Law it might have availed to Salvation as well as the Gospel with the supplemental righteousness of Christ there might have been an imputed righteousness as well under the Law as under the Gospel I answer That I conceive that the Moral Law delivered by Moses obliges us Christians as I have before proved and I suppose our Church is of that mind too for I cannot imagine that she should in her Catechism instruct Children in an abrogated Law How there should be an imputed Righteousness without a Gospel I know not it pleased God to found the Gospel upon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a satisfaction and that cannot be or be profitable to us without an imputation The impotency of the Law was as I noted before that it could not justifie us for want of perfect obedience But God translated the impletion of the Law upon Christ and his Righteousness being made ours by imputation the Law is said to be fulfilled in us To the same purpose the Apostle discourses Mr. Sherlock Rom. 7.4 5 6. Wherefore my Brethren you also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ who put an end to that imperfect dispensation by his death that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God for when we were in the flesh under that carnal and fleshly dispensation of the Law of Moses the motions of sins which were by the Law which grew more boisterous and unruly by the prohibitions of the Law vers 8. did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death That is did betray us to those wicked actions which end in death But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead in which we were held that we should serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter So that the reason why the Law of Moses was abrogated was because it could not make men good it nursed them up in a ritual external Religion taught them to serve God in the Letter by Circumcision Sacrifices or external conformity to the Letter of the Law but the Gospel of Christ alone teacheth us to worship God in the Spirit to offer a reasonable Sacrifice to him to fulfill the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the internal Righteousness of which those legal Ceremonies were the Signs and Sacraments This is the plain meaning of the Apostles which can never be reconciled with imputed Righteousness which would make his argument foolish and absurd Therefore he tells us in other places what little reason we have to be so zealous for the Law of Moses since we have the perfection of it in the Gospel what need is there of the circumcision of the flesh which the Law required When in the Gospel we have the circumcision made without hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that fleshly circumcision What need of legal washing and purgations When they are all fulfilled in the washing of regeneration in the Gospel baptism Thus we are compleat in Christ who bath perfectly instructed us in the will of God and instiluted such a Religion as is the perfection of all Ceremonies Col. 2. We must now offer another Sacrifice than the Law of Moses commanded not the Sacrifices of dead beasts but of a living and active soul Rom. 12. The Apostle Answer Rom. 7. vers 4. Shews that we are dead to the Law by the body of Christ that is by Christ crucified we have remission and the holy Spirit and so are dead to the cursing and irritating power of the Law that we might bring forth fruits of holy works to God Before when we were in the flesh in our corrupt unregenerate estate the motions of sin which were accidentally irritated by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death that is to bring forth sinful actions which tend to death vers 5. But now saith the Apostle we are delivered from the Law from the curse and irritating power of it That being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter vers 6. That is in those new Divine Prinples which our spirits have from Gods not in the old nature which by the outward Letter of the Law is irritated unto sin This I think is the scope of the Apostle he discourses of the regenerate and unregenerate the one dead to the Law the other irritated by it he discourses not of the difference between those under the Old Testament and those under the New for the regenerate under the Old Testament were dead to the cursing and irritating Law they had internal Righteousness which the Author calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had the circumcision of the heart Deut. 30.6 which in the Author is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fleshly circumcision they had the law in the heart Psal 37.31 And by consequence they had true regeneration in which saith our Author all the legal washings and purifications are fulfilled they were not irritated by the Law but delighted in it as in their joy choice treasure hony-comb of sweetness and what not as appears in the Psalms They served in the newness of the Spirit in new Divine Principles which they had from the holy Spirit in the easiness of the New Creature to which the Will of God is natural Even in their Rituals and Sacrifices they knew all must be done in newness of Spirit in the exercises of internal Graces The very Heathens themselves thought that they were to Sacrifice Mente candidâ expurgatâ conscientiâ How much more did the servants of God under the Old Testament do so they knew that there were better Sacrifices than the outward ones Sacrifices of righteousness Psal 4.5 And sacrifices of a broken spirit Psal 50.17 They understood that the heart the truth in the inward parts was more than all the rest On the other hand the unregenerate under the New Testament they are in the flesh the motions of sin carry all before them they have nothing of internal Righteousness they are uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh they are baptized yet want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of regeneration they are irritated by the Law their inward malignity swells and rises against the holy commands which stand in Scripture as so many damms and bars to their impetuous lusts Whatever they do in Evangelical Ordinances they do all in the oldness of the Letter the Letter the outward Rule presses them to Duty but there is no inward acting of Faith no suavity of Love or holy Affections all is done in a dead dull flat manner nothing is minded but the opus operatum the meer external work By this we see clearly where the difference lies It s true the Ceremonials of Moses were abrogated by Christ but I suppose the Moral Law was not it s own intrinsecal Rectitude and Righteousness immortalizes it so that it stands faster than the Pillars of Heaven and Earth and must be so as long as God is God and Man Man The Reason of Man must be bound in duty to
imputation and who ever heard of a Mediator made such by imputation or by that Righteousness which another performed for him The Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us but what Secundum totam latitudinem to all intents and purposes whatsoever Oh no it is not imputed to us to do that which is impossible to make us Mediators or the Efficients of it but so far only as to make us Righteous before God by the imputation of it we are justified and saved but we are not Mediators and Saviours The Righteousness is formally Christ's the one Mediators but materially it becomes ours by imputation so far forth as to justifie us The Righteousness it self is one thing and the manner of application another Bellarmine himself who made the objection can say in another place passiones Christi quae sunt infiniti pretii De Indulgent l. ◠cap. 4. applicari per indulgentias finiso modo So say I the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us not to all intents and purposes not to translate a Mediatorship upon us but in a limited manner to justifie and save us who are the receivers of it It is imputed to every Believer but it makes never an one of them God-man and no man that is a meer man or less than God-man can be an expiating and saving Mediator or if he could he could not be such without a Divine Call or Ordination which no Believer can pretend to The Mediatorship is totally solely Christ's but the Righteousness which he performed is so far imputed to us as to justifie and save us The satisfaction of Christ's death is made ours and that by imputation or else we must be pardoned without a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet that imputation doth not make us satisfying Mediators Our Church tells us 1. Hoim of Salvation Christ is the Righteousness of them that believe he for them paid the ransom by his death he for them fulfilled the Law in his life So that now in him and by him every true Christian may be called a fulfiller of the Law And yet our Church never dreamed of any such thing as that such an imputation would turn a Believer into a Mediator there is therefore no ill consequence but an infinite comfort in this assertion that the Righteousness of Christ our Mediator is imputed to us The Doctor tells us Mr. Sherlock That Christ was under no obligation to obey these Laws himself And to make this appear he discourses particularly of the Law of our Creation and the Ceremonial Law given to the Jews And for the first the Law of Creation that comprehends those eternal Laws which result from the essential difference of good and evil which all mankind are bound to observe by the very frame of their natures Now he dares not deny that Christ was bound to obey this Law for himself but then his obedience was voluntary And what of that For so the obedience of every good man is for by voluntary he tells us he doth not mean That it was meerly arbitrary and at his choice whether he would obey or not but on supposition of his undertaking to be Mediator it was necessary it should be so but he voluntarily and willingly submitted to it and so became really subject to the commands of it And is it not very plain now that Christ was not obliged to obey those Laws because he willingly submitted to them but he means somewhat more by this voluntary than he could tell how to express and all that I can guess is that whereas we are bound to obey these Laws antecedently to our choice it was not so with him for his obligation was consequential upon his being born and becoming man which was his own choice and yet even then as he tells us As he was Mediator God-man he was not by the institution of that Law obliged to it being as it were lifted up above that Law by the hypostatical Union Now this is very profound reasoning for the meaning of it is this That Christ had not been bound to live like a man unless he had become man and yet I can grant something more that it was impossible that he should have lived like a man without being man But when he chose to be man he was bound to discharge all the duties of a man for himself But how could he be exempted from this Law by being Mediator God and Man When the Doctor acknowledges that upon supposition of his being Mediator it was necessary it should be so that is that he should obey now not to be obliged by the Institution of the Law as Mediator and that it should be necessary for him to obey as Mediator are at so great a distance that it may serve for another trial of skill to reconcile them Christ Answer when he assumed the humane Nature was as man subject to the Law of Creation for his humane Nature was but a Creature and its will not being Supreme in it self was under the Divine Will but Christ freely and voluntarily became man and so put himself of his own accord into the state of subjection and as he was not made man for himself but for us So neither was he made under the Law for himself but for us Hence the Apostle joyning both these together He was made of a woman made under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Superadds as the end common to both that he might redeem us he assumed humanity and with it duty neither for himself but both for us that he might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfil the Law Matth. 5.17 for us not only doctrinally by opening the pure Spirituality of it but practically too by fulfilling all the Righteousness thereof Christ as man was bound by the Law but this hinders not but that his obedience may be for us and may be imputed to us in justification No sooner was that Divine Decree which put a must upon Christ's sufferings made known to him as man but he was bound to dye and yet his death was a sweet Sacrifice for us and a propitiation for our sins And as the Blood of Christ was the Blood of God so the obedience of Christ was the obedience of God being stamped with his Deity it amounted to an infinite summ enough for himself and a world besides Christ was in some sence as it were exempted and lifted up above the Law by the hypostatical Union he might have carried up the Humane Nature into heaven in the very first instant of its assumption he need not have performed the Law in such a debased manner for such a space of time and in such a place as earth he was not simply and absolutely bound to it in himself but upon supposition that he took upon him the Mediatory Office he was bound to fulfil the Law for us as he did Though we suppose Mr. Sherlock that Christ as man was bound to yield obedience to the Law of Creation yet the
Life Food Health Strength Defire Righteousness Salvation Blessedness The meaning of all is that they prefer the person of Christ which hath such a perfect righteousness for them and will save them without requiring any legal conditions of them infinitely before the Religion and Gospel of Christ before Obedience to his commands before the Love and Fear of God So that the foundation of their love to Christ is a fond imagination that he will save them by his Righteonsness without any Righteousness and Holiness of their own This makes them so fond of the person of Christ because they look on him as a refuge and sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly where the greatest oldest stubbornest transgressor may shelter himself from the wrath of God and I have some reason to think that Christ will not much prize such Devoto's as these nor their obsequious flatteries or praise They prefer Christ above all Answer and no wonder all the Saints and Martyrs have done so he is worthy of love in its height and tallest Statures A Believer may love other things but he loves Christ with a love more eminent and over-topping such as is congruous for an Object so altogether lovely and desirable he loves other things with reference to Christ But Christ for himself his infinite excellencie and perfection He loves Ordinances because they are the Banqueting-House of Christ he loves the Gospel because it is his Royal Charter he loves his own Graces because they are his love-tokens and bear his Divine Image After all the great center of his love is Christ himself But saith the Author the foundation of their love to Christ is a fond imagination that he will save them by his Righteousness without any Righteousness of their own that he will be a refuge and sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly To which I say That I have before noted this to be as it is a Popish Calumny and without any just ground at all for it when Grotius drew up such a kind of charge against the common Protestant Doctrine as if it were enough to say Credo justitiam Christi mihi imputari as if there were no need of true Repentance or holy walking Dr. Arrowsmith makes this return Quam nollem haec à te dicta vel ficta potius Tact. Sacr. fol. 141 Hugo doctissime cum nihil sit à praxi nihil à sensu nostro remotius Mr Sherlock The devotion of these men consists in admiring prizing valuing the person of Christ This is that Evangelical Righteousness we must gain by Duties more prizing of acquaintance with defire loving and delighting in Union with the Lord Jesus Christ a Moral man who rests in duties that is who does what God commands and expects to be saved by Christ may grow in legal Righteousness that is in true Holiness and Piety But this will not avail unless we grow in this Evangelical Righteousness Sincere Convert This is the great end of Duties to carry us to the Lord Jesus Hear a Sermon to carry thee to Christ fast pray get a full tide of affections in them to carry thee to Christ that is to get more Love of him more Acquaintance and Union with him sorrow for sins that thou mayst be more fitted for Christ and more prize Christ use thy Duties as Noah's Dove did her wings to carry thee to the Ark of the Lord Jesus As it is with a poor man that is to go over a great water for a treasure on the other side though he cannot fetch the boat he calls for it to carry him over to the treasure So Christ is in Heaven and thou on Earth He doth not come to thee thou canst not go to him Now call for a Boat though there is no Grace no Good no Salvation in a pithless duty yet use it to catry thee over to the Lord Christ when thou comest to hear say have over Lord by this Sermon when to pray say have over Lord by this Prayer to a Saviour c. So that it seems the whole business of our Love to Christ and Evangelical Righteousness consists in some flights of fancy and imagination in admiring and valuing the person of Christ in getting an acquaintance and union with him The business of all Religion is to have over to Christ that we may love and prize his Person and personal Righteousness above all things in the World It is not so much the business of Sermons to acquaint us with the Nature Attributes and Works of God to instruct us in our Duty and encourage us to it by the Motives of the Gospel as to have over to Christ The design of prayer is not so much to affect our Souls with a sense of the Divine Majesty to worship and adore him and to express our trust in him as to have over to Christ Sorrow for sin is not so much to imbitter sin to us and to strengthen us against it as to teach us to prize Christ The Nature of Religion is now changed from being the Homage and Worship of God the certain means of pleasing him and transforming us in to his likeness which is the natural end of Religion into a Cock-boat and Skuller to waft us over to Christ Here we see the true reason why these men do so despise Morality in comparison of those gospel-Gospel-duties of hearing Sermons Prayer Confessions Humiliation c. because as they handle the matter The practise of Moral Virtues cannot have us over to Christ cannot apply the righteousness and fulness of Christ to us nor ravish our fancies with glorious Images and Idea's of his person And since all the Duties of Religion are such pithless things which have no Grace no Good no Salvation in them but as they have us over to Christ poor Morality must needs be a worthless thing That we are highly to prize Christ Answer can be no question with Christians when he comes in his Glory he shall be admired of all them that believe 2 Thess 1.10 And before that coming we are as far as our Faith will carry us to admire him who is indeed an Object in whom Heaven and Earth are so admirably blended together that humane reason may well lose it self and stand in a maze at such an Union That Christ is to be highly prized by us we need go no further than the raptures and extatical passions of the Spouse in the Canticles which are a kind of Commentary on that Admiration which is the genius and communis sensus of Christians Nature it self reveils God to be the great Object of Worship but the Gospel assures us that there is no access no coming to God but by Christ That there is no Righteousness able to cover our persons and duties with the defects thereof but Christ's Righteousness That there is no doing Duties in a right and spiritual way acceptable unto God but by the Spirit and Grace of Christ and upon these strong important Reasons