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
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
the Son of God Incarnate the Mediator between God and Man For because the Name Christ is sometimes used Metonymically to conclude thence that Jesus Christ is not Jesus Christ or that it is not the Person of Christ that is firstly and properly intended by that name in the Gospel is a lewd and impious Imagination And we may as well make Christ to be only a Light within Us as to be the Doctrine of the Gospel without Us. This Knowledg of Jesus Christ I aver to be the only Fountain of all Saving Knowledg which is farther reflected on by this Author And he adds no doubt out of respect unto Me that he will not envy the Glory of this discovery unto its Author and therefore honestly confesseth that he met with it in my Book But what doth he intend whither will Prejudice and Corrupt Designs carry and transport the Minds of Men Is it possible that he should be ignorant that it is the Duty of all Christians to know Jesus Christ to be acquainted with the person of Christ and that this is the Fountain of all Saving Knowledg until he met with it in my Book about Communion with God which I dare say he looked not into but only to find what he might except against It is the Holy Ghost himself that is the Author of this Discovery and it is the great Fundamental Principle of the Gospel Wherefore surely this cannot be the Man's intention and therefore we must look a little further to see what it is that he aimeth at After then the Repetition of some Words of mine he adds as his sence upon them pag. 39. So that it seems the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure Discovery of the Nature Attributes and the Will of God and the Methods of our Recovery We may throughly understand whatever is revealed in the Gospel and yet not have a clear and Saving Knowledg of these things until we get a more intimate Acquaintance with the Person of Christ. And again pag. 40. I shall shew you what additions these Men make to the Gospel of Christ by an Acquaintance with his Person and I confess I am very much beholding to this Author for acknowledging whence they fetch all their Orthodox and Gospel-Mysteries for I had almost pored my Eyes out with seeking for them in the Gospel but could never find them but I learn now that indeed they are not to be found there unless we be first acquainted with the Person of Christ. So far as I can gather up the sence of these loose Expressions it is that I assert a knowledg of the Person of Jesus Christ which is not revealed in the Gospel which is not taught Us in the Writings of Moses the Prophets or Apostles but must be had some other way He tells me afterwards pag. 41. That I put in a Word fallaciously which expresseth the contrary as though I intended another Knowledg of Christ than what is declared in the Gospel Now he either thought that this was not my Design or Intention but would make use of a pretence of it for his Advantage unto an end aimed at which what it was I know well enough or he thought indeed that I did assert and maintain such a knowledg of the Person of Christ as was not received by Scripture-Revelation If it was the first we have an Instance of that new Morality which these new Doctrines are accompanied withal if the latter he discovers how meet a person he is to treat of things of this Nature Wherefore to prevent such scandalous Miscarriages or futilous Imaginations for the future I here tell him that if he can find in that Book or any other of my Writings any Expression or Word or Syllable intimating any Knowledg of Christ or any Acquaintance with the Person of Christ but what is revealed and declared in the Gospel in the Writings of Moses the Prophets and Apostles and as it is so revealed and declared and learned from thence I will publiquely burn that Book with my own hands to give him and all the World Satisfaction Nay I say more if an Angel from Heaven pretend to give any other knowledg of the Person of Christ but what is revealed in the Gospel let him be accursed And here I leave this Author to consider with himsef what was the true occasion why he should first thus represent himself unto the World in Print by the avowing of so unworthy and Notorious a Calumny Whereas therefore by an Acquaintance with the Person of Christ it is undeniably evident that I intended nothing but that Knowledg of Christ which it is the Duty of every Christian to labour after no other but what is revealed declared and delivered in the Scripture as almost every Page of my Book doth manifest where I treat of these things I do here again with the good Leave of this Author assert that this knowledge of Christ is very necessary unto Christians and the Fountain of all Saving Knowledg whatever And as he may if he please review the Honesty and Truth of that Passage pag. 38. So that our Acquaintance with Christ's Person in this Mans Divinity signifies such a Knowledg of what Christ is hath done and suffered for Us from whence we may learn those greater deeper and more Saving Mysteries of the Gospel which Christ hath not expresly revealed to Us So I will not so far suspect the Christianity of them with whom we have to do as to think it necessary to confirm by Texts of Scripture either of these assertions which whoever denies is an open Apostate from the Gospel Having laid this Foundation in an equal Mixture of that Truth and Sobriety wherewith Sundry late Writings of this Nature and to the same Purpose have been stuffed he proceeds to declare what desperate Consequences ensue upon the Necessity of that Knowledg of Jesus Christ which I have asserted addressing himself thereunto pag. 40. Many Instances of such dealings will make me apt to think that some Men whatever they pretend to the contrary have but little Knowledg of Jesus Christ indeed But whatever this Man thinks of him an Accouut must one Day be given before and unto him of such false Calumnies as his Lines are stuffed withal Those who will believe him that he hath almost pored out his Eyes in reading the Gospel with a Design to find out Mysteries that are not in it are left by me to their Liberty Only I cannot but say that his way of Expressing the study of the Scripture is such as becometh a Man of his Wisdom Gravity and Principles He will I hope one day be better acquainted with what belongs unto the due Investigation of sacred Truth in the Scripture than to suppose it represented by such Childish expressions What he hath Learned from me I know not but that I have any where taught that there are Mysteries of Religion that are not to be found in the Gospel unless we are first acquainted with
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
and Ridiculous For every one who is not wilfully blind must see that by Ordained I intended not any Ordination as to the Futurition of Sin but the Disposal of Sin to its Proper End being Committed or to ordain it unto its End upon a Supposition of its Being which quite spoils this Authors ensuing Harangue But my Judgment in this matter is better expressed by another than I am able to do it my self and therefore in his words I shall represent it It is Augustine Saith he Saluberrime confitemur quod rectissime credimus Deum Dominumque rerum omnium qui creavit omnia bona valde mala ex bonis exortura esse praescivit scivit magis ad suam omnipotentissimam bonitatem pertinere etiam de malis benefacere quam mala esse non sinere sic ordinâsse Angelorum hominum vitam ut in ea prius ostenderet quid posset eorum liberum Arbitrinm deinde quid posset suae Gratiae beneficium Justitiaeque judicium This our Author would have to be God's bartering with Sin the Devil for his Glory the bold impiety of which expression among many others for whose necessary expression I crave pardon manifests with what frame of Spirit with what Reverence of God himself and all holy things this Discourse is managed But it seems I add that the Demonstration of God's Justice in Measuring out unto Sin a meet Recompence of Reward is Discovered in Christ as this Author says Let him read again The Comminations and Threatnings of God in the Law c. If this Man were acquainted with Christ he could not but Learn somewhat more of Truth and Modesty unless he be wilfully stupid But what is the Crime of this Paragraph That which it teacheth is that Sin in its own Nature hath no End but the dishonour of God and the Eternal Ruine of the Sinner That by the Sentence and Curse of the Law God hath manifested that he will Glorify his Justice in the Punishing of it as also that in and through Jesus Christ he will Glorify Grace and Mercy in its Pardon on the Terms of the Gospel What would he be at If he have a mind to quarrel the Bible and to conflict the Fundamental Principles of Christianity to what purpose doth he cavil at my obscure Discourses when the proper Object of his Displeasure lies plainly before him Let us proceed yet a little farther with our Author although I confess my self to be already utterly wearied with the Perusal of such Vain and Frivolous Imaginations Yet thus he goes on pag. 53. Thus much for the Knowledge of our selves with respect to Sin which is hid only in the Lord Christ. But then we Learn what our Righteousness is wherewith we must appear before God from an Acquaintance with Christ. We have already Learned how unable we are to make atonement for our Sins without which they can never be forgiven and how unable we are to do any thing that is Good and yet nothing can deliver us from the Justice and Wrath of God but a full satisfaction for our sins and nothing can give us a Title to a Reward but a perfect and unsinning Righteousness What should we do in this Case how shall we escape Hell or get to Heaven when we can neither Expiate for our part Sins or do any Good for the Time to come Why here we are relieved again by an Acquaintance with Christ. His death Expiates former Iniquities and removes the whole guilt of Sin But this is not enough that we are not Guilty we must also be actually Righteous not only all Sin is to be answered for but all Righteousness is to be fulfilled Now this Righteousness we find only in Christ we are reconciled to God by his Death and saved by his Life That actual Obedience he yielded to the whole Law of God is that Righteousness whereby we are saved we are Innocent by Vertue of his Sacrifice and Expiation and righteous with his Righteousness What is here interposed that we cannot do any Good for the Time to come must be interpreted of our selves without the Ayd or Assistance of the Grace of God And the Things here reported by this Author are so expressed and represented to expose them to Reproach and Scorn to have them esteemed not only false but ridiculous But whether he be in his Wits or no or what he intends so to traduce and scoff at the Fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel I profess I know not What is it he would deny What is it he would assert Are we able to make an Atonement for our Sins Can we be forgiven without an Atonement Can we of our selves do any good without the Aid and Assistance of Grace Can any Thing we do be a full Satisfaction for our Sins or deliver us from the wrath of God that is the Punishment due to our Sins Doth not the Death of Christ expiate former Iniquities and remove the whole Guilt of Sin Is the contrary to these things the Doctrine of the Church of England Is this the Religion which is Authorised to be Preached and are these the Opinions that are Licensed to be publshed unto all the World But as I observed before these things are other Mens Concernment more than mine and with them I leave them But I have said as he quotes the Place that we are reconciled to God by the Death of Christ and saved by his Life that actual Obedience which he yielded to the whole Law of God As the former part of these words are expresly the Apostles Rom. 5.10 and so produced by me so the next words I add are these of the same Apostle if so be we are found in him not having on our own Righteousness which is of the Law but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith which he may do well to consider and answer when he can Once more and I shall be beholding to this Author for a little respite of severity whilst he diverts to the Magisterial Reproof of some other persons Thus then he proceeds pag. 55. The third part of our Wisdom is to walk with God and to that is required Agreement Acquaintance a Way Strength Boldness and aiming at the same End and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in Jesus Christ. So far are my words to which he adds The sum of which in short is this that Christ having expiated our Sins and fulfilled all Righteousness for us though we have no personal Righteousness of our own but are as contrary unto God as Darkness is to Light and Death to Life and an Universal Pollution and Defilement to an Universal and Glorious Holiness and Hatred to Love yet the Righteousness of Christ is a sufficient nay the only Foundation of our Agreement and upon that of our walking with God though St. John tells us if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in Darkness we lye and do not the Truth but if we walk in the
to express the Mind and actings of those who being ignorant ignorant of the Righteousness of God go about to establish their own Righteousness as He farther explains himself Rom. 10.3 4. That I could not intend Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel is so evident that nothing but abominable Prejudice or ignorance could hinder any Man from discerning it For that Faith which I expressed by the Soul's consent to take Christ as a Saviour and a Ruler is the very first Act of Obedience unto the Gospel So that therein or thereon to exclude Obedience unto the Gospel is to deny what I assert which under the favour of this Author I understand my self better than to do And as to all other Acts of Obedience unto the Laws of the Gospel following and proceeding from sincere Believing it is openly evident that I could not understand them when I spake only of what was antecedent unto them And if this Man knowes not what transactions are in the Minds of many before they do come unto the Acceptance of Christ on his own Terms or believe in him according to the Tenour of the Gospel there is Reason to pitty the People that are committed unto his Care and Instruction what regard soever ought to be had unto himself And his Pittiful trifling in the Exposition he adds of this Passage to be saved without doing any thing without obeying Thee and the Law do but increase the Guilt of his Prevarications For the words immediately added in my Discourse are and although I have walked according unto mine own Mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by thy Spirit which unto the Understanding of all Men who understand any thing in these Matters signify no less than an Engagement unto the Universal relinquishment of Sin and entire Obedience unto Jesus Christ in all things But this faith He is a pretty Complement that the Soul makes to Christ after all But why is this to be esteemed only a pretty Complement It is spoken at the same Time and as it were with the same Breath there being in the Discourse no Period between this Passage and that before And why must it be esteemed quite of another Nature so that herein the Soul should only Complement and be real in what is before expressed what if one should say it was real only in this latter Expression and Engagement that the former was only a Pretty Complement May it not with respect unto my sence and intention from any thing in my words or that can be gathered from them or any Circumstances of the Place be spoken with as much regard unto Truth and Honesty What Religion these Men are of I know not if it be such as teacheth them these Practices and Countenanceth them in them I openly declare that I am not of it nor would be so for all that this World can afford I shall have done when I have desired him to take notice that I not only believe and maintain the necessity of Obedience unto all the Laws Precepts Commands and Institutions of the Gospel of Universal Holiness the Mortification of all Sin Fruitfulness in good Works in all that intend or design Salvation by Jesus Christ but also have proved and confirmed my Perswasion and Assertions by better and more Cogent Arguments than any which by his Writings he seems as yet to be acquainted withal And unless he can prove that I have spoken or written any thing to the contrary or he can disprove the Arguments whereby I have confirmed it I do here declare him a person altogether unfit to be dealt withal about things of this Nature his Ignorance or Malice being Invincible nor shall I on any Provocation ever hereafter take notice of him untill he hath mended his Manners His third Section pag. 76. consists of three parts First that some wherein it is apparent that I am chiefly if not only intended do found a Religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ s Person without and besides the Gospel whereunto he opposeth his running Title of no Acquaintance with Christ but by Revelation Secondly a Supposition of a Scheme of Religion drawn from the Knowledge of Christs Person whereunto he opposeth another which he he judgeth better Thirdly an Essay to draw up the whole Plot and Design of Christianity with the method of the Recovery of Sinners unto God In the first of these I suppose that I am if not solely yet principally intended especially considering what he affiâ—ms pag. 98 99 Namely that I plainly confess our Religion is wholly owing unto acquaintance with the Person of Christ could never have been clearly and savingly Learned from the Gospel had we not first grown acquainted with his Person Now herein there is an especial Instance of that Truth and Honesty wherewith my Writings are entertained by this sort of Men. It is true I have asserted that it is necessary for Christians to know Jesus Christ to be acquainted with his Person that is as I have fully and largely declared it in the Discourse excepted against the Glory of his Divine Nature the Purity of his Humane the Infinite Condescention of his Person in the Assumption of our Nature his Love and Grace c. as is at large there declared And now I add that he by whom this is denied is no Christian. Secondly I have taught that by this Knowledge of the Person of Christ or an Understanding of the great Mystery of Godliness God Manifested in the Flesh which we ought to pray for and labour after we come more fully and clearly to understand sundry other important Mysteries of Heavenly Truth which without the Knowledge of Christ we cannot attain unto And how impertinent this Man's Exceptions are against this Assertion we have seen already But Thirdly that this Knowledge of Christ or Acquaintance with him is to be attained before we come to know the Gospel or by any other Means than the Gospel or is any other but the Declaration that is made thereof in and by the Gospel was never thought spoken or written by me and is here falsly supposed by this Author as elsewhere falsly charged on me And I again challenge him to produce any one Letter or Tittle out of any of my Writings to give Countenance unto this frontless Calumny And therefore although I do not like his Expression pag. 77. Whoever would understand the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine and not from his Person for many Reasons I could give yet I believe no less than he that the efficacy of Christ's Mediation depending on God's Appointment can be known only by Revelation and that no Man can draw any one Conlusion from the Person of Christ which the Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of its excellency worth and works than what is there revealed whereby he may see how â—iserably Ill-Will Malice or Ignorance have betrayed him into the futilous pains of writing
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
its full Latitude and Extent It is not the Person but the Gospel of Christ which is the Way the Truth and the Life which directs us in the way to Life and Happiness And again this acquaintance with Christs Person which these Men pretend to is only a work of Fancy and teaches Men the Arts of Hypocrisie c. I do not know that ever I met with any thing thus crudely asserted among the Quakers in contempt of the Person of Christ. For whereas he says of himself expresly I am the Way the Truth and the Life to say he is not so for Jesus Christ is his Person and nothing else carries in it a bold Contradiction both parts of which cannot be true When the Subject of a Proposition is owned there may be great Controversy about the sense of the Predicate as when Christ says he is the Vine There may be so also about the Subject of a Proposition when the Expression is of a third Thing and dubious as where Christ says this is my Body But when the person speaking is the Subject and speaks of himself to deny what he says is to give him the Lye I am the Way and the Truth and the Life saith Christ He is not saith our Author but the Gospel is so If he had allowed our Lord Jesus Christ to have spoken the Truth but only to have added though he was so yet he was so no otherwise but by the Gospel there had been somewhat of modesty in the Expression But this saying that the Person of Christ is not the Gospel is so is intolerable It is so however that this young Man without consulting or despising the Exposition of all Divines Ancient or Modern and the Common sence of all Christians should dare to obtrude his crude and indigested Conceptions upon so great a Word of Christ himself countenanced only by the corrupt and false glosses of some obscure Socinians which some or other may possibly in due time mind him of I have other work to do But according to his Exposition of this Heavenly Oracle what shall any one imagine to be the sence of the Context where I and Me spoken of Christ do so often occur Suppose that the words of that whole Verse I am the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh to the Father but by me have this sence not Christ himself is the Way Truth and the Life but the Gospel No man cometh to the Father but by Me that is not by me but by the Gospel must not all the Expressions of the same nature in the Context have the same Exposition as namely Vers 1. Ye believe in God believe also in me that is not in me but in the Gospel I go to prepare a place for you That is not I do so but the Gospel Ver. 3. I will come again and receive you to my self That is not I but the Gospel will do so And so of all other things which Christ in that place seems to speak of himself If this be his way of Interpreting Scripture I wonder not that he blames others for their Defect and miscarriages therein When I first considered these two last Sections I did not suspect but that he had at least truely represented my Words which he thought meet to reflect upon and Scoff at as knowing how easie it was for any one whose Conscience would give him a Dispensation for such an undertaking to pick out sayings and Expressions from the most Innocent Discourse and odiously to propose them as cut off from their proper Coherence and under a Concealment of the End and the Principal Sence designed in them Wherefore I did not so much as read over the Discourse excepted against only once or twice observing my words as quoted by him not directly to comply with what I knew to be my sence and intention I turned unto the particular Places to discover his Prevarication But having gon through this ungrateful task I took the Pains to read over the whole Digression in my Book which his Exceptions are Levelled against And upon my review of it my Admiration of his dealing was not a little increased I cannot therefore but desire of the most Partial Adherers unto this Censurer of other Mens Labours Judgments and Expressions but once to read over that Discourse and if they own themselves to be Christians I shall submit the whole of it with the consideration of his Reflections upon it unto their Judgments If they refuse so to do I let them know I despise their Censures and do look on the satisfaction they take in this Mans scoffing Reflections as the Laughter of Fools or the Crackling of Thorns under a Pot. For those who will be at so much pains to undeceive themselves they will find that that Expression of the Person of Christ is but once or twice used in all that long Discourse and that occasionally which by the outcrys here made against it any one would suppose to have filled up almost all the Pages of it He will find also that I have owned and declared the Revelation that God hath made of himself the properties of his Nature and his Will in his works of Creation and Providence in its full Extent and Efficacy and that by the Knowledge of God in Christ which I so much insist upon I openly plainly and declaredly intend nothing but the Declaration that God hath made of himself in Jesus Christ by the Gospel whereof the Knowledge of his Person the Great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh with what he did suffered as the Mediator between God Man is the chiefest Instance in which Knowledg consisteth all our Wisdom of Living unto God Hereon I have no more to add but that he by whom these things are denied or derided doth openly renounce his Christianity And that I do not lay this unto the Charge of this doughty Writer is because I am satisfied that he hath not done it out of any such design but partly out of Ignorance of the things which he undertakes to write about and partly to satisfy the malevolence of himself and some others against my Person which sort of depraved Affections where Men give up themselves unto their prevalency will blind the Eyes and pervert the Judgments of Persons as wise as he In the First Section of his fourth Chapter I am not particularly concerned and whilst he only vents his own conceits be they never so idle or Atheological I shall never trouble my self either with their Examination or Confutation So many as he can perswade to be of his Mind That we have no Union with Christ but by Vertue of Union with the Church the contrary whereof is absolutely true That Christ is so an Head of Rule and Government unto the Church as that he is not an Head of Influence and supplies of Spiritual Life contrary to the Faith of the Catholick Church in all Ages That these assertions of his have any
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