Christian that is most dead and crucified to these things he it is that shines most gloriously in the Kingdom of Christ Z Lastly this crucified flesh is the only subject of the glorious Resurrection For as the living Word and Spirit that crucified Christs flesh did again raise up that crucified flesh of his from death and set it at the right hand of God and thereby did plainly manifest him to be the Son of God so the same Word and Spirit that crucifie our flesh shall as certainly raise it up with Christ into the fulness of the life and glory of God And this time the Apostle cals the day of the manifestation of the sons of God For the Word and Spirit whilest they dwel in us and crucifie us they make it only known to us and to them that live in the same faith spirit with us that we are the children of God but when they shal raise up this flesh of ours which they have first crucified from death and the grave into the life glory and eternity of God then it shall be manifest to all the world that we are his children And so our crucifying with Christ is a certain pledge of our Resurrection with him and this the Apostle testifies Rom. 8.11 saying He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwels in you and Rom. 6.8 If we be dead with him we believe we shall also live with him If we be dead with him that is through the Word and Spirit first crucifying our flesh and then offering it up to death A We believe we shall live with him that very life which the Word and Spirit of God did communicate to his flesh when it raised him from the grave and fully translated him into the immediate Kingdom of God And for this cause Col. 1.18 Christ is called the first born from the dead that is the first whom the Word and Spirit did raise from death and the grave and did carry into the Immediate presence of God as the first fruits and pledge of their Resurrection who have the same word and spirit dwelling in them ANIMADVERSION VII A I Find no such thing affirmed in the Scripture that through Faith we receive the living Word to dwel in us understanding thereby precisely the Godhead of our Saviour But it is plain that through Faith we receive Christ the Son to dwell in us and the Father also by the Spirit Ephes 2.22 1 John 4.12,13 John 14.23 B Indeed the word of God in the Scriptures and the Gospel preached according to the Scriptures is an outward word consisting in doctrines which hypocrites and carnal christians may have and professionally receive and stil live their own lives and after their own lusts But that this word is without the spirit unto believers not now to dispute how far the Spirit may work in the word to the coÌ„viction of unbelievers to deny that it is a means whereby they receive the Spirit and whereby the spirit crucifieth the flesh in them is plainly to deny the Scriptures Gal. 3.2 Eph. 6.17 2 Cor. 10.4,5 And to give up those who by faith receive and make use of this outward word of God to dwel in them for the crucifying of their flesh for hypocrites and carnal christians is certainly to condemn the generation of Gods children Psal 119.11 Col. 3.16 C It is as clear as light from the text that by the ergrafted word James 1.21 where this phrase is only found is meant the word of the Gospel outwardly dispensed In these words therefore Mr Dell seems unwarrantably to confound the Godhead of our Saviour with the Gospel outwardly dispensed or to put one for another which is a very strange mistake And certain it is that the word which faith receiveth is the Gospel outwaâ—dly preached which is not alwayes accompanied with the spirit in those that hear it Mark 16.16 Heb. 4.2 Rom. 10.8 D If here be not a president of racking the Scripture to purpose I am much mistaken The Apostle 1 Cor. 1.18 called the word which he preached which Mr Dell nameth an outward word the word of the crosse not for either of the two reasons here mentioned because it exposeth men to afflictions or because it doth crucifie us but plainly because it held forth Christ crucified to the world as is most apparent verse 23. of that chapter and 1 Cor. 2.2,3,4 And yet Mr Dell with much confidence brings forth the words of the Apostle as if they had been undoubtedly written not of the word preached by him but of the living word or Godhead of our Saviour to which for certain the Apostle had no eye in that place E The words found Heb. 4.12 are here by Mr Dell confidently applied to the living word of God or Godhead of our Saviour which by the general consent of almost all interpreters and by the argument of that place appears to concern the word of God outwardly administred which though Mr Dell maketh light of it yet as it is made effectually by the spirit of God hath all that testified of it in the Scripture which Mr Dell here affirmeth of the word of God in his sence 1 Cor. 14.24,25 2 Cor. 10.4,5 John 17.17 F If the word of the crosse be as it is and is here called by Mr Dell the word of faith then it is the word of the Gospel preached Rom. 10.17 which Mr Dell sleightingly calleth an outward word and leaveth to hypocrites and carnal christians And to as those words 1 Cor. 15,31 here alledged I find no expositor understanding them of an inward dying to sin The context plainly importeth that the Apostle by dying dayly intended a daily apprehension and expectation of death together with a daily exposure of himself to deadly afflictions for Christ and his Gospel sake 2 Cor. 4.10,11 The dying therefore mentioned in this Scripture is altogether different from the dying which Mr Dell here speaks of G The Law had a regulating power over our Lord Christ in the dayes of his flesh Mat. 5.17 Mat. 3.15 and therefore lost not all its power over him at that time as is here peremptorily asserted by Mr Dell. H So also how boldly soever Mr Dell affirms the contrary the Law hath a regulating power over all the faithful who keep it and fulfil it through love wrought in their hearts by the spirit Psal 119.1 1 John 5.3 I Believers own life if that be their humane life is not extinguished by the living word and spirit Mr Dell being judge whose words very soon after are these though sin hath its ful power in our humane life But in this case there needs no appeal Res ipsa loquitur All the world sees and knows that believers retain their own humane life the faculties and actings thereof after they live the life of Christ through the Spirit I would gladly therefore understand Mr Dell in this place of the extinguishing only of the life
through faith we are carried into the Son of God to have all that He hath and He again comes and fills us with all that he is and hath 5 True faith carries us into Christ and makes us one with him as the Author and Original of all our good works For through this God dwels in us and works his own works in us and we again dwell in him and work his own works in him and those only are true good works which God that dwels in us works in us and which we dwelling in God work in him G Yea a Believer who is one with Christ not only doth good works but doth them continually for Christ in him is alwayes active and whilst he is in Christ he must be alwayes active and therefore saith Christ Joh. 15. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit For through this mutual abiding of Christ and a Christian in each other a Christian as naturally and as necessarily doth the works of God as the fire burns or the Sun shines And these are some of the Advantages a Christian hath through faith in the Son of God ANIMADVERSION 17. A THat that only is true faith which doth apprehend and receive the true God in Jesus Christ And also that true faith is not of our selves but is wrought in us by the Father through the Spirit is very true and certaine But to define faith or describe it as Mr Dell here doth only and wholly by acts of God the Father is plainly to make God not only the authour but the sole actor of faith and so to deny any acting of the hearts of believers to Christ-ward by faith which as I conceive is doctrine very new and strange from the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2.16 Eph. 1.13 Rom. 10.10 It is true that here is mention made by Mr Dell of believers receiving of Christ but he saith not as he might that therein stands the nature of faith but in Gods inabling a man to receive Christ which is wholly and solely Gods act as is also his making us one with the Son to live and abide in him for ever which being one with and abiding in the Son though it be an effect yet containeth nothing in it of the nature of faith B That by faith through Christ believers are adopted to be the Sons of God is certainly true But that as the Word or Son of God coming into the humanity of Christ gave it authority to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the Sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron power to be light and hot is plainly to take off believers son-ship in relation to God from the ground of adoption through grace and to found it upon the communication of the Divine nature to them in the same manner though not so immediately nor in the same measure as to the humanity of our Saviour which is a doctrine of such ill consequence that still me thinks Mr Dell should tremble and abhor to own it nakedly For if the Son of God coming into believers as into the humanity of our Saviour give them power to become the sons of God as it gave him power to be the Son of God as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot then it follows that though believers have the Son of God in them through Christ yet having the Son of God in them they have power to be the Sons of God immediately and in themselves as the iron hath immediate power from the fire to be light and hot which being granted overthrows the doctrine of believers adoption by Christ and putteth all believers into the peculiar honour of the immediate Sonship of our Lord Christ C Do believers in whatsoever they do stil carry themselves in all things in some demonstration of the divine nature as Mr Dell here peremptorily affirmeth I do believe the Apostle that in many things we offend all and that the best of believers have their sad miscarriages as the Apostle Peter had Gal. 2. and give too often demonstration of the reliques of corrupt nature in them If Mr Dell can reconcile these things together I shall leave that labour to him D Believers no doubt through faith in the Son of God are made heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ of all things But that as our Lord Christ according to his humane nature was made heir of all things by being made one with the Son of God so believers likewise receive the Son understanding thereby the Godhead of our Saviour and so are made heirs with Christ of all things though it consent will with Mr Dels former doctrine yet I find no Scripture doctrine agreeing thereunto The scripture doctrine in this point as I apprehend is this that all true believers through faith in Christ are gratiously adopted to be the sons of God and if sons then are they heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ of all things and specially of the eternal heavenly glory which is to come E That true faith uniting us as members to the Lord Jesus doth carry us out of the reach of the law sin death and hell so far that none of them shall prevail against us being believers unto destruction is doubtlesse a sweet Gospel truth But that faith putteth us out of the reach of these evils by putting us into the Son of God or Godhead of our Saviour is barely Mr Dels assertion without the Scripture which teacheth that believers are carried out of the destroying reach of the law sin death and hel through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus not through any such union into the Son of God as he here drives at F That right faith carrieth believers into the Son of God into all his perfections and excellencies into his nature life wisdom and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God is a position which before this time I think never dropped from the tongue or pen of any Christian Mr Del seems not to have arrived to the height of such an apprehension by what we read Sect. 16. F sc So that the life of the Son of God is communicated truly to all the faithful and is to be seen in their flesh in some measure as wel as in his in all fulnesse But it is here plainly and peremptorily affirmed that believers are carried into all the fulness of the Son of the living God the necessary consequences whereof how dreadful they are I leave to him to consider I trust he doth not believe that in believers dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily which the Apostle pointed at as the peculiar incommunicable honour and excellency of our Lord Jesus the Son of the living God Col. 2.9 G Where is that believer that doth good works continually The Apostle Paul found not in himself a continual
ability to do good works Rom. 7.15,18 and pointed at the same impotency in the believing Galathians Gal. 5.17 And me thinks to affirm that a Christian as naturally and necessarily doth the works of God as the fire burneth and the Sun shineth which creatures we know have no seeds of opposition against their native operations in them is plainly to make a Christian perfectly spiritual and holy free from all reliques of native corruption opposing in him the willings of grace And if any such Christian be to be found according to Mr Dels doctrine he must needs exceed the measure of the Apostle Pauls holinesse which I think no true humble Christian will pretend unto SECT XVIII BY all which we may perceive that true faith is a greater matter then the most are aware of A For men usually think that when they hear the Gospel in the outward Ministry and assent to it that it is true that this is Faith and that then they do believe but the true faith of Gods elect is a greater matter then so for through that we are truly made one with the Son of the living God and do abide and live in him for ever B And so this right faith is a most high and precious grace and is the first manifestation of the Fathers eternal love to the Soul and the first grace whereby we have entrance into the Kingdom of God it is the Sabbath of Sabbaths it is the greatest and highest worship of God C it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse it is the mortification of the flesh the quickening of the spirit our mighty victory over the Law Sin Death Hell the World and Devil it is the first and last and all in all in the Kingdom of the Son And he that believes as the Scriptures have said is already truly passed from sin to righteousnesse from death to life and from Satan to God So that right faith is a most precious grace and is found in very few of the common Professours of the worldly Church So that Christ himself makes this question The Son of man when he comes shall he finde faith upon earth And therefore it concerns all to inquire and try Whether we partake of this Faith or no And whether the life we live in the flesh be in the Faith of the Son of God otherwise we must know that as he that believes shall be saved so he that believes not shall be damned It follows ANIMADVERSION 18. A MAster Dell I suppose whatever he intimateth in these words cannot but know that the generality of Protestant Divines place the nature of saving faith not in a bare assent to the Gospel but in an act of the whole heart receiving Jesus Christ according to the Gospel John 1.12 And as for such men who wrest the nature of saving faith short of the receiving of Jesus Christ with their whole heart their doctrine is as unsatisfactory to the generallity of understanding Protestants as to Mr Dell. B If true faith be a most high and precious grace as is here affirmed by Mr Dell How then is Christ in believers truly all grace which is asserted by him Sect. 14. B Is Christ a believers right faith too That were very strange C The praise of a right faith is very great in the book of God But to say of faith that it is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse and again that it is the first and the last and all in all in the kingdom of the Son is no Scripture expression and these positions seem to trench very far upon the glory of the Lord Jesus of whom alone these high things are and can be truly affirmed Jer. 23.6 Rev. 1.11 Colos 3.11 SECT XIX Who loved me and gave himself for me THe Apostle having shewed that all true Christians are truly crucified with Christ and are also truly quickned with him by the same living Word and Spirit of life which crucified them and so do receive a Spiritual and Divine life instead of their humane and carnal life and having also shewed the Means by which they attain to this blessed death and blessed life and that it is by faith in the Son of God A Here he proceeds to shew us two main and chief things which faith regards and apprehends in Christ to wit his infinite love and the incomparable fruit of it saying who loved me and gave himself for me And so in these words I shall take notice of these three things 1. Of Christs special and peculiar Love to his Elect from these words who loved me 2. Of his special and peculiar Redemption being the fruit of his special love in these words and gave himself for me 3. Of Faiths particular Application of both these speciall Graces to a Believer The first thing here considerable is Christs special love to some above others Who loved me Most certain it is from the word of the Gospel which is the truest and clearest light that ever shone in the Church of the faithful that Christ doth not love all Mankinde alike but he loves some and not others There is indeed a general and common love of Christ wherein he comprehends all Mankinde alike which he manifests to them in making as he himself saith Matth. 5.24 his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sending his rain on the just and on the unjust and as Paul saith Acts 14.17 He doth good to all Nations though they walk in their own wayes giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their bodies with food and their hearts with gladnesse and supplying them with the common things of this life sutable to their Humanity But he hath a special love to his Elect to the Church which is his Body these he loves as his own flesh yea as partakers of the same Divine Nature with himself and according to this love he communicateth to these of all that very fulnesse of God which he hath received from his Father Now with this special love he loves not all Mankinde alike but onely some passing by the rest The Grounds and Reasons of which special love of his to some and not to others are these 1. Because the Son as he is of the same Nature with his Father so he is also of the same operation with him and so he only doth that which his Father doth first as Christ himself testifieth of himself John 5.19 saying Verily verily I say unto you the Son can do nothing of himself but whatsoever he sees the Father do For whatsoever things he doth these doth the Son likewise For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth So that the Father sheweth to the Son all those whom he loves and whom the Son sees the Father loves those also doth He love and whom the Father doth not love neither doth the Son love them because he can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do So that the Sons love is full
as large as the Fathers but no larger seeing both love with the same Spirit For if the Father should love such onely and the Son love others over and above or if the Father should love more then the Son or the Son love more then the Father this would breed a difference in God which cannot be imagined without highest blasphemy And therefore those whom the Father loves with this special love the Son loves likewise and none but these 2. As the Son loves those only whom the Father loves so he loves them only upon this account because they are the Fathers as Christ himself saith John 17. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and all that are mine are thine and all that are thine are mine and so Christ owns no more then are the Fathers and those which are the Fathers he takes them as his own and loves them as the Father loves them 3. As Christ loves them only with this special love whom the Father loves and loves them because they are the Fathers so he loves them as dearly as the Father loves him Now Christ saith of these to his Father Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Again he saith That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them And so as God loves these as he loved Christ and he doth not love all Mankinde so so Christ loves them as he loves himself yea he seems to love them more then himself for he loves them and gives himself for them And so having spoken of Christs special love I proceed in the next place to speak of the wonderful fruit of it which is his special Redemption And gave himself for me B Christ could not love his as his Father loved him even with the Infinite and most tender love of God and still suffer them to remain under the Law and Sin and Death and the power of the Devil but he being the Son of God and so able the love of God within him made him willing yea even constrained him to redeem them And this Redemption he could no otherwise bring about then by giving himself for them And so he gave himself for them indeed even to be made Sin for them and a Curse for them yea he gave himself up to all the sorrows of Death and pains of Hell for them and to endure to the very utmost the whole wrath of his Father for them And this was the greatest manifestation of the special love of Christ that could be as John saith Herein was love not that we loved him but that he loved us and laid down his life for us Now further we must know that as there is a general love that Christ bears to all Mankinde So also there is a general Redemption proportionable to that general Love which is nothing else but this the saving or rescuing of the fallen and lost world for a time from the execution of that death and damnation into which it had inwrapped it self through Sin but this is rather a Reprieve then a Redemption and if it be called a Redemption it is but the common and temporary Redemption of the World during the patience and long suffering of God towards the Vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction But after the determined time of Gods Patience is expired the wrath of God breaks forth upon them and death and hell swalloweth them up But the special Redemption of the Church is a full perfect and eternal Redemption of all the Elect of God from sin and death and hell by the Righteousnesse life and Salvation of the Son of the living God communicated unto them And this Special Redemption begins here in this life as soon as ever Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it is perfected at the day of the Revelation of the Sons of God Now this Special Redemption extends it self no further then the Special Love of the Son and of the Father as may appear thus Because the Special Redemption of Christ extends it self no further then the Fathers Election as the Fathers Election extends it self no farther then his Good pleasure or the Counsel of his Will which doth limit the Infinitenesse both of his Goodnesse Mercy Wisdom and Power in all his outward Actions towards the Creatures both in their Creation and Government as also in the Dispensations of all blessings towards them both bodily and spiritual So then as the Fathers Election is limited by his Love and good pleasure so the Sons Redemption is limited by the Fathers Election and so the Sons redemption is full as large as the Fathers election but no larger for Christ himself saith That he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him Now the Fathers will was that Christ should redeem all that he had Loved and Elected and Given to him but no more And so we must necessarily know the latitude and extent of Christs Redemption by knowing the Fathers love will in his election And so Christ Redeems no more with his Special Redemption then those he loves with this Special Love and thus he loves no more then the Father loves 2. Christs Special Redemption of those whom he loves with this Special love may be farther evidenced out of John 17. where Christ distinguisheth all Mankinde into these two sorts viz. The World and they that were given him out of the World and tels us that his intercession was not for the former but onely for these latter saying vers 19. I pray for them I pray not for the world but for those that thou hast given me out of the world Now we must know that the Priestly office of Christ consisteth of two parts His Oblation and Intercession For first he Offers himself a Sacrifice for his people and then after that he prayes for them whom he had Redeemed by his blood And his Intercession is founded on his Oblation and he never prayes for any but for those whom he hath first Redeemed and whom he hath not Redeemed he prayes not for and whom he prayes not for he Redeemed not And so Christ not praying for the world it is evident he never died for the world for he of course and necessity performs the second part of his Priestly office his Intercession for all those for whom he hath performed the first part of his Priestly Office his Oblation or Sacrifice And for whom he doth not perform his Intercession it is most certain that he never performed his Redemption for them and this is so sure and certain a Truth that the foolish and vain Reasonings and Discourses of men shall never be able to prevail against it nor yet the very Gates of Hell And thus you have seen manifested to you the Special Redemption of Christ as well as his Special love both which he extends not alike to all Man-kinde as the Hereticks say but only to those whom his Father hath given him which are not all Kindreds
Tongues People and Nations but some out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation which he hath loved and redeemed to God by his blood And now to make some Vse of both these Truths together Vse 1. And first The World as Christ terms Vnbelievers and Reprobates will certainly be grievously offended at this Doctrine when they shall hear that they have no part nor lot neither in the special Love nor in the special Redemption of Christ But this we cannot help nor be false witnesses of the minde of God which he hath so clearly revealed in his Word For they are not of God neither hath Christ loved or redeemed them neither do they much prize this Special Love and Redemption But the Sins they have they love them and live in them and do alwayes resist and oppose Christ and his Spirit and so as they are rejected of God so also they perish in their own sin and obstinacie Vse 2. 2. The faithful may learn hence that our Happinesse and Salvation in the first cause of it doth far surmount the utmost capacitie of the highest reason of all men and Angels seeing it is builded on no reason or ground of reason in any Creature but upon the meer will and good pleasure of the Creator which is not moved directed or ruled by any thing that is in the Creature but by it self alone and that freely fully and unchangably Which good pleasure of his as it is the Rule of all his works towards the Creature so this also is to be the Rule of all reason in the Creature and with this the Creature is to rest satisfied without farther questions and demands otherwise it blasphemes at the highest rate when it will needs be replying against God and not rest satisfied with his good pleasure Wherefore Christ himself speaking of this special Grace of God to the Elect gives him thanks for his good pleasure which was the first Fountain of all saying Matth. 11.25.26 I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of understanding and hast opened them to babes Even so Father because thy good pleasure was such Which shews us that the good will of the Father is the Fountain and first Original of our Salvation unto which the will and pleasure of the Son is fully conformed and the Reason and Prudence and Knowledge and Understanding of man have no Place nor Vse here Vse 3. 3. The free and special Love and Redemption of Christ apprehended and felt by Faith tends to the great Refreshing and Comfort of the Faithful and that in the midst of the greatest sense of sin and wrath That the Lord even the Father and Son should by the Spirit thus single them out of all mankind and that the Father should freely set his love on them and give them Christ to give himself for them and should manifest the truth and certainty of all this to them by the Spirit which only is the Faithful witness of the mind and counsel of God to all his people I say the true and Spiritual sense of this Special Love and Redemption of God and Christ to them cannot chuse but fill their hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious So that the Soul cannot chuse but say Lord what is thy poor servant that thou shouldest deal thus with me That thou shouldst in thy deep and unsearchable counsel and in thy most hidden but most righteous Judgements passe by so many thousands and millions of people in every age and generation and should set thy love on me together with Christ and all his Saints being in my self so wretched and unworthy a Creature And this choiceness and speciality of thy love the more endears it to me and hath ravished and overcome my heart After this manner yea and beyond all expression must the Soul needs be affected that is truly sensible of the Special love and redemption of Christ ANIMADVERSION 19. A THese words speak of Faith as an act of Believers towards Christ regarding and apprehending in him his infinite love and the incomparable fruit of it according to the old Protestant doctrine agreeing with the Scriptures which I think cannot be brought into any good accord with the description of the nature of Faith set down by Mr Dell Sect. 17. A B This is old good and acknowledged doctrine firmly believed by those who are wholly unsatisfied in much of Mr Dels former doctrine as having no affinity with what is here delivered SECT XX. ANd this for Vse Object Now if any say If Christs Love and Redemption belong but to a few why is the Gospel commanded to be preached to all Nations in the World Answ I answer That in all the world among all Nations it may find out the Elect of God and bring them to the true knowledge and enjoyment of what God of his free grace hath done for them in Jesus Christ and when that word cometh they hear the Joyful Sound and believe and according to their Faith so is it to them And so I proceed to the third point which is Faith 's particular application of this special love and redemption of Christ to believers who loved me and gave himself for me A It is the nature of true Faith to apply Christ and all his Works to the believer and to make them his own for faith puts on Christ and cloaths us with Christ yea it eats and drinks him who is the Son of the living God and so makes Christ its own indeed Through faith Christ is formed in us and we again are formed in him and Christ and we are so made one another through faith that Christ Appropriates us to himself and we again appropriate Christ to us Other men content themselves with a General conceit that Christ loved them but a Christian hath a Particular faith Other men believe that he loved Paul and Peter and John such eminent Saints but true faith saith in our hearts he loved Me even Me together with them and that with the self same love and gave himself for Me as he did for them Quest But some will say Had not Paul a special Revelation of this love of Christ besides faith Answ I Answer Paul had a special Revelation of this love but yet no other then all believers have who have received the Spirit as the same Apostle shews 1 Cor. 2.12 where he saith We have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit that is of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God So that the Spirit of God within us shews us the things that God hath freely given us among which Christs Love and Redemption are the chief And the same Apostle prayes for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and Revelation to know Christ. Now this spirit of Revelation doth not only shew us that there is a Christ and what he is but also that
truth I have now made publike thou wilt find many positions laid down with greatest confidence by him called into question by me as concerning their truth such as these 1. That all the powers on earth have no power to protect the truth being brought forth Epist Dedicatory A 2. That believers do work out of justifying righteousnesse Section 1. E 3. That a believer is wholly dead to the law and as a dead man hath no more to do with the law as to the giving of laws to him Sect. 1. F and Sect. 2. B 4. That the law of the spirit makes a believer truly dead to the law Sect. 2. D 5. That Libertines and licentious persons are to be restrained by the Civil Magistrate when they transgresse wickedly and presumptuously against their neighbour and civil society but in other things concerning the things of God they are to be left to the immediat judgement of God only Sect. 3. C 6. That the humanity of Christ knew no law but the presence of the Godhead in it Sect. 3. F 7. That God himself is the new law according to which believers walk Sect. 3. G 8. That our Lord Christ owed nothing to the law of Moses by way of debt Sect. 4. A 9. That the living word and spirit which dwelt in the flesh of Christ was the true crucifying of him Sect. 4. B 10. That Christians are dead to whatsoever is not God himself Sect. 4. D 11. That Christ was crucified before his crosse and that his outward crucifying was but a sign of what done before within Sect. 5. C 12. That the divine nature of Christ was the constant crosse of his humane nature and his humane nature was fully crucified in his divine Sect. 5. E 13. That the man Christ lost all his own things in God through immediate union with God Sect. 5. F 14. That the living word and spirit is the glorious crosse of the Church the body as of Christ the head Sect. 6. D 15. That the word which faith receives is the word of righteousnesse and life in opposition to the outward word which is alwayes accompanied with the spirit Sect. 7. C 16. That their own life is extinguished in believers by the living word and spirit Sect. 7. I And yet 17. That sin hath its full power in the humane life of believers Sect. 7. M 18. That the Devil can find nothing in believers to do them harm Sect. 7. P 19. That the flesh crucified in believers is Christs own flesh Sect. 7. Q 20. That the flesh crucified in believers is the only temple and habitation of God Sect. 7. S 21. That the flesh crucified in believers keeps the true Christian sabbath Sect. 7. T 22. That the flesh crucified in believers is able to endure the will of God and to suffer for his name Sect. 7. W 23. That the flesh crucified in believers hath the very glory of Christ upon it Sect. 7. Y 24. That the flesh crucified in believers is the only subject of the glorious resurrection Sect. 7. Z 25. That the humanity of Christ was deprived of its own proper life through the word and spirit that dwelt in it Sect. 10. A 26. That instead thereof it had the life of the Son of God communicated to it Sect. 9. A 27. That the son of man parted with his own proper life out of himself Sect. 9. A 28. That he did yet live truly in the same soul and body the life of the eternal word Sect. 9 A 29. That the whole Church is conformed to the pattern of the humanity of Christ in point of living the life of the eternal word Sect. 9. A 30. That the son of man was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived whilest he was crucified Sect. 9. A 31. That in a believer the soul and body live in the life of the son of God as was done in the flesh of Christ our elder brother Sect. 10. E 32. That no man should think that the life which Paul lived after his crucifying was only his own humane life purified and refined Sect. 11. A 33. That a christian is so crucified with Christ that in this crucifying he loseth not only his own proper life but his personality also Sect. 11. B And so 34. That through faith a believers soul and body live no more any proper life of their own but are taken up into the nature and person of the son of God Sect. 11. B And so 35. That a believer subsists in Christs person and is no more a distinct person by himself Sect. 11. C 36. That Christ in a believer is to him instead of all created habits of grace Sect. 14. B And so 37. That Christ who lives in a believer is all grace to him Sect. 14. B 38. That the created habits of grace in a Christian are nothing but empty notions and vain speculations of carnal and unbelieving hearts ignorant of the true mistery of the Gospel Sect. 14. B 39. That Christ himself is the only grace that is acceptable to God Sect. 15. C 40. That this is the only grace against which the gates of hell cannot prevaile Sect. 14. D 41. That true justification is to be so one with Christ by faith that Christ himself may live in us and we in him that he may communicate his nature unto us and our nature may be taken up into his Sect. 14. H And so 42. That we are justified before God by Christs living in us his own life Sect. 14. H 43. That Christ and a Christian are made so much one that what one doth the other may be truly said to do Sect. 15. A 44. That as it is between God and Christ just so it is between Christ and believers who are as nearly united as God and Christ Sect. 15. B 45. That the true nature of Faith is nothing but this the Fathers laying hold of us by his Spirit and drawing us to the Son and inabling us to receive the Son and so making us one with the Son to abide and live in him for ever Sect. 17. A 46. That as the Word or Son coming into the humanity of Christ gave it authority and power to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the Sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot Sect. 17. B 47. That right faith carrieth a believer into all the perfections and excellencies of the Son of God into his nature and life and righteousnesse and power and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God Sect. 17. F 48. That right faith is infinite and everlasting righteousnesse the first and last and all in all in the kingdome of the Son Sect. 18. C These and divers other Positions many of which respect not barely the circumference but as it seems to me lie very close to the heart and center of Christian
V. 1. Of Christs own crucyfying NOw Christs true crucifying I mean his inward and spiritual crucifying in which all his Saints without any exception have their fellowship with him it was this A It was the taking up his humane nature into his divine nature or the taking up his flesh into the Word in such sort that B the flesh of Christ did not live the life of the flesh in the reason and understanding and wisdom and will and affections and desires and delights and ends of the flesh but the flesh or humanity of Christ being crucified and dead to all these things did live in it self the life of the eternal Word in the nature righteousnesse life minde will and in all the things of God And this was the Full and perfect crucifying of the flesh of Christ indeed And thus you see th t the Living word and Spirit of God which dwelt in the flesh of Christ did truly Crucifie and destroy the proper will and affections and the whole life of his flesh C And thus was Christ crucified before his crosse and his outward crucifying was but a sign of what was done before within D and if Christs flesh had not thus been crucified before his Crosse he had not after given it up so freely cheerfully and desirously to be crucified so shamefully painfully and bleedingly on the Crosse E The Divine Nature of Christ was the constant crosse of his Humane Nature and his humane nature was fully crucified in his Divine in such sort that the Humane nature of Christ had not the least freedom of its own proper will lest to it self but when it was to undergo the heaviest and bitterest things that any creature was capable to undergo even Death and Hell and the sense of the whole wrath of God yet even then he said not my will but thine be done Which was the most full and perfect crucisying that could be F For the Man Christ lost all his own things in God through immediate union with God and was filled again with all the things of God in his humanity which took away his humanity wholly from it self to God to be do and suffer all in the will of God and this was his crucifying G And this now is the most excellent and glorious crucifying of Christ that is to be preached to all Nations for the obedience of faith H For to preach the outward crucifying of Christ barely and alone without this inward and Spiritual crucifying of him which is not onely the original and the cause but also the perfection and glory of the other is no great matter neither will it make the world much in love with him seeing two Thieves were thus crucified with him at the same time outwardly as he was But to preach Christ crucified by the living Word and Spirit of God that dwelt in him through which he was wholly dead to himself and the world and lived wholly in the will of God so that though he were the Son of God yet he made himself of no reputation but gave up his flesh and outward man to be crucified among thieves at the will of his Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I say is the glorious crucifying of Christ which the Gospel preaches in all the world even the crucifying of Christs flesh by the Spirit and Divine nature I For Christs dying had been nothing if the life of God within him had not offered up his humane life K and his crucifying had been nothing if God in Christ had not humbled his humane nature to the death of the Crosse and he had not offered up that flesh of his to God without fault by his Eternal Spirit as Paul speaks Heb. 9.14 But this did put such an infinite worth excellency and efficacy on his outward crucifying and thereby he is said to redeem us unto God even by his bloud and by that one offering of himself to perfect for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 And thus much touching Christs own Crucifying the next thing is ANIMADVERSION V. A VVHere is any Scripture that speaketh thus and giveth us such a description of our Saviours crucifying To the Law and to the testimony Esay 8.20 It is I confesse beyond my knowledge if ever any Christian ancient or modern did define the crucifying of Christ to be the taking up of his flesh into the word before Mr Dell. B If the humanity of our Saviour did live in it self the life of the eternal word in the nature of God then it will follow as I apprehend that our Lord Christ had no humane life distinct from the life of the eternal word in him from the very first instant of his assuming of our humanity and so could have no humane will to deny or life to lay down for us And where is the doctrine of the Crosse then If Mr Dell hath any reserved sence of his words and doth not mean as he speaks which I a mind ned to believe he should do well to speak as he means Whereas Mr Dell writeth that the flesh of Christ did not live the life of the flesh in the reason and understanding and wisdom wil and affections and desires and delights and ends of the flesh if he means thereby that our Saviour was not in the course of his life guided by the reason understanding and wisdom of his humane nature to will affect desire delight in or pursue any humane ends sutable to the liking of flesh and bloud but did altogether resign himself to the will of God his Father that it might be perfectly done by him and upon him how crosse soever it was to his humane will and wisdom in the native propensity thereof this is a very clear and sound truth and I should so understand Mr Dell and put such a sence upon the following words sc that the flesh or humanity of Christ did live in it self the life of the Eternal word in the nature righteousnesse life minde will and in all the things of God as that they should import no more but that our Saviour obedientially ordered himself in the whole course of his life in doing and suffering according to the minde and will of God his Father which is very good Gospel doctrine generally acknowledged Did not the laying of the present words to those which follow in this book seem plainly to put a more sublimate interpretation upon them and to evidence that Mr Dell intended in them to set himself above the pitch of the old ordinary Christian Doctrine sc That our Lord Christ in his humanity lived a humane life ordered wholly according to the divine rule of the wil of God his Father Yet if Mr Dell will so interpret himself in his high-flown expressions as to come down to the plain naked known truth of the Gospel concerning our Saviours obediential living and dying too according to the will and wisdom not of his humane nature but of God his Father which sent him I
called forth to witnesse the truth with their lives have at first for fear and dread of the outward crosse abjured the truth to save their lives But afterwards when the Word and Spirit within them had truly and fully crucified them they would then come forth again of their own accord and willingly offer up their bodies to fire and death And thus also I have declared what is our crucifying with Christ E Paul saying here I am crucified with Christ because his sins were subdued and his nature conquered through the living word and Spirit of Christ dwelling in him F Now that both these things are so in truth and that they are no fond notions speculations and glosses of mine own devising I will yet make it more evident by some few other plain Scriptures as by that of Paul in Rom. 8.10 where he saith If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin that is the presence of Christ that is the living Word of God within us is the killing and crucifying of the body to all sin And in Gal. 5.24 The same Apostle saith That they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts of it and ver 25. he shews that this crucifying of the flesh of Christians is not brought about by any outward sorrows and sufferings but by the presence of the Spirit in it saying if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit and verse 16. of the same chapter he saith This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh and Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live So again Rom. 6.5 If we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection Now all believers without exception are planted with Christ into a likenesse of his death which is not so to be understood as if all should be crucified on a material Crosse as he himself was but that all of them are buried with him by Baptism into his death that is by the baptism of the spirit and the baptism of the Spirit is the death of the flesh it is the death of our flesh with Christs for thus was Christs flesh made dead to it self to sin and the world to wit through the Baptism of the spirit and thus also is ours wherefore Paul adds vers 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin So that it is plain that the destruction of sin in our bodies by the living Word and Spirit of God is our crucifying with Christ. And verse 11. the Apostle would have those that are thus crucified with Christ to reckon themselves dead to sin for as the Word and Spirit of God in Christ made him wholly dead to sin and sin had no place in him So likewise as far as the same Word and Spirit of Christ prevail in us they will make us dead to sin for the time past and present and for the future will preserve us from sin And now we shall make some Vse of this point Vse 2. G First Then let us know that it is not enough to Salvation to believe That Jesus Christ according to his humane nature was outwardly crucified on a crosse for us at Jerusalem except we also our own selves be crucified with him through his living Word and Spirit dwelling in us through which we must be powerfully planted into a true likenesse of his death in such sort that we must be dead unto all sin whatsoever even to all our own corruptions and lusts and to all the Corruptions that are in the world through lust and we must be dead to our selves to our own fleshly reason understandig will desires ends and to our whole humane life and we must be dead to the world and to all that is in it and of it to all the pleasures profits and honours of it we must thus truly be dead with Christ ere we can live with him And with this kind of crucifying must whole Christ be crucified from the Head to the lowest members thus also must we be crucified with him if we will have any part in him I say we must have fellowship with him in his sufferings and be made conformable to him in his death ere ever we can attain to his Resurrection from the dead ANIMADVERSION 6. A I Take it that by the word of Christ is here intended the Word the Son or Godhead of our Saviour which was made flesh If so I demand a Scripture which teacheth that the Word or Godhead of our Saviour is otherwise in his people then in and by his Spirit the holy Ghost which dwelleth in them As for the holy Ghost the spirit which without measure of operation was in our Saviour as the head of his Church John 1.33 and 3.34 called therefore the spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 that it is in several measures of operation shed forth by and through our Lord Christ upon all his who are by faith united unto him 1 Cor. 6.17 Gal. 3.14 and that it is in them the powerful and only root of mortification or crucifying of the flesh Rom. 8.13 is very well known and acknowledged by those whom Mr Dell slighteth as ignorant of the mysteries which he hath discovered were so much spoken in usual words it would appear no unusual doctrine But if Mr Dell decline this sence of his words I believe the doctrine comprised in them hath no footing at all in the Scripture B That faith hope and love together with other fruits of the spirit of Christ in believers are real crucifyings that is real originals of the mortification or crucifying of the flesh in them is a plain truth of it were plainly expressed Neither do these fruits of the spirit suffer a believer to live to himself or the lusts of men 1 Pet. 4.1,2 which is no doubt the true crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof This Scripture doctrine is full of comfort and is neither new nor strange C The Scripture ascribeth the mortification or crucifying of the flesh to the spirit of Christ which dwelleth and whereby he dwelleth in believers This is plain and old truth But where is this spoken of as the work of the living Word or God-head of Christ any otherwise dwelling in them thâ—n by the Spirit That Scripture would be shewed D Where is the living word and spirit in believers called their crosse Scripture language is most proper for Scripture doctrine 1 Cor. 2.13 the sufferings of Christians are in the Scripture called their crosse Mat. 16.24 But the living Word and Spirit in them is never expressed by that name that I know And how should we dare to speak of the things of God otherwise then as we are taught by the word of God E
That Paul was crucified with Christ because his sins were subdued and his nature conquered through the spirit of Christ dwelling in him is a very sure truth generally acknowledged yet is not this all the truth but Paul further intended in saying that he was crucified with Christ that his sins were subdued through the redeeming vertue of the outward crosse or suffering of Christ both as to the condemning and commanding power of them of which here is altum silentium though the Scriptures speak much of it 2 Cor. 5.15 Tit. 2.14 Heb. 9.14 1 Pet. 1.18.19 F Mr Dell here professeth to prove both these things by plain Scripture By both these things he meaneth both that Christ was crucified by the being of the eternal word and spirit in him and also that believers are crucified by the same word spirit dwelling in them But he faileth evidently of his word for the Scriptures produced may seem to speak something towards the proof of the second position yet they say nothing towards the confirmation of the first And as to the second position they only prove that the spirit of Christ or Christ by his spirit doth work to the mortifying of the flesh in believers which is a well known and acknowledged truth But that the living Word or Godhead of our Saviour otherwise then as in and by the Spirit dwelleth in beleevers as a root of mortification not one of the Scriptures produced do affirm That by Christ in us Rom. 8.10 we must understand the living Word within us as Mr Dell glosseth those words I cannot believe since the Apostle in the verses immediately before and after that text doth plainly expound the being of Christ in us by the being of the Spirit of God in us in full consent with all the other Scriptures here produced by Mr Dell. G This use which Mr Dell makes of his doctrine if the words be taken in Scripture sence is sound and consonant to the sence of all true believers and needs no new doctrine to enforce it SECT VII NOw if any desire to know how we may attain to be thus Crucified with Christ I answer that the true faith of Gods Elect is the only way through which we can attain to this crucifying A For through faith we receive the living Word of God to dwell in us and in this Word we partake of the Spirit and this Word and Spirit dwelling in us do as hath been declared crucifie us with Christ B Indeed Hypocrites and carnal Christians receive and professe a word that will not crucifie them with Christ but do receive a word and doctrine that will still suffer them to live their own lives and after their own lusts For the word they receive is only an outward word consisting of divers questions opinions and Doctrines and is also without the Spirit and so it leaves them as it found them in reference to their Natures and corruptions C But the word that faith receives is the Word of righteousnesse and life a word that is alwayes accompanied with the Spirit and when this is ingrafted into the soul and abides in it it presently mortifies and crucifies it and destroyes a mans self out of himself D And therefore in 1 Cor. 1.18 it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word of the crosse and that not only because it exposes us to afflictions in the world but also because it dwelling in our hearts by faith doth crucifie us And this crucifying word in the same verse is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of God for that Word that crucifies our flesh subdues and destroyes the whole strength of corruption out of us must be such a Word as is also the Power of God and so it is not only in tseâ—f but also because the Spirit of God dwels in it And this Word thus appreheâ—dâ—d will crucifie us with Christ Now this word of faith which is the word near us even in our hearts will crucifie us 1. Throughly It will crucifie the whole man throughout and that according to his mind will and affectâ—oâ—s E for this Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword and is piercing to the dividing asunder both of the soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a curious discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart c. And all the Tribulations and Torments in the world yea all the sorrows and pains of Hell cannot so crucifie and subdue our evil natures and lives as this Living Word in our hearts with whom we have to do This will crucifie us till we be dead with Christ as Christ was dead which was the fullest and compleatest death that ever was that is till our outward and inward man be wholly and fully subject to the only Will of God 2. F This word of faith will crucifie us daily and constantly as Paul witnesses 1 Cor. 15.31 saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I die daily for the word of righteousnesse dwelling in us is clean contrary to our corrupt nature and all the operations of it and doth without intermission put forth its strength and efficacy against both That as in the first break of day the light is still mortifying the darknesse till it have wholly dispelled it so the Word of righteousnesse deals with our corruptions till their place shall be no more found Now because this our crucifying with Christ is so contrary to the flesh that the flesh is alwayes mourning under it and murmuring against it therefore for our encouragement in so difficult a work as this I shal propound some choice and excellent advantages that believers have by being truly crucified with Christ For by this means 1. We are freed from the Law G For as the humanity of Christ being crucified by the Word and Spirit by this means became dead to the Law and the Law lost all its power over him H so all the faithful that are thus crucified with him are through this crucifying set free from the Law I for their own life being extinguished by the living Word and Spirit and they living in that word and spirit a life not their own but Christs are as truly freed from the Law as Christ himself was K And this Paul doth plainly teach us Rom. 7.1 saying that the Law hath Lordship over a man all the time he lives and no longer But when he is once crucified with Christ and dead with Christ the Law hath no more Dominion over him So then as long as we live our own life the Law hath power over us but when we are dead to our selves through the Life of Christ we are set quite without the reach of the Law and the Law hath no more to do with us the Members then with Christ the Head 2. L By being crucified with Christ we are freed of sin For one of the chief ends of the indwelling of the Word Spirit in Believers is to free them
we believe we shall also live with him spiritually in this life gloriously in that which is to come Rom. 6.8 But that believers shall live with Christ that very life which the word and spirit of God did communicate to his flesh when it raised him from the grave and fully translated him into the immediate kingdom of God is a position raised by Mr Dell to a very high pitch wherein yet I shall not oppose him if he admit as I hope he will a preheminency of life unto our Saviour as being the head of the Church anointed with the oyl of gladnesse above his fellows Heb. 1.8,9 For whilst our Saviour hath his peculiar preheminence of degree allowed him as the head I take it we may safely believe that his members shall be sharers with him in that very life of blessednesse and glory which is communicated to his flesh or humane nature since the Apostle teacheth us that God hath raised us up together and made us sit togother in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 and again that if whilst we live we are delivered to death for Jesus sake the life also of Jesus shall be made manifest in our mortal body 2 Cor 4.11 for when Christ who is our life shall appear we also shall appear with him in glory Colos 3.4 SECT VIII WHence it is evident that all that flesh which the Word and Spirit do crucifie with Christ they shall also rise up together with him and sit in the same heavenly places in him which is the sure hope of all Believers Now seeing all these things are truth and are no lye let us willingly give up our selves to be thus crucified how bitter and grievous soever it be to the flesh Quest A Now if any man shall say How shall I know that I am thus crucified with Christ that I may have interest in all these advantages Answ I answer There are many Trials of this some of which I wil name very briefly and so conclude this matter As First If though findest thine own Nature truly subdued and changed by another Nature that is from God and if thou findest thy own life put to an end by another life that is from God then art thou crucified with Christ indeed 2. If thou canst deny thy self in all things of flesh and bloud and findest a new self within thee to have power over thy old self which is daily withering and decaying at the presence of the new creature then art thou crucified through the Word 3. If thou art dead to sin even to all those corruptions and lusts which have delighted themselves in thee and thou again in them if thou findest thy self dead to them and they killed in thee then art thou crucified by the Word 4. If thou art dead to the world and to the things of it which are the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life then art thou crucified by the Word 5. If thou dost not mind the praise and applause of men on the one hand nor their reproaches and indignities on the other hand but art truly dead to both then art thou crucified by the Word 6. If thou at deceased and departed from thine own will and works and canst do and delight to do the will and works of God then is his Law within thy heart and thou art crucified by the Word 7. If thou art ready prepared to bear and endure any sufferings and persecutions for Christ with patience and over and above with willingnesse and joy and dost not draw back for any evils but doest stand to them and overcome them then also art thou crucified by the Word and that is crucified with Christ B Now this our crucifying with Christ is the chief and greatest matter that we are to mind in this world wherefore Paul saith to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did not judg it worth the while to know any thing among you or to behold any thing in you but Jesus Christ and him crucified Seeing in this present state of ours this is our chief businesse to be crucified with Christ and to be taken out of our selves and all our own things till we be altogether reduced to nothing that we may receive our selves and all things anew in Jesus Christ This is the chief work of God by his Word and Spirit upon the faithful here in this world as it was also his chief work upon Christ in the dayes of his flesh For though there were in Christ many clear Demonstrations of the presence of God through which he wrought many of the great works of God C yet our main businesse that concerned Christs life in the flesh was daily and throughly to crucifie him by the Word and Spirit which dwelt in him and thereby to prepare him and make him fit for the outward crosse and for that sad hour and power of darknesse that was to overtake him D And so this also is to be the chief businesse of our lives after we do believe even to be daily crucified and mortified and killed by the Word and Spirit of Christ till our will be perfectly subdued to Gods and by this means we be fitted and prepared for that tribulation and crosse whatever it is that the Lord shall please to appoint unto us either in life or in death And thus having spoken something of the Crucified Christian we proceed to speak in the next place of the Quickned Christian from the following words ANIMADVERSION VIII A ALl these notes of trial whether a man be crucified with Christ laid down by Mr Dell are very good and found and fully to be discovered in those who are crucified with Christ through the Word of the Gospel and the Spirit of Christ according to the old Scripture doctrine of Protestant teachers Great pitty it is that so good words as these wherein Mr Dell hath laid down these notes of trial should ever be misplaced B The Apostle in the words here alledged spake of Christs being crucified for us as the main subject of his Gospel doctrine which he preached amongst the Corinthians as appeareth by comparing the 23. verse of the former chapter with this text Here is therefore no intimation of that our crucifying which Mr Dell speaks of for all his admirable confidence in the strange allegation and interpretation of the place now before us C If the Printer have done his part in these words they are extreamly obscure if at all intelligable otherwise then by guesse D These words of Mr Dell I understand and in plain Scripture sence yield full assent to them as to their main intent praying that the Lord would pour out more abundantly the spirit of mortification and self denial on his people that we may indeed live the rest of our time in the flesh not to the lusts of men but to the will of God both by doing and suffering with cheerfulnesse according to his good pleasure The
old Protestant doctrine of mortification teacheth men freely to say Amen to this prayer SECT IX Nevertheless I live EVery true Believer is as well quickned with Christ as crucified with him I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live A So that as the humanity of Christ which is the first Example and Pattern to which the whole Church is conformed being deprived of its own proper life through the Word and Spirit that dwelt in it had instead thereof the life of the Son of God communicated to it and that Son of man having parted with his own proper life out of himself did yet truly live in the same soul and body the life of the Eternal Word and was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived so also it is with all Christians And therefore Paul saith out of his own experience I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live as if he had said I am not crucified to death but to life my crucifying with Christ is my quickning for by this means I am so killed that I live the more yea now onely I do truly live being formerly dead My own proper life in my self was my death but Christs life in me is my true life For I was dead with the worst death to wit in trespasses and sins but now I live in the best life even the life of righteousnesse B Whence it is manifest that the living Word and Spirit of Christ in a Christian do so kill the life of his flesh which is a life of sin and sorrow and darknesse and death that at the same time they communicate to the same man to the same soul and body a true and spiritual and holy and heavenly and eternal life C For no man is crucified with Christ but he also lives with him seeing the same Word that kils our life communicates Christs and Christ crucifies us with himself not that he may kill us but that he may quicken us and our quickning is the end of our crucifying and our crucifying is the way to our quickening D Indeed the killing of the flesh by the sword or famine or the Law or any way else is death indeed or death unto death but the killing of the flesh by the living Word and Spirit which is its crucifying with Christ is death unto life And here again we may note this also That the true life of a Christian begins from his crucifying and dying with Christ and also the true crucifying and dying of a Christian begins from his life in Christ For both these inseparably go together to wit our crucifying and our quickening with Christ But our crucifying with Christ is named first in order because it is first in manifestation seeing after we believe Christs death is first manifested in us before Christs life though Christs life be first in us in order of nature the crucifying of our flesh flowing from the life of his Spirit This then is the sum of this matter E That the living Word dwelling in us destroyes the proper life of the flesh and takes up the flesh into the life of it self and the Spirit And so a man in union with Christ hath his own life destroyed out of him and Christs own life communicated to him So that in the true Believer the soul and body of man live in the life of the Son of God as was done in the flesh of Christ our elder Brother And thus the flesh lives a life that is not of the flesh yea thus the creature lives in it self the life of God For as that eternal life that was with the Father was manifested in the Son that is in his flesh or humanity and all Believers have seen and known it so also that very life of the Father and the Son is both communicated to the Saints and also manifest in them as faith very well knows F And this is the great mystery of the Gospel let them receive it that can receive it ANIMADVERSION 9. A IN these words Mr Dell hath couched together six strange positions to which I would say more in this place but that the matter of them is discussed and the errour of them as I conceive discovered in my Animadversions on other passages of this book 1. That the humanity of Christ was deprived of its own proper life through the word and spirit that dwelt in it 2. That in stead thereof it had the life of the Son of God communicated to it 3. That the son of man parted with his own proper life out of himself 4. That he did yet live truly in the same soul and body the life of the eternal word 5. That the whole church is conformed to the pattern of the humanity of Christ in point of living the life of the eternal word 6. That the Son of man was so crucified that neverthelesse he lived whilst he was crucified If Mr Dell can produce one Scripture in proof of any one of these Positions I am utterly unacquainted with it I think it may be truly said of them recitasse est refutasse the reciting is a sufficient refuting of them B That the spirit of Christ in a Christian doth so kil the life of his flesh that is of his body of sin that at the same time it doth communicate to the same man to the same soul and body a true spiritual holy heavenly and eternal life is a known truth acknowledged by those whose souls have not entred into Mr Dels secrets If this be all he meaneth and mindeth he should but use old plain words and he should find consent of judgement in all his brethren Me thinks the words of the Lord to Job should sound loudly in the ears of some men in our dayes who are of a deeper language in matters of Religion then that their brethren can well understand them Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge Job 38.2 It is the glory of the Ministers of the Gospel not to be vail'd like Moses but to use much plainnesse of speech in their doctrine seeing the Lord shineth in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ C All this in a sound sence is sound doctrine If the words be not put upon new tentors they do not outreach the old apprehensions of Gods servants amongst us D Is it the same flesh as these words import which is killed by the sword or famine and which is killed by the Law and Spirit of Christ and so crucified with him Me thinks no Christian which ever looked into the Scriptures should upon second thoughts say so The one is evidently the material body and the other the body of sin which are things vastly different E That Christ by his Spirit in believers destroyeth the proper life of the flesh understanding thereby the old man is very true but then it is utterly false that Christ takes up that flesh into the life of the Spirit of God And
called a grace 2 Cor. 8.7 which yet certainly is not Christ D Questionlesse there is the grace of Gods eternal love whereby we are saved against which the gates of hell cannot prevail which though believers are partakers of in Christ yet is not the Lord Christ this grace but the chief gift of it John 3.16 and the 4th 10. E The third use made here by Mr Dell of his doctrine standeth in full force for the comfort of believers upon the ground of the doctrine of Christs living in his people by his spirit as it is taught by those who see no footing for his doctrine in the Word of God for they all know that Christ is afflicted in his members according to the Scriptures F If Christ being himself our new law within us makes void the law of God without us as old as Mr Dels words in this place seem to import then both the law of works and faith too as it is outwardly dispensed yea the whole Scripture as to the mandatory legislative part of it is made void to believers which whether Mr Dell will nakedly affirm I know not If he do I doubt not but it will appear an anti-scriptural affirmation and an open road to a state beyond ordinances and above duties in which men are apt in a mist of imaginary perfection to lose their way to that real perfection of righteousnesse and blessednesse which believers enjoy in Christ Jesus according to the Gospel Col. 1.28 G These words as I conceive in a sound Scripture sence may be admitted for it is certain that our Lord Christ doth communicate himself wholly to believers according to their place and use in his body and will do so till at the last he fill them with all the fulnesse of God yet is it not to be admitted for truth that the divine nature is communicated to our flesh as it was to his own that is to say after the self same manner If Mr Dell decline this sence of his words I will not presse it or the dangerous consequences of it upon him If he own it I see not how he can avoid the avowing of believers to be God even as our Lord Christ is God which I hope he will not affirm H It seems to me by these words that Mr Dell either hath not learned or which I rather think doth not like the Protestant doctrine of justification justified by so many of our worthies against Popish advocates Protestant Divines generally having learned from the Apostle Paul that Justification is verbum forense a word taken from humane judicatories and opposed to comdemnation Rom. 8.33,34 Do teach that we are justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus But Mr Dell here teacheth that we are justified by Christs living in us his own life and by his righteousnesse even the righteousnesse of God dwelling in us which as I know it not to be down-right Popery so I am sure it coasteth much nearer upon Popish then upon Protestant which I trust I may call Scripture doctrine since it acknowledgeth the righteousnesse whereby believers are justified to be resident in their own persons which is a position very wide from the apprehension of Protestants who believe that we are justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus I This exhortation directed to believers as to the matter of it is very sound and good But I would ask to what persons Mr Dell intends to give this exhortation If to the persons of believers he would perswade us that there are none such for he teacheth that believers have lost their own personality and are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God Sect. 11. B C And I believe M Dell doth not look upon the person of the Son of God as one that needs his exhortation SECT XV. And the life I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God A ANd here note in the first place That Paul sometimes saith Christ lives in him and sometimes that He lives I live saith he yet not I but Christ lives in me and again The life I live The life I live saith he of that very life which Christ lived in him All which shows the near Vnion and Communion betwixt Christ and a believer Christ and a true Christian being so much one that what the one doth the other may be truly said to do B So that as God and Christ were so united that the very works of God in Christ sometimes were attributed to God and sometimes to Christ as is manifest in divers places in the Gospel and it made no difference whether they were attributed to God in Christ or to Christ in God Just so it is betwixt Christ and believers who are as nearly united as God and Christ as Christ himself whom we may safely believe affirms in Joh. 14.20 saying In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you C In that day that is when the Spirit is given and comes into the heart which makes the true Lords-day in a believer in that day when the Spirit is the light whereby we see and know aright all the things of God in that Day Ye shall know this great mystery which the World and the Worldly Church cannot know but will be greatly offended at it when they hear it to wit that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you D And in John 17.21 Christ who was heard in all things in his last solemn prayer for his elect Church in the dayes of his flesh intreats his Father that this may be accomplished in all the Believers praying that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us From which Scriptures we may see and perceive that as Christ is in the Father and the Father in Him so Believers are in Christ and Christ in Them And hereupon the works of Believers are sometimes attributed to Christ and sometimes to Them And it is no matter whether they be attributed to Christ in them or to Them in Christ seeing it is Christ in believers that is all and doth all and hath the Glory of all E Now this Vse we who are believers may make of this to wit that it is our Dutie so to live in Christ that every part of our life may be attributed to Him and may be such that Christ may not be ashamed to own it but that it may be a praise to Christ He doing all in us and we doing nothing but in him and of him and for him ANIMADVERSION 15. A THe former part of this paragraph in a sound sence is true but that Christ and a Christian are made so much one that what the one doth the other may be said to do being laid down by Mr Dell as universally and without all limitation true is an
anti-scriptural and anti-evangelical position For do not believers find a law in their members rebelling against the law of their minde and leading them captive to the law of sin which is in their members Doth Christ so too Do not believers groane in their earthly tabernacles desiring to be cloathed with their house which is from heaven Doth our Lord Christ so too Doth not our Saviour ever live to make intercession for his people and to save all those to the uttermost who come to God by him Do all believers so too I cannot but believe that Mr Del hath limitations in store for this boundlesse position though he omitted to expresse them at the publishing thereof B That it is just so between Christ and believers as it is between God the Father and Christ and that believers are as nearly united to Christ as God and Christ cannot be truly affirmed unlesse Christ the eternal Word and Son of God and believers be one God essentially or that God and Christ be not one God essentially neither of which positions I hope Mr Dell will adhere unto upon deliberation The words of our Saviour whom we may safely nay whom we must surely believe which are here alledged by Mr. Dell speak not home to his affirmation For we may know and believe that Christ is in the Father as being together with him one God blessed for ever and that believers are in Christ as members of his mystical body and that Christ is in them by his spirit which dwelleth in them and yet neither know nor believe that it is just between Christ and believers as between God and Christ and that Christ and believers are as nearly united as God and Christ which are high affirmations and very strange and dangerous C Whether this be not close girding at the conscionable observation of the weekly Lords day let Mr Dell judge D In John 17.21 it appeareth that our Saviour prayed and was no doubt heard therein that all believers might be brought into a blessed unity amongst themselves in God and the Lord Christ through the Spirit of God which is given unto them 1 John 3.24 By the inhabitation of which Spirit of God in believers it cometh to passe that as the Father is in the Lord Christ and Christ in the Father in a divine unity so believers become one amongst themselves in the Father and the Lord Christ in a blessed spiritual unity and so united they are one as to the truth though not to the manner and degree of unity as the Father and the Lord Christ are one This is all for ought I see which can be perceived from the Scripture alledged by Mr Dell which falleth very short of his purpose and doctrine or if our Saviours words John 17.21,22 be to be understood of that celestial unity which is between the Father the Son and Believers through the reciprocal actings of special love to which sence the 23. verse seems to give countenance our Lords words admit of a clear interpretation without the least intimation of the same or as near a union through the Word or Godhead of our Saviour between him and believers as is between him and the Father E Doth not Mr Dell here forget himself whilest he mindeth believers so to live that Christ may not be ashamed to own every part of their lives for this intimateth that believers may possibly so live that Christ may be ashamed to own some part of their lives and then in those parts of their lives at least believers must needs be distinct persons from the eternal Word and Son of God which is plainly and confidently denied by Mr Dell Sect. 11. B C SECT XVI And the life I live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the flesh This Paul speaks to shew that the life he lived after he was a Believer was not out of the flesh in the Religion of Angels in strange Raptures and Revelations and in high and wonderful things above himself but that the life he lived in Christ and Christ lived in him was in the flesh that is in his humane soul and body A There are a sort of People which also have been Professors of the Gospel so deluded by the Devil that they say they live the life of Christ yea a life far above Christ in the Spirit and that they live immediately in God and have often visions of and intercourse with Angels whilst yet these very people live the life of sin and Satan in the flesh in all manner of filthinesse and uncleannesse and loosenesse and abominable prophanesse B Wherefore saith Paul I live the life of Christ in the flesh in this soul and body of mine I live in the flesh but not after the lusts and requiring of the flesh but I live Christs life in my own flesh in all righteousnesse holinesse cleannesse purity meeknesse goodnesse love patience heavenlinesse this is the life I now live in the flesh 2. Note hence again That the life of Christ is to fill a Christian not his spirit only but his flesh it is to fill his soul and his senses his inward and outward man his thoughts words works and his whole conversation the life of Christ is to fill them all C The life of Christ is first communicated to the spirit of our minde there it is first kindled and rooted and from thence by degrees it spreads it self into the flesh and to this the flesh is most unwilling but at last the Spirit overcomes the flesh and leads it forth into its own righteousnesse and life Vse 1. D And hence we may learn that our present natural life doth not hinder us but that we may live a spiritual and heavenly life or the very life of Christ in our flesh if we be true Belivers Wherefore Paul elsewhere speaking of Believers saith the Father hath quickned us with Christ and raised us up together with him and set us in heavenly places in him and that whilst we live a Natural life according to the body E So that here in this present world we may partake of eternal life and may live not in notion but in deed the life of the Spirit in the flesh and the life of heaven on earth and the life of the Son of God in our humanity if we do not deprive our selves of so great happinesse through unbelief Vse 2. F Again we may learn hence That the life of the Son of God is not to be confined only to that Humanity that was born of the blessed Virgin which was the Head of the Elect but that it extends it self to all true believers in whom Christ lives as in his own flesh as Paul saith Christ lives in me even in my flesh which through this life of Christ in it became Christs more then Pauls So that the life of the Son of God is communicated truly to all the faithful and is to be seen in their flesh in some measure as well as in his in all fulnesse as the
and in all fulnesse go into life eternal Mat. 25.46 F That the life of the Son of God is not confined to our Saviours humanity but hath an influence into all believers for the quickning of them vnto God is an acknowledged truth But that the life of the Son of God is communicated to and to be seen in the flesh of believers as in the flesh of Christ with a difference of measure only allowed between Christ and believers is as I take it to ascribe Godhead to believers in measure as to the Lord Christ in fulness which is new and strange doctrine indeed I should be glad to see how Mr Del can avoid the inference for I hope he will not hold to the conclusion Was not the life of the Son of God so communicated to and seen in our Saviours flesh by reason of the union of his natures as that he was God manifested in the flesh Is this to be affirmed of any other I am very loath to conceive that he thinks so though his words seem to speak so much SECT XVII I live through the faith of the Son of God HEre the Apostle shews the way or means how Christ came to live in him and he in Christ and that is through Faith Christ saith he so lives in me that yet I live in the flesh but the life I live in the flesh is not the life of the flesh but I live in the flesh the life of faith in the Son of God Now touching this excellent Grace of Faith much might be said but I shall endeavour to give you the sum of all in as few words as may be And first I shall shew you That the right faith is not any work of ours but it is wholly the work of God in us and therefore it is called by Paul Col. 2.12 Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the operation of God and that according to that mighty power which he put forth in Christ when he raised him from the dead as the same Apostle speaks in Ephes 1.19.20 It was a work of the mighty power of God to unite Christs humane Nature to the Divine though it were wholly free from sin But it is a greater work of power to unite us to God in Christ who are full of sin and yet God doth this through faith in all true Believers as I shall shew in the next place 2. As faith is wrought in us by God and is his constant work in us so this faith doth apprehend God in Christ even the Divine nature of Christ in the Humane and the Son of the living God in the Son of man as the Apostle shews here saying I live by the faith of the Son of God Shewing that the chief thing that faith respects and apprehends in Christ is the Son of God And Peter in 1 Pet. 1.21 saith that the faithful through Christ do believe in God who raised him from the dead A So that that only is true faith which doth apprehend and receive the true God in Jesus Christ And thus from these two things we may in some measure understand the true nature of faith which is nothing but this The Fathers laying hold on us by his Spirit and drawing us to the Son and inabling us to receive the Son and so making us one with the Son to abide and live in him for ever So that through true faith we have the nearest union and conjunction with the Son of the living God that any Creature can have next after the Humanitie of Christ Now from this Vnion which we have with the Son of God through faith do flow many excellent advantages to Believers some of which I shall name now As 1. B Hereby they are made the Sons of God as John saith John 1. As many as received him that is the Word that was with God and was God and was made flesh as many as received him by believing to them he gave power to become the sons of God As that Word or Son of God coming into the Humanity of Christ which was in all things like ours sin excepted gave it authority and power to become the Son of God so the same Word coming into us through Christ gives us power to become the sons of God in him as the fire gives the iron in which it dwels power to be light and hot And so through faith we have not only the Name but also the Nature of Sons For faith uniting us to Christ changeth us into a new Nature and takes from us what we are in regard of sin and makes us what Christ is in regard of righteousnesse and so it makes us new in heart minde will affections ends and in our whole conversation for it brings Gods Nature into ours and this changeth our nature into its own likenesse C so that whatsoever we do or whatever our condition in the world is we shall still carry our selves in all things as the children of God in some demonstration of the Divine Nature 2. D Through this faith in the Son of God we are made not only Sons but Heirs Heirs of God and joynt-Heirs with Christ That as Christ according to his Humane nature being made One with the Son of God by whom and for whom all things were made was in Him made Heir of all things so we through that faith whereby we receive the Son are made Heirs with Christ in such sort that all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are ours whilst we are Christs as all is Christs whilst He is Gods Now this is a very glorious inheritance which as faith onely apprehends so faith onely understands And this inheritance happens to us not through the works of the Law that is not through any outward works of outward righteousnesse whatsoever but through the righteousnesse of faith through which faith we are truly made one with the Son of God in Christ as hath been said and in and with Him do truly inherit both God and the Creature 3. E This true faith carrying us into the Son of God and placing us in him to abide in him doth truly carry us out of the utmost reach of all evil things out of the reach of the Law Sin Death and Hell seeing these can have no place nor presence in the Son of God and though these evils may reach us whilst we dwell in our selves yet we are got out of their reach so far forth as by faith we dwell in Him 4. F This right faith carries us into the Son of God and doth carry us into all his Perfections and Excellencies into his nature and life and righteousnesse and wisdom and power and glory and into all the fulnesse of the Son of the living God and so true faith inriches a Believer in Christ with greater treasure then the heart of a carnal Christian can possibly give credit to for