this Section upon a contrary supposition falsly imputed unto me And as for his drawing Schemes of Religion I must tell him and let him disprove it if he be able I own no Religion no Article of Faith but what are taught expresly in the Scripture mostly confirmed by the ancient General Councils of the Primitive Church and the Writings of the most Learned Fathers against all sorts of Heretâ—cks especially the Gnosticks Photinians and Pelagians consonant to the Articles of the Church of England and the Doctrine of all the Reformed Châ—rches of Europe And if in the Exposition of any place of Scripture I dissent from any that for the Substance of it own the Religion I do I do it not wiâ—hout Cogent Reasons from the Scripture it self and where in any opinions which Learned Men have and it may be always had different Apprehensions about which hath not been thought to prejudice the Unity of Faith amongst them I hope I do endeavour to manage that dissent with that Modesty and Sobriety which becometh me And as for the Schemes Plots or Designs of Religion or Christianity given us by this Author and owned by him it being taken pretendedly from the Person of Christ when it is hoped that he may have a better to give us from the Gospel seeing he hath told us we must Learn our Religion from his Doctrine and not from his Person besides that it is liable unto Innumerable Exceptions in particular which may easily be given in against it by such as have nothing else to do wâ—ereas it makes no mention of the effectual Grace of Christ and the Gospel for the Conversion and Sanctification of Sinners and the necessity thereof unto all Acts of Holy Obedience it is merely Pelagian and stands Anathematised by sundry Councils of the Antient Church I shall not therefore concern my self farther in any Passages of this Section most of them wherein it reflects on others standing in competition for Truth and Ingenuity with the Foundation and Design of the whole Only I shall say that the Passage of 88 89. This made the Divine Goodness so restlesly zealous and concerned for the Recovery of Mankind various ways be attempted in former Ages but with little success as I observed before but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World without a very Cautious Explanation and Charitable Construction is false scandalous and blasphemous For allow this Author who contends so severely for Propriety of Expressions against Allusions and Metaphors to say that the Divine Goodness was restlesly Zealous and Concerned for indeed such is our Weakness that whether we will or no we must sometimes learn and teach Divine things in such words as are suited to convey an Apprehension of them unto our Minds though in their Application unto the Divine Nature they are incapable of being understood in the Propriety of their Signification though this be as untowardly expressed as any thing I have of late met withal yet what colour can be put upon what excuse can be made for this Doctrine That God in former Ages by various ways attempted the Recovery of mankind but with little success I know not Various attempts in God for any End without Success do not lead the Mind into right Notions of his Infinite Wisdom and Omnipotency And that God by any way at any time attempted the Recovery of Mankind distinctly and separately from the sending of his Son is lewdly false In the greatest part of his fourth Section entituled how Men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancy I am not much concerned save that the Foundation of the whole and that which animates his Discourse from first to last is laid in an Impudent Calumny namely that I declare that our Religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly savingly Learned from his Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person This shameless Falshood is that alone whence he takes occasion and confidence to reproach my self and others to condemn the Doctrine of all the Reformed Churches and openly to traduce and vilify the Scripture it self I shall only briefly touch on some of the impotent dictates of this great Corrector of Divinity and Religion His Discourse of accommodating Scripture-Expressions to Mens own Dreamns pag. 99 100.101 being such as any Man may use concerning any other men on the like occasion if they have a mind unto it and intend to have no more regard to their Consciences than some others seem to have may be passed by pag. 102. He falls upon the ways of expounding Scripture among those whom he sets himself against and positively affirms that there are two ways of it in great Vogue among them First by the sound and Clink of the words and Phrases which as he says is all some Men understand by keeping a Form of Sound words 2 When this will not do they reason about the sence of them from their own preconceived Notions and Opinions and prove that this must be the meaning of Scripture because otherwise it is not reconcileable to their Dreams which is called expounding Scripture by the Analogy of Faith Thus far he and yet we shall have the same Man not long hence pleading for the Necessity of Holiness But I wish for my part he would take notice that I despise that Holiness and the Principles of it which will allow Men to Coin Invent and publish such notorious untruths against any sort of Men whatever And whereas by what immediately follows I seem to be principally intended in this Charge as I know the Untruth of it so I have published some Expositions on some Parts of the Scripture to the Judgment of the Christian World to which I appeal from the Censures of this Man and his Companions as also for those which if I Live and God will I shall yet publish and do declare that for Reasons very satisfactory to my Mind I will not come to him nor them to learn how to expound the Scripture But he will Justify his Charge by particular Instances telling us pag. 102. Thus when Men are possessed with a Fancy of an acquaintance with Christ's Person then to know Christ can signify nothing else but to know his Person and all his Personal Excellencies and Beauties Fullness and Pretiousness c. And when Christ is said to be made Wisdom to us this is a plain proof that we must Learn all our spiritual Wisdom from an acquaintance with his Person though some duller Men can understand no more by it than the Wisdom of those Revelations Christ hath made of God's Will to the World I would beg of this Man that if he hath any regard unto the Honour of Christian Religion or Care of his own Soul he would be tender in this matter and not reflect with his usual disdain upon the Knowledge of the Person of Christ. I must tell him again what
and Ridiculous For every one who is not wilfully blind must see that by Ordained I intended not any Ordination as to the Futurition of Sin but the Disposal of Sin to its Proper End being Committed or to ordain it unto its End upon a Supposition of its Being which quite spoils this Authors ensuing Harangue But my Judgment in this matter is better expressed by another than I am able to do it my self and therefore in his words I shall represent it It is Augustine Saith he Saluberrime confitemur quod rectissime credimus Deum Dominumque rerum omnium qui creavit omnia bona valde mala ex bonis exortura esse praescivit scivit magis ad suam omnipotentissimam bonitatem pertinere etiam de malis benefacere quam mala esse non sinere sic ordinâsse Angelorum hominum vitam ut in ea prius ostenderet quid posset eorum liberum Arbitrinm deinde quid posset suae Gratiae beneficium Justitiaeque judicium This our Author would have to be God's bartering with Sin the Devil for his Glory the bold impiety of which expression among many others for whose necessary expression I crave pardon manifests with what frame of Spirit with what Reverence of God himself and all holy things this Discourse is managed But it seems I add that the Demonstration of God's Justice in Measuring out unto Sin a meet Recompence of Reward is Discovered in Christ as this Author says Let him read again The Comminations and Threatnings of God in the Law c. If this Man were acquainted with Christ he could not but Learn somewhat more of Truth and Modesty unless he be wilfully stupid But what is the Crime of this Paragraph That which it teacheth is that Sin in its own Nature hath no End but the dishonour of God and the Eternal Ruine of the Sinner That by the Sentence and Curse of the Law God hath manifested that he will Glorify his Justice in the Punishing of it as also that in and through Jesus Christ he will Glorify Grace and Mercy in its Pardon on the Terms of the Gospel What would he be at If he have a mind to quarrel the Bible and to conflict the Fundamental Principles of Christianity to what purpose doth he cavil at my obscure Discourses when the proper Object of his Displeasure lies plainly before him Let us proceed yet a little farther with our Author although I confess my self to be already utterly wearied with the Perusal of such Vain and Frivolous Imaginations Yet thus he goes on pag. 53. Thus much for the Knowledge of our selves with respect to Sin which is hid only in the Lord Christ. But then we Learn what our Righteousness is wherewith we must appear before God from an Acquaintance with Christ. We have already Learned how unable we are to make atonement for our Sins without which they can never be forgiven and how unable we are to do any thing that is Good and yet nothing can deliver us from the Justice and Wrath of God but a full satisfaction for our sins and nothing can give us a Title to a Reward but a perfect and unsinning Righteousness What should we do in this Case how shall we escape Hell or get to Heaven when we can neither Expiate for our part Sins or do any Good for the Time to come Why here we are relieved again by an Acquaintance with Christ. His death Expiates former Iniquities and removes the whole guilt of Sin But this is not enough that we are not Guilty we must also be actually Righteous not only all Sin is to be answered for but all Righteousness is to be fulfilled Now this Righteousness we find only in Christ we are reconciled to God by his Death and saved by his Life That actual Obedience he yielded to the whole Law of God is that Righteousness whereby we are saved we are Innocent by Vertue of his Sacrifice and Expiation and righteous with his Righteousness What is here interposed that we cannot do any Good for the Time to come must be interpreted of our selves without the Ayd or Assistance of the Grace of God And the Things here reported by this Author are so expressed and represented to expose them to Reproach and Scorn to have them esteemed not only false but ridiculous But whether he be in his Wits or no or what he intends so to traduce and scoff at the Fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel I profess I know not What is it he would deny What is it he would assert Are we able to make an Atonement for our Sins Can we be forgiven without an Atonement Can we of our selves do any good without the Aid and Assistance of Grace Can any Thing we do be a full Satisfaction for our Sins or deliver us from the wrath of God that is the Punishment due to our Sins Doth not the Death of Christ expiate former Iniquities and remove the whole Guilt of Sin Is the contrary to these things the Doctrine of the Church of England Is this the Religion which is Authorised to be Preached and are these the Opinions that are Licensed to be publshed unto all the World But as I observed before these things are other Mens Concernment more than mine and with them I leave them But I have said as he quotes the Place that we are reconciled to God by the Death of Christ and saved by his Life that actual Obedience which he yielded to the whole Law of God As the former part of these words are expresly the Apostles Rom. 5.10 and so produced by me so the next words I add are these of the same Apostle if so be we are found in him not having on our own Righteousness which is of the Law but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith which he may do well to consider and answer when he can Once more and I shall be beholding to this Author for a little respite of severity whilst he diverts to the Magisterial Reproof of some other persons Thus then he proceeds pag. 55. The third part of our Wisdom is to walk with God and to that is required Agreement Acquaintance a Way Strength Boldness and aiming at the same End and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in Jesus Christ. So far are my words to which he adds The sum of which in short is this that Christ having expiated our Sins and fulfilled all Righteousness for us though we have no personal Righteousness of our own but are as contrary unto God as Darkness is to Light and Death to Life and an Universal Pollution and Defilement to an Universal and Glorious Holiness and Hatred to Love yet the Righteousness of Christ is a sufficient nay the only Foundation of our Agreement and upon that of our walking with God though St. John tells us if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in Darkness we lye and do not the Truth but if we walk in the
Light as God is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and then the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins 1 John Chap. 1. v. 6 7. And our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word and Works could not discover as you heard above And he is the only way wherein we must walk with God and we receive all our strength from him and he makes us bold and confident too having removed the Guilt of Sin that now we may look Justice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door all our Debts being discharged by Christ as these bold Acquaintances and Familiars of Christ use to speak And in Christ we design the same End that God doth which is the Advancement of his own Glory that is I suppose by trusting unto the Expiation and Righteousness of Christ for Salvation without doing any thing our selves we take Care that God shall not be wronged of the Glory of his free Grace by a Competition of any Merits and Deserts of our own What the Author affiâ—ms to be the sum of my Discourse in that Place which indeed he doth not transcribe is as to his Affirmation of it as contrary to God as Darkness is to Light or Death to Life or Falshood to the Truth that is it is Flagitiously false That there is any Agreement with God or walking with God for any Men who have no Personal Righteousness of their own but are contrary to God c. I never thought I never wrote nor any thing that should give the least Countenance unto a suspicion to that Purpose The necessity of an Habitual and Actual Personal Inherent Righteousness of Sanctification and Holiness of Gospel-Obedience of Fruitfulness in Good Works unto all who intend to walk with God or come to the Enjoyment of him I have asserted and proved with other manner of Arguments than this Author is acquainted withal The Remainder of his Discourse in this Place is composed of Immorality and Profaneness To the First I must refer his Charge that our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word could not discover as he again expresseth it pag. 98 99. But that the Reverend Doctor confessed the plain Truth that their Religion is wholly owing to an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from his Gospel had they not first grown acquainted with his Person which is plainly false I own no Knowledge of God nor of Christ but what is revealed in the Word as was before declared And unto the other Head belongs the most of what ensues For what is the intendment of those Reproaches which are cast on my supposed Assertions Christ is the only way wherein or whereby we must walk with God Yes so he says I am the way there is no coming to God but by me he having consecrated for us in himself a New and Living Way of drawing nigh to God We receive all our strength from him Yes For he says without me ye can do nothing He makes us bold and confident also having removed the Guilt of Sin So the Apostle tells us Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. What then What followes upon these plain Positive Divine Assertions of the Scripture Why then we may look Jâ—stice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door Goodly Son of the Church of England Not that I impuâ—e these Profane Scoffings unto the Church iâ—self which I shall never do untill it be discovered that the Rulers of it do give approbation to such Abominations But I would mind the Man of his Relation to that Church which to my Knowledge teacheth better Learning and Manners From pag. 57. to the End of his second Section pag. 75. he giveth us a Scheme of Religion which in his Scoffing Language he says Men Learn from an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and affirms that there needs no more to Expose it to Scorn with considering Men than his proposal of it which therein he owns to be his Design I know not any peculiar concernment of mine therein until he comes towards the Close of it which I shall particularly consider But the Substance of the Religion which he thus avowedly attempts to expose to scorn is the Doctrine of God's Eternal Election of his Infinite Wisdom in sending his Son to declare his Righteousness for the forgiveness of Sins or in satisfying his Justice that Sin might be pardoned to the praise of the Glory of his Grace of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto them thaâ— do believe of a sence of Sin Humiliation for it looking unto Christ for Life and Salvation as the Israelites looked up to the Brasen Serpent in the Wilderness of going to Christ by Faith for healing our Natures and cleansing our sins with some other Doctrines of the same Importance These are the Principles which according to his Ability he Sarcastically traduceth and endeavoureth to reflect Scorn upon by the false Representation of some of them and debasing others with an intermixture of Vile and Profane Expressions It is not impossible but that some or other may judge it their Duty to rebuke this horrible and yet were it not for the Ignorance and Profaneness of some men's minds every way contemptible Petulancy For my part I have other things to do and shall only add that I know no other Christian State in the World wherein such Discourses would be allowed to pass under the signature of Publick Authority Only I wish the Author more Modesty and Sobriety than to attempt or suppose he shall succeed in exposing to Scorn the avowed Doctrine in general of the Church wherein he Lives and which hath in the parts of it been asserted and defended by the Greatest and most Learned Prelates thereof in the foregoing Ages such as Jewel Whitgift Abbot Morton Usher Hall Davenant Prideaux c. With the most Learned Persons of its Communion as Reynolds Whittaker Hooker Sutcliff c. and others innumerable testified unto in the Name of this Church by the Divines sent by Publick Authority to the Synod of Dort taught by the Principal Practical Divines of this Nation and maintained by the most Learned of the Dignified Clergy at this Day He is no doubt at Liberty to dissent from the Doctrine of the Church and of all the Learned Men thereof But for a young Man to suppose that with a few loose idle words he shall expose to Scorn that Doctrine which the persons mentioned and others innumerable have not only explained confirmed and defended with pains indefatigable all kind of Learning and Skill Ecclesiastical Philosophical and Theological in Books and Volumes which the Christian World as yet knoweth peruseth and prizeth but also lived long in fervent Prayers to God for the Revelation of his Mind and Truth unto them and in the Holy Practice of Obedience suited unto
to express the Mind and actings of those who being ignorant ignorant of the Righteousness of God go about to establish their own Righteousness as He farther explains himself Rom. 10.3 4. That I could not intend Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel is so evident that nothing but abominable Prejudice or ignorance could hinder any Man from discerning it For that Faith which I expressed by the Soul's consent to take Christ as a Saviour and a Ruler is the very first Act of Obedience unto the Gospel So that therein or thereon to exclude Obedience unto the Gospel is to deny what I assert which under the favour of this Author I understand my self better than to do And as to all other Acts of Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel following and proceeding from sincere Believing it is openly evident that I could not understand them when I spake only of what was antecedent unto them And if this Man knowes not what transactions are in the Minds of many before they do come unto the Acceptance of Christ on his own Terms or believe in him according to the Tenour of the Gospel there is Reason to pitty the People that are committed unto his Care and Instruction what regard soever ought to be had unto himself And his Pittiful trifling in the Exposition he adds of this Passage to be saved without doing any thing without obeying Thee and the Law do but increase the Guilt of his Prevarications For the words immediately added in my Discourse are and although I have walked according unto mine own Mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by thy Spirit which unto the Understanding of all Men who understand any thing in these Matters signify no less than an Engagement unto the Universal relinquishment of Sin and entire Obedience unto Jesus Christ in all things But this faith He is a pretty Complement that the Soul makes to Christ after all But why is this to be esteemed only a pretty Complement It is spoken at the same Time and as it were with the same Breath there being in the Discourse no Period between this Passage and that before And why must it be esteemed quite of another Nature so that herein the Soul should only Complement and be real in what is before expressed what if one should say it was real only in this latter Expression and Engagement that the former was only a Pretty Complement May it not with respect unto my sence and intention from any thing in my words or that can be gathered from them or any Circumstances of the Place be spoken with as much regard unto Truth and Honesty What Religion these Men are of I know not if it be such as teacheth them these Practices and Countenanceth them in them I openly declare that I am not of it nor would be so for all that this World can afford I shall have done when I have desired him to take notice that I not only believe and maintain the necessity of Obedience unto all the Laws Precepts Commands and Institutions of the Gospel of Universal Holiness the Mortification of all Sin Fruitfulness in good Works in all that intend or design Salvation by Jesus Christ but also have proved and confirmed my Perswasion and Assertions by better and more Cogent Arguments than any which by his Writings he seems as yet to be acquainted withal And unless he can prove that I have spoken or written any thing to the contrary or he can disprove the Arguments whereby I have confirmed it I do here declare him a person altogether unfit to be dealt withal about things of this Nature his Ignorance or Malice being Invincible nor shall I on any Provocation ever hereafter take notice of him untill he hath mended his Manners His third Section pag. 76. consists of three parts First that some wherein it is apparent that I am chiefly if not only intended do found a Religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ s Person without and besides the Gospel whereunto he opposeth his running Title of no Acquaintance with Christ but by Revelation Secondly a Supposition of a Scheme of Religion drawn from the Knowledge of Christs Person whereunto he opposeth another which he he judgeth better Thirdly an Essay to draw up the whole Plot and Design of Christianity with the method of the Recovery of Sinners unto God In the first of these I suppose that I am if not solely yet principally intended especially considering what he affiâ—ms pag. 98 99 Namely that I plainly confess our Religion is wholly owing unto acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from the Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person Now herein there is an especial Instance of that Truth and Honesty wherewith my Writings are entertained by this sort of Men. It is true I have asserted that it is necessary for Christians to know Jesus Christ to be acquainted with his Person that is as I have fully and largely declared it in the Discourse excepted against the Glory of his Divine Nature the Purity of his Humane the Infinite Condescention of his Person in the Assumption of our Nature his Love and Grace c. as is at large there declared And now I add that he by whom this is denied is no Christian. Secondly I have taught that by this Knowledge of the Person of Christ or an Understanding of the great Mystery of Godliness God Manifested in the Flesh which we ought to pray for and labour after we come more fully and clearly to understand sundry other important Mysteries of Heavenly Truth which without the Knowledge of Christ we cannot attain unto And how impertinent this Man's Exceptions are against this Assertion we have seen already But Thirdly that this Knowledge of Christ or Acquaintance with him is to be attained before we come to know the Gospel or by any other Means than the Gospel or is any other but the Declaration that is made thereof in and by the Gospel was never thought spoken or written by me and is here falsly supposed by this Author as elsewhere falsly charged on me And I again challenge him to produce any one Letter or Tittle out of any of my Writings to give Countenance unto this frontless Calumny And therefore although I do not like his Expression pag. 77. Whoever would understand the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine and not from his Person for many Reasons I could give yet I believe no less than he that the efficacy of Christ's Mediation depending on God's Appointment can be known only by Revelation and that no Man can draw any one Conlusion from the Person of Christ which the Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of its excellency worth and works than what is there revealed whereby he may see how â—iserably Ill-Will Malice or Ignorance have betrayed him into the futilous pains of writing
of Grace towards all men at all times under each Covenant whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy Disputant all things succeed well with such Persons which they undertake And as to the Manner of the Operation of Grace how far Grace it self may be said to be Omnipotent and in its Operations irresistible I have fully declared there where he may oppose and refute it if he have any Mind thereunto His present Attempt against it in those words that God governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason is so weak in this Case and impertinent that it deserves no Consideration For all the Operations of Divine Grace are suited unto the Rational Constitution of our Beings neither was ever man so wild as to fancy any of them such as are inconsistent with or do offer force unto the Faculties of our Souls in their Operations Yea that which elevates aids and assists our Rational Faculties in their Operations on and towards their proper Objects which is the work of Efficacious Grace is the principal Preservative of their Power and Liberty and can be no way to their Prejudice And we do moreover acknowledge that those Proposals which are made in the Gospel unto our Reason are eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper Use and Exercise in complyance with them Hence although the Habit of Faith or Power of Believing be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost yet the Word of the Gospel is the Cause and Means of all its Acts and the whole Obedience which it produceth But if by governing Reasonable Creatures by the Principle of Reason he intends that God deals no otherwise by his Grace with the Souls of men but only by proposing Objective Arguments and Motives unto a Complyance with his Will without internal Aids and Assistances of Grace it is a gross piece of Peâ—â—gianisme destructive of the Gospel sufficiently confuted elsewhere and he may explain himself as he pleaseth His proceed is to transcribe some other Passages taken out of my Book here and there in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent Exceptions But the design of the whole is to state a Controversie as he calls it between us and them or those whom he calleth They and We whoever they be And this upon the Occasion of my mentioning the fulness of Grace Life and Righteousness that is in Christ he doth in these Words pag. 215. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most perfect and compleat Declaration of the Will of God and the most powerfull Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming of the World as it prescribeâ— the only Righteousness which is 〈◊〉 â—ble to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality I shall not absolutely accept of the Terms of this Controversie as to the state of it on our part proposed by him and yet I shall not much vary from them We say therefore that Jesus Christ being full of all Grace Excellencies and Perfections he communicates them unto us in that Degree as is necessary for us and in proportion unto his abundant Charity and Goodness towards us And we Christians as his Body or fellow Members of his Humane Nature receive Grace and Mercy flowing from him to us This state of the Controversie on our side I suppose he will not refuse nor the terms of it but will own them to be ours though he will not it may be allow some of them to be Proper or Convenient And that he may know who his They are who are at this End of the Difference he may be pleased to take notice that these words are the whole and intire Paraphrase of D r. Hammond on Joh. 1.16 the first Testimony he â—â—â—â—rtakes to answer And when this Author hath replyed to Mr. Hooker D r. Jackson and Him and such other Pillars of the Church of England as concurre with them it will be time enough for me to consider how I shall defend my self against him Or if he will take the Controversie on our part in Terms more directly Expressive of my Mind It is the Person of Christ is the Fountain of all Grace to the Church as he well observes my Judgement to be and that from him all Grace and Mercy is derived unto us And then I do maintain that the They whom he opposeth are not onely the Church of England but the whole Catholick Church in all Ages Who the We are on the other hand who reject this Assertion and believe that all the Testimonies concerning the fulness of Grace in Christ and the Communication thereof unto us do only declare the Excellency of his Religion is not easie to be conjectured For unless it be the People of Racow I know not who are his Associates And let him but name three Divines of any Reputation in the Church of England since the Reformation who have given the least Countenance unto his Assertions Negative or Positive and I will acknowledge that he hath better Associates in his Profession than as yet I believe he hath But that Jesus Christ himself God and Man in one Person the Mediator between God and Man is not a Fountain of Grace and Mercy to his Church that there is no real internal Grace communicated by him or derived from him unto his Mystical Body that the Fulness which is in him or said to be in him of Grace and Truth of unsearchable Riches of Grace c. is nothing but the Doctrine which he taught as the most compleat and perfect Declaration of the Will of God are Opinions that cannot be divulged under pretence of Authority without the most pernicious scandal to the present Church of England And if this be the Mans Religion that this is all the Fulness we receive from Christ A perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent Promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Notions of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth that complying with its Doctrine or yielding Obedience unto its Precepts and believing the Promises which it gives in our own strength without any real Aid Assistance or Communication of internal saving Grace from the Person of Jesus Christ is our Righteousness before God whereon and for which we are Justified I know as well as he whence it came and perhaps better than he whither it will go The remaining Discourse of this Chapter consisteth of two parts First an Attempt to disprove any Communication of real internal Grace from the Lord Christ unto Believers for their Sanctification Secondly an Endeavour to refute the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us for our Justification In the first he contends that all the Fulness
and now follow all mutual conjugal Affections which on Christs part consist in Delight Valuation Pity Compassion Bounty on the Saints part in Delight Valuation Chastity Duty But I have already corrected this fooling with Scripture Metaphors and Phrases It might perhaps not unbecome this Author to be a little more sparing of his Correction unless his Authority were more then it is and his skill also in the mannagement of it For at present those whom he attempts upon are altogether insensible of any Effects of his severity But whereas he seems much at a loss how to evidence his own Wisdom any other way than by calling them Fools with whom he hath to do it is sufficient to plead his Excuse But what is it that he is here so displeased at as unfit for a Man of his Wisdom to bear withal and therefore calls it Fooling Is it that there is a conjugal Relation between Christ and the Church That he is the Bridegroom and Husband of the Church and that the Church is his Bride and Spouse That he becomes so unto it by a voluntarily Gracious Act of his Love and that the Church enters into that Relation with him by their acceptance of him in that Relation voluntarily giving up themselves unto him in Faith Love and Obedience suited thereunto Is it that he loveth his Church and cherisheth it as an Husband Or that the Church gives up it self in chaste and holy obedience unto him as her Spouse Or is it my way and manner of expressing these things wherewith he is so provoked If it be the latter I desire he would for his own satisfaction take notice that I contemn his censures and appeal to the Judgment of those who have more understanding and experience in these things than for ought I can discern by his Writings he hath yet attained unto If it be the former they are all of them so proved and confirmed from the Scripture in that very Discourse which he excepteth against as that he is not able to answer or reply one serious word thereunto Indeed to deny it is to renounce the Gospel and the Catholick Faith It is therefore to no purpose for me here to go over again the Nature of this Relation between Christ and the Church wherein really and truly it doth consist what it is the Scripture instructeth us in thereby what is that Love Care Tenderness of Christ which it would have us thence to Learn and what is our own duty with respect thereunto together with the Consolation thence arising the whole of this work is already discharged in that discourse which these impertinent Cavils are raised against and that suitably to the sence of the Church in all Ages and of all sound Expositors of those very many places of Scripture which I have urged and insisted on to that purpose Let him if he please a little lay aside the severity of his Corrections and befooling of Men and answer any Material passage in the whole discourse if he be able or discover any thing in it not agreeable to the Analogy of Faith or the sence of the Ancient Church if he can And though he seem both here and in some of his ensuing pages to have a particular 〈◊〉 of what is cited or improved ou◠of the Book of Canticles to this purpose yet if he either deny that that whole Book doth mystically express the conjugal Relation that is between Christ and his Church with their mutual affections and delight in each other or that the places particularly insisted on by me are not duly applyed unto their proper intention I can at least confirm them both by the Authority of such persons as whose Antiquity and Learning will exercise the utmost of his confidence in calling them Fools for their pains From hence for sundry Pages he is pleased to give me a little respite whilest he diverts his severity unto another unto whose Will and Choyce what to doe in it I shall leave his peculiar Concern as knowing full well how easie it is for him to vindicate what he hath written on this Subject from his impertinent Exceptions if he please In the mean time if this Author supposeth to adde unto the Reputation of his Ingenuity and Modesty by assaulting with a few pitifull Cavils a Book written with so much Learning Judgement and Moderation as that is which he excepts against not daring in the mean time to contend with it in any thing of the Expository or the Argumentative part of it but only to discover a malevolent desire to obstruct the use which it hath been of and may yet further be to the Church of God I hope he will not find many Rivals in such a Design For my part I do suppose it more becoming Christian Modesty and Sobriety where men have laboured according to their Ability in the Explication of the Mysteries of Christian Religion and that with an avowed intention to promote Holiness and Gospel Obedience to accept of what they have attained wherein we can come unto a Complyance with them then passing by whatever we cannot but approve of or are not able to disprove to make it our Business to cavil at such Expressions as either we do not like or hope to pervert and abuse to their disadvantage Pag. 296. he returns again to my Discourse and fiercely pursues it for sundry Leafs in such a Manner as becomes him and is usual with him That part of my Book which he deals withall is from pag. 176. unto pag. 187. And if any person of Ingenuity and Judgement will be pleased but to peruse it and to compare it with this mans Exceptions I am secure it will need no farther Vindication but as it is represented in his Cavilling way it is impossible for any man either to conceive what is the true Design of my Discourse or what the Arguments wherewith what I assert is confirmed which he doth most unduely pretend to give an Account of For he so chops and changes and alters at his pleasure going backwards and forwards and that from one thing to another without any regard unto a Scholastick or Ingenuous Debate of any thing that might be called a Controversie meerly to seek out an Appearance of Advantage to vent his cavilling Exceptions as no Judgement can Rationally be made of his whole Discourse but only that he had a mind to have cast Aspersions on mine if he had known how But such stuffe as it is we must now take the Measure of it and consider of what Use it may be And first he quotes those words from my Book That Christ fulfilled all Righteousness as he was Mediator and that whatever he did as Mediator he did it for them whose Mediator he was or in whose stead and for whose Good he executed the Office of a Mediator before God and hence it is that his compleat and perfect Obedience to the Law is reckoned to us He addes This is well said if it were
the Son of God Incarnate the Mediator between God and Man For because the Name Christ is sometimes used Metonymically to conclude thence that Jesus Christ is not Jesus Christ or that it is not the Person of Christ that is firstly and properly intended by that name in the Gospel is a lewd and impious Imagination And we may as well make Christ to be only a Light within Us as to be the Doctrine of the Gospel without Us. This Knowledg of Jesus Christ I aver to be the only Fountain of all Saving Knowledg which is farther reflected on by this Author And he adds no doubt out of respect unto Me that he will not envy the Glory of this discovery unto its Author and therefore honestly confesseth that he met with it in my Book But what doth he intend whither will Prejudice and Corrupt Designs carry and transport the Minds of Men Is it possible that he should be ignorant that it is the Duty of all Christians to know Jesus Christ to be acquainted with the person of Christ and that this is the Fountain of all Saving Knowledg until he met with it in my Book about Communion with God which I dare say he looked not into but only to find what he might except against It is the Holy Ghost himself that is the Author of this Discovery and it is the great Fundamental Principle of the Gospel Wherefore surely this cannot be the Man's intention and therefore we must look a little further to see what it is that he aimeth at After then the Repetition of some Words of mine he adds as his sence upon them pag. 39. So that it seems the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure Discovery of the Nature Attributes and the Will of God and the Methods of our Recovery We may throughly understand whatever is revealed in the Gospel and yet not have a clear and Saving Knowledg of these things until we get a more intimate Acquaintance with the Person of Christ. And again pag. 40. I shall shew you what additions these Men make to the Gospel of Christ by an Acquaintance with his Person and I confess I am very much beholding to this Author for acknowledging whence they fetch all their Orthodox and Gospel-Mysteries for I had almost pored my Eyes out with seeking for them in the Gospel but 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. So far as I can gather up the sence of these loose Expressions it is that I assert a knowledg of the Person of Jesus Christ which is not revealed in the Gospel which is not taught Us in the Writings of Moses the Prophets or Apostles but must be had some other way He tells me afterwards pag. 41. That I put in a Word fallaciously which expresseth the contrary as though I intended another Knowledg of Christ than what is declared in the Gospel Now he either thought that this was not my Design or Intention but would make use of a pretence of it for his Advantage unto an end aimed at which what it was I know well enough or he thought indeed that I did assert and maintain such a knowledg of the Person of Christ as was not received by Scripture-Revelation If it was the first we have an Instance of that new Morality which these new Doctrines are accompanied withal if the latter he discovers how meet a person he is to treat of things of this Nature Wherefore to prevent such scandalous Miscarriages or futilous Imaginations for the future I here tell him that if he can find in that Book or any other of my Writings any Expression or Word or Syllable intimating any Knowledg of Christ or any Acquaintance with the Person of Christ but what is revealed and declared in the Gospel in the Writings of Moses the Prophets and Apostles and as it is so revealed and declared and learned from thence I will publiquely burn that Book with my own hands to give him and all the World Satisfaction Nay I say more if an Angel from Heaven pretend to give any other knowledg of the Person of Christ but what is revealed in the Gospel let him be accursed And here I leave this Author to consider with himsef what was the true occasion why he should first thus represent himself unto the World in Print by the avowing of so unworthy and Notorious a Calumny Whereas therefore by an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ it is undeniably evident that I intended nothing but that Knowledg of Christ which it is the Duty of every Christian to labour after no other but what is revealed declared and delivered in the Scripture as almost every Page of my Book doth manifest where I treat of these things I do here again with the good Leave of this Author assert that this knowledge of Christ is very necessary unto Christians and the Fountain of all Saving Knowledg whatever And as he may if he please review the Honesty and Truth of that Passage pag. 38. So that our Acquaintance with Christ's Person in this Mans Divinity signifies such a Knowledg 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 So I will not so far suspect the Christianity of them with whom we have to do as to think it necessary to confirm by Texts of Scripture either of these assertions which whoever denies is an open Apostate from the Gospel Having laid this Foundation in an equal Mixture of that Truth and Sobriety wherewith Sundry late Writings of this Nature and to the same Purpose have been stuffed he proceeds to declare what desperate Consequences ensue upon the Necessity of that Knowledg of Jesus Christ which I have asserted addressing himself thereunto pag. 40. Many Instances of such dealings will make me apt to think that some Men whatever they pretend to the contrary have but little Knowledg of Jesus Christ indeed But whatever this Man thinks of him an Accouut must one Day be given before and unto him of such false Calumnies as his Lines are stuffed withal Those who will believe him that he hath almost pored out his Eyes in reading the Gospel with a Design to find out Mysteries that are not in it are left by me to their Liberty Only I cannot but say that his way of Expressing the study of the Scripture is such as becometh a Man of his Wisdom Gravity and Principles He will I hope one day be better acquainted with what belongs unto the due Investigation of sacred Truth in the Scripture than to suppose it represented by such Childish expressions What he hath Learned from me I know not but that I have any where taught that there are Mysteries of Religion that are not to be found in the Gospel unless we are first acquainted with
the Person of Christ is a Frontless and Impudent Falshood I own no other never taught other knowledge of Christ or acquaintance with his Person but what is revealed and declared in the Gospel and therefore no Mysteries of Religion can be thence known and received before we are acquainted with the Gospel it self Yet I will mind this Author of that whereof if he be ignorant he is unfit to be a Teacher of others and which if he deny he is unworthy the Name of a Christian Namely that by the Knowledge of the Person of Christ the great Mystery of God manifest in the Flesh as revealed and declared in the Gospel we are led into a clear and full understanding of many other Mysteries of Grace and Truth which are all centred in his Person and without which we can have no true nor sound understanding of them I shall speak it yet again that this Author if it be possible may understand it or however that he and his Co-partners in Design may know that I neither am nor ever will be ashamed of it that without the Knowledge of the Person of Christ which is our Acquaintance with him as we are commanded to acquaint our selves with God as he is the Eternal Son of God Incarnate the Mediator between God and Man with the Mystery of the Love Grace and Truth of God therein as revealed and declared in the Scripture there is no true useful Saving Knowledge of any other Mysteries or Truths of the Gospel to be attained This being the substance of what is asserted in my Discourse I challenge this Man or any to whose pleasure and Favour his endeavours in this kind are Sacrificed to assert and maintain the contrary if so be they are indeed armed with such a Confidence as to impugne the Foundations of Christianity But to evince his Intention he transcribeth the ensuing passages out of my Discourse pag. 41. The sum of all true Wisdom and Knowledge may be reduced to these three Heads 1 The Knowledge of God his Nature and Properties 2 The Knowledge of our selves with reference to the will of God concerning us 3 Skill to walk in Communion with God In these three is summed up all True Wisdome 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. This whole passage I am far from disliking upon this Representation of it or any Expression in it Those who are not pleased with this distribution of spiritual Wisdom may make use of any such of their own wherewith they are better satisfied This of mine was sufficient unto my purpose Hereon this censure is passed by him 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 these Revelations God hath made of himself and his will by Moses and the Prophets and by Christ himself without an acquaintance with his person The fallacy pretended is merely of his own coyningâ— my words are plain and sâ—ited unto my own purpose and to declare my mind in what I intend which he openly corrupting or not at all understanding frames an end never thought of by me and then feigns fallacious means of attaining it The knowledge I mean is to be learned by Christ neither is any thing to be learned in him but what is learned by him I do say indeed now whatever I have said before that it is impossible to understand any sacred Truth savingly and clearly without the knowledge of the Person of Christ and shall say so still let this Man and his Companions say what they will to the contrary but that in my so saying I exclude the consideration of the Revelations which Christ hath made or that God hath made of himself by Moses and the Prophets and Christ himself the principal whereof concern his Person and whence alone we come to know him is an Assertion becoming the modesty and Ingenuity of this Author But hereon he proceeds and says that as to the first head he will take notice of those peculiar Discoveries of the Nature of God of which the world was ignorant before and of which Revelation is wholly silent but are now clearly and savingly Learned from an Acquaintance with Christs Person But what in the mean time is become of Modesty Truth and Honesty Do men reckon that there is no Accompt to be given of such falsifications Is there any one Word or Tittle in my discourse of any such knowledge of the Nature or Properties of God as whereof Revelation is wholly silent What doth this Man intend Doth he either not at all understand what I say or doth he not care what he says himself What have I done to him wherein have I injured him how have I provoked him that he should sacrifice his Conscience and Reputation unto such a Revenge must he yet hear it again I never thought I never owned I never wrote that there was any Acquaintance to be obtained with any property of the Nature of God by the knowledge of the Person of Christ but what is Taught and Revealed in the Gospel from whence alone all knowledge of Christ his Person and his Doctrine is to be Learned And yet I will say again if we Learn not thence to know the Lord Christ that is his Person we shall never know any thing of God our Selves or our Duty clearly and savingly I use the words again notwithstanding the Reflections on them as more proper in this Matter than any used by our Author in his Eloquent Discourse and as we ought to do From hence he proceeds unto weak and confused Discourses about the Knowledge of God and his Properties without any Knowledge of Christ. For he not only tells us what reason we had to believe such and such things of God if Christ had never appeared in the World take care I pray that we be thought as little beholding to him as may be but that Gods readiness to Pardon and the like are plainly revealed in the Scripture without any farther Acquaintance with the Person of Christ. Pag. 43. What this farther Acquaintance with the person of Christ should mean I do not well understand It may be any more Acquaintance with respect unto some that is necessary It may be without any more adoe as to an acquaintance with him And if this be his Intention as it must be if there be sense in his words that God's readâ—ness to pardon Sinners is revealed in the Scripture without respect unto the Person of Jesus Christ it is a piece of dull Socinâ—anism which because I have sufficiently confuted else where I shall not here farther discover the folly of For a Knowledge of God's Essential Properties by the Light of Nature it was never denyed by me yea I have written and contended for it in another way than can be impeached by such