Countenance from Antiquity or the least from the Passages quoted out of Chrysostom by himself That his Glosses upon many Texts of Scripture which have an admirable Coincidence with those of two other persons whom I shall name when Occasion requires it are sufficient to affix upon them the sence which he pleads for with many other things of an Equal Falshood and Impertinency wherewith this Section is stuffed shall without any farther trouble from me be left to follow their own Inclinations But yet notwithstanding all the great Pains he hath taken to Instruct us in the Nature of the Union between Christ and Believers I shall take leave to prefer that given by Mr. Hooker before it not only as more true and agreeable unto the Scripture but also as better expressing the Doctrine of the Church of England in this matter And if these things please the present Rulers of the Church wherein upon the matter Christ is shuffled off and the whole of our Spiritual Union is resolved into the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Rule of the Church by Bishops and Pastors let it imply what Contradiction it will as it doth the Highest seeing it is by the Doctrine of the Gospel that we are taught our Union with Christ and his Rule of the Church by his Laws and Spirit I have only the the Advantage to know somewhat more than I did formerly though not much to my Satisfaction But he that shall consider what reflections are cast in this Discourse on the necessity of Satisfaction to be made unto Divine Justice and from whom they are borrowed the miserable weak Attempt that is made therein to reduce all Christ's mediatory Actings unto his Kingly Office and in particular his Intercession the faint mention that is made of the Satisfaction of Christ clogged with the addition of Ignorance of the Philosophy of it as it is called well enough complying with them who grant that the Lord Christ did what God was satisfied withal with sundry other things of the like nature will not be to seek whence these things come nor whither they are going nor to whom our Author is beholden for most of his rare Notions which it is an easie thing at any time to acquaint him withal The second Section of this Chapter is filled principally with Exceptions against my Discourse about the Personal Excellencies of Christ as Mediator if I may not rather say with the Reflections on the Glory of Christ himself For my own Discourse upon it I acknowledge to be weak and not only inconceiveably beneath the Dignity and Merit of the Subject but also far short of what is taught and delivered by many Ancient Writers of the Church unto that purpose And for his Exceptions they are such a Composition of ignorance and spite as is hardly to be paralel'd His Entrance upon his Work is pag 200. as followeth Secondly Let us enquire what they mean by the Person of Christ to which Believers must be united And here they have outdone all the Metaphysical Subtilties of Suarez and have found out a Person for Christ distinct from his God-head and Man-hood for there can be no other Sense made of what Dr. Owen tells us that by the Graces of his Person he doth not mean the Glorious Excellencies of his Deity considered in it self abstracting from the Office which for us as God and Man be undertook nor the outward appearance of his Humane Nature when he conversed here on Earth nor yet as now Exalted in Glory but the Graces of the Person of Christ as he is vested with the Office of Mediation his Spiritual Eminency Comeliness Beauty as appointed and anointed by the Father unto that Great Work of bringing home all his Elect into his Bosom Now unless the Person of Christ as Mediator be distinct from his Person as God-Man all this is Idle talk For what Personal Graces are there in Christ as Mediator which do not belong to him either as God or Man There are some things indeed which our Saviour did and suffered which he was not obliged to either as God or Man but as Mediator but surely he will not call the Peculiar Duties and Actions of an Office Personal Graces I have now learned not to trust unto the Honesty and Ingenuity of our Author as to his Quotations out of my Book which I find that he hath here mangled and altered as in other Places and shall therefore transcribe the whole Passage in my own Words Pag. 51. It is Christ as Mediator of whom we speak and therefore by the Grace of his Person I understand not First the Glorious Excellencies of his Deity considered in it self abstracting from the Office which for us as God and Man be undertook 2. Nor the outward appearance of his humane Nature neither when he conversed here on Earth bearing our Infirmities whereof by reason of the Charge that was laid upon him the Prophet gives quite another Character Isa. 52 14. Concerning which some of the Ancients are very Poetical in their Expressions nor yet as now exalted in Glory a Vain Imagination whereof makes many bear a false a Corrupted respect unto Christ even upon Carnal Apprehensions of the mighty Exaltation of the Humane Nature which is but to know Christ after the Flesh a Mischief much improved by the Abomination of Foolish Imagery But this is that which I intend the Graces of the Person of Christ as he is vested with the office of Mediation his Spiritual Eminency Comelyness and Beauty c. Now in this respect the Scripture describes him as exceeding Excellent Comely and Desirable far above comparison with the choycest Chiefest Created Good or any Endowment imaginable which I prove at large from Psal. 45.2 Isa. 4.2 Cant. 5.9 adding on Explanation of the whole In the Digression some Passages whereof he carps at in this Section my Design was to declare as was said somewhat of the Glory of the Person of Christ To this End I considered both the Glory of his Divine and the many Excellencies of his humane Nature But that which I principally insisted on was the Excellency of Person as God and Man in one whereby he was meet and able to be the Mediator between God and Man and to effect all the great and blessed Ends of his Mediation That our Lord Jesus Christ was God and that there were on that account in his Person the Essential Excellencies and Properties of the Divine Nature I suppose he will not deny Nor will he do so that he was truly Man and that his Humane Nature was endowed with many Glorious Graces and Excellencies which are Peculiar thereunto That theâ—e is a distinct Consideration of his Person as both these Natures are united therein is that which he seems to have a mind to except against And is it meet that any one who hath ought else to do should spend any moments of that Time which he knows how better to improve in the pursuit of a Mans
Impertinencies who is so bewildred in his own Ignorance and Confidence that he knowes neither where he is nor what he says Did not the Son of God by assuming our Humane Nature continuing what he was become what he was not Was not the Person of Christ by the Communication of the Properties of each Nature in it and to it a Principle of such operations as he could not have wrought either as God or Man separately considered How else did God Redeem his Church with his own Blood Or how is that true which he says John 3.13 And no Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven Was not the Union of the two Natures in the same Person which was a Property neither of the Divine nor Humane Nature but a distinct ineffable Effect of Divine Condescention Wisdom and Grace which the Antients Unanimously call the Grace of Union whose Subject is the Person of Christ that whereby he was fit mee◠and able for all the Works of his Mediation Doth not the Scripture moreover propose unto our Faith and Consolation the Glory Power and Grace of the Person of Christ as he is God over all blessed for ever and his Love Sympathy Care and Compassion as Man yet all acting themselves in the one and self same Person of the Son of God Let him read the first Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews and see what account he can give thereof And are not these such Principles of Christian Religion as no Man ought to be ignorant of or can deny without the Guilt of the Heresies condemned in the first General Councils And they are no other Principles which my whole Discourse excepted against doth proceed upon But saith our Author unless the Person of Christ as Mediator be distinct from his Person as God Man all this is idle Talk Very Good and why so Why what Personal Graces are there in Christ as Mediator which do not belong unto him either as God or Man But is he not ashamed of this Ignorance Is it not a Personal Grace and Excellency that he is God and Man in one Person which belongs not to him either as God or Man And are there not Personal Operations innumerable depending hereon which could not have been wrought by him either as God or Man as raising himself from the Dead by his own Power and Redeeming the Church with his Blood Are not most of the Descriptions that are given us of Christ in the Scripture most of the Operations which are assigned unto him such as neither belong unto nor proceed from the Divine or Humane Nature separately considered but from the Person of Christ as both these Natures are united in it That which seems to have led him into the Maze wherein he is bewildred in his ensuing Discourse is that considering there are but two Natures in Christ the Divine and the Humane Nature is the Principle of all Operations he supposed that nothing could be said of Christ nothing ascribed to his Person but what was directly formally predicated of one of his Natures distinctly considered But he might have easily enquired of himself that seeing all the Properties and Acts of the Divine Nature are absolutely Divine and all those of the Humane Nature absolutely Humane whence it came to pass that all the Operations and Works of Christ as Mediator are Theandrical Although there be nothing in the Person of Christ but his Divine and Humane Nature yet the Person of Christ is neither his Divine Nature nor his Humane For the Humane Nature is and ever was of it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Divine to the compleat Constitution of the Person of the Mediator in and unto its own Hypostasis assumed the Humane so that although every Energy or Operation be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the distinct Natures are distinct Principles of Christ's operations yet his Person is the Principal or only Agent which being God-Man all the Actions thereof by vertue of the Communication of Properties of both Natures therein are Theandrical And the Excellency of this Person of Christ wherein he was every way fitted for the work of Mediation I call sometimes his Personal Grace and will not go to him to Learn to speak and express my self in these things And it is most false which he affirms pag. 203. That I distinguish the Graces of Christ's Person as Mediator from the Graces of his Person as God and Man Neither could any Man have run into such an Imagination who had competently understood the things which he speaks about And the bare proposal of these things is enough to defeat the Design of all his ensuing Cavils and Exceptions And as to what he closeth withal that Surely I will not call the peculiar Duties and Actions of an office Personal Graces I suppose that he knoweth not well what he intends thereby Whatever he hath fancied about Christ being the Name of an Office Jesus Christ of whom we speak is an Person and not an Office And there are no such things in rerum natura as the actions of an Office And if by them he intends the Actions of a Person in the discharge of an Office whatever he calls them I will call the Habits in Christ from whence all his Actions in the performance of his Office do proceed Personal Graces and that whether he will or no. So he is a merciful faithful and compassionate High-Priest Heb. 2.17 4.15 5.2 And all his Actions in the discharge of his Office of Priesthood being principled and regulated by those Qualifications I do call them his Personal Graces and do hope that for the future I may obtain his leave so to do The like may be said of his other Offices The Discourse which he thus raves against is Didactical and accommodated unto a Popular way of Instruction and it hath been hitherto the common Ingenuity of all Learned Men to give an Allowance unto such Discourses so as not to exact from them an accuracy and propriety in Expressions such as is required in those that are Scholastical or Polemical It is that which by common consent is allowed to the Tractates of the Ancients of that Nature especially where nothing is taught but what for the substance of it is consonant unto the Truth But this Man attempts not only a Severity in nibling at all Expressions which he fancyeth liable unto his Censures but with a disingenuous Artifice waving the Tenour and Process of the Discourse which I presume he found not himself able to oppose he takes out sometimes here sometimes there up and down backward and forward at his Pleasure what he will to put if it be possible an ill Sence upon the whole And if he have not hereby given a sufficient Discovery of his good will towards the doing of somewhat to my disadvantage he hath failed in his whole Endeavour For there is no Expression which he hath
fixed on as the Subject of his Reflections which is truely mine but that as it is used by me and with respect unto its End I will defend it against him and all his Co-partners whilst the Scripture may be allowed to be the Rule and Measure of our Conceptions and Expressions about Sacred things And although at present I am utterly wearied with the consideration of such sad Triflings I shall accept from him the kindness of an Obligation to so much Patience as is necessary unto the perusal of the ensuing Leaves wherein I am concerned First Pag. 202. He would pick something if he knew what out of my Quotations of Cant. 5.9 to express or illustrate the Excellency of Christ which first he calls an Excellent Proof by way of scorn But as it is far from being the only Proof produced in the Confirmation of the same Truth and is applyed rather to illustrate what was spoken then to prove it yet by his favour I shall make bold to continue my apprehensions of the occasional Exposition of the words which I have given in that Place until he is pleased to acquaint me with a better which I suppose will be long enough For what he adds But however White and Ruddy belong to his Divine and Humane Nature and that without regard to his Mediatory Office for he had been White in the Glory of his Deity and Ruddy with the Red Earth of his Humanity whether he had been considered as Mediator or not it comes from the same spring of skill and Benevolence with those afore For what wise talk is it of Christ's being God Man without the Consideration of his being Mediator as though he were ever or ever should have been God and Man but with respect unto his Mediation His Scoff at the red Earth of Christ's Humanity represented as my words is grounded upon a palpable falsification For my words are He was also ruddy in the Beauty of his Humanity Man was called Adam from the red Earth whereof he was made The word here used points him out as the second Adam partaker of Flesh and Blood because the Children also partook of the same And if he be displeased with these Expressions let him take his own time to be pleased again it is that wherein I am not concerned But my fault which so highly deserved his Correction is that I apply that to the person of Christ which belongs unto his Natures But what if I say no such thing or had no such Design in that place For although I do maintain a distinct Consideration of the Excellency of Christ's person as comprising both his Natures united though every real thing in his person belongs formally and radically unto one of the Natures those other Excellencies being the Exurgency of their Union whereby his person was fitted and suited unto his Mediatory operations which in neither nature singly considered he could have performed and shall continue to maintain it against whosoever dares directly to oppose it yet in this place I intended it not which this man knew well enough the very next words unto what he pretends to prove it being The beauty and comeliness of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Vnion of both these in one Person shall afterwards be declared And so we have an equality in Judgement and Ingenuity throughout this Censure Hence he leaps to pag. 64. of my Book thence backwards to 53. and then up and down I know not how nor whither He begins with pag. 64. And in his first Digression concerning the Excellency of Christ Jesus to invite us to Communion with him in a Conjugal Relation he tells us that Christ is exceeding Excellent and Desirable in his Deity and the Glory thereof He is Desirable and Worthy our Acceptation as considered in his Humanity in his Freedom from Sin Fulness of Grace c. Now though this look very like a Contradiction that by the Graces of his Person he meant neither the Excellencies of his Divine nor Humane Nature yet he hath a Salvo which will deliver him both from Contradiction and from Sense that he doth not consider these Excellencies of his Deity or Humanity as abstracted from his Office of Mediator though he might if he pleased For he considers those Excellencies which are not peculiar to the Office of Mediation but which would have belonged unto him as God and Man whether he had been Mediator or not But what becomes of his Distinction of the Graces of Christ's Person as Mediator from the Graces of his Person as God and Man when there are no personal Graces in Christ but what belong to his Deity or his Humanity I am sufficiently satisfyed that he neither knows where he is nor what he doth or hath no due comprehension of the things he treats about That which he opposeth if he intend to oppose any thing by me asserted is that whereas Christ is God the Essential properties of his Divine Nature are to be considered as the formal Motive unto and Object of Faith Love and Obedience and whereas he is Man also his Excellencies in the Glorious Endowment of his Humane Nature with his Alliance unto us therein and his Furniture of Grace for the Discharge of his Office are proposed unto our Faith and Love in the Scripture And of these things we ought to take a distinct Consideration our Faith concerning them being not only Taught in the Scripture but fully confirmed in the Confessions and Determinations of the Primitive Church But the Person of Christ wherein these two Natures are united is of another distinct Consideration and such things are spoken thereof as cannot under any single Enunciation be ascribed unto either Nature though nothing be so but what formally belongs unto one of them or is the necessary consequent Exurgency of their Union See Isa. 9.6 2 Tim. 3.16 John 1.14 It is of the Glory of the Word of God made Flesh that I discourse But this Man talks of what would have belonged to Christ as God-Man whether he had been Mediator or not as though the Son of God either was or was ever designed to be or can be considered as God-Man and not as Mediator And thence he would releive himself by the Calumny of assigning a Distinction unto me between the Graces of Christ's person as Mediator the Graces of his person as God Man that is one person which is a meer figment of his own misunderstanding Upon the whole he comes to that accurate Thesis of his own that there are no personal Graces in Christ but what belong to his Deity or Humanity Personal Graces belonging unto the Humanity or Humane Nature of Christ that Nature being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or such as hath no personal subsistence of its own is a Notion that those may thank him for who have a mind to do it And he may do well to consider what his thoughts are of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned Phill. 2.7
calling the Union of the two Natures in Christ in the same Person the Grace of Vnion for so he sayes If you would understand what this strange Grace of Vnion is But I crave his Pardon in not complying with his Directions for my Companyes sake No man who hath once consulted the Writings of the Ancients on this Subject can be a stranger unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Gratia Vnionis they so continually occurre in the Writings of all sorts of Divines both Ancient and Modern Yea but there is yet worse behind for what an untoward Representation is this of Christs Mediation that he came to make Peace by laying his hands on God and Men as if he came to part a fray or scuffle My words are the Uniting of the Natures of God and Man in one Person made him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost he layd his hand upon God by partaking of his Nature Zach. 13.7 And he layes his hand upon us by partaking of our Nature Heb. 2.14 16. and so becomes a Dayes-man or Vmpire between both See what it is to be adventurous I doubt not but that he thought that I had invented that Expression or at least that I was the first who ever applyed it unto this Interposition of Christ between God and Man But as I took the words and so my warranty for the Expression from the Scripture Job 9.33 So it hath commonly been applyed by Divines in the same manner particularly by Bishop Vsher in his Immanuel p. 8 9. as I remember whose Unhappiness in expressing himself in Divinity this man needs not much to bewayl But let my Expressions be what they will I shall not escape the unhappiness of weakness in my Proofs for I might he sayes as well have quoted Gen. 1.1 and Matth. 1.1 for the Proof of the Unity of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ and his Fitness thence to be a Saviour as those I named viz. Zach. 13.7 Heb. 2.14 16. Say you so why then I do here undertake to maintain the Personal Vnion and the fitness of Christ from thence to be a Saviour from these two Texts against this Man and all his Fraternity in Design And at present I cannot but wonder at his Confidence seeing I am sure be cannot be ignorant that one of these Places at least namely that of Heb. 2.16 is as much as frequently as vehemently pleaded by all sorts of Divines Ancient and Modern to prove the Assumption of our Humane Nature into Personal subsistence with the Son of God that so he might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit and able to save us as any one Testimony in the whole Scripture And the same Truth is as evidently contained and expressed in the former seeing no man could be the Fellow of the Lord of Hosts but he that was partaker of the same Nature with him and no one could have the sword of God upon him to smite him which was needfull unto our Salvation but he that was partaker of our Nature or Man also And the meer recital of these Testimonies was sufficient unto my purpose in that place where I designed onely to declare and not dispute the Truth If he yet think that I cannot prove what I assert from these Testimonies let him consult my Vindiciae Evangelicae where according as that work required I have directly pleaded these Scriptures to the same purpose insisting at large on the Vindication of one of them and let him answer what I have there pleaded if he be able And I shall allow him to make his Advantage unto that purpose if he please of whatever Evasions the Socinians have found out to escape the force of that Testimony For there is none of them of any note but have attempted by various Artifices to shield their Opinion in denying the Assumption of our Humane Nature into personal Union with the Son of God and therewithal his Praeexistence unto his Nativity of the blessed Virgin from the Divine Evidence given against it in that place of Heb. 2.16 which yet if this Author may be believed doth make no more against them than Gen. 1.1 Wherefore this severe Censure together with the Modesty of the Expression wherein Christ making Peace between God and Man is compared to the Parting of a Fray or Scuffle may pass at the same Rate and Value with those which are gone before His ensuing Pages are taken up for the most part with the transcription of Passages out of my Discourse raked together from several Places at his pleasure I shall not impose the needless Labour on the reader of a third Perusal of them nor shall I take the pains to restore the several Passages to their proper Place and Coherence which he hath rent them from to trye his skill and strength upon them separately and apart For I see not that they stand in need of using the least of their own circumstantial Evidence in their Vindication I shall therefore only take notice of his Exceptions against them And pag. 207. whereas I had said on some Occasion that in such a supposition we could have supplyes of Grace only in a moral Way it falls under his Derision in his Parenthesis and that is a very pitifull way indeed But I must yet tell him by the way that if he allow of no supplies of Grace but in a Moral way he is a Pelagian and as such stands condemned by the Catholick Church And when his Occasions will permit it I desire he would answer what is written by my self in another Discourse in the Refutation of this Sole Moral Operation of Grace and the Assertion of another way of the Communication of it unto us Leave fooling and the Vnhappiest man in expressing himself that ever I met with will not doe it He must betake himself to another Course if he intend to engage into the handling of things of this Nature He addes whereas I had said the Grace of the Promises of the Person of Christ you mean I know well enough what I mean but the Truth is I know not well what he means nor whether it be out of ignorance that he doth indeed fancy an Opposition between Christ and the Promises that what is ascribed unto the one must needs be derogated from the other when the Promise is but the Means and Instrument of conveying the Grace of Christ unto us or whether it proceed from a real Dislike that the Person of Christ that is Jesus Christ himself should be esteemed of any Use or Consideration in Religion that he talks at this rate But from whence ever it proceeds this cavilling Humour is unworthy of any Man of Ingenuity or Learning By his following Parenthesis a World of Sin is something I suppose I have somewhere used that Expression whence it is reflected on but he quotes not the place and I cannot find it I shall therefore only at present tell him as if I remember aright I have done
to express the Mind and actings of those who being ignorant ignorant of the Righteousness of God go about to establish their own Righteousness as He farther explains himself Rom. 10.3 4. That I could not intend Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel is so evident that nothing but abominable Prejudice or ignorance could hinder any Man from discerning it For that Faith which I expressed by the Soul's consent to take Christ as a Saviour and a Ruler is the very first Act of Obedience unto the Gospel So that therein or thereon to exclude Obedience unto the Gospel is to deny what I assert which under the favour of this Author I understand my self better than to do And as to all other Acts of Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel following and proceeding from sincere Believing it is openly evident that I could not understand them when I spake only of what was antecedent unto them And if this Man knowes not what transactions are in the Minds of many before they do come unto the Acceptance of Christ on his own Terms or believe in him according to the Tenour of the Gospel there is Reason to pitty the People that are committed unto his Care and Instruction what regard soever ought to be had unto himself And his Pittiful trifling in the Exposition he adds of this Passage to be saved without doing any thing without obeying Thee and the Law do but increase the Guilt of his Prevarications For the words immediately added in my Discourse are and although I have walked according unto mine own Mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by thy Spirit which unto the Understanding of all Men who understand any thing in these Matters signify no less than an Engagement unto the Universal relinquishment of Sin and entire Obedience unto Jesus Christ in all things But this faith He is a pretty Complement that the Soul makes to Christ after all But why is this to be esteemed only a pretty Complement It is spoken at the same Time and as it were with the same Breath there being in the Discourse no Period between this Passage and that before And why must it be esteemed quite of another Nature so that herein the Soul should only Complement and be real in what is before expressed what if one should say it was real only in this latter Expression and Engagement that the former was only a Pretty Complement May it not with respect unto my sence and intention from any thing in my words or that can be gathered from them or any Circumstances of the Place be spoken with as much regard unto Truth and Honesty What Religion these Men are of I know not if it be such as teacheth them these Practices and Countenanceth them in them I openly declare that I am not of it nor would be so for all that this World can afford I shall have done when I have desired him to take notice that I not only believe and maintain the necessity of Obedience unto all the Laws Precepts Commands and Institutions of the Gospel of Universal Holiness the Mortification of all Sin Fruitfulness in good Works in all that intend or design Salvation by Jesus Christ but also have proved and confirmed my Perswasion and Assertions by better and more Cogent Arguments than any which by his Writings he seems as yet to be acquainted withal And unless he can prove that I have spoken or written any thing to the contrary or he can disprove the Arguments whereby I have confirmed it I do here declare him a person altogether unfit to be dealt withal about things of this Nature his Ignorance or Malice being Invincible nor shall I on any Provocation ever hereafter take notice of him untill he hath mended his Manners His third Section pag. 76. consists of three parts First that some wherein it is apparent that I am chiefly if not only intended do found a Religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ s Person without and besides the Gospel whereunto he opposeth his running Title of no Acquaintance with Christ but by Revelation Secondly a Supposition of a Scheme of Religion drawn from the Knowledge of Christs Person whereunto he opposeth another which he he judgeth better Thirdly an Essay to draw up the whole Plot and Design of Christianity with the method of the Recovery of Sinners unto God In the first of these I suppose that I am if not solely yet principally intended especially considering what he affiâ—ms pag. 98 99 Namely that I plainly confess our Religion is wholly owing unto acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from the Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person Now herein there is an especial Instance of that Truth and Honesty wherewith my Writings are entertained by this sort of Men. It is true I have asserted that it is necessary for Christians to know Jesus Christ to be acquainted with his Person that is as I have fully and largely declared it in the Discourse excepted against the Glory of his Divine Nature the Purity of his Humane the Infinite Condescention of his Person in the Assumption of our Nature his Love and Grace c. as is at large there declared And now I add that he by whom this is denied is no Christian. Secondly I have taught that by this Knowledge of the Person of Christ or an Understanding of the great Mystery of Godliness God Manifested in the Flesh which we ought to pray for and labour after we come more fully and clearly to understand sundry other important Mysteries of Heavenly Truth which without the Knowledge of Christ we cannot attain unto And how impertinent this Man's Exceptions are against this Assertion we have seen already But Thirdly that this Knowledge of Christ or Acquaintance with him is to be attained before we come to know the Gospel or by any other Means than the Gospel or is any other but the Declaration that is made thereof in and by the Gospel was never thought spoken or written by me and is here falsly supposed by this Author as elsewhere falsly charged on me And I again challenge him to produce any one Letter or Tittle out of any of my Writings to give Countenance unto this frontless Calumny And therefore although I do not like his Expression pag. 77. Whoever would understand the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine and not from his Person for many Reasons I could give yet I believe no less than he that the efficacy of Christ's Mediation depending on God's Appointment can be known only by Revelation and that no Man can draw any one Conlusion from the Person of Christ which the Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of its excellency worth and works than what is there revealed whereby he may see how â—iserably Ill-Will Malice or Ignorance have betrayed him into the futilous pains of writing
8 9 10 11. But he will now discover the Design of all these things and afterward make it good by Quotations out of my Book The first he doth pag. 203. and onwards But whatever becomes of the sense of the Distinction there is a very deep fetch in it the observing of which will discover the whole mystery of the Person of Christ and our Vnion to him For these men consider that Christ saves us as he is our Mediator and not meerly considered as God or Man and they imagine that we receive Grace and Salvation from Christ's Person just as we do water out of a Conduit or a Gift and Largess from a Prince that it flows to us from our Vnion to his person and therefore they dress up the Person of the Mediator with all those personal Excellencies and Graces which may make him a fit Saviour that those who are thus united to his Person of which more in the next Section need not fear missing of Salvation Hence they ransack all the boundless perfections of the Deity and whatever they can find or fancy speaks any Comfort to Sinners this is presently a personal Grace of the Mediator They consider all the Glorious effects of his Mediation and whatever Great things are spoken of his Gospel or Religion or Intercession for us these serve as personal Graces so that all our hopes may be built not on the Gospel Covenant but on the Person of Christ so that the Dispute now lyes between the Person of Christ and his Gospel which must be the Foundation of our Hope which is the way to life and happiness First We do consider and Believe that Christ saves us as a Mediator that is as God and Man in one person exercising the Office of a Mediator and not meerly as God or Man This we believe with all the Catholick Church of Christ and can with boldness say he that doth not so let him be Anathema Maranatha Secondly We do not imagine but believe from the Scripture and with the whole Church of God that we receive Grace and Salvation from the Person of Christ in those distinct wayes wherein they are capable of being received and let him be anathema who believes otherwise Only whether his putting of Grace and Salvation into the same way of Reception belong unto his Accuracy in expressing his own Sentiments or his Ingenuity in the representation of other Mens words I leave undetermined The Similitudes he useth to express our Faith in these things shew his good will towards Scoffing and Prophaneness We say there is real Communication of Grace from the person of Christ as the Head of the Church unto all the Members of his Mystical Body by his Spirit whereby they are quickened sanctifyed and enabled unto all Holy Obedience and if it be denyed by him he stands anathematized by sundry Counsels of the Ancient Church We say not that we receive it as water out of a Conduit which is of a limited determined Capacity whereas we say the person of Christ by reason of his Deity is an immense Eternal living Spring or Fountain of all Grace And when God calls himself a Fountain of living water and the Lord Christ calls his Spirit communicated to Believers living Water under which Apellations he was frequently promised in the Old Testament as also the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel the waters of Life inviting us to receive them and to drink of them this Author may be advised to take heed of Prophane Scoffing at these things Whether any have said that we receive Grace and Salvation from Christ as a Guift or Largess from a Prince I know not if they have the sole defect therein is that the Allusion doth no way sufficiently set forth the freedom and bounty of Christ in the Communication of them unto Sinners and wherein else it offends let him soberly declare if he can This is the Charge upon us in point of Faith and Judgement which in one word amounts to no more but this that we are Christians and so by the Grace of God we intend to continue let this man deride us whilst he pleaseth His next Charge concerns our Practice in the pursuit of these dreadful Principles which by their Repetition he hath exposed to scorn And therefore they dress up c. What doth this poor man intend What is the Design of all this Prophaneness The Declaration of the Natures and Person of Christ of his Grace and work the ascribing unto him what is directly and expressly in terms ascribed unto him in the Scripture or relating as we are able the Description it gives of him is here called dressing up the person of the Mediator with all those personal Graces that may make him a fit Saviour The Preparation of the Person of Christ to be a fit and meet Saviour for Sinners which he prophanely compares to the Dressing up of is the Greatest most Glorious and Admirable Effect that ever Infinite Wisdom Goodness Power and Love wrought and produced or will do so unto Eternity And those on whom he reflects design nothing doe nothing in this Matter but only endeavour according to the Measure of the Gift of Christ which they have received to declare and explain what is revealed and taught in the Scripture thereof and those who exceed the bounds of Scripture Revelation herein if any do so we do abhorr And as for those who are united unto Christ although we say not that they need not fear missing of Salvation seeing they are to be brought unto it not only through the Exercise of all Graces whereof Fear is one but also through such Tryals and Temptations as will alwayes give them a Fear of heed and Diligence and sometimes such a Fear of the Event of things as shall combate their Faith and shake its firmest Resolves yet we fear not to say that those who are really united unto Jesus Christ shall be assuredly saved which I have proved elsewhere beyond the fear of any Opposition from this Author or others like minded 4 ly He addes hence They ransack c. But what is the meaning of these Expressions Doth not the Scripture declare that Christ is God as well as Man Doth it not build all our Faith Obedience and Salvation on that Consideration Are not the Properties of the Divine Nature every where in the Scripture declared and proposed unto us for the ingenerating and establishing Faith in us and to be the Object of and Exercise of all Grace and Obedience And is it now become a Crime that any should seek to declare and instruct others in these things from the Scripture and to the same End for which they are therein revealed Is this with any Evidence of Sobriety to be traduced as a ransacking the boundless Perfections of the Divine Nature to dress up the Person of the Mediator Is he a Christian or doth he deserve that Name who contemns or despiseth the Consideration of the Propertyes of the Divine
Nature in the Person of Christ See Isa. 6.1 2 3. Joh. 12.41 Isa. 9.6 Joh. 1.14 Phil. 2.6 c. or shall think that the Grace or Excellencies of his Person do not principally consist in them as the Humane Nature is united thereunto 5 ly They consider all the Glorious Effects of his Mediation All the Effects of Christs Mediation all the Things that are spoken of the Gospel c. do all of them declare the Excellency of the Person of Christ as Effects declare their Cause and may and ought to be considered unto that end as Occasion doth require And no otherwise are they considered by those whom he doth oppose 6 ly But the End of these strange Principles and Practices he tells us is that all our hopes may be built not on the Gospel Covenant but on the Person of Christ. But I say again what is it that this Man intends What is become of a common Regard to God and Man who do so build their hopes on Christ as to reject or despise the Gospel-Covenant as he calls it though I am afraid should he come to explain himself he will be at a loss about the true Nature of the Gospel-Covenant as I find him to be about the Person and Grace of Christ. He telleth us indeed that not the Person of Christ but the Gospel is the Way did we ever say not the Covenant of Grace but the Person of Christ is all we regard But whence comes this causeless Fear and Jealousie or rather this evil Surmise that if any endeavour to exalt the Person of Christ immediately the Covenant of the Gospel that is in truth the Covenant which is declared in the Gospel must be discarded Is there an inconsistency between Christ and the Covenant I never met with any who was so fearfull and jealous least too much should be ascribed in the matter of our Salvation to Jesus Christ and when there is no more so but what the Scripture doth expressely and in words assign unto him and affirm of him instantly we have an Outcry that the Gospel and the Covenant are rejected and that a Dispute lyes between the Person of Christ and his Gospel But let him not trouble himself for as he cannot and as he knowes he cannot produce any one word or one syllable out of any Writings of mine that should derogate any thing from the Excellency Nature Necessity or Use of the New Covenant so though it may be he do not and doth therefore fancy and dream of Disputes between Christ and the Gospel we do know how to respect both the Person of Christ and the Covenant both Jesus Christ and the Gospel in their proper places And in particular we do know that as it is the Person of Christ who is the Author of the Gospel and who as Mediator in his Work of Mediation gives Life and Efficacy and Establishment unto the Covenant of Grace so both the Gospel and that Covenant do declare the Glory and design the Exaltation of Jesus Christ himself Speaking therefore comparatively all our hopes are built on Jesus Christ who alone filleth all things yet also we have our hopes in God through the Covenant declared in the Gospel as the way designing the Rule of our Obedience securing our Acceptance and Reward And to deal as gently as I can warrant my self to do with this Writer the Dispute he mentions between the Person of Christ the Gospel which shall be the Foundation of our Hope is only in his own fond imagination distempered by Disingenuity and Malevolence For if I should charge what the appearrance of his Expressions will well bare what he sayes seems to be out of a Design influenced by Ignorance or Heresie to exclude Jesus Christ God and Man from being the principal Foundation of the Church and which all its hopes are built upon This being the summe of his Charge I hope he will fully prove it in the Quotations from my Discourse which he now sets himself to produce assuring him that if he do not but come short therein setting aside his odious and foppish prophane Deductions I doe averre them all in plain terms that he may on his next occasion of Writing save his labour in searching after what he may oppose Thus therefore he proceeds pag. 205. To make this appear I shall consider that account which D r. Owen gives us of the personal Graces and Excellencies of Christ which in general consist in three things First his Fitness to save from the Grace of Vnion and the proper and necessary Effects thereof Secondly his Fulness to save from the Grace of Communion or the free Consequences of the Grace of Vnion and Thirdly his Excellency to endear from his compleat suitableness to all the wants of the Souls of men First That he is fit to be a Saviour from the Grace of Vnion and if you will understand what this strange Grace of Vnion is it is the uniting the Nature of God and Man in one Person which makes him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost He layes his hand upon God by partaking of his Nature and he layes his hand on us by partaking of our Nature and so becomes a Dayes-man or Vmpire between both Now though this be a great Truth that the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ did excellently qualifie him for the Office of a Mediator yet this is the Vnhappiest man in Expressing and proving it that I have met with For what an untoward Representation is this of Christs Mediation That he came to make Peace by laying his hands on God and Men as if he came to part a Fray or Scuffle and he might as well have named Gen. 1.1 or Matth. 1.1 or any other place of Scripture for the proof of it as those he mentions To what End it is that he cites these Passages out of my Discourse is somewhat difficult to divine Himself confesseth that what is asserted at least in one of them is a great Truth only I am the unhappiest man in expressing and proving it that ever he met with It is evident enough to me that he hath not met with many who have treated of this Subject or hath little understood those he hath met withall so that there may be yet some behind as unhappy as my self And seeing he hath so good a Leisure from other Occasions as to spend his Time in telling the world how unhappy I am in my Proving and Expressing of what himself acknowledgeth to be true he may be pleased to take notice that I am now sensible of my own unhappiness also in having fallen under a Diversion from better Employments by such sad and wofull Impertinencies But being at once charged with both these misadventures untowardness in Expression and weakness in the Proof of a plain Truth I shall willingly admit of Information to mend my way of writing for the future And the first Reflection he casts on my Expressions is my
pages with seeing it is but little in them which he excepteth against and whoever pleaseth may consult them at large in the places from whence they are taken Or because it is not easie to find them out singly they are so picked up and down backwards and forwards curtailed and added to at pleasure any one may in a very little space of time read over the whole unto his full satisfaction I shall therefore only consider his exceptions and hast unto an end of this fruitless trouble wherein I am most unwillingly engaged by this man's unsuspected Disingenuity and Ignorance After the Citation of some Passages he adds pag. 301. This methinks is very strange that what he did as Mediator is not imputed unto us but what he did not as our Mediator but as a Man subject to the Law that is imputed to us and reckoned as if we had done it by reason of his being our Mediator And it is as strange to the full that Christ should do whatever was required of us by vertue of any Law when he was neither Husband nor Wife nor Father Merchant nor Tradesman Sea-man nor Soldier Captain or Lieutenant much less a Temporal Prince and Monarch And how he should discharge the Duties of these Relations for us which are required of us by certain Laws when he never was in any of these Relations and could not possibly be in all is an Argument which may Exercise the subtilty of Schoolmen and to them I leave it It were greatly to be desired that he would be a little more heedful and with attention read the Writings of other Men that he might understand them before he comes to make such a bluster in his opposition to them For I had told him plainly That though there was a peculiar Law of Mediation whose Acts and Duties we had no obligation unto yet the Lord Christ even as Mediator was obliged unto and did personally perform all Duties of Obedience unto the Law of God whereunto we were subject and obliged pag. 181. Sec. 14. And it is strange to apprehend how he came to imagine that I said he did it not as our Mediator but as a Private Man That which possibly might cast his thoughts into this disorder was that he knew not that Christ was made a Private Man as Mediator which yet the Scripture is sufficiently express in For the following Objections that the Lord Christ was neither Husband nor Wife Father nor Tradesman c. wherein yet possibly he is out in his Account I have frequently smiled at it when I have met with it in the Socinians who are perking with it at every turn but here it ought to be admired But yet without troubling those Bugbears the School-men he may be pleased to take notice that the Grace of Duty and Obedience in all Relations is the same the Relations administring only an External Occasion unto its Peculiar Exercise And what our Lord Jesus Christ did in the fulfilling of all Righteousness in the Circumstances and Relations wherein he stood may be imputed to us for our Righteousness in all our Relations every Act of Duty and Sin in them respecting the same Law and Principle And hereon all his following Exceptions for sundry pages wherein he seems much to have pleased himself do fall to nothing as being resolved into his own Mistakes if he doth not prevaricate against his Science and Conscience For the summe of them all he gives us in these words pag. 304. That Christ did those things as Mediator which did not belong to the Laws of his Mediation which in what sence he did so is fully explained in my Discourse And I am apt to guess that either he is deceived or doth design to deceive in expressing it by the Laws of his Mediation which may comprize all the Laws which as Mediator he was subject unto and so it is most true that he did nothing as Mediator but what belonged unto the Laws of his Mediation But most false that I have affirmed that he did For I did distinguish between that peculiar Law which required the publick Acts of his Mediation and those other Laws which as Mediator he was made subject unto And if he neither doth nor will understand these things when he is told them and they are proved unto him beyond what he can contradict I know no reason why I should trouble my self with one that contends with his own Mormoes though he never so lewdly or loudly call my Name upon them And whereas I know my self sufficiently subject unto Mistakes and Slips so when I actually fall into them as I shall not desire this mans Forgiveness but leave him to exercise the utmost of his severity so I despise his ridiculous attempts to represent Contradictions in my Discourse pag. 306. All pretences whereunto are taken from his own Ignorance or feigned in his Imagination Of the like Nature are all his ensuing Cavils I desire no more of any Reader but to peruse the places in my Discourse which he carpeth at and if he be a Person of ordinary understanding in these things I declare that I will stand to his Censure and Judgement without giving him the least farther Intimation of the sence and Intendment of what I have written or Vindication of its Truth Thus whereas I had plainly declared that the way whereby the Lord Christ in his own Person became obnoxious and subject unto the Law of Creation was by his own voluntary antecedent Choyce otherwise than it is with those who are inevitably subject unto it by Natural Generation under it as also that the Hypostatical Union in the first instant whereof the Humane Nature was fitted for Glory might have exempted him from the Oblgation of any outward Law whatever whence it appears that his consequential Obedience though Necessary to himself when he had submitted himself unto the Law as Loe I come to doe thy Will O God was designedly for us he miserably perplexeth himself to abuse his credulous Readers with an Apprehension that I had talked like himself at such a rate of Nonsence as any one in his Wits must needs despise The meaning and summe of my Discourse he would have to be this Pag. 308. That Christ had not been bound to live like a man had he not been a Man with I know not what futulous Cavils of the like nature when all that I insisted on was the Reason why Christ would be a Man and live like a Man which was that we might receive the Benefit and Profit of his Obedience as he was our Mediator So in the close of the same wise Harangue from my saying That the Lord Christ by vertue of the Hypostatical Union might be exempted as it were and lifted above the Law which yet he willingly submitted unto and in the same instant wherein he was made of a Woman was made also under the Law whence Obedience unto it became Necessary unto him the man feigns I know not what
already that I will not come to him nor any of his Companions to learn to Express my self in these things and moreover that I despise their Censures The Discourses he is carping at in particular in this place are neither Doctrinal nor Argumentative but consist in the Application of Truths before proved unto the Minds and Affections of men And as I said I will not come to him nor his Fraternity to learn how to manage such a subject much less a Logical and Argumentative way of Reasoning nor have any inducement thereunto from any thing that as yet I have seen in their Writings It also troubles him pag. 208. That whereas I know how unsuited the best and most accurate of our Expressions are unto the true Nature and Being of Divine things as they are in themselves and what need we have to make use of Allusions and sometimes less proper Expressions to convey a sence of them unto the Minds and Affections of men I had once or twice used that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I may so say which yet if he had not known used in other good Authors treating of things of the same Nature he knew I could take protection against his severity under the Example of the Apostle using words to the same Purpose upon an alike Occasion Heb. 7. But at length he intends to be serious and from those words of mine Here is Mercy enough for the greatest the oldest the stubbornest Transgressor he addes Enough in all Reason this what a Comfort is it to Sinners to have such a God for their Saviour whose Grace is boundless and bottomless and exceeds the largest Dimensions of their Sins though there be a world of sin in them But what now if the Divine Nature it self have not such an endless boundless bottomless Grace and Compassion as the Doctor now talks of For at other times when it serves his turn better we can hear nothing from him but the Naturalness of Gods Vindictive Justice Though God be rich in Mercy he never told us that his Mercy was so boundless and bottomless he had given a great many Demonstrations of the severity of his Anger against sinners who could not be much worse than the Greatest the Oldest and stubbornest Transgressors Let the Reader take notice that I propose no Grace in Christ unto or for such Sinners but only that which may invite all sorts of them though under the most discouraging Qualifications to come unto him for Grace and Mercy by Faith and Repentance And on supposition that this was my sence as he cannot deny it to be I adde only in Answer that this his prophane scoffing at it is that which reflects on Christ and his Gospel and God himself and his Word which must be accounted for See Isa. 55.7 2 dly For the Opposition which he childishly frames between Gods Vindictive Justice and his Mercy and Grace it is answered already 3 dly It is false that God hath not told us that his Grace is boundless and bottomless in the sence wherein I use those words sufficient to pardon the greatest the oldest the stubbornest of sinners namely that turn unto him by Faith and Repentance And he who knowes not how this consists with Severity and Anger against impenitent sinners is yet to Learn his Catechism But yet he addes further pag. 208 209. Supposing the Divine Nature were such a bottomless Fountain of Grace how comes this to be a Personal Grace of the Mediator For a Mediator as Mediator ought not to be considered as the Fountain but as the Minister of Grace God the Father certainly ought to come in for a share at least in being the Fountain of Grace though the Doctor is pleased to take no notice of him But how excellent is the Grace of Christs Person above the Grace of the Gospel for that is a bounded and limited thing a straight Gate and narrow Way that leadeth unto Life There is no such Boundless Mercy as all the sins in the World cannot equal its Dimensions as will save the Greatest the Oldest and the stubbornest Transgressors I begg the Reader to believe that I am now so utterly weary with the Repetition of these impertinencies that I can hardly prevail with my self to fill my Pen once more with Ink about them And I see no reason now to goe on but only that I have begun And on all accounts I shall be as brief as possible I say then First I did not consider this boundless Grace in Christ as Mediator but considered it as in him who is Mediator and so the Divine Nature with all its Properties are greatly to be considered in him if the Gospel be true But 2 dly It is untrue that Christ as Mediator is only the Minister of Grace and not the Fountain of it for he is Mediator as God and Man in one Person 3 dly To suppose an exemption of the Person of the Father from being the Fountain of Grace absolutely in the Order of the Divine Subsistence of the Persons in the Trinity and of their Operations suited thereunto upon the Ascription of it unto the Son is a fond Imagination which could befall no man who understands any thing of things of this Nature It doth as well follow that if the Son created the World the Father did not if the Son uphold all things by the Word of his Power the Father doth not that is that the Son is not in the Father nor the Father in the Son The Acts indeed of Christs Mediation respect the Ministration of Grace being the procuring and communicating Causes thereof but the Person of Christ the Mediator is the Fountain of Grace So they thought who beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth But the especial Relation of Grace unto the Father as sending the Son unto the Son as sent by him and incarnate and unto the Holy Spirit as proceeding from and sent by them both I have elsewhere fully declared and shall not in this place which indeed will scarce give Admittance unto any thing of so serious a nature again insist thereon 4 thly The Opposition which he would again set between Christ and the Gospel is impious in it self and if he thinks to charge it on me openly false I challenge him and all his Complices to produce any one word out of any Writing of mine that from a Plea or pretence of Grace in Christ should give Countenance unto any in the neglect of the least Precept given or Duty required in the Gospel And notwithstanding all that I have said or taught concerning the Boundless Bottomless Grace and Mercy of Christ towards believing humble penitent Sinners I doe believe the Way of Gospel Obedience indispensibly required to be walked in by all that will come to the Enjoyment of God to be so narrow that no Revilers nor false Accusers nor Scoffers nor Despisers of Gospel Mysteries continuing so to be can walk
of Grace towards all men at all times under each Covenant whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy Disputant all things succeed well with such Persons which they undertake And as to the Manner of the Operation of Grace how far Grace it self may be said to be Omnipotent and in its Operations irresistible I have fully declared there where he may oppose and refute it if he have any Mind thereunto His present Attempt against it in those words that God governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason is so weak in this Case and impertinent that it deserves no Consideration For all the Operations of Divine Grace are suited unto the Rational Constitution of our Beings neither was ever man so wild as to fancy any of them such as are inconsistent with or do offer force unto the Faculties of our Souls in their Operations Yea that which elevates aids and assists our Rational Faculties in their Operations on and towards their proper Objects which is the work of Efficacious Grace is the principal Preservative of their Power and Liberty and can be no way to their Prejudice And we do moreover acknowledge that those Proposals which are made in the Gospel unto our Reason are eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper Use and Exercise in complyance with them Hence although the Habit of Faith or Power of Believing be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost yet the Word of the Gospel is the Cause and Means of all its Acts and the whole Obedience which it produceth But if by governing Reasonable Creatures by the Principle of Reason he intends that God deals no otherwise by his Grace with the Souls of men but only by proposing Objective Arguments and Motives unto a Complyance with his Will without internal Aids and Assistances of Grace it is a gross piece of Peâ—â—gianisme destructive of the Gospel sufficiently confuted elsewhere and he may explain himself as he pleaseth His proceed is to transcribe some other Passages taken out of my Book here and there in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent Exceptions But the design of the whole is to state a Controversie as he calls it between us and them or those whom he calleth They and We whoever they be And this upon the Occasion of my mentioning the fulness of Grace Life and Righteousness that is in Christ he doth in these Words pag. 215. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most perfect and compleat Declaration of the Will of God and the most powerfull Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming of the World as it prescribeâ— the only Righteousness which is 〈◊〉 â—ble to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality I shall not absolutely accept of the Terms of this Controversie as to the state of it on our part proposed by him and yet I shall not much vary from them We say therefore that Jesus Christ being full of all Grace Excellencies and Perfections he communicates them unto us in that Degree as is necessary for us and in proportion unto his abundant Charity and Goodness towards us And we Christians as his Body or fellow Members of his Humane Nature receive Grace and Mercy flowing from him to us This state of the Controversie on our side I suppose he will not refuse nor the terms of it but will own them to be ours though he will not it may be allow some of them to be Proper or Convenient And that he may know who his They are who are at this End of the Difference he may be pleased to take notice that these words are the whole and intire Paraphrase of D r. Hammond on Joh. 1.16 the first Testimony he â—â—â—â—rtakes to answer And when this Author hath replyed to Mr. Hooker D r. Jackson and Him and such other Pillars of the Church of England as concurre with them it will be time enough for me to consider how I shall defend my self against him Or if he will take the Controversie on our part in Terms more directly Expressive of my Mind It is the Person of Christ is the Fountain of all Grace to the Church as he well observes my Judgement to be and that from him all Grace and Mercy is derived unto us And then I do maintain that the They whom he opposeth are not onely the Church of England but the whole Catholick Church in all Ages Who the We are on the other hand who reject this Assertion and believe that all the Testimonies concerning the fulness of Grace in Christ and the Communication thereof unto us do only declare the Excellency of his Religion is not easie to be conjectured For unless it be the People of Racow I know not who are his Associates And let him but name three Divines of any Reputation in the Church of England since the Reformation who have given the least Countenance unto his Assertions Negative or Positive and I will acknowledge that he hath better Associates in his Profession than as yet I believe he hath But that Jesus Christ himself God and Man in one Person the Mediator between God and Man is not a Fountain of Grace and Mercy to his Church that there is no real internal Grace communicated by him or derived from him unto his Mystical Body that the Fulness which is in him or said to be in him of Grace and Truth of unsearchable Riches of Grace c. is nothing but the Doctrine which he taught as the most compleat and perfect Declaration of the Will of God are Opinions that cannot be divulged under pretence of Authority without the most pernicious scandal to the present Church of England And if this be the Mans Religion that this is all the Fulness we receive from Christ A perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent Promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Notions of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth that complying with its Doctrine or yielding Obedience unto its Precepts and believing the Promises which it gives in our own strength without any real Aid Assistance or Communication of internal saving Grace from the Person of Jesus Christ is our Righteousness before God whereon and for which we are Justified I know as well as he whence it came and perhaps better than he whither it will go The remaining Discourse of this Chapter consisteth of two parts First an Attempt to disprove any Communication of real internal Grace from the Lord Christ unto Believers for their Sanctification Secondly an Endeavour to refute the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us for our Justification In the first he contends that all the Fulness
Contradictions in his Fancy whereof there is not the least Appearance in the words unto any one who understands the Matter expressed in them And that the Assumption of the Humane Nature into Union with the Son of God with submission unto the Law thereon to be performed in that Nature are distinct parts of the Humiliation of Christ I shall prove when more serious Occasion is administered unto me In like manner he proceeds to put in his Exceptions unto what I discoursed about the Laws that an innocent man is liable unto For I said that God never gave any other Law to an Innocent person but onely the Law of his Creation with such Symbolical precepts as might be instances of his obedience thereunto Something he would find fault with but well knows not what and therefore turmoiles himself to give countenance unto a putid Cavil He tells us That it is a great favour that I acknowledge pag. 310. that God might adde what Symbolls he pleased unto the Law of Creation But the childishness of these impertinencies is shamefull To whom I pray is it a favour or what doth the man intend by such a senseless scoff Is there any word in my whole discourse intimating that God might not in a state of Innocency give what positive Laws he pleased unto innocent persons as means and wayes to express that obedience which they owed unto the Law of Creation The task wherein I am engaged is so fruitless so barren of any good use in contending with such impertinent effects of malice and ignorance that I am weary of every word I am forced to add in the pursuit of it but he will yet have it that an Innocent person such as Christ was absolutely may be obliged for his own sake to the observation of such Laws and institutions as were introduced by the occasion of sin and respected all of them the personal sins of them that were obliged by them which if he can believe he is at Liberty for me to perswade as many as he can to be of his mind whil'st I may be left unto my own Liberty and Choice yea to the necessity of my mind in not believing contradictions And for what he adds that I know those who conceit themselves above all forms of External Worship I must say to him that at present personally I know none that doe so but fear that some such there are as also others who despising not only the ways of External Worship appointed by God himself but also the Laws of internal Faith and Grace doe satisfie themselves in a Customary observance of Forms of Worship of their own devising In his next attempt he had been singular and had spoken something which had looked like an Answer to an Argument had he well laid the Foundation of his procedure For that Position which he designeth the Confutation of is thus laid down by him as mine There can be no reason assigned of Christ's Obedience unto the Law but only this that he did it in our stead whereas my words are That the end of the Active Obedience of Christ cannot be assigned to be that he might be fit for his Death and Oblation And hereon what is afterwards said against this particular End he interprets as spoken against all other Ends whatever instancing in such as are every way consistent with the Imputation of his Obedience unto us which could not be had the only End of it been for himself to fit him for his Death and Oblation And this wilful mistake is sufficient to give occasion to combat his own Imaginations for two or three pages together pag. 314. He pretends unto the recital of an Argument of mine for the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ with the like pretence of attempting an answer unto it But his design is not to mannage any controversie with me or against me but as he phraseth it to expose my mistakes I cannot therefore justly expect from him so much as common Honesty will require in case the real handling of a Controversie in Religion had been intended But his way of procedure so far as I know and understand may be best suited unto his design In this place he doth neither fairly nor truly report my words nor take the least notice of the Confirmation of my Argument by the removal of Objections whereunto it seemed liable nor of the Reasons and Testimonies whereby it is farther proved but taking out of my Discourse what expressions he pleaseth putting them together with the same Rule he thinks he hath sufficiently exposed my mistakes the thing he aimed at I have no more concernment in this matter but to refer both him and the Reader to the places in my Discourse reflected on Him truly to report and Answer my Arguments if he be able and the Reader to judge as he pleaseth between us And I would for this once desire of him that if he indeed be concerned in these things he would peruse my Discourse here raved at and determine in his own Mind whether I confidently affirm what is in Dispute that is what I had then in Dispute for who could divine so long agoe what a Doughty Disputant this Author would by this time sprout up into and that this goes for an Argument or that he impudently affirms me so to do contrary unto his Science and Conscience if he had not quite pored out his Eyes before he came to the End of a page or two in my Book And for the state of the Question here proposed by him let none expect that upon so slight an occasion I shall divert unto the discussion of it When this Author or any of his Consorts in design shall Soberly and Candidly without scoffing or railing in a way of Argument or Reasoning becoming Divines and Men of Learning answer any of those many Writings which are extant against that Socinian Justification which he here approves and contends for or those written by the Divines of the Church of England on the same subject in the proof of what he denyes and confutation of what he affirms they may deserve to be taken notice of in the same Rank and Order with those with whom they associate themselves And yet I will not say but that these cavilling Exceptions giving a sufficient Intimation of what some Men would be at if Ability and Opportunity did occurr may give occasion also unto a renewed Vindication of the Truths opposed by them in a way suited unto the Use and Edification of the Church in due time and Season From pag. 185. of my Book he retires upon his new Triumph unto pag. 176. as hoping to hook something from thence that might contribute unto the fartherance of his Ingenious Design although my Discourse in that place have no Concernment in what he treateth about But let him be heard to what purpose he pleaseth Thus therefore he proceeds pag. 315. The Dr. makes a great flourish with some Scripture Phrases that there is