the Soul He is Light and in him is no Darkness at all we are Darkness and in us is no Light at all he is Life a living God we are dead Sinners dead in Trespasses and sins he is Holiness and glorious in it we wholly defiled and an abominable thing he is Love
Another The short of the Business lyes here Our Lord Jesus Christ by his Resurrection Ascension into Heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high is visibly exalted to more Dignity and Honour he exercises his Regal power in a way more glorious and agreeable to his exalted state yet was he truely a King from his Incarnation and all along in this world and gave such Proofs of his Royal greatness and Power that the Devils had not Impudence enough to out-face them And now to conclude all with this excellent Gloss upon the whole matter It was an Act of his Regal Power to conquer Error and Ignorance to destroy the Kingdom of Darkness by the Brightness of his Appearing to erect his Throne in the Hearts and Consciences of Men. These Metaphors of conquering destroying erecting a Throne came in as luckily as the heart of man could wish to prove a Royal Power for what man will now be so refractory but he will confess and so senseless and stupid but he may smell a Kingdom in the wind when he hears such language but now if you strip these Metaphors to their bare skins and uncase them of all our Authors Bombast and Fustian they shrink into a mere declaration of Truth leaving the matter to the umpirage of an habitually prejudiced and prepossessed Will and some think here 's no great Kingship in all this for all this is done by the Power and evidence of Truth which argues a Prophet teaching an Oratour pleading or a Disputant arguing but little of a King commanding conquering and subduing the heart to himself and there erecting a Throne in opposition to all the force that Satan and Helâ—… can make against him We do freely own that to conquer and destroy the Kingdom of Darkness to erect a Throne in the Hearts of Men are proper Acts of Christs Kingly Office but then there goes a little more to the business than the bare Evidence of Truth the Arm of a King must be revealed as well as the Mouth of a Prophet opened a Power to deal with the enslaved and obstinate Will as well as a Light to shine into the darkened understanding which Light yet requires something of the Kingly energie to render it savingly enlightning to the mind and understanding And now our Author has made the kingly Office to swallow up the Prophetical have but patience till he has made it â—…at up the Priestly Office too and then â—…e day is his own for ever Secondly He comes to Attacque the Sacerdotal Office of Christ. He was saith he a Kingly Priest Well! so he was and so he might be and yet though both the Offices center'd in his Person they might be formally distinct in their Acts special Ends and proper Objects Nay we will allow that All his Offices conspiring in the same general Ends their Acts might have mutual respect and give reciprocal assistance each to other And he could not have chosen a fitter Instance than that of Melchizedek who being King of Salem and Priest of the most high God Heb. 7. yet would it savour of too gross Absurdity to say that when he offered sacrifice or blessed Abraham he appeared in the Quality of a King or when he enacted Civil Laws he bore the Character of a Priest but our Authors Proofs are as Pertinent as his Doctrine True His Doctrine is When he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin he acted like a King p. 6. Really one would think he acted as like a Priest as we could reasonably desire For 1. Here is a Sacerdotal Act he offer'd 2. A Sacrifice Himself And 3. This was for sin And what of a King do we spell out of all this The truth is there 's nothing in all this but a pitifull Socinian Iuggle who having resolved not to own Christ as a true and proper Priest at all and yet not daring to deny express phrases of Scripture found out this Expedient to own the thing in words and then to shuffle it off with a Metaphor The Proof of his Doctrine is of the same Leaven Ioh. 10. 18. No man took his Life from him he had power to lay it down and he had power to take it up again Our Author had told us p. 2. of a crafty sort of Men in the World that consider nothing but the sound of words and from thence form such uncouth Idaea's of Religion as are fitted to the meanness of their understanding and will tell us further p. 102. of some who Interpret Scripture by the Sound and Clink of Words and Phrases And it seems the Contagion of this vanity infected his own intellectuals he found the word Power in the Text and he runs away with a full crye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Mischief on 't is it 's not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Physical but a Moral Power that Christ owns there a Power which is common to all his Offices he had Power or Commission to Preach Power or Authority to Rule and govern Power or warrant from his Father to lay down his Life for the great End that was agreed on between them both For he explains himself in the same Verse Not this Strength but This Commandement I received from my Father Nor yet is it denyed that Christ made use of his Kingly might in laying down his Life and taking it up again all we plead for is that the Offices and their peculiar Acts may not be jumbled and confounded together Thirdly Having dispatch'd out of the way the two great Eye-sores of the Prophetical and Priestly Office he thought it not amiss to send the third after them And that to which we commonly appropriate the Name of Regal Power that Authority he is vested with to govern his Church to send his Spirit to forgive sins to dispense grace and supernatural assistances to answer Prayers and raise the dead and judge the World All this is the reward of his Death and Sufferings I confess I wondre'd why he should make the Regal Office of Christ so over-top all the rest but I soon satisfied my self from Volkelius lib. 3. de verâ Relig. p. 41. Maximè Regibus id habebatur honoris ut Christi sive uncti appellarentur ita ut cum Christum dici audis Regem imprimis dici intelligas Kings had chiefly that Honour that they should be called Christs or Anoynted ones so that when you hear the Name Christ mention'd you must understand that a King is especially intended This I confess quieted me but why our Author should be so zealous to set up a King of his own making and then all o' th' sudden to pluck him down again to enthrone and dethrone at pleasure is at present to me unaccountable for I observe he has removed these great Things from his Kingly Office and placed them upon another Foundation viz. the reward of his death and sufferings Now take away Preaching the Gospel from
Sacrifices and operose services arising from the beggarliness and poverty of all Types fully to represent the Messiah in whom they did more abundantly meet yet herein might they as in a Glass eye a Redeemer and in him God appeased sin pardoned and their Persons justified and accepted The satisfactory Reason whereof lay onely in him who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World in Gods Acceptation and representation to the Faith of Believers Now whilest God did thus Train up the Jewish Church in the hopes and expectation of a Deliverer he offered also to others of the World though forfeiting Gods especial Notice by the general revolt and common Apostacy a joynt Interest in those priviledges stated and settled upon the Iudaical Church as her Dowry provided they would come under the bond of the Covenant and joyn themselves to the people of God and thereby attend the great Ends and reach of Divine Grace to save sinners by the Intervention of the seed of the Woman And further to leave some standing hints upon Record that in due time he intended to throw open the bedge and let the Gentiles into the Priviledges of the Iews who seem'd the Monopolizers of all true Religion and Worship it has graciously pleas'd the same God to reveal to some few others out of the Purlieus of that Body as to Iob the Doctrine of a Redeemer as early pledges to the World that those favours should not alwayes lye under Sequestration How miraculously God preserved this Church and State is needless to insist on but remarkable was his Care over Iudah that though she had justifi'd her sister Samaria and out-done those in sin whom she had out-gone in Mercy yet when the ten Tribes were hurried away into Captivity God remembred that ancient Promise that Scepter and Law-giver were not to depart from Iudah till he that should come was come and therefore notwithstanding as heynous provocations all Circumstances considered and proportionable dangers as ever yet exposed a people to utter ruine still Iudah lived And though the Holy God in Vindication of his wronged Honour before the world was concern'd to visit their Iniquities with a Seventy years Captivity in Babylon yet still he kept a fixed Eye upon the Tribe of Iudah and especially the Family of David to which e're this the producing of the Messiah had been entaiâ—…ed And it was not for Nothing that after their Return they were so precise and punctual in their Genealogies that there might no scruple arise in after-times when Christ should come but that he was of the Stock of Abraham of the Tribe of Iudah of the seed of David according to the flesh In contemplation of which stupendious design the wisdom of its management his Arm made bare to second and back the work how the Great God preserved the Iewish Polity from utter dissolution till it had done its work and teem'd the Messiah into the World and when that was done how all things conspired for its dissolution how the greatest Convulsions and Earthquakes which would have unhinged other Kingdoms and have thrown them from their Consistency yet made that Common-wealth take deeper root whilest God would serve himself thereof and when he had no more service for that Tribe how it was scatter'd How Providence marvellously secured the Vessel in the midst of those waves which the Malice of Hell endeavoured to lift up as high as Heaven wherein the Salvation of the World was embarqued and when it had once safely landed a Saviour in the habitable parts of the Earth where his delights had been how the Ship sprung a leak and sunk of it self These things make me with the Divine Herbert pause and say How dear to me O God thy Councels are Who may with thee compare But our Authors lips doe not like these Lettuces Two things he industriously sweats at in this Section First To shew us Wherein Happiness consists and then to inform us in the Way and Means to reach that Happiness A glorious Undertaking indeed wherein though he should founder yet an Attempt has its praise and may at least plead for Phaëtons Epitaph Quem si non tenuit Magnis tamen excidit Ausis It was Austins Censure of the Platonists Patriam viderunt Viam ignorârunt They were convinc'd that true Happiness must needs consist in enjoying the True God The chiefest Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Being Self-being Essential being but they were wretchedly bewildred in finding out the way to the enjoyment of him and for all their skill could never double the Cape of good Hope Where Plato ended our Author begins Ubi desinit Philosophus incipit Theologus and wherein he fail'd he undertakes to write his Supplement 1 Then though there be less need of that would you know wherein true happiness consists you are answer'd In the Knowledge and Love of God who is the greatest and best Being If he means the utmost happiness Mans Nature is capable of it wants a word or two This Knowledge must be a perfect Knowledge and this Love a perfect Love and to this Knowledge and Love of Man to God you must adde the Sense of Gods Love to and delight in Man and Mans reciprocal satisfaction and complacency in God as his Portion It 's a tedious Question bandyed amongst the School-men wherein the Formale of Blessedness lyes some contend for the Vision others for the Love of God but he seems to me to have determin'd best who has joyn'd both Faelicitas hominis consistit quidem in Visione sed Charitativâ in Amore sed Oculatissimo The Happiness of Man consists in the most Loving Sight and in the most Seeing Love of God but the Controversie will not lye here 2 For the Means of Reaching this Happiness he assigns this God hath made known himself and will to the World Our Author is now obliging Posterity with a Discovery of the North-east Passage to China and the Indies the old way round about Africa is tedious and dangerous and therefore let him not want the Trade-wind of your Prayers that he meet not with Sir Hugh Willoughbies Fate whilest he attempts to make out a shorter Cutt. Now concerning this you must understand That God who is never wanting to his own Glory and the Happiness of his Creatures hath taken care in all Ages by one Means or other to make known himself and his Will to the World Our Author presumes he has penn'd this Discourse with much Artifice and laid a train of fallacies for us which if not timely discovered and prevented will irrecoverably blow us and our Cause up into the Aire in the next Section But indeed the best part of his Policy is the confounding of things and involving them in such Intricacies and Perplexities that it 's much harder to discover his Errors than to confute them being once discovered like what Physicians tell us of the Hectick Fever that in its first Rise it 's hardly discerned but otherwise
into the world it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation I promise you here are a great many terrible words that would not be dofft of with a Flim-flam of Mens growing corrupt in after-Ages for this Article is positive that All that are naturally engendred of Adam have a corrupt and faulty Nature Abel as well as Cain Iacob as well as Esau and Isaac as well as Ishmael Such however then was their State Now what Means did God afford the Men of this Generation that he might not be wanting to his own Glory and their Happiness Why you must know in the first place that some of the Men of this Age were good Men others were corrupt declined to Idolatry and degenerate Very good but then one would long to know how the Good became so for how the evil became evil we are satisfied every one engendred of Adam brought with him a corrupt and faulty Nature but for the other sort these good men our Author leaves us as much in the dark how they became good as he did before how those other became evil Let us consult that excellent Author last Named Art 10. The Condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot Turn and prepare himself by his own Natural Strength and good Works to Faith and Calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasant and Acceptable to God without the Grace of God preventing us that we may have a good Will and working with us when we have that Good Will But let us goe on God afforded Good Men the frequent Apparitions of Angels who were the great Ministers of his Providence Carry this one thing in your heads as you goe Along with my Author and me viz. That he is demonstrating That God in all ages was not wanting to his Creatures happiness but by one means or other made himself and his will known to them Now then what did these Angels appear to these good Men for to acquaint them with his Will why it 's supposed they knew that before else how became they good for such they could not be without the Knowledge of Gods Will antecedent to their Obedience though perhaps they might have stumbled upon some Act materially the Command of God as a Blind Man by Chance may catch a Hare what then to protect them Protection required not Apparition what then to carry some occasional Errand from God wherein they were concern'd to be instructed upon the emergency of some extraordinary Providence Very true but not at all to his purpose but I shall have no more Concern herein than to move a few Quaeries 1. It may be enquired what Angel it was that Ordinarily appeared to the Patriarchs of old the rather because he is peremptorily called Iehovah the Essential Name of the True God And I find some have pleaded that the Second Person of the Trinity by way of Praeludium to his future Incarnation to shew that his delights were with the Sons of men and how ready he was to do the Will of his Father in the Redemption of the World when in the fulness of time a Body should be offer'd him and their Pleas have not been removed and they are somewhat confident cannot be And as I remember amongst many other they insist upon Hosea 12. 3 4 5. He took his Brother by the heel and by his strength he had power with God he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication to him The Lord God of Hosts the Lord is his Memorial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If this was not the True God blessed for ever that wrestled with Iacob an Atheist will bid you prove there 's a Better than the Lord God of Hosts whose Memorial is Iehovah if it be then he was also the Angel that appeared and who could that be but the Second Person 2. It may be asked I hope without offence supposing that Created Angels did as sometimes they did appear to good Men and that their Message was the Mind of God concerning their Happiness and Blessedness in the Enjoyment of God whether they preach'd any other Gospel than they preach'd to the Shepherds at Bethlehem because it would seem that these inferiour Angels could not employ their Tongues upon a more welcome Theme than Him who was their Head and under whose Obedience they were Ranged by Creation and to whom he was also a Mediator of Confirmation 3. It might deserve Consideration How far Angels are the Ministers of Gods Providence That they are Ministring Spirits sent out to minister unto them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Hebr. 1. last we thankfully believe and own yet God has not left his Inspection into or oversight of this lower World This looks like some New Divinity new vamped up from the old Epicurean Philosophy which represents God as living at ease and enjoyingly in Heaven and not concerning Himself for that would they think disturbs his Peace with the Brangles and Contrastoes of Men but Rules all by the Court of Delegates For the Good men we shall not need to be too sollicitous how they did doubtless they would shift well enough in the world All the difficulty is about the Degenerate how God carryed it towards them that he might not be wanting to their Happiness Now here indeed our Author helps at a dead lift Two Expedients he used First The Preaching of some eminent Persons such as Enoch Noah and Abraham And herein we cannot but admire the wisdom of God in the Old World that he sent none but Righteous Men to preach Righteousness to an unrighteous generation To vapour against sin and then to wallow in it to forbid our Patients that Food which is often found upon our own Trenchers will not gain much credit to our Doctrine and therefore Christ Acts 1. 1. is said first to Doe and then to Teach Otherwise Ministers words are look'd on as things of Course to while out one Glass that they may be readier for another Such Preachers being like him in the Comoedian Qui alterâ manu fert lapidem panem ostentat alterâ that is he feeds his Auditors like Apes with a Bitt and a Knock but here are a few things upon this head that we cannot pass by for our Author is as full of Excellencies as an Egge is full of Meat 1 Here has been good Provision made for Good men and pretty good too for the more degenerate part of Mankind but there 's a midling size of Men all this while that have no care taken of them sink or swim Men that your Papists will tell you are too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven but of a just Gage for Purgatory Now these men did not need such extraordinary Helps as Noahs and Abrahams Sermons nor could deserve the apparitions of Angels and therefore they must be content to drudge through the work in their own strength whereof having a sufficiency enough is as good as a feast
Scripture are equally revealed both equally claim a share in Gods Veracity and till we can be resolved to Satisfaction how God may be such a one as pardons Iniquity and yet will by no means clear the Guilty till we can see how this seeming Contradiction may be Reconciled we shall either have none or but a faint and Dying knowledge of it But now Christ he is the very Life of this Knowledge for in his Death and Sufferings we see and know clearly that Gods Justice is satisfied upon Christ and his pardoning Mercy Magnified upon the Repenting and Believing sinner and thus to know God to be a Sin-pardoning God has indeed Life in 't For thus to use the words of the Learned Bishop Reynolds upon Psal. 110. A Way is found out that things may be all one in respect of Man as if the Law had been utterly Abrogated and that they may be all one in respect of God as if the Creature had been utterly Condemned pag. 500. This is all the Doctor here intends wherein though he should be mistaken yet has he not discovered a Fellonious Intention and so I hope it will not prove a Hanging Matter But yet our Author with his prying Eyes can see further into a Milstone than he that Pecks it And as our Critical Scholiasts upon the Poets discover Elegancies Figures and great Rarities which the poor man never Dreamt of so can our Author discover Errors multitudes of hideous Errors in the Doctor which he neither Sleeping nor Waking was ever aware of For says he He explains himself thus These things are Clearly Eminently and Savingly only to be discovered in Iesus Christ. Whether the Doctor say any such thing or no we shall take the Boldness to Catechise our Author by and by and make him produce his Chapter Paragraph and Page e're we have done or abide by the shame that is due to a Malicious Slanderer At present I only ask which of these Terms it is that he will Duel or will he throw down the Gantlet to them all that we may have Battle Royal 1 These things are only clearly to be discovered in Iesus Christ I see the most Innocent things may give Offence But who would have suspected that in this place For suppose that Sun Moon and Stars Gods general Goodness to his Patience with and Forbearance of Sinners might Intimate some such thing that there was Forgiveness with God yet surely there 's a more clear account given of it in Christs Person who was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. which the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 53. v. 10. calls making his Soul an Offering for sin And that methinks clears it up a little more than if we had been put to spell out the meaning of Patience and Forbearance with the Fescue of our own understanding And though the Scripture abundantly reveals Pardon of Sin yet the Manner how the Reason why which are the very Life and Soul of all Knowledge is revealed to be from the Mercy of God through the Blood of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace And the rather may we be bold to say that the pardon of Sin is cleared up in the Person of Christ because so Authentick so Infallible an Author as ours is has given us leave to believe pag. 20. that the Gospel-Covenant is sealed with the Blood of Christ and therefore we can desire no greater Security And this I am sure of from Heb. 8. 10. that the Summe and Substance of that Covenant is I will be their God and they shall be my People and a main Branch of that Covenant I will be Merciful to their Iniquities and Remember their Sins no more If then we could but clear this one Poynt that the Bliod which Sealed this Covenant was not the Blood of a Doctrine nor of an Office nor of the Church but the precious Blood of Iesus Christ the Son of God even the Blood of a Person it would then be clear also that God's pardoning Mercy is only clearly or so clearly however to be discovered in Iesus Christ. 2 For the Term Eminently if the Bluster be against that I shall not much trouble my self I am no great Friend to because poorly skilled in Metaphysical Notions but as it stands here in Conjunction with other honest words I see no harm in 't To me it denotes no more but that the Pardon of sin is Notably Chiefly Gloriously and in a most Special and Excellent manner discovered in the Personal Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ But if our Author after all this be not satisfied but finds himself Aggrieved the Law is open I plead no Protection let him take his Course and the Remedy the Law has given him 3 Therefore it must needs be that last word Savingly that is guilty of all and therefore must bear the Charge brought in against the whole Sentence That pardon of sin is only savingly discovered in Iesus Christ. I cannot tell but I do shrewdly conjecture that our Author has spoken as dangerous a thing as this comes to and has given us sufficient warrant to distinguish between a vain empty Insignificant Knowledge and an Useful Profitable and Saving Knowledge pag. 36. There is says he a larger Notion of the Knowledge of Christ which includes the Vertue and Efficacy of this Knowledge For how true soever our Speculations be the Scripture brands all those as Ignorant of God who do not love Reverence and Obey Him Now if the Doctors Book had had but the Happiness to have seen the World after our Authors he might have Explained himself so as to come off with a dry Head Notwithstanding what I have said of Gods Sin-pardoning mercy and the Knowledge thereof as in Him yet there is another Knowledge thereof which Includes and takes in the knowledge of this God to be our God and pardoning our sins which God is only in and through the Lord Iesus Christ and therefore the Scripture brands all those as Ignorant of God and his pardoning Mercy who know him not as their God in a Covenant of Grace whereof Christ is the Mediator and therefore without Him we can have no Saving-knowledge of or Interest in God or his Sin-pardoning Goodness whatever our Speculations may be of Mercy and Grace and Pardon to be in God But after all this Trouble our Author has put me to and just as much that I have put the Reader to the Mischief on 't all is this The Doctor says not one Word Syllable Letter Jot or Tittle of all this but the contrary I am sure the Reader is startled and his Hair begins to stand an end What no Truth on Earth Is Astraea more than in a Fable gone to Heaven Well Reader when thou art come to thy self and art a little more Cool and Composed Consult the Doctors Book pag. 90. Sect. 6. There are some of the most eminent Properties
despised As that they argue from Fancies and Imaginations from some pretty Allusions Similitudes and Allegories which have no certain shape Yet I am well assured that no man was ever more firmly bounden and indebted to an Allegory than our Author unless I saw him clapt up for one upon Execution in the Kings-Bench pag. 6. He did but meet with the word Salem upon the Road and he presently spies the New Ierusalem coming down from Heaven in it pag. 161. He had heard that Eve was taken out of Adams side and he sets his Allegorical Machine awork and hales the Church taken out of Christs crucified Body Out on 't Though to Qualifie the Matter he says it was but with a Quasi as it were or if he might so say but by and by he grows more flesht with Success and Peremptorily concludes That the Church is taken out of the crucified Body of Christ which says he in the Mystical sence answers to the Womans being taken out of the Man and from this pretty Allusion grounds his Interpretation of Ephes. 5. 30. 1 Col. 21. 22. Although the state of Innocency had no proper instituted Types however the passages of Gods Providence therein may be accommodated by the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures Infallibly inspired to Illustrate Evangelical Verities But let a taste of these things stay the Readers Stomach a while and if his Mouth waters at such Theology he shall have his Belly full even to Surfeit of such Luscious Allegories in due time Thus much to his first Argument taken from the uncertainty of this way of arguing 2. His second Reason follows drawn also from the uncertainty of this way of arguing For thus his Argument runs This way of reasoning will serve any mans turn Which is nothing but the uncertainty of it and had not our Author who alway argues as occasion serves from the Essential differences of things told us it was another reason it might have Militated under the colours of the former But he puts in a Caveat against all the World but himself and his Brethren For though it will serve any mans turn yet you must always Interpret it with this restriction who have any Quickness and Vigour of Fancy which clearly cuts out all the rest of Mankind as shall appear from the Fag end of this Section What remains of this Discourse is laid out upon the Equipping of another Scheme of Religion from an acquaintance with Christs Person Where in the Quickness and Vigour of his Fancy doe Triumph The World shall now see I that they shall what other-guise work our Author can make on 't when he comes to the Trimming of this Matter than those clumzy Fellows ever could who have attempted that way and shall see that Scanderbags Sword and Arm together can work Wonders It 's ordinary to find the Physitians Trencher loaden with that Meat which he Prohibits his Patient upon pain of Death If any else had presum'd to have finger'd this Theme he had got a rap o th' Knuckles and yet here we find our Author up to the Elbows in 't Great Spirits know how to give Laws to others and yet themselves to Live above them I have openly owned it that this Section is unanswerable and that my Reader may not Censure me for a Dictator I am Obliged to give him an Account of the Impregnableness of it The Scheme which he here presents us withal is not supposed to be his own Iudgment but meerly an Imitation of other Mens way though the Copy out-doe the Original If therefore any one shall Essay to Answer it he comes over you I did but play the Fool because I supposed others had done so and I was willing to let you see I could do it as neatly as another To meddle therefore with the substrate Matter and main Doctrine thereof would be lost Labour to Examine whether it be stufft with Orthodox or Heterodox propositions shall be all one to me but one thing I confess I am tempted to search into because he Boasts so highly of his Skill in it how easie it is to present us with many more Schemes with fair Colours Exact and regular Proportions and artificial Connexions viz. Whether there be that regular proportion betwixt his Confidence and his Performance whether he has put such fair Colours upon things but that the Morphew of the skin shines through the Ceruss whether his Matters be Linckt together with such artificial connexions Or whether the Sun in the Firmament and as the Battoon in the Chimney coâ—…ner do not as well shake hands that is whether the Wind-Mill be not alive for all Don Quixot 1. He tells us Since we see Christ come in the Nature and Likeness of a Man nothing dreadful in his Countenance having all the sweetness of Innocency his Miracles Great and Glorious but not Frightful and Astonishing his Almighty Power displai'd in Methods of Love and Kindness healing the Sick dispossessing Devils c. From all this we may safely Conclude He came upon an Embassy of Peace to assure the World of Gods good Will to them and to Reconcile the Differences betwixt God and Man Now for my own part my Eyes are not a whit Dazled with the fairness of his colours nor my Thoughts much ravisht with the exactness of the Symmetry of this Piece For 1. It 's very Disproportionable to his main assertion How unsafe and dangerous it is to found Religion upon an acquaintance with Christs Person Whereas in this Period he assures us We may safely conclude thence that Christ was an Ambassador of Peace that he came to reconcile the Differences betwixt God and Man Which I promise you makes a shrewd Hole in Religion 2. It bears no better proportion to its self for I hope the Reader has not forgotten how he is Erecting a Scheme of Religion from an acquaintance with Christs Person not taking in Gospel Revelation Now here he supposes Christ to have been the Eternal Son of God leaving his Fathers Throne coming into the World which he could never have concluded from his Person had he seen him in the flesh unless the Mystery of it had been revealed to him from above Math. 16. 16 17. Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in Heaven 3. He pretends to gather Christs design in coming into the World from his Person Miracles Behaviour and sweet demeanoâ—… towards men yet here we want Proportion if we may believe himself pag. 76. Had we seen Christ in the flesh and been witnesses of the many Miracles he wrought of his Death upon the Cross and his Resurrection from the dead had he not acquainted us with the End and Design of all this we might have ghess'd our selves weary and never have hit upon the right But Now what a happy change is here we may safely Conclude now who could not sorrily Ghesse
Himself 1. He is ascended into Heaven Well Yet he knows how to be present with all and every one of his to the end of the World And Where two or three meet together in his Name he will be in the midst of them He has sent Vicariam vim Spiritus sancti who does Manage for him a Spiritual Government in the Souls of all the Elect And since I have named two such dangerous words as Sanctification and Election I had best bethink my self of good Security and that I have from the Church Catechism Quest. What dost thou learn chiefly in these Articles of thy Belief Answ. I learn to believe in God the Holy Ghost who Sanctifieth me and all the Elect People of God 2. He powerfully Intercedes for his Church Why sure Intercession with the Father is not Inconsistent with immediate Rule and Government over his Saints But 3. By his vigilant Providence he Superintends all the Affairs of it Why then he Governs it Nay Soft a-while He will allow Christ a Transmarine Superintendency but no proper Episcopal Iurisdiction That is he may be a Spectator or a By-stander and look on to see how Squares go but must not meddle with the Immediate Government of us for he has put that out of his Hands and left it to the Bishops and Pastors Which I confess is the worst News that I have heard this Seven years But now for the Conclusion This is says he a plain Demonstration That the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by union with the Christian Church Shortly If our Author does but give a grave Nod it will amount to a Demonstration but if he should please to give a Lusty Hum it will be a plain Demonstration Though others are so perverse they will not own it for a probable Conjecture for the Spiritual subjection of the Soul and Conscience is immediately to Christ As the Emperour once said Non tibi sed Petro so may every Christian Non tibi sed Christo. Whatever Command the Officers of Christ bring us in his Name their Commission is Patent and we must search the Scriptures to see whether it be so or no if it carrys the Signature of Christs Authority we Obey him in hearing them and if they have or pretend to have any private Instructions or Cabala we may fairly demur to them or bring a Quo Warranto against them And now at last he will leave his Imperious Dictates and come to Disputation If our Union to Christ consist in our Subjection to him as our Lord and Master Head and Husband it follows that we cannot be United to Christ that is cannot own his Authority till we Unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians But the former is true Ergo c. To the Consequence of the former Proposition all I say is It 's Feeble and very Sick Our union to Christ may consist in our subjection to him as King Lord and Husband and yet we may be united to him thus before our Actual union to a particular Society Well he will prove it thus This Authority of Christ is not Exercised immediately by Himself but by the Bishops and Pastours of the Church To which I return 1. If he means that only Christ exercises not a Visible Authority by himself but by the Guides and Pastors of the Church it may be true but then it will prove no more than this That we are visible Professors of Christs Name by our Uniting to a particular Church under the Guides and Officers thereof which is not the thing in Question 2. If he means that Christ exercises not any inward Authority over the Soul immediately by Himself I must return to my former Answer which is a peremptory denial 3. Whether this Authority be exercised immediately by Christ or not Our Union with Christ may be immediate For our acceptation of Christ as Lord King and Husband is the Bond of our Union and the Exercise of all Authority of a Superiour in those Relations must still of necessity presuppose the Union and Relation But as to our Antecedent That our Union to Christ consists in our Subjection to him as our Lord Head and Husband Which is very true of that Act of Subjection whereby at first we accept of him to be all these to us and give up our selves to be all the other to him but very false of those subsequent Acts of Obedience which flow from but do not Constitute the Relation And therefore it was prudently done to Explain Union to Christ by owning his Authority For however it be false yet every one will not spie that who Rides on a Trotting Horse and it will serve to make a Semblance of saying something It 's true we cannot own Christs Authority if we Derogate from his Commands but yet our union with Christ and our relation to him must precede our owning his Authority over us And for this our Author has fitted us with a Similitude which may befriend Us as well as it's owner As no man can be said to submit himself to his Prince who denies Subjection to Subordinate Magistrates who Act by his Commission For the union of Bodies Politick consists in Order and Government when all the Members keep their proper places and are knit together by a faithful Discharge of their Duties I could not hope for more Weakness in an Adversary than I shall be sure to find in this Similitude First None can be said to submit to his Prince who denies Subjection to Subordinate Magistrates And thus none can be said to submit himself to Christ who denies Obedience to his Officers who act in his Name Secondly As Submission to Subordinate Magistrates is not that wherein our Relation to our Prince conâ—…ists but an effect of it so a due subjection to our spiritual Guides is not that wherein our Union to Christ consists but a Consequent of it We first owe a subjection to Christ and from thence to them who Command us in his Name Thus the Apostle 2 Cor. 8. 5. They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the Will of God Thirdly No man can be said to Submit who Rebels A weighty truth But he may be said to owe submission though he rebells His Prince has not lost his right to Command though he like a Villain wantâ—… Grace to Obey Fourthly It 's very Childish and spoken like a Green headed Statesman That the union of Bodies Politick consists in Order and Government For Order and Government are for the preservation of the Union and not the first union of these Bodies Politick The union of Prince and People consists in their first relation to one another as such and the exercise of Government is to secure that union and the advantages of it If union consists in Order and Government then Disorder and ill Government would dissolve the union and relation and by consequence discharge all Subjects from a Conscience of their Duty which is very dangerous
with Acceptation But says he This was the Faith of Abel and Enoch whereby they pleased God Answ. There was this in their Faith but this was not the whole of their Faith Well! he will prove it 1. There 's no mention made of the Faith of Abel and Enoch in the Old-Testament A worthy Argument A non scripto negativè in a matter of Fact The Old-Testament mentions it not therefore there was no such thing this is pure trifling For though the Old-Testament mentions not expresly their Faith it mentions their Acceptation with God which without Faith is impossible to be obtained And secondly The New-Testament mentions both their Faith and their Acceptation Which Faith was of the same kind with the rest of those eminent Worthies mentioned with them as is evident from that even Tenour of Discourse the Apostle uses By Faith Abel by Faith Enoch by Faith Noah by Faith Abraham c. without any ground of the least suspicion that he leaps from one sort of Faith to another 2. God says he required no more of these good men Answ. 1. But there was something required to make them good men 2. How can he prove that God required â—… more of these good men God required more of Adam even Faith in that first Promise of a Mediator and how Abel should lose it or having it not believe it and yet be such a good man is past my skill to conceive 3. He tells us p. 26. That God afforded good men the frequent Apparitions of Angels The head of whom was the Son of God who in praeludium futurae incarnationis frequently appeared to the ancient Fathers And he is not sure either what God revealed to them or required of them 4. God required more of Abel a Sacrifice and that not meerly as a part of his Obedience but as Propitiatory which by the blood and the fat which always accompanied that kind of Sacrifices is evident 3. Says he They had no other particular Revelations of God's with Answ. If they had no other they had none at all for natural Demonstrations are not particular Revelations 2. Adam had more particular Revelations and it being a Promise wherein Posterity was concerned as well as himself and concernid so deeply I shall not question his fidelity in deriving it to posterity without proof 3. Abel had the use of Sacrifices which suppose Revelation For what Light of Nature could teach me that God would delight in the death of his Creatures that had not transgressed the Laws of their Creation Abel's was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bloody Sacrifice nor is God ever the more entitled to or possest of any Creature by being offered dead than if it were presented alive And if natural Demonstrations the Light of Nature was the Foundation of the Practice it is still obliging for natural Light with its Demonstrations varies not 4. We are sure that Enoch had the Spirit of Prophecy was an eminent Prophet in his days and therefore had particular Revelations and amongst many one Revelation of Christ Jude ver 14. Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesiâ—…h of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all c. The same with that of the Apostle 2 Thess. 1. 7. The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take vengeance c. for to Christ is the power of executing vengeance committed John 5. 27. And therefore I cannot but conclude That he who had a particular Revelation of Christ's coming to judg the World had particular ones also that he should come into the World to redeem it And now how vain must our Author's Argument needs be from the silence of the Old-Testament to infer That Enoch and Abel had no particular Revelation when the New-Testament proves that Enoch had particular Revelations And if Enoch had this Revelation which yet is not mentioned either in the Old-Testament or the New but only in this place how many more might he have which are drowned in the Gulph of Time and this one by special Providence scaped the common Shipwrack But 5. That which abundantly proves that they had particular Revelations and Revelations of Christ too through whom God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him is this That their Sacrifices in God's Institution of them and their own Application of them from the first rise of them had respect to Christ who is therefore called The Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. Which without partiticular Revelation they could never have understood § 2. His second sort of justifying Faith he calls a Faith in God Which puts me to a stand Whether he would have us take the former for a justifying Faith or no. If the former were not a Faith in God how could it justifie If it was then how comes Faith in God to constitute a new and distinct kind of justifying Faith But what is this Faith in God A belief says he of those particular Revelations which God made to the Fathers of the Old-Testament From whence it is easie to prove that every time our Author repeats his Creed I believe in God we are bound to take him for one of the Fathers of the Old-Testament If this be a true Definition of Faith in God all the Saints in the New-Testament are misbelievers But of this says he the Apostle gives us many examples Noah Abraham Sarah Moses c. Perhaps the Reader will wonder why Enoch and Abel should be left out of the Catalogue of the Fathers of the Old-Testament but he must reflect and remember that they are rank'd already in the Classis of examples for the natural Faith And truly if he had pleased he might have created a new sort of Faith for every Pair in the whole Chapter Thus Abraham and Sarah would have done well in a Form by themselves nay to have advanced the Conceit he might have created a particular kind of Faith for every particular person of them Each of them had their particular Revelations and particular Motives Noah believed the Deluge Abraham the promise of a Son and David the warning that God gave him of his Danger c. Now we are told that the object of Faith is something to come or something past c. and that the different sorts of Faith result from the different Objects and Motives of it and therefore it had been easie to have allotted to each of them a different kind of Faith But let us hear him improve his Notion Noah says he believed God when he forewarned him of the Deluge and in obedience to him provided an Ark and this was imputed to him for Righteousness He became the Heir of Righteousness which is by Faith But I find no such thing in all the Copies that I have that it was imputed to him for Righteousness This I find that he became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith
made sin for us that is he was constituted to be a sin-offering upon whom the Guilt and Punishment of our sin being laid the great obstructions to Reconciliation God's Justice and Holy Law being removed by being satisfied a way is cleared for a new Peace with God And the Apostle as hath been observed cites this from Isa. 53. 10. When he shall make his Soul an offering for sin the same word signifying both sin and sin-Offering 3. That the Preaching of this Reconciliation made with God to the World was committed to the Ministers of the Gospel that they as Ambassadors from God might treat with them also about their being reconciled to God which farther evinces a mutual Enmity and a mutual Reconciliation that God reconciled the World to himself by Iesus Christ whom God made to be sin for that great end and then establisht a Ministry to Preach the Doctrine to the Sons of Men and to deal with them in the Name of Christ that they would also lay aside their Malignity and accept of the Reconciliation procured by the Blood of Jesus Now this Reconciliation made with God respects the Gentiles and Iews equally for some might plead that it was the peculiar priviledge of the Iews as being the only Church of God to enjoy the benefit of propitiating Sacrifices others might think to do the Jews a kindness in pleading that Reconciliation only belonged to the Gentiles for they alone were Enemies to God and therefore they only needed it but the Apostle assures us that Iews as well as Gentiles had need of a Mediator of Reconciliation and that Gentiles as well as Jews had a share in the Grace and mercy of it God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself Thus the Apostle Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Iesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. v. 16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the Cross. Now here our Author meets us with a window open into his Soul that we may see the Pulse of his heart and what he understands by Christ's reconciling the World to God That is says he the Gentiles were received into the fellowship of God's Church and the Iews and Gentiles united in one Body or Society Some that were strangers to our Author's Sentiments would greedily ask what was that great quarrel between Jews and Gentiles that God must send his only begotten Son out of his Bosom to dye a most bitter violent painful lingering cursed Death to take it up That he must be made sin have Iniquities charged upon him to make them friends That there have been Wars and Contentions betwixt the Iews and their Neighbours Histories both sacred and prophane abundantly testify there are such amongst most Neighbouring Nations But shall we think that God will send his Son into the World to compose all the bickerings that ever were in the World But suppose there had been a Necessity of it was the feud so inveterate that nothing but the Death of him that came to make Peace could take it away must every Man dye a Cursed Death that comes to make up a breach between two wrangling Neighbours or Nations few would be ambitious to be Plenipotentiaries upon such Terms It is true there was a difference or distinction set up by God himself between the Jews and the rest of the World but no quarrel or enmity put between them But then 1. The Gentiles had Liberty to become Proselytes of Righteousness and then the union had been made the Ceremonial Law still standing in force 2. God could easily have taken down the Partition Wall and laid the Church open from the enclosure there was a Time when there was none of that discriminating Dispensation and he that set it up could have abrogated and repealed it without such a dreadful way of giving his only Son to be Made first Man and then Sin and then a Curse It seems strange that God should first Create a necessity of a quarrel and then put his Son upon a necessity to remove it at so dear a price as his own Blood 3. If our Author was once i' th' right there was no great need of removing these Ceremonies for says he p. 29. The rest of the World might when they pleased fetch the best Rules of Life and the most certain notices of the Divine Will from the Jews so long then as they might have a fairer Copy of their Moral-Law they needed not be beholden to them for their Ceremonies But the bottom of the business is this and no other The Scripture is most express that Christ is said to reconcile us to God by his Blood by his Death it would be a burning shame to deny it What is then to be done First it 's resolved on that it 's not to be endured that any of the Blessings of the Gospel be allowed the proper effects of his Death or Blood why then some wholsome expedient must be found out that the expression may be owned and yet the thing it self rejected And the best that can be thought on at present is this To imagine a most terrible War between Jews and Gentiles upon the Account of Ceremonies such as set the whole World on a Flame and involved all Mankind in the dreadful Combustion not a single Person in all the World but sided in with one of the parties And now if we could but be Masters of so much Confidence as to say that Christ came and dyed and was made a Curse to make these two Parties friends there would be something that might be called Reconciliation Now upon a serious view of the premises it was observed that the Jews had some marks of distinction whereby they were priviledged above and differenced from the rest of Mankind Now a difference you know sometimes signifies a Quarrel which fell out as luckily as heart could wish and therefore these tokens of difference shall be called Enmity and Christ's taking away this difference shall be called the removing of the Enmity and by Consequence Reconciliation yes there it must go if anywhere for I see and am glad to see it that our Author is willing to carry some fair Correspondency and not to fall out flat with the Death of Christ. Now says he This Union of Iews and Gentiles is owing to the Gospel which takes away all marks of distinction and gives them both equal right to the Blessings of the New-Covenant But 1. To what purpose was the Enmity removed between Iew and Gentile if the Enmity of God against both had not been removed all Union on Earth without Peace without Heaven is but a wicked confederacy 2. The Iews as well as Gentiles are said to be reconciled Now what-ever grudg the Gentiles might have against the Iews yet the Jews had no Cause of any against the poor Gentiles did they envy them their darkness and blindness and Alienation from their Common-Wealth 3. They must