truth I have now made publike thou wilt find many positions laid down with greatest confidence by him called into question by me as concerning their truth such as these 1. That all the powers on earth have no power to protect the truth being brought forth Epist Dedicatory A 2. That believers do work out of justifying righteousnesse Section 1. E 3. That a believer is wholly dead to the law and as a dead man hath no more to do with the law as to the giving of laws to him Sect. 1. F and Sect. 2. B 4. That the law of the spirit makes a believer truly dead to the law Sect. 2. D 5. That Libertines and licentious persons are to be restrained by the Civil Magistrate when they transgresse wickedly and presumptuously against their neighbour and civil society but in other things concerning the things of God they are to be left to the immediat judgement of God only Sect. 3. C 6. That the humanity of Christ knew no law but the presence of the Godhead in it Sect. 3. F 7. That God himself is the new law according to which believers walk Sect. 3. G 8. That our Lord Christ owed nothing to the law of Moses by way of debt Sect. 4. A 9. That the living word and spirit which dwelt in the flesh of Christ was the true crucifying of him Sect. 4. B 10. That Christians are dead to whatsoever is not God himself Sect. 4. D 11. That Christ was crucified before his crosse and that his outward crucifying was but a sign of what done before within Sect. 5. C 12. That the divine nature of Christ was the constant crosse of his humane nature and his humane nature was fully crucified in his divine Sect. 5. E 13. That the man Christ lost all his own things in God through immediate union with God Sect. 5. F 14. That the living word and spirit is the glorious crosse of the Church the body as of Christ the head Sect. 6. D 15. That the word which faith receives is the word of righteousnesse and life in opposition to the outward word which is alwayes accompanied with the spirit Sect. 7. C 16. That their own life is extinguished in believers by the living word and spirit Sect. 7. I And yet 17. That sin hath its full power in the humane life of believers Sect. 7. M 18. That the Devil can find nothing in believers to do them harm Sect. 7. P 19. That the flesh crucified in believers is Christs own flesh Sect. 7. Q 20. That the flesh crucified in believers is the only temple and habitation of God Sect. 7. S 21. That the flesh crucified in believers keeps the true Christian sabbath Sect. 7. T 22. That the flesh crucified in believers is able to endure the will of God and to suffer for his name Sect. 7. W 23. That the flesh crucified in believers hath the very glory of Christ upon it Sect. 7. Y 24. That the flesh crucified in believers is the only subject of the glorious resurrection Sect. 7. Z 25. That the humanity of Christ was deprived of its own proper life through the word and spirit that dwelt in it Sect. 10. A 26. That instead thereof it had the life of the Son of God communicated to it Sect. 9. A 27. That the son of man parted with his own proper life out of himself Sect. 9. A 28. That he did yet live truly in the same soul and body the life of the eternal word Sect. 9 A 29. That the whole Church is conformed to the pattern of the humanity of Christ in point of living the life of the eternal word Sect. 9. A 30. That the son of man was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived whilest he was crucified Sect. 9. A 31. That in a believer the soul and body live in the life of the son of God as was done in the flesh of Christ our elder brother Sect. 10. E 32. That no man should think that the life which Paul lived after his crucifying was only his own humane life purified and refined Sect. 11. A 33. That a christian is so crucified with Christ that in this crucifying he loseth not only his own proper life but his personality also Sect. 11. B And so 34. That through faith a believers soul and body live no more any proper life of their own but are taken up into the nature and person of the son of God Sect. 11. B And so 35. That a believer subsists in Christs person and is no more a distinct person by himself Sect. 11. C 36. That Christ in a believer is to him instead of all created habits of grace Sect. 14. B And so 37. That Christ who lives in a believer is all grace to him Sect. 14. B 38. That the created habits of grace in a Christian are nothing but empty notions and vain speculations of carnal and unbelieving hearts ignorant of the true mistery of the Gospel Sect. 14. B 39. That Christ himself is the only grace that is acceptable to God Sect. 15. C 40. That this is the only grace against which the gates of hell cannot prevaile Sect. 14. D 41. That true justification is to be so one with Christ by faith that Christ himself may live in us and we in him that he may communicate his nature unto us and our nature may be taken up into his Sect. 14. H And so 42. That we are justified before God by Christs living in us his own life Sect. 14. H 43. That Christ and a Christian are made so much one that what one doth the other may be truly said to do Sect. 15. A 44. That as it is between God and Christ just so it is between Christ and believers who are as nearly united as God and Christ Sect. 15. B 45. That the true nature of Faith is nothing but this the Fathers laying hold of us by his Spirit and drawing us to the Son and inabling us to receive the Son and so making us one with the Son to abide and live in him for ever Sect. 17. A 46. That as the Word or Son coming into the humanity of Christ gave it authority and power to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the Sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot Sect. 17. B 47. That right faith carrieth a believer into all the perfections and excellencies of the Son of God into his nature and life and righteousnesse and power and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God Sect. 17. F 48. That right faith is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse the first and last and all in all in the kingdome of the Son Sect. 18. C These and divers other Positions many of which respect not barely the circumference but as it seems to me lie very close to the heart and center of Christian
touched by his Word make it their business to seek from God in Christ another life then their own a life infinitely better and stronger then their own and a life which at the will of God will offer up their own that we may say in our experience as Paul in his We are crucified with Christ yet neverthelesse we live Now the Apostle having named this blessed life doth further enlarge himself on this matter in the words following saying ANIMADVERSION 10. A THat a Christian is by faith really knit to Christ and engraffed into him and made one with him and so hath eternal life from him as the sience from the stock is old scripture doctrine acknowledged by all Protestant Divines But that this life which is received through union unto Christ is the life of justification as Mr Dell here affirmeth by way of eminence at least if not exclusion and doth not equally carry in it the life of sanctification also out of which a believer bringeth forth fruits of righteousnesse to the glory of God seemeth not to hold accordance with John 15.4,5,8 or if Mr Dell in his notion confound Justification and Sanctification me thinks the Apostle plainly teacheth another doctrine ascribing Justification to Faith in the Name of the Lord Jesus and Sanctification to the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 B If by Union with God in Christ the righteousnesse of God be made ours truly and everlastingly and therein we be justified How then are we made righteous through the obedience of our one mediator Jesus Christ Rom. 5.19 yea how are we justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3.24 I fear this passage of Mr Dell inclineth too much towards the preaching of another gospel For the Lords acquitting of a sinner from his sins through the forgivenesse of them is plainly laid down by the Apostle as an act of justification Rom. 4.5,6.7,8 which according to the Gospel the Lord who justifieth doth not passe upon men in relation to their being one with God in Christ or the communication of his righteousnesse everlastingly to them or as he afterwards speaks Christ living his own life in them but in relation to the ransoming death of Christ for them only and wholly This is the Gospel which the Apostles have preached to us which also we have received and wherein we stand by which also we shal be saved how that Christ died for our sins 1 Cor. 15. 1,2,3 and in him we have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of our sins Ephes 1.7 and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.39 Seeing our Lord Christ was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 4.25 Christians should have their hearts and ears closly stopt up against the hearing and receiving of any other Gospel or Doctrine of Justification whatsoever yea though brought by an Angel from heaven Gal. 1.8,9 C How can they which have the divine holiness the same holines of the divine nature in the same manner though not in the same degree as Christ had and hath not be in their degree God as he is I professe my present inability to answer this question and absolve Mr Dels words from being very dangerous and derogative from the peculiar honour of our Saviour Was not the holinesse of the divine nature or which is all one the holy divine nature by personal union so communicated to the humane nature in our Saviour that though he was man yet in his holy divine nature he was also God blessed for ever Will he affirm so much of any believer I hope not D These words of Mr Dell are so pure and precious that every believer cannot but imbrace them for truth And methinks they do so plainly shew that the wil of God which a believer doth obey that is to say his revealed will is the law of God within his heart put into his inward parts by the spirit as to the knowledge and love of it and strength in some degree to fulfil it that I can hardly believe that such words should proceed from him as we find in the 3. Section of this book viz. God himself which dwelleth in them is the new Law according to which they live For is the will of God which a believer hath some strength to do God himself It is very strange if any understanding man should so apprehend seeing the will of God which believers are strengthened to observe and obey is only his will of command made known to men as the rule of their sanctification which is a different thing from God himself as a Lord and his law differ 1 Thes 4.2,3 E The former words in this paragraph I conceive in a sound sence may be admitted But these words seem to carry in them an incredible mistake for if by this and that life in these words be meant the life of the first Adam which is crucified in believers and the life of the second Adam imparted to believers according to what immediately goeth before they then speak thus much to wit that the life of the first Adam crucified in believers is the natural life of man of which he is deprived in corporal death and with which a man may part ere he partake of the life of Christ whereas there is nothing more clear in the Scriptures then that the life of the first Adam crucified in believers is the life of sin with which no man can possibly part ere he partake of the life of Christ and which is a very different thing from that life with which a man parteth at the hour of death in relation to which life alone it is true according to Mr Dels words that if we part with it ere we partake of the life of Christ the second death must needs swallow us up SECT XI Yet not I but Christ lives in me A ANd this he speaks lest any one should think that the life he lived after his crucifying with Christ was onely his own humane life purisied and refined I say lest any one should think he lived now the life of his own refined spiritualized reason and judgement and prudence and will c. distinct and apart from Christ therefore he adds yet not I but Christ lives in me And each of these Clauses are very considerable Yet not I. B I live yet not I. By which words it may appear that a Christian is so crucified with Christ that in this crucifying he loses not onely his own proper life but which must needs follow his personality also For through faith his soul and body live no more any proper life of their own as before but are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God and in him he subsists lives and acts as a Member in the Man and as a Branch in the Vine and so can truly say after faith
ability to do good works Rom. 7.15,18 and pointed at the same impotency in the believing Galathians Gal. 5.17 And me thinks to affirm that a Christian as naturally and necessarily doth the works of God as the fire burneth and the Sun shineth which creatures we know have no seeds of opposition against their native operations in them is plainly to make a Christian perfectly spiritual and holy free from all reliques of native corruption opposing in him the willings of grace And if any such Christian be to be found according to Mr Dels doctrine he must needs exceed the measure of the Apostle Pauls holinesse which I think no true humble Christian will pretend unto SECT XVIII BY all which we may perceive that true faith is a greater matter then the most are aware of A For men usually think that when they hear the Gospel in the outward Ministry and assent to it that it is true that this is Faith and that then they do believe but the true faith of Gods elect is a greater matter then so for through that we are truly made one with the Son of the living God and do abide and live in him for ever B And so this right faith is a most high and precious grace and is the first manifestation of the Fathers eternal love to the Soul and the first grace whereby we have entrance into the Kingdom of God it is the Sabbath of Sabbaths it is the greatest and highest worship of God C it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse it is the mortification of the flesh the quickening of the spirit our mighty victory over the Law Sin Death Hell the World and Devil it is the first and last and all in all in the Kingdom of the Son And he that believes as the Scriptures have said is already truly passed from sin to righteousnesse from death to life and from Satan to God So that right faith is a most precious grace and is found in very few of the common Professours of the worldly Church So that Christ himself makes this question The Son of man when he comes shall he finde faith upon earth And therefore it concerns all to inquire and try Whether we partake of this Faith or no And whether the life we live in the flesh be in the Faith of the Son of God otherwise we must know that as he that believes shall be saved so he that believes not shall be damned It follows ANIMADVERSION 18. A MAster Dell I suppose whatever he intimateth in these words cannot but know that the generality of Protestant Divines place the nature of saving faith not in a bare assent to the Gospel but in an act of the whole heart receiving Jesus Christ according to the Gospel John 1.12 And as for such men who wrest the nature of saving faith short of the receiving of Jesus Christ with their whole heart their doctrine is as unsatisfactory to the generallity of understanding Protestants as to Mr Dell. B If true faith be a most high and precious grace as is here affirmed by Mr Dell How then is Christ in believers truly all grace which is asserted by him Sect. 14. B Is Christ a believers right faith too That were very strange C The praise of a right faith is very great in the book of God But to say of faith that it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse and again that it is the first and the last and all in all in the kingdom of the Son is no Scripture expression and these positions seem to trench very far upon the glory of the Lord Jesus of whom alone these high things are and can be truly affirmed Jer. 23.6 Rev. 1.11 Colos 3.11 SECT XIX Who loved me and gave himself for me THe Apostle having shewed that all true Christians are truly crucified with Christ and are also truly quickned with him by the same living Word and Spirit of life which crucified them and so do receive a Spiritual and Divine life instead of their humane and carnal life and having also shewed the Means by which they attain to this blessed death and blessed life and that it is by faith in the Son of God A Here he proceeds to shew us two main and chief things which faith regards and apprehends in Christ to wit his infinite love and the incomparable fruit of it saying who loved me and gave himself for me And so in these words I shall take notice of these three things 1. Of Christs special and peculiar Love to his Elect from these words who loved me 2. Of his special and peculiar Redemption being the fruit of his special love in these words and gave himself for me 3. Of Faiths particular Application of both these speciall Graces to a Believer The first thing here considerable is Christs special love to some above others Who loved me Most certain it is from the word of the Gospel which is the truest and clearest light that ever shone in the Church of the faithful that Christ doth not love all Mankinde alike but he loves some and not others There is indeed a general and common love of Christ wherein he comprehends all Mankinde alike which he manifests to them in making as he himself saith Matth. 5.24 his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sending his rain on the just and on the unjust and as Paul saith Acts 14.17 He doth good to all Nations though they walk in their own wayes giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their bodies with food and their hearts with gladnesse and supplying them with the common things of this life sutable to their Humanity But he hath a special love to his Elect to the Church which is his Body these he loves as his own flesh yea as partakers of the same Divine Nature with himself and according to this love he communicateth to these of all that very fulnesse of God which he hath received from his Father Now with this special love he loves not all Mankinde alike but onely some passing by the rest The Grounds and Reasons of which special love of his to some and not to others are these 1. Because the Son as he is of the same Nature with his Father so he is also of the same operation with him and so he only doth that which his Father doth first as Christ himself testifieth of himself John 5.19 saying Verily verily I say unto you the Son can do nothing of himself but whatsoever he sees the Father do For whatsoever things he doth these doth the Son likewise For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth So that the Father sheweth to the Son all those whom he loves and whom the Son sees the Father loves those also doth He love and whom the Father doth not love neither doth the Son love them because he can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do So that the Sons love is full
V. 1. Of Christs own crucyfying NOw Christs true crucifying I mean his inward and spiritual crucifying in which all his Saints without any exception have their fellowship with him it was this A It was the taking up his humane nature into his divine nature or the taking up his flesh into the Word in such sort that B the flesh of Christ did not live the life of the flesh in the reason and understanding and wisdom and will and affections and desires and delights and ends of the flesh but the flesh or humanity of Christ being crucified and dead to all these things did live in it self the life of the eternal Word in the nature righteousnesse life minde will and in all the things of God And this was the Full and perfect crucifying of the flesh of Christ indeed And thus you see th t the Living word and Spirit of God which dwelt in the flesh of Christ did truly Crucifie and destroy the proper will and affections and the whole life of his flesh C And thus was Christ crucified before his crosse and his outward crucifying was but a sign of what was done before within D and if Christs flesh had not thus been crucified before his Crosse he had not after given it up so freely cheerfully and desirously to be crucified so shamefully painfully and bleedingly on the Crosse E The Divine Nature of Christ was the constant crosse of his Humane Nature and his humane nature was fully crucified in his Divine in such sort that the Humane nature of Christ had not the least freedom of its own proper will lest to it self but when it was to undergo the heaviest and bitterest things that any creature was capable to undergo even Death and Hell and the sense of the whole wrath of God yet even then he said not my will but thine be done Which was the most full and perfect crucisying that could be F For the Man Christ lost all his own things in God through immediate union with God and was filled again with all the things of God in his humanity which took away his humanity wholly from it self to God to be do and suffer all in the will of God and this was his crucifying G And this now is the most excellent and glorious crucifying of Christ that is to be preached to all Nations for the obedience of faith H For to preach the outward crucifying of Christ barely and alone without this inward and Spiritual crucifying of him which is not onely the original and the cause but also the perfection and glory of the other is no great matter neither will it make the world much in love with him seeing two Thieves were thus crucified with him at the same time outwardly as he was But to preach Christ crucified by the living Word and Spirit of God that dwelt in him through which he was wholly dead to himself and the world and lived wholly in the will of God so that though he were the Son of God yet he made himself of no reputation but gave up his flesh and outward man to be crucified among thieves at the will of his Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I say is the glorious crucifying of Christ which the Gospel preaches in all the world even the crucifying of Christs flesh by the Spirit and Divine nature I For Christs dying had been nothing if the life of God within him had not offered up his humane life K and his crucifying had been nothing if God in Christ had not humbled his humane nature to the death of the Crosse and he had not offered up that flesh of his to God without fault by his Eternal Spirit as Paul speaks Heb. 9.14 But this did put such an infinite worth excellency and efficacy on his outward crucifying and thereby he is said to redeem us unto God even by his bloud and by that one offering of himself to perfect for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 And thus much touching Christs own Crucifying the next thing is ANIMADVERSION V. A VVHere is any Scripture that speaketh thus and giveth us such a description of our Saviours crucifying To the Law and to the testimony Esay 8.20 It is I confesse beyond my knowledge if ever any Christian ancient or modern did define the crucifying of Christ to be the taking up of his flesh into the word before Mr Dell. B If the humanity of our Saviour did live in it self the life of the eternal word in the nature of God then it will follow as I apprehend that our Lord Christ had no humane life distinct from the life of the eternal word in him from the very first instant of his assuming of our humanity and so could have no humane will to deny or life to lay down for us And where is the doctrine of the Crosse then If Mr Dell hath any reserved sence of his words and doth not mean as he speaks which I a mind ned to believe he should do well to speak as he means Whereas Mr Dell writeth that the flesh of Christ did not live the life of the flesh in the reason and understanding and wisdom wil and affections and desires and delights and ends of the flesh if he means thereby that our Saviour was not in the course of his life guided by the reason understanding and wisdom of his humane nature to will affect desire delight in or pursue any humane ends sutable to the liking of flesh and bloud but did altogether resign himself to the will of God his Father that it might be perfectly done by him and upon him how crosse soever it was to his humane will and wisdom in the native propensity thereof this is a very clear and sound truth and I should so understand Mr Dell and put such a sence upon the following words sc that the flesh or humanity of Christ did live in it self the life of the Eternal word in the nature righteousnesse life minde will and in all the things of God as that they should import no more but that our Saviour obedientially ordered himself in the whole course of his life in doing and suffering according to the minde and will of God his Father which is very good Gospel doctrine generally acknowledged Did not the laying of the present words to those which follow in this book seem plainly to put a more sublimate interpretation upon them and to evidence that Mr Dell intended in them to set himself above the pitch of the old ordinary Christian Doctrine sc That our Lord Christ in his humanity lived a humane life ordered wholly according to the divine rule of the wil of God his Father Yet if Mr Dell will so interpret himself in his high-flown expressions as to come down to the plain naked known truth of the Gospel concerning our Saviours obediential living and dying too according to the will and wisdom not of his humane nature but of God his Father which sent him I
is come Vivo ego non amplius ego I live yet no more I but it is another that lives in me and I in him so that a true Christian through true faith doth lose his personality not his humanity for his nature lives but not in his own person but in the person of Christ C Indeed every man by nature and according to his first birth is a distinct person by himself and lives a proper life of his own in and by himself till faith comes and knits him unto Christ and then he subsists in Christs person and is no more a person distinct by himself so far as he is gathered up into Christ through faith and the Spirit and lives and acts in him For then Christ is made so one with a Christian and a Christian with Christ that there is no more distinction between them in this Vnity then there is between the head and a member Now the knowledge of this point through the Experience of faith is of excellent use to a Christian in the matter of his salvation D In as much as each man as he is a distinct person by himself is under the Law and appertains to the Kingdom of the Devil and is within the reach and power of death and hell but as he is taken into Jesus Christ by faith that is as he is taken into his Person as his member and loseth his own person so he is free from the law sin and death as Christ is free So that if the law sin death or the devil come to a believer to accuse terrifie or condemn him he because of this most real and near union with Christ may reply in truth and say It is not I I am not I I am through faith become a member of Christ and I am he and he is I and if you have any thing to say say it to the Person himself for I am but a Member and do live in his person The clear and spiritual knowledge of this matter would be a great support to us in all times of temptation and in all deep sense of sin and wrath seeing we commonly in such sad and painful hours do look upon our selves as persons by our selves and distinct from Christ and then we do truly both fear and feel sin and death and hell within us and then also the Devil and our own evil consciences are too mighty for us when we consider our selves in our selves Wherefore at such times we must needs prevail by faith and know that we through faith are not persons by our selves but that we are Parts and Members of Christ and live in his Person and consequently in so near union with him that Christ cannot be saved without us nor we perish without him And so none can lay any thing to our charge but what Christ hath taken upon himself and overcome for us and so the Law Sin Death Hell and Devil can as soon prevail against Christ as against us who are so joyned to him that we are one flesh and Spirit with him E It is true if we were persons by our selves these evils and enemies would be too hard for us but being drawn unto Christ by the Father and being by him also implanted in Christ and made Branches of that Vine and Members of that Person we thus become one with him who is conquerour of all things and we our selves also are more then Conquerours in him Wherefore let us all know that in the matter of our Adoption Justification Sanctification and of our whole Salvation F Prorsus abjicienda est persona as Luther saith We must wholly cast away our own person and be united into one person with Christ yea and lose our person in his seeing out of this union Christ profits no body either to the escaping sin and death or to the obtaining righteousnesse and life G Wherefore for the escaping these eternal evil things and for the obtaining these eternal good things we must necessarily be so taken up into Christ that we must say with Paul It is no more I. ANIMADVERSION XI A IT is such plain Scripture doctrine that our humane reason judgement prudence wil c. is refined and spiritualized in us through the spirit of Christ and that in the strength of that renovation through the spirit we live unto God in our humane life and native faculties refin'd and spiritualliz'd that to indeavour to take men off from thinking so is a very anti-scriptural attempt See Rom. 12.2 Ephes 4.23 1 Thes 5.23 If Mr Dell thinks he hath left himself a starting hole in these words distinct and apart from Christ He may know that all understanding Christians acknowledge that the refining and spiritualizing of our humane faculties to a heavenly disposition and life proceedeth only and wholly from union to Christ through his spirit and cannot possibly be enjoyed distinct and apart from him These words therefore distinct and apart from Christ are not of sufficient vertue to secure Mr Dels present Paradox from appearing very heterodox to judicious observers If Paul had but one humane life in him and were but one and the self same man as to his native faculties before and after Christ lived in him which I think is undeniable then it will necessarily follow or I am much mistaken that the life he lived after Christ lived in him was onely his own life purified and refined the life of his own reason judgement prudence and will c. refined and spirituallized through the spirit of life in Christ Jesus the Apostles writing of such in whom Christ lives set them forth as the self-same persons in respect of their humane life and faculties but purified and refined to be very different persons from what they were formerly God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you the self-same you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you Rom. 6.17 And again seeing you have purified not any other but your souls by obeying the truth through the spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 And again Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself not any other as he is pure 1 John 3.3 It seems to me most evident that the nature of regeneration renovation vivification and sanctification necessarily require that the subject of them the man which is begotten again renewed quickned from the dead and sanctified be the self-same as to his humane life and faculties before and after this blessed change be wrought in him for if the subject in this change be not identically the same what can be imaginably said to be chang'd The words of Zanchius on the 23. verse of the 4. chapter to the Ephesians seems to me to carry much light and reason in them who shewing why the Apostle expressed the renovation of beleevers by the putting off of the old and putting on the new man writeth thus ut significaret sicut vestis res est diversa ab eo qui eam induit c.
The Apostle used this form of speech that he might shew that as a garment is a different thing from him that putteth it on so also the old and new man are different things from us who put off one wherewith we were clothed and again put on the other which before we had not upon us I take it that Austins words are fully consonant to Scripture doctrine Sit igitur in primis positum atque firmatum virtutem quâ rectè vivitur ab animi sede membris corporis imperare sanctumque corpus usu fieri sanctae voluntatis Let this be in the first place laid down and firmly held unto that the vertue whereby a man lives well commandeth over the members of the body from the throne of the minde and that the body is made holy by the use of a holy will Aug. de civ dei lib. 1. cap. 16. B By the words of the Apostle it doth appear that a Christian crucified with Christ as to the life of the old man liveth not unto God from a principle of life which is properly his own or from himself but from a principle of life which he hath from Christ and in Christ namely from the spirit of Christ which dwelleth in all his But that a believer loseth his personality by being crucified with Christ it appeareth not from this or any other Scripture that I know That through faith a believers soul and body live no more any proper life of their own but are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God understanding these words according to Mr Dels explication Sect. 13. D that Christ in a believer is not the flesh of Christ for that being a creature can be but in one place at a time but this Christ is the Eternal Word and Son of the living God the power wisdom and righteousnesse of God and the true God and eternal life seems to me a very dreadful position For if a believers soul and body be taken up into the nature and person of Christ the Son of God in distinction from his flesh then he must needs in nature and person be the Son of God and the true God as our Lord Jesus Christ is which I am not willing to believe that Mr Dell will positively and plainly affirm though his words evidently speak so much Whereas it is here further asserted by Mr Dell that in Christ a believer subsists lives and acts as a member in the man the branch in the Vine that is acknowledged in a Scripture sence sc that a believer hath his spiritual life wholly in Christ and from Christ as his head and mediatour through his spirit as a member hath its life from a man and a branch from the Vine but from hence to conclude that a believer through faith doth lose his personality and lives in the person personality of the Son of God is utterly inconsequent for though a believer doth retain his humane nature and personality and doth truly live and subsist in the same yet is it likewise true that that person subsists lives and acts in Christ as to the life of God in him as a member in the man or as a branch in the Vine C This assertion here reiterated by Mr Dell that a believer after faith comes is no more a person distinct from Christ needs not again to be proposed peremptorily but to be proved sufficiently by Scripture and me thinks those words so far as he is gathered up into Christ do utterly overthrow the former assertion and prove that a believer in some degree or respect is not gathered up into Christ and therefore must needs be a person distinct from Christ If here be not contradictio in adjecto a contrariety in the end to the beginning of this sentence I am much mistaken D I utterly deny and doubt not but the Scripture will bear me out in it that a believer though admitted to be a distinct person from Christ is within the reach and power of death and hell for the humane person of a believer being by faith and the Spirit united unto Christ as his member truly and yet mystically is through Christ as his head and mediatour fully put out of the reach of death and hell and of the Law and sin as binding over thereunto so that if the law sin death or the Devil come to a believer to accuse terrifie or condemn him he by reason of his most real and near union into Christ may reply in truth and say It is not I I am not I I am through faith a member of Christ I am in him and of him If you have any thing to say say it to Christ my head and mediatour for I am a member of his and do live in him And this doctrine I doubt not is as full and effectual as what Mr Dell here suggests to bring on that conclusion in regard of believers that none can lay any thing to their charge but what Christ hath taken upon himself and overcome for them and so the law sin hell and the Devil can as soon prevail against Christ as against them who are so nearly joyned to him as to be one flesh and spirit with him in a Scripture sence much different from the mind and meaning of Mr Dell in this point E Those words being not overstrained beyond Scripture meaning are very true and good and conformable to the judgment of those who judg Mr Dels doctrine of a believers having no personality but in the person of the Son of God to be very unsound and dangerous Indeed if we were persons by our selves that is persons not united unto Christ as our head and mediatour we should be very miserable but blessed be the Lord though we know believers to be distinct persons from Christ yet we also know them to be persons spiritually and mystically united unto and even into Christ as their head being made parts of that body which is his fulnesse who filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 and that is unto them matter of everlasting and invincible rejoycing F Where to look this place in Luthers works I know not but upon what I know of the general tenour of Luthers doctrine I dare adventure the reproach of a grosse mistake if the words being duly weighed do import more then this that all personal works worth merit and righteousnesse is to be wholly disclaimed by those who partake of the spiritual benefits of Christ And this is very sweet Gospel doctrine assuredly which hath no affinity with Mr Dels new paradox G Agreed if these words be taken in the plain Scripture sence of them there is no doubt but for the escaping of eternal evils and obtaining eternal good things believers must be taken up into Christ and found in him not having their own righteousness but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 at what time they may in their particulars