fitted to return the Glory due to a Redeemer which an unhumbled unbelieving unconverted unsanctified Sinner could not possibly be 2 The Death of Christ devested of those its proper respects of a Sacrifice offered to God to atone and reconcile him a price paid to ransom and redeem us and a Punishment born to satisfie Divine Iustice was no infallible proof of the Doctrine which he preached For 1. Many have laid down their lives to Abett and endured extremity of Tortures rather than renege the Doctrine they have openly preached their Confidence the mean while supported either by a mistaken Conscience or perhaps some sinister respects All that it can prove in the largest judgment of Charity is That they suppose their Doctrine to be true or else would hardly lose their All rather than lose a Principle but not that therefore the Doctrine is true because the Preacher dies for it That which is false in it self will not become true by laying down our life for it In the Memory of the last Age there were some who sacrificed their lives to the Flames in defence of Contradictory Doctrines So that to say that the Death of Christ has no other use but To confirm the Truth of that Doctrine which he preacht is but a more modest civil and gentle way of saying it has no use at all 2. To whom should the Death of Christ confirm the Truth of his Doctrine to his Enemies or his Friends For his Enemies Many of his Sufferings the very greatest and sorest of his Sufferings were out of their notice either privately in the Garden or more privately in his Soul such as whereof they could take no cognizance and for these which were visible they looked on them as the just rewards of his violation of the Law As for his Friends his Death considered singly in it self without respect to its proper Ends was so far from confirming of their Faith or Belief of his Doctrine that it was that which shook their hopes and dasht their expectations out of countenance their Hearts died in his Death and those two expressed the Sense of more than their own diffidence Luk. 24. We trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel But whether to Friends or Enemies the Death of Christ considered without his antecedent Miracles and subsequent Resurrection and concomitant Sacrifice was so improper a means to confirm that it had proved the clearest Confutation of his Doctrine that malice could have desired 3. The Death of Christ was so far from confirming this Doctrine That God would pardon Sinners that separate this one Consideration of it as satisfactory to Divine Iustice from his Death and it quite overthrows the credibility of the Doctrine and runs all the World down into utter despair For our Author must have a happy dexterity if he can conclude that because God dealt so severely with an innocent holy Person that therefore he will not fail to pardon repenting Sinners We must despair that ever repentance should make us personally equal with Christ If then God did these things in the green Tree what will be done in the Dry If Iudgment begun at God's own House where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear He that spared not his own Son how much less will he spare the Sinner It could not be expected that any should believe Christ telling them God would pitty and pardon others who found him so severe to himself But that indeed the true Reason why God deals so graciously with the repenâ—…ing Sinner is because he had dealt so justly with his own Son voluntarily becoming his Surety and Substitute 4. There were proper proofs designed by God for the Confirmation of the Doctrine of Christ and no need at all to take sanctuary in that which nakedly considered was not so Those frequent clear stupendious Miracles wrought by Christ were fully adequate and commensurate to that End Reason will teach us to believe that God will not alter the course of Nature nor reverse its standing Laws to confirm a Lye to bear witness to a grand Imposture And surely they who would not believe Christ to be sent of God upon his Testimony to him in those Extraordinary Works would never believe it for his Death which was no wonder at all otherwise than as the fruit of his ineffable Love offering himself to God as a Sacrifice for Sin and so indeed it was the greatest Wonder of them all The Enemies of Christ triumpht in his Death that they had nailed his Cause with his Person to the Cross and that which they feared was his Resurrection A Miracle so far beyond all exception to confirm that he was sent of God and therefore his Doctrine must needs be true that their greatest care was to have prevented it by sealing the Stone and setting a Watch. 5. But supposing that the Death of Christ had confirmed his Doctrine and particularly this That God would pardon and save the Believing and Obedient Sinner Yet still what influence has this upon our Acceptance with God Will God accept our Obedience the more because we have greater helps to obey May our duty expect a greater Reward because we come easier by it But when all is said that our Author can say it 's our Obedience that hath the Influence upon our Acceptance with God and Christ's Death has only an Influence upon our Obedience The same Obedience given to the Commands of the Gospel without the motive of his Death had found equal if not greater Acceptance from him than when drawn from us by so cogent an Argument But if the Death of Christ may be said to have any influence upon our Acceptance with God because he thereby confirmed his Doctrine then the Death of the Martyrs also may be said to have an Influence upon our Acceptance with him for they by their Death 's confirmed the Truth which they preacht which Truth was the true Covenant of Grace And whereas many of them laid down their Lives with that Heroical Magnanimity with that gallantry of Spirit with more than that boasted Stoical valour kissing the Stake embracing the Flames triumphantly singing in the midst of their Torments professing they felt no more pain than in a Bed of Roses as if they were to ascend Heaven in that fiery Chariot to the Confutation of their Enemies the encouraging of their Friends and the credit of that Gospel they died for evidently assuring all that they were immediately supported from above to bear with patience nay with exultation those extremities which to Flesh and Blood were intolerable We see our Blessed Saviour on the contrary in his Sufferings strangely dejected amazed troubled in Soul earnestly begging that if it were possible that Cup might pass from him and crying out in the bitterness of his Soul That he was forsaken of God which consideration is enough to satisfy an impartial Enquirer That the Sufferings of Christ were fitted for some higher design than the confirming of
declared her Judgement And I will not conceal it This was one thing that quickned me to undertake this Province when I saw how readily some men could snatch the Pen to under-write what with the same Hand and Pen and Breath they intended to Confute or if not to Confute yet however to Deride Upon a serious Reflection on these things Remembring somewhere a Passage of Austin That he would have every man that can hold a Pen write against Pelagius that sworn Enemy to the Free Discriminating and Effectual Grace of God and Remembring also the Command of the Apostle Iude v. 3. To contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints I thought we had as good a License to plead for Christ and his Truth here at the Footstool who pleads for us according to his Truth upon the Throne as any man can pretend to plead against them And therefore to deal Freely with my Reader I judg'd it my Duty rather to lament than imitate that Deep and Dead Silence of those who are equally concern'd with and better qualified for the Work than my self to give some Check to this growing Petulancy and sawcy Humour of daily encroaching Prophaneness A poor Man came once to a Learned Physician for Advice but first he would know Whether it was safe to take Physick in Dog-dayes His Physician replyed no more but this If it be lawfull to be sick it 's lawfull to be well at any time of the Year I shall apply it no further than this If this Author be qualified to Oppose every true Christian is qualified to Defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ For the Dispute is not now about Decency and Order about Fringes and Philacteries about the tything of Mint Anise or Cummine nor about a Pin or Peg in the Superstructure of the Churches Polity nor about the three Innocent Ceremonies but about The Influence of the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death upon our Acceptance with God about the Interest of the Blessed Spirit in the glorious Work of the New Creation Whether Christ be a proper Priest or no Whether as a Priest he Offer'd himself as a proper Sacrifice to God or no Whether God and Man are Reconciled and we Redeemed from the Curse of the Law by the Blood of Iesus or no Whether we are Iustified before the Just and Holy God by our own Righteousness or by the Righteousness of a Mediator And in a word Whether the Death of Christ be the proper and immediate Cause of any one single Blessing great or small of the Covenant of Grace In which the Concerns all the Eternal Hopes of every Christian are wrapt up and wherein that he may not mistake and so Finally miscarry as 't is the unseigned Design of these Papers so 't is the Earnest Prayer of READER Thy Servant in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour IESUS CHRIST N. N. CHAP. I. Containing an Answer to the First Chapter concerning the Name Christ The Offices of Christ c. IT was a Question stated by the Curious Why Homer should begin his Iliads with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Answer had a spice of the same vanity because forsooth Anger is blind Let none be so Hypercritical as to enquire Why our Author commences his Discourse wâ—…th ALL ERROUR nor any so hasty to Reply Because he intends to continue the Metaphor and carry on the Humour proportionably to the End but hear him out All â—…rour hath some Appearance of Truth to which if you shall adde and All Truth may have some Appearance of Errour You have then his Syllabus Capitum the Marrow and Contents of Five long Chapters with their Sections Paragraphs and goodly Periods spun out into Four hundred thirty and two Pages The whole dividing it self into these two general Heads Blanching of Heresie and smutting of Truth The Gentleman Alwayes took it for granted that Christ and his Religion were very well agreed and he is still of the same Mind that his Person is not at Oddes with his Gospel but it seems there are some who have made as irreconcileable a difference betwixt the Religion of Christs Person and of his Gospel as between the Law and Grace p. 3. It was no smaller a Name than that of the great Socrates who curst the Man whoever he was that first distinguisht between Bonum Utile and Honestum and I must confess I have no small Pike against that Generation of Men who have made Two Religions of one and then set them both together by the Ears Whether there be any such on this side Utopia I shall not determine but this I will 'T is highly expedient nay absolutely necessary that some such there should be for else what will become of all that heavy Dinne our Author has raised upon that one Supposition and with what a ruefull Clutter will the Superstructure fall upon the Head of the Architect who has rear'd it full five stories high upon that single Hypothesis To prevent which fatal Inconvenience I would humbly Advise the Persons concern'd in the Charge to plead Guilty to the Indictment if they may do it with a good Conscience and not to be so uncivil and disingenuous as to render an Exceâ—…lent Author Ridiculous And yet if what he tells us be true That the Gospel of Christ be as severe a Dispensation as the Law I see not what Great Disparagement it can prove to the Religion of his Person and his Gospel to be at as great a Feud as the Law and Grace A mistake then there is somewhere or other which though we poor dull Mortâ—…ls could not discover our Authors piercing Eye had soon observ'd the ground of it viz. That some men wherever they meet the word Christ alwayes understand by it the Person of Christ p. 4. That was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it seems the Spring of all this mischief And if they do not so understand and misunderstand to boot there 's no way to Deliver His Discourse from two little silly Scapes of Impertinency and Superfluity nor any warrant to justifie the reviling of those Men for expounding Faith in Christ and Hope in Christ of a fiducial Relyance and Recumbency on Christs Person in contradistinction to Obedience to his Laws For the very truth is as I shall acquaint my Reader privately betwixt him and me Those Persons whom he reflects upon with so much sâ—…ornfull Indignation do not in the least urge Faith in Christ in opposition to Obedience onely they judge That an Evangelical Obedience to the Commands of the Gospel must as indispensibly follow Faith in Christs Person as it must necessarily precede Eternal Life and Salvation revealed promised and purchased by Christ It 's no Question then with Them Whether Obedience to the Gospel shall have a Place a great Place but what is the Proper place of that Obedience But this I speak onely under the Rose being loath to nip the blossoming hopes I have conceived of
would at first imagine and that is an Acquaintance with Christs Person which if we will believe some men is the onely Fountain of saving Knowledge And is it grown such an unpardonable Crime in England to be acquainted with or to have any Knowledge of Christs Person by his Gospel Are these things grown so inconsistent all o th' sudden It 's not so very long since that our Author could allow that the Greatness of his Person as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man was of some Consideration and that Consideration of some good use too we were told what Credit his Person gave to his Laws what repute it brought to his Doctrine what value it procured to his Sacrifice and what Influence it had upon the great Ends of Religion and are his Person and Gospel so fallen out of late that there 's no hopes of an Accommodation What our Author may doe I know not but other men I am sure have learn'd to distinguish betwixt a King and his Laws though they do not oppose them and to put a difference between a Prophet and his Revelations without creating differences between them they can look upon a Priest and his Sacrifice as two things and yet not as contrary things to consider Christ and his Gospel under distinct and yet not under inconsistent Notions Oh! but the Quarrel lyes a great deal deeper That they make the Person of Christ the onely Fountain of saving Knowledge I confess I could not expect that they should scape without a Chiding who say Christ's Person is the Fountain of saving Knowledge when the Apostle himself could not escape a Nip for calling him the onely Foundation p. 105. And yet as it has been accounted discretion not to throw away our foul Water till we have got fair so some I perceive are resolved not to leave their Confidence in Christ till our Author can show them a stronger bottom for Faith nor to despise Christ as the Fountain of Knowledge till he has discovered them one both fuller and freer of that which concerns their Salvation They will own the Gospel to be the Conduit which Conveighs to us the Knowledge of God but they are somewhat bold to assert Christ to be the Fountain that fills it They own the Gospel to be the next immediate Cause which Derives saving Knowledge to us but yet Christ is the Original Spring whence all true saving Knowledge of God is Derived and they are the more confirmed in it because Christ himself spoke a word John 1. 18. That no man had seen God at any time the only Begotten Son who was in the Bosome of the Father He hath revealed Him But yet say what you will or can There is another Notion of the Knowledge of Christ very distinct from our Authors The true meaning whereof is no more than this That it 's better so Excellent a Book had been Written upon a false Ground than none at all and that it 's more desireable to run upon a sleeveless Errand than to sit still And this is enough to stay any mans Stomach by way of Repetition what gallant Feats our Author has done in the former Section A Taste of his Modesty and Ingenuity follows For he will not envy the Author the glory of the Discovery and will therefore honestly confess where he had it For he who would be loath that any should Rob him of the glory of his rare Discoveries upon Ephes. 4. 20. is as unwilling to be accounted a pilfering Plagiary one that Filches his Notions from others and will not own his Benefactors Now the great Grievance lies against a Book Intitled Communion with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost distinctly Written by John Owen D. D. And here I must openly profess that I have no Commission either from this Gentleman or those others Concern'd in the Reproaches of our Author to Vindicate their Names or Interpose in their Concerns they need not my Defence and Vindication they are of Age to answer for themselves and would certainly do it but that they are Discouraged by an Old French Diverb Le jeune vault pas La chandelle The Game will not pay for the Candle And perhaps they may be of his Temper who could not be perswaded to wrest that dull Creature that is sometimes free of his Hoof. What I therefore write is by vertue of a general Warrant In a Common Invasion every one is supposed to be Listed against the Common Enemy and a charitable Bucket will not be refused towards the Quenching of a general Fire Every Christian has his Concerns in Truth and if it be lawful to Oppose it it may be presumed lawful too to Defend it Not waiting therefore till I receive express Order nor fearing the Fate of that noble Person who was Sentenced to Death by his own Father because he Fought though he Routed the Enemy without Command I shall Impartially consider what his loud Clamour against these Persons fignifies and whether the Fleece do answer the Cry of his Hog-shearing Our Author begins with Doctor Owen and from amongst all the Books that he has Publisht he has singled out that Practical piece of Communion with God This some think was most absurdy and disingenuously done to wave his Polâ—…mical writings wherein he has of set purpose Stated and Handled these very Points and fall Foul upon a Practical one which meant him no Harm But they that so Judge must Excuse me if I think otherwise and that it was most Politickly and Advisedly done for surely might he think if ever I take the Doctor Napping and Trip up his Heels it must be where he never Dreamt of an Enemy And yet so unluckily has it fallen out that as if he had been aware of After-claps and written his Book by Prophesie he has so warily Exprest himself that none need fear to be his Second or despair of his Faire and clear Vindication His first and great Quarrel is against these words Commun p. 88. Christ is not only the Wisdom of God but made Wisdom to us not only by Teaching us Wisdom as He is the Great Prophet of the Church but also because by the Knowledge of Him we become Acquainted with the Wisdom of God which is our Wisdom The summe of which is asserted in Terms Col. 2. 3. In Him dwell all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge The Reader is bound to presume that some great Mischief must needs Lurk in these words if one could find it out though as to us poor Dim-sighted Mortals there 's nothing but what might have Travelled safely upon the Road without a Hue and Cry and raising the Posse Comitatus against â—…t That Christ is the Wisdom of God and made Wisdom to us is the express Language of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 24. 30. That He Teaches us Wisdom carrys the same Scripture Credentials along with it That He is the great Prophet of the Church is Voucht by the same Authority that by our knowing of Him
Nature and the Rules that he shall prescribe to him and therefore 3. Agreeable to his holy Nature and holy Law it shall not be with the Righteous after the way of the Wicked nor with the Wicked after the way of the Righteous for the Iudge of the whole Earth must do right This God has revealed and we believe and as much more as shall be made known to us to be of his Revelation But that God is so indifferent about Sin as these men would perswade us that those Scoffers Zeph. 1. 12. The Lord will not doe good neither will he doe evil did charge God wisely we do not believe but that he insists upon the Honour of his Attributes the Credit of his Laws the Vindication of his Authority which Ends if they may be otherwise attained than by Christ and his Sacrifice yet our Author has not yet discover'd to us the Way and however he has confessed that Christ is the best and most effectual Means of attaining them There are a few drops which follow this Storm yet behind The Doctor had said p. 96 97. That God does sometimes bear with Sinners and forbear them long and yet there may be no special design of Mercy in it neither But now evidently and directly the End of the Patience and Forbearance of God which is exercised in Christ and discovered in him to us is the saving and bringing unto God those towards whom he is pleased to exercise them God is now taking a Course in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness that we may not be destroyed notwithstanding our sins which a little before p. 97. sect 15. he explains to be by leading us to Repentance Now I knew it would be no difficult task to a willing Mind to put an ugly Vizor upon the fairest Face which thus he has done As before the least Sin could not escape without a just Punishment c. so now the Iustice of God being satisfied by the Death of Christ the greatest Sins can do us no harm but we shall be saved notwithstanding our sins But I doubt our Author will be miserably disappointed in his Markets and lose Money by his dirty Ware 1. The least Sin cannot escape without Punishment Very true we own it The wages of Sin is Death the Threatning is level'd at Sin as Sin and therefore against all sin A quatenus ad Omne valet Consequentia and therefore go scold with the Apostle that which will bring him off will bring off the Doctor 2. The Justice of God is Natural and Essential to him Well let him mend himself how he can we are of the same mind still and are like to be so 3. He cannot forgive sin without punishing it Goe on somewhere or other the Punishment must lye which amounts to no more but this that God cannot forgive sin but in such a way as may secure his Glory 4. The Iustice of God is satisfied by the Death of Christ It is so but that Satisfaction is applyed to particular persons in that way that God has appointed that no other of his Attributes may be damnified 5. Now the greatest sins can doe us no hurt Nay there our Author is quite out For Unbelief Impenitency Unregeneracy obstruct the Sinners having any share in the Satisfaction of Christ or the Benefits procured by it But 6. The Doctor had said We shall be saved notwithstanding our sins He does say we shall not be destroyed and let that amount if he pleases to We shall be saved That is 1. Former Sins repented of shall not be charged upon the Sinner to Condemnation 2. Such sins as are consistent with the state of Grace the Power and Predominancy of Godliness shall not eventually ruine the repenting Sinner and for those that are inconsistent with that state he that undertook to satisfie for them will also take care they shall not commit them that he may not lose the Fruit of his Death and Sufferings and therefore he has promised that he will put his Fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him And now I think our Author has either lost Money by his Discourse or got it over the Shoulders All his hopes were to perswade us That the Doctor design'd to assert that the satisfaction of Christ would save sinners notwithstanding their sins lived in continued in delighted in and dyed in in sensu composito but let an ordinary Understanding with ordinary diligence read over that Paragraph and he shall find all conspiring with that great Truth Without Holiness no man shall see God And thus he has talk'd his pleasure about Mercy and Iustice. As to Gods Wisdom which most gloriously appears in this design of Saving sinners by Christ the Doctor had said Com. 98. That Gods Wisdom in managing things for his own Glory is clearly discovered in Christ And if Wisdom display it self in the works of Creation and Providence and in his holy Law yet still Wisdom is most eminently revealed in a Mediator and he was the more emboldened thus to speak because he had encouragement from the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 24. We preach Christ crucified to the Iews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them who are saved both Iews and Greeks the Power of God and the Wisdom of God And here I confess our Author had just Cause of Complaint That the Apostle should so unluckily place this Wisdom in a crucifyed Christ to the utter undoing that laudable Invention of Christ for an Office a Church a Doctrine and this might well vex every vein of his heart But still the Doctor proceeds and for ought I can see minds our Author no more than you would be concern'd about that peevish thing that infests your skins as you walk the streets with impotent Noyse shewing That this Wisdom of God is such a Mystery such hidden Wisdom such manyfold variegated curiously wrought Wisdom that the Angels desire to pry into it and the Wisdom thereof lyes much in this That by Christ things are recovered into such a state after the Confusion wherein they were involved by the Curse as shall be exceedingly to the advantage of Gods glory P. 98 99. This indeed was pungent and galled that tender part which cannot endure to hear too much Good spoken at once of Christs Person For says he if Justice be so Natural to God that Nothing could satisfie him but the Death of his own Son this may discover his Justice but not his Wisdom Why so Oh the Reason is plain Wisdom consists in the choyce of the best and fittest Means to attain an End where there are more wayes than one of doing it but it requires no great wisdom where there is but one possible Way Where I am stumbled at our Authors Philosophy as much as at his Divinity For 1. Saving to our Author his good Learning Wisdom lyes also in Managing fit Means in such a Way as may reach their Ends effectually that there be no disappointment in
Iesus Christ who has by the Sacrifice of Himself reconciled God to Man and Man to God has received some Light and Confirmation from these Papers That our Author has opposed any thing that may stagger the Faith of Christians tolerably exercised in the Word of Righteousness I do not see but that it 's easie to erect a Castle in the Aire and when we have so done to draw a formal siege about it to batter storm rase and utterly demolish it not to leave one stone upon another this I grant he has satisfied me in to satiety For having all along laid it for the ground-work of his most accomplisht Raillery That some men found all their Religion upon the Person of Christ exclusive of the Scriptures he is now resolved to destroy that Hypothesis to give it no Quarter but even to Internecion plow up the Foundation and sow it with Salt that After-ages may sing goodly Ballads of his Atchievement Iam seges est ubi Troja fuit Thus when the Creative Power of the Imagination has given Life to a Chimâ—…ra the same Power with the same ease can stop it s breath annihilate it and calcine it to it 's primitive Nothing There are Two parts of his present Discourse First a false Supposition Secondly a most unmercifull Confutation of that Supposition 1. That which he supposes and is resolved to suppose in spight of Fate is that These men you wot of Pretend to learn their Religion from an Acquaintance with Christs Person to which he often addes and alwayes understands without Gospel Revelation A Supposition so idle absurd and palpably false that none can possibly believe it of those Persons upon whom 't is fixt but those and some such there are that have accustomed themselves to tell a Lye so often till at length they begin to be pretty well perswaded that they speak Truth Happy men that have found an Expedient so far to mitigate their Guilt that what was before a formal Lye becomes now onely a material Untruth That Iesus Christ is God and Man that he dyed for our Sins and rose again for our Iustification that he was set forth by God to be a Propitiation for sin to declare Gods Righteousness for the Pardon of it that he is our High-Priest our Advocate with the Father with whatever else comes within the compass of their Creed they do solemnly profess to have learnt from the Gospel onely and surther than as Scripture has been Liberal herein they protest in so many Letters and Syllables they know nothing less or more these things are owing purely to Revelation and they are ready when or wheresoever cited before their competent Iudges to give it under their Hands and Seals attested with all the Good men and True of the Vicinage The plain Truth is Their Principles lie in it their Writings witness to it and at other times they are reproach'd by these very same unreasonable men that they so tenaciously and pertinaciously adhere to the written Word that they make it the Rule of their Faith the Rubrick of their Worship the Directory of their Prayers the Square of their Obedience the Treasury of their Hopes and the grand Cynosure whereby they steer or desire to steer the whole Course of their Conversation to Eternal Life 2. The Confutation of this Hypothesis which is his second Travel must therefore needs be very easie And to this purpose he brings us in two pompous Reasons mounted like St. George himself on horse-back armed Cap-a-pe with his Trusty Morglay by his side his Launce ready couch d but all this while where 's the Dragon Or like a Champion of State who upon the Coronation of some Great Prince presents himself in rigid Steel throws down his Gantlet defies all Men Women and Children in defence of the Princes Title when he knows well enough before-hand that none will Take it up Now his Reasons are drawn the former from the uncertainty of such a Way and the Second which is as strong as the other from the uncertainty of such a Way Reader do not smile It was no less a Piece than the Great Demosâ—…henes who being ask'd What were the Main Qualifications of a Good Oratour answer'd The first is Pronunciation the second Pronunciation and the third forsooth was Pronunciation But stay awhile and you will see our Author come off well enough 1 His first Argument is taken from the uncertainty of such a procedure This is at best to build Religion upon uncertain Conjectures we agrâ—…e to it and whatever I could be content to be at a loose end in it should not be my Religion but yet for more sureness he lines his Argument with an under-reason and had he faced it with Bayes it would have worn like Steel Had we seen Christ in the flesh and been witnesses of the many Miracles he wrought of his Death upon the Cross and his Resurrection from the Dead had he not acquainted us with the End and Design of all this we might have ghess'd and ghess'd till we had been weary but it's odds we had never ghess'd right Nay yet further to overwhelm all Opponents with Reason upon Reason he addes Because there 's no natural and necessary connexion between the Person of Christ and what he did and suffer'd and the Salvation of Mankind for these things are available for those Ends to which God design'd them the virtue and efficacy of them depends upon God's Institution and Appointment and therefore can be known onely by Revelation So that his Conclusion is this Whoever would learn the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine and not from his Person To say the Truth the greatest fault I find with all this is that he betrayes the Truth he contends for and does not understand that his Clyent had better have given him a Double Fee to say Nothing than a single one to Destroy the Cause he pretends to plead I shall therefore only burden his Margin with a few asterisks and fairly dismiss him 1. Let the Reader carefully enquire who those We are that if they had seen Christ in the flesh his Miracles Death and Resurrection yet without He had acquainted them with the End and Design of all this might have ghess'd themselves weary e're they had ghess'd aright And for the clearing of that let him know that he speaks not here in his own Person but in the Person of others who have not the knack or if they had are not fortified with a Priviledge to conclude Quidlibet ex Quolibet or to demonstrate Godwin-Sands from TenterdonSteeple for as to Himself you may be pleased to understand that he can infallibly prove all this and more from as little as that comes to and less Admire his Abilities pag. 84. When We remember that Christ died as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for Sin this gives Us a great Demonstration of Gods good will to us how ready he is to pass by all our former sins in
his Death c. and the Salvation of all Mankind I presume the man 's either unborn or long agoe dead that ever asserted that there was any Connexion either Natural or Necessary between Christs Death and the Salvation of every individual Person that should be upon the Earth Does he mean any one of all Mankind I then do affirm and will abide by it that upon supposition the Son of God was incarnate took our Nature upon him and in that Nature dyed a cursed Death there is a Necessary connexion betwixt the Death of the Son of God and the Salvation of some at least of Mankind It 's very unconceivable that Christ should submit to such a Dispensation and have no fruit of his Labour But to put him out of fear that he may sleep at hearts ease we do not fancy any natural connexion of these things that Bond that tyes them together is the compact betwixt the Father and the Son that upon his Souls being made an Offering for Sin he should see his seed and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand Isa. 53. 10. The Total is this The Concurrence of the Sons Will with the Fathers good Pleasure gave the Death of Christ a necessary Connexion with the Salvation of some at least of Mankind But to talk at this loose Rambling rate is tedious All this while you see but very little into our Authors Design For as your great Politicians have their Causae justificae which they Hang out to view but the Causae suasoriae lie deep and are not to be Exposed to and Prophan'd by common Eyes Thus however our Author makes a Flourish and Vapour about the Connexion of Necessary causes and Necessary effects as if we see Fire we know it burns something and if we see Smoak we may safely conclude there is some Fire Which poor Reynards Experiment would have Confuted Notwithstanding I say all this Ostentation of Mysterious Philosophy there was something lay nearer his heart than this Bombaste and how to bring it upon the Stage handsomely required good Deliberation In plain Terms it was nothing but to state a Parallel betwixt the Rational and your Systematical Divine and to Demonstrate the excellency of himself and those of his exalted Intellectuals above those low Spirited Phlegmatick Tigurine Doctors who Trade all in gross Bodies and unweildy Systems of Divinity For these latter they Dull-men shape all Religion according to their Phancies and Humours and stuff it with an infinite Number of Orthodox Propositions such as the 39 Articles But now for your Rational Men They Argue the Nature of God his Works and Providences from the Nature of Mankind and those eternal Notions of Good and Evil from the Essential differences of Things from plain Principles which have an Immutable and unchangeable Nature and so can bear the weight and stress of a just Consequence Which singular Happiness may sooner be Envyed than Mistated Indeed it would do any man good at Heart to hear with what Nerves and Sinews of Brawny Reason they will Argue how they Drive all before them how they will Trounce a poor amazed Auditor into As. and Con. and force the most Obstinate herds of Contumacious Animals into good Behiavour by Duress In a word all their Discourses are Muscle and Cartilage And in one of these you shall have the Marrow and Pith the Quintessence and Elixir of your Profound Irrefragable Subtile Angelical Seraphical Doctors But I Chide my self for comparing them to the School-men who are Systematical Theölogues Let the Reader content himself with a short Specimen of their Abilities And 1. They argue from the Nature of God How Facile is he to Pardon sin all sin without any Compensation or Satisfaction made to his Justice For seeing Justice is but a secondary Attribute a mere Instrument or Tool of Government He may spare or punish as he sees Reason for it without being unjust in either For though the Scripture has told us Iosh 24. 19. That God is a jealous God who will not forgive Transgression nor sin and that He is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and cannot look upon Iniquity Hab. 1. 13. And also that the wages of sin is Death which is the Religion of the Scripture yet now one of these familiar acquaintance of Gods Nature can inform you better that there was there was no necessity of Christs Death to declare the Righteousness of God that he might be Iust but that as he Pardoned the Old World for Four Thousand Years together who knew nothing of Christ 〈◊〉 he might have done for one poor Sixteen Hundred Years more and as much longer as it shall continue That Caution which he Hints to others pag. 76. he has as much need of himself That we be wary in drawing conclusions from Gods Nature since 't is so seldom we have any good Assurance those Inferences are Genuine Thus when he argues pag. 43 from Gods Long-suffering and Patience towards the World and the various Methods God uses to reclaim them that therefore he is as ready to Pardon sinners as a kind Father is to receive a penitent Prodigal I would have him Cautious lest he should over-run the Constable for God stands not related to sinners in the state of lapsed Nature as a Father but as an Enemy and our Son-ship and Adoption comes in by Jesus Christ and this may perhaps a little disturbe the Connexion of his Antecedents and Consequents And this for distinction-sake may be called his New Religion of Gods Nature from whence we learn those greater and deeper Mysteries whereof the Scripture is so silent And then 2. They argue with marvellous Success from the Works and Providence of God As how pag. 44. Those Natural Notions the Heathens had of God and the Discoveries God made of Himself in the Works of Creation and Providence did assure them that God is very Good and that 't is not possible to understand what Goodness is without Pardoning-Grace For you may be sure they cloud not see the Sun shine but presently they must conclude that the Light of Gods Countenance would shine upon them also nor have a showre of Rain but it did Demonstrate that God would wash away their sins nor forbear them a day but He would acquit them for ever But then 3. From the Nature of Mankind they Reason with incomparable Judgment As for Instance That because Man was Created upright therefore he is so still how Vegete Sprightly and active mans Nature is that without the Subsidiary assistance of effectual Grace working both to will and to do it can fulfil all Gods Commandments and that to talk of our own Impotency to Spiritual performances is to suppose us to be acted like Machines by an External force and the irresistable Grace and Spirit of God And further 4. They make admirable work from the eternal Notions of Good and Evil That God may punish sin if he pleases and if he sees good he may
in Christ be improved for Obedience That his Love to us may so powerfully constrain our hearts that we may wholly live to him that dyed for us and rose again who is also at the right hand of God making Intercession for us To him be Glory Amen CHAP. IV. Sect. 1. Of our Union to Christ and Communion with him OUR Author will not in Courtesie or cannot for Shame deny that the Scripture does mention such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be express'd by an Union and that these Phrases of Being in Christ and Abiding in Christ can signifie no less Now this Union to Christ being a very suspicious Phrase he is deeply concern'd to mollifie it with some such Healing Explication that it may not prejudice or however not utterly destroy his main design To interpret it according to the sound of words is to blow up himsels with his whole Cause and therefore it is judg'd a safer way to accommodate the Expression if it will be tractable or to force it if it proves obstinate to a Complyance with his own espoused Notions and preconceived Opinions And now we see that the True Reason why he so zealously declaimed against that way of Interpreting Scripture in the last Section was that he might without suspition serve himself of it in this Some do not like his Tottering and Staggering way of wording his Matters It may be express'd by an Union and it can signifie no less than an Union A form of speech invented doubtless to let us know how unable he is to deny and yet how loath he is to confess the plainest Truth I have not forgot that he told us p. 108. That the Scripture describes the Profession of Christianity a sincere Belief and Obedience to the Gospel by Having Christ and Being in Christ but now he is graciously pleased to Mount them a little higher and is gently content that they should signifie no less than an Union with Christ. Four Notable Observations he makes to us in this one Section 1 That those Metaphors which describe the Relation between Christ and Christians do primarily referre to the Christian Church and not to every Individual Christian. I am sorry that it must still be my great unhappiness to dissent from him but seeing all Accommodation is desperate we must bear the shock of his Reasonings as well as we can Christ says he is called a Head but he is the Head of his Church which is his Body as the Husband is the Head of his Wife No particular Christian is the Body of Christ but onely a Member in this Body This indeed would do pretty well but that it wants two small Circumstances Truth and Pertinency which being so inconsiderable we may well spare in any of His Writings And 1. Methinks I want that sorry circumstance of Truth in his Argument Christ is the Head of his Church as the Husband is Head of his Wife but the Headship of the Husband over the Wife will not exactly measure the Headship of Christ over Believers we must call in assistance from another Similitude that of the Head in the Natural Body over the Members Christ is a Head of Influence as well as Authority he communicates Grace to Obey as well as commands Obedience And this is that the Apostle would teach us Eph. 4. 15 16. The head even Christ from whom all the Body fitly joyned together and compact by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body to the edifying of it selâ—… in love Here 's an effectual Operation in every part the Growth and Increase of every individual Member by virtue of that Influence which the Head communicates to it And now to make the Husbands headship over the Wife to represent the whole of Christs Headship is craftily to seduce us from the Consideration of that Grace which from Christ we receive to help us in time of need The Holy Ghost has singled out the most per and perspicuous Metaphors that outward things would afford to instruct us in the Nature of that Union and Relation that Believers have to Christ the Priviledges and Advantages which they receive thereby and those Duties which indispensably arise from thence and yet such is the incorrigible and untractable Nature of all outward things such is their shortness poverty and narrowness that they do not yield a Similitude that will adaequately and commensurately express the total of Christs Grace Mercy and Authority or of our mutual Obligations and Duty Much of the Poverty and Beggarliness of the Mosaical Types lay in this those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4. 9. that they could not represent Jesus Christ to the life whom yet it was their design in some measure to shadow out And when I have named a shadow I have given a sufficient Reason of my Assertion for though a shadow may describe the general Lineaments of its Body yet it will not paraphrase upon the Complexion To supply this defect it has pleased the Wisdom of God to institute that numerous train of Types that so what could not be express'd by any one might yet in parcels be described by Another Hence is it that one Type represents the Death of Christ as a Sacrifice for Sin as the Goat of the Sin-offering Lev. 16. 15. Another the Intercession of Christ at the right hand of the Father as Aarons appearing in the Most Holy place upon the Feast of Expiation The same Wisdom has it pleased the Spirit of God to exeâ—…cise in describing to us the Union and Relation betwixt Christ and Believers for seeing that no one single Metaphor however borrowed from the nearest and most intimous Relation upon Earth could possibly convey to our understandings all that Mercy Grace and Love which from Christ issues to all that are in Covenant with him nor all that Reverence Love and Duty which from Believers is due to a Redeemer therefore has he chosen out many that so by putting together the Mercy and Duty which is comprehended in each we might spell out the Meaning of what is wrapt up in that Relation wherein we stand to him But 2. It wants Pertinency as well as Truth For what if no particular Christian be the Body of Christ. yet is he a Member of that Body and Christ as Head of that Body is related in particular to him without the Intervention of the Body A Body is nothing else but the result of all the Integral parts put together in their due Scite and proper Order and the Church is nothing else but the aggregate of many Christians united under their proper Pastor And as the Head in the Natural Body is immediately related to all the parts so is Christ immediately related to every true Christian. If then he will argue thus No particular Christian is the Body therefore Christ is primarily related to the Body any one with as much honesty may inferre
intimates that he spake of that Law whereof he had made mention before which was the Moral Law that Law which saith Thou shalt not covet that Law which is holy just good that Law which is eminently the Law of God and not that which carries the name of the Law of Moses 2 But what was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impossible thing of this Law There are many things that this Law cannot do It can lay a Command upon the Creature but it cannot give strength to obey the Command it can offer the Promises of Life to the obedient and shake the Threatning over the Conscience of the Rebellious but meeting with depraved Nature it cannot redintegrate lapsed Nature it can wound but it cannot heal it can condemn but it cannot absolve a Sinner But yet there seems to be some one thing which above all other impossibles is absolutely impossible for this Law to do for man and that is to justifie him before God For so he had said and proved Chap. 3. 20. By the Deeds of that Law shall no Flesh be justified in his Sight But 3. How comes the Law to be so weak for certainly it had once such a Power in its primitive appointment and was fitted to give life to the Obedient for we must not dare to think that the Wise God ever appointed a Law or the meanest thing in the World but it was fitted to reach all those Ends which in his Holy and Secret Counsel he designed it to How then comes this Law the Moral Law to be so weak If any of the Sons of Adam can produce an Obedience every way such as the Law demands it is able to give Life Eternal still The Apostle answers us It 's weak through the Flesh it was not made weak but became weak through our weakness The Law is as strong to reward still if we were but as strong to obey as ever But 4. How did Christ remedy and help us in this desperate Case for if we cannot live by the Law we must die by the Law The Apostle resolves us God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and in the truth of humane Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as an offering for Sin So near is the relation between the Sacrifice and the Sin that is laid upon it that they are called the same 2 Cor. 5. 21. Christ was made sin that is he was made an Offering for sin For so 't is exprest Isa. 53. 10. When thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin The Greek therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does but imitate the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies both the Sin and the Sin-Offering thus then Christ supplyed the Laws weakness he who knew no sin was made sin and as he was made sin for us so are we made the Righteousness of God in him Christ could no otherwise be a Sinner but by imputation nor we otherwise Righteous than by the Imputation of his Righteousness As the Offenders guilt under the Law could not otherwise be laid upon the head of the Typical Sacrifice but by God's Imputing it so neither could our Sin otherwise lye upon the Head of Christ but by his own voluntary Susception and thereupon God's Righteous Imputation but these things we shall meet with professedly in the next Section There is a Metaphorical expression still behind which our Author cannot digest whereupon when he has thrown away a little and truly but a little wit he will ease us of the tediousness of this Discourse The expression which sticks so hard with him is that of the Apostle Ephes. 3. 8. The unsearchable Riches of Christ. Now though at another time I would try a fair fall with him whether this and many others which he thinks it enough for their reproach to call so be a Metaphorical Expression or no yet I have not leisure at present to attend that Service for my part I think that riches is more properly and literally predicated of that Grace that is treasured up in the Lord Jesus than of all that paltry trash which has got the vogue in the Dialect of deluded Worldlings but I am weary and shall therefore only make a defensive War of it What is then this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this unsearchable Riches of Christ Why even here these Men cannot agree for some are zealous for it that what-ever is meant by unsearchable Riches yet by Christ is meant Christ himself others amongst whom our Author professes his Name by the unsearchable Riches of Christ understand the Gospel which St. Paul preached to the Gentiles And is it not a small thing that he should stand so stifly upon it for us to entreat 1. That the Glorious Person of Christ his Offices his Natures his Obedience his Life his Death with their proper Springs and Causes their special ends and designs might come in for a good share of the Gospel But 2. The Gospel preached is the opening of the Treasures of Wisdom Knowledg and Grace that are in Christ. Those Riches are or were unsearchable as they lay hid and deep in the Counsels and Purposes of the Father and the Son so far as they are revealed in the Gospel they are not unsearchable But what is meant by Riches why Riches says he signifie only an abundance This 't is to be wise above the common sort of ordinary Mortals most men I dare say have hitherto thought that Riches carry in their first Notion preciousness as well as plenty A handful of Gold is more truly Riches than a heap of Pebbles but then what are unsearchable Riches why they are so called because the Gospel is not a narrow and stinted thing is not confined to a particular nation as the Law was but is offered to all mankind c. I shall not cope with him in his Grammatical skill for therein he is unmatchable but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has formerly signified that which cannot be traced that whereof we have no foot-steps and such are the Riches of Christ such the Counsels of God to reconcile the World to himself by his dear Son A Mystery whose knowledg depends upon Divine Revelation whereof we have not the least track in nature no more than of a Ship in the Sea an Eagle in the Air or a Serpent upon a Rock The Light of Nature is Dark the Tongue of the Creature Dumb the Book of the Creation a great Blank and he alone that was from eternity in the Bosom of the Father whose Name is Wonderful Counsellor was able to reveal and give us notice of them One small brush at Mr. Brookes will conclude this Section for 't is impossible for our Author to conclude without reviling and what evil has this good Man done Oh he has spoken a little too prodigally in commendation of Christ and it 's a standing rule that whoever will give our Saviour one good Word shall
this is something more than abolishing Ceremonies or Sealing a Covenant but if our Author can contrive a way of Redeeming and Purchasing by Paper Parchment and Wax by Sealing Covenants without paying down a valuable consideration he will highly oblige this present Age to read his Book which is more studious to purchase this world than about the deliverance of their Souls from present Curse and future wrath by the blood of a Redeemer 2 As for the Gentiles he acquaints us next from 1 Pet. 1. 18. how they were Redeemed Ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation received by Tradition from your Fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot In which words the Apostle evidently shews That look what place Silver and Gold do hold in the Redemption of Persons or things that are Legally under seizure the same does the blood of Christ obtain in the Redemption of sinners Christs blood was not indeed a corruptible price like Silver and Gold yet it was a price a proper price though not a corruptible price and has the same Office with another price if we may compare small things and great and in that he excepts the corruptibility of this price he establishes the parallel in the other particulars Exceptio in non exceptis firmat regulam And he gives us further light into this Affair from that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the precious blood of Christ or that blood which is a price So the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 6. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are bought with a Price And yet further That the blood of Christ that is Christ by dying is this Price which is evident in that he compares Christ himself to the Sacrifices of Atonement and Expiation where the Lamb chosen out for that Service was to be without spot and blemish And thus the Apostle Paul conspires with his beloved Brother Peter 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave himself a Ransom for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not evince a proper price paid by way of Ransom for another we must despair of ever expressing Truth with that clearnes but it shall be lyable to mis-construction by the possibility of another meaning and it 's in vain to seek a Remedy against that evil for which there 's no Help in Nature But let us now hear our Authors Apprehensions about these things The Gentiles says he were delivered from Idolatry by the Preaching of the Gospel which is called their being Redeemed by the blood of Christ because we owe this unspeakable Blessing to his Death Here are several things which he asserts and takes for granted 1. Sect. That the Apostle speaks here only of the Redemption of the Gentiles not of the Iews A Fancy so idle that nothing but an absolute necessity to preserve the Life of his Cause could justifie it Hunger we say will break through stone walls extremity taught Mariners that use of Jury-Masts and such pinching Scriptures have made men rack their wits for evasions That this Epistle was primarily written to the Jews of the Asian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we need not vouch Scaliger to prove c. 1. v. 1. puts it out of doubt To the strangers scattered through Pontus c. which the Apostle Iames Chap. 1. ver 1. expresses To the twelve Tribes scattered abroad His pressing them with the Authority of the Prophets his alluding to Old Testament-worship Ordinances Customes His urging them with the example of Sarah do clearly prove it besides his Exhortation Ch. 2. 12. To have their conversation honest amongst the Gentiles evidently distinguishes them to whom he wrote from the Gentiles amongst whom they dwelt and yet because of the Communion that was between the believing Iews and believing Gentiles there are some passages in this Epistle that respect them also But still the primary intendment of the Epistle was to the Jews which one thing destroys all that goodly superstructure that he has raised upon this supposition that the Apostle here speaks of the Redemption of the Gentiles onely 2. Sect. He supposes that Redemption signifies no more than deliverance in general whereas the Redemption here mentioned is a special way of deliverance by a price paid As silver and gold are used in the Redemption of Captives so is the blood of Christ in the Redemption of Sinners but Silver and Gold are paid as a Price for the Redemption of Captives therefore so is the Blood of Christ. Now what is that which in our Authors New Model of Redemption by Christ Answers the Silver and Gold in the Redemption of Captives As the Redemption by Price is always Seconded with deliverance by Power so deliverance by Power presupposes Antecedent Redemption by Price But here it is commonly Objected That if the Blood of Christ be a proper Price then it ought to be paid to the Devil the world or Sin for these held the Sinner in Captivity To which I Answer true if Satan detained the Sinner Prisoner in his own right if Souls were his own proper spoyls acquired by right of War or otherwise but the Devil is onely an Officer of Divine Iustice a Goaler and Executioner of the Sentence of the Law The World may pass for one of his Under-Keepers As for sin that 's the bondage and slavery it self If then God be satisfied in whose right as the great Law-giver and Governour these Sinners are held in bondage though Satan repine and gnash his Teeth he must quit his Prey and Prisoners It is said again that then upon the payment of the price to God the sinner is immediately set free But no Reason compels us to Argue so for the Price of Redemption being not paid to God by Man himself but a third Person a Mediator between them both It 's not onely convenient but absolutely necessary that he submit to such Terms as shall be agreed upon between God and the Mediator that he may actually enter upon the benefits of that Price paid Besides it 's necessary he should be so qualified as to Glorifie both the Redeemer and the free-grace of that God that accepted a Redeemer and there are many of the greatest benefits of Redemption that would signifie nothing to the sinner if it were possible to imagine him invested with them without a previous change in his Nature enabling him to enjoy them But yet it will be said and is said by others of our Authors Judgment who have managed these things with a greater appearance of cunning than himself That however then this Price should have been paid to God which say they it was not but we are confident that it was 1 Tim. 1. 5 6. There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus who gave himself a price of Redemption for all Now if Christ gave himself as a price of Redemption
reputed the onely Children of God He removes that small Objection telling them Christ had already removed them in his Flesh in his Person he was the summe and substance of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having already in his Flesh or Person made void the Law of Ordinances and already dissolved that Partition Wall He that has Reconciled you to one God has also brought you into one Church which he repeats again ver 16. That he might Reconcile both unto God in one Body by the Cross having slain the Enemy thereby or in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are first the Parties Reconciled Jews and Gentles Secondly to whom they are Reconciled to God Thirdly the Fruit of this Reconciliation to God They are brought into one Church amongst themselves Fourthly The Means whereby they are Reconciled to God that so they might be capable of being United into one Church and that is by the Cross of Christ or by himself on the Cross who bare our sins on the Tree 4. The Apostle shews the way and means of promulgating this Peace which he had made with God and that was by the publick Preaching of the Gospel ver 17. He Preached Peace he made Peace with God and then Preached it to the Gentile World He that had procured good will towards men Preaches Peace on Earth How little ground now had our Author to say That we are said to be Redeemed by the Preaching of the Gospel when the Preaching of the Gospel is nothing but a Declaration of that Redemption which Christ has made of Jew and Gentile with God and the way and Method to be partakers of the benefit of it And now to draw to a close of this Matter let us re-view our Authors Doctrine of Redemption The Redemption of Iew and Gentile he makes to differ as much as the Faith of Abraham and that of Christians 1. They differ in the matter of Redemption that which they were Redeemed from The Jews they were Redeemed from the Ceremonial Law the Gentiles they were Redemed from Idolatry and impure practises 2. They differ in the manner of procurement for the Jews Christ says he by his Death put an end to that Legal Dispensation and so their turn is served that little Redemption that they needed which is all our Author can afford them was Actually accomplisht by the Death of Christ which was a proper and immediate cause of their Redemption such a one as it was but then the Gentiles they were Redemed after another fashion by the Preaching of the Gospel whereby they were turned from Idolatry and impure practises And this shall be called Redemption because it were dangerous to ascribe it to the blood of Christ for an Obvious Reason that he knows of but because the Scripture says we are Redeemed by the Blood of Christ and gives that Blood a concernment therein therefore to stop the â—…uth of the Scripture it shall be said we owe the Preaching of the Gospel to the blood of Christ. 3. There is one thing more from whence our Author flatters himself with hopes of great success and that is by mis-representing the Analogy between the Iewish Sacrifices and the Sacrifices of Christ Two things he attempts 1. To shew what it is under the Law to which the Death of Christ his Ascention into Heaven and presenting his Blood to God does Answer 2. What it is under the Law to which his Intercession Answers Which project of our Authors has been contrived and managed with a great deal more subtilty by those who would storm or blush to see their Arguments thus miserably abased 1. To the former of these he expresses himself thus Now as the Death of Christ upon the Cross and his Ascention into Heaven and presenting his Blood to God in that most Holy place did answer to the first sprinkling of the Blood under the Law which confirmed the Mosaical Covenant as the Apostle Discourses in Heb. 9. c. In which few words he has heaped up more absurdities and follies than another must hope to bring into twice as many For 1. Here is a supposition of Christs presenting his Blood to God in Heaven distinct from his Intercession which when he shall offer to prove it may be time to consider it 2. He supposes that Christs Ascention into Heaven answered the first sprinkling of blood under the Law A most ridiculous supposition For what is there in sprinkling that answers to Ascention or bears the least Analogy to it Surely these Gentlemen that create such parallels and fancy such uncouth resemblances must have some mad design in their Heads which nothing will subserve but such forced allusions And I do not now wonder that he should so tediously rail at the use of Allusions in others for they will deserve the most of scorn that can be thrown upon them if they be all like his own 3. That the Death of Christ upon the Cross did Answer the sprinkling of Blood under the Law which confirmed the Covenant is very true but then 1. It must be remembred in what respect it confirmed the Covenant not meerly as a witnessing to the Truth of what he has preach'd but as Answering the demands and claims of the Governing Iustice of God as we have before shewed 2. It must be remembred also that it was not such a Covenant as he has imposed upon us but the true Covenant of Grace wherein God promises to give that which our Author will not own the New Heart New Spirit and New Obedience 3. That to confirm a Covenant was not all the design of it's sprinkling but diverting of the wrath of God procuring his favour c. So the Blood of Christ has greater ends than confirming of the Truth he taught viz. the appeasing Gods just displeasure procuring his Actual Love pacifying of the Conscience cleansing the Soul 4. He supposes also that the Apostle Discourses to this purpose Rom. 9. which is to make the Apostle accessory to his own groundless fopperies who is indeed perfectly innocent of these crimes For 1. The sprinkling of the blood which the Apostle mentions Heb. 9. 9. in that mentioned Exod. 24. 6. Now there was another sprinkling of blood Antecedent to that which we read of Exod. 12. to which the blood of Christ did Answer and to which the Apostle refers as is evident from Heb. 11. 28. Heb. 12. 24. 2. The sprinkling of Blood Heb. 9. 19. being the same with that Exod. 24. 6. shews evidently that as the whole concern of the blood sprinkled at that time was not confirming a Covenant but Atoning God So the whole concern of the blood of Christ is not taken up in confirming a Covenant much less such a thing as he will mis-call a Covenant but in Reconciling God to Man paying a price of Redemption to God c. 3. That the Apostle carries another Argument is evident For 1. The Typical Interest which those Sacrifices had in Redemption were accomplish'd before the
interpretation of himself He sealed the Covenant of Grace by his blood and intercedes for us in the virtue of his blood So that he wheels about again and Procuration is turned into Confirmation Christs procuring the pardon of sin is no more than that he has scaled this Doctrine that whosoever believes and obeyes shall be pardoned Expiation that 's owing to Christs intercession in heaven and reconciliation is nothing but making the Iews and Gentiles friends and preaching the Gospel to reclaim men from their debaucheries Notwithstanding all this our Author will not be beaten out of it but that he and his principles are better friends to the blood of Christ than those men that pretend to magnifie it for they attribute no more to it than the non-imputation of sin that Christ by his death bearing and undergoing the punishment that was due to us paying the ransom that was due for us delivered us from this condition the wrath and curse of God and his whole displeasure c. But now our Author ascribes much more than all this comes to For says he the Scripture gives us a different account of it we are said to be justified and redeemed by the blood of Christ nay we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Iesus we have admission into Heaven it self but the Doctor Owen says that the Blood of Christ makes us innocent but cannot give us a right to the Kingdom of Heaven And now what comparison is there between these two The summe of the business is this Our Author attributes perhaps more to the Blood of Christ in wordy complement but what the Doctor ascribes to the Death of Christ he does in reality Our Author will confess that we are redeemed by the Blood of Christ but when you come as all that are not Children will come to examine what he means by it then it shrinks into this Christ by his Death confirmed the Promise of Pardon and Life to them that Believe and Obey and this Promise he has appointed to be declared to the world and when men believe it and obey the Gospel themselves they are then Redeemed Christs death is no immediate no proper Cause of Redemption no price pay'd to God accepted by him for poor Captive Sinners Nay our Author will not stick to say We are justified by the Blood of Christ too but when you come to sift his Notion it 's all bran he confirmed the Promise which when we believe and obey the Gospel Commands we are justified so that in my weak Judgement it had beeen commendable in our Author to have been very sure that he attributes any thing at all to the Death of Christ as the proper Cause of that Mercy before he enter'd into Degrees of Comparison with others something I do perceive indeed he would attribute to Christs Death Viz. The confirming of a certain Covenant but so feebly asserted so weakly proved that it needs the Candour of the Reader But now what doe these other men attribute to the blood of Christ Why Nothing but Non-Imputation of Sin bearing and undergoing the Punishment that was due to us paying the Price that was due for us delivering us from this Condition The Wrath Curse and whole displeasure of God and that by the Death of Christ all Cause of Quarrel and Rejection is taken away And if this be Nothing in our Authors Arithmetick we desire he will ascribe more to it if he can justifie it when he has done But the truth is our Author is most grievously gulled in this business He reads their Writings who are too crafty for him and smile to see how little he understands of them Though these men attribute no more to the blood of Christ as shed on the Cross yet they are willing to let him know that they attribute more to the Blood of Christ than as it was shed on the Cross The Blood of Christ and the Death of Christ are not Expressions of equal latitude All the Concerns of Christs Blood are not comprehended in his Death for they consider it as that in the virtue whereof he intercedes for them upon the Throne of Grace as that which gives them a holy and humble boldness to draw nigh to God the Quarrel being removed by his Death And that our Author may see his own delusion herein I shall give him a short Collation from that person whom he contends with Exercit. on Heb. Vol. 2. p. 99. There are Two general Ends of Christs Interposition 1. Averruncatio Mali the turning away of all Evil hurt dammage or punishment on the Account of our sins and Apostacy from God 2. Acquisitio Boni or the procuring and obtaining for us every thing that is good with respect to our Reconciliation to him Peace with him and Enjoyment of him and these are intended in the general parts of his Office For 1. His Oblation principally respects the making Atonement for sins and the turning away Gods wrath which is due to Sinners wherein he was Jesus the Deliverer who saves us from wrath to come And this is all that is included in the Nature of Oblation as absolutely considered but it had a farther Prospect for with respect to that Obedience which he yielded to God therein according to the Terms of that Covenant betwixt the Father and Christ it was not onely Satisfactory but Meritorious that is by the Sacrifice of himself he not onely turned away the wrath of God that was due to us but also obtained for us Eternal Redemption with all the Grace and Glory thereto belonging And now if our Author will but ascribe any of all these things to the blood of Christ as its proper and immediate Cause he may hope to perswade the world that he is willing to ascribe something to the Blood of Christ I know well he will say That the Blood of Christ is said to Redeem us is said to Iustifie us these are Scripture Phrases indeed the sound of words carries it thus but when he comes to open the Meaning of things the Blood of Christ does neither redeem nor justifie us but after multitudes of Deductions and great windings of Inferences and Conclusions one upon the Neck of another it does that which does another thing which procures a third which leads to a fourth which brings us to believe that Belief may possibly bring us to Obedience and when all is done it 's our Obedience that justifies us And we owe our Acceptation with God to our own Obedience and he is more inclined to think that nothing can justifie us rather than to own it due to the Righteousness of Christ imputed as he expresses himself p. 272. And now at length he once more casts up his Reckonings Our Righteousness and Acceptance with God is wholly owing to the Covenant which he has purchased and sealed with his own blood What a rare sound does that word purchase carry with it But 1. He has purchased no more than that we
Covenant made a Covenant his Righteousness and Obedience have procured a Covenant are the Meritorious cause of a Covenant when the total Summe of all is no more than this That God has promised to Pardon and Save us if we Believe and Obey the Gospel though we Obey not perfectly So that at last it 's our own Obedience that Recommends us to God our own Righteousness for which we are Iustified Whereas the Apostle is Peremptory That by the Obedience of Christ we are constituted Righteous His Conclusion is therefore this That the Righteousness of Christ is not the formal Cause of our Iustification but the Meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous and rewarded as Righteous I perceive the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Obedience of his Death are like to prove something ere long One while they Confirm and Seal another while they Procure and at last they Merit a Covenant I cannot but Examine particulars though I have often done it 1. The Righteousness of Christ is not the Formal cause of our Iustification Indeed I think it is not Never any Man in his Wits affirmed it so Give but us leave to call it the Material cause or the Meritorious cause immediately and properly of Justification and he shall take Formal cause and deal with it at his pleasure I think I have a Commission from all the Systematical Divines of Germany the Voluminous Tigurines and Bulky Low-Dutch with those few that are left in England to make a Bargain with him Hard and Fast That the Righteousness of Christ is not the Formal cause of our Iustification 2. Says he It is the Meritorious cause of that Covenant whereby we are declared Righteous A Meritorious cause sounds very high if it had an honest Meaning But what has it Merited Iustification By no means What then Any particular Mercy or Priviledge or Blessing By no means for then it would be a proper cause of it there 's an Exact and Severe proportion betwixt the Reward and the Work in all Merit What is it then the Meritorious cause of Why of a Covenant But are we made Righteous by the Covenant Not at all only we are declared Righteous But how does the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Obedience of his Death Merit such a Covenant at Gods Hands Nay That he will not tell us God was well pleased with them but why he should be so is a Secret which must be reserved for the coming of Elias 3. The last thing I shall Exmine is his Exceptions against our Interpretation of the Apostle 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall be made Righteous says he is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall be Iustified Well I agree to him But then I say the former Expression explains the way of our being Iustified that it is by Vertue of a Gospel-Law-Constitution or Appointment of God who considering all Believers as one with their Redeemer does Constitute them Just and Righteous there 's the Formal Cause in the Righteousness of Christ there 's the Material Cause of Justification as all the Posterity of Adam are constituted Sinners and liable to Condemnation by the Constitution of the old Law as Represented by him their Common Head 2. He excepts That the Apostle tells us ver 17. Who they are that are Iustified by Christ and shall Reign with him in Life not those who are Righteous by the Imputation of Christs Righteousness to them But I do not hear the Apostle telling me one such word whatever he has told our Author privately by way of Cabala I hear him saying plainly That as by one Mans offence many were made sinners so by one Mans Obedience many were made Righteous And because I cannot devise how possibly one Man should be made a sinner dealt with as a sinner Condemned and Judged as and for a sinner by another mans sin unless he be some ways or other guilty of sin and because it is not the making of that one mans sin their own by Immitation and Example that the Apostle speaks of but by a constitution of a Covenant or Law Therefore till I can find a better Term to express the Doctrine by I shall call Gods charging Adams sin upon his Posterity to their Condemnation his Imputing it to them And then because I cannot neither devise with my self how one man should possibly be made Righteous by the Obedience of another but that others Obedience must some way or other become his own and because to say Christs Obedience is ours by Imitation of his Example is to cross the Apostles paralel and to cross the Truth for we Imitate it but in part and very Imperfectly therefore I shall take the Freedom also to call Gods constituting Believers righteous by the Obedience of Christ his Imputing that Obedience to them for their Justification provided always that when more convenient and expressive Terms shall be found out to satisfie the Apostle this of Imputation be left indifferent Well but if not these who are then Why those who have received the abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness these are justified by Christ these shall Reign with him in Life It 's very true the Apostle does tell us no less And I cannot imagine how he should more fitly describe a justified person that others may know him and he should know himself than by the Fruits and Effects of Justification such as abundance of Grace are For whatever our Author thinks of the Apostle he does not use to describe a thing by it self or something equally obscure but by that which is more known and Obvious than the thing described and therefore the Apostle seems not to describe Justification but a justified Person by Sanctification They that have received abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness these are justified Persons not that Justification is from any Inherent work but that the justified Person is only known to himself to be such by an Inherent work and to others by the fruits of it This answer I will deal truly with my Reader came next to hand I had it from our Author and I presumed he would accept a bad one of his own before a better of another mans The Apostle says he tells who those are that are thus justified by Christ Nay then thought I that will kill no body for a justified Person may be described by his Qualifications and yet his Righteousness wherein he stands accepted before God not consist in those Qualifications But to deal plainly with him I do humbly conceive that the Apostle describes an Imputed Righteousness by that expression They which receive the abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the over-flowing and Redundancy of Divine Love to accept a Surety to fulfill all Righteousness and Suffer for us and abundance of Grace too to let us in by Faith into the Righteousness of Christ's Life and the Sacrifice of Christs Death