Countenance from Antiquity or the least from the Passages quoted out of Chrysostom by himself That his Glosses upon many Texts of Scripture which have an admirable Coincidence with those of two other persons whom I shall name when Occasion requires it are sufficient to affix upon them the sence which he pleads for with many other things of an Equal Falshood and Impertinency wherewith this Section is stuffed shall without any farther trouble from me be left to follow their own Inclinations But yet notwithstanding all the great Pains he hath taken to Instruct us in the Nature of the Union between Christ and Believers I shall take leave to prefer that given by Mr. Hooker before it not only as more true and agreeable unto the Scripture but also as better expressing the Doctrine of the Church of England in this matter And if these things please the present Rulers of the Church wherein upon the matter Christ is shuffled off and the whole of our Spiritual Union is resolved into the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Rule of the Church by Bishops and Pastors let it imply what Contradiction it will as it doth the Highest seeing it is by the Doctrine of the Gospel that we are taught our Union with Christ and his Rule of the Church by his Laws and Spirit I have only the the Advantage to know somewhat more than I did formerly though not much to my Satisfaction But he that shall consider what reflections are cast in this Discourse on the necessity of Satisfaction to be made unto Divine Justice and from whom they are borrowed the miserable weak Attempt that is made therein to reduce all Christ's mediatory Actings unto his Kingly Office and in particular his Intercession the faint mention that is made of the Satisfaction of Christ clogged with the addition of Ignorance of the Philosophy of it as it is called well enough complying with them who grant that the Lord Christ did what God was satisfied withal with sundry other things of the like nature will not be to seek whence these things come nor whither they are going nor to whom our Author is beholden for most of his rare Notions which it is an easie thing at any time to acquaint him withal The second Section of this Chapter is filled principally with Exceptions against my Discourse about the Personal Excellencies of Christ as Mediator if I may not rather say with the Reflections on the Glory of Christ himself For my own Discourse upon it I acknowledge to be weak and not only inconceiveably beneath the Dignity and Merit of the Subject but also far short of what is taught and delivered by many Ancient Writers of the Church unto that purpose And for his Exceptions they are such a Composition of ignorance and spite as is hardly to be paralel'd His Entrance upon his Work is pag 200. as followeth Secondly Let us enquire what they mean by the Person of Christ to which Believers must be united And here they have outdone all the Metaphysical Subtilties of Suarez and have found out a Person for Christ distinct from his God-head and Man-hood for there can be no other Sense made of what Dr. Owen tells us that by the Graces of his Person he doth not mean the Glorious Excellencies of his Deity considered in it self abstracting from the Office which for us as God and Man be undertook nor the outward appearance of his Humane Nature when he conversed here on Earth nor yet as now Exalted in Glory but the Graces of the Person of Christ as he is vested with the Office of Mediation his Spiritual Eminency Comeliness Beauty as appointed and anointed by the Father unto that Great Work of bringing home all his Elect into his Bosom Now unless the Person of Christ as Mediator be distinct from his Person as God-Man all this is Idle talk For what Personal Graces are there in Christ as Mediator which do not belong to him either as God or Man There are some things indeed which our Saviour did and suffered which he was not obliged to either as God or Man but as Mediator but surely he will not call the Peculiar Duties and Actions of an Office Personal Graces I have now learned not to trust unto the Honesty and Ingenuity of our Author as to his Quotations out of my Book which I find that he hath here mangled and altered as in other Places and shall therefore transcribe the whole Passage in my own Words Pag. 51. It is Christ as Mediator of whom we speak and therefore by the Grace of his Person I understand not First the Glorious Excellencies of his Deity considered in it self abstracting from the Office which for us as God and Man be undertook 2. Nor the outward appearance of his humane Nature neither when he conversed here on Earth bearing our Infirmities whereof by reason of the Charge that was laid upon him the Prophet gives quite another Character Isa. 52 14. Concerning which some of the Ancients are very Poetical in their Expressions nor yet as now exalted in Glory a Vain Imagination whereof makes many bear a false a Corrupted respect unto Christ even upon Carnal Apprehensions of the mighty Exaltation of the Humane Nature which is but to know Christ after the Flesh a Mischief much improved by the Abomination of Foolish Imagery But this is that which I intend the Graces of the Person of Christ as he is vested with the office of Mediation his Spiritual Eminency Comelyness and Beauty c. Now in this respect the Scripture describes him as exceeding Excellent Comely and Desirable far above comparison with the choycest Chiefest Created Good or any Endowment imaginable which I prove at large from Psal. 45.2 Isa. 4.2 Cant. 5.9 adding on Explanation of the whole In the Digression some Passages whereof he carps at in this Section my Design was to declare as was said somewhat of the Glory of the Person of Christ To this End I considered both the Glory of his Divine and the many Excellencies of his humane Nature But that which I principally insisted on was the Excellency of Person as God and Man in one whereby he was meet and able to be the Mediator between God and Man and to effect all the great and blessed Ends of his Mediation That our Lord Jesus Christ was God and that there were on that account in his Person the Essential Excellencies and Properties of the Divine Nature I suppose he will not deny Nor will he do so that he was truly Man and that his Humane Nature was endowed with many Glorious Graces and Excellencies which are Peculiar thereunto That theâ—e is a distinct Consideration of his Person as both these Natures are united therein is that which he seems to have a mind to except against And is it meet that any one who hath ought else to do should spend any moments of that Time which he knows how better to improve in the pursuit of a Mans
of Grace towards all men at all times under each Covenant whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy Disputant all things succeed well with such Persons which they undertake And as to the Manner of the Operation of Grace how far Grace it self may be said to be Omnipotent and in its Operations irresistible I have fully declared there where he may oppose and refute it if he have any Mind thereunto His present Attempt against it in those words that God governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason is so weak in this Case and impertinent that it deserves no Consideration For all the Operations of Divine Grace are suited unto the Rational Constitution of our Beings neither was ever man so wild as to fancy any of them such as are inconsistent with or do offer force unto the Faculties of our Souls in their Operations Yea that which elevates aids and assists our Rational Faculties in their Operations on and towards their proper Objects which is the work of Efficacious Grace is the principal Preservative of their Power and Liberty and can be no way to their Prejudice And we do moreover acknowledge that those Proposals which are made in the Gospel unto our Reason are eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper Use and Exercise in complyance with them Hence although the Habit of Faith or Power of Believing be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost yet the Word of the Gospel is the Cause and Means of all its Acts and the whole Obedience which it produceth But if by governing Reasonable Creatures by the Principle of Reason he intends that God deals no otherwise by his Grace with the Souls of men but only by proposing Objective Arguments and Motives unto a Complyance with his Will without internal Aids and Assistances of Grace it is a gross piece of Peâ—â—gianisme destructive of the Gospel sufficiently confuted elsewhere and he may explain himself as he pleaseth His proceed is to transcribe some other Passages taken out of my Book here and there in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent Exceptions But the design of the whole is to state a Controversie as he calls it between us and them or those whom he calleth They and We whoever they be And this upon the Occasion of my mentioning the fulness of Grace Life and Righteousness that is in Christ he doth in these Words pag. 215. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most perfect and compleat Declaration of the Will of God and the most powerfull Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming of the World as it prescribeâ— the only Righteousness which is 〈◊〉 â—ble to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality I shall not absolutely accept of the Terms of this Controversie as to the state of it on our part proposed by him and yet I shall not much vary from them We say therefore that Jesus Christ being full of all Grace Excellencies and Perfections he communicates them unto us in that Degree as is necessary for us and in proportion unto his abundant Charity and Goodness towards us And we Christians as his Body or fellow Members of his Humane Nature receive Grace and Mercy flowing from him to us This state of the Controversie on our side I suppose he will not refuse nor the terms of it but will own them to be ours though he will not it may be allow some of them to be Proper or Convenient And that he may know who his They are who are at this End of the Difference he may be pleased to take notice that these words are the whole and intire Paraphrase of D r. Hammond on Joh. 1.16 the first Testimony he â—â—â—â—rtakes to answer And when this Author hath replyed to Mr. Hooker D r. Jackson and Him and such other Pillars of the Church of England as concurre with them it will be time enough for me to consider how I shall defend my self against him Or if he will take the Controversie on our part in Terms more directly Expressive of my Mind It is the Person of Christ is the Fountain of all Grace to the Church as he well observes my Judgement to be and that from him all Grace and Mercy is derived unto us And then I do maintain that the They whom he opposeth are not onely the Church of England but the whole Catholick Church in all Ages Who the We are on the other hand who reject this Assertion and believe that all the Testimonies concerning the fulness of Grace in Christ and the Communication thereof unto us do only declare the Excellency of his Religion is not easie to be conjectured For unless it be the People of Racow I know not who are his Associates And let him but name three Divines of any Reputation in the Church of England since the Reformation who have given the least Countenance unto his Assertions Negative or Positive and I will acknowledge that he hath better Associates in his Profession than as yet I believe he hath But that Jesus Christ himself God and Man in one Person the Mediator between God and Man is not a Fountain of Grace and Mercy to his Church that there is no real internal Grace communicated by him or derived from him unto his Mystical Body that the Fulness which is in him or said to be in him of Grace and Truth of unsearchable Riches of Grace c. is nothing but the Doctrine which he taught as the most compleat and perfect Declaration of the Will of God are Opinions that cannot be divulged under pretence of Authority without the most pernicious scandal to the present Church of England And if this be the Mans Religion that this is all the Fulness we receive from Christ A perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent Promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Notions of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth that complying with its Doctrine or yielding Obedience unto its Precepts and believing the Promises which it gives in our own strength without any real Aid Assistance or Communication of internal saving Grace from the Person of Jesus Christ is our Righteousness before God whereon and for which we are Justified I know as well as he whence it came and perhaps better than he whither it will go The remaining Discourse of this Chapter consisteth of two parts First an Attempt to disprove any Communication of real internal Grace from the Lord Christ unto Believers for their Sanctification Secondly an Endeavour to refute the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us for our Justification In the first he contends that all the Fulness
contrary and declared those Resolutions as I had occasion Neither was it until very lately that my second Thoughts came to a compliance with the desires of some others to consider my own peculiar concernment therein And this is all which I now design for the examination of the Opinions which this Author hath veuted under the countenance of publick License whatever they may think I know to be more the concernment of other Men than mine Nor yet do I enter into the Consideration of what is written by this Author with the least respect unto my self or my own reputation which I have the satisfaction to conceive not to be prejudiced by such pittiful Attempts nor have I the least desire to preserve it in the minds of such Persons as wherein it can suffer on this occasion But the Vindication of some sacred Truths petulantly traduced by this Author seems to be cast on me in an especial manner because he hath opposed them and endeavoured to expose them to scorn as declared in my Book whence others more meet for this work might think themselves discharged from taking notice of them Setting aside this consideration I can freely give this sort of Men leave to go on with their Revilings and Scoffings until they are weary or ashamed which as far as I can discern upon Consideration of their Ability for such a Work and their Confidence therein is not like to be in haste At least they can change their course and when they are out of breath in pursuit of one sort of calumnies betake themselves unto another Witness the late malicious and yet withal ridiculous Reports that they have divulged concerning me even with respect unto Civil Affairs and their industry therein For although they were such as had not any thing of the least probability or likelihood to give them countenance yet were they so impetuously divulged and so readily entertained by many as made me think there was more than the common artifices of Calumny employed in their raising and improvement especially considering what Persons I can justly charge those Reports upon But in this course they may proceed whilst they please and think convenient I find my self no more concerned in what they Write or say of this Nature than if it were no more But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the Doctrine traduced only that I am concerned about and that as it hath been the Doctrine of the Church of England It may be it will be said for there is no security against Confidence and Imodesty backed with secular Advantages that the Doctrinal Principles asserted in this Book are agreeable with the Doctrine of the Church in former Times and therefore those opposed in it such as are condemned thereby Hereabout I shall make no long contest with them who once discover that their Minds are by any means emboldned to undertake the Defence of such shameless Untruths Nor shall I multiply Testimonies to prove the Contrary which others are more concerned to do if they intend not to betray the Religion of that Church with whose Preservation and Defence they are intrusted Only because there are Ancient Divines of this Church who I am perswaded will be allowed with the most to have known as well the Doctrine of it and as firmly to have adhered thereunto as this Author who have particularly spoken unto most of the Things which he hath opposed or rather reproached I shall transcribe the Words of one of them whereby he and those who employ him may be minded with whom they have to do in those things For as to the Writers of the Antient Church there is herein no regard had unto them He whom I shall Name is Mr. Hooker and that in his Famous Book of Ecclesiastical Policy who in the 5th Book thereof and 56 Paragraph thus discourseth We have hitherto spoken of the Person and of the presence of Christ. Participation is that mutual inward hold which Christ hath of us and we of him in such sort that each possesseth other by way of special Interest Property and Inherent Copulation And after the interposition of some things concerning the mutual in-being and Love of the Father and the Son he thus proceedeth We are by Nature the Sons of Adam When God Created Adam he Created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the Root out of which they Spring The Sons of God we neither are all nor any of Us otherwise than only by Grace and Favour The Sons of God have Gods own Natural Son as a second Adam from Heaven whose Race and Progeny they are by Spiritual and Heavenly Birth God therefore loving Eternally his Son he must needs Eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are Spiritually sithence descended and sprung out of him These are in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator only It was the Purpose of his saving Goodness his Saving Power and his Saving Wisdom which inclined it self towards them They which thus are in God eternally by their intended admission to Life have by Vocation or Adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in that Work which his hand doth presently frame Life as all other Gifts and Benefits groweth originally from the Father and cometh not to Us but by the Son nor by the Son to any of Us in particular but through the Spirit For this cause the Apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth the Grace our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost which three Saint Peter comprehendeth in one the Participation of the Divine Nature We are therefore in God through Christ Eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present World before the World it self was made We were in God through the knowledg which is had of Us and the Love which is born towards Us from Everlasting But in God we actually are no longer than only from the Time of our Actual Adoption into the Body of his true Church into the Fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they that are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal foreknowledg Saveth Us not without our actual and real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this present World For in him we actually are by our actual incorporation into that society which hath him for their head and doth make together with him one Body He and they in that respect having one Name For which cause by vertue of this Mystical conjunction we are of him and in him even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with his We are in Christ because he knoweth and Loveth Us even as parts of himself No Man is actually in him but they in whom he actually is For he which hath not the Son of
really into Us are made our own and we by having them in us are truly said to have him from whom they come Christ also more or less to Inhabit and impart himself as the Graces are fewer or more greater or smaller which really flow into us from Christ Christ is whole with the whole Church and whole with every part of the Church as touching his person which can no way divide it self or be possest by Degrees and Portions But the participation of Christ importeth besides the presence of Christs Person and besides the Mystical Copulation thereof with the parts and Members of his whole Church a true actual Influence of Grace whereby the life which we live according to Godliness is his and from him we receive those perfections wherein our Eternal Happiness consisteth Thus we participate Christ partly by Imputation as when those things which he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for Righteousness Partly by habitual and real Infusion as when Grace is inwardly bestowed while we are on Earth and afterwards more fully both our Souls and Bodies made like unto his in Glory The first thing of his so infused into our hearts in this Life is the Spirit of Christ whereupon because the rest of what kind soever do all both necessarily depend and infallibly also ensue therefore the Apostles term it sometimes the Seed of God sometimes the Pledge of our Heavenly Inheritance sometimes the hansel or earnest of that which is to come From hence it is that they which belong to the Mystical Body of our Saviour Christ and be in number as the Stars in Heaven divided sucessively by reason of their Mortal Condition into many Generations are notwithstanding coupled every one to Christ their Head and all unto every particular person amongst themselves in as much as the same Spirit which anointed the Blessed Soul of our Saviour Christ doth so formalize unite and actuate his whole Race as if both he and they were so many Limbs compacted into one Body by being all with one and the same Soul quickned That wherein we are partakers of Jesus Christ by Imputation are each equally unto all that have it For it consisteth in such Acts and Deeds of his as could not have longer continuance than while they were in doing nor at that very time belong unto any other but to him from whom they came and therefore how Men either then or before or sithence should be made partakers of them there can be no way imagined but only by Imputation Again a Deed must either not be imputed to any but rest altogether in him whose it is or if at all it be imputed they which have it by Imputation must have it such as it is whole So that Degrees being neither in the personal presence of Christ nor in the participation of those Effects which are ours by Imputation only it resteth that we wholly apply them to the participation of Christs infused Grace although even in this kind also the First beginning of Life the Seed of God the First-Fruits of Christ's Spirit be without Latitude For we have hereby only the being of the Sons of God in which number how far soever one may seem to excel another yet touching this that all are Sons they are all Equals some happily better Sons than the rest are but none any more a Son than another Thus therefore we see how the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father how both are in all things and all in them what Communion Christ hath with his Church how his Church and every Member thereof is in him by Original Derivation and he personally in them by Way of Mystical Association wrought through the Gift of the Holy Ghost which they that are his receive from him and together with the same what benefit soever the Vital Force of his Body and Blood may yield Yea by Steps and Degrees they receive the compleat Measure of all such Divine Grace as doth sanctify and save throughout till the Day of their Final Exaltation to a state of Fellowship in Glory with him whose partakers they now are in those things that tend to Glory This one Testimony ought to be enough unto this sort of Men whilst they are at any consistency with their own Reputation For it is evident that there is nothing concerning personal Election Effectual Vocation Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ Participation of him Union of Believers unto and with his Person Derivation of Grace from him c. which are so reproached by our present Author but they are asserted by this great Champion of the Church of England who undoubtedly knew the Doctrine which it owned and in his Days approved and that in such words and Expressions as remote from the sentiments or at least as unsavoury to the Palats of these Men as any they except against in others And what themselves so severely charge on us in point of Discipline that nothing be spoken about it until all is answered that is written by Mr Hooker in its Defence may I hope not immodestly be so far returned as to desire them that in point of Doctrine they will grant us Truce until they have moved out of the way what is writâ—en to the same purpose by Mr. Hooker Why do not they speak to him to leave fooling and to speak sense as they do to others But let these things be as they are I have no especial Concernment in them nor shall take any farther notice of them but only as they influence the Exceptions which this Author makes unto some passages in that Book of mine And in what I shall do herein I shall take as little Notice as may be of those Scurrilous and Reproachful Expressions which either his Inclination or his Circumstances induced him to make use of If he be pleased with such a course of procedure I can only assure him that as to my Concernment I am not displeased and so he is left unto his full Liberty for the Future The first thing he quarrels about is my asserting the Necessity of Acquaintance with the person of Christ which Expression he frequently makes use of afterwards in a way of Reproach The Use of the Word Acquaintance in this Matter is Warranted by our Translation of the Scripture and that properly where it is required of Us to acquaint our selves with God And that I intended nothing thereby but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ is evident beyond any pretence to the contrary to be suggested by the most subtile or Inventive Malice The Crime therefore wherewith I am here charged is my Assertion that it is necessary that Christians should know Jesus Christ which I have afterwards increased by affirming also that they ought to Love him For by Jesus Christ all the World of Christians intend the person of Christ and the most of them all of them the Socinians only excepted by his Person the Word made Flesh or
Light as God is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and then the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins 1 John Chap. 1. v. 6 7. And our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word and Works could not discover as you heard above And he is the only way wherein we must walk with God and we receive all our strength from him and he makes us bold and confident too having removed the Guilt of Sin that now we may look Justice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door all our Debts being discharged by Christ as these bold Acquaintances and Familiars of Christ use to speak And in Christ we design the same End that God doth which is the Advancement of his own Glory that is I suppose by trusting unto the Expiation and Righteousness of Christ for Salvation without doing any thing our selves we take Care that God shall not be wronged of the Glory of his free Grace by a Competition of any Merits and Deserts of our own What the Author affiâ—ms to be the sum of my Discourse in that Place which indeed he doth not transcribe is as to his Affirmation of it as contrary to God as Darkness is to Light or Death to Life or Falshood to the Truth that is it is Flagitiously false That there is any Agreement with God or walking with God for any Men who have no Personal Righteousness of their own but are contrary to God c. I never thought I never wrote nor any thing that should give the least Countenance unto a suspicion to that Purpose The necessity of an Habitual and Actual Personal Inherent Righteousness of Sanctification and Holiness of Gospel-Obedience of Fruitfulness in Good Works unto all who intend to walk with God or come to the Enjoyment of him I have asserted and proved with other manner of Arguments than this Author is acquainted withal The Remainder of his Discourse in this Place is composed of Immorality and Profaneness To the First I must refer his Charge that our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word could not discover as he again expresseth it pag. 98 99. But that the Reverend Doctor confessed the plain Truth that their Religion is wholly owing to an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from his Gospel had they not first grown acquainted with his Person which is plainly false I own no Knowledge of God nor of Christ but what is revealed in the Word as was before declared And unto the other Head belongs the most of what ensues For what is the intendment of those Reproaches which are cast on my supposed Assertions Christ is the only way wherein or whereby we must walk with God Yes so he says I am the way there is no coming to God but by me he having consecrated for us in himself a New and Living Way of drawing nigh to God We receive all our strength from him Yes For he says without me ye can do nothing He makes us bold and confident also having removed the Guilt of Sin So the Apostle tells us Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. What then What followes upon these plain Positive Divine Assertions of the Scripture Why then we may look Jâ—stice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door Goodly Son of the Church of England Not that I impuâ—e these Profane Scoffings unto the Church iâ—self which I shall never do untill it be discovered that the Rulers of it do give approbation to such Abominations But I would mind the Man of his Relation to that Church which to my Knowledge teacheth better Learning and Manners From pag. 57. to the End of his second Section pag. 75. he giveth us a Scheme of Religion which in his Scoffing Language he says Men Learn from an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and affirms that there needs no more to Expose it to Scorn with considering Men than his proposal of it which therein he owns to be his Design I know not any peculiar concernment of mine therein until he comes towards the Close of it which I shall particularly consider But the Substance of the Religion which he thus avowedly attempts to expose to scorn is the Doctrine of God's Eternal Election of his Infinite Wisdom in sending his Son to declare his Righteousness for the forgiveness of Sins or in satisfying his Justice that Sin might be pardoned to the praise of the Glory of his Grace of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto them thaâ— do believe of a sence of Sin Humiliation for it looking unto Christ for Life and Salvation as the Israelites looked up to the Brasen Serpent in the Wilderness of going to Christ by Faith for healing our Natures and cleansing our sins with some other Doctrines of the same Importance These are the Principles which according to his Ability he Sarcastically traduceth and endeavoureth to reflect Scorn upon by the false Representation of some of them and debasing others with an intermixture of Vile and Profane Expressions It is not impossible but that some or other may judge it their Duty to rebuke this horrible and yet were it not for the Ignorance and Profaneness of some men's minds every way contemptible Petulancy For my part I have other things to do and shall only add that I know no other Christian State in the World wherein such Discourses would be allowed to pass under the signature of Publick Authority Only I wish the Author more Modesty and Sobriety than to attempt or suppose he shall succeed in exposing to Scorn the avowed Doctrine in general of the Church wherein he Lives and which hath in the parts of it been asserted and defended by the Greatest and most Learned Prelates thereof in the foregoing Ages such as Jewel Whitgift Abbot Morton Usher Hall Davenant Prideaux c. With the most Learned Persons of its Communion as Reynolds Whittaker Hooker Sutcliff c. and others innumerable testified unto in the Name of this Church by the Divines sent by Publick Authority to the Synod of Dort taught by the Principal Practical Divines of this Nation and maintained by the most Learned of the Dignified Clergy at this Day He is no doubt at Liberty to dissent from the Doctrine of the Church and of all the Learned Men thereof But for a young Man to suppose that with a few loose idle words he shall expose to Scorn that Doctrine which the persons mentioned and others innumerable have not only explained confirmed and defended with pains indefatigable all kind of Learning and Skill Ecclesiastical Philosophical and Theological in Books and Volumes which the Christian World as yet knoweth peruseth and prizeth but also lived long in fervent Prayers to God for the Revelation of his Mind and Truth unto them and in the Holy Practice of Obedience suited unto
this Section upon a contrary supposition falsly imputed unto me And as for his drawing Schemes of Religion I must tell him and let him disprove it if he be able I own no Religion no Article of Faith but what are taught expresly in the Scripture mostly confirmed by the ancient General Councils of the Primitive Church and the Writings of the most Learned Fathers against all sorts of Heretâ—cks especially the Gnosticks Photinians and Pelagians consonant to the Articles of the Church of England and the Doctrine of all the Reformed Châ—rches of Europe And if in the Exposition of any place of Scripture I dissent from any that for the Substance of it own the Religion I do I do it not wiâ—hout Cogent Reasons from the Scripture it self and where in any opinions which Learned Men have and it may be always had different Apprehensions about which hath not been thought to prejudice the Unity of Faith amongst them I hope I do endeavour to manage that dissent with that Modesty and Sobriety which becometh me And as for the Schemes Plots or Designs of Religion or Christianity given us by this Author and owned by him it being taken pretendedly from the Person of Christ when it is hoped that he may have a better to give us from the Gospel seeing he hath told us we must Learn our Religion from his Doctrine and not from his Person besides that it is liable unto Innumerable Exceptions in particular which may easily be given in against it by such as have nothing else to do wâ—ereas it makes no mention of the effectual Grace of Christ and the Gospel for the Conversion and Sanctification of Sinners and the necessity thereof unto all Acts of Holy Obedience it is merely Pelagian and stands Anathematised by sundry Councils of the Antient Church I shall not therefore concern my self farther in any Passages of this Section most of them wherein it reflects on others standing in competition for Truth and Ingenuity with the Foundation and Design of the whole Only I shall say that the Passage of 88 89. This made the Divine Goodness so restlesly zealous and concerned for the Recovery of Mankind various ways be attempted in former Ages but with little success as I observed before but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World without a very Cautious Explanation and Charitable Construction is false scandalous and blasphemous For allow this Author who contends so severely for Propriety of Expressions against Allusions and Metaphors to say that the Divine Goodness was restlesly Zealous and Concerned for indeed such is our Weakness that whether we will or no we must sometimes learn and teach Divine things in such words as are suited to convey an Apprehension of them unto our Minds though in their Application unto the Divine Nature they are incapable of being understood in the Propriety of their Signification though this be as untowardly expressed as any thing I have of late met withal yet what colour can be put upon what excuse can be made for this Doctrine That God in former Ages by various ways attempted the Recovery of mankind but with little success I know not Various attempts in God for any End without Success do not lead the Mind into right Notions of his Infinite Wisdom and Omnipotency And that God by any way at any time attempted the Recovery of Mankind distinctly and separately from the sending of his Son is lewdly false In the greatest part of his fourth Section entituled how Men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancy I am not much concerned save that the Foundation of the whole and that which animates his Discourse from first to last is laid in an Impudent Calumny namely that I declare that our Religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly savingly Learned from his Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person This shameless Falshood is that alone whence he takes occasion and confidence to reproach my self and others to condemn the Doctrine of all the Reformed Churches and openly to traduce and vilify the Scripture it self I shall only briefly touch on some of the impotent dictates of this great Corrector of Divinity and Religion His Discourse of accommodating Scripture-Expressions to Mens own Dreamns pag. 99 100.101 being such as any Man may use concerning any other men on the like occasion if they have a mind unto it and intend to have no more regard to their Consciences than some others seem to have may be passed by pag. 102. He falls upon the ways of expounding Scripture among those whom he sets himself against and positively affirms that there are two ways of it in great Vogue among them First by the sound and Clink of the words and Phrases which as he says is all some Men understand by keeping a Form of Sound words 2 When this will not do they reason about the sence of them from their own preconceived Notions and Opinions and prove that this must be the meaning of Scripture because otherwise it is not reconcileable to their Dreams which is called expounding Scripture by the Analogy of Faith Thus far he and yet we shall have the same Man not long hence pleading for the Necessity of Holiness But I wish for my part he would take notice that I despise that Holiness and the Principles of it which will allow Men to Coin Invent and publish such notorious untruths against any sort of Men whatever And whereas by what immediately follows I seem to be principally intended in this Charge as I know the Untruth of it so I have published some Expositions on some Parts of the Scripture to the Judgment of the Christian World to which I appeal from the Censures of this Man and his Companions as also for those which if I Live and God will I shall yet publish and do declare that for Reasons very satisfactory to my Mind I will not come to him nor them to learn how to expound the Scripture But he will Justify his Charge by particular Instances telling us pag. 102. Thus when Men are possessed with a Fancy of an acquaintance with Christ's Person then to know Christ can signify nothing else but to know his Person and all his Personal Excellencies and Beauties Fullness and Pretiousness c. And when Christ is said to be made Wisdom to us this is a plain proof that we must Learn all our spiritual Wisdom from an acquaintance with his Person though some duller Men can understand no more by it than the Wisdom of those Revelations Christ hath made of God's Will to the World I would beg of this Man that if he hath any regard unto the Honour of Christian Religion or Care of his own Soul he would be tender in this matter and not reflect with his usual disdain upon the Knowledge of the Person of Christ. I must tell him again what
Christ these are they that I own whom you so despised and abhorred and see their Works following them this and that they have done when you wallowed in your Abominations Math. 25.42 43. 2. The Conversion of others 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that wherein they speak against you as Evil Doers beholding your good works they may Glorify God in the day of Visitation Mat. 5.17 Even Revilers Persecutors Evil speakers have been overcome by the Constant holy walking of Professors and when their Day of Visitation hath come have Glorified God on that Account 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 3. The Benefit of all Partly in keeping of Judgments from the Residue of Men as ten good Men would have preserved Sodom Partly by their real Communication of Good to them with whom they have to do in their Generation Holiness makes a man a Good Man Useful to all and others eat of the Fruits of the Spirit that he brings forth continually 4. It is Necessary in respect of the State and Condition of Justified Persons and that whether you consider their Relative State of acceptation or their State of Sanctification 1. They are Accepted and received into Friendship with an Holy God a God of Purer Eys than to behold Iniquity who hates every unclean thing And is it not Necessary that they should be Holy who are admitted into his Presence walk in his Sight yea lie in his Bosom should they not with all Diligence cleanse themselves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2. In respect of Sanctification we have in us a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This New Creature is fed cherished nourished kept alive by the Fruits of Holiness to what End hath God given us New Hearts and New Creatures Is it that we should kill them stifle the Creature that is found in us in the Womb That we should give him to the Old Man to be devoured 5. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of Holiness in the New Covenant and that is twofold 1. Of the Means unto the End God hath appointed that Holiness shall be the Means the Way to that Eternal Life which as in it self and Originally is his Gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his Constitution of our Obedience as the Means of attaining it is a reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder Though it be neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed of God for us to Walk in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life purifies himself as He is pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in the Way for without Holiness it is impossible to see God 2. It is a Testimony and Pledge of Adoption a sign and Evidence of Grace that is of Acceptation with God And 3. The whole Expression of our Thankfulness Now there is not one of all these Causes and Reasons of the Necessity the indispensible necessity of our Obedience good Works and Personal Righteousness but would require a more large Discourse to unfold and explain than I have allotted to the Proposal of them all And innumerable others there are of the same import that I cannot name He that upon these Accounts doth not think Universal Holiness and Obedience to be of indispensible necessity unless also it be exalted into the Room of the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ let him be filthy still I confess this whole Discourse proceedeth on the Supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us for our Justification And herein I have as good Company as the Prelacy and whole Church of England can afford Sundry from among them having written large Discourses in its Confirmation and the rest having till of late approved of it in others I wish this Man or any of his Companions in Design would undertake the answering of Bishop Downham on this Subject No Man ever carried this Matter higher than Luther nor did he in all his writings more positively and plainly contend for it than in his Comment on the Epistle to the Galatians Yet was that Book translated into English by the Approbation of the then Bishop of London who also prefixed himself a Commendatory Epistle unto it The judgment of Hooker we have heard before But what need I mention in particular any of the rest of those Great and Learned Names who have made famous the profession of the Church of England by their writings throughout the World Had this Man in their days treated this Doctrine with his present scoffing Petulancy he had scarce been Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane much less filled with such hopes and expectations of future Advancements as it is not impossible that he is now possessed with upon his memorable Atchievments But on this supposition I do first appeal to the Judgment of the Church of England it self as to the Truth of the Doctrine delivered in my Discourse and the Principles which this Man proceedeth on in his Exceptions against it 2. Though it be but a part of a Popular Discourse and never intended for Scholastick Accuracy yet as to the Assertions contained in it I challenge this Author to take and allow the ordinary usual sence of the Words with the open Design of them and to answer them when he can And. 3. In the mean time I appeal unto every indifferent Reader whether the mere perusal of this whole Passage do not cast this Man's Futilous Cavils out of all Consideration so that I shall content my self with very few Remarques upon them First upon my asserting the necessity of Good Works he adds A very suspicious Word which methinks these Men should be afraid to name And why so We do acknowledge that we do not seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law We design not our Personal Justification by them nor to merit Life or Salvation but betake our selves unto what even Bellarmine himself came to at Last as the safest Retreat namely the Merits and Righteousness of Christ. But for Attendance unto them Performance of them and fruitfulness in them we are not afraid nor ashamed at any Time to enter into Judgment with them by whom we are traduc'd And as I have nothing to say unto this Author who is known unto me only by that Portraicture and Character which he hath given of himself in this Book which I could have wished for his own sake had been drawn with a mixture of more Lines of Truth and Modesty so I know there are not a few who in the Course of a Vain Worldly Conversation whilst there is scarce a Back or Belly of a Disciple of Christ that blesseth God upon the account of their Bounty or Charity the Footsteps of Levity Vanity Scurrility and Prophaneness being moreover left upon all the Paths of their haunt are wont to declaim about Holiness
of Grace and Truth said to be in Christ consists either in the Doctrine of the Gospel or in the Largeness of his Church In the latter that Faith in Christ is nothing but Believing the Gospel and the Authority of Christ who revealed it and by yielding Obedience whereunto we are justified before God on the account of an internal inherent Righteousness in our selves Now these are no small Undertakings the first of them being expressely contrary to the sence of the Catholick Church in all Ages For the Pelagians and the Socinians are by common Agreement excluded from an Interest therein And the latter of them contrary to the plain Confessions of all the Reformed Churches with the constant Doctrine of this Church of England and therefore we may justly expect that they should be managed with much strength of Argument and evident Demonstration But the Unhappiness of it is I will not say his but ours that these are not things which our Author as yet hath accustomed himself unto and I cannot but say that to my knowledge I never read a more weak loose and impertinent Discourse upon so weighty Subjects in my whole Life before He must have little to doe who can afford to spend his Time in a particular Examination of it unless it be in the Exposition of those places which are almost Verbatim transcribed out of Schlictingius Besides for the first Truth which he opposeth I have confirmed it in a Discourse which I suppose may be made publick before this come to View beyond what I expect any sober Reply unto from him Some Texts of Scripture that mention a Fulness in Christ he chooseth out to manifest to speak a Word by the way that indeed they do not intend any such Fulness in Christ himself And the first is Joh. 1.16 The Exposition whereof which he gives is that of Schlictingius who yet extends the import of the words beyond what he will allow The Enforcement which he gives unto his Exposition by comparing the 14 and 17 Verses with the 16. is both weak and contradictory of it self For the words of the 14 Verse are The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth It is evident beyond contradiction that the Expression full of Grace and Truth is Exegetical of his Glory as the only begotten of the Father which was the Glory of his Person and not the Doctrine of the Gospel And for the opposition that is made between the Law given by Moses and the Grace and Truth which came by Jesus Christ I shall yet rather adhere to the sense of the Ancient Church and the most Eminent Doctors of it which if he knows not it to be concerning the Effectual Communication of real renewing sanctifying Grace by Jesus Christ there are â—now who can inform him rather than that woeful gloss upon them his Doctrine is called Grace because accompanyed with such Excellent Promises and may well be called Truth because so agreeable to the Natural Notions of Good and Evil which is the Confession of the Pelagian unbelief but these things are not my present concernment For the latter part of his Discourse in his opposition unto the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ as he doth not go about once to state or declare the sense wherein it is pleaded for nor produceth any one of the Arguments wherewith it is confirmed and omitteth the mention of most of the particular Testimonies which declare and establish it so as unto those few which he takes notice of he expresly founds his Answers unto them in that woful Subterfuge that if they are capable of another Interpretation or having another sense given unto them then nothing can be concluded from them to that purpose by which the Socinians seek to shelter themselves from all the Testimonies that are given to his Deity and Satisfaction But I have no concernment as I said either in his Opinions or his way of Reasoning and do know that those who have so need not desire a better Cause nor an easier Adversary to deal withall In his third Section pag. 279. he enters upon his exceptions unto the Union of Believers unto Jesus Christ and with great modesty at the entrance of his Discourse tells us First how these men with whom he hath to doe have fittted the Person of Christ unto all the wants and necessities of the sinner which yet if he denies God himself to have done he is openly injurious unto his Wisdom and Grace The very first Promise that was given concerning him was that he should save sinners from all their wants evils and miseries that might did or could befall them by the entrance of sin But thus it falls out when men will be talking of what they doe not understand Again he adds how he hath Explained the Scripture Metaphors whereby the Union between Christ and Christians is represented but that these men in stead of explaining of those Metaphors turn all Religion into an Allegory But what if one should now tell him that his Explanation of these Metaphors is the most absurd and irrational and argues the most fulsome ignorance of the Mystery of the Gospel that can be imagined and that on the other side those whom he traduceth doe explain them unto the understanding and experience of all that believe and that in a way suited and directed unto by the Holy Ghost himself to farther their Faith Obedience and Consolation as far as I perceive he would be at no small loss how to relieve himself under this censure The first thing he begins withal and wherein in the first place I fall under his Displeasure is about the Conjugal Relation between Christ and Believers which he treats of pag. 280. As for Example saith he Christ is called an Husband the Church his Spouse and now all the invitations of the Gospel are Christ's wooing and making love to his Spouse and what other men call believing the Gospel of Christ whereby we devote our selves to his Service these men call that consent and contract which makes up the Marriage betwixt Christ and Believers Christ takes us for his Spouse and we take Christ for our Husband and that with all the Solemnities of Marriage except the Ring which is left out as an Antichristian Ceremony Christ saying thus This is that we will consent unto that I will be for thee and thou shalt be for me and not for another Christ gives himself to the Soul with all his Excellencies Righteousness Preciousness Graces and Eminencies to be its Saviour Head and Husband to dwell with it in this Holy Relation and the Soul likes Christ for his Excellencies Graces Suitableness farr above all other Beloveds whatsoever and accepts of Christ by the Will for its Husband Lord and Saviour And thus the Marriage is compleated and this is the Day of Christs Espousals and of the Gladness of his Heart