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
and the faithful in all Ages are filling up the remainders of the sufferings of Christ in his body For believers have all along suffered and do still suffer from the World because God is in them of a truth and the evil done to them is against God himself who dwells in them And against this Rock have all the unbelievers dash'd themselves in pieces all along 4. Christ who lives in believers lives in them like himself that is like the Son of the living God and so those in whom he lives 1. He frees them from their own evil things and 2. He confers upon them all his own good things 1. He frees them from their evil things And in reference to these he lives in them as their Redeemer and Saviour and so Christ within them abolishes the Law takes away sin and destroyes death for none of these things can dwell in his presence in that soul wherein he lives F For he is our new Law to make void the Old and he is our new Righteousnesse to take away sin and our new life to destroy death and the Law Sin and Death can have no place nor power where Christ our new Law Righteousnesse and Life dwels and lives 2. Christ living in believers confers upon them his own good things G For Christ the Son of God hath nothing in himself that is in his Divine nature which he will not communicate to our flesh as he hath done to his own according to our place and use in his body and so he communicates to all those in whom he dwells of all the things of God till at last he fill them with all the fulnesse of God And thus is Christ glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe 5. H If it be Christ the true God that lives in believers then we learn hence what true justification is and that 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 to us and our nature may be taken up into his for we cannot be Justified before God by our own living but by Christs living in us his own life and his righteousnesse which is the righteousnesse of God must dwell in us e're we can be Justified before God I Lastly seeing Christ himself lives in all true believers let us all who professe our selves to be such so live that Christ may be seen to live in us more then our selves that they that have known us may know us no more but may know Christ in us and that they that have communion with us may acknowledge Christ himself speaking working and living his whole life in us in all self-denyall humility holinesse love resignation of our selves to the will of God and in all diligence to do the work of God and readinesse to suffer the will of God for thus Christ lived in his own flesh and thus also he will certainly live in ours if he live there at all and when Christ lives in our flesh as he did in his own something of his glory will be seen upon us Now such a Christian in whom Christ lives and he lives not himself how amiable would he be in the spiritual Church but how unlike would he be to all the men in the world yea to the most Professors in that which is called the visible Church but I proceed to that which follows ANIMADVERSION 14. A MAster Dell should do well to name the men who look for all the life of Christ in his humanity and do not acknowledge that Christ lived truly in Paul and doth live in all the faithful by his spirit If none such appear as I am confident there will not amongst knowing Protestants he might have saved his use of rectification at least wise in respect of them B That Christ the true God is instead of all created habits of grace yea that he is truly all grace unto believers seems to be a position very dissonant from Scripture doctrine and which to my best remembrance I never saw Printed nor heard uttered until now Paul fully distinguished the spirit in believers from the sanctifying graces of believers which he calleth the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22,23 and in divers places he teacheth that the graces flow by way of creation from Christ through his spirit 2 Cor. 5.17 Ephes 2.10 and 4.24 Might the Scriptures be heard I think created graces and Christ in believers would not be opposed or confounded but Christ dwelling in believers by his spirit be acknowledged not to be all grace but the fountain of all created graces in them for of his fulnesse have we all received and unto every one of us is grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 That the Godhead which dwelt in our Saviour was in him instead of all grace as Mr Dell confidently affirmeth needs proof before it be believed The fear of the Lord fiducial hope in God and other holy graces seem plainly according to Scripture doctrine to have been wrought habitually in our Saviours humane nature by the Spirit which was given him without measure Esay 11.2 and 61.1 Acts 10.38 It is quickly affirmed that created habits of grace in a Christian are empty notions and vaine speculations of School-men and of carnal and unbelieving hearts But doubtlesse men of holy and believing hearts have conceived that God in the Scripture makes mention of the habitual grace of righteousnesse wrought by the Lord Christ in his people Phil. 1.11 Eph. 4.24 as also the habitual graces of faith and love 1 Tim. 1.14 Acts 18.27 and of patience James 1.4 and the like flowing all from the Lord Christ as the vine which hath the sap of all grace originally in himself But that the Lord Christ is all grace to a believer I never yet read in any Scripture As to the place here produced by Mr Dell as expresly teaching the same sc 1 Cor. 1.30 I find it not there said that Christ is all grace to a believer nor do I imagine how it should be convincingly argued from that text which as far as I yet see only setteth forth our Saviour as made by God to his believing people the author and object of saving wisdom the treasure of Gods righteousnesse unto justification the root of sanctification through his spirit and the worker of the ful redemption of his people All which may be granted and is believed of those who yet believe that there is habitual operative grace wrought by â—hrist through his Spirit in his believing people enabling them in some measure unto every good work acording to 1 Cor. 15.10 C It is certain that our Lord Christ is the only ground of acceptation with God unto believers but that he is the only acceptable grace to God as Mr Dell here affirmeth is never as I know said in Scripture Love acting towards the Saints is pointed at as acceptable to God Heb. 6.10 and
themselves or are freed by others from the old Law before the new be written in their hearts E But this they understand not that when the new law comes it is a sufficient discharge from the old since the Law of Grace within us is infinitely more powerful to keep us from sin then the Law of Moses without us and the love of righteousnesse and hatred of iniquity put into our hearts by the Spirit is infinitely more able to make us do righteousnesse and avoid sin then any outward commands and threatnings whatsoever And so where the Gospel prevails in truth and power men need not fear the taking away the Law from such men seeing they through the new Law are dead unto the old that they may live unto God F That as the humanity of Christ knew no Law but the presence of the Godhead in it was unto it instead of all Law and it lived unto God by living in God through union and communion with the divine Nature so the Saints God dwelling in them and they in God do by this means live unto God G and God himself who dwels in them is the new law according to which they live they doing all in God and for God and so live unto God indeed And now it follows ANIMADVERSION 3. A THis being a Scripture expression cannot be excepted against if it be not racked to speak contrary to the plain and general tenour of Scripture doctrine It is very considerable what two worthies have written concerning partaking of the divine nature namely Naturam non vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed certas ut ita loquar qualitates quas dei virtus in nobis efficit ut hactenus dei imago simus Nam hoc ipsum postea indicat quum definit naturae divinae participem fieri idem esse atque mundi corruptionem effugisse Itaque non modo impii sed plane etiam ridiculi sunt qui ex hoc loco Divinae essentiae in nos transfusionem imaginantur ut impius ille Servetus praefracte ad mortem usque defendit He cals nature not the very essence but certain qualities as I may so speak which the power of God worketh in us that thus far we may be the Image of God For this very thing he afterwards declares when he defineth to be made partaker of the Divine Nature to be the self same thing which having escaped the corruption of the world Therefore they are not only impious but altogether ridiculous who from this place raise an imagination of the transfusion of the divine essence into us as that wicked Servetus obstinately defended even unto death Beza in 2 Pet. 1.4 Notemus ergo hunc esse Evangelii finem ut aliquando deo conformes reddamur id vero est quasi deificari ut ita loquamur Let us observe that this is the end of the Gospel that we should be at last made conformable unto God that is that we may so speak to be in a kind deified Calv. in Locum B Gospel liberty from the Law according to the Scripture is doubtlesse to be declared as an high priviledge and prerogative of the sons of God and I hope it is so declared by them whom Mr Dell in contempt calleth ignorant and carnal Christians in the former page Rom. 2.1 Freedom of heart unto the Law as a divine rule is as I take it a great part of Gospel liberty from the Law as a yoak of bondage Do not these Scriptures teach as much Rom. 6.14,15,16 and 7.22 Psal 119.45 James 1.25 It is an high priviledge of the Gospel and an excellent prerogative and branch of the glorious liberty of the sons of God to be set free from sin made the servants of God to have their fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life Rom. 6.21 The sons of God established with his full spirit cannot but speak in Davids language I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Psal 119.32 C It is dangerous and unwarrantable distinguishing upon the Scriptures without the Scriptures If that liberty be indulged unto men they will have a bridle in the mouth of Scripture to make it turn and speak at pleasure Evill doers without distinction are made the objects of Magistratical restraint Rom. 13.4 1 Pet. 2.14 And the corrupters of Gods truth and worship are expresly called evil doers Phil. 3.2 When therefore men manifestly appear to be such they cannot plead or expect exemption from magistratical restraint by Scripture authority The Parliament hath lately published an Act against blasphemy and revived and enlarged some Acts for the due observation of the Lords Day and I think therein have discharged a duty which belongs to Christian Magistrates Should any attempt to introduce surcisme Paganisme Judaisme or Socinianisme into our Land would the governours thereof do well like Gallio to sit down and care for none of these things would they be able to satisfie their conscience that they did satisfie their duty towards God in case they should look on stand still and cry God help I think there are few who would have a face though it be much to be feared that many have a heart to professe so much which is the necessary result of Mr Dells principles Blessed be God that the present heads of our State in Parliament by what they have lately done about the Turkish Alcaron and the Sociman Catechism towards the suppressing of them have declared themselves to be of more sound judgement I cannot yet otherwise apprehend but that they who hold that Magistrates may not at all Judg and do justice in case of manifest immediate injury done to God are not through strength of reason but by reason of the Magistrates strength only held to an acknowledgement that they may Judge and do justice in point of injury towards men For the reason taken from Gods being alwayes present in the world as moderatour and governour himself to prove that he is the immediate Judge in all things that immediately concern himself and his kingdom being pressed home will prove him to be immediate Judg also in all things pertaining to Judgement and Justice amongst men seeing his throne is in the heavens and his kingdom rules overall and so a fair way will be made to an utter extirpation of Magistracy from the very foundations And as for tender-hearted Magistrates who may be staggered at the use of their power for the suppressing of such as in the judgement of their conscience regulated by the word of God are manifest and pernicious offenders in such affairs as immediately concern God and his kingdom I would offer these things briefly to their judicious consideration 1. That the tendernesse of good Magistrates to act for God will breed no tendernesse in evil Magistrates to act against God when they have power in their hands 2. That the abuse of Magistratical authority by evil men doth not make that authority void in the hands of good
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
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
of sin in believers and the then refining purifying and spiritualizing of their humane life and faculties by the spirit of Christ unto a new life of holinesse wherein Christ may be truly said to live in them and they to live to God but that the native intent of Mr Dels words here looks to a much higher and his after words in this book contain a plain and peremptory refusal of so low a sense K Paul in the place here alledged Rom. 7. teacheth that the condemning and sin irritating power of the Law ceaseth towards those who are spiritually dead with Christ which is no doubt a branch of their true freedom from the Law acknowledged and joyed in by those whom Mr Dell sleights as Jewish zelots what more Mr Dell fetcheth from that Scripture is of his own putting into it as I think L It is an acknowledged truth that they who are crucified with Christ are freed from sin and the indwelling of the Gospel Col. 3.16 James 1.18 together with the spirit of Christ carrieth on this blessed freedom in them If this would content Mr Dell he might have the company of his brethren in the old way of truth But if this seem too low for him he must not think strange that he obtains not general applause amongst men of understanding in his sublime notions M Sin hath not its full power in the humane life of believers as is here affirmed by Mr Dell and this the texts here produced by himself do infallibly prove which teach that the old man of sin is crucified in believers to be destroyed and the dominion of it removed from them and therefore it doth not retain its fulpower in their humane life in any sence N If Christ and sin cannot live together in strength which I believe Then sin hath not its ful power in their humane life in whom Christ lives which yet Mr Dell in this same paragraph hath affirmed Ipse viderit O Hath a believer two fleshes then one Christs another his own I take it that the Scripture teacheth the direct contrary namely That a believer hath but one flesh or body in property of speech which is a member of Christ the temple of the holy Ghost and as to right of possession not his own 1 Cor. 6.15,19,20 Colos 2.1.5 In which body or flesh of a believer death reigneth not in any sence though as an enemie bodily death shall for a while imprison it in the grave 1 Cor 15.25,26 P The Devil finds so much corruption in Christs crucified ones that he too often prevaileth by temptation to lead them into sin Gal 6.1 1 John 2.1,2 Now sin is very hurtful to the people of God at least in point of comfort Psal 51.8,12 the Devil therefore whatever Mr Dell saith can do Christs crucified ones harm though not destroy them Q This is plainly opposite to Scripture doctrine namely That the flesh which is crucified with Christ is the old man Rom. 6.6 which lusteth contrary to Christ and his spirit Gal. 5.17 and therefore cannot possibly be Christs own flesh as Mr Dell here affirms R Let Mr Dell shew one Scripture which teacheth that the flesh which is crucified in believers is the flesh of the second Adam Believers themselves not the flesh which is crucified in them are intended by the Apostle when he writes that we are of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 S Mr Dell should produce that Scripture which calleth the flesh which is crucified in a believer the temple and habitation of God As to the text here alledged it speaketh to and of the persons of believers themselves not of the flesh crucified in them which are things of a very different consideration as all know who know any thing of Scripture doctrine T That flesh which is crucified in believers doth never keep the true sabbath understanding thereby as Mr Dell doth a ceasing from our own works of sin but it opposeth the keeping of that sabbath continually Gal. 5.17 Eph. 2.3 V Let Mr Dell shew a Scripture which speaketh any of these things of the flesh crucified in believers which are in this place heaped together by him Indeed all that is here said is true of believers in whom the flesh is crucified But believers and the flesh crucified in them are things as much different as Saints and the body of death in them which I think no rational Christian can mistake for the same thing W In direct opposition to this position it is as apparant as the noon-light that the flesh which is crucified in a believer in the reliques of it which are daily to be mortified Col. 3.5 doth by all possible means oppose suffering for Gods name Rom. 8.7 and a believer so far as he is inabled by the spirit of God to mortifie the deeds of the body and resist the lusts of the flesh which is crucified in him so far he is carried on in cheerful readinesse to bear the crosse of Christ and no further Is it possible that Mr Dell should all along mistake the flesh crucified in believers for believers themselves in whom the flesh is crucified If that may be imagined to be his meaning contrary to his words I would then say of the difference between Mr Dels strange positions concerning the crucified flesh and the doctrine of other Divines what Austin spake de predestinatione Dei cap. 5. in another case If the book be his His oppositionibus in literatura nulla est reconciliatio in intelligentia nulla est repugnantia There is no reconciling of these oppositions in word no repugnancy between them in deed X If Mr Dell had minded the old language and doctrine of the Scriptures he would never I think have broken out into these new and strange commendations of the flesh crucified in believers A little Scripture proof amidst this confident affirming would do wel Y Mr Dell should shew a Scripture which affirmeth that the flesh crucified in believers hath the very glory of Jesus Christ upon it which is a position so new and strange that it needs to be well proved before it be received The flesh which is crucified in believers is called the old man and the body of sin Rom. 6.6 which hath no part nor portion in the glory of Jesus Christ Z This position of Mr Dell is clearly opposite to the form of Scripture doctrine which teacheth that the flesh in believers is crucified with Christ to be more and more mortified in them till it be utterly destroyed and therefore it cannot possibly be the subject of the glorious resurrection And to take the mortal body of a believer which shall be the subject of the glorious resurrection 1 Cor. 15.44 for the flesh which is crucified in him and in reference whereunto he is said to be crucified with Christ seems to be such a mistake as no man could be subject to who taketh any heed to the old language of the Scripture A If we be dead with Christ
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
The Apostle used this form of speech that he might shew that as a garment is a different thing from him that putteth it on so also the old and new man are different things from us who put off one wherewith we were clothed and again put on the other which before we had not upon us I take it that Austins words are fully consonant to Scripture doctrine Sit igitur in primis positum atque firmatum virtutem quâ rectè vivitur ab animi sede membris corporis imperare sanctumque corpus usu fieri sanctae voluntatis Let this be in the first place laid down and firmly held unto that the vertue whereby a man lives well commandeth over the members of the body from the throne of the minde and that the body is made holy by the use of a holy will Aug. de civ dei lib. 1. cap. 16. B By the words of the Apostle it doth appear that a Christian crucified with Christ as to the life of the old man liveth not unto God from a principle of life which is properly his own or from himself but from a principle of life which he hath from Christ and in Christ namely from the spirit of Christ which dwelleth in all his But that a believer loseth his personality by being crucified with Christ it appeareth not from this or any other Scripture that I know That through faith a believers soul and body live no more any proper life of their own but are taken up into the nature and person of the Son of God understanding these words according to Mr Dels explication Sect. 13. D that Christ in a believer is not the flesh of Christ for that being a creature can be but in one place at a time but this Christ is the Eternal Word and Son of the living God the power wisdom and righteousnesse of God and the true God and eternal life seems to me a very dreadful position For if a believers soul and body be taken up into the nature and person of Christ the Son of God in distinction from his flesh then he must needs in nature and person be the Son of God and the true God as our Lord Jesus Christ is which I am not willing to believe that Mr Dell will positively and plainly affirm though his words evidently speak so much Whereas it is here further asserted by Mr Dell that in Christ a believer subsists lives and acts as a member in the man the branch in the Vine that is acknowledged in a Scripture sence sc that a believer hath his spiritual life wholly in Christ and from Christ as his head and mediatour through his spirit as a member hath its life from a man and a branch from the Vine but from hence to conclude that a believer through faith doth lose his personality and lives in the person personality of the Son of God is utterly inconsequent for though a believer doth retain his humane nature and personality and doth truly live and subsist in the same yet is it likewise true that that person subsists lives and acts in Christ as to the life of God in him as a member in the man or as a branch in the Vine C This assertion here reiterated by Mr Dell that a believer after faith comes is no more a person distinct from Christ needs not again to be proposed peremptorily but to be proved sufficiently by Scripture and me thinks those words so far as he is gathered up into Christ do utterly overthrow the former assertion and prove that a believer in some degree or respect is not gathered up into Christ and therefore must needs be a person distinct from Christ If here be not contradictio in adjecto a contrariety in the end to the beginning of this sentence I am much mistaken D I utterly deny and doubt not but the Scripture will bear me out in it that a believer though admitted to be a distinct person from Christ is within the reach and power of death and hell for the humane person of a believer being by faith and the Spirit united unto Christ as his member truly and yet mystically is through Christ as his head and mediatour fully put out of the reach of death and hell and of the Law and sin as binding over thereunto so that if the law sin death or the Devil come to a believer to accuse terrifie or condemn him he by reason of his most real and near union into Christ may reply in truth and say It is not I I am not I I am through faith a member of Christ I am in him and of him If you have any thing to say say it to Christ my head and mediatour for I am a member of his and do live in him And this doctrine I doubt not is as full and effectual as what Mr Dell here suggests to bring on that conclusion in regard of believers that none can lay any thing to their charge but what Christ hath taken upon himself and overcome for them and so the law sin hell and the Devil can as soon prevail against Christ as against them who are so nearly joyned to him as to be one flesh and spirit with him in a Scripture sence much different from the mind and meaning of Mr Dell in this point E Those words being not overstrained beyond Scripture meaning are very true and good and conformable to the judgment of those who judg Mr Dels doctrine of a believers having no personality but in the person of the Son of God to be very unsound and dangerous Indeed if we were persons by our selves that is persons not united unto Christ as our head and mediatour we should be very miserable but blessed be the Lord though we know believers to be distinct persons from Christ yet we also know them to be persons spiritually and mystically united unto and even into Christ as their head being made parts of that body which is his fulnesse who filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 and that is unto them matter of everlasting and invincible rejoycing F Where to look this place in Luthers works I know not but upon what I know of the general tenour of Luthers doctrine I dare adventure the reproach of a grosse mistake if the words being duly weighed do import more then this that all personal works worth merit and righteousnesse is to be wholly disclaimed by those who partake of the spiritual benefits of Christ And this is very sweet Gospel doctrine assuredly which hath no affinity with Mr Dels new paradox G Agreed if these words be taken in the plain Scripture sence of them there is no doubt but for the escaping of eternal evils and obtaining eternal good things believers must be taken up into Christ and found in him not having their own righteousness but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 at what time they may in their particulars
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
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