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 The Righteousness of the Law and of Works in the New Testament signifies only an external Righteousness Answer Thus the Author And yet before the Author quoting that Text Rom. 8. That the righteousness of the Law might he fulfilled in us interprets it of internal holiness in us I confess it is not meant of our internal Holiness but neither doth it signifie external Righteousness only The righteousness of the Law Phil. 3.6 doth by the circumstances of the Text intend only an external Righteousness but the righteousness of the Law ver 9. reaches to an internal one for as I before noted the Apostles speech there is progressive and expresses more than it did before The Works of converted Abraham are excluded from Justification Rom. 4.2 and yet surely they were more than external shadows By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2.16 not only the Pharisee with his external Righteousness but no flesh not the holiest man on earth shall be justified by the works of the Law The Law in the New Testament plainly calls for internal Holiness it is a holy just good spiritual Law forbidding Concupiscence the very first risings and imperfect births of Corruption Rom. 7. commanding the love of God with all the Heart Soul and Mind Matth. 22.37 And therefore it would be very strange if the Righteousness or the Works of this Law which is represented in the New Testament as a divine spiritual Law should in the same New Testament signifie no more than external Righteousness no more than the meer shell or outward superficies of true Sanctity and that too in Epistles written not to Jews or Pharisees who hung about the Letter of the Law but to the Romans Galatians Philippians who I suppose understood it better They could not but see some hints of inward Purity in the Books of Pagan Philosophers and it is inimaginable that they should look for less in the Law of God Though the Pharisees who had only an external Righteousness themselves construed that Law according to their Model yet why the believing Romans Galatians Philippians who had internal Graces in themselves should do so I see no reason Neither is it to me credible that the Romans who in the Epistle to them had the pure Spirituality of the Law set before them should ever construe the Righteousness or Works of the Law mentioned in that Epistle to be only external As for internal Holiness God indeed approves of it but not as that which is the matter of our Righteousness in Justification Let us now consider in what sence the Apostle opposes his own Righteousness to the Righteousness of God Mr. Sherlock and there is no great difficulty in this for the Apostle 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 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 appears from Rom. 9.3 Israel who followed after righteousness hath not attained to the Law of righteousness wherefore Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law that is The Israelites who pursued so earnestly after Righteousness are excluded from Righteousness or forgiveness of sins and are under a Curse because they did not look for Righteousness and Justification in the way which God prescribed which is by Faith in Christ or by Christianity but by the observance of the Law of Moses Now the most obvious reason why the Righteousness of the Law is called their own Righteousness and the Righteousness of Faith Gods Righteousness is because this Legal Righteousness was a way of Justification not of Gods appointment but their own chusing God never designed that any man should be justified to eternal Life by observing the Law of Moses but yet they confidently expected Justification by that Law and for that reason rejected the Gospel of Christ But the Righteousness of Faith is a Righteousness of God's chusing this he approves and accepts of for the Justification of a sinner By this the Elders obtained a good report by this Enoch and Noah and Abraham were justified before God And therefore this may well be called the Righteousness of God because this he appointed and this he will own and reward Our own Righteousness is I confess Answer the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of God is a Righteousness by Faith or through Faith because Faith receives it but it is not Faith it self The righteousness of God is reveiled from faith to faith Rom. 1.17 Were Faith it self the Righteousness of God the words must amount to no more than this Faith is reveiled from Faith to Faith We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and who ever construed those words thus We are made Faith in him Faith is inherent in our selves but the Righteousness of God is in Christ who is Jehovah our Righteousness The Jews went about to establish their own righteousness Rom. 10.3 but it doth not appear that that was a meer external one we find that they had a zeal of God Ver. 2. which surely was internal Zeal is a mixture of Love and Anger They had at least in pretence a love to God and his Glory and an anger at the Christian Faith as supposing it an enemy to God and his Law All the Jews were not Pharisees nor did they stick meerly in the Letter or husk of external Righteousness the Scribe could say That the love of God with all the heart was more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices Mark 12.33 and some Jewish Rabbins say That the heart of man answers to the holy place there a place must be made for the Shecinah the divine Majesty to dwell in and it must be the holy of Holies No question the Jews at least some of them
for we must bring nothing to Christ with us the marriage is consummated without it and then we have less need of it than before for then we are adorned with Christs Beauty holy with his holiness delivered by his expiation righteous with his righteousness which gives us an actual right to Glory we need no righteousness of our own to save us which were to suppose a defect in the righteousness of Christ unto which I answer Though a man with his arms of rebellion in his hands cannot possibly whilest in that posture close with Christ yet I take it Faith which espouses Christ doth precede true Obedience Without faith saith the Apostle it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Without saith saith our Church in the Homily of good works All that is done of us is but dead before God although the work seem never so gay and glorious before man even as the picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing it self so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God they do appear to be lively works and indeed they be but dead not availing to the everlasting life they be but shadows and shews of lively and good things and not good and lively things indeed thus our Church excellently which tells us what manner of Obedience we can bring to Christ After our espousals to Christ by faith Obedience follows as a fruit and effect of Faith though the Author fasten this opinion expresly on those whom he opposes calling them in sport intimate acquaintances of Christ yet our Church tells us in the twelfth Article That good works do spring necessarily out of a true and lively Faith Christs righteousness makes us righteous in Justification but doth it thence follow that Obedience is needless No sure It is a thing noted in the Papists that they confound Justification and Sanctification together but we must not do so if it be necessary to do Gods will or promote his Glory or to give evidences of our Faith in and gratitude to Christ or to walk in the way to Heaven and Salvation then such is Obedience but the Author cannot understand this gratitude unless our Righteousness and Obedience be due to Christ in thankfulness to him for saving us without Obedience and Righteousness which is just as broad as long and we get nothing by the bargain To which I answer our Obedience is a due gratitude to Christ who saves us by his Blood and Righteousness and and that without a perfect personal sinless Obedience in our selves and withal it is necessary as a proof of our faith and as the way to Heaven which our Saviour hath chalked out to us The Soul saith Dr. Owen consents to take Christ on his own terms Mr. Sherlock to save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had thee and salvation in my way that it might have been partly of mine endeavours and as it were by the works of the Law but I am now willing to receive thee and to be saved in thy way meerly by Grace that is Without doing any thing without obeying of thee as the Author doth interpret him Without doing any thing Answer without obeying of thee Is this the Doctors meaning Do his words import so Nothing more remote from him he shews how the Soul closes with Christ and takes him on his own terms it will not now be justified by its own works or legal righteousness but by Christ and his righteousness it will not now endeavour in its own strength but under the duct of Grace this is his plain meaning For before the words quoted he speaks of accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour and after them of giving up our selves to be ruled by the Spirit which cannot be without Obedience It s true the Author calls this a pretty complement but the Doctor speaks it as his serious judgment In the eighth Chapter of the book quoted he tells us Obedience is indispensibly necessary if Gods Sovereignty is to be owned if his Love to be regarded if the whole work of the ever blessed Trinity for us in us be of any moment our Obedience is necessary Thus fully the Doctor who yet is here construed by the Author to exclude Obedience what measure this is let others judge The Soul gives up it self to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ to be passively Mr. Sherlock not actively good to submit as needs it must to the irresistible working of the Divine Spirit and to obey when it can rebel no longer Thus the Author sports with his Opposites Touching irresistible Grace Answer I have spoken before the Soul in the first act of Conversion is meerly passive but after the Divine Principles infused acta agit it moves under the sweet influences of the Spirit without whose inspiration as our Church tells us in the thirteenth Article Works done are not pleasant to God yet that inspiration doth not as the Author hints force the will of man but sweetly lead it in a way congruous to its liberty And now the Author shuts up this Section thus I have given thee Reader an entire scheme of a new Religion resulting from an acquaintance with Christs person in all its principles and practices I think there needs no more to expose it to the scorn of every considering man who cannot but discover how inconsistent the religion of Christs Person and of his Gospel are To which I shall only say the Author hath done his endeavour to expose his Opposites to scorn but how new their Religion is how inconsistent with the Gospel and how just the scorn I leave to considering men to determine SECT III. THese men pretend to learn a Religion from Christs Person Mr. Sherlock but this is at best to build Religion upon uncertain conjectures or ambiguous reasons suppose them to be cautions yet what assurance can they have that their inferences are true and as a reason of this the Author afterwards adds There is not a natural and necessary connexion between the person of Christ and what he did and suffered and the salvation of Mankind the Incarnation Life Death Resurrection of Christ were available to those ends for which God designed them but the vertue and efficacy of them doth depend upon God's Institution and Appointment and therefore can be known only by Revelation We cannot draw a Conclusion from the Person of Christ which his Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of the design of it than what is there revealed They learn from Christ's Person Answer but what without the Gospel No by no means without this they cannot pretend not to know whether there be such a Person as Christ or no or what are the Ends of his Incarnation Life Death and Resurrection These depend upon God's appointment and that is set forth in the Gospel But having the Gospel as an outward Medium they see Christ and many Mysteries in him
is a Good sutable to all our wants Now either all this signifies the benefits we receive by Christ or it signifies nothing and how then do these personal Excellencies differ from his benefits They teach us to use Christ much if we would love his Person Now this using must signifie his benefits and to love Christ much because we use him is to love him because we receive many benefits from him which is neither better nor worse than to love him for his benefits We love Christ for his benefits Answer and for himself too Hence these men describe Christ's Person by both they set out his Beauty and Comeliness in himself and withal his Suitableness to our wants The first rise of our Love to Christ is from his Benefits and afterwards our Love to him is for himself also the Excellency and Amiableness of his Person in himself calls for our love and must have it The Love we owe to God and Christ is no other than gratitude because God loved us first Mr. Sherlock and our Love is only a return of his Now thankfulness and gratitude includes in it a necessary respect to those blessings and benefits we have received It is peculiar to God who wants nothing and can receive nothing from his Creatures to love without any respect to benefits but the Love of indigent and dependent Creatures is a Love of thankfulness a grateful acknowledgment of those many blessings we receive from God Our Love to God and Christ is gratitude Answer It is for Benefits but is it only for Benefits No surely we are to love God and Christ for the infinite goodness and excellency which is in them if we ask what is the formal and adequate reason of Divine Worship No other answer can be given but that it is the infinite divine excellency and perfection which is in God Our love to God which is a part of Worship though possibly its first rise or motive may be from benefits yet it stays not in the benefits but in and by them ascends to God the ultimate Object and Center of Worship who is to be loved in and for himself Secondly Mr. Sherlock these men oppose our Love to the person of Christ to our love to our selves The first destroys the Reason and the Object of our Love and this destroys the principle of it It is made the character of a wicked man Shep. Sinc. Convert who wants an inward principle of love to God and Christ That though he seeks to honour God never so much yet all that he doth he doth out of love to himself self-credit self-ease self-content self-safety he makes himself a God Hence the same author exhorts sinners away out of your selves to the Lord Jesus take hold on him not with the hand of presumption and love to thy self to save thy self but with the hand of Faith and Love to honour him Here is the strongest difficulty of all to row against the stream to hate a mans self our own souls and eternal Salvation and then to follow Christ fully Now is it not an hard case that before we can love God and Christ as we ought we must root out the very principle of all love that we may learn to hate Salvation and Eternal Happiness before we can close with Christ for Salvation This is the strongest difficulty of all for indeed it is impossible Love to our selves is the foundation of our love to all other things even to God himself He that doth not love himself will love nothing else he that hates himself his own soul and despises eternal Salvation will not care for Christ or Salvation by him All the Motives and Arguments of the Gospel to perswade us to love and fear and obey God are founded on self-love for how is it possible that we should be affected with a due sense of Gods goodness to us That we should be excited and quickned by the hopes of such great rewards That we should be restrained and governed by the fears of punishment If we did not love our selves if we did not care what became of us whether we were happy or miserable for ever It is a vain thing to perswade a man not to love himself For this is as natural and necessary as it is for the Fire to burn or Sun to shine It is not matter of our choice it is not in our power to do otherwise all that such discourses as these can do is either to make men hypocrites to pretend to do what they cannot do or to make honest men who cannot thus cheat and delude themselves despair of their Salvation because they cannot find themselves contented without Salvation that Christ without Salvation cannot satisfie them It is true when men set up self in opposition to God when self-love teâ—â—â—â—s them to disobey God to dispise his Counsels to renounce their Faith and Religion This is a very vitious and mistaken self-love Such men neither love themselves nor God in a proper sence because it is our interest as well as our duty to obey God such men are Idolaters because they set up self above God and in opposition to him But when our love to our selves teaches us to love God and in all things to submit to his will and pleasure We do as we ought to do they who separate our love to God from our love to our selves from the care of our Salvation do plainly declare that they neither understand the nature of man nor the Gospel of Christ. Mr. Shephard speaks of a wicked man Answer who wants an inward principle of love to God and Christ that he doth all for himself he sleeps prayes hears speaks professes for himself alone that he commits the highest degree of Idolatry and makes himself a God And adds this reason For a man puts himself in the room of God as well by making himself his finis ultimus as if he should make himself primum principium And is there any question at all in this may not a wicked man not to say sleep which every man doth but pray hear speak profess No doubt can be made of it and if he do so it must needs be for himself he having whilst wicked no Divine Principle nothing of grace to elevate him above himself But Mr. Shephard would have men go out of themselves to Christ And this is hard to row against the stream to hate a mans self And saith the Author this is impossible this is to root up the very principle of Love Love to our selves is the foundation of our Love to all other things even to God himself To which I answer No doubt we are to love Christ for the purchased Salvation neither doth Mr. Shephard deny it but we are not to love him for Salvation only or supremely no but for himself his infinite goodness and perfection This is not to root up the principle Love but to rectifie it Indeed this is hard Nay
as the Apostle mentions That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.10 And whence had they this Learning they heard him and were taught by or in him not from the personal Preaching of Christ in the flesh but in and by his Ministers and holy Spirit I add his holy Spirit because the Gospel alone cannot do it which made St. Austin say De Praed Sanct. cap. 8. Cùm Evangelium praedicatur quidam credunt quidam non credunt sed qui credunt praedicatore forinsecùs sonante intùs à Patre audiunt atque discunt qui autem non credunt foris audiunt intùs non audiunt neque discunt that such is the Learning meant here appears from the after words As the truth is in Jesus Truth is in the Gospel notionally but in Christ practically all Graces being exemplified in him and the true learners are conformed to his Image and as the Apostle hath it in the next Verses they put off the old man and put on the new and so are assimilated to his Death and Resurrection It is acknowledged by all Mr. Sherlock that Christ sometimes signifies the Church which is his Body Thus we must understand those Phrases of being in Christ engrafted into Christ and united to Christ It is acknowledged by all Answer that Christ sometimes signifies the Church how then can he charge those whom he opposes that where-ever they meet with the word Christ in Scripture they always understand by it the Person of Christ pag. 4 As for the Phrases of being in Christ c. I shall reserve them till I come to the Mystical Union To what the Author infers from the various significations of the Name Christ That such mistakes have been occasioned thereby that some are very zealous to advance Christ's Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion I shall only say It is not so Instead of the substantial Duties of the Love of God and Men Mr. Sherlock and an universal Holiness of Life they have introduced a fanciful Application of Christ to our selves and Vnion to him set off with those choice Phrases of closing with Christ and embracing Christ and getting an interest in Christ and trusting and relying and rolling our selves on Christ Fanciful Answer alas that a Christian a Divine should let drop such a reproachful word on so sacred a thing as the Application of Christ Without this the excellent Scripture must I fear labour under very odd Glosses such as these A Believer may be in Christ and out of him he may put him on and off at the same time he may have Communion with him without Union and feed on him without so much as reception Christ may dwell in the Believer at a Distance and abide in him without the least approach Which are such kind of Absurdities as a man would hardly name for fear of grating pious Ears and Hearts But this is not all Without this true Faith which as Learned Dr Ward observes is uppropriativa Christi must forfeit its Nature unless it can appropriate without Application and Christ its precious Object must lose the Vertue of his Blood and Merits unless they can heal at a distance For what shall we say May an unapplied Christ be in us the hope of Glory or may his unapplied Obedience make us righteous or his unapplied Blood justifie us or his unapplied Death reconcile us to God It is not for ordinary Capacities to apprehend it However if Application fail may the Universal Holiness of Life which the Author speaks of consist Our Saviour tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate from me ye can do nothing Joh. 15.5 In which words the Melevitan Fathers observe a great Emphasis Non dicitur sine me difficiliùs potestis facere sed sine me nihil potestis facere And how any man should either not be separate from an unapplied Christ or lead a Life of Universal Holiness in such a statu separato I cannot imagine But what speak I of Universal Holiness Never any man off from that divine Root of Grace hath since the Fall bore so much as a Blossom of true Sanctity Instead of Obedience to the Gospel and Laws of Christ Mr. Sherlock they have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick Devotion which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ in admiring his personal Excellencies Fulness Beauty Loveliness Riches c. the foundation of all which Riddles and Mysteries is that they may make the Person of Christ almost the sole Object of the Christian Religion To slight the Fulness Answer Beauty Loveliness Riches of Christ is very hardly tolerable among Christians and to question why they so passionately love such an one is as the Philosopher told him who asked why men were so taken with outward Beauty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a blind man's question none but the spiritually blind can wonder at the loving of one altogether lovely But these men are for an Amorous and Enthusiastick Love Amorous all Love is so but what in a gross and carnal way No it is far from those Men who are not at all a kin to Castalio who as is said called the Song of Solomon an obscene Ballad not relishing that divine Love between Christ and the Church which all along is pourtraied therein in Allegories and beautiful colours Enthusiastick why so possibly because it is a thing inspired from the Spirit it is so Scriptures and Fathers will own such a blessed Enthusiasm Ipse nobis fidem amorem sui inspirat saith the Arausican Council But which is the fundamental mistake they make the Person of Christ almost the sole Object of the Christian Religion I confess and it is no shame to say so they esteem themselves compleat only in Christ they trust in him they love and obey him their acceptance is in his Merits therir assistance from his Spirit their Graces hang on him as Beams on the Sun their good Works are perfumed with his sweet-smelling Sacrifice they look on him as their great All and do all they do in him and for him Quicquid oratur docetur vivitur extrà Christum est Idololatria coram Deo peccatum said Luther CHAP. II. THose men who talk so much of the Person of Christ Mr. Sherlock frequently without any Sense and Generally without any just Ground from Reason or Scripture are very clamorous and alarm the world with strange jealousies and fears as if there were a Party of men started up who design to make Christ useless What! without Sense Reason Answer and Scripture too Alas poor inconsiderable Creatures What need such strong impetuous opposition be made against them or how are such men likely to alarm the World with fears But for the thing it self I hope the Author designs not to make Christ useless but what he doth towards it in denying
further than Nature and that desperately corrupted and not knowing whether there were any such thing as Grace or Glory the Center of it As for Israel I wonder that any man should deny Gods special Love to that people What! did he call them his first-born his peculiar treasure the apple of his eye without special Love Did he sever them from other people to be his own Levit. 20.21 chuse them to himself above all people on the earth set his love upon them and that merely because he loved them Deut. 7.6 7 and 8. Verses and all this without special Love Were theirs the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises Rom. 9.4 and all this without special Love He hath not dealt so with any nation saith the Psalmist To call this special Love partial fondness is to me a presumption not unlike that of the old Pelagians who charged a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or unjust Partiality upon Gods special Grace towards his own people upon whom St. Austin made some such tart Returns as these Tolle quod tuum est vade Annon licet mihi quod volo facere Li. 2. ad Bonifac. cap. 7. hic tota justitia est hoc volo O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo with a great deal more on God's behalf But saith the Author The end of all those particular favours was that all Nations might worship the God of Israel Suppose so if such particular favours to Israel above all other Nations argue not a special love to Israel what can do it God loves all Creatures as the Schools speak Vno simplici actu Voluntatis And if particular favours do not prove his Love special we must say that he loves Worms as much as Angels and Oxen whom comparatively he cares not for as much as Men upon whom his Love hath been set above all other Creatures Joh. 14.6 7. Jesus saith I am the Way Mr. Sherlock the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me If you had known me you should have known my Father and henceforth you have known him and seen him that is I alone declare the true way to Life and Happiness no man can thoroughly understand the Will of God but by learning of me Whoever knows me 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 Christ is the Way Answer the Truth and the Life how so He declared the true way to Life and happiness Is this the all of it Is he only the Declarer and not the Author of Life Doth he not work it in us by the power of his Spirit and Grace Hath he not purchased a place in heaven for us by his Blood and doth he not consecrate a new and living Way thither through the Veil of his Flesh It cannot be denied Hear the Learned Bishop Wren against the Racovian Catechist Vidit Dives in inferno ubi sinus Abrahae erat sed monitus est de magno Chasmate intercedente nè possint congredi Via arboris vitae extabat sed ab acie versatilis gladii custodita Aeger ad Bethesdam positus diu jam vider at viam in stagnum sed movere se clinicus non poterat Nôrunt piae foeminae viam in sepulchrum Domini pariter nôrunt saxo obturari Ipsi denique Parenti horum Barjesu ostensa est à Paulo conversionis reconciliationis via verùm ille eò se caeciorem factum ducéque plus egentem indicavit Respondeat igitur an viam Christus quam ostendit aperuit an Pontem paravit trajiciendo Chasmati an versatilem avertit gladium saxum revolvit clinicum excitavit caecum collyrio beavit suo Reconciliationis hae primariae partes sunt sine his praeviis nihil est omnis conversio frustrà via omnis convertendi incassum omnis viae ostensio And afterwards speaking of Christ being the way he shews how he was so Non solùm quòd revelavit iis quae Deus volebat eos scire sed etiam quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 2.14 vel eapropter constitutus quae ab hominibus sine ipso praestari non poterant pro ipsis praestiterit sanguinisque sui merito ità viam ad Deum Patrem perpurgavit communivit illustravit ut nos jam ab ipso veluntatem Dei edocti veréque ad Deum conversi per fidem in sanguine Christi Propitiatione eâ perfrui possimus Thus he very excellently .. I know no need at all for such an Interpretation as takes the Will of the Father for himself or the Doctrine of the Son for himself the thing is plain He that knows the Son in whom dwells all fulness of the Godhead bodily must needs know the Father also To know God is to know the Will of God concerning the Salvation of Mankind Mr. Sherlock to know Christ is to understand the declaration of Gods will that is the Gospel which he preached which is therefore called the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 that is that glorious manifestation God hath made of himself 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 Religion and Miracles whereby it appeared that he was the Son of God In the knowledge of God and Christ Answer God and Christ are the Objects the Gospel is the outward Medium Hence it appears that to know God and Christ is in propriety no more to know the Gospel than the Object of Knowledge is the Medium properly we know God and Christ by the Gospel As for that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.6 I conceive he discourses of somewhat more than external Revelation even that of internal Illumination set forth there by the Creation of the first Light and shining in the heart which gives the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ that is in the Person of Christ who is God manifest in the Flesh God was seen in Christ Mr. Sherlock Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father that is in plain terms 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 Heb. 1.3 And a little after he adds It is plain that in this sence 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 Sence That he is the Image of God with respect to the
those who are so apt to be conceited of Merit grow as proud of a golden Bucket as if the Well were their own They are civil to Faith to make it a golden Bucket but at other times they tell us That Faith may be a sore and blear-eyed Leah a shaking and a palsie hand weak and bending Legs and have all the infirmities that may be and be never the worse neither as to the purpose of Justification so that Faith had need be a very humble Grace else it would take such language very ill from them What need all this sport with Faiths Humility or Infirmity Answer An humble Grace Faith is it empties the Soul of it self gives all Glory to God hangs upon Christ and free Grace and hath all in a way of receiving and dependence and seeing its Nature and aptitude to Evangelical purposes is such it is no wonder at all that God set his stamp upon it and marked it out for an Evangelical Medium to receive Christ and his Righteousness unto Justification Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4.16 Fides Gratia commeant mutuò se ponunt tollunt Fides sola Gratiâ nititur Gratia tantùm credenti promittitur saith the Learned Paraeus on the place Let us hear our Church in this matter 2. Hom. of salvation This saying that we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works is spoken to take away clearly all merit of our Works as being unable to deserve Justification at Gods hands and thereby most plainly to express the weakness of Man and goodness of God the great infirmity of our selves and the might and power of God the imperfectness of our own works and the most abundant Grace of our Saviour Christ. But to go on infirm Faith is because of the adherent Corruption which is apt to blear its eyes and give it a palsie hand and trembling legs however if it be true it entitles to Christ and his Righteousness Invoco te Domine languidâ imbecillâ fide sed fide tamen said Cruciger the German Divine Those men whom the Author opposes hold no such thing as meriting by Tears or any thing else of our own but caution against it Indeed the Author thinks there is no danger in repentant Tears but Humane pride such is its venomous Nature is ready to swell at any small matter which hath but any shadow of excellency in it The heart of good Hezekiah was lifted up over his Silver and Gold and Treasures and precious things which yet were of a much lower value than his devotional Tears which shews the proneness of our Nature to that sin Those Scriptures Without holiness no man shall see God Mr. Sherlock The wrath of God is reveiled against all unrighteousness In every Nation he that worketh righteousness is accepted of God Except your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into Heaven He that breaketh the least of these Commandements and teacheth men so shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven and he that doth and teacheth them shall be called great there assert the absolute necessity of an holy life to entitle us to Gods Love and the Rewards of the next Life and perfectly overthrow their fundamental Notion of Justification by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us Doth the necessity of an holy Life overthrow the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness Answer No surely it 's a very gross mistake a holy Life is so far from overthrowing Imputed Righteousness that it presupposes it We are married to Christ that we might bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 And our Church in the 12. Article tells us That good Works follow after Justification Those who are true Believers and have Christ's Righteousness imputed to them do above all other men obey God's Commands glorifie his Name and walk in holy Obedience towards the Crown of Glory above Obedience is necessary but not in that sence as if the least breach of a Command should finally exclude from Heaven for then it were Wo wo to us Nor yet so absolutely as that a Believer dying in the first instant of Faith and before actual Obedience should be shut out of Heaven Our Church hath taught us better 1. Hom. of good works quoting St. Chrysost sor it I can shew a man that by Faith without Works lived and came to heaven but without Faith never man had life the Thief that was hanged when Christ suffered did believe only and the merciful God justified him If any say that he lacked time truth it is and I will not contend therein but this I will surely affirm That Faith only saved him But these men defie you Mr. Sherlock if you charge them with destroying the necessity of an holy life for they tell us Tat this universal Obedience and good Works a suspicious word are indispensibly necessary from the sovereign appointment and Will of God this is the Will of God even our Sanctification It is the Will of the Father Son and holy Ghost it is the end of their Dispensation in the business of Salvation it is the end of the Father's electing Love Eph. 1.2 of the Son 's redeeming Love Tit. 2. and of the Spirit 's sanctifying Love it is necessary to the glory of them all And are not these men mightily injured Is it not great pity they should be so abused But the truth is all this is not one syllable to the purpose for the Question was about its necessity to salvation and if we be justified and saved without it all this cannot prove any necessary obligation on us to the practice of it God hath commanded Obedience but where is the Sanction of this Law Will he damn those who do not obey for their disobedience and save those who do for their obedience Not a word of this for this destroys our Justification by Christ's Righteousness only if after all those commands God hath left it indifferent whether we obey or not Obedience is not necessary And will the Father elect and the Son redeem none but those who are holy and reprobate all others If we be elected and redeemed without any regard to our being holy our Election and Redemption is secure whether we be holy or not and so this cannot make holiness necessary on our part though it may be necessary on God's to make us holy but that is not our care and how is Obedience for the glory of the Father Son and holy Spirit when the necessity of holiness is destructive to free Grace which is the only glory God designs by Christ I suppose them injured and abused to some tune Answer after they have in terminis asserted the Necessity of Obedience from strong invincible Scriptural Arguments they are yet charged with destroying the Necessity of an holy Life But saith the Author All this is not one syllable to the purpose
Glory of them all from our Likeness to God from the Peace of Conscience from the Conviction and Conversion of others from the aversion of Judgments from the State of justified Persons from the Work of Sanctification are but poor insignificant things with the Author which yet with me are of great Moment This is all pertinent saith the Author but it contradicts it self and overthrows their Darling-opinion What the necessary way to eternal Life and yet neither Cause Matter nor Condition At least it might be Causa sine qua non and so a Condition But the Author might have observed that the Doctor did not speak ad idem to one and the same thing his words are Holiness is neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of Justification yet it is the way to Salvation both stand well together without any shadow of Contradiction Obedience is subsequent to Justification and so neither Cause Matter nor Condition of it but it is antecedent to Salvation and the way thereunto Well the Author is content that it only be a necessary way to eternal Life but what then becomes of Christ the only way What of Christ's Righteousness and of free Grace I hope there is no matter of fear our Holiness unless it be lifted up above it self into the room and Throne of Christ very well comports with Christ and Grace it is a way but not as Christ an Expiatory Meritorious one it stands as necessary in Sanctification but eeks not out Christ's Righteousness in Justification It flows from free Grace and doth not overturn but magnifie its Fountain Afterwards our Author draws up a long Charge against these men That they prepossess their Fancies with arbitrary Notions pervert the Scriptures to justifie their Darling-opinions and that sometimes with so ill success as to break some stubborn Truths into palpable absurdities and contradictions their Fancies and Scripture agree no better than the Church of Rome and Scripture do They add such limitations distinctions glosses to Scripture as are necessary to make them orthodox Their Acquaintance with Christs Person is only a work of Fancy teaches men Hypocrisie undermines the Design of the Gospel makes men incurably ignorant yet conceited of knowledge impertinent talkers and censurers of Mankind despisers of their Teachers as if ignorant and meer Moral Preachers Their Acquaintance with Christ's Person warms their Fancies moves their Passions sometimes they find breakings of heart and feel the horrors of damned Spirits sometimes they are ravish'd with his love and Beauty refresh'd with the sweet caresses of his love All which may be no more than the working of a warm Enthusiastick Fancy the transportation of frantick Raptures and Extasies of Love Unto all which I say two things only the one is this In general Charges which may be drawn up against the most innocent Souls under Heaven the intelligent Reader must measure the truth of them only by the Instances which before have been examined The other is this that the Author tells us That their breakings for sin and ravishments in Christ may be but the working of a warm Enthusiastick fancy In which Censure I suppose there is no over-measure of Charity There are yet Two things behind which because interwoven with the general Charge I have hitherto omitted but shall now recite them the one is this Prepossessed Fancies force men saith the Author to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox Language to this we owe all those nice and subtil Distinctions which constitute the Body of Systematical Divinity which commonly have no other design than to evade the force of Scripture or to bribe it to speak on their side I will now wonder no longer that the Author treats a few Nonconformists with such rough hands Behold an universal blast put on those excellent Divines which have stood in the Protestant World like burning and shining Lights and have set forth so many learned and worthy Systems of Divinity for the Churches use But this is All-a-mode with the Remonstrants who as Vedelius tells us De Arcan Armind have poured forth convitia atrocissima in Formulas not being afraid to say Ista ars est Sathanae calling them humanam tyrannidem and proceeding so far as to say That that Preface in Athanasius his Creed Qui vult salvus esse ante omnia credat c. was a proud one Systems of Divinity are to them as Bonds and Fetters which they would willingly break off that they might have the better Scope to introduce their unsound and novel Opinions The other is this It is not saith the Authour the Person but the Gospel of Christ which is the way the truth and the life It seems the new and living Way through his Flesh may be stop'd up the great Prophet may want the Title of Truth the vital Influences of Grace from Christ may be intercepted and all this after Christ himself hath told us expresly I am the Way the Truth and the Life These things I suppose will hardly be passable with Christian Ears or Hearts If he be not the Way there is no approach for us to the Father if not the Truth we are not bound to believe him or his Gospel if not the Life to quicken our dead and unbelieving Hearts we should never believe in him though he were both the former CHAP. IV. Sect. I. NExt to the Knowledge of Christ Mr. Sherlock there is not a greater Mystery than our Vnion to him and Communion with him on which as these men represent it are built all those wild and fanciful Conclusions which directly oppose the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity Therefore it is of great concernment to state this matter and to examine what is meant in Scripture by Vnion to Christ and Communion with him for the Scripture mentioneth such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be expressed by an Vnion and the phrases of being in Christ abiding in Christ can signifie no less The Author owns some kind of Union Answer but our enquiry is after a spiritual mystical union between Christ and believers who are knit together by the Divine Ligatures of the holy Spirit and Faith The quickning Spirit as the right Reverend Vsher hath it descending downward from the Head Serm. before the Commons 1620. to be in us a Fountain of supernatural Life and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit ascending from us upward to lay fast hold upon him This Union is fully set forth in Scripture We are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion cannot but import Union We are said to have the Son and to have life by him 1 Joh. 5.12 To eat his flesh and drink his blood so as to live by him Joh. 6.56 57. And unless we dream of an oral Manducation what can this be but a Mystical
near conjunction between Christ and the Church and the mutual fellowship of Christians Hence the Apostle calls the Cup the Communion of Christ's Blood and the Bread the Communion of his Body For we being many are one bread and one Body one Body represented by this one Bread for we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.16 Sacraments are Symbols of our Union with Christ Answer and why not of an immediate Union the Elements are immediately applied to individuals and why may not the signified Union be immediate else how doth it correspond to the Sign But to clear this point first for Baptism Unbaptized Believers are really united to Christ even before their Baptism how else should the Thief on the Cross ever arrive at Paradise Or which way should the unbaptized Martyrs get thither Baptism admits men into the Church Visible but if Believers they are in the Church Catholick that one Body of Christ before nay Baptism supposes them to be so because it is a Seal of the Covenant If thou believest with all thine heart saith Philip to the Eunuch thou mayest be baptized Act. 8.37 and after the holy Ghost poured down on the Gentiles water could not be forbid them Act. 10 47. And on the other hand baptized persons may yet not be really united to Christ they may be admitted into the visible Church and yet not in that one body of Christ which is made up of Believers Simon Magus was baptized Acts 8. but for all that in the bond of iniquity many are partakers of baptismal water in whom appears not a Scintilla Spiritûs Sancti In like manner for the Lords Supper men may be nay should be in union with Christ before their receiving of it and yet many outwardly receive it who are not in union with him receiving only Panem Domini and not Panem Dominum as S. Austin speaks and eating only forès non intùs in Sacramento tantùm non usque ad Spiritûs participationem To conclude Sacraments and visible Churches must not be disparaged yet truth must be owned a reall union to Christ may be before the use of Sacraments nay before entrance into the Church visible and therefore it must be immediate or else it could in no case be before them The intention of our Lord and Saviour Mr. Sherlock in what he did and suffered for us was not meerly to reform and save some single persons but to erect a Church and combine all his Disciples into a publick Society to unite them by holy mysteries and to engage them to a mutual discharge of all Christian Offices whereby the whole body may edifie it self in Love and therefore our Saviour doth not own any relation to particular men as such but as they are members of his body for he is the Saviour of the body and redeemed his Church with his own Blood Hence St. John tells 1 Epist That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ First That ye may have fellowship with us become members of the Church by which means you have fellowship with God and Christ. Christ intended to erect a Church How so Answer Common Philanthropy which does alike for all men doth no such singular thing as to cull and call a Church a select company out of the rest of mankind No it is impossible because the Love is common and the work singular no less than special love must do it such as God sets upon his chosen ones Christ intended to set up a Church very true and he hath pitched upon the individual persons which shall make it up he hath set down their names in the Book of Life or else his providence which is so accurate in the little Flies and Gnats as to set down every wing and little part which makes up those minute animals should be very lame and imperfect in that great design of a Church a Church only being designed and not the persons of which it should consist Christ intended to set up a Church Yes and he resolved to give such Grace as should infallibly effect it Providence such is its wisdom and accurate perfection never fails or falls short of its intent no not in a design of Justice and that to come to pass through the hardest medium can be used by it we need not scale Heaven for this but have a Scheme let down from thence to assure us of it 2 Chron. 18. God intended that Ahab should go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead and though the manner of it were by a lying spirit yet it infallibly came to pass how much more must providence be unfailable in such a design of Grace as that of a Church It s true suasory resistible Grace cannot secure it because it leaves the issue of all upon the will of man irresistible Grace must come in or else we may lay by the design of a Church and confess with Corvinus Finis mortis Christi constaret etiamsi nemo credidisset As for that place of St. John That ye may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ By us is meant S. John or the Apostles not the Church or body of Christ But were that Church meant it hinders not but that they in the use of the Evangelical Truths and Ordinances might come to an immediate Communion with God and Christ as the Apostles had thus the Learned Grotius on the place Vt vos ipsi non minùs quà m nos frucium inde percipiatis societatem cum Deo cum Christo Those publick censures Mr. Sherlock whereby rotten or dead members are cut off from the body of Christ consist in casting such persons out of the Christian Society in debarring them from the Communion of Prayers and Sacraments and all religious Offices which is a plain demonstration that our union to Christ is not an union to his person but consists in a sincere and spiritual communion with the Christian Church otherwise this external communion with the Church could be no visible signification of our union to Christ nor could our excision from the visible Church signifie our separation from him The Author argues thus Answer If union to Christ be immediate then our external communion with the Church cannot signifie our union to Christ nor could our excision from the visible Church signifie our separation from him To which I answer just before our Author saith Our union to Christ is not an union to his Person but consists in communion with the Church that is the visible Church as he afterwards calls it and therefore our communion with the Church doth not signifie our union to Christ but is it and our excision from the Church doth not signifie our separation from Christ but is it according to our Author which cannot possibly stand Because our union to the
united to Christ or true and reall which imports the truth and sincerity of our Obedience and Subjection to our Lord and Master Hypocrites may seem Answer but are not members of Christ or united to him non potest Christus habere damnata membra omnia ista membra absit omninò Contr. Cresc l. 2. cap. 21. ut in membris illius columbae unicae computentur saith St. Austin and in another place Si amas amplecteris peccata tua contrarius es Christo Expos in Epist Jo hannis intus sis foris sis Antichristus es intus sis foris sis palea es sed quare foris non es Quia occasionem venti non invenisti Our Obedience to Christ our Lord is not the very mystical union it self but a Divine fruit of it The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ requires the homage of the Soul Mr. Sherlock the Government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and Spirits we must be born again of water and of the Spirit if we would enter into Gods Kingdom that is before we can be the Disciples and Subjects of Christ we must be born of water make a publick profession of our faith in Christ and obedience to him in our Baptism we must be born of the Spirit too that is our minds and Spirits must become subject to Christ our faith in Christ and subjection to him must be sincere and hearty governing all the motions of our Souls and making usually such as we pretend to be which is called being born of the Spirit because all Christians Graces are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit as the Author of them Here are two things Answer Baptism and Regeneration both are not of a like necessity to make us Disciples of Christ Regeneration is simply necessary but so is not Baptism unbaptized persons may be reall believers and if they die before Baptism as Valentinian did they enter into Bliss Contr. Don. l. 1.4 cap. 22. Impletur invisibiliter cum mysterium Baptismi non contemptus religionis sed articulus necessitatis excludit saith St. Austin Baptism may be administred by man but Regeneration is the sole work of the holy Spirit which breaths where it lists and forms all those Graces which make up the new creature hence we are said to be born of the Spirit and all the Graces in the new man are called the fruits of the spirit Hence Fulgentius saith ex eodem Spiritu renati sumus ex quo natus est Christus De Jucava cap. 20. The very same Spirit which formed Christ in the womb forms him in the heart And S. Ambrose speaking of the Gracious Image of God in us saith Pictus es ô homo Hexaem l. 6. cap. 8. à Domino Deo tuo bonum habes artificem atque pictorem No other hand but that of the holy spirit only is able to draw such a picture of God as is in the new creature we who naturally lye in a Mass and Chaos of corruption are not capable of doing any thing in it As a visible profession is the foundation of an external Political union between Christ and his Church Mr. Sherlock so this new nature is the foundation of a real and spiritual union And this the Scripture represents under several notions First by the Subjection of our minds and Spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as our Bodies under his Government Hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 That is to have the sole command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells Secondly by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the Subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere Obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind may be in us as was in Christ Phil. 2.5 And to be his Disciples is to learn of him Matth. 11.29 Hence our union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have that same temper of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those Virtues and Graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit and therefore what the Apostle calls having the Spirit in the next verse he expresses by If Christ be in you that is if you be possest with the same love of virtue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sence with that expression of Christ being formed in you Gal. 4.19 Hence in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Herein consists our union to Christ that we have the same temper Souls are united by an harmony of wills this makes two one Spirit After a long discourse touching external communion with the Church Answer the Author is now come to own a spiritual union with Christ and this saith the Author the Scripture represents to us first by the subjection of our minds to Christ as our King Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. that is he commands there But I take that place of the Apostle to be an eminent proof of the mystical union it is not said Christ commands though that be very true but he dwells in our hearts not by a piece of faith such as accepts Christ as our Lord but by an entire one such as receives him in all his offices We have in those words faith expressed which is a bond of that mystical union and where faith is there is that other bond the holy Spirit which flows as rivers of living water in the believers heart and just before those words of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith the Apostle speaks of the holy Spirit in the inner man Verse 16. which is the principal bond of that mystical Union And St. Chrysostom on the words saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the holy spirit in the inner man Christ doth dwell in our hearts by faith But saith the Author Secondly this is represented in Scripture by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to Christ To which I answer If by that subjection be meant a receiving Christ as our Lord it is but a part of that faith which with its Sister Graces make up the new creature all Graces are found in the new creature and among others Faith which receives Christ in all his offices and among other in his Kingly but if by that subjection be meant Obedience to his
as the fickle Will of Man doth that standing there is an Election that falling there is none and so toties quoties as often as it pleases man to shew himself variable Election will be something or nothing as it happens This Opinion doth not ascribe Eyes and Hands to God as the gross Anthropomorphites did but it assimilates him to the filly turnings and windings of the Creature But to speak more directly to the Author God's electing Love antecedes all Goodness in in Men and if his elect Vessels fall into great sins as holy David did and this after their Conversion however the Light of God's Countenance be for a time suspended however their habitual Graces be weakned and their Consciences wounded yet the Foundation of God stands sure electing Love remains unvariable and will revive them again by Repentance When God elected a People to himself he did not as Mr. Shaw speaks in allusion to the words of the Apostle use lightness or purpose according to the flesh after the manner of men unsteady and wavering in their determinations no the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his But if the Love of Christ be infinite Mr. Sherlock eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and Misery came into World for if this Love be so because the Divine Nature is so then it was always so for God always was what he is and that which is eternal could never be other than it is now And why could not this Love as well preserve us from falling into Sin Misery and Death as love Life and Holiness into us for it is a little odd first to love us into Sin and Death that then he might love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love were always so unchangeable and fruitful as the Dr. perswades us For if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us how should it happen that we should sin and die The gracious Decree of Election is Answer as becomes the Divine Nature eternal unchangeable fruitful yet was it a free Act terminating upon what Object it pleased Hence God saith Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated he infallibly brings his Elect to Glory But no man may be so vain or presumptive as to limit the holy One or chalk a Way or Method for him to walk in who works all things according to the counsel of his own will But how then came sin and death into the World Why surely it came in by Man's Transgression and under God's-Permission But why could not this eternal unchangeable fruitful Love preserve us from falling I doubt not at all but God who is Almighty could have kept up Man and all his Posterity in their primitive station as well as he did the standing Angels but if you ask on Why did he not do it I have nothing to answer but that it was not his pleasure God loves no man into sin the Expression is too odd for a Christians Mouth or Ear but he suffers his very Elect to fall into sin yet is his Love eternal unchangeable fruitful towards them if I may allude to that of Hezekiah Isai 38.17 He loves them from the pit of corruption he fetches them out of the corrupt Mass of Mankind by his effectual Grace and though afterwards they have many falls and lapses yet electing Love sets to its hand again and revives them by a fresh Repentance shewing it self fruitful in their recovery and safe conduct to Heaven and all this is managed in a way of unaccountable Sovereignty Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal Mr. Sherlock unchangeable fruitful that is that God was alwayes good and alwayes continues good and manifests his love and goodness in such wayes as are suitable to his nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being alwayes determined to the same object but in that he alwayes loves for the same reason that is that he alwayes loves true virtue and goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good and then the immutability of his love is the reason why he loves no longer for should he love a wicked man the reason and nature of his love would change and the fruitfulness of Gods love with respect to the Methods of his Grace and Providence doth not consist in producing what he loves by an omnipotent and irresistible power for then sin and death could never have entered into the world but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such wayes as are most suitable to their Natures he governs reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason as he doth the material World by the necessary Laws of Matter and bruit Creatures by the instincts and propensities of Nature After all the rest Answer the Author himself confesses that there is in God an eternal unchangeable fruitful Love how so There is a Love of Virtue and Goodness and is there not a Love of Persons too The Scripture is express in it St. Paul is a chosen vessel Act. 9. Jacob was loved and that before he was born or had done any good at all Rom. 9. The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2. He calleth his sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 Some are drawn of the Father Joh. 6.44 Some are called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 On some God will have mercy when he hardens others Rom. 9.18 All which places places prove that electing Love is of particular persons who as St. Austin hath it certissimè liberantur are certainly saved when others are left in massa perditionis Unless this be owned that great Design of a Church which is the Master-piece of Providence must be carried on in such a lame and imperfect manner as if God which is unworthy of him should say I would have a Church but I intend not who shall make it up Such a Jeofail is hardly to be found in a prudent Man But saith the Author The Vnchangeableness of God's Love doth not consist in being determined to the same Object but in that he always loves for the same Reason that is he always loves true Vertue and Goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good he always loves for the same Reason where Goodness is there he loves where Goodness is not there he loves not This is the Author's meaning this is loving for the same Reason But if this had been so what could have become of Man corrupt lapsed Man in whom as our Church tells us there is not a spark of Goodness How desperate must his case have been Divine Love could not possibly have let out a drop of Mercy to such an one much less have shewed forth it self in such an unparalle'd Act as the Mission of his own Son for our Redemption there
a very comfortable Notion for bad men and such as I would not part with for all the world did I resolve to live wickedly and yet intend to go to heaven but it is good to be sure in a matter of importance Christs Righteousness was not an imaginary imputed Righteousness Answer but inherent and personal thus the Author It was not imaginary but inherent very true but was it not imputed to him Then Christ would never have appealed to God as he doth Surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God Isai 49.4 God would never have accounted him as righteous or promised him a Seed Isa 53.10 he would never have said This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 neither would he ever have exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2.9 In a word if his Active and Passive Righteousness were not reckoned or accounted of by God then he could not be our Saviour or pay a Ransom or Satisfaction to divine Justice for us What follows in the Author That this Righteousness may be a comfort to wilful incorrigible sinners is as I have before manifested a meer Popish Calumny But before I proceed any further with the Author I shall crave lieve of the Reader a little to state and prove this point That we are justified before God by the Imputed Righteousness of Christ and then I shall proceed with the Author Justification may be considered in a double Notion there is Constitutive Justification whereby we are made righteous before God and Sentential whereby we are pronounced such at Judgment I chiefly aim at the first upon which the second follows as a consequent Christ's Righteousness is either Active such as fulfilled the Command of the Law or Passive such as bore the Curse of it I take in both The Imputation of Christ's Righteousness is either that Fundamental Imputation whereby it is so far reckoned or accounted unto men in general as to make them capable of Justification upon Gospel-terms or that after particular Imputation whereby it is so far reckoned or accounted to Believers in particular as to constitute them righteous before God The first Imputation severs men from lapsed Angels the second severs Men from Men Believers from Unbelievers The first we have in such Scripture-expressions as tell us that Christ died for us for unless his Death were in some sence accounted to us it was no more for us than for Devils The second we have in such Scripture-expressions as tell us that we are justified by his blood for his Blood justifies us not unless it be actually particularly made ours and made ours it cannot be without an Imputation We have both together Col. 1.20 21. He hath reconciled all things and a little after yet now hath he reconciled you all things in the first sence and you O believing Colossians in the second Reconciliation was actually particularly imputed unto them which was before applicable to all I intend the second particular Imputation in this discourse That which I assert is this That Believers are justified or constituted righteous before God by the Active and Passive Righteousness of Christ actually particularly applied unto them And first as is meet let us open our eyes upon Scripture which is the only infallible Rule there often occurrs that memorable phrase the righteousness of God which cannot but be of considerable moment in this matter And what doth it import our own inherent Graces or Christ's Righteousness Not our inherent Graces for these though they come down from Heaven are never called the Righteousness of God nay on the contrary they are called our own Hence the Fath of the Romans is called your Faith Rom. 1.8 the Love of the Corinthians your Love 2 Cor. 8.8 the Patience of Christ's Disciples your Patience Luk. 21.19 the Hope of the scattered Christians your Hope 1 pet 1.21 That which is called in Scripture the Righteousness of God is not the same with that which is called our own there but it imports the Righteousness of Christ which by Imputation is made ours This is called the Righteousness of God because it is the Righteousness of Christ who is God for so his Blood is called the blood of God and his Life laid down the life of God and not a Righteousness inherent in us And withal it is a perfect Righteousness which can consist before the Tribunal of God himself and in which the pure Eyes of the holy One can find no spot or blemish at all and not an imperfect one such as our inherent Graces are But that the Righteousness of God imports Christ's Righteousness will further appear by the places wherein that phrase is used Thus Rom. 1.17 For therein is the Righteousness of God reveiled from faith to saith In the precedent Verse he saith That the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth and how so Why because it reveils the Righteousness of God which saves the Believer and delivers him from the wrath which in the subsequent Verse is declared to be reveiled from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men And can our inherent Graces expiate sin and avert wrath Oh no these such are their spots and imperfections must pass with God cum Venia with a pardon of their defects and under the Wings of Christ's Righteousness that that alone expiates sin and averts wrath no other but that can be the Righteousness of God within that Text. Thus Rom. 3.22 The Righteousness of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Inherent Graces are not upon us but in us but Christ's Righteousness as that in the Text is not in us but upon us Inhererent Graces are not the matter of our Justification of which the Apostle there treats but of Sanctification Christ's Righteousness is not the matter of our Sanctification but of our Justification which is the very thing there treated of Hence it appears that the Righteousness of God in this place is that of Christ Thus Rom. 10.3 They submitted not themselves to the Righteousness of God and what was that The next Verse tells us For Christ is the and of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth and which way was Christ the End of the Law by imparting inherent Graces to the believer or by his own perfect Righteousness imputed to him Not by the inherent Graces alas these are so far from reaching the perfection of the Law that they are full of defects and every defect is no less than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a falling short of the Law Profectò illud quod minus est quà m debet ex vitio est saith St. Austin That which is less than it ought to be is so far sinful as it is less than it ought to be Nothing less than the pure Righteousness of Christ which answers the Law in every point can be the Righteousness
blameless ver 5 6. But then after all he casts away all this Jewish and Pharisaical glory What things were gain to me those I have counted loss for Christ ver 7. he would not be justified by any of those things but doth he go no further Doth he only exclude his external Pharisaical Righteousness No surely his discourse goes on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ vers 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Particles of amplification as if the Apostle had said Nay more than that even now do I count all things loss In the 7. Verse he casts off his Jewish and Pharisaical gains but in the 8. he puts by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things his inherent Graces not being admitted to be the Matter of our Justification In the 7. Vers we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tempore praeterito I have counted but in the 8. we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in praesenti now I do count all things loss Hence the excellent Beza saith Notandum praesens tempus sic enim crescit oratio ut jam Apostolus quod ad justificationem coram Deo attinet omnia opera excludat tum praecedentia tum etiam consequentia fidem Exam. ' de Justif pag. 135. And Learned Chemnicius saith Paulum non tantùm uti praeterito tempore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de operibus praecedentibus conversionem sed praesenti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut ostendai quòd operibus suis etiam post renovationem fact is non tribuat Justificationem coram Deo Even our inherent Graces how precious soever they be in Sanctification must not assume the Royal seat of Christ and his Righteousness they must not be our very Righteousness in Justification Bellarmine indeed here cries out Quanta quaeso blasphemia est How great is this blasphemy to call good works done out of the Faith and Grace of Christ no better than dung But Paraeus answers him very well That they are not so called absolutely in themselves but comparatively to the Righteousness of Christ nefas enim ducit in ullis operibus fiduciam Justificationis ponere coram Deo In the Matter of Justification the whole Church calls her Righteousness a filthy Rag St. Paul will not there own his own inherent Graces no more than holy Job would know his own Soul But this is yet more clear ver 9. The Apostle would be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law he excludes his own Righteousness that is his inherent Graces in the point of Justification I say his inherent Graces for he had before shut out his external Pharisaical Righteousness ver 7. and his after-speech being not a Battology or vain repetition but progressive or expressive of more than went before he doth in the 9. Verse put by his inherent Graces under the name of his own Righteousness and which further confirms this Sence inherent Graces are in Scripture said to be our own Hence we find my faith and thy faith Jam. 2.18 and our Saviour saith Except your righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 5.20 See here a Righteousness and that exceeding a Pharisaical one called theirs The Apostle excludes the righteousness which is of the Law In the 7. Verse he had shut out the Righteousness of the Law taken in the Pharisaical sence but in the 9. Verse he goes on and puts by the Righteousness of the Law taken in its own spiritual Nature the Righteousness which the Law in its holy Commands prescribes and surely the Law calls for internal Holiness as well as external Conformity In another place the Apostle tells us That by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2.16 No flesh not the holiest Saint on earth whose Righteousness is as much above the Pharisees as Life is above pictures and shadows shall be justified by his own Righteousness or conformity to the Law But if the Apostle would not have his own Righteousness which is of the Law in Justification what would he have He would have the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith He doth not say a Righteousness which is Faith or other Graces but a righteousness which is through the faith of Christ a righteousness which is of God by faith Now inherent Graces are never in Scripture called the Righteousness of God The righteousness of God is upon those that believe Rom. 3.22 not in them as inherent Graces are The righteousness of God is in Christ 2 Cor. 5.21 not in our selves as our Graces are The righteousness of God is one and the same with the righteousness of Christ 2 Pet. 1.1 not the same with our Graces The Apostle therefore would have the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that is the perfect Righteousness of Christ which Faith receives and God accepts on our behalf By these things it appears that the Apostle in this place doth not only exclude external Pharisaical Righteousness but even inherent Graces in the matter of Justification There is a double Antithesis in the words Mr. Sherlock the righteousness of the Law is opposed to the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ and my own righteousness 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 heard 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 becoming new creatures rising with Christ putting off the old man and putting on the new which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness That Righteousness which God requires of us under the Gospel must be an inward Principle of Love and Obedience which transforms us into the image of God as if we were born again or made new creatures The reason why Godsent Christ into the world 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostome 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 of sin that is the inward holiness and purity of mind which was represented and signified by
are By our Marriage to Christ his personal excellencies cannot be ours though his person were In Marriages there are private contracts and the truth is Christ hath not made such an absolute settlement of himself upon us as these men dream he hath for the Gospel contains the Articles of this Marriage and there we must learn to what purposes and upon what conditions Christ gives himself to us and must challenge no more from Christ by vertue of our Marriage to him than what the Gospel the Marriage Covenant promises and we find nothing there of his personal Righteousness to be made ours And for what they tell us That a woman under covert is not liable to an arrest at Law but all must fall upon her Husband It is true as to matters of debt but does not extend to crimes if a woman kill or rob her being under covert secures her not from the Gallows How secure soever any man may fancy himself of his Marriage to Christ I would nâ—t advise him to venture too much upon it for if he be guilty of any gross wilful sin there is some danger that the Law or Gospel may condemn him unless he timely repent and reform When the Scriptures calls Christ our Husband and the Church his Spouse it means no more but that Christ is our Head and Governour who rules his Church with as great kindness tenderness and compassion as an Husband exerciseth towards his Wife and that we are to pay the same Love Duty and Obedience to Christ that Wives owe to their Husbands And here we must have done with the Metaphor unless we will turn Religion into a Romance Christ being our Husband his Righteousness is ours Answer the Law cannot take hold of us our Husband must be responsable for our faults But this is a very hard Law saith the Author and the Husband in a very ill case In truth our Husband though the eternal Son of God was made under the Law wounded bruised cast into a bloody sweat made a curse and as the Septuagint hath it Isai 55.3 he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man set in the stroke of Gods wrath But all this he was not by chance or fortune but out of choice and unparallelled Love to his Spouse The essentials of Marriage lie in a narrow room a consent per verba de praesenti does it but the just necessary consequents of it are as the Civilians tells us Consortium omnis vitae divini humani juris communicatio the Wife participates of his sacred and civil good things neither can it be otherwise where there is as there is in Marriage such an intimate union of minds and bodies there must needs be a communio bonorum nature and reason tells us that the Wife in so near an union must have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alimentum indumentum food and raiment out of the Husbands estate Nay and all things in a decorum thereunto and can we think that Christ should do less for his Spouse when her necessities exceed all those in nature Will he who infinitely transcends all humane Relations leave his Spouse to the rags of her own Righteousness or suffer her to perish in an eternal prison for debt and that when he hath fulfilled the Righteousness and bore the curse of the Law on purpose to cloth her and satisfie for her The whole Book of Canticles is a divine Ditty which under the parable of Marriage streams all along as a full torrent of Spiritual Love interchangeably passing between Christ and his Church Well might the Doctor bring his proof from thence Christ calls his Spouse all fair and without spot Cant. 4.7 She was not so naturally but by Marriage neither is she so in this life by inherent Graces but by the Righteousness of Christ put upon her by a gracious imputation Christ calls her from Lebanon from the top of Amana Shenir and Hermon from the lyons dens from the mountains of the Leopards vers 8. That is from the brutish lusts and idolatries of the World and he calls her thus Come with me with me my Spouse as if he had said that he would provide for her as a Spouse and therefore she should come away with him But saith the Author Personal virtues in the Husband were never settled on the Wife for a Joynture by our Marriage to Christ his personal excellencies cannot be made over to us To which I answer the Righteousness of Christ cannot be made ours so as to inhere in us But it may be made ours by imputation or if not neither can his blood be imputed to us and by consequence there can be no such thing as satisfaction or redemption through his Blood But for the truth of imputed Righteousness these men desire to appeal no further than the Articles or Marriage Covenant contained in the Gospel beyond this they desire to claim nothing from Christ their Husband and Saviour But saith the Author A woman under covert is not liable to debts but she is to crimes I answer Our debts are crimes and that above Felonies they are High-treasons against the God of Heaven and if these fall not on our Husband Christ they must fall upon us and then who where is the man that can stand before the Divine Tribunal What room can there be for the least drop of mercy or forgiveness Remarkable is the form that in Anselms time was used in the Visitation of the sick the weak man is there directed thus Si Dominus Deus te voluerit judicare dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi objicio inter me tuum judicium alitèr tecum non condendo si tibi dixerit quia peccator es dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi pono inter me mea peccata He was not to contend with God but to put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between himself and God's Tribunal and to put it between himself and his sins unless our Husband had undertaken to discharge our debts we could never have had any possibility of Salvation Christ and Believers are legally united Mr. Sherlock Dr. Jacomb tells us That Christ is the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Surety he struck hands with God as the words imports put himself into their stead took their debt upon himself and bound himself upon this account to make satisfaction to God Now in the Law the debtor and surety are but one person the Law looks on them as one and makes no difference between them and therefore both are equally liable to the debt and if the one pay it is as much in the eye of the Law as if the other had paid it Thus it is with Christ and us he is our Surety he took our debt upon himself engaged to pay what we owed upon this Christ and we are but one person before God and accordingly he deals with us for he makes over our sins to Christ and
gift of God hence it is called the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and Faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 And such a gift it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is freely gratuitously given Phil. 1.29 Seing then it is thus should we not submit to God for every crumb of bread drop of drink and moments patience because they are his gifts and must we not submit to him for Faith because it is such Had not God given a Jesus a Saviour to Men they could not have made a just complaint against him and now there being one that he is not known all the World over the Pagans may not open their lips against God and in the Church where Christ is known that all Men have no Faith no Man may question God about it Gifts are free and must be submitted for The Apostle asserts Gods Soveraignty clearly He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9.18 And if any dare repy or find fault the Apostle takes him up Nay but O Man who art thou that repliest against God If thou hadst but any sentiments of thy own nothingness or rayes of the Divine Majesty thou wouldest never dare to question or to implead thy Maker before whom thou art but a Worm a piece of Clay to be disposed of at his pleasures It is certain that God owes us nothing Though we are in the use of means earnestly to seek Christ Faith and not in a careless indifferent manner as without cause the Author would hint Mr. Shephards mind to be yet we must still adore Gods Soveraignty and lye at his feet for all his Gifts and particularly for Faith It was horrible insolence and presumption in him who prayed Redde mihi vitam aeternam quam debes And it would be no less for any one to pray Redde mihi fidem vivam quam debes Verbum debet venenum habet as Peter Lumbard hath it These things considered Mr. Shephards words need no more but only a candid Interpretation What then is to be done Mr Sherlock in order to our closing with Christ by Faith for hitherto there is no foundation for our Faith Why you must not catch at Christ but stay till God give him to you till God take you into his Arms that you may lean upon your Beloved you must stay till God give you a particular call to come to Christ and whether that will be ever or never no Man can tell Many a wounded Sinner will be scrambling from some general reports of him such as his Gospel makes before the day and hour of Gods glorious call Now for any Man to receive Christ before he is called is presumption I unpardonable presumption too to attempt impossibilities for no Body can come till he is called no man should come unless first called and therefore no crime to stay away as it is in calling to an Office so it is in our calling to special Grace No Man takes this honour but he that is called of God Heb. 5.4 It is a great presumption to usurp the Office of a Priest Prophet or King without a designation and so it is to be a good Man or Christian without a particular call For what hath any Man to do with Christ to make himself a Son of God and Heir of glory to take care to please God and to make himself happy but he that is called of God Well Sinner wait with patience till thou art called and so thy work is at an end for this time The Author laughs at Mr. Shephards particular call Answer let us therefore consider it there is a double call a general external call reaching to all in the Church and a particular internal call vouchsafed to some The first is a command a sufficient warrant to come to Christ The second is a special Act of Grace which infallibly produces Farth in those to whom it is given This distinction is clearly founded in Scripture all in the Church are called but all are not drawn of the Father all do not hear and learn of the Father Joh. 6.44 45. For these taught and drawn ones do all of them come to Christ which all Men in the Church do not all in the Church are called but all are not called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 for then all would love God as those called ones do and by consequence all would have that Faith which works by love We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. All of them had an external general call those to whom Christ was a stumbling block and foolishness had such a call for an unknown an unreveiled Christ could not be a stumbling block or foolishness But besides this call there is another an internal effectual call such as makes Christ the power and wisdom of God to Men such as works Faith and other Graces in Men Hence the Apostle saith That they are the called called with a more internal and efficacious call than other Men are These things laid down all things in Mr. Shephard are very easie all Men in the Church have an external call and so a sufficient warrant to believe in Christ it will be no presumption at all in them to do so The Object Jesus Christ is evidently set forth before their eyes but that they may believe in him indeed they must wait for a particular internal call for that Grace which works Faith in the heart if not the work of Faith must be their own they must believe of themselves And this I fear though the Object Christ be free for them would be presumption because the Scripture assures us that Faith is the gift of God All Men in the Church should come to Christ for the Evangelical command makes it their duty yet if we believe our Saviour there must be internal teachings and tractions from the Father to make us truly come to him All in the Church are by the Gospel called to be Believers so to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Royal dignity to be Sons of God Joh. 1.12 to the Divine Offices to be Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 But this believing is produced by that internal efficacious call which calleth things that are not as though they were I mean which calleth Faith into being where it was not before But then saith Mr. Sherlock The Sinner must only wait till he is called and so his work is at an end for this time To which I answer His work is not at an end because he is still to wait if the Scripture which makes Faith the free-gift of God be true there is no nearer passage to Heaven then by waiting upon God for Faith in the use of means The Saints
therefore cannot be given to them for any precedent Grace in them or indeed for any reason at all in them unless which is very odd we presume them to be given to them for the goodness of their Nature The Scripture clearly resolves it into the Soveraign will of God He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.18 He begets us of his own will Ja. 1.18 He begets us according to his abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1.3 He worketh to will to do of his good pleasure Ph. 2.13 Neither is it possible to be otherwise his love of Benevolence is the Fountain and great Origen of all the goodness in the Creature and how or which way shall the goodness of the Creature be the cause or reason of that love All the goodness in the Creature is but a donative of Divine love and if so then the Divine love was antecedent to that goodness in the Creature Now these things being clearly so in Scripture and reason I suppose there is little reason and less Religion to say That God loves for no reason or without reason that that Man is a Fool who loves at this rate that it is a reproach among Men so to Act with such other stuff which I pray God to forgive unto the Speaker If there be reason for any thing in the World there is for this That God the supream Donor should do what he would with his own That Man the poor Receiver should not expostulate with God or think to call him to an account for any of his matters That the regenerating Spirit should be at liberty and breath where it lists That all Gods gifts should be free and of his good pleasure there being in the Creature nothing that is good but what is a meer gift only But saith the Author This undermines the foundations of Religion if God love for no reason whether we obey him or disobey him it is all one if God love us our sins cannot hinder it if he love us not our holyness cannot alter him therefore all Religion is but in vain To which I answer This Argument runs upon two or three hypotheses which are untrue The Author supposes first that God's purpose or decretive love is what it is not the rule of our acting next that there is in God what indeed there is not some purpose or decree to bar some Men though never so holy out of Heaven And Thirdly That there is not what in truth there is a complacential love in God towards all holy Persons whoever they be Now these things are not so we say that God commands all in the Church to Repent and Believe that God hath made a general promise of Salvation to all that do so and withal that God hath a complacential love towards all holy persons whoever they be And these things considered surely Religion cannot be in vain or to no purpose As for the Philosophical nicety or verity rather if God be as he is a God and the supream Donor of all in reason all Creatures as Creatures must depend on him the Creator and as Receivers must depend on him the Donor And hence it is evident that all the grace and goodness in the Creature because a Creature must depend on him its Maker And because a gift must depend on him the Donor thereof Man though but a petty Benefactor is free in his gifts or else they would not be gifts how much more must God the supream Donor be so It is true when Men are good God such is the sanctity of his Nature doth take pleasure in them but to dispense grace or goodness to the Creature is his Royal prerogative he doth it according to the soveraign unaccountable pleasure of his will he was under no Natural necessity to give a Christ or a Gospel or a dram of Faith or holyness to any one fallen Man in the World what he gives he gives as he pleases out of meer Free grace It is true too when Men are good God such is his gracious promise will greatly reward them but it is he only who makes us good and so meet for the inheritance in light our goodness is of Grace and our reward is Grace upon Grace remunerating Grace upon sanctifying In a word the love of Gods Complacence respects goodness in the Creature but the love of Benevolence causes it and that freely in a way of unaccountable Soveraignty and this is so far from being a love without reason that without it it is impossible that there should be any goodness in the Creature Were there a goodness in the Creature antecedent to the love of his Benevolence it would be a beam without a Sun a gift without a Giver a strange independent self-originated goodness and that in the Creature which is as great an absurdity as can well be imagine Secondly Mr. Sherlock These Men tell us too that Christs love is immutable having once fixt his love upon us though without any reason he can never alter Sin it self cannot separate us from the Love of Christ If sin foreseen were not able to hinder him from planting his heart on us How then shall it that is sin committed be able to over-turn the thoughts of his heart when once they are fixed on us This is a strong fixed Love indeed which sin it self cannot alter But how wise and holy a Love it is let any man judge Herein Dr. Owen tells us the depth of Christs Love is to be contemplated that whereas his holy Soul hates every sin it is a burden an abomination a new wound to him and his poor Spouse that is sinful Believers are full of sin failings infirmities he hides all covers all bears all rather than he will loose them He adds indeed by his power preserving them from such sins as a remedy is not provided for in the Covenant of Grace I suppose he means the sin against the holy Ghost for there is a remedy provided for all other sins in the Covenant of Grace and all other sins a Believer it seems may be guilty of and Christ will hide all rather than lose him Now this is as down-right Antinomianism as ever Dr. Crisp or Saltmarsh vented There have been and are to this day a great many wise learned men who contend for the perseverance of the Saints that those who are once in a state of Grace shall always continue so But then they found this not on such an immutable Love as sin it self cannot alter for this is not reconcilable with the Holiness of the Divine Nature nor with those threatnings in Scripture against such back-sliders When the righteous man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that a wicked man doth he shall dye Ezek. 18.24 If any man turn back my soul shall have no pleasure in him which is a plain demonstration the truth of which is which is acknowledged by all sober Writers that if
do or may receive from Christ what he hath 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 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 Virtue is now owned as a lawful thing 2. It is our duty to love Christ's Person This is so true that those men who love Christ for his benefits love his Person 3. The Excellency of Christ's 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 to have my heart drawn out in love to the Person of Christ than to have it 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 or 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 Vnderstanding 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 Redemption by Christ And Christ challenges our love for the like reasons because he hath loved us and died 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 We love Christ for his Benefits Answer these are the first impulsives of our Love but our love once kindled is afterwards blown up into a purer flame by those attractive Excellencies and ravishing Beauties which are in the Person of Christ we come to love Christ for himself The Spouse in the Canticles did not only love Christ for his Shadow and sweet fruits for the Graces and Benefits communicated from him but for himself his incomparable Person who is the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely Neither is this Love to Christ for himself what the Author would have it to be a Love for no reason or a Love in its folly and degeneracy But it is a Love for the greatest Reason and a Love in perfection There is a greater worthiness and so an higher attractive of our Love in the Person of Christ than in his Benefits and therefore in all reason Love is in a more high and superlative measure due to the one than to the other All the Benefits of Christ are but as so many Mediums to draw up and attract our Love to the Person of Christ and our Love in its ascent up thither must not stay or take up its final rest in Means for this would be to pervert the nature of Means and transform them into Ends but it must terminate in Christ the great End and Center Should we love the Benefits more than the Person of Christ we should be lovers of our selves more than lovers of Christ our Love would then return and circulate into our selves and there rest and center ut in ultimo termino which is no less than Idolatry If we are truly espoused to Christ we will not love the Rings and Jewels more than himself nay nor so much The true noble Lover doth not acquiesce in other gifts but in Christ the Gift above all other gifts But saith the Author A Goodness which doth no good or never did any is so far from being the object of our Love that it is not the object of our Vnderstanding To which I answer It 's true if God had never done good that is had never created a Creature he could not have been the Object of any created Love or Understanding for there being no Creation there could have been no such thing as any created Love or Understanding however he had been an Object for a greater Love and Understanding than any created one even for his own infinite Love and Understanding Had he never created a Creature he would have been for ever happy by amatorious and intellectual Reflections upon himself and his own Perfections It is true that God calls for our Love upon account of Creation Providence and Redemption but it is due to him for himself for his Divine Excellency and All-sufficiency Could we imagine what is impossible that there were a rational Creature who never received any good from God upon such a supposal that Creature would be bound to love God for his intrinsecal Goodness and Excellency or else the Will of that Creature might which is very strange pass by the Supreme Good unsaluted But to leave that Supposition now we have God and many blessings before our eyes we are bound to love God above all as the complete and adequate Object of our Love Should we love any Blessings without or above him it would be Cupiditas Lust which is the formale of every sin and not Love I conclude with that of Bonaventure Li. 3. distinct 29. quest 2. Secundùm Charitatis legem impossibile est aliquid plus vel aequaliter Deo amare Charitas enim quia diligit Deum ut summum bonum diligit eum super omnia quia diligit Deum ut finem ultimum diligit eum propter se Blessings may be motives to us to love God but they are not to be loved as the supreme End or Good that is God only in his infinite Goodness and Excellency upon account of these all Worship and among the rest Love is due to him Indeed these men seem not to understand themselves Mr. Sherlock for when you enquire 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