united to Christ or true and reall which imports the truth and sincerity of our Obedience and Subjection to our Lord and Master Hypocrites may seem Answer but are not members of Christ or united to him non potest Christus habere damnata membra omnia ista membra absit omninò Contr. Cresc l. 2. cap. 21. ut in membris illius columbae unicae computentur saith St. Austin and in another place Si amas amplecteris peccata tua contrarius es Christo Expos in Epist Jo hannis intus sis foris sis Antichristus es intus sis foris sis palea es sed quare foris non es Quia occasionem venti non invenisti Our Obedience to Christ our Lord is not the very mystical union it self but a Divine fruit of it The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ requires the homage of the Soul Mr. Sherlock the Government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and Spirits we must be born again of water and of the Spirit if we would enter into Gods Kingdom that is before we can be the Disciples and Subjects of Christ we must be born of water make a publick profession of our faith in Christ and obedience to him in our Baptism we must be born of the Spirit too that is our minds and Spirits must become subject to Christ our faith in Christ and subjection to him must be sincere and hearty governing all the motions of our Souls and making usually such as we pretend to be which is called being born of the Spirit because all Christians Graces are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit as the Author of them Here are two things Answer Baptism and Regeneration both are not of a like necessity to make us Disciples of Christ Regeneration is simply necessary but so is not Baptism unbaptized persons may be reall believers and if they die before Baptism as Valentinian did they enter into Bliss Contr. Don. l. 1.4 cap. 22. Impletur invisibiliter cum mysterium Baptismi non contemptus religionis sed articulus necessitatis excludit saith St. Austin Baptism may be administred by man but Regeneration is the sole work of the holy Spirit which breaths where it lists and forms all those Graces which make up the new creature hence we are said to be born of the Spirit and all the Graces in the new man are called the fruits of the spirit Hence Fulgentius saith ex eodem Spiritu renati sumus ex quo natus est Christus De Jucava cap. 20. The very same Spirit which formed Christ in the womb forms him in the heart And S. Ambrose speaking of the Gracious Image of God in us saith Pictus es ô homo Hexaem l. 6. cap. 8. à Domino Deo tuo bonum habes artificem atque pictorem No other hand but that of the holy spirit only is able to draw such a picture of God as is in the new creature we who naturally lye in a Mass and Chaos of corruption are not capable of doing any thing in it As a visible profession is the foundation of an external Political union between Christ and his Church Mr. Sherlock so this new nature is the foundation of a real and spiritual union And this the Scripture represents under several notions First by the Subjection of our minds and Spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as our Bodies under his Government Hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 That is to have the sole command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells Secondly by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the Subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere Obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind may be in us as was in Christ Phil. 2.5 And to be his Disciples is to learn of him Matth. 11.29 Hence our union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have that same temper of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those Virtues and Graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit and therefore what the Apostle calls having the Spirit in the next verse he expresses by If Christ be in you that is if you be possest with the same love of virtue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sence with that expression of Christ being formed in you Gal. 4.19 Hence in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Herein consists our union to Christ that we have the same temper Souls are united by an harmony of wills this makes two one Spirit After a long discourse touching external communion with the Church Answer the Author is now come to own a spiritual union with Christ and this saith the Author the Scripture represents to us first by the subjection of our minds to Christ as our King Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. that is he commands there But I take that place of the Apostle to be an eminent proof of the mystical union it is not said Christ commands though that be very true but he dwells in our hearts not by a piece of faith such as accepts Christ as our Lord but by an entire one such as receives him in all his offices We have in those words faith expressed which is a bond of that mystical union and where faith is there is that other bond the holy Spirit which flows as rivers of living water in the believers heart and just before those words of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith the Apostle speaks of the holy Spirit in the inner man Verse 16. which is the principal bond of that mystical Union And St. Chrysostom on the words saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the holy spirit in the inner man Christ doth dwell in our hearts by faith But saith the Author Secondly this is represented in Scripture by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to Christ To which I answer If by that subjection be meant a receiving Christ as our Lord it is but a part of that faith which with its Sister Graces make up the new creature all Graces are found in the new creature and among others Faith which receives Christ in all his offices and among other in his Kingly but if by that subjection be meant Obedience to his
of God in this place Thus 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him The Apostle doth not speak of a Righteousness in our selves but in him not of a Righteousness inherent but imputed Christ's Righteousness is made ours as our sins were made his and that is only by Imputation St. Austin pithily expresses it Ipse ergo peccatum Enchirid cap. 41. ut nos justitia nec nostra sed Dei simus nec in nobis sed in ipso sicut ipse peccatum non suum sed nostrum nec in se sed in nobis constitutum similitudine carnis peccati in qua crucifixus est demonstravit Thus Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith By the Righteousness which is of God cannot here be meant inherent Graces those words that I may be found in him have a tacit relation to the Judgment of God and before that Tribunal no Saint on earth can can stand in his own Righteousness Job could not If I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me Job 9.20 David could not Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143.2 Danicl could not O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces The Righteousness which is of God is not the same with inherent Graces which because inherent are our own and so stiled in Scripture neither is it the same with Faith it self The Apostle saith not that it is Faith but that it is a Righteousness through the Faith of Christ a righteousness of God by faith It is therefore no other than Christ's Righteousness which Faith receives and God imputes But there is one place behind which in terminis calls the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Christ 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Observe it is not through the Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God and of our Saviour Christ as noting two Persons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God and our Saviour as betokening one as Reverend Bishop Downham hath observed like that Tit. 2.13 The glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour where one Person is intended Hence it appears that the Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of Christ who is God Neither can inherent Graces be here meant for Faith the first Radical Grace of all is said to to be obtained through this Righteousness Thus far it appears that the Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of Christ Now it is evident that this Righteousness is imputed to us or else it could never arrive at those glorious Effects which are ascribed to it how should it profit us unless it were applied and become ours Or how should it become ours but by Imputation Being the Righteousness of another it cannot be ours subjectively and inherently and if it at all become ours it must be so by Imputation Without the first fundamental Imputation it could not render us justisiable or savable any more than it doth render Devils so without the after particular Imputation it cannot justifie or save us Unless this Righteousness be imputed it cannot save or avert God's wrath Rom. 1. It cannot be upon the Believer to justifie him Rom. 3. It cannot be the end of the Law for Righteousness to him Rom. 10. We cannot be made the Righteousness of God in Christ 2 Cor. 5. We cannot have the Righteousness of God to make us stand before God's Tribunal Phil. 3. The virtue of all depends upon Imputation Thus much touching that excellent Phrase The Righteousness of God so often mentioned in Scripture I now proceed to other Scriptures To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Rom. 4.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is reckoned or imputed for Righteousness Now is Faith taken here properly absolutely in it self or is it taken relatively with respect to its Object the Righteousness of Christ Properly absolutely in it self it is a Work the Apostle opposes believing to working ver 5. and speaks of a Righteousness without Works ver 6. Faith therefore is not here taken absolutely for so Faith is a Work and believing working Faith absolutely taken is our own hence we meet with those Phrases Thy faith and My faith Jam. 2.18 But that which justifies us is not our own but the Righteousness of God the Righteousness which justifies is through Faith Phil. 3.9 and not Faith it self Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 but the justifying Righteousness is not the hypostasis but the very thing hoped for We by faith wait for the hope of righteousness Gal. 5.5 That Righteousness which justifies us is the Righteousness which is imputed to us but we are justified by Christ's blood Rom. 5.9 we are made righteous by his obedience Rom. 5.19 these therefore are imputed to us for Righteousness It is not Faith in it self is our Righteousness but its Object the Blood and Obedience of Christ Another famous place we have Rom. 5. there Adam and Christ are set forth as two Roots Adam conveying to the Branches naturally in him Sin and Death and Christ conveying to the Branches spiritually in him Righteousness and Life As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous ver 18 19. Here the Apostle speaks of Justification Justification of Life is opposed to condemnation Christ's Righteousness is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it hath a virtue in it to justifie others and is opposed to Adam's Transgression which had a power to involve others in condemnation By the obedience of Christ we are made or as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies constituted righteous And how can Christ's Obedience being not inherent in us make us righteous This I confess is above Philosophy but the Apostle clears it Adam's Transgression was not inherently ours yet was it imputed to us to Condemnation in the same manner Christ's Obedience is not inherently ours yet was it imputed to us to Justification of Life Hence St. Bernard expostulates thus Cur non aliunde justitia Epist 190. cùm aliunde reatus Alius qui peccatorem constituit alius qui justificat à peccato An peccatum in semine peccatoris non justitia in Christi sanguine And indeed it would be very strange that Adam's Sin should be imputed to us as the Church hath ever acknowledged against Pelagians and yet Christs
Union and what better proof can be of it than that divine Life which issues from thence Our Saviour hath put it out of all doubt He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Joh. 6.56 And in another place he tells them Abide in me and I in you Joh. 15.4 What can be more emphatical and expressive of our Mystical Union If such words do not signifie it what can We are said to be in him that is true even in Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 5.20 And Christ is said to be in us the hope of glory Col. 1.27 And how full are these Expressions This our Saviour prayed for in that solemn Prayer Joh. 17. As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us This he promised At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Joh. 14.20 Surely that Union which is set forth by the Union of the Father and the Son in the blessed Trinity must be a mystical one The Bonds of this Union are no less pregnantly expressed touching the holy Spirit which as Bishop Davenant tells us is Primaria Commissura by which Christ and we touch the Scripture speaks negatively If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 that is he hath no Union or Communion with him and positively or affirmatively He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 Touching Faith which as the Learned Vsher saith is the Soul of all other Graces the Scripture teaches us that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith Eph. 3.17 and that Faith comes receives leans on puts on feeds on and in a word possesses Christ In one place Gal. 2.20 we have both these Bonds together I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me that is by his Spirit and I live by the faith of the Son of God these two Make up the Mystical Union The Name of this Union is also expresly in Scripture Fancy did not baptize it Mystical but the holy Ghost This is a great mystery to be members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 32. Nay The riches of the glory of the mystery is Christ in us the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 The ancient Fathers were no strangers to this Union that of Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Eph. points it out to us In the times of St Cyprian and Julius Bishop of Rome the Church in the Lord's Supper which is a divine Seal of this Union used over and above to note it out by mixing Water with the Wine Hence St. Cyprian saith Cypr. E. pist 63. Decret Julii in Concil Quando in calice vinum aquâ miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur And Julius saith Si sit vinum tantùm est Christus sine populo si aqua sola populus sine Christo St. Hilary and St. Cyril of Alexandria compare our Union with Christ with that high Union which is between the Father and the Son St. Cyril upon John tells us as I have him quoted by the Noble Sadeel that Christus per fidem ingreditur in nos per Spiritum sanctum inhabitat St. Basil speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intellectual mouth in the inner Man by which we feed upon Christ the Bread of Life St. Chrysostom saith Hom. 11. in Ephes that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit flowing from above which touches all the Members of Christ Diximus fratres saith St. Austin hoc Dominum commendasse in manducatione carnis suae potione sanguinis sui Tract 27. in Joh. ut in illo maneamus ipse in nobis maneamus autem in illo cùm sumus membra ejus manet ipse in nobis cùm sumus templum ejus And in another place De peccator Mer. cap. 31. Homines sancti fideles ejus siunt cum homine Christo unus Christus unus Christus caput corpus magna est mira dignatio Theophylact saith In Joh. 15. that a man is by Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 part of the Root united to the Lord and incorporated in him And to name no more generally those Sayings of the Fathers which the Papists plead for an oral Manducation of Christ are so many proofs of the Mystical Union The Schoolmen concurr in the same thing Aquinas saith that Christ and his Members are but una Persona mystica And Barthol Medina expresses it fully In 3. partem Thom. qu. 8. Cùm efficimur membra sub Capite Christo mirabili quâdam Spiritûs sancti operatione unimur transimus in Christum induimúsque illum deiformi quâdam insitione atque Vnione illi inserimur Modern Divines go the same way to name but a few Bishop Vsher saith Imman pag. 50. The Bond of this Mystical Vnion between Christ and us is on his part the quickning Spirit and on ours Faith Est inter Christum omnia Christi Membra continuitas quaedam ratione Spiritûs sancti qui plenissimè residens in Christo Capite In Col cap. 1. ver 18. unus idem numero ad omnia ejus membra diffunditur vivificans singula uniens universa so Bishop Davenant The Spirit knitteth us as really though mystically Life of Christ 457. unto Christ as his Sinews and Joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred Body together thus Bishop Reynolds But I shall shut up all with the Authority of our Church In the Lords Supper there is no vain Ceremony no bare Sign nor untrue Figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the Bread and Cup of the Lord the Memory of Christ the Annunciation of his death the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation 1. Hom. of the Sacrament which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very Bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful the true Vnderstanding of this Fruition and Vnion between the Body and the Head between Believers and Christ the ancient Catholick Fathers perceiving themselves and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper the Salve of Immortality a Deifical Communion pledge of eternal health and food of immortality This Mystical Union we see is no Fancy no very great moments depend upon it Tota veraejustitiae salutis vitae participatio ex hâc pernecessariâ cum Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pendet saith the Learned Zanchy Without it how should Christ profit us which way should his blood wash or righteousness cover us What illapses of the holy spirit or vital influences of Grace could we look for in a state
Gen. 22.18 That is with all spiritual and eternal blessings in Christ It is not imaginable that God should suffer the Faith of so great a Believer as Abraham to hang in the thickets of carnal things when he had such spiritual Promises before his eyes our Saviour saith Abraham saw his day and rejoyced Joh. 8.56 He saw the day of his Incarnation and as some the day of his Passion How far God carried the eyes of his Faith I know not however he saw so much as put him into those joys and triumphs of Faith which pointed beyond this World to that Salvation which is the end and center of Faith To me it suffices to say that Abraham rested upon Christ for Salvation and then Christ's Righteousness though unknown to Abraham was imputed to him The Author saith That from in thy seed shall all nations be blessed to imputed righteousness is a train of thoughts beyond Mr. Hobs and yet Abraham discerning the Messiah in that Promise it may be absolved in two short words that the Messiah shall merit Spiritual Blessings for us and that that merit shall be applyed to us there being no other way of applying of what is anothers but by Faith on our part and Imputation on Gods The Author ask's the question Is there no possible way for God to bless the world but by imputed Righteousness I answer had not Christ dyed for us which involves an imputation nothing of blessing could have been expected the wrath of God would no more have spared us than it did lapsed Angels The Jews about Christ's coming thought only of a temporal Messiah the very Apostles for a time thought not of Christ's death but this was because they then lived in the dregs and darkness of the Jewish Church I suppose in former ages the Jews had another manner of Prospect of Christ and above others Abraham whose Faith stands in Scripture with a more than ordinary crown on it probably had so Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham and if all good men in ancient times was Mr. Sherlock the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it Heb. 11. that he discourses there of a justifying Faith that is such a Faith as renders men approved of God and which he will count for Highteousness appears from the tenour of this Chapter in the second verse he tells us That by this the elders obtained a good report that is the Fathers were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith as he shews particularly That Abel obtained witness that he was righteous ver 4. That Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God ver 5. That Noah became heir of righteousness which is by Faith ver 7. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A firm and confident expectation of those things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an argument of the being of those things which we do not see Faith is such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things which are not evident to sense as makes us confidently hope for them the object of Faith must be unseen things and the nature of it consists in such a firm assent to those unseen things as produces some answerable effects in our lives This is the general notion of Faith by which the elders obtained a good report Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Answer Heb. 11. This saith Erasmus is encomium fidei rather than definitio Dialectica However be it that justifying Faith is here meant Christ the marrow and center of the Covenant must be included in it Faith is the substance of things hoped for that is hoped for by vertue of the Promises and in a special signal way by vertue of the prime fundamental promise touching the Messiah which as we see Gen. 3.15 was delivered to Adam as an heavenly treasure more worth than a world and by him was no doubt handed down to his posterity not meerly in the bare words and letters of it for that protevangelium or first Promise of the Gospel was ministerium spiritûs but with such Divine Commentaries upon it as the illuminating spirit was pleased to give in to the heart of believing Adam Faith such is its excellent nature presentiates and makes to subsist the good things hoped for in such a lively manner as if they were actually at hand and before our eyes Nay as learned Pareus observes on the place it makes them subsist not only speculatively and assentively in the mind but fiducially in the heart Now by Faith in the Messiah the Elders had their divine Testimony Abel was righteous before God Enoch pleased God Noah was an heir of Righteousness all of them were Justified and accepted in their persons and holy walking The Author makes Faith to consist in a firm assent only without any thing more in the nature of it Thus the Romanists Thus Bellarmine proves it to be only assensum firmum 〈◊〉 certum ad ea omnia quae Deus credendae proponit And to that purpose among others quotes this Text Heb. 11. But I cannot find that this will down with Protestants Faith is set forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm perswasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion with full sails 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial subsistence of things hoped for which expressions speak more than a naked assent Faith receives Christ puts on Christ feeds upon Christ such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was to the Fathers in the days of Moses that they did eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God even before his Incarnation 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Meer assent cannot do this Through faith we are justified and have peace with God Rom. 5.1 We have our hearts purified Act. 15.9 We have the Spirit of all grace Joh. 7.38 We quench the fiery darts of the Devil Eph. 6.16 We have a victory over the world 1 Joh. 5.4 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 Nay not only in the hope of it but with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 as if we had a piece of heaven here below meer assent cannot reach such admirable effects Nay it may be in wicked men who have not the least mite of those Graces or Comforts Our Saviour hath excellently expressed the nature of true Faith Every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him hath eternal life Joh. 6.40 Here are two acts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see the Son to assent that he is the Redeemer of the World the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe on him by fiducial recumbency by which saith Bishop Davenant Dav. Det. 165. Vitam à vitae fonte haurimus in
ipsum quasi totos nos immergimus We draw life from the fountain of life and wholly drown our selves in him It was well said of the School-man Nullus potest justificari nisi per unionem ad Christum prima autem unio ad Christum fit per fidem None can be justified but by an union with Christ and the first union is by faith Faith doth not only look upon Christ but it unites to him and rests on him It is not a meer intellectual thing but as Philip said Act. 8.37 It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the whole heart the whole not a Plece only of the heart is resigned up to Christ in believing meer assent therefore is not the all of Faith but there is fiducial recumbency in it Thus our Church 3. Hom. of Salvation The articles of our faith the devils believe they believe all things written in the New and Old Testament to be true and for all this faith they be but devils remaining still in their damnable estate lacking the very true Christian faith For the right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that holy Scripture and all the Articles of our faith are true but also to have a sure trust and confidence in Gods merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his commandments And again 1. Hom. of Faith our Church sets forth faith to be a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ a trusting in God committing our selves wholly unto him hanging only upon him and calling upon him But it may be said that the Author places Faith in such a firm assent as produces some effects in our lives and so not in meer assent To which I answer according to our Author The nature of Faith stands only in assent Obedience indeed is an effect of Faith but it is not Faith it self it is not an essential ingredient in the nature of Faith neither is it indeed the effect of any Faith but such an one as is total and genuine that is which is assentive and fiducial also The different sorts of Faith result from the different Objects and Motives of it Mr. Sherlock the Apostle takes notice of two kinds of Faith in this Chapter and Faith in Christ makes a third which are all the kinds of Faith the Scripture is acquainted with The first we may call a natural Faith that is a belief of the principles of natural Religion which is founded upon natural Demonstrations or Moral Arguments as that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Which was the Faith of Abel and Enoch whereby they pleased God for there being no mention made of the Faith of Abel and Enoch in the Old Testament The Apostle proves that they were true believers because they had this Testimony that they pleased God Now it is impossible to be sincerely religious or do any acceptable service to God without the belief of his being and providence and care of good men These are the first principles of all Religion And God required no more of those good men who had no other particular Revelation of his Will Secondly There is a Faith in God or a belief of those particular Revelations which God made to the Fathers of the Old Testament Thus Noah believed God being warned of the deluge and in obedience to him provided an Ark and this was imputed to him for Righteousness Thus Abraham in obedience to the divine Revelation left his Country and Father's house and went into a strange Land Thus Sarah by believing the promise of God received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised Thus Abraham in obedience to God offered up Isaac which was as heroical an act of Faith as was ever done by man The like examples we have of the Faith of Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses c. Who firmly believed all the particular Revelations God made to them and confidently expected the performance of all his promises how unlikely soever they appear'd to be This is that Faith whereby Abraham and all the good men in these days were justified viz. Such a firm belief of the being and providence of God and all those particular Revelations God made to them as made them careful in all things to please God and to obey him It is the observation of the Learned Dr. Prideaux Answer That in the dark age of the School-men Paulus cessit Aristoteli gratia naturae St. Paul was fain to yield to Aristotle and grace to nature And I fear it will be so again we have here set before our eyes natural Faith Faith natural in its believing principle and natural in its Object Reason of it self and without any elevation of Grace may nay I suppose must admit the things of natural Theology as being within its own Sphere and shall we call this faith justifying faith which is nature nothing but nature Justifying Faith if we believe Scripture is every way supernatural supernatural in its Principle supernatural in its Object Supernatural in its Principle it is called faith of the operation of God Gal. 2.12 It is not of our selves but it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 Not a natural gift but a gift of meer Grace unto you it is given to believe saith the Apostle Phil. 1.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is freely graciously given to you to believe it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good grace divinely given Hence the second Arausican Council expresly tells us that our believing is per infusionem inspirationem spiritûs Sancti Can. 6. Nay the very Council of Trent pronounces an Anathema on those that say that a man may believe without the inspiration of the holy Spirit And Faith is also supernatural in its Object it is a thing above the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above meer natural Theology It is fixed in a God in Covenant and in his free Grace it hangs upon Christ and his sweet-smelling Sacrifice it embraces the promises of Grace and Remission and all these are supernatural only As in the Authors Natural Faith there is nothing but Nature So in the true justifying Faith there is nothing but supernatural Grace But the Author gives us an instance of natural Faith in Abel and Enoch who believed the principles of natural Religion who believed that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that seek him And had Abel and Enoch only a natural Faith Did they not believe in a Messiah Was that first precious promise Gen. 3. Given to be hid and buried in oblivion Or was it not handed down to Abel and Enoch Surely it was and they believed in the Messiah How could they come to God without a Mediator No man cometh to the Father but by me saith
should be justified by imputed Righteousness But I must assert that Abraham and Noah trusted in the Messiah and so Christ's Righteousness though suppose unknown to them in such a clear manner as it is to us was imputed to them And indeed without it I see not how they should have which no doubt they wanted remission in Christ's Blood But saith the Author The first notion of Faith in Christ is a firm belief of his Authority the Christian Faith is deseribed by believing that Jesus is the Son of God the very Christ Joh. 20.31 and 1 Joh. 5.5 that is that he came from God with full authority to declare his Will and confirm the Covenant To which I answer That Jesus is the Son of God in its proper signification imports that he is his Son by Eternal Generation and from thence we may inferr that his Authority is Divine But we must remember that Christ was a Prophet under the Old Testament his Spirit and surely then his Authority was in the Prophets The Author seems to hint by those places Joh. 20.31 and 1 Joh. 5.5 that justifying Faith consists only in assent to divine Principles such as that That Jesus is the Christ the Son of God is but though those places in the Letter sound only an assent to that divine Axiom That Jesus is the Son of God yet more must be taken into the construction as well because the Scripture which ever consists with it self doth in other places assert that in justifying Faith there is over and above a meer assent a fiducial Recumbency on Christ as also because wicked men who have no justifying Faith may have an assent to all Evangelical Axioms Nay the very Devils cried out and confessed That Jesus was the Son of God Matth. 8.29 and yet as our Church observes for all this they were but Devils Phil. 3.8 9. Yea doubtless Mr. Sherlock and I account all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith By my own Righteousness these men understand inherent Righteousness whatever good St. Paul had done either while he was a Jew or after his Conversion to Christianity this he rejects and therefore the Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ must needs be an imputed Righteousness the personal Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith and imputed to us This is fairly offered but what proof have they of it That I confess I cannot learn only it is taken for granted that my Righteousness signifies inherent Righteousness and the Righteousness of Faith imputed But they need not signifie so my own Righteousness can signifie no more than that in which he placed his Righteousness whatever it was and what necessity is there to understand this of inherent Holiness An External Righteousness serves most mens turn very well and this is the Righteousness by which the Pharisees and amongst the rest St. Paul while he was a Pharisee expected to be justified For what his Righteousness was he tells us in ver 6 7. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee who were mighty strict and punctual in observing all external Ceremonies and he expressed his zeal for the Law of Moses by persecuting the Christian Church and touching the righteousness which is in Law he was blameless which last phrase touching the righteousness of the Law blameless signifies only an external blamelesness of conversation as Mr. Calvin acknowledges For this was the Pharisees Notion of the Moral Law that the obligation of it did reach no further than the outward man and Trypho the Jew in Justin Martyr quarrels with the Gospel of our Saviour for this very reason That it requires the government of our thoughts and passions which he says is impossible for a man to do Thus we must understand this blamelesness here unless we will say that St. Paul while he was a Pharisee did perfectly observe the Moral Law which those who talk so much of the impossibility of keeping Gods laws will be loath to own So that my own righteousness which is of the Law is so far from signifying an inherent Righteousness that it signified only an external one which consisted only in some external Rites or external Privileges or an external Civility This Righteousness he had reason to reject because God will reject it This was all the Righteousness he had while he was a Pharisee and this he accounts dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord that is for the sake of the Gospel which is the knowledge of Christ which contains a more excellent and perfect Righteousness than the Law did and that he might win Christ that he might attain to Evangelical Righteousness such as Christ was the Preacher and Example of And that he might be found in him not having his own righteousness which is of the Law that at the last day he might appear to be a sound and sincere Christian whose righteousness does not consist only in external observances or external conformity to Gods Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that is that inward vital Principle of Holiness that new Nature which the Gospel of Christ requires of us and which this Christian Faith will work in us which is a Righteousness of Gods own chusing which he commands and which he will reward We are now come to that famous place Answer Phil. 3.8 9. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Learned Beza observes That those words and be found in Christ have a tacit relation to the Judgment of God The Apostle here treats of Justification and from that removes all things but Christ and his Righteousness The Author indeed would have him only to reject his external Righteousness external Observance and Conformity to the Law of God that which he had as a Pharisee that which God will reject But let us consider the place First the Apostle sets down a Catalogue of his Privileges He was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the Church touching the righteousness which is in the Law
bonum forsitan propter aliquod majus bonum The Concerns being so great sit down and consider May such Events be casual Did Angels and Man fall by chance or could that Providence which is waky over Hairs and Sparrows sleep over such a Concern Or if it could must not the great work of Redemption pendent on a casual Fall be casual also May Fortune ring the changes over Empires and Churches or cast out Persecutions and Heresies as roving Meteors to do her pleasure May lots be cast upon the Genealogy and Passion of Christ or the Acts of Gods Mercy Justice Wisdom Holiness and Power shining out in such Events hang upon a Peradventure May the All-wise and Almighty God sit complicatis manibus oculis conniventibus as Amyraldus speaks whilest such vast and wonderful Concerns are in agitation Methinks no sober Man can in Reason think it credible For my own part did I once believe a Lottery of such Events I should think that my next Fancy would be That Epicurus his Atoms by a lucky Hit made up that World which is so fortuitously governed in the very great Concerns of it He that allows not a determining stroke of Providence in such things May as Bishop Davenant saith avoid the suspicion of Stoicism or Manicheism but very hardly of Atheism This is the first thing These Events if unordained must needs be casual and without a Providence Neither is this to be salved by Divine Prescience Prescience as it is infallible is of things future and of determinate Verity and casual unordained Events not being such are no fit Object for it This made Episcopius doubt whether Prescience or at least the knowledge of it were necessary But might such a thing be of meer Casuals yet Prescience is not Providence Had the Epicurean Atoms rallied themselves into a World the Event though foreseen could not have been claimed by Providence as its own but must have been left to those Ethnick Names of Chance or Fortune and to the same must every unordained Event be left over which there is nothing but meer Prescience The other thing which constrains my Belief is That the holy Scripture from whence we must take our truest Measures expresly emphatically own such a Preordination of the Event not to insist on that Counsel of Ahitophel which yet observably hits the Mark only as God will have it to chastise David in the Concubines but not to destroy him in the pursuit I shall instance in others God turned his heart to hate his people Psal 105.25 God put it into their hearts to give their kingdom unto the Beast Rev. 17.17 It was of the Lord to harden their hearts Josh 11.20 The cause was from the Lord that Rehoboam hearkened not 1 Kings 12.15 Touching Absolon's Incest God saith I will do it 2 Sam. 12.12 Touching the lying Spirit he saith Go and thou shalt prevail 1 Kings 22.22 Antiochus tears and blasphemes like a Devil but that which was determined was done Dan. 11.36 The Jews crucisie the Lord of Glory but God's hand and God's counsel had determined it Act. 4.28 In such pregnant Scriptures can there be any thing less than a determining Providence or what other interpretation is tolerable May we interpret such emphatical places only of a nude Permission which leaves the Event pendulous and incertain It cannot be De Scient 219. the very Jesuite Ruiz will here confess Dei voluntate decreto consilio definitione fieri peccatorum actiones significat Scriptura But which is more valuable than Ruiz the Sensus fidelium which is one of the best Interpreters of Scripture runs this way It was not you that sent me saith Joseph The Lord hath taken away saith Job The Lord hath said Curse saith David Thou hast ordained them for judgment saith Habbakkuk of the Chaldees Still they look up to the hand of Providence in such Events And in truth what else can they do in such cases May they fear trust in or depend on Man He is but a Creature and there is a Curse in it Shall they fear trust in or depend upon God A God he is but such Events fall not under his Providence In a word These things give me such satisfaction in this Point that if Humane Reason could object what I could not answer I should yet adhere to the Truth saying with St. Austin Petrus negat Latro credit O altitudo quaeris tu rationem ego expavescam altitudinem tu disputa ego credam However I shall consider what the Author saith and first he tells us That such an ordaining is not consistent with Gods Holiness To which I answer I confess this Objection in the Remonstrants look'd to me primâ facie as a piece of Tenderness towards God lest any blot should light on the holy One they frame God's Decrees upon Prescience and suffer Man's Will to go formost in the Event of sinful Acts But remembring that even in the Event of good Actions they frame Gods Decrees upon Prescience also and let Man's Will take the Primacy it appeared to me that the great Center of all was no other than the Will of Man and from such a Center I despaired that any Divine Attribute should be truly glorified Indeed after the Scripture hath so often and pregnantly asserted a determining Providence over such Events for man to say That God is holier than so is a piece of fondness like that of the Masoreths who in the Hebrew Bible have put in some words in the Margin as cleanlier than those in the Text Nothing can be vainer than to imagine that Man should be able to draw the Picture of God's Holiness fairer than he himself hath done in Scripture or that what is spoken there touching his Providence should in the least reflect upon his Holiness But for a fuller Answer I say Gods Providence which in sinful Actions is as I take it operative of the Entity permissive of the Malice dispositive of the Order preordinative of the Event doth in none of these cast any blot on his Holiness As to the Entity God acts but as becomes the First Cause Arminius himself would have it Vt totus act us ritè Providentiae subjiciatur quà actus efficienti quà peccatum permittenti Providentiae As to the Malice God is but a Permissor Sin in the abstract hath only a deficient Cause viz. the Creature that as defectible in it self hath redire ad non esse à sel and as under a Law distinct from it self may fall short of it But God who hath no other Law but his own Perfection and can no more decline from his Rectitude than his Being is a meer Permissor As to the Order God disposes it here instead of a Blot the Glory of God breaks forth in that he hath his holy Line in the midst of the Ataxies of men either an Order of Penalty such as becomes him as the Prima Justitia or an Order of Coducibility such as sutes him as
In this latter God looks on Men as final Sinners and reveils his Justice in their Condemnation In the former he doth not look on men as final Sinners but pass them by and leave them to themselves to become such and in this he shews forth his infinite Sovereignty in dispensing Grace as he pleaseth This made the Divine Goodness so restlesly zealous Mr. Sherlock and concerned for the recovery of mankind various ways he attempted in former ages but with little success but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the world to be the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls to seek and to save that which was lost Various ways attempted Answer what distinct and separate from Christ Was not Christ in the first plot and design of our recovery Was not he the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Immediately after the Fall he was promised in the Seed of the woman and after that first Gospel the light was still a breaking out in a succession of Promises and Sacrifices Various ways saith the Author were attempted to little Success what was it to any success at all Was ever any one lost son of Adam saved without a Christ without a Satisfaction No Christian ears will endure such an opinion however God having a design in those ways as the Author imports why did not those plots take effect and save Christ the labour of coming in the flesh May it become his infinite wisdom to attempt this and that and at last light upon the right way Or may it comport with his infinite power to be posed and nonplust and that in so great a concern as Man's recovery To think so is as S. Austin saith To hazard the first Article of our Creed Euchir cap. 96. Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem And if in those various ways there could be an obstacle to the Almighty what might it be Was it for want of a satisfaction No according to our Author that was not necessary God might have pardoned without it or was it because the corrupt obstinate Will of man did frustrate those designs Very well after that last greatest design by Christ may it not do the same According to our Author God as passionately desirous and restlesly jealous as he is in this matter affords yet no higher than suasory resistible Grace and let any judge how reconcileable such opinions are with infinite wisdom or power or indeed with the Scripture which tells us That he doth whatsoever he pleases Psal 115.3 It 's true the great Grotius glosses on that place thus Ideò homo libertatem habet quia Deus voluit which is true within the Text but if that liberty be of so vast a latitude that it may frustrate so great a design as that of Salvation by Christ the truth of the Text cannot possibly consist Those sins which are not expiated by the Sacrifice of Christ as none are Mr. Sherlock till we repent and reform shall certainly be expiated by the death of the sinner I conceive that Christ expiated our sins upon the Cross Answer but that expiation avails us not till it be applied by faith He gave himself a ransom for all 2 Tim. 2.6 But all do not repent and believe such as continue in their hardness and unbelief cannot have the benefit of that ransom but fall into death eternal ever suffering but never able to satisfie or expiate their sins If our Faith in Christ have reformed our lives Mr. Sherlock and rectified the temper of our minds and made us sincere lovers of God and goodness though we are not acquainted with those artificial methods of repentance have not felt the workings of the Law nor the amazing terrors of Gods wrath nor the raging despair of damned Spirits and then all on a sudden as if we had never heard any such thing before have had Christ offered heard his woings and made a formal contract and espousal with Christ and such like workings of a heated fancy and religious distraction though our Conversion be not managed with so much art and method we are never the worse Christians for want of it Certainly it is very sad Answer saith a worthy Divine That scoffing at the doctrines of repentance and humiliation which was wont to be a badge of prophaness should be adopted into religion The Author tells us a little before Christ and his appearance were not designed to cause tempests and earthquakes in our minds without such artificial methods of repentance saith the Author our lives may be reformed and minds rectified but what saith the Scripture Our Saviour preached up repentance S. Paul tells us of a spirit of bondage going before the spirit of Adoption S. James would have sinners be afflicted and mourn and weep and to turn their laughter into mourning and their joy to heaviness and to humble themselves in the sight of the Lord that they may be lifted up And what saith Reason Sin of all things in the world calls for sorrow sorrow was made for sin if for any thing at all sin is so intimately in us that it will not easily come out being contracted with joy it must be dissolved with sorrow The hard heart unless melted by the fiery Law will not run into the Gospel-mould nor will the proud heart unless bowed down under the weight of sin and wrath ever stoop under the Divine command the new creature is not born without pangs nor the inward Circumcision which cuts off the dear but corrupt flesh of the heart done without some anguish self-judging ushers in justification before God and despair in our selves a lively hope in our Saviour On all hands we are summoned to methods of repentance the groaning Creation shames us into that posture and the indwelling sin presses us into it the broken Law calls for a broken heart and the storm of wrath black in the threatning for a trembling one a crucified Christ asks a mourning eye and an exalted one gives it Why the Author should call these penitential acts artifices or effects of ignorance or think them unnecessary or improper under the Gospel I see no just reason at all for it SECT IV. THese men abound in Scripture Mr. Sherlock but they accomodate Scripture-expressions to their own dreams and fancies being possest with Schemes and Ideas of Religion whatever they look on appears of the same shape and colour wherewith their minds are tinctured if any word sound like the tinkling of their own fancy it is no less than a demonstration that that is the meaning of the spirit of God every little shadow confirms them in their preconceived opinions As Irenaeus observes of the Valentinians that they used one artifice or other to adopt all the speeches of our Saviour and Allegories of Scripture malè composito phantasmati to the contrived figment of their own brain These acquaintances of Christ first contrive their religion and possess
discharge our load and cast it upon Christ and having brought our Souls to Christ we must commit them to his charge if they perish it will be his fault Thus St. Paul did 2 Tim. 1.12 And now we must hide our selves in Christ as the Dove in the rock Cant. 2.14 Christ's Wounds are the clefts of the rock where the believing Soul hides it self But this is not enough yet we must put on Christ Rom. 13.14 that is his Righteousness which is a most beautiful Robe to cover our nakedness if we would get the blessing we must go to God as Jacob did in the Robes of our elder Brother though this resemblance doth not very well please me For though Jacob was a good man yet this looks like a cunning trick to rob his elder Brother and cheat his blind Father and men must not think that God is thus to be imposed upon when we are united to Christ and made one with him all is ours as the Apostle tells us And now what better proof can you desire for all this if you will be contented with express words No man would have dream'd of such Interpretations of Scripture who had not been prepossest with the mysterious Notion of a fanciful Vnion to Christ and Application of Christ to us for here is no other proof of this but words and phrases separated from the body of the Text and the design of the Discourse and like straglers picked up and listed into the service of their Hypothesis The whole mystery of this and a great deal more stuff of this nature consists in wresting Metaphorical expressions to a proper sence When the Scripture describes the Profession of Christianity a sincere Belief and Obedience to the Gospel by having of Christ being in him coming to him and receiving of him these men expound these phrases to a proper natural sence to signifie I know not what unintelligible Vnion and closure of the Soul with him I never yet took any pleasure in Drollery Answer and least of all when it sports it self with Scripture which is sacred all over to the lowest Hem and Fringe of Metaphors Methinks no man can play with these but he will meet with some stops or Remora's in Conscience the tragical Stories of Theopompus and Theodectes mentioned by Josephus might serve for retractives or the Reverence of Scripture might fly in the face as the Fringe did in that Jew 's who was addressing himself to his forbidden pleasure I conceive Faith which is the Instrument of Union with Christ is not luckily but purposely and in wisdom called Coming It being as our Church tells us 1. Hom. of Faith the first coming unto God whereby we be justified And in another place 2. Hom. of the Passion The only mean and instrument of Salvation required of our parts The divine Spirit did not plant those Metaphors in Scripture as so many Flowers in a Garden in vain or to no purpose but to set and shadow forth in lively colours that excellent Grace of Faith which doth in so admirable a way unite to Christ as if it had all Motions postures and Sensations spiritually in it self to take in Christ with his incomparable Benefits into the Soul Christ is the Center of Rest rich Treasure infinite Beauty sure Foundation Rock of Salvation heavenly Covering and the very Food and Life of Souls and Faith is coming receiving embracing leaning hiding putting on and feeding on him denoting thus much to us That Faith is as I may say the commune Sensorium or common Capacity which takes in Christ and his excellent Benefits in an appropriative way into the Soul The Author indeed thinks this Union and Application of Christ to be but a Fancy but it is such an one as without which his Blood and Merits are like to avail us little or nothing as I before noted St. Austin upon that Text of receiving Christ Joh. 1.12 saith Tract in Joh. Et nos illum possideamus ipse nos possideat ille nos possideat sicut Dominus nos illum possideamus sicut salutem Gregory Nyssen as I find him quoted by Gerard saith Nos fide Christum recipere ut intra conclave nostrum quod cor nostrum est perveniat St. Chrysostome on that Text Rom. 13.14 would have us put on nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be compassed round about with Christ he would have Christ to dwell in us and to be a garment about us that he may be all to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within and without and a little after he tells us That he is the Root Food Life the Foundation Corner-stone and what not to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every way conjoyning and conglutinating us to himself That of going to God in the Robes of our elder Brother which pleases not the Author not every way suiting as indeed no Resemblance doth was hinted by no less man than St. Ambrose who saith Et odoratus est odorem vestimentorum fortasse istud est quia non operibus justificamur sed fide And for the necessity of this Application our Church hath laid it down in terminis As it profiteth a man nothing to have Salve 2. Hom. of the Passion unless it be applied to the part infected so the Death of Christ shall stand us in no force unless we apply it to our selves in such sort as God hath appointed Almighty God worketh by means and in this thing he hath ordained a certain mean what mean is that forsooth it is Faith And in another place 1. Hom. of the Sacrament our Church would have us come to the Lord's Supper not as specially regarding the terrene and earthly Creatures but always holding fast and cleaving by Faith to the Rock whence we may suck the sweetness of everlasting Salvation However the Author to whom all these are Fancies understands by such Metaphors believing and obeying the Gospel Believing the Gospel is but a dogmatical Faith not entitling us to Christ or Salvation if that be all which is meant the Glory and divine Emphasis of those Metaphors is lost and the Texts themselves must wither in a very cold and jejune Sence And for Obedience that follows after Union and as our Church tells us in the 12. Article is a fruit of Faith Thus when they talk of our spiritual impotency and inability to do any good thing Mr. Sherlock they prove it wonderfully from our being dead in trespasses and sins therefore as a dead man can contribute nothing to his own Resurrection no more can we towards our Conversion Which is true of Natural death but will be hard to prove of a Moral death which consists in the prevalency of vicious habits contracted by long custom which was the case of the Heathen whom the Apostle there speaks of which do enslave the Will that it is very difficult though not impossible for such persons to return to the love and practice of Virtue Every man
Laws which the Author after mentions calling it a conformity to his nature the new creature is not the effect of Subjection or Obedience but the cause of it true Obedience is too pure a thing to issue out of an unregenerate heart before it can come forth Enchir. cap. 106. Ipsum liberum arbitrium liberandum est As St. Austin speaks Lapsed nature must be new-natured and its deadly wound healed by regenerating Grace First according to Scripture there must be a good tree and then good fruit De Eccles Hierar cap. 2. First a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Divine state or being as Dionysius calls it and then Divine operations issuing forth in a sweet connaturalness to the Heavenly principles within To this purpose let us hear our Church 2. Hom. of Almes As the good fruit is not the cause that the tree is good but the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit so the good Deeds of men are not the Cause that maketh men good but he is first made good by the Spirit and Grace of God that effectually worketh in him and afterwards he bringeth forth good fruit As for such as are regenerate and new Creatures I acknowledge them to have the same temper of Mind with Christ and that every Grace in the new Man answers to that in Christ and morally unites to him but the Mystical Union is made by the holy Spirit and Faith which hath this above other Graces to receive Christ and incorporate us into him That place Phil. 2. of having the same mind with Christ holds out the same temper in both that in Matt. 4.11 calls us to an imitation of him that Gal. 4.19 expresses the State of the new Creature which is moulded after the Image of Christ But the other two places quoted by the Author prove the Mystical Union the one is that Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By Spirit is not meant an holy temper of Mind but the Spirit it self the very same which just before the words is called The Spirit of God and ver 11. The spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead and by which our mortal bodies shall be quickned This is that Spirit which unites us to Christ in such an admirable manner that Christ is said to be in us ver 10. St. Chrysostome on the words saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath the holy Spirit hath Christ himself the Spirit being present Christ nay the whole Trinity must be so The other is that 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit that is one and the same holy Spirit is in Christ and Believers mystically uniting them together This appears as well by the opposition of one spirit in this 17. Verse to one flesh in the 16. Verse For as the Learned Beza notes on the place Vt constet expositio exterioris corporum copulae nostrae cum Christo interoris spiritûs nomen usurpavit Apostolus as also by the after-words What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you ver 19. The holy Ghost is that one Spirit which unites Christ and Believers Hence the Reverend Vsher quoting this place among others concludes That the Mystery of our Vnion with Christ consists mainly in this that the self same Spirit which is in him as in the Head is derived from him into every one of his true Members There is yet a closer Vnion Mr. Sherlock which consists in a mutual reciprocal Love when we are transformed into the image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him as partaking of his Nature he loves us as the price of his Blood as his own workmanship created to good Works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour I acknowledge there is a Moral Union between Christ and Christians by holy Love Answer but this Moral Union supposes a Mystical one made by the Spirit and Faith Where these are not there can be no such thing as Love to Christ Hence the Apostle Eph. 3.16 17. first lays down the Mystical Union with its two Bands the Spirit in the inner man and Faith whereby Christ dwells in the heart and immediately after adds the Moral one That ye may be rooted and grounded in Love Where-ever the Mystical Union is there is holy Love to Christ What the Author afterwards adds touching God's dwelling in the Church as his Temple is so far from opposing that it points out the Mystical Union especially seeing as the Author confesses Particular Christians are in Scripture stiled the Temple of the living God That place quoted by the Author Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 is very emphatical Christians are the Temple of God and made so by the indwelling Spirit which is the bond of the Mystical Union Indeed the Author saith That the indwelling of the Spirit primarily refers to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which God in that Age bestowed on the Church this was the true Shechinah or divine Glory resting on them But I conceive the holy Spirit hath been in Believers in all Ages God dwelt in the Jewish Temple in Types and Symbols of his Presence but which was far more excellent than those outward shadows and appearances of Glory he dwelt even then by his Spirit in all true Believers The sweet strains of Devotion in David did plainly evidence that the holy Spirit was in him the spiritual Imbroidery or Needle-work in every Psalm tells us that the Finger of God was there The believing Israelites in Mannâ Christum intellexerunt saw Christ in their Manna and fed on the same spiritual Meat as believing Christians do which is a clear proof that the holy Spirit was in them The Son of God coming in the Flesh the holy Spirit was poured down in extraordinary Gifts and though those Epiphanies of divine Glory went off yet the same Spirit hath been and ever will be in Believers This our Church acknowledges 1. Hom. for Whitsunday Neither doth the holy Spirit think it sufficient inwardly to work the spiritual and new Birth of Man unless he do also dwell and abide in him And a little after our Church breaks out in an holy admiration O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the holy Ghost dwelleth in him The Apostle tells the Ephesians that they are builded for an habitation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the Spirit Eph. 2.22 Indeed the Author interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual Temple in opposition to the material one which St. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual house but I take it the Spirit it self is meant Thus Grotius as I have him quoted in the Criticks saith Non tantùm tota fidelium
is a belief of the Gospel which was confirmed by his death and believing that Christ is the Son of God the Messiah and Prophet whom God sent to reveil his will includes a general belief of the Gospel which he preached and believing that God raised him from the dead doth the same because his Resurrection was the last and great confirmation of the truth of the Gospel Hence the Apostles attribute such things to the Blood of Christ as are the proper immediate office of the Gospel-Covenant because the Blood of Christ is the Blood of the Covenant and therefore all the blessings of the Gospel are owing to it because the Gospel-Covenant was procured and confirmed by it Thus the Gentiles who were a far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ and the Gentiles and Jews were reconciled unto God in one body by the cross Eph. 2.14 15 16. That is the Gentiles were received into the fellowship of God's Church and the Jews and Gentiles united in one body Now this union of Jews and Gentiles is owing to the Gospel which takes away all marks of distinction and separation and gives them both an equal right to the blessing of the New Covenant This New Covenant belongs to all mankind there is now no distinction of persons Neither Jew nor Greek Barbarian Scythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all No man is acceptable to God because he is a Jew or Greek but the only thing of any value is Faith in Christ or a belief of the Gospel which is indifferently offered to all Now this is attributed to the Blood of Christ and to his death because thereby Christ put an end to the Mosaical Covenant and sealed this New Covenant of Grace with Mankind as the Apostle explains himself in the following verses 17.18 c. That Christ having abolished the Law of Commandments by his death he came and preached peace that is the Gospel of peace to them who were a far off to the Gentiles and to them who were nigh to the Jews he abrogated the Mosaical Law That Law of Commandments contained in ordinances which was peculiar to the Jews and separated them from the rest of the World And he broke down the middle wall of partition which kept the uncircumcised Gentiles though Proselites at a distance from God as confining their worship to the outward court of the Temple which the Apostle seems to refer to in that phrase Them that were a far off And now by the Gospel he admits the Gentiles to as near an approach to God as the Jews As he adds For through him we have an access by one Spirit to the Father vers 18. The Author enquiring Answer what influence the obedience and death of Christ have upon our acceptance with God resolves it thus All that I can find in Scripture is that to this we owe the Covenant of Grace Christ's Blood is called the Blood of the Covenant because it did seal and confirm the Covenant I answer Christ's Blood did indeed seal and confirm the Covenant But is this the all of it Socinus will own as much as this comes to Sicuti alicujus animantis sanguine fuso foedera antiquitùs sanciebantur De servat l. 1. cap. 3. confirmabantur ita Christi silii sui sanguine foedus suum novum atque aeternum quod nobiscum per ipsum Christum pepigerat sancivit confirmavit Deus Thus he telling us too that it is therefore called Sanguis aeterni foederis To the same purpose speaks the Racovian Catechist with others of the same Tribe But the Scripture tells us more of the Blood of Christ That we are justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 But saith the Author we are said to be justified by his Blood that is by the Gospel-Covenant which was confirmed with his Blood This is a strange way of interpreting Scripture We are justified by his blood that is by the Gospel We may as well go on to verse 18. and say justification of life is by the righteousness of one that is by the Gospel And to verse 19. and say We are made righteous by the obedience of one that is by the Gospel And from thence we may go on at the same rate with other Scriptures as He hath washed us from our sins in his own blood Revel 1.5 that is in his own Gospel The blood of Jesus Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God shall purge your consciences from dead works Heb. 9.14 that is the Gospel shall do it This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 that is this is my New Testament of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of fins Rather than make such work with Scripture we were as good let the Blood of our dear Lord stand there as it ought in its justifying Glory We are justified by Christ's blood that is by the Gospel And is Christ's Blood the Gospel Or where in all the Scripture is the Blood of Christ so taken The Scripture rarely if ever speaks of being justified by the Gospel but it speaks much and often of being justified by Christ's Blood It cleanses us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 It purges the conscience Heb. 9.19 It was shed for the remission of sins Eph. 1.7 It washes us from our sins Rev. 1.5 And yet all this contrary to the express words and genius of Scripture must be understood not of the Blood of Christ but of the Gospel and why of the Gospel Because his Blood confirmed the Gospel And is justifying and confirming the Gospel all one Christ's Blood according to the Author confirmed the Covenant with all Mankind but all men are not justified When the Scripture speaks of Christs Blood and Death as confirmative of the Covenant or Gospel it speaks sometimes in general of all men Thus he died for all men 2 Cor. 5.15 Hee gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.6 with many other places to the same purpose But when the Scripture speaks of Christ's Blood as justifying it speaks not in general of all but in particular of Believers only and yet if justify and confirming the Gospel were all one it might be as truly said that Christ justifies all as that he died for all The Gospel is the Charter of Justification but besides the Charter their must be a Righteousness to be the Matter of our Justification God never justifies any man without a Righteousness and what is it Is it the very Act of Faith Thus Socinus would have it De servat part 4. cap. 4. that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere is loco justitiae in the room of all Righteousness But I have before proved that Faith as an Act and absolutely in it self considered canot justifie us Or is it our inherent Graces This is the express Tenet of the Papists Thus Bellarmine would have
his death and sufferings because this was the subject of his discourse but yet these expressions His righteousness and obedience seem to take in the whole compass of his obedience in doing and suffering the Will of God and the meaning of the words is this That as God was so highly displeased with Adam's sin that he entailed a great many evils and miseries and death it self upon his posterity for his sake So God was so well pleased with the obedience of Christ's life and death that he bestows the rewards of Righteousness on those who according to the rigor of the Law are not righteous that for Christ's sake he hath made a new Covenant of Grace which pardons our past sins and rewards a sincere though imperfect obedience For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be made righteous is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be justified That is treated like righteous persons So that Christ's Righteousness is not the formal cause of our justification that very Righteousness whereby we are righteous But it is the meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous and rewarded as Righteous for the Apostle tells us in vers 17. who those are who are thus justified by Christ and shall reign with him in life not those who are Righteous by the imputation of Christ's Righteousness But those who have received abundance of Grace and the gift of Righteousness that is who by the Gospel which is the abundant grace of God are made holy and righteous as God is which Righteousness is called a gift because it is not owing solely to humane endeavours but is wrought in us by supernatural means We are made righteous by the Righteousness of Christ not that his actual obedience is reckoned as done by us which is impossible But because we are made righteous both in a proper and forensick sence by the Gospel-Covenant which is wholly owing to Gods Grace and Christ's Merits and Righteousness So that the Righteousness of Christ is our Righteousness when we speak of the foundation of the Covenant by which we are accepted but if we speak of the terms of the Covenant then we must have a righteousness of our own for the Righteousness of Christ will not serve the turn Christ's Righteousness and our own are both necessary to our Salvation the first as the foundation of the Covenant the other as the condition of it We are now arrived at that famous place Answer as by the offence of one judgement came upon all to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.18 19. The Apostle here uses two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Righteousness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Obedience both these signifie the doing of God's Will which doing for its rectitude is called Righteousness and for its subjection Obedience neither of them do properly signifie suffering Meer suffering which is not spirited with a right and subjective mind is not Righteousness or Obedience The Apostle here speaks of Righteousness in general and Obedience in general and who may pare off ought and say it is not all Christ's Righteousness or Obedience but some especially when that some the passive I mean is less properly such than the active and what necessity or cogent reason is there for doing so The Antithesis in the Text evinces the contrary Act is here set in opposition against Act Christ's Obedience against Adam's Disobedience Now for what the Author alledges I say it is true that of Christ's being obedient Phil. 2.8 reaches down to his death but it takes in all the Obedience of his life and that of Christs doing Gods will Hebr. 10.7 extends to the Sacrifice of himself but it comprises all the righteousness of his life too It is true that the Apostle in this 5. Chapter to the Romans doth first speak of Christ's Death and Sufferings but his active and passive Obedience are so near in conjunction that the Apostle may in his discourse easily pass from the one to the other Nay as I before noted when the one is expressed in Scripture the other is implied so that the Apostle doth not indeed pass from one thing to another but only vary his Phrase The Author himself confesses That those expressions his righteousness and Obedience seem to take in the whole compass of his Obedience in doing and suffering the will of God And how doth the active and passive righteousness of Christ justify us or make us righteous Why these procured that Gospel Covenant whereby we are declared righteous and rewarded as righteous Now this Interpretation may stand good when justifying and procuring the Covenant shall be what they can never be one and the same thing Christs active and passive Obedience according to the Author procured the Covenant for all Men But surely they do not justify all Men. The whole Obedience of Christ may be confidered two wayes either as it is procurative of the Covenant and so it renders us justifiable or as is it received by Faith and so it actually justifies us But neither of these can be without a Divine imputation without that first fundamental imputation which is implied in such Scripture expressions as tell us that Christ died for us the Obedience of Christ could not have rendred us justifiable any more than it doth Devils and without that second particular imputation which is implied in such Scripture expressions as tell us That we are justified by Christs Blood that we are made righteous by Christ's Obedience the Obedience of Christ could not justify us for it justifies us not as it procures the Covenant that is done according to the Author for all Men and all Men are not justified but it justifies us as it is particularly made ours and made ours it cannot be without an Imputation According to the Author the Apostle must be interpreted thus By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all unto Justification of life that is by the righteousness of one the Covenant was procured and so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous that is by the obedience of one the Covenant was procured But this Interpretation is so harsh and strange that I suppose few will be able to receive and own it But the Author tells us That the Apostle in ver 17. acquaints us who the justified are not those who are righteous by imputed righteousness but those who by the Gospel which is the grace of God are made righteous as God is But by the grace of God vers 17. is not meant the Gospel but the rich mercy of God and by the gift of righteousness there is not meant inherent graces but the righteousness of Christ which is made over to us by a gracious imputation the very same righteousness which is called the
he be a Christian whether he heartily believe and obey the Gospel and herein consists our Vnion 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 The Author Answer who hitherto hath highly though without cause charged his opposites with violating the evidences of Christians doth now himself blast the highest of all evidences the Testimony of the holy Spirit which is so clealy asserted by the holy Apostle that the Jesuits themselves though hotly disputing against assurance never yet attempted totally to deny it The Testimony of the Spirit saith the Author concerns the general adoption of Christians not to testifie to any particular man It is not a private but a publick Testimony given to the whole Church But let us consider the Text it self in the Apostle The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 The Spirit the Apostle speaks not of the Spirit as shewing forth it self in Miracles and Tongues but as sanctifying and sealing Believers he speaks of the spirit dwelling in them vers 9. Mortifying the deeds of the body in them vers 13. Leading of them vers 14. Making them cry Abba Father vers 15. And then follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the self same spirit beareth witness Here is not one jot or tittle of Miracles or Tongues the testimony of the Spirit in Miracles or Tongues is an external one which runs into the senses But the Testimony of the Spirit in the Text is internal it beareth witness not to our senses but to our Spirits It is said to be sent forth into our hearts Gal. 4.6 The Testimony is not without in Miracles or Tongues but within in the heart The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit the Apostle saith not it beareth witness with the Spirit of the Church for there is one body and one spirit the Spirit of the Church Catholick is the holy Spirit which quickens the whole Mystical Body of Christ And these words The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit cannot be translated thus The Spirit beareth witness with it self but the plain meaning is It beareth witness with our spirit that is with the spirits and consciences of particular Believers And what doth it testifie The Apostle tells us That we are the children of God We particular Believers are so Thus in another place ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise Eph. 1.13 Ye particular Believers were so And again He hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 He hath dealt so with us in particular The Testimony of the Spirit in the Gospel is that all Believers are the Sons of God But the Testimony of the Spirit in our spirits is that we are Believers and so the Sons of God in particular This Testimony of the Spirit though so fully asserted in Scripture Nay and I will add though so sweetly experimented by the dear Saints of God that they have thought themselves in the very borders of Heaven in respect of it is yet with the Author no better than a dim unintilligible notion and as he speaks a little before a private Enthusiasm But why unintelligible cannot the holy Spirit so illustrate and irradiate the heart that the truth of Grace may appear to the Believer that he may certainly see in his own heart that this is precious Faith and that is love in incorruption and so of other Graces there Or what if it were unintelligible Shall we cast off the Divine Revelation because above our narrow reason What then must become of those Mysteries of the Trinity and hypostatical Union What of that peace of God which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passing or transcending all understanding Phil. 4.7 Surely in such things reason must vail and do homage to Revelations Ephraem Syrus discerning an heretical propensity in his Disciple Paulinus gave him that excellent advice Vide Pauline ne te submittas tuis cogitationibus sed cum te perfecte comprehendisse Deum putaveris crede nec intellexisse We must not commit Divine Mysteries to the measures of Humane Reason but take them as they are in Scripture But this Testimony of the Spirit is but a private Enthusiasm saith the Author To which I answer We are now more afraid of Enthusiasm than they were of old Dyonisius would have the Hierarch to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Eccles Hierarch to be a divine man and a kind of Euthusiast Ignatius in the Epistle to the Romans saith That he wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum arbitrium Dei as if he had wrote by impulse and Inspiration And as Dr. Arrowsmith hath it in Suidas and Hesykius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enthusiasm is when the whole soul is irradiated by God And in this sence I wish with him Vtinam essemus omnes Enthusiastae Would we were all Enthusiasts It s true there is not now an Enthusiasm of gifts in an extraordinary way but sure there must be still in the use of the means an Enthusiasm of Graces in Regeneration and an Enthusiasm of comforts in the Testimony of the Spirit or else which is quite contrary to Scripture there must be no new Creatures but what are of Mans own making nor no Divine comforts for them but what are of Mans own gathering The Just need no longer live by Faith or in dependence upon the Divine Spirit but may have his being and well-being his graces and comforts all from himself CHAP. V. Sect. 1. CHrist hath reveiled the whole mind and will of God Mr. Sherlock in such a plain and familiar manner that every one may understand it who will but exercise the same reason in it that he doth to understand the Laws of his Prince Before the Author took away the witnessing Spirit now the illuminating one Answer A Man may according to him understand the things of God by the exercise of his reason Thus Episcopius Men may by meer natural perception without any supernatural superinfused light understand the Will of God After the same manner speak the Socinians The darkness for such are all the unregenerate Men may it seems comprehend the Evangelical light But the Apostle tells us That the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 That flesh and blood doth not reveil these things but our Father in Heaven Matth. 16.17 Hence the Apostle prays for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the Ephesians Ephes 1.17 Hence our Church tells us 2. Hom. of Scripture That the Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the true meaning of Scripture into us In truth we cannot without him attain true saving knowledge According to these Men Mr. Sherlock the love of Christ is a love to the person of a Believer without considering any