all Chritians believe Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God Incarnate The Person of Christ is Christ himself and nothing else His personal Excellencies are the properties of his Person as his two Natures are united therein and as he was thereby made Meet to be the Mediator between God and Man To know Christ in the Language of the Scripture the whole Church of God antient and present in Common Sense and Understanding is to know the Person of Christ as revealed and declared in the Gospel with respect unto the Ends for which he is proposed and made known therein And this Knowledge of him as it is accompanied with and cannot be without the Knowledge of his Mind and Will declared in his Precepts Promises and Institutions is effectual to work produce in the Souls of them who so know him that Faith in him and Obedience unto him which he doth require And what would this Man have He who is otherwise minded hath renounced his Christianity if ever he had any And if he be thus perswaded to what purpose is it to set up and combate the Mormoes and Chimaeras of his own Imagination well then I do maintain that to know Christ according to the Gospel is to know the Person of Christ for Christ and his Person are the same Would he now have me to prove this by Testimonies or Arguments or the consent of the Ancient Church I must beg his Excuse at present and so for the future unless I have occasion to deal with Gnosticks Familists or Quakers And as for the latter Clause wherein Christ is said to be made Wisdom unto us he says 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 who are dull Men indeed and so let them pass His ensuing Discourses in pag. 103 104 105. contain the Boldest Reflections on and openest Derisions of the Expressions and way of Teaching spiritual things warranted in and by the Scripture that to my Knowledge I ever read in a Book Licensed to be Printed by publick Authority As in particular the Expressions oâ— Faith in Christ by coming unto him and receiving of him which are the Words of the Holy-Ghost and used by him in his Wisdom to instruct us in the Nature of this Duty are amongst others the Subjects of his Scorn The First part of it though I remember not to have given any occasion to be particularly concerned in it I shall briefly consider pag. 103. Thus when Men have first Learned from an acquaintance with Christ to place all their hopes of Salvation in a personal Union with Christ from whom they receive the free Communications of Pardon and Grace Righteousness and Salvation what more plain Proof can any Man who is resolved to believe this desire of it than 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life And what can having the Son signify but having an Interest in him being made one with him though some will be so perverse as to understand it of believing and having his Gospel But the Phrase of having the Son confutes that dull Moral Interpretation especially when we remember it is called being in Christ and abiding in him which must signify a very near Union between Christs Person and Us. I suppose that Expression of Personal Union sprung out of Design and not out of Ignorance for if I mistake not he doth somewhere in his Book take notice that it is disclaimed and only an Union of Believers with or unto the Person of Christ asserted Or if it be his mistake all comes to the same Issue Personal or Hypostatical Union is that of different Natures in the same Person giving them the same singular subsistence This none Pretend unto with Jesus Christ but it is the Union of Bevers unto the Person of Christ which is spiritual and Mystical whereby they are in him and he in them and so are one with him their Head as Members of his Mystical Body which is pleaded for herein with the free Communications of Grace Righteousness and Salvation in the several and distinct ways whereby we are capable to receive them from him or be made partakers of them we place all hopes of Salvation And we do Judge moreover that he who is otherwise minded must betake himself unto another Gospel for he compleatly renounceth that in our Bibles Is this our Crime that which we are thus charged with and tradâ—ced for Is the Contrary hereunto the Doctrine that the present Church of England approveth and instructs her Children in Or doth any Man think that we will be scared from our Faith and Hope by such weak and frivolous Attempts against them Yea but it may be it is not so much the thing it self as the miserable Proof which we produce from the Scripture in the Confirmation of it for we do it from that of the Apostle 1 John 5.12 If he think that we prove these things only by this Testimony he is mistaken at his wonted rate Our Faith herein is built upon innumerable express Testimonies of the Scripture indeed the whole Revelation of the Will of God and the way of Salvation by Jesus Christ in the Gospel Those who prove it also from this Text have sufficient Ground and Reason for what they plead And notwithstanding the pleasant scoffing humour of this Author we yet say that it is Perverse Folly for any one to say that the having of the Son or Christ expressed in the Text doth intend either the having an Interest in him and Union with him or the obeying of his Gospel exclusively to the other these being inseparable and included in the same Expression And as to what he adds about being in Christ and abiding in him which are the greatest Priviledges of Believers and that as expressed in words taught by the Holy Ghost it is of the same strain of prophaneness with much of what ensues which I shall not farther enquire into I find not my self concerned in his ensuing Talk but only in one Reflection on the words of the Scripture and the Repetition of his old Putid and shameless Calumny pag. 108. untill we come to pag. 126. Where he arraigns an Occasional Discourse of mine about the Necessity of Holiness and good works wherein he hath only filched out of the whole what he thought be could wrest unto his End and scoffingly descant upon I shall therefore for once transcribe the whole Passage as it lies in my Book and refer it to the Judgment of the Reader pag. 206. The second Objection is that if the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ to the Law be imputed unto us then what need we yield obedience our selves To this also I shall return answer as briefly as I can in the ensuing observations Then 1. The placeing of our Gospel-Obedienceon the right foot of account that it may neithr be exalted
8 9 10 11. But he will now discover the Design of all these things and afterward make it good by Quotations out of my Book The first he doth pag. 203. and onwards But whatever becomes of the sense of the Distinction there is a very deep fetch in it the observing of which will discover the whole mystery of the Person of Christ and our Vnion to him For these men consider that Christ saves us as he is our Mediator and not meerly considered as God or Man and they imagine that we receive Grace and Salvation from Christ's Person just as we do water out of a Conduit or a Gift and Largess from a Prince that it flows to us from our Vnion to his person and therefore they dress up the Person of the Mediator with all those personal Excellencies and Graces which may make him a fit Saviour that those who are thus united to his Person of which more in the next Section need not fear missing of Salvation Hence they ransack all the boundless perfections of the Deity and whatever they can find or fancy speaks any Comfort to Sinners this is presently a personal Grace of the Mediator They consider all the Glorious effects of his Mediation and whatever Great things are spoken of his Gospel or Religion or Intercession for us these serve as personal Graces so that all our hopes may be built not on the Gospel Covenant but on the Person of Christ so that the Dispute now lyes between the Person of Christ and his Gospel which must be the Foundation of our Hope which is the way to life and happiness First We do consider and Believe that Christ saves us as a Mediator that is as God and Man in one person exercising the Office of a Mediator and not meerly as God or Man This we believe with all the Catholick Church of Christ and can with boldness say he that doth not so let him be Anathema Maranatha Secondly We do not imagine but believe from the Scripture and with the whole Church of God that we receive Grace and Salvation from the Person of Christ in those distinct wayes wherein they are capable of being received and let him be anathema who believes otherwise Only whether his putting of Grace and Salvation into the same way of Reception belong unto his Accuracy in expressing his own Sentiments or his Ingenuity in the representation of other Mens words I leave undetermined The Similitudes he useth to express our Faith in these things shew his good will towards Scoffing and Prophaneness We say there is real Communication of Grace from the person of Christ as the Head of the Church unto all the Members of his Mystical Body by his Spirit whereby they are quickened sanctifyed and enabled unto all Holy Obedience and if it be denyed by him he stands anathematized by sundry Counsels of the Ancient Church We say not that we receive it as water out of a Conduit which is of a limited determined Capacity whereas we say the person of Christ by reason of his Deity is an immense Eternal living Spring or Fountain of all Grace And when God calls himself a Fountain of living water and the Lord Christ calls his Spirit communicated to Believers living Water under which Apellations he was frequently promised in the Old Testament as also the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel the waters of Life inviting us to receive them and to drink of them this Author may be advised to take heed of Prophane Scoffing at these things Whether any have said that we receive Grace and Salvation from Christ as a Guift or Largess from a Prince I know not if they have the sole defect therein is that the Allusion doth no way sufficiently set forth the freedom and bounty of Christ in the Communication of them unto Sinners and wherein else it offends let him soberly declare if he can This is the Charge upon us in point of Faith and Judgement which in one word amounts to no more but this that we are Christians and so by the Grace of God we intend to continue let this man deride us whilst he pleaseth His next Charge concerns our Practice in the pursuit of these dreadful Principles which by their Repetition he hath exposed to scorn And therefore they dress up c. What doth this poor man intend What is the Design of all this Prophaneness The Declaration of the Natures and Person of Christ of his Grace and work the ascribing unto him what is directly and expressly in terms ascribed unto him in the Scripture or relating as we are able the Description it gives of him is here called dressing up the person of the Mediator with all those personal Graces that may make him a fit Saviour The Preparation of the Person of Christ to be a fit and meet Saviour for Sinners which he prophanely compares to the Dressing up of is the Greatest most Glorious and Admirable Effect that ever Infinite Wisdom Goodness Power and Love wrought and produced or will do so unto Eternity And those on whom he reflects design nothing doe nothing in this Matter but only endeavour according to the Measure of the Gift of Christ which they have received to declare and explain what is revealed and taught in the Scripture thereof and those who exceed the bounds of Scripture Revelation herein if any do so we do abhorr And as for those who are united unto Christ although we say not that they need not fear missing of Salvation seeing they are to be brought unto it not only through the Exercise of all Graces whereof Fear is one but also through such Tryals and Temptations as will alwayes give them a Fear of heed and Diligence and sometimes such a Fear of the Event of things as shall combate their Faith and shake its firmest Resolves yet we fear not to say that those who are really united unto Jesus Christ shall be assuredly saved which I have proved elsewhere beyond the fear of any Opposition from this Author or others like minded 4 ly He addes hence They ransack c. But what is the meaning of these Expressions Doth not the Scripture declare that Christ is God as well as Man Doth it not build all our Faith Obedience and Salvation on that Consideration Are not the Properties of the Divine Nature every where in the Scripture declared and proposed unto us for the ingenerating and establishing Faith in us and to be the Object of and Exercise of all Grace and Obedience And is it now become a Crime that any should seek to declare and instruct others in these things from the Scripture and to the same End for which they are therein revealed Is this with any Evidence of Sobriety to be traduced as a ransacking the boundless Perfections of the Divine Nature to dress up the Person of the Mediator Is he a Christian or doth he deserve that Name who contemns or despiseth the Consideration of the Propertyes of the Divine
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