a literal speculative notional knowledge of him as such so as to know both him and his Sonship practically and savingly O then be much in Prayer Read and pray hear and pray meditate and pray study and pray he studies this mystery and all others best who study's it most upon his knees This special and supernatural Sonship of Christ is not savingly to be known without special and supernatural illumination from Christ through the Spirit 'T is observable that in Matth. 16.17 when Peter had made that * Matth. 16.16 good Confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God see what Christ resolved it into †17. Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven You know that passage Matth. 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son or makes others to know him but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him these two Persons do make known each the other the Father reveals the Son and the Son reveals the Father the Son is a fit Person to reveal the Father for he 's his only begotten Son and lies in his bosom therefore he saith * Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is the bosom of the Father he hath declared him and the Father is also a fit Person to reveal the Son for he having begotten him and having had him with himself from everlasting he knows him exactly O therefore go to him by Prayer beseech him to reveal his Son to you 'T is a great thing to know Christ in this relation so great that there must be an heavenly light a spiritual understanding given to a man before he can come up to it mark that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 5.20 And hath given us understanding that we may know him that is true he speaks of the knowing of Christ as the true Son of God 't is as if the Apostle had said if God had not illuminated our understandings and irradiated them with a divine light we had never known Christ savingly in this notion He who begat the Son of himself from all eternity to him it appertains by his Spirit in time savingly to reveal this Son to the Creature and therefore your work lyes with him in prayer to beg of him this revelation of the Son So much for the first thing 2. Branch of the Exhortation To believe Christ to be the Son of God and to believe on him as the Son of God 2. A second branch of the Exhortation shall be this Is Christ God's own Son then do you believe him to be such and believe on him as such The first we call dogmatical the second justifying and saving Faith the first is assent to the proposition that Christ is God's own Son the second is relyance upon the person who is and as he is God's own Son The first is more general and common for all who bear the name of Christians in some sense or other come up to it yet notwithstanding there is much worth and excellency in it though not so much as in the latter and that is absolutely necessary in order to the second for how can he believe on Christ as the Son of God who doth not first dogmatically believe him to be the Son and such a Son of God And this general Faith too as well as that which is more special admits of degrees for though all Christians believe it yet some are more confirmed rooted stablished in the belief of it than others are Now therefore this is that which I would press upon you to labour after a more steady unshaken fixed believing of this great Foundation-Truth I hope you do believe it but do you believe it in such a degree doth not your faith sometimes waver about it is not your assent weak and languid attended with doubtings and questionings are you rooted and * Col. 2.7 stablished in the faith as of other things so in special of this great Article of the Christian Religion are you come up unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.2 I could most heartily wish that it was thus with you and with all who do profess that they believe Christ to be the Son of God but I fear it is not so Now my Brethren that I may the better excite you to labour after a full and firm assent hereunto consider that one special-reason or end why a great part of the New Testament was written was this that you might believe and be confirmed in your belief of this very thing Joh. 20.31 But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name You may observe concerning this Evangelist St. John as of all the other Evangelists he was most inspir'd in the revealing of Christ's divine Sonship so he was also most inspir'd in the pressing of men to believe it and in the setting out of the weightiness of the belief of it 1 Joh. 2.23 Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 4.15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 Joh. 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God What a mighty stress did this great Apostle lay upon it O how doth it concern all upon the Considerations laid down by him to live under a steady belief of Christ's being the Son of God! Indeed this is the Foundation-Truth Christ himself is the personal foundation and this Truth not exclusively but eminently is the doctrinal foundation to both of which that famous and so much controverted Text is applicable Matth. 16.18 I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it upon this rock what rock doth Christ mean was it Peter personally considered or was it Peter and his Successors as Some would have it they meaning by these Successors the POPES of ROME whom I trust I shall never close with in this interpretation so long as 't is this rock and not this sand undoubtedly let but persons be unbyass'd and not wedded to Party's and Opinions calculated for worldly designs and Interests nothing is more clear than that by this rock we are to understand either the Person of Christ or that Doctrinal proposition which Peter had laid down concerning him Vers 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God after which it immediately follows Vpon this rock I will build my Church or else we
the vine ye are the branches You read of being planted and ingrafted into Christ 't is a Metaphor which the Spirit of God much delights in in the setting forth of that which I am upon See Rom 6.5 and chap. 11.17 c. Also you read of being rooted in Christ Col. 2.7 There is a blessed Analogy or resemblance between Christ and Believers and the Root and the Branches in point of Vnion in point of Influence The root is united to the branches and thâ—y to it so is Christ to Believers and they to him The root conveys life and nourishment and growth to the branches so does Christ to Believers Another Resemblance is the Foundation and the Building Here is Vnion too for in a Building all the Stones and Timber being joined and fastned together upon the Foundation make but one entire Structure So 't is here Believers are Gods building and Christ is the foundation in that building Ye are Gods building 1 Cor. 3.9 Other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 3.11 Therefore they are said to be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Eph. 2.20 As a man builds upon the foundation and lays the stress of the whole building upon that so take the true Christian he builds upon Christ all his Faith Hope Confidence is built upon this sure foundation as Christ is stiled Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Zion a sure foundation Hence also they are said As lively stones to be built up a spiritual house c. 1 Pet. 2.5 Here 's the Mystical Union under this resemblance also Take but One more that of Meat or Food That which a man feeds upon and digests it is incorporated and united with himself it 's turned into his own substance and made a part of himself The Believing Soul by Faith feeds upon Christ digests him and turns him as it were into his own substance so that Christ becomes one with him and he one with Christ Joh. 6.55 56. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him All this must be taken not in the literal but in the spiritual notion the eating and drinking is believing so 't is to be understood all along in that Chapter Upon which believing the Vnion follows he dwells in me and I in him Thus I have with great brevity given you those Scripture-Resemblances by which the Mystical Vnion is shadowed out The handling of them in their utmost extent is a Subject that would have admitted of great enlargement but my business was but to speak to that one thing from them which suits with the work in hand In some of the preceding Heads I was in the great deeps but in this I have been in the shallows there the Elephant might swim here the Lamb may wade there things were not so dark but here they are as clear therefore I shall not need to make any further stay upon them Seven Properties of the Mystical Vnion I come to the Third Head the Properties of this Vnion I 'le name these Seven First 'T is a sublime Vnion And that 1. In respect of its Nature as considered in it self Christ and a poor Creature made one and so made One O what an Union is this We have many Vnions in Nature and some very considerable but alas they all come short and are but poor mean low things in comparison of this Next to the Vnion of the Three Persons in the Sacred Trinity and the Hypostatical Vnion of the two Natures in Christ the Mystical Vnion is the highest Except but those which I have named and all other Unions must vail to it 2. 'T is sublime in respect of its rise Original and production The more supernatural a thing is the more sublime it is now this Union is purely supernatural What can Nature be imagin'd to do for the bringing about of such a thing as this O surely 't is all of the meer Grace of God! As 't is not Natural for the Matter of it so neither is it so for the production and application of it 'T is supernatural as to the Thing and also as to the Person to whom it belongs 3. 'T is sublime in respect of the high and glorious Priviledges Effects and Consequents of it 4. In respect of its mysteriousness and difficulty to be known Something I spoke to this at my first entrance upon this Subject The mystical Union is a mysterious Union so mysterious that we had known nothing at all of it if God had not revealed it to us in the Word And even now he hath revealed it yet 't is but very little that we do understand of it That there is this Union that 's as clear as the light of the Sun but what this Union is O that 's a thing hidden and lock'd up from us The Union of the Body and Soul in Man is a great mystery there is even in that Vnion that which puzzles the greatest Philosophers but the Union of Christ and the Believer is a far greater mystery That persons every way so distant so divided should yet be made mystically One here 's a mystery indeed a mystery which no finite Understanding Angelical or Humane can comprehend Secondly 'T is a real Vnion Not a notional phantastick or opinionative thing something that is meerly matter of phancy and imagination or something that dull and melancholly persons please themselves with the thoughts of O 't is not so but 't is a real thing and as great a reality as any whatsoever it be You have very many Scriptures which speak to it under great variety of Expressions all of which with the greatest evidence and clearness do point to it and cannot be otherwise understood and yet will you doubt of it and look upon it as a meer phancy As really as the members â—â—e united to the head and the head to them the Wife to the Husband and the Husband to the Wife the branches to the root and the root to the branches so really are the Saints united to Christ and Christ to them for these several Vnions do confirm as well as represent and open the Mystical Vnion Nothing in Religion is real if this be not take away this Mystical Oneness between Christ and the Soul and take away all Is not the Union 'twixt God the Father and God the Son a real Vnion surely that will not be deny'd if so then this is real also for Joh. 17.22 The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Observe it 't is one even as we are one but how not as to any equality but only as to verity not as to the modus or qualitas unionis but only as to the veritas unionis This as is often but a note of likeness
together unless that which we build upon them or infer from them do agree with other Scriptures where the Thing is fully and professedly handled I dare not undervalue the least the meanest particle in God's Word yet I would be loath to bottom a fundamental Article of Faith upon such a particle especially when it admits of various senses as this here doth if it hath not the current of the Word to back it For our Opinion of Justification by the alone righteousness of Christ imputed to the Sinner and laid hold on by Faith we ground it upon several full and entire Discourses where our Apostle doth professedly handle that Argument proving Justification to be according to what we hold But our Adversaries to prove their justification by inherent righteousness very often I do not say always catch at some little single word and that they make the foundation which they build this Opinion upon In short against this For in the Text I mean too onely as they pervert it for in truth they have not so much as even this little Word to favour them we set the whole third fourth fifth Chapter of this Epistle to the Romans where the Apostle in a full discourse upon it doth plainly lay Justification upon imputed not upon inherent righteousness and which of us now do build upon the surest and safest bottom 2. What if this particle supposing it to be Causal doth point to the description of the persons and not to the priviledge some of their own * Stapl. ut prius Tolet. Causam exponit cur qui sunt in Christo non secundum carnem ambulant Authors do carry it so where then is the strength of their Argument from it to prove the fonmal Cause of No Condemnation All that then can be deduced from the Words is this that Grace in the heart is the Cause of an holy life that men upon regeneration are delivered from the Law of Sin and therefore they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit what is this against us And with respect to their Glosses who questions or denies inherent righteousness or that that doth free from sin provided you take it with a double limitation 1. that the freeing from Sin upon regeneration be understood of the taking away its power 2. that it be not carried so far as quite to justle out imputed righteousness or set so high as to have that attributed to it which is onely proper to Christs righteousness Our * Si Spiritus vitae vivificans Sanctificans c. Ergo liberati sumus à Lege peccati mortis Regeneratione Sanctificatione non solâ Justitiae imputatione Gratia ergo inhaerens est quae liberat à peccato Contz Quaest 1. in Vers 2. cap. 8. ad Rom. Torsit hic locus tà m Calvinum quam Bezam quia inhaerentem Justitiam per veram peccati victoriam luculentèr probat imputativam subvertit Stapl. Antidot p. 625. Adversaries misrepresent our Opinions and trouble themselves in a great measure to prove that which we never deny and then asperse us as though we did deny it 3. 'T is one thing to be the Proof of a thing another thing to be the Cause of that thing Regeneration indeed proves Justification for every regenerate person is a justified person but 't is not the cause of justification for the person is not therefore justified because he is regenerated but because Christ's righteousness by Faith is made over to him 'T is one thing to say therefore a man lives because he hath sense and moves and another thing to say therefore a man lives because he hath a living Soul in him the Sense and motion prove the life but 't is the living Soul which is the cause of life So here the Believer shall not be condemned because the Law of the Spirit of Life c. this evinces the certainty of the thing but 't is not the proper Cause of it So that the For in the Text is onely Nota probationis but not causalitatis and so 't is used up and down in the Gospel in very many places 4. 'T is very true that (a) Legem Spiritus impropriè vocat Dei Spiritum qui animas nostras Christi sanguine aspergit non tantum ut à peccati labe emundet quoad reatum sed ut in veram pietatem sanctificet Calvin Calvin in part doth interpret the Words of regeneration and inherent righteousness but then foreseeing the Objection that would be made upon it he explains himself about it and saith (b) Siquis excipiat veniam ergo quâ sepeliuntur nostra delicta pendete à regeneratione facilis est solutio Non assignari causam à Paulo sed modum tradi duntaxae quo solvimur à reatu Calvin If any shall reply that then pardon or justification doth depend upon regeneration the Answer says he is obvious Paul doth not set down the Cause wherefore we are absolved from Guilt onely the Manner wherein this is done He adds further (c) Perinde valet haec sententia ac si dixisset Paulus Regenerationis Gratiam ab imputatione Justitiae nunquam disjungi 'T is as much as if the Apostle had said that regeneration is never separated or parted from the imputation of Christs righteousness So that he doth not argue for Non-condemnation or Justification from inherent righteousness as the proper Cause of it but onely as these two always go together and as this is the order and method of God wherein he justifies And 't is true too that * Legem Spiritus Vitae nec pro lege fidei c. sed pro ejus efficaciâ per quam peccatum i. e. corruptio ipsaque adeo mors sensìm aboletur ut docet infra V. 10. 11. denique pro Regenerationis gratiâ accipio cui opponitur carnis i. e. Naturae nostrae corruptio Beza Beza doth take in here under the Law of the Spirit Regeneration and Sanctification but then 't is very well known what he makes to be the Law of the Spirit of Life principally viz. the Sanctity and Holiness of Christ's humane Nature which he saith being imputed to the Believer he is thereupon justified * In his verbis Calvinum Orthodoxae Augustinianae expositioni conformitè dicere quis dubitaverit sed audiantur reliqua impostoris technae ac fraudes apparebunt Stapl. ubi supra Quam Legem Spiritus cum probè intellexissent recentiores Haeretici perperam transferunt non ad Gratiam justis inhaerâ—ntem sed ad externam Christi justitiam quam robis quodaminodo affingi volunt imputari Justin And now Calvin and Beza have lost all their credit So long as they expounded the Words of inherent righteousness they were very sound and orthodox but now they thus explain themselves no Censures are severe enough for them now if Stapleton may be believed they are not adulteratores sed carnifices Verbi Dei I know Pareus to avoid the
legis impotentiam aliò ut Legem absolvat à culpá quam dat carni viz. nostrae i. e. corruptae nostrae naturae Muscul Ne quis parum honorificè Legem impotentÃae argui putaret vel hoc restringeret ad Ceremonias expressit nominatim Paulus defectum illum non à Legis esse vitio sed Carnis nostrae corruptelâ Calvin through our Flesh 't is not so in and from it self but only through our depraved nature 't is meerly by accident et aliundè that it lies under this impotency The Law is not to be blamed but we had not we finn'd the Law would have been still as able and mighty in its operations as ever it was did it but meet with the same subject it would soon appear that it hath the same power which it had before Adam fell So that I say the Law is not at all in the fault but only we because of the Flesh Observe here the wisdom and care of our Apostle where-ever he seems to tax the Law there he will be sure to vindicate it As where he speaks of its irritating of corruption he there layes the blame upon his own wicked nature not at all upon the holy Law Rom. 7.8 9 10 11. Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came Sin revived and I died And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death For Sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me Yet vers 12 13 14. The Law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid But Sin that it might appear Sin working death in me by that which is good that Sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful For we know that the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin And thus we should carry it with respect to the Laws weakness O in it self 't is mighty and powerful but there is sin in us by which only the Law is made weak there therefore the blame must lye Could we but get rid of this Sin we should soon find what a mighty thing the Law is so mighty that nothing would be too high or too hard for it 2 Secondly Take heed that you do not cast off the Law upon this pretence 'T is indeed weak as to such ends but yet 't is a Law and that which is obligatory to all even to Believers themselves under the Gospel State and Covenant Shall we because of this weakness especially it being occasioned by our selves cast off the Law and pretend that we are not under the obligation of it we must not so argue Observe it in the Apostle even when he was proving the weakness of the Law as to Justification and shewing that God had found out another way for that viz. the way of Faith yet foreseeing that some might run themselves upon this rock and infer from hence that they had nothing to do with the Law he therefore adds * Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law in its proper place and Sphere The Creature as a creature is under a natural and therefore indispensable obligation to this Law so as that nothing can exempt him from that obligation It commands to love fear serve honour obey God wherein it obliges so strongly that God himself with reverence be it spoken cannot free the creature from its obligation to these duties True indeed Believers are not under the curse rigor or bondage of this Law or under it as it is the condition of life but they are and it cannot be otherwise under the obligation of its commands as to an holy life There may be and blessed be God there is a great change as to circumstances a great relaxation as to the Laws rigors severitys and penaltys but for the main duties of Obedience and Holiness it is eternally obligatory and never to be abrogated O therefore do not look upon your selves as made free from this Law though it be weak and unable to justifie and save you it can damne upon the breaking of it though it cannot save by the keeping of it 3 Thirdly Neither must you upon this look upon the Law as altogether weak or useless I say not as altogether weak for though as to some things it be under a total impotency yet as to other things it still retains its pristine power It cannot take away sin or make righteous or give life which it promis'd at first and for which it was appointed for the commandment was ordained to life Rom. 7.10 here 's the weak side of the Law as to these 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as to the commanding of duty the directing and regulating of the life the threatning of punishment upon the violation of it here it can do whatever it did before The Laws preceptive and punitive part where 't is not taken off by Christ are yet in their full strength only as to the promissory part of it viz. its promising life upon the condition of perfect Obedience there 't is at a loss In a word its authority to oblige to duty or punishment is the same that ever it was but its ability to give righteousness or life in which respects only the Apostle here speaks of it is not the same If God open this Law to you and set it home upon your Consciences you will find it hath yet a very great strength and efficacy in it let it not therefore be altogether weak in your eye Nor altogether useless For Some will be ready to say if the Law be thus weak then what use is there of it to what end doth it serve what is to be looked for from that which can do so little for us But do not you thus reason For though the Law be not of use to you as to Justification I mean in a way of immediate influence upon the Act or State a remoter influence it may have yet in other respects 't is of great and admirable use viz. as a Monitor to excite to duty as a Rule to direct and guide you in your course as a Glass to discover sin as a Bridle to restrain sin as an Hatchet to break the hard heart as a * Gal. 3.24 Schoole-master to whip you to Christ The Lord Jesus indeed hath taken Sin-pardoning God-atoning Justice-satisfying Soul-saving work into his own hands he would not trust this in the hands of the Law any longer because he knew the weakness of it but for other work the awakening and convincing of a Sinner the terrifying of the secure the humbling of the proud the preparing of the Soul to close with Christ though this last act be only eventual and accidental as to the Law all this work I
say yet lies upon the Law Be you who you will Believers or unbelievers regenerate or unregenerate the Law is of marvellous use to you 'T is a rule to all whether they be good or bad and as so none are exempted from it as is by several Divines sufficiently proved against the Antinomists and it hath too very good and useful effects upon all whether called or uncalled Saints or Sinners Our Apostle who here doth so much depress the Law in respect of Justification doth elsewhere in other respects speak much of its usefulness Rom. 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Gal. 3.19 24. Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith I must not launch out into this vast Ocean you have variety of * Taytor's Reg. Vitae Burg. Vind. Legis Boltons Bounds c. Baxter in several Treat with divers Others Facessat longè ex animis nostris profana ista Opinio Legem non este regulam Est enim inflexibilis vivendi regula Calvin Treatises upon this Argument namely to prove that the Law is still a Rule and still very useful in those great effects which have been mentioned I refer you to them for further satisfaction This I only touch upon as it lies in my way both that I may prevent dangerous mistakes and also shew you how you are to carry it towards the Law O let it be highly esteemed reverenced honoured by you yea bless God for it for though indeed 't is weak and unprofitable as the Covenant of Works yet as 't is a Rule and as it produces such effects upon the Conscience so 't is of great use and highly beneficial So much for the 2d Vse Thirdly Use 3. Was the Law thus unable to do for the Sinner what was necessary to be done then never look for Righteousness and Life from and by the Law For as to these it cannot do your work unless you could do its work it cannot justifie or save you unless you could perfectly obey and fulfil it O pray expect little from it nay nothing at all in this way you cannot answer its expectations and it cannot answer yours It highly concerns every man in the world to make sure of righteousness and life but where are these to be had only in Christ in the way of believing not in the Law in the way of doing We would fain make the Law stronger than indeed it is and 't is natural to us to look for a righteousness from it because there was our righteousness at first and that suits best with the pride of our hearts Man is not so averse to the Law in point of obedience but he is as apt to rest upon the Law for Heaven and Happiness if he can but do something which the Law requires O this he looks upon as a sufficient Righteousness and as a good Plea for Heaven Especially when Conscience is a little awakened then the poor Creature betakes himself to his doing to his obedience to the Law and this he thinks will do his work till God lets him see his great mistake As 't is * Hos 5.13 said When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judab saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound just so 't is with the convinced Sinner in reference to the Law both as to his practise and also as to his success I would not be mistaken in what I have said or shall further say as if I did design to take off any from Obedience to the Law God forbid all that I aim at is only to take men off from trusting in that obedience and from leaning upon that as their Righteousness We should be doers of the Law for * Rom. 2.13 not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified yea we should go as far as ever we can in our endeavours after a Law-righteousness for though that be not sufficient to justifie us before God yet that must make us righteous in his eye * Vide Burg. of Justif 2d p. Serm. 22. p. 215. as to qualitative and inherent righteousness and so we are to understand that Text with many others of the same import * Deut. 6.25 It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he hath commanded us But yet when we have gone the furthest the Righteousness which we are to rely upon is only the Gospel Righteousness or the imputed Righteousness of the Lord Jesus if we take up with any thing short of that we are * O nos miseros si vel tantillum nostra salus basi tam infirmá nitatur Beza in 1 Joh. 1.8 miserable and lost for ever As to the Law is it thus weak or rather are you thus weak and yet will you bottom your expectation and confidence there can you fulfil or satisfie it in its demands of perfect personal universal constant Obedience If you cannot then which nothing more certain it can never then do your business nay upon the least failure it will be your enemy to plead against you for the non-performance of its Conditions and so though it cannot as a Friend do you much good yet as an Enemy it can and will do you much hurt What a sad case is the legalist in the Law condemns him because he doth no more obey and the Gospel condemns him because he doth no more believe he 's lost on every hand O this is woful And yet how many precious Souls split themselves upon this rock millions of men look no higher than the Law that is the foundation upon which they build their confidence for Life and Salvation Could we but get into them and be privy to the Grounds of their Hope we should find that 't is not Christ and Faith in him but the Law and some imperfect Obedience thereunto upon which they bottom they deal honestly wrong no body live unblameably make some external Profession perform such duties are thus and thus charitable to the poor c. and hereupon they are confident of their Salvation Now I deny not but that these are very good things I wish there was more of them yet when any rest in them or upon them for Righteousness and Life they set them
may put them together and take in both upon this Person and this Faith the Church of God is built and therefore it shall stand fast for ever so that according to this Exposition which is with great strength defended by our PROTESTANT Divines this Sonship of Christ is the foundation-truth And therefore no wonder that in all Ages the Zeal of the Church hath been so much engag'd therein for 't is very well known that in its drawing up of Creeds and Summaries of Faith this one Article viz. Christ's being the Coessential Coeternal only begotten Son of God hath ever been put in witness the Nicene Constantinopolitan Athanasian Creeds because this was judged a thing most necessary to be believed And indeed there is not any one branch of the Christian Faith which the Church hath gain'd more out of the fire after much trouble and opposition than this one Nay this was that very Truth for the owning and asserting of which above any other our blessed Lord lost his life as you may plainly see by the * Joh. 19.7 Mark 14.61 c. Evangelical History And I desire that it may yet further be considered that as God himself began and ended with the witness and declaration of Christ's Sonship for as soon as he entred upon his publick Ministry the Father set him out with this witness * Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son c. and when he had well nigh finished his work and was going off the stage then the Father renew'd his witness again * Matth. 17.5 This is my beloved Son c So the Devil too he began and ended with the Sonship of Christ for presently after the Father's testimony thereof he took him aside to tempt him and when he had him alone and began the duel with him how did he assault him why * Matth. 4.3 if thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread he comes over it again †Vers 6. if thou be the Son of God cast thy self down c If thou be the Son of God why did Satan harp so much upon this what might his design be in laying his temptation thus I answer it must be for one or for all of these Reasons either that he might by the observing of Christ's behaviour in the contest more fully inform himself whether Christ was indeed the Son of God which was the thing he was deadly afraid of knowing that such a person would be the ruine of his kingdom or that he might see whether he could make Christ to doubt of his Sonship after and notwithstanding the plain testimony of his Father or that he might go as far as ever he could to draw him to the doing of what was evil and so if such a thing had been possible null this his neer relation to God surely there was some special cause why Satan pick'd out this and so much insisted upon it Well! here he began these were the very first words which this cursed Spirit uttered when he dared to assault our Saviour wherein he plainly struck at his Sonship it self though cunningly he made his temptations to point to some wicked inferences which he would have had drawn from Christ's relation rather than directly to the truth of the relation it self And as he began with this so he ended with this for 't was he which speaks a prodigious infatuation in him that he should be so forward in the promoting of that which certainly would end in his ruine who stirr'd up Pilate the High Priest the Body of the Jews against Christ and they through his instigation fell upon Christ and took away his life for what for this very cause because he made himself to be as indeed he was the Son of God By all this you see of what great moment and importance this Truth concerning Christ's Sonship is And to add yet one thing further pray look to that grand Seducer and Enemy of Christ and of the Christian Faith I mean Mahomet of whom we reade that he also set himself to his utmost to oppose and decry the Sonship of Christ He was willing to grant Christ to be a great Prophet but by no means to be the very Son of God this particularly and expresly he principled his Followers against in his ridiculous Alcoran and * Constantèr dic illis Deum unum esse necessarium omnibus incorporeum Qui nec genuit nec est generatus nec habet quenquam sibi similem Azoar 122. Alcor in Bibliandri Edit p. 188. Vide Cribrat Alcorani per Nicol. de Cusa lib. 1. c. 10 11 13 14 c. See Dr. Pearson on the Creed p. 272. he gave them in special this Command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to worship one onely God and to honour Christ as the Word of God but not as the Son of God From all these premises I infer is this such a foundation-Truth and shall not we firmly assent to it hath the Church with such zeal contended for it and shall we yet doubt of it do Heathens Jews Turks so much oppose it and shall not we Christians who have and own Scripture-revelation steadily believe it hath Christ sealed it with his blood and yet shall we stagger about it have we such attestations from God and Man and yet shall there be questionings and reasonings in our Souls against it 1 Joh. 5.9 10. If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son But Some will say to what purpose is all this who question 's whether Christ be God's own Son I answer O that there was not too much need of this advice many poor Souls think they do fully and firmly believe it and yet 't is to be feared they do not and the truth is that weakness which is in our Faith of adherence proceeds in part from that weakness that is in our Faith of assent much of that dejectedness which is upon our Spirits under trouble and of those inward sinkings under the sense of guilt comes from one of these two Causes either we do not revive upon our thoughts or else we do not fixedly believe in our hearts that Christ is God's Son and his own Son And as to loose and common Professors if ever Arrianism Old or New should get upon the throne which God forbid I fear the belief of Christ's Godhead and eternal Sonship would soon be laid aside O therefore I would be very earnest with you to get your faith yet more and more strengthned and confirmed about it But though this be very good yet 't is not enough besides the believing of Christ to be the Son of God there must be believing on Christ as the Son
have for this distinction in the sense wherein they use it what is there to be found there to justifie such a thing as an unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice Something I know they offer at but alas 't is that which will not satisfie or command the faith of such who are serious and considerative For instance Gen. 14.18 And MELCHISEDECH King of SALEM brought forth bread and wine and be was the Priest of the most high God whence they thus argue MELCHISEDECH did sacrifice bread and wine there say they was an unbloody Sacrifice and that which was typical of Christ's Sacrifice and of his being offered at the Sacrament modo incruento under the Species's of bread wine therefore there was such a Sacrifice thereat to be offered which accordingly was done first by Christ himself and yet is done successively by his Ministers yea they tell us that this unbloody Sacrifice was the great thing in respect of which he is said to be a Priest * Heb. 6.20 Psal 110.4 after the order of MELCHISEDECH Answ all this is deny'd with the same but better grounded confidence with which it is affirm'd 't is sad that any should build so great an Article of Faith as this is amongst the ROMANISTS upon so weak and sandy a bottom but how much more sad is it that mens zeal should be so fierce upon it as to make it a matter of Life or Death accordingly as 't is believ'd or not believ'd for the truth is that which they call the unbloody Sacrifice hath occasionally been made bloody enough in the death of thousands of Martyrs who could not look upon it as Others do But as to the Argument our DIVINES reply 1. 'T is not evident that what MELCHISEDECH here did was done in the way of a Sacrifice to God 't is said he brought bread wine 't is not said that he offered bread or wine to God there 's a great difference betwixt protulit and obtulit betwixt a civil gift to Men and a religious offering to God * Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. JOSEPHVS carries this bringing of bread and wine no higher than MELCHISEDECHS kindness or hospitality to ABRAHAM and his weary Souldiers 2. Suppose this was done in the way of a Sacrifice how will it be prov'd that it was done in the way of a propitiatory Sacrifice since 't is only said that he blessed Abraham Vers 19. Nay 3. suppose that too yet what will it be to those who cannot justly pretend to be â—riests according to the order of MELCHISEDECH that being an incommunicable order And 4. the Apostle Heb. 7. opening this MELCHISEDECH in his Priesthood and in this very act shewing how he was the type of Christ and wherein Christ the antitype suited with him doth not at all instance in his bringing of bread and wine or in his offering any unbloody Sacrifice which surely he would have done had the resemblance or analogie betwixt Christ and him ly'ne in that but he instances in the oneness of Melchisedechs Priesthood in his eternity in his authoritative benediction even of Abraham himself in Abraham's paying tythes to him c. these are the things wherein all along in that Chapter he illustrates Christ's agreement with MELCHISEDECH So that for any to infer from his bringing of bread and wine that Christ at the Sacrament for I do not love the word MASS is offered up to God by every ordinary Priest as an unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice I say for any to make such an inference from such premises it argues them to be either injudicious or over credulous or too much devoted to a party The Paschal Lamb also is alledg'd for the making good of this distinction with some other things but neither barrel better herrings as is fully made out by our PROTESTANT Writers where persons are not resolv'd to shut their eyes upon the clearest light 4. Fourthly In the present contest 't will be best to have recourse to the institution of the Sacrament Now if that with the whole administration about it be consulted what shall we find to give it the notion of a Sacrifice Obj. 'T is said this we find Christ there faith Do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 now this hoc facite is as much as hoc sacrificate Answ What is it to play with the Scripture if this be not so a few things being confidered the vanity of this Criticism will soon appear If this do was as much as this sacrifice certainly that would have been a thing of such high import as that of the three Evangelists which set down the Sacramental institution two of them would not have wholly omitted it and yet so it is LVKE recites it but MATTHEW and MARK make no mention at all of it And if that was the sense of the word then the sacrificing act would lie upon the people as well as upon the Priests for as the Do this was spoken by Christ to the Disciples Luk. 22.19 so it was also spoken by Paul to the body of the Saints at CORINTH 1 Cor. 11.24 When there 's nothing spoken in the whole Institution of the Lord's Supper as referring to a Sacrifice 't is somewhat strange that this * Ineptum est interpretari verbum facere sensu sacrificatorio ubi nulla in totâ reliquâ narratione fit Sacrificii aut oblationis mentio Forbes Instruct Historico-Theol p. 616. word should come in by it-self and carry such a Sacrificial sense in it Besides doth not that which follows sufficiently clear it up Do this how or for what end to be a Sacrifice no but in remembrance of me We deny not but that †Cum faciam vitulâ c. Virgil facere doth sometimes signifie to sacrifice answerably to the Hebrew word ‖ Numb 6.16 Psal 66.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Greek * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Casaub in Athen. l. 15. c. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but where hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here used that signification nay where have the other words that signification but when they are joyn'd with a Noune setting forth a thing that is usually design'd and set apart for Sacrifices whereas the word here is joyn'd with a bare Pronoune Object But they have a stronger plea than this grounded upon the words of the Institution where Christ saith This is my body which is * Luk. 22.19 given for you and †1 Cor. 11.24 broken for you c. This Cup is the new Testament in my blood which is ‖ Luk. 22.20 Matth. 26.28 shed for you c. now doth not this body as given and broken and this blood as shed prove a Sacrifice yea that under the bread and wine there was a real oblation of Christ's body and blood Answ No unless it be understood as it ought to be of his oblation upon the Cross and not at the Table When he saith
place our whole confidence in Christ's meritorious death for if we rely partly upon that and partly upon something else we spoyl all Gospel-Conditions to be per formed on the Sinners part notwithstanding Christ's Sacrifice 5. Fifthly you must so confide and relie upon Christ's one most perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice as yet withal to be careful that you on your part do perform those Gospel-conditions which God enjoyns and requires of you in order to remission justification glorification this word of advice is so necessary that 't is by no means to be passed over Christians 't is a thing of very high importance for you rightly to understand your selves in this matter therefore take it thus All your trust and relyance is solely to be bottomed upon the Death and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus but yet you canâ—ot regularly and warrantably act this trust and relyance upon this â—nly ground or foundation unless in your own persons you perform those conditions which God prescribes in his Word The whole business of merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ that is wholly out of your hands and only in his but as to believing and repenting the two grand Gospel-conditions they lie upon your selves I speak with respect to the act not to the power and must be done by your selves yea and the doing of these is as necessary on your part under the notion of Conditions as suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the notion of merit And 't is most certain that the latter without the former will not profit you because Christ never design'd to impute or make over his merit to any further than as they should make good these Conditions of Faith and Repentance We have here two dangerous rocks before us and it must be our care and skill to shun both of them the one is the setting of inherent grace or duty too high as when we make it to share with Christ in merit and trust the other is the setting of inherent grace or duty too low as when upon the pretence of Christ's alone merit and full satisfaction we quite throw it off and are altogether careless about it as supposing it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary Now we are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the other of these rocks either we run our selves upon POPERY in the former or upon ANTINOMISM and LIBERTINISM in the latter O what need have all to beg the guidance of the unerring Spirit that thereby they may eavenly steere betwixt both and avoid each extreams which they shall most happily do if Christ and his Sacrifice be only eyed by them in the way of relyance and yet Holiness Obedience Faith Repentance have also that respect which is due to them as means and conditions Much hath been said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice that he hath thereby put away all sin fully expiated its guilt perfected for ever them that are sanctified c. shall any now from hence infer that all is done by Christ that the Creature hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits prepared and purchased God forbid True Christ's Sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni genere 't was perfect as to what was meritorious and satisfactory so as to exclude all other Sacrifices and supplements whatsoever upon that account but not so as to exclude all Conditions which God will have the Creature to perform which though they can add nothing to the perfecting of the believers great Sacrifice yet they do prepare and fit Sinners for the participation of the benefits merited thereby To instance in all these Conditions or to enlarge upon any one of them would be a long work briefly therefore as ever you desire to be the better for a dying Saviour to share in the great and blessed effects of his Sacrifice look to it that you repent and believe O if you be found at last in the number of the impenitent and unbelieving all that Christ hath done or suffered will be a very nothing to you notwithstanding all that you will eternally perish Here is indeed an expiatory Sacrifice I but yet as to you no repentance no expiation here is Sin condemned by Christ's oblation of himself I but yet if the Sinner doth not penitentially condemn â—n in himself and himself for sin for all this hee 'l be judicially condemned at the great day The Scripture every where makes repentance the way to and condition of remission of sin Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins with very many other places to this purpose The Apostle having said 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin presently subjoyns Vers 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness great is the efficacy of Christ's blood but 't is upon condition of the Sinners Repentance if we confess our sins c. At the JEWISH anniversary Expiation all the sins of the people were by the Sacrifices done away yet God would have them then to afflict their Souls Levit. 16.29 and the High Priest was in their stead to confess their iniquities and all their transgressions in all their sins Vers 21. we under the Gospel have our great expiation by the death of Christ but this also must be attended with penitential abasement and humilation So likewise as to Faith this too is a grace or condition indispensably necessary to the partaking of the benefits of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice Therefore the Apostle speaking of propitiation brings in our Faith as well as Christ's blood it having an instrumental as well as that a meritorious influence thereupon Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. To the blessings of the new Covenant as the blood of Christ was necessary that thereby there might be * Grotius de Sat. p. 141. impetration so Faith also is necessary that thereby there may be application Our Lord's Sacrifice is every way sufficient for atonement yet he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 so also 't is sufficient for expiation yet 't is only whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 Under the Law the blood of the Sacrifice was to be so and so * Exod. 12.22 Heb. 9.19 sprinkled with a bunch of hyssope to which custom David alludes Psal 51.7 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean now answerably to this Paul speaks of the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 't was not enough for Christ only to shed his blood but that must be sprinkled upon the Sinner how why by Faith which under