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
Law of Moses the motions of sin which were by the Law which grew more boisterous and unruly by the prohibitions of the law v. 8. did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death i. e. did betray us to those wicked actions which end in Death but now we are delivered from the law that being dead in which we were held that we should serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter So that the reason why the Law of Moses was abrogated was because it could not make men good It nursed them up in a ritual and external Religion taught them to serve God in the letter by Circumcision and Sacrifices or an external Conformity to the letter of the law But the Gospel of Christ alone teacheth us to worship God with the Spirit to offer a reasonable Sacrifice to him to fulfil the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that internal Righteousness of which those legal Ceremonies were the Signs and Sacraments This is the plain meaning of the Apostle which can never be reconciled with an imputed Righteousness which would make his argument foolish and absurd and therefore in other places he tells us what little reason we have to be so zealous for the law of Moses since we have the perfection of it in the Gospel what need is there of the Circumcision of the flesh which the law required when in the Gospel we have that Circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfection of that fleshly Circumcision What need is there of legal washings and purifications when they are all eminently fulfilled in the washing of Regeneration in the Gospel Baptism Thus we are compleat in Christ who hath perfectly instructed us in the will of God and instituted such a Religion as is the perfection of all external Ceremonies Col. 2. Ver. 10 11 12. We must now offer a nobler Sacrifice than the law of Moses commanded not the Sacrifices of dead Beasts but of a living and active Soul Rom. 12. 1. Hence Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of the law i. e. the perfection and accomplishment of the law as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies for righteousness to them that believe Rom. 10. 4. That is the Gospel of Christ requires that righteousness of us which the law did only typifie and represent that holiness and purity of mind which is the perfection of all legal righteousness for that Christ should be made the end of the law for righteousness by the imputation of his righteousness to us hath no foundation in the Text. The Apostle explains what he means by this in the following Verses where he gives us a description of the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of Faith The righteousness of the law is an external Conformity to the letter of the Law The man that doth them shall live in them i. e. shall enjoy all those temporal blessings of the Land of Canaan which were promised to the observance of the Law but the righteousness of Faith is a firm and stedfast belief of the Divine Authority of Christ that he is the Lord and more particularly a belief of his Resurrection from the dead as the last and great confirmation which God gave to the Divinity of Christs Person and Doctrine This is that Faith that overcomes the World and purifies the heart and transforms us into the likeness of God which is the perfection of all the ritual righteousness of the Law Upon this account Christ is said to be made unto us righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 20. But of him are you in Christ who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption i. e. he is the Author of all this to us He is our Wisdom as he is our great Prophet and Teacher who instructs us in true Wisdom Our Righteousness as we are justified by Faith in him by a sincere belief of his Gospel which is the only Righteousness acceptable to God Our Sanctification because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus makes us free from the law of sin and death that Divine and Spiritual law of Faith conquers the Power and Dominion of sin which the law of Moses could not do and our Redemption as by these means he hath deliver'd us from the bondage and pedagogie of the Jewish Law from the Idolatrous Customs of the Heathens and the Tyranny of wicked Spirits and from the wrath of God which is the just merit and desert of sin Thus you see how the Apostle opposes the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of Faith not as an Inherent and Personal to an Imputed Righteousness but as an External and Ritual to an Inherent real and substantial Righteousness this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of all other mistakes in this matter that by the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of works most men understand an internal holiness the Conformity of our hearts and lives to all moral Precepts and Rules of a good life and then conclude that if this Righteousness will not please God nothing but an Imputed Righteousness can though I should rather have concluded that nothing can but the truth is the Righteousness of the Law and of Works in the New Testament signifies only an external Righteousness which cannot please God and that internal holiness which they call the righteousness of the Law is that very Righteousness of Faith which the Gospel commands and which God approves and rewards and this Imputed Righteousness is no where to be found that I know of but in their own fancies Let us now consider in what sense the Apostle opposes his own Righteousness to the Righteousness of God not having mine own Righteousness but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and there is no great difficulty in this for the Apostle himself tells us that by his own righteousness he means the righteousness of the law and by the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Faith And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and what that is you have already heard thus in Rom. 10. 3. For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the Righteousness of God where their own righteousness which the Jews so obstinately adhered to was the righteousness of the law and the Righteousness of God which they were ignorant of and would not submit to was the Righteousness of Faith for this was the great controversie between the Jews and Apostles which is the subject of this Epistle whether men were to be justified by the law of Moses or by the Gospel of Christ by a legal or Evangelical Righteousness as
were not reckon'd as done by us but because we do some things like them our dying to sin is a Conformity to the Death of Christ and our walking in newness of life is our Conformity to his Resurrection and the consideration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ is very powerful to engage us to die to sin and to rise into a new life and this is the true reason of these phrases not that Christ did all in our stead and therefore we are said to do it too but for a quite different reason because we must do something like it express the power and image of his Death and Resurrection in our lives To this purpose also he cites that Text in Gal. 4. 4 5. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law and here he stops but I shall take confidence to add that we might receive the adoption of Sons now by being made under the Law he tells us is meant being disposed of in such a condition that he must yield subjection and obedience to the Law well suppose this and this was all to redeem us and therefore our Redemption is by the obedience of Christ imputed to us fairly argued but can his obedience to the Law contribute no otherways to our redemption but by being reckon'd as done by us but the truth is this us is not in the Text it is not to redeem us but to redeem them that were under the Law that is the Iews who were in bondage under the Mosaical Law from which Christ redeemed them by abrogating that Law and introducing a better Covenant the adoption of Sons for in this Epistle nay in this Chapter the Law is called a state of Servants and of an Heir under Age but the Gospel is the adoption of Sons puts us into such a free and manly state as that of an Heir at Age and therefore is called the Spirit of adoption Rom. 8. 15. So that the meaning of this Text is this that God hath now put an end to the dispensation of the Law which is called redeeming them that were under the Law in a state of servitude and bondage and hath established a better Covenant in the room of it which as much excells the Law as the adoption of Sons does the state of Servants and this God brought to pass by sending his Son into the World made of a Woman made under the Law for the understanding of which words we must consider what influence Christs appearing in the world had on the abrogation of the Law and that was that he accomplished all the Types and Figures of the Law in his own Person and when all these Types were fulfilled they grew out of date so that his being made under the Law most probably signifies his being made such a Person as should exactly answer all the Types and Figures of the Law and so put an end to it as of no further use Thus the Temple was Gods House wherein he dwelt but now the Shecinah or Divine Glory rested on Christ and the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily so that now there was no longer any need of a material Temple as a pledge of Gods peculiar presence among them the Priests and Sacrifices of the Law were Types of Christ and when that great high Priest came and offered that perfect Sacrifice of himself all legal Priests and Sacrifices were of no use Thus by his being made under the Law and accomplishing all the Types and Figures of it he put an end to all those beggarly Rudiments and delivered the Jews from the bondage of the Law for though the Gentiles too are redeemed by Christ yet they were not redeemed from the Law of Moses under which they never were Several other places he alledges to the same purpose but I have either already considered them or shall do in what follows but what I have now discoursed is enough to satisfie any impartial Inquirer how vain and precarious this Principle is which too many make the very Foundation of their Faith that Christ as Mediator fulfilled all Righteousness in their stead whose Mediator he was And now had I no other design than to expose the mistakes of other men I should need add no more till I saw this answered but I have a greater and better design viz. to explain and confirm the true notions of Religion in opposition to such mistakes and therefore having shewed you that there is no foundation in Reason or Scripture to fancy such an Union between Christ and Believers whether we consider it as a Conjugal Relation or Legal Union as he is our Surety or Mediator as should entitle Believers to the Personal Righteousness of Christ lest any man should suspect that the design of all this is to lessen the Grace of God or to disparage the Merits and Righteousness of Christ which God forbid any Christian should be guilty of I shall secondly examine what influence the Sacrifice of Christs death and the Righteousness of his life have upon our acceptance with God and all that I can find in Scripture about this is that to this we owe the Covenant of Grace that God being well pleased with the obedience of Christs life and the Sacrifice of his death for his sake entred into a new Covenant with Mankind wherein he promises pardon of sin and eternal life to those who belief and obey the Gospel This is very plain with reference to the death of Christ hence the Blood of Christ is called the Blood of the Covenant Heb. 10 29. and Christ is called the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20. and the blood of Christ is called the blood of Sprinkling which speaks better things than the blood of Abel Heb. 12. 24. which is an allusion to Moses his sprinkling the blood of the Sacrifice whereby he confirmed and ratified the Covenant between God and the Children of Israel Heb. 9. 19 20 21. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law when he had declared the terms of this Covenant to them he took the blood of Calves and Goats with water and Scarlet wooll and hysop and sprinkled both the book and all the people saying This is the blood of the Testament which God hath ordained to you Thus the blood of Christ is called the Blood of Sprinkling because by his blood God did seal and confirm the Covenant of Grace as the sprinkling the blood of beasts did confirm the Mosaical Covenant Hence we are said to be justified by the blood of Christ Rom. 5. 9. that is by the Gospel Covenant which was confirmed and ratified with his blood and Christ is called a Propitiation through faith in his blood that is by a belief of his Gospel Rom. 3. 25. Hence it is also that the Scripture uses these phrases promiscuously to be justified by
faith and to be justified by the Faith of Christ and to be justified by Christ and to be justified through Faith in his Blood and to be justified and saved by Grace nay by believing that Christ is the Son of God Ioh. 20. 31. and that God raised him from the dead Rom. 10. 3. All which signifie the same thing that we are justified by believing and obeying the Gospel of Christ for Faith or Faith in Christ signifies such a firm and stedfast belief of the Gospel as brings forth all the fruits of obedience and the Grace of God is the Gospel of Christ expresly so called in Tit. 2. 11. as being the effect of the free grace and goodness of God to Mankind and Faith in the Blood of Christ is a belief of the Gospel which was confirmed by his death and believing that Christ is the Son of God that is that Messias and Prophet whom God sent into the World to reveal his will to us includes a general belief of the Gospel which he preached and believing that God raised him from the dead doth the same because his Resurrection from the dead was the last and great confirmation which God gave to the truth of his Gospel and Religion And hence it is also that the Apostles attribute such things to the Blood of Christ as are the proper and immediate effects of the Gospel-Covenant because they consider the Blood of Christ as the Blood of the Covenant and therefore all the blessings of the Gospel are owing to the Blood of Christ because the Gospel Covenant it self was procured and confirmed by the Blood of Christ. Thus the Gentiles who were sometime afar off are said to be made nigh by the Blood of Christ and the Gentiles and Jews were reconciled unto God in one body by the Cross Eph. 2. 14 15 16. That is the Gentiles were received into the fellowship of Gods Church and the Jews and Gentiles united in one Body or Society now this Union of Iews and Gentiles is owing to the Gospel which takes away all marks of distinction and separation and gives them both an equal right to the blessings of the new Covenant The Mosaical Covenant did belong only to the Children of Israel but this new Covenant belongs to all Mankind to Gentiles as well as Jews there is now no distinction of persons neither Iew nor Greek Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and in all That is there is no respect of persons or Nations under the Gospel no man is ever the more or less acceptable to God because he is a Jew or a Greek but the only thing of any value now is Faith in Christ or a belief of the Gospel which is indifferently offered to all Now this is attributed to the Blood of Christ and to his death upon the Cross because thereby Christ put an end to the Mosaical Covenant and sealed this new Covenant of Grace with Mankind as the Apostle explains himself in the following Verses 17 18 c. that Christ having abolished the Law of Commandments by his death he came and preached peace that is the Gospel of Peace to them who were afar off to the Gentile World and to them who were nigh to the Jews who were Gods peculiar people that is he abrogated the Mosaical Law that Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which was peculiar to the Jews and separated them from the rest of the World and he broke down the middle Wall of Partition which kept the uncircumcised Gentiles though Proselytes at a distance from God as confining their worship to the outward Court of the Temple which the Apostle seems to refer to in that phrase them that were afar off and now by the Gospel he admits the Gentiles to as near an approach to God as the Jews as he adds for through him we both have an access by one spirit to the Father Ver. 18. 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 by tradition from their Fathers that is from those idolatrous and impure practices they were guilty of not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1. Pet. 1. 18 19. Now the Gentiles were delivered from 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 who having abolished in his flesh by his Death the enmity even the Law of Commandments c. came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh Now as the Death of Christ upon the Cross and his Ascension into Heaven and presenting his blood to God in that true holy place did answer to the first sprinkling of the blood under the Law which confirmed the Mosaical Covenant as the Apostle discourses in Hebr. 9. So his continual Intercession for us in vertue of his blood once shed and once offered to God answers to those frequent expiations by Sacrifice under the Law especially to that general Sacrifice on the great day of expiation when the High Priest entred into the holy of holies with the the blood of Beasts The reason why the legal Sacrifices were so often repeated was because they were imperfect and typical but a shadow of good things to come and so could not take away sin but Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Hebr. 10. 14. He hath made a perfect expiation for our sins by dying once and hath sealed the promises of pardon and forgiveness to them who are sanctified and where remission is there is no more offering for sin Ver. 18 Such a Sacrifice as once for all Seals the Covenant of Pardon and Forgiveness makes all other Offerings and Sacrifices needless and then the High Priest who entred into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the Sacrifice did continue there to intercede for the people but came out of that holy place and could not return thither again without a new Sacrifice but this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for ever sat down at the right hand of God Hebr. 10. 12. and because he continueth for ever he hath an unchangeable Priesthood wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Hebr. 7. 24 25. So that Christ by his Death expiated our sins and confirmed an everlasting Covenant and being ascended up into Heaven he there appears in the presence of God for us and perpetually intercedes in vertue of his blood once offered which is of infinite more value
Righteousness of Faith 245 What Abrahams Faith was whereby he was justified 247. Phil. 3. 8 9. considered 260 What St. Pauls Righteousness was while a Pharisee 261 In what sense the Apostle opposes the righteousness of the Law to the righteousness of Faith 264. And his own righteousness to the Righteousness of God 274 Concerning the Conjugal Relation betwixt Christ and Believers and whether this can intitle us to his Personal Excellencies Righteousness c. 281 Concerning the Legal Union and Christ's being the Saints Surety 287 Whether Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us as our Mediator 296 What influence the obedience of Christs life and the Sacrifice of his death have upon our acceptance with God 320 That some men place our Union to Christ before holiness of life as appears from the whole progress of the Soul as they represent it to a closure with Christ. 337 That according to these Principles there is no certain way to get into Christ. 353. Nor any certain evidence of our being in Christ. 364 The Evidence of Sanctification considered 366 Concerning the Love of Christ to Believers 392 Concerning the Saints Love to Christ. 408 Errata Pag. 17. lin 22. for which was imitated by read which was an imitation of p. 52. l. 5. for truckle r. truck p. 62. l. 28. r. sense p. 65. l. 24. for thou r. then p. 76. l. 24 25. p. 77. l. 1. for guest r. ghest l. 21. r. Counsel p. 87. l. 5. r. Counsels p. 89. in the Margent for p. 19. r. 29. p. 95. l. 29. r. workings p. 97. l. 9. for the r. that p. 114. l. 8. for Lydo r. Lyaeo p. 118. l. 5. r. non-sense p. 126 l. 27. r. ghess p. 139. l. 8. r. in the government of our lives l. 15 r. sense p. 189. l. 10. for and that the r. and that this is the p. 225. l. 11. dele the p. 337. l. 16. r. did not continue there p. 383. l. 11. for zeal for God r. zeal for God THE INTRODUCTION CHAP. I. ALL errour hath some appearance of truth it being impossible to believe a plain and undisguised falshood but yet most men are so easie and credulous so impatient of severe inquiries or by assed by so many corrupt passions and interests that they are too often imposed on by very slight appearances And commonly the first and fundamental mistake is in a confusion of names in a doubtful and ambiguous use of words especially in matters of Religion which depend upon Revelation and must be judged by the publick and authentick Records of inspired men for it happens too often in this Case that men consider nothing but the sound of words and from thence form such uncouth Idaeas of Religion as are fitted to the meanness of their understandings or gratifie their natural Genius and disposition or are calculated to serve an interest And thus the Gospel of our Saviour is defaced and obscured by affected Mysteries and Paradoxes and senseless propositions and Christ himself who was the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his Person who in the most plain and perspicuous manner declared the will of God to us is represented with a thicker Vail upon his Face than Moses and the glory of the second Covenant is much more obscured with a mist of words than the first was with Types and Figures This will appear to any man who shall observe what strange interpretations are commonly made of those Texts of Scripture especially in St. Pauls Epistles wherein Christ is mentioned what absurd propositions are built on them what pernicious consequences drawn from them to defeat the great ends of Christs appearing in the flesh I always took it for granted that Christ and his Religion were very well agreed but if we believe some men there is as irreconcileable a difference between the Religion of Christs Person and of his Gospel as between the Law and Grace For the Gospel of Christ is as severe a despensation as the Law which dooms all men to Eternal misery who live not very innocent and vertuous Lives but the Person of Christ is all Grace a meer refuge and Sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly Surely here must be a mistake somewhere for I am still of the mind that the Person of Christ is not at odds with his Gospel and that the Person of Christ will save none whom his Gospel condemns or if Christ would save those whom his Gospel condemns viz. impenitent and incorrigible Sinners I cannot imagine how men should know this without a particular Revelation and I hope they do not mean this by the private testimony of the Spirit to work assurance in them And yet we can think of no other way since the Gospel is so silent in this matter But it is easie to observe where the mistake lies for some men where-ever they meet with the word Christ in Scripture always understand by it the Person of Christ and thus Faith in Christ and hope in Christ and the like Phrases are expounded of a siducial relyance and recumbency on the Person of Christ for Salvation in contra-distinction to obedience to his Laws which sets up a Religion of the Person of Christ in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel And therefore the best way of rectifying this mistake which sets the Person and the Gospel of Christ at such odds is to examine the various significations of this name Christ in Scripture which shall serve as an Introduction to what follows And first Christ is originally the name of an Office which the Jews call the Messias or one anointed by God for under the Law their Prophets Priests and Kings were invested in their several Offices by the Ceremony of anointing them with Oyl which was typical of that divine Unction the Holy Jesus received at his Baptism when the Spirit of God descended on him like a Dove All those legal Unctions were accomplisht in Iesus of Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts 10. Verse 38. which was his Consecration to the Mediatory Function and vertually contained all those Offices of Prophet Priest and King which are not properly distinct Offices in Christ but the several parts and different administrations of his Mediatory Kingdom His Preaching the Gospel which we commonly call his Prophetical Office was the exercise of his Regal Power and Authority in publishing his Laws and the conditions of Eternal Life Hence the Gospel is so often called the Kingdom of Heaven and our Saviour tells Pilate that he was born to be a King and the principal exercise of his Kingly Power in this World consists in bearing witness to the truth Iohn 18. 37. that is it was an Act of his Regal Power to Conquer errour and ignorance to destroy the Kingdom of darkness by the brightness of his appearing and to erect his Throne in the hearts and Consciences of men by the power and evidence of truth which is a true spiritual Kingdom
And he was a Kingly Priest a Priest after the order of Melchizedec who was King of Salem the new Ierusalem which comes down from Heaven and Priest of the most high God Hebr. 7. Verse 1. when he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin he acted like a King No man took his life from him but he had power to lay it down and he had power to take it again in the 10th Chapter of St. Iohn's Gospel and 18. Verse Herein he differ'd from other Kings that he laid the Foundation of his Kingdom in his own blood purchas'd and redeem'd his Subjects by the Sacrifice of himself And that to which we commonly appropriate the name of Regal Power that authority he is invested with to Govern his Church to send his Spirit to forgive sins to dispense his Grace and supernatural assistances to answer Prayers to raise the dead and judge the World and bestow immortal life on all his sincere Disciples all this is the reward of his death and sufferings and is therefore called his intercession because like the intercession of the high Priest under the Law it is founded on his expiation and Sacrifice With his own blood he entred once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebrews 9. Verse 12. so that intercession signifies the Administration of his Mediatory Kingdom the Power of a Regal Priest to expiate and forgive sins This is a true account of the nature of Christs Kingdom and the method whereby it is erected He first conquers the minds of men by the power of his Word and Spirit and reduces them into subjection to God and then he pardons their sins and raiseth them into an immortal life by the expiation of his Sacrifice and that Power and Authority which is founded on it And this is the interpretation of the name Christ which signifies a Mediatory King immediately appointed by God to that Office and consecrated to it by a Divine and Supernatural Unction And thus the name Christ signifies in those places of Scripture where Iesus is said to be the Christ i. e. that Messias whom God promised to send Which are so many and so obvious that I need not name them Secondly Though Christ is originally the name of an Office yet it is used in Scripture to signifie the Person who is invested with this Office for the use of names being for distinction and the Office of a Mediator which is the first signification of the name Christ being appropriate to Him it might well serve for a proper name when once it was known who was the Christ. And therefore though before his designation to this Office was publickly owned he was only called Iesus the name given him by the Angel before he was born yet when by his resurrection from the dead He was declared with power to be the Son and the Christ of God Christ became as much his proper name as Iesus was before In the Gospels which contain the History of his Life and Death He is always called Iesus because all this time it was disputed whether he were the Christ or not but in the Epistles which are directed to the Christian Churches which were founded on this Faith that Iesus is the Christ he is as familiarly called Christ as Iesus and oftentimes by both Iesus Christ. For there can be no mistake in the Person by what name soever he be called whether it belong to his Office or Nature or circumstances of his Life and Fortune if there be but One to whom that name belongs Thirdly Christ signifies the Gospel and Religion of Christ as Moses signifies the Writings and Laws of Moses and the Prophets the Writings or Sermons of the Prophets in the 16. Ch. of St. Lukes Gospel 29. Verse They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them and in the 31. Verse If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rise from the dead And there is nothing more usual in common speech than to call any Laws or Religion or Philosophy by the name of the first Authors Thus in the 6. Chapter to the Galathians 15. Verse In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new Creature that is in the Gospel and Religion of Christ nothing is of any value to recommend us to the favour of God but a new Nature a holy and vertuous life The Law preferr'd Circumcision before Uncircumcision but the Gospel of Christ makes no such distinction but instead of those external signs requires the inward purity of heart Thus in the second Chapter of the Ep. to Coll. 8. Verse Beware lest men spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ. Where after Christ is opposed to the traditions of men and the Rudiments of the World and therefore must signifie not the Person but the Religion or Gospel of Christ i. e. have a care lest you be corrupted with the foolish opinions and superstitions of men which are inconsistent with the Christian Philosophy a plain contradiction to the Doctrine and Religion of Christ. And in the 6. Verse As you have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. obey the Doctrine of Christ as you have been taught it by us for so in the next Verse he calls it Being established in the Faith as you have been taught The like we may see in the 4. Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians 20 21. Verses But you have not so learned Christ if so be you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus Now what can learning Christ signifie but learning the Gospel of Christ. And how could the Ephesians who never saw Christ in the flesh be said to hear him in any other sense than as they heard his Gospel preacht to them ver 8. and to be instructed in him as the truth is in Iesus for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not as our Translators render it being taught by him but instructed in him must be expounded of his Religion in its genuine and primitive simplicity so as Christ taught it his Disciples without the mixture of such corrupt and impure Doctrines as the Gnostick Hereticks had taught under the name of Christianity These I take to be very convincing allegations of the use of the name Christ for his Doctrine and Religion Fourthly It is acknowledg'd by all that Christ sometimes signifies the Church of Christ which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all And thus we must understand those Phrases of being in Christ engrafted into Christ and united to Christ which signifie no more than to be a Christian One who belongs to that Society whereof Christ is the Head and Governour thus it is used in the 12. Chapter of the Ep. to the Romans 5. Verse We being many are One Body in Christ i. e. we are all
their obedience to their great Creator to restore them to the uprightness and integrity of their natures and thereby to a state of friendship with God This was the end of his holy Laws and precious Promises and exemplary Life and meritorious Death and glorious Resurrection and powerful Intercession for us to deliver us from the Power and Dominion of Sin to make us first holy as God is and then to receive us into that Blessed place where God dwells But now acquaintance with the Person of Christ makes just such a discovery of sin as it did of the naturalness of God's Justice to him i. e. that the desert and demerit of sin is such that it is impossible to make any atonement or satisfaction to the justice and wrath of God but only by the Death of Christ otherwise Christ had died in vain that is that God could not forgive it without full satisfaction which nothing but the Death of Christ could make Thus we learn our disability to answer the mind and will of God in all or any of the obedience he requireth that is that it is impossible for us to do any thing that is good but we must be acted like Machines by an external force by the irresistable power of the Grace and Spirit of God this I am sure is a new discovery we learn no such thing from the Gospel and I do not see how he proves it from an acquaintance with Christ. But still there is a more glorious discovery than this behind and that is the glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and ordained I suppose he means by God is discovered in Christ viz. for the demonstration of Gods vindictive justice in measuring out to it a meet recompence of reward and for the praise of God's glorious grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it That is it could not be known how just and severe God is but by punishing sin nor how good and gracious God is but by pardoning it and therefore lest his justice and mercy should never be known to the World he appoints and ordains sin to this end that is Decrees that men shall sin that he may make some of them the Vessels of his wrath and the examples of his fierce vengeance and displeasure and others the Vessels of his mercy to the praise and glory of his free Grace in Christ this indeed is such a discovery as nature and revelation could not make For nature would teach us that so infinitely a glorious Being as God is needs not sin and misery to recommend his glory and perfections and that so holy a God who so perfectly hates every thing that is wicked would not truckle and barter with Sin and the Devil for his glory And that so good a God had much rather be glorious in the happiness and perfection and obedience of his Creatures than in their sin and misery and Revelation tells us the same thing that as much as sin is for the glory of his vindictive justice yet God takes no pleasure in punishing delights not in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should return and live that is he had rather there were no occasion for punishing than be made glorious by such acts of vengeance and therefore though God be so holy as to punish incorrigible Sinners and so merciful as to forgive all true Penitents through our Lord Jesus Christ yet he did not ordain and appoint and decree sin to this end for vindictive justice and pardoning mercy are but secondary Attributes of the Divine Nature and therefore God cannot primarily design the glorifying of them for that cannot be without primarily designing the sin and misery of his Creatures which would be inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of his Nature Thus Nature and Revelation teaches though these men pretend to have learn't otherwise from an acquaintance with Christ. Thus much for the knowledge of our selves with respect to sin which is hid only in the Lord Iesus But then we learn what our righteousness is wherewith we must appear before God from an acquaintance with Christ. We have already learnt how unable we are to make atonement for our sins without which they can never be forgiven and how unable we are to do any thing that is good and yet nothing can deliver us from the justice and wrath of God but a full satisfaction for our sins and nothing can give us a title to a reward but a perfect and unsinning righteousness what shall we do in this Case how shall we escape Hell or get to Heaven when we can neither expiate for our past sins nor do any good for the time to come why here we are relieved again by an acquaintance with Christ his Death expiates former iniquities and removes the whole guilt of sin but this is not enough 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 vertue of his Sacrifice and expiation and righteous with his righteousness Now this is a mighty comfortable discovery how we may be righteous without doing any thing that is good or righteous And I confess we could never have known this but by an acquaintance with his Person for his Gospel makes a different representation of it tells us expresly that he is righteous who doth righteousness that without holiness no man shall see God that the only way to obtain the pardon of our sins is to repent of them and forsake them and 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 and though our obedience be not in every thing exact and perfect if it be sincere we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ and by vertue of that Covenant of Grace which he hath sealed with his blood which admits of an Evangelical instead of a strict legal perfection such different discoveries doth an acquaintance with the Gospel and with the Person of Christ make The third part of our Wisdom is to walk with God and to that is required Agreement acquaintance a way strength boldness and aiming at the same end and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in the Lord Iesus The sum of which 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 pollution and defilement to an universal and glorious holiness and hatred to love yet the righteousness of Christ
certainly be expiated by the Death of the Sinner Especially considering how holy our Priest and Sacrifice was we cannot reasonably conceive that he died or that he intercedes for incorrigible Sinners The Sacrifice of his Death extends no farther than the example of his life he was made manifest to destroy sin and in him was no sin Now though I dare not be so bold as to say what infinite Wisdom can do yet it is not imaginable how God could have contrived a more effectual way to reform the World which contains so many powerful obligations such forceable endearments such ravishing charms which makes such a pleasant and inviting representation of God to the World which so confirms our Faith and encourages our hopes and enflames our love and awakens our fears and excites our emulation which doth even affect our senses with the arguments of Religion and storm the lower and more bruitish faculties of our Souls and captivate them to the love and obedience of Christ. From hence it is easie to understand what is the true method of a Sinners recovery by Christ and what returns of love and gratitude we owe our Lord and Saviour When we are so affected with all the powerful arguments to a new life which are contained in his Incarnation and life and doctrine and example and miracles and death and resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and his Intercession for us as to be sensible of the shame and folly of sin and to be reconciled to the love and practice of true piety and holiness then we partake in the merits of his Sacrifice and find the benefit of his Intercession and have a title to all the blessings and promises of his Gospel this was the design of Christ's coming into the World not to distract our guilty minds with the terrours of the Law and the inexorable justice of God not to bring us under a Legal dispensation of fear and bondage but to encourage us to forsake our sins and reform our lives by all the endearments of love and goodness and the lively hopes of a blessed Immortality mixt with an awful regard and Reverence for God who is a holy and righteous Judge and an irreconcileable Enemy to all sin This is such a method of converting Sinners as is proper to the Person of Christ and the manner of his appearance which was not designed to cause tempests and Earthquakes in our minds like the Thunder and Lightning from Mount Sinai but to work a reformation in the World by more silent and gentle methods and in more humane ways If our Faith in Christ have reformed our lives and rectified the temper and disposition of our minds and made us sincere Lovers of God and goodness Though we are not acquainted with these artificial methods of repentance have not felt the workings of the Law nor the amazing terrours of Gods wrath nor the raging despair of damned Spirits and then all on a sudden as if we had never heard of any such thing before have had Christ offered to us to be our Saviour and heard the woings and beseechings of Christ to accept of him and upon this have made a formal contract and espousal with Christ and such like working of a heated fancy and religious distraction though our conversion be not managed with so much art and method and by so many steps and gradations we are never the worse Christians for want of it For indeed this must needs be the effect of ignorance not of an acquaintance with Christ which suggests so many encouraging considerations to return to God as to a merciful and compassionate Father and not to tremble at his presence as a severe and inexorable judge And hence we learn that the truest expression of love to our Saviour is not some fond and amorous passions but obedience to his Laws and the greatest honour we can do him is to imitate his example and to express the power of his death and resurrection in the exemplary holiness of our lives for this best answers the end of his coming into the World is the fruit of his intercession for us and the greatest glory and ornament of his spiritual Kingdom Thus I have given you a brief Scheme and Hypothesis of Religion from an acquaintance with Christs Person and if they will owne this a safe way to build Religion on an acquaintance with Christs Person they must owne what I have now discoursed which is much more agreeable to the Person of Christ and the design of his appearing and more easily and naturally deduced from it than their own wild and fantastical conceits If they do not like this I must advise them to quit this way as the which will serve others as well as themselves and let us all fetch our Religion from the plain Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel of Christ not from any pretended Personal Acquaintance with him SECT IV. How men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancies THere is a very obvious objection against this whole discourse the answering of which will further discover the ill consequences of frameing such fanciful Idaeas of Religion from an acquaintance with Christ's Person And that is this that though these men deduce their Religion from an acquaintance with Christ yet there are no men that so abound in Scripture proofs to confirm what they say and therefore they do not lay the Foundation of their Religion on such uncertain conjectures and the truth is if you consult these mens Writings you shall find their Books stuffed with Scripture or if you talk with them their whole discourse is little else but Scripture phrase but that Reverend Doctor confessed the plain truth that their Religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ and could never have been clearly and savingly learn't from his Gospel had they not first grown acquainted with his Person And then it is no wonder if they can accommodate Scripture expressions to their own dreams and fancies For when mens fancies are so posfest with Schemes and Idaeas of Religion whatever they look on appears of the same shape and colour wherewith their minds are already tinctured like a man sick of the Jaundies or that looks through a painted Glass who seeth every thing of the same colour that his eye or Glass gives it all the Metaphors and Similitudes and Allegories of Scripture are easily applyed to their purpose and if any word sound like the tinkling of their own sancies It is no less than a demonstration that that is the meaning of the Spirit of God and every little shadow and appearance doth mightily confirm them in their pre-conceived opinions As Inenaeus observes of the Valentinians that they used one Artifice or other to adapt all the speeches of our Saviour and all the Allegories of Scripture male composito phantasmati to the ill contrived sigment of their own brain and thus the minds of men are abused with words and phrases and the
in for a share at least in being the Fountain of Grace though the Dr. is pleased to take no notice of him But how excellent is the Grace of Christs Person above the Grace of the Gospel For that is a bounded and limited thing it is a strait gate and narrow way that leadeth unto life there is no such boundless mercy as all the sins in the World cannot equal its dimensions as will save the greatest the oldest and the stubbornest transgressors Thus the Love of Christ is an eternal Love because his Divine Nature is eternal and it is an unchangeable Love because his Divine Nature is unchangeable and his love is fruitful for it being the love of God it must be effectual and fruitful in producing all the things which he willeth unto his Beloved he loves Life Grace Holiness into us he loves us into Covenant loves us into Heaven This is an excellent Love indeed which doth all for us and leaves nothing for us to do we owe this discovery see you to an Acquaintance with Christs Person or rather with his Divine Nature for the Gospel is very silent in this matter All that the Gospel tells us is that Christ loved sinners so as to dye for them and that he loves good men who believe and obey his Gospel so as to save them and that he continues to love them while they continue to be good but hates them when they return to their old vices and therefore I see there is great reason for sinners to fetch their comforts not from the Gospel but from the Person of Christ which as far excels the Gospel as the Gospel excels the Law But methinks this is a very odd way of arguing from the Divine Nature for if the love of Christ as God be so infinite eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and misery came into the World For if this Love be so eternal and unchangeable c. 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 eternal and unchangeable and fruitful love as well preserve us from falling into sin and 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 may love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love of God were always so unchangeable and fruitful as this Author perswades us it is now for if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us I cannot conceive how it should happen that we should sin and dye Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal unchangeable fruitful that is that God was always good and always continues good and manifesteth his love and goodness in such ways as are suitable to his Nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being always determined to the same object but in that he always loves for the same reason that is that 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 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 God's 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 entred into the World but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such ways 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 From hence he proceeds to shew how desirable Christ is in his Humanity by reason of his freedom from all sin both Original and Actual and his fulness of Grace that all Grace was in him for the kinds thereof and all degrees of Grace for its perfection This indeed doth represent him as a very excellent Person a spotless Sacrifice and a great Example to the World but these personal perfections cannot pass out of his Person to become ours But then Thirdly you must consider That all these perfections of the Divine and Humane Nature are united in one Person and this made him fit to suffer and able to bear whaetever was due unto us which no Creature could do for if the weight of our sins had been laid upon a meer innocent Creature how would they have overwhelmed him and buried him for ever out of the presence of God No doubt the Sacrifice of Christ who was God-Man was of greater value than the Sacrifice of any meer Creature could be but I know not what this is to his purpose and do as little admire his Philosophy But his being God and Man made him an endless bottomless Fountain of Grace to all that believe This he was as God as we were told before and his Grace was never the more bottomless for becoming Man The design you see of all this is to make the Person of Christ the Fountain of all Grace from whence we must drink pardon and mercy as long as we need any and such mercy too as his Gospel is unacquainted with he hath a fulness of all Grace in himself and from thence we must receive the communications of it And this brings me to the second sort of the Personal Graces and Excellencies of Christ his fulness to save from the Grace of Communion or the free consequences of the Grace of Union As for this Grace of Communion as he is pleased to call it though it sounds a little harsh to be a Personal Grace and yet communicated whereby Christ communicates his fulness to Believers I shall reserve it for its proper place and shall at present only consider what this Personal fulness in Christ is which he calls all the furniture he received from the Father by the Unction of the Spirit for the work of our Salvation and near of kin to this is his third Personal Grace his Excellency to endear from his compleat suitableness to all the wants of the souls of men There is no man whatever this sounds like universal Redemption that hath any want in reference to the things of God but Christ will be unto him that which he wanteth is he dead Christ is life is he weak Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God hath he the sense of guilt upon him Christ is compleat Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness many poor Creatures are sensible of their wants but know not where their remedy lies Indeed whether it be life or light power or joy all is wrapt up in him Now
Humane nature in Christ and that the Relation which this Righteousness of Christ hath to the Grace we receive from him is this that thereby he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit to do all that he had to do for us for without this he could not have actually fulfilled that Righteousness which was required at his hand nor have been a compleat and perfect Sacrifice c. So that this habitual inherent Righteousness of Christ is not imputed to us but was his own proper Righteousness But secondly There is the actual obedience of Christ which was his willing chearful obediential performance of every thing duty and command that God by vertue of any Law whereto we were subject and obnoxious did require and moreover to the peculiar Law of the Mediator Let us then first consider the peculiar Law of the Mediator which he tells us respected himself meerly so that we have nothing to do with this neither and contains all those acts and duties of his which were not for our imitation he instances in his obedience which he showed in dying though St. Iohn the Divine and I think the greater of the two tells us that we must imitate him in this also must lay down our lives for the Brethren as Christ died for us Iohn 1. 3. 16. and S. Paul tells us that we must be conformed to the Death and Resurrection of Christ Rom. 6. which sounds very like an imitation though in the next page he excepts the Case of dying of his passive obedience and tells us that all the rest of his obedience to the Law of mediation is not imputed to us as though we had done it So that by the Law of Mediation he understands whatever Christ was bound to do as our Mediator whatever was proper to his Mediatory Office all this though sometimes when he better thinks of it he excepts dying is not imputed to us as though we had done it I hope we shall find something at last to be imputed to us and yet there is nothing left now But thirdly That which concerns him in a private capacity as a man subject to the Law and now whatever was required of us by vertue of any Law that he did and fulfilled and this is that actual obedience of Christ which he performed for us This methinks is very strange that what he did as Mediator is not imputed to us but what he did not as our Mediator but as a man subject to the law that is imputed to us and reckoned as if we had done it by reason of his being our Mediator and it is as strange to the full that Christ should do whatever was required of us by vertue of any law when he was neither Husband nor Wife nor Father Merchant or Tradesman Seaman or Souldier Captain or Lieutenant much less a temporal Prince or Monarch and how he should discharge the duties of these several relations for us which are required of us by certain Laws when he never was in any of these relations and could not possibly be in all is an argument which may exercise the subtilty of Schoolmen and to them I leave it Having now discovered what that Righteousness is which Christ was to fulfil for us as our Mediator viz. whatever was required of us by vertue of any law whether it concerned us in general as men or had respect to the various relations conditions and circumstances of our lives for each of these have their proper duties belonging to them setting aside that difficulty of proving that Christ did what he never did let us consider how the Dr. proves that what Christ did he did for us and in our stead and here he makes use of a little reason and a great deal of Scripture to as little purpose And to prepare the way for his reasons I find the Dr. much puzled and I do not wonder at it to prove that Christ acted as Mediator in those things which did not concern the law of his Mediation which he did as a private man subject to the law for he tells us that of this expression as Mediator there is a double sense It may be taken strictly as relating solely to the law of the Mediator and so Christ may be said to do as Mediator only what he did in obedience to that law that is only what he did as Mediator which is a pretty observation but in the sense now insisted on that is not strictly as Mediator but as not Mediator whatever Christ did as a man subject to the Law he did as Mediator because he did it as part of the duty incumbent on him who undertook so to be the meaning of which is that he who was Mediator being bound to do such things though not as Mediator but as a man subject to the law yet he did them as Mediator because he was a Mediator who did them which is just as good an argument as it would be to prove that every Embassadour eats and drinks and sleeps as an Embassadour because though this be no part of his Embassy yet he is an Embassadour who does it which is such an exposition of Quâ as the subtilest Schoolman of them all never yet thought of But there is another objection which troubles the Doctors Head for since it is the actual obedience of Christ which is imputed to us he finds it difficult to distinguish the Active and Passive obedience of Christ for every Act almost of Christs obedience from the blood of his Circumcision to the blood of his Cross was attended with sufferings so that his whole life in that regard might be called a death this is a very subtil objection but observe the answer that looking upon his willingness and obedience in it it may be distinguished from his sufferings peculiarly so called and termed his active obedience this is a strange solution of it for now it will be as hard to find out what the passive obedience of Christ was for as I remember the Scripture tells us that he was as willing and chearful in submitting to Death as in any other Act of obedience and I am sure our Saviour himself tells us that he laid down his life and no man took it from him which argues some good degree of willingness what he said in the page before is a much better answer that doing is one thing and suffering another they are in divers Predicaments and cannot be coincident As for this last scruple the Dr. might very well have spared it but that a man so well furnished with the knowledge of Predicaments may venture upon any thing but the former difficulty of Christs doing those things as Mediator which did not belong to the Laws of his Mediation is a very material one and requires great skill in Logick to get rid of it but however it is wisely done to make a show of saying something to that which cannot be answer'd for he was sensible that what Christ did purely
than the repeated Sacrifices of the Law he procures the pardon of our sins by his Death and dispenses this pardon to us by his Intercession he sealed that Covenant of Grace by his blood and intercedes for us in vertue of his blood but still according to the terms and conditions of that Covenant and this is all we must expect from him as our Mediator From what I have now discourst it appears how injurious those men are to the blood of Christ how much soever they pretend to magnifie it who attribute no more to it than a non-imputation of sin that by his Death Christ bearing and undergoing the punishment that was due to us paying the ransom that was due for us delivered us from this condition the wrath and Curse and whole displeasure of God and thus by the Death of Christ all cause of quarrel and rejection is taken away but then this will not compleat 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 Doctors word for it it can give us no title to glory this is owing to the imputation of Christs Righteousness to us to the obedience of his life but you see the Scripture gives 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 Iesus Hebr. 10. 19. which is an allusion to the High Priests 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 right to the Kingdom of Heaven The Scripture takes no notice of their artificial method 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 by him that is though Christ was a very holy Person yet he died as a Sacrifice for our sins the just for the unjust 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 and efficacy in it to make us righteous to purge our Consciences from dead works that we might serve the living God and our Righteousness and acceptance with God is wholly owing to that Covenant which he purchast and sealed with his blood But though the pardon of our sins and our justification be attributed to the blood of Christ 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. So that whatever rendred Christ beloved of God did contribute something to our acceptance for because he was beloved we are accepted for his sake and I think no man will deny that God was very highly pleased with the perfect obedience of our Saviours life We know how many blessings God bestowed upon the Children of Israel for the sake of their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob who were great Examples of Faith and Obedience which made them very dear to God and there is no doubt but 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 Abrahams posterity was so blessed for his sake but then the Righteousness of Christs life and the Sacrifice of his death do not serve two such different ends as these men fancy that the death of Christ removes the guilt of sin and his Righteousness is imputed to us to make us righteous but they both serve the same end to establish and confirm the Gospel-Covenant God was so well pleased with what Christ did and suffered with the obedience of his life and death that for his sake he entred into a Covenant of Grace with Mankind as Abrahams Faith was not imputed to his posterity as their act but for Abrahams sake God entred into Covenant with them and chose them for his peculiar people The Obedience and Righteousness of Christs life was one thing which made his Sacrifice so meritorious which was the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And this is the most that can be made of Rom. 5. 18 19. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to Condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life for as by one mans disobedience many were made Sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous there is no necessity indeed of expounding this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obedience of the Righteousness of Christs life or his active obedience for it may very well signifie no more than the obedience of his Death notwithstanding the Doctors distinction that doing is one thing and suffering is another for the Apostle tells us that he became obedient unto death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2. 8. and his offering himself in Sacrifice is called doing the will of God Hebr. 10. 9 10. and whether this be properly said or not I will leave the Doctor to dispute it with the Apostle it is plain that in this Chapter there is no express mention made of any other act of Obedience and Righteousness whereby we are reconciled to God but only his dying for us in Ver. 8. The Apostle tells us that Christ died for us while we were Sinners in Ver. 9. that we are justified by his blood in the 10. that we are reconciled to God by the Death of his Son which makes it more than probable that by his Righteousness and obedience here the Apostle understands his Death and Sufferings because this was the subject of his discourse but yet these expressions his Righteousness and Obedience seem to take in the whole compass of his obedience in doing and suffering the will of God and the meaning of the words is this that as God was so highly displeased with Adams Sin that he entailed a great many evils and miseries and death it self upon his Posterity for his sake so God was so well pleased with the Righteousness and Obedience of Christs Life and Death that he
he proves from 2 Pet. 2. 20. where the Apostle tells them That if they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of Christ and are again intangled therein and overcome if they return to their old vices then their latter end is worse than the beginning which is point blank contrary to what he affirms That those who have escaped these pollutions and are not yet intangled again in them may notwithstanding that be Swine in Gods account for so he adds Thou mayst live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet be a miserable Creature But I pray says such a man and that often so thou mayst and yet never be saved Isa. 1. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices To great purpose sure when they are offered by men of blameless innocent honest smooth lives the want of which made those Sacrifices abominable to God But I fast sometimes so did the Scribes und Pharisees twice a week but it was to devour Widows houses which was not the fast of an honest innocent man but I hear the Word of God and like the best Preachers So did the stony ground who heared the Word with joy and for a season believed and this had been well and a good sign of Grace if it had continued I read the Scripture often so did the Pharisees who were so perfect in the Bible that Christ needed but say It hath been said of old times for they knew the Text without intimation Men of prodigious memories certainly better than any Concordance but though Knaves may read the Scripture and be never the better for it yet good men may read it to good purpose and therefore I hope reading the Scripture is no argument that a man is a Hypocrite because the Pharisees were But I am grieved and am sorrowful and repent of my sins so did Judas but he hanged himself and that indeed is no repentance to life But I love good men and their company so did the foolish Virgins but they slept and suffered their lamps to go out which I hope all that love good men do not But God hath given me much knowledge That thou mayst have and never be saved yes and twenty good things more but if a blameless honest man have the keeping of this knowledge it is never the worse for him But I keep the Lords day strictly so did the Iews whom yet Christ condemned Had he been as well acquainted with the Scriptures as the Pharisees were he would not have said that the Jews kept the Lords day however this is one good thing which doth well in the company of more though it will not justifie a man when it is alone But I have many good desires and endeavours to get to Heaven these thou and thousands may have and miss of Heaven and yet when he was in a more gentle humour he told the poor doubting Soul that desire nay that a desire only to desire at two or three removes was enough But many do duties without life or zeal I am zealous so was Iehu to destroy the Worship of Baal and to retain Ieroboams Calves and so was Paul while a Pharisee in persecuting the Christian Church and therefore an universal and religious and well-governed zeal for God can be no sign of Grace But I am constant and persevere in godly courses so did the young man all these things have I kept from my youth only he left Christ for the sake of his riches and so did not persevere But some men are conscious to themselves of their own hypocrisie but I do all with a good heart for God So thou mayst think of thy self and be deceived and if this be an objection let a man have what marks he will the objection will still be good and so all evidences signifie nothing for after all it may be objected That a man may be deceived in it and think he hath these marks when he hath them not There is a way that seemeth right to a man but the end thereof is death thou mayst live so as to deceive thy self and others and yet prove an Hypocrite as if because some men may think themselves good who are in a bad way no man could ever be sure that he is in the right and thus farewel all evidences But after all this it would be worth the while to know how to distinguish a regenerate from an unregenerate man and that he tells us may be done thus An unregenerate man let him go never so far do never so much yet he lives in some one sin or other this now is very strange What go never so far and do never so much and yet live in some one sin or other What live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet live in some one sin or other and yet suppose he did a regenerate man may be in captivity to the law of sin and pray what 's the difference but then an unregenerate man cannot be poor in spirit and so carried out of all duties to Christ That is if an unregenerate man do good he is conscious to himself that he doth it if he have a good heart he feels a good heart in himself and in all he doth and therefore feels not a want of all good which is true poverty of spirit So that according to this discourse the surest mark of a regenerate man is either to have no good in himself or if he have any to be mistaken and think he hath none either of which I think is a very odd sign of Grace But then an unregenerate man comes unto Christ but he never gets into Christ never takes up his eternal rest and lodging in Iesus Christ only I thought coming had been believing and that believing would have done the business and if so God forbid that any man should be damned for want of that other Metaphor of taking up his eternal rest and lodging in Christ men in distress of Conscience that is all unregenerate men under such distress if they have comfort from Christ they are contented if they have Salvation from Hell by Christ they are contented and I think they have some reason then to be contented but Christ himself that is without comfort and without Salvation contents them not Now to be contented with Christ without comfort and without Salvation is so far from being the mark of an unregenerate man that I am not yet satisfied that it is the mark of an unreasonable man Now are not these men do you think great friends to sanctification who make all the parts of sanctification the reformation of our lives an innocent blameless Conversation Fasting Prayer hearing reading conversing with good men zeal for God perseverance in well doing honest and sincere intentions in all we do no more than the marks of Hypocrites and give no better marks of a regenerate man than to be sensible of no good in himself and then he must either have none or
be a Fool though having none is the surest way not to be sensible of it and to take up his eternal rest in Christ and to be contented with Christ without Comfort and without Salvation And now I shall conclude this Section with a remarkable passage in the Sincere Convert whereby it will evidently appear what these men think of sanctification there we have an account what course some men take to secure their eternal happiness that when they find themselves tired and weary of themselves and hearing that only Christ can save them they go to Christ to remove those sins which tired and loaded them that he would enable them to do better than formerly if they get these sins subdued and removed and if they find power to do better then they hope to be saved here is the evidence of sanctification whereas as he adds thou maist be damned and go to the Devil at last though thou dost escape all the pollutions of the World and that not from thy self and thy own own strength but from the knowledge of Iesus Christ wo to you for ever if you die in this state with your sins mortified and subdued by Christ and the reason is because this is to come to Christ to suck juice from him to maintain his own Berries his own stock of Graces alas he is but the Ivy he is no member nor branch in this Tree and hence he never grows to be one with Christ. So that holiness and obedience is no evidence of our Union to Christ though we fetch strength from Christ to do his will we may only grasp about Christ all this while as the Ivy doth about the Oak but never be united to him and become one with him so that now we must return where we began and stick to the testimony of the Spirit without any external evidence that is to private Enthusiasms for sanctification can be no evidence of our Union to Christ. Good God! Into what mazes and Labyrinths do these men lead poor distressed Souls they can direct them to no certain way of getting into Christ nor how to know whether they are in Christ or not and now we may plainly see what friends these men are to a holy life they all agree that holiness is not antecedently necessary to our Union with Christ but they only pretend to make it a necessary mark and evidence of our Union and yet they will not allow it this priviledge neither to be a certain evidence of our Union to Christ it may prove us united to Christ as the Ivy is to the Oak not as a branch is united to the Vine and I hope this will justifie any mans zeal against such opinions as undermine the very foundations of Christianity The Gospel method of Salvation is very plain and easie those great Miracles our Saviour wrought and his Resurrection from the Dead are the foundation of our Faith a sufficient reason to believe that he came from God and declared his will to the World a publick profession of this Faith in our Baptism makes us the visible members of his body which is his Church and a sincere obedience to his Gospel makes a real Union between Christ and us and entitles us to all the promises of the Gospel and every man may as certainly know whether he be thus united to Christ as he can feel the motions of his own mind as he can know what he loves and hates and chuses and what the course of his life and actions are and there is no need of any revelation of any private testimony of the spirit to assure men of this no more than there is to assure them of any thing which is evident to their outward or inward senses The testimony of the Spirit concerns the general adoption of Christians for the Sons of God not to testifie to any particular man that he is a good Christian or in a state of Grace that is it is not a private but a publick testimony given to the whole Christian Church that Holy Spirit which God bestowed upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians which enabled them to work miracles and to speak Languages which they had never learnt and to Prophesie was a plain argument to all the World that God now owned the Christians not the Jews for his chosen and elect people for his Sons and Children for this was the great dispute of those days whether Jews or Christians were the Sons of God whether God now owned the Jewish or the Christian Religion and the Apostles decide this controversie by the testimony of the Spirit for God could not give a greater testimony to the Christian Church than the gift of the Holy Spirit for it was a plain argument that he owned them for his Sons when he bestowed the Spirit of his Son on them as the Apostle argues Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith That is did God bestow his Spirit on you while ye were Jews or upon your Conversion to Christianity for if God bestowed his Spirit only on Christians this is a sufficient seal to the Christian Religion This is very plain and intelligible the testimony of the Spirit assures us that all Christians are the Sons of God and Heirs of his Promises and every mans own Conscience will tell him whether he be a Christian that is whether he heartily believe and obey the Gospel of Christ and herein consists our Union to Christ and fellowship with him let us then leave those other dim notions to men who can believe what no man can understand who despise every thing that can be understood as if it were no better than carnal reason CHAP. V. Concerning the Love of Christ to Believers SECT 1. I Have now finisht the greatest part of my design and shall discourse more briefly of what remains Next to our Union with Christ follows our Communion with him for though Communion and fellowship in the Scripture notion of those words signifie no more than what we call Union as I have already proved yet in these mens Divinity they are very different our Union to Christ is represented by our marriage to him our Communion with him by consequential conjugal affections the only thing I shall at present take notice of for a Conclusion of all is that mutual and reciprocal love which is betwixt Christ and Believers Christs love to Believers and the Believers love to Christ. First Christs love to Believers the Scripture doth very justly magnifie the love of Christ as the greatest example of goodness that was ever known in the World and the greatest expression of the love of Christ was his dying for us he is that good Shepherd who giveth his life for his Sheep Iohn 10. 11. and our Saviour himself tells us greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend and therefore when the Apostle designed to mention the greatest
bestows the rewards of Righteousness on those who according to the strictness and rigour of the Law are not Righteous that for Christ's sake he hath made a new Covenant of Grace which pardons our past sins and follies and rewards a sincere though imperfect obedience for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be made righteous is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be justified that is treated like righteous persons so that the Righteousness of Christ is not the formal cause of our justification that very Righteousness whereby we are righteous but the Righteousness of his Life and Death is the meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared righteous and rewarded as righteous persons for the Apostle tells us in Ver. 17. who those are who are thus justified by Christ and shall Reign with him in Life not those who are righteous by the imputation of Christs Righteousness to them but those who have received the abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness that is who by the Gospel of Christ which is the Grace and the abundant Grace of God are made Holy and Righteous as God is which Righteousness is called a gift because it is not owing solely to humane endeavours but is wrought in us by supernatural means by those powerful arguments and motives and divine assistances which God in infinite love and goodness has afforded the World by Jesus Christ. This gives a fair account how we may be said to be made righteous by the Righteousness of Christ not that his actual obedience is reckoned as done by us which is impossible but because we are made righteous both in a proper and forensick sense by the Gospel-Covenant which is wholly owing to the Grace of God and to the merits and Righteousness of Christ the great arguments and motives and powerful assistances of the Gospel form our minds to the love and practice of Holiness and so make us inherently righteous and the Grace of the Gospel accepts and rewards that sincere and Evangelical obedience which according to the rigour and severity of the Law could deserve no reward so that our Righteousness is wholly owing to the Righteousness of Christ which may in this sense be said to be imputed to us though that phrase never occurs in Scripture because without this Covenant of Grace which is founded on the Righteousness of Christ the best man living could lay no claim to Righteousness or future glory So that the Righteousness of Christ is our Righteousness when we speak of the foundation of the Covenant by which we are accepted but if we speak of the terms of the Covenant then we must have a righteousness of our own for the Righteousness of Christ will not serve the turn Christs Righteousness and our own are both necessary to our Salvation the first as the foundation of the Covenant the other as the condition of it The sum of this Section is this that there is no foundation in reason or Scripture to imagine any such Union betwixt Christ and Believers as should intitle them to all the personal Righteousness of Christ as much as if it had been performed by themselves but the vertue of Christs Obedience and Sufferings so far as it concerns our justification is contained in the Gospel-Covenant he is the Mediator of the Covenant and his blood is the blood of the Covenant and we must expect no other advantage from what Christ hath done and suffer'd but to be saved according to the gracious terms and conditions of the Gospel SECT IV. That these men place our Union to Christ before holiness of life I Have now explained to you the nature of our Union to the Person of Christ as these men represent it whereby they say we are entitled to all his Excellencies Graces Righteousness Preciousness c. and made it appear that there is no foundation for such a notion either in Scripture or reason but before I dismiss this it will be convenient to take notice of the great evil and mischief of this opinion which may satisfie any considering man though there were no other evidence of it how false it is and I shall observe two things to this purpose First That according to this notion men may nay must be united to Christ while they continue in their sins which according to my understanding overthrows all Religion and destroys the necessary obligations to an holy life Secondly That according to these mens discourses no man can certainly tell how to get into Christ or know whether he be in Christ or not As for the first that men may nay must be united to Christ while they continue in their sins it is easie to produce abundant evidence for the proof of it Mr. Shephard tells us expresly that obedience does not make us Gods people or God our God but he is first our God which is only by the Covenant of Grace and hence it is that he being ours and we his we of all others are most bound to obey as for the obligation to obedience we will consider that anon at present it suffices that we are Gods people and that by vertue of the Covenant of Grace before we obey him the same Author tells us that we are not united to Christ our life by obedience as Adam was to God by it but by Faith that is by such a Faith of which Obedience is no part otherwise he opposes a part to the whole and so the same thing to it self and therefore as all actions in living things comes from Union so all our acts of obedience are to come by Faith from the Spirit on Christs part and from Faith on our part which make the Union the meaning of which is this that we must first be united to Christ by this Faith of which more anon before we can do any thing that is good before this Union the best actions we can do are sins which is a plain demonstration of the truth of this charge because according to this principle we can do nothing but sin before we are united to Christ hence these men constantly place our justification before our sanctification that we are first accounted holy by God before we are made holy now our justification follows our Union to Christ and our fanctification follows our justification and therefore we must first be united to Christ so as to have a title to all the Promises of the Gospel to Justification and Eternal Life before we are sanctified that is before we are made Holy hence we are told that Holiness is a remote end of vocation but the next end is to come to Christ and the same Author makes a speech for Christ to a Sinner so gracious a speech that among all the invitations of Christ in the Gospel we find nothing like it though thou hast resisted my Spirit refused my Grace wearied me with thy iniquities yet come unto me and this will make me amends I require nothing of thee