of Grace and Truth said to be in Christ consists either in the Doctrine of the Gospel or in the Largeness of his Church In the latter that Faith in Christ is nothing but Believing the Gospel and the Authority of Christ who revealed it and by yielding Obedience whereunto we are justified before God on the account of an internal inherent Righteousness in our selves Now these are no small Undertakings the first of them being expressely contrary to the sence of the Catholick Church in all Ages For the Pelagians and the Socinians are by common Agreement excluded from an Interest therein And the latter of them contrary to the plain Confessions of all the Reformed Churches with the constant Doctrine of this Church of England and therefore we may justly expect that they should be managed with much strength of Argument and evident Demonstration But the Unhappiness of it is I will not say his but ours that these are not things which our Author as yet hath accustomed himself unto and I cannot but say that to my knowledge I never read a more weak loose and impertinent Discourse upon so weighty Subjects in my whole Life before He must have little to doe who can afford to spend his Time in a particular Examination of it unless it be in the Exposition of those places which are almost Verbatim transcribed out of Schlictingius Besides for the first Truth which he opposeth I have confirmed it in a Discourse which I suppose may be made publick before this come to View beyond what I expect any sober Reply unto from him Some Texts of Scripture that mention a Fulness in Christ he chooseth out to manifest to speak a Word by the way that indeed they do not intend any such Fulness in Christ himself And the first is Joh. 1.16 The Exposition whereof which he gives is that of Schlictingius who yet extends the import of the words beyond what he will allow The Enforcement which he gives unto his Exposition by comparing the 14 and 17 Verses with the 16. is both weak and contradictory of it self For the words of the 14 Verse are The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth It is evident beyond contradiction that the Expression full of Grace and Truth is Exegetical of his Glory as the only begotten of the Father which was the Glory of his Person and not the Doctrine of the Gospel And for the opposition that is made between the Law given by Moses and the Grace and Truth which came by Jesus Christ I shall yet rather adhere to the sense of the Ancient Church and the most Eminent Doctors of it which if he knows not it to be concerning the Effectual Communication of real renewing sanctifying Grace by Jesus Christ there are â—now who can inform him rather than that woeful gloss upon them his Doctrine is called Grace because accompanyed with such Excellent Promises and may well be called Truth because so agreeable to the Natural Notions of Good and Evil which is the Confession of the Pelagian unbelief but these things are not my present concernment For the latter part of his Discourse in his opposition unto the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ as he doth not go about once to state or declare the sense wherein it is pleaded for nor produceth any one of the Arguments wherewith it is confirmed and omitteth the mention of most of the particular Testimonies which declare and establish it so as unto those few which he takes notice of he expresly founds his Answers unto them in that woful Subterfuge that if they are capable of another Interpretation or having another sense given unto them then nothing can be concluded from them to that purpose by which the Socinians seek to shelter themselves from all the Testimonies that are given to his Deity and Satisfaction But I have no concernment as I said either in his Opinions or his way of Reasoning and do know that those who have so need not desire a better Cause nor an easier Adversary to deal withall In his third Section pag. 279. he enters upon his exceptions unto the Union of Believers unto Jesus Christ and with great modesty at the entrance of his Discourse tells us First how these men with whom he hath to doe have fittted the Person of Christ unto all the wants and necessities of the sinner which yet if he denies God himself to have done he is openly injurious unto his Wisdom and Grace The very first Promise that was given concerning him was that he should save sinners from all their wants evils and miseries that might did or could befall them by the entrance of sin But thus it falls out when men will be talking of what they doe not understand Again he adds how he hath Explained the Scripture Metaphors whereby the Union between Christ and Christians is represented but that these men in stead of explaining of those Metaphors turn all Religion into an Allegory But what if one should now tell him that his Explanation of these Metaphors is the most absurd and irrational and argues the most fulsome ignorance of the Mystery of the Gospel that can be imagined and that on the other side those whom he traduceth doe explain them unto the understanding and experience of all that believe and that in a way suited and directed unto by the Holy Ghost himself to farther their Faith Obedience and Consolation as far as I perceive he would be at no small loss how to relieve himself under this censure The first thing he begins withal and wherein in the first place I fall under his Displeasure is about the Conjugal Relation between Christ and Believers which he treats of pag. 280. As for Example saith he Christ is called an Husband the Church his Spouse and now all the invitations of the Gospel are Christ's wooing and making love to his Spouse and what other men call believing the Gospel of Christ whereby we devote our selves to his Service these men call that consent and contract which makes up the Marriage betwixt Christ and Believers Christ takes us for his Spouse and we take Christ for our Husband and that with all the Solemnities of Marriage except the Ring which is left out as an Antichristian Ceremony Christ saying thus This is that we will consent unto that I will be for thee and thou shalt be for me and not for another Christ gives himself to the Soul with all his Excellencies Righteousness Preciousness Graces and Eminencies to be its Saviour Head and Husband to dwell with it in this Holy Relation and the Soul likes Christ for his Excellencies Graces Suitableness farr above all other Beloveds whatsoever and accepts of Christ by the Will for its Husband Lord and Saviour And thus the Marriage is compleated and this is the Day of Christs Espousals and of the Gladness of his Heart
Light as God is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and then the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins 1 John Chap. 1. v. 6 7. And our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word and Works could not discover as you heard above And he is the only way wherein we must walk with God and we receive all our strength from him and he makes us bold and confident too having removed the Guilt of Sin that now we may look Justice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door all our Debts being discharged by Christ as these bold Acquaintances and Familiars of Christ use to speak And in Christ we design the same End that God doth which is the Advancement of his own Glory that is I suppose by trusting unto the Expiation and Righteousness of Christ for Salvation without doing any thing our selves we take Care that God shall not be wronged of the Glory of his free Grace by a Competition of any Merits and Deserts of our own What the Author affiâ—ms to be the sum of my Discourse in that Place which indeed he doth not transcribe is as to his Affirmation of it as contrary to God as Darkness is to Light or Death to Life or Falshood to the Truth that is it is Flagitiously false That there is any Agreement with God or walking with God for any Men who have no Personal Righteousness of their own but are contrary to God c. I never thought I never wrote nor any thing that should give the least Countenance unto a suspicion to that Purpose The necessity of an Habitual and Actual Personal Inherent Righteousness of Sanctification and Holiness of Gospel-Obedience of Fruitfulness in Good Works unto all who intend to walk with God or come to the Enjoyment of him I have asserted and proved with other manner of Arguments than this Author is acquainted withal The Remainder of his Discourse in this Place is composed of Immorality and Profaneness To the First I must refer his Charge that our only Acquaintance with God and Knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his Word could not discover as he again expresseth it pag. 98 99. But that the Reverend Doctor confessed the plain Truth that their Religion is wholly owing to an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from his Gospel had they not first grown acquainted with his Person which is plainly false I own no Knowledge of God nor of Christ but what is revealed in the Word as was before declared And unto the other Head belongs the most of what ensues For what is the intendment of those Reproaches which are cast on my supposed Assertions Christ is the only way wherein or whereby we must walk with God Yes so he says I am the way there is no coming to God but by me he having consecrated for us in himself a New and Living Way of drawing nigh to God We receive all our strength from him Yes For he says without me ye can do nothing He makes us bold and confident also having removed the Guilt of Sin So the Apostle tells us Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. What then What followes upon these plain Positive Divine Assertions of the Scripture Why then we may look Jâ—stice in the Face and whet our Knife at the Counter-Door Goodly Son of the Church of England Not that I impuâ—e these Profane Scoffings unto the Church iâ—self which I shall never do untill it be discovered that the Rulers of it do give approbation to such Abominations But I would mind the Man of his Relation to that Church which to my Knowledge teacheth better Learning and Manners From pag. 57. to the End of his second Section pag. 75. he giveth us a Scheme of Religion which in his Scoffing Language he says Men Learn from an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ and affirms that there needs no more to Expose it to Scorn with considering Men than his proposal of it which therein he owns to be his Design I know not any peculiar concernment of mine therein until he comes towards the Close of it which I shall particularly consider But the Substance of the Religion which he thus avowedly attempts to expose to scorn is the Doctrine of God's Eternal Election of his Infinite Wisdom in sending his Son to declare his Righteousness for the forgiveness of Sins or in satisfying his Justice that Sin might be pardoned to the praise of the Glory of his Grace of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto them thaâ— do believe of a sence of Sin Humiliation for it looking unto Christ for Life and Salvation as the Israelites looked up to the Brasen Serpent in the Wilderness of going to Christ by Faith for healing our Natures and cleansing our sins with some other Doctrines of the same Importance These are the Principles which according to his Ability he Sarcastically traduceth and endeavoureth to reflect Scorn upon by the false Representation of some of them and debasing others with an intermixture of Vile and Profane Expressions It is not impossible but that some or other may judge it their Duty to rebuke this horrible and yet were it not for the Ignorance and Profaneness of some men's minds every way contemptible Petulancy For my part I have other things to do and shall only add that I know no other Christian State in the World wherein such Discourses would be allowed to pass under the signature of Publick Authority Only I wish the Author more Modesty and Sobriety than to attempt or suppose he shall succeed in exposing to Scorn the avowed Doctrine in general of the Church wherein he Lives and which hath in the parts of it been asserted and defended by the Greatest and most Learned Prelates thereof in the foregoing Ages such as Jewel Whitgift Abbot Morton Usher Hall Davenant Prideaux c. With the most Learned Persons of its Communion as Reynolds Whittaker Hooker Sutcliff c. and others innumerable testified unto in the Name of this Church by the Divines sent by Publick Authority to the Synod of Dort taught by the Principal Practical Divines of this Nation and maintained by the most Learned of the Dignified Clergy at this Day He is no doubt at Liberty to dissent from the Doctrine of the Church and of all the Learned Men thereof But for a young Man to suppose that with a few loose idle words he shall expose to Scorn that Doctrine which the persons mentioned and others innumerable have not only explained confirmed and defended with pains indefatigable all kind of Learning and Skill Ecclesiastical Philosophical and Theological in Books and Volumes which the Christian World as yet knoweth peruseth and prizeth but also lived long in fervent Prayers to God for the Revelation of his Mind and Truth unto them and in the Holy Practice of Obedience suited unto
Christ these are they that I own whom you so despised and abhorred and see their Works following them this and that they have done when you wallowed in your Abominations Math. 25.42 43. 2. The Conversion of others 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that wherein they speak against you as Evil Doers beholding your good works they may Glorify God in the day of Visitation Mat. 5.17 Even Revilers Persecutors Evil speakers have been overcome by the Constant holy walking of Professors and when their Day of Visitation hath come have Glorified God on that Account 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 3. The Benefit of all Partly in keeping of Judgments from the Residue of Men as ten good Men would have preserved Sodom Partly by their real Communication of Good to them with whom they have to do in their Generation Holiness makes a man a Good Man Useful to all and others eat of the Fruits of the Spirit that he brings forth continually 4. It is Necessary in respect of the State and Condition of Justified Persons and that whether you consider their Relative State of acceptation or their State of Sanctification 1. They are Accepted and received into Friendship with an Holy God a God of Purer Eys than to behold Iniquity who hates every unclean thing And is it not Necessary that they should be Holy who are admitted into his Presence walk in his Sight yea lie in his Bosom should they not with all Diligence cleanse themselves from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2. In respect of Sanctification we have in us a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This New Creature is fed cherished nourished kept alive by the Fruits of Holiness to what End hath God given us New Hearts and New Creatures Is it that we should kill them stifle the Creature that is found in us in the Womb That we should give him to the Old Man to be devoured 5. It is necessary in respect of the proper place of Holiness in the New Covenant and that is twofold 1. Of the Means unto the End God hath appointed that Holiness shall be the Means the Way to that Eternal Life which as in it self and Originally is his Gift by Jesus Christ so with regard to his Constitution of our Obedience as the Means of attaining it is a reward and God in bestowing of it a Rewarder Though it be neither the Cause Matter nor Condition of our Justification yet it is the Way appointed of God for us to Walk in for the obtaining of Salvation And therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life purifies himself as He is pure and none shall ever come to that End who walketh not in the Way for without Holiness it is impossible to see God 2. It is a Testimony and Pledge of Adoption a sign and Evidence of Grace that is of Acceptation with God And 3. The whole Expression of our Thankfulness Now there is not one of all these Causes and Reasons of the Necessity the indispensible necessity of our Obedience good Works and Personal Righteousness but would require a more large Discourse to unfold and explain than I have allotted to the Proposal of them all And innumerable others there are of the same import that I cannot name He that upon these Accounts doth not think Universal Holiness and Obedience to be of indispensible necessity unless also it be exalted into the Room of the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ let him be filthy still I confess this whole Discourse proceedeth on the Supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us for our Justification And herein I have as good Company as the Prelacy and whole Church of England can afford Sundry from among them having written large Discourses in its Confirmation and the rest having till of late approved of it in others I wish this Man or any of his Companions in Design would undertake the answering of Bishop Downham on this Subject No Man ever carried this Matter higher than Luther nor did he in all his writings more positively and plainly contend for it than in his Comment on the Epistle to the Galatians Yet was that Book translated into English by the Approbation of the then Bishop of London who also prefixed himself a Commendatory Epistle unto it The judgment of Hooker we have heard before But what need I mention in particular any of the rest of those Great and Learned Names who have made famous the profession of the Church of England by their writings throughout the World Had this Man in their days treated this Doctrine with his present scoffing Petulancy he had scarce been Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane much less filled with such hopes and expectations of future Advancements as it is not impossible that he is now possessed with upon his memorable Atchievments But on this supposition I do first appeal to the Judgment of the Church of England it self as to the Truth of the Doctrine delivered in my Discourse and the Principles which this Man proceedeth on in his Exceptions against it 2. Though it be but a part of a Popular Discourse and never intended for Scholastick Accuracy yet as to the Assertions contained in it I challenge this Author to take and allow the ordinary usual sence of the Words with the open Design of them and to answer them when he can And. 3. In the mean time I appeal unto every indifferent Reader whether the mere perusal of this whole Passage do not cast this Man's Futilous Cavils out of all Consideration so that I shall content my self with very few Remarques upon them First upon my asserting the necessity of Good Works he adds A very suspicious Word which methinks these Men should be afraid to name And why so We do acknowledge that we do not seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law We design not our Personal Justification by them nor to merit Life or Salvation but betake our selves unto what even Bellarmine himself came to at Last as the safest Retreat namely the Merits and Righteousness of Christ. But for Attendance unto them Performance of them and fruitfulness in them we are not afraid nor ashamed at any Time to enter into Judgment with them by whom we are traduc'd And as I have nothing to say unto this Author who is known unto me only by that Portraicture and Character which he hath given of himself in this Book which I could have wished for his own sake had been drawn with a mixture of more Lines of Truth and Modesty so I know there are not a few who in the Course of a Vain Worldly Conversation whilst there is scarce a Back or Belly of a Disciple of Christ that blesseth God upon the account of their Bounty or Charity the Footsteps of Levity Vanity Scurrility and Prophaneness being moreover left upon all the Paths of their haunt are wont to declaim about Holiness
almost nothing that Christ hath done but we are said to do it with him we are Crucifyed with him we are Dead with him Buried with him Quickned together with him In the actings of Christ there is by Vertue of the Compact between him as Mediator and the Father such an assured Foundation laid that by Communication of the Fruit of these Actings unto those in whose stead he performed them they are said in the participation of these Fruits to have done the same things with him But he is quite out in the reason of these Expressions which is not that we are accounted to do the same things which Christ did for the things here mentioned belong to the peculiar Office of his Mediation which he told us before were not reckoned as done by us but because we do somethings like them our dying to Sin is a Conformity to the Death of Christ and our walking in newness of Life is our Conformity to his Resurrection and the consideration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ is very powerful to engage us to dye to Sin and to rise unto a new Life and this is the true Reason of these Phrases Any man may perceive from what he is pleased here himself to report of my words that I was not treating about the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which he is now inveighing against And it will be much more evident unto every one that shall cast an eye on that discourse but the design of this confused rambling I have been forc'd now frequently to give an account of and shall if it be possible trouble the Reader with it no more The present difference between us which he was ambitious to represent is only this that whereas it seems he will allow that those expressions of our being crucified with Christ dead with him buried with him quickned with him doe intend nothing but only our doing of something like unto that which Christ did I doe adde moreover that we doe those things by the vertue and efficacy of the Grace which is communicated unto us from what the Lord Christ so did and acted for us as the Mediator of the New Covenant whereby alone we partake of their power communicate in their vertue and are conformed unto him as our Head wherein I know I have as the Testimony of the Scripture so the Judgement of the Catholick Church of Christ on my side and am very little concerned in the censure of this person that I am quite out in the reason of those expressions For what remains of his Discourse so far as I am concerned in it it is made up of such Expositions of some Texts of Scripture as issue for the most part in a direct contradiction to the Text it self or some express passages of the Context So doth that of Gal. 4.4 5. which he first undertakes to speak unto giving us nothing but what was first invented by Crellius in his Book against Grotius and is almost translated Verbatim out of the Comment of Schlicting upon the place the remainder of them corruptly Socinianising against the sence of the Church of God Hereunto are added such pitifull Mistakes with Reflexions on me for distinguishing between Obeying and Suffering which Conceit he most profoundly disproves by shewing that one may Obey in Suffering and that Christ did so against him who hath written more about the Obedience of Christ in Dying or laying down his Life for us than he seems to have read on the same subject as also concerning the Ends and Uses of his Death which I challenge him and all his Companions to answer and disprove if they can as I cannot satisfie my self in the farther Consideration of no not with that speed and haste of Writing now used which nothing could give countenance unto but the meanness of the Occasion and unprofitableness of the Argument in hand Wherefore this being the manner of the Man I am not able to give an Account unto my self or the Reader of the mispence of more Time in the Review of such Impertinencies I shall adde a few things and conclude First I desire to know whether this Author will abide by what he asserts as his own Judgement in opposition unto what he puts in his Exception against in my Discourse pag. 320. All the Influence which the Sacrifice of Christs Death and the Righteousness of his Life that I can find in the Scripture is that to this we owe the Covenant of Grace that is as he afterwards explains himself That God would for the sake of Christ enter into a New Covenant with Mankind wherein he promiseth Pardon of Sin and Eternal Life to them that Believe and Obey the Gospel I leave him herein to his second thoughts for as he hath now express'd himself there is no Reconciliation of his Assertion to common sence or the fundamental Principles of Christian Religion That God entred into the New Covenant Originally only for the sake of those things whereby that Covenant was ratified and confirmed and that Christ was so the Mediator of the New Covenant that he dyed not for the Redemption of Transgressions under the first Covenant whereby the whole Consideration of his Satisfaction and of Redemption properly so called is excluded that there is no Consideration to be had of his Purchase of the Inheritance of Grace and Glory with many other things of the same importance and that the Gospel or the Doctrine of the Gospel is the New Covenant which is only a perspicuous Declaration of it are things that may become these New Sons of the Church of England which the Elder Church would not have borne withall Secondly The Reader may take notice that in some other Discourses of mine now published which were all of them finished before I had the Advantage to peruse the Friendly and Judicious Animadversions of this Author he will find most of the Matters which he excepts against both cleared proved and vindicated And that those Principles which he directs his Opposition against are so established as that I neither expect nor fear any such Assault upon them from this sort of Men as becometh a serious Debate on things of this Nature Thirdly That I have confined my self in the Consideration of this Authors Discourse unto what I was Personally concerned in without looking at or accepting of the Advantages which offered themselves of reflecting upon him either as unto the Matter of his Discourses or unto the Manner of Expressing himself in its Delivery For besides that I have no mind and that for many Reasons to enter voluntarily into any Contest with this man the Mistakes which he hath apparently been led unto by Ignorance or Prejudice his fulsome Errors against the Scripture the Doctrine of the Ancient Church and the Church of England are so multiplyed and scattered throughout the whole that a Discovery and Confutation of them will scarce deserve the expence of Time that must be wasted therein untill a more plausible Countenance or strenuous Defence be given unto them And as for what he aimeth at I know well enough where to find the whole of it handled with more Civility and appearance of Reason and therefore when I am free or resolved to treat concerning them I shall doe so in the Consideration of what is taught by his Authors and Masters and not of what he hath borrowed from them Fourthly I shall assure the Reader that as a Thousand of such trifling Cavillers or Revilers as I have had some to deal withall shall neither discourage nor hinder me in the remaining service which I may have yet to fulfill in the Patience of God for the Church of Christ and Truth of the Gospel nor it may be occasion me any more to divert in the least unto the Consideration of what they whisper or clamour unless they are able to betake themselves unto a more sober and Christian way of handling things in Controversie so if they will not or dare not foregoe this supposed Advantage of Reproaching the Doctrine of Nonconformists under which Pretence they openly and as yet securely scorn and deride them when they are all of them the avowed Doctrines of all the Reformed Churches and of this of England in particular and if they think it not meet to oppose themselves and Endeavours unto those Writings which have been composed and published professedly in the Declaration and Defence of the Truth scoffed at and impugned by them but choose rather to exercise their Skill and Anger on Passages rent out of Practical Discourses accommodated in the Manner of their Delivery unto the Capacity of the Community of Believers as it is fit they should be I doe suppose that at one time or other from one hand or another they may meet with some such Discourse concerning Justification and the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ as may give them Occasion to be quiet or to Exercise the best of their Skill and Industry in an Opposition unto it As many such there are already extant which they wisely take no Notice of but only rave against Occasional Passages in Discourses of another Nature unless they Resolve on no Occasion to foregoe the Shelter they have betaken themselves unto FINIS Gen. 18.32 33. Rom. 6.23 Heb. 11.6 Gen. 15.1 Psal. 19.11.58 11. Mat. 5.12 Chap. 10.14 Ro. 4.4 Col. 2.18 Chap. 3.24 Heb. 10.35 Ch. 11.26 2. Pet. 2.51
A Vindication OF SOME PASSAGES IN A DISCOURSE Concerning Communion with GOD From the Exceptions of WILLIAM SHERLOCK Rector of St. George Buttolph-Lane By the Author of the said Discourse John Owen D D London Printed for N. Ponder at the Peacock in Chancery-Lane 1674. A VINDICATION Of some PASSAGES IN A DISCOURSE Concerning Communion with GOD. IT is now near twenty years since I wrote and published a Discourse concerning Communion with God Of what Use and Advantage it hath been to any as to their furtherance in the design aimed at therein is left unto them to judge by whom it hath been peâ—â—â—d with any candid diligence And I do know that multitudes of Persons fearing God and desiring to walk before him in sincerity are ready if occasion require to give Testimony unto the benefit which they have received thereby as I can also at any time produce the Testimonies of Learned and Holy Persons it may be as any I know living both in England and out of it who owning the Truth contained in it have highly avowed its usefulness and are ready yet so to do With all other Persons so far as ever I heard it passed at the rate of a tolerable acceptation with Discourses of the same kind and nature And however any thing or passage in it might not possibly suit the Apprehensions of some yet being wholly practical designed for popular edification without any direct ingagement into things controversial I looked for no opposition unto it or exception against it but that it would at least be suffered to pass at that rate of allowance which is universally granted unto that sort of Writings both of Ancient and Modern Authors Accordingly it so fell out and continued for many years until some Persons began to judge it their Interest and to make it their business to cavil at my Writings and to load my Person with Reproaches With what little success as to their avowed designs they have laboured therein how openly their endeavours are sunk into contempt with all sorts of Persons pretending unto the least Sobriety or modesty I suppose they are not themselves altogether unsensible Among the things which this sort of Men sought to make an Advantage of against me I found that two or three of them began to reflect on that Discourse though it appeared they had not satisfied themselves what as yet to fix upon their nibling Cavils being exceedingly ridiculous But yet from those Intimations of some Mens good will towards it sufficient to provoke the Industry of such as either needed their Assistance or valued their Favour I was in expectation that one or other would possess that Province and attempt the whole Discourse or some parts of it Nor was I dissatisfied in my Apprehensions of that design For being earnestly solicited to suffer it to be Reprinted I was very willing to see what either could or would be objected against it before it received another Impression For whereas it was Written now near twenty years ago when there was the deepest Peace in the minds of all Men about the Things treated of therein and when I had no Apprehension of any dissent from the Principal Design Scope and Parts of it by any called Christians in the World the Socinians only excepted whom I had therein no regard unto I thought it highly probable that some things might have been so expressed as to render a Review and Amendment of them more than ordinarily necessary And I reckoned it not improbable but that from one malevolent Adversary I might receive a more instructive Information of such escapes of Diligence than I could do in so long a Time from all the more impartial Readers of it for as unto the substance of the Doctrine declared in it I was sufficiently secure not only of its Truth but that it would immoveably endure the rudest assaults of such oppositions as I did expect I was therefore very well satisfied when I heard of the publishing of this Treatise of Mr. Sherlock's which as I was informed and since have found true was principally intended against my self and that Discourse that is that Book because I was the Author of it which will at last prove to be its only Guilt and Crime For I thought I should be at once now satisfied both what it was which was so long contriving against it whereof I could give no conjecture as also be directed unto any such mistakes as might have befallen me in matter or manner of Expression which I would or might rectify before the Book received another Edition But upon a View and Perusal of this Discourse I found my self under a double surprisal For first in reference to my own I could not find any thing any Doctrine any Expressions any Words reflected on which the Exceptions of this Man do give me the least occasion to alter or to desire that they had been otherwise either expressed or delivered not any thing which now after near twenty years which I do not still equally approve of and which I am not yet ready to justifie The other part of my Surprisal was somewhat particular though in Truth it ought to have been none at all And this was with respect unto those Doctrinal Principles which he manageth his oppositions upon A surprisal they were unto me because Wild Uncouth Extravagant and contrary to the common Faith of Christians being all of them traduced and some of them transcribed from the Writings of the Socinians yet ought not to have been so because I was assured that an opposition unto that Discourse could be managed on no other But however the Doctrine maintained by this Man and those opposed or scorned by him are not my special concernment For what is it to me what the Rector of c. Preacheth or Publisheth beyond my Common Interest in the Truths of the Gospel with other Men as great strangers unto him as my self who to my knowledg never saw him nor heard of his Name till infamed by his Book Only I shall take leave to say that the Doctrine here published and Licensed so to be is either the Doctrine of the present Church of England or it is not If it be so I shall be forced to declare that I neither have nor will have any Communion therein and that as for other Reasons so in particular because I will not renounce or depart from that which I know to be the True Ancient and Catholick Doctrine of this Church if it be not so as I am assured with respect unto many Bishops and other Learned Men that it is not it is certainly the concernment of them who preside therein to take care that such kind of Discourses be not countenanced with the stamp of their publick Authority lest they and the Church be represented unto a great disadvantage with many It was some Months after the publishing of this Discourse before I entertained any thoughts of taking the least notice of it yea I was resolved to the
trifling Declamations But yet with his good leave I do yet belâ—eve that there is no saving Knowledge of or acquaintance with God or his Properties to be attained but in and through Jesus Christ as revealed unto us in the Gospel And this I can confirm with Testimonies of the Scripture Fathers Schoolmen and Divines of all sorts with Reasons and Arguments such as I know this Author cannot Answer And whatever great apprehensions he may have of his Skill and Abilities to know God and his Properties by the Light of Nature now he neither knowes nor is able to distinguish what he Learns from thence and what he hath imbibed in his Education from an Emanation of Divine Rvelation yet I believe there were as wise men as himself amongst those Ancient Philosophers concerning whom and their enquiries into the Nature of God our Apostle pronounces those censures Rom. 1. 1 Cor. 1. But on this goodly Foundation he proceeds unto a particular Inference pag. 44. saying And is not this a Confident Man to tell us that the Love of God to Sinners and his Pardoning Mercy could never have entred into the Heart of Man but by Christ when the experience of the whole World confutes him For whatever becomes of his new Theories both Jews and Heathens who understood nothing at all of what Christ was to do in order to our Recovery did believe God to be Gracious and Merciful to Sinners and had reason to do so because God himself had assured the Jewes that he was a Gracious and Merciful God pardoning Iniquity Transgressions and Sins And those natural Notions Heathens had of God and all those Discoveries God had made of himself in the works of Creation and Providence did assure them that God is very Good and it is not possible to understand what Goodness is without pardoning Grace I beg his Excuse Truth and good Company will give a modest Man a little Confidence sometimes And against his Experience of the whole World falsly pretended I can oppose the Testimonies of the Scripture and all the Ancient writers of the Church very few excepted We can know of God only what he hath one way or other revealed of himself and nothing else And I say again that God hath not revealed his Love unto Sinners and his Pardoning Mercy any other way but in and by Jesus Christ. For what he adds as to the knowledge which the Jews had of these things by Gods Revelation in the Scripture when he can prove that all those Revelations or any of them had not respect unto the Promised Seed the Son of God to be exhibited in the Flesh to destroy the works of the Devil he will speak somewhat unto his Purpose In the mean time this insertion of the consideration of them who enjoyed that Revelation of Christ which God was pleased to build his Church upon under the old Testament is weak and impertinent Their apprehensions I acknowledge concerning the Person of Christ and the specialty of the work of his Mediation were dark and obscure but so also proportionably was their Knowledge of all other Sacred Truths which yet with all Diligence they enquired into That whicâ— I intended is expressed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.9 It is written Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit What a Confident Man was this Apostle as to affirm that the things of the Grace and Mercy of God did never enter into the heart of Man to conceive nor would so have done had they not been revealed by the Spirit of God in the Gospel through Jesus Christ. But this is only a Transient Charge there insues that which is much more severe pag. 45. As for Instance he tells us that in Christ that is in his Death and Sufferings for our sins God hath manifested the Naturalness of this Righteousness i. e. Vindictive Justice in punishing Sin that it was impossible that it should be diverted from Sinners without the interposing of a Propitiation that is that God is so Just and Righteous that he cannot pardon sin without satisfaction to his Justice Now this indeed is such a Notion of Justice as is perfectly New which neither Scripture nor Nature acquaints us with For all Mankind have accounted it an Act of Goodness without the least suspicion of injustice in it to remit injuries and offences without exacting any punishment that he is so far from being Just that he is cruel and savage who will remit no offence till he hath satisfied his Revenge The Reader who is in any measure or degree acquainted with these things knows full well what is intended by that which I have asserted It is no more but this that such is the Essential Holiness and Righteousness of the Nature of God that considering him as the Supreme Governour and Ruler of all Mankind it was inconsistent with the Holiness and Rectitude of his Rule and the Glory of his Government to pass by sin absolutely or to pardon it without Satisfaction Propitiation or Atonement This I said was made Evident in the Death and Sufferings of Christ wherein God made all our Iniquities to meet upon him and spared him not that we might obtain Mercy and Grace This is here now called out by our Author as a very dangerous or Foolish Passage in my Discourse which he thought he might highly advantage his Reputation by Reflecting upon But as the Orator said to his Adversary Equidem vehementer laetor eum esse me in quem tu cumcuperes nullam contumeliam jacere potueris quae non ad maximam partem civium conveniret So it is here fallen out If this man knows not that this is the Judgment of the generality of the most Learned Divines of Europe upon the matter of all who have engaged with any success against the Socinians one or two only excepted I can pitty him but not relieve him in his unhappiness unless he will be pleased to take more pains in reading good Books than as yet he appeareth to have done But for the thing it self and his Reflections upon it I shall observe yet some few things and so pass on As first the opposition that he makes unto my Position is nothing but a crude Assertion of one of the meanest and most absurd Sophisms which the Socinians use in this Cause Namely that every one may remit injuries and offences as he pleaseth without exacting any Punishment Which as it is true in most Cases of Injuries and offences against Private Persons wherein no others are concerned but themselves nor are they obliged by any Law of the Community to pursue their own Right so with respect unto Publick Rulers of the Community unto such Injuries and offences as are done against supreme Rule tending directly unto the Dissolution of the Society centring in it to suppose that such Rulers
is God's taking a Course in his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness that we should not be destroyed notwithstanding our Sins that as before the least Sin could not escape without Punishment Justice being so natural to God that he cannot forgive without Punishing So the Justice of God being now satisfied by the Death of Christ the greatest Sins can do us no hurt but we shall escape with a notwithstanding our Sins this it seems we learn from an Acquaintance with Christ's Person though his Gospel instructs us otherwise that without Holiness no Man shall see God But he is here again at a Loss understands not what he is about That whereof he was discoursing is the necessity of the Satisfaction of Christ and that must be it which he maketh his Inference from But the Passage he insists on he layes down as expressive of the End of God's Patience and forbearance towards Sinners which here is of no Place nor Consideration But so it falls out that he is seldom at any agreement with himself in any Parts of his Discourse the Reason whereof I do somewhat more than guess at However for the Passage which he cites out of my Discourse I like it so well as that I shall not trouble my self to inquire whether it be there or no or on what occasion it is introduced The Words are that God hath in his Justice Wisdome and Goodness taken a Course that we should not be destroyed notwithstanding our Sins that is to save Sinners for he that believeth although he be a Sinner shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned as one hath assured us whom I desire to believe and trust unto If this be not so what will become of this Man and my self with all our Writings for I know that we are both Sinners and if God will not save us or deliver us from destruction notwithstanding our Sins that is pardon them through the bloodshedding of Jesus Christ wherein we have Redemption even the forgiveness of Sins it had been better for us that we had never been born And I do yet again say that God doth not that he will not pardon the least Sin without respect unto the Satisfaction of Christ according as the Apostle declares 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21. And the Expression which must be set on the other side on the supposition thereof the greatest Sin can do us no harm is this Mans addition which his usual respect unto Truth hath produced But withal I never said I never wrote that the only supposition of the Satisfaction of Christ is sufficient of it self to free us from Destruction by Sin There is moreover required on our Part Faith and Repentance without which we can have no Advantage by it or Interest in it But he seems to understand by that Expression notwithstanding our Sins though we should live and dye in our Sins without Faith Repentance or New-Obedience For he supposeth it sufficient to manifest the Folly of this Assertion to mention that Declaration oâ— the mind of Christ in the Gospel that without Holiness no Man shall see God I wonder whetâ—er he thinks that those who believe the Satisfaction of Christ and the Necessiâ—y thereof wherein God made him to be Sin who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him do believe that tâ—e Personal Holiness of Men is indispensibly necessary unto the pleasing and enjoyment of God If he suppose that the Satisfaction oâ— Christ and the necessity of oâ—r Personal Holiness are really inconsistent he mâ—st be treated in another manner If he suppose that although they are consistent yet those whom he opposeth do so trust to the Satisfaction of Christ as to judge that Faith Repentance and Holiness are not indispensibly necessary to salvation he manifests how well skilled he is in their Principles and Practices I have always looked on it as a piece of the highest disingenuity among the Quakers that when any one pleads for the Satisfaction of Christ or the Imputation of his Righteousness they will clamorously cry out and hear nothing to the contrary yea you are for the Saving of polluted defiled Sinners let men live in their Sins and be all foul within it is no matter so long as they have a Righteousness and a Christ without them I have I say always looked upon it as a most disingenuous procedure in them seeing no one is Catechised amongst us who knoweth not that we press a necessity of Sanctification and Holiness equal with that of Justification and Righteousness And yet this very course is here steered by this Author Contrary to the constant Declaration of the Judgments of them with whom he hath to do contrary to the common evidence of their Writings Preaching Praying Dâ—sputing unto another purpose and that without relieving or counâ—enancing himself by any one Word or Expression used or utterred by them he chargeth as though they made Holiness a very indifferent thing and such as it doth not much concern any Man whether he have an Interest in or no. And I know not whether is more marvelous unto me that some Men can so far concoct all Principles of Conscience and Modesty as to publish such slaunderous Untruths or that others can take contentment and satisfaction therein who cannot but understand their Disingenuity and Falshood His proceed in the same Page is to Except against that Revelation of the Wisedom of God which I affirm to have been made in the Person and Sufferings of Christ which I thought I might have asserted without offence But this Man will have it that there is no Wisdome therein if Justice be so Natural to God that nothing could satisfy him but the Death of his own Son That any thing else could satisfy Divine Justice but the sufferings and Death of the Son of God so far as I know he is the first that found out or discovered if he hath yet found it out Some have imagined that God will pardon Sin and doth so without any satisfaction at all And some have thought that other ways of the Reparation of Lost Mankind were possible without this Satisfaction of Divine Justice which yet God in his Wisdome determined on But that Satisfaction could be any otherwise made to Divine Justice but by the Death of the Son of God Incarnate none have used to say who know what they say in these things But Wisdom he saith consists in the choice of the best and fittest means to attain an End when there were more ways than one of doing it but it requires no great Wisdom to chuse when there is but one possible way Yea this it is to measure God things Infinite and Divine by our selves Doth this Man think that God's Ends as ours have an Existence in themselves out of him antecedent unto any Acts of his Divine Wisdom Doth he imagine that he ballanceth Probable means for the attaining of an end chusing some and rejecting others Doth he
this Section upon a contrary supposition falsly imputed unto me And as for his drawing Schemes of Religion I must tell him and let him disprove it if he be able I own no Religion no Article of Faith but what are taught expresly in the Scripture mostly confirmed by the ancient General Councils of the Primitive Church and the Writings of the most Learned Fathers against all sorts of Heretâ—cks especially the Gnosticks Photinians and Pelagians consonant to the Articles of the Church of England and the Doctrine of all the Reformed Châ—rches of Europe And if in the Exposition of any place of Scripture I dissent from any that for the Substance of it own the Religion I do I do it not wiâ—hout Cogent Reasons from the Scripture it self and where in any opinions which Learned Men have and it may be always had different Apprehensions about which hath not been thought to prejudice the Unity of Faith amongst them I hope I do endeavour to manage that dissent with that Modesty and Sobriety which becometh me And as for the Schemes Plots or Designs of Religion or Christianity given us by this Author and owned by him it being taken pretendedly from the Person of Christ when it is hoped that he may have a better to give us from the Gospel seeing he hath told us we must Learn our Religion from his Doctrine and not from his Person besides that it is liable unto Innumerable Exceptions in particular which may easily be given in against it by such as have nothing else to do wâ—ereas it makes no mention of the effectual Grace of Christ and the Gospel for the Conversion and Sanctification of Sinners and the necessity thereof unto all Acts of Holy Obedience it is merely Pelagian and stands Anathematised by sundry Councils of the Antient Church I shall not therefore concern my self farther in any Passages of this Section most of them wherein it reflects on others standing in competition for Truth and Ingenuity with the Foundation and Design of the whole Only I shall say that the Passage of 88 89. This made the Divine Goodness so restlesly zealous and concerned for the Recovery of Mankind various ways be attempted in former Ages but with little success as I observed before but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World without a very Cautious Explanation and Charitable Construction is false scandalous and blasphemous For allow this Author who contends so severely for Propriety of Expressions against Allusions and Metaphors to say that the Divine Goodness was restlesly Zealous and Concerned for indeed such is our Weakness that whether we will or no we must sometimes learn and teach Divine things in such words as are suited to convey an Apprehension of them unto our Minds though in their Application unto the Divine Nature they are incapable of being understood in the Propriety of their Signification though this be as untowardly expressed as any thing I have of late met withal yet what colour can be put upon what excuse can be made for this Doctrine That God in former Ages by various ways attempted the Recovery of mankind but with little success I know not Various attempts in God for any End without Success do not lead the Mind into right Notions of his Infinite Wisdom and Omnipotency And that God by any way at any time attempted the Recovery of Mankind distinctly and separately from the sending of his Son is lewdly false In the greatest part of his fourth Section entituled how Men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancy I am not much concerned save that the Foundation of the whole and that which animates his Discourse from first to last is laid in an Impudent Calumny namely that I declare that our Religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly savingly Learned from his Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person This shameless Falshood is that alone whence he takes occasion and confidence to reproach my self and others to condemn the Doctrine of all the Reformed Churches and openly to traduce and vilify the Scripture it self I shall only briefly touch on some of the impotent dictates of this great Corrector of Divinity and Religion His Discourse of accommodating Scripture-Expressions to Mens own Dreamns pag. 99 100.101 being such as any Man may use concerning any other men on the like occasion if they have a mind unto it and intend to have no more regard to their Consciences than some others seem to have may be passed by pag. 102. He falls upon the ways of expounding Scripture among those whom he sets himself against and positively affirms that there are two ways of it in great Vogue among them First by the sound and Clink of the words and Phrases which as he says is all some Men understand by keeping a Form of Sound words 2 When this will not do they reason about the sence of them from their own preconceived Notions and Opinions and prove that this must be the meaning of Scripture because otherwise it is not reconcileable to their Dreams which is called expounding Scripture by the Analogy of Faith Thus far he and yet we shall have the same Man not long hence pleading for the Necessity of Holiness But I wish for my part he would take notice that I despise that Holiness and the Principles of it which will allow Men to Coin Invent and publish such notorious untruths against any sort of Men whatever And whereas by what immediately follows I seem to be principally intended in this Charge as I know the Untruth of it so I have published some Expositions on some Parts of the Scripture to the Judgment of the Christian World to which I appeal from the Censures of this Man and his Companions as also for those which if I Live and God will I shall yet publish and do declare that for Reasons very satisfactory to my Mind I will not come to him nor them to learn how to expound the Scripture But he will Justify his Charge by particular Instances telling us pag. 102. Thus when Men are possessed with a Fancy of an acquaintance with Christ's Person then to know Christ can signify nothing else but to know his Person and all his Personal Excellencies and Beauties Fullness and Pretiousness c. And when Christ is said to be made Wisdom to us this is a plain proof that we must Learn all our spiritual Wisdom from an acquaintance with his Person though some duller Men can understand no more by it than the Wisdom of those Revelations Christ hath made of God's Will to the World I would beg of this Man that if he hath any regard unto the Honour of Christian Religion or Care of his own Soul he would be tender in this matter and not reflect with his usual disdain upon the Knowledge of the Person of Christ. I must tell him again what
so unchangeable and Fruitfull as this Author perswades us it is now For if this Love had alwayes loved Life and and Holiness into us I cannot conceive how it should happen that we should sin and dye It is well if he know what it is that he aims at in these Words I am sure what he sayes doth not in the least impeach the Truth which he designs to oppose The Name and Nature of God are every where in the Scripture proposed unto us as the Object of and Encouragement unto our Faith and his Love in particular is therein represented unchangeable because he himself is so But it doth not hence follow that God loveth any one Naturally or Necessarily His Love is a free Act of his Will and therefore though it be like himself such as becomes his Nature yet it is not necessarily determined on any Object nor limited as unto the Nature Degrees and Effects of it He Loves whom he pleaseth and as unto what End he pleaseth Jacob he loved and Esau he hated and those Effects which from his Love or out of it he will communicate unto them are various according to the Councel of his Will Some he Loves only as to Temporal and Common Mercies some as to spiritual Grace and Glory for he hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy Wherefore it is no way contrary unto and inconsistent with the Eternity the Immutability and Fruitfulness of the Love of God that he suffered Sin to enter into the World or that he doth dispense more Grace in Jesus Christ under the New Testament than he did under the Old God is alwayes the same that he was Love in God is alwayes of the same Nature that it was But the Objects Acts and Effects of this Love with the Measures and Degrees of them are the Issues of the Councel or free Purposes of his Will Want of the understanding hereof makes this man imagine that if Gods Love in Christ wherewith he loveth us be Eternal and Fruitfull then must God necessarily alwayes in or out of Christ under the Old or New Covenant love all Persons Elect or not Elect with the same Love as to the Effects and Fruits of it which is a wondrous profound Apprehension The Reader therefore if he please may take notice that the Love which I intend and whereunto I ascribe those Properties is the especial Love of God in Christ unto the Elect. Concerning this himself sayes that he loves them with an everlasting Love and therefore drawes them with loving Kindness Jerem. 31.3 which Love I shall be bold to say is Eternal and Fruitfull And hence as he changeth not whereon the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 there being with him neither variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 so accordingly he hath in this matter by his Promise and Oath declared the Immutability of his Councel Heb. 6.17 18. which seems to intimate that his Love is unchangeable And whereas this Eternal Love is in Christ Jesus as the Way and Means of making it certain in all its Effects and with respect unto its whole Design it is fruitfull in all Grace and Glory Ephes. 1.3 4 5. And if he cannot understand how notwithstanding all this Sin so entred into the World under the Law of Creation and the first Covenant as to defeat in us all the Benefits thereof at present I cannot help him For as I am sure enough he would scorn to learn any thing of me so I am not at leasure to put it to the trial His own Account of the Love of God succeeds pag. 211. Not that I deny that the Love of God is Eternal Unchangeable Fruitfull that is that God was alwayes Good and alwayes continues Good and manifesteth his Love and Goodness in such wayes as are suitable to his Nature which is the Fruitfulness of it But then the Unchangeableness of Gods Love doth not consist in being alwayes determined to the same Object but that he alwayes loves for the same Reason that is that he alwayes loves true Vertue and Goodness wherever he sees it and never ceases to love any Person till he ceases to be Good and then the Immutability of his Love is the Reason why he loves no longer For should he love a Wicked man the Reason and Nature of his Love would change and the Fruitfulness of Gods Love with respect to the Methods of his Grace and Providence doth not consist in producing what he loves by an Omnipotent and Irrisistble Power for then Sin and Death could never have entred into the World but he Governs and doth good to his Creatures in such Wayes as are most suitable to their Natures He governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason as he doth the Material World by the necessary Laws of Matter and Brute Creatures by the Instincts and Propensities of Nature This may pass for a Systeme of his Divinity which how he will reconcile unto the Doctrine of the Church of England in her Articles she and he may do well to consider But whatever he means by the Love of God alwayes determined unto the same Object it were an easie thing to prove beyond the reach of his Contradiction that Persons are the Objects of Gods Eternal Love as well as Things and Qualifications are of his Approbation or that he loves some Persons with an Everlasting and Unchangeable Love so as to preserve them from all ruining Evils and so as they may be alwayes meet Objects of his approving Love unto his Glory And whereas these things have been debated and disputed on all hands with much Learning and Diligence our Author is a very happy man if with a few such loose Expressions as these repeated he thinks to determine all the Controversies about Election and Effectual Grace with Perseverance on the Pelagian side The Hypothesis here maintained that because God alwayes and unchangeably approves of what is Good in any or of the Obedience of his Creatures and disapproves or hates sin condemning it in his Law that therefore he may love the same Person one day and hate him another notwithstanding his Pretences that he is constant unto the Reason of his Love will inevitably fall into one of these Conclusions ether that God indeed never loveth any Man be he who he will or that he is changeable in his Love upon outward external Reasons as we are and let him choose which he will own In the mean time such a Love of God towards Believers as shall alwayes effectually preserve them meet Objects of his Love and Approbation is not to be baffled by such trifling impertinencies His next Reflection is on the Manner of Gods Operations in the Communication of Grace and Holiness which he sayes is not by an omnipotent and Irresistible Power confirming his Assertion by that Consideration that then Sin and Death could never have entred into the World which is resolved into another sweet supposition That God must needs act the same Power
of Grace towards all men at all times under each Covenant whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy Disputant all things succeed well with such Persons which they undertake And as to the Manner of the Operation of Grace how far Grace it self may be said to be Omnipotent and in its Operations irresistible I have fully declared there where he may oppose and refute it if he have any Mind thereunto His present Attempt against it in those words that God governs Reasonable Creatures by Principles of Reason is so weak in this Case and impertinent that it deserves no Consideration For all the Operations of Divine Grace are suited unto the Rational Constitution of our Beings neither was ever man so wild as to fancy any of them such as are inconsistent with or do offer force unto the Faculties of our Souls in their Operations Yea that which elevates aids and assists our Rational Faculties in their Operations on and towards their proper Objects which is the work of Efficacious Grace is the principal Preservative of their Power and Liberty and can be no way to their Prejudice And we do moreover acknowledge that those Proposals which are made in the Gospel unto our Reason are eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper Use and Exercise in complyance with them Hence although the Habit of Faith or Power of Believing be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost yet the Word of the Gospel is the Cause and Means of all its Acts and the whole Obedience which it produceth But if by governing Reasonable Creatures by the Principle of Reason he intends that God deals no otherwise by his Grace with the Souls of men but only by proposing Objective Arguments and Motives unto a Complyance with his Will without internal Aids and Assistances of Grace it is a gross piece of Peâ—â—gianisme destructive of the Gospel sufficiently confuted elsewhere and he may explain himself as he pleaseth His proceed is to transcribe some other Passages taken out of my Book here and there in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent Exceptions But the design of the whole is to state a Controversie as he calls it between us and them or those whom he calleth They and We whoever they be And this upon the Occasion of my mentioning the fulness of Grace Life and Righteousness that is in Christ he doth in these Words pag. 215. They say that these are the Personal Graces of Christ as Mediator which are inherent in him and must be derived from his Person we say they signifie the Perfection and Excellency of his Religion as being the most perfect and compleat Declaration of the Will of God and the most powerfull Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming of the World as it prescribeâ— the only Righteousness which is 〈◊〉 â—ble to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality I shall not absolutely accept of the Terms of this Controversie as to the state of it on our part proposed by him and yet I shall not much vary from them We say therefore that Jesus Christ being full of all Grace Excellencies and Perfections he communicates them unto us in that Degree as is necessary for us and in proportion unto his abundant Charity and Goodness towards us And we Christians as his Body or fellow Members of his Humane Nature receive Grace and Mercy flowing from him to us This state of the Controversie on our side I suppose he will not refuse nor the terms of it but will own them to be ours though he will not it may be allow some of them to be Proper or Convenient And that he may know who his They are who are at this End of the Difference he may be pleased to take notice that these words are the whole and intire Paraphrase of D r. Hammond on Joh. 1.16 the first Testimony he â—â—â—â—rtakes to answer And when this Author hath replyed to Mr. Hooker D r. Jackson and Him and such other Pillars of the Church of England as concurre with them it will be time enough for me to consider how I shall defend my self against him Or if he will take the Controversie on our part in Terms more directly Expressive of my Mind It is the Person of Christ is the Fountain of all Grace to the Church as he well observes my Judgement to be and that from him all Grace and Mercy is derived unto us And then I do maintain that the They whom he opposeth are not onely the Church of England but the whole Catholick Church in all Ages Who the We are on the other hand who reject this Assertion and believe that all the Testimonies concerning the fulness of Grace in Christ and the Communication thereof unto us do only declare the Excellency of his Religion is not easie to be conjectured For unless it be the People of Racow I know not who are his Associates And let him but name three Divines of any Reputation in the Church of England since the Reformation who have given the least Countenance unto his Assertions Negative or Positive and I will acknowledge that he hath better Associates in his Profession than as yet I believe he hath But that Jesus Christ himself God and Man in one Person the Mediator between God and Man is not a Fountain of Grace and Mercy to his Church that there is no real internal Grace communicated by him or derived from him unto his Mystical Body that the Fulness which is in him or said to be in him of Grace and Truth of unsearchable Riches of Grace c. is nothing but the Doctrine which he taught as the most compleat and perfect Declaration of the Will of God are Opinions that cannot be divulged under pretence of Authority without the most pernicious scandal to the present Church of England And if this be the Mans Religion that this is all the Fulness we receive from Christ A perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Mankind which contains so many excellent Promises that it may well be called Grace and prescribes such a plain and simple Religion so agreeable to the natural Notions of Good and Evil that it may well be called Truth that complying with its Doctrine or yielding Obedience unto its Precepts and believing the Promises which it gives in our own strength without any real Aid Assistance or Communication of internal saving Grace from the Person of Jesus Christ is our Righteousness before God whereon and for which we are Justified I know as well as he whence it came and perhaps better than he whither it will go The remaining Discourse of this Chapter consisteth of two parts First an Attempt to disprove any Communication of real internal Grace from the Lord Christ unto Believers for their Sanctification Secondly an Endeavour to refute the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us for our Justification In the first he contends that all the Fulness
the Doctrines they Professed is somewhat remote from that Christian Humility which he ought not only to exercise in himself but to give an Example of unto Others But if this be the Fruit of despising the Knowledge of the Person of Chrst of the Necessity of his Satisfaction of the Imputation of his Righteousness of Union unto his Person as our Head of a sense of the Displeasure of God due to Sin of the Spirit of Bondage and Adoption of the Corruption of Nature and our Disability to do any thing that is spiritually Good without the effectual Ayds of Grace If these I say and the like Issues of appearing Pride and Elation of Mind be the Fruit and Consequent of rejecting these Principles of the Doctrine of the Gospel it manifests that there is and will be a proportion between the Errours of Mens Minds and the depravation of their Affections It were a most easy task to go over all the particulars mentioned by him and to manifest how foully he hath prevaricated in their Representation how he hath cast contempt on some Duties of Religion indispensibly necessary unto Salvation and brought in the very words of the Scripture that in the true proper sence and intendment of them according to the Judgment of all Christians Ancient Modern as that of Looking to Christ as the Israelites looked to the Brasen Serpent in the Wilderness to bear a share and part in his Scorn and Contempt as also to defend and vindicate not his odious disingenious Expressions but what he invidiously designeth to Expose beyond his Ability to gainsay or with any pretence of sober Learning to reply unto But I give it up into the hands of those who are more concerned in the Chastisment of such Imaginations Only I cannot but tell this Author what I have Learned by long Observation Namely that those who in opposing others make it their Design to and place their Confidence in false Representations and invidions Expressions of their Judgments and Opinions waving a true Stating of the things in Difference and weighing of the Arguments wherewith they are confirmed whatever pretence they may make of Confidence and Contempt of them with whom they have to do Yet this way of writing proceeds from a secret sense of their disability to maintain their own Opinions or to reply to the Reasonings of their Adversaries in a fair and lawful Disputation or from such depraved Affections as are sufficient to deter any sober Person from the least Communication in those Principles which are so pleaded for And the same I must say of that kind of Writing which in some late Authors fills up almost every Page in their Books which beyond a Design to load the persons of Men with Reproaches and Calumnies consist only in the Collecting of passages here and there up and down out of the writings of others which as cut off from the Body of their Discourses and Design of the Places which they belong unto may with a little Artifice either of Addition or Detraction with some false Glosses whereof we shall have an immediate Instance be represented weak or untrue or improper or some way or other obnoxious to Censure When Diligence Modesty Love of Truth Sobriety true use of Learning shall again visit the World in a more plentiful manner though Differences should continue amongst us yet men will be enabled to manage them honestly without contracting so much Guilt on themselves or giving such fearful Offence Scandal unto others But I return That wherein I am particularly concerned is the Close wherewith he winds up this Candid Ingenious Discourse pag. 74. He quotes my Words That the Soul consents to take Christ on his own Terms to save him in his own way and saith Lord I would have had thee and Salvation in my way that it might have been partly of mine Endeavours and as it were by the works of the Law that is by obeying the Laws of the Gospel but I am now willing to receive Thee and to be saved in thy way meerly by Grace that is without doing any thing without obeying Thee The most contented Spouse certainly that ever was in the World to submâ—t to such hard conditions as to be saved for nothing But what a pretty Complement doth the Soul make to Christ after all this when she adds And though I would have walked according to my own mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by the Spirit If the Reader will be at the pains to look on the Discourse whence these passages are taken I shall desire no more of his favour but that he profess himself to be a Christian and then let him freely pronounce whether he find any thing in it obnoxious to Censure Or I desire that any Man who hath not forfeited all Reason and Ingenuity unto Faction and Party if he differ from me truly to state wherein and oppose what I have said with an Answer unto the Testimonies wherewith it is confirmed referred unto in the Margent of my Discourse But the way of this Authors proceeding if there be no plea to be made for it from his Ignorance and unacquaintedness not only with the Person of Christ but with most of the other things he undertakes to write about is altogether unexcusable The way whereby I have expressed the consent of the Soul in the receiving of Jesus Christ to be Justifyed Sanctifyed Saved by him I still avow as suited unto the mind of the Holy Ghost and the Experience of them that really believe And whereas I added that before Believing the Soul did seek for Salvation by the works of the Law as it is natural unto all and as the Holy-Ghost affirms of some whose words alone I used and expresly quoted that Place from whence I took them namely Rom. 9.31 32. This Man adds as an Exposition of that Expression that is by obeying of the Laws of the Gospel But he knew that these were the words of the Apostle or he did not If he did not nor would take notice of them so to be although directed to the place from whence they are taken it is evident how meet he is to debate matters of this Nature and Concernment and how far he is yet from being in danger to Pore out his Eyes in reading the Scripture as he pretends If he did know them to be his words why doth he put such a sense upon them as in his own Apprehension is derogatory to Gospel-obedience What-ever he thught of before and it is likely he will now say that it is my sense and not the Apostles which he intends But how will he prove that I intended any other sence than that of the Apostle How should this appear Let him if he can produce any Word in my whole Discourse intimating any other sence Nay it is evident that I had no other intention but only to refer unto that Place of the Apostle and the proper sence of it which is