unless we become one person with him and therefore though the Doctor be so careful to tell us that our Union to Christ is an Union of Persons but no Personal Union that we are not transformed into the Essence and Being of Christ so as to be Christed with Christ yet indeed there is no other way to make the Personal Righteousness of Christ our personal righteousness which is the righteousness required of us but by a Personal Union to Christ by being Christed with Christ as some speak how boldly soever yet very agreeably to these Principles But Thirdly Let us consider what truth there is in what he asserts That in the Law the debtor and the surety are but one person the Law looks upon them but as one and therefore both are equally liable to the debt and if the one pay it it is as much in the eye of the Law as if the other had paid it which he makes the Foundation of the Imputation of Christs Righteousness and Satisfaction to us because he being our surety we are but one person with him that is legally not personally one person as he warily distinguishes Now there needs no great skill in the Law to discover the weakness and Sophistry of this Discourse for no considering man can think it indifferent who pays the debt the surety or the debtor or that they are both equally obliged to it the debtor is the immediate debtor still and the surety only is obliged in case the other refuse or be unable to pay the debt and that is some little difference but then though the creditor be satisfied whether the debt be paid by the debtor or his surety and the Law will allow him no farther Action against either of them yet the Law doth not account it indifferent which of them pay it for though it permit the payment to be exacted from the surety in case the debtor refuse yet it will look back again and allow the surety an Action against the debtor for such a refusal which is an Argument that the Law doth not judge them one Person nor think it indifferent which of them pays the debt Thus it is in other cases if a man be surety for the appearance of another which is called giving Bail and is sometimes admitted in Criminal Causes the Law doth not judge them one Person for if the Prisoner escape the Bail or Surety shall be punisht according to the nature of the Fact and yet the Prisoner is not quitted by this means but liable either to the Arrest of the Surety or in Criminal Causes to the Sentence of the Law if ever he be re-taken Thus in Sureties for good Behaviour which sounds as if it were nearest of kin to the Imputation of Christs Righteousness as our surety though the surety be never so innocent and vertuous a person himself this will not serve him for whom he is surety but if he prove a Villain they shall be both punisht So that humane Laws are strangers to this Mystery of imputing the Righteousness of a Surety to a bad man Suretiship doth not so unite their persons that whatever one doth is always and to all purposes imputed to the other and if this will not hold good among mâ—n it is a very sorry foundation for this bargain and exchange betwixt Christ and Believers That he should take their sins upon himself and impute his Righteousness to them Let us now try whether the notion of a Mediator can do any better service than the notion of a Surety which is the second way of explaining this legal Union betwixt Christ and Believers which entitles them to all that Christ hath done or suffered and what this means we may learn from Dr. Owen who gives us this account of it 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 This is well said if it were as well proved and because this is a matter of great consequence I shall first examine those reasons the Dr. alledges to prove That Christ fulfilled all Righteousness as he was Mediator in their stead whose Mediator he was Secondly to avoid calumnies and objections I shall shew you briefly what influence the Righteoeusness of Christs life and the Sacrifice of his death have upon our acceptance with God As for the first we have some reason to require good proof of this since the notion of a Mediator includes no such thing A Mediator is one who interposes between two differing parties to accommodate the difference but it was never heard of yet that it was the office of a Mediator to perform the terms and conditions himself Moses was the Mediator of the first Covenant Gal. 3. 9. and his office was to receive the Law from God and to deliver it to the people and to command them to observe those Rites and Sacrifices and Expiations which God had ordained but he was not to fulfil the Righteousness of the Law for the whole Congregation thus Christ is now the Mediator of a better Covenant and his Office required that he should preach the Gospel which contains the terms of peace and reconciliation between God and men and since God would not enter into Covenant with sinners without the intervention of a Sacrifice he dyes too as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the sins of the world and confirms and seals this new Covenant with his own blood and being risen again from the dead he executes this Office of Mediator with power and glory that is he intercedes for us according to the terms and conditions of this new Covenant to obtain the pardon of our sins and the assistance of the divine Grace to do the will of God and all those other blessings which are promised but the Office of Mediator doth not oblige him to fulfil the Righteousness of the Covenant for us this I am sure doth not so exactly fall in with the case and notion of Mediatorship among men But before we examine their proofs it is necessary to consider what it is they would prove that is what that Righteousness is which they say Christ as our Mediator fulfilled for us and Dr. Owen is very exact and curious in stating this matter and distinguishes between the several sorts of Righteousness in Christ that we may know what belongs to us and what is peculiar to himself First he tells us of an habitual Righteousness of Christ as Mediator in his humane Nature which was the absolute compleat exact conformity of the Soul of Christ to the mind will or law of God or his perfect habitual Inherent Righteousness now he tells us that this Righteousness was the necessary effect of the Grace of Union that is of the Union of the Divine and
that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Eph. 5. 25 26. Upon which account we may well be called the Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones vers 30. the Church being as it were taken out of his crucified Body as the Woman was taken out of the Man as Christ is said to have reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 21 22. because the Covenant of Grace which is the Foundation of the Christian Church and receives Gentiles as well as Jews was sealed with the blood of Christ so that the Church is taken out of the crucified body of Christ which in the mystical sense answers to the Womans being taken out of the Man which seems to be the Apostles meaning in that place For the same reason Christ ownes himself our Friend Ioh. 15. 14. Ye are my friends if you do what soever I command you which does not signifie such an equality betwixt Christ and us as there is betwixt friends nor encourage any rudeness and unbecoming familiarity in our addresses to him but acquaints us with the nature of his government that he will rule his Church with the same care and tenderness which one friend expresseth to another So that all this is a description of the state of the Gospel in which our Lord and Master is our Shepherd our Head and Husband our Friend and Saviour who hath redeemed and purchased us with his own blood who laid the Foundation of his spiritual Kingdom in the most surprising and astonishing goodness and exerciseth his authority in all the methods of love and compassion Upon which account God also hath now laid aside in a great measure that severe name of a King and calls himself our Father to assure us of his fatherly care and government and to signifie that liberty of Sons we now enjoy under the Gospel in opposition to the bondage and servitude of the Law of Moses But then we must observe farther that though Christ be our Lord and Governour he doth not govern us immediately by himself for He is ascended up into Heaven where he powerfully intercedes for his Church and by a vigilant Providence superintends all the affairs of it but hath left the visible and external conduct and government of his Church to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his name and by his authority in the first Ages of Christianity Christ conferred such extraordinary gifts on men as qualified them for so great an office Eph. 4. 8. c. But though these miraculous gifts ceased when the Gospel was fully published and sufficiently confirmed yet the offices still continue for the instruction and government of the Church though managed in more ordinary and humane ways Christ now governs his Church by men who are invested with his authority which is a plain demonstration of what I discoursed above that the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by their Union with the Christian Church which consists in their regular subjection to their spiritual Guides and Rulers and in concord and unity among themselves For if our Union to Christ consists in our subjection to him as our Lord and Master our Head and Husband and this authority is not immediately exercised by Christ himself but by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church it necessarily follows that we cannot be united to Christ that is cannot owne his authority and government till we unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians and submit to the publick Instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church as no man can be said to submit himself to his Prince who denies subjection to those subordinate Magistrates who act by his Princes Commission for the Union of Bodies Politick such as the Christian Church is consists in Order and Government when all the Members keep their proper places and are knit to each other by a faithful discharge of their several offices and trusts Schismaticks are in the Church just as Rebels are in the Kingdom not as part of it but as open and profest Enemies but the Apostle tells us wherein the Unity of the Church consists in Eph. 4. 16. Christ is the Head from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love That is the supreme power is invested in Christ as Head to whom the Church is obedient and subject but to make this Union firm and lasting there must be a regular subordination of the several Members and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices which is the most effectual way to advance their spiritual growth in all Christian graces and especially to increase that love and friendship which is the very life and soul of the Church This indeed supposes a visible Society of Christians professing the Faith of Christ and living in communion with each other for if there be no such visible Society as it may happen in times of persecution or some great degeneracy of the Church it must of necessity alter the case our Union to Christ then consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us Members of the Universal Church though there be no particular Church to communicate with but when there is a visible Church we are under the necessary obligations of a visible Communion because herein our subjection to the Authority of Christ and consequently our Union to him consists And this by the way gives a plain account of the only cause that can justifie our separation from any Society of Christians for our Union with the Christian Church being the Medium of our Union to Christ while the Church we live in acknowledges the Authority and submits to the Laws of Christ we are bound to live in Communion with it because this unites us to Christ. When nothing is made the condition of our Communion which is expresly forbid by the Laws of our supreme Lord we acknowledge his Authority in our subjection to our spiritual Guides and we disowne his Authority in disowning and affronting theirs as our Saviour tells his Apostles He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. But when any Church prevaricates in the Laws of Christ corrupts his Religion and undermines the fundamental design of it which is to make men good and vertuous when we cannot obey our spiritual Rulers without disobeying the express Laws of Christ the reason of our Communion with such a Church ceases because it doth not answer nay contradicts the end of Christian Society which is to have fellâ—wship with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. For in this case we cannot owne their authority but we must
such Laws as came upon us by occasion of sin and therefore an innocent man cannot be obliged by them but why not Though they were at first commanded upon occasion of sin an innocent man may observe them to good and wise purposes as publick and solemn Acts of Worship as external and visible expressions of devotion as a publick profession of Righteousness and a vertuous life to which purposes among others the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law and the Baptism of Iohn served And if there were no other reason this were sufficient that it becomes an innocent man to set an example of reverence to all Divine Institutions that every conceited Religionist who may be far enough from being innocent may not presently conceit himself above all Forms and external Worship as the Doctor knows who are too apt to do But this is not worth contending about for the Righteousness of the Ceremonial Law could never justifie any man and therefore if Christ had fulfilled this Law for us it could have availed us nothing Nor can I understand why the Doctor should suppose that Christ fulfilled the Ceremonial Law for all Believers when the greatest part of them the Gentiles were never under the obligation of it His second Argument to prove that what Christ did as Mediator that is the actual obedience of his life he did for us and in our stead is this that there can be no other reason assigned of Christs obedience to the Law of God but only this that he did it in our stead Now this Argument would be good were it true and were there not a great many things done which we cannot assign the reason of and yet done for great and weighty reasons but it appears from what I have already discoursed that there was sufficient reason why Christ should obey the Laws of God viz. because he was as much bound to it as any other man is But to wave this let us consider how he manages this Argument he takes it for granted as he is very apt to do things which he cannot prove that if Christ were not bound to obey these Laws upon his own account it must be either for us or to fit him for his death and oblation but it was not to fit him for his death and oblation therefore it was for us for he tells us That he answered all Types and was every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit to be made an Offering for sin by his Union and habitual Grace so that if the obedience Christ performed be not reckoned to us and done upon our account there is no just cause to be assigned why he should live here in the World so long as he did in perfect obedience to all the Laws of God had he dyed before there had been perfect innocence and perfect holiness by his habitual Grace and infinite vertue and worth from the dignity of his Person and surely he yielded not that long course of all manner of obedience but for some great and special purposes in reference to our Salvation yes truly it was for some great and special purpose in reference to our Salvation that Christ lived so long in the World and consequently yielded such a long course of all manner of obedience to God but must this needs be his actual fulfilling all Righteousness for us What do you think of his preaching the Gospel throughout all Iudaea which required that he should be a man before he did it and would take up some time in doing it What do you think of those many Miracles which he wrought for the confirmation of his Doctrine What do you think of training up his Apostles to succeed him in his Ministry as eye and ear witnesses of his Miracles and Doctrine Nay what do you think of the holy example of his life which was no less necessary than his Laws These were all great and special purposes in reference to our Salvation though we should suppose him fit to have been a Sacrifice as Herod designed he should have been as soon as he was born though by the way I think he could not have answered the Types and Predictions of him had he died so soon notwithstanding his perfect innocence and perfect holiness His third reason to prove that Christ performed all Righteousness for us is from the absolute necessity of it for this is the term of the Covenant do this and live life is not to be obtained unless all be done that the Law requires that is still true if thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments they must be kept by us or by our Surety so that we being unable to yield that compleat and perfect obedience which the Law requires as the condition of life and happiness it is necessary that Christ our Mediator and Surety should fulfil the Law for us Now the best that can be made of this argument is that it proves it ought to be so but it does not prove that it is so just like the Papists alledging the necessity of an infallible judge to prove that the Pope or Church of Rome is infallible but such arguments prove nothing but the arrogance and presumption of the disputant who will undertake to prescribe methods to God and to prove that he ought to have done so when it does not appear that he has done so the sum of this argument is that there never was nor ever can be a Covenant of Grace that God still exacts the rigorous perfection of the Law from us and that we must not appear before him without a compleat and perfect righteousness of our own or of another now this is the thing in Question whether we must be made Righteous with the perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed to us or whether God will for the sake of Christ dispense with the rigour of the Law and accept of a sincere and Evangelical obedience instead of a perfect and unsinning Righteousness so that he only confidently affirms what was in dispute and this goes for an argument Thus you see how weak their reason is let us now examine their Scripture evidence and the Dr. makes a great flourish with some Scripture phrases that there is almost nothing that Christ hath done but we are said to do it with him we are Crucified with him we are dead with him and buried with him and quickned together with him c. In the acting s of Christ there is by vertue of the compact between him as Mediator and the Father such an assured foundation laid of the Communication of the fruit of these actings unto those in whose stead he performed them that they are said in the participation of these fruits to have done the same things with him But he is quite out in the reason of these expressions which is not that we are accounted to do the same things which Christ did for the things here mentioned belong to the peculiar Office of his Mediation which he told us before