that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Eph. 5. 25 26. Upon which account we may well be called the Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones vers 30. the Church being as it were taken out of his crucified Body as the Woman was taken out of the Man as Christ is said to have reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 21 22. because the Covenant of Grace which is the Foundation of the Christian Church and receives Gentiles as well as Jews was sealed with the blood of Christ so that the Church is taken out of the crucified body of Christ which in the mystical sense answers to the Womans being taken out of the Man which seems to be the Apostles meaning in that place For the same reason Christ ownes himself our Friend Ioh. 15. 14. Ye are my friends if you do what soever I command you which does not signifie such an equality betwixt Christ and us as there is betwixt friends nor encourage any rudeness and unbecoming familiarity in our addresses to him but acquaints us with the nature of his government that he will rule his Church with the same care and tenderness which one friend expresseth to another So that all this is a description of the state of the Gospel in which our Lord and Master is our Shepherd our Head and Husband our Friend and Saviour who hath redeemed and purchased us with his own blood who laid the Foundation of his spiritual Kingdom in the most surprising and astonishing goodness and exerciseth his authority in all the methods of love and compassion Upon which account God also hath now laid aside in a great measure that severe name of a King and calls himself our Father to assure us of his fatherly care and government and to signifie that liberty of Sons we now enjoy under the Gospel in opposition to the bondage and servitude of the Law of Moses But then we must observe farther that though Christ be our Lord and Governour he doth not govern us immediately by himself for He is ascended up into Heaven where he powerfully intercedes for his Church and by a vigilant Providence superintends all the affairs of it but hath left the visible and external conduct and government of his Church to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his name and by his authority in the first Ages of Christianity Christ conferred such extraordinary gifts on men as qualified them for so great an office Eph. 4. 8. c. But though these miraculous gifts ceased when the Gospel was fully published and sufficiently confirmed yet the offices still continue for the instruction and government of the Church though managed in more ordinary and humane ways Christ now governs his Church by men who are invested with his authority which is a plain demonstration of what I discoursed above that the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by their Union with the Christian Church which consists in their regular subjection to their spiritual Guides and Rulers and in concord and unity among themselves For if our Union to Christ consists in our subjection to him as our Lord and Master our Head and Husband and this authority is not immediately exercised by Christ himself but by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church it necessarily follows that we cannot be united to Christ that is cannot owne his authority and government till we unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians and submit to the publick Instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church as no man can be said to submit himself to his Prince who denies subjection to those subordinate Magistrates who act by his Princes Commission for the Union of Bodies Politick such as the Christian Church is consists in Order and Government when all the Members keep their proper places and are knit to each other by a faithful discharge of their several offices and trusts Schismaticks are in the Church just as Rebels are in the Kingdom not as part of it but as open and profest Enemies but the Apostle tells us wherein the Unity of the Church consists in Eph. 4. 16. Christ is the Head from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love That is the supreme power is invested in Christ as Head to whom the Church is obedient and subject but to make this Union firm and lasting there must be a regular subordination of the several Members and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices which is the most effectual way to advance their spiritual growth in all Christian graces and especially to increase that love and friendship which is the very life and soul of the Church This indeed supposes a visible Society of Christians professing the Faith of Christ and living in communion with each other for if there be no such visible Society as it may happen in times of persecution or some great degeneracy of the Church it must of necessity alter the case our Union to Christ then consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us Members of the Universal Church though there be no particular Church to communicate with but when there is a visible Church we are under the necessary obligations of a visible Communion because herein our subjection to the Authority of Christ and consequently our Union to him consists And this by the way gives a plain account of the only cause that can justifie our separation from any Society of Christians for our Union with the Christian Church being the Medium of our Union to Christ while the Church we live in acknowledges the Authority and submits to the Laws of Christ we are bound to live in Communion with it because this unites us to Christ. When nothing is made the condition of our Communion which is expresly forbid by the Laws of our supreme Lord we acknowledge his Authority in our subjection to our spiritual Guides and we disowne his Authority in disowning and affronting theirs as our Saviour tells his Apostles He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. But when any Church prevaricates in the Laws of Christ corrupts his Religion and undermines the fundamental design of it which is to make men good and vertuous when we cannot obey our spiritual Rulers without disobeying the express Laws of Christ the reason of our Communion with such a Church ceases because it doth not answer nay contradicts the end of Christian Society which is to have fellâ—wship with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. For in this case we cannot owne their authority but we must
but one Christian Society which is the One Body of Christ. Thus Brethren in Christ i. e. Christian Brethren 1 Colossians 2. Verse And if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2. Ep. to the Corinthians 5. Chapter 17. v. i. e. every sincere Christian is a new Creature or whoever professeth the Faith of Christ and lives in Society with the Christian Church hath obliged himself to live a new life but of this more in its proper place Thus variously is the name Christ used in the Writings of the Apostles which hath occasioned very great mistakes in some mens Divinity who are very zealous to advance Christs Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion Who instead of those substantial duties of the love of God and men and an universal holiness of life have introduced a fanciful application of Christ to our selves and Union to him set off with all those choice Phrases of closing with Christ and embracing Christ and getting into Christ and getting an interest in Christ and trusting and relying and rowling our Souls on Christ And instead of obedience to the Gospel and the Laws of Christ have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick devotion which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ in admiring his Personal excellencies and perfections fulness beauty loveliness riches c. The Foundation of all which Riddles and Mysteries is that these men make the Person of Christ almost the sole object of the Christian Religion and whatever is spoken of Christ with respect to his Offices his Laws and his Religion they understand of his Person and personal excellencies And therefore the design of this discourse is to reconcile the Person of Christ with his Religion that men may not abuse themselves with a pretended devotion to our Saviour while they contemn his Laws and purposely defeat the great end of his coming into the World And to that end I shall discourse on these following Arguments First Of what use the consideration of Christs person is in the Christian Religion Secondly What the Knowledge of Christ is Thirdly Wherein our Union to Christ and Communion with him consists Fourthly Christs love to us and our love to Christ. CHAP. II. Of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion THE first thing to be stated is of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion For those men who talk so much of the Person and Personal excellencies of Christ frequently without any sense and generally without any just ground from Reason or Scripture are very clamorous and alarm the World with strange jealousies and fears as if there were a party of men started up who design to make Christ useless and to reduce Religion to its first Natural State which knew no Priest nor Sacrifice nor Mediator A design which I profess I am wholly a stranger to as I believe all those are who are so much charged with it The Foundation of my hope is that which is the Foundation of the Christian Religion the Sacrifice and Intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ. But I doubt not it will appear in the Sequel what the ground of these calumnies are viz. that we are charged with making Christ useless only because we dare not make his Laws and Religion so And to prevent such scandals for the future I shall lay the Foundation of all in this inquiry of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion By the Person of Christ I mean what all men ought to mean who talk of Christs Person viz. Christ himself as every mans Person is himself and the only proper consideration here is the greatness of his Person who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God man the Son of God in whom his Soul was well pleased who left the glories of an Eternal Throne to undertake the work of mans redemption and this suggests many useful considerations which have a great influence upon Religion As first This is a plain demonstration of Gods love to Mankind that he sent so great and so dear a Person as his only begotten Son into the World to save Sinners All Religion is founded on a belief of Gods Goodness He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. that is must believe his Being and his Providence that he loves and takes care of good men for no man will serve God who does not hope to be the better by it And therefore every Religion had its proper demonstrations of Gods Goodness Natural Religion was founded on those natural evidences of the Divine bounty and goodness in making and governing the World the Mosaick Religion on those miraculous deliverances God wrought for Israel and that particular providence which watched over them the Christian Religion on the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of the Son of God a work of such stupendious love that it is the wonder of Angels and the astonishment as well as praise of men No man can doubt of Gods good will to Sinners who sees the Son of God cloathed with our flesh and dying as a Sacrifice for our sins this gives relief to our guilty fears and does encourage us to retrieve our past follies by new obedience that we have so great an assurance of God's goodness for he had nothing greater to bestow on us than his Son And he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 8 Rom. 32. Secondly This gives great reverence and authority to the Gospel that it was preached by so great a Person as the Son of God Laws always partake of the fate and condition of the Law-giver the greater opinion we have of his Wisdom and Reverence for his Person the more sacred regard have we for his Laws and therefore Numa pretended that he received his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria to procure a greater veneration for them which was imitated by Lycurgus and other Law-givers thus God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds 1 Hebr. 1. 2. And his greatness and Authority gives an inviolable sanction and just reverence to his Laws Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord 2. Hebr. 1. 2 3. To the same purpose is that Parable in Luke 20. 9. c. Thirdly The greatness of his Person gives
great authority to his example He came to be our Prophet and our guide to teach us by his Precepts and his life now we love to imitate great Persons and none so great as he who was the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express image of his Person His example secures the honour and reputation of vertue and gives us an evident demonstration wherein the perfection of our nature consists for he lived up to the perfection of humane nature and the only way to be perfect is to live as he lived Nay the greatness of his Person makes all the expressions of his love and goodness the more wonderful That the Son of God should become man that when he was rich for our sakes he should become poor that the great Lord of the Creation should become a Minister and Servant that the Lord of life and glory should suffer and die These are such expressions of love and goodness as we can never fully imitate because we can never be so great as he was but yet they powerfully convince us how reasonable it is for us to stoop to the meanest offices of kindness since we can never stoop so low as the Son of God did when he came down from Heaven and took up his Lodging in the grave Fourthly This assures us of the infinite value of his Sacrifice and the power of his intercession He was a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron and his Sacrifice of a greater value than the bloud of Bulls and Goats God cannot but be pleased when his own Son undertakes to be a ransom and to make atonement for Sinners which is so great a vindication of Gods Dominion and Soveraignty of the authority of his Laws and the Wisdom and Justice of his Providence that he may securely pardon humble and penitent Sinners without reproaching any of his Attributes And we can reasonably desire no greater security for the performance of this Gospel Covenant than that it was sealed with the bloud of the Son of God which is such a confirmation of God's Covenant and Promise as the World never had before Christ is the surety of a better Testament Hebr. 7. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who undertakes for the performance of it and the security he gives us depends on thè vertue of his Priesthood and Sacrifice and the power of his Intercession for so in Verse 21. the Apostle tells us that God had confirmed the Priesthood of Christ by Oath The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec And whereas other Priests died and left their Priesthood to their Successors He continueth for ever and therefore hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Verse 23 24 25. And who can desire a more powerful Mediator than the Son of God to whom God hath given such signal demonstrations of his favour and acceptance by a voice from Heaven and by the glory of his Miracles and his Resurrection from the Dead And that the vertue of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession depends very much on the greatness of his Person is plain from the Epistle to the Hebrews the design of which is to show how much the Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ excels that of the Law and the Foundation of all is laid in the first Chapter where the Apostle discourses of his greatness and excellency that he was the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express Image of his Person the Heir of all things by whom he made the Worlds exalted above all Angels who hath an everlasting Throne and Scepter and shall continue when all other things moulder and vanish away But Fifthly The Person of Christ is of no other consideration in the Christian Religion than as it hath an influence upon the great ends of his undertaking i. e. we must expect no more from Christ upon account of his Personal excellencies and perfections than what he hath promised in his Gospel He hath told us there whatever he intends to do for us and hath charged us to expect no more from him Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven That is you must not expect that I will be better to you than my word and receive you into the Kingdom of Heaven upon easier terms than I have promised I shall be moved with none of your flattering speeches but how good and kind soever you may fancy me unless you obey those Laws I publish in my Fathers name I declare before hand that I will disown you when I come to judgment For indeed should he absolve and justifie those men whom the Gospel condemns that is wilful and incorrigible Sinners this were to disanul that Covenant which he had sealed with his bloud Christ is the object of our Faith and Hope only as he is our Saviour and he is our Saviour in no other sense than as he is our Mediator and he mediates for us as our Priest that is in vertue of that Covenant which he hath sealed with his bloud and therefore we have no reason to expect any thing from the Person of Christ which is not contained in his Covenant much less which contradicts it for that would be in effect to renounce his Mediation and to trust to the goodness of his nature And let any man judg whether this be not to set up a new Religion which hath no Covenant and no Promise for whatever we can expect from Christ by vertue of a Promise is contained in the Gospel and if we expect any thing else from him upon his Personal account it is without a promise which at best reduces us to the same state in which the World was before God had made an express revelation of his will when all their hopes were founded on that natural perswasion they had of the divine Goodness that Faith which is the Foundation of Natural Religion that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. thus these men trust in the Person of Christ without any Promise nay which makes the case much worse in contradiction to the terms of that Covenant which he sealed with his bloud they quit his Promise and his Covenant to rely and rowl upon his Person This is so very absurd at first sight that I know no man will be so senseless as to owne it in so many words nor do I charge any man with it but I say this is the natural interpretation of trusting in the Person of Christ in his blood and merits and satisfaction fulness and alsufficiency and of relying and rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and the like Phrases of a late date in which some men place the whole mystery
cometh unto the Father but by me if you had known me you should have known my Father also and henceforth you have known him and have seen him That is I alone declare the true way to life and happiness and no man can thoroughly understand the will of God but by learning of me and therefore whoever knows me i. e. whoever is acquainted with the Doctrine and Religion I preach knows my Father also that is is thoroughly instructed in God's mind and will as he proves in the following Verses So that to know God is to understand the will of God concerning the Salvation of Mankind and to know Christ is to understand that Declaration he hath made of Gods will to the World i. e. the Gospel which he Preached which is therefore called the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4. 6. That is that glorious manifestation God hath made of himself to the World by Christ for the face of Christ signifies all that whereby he made himself known as a man is known by his face that is his Laws and Religion and Miracles whereby it appeared that he was the Son of God the great Prophet and Saviour of the World by all this the glory of God was manifested in which the Apostle alludes to that shining glory which appeared on the face of Moses when he came down from the Mount which was but typical of that bright and glorious manifestation God would make of himself by Christ. God was seen in Christ he that hath seen me hath seen my Father that is in plain words the will of God was fully declared to the World by Christ upon which account too as well as with respect to his divine Nature he is called the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his Person Hebr. 1. 1. those discoveries Christ hath made of God being a bright and glorious reflexion of the Nature and Attributes of God of his Eternal Wisdom and truth and holiness as true a representation of the divine nature and will as any Picture is of the person it represents It is plain that in this sense Christ is called the image of God 2 Cor. 4. 4. Lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which is the image of God should shine unto them Where Christ's being the Image of God comes in very abruptly unless we understand it in this sense that he is the Image of God with respect to the glorious Revelations of the Gospel which contain a true and faithful account of God's Nature and Will The result of all is this that God is the last and highest object of Religious and saving Knowledge i. e. that the only Knowledge necessary to the purposes of Religion is such a knowledge of God's Nature and Will as is sufficient to direct our actions and encourage our obedience and whereas God was formerly known by the light of nature and the works of Creation and Providence and those partial and occasional revelations of his will which he made to the World now the only true medium of knowing God is the Knowledge of Christ who came into the World to declare God to us He knows God best who is best acquainted with those Revelations Christ hath made of God's will i. e. who understands the Gospel in its full extent and latitude This is the meaning of that expression in Iohn 17. 3. This is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent i. e. the only way to Eternal Life is to know the nature and will of God and the only certain way of attaining to the knowledg of God is by knowing Christ whom God sent into the World to publish the Everlasting Gospel who hath made more perfect revelations of Gods will than ever the World had before and who alone hath brought life and immortality to light so that to know Christ is not meerly to know his Person which we can have no other knowledge of than what he hath been pleased to reveal to us but to be acquainted with the whole Doctrine of the Gospel in its native simplicity as he published it to the World which I observed before The Apostle calls this learning Christ and being instructed in him as the truth is in Iesus For when we speak of the Knowledge of Christ we must consider him as our Prophet and so to know Christ signifies to know his Gospel and to preach Christ is to preach his Gospel to expound all those rules of life and Articles of Faith which are contained in it whether they are concerning the nature of God or a future State or his own Nature and Office and Mediation Thus Philip preached Christ to the Samaritanes Acts 8. 5. which in Verse 12. is called preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Iesus Christ. That is the whole Doctrine of the Gospel This should make all considering men ashamed of those unreasonable and groundless clamours that Christ is not preached unless he be named in every sentence whether the argument require it or not as if preaching Christ were to be understood in a literal sense of preaching nothing but the name of Christ those preach Christ most who are careful to confirm men in the belief of the Gospel and of that great promise of immortal life who expound his Laws and the true nature and design of his Mediation for every part of the Gospel is part of the Knowledge of Christ and his Laws as principal a part as any because the design of the whole Gospel is to make us obedient to these Eternal Rules of Righteousness whereby we are transformed into the nature and Image of God and qualified for the happiness of Heaven There is indeed a larger notion of the Knowledge of God and Christ which includes the vertue and efficacy of this knowledge for the design of all Religious knowledge being the Government of our lives and actions how true soever our speculations are the Scripture brands all those as ignorant of God who do not love and reverence and obey him and though we be acquainted with the whole Doctrine of the Gospel unless we heartily believe it and obey all those Revelations Christ hath made we know him not Iohn 1. 2 3. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And Verse 4. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him And 1 Iohn 3. 6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him Not but that bad men may have as true a speculative knowledge of the nature and design of the Gospel as good men have but the meaning is that this is a knowledge which serves no end which wants life and sense and makes men no better than if they were perfectly ignorant and therefore is of no other
is a sufficient nay the only foundation of our agreement and upon that of our walking with God though St. Iohn tells us If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and then the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins Iohn 1. Ch. 1. v. 6 7. And our only acquaintance with God and knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his word and works could not discover as you heard above And he is the only way wherein we must walk with God and we receive all our strength from him and he makes us bold and confident too having removed the guilt of sin that now we may look Justice in the face and whet our Knife at the Counter door all our Debts being discharged by Christ as these bold acquaintance and familiars of Christ use to speak And in Christ we design the same end that God doth which is the advancement of his own glory that is I suppose by trusting to the expiation and righteousness of Christ for Salvation without doing any thing our selves we take care that God shall not be robbed of the glory of his free Grace by a competition of any merits and deserts of our own These are those great Gospel Mysteries and Soul-saving truths which are learnt from an acquaintance with Christ's Person which his Gospel is so silent in or speaks so darkly and imperfectly of that it was impossible to understand them without being first acquainted with his Person And that you may the better understand the whole design and contrivance of it I shall put every thing into its just and natural order God then from the beginning designed to glorifie his justice and his mercy and because there had been no occasion either to punish or pardon unless man had sinned he appointed and ordained sin for the glory of his vindictive justice and pardoning Grace and accordingly since nothing can withstand the Decrees and appointments of God it pleaseth God that Man should sin but when he hath sinned he is extreamly displeased with it and now his Justice must be satisfied for it is impossible for God to forgive the the least sin without a compleat and perfect satisfaction this falls hard upon those miserable wretches whose ill fortune it was without any faults of theirs to be left out of the Roll of Election and who have no way to satisfie the Divine Justice but by their Eternal Torments by this it appears how rigorously just God is that he will never pardon the least sin when he can serve his own glory by the misery and confusion of Sinners But this is but one part of the glory of God to be just in punishing sin the other is to shew mercy in sparing and rewarding the Sinner now here was the great difficulty how God should be just and merciful too when Justice requires a full satisfaction and mercy excludes all desert For the demerit of sin being infinite no Creature can expiate sin but by enduring infinite that is endless Torments and those who must be always miserable can never be the subjects of God's mercy To unite these two extreams and reconcile such contradictions was a work of infinite Wisdom as well as goodness And it was effected thus God sends his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World to fulfil all righteousness in his life and to make a full satisfaction for sin by his Death For his blood being of infinite value as being the blood of the Son of God could expiate an infinite guilt and so make a compleat satisfaction to Justice which is more glorified by the Death of Christ than by the Eternal miseries of all the Sinners in the World because it discovers the naturalness of Justice to God which is the Position to be maintain'd that he could not pardon without full satisfaction that is that he is so just that he hath not one dram of goodness in him till his rage and vengeance be satisfied which is I confess a glorious kind of Justice But now the Iustice and vengeance of God having their actings assigned them to the full being glutted and satiated with the blood of Christ God may pardon as many and great sins as he pleases without fear of the least imputation of injustice and now a glorious and more comfortable Scene of mercy begins to appear now God embraces Sinners as a kind Father and accounts them perfectly innocent in vertue of that satisfaction Christ hath made for their sins but this is not enough the law of God must be fulfilled as well as his justice satisfied we must be righteous as well as innocent otherwise we may escape punishment but can expect no reward though I confess I should have thought that Christ had satisfied for sins of omission together with sins of Commission and as by his satisfaction for our doing what we ought not to do we are reputed by God as having never done any thing amiss so by his satisfaction for our neglecting what we ought to have done we might by the same reason be reputed by God perfectly righteous to have done all that we ought to have kept the whole Law but it seems this was not sufficient and therefore as the satisfaction of Christ is imputed to us for the forgiveness of sins so the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us to make us perfectly righteous and this makes the Grace of God perfectly free without any suspition of merit or desert in us And now God and Sinners may agree very well and walk comfortably together for though they have guilt enough and he Justice enough to destroy a World yet there is no danger since Christ hath satisfied Justice and though he be infinitely holy and pure perfect light and Sinners abominably filthy yet there is no fear he should loath and abhor them when they are Cloathed with the white and spotless Robes of Christs righteousness and they are so well acquainted now with the design of God to advance the glory of his free Grace in their Salvation that they are very secure that neither their past sins nor present habitual impurities can do them any hurt but they shall be saved with a notwithstanding their sins These are those fundamental Doctrines with which these men have blessed the World from a pretended acquaintance with Christ's Person which are so unlike the holy Religion of our Saviour that for distinction sake it ought to be called the Religion of Christ's Person in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel And since we have discovered the Principles of this new Religion of Christ's Person I cannot forbear inquiring briefly into the practical inferences from it that we may at once view the grand Mystery of this Religion both in its principles and practice Now the practice of this Religion consists in accepting of
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
be possest with the same love of vertue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sense with that expression of Christs being formed in you Gal. 4. 19. My little Children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you that is till you be thoroughly instructed in the Doctrine and Religion of Christ and are thereby moulded into his likeness and image Hence in the 1 Cor. 6. 17. the Apostle tells us He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit that is herein consists our Union to Christ that we have the same temper of mind which he had for there can be no Union betwixt Souls and Spirits without this that they are acted by the same Principles and love and chuse the same things bodies are united by an external adhesion of parts but Souls by an harmony and consent of wills This makes two one Spirit when there is a perfect likeness of disposition when they agree in the same designs as much as if the same Soul animated them both when we love God and men as our Saviour did when we are meek and humble and patient and contented as he was we are as closely united to him as if he dwelt in us and we in him as if we had but one Spirit in us both But Thirdly there is a closer Union still which results from this which consists in a mutual and reciprocal love When we are transformed into the image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him too as partaking of his nature He loves us as the price of his blood as his own workmanship created to good works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour Now love is the great Cement of Union which unites interests and thereby does more firmly unite hearts hence when our Saviour had told his Disciples At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Joh. 14. 20. he explains the meaning of it in v. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him That is God and Christ and Christians are all united by a mutual and reciprocal love founded on a likeness of dispositions and actions on obedience to those Laws which are but a Copy of the Original Holiness of God and of the life of Christ. To the same purpose Christ prays for his Disciples Ioh. 17. 21. that they may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Which refers to their agreement in doctrine and love Thus according to the Scripture phrase love makes us one with God and Christ and with each other Fourthly This Union is exprest in Scripture by resembling the Christian Church to Gods Temple wherein he dwells as formerly he did in the Temple at Ierusalem while that typical and ceremonial Worship was in force God was pleased to dwell in a Temple made with hands there he placed the Symbols of his Presence from thence he gave forth his Oracles there he received their Sacrifices and Oblations and returned an answer to their prayers But since Christ hath introduced a more manly and spiritual Worship God dwells no longer in a Temple of wood and stones by such visible signs of his presence as formerly he did but hath chosen the society of devout minds and pure souls for the place of his residence and abode Thus in the 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know you not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you and Chap. 6. vers 19. Know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and 2 Cor. 6. 16. Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in or among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people To the same purpose we find in Rev. 21. 3. that after the description of the Holy City the New Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven which signifies the state of the Christian Church there was heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Now all this must be expounded in allusion to the Temple at Ierusalem that as the Temple was the place of Gods peculiar presence with that people signifying that he was always ready at hand to assist them in their distress to supply their wants to defend them from their enemies to hear all the pious prayers they put up to him that is that he would be their God and they should be his people as the Apostle expounds it thus it is now with the Christian Church they are the only society of men whom God hath a peculiar regard for with whom he is always present whom he protects and defends by a vigilant and more particular providence whom he hath chosen for his peculiar people to dwell among them And as in the Temple God placed the Mercy-seat and the Cherubims as Emblems of his Majesty and Presence for which reason he is so often said to dwell betwixt the Cherubims so he hath now bestowed his holy Spirit on the Christian Church which is a surer pledge of his dwelling among them than those Types and Shadows were as the Apostle speaks Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you or among you that is this is a sufficient evidence that ye are the Temple of God in that God hath given his Spirit to dwell with you which primarily refers to those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which God in that Age bestowed on the Christian Church this was the true Shecinah or divine glory resting on them for which reason he is called the Spirit of Glory 1 Pet. 4. 14 The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you that is that Spirit of God which is the visible manifestation of his glory in the Christian Church of which that visible glory which sometimes filled the Jewish Tabernacle was an Emblem Hence S. Paul tells us that the glory of the new Covevant which is the ministration of the Spirit which was confirmed by such miraculous and plentiful effusions of the holy Spirit did far exceed the glory of the first Covenant written and engraven in stones though that was so glorious that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance 2 Cor. 3. 7 8. for this was a glorious manifestation of a divine Presence with the Church that God did indeed dwell with them and walk among them and though these extraordinary gifts are now ceased yet
and suffer'd for us excites a just hatred of our sins sincere purposes and resolutions of a new life to live to him who died for us a great hope in God who hath provided such a Sacrifice and Atonement such a Mediator and Advocate for us and a stedfast expectation of a future reward This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ when these visible figures of his Death and Sufferings affect our minds with such a strong and passionate sense of his love to us and excite in us such a firm hope in God as transforms us into a divine Nature and this is our real Union to Christ as you heard above Now I take it for granted that there can be no better way to understand the nature of our Union to Christ than to consider the nature of those Sacraments which were designed as the Instruments and signs of our Union to him and if we will take that account the Scripture gives of them all the Union they signifie is only a publick and visible profession of our Faith in Christ and subjection to him as our Lord and Saviour and a sincere conformity of our hearts and lives to the nature and life of Christ. Fourthly I observe further that fellowship and Communion with God according to the Scripture notion signifies what we call a Political Union that is that to be in fellowship with God and Christ signifies to be of that Society which puts us into a peculiar relation to God that God is our Father and we his Children that Christ is our head and Husband our Lord and Master we his Disciples and followers his Spouse and his body thus in Iohn 1. 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ where I observe that our fellowship with the Father and Son is first founded on our fellowship with the Christian Church that is on our profession of the Faith of Christ obedience to his Laws subjection to his Government and Discipline which he now visibly exerciseth by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church this unites us into one Society and body politick and now by vertue of our fellowship with the Christian Church we have fellowship with Christ who is the supreme Head and Governour of his Church which is a plain argument that all the Apostle means by fellowship with God and Christ is such a Political Union as is between a Prince and his Subjects between Superiours and Inferiours in the same Society Now as you heard before if this profession be only external and visible without the conformity of our hearts and lives to the laws of Christ it gives us only an external fellowship or relation to God and Christ that is such men only appear to be in fellowship with Christ maintaining a visible fellowship with his Church when in truth they are perfect strangers to him such as Christ will not owne for his Disciples as the Apostle adds in Ver. 6. 7. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another c. That is we abuse our selves if we hope that God will owne himself our Father and bestow the inheritance of Children on us while we live in sin but when we join the practice of real righteousness with the visible profession of Christianity then God will owne us for his Children and Christ for the true members of his body So that this fellowship with God and Christ is such a state and condition as we are put into by a visible profession and sincere practice of Christianity and that in short is that we are united to God as his Sons and Children and are united to Christ as his Disciples and members of his body which intitles us to the Inheritance of Children and all the blessings of the Gospel Thus in the 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord where the fellowship of Christ can signifie no more than the fellowship of the Christian Church whereof Christ is Lord and Head and therefore the Apostle immediately adds in the next Verse Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ for the honour and reputation of Christ and his Religion that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions nor Schisms among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Where he argues from the nature of their Faith in Christ to the obligations of Peace and Unity which plainly evinces that this fellowship with Christ is that relation we stand in to him as Members of the Christian Church whereof he is Head And that the true notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render sometimes by Fellowship sometimes by Communion is as plain as we can wish in 2 Cor. 6. 14. where the Apostle disswades them from having any fellowship with Heathen Idolaters from eating of their Sacrifices c. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers that is have no society with those men whose Religion is so contrary to yours that you will be as uneasie to each other as two Heifers in the same yoke which draw different ways For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there common between them which they both alike partake of as a foundation of union and concord What communion hath light with darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the same thing what is there common to them both What concord hath Christ with Belial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what consent and harmony of mind to unite them into one fellowship What part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which seems to refer to those portions of Sacrifices which were distributed among them as a Symbol of their Union to each other and to the same God How can a Believer and Unbeliever a Christian and an Idolater have right to a part of the same Sacrifice What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there to unite them together in the same place to reconcile the Temple of God with the Worship of Idols All these expressions decypher to us the nature and foundation of fellowship the nature of it consists in the union of things which in rational Beings consists in mutual relations and common interests and the foundation of it is a likeness of nature and consent and harmony of wills and therefore the Apostle explains our fellowship with God by our being the Temple of God and that God dwells in us and walks in us Vers. 16. 18. Now because the Lords Supper is the only Act which the
it must be acknowledged that the Scripture doth attribute a Fulness to Christ and he is called Life and Righteousness the Power and Wisdom of God So that there is no dispute between us whether Christ have all fulness in him whether he be our Life and Righteousness the Wisdom and Power of God but the dispute is in what sense the Scripture attributes all this to Christ. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most compleat and perfect declaration of the will of God and the most powerful Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming the World as it prescribes the only Righteousness which is acceptable to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality Now to bring this controversie to an issue there cannot be a more effectual way than to examine those places of Scripture which speak of this matter and to learn their sense of it for if men be allowed to take Scripture phrases and put what sense they please on them we may quickly have as many different Religions as there are different fancies among men To begin then with the fulness of Christ and the first place in which we meet with it is in Iohn 1. 16. And of his fulness we all received and Grace for Grace Now what is meant by this fulness we may learn from Verse 14. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we behâ—ld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth So that this fulness which was in Christ is a fullness of Grace and truth and if we consult Ver. 17. we shall find that this Grace and Truth is opposed to the law of Moses The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. So that Grace and Truth signifie the Gospel which is a Covenant of Grace and is expresly called the Grace of God Titus 2. 11. and contains the most clear and perspicuous revelation of the Divine will in opposition to the Types and Shadows of the Law is Truth in opposition to Types and Figures This is the fullness we receive from Christ a perfect revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural notions of good and evil that it may well be called Truth This fulness dwelt only in Christ and from him alone we receive it for none of the Prophets who were before him did so perfectly understand the will of God as he did No man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him v. 18. That is no man ever before had so perfect a knowledge of the will of God which is here called seeing God because sight gives us the clearest evidence and the most perfect and particular knowledg but the Son of God who perfectly understood all his most secret Counsels hath perfectly declared the will of his Father to us And hence that fulness which we receive from Christ is explained by Grace for Grace And of his fulness we have received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. Grace for Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the repetition of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a preposition signifies only that abundance of Grace which is now manifested by the Gospel of Christ. There is indeed some difference about the sense of the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the ancient Fathers expound it by Vice as St. Austin pro Legis gratiâ quae praeteriit gratiam Evangelii accepimus permanentem pro umbris imaginibus veteris Instrumenti gratia veritas per Christum facta est That instead of the Grace of the law which is now past we receive the Grace of the Gospel which is constant and permanent and instead of the shadows and figures of the Old Testament we have Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ and thus Nonnas in his Paraphrase renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though this seems to be a forc'd sense for the Law is no where called Grace but Grace is expresly opposed to the Law in the next Verse but however this you see they agree in that by the fulness of Grace and truth they understand the Gospel that perfect Declaration which Christ hath made of Gods will to the World Now though every man in his wits must confess that this fulness was first in the Person of Christ as these men love to speak before he could communicate it to us that is that he first perfectly understood the will of God himself before he could declare it to others yet it is not this Personal fulness we are to attend to but the fulness and perfection of his Gospel from whence we must fetch the knowledge of the Divine Will for whatever fulness be in him the Revelations of the Gospel only communicate this fulness to us To the same purpose the Apostle discourses in the 2. Col. 9. 10. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and ye are compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled in him who is the Head of all principalities and powers For the understanding of which we must consider what is meant by that Phrase That in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Deity bodily which must be acknowledg'd to be an allusive and Metaphorical expression for God who is a Spirit cannot in a proper sense dwell bodily in any thing And therefore we must observe that the design of the Apostle in this Chapter is to perswade the Colosians to adhere to the Gospel of Christ not to be seduced either by Jews or Gnosticks who talkt very much in their canting phrase of the pleromata to corrupt the Religion of Christ with Jewish Ceremonies or Pagan Superstitions Ver. 16 17 18 19. and the principal argument he urges to this purpose is the perfection of the Gospel Revelation that in Christ that is the Gospel of Christ are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Ver. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is not in whom are hid as our translation renders it contrary to the sense of the place but in whom are all the hidden treasures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Wisdom and Knowledge that is who hath now revealed to us all those treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge which in former Ages were hidden from the World upon this he exhorts them to be firm and stedfast in the belief of the Gospel of Christ and obedience to it Ver. 6 7. To beware lest any man spoil them through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the World and not
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
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
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
to be like our Saviour And that which perfects our love is an undaunted courage and resolution in professing the Faith of Christ whatever dangers and miseries it may expose us to in this World as St. Iohn tells us There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear 1 Joh. 5. 18. when we can hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters for the sake of Christ and sacrifice our lives also for him rather than abjure his Gospel or violate his Laws These are the proper expressions of our love to Christ which are summarily comprehended in believing his Gospel and obeying it for to be a true Lover of Christ signifies neither more nor less than to be a good Christian one who diligently obeys all the Laws of the Gospel This is a short account of the Nature of our Love to Christ which deserves a larger Discourse but I am now hastening to a conclusion and what I have already said is so plain and easie that it may be understood without a larger explication Our love to Christ is not such a subtil airy and metaphysical notion as some men represent it to be but is a vital Principle of Action which governs our lives and makes us fruitful in good works And indeed of all mistakes there is none more fatal and dangerous than to mistake the nature of our love to Christ because this is a practical Errour which hath an immediate influence upon our lives and one mistake in the Principles or Rules of Action is of greater consequence than a great many false Opinions which end in speculation And therefore for a conclusion of all I shall briefly take notice of those mistakes some men have been guilty of concerning the nature and expressions of our love to Christ. And first as they tell us that Christ falls in love with our Persons without considering any qualifications in us which may make us fit objects of his love so in requital to him we must love the Person of Christ. This I confess is as certain and evident as any demonstration in Euclide that if we love Christ we must love his Person for the Person of Christ is Christ himself and if we love Christ we must love him and if they would be satisfied with this the dispute would be at an end but this will not serve their turn and therefore we must examine what they mean by loving the Person of Christ Now they oppose our love to the Person of Christ to our love to him upon account of his benefits to our love to our selves and to our duties First we must love the Person of Christ in opposition to his benefits that is we must not consider what advantages we do or may receive from Christ what he haâ—h done or suffered for us but we must love his person purely for himself without any other considerations to endear him to us This matter is very gravely stated and determined by * W. B. who tells us 1. That it is a good and lawful thing to love Christ in reference to his benefits This is a very liberal grant that gratitude which hath hitherto been accounted a great and excellent vertue is now owned to be a lawful thing 2. It is our duty to love Christs Person to have our hearts drawn out with love to the very Person of Christ. This is so certainly true that even those men who love Christ for his benefits love his Person But 3. The excellency of Christs Person is not the object of my Faith but Christ crucified 4. Though Christ crucified be the object of my Faith yet the personal excellencies of Christ are the object of my Love yea it is a more excellent thing yet to love the Person of Christ than the benefits of Christ a more excellent thing to have my heart drawn out in love to the Person of Christ than to have my heart drawn out in love to him for his benefits Now what can be the meaning of all this but that the excellency and perfection of our love to Christ consists in loving him for no reason the proper object and reason of love is Goodness to love that which is good for nothing is the folly and degeneracy of love and it is as foolish and impossible a task to love a Person who hath been good to us not because he hath been good but for no reason Now this is the case here for if you separate the Person and Personal Excellencies of Christ from the consideration of his benefits his personal goodness from the expressions of his love and goodness to our selves and others it can be no object nor reason of our love for a goodness which doth no good or never did any or which is all one is considered as doing none is so far from being the object of our love that it is not the object of our understanding for we cannot understand what that goodness means which never did any good God challenges our love not upon account of an imaginary goodness of Nature which never did any good but for the real and sensible effects of his goodness in the works of Creation and Providence and the Redemption of Mankind by our Lord Jesus Christ and Christ himself challenges our love for the like reasons because he hath loved us and dyed for us and now intercedes for us and will at the last day bestow a Crown of Glory and Immortality on us but never as I can observe requires such an abstracted and metaphysical love to his Person without any respect to his benefits Indeed these men seem not to understand themselves when they oppose our love to the Person of Christ to our love to him upon account of his benefits for when you inquire what this Person of Christ is which is the object of our love then they describe his beauty and perfections the comeliness of his Person the sweetness of his disposition his great riches that he is a good suitable to all our wants that in him we shall find whatever we need if you be poor he is rich if you be foolish he is wise if you be out of the way I am the way saith he if you want a Director in the way I am the Truth if you be in the dark I am light if you be wicked and sinful he is Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness Now either all this signifies the benefits we receive by Christ or it signifies nothing and how then do these personal Excellencies of Christ differ from his benefits nay when they direct us how to attain to this love to the Person of Christ they bid us behold how Christ hath loved us and our persons how many impediments his love hath broken thorough how free it is so free that there was no reason for his love to us neither likeness benefit nor love c. and they teach us to use Christ much if we would love his person in any good thing you have