Glory in Heaven though it cannot but be more estimable than all the Providences in Nature must be a meer Pendant on the fickle Will of Man But the Author urges upon the Doctor That it is impossible for us according to his Principles to do any thing that is good that is I suppose without Faith in Christ without which our Church in her Homily of good Works declares that no good work can be done I take it for a very Truth That from the first good Thought to the last Act of an holy Life all that is truly good must come from Grace But saith the Author This turns us into meer Machins and pag. 379. he glosses upon one of his Opposites as if Christ were to make us willing against our will Unto which I answer The very same was cast into St. Austin's dish by the Pelagians Sub nomine inquiunt Ad Bonisacdib 2. cap. 5. Gratiae it a satum asserunt ut dicant quia nisi Deus invito reluct anti homini inspir averit boni ipsius imperfecti cupiditatem nec à malo declinare nec bonum posset arripere To which as a meer Calumny St. Austin returns That a man may as well call St. Paul fati assertorem for saying It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Indeed it is a very strange charge doth Grace destroy Nature or may we be willing against our Will It is impossible That of the Schoolman may reconcile the matter Voluntas humana induci potest ab agente creato mutari ab agente increato Bonaâ—â—â—â— in 〈◊〉 2.25 cogi à nullo The Will without ceasing to be it self cannot be compelled but Grace changes it without Coaction breaks off its Chains without destroying its Liberty and per suavissimam omnipotentiam makes the unwilling Will willing But still there is a more glorious Discovery behind that is Mr. Sherlock The glorious end whereunto Sin is appointed and ordained I suppose the Dr. means by God is discovered in Christ viz. for the demonstration of God's Vindictive Justice in measuring out to it a just recompense of reward and for the praise of Gods glorious Grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it that is It could not be known how just and severe God is but by punishing sin nor how good and gracious God is but by pardoning it And therefore lest his Justice and Mercy should never be known to the World he appoints and ordains Sin to this edd that is Decrees that men shall sin that he may make some vessels of wrath and others vessels of mercy This is a Discovery which Nature and Revelation could not make for Nature would teach us that so infinitely a glorious Being as God is needs not sin and misery to recommend his Glory and Perfections and that so holy a God who so perfectly hates every thing that is wicked would not truckle with Sin and the Devil for his glory and that so good a God had much rather be glorious in the happiness and perfection and obedience of his Creatures than in their sin and misery And Revelation tells us the same thing That God delights not in the death of a sinner but rather that he should return and live that is He had rather there were no occasion for punishing than be made glorious by such acts of vengeance Vindictive Justice and pardoning Mercy are but secondary Attributes of the Divine Nature and therefore God cannot primarily design the glorifying of them for that cannot be without designing the sin and misery of his Creatures which would be inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of his Nature And afterwards pag. 57. He appointed sin for the glory of his Justice and Grace and since nothing can withstand the Decrees of God it pleased God that Man should sin but when he hath sinned he is extremely displeased with it and now his Justice must be satisfied This falls hard on those miserable Wretches whose ill fortune it was without any fault of theirs to be left out of the Roll of Election and who have no way to satisfie divine Justice but by their eternal torments It is I suppose agreed by all that God did willingly permit the entry of sin upon the World of Angels and Men he could have kept all the Angels up in their primitive Station and then there would have been no Tempter to Man or had their been one he could have sent the holy Angels to warn him from the late downcast of their fellows against his own and to tell him that the poyson would come from the Serpent or if not that he could have sent him such strong auxiliaries of Grace as should have out wrestled the temptation he could no doubt as easily as he confirms the Saints and Angels in Heaven he could for ever have barred out sin but he would not he freely suffered it to come in only the question is How he did it Whether there be only a nude Permission such as leaves the event pendulous and uncertain till Man's Will hath determined or whether there be a Preordination of the Event so that it falls out infallibly Deo permittente and Creatura liberè agente Two things constrain me to believe the latter The one is this That without a Preordination the Event of sinful Actions must be casual and what then shall become of Providence The Moments which hang upon those Events are great and weighty Multitudes of Angels Courtiers of Heaven turn Apostates out of their Fall comes a Tempter who at one blow draws Man and all his Posterity into sin that entring into the world makes way for a glorious Redemption by Christ The Four first Monarchies rowl about upon the Lusts and Ambitions of Men The poor Church like the Ark floats upon the waters and now and then a storm of persecution comes dashing down upon it Errors and Heresies successively break forth as so many Torrents ready to carry away every Article of our Creed and what mighty Concerns are these Admirable are the Methods and Mysteries of Providence in and about such Events Joseph's Brethren sell him into Egypt and the Church is provided for in the famine Absolon goes in to his Fathers Concubines and David is visited for his Adultery Judah and Tamar commit Incest and this way came the holy One into the flesh The wicked Jews crucifie the Son of God and out comes the great Work of Redemption Persecutors scatter the Church and God by this means scatters the Gospel Act. 8. In such Actions as these the Light shines out of Darkness God's Mercy Justice Wisdom Holiness Power break forth out of Man's Cruelty Injustice Folly Filthiness and Weakness In every Ataxy God hath a secret Order either an Order of Penalty Sin punishing Sin or an Order of Conducibility Good coming out of Evil. Nullum est malum in mundo saith profound Bradwardine quod non est propter aliquod magnum
Answer who is acquainted with himself may learn his own impotency to good from the inward pressure of corruption which is in him However the Apostle in that 2 to the Ephesians doth notably decypher it out to us there he speaks not so much of a spiritual Death in actual customary sins as of such a Death in Original corruption for he opposes it to quickning Grace which by divine Principles infused heals the same and a little after tells us that we are by nature the children of wrath Hoc uno verbo quasi fulmine totus homo quantus quantus est prosternitur saith Beza on the place this shews him dead indeed It 's true the Pelagians Contra Julian l. 6. c. 4. as St. Austin tells us would have omitted the word Nature and in stead thereof have read Prorsùs altogether children of wrath but the Church would not suffer it This spiritual Death in Sin is a total one it runs over all the Soul there are saith the Apostle lusts or desires of the Flesh the sensitive Faculties and of the Mind the rational Powers nothing is left in Man but what is dead in sin not a drop or a spark of Spiritual Life or true Grace For then a man should be naturally regenerate and under a Promise of that Evangelical Mercy which is indulged to the least measure of Grace though it be but as a smoking flax or bruised reed Man is wholly void of spiritual Life by Nature and hence it evidently appears that he is not able to reach so high as any spiritual Act such as Conversion is unless he be elevated above his own Line by supernatural Grace This is fully the Doctrine of our Church who tells us Man of his own nature is fleshly 1. Hom. for Whitsunday carnal corrupt naught sinful disobedient without any spark of goodness in him And in another place The condition of Man Article the 10th after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasant and 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 We are said to be created to good works Mr. Sherlock and to become new Creatures and therefore we can contribute no more to it than to our first Creation and we are born again which signifies that we are wholly passive in it Which were true indeed if our being created unto good works did signifie the Manner and Method of our Conversion and not the Nature of the new Creature which is the true meaning of it That as in the first Creation we are created after the Image of God so we are renewed after the Image of God in the second which is therefore expresly called in other places the renewing of our minds The new Creature is indeed after God and his Image Answer but it is also from him and his glorious Power in a way of Creation He takes it upon himself A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you Ezek. 36.26 His great Power is put forth in it Eph. 1.17 and it is brought forth in a way of Creation even as God commanded the light to shine out of darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 May there be a new Creature without a Creator Or may poor dead impotent Man without any spark of Goodness in himself be such Or if he cannot do it alone may he be a Co-creator with his Maker and put in for a share in so great a work No surely all must be ascribed to the Grace of God alone Non est devotionis dedisse prope totum sed fraudis retinuisse vel minimum saith Prosper We must not rob God of the least Atom in Nature For my own part were I as I am not under a necessity to do one I should rather think it tolerable to steal away the old World as the Manichees did than with the Pelagians to take away the new from him But suppose a man could indeeed as some have presumed new-make his own Heart after God's Image might it be called a Creation Is not that Title too high for any Creature and where doth the Scripture give such an one to Man 'T is God's Royal Prerogative to new-make the Heart Of his own will begat he us saith the Apostle Jam. 1.18 To this our Church agrees It is the holy Ghost 1. Hom. for Whitsunday and no other thing that doth quiken the Minds of Men and a little after He is the only worker of Sanctification and maketh us new men in Christ Jesus When this fails they take another course with Metaphors to make them serve their purpose that is by considering all the properties of those things Christ is compared to and applying all that will serve their turn to Christ without regarding the end to which they are used thus the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Pearl of great price Mat. 13. This Pearl signifies Christ who as Mr. Watson saith makes us worthy with his worthiness Though all the Parable means is that we should part with all for the Gospel Thus Christ was prefigured by the Manna this was circular and so a figure of Christs perfection it was meat dressed in Heaven and Christ was prepared of his Father it suited every ones palate and Christ suits every Christians condition he is full of quickning strengthning comforting virtue that is He is what every man fancies him to be relishes to their gusto what precious discoveries are here of Christ What irrefragable proofs for them Thus Christ is a Rock 1 Cor. 10. A rock for defence and for offence and for comfort to screen us from Gods wrath and contein the honey of the promises Christ is resembled by the brazen Serpent Brass as inferiour metal signifies his humanity and as solid metal the power of his Godhead it shines but doth not dazle the eyes and so signifies the Godhead veiled with Manhood thus the brazen Serpent was like a Serpent but no reall one so Christ was in the likeness of sinful flesh but no sinner the Serpent was lifted up to be looked on and so was Christ to be looked fiducially upon Never man so happy in expounding types never Serpent so subtil Thus Christ is a Vine a Vine is weak Christs humane nature was fain to be supported by the Divine the Vine grows in the Garden Christ in the Church not known amon the Heathen It had been more grand to have said that Christ made the Garden where he grows The Vine communicates to the Branches Christ to Believers the Vine hath rare fruit and the promises grow upon Christ the Blood of Christ is the wine which chears mans heart What fine work might a prophane wit make at this rate but further they jumble all together and prove
as the fickle Will of Man doth that standing there is an Election that falling there is none and so toties quoties as often as it pleases man to shew himself variable Election will be something or nothing as it happens This Opinion doth not ascribe Eyes and Hands to God as the gross Anthropomorphites did but it assimilates him to the filly turnings and windings of the Creature But to speak more directly to the Author God's electing Love antecedes all Goodness in in Men and if his elect Vessels fall into great sins as holy David did and this after their Conversion however the Light of God's Countenance be for a time suspended however their habitual Graces be weakned and their Consciences wounded yet the Foundation of God stands sure electing Love remains unvariable and will revive them again by Repentance When God elected a People to himself he did not as Mr. Shaw speaks in allusion to the words of the Apostle use lightness or purpose according to the flesh after the manner of men unsteady and wavering in their determinations no the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his But if the Love of Christ be infinite Mr. Sherlock eternal unchangeable fruitful I would willingly understand how sin and death and Misery came into World for if this Love be so 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 Love as well preserve us from falling into Sin 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 might love us into Life and Holiness which indeed could not be if this Love were always so unchangeable and fruitful as the Dr. perswades us For if this Love had always loved Life and Holiness into us how should it happen that we should sin and die The gracious Decree of Election is Answer as becomes the Divine Nature eternal unchangeable fruitful yet was it a free Act terminating upon what Object it pleased Hence God saith Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated he infallibly brings his Elect to Glory But no man may be so vain or presumptive as to limit the holy One or chalk a Way or Method for him to walk in who works all things according to the counsel of his own will But how then came sin and death into the World Why surely it came in by Man's Transgression and under God's-Permission But why could not this eternal unchangeable fruitful Love preserve us from falling I doubt not at all but God who is Almighty could have kept up Man and all his Posterity in their primitive station as well as he did the standing Angels but if you ask on Why did he not do it I have nothing to answer but that it was not his pleasure God loves no man into sin the Expression is too odd for a Christians Mouth or Ear but he suffers his very Elect to fall into sin yet is his Love eternal unchangeable fruitful towards them if I may allude to that of Hezekiah Isai 38.17 He loves them from the pit of corruption he fetches them out of the corrupt Mass of Mankind by his effectual Grace and though afterwards they have many falls and lapses yet electing Love sets to its hand again and revives them by a fresh Repentance shewing it self fruitful in their recovery and safe conduct to Heaven and all this is managed in a way of unaccountable Sovereignty Not that I deny that the Love of God is eternal Mr. Sherlock unchangeable fruitful that is that God was alwayes good and alwayes continues good and manifests his love and goodness in such wayes as are suitable to his nature which is the fruitfulness of it but then the unchangeableness of Gods love doth not consist in being alwayes determined to the same object but in that he alwayes loves for the same reason that is that he alwayes loves true virtue 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 Gods 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 entered into the world but he governs and doth good to his Creatures in such wayes 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 After all the rest Answer the Author himself confesses that there is in God an eternal unchangeable fruitful Love how so There is a Love of Virtue and Goodness and is there not a Love of Persons too The Scripture is express in it St. Paul is a chosen vessel Act. 9. Jacob was loved and that before he was born or had done any good at all Rom. 9. The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2. He calleth his sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 Some are drawn of the Father Joh. 6.44 Some are called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 On some God will have mercy when he hardens others Rom. 9.18 All which places places prove that electing Love is of particular persons who as St. Austin hath it certissimè liberantur are certainly saved when others are left in massa perditionis Unless this be owned that great Design of a Church which is the Master-piece of Providence must be carried on in such a lame and imperfect manner as if God which is unworthy of him should say I would have a Church but I intend not who shall make it up Such a Jeofail is hardly to be found in a prudent Man But saith the Author The Vnchangeableness of God's Love doth not consist in being determined to the same Object but in that he always loves for the same Reason that is 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 he always loves for the same Reason where Goodness is there he loves where Goodness is not there he loves not This is the Author's meaning this is loving for the same Reason But if this had been so what could have become of Man corrupt lapsed Man in whom as our Church tells us there is not a spark of Goodness How desperate must his case have been Divine Love could not possibly have let out a drop of Mercy to such an one much less have shewed forth it self in such an unparalle'd Act as the Mission of his own Son for our Redemption there
sin we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1.5 6 7. This doctrine doth not only take away the necessity of Holiness in order to our Vnion to Christ but destroys the necessary obligations to Holiness and Obedience for the suture and so thrusts Holiness quite out of the Christian Religion Our Vnion to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of Holiness than before For now the merit of Christs death is imputed to us to remove the guilt and punishment of sin and his actual obedience is imputed to us to make us righteous and to give us an actual right to glory So that if men will obey Christ out of a principle of good nature and thank fulness they may but according to this notion there is no necessity of it because they are delivered from wrath and have a right to eternal life without it Still the Author goes on with this charge Answer That wicked men who live in sin may be united to Christ Mr. Shephard holds that we are united to Christ by Faith And are Believers wicked men they receive Christ whole Christ as their Prophet to teach them their Priest to satisfie for them their King to rule them and upon account of this receiving they are the sons of God Joh. 1.12 And are they wicked men for all this they have the promise of pardon and justification Act. 13.39 The promise of the Spirit Joh. 7.38.39 The promise of eternal life Joh. 3.16 And may we call them wicked men If wicked men may be intitled to such promises there is no need at all of Holiness or Obedience But saith the Author an holy life must not only follow our Vnion to Christ But at least in order of nature go before it because by this we are united to Christ To which I answer Without doubt that Faith which in Scripture phrase doth come to Christ receive Christ put on Christ and feed upon Christ must needs unite to him and of this Faith Obedience or an holy Life is not a part but a fruit all those worthies Heb. 11. First believed and then by that Faith produced all those acts of Obedience there recorded First We are married to Christ by Faith and then we bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 And in that fifth Chapter of John quoted by the Author First there are branches in Christ by Faith and then there is holy Fruit brought forth An holy Life must needs presuppose Faith it flows out of a pure heart and the heart cannot be such without Faith It is a conformity to the Divine Rule and that Rule cannot be assured to be such but by Faith It is levelled at the Glory of God and the single eye which looks at that great end is Faith without which the whole Body of our Works is full of darkness Now if Faith unite to Christ and precede Obedience or an holy Life then it is evident that Obedience or an holy Life do not go before our Union to Christ but follow after it But saith the Author our Vnion to Christ is not perfected without Obedience Hence our Saviour saith Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much Fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Joh. 15.8 To which I answer Our Union to Christ is not indeed perfect before Obedience as to its Fruit and Consequences but it is as to its essentials for the Believer in the very instant of believing hath a true title to the promises of pardon of the Spirit and of eternal Life So that should he immediately and before any one act of Obedience depart this Life he should undoubtedly and without any scruple enter that blessed Region where are the spirits of just men made perfect as for that place Joh. 15.8 where our Saviour tells them That bearing of fruit they should be his Disciples it is parallel to that place If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples Joh. 8.31 In both they were Disciples before In that Joh. 8.31 they were Disciples before that period of life unto which their continuance in the word extends it self or else their discipleship must have been adjourned to the other World And in that Joh. 15.8 they were Disciples before their bearing of fruit for they could not bear fruit without being branches in Christ and Branches they could not be without being Disciples when there fore our Saviour saith so shall ye be my Disciples the meaning only is that by their fruitfulness they should give a real proof and demonstration that they are indeed true Disciples and Branches of Christ But saith the Author This Doctrine destroys the obligations to holyness and thrusts holyness out of the Christian Religion our union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of holyness than before for now the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us To which I answer As to that that our union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy If by unholy be meant only before a holy life Believers before that are so perfectly united to Christ as to have a true title to the promises of Pardon the Spirit and Salvation If by unholy is meant a wicked Man no wicked Man is united unto Christ this would be a dishonour to our Saviour a contradiction to the Gospel such a one walks in darkness and cannot have fellowship with God who is Light as St. John speaks But a Believer who before an holy life is united to Christ is not must not be called a wicked Man As to the other That when we are united to Christ there is no need of holyness because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us I answer That before I have proved that this assertion that imputed righteousness makes holyness needless is but a Popish calumny and without any ground at all SECT V ACcording to these principles Mr. Sherlock there is no certain way to get into Christ the method prescribed is Conviction Compunction Humiliation and Faith which is the uniting Grace Now I observe first that a Man is passive in all this and can contribute nothing to it himself any otherwise than as he is acted by an irresistible power and it is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no man can follow this only tells us by what methods God unites us to Christ not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to this union A Sinner may stir up in himself some natural Conviction of sin some natural fear sorrow c. And in a sense of this may set upon the work of Reformation of leaving his sins and performing duties But all this they tell us is to no purpose for unless this Conviction Compunction Humiliation be wrought in us by the irresistible power of the
collectio sed fideles singuli rectè appellantur Templum quia in ipsorum mentibus Spiritus Dei habitat Mr. Sherlock Eaptism and the Lords Supper represent and signifie both our external and real union to Christ Baptism doth signifie to all baptized an admission into the Church Visible Answer and to Believers it seals the Mystical Union with Christ Thus the Apostle speaking of Believers such as are the children of God by faith in Christ Gal. 3.26 saith As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ you are mystically united to Christ and Baptism seals up that Union to you The Lord's Supper doth import to all receivers a Communion with the Visible Church and to Believers it seals the Mystical Union hence the cup is the Communion of Christs blood and the bread is the Communion of Christ's body 1 Cor. 10.16 The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and why was it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrysostome upon the words answers Because the Apostle would shew something more even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Conjunction with Christ Baptism signifies our profession of becoming new men Mr. Sherlock of Conformity to Christ in his Death and Resurrection We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life Rom. 6.4 Baptism signifies our dying to sin and walking in newness of life He that is baptized into Christ hath put on Christ Gal. 3.27 that is hath engaged himself to be conformed to Christ's image and likeness Baptism signifies our profession of Conformity to Christ very well Answer But first of all it signifies our Union to him without which there can be no participation of his Death and Resurrection nor conformity thereunto In that place Gal. 3. putting on of Christ imports an Union with him and in that Rom 6. after that discourse of Conformity to Christ's Death and Resurrection the Apostle immediately raises up himself to the Fountain of that Conformity and tells us that we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implanted in the likeness of his death and resurrection ver 5. Aptissimâ translatione arctissimam illam nostri cum ipsa Christi substantiâ conjunctionem vivificam illam virtutem inde in nos manantem expressit saith Beza on the place The Apostle by that Metaphor of a Plant expresses our intimate Conjunction with the very Substance of Christ and the quickning virtue flowing from thence unto us to assimilate us to his Death and Resurrection Thus the Lord's Supper is a spiritual feeding on Christ Mr. Sherlock eating his flesh and drinking his blood which signifies the most intimate Vnion with him that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Eph. 5.30 That as we are redeemed by his death and so taken out of his crucified Body so by this spiritual feeding on Christ we are transformed into the same Nature with him as much as if we were of his flesh and bones This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ when the visible figures of his death and sufferings affect our minds with such a strong and passionate sense of his love to us and excite in us such a firm hope in God as transforms us into a divine Nature And this is our real Vnion to Christ In the Lord's Supper all true Believers feed upon Christ Answer Those words of our Saviour He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Immanuel 52. Joh. 6.56 declare as the most Reverend Vsher hath it That by a mystical and supernatural Vnion we are as truly conjoyned with him as the meat and drink we take is with us And what this Mystical Union is the same Author tells us That it is made by the Spirit and Faith But saith our Author This spiritual feeding on Christ is when we are transformed into the divine Nature But I take it that transformation cannot possibly exist without a Mystical Union to Christ who is the great Treasury of Grace nor without the Spirit and Faith which are the bonds of that Union Therefore our Saviour tells us He that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6.57 Spiritual Life follows after eating or Union to Christ No man saith the Reverend Vsher can participate in the benefits of Christ Serm. before the Commons 1620. except he first have comunion with Christ himself We must have the Son before we have Life and eat him we must that is as truly be made partakers of him as of our food if we will live by him The Apostle tells us how the divine Transformation comes Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The heavenly Change is from the two bands of the Mystical Union that is from the Spirit which is called the Spirit of the Lord and from Faith which is set forth by a transformative View of Christ Excellent is that of Calvin and by him quoted out of St. Chrysostome Inst l. 4. c. 17. Vinculum istius conjunctionis est Spiritus Christi cujus nexu copulamur Et quidem veluti canalis per quem quicquid Christus ipse est habet ad nos derivatur The Spirit of Christ is the Bond of Vnion between Christ and us and the Chanel of derivation whereby Christ and all that he hath is conveyed to us 1 Joh. 1.3 Mr. Sherlock That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ Observe that our fellowship with the Father and Son is first founded on our fellowship with the Christian Church 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord where the fellowship of Christ can signifie no more than the fellowship of the Christian Church whereof Christ is Lord and Head and therefore the Apostle adds in the next Verse Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions or schisms among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Where he argues from the nature of their Faith in Christ to the Obligations of Peace and Vnity which plainly evinces that this fellowiship with Christ is that relation we stand in to him as Members of the Christian Church whereof he is Head The true Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plain 2 Cor. 6.14 where the Apostle disswades from fellowship with heathen Idolaters where we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which Expressions decypher to us the Nature and Foundation of Fellowship The
the Mystical Union let Bishop Davenant say Exp. in Col. Quicquid de obtentâ Gratiâ sanctificatione de obtinendâ vitâ aeternâ homines sperant merum ludibrium insomnium est si non sint in Christo Christus in illis jam verò Christus in nobis nos in illo sumus cùm vinculo Spiritûs Fidei per Spiritum impressae in cordibus nostris unimur huic capiti nostro What in denying Imputed Righteousness the Church of England tells at large in the Homily touching the Salvation of Man I shall quote but one passage Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly believe in him he for them paid the Ransom by his Death he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life so that now in him and by him every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller of the Law forasmuch as that which their infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied Which plainly implies a necessity of Imputed Righteousness What in bringing in internal Holiness into Justification the reverend Hooker saith The Church of Rome in teaching Justification by inherent Grace doth pervert the Truth of Christ There are other things but I leave them to the Reader 's observation in the After-discourse All Religion is founded on a belief of God's Goodness Mr. Sherlock Natural Religion was founded on those natural Evidences of the divine Bounty and Goodness in making and governing the World The Mosaick Religion on those miraculous Deliverances God wrought for Israel and that particular Providence which watched over them The Christian Religion on the Incarnation death and Resurrection of the Son of God The Christian Religion is founded so but dated much sooner than the Incarnation Answer it was in Essence though not in Name under the old Testament all along there hath been but one Faith one Mediator one Name under Heaven one Foundation of Salvation The Gospel was preached to us as well as unto them Heb. 4.2 Through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved even as they Act. 15.11 They all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rook was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 He is that Petra vnde omnes credentes salutem hauriunt as one glosses on those words Salvation streams from him yesterday to day and for ever he that will seek any other Fountain of Life must be saved Platonicè or Catonicè which to say is to depreciate the Christian Religion and render it as cheap as any other He is our Saviour in no other sence than as he is our Mediator Mr. Sherlock and he mediates for us as our Priest that is in vertue of that Covenant which he sealed with his blood He sealed the Covenant with his Blood Answer but did not turn over his Mediatory Office to it he mediates in vertue of his Blood and Merits being not as Socinus would have it a meer Internuncial Mediator but a Redeeming atoning and Reconciling one He ratified the Covenant by his Blood but so that we have redemption through his blood Eph. 1.7 peace through his blood Col. 1.20 and cleansing from sin in his blood 1 Joh. 1.7 Hence as the learned Lubbertus hath observed the Blood of Christ differs from other in a way of transcendent excellency other blood hath been used in confirming Covenants but Christ's confirms the Covenant and besides expiates and purges away sin There is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.5 and how he mediates the next Verse tells us Who gave himself a ransom for all The blood of Christ purges the Conscience saith the Apostle Heb. 9.14 and then adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that he might purge away our sins What the Author afterwards subjoyns These men trust in the person of Christ without any Promise nay in contradiction to it they quit his Promise and rely and roll upon his Person is utterly denied till proof be made of it The good men opposed are far from believing that they shall have any thing without a Promise neither do they quit his Promise when they rely upon his Person and Blood And yet that Reliance is as I have before shewed a Faith far higher than that dogmatical one which believes the Gospel and is distinct from Obedience When the Author summs up the Terms of the Gospel only in believing and obeying he falls short in omitting that Faith of Recumbency required therein under the Command of Faith which is more than a dogmatical Faith and distinct from Obedience which is the fruit but no part thereof CHAP. III. Sect. 1. WHen God chose Abraham 's Posterity Mr. Sherlock to be his peculiar People he did not design to exclude the rest of the World from his care and Providence and all possible means of Salvation as the Apostle argues in Rom. 3.29 Is he the God of the Jews only is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also Which Argument if it have any force in it must prove Gods respect to the Gentiles before the preaching of the Gospel as well as since because it is founded on that Natural Relation God owns to all Mankind as their merciful Creator and Governour which gives the Gentiles as well as Jews an Interest in his Care and Providence This plainly evinces that all those particular favours which 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 What the Author means by all possible Means of Salvation Answer I know not Surely God could have given as great Means to all other Nations as he did to Israel who was exalted above them all in Laws Revelations Miracles Protections Symbols of the Divine Presence in so signal a manner that the Jews doubt not to say That the seventy Souls that went down with Jacob into Egypt were worth as much as the seventy Nations of the World As for that of the Apostle Rom. 3.29 Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also The Apostle in the precedent Verse concludes that the only way of Justification is Faith in this he shews that the one way of Justification was open to Gentiles as well as Jews in the next Verse he infers that it is one God who justifies both of them in a way of Faith He speaks not of being the Gentiles God in respect of Care and common Providence but in respect of extending this way of Justification to them upon their coming in to Christ who was that blessed Seed of Abraham in whom all Nations were to be blessed However till the Gospel came to them they sate in darkness and in the shadow of death aliens from Israel strangers from the Covenant without God without Christ without hope seeing no
further than Nature and that desperately corrupted and not knowing whether there were any such thing as Grace or Glory the Center of it As for Israel I wonder that any man should deny Gods special Love to that people What! did he call them his first-born his peculiar treasure the apple of his eye without special Love Did he sever them from other people to be his own Levit. 20.21 chuse them to himself above all people on the earth set his love upon them and that merely because he loved them Deut. 7.6 7 and 8. Verses and all this without special Love Were theirs the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises Rom. 9.4 and all this without special Love He hath not dealt so with any nation saith the Psalmist To call this special Love partial fondness is to me a presumption not unlike that of the old Pelagians who charged a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or unjust Partiality upon Gods special Grace towards his own people upon whom St. Austin made some such tart Returns as these Tolle quod tuum est vade Annon licet mihi quod volo facere Li. 2. ad Bonifac. cap. 7. hic tota justitia est hoc volo O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo with a great deal more on God's behalf But saith the Author The end of all those particular favours was that all Nations might worship the God of Israel Suppose so if such particular favours to Israel above all other Nations argue not a special love to Israel what can do it God loves all Creatures as the Schools speak Vno simplici actu Voluntatis And if particular favours do not prove his Love special we must say that he loves Worms as much as Angels and Oxen whom comparatively he cares not for as much as Men upon whom his Love hath been set above all other Creatures Joh. 14.6 7. Jesus saith I am the Way Mr. Sherlock the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me If you had known me you should have known my Father and henceforth you have known him and seen him that is I alone declare the true way to Life and Happiness no man can thoroughly understand the Will of God but by learning of me Whoever knows me whoever is acquainted with the Doctrine and Religion I preach knows my Father also that is is thoroughly instructed in God's Mind and Will Christ is the Way Answer the Truth and the Life how so He declared the true way to Life and happiness Is this the all of it Is he only the Declarer and not the Author of Life Doth he not work it in us by the power of his Spirit and Grace Hath he not purchased a place in heaven for us by his Blood and doth he not consecrate a new and living Way thither through the Veil of his Flesh It cannot be denied Hear the Learned Bishop Wren against the Racovian Catechist Vidit Dives in inferno ubi sinus Abrahae erat sed monitus est de magno Chasmate intercedente nè possint congredi Via arboris vitae extabat sed ab acie versatilis gladii custodita Aeger ad Bethesdam positus diu jam vider at viam in stagnum sed movere se clinicus non poterat Nôrunt piae foeminae viam in sepulchrum Domini pariter nôrunt saxo obturari Ipsi denique Parenti horum Barjesu ostensa est à Paulo conversionis reconciliationis via verùm ille eò se caeciorem factum ducéque plus egentem indicavit Respondeat igitur an viam Christus quam ostendit aperuit an Pontem paravit trajiciendo Chasmati an versatilem avertit gladium saxum revolvit clinicum excitavit caecum collyrio beavit suo Reconciliationis hae primariae partes sunt sine his praeviis nihil est omnis conversio frustrà via omnis convertendi incassum omnis viae ostensio And afterwards speaking of Christ being the way he shews how he was so Non solùm quòd revelavit iis quae Deus volebat eos scire sed etiam quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 2.14 vel eapropter constitutus quae ab hominibus sine ipso praestari non poterant pro ipsis praestiterit sanguinisque sui merito ità viam ad Deum Patrem perpurgavit communivit illustravit ut nos jam ab ipso veluntatem Dei edocti veréque ad Deum conversi per fidem in sanguine Christi Propitiatione eâ perfrui possimus Thus he very excellently .. I know no need at all for such an Interpretation as takes the Will of the Father for himself or the Doctrine of the Son for himself the thing is plain He that knows the Son in whom dwells all fulness of the Godhead bodily must needs know the Father also To know God is to know the Will of God concerning the Salvation of Mankind Mr. Sherlock to know Christ is to understand the declaration of Gods will that is the Gospel which he preached which is therefore called the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 that is that glorious manifestation God hath made of himself by Christ For the face of Christ signifies all that whereby he made himself known as a man is known by his face that is his Laws Religion and Miracles whereby it appeared that he was the Son of God In the knowledge of God and Christ Answer God and Christ are the Objects the Gospel is the outward Medium Hence it appears that to know God and Christ is in propriety no more to know the Gospel than the Object of Knowledge is the Medium properly we know God and Christ by the Gospel As for that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.6 I conceive he discourses of somewhat more than external Revelation even that of internal Illumination set forth there by the Creation of the first Light and shining in the heart which gives the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ that is in the Person of Christ who is God manifest in the Flesh God was seen in Christ Mr. Sherlock Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father that is in plain terms the Will of God was fully declared to the World by Christ upon which account too as well as with respect to his Divine Nature he is called the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 And a little after he adds It is plain that in this sence Christ is called the Image of God 2 Cor. 4.4 Lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which is the Image of God should shine unto them Where Christ's being the Image of God comes in very abruptly unless we understand it in this Sence That he is the Image of God with respect to the