be possest with the same love of vertue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sense with that expression of Christs being formed in you Gal. 4. 19. My little Children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you that is till you be thoroughly instructed in the Doctrine and Religion of Christ and are thereby moulded into his likeness and image Hence in the 1 Cor. 6. 17. the Apostle tells us He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit that is herein consists our Union to Christ that we have the same temper of mind which he had for there can be no Union betwixt Souls and Spirits without this that they are acted by the same Principles and love and chuse the same things bodies are united by an external adhesion of parts but Souls by an harmony and consent of wills This makes two one Spirit when there is a perfect likeness of disposition when they agree in the same designs as much as if the same Soul animated them both when we love God and men as our Saviour did when we are meek and humble and patient and contented as he was we are as closely united to him as if he dwelt in us and we in him as if we had but one Spirit in us both But Thirdly there is a closer Union still which results from this which consists in a mutual and reciprocal love When we are transformed into the image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him too as partaking of his nature He loves us as the price of his blood as his own workmanship created to good works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour Now love is the great Cement of Union which unites interests and thereby does more firmly unite hearts hence when our Saviour had told his Disciples At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Joh. 14. 20. he explains the meaning of it in v. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him That is God and Christ and Christians are all united by a mutual and reciprocal love founded on a likeness of dispositions and actions on obedience to those Laws which are but a Copy of the Original Holiness of God and of the life of Christ. To the same purpose Christ prays for his Disciples Ioh. 17. 21. that they may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Which refers to their agreement in doctrine and love Thus according to the Scripture phrase love makes us one with God and Christ and with each other Fourthly This Union is exprest in Scripture by resembling the Christian Church to Gods Temple wherein he dwells as formerly he did in the Temple at Ierusalem while that typical and ceremonial Worship was in force God was pleased to dwell in a Temple made with hands there he placed the Symbols of his Presence from thence he gave forth his Oracles there he received their Sacrifices and Oblations and returned an answer to their prayers But since Christ hath introduced a more manly and spiritual Worship God dwells no longer in a Temple of wood and stones by such visible signs of his presence as formerly he did but hath chosen the society of devout minds and pure souls for the place of his residence and abode Thus in the 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know you not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you and Chap. 6. vers 19. Know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and 2 Cor. 6. 16. Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in or among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people To the same purpose we find in Rev. 21. 3. that after the description of the Holy City the New Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven which signifies the state of the Christian Church there was heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Now all this must be expounded in allusion to the Temple at Ierusalem that as the Temple was the place of Gods peculiar presence with that people signifying that he was always ready at hand to assist them in their distress to supply their wants to defend them from their enemies to hear all the pious prayers they put up to him that is that he would be their God and they should be his people as the Apostle expounds it thus it is now with the Christian Church they are the only society of men whom God hath a peculiar regard for with whom he is always present whom he protects and defends by a vigilant and more particular providence whom he hath chosen for his peculiar people to dwell among them And as in the Temple God placed the Mercy-seat and the Cherubims as Emblems of his Majesty and Presence for which reason he is so often said to dwell betwixt the Cherubims so he hath now bestowed his holy Spirit on the Christian Church which is a surer pledge of his dwelling among them than those Types and Shadows were as the Apostle speaks Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you or among you that is this is a sufficient evidence that ye are the Temple of God in that God hath given his Spirit to dwell with you which primarily refers to those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which God in that Age bestowed on the Christian Church this was the true Shecinah or divine glory resting on them for which reason he is called the Spirit of Glory 1 Pet. 4. 14 The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you that is that Spirit of God which is the visible manifestation of his glory in the Christian Church of which that visible glory which sometimes filled the Jewish Tabernacle was an Emblem Hence S. Paul tells us that the glory of the new Covevant which is the ministration of the Spirit which was confirmed by such miraculous and plentiful effusions of the holy Spirit did far exceed the glory of the first Covenant written and engraven in stones though that was so glorious that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance 2 Cor. 3. 7 8. for this was a glorious manifestation of a divine Presence with the Church that God did indeed dwell with them and walk among them and though these extraordinary gifts are now ceased yet
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
by this means we may love undeserving objects which is the greatest degeneracy of love but the perfection of love consists in loving deserving objects and in loving upon honourable reasons and the immutability of love consists in loving always for the same reason which is the only foundation of a vertuous immutability The reason of Christs love to any Person is his Holiness and Obedience if any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Iohn 14. 23. and the unchangeableness of his love is seen in this that he will continue to love while we continue to obey him if ye shall keep my Commandments that is continue to do so ye shall abide in my love I will continue to love you as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love Iohn 15. 10. This is the immutability of the divine nature that God always acts upon steddy and constant principles that whatever changes there are in the World which may occasion very different administrations in his providence yet he is the same still and never changes whereas should God always love the same Person however he changed and alter'd God must change and alter too because though he still loves the same Person yet he must love for different or contrary reasons or for none at all and that is the much greater change of the two to alter the reason than the object of love if God love a good man because he is good and continue to love him when he is wicked his love is a mutable thing which can love goodness or wickedness which can love for none or for contrary reasons but if God always love true goodness and good men and never loves any other whatever change there be in Creatures God is the same still and unchangeable in his love Thus you see while these men pretend to admire and magnifie the love of God and Christ they make it a despicable and worthless thing such as a wise man would be ashamed of and such as a good man cannot be guilty of to love for no reason and to continue to love contrary to reason And as this is a great reproach to God and to our Saviour so is it a great injury to men too for it must of necessity make them careless of pleasing God and secure in their sins when they are perswaded that sin cannot hinder God from loving them nor alter his love towards them that if ever he love them it is for no reason but because he will and when once he is resolved upon it the immutability of his nature makes it necessary for him to continue to love that now sin it self cannot separate us from the love of God if this were true the worst man living would have as much reason to be secure of Gods love as the best men have nay if the depth and mystery and glory of the love of Christ consists in loving for no reason or contrary to reason the worse men are the fitter objects are they of the love of Christ. SECT II. Concerning the Believers love to Christ. HAving showed you wherein the Love of Christ consists I shall now consider what are those returns of love which we owe to our Lord and Saviour I take it for granted that all men who believe that Christ came into the World to save Sinners are of the Apostles mind if any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha the only dispute is how we are to express our love to Christ now love primarily signifies the inward affection of the mind but is made visible by outward actions as for the affection of the mind we must consider that Christ is our Superiour our Lord and Master and therefore our love to Christ ought not to express it self in a fond and familiar passion such as we have for our friends and equals but in a great reverence and devotion Superiours must be treated with honour and respect which requires that we keep our distance and therefore our love to our Parents and Superiours is called honour in the fifth Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother and the same religious affection to God which is sometimes called love is at other times called fear which signifies a reverential love or a love of honour and reverence and devotion which includes a great delight in the thoughts of God a devout sense of his greatness and Majesty a great admiration of his Excellencies and perfections a religious awe and reverence for him and all those affections of the Soul which are expressive of love and honour As for the external expressions of our love they are as various as the expressions of honour are and herein we must have a peculiar regard to the nature and condition of the Person and that relation we stand in to him thus Christ being the only begotten Son of God we must have regard to the greatness and excellency of his Person that our returns may bear some proportion to it Christ having condescended to come into the World in our nature to suffer and die for us it becomes us to admire his love and goodness to extol and praise him to celebrate the memorials of his Death and Passion in that holy Feast which he hath on purpose instituted to be a thankful remembrance of our Crucified Lord since he is our Mediator and Advocate the truest expression of our love and honour is to confide and trust in him to depend on his intercession for us to offer up all our Prayers to God in his name and to expect an answer to our Prayers for his sake and when we consider him as our Prophet and Law-giver we must express our love to him in a stedfast belief of his Gospel and in a sincere and hearty obedience to all his Laws love to equals who have no authority over each other but what love gives them makes them very flexible and obsequious to each others desires and requests but our love to Superiours to our Prince or Parents includes obedience in its own nature and therefore this our Saviour makes the principal tryal of our love to him if you love me keep my Commandments and he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me but he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings you are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you Joh. 14. 15. 23 24. and in Chap. 15. vers 14. for there cannot be a more proper expression of our love and honour to a Law-giver than to obey his Laws And when we consider our Saviour as our Guide and Example the truest expression of our love and honour is to imitate him to live as he lived in the World For there is nothing more natural than to imitate what we love and reverence which is the plainest demonstration of the greatest honour in that we think it our perfection and happiness
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
certainly be expiated by the Death of the Sinner Especially considering how holy our Priest and Sacrifice was we cannot reasonably conceive that he died or that he intercedes for incorrigible Sinners The Sacrifice of his Death extends no farther than the example of his life he was made manifest to destroy sin and in him was no sin Now though I dare not be so bold as to say what infinite Wisdom can do yet it is not imaginable how God could have contrived a more effectual way to reform the World which contains so many powerful obligations such forceable endearments such ravishing charms which makes such a pleasant and inviting representation of God to the World which so confirms our Faith and encourages our hopes and enflames our love and awakens our fears and excites our emulation which doth even affect our senses with the arguments of Religion and storm the lower and more bruitish faculties of our Souls and captivate them to the love and obedience of Christ. From hence it is easie to understand what is the true method of a Sinners recovery by Christ and what returns of love and gratitude we owe our Lord and Saviour When we are so affected with all the powerful arguments to a new life which are contained in his Incarnation and life and doctrine and example and miracles and death and resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and his Intercession for us as to be sensible of the shame and folly of sin and to be reconciled to the love and practice of true piety and holiness then we partake in the merits of his Sacrifice and find the benefit of his Intercession and have a title to all the blessings and promises of his Gospel this was the design of Christ's coming into the World not to distract our guilty minds with the terrours of the Law and the inexorable justice of God not to bring us under a Legal dispensation of fear and bondage but to encourage us to forsake our sins and reform our lives by all the endearments of love and goodness and the lively hopes of a blessed Immortality mixt with an awful regard and Reverence for God who is a holy and righteous Judge and an irreconcileable Enemy to all sin This is such a method of converting Sinners as is proper to the Person of Christ and the manner of his appearance which was not designed to cause tempests and Earthquakes in our minds like the Thunder and Lightning from Mount Sinai but to work a reformation in the World by more silent and gentle methods and in more humane ways If our Faith in Christ have reformed our lives and rectified the temper and disposition of our minds and made us sincere Lovers of God and goodness Though we are not acquainted with these artificial methods of repentance have not felt the workings of the Law nor the amazing terrours of Gods wrath nor the raging despair of damned Spirits and then all on a sudden as if we had never heard of any such thing before have had Christ offered to us to be our Saviour and heard the woings and beseechings of Christ to accept of him and upon this have made a formal contract and espousal with Christ and such like working of a heated fancy and religious distraction though our conversion be not managed with so much art and method and by so many steps and gradations we are never the worse Christians for want of it For indeed this must needs be the effect of ignorance not of an acquaintance with Christ which suggests so many encouraging considerations to return to God as to a merciful and compassionate Father and not to tremble at his presence as a severe and inexorable judge And hence we learn that the truest expression of love to our Saviour is not some fond and amorous passions but obedience to his Laws and the greatest honour we can do him is to imitate his example and to express the power of his death and resurrection in the exemplary holiness of our lives for this best answers the end of his coming into the World is the fruit of his intercession for us and the greatest glory and ornament of his spiritual Kingdom Thus I have given you a brief Scheme and Hypothesis of Religion from an acquaintance with Christs Person and if they will owne this a safe way to build Religion on an acquaintance with Christs Person they must owne what I have now discoursed which is much more agreeable to the Person of Christ and the design of his appearing and more easily and naturally deduced from it than their own wild and fantastical conceits If they do not like this I must advise them to quit this way as the which will serve others as well as themselves and let us all fetch our Religion from the plain Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel of Christ not from any pretended Personal Acquaintance with him SECT IV. How men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancies THere is a very obvious objection against this whole discourse the answering of which will further discover the ill consequences of frameing such fanciful Idaeas of Religion from an acquaintance with Christ's Person And that is this that though these men deduce their Religion from an acquaintance with Christ yet there are no men that so abound in Scripture proofs to confirm what they say and therefore they do not lay the Foundation of their Religion on such uncertain conjectures and the truth is if you consult these mens Writings you shall find their Books stuffed with Scripture or if you talk with them their whole discourse is little else but Scripture phrase but that Reverend Doctor confessed the plain truth that their Religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ and could never have been clearly and savingly learn't from his Gospel had they not first grown acquainted with his Person And then it is no wonder if they can accommodate Scripture expressions to their own dreams and fancies For when mens fancies are so posfest with Schemes and Idaeas of Religion whatever they look on appears of the same shape and colour wherewith their minds are already tinctured like a man sick of the Jaundies or that looks through a painted Glass who seeth every thing of the same colour that his eye or Glass gives it all the Metaphors and Similitudes and Allegories of Scripture are easily applyed to their purpose and if any word sound like the tinkling of their own sancies It is no less than a demonstration that that is the meaning of the Spirit of God and every little shadow and appearance doth mightily confirm them in their pre-conceived opinions As Inenaeus observes of the Valentinians that they used one Artifice or other to adapt all the speeches of our Saviour and all the Allegories of Scripture male composito phantasmati to the ill contrived sigment of their own brain and thus the minds of men are abused with words and phrases and the
Golden Bucket whereas at other times they tell us that Faith may be a sore and blear-eyed Leah a shaking and Palsie hand weak and bending Legs and have all the infirmities that may be and be never the worse neither as to the purpose of justification so that Faith had need be a very humble Grace else it would take such language very ill from them Thus to give you but one instance more when these men are prest with those Scriptures that urge the necessity of good works and a holy life that without holiness no man shall see God that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men That our acceptation with God depends upon a holy and vertuous life that God is no respector of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him That except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees those Immoral Hypocrites who plac't all their Righteousness in observing the Ceremonies of the Law without the purity of their hearts and lives we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That he who breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teacheth men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is shall have no Inheritance there and he that doth and teacheth them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven that is shall be greatly rewarded with many more of the like nature which assert the absolute necessity of a holy life and keeping the Commandments of God to entitle us to his love and favour and the rewards of the next life which perfectly overthrow their fundamental notion of justification by the righteousness of Christ the merits of whose death they say free us from the guilt of sin and that punishment which is due to it make us as perfectly Innocent as if we had never offended and the righteousness of his life imputed to us makes us righteous so as to deserve a reward gives us an actual title to glory Now any one who is not mightily acquainted with the Person of Christ would think it a very hard task to reconcile this Doctrine of Justification by the imputation of Christs Righteousness without any thing of our own with the necessity of a holy life which the Scripture doth so expresly assert But these men defie you if you charge them with destroying the necessity of a holy life And I wish with all my heart that whatever the consequence of their Doctrines is it may have no bad influence upon their lives For they tell us that this Universal Obedience and good works a very suspicious word which methinks these men should be afraid to name are indispensably necessary from the Soveraign appointment and will of God this is the will of God even our Sanctification It is the will of the Father and it is the will of the Son I have ordained you that you bring forth fruit John 15. 16. and the appointment of the Holy Ghost And then Holiness is one eminent and special end of the peculiar dispensation of Father Son and Spirit in the business of exalting the glory of God in our Salvation It is the end of the Fathers electing love he hath chosen us that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. the end of the Sons redeeming love who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Titus 2. 14. and of the Spirits sanctifying love as any one would easily guess It is necessary to the glory of God to the glory of the Father to the glory of the Son and to the glory of the Holy Ghost whose Temple we are and are not these men now mightily injured in being charged with denying the necessity of a Holy Life who make it necessary upon so many accounts Is it not great pity they should be so abused But the truth is all this is not one syllable to the purpose for the question was about its necessity to Salvation and if we be justified and saved without it all this cannot prove any necessary obligation on us to the practice of it God hath appointed and commanded obedience but where is the sanction of this Law will he damn those who do not obey for their disobedience and will he save and reward those who do obey for their obedience not a word of this for this destroys our justification by the Righteousness of Christ only And if after all these commands God hath left it indifferent whether we obey or not I hope such commands cannot make obedience necessary The Father hath elected us to be holy and the Son redeemed us to be holy but will the Father elect and the Son redeem none but those who are holy and reject and reprobate all others doth this Election and Redemption suppose Holiness in us or is it without any regard to it For if we be elected and redeemed without any regard to our own being holy our Election and Redemption is secure whether we be holy or not and so this cannot make holiness necessary on our parts though it may be necessary on Gods part to make us holy but that is not our care Obedience and a holy life is for the glory of the Father the Son and holy Spirit how so when the necessity of Holiness is so destructive to free Grace which is the only glory God designs to advance by Christ. If this will not do yet Holiness is necessary to our honour for it makes us like to God Prophane men that they are as if the perfect Righteousness of Christ his beautiful Robes were not much more for our honour and did not make us more like to God than the rags and patches of our own Righteousness however if men prefer their lusts and interests before their honour the necessity of holiness ceases But it is for Peace What Peace I pray you Peace of Conscience Why then must we at last fetch our Peace and security from our own duties and graces Is not this to renounce Christ Miserable men that we are must we then set about correcting our lives amending our ways performing duties required and so follow after righteousness according to the Prescript of the law Why this is the course wherein many men continue long with much perplexity sometimes hoping oftner fearing sometimes ready to give quite over sometimes vowing to continue their Consciences being no ways satisfied nor righteousness in any measure obtained all their days After they have tired themselves perhaps in the largeness of their ways they come at length with fear and trembling and disappointment to the conclusion of the Apostle by the works of the Law no man is justified and with David cry that if God marks what is done amiss there is no standing before him And is this the way in which we must seek for Peace is this the way to enjoy Communion with
him that bear not fruit hence to distinguish all true Christians from such Hypocritical Professors he adds and I in you that is my words abide in you Ver. 7. if my Doctrines and Precepts take fast hold of your wills and affections they will make you fruitful in good works Thus you see that the Union of particular Christians to Christ consists in their Union to the Christian Church And hence it is that the Ancient Fathers interpret all those Metaphors which decypher the Union between Christ and Christians to signifie the entire love and Unity of Christians among themselves Thus St. Chrysost. expounds Eph. 2. 19 20 21. where the Apostle speaks of that spiritual building which is erected on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone to signifie the Unity of the Church in all Ages that both the Jewish and Christian Church are united in Christ as the several parts of the building are kept together by the Corner Stone and St. Ambrose to the same purpose tells us duos populos in se suscepit salvator secit unum in Domino sicut lapis angularis duos parietes continet in unitate domûs sirmatos i. e. That Christ united two people in himself the Iew and Gentile and made them one in the Lord as the Corner Stone unites two Walls in a building and makes it but one House Which is the plain design of the place to prove that Christ hath taken away the enmity and distance which was between the Jew and Gentile and hath reconciled them both to God in one body by the Cross Ver. 16. Thus St. Chrysost. observes on 1 Cor. 3. 9. that the Apostle to disswade them from Schisms and Factions tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That they were Gods building and if they were Gods building they must not be torn asunder for then they are no longer a building and if they were Gods Husbandry they must not be divided from each other but they must be one enclosure hedged and walled in by Unity and agreement And adds let us therefore be built on Christ and cleave to him as to a foundation and as a branch to the Vine that there may be no distance between Christ and us to interrupt this Union for if there be we immediately perish for the branch draws nourishment and fatness from the Vine by its Union to it and the building stands firm by the strong adhesion of its parts Which plainly signifies that our Union to Christ consists in our Union to the Christian Church and when we divide and separate from the Church we are broken off from Christ as a branch is from the Vine we are then like a building whose stones fall asunder and destroy the whole fabrick Thus the same Father argues on Iohn 14. 21. to perswade Christians to Peace and Unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for he Christ unites us to each other by many examples and patterns of the closest Union He is the Head and we the body and the whole body by the Union of its several parts must be firmly united to the head He is the foundation we the building He the Vine We the branches He the Husband We his Spouse He the Shepherd We his Sheep He the way we those who are to walk in that way We are a Spiritual Temple and He it is who dwells in us He is the first born we his Brethren He the Heir we fellow Heirs with him He the life we those who live by him He the Resurrection we those who rise with him He the light and we are all enlightned by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these metaphors describe the nearest and closest Union of Christians to each other and of all to Christ which will not admit of the least distance and separation so that according to the sense of this Holy man particular Christians are united to Christ by means of their Union to the Christian Church otherwise I cannot understand how our Union to Christ can be an argument to Unity and Concord among ourselves if we are immediately united to the Person of Christ without being first united to his Church Which I wish those men would seriously consider who boast so much of their Union to Christ and yet rend his Church into a thousand little factions tear the members of his body from each other and yet pretend to be united to the head make new enclosures in the Husbandry and Vineyard of God and when Christ hath broken down the middle Wall of Partition and made Jews and Gentiles but one Church do now erect more Partition Walls in the Christian than ever were in the Iewish Temple But we need not depend on Authority for the confirmation of this notion that the Union of particular Christians with Christ consists in their Union with the Christian Church for those Sacraments our Saviour hath Instituted as Symbols of our Union with him are a plain demonstration of it Our first undertaking of Christianity is represented in our Baptism wherein we make a publick profession of our Faith in Christ and it is sufficiently known that Baptism is the Sacrament of our admission into the Christian Church and if any one should deny this we have the Authority of St. Paul for the proof of it 1 Cor. 12 13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body In which the Apostle seems to allude to Baptism which confers the same holy Spirit on us all and thereby makes us all members of that one body of Christ which is his Church but more expresly in Eph. 4. 4 5. There is one Body and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism that is the Christian Baptism is but one and is a Sacrament of Union making us all the members of that one body of Christ this is called being Baptized into Christ i. e. admitted into the Christian Church by a publick profession of our Faith in Christ. Thus the Lords Supper is a Sacrament of Union and signifies that near Conjunction between Christ and the Christian Church and the mutual fellowship of one Christian with another hence the Apostle calls the Cup of Blessing the Communion of the blood of Christ and the Bread the Communion of the body of Christ for we being many are one bread and one body one body represented by this one bread for we are all partakers of that one bread 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. For the Intention of our Lord and Saviour in what he did and suffer'd for us was not meerly to reform and save some single Persons but to erect a Church and to combine all his Disciples into a publick Society to unite them by holy Mysteries and to engage them to a mutual discharge of all Christian offices whereby the whole body may edifie it self in love and therefore our Saviour does not owne any relation to particular men as
Body that whereas in former Ages the Church of God seemed to be confined to the Iewish Nation now it pleased the Father that Christ should be the Universal Shepherd and Bishop of Souls by him to reconcile all things to himself and this too is the meaning of that Phrase The fulness of him who filleth all in all therefore the Church is called his Fulness because he filleth all in all that is doth not confine his care and providence and the influences of his Grace to any one Nation or People but extends it to the whole World Thus the fulness of Christ signifies in Eph. 4. 13. Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the explication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a perfect man That is to that perfection of faith and knowledge which becomes the Christian Church For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the age and growth and stature of a man the fulness of Christ cannot so properly be understood of any thing as of the Christian Church This is all that I can find in Scripture concerning the fulness of Christ which either signifies the perfection of his Gospel or the Universality of his Church which is a plain demonstration of those mens skill in expounding Scripture who make this fulness a Personal Grace in Christ and apply it to every thing they can find or fancy in him All the furniture that he received from the Father by the Unction of the Spirit for the work of our Salvation The fulness of his Divine and Humane Nature the fulness of Love in Christ the fulness of habitual Grace fulness of Satisfaction fulness of Merit fulness of Power and Vertue a fulness of Iustification and a fulness of Sanctification which fulness I am sure hath confounded mens notions of Religion and made them look upon Christ only as a Fountain from whence they must drink grace and mercy and pardon justification and eternal life Let us now consider in what sense Christ is called our life and he is so called with respect to his Doctrine his Sacrifice and that Power he is invested with to raise us from the dead He is called Life with respect to his Doctrine because he preached the Word of Life and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel hence in Ioh. 1. 4. the Evangelist tells us In him was life and the life was the light of men That is he preached the Word of Life which enlightned the dark minds of men for it is not imaginable how Life should be light in any other sense than as this Word of Life which Christ preached enlightned their minds and dispelled all the Mists of Errour and Ignorance hence Christ tells his Disciples I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Ioh. 14. 6. that is I declare the true and only way to life and happiness and no man can throughly understand the will of God nor consequently be a true Worshipper of him without learning of me thus he calls himself the Bread of life Ioh. 6. with respect to the Doctrine he preached Vers. 33. and with respect to that Sacrifice he offered for the life of the World Vers. 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World Thus Christ is called our Life because he hath power and authority to bestow immortal life upon all his sincere Followers Ioh. 11. 26 27. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never dye That is he hath power to raise the dead and will actually raise all those who believe in him and reward them with eternal life To the same purpose our Saviour speaks in Ioh. 5. 25 26. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live for as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself That is he first raises those who are dead in sin to a new spiritual life by the power of his Doctrine then hath Authority to raise them to an immortal life This is the meaning too of that expression in Col. 3. 3 4. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory That is you profess your selves to be dead to this World in conformity to the death of Christ and though that immortal life which you expect to enjoy with Christ who is now risen again from the dead be at present concealed from your view yet when Christ who is the Author of eternal life and hath power to raise us from the dead shall appear the second time to judge the World then shall ye appear with him in glory So that when Christ is called our Life the meaning is that he hath published the Word of Life to us which contains the most express promises of a blessed Immortality and the most plain and easie directions how to attain it and that by his death he hath expiated our sins and confirmed all these promises to us and being risen from the dead himself hath now power to raise us We must not dream of fetching life from the Person of Christ as we draw water out of a Fountain but if we would live for ever with Christ we must stedfastly believe and obey his Gospel which is a Principle of a Divine life in us and then we may joyfully expect that when our Lord and Saviour comes again to judge the World he will raise us from the dead and reward our Faith and Patience and Obedience with Immortal Life Thus to proceed Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God which these men call Personal Graces too But I have already shewed you at large that Christ is the Wisdom of God with respect to those Revelations he made of Gods will The Gospel of Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God that is the Doctrine of a crucified Christ as will appear from the verses before The Iews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them who are called both Iews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God The Jews were all for Signs and Miracles the Greeks were for curious Philosophical Speculations which might gratifie their inquisitive minds and therefore
never come And when the Soul hath this particular call suppose it should suspect this call for a delusion what course can it take to satisfie it self that this is the call of the spirit of God and not the cheat and imposture of an enthusiastick fancy truly none that I know of if this calling by name will not satisfie it there is no other way but to call for the Book of Election and see whether its name be enrolled there the best of it is that all that are called must come and therefore they need inquire no further But secondly Though we know not how to get into Christ it would be some comfort to know that we are in him but this is as impossible as the other as the only foundation of our Faith in coming to Christ according to these mens notions is this special and particular call of the Spirit so the only infallible assurance any one can have that he is in Christ is the testimony of the Spirit that Spirit of adoption which teaches us to cry Abba Father and yet God does not afford this testimony of the Spirit to all but suffers many good Christians to walk in darkness and hides his face from them and conceals the evidences of his eternal love for no other reason but because they are desirous of it and would be quiet if they should know it this is somewhat hard measure but suppose you have or think you have this testimony of the Spirit how can you be sure that it is not a cheat and delusion the imposture of the Devil or of your own self-flattering imaginations To satisfie this scruple we are directed to marks and evidences and thus this infallible assurance from the testimony of the Spirit must in its last resolve be founded upon some moral evidence as it is with the Church of Rome who after a great noise and cry of infallibility are at last forc't to resolve their Faith into some motives of credibility or to dance round in an endless circle Well but let us consider what are the marks and evidences of our being in Christ and now you must inquire whether you have the Spirit of Christ and it is just as easie to know this as whether you be in Christ But are you true Believers is your Faith of the right stamp is it wrought by the Almighty Power of God or is it such an easie common presumptuous false Faith as that which is in the generality of men and this is as easie to know as either of the former for if there be such a false presumptuous Faith as takes Christ when he does not belong to us and rests and relies on Christ only for pardon life and Salvation and yet shall never have Christ how shall we know whether our Faith be true and genuine such as will make Christ ours and the answer to this brings us to that great mark of sanctification you must consider the effects of Faith doth it purifie your heart doth it overcome the World doth it work by love if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature are you then new Creatures is the state of your person changed from a Child of wrath to an Heir of Grace which is the thing to be proved or is your nature changed do you not think speak act as you did before do ye walk in newness of life c. have you crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts do you bring forth fruit as every branch in Christ which is not rejected by him doth that is you must prove your justification by your sanctification your Faith by your Works It must be acknowledged that these are some of those marks and Characters which the Scripture gives of good Christians by which we may as certainly know what our state is as the Tree is known by its Fruit and since it is no better I am heartily glad it is no worse that good works and a holy life may at least put in for marks and evidences of a justified state though the truth is this is a meer complement to holiness and as they order the matter a holy life can no more be the sign of a justified state than it can justifie us For first since holiness is not necessary to our Union with Christ it can be no necessary sign of it we are united to Christ before we are holy as appears from what I have already discoursed and therefore an unholy man may be united to Christ and how then can holiness be the only sure mark of our Union to Christ indeed they tell us that holiness does necessarily follow our Union to Christ but no man knows how long it may be before it follows and yet all this while such a Person is united to Christ at best this gives evidence but to one part of the question a holy life may be a good evidence that such a man is in Christ but the want of it is no certain evidence that a man is not in Christ and therefore this mark may be rejected by any one who hath no mind to it Nay secondly According to these mens principles we cannot tell whether we are holy or not till we know whether we are in Christ or not our Union to Christ must be an evidence of our holiness not our holiness an evidence of our Union to Christ till we are united to Christ we can do nothing to please God the best actions of Christless and unregenerate men are but splendida peccata glittering impieties which may appear so fair and lovely that they may deceive both other men and themselves for the true fruits of the Spirit but yet are odious and abominable to God because the person who does them is out of Christ our persons must be first accepted in Christ and then our services we cannot judge of holiness by the external performance of any duty nor by the inward sense of our own minds but must first know whether we are in Christ whether our persons be accepted in him before we can tell whether any thing we do be good and acceptable to God and this is a plain demonstration that holiness cannot be an evidence of our Union to Christ because we must first know our Union to Christ before we can know that we are holy And thirdly At other times these men make the work of sanctification in this life so imperfect and so like an unsanctified state that it is impossible to distinguish a sanctified and unsanctified man and upon this account holiness and sanctification must needs be a very sorry evidence of our Union to Christ when it is so imperfect that it cannot be known for that which is an evidence of another thing ought to be very evident it self An unregenerate man is under the Law of Sin under the reigning power of it and a regenerate man as they describe him is in a state as like this as one Egg is like another for a regenerate man may
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