IMPRIMATUR May 30. 1673. Sam. Parker A DISCOURSE Concerning the KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST AND Our Union and Communion with him c. By William Sherlock Rector of S t George Buttolph lane London LONDON Printed by I. M. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXIV THE PREFACE Christian Reader I Am conscious to my self of so honest a design in writing this Discourse that I am very very well armed against those various censures which are the usual reward of such Attempts for there is no such Sanctuary against the rudest clamours and the most unjust reproaches as a good Conscience I was heartily grieved to see so many well-disposed Persons abused with words and phrases which either signifie nothing or have a very ambiguous and doubtful or a very bad sense when I have observed that great zeal which some men have for the Worship of God I have often thought what great Instruments they might be of Gods glory were their zeal directed and governed with Knowledge and Iudgment and when I have observed how innocently and vertuously some of those men live who have espoused such Principles as naturally tend to make them bad I have thought what excellent Persons they might prove did they rightly understand so excellent a Religion as is published to the World in the Gospel of Christ such thoughts as these at first engaged me in this Work to rectifie those mistakes which will either make men bad or hinder and retard their progress in true goodness which is so pious and charitable a design as may at least plead my excuse though it should appear to be a mistaken zeal In the management of this Discourse I have carefully avoided all personal reflexions have not medled with the lives and actions of men which I am so charitable as to hope may be more orthodox than their judgments I have represented their opinions in their own words and am not conscious to my self that I have put any other sense upon their words than they intended and I cannot see what reason any man hath to take it ill that I repeat that which he himself thought fit to publish where they pretend to argue gravely I have examined their Arguments with all possible gravity and solemnity where they plainly toy and trifle I have so far complied with their humour as to smile sometimes though as modestly as any man can desire I have taken care not only to unteach men what was amiss but to explain and consirm the true notions of Religion lest any man should suspect that under a pretence of rectifying mistakes I designed to expose all Religion what men will account severe I cannot tell because the gentlest Arguments will appear severe to any man who is pinch't by them but I have given no hard words and have sometimes called things by softer names than they deserve on purpose to avoid the imputation of severity which is now the common artifice to teach men to despise and reproach what they cannot answer and if after all this I cannot escape without some hard names and hard censures I must be contented with my portion and indeed no man ought to expect better usage who considers that Mr. Baxter himself who hath deserved so well for his pious labours could not escape when he touch't upon their Darling Notions And now Christian Reader I shall beg no more of thee than to read this Discourse with an honest and unprejudiced mind and as I did not compose it without imploring the guidance and direction of God so I recommend it to thee with my hearty prayers that it may prove as useful as my intentions were honest and charitable Farewel THE CONTENTS THE Introduction concerning the various significations of the Name Christ in Scripture that it originally is the name of an Office but is used also to signifie the Person invested with this Office and the Gospel of Christ and the Church of Christ. Pag. 1. Of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion 14 As first the greatness of his Person is a plain demonstration of Gods love to Mankind in that he gave his own Son for us 15 2. It gives great Reverence and Authority to his Gospel 17 3. It gives great Authority to his Example 18 4. This assures us of the infinite value of his Sacrifice and of the power of his Intercession 19 5. The Person of Christ is of no other consideration in the Christian Religion than as it hath an influence upon the great Ends of his Undertaking 21 Of the knowledge of Christ and the various ways whereby God hath manifested himself to the World 25 Dr. Owen's Notion of an acquaintance with Christs Person considered 38 How the Nature and Attributes of God may be learn't from an acquaintance with the Person of Christ. 42. And how we learn the knowledge of our selves with respect to sin 49. And to Righteousness 53. And our wisdom to walk with God 55 A new Scheme of Religion deduced from this acquaintance with Christs Person 57 How unsafe it is to found Religion on a pretended acquaintance with Christs Person which at most amounts to no more than uncertain conjectures or ambiguous and doubtful Reasonings 76 This way will serve other men as well as themselves and another Scheme of Religion from an acquaintance with Christ. 80 Of expounding Scripture by the sound of words 102 And by the Analogie of Faith 118 What is meant by our Union to Christ. 142 Those Metaphors which describe the Union betwixt Christ and Christians do primarily refer to the Christian Church 142 The Union of particular Christians to Christ is by means of their Union to the Christian Church 143 In what sense Christ calls himself a Vine 145 The Union betwixt Christ and the Christian Church is not natural but political 156 In what sense Christ is called a Shepherd Head and Husband 157. The reason of these Metaphors 159 This political Union is either only external and visible or true and real and what this external Union is 168 Wherein the real Union consists and concerning the subjection of our Souls and Spirits to Christ. 171 We are united to Christ by a participation of his Nature 172. And by a mutual and reciprocal Love 174 In what sense the Christian Church is called Gods Temple 175 This Union to Christ represented in the Sacraments of the New Testament 181 Fellowship and Communion with God and Christ in the Scripture-phrase signifie this political Union 186 The Lords Supper the only Act whereby our fellowship with God in this World is expressed 192 Of our Union to the Person of Christ 196 What is meant by the Person of Christ. 200 The Personal Excellencies of Christ considered 206 What is meant by the Fulness of Christ. 216 In what sense Christ is called our Life 228 Concerning the Personal Righteousness of Christ. 234 What is meant by the Lord our Righteousness 235 What is meant by the
but one Christian Society which is the One Body of Christ. Thus Brethren in Christ i. e. Christian Brethren 1 Colossians 2. Verse And if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2. Ep. to the Corinthians 5. Chapter 17. v. i. e. every sincere Christian is a new Creature or whoever professeth the Faith of Christ and lives in Society with the Christian Church hath obliged himself to live a new life but of this more in its proper place Thus variously is the name Christ used in the Writings of the Apostles which hath occasioned very great mistakes in some mens Divinity who are very zealous to advance Christs Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion Who instead of those substantial duties of the love of God and men and an universal holiness of life have introduced a fanciful application of Christ to our selves and Union to him set off with all those choice Phrases of closing with Christ and embracing Christ and getting into Christ and getting an interest in Christ and trusting and relying and rowling our Souls on Christ And instead of obedience to the Gospel and the Laws of Christ have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick devotion which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ in admiring his Personal excellencies and perfections fulness beauty loveliness riches c. The Foundation of all which Riddles and Mysteries is that these men make the Person of Christ almost the sole object of the Christian Religion and whatever is spoken of Christ with respect to his Offices his Laws and his Religion they understand of his Person and personal excellencies And therefore the design of this discourse is to reconcile the Person of Christ with his Religion that men may not abuse themselves with a pretended devotion to our Saviour while they contemn his Laws and purposely defeat the great end of his coming into the World And to that end I shall discourse on these following Arguments First Of what use the consideration of Christs person is in the Christian Religion Secondly What the Knowledge of Christ is Thirdly Wherein our Union to Christ and Communion with him consists Fourthly Christs love to us and our love to Christ. CHAP. II. Of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion THE first thing to be stated is of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion For those men who talk so much of the Person and Personal excellencies of Christ frequently without any sense and generally without any just ground from Reason or Scripture are very clamorous and alarm the World with strange jealousies and fears as if there were a party of men started up who design to make Christ useless and to reduce Religion to its first Natural State which knew no Priest nor Sacrifice nor Mediator A design which I profess I am wholly a stranger to as I believe all those are who are so much charged with it The Foundation of my hope is that which is the Foundation of the Christian Religion the Sacrifice and Intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ. But I doubt not it will appear in the Sequel what the ground of these calumnies are viz. that we are charged with making Christ useless only because we dare not make his Laws and Religion so And to prevent such scandals for the future I shall lay the Foundation of all in this inquiry of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion By the Person of Christ I mean what all men ought to mean who talk of Christs Person viz. Christ himself as every mans Person is himself and the only proper consideration here is the greatness of his Person who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God man the Son of God in whom his Soul was well pleased who left the glories of an Eternal Throne to undertake the work of mans redemption and this suggests many useful considerations which have a great influence upon Religion As first This is a plain demonstration of Gods love to Mankind that he sent so great and so dear a Person as his only begotten Son into the World to save Sinners All Religion is founded on a belief of Gods Goodness He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. that is must believe his Being and his Providence that he loves and takes care of good men for no man will serve God who does not hope to be the better by it And therefore every Religion had its proper demonstrations of Gods Goodness Natural Religion was founded on those natural evidences of the Divine bounty and goodness in making and governing the World the Mosaick Religion on those miraculous deliverances God wrought for Israel and that particular providence which watched over them the Christian Religion on the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of the Son of God a work of such stupendious love that it is the wonder of Angels and the astonishment as well as praise of men No man can doubt of Gods good will to Sinners who sees the Son of God cloathed with our flesh and dying as a Sacrifice for our sins this gives relief to our guilty fears and does encourage us to retrieve our past follies by new obedience that we have so great an assurance of God's goodness for he had nothing greater to bestow on us than his Son And he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 8 Rom. 32. Secondly This gives great reverence and authority to the Gospel that it was preached by so great a Person as the Son of God Laws always partake of the fate and condition of the Law-giver the greater opinion we have of his Wisdom and Reverence for his Person the more sacred regard have we for his Laws and therefore Numa pretended that he received his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria to procure a greater veneration for them which was imitated by Lycurgus and other Law-givers thus God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds 1 Hebr. 1. 2. And his greatness and Authority gives an inviolable sanction and just reverence to his Laws Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord 2. Hebr. 1. 2 3. To the same purpose is that Parable in Luke 20. 9. c. Thirdly The greatness of his Person gives
renounce the authority of our Head and Husband now as it is in an Army should any Captain revolt from his Prince the Souldiers under his Command are not bound to turn Rebels because their Leader is so or should a whole Troop or Regiment conspire in the Treason no particular Souldier is obliged to continue in the Company or submit to the Government of Rebels no more than he is obliged to be a Rebel the same reason holds good as to Christian Societies if any particular Church apostatize from the Faith of Christ we are then under the same necessity of deserting their Communion as we are of obeying the Laws and submitting to the Authority of our Lord and Master but nothing less than this can justifie a separation while the Church is subject to Christ we must be subject to the Church while the fundamental Laws of his spiritual Kingdom are observed and his Institutions reverenced and the great ends of his Religion advanced to separate from such a Church is to separate from the Body of Christ for our Union to Christ consists in a subjection to his Authority and it is plain that we disowne his Authority when we reject those who act by his Authority Now this Political Union betwixt Christ and his Church may be either only external and visible and so hypocrital Professors may be said to be united to Christ or true and real which imports the truth and sincerity of our obedience and subjection to our Lord and Master For since Christianity is become the Religion of Nations and is entailed on us by our Ancestors as part of our inheritance is received into the Laws and Constitutions of Kingdoms and made a great Instrument of Civil Government it is too often seen that many men undertake this Profession only as the Mode and Fashion of their Country to avoid singularity and to serve a worldly interest And thus the Christian Church is filled with Hypocrites and visible Professors who are great Strangers to the life and spirit of the Holy Iesus while some under the name of Christians practise all the villanies of the Heathen World and live in a publick defiance to the Laws of that Religion they pretend to owne others make a fair show of external conformity to the Laws and Constitutions of this spiritual Kingdom and conceal their impurities under some glorious and pompous form of Religion and pass for very good Christians when they are no better than disguised Hypocrites and this makes it necessary to distinguish between a meer external and real Union between those who do no more than make a visible profession of Christianity and those who are true and sincere Christians Earthly Princes can exact only an external conformity to their Laws because they can take no cognizance of the secret workings of mens minds and the end of their Government is attained in the preservation of publick peace and order But the spiritual Kingdom of our Lord is of another nature which requires not only an external and visible subjection to Christ our Head and Husband and a visible Union to the Christian Church but the homage and obedience of the Soul the government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and spirits We must be born again of Water and of the Spirit if we would enter into the Kingdom of God Ioh. 3. 5. That is before we can be the Disciples of Christ the Subjects of his spiritual Kingdom which is in Scripture called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born of water must make a publick profession of our Faith in Christ and obedience to Him in our Baptism but this is not sufficient unless we be born of the Spirit too that is unless our minds and spirits become subject to Christ unless our Faith in Christ and subjection to Him be sincere and hearty do govern all the motions and desires of our Souls and make us really such as we pretend to be which is called Being born of the Spirit because all Christian Graces and Vertues are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit of God as the Author of them Hence the Apostle tells us that In Christ Iesus nothing availeth but a new Creature that is that none are true Subjects of Christ such as shall be rewarded by Him but those whose minds and spirits are transformed into the love of vertue and goodness Now as a visible Profession of Christianity is the Foundation of this external-political Union betwixt Christ and his Church so this new Nature is the Foundation of a real and spiritual Union and this the Scripture represents to us under several notions First by the subjection of our minds and spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as Bodies under his Government and Conduct hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. that is to have the sole Command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells And thus all those Metaphors which signifie our subjection to Christ must be expounded of the subjection of our Souls and Spirits to Him as well as the outward conformity of our actions because Christ is a spiritual King who rules and governs hearts as earthly Princes govern the bodies of their Subjects our subjection to him ought to begin in the Soul in a sincere acknowledgment of his Power and Authority in a stedfast belief of his Doctrines and Revelations and in a chearful and willing obedience to his Laws such a subjection as a Wife ought to yield to her Husband and Members to their Head the effect of a free choice not a feigned or forced compliance Secondly By a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his Nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind be in us which was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2. 5. and to be his Disciples is to learn of him who was meek and lowly in mind Matth. 11. 29. Hence also our Union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ. Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have the same temper and disposition of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit of Christ by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those vertues and graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Eph. 5. 9. and therefore what the Apostle in that place calls having the Spirit of Christ in the next verse he expresses by if Christ be in you i. e. if you
Scripture mentions whereby our fellowship with God and Christ in this World is exprest hence it is called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Communion and fellowship 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ And why he calls it the Communion appears from the following verses First because it signifies the Communion and fellowship of Christians with each other that they are all Members of the Body of Christ that they are all the Children of the same Father as being entertained by him at the same Table vers 17. And Secondly It is a Communion also as it signifies our fellowship with God Vers. 18. Behold Israel after the flesh are not they which eat of the Sacrifice partakers of the Altar The meaning of which is that the Sacrifice which was offered upon the Altar was reckoned as Gods meat as the Temple was his house and therefore those that eat of the Sacrifice were entertained at Gods Table which was a signification of their fellowship with him that he was their God and they his people Thus the Lords Supper is a Feast upon a Sacrifice even that great and stupendious Sacrifice of the Body of Christ which was offered upon the Cross and therefore to eat the consecrated Bread and drink the Wine which are the figures of his Body and Blood is to eat of that Sacrifice that spiritual food God hath provided for us Thus God entertains us at his Table as his own Children who are of his houshold and family as the Members of Christ who have a right to all the blessings of the new Covenant which was sealed with his blood This is the true Interpretation of all Feasts upon Sacrifice such as the Lords Supper in an eminent manner is that it is to eat of Gods food and to be entertained at his Table which is such an argument of our fellowship with God as eating and drinking together is among men always allowing for that infinite distance which is between God and us This is the only Act of Religion which in Scripture signifies Communion and Fellowship because it is the most proper signification of our fellowship with God and with each other but prayer and meditation and such like Acts of Devotion are no where called Communion with God though a prevailing custom hath in our days almost wholly appropriated that name to them fellowship with God doth not consist in transient Acts but is a state of life that relation we stand in to God and Christ and there is no Act of Religion which doth properly signifie this fellowship with God but only eating at his Table for you will not say that a poor man enjoys communion and fellowship with his Prince when he puts up a Petition to him to beg his charity or praiseth him for his clemency and bounty to pray to God is an Act of Homage which we owe him as he is our Maker and Father it is a duty which results from our relation to and fellowship with God but it is not in its own nature an act of fellowship and communion which expression I purposely avoid not only because it is improper and hath thrust out the true notion of our fellowship with God and not only the notion but the practice of it too for certainly did men understand what our fellowship with God is they would not so much neglect the Lords Supper which is the only Act whereby our Communion is exprest but also because men have abused it to great irreverence and familiarity with God in their addresses to him while they fancy that they are now acting the part of Gods Fellows and therefore may talk to him with such freedom as they use in common conversation I have discoursed these things at large because they are too commonly mistaken our Union to Christ hath been represented as a Riddle and Mystery which no body can understand the perfect knowledge of which must be reserved for the next World or the coming of Elias and the mistakes about it have had a bad influence upon all Religion not only to confound the notions but to debauch the practice of it The sum of what I have already said is this that those Phrases and Metaphors which represent our Union to Christ signifie our visible Society with the Christian Church and our sincere practice of the Christian Religion when we joyn in Communion with the Church of Christ and live in a regular subjection to our spiritual Governours and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices when we profess to believe the Gospel and to obey the Laws of our common Saviour then we are visibly united to Christ as Subjects to their Prince and Members to their Head and when this profession is sincere and hearty when we really are what we pretend to be then our Union to Christ is real and spiritual too A visible and real Union to Christ differ as a visible Professor and sincere Christian the one is a Christian only in show the other is what he pretends to be and this Union to Christ entitles us to his peculiar care and providence to the influences of his Grace to the power of his Intercession transforms us into his nature and likeness and makes us the Temple of God wherein he delights to dwell All this may be understood on this side Heaven and without sending for Elias to unriddle it and this is all the Scripture tells us of our Union to Christ. SECT II. Of our Union to the Person of Christ. I Know not whence it comes to pass that men love to make plain things obscure and like nothing in Religion but Riddles and Mysteries God indeed was pleased to institute a great many Ceremonies and many of them of very obscure signification in the Jewish Worship to awe their childish minds into a greater veneration of his Divine Majesty But in these last days God hath sent his own Son into the World to make a plain and easie and perfect Revelation of his Will to publish such a Religion as may approve it self to our reason and captivate our affections by its natural charms and beauties and there cannot be a greater injury to the Christian Religion than to render it obscure and unintelligible and yet too many there are who despise every thing which they understand and think nothing a sufficient tryal of their Faith but what contradicts the sense and reason of mankind I might give you too many instances of this but our present Argument may serve instead of many There is nothing more easie to be understood than our Union and Communion with Christ and it had certainly continued so had not some men undertook to explain it who have now made it more than mystical that is an unintelligible Union though indeed that is the least fault that it cannot be understood for as they have
be a Fool though having none is the surest way not to be sensible of it and to take up his eternal rest in Christ and to be contented with Christ without Comfort and without Salvation And now I shall conclude this Section with a remarkable passage in the Sincere Convert whereby it will evidently appear what these men think of sanctification there we have an account what course some men take to secure their eternal happiness that when they find themselves tired and weary of themselves and hearing that only Christ can save them they go to Christ to remove those sins which tired and loaded them that he would enable them to do better than formerly if they get these sins subdued and removed and if they find power to do better then they hope to be saved here is the evidence of sanctification whereas as he adds thou maist be damned and go to the Devil at last though thou dost escape all the pollutions of the World and that not from thy self and thy own own strength but from the knowledge of Iesus Christ wo to you for ever if you die in this state with your sins mortified and subdued by Christ and the reason is because this is to come to Christ to suck juice from him to maintain his own Berries his own stock of Graces alas he is but the Ivy he is no member nor branch in this Tree and hence he never grows to be one with Christ. So that holiness and obedience is no evidence of our Union to Christ though we fetch strength from Christ to do his will we may only grasp about Christ all this while as the Ivy doth about the Oak but never be united to him and become one with him so that now we must return where we began and stick to the testimony of the Spirit without any external evidence that is to private Enthusiasms for sanctification can be no evidence of our Union to Christ. Good God! Into what mazes and Labyrinths do these men lead poor distressed Souls they can direct them to no certain way of getting into Christ nor how to know whether they are in Christ or not and now we may plainly see what friends these men are to a holy life they all agree that holiness is not antecedently necessary to our Union with Christ but they only pretend to make it a necessary mark and evidence of our Union and yet they will not allow it this priviledge neither to be a certain evidence of our Union to Christ it may prove us united to Christ as the Ivy is to the Oak not as a branch is united to the Vine and I hope this will justifie any mans zeal against such opinions as undermine the very foundations of Christianity The Gospel method of Salvation is very plain and easie those great Miracles our Saviour wrought and his Resurrection from the Dead are the foundation of our Faith a sufficient reason to believe that he came from God and declared his will to the World a publick profession of this Faith in our Baptism makes us the visible members of his body which is his Church and a sincere obedience to his Gospel makes a real Union between Christ and us and entitles us to all the promises of the Gospel and every man may as certainly know whether he be thus united to Christ as he can feel the motions of his own mind as he can know what he loves and hates and chuses and what the course of his life and actions are and there is no need of any revelation of any private testimony of the spirit to assure men of this no more than there is to assure them of any thing which is evident to their outward or inward senses The testimony of the Spirit concerns the general adoption of Christians for the Sons of God not to testifie to any particular man that he is a good Christian or in a state of Grace that is it is not a private but a publick testimony given to the whole Christian Church that Holy Spirit which God bestowed upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians which enabled them to work miracles and to speak Languages which they had never learnt and to Prophesie was a plain argument to all the World that God now owned the Christians not the Jews for his chosen and elect people for his Sons and Children for this was the great dispute of those days whether Jews or Christians were the Sons of God whether God now owned the Jewish or the Christian Religion and the Apostles decide this controversie by the testimony of the Spirit for God could not give a greater testimony to the Christian Church than the gift of the Holy Spirit for it was a plain argument that he owned them for his Sons when he bestowed the Spirit of his Son on them as the Apostle argues Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith That is did God bestow his Spirit on you while ye were Jews or upon your Conversion to Christianity for if God bestowed his Spirit only on Christians this is a sufficient seal to the Christian Religion This is very plain and intelligible the testimony of the Spirit assures us that all Christians are the Sons of God and Heirs of his Promises and every mans own Conscience will tell him whether he be a Christian that is whether he heartily believe and obey the Gospel of Christ and herein consists our Union to Christ and fellowship with him let us then leave those other dim notions to men who can believe what no man can understand who despise every thing that can be understood as if it were no better than carnal reason CHAP. V. Concerning the Love of Christ to Believers SECT 1. I Have now finisht the greatest part of my design and shall discourse more briefly of what remains Next to our Union with Christ follows our Communion with him for though Communion and fellowship in the Scripture notion of those words signifie no more than what we call Union as I have already proved yet in these mens Divinity they are very different our Union to Christ is represented by our marriage to him our Communion with him by consequential conjugal affections the only thing I shall at present take notice of for a Conclusion of all is that mutual and reciprocal love which is betwixt Christ and Believers Christs love to Believers and the Believers love to Christ. First Christs love to Believers the Scripture doth very justly magnifie the love of Christ as the greatest example of goodness that was ever known in the World and the greatest expression of the love of Christ was his dying for us he is that good Shepherd who giveth his life for his Sheep Iohn 10. 11. and our Saviour himself tells us greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend and therefore when the Apostle designed to mention the greatest
And he was a Kingly Priest a Priest after the order of Melchizedec who was King of Salem the new Ierusalem which comes down from Heaven and Priest of the most high God Hebr. 7. Verse 1. when he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin he acted like a King No man took his life from him but he had power to lay it down and he had power to take it again in the 10th Chapter of St. Iohn's Gospel and 18. Verse Herein he differ'd from other Kings that he laid the Foundation of his Kingdom in his own blood purchas'd and redeem'd his Subjects by the Sacrifice of himself And that to which we commonly appropriate the name of Regal Power that authority he is invested with to Govern his Church to send his Spirit to forgive sins to dispense his Grace and supernatural assistances to answer Prayers to raise the dead and judge the World and bestow immortal life on all his sincere Disciples all this is the reward of his death and sufferings and is therefore called his intercession because like the intercession of the high Priest under the Law it is founded on his expiation and Sacrifice With his own blood he entred once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebrews 9. Verse 12. so that intercession signifies the Administration of his Mediatory Kingdom the Power of a Regal Priest to expiate and forgive sins This is a true account of the nature of Christs Kingdom and the method whereby it is erected He first conquers the minds of men by the power of his Word and Spirit and reduces them into subjection to God and then he pardons their sins and raiseth them into an immortal life by the expiation of his Sacrifice and that Power and Authority which is founded on it And this is the interpretation of the name Christ which signifies a Mediatory King immediately appointed by God to that Office and consecrated to it by a Divine and Supernatural Unction And thus the name Christ signifies in those places of Scripture where Iesus is said to be the Christ i. e. that Messias whom God promised to send Which are so many and so obvious that I need not name them Secondly Though Christ is originally the name of an Office yet it is used in Scripture to signifie the Person who is invested with this Office for the use of names being for distinction and the Office of a Mediator which is the first signification of the name Christ being appropriate to Him it might well serve for a proper name when once it was known who was the Christ. And therefore though before his designation to this Office was publickly owned he was only called Iesus the name given him by the Angel before he was born yet when by his resurrection from the dead He was declared with power to be the Son and the Christ of God Christ became as much his proper name as Iesus was before In the Gospels which contain the History of his Life and Death He is always called Iesus because all this time it was disputed whether he were the Christ or not but in the Epistles which are directed to the Christian Churches which were founded on this Faith that Iesus is the Christ he is as familiarly called Christ as Iesus and oftentimes by both Iesus Christ. For there can be no mistake in the Person by what name soever he be called whether it belong to his Office or Nature or circumstances of his Life and Fortune if there be but One to whom that name belongs Thirdly Christ signifies the Gospel and Religion of Christ as Moses signifies the Writings and Laws of Moses and the Prophets the Writings or Sermons of the Prophets in the 16. Ch. of St. Lukes Gospel 29. Verse They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them and in the 31. Verse If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rise from the dead And there is nothing more usual in common speech than to call any Laws or Religion or Philosophy by the name of the first Authors Thus in the 6. Chapter to the Galathians 15. Verse In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new Creature that is in the Gospel and Religion of Christ nothing is of any value to recommend us to the favour of God but a new Nature a holy and vertuous life The Law preferr'd Circumcision before Uncircumcision but the Gospel of Christ makes no such distinction but instead of those external signs requires the inward purity of heart Thus in the second Chapter of the Ep. to Coll. 8. Verse Beware lest men spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ. Where after Christ is opposed to the traditions of men and the Rudiments of the World and therefore must signifie not the Person but the Religion or Gospel of Christ i. e. have a care lest you be corrupted with the foolish opinions and superstitions of men which are inconsistent with the Christian Philosophy a plain contradiction to the Doctrine and Religion of Christ. And in the 6. Verse As you have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. obey the Doctrine of Christ as you have been taught it by us for so in the next Verse he calls it Being established in the Faith as you have been taught The like we may see in the 4. Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians 20 21. Verses But you have not so learned Christ if so be you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus Now what can learning Christ signifie but learning the Gospel of Christ. And how could the Ephesians who never saw Christ in the flesh be said to hear him in any other sense than as they heard his Gospel preacht to them ver 8. and to be instructed in him as the truth is in Iesus for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not as our Translators render it being taught by him but instructed in him must be expounded of his Religion in its genuine and primitive simplicity so as Christ taught it his Disciples without the mixture of such corrupt and impure Doctrines as the Gnostick Hereticks had taught under the name of Christianity These I take to be very convincing allegations of the use of the name Christ for his Doctrine and Religion Fourthly It is acknowledg'd by all that Christ sometimes signifies the Church of Christ which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all And thus we must understand those Phrases of being in Christ engrafted into Christ and united to Christ which signifie no more than to be a Christian One who belongs to that Society whereof Christ is the Head and Governour thus it is used in the 12. Chapter of the Ep. to the Romans 5. Verse We being many are One Body in Christ i. e. we are all
great authority to his example He came to be our Prophet and our guide to teach us by his Precepts and his life now we love to imitate great Persons and none so great as he who was the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express image of his Person His example secures the honour and reputation of vertue and gives us an evident demonstration wherein the perfection of our nature consists for he lived up to the perfection of humane nature and the only way to be perfect is to live as he lived Nay the greatness of his Person makes all the expressions of his love and goodness the more wonderful That the Son of God should become man that when he was rich for our sakes he should become poor that the great Lord of the Creation should become a Minister and Servant that the Lord of life and glory should suffer and die These are such expressions of love and goodness as we can never fully imitate because we can never be so great as he was but yet they powerfully convince us how reasonable it is for us to stoop to the meanest offices of kindness since we can never stoop so low as the Son of God did when he came down from Heaven and took up his Lodging in the grave Fourthly This assures us of the infinite value of his Sacrifice and the power of his intercession He was a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron and his Sacrifice of a greater value than the bloud of Bulls and Goats God cannot but be pleased when his own Son undertakes to be a ransom and to make atonement for Sinners which is so great a vindication of Gods Dominion and Soveraignty of the authority of his Laws and the Wisdom and Justice of his Providence that he may securely pardon humble and penitent Sinners without reproaching any of his Attributes And we can reasonably desire no greater security for the performance of this Gospel Covenant than that it was sealed with the bloud of the Son of God which is such a confirmation of God's Covenant and Promise as the World never had before Christ is the surety of a better Testament Hebr. 7. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who undertakes for the performance of it and the security he gives us depends on thè vertue of his Priesthood and Sacrifice and the power of his Intercession for so in Verse 21. the Apostle tells us that God had confirmed the Priesthood of Christ by Oath The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec And whereas other Priests died and left their Priesthood to their Successors He continueth for ever and therefore hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Verse 23 24 25. And who can desire a more powerful Mediator than the Son of God to whom God hath given such signal demonstrations of his favour and acceptance by a voice from Heaven and by the glory of his Miracles and his Resurrection from the Dead And that the vertue of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession depends very much on the greatness of his Person is plain from the Epistle to the Hebrews the design of which is to show how much the Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ excels that of the Law and the Foundation of all is laid in the first Chapter where the Apostle discourses of his greatness and excellency that he was the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express Image of his Person the Heir of all things by whom he made the Worlds exalted above all Angels who hath an everlasting Throne and Scepter and shall continue when all other things moulder and vanish away But Fifthly The Person of Christ is of no other consideration in the Christian Religion than as it hath an influence upon the great ends of his undertaking i. e. we must expect no more from Christ upon account of his Personal excellencies and perfections than what he hath promised in his Gospel He hath told us there whatever he intends to do for us and hath charged us to expect no more from him Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven That is you must not expect that I will be better to you than my word and receive you into the Kingdom of Heaven upon easier terms than I have promised I shall be moved with none of your flattering speeches but how good and kind soever you may fancy me unless you obey those Laws I publish in my Fathers name I declare before hand that I will disown you when I come to judgment For indeed should he absolve and justifie those men whom the Gospel condemns that is wilful and incorrigible Sinners this were to disanul that Covenant which he had sealed with his bloud Christ is the object of our Faith and Hope only as he is our Saviour and he is our Saviour in no other sense than as he is our Mediator and he mediates for us as our Priest that is in vertue of that Covenant which he hath sealed with his bloud and therefore we have no reason to expect any thing from the Person of Christ which is not contained in his Covenant much less which contradicts it for that would be in effect to renounce his Mediation and to trust to the goodness of his nature And let any man judg whether this be not to set up a new Religion which hath no Covenant and no Promise for whatever we can expect from Christ by vertue of a Promise is contained in the Gospel and if we expect any thing else from him upon his Personal account it is without a promise which at best reduces us to the same state in which the World was before God had made an express revelation of his will when all their hopes were founded on that natural perswasion they had of the divine Goodness that Faith which is the Foundation of Natural Religion that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. thus these men trust in the Person of Christ without any Promise nay which makes the case much worse in contradiction to the terms of that Covenant which he sealed with his bloud they quit his Promise and his Covenant to rely and rowl upon his Person This is so very absurd at first sight that I know no man will be so senseless as to owne it in so many words nor do I charge any man with it but I say this is the natural interpretation of trusting in the Person of Christ in his blood and merits and satisfaction fulness and alsufficiency and of relying and rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and the like Phrases of a late date in which some men place the whole mystery
account with God than ignorance unless it be to aggravate their sins and their condemnation SECT II. Of acquaintance with the Person of Christ. AFter this plain account wherein the Knowledge of Christ consists the sum of which is that to know Christ is to understand his Gospel which contains all those revelations he made of God's will it will be necessary to examine another notion of the Knowledge of Christ very distinct from this which contains a greater secret than at first one would imagine and that is an acquaintance with the Person of Christ which if we will believe some men is the only fountain of saving knowledge I shall not envy the Author the glory of this discovery and therefore shall honestly confess where I had it viz. in a Book Entitled Communion with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost each Person distinctly Written by Iohn Owen D. D. And that I may not do this Author wrong I must tell you what he means by acquaintance with Christ's Person an account of which we have in digression 2. pag. 87. of the excellency of Christ Iesus Where he tells us that Christ is not only the Wisdom of God but made wisdom to us not only by teaching us wisdom that is by the Doctrines he preached and those revelations he hath made of God's will as he is the great Prophet of the Church but also because by the knowing of him we become acquainted with the wisdom of God which is our wisdom To which purpose he applies that Text which speaks of the Doctrines and Revelations of Christ to his Person Coll. 2. 3. For in him dwell all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge So that our acquaintance with Christ's Person in this man's Divinity signifies such a knowledge of what Christ is hath done and suffered for us from whence we may learn those greater deeper and more saving Mysteries of the Gospel which Christ hath not expresly revealed to us for so he adds soon after that these properties of God his pardoning mercy c. Christ hath revealed in his Doctrine in that revelation he hath made of God and his will but the life of this knowledge lies in an acquaintance with his Person wherein the express image and beams of this glory of his Father doth shine forth that is that these things are clearly eminently and savingly only to be discovered in Iesus Christ as he explains himself So that it seems the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure discovery of the nature and Attributes and will of God and the methods of our recovery we may thoroughly understand whatever is revealed in the Gospel and yet not have a clear and saving knowledge of these things unless we gain a more intimate acquaintance with the Person of Christ. This indeed advances the Person of Christ very much but is no great commendation of his Gospel and prophetick office It sets up a new rule of Faith above the Gospel viz. an acquaintance with Christ's Person in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge But that you may better understand the whole mystery of this Acquaintance with the Person of Christ I shall first show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person and secondly show you what an unsafe way of arguing this is and how prejudicial to the Christian Religion First to show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person And I confess I am very much beholden to this Author for acknowledging whence they fetch all their Orthodoxy and Gospel Mysteries for I had almost pored my eyes out with seeking for them in the Gospel and could never find them but I learn now that indeed they are not to be found there unless we be first acquainted with the Person of Christ. This is an argument well worth considering and if this discourse should prove long as I fear it will I doubt not but the usefulness of it will be a sufficient reward both to the Writer and Reader And since I owe this discovery to Dr. Iohn Owen I shall confine my self to his method who in the place above-mentioned tells us that the sum of all true wisdom and knowledge may be reduced to these three heads First The knowledge of God his nature and properties Secondly The knowledge of our selves with reference to the will of God concerning us Thirdly Skill to walk in Communion with God In these three is summed up all true wisdom and knowledge and not any of them is to any purpose to be obtained or is manifested but only in and by the Lord Christ. Where By is fallaciously added to include the Revelations Christ hath made whereas his first undertaking was to show how impossible it is to understand these things savingly and clearly notwithstanding all those Revelations God hath made of himself and his will by Moses and the Prophets and by Christ himself without an acquaintance with his Person But to let that pass I shall begin with the knowledge of God his nature and properties and I shall not particularly examine every thing he says but principally take notice of those peculiar discoveries of the nature of God which the World was ignorant of before and of which Revelation is wholly silent but are now clearly and savingly learnt from an Acquaintance with Christ's Person The light of nature and the works of Creation and Providence and those manifold Revelations God hath made of himself to the World especially that last and most perfect Revelation by Iesus Christ our Lord assure us that God is infinite in all perfections that he is so powerful that he can do whatever he pleases so wise that he knows how to order every thing for the best so good that he desires and designs the happiness of all his Creatures according to the capacity of their natures so holy that he hath a natural love for all good men and will not fail to reward them but hates all sin and wickedness and will as certainly punish all obstinate and incorrigible Sinners but yet that he is very patient and long-suffering towards the worst of men and uses various methods of kindness and severity to reclaim them and is as ready to pardon them when they return to their duty as a kind Father is to receive an humble and penitent Prodigal These properties of God are plainly revealed in the Scripture without any further acquaintance with the Person of Christ And had Christ never appeared in the World yet we had reason to believe that God is thus wise and good and holy and merciful because not only the works of Nature and Providence but the word of God assure us that he is so the Appearance of Christ did not first discover the nature of God to us but only gave us a greater expression of God's goodness than ever we had before confirms us in the belief of what we had
wherein these spiritual Espousals consist Viz That the Soul consents to take Christ on his own terms to save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had thee and salvation in my way that it might have been partly of mine endeavours and as it were by the works of the Law that is by obeying the Laws of the Gospel but I am now willing to receive thee and to be saved in thy way meerly by Grace that is without doing any thing without obeying thee the most contented Spouse certainly that ever was in the world to submit to such hard conditions as to be saved for nothing but what a pretty complement doth the Soul make to Christ after all this when she adds And though I would have walk't according to my own mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by thy Spirit But the mystery of this will appear in what follows for others make obedience necessary upon account of our participation of Christs fulness for this is one part of his fulness a power and ability to do the will of God and this proves that it will be so but makes it no otherwise necessary to us than as we are necessarily passive in it and this is all the Soul means in giving it self up to be ruled by the spirit of Christ to be passively not actively good to submit as needs it must to the irresistible working of the Divine Spirit and to obey when it can rebel no longer Thus Reader I have given thee an entire Scheme of a new Religion resulting from an acquaintance with Christ's Person in all its fundamental Principles and practices here is every jot and tittle of reason it is founded on or pretends to and the most obvious and easie connexion of one part with another whereby thou maist easily judge of the whole fabrick and contrivance and I think there needs no more to expose it to the scorn of every considering man who cannot but discover how inconsistent the Religion of Christ's Person and of his Gospel are this is that knowledge of Christ these men glory in as containing greater Mysteries and more Soul-saving truths than are revealed in the Gospel SECT III. How unsafe it is to found Religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ's Person HAving thus shewed you what that Religion is which these men pretend to learn from an acquaintance with Christ's Person it is time now to consider this way of Reasoning and shew you what an unsafe foundation it is to build any Religion on And first this is at best to build Religion upon uncertain conjectures or ambiguous and doubtful reasons for suppose men were wary and cautious in drawing conclusions from the Person of Christ which few of these men are yet what assurance can they have that their inferences are true Had we seen Christ in the flesh and been witnesses of the many miracles he wrought of his Death upon the Cross and his resurrection from the dead had he not acquainted us with the end and design of all this we might have guest and guest till we had been weary but it is great odds we had never guest right or at best could never have been secure we had We may understand necessary causes from necessary effects and necessary effects from necessary causes if we see a fire we know it burns something and if we see smoak we may safely conclude there is some fire but where the connexion of the effect with the cause is not necessary but arbitrary doth not depend upon the nature of things but the institution and appointment of free Agents we can understand no more of the design than the principal Agent is pleased to tell us This is the case here Christs coming into the World and all that he did and suffered for us is the pure effect of God's free Grace and the design of his unsearchable Wisdom and Council and therefore none can understand the reason and contrivance of this but he who lay in the bosom of his Father and those who learn from him so that whoever would understand the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine not from his Person because there is not a natural and necessary connexion between the Person of Christ and what he did and suffered and the Salvation of Mankind the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ were available to those ends for which God designed them but the vertue and efficacy of them doth depend upon Gods institution and appointment and therefore can be known only by Revelation When we are acquainted by Christ for what end he came into the World and suffered and died and rose again we may discover the Wisdom and goodness of God in it in sending us such a Saviour and qualifying him in so excellent a manner for the work of our Redemption but we cannot safely draw any one conclusion from the Person of Christ which his Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of the design of it than what is there revealed And is it not intolerable presumption for men to mould and shape Religion according to their fancies and humours and to stuff it with an infinite number of Orthodox propositions none of which are to be found in express terms in Scripture but are only pretended to be deduced from thence by such imaginary consequences from some little hints and appearances of things Especially is not this unpardonable in those men who cry down reason for such a prophane and carnal thing as must not presume to intermeddle in holy matters and yet lay the foundation of their Religion and erect such glorious and magnificent Fabricks on nothing else but some little shews and appearances of Reason But the plain truth is this when men argue from the nature of God and his Works and Providences from the nature of Mankind and those eternal notions of good and evil and the essential differences of things that is when men argue from plain and undeniable Principles which have an immutable and unchangeable nature and so can bear the stress and weight of a just consequence this is carnal Reason but when men argue from fancies and imaginations which have no stable nature from some pretty Allusions and Similitudes and Allegories which have no certain shape nor form but what every mans fancy gives them this is sanctified and spiritual reason but why I cannot imagine unless that it so much resembles Ghosts and shadows which have nothing solid and substantial in them Secondly How dangerous this way of reasoning from an acquaintance with Christ's Person is appears in this that it will serve any mans turn who hath any quickness and vigour of fancy It is an easie matter at this rate to set up the trade of making new Hypotheses of Religion I have already given you one draught and Scheme of Religion from a pretended acquaintance with Christs Person and it were easie to present you with
primarily refer to the Christian Church not to every individual Christian. Thus Christ is called a Head but he is the head of his Church which is his body as a Husband is the head of the Wife Eph. 5. 23 24. No particular Christian is the body of Christ but only a member in this body Christ is called a Husband but then the whole Church or Society of Christians not every particular Christian is his Spouse as St. Paul tells the Church of Corinth 2 Cor. 11. 2. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie for I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ. Christ is a Shepherd and the Christian Church is his Flock Iohn 10. For the relation between Shepherd and Sheep doth primarily concern the whole Flock Christ is the Rock upon which his Church is built the chief Corner Stone and the Christian Church a Holy Temple so that all these Metaphors in their first and most proper use refer to the whole Society of Christians and are designed to represent the Union between Christ and his Church Secondly I observe further that the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by means of their Union to the Christian Church the Church is the body of Christ and every Christian by being united to this body becomes a member of Christ as the Apostle tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12. 27. Now you are the body of Christ and members in particular The Church is the Temple of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the chief Corner stone and every Christian is a lively stone in this spiritual building The Church is Christ's Flock and every Christian who is of this fold is one of Christ's Sheep The Church is Christ's Spouse and every Christian is a member of that Society which Christ ownes for his Spouse but every Christian is not Christ's Spouse He is a great Enemy to Polygamy and hath but one Spouse as he hath but one body and one Church which quite spoils the prettiness and fantastical Wit of a late Exhortation to young Women to chuse Christ for their Husband because he is rich and beautiful and kind and hath all the properties of an excellent Husband which would have sounded much better in a Popish Nunnery than among such pretenders to reformation for this is the great Art whereby those cunning Priests wheadle silly Girls into a profession of perpetual Virginity by perswading them that in so doing they are marryed to Christ And to give every one their due the Papists are the most generous sort of Suiters for Christ for they perswade them to forsake all other Husbands for Christ which is more honourable and meritorious Thus to proceed Christ is called the Vine and Christians the branches in that Vine Iohn 15. which must be expounded to the same sense with what goes before where Christ speaking of himself saith I am the true Vine The meaning is that Church which is founded on the belief of my Gospel is the true Vine I signifies Christ together with his Church which is his body upon which account the Church is elsewhere called Christ as I observed above And my reasons for this exposition are these First Because the Jewish Church is frequently in the Old Testament compared to a Vine Isaiah 5. Ier. 2. 21. Hosea 10. 1. Now a Vine being the metaphor whereby the Church useth to be described we cannot reasonably understand it otherwise here I am the true Vine that is the Church which is founded on the belief of my Gospel is the only true Church which God now owns He having rejected the Iewish Synagogue as proving a degenerate Vine Especially when we consider that Christ himself applies the Parable of the Vineyard to the State of the Gospel Math. 21. 33. c. and the Christian Church is called an Olive Tree and the members of it expresly called branches Rom. 11. 17 18. which metaphor hath the very same nature and signification with the Vine and branches Secondly Because God is called the Husband-man who takes care to dress this Vine which cannot be understood of Christ but of the Church which is therefore called God's Husbandry Thirdly Christ speaks of such branches in him as bear no fruit now there can be no such branches in the Person of Christ for our very Union to his Person as those men acknowledge who talk of such an Union of Persons between Christ and believers will make us fruitful and therefore being in him can signifie no more than being members of his visible Church which is made up of Hypocrites as well as sincere Christians But fourthly To confirm all this and to prevent objections it is evident from this very Chapter that when Christ speaks in the first Person I and In me he cannot mean this of his own Person but of his Church Doctrine and Religion according as the circumstances of the place require thus in the 5. Ver. I am the true Vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing I would willingly learn what sense can be made of this if we understand it of the Person of Christ for it is not very intelligible how we can be or abide in the Person of Christ and it is more unintelligible still how we can be in the Person of Christ and the Person of Christ at the same time be in Us which is a new piece of Philosophy called Penetration of dimensions and that our fruitfulness should depend upon such an Union to the Person of Christ is as hard to my understanding as all the rest But if by He that abideth in me we understand the Christian Church he who makes a publick and visible profession of Faith in me and continues in Society with those who do so and by I in him the Christian Doctrine both the sense and Reason of it is very evident the sense is this That Church which owns my Doctrine and Religion is the true Vine and all you who make a publick profession of Faith in me of a belief of my Gospel and live in Communion with one another are the branches in this Vine and whoever of you continue stedfast in this profession and Communion and do not only make a visible profession of Faith in me but suffer my Doctrine and Precepts to dwell and abide in you to govern your will and affections and to direct your Conversation in the World all such of you will be very fruitful in good works for without such a sincere and hearty belief of my Gospel it is impossible you should do any thing that is good So that to abide in Christ is to make a publick and visible profession of Faith in Christ to be the members of his visible Church but because many are so who do not much credit their profession being branches in
the vertue and glory of them still remains they are a lasting demonstration of Gods peculiar presence with his Church in all Ages as they are of the truth of the Christian Religion for the Christian Church in all Ages since Christ and his Apostles is but one and therefore still inherits the glory as well as the Religion of former Ages In allusion to this the Christian Church is called Gods Building 1 Cor. 3. 9. and Eph. 2. 20 21 22. and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord in whom ye are also built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Spiritual Temple in opposition to the material Temple at Ierusalem which S. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual House or Temple 1 Pet. 2. 5. all which refers to this notion that the Christian Church is Gods Temple wherein he dwells Now though all this do most properly belong to the Christian Church as a spiritual Society that they are the Temple of the living God yet it is accommodated in Scripture to particular Christians and Philo also alludes to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the mind of a wise and good man is in truth and reality the Palace and Temple of God every devout Soul is Gods Temple wherein he dwells an enlightned mind which is stored with all the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge is his Debir or Oracle a pure heart is his Altar and devout prayers are spiritual incense and sweet perfumes the body it self is a consecrated place and is also called the Temple of God which must therefore be preserved pure and undefiled 1 Cor. 6. 19. nay our bodies are Sacrifices too which we must offer up to God by devoting them to his service Rom. 12. 1. for the Scripture loves to allude to the Temple and Aliar and Sacrifices of the Law which in a moral sense may very well be accommodated to the Christian Worship and Service as in their Typical signification they prefigured Christ whose Body was the true Temple where the Divine Glory dwelt who was both Priest and Sacrifice and by his death put an end to that Typical Dispensation only we may observe that when the Scripture mentions Gods or Christs dwelling with particular Christians it uses a more familiar style and seems rather to allude to a private house than a publick Temple Thus in Ioh 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him and Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me This is all I can find in Scripture concerning the Union betwixt Christ and Christians and that this is the true account of it besides what hath been already urged will evidently appear from those Institutions of our Saviour which are the Instruments and Symbols of our Union to him which we commonly call Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper which represent and signifie both our external and real Union with him First our external Union Thus Baptism is a publick profession of the Christian Religion that we believe the Gospel of Christ owne his Authority and submit to his Government We are baptized in the Name of Christ that is we publickly owne him for our Instructor and Governour to believe whatever he hath taught and to do whatever he hath commanded And the Lords Supper is a foederal Rite which answers to the Feasts on Sacrifices under the Law whereby we renew our Covenant with our Lord and vow obedience and subjection to him hence these Institutions were by the Ancients called Sacraments in allusion to that Oath which Souldiers took to be true and faithful to their Prince when they were listed into his Army which was called Sacramentum Militiae or the Military Oath of this nature are Baptism and the Lords Supper a Vow and Covenant to be subject to Christ as our Head and Husband wherein our external and visible Union consists Secondly They signifie also our real Union to Christ thus Baptism signifies our profession of becoming new men our profession of conformity to Christ in his Death and Resurrection We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life Rom. 6. 4. that is Baptism or our immersion under water according to the ancient Rite of administring it is a figure of our burial with Christ and of our conformity to his death and so signifies our dying to sin and walking in newness of life for the death of Christ must be considered not barely as a natural death a separation of soul and body but as a Sacrifice for sin to destroy the power and dominion of it and so our dying to sin that is ceasing from the practice of it is the truest conformity to the death of Christ and we must consider his Resurrection not only as his returning to life again but as his living to God his advancement into his spiritual Kingdom the design of which is to promote the interest of Religion and a divine life and so our walking in newness of life a vertuous and religious life is our conformity to his Resurrection makes us the true Subjects of his spiritual Kingdom which the Apostle tells us gives us an abundant assurance of a glorious resurrection that we shall in a proper sense rise with him because this new life wherein our spiritual Conformity to the resurrection of Christ consists is an immortal principle of life which can no more die than Christ can die again now he is risen from the dead Thus Baptism is called putting on Christ Gal. 3. 27. He that is baptized into Christ hath put on Christ that is hath engaged himself to be conformed to his image and likeness to adorn his mind with all those vertues and Graces which appeared in our Saviours life Thus the Lords Supper is a spiritual feeding on Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood which signifies the most intimate Union with him that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Eph. 5. 30. That as we are redeemed by his Death and sufferings are the purchase of his blood and so as it were taken out of his Crucifyed body as the Woman was taken out of the Man so by this spiritual feeding on Christ we are transformed into the same nature with him as much as if we were of his flesh and bones This is a Sacrament wherein we celebrate the love of our dying Lord and express our most passionate love and devotion to him The memory of what he hath done
and suffer'd for us excites a just hatred of our sins sincere purposes and resolutions of a new life to live to him who died for us a great hope in God who hath provided such a Sacrifice and Atonement such a Mediator and Advocate for us and a stedfast expectation of a future reward This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ when these visible figures of his Death and Sufferings affect our minds with such a strong and passionate sense of his love to us and excite in us such a firm hope in God as transforms us into a divine Nature and this is our real Union to Christ as you heard above Now I take it for granted that there can be no better way to understand the nature of our Union to Christ than to consider the nature of those Sacraments which were designed as the Instruments and signs of our Union to him and if we will take that account the Scripture gives of them all the Union they signifie is only a publick and visible profession of our Faith in Christ and subjection to him as our Lord and Saviour and a sincere conformity of our hearts and lives to the nature and life of Christ. Fourthly I observe further that fellowship and Communion with God according to the Scripture notion signifies what we call a Political Union that is that to be in fellowship with God and Christ signifies to be of that Society which puts us into a peculiar relation to God that God is our Father and we his Children that Christ is our head and Husband our Lord and Master we his Disciples and followers his Spouse and his body thus in Iohn 1. 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ where I observe that our fellowship with the Father and Son is first founded on our fellowship with the Christian Church that is on our profession of the Faith of Christ obedience to his Laws subjection to his Government and Discipline which he now visibly exerciseth by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church this unites us into one Society and body politick and now by vertue of our fellowship with the Christian Church we have fellowship with Christ who is the supreme Head and Governour of his Church which is a plain argument that all the Apostle means by fellowship with God and Christ is such a Political Union as is between a Prince and his Subjects between Superiours and Inferiours in the same Society Now as you heard before if this profession be only external and visible without the conformity of our hearts and lives to the laws of Christ it gives us only an external fellowship or relation to God and Christ that is such men only appear to be in fellowship with Christ maintaining a visible fellowship with his Church when in truth they are perfect strangers to him such as Christ will not owne for his Disciples as the Apostle adds in Ver. 6. 7. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another c. That is we abuse our selves if we hope that God will owne himself our Father and bestow the inheritance of Children on us while we live in sin but when we join the practice of real righteousness with the visible profession of Christianity then God will owne us for his Children and Christ for the true members of his body So that this fellowship with God and Christ is such a state and condition as we are put into by a visible profession and sincere practice of Christianity and that in short is that we are united to God as his Sons and Children and are united to Christ as his Disciples and members of his body which intitles us to the Inheritance of Children and all the blessings of the Gospel Thus in the 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord where the fellowship of Christ can signifie no more than the fellowship of the Christian Church whereof Christ is Lord and Head and therefore the Apostle immediately adds in the next Verse Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ for the honour and reputation of Christ and his Religion that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions nor Schisms among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Where he argues from the nature of their Faith in Christ to the obligations of Peace and Unity which plainly evinces that this fellowship with Christ is that relation we stand in to him as Members of the Christian Church whereof he is Head And that the true notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render sometimes by Fellowship sometimes by Communion is as plain as we can wish in 2 Cor. 6. 14. where the Apostle disswades them from having any fellowship with Heathen Idolaters from eating of their Sacrifices c. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers that is have no society with those men whose Religion is so contrary to yours that you will be as uneasie to each other as two Heifers in the same yoke which draw different ways For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there common between them which they both alike partake of as a foundation of union and concord What communion hath light with darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the same thing what is there common to them both What concord hath Christ with Belial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what consent and harmony of mind to unite them into one fellowship What part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which seems to refer to those portions of Sacrifices which were distributed among them as a Symbol of their Union to each other and to the same God How can a Believer and Unbeliever a Christian and an Idolater have right to a part of the same Sacrifice What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is there to unite them together in the same place to reconcile the Temple of God with the Worship of Idols All these expressions decypher to us the nature and foundation of fellowship the nature of it consists in the union of things which in rational Beings consists in mutual relations and common interests and the foundation of it is a likeness of nature and consent and harmony of wills and therefore the Apostle explains our fellowship with God by our being the Temple of God and that God dwells in us and walks in us Vers. 16. 18. Now because the Lords Supper is the only Act which the
out of the Christian Religion Our Union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of holiness than before for now the Merits and satisfaction of Christs death is imputed to us to remove the guilt of sin and to deliver us from the punishment of it and his actual obedience is imputed to us to make us righteous and to give us an actual right to Glory so that if men will obey Christ out of a principle of good nature and thankfulness to him they may but according to this notion there can be no necessity of it because they are delivered from the wrath of God and have a right to eternal life without it And this is a plain demonstration that these notions are so far from being an essential part of the Christian Religion that they overthrow all Religion by leaving it at every mans liberty whether he will worship and obey God or not but I have discoursed this at large already in the examination of Dr. Owens reasons for the necessity of Holiness and Obedience SECT V. That according to these Principles there is no certain way of getting into Christ or of knowing whether we are in Christ or not THus I have made good the first charge that according to this notion of our Union to Christ men may nay must be united to Christ if ever they be united while they continue in sin and this is a great reproach to the Person and Gospel of our Saviour the other thing which I charged upon this notion is a more immediate â—injury to men as exposing them to perpetual doubts and jealousies about their Salvation viz. that according to these principles no man can certainly tell how to get into Christ or know whether he be in Christ or not And if I can make this appear it will be a sufficient reason for every man to reject it who hath any care of his Salvation or any regard to the peace and quiet of his own mind First then according to these Principles there is no certain way to get into Christ Suppose a sinner who hears of those great Priviledges which are consequent upon our Union to Christ should inquire what course he should take to be united to Christ and to have a Right and Interest in all the Excellencies Preciousness Graces and Righteousness of the Lord Iesus the method prescribed in order to this is Conviction Compunction Humiliation and Faith which is the uniting Grace now I observe first that a man is passive in all this and can contribute nothing to it himself any otherwise than as he is acted by an irresistible power and it is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no man can follow this only tells us by what methods God unites us to Christ not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to this Union A Sinner may stir up in himself some natural conviction of sin some natural fear and sorrow c. and in a sense of this may set upon the work of reformation of leaving his sins and performing duties but all this they tell us is to no purpose for unless this conviction and compunction and humiliation be wrought in us by the irresistible power of the Spirit of God which no man can possibly tell whether it be or not it is not of the right stamp and will avail us nothing So that the sinner hath nothing to do but to sit still and patiently expect till God will do all for him But secondly Suppose a man have this conviction compunction and humiliation is this a sufficient reason to lay hold on Christ by the hand of Faith by no means the end of conviction is compunction and the end of compunction is humiliation and all this carries us no nearer to Christ than quietly to lye down before God that he may do what he will with us turning the other cheek unto the Lord even smiting of us acknowledging that if the Lord show mercy it will be wonderful if not yet the Lord is Righteous and therefore we have no reason to quarrel against him for denying special mercy to those to whom he does not owe a bit of bread and now the Soul is indeed humbled because it submits to be disposed of as God pleases that is to be saved or damned so that this conviction compunction and humiliation contribute nothing to our Union with Christ but their whole vertue consists in bringing us to such a temper of mind as to be content either to have Christ or to go without him as God shall please humiliation makes the Soul in the sense of its own infinite vileness and unworthiness not to quarrel at the Lord and Devil-like grow fierce and impatient before and against the Lord in case he should never help it never pity it never succour it And now you shall see if the Lord intend good he will by this do thee good and this is all men get by humiliation that if the Lord intend to do them good this is the way in which he will do it but though they be humbled they cannot be sure whether God intend to do them good or not and therefore we are told that we are as much bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us as we are to submit to the disposal of God as to any common mercy though you must pray for mercy it must be with submission to the good will of the Lord saying the Lords will is good whether it be to save or damn but mine is evil though it be to be saved and to have Jesus Christ nay we are much more bound to submit our selves to God whether he will save or damn us than we are to submit to him in the lesser concernments of this life For if it be pride to murmur in case the Lord deny you smaller matters the offals of this life doest thou not see that it is far greater pride for thee to sink and quarrel with him if he denies thee greater the things of another life is he bound to give thee greater who doth not owe thee the least the Lord gives you life blessed be his name but you ask for treasures of Grace and mercy now God hath given you life you would feign live for ever an unpardonable fault this thousands of pounds Christ himself and all that he is worth and the Lord seems to deny you and now you sink and grow sullen may not the Lord now say was there ever such pride and insolence as to be unwilling to be damned for ever though I dare say this is not the pride which cast the Apostate Angels out of Heaven So that though conviction and compunction and humiliation be the only way to come to Christ yet it is such a way as brings us never the nearer him when all this is done we are where we were before we were humbled