contrary and declared those Resolutions as I had occasion Neither was it until very lately that my second Thoughts came to a compliance with the desires of some others to consider my own peculiar concernment therein And this is all which I now design for the examination of the Opinions which this Author hath veuted under the countenance of publick License whatever they may think I know to be more the concernment of other Men than mine Nor yet do I enter into the Consideration of what is written by this Author with the least respect unto my self or my own reputation which I have the satisfaction to conceive not to be prejudiced by such pittiful Attempts nor have I the least desire to preserve it in the minds of such Persons as wherein it can suffer on this occasion But the Vindication of some sacred Truths petulantly traduced by this Author seems to be cast on me in an especial manner because he hath opposed them and endeavoured to expose them to scorn as declared in my Book whence others more meet for this work might think themselves discharged from taking notice of them Setting aside this consideration I can freely give this sort of Men leave to go on with their Revilings and Scoffings until they are weary or ashamed which as far as I can discern upon Consideration of their Ability for such a Work and their Confidence therein is not like to be in haste At least they can change their course and when they are out of breath in pursuit of one sort of calumnies betake themselves unto another Witness the late malicious and yet withal ridiculous Reports that they have divulged concerning me even with respect unto Civil Affairs and their industry therein For although they were such as had not any thing of the least probability or likelihood to give them countenance yet were they so impetuously divulged and so readily entertained by many as made me think there was more than the common artifices of Calumny employed in their raising and improvement especially considering what Persons I can justly charge those Reports upon But in this course they may proceed whilst they please and think convenient I find my self no more concerned in what they Write or say of this Nature than if it were no more But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the Doctrine traduced only that I am concerned about and that as it hath been the Doctrine of the Church of England It may be it will be said for there is no security against Confidence and Imodesty backed with secular Advantages that the Doctrinal Principles asserted in this Book are agreeable with the Doctrine of the Church in former Times and therefore those opposed in it such as are condemned thereby Hereabout I shall make no long contest with them who once discover that their Minds are by any means emboldned to undertake the Defence of such shameless Untruths Nor shall I multiply Testimonies to prove the Contrary which others are more concerned to do if they intend not to betray the Religion of that Church with whose Preservation and Defence they are intrusted Only because there are Ancient Divines of this Church who I am perswaded will be allowed with the most to have known as well the Doctrine of it and as firmly to have adhered thereunto as this Author who have particularly spoken unto most of the Things which he hath opposed or rather reproached I shall transcribe the Words of one of them whereby he and those who employ him may be minded with whom they have to do in those things For as to the Writers of the Antient Church there is herein no regard had unto them He whom I shall Name is Mr. Hooker and that in his Famous Book of Ecclesiastical Policy who in the 5th Book thereof and 56 Paragraph thus discourseth We have hitherto spoken of the Person and of the presence of Christ. Participation is that mutual inward hold which Christ hath of us and we of him in such sort that each possesseth other by way of special Interest Property and Inherent Copulation And after the interposition of some things concerning the mutual in-being and Love of the Father and the Son he thus proceedeth We are by Nature the Sons of Adam When God Created Adam he Created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the Root out of which they Spring The Sons of God we neither are all nor any of Us otherwise than only by Grace and Favour The Sons of God have Gods own Natural Son as a second Adam from Heaven whose Race and Progeny they are by Spiritual and Heavenly Birth God therefore loving Eternally his Son he must needs Eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are Spiritually sithence descended and sprung out of him These are in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator only It was the Purpose of his saving Goodness his Saving Power and his Saving Wisdom which inclined it self towards them They which thus are in God eternally by their intended admission to Life have by Vocation or Adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in that Work which his hand doth presently frame Life as all other Gifts and Benefits groweth originally from the Father and cometh not to Us but by the Son nor by the Son to any of Us in particular but through the Spirit For this cause the Apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth the Grace our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost which three Saint Peter comprehendeth in one the Participation of the Divine Nature We are therefore in God through Christ Eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present World before the World it self was made We were in God through the knowledg which is had of Us and the Love which is born towards Us from Everlasting But in God we actually are no longer than only from the Time of our Actual Adoption into the Body of his true Church into the Fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they that are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal foreknowledg Saveth Us not without our actual and real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this present World For in him we actually are by our actual incorporation into that society which hath him for their head and doth make together with him one Body He and they in that respect having one Name For which cause by vertue of this Mystical conjunction we are of him and in him even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with his We are in Christ because he knoweth and Loveth Us even as parts of himself No Man is actually in him but they in whom he actually is For he which hath not the Son of
God hath not life I am the Vine and you are the Branches he which abideth in Me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit but the Branch severed from the Vine withereth We are therefore adopted Sons of God to Eternal Life by Participation of the only begotten Son of God whose Life is the well-Spring and Cause of ours It is too cold an Interpretation whereby some Men expound our being in Christ to import nothing else but only that the self-same Nature which maketh Us to be Men is in him and maketh him Man as We are For what Man is there in the World which hath not so far forth Communion with Jesus Christ. It is not this can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the Mystery of our Coherence with Jesus Christ. The Church is in Christ as Eve was in Adam Yea by Grace we are every of Us in Christ and in his Church as by Nature we are in those our first Parents God made Eve of the Rib of Adam and his Church he formed out of the very flesh the very wound and bleeding side of the Son of Man His Body crucified and his Blood shed for the Life of the World were the true Elements of that Heavenly being which maketh Us such as himself is of whom we come For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the Words of Christ concerning his Church Flesh of my flesh and Bone of my Bones a true Native Extract out of mine own Body So that in him even according to his Manhood we according to our Heavenly being are as Branches in that Root out of which they grow To all things he is Life and to Men Light as the Son of God to the Church both Life and Light Eternal by being made the Son of Man for Us and by being in Us a Saviour whether we respect him as God or as Man Adam is in us as an original Cause of our Nature and of that Corruption of Nature which causeth Death Christ as the Cause Original of Restauration to Life The Person of Adam is not in us but his Nature and the Corruption of his nature derived into all Men by Propagation Christ having Adam's Nature as we have but incorrupt deriveth not Nature but incorruption and that immediately from his own Person into all that belong unto him As therefore we are really partakers of the Body of Sin and Death received from Adam so except we be truly partakers of Christ and as really possessed of his Spirit all we speak of Eternal Life is but a Dream That which quickneth us is the Spirit of the Second Adam and his Flesh that wherewith he quickneth That which in him made our Nature uncorrupt was the Union of his Deity with our Nature And in that respect the Sentence of Death and Condemnation which only taketh hold upon sinful flesh could no way possibly extend unto him This caused his Voluntary Death for others to prevail with God and to have the force of an Expiatory Sacrifice The Blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth doth therefore take away Sin because through the Eternal Spirit he offered himself unto God without spot as that which sanctifyed our nature in Christ that which made it a Sacrifice available to take away sin is the same which quickneth it raised it out of the Grave after Death and exalted it unto Glory Seeing therefore Christ is in Us as a quickning Spirit the first degree of Communion with Christ must needs consist in the participation of his Spirit which Cyprian in that respect well termeth germanissimam Societatem the highest and truest Society that can be between Man and him which is both God and Man in One. These things Saint Cyril duly considering reproveth their Speeches which taught that only the Deity of Christ is the Vine whereupon we by Faith do depend as Branches and that neither his Flesh nor our Body are comprised in this Resemblance For doth any Man doubt but that even from the flesh of Christ our very Bodies do receive that Life which shall make them Glorious at the Latter Day and for which they are already accounted parts of his Blessed Body Our Corruptible Bodies could never live the Life they shall live were it not that here they were joyned with his Body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a Cause of Immortality a cause by removing through the Death and Merit of his own flesh that which hindred the Life of Ours Christ is therefore both as God and as Man that true Vine whereof we both Spiritually and Corporeally are Branches The Mixture of his Bodily Sâ—bstance with ours is a thing which the Ancient Fathers disclaim Yet the Mixture of his Flesh with ours they speak of to signify what our very Bodies through Mystical Conjunction do receive from that Vital Efficacy which we know to be in his and from Bodily Mixtures they borrow divers similitudes rather to declare the Truth than the manner of Coherence between his sacred and the sanctâ—fyed Bodies of Saints Thus much no Christian Man will deny that when Chrâ—st sanctifyed his own flesh giving as God and taking as Man the Holy Ghost he did not this for himself only but for our sakes that the Grace of Sanctification and Life which was first received in him might pass from him to his whole Race as Malediction came from Adam unto all Mankind Howbeit because the work of his Spirit to those Effects is in us prevented by Sin and Death possessing us before it is of necessity that as well our present Sanctification unto neâ—ness of Life as the future restauration of our Bodies should presuppose a participation of the Grace Efficacy Merit or Vertue of his Body and Blood without which Foundation first laid there is no Place for those other operations of the Spirit of Christ to ensue So that Christ imparteth plainly himself by degrees It pleaseth him in Mercy to account himself incompleat and maimed without us But most assured we are that we all receive of his fulness because he is in Us as a Moving and Working Cause from which many blessed Effects are really found to ensue And that in Sundry both kinds and Degrees all tending to Eternal Happiness It must be confessed that of Christ working as Creator and as Governour of the World by Providence all are Partakers not all Partakers of that Grace whereby he inhabiteth whom he Saveth Again as he dwelleth not by Grace in all so neither doth he equally work in all them in whom he dwelleth Whence is it saith Saint Augustin that some be Holier than others are but because God doth dwell in some more plentifully than in others And because the Divine substance of Christ is equally in all his Human Substance equally distinct from all it appeareth that the participation of Christ wherein there are many Degrees and Differences must needs consist in such Effects as being derived from both Natures of Christ
trifling Declamations But yet with his good leave I do yet belâ—eve that there is no saving Knowledge of or acquaintance with God or his Properties to be attained but in and through Jesus Christ as revealed unto us in the Gospel And this I can confirm with Testimonies of the Scripture Fathers Schoolmen and Divines of all sorts with Reasons and Arguments such as I know this Author cannot Answer And whatever great apprehensions he may have of his Skill and Abilities to know God and his Properties by the Light of Nature now he neither knowes nor is able to distinguish what he Learns from thence and what he hath imbibed in his Education from an Emanation of Divine Rvelation yet I believe there were as wise men as himself amongst those Ancient Philosophers concerning whom and their enquiries into the Nature of God our Apostle pronounces those censures Rom. 1. 1 Cor. 1. But on this goodly Foundation he proceeds unto a particular Inference pag. 44. saying And is not this a Confident Man to tell us that the Love of God to Sinners and his Pardoning Mercy could never have entred into the Heart of Man but by Christ when the experience of the whole World confutes him For whatever becomes of his new Theories both Jews and Heathens who understood nothing at all of what Christ was to do in order to our Recovery did believe God to be Gracious and Merciful to Sinners and had reason to do so because God himself had assured the Jewes that he was a Gracious and Merciful God pardoning Iniquity Transgressions and Sins And those natural Notions Heathens had of God and all those Discoveries God had made of himself in the works of Creation and Providence did assure them that God is very Good and it is not possible to understand what Goodness is without pardoning Grace I beg his Excuse Truth and good Company will give a modest Man a little Confidence sometimes And against his Experience of the whole World falsly pretended I can oppose the Testimonies of the Scripture and all the Ancient writers of the Church very few excepted We can know of God only what he hath one way or other revealed of himself and nothing else And I say again that God hath not revealed his Love unto Sinners and his Pardoning Mercy any other way but in and by Jesus Christ. For what he adds as to the knowledge which the Jews had of these things by Gods Revelation in the Scripture when he can prove that all those Revelations or any of them had not respect unto the Promised Seed the Son of God to be exhibited in the Flesh to destroy the works of the Devil he will speak somewhat unto his Purpose In the mean time this insertion of the consideration of them who enjoyed that Revelation of Christ which God was pleased to build his Church upon under the old Testament is weak and impertinent Their apprehensions I acknowledge concerning the Person of Christ and the specialty of the work of his Mediation were dark and obscure but so also proportionably was their Knowledge of all other Sacred Truths which yet with all Diligence they enquired into That whicâ— I intended is expressed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.9 It is written Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit What a Confident Man was this Apostle as to affirm that the things of the Grace and Mercy of God did never enter into the heart of Man to conceive nor would so have done had they not been revealed by the Spirit of God in the Gospel through Jesus Christ. But this is only a Transient Charge there insues that which is much more severe pag. 45. As for Instance he tells us that in Christ that is in his Death and Sufferings for our sins God hath manifested the Naturalness of this Righteousness i. e. Vindictive Justice in punishing Sin that it was impossible that it should be diverted from Sinners without the interposing of a Propitiation that is that God is so Just and Righteous that he cannot pardon sin without satisfaction to his Justice Now this indeed is such a Notion of Justice as is perfectly New which neither Scripture nor Nature acquaints us with For all Mankind have accounted it an Act of Goodness without the least suspicion of injustice in it to remit injuries and offences without exacting any punishment that he is so far from being Just that he is cruel and savage who will remit no offence till he hath satisfied his Revenge The Reader who is in any measure or degree acquainted with these things knows full well what is intended by that which I have asserted It is no more but this that such is the Essential Holiness and Righteousness of the Nature of God that considering him as the Supreme Governour and Ruler of all Mankind it was inconsistent with the Holiness and Rectitude of his Rule and the Glory of his Government to pass by sin absolutely or to pardon it without Satisfaction Propitiation or Atonement This I said was made Evident in the Death and Sufferings of Christ wherein God made all our Iniquities to meet upon him and spared him not that we might obtain Mercy and Grace This is here now called out by our Author as a very dangerous or Foolish Passage in my Discourse which he thought he might highly advantage his Reputation by Reflecting upon But as the Orator said to his Adversary Equidem vehementer laetor eum esse me in quem tu cumcuperes nullam contumeliam jacere potueris quae non ad maximam partem civium conveniret So it is here fallen out If this man knows not that this is the Judgment of the generality of the most Learned Divines of Europe upon the matter of all who have engaged with any success against the Socinians one or two only excepted I can pitty him but not relieve him in his unhappiness unless he will be pleased to take more pains in reading good Books than as yet he appeareth to have done But for the thing it self and his Reflections upon it I shall observe yet some few things and so pass on As first the opposition that he makes unto my Position is nothing but a crude Assertion of one of the meanest and most absurd Sophisms which the Socinians use in this Cause Namely that every one may remit injuries and offences as he pleaseth without exacting any Punishment Which as it is true in most Cases of Injuries and offences against Private Persons wherein no others are concerned but themselves nor are they obliged by any Law of the Community to pursue their own Right so with respect unto Publick Rulers of the Community unto such Injuries and offences as are done against supreme Rule tending directly unto the Dissolution of the Society centring in it to suppose that such Rulers
Christ these are they that I own whom you so despised and abhorred and see their Works following them this and that they have done when you wallowed in your Abominations Math. 25.42 43. 2. The Conversion of others 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that wherein they speak against you as Evil Doers beholding your good works they may Glorify God in the day of Visitation Mat. 5.17 Even Revilers Persecutors Evil speakers have been overcome by the Constant holy walking of Professors and when their Day of Visitation hath come have Glorified God on that Account 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 3. The Benefit of all Partly in keeping of Judgments from the Residue of Men as ten good Men would have preserved Sodom Partly by their real Communication of Good to them with whom they have to do in their Generation Holiness makes a man a Good Man Useful to all and others eat of the Fruits of the Spirit that he brings forth continually 4. It is Necessary in respect of the State and Condition of Justified Persons and that whether you consider their Relative State of acceptation or their State of Sanctification 1. They are Accepted and received into Friendship with an Holy God a God of Purer Eys than to behold Iniquity who hates every unclean thing And is it not Necessary that they should be Holy who are admitted into his Presence walk in his Sight yea lie in his Bosom should they not with all Diligence cleanse themselves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2. In respect of Sanctification we have in us a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This New Creature is fed cherished nourished kept alive by the Fruits of Holiness to what End hath God given us New Hearts and New Creatures Is it that we should kill them stifle the Creature that is found in us in the Womb That we should give him to the Old Man to be devoured 5. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of Holiness in the New Covenant and that is twofold 1. Of the Means unto the End God hath appointed that Holiness shall be the Means the Way to that Eternal Life which as in it self and Originally is his Gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his Constitution of our Obedience as the Means of attaining it is a reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder Though it be neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed of God for us to Walk in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life purifies himself as He is pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in the Way for without Holiness it is impossible to see God 2. It is a Testimony and Pledge of Adoption a sign and Evidence of Grace that is of Acceptation with God And 3. The whole Expression of our Thankfulness Now there is not one of all these Causes and Reasons of the Necessity the indispensible necessity of our Obedience good Works and Personal Righteousness but would require a more large Discourse to unfold and explain than I have allotted to the Proposal of them all And innumerable others there are of the same import that I cannot name He that upon these Accounts doth not think Universal Holiness and Obedience to be of indispensible necessity unless also it be exalted into the Room of the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ let him be filthy still I confess this whole Discourse proceedeth on the Supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us for our Justification And herein I have as good Company as the Prelacy and whole Church of England can afford Sundry from among them having written large Discourses in its Confirmation and the rest having till of late approved of it in others I wish this Man or any of his Companions in Design would undertake the answering of Bishop Downham on this Subject No Man ever carried this Matter higher than Luther nor did he in all his writings more positively and plainly contend for it than in his Comment on the Epistle to the Galatians Yet was that Book translated into English by the Approbation of the then Bishop of London who also prefixed himself a Commendatory Epistle unto it The judgment of Hooker we have heard before But what need I mention in particular any of the rest of those Great and Learned Names who have made famous the profession of the Church of England by their writings throughout the World Had this Man in their days treated this Doctrine with his present scoffing Petulancy he had scarce been Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane much less filled with such hopes and expectations of future Advancements as it is not impossible that he is now possessed with upon his memorable Atchievments But on this supposition I do first appeal to the Judgment of the Church of England it self as to the Truth of the Doctrine delivered in my Discourse and the Principles which this Man proceedeth on in his Exceptions against it 2. Though it be but a part of a Popular Discourse and never intended for Scholastick Accuracy yet as to the Assertions contained in it I challenge this Author to take and allow the ordinary usual sence of the Words with the open Design of them and to answer them when he can And. 3. In the mean time I appeal unto every indifferent Reader whether the mere perusal of this whole Passage do not cast this Man's Futilous Cavils out of all Consideration so that I shall content my self with very few Remarques upon them First upon my asserting the necessity of Good Works he adds A very suspicious Word which methinks these Men should be afraid to name And why so We do acknowledge that we do not seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law We design not our Personal Justification by them nor to merit Life or Salvation but betake our selves unto what even Bellarmine himself came to at Last as the safest Retreat namely the Merits and Righteousness of Christ. But for Attendance unto them Performance of them and fruitfulness in them we are not afraid nor ashamed at any Time to enter into Judgment with them by whom we are traduc'd And as I have nothing to say unto this Author who is known unto me only by that Portraicture and Character which he hath given of himself in this Book which I could have wished for his own sake had been drawn with a mixture of more Lines of Truth and Modesty so I know there are not a few who in the Course of a Vain Worldly Conversation whilst there is scarce a Back or Belly of a Disciple of Christ that blesseth God upon the account of their Bounty or Charity the Footsteps of Levity Vanity Scurrility and Prophaneness being moreover left upon all the Paths of their haunt are wont to declaim about Holiness