and save them from sin M and though sin hath its ful power in our own humane life yet it hath no power over Christs life in us which we live through Faith Wherefore saith Paul Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin and verse 12. saith he Let not sin therefore reign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in your mortal or dead body which he cals dead not in reference to the common mortality of the world but in reference to our crucifying with Christ and in the body that is crucified with Christ sin is not to reign And so you see that through our crucifying with Christ we are dead to sin also N For it is impossible that Christ and sin should live together in strength in the same flesh but if sin live in our flesh it will crucifie us to Christ and if Christ live in our flesh he will crucifie us to sin 3. By being crucified with Christ we are freed from death that death that arises of sin and carries the wrath of God in it For through the death of the second Adam we are set free from the death of the first Adam and through that death to die unto life Vnbelieving flesh is the fuel of death as wood is of fire and death reigns and hath its full Dominion in the flesh of all unbelievers O but when we by faith are made members of Christs body of his flesh and bones then life reigns in Christs flesh as death in ours And so being crucified with Christ death hath no more dominion over us 4. By being crucified with Christ we are also freed from the power of the Devil The Devil haâ—h power over our flesh or humanity whilest it is our own and under the Law sin and death But when our flesh is united to Christ and is crucified by the Word and Spirit then Satan comes and hath nothing in it as he came to Christ and had nothing in him P The devil then can finde nothing in us to do us harm or whereby he may prevail against us when we are truly crucified with Christ 5. Q The flesh that is crucified with Christ is only Christs own flesh For whilest we live our own lives in unbelief we are only the flesh of the first Adam R but when the living Word and Spirit dwell in us and crucifie us then our flesh becomes the flesh of the second Adam and so far as it is crucified through the Word it is Christs flesh more then ours 6. S This crucified flesh is the only temple and habitation of God wherein he dwels and manifests himself in this world For as God dwelt in Christs flesh which was thus crucified and made it his temple so he dwels in the crucified flesh of Believers and makes that his Temple as Paul saith to Believers Ye are the temples of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them And God dwels in none of the flesh of all the sons of men but only in that which is crucified with Christ and that flesh that is not thus crucified is not Gods Habitation but the Devils 7. T This crucified flesh only keeps the true Christian Sabbath or the everlasting rest of the new World which is to cease from our own works and to do the works of God Whereas that flesh that is alive to it self and lives its own life in it self and the creatures never enters into the true rest nor keeps the true Sabbath but it alwayes works its own works and doth all things from it self and for it self and so long God will not use it V But when the flesh is crucified through the Word then God doth all in it and takes it out of its own life and works into his life and his works And the more any flesh is crucified with Christ the more doth God delight to use it and to work his own excellent works by it for such flesh will render no resistance to God in his working and also it will do the works of God meerly for the glory of God and good of his brother being dead to all self ends and interests 8. W This crucified flesh only is able to endure the will of God and to suffer for his Name For till the flesh be crucified with Christ and killed by the Word it will suffer nothing for God but will by all possible means avoid the crosse but when it is truly crucified it will endure the greatest evils that can be inflicted on it either by men or devils or by the Lord himself and that with much willingnesse and cheerfulnesse As we have seen in Christ the Head and Believers the Members what grievous things they have suffered for the name and truth of God in their crucified flesh And as this crucified flesh will suffer any thing for God so it wil suffer it aright that is First In obedience to God as Christ laid down his life not by necessity but willingly Secondly In meekness and patience as Christ who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously And thirdly In Love and that to very persecutors so as to pitty them pray for them This is glorious suffering indeed and no flesh can suffer thus but this crucified flesh 9. X This crucified flesh as it is able to suffer all things so also to overcome all things That flesh that lives its own life is soon certainly conquered by all the evils that assault it but when it is crucified with Christ it is also quickened with him to overcome all things So Christ who was thus crucified by the Word though he seemed to the world in his death and cross to be quite vanquished yet even then he spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed openly over them yea and overcame all things in that crucified flesh of his For that flesh that is crucified by the Word and Spirit is thereby made Superiour to all things in that exaltation and might which the Word and Spirit communicate to it 10 Y This crucified flesh hath the very glory of Jesus Christ upon it and no flesh is so glorious in the Church as that which is most crucified with Christ for in that you shall see little of it self and most of Christ little of the first Adam and most of the second Look among all the sons of God and you shall see them that were most crucified with the Word most glorious the clear beauty of holiness being seen upon them whereas that flesh that lives much in it self in its own wit will reason prudence mind affections and the things of its first nature though there may be something of Christ in it yet all these things are so much uncomeliness and deformity upon it and are nothing but a thick vail and covering to obscure Christ himself But that
old Protestant doctrine of mortification teacheth men freely to say Amen to this prayer SECT IX Nevertheless I live EVery true Believer is as well quickned with Christ as crucified with him I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live A So that as the humanity of Christ which is the first Example and Pattern to which the whole Church is conformed being deprived of its own proper life through the Word and Spirit that dwelt in it had instead thereof the life of the Son of God communicated to it and that Son of man having parted with his own proper life out of himself did yet truly live in the same soul and body the life of the Eternal Word and was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived so also it is with all Christians And therefore Paul saith out of his own experience I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live as if he had said I am not crucified to death but to life my crucifying with Christ is my quickning for by this means I am so killed that I live the more yea now onely I do truly live being formerly dead My own proper life in my self was my death but Christs life in me is my true life For I was dead with the worst death to wit in trespasses and sins but now I live in the best life even the life of righteousnesse B Whence it is manifest that the living Word and Spirit of Christ in a Christian do so kill the life of his flesh which is a life of sin and sorrow and darknesse and death that at the same time they communicate to the same man to the same soul and body a true and spiritual and holy and heavenly and eternal life C For no man is crucified with Christ but he also lives with him seeing the same Word that kils our life communicates Christs and Christ crucifies us with himself not that he may kill us but that he may quicken us and our quickning is the end of our crucifying and our crucifying is the way to our quickening D Indeed the killing of the flesh by the sword or famine or the Law or any way else is death indeed or death unto death but the killing of the flesh by the living Word and Spirit which is its crucifying with Christ is death unto life And here again we may note this also That the true life of a Christian begins from his crucifying and dying with Christ and also the true crucifying and dying of a Christian begins from his life in Christ For both these inseparably go together to wit our crucifying and our quickening with Christ But our crucifying with Christ is named first in order because it is first in manifestation seeing after we believe Christs death is first manifested in us before Christs life though Christs life be first in us in order of nature the crucifying of our flesh flowing from the life of his Spirit This then is the sum of this matter E That the living Word dwelling in us destroyes the proper life of the flesh and takes up the flesh into the life of it self and the Spirit And so a man in union with Christ hath his own life destroyed out of him and Christs own life communicated to him So that in the true Believer the soul and body of man live in the life of the Son of God as was done in the flesh of Christ our elder Brother And thus the flesh lives a life that is not of the flesh yea thus the creature lives in it self the life of God For as that eternal life that was with the Father was manifested in the Son that is in his flesh or humanity and all Believers have seen and known it so also that very life of the Father and the Son is both communicated to the Saints and also manifest in them as faith very well knows F And this is the great mystery of the Gospel let them receive it that can receive it ANIMADVERSION 9. A IN these words Mr Dell hath couched together six strange positions to which I would say more in this place but that the matter of them is discussed and the errour of them as I conceive discovered in my Animadversions on other passages of this book 1. That the humanity of Christ was deprived of its own proper life through the word and spirit that dwelt in it 2. That in stead thereof it had the life of the Son of God communicated to it 3. That the son of man parted with his own proper life out of himself 4. That he did yet live truly in the same soul and body the life of the eternal word 5. That the whole church is conformed to the pattern of the humanity of Christ in point of living the life of the eternal word 6. That the Son of man was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived whilst he was crucified If Mr Dell can produce one Scripture in proof of any one of these Positions I am utterly unacquainted with it I think it may be truly said of them recitasse est refutasse the reciting is a sufficient refuting of them B That the spirit of Christ in a Christian doth so kil the life of his flesh that is of his body of sin that at the same time it doth communicate to the same man to the same soul and body a true spiritual holy heavenly and eternal life is a known truth acknowledged by those whose souls have not entred into Mr Dels secrets If this be all he meaneth and mindeth he should but use old plain words and he should find consent of judgement in all his brethren Me thinks the words of the Lord to Job should sound loudly in the ears of some men in our dayes who are of a deeper language in matters of Religion then that their brethren can well understand them Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge Job 38.2 It is the glory of the Ministers of the Gospel not to be vail'd like Moses but to use much plainnesse of speech in their doctrine seeing the Lord shineth in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ C All this in a sound sence is sound doctrine If the words be not put upon new tentors they do not outreach the old apprehensions of Gods servants amongst us D Is it the same flesh as these words import which is killed by the sword or famine and which is killed by the Law and Spirit of Christ and so crucified with him Me thinks no Christian which ever looked into the Scriptures should upon second thoughts say so The one is evidently the material body and the other the body of sin which are things vastly different E That Christ by his Spirit in believers destroyeth the proper life of the flesh understanding thereby the old man is very true but then it is utterly false that Christ takes up that flesh into the life of the Spirit of God And
in these words if Mr Dell understand by flesh the nature or natural body of man then they carry in them a falshood throughout for neither doth Christ dwelling in us by his Spirit destroy the proper life of our humane nature or natural body neither is our humane nature or natural body taken up into the life of the Word and Spirit as is here confidently affirmed And to say that in the true believer the soul and body of man live in the life of the Son of God as was done in the flesh of Christ our elder brother is to make believers the sons of God and partakers of the divine nature in the same manner as our Lord Jesus was which cannot be mentioned without trembling and me thinks should not be the judgement of any Christian Doubtlesse the Apostle Paul understood that God was manifested in the flesh in the person of our Saviour in a special peculiar and incommunicable manner when describing the mysterie of Godlinesse relating to our Saviour he made the first branch of it God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 F This is the great mystery of the Gospel for certain would it be a degree of infidelity to doubt or deny that this is Gospel It seems Mr Dell thinks so by adding Let them receive it who can receive it But who gave him warrant with such absolute peremptorinesse to impose his notions upon others as Gospel the great mysterie of the Gospel I cannot but stand amazed at the strange confidence of some men who dare assume unto themselves our Saviours authority or at least the boldnesse to make use of his authoritative words without any preface in pressing of their new and strange doctrines to say no worse upon others as high points and great mysteries of the Gospel Such high confidence in points wherein men may possibly be brought to an after conviction of their errour I take to be one of the most dangerous pinacles upon which men are liable to be tempted to cast themselves down through the medium of scepticisme into the bottome of Atheism wherein we have many sad examples before our eyes Who can but love and reverence the learned Christian modesty of aged Austin who wrote thus of himself Lib. de bono perseverantiae cap. 21. Quamvis neminem velim sic amplecti omnia mea ut me sequatur nisi in t is in quibus me non errare perspexerit Though I would have no man so to imbrace all that I affirm as to follow me in any other points but such only wherein he perceiveth that I do not go astray And again in the same chapter Quandoquidem arrogantiùs loquor quam veriùs si vel nunc dico me ad perfectionem ut sine ullo errore scriberem jam in istâ aetaete venisse I shall speak more arrogantly then truly if I shall even now say that I am at this age arriv'd to that perfection that I do write without all errour How happy would it be if such a spirit were more commonly to be discerned in our dayes SECT X. NOw this new and Spiritual life which a crucified Christian partakes of He hath it 1. In Vnion 2. In Manifestation First A A Christian hath this life in Vnion when through Faith of the operation of God he is really knit unto Christ and ingraffed into him and made one with him For before we are united to Christ we are without life but as soon as we are united to him we have life from him as John saith in his Epistle He that hath the Son hath life even that life which the Son hath and he that hath not the Son hath not life Now this life and union which a Christian hath through faith is more hidden and secret as that life is that proceeds from the first real union and complyance between the Stock and sience or graft and this is the life of Justification B For as soon as ever we are by faith made one with God in Christ the righteousnesse of God is made ours truly and everlastingly and in this we are justified even before God 2. A true Christian hath this life of Christ not onely in Vnion but also in Manifestation For when a Christian partakes of Christs life by faith this life will not be idle in him which is against the nature of all life but especially of this but most active and operative and it will manifest it self especially two wayes viz. Both in Holinesse and Comfort 1. C This life will manifest it self in Holinesse in the very holinesse of Christ which is the holiness of the Divine Nature communicated to the Humane Nature the Spirit it self which is given to a Believer as the outgoing of the life of God within him worketh its own works of grace and sanctification in him and communicates the same holiness to him a Member as to Christ the Head though in a far different degree 2. This life of Christ in a Christian will manifest it self in comfort as well as in holinesse And this is the life of our life and the next and necessary result of holinesse wherefore it is said that the Kingdom of God stands first in righteousnesse and then presently in peace and joy and the same Spirit that is given for a Sanctifier is also given for a Comforter and Paul saith Rom. 8. That to be spiritually minded is not only life but life and peace D For when a Believer findes in himself a new nature through a new birth and the Law of God within his heart and some strength to obey God and to do his will then he begins to finde also a sweet and heavenly peace within him and many times joy unspeakable and glorious And thus is a crucified Christians new life manifested both in holiness and also in Spiritual peace and joy And now to speak one word by way of Application let us each one seriously consider whether he do indeed partake of such a life as is risen to him out of death whether he finde that he hath parted with his own life and gotten another life then his own in his own soul and body and whether the life of the first Adam be crucified in him he live the life of the second Adam that is not a natural but a spiritual life not a humane but a divine life not an earthly but a heavenly life not a temporal but an eternal life for thus do all live that are truly crucified with Christ E And I desire we all would the rather minde this because if we part with this life ere we partake of that the second death which is everlasting death in sin and the wrath of God must needs swallow us up and because if we do not partake of Christs life here we can never live with him in his Kingdom and also because we can never have true and immediate communion with the Father but in the life of his Eternal Son Wherefore let all such whose hearts God hath
and the faithful in all Ages are filling up the remainders of the sufferings of Christ in his body For believers have all along suffered and do still suffer from the World because God is in them of a truth and the evil done to them is against God himself who dwells in them And against this Rock have all the unbelievers dash'd themselves in pieces all along 4. Christ who lives in believers lives in them like himself that is like the Son of the living God and so those in whom he lives 1. He frees them from their own evil things and 2. He confers upon them all his own good things 1. He frees them from their evil things And in reference to these he lives in them as their Redeemer and Saviour and so Christ within them abolishes the Law takes away sin and destroyes death for none of these things can dwell in his presence in that soul wherein he lives F For he is our new Law to make void the Old and he is our new Righteousnesse to take away sin and our new life to destroy death and the Law Sin and Death can have no place nor power where Christ our new Law Righteousnesse and Life dwels and lives 2. Christ living in believers confers upon them his own good things G For Christ the Son of God hath nothing in himself that is in his Divine nature which he will not communicate to our flesh as he hath done to his own according to our place and use in his body and so he communicates to all those in whom he dwells of all the things of God till at last he fill them with all the fulnesse of God And thus is Christ glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe 5. H If it be Christ the true God that lives in believers then we learn hence what true justification is and that is to be so one with Christ by faith that Christ himself may live in us and we in him that he may communicate his nature to us and our nature may be taken up into his for we cannot be Justified before God by our own living but by Christs living in us his own life and his righteousnesse which is the righteousnesse of God must dwell in us e're we can be Justified before God I Lastly seeing Christ himself lives in all true believers let us all who professe our selves to be such so live that Christ may be seen to live in us more then our selves that they that have known us may know us no more but may know Christ in us and that they that have communion with us may acknowledge Christ himself speaking working and living his whole life in us in all self-denyall humility holinesse love resignation of our selves to the will of God and in all diligence to do the work of God and readinesse to suffer the will of God for thus Christ lived in his own flesh and thus also he will certainly live in ours if he live there at all and when Christ lives in our flesh as he did in his own something of his glory will be seen upon us Now such a Christian in whom Christ lives and he lives not himself how amiable would he be in the spiritual Church but how unlike would he be to all the men in the world yea to the most Professors in that which is called the visible Church but I proceed to that which follows ANIMADVERSION 14. A MAster Dell should do well to name the men who look for all the life of Christ in his humanity and do not acknowledge that Christ lived truly in Paul and doth live in all the faithful by his spirit If none such appear as I am confident there will not amongst knowing Protestants he might have saved his use of rectification at least wise in respect of them B That Christ the true God is instead of all created habits of grace yea that he is truly all grace unto believers seems to be a position very dissonant from Scripture doctrine and which to my best remembrance I never saw Printed nor heard uttered until now Paul fully distinguished the spirit in believers from the sanctifying graces of believers which he calleth the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22,23 and in divers places he teacheth that the graces flow by way of creation from Christ through his spirit 2 Cor. 5.17 Ephes 2.10 and 4.24 Might the Scriptures be heard I think created graces and Christ in believers would not be opposed or confounded but Christ dwelling in believers by his spirit be acknowledged not to be all grace but the fountain of all created graces in them for of his fulnesse have we all received and unto every one of us is grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 That the Godhead which dwelt in our Saviour was in him instead of all grace as Mr Dell confidently affirmeth needs proof before it be believed The fear of the Lord fiducial hope in God and other holy graces seem plainly according to Scripture doctrine to have been wrought habitually in our Saviours humane nature by the Spirit which was given him without measure Esay 11.2 and 61.1 Acts 10.38 It is quickly affirmed that created habits of grace in a Christian are empty notions and vaine speculations of School-men and of carnal and unbelieving hearts But doubtlesse men of holy and believing hearts have conceived that God in the Scripture makes mention of the habitual grace of righteousnesse wrought by the Lord Christ in his people Phil. 1.11 Eph. 4.24 as also the habitual graces of faith and love 1 Tim. 1.14 Acts 18.27 and of patience James 1.4 and the like flowing all from the Lord Christ as the vine which hath the sap of all grace originally in himself But that the Lord Christ is all grace to a believer I never yet read in any Scripture As to the place here produced by Mr Dell as expresly teaching the same sc 1 Cor. 1.30 I find it not there said that Christ is all grace to a believer nor do I imagine how it should be convincingly argued from that text which as far as I yet see only setteth forth our Saviour as made by God to his believing people the author and object of saving wisdom the treasure of Gods righteousnesse unto justification the root of sanctification through his spirit and the worker of the ful redemption of his people All which may be granted and is believed of those who yet believe that there is habitual operative grace wrought by â—hrist through his Spirit in his believing people enabling them in some measure unto every good work acording to 1 Cor. 15.10 C It is certain that our Lord Christ is the only ground of acceptation with God unto believers but that he is the only acceptable grace to God as Mr Dell here affirmeth is never as I know said in Scripture Love acting towards the Saints is pointed at as acceptable to God Heb. 6.10 and
ability to do good works Rom. 7.15,18 and pointed at the same impotency in the believing Galathians Gal. 5.17 And me thinks to affirm that a Christian as naturally and necessarily doth the works of God as the fire burneth and the Sun shineth which creatures we know have no seeds of opposition against their native operations in them is plainly to make a Christian perfectly spiritual and holy free from all reliques of native corruption opposing in him the willings of grace And if any such Christian be to be found according to Mr Dels doctrine he must needs exceed the measure of the Apostle Pauls holinesse which I think no true humble Christian will pretend unto SECT XVIII BY all which we may perceive that true faith is a greater matter then the most are aware of A For men usually think that when they hear the Gospel in the outward Ministry and assent to it that it is true that this is Faith and that then they do believe but the true faith of Gods elect is a greater matter then so for through that we are truly made one with the Son of the living God and do abide and live in him for ever B And so this right faith is a most high and precious grace and is the first manifestation of the Fathers eternal love to the Soul and the first grace whereby we have entrance into the Kingdom of God it is the Sabbath of Sabbaths it is the greatest and highest worship of God C it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse it is the mortification of the flesh the quickening of the spirit our mighty victory over the Law Sin Death Hell the World and Devil it is the first and last and all in all in the Kingdom of the Son And he that believes as the Scriptures have said is already truly passed from sin to righteousnesse from death to life and from Satan to God So that right faith is a most precious grace and is found in very few of the common Professours of the worldly Church So that Christ himself makes this question The Son of man when he comes shall he finde faith upon earth And therefore it concerns all to inquire and try Whether we partake of this Faith or no And whether the life we live in the flesh be in the Faith of the Son of God otherwise we must know that as he that believes shall be saved so he that believes not shall be damned It follows ANIMADVERSION 18. A MAster Dell I suppose whatever he intimateth in these words cannot but know that the generality of Protestant Divines place the nature of saving faith not in a bare assent to the Gospel but in an act of the whole heart receiving Jesus Christ according to the Gospel John 1.12 And as for such men who wrest the nature of saving faith short of the receiving of Jesus Christ with their whole heart their doctrine is as unsatisfactory to the generallity of understanding Protestants as to Mr Dell. B If true faith be a most high and precious grace as is here affirmed by Mr Dell How then is Christ in believers truly all grace which is asserted by him Sect. 14. B Is Christ a believers right faith too That were very strange C The praise of a right faith is very great in the book of God But to say of faith that it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse and again that it is the first and the last and all in all in the kingdom of the Son is no Scripture expression and these positions seem to trench very far upon the glory of the Lord Jesus of whom alone these high things are and can be truly affirmed Jer. 23.6 Rev. 1.11 Colos 3.11 SECT XIX Who loved me and gave himself for me THe Apostle having shewed that all true Christians are truly crucified with Christ and are also truly quickned with him by the same living Word and Spirit of life which crucified them and so do receive a Spiritual and Divine life instead of their humane and carnal life and having also shewed the Means by which they attain to this blessed death and blessed life and that it is by faith in the Son of God A Here he proceeds to shew us two main and chief things which faith regards and apprehends in Christ to wit his infinite love and the incomparable fruit of it saying who loved me and gave himself for me And so in these words I shall take notice of these three things 1. Of Christs special and peculiar Love to his Elect from these words who loved me 2. Of his special and peculiar Redemption being the fruit of his special love in these words and gave himself for me 3. Of Faiths particular Application of both these speciall Graces to a Believer The first thing here considerable is Christs special love to some above others Who loved me Most certain it is from the word of the Gospel which is the truest and clearest light that ever shone in the Church of the faithful that Christ doth not love all Mankinde alike but he loves some and not others There is indeed a general and common love of Christ wherein he comprehends all Mankinde alike which he manifests to them in making as he himself saith Matth. 5.24 his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sending his rain on the just and on the unjust and as Paul saith Acts 14.17 He doth good to all Nations though they walk in their own wayes giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their bodies with food and their hearts with gladnesse and supplying them with the common things of this life sutable to their Humanity But he hath a special love to his Elect to the Church which is his Body these he loves as his own flesh yea as partakers of the same Divine Nature with himself and according to this love he communicateth to these of all that very fulnesse of God which he hath received from his Father Now with this special love he loves not all Mankinde alike but onely some passing by the rest The Grounds and Reasons of which special love of his to some and not to others are these 1. Because the Son as he is of the same Nature with his Father so he is also of the same operation with him and so he only doth that which his Father doth first as Christ himself testifieth of himself John 5.19 saying Verily verily I say unto you the Son can do nothing of himself but whatsoever he sees the Father do For whatsoever things he doth these doth the Son likewise For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth So that the Father sheweth to the Son all those whom he loves and whom the Son sees the Father loves those also doth He love and whom the Father doth not love neither doth the Son love them because he can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do So that the Sons love is full
as large as the Fathers but no larger seeing both love with the same Spirit For if the Father should love such onely and the Son love others over and above or if the Father should love more then the Son or the Son love more then the Father this would breed a difference in God which cannot be imagined without highest blasphemy And therefore those whom the Father loves with this special love the Son loves likewise and none but these 2. As the Son loves those only whom the Father loves so he loves them only upon this account because they are the Fathers as Christ himself saith John 17. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and all that are mine are thine and all that are thine are mine and so Christ owns no more then are the Fathers and those which are the Fathers he takes them as his own and loves them as the Father loves them 3. As Christ loves them only with this special love whom the Father loves and loves them because they are the Fathers so he loves them as dearly as the Father loves him Now Christ saith of these to his Father Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Again he saith That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them And so as God loves these as he loved Christ and he doth not love all Mankinde so so Christ loves them as he loves himself yea he seems to love them more then himself for he loves them and gives himself for them And so having spoken of Christs special love I proceed in the next place to speak of the wonderful fruit of it which is his special Redemption And gave himself for me B Christ could not love his as his Father loved him even with the Infinite and most tender love of God and still suffer them to remain under the Law and Sin and Death and the power of the Devil but he being the Son of God and so able the love of God within him made him willing yea even constrained him to redeem them And this Redemption he could no otherwise bring about then by giving himself for them And so he gave himself for them indeed even to be made Sin for them and a Curse for them yea he gave himself up to all the sorrows of Death and pains of Hell for them and to endure to the very utmost the whole wrath of his Father for them And this was the greatest manifestation of the special love of Christ that could be as John saith Herein was love not that we loved him but that he loved us and laid down his life for us Now further we must know that as there is a general love that Christ bears to all Mankinde So also there is a general Redemption proportionable to that general Love which is nothing else but this the saving or rescuing of the fallen and lost world for a time from the execution of that death and damnation into which it had inwrapped it self through Sin but this is rather a Reprieve then a Redemption and if it be called a Redemption it is but the common and temporary Redemption of the World during the patience and long suffering of God towards the Vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction But after the determined time of Gods Patience is expired the wrath of God breaks forth upon them and death and hell swalloweth them up But the special Redemption of the Church is a full perfect and eternal Redemption of all the Elect of God from sin and death and hell by the Righteousnesse life and Salvation of the Son of the living God communicated unto them And this Special Redemption begins here in this life as soon as ever Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it is perfected at the day of the Revelation of the Sons of God Now this Special Redemption extends it self no further then the Special Love of the Son and of the Father as may appear thus Because the Special Redemption of Christ extends it self no further then the Fathers Election as the Fathers Election extends it self no farther then his Good pleasure or the Counsel of his Will which doth limit the Infinitenesse both of his Goodnesse Mercy Wisdom and Power in all his outward Actions towards the Creatures both in their Creation and Government as also in the Dispensations of all blessings towards them both bodily and spiritual So then as the Fathers Election is limited by his Love and good pleasure so the Sons Redemption is limited by the Fathers Election and so the Sons redemption is full as large as the Fathers election but no larger for Christ himself saith That he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him Now the Fathers will was that Christ should redeem all that he had Loved and Elected and Given to him but no more And so we must necessarily know the latitude and extent of Christs Redemption by knowing the Fathers love will in his election And so Christ Redeems no more with his Special Redemption then those he loves with this Special Love and thus he loves no more then the Father loves 2. Christs Special Redemption of those whom he loves with this Special love may be farther evidenced out of John 17. where Christ distinguisheth all Mankinde into these two sorts viz. The World and they that were given him out of the World and tels us that his intercession was not for the former but onely for these latter saying vers 19. I pray for them I pray not for the world but for those that thou hast given me out of the world Now we must know that the Priestly office of Christ consisteth of two parts His Oblation and Intercession For first he Offers himself a Sacrifice for his people and then after that he prayes for them whom he had Redeemed by his blood And his Intercession is founded on his Oblation and he never prayes for any but for those whom he hath first Redeemed and whom he hath not Redeemed he prayes not for and whom he prayes not for he Redeemed not And so Christ not praying for the world it is evident he never died for the world for he of course and necessity performs the second part of his Priestly office his Intercession for all those for whom he hath performed the first part of his Priestly Office his Oblation or Sacrifice And for whom he doth not perform his Intercession it is most certain that he never performed his Redemption for them and this is so sure and certain a Truth that the foolish and vain Reasonings and Discourses of men shall never be able to prevail against it nor yet the very Gates of Hell And thus you have seen manifested to you the Special Redemption of Christ as well as his Special love both which he extends not alike to all Man-kinde as the Hereticks say but only to those whom his Father hath given him which are not all Kindreds
touched by his Word make it their business to seek from God in Christ another life then their own a life infinitely better and stronger then their own and a life which at the will of God will offer up their own that we may say in our experience as Paul in his We are crucified with Christ yet neverthelesse we live Now the Apostle having named this blessed life doth further enlarge himself on this matter in the words following saying ANIMADVERSION 10. A THat a Christian is by faith really knit to Christ and engraffed into him and made one with him and so hath eternal life from him as the sience from the stock is old scripture doctrine acknowledged by all Protestant Divines But that this life which is received through union unto Christ is the life of justification as Mr Dell here affirmeth by way of eminence at least if not exclusion and doth not equally carry in it the life of sanctification also out of which a believer bringeth forth fruits of righteousnesse to the glory of God seemeth not to hold accordance with John 15.4,5,8 or if Mr Dell in his notion confound Justification and Sanctification me thinks the Apostle plainly teacheth another doctrine ascribing Justification to Faith in the Name of the Lord Jesus and Sanctification to the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 B If by Union with God in Christ the righteousnesse of God be made ours truly and everlastingly and therein we be justified How then are we made righteous through the obedience of our one mediator Jesus Christ Rom. 5.19 yea how are we justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3.24 I fear this passage of Mr Dell inclineth too much towards the preaching of another gospel For the Lords acquitting of a sinner from his sins through the forgivenesse of them is plainly laid down by the Apostle as an act of justification Rom. 4.5,6.7,8 which according to the Gospel the Lord who justifieth doth not passe upon men in relation to their being one with God in Christ or the communication of his righteousnesse everlastingly to them or as he afterwards speaks Christ living his own life in them but in relation to the ransoming death of Christ for them only and wholly This is the Gospel which the Apostles have preached to us which also we have received and wherein we stand by which also we shal be saved how that Christ died for our sins 1 Cor. 15. 1,2,3 and in him we have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of our sins Ephes 1.7 and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.39 Seeing our Lord Christ was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 4.25 Christians should have their hearts and ears closly stopt up against the hearing and receiving of any other Gospel or Doctrine of Justification whatsoever yea though brought by an Angel from heaven Gal. 1.8,9 C How can they which have the divine holiness the same holines of the divine nature in the same manner though not in the same degree as Christ had and hath not be in their degree God as he is I professe my present inability to answer this question and absolve Mr Dels words from being very dangerous and derogative from the peculiar honour of our Saviour Was not the holinesse of the divine nature or which is all one the holy divine nature by personal union so communicated to the humane nature in our Saviour that though he was man yet in his holy divine nature he was also God blessed for ever Will he affirm so much of any believer I hope not D These words of Mr Dell are so pure and precious that every believer cannot but imbrace them for truth And methinks they do so plainly shew that the wil of God which a believer doth obey that is to say his revealed will is the law of God within his heart put into his inward parts by the spirit as to the knowledge and love of it and strength in some degree to fulfil it that I can hardly believe that such words should proceed from him as we find in the 3. Section of this book viz. God himself which dwelleth in them is the new Law according to which they live For is the will of God which a believer hath some strength to do God himself It is very strange if any understanding man should so apprehend seeing the will of God which believers are strengthened to observe and obey is only his will of command made known to men as the rule of their sanctification which is a different thing from God himself as a Lord and his law differ 1 Thes 4.2,3 E The former words in this paragraph I conceive in a sound sence may be admitted But these words seem to carry in them an incredible mistake for if by this and that life in these words be meant the life of the first Adam which is crucified in believers and the life of the second Adam imparted to believers according to what immediately goeth before they then speak thus much to wit that the life of the first Adam crucified in believers is the natural life of man of which he is deprived in corporal death and with which a man may part ere he partake of the life of Christ whereas there is nothing more clear in the Scriptures then that the life of the first Adam crucified in believers is the life of sin with which no man can possibly part ere he partake of the life of Christ and which is a very different thing from that life with which a man parteth at the hour of death in relation to which life alone it is true according to Mr Dels words that if we part with it ere we partake of the life of Christ the second death must needs swallow us up SECT XI Yet not I but Christ lives in me A ANd this he speaks lest any one should think that the life he lived after his crucifying with Christ was onely his own humane life purisied and refined I say lest any one should think he lived now the life of his own refined spiritualized reason and judgement and prudence and will c. distinct and apart from Christ therefore he adds yet not I but Christ lives in me And each of these Clauses are very considerable Yet not I. B I live yet not I. By which words it may appear that a Christian is so crucified with Christ that in this crucifying he loses not onely his own proper life but which must needs follow his personality also For through faith his soul and body live no more any proper life of their own as before but are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God and in him he subsists lives and acts as a Member in the Man and as a Branch in the Vine and so can truly say after faith
is come Vivo ego non amplius ego I live yet no more I but it is another that lives in me and I in him so that a true Christian through true faith doth lose his personality not his humanity for his nature lives but not in his own person but in the person of Christ C Indeed every man by nature and according to his first birth is a distinct person by himself and lives a proper life of his own in and by himself till faith comes and knits him unto Christ and then he subsists in Christs person and is no more a person distinct by himself so far as he is gathered up into Christ through faith and the Spirit and lives and acts in him For then Christ is made so one with a Christian and a Christian with Christ that there is no more distinction between them in this Vnity then there is between the head and a member Now the knowledge of this point through the Experience of faith is of excellent use to a Christian in the matter of his salvation D In as much as each man as he is a distinct person by himself is under the Law and appertains to the Kingdom of the Devil and is within the reach and power of death and hell but as he is taken into Jesus Christ by faith that is as he is taken into his Person as his member and loseth his own person so he is free from the law sin and death as Christ is free So that if the law sin death or the devil come to a believer to accuse terrifie or condemn him he because of this most real and near union with Christ may reply in truth and say It is not I I am not I I am through faith become a member of Christ and I am he and he is I and if you have any thing to say say it to the Person himself for I am but a Member and do live in his person The clear and spiritual knowledge of this matter would be a great support to us in all times of temptation and in all deep sense of sin and wrath seeing we commonly in such sad and painful hours do look upon our selves as persons by our selves and distinct from Christ and then we do truly both fear and feel sin and death and hell within us and then also the Devil and our own evil consciences are too mighty for us when we consider our selves in our selves Wherefore at such times we must needs prevail by faith and know that we through faith are not persons by our selves but that we are Parts and Members of Christ and live in his Person and consequently in so near union with him that Christ cannot be saved without us nor we perish without him And so none can lay any thing to our charge but what Christ hath taken upon himself and overcome for us and so the Law Sin Death Hell and Devil can as soon prevail against Christ as against us who are so joyned to him that we are one flesh and Spirit with him E It is true if we were persons by our selves these evils and enemies would be too hard for us but being drawn unto Christ by the Father and being by him also implanted in Christ and made Branches of that Vine and Members of that Person we thus become one with him who is conquerour of all things and we our selves also are more then Conquerours in him Wherefore let us all know that in the matter of our Adoption Justification Sanctification and of our whole Salvation F Prorsus abjicienda est persona as Luther saith We must wholly cast away our own person and be united into one person with Christ yea and lose our person in his seeing out of this union Christ profits no body either to the escaping sin and death or to the obtaining righteousnesse and life G Wherefore for the escaping these eternal evil things and for the obtaining these eternal good things we must necessarily be so taken up into Christ that we must say with Paul It is no more I. ANIMADVERSION XI A IT is such plain Scripture doctrine that our humane reason judgement prudence wil c. is refined and spiritualized in us through the spirit of Christ and that in the strength of that renovation through the spirit we live unto God in our humane life and native faculties refin'd and spiritualliz'd that to indeavour to take men off from thinking so is a very anti-scriptural attempt See Rom. 12.2 Ephes 4.23 1 Thes 5.23 If Mr Dell thinks he hath left himself a starting hole in these words distinct and apart from Christ He may know that all understanding Christians acknowledge that the refining and spiritualizing of our humane faculties to a heavenly disposition and life proceedeth only and wholly from union to Christ through his spirit and cannot possibly be enjoyed distinct and apart from him These words therefore distinct and apart from Christ are not of sufficient vertue to secure Mr Dels present Paradox from appearing very heterodox to judicious observers If Paul had but one humane life in him and were but one and the self same man as to his native faculties before and after Christ lived in him which I think is undeniable then it will necessarily follow or I am much mistaken that the life he lived after Christ lived in him was onely his own life purified and refined the life of his own reason judgement prudence and will c. refined and spirituallized through the spirit of life in Christ Jesus the Apostles writing of such in whom Christ lives set them forth as the self-same persons in respect of their humane life and faculties but purified and refined to be very different persons from what they were formerly God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you the self-same you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you Rom. 6.17 And again seeing you have purified not any other but your souls by obeying the truth through the spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 And again Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself not any other as he is pure 1 John 3.3 It seems to me most evident that the nature of regeneration renovation vivification and sanctification necessarily require that the subject of them the man which is begotten again renewed quickned from the dead and sanctified be the self-same as to his humane life and faculties before and after this blessed change be wrought in him for if the subject in this change be not identically the same what can be imaginably said to be chang'd The words of Zanchius on the 23. verse of the 4. chapter to the Ephesians seems to me to carry much light and reason in them who shewing why the Apostle expressed the renovation of beleevers by the putting off of the old and putting on the new man writeth thus ut significaret sicut vestis res est diversa ab eo qui eam induit c.
The Apostle used this form of speech that he might shew that as a garment is a different thing from him that putteth it on so also the old and new man are different things from us who put off one wherewith we were clothed and again put on the other which before we had not upon us I take it that Austins words are fully consonant to Scripture doctrine Sit igitur in primis positum atque firmatum virtutem quâ rectè vivitur ab animi sede membris corporis imperare sanctumque corpus usu fieri sanctae voluntatis Let this be in the first place laid down and firmly held unto that the vertue whereby a man lives well commandeth over the members of the body from the throne of the minde and that the body is made holy by the use of a holy will Aug. de civ dei lib. 1. cap. 16. B By the words of the Apostle it doth appear that a Christian crucified with Christ as to the life of the old man liveth not unto God from a principle of life which is properly his own or from himself but from a principle of life which he hath from Christ and in Christ namely from the spirit of Christ which dwelleth in all his But that a believer loseth his personality by being crucified with Christ it appeareth not from this or any other Scripture that I know That through faith a believers soul and body live no more any proper life of their own but are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God understanding these words according to Mr Dels explication Sect. 13. D that Christ in a believer is not the flesh of Christ for that being a creature can be but in one place at a time but this Christ is the Eternal Word and Son of the living God the power wisdom and righteousnesse of God and the true God and eternal life seems to me a very dreadful position For if a believers soul and body be taken up into the nature and person of Christ the Son of God in distinction from his flesh then he must needs in nature and person be the Son of God and the true God as our Lord Jesus Christ is which I am not willing to believe that Mr Dell will positively and plainly affirm though his words evidently speak so much Whereas it is here further asserted by Mr Dell that in Christ a believer subsists lives and acts as a member in the man the branch in the Vine that is acknowledged in a Scripture sence sc that a believer hath his spiritual life wholly in Christ and from Christ as his head and mediatour through his spirit as a member hath its life from a man and a branch from the Vine but from hence to conclude that a believer through faith doth lose his personality and lives in the person personality of the Son of God is utterly inconsequent for though a believer doth retain his humane nature and personality and doth truly live and subsist in the same yet is it likewise true that that person subsists lives and acts in Christ as to the life of God in him as a member in the man or as a branch in the Vine C This assertion here reiterated by Mr Dell that a believer after faith comes is no more a person distinct from Christ needs not again to be proposed peremptorily but to be proved sufficiently by Scripture and me thinks those words so far as he is gathered up into Christ do utterly overthrow the former assertion and prove that a believer in some degree or respect is not gathered up into Christ and therefore must needs be a person distinct from Christ If here be not contradictio in adjecto a contrariety in the end to the beginning of this sentence I am much mistaken D I utterly deny and doubt not but the Scripture will bear me out in it that a believer though admitted to be a distinct person from Christ is within the reach and power of death and hell for the humane person of a believer being by faith and the Spirit united unto Christ as his member truly and yet mystically is through Christ as his head and mediatour fully put out of the reach of death and hell and of the Law and sin as binding over thereunto so that if the law sin death or the Devil come to a believer to accuse terrifie or condemn him he by reason of his most real and near union into Christ may reply in truth and say It is not I I am not I I am through faith a member of Christ I am in him and of him If you have any thing to say say it to Christ my head and mediatour for I am a member of his and do live in him And this doctrine I doubt not is as full and effectual as what Mr Dell here suggests to bring on that conclusion in regard of believers that none can lay any thing to their charge but what Christ hath taken upon himself and overcome for them and so the law sin hell and the Devil can as soon prevail against Christ as against them who are so nearly joyned to him as to be one flesh and spirit with him in a Scripture sence much different from the mind and meaning of Mr Dell in this point E Those words being not overstrained beyond Scripture meaning are very true and good and conformable to the judgment of those who judg Mr Dels doctrine of a believers having no personality but in the person of the Son of God to be very unsound and dangerous Indeed if we were persons by our selves that is persons not united unto Christ as our head and mediatour we should be very miserable but blessed be the Lord though we know believers to be distinct persons from Christ yet we also know them to be persons spiritually and mystically united unto and even into Christ as their head being made parts of that body which is his fulnesse who filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 and that is unto them matter of everlasting and invincible rejoycing F Where to look this place in Luthers works I know not but upon what I know of the general tenour of Luthers doctrine I dare adventure the reproach of a grosse mistake if the words being duly weighed do import more then this that all personal works worth merit and righteousnesse is to be wholly disclaimed by those who partake of the spiritual benefits of Christ And this is very sweet Gospel doctrine assuredly which hath no affinity with Mr Dels new paradox G Agreed if these words be taken in the plain Scripture sence of them there is no doubt but for the escaping of eternal evils and obtaining eternal good things believers must be taken up into Christ and found in him not having their own righteousness but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 at what time they may in their particulars
life of the soul in a man is not confined to the Head but disperseth it self to all the members and is truly manifest in them ANIMADVERSION 16. A SEeing there are such a sort of people as Mr Dell here describeth How careful should the servants of God be not to take away old and sure foundations and give them new grounds to build upon He should do well to consider how far he is from saying that believers live the life of Christ and that they live immediately in God who saith that Christ liveth in believers as in his own flesh and that the life of the Son of God was communicated to Christs flesh instead of his proper humane life and is likewise to be seen in all believers as the life of the soul in a man is not confined to the heart but disperseth it self to all the members and is truly manifest in them Is not the self same life of the soul in head and members doth not every member live immediately in the life of the soul If Mr Dell say that he disliketh not the profession of the men he pointeth at for affirming according to his own doctrine that they live the life of Christ and that they live immediately in God but only for some higher notions wherein they soar above the pitch of his discoveries and for walking unanswerably in regard of what they teach in common with himself then he should do well to lay this seriously to his heart whether it can possibly be said of any creature whatsoever in truth that it lives immediately in God It is true that every man even the worst of men do live and move and have their being in God Acts 17.28 in this regard that through the acting of Gods Almighty power in them and towards them they are acted unto life motion and being yet so that they live move and be not immediately in God but in those natural principles which God works and whereby he works in them to live and move and be And again it is true that the humanity of our Saviour through the grace of personal union was immediately joyned unto God yea so far into God that by communication of properties his humane bloud was the bloud of God Acts 20.28 and his humane life the life of God 1 John 3.16 yet had the humanity of our Saviour a proper life of its own distinct from the life of the Eternal Word which humane life he laid down for us our Saviour had not been in all things made like to us his brethren which is affirmed Heb. 2.17 if he had not in his humane nature lived an humane life immediately resulting from the union of his humane soul and body as all other children of men do If his humane nature had lived immediately in God and so necessarily the life of God it would have been not only as it was the nature of God but the divine nature which certainly it was not being both passible and mortal Now if it be not true of our blessed Saviours manhood or humane nature that it lived immediately in God how much lesse can this be truly affirmed of any other man or creature whatsoever And when men are so far besotted with ignorance and puffed up with spiritual pride as to vaunt that they live the life of Christ even the life of the eternal Word and Son of the living God and so live immediately in God the life of God it is no strange thing to me to see such lofty ones who if they be true to their most false principles must needs own themselves as divers of them have done to be God though they have been professors of the Gospel left by God in a way of righteous judgement under hellish dotage and delusion to live the life of sin and Satan in the flesh in all manner of filthinesse and uncleannesse and loosnesse and abominable profanenesse for the meek God will guide in judgement and the meek he will teach his way Psal 25.9 Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect to the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off Psal 138.6 B Can Mr Dell make this to consist with his own words in the former part of this book sc Sin hath its ful power in our humane life And again when he saith that when we are made members of Christs body then life reigns in Christs flesh as death in ours If sin and death have full power and do reign in our own flesh how then as Mr Dell here affirms do we live Christs life in our own flesh Is it not true that it is impossible that Christ and sin should live together in strength in the same flesh that is elsewhere and I think very justly laid down by Mr Del for an unquestionable position C If the life of Christ be first communicated to the spirit of our mind as Mr Del here affirmeth and I believe then I conceive that it will necessarily follow that our reason judgement prudence c. is refined and spiritualized unto new life in which believers live unto God which he seems unwilling to have men think to be so in the former part of this Treatise Sect. 11. A For doth not the minde of man denote his reason and rational faculties which have not only an influential but regulative power also over the whole man And how can the life of Christ be communicated first to the reason and rational faculties but by purifying refining and spiritualizing of them that they may act under the spirit of Christ for the dispersing of holinesse through the whole man and so subjecting every inferiour faculty in man unto the holy will of God I like his doctrine in this place very well if he can make it consist with what he hath before affirmed I should be glad to see it effected in consistency with Scripture doctrine D As our present natural life by Mr Dels own confession doth not hinder but that we may live a spiritual and heavenly life or the very life of Christ in our flesh if we be true believers no more doth our natural personality which is founded in this our natural life hinder but that believers according to the Apostle may be quickned together with Christ and raised up together with him and seated in him in heavenly places There seems therefore no cause in relation to their union unto Christ to deny their personality as is done by Mr Del. Sect. 11. B C E This in a sound Scripture sence is no new or strange doctrine for it is certain that God hath given to his people eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5.11,12 Believers have eternal life begun in them through Jesus Christ the Son of God in this life and shall receive the perfection of it for ever when Christ who is their life shall appear and they shall also appear with him in glory
receiving righteousnesse out of which afterwards we work And so the Law that commands Righteousnesse but doth not communicate Righteousnesse can never justifie us But faith that makes us righteous before we can work righteousnesse it is that which justifies us in the sight of God Now to this Doctrine Paul adds his own Experience to make all clear which kind of arguing though it will not satisfie the reason of the World yet it will satisfie the faith of the Saints Now saith Paul for mine own part I must professe to the Jews themselves and to all the world besides F that I am so far from seeking Righteousnesse by the Law that I am wholly dead to the Law and as a dead man have no more to do with the Law as that hath no more to do with me I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God verse 19. ANIMADVERSION I. A ANd had not Peter too a very clear knowledge in the mystery of Christ He stands indeed charged with dissimulation in the Text Gal. 2.13 but not with ignorance or errour in any degree which yet Mr. Dell seems closely to fasten upon him in this place B No such thing appears to me in the text as is here affirmed by Mr. Dell. The Apostle Gal. 2.17,18 shewed that if professed believers give way to themselves in sin or are by the light of the Gospel discovered to be sinners their sins are not to be charged on Christ as the minister of sin or upon his Gospel but on themselves as transgressours in conformity to his own doctrine Rom. 6.1,2,3,4 This hath nothing to do with any personal errour of Peter greater or lesse whereby he made Christ the minister of sin whereof Mr. Dell causlesly yet confidently proclaims himself guilty C I read of no grosse mistake but of a sad miscarriage of Peter of a dangerous consequence indeed Christians should be tender of casting the reproach of a grosse mistake upon an Apostle without clear evidence In suam ipsius conscientiam peccabat aliud intus sentiens aliud foris simulans Pareus ad Gal. 2.12 He sinned against his own conscience apprehending one thing inwardly feigning another thing outwardly D Let this then stand and be held for a truth that they who are first made righteous can do aright the works of the Law which I think is enough to prove that righteous believers are in some sence alive to the Law since they and they only can do aright the works of the Law yet Mr. Dell afterwards seems very unwillingly to allow so much for truth E Do we work out our justifying righteousness as these words import Is not this to confound justification with sanctification The righteousnesse of God whereby were are justified is in Christ for us Rom. 3.24,25 The righteousnesse out of which we work is from Christ in us through his spirit Eph. 4.24 These two kinds of righteousnesse are inseparably joyned together yet not to be confounded as they are here by Mr. Dell And of the two it is evident that believers work not out of justifying but sanctifying righteousnesse Phil. 1.11 F Wholly is not in the text and were it there it would only shew that the Apostle was excluded wholly from seeking righteousnesse by the Law Gal. 2.21 and 3.21 And this is the acknowledged doctrine of Protestants who generally professe that as to the seeking of righteousnesse by the Law we are wholly dead to it through the faith of the Gospel which holdeth forth Christ as the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth Rom. 10.4 In this sense there is no question but every believer may say with the Apostle I through the Law am dead to the Law that I may live unto God But Mr. Dells wholly in this place is of a much larger extent transcending as I conceive the limits of the Scripture SECT II. I Saith Paul through the Law am dead to the Law that is The Law it self makes me dead to the Law For the Law with its wrath and curse and punishments hath slain me it hath through my sin delivered me up to death and hell A without shewing me any way of escape or deliverance it hath done against me what ever it could do it hath fully kill'd and slain me And therefore how can the Law any more give Laws and Commands B to a dead man yea to one whom it self hath slain or how can it expect obedience from such an one And this sense Chrysostom gives of these words But secondly C we conceive these words in another sense after this manner I through the Law am dead to the Law that is I through a new Law am dead to the old Law I am dead to the old Law which was the Law of the Letter written in Tables of stone by a new Law which God hath written in my heart and inwardparts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is the Law of Grace or the Law of the Spirjt of Life that is in Christ Jesus which is not a Law consisting of Letters words and sentences but is the living word of God written in our hearts by the living spirit of God according to that of Paul touching Believers 2 Cor. 3.3 Ye are the epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God and the living Spirit writes a living Law D And this Law makes us dead to the Law and a man is never truly dead to the Law of the letter till the Law of the Spirit of life be writ in his heart by the finger of God But when we have the Law of Grace which is a living and almighty Law in our hearts we are then safely dead to the Law of the letter The Law commands all flesh that hath not the living Word or Law of life within it self E but when a Believer hath in him the Law of the Spirit the Law of the letter hath no more power over him that is so far as he is taken up into that other Law of the Spirit F but no further And there is no danger at all in this Doctrine That the new Law makes us dead to or delivers us from the old as ignorant and carnal Christians think there is inasmuch as this new Law imprints in our souls the love of righteousnesse and hatred of iniquity G And he that is thus freed from the Law is the only man that keeps it and fulfils it through the law of love put into his heart by the Spirit And this Law of love doth fulfil the other Law but never break and violate it Wherefore saith Paul I through the Law am dead to the Law ANIMADVERSION 2. A THe Law taken comprehensively for the whole Law of Moses or strictly for the legal Covenant of works sheweth a sinner no way of escape from death and hell in it self without Christ But the Law in the Ceremonial part of it did shew the true way of escape from death
and hell by Christ Rom. 3.21 Heb. 10.1 Mr. Dells unlimited position therefore in this place needs some limitation or explication that it may obtain a general approbation B The Law cannot give commands to a dead man as far forth as he is dead that is in the case before us to a believer as to the seeking of righteousnesse by the Law But notwithstanding this death yet believers are alive as to the doing of righteousnesse according to the will of God expressed in his law Rom. 6.11 Mark 3.35 1 John 3.7 1 Thes 4.2,3 Yea they alone can do aright the works of the Law as Mr. Dell hath before acknowledged And therefore as to divine direction the Law of God can give commands to believers as to living men C This is a voluntary sense of those words having no footing in the text The former interpretation of the words given by Mr. Dell is sound and proper being not overstrained Quum exitium nobis minitetur nihil nobis relinquat praeter desperationem hoc modo nos expellit à sui fiducia Calvin Seeing it scil the Law threatning destruction to us leaves nothing but desperation for us by this means it drives us from all dependence on it self The new Law mentioned here by Mr. Dell is never under the name of the Law spoken of in this Epistle it seems therefore very unwarrantable to force that sense of the Law upon this text only D What doth the Law of the spirit make men dead to the Law without all distinction Was David as to all intents dead to the Law when he wrote The law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of gold and silver Psal 119.72 or Paul Rom. 7.22 yet had both these the Law of the Spirit of life in them Me thinks Mr. Dell should have some exceptions from this general position here laid down by him if he pleased to expresse them or else if this must stand unlimitedly for true that which Mr. Dell hath before affirmed will prove unquestionably false namely that they who are first made righteous can do aright the works of the Law E It is true that when a believer hath in him the Law of the Spirit the Law of the letter hath no more power over him as to 1. malediction Gal. 3.13 2. Condemnation Rom. 8.1 3. Slavish compulsion 1 Tim. 1.9 4. Powerful irritation of sin Rom. 7.5 5. Justification to life Rom. 10.4 6. In the time of the Gospel carnal and temporary commands Heb. 9.10 Col. 2.20 but not as to divine regulation and direction in perpetual duties of righteousnesse and holinesse Luke 1.75,76 1 Cor. 9.8,9,21 Ephes 6.1.2 Prov. 6.23 which last and lasting use of the Law Mr Dell here confidently affirmeth believers to be dead unto through the Law of the Spirit and fastneth the reproach of carnal ignorant Christians upon all those who shall dare to say that there is any danger at all in this his Doctrine but of this let understanding and spiritual Christians judge by that word of Christ by which we shall be all judged Persons and Doctrines at the last day Iohn 12.48 F But no further Then belike a believer is in some degree under the power of the Law still which Mr Dell seemeth to deny earnestly throughout this book G If he that is free from the Law keeps and fulfils it through the Law of love as is here affirmed and I fully believe then can I not see how there can be any danger at all in this doctrine That believers are the only men on earth dead to the Law as to justification and alive to the Law as to the outward regulation of them thereby according to the inward rule of love which is in their hearts from the spirit of Christ Rom. 13.8,9,10 Iames 2.8,9 And this I believe upon trial will be found all which they teach or believe whom Mr Dell afterwards reproveth or rather reproacheth as Jewishly zealous of the honour of the Law SECT III. That I might live unto God THat is He that through the Law of Grace is freed of the Law of the letter is not set free from the Law that therby he may have opportunity and liberty to live to sin and himself but that he may thereby live unto God And when a man is born of God A and lives the life of God from the nature of God there is no danger at all in declating this man to be free from the Law of Moses by the Law of Christ B For how otherwise should he come to know the high priviledge of the Gospel and the excellent prerogative of the sons of God and the glorious liberty and freedom into which Jesus Christ hath exalted him Now this One Thing rightly understood doth administer to us just cause to reprove two sorts of People who swerve from the truth in this particular The first sort are they who would be dead to the Law that they might live unto sin and not unto God who would have no Law that all things might be lawful though never so wicked and abominable and never so contrary both to the light of Grace and Nature And these are the true Antinomians and Libertines who would be free from the Law of Moses they not being under the Law of Christ who would take away and quite abolish the Law of the letter they not being under the Law of the Spirit and so would be free from all Law both Old and New both of Moses and Christ that they might live as they list and take their full swinge in all their lusts Now such Libertines and Licentious persons as these are to be restrained and punished by the Civil Magistrate and the Powers that be of God in the world when they transgresse in any matter wickedly and presumptuously against their neighbour and against civil society C and in other things that are more secret and inward or that are of their own notions and apprehensions though concerning the things of God they are to be left with other unbelievers and misbelievers to the righteous judgement of God who is alwayes present in the world and immediate Moderator and Governour himself in all such affairs as immediately concern himself and his Kingdom 2. The other sort to be reproved from this point are such who are so Jewish and so zealous of the honour of the Law that they will by no means indure to hear that the Gospel of the Son of God comes to abolish it or that the new Law is given us to make us quite dead to the old For they think that such Doctrine as this will open a flood-gate to all manner of wickednesse and licentiousnesse D For such men being carnal themselves and knowing no restraint from sin but the Law of Moses do verily think that if that curb be taken out of the jaws of men they must needs rush headlong into all manner of evil as the horse into the battel and this is true enough where men free
that the law of grace and of the spirit within us is infinitely more powerful to keep us from sin then the Law of Moses without us and that the love of righteousnesse put into our hearts by the spirit is infinitly more able to make us to do righteousnesse and avoid sin then any outward commands or threatnings whatsoever which yet have their subordinate place in this work If this be all Mr Dell contends for he will not find an enemy amongst his despised brethren But if by saying that the coming of the new law is a sufficient discharge from the old he intend that all who receive the spirit to be in them the root of obedience are sufficiently discharged from taking the outwardly revealed Law of God to be unto them the rule of obedience It is true that the brethren whom he glanceth at do not understand or at least do not believe that but are very confident that when the Law of the Spirit comes into the heart the heart is brought to delight in the outward Law of God and to chuse it for a light to a mans feet and a lamp to his path Psal 119.97 and 105. F Our Lord Christ in his humanity did know and acknowledge the written Law of God for a law and â—ule unto him and did fulfil it Mat. 4.4,7,10 and 5.17 how confident soever Mr Dell â—e of the contrary G That is not the tenour of the Covenant according to Mr Dells words I will be in their hearts for their law but I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts Jer. 31.33 It is dangerous tampering with the Covenant of God when the words thereof are plain That the Lord is the Law-giver I have often read Esay 32.22 but that he is the law of his people I never saw affirmed in Scripture SECT IV. I am Crucified with Christ c. I Am crucified with Christ who through this new Law was dead to the old For Christ our brother of the same flesh and bloud with us having the living word and law of God within him A he owed nothing to the law of Moses by way of debt neither was he justified by the works of the Law but by the righteousnesse of the eternal Son or Word of God that dwelt and wrought in him and he again in it B And this living Word and Spirit of God that dwelt in the flesh of Christ was the true crucifying of his flesh and in this crucifying of Christs flesh all his Saints partake with him as Paul here saith I am crucified with Christ. C Now this cannot be understood of Christs outward crucifying upon the material Cross for thus Paul was not crucified with him neither are all the Saints But this is to be understood of Christs inward and spiritual crucifying through the Word of righteousness and life that dwelt in him and according to this all the faithful through all ages are crucified with him indeed And now here it wil be needful to speak something more fully both touching Christs own crucifying and the crucifying of all his Saints with him on the same crosse And the rather because as men generally in the outward Church have a carnal understanding of all the things of Christ so also of his Crosse and Death And not the Papists only but many among our selves who greatly adore the outward cross and crucifying of Christ are yetignorant of the true cross and crucifying of Christ and his Christians with him whereby they are truly crucified and dead to themselves to sin to the world D and to whatever is not God himself And so under the open profession of the outward crosse and death of Christ do live in all manner of sin and wickednesse equally with the very heathen amongst whom the Name of Christ hath not been named Wherefore to remove this gross ignorance from all that love the light I shall speak something first of Christs own crucifying and then of our crucifying together with Christ ANIMADVERSION 4. A VVHat did not Christ owe something to the Law so much as for us How then was he made under the Law Gal. 4.4 Did not his submitting of himself to Circumcision make him a debter to do the whole Law Gal. 5.3 Did not our Lord Christ by submitting himself to the state of a servant in relation to his Father become obliged to fulfil all his righteous commands It seems to me that those two Scriptures joyned together prove so much Esay 42.1 Mat. 3.15 Again did not we owe to God perfect obedience to his Law and full satisfaction for our disobedience against his Law And did not our Saviour as our surety transfer and take upon himself our whole debt It would be ill with us if he had not done so me thinks Dr. Vshers words in his Sermon of the Incarnation hath much light and strength in them namely Our Mediator took upon him the part of an advocate to plead full satisfaction made by himself as our surety unto all the debt wherewith we any way stood chargeable Now the satisfaction which our surety bound himself to perform in our behalf was of a double debt the principal and the accessary The principal debt is obedience to Gods most holy Law if this stand true as I believe it will then Christ did owe the debt of obedience to the Law at least in our stead B Where doth the Scripture speak this language Doth not that Scripture speak otherwise 1 Pet. 3.18 which ascribeth not the crucifying but quickning of Christ to the spirit C Why may not the Apostle when he wrote that he was crucified with Christ be understood of Christs outward crucifying on his material crosse Is not the vertue of Christs outward crucifying applyed to all believing Saints is not the flesh in the Saints crucified through the power of that redemption which our Saviour finished on his material crosse and by participation of that redemption finished on the Crosse are not all believers crucified and dead with him what else do those Scriptures teach Rom. 6.5,6,7,8,9,10,11 1 Pet. 2.24 and 4.1,2 Tit. 2.14 It is very strange to me that Mr Dell should here so peremptorily deny that Pauls crucifying with Christ could be understood in relation to his outward crucifying since in Sect. 5. K he confesseth very truly that there was an infinite worth excellency and efficacy in our Saviours outward crucifying which unquestionably is imparted to those who believe and was imparted to the Apostle Paul who might therefore truly write as he did that he was crucified with Christ in reference to Christs outward crucifying on his material crosse D Are Christians dead to the Scriptures both to the Law and Gospel and to all Gods outward ordinances of none of which it can be affirmed that they are God himself I hope Mr Dell hath some limitations in store to make this strange assertion of his that believers are dead to whatsoever is not God himself passable or else SECT
called forth to witnesse the truth with their lives have at first for fear and dread of the outward crosse abjured the truth to save their lives But afterwards when the Word and Spirit within them had truly and fully crucified them they would then come forth again of their own accord and willingly offer up their bodies to fire and death And thus also I have declared what is our crucifying with Christ E Paul saying here I am crucified with Christ because his sins were subdued and his nature conquered through the living word and Spirit of Christ dwelling in him F Now that both these things are so in truth and that they are no fond notions speculations and glosses of mine own devising I will yet make it more evident by some few other plain Scriptures as by that of Paul in Rom. 8.10 where he saith If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin that is the presence of Christ that is the living Word of God within us is the killing and crucifying of the body to all sin And in Gal. 5.24 The same Apostle saith That they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts of it and ver 25. he shews that this crucifying of the flesh of Christians is not brought about by any outward sorrows and sufferings but by the presence of the Spirit in it saying if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit and verse 16. of the same chapter he saith This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh and Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live So again Rom. 6.5 If we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection Now all believers without exception are planted with Christ into a likenesse of his death which is not so to be understood as if all should be crucified on a material Crosse as he himself was but that all of them are buried with him by Baptism into his death that is by the baptism of the spirit and the baptism of the Spirit is the death of the flesh it is the death of our flesh with Christs for thus was Christs flesh made dead to it self to sin and the world to wit through the Baptism of the spirit and thus also is ours wherefore Paul adds vers 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin So that it is plain that the destruction of sin in our bodies by the living Word and Spirit of God is our crucifying with Christ. And verse 11. the Apostle would have those that are thus crucified with Christ to reckon themselves dead to sin for as the Word and Spirit of God in Christ made him wholly dead to sin and sin had no place in him So likewise as far as the same Word and Spirit of Christ prevail in us they will make us dead to sin for the time past and present and for the future will preserve us from sin And now we shall make some Vse of this point Vse 2. G First Then let us know that it is not enough to Salvation to believe That Jesus Christ according to his humane nature was outwardly crucified on a crosse for us at Jerusalem except we also our own selves be crucified with him through his living Word and Spirit dwelling in us through which we must be powerfully planted into a true likenesse of his death in such sort that we must be dead unto all sin whatsoever even to all our own corruptions and lusts and to all the Corruptions that are in the world through lust and we must be dead to our selves to our own fleshly reason understandig will desires ends and to our whole humane life and we must be dead to the world and to all that is in it and of it to all the pleasures profits and honours of it we must thus truly be dead with Christ ere we can live with him And with this kind of crucifying must whole Christ be crucified from the Head to the lowest members thus also must we be crucified with him if we will have any part in him I say we must have fellowship with him in his sufferings and be made conformable to him in his death ere ever we can attain to his Resurrection from the dead ANIMADVERSION 6. A I Take it that by the word of Christ is here intended the Word the Son or Godhead of our Saviour which was made flesh If so I demand a Scripture which teacheth that the Word or Godhead of our Saviour is otherwise in his people then in and by his Spirit the holy Ghost which dwelleth in them As for the holy Ghost the spirit which without measure of operation was in our Saviour as the head of his Church John 1.33 and 3.34 called therefore the spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 that it is in several measures of operation shed forth by and through our Lord Christ upon all his who are by faith united unto him 1 Cor. 6.17 Gal. 3.14 and that it is in them the powerful and only root of mortification or crucifying of the flesh Rom. 8.13 is very well known and acknowledged by those whom Mr Dell slighteth as ignorant of the mysteries which he hath discovered were so much spoken in usual words it would appear no unusual doctrine But if Mr Dell decline this sence of his words I believe the doctrine comprised in them hath no footing at all in the Scripture B That faith hope and love together with other fruits of the spirit of Christ in believers are real crucifyings that is real originals of the mortification or crucifying of the flesh in them is a plain truth of it were plainly expressed Neither do these fruits of the spirit suffer a believer to live to himself or the lusts of men 1 Pet. 4.1,2 which is no doubt the true crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof This Scripture doctrine is full of comfort and is neither new nor strange C The Scripture ascribeth the mortification or crucifying of the flesh to the spirit of Christ which dwelleth and whereby he dwelleth in believers This is plain and old truth But where is this spoken of as the work of the living Word or God-head of Christ any otherwise dwelling in them thâ—n by the Spirit That Scripture would be shewed D Where is the living word and spirit in believers called their crosse Scripture language is most proper for Scripture doctrine 1 Cor. 2.13 the sufferings of Christians are in the Scripture called their crosse Mat. 16.24 But the living Word and Spirit in them is never expressed by that name that I know And how should we dare to speak of the things of God otherwise then as we are taught by the word of God E
of sin in believers and the then refining purifying and spiritualizing of their humane life and faculties by the spirit of Christ unto a new life of holinesse wherein Christ may be truly said to live in them and they to live to God but that the native intent of Mr Dels words here looks to a much higher and his after words in this book contain a plain and peremptory refusal of so low a sense K Paul in the place here alledged Rom. 7. teacheth that the condemning and sin irritating power of the Law ceaseth towards those who are spiritually dead with Christ which is no doubt a branch of their true freedom from the Law acknowledged and joyed in by those whom Mr Dell sleights as Jewish zelots what more Mr Dell fetcheth from that Scripture is of his own putting into it as I think L It is an acknowledged truth that they who are crucified with Christ are freed from sin and the indwelling of the Gospel Col. 3.16 James 1.18 together with the spirit of Christ carrieth on this blessed freedom in them If this would content Mr Dell he might have the company of his brethren in the old way of truth But if this seem too low for him he must not think strange that he obtains not general applause amongst men of understanding in his sublime notions M Sin hath not its full power in the humane life of believers as is here affirmed by Mr Dell and this the texts here produced by himself do infallibly prove which teach that the old man of sin is crucified in believers to be destroyed and the dominion of it removed from them and therefore it doth not retain its fulpower in their humane life in any sence N If Christ and sin cannot live together in strength which I believe Then sin hath not its ful power in their humane life in whom Christ lives which yet Mr Dell in this same paragraph hath affirmed Ipse viderit O Hath a believer two fleshes then one Christs another his own I take it that the Scripture teacheth the direct contrary namely That a believer hath but one flesh or body in property of speech which is a member of Christ the temple of the holy Ghost and as to right of possession not his own 1 Cor. 6.15,19,20 Colos 2.1.5 In which body or flesh of a believer death reigneth not in any sence though as an enemie bodily death shall for a while imprison it in the grave 1 Cor 15.25,26 P The Devil finds so much corruption in Christs crucified ones that he too often prevaileth by temptation to lead them into sin Gal 6.1 1 John 2.1,2 Now sin is very hurtful to the people of God at least in point of comfort Psal 51.8,12 the Devil therefore whatever Mr Dell saith can do Christs crucified ones harm though not destroy them Q This is plainly opposite to Scripture doctrine namely That the flesh which is crucified with Christ is the old man Rom. 6.6 which lusteth contrary to Christ and his spirit Gal. 5.17 and therefore cannot possibly be Christs own flesh as Mr Dell here affirms R Let Mr Dell shew one Scripture which teacheth that the flesh which is crucified in believers is the flesh of the second Adam Believers themselves not the flesh which is crucified in them are intended by the Apostle when he writes that we are of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 S Mr Dell should produce that Scripture which calleth the flesh which is crucified in a believer the temple and habitation of God As to the text here alledged it speaketh to and of the persons of believers themselves not of the flesh crucified in them which are things of a very different consideration as all know who know any thing of Scripture doctrine T That flesh which is crucified in believers doth never keep the true sabbath understanding thereby as Mr Dell doth a ceasing from our own works of sin but it opposeth the keeping of that sabbath continually Gal. 5.17 Eph. 2.3 V Let Mr Dell shew a Scripture which speaketh any of these things of the flesh crucified in believers which are in this place heaped together by him Indeed all that is here said is true of believers in whom the flesh is crucified But believers and the flesh crucified in them are things as much different as Saints and the body of death in them which I think no rational Christian can mistake for the same thing W In direct opposition to this position it is as apparant as the noon-light that the flesh which is crucified in a believer in the reliques of it which are daily to be mortified Col. 3.5 doth by all possible means oppose suffering for Gods name Rom. 8.7 and a believer so far as he is inabled by the spirit of God to mortifie the deeds of the body and resist the lusts of the flesh which is crucified in him so far he is carried on in cheerful readinesse to bear the crosse of Christ and no further Is it possible that Mr Dell should all along mistake the flesh crucified in believers for believers themselves in whom the flesh is crucified If that may be imagined to be his meaning contrary to his words I would then say of the difference between Mr Dels strange positions concerning the crucified flesh and the doctrine of other Divines what Austin spake de predestinatione Dei cap. 5. in another case If the book be his His oppositionibus in literatura nulla est reconciliatio in intelligentia nulla est repugnantia There is no reconciling of these oppositions in word no repugnancy between them in deed X If Mr Dell had minded the old language and doctrine of the Scriptures he would never I think have broken out into these new and strange commendations of the flesh crucified in believers A little Scripture proof amidst this confident affirming would do wel Y Mr Dell should shew a Scripture which affirmeth that the flesh crucified in believers hath the very glory of Jesus Christ upon it which is a position so new and strange that it needs to be well proved before it be received The flesh which is crucified in believers is called the old man and the body of sin Rom. 6.6 which hath no part nor portion in the glory of Jesus Christ Z This position of Mr Dell is clearly opposite to the form of Scripture doctrine which teacheth that the flesh in believers is crucified with Christ to be more and more mortified in them till it be utterly destroyed and therefore it cannot possibly be the subject of the glorious resurrection And to take the mortal body of a believer which shall be the subject of the glorious resurrection 1 Cor. 15.44 for the flesh which is crucified in him and in reference whereunto he is said to be crucified with Christ seems to be such a mistake as no man could be subject to who taketh any heed to the old language of the Scripture A If we be dead with Christ
and in all fulnesse go into life eternal Mat. 25.46 F That the life of the Son of God is not confined to our Saviours humanity but hath an influence into all believers for the quickning of them vnto God is an acknowledged truth But that the life of the Son of God is communicated to and to be seen in the flesh of believers as in the flesh of Christ with a difference of measure only allowed between Christ and believers is as I take it to ascribe Godhead to believers in measure as to the Lord Christ in fulness which is new and strange doctrine indeed I should be glad to see how Mr Del can avoid the inference for I hope he will not hold to the conclusion Was not the life of the Son of God so communicated to and seen in our Saviours flesh by reason of the union of his natures as that he was God manifested in the flesh Is this to be affirmed of any other I am very loath to conceive that he thinks so though his words seem to speak so much SECT XVII I live through the faith of the Son of God HEre the Apostle shews the way or means how Christ came to live in him and he in Christ and that is through Faith Christ saith he so lives in me that yet I live in the flesh but the life I live in the flesh is not the life of the flesh but I live in the flesh the life of faith in the Son of God Now touching this excellent Grace of Faith much might be said but I shall endeavour to give you the sum of all in as few words as may be And first I shall shew you That the right faith is not any work of ours but it is wholly the work of God in us and therefore it is called by Paul Col. 2.12 Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the operation of God and that according to that mighty power which he put forth in Christ when he raised him from the dead as the same Apostle speaks in Ephes 1.19.20 It was a work of the mighty power of God to unite Christs humane Nature to the Divine though it were wholly free from sin But it is a greater work of power to unite us to God in Christ who are full of sin and yet God doth this through faith in all true Believers as I shall shew in the next place 2. As faith is wrought in us by God and is his constant work in us so this faith doth apprehend God in Christ even the Divine nature of Christ in the Humane and the Son of the living God in the Son of man as the Apostle shews here saying I live by the faith of the Son of God Shewing that the chief thing that faith respects and apprehends in Christ is the Son of God And Peter in 1 Pet. 1.21 saith that the faithful through Christ do believe in God who raised him from the dead A So that that only is true faith which doth apprehend and receive the true God in Jesus Christ And thus from these two things we may in some measure understand the true nature of faith which is nothing but this The Fathers laying hold on us by his Spirit and drawing us to the Son and inabling us to receive the Son and so making us one with the Son to abide and live in him for ever So that through true faith we have the nearest union and conjunction with the Son of the living God that any Creature can have next after the Humanitie of Christ Now from this Vnion which we have with the Son of God through faith do flow many excellent advantages to Believers some of which I shall name now As 1. B Hereby they are made the Sons of God as John saith John 1. As many as received him that is the Word that was with God and was God and was made flesh as many as received him by believing to them he gave power to become the sons of God As that Word or Son of God coming into the Humanity of Christ which was in all things like ours sin excepted gave it authority and power to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot And so through faith we have not only the Name but also the Nature of Sons For faith uniting us to Christ changeth us into a new Nature and takes from us what we are in regard of sin and makes us what Christ is in regard of righteousnesse and so it makes us new in heart minde will affections ends and in our whole conversation for it brings Gods Nature into ours and this changeth our nature into its own likenesse C so that whatsoever we do or whatever our condition in the world is we shall still carry our selves in all things as the children of God in some demonstration of the Divine Nature 2. D Through this faith in the Son of God we are made not only Sons but Heirs Heirs of God and joynt-Heirs with Christ That as Christ according to his Humane nature being made One with the Son of God by whom and for whom all things were made was in Him made Heir of all things so we through that faith whereby we receive the Son are made Heirs with Christ in such sort that all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are ours whilst we are Christs as all is Christs whilst He is Gods Now this is a very glorious inheritance which as faith onely apprehends so faith onely understands And this inheritance happens to us not through the works of the Law that is not through any outward works of outward righteousnesse whatsoever but through the righteousnesse of faith through which faith we are truly made one with the Son of God in Christ as hath been said and in and with Him do truly inherit both God and the Creature 3. E This true faith carrying us into the Son of God and placing us in him to abide in him doth truly carry us out of the utmost reach of all evil things out of the reach of the Law Sin Death and Hell seeing these can have no place nor presence in the Son of God and though these evils may reach us whilst we dwell in our selves yet we are got out of their reach so far forth as by faith we dwell in Him 4. F This right faith carries us into the Son of God and doth carry us into all his Perfections and Excellencies into his nature and life and righteousnesse and wisdom and power and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God and so true faith inriches a Believer in Christ with greater treasure then the heart of a carnal Christian can possibly give credit to for
through faith we are carried into the Son of God to have all that He hath and He again comes and fills us with all that he is and hath 5 True faith carries us into Christ and makes us one with him as the Author and Original of all our good works For through this God dwels in us and works his own works in us and we again dwell in him and work his own works in him and those only are true good works which God that dwels in us works in us and which we dwelling in God work in him G Yea a Believer who is one with Christ not only doth good works but doth them continually for Christ in him is alwayes active and whilst he is in Christ he must be alwayes active and therefore saith Christ Joh. 15. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit For through this mutual abiding of Christ and a Christian in each other a Christian as naturally and as necessarily doth the works of God as the fire burns or the Sun shines And these are some of the Advantages a Christian hath through faith in the Son of God ANIMADVERSION 17. A THat that only is true faith which doth apprehend and receive the true God in Jesus Christ And also that true faith is not of our selves but is wrought in us by the Father through the Spirit is very true and certaine But to define faith or describe it as Mr Dell here doth only and wholly by acts of God the Father is plainly to make God not only the authour but the sole actor of faith and so to deny any acting of the hearts of believers to Christ-ward by faith which as I conceive is doctrine very new and strange from the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2.16 Eph. 1.13 Rom. 10.10 It is true that here is mention made by Mr Dell of believers receiving of Christ but he saith not as he might that therein stands the nature of faith but in Gods inabling a man to receive Christ which is wholly and solely Gods act as is also his making us one with the Son to live and abide in him for ever which being one with and abiding in the Son though it be an effect yet containeth nothing in it of the nature of faith B That by faith through Christ believers are adopted to be the Sons of God is certainly true But that as the Word or Son of God coming into the humanity of Christ gave it authority to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the Sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron power to be light and hot is plainly to take off believers son-ship in relation to God from the ground of adoption through grace and to found it upon the communication of the Divine nature to them in the same manner though not so immediately nor in the same measure as to the humanity of our Saviour which is a doctrine of such ill consequence that still me thinks Mr Dell should tremble and abhor to own it nakedly For if the Son of God coming into believers as into the humanity of our Saviour give them power to become the sons of God as it gave him power to be the Son of God as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot then it follows that though believers have the Son of God in them through Christ yet having the Son of God in them they have power to be the Sons of God immediately and in themselves as the iron hath immediate power from the fire to be light and hot which being granted overthrows the doctrine of believers adoption by Christ and putteth all believers into the peculiar honour of the immediate Sonship of our Lord Christ C Do believers in whatsoever they do stil carry themselves in all things in some demonstration of the divine nature as Mr Dell here peremptorily affirmeth I do believe the Apostle that in many things we offend all and that the best of believers have their sad miscarriages as the Apostle Peter had Gal. 2. and give too often demonstration of the reliques of corrupt nature in them If Mr Dell can reconcile these things together I shall leave that labour to him D Believers no doubt through faith in the Son of God are made heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ of all things But that as our Lord Christ according to his humane nature was made heir of all things by being made one with the Son of God so believers likewise receive the Son understanding thereby the Godhead of our Saviour and so are made heirs with Christ of all things though it consent will with Mr Dels former doctrine yet I find no Scripture doctrine agreeing thereunto The scripture doctrine in this point as I apprehend is this that all true believers through faith in Christ are gratiously adopted to be the sons of God and if sons then are they heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ of all things and specially of the eternal heavenly glory which is to come E That true faith uniting us as members to the Lord Jesus doth carry us out of the reach of the law sin death and hell so far that none of them shall prevail against us being believers unto destruction is doubtlesse a sweet Gospel truth But that faith putteth us out of the reach of these evils by putting us into the Son of God or Godhead of our Saviour is barely Mr Dels assertion without the Scripture which teacheth that believers are carried out of the destroying reach of the law sin death and hel through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus not through any such union into the Son of God as he here drives at F That right faith carrieth believers into the Son of God into all his perfections and excellencies into his nature life wisdom and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God is a position which before this time I think never dropped from the tongue or pen of any Christian Mr Del seems not to have arrived to the height of such an apprehension by what we read Sect. 16. F sc So that the life of the Son of God is communicated truly to all the faithful and is to be seen in their flesh in some measure as wel as in his in all fulnesse But it is here plainly and peremptorily affirmed that believers are carried into all the fulness of the Son of the living God the necessary consequences whereof how dreadful they are I leave to him to consider I trust he doth not believe that in believers dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily which the Apostle pointed at as the peculiar incommunicable honour and excellency of our Lord Jesus the Son of the living God Col. 2.9 G Where is that believer that doth good works continually The Apostle Paul found not in himself a continual