methods of Humiliation as it is to the proud heart of man to be thus humbled Thus you see that Humiliation hath nothing to do with repentance and reformation of our lives The steps of the Soul towards Christ Answer are conviction compunction Humiliation Faith Now if there be nothing of forsaking of sin in all this then men must be united to Christ before they forsake their sins So the Author But doth Mr. Shepherd allow of no kind of forsaking of sin before union to Christ Yes surely There is saith he a separation from sin so much separation as makes the Soul willing that sin should be taken away So much separation as is necessary to the Souls closing with Christ He never thought that a man indulging his lusts should immediately come and be united to Christ No every step or degree which he sets in the Souls progress to a closure with Christ proves the contrary what need conviction compunction humiliation If the Soul wallowing in its lusts might be united to Christ But Mr. Shephard makes the end of conviction to be not reformation of sin but compunction But how doth he so What that there is no tendency at all in conviction towards reformation No he saith expresly that the next end of it is compunction Sorrow for sin is so called for in Scripture that no man may deny it to be one of God's methods by which he uses to bring men home to himself Neither is it imaginable that sin our old joy unless in some measure it become our sorrow should ever be reformed as it ought without compunction saith Mr. Shephard a sinner will never part with his sin A bare conviction doth but light the Candle to see sin but compunction burns his fingers and that makes him dread the fire But Mr. Shephard who places this compunction in a fear of wrath sorrow for sin and separation from sin means by separation not a leaving of sin but a being willing or rather not unwilling that the Lord should take it away and that by an irresistable power and that against our wills To which I answer touching irresistable Grace and that objection as if we were made willing against our will I have before discoursed In compunction there is a leaving of sin in some measure the fear of wrath will make a man start from it sorrow for sin will make it cease to be joy separation from sin so as to be willing to have it taken away is a kind of withdrawing and departure of heart from it But indeed in this compunction there is not such a leaving of sin as if we could be our own Physicians and heal our corrupt natures as if we could our selves reach that victory over the world and its lusts which is the triumph of Faith as if we could mortifie the deeds of the body without that holy Spirit which is given to Believers for that end This were to render Christ Faith the holy Spirit unnecessary to our Sanctification and to render our selves like those Pagans of whom St. Austin speaks who would not be made Christians Quia quasi sibi sufficiunt de bonâ vitâ suâ Mr. Shephard saith Enarr in Psal 31. That this separation from sin cuts off the Soul from the will to sin not from all sin in the will which is mortified by the Spirit of Holiness Now this saith the Author is down right non-sence for he must be a subtil man who can distinguish between a will to sin and sin in the will But I suppose no great subtilty is required to solve this by a will to sin is meant that act of the will whereby it is carried out to sin as its beloved Object and by sin in the will is meant that habitual corruption which is there In compunction there is such a separation from sin that the will is not in its acts carried out as before to sin as its pleasure joy and pursuit but not such a separation from sin as if the habitual corruption in the will were mortified as after Faith it is by the holy Spirit But saith Mr. Shephard Huniiliation breaks off the Soul from self-considence after compunction men are apt to seek ease by repentance and reformation to try a good course but if they trust in themselves or rest in their duties without a Saviour they are uncapable of Christ that is saith the Author all those who repent and reform are uncapable of Christ And must the world believe that Mr. Shephard is against repentance and reformation Surely there is no reason at all for it the thing is very plain if a man will stand like the proud Pharisee upon his bottom if with the Jews he will go about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make to stand his own weak cadaverous righteousness if he will repent and reform in his own strength and without coming to Christ the Fountain of Grace Surely he is not whilst in this proud posture capable of Christ Repentance and Reformation are good things but they must be done in a good manner they must not be made our Christ's or Saviours they must not keep us off from Jesus Christ or make us say as the Pagan mentioned by St. Austin did Jam benè vivo quid mihi necessarius est Christus I can live well already what need have I of Christ All that reformation which is without Faith in Christ is as our Church saith of works without Faith But dead before God Nemo computet bona opera sua ante fidem saith St. Austin If we would reform indeed we must go to Christ by Faith But saith the Author in this Humiliation of Mr. Shephards a man must have such a sense of his inability to please God that he must not dare be so prophane as to attempt it and such a sense of his unworthiness as to submit to God whether he will save or damn him he must in some measure be indifferent whether he be saved or damned but it is an hard thing to bring a man in his wits to this To which I answer for the first a sense of our inability to please God is a thing so necessary that our Saviour tells Laodicea that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and must have her gold and raiment and eye-salve and all from him If we think we can please God in our selves not in the beloved Jesus Christ or that we can please God by walking in our own strength and not in the power of Grace we do but deceive our selves and our labour will be but in vain it will fare with us as it did with the man storied of in one of the Jewish Rabbins who in the night lighted his Candle and it went out again and lighted it again and again and still it went out Our Lamps of a self-made Sanctity and Righteousness though trimmed over and over with our endeavours will certainly go out and at last we must resolve as he did
liberum esse ut agant quaecunque velint seriò abhorremus à Basilidis blasphemiâ qui finxit ita nos fide salvari ut universa libido indifferenter usurpari possit But why one Protestant should draw up such a charge against another I cannot but wonder however the Author triumphantly concludes These are those fundamental doctrines with which these men have blessed the world from a pretended acquaintance with Christs person which ought to be called the Religion of Christs person in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel To which I shall only say that I leave others to judge whether any such thing as that opposition hath been made good hitherto Christ having satisfied and fulfilled the Law we have nothing to do Mr. Sherlock but to get an interest in his satisfaction and righteousness he is very ignorant of Christ who hopes that any thing else will avail him to salvation All which the Author speaks as the sence of his Opposites Is there nothing to do after getting into Christ Who ever said Answer or meant so Is there no walking in Christ Are there no fruits of Holiness and Righteousness to be brought forth Or are those meer unprofitable things and of no avail None of the Opposites ever owned any such thing however I confess none of our good works must take Christs Prerogative or sit down in the room of his merits and righteousness Now that we may come to Christ Mr. Sherlock saith the Author pointing at his Opposites It is absolutely necessary that we be sensible of our lost condition we must work our fancy into great terrors and agonies and a dismal fear of the wrath of God and his natural justice the spirit of bondage must go before the spirit of adoption without this we shall never value Christ the promise of ease is made to the weary those only shall be satisfied who hunger and thirst after imputed righteousness now being stung with sin it is time to look up to Christ to see his fulness and perfection All this in a Drollery Answer and are we come to that pass that we can sport our selves at such things as these Need we prove that there are such things as broken hearts or repentant tears or sorrow for sin Are these the workings of fancy or imagination When Genesius was mocking on the Stage at the Christian mysteries Spond Ann. Domini 303. he was on a sudden so wrought on by the Grace of God that he did seriò agere quod jocis actitabat May the Author speed no worse while he makes himself merry with this and other Divine things Let us seriously consider doth sin hang so loose on us that we can shake it off easily without so much sence or sorrow Are we so propense to Christ that we will go to him without a feeling of our wants Why or wherefore should we do so Will we go to him for righteousness who can work out one at our fingers ends or for regenerating grace who can dispatch the matter our selves or for a supply of our wants who feel no such matter Our Saviour spake indeed of the weary and heavy laden Such as Grotius saith Peccati onere suspirant ad libertatem aspirant But according to our Author it seems to signifie little the Apostle speaks of a spirit of bondage but some it seems never felt any such thing Afterwards the Author speaking of their comforting Souls afraid to come to Christ thus Doth not God justifie the ungodly Did Christ take our flesh and not our sins upon him Compare your distress and Christs compassion your wants and Christs fulness your unworthiness and Christs freeness c. He adds And now if Christ do not prevail above thy fears thou art not worthy to be acquainted with him But now let Mr. Shepherd that excellent practical Divine come upon the Stage If thou objectest saith Mr. Shepherd what have I to do with Christ Mr. Sherlock who have such an unholy vile hard blind and most wicked heart O dishonour not the Grace of Christ thou canst not come to Christ till laden and separated from sin but no more sorrow for sin no more separation from sin is necessary to this closing with Christ than so much as makes thee willing or rather not unwilling that the Lord should take it away know if thou seekest for a greater measure of humiliation thou shewest the more pride who will rather go into thy self to make thy self holy and humble than go out of thy self unto the Lord Jesus to take away thy sin thou thinkest Christ cannot love thee until thou makest thy self fair upon which serious words the Author after his merry way tells us The reason of all this is very plain from our acquaitance with Christ he is our Physician and we must go to him with all our diseases and sores about us he a fountain and we must go to him with all our filthiness to be cleansed he is all fulness it is not fit to carry any thing to him he is our righteousness and we must leave our own behind us he is all beauty we must not carry any to him all we have to do is to go to Christ weary and sick and filthy and naked stript of every thing but our sins and impurities to receive ease and health and fulness and beauty from him The Author hints as if according to Mr. Shepherd Answer a man must go to Christ indulging his Lusts and wallowing in them with all his sores running and filthiness allowed but how untrue is this Mr. Shepherd saith expresly Thou canst not come to Christ till thou art loaden and separated from thy sins thou canst not be ingraffed into this Olive unless thou beest cut off from thy old root thou must be made willing or rather not unwilling that the Lord should take away thy sin To come weary and sick and naked to Christ is not to come indulging our sins but groaning under them if there be no wants or sence of them how or why should we come to Christ Should we come to him to shew him the garments which nature made the innate or acquisite vertue and excellency which is in us Should we open our treasures and tell him that we are rich and increased in Goods and have need of nothing this is the way to be spued out of his mouth The Philosopher being asked what God was a doing could say that he was busie in elevatione humilium superborum dejectione We must go to Christ weary and heavy laden under our sins but surely not strip'd of them altogether could we strip off the guilt and power of these without Christ we might be our own Saviours and Sanctisiers Christ would have little or nothing to do for us But saith the Author We must receive Christ by Faith and then what a blessed change is there in us For though we continue as we were we have all in Christ What!
The plowing of the wicked is sin Prov. 21.4 Take him in sacred or Devotional affairs His Sacrifice is an abomination Prov. 15.8 And so is his Prayer too Prov. 28.9 Whatever his outward work or posture be To the unbelieving there is nothing pure Tit. 1.15 The very mind and conscience is defiled and will be so till it be purified by Faith Mr. Shephard places Justification before Sanctification and what doth the Church of England do It tells us in the 12. Article That good works are the fruits of Faith and follow after Justification that they spring necessarily of a true and lively Faith And in the 13. Article That works done before the Grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ Nay in the close of that Article our Church saith of such works We doubt not but they have the nature of sin As for Mr. Shephards speech for Christ come in a sense that they have in some measure resisted his Spirit refused his Grace and wearied him with their iniquities the inviting of such is no more than that of our Saviour which calls the weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest in which all are concerned except such as can without Christ earn a sanctity or holyness at the fingers ends of Nature and take a nap at home in a presumption of their own worthiness and self made righteousness But let us consider Mr. Sherlock the whole progress of the Soul to a closure with Christ the several steps to this are Conviction Compunction Humiliation and Faith which is the uniting Grace Now if there be nothing of forjaking of sin included in all this then Men must be united to Christ before they forsake their sins Now Conviction is a great sense of the evil of sin and the evil after it of its abominable accursed Nature and the Judgments which follow it and this is as it ought to be Men must be awakened to see these evils before they will reform their lives Reform nay you are out this is not the end of Conviction to reform sin that is a legal way but Compunction is the end of it well then what is this Compunction Why Compunction is first a great fear of being damned he sees death wrath eternity near to him next to this succeeds a great sorrow and mourning for sin and that which perfects this Compunction is a separation from sin this is something like but by a separation from sin you must not understand a leaving sin but such a separation as consists with living in it For it is nothing but a being willing or rather not unwilling that the Lord should take it away the Lord doth not wound the heart that the Soul should first heal it self but that it may desire the Physician the Lord Jesus to come and heal it So that all he means by separation from sin is to be content that Christ by an irresistible power should take away our sins By this Separation the Soul is cut off from the will to sin not from all no nor from any sin in the will for that must be mortified by a Spirit of holyness after the Soul is implanted into Christ Now this is down right non-sense for he must be a subtil Man who can distinguish between a will to sin and sin in the will and all that can be made of it is this that this separation is a willingness or rather not unwillingness that Christ should take away our sins against our wills and therefore he tells us That this Separation is no part of our Sanctification The whole design of this Compunction is to work humiliation in us which is the work of the Spirit whereby the Soul broken off from self-conceit and confidence submitteth and lieth under God to be disposed as he pleaseth this self-confidence is any hope of pleasing God by Reformation or Repentance or any thing he can do When Men feel this Compunction the great danger is lest they should seck ease by Repentance and Reformation if they can repent and reform they have some hopes as well they may if they do so that this will heal their wounds and pacify the Lord towards them when they see no peace in a sinful course they will try a good one But this is a dangerous mistake for while it is thus with the Soul he is uncapable of Christ For he that trusts to other things to save him or makes himself his own Saviour or rests in his duties without a Saviour that is according to this Author all those who repent and reform he can never have Christ to save him So that true Humiliation is this when the Soul feels its own inability and unworthiness that it may lye under God to be disposed of that is contented to be saved or damned as shall please God and when the Soul is at this pass it is vas capax a vessel capable of Grace And now they are made thus hollow and empty by Humiliation they are capable of receiving Christ as an hollow vessel is of receiving any thing This is a new notion of our union to Christ that it is a receiving Christ into us as an hollow vessel receives any liquor poured into it This is a Philosophical account of the nature of Humiliation that a man must have such a sense of his inability to please God that he shall never dare to be so prophane as to attempt it but must leave repentance and reformation to carnal christless men and that he may be so sensible of his unworthiness that he shall contentedly submit to God to be damned or saved as he pleases And now the Soul being thus hollow is fit to receive Christ and being grown careless of its Salvation and indifferent whether it be saved or damned for it is impossible thus to submit without being indifferent in some measure which God shall chuse it is a fit object for mercy certainly it is a very hard thing to bring any man in his wits to this and I find by this Author that God is very hard put to it to humhle the Soul thus For he is forced to irritate and stir up original corruption to stir the dunghil a very unfit office for an Holy Being that so men finding themselves sensibly grow worse and worse may despair of growing better and leave off such vain attempts and sit down humble under God Nay the Lord loads and tires and wearies the Soul by its own endeavours till it can stir no more That is when the Soul labours to repent and reform the Spirit of God which should assist such pious endeavours withdraws it self because it knows the Soul would rest therein without Christ Now I know not who suffers most by this The sinner who is thus humbled or God who thus humbles him for it must needs be as contrary to the holy merciful nature of God to use such
odds much the worse Man As first When the whole bent and tendency of the heart is towards sin when the propensities of the Soul thereto are entire and unmixt there it is the Law of sin in the unregenerate But is every one a regenerate Man who hath some good propensities in him who hath some wouldings and velleities to that which is good then there are few unregenerate in the World Secondly which is the explication of the former when all the several Faculties of the Soul are altogether on sins side and wholly take its part then it is the Law of sin in the unregenerate where the understanding gives in its final positive dictate that sin is good represents it as eligible to the will the will upon this closes with it embraces it it cleaves to it the affections desire joy delight run out upon it where it is thus the case is determined yea without controversy But where shall we find such a Man I believe there was never such a Man born too many chuse evil though they know it to be evil for the seeming advantages of profit or pleasure but to chuse evil as believing it to be good and to rejoyce and delight in it as good and eligible for it self is such an unregenerate state as the Devil never arrived at for though he be a wicked Spirit yet he is no Fool as those must be who mistake evil for good in such plain instances The Heathens themselves at this rate were all regenerate for their consciences accused them for doing evil Rom. 2. They knew good to be good and evil evil There was never such a Man as he describes when he tells us That sin comes to the Sinner and says Art thou willing that I should rule Yes saith he with all my heart I like thy commands I am thine I submit to be at thy dispose I here swear fealty and allegiance to thee c. This Oath c. might very well have been spared for there is enough without it and yet if this be the difference that the unregenerate Man chuses sin believing it to be good and the regenerate Man chuses sin though he knows it to be evil it is plain that the regenerate is much the worse because his sins have the greatest aggravations that any sins are capable of which the sins of an unregenerate Man have not viz. That they are sins against knowledge and so according to our Saviours reasoning this regenerate Man will be beaten with more stripes Dr. Jacomb assigns the difference between the Law of sin in the regenerate and in the unregenerate Answer First When the whole bent of the heart is towards sin when the propensities are entire and unmixt there it is the Law of sin in the unregenerate But saith the Author is every one regenerate who hath some good propensities Who hath some wouldings velleities to that which is good Then there are few unregenerate Men in the World To which I answer The unregenerate may indeed have some wouldings and velleities to good not of himself for in his flesh and such he is all over by Nature there is no good but from the common motions and operations of the Holy Spirit Yet notwithstanding these the bent of his heart is to sin the power of sin is habitual in him which is all the intent and very expression of the Doctor in that place Secondly When all the faculties of the Soul are on sins side when the understanding gives in its final positive dictate that sin is good represents it as eligible to the will the will closes with it the affections run out upon it there the case saith the Doctor is determined But saith the Author Never such a Man was born as to chuse evil believing it to be good to delight and rejoyce in it as good and eligible for it self To which I answer The Authors discourse runs upon this as if the Doctor had asserted that the understanding in the unregenerate did represent sin as good that is as conformable to the Law and Will of God and so good Hence the Author tells us That the Devil though a wicked Spirit is no Fool that the very Heathen know good to be good and evil evil But all this is besides the scope the Doctor never said or meant so when he saith that the understanding dictates sin to be good No Man I presume will interpret the words thus the understanding dictates sin to be conformable to the Will of God that is sin to be no sin No the understanding knows sin to be sin sin to be contrary to the Will of God yet it represents sin as good in other respects and so good as to cast the ballance in the heart on sins side it may be there are baits of profit or pleasure in it Nay it is my own thought that the pravity in sinsul actions comes sub ratione convenientiae and offers it self as congruous and so good to the corrupt Will and heart of Man the very difformity or contradiction to the will of God as intrinsecally black as it is blushes and looks fair to that Carnal mind which is enmity against God An unregenerate Man drinks in iniquity as water Job 15.16 being filthy himself iniquity though a very foul thing goes down naturally with him and is as it were his proper Element St. Austin in his Confessions speaking of his stealing of Apples saith that he was Gratis malus Confess li. 2 cap. 4.6 Amavi defectum meum decerpta projeci epulatus inde solaminiquitatem quâ laetabar fruens si quid illorum intravit in os meum condimentum facinus erat He confesses the very sin it self was grateful to him If Sinners did not believe sin to be good in some respect or other if they did look on it as evil and nothing but pure impure evil it were utterly impossible that they should chuse it or delight in it the will cannot appetere malum sub ratione mali for that were appetere non appetible which is impossible I conclude with the words of the Doctor in that place Whosoever upon deliberation judges a sinful course to be the best and thereupon chuses embraces falls in with it delights in it continues in it in this Man 't is the Law of sin this Man is as I take it a Servant of sin and willing it should rule There is as learned Bishop Reynolds saith a Covenant a virtual bargain between him and his lusts he agrees to serve and obey them But Thirdly Mr. Sherlock The Law of sin hath different workings in the People of God than in others This working of the Law of sin in Gods People me thinks is an ill thing But let us hear how it is First Where sin is committed industriously and designedly there it is the Law of sin in the Graceless unless Men be very cunning at the trade of sin they are not under the Law of it as graceless persons are
AN ANSWER TO THE Discourse OF Mr. WILLIAM SHERLOCK TOUCHING The Knowledge of Christ and our Union and Communion with Him By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esquire LONDON Printed for Ben. Foster and are to be sold by most Book-sellers in London MDCLXXV TO THE READER IN that excellent Piece the Soul of Man which is too great for this lower World and in the very Frame of it aspires after an Infinite Good the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or uppermost Room is the Vnderstanding and among all the Truths which are the Furniture thereof none are so rich as those Theological ones which are drawn out of the Golden Mines of Scripture Arts and Sciences are in comparison but the Poor of the Mind the Riches and Treasures of Knowledge lie in Evangelical Mysteries these out-shine the Sun and out-weigh the Earth They have the highest Certainty as coming down immediately from heaven and withall the noblest Tendency as leading us thither Infinite Truth is the Fountain and infinite Goodness the Center of them These when in their Lustre make a spiritual Day and derive such a pure Influence upon the Hearts and Lives of Men as moulds them into the Divine Image and thereby makes them meet for the bliss-making Vision in Heaven No sooner can these be under an Eclipse but there will be a Night and a Chaos of confusions the Path of Life and Happiness will be wrapt up in darkness black Legions of Errors and Corruptions will creep forth and pious Souls will wish for the day I mean for a fresh Illustration of Truths from that sacred Spirit which at first breahed them out into the World and after all the Clouds and dark Veils put upon them can bring them forth in their Oriency and true Glory These to Believers are as Pearls and sacred Jewels dearer than the Apple of their Eye nay than their own Souls They build upon them by Faith espouse them by divine Love lay them up in a pure Conscience distil the Vertue of them into a holy Life and if it were possible they would have none of the sacred Light put out nor the least Jot or Tittle of those Truths fall to the ground O what a rate did the famous St. Austin and others set upon God's special Effectual Grace How highly did the heroical Luther value the Point of Justification Jacente articulo Justificationis jacent omnia saith he as if a Christians All were in it When such Truths are violated Christians how meek soever in other things must earnestly contend and not give place no not for an hour here if ever Luther's pia sancta pertinacia is in season Not to stay any longer on the excellencies and great Concerns of Evangelical Truths which no tongue of Men or Angels is able fully to express I shall now speak a little touching Mr. Sherlock's Book When I read it I thought my self in a new Theological World Believers appearing without their Head for want of a Mystical Vnion strip'd and naked for lack of imputed Righteousness the full treasures of Grace in Christ which have supplied all the vessels of faith emptied out of sacred his person transfused into the doctrine of the Gospel as if according to Pelagius all Grace were in doctrine only The holy Spirit the great Origen of Graces and Comforts in its Illumination seems to be superfluous in its Testimony to Believers an Enthusiastical Fancy and in the work of Regeneration if any at most but a partial Co-cause parting stakes with the Will of Man Faith in Abel and Enoch lying as low as Natural Principles in Noah and Abraham raised up a little to particular Revelations but not so high as the Messiah In Christians standing off and at a distance from Christ its dear Object not daring to lay hold on or so much as touch him to draw any Vertue from thence As if Socinus had hit it right when he said Christi apprehensio merum commentum inanissimum somnium est The immutable Love of God the only Cement of the Church seems to be turned off from Persons to Qualities and towards Persons to be as variable as the fickle Will of Man is and yet he is immutable still he loves for the same Reason or as Socinus saith Non sine causa mutat The Pontifician Thesis touching Justification by inherent Righteousness seems to be revived a fresh and that in a way less tolerable than among the Romanists They though they would have inherent Righteousness come in for a share yet allow the Imputation of Christs passive Obedience but in the New Scheme inherent Righteousness takes up all the room and leaves none for imputed The Drollery and sarcastical Reflections in the Book are but the Cover of it within there is a dark Eclipse upon many excellent Truths which hitherto have been owned in the Churches of Christ and particularly in our own Among other Truths none have had a greater share of suffering than those two touching our Mystical Vnion with Christ and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us both which are to me very momentous The Mystical Vnion hath I suppose been generally received in the Church Indeed Gregory de Valentia once cavilled at it as if it were Mysterium Calvinisticum and yet he seems to own it when he saith Animum nostrum posse per fidem corpus Christi etiam ut in coelo existens atque adeo ut est extra Sacramentum manducare He that denies the Mystical Vnion cannot hold the head Jesus Christ from which all the body by joynts and bands hath nourishment ministred Col. 2.19 Take away that Vnion and Christ is a Head of no Influence the Joynts and the Bands which were made to convey divine Nutriture from him are but empty Titles and signifie no more than those Conduit-pipes do which are severed from the Fountain Again he that denies the Mystical Vnion must lose that piece of his Creed the Communion of Saints their Communion among themselves primarily depends on their Vnion with Christ the Head from whom the whole body is fitly joyned together and compacted as the Apostle tells us Eph. 4.16 All the Harmonies in the Body Mystical hang on its Vnion with the Head without this Believers could have no Communion one with another save in this only that they must all die one common death hy being severed from their Head The living Stones once off from their Foundation can hang no longer together in the spiritual Building but must totter down into a Chaos of Confusion Moreover he that denies the mystical Vnion must turn off the Believer from his true standing according to the Gospel the Believer is a man in Christ he is built on him as on a Foundation he subsists in him as the Branches do in the Vine he hath vital Influences from him as the Members have from the Head he is acted by his divine Spirit in all the pure ways to heaven and all this is his security his
may we receive Christ and be as we were Doth he bring nothing at all with him May we receive him and not have his righteousness imputed and his spirit imparted to us It is utterly vain and impossible But now a touch for worthy Mr. Watson Christ Mr. Sherlock as Mr. Watson hath it saith to a believer with my body yea with my blood I endow thee and a believer saith to Christ with my soul I thee worship As if saith the Author Christ and a Believer were married by the Liturgy I suppose our Church intended some such thing Answer and I mean it in good earnest for in the Communion Service she tells us That we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us and excellently prayes That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our Souls washed through his most pretious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us Sure such passages import a near Union and Communication between Christ and believers But saith Mr. Watson When a Soul is united to Christ no condemnation can fall upon him a woman being married her debts light upon her husband O blessed priviledge saith the Author And who would be afraid of running into debt with God when he hath such an Husband to discharge all and then how vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ and his beauty is put upon them To which I answer No men are more afraid to run into debt with God than those who taste of that Grace which forgives all and drink of that blood which pays for all Our love to Christ is a pure principle of Obedience and his love to us is a Divine inflammative of ours because he will discharge all shall we be presumptuous and extravagant Some Gallants in Queen Elizabeths time hoping for some Church-lands run out desperately crying out Solvat Ecclesia but shall believers who have past through the pangs of the new birth and tasted the hidden Manna of Gods love sin on and say Solvat Christus Nothing is nor can be more unnatural because they know themselves espoused to such an husband as Christ shall they be adulterous Because Christ will be their friend shall they be enemies These are strange repugnancies indeed As to what the Author adds How vile and impure soever men are their comfort is they are married to Christ those words how vile and impure soever men are are none of Mr. Watson's but added by the Author after which rate one may turn any thing into non sence or blasphemy And to crown all Mr. Sherlock when they are once ingraffed into Christ they are secure to eternity Christ is not divided a member cannot be lost the union cannot be dissolved This indeed is that Answer wherein the Covenant of Grace lifts it self up above the Covenant of works in that of works the stock was in mans hand but in this of Grace it is in Gods in that there was no promise of perseverance but in this there are many such promises God shall confirm you unto the end 1 Cor. 1.8 He will put his fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 The Apostle praying for the Thessalonians that they may be preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ immediately adds Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.23 24 Evidently God undertakes it and engages his faithfulness in it shall we take the matter out of Gods hand into our own or turn about to the old Covenant Shall we take these promises conditionally Then we must utterly evacuate these promises for they must run thus if we will persevere we shall persevere and so much was true under the old Covenant and without any promise at all Mr. Watson argues thus If any branch be plucked away from Christ it is either because Christ is not able to keep it or because he is willing to lose it But saith the Author May not sin dissolve the union What if the believer will not stay with Christ I answer This doth not at all answer the Argument from Christs power Hath he not power to prevent sin from being or from being final Hath he not power to strengthen believers in that which is good or if they lapse to raise them up again If so his promise cannot fail his faithfulness will make it good neither doth sin committed un-saint a believer as the Author hints this was the remarkable difference between the two Covenants in Adam one sin expelled perfect holiness but in believers it doth not extinguish inherent Grace though imperfect still there is a seed of God abiding in them a well of water springing up unto everlasting life through Grace they shall be revived again But saith Mr. Shepherd Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse upon which the Author If she be not purged whose fault can it be but his own To which I answer Christ hath undertaken to purge believers but not so as to prevent all lapses when they are purged it is meerly of Grace but when they sin it is of their own By such lapses God lets them know as he did Hezekiah what is in their heart Let us now consider the consequential Mr. Sherlock conjugal affections the Soul must be enamoured with Christ sick of love to him he is maximè diligibilis the very abstract and quintessence af beauty you must delight in his embraces thirst after more intimate acquaintance with him follow him from one ordinance to another and never be satisfied unless you meet with him in ordinances there they hear of his Beauty Riches Fulness All-sufficiency of all truths they savour the truths of Christ best And what needs all this Answer These truths are too plain to be denied and too sacred to be laughed at Such sanctified Souls loath all dull Mr. Sherlock insipid moral discourses which are perpetually inculcating duty and troubling them with a great many rules for a good life Which Mr. Watson calls the quaint points of virtue and vice For this is not to enjoy Christ in ordinances I suppose they cannot loath discourses of duty Answer For as our Author tells us a little after they make Obedience to Christ their husband a conjugal act and in order to that they must hear of duty Only I take it they had rather hear duty spread before them in a plain Scriptural dress than in curious speculations of meer humane reason They would have duty inculcated but not so perpetually as to exclude the preaching up of that Divine Grace which enables thereunto without this they despair of doing any thing aright but saith the Author It is very hard to find a proper place for Obedience in this new Religion for this is not necessary at all to our coming to Christ and closing with him nay it is a great hinderance to it
for we must bring nothing to Christ with us the marriage is consummated without it and then we have less need of it than before for then we are adorned with Christs Beauty holy with his holiness delivered by his expiation righteous with his righteousness which gives us an actual right to Glory we need no righteousness of our own to save us which were to suppose a defect in the righteousness of Christ unto which I answer Though a man with his arms of rebellion in his hands cannot possibly whilest in that posture close with Christ yet I take it Faith which espouses Christ doth precede true Obedience Without faith saith the Apostle it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Without saith saith our Church in the Homily of good works All that is done of us is but dead before God although the work seem never so gay and glorious before man even as the picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing it self so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God they do appear to be lively works and indeed they be but dead not availing to the everlasting life they be but shadows and shews of lively and good things and not good and lively things indeed thus our Church excellently which tells us what manner of Obedience we can bring to Christ After our espousals to Christ by faith Obedience follows as a fruit and effect of Faith though the Author fasten this opinion expresly on those whom he opposes calling them in sport intimate acquaintances of Christ yet our Church tells us in the twelfth Article That good works do spring necessarily out of a true and lively Faith Christs righteousness makes us righteous in Justification but doth it thence follow that Obedience is needless No sure It is a thing noted in the Papists that they confound Justification and Sanctification together but we must not do so if it be necessary to do Gods will or promote his Glory or to give evidences of our Faith in and gratitude to Christ or to walk in the way to Heaven and Salvation then such is Obedience but the Author cannot understand this gratitude unless our Righteousness and Obedience be due to Christ in thankfulness to him for saving us without Obedience and Righteousness which is just as broad as long and we get nothing by the bargain To which I answer our Obedience is a due gratitude to Christ who saves us by his Blood and Righteousness and and that without a perfect personal sinless Obedience in our selves and withal it is necessary as a proof of our faith and as the way to Heaven which our Saviour hath chalked out to us The Soul saith Dr. Owen consents to take Christ on his own terms Mr. Sherlock to save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had thee and salvation in my way that it might have been partly of mine endeavours and as it were by the works of the Law but I am now willing to receive thee and to be saved in thy way meerly by Grace that is Without doing any thing without obeying of thee as the Author doth interpret him Without doing any thing Answer without obeying of thee Is this the Doctors meaning Do his words import so Nothing more remote from him he shews how the Soul closes with Christ and takes him on his own terms it will not now be justified by its own works or legal righteousness but by Christ and his righteousness it will not now endeavour in its own strength but under the duct of Grace this is his plain meaning For before the words quoted he speaks of accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour and after them of giving up our selves to be ruled by the Spirit which cannot be without Obedience It s true the Author calls this a pretty complement but the Doctor speaks it as his serious judgment In the eighth Chapter of the book quoted he tells us Obedience is indispensibly necessary if Gods Sovereignty is to be owned if his Love to be regarded if the whole work of the ever blessed Trinity for us in us be of any moment our Obedience is necessary Thus fully the Doctor who yet is here construed by the Author to exclude Obedience what measure this is let others judge The Soul gives up it self to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ to be passively Mr. Sherlock not actively good to submit as needs it must to the irresistible working of the Divine Spirit and to obey when it can rebel no longer Thus the Author sports with his Opposites Touching irresistible Grace Answer I have spoken before the Soul in the first act of Conversion is meerly passive but after the Divine Principles infused acta agit it moves under the sweet influences of the Spirit without whose inspiration as our Church tells us in the thirteenth Article Works done are not pleasant to God yet that inspiration doth not as the Author hints force the will of man but sweetly lead it in a way congruous to its liberty And now the Author shuts up this Section thus I have given thee Reader an entire scheme of a new Religion resulting from an acquaintance with Christs person in all its principles and practices I think there needs no more to expose it to the scorn of every considering man who cannot but discover how inconsistent the religion of Christs Person and of his Gospel are To which I shall only say the Author hath done his endeavour to expose his Opposites to scorn but how new their Religion is how inconsistent with the Gospel and how just the scorn I leave to considering men to determine SECT III. THese men pretend to learn a Religion from Christs Person Mr. Sherlock but this is at best to build Religion upon uncertain conjectures or ambiguous reasons suppose them to be cautions yet what assurance can they have that their inferences are true and as a reason of this the Author afterwards adds There is not a natural and necessary connexion between the person of Christ and what he did and suffered and the salvation of Mankind the Incarnation Life Death Resurrection of Christ were available to those ends for which God designed them but the vertue and efficacy of them doth depend upon God's Institution and Appointment and therefore can be known only by Revelation We cannot draw a Conclusion from the Person of Christ which his Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of the design of it than what is there revealed They learn from Christ's Person Answer but what without the Gospel No by no means without this they cannot pretend not to know whether there be such a Person as Christ or no or what are the Ends of his Incarnation Life Death and Resurrection These depend upon God's appointment and that is set forth in the Gospel But having the Gospel as an outward Medium they see Christ and many Mysteries in him
their fancies with their private opinions and then read the Scripture with no other design than to find something there to stamp Divinity on their own conceits they dote upon words and Metaphors and Allusions they found their Religion on obscure Texts or mystical interpretations of plain Texts and by the help of distinctions and glosses curtailing of Texts transplacing of words and Comma's or separating a single sentence from the body of the discourse make the Scripture speak their sence as plainly as the Bells ring what every boy will have them which is to deal with Scripture as Irenaeus observes as if a man should take a picture of a King which consisted of an artificial composition of precious stones and transplace all those stones into another form as suppose of an Ape and then should perswade silly people that that was the Kings picture At this rate we may find the Alcoran in the Bible as well as make so many Books different and contrary to each other from the various composition of twenty four letters These acquaintances of Christ And who may better make bold with him than they pervert the Gospel to serve their opinion there are two wayes of expounding Scripture in great vogue among them First By the sound and clink of words which is all some men understand by a form of sound words Secondly When this will not do they reason about the sence of Scripture from their own preconceived notions and prove that this must be the meaning of Scripture because otherwise it is not reconcileable to their dreams which is called expounding Scripture by the Analogy of Faith It is the observation of that excellent man Answer Jerome of Prague in his defence before the Council of Constance That many worthy men have been unjustly condemned such as Socrates among Pagans Isaiah and other Prophets nay Christ and his Apostles The Author hath put in a long grievous charge against these good men but the Reader will observe that it is a general one and I suppose he will hang by his belief till proof be made by the after-instances As for the Valentinians these men have nothing to do with them or their Aeones they were very high flyers in their knowledge and perfections And as I find in the Magdeburgenses they held That men Cant. 2. cap. 5. especially those of their own Sect naturâ salvos fieri were saved by nature Which whether it may have any affinity with the natural faith allowed by the Author I know not But now let us hear out Authors instances and first for their expounding Scripture by the sound of words If they find any words saith the Author which chime to the tune of their private conceits they clap their own sence on them Thus when Christ is said to be made wisdom to us this is a plain proof Mr. Sherlock that we must learn all our spiritual wisdom from an acquaintance with his Person though some duller men can understand no more by it than the wisdom of those Revelations Christ hath made to us of Gods will External Revelation was never excluded by those whom the Author opposes Christ is made wisdom to us Answer as I have answered before because all true Wisdom that is external Revelation and internal Illumination are derived from him who is the Mirrour of divine Perfections Thus when men have learn'd Mr. Sherlock from an Acquaintance with Christ to place all their hopes of salvation in a personal Vnion with Christ from whom they receive Pardon Grace Righteousness and Salvation what more plain proof can any man who is resolved to believe this desire of it than 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life What can having the Son signifie but having an interest in him being made one with him though some will be so perverse as to understand it of believing and obeying his Gospel Personal Union with Christ Answer who owns it that is of different Natures in the same Person such as is not between Christ and us Mystical the Author should have said that I own and from thence are derived all spiritual good things to us And so much is proved by that of St. John Having the Son imports Union with him or else we may have all at a distance from him Hear the Learned Bishop Reynolds on that Text Life of Christ fol. 461. One thing cannot be the Principle of Life to another except there be some Vnion which may be the ground of that conveyance and this is that the Text calls the having of Christ And what this Union is he afterwards explains It is that whereby we and he are spiritually united to the making up of one mystical body Fol. 468. the formal Reason or Bond of it is the Spirit of Christ from it doth immediatly arise a Communion with him in all good things Hear the Glory of our Church Archbishop Vsher Serm. before the Commons An. 1620 No man participates of the benefits arising from Christ to his spiritual relief except he first have Communion with him we must have the Son before we have life eat him we must that is as truly be partakers of him as we are of our ordinary food and a little after This is that great Mystery of our Vnion with Christ whereby we are made members of his body of his flesh and of his bone Hear the Learned Hooker Eecles Pol. Lib. 5. By vertue of this mystical Conjunction we are of him and in him even as though our flesh and bones should be continuate with his No man is actually in him but they in whom he actually is for he which hath not the Son hath not life And may we say or think that such Pillars and Luminaries of the Church should follow the sound and clink of words and phrases chiming to the tune of their own Conceits One might rather take the Author to be out he understands that place of obeying and believing the Gospel Believing the Gospel is but a dogmatical Faith which entitles not to Christ Obedience follows after Union with him and may be rather called walking in him than having of him Before we can be united to Christ we must go to him Mr. Sherlock and therefore Faith which is the Instrument of this Vnion is very luckily called Coming to Christ But this is not enough we must receive Christ Joh. 1.12 that Faith which serves us for Legs to go to Christ must be an Hand to receive him when we have received him we must embrace him in our Arms as old Simeon did when he found him in the Temple which is a little nearer Vnion as plainly appears from the example of the Patriarchs who embraced the Promises And now we have Christ we must trust and lean upon him as we are often commanded and if leaning be not enough we may make a little more bold and rowl on him as appears from the Original Gal. Psal 37. We may
Union and what better proof can be of it than that divine Life which issues from thence Our Saviour hath put it out of all doubt He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Joh. 6.56 And in another place he tells them Abide in me and I in you Joh. 15.4 What can be more emphatical and expressive of our Mystical Union If such words do not signifie it what can We are said to be in him that is true even in Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 5.20 And Christ is said to be in us the hope of glory Col. 1.27 And how full are these Expressions This our Saviour prayed for in that solemn Prayer Joh. 17. As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us This he promised At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Joh. 14.20 Surely that Union which is set forth by the Union of the Father and the Son in the blessed Trinity must be a mystical one The Bonds of this Union are no less pregnantly expressed touching the holy Spirit which as Bishop Davenant tells us is Primaria Commissura by which Christ and we touch the Scripture speaks negatively If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 that is he hath no Union or Communion with him and positively or affirmatively He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 Touching Faith which as the Learned Vsher saith is the Soul of all other Graces the Scripture teaches us that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith Eph. 3.17 and that Faith comes receives leans on puts on feeds on and in a word possesses Christ In one place Gal. 2.20 we have both these Bonds together I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me that is by his Spirit and I live by the faith of the Son of God these two Make up the Mystical Union The Name of this Union is also expresly in Scripture Fancy did not baptize it Mystical but the holy Ghost This is a great mystery to be members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 32. Nay The riches of the glory of the mystery is Christ in us the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 The ancient Fathers were no strangers to this Union that of Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Eph. points it out to us In the times of St Cyprian and Julius Bishop of Rome the Church in the Lord's Supper which is a divine Seal of this Union used over and above to note it out by mixing Water with the Wine Hence St. Cyprian saith Cypr. E. pist 63. Decret Julii in Concil Quando in calice vinum aquâ miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur And Julius saith Si sit vinum tantùm est Christus sine populo si aqua sola populus sine Christo St. Hilary and St. Cyril of Alexandria compare our Union with Christ with that high Union which is between the Father and the Son St. Cyril upon John tells us as I have him quoted by the Noble Sadeel that Christus per fidem ingreditur in nos per Spiritum sanctum inhabitat St. Basil speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intellectual mouth in the inner Man by which we feed upon Christ the Bread of Life St. Chrysostom saith Hom. 11. in Ephes that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit flowing from above which touches all the Members of Christ Diximus fratres saith St. Austin hoc Dominum commendasse in manducatione carnis suae potione sanguinis sui Tract 27. in Joh. ut in illo maneamus ipse in nobis maneamus autem in illo cùm sumus membra ejus manet ipse in nobis cùm sumus templum ejus And in another place De peccator Mer. cap. 31. Homines sancti fideles ejus siunt cum homine Christo unus Christus unus Christus caput corpus magna est mira dignatio Theophylact saith In Joh. 15. that a man is by Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 part of the Root united to the Lord and incorporated in him And to name no more generally those Sayings of the Fathers which the Papists plead for an oral Manducation of Christ are so many proofs of the Mystical Union The Schoolmen concurr in the same thing Aquinas saith that Christ and his Members are but una Persona mystica And Barthol Medina expresses it fully In 3. partem Thom. qu. 8. Cùm efficimur membra sub Capite Christo mirabili quâdam Spiritûs sancti operatione unimur transimus in Christum induimúsque illum deiformi quâdam insitione atque Vnione illi inserimur Modern Divines go the same way to name but a few Bishop Vsher saith Imman pag. 50. The Bond of this Mystical Vnion between Christ and us is on his part the quickning Spirit and on ours Faith Est inter Christum omnia Christi Membra continuitas quaedam ratione Spiritûs sancti qui plenissimè residens in Christo Capite In Col cap. 1. ver 18. unus idem numero ad omnia ejus membra diffunditur vivificans singula uniens universa so Bishop Davenant The Spirit knitteth us as really though mystically Life of Christ 457. unto Christ as his Sinews and Joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred Body together thus Bishop Reynolds But I shall shut up all with the Authority of our Church In the Lords Supper there is no vain Ceremony no bare Sign nor untrue Figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the Bread and Cup of the Lord the Memory of Christ the Annunciation of his death the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation 1. Hom. of the Sacrament which by the operation of the holy Ghost the very Bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful the true Vnderstanding of this Fruition and Vnion between the Body and the Head between Believers and Christ the ancient Catholick Fathers perceiving themselves and commending to their people were not afraid to call this Supper the Salve of Immortality a Deifical Communion pledge of eternal health and food of immortality This Mystical Union we see is no Fancy no very great moments depend upon it Tota veraejustitiae salutis vitae participatio ex hâc pernecessariâ cum Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pendet saith the Learned Zanchy Without it how should Christ profit us which way should his blood wash or righteousness cover us What illapses of the holy spirit or vital influences of Grace could we look for in a state
separate from him He is the Saviour of the body his merits and righteousness cover only those that are in him the effectual working of the Divine Spirit is only in those that are parts of him and united to him as their head a man can no more continue in the Divine life and walk in holiness without this union than the old Dionysius as the fable runs could walk a great way with his head off The opinion against this mystical union if practical would in a moment murder all the new creatures in the world and make a more bloody day with the Church than that of the Parisian Massacre This at one blow beheads the Church Catholick and cuts off that neck of Faith through which all Graces and Divine influences are derived from Christ unto believers But now let us hear the Author Those Metaphors which describe the relation and union between Christ and Christians Mr. Sherlock do primarily refer to the Christian Church not to every individual Christian Christ is the head but of his body which no particular Christian is Christ is an husband but the whole Church is his Spouse as St. Paul tells the Church of Corinth 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ Christ is a Shepherd and that concerns the whole flock Christ is a Rock a corner stone and the Church an holy Temple All these Metaphors in their first and most proper use refer to the whole Society of Christians the union of particular Christians to Christ is by means of their union to the Church the Church is the body of Christ and every Christian by being united to this body becomes a member of Christ As the Apostle tells us Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular 1 Cor. 12.27 The Church is the Temple of God and every Christian a lively stone in it the Church is Christs Spouse and every Christian a member of that Society but every Christian is not Christs Spouse he is an enemy to Polygamy and hath but one Spouse as he hath but one body and one Church which quite spoils the prettiness and fantastical wit of a late exhortation to young women to take Christ for their husband which would have sounded much better in a Popish Nunnery than among such pretenders to reformation and to give every one their due the Papists are the most generous sort of sutors for Christ for they perswade them to forsake all other husbands for Christ which is more honourable and meritorious These Metaphors refer to the whole Church or body of Christ very well Answer but are not particular Christians united to Christ as their head espoused to him under him as Sheep under a Shepherd built on him as on a Rock Yes surely The Church of Corinth which is the Authors instance was in proper speech no more the whole body of Christ than a particular Christian is and yet it was espoused as a chast Virgin to Christ if a particular Christian because not the whole body of Christ cannot be espoused to him then neither can a particular Church because not such be so espoused And so the grave words of S. Paul about the Corinthian Church as well as the phantastical wit of the late Exhorter must spoil together But if a particular Christian may be espoused to Christ why should Ministers who are Sutors on that behalf be checked with a Popish Nunnery as if those Espousals smelt of a superstitious Vow The Author himself tells us pag. 180. Every devout Soul is Gods Temple an inlightned mind is his Debir or Oracle a pure heart is his Altar devout Prayers are spiritual Incense and sweet Perfumes the body it self is a consecrated place and called Gods Temple All which is excellently spoken and I think by the same reason a particular believer may be called Christs Spouse but saith the Author The union of particular Christians to Christ is by means of their union to the Church that is to the whole Catholick Church the whole body of Christ which is made up only of Believers and Saints being as Ignatius calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Tral This is the Church the Author here means by the whole Church or body of Christ that body hath none but Believers and Saints in it Now if particular believers are united to Christ by their union to this Church how was the first believer united to Christ Or afterwards how was the Church Catholick united to him Surely not by another Church but immediately and then to me it is unimaginable that the whole Church should be immediately united to him and never a part so united or that all believers should be so united to him and never an one of them so united Besides the Church Catholick is part militant on earth and part triumphant in Heaven Those in Heaven are no part of the visible Church afterwards mentioned by the Author and withal they are at so great a distance from us that we may as easily imagine an immediate union to Christ as to them Those on earth are not all the body of Christ and so not properly within the Authors discourse however if we consider the business those vincula unionis the holy Spirit and Faith which unite them all immediately to Christ are resident in particular Believers and therefore it is a wonder to me that those particular Believers in whom the Divine Bonds reside should not be immediately united to Christ It is apparent that in case those Bonds in particular believers should be dissolved the whole Catholick Church on earth would be dissolved also and how then can particular persons be less than immediately united to Christ Add hereunto that none are in the Church Catholick but reall Believers and in the very instant of believing they are united to Christ and therefore it is not at all supposeable that they should first be united to the Church and by that means to Christ That place in the Corinthians quoted by the Author Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular proves it not The Church of Corinth was not the whole body of Christ neither is there any syllable in it to prove that first we are united to the Church and then to Christ Christ speaking of himself Mr. Sherlock saith I am the true Vine John 15. The meaning is that Church which is founded on the belief of my Gospel is the true Vine I signifies Christ together with his Church which is his body upon which account the Church is elsewhere called Christ The Author is a little various here for he saith Answer I signifies Christ together with his Church but a little after I and in me cannot be meant of his own person So there it is the Church alone and not together with Christ neither doth the Author agree upon the Church First he speaks of the body of Christ which is
Christian Church This Opinion Answer which denies that particular Believers are immediately united to Christ being as I take it but novel hath not yet found its Center but rowls about from the Catholick Church which is made up all of Saints to visible particular Churches which are made up of Believers and Unbelievers First the Author spake of our Union to the Body of Christ now of it to the Church Visible Before I made it appear that particular Believers were immediately united to Christ in respect of the Church Catholick and it is as evident that they are so united to him in respect of the Church Visible On the one hand all that are in the Church Visible are not really united to Christ the hypocritical Professors do but seem to be so It is observed by the Learned Whitaker that Eccesiae particulares visibilibus nexibus colligantur Ecclesia verò Catholica invisibilibus A Visible Church as such is connected by visible Bands and more the Connection cannot be because Believers and Hypoctites of both which the Church is made up cannot otherwise be knit together and how is it possible that the Union of Believers to Christ which is made by invisible Ligatures should consist in their Union to the Visible Church which as such is only knit together by visible Bands On the other hand those which are not of the Church Visible may yet be really united to Christ Thus the Catechumeni were but in vestibulo and not actually in the Visible Church and yet if Believers were united to Christ The same may be said of unbaptized Believers The Emperor Valentinian died before Baptism but in real Union to Christ hence St. Ambrose saith that he had in se imaginem Christi and that his Soul was in refrigerio Believers if unjustly excommunicate are no longer in the Visible Church and yet they are in Union to Christ The Apostles as Christ foretold them were to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast out of the Synagogues but never to be parted from Christ Believing Merchants may be at a vast distance from the Visible Church and yet in near spiritual Conjunction with Christ And what if a Visible Church turn Apostate from the Gospel True Believers will come out of her and I hope without any loss of their Union to Christ Those 7000 which in the time of Elias bowed not the knee to Baal were I suppose joyned to no visible Church and yet they were a choice reserved people unto God Thus it appears that Believers are immediatly united to Christ in respect of the Visible Church As for what the Author adds Those words I in him Joh. 15. 5. are the same with those My words abide in you Ver. 7. I answer The 5. vers saith that Christ is in Believers and the 7. denies it not but declares that where Christ is there are his words also Hence it is Mr. Sherlock that the ancient Fathers interpret all those Metaphors which decypher the Vnion between Christ and Christians to signifie the cntire Love and Vnity of Christians among themselves Thus St. Chrysostome expounds Eph. 2.19 20 21. to signifie the Unity of the Church in all Ages the Jewish and Christian Church being both united in Christ Thus also St. Ambrose to the same purpose Thus St. Chrysostom on 1 Cor. 3. observes That the Apostle disswades from Schisms and Factions and tells us that the Branch draws nourishment and fatness from the Vine by its Union to it and the Building stands firm by the strong adhesion of its parts Which plainly signifies that our Vnion to Christ consists in our Vnion to the Christian Church Thus the same Author argues from Joh. 14.21 He unites us to each other by many Examples and Patterns of the closest Union he the Head we the Body he the Foundation we the Buildding c. According to the sence of this holy Man Christians are united to Christ by their Vnion to the Church otherwise I can-not understand how our Vnion to Christ can be an argument to Vnity among our selves if we are immediately united to the Person of Christ without being first united to the Church The Fathers interpret those Metaphors Answer which decypher the Vnion between Christ and Christians to signifie the Love and Vnity of Christians among themselves so the Author And is there no Union between Christ and Christians according to the Ancients Or do they deny that particular Believers are immediatly united to Christ Oh! no St. Chrysostome on that place Eph. 2.19 20 21. saith expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one of you is a Temple for God And upon 1 Cor. 3.11 Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ he adds as our Author hath it Let us be built on Christ and cleave to him as to a Foundation and as a Branch to the Vine that there may be no distance between Christ and us for if there be we immediatly perish By the way observe Christ is the Vine in St. Chrysostome and for the point in hand if there be no distance between Christ and us surely we are immediatly united to him And this is very emphatical in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there be no Medium between Christ and us and if there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Medium we immediately perish Nothing could be more emphatically spoken for immediate Union And in that place Joh. 14. he expresses as the Author quotes him plainly the Vnion of Christians to Christ And for St. Ambrose I shall quote but one place on 2 Cor. 13.5 he saith Qui fidei suae sensum in corde habet hic scit Christum Jesum in se esse But saith the Author If our Vnion to Christ be immediate it can be no argument to Vnity among our selves But the consequence fails there can be no greater argument to Unity among our selves than this That we are all built upon one Foundation Christ and have all one and the same Spirit in us so it is with all that are mystically united to him The Sacraments our Saviour hath instituted as Symbols of our Vnion with him are a plain demonstration of it Mr. Sherlock Baptism is the Sacrament of our admission into the Christian Church For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 In which the Apostle seems to allude to Baptism which confers the holy Spirit on us all and thereby makes us all members of the Body of Christ But more expresly in Eph. 4.4 There is one body and one Spirit as ye are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism That is the Christian Baptism is but one and is a Sacrament of Vnion making us all members of that one Body This is called being baptized into Christ that is admitted into the Church by a publick Profession of our Faith in Christ Thus the Lord's Supper is a Sacrament of Vnion and signifies the
visible Church is external and our union to Christ internal and spititual our excision from the Church is one thing and our separation from Christ another a man may be united to the visible Church and yet not really united to Christ for so is the hypocrite a man may be cut off from the visible Church and yet not cut off from Christ for so is the unjustly excommunicate Mr. Sherlock The union between Christ and the Church is not a natural but a political union Christ is a King and all Christians his Subjects and our union to Christ consists in our belief of his Revelations Obedience to his Laws and subjection to his Authority If you continue in my words then are ye my Disciples indeed John 8.31 Which is the same thing with being in Christ And by keeping his Commandments we abide in his love John 15.10 and 14.21 And to have his word abide in us Is a description of the closest and fir mest union to him John 15.7 Thus Christ is a Shepherd and Christians his Sheep To signifie the Authority he hath over his Church Shepherd is used as a name of power thus Christ is a head and the Church his body a Husband and the Church his Spouse which are names of power Eph. 5.23 Christ is called an Head an Husband because he hath the Rule and Government of us Head is a name for Princes and Governours Deut. 28.13 The Apostles alwayes expound the Metaphor of Christs being a head by power Eph. 1.20.21 Col. 1.18 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place signifies one that hath Authority Christ is the head of all principalities Col. 10. He is an head and husband because he is invested with authority to govern the Church is the body and Spouse because it must obey also these Metaphors signifie the mildness and gentleness of his Government as a good Shepherd he lays down his life for his Sheep John 10. He loves his Church with the natural kindness of an head and husband his Government is only for the good of his Church and therefore his yoke is easie he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it Eph. 5.25 26. Upon which account we may be called members of his body of his flesh and bone verse 30. The Church being taken out of his crucified body as woman out of man Christ hath reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death because the Covenant which was the foundation of the Church was sealed with his blood Christ owns himself our friend John 15. Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you which shews the tenderness of his Government He exercises his authority in methods of Love hence he is called a Father Our union to Christ Answer consists in a belief of his Revelations Obedience to his Laws and Subjection to his Authority Thus the Author To whom I answer A belief of Revelations is only a dogmatical faith which is found in many not united to Christ Obedience is not our mystical union to Christ but a fruit of it Christ and the Soul being once espoused out-comes a blessed progeny of good works as so many reall proofs of that Divine conjunction which is made by the Spirit and Faith and shews forth it self in such effects as the dead womb of nature could never have produced Subjection to Christ's Authority is either a formal actual one standing in doing his commands and that is the same with Obedience a fruit of our union to Christ or a virtual one consisting in accepting Christ as our Lord and this is part of that Faith which is a bond of that Union Those words If ye continue in my words then are ye my Disciples indeed John 8.31 Were spoken to Believers to men in union with Christ to exhort them to perseverance as a reall proof of their Discipleship and Union to Christ If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love John 15.10 They were in his love before Verse 9. But Obedience will shew it forth Thus St. Austin on the place Ostendit non unde dilectio generetur sed unde monstretur hinc apparebit quod in dilectione meâ manebitis si precepta mea servaveritis Christs promise to the Obedieut is That he will love him and manifest himself to him Joh. 14.21 Christ loved him before but now he will manifest it Thus St. Austin on the place Quid est diligam tanquam dilecturus sit nunc non diligat Absit diligam manifestabo id est ad hoc diligam ut manifestem Our abiding in Christ and Christ's words abiding in us are very well joyned together Joh. 15.7 To shew us that where the Soul and Christ are in union there the holy words will have a mansion in the heart Christ is a King a Shepherd an Head an Husband and all in a superlative transcendency above all others in those relations He is a King who hath his Laws without us and an inward Scepter in our hearts making the unwilling will to become a willing one in the day of his power A Shepherd who speaks to his Sheep nay and brings them into the Fold John 10.16 who before were not in it A Head who stands above all in eminency and influences spiritual life and motion into the lowest meanest Believer on the earth An Husband who espouses us unto himself and invests us with a rich Dowry out of his incomparable Graces and Perfections The Church was taken out of the crucified body of Christ But that place We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 plainly declares the mystical union as man and wife are one flesh so Christ and Christians are one spirit One thing more may be observed Christ saith the Author hath reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1.21.22 This is a little strange reconciled that is taken them into his Church Socinus on this place De Servat pars 1. cap. 8. saith That the reconciliation here is Omnium rerum non cum Deo sed secum ipsis per Christum parta concordia And a little after Vniversi tà m Gentes quà m Judaei unus Dei populus sunt facti But I hope our Author doth not exclude reconciliation to God Christ doth not govern us immediately by himself Mr. Sherlock for he is ascended up into Heaven where he powerfully intercedes for his Church and by a vigilant providence superintends all the affairs of it but hath left the visible and external conduct and Government of his Church to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his name and by his authority He governs his Church by men who are invested with his authority which is a plain demonstration that the union of particular Christians to Christ is by their union with the Christian Church which consists in their regular subjection to
their spiritual Guides and Rulers and in concord and unity among themselves For if our union to Christ consist in our subjection to him as our Lord and this authority is not immediately exercised by Christ but by Bishops and Pastors it follows that we cannot be united to Christ till we unite our selves to the publick societies of Christians and submit to the publick instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church Christ hath left the visible and external conduct of his Church to Bishops and Pastors Very well Answer But the internal Scepter and Rule over hearts is in his own hand only and therefore the Papists who make the Bishop of Rome Head of the Church secundum exteriorem gubernationem are yet so modest as to leave Christ to be the only Head secundum interiorem insluxum Our union to Christ is an internal spiritual one made by the Spirit and Faith such as cannot consist in any thing external such as subjection to Ecclesiastical Governours who have the visible conduct is Hence the Reverend Vsher tells us Without that quickning Spirit Serm. before the Commons 1620. no external communion with Christ or his Church can make a man a true member of his mystical body this being a most sure principle that he which hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8.9 A wicked man may be subject to Ecclesiastical Government yet while such is not cannot be a member of Christ or his mystical body Bellarmine himself was so struck with the evidence of this truth that he confessed That wicked men are but membra mortua arida quae solum adhaerent reliquis externâ conjunctione non de Eeclesiâ nisi secundum apparentiam exteriorem putativè non verè that is they are no members at all which makes it clear that our union to Christ stands not in subjection to Ecclesiastical Governours and what for such a thing is possible if the Ecclesiastical Governour be a wicked man himself Is it imaginable that the union of one wicked man to another should produce an union to Christ Or what if such a case should fall out as once did when under the Emperour Basiliscus Evag. Hist L. 3. no less than five hundred Bishops condemned the Council of Chalcedon It would be very hard in such a dismal lapse to say that all the Christians under them had without any default in themselves lost their union with Christ and yet we must say so unless we allow that union to be made and supported by the internal bonds of the Spirit and Faith Schismaticks are in the Church Mr. Sherlock just as Rebels are in a Kingdom not as parts of it but enemies The Apostle tells us wherein the unity of the Church consists In Eph. 4.16 Christ is the Head from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body to the edifying it self in love That is The supreme power is invested in Christ as Head to whom the Church is obedient and subject but to make this union firm and lasting there must be a regular subordination of the several members and a mutual discharge of Christian offices which advances their growth in Grace and especially in love this supposes a visible society of Christians professing the Faith and living in communion with each other if there be no such visible Society as in persecution or degeneracy of the Church Our union to Christ consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us members of the universal Church but when there is a visible Church we are under an obligation of communion because herein our Subjection to the Authority of Christ and our Vnion to him consists Schism is the concern of visible Churches Answer but that place Eph. 4. speaks not of visible Churches which are made up of believers and unbelievers but of the Church Catholick made up of Believers and Saints only This is plain the Church Catholick is that whole body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitly joined together all being Saints in it but in the visible Church there are believers and unbelievers who can no more stand in harmony than light and darkness Christ and Belial the Temple of God and Idols In the Church Catholick there is an effectual working in every part but in the Church visible there is no such energy in the wicked And so in that parallel place Eph. 2.20 The Church Catholick is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That whole Building fitly framed together which groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord But in the Church visible the wicked grow not into a Temple nay there is not a stone of the spiritual Building laid in them And Eph. 1.23 The Church Catholick is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only the body but fulness of Christ Every member of it helps as it were to fill up the mystical body but in the Church visible the wicked do not complete the body but corrupt it they do not adorn but deform it I have before shewed that our union to Christ stands not in communion with a visible Church or its Rulers It is made by internal and spiritual ligatures and is invariably one and the same whether there be a Church visible or not But saith the Author We are under an obligation of Communion with a Church visible when there is one But it is one thing what our Duty is and another what constitutes our union with Christ it is our duty to be subject to civil Magistrates but I suppose our union to Christ consists not in it it is our duty to hear the Ministers of Christ Luke 10.16 But our union to Christ doth not consist in it indeed it is a sacred Ordinance which God is pleased to use to bring us to Christ but the only proper immediate bands of that union are the Spirit and Faith If any particular Church apostatize from the Faith of Christ Mr. Sherlock we are then under the same necessity of deserting their communion as we are of obeying the Laws and submitting to the Authority of our Lord and Master We must indeed desert an apostate Church Answer but if as our Author holds our union to Christ consists in communion with a visible Church then upon our departure from it though never so just our union to Christ must fail Which yet I think can never be the lot of a true believer he is part of that Church built on the Rock against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail Matth. 16.18 Part of that building which is an holy Temple an habitation of God through the Spirit Eph. 2.21.22 and that Spirit makes and maintains that union This Political Vnion betwixt Christ and his Church Mr. Sherlock may be either only external and visible and so hypocritical Professors may be said to be
united to Christ or true and reall which imports the truth and sincerity of our Obedience and Subjection to our Lord and Master Hypocrites may seem Answer but are not members of Christ or united to him non potest Christus habere damnata membra omnia ista membra absit omninò Contr. Cresc l. 2. cap. 21. ut in membris illius columbae unicae computentur saith St. Austin and in another place Si amas amplecteris peccata tua contrarius es Christo Expos in Epist Jo hannis intus sis foris sis Antichristus es intus sis foris sis palea es sed quare foris non es Quia occasionem venti non invenisti Our Obedience to Christ our Lord is not the very mystical union it self but a Divine fruit of it The Spiritual Kingdom of Christ requires the homage of the Soul Mr. Sherlock the Government of our thoughts and passions the renovation of our minds and Spirits we must be born again of water and of the Spirit if we would enter into Gods Kingdom that is before we can be the Disciples and Subjects of Christ we must be born of water make a publick profession of our faith in Christ and obedience to him in our Baptism we must be born of the Spirit too that is our minds and Spirits must become subject to Christ our faith in Christ and subjection to him must be sincere and hearty governing all the motions of our Souls and making usually such as we pretend to be which is called being born of the Spirit because all Christians Graces are in Scripture attributed to the Spirit as the Author of them Here are two things Answer Baptism and Regeneration both are not of a like necessity to make us Disciples of Christ Regeneration is simply necessary but so is not Baptism unbaptized persons may be reall believers and if they die before Baptism as Valentinian did they enter into Bliss Contr. Don. l. 1.4 cap. 22. Impletur invisibiliter cum mysterium Baptismi non contemptus religionis sed articulus necessitatis excludit saith St. Austin Baptism may be administred by man but Regeneration is the sole work of the holy Spirit which breaths where it lists and forms all those Graces which make up the new creature hence we are said to be born of the Spirit and all the Graces in the new man are called the fruits of the spirit Hence Fulgentius saith ex eodem Spiritu renati sumus ex quo natus est Christus De Jucava cap. 20. The very same Spirit which formed Christ in the womb forms him in the heart And S. Ambrose speaking of the Gracious Image of God in us saith Pictus es ô homo Hexaem l. 6. cap. 8. à Domino Deo tuo bonum habes artificem atque pictorem No other hand but that of the holy spirit only is able to draw such a picture of God as is in the new creature we who naturally lye in a Mass and Chaos of corruption are not capable of doing any thing in it As a visible profession is the foundation of an external Political union between Christ and his Church Mr. Sherlock so this new nature is the foundation of a real and spiritual union And this the Scripture represents under several notions First by the Subjection of our minds and Spirits to Christ as our spiritual King when we put our Souls as well as our Bodies under his Government Hence Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 That is to have the sole command and Empire of our wills and affections to govern our hearts as a man does the house in which he dwells Secondly by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the Subjection of our minds to him for the Gospel of our Saviour is the truest image of his mind he transcribed his own nature into his Laws and therefore a sincere Obedience to his Laws is a conformity to his nature Hence is that exhortation That the same mind may be in us as was in Christ Phil. 2.5 And to be his Disciples is to learn of him Matth. 11.29 Hence our union to Christ is described by having the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his that is unless he have that same temper of mind which Christ had which is called having the Spirit by an ordinary figure of the cause for the effect for all those Virtues and Graces wherein our conformity to Christ consists are called the fruits of the Spirit and therefore what the Apostle calls having the Spirit in the next verse he expresses by If Christ be in you that is if you be possest with the same love of virtue and goodness which appeared so eminently in him which is much to the same sence with that expression of Christ being formed in you Gal. 4.19 Hence in 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Herein consists our union to Christ that we have the same temper Souls are united by an harmony of wills this makes two one Spirit After a long discourse touching external communion with the Church Answer the Author is now come to own a spiritual union with Christ and this saith the Author the Scripture represents to us first by the subjection of our minds to Christ as our King Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. that is he commands there But I take that place of the Apostle to be an eminent proof of the mystical union it is not said Christ commands though that be very true but he dwells in our hearts not by a piece of faith such as accepts Christ as our Lord but by an entire one such as receives him in all his offices We have in those words faith expressed which is a bond of that mystical union and where faith is there is that other bond the holy Spirit which flows as rivers of living water in the believers heart and just before those words of Christs dwelling in our hearts by faith the Apostle speaks of the holy Spirit in the inner man Verse 16. which is the principal bond of that mystical Union And St. Chrysostom on the words saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the holy spirit in the inner man Christ doth dwell in our hearts by faith But saith the Author Secondly this is represented in Scripture by a participation of the same nature which is the necessary effect of the subjection of our minds to Christ To which I answer If by that subjection be meant a receiving Christ as our Lord it is but a part of that faith which with its Sister Graces make up the new creature all Graces are found in the new creature and among others Faith which receives Christ in all his offices and among other in his Kingly but if by that subjection be meant Obedience to his
Laws which the Author after mentions calling it a conformity to his nature the new creature is not the effect of Subjection or Obedience but the cause of it true Obedience is too pure a thing to issue out of an unregenerate heart before it can come forth Enchir. cap. 106. Ipsum liberum arbitrium liberandum est As St. Austin speaks Lapsed nature must be new-natured and its deadly wound healed by regenerating Grace First according to Scripture there must be a good tree and then good fruit De Eccles Hierar cap. 2. First a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Divine state or being as Dionysius calls it and then Divine operations issuing forth in a sweet connaturalness to the Heavenly principles within To this purpose let us hear our Church 2. Hom. of Almes As the good fruit is not the cause that the tree is good but the tree must first be good before it can bring forth good fruit so the good Deeds of men are not the Cause that maketh men good but he is first made good by the Spirit and Grace of God that effectually worketh in him and afterwards he bringeth forth good fruit As for such as are regenerate and new Creatures I acknowledge them to have the same temper of Mind with Christ and that every Grace in the new Man answers to that in Christ and morally unites to him but the Mystical Union is made by the holy Spirit and Faith which hath this above other Graces to receive Christ and incorporate us into him That place Phil. 2. of having the same mind with Christ holds out the same temper in both that in Matt. 4.11 calls us to an imitation of him that Gal. 4.19 expresses the State of the new Creature which is moulded after the Image of Christ But the other two places quoted by the Author prove the Mystical Union the one is that Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his By Spirit is not meant an holy temper of Mind but the Spirit it self the very same which just before the words is called The Spirit of God and ver 11. The spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead and by which our mortal bodies shall be quickned This is that Spirit which unites us to Christ in such an admirable manner that Christ is said to be in us ver 10. St. Chrysostome on the words saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath the holy Spirit hath Christ himself the Spirit being present Christ nay the whole Trinity must be so The other is that 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit that is one and the same holy Spirit is in Christ and Believers mystically uniting them together This appears as well by the opposition of one spirit in this 17. Verse to one flesh in the 16. Verse For as the Learned Beza notes on the place Vt constet expositio exterioris corporum copulae nostrae cum Christo interoris spiritûs nomen usurpavit Apostolus as also by the after-words What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you ver 19. The holy Ghost is that one Spirit which unites Christ and Believers Hence the Reverend Vsher quoting this place among others concludes That the Mystery of our Vnion with Christ consists mainly in this that the self same Spirit which is in him as in the Head is derived from him into every one of his true Members There is yet a closer Vnion Mr. Sherlock which consists in a mutual reciprocal Love when we are transformed into the image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him as partaking of his Nature he loves us as the price of his Blood as his own workmanship created to good Works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour I acknowledge there is a Moral Union between Christ and Christians by holy Love Answer but this Moral Union supposes a Mystical one made by the Spirit and Faith Where these are not there can be no such thing as Love to Christ Hence the Apostle Eph. 3.16 17. first lays down the Mystical Union with its two Bands the Spirit in the inner man and Faith whereby Christ dwells in the heart and immediately after adds the Moral one That ye may be rooted and grounded in Love Where-ever the Mystical Union is there is holy Love to Christ What the Author afterwards adds touching God's dwelling in the Church as his Temple is so far from opposing that it points out the Mystical Union especially seeing as the Author confesses Particular Christians are in Scripture stiled the Temple of the living God That place quoted by the Author Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 is very emphatical Christians are the Temple of God and made so by the indwelling Spirit which is the bond of the Mystical Union Indeed the Author saith That the indwelling of the Spirit primarily refers to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which God in that Age bestowed on the Church this was the true Shechinah or divine Glory resting on them But I conceive the holy Spirit hath been in Believers in all Ages God dwelt in the Jewish Temple in Types and Symbols of his Presence but which was far more excellent than those outward shadows and appearances of Glory he dwelt even then by his Spirit in all true Believers The sweet strains of Devotion in David did plainly evidence that the holy Spirit was in him the spiritual Imbroidery or Needle-work in every Psalm tells us that the Finger of God was there The believing Israelites in Mannâ Christum intellexerunt saw Christ in their Manna and fed on the same spiritual Meat as believing Christians do which is a clear proof that the holy Spirit was in them The Son of God coming in the Flesh the holy Spirit was poured down in extraordinary Gifts and though those Epiphanies of divine Glory went off yet the same Spirit hath been and ever will be in Believers This our Church acknowledges 1. Hom. for Whitsunday Neither doth the holy Spirit think it sufficient inwardly to work the spiritual and new Birth of Man unless he do also dwell and abide in him And a little after our Church breaks out in an holy admiration O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the holy Ghost dwelleth in him The Apostle tells the Ephesians that they are builded for an habitation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through the Spirit Eph. 2.22 Indeed the Author interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual Temple in opposition to the material one which St. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual house but I take it the Spirit it self is meant Thus Grotius as I have him quoted in the Criticks saith Non tantùm tota fidelium
answerable to the inhabitation of the Godhead in him contain a true and perfect declaration of God's will in opposition to the impersect rudiments and types of the Law so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or bodily is opposed to figurative and typical and this is a plain demonsiration of the persection of the Gospel-revelation that the fulness of the Deity dwelt substantially in Christ his Religion answers the greatness of his Person the Godhead dwelt in him bodily and his Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too all truth and substance The Law was but a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Verse 17. His Religion is body truth and substance this place is exactly parallel with Joh. 1.14 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tabernacled among us Herein the Figure of the Tabernacle was fulfilled that God dwelt in our flesh and the Revelations he made of Gods Will did agree with the manner of his appearance were full of Grace and Truth not typical but a plain and perfect declaration of God's Will and as the Evangelist tells us That of his fulness we have all received that we are perfectly instructed by him So our Apostle adds here And yè are complete in him filled in him you need no Instructor but Christ so that this fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ does ultimately resolve it self into the perfection of the Gospel-revelation For since the fulness of the Deity did inhabit in Christ's Person he was able to acquaint us with the whole Will of God the force of this reason our Saviour takes notice of John 3.34 35. He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God that is declareth his whole will to us for God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him it is not with him as it was with the meaner Prophets who bad only particular Revelations The fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand That place Col. 2.9 Answer In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily speaks not of the Gospel but of the Person of Christ it being a most pregnant invincible proof of his Deity The Socinians would fain wrest away this Scripture Here Bishop Wren against the Racovian Catechism first setting down their odd interpretation and then passing his worthy censure on it In Christo id est in Evangelic habitat id est patefacta est omnis plenitudo idest tota voluntas Deitatis id est Dei corporalitèr id est integrè reipsâ Vt placet verò Quid malum Naso suspenditis has glossas satisque ridiculè coactas esse clamatis Erratis profectò Juvenes neque satis rem adsecuti estis praetèr enim quod gratis dictae sunt sunt etià m insanùm violentae seriò execrandae Thus he The interpretation was execrable in his eyes and well it might be so contrary to all just rules of interpreting Scripture without any necessity at all urging thereunto they decline from the native proper sence of the words and run into Tropes and Figures Christ is taken for Doctrine Dwelling for Manifestation the fulness of the Godhead for the Will of God and Bodily for Clearly and Perfectly all is a meer force and violence upon the Text Was it ever heard or read that the All-fulness of the Godhead should signifie the Will of God or the knowledge thereof This is such a Catachresis saith Mr. Jeans for which they can bring no Precedent or Parallel it sounded so harsh in the ears of their own Eujedinus as that it drave him to affirm That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was by the carelesness of transcribers crept into the Original instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the thing is clear by the after-words In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily saith the ninth Verse What is this In him In him who is the Head of all Principality and Power Verse 10. In him in whom we are circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands Verse 11. In him with whom we are buried in Baptism In him with whom we are risen through Faith In him who was raised from the dead Verse 12. In him who nailed the hand-writing of Ordinances to his Cross Verse 14. In him who spoiled and triumphed over Principalities and Powers Verse 15. All which are proper not to the Gospel but to the person of Christ In him therefore dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily not in the Gospel but in the Person of Christ But saith the Author The expression is allusive and metaphorieal for God who is a Spirit cannot in a proper sence dwell bodily in any thing I answer God is a Spirit but I take it that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily is the same with personally For as Bishop Davenant observes among the Hebrews Souls are put for Persons Gen. 14.21 And among the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Person and so it is used in the vulgar Epigramm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily that is by the hypostatical Union the eternal Word assuming and the humane Nature assumed becoming one Person The Apostle's design in this Chapter saith the Author is to perswade the Colossians to adhere to the Gospel and that because of the perfection of the Gospel in Christ that is in the Gospel are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge or there are the hidden treasures But I answer the Apostle exhorts them to adhere to Christ the Person of Christ In whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Verse 3. In whom dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily Verse 9. is opposed to the persons of the Seducers with all their Philosophy and vain deceit Thus Bishop Wren saith Christum ipsum iis opponi quia ipsa Deitas in Christo inhabitat Neither Verse 3. nor Verse 9. speak of the Gospel but of the Person of Christ The Godhead saith the Author dwelt in Christ bodily not by Types and Figures and his Religion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too all truth and substance but we must remember that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the substance of the Christian Religion was under the Law though the face of it did not shine with such a Lustre and Glory as after the incarnation but the Author goes on Ye are complete in him Verse 10. You need no Instructer but Christ who hath revealed God's will to us so that this Fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ does ultimately resolve it self into the perfection of the Gospel-revelation To which I answer We are complete in him but is instruction a Christians completure Oh! no besides knowledge there must be justifying and sanctifying Grace Christ's Righteousness and the Holy Spirit with all its Divine Furniture to make a Christian complete and in whom or in what is he complete
Law it might have availed to Salvation as well as the Gospel with the supplemental righteousness of Christ there might have been an imputed righteousness as well under the Law as under the Gospel I answer That I conceive that the Moral Law delivered by Moses obliges us Christians as I have before proved and I suppose our Church is of that mind too for I cannot imagine that she should in her Catechism instruct Children in an abrogated Law How there should be an imputed Righteousness without a Gospel I know not it pleased God to found the Gospel upon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a satisfaction and that cannot be or be profitable to us without an imputation The impotency of the Law was as I noted before that it could not justifie us for want of perfect obedience But God translated the impletion of the Law upon Christ and his Righteousness being made ours by imputation the Law is said to be fulfilled in us To the same purpose the Apostle discourses Mr. Sherlock Rom. 7.4 5 6. Wherefore my Brethren you also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ who put an end to that imperfect dispensation by his death that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God for when we were in the flesh under that carnal and fleshly dispensation of the Law of Moses the motions of sins which were by the Law which grew more boisterous and unruly by the prohibitions of the Law vers 8. did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death That is did betray us to those wicked actions which end in death But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead in which we were held that we should serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter So that the reason why the Law of Moses was abrogated was because it could not make men good it nursed them up in a ritual external Religion taught them to serve God in the Letter by Circumcision Sacrifices or external conformity to the Letter of the Law but the Gospel of Christ alone teacheth us to worship God in the Spirit to offer a reasonable Sacrifice to him to fulfill the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the internal Righteousness of which those legal Ceremonies were the Signs and Sacraments This is the plain meaning of the Apostles which can never be reconciled with imputed Righteousness which would make his argument foolish and absurd Therefore he tells us in other places what little reason we have to be so zealous for the Law of Moses since we have the perfection of it in the Gospel what need is there of the circumcision of the flesh which the Law required When in the Gospel we have the circumcision made without hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that fleshly circumcision What need of legal washing and purgations When they are all fulfilled in the washing of regeneration in the Gospel baptism Thus we are compleat in Christ who bath perfectly instructed us in the will of God and instiluted such a Religion as is the perfection of all Ceremonies Col. 2. We must now offer another Sacrifice than the Law of Moses commanded not the Sacrifices of dead beasts but of a living and active soul Rom. 12. The Apostle Answer Rom. 7. vers 4. Shews that we are dead to the Law by the body of Christ that is by Christ crucified we have remission and the holy Spirit and so are dead to the cursing and irritating power of the Law that we might bring forth fruits of holy works to God Before when we were in the flesh in our corrupt unregenerate estate the motions of sin which were accidentally irritated by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death that is to bring forth sinful actions which tend to death vers 5. But now saith the Apostle we are delivered from the Law from the curse and irritating power of it That being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter vers 6. That is in those new Divine Prinples which our spirits have from Gods not in the old nature which by the outward Letter of the Law is irritated unto sin This I think is the scope of the Apostle he discourses of the regenerate and unregenerate the one dead to the Law the other irritated by it he discourses not of the difference between those under the Old Testament and those under the New for the regenerate under the Old Testament were dead to the cursing and irritating Law they had internal Righteousness which the Author calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had the circumcision of the heart Deut. 30.6 which in the Author is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fleshly circumcision they had the law in the heart Psal 37.31 And by consequence they had true regeneration in which saith our Author all the legal washings and purifications are fulfilled they were not irritated by the Law but delighted in it as in their joy choice treasure hony-comb of sweetness and what not as appears in the Psalms They served in the newness of the Spirit in new Divine Principles which they had from the holy Spirit in the easiness of the New Creature to which the Will of God is natural Even in their Rituals and Sacrifices they knew all must be done in newness of Spirit in the exercises of internal Graces The very Heathens themselves thought that they were to Sacrifice Mente candidâ expurgatâ conscientiâ How much more did the servants of God under the Old Testament do so they knew that there were better Sacrifices than the outward ones Sacrifices of righteousness Psal 4.5 And sacrifices of a broken spirit Psal 50.17 They understood that the heart the truth in the inward parts was more than all the rest On the other hand the unregenerate under the New Testament they are in the flesh the motions of sin carry all before them they have nothing of internal Righteousness they are uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh they are baptized yet want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of regeneration they are irritated by the Law their inward malignity swells and rises against the holy commands which stand in Scripture as so many damms and bars to their impetuous lusts Whatever they do in Evangelical Ordinances they do all in the oldness of the Letter the Letter the outward Rule presses them to Duty but there is no inward acting of Faith no suavity of Love or holy Affections all is done in a dead dull flat manner nothing is minded but the opus operatum the meer external work By this we see clearly where the difference lies It s true the Ceremonials of Moses were abrogated by Christ but I suppose the Moral Law was not it s own intrinsecal Rectitude and Righteousness immortalizes it so
to wait for the Sun to have all Grace come down to us in the healing Beams of the true Sun of Righteousness Jesus Christ And as for the second thing a sense of our unworthiness so as to submit to God whether he will save or damn us it is no such strange thing to me that poor finners should lye prostrate at Gods feet acknowledging their worthiness to be for ever condemned and Gods Soveraignty in dispenfing Grace as he pleases it is no more but only to subscribe to that of the Apostle He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.8 Theodorus Cornhertus though in his life he had writ against Calvin and Beza in the point of Predestination yet at his death professed to God Se animam suam à Deo possidere quam Deo integrum sit pro suo beneplacito servare vellet an reprobare sibi nil esse quod conqueratur Either we have power in our hands to work true Faith in our selves to regenerate our own hearts or not 5 if we say we have such a power in our selves how shall those Scriptures be salved which tell us That God begets us of his own will James 1.18 That he worketh the will of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 That the regenerating spirit bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 That faith is not of our selves but the gift of God Eph. 2.8 How shall Gods Royal Prerogative which is to make a new heart to take away the stone of it to sprinkle the clean water to put his Spirit into men as we have it Ezeck 36. ever be preserved inviolate It cannot be but if as becoms us we fay that God is the great Worker of regenerating Graces in us how can we do less than lye prostrate at his feet and pleasure for it The case is very short either Gods will must depend on Mans or Mans will must depend on Gods and one would think it very reasonable that Man a Creature a meer Receiver should depend on him who is a God and great Donor of all The Fathers in the second Arausican Council Can. 4. determine thus Si quis ut à peccato purgemur voluntatem nostram Deum expectare contendit non autem ut etiam purgari velimus per Sancti Spiritus infusionem operationem in nos fieri confitetur resistit ipsi Spiritûi Sancto You see they make Mans will hang upon Gods and not è contrà This submission to Gods will is not as if we might be indifferent whether we were saved or damned but that we must lye at Gods feet humbly confessing our desert of eternal damnation on the one hand and the Soveraignty of Gods free Grace on the other And that such a man is in his wits hear the judgement of learned Bishop Reynolds Sinful of sin 262. That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily stand on Gods side against sin and against himself for it giving God the glory of his Righteousness if he should condemn him and of his unsearchable and rich mercy that he doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to have the Spirit of Christ for no man by nature can willingly and uprightly own damnation and charge himself with it as his due portion Thus he But saith the Author I find God is very hard put to it to humble the Soul thus For he is forced to stir up original corruption which is a very unfit office for an holy Being To which I answer God is too high to be put into an office and too wise to do that which is unfit yet in Scripture we find him withdrawing from and hardening of men The Church cries out O Lord why hast thou made us to err from thy way and hardened our hearts from thy fear Isai 63.17 Nevertheless God doth what he doth in a just decorum in a way congruous to himself so that his Holiness or any other Attribute suffers not thereby and withall in a way profitable to men When God left good Hezekiah to fall I doubt not but it was so far profitable to him as it did humble him for the pride of his heart when he withdraws and leaves the humbled sinner to the stirrings of inward corruption it hath a very merciful issue if it carry him out of himself to Christ The very withdrawings of the Spirit are by it self made use of to make the sinner hasten out of himself to Christ Mr. Shephard saith Mr. Sherlock That true Faith is the coming of the Soul not unto duties of Holiness which is obedience properly but unto Christ Which notion of our union to Christ is such that according to it wicked men who live in sin may be united to Christ But the Scripture places the formal nature of our union to Christ in a subjection to his Authority and obedience to his Laws an holy life must not only follow our union to Christ as an effect of it but must at least in order of nature go before it because by this we are united to Christ We are not real members of Christ till we sincerely obey him till our minds are transformed into his Image Our union to Christ is more or less perfect according to our attainments in true Piety and Virtue The first and lowest degree of Vnion to Christ is a belief of his Gospel which in order of Nature must go before Obedience to it But yet it includes a purpose of obeying it and in this sence we must be united to Christ before we can be holy because this belief of his Gospel is the great principle of Obedience as our Saviour tells his Disciples Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me Joh. 15.4 But then our Vnion is not perfected without Obedience This makes us the true Disciples of Christ when we are fruitful in good works as he adds in vers 8. Herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit so shall you be my Disciples A belief of the Gospel and a purpose of Obedience is all can be expected from beginners but this doth not give an actual title to all the promises of the Gospel unless we actually obey it But when in the strength of this Faith we conquer the world and the flesh and improve all opportunities of doing good This makes us the Disciples of Christ indeed and heirs of Glory Nothing can be a greater dishonour to our Saviour nor a greater contradiction to his Gospel than to affirm that wicked men while they continue such are actually united to Christ and thereby have an actual right to pardon and eternal life St. John understood not this Doctrine when he told us God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness live in any
Spirit of God which no Man can possibly tell whether it be or not it is not of the right stamp and will avail us nothing so that the Sinner hath nothing to do but to sit still and patiently expect till God will do all for him The method is Conviction Compunction Answer Humiliation and Faith but a Man is passive in all this How passive what is he to sit still and do nothing at all No surely he may abstain from outward Acts of sin he may do Acts of Sobriety Justice Charity he may hear pray but internal Grace is Gods work Some have taken those words Let us make Man as if God hath spoke to the four Elements and said Vos date Corpus ego dabo Animam Do you give the Body I 'll give the Soul If I may allude to this Gloss thus it is Man may frame a Body of outward Piety but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inward life of Grace is from God only it is he Who quickneth the dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 Believers are not born of the will of Man but of God Joh. 1.13 But saith the Author It is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no Man can follow To which I answer Rules are not therefore vain because Man cannot follow them by his own power God gave not the Moral Law in vain yet the spotless sanctity of it was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer impossible thing to any fallen Man in the World God bid them not in vain to make a new heart Ezek. 18.31 and yet claims it as his prerogative and as an act of special Grace to make such an heart Ezek. 36.26 Christ did not in vain call Men to come to him and yet withal tells them That no Man could come to him except the Father drew him Joh. 6.44 Moses was but to lift up the Rod but it was God only who could divide the Sea we are to use the means but it is God only who can work the great work of Grace These Rules though we cannot follow them of our selves may yet shew us our duty and if we reflect upon our selves they may point out our impotency to us and withal they minister under that Spirit which in the use of means infuses the life of Grace into Men. Polychronius in the 6. Council of Constantinople offered by a Paper containing in it the Doctrine of the Monothelites to raise a dead Man to life again Mr. Shephard never thought that his rules though containing excellent truths in them could raise the Spiritually dead but this they do they minister under that Divine Spirit which breathes regenerating Graces into the Soul St. Paul would have Timothy instruct the Opposers not as if they had a power of themselves to repent but if God peradventure would give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 All Rules and Instructions do but minister under the Holy Spirit who gives Faith and Repentance as it pleaseth But saith the Author These tell us not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to our union to Christ To which I answer we are to use the means and thus far we must be doers but I suppose we must suffer the Holy Spirit to have the glory of our Regeneration we must not presume to be such doers as if we could work Regeneration our selves or by our works procure it Pelagius would have been a doer in this kind alledging that Gratiam darisecundum merita that is in the Phrase of the Ancients in those dayes secundum opera that Grace was given according to works But unless he had recanted he had in the Palestine Council been by the Church turned into a Sufferer by a just Excommunication neither is our Church for any such doers for it tells us in the 13. Article That works done before Grace do not make Men meet to receive Grace or deserve Grace of congruity yea rather they have the nature of sin The Inspiration of the Spirit which that Article mentions must work the great work of Grace in us which when we see in our selves we must needs acknowledge the insuperable power that was in it Suppose a Man have this Conviction Mr Sherlock Compunction Humiliation is this a sufficient reason to lay hold upon Christ by Faith by no means The end of Conviction is Compunction the end of Compunction Humiliation and all this carries us no nearer to Christ than quietly to lye down before God that he may do what he will with us he may save or damn us So that all this contributes nothing to our union to Christ but brings us to such a temper of mind as to be content to have Christ or go without him as God shall please this is all Men get by Humiliation that if the Lord intend to do them good this is the way in which he will do it but though they be humbled they cannot be sure whether God intend to do them good or not therefore we are told we are as much bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us as we are to submit to the disposal of God as to any common mercy though you must pray for mercy it must be with submission to Gods good will saying the Lords will is good whether it be to save or damn but mine is evil though it be to be saved and have Jesus Christ Nay we are much more bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us than we are to submit in the lesser concernments of this life if it be pride to murmur in case the Lord deny you smaller matters the off-alls of this life is it not greater pride to quarrel with him if he deny the greater the things of another life Is he bound to give thee greater who doth not owe thee the least The Lord gives you life but you ask for treasures of Grace and Mercy now God hath given you life you would live for ever an unpardonable fault this thousands of pounds Christ and all he is worth and the Lord seems to deny you and now you sink and grow sullen may not the Lord say Was there ever such pride insolence as to be unwilling to be damned for ever though I dare say this is not the pride which cast the Angels out of Heaven so that though Humiliation be the way to Christ yet it brings us never the nearer him when all is done we are where we were Before Humiliation it was at Gods pleasure whether we should have Christ or not and so it is still The humbled Soul may Answer without doubt lay hold upon Christ but we must remember that we cannot do it by the power of Nature but must do it by the Grace of God Faith is a great receiver it receives Christ and all blessings in and with him but this Faith this very receiving must be received from Grace Nothing is plainer in Scripture than that Faith is the
he be a Christian whether he heartily believe and obey the Gospel and herein consists our Vnion to Christ and fellowship with him let us then leave those other dim notions to men who can believe what no man can understand who despise every thing that can be understood as if it were no better than carnal reason The Author Answer who hitherto hath highly though without cause charged his opposites with violating the evidences of Christians doth now himself blast the highest of all evidences the Testimony of the holy Spirit which is so clealy asserted by the holy Apostle that the Jesuits themselves though hotly disputing against assurance never yet attempted totally to deny it The Testimony of the Spirit saith the Author concerns the general adoption of Christians not to testifie to any particular man It is not a private but a publick Testimony given to the whole Church But let us consider the Text it self in the Apostle The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 The Spirit the Apostle speaks not of the Spirit as shewing forth it self in Miracles and Tongues but as sanctifying and sealing Believers he speaks of the spirit dwelling in them vers 9. Mortifying the deeds of the body in them vers 13. Leading of them vers 14. Making them cry Abba Father vers 15. And then follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the self same spirit beareth witness Here is not one jot or tittle of Miracles or Tongues the testimony of the Spirit in Miracles or Tongues is an external one which runs into the senses But the Testimony of the Spirit in the Text is internal it beareth witness not to our senses but to our Spirits It is said to be sent forth into our hearts Gal. 4.6 The Testimony is not without in Miracles or Tongues but within in the heart The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit the Apostle saith not it beareth witness with the Spirit of the Church for there is one body and one spirit the Spirit of the Church Catholick is the holy Spirit which quickens the whole Mystical Body of Christ And these words The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit cannot be translated thus The Spirit beareth witness with it self but the plain meaning is It beareth witness with our spirit that is with the spirits and consciences of particular Believers And what doth it testifie The Apostle tells us That we are the children of God We particular Believers are so Thus in another place ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise Eph. 1.13 Ye particular Believers were so And again He hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 He hath dealt so with us in particular The Testimony of the Spirit in the Gospel is that all Believers are the Sons of God But the Testimony of the Spirit in our spirits is that we are Believers and so the Sons of God in particular This Testimony of the Spirit though so fully asserted in Scripture Nay and I will add though so sweetly experimented by the dear Saints of God that they have thought themselves in the very borders of Heaven in respect of it is yet with the Author no better than a dim unintilligible notion and as he speaks a little before a private Enthusiasm But why unintelligible cannot the holy Spirit so illustrate and irradiate the heart that the truth of Grace may appear to the Believer that he may certainly see in his own heart that this is precious Faith and that is love in incorruption and so of other Graces there Or what if it were unintelligible Shall we cast off the Divine Revelation because above our narrow reason What then must become of those Mysteries of the Trinity and hypostatical Union What of that peace of God which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passing or transcending all understanding Phil. 4.7 Surely in such things reason must vail and do homage to Revelations Ephraem Syrus discerning an heretical propensity in his Disciple Paulinus gave him that excellent advice Vide Pauline ne te submittas tuis cogitationibus sed cum te perfecte comprehendisse Deum putaveris crede nec intellexisse We must not commit Divine Mysteries to the measures of Humane Reason but take them as they are in Scripture But this Testimony of the Spirit is but a private Enthusiasm saith the Author To which I answer We are now more afraid of Enthusiasm than they were of old Dyonisius would have the Hierarch to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Eccles Hierarch to be a divine man and a kind of Euthusiast Ignatius in the Epistle to the Romans saith That he wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum arbitrium Dei as if he had wrote by impulse and Inspiration And as Dr. Arrowsmith hath it in Suidas and Hesykius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enthusiasm is when the whole soul is irradiated by God And in this sence I wish with him Vtinam essemus omnes Enthusiastae Would we were all Enthusiasts It s true there is not now an Enthusiasm of gifts in an extraordinary way but sure there must be still in the use of the means an Enthusiasm of Graces in Regeneration and an Enthusiasm of comforts in the Testimony of the Spirit or else which is quite contrary to Scripture there must be no new Creatures but what are of Mans own making nor no Divine comforts for them but what are of Mans own gathering The Just need no longer live by Faith or in dependence upon the Divine Spirit but may have his being and well-being his graces and comforts all from himself CHAP. V. Sect. 1. CHrist hath reveiled the whole mind and will of God Mr. Sherlock in such a plain and familiar manner that every one may understand it who will but exercise the same reason in it that he doth to understand the Laws of his Prince Before the Author took away the witnessing Spirit now the illuminating one Answer A Man may according to him understand the things of God by the exercise of his reason Thus Episcopius Men may by meer natural perception without any supernatural superinfused light understand the Will of God After the same manner speak the Socinians The darkness for such are all the unregenerate Men may it seems comprehend the Evangelical light But the Apostle tells us That the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 That flesh and blood doth not reveil these things but our Father in Heaven Matth. 16.17 Hence the Apostle prays for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the Ephesians Ephes 1.17 Hence our Church tells us 2. Hom. of Scripture That the Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the true meaning of Scripture into us In truth we cannot without him attain true saving knowledge According to these Men Mr. Sherlock the love of Christ is a love to the person of a Believer without considering any