neither without the imputation of these we cannot be entitled to them to our Justification Now that Faith justifies not absolutely and as our Act may appear In Justification there is a judicial proceeding and we must answer to something to the Gospel only or to the Law also if to the Gospel only then Evangelical Justification is in a way frustrative and not perfective of the Law there needeth only Faith to answer the Gospel and not perfect Righteousness to answer the Law But what saith the Apostle to this Having concluded Justification to be by Faith Rom. 3.30 he immediatly adds Do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law ver 31. And how is this That Faith which answers to the Gospel receives that perfect Righteousness of Christ which answers the Law in every point Christ being the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth as we have it Rom. 10. Without this it is not at all imaginable how Faith or Justification by it should establish or complete the Law our sincere Obedience which flows from Faith can no more do it than imperfection can reach perfection Again if to the Gospel only then all the Pagans must needs be justified for they have nothing to answer unto not to the Gospel that is not reveiled to them not to the Law of Nature that is but the relicts and broken pieces of the Moral Law And if Christians who have the Moral Law in its entire perfection are not to answer to it then surely Pagans who have only some little Fragments of it need not answer thereunto and by consequence they must be recti in Curia before God But if as of necessity we must we must answer to the Law also then Faith as it is in it self and our Act cannot possibly justifie it being but a piece of the Law and that imperfect God who judgeth according to truth will not esteem those perfectly righteous who are not so indeed nor accept of a partial Righteousness for a total one If reply be made This is true when God judgeth Judicio Justitiae but not when he judges Judicio Misericordiae he in his condescending Mercy accepts of Faith in the room of total perfect Righteousness I answer this cannot possibly stand God's Mercy and Truth are never at variance his Truth will not esteem us righteous upon account of a partial imperfect righteousness and his Mercy will not condescend so far as to interfere with his Truth But when he esteems us righteous upon account of a perfect Righteousness which is not our own but Christ's then Truth and Mercy both shine forth Truth in that there is a perfect Righteousness to answer the Law and Mercy in that it is not our own but our Sureties But further If Faith be taken for a perfect Righteousness then it is lifted up into the room of Christ and his Righteousness If you say no Christ's Righteousness is the foundation of this acceptance of Faith I answer Then will it follow that Christ died not so much for Persons to justifie them as for Graces to elevate Faith above it self into the estimation of a perfect Righteousness and withal that Faith is our proper Righteousness in an immediate formal way and Christ but a remote Cause only much after the same rate as the Papists say Bona opera tincta sanguine Christi justificant Works are made the immediate Cause of Justification and Christ the remote Moreover it is to be remembred that nothing can be Instrumentum instrumentatum the Artificers Tools are not the House he makes the Hysops sprinkling of Blood in the Jewish Sacrifices was not the Blood of Christ Faith is not our Righteousness but the Medium to it Hence Phil. 3.9 we read of righteousness by faith it is not it self our Righteousness but a means to it Thus it appears that Faith in it self and as our Act justifies not therefore it justifies as it is that Evangelical Medium which receives Christ and his perfect Righteousness Thus the Reverend Hooker Faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ to Justification and Christ the only Garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled Natures hideth the imperfection of our Works preserveth us blameless in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weakness of our Faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable yea to shut us from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter Thus our Church 2. Hom. of salvation The true understanding of this Doctrine That we are justified by Faith in Christ is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification for that were to count our selves justified by some Act or Vertue that is in our selves And in another place This Righteousness 1. Hom. of salvation which we receive of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits embraced by Faith is accepted by God for our perfect Justification But this is past all doubt Mr. Sherlock when it is confirmed by a Metaphor or two A Ring which hath a precious Stone in it which will stanch blood may be said to stanch it but the Virtue lies in the Stone Faith is the Ring Christ the precious stone all that Faith doth is to bring home Christs Merits to the Soul and so it justifies an invention I never met with before And again In the Body are Veins that suck nourishment from the Stomach Faith is a sucking Vein that draws Virtue from Christ Is not this plain that we are saved by Christ as the Body is nourished by the Stomach That of the Ring is no new or absurd invention Answer it was many years since used by Dr. Pomeran Melch. Ad. in Vita Georg. Anhalt in these words Vt Annulus magnò estimatur amatur propter gemmam non propter aurum sic dicitur fide justificari homines propter gemmam Filium Dei hanc autem gemmam fide amplectimur With this Similitude George Prince of Anhalt was much delighted Neither need the Author have found fault with that other Similitude of a sucking Vein all spiritual nourishment is drawn from Christ and that by Faith Now to make all clear Mr. Sherlock we may give a Philosophical Account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification Because it is an humble Grace and gives the Glory of all to Free Grace If Repentance should fetch Justification from Christ a man would be ready to say This was for my Tears strange deserving Creatures these who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears But Faith is humble it is an empty Hand and what merit can there be in that Doth the poor man's reaching out his hand merit an Alms yes just as much as a few tears merit Heaven Faith is only a golden Bucket that draws water out of the Well of Salvation But why may not
the power of sin and that by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Thus the Author to which I answer God sent his Son indeed into the world that we might be sanctified by his Spirit but that was not all he sent him that we might be justified by his Blood and Righteousness to which purpose it will be worth while to consider that place Rom. 8. The Apostle in the first verse sets forth believers men in Christ by two excellent things first by Justification There is no condemnation to them no though there be reliques of corruption in them as is imported in the seventh Chapter there is none and then by Sanctification which is in conjunction with the other they walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And in the other verses he confirms both but inverso ordine first he confirms their Sanctification from the great Origen of it the holy Spirit The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death vers 2. The power of the holy Spirit hath subdued the power of sin and then he confirms their Justification from the sufferings of Christ with which his active obedience is to be taken in conjunction What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh vers 3. Their sins were condemned in the flesh of Christ there was an atonement made for them which certainly must relate to Justification from these sufferings of Christ with which his active obedience must be taken in conjunction the Apostle inferrs That the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us vers 4. The Law was not able to justifie us for want of a perfect obedience in us but God translated the impletion of the Law upon Christ Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us Christ bore the wrath of God for us and these things being imputed unto us the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us But then the Apostle returns again to Sanctification and subjoyns Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit assuring us that those who are justified by the imputed Righteousness of Christ are also Sanctified and led by his holy Spirit This I take to be the meaning of the place But let us hear our Church treating upon this place in conjunction with other Scriptures r. Hom. of Salvation St. Paul saith Rom. 3. We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ And Rom. 10. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth And Rom. 8. That which was impossible by the Law in as much as it was weak by the flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh by sin damned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit In these places the Apostle toucheth three things which must go together in our Justification upon Gods part his great mercy and grace upon Christ's parts justice that is the satisfaction of God's justice or the price of our redemption by the offering of his body and shedding of his Blood with fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly and upon our part true and lively Faith in the merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by Gods working in us So that in our Justification is not only Gods Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification but only shutteth out the justice of man that is to say the justice of our works as to be merits of deserving our justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of man concerning his justification but only a true lively Faith which nevertheless is the gift of God and not man's only work without God and yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the fear of God to be joyned with Faith in every man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the office of justifying so that although they be all present in him that is justified yet they justifie not all together These are the excellent words of our Church worthy without flattery be it spoken to be written in Letters of Gold but much more in the hearts of all true Christians We see here that there is in justification nothing on the behalf of man but Faith only no internal Holiness Repentance Hope Love Fear of God are in the justified but shut out from the office of justifying God's Grace and Christ's Righteousness are the great causes of justification But saith the Author Is there here any mention of Christ's Righteousness or the imputation thereof I answer Our Church surely thought so and we have his passive Righteousness expressed vers 3. and where that is expressed the active is implied This is clear when the Scripture saith That we are made righteous by Christ's obedience Rom. 5.19 It doth include his blood also and when he saith That we are justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 It doth include his active obedience also so that the Scripture because it expresses justification by both and because it must be consistent with it self in expressing the one includes the other When therefore Rom. 8.3 his sufferings are expressed his active obedience is also included both therefore are intended and withall an imputation without which they cannot be profitable to us But saith the Author The Law could not do it that is the Law could not deliver from the power of sin I answer The Law could not do it of it self and without the Spirit of Christ but if that divine Spirit take the Law into its hand and write it in the heart I suppose there will be a New Creature But the Author saith That the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit vers 4. How can imputation come in here What pretty sence will this make of the Apostles argument I answer The sence is very clear the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by Christ's Righteousness imputed to us and withall we to whom that is imputed walk after the Spirit the one is our Justification the other our Sanctification Both the Apostle proves to be in Believers and both consist very well together as appears from the first verse There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The No condemnation appertains to Justification and the walking after the Spirit to Sanctification and both stand very well together As to what the Author saith afterwards That there was no reason to abrogate Moses ' s
justifying Grace to be donum in Animainhaerens Renovation and Regeneration Against this our Protestant Divines have sufficiently testified Indeed no man who understands either himself and his own Errata's or the necessary distinction which is to be made between Justification and Sanctification can assert it And now nothing remains to be our Righteousness in Justification but the Obedience and atoning Blood of Christ and these cannot be applied to us and become ours but by Imputation By this it appears that the Blood of Christ doth not only confirm the Covenant but that it justifies us also And this further appears by the place quoted by the Author Moses sprinkled the blood on the book and on all the people Heb. 9.19 He did not only confirm the Covenant but sprinkled the People too this was the Type or Figure but Christ who is the Substance not only confirms the Covenant but sprinkles the hearts of Believers by his Blood Hence their hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. 10.22 and they have the sprinkling of the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 But to go on The Scripture saith the Author uses these phrases promiscuously to be justified by Faith by Christ by Grace nay by believing that Christ is the Son of God or risen from the dead To which I answer All these concurr to the same Justification but not in the same manner Grace which is the inward impulsive Cause of Justification is not Christ or his Blood the Blood of Christ which is the Matter of our Righteousness is not Faith Faith which is the Hand to receive Christ and Grace is not the Gospel the Charter of Justification which contains the Evangelical Axioms such as those touching Christ's being the Son of God or touching his Resurrection from the dead are These are distinct things and not to be confounded As for that place Eph. 2.14 15 16. the Apostle speaks indeed of reconciling Jews and Gentiles but that is not all he speaks too of reconciling both to God ver 16. and of making them one new man in himself ver 15. which notes a further reconciliation than that among themselves even a conjunction with God and Christ according to our Saviours Prayer That they maybe one in us Joh. 17.21 Christ saith the Author abrogated the Mosaical Law I answer He did so as to Types and Ceremonials but the Moral Law which is immortalized by its intrinsecal Sanctity stands to this day and the Grace which was under the Old Testament was not abrogated but made more illustrious than it was before The Gentiles saith the Author were at a distance from God But if they had natural Faith and could by it please God the distance was less and more tolerable though they were but in the outward Court of the Temple nay though they were a thousand miles off from it they would do well enough in the other world Mr. Sherlock Thus the Jews are said to be redeemed from the curse of the Law by the accursed death of Christ upon the Cross Gal. 3.13 Because the death of Christ put an end to that Legal dispensation and sealed a new and better Covenant between God and Man and the Gentiles were redeemed from their vain conversation received from their fathers that is from those idolatrous and impure practices they were guilty of not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 1.18 19. Now the Gentiles were delivered from their 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 Thus the Jews are redeemed from the curse of the Law by the accursed death of Christ Answer Gal. 3.13 so the Author and thus Socinus De Servat part 2. cap. 1. Ad Judaeos tantùm pertinet This belongs only to the Jews But the Curse which fell upon Christ was not a ceremonial one but a real such as put him into Agonies and a bloody Sweat neither were the Jews only redeemed from it but the Gentiles also what else was this to the Galatians who were Gentiles Were not the Gentiles also under the Curse and by nature children of wrath No doubt they were the Apostle saith That Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ver 14. And surely he would not argue from the Redemption of the Jews only to the Benediction of the Gentiles but from what was common to both of them The Gentiles were redeemed from their vain conversation that is from their idolatrous practices with the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. that is they were delivered by the preaching of the Gospel So the Author But when they were redeemed from their vain Conversation they were redeemed from the guilt of it and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this was not the Gospel but the precious Blood of Christ who was a Lamb without blemish and without spot Those men are injurious to the Blood of Christ Mr. Sherlock who attribute no more to it than a non-imputation of sin That by his death Christ Dr. Owen Com. 193. bearing and undergoing the punishment due to us paying the ransom due for us delivered us from the wrath and curse of God And thus by Christ's death all cause of quarrel is taken away But then this will not complete our acceptation the old quarrel may be laid aside and yet no new friendship begun we may be not sinners and yet not so far righteous as to have a right to the Kingdom of heaven So that the Blood of Christ only makes us innocent delivers us from guilt and punishment but if we will take the Doctor 's word for it it can give us no title to Glory this is owing to the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Obedience of his Life But you see the Scripture gives us a quite 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 Jesus Heb. 10.19 which is an allusion to the high Priest's entring into the Holy of Holies which was a Type of Heaven with the blood of the Sacrifice Thus by the Blood of Christ we have admission into heaven it self though the Dr. says That the Blood of Christ makes us innocent but cannot give us a Title to Heaven The Scripture takes no notice of their artificial Methods That the guilt of sin is taken away by the death of Christ and that we are made righteous by his Righteousness But the Blood of Christ is said to justifie us and to give us admission into the holiest of all into heaven it self nay we are made righteous by the death of Christ too 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in
make holiness needless Under pardon this is neither better nor worse than an old Popish calumny such as hath been cast into the face of Protestants over and over Chemnitius asserting justification by imputed Righteousness tells us Exam. Conc. Trid. de Justif Inde verò Pontificii texunt calumniam omnia decreta Tridentina ita condita sunt de justificatione ut obliquè nos insimulent quasi doceamus credentes non renovari quasi charitatem obedientiam ita excludamus ut nec adsit nec sequatur in reconciliatis And what return doth that learned man make thereunto Sed tantùm Syeophanticae impudentes calumniae sunt quibus strepitum excitant The learned Chamier brings in Sapeins Cham. de Sanctif cap. 2. charging the Protestants thus Non esse nos justos nist solû imputatione justitiae Christi non autem ullâ inhaerente qualitate And Costerus thus Christus est nostra justitia nulla est ergo alia justitia in nobis And Bozius thus Vt salutem consequaris sis sanctus aiunt omnes Protestantes nihil est necesse boni aliquid velis moliaris aut facias Christo fidas impunè quidvis audeas ad exitum perducas and then expresses himself thus Immanem ita me Deus amet calumniam The excellent Davenant De Hâ—tuali cap. â— ushering in Bellarmine and Campian and Becanus as casting the same dirt into the face of Protestants saith plainly to the two first quot verba tot serè mendacia and to the third calumnia est apertè falsa The Papists you see have cast out these calumnies but should a Protestant do so No surely the Author I confess hath done a great honour to these few Nonconformists in casting upon them that reproach of Christ for so as a Protestant I must call it which many a son of the Church of England would willingly bear hoping to have the spirit of Glory rest upon him but I suppose he hath done no great right to the Protestant cause therein How vain this calumny is doth assoon appear as we can open our eyes upon the common distinction between Justification and Sanctification Justification is an Action of God without us Sanctification an Action of the Spirit within us the one is by the perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed the other by the holy Graces of the Spirit infused and inherent in us In the one we are freed from the Guilt of Sin in the other from the Corruption and Pollution of it By the one we have a Title to God's Kingdom by the other a Meetness for it it being such as no unclean thing can enter into the same And what colour of Repugnancy is there between these two and how doth the one make the other useless Both are useful to the Believer and both in Harmony between themselves Obedience is so far from being needless that it is a necessary consequent upon Justification by Christ's Righteousness St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans first treats of Justification and then of Sanctification as a consequent thereupon Good works as our Church tells us in the 12th Article are the Fruits of Faith and follow after Justification To me it is unimaginable that the holy Spirit which is procured by Christ's Righteousness and before whose inspiration as our Church tells us in the 13th Article works done are not pleasant unto God should inspire unjustified persons to Obedience nay had it not been for Christ's Righteousness the holy Spirit I verily believe would no more have touched in the least holy motion upon Men than upon Devils I shall close this Point with the Authors own words Christ's Satisfaction was for sins of Omission and Commission and by it we are reputed by God as having done nothing amiss and as perfectly righteous to have done all to have kept the whole Law pag. 60. and yet I hope the Author doth not esteem Holiness needless though I cannot tell how Christ's imputed Righteousness whereof his Satisfaction is a part should make any man more than perfectly righteous However Holiness is necessary with respect to Sanctification Mr. Sherlock We have in us a New Creature which is fed cherish'd nourish'd kept alive by the fruits of Holiness God hath not given us new Hearts to kill them in the womb or to give them to the Old Man to be devoured as Dr. Owen hath it The phrase of this is admirable and the reasoning unanswerable if men be new Creatures they will certainly live new Lives And this makes Holiness necessary by the same reason that every thing necessarily is what it is when it is The new Creature is fed with fruits of of Holiness Answer so Dr. Owen Upon which the Author tells us in sport that the phrase is admirable I suppose it is so Hear our Church As Men that be very Men indeed 1. Hom. of good works quoting St. Chrysost for it first have life and after be nourished so must our Faith in Christ go before and after be nourished with good works But for the reason I think it cannot be answered Exercise is necessary for the Body and is it not necessary for the Body and is it not necessary for the Soul It is necessary for the Soul in meer Moral Virtues and is it not necessary for it in spiriritual Graces too Reason though a natural Talent only necessarily obliges us to walk sutably to it and how much more do Divine Graces which are altogether supernatural bind us to live in a Decorum thereunto These things to me are very cogent Well! Mr. Sherlock but holiness is necessary as the means to the end but how Though it neither be the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed by God for us to walk in for the obtaining Salvation he that hopeth purifieth himself none shall come to the End who walk not in the Way without Holiness it is impossible to see God This is all pertinent and home to the purpose but it hath two little faults in it that it contradicts it self and overthrows their darling Opinions which I can pardon if he can What the necessary way to eternal Life and yet neither Cause Matter nor Condition At least it might be the Causa sine qua non and that will make it a Condition But not to dispute about words I am content it should be only a way to life but what becomes of Christ then who is the only way Cannot Christ's Righteousness save us without our own Doth Christ's Righteousness free us from guilt and entitle us to Glory and yet can we not be saved without Holiness What becomes of free Grace then Is not this to eek out the Righteousness of Christ with our own To make Christ our Justifier and our Works our Saviour This is all pertinent Answer It seems the former Arguments drawn from the sovereign Will of God from the End of the Love of the blessed Trinity from the
Glory of them all from our Likeness to God from the Peace of Conscience from the Conviction and Conversion of others from the aversion of Judgments from the State of justified Persons from the Work of Sanctification are but poor insignificant things with the Author which yet with me are of great Moment This is all pertinent saith the Author but it contradicts it self and overthrows their Darling-opinion What the necessary way to eternal Life and yet neither Cause Matter nor Condition At least it might be Causa sine qua non and so a Condition But the Author might have observed that the Doctor did not speak ad idem to one and the same thing his words are Holiness is neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of Justification yet it is the way to Salvation both stand well together without any shadow of Contradiction Obedience is subsequent to Justification and so neither Cause Matter nor Condition of it but it is antecedent to Salvation and the way thereunto Well the Author is content that it only be a necessary way to eternal Life but what then becomes of Christ the only way What of Christ's Righteousness and of free Grace I hope there is no matter of fear our Holiness unless it be lifted up above it self into the room and Throne of Christ very well comports with Christ and Grace it is a way but not as Christ an Expiatory Meritorious one it stands as necessary in Sanctification but eeks not out Christ's Righteousness in Justification It flows from free Grace and doth not overturn but magnifie its Fountain Afterwards our Author draws up a long Charge against these men That they prepossess their Fancies with arbitrary Notions pervert the Scriptures to justifie their Darling-opinions and that sometimes with so ill success as to break some stubborn Truths into palpable absurdities and contradictions their Fancies and Scripture agree no better than the Church of Rome and Scripture do They add such limitations distinctions glosses to Scripture as are necessary to make them orthodox Their Acquaintance with Christs Person is only a work of Fancy teaches men Hypocrisie undermines the Design of the Gospel makes men incurably ignorant yet conceited of knowledge impertinent talkers and censurers of Mankind despisers of their Teachers as if ignorant and meer Moral Preachers Their Acquaintance with Christ's Person warms their Fancies moves their Passions sometimes they find breakings of heart and feel the horrors of damned Spirits sometimes they are ravish'd with his love and Beauty refresh'd with the sweet caresses of his love All which may be no more than the working of a warm Enthusiastick Fancy the transportation of frantick Raptures and Extasies of Love Unto all which I say two things only the one is this In general Charges which may be drawn up against the most innocent Souls under Heaven the intelligent Reader must measure the truth of them only by the Instances which before have been examined The other is this that the Author tells us That their breakings for sin and ravishments in Christ may be but the working of a warm Enthusiastick fancy In which Censure I suppose there is no over-measure of Charity There are yet Two things behind which because interwoven with the general Charge I have hitherto omitted but shall now recite them the one is this Prepossessed Fancies force men saith the Author to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox Language to this we owe all those nice and subtil Distinctions which constitute the Body of Systematical Divinity which commonly have no other design than to evade the force of Scripture or to bribe it to speak on their side I will now wonder no longer that the Author treats a few Nonconformists with such rough hands Behold an universal blast put on those excellent Divines which have stood in the Protestant World like burning and shining Lights and have set forth so many learned and worthy Systems of Divinity for the Churches use But this is All-a-mode with the Remonstrants who as Vedelius tells us De Arcan Armind have poured forth convitia atrocissima in Formulas not being afraid to say Ista ars est Sathanae calling them humanam tyrannidem and proceeding so far as to say That that Preface in Athanasius his Creed Qui vult salvus esse ante omnia credat c. was a proud one Systems of Divinity are to them as Bonds and Fetters which they would willingly break off that they might have the better Scope to introduce their unsound and novel Opinions The other is this It is not saith the Authour the Person but the Gospel of Christ which is the way the truth and the life It seems the new and living Way through his Flesh may be stop'd up the great Prophet may want the Title of Truth the vital Influences of Grace from Christ may be intercepted and all this after Christ himself hath told us expresly I am the Way the Truth and the Life These things I suppose will hardly be passable with Christian Ears or Hearts If he be not the Way there is no approach for us to the Father if not the Truth we are not bound to believe him or his Gospel if not the Life to quicken our dead and unbelieving Hearts we should never believe in him though he were both the former CHAP. IV. Sect. I. NExt to the Knowledge of Christ Mr. Sherlock there is not a greater Mystery than our Vnion to him and Communion with him on which as these men represent it are built all those wild and fanciful Conclusions which directly oppose the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity Therefore it is of great concernment to state this matter and to examine what is meant in Scripture by Vnion to Christ and Communion with him for the Scripture mentioneth such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be expressed by an Vnion and the phrases of being in Christ abiding in Christ can signifie no less The Author owns some kind of Union Answer but our enquiry is after a spiritual mystical union between Christ and believers who are knit together by the Divine Ligatures of the holy Spirit and Faith The quickning Spirit as the right Reverend Vsher hath it descending downward from the Head Serm. before the Commons 1620. to be in us a Fountain of supernatural Life and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit ascending from us upward to lay fast hold upon him This Union is fully set forth in Scripture We are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communion cannot but import Union We are said to have the Son and to have life by him 1 Joh. 5.12 To eat his flesh and drink his blood so as to live by him Joh. 6.56 57. And unless we dream of an oral Manducation what can this be but a Mystical
gift of God hence it is called the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and Faith of the operation of God Col. 2.12 It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 And such a gift it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is freely gratuitously given Phil. 1.29 Seing then it is thus should we not submit to God for every crumb of bread drop of drink and moments patience because they are his gifts and must we not submit to him for Faith because it is such Had not God given a Jesus a Saviour to Men they could not have made a just complaint against him and now there being one that he is not known all the World over the Pagans may not open their lips against God and in the Church where Christ is known that all Men have no Faith no Man may question God about it Gifts are free and must be submitted for The Apostle asserts Gods Soveraignty clearly He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9.18 And if any dare repy or find fault the Apostle takes him up Nay but O Man who art thou that repliest against God If thou hadst but any sentiments of thy own nothingness or rayes of the Divine Majesty thou wouldest never dare to question or to implead thy Maker before whom thou art but a Worm a piece of Clay to be disposed of at his pleasures It is certain that God owes us nothing Though we are in the use of means earnestly to seek Christ Faith and not in a careless indifferent manner as without cause the Author would hint Mr. Shephards mind to be yet we must still adore Gods Soveraignty and lye at his feet for all his Gifts and particularly for Faith It was horrible insolence and presumption in him who prayed Redde mihi vitam aeternam quam debes And it would be no less for any one to pray Redde mihi fidem vivam quam debes Verbum debet venenum habet as Peter Lumbard hath it These things considered Mr. Shephards words need no more but only a candid Interpretation What then is to be done Mr Sherlock in order to our closing with Christ by Faith for hitherto there is no foundation for our Faith Why you must not catch at Christ but stay till God give him to you till God take you into his Arms that you may lean upon your Beloved you must stay till God give you a particular call to come to Christ and whether that will be ever or never no Man can tell Many a wounded Sinner will be scrambling from some general reports of him such as his Gospel makes before the day and hour of Gods glorious call Now for any Man to receive Christ before he is called is presumption I unpardonable presumption too to attempt impossibilities for no Body can come till he is called no man should come unless first called and therefore no crime to stay away as it is in calling to an Office so it is in our calling to special Grace No Man takes this honour but he that is called of God Heb. 5.4 It is a great presumption to usurp the Office of a Priest Prophet or King without a designation and so it is to be a good Man or Christian without a particular call For what hath any Man to do with Christ to make himself a Son of God and Heir of glory to take care to please God and to make himself happy but he that is called of God Well Sinner wait with patience till thou art called and so thy work is at an end for this time The Author laughs at Mr. Shephards particular call Answer let us therefore consider it there is a double call a general external call reaching to all in the Church and a particular internal call vouchsafed to some The first is a command a sufficient warrant to come to Christ The second is a special Act of Grace which infallibly produces Farth in those to whom it is given This distinction is clearly founded in Scripture all in the Church are called but all are not drawn of the Father all do not hear and learn of the Father Joh. 6.44 45. For these taught and drawn ones do all of them come to Christ which all Men in the Church do not all in the Church are called but all are not called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 for then all would love God as those called ones do and by consequence all would have that Faith which works by love We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.23 24. All of them had an external general call those to whom Christ was a stumbling block and foolishness had such a call for an unknown an unreveiled Christ could not be a stumbling block or foolishness But besides this call there is another an internal effectual call such as makes Christ the power and wisdom of God to Men such as works Faith and other Graces in Men Hence the Apostle saith That they are the called called with a more internal and efficacious call than other Men are These things laid down all things in Mr. Shephard are very easie all Men in the Church have an external call and so a sufficient warrant to believe in Christ it will be no presumption at all in them to do so The Object Jesus Christ is evidently set forth before their eyes but that they may believe in him indeed they must wait for a particular internal call for that Grace which works Faith in the heart if not the work of Faith must be their own they must believe of themselves And this I fear though the Object Christ be free for them would be presumption because the Scripture assures us that Faith is the gift of God All Men in the Church should come to Christ for the Evangelical command makes it their duty yet if we believe our Saviour there must be internal teachings and tractions from the Father to make us truly come to him All in the Church are by the Gospel called to be Believers so to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Royal dignity to be Sons of God Joh. 1.12 to the Divine Offices to be Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 But this believing is produced by that internal efficacious call which calleth things that are not as though they were I mean which calleth Faith into being where it was not before But then saith Mr. Sherlock The Sinner must only wait till he is called and so his work is at an end for this time To which I answer His work is not at an end because he is still to wait if the Scripture which makes Faith the free-gift of God be true there is no nearer passage to Heaven then by waiting upon God for Faith in the use of means The Saints
united to Christ or true and reall which imports the truth and sincerity of our Obedience and Subjection to our Lord and Master Hypocrites may seem Answer but are not members of Christ or united to him non potest Christus habere damnata membra omnia ista membra absit omninò Contr. Cresc l. 2. cap. 21. ut in membris illius columbae unicae computentur saith St. Austin and in another place Si amas amplecteris peccata tua contrarius es Christo Expos in Epist Jo hannis intus sis foris sis Antichristus es intus sis foris sis palea es sed quare foris non es Quia occasionem venti non invenisti Our Obedience to Christ our Lord is not the very mystical union it self but a Divine fruit of it The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ requires the homage of the Soul Mr. Sherlock the Government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and Spirits we must be born again of water and of the Spirit if we would enter into Gods Kingdom that is before we can be the Disciples and Subjects of Christ we must be born of water make a publick profession of our faith in Christ and obedience to him in our Baptism we must be born of the Spirit too that is our minds and Spirits must become subject to Christ our faith in Christ and subjection to him must be sincere and hearty governing all the motions of our Souls and making usually such as we pretend to be which is called being born of the Spirit because all Christians Graces are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit as the Author of them Here are two things Answer Baptism and Regeneration both are not of a like necessity to make us Disciples of Christ Regeneration is simply necessary but so is not Baptism unbaptized persons may be reall believers and if they die before Baptism as Valentinian did they enter into Bliss Contr. Don. l. 1.4 cap. 22. Impletur invisibiliter cum mysterium Baptismi non contemptus religionis sed articulus necessitatis excludit saith St. Austin Baptism may be administred by man but Regeneration is the sole work of the holy Spirit which breaths where it lists and forms all those Graces which make up the new creature hence we are said to be born of the Spirit and all the Graces in the new man are called the fruits of the spirit Hence Fulgentius saith ex eodem Spiritu renati sumus ex quo natus est Christus De Jucava cap. 20. The very same Spirit which formed Christ in the womb forms him in the heart And S. Ambrose speaking of the Gracious Image of God in us saith Pictus es ô homo Hexaem l. 6. cap. 8. à Domino Deo tuo bonum habes artificem atque pictorem No other hand but that of the holy spirit only is able to draw such a picture of God as is in the new creature we who naturally lye in a Mass and Chaos of corruption are not capable of doing any thing in it As a visible profession is the foundation of an external Political union between Christ and his Church Mr. Sherlock so this new nature is the foundation of a real and spiritual union And this the Scripture represents under several notions First by the Subjection of our minds and Spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as our Bodies under his Government Hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 That is to have the sole command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells Secondly by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the Subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere Obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind may be in us as was in Christ Phil. 2.5 And to be his Disciples is to learn of him Matth. 11.29 Hence our union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have that same temper of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those Virtues and Graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit and therefore what the Apostle calls having the Spirit in the next verse he expresses by If Christ be in you that is if you be possest with the same love of virtue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sence with that expression of Christ being formed in you Gal. 4.19 Hence in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Herein consists our union to Christ that we have the same temper Souls are united by an harmony of wills this makes two one Spirit After a long discourse touching external communion with the Church Answer the Author is now come to own a spiritual union with Christ and this saith the Author the Scripture represents to us first by the subjection of our minds to Christ as our King Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. that is he commands there But I take that place of the Apostle to be an eminent proof of the mystical union it is not said Christ commands though that be very true but he dwells in our hearts not by a piece of faith such as accepts Christ as our Lord but by an entire one such as receives him in all his offices We have in those words faith expressed which is a bond of that mystical union and where faith is there is that other bond the holy Spirit which flows as rivers of living water in the believers heart and just before those words of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith the Apostle speaks of the holy Spirit in the inner man Verse 16. which is the principal bond of that mystical Union And St. Chrysostom on the words saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the holy spirit in the inner man Christ doth dwell in our hearts by faith But saith the Author Secondly this is represented in Scripture by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to Christ To which I answer If by that subjection be meant a receiving Christ as our Lord it is but a part of that faith which with its Sister Graces make up the new creature all Graces are found in the new creature and among others Faith which receives Christ in all his offices and among other in his Kingly but if by that subjection be meant Obedience to his
Laws which the Author after mentions calling it a conformity to his nature the new creature is not the effect of Subjection or Obedience but the cause of it true Obedience is too pure a thing to issue out of an unregenerate heart before it can come forth Enchir. cap. 106. Ipsum liberum arbitrium liberandum est As St. Austin speaks Lapsed nature must be new-natured and its deadly wound healed by regenerating Grace First according to Scripture there must be a good tree and then good fruit De Eccles Hierar cap. 2. First a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Divine state or being as Dionysius calls it and then Divine operations issuing forth in a sweet connaturalness to the Heavenly principles within To this purpose let us hear our Church 2. Hom. of Almes As the good fruit is not the cause that the tree is good but the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit so the good Deeds of men are not the Cause that maketh men good but he is first made good by the Spirit and Grace of God that effectually worketh in him and afterwards he bringeth forth good fruit As for such as are regenerate and new Creatures I acknowledge them to have the same temper of Mind with Christ and that every Grace in the new Man answers to that in Christ and morally unites to him but the Mystical Union is made by the holy Spirit and Faith which hath this above other Graces to receive Christ and incorporate us into him That place Phil. 2. of having the same mind with Christ holds out the same temper in both that in Matt. 4.11 calls us to an imitation of him that Gal. 4.19 expresses the State of the new Creature which is moulded after the Image of Christ But the other two places quoted by the Author prove the Mystical Union the one is that Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By Spirit is not meant an holy temper of Mind but the Spirit it self the very same which just before the words is called The Spirit of God and ver 11. The spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead and by which our mortal bodies shall be quickned This is that Spirit which unites us to Christ in such an admirable manner that Christ is said to be in us ver 10. St. Chrysostome on the words saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath the holy Spirit hath Christ himself the Spirit being present Christ nay the whole Trinity must be so The other is that 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit that is one and the same holy Spirit is in Christ and Believers mystically uniting them together This appears as well by the opposition of one spirit in this 17. Verse to one flesh in the 16. Verse For as the Learned Beza notes on the place Vt constet expositio exterioris corporum copulae nostrae cum Christo interoris spiritûs nomen usurpavit Apostolus as also by the after-words What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you ver 19. The holy Ghost is that one Spirit which unites Christ and Believers Hence the Reverend Vsher quoting this place among others concludes That the Mystery of our Vnion with Christ consists mainly in this that the self same Spirit which is in him as in the Head is derived from him into every one of his true Members There is yet a closer Vnion Mr. Sherlock which consists in a mutual reciprocal Love when we are transformed into the image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him as partaking of his Nature he loves us as the price of his Blood as his own workmanship created to good Works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour I acknowledge there is a Moral Union between Christ and Christians by holy Love Answer but this Moral Union supposes a Mystical one made by the Spirit and Faith Where these are not there can be no such thing as Love to Christ Hence the Apostle Eph. 3.16 17. first lays down the Mystical Union with its two Bands the Spirit in the inner man and Faith whereby Christ dwells in the heart and immediately after adds the Moral one That ye may be rooted and grounded in Love Where-ever the Mystical Union is there is holy Love to Christ What the Author afterwards adds touching God's dwelling in the Church as his Temple is so far from opposing that it points out the Mystical Union especially seeing as the Author confesses Particular Christians are in Scripture stiled the Temple of the living God That place quoted by the Author Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 is very emphatical Christians are the Temple of God and made so by the indwelling Spirit which is the bond of the Mystical Union Indeed the Author saith That the indwelling of the Spirit primarily refers to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which God in that Age bestowed on the Church this was the true Shechinah or divine Glory resting on them But I conceive the holy Spirit hath been in Believers in all Ages God dwelt in the Jewish Temple in Types and Symbols of his Presence but which was far more excellent than those outward shadows and appearances of Glory he dwelt even then by his Spirit in all true Believers The sweet strains of Devotion in David did plainly evidence that the holy Spirit was in him the spiritual Imbroidery or Needle-work in every Psalm tells us that the Finger of God was there The believing Israelites in Mannâ Christum intellexerunt saw Christ in their Manna and fed on the same spiritual Meat as believing Christians do which is a clear proof that the holy Spirit was in them The Son of God coming in the Flesh the holy Spirit was poured down in extraordinary Gifts and though those Epiphanies of divine Glory went off yet the same Spirit hath been and ever will be in Believers This our Church acknowledges 1. Hom. for Whitsunday Neither doth the holy Spirit think it sufficient inwardly to work the spiritual and new Birth of Man unless he do also dwell and abide in him And a little after our Church breaks out in an holy admiration O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the holy Ghost dwelleth in him The Apostle tells the Ephesians that they are builded for an habitation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the Spirit Eph. 2.22 Indeed the Author interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual Temple in opposition to the material one which St. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual house but I take it the Spirit it self is meant Thus Grotius as I have him quoted in the Criticks saith Non tantùm tota fidelium