he will improve it Where says he the Fellowship of Christ can signifie no more than fellowship with the Church because the Apostle addes in the next Verse I beseech you brethren that you all speak the same thing that there be no Divisions among you I confess he has a heavy hand at Reasoning and it goes hard with us that must continually feel the weight of it But yet 1. The Apostles Argument will conclude as strongly from the Communications of Grace from Christ unto Peace among our selves as from Union q. d. You have all been made partakers of the Communications of Grace and Peace from Christ you have many mercies in hand and more in hope much in possession but infinitely more in Reversion and will you run into Factions among your selves But 2. The very plain Truth is The Apostle argues neither the one way nor the other Verse 9. has no such Influence upon Verse 10. but the Rise of his Discourse is from Verse 3. Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Where you have First The Union and Relation God our Father Our Lord and Saviour Secondly The Communion that flows from that Relation 〈◊〉 and Peace i. e. All new covenant-Covenant-Mercies And because whatever Grace or Peace comes from the Father as the Fountain and Spring from the Son in a way of Purchase and Procurement comes also from the Holy Ghost by way of Immediate Efficiency therefore it 's called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 13. 14. The Grace of our Lord Jesus the Love of God and the Communion or Communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all You all that is The Church of God at Corinth with all the Saints in Achaia Chap. 1. ver 1. who are supposed to be already United to Christ both in our Authors false Notion and in the true Now this Communication he calls The Grace of God given them or Communicated to them by Jesus Christ Verse 4. And shews the Measure of it Verse 5. Ye are enriched in every thing by Him And Verse 8. He shews that God would confirm them in as well as enrich them with his Grace to the end And for a Proof of this he minds them of the Faithfulness and Steddiness of God in his Covenant Verse 9. God is Faithful by whom ye are called unto the Communication of our Lord Jesus Christ. The end of your Effectual calling to an Union with Christ is a Communication of this Grace and Peace from Christ. And then Thirdly Our Authors Memory is very Treacherous For first he observes That Communion with God signifies a Political Union and that Political Union was such a one as is between a Prince and his Subjects pag. 156. And that certainly has the Persons of both for the Terms of the Relation And pag. 185. He observes That our Fellowship with the Father and the Son is founded on our Fellowship with the Christian Church and therefore fellowship with the Father and the Son and fellowship with the Christian Church are two things really distinct for it would be harsh to say a thing is founded on it self And yet after all this Fellowship with Christ can signifie no more than Fellowship with the Church And thus the short and long of the Business is this Union with Christ is Union with the Church And Communion with Christ is Communion with the Church And Union with the Church is Communion with the Church Quod erat Demonstrandum But we are terribly Threatned with an Argument from 2 Cor. 6. 14. Be ye not unequally Yoaked together with Unbelievers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Apostle refers to a Levitical Ordinance Deut. 22. 10. Thou shalt not Plow with an Ox and an Ass. In proportion to which the Apostle forbids Believers to joyn in the same special League and Covenant with Unbelievers Now the Reason why he disswades them from such an unequal union is because the end of all union is a Communion or Communication each to and with other in that Union But to be sure where there are such Contrarieties of Interests and Inclinations in the Persons joyned together there can be no assistance to the same common VVork The Cedar in Lebanon and the Thistle in Lebanon are not qualified for a Match for they will never serve and accommodate each other in the Duties of the Relation When the Wise God chose a VVife for Adam he provided one that was Homogeneous with him Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh that she might be a Meet-help for him But now says the Apostle If you joyn your selves with Unbelievers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVhat participation of good things can you expect from them whose Religion is as contrary to yours as Righteousness is to Unrighteousness And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVhat Communication can there be between Light and Darkness Pagans can Communicate nothing to you but their uncleanness and I would not have you communicate with the unfruitful Works of Darkness Ephes. 5. 11. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVhat Concord hath Christ with Belial VVhat Symphony or Harmony can there be in your Conversations You will be always Jarring There will be no Melody or Musick in your Converses VVhen you would be praising to their Idols so that never was there greater Confusion of Tongues at Babel than there will be in your Society And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what Portion can a Believer have with an Unbeliever He will not ought not partake of the Lords Table with you and you will not ought not partake of the Table of Devils with him For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what Consent or Suffrage will the one give to the other The living God will not vote for dead and dumb Idols The Arke will never endure Dagon How absurd therefore must it be to enter into a Relation with them with whom you can enjoy no Fellowship in that Relation One Reserve he has still left from the Lords Supper whereby our Fellowship with God and Christ are expressed 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ Now says he it 's called a Communion because it signifies 1. A Communion of Christians with each other 2. A Fellowship with God That is it 's called a Communion because it 's no Communion but onely the sign of a Communion There is indeed an outward and visible sign and there is also an inward and invisible Grace really exhibited and communicated from Christ by the Ordinance to the worthy Receiver And thus much he might have learn'd from the Church Catechism Qu. What is the inward part or thing signified Ans. The Body and Blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received of the Faithfull in the Lords Supper Qu. What are the Benefits whereof we are partakers Thereby Ans. The strengthning and refreshing of our Souls by the Body and Blood of Christ As our Bodies
and only watch for the Creep-hole of a bare Possibility If they intended honestly they would lay things together as well as they can labour to find out the meaning of God's Spirit with Sobriety and Humility and never strain their Wits and vex and torture the Scripture with utmost Possibilities The Text tells us that the namâ—… whereby Christ shall be called is the Lord our Righteousness Now it 's granted that this was not designed to be his Praenomen or Cognomen that which should distinguish him in Common Discourse from other persons and therefore He shall be called is no less than He shall Really be our Righteousness Thus 1 Iohn 3. 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called that is that we should become the sons of God Isa. 9. 6. His name shall be called i. e. he shall Really be Wonderful Counsellor The Mighty God the Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace The true intent and meaning of which place I know how some have attempted to elude by this fine device of the Possibility of another meaning and whether our Author sharpned his weapon at their forge he knows best But 3. He returns an Answer worse than both the other Righteousness in Scripture is a word of a very large sense and sometimes signifies no more than Mercy Kindness Beneficence and so the Lord our Righteousness is the Lord who does us good But 1. Is it not vainly supposed That for Christ to do us good is inconsistent with being our Righteousness 2. Though Christ be a Redeemer of Mercy Kindness and Beneficence yet he is no-where called The Lord our Mercy The Lord our Kindness The Lord our Beneficence Which clearly proves that when he is called and really is The Lord our Righteousness the expression implies more than an Imparting or Communication of good things to us Hence some would say That if our Author's Conscience were not larger than the sense of this word he had never given so stretching an Answer But says he Righteousness signifies that part of Iustice which consists in relieving the oppressed Isa. 54. 17. Their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord which is a parallel expression to The Lord our Righteousness and signifies no more than that the Lord would avenge their Cause and deliver them from all their Enemies So that all the benefit we are to expect from Christ is Temporal Salvation and Deliverance To which I answer 2. That the Reason of Christ's glorious Name The Lord our Righteousness assigned by the Prophet that in his days Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely is interpreted by the Angel Matth. 1. 21. to be this He shall be called Iesus for he shall save his people from their sins And the end why God raised up his Son Jesus in the World is expresly assigned to be To bless his people in turning away every one of them from their iniquities Acts 3. 26. Thus Rom. 11. 26. Out of Zion shall come the Deliverer and he shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob To turn away iniquity from us and to turn us away from iniquity is I hope something of a more useful import than to relieve the injured and oppressed and deliver them from their Enemies I do not at all envy our Author therefore the glory of his discovery that for God to justifie good men is to deliver them from the violence and injuries of their Enemies And I would gladly hope that all good men have something better wherein to glory In Ier. 33. 16. the Church is called The Lord our Righteousness because she only glories in the Righteousness of Christ her Head and Husband to whom being so nearly related and with whom being so closely united his Righteousness is her Righteousness and therefore she who upon the account of the imperfection of her Inherent Righteousness can find no not the least matter of boasting before God yet has whereof to Triumph in Christ her Saviour Isa. 45. 24. Surely shall one say In the Lord have I Righteousness In the Lord shall all the seed of Iacob be justified and shall glory Now the Apostle whom I take to be a competent Interpreter of Scripture assures us that God has taken special care that in his dispensing of Grace to sinners No flesh shall glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1. 29. which he has well provided for ver 30. since Christ is made unto us of God for Righteousness and therefore he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord Which is exactly parallel to that of Isa. 45. 24. In the Lord shall all the seed of Iacob be justified and shall glory Come we now to our Author's Interpretation of Isa. 61. 11. which is of the same leaven with the former I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God For he hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation and covered me with the robe of Righteousness c. This Text one may perceive struck cold to his heart and he gives us as cold an Answer that 's ready to freeze between his lips The Garments of Salvation says he and the Robe of Righteousness signifie those great Deliverances God promised to Israel Signifie I would our Author would write a Dictionary of the Signification of words We use to say A bad Answer is better than none Reform the Proverb for shame for such an one is worse than none 1. It 's evident that the Triumph of the Church was upon the view of Jesus Christ vers 1. Anointed to preach Good-Tidings to the meek to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound To proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord Which our Saviour Christ applies to himself Luk. 4. 18 19. when he was far from working out for the Iews those great Deliverances by improbable means which should make them glorious in the eyes of men 2. The Virgin Mary quotes this very place Luke 1. 46 47. My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour where the joy of her heart broke out at her lips in Contemplation of that Eternal Redemption wrought out by him in whom she could more seriously glory as her Saviour than as her Son And it 's a wonder to me then men can patter over their Magnificat every day and not observe it 3. It 's observable that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Decketh signifies to Adorn as a Priest and implies that Christ as our High-Priest shall present us acceptable to God upon his Account 4. There 's nothing more familiar with the Spirit of God than to clothe Evangelical Mercies in a Mosaical Dress and to express New-Testament Salvation in Old-Testament Phrase Thus Gospel-Believers are understood by Israel the Church by the Temple Evangelical Ministers by the Legal Priests and the covering of Sin by the covering of Nakedness and by
Salvation in the House of his Servant David as he spake by the mouth of his Holy Prophets which have been since the world began ver 72. To perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers and to remember his holy Covenant the Oath which he sware to our Father Abraham where the firm Oath and Covenant of God to Redeem his People is assigned as the Reason of his giving Christ to be a Redeemer The places are too many to be insisted on that confirm this Truth Iohn 3. 16. 1 Iohn 4. 9 10. 2. Sect. Free grace is given as the true Reason of the Covenant of Grace Heb. 8. 8. For finding fault with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel c. They were a faulty an undeserving an ill-deserving People yet Free grace will make a Covenant with them Nor is there any opposition between Free-grace and Christs Merits in this Case if we consider that Free-grace is the Original Reason of Gods designation and purpose to bestow the good things of the Covenant and the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death the way of recovering these Mercies which by sin had been forfeited and lost 3. Sect. The Scriptures give us no intimation that Christ is the Foundation of Gods making this Covenant or the Original Reason of Gods design to bestow the Mercies of the Covenant though it abounds with Testimonies that Christ is the way of procuring for us and conveying to us these intended mercies and in those things which depend upon mere good pleasure Revelation must be our onely guide In this case we may conclude Negatively Non credimus quia non legimus And we may shrewdly conjecture that there is no pretence from Scripture for this Figment of our Authors because it 's the Foundation of all his mistakes and yet he has not so much as attempted the perverting of one Scripture to give colour to it which may be reckoned amongst the Admiranda Nili 2. His other Assertion is this Our own Righteousness is the condition of the Covenant which with his former Assertion is obtruded upon us without proof and therefore I suppose he intends they must both be maintained at the Charges of the Parish Now 1 It is agreed for ought I know that an inherent righteousness is a necessary condition of eternal Salvation Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness no man shall see God It is a Condition in the Covenant though not of the Covenant such a Condition as is due to every Person in a Covenant-state it doth necessarily attend that state though it be not allowed as antecedent to a Covenant-state 2. As to the Constitution of the Covenant in Gods purpose and Counsel I know no condition at all They that talk of the right use of free-will future Faith or good works fore-seen as the Reason of that purpose talk without book and onely intimate what a rare Covenant they would have made for us had they had the modelling and Contrivance of it like him that boasted that if he had stood by God when he formed Man he could have told him how to have made him more commodiously Rom. 9. 11. The Children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil Where those words neither having done any good or evil must necessarily exclude all respect to the future good or evil they should do as the Reason of the purpose of God according to Election because it 's evident by the form of speech That they deny something more concerning the Children than the former words being not yet born and yet even they exclude Having done good or evil Actually 3. The Question then is whether An inherent Righteousness be the Condition required of us and in us antecedent to our first Covenant-state And I durst leave this Matter to be determined by the Church of England if our Author would do so too Art 17. Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundation of the World was laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen out of Mankind in Christ and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation whence we are taught 1. That Election is not of all Mankind but of some out of Mankind 2. That this purpose of God was from everlasting 3. That it is a fixed constant decree 4. That the Design of it is to deliver those chosen out of Mankind from the curse under which Mankind was fallen and to bring them to everlasting Salvation 5. That the Reason of this eternal Election was his own counsel 6. That the Execution of this Decree is in and by Iesus Christ and the manner of it follows Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit be called according to the purpose of God working in due season by his Spirit They through Grace obey the calling they be justified freely they be made the Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his onely begotten Son they walk Religiously in good works and at length by Gods mercy they attain everlasting felicity Whence we are Instructed 1. That the calling of the Elect to a Covenant-state is from Grace as the reason and by Grace as it's efficient 2. Their obeying that call of God is by Grace 3. Good works necessarily follow effectual calling See also Art 10. 12 13. 4. Religious walking with God in good works is a necessary condition of eternal Felicity 5. That there is such a firm connexion in this golden chain of Salvation that no one linck can possibly be broken They are Elected freely called effectually justified freely Adopted graciously Sanctified gradually walk Religiously and at length by the mercy of God are saved eternally which the Apostle gives us more concisely Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did Predestinate them he a so called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also Glorified I conclude then that our own righteousness is not the condition of the Covenant of Grace neither of the designment of the Father nor the procurement of the Son nor of the effectual Operation of the Holy Spirit nor of our Covenant-state nor of our Covenant-right nor of the first covenant-Covenant-mercy but of many after-mercies and of Eternal Salvation it is the condition 1. Sect. That is not the Condition of the Covenant required of us on our part which God promises to work in us on His part but God has promised to work in us Inherent-righteousness both Root and Fruit Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new Heart also will I give you and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them 2. Sect. That which God in Covenant bestows cannot be the Condition of a Covenant-state but God in Covenant bestows the new Heart for
his Mediation or to Trust in his Blood but you must â—…o Nomine doe it in Contradiction to the Terms of the Covenant sealed therewith or which is all one it 's impossible but that things subordinate should be opposite The blood of Christ and the Covenant of Christ are perfectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Person of the Mediator and his Mediatory work cannot be conceived but they involve the thoughts in a thousand Contradictions Positio unius est Remotio Alterius Nay soft sayes he I onely mean in case they understand any more by these things than expecting to be saved according to the Terms of the Gospel-Covenant I do not think they doe And as our Author gave his word for those that are suspected to make Christs Person useless if my word would go as far as his I would readily engage it for them who are suspected to make his Laws useless And so once again all is Husht and still and the fearfull skirmish that was towards is at present stinted Pulveris exigui jactû Let me therefore in the Close give our Author one wholsome Caution That he would not be too rash and peremptory in drawing or wracking Conclusions from other mens Expressions Some will think he has mistaken in his own and may with more ease in others Principles and the Conclusions from thence A Ladder of Deductions and Inferences forty Rounds long is not easily master'd A Sorites or Climax may quickly impose upon us we are never sooner cheated than in a Chain of many links the smallest interruption may secrâ—…tly and insensibly discompose the whole series and concatenation of Dependencies wherein we fancy an infallible Connexion I would not anticipate 〈◊〉 Hericano ill weather comes unsent for and is alwayes too soon and unwelcome when it comes the latest let us therefore keep our selves well whilest we are well Thus smoothly we conclude and say Here ends your Worships Chapter for the Day CHAP. III. Section 1. Of the Knowledge of Christ. THis Section allures the Eye of the Reader with the specious Frontispiece of the knowledge of Christ but proves a mere MockBeggar-Hall and Fools Expectation like a Fair Porch to no House or a great Mountain without a Mouse just like the Guilded Titles of Apothecaries Boxes which pretend to Lodge the rich Drugs of Pontus and both the Indies but are Inhabited often by the Poysonous Spider and Hung with Cobweb-Tapistry Spun out of her own Bowels and Woven with her curious Fingers Or like those gawdy Signs which Encounter us upon the Road whose promising Motto first Invites the Traveller with Hopes of Horse-meat and Mans-meat and then Baffles his hopes with Entertainment that would sterve a Dog To see our Author heaving for a far-fetcht Blow you would verily think he Design'd to Knock the Business stone-dead for ever whilst he does but Imitate the Black-smith that would needs Use the great Sledge Hammer to Kill a Flie on his Childs Fore-head and very Discreetly dasht out the poor Infants Brains Leave we him therefore to the Satisfaction of his own private Thoughts a while and let ours give the Readers Patience a small Exercise The Happiness of Man consists in the Knowing and Enjoying the True God blessed for ever and therefore He who is never wanting to his own Glory nor to His Creatures Happiness in such ways as best Comply with His own Unsearchable Wisdom first Created Man and then gave him an Understanding to Know a Heart to Love and Enjoy His Creator Admirably proportioning his Faculties to his Employment and as he made it his Work and Wages to Love and Serve he furnisht him with a Soul qualifi'd to Love and Serve his God But when Man had sinned and thereby lost his Fitness for that blessed Service it pleas'd God to enter into a New and better Covenant with him Establisht upon that Promise Gen. 3. 15. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head God would not suffer Satan to rejoyce too much in his success and glory in his greater hopes that he should sweep the World before him and draw the rational Creation into the same Ruine into which he found himself Irrecoverably Plunged The Father had Divided to the Redeemer a Portion with the Great and Promised He should Divide the Spoyl with the strong and Wrest out of his hands that Advantage he had gotten over Man by sin and the Curse inseparably annext to it In the Faith of this Promise had guilty Man encouragement to Return to God and not sinck down in black Despaire to which the Reflexions he must needs make upon that Cursed state he had so cheaply brought himself into could not but Expose him And though the Generality of the Sons of Men through their own sinful Negâ—…ect Lost the Faith of that first and precious Promise yet the Gracious God took Effectual Care that his Service and Worship should be carried down in a chosen Seed and holy Line from our first Parents by righteous Abel heavenly Enoch upright Noah and others to believing Abraham to whom he was Graciously pleas'd to vouchsafe a more Distinct and Explicit Revelation of the Promised Seed And whereas before all Families of the Earth might equally pretend to the hopes of it Now God Clears and Secures it to his Faith that in his Seed by the Line of Isaac should all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed In pursuance of this Promise and the glorious Design managed thereupon he Renews in a more Solemn Ample and full Manner the Covenant of Grace with him the Epitome and Abstract whereof was this Gen. 17. 7. I will be thy God And for the greater Security adds Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. As the Family of Abraham was branched out into two so we observe how the vigilant Eye of Providence Traces that Line by which He had fore-appointed to Conveigh so Rich a Mercy as a Redeemer down to the following Generations And accordingly he Hedges it about with special Care Waters it with extraordinary Blessings Impales it from the Common and Wild of the World by distinguishing Ordinances that it might get a fixed Root in the Earth Hence was Ishmael waved and Isaac taken into special Protection Esau excluded and Jacob comes under the peculiar Cognizance of God just as the Stream and Current of the Promise found its proper Channel and the other Old ones grew either Shallow and Inconsiderable or quite Dried up For the better Securing and more prosperous Managing this great Project God was also pleased to cast the Posterity of Iacob into a visible Church-frame and Political Model appointing to them a Ceremonial Law as an Appendice to the former and the Iudicial Law as an Appendice to the latter Table of the Moral Law accommodating so the whole that all might lead to Him who was indeed the whole life and Soul of that Administration An High-priest and other inferiour ones he also instituted with great variety of
Brimstone upon their heads and it was goodness that he did it not in stead of those fruitfull seasons he might have sent Famine and Cleanness of Teeth and there was much Goodness in that yet whether they could from hence bless themselves with a well-grounded Hope that he would pardon their Iniquities I much question And 2. The Servant in the Parable Math. 18. 26. could understand the difference between forbearance and acquittance Have patience with me and I will pay thee all Time and Day were considerable Favours in his Judgement though his Master did not throw him in the Bond. 3. I am sure God himself understood the difference between a Reprieve and a Pardon between that Goodness which he shews in forbearing and that which he manifests in forgiving Rom. 9. 22. He endured with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction A presumptuous Conclusion therefore had it been from Gods general Goodness and indulgent Patience to argue his Forgiveness and pardoning-Grace 4. Adam in the state of Integrity understood very well God to be good he could not look besides a Demonstration of it and yet no Notion of Gods Pardoning Grace was concreated with him whereof he could have no use in his worship of and walking with God A threatning against sin he had but not the least intimation that God would pardon it till it was revealed upon another Account We are not here enquiring what presumptuous and vain hopes secure sinners might form to themselves of Indempnity nor how their hearts might be fully set in them to do evil because judgement against an evil work was not speedily executed nor what flattering thoughts might tickle their breasts that God was such a one as themselves because he kept silence at their proceedings and spoke not his Fury in Thunder and Lightning nor do we enquire what Natural earnest desires they might express to obtain the Favour of God what projects plotts and contrivances they invented to relieve their guilty Consciences wounded with apprehensions of wrath how they skin'd over their Sores with some Services and lickt themselves whole with their Sacrifices and Oblations But the Enquiry is this What solid Ground they had from Gods common and general Goodness his Governing the World his Patience Forbearance and long-sufferance with his Bounty to Sinners to conclude from thence that he was a Sin-pardoning God When I seriously consider into what inextricable Labyrinths and Mazes those poor Heathens did run themselves how they were bewildred in their own Inventions how they tyred themselves off their Leggs in their own wayes and spent themselves to their skins with Sacrifices if by any means it might be possible to purchase the good will of a Deity I presently conclude they had no settled fixed Apprehension of any such thing in God For though they might hear a rumour that there were a people in the World towards whom God shew'd himself propitious and favourable and that the way of the peoples part to reconcile this God to them was by killing of Beasts and offering up them to him in Sacrifice and might therefore hence fall upon this practice of Sacrifices yet not understanding the true use of them what reference they had to a promised Mediator they must needs fluctuate and toss up and down in uncertainties about so weighty a Concern Hence was it that least they should not hit upon the True God in that Crowd and Throng of Deities wherewith they had overstockt the Commons they set up an Altar To the unknown God and least they should miss the right Sacrifice and most acceptable Offering sometimes they Sacrificed the worst sometimes the best of Men and sometimes to please their God the better they would let him choose by Lot which he would have They tryed Conclusions with almost all sorts of Creatures and all to answer the demands of an importunate Conscience which as Gods Officer was alwayes haling and dragging them before the Barr of Gods Justice to answer for their Delinquencies Either then they had no Notices of Sin-pardoning Mercy or what they had came not in from the Works of Creation and Providence but were some scattered Beams and broken Splinters of Traditional Knowledge derived Originally to them from the People of God who themselves had received it by pure Revelation in and through a Redeemer All this while our Author sits fretting himself like Gumm'd-Taffata that when he has been for two whole pages together preparing his Reader to swallow his Pills yet we should cunningly pass it over with a dry Foot and never bestow the least Consideration of it That he may not therefore think himself neglected we shall give him a full and a fair hearing The Light of Nature says he and the Works of Creation and Providence and those manifold Revelations God hath made of himself to the World especially that last and most perfect Revelation by Iesus Christ assure us that God is infinite in all his Perfections They do so let him make his best of that And therefore that he is Powerfull and can doe whatever he pleases Very good goe on So Wife that he knows how to order every thing for the best Better and better and yet p. 30. he tells us Long and sad Experience proved that all the Means he used to reform the World proved ineffectual So Good that he designs and desires the Happiness of all his Creatures according to the Capacity of their Natures Stick a Pin there So Holy that he hath a Natural Love to all good Men And so Gracious too that he made them Good else they never had been so but he hates all Sin and Wickedness It 's well Gods Hatred of Sin is as Natural to him as his Love of Good Men. And will as certainly punish all Obstinate and Incorrigible Sinners but yet that he is patient and long-suffering towards the worst of Men and uses various Methods to reclaim them and is as ready to pardon them when they return to their Duty as a kind Father is to receive an humble and penitent Prodigal Where there are some things that wound our Authors Cause to the Heart and nothing prejudicial to the Truth which he opposes For 1. He grants that Gods Love to good Men and his Hatred of Sin are both equally Natural and therefore I suppose Essential to him 2. That Gods punishing obstinate Sinners is equally Natural to him with his rewarding Good men But 3. The Fallacy of all is that lapsed Man stands related to God as a Father whereas he should have proved and not supposed that the Light of Nature of Scripture discovers any other Relation of a Revolted Sinner unto God than that of a Creature to his Creator and a Subject to his Governour before he be taken into that special Relation of a Son to a Father by Adoption in Christ. 4. A Supposition that God is ready to pardon Sinners when they return to their Duty is ambiguous vain and as he takes it false
following of Adam as the Pelagians vainly talk but it is the corruption of the Nature of every Man whereby Man is very faâ—… gone from Original Righteousness and is enclined to Evil. So that in every Person born into the World it deserveth Gods Wrath and Damnation Surely here 's something that deserves our most serious Thoughts That which deserves Damnation at Gods Hands deserves consideration at ours He that can carry about with him daily a depraved Nature enclined to evil running counter to Gods Will and not lament it with a bitter Lamentation has taken some of our Authors Hypnoticks and how to bewail it without being sensible of it is a Mysterie perhaps as deep as any of those we owe to his Discovery And is not this to Reproach Christ himself Mat. 9. 12 13. They that be whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick Ay says he these are Metaphors and I will Rail them out of Credit and Countenance immediately Well you shall not fall out with Christ for a Metaphor if I can help it Read the Next words I come not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance And they must be sensible sinners that will regard the Call of Christ or think they need Repentance Another Quarrel he has against the Practice of their Religion is That they hold it absolutely necessary that we be sensible how Impossible it is for us to Attone the Wrath of God to have any righteousness of our own that can bear the severe Scrutiny of his Iustice. Be it so if there be no Remedy It seems then if we could work up our Imagination into a Presumption that Gods Anger against sin is very small and our Righteousness very great so great as to endure the severe Scrutiny of Gods Iustice we might purchase this Gentlemans favour But the Gospel has taught us otherwise Rom. 3. 10. That there is none righteous no not one That by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight ver 20. But he lays about him and Reproaches the Spirit of Bondage the Spirit of Adoption and at last falls a Reviling Christs own Words We shall says he in his fleering way never Value and Prize Christ and go to him for Salvation till we are Convinc'd of the necessity of him and driven to him by the Threatnings of the Law and the Promise of Ease and Rest is made only to the weary and heavy Laden and those only shall be satisfied who Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness Really this Doctor Owen and his Fellows are dangerous Persons I wonder not now that some think it not fit they should live a day That ever they should be so bold to read or quote Matth. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled or that other place Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest or to mention Galat. 3. 24. Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ But did they make the Scriptures or coin and invent these words of their own heads or has our Author a License to expose the Expressions of the Holy Spirit as well as the Doctors Surely an awfull regard to the Authority of Jesus Christ speaking in them might have commanded some Reverence to them and controlled this unbridled liberty of prostituting Sacred Matters But thus much and too much of what they make of Conviction And now says he being thus stung with Sin it is time for us to look up to Christ as the Israelites did on the Brazen Serpent that we may be healed But is this Gentleman indeed a Minister a Teacher of others the Rector of St. George Buttolphs-lane and knows not that he reproaches Christ himself Ioh. 3. 15. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life And does not Christ himself authorize the Parallel That as none were healed in the Wilderness but those onely who sensible of pain looked up to the Brazen Serpent as Gods own Institution to which a Promise of healing was annexed so neither can we receive any benefit by Christ till under a deep sense of our sin and misery we accept of and close with a Redeemer whom the Father has held forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood for the Remission of sins But this is not all Now we must begin to see his fulness and perfection and suitableness to the wants and necessities of our Souls that he is our Attonement our Wisdom our Righteousness and all that we can desire or need Well and if they do conceive Christ to have both fulness and suitableness of all Grace and Mercy in him I hope it 's neither Felony nor Treason neither We have an Assurance Heb. 4. 15. That Christ is such a Priest as is touched with a feeling of our Infirmities and was in all points tempted like unto us yet without sin there 's great suitableness and we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need and there 's fulness And surely our Author does sometimes pray to Christ at least he is enjoyn'd by the Litany to say O God the Son Redeemer of the World have mercy upon us miserable Sinners Now if he can indeed discover no suitableness no fulness of Grace in Christ to answer the needs and wants of those miserable Sinners he had better save his Breath to cool his Pottage It is further charged upon them That when the sense of their sins and unworthiness makes them afraid to come to Christ they have recourse to their Acquaintance with Christs Person to answer their Doubts and quiet their Consciences Which charge though it has a Tincture and dash of our Authors good Nature in it they can easily bear and do confess that when the sense of their sins and Unworworthiness at any time discourages them from Comeing to God for the Pardon of sins they do relieve themselves from the Gospel which has spoken great things of the Ability and Readiness of a Mediator to save humble and repenting Sinners that are willing to receive him as God has offer'd him in the Covenant of Grace They do there find that Christ came into the World to save the chiefest of Sinners such as had been Blasphemers Persecutors and Injurious and yet have obtained Mercy that Christ in them might shew forth all long-suffering for a Pattern to them that should afterwards believe on him to Everlasting Life 1 Tim. 1. 15 16 17. And do further believe that to deny this is at once to renounce the whole Gospel and if it be not a Fruit of down-right Infidelity and Atheisme yet most apparently leads thither Our Author having destroy'd the Living begins to prey upon the Dead
than the Gofpel allows The Question then shall never be stated by me thus Whether we must Obey or no Keep the Commandments of Christ or no And that upon Peril of Eternal Damnation But whether out of this Obedience of ours may be gathered that righteousness in which we may safely venture to appear before the Iudge of all the Earth in the great day as that which we resolve to stand and abide by venturing our all upon it This is that the Doctor thinks the Apostle reproved Rom. 9. 31 32. Israel which followed after the Law of righteousness hath not attained to the Law of righteousness because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law Where the Apostle Intimates that though we do not directly seek a righteousness by the Works of the Law yet to do it Obliquely and Indirectly is destructive and that the Doctor intends no more no other than this is evident from the words our Author calls in And though I would have walkt according to my own mind yet now I give up my self to be wholly guided by thy Spirit This Netled our Authors Conscience and he takes Sanctuary in the most wretched Subterfuge that ever betrayed it's Confider What a pretty Complement does the Soul make to Christ We are now sheer gone from the Truth of the Principle to the Truth of the Heart in receiving it If it proves a Complement in the Mouth of an Hypocrite yet in Thesi its a Truth That whoever receives Christ upon his own Terms does renouncing his own will and way give up himself wholly to be ruled by the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures At this wiâ—…d rate I have often heard a silly Quaker answer this Proposition Iesus Christ that Died at Jerusalem is the Saviour of the World Ay says he but doest thou witness that from the Light within 2. Others make Obedience necessary upon the account of Christs Fulness But this he says makes it no otherwise necessary then as we are necessarily passive in it However if it be necessary upon any account it 's enough to make him blush that flatly Charges it upon them to say it 's not necessary But to be passive in our Obedience is all the Soul means in giving up it self to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ. Then the Soul means Nonsence For to give it self to be ruled by the Spirit has something of Activity in it Our help and asistance to give up our selves is from the Spirit but the giving up is an an act of the Souls 'T is the Believer that obeys and yet the ability to obey is from the Holy Ghost It 's the Creature that works and yet its God that works in him to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Phil. 2. 13. It 's the man that believes and yet he believes according to the working of Gods mighty Power Ephes. 1. 19 20. What is it else that he prays to the Spirit for O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Mercy upon us miserable sinners But all this might have been Superseded had our Author duly Recollected what he has Subscribed and openly given his Assent and Consent to in the 10th Art of the Church of England We have no power to do Good works acceptable to God without the Grace of God preventing us that we may have a good Will and Working with us when we have that good Will Allow but the Doctor the Benefit of the Clergie and he will need no more to bring him off though that very Article would prove our Authors Neck-verse In the Work of Grace the Spirit Acts according to the Nature of the Subject which is here the Rational Creature He gives not new Natural Powers but a new Moral ability to Exercise them he bestows not a new Will Physically but enlarges it from its Fetters discharges it from its Slavery and powerfully though Gently enclines it to Gods Testimonies not destroying its radical self-determining Power and hence I conclude our Author is but sorrily Skilled in the true meaning of souls when they Profess a subjection to Christ. The Soul meant honestly she had no Mental reservation none of these Quirks and Tricks but plainly and sincerely Designed to give up her self in all Obedience to her Lord and Saviour She in her Text intended very singly but our Author has Commented upon it Knavishly I said so indeed in haste another would have said perhaps Foolishly for what more Idle Chat could he have Learn't from the good Women his Neighbours at Billings-gate than a willingness to obey against ones Will. This is all our Author is willing to own of the Grounds of our Obedience but I shall help his weak and frail Memory a little though to his great Regret Doctor O. Com. pag. 212. Obedience says the Doctor is necessary as a Means to the End N. B. God hath appointed that Holiness shall be the Means the Way to that Eternal Life which as in it self and Originally is his Gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his Constitution of our Obedience as the Means of attaining it is a Reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder though it be neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed of God for us to walk in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life Purifies himself as he is Pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in that Way for without Holiness it is impossible to see God The bare Repitition of which words are as plain and full a Rebuke to all our Authors Dirty Nasty Reflections as a reasonable Creature can desire But these things we shall meet withall anon and therefore here they shall lie ready in Banco till our Authors Leisure shall call for them I had now eased my self and my Reader of any further Vexation in this Section had I not unhappily overseen one Passage in Mr. Watson from which our Author thinks he has some Advantage The words are these Evangelical Truths will not down with a Natural Heart such a one had rather hear some quaint Point of some Vertue or Vice stood upon than any thing in Christ c. Which he thus Canvasses Such sanctified Souls and Ears loath all Dull Insipid Moral Discourses which are perpetually Inculcating their Duty on them and Troubling them with a great many Rules and Directions for a good Life which he is pleased to call the Quaint Points of Vertue and Vice Good Sir be not angry have but a little Patience and all will be well to your Hearts Content Mr. Watson does not Inveigh against your Poynant Invictives against the one or your most Elaborate Encomiums of the other Run down sin at the highest rate of Zeal and Fervency you can render Prophaneness as Odious and expose her for a Fulsomè sâ—…urvy Baggage if you please Invent new Names for her
in Christ be improved for Obedience That his Love to us may so powerfully constrain our hearts that we may wholly live to him that dyed for us and rose again who is also at the right hand of God making Intercession for us To him be Glory Amen CHAP. IV. Sect. 1. Of our Union to Christ and Communion with him OUR Author will not in Courtesie or cannot for Shame deny that the Scripture does mention such a Relation between Christ and Christians as may be express'd by an Union and that these Phrases of Being in Christ and Abiding in Christ can signifie no less Now this Union to Christ being a very suspicious Phrase he is deeply concern'd to mollifie it with some such Healing Explication that it may not prejudice or however not utterly destroy his main design To interpret it according to the sound of words is to blow up himsels with his whole Cause and therefore it is judg'd a safer way to accommodate the Expression if it will be tractable or to force it if it proves obstinate to a Complyance with his own espoused Notions and preconceived Opinions And now we see that the True Reason why he so zealously declaimed against that way of Interpreting Scripture in the last Section was that he might without suspition serve himself of it in this Some do not like his Tottering and Staggering way of wording his Matters It may be express'd by an Union and it can signifie no less than an Union A form of speech invented doubtless to let us know how unable he is to deny and yet how loath he is to confess the plainest Truth I have not forgot that he told us p. 108. That the Scripture describes the Profession of Christianity a sincere Belief and Obedience to the Gospel by Having Christ and Being in Christ but now he is graciously pleased to Mount them a little higher and is gently content that they should signifie no less than an Union with Christ. Four Notable Observations he makes to us in this one Section 1 That those Metaphors which describe the Relation between Christ and Christians do primarily referre to the Christian Church and not to every Individual Christian. I am sorry that it must still be my great unhappiness to dissent from him but seeing all Accommodation is desperate we must bear the shock of his Reasonings as well as we can Christ says he is called a Head but he is the Head of his Church which is his Body as the Husband is the Head of his Wife No particular Christian is the Body of Christ but onely a Member in this Body This indeed would do pretty well but that it wants two small Circumstances Truth and Pertinency which being so inconsiderable we may well spare in any of His Writings And 1. Methinks I want that sorry circumstance of Truth in his Argument Christ is the Head of his Church as the Husband is Head of his Wife but the Headship of the Husband over the Wife will not exactly measure the Headship of Christ over Believers we must call in assistance from another Similitude that of the Head in the Natural Body over the Members Christ is a Head of Influence as well as Authority he communicates Grace to Obey as well as commands Obedience And this is that the Apostle would teach us Eph. 4. 15 16. The head even Christ from whom all the Body fitly joyned together and compact by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body to the edifying of it selâ—… in love Here 's an effectual Operation in every part the Growth and Increase of every individual Member by virtue of that Influence which the Head communicates to it And now to make the Husbands headship over the Wife to represent the whole of Christs Headship is craftily to seduce us from the Consideration of that Grace which from Christ we receive to help us in time of need The Holy Ghost has singled out the most per and perspicuous Metaphors that outward things would afford to instruct us in the Nature of that Union and Relation that Believers have to Christ the Priviledges and Advantages which they receive thereby and those Duties which indispensably arise from thence and yet such is the incorrigible and untractable Nature of all outward things such is their shortness poverty and narrowness that they do not yield a Similitude that will adaequately and commensurately express the total of Christs Grace Mercy and Authority or of our mutual Obligations and Duty Much of the Poverty and Beggarliness of the Mosaical Types lay in this those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4. 9. that they could not represent Jesus Christ to the life whom yet it was their design in some measure to shadow out And when I have named a shadow I have given a sufficient Reason of my Assertion for though a shadow may describe the general Lineaments of its Body yet it will not paraphrase upon the Complexion To supply this defect it has pleased the Wisdom of God to institute that numerous train of Types that so what could not be express'd by any one might yet in parcels be described by Another Hence is it that one Type represents the Death of Christ as a Sacrifice for Sin as the Goat of the Sin-offering Lev. 16. 15. Another the Intercession of Christ at the right hand of the Father as Aarons appearing in the Most Holy place upon the Feast of Expiation The same Wisdom has it pleased the Spirit of God to exeâ—…cise in describing to us the Union and Relation betwixt Christ and Believers for seeing that no one single Metaphor however borrowed from the nearest and most intimous Relation upon Earth could possibly convey to our understandings all that Mercy Grace and Love which from Christ issues to all that are in Covenant with him nor all that Reverence Love and Duty which from Believers is due to a Redeemer therefore has he chosen out many that so by putting together the Mercy and Duty which is comprehended in each we might spell out the Meaning of what is wrapt up in that Relation wherein we stand to him But 2. It wants Pertinency as well as Truth For what if no particular Christian be the Body of Christ. yet is he a Member of that Body and Christ as Head of that Body is related in particular to him without the Intervention of the Body A Body is nothing else but the result of all the Integral parts put together in their due Scite and proper Order and the Church is nothing else but the aggregate of many Christians united under their proper Pastor And as the Head in the Natural Body is immediately related to all the parts so is Christ immediately related to every true Christian. If then he will argue thus No particular Christian is the Body therefore Christ is primarily related to the Body any one with as much honesty may inferre
of the Incarnation of the Son of God Understand the mystery of the Incarnation I assure you it 's fair if it be well believed I have not met with many not with any that understand the mystery of it to this day It 's more adviseable for our Author to secure his own Faith in this point than Abraham's Understanding Abraham was a Believer and received his Religion upon the Authority of the Revealer but our Author will own none but what approves it self to his Reason and whether the Incarnation of Christ have had that happiness with him I cannot tell and therefore to deal plainly with him I have some Conjectures that may weigh against his Prejudices which incline me to choose Abraham's Faith even in this particular before his own But however that be the Scripture assures us that Abraham was justified the same way that New-Testament-Believers are One God one Lord Iesus Christ one Holy Spirit yesterday to day and the same for ever and if his poor prejudices must controul divine Revelations I cannot help it An Atheist would believe there iâ—… a God but that he cannot get over all Objections and our Author would believe the Gospel-report of the way of Abraham's Justification but that he cannot weather all the Prejudices which he first creates and then pleads 5. He must understand the nature of Faith and of rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and renouncing all Righteousness of his own Answ. I question not but the Father of the Faithful one so much in the exercise of Faith understood very well the nature of it and that he would hardly have lighted his Candle at our Author's Torch but it 's grown the Mode for junior Understandings to vilifie the grey Heads of the Fathers and to count them all Blâ—…ck heads that think not to a hairs breadth with them Abraham knew that Faith consisted in a firm belief that what God had promised was true and that the things of the Promise were exceeding good and so to him He gave a full assent and consent to both with their special Reasons he embraced the mercy of the Promise with thankfulness and joy and credited the veracity of him that made the Promise with security of mind and he felt by experience that quiet and satisfaction of Soul that arises from an interest in him that gave and that Redeemer that was given in the Promise And if he must be jeered for rowling himself on God and on his Christ for ought I know he must bear his burden 5. And now conformable to his old awkward humour our Author will attempt the deciding the Controversie Which way Abraham was justified from Heb. 11. And this I say is a perverse and awkward way of proceeding to wave the proper places Rom. 4. Gal. 3. where the Apostle professedly disputes the point and fix upon one where he disputes it not Two things he would perswade us to believe him in 1. That the Apostle in this Chapter discourses of a justifying Faith To which I answer That the Apostle does indeed Treat of a Faith that justifies but not of Faith as it justifies A justifying Faith has many excellent and admirable uses does a Christian noble service besides that of justifying him before God It teaches him to trust God in all the ways and methods of his Providences to depend on him for all the good things of this life as well as those of a better It deals with the Promises of the life that now is and those of that to come It encourages us to pray Give us this day our daily bread as well as Forgive us our trespasses It instructs us to commit our concerns to his fatherly love and care to wrestle vigourously with all the oppositions we meet with in the Profession of Christianity to walk comfortably chearfully conscientiously in our particular Callings to despise the things that are seen which are but temponal in comparison of those which are not seen and are eternal It taught Abel to offer Sacrifice to God whereby he had the witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts And if our Author can see no difference between being made Righteous and having the witness of it in his Conscience he needs a Collyrium which I cannot help him to It taught Enoch also to walk with God from whence he had the same testimony that he pleased God The same Faith that justified him procured him a testimony of his Justification but not as it justified him The Direct Act of Faith is one thing and the Reflecting Act of Faith another It taught Noah also to take Gods warning of the approaching Deluge and to prepare an Ark to escape the danger Whereby he condemned the World and became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith that is he had more full assurance of his Acceptation with God According to a common Rule Multa tunâ—… fieri dicuntur quando facta esse manifestantur 2. He would perswade us into his Notion of a justifying Faith This justifying Faith says he is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen But the Apostle does not here intend to give us a strict Definition of a justifying Faith but a Description of its most noble effects A justifying Faith produces these effects but not at all times nor in all persons justified it 's Faith in its vigour not in its essence that is here described By this Faith the Elders obtained a good report before men and their own Consciences yet was it not this Act of Faith that justified them before God though it was the same Faith that produced this Act by which they were justified Whereas therefore he would oblige us yet more by his critical skill in the Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a firm and confident expectation of those things we hope forâ—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Argument of the Being of those things we do not see For my part I am not much edified and therefore let him make merry with his own Talents That which follows will be more for our Information for he will now speak to the Act the Object and the several kinds of Faith 1. For the Act of Faith It is as he says such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things that are not evident to sense as makes us confidently hope for them But this seems to me to be a hungry description of the Act of justifying Faith The Scripture has other apprehensions of this matter which describes the Act of faith by receiving John 1. 12. To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Where if the Evangelist may be trusted to make his own Exegesis Receiving of Christ and Believing on his name do mutually interpret each other It 's not enough that the Understanding be engaged in this work which may be found in the worst of men and
admirable and to be placed amongst the wonders of the New-Divinity that God should enter into a Covenant with all the World to Pardon and save them upon condition of Faith Obedience and yet not let many of them know a syllable of it Nay that he should expresly countermand the promulgating of the Gospel to them And yet so has God done even by the preaching of the true Covenant of Grace Acts 16. 6 7. Now when they had gone throughout all Phrygia and the Region of Galatia and were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to Preach the word in Asia After they were come to Mylia they assayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not 2. Let us now briefly consider his Assertion That the Covenant of Grace such a one as he has made for us is owing to the Sacrifice of Christ's death and the Righteousness of his Life That God being pleased with these for Christ's sake entred into a New Covenant with Mankind I must tell the Reader that I have narrowly pryed into this Section wherein I find frequent assertions of this Doctrine That the Covenant of Grace is owing to procured by founded on the Obedience of Christ's Life and the Sacrifice of his Death and yet so unhappy have I been in my search that I cannot find any Proof or any attempt to prove it and therefore till I see evidence to the contrary I shall take it for granted that the Covenant of Grace is owing to founded on and given forth by that free Grace of God from whence it is justly denominated A Covenant of Grace though the intervention of a Mediator such a Mediator was absolutely necessary to put us into the Actual possession of those rich mercies designed for us by God in that Covevenant which Mediator himself is owing to founded on that Covenant of Grace and therefore the Covenant of Grace is not founded upon him but indeed for that Covenant which he is pleased to call a New-Covenant and a Covenant of Grace it 's no great matter where 't is founded and therefore let him dispose of his own Creature as he pleases 3. He supposes that Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice had no other influence upon our acceptance with God but that for his sake he entred into such a Covevenant with Mankind This is all however that he can find But this is a most miserable All and either is just nothing or very near it For § 1. Let him of Courtesy Answer one Question more since he is so good at it Whether God was ever at any time unwilling to pardon sin and give Eternal Life to those who did believe his Promises and obey his Precepts If he was unwilling Then let him shew how Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice did operate upon God to alter his will and of unwilling to make him willing what could there be in the Sacrifice of Christ's Death or the Righteousness of his Life that should make God more in Love with Faith and Obedience than he had been before But if God was willing and that without respect to Christ then how does he give the Pardon of sin and Eternal Life to them who Believe and Obey for Christ's sake I am sure of our Authors good-Nature in this point he will say he has said it That some that many were saved without respect to Christ The mercy and Grace of God it seems accepting their Belief of particular Revelations and their sincere Obedience to his Commands Repentance supplying the defects and shortness of their Conformity to the Law Now if God did all this without regard to Christ how does he do it for the sake of Christ But there 's an Answer to this that lies Dormant in the word Promise God did indeed Pardon sin and give Eternal Life to those who believed his Revelations and obeyed his Commandements but he never promised he would do it But now he has drawn out his Grace and good-will into a Promise to pardon sin and give Eternal Life upon the terms aforesaid and this he has done for Christ's sake And let us Audit the Account and all the influence that Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice bath upon our acceptation with God is that we have got a promise from God to do that which he would have done before to give us that he would have given us before only he would not promise to do it for us to give it to us Two things I shall briefly return 1. That God under the Old-Testament made explicite promises of the pardon of Sin and Eternal Life and if under that Dispensation I am sure our Author will say without respect to Christ that this was the Doctrine of the Old-Testament the Apostle asserts Act. 13. 40. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins 2 Sam. 7. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my Son and there 's enough in that to secure a promise of pardon to a repenting Child Mal. 3. 17. They shall be mine and I will spare them as a Father spares his own son that serves him but it it is added If he sin against me I will chasten him with the Rod of Men but my Mercy shall not depart from him Ps. 99. 8. Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance on their inventions And as the pardoning Grace that was in God's Nature was revealed to them as the foundation of their Faith and obedience Ps. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared So it is drawn out into a promise v. 8. He shall redeem Israel from all his Iniquities which without the pardon of them is simply impossible As for the Promises of Eternal Lise we find good old Iacob now giving up the Ghost and having no hope in this Life expressing his Faith thus Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord Which doubtless was Eternal Salvation beyond the Verge of that short time of his Life which he knew was expired Ps. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel in my pilgrimage and afterwards receive me to glory but a more convenient place will offer it self for the discussing of this matter 2. If then this be all that the Obedience of Christ's Life and the Sacrifice of his Death do contribute to our acceptance with God that for Christ's sake we have got a Promise or a more explicite Promise of the pardon of sin and Eternal Life than before then I must be of the same mind still that it contributes just nothing to the acceptance of our Obedience with God Let me have Liberty to put the Case of two Persons v. g. David and Paul let us suppose these two equally obedient to God's commands the former without such an express and explicite promise of Reward the other encouraged by stronger Arguments of clear and numerous Promises of Pardon and Eternal Life Which
both be reconciled to God and what did the removal of Ceremonies contribute to that end But says he This New-Covenant belongs to all Mankind to Gentiles as well as Iews there 's now no distinction of Persons no Man is ever the more or less accepâ—…able to God because he is a Iew or a Greek very true I wonder when ever it was otherwise Our Author could have Answered himself from p. 27. Those particular favours that God bestowed on Israel were not owing to any partial fondness and respect to that People but the design of all was to encourage the whole World to Worship the God of Israel And that the Jews were not accepted for their Ceremonial Services we may easily believe if we can but believe what he tells us Pag. 269. The Law of Moses 〈◊〉 them up in a ritual and external Religion taught them to Worship God in the Letter by Circumcision Sacrifices and an external Conformity to the Letter of the Law but the Gospel aloue teaches us to worship God with the Spirit to offer a reasonable Service to him And if he can but assure me that the Gentiles were never the less accepted of God because they were Gentiles I dare give him my Warrant that the Iews were never the more accepted of God for their Judaism according to those Measures which our Author has given of their Religion which it seems was mere Pageantry 2. Concerning Redemption he acquaints us what it signifies both to Iews and Gentiles 1. As to the Iews They says he are said to be redeemed from the Curse of the Law by the accursed Death of Christ upon the Cross Gal. 3. 13. Because the Death of Christ put an end to that legal Dispensation and sealed a New and better Covenant between God and Man It 's well he could find any thing small enough to be the proper and immediate effect of the Death of Christ but who shall reconcile the Apostle and our Author The Apostle says Christ redeemed them by being made a Curse for them Our Author says No he only put an end to that Legal Dispensation The Apostle says they were redeemed by a price paid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He brought them out with a price which he expresses in words at length 1 Cor. 6. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are bought with a price No says he Christ's Death put an end to that legal Dispensation The Apostle says they were redeemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from under the Curse No says he 't was only a freedom from the legal Dispensation Two suppositions he makes use of to give a Colour to his matters 1. Sect. That the Iews were under no other Curse but that of the Ceremonial Law Now 1. He should have been sure that the Ceremonial Law was a Curse It 's a wonder to me what grievous sins the Iews above all the World should commit that God should put them under such a Curse as should need the Death of Christ to redeem them from it especially what great Crimes had Abraham been guilty of that God should thus Curse and plague him with Circumcision which yet the Scripture calls the Seal of the Righteous Faith Rom. 4. 11. 2. It would be considered whether ever God gave a Law to any People in the World besides them that in its own Nature was a Curse Our Author once told us p. 196. That it pleased God to Institute a great many Ceremonies in the Iewish Worship to awe their Childish minds into a greater Veneration of the Divine Majesty And truly better so than worse better be frighted into Obedience than not at all Obedient But that ever God designed it for a Curse is past my apprehension 3. The Ceremonial Law in it's constitution end and design was a great Blessing there they had Pardon of sin Atonement Reconciliation exhibited and sealed to them Lev. 17 11. 2 Chron. 29. And all this could be no curse but to those who loved their sins better than the pardon of them and to such every Blessing of God would eventually prove a Curse 4. It will appear they were under a greater curse than what arose from the burden someness or their violation of the Ceremonial Law viz. That Condemnation which came upon all Men by the Fall of Adam Rom. 5. 12 13 14. 17 18 19. Such a Curse as was Common not only â—…o Iew and Gentile but to every individual under both capacities Rom. 3. 9. We have proved both Iews and Gentiles that they are all under sin ver 19. That every mouth may be stopped and all the World become guilty before God ver 23. For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God And therefore all had need of free justification by Grace through the Redemption that is in Iesus Christ ver 24. 5. The Jews were under a curse upon the Account of their violation of the Moral Law and their not duly attending to the true ends of the Ceremonial Law but if the violation of a Law would make it become a curse then the Moral Law was become a curse too and then they had need of a Redeemer from the one as well as the other though both were blessings in themselves The Ceremonial Law in particular had this great blessing in it That as it discovered to them the demerit and Wages of sin in the slaying of the Sacrifices so it discovered a remedy two in the Sacrifices slain for them which directed them to look through them beyond them and above them to him who was the Lamb of God slain from the Foundation of the World All this was no curse 2. Sect. He supposes that the Text Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath Redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us relates onely to the Iews Whereas the Apostle adds to obviate that Cavil That the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles Christ is made a curse for them upon whom the Blessing of Abraham came by his Death but the Blessing of Abraham came upon the Gentiles by his Death therefore Christ is made a Curse for the Gentiles And that the Law from the curse whereof both Jews and Gentiles were Redeemed by Christs being made a Curse for them is the Moral Law I have endeavoured to evince in the last Section but whether to our Authors content or no I know not One thing more he supposes that Christs Sealing a New Covenant is Redemption But there must go more than the sealing of such a Covenant as he has described There must be the payment of a Price to Iustice or there can be no Redemption To Redeem is properly to buy back again that which was forfeited and such were Sinners Their Persons forfeited to Iustice their Mercies escheated into the hands of the Law Now comes a Redeemer and gives himself to God as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Counter-price a valuable Consideration to Answer the demands of Justice and the claims of the Law and
and then our Authors Argument will hold though his Cause break If God for the sake of Abrahams imperfect Obedience yet as he was the Head of the League gave so many temporal Mercie to Israel surely then God for the sake of Christ the Head of all that the Father hath given him will bestow Spiritual and Eternal Mercies for the Head and Members making but one Body the Obedience of the Head is reputed the Obedience of the Members And as the Blessings which God bestows for Christs sake are Transcendently gâ—…eater than those bestowed on Israel for Abrahams sake so is the Obedience which Christ performed upon it's own account and the Dignity of the Person infinitely beyond the imperfect Obedience of Abraham and the Union which Faith makes with Christ is a stricter Union than any Natural Civil Political Union that could possibly be between Abraham and his Posterity Thus I have endeavoured to Vindicate our Authors Argument but I am sure he had rather it should perish than be thus justified But is it not strange our Author should tell us That he knows how many Blessings God bestowed upon the Children of Israel for their Fathers sakes and yet not acquaint us with one single Blessing that God bestows on us for Christs sake For the sake of Christs Personal Obedience I wish I had so much Interest in any Friend of his that had that Interest in him to perswade him to acquaint us freely and open-heartedly what those blessings are and how procured Why just now he comes to it The Righteousness of his Life and the Sacrifice of his Death both serve to the same end to establish and confirm the Gospel-Covenant God was so well pleased with what Christ did and suffered with the obedience of his Life and Death that for his sake he entred into a Covenant of Grace with Mankind Very good what needed all this Circumlocution and Periphrase To beat about and about the Bush Had it not been more Civil to have given us our doom in plain English than to Tantalize us with sugared hopes and expectations of some great matter from Abraham Isaac and Iacob Some would say 1. That this ascribes more Influence to Abrahams Obedience than thus to Christs for God for the sake of Abraham's Active Obedience entred into a Covenant with Israel and chose them to be his peculiar People without the Death of Abraham but the Obedience of Christs Life and Death must both concur to procure this Covenant and yet it is such a one as I suppose God would not refuse upon as small an account as the sake of Abraham 2. Some will say this is not to Answer the Question but perplex it The Question at first was what influence the Righteousness of Christs Life and the Sacrifice of his Death have upon our acceptation with God He Answers They serve to establish the Covenant they confirm to us that God will pardon and save us if we believe and Obey but what if I Obey without such confirmation shall my Obedience be rejected without it be performed upon that Confirmation Ay but God entred into this Covenant of Grace for Christs sake Still I say that 's not an answer but the bandying the Question upon us again a hundred times over Why should his Life and Death have such an influence upon God to make that Covenant Why should they Operate that way What connexion is there between Christs active and passive Obedience and such a Covenant But sure we forget our selves for we are enquiring into the influence of Christs Active Obedience And 1. For Confirming a Covenant let any rational Man satisfie me how The Obedience of a Person perfectly holy pure spotless sinless being accepted of God should prove this promise That therefore God will accept them whos 's best Obedience is imperfect and defective This is so far from confirming it that God will accept me who am a Sinner that it leads to utter dispair of acceptance with him seeing I came so infinitely short of my pattern What hope can a sinner have of acceptance from a consideration that God has accepted Christ who was no sinner If Faith was ready to believe that God would accept him that believes and obeys yet had it seen Christs Faith and Obedience and his acceptance thereon it might have stagger'd him that ever such pitiful things as his Faith and Obedience should find favour with God And if Faith was so strong as to overcome that difficulty as to believe the Promise notwithstanding this staggering Example yet it 's far enough from Truth that a sinner should believe the promise ever the more that his imperfect Service should be accepted and rewarded because Christs entire obedience was so Nay without question it had been a greater confirmation of that promise to have had assurance that God had pardoned some hainous Offender some flagitious wretch who deserved Condemnation than to behold him accepting a Person not obnoxious to Condemnation So says the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who hereafter should believe on him to Life everlasting The Pardon of a Blasphemer one injurious a Persecutor is a stronger confirmation that God will pardon a sinner than the acceptance of Him that had done no wrong neither was guile found in his mouth 2. But now for Gods making such a promise for Christs sake or entring into a Covenant to pardon accept for Christs sake this answers not the Question in the least for 1. It onely asserts that God has declared openly that he will do it Now a Declaration of Pardon is not a Pardon a promise of acceptance is not acceptance and therefore a Reason of or Motive to such a Promise such a Declaration is not a Reason of or Motive to Pardon and acceptance Christs Obedience was so well pleasing to God that for his sake he made such a Promise Well but if my Obedience be little Christs Obedience will not make it accepted as if it were great if imperfect it will not render it accepted as if it were perfect 2. That God has made such a promise for Christs sake answers not the Question for it s but turning the Question into an Assertion As if we should enquire what Reason is there that God should accept me for Christs obedience And he should Answer there is a Reason why God should accept me for it but never shew the Reason Or thus What Cause is Christs Obedience of the Acceptance of our Obedience And he should say it is a Cause but not shew the Cause But then further The Obedience and Righteousness of Christs Life was one thing which made his Sacrifice so Meritorious I confess I question the Truth of the Proposition had Christ Sacrificed himself as soon as he came into the World his Sacrifice had been as Meritorious being the Sacrifice of him that as Priest was God and