in for a share at least in being the Fountain of Grace though the Dr. is pleased to take no notice of him But how excellent is the Grace of Christs Person above the Grace of the Gospel For that is a bounded and limited thing it is a strait gate and narrow way that leadeth unto life there is no such boundless mercy as all the sins in the World cannot equal its dimensions as will save the greatest the oldest and the stubbornest transgressors Thus the Love of Christ is an eternal Love because his Divine Nature is eternal and it is an unchangeable Love because his Divine Nature is unchangeable and his love is fruitful for it being the love of God it must be effectual and fruitful in producing all the things which he willeth unto his Beloved he loves Life Grace Holiness into us he loves us into Covenant loves us into Heaven This is an excellent Love indeed which doth all for us and leaves nothing for us to do we owe this discovery see you to an Acquaintance with Christs Person or rather with his Divine Nature for the Gospel is very silent in this matter All that the Gospel tells us is that Christ loved sinners so as to dye for them and that he loves good men who believe and obey his Gospel so as to save them and that he continues to love them while they continue to be good but hates them when they return to their old vices and therefore I see there is great reason for sinners to fetch their comforts not from the Gospel but from the Person of Christ which as far excels the Gospel as the Gospel excels the Law But methinks this is a very odd way of arguing from the Divine Nature for if the love of Christ as God be so infinite eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and misery came into the World For if this Love be so eternal and unchangeable c. because the Divine Nature is so then it was always so for God always was what he is and that which is eternal could never be other than it is now and why could not this eternal and unchangeable and fruitful love as well preserve us from falling into sin and misery and death as Love Life and Holiness into us for it is a little odd first to love us into sin and death that then he may love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love of God were always so unchangeable and fruitful as this Author perswades us it is now for if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us I cannot conceive how it should happen that we should sin and dye Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal unchangeable fruitful that is that God was always good and always continues good and manifesteth his love and goodness in such ways as are suitable to his Nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being always determined to the same object but in that he always loves for the same reason that is that he always loves true vertue and goodness where-ever he sees it and never ceases to love any person till he ceases to be good and then the immutability of his Love is the reason why he loves no longer for should he love a wicked man the reason and nature of his Love would change And the fruitfulness of God's Love with respect to the Methods of his Grace and Providence doth not consist in producing what he loves by an omnipotent and irresistible power for then sin and death could never have entred into the World but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such ways as are most suitable to their natures He governs reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason as he doth the material World by the necessary Laws of Matter and bruit Creatures by the Instincts and Propensities of Nature From hence he proceeds to shew how desirable Christ is in his Humanity by reason of his freedom from all sin both Original and Actual and his fulness of Grace that all Grace was in him for the kinds thereof and all degrees of Grace for its perfection This indeed doth represent him as a very excellent Person a spotless Sacrifice and a great Example to the World but these personal perfections cannot pass out of his Person to become ours But then Thirdly you must consider That all these perfections of the Divine and Humane Nature are united in one Person and this made him fit to suffer and able to bear whaetever was due unto us which no Creature could do for if the weight of our sins had been laid upon a meer innocent Creature how would they have overwhelmed him and buried him for ever out of the presence of God No doubt the Sacrifice of Christ who was God-Man was of greater value than the Sacrifice of any meer Creature could be but I know not what this is to his purpose and do as little admire his Philosophy But his being God and Man made him an endless bottomless Fountain of Grace to all that believe This he was as God as we were told before and his Grace was never the more bottomless for becoming Man The design you see of all this is to make the Person of Christ the Fountain of all Grace from whence we must drink pardon and mercy as long as we need any and such mercy too as his Gospel is unacquainted with he hath a fulness of all Grace in himself and from thence we must receive the communications of it And this brings me to the second sort of the Personal Graces and Excellencies of Christ his fulness to save from the Grace of Communion or the free consequences of the Grace of Union As for this Grace of Communion as he is pleased to call it though it sounds a little harsh to be a Personal Grace and yet communicated whereby Christ communicates his fulness to Believers I shall reserve it for its proper place and shall at present only consider what this Personal fulness in Christ is which he calls all the furniture he received from the Father by the Unction of the Spirit for the work of our Salvation and near of kin to this is his third Personal Grace his Excellency to endear from his compleat suitableness to all the wants of the souls of men There is no man whatever this sounds like universal Redemption that hath any want in reference to the things of God but Christ will be unto him that which he wanteth is he dead Christ is life is he weak Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God hath he the sense of guilt upon him Christ is compleat Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness many poor Creatures are sensible of their wants but know not where their remedy lies Indeed whether it be life or light power or joy all is wrapt up in him Now
was all the Righteousness he had while he was a Pharisee and this he accounts dung and loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Iesus Christ our Lord i. e. for the sake of the Gospel which is the knowledge of Christ as you hear'd above which contains a more excellent and perfect Righteousness than the Law did and that he might win Christ i. e. that he might attain to an Evangelical Righteousness such as Christ was the Preacher and example of and that he might be found in him not having his own Righteousness which is of the law that at the last day he might appear to be a sound and sincere Christian whose righteousness does not consist only in some external observances or an external Conformity to Gods Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith i. e. that inward and vital principle of holiness that new nature which the Gospel of Christ requires of us and which this Christian Faith will work in us which is a Righteousness of Gods own chusing which he commands and which he will reward To confirm all this we must observe a double Antithesis in the words the Righteousness of the law is opposed to the Righteousness which is by the Faith of Christ and my own Righteousness opposed to the Righteousness of God now the surest way to understand the meaning of this is to consider how these phrases are used in Scripture The Righteousness of the law as you have already hear'd is an external Righteousness which consists in washings and purifications and Sacrifices or an external Conformity to the moral Law the Righteousness which is by the Faith of Christ is an Internal Righteousness which consists in the renovation of our minds and Spirits in the government of our thoughts and passions which is therefore called being born again and becoming new Creatures and rising again with Christ and putting off the old man and being renewed in the spirit of our minds and putting on the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness The meaning of all which phrases is that that Righteousness which God requires of us under the Gospel must be an inward principle of love and obedience which changes our natures and transforms us into the image of God as much as if we were born again and made new Creatures Hence St. Paul tells us that the reason why God sent Christ into the World in our nature to die as a Sacrifice for our sins and to confirm and seal the new Covenant with his blood was that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of the law that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom expounds it that which the law was designed to work in them but was found too weak to effect it by reason of the greater power and prevalency of sin i. e. the inward holiness and purity of mind which was represented and signified by those external Ceremonies of Circumcision washing purifications and Sacrifices this was the design of the Gospel to work in us that internal holiness and purity which is the perfection and accomplishment of the Typical and Figurative Righteousness of the Law I know very well that this place is expounded of the imputation of Christs Righteousness that we fulfil the Righteousness of the Law not personally but imputatively but what reason can there be assigned for this besides that they will expound Scripture so which no man can help for is there any mention here of the Righteousness of Christ that he fulfilled all Righteousness for us and that his Righteousness is imputed to us and so we fulfil the Righteousness of the law in him And we ought to consider how consistent such an interpretation is with the Apostles design which is to show the great vertue and efficacy of the Gospel in delivering us from the power of sin which the law could not effect The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus that divine and spiritual law which Christ hath given us which governs our minds and spirits and is the principal of a new spiritual life makes us free from the law of sin and death from the power and dominion of sin which is called a law and the law in our members warring against the law of our minds Rom. 7. 21 23. for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh what the law could not do i. e. govern our minds and passions deliver us from the law of sin and death from the Power and Dominion of our lusts this God effected by sending Christ into the World to publish the Gospel to us and to confirm all those great promises and threatnings contained in it with his own blood That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit how can imputation come in here What pretty sense would this make of the Apostles Argument The Law was too weak to make men throughly good to conquer their love to sin and to reform their hearts and lives and therefore God sent his Son into the World What for To give them better laws and more excellent promises and more powerful assistances to do good No by no means but to fulfil all righteousness for them that they may fulfil the righteousness of the law not by doing any thing themselves but by having all done for them by having this perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed to them there was no reason surely to abrogate the law of Moses for this end it might have continued in full force still and have been as available to Salvation as the Gospel is with the supplemental Righteousness of Christ But the weakness of the law which the Apostle complains of was not the want of an imputed Righteousness which might have been had as well under the Law as under the Gospel if God had pleased but a want of strength and power to subdue the sinful appetites of men it was weak through the flesh by reason of the greater prevalency of sensual lusts which the law could not conquer and therefore the Gospel of our Saviour must supply this defect not by an imputed Righteousness but by an addition of greater power to enable men to do that which is good to fulfil the external righteousness of the law by a sincere and spiritual obedience Much to the same purpose the Apostle discourses in Rom. 7. Ver. 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 marryed 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
such Laws as came upon us by occasion of sin and therefore an innocent man cannot be obliged by them but why not Though they were at first commanded upon occasion of sin an innocent man may observe them to good and wise purposes as publick and solemn Acts of Worship as external and visible expressions of devotion as a publick profession of Righteousness and a vertuous life to which purposes among others the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law and the Baptism of Iohn served And if there were no other reason this were sufficient that it becomes an innocent man to set an example of reverence to all Divine Institutions that every conceited Religionist who may be far enough from being innocent may not presently conceit himself above all Forms and external Worship as the Doctor knows who are too apt to do But this is not worth contending about for the Righteousness of the Ceremonial Law could never justifie any man and therefore if Christ had fulfilled this Law for us it could have availed us nothing Nor can I understand why the Doctor should suppose that Christ fulfilled the Ceremonial Law for all Believers when the greatest part of them the Gentiles were never under the obligation of it His second Argument to prove that what Christ did as Mediator that is the actual obedience of his life he did for us and in our stead is this that there can be no other reason assigned of Christs obedience to the Law of God but only this that he did it in our stead Now this Argument would be good were it true and were there not a great many things done which we cannot assign the reason of and yet done for great and weighty reasons but it appears from what I have already discoursed that there was sufficient reason why Christ should obey the Laws of God viz. because he was as much bound to it as any other man is But to wave this let us consider how he manages this Argument he takes it for granted as he is very apt to do things which he cannot prove that if Christ were not bound to obey these Laws upon his own account it must be either for us or to fit him for his death and oblation but it was not to fit him for his death and oblation therefore it was for us for he tells us That he answered all Types and was every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit to be made an Offering for sin by his Union and habitual Grace so that if the obedience Christ performed be not reckoned to us and done upon our account there is no just cause to be assigned why he should live here in the World so long as he did in perfect obedience to all the Laws of God had he dyed before there had been perfect innocence and perfect holiness by his habitual Grace and infinite vertue and worth from the dignity of his Person and surely he yielded not that long course of all manner of obedience but for some great and special purposes in reference to our Salvation yes truly it was for some great and special purpose in reference to our Salvation that Christ lived so long in the World and consequently yielded such a long course of all manner of obedience to God but must this needs be his actual fulfilling all Righteousness for us What do you think of his preaching the Gospel throughout all Iudaea which required that he should be a man before he did it and would take up some time in doing it What do you think of those many Miracles which he wrought for the confirmation of his Doctrine What do you think of training up his Apostles to succeed him in his Ministry as eye and ear witnesses of his Miracles and Doctrine Nay what do you think of the holy example of his life which was no less necessary than his Laws These were all great and special purposes in reference to our Salvation though we should suppose him fit to have been a Sacrifice as Herod designed he should have been as soon as he was born though by the way I think he could not have answered the Types and Predictions of him had he died so soon notwithstanding his perfect innocence and perfect holiness His third reason to prove that Christ performed all Righteousness for us is from the absolute necessity of it for this is the term of the Covenant do this and live life is not to be obtained unless all be done that the Law requires that is still true if thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments they must be kept by us or by our Surety so that we being unable to yield that compleat and perfect obedience which the Law requires as the condition of life and happiness it is necessary that Christ our Mediator and Surety should fulfil the Law for us Now the best that can be made of this argument is that it proves it ought to be so but it does not prove that it is so just like the Papists alledging the necessity of an infallible judge to prove that the Pope or Church of Rome is infallible but such arguments prove nothing but the arrogance and presumption of the disputant who will undertake to prescribe methods to God and to prove that he ought to have done so when it does not appear that he has done so the sum of this argument is that there never was nor ever can be a Covenant of Grace that God still exacts the rigorous perfection of the Law from us and that we must not appear before him without a compleat and perfect righteousness of our own or of another now this is the thing in Question whether we must be made Righteous with the perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed to us or whether God will for the sake of Christ dispense with the rigour of the Law and accept of a sincere and Evangelical obedience instead of a perfect and unsinning Righteousness so that he only confidently affirms what was in dispute and this goes for an argument Thus you see how weak their reason is let us now examine their Scripture evidence and the Dr. makes a great flourish with some Scripture phrases that there is almost nothing that Christ hath done but we are said to do it with him we are Crucified with him we are dead with him and buried with him and quickned together with him c. In the acting s of Christ there is by vertue of the compact between him as Mediator and the Father such an assured foundation laid of the Communication of the fruit of these actings unto those in whose stead he performed them that they are said in the participation of these fruits to have done the same things with him But he is quite out in the reason of these expressions which is not that we are accounted to do the same things which Christ did for the things here mentioned belong to the peculiar Office of his Mediation which he told us before
be carnal sold under sin that is a Slave and Captive to it he may do those things which he allows not nay those things which he hates that is he may sin against the clearest convictions of Conscience and sense of duty he may neglect to do those things which he knows he ought to do and do those things which he knows he ought not to do he may find a Law in his members that when he would do good evil is present with him a Law in his members warring against the Law of his mind which brings him into Captivity to the Law of sin that is in his members for so they tell us that Saint Paul complains of all this in the Person of a regenerate man in Rom. 7. Now an unregenerate man does the very same and indeed cannot do much worse he sins against his Conscience is brought into Captivity to sin and is over-power'd by indwelling sin he finds a great many natural fears and terrours when he is tempted to sin which give some check to him and make him sin against his own will with some unwillingness and reluctancy he approves the Law of God as just and equal his Conscience assents to it but there is a strong byass upon his will which runs counter to all these holy commands and makes him a Slave and Captive to his lusts Now not to dispute at present which of these two the Apostle means in Rom. 7. I think it is hard to assign any difference between them the regenerate man according to this description is full as bad as the unregenerate man or if there be any difference the regenerate man is the worse of the two because in the regenerate man the Spirit is led into Captivity but in the unregenerate man only natural Conscience which is a much weaker principle and so is capable of a better excuse is led into Captivity but which of these two it is no man can tell and therefore a regenerate man hath great reason to fear that he may be unregenerate and an unregenerate man hath as much reason to hope that he may be regenerate and what becomes then of this evidence of sanctification to prove our Union to Christ when sanctification it self cannot be distinguisht from an unsanctified State Dr. Iacomb in his Discourse of the Law of Sin attempts to assign the difference between the Law of sin as it is in the regenerate and as it is in the unregenerate and hath given us such a Description of an unregenerate State that I think there is scarce such an unregenerate man in the World and yet if we must judge what a regenerate man is by inverting the Character of the unregenerate he is by odds much the worse man As first When the whole bent and tendency of the heart is towards sin when the propensities of the Soul thereto are entire and unmixt there it is the Law of sin and the Law of sin which is proper to the unregenerate but is every one a regenerate man then who hath some good inclinations and propensities in him who hath some wouldings and velleities to that which is good it is to be hoped then as many bad men as there are there are few unregenerate men in the World Secondly Which he tells us is the explication of the former as indeed I think it needs some explicatiâ—â— when all the several faculties of the Soul are altogether on sins side and wholly take its part then it is the Law of sin and that which is proper to the unregenerate where the understanding gives in its final and positive dictate that sin is good represents it as eligible to the will upon this closes with it embraces it cleaves to it the affections desire joy delight run out upon it where it is thus the case is determined Yea without controversie but where shall we find such a man it is so far from being true that there are such unregenerate men that I believe there never was such a man born there are too many who chuse evil though they know it to be evil for the seeming advantages of profit or pleasure it brings with it but to chuse evil as believing it to be good and to rejoice and delight in it as good and eligible for it self is such an unregenerate State as the Devil himself never yet arrived at for though he be a very wicked Spirit yet he is no Fool or Sot as those must be who mistake evil for good in such plain and palpable instances the Heathens themselves at this rate were all regenerate men for their Consciences accused them for doing evil Rom. 2. they knew good to be good and evil to be evil though they did not act agreeably to this knowledge there never was such a man as he describes when he tells us That sin comes to the Sinner and says art thou willing that I should rule Yes saith he with all my heart I like thy Commandments and Government I am thine and submit to thee to be at thy dispose I here swear fealty and allegiance to thee c. This Oath c. might very well have been spared for there is enough in all Conscience without it and yet if this be the principal difference between a regenerate and unregenerate man that the unregenerate man chuses sin as believing it to be good and the regenerate man chuses sin though he knows it to be evil it is plain that the regenerate man is much the worse because his sins have the greatest aggravation that any sins are capable of which the sins of an unregenerate man have not viz. that they are sins against knowledge and so according to our Saviours reasoning this regenerate man will be beaten with more stripes I doubt not but in this description he wrongs the unregenerate man very much but yet he makes the regenerate man ten times more the Child of wrath than the other But then Thirdly The Law of sin hath different workings in the people of God than in others this working of the Law of sin in the people of God let it be what working he will methinks is an ill thing and makes sanctification a very sorry evidence but let us hear how it is First Where sin is committed industriously and designedly there it is the Law of sin and which is peculiar to the Graceless so that unless men be very cunning at the trade of sin and lay projects and designs of sinning they are not under the Law of sin as it is peculiar to the Graceless Grace is very consistent with taking all fair opportunities of sinning so we do not design it before hand Secondly When the temptation easily prevails and there is little or no opposition made to sin then it is the Law of sin as it works in the unregenerate this is an argument indeed that a man is a willing slave but when a man is conquered by a temptation though he make some resistance it is an
but one Christian Society which is the One Body of Christ. Thus Brethren in Christ i. e. Christian Brethren 1 Colossians 2. Verse And if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2. Ep. to the Corinthians 5. Chapter 17. v. i. e. every sincere Christian is a new Creature or whoever professeth the Faith of Christ and lives in Society with the Christian Church hath obliged himself to live a new life but of this more in its proper place Thus variously is the name Christ used in the Writings of the Apostles which hath occasioned very great mistakes in some mens Divinity who are very zealous to advance Christs Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion Who instead of those substantial duties of the love of God and men and an universal holiness of life have introduced a fanciful application of Christ to our selves and Union to him set off with all those choice Phrases of closing with Christ and embracing Christ and getting into Christ and getting an interest in Christ and trusting and relying and rowling our Souls on Christ And instead of obedience to the Gospel and the Laws of Christ have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick devotion which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ in admiring his Personal excellencies and perfections fulness beauty loveliness riches c. The Foundation of all which Riddles and Mysteries is that these men make the Person of Christ almost the sole object of the Christian Religion and whatever is spoken of Christ with respect to his Offices his Laws and his Religion they understand of his Person and personal excellencies And therefore the design of this discourse is to reconcile the Person of Christ with his Religion that men may not abuse themselves with a pretended devotion to our Saviour while they contemn his Laws and purposely defeat the great end of his coming into the World And to that end I shall discourse on these following Arguments First Of what use the consideration of Christs person is in the Christian Religion Secondly What the Knowledge of Christ is Thirdly Wherein our Union to Christ and Communion with him consists Fourthly Christs love to us and our love to Christ. CHAP. II. Of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion THE first thing to be stated is of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion For those men who talk so much of the Person and Personal excellencies of Christ frequently without any sense and generally without any just ground from Reason or Scripture are very clamorous and alarm the World with strange jealousies and fears as if there were a party of men started up who design to make Christ useless and to reduce Religion to its first Natural State which knew no Priest nor Sacrifice nor Mediator A design which I profess I am wholly a stranger to as I believe all those are who are so much charged with it The Foundation of my hope is that which is the Foundation of the Christian Religion the Sacrifice and Intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ. But I doubt not it will appear in the Sequel what the ground of these calumnies are viz. that we are charged with making Christ useless only because we dare not make his Laws and Religion so And to prevent such scandals for the future I shall lay the Foundation of all in this inquiry of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion By the Person of Christ I mean what all men ought to mean who talk of Christs Person viz. Christ himself as every mans Person is himself and the only proper consideration here is the greatness of his Person who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God man the Son of God in whom his Soul was well pleased who left the glories of an Eternal Throne to undertake the work of mans redemption and this suggests many useful considerations which have a great influence upon Religion As first This is a plain demonstration of Gods love to Mankind that he sent so great and so dear a Person as his only begotten Son into the World to save Sinners All Religion is founded on a belief of Gods Goodness He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. that is must believe his Being and his Providence that he loves and takes care of good men for no man will serve God who does not hope to be the better by it And therefore every Religion had its proper demonstrations of Gods Goodness Natural Religion was founded on those natural evidences of the Divine bounty and goodness in making and governing the World the Mosaick Religion on those miraculous deliverances God wrought for Israel and that particular providence which watched over them the Christian Religion on the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of the Son of God a work of such stupendious love that it is the wonder of Angels and the astonishment as well as praise of men No man can doubt of Gods good will to Sinners who sees the Son of God cloathed with our flesh and dying as a Sacrifice for our sins this gives relief to our guilty fears and does encourage us to retrieve our past follies by new obedience that we have so great an assurance of God's goodness for he had nothing greater to bestow on us than his Son And he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 8 Rom. 32. Secondly This gives great reverence and authority to the Gospel that it was preached by so great a Person as the Son of God Laws always partake of the fate and condition of the Law-giver the greater opinion we have of his Wisdom and Reverence for his Person the more sacred regard have we for his Laws and therefore Numa pretended that he received his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria to procure a greater veneration for them which was imitated by Lycurgus and other Law-givers thus God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds 1 Hebr. 1. 2. And his greatness and Authority gives an inviolable sanction and just reverence to his Laws Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord 2. Hebr. 1. 2 3. To the same purpose is that Parable in Luke 20. 9. c. Thirdly The greatness of his Person gives
great authority to his example He came to be our Prophet and our guide to teach us by his Precepts and his life now we love to imitate great Persons and none so great as he who was the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express image of his Person His example secures the honour and reputation of vertue and gives us an evident demonstration wherein the perfection of our nature consists for he lived up to the perfection of humane nature and the only way to be perfect is to live as he lived Nay the greatness of his Person makes all the expressions of his love and goodness the more wonderful That the Son of God should become man that when he was rich for our sakes he should become poor that the great Lord of the Creation should become a Minister and Servant that the Lord of life and glory should suffer and die These are such expressions of love and goodness as we can never fully imitate because we can never be so great as he was but yet they powerfully convince us how reasonable it is for us to stoop to the meanest offices of kindness since we can never stoop so low as the Son of God did when he came down from Heaven and took up his Lodging in the grave Fourthly This assures us of the infinite value of his Sacrifice and the power of his intercession He was a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron and his Sacrifice of a greater value than the bloud of Bulls and Goats God cannot but be pleased when his own Son undertakes to be a ransom and to make atonement for Sinners which is so great a vindication of Gods Dominion and Soveraignty of the authority of his Laws and the Wisdom and Justice of his Providence that he may securely pardon humble and penitent Sinners without reproaching any of his Attributes And we can reasonably desire no greater security for the performance of this Gospel Covenant than that it was sealed with the bloud of the Son of God which is such a confirmation of God's Covenant and Promise as the World never had before Christ is the surety of a better Testament Hebr. 7. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who undertakes for the performance of it and the security he gives us depends on thè vertue of his Priesthood and Sacrifice and the power of his Intercession for so in Verse 21. the Apostle tells us that God had confirmed the Priesthood of Christ by Oath The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec And whereas other Priests died and left their Priesthood to their Successors He continueth for ever and therefore hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Verse 23 24 25. And who can desire a more powerful Mediator than the Son of God to whom God hath given such signal demonstrations of his favour and acceptance by a voice from Heaven and by the glory of his Miracles and his Resurrection from the Dead And that the vertue of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession depends very much on the greatness of his Person is plain from the Epistle to the Hebrews the design of which is to show how much the Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ excels that of the Law and the Foundation of all is laid in the first Chapter where the Apostle discourses of his greatness and excellency that he was the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express Image of his Person the Heir of all things by whom he made the Worlds exalted above all Angels who hath an everlasting Throne and Scepter and shall continue when all other things moulder and vanish away But Fifthly The Person of Christ is of no other consideration in the Christian Religion than as it hath an influence upon the great ends of his undertaking i. e. we must expect no more from Christ upon account of his Personal excellencies and perfections than what he hath promised in his Gospel He hath told us there whatever he intends to do for us and hath charged us to expect no more from him Math. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven That is you must not expect that I will be better to you than my word and receive you into the Kingdom of Heaven upon easier terms than I have promised I shall be moved with none of your flattering speeches but how good and kind soever you may fancy me unless you obey those Laws I publish in my Fathers name I declare before hand that I will disown you when I come to judgment For indeed should he absolve and justifie those men whom the Gospel condemns that is wilful and incorrigible Sinners this were to disanul that Covenant which he had sealed with his bloud Christ is the object of our Faith and Hope only as he is our Saviour and he is our Saviour in no other sense than as he is our Mediator and he mediates for us as our Priest that is in vertue of that Covenant which he hath sealed with his bloud and therefore we have no reason to expect any thing from the Person of Christ which is not contained in his Covenant much less which contradicts it for that would be in effect to renounce his Mediation and to trust to the goodness of his nature And let any man judg whether this be not to set up a new Religion which hath no Covenant and no Promise for whatever we can expect from Christ by vertue of a Promise is contained in the Gospel and if we expect any thing else from him upon his Personal account it is without a promise which at best reduces us to the same state in which the World was before God had made an express revelation of his will when all their hopes were founded on that natural perswasion they had of the divine Goodness that Faith which is the Foundation of Natural Religion that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11. 6. thus these men trust in the Person of Christ without any Promise nay which makes the case much worse in contradiction to the terms of that Covenant which he sealed with his bloud they quit his Promise and his Covenant to rely and rowl upon his Person This is so very absurd at first sight that I know no man will be so senseless as to owne it in so many words nor do I charge any man with it but I say this is the natural interpretation of trusting in the Person of Christ in his blood and merits and satisfaction fulness and alsufficiency and of relying and rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and the like Phrases of a late date in which some men place the whole mystery
many more with as fair colours and pretences and as exact and regular proportions and fanciful consequences and artificial connexions I need not tell you what use all our Allegorical Divines would make of this who have the peculiar knack and gift of adapting every similitude and resemblance to what purposes they please We know how the Valentinians of old perverted all the passages of our Saviours Life and Death by such fanciful applications to confirm the doctrine of their Aeones and the portentous production of their Gods and to patronize all their vilest practices and if we allow of this way I know not why one mans fancy should not be admitted as well as anothers But to shew how easily this acquaintance with Christ's Person may be made to serve different purposes I shall oppose another Scheme of Religion which is much more plainly deducible from an acquaintance with Christs Person to what these men advance for the great Mystery of the Gospel and the only spiritual Wisdom And thus I argue Since we see the Eternal Son of God leave his Fathers Throne and condescend to come into the World in the nature and likeness of a man we may certainly conclude that it was upon a design of love and goodness for had he intended to destroy the World he would have Cloathed himself with thunder and lightning he would have appeared like himself with an awful and astonishing Majesty and with all the terrible solemnities of vengeance and judgment incircled with Legions of Angels and with Clouds of smoak and fire but we now see nothing dreadful in his looks nor in his Conversation he was made a Man as we are which argues a good will and kindness to humane Nature he had all the sweetness of innocence and an obliging goodness that we have no reason to suspect any ill design under so charming and inviting an appearance his miracles were great and glorious but not frightful and astonishing they surprized with wonder not with terrour and fear his Almighty Power was displayed and manifested in methods of love and kindness in healing the sick and dispossessing Devils in feeding the hungry and raising the dead not in over-turning Kingdoms and Empires or bringing fire from Heaven to consume his Enemies From all this we may safely conclude that he came upon an Embassy of Peace to assure the World of Gods good will towards them and to reconcile the differences between God and Men. And when we consider further that this Heavenly Embassador and Mediator is no less than the Eternal Son of God by whom the Worlds were made we may reasonably conclude that he came upon no less design than of universal goodness for he can have no temptation to partiality as being equally concerned in the happiness of all men and we cannot imagine why he should lay a narrower design of love in the redemption than in the Creation of Mankind that when in the first Creation he designed all men for happiness in this new and second Creation he should design and intend the happiness only of some few which is to make him less good in redeeming than in creating Mankind though Creation cost him no more than the exercise of his power but redemption the expence of his bloud no sure his goodness did not become less infinite and boundless when he became man the design of his appearing was to restore Mankind to that honour and happiness and immortality they had lost and to repair the sullied glory of the first Creation by making all things new again Thus when we consider the innocence and holiness of his life that he was a great example of an unaffected piety towards God and all the vertues of an innocent and useful Conversation with men we may reasonably conclude that his great design was to reform the debaucht manners of the World to reduce Mankind to the obedience of God to teach man how to live as well as talk and to restore the practice of piety and justice of meekness and humility and an universal good will which had been banished out of the World by the Hypocritical pretences of a more refined sanctity in washing hands and Dishes in tithing Mint and Cumming and such like pieces of legal and Ceremonial Righteousness But now our Saviour by his example as well as laws taught us another Lesson that as we lost our happiness at first by sin so the way to regain the favour of God and an immortal life is by the practice of a sincere and universal righteousness He came to be our example and guide to Heaven as well as our Mediator and Advocate and therefore we must imitate his life if we would enjoy the benefits of his Death and Intercession for so holy a Person can never be the Patron of Vice nor an Advocate for impenitent and incorrigible Sinners When we remember that Christ died as a Sacrifice and propitiation for sin this gives us a great demonstration of Gods good will to us how ready he is to pass by all our former sins in that he hath appointed an atonement for us and given no less person than his own Son for our ransom which is the greatest assurance God could give us of his readiness to accept of true Penitents and therefore the most powerful motive and encouragement to return to our duty And besides this the death of Christ assures us what the desert of sin is and what will be the portion of all impenitent Sinners for in that he required the death of his own Son to be an atonement for sin he hath plainly declared that all Sinners deserve to die and that none shall escape this just Condemnation but those who are washed and purifyed in the blood of Christ He will not pardon sin without a Sacrifice nor accept of any other atonement but the death of his Son and accept of that for none but those who believe and obey the Gospel and if God did not think fit to save true Penitents without a ransom where shall the Sinner and ungodly appear So that though we do not pretend to understand the strict Philosophy of that atonement made by Christ yet we may easily learn all that is useful and necessary for us to know that Christ's Death and Sacrifice for sin Seals the Covenant of Grace and pardon to all penitent and reformed Sinners and seals the irrevocable decree of Reprobation against all others for that Covenant which is sealed with the blood of so great and stupendious a Sacrifice must needs be irrevocable and Eternal In the Resurrection of Christ from the dead and his Ascension into Heaven we have an ocular demonstration of the rewards of holiness and obedience that for the innocence and purity of his life and the humility and obedience of his Death he is now exalted to the right hand of God and cloathed with Majesty and Glory That Power and Authority he is now invested with secures us of the prevalency of his intercession of
his constant care and providence over his Church of the influences of his Grace and the supply of all our spiritual wants and of that glory and happiness to which he will advance us at the last day All this we learn from an acquaintance with Christ's Person as these men call it and it were easie now to draw the whole plot and design of Christianity to search into the deep Councils of God and to discover those principles and motives he was acted by and the infinite Wisdom of the contrivance and the true methods of a Sinners recovery by Christ and what that homage and worship is which we owe our Saviour As to make some short Essay of it Those natural notions which we have of God acquaint us that he is infinitely good and the History of the Creation assures us that God made the World to be an image and representation of his own glory and perfections but especially Man who was made after the image of God and endowed with that Wisdom and Knowledge and all those Principles of Piety and Vertue which would have made him a living and active image of the Divine perfections This was the glory and the happiness of his nature to know God and to be like him to praise and adore his great Benefactor and to be inseperably united to him by those natural tyes of love and obedience For nothing else can be the happiness of a reasonable Creature but Conformity to the Divine Nature which is the pattern and measure of all rational perfections and happiness And therefore when Mankind apostatized from God they miserably defeated the end of their Creation and intercepted those natural Communications of the divine goodness by making themselves unworthy and uncapable of them and now we may easily imagine how much a good God was grieved and offended with this not as a haughty and Imperious Prince would be with the miscarriages and rebellion of his Subjects but as a kind Father is displeased and grieved for the disobedience of his Children for their refractory and unmanageable temper not so much as an affront and contempt of his own Authority but as it is a necessary cause of the ruine and misery of his Children whose happiness he so passionately desires and designs This made the divine goodness so restlesly zealous and concerned for the recovery of Mankind various ways he attempted in former Ages but with little success as I observed before but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World to be the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls to seek and to save that which was lost And that we may be able in some measure to comprehend the infinite Wisdom and goodness of this contrivance and how well the means is fitted to the end we must consider that the whole Mystery of the recovery of mankind consists only in repairing the Divine Image which was defaced by sin that is in making all men truly good and vertuous Sin is our apostasie from God and doth as naturally make us miserable as it makes us unlike the most happy Being But holiness restores us to our Primitive State to the perfect constitution of our Natures and makes us good and therefore happy as God is And this was the great difficulty to perswade men to be good to work upon the different tempers and inclinations and passions of mankind and to reduce them to the forsaken and untrodden paths of vertue and though the laws and precepts the great promises and threatnings of the Gospel confirmed by so many stupendious miracles and by the resurrection of Christ from the Dead have in themselves a mighty power to reform the World yet the consideration of Christ's Person of what he did and suffered for us gives a peculiar force and energy to them Sin and guilt makes men fearful and it makes them disingenuous they are apt to distrust goodness or to abuse it will either believe God implacable which makes them desperate because there is no hope of pardon or believe him to be fond and indulgent which makes them saucy and presumptuous and to prevent both these extreams of superstition which are such profest Enemies to a sincere and unaffected Religion God sent his own Son into the World and by the greatness of his Person and the manner and circumstances of his appearance did confute them both If guilt make us afraid of God as an angry and severe judge behold here the distance taken in the Incarnation of the Son of God who condescended to come down to us cloathed with our nature as a mild and a gentle Prince by all the methods of love and sweetness to reduce us to our Allegiance and subjection to God in him we see the good will of God to Sinners here is a demonstration of condescending goodness which stooped as low as earth and did not disdain the nature and appearance of a man nor the Conversation of Sinners nor the shame of the Cross nor the pale terrours and agonies of Death and the Grave And to remove all possible suspition concerning Gods love to Sinners the Son of God dies as a Sacrifice for our sins to make atonement for us and with his blood Seals the Covenant of Grace and Pardon and all the promises of Eternal life And still to give us the greater security of the performance of all this our dying and suffering Lord is raised again from the dead and advanced to the right hand of power and Majesty to intercede for us Thus God deals with us after the manner of men and to encourage us to return to our duty hath given us all the security of our acceptance that guilt it self though infinitely jealous and suspicious could desire for what could we wish for more than that God should send so great and so beloved a Person to us on an Embassy of Peace than that the Son of God should be our propitiation and Advocate our Lord and Judge he who took our nature and our infirmities on him who knows our weakness and our temptations who died to expiate our sins and is entred into the Holy of Holies to intercede for us in the vertue of his blood and in the power of his glory and the triumphs of his Conquests and with a tender and compassionate sense of our infirmities But then on the other hand to cure our presumption that we may not think God to be so easie as to be reconciled to Sinners and to their vices together the death of Christ upon the Cross assures us what the merit is and what the portion of sin shall be that all Sinners deserve to die and shall certainly have their deserts without a sincere repentance and reformation of their lives for to expiate sin by death can signifie no less than this that death is the proper recompence of sin and therefore that those sins which are not expiated by the Sacrifice of Christ as none are till we repent and reform shall
that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Eph. 5. 25 26. Upon which account we may well be called the Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones vers 30. the Church being as it were taken out of his crucified Body as the Woman was taken out of the Man as Christ is said to have reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 21 22. because the Covenant of Grace which is the Foundation of the Christian Church and receives Gentiles as well as Jews was sealed with the blood of Christ so that the Church is taken out of the crucified body of Christ which in the mystical sense answers to the Womans being taken out of the Man which seems to be the Apostles meaning in that place For the same reason Christ ownes himself our Friend Ioh. 15. 14. Ye are my friends if you do what soever I command you which does not signifie such an equality betwixt Christ and us as there is betwixt friends nor encourage any rudeness and unbecoming familiarity in our addresses to him but acquaints us with the nature of his government that he will rule his Church with the same care and tenderness which one friend expresseth to another So that all this is a description of the state of the Gospel in which our Lord and Master is our Shepherd our Head and Husband our Friend and Saviour who hath redeemed and purchased us with his own blood who laid the Foundation of his spiritual Kingdom in the most surprising and astonishing goodness and exerciseth his authority in all the methods of love and compassion Upon which account God also hath now laid aside in a great measure that severe name of a King and calls himself our Father to assure us of his fatherly care and government and to signifie that liberty of Sons we now enjoy under the Gospel in opposition to the bondage and servitude of the Law of Moses But then we must observe farther that though Christ be our Lord and Governour he doth not govern us immediately by himself for He is ascended up into Heaven where he powerfully intercedes for his Church and by a vigilant Providence superintends all the affairs of it but hath left the visible and external conduct and government of his Church to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his name and by his authority in the first Ages of Christianity Christ conferred such extraordinary gifts on men as qualified them for so great an office Eph. 4. 8. c. But though these miraculous gifts ceased when the Gospel was fully published and sufficiently confirmed yet the offices still continue for the instruction and government of the Church though managed in more ordinary and humane ways Christ now governs his Church by men who are invested with his authority which is a plain demonstration of what I discoursed above that the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by their Union with the Christian Church which consists in their regular subjection to their spiritual Guides and Rulers and in concord and unity among themselves For if our Union to Christ consists in our subjection to him as our Lord and Master our Head and Husband and this authority is not immediately exercised by Christ himself but by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church it necessarily follows that we cannot be united to Christ that is cannot owne his authority and government till we unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians and submit to the publick Instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church as no man can be said to submit himself to his Prince who denies subjection to those subordinate Magistrates who act by his Princes Commission for the Union of Bodies Politick such as the Christian Church is consists in Order and Government when all the Members keep their proper places and are knit to each other by a faithful discharge of their several offices and trusts Schismaticks are in the Church just as Rebels are in the Kingdom not as part of it but as open and profest Enemies but the Apostle tells us wherein the Unity of the Church consists in Eph. 4. 16. Christ is the Head from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love That is the supreme power is invested in Christ as Head to whom the Church is obedient and subject but to make this Union firm and lasting there must be a regular subordination of the several Members and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices which is the most effectual way to advance their spiritual growth in all Christian graces and especially to increase that love and friendship which is the very life and soul of the Church This indeed supposes a visible Society of Christians professing the Faith of Christ and living in communion with each other for if there be no such visible Society as it may happen in times of persecution or some great degeneracy of the Church it must of necessity alter the case our Union to Christ then consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us Members of the Universal Church though there be no particular Church to communicate with but when there is a visible Church we are under the necessary obligations of a visible Communion because herein our subjection to the Authority of Christ and consequently our Union to him consists And this by the way gives a plain account of the only cause that can justifie our separation from any Society of Christians for our Union with the Christian Church being the Medium of our Union to Christ while the Church we live in acknowledges the Authority and submits to the Laws of Christ we are bound to live in Communion with it because this unites us to Christ. When nothing is made the condition of our Communion which is expresly forbid by the Laws of our supreme Lord we acknowledge his Authority in our subjection to our spiritual Guides and we disowne his Authority in disowning and affronting theirs as our Saviour tells his Apostles He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. But when any Church prevaricates in the Laws of Christ corrupts his Religion and undermines the fundamental design of it which is to make men good and vertuous when we cannot obey our spiritual Rulers without disobeying the express Laws of Christ the reason of our Communion with such a Church ceases because it doth not answer nay contradicts the end of Christian Society which is to have fellâ—wship with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. For in this case we cannot owne their authority but we must
renounce the authority of our Head and Husband now as it is in an Army should any Captain revolt from his Prince the Souldiers under his Command are not bound to turn Rebels because their Leader is so or should a whole Troop or Regiment conspire in the Treason no particular Souldier is obliged to continue in the Company or submit to the Government of Rebels no more than he is obliged to be a Rebel the same reason holds good as to Christian Societies if any particular Church apostatize from the Faith of Christ we are then under the same necessity of deserting their Communion as we are of obeying the Laws and submitting to the Authority of our Lord and Master but nothing less than this can justifie a separation while the Church is subject to Christ we must be subject to the Church while the fundamental Laws of his spiritual Kingdom are observed and his Institutions reverenced and the great ends of his Religion advanced to separate from such a Church is to separate from the Body of Christ for our Union to Christ consists in a subjection to his Authority and it is plain that we disowne his Authority when we reject those who act by his Authority Now this Political Union betwixt Christ and his Church may be either only external and visible and so hypocrital Professors may be said to be united to Christ or true and real which imports the truth and sincerity of our obedience and subjection to our Lord and Master For since Christianity is become the Religion of Nations and is entailed on us by our Ancestors as part of our inheritance is received into the Laws and Constitutions of Kingdoms and made a great Instrument of Civil Government it is too often seen that many men undertake this Profession only as the Mode and Fashion of their Country to avoid singularity and to serve a worldly interest And thus the Christian Church is filled with Hypocrites and visible Professors who are great Strangers to the life and spirit of the Holy Iesus while some under the name of Christians practise all the villanies of the Heathen World and live in a publick defiance to the Laws of that Religion they pretend to owne others make a fair show of external conformity to the Laws and Constitutions of this spiritual Kingdom and conceal their impurities under some glorious and pompous form of Religion and pass for very good Christians when they are no better than disguised Hypocrites and this makes it necessary to distinguish between a meer external and real Union between those who do no more than make a visible profession of Christianity and those who are true and sincere Christians Earthly Princes can exact only an external conformity to their Laws because they can take no cognizance of the secret workings of mens minds and the end of their Government is attained in the preservation of publick peace and order But the spiritual Kingdom of our Lord is of another nature which requires not only an external and visible subjection to Christ our Head and Husband and a visible Union to the Christian Church but the homage and obedience of the Soul the government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and spirits We must be born again of Water and of the Spirit if we would enter into the Kingdom of God Ioh. 3. 5. That is before we can be the Disciples of Christ the Subjects of his spiritual Kingdom which is in Scripture called the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born of water must make a publick profession of our Faith in Christ and obedience to Him in our Baptism but this is not sufficient unless we be born of the Spirit too that is unless our minds and spirits become subject to Christ unless our Faith in Christ and subjection to Him be sincere and hearty do govern all the motions and desires of our Souls and make us really such as we pretend to be which is called Being born of the Spirit because all Christian Graces and Vertues are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit of God as the Author of them Hence the Apostle tells us that In Christ Iesus nothing availeth but a new Creature that is that none are true Subjects of Christ such as shall be rewarded by Him but those whose minds and spirits are transformed into the love of vertue and goodness Now as a visible Profession of Christianity is the Foundation of this external-political Union betwixt Christ and his Church so this new Nature is the Foundation of a real and spiritual Union and this the Scripture represents to us under several notions First by the subjection of our minds and spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as Bodies under his Government and Conduct hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. that is to have the sole Command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells And thus all those Metaphors which signifie our subjection to Christ must be expounded of the subjection of our Souls and Spirits to Him as well as the outward conformity of our actions because Christ is a spiritual King who rules and governs hearts as earthly Princes govern the bodies of their Subjects our subjection to him ought to begin in the Soul in a sincere acknowledgment of his Power and Authority in a stedfast belief of his Doctrines and Revelations and in a chearful and willing obedience to his Laws such a subjection as a Wife ought to yield to her Husband and Members to their Head the effect of a free choice not a feigned or forced compliance Secondly By a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his Nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind be in us which was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2. 5. and to be his Disciples is to learn of him who was meek and lowly in mind Matth. 11. 29. Hence also our Union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ. Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have the same temper and disposition of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit of Christ by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those vertues and graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Eph. 5. 9. and therefore what the Apostle in that place calls having the Spirit of Christ in the next verse he expresses by if Christ be in you i. e. if you
Law of Moses the motions of sin which were by the Law which grew more boisterous and unruly by the prohibitions of the law v. 8. did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death i. e. 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 and external Religion taught them to serve God in the letter by Circumcision and Sacrifices or an external Conformity to the letter of the law But the Gospel of Christ alone teacheth us to worship God with the Spirit to offer a reasonable Sacrifice to him to fulfil the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that internal Righteousness of which those legal Ceremonies were the Signs and Sacraments This is the plain meaning of the Apostle which can never be reconciled with an imputed Righteousness which would make his argument foolish and absurd and therefore in other places he tells us 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 that Circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfection of that fleshly Circumcision What need is there of legal washings and purifications when they are all eminently fulfilled in the washing of Regeneration in the Gospel Baptism Thus we are compleat in Christ who hath perfectly instructed us in the will of God and instituted such a Religion as is the perfection of all external Ceremonies Col. 2. Ver. 10 11 12. We must now offer a nobler Sacrifice than the law of Moses commanded not the Sacrifices of dead Beasts but of a living and active Soul Rom. 12. 1. Hence Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of the law i. e. the perfection and accomplishment of the law as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies for righteousness to them that believe Rom. 10. 4. That is the Gospel of Christ requires that righteousness of us which the law did only typifie and represent that holiness and purity of mind which is the perfection of all legal righteousness for that Christ should be made the end of the law for righteousness by the imputation of his righteousness to us hath no foundation in the Text. The Apostle explains what he means by this in the following Verses where he gives us a description of the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of Faith The righteousness of the law is an external Conformity to the letter of the Law The man that doth them shall live in them i. e. shall enjoy all those temporal blessings of the Land of Canaan which were promised to the observance of the Law but the righteousness of Faith is a firm and stedfast belief of the Divine Authority of Christ that he is the Lord and more particularly a belief of his Resurrection from the dead as the last and great confirmation which God gave to the Divinity of Christs Person and Doctrine This is that Faith that overcomes the World and purifies the heart and transforms us into the likeness of God which is the perfection of all the ritual righteousness of the Law Upon this account Christ is said to be made unto us righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 20. But of him are you in Christ who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption i. e. he is the Author of all this to us He is our Wisdom as he is our great Prophet and Teacher who instructs us in true Wisdom Our Righteousness as we are justified by Faith in him by a sincere belief of his Gospel which is the only Righteousness acceptable to God Our Sanctification because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus makes us free from the law of sin and death that Divine and Spiritual law of Faith conquers the Power and Dominion of sin which the law of Moses could not do and our Redemption as by these means he hath deliver'd us from the bondage and pedagogie of the Jewish Law from the Idolatrous Customs of the Heathens and the Tyranny of wicked Spirits and from the wrath of God which is the just merit and desert of sin Thus you see how the Apostle opposes the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of Faith not as an Inherent and Personal to an Imputed Righteousness but as an External and Ritual to an Inherent real and substantial Righteousness this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of all other mistakes in this matter that by the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of works most men understand an internal holiness the Conformity of our hearts and lives to all moral Precepts and Rules of a good life and then conclude that if this Righteousness will not please God nothing but an Imputed Righteousness can though I should rather have concluded that nothing can but the truth is the Righteousness of the Law and of Works in the New Testament signifies only an external Righteousness which cannot please God and that internal holiness which they call the righteousness of the Law is that very Righteousness of Faith which the Gospel commands and which God approves and rewards and this Imputed Righteousness is no where to be found that I know of but in their own fancies Let us now consider in what sense the Apostle opposes his own Righteousness to the Righteousness of God not having mine own Righteousness but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and there is no great difficulty in this for the Apostle himself tells us that by his own righteousness he means the righteousness of the law and by the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Faith And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and what that is you have already heard thus in Rom. 10. 3. For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the Righteousness of God where their own righteousness which the Jews so obstinately adhered to was the righteousness of the law and the Righteousness of God which they were ignorant of and would not submit to was the Righteousness of Faith for this was the great controversie between the Jews and Apostles which is the subject of this Epistle whether men were to be justified by the law of Moses or by the Gospel of Christ by a legal or Evangelical Righteousness as
unless we become one person with him and therefore though the Doctor be so careful to tell us that our Union to Christ is an Union of Persons but no Personal Union that we are not transformed into the Essence and Being of Christ so as to be Christed with Christ yet indeed there is no other way to make the Personal Righteousness of Christ our personal righteousness which is the righteousness required of us but by a Personal Union to Christ by being Christed with Christ as some speak how boldly soever yet very agreeably to these Principles But Thirdly Let us consider what truth there is in what he asserts That in the Law the debtor and the surety are but one person the Law looks upon them but as one and therefore both are equally liable to the debt and if the one pay it it is as much in the eye of the Law as if the other had paid it which he makes the Foundation of the Imputation of Christs Righteousness and Satisfaction to us because he being our surety we are but one person with him that is legally not personally one person as he warily distinguishes Now there needs no great skill in the Law to discover the weakness and Sophistry of this Discourse for no considering man can think it indifferent who pays the debt the surety or the debtor or that they are both equally obliged to it the debtor is the immediate debtor still and the surety only is obliged in case the other refuse or be unable to pay the debt and that is some little difference but then though the creditor be satisfied whether the debt be paid by the debtor or his surety and the Law will allow him no farther Action against either of them yet the Law doth not account it indifferent which of them pay it for though it permit the payment to be exacted from the surety in case the debtor refuse yet it will look back again and allow the surety an Action against the debtor for such a refusal which is an Argument that the Law doth not judge them one Person nor think it indifferent which of them pays the debt Thus it is in other cases if a man be surety for the appearance of another which is called giving Bail and is sometimes admitted in Criminal Causes the Law doth not judge them one Person for if the Prisoner escape the Bail or Surety shall be punisht according to the nature of the Fact and yet the Prisoner is not quitted by this means but liable either to the Arrest of the Surety or in Criminal Causes to the Sentence of the Law if ever he be re-taken Thus in Sureties for good Behaviour which sounds as if it were nearest of kin to the Imputation of Christs Righteousness as our surety though the surety be never so innocent and vertuous a person himself this will not serve him for whom he is surety but if he prove a Villain they shall be both punisht So that humane Laws are strangers to this Mystery of imputing the Righteousness of a Surety to a bad man Suretiship doth not so unite their persons that whatever one doth is always and to all purposes imputed to the other and if this will not hold good among mâ—n it is a very sorry foundation for this bargain and exchange betwixt Christ and Believers That he should take their sins upon himself and impute his Righteousness to them Let us now try whether the notion of a Mediator can do any better service than the notion of a Surety which is the second way of explaining this legal Union betwixt Christ and Believers which entitles them to all that Christ hath done or suffered and what this means we may learn from Dr. Owen who gives us this account of it That Christ fulfilled all Righteousness as he was Mediator and that whatever he did as Mediator he did it for them whose Mediator he was or in whose stead and for whose good he executed the office of a Mediator before God and hence it is that his compleat and perfect obedience to the Law is reckoned to us This is well said if it were as well proved and because this is a matter of great consequence I shall first examine those reasons the Dr. alledges to prove That Christ fulfilled all Righteousness as he was Mediator in their stead whose Mediator he was Secondly to avoid calumnies and objections I shall shew you briefly what influence the Righteoeusness of Christs life and the Sacrifice of his death have upon our acceptance with God As for the first we have some reason to require good proof of this since the notion of a Mediator includes no such thing A Mediator is one who interposes between two differing parties to accommodate the difference but it was never heard of yet that it was the office of a Mediator to perform the terms and conditions himself Moses was the Mediator of the first Covenant Gal. 3. 9. and his office was to receive the Law from God and to deliver it to the people and to command them to observe those Rites and Sacrifices and Expiations which God had ordained but he was not to fulfil the Righteousness of the Law for the whole Congregation thus Christ is now the Mediator of a better Covenant and his Office required that he should preach the Gospel which contains the terms of peace and reconciliation between God and men and since God would not enter into Covenant with sinners without the intervention of a Sacrifice he dyes too as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the sins of the world and confirms and seals this new Covenant with his own blood and being risen again from the dead he executes this Office of Mediator with power and glory that is he intercedes for us according to the terms and conditions of this new Covenant to obtain the pardon of our sins and the assistance of the divine Grace to do the will of God and all those other blessings which are promised but the Office of Mediator doth not oblige him to fulfil the Righteousness of the Covenant for us this I am sure doth not so exactly fall in with the case and notion of Mediatorship among men But before we examine their proofs it is necessary to consider what it is they would prove that is what that Righteousness is which they say Christ as our Mediator fulfilled for us and Dr. Owen is very exact and curious in stating this matter and distinguishes between the several sorts of Righteousness in Christ that we may know what belongs to us and what is peculiar to himself First he tells us of an habitual Righteousness of Christ as Mediator in his humane Nature which was the absolute compleat exact conformity of the Soul of Christ to the mind will or law of God or his perfect habitual Inherent Righteousness now he tells us that this Righteousness was the necessary effect of the Grace of Union that is of the Union of the Divine and
as Mediator could not be imputed to us as though we had done it though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fruits of it are because we were never designed to be Mediators and the Righteousness of a Mediator is as improper to be imputed to those who are not Mediators as it is to impute the Righteousness of a Prince to a Beggar The righteousness of every man consists in the discharge of those duties and offices which belong to his state condition and relatious of life not in doing those things which he is not concerned to do and therefore that the Righteousness of Christ might be fit to be imputed to us as our Righteousness he was forced to consider him not as Mediator but as a private person made subject to the Law who did whatever was required of us by vertue of any Law though this too was impossible for he could not at the same time act so many different and opposite parts as there are relations and conditions of men in the World and yet when he thought on 't again he found that it was not the Righteousness of a private person that would avail us though it were never so perfect because we have no way to come at it to make it ours but only the Righteousness of a Mediator who did whatever he did for us and in our stead and so he wheels about again and tells us that though what Christ did as a man subject to the Law did not belong to the Law of his Mediation yet he did it as Mediator because he was a Mediator who did it and thus he is caught in the Net and Labyrinth of his own making and the more he turns and windes himself the faster it holds him A Mediator who acts as a Mediator in a private capacity as a man subject to the Law I shall certainly believe as they say some Country-people do that Logick is Conjuring if it can reconcile such palpable contradictions It is very ominous thus to stumble at the threshold but though Mediator and not a Mediator be contradictory terms which Learned men say cannot be reconciled yet let us forgive him that slip and see how he proves that whatever Christ did is reckoned to us as done in our stead and all the reason I can find in his Discourse may be reduced to three Heads first that Christ was under no obligation to do it himself secondly that there r can be no other reason assigned why he did it at all but that he did it for us and thirdly that this was absolutely necessary it should be so First That Christ was under no obligation to obey these Laws himself and to make this appear he discourses particularly both of the Law of our Creation and the Ceremonial Law given to the Iews As for the first the Law of Creation that comprehends those eternal Laws which result from the essential differences of good and evil which all Mankind are bound to observe by the very frame and constitution of their natures now he dares not deny that Christ was bound to obey this Law for himself but then his obedience he says 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 yield obedience to it or not but on supposition of his undertaking to be a Mediator it was necessary it should be so but he voluntarily and willingly submitted unto 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 these Laws because he willingly submitted to them But certainly he means something 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 antecedentally to our own choice it was not so with him for his obligation was only 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 and Man he was not by the Institution of that Law obliged to it being as it were exempted and lifted 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 he should have lived like a man discharged all the duties of a man without being man but when he chose to be a man there was no need to chuse any more for then he was bound by the Laws of his Nature to discharge all the duties of a man for himself But how could he be exempted from this Law though it be but as it were and raised above it by being Mediator God and Man when the Doctor himself acknowledges two lines after that upon supposition of his being Mediator it was necessary it should be so that is that he should yield obedience to the Law now not to be obliged by the Institution of the Law as Mediator and that it should be necessary for him to obey the Law as Mediator are at so great a distance that it may serve for another tryal of skill to reconcile them But Secondly Though we suppose that Christ as Man was bound to yield obedience to the Laws of the Creation yet the Doctor observes that this is the only Law he could be liable to as a Man for an innocent man in a Covenant of works as he was needed no other Law nor did God ever give any other Law to such persons the Law of Creation is the only Law that an innocent Creature is liable to with what Symbols of the Law God is pleased to add But now Iesus Christ yielded perfect obedience to all those Laws which came upon us by the occasion of sin as the Ceremonial Law yea those very Institutions that signified the washing away of sin and repentance from sin as the Baptism of John which he had no need of himself this therefore must needs be for us This now looks something like though I fear it will prove like all the rest that is to no purpose for though the Doctor takes it for granted yet I would willingly have had some proof of it that an innocent man can be bound by no other Law than the Law of Creation especially since he acknowledges which is a great favour that God might add what Symbols he pleased to that Law for I suppose he remembred the Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil now I know not what these Symbols are but positive Laws and such the Ceremonial Laws were and if God may require the obedience of an innocent man to one positive Law I see no reason why he may not if he please enjoyn twenty such Laws by the same Authority But they are
to be like our Saviour And that which perfects our love is an undaunted courage and resolution in professing the Faith of Christ whatever dangers and miseries it may expose us to in this World as St. Iohn tells us There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear 1 Joh. 5. 18. when we can hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters for the sake of Christ and sacrifice our lives also for him rather than abjure his Gospel or violate his Laws These are the proper expressions of our love to Christ which are summarily comprehended in believing his Gospel and obeying it for to be a true Lover of Christ signifies neither more nor less than to be a good Christian one who diligently obeys all the Laws of the Gospel This is a short account of the Nature of our Love to Christ which deserves a larger Discourse but I am now hastening to a conclusion and what I have already said is so plain and easie that it may be understood without a larger explication Our love to Christ is not such a subtil airy and metaphysical notion as some men represent it to be but is a vital Principle of Action which governs our lives and makes us fruitful in good works And indeed of all mistakes there is none more fatal and dangerous than to mistake the nature of our love to Christ because this is a practical Errour which hath an immediate influence upon our lives and one mistake in the Principles or Rules of Action is of greater consequence than a great many false Opinions which end in speculation And therefore for a conclusion of all I shall briefly take notice of those mistakes some men have been guilty of concerning the nature and expressions of our love to Christ. And first as they tell us that Christ falls in love with our Persons without considering any qualifications in us which may make us fit objects of his love so in requital to him we must love the Person of Christ. This I confess is as certain and evident as any demonstration in Euclide that if we love Christ we must love his Person for the Person of Christ is Christ himself and if we love Christ we must love him and if they would be satisfied with this the dispute would be at an end but this will not serve their turn and therefore we must examine what they mean by loving the Person of Christ Now they oppose our love to the Person of Christ to our love to him upon account of his benefits to our love to our selves and to our duties First we must love the Person of Christ in opposition to his benefits that is we must not consider what advantages we do or may receive from Christ what he haâ—h done or suffered for us but we must love his person purely for himself without any other considerations to endear him to us This matter is very gravely stated and determined by * W. B. who tells us 1. That it is a good and lawful thing to love Christ in reference to his benefits This is a very liberal grant that gratitude which hath hitherto been accounted a great and excellent vertue is now owned to be a lawful thing 2. It is our duty to love Christs Person to have our hearts drawn out with love to the very Person of Christ. This is so certainly true that even those men who love Christ for his benefits love his Person But 3. The excellency of Christs Person is not the object of my Faith but Christ crucified 4. Though Christ crucified be the object of my Faith yet the personal excellencies of Christ are the object of my Love yea it is a more excellent thing yet to love the Person of Christ than the benefits of Christ a more excellent thing to have my heart drawn out in love to the Person of Christ than to have my heart drawn out in love to him for his benefits Now what can be the meaning of all this but that the excellency and perfection of our love to Christ consists in loving him for no reason the proper object and reason of love is Goodness to love that which is good for nothing is the folly and degeneracy of love and it is as foolish and impossible a task to love a Person who hath been good to us not because he hath been good but for no reason Now this is the case here for if you separate the Person and Personal Excellencies of Christ from the consideration of his benefits his personal goodness from the expressions of his love and goodness to our selves and others it can be no object nor reason of our love for a goodness which doth no good or never did any or which is all one is considered as doing none is so far from being the object of our love that it is not the object of our understanding for we cannot understand what that goodness means which never did any good God challenges our love not upon account of an imaginary goodness of Nature which never did any good but for the real and sensible effects of his goodness in the works of Creation and Providence and the Redemption of Mankind by our Lord Jesus Christ and Christ himself challenges our love for the like reasons because he hath loved us and dyed for us and now intercedes for us and will at the last day bestow a Crown of Glory and Immortality on us but never as I can observe requires such an abstracted and metaphysical love to his Person without any respect to his benefits Indeed these men seem not to understand themselves when they oppose our love to the Person of Christ to our love to him upon account of his benefits for when you inquire what this Person of Christ is which is the object of our love then they describe his beauty and perfections the comeliness of his Person the sweetness of his disposition his great riches that he is a good suitable to all our wants that in him we shall find whatever we need if you be poor he is rich if you be foolish he is wise if you be out of the way I am the way saith he if you want a Director in the way I am the Truth if you be in the dark I am light if you be wicked and sinful he is Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness Now either all this signifies the benefits we receive by Christ or it signifies nothing and how then do these personal Excellencies of Christ differ from his benefits nay when they direct us how to attain to this love to the Person of Christ they bid us behold how Christ hath loved us and our persons how many impediments his love hath broken thorough how free it is so free that there was no reason for his love to us neither likeness benefit nor love c. and they teach us to use Christ much if we would love his person in any good thing you have