purchase two bad ones at our Author's Hands for his pains Now Mr. Brookes you must know had said thinking no man no harm I dare say That Christ is generally rich rich in Houses Lands in Gold Silver in all Temporals as well as Spirituals with many more friendly expressions of the Fulness and Preciousness of the Grace that is in Christ To which our Author returns a solid though short Confutation That the Son of Man bad not a place whereon to lay his head And is not Mr. Brooks a rash and unadvised Man think you to rant it so high in extolling his Riches and to ascribe to him such vast revenues and possessions But let us be Charitable and put a favourable construction upon these dangerous words perhaps they are not so rank poyson as they seem to be 1. What if Mr. Brooks speaks not of what Christ was when he appeared in the form of a Servant but what he now is since he has reassumed his original Glory and as Mediator has all power in Heaven and Earth put into his hands and methinks it is no such flagitious Crime to assert that Christ has the disposal of all outward things for the good of his Church But I correct my self when I remember my Author has told us p. 162. That Christ has left the visible and external Conduct and Government of the Church to Bishops and Pastors and therefore it may be presumed also he has left the visible Revenues and Temporalties to their disposal also for it 's equitable that the Maintenance should go along with the work and therefore those Houses and Lands the Palaces the Tithes the Glebe the Gold the Silver which Mr. B. fancies are in Christ's hands are entrusted where they shall be converted to better uses 2. What if Christ for a season that he might feel our Infirmities and accommodate himself to that dispensation under which his wonderful Condescension had put him did wave the use of many things he had a Right to Yet 1. He had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Title when he forbore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Use of those things 2. He used his Right too for others when he would not assert it for himself He was Rich even then when he for our sakes he became poor 2. Cor. 8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him not be reproached for his Love pardon him that wrong 3. That Christ had not where to lay his head signifies no more than that he had no fixed habitation at all times but generally went up and down doing good healing all manner of Diseases Preaching the everlasting Gospel for he had a House to hide his head in Ioh. 1. 39. They came and saw where he dwelt and a Pillow too to lay his head on Mark 4. 38. and could sleep securely in the midst of the Storm he wanted not conveniences for his life but was so swallowed up of his Fathers work that he accounted it his Meat and Drink to do his will and therefore I hope Mr. B. will out-live this assault and battery many a fair day And now all that I can instruct my self or my Reader in from this Discourse is That if Mr. Brooks or any of his Brethren shall assert the plainest Truth that ever the Sun shone upon our Author by the Laws of his Society is bound to oppose it SECT 3. Concerning the Nature of our Union to Christ Whereby we are entituled to all his fulness Righteousness c. WHen the Arm is in danger of being lost by a Gangraen it were unseasonable Diligence to attend the Cure of a Cut-finger When that Vessel in which all our common Concerns are embarqued is ready to sink it would be unpardonable folly in the the Passengers to study the security of their particular Cabbins like those whom the great Orator laughs at for presuming their Gardens Orchards and private Walks would be indemnified in the general Ruine of the City In this Section our Author lays his Axe to the Root of the Christian Religion leaving therefore particular persons to shift for themselves The Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death with that influence that they have upon our acceptance with God call for defence Many have been infamous for horrid Murders Cain is upon Record for a Fraâ—…ricide Saul for a Suicide Herod's Ambition was to have been a Deicide but this last Age seems to have out-done all in an Attempt to Murder the Death of Christ it self As if because Christ by his Death had destroyed him that had the power of Death these Men would avenge the Devils Quarrel and become his second hoping they may one day triumph over it and sing O Death we will be thy Death In Pag. 320. Our Author propounds this great Question What Influence the Sacrifice of Christ's Death and the Righteousness of his Life have upon our acceptance with God And he gives us both a Reason why he moves the Question and an Answer to it 1. The Reason why he moves this Question upon it Lest any should suspect that his Design is to lessen the Grace of God or to disparage the Merits and Righteousness of Christ. Now I would make a question upon it Whether his Answer to the Question will probably heal us of our suspicions or rather beget Iealousies where there were none and heighten those already conceived into violent presumptions if not plain demonstrations that such is his Design 2. His Answer to the Question is this All that I can find in Scripture about this is That to this we owe the Covenant of Grace That God being well pleased with the Obedience of Christ's Life and the Sacrifice of his Death for his sake entred into a New-Covenant with Mankind wherein he promises Pardon of sin and Eternal Life to those who believe and obey the Gospel This Answer contains three things 1. A Description of the Covenant of Grace 2. An Assertion that this Covenant is owing to the Sacrifice of Christ's Death and the Righteousness of his Life 3. a Supposition that the Righteousness and Sacrifice of Christ has no other Influence upon our Acceptance with God but that for his sake he entred into such a Covenant as he has here described with Man-kind 1. His Description of the Covenant is this A promise of the Pardon of sin and Eternal Life to those who believe and obey the Gospel A Description so liable to exceptions that it describes neither the whole of the Covenant nor a New-Covenant nor upon the matter any Covenant at all § 1. This Description gives us little very little of the true Covenant of Grace for 1. though he thinks to put us off with a promise of Pardon and Life to those who believe and obey the true Covenant of Grace has given us a Promise of that Faith whereby we may believe and of that New-heart whereby we are enabled to obey the Gospel And first we have a Promise of the right Faith made
findeth his own Brother Simon and saith unto him we have found the Messiah which is being Interpreted the Christ. A Person then there was who under the Title of Christ was alwayes laid before the Faith and Expectancies of the People of God And of so great Concernment was this Name that Peter joyns it with the Son of God Matth. 16. 15. Whom do ye say that I am Simon Peter answered in the Name of the rest Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God I shall not urge the Testimony of the Devils Luke 5. 41. Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God For he is a Lyar from the Beginning and would not have owned the Truth but to Disparage it by his Testimony yet it s somewhat sad there should be greater Heresies on Earth than in Hell Nor shall I insist upon that of the Souldiers who took it for granted that he was commonly Distinguisht by the Name Christ Mat. 16. 68. Prophesie unto us thou Christ who it is that smote thee But Christs own Testimony must pass Matth. 23. 8. 10. Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren neither be ye called Master for one is your Master even Christ. A huge Bussle there has been about this place and our Authors Evidence had it been Subpoened in would have struck the Business dead One is your Master even an Office And now will you hear a Facetious and Merry Reason why He is alwayes called Iesus in the Gospels which contain the History of his Life and Death p. 8. Because forsooth all this time it was Disputed whether He were the Christ or not Great Disputes indeed the Devil has raised about the Lord Jesus some will dare to Dispute it whether He be very God or not others whether He be the Christ of God or not And not a few whether he offered himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice upon the Cross to an offended God for sin so that if Christ must never be owned till all Disputes be ended we must Prorogue his Naming till the coming of Elias The World was then as 't is now which would alwayes be Disputing things in themselves Indisputable Disputed then his Name was before his Resurrection and so has been ever since by Infidels and by those who Believed neither Disputed before nor after I have heard of a great Dispute of late amongst Persons of great Learning about the Reason of an Appearance in Philosophy when one of the Company wiser it seems than his Neighbours gravely Counselled them to Examine more Narrowly whether indeed the Thing were so in Fact or no before they did beat their Brains about giving a Reason why it should be so His Advice was hearkned to and upon severe Scrutiny they had been Arguing about a Non-entity Thus it had become our Authors Excellencie to have shewn that it is before he came to flie so high at the Why it is But it seems the Matter was not weighty whether he were the Christ or not it being determined by our Authors own Licenser that whatever is Disputable is inconsiderable Thirdly Christ signifies the Gospel and Religion of Christ As Moses signifies the Writings and Law of Moses and the Prophets the Writings of the Prophets Hold good Sir Create your self no further Trouble we will grant you more than you con Prove even as much as you Demand that we may purchase our Peace And that in Common Speech Christ may signifie his Laws by much stronger Reasons than Moses can signifie his Laws For Moses was but a Servant in His Masters House but Christ a Son in and over his own House Christ was the Law Maker Moses only an Instrument for their Promulgation and Execution But then it must be Remembred withal 1. That the Name Moses signifies Originally Properly and Primarily the Person of Moses the very Man Moses and only Obliquely Secondarily Figuratively or as your great Friend Vol. has it Analogico Figuratoque dicendi genere the Doctrine Writings Laws of Moses 2. That when we meet with a word that has a Proper and an Improper a First and a Second a Plain and a Tropical signification we always let that Proper Plain and Primary signification take the Wall and have the Upper hand of the Improper Tropical and Second-hand sence all ways provided that no Cogent Inexorable Reason taken from the Circumstances of the Place do Oblige to the Contrary 3. We must well understand what our Author Claims and what we Grant That it's usual nothing more usual in Common Speech than to call any Laws or Religion by the Name of the first Authors In Common Speech then this holds for if he will lay the Weight or Stress of any Disputable Point upon it that the word is so used in Scripture we must beg his Pardon and desire him to hold us Excused unless he can Prove it by Convincing Arguments and we lay down this Protestation before-hand that we shall not take High mounted Confidence nor Imperious Dictates nor Hungry jejune Glosses for Apodictick in the Case The rather because we are ascertained that the Name Christ does Properly Primarily Frequently nay Generally express a Person in Office and if our Author will needs have it signifie or Office or Church or Gospel or any Living thing else in all the Worldâ—… merely to evade the force of Truth or to hedge in any Whimsical Notions of his own he shall get his Ground by Inches and force his Way through the main Rocks for we shall part with nothing that we can Fairly and Honestly keep But we attend his Evidence Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature That is in the Gospel and Religion of Christ nothing is of any Value to Recommend as to the favour of God but a new Nature a Holy and vertuous Life p. 9. To which Gloss I oppose two small Incoveniencies First The Uncertainty Secondly The Apparent falshood of it First If there were nothing else to Disparage it its Uncertainty is enough for its merely Precarious that Christ must signifie so here If any has the Confidence to deny it though never so faintly the Cause is utterly blown up our Negative upon him puts him to Eternal silence When our Author is hard beset at any time he has one Answer ready Cut and Dried which serves for every Text in the Scripture as pag. 261. It is a sufficient Answer to this to say they need not signifie so If that will suffice him which others must be glad to be sufficed with he 's Answer'd But why not the Common Gloss In the Account of Jesus Christ Circumcision nor Uncircumcision avail nothing but c. And the strongest Probabilities lie on this side First The foregoing words whereof this Verse is rendred as a Reason do unquestionably speak of a Person ver 14. The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And now comes in this Verse as a Reason or
draw with him towards a Conclusion Our Author is beginning to make an end but he must first discharge his stomach of a little froth and gall and spit up some venome that lies in his chest in the face of his Adversaries without which he could not possibly conclude his Chapter He tells you summarily what great feats he has done and what greater Atchievements he will adventure on What he has done amounts to this he has discovered great Mistakes in other mens Divinity but cannot espy any in his own he can spy a Mote in his Neighbours eye but considers not his own Beam He has also discover'd the rise of these Mistakes to be from the various usage of the Name Christ in the Writingâ—… of the Apostles The more excusable it seems they are if they had occasion from thence to erre which they might the more easily doe because as he observes well the Writings of Paul are obscure He has also discover'd to us the temper and humour of those Mistaken men They are zealous to advance Christs Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion which yet our Author himself when a Qualm of sweet Nature comes over his Heart thinks to be Impossible p. 17. The greater Opinion we have of his Wisdom and Reverence for his Person the more sacred Regard we have for his Lawes He has also discovered a horrid Plot to introduce a fancifull Application of Christ to our selves instead of the substantial Duties of the love of God and Men and an universal Holiness of Life But this is but a plot of his own making unless he had some supernatural Assistances from Beneath He has also for ever discharged the world upon his Blessing from closing with Christ getting into Christ and above all from overloving Christ and admiring his Excellencies and Perfections his Fulness Beauty Loveliness and Riches Wherein if he prevail to his mind he has for ever Obliged the Prince of Darkness to him and done more service to his black Kingdom than he with his Legions hath been able to effect these Sixteen hundred years What he intends further to doe he has reduced to four heads to which I referre the Reader and upon the whole Matter doe onely make this one Observation That through this whole Chapter he has cheated and tormented us with a sorry old Threadbare fallacy A benè compositis ad malè divisa The Persons whom he reviles dare not put asunder those things which God hath joyned together They love the Person of Christ and not therefore break but keep his Commandements They think that Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ and Repentance from dead works are very consistent may and must sweetly meet together and Kiss each other They would be glad to see those who revile them to love and admire Christs Person and shall be content to be reproved so far as they neglect and undervalue his Precepts but they are not to be frighted out of their Love to Him who loved them and gave himself for them They do freely confess that they admire at the Love of the Father in sending his onely begotten Son into the World upon such a design as to save Sinners and they do equally admire the Love of the Lord Jesus Christ that he was so willing to come into the world to be tempted persecuted reproached and at last to dye and give his Life a Ransome for many And though they have heard many Reproaches and Blasphemies uttered against their Saviour yet they have not met with one solid concluding Argument why they should not love him And therefore if they must be vile upon these Accounts they resolve in the strength of Christ to be vile more vile still and shall bind all the Ignominy that is cast upon them for Christs sake unto their Temples as a Crown and Diadem For indeed they do persist in that perswasion with some Obstinacy that it was the Person of Christ who dyed for them it was He upon whom the Chastisement of their Peace did lye it was He whose Soul was made an Offering for sin and upon whom God laid the Iniquities of us All. And therefore our Author must bear with them if they love him as much as they can because they have reason to fear they shall not love him as much as He has deserved They remember a Dreadfull word If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha and would not for all the world fall under the weight of it Their love to his person makes them studious to please him fearfull to offend him zealous to glorifie him and if the will of God be so humbly content to suffer for him They have not met with any Author that has till of late endeavoured a Confutation of Christs personal Excellencies perfections fulness beauty loveliness and riches and they that have made the Attempt have exposed themselves to the universal censure of all that wear the Name of Christian and therefore they do ingenuously acknowledge that they doe admire and honour them and do humbly hope Christ at his coming will not rebuke them for it And when they are invidiously traduced as setting the Person of Christ at oddes with his Gospel they are satisfied that they have not done it in Principle and lament that they have in any the least degree done it in Practice And as they know that the Charge as apply'd to them is a pure impure slander so they conceive it 's vey difficult if not impossible in it self nor can they apprehend how any can really and truely maintain a due esteem of Christ in their hearts but they must have a proportionable value and regard for all his Commandments and Injunctions That these things are become Riddles to any professing the Name of Christ they tremble at as a sad symptome that the Gospel is hid to them and from them They do also in the general approve of any Labours managed with a due regard to the Majesty of God and the Lord Jesus Christ in order to the discovery of any Expressions in their Writings or Discourses which might in the least be misinterpreted to degrade and thrust down Holiness from its Throne but withall they are unwilling to be railed out of a good Opinion of Christs Person seeing that however they may have sinned in breaking his Laws it will not mend the matter to lessen the honour they justly have for Himself and had rather be severely chidden for their sin than scoffed out of their Duty But of these Matters thus far CHAP. II. Of what use the Consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion IN the Entrance of this Chapter I observe our Author is feelingly concern'd to amove from himself the sinister suspition of a Design to render Christ useless And he makes a solemn Protestation not onely of his own Innocency but is ready to become Surety and Compurgator for all his Accomplices A design sayes he which I confess I
Caution to Declare his Righteousness to Clear and Vindicate it that God might be Iust and the Iustifier of them that should believe in Him Rom. 3. 25 26. These things would have had their Use but alas this Head was brought in by the Shoulders only to make way for more of our Authors excellent Theology Religion is the Theam he has singled out to practise upon and he considers it first in General and then in its particular Species 1. For Religion in General 'T is founded says he on a belief that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. That this is a Postulatum somewhat to be presupposed in all Religion is easily granted and and no more can be necessarily inferred from the Place All Religion does suppose the Existence of God and that it is not in vain to seek Him But if hence our Author would conclude that nothing more is required as a Foundation for Sinners to Build their hopes of Acceptation with God in their Approaches to him and Service of him he gathers what the Apostle strewed not and Reaps what c. where he Sowed not There are no Infidels in Hell the Devils believe God to Be and Tremble at their own Belief wishing they could perswade themselves what they have perswaded others that there is no God They know too that God is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and yet they have no Foundation to come to God A despairing Cain a self-condemned Iudas may know this to be a Truth and yet not seeing a Mediator through whom they may securely come and find Acceptation in their seeking of Him they dare not they have no ground to come but if this be in very Deed the Foundation of all Religion why durst not our Author Trust to it but flie as Bellarmine to his Tutissimum est to the Lord Jesus Christ For pag. 15. He freely tells us That the Foundation of his Hope is that which is the Foundation of the Christian Religion the Sacrifice and Intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. For the Sorts and particular Kinds of Religion he is pleas'd to Instance only in three but he might as well would he have Created himself the trouble have named Threescore A various Mode or Circumstance does not Constitute a new Religion It may appear in various Garbs and Dresses be represented under other Oeconomies and Forms and yet continue the same for Substance The Ocean as it salutes differing Shoars falls under divers Denominations yet is but the same vast Body of the Sea There may be many false Religions Errour is Multiform Truth is Uniform but as to any that can plead for acceptance with God there never were but Two That of Integrous and upright Innocent Persons in Paradice and that other of Sinners retrieved and brought back to God by a Mediatour But I attend his Motions First Natural Religion as he says is founded on the natural Evidences of the Divine Bounty and goodness in making and Governing the World I now see my Errour and it 's well it is not too late He had told us pag. 14. That Religion in its first Natural Estate knew no Priest nor Sacrifice nor Mediatour Whence I innocently concluded that he spoke of a State of Pure and uncorrupt Nature which indeed knew none of these but I see I was but Choust for here we have a Natural state of Religion on this side the general Revolt from God below the common Apostacy of Mankind a Sublapsarian Posture of Affairs which yet is a meer stranger to Priest Sacrifice and Mediatour founded on Natural Evidences of Divine Bounty and Goodness To which I humbly offer That these Natural Evidences were not could not be a Foundation firm enough to bear the weight of the Religion of sinners in their Return to God so as to render them secure of Acceptation with him For 1. Those natural Evidences could not assure the guilty World that God would enter into a new Covenant with them nor Treat with them upon other Terms or upon another Account and as to the old Terms they were Lost as to any hope by them This we see plainly in Adam Who when he had sinned and Guilt Recoyled upon his Conscience in stead of Returning to God he became Vain in his Imaginations thinking to flie from him that is Omnipresent or to Abscond from him that is Omniscient he takes Covert in the Trees of the Garden and he gives this Reason He heard the Voice of God and was afraid And yet I see not but 't was as Rational acourse as to think of Returning to God when in that Covenant wherein he had stood and now had broken there was no provision for an After-game or salving Matters by Repentance The Law he had Violated in the Sanction thereof tells him he must Die Natural Evidences from Creation or Providence or present Patience and Reprieve spoke nothing till Supernatural Evidence came in in that Protevangelium the Oare and Bullion of Evangelical Discoveries The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents Head Gen. 3. 8 9 10. 15. But 2. I say that Natural Evidence would discover only common Goodness and general Bounty which God might afford the sinner without any security that he should not Perish eternally 3. Whatever Evidences man might have that God made the World which were Pregnant enough yet the Evidences that God did Govern the World would afford him but cold comfort Seeing that the Righteous Governour of the World could not be supposed by any other Laws or Rules to Administer it than those he had given at first which being now broken and the Creature withdrawn from Gods Order by Disobedience what could Natural Light discover but that God would Reduce the Creature again into Order by Punishment 4. Nor could the Evidences of Gods making the World give any Glimps of Assurance that first or last he would not destroy it though at present he suspended the Execution upon a Secret Design of Grace lodged in his own Bosom unless a Mediatour had Interpos'd and that Interposition Accepted and both Revealed to those Consciences which were fill'd with hideous Apprehensions about the Holiness of God Secondly The Mosaick Religion was founded on those Miraculous deliverances which God wrought for Israel and that particular Providence which watched over them To which I return 1. The Mosaick and the Christian are not different Religions but one and the same for Substance differing in Ceremony and Circumstance What they foresaw that we enjoy They had Christ in Sacrifices and we have all their Sacrifices in Christ What they had at sundry times and in divers manners that have we in one Uniform way by Christ They had scattered Particulars we have them all summ'd up in one Heb. 13. 8. Iesus Christ yesterday to day and the same for ever 2. The Miraculous deliverances which God wrought for Israel were indeed Cogent Motives super-added to those many others
vouchsafed them but not the Foundation of their Religion under any Notion When God gave the Law upon Mount Sinai He Prefaces it with this strong Inducement I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage Thou shalt have no other Gods before me May we now upon our Authors Warrant say That Gods delivering them out of Egypt was the Foundation of their Religion in Worshipping the true God and none besides Him or rather that it was an Additional Enforcement to command Obedience to that Law which yet Antecedent to such particular Obligation approved its Authority to their Consciences But that these Deliverances and Providences were no Foundation for the Mosaick Religion I shall endeavour to prove 1. In that God himself declares that he had laid another Foundation Isa. 28. 16. Behold I lay in Zion a sure Foundation And this is not constitutive of what was New but declarative of what was Old not only a Prophesie of what he would do but a clearer Discovery of what he had done that he might lead them into stronger Expectations of that Messiah which from time to time was promised would come and in fulness of Time should come and this Foundation God laid in Zion Which though it may express the Gospel-Church yet surely must not exclude the Iewish to which the Name Primarily appertains 2. In that God had actually laid another Foundation from the Foundation of the World for sinners to Build their Hopes upon in their addresses to God Thus was Christ the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Apoc. 13. 8. Slain particularly in the Sacrifices which commencing with the New Covenant ran a Line parallel with the Old World to the one great Sacrifice of Christ our High Priest upon the Cross. In that first Promise then made to our first Parents and afterwards Amplified to Abraham was the Foundation of all acceptable Religion and Worship Gen. 12. 2 3. God promises to Abraham In thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed which promise that it contained Christ the Apostle assures us Gal. 3. 8â—… The Scripture fore-seeing that God would justifie tâ—… Heathen through Faith Preacht before the Gospâ—… to Abraham In thee shall all the Nations of tâ—… Earth be blessed ver 16. Now to Abraham aâ—… his Seed were the Promises made he saith not tâ—… Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seeâ—… which is Christ. Now unless we will find out â—… Quintum Evangelium that has nothing of Chriâ—… in it Abraham had Christ for he had the Gospâ—… Preacht to him and I do not understand what Gospâ—… signifies without Christ. Our Author I me sure of all the Men under Heaven has Reason to alloâ—… it for he would have Christ signifie Gospel anâ—… therefore cannot blame us who would have Gospâ—… to include Christ because we are loth his Persoâ—… should be quite shut out of it And again Thâ—… Promises were made to Abraham And is it not strange that Promises should be made to him and he not understand one word of them What waâ—… the Foundation of Abraham's was the Foundation of the Iewish Religion Nothing at all in their Service or Worship could plead for Acceptation bâ—… as it came under the Influence of those Types which were of no value in themselves but upon the Account of Christ. In Levit. 6. 1 2 3 4. If â—… Soul sin and commit a Trespass against the Lord c. I cannot but give the Reader a Breviate of some Remarkables in this Scripture 1. That the Sins here mention'd were not ceremonial Pollutions legal Defilements but such Wickednesses as were discoverable by the Light and condemned by the Law of Nature Lying Cozening False-swearing Unfaithfulness in Trust c. 2. That these sins did bring a proper Guilt upon the Conscience as being committed against the Lord and therefore the Sinner was guilty before God that is Obnoxious and liable to his Displeasure and bound over in conscience to answer it at Gods Tribunal ver 1. If a Soul sin and commit a Trespass against the Lord ver 4. Then it shall be because he hath sinned and is guilty 3. That for that part of his Fact which was Injurious to his Neighbour that which he violently took away or the thing he hath deceitfully gotten or that which was delivered him to keep or the lost thing which he found he was to restore the principal in Specie and to add a fifth part more because of the Damnum emergens 4. That notwithstanding he had thus compounded with man he must bring his Trespass-offering to the Lord a Ram without blemish ver 6. 5. The Priest was to receive the Trespass-offering at his hand and offer it up to the Lord. 6. The design of this Offering was Attonement procuring Favour from God 7. Here 's a Promise of the full Pardon of sin annexed unto this Sacrifice ver 7. It shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in Trespassing therein Now upon the whole Matter we observe here was Pardon of sin annext to a Sacrifice and yet their Reasons could tell them as Paul has told us Heb. 10. 4. It 's not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin And I think we may venture to say the same of the blood of Rams too How shall these then be Reconciled I know no other way but by owning the Respect which they bore to the Lord Iesus Christ who was from the Foundation of and all along the World the only Lamb slain of value for these ends in Gods Account Thirdly The Christian Religion is founded on the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of the Son of God Our Author had founded his own and the Christian Religion on the Sacrifice and Intercession of Christ p. 15. But perhaps fearing or finding the Foundation too narrow has here widened it at the bottome and taken in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. But I hope now the Storm will blow over and the Indignation conceived against those Persons who Love Honour and admire Christs Person a little Slake for if their Religion the Acceptation of their Persons and Services be built upon Him as Sacrificed for them on the Cross and Interceding for them on the Throne they do judge it their duty to love him against the World Nay what will you say if our Author himself should become a Convert his own Hope and that 's his All he says is Built on the Sacrifice and Intercession of Christ And can you imagine but he should Admire and Adore his Person And then may there not arise a danger that he should set up a Religion of Christs Person However that goes This I know it was Christs blessed Person that endured the Shock and abode the Storm of that Displeasure which was due to our sin and no Reason can be assigned why a Person should endure all the Sorrow and not have
pardon humble and penitent sinners and not till then 3. In pardoning of these humble and penitent sinners Gods Dominion Sovereignty and the Authority of his Laws must be vindicated for God being the Righteous Iudge of all the Earth should he discover a facile Indulgence and indifferent connivence at Sin the Authority of his Lawes were gone in a moment and the sinews of Government cut asunder God then must be declared to be a Righteous God the Sanction of the Law as to Promise running thus Doe this and live Doe this personally doe this exactly doe this constantly and perpetually and then live and as to Threatning thus Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to doe them Gal. 3. 10. And of the same mind with our Author is as I remember one Dr. I. O. who is very peremptory that the Iustice of God may have its actings assigned to the full which is not done by Any that ever yet was heard of but the Lord Jesus Christ Now whilest I see the sweet Agreement of these two at present I fancy my self with Aeneas in the Elysian fields pleasing himself with the Amicable correspondence held between Caesar and Pompey and yet his delight mixt with another passion even grief in the foresight of their Civil Wars and Friendly Debates Illae autem Paribus quas fulgere cernis in Armis Concordes Animae nunc dum nocte Premuntur Heu quantum inter se bellum si Lumina Vitae Attigerint quantas Acies stragémque ciebunt Aeneid lib. 6. 4. Jesus Christ having undertaken to be a Ransome and to make Attonement for Sinners and his blood being of Infinite value the oldest greatest and stubbornest Sinners through Faith may possibly come to be concern'd in Christs Ransome and Attonement and so may be saved with a Notwithstanding their sins for seeing Gods Dominion Sâ—…vereignty the Authority of his Laws the Wisdom and Iustice of his Providence are all vindicated by this Means and security given that none of his Attributes shall be reproached what can Now hinder repenting sinners from coming to God and what can hinder God from rewarding those that so come and diligently seek him Nay 5. God cannot but be well pleased when his own Son undertakes to be a Ransome and to make Attonement for sinners And the Reason is evident The price being of Infinite value and payd into Godâ—… hands he cannot but be satisfied with it Nay further We can Reasonably desire no greater security for the Performance of the Gospel-Covenant than that it was sealed with the Blood of Christ the surety of a better Testament Heb. 7. 22. who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that undertakes for the Performance of it I could willingly lose my self my Reader and my Time in the Throng of these good words Say not This is only the Sealing of a Covenant on Gods part undertaking for him whose veracity needs none to undertake for it but not for us whose guilt and weakness needs an undertaker The Covenant being mutual the undertaking must be supposed Reciprocal also and so I hope our Author intends it that as Christ undertakes for God with Man so he undertakes with Man unto God Perhaps you will say A word or two might have been added to have put matters out of dispute why so there might in any bodies Writings besides his and as many spared hanc veniam petimúsque damúsque As 1. It 's likely you would have had him say The Vertue of Christs Sacrifice depends not onely very much on the Greatness of his Person but Altogether and the Acceptation thereof with God depends on the Compact between them both seeing that which depends altogether does depend very much on the Greatness of his Person and therefore pray let that break no squares 2. Whereas he sayes The Blood of the Son of God is such a Confirmation of the Covenant as the World never had before Perhaps you would add Actually because the World had it before Virtually exhibited in Sacrifices and accepted as already Performed But set your hearts at Rest whether he meant well or ill in this Chapter I 'le engage you shall not be prejudiced if he happens to discover an ill meaning in the next Chapter and in the mean time let us go seek all over Pauls Church-yard Little-Britain and Duk-lane for an old Treatise De modo tenendi Anguillam Aequivocationis per Caudam 5 The Person of Christ is of no other Consideration in the Christian Religion than as it has an influence upon the great Ends of his Undertaking I confess I had thought our Author had not been upon the Head What Consideration the Person of Christ is of but Of what Use the Consideration of his Person is but let that pass I had thought too that the former four particulars had shewn us What influence Christs Person has upon the great Ends of his Undertaking and therefore this seems not to be a fifth Particular but the total summe of the other four but I wave that too The Lord Jesus Christ undertook both with God and with Man for God and for Man and he had special Ends of his undertaking in both He undertook for God that he should be willing to pardoâ—… sinners and for man that he should return and come back to God He undertook to God that his Attributes should not be reproached but all secured his Righteousness cleared his Holiness vindicated he undertook to man that God should make every word and letter of the Promises good as they stand in the Covenant of Grace He undertook that Godâ—… Iustice should not break out upon the believing repenting creature to consume him and he undertook that Man should not break in upon Gods glory nor break away from Gods Wayes in a manner inconsistent with a New Covenant What a horrid Absurdity then must it be to imagine that his Person will destroy these Ends or to expect more from the excellency of his Person than his Gospel has promised Most wretchedly therefore doe they deceive themselves and wrong the Redeemer who Trusting to the goodness of his Nature Renounce his Mediation that trust in his Person without a Promise nay in contradiction to the Terms of that Covenant which he hath seal'd with his Blood that quit hiâ—… Promise to rely and rowl on his Person For should he acquit those men whom his Gospel condemns wilfull and incorrigible sinners this would flatly disannull the Covenant Though he may absolve such sinners as the Covenant of Works condemns through the Intervention of Christs Sacrifice But I perceive we are besides the Cushion all this while nay besides the Book for he knows none thaâ—… will in so many words own it nor does he dares he charge any man with it but yet it 's the natural Iâ—…terpretation of Trusting in the Person of Christ. That is It 's impossible to Trust in Christs Person but you doe ipso facto Renounce
Wit or two had successefully managed the grand Project of Self-Advancement by these Artifices and this new and blessed mode of Simony had Wealth and Honour came Trolling in amain and then Interest which ever spies peep of day at a Narrow Cranny soon struck into the practice of it But there was a small inconvenience which attended the Design and may possibly if not timously prevented spoyl its Expectations For when every Pedlingwit would be pecking at the Trade the Commodity stuck most miserably upon their hands became a very Drug and even scoffing at Religion turn'd to as little Account as the more common and trite way of Whipping and Spurring for the first Occupancy of a Presentation It 's usually and easily observed that the first Authors of great Inventions commonly grow Rich by their Novel Discoveries but when ordinary Abilities will be tampering and dabling with what they want Brains to manage they fall wondrously short of their wide Hopes and hugeous Expectancies And just so has it proved in the Case before us They who first taught this too docile Age to Travesteere serious matters had indeed the Vogue and engross'd the Benefit of their Inventions to their own proper Use and Behoof but Pretenders soon clapt in as you know if one Dog has a Bone all the rest will be about his Ears and now the multitude of Candidates has so brought down the Market that it will quit for Cost little better than the plain Dunstable high-way of Favour Alliance and Bribery The best Advice therefore I shall ever be capable of giving our Author and his Co-partners in this Trade will be That they improve their Friends to procure a special Priviledge or golden Bull from his Holiness That none presume to Preach Print or otherwise to publish any Invectives Sarcasms Satyrs Drollery or Raillery whatsoever whether with Wit or without Wit against J. O. T. J. W. B. and the rest of the Nonconformists nor against the Christian Religion under their Names during the space of One and Twenty Years now next and immediately ensuing the date hereof without the special Leave and express Licence of them the said S. P. and W. S. or their Assigns Some I perceive who are less knowing in this Mystery have given themselves causeless trouble to enquire Why our Author should single out these Persons and their Writings for his Enemies when he might with the same Ease and Modesty have combated the first Reformers of our Church reproached the Reverend Bishops and most eminent Divines and above all duelled the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eugland and either with Franciscus à S. Clarâ have reconciled them to his own Notions or if they were stomackfull and stubborn and would not bend most stoutly have confuted them But these Persons do not consider that such a Procedure had been both Dangerous and Scandalous Dangerous because that Doctrine is Armed with Law and fenced with Secular Power and Scandalous because it would have looked with an ugly face first to subscribe them to gratifie a mans Convenience and then to confute them to satisfie his Conscience And therefore this other way was judged more eligible which might secure if not reward the Author and yet as effectually destroy the Doctrine That he fixt upon this Course therefore as more adviseable never created my wonder but one thing I confess did That the Governours of the Church should appear so tender in a Ceremony and yet seem so little concern'd for the Substance of the established Religion that they should so severely Animadvert upon them who meddle with a Pin and yet take so little notice of those who are digging up the Foundation of the Building But hence we may learn That some may with more safety steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge so strangely does the same thing vary from its self when done by differing hands that as one informs us from Livy Papyrius slighted the Pullarii handsomely and was well rewarded when Appius Pulcher for doing the same thing slovenly and rudely was disgraced But it 's high time to consider our Author There are Two Praeliminaries which usher in the Body of his Discourse in this Section First an Account what notable Feats he has done in the former and Secondly a modest account of his own Ingenuity in this Section What he has atchieved in the former he summes up in few words After this plain Account wherein the Knowledge of Christ consists the summe of which is this that to understand Christ is to understand his Gospel which contains all those Revelations he made of Gods Will. I must needs say I could have been content he had called it a learned Account an unparallel'd Account a witty gentile or indeed almost any other Account in the world besides a Plain one for though there be but little of Truth yet there 's nothing at all of Plainness in it I had alwayes thought and Thoughts are as free for me as another that the Formale of the Knowledge of Christ lay in knowing his Person that he is God and Man two Natures united in one Person his Offices that he is our Prophet our King our High-Priest and that the understanding of the Gospel is the onely proper Means to come to the understanding and knowledge of Christ Who he is What he is in Himself and to us But that the knowledge of Christ should consist in understanding the Gospel is an uncouth way of Praedication wherewith I am not yet acquainted Jesus Christ is understood in and by the Gospel True he that understands the Gospel must needs understand Jesus Christ Very good but still as a Means leading to that End and not the very thing it self Much less is it true That the Knowledge of Christ consists in understanding the Gospel as it contains all the Revelations of Gods will For this was but a part and the least part too of Christs Employment and Undertaking Christ had something more to doe than revealing to us Gods Will Suffering the Displeasure was a harder task than Revealing the Will of God It was one thing to Preach a Sermon and another to sweat drops of Blood to have his Soul made an Offering for sin to have the Iniquities of us all to meet upon him Christ had many things to doe and command as our Lord and Governour many things to suffer as our Sacrifice many to offer as our Priest and what he had thus done and suffer'd to Reveal to us as our Prophet and Teacher But supposing all this to be true That the knowledge of Christ consists in the knowledge of the Gospel and suppose also further that the Gospel contains no more than a Revelation of Gods Will concerning us and our Obedience what use can he make of it Why hence he will take a happy occasion to reproach some body or other who have formed Another Notion of the Knowledge of Christ very distinct from this which contains a greater secret than one
he spared him not in exacting Punishment Death came into the World by sin and yet Christ dyed who never sinned Rom. 5. 12. The Law in its Penalty had nothing to do with him who had not offended the Law in its Rule So that I profess I know no greater wonder in the world than that the Father would have him suffer and that he should be Capable of Sufferings till the wonder be removed by viewing Christ in the stead of others and thus the Scripture assoyls the difficulty Isa. 53. 10. His Soul was made an Offering for sin Nay he was made sin for us though he knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He so loved the Church that he gave himself for it And appearing in this Quality Death the Officer of Gods violated Law might justly arrest him and the Father be pleased to bruise him delighted in his Sufferings upon one account who was so infinitely satisfied in his Person upon another And yet all this while our Author can see no necessity of Christs Death I should rather have thought sayes he that Gods requiring such a Sacrifice as the Death of Christ was not because he could not do otherwise but because his infinite Wisdom judged it the most effectual way of dispensing his Grace Then 1. It seems though Gods infinite Wisdom saw this the best way yet it might have consisted with his Wisdom to have pitch'd upon a worse and then it will be a Question whether that had been Wisdom or no For we are told p. 48. That Wisdom consists in the choyce of the fittest and best Means to attain an End when there are more wayes than one of doing it If then Wisdom consist in choosing the fittest and best Means and the Death of Christ was the best Means for dispensing of Gods Grace either it was impossible for God to choose any other way than this or it is possible for God to act in a way not consisting with Wisdom But 2. Our Author had highly obliged the World had he discovered how sin might otherwise have been expiated than by the Sacrifice of Christs Death The Iews have pitch'd upon a Cock and at last upon their own Death But it 's twenty to one when our Author shall substitute any in the room of the perfect Sacrifice of Christ we shall find as many real Inconveniences in it as he has found imaginary absurdities in the Necessity of Gods requiring satisfaction to his Justice and Christs Tendring it upon the Cross. But 3. Who ever asserted simply that God could doe no otherwise than to require the Sacrifice of Christs Death Alas our Author is wide the whole Heavens in this Matter It must first be supposed that God will treat with the sinner and that Christ will accept the Terms of being a Mediator between God and Man The Necessity proceeds upon a presupposed Voluntariness both in the Father and in the Son and when you have supposed them there are who will dispute it with our Author when he pleases that upon supposition God will accept and justifie a sinner a just Compensation must be made to wronged Iustice. I find our Author and his Confederates now and then speaking a good word of Mr. R. B. and I doe the more wonder at it because I did not think they had had a good word for any man but themselves I shall therefore give him a taste out of his learned Labours and if he likes it he may have more at the same rate 'T is in his Reasons of the Christian Religion Part 2. Chap. 4. Sect. 6. No Religion doth so wonderfully open and magnifie and reconcile Gods Iustice and Mercy to Mankind as Christianity doth It sheweth how his Iustice is founded in his Holiness and his Governing Relation It justifieth it by opening the Purity of his Nature the Evil of Sin and the use of Punishment to the right Government of the World and it magnifieth it by opening the Dreadfulness and Certainty of his Penalties and the Sufferings of our Redeemer when he made himself a Sacrifice for our Sins But the storm is not yet over nor our Authors Fury quite spent Dr. O. had said Com. pag. 94 95. That there are many Glympses of the Patience of God towards Sinners shining out in the Works of his Providence but all exceedingly beneath that discovery which we have of it in Christ for in him the very Nature of God is discovered to be Love and Kindness whatever discoveries were made of the Patience and Lenity of God to us yet if it were not withall revealed that his other Attributes his Iustice and Revenge for Sin had their actings assigned them to the full there could be little Consolation gather'd from his Patience and Lenity It were very hard if a Spider could suck no poyson out of these words and I should conclude she had renounced her Nature but what was there in all this that could exasperate a sweet natur'd Gentleman Whilest a sinner hangs by the meer forbearance of God he hangs but over Hell-fire by a single Thread and if that breaks he falls irrecoverably into Everlasting Burnings and it can be little Consolation the Doctor was gentle he might have used a harsher word and said just none at all to an awakened Conscience to have a place in Gods forbearance when he has none in his Forgiveness or to depend upon mere patience without an interest in Gods pardoning Mercy God may have patience with when he has no pardon for a sinner he had so for the Old World for Sodom for Ierusalem which yet perisht under his just displeasure A sensible Soul will be apt to argue thus I am reprieved but is my Pardon sealed God visits not my Iniquities upon me but will he remember them no more Those that are the familiar Acquaintances of Nature and of the Cabal to Common Reason have told me that Forbearance is no Acquittance that Patience abused turns into Fury Nay perhaps it may be in Judgement that a Sinner is forborn for God hath sometimes suffered the Nations to walk in their own wayes Acts 14. 16. And endured with much long-sufferance the Vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction But now through Christ the Nature of God is discover'd to be Love and Kindness for seeing Provision is made for and regard had of all his other Attributes and Essential Perfections God can secure to himself the Glory of them all and yet the Sinner escape wrath to come And indeed it 's altogether as unaccountable why God should be mercifull to the reproach of his Holiness as why he should be severe to the disparagement of his Mercy As the Goodness of God naturally discovers it self in doing good where all due requisites are found so does Justice as readily exert it self upon the Sinner where a Propitiation doth not interpose And if Conscience were rightly instructed in its Office from the Word it would mind the Sinner
walking in the ways of God An. Concerning Active and Passive righteousness I shall say little but never flatter your self without walking in the Ways of God you can never be saved For it 's plain That no Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall Inherit the Kingdom of God Qu. But what then becomes of Free-Grace An. It 's quite shut out of some mens Principles but as to us we own it the great Spring of all our present enjoyments and future Expectations Qu. But is not this to Eke out the righteousness of Christ with our own An. I have told you our Holiness is no Patch to Christs Righteousness but has its Distinct concerns Peculiar uses and Proper employment in the Salvation of Believers Qu. Say you so I protest thou art the most Pertinacious Refractory and Obstinate Creature that ever I Catechised in my life But I let thee know I am resolved that they shall hold in spight of their teeth that Holiness and Obedience are not necessary to Salvation Now the short of all this long Discourse our Author gives us in these words That to know Christ is not to be thus acquainted with his Person but to understand his Gospel in its full Latitude and Extent It 's not the Person of Christ but the Gospel of Christ which is the Way the Truth and the Life To which I only say 1. It 's a strange Definition of the Knowledge of Christ that it is not to know Him To know is to be Ignorant to see is to be Blind 2. It 's impossible to understand the Gospel in its Latitude but we must thus know Christs Person he has Learnt little that has not Learnt the reconciliation made in the Blood of Christs Cross. 3. Though the Scriptures be the way and Means yet the Person of Christ is the way of Mediation whereby we come to the Father And though we have Direction Instruction Encouragements from the Scripture to walk in the way of Holiness yet we have Grace and Ability from the Lord Jesus Christ who is a Head of Influence as well as Authority to all that are in Covenant with him to walk in that Way At length the Gentleman having Discharged the Office of a Catechist will let us know how terrible he is for an Exorcist He falls a Raving and Conjuring at the acquaintance with Christ that the Candles seem to burn blew the Ground to tremble and in this Sulphureous Vehicle we shall see him Raise his Spirit Acquaintance with Christs Person is only a work of Fancy teaches the Arts of Hypocrisie undermines the Fundamental Design of the Gospel makes Men incurably Ignorant endless Talkers insolent Censurers and every Boy learns to Despise the Ignorance of his Teachers Our Author is Whistling over to himself his wild Notes just like a Black-Bird in the latter end of February that he may not be to seek in March So here he gives us a Synopsis of Scolding the brief Heads of things upon any of which he can Write a Book as long as this But what is the Matter Why Boys despise the Ignorance of their Teachers I had rather they should despise their Ignorance than their Knowledge Ay but they despise them for not knowing Christ and the Mystery of the Gospel Alas you do not pretend to know him but have described the Knowledge of Christ by Ignorance of him Oh! but the Laws of Christ will not down with them At this rate I believe they never will All Reverence to his Laws must cease when his Person is exposed to Contempt He that Teaches men to Mock at the Personal Excellencies Beauty Loveliness Fulness of the Law-giver does more surely though more slowly undermine the Foundation of Gospel-Obedience than he that brings his Mattocks to the Commandment itself The Reader perhaps is not aware what design our Author has upon him Why He hopes that good People will hereafter have better thoughts of him and his Fellows that they are not such Strangers to Christ as they may Imagine for he has a greater Reverence for him than to be so Rude and Unmannerly than to make bold with his Person and with his Laws I could heartily wish indeed our Author were no stranger to Christ but it 's better so than worse to be Ignorant of Him may perhaps prove his best Plea for Enmity against Him For his Boldness I cannot tell how more unmannerly he could well be he has divided his chiefest and most glorious Titles whereby the Spirit of God has Recommended him to our best Affections the Gospel Portraitures of Christs Loveliness c. he calls Romantick Descriptions he has Overthrown and Confounded all his Offices Cancel'd the main Ends of Christ's coming into the World turn'd all that 's Sacred into Drollery and yet he thinks he has not made bold enough with Christ. From hence he takes occasion to fall into some admiration of the Church Catechisme and the Wisdom of the Church in feeding her Children there with wholsome and substantial Food It will be long enough before he commends the Wisdom of the Church in her Articles put forth to be the Standard of the Faith of all that are to instruct the Churches Children I shall entreat our Author seeing he is so passionately in love with the Catechism to practise it more to keep his Hands from Picking and Stealing for Volkelius Shlictingius c. complain heavily of him and his Tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering and herein another sort of men make lamentable Complaints There is but one thing more whereof he will take Notice and I am heartily glad on 't for I feared when his hand was in there would have been no End of this rayling Humour But why he should call it one thing more I cannot imagine when 't is but the same strain of Prophane Scoffing at the Concerns of Religion But let us hear that one Thing When the Scripture speaks of the Knowledge of Christ it includes not onely the speculative part of Knowledge which consists in true Notions but the Virtue and Efficacy of it in the Government of our Lives Surely this is not the one thing he would speak to No no These men talk of an Experimental Knowledge of Christ Now he comes to it The meaning of which is that this Acquaintance with Christs Person warms and heats their Fancies moves their Passions sometimes they find great breakings of heart they melt and dissolve into tears for their sins when they remember their Lord suffered for them They see him hang upon the Cross c. It requires no great Wit to be Prophane common Abilities will serve to represent the Truth to disadvantage he that presumes his Tongue is his own may let it run ryot without Truth or Honesty 1. This Acquaintance with Christs Person says he heats their Fancies Thus he has told us before p. 95. That the workings of the Law the Offers of Christ and our entering into Covenant with him is
a special care of his Disciples as they are such and he has evidenced his owning of them and care for them that he unites them into such Societies wherein they may mutually discharge all Christian Offices to each other edifie one another in Love and be meet helps to one anothers Salvation That Christ therefore owns a Relation to particular men though not as men but as holy men is evident Heb. 2. 11. Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren Nor was he ashamed to own Paul to be a chosen Vessel to himself upon his particular Conversion nor to bestow the Holy Ghost upon him and yet all this before Baptism before his publick profession of the Christian Religion and admission into the Visible Church At length we are assaulted with a kind of Argument from 1 Iohn 1. 1 2 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. Here are so many sad misadventures in this one Argument that I know not where to begin and having begun it will be as difficult to know where to make an end of pointing at them 1. His Gloss is very Notable That which we have seen and heard That is says he The whole Doctrine and History of the Gospel And thus we have gained one signification more of Christ that we never heard of before Christ is now not onely a Doctrine a Church an Office but a History too and ere long he will cut him short by an Aphaeresis and and make him a Story 2. That his Gloss might pass without suspicion he has concealed the Apostles words v. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard and seen with our eyes which we have looken upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life This was certainly the same Person of whom the same Apostle Ioh. 1. 1. affirms That he was in the beginning with God whom being made flesh he saw and looked upon with his eyes whom he touched with his hands the same Person who lay in the Bosom of the Father and manifested that Eternal Life that was in the Father And yet as he has handled the Matter it shall be the handling of a History the handling of a Doctrine Really the Socinians are well-bred Gentlemen to our Author for though they contend hotly about the Beginning in which Christ is said to be yet they confess it was the Person of Christ who was in the beginning But 3. Our Author has quite lost his Question however it gave him the slip I cannot tell but gone it is to Iamaica For the Question was about the Means of our Union to Christ and the Answer is about the Means of our Fellowship with Christ The Enquiry was Which way we are related to Christ and he answers very gravely to the Way of our enjoying the Priviledges that flow from that Relation Alas if he had but once asked it we would for a word of his Mouth have granted his Petition That our Union with a particular Church is a Means to let us into Communion and Fellowship with Iesus Christ to admit us into many glorious Priviledges and happy advantages which cannot possibly otherwise be obtained only we would say there must be a previous Union an antecedent Relation to Christ as the Foundation of our Enfranchisement in that Church whereby we are enstated and installed in all those Priviledges 4. The Communion we enjoy with the Church will not prove that we are united to Christ thereby any more than it will prove that a Servant becomes related to his Master by Means of his Relation to his Fellow-servants because they eat and drink and work together which is no tremendous Demonstration 5. Those words That ye may have Fellowship with us are very ill glossed That is become members of the Church of Christ for the Apostle writes unto them as Members of the Christian Church actually otherwise the whole Epistle is unintelligible chap. 2. 12. I write unto you little Children because your sins are forgiven you for his Names sake I write unto you Fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one 6. Those words That ye may have fellowship with us doe not denote that the Fellowship of particular Believers must of necessity be with the Church immediately and then with the Father and Christ at the second hand but that the Fellowship of the Apostle and all Believers is joyntly and equally with the Father and with Christ His desire was that others might enjoy the same Communion with both that he enjoyed And now the Reader will easily see the dreadfull Mischief of not stating the Question and distinguishing its Terms at the first It was obvious to every Man and I was aware of it into what Confusions he would lead us by the Ambiguity of Church Union Means Communion but I resolved he should run his Trundle and when he had tyred himself in a Labyrinth of Errour it would be a more seasonable time to talk with him His last Argument which is therefore the best because it is last is taken from Excommunication Now This says he is a plain Demonstration That our Union to Christ is not an Union to his Person but consists in the 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 This is another plain Demonstration if you will take his word for it Two things call for our Consideration 1. What he would prove 2. How he proves it 1 What he would prove And I assure you that is grown a great Secret of late One while he would prove That our Union with a particular Church was the means of our Union to Christ and within an hour after he would prove That our Union with Christ consists in our union with the Christian Church And now he will prove or it shall cost him a fall that our Union to Christ is not an Union to his Person And thus here 's another Hare risen up before us which whilst we pursue it 's ten to one we shall lose them all If I might counsel our Author before I would be Tormented with a Fugitive Vagabond Protean Question that 's never two Hours in one mind nor ever tarries two Hours in one place I would clap it in Irons and Chain it to a Post. For if the Reader will give me Credit in so small a Matter I verily thought for some while that he had been Hammering out a Proof That our Union to Christ is by means of our union to the Church At last I perceived another Conclusion just Peep out
pretended to Love the Lord Jesus Christ provided we have but our Authours license to love him but now the Question will be this whether our Union to Christ consists in a mutual and reciprocal love And if our Authour had been judge a little while since he would have resolved it in the Negative That our Union to Christ consists in our Union to a particular Church and that it is a political union such a one as is between Prince and Subject and consists in a belief of his revelations obedience to his Laws and subjection to his Authority I shall only note a few things and dismisse it 1. That there is a love of Benevolence and good Will a designing purposing love in Christ towards us before we bear his Image and Superscription this love he bears towards those that are unlike him Rom. 5 8. God Commendeth his love to us that when we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us verse 10. When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son 2. There must of necessity be the intervention of an Union a likenesse a Conformity of Natures before there can be supposed a love of mutual complacency and reciprocal delight in each other for this love this delight must have something to work upon As there must be a Conjugal Relation before the Husband can take delight in his Wife as his Wife and the Wife in her Husband as her Husband 3. That this love of good will in Christ is the Original Reason of our transformation into the Image of Christ whereby we become meet objects for that other love of Complacency 4. It s true that we love him as partaking of his Nature but then it s also as true that those Acts of love to and delight in Christ proceed from that New Nature which we derive from him 5. The Love wherewith Christ Loves us as the price of his blood is a differing love from that wherewith he loves us as his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works 6. I rejoyce however that we are owned to be Christs workmanship Created to good works which it were not so we had more reason to love our selves to admire and deifie our own natural Abilities which effected that glorious workmanship And I see of late our Authour takes to the Church Catechism which had he attended to in time had saved him half the Labour of his Book My good Child know that thou art not able to do these things of thy self to love God to believe in him to fear him with all thy heart with all thy mind withal thy strength to worship him to give him thankes to put thy whole Trust in him c. nor to walk in the Commandements of God and serve him without his special Grace which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer 7. The more we exercise our selves in the Love of Christ the more like him we grow and the stronger bonds are layd upon our Souls to maintain the Union inviolable but still there must precede an Union which is the true Foundation of the Exercise of this Love of Delight and mutual Complacency Ay but says he Love is the great Cement of Union which unites Interests and thereby more firmly unites hearts Let him call it the Cement or the Soder or the Glew it 's all one to me I conceive that Interest is the Cement of Love and not Love the Cement of Interest Men love because it 's their Interest so to doe but whether that Love that flutters up and down the world a thing so unstable and desultory that we cannot tell where to have it be a fit Pattern for the heigths and lengths and depths and breadth of the Love of Christ ora just Measure of it I very much question Many things we meet with that are full of delight but one may take a Surfeit of Sweet-meats and therefore I shall onely trouble the Reader with his Concluding Argument taken from the Sacraments Which are says he the Instruments and Symbols of our Union with Christ. And if by Christ he understands the Church it 's not worth the while to make a Controversie on 't we will grant That Union with the Church consists in Union with it and the surest Means to be United to the Church is to be United to it and this way seldom fails But if he had a mind to conclude something else he had done like a Neighbour to have informed us for I must needs confess I am in the dark But yet we shall not lose all our labour For these Sacraments represent both our external and real Union with him And it 's worth all our pains and patience to hear one of his Lectures upon this Subject First for our External Union Baptism is a publick Profession of the Christian Religion that we believe the Gospel own his Authority and submit to his Government Secondly These Sacraments signifie our Reall Union to Christ Thus Baptism signifies our Profession of becoming New men our profession of Conformity to Christ in his Death and Resurrection Now look how much Conformity to Christs Death and Resurrection is better than owning his Authority and submitting to his Government just so much is our Real Union better than our external which if one so exactly versed in the essential differences of things as our Author had not told us other wise ordinary Capacities had judged to be both one That little advantage there is the External Union carries it For as to our External Union Baptism he tells us is a Profession of it but as to our Real Union Baptism onely signifies a profession of it and then it will be somewhat better to make a Profession of submission to Christs Government than to make a signification of a Profession of Conformity to his Death I shall therefore rather acquiesce in the Judgement of the Catechism about the Signification of Baptism than in our Authors which makes this Question What is the inward and spiritual Grace Ans. A death unto sin and a New Birth unto Righteousness for being by Nature born in sin and the children of wrath we are hereby made the children of Grace 4 His last and most famous Observation is That Fellowship and Communion with God signifies what he calls a Political Union And would we knew what that was why it is this To be in fellowship with God and Christ signifies to be of that Society which puts us into a peculiar Relation to God that God is our Father and we his Children that Christ is our Head and Husband and Lord and Master and we his Disciples and followers his Spouse and Body It 's below the generosity of the Eagle to catch Flies an Employment more suitable to the impertinent humour of Domitian and therefore it may be expected that our Author should scorn to play so mean a Game as to impose upon our weakness with the Ambiguity of a poor word To be in Fellowship
are by the Bread and Wine And the Liturgy in the Office of the Supper expresses not onely a Communication of reall Nourishment from Christ to our Souls but a mutual communication of our Praise and Thanksgiving to God for Christ and to Christ for his Flesh and Blood which compleats the Communion The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for Thee preserve thy Body and Soul into Everlasting Life and Take and Eat this in remembrance that Christ dyed for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith and be Thankfull But to put this out of doubt That all Communion is grounded upon Union I will quote our Author to our Author for Nothing cuts the Diamond like it self God says he entertains us at his Table as his own children Why then let it be referred to the Man that comes next Whether sitting at Gods Table does not presuppose us to be Children Surely we are not therefore Children because we sit at the Table but we therefore sit at the Table because we are Children Again p. 152. Our Author whose word ought to go far with himself assures us That Baptism is the Sacrament of our Admission into the Church There 's our Union then however and the Lords Supper finding us already united affords us a communion or a participation of those Priviledges which flow from that Union So that whether our Union to Christ consist in our Union to the Church or no yet still there must be an Union to the Church before we can hold Communion with it in those Mercies and Blessings which Christ has entailed upon it And thus has our Author made a quick dispatch of Communion with Christ in the Lords Supper could he but as fairly dispatch it out of all other Exercises of Religion he might seriously Triumph that he had cut off the Neck of all Religion at one Blow Well success waits upon the Bold Undertaker and there 's no hurt in a daring Attempt Prayer says he and Meditation and such like Acts of Devotion are no where called Communion with God Our Author is just now turning Quaker Thou man where dost thou read that the People of God put off their Hats or wore Ribbands and Lace But to satisfie him Prayer and Meditation are not called nor are they Communion with God but Means whereby and Wayes of Gods appointment wherein we hold Communion with him In these and other Ordinances we communicate to him the Actings of our Faith Fear Love delight Praise c. and by these he communicates to us of his Grace Strength Favour Mercy to help us in the time of our Need. In Prayer we pour out our hearts before him Psal. 62. 8. In Prayer and Meditation We lift up our Souls to the Lord Psal. 25. 1. Hence that frequent Expression of the Ancient Christians Sursum Corda continued in the Liturgy Lift up your hearts Ans. We lift them up to the Lord But a few dribling Objections he has against this also 1 Object Communion does not consist in Transient Acts. Ans. 1. Communion does consist in those permanent Effects conveyed by transient Acts the Effect of Prayer abides when the Act is over 2. The Lords Supper is a Transient Act both in opposition to Permanent and Immanent and yet there is a real Communion between Christ and Believers therein 2 Object You will not say a poor Man has Communion with his Prince when he puts up a Petition to him to begg his Charity Ans. It 's more than our Author can tell whether we will say so or no. If a Prince commands his Subjects to make their Addresses to him in all their streights promising that the great distance between them shall not prejudice their Supplications and shall appoint a Person near and dear to himself to receive from them and present to him all their Petitions that in his Name they may find Acceptation and Answer if now his poor Subjects shall give faith to his Promises make use of his Indulgence own their Relation to him and improve the Mediation of that Master of Requests and upon the Relief of their Wants Redress of their Grievances shall return their humble and hearty thanks and learn to love their Prince more to serve him better to become more loyal Subjects methinks here 's that which may be called Communion grounded upon Union 3 Obj. To Pray to God is an Act of Homage which we owe to him as our Creator and Father Ans. I looked every moment when he should Confute himself for now he will not deny that Relation to God as our Creator and Father precedes this Communion It 's a Duty says he that results from Relation Therefore say I It 's not the Relation it self And therefore I shall still conclude that Communion does properly denote the Communication of good things bottom'd upon that Union and Relation we have to and with each other and that our Author has most wretchedly abused his Time and his Reader in a weak Endeavour to prove That Communion consists in Union and has merited the Character of Hanno the Carthaginian given him by the great Historian That he was a Person very skilfull in the Art of seeming Reverend SECT 2. Of our Union to the Person of Christ. THis Section may well be called Our Author's Lamentations wherein he most passionately bewails how some men have obscured Plain things to his no small trouble I assure you to vindicate them to their Primitive Clearness We who are not privy to his Nocturnal Elucubrations do little think what pains it cost him to scowre off all that Rust which in so long a tract of time as Sixteen hundred years through the Sleepinâ—…ss of the Ancient Fathers and the Sluttishness of all the Christian Churches Religion had contracted to the day of the date of his Reformation But there are others too that whisper out their Complaints How Christ in the beginning of his Gospel bequeathed to us a Religion Decent but not Gawdy Plain but yet Powerful not courting Proselytes with Meretricious Gallantry but Matron-like Modesty Whose Attire was indeed more coarse and home-spun yet withall very warm and fitted to its end But now-a-days all is trim'd up with Ribbands and Lace and set off with Fan and Feather It was a Complaint as old as Austin That men loaded Religion with servile Burdens which God in mercy would have left free So that the condition of the Jews was mâ—…re tolrable that were subject to Legal Sacraments and n t to the Presumptions of men Thus evâ—…ry one coâ—…plains of faults but very few that I can fee will mond ny I suppose our Author will be content that the Reformation of Worship be committed to the Churches care but for reducing the Doctrine that 's a Burden he has reserved for his own shoulders And methinks I see him like the sign of the Atlas supporting the Globe chearfully heaving at the weight and yet never so much as once crinkle in the Hams God says
Question which I think we must be forced to grant him at last to be rid of him without any respect to his Argument For thus we shut our hands sometimes of those importunate Mendicants whose strongest Logick and most prevailing Oratory is Clamour and Obstinacy He has hardned himself to say that Abraham was justified without any respect to the Righteousness of Christ that he was justified by noble and generous Acts of Faith and then concludes That therefore so are we And all this to save the credit of the Apostle's Argument But I should rather go the other way Believers under the Gospel are not justified without respect to the Righteousness of Christ therefore neither was Abraham and let that save the credit of the Apostle's Argument As he cannot prove that Abraham was accepted of God without any consideration of Satisfaction made to him by a Redeemer and therefore ought not to infer that we are accepted of God without such Consideration so we can prove that Believers under the Gospel are accepted of God upon Consideration had of the Satisfaction made to him by a Redeemer and therefore may infer that Abraham was accepted upon the same Consideration 2. His Argument will recoil upon the Engineer For if by the Righteousness of Faith you understand a Righteousness of our own obedience you utterly destroy the Apostle's Argument for our Justification by Faith for how does it follow that because Abraham was justified by Faith without Works that therefore Believers under the Gospel are justified by Works Again If there be no reasoning from Faith of one kind to Faith of another and that the Apostle understood himself better than to argue at this weak rate for which we have our Author's Broad-Seal p. 257. And if the faith of Abraham and our faith in Christ be of different kinds and do constitute two distinct sorts of Faith for which also we have his Word and Warrant p. 252. then let every Reader try the issue whether our Author have not utterly destroyed the Apostle's Argument for our Iustification by faith in Christ from Abraham's being justified by Faith seeing he supposes him to argue from one kind of Faith to another For at this weak rate he makes him argue If Abraham were justified by faith without Christ then Believers under the Gospel are justified by faith in Christ. All that I can conclude from this Discourse of our Authors is That he has owned the Apostle an old grudge and has now found a convenient time to pay him home He promises us now he will bring his Discourse to a head Which I am right sorry for hoping he had been at the foot of it And yet I am glad it shall be reduced to a head for hitherto it has been like the Hydra when one head was lopt off another or two more sprung up in the room of it But I mistake him He will bring it to a head it has been hitherto like an obstinate inveterate Oedema that scorns ordinary Applications but now we shall see his Chirurgick faculty he will bring the undigested Matter to a Head and then I doubt it will issue out in purulent offensive stuff But the head of it is this The difference between the faith of Abraham and the Faith of Christians is this Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness and we believe in Christ and that 's counted to us for Righteousness which is a difference without a distinction and so he has made neither head nor foot of it For Abraham believed God but it was by the preaching of the Gospel to him Gal. 3. 8. The Gospel Doctrine that was preach'd was this In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed That Seed was Iesus Christ ver 16. To thy Seed which is Christ. So that it 's as plain as we can desire it and more plain than the Enemies of the Christian Religion would have it That Abraham was justified through Faith in Christ and if Abraham believed in God through Christ it 's certain that Christians do so also 1 Pet. 1. 21. Who through him do believe in God Abraham ' s belief in God was not exclusive of Christ our believing in Christ is not exclusive of our believing in God The Objects mediate and ultimate are the same and then the Faith is so if we may take our Author's word for it which for his own Confutation we may venture to do and then where 's the difference And thus the Reader has all the head and foot I can make of this tedious long-winded Argument Having thus happily dispatch'd the difference between Abraham's faith and the faith of Christians he promises to give us the difference between two or three other things or between something and nothing for to acknowledg my ignorance I cannot tell what I turn'd to the Errata and there we are bid to read Nonsense I was in good hopes that had been it but the difference of the pages soon undeceived me I shall therefore give the Reader it as cheap as I had it in his own words and that 's good both for Buyer and Seller And the same difference there is between the Righteousness of Faith in a general Notion as it is applied to Noah Abraham and these Worthies of old and the Righteousness of Gâ—…d by the Faith of Iesus Christ Rom. 3. 22. and that Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness of God by Faith Phil. 3. 9. Now I have guest and guest and almost tired my self with guessing what those things should be betwen which he pretends the difference One while it seems to be Between the Righteousness of Faith in a general Notion as it is applied to Noah Abraham and those Worthies of old on the one party and the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ c. on the other party Another while it seems to be Between the Righteousness of Faith in the general Notion on one side and the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ on the second and the Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness of God by Faith on the third and so the difference will be tripartite Whatever the business is I shall not trouble my self about it Of two Righteousnesses I have heard the one of Faith the other of Works according to the two Covenants from thence denominated which do irreconcileably differ and are as far asunder as the two Poles which can never meet Of two Righteousnesses of Faith I have not heard till of late and a happy invention it was for them whose faith or unbelief would not stoop to Gospel-Revelations But that we may not let our time run waste I shall a little consider one of his Scriptures and wait with patience till he shall consider the other That which I fix upon is Rom. 3. 20 21 22. Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for
Man and as Sacrifice was the Sacrifice of him that was Personally United with God but I am not concerned to insist upon that at present All I say is that it 's no Answer to the Question for to the best of my remembrance and it 's not a full Twelve-moneth since the Question came before us the Question was What influence the Righteousness of Christs Life hath upon our Acceptance and now we have got an Answer to another Question What influence the Righteousness of Christs Life has upon his own Acceptance with God As if we were at the Old Childish Game of cross Questions It was asked me How many Miles it is to London and it was answered me Thirteen shillings and a groat make a Noble For what is this Meritoriousness of Christs Obedience did he Merit for himself or for us If for himself onely then it 's out of the Olives If for us then that which he has Merited is ours Merit denotes a proportion between the Work done and the Reward received and it 's strict Justice in God to bestow upon us that which another has Merited for us if then Christ has Merited our Acceptance we cannot but be accepted it 's Iustice we should be so Again what is it that Christ has Merited Is it acceptauce Our Author will not say it what then Why a promise of acceptance that is that we shall be pardoned and saved upon Faith and Obedience And this is the bottom of the bag when he has turned his discourse into a thousand shapes and forms and varied his expressions infinitely yet all amounts to no more than this Christ has confirmed a promise procured a promise merited a promise that if we believe and obey we shall be pardoned and saved and yet the answer to the Question is to come For 1. There must be a better Reason assigned than the Righteousness of Christs Life why the Sacrifice of his Death should merit any thing for if his active obedience was due to Gods Law upon his own Personal account it could merit nothing for another The payment of a Debt will not merit a reward and if the Righteousness of Christs Life did not merit any thing it self it can never make his Death meritorious 2. To Merit for us a reward upon a condition and never to merit for us that condition is next to nothing as the Case stands with us For both Christ and we shall lose that which he has Merited if our Obedience be left to the desultoriness of our own will and the imbecillity of corrupt Nature Upon the whole Matter I conclude that according to his Principles our Author canot shew any one thing in all the Life and Death of Christ that may render our Persons and Services more acceptable to God than they would otherwise have been upon equal Holiness and Obedience and therefore we must make our Application to Persons of other apprehensions in Religion if we would have an honest satisfactory Answer to this Question What influence the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death have upon our Acceptance with God There is a Text which some think will shew us more of that True influence that the Righteousness of Christ hath upon our Acceptance with God than all this tedious rambling Discourse of our Authors It is Rom. 5. 18 19. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to Iustification of Life For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous From whence I have heard some Argue In the same sense that all are made sinners in the first Adam all that are righteous are made righteous in the second Adam but in the first Adam all are made sinners by the imputation of his Disobedience therefore all that are righteous are made so in the second Adam by the imputation of his Obedience Again If it was the Active Disobedience of the first Adam whereby many even all that were in him were made sinners then it is the active obedience of the second Adam whereby Many even all that are in him are made righteous but the former is true therefore so is the latter But says our Author This is the most that can be made of that place This What Why this something or this nothing which he had said before That God was so well pleased with the Obedience of Christs Life that for his sake he entred into a Covenant of Grace with Mankind And if this be all that can be made of that Text the Opposition must run thus As God was so ill pleased with the Disobedience of Adams Life that for the sake of it he entred into a Covenant of Works with Mankind So he was so well pleased with the Obedience of Christs Life that for the sake of it he entred into a Covenant of Grace with Mankind Really it must be so Reader take it or leave it for look what influence Adams Disobedience had upon God to provoke him to condemn the World the same influence had Christs obedience upon God to please him to save the World And will not this be a rare contrivance to fancy a Covenant of Works instituted after the Fall of Adam when we are certain it was established before his Disobedience And so was the Covenant of Grace before the Active and Actual obedience of Christ However let us consider the most he can make of it First says he there 's no necessity of expounding this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Righteousness of Christs Life or his active obedience This Answer of our Authors is like the Ariere banne it 's never raised but in a case of extreme urgency an Answer that will serve the turn of all the Atheists Hereticks and Miscreants upon Earth If you tell them that Eternal Salvation is promised in the Gospel they have it at their fingers ends that there is no necessity that Eternal should signifie a duration beyond the Horizon of time it 's used in other places for the lengthning out the existence of a thing to it 's own allotted period Thus the Aaronical Priesthood was an everlasting Priesthood it was to continue for the Ever of the Iewish World And as for that word Salvation there 's no necessity it should signifie a deliverance from Spiritual Evils for besides that there were no promises of any such Salvation in the old Testament the word is often used in the New for temporal deliverance As when the Apostle said Except these abide in the Ship ye cannot be saved Acts 27. But why is there no necessity of it It may well signifie no more than his Death because the Apostle tells us Phil. 2. 8. That Christ became obedient unto Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by his leave the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does indeed signifie obedient in general and