cometh unto the Father but by me if you had known me you should have known my Father also and henceforth you have known him and have seen him That is I alone declare the true way to life and happiness and no man can thoroughly understand the will of God but by learning of me and therefore whoever knows me i. e. whoever is acquainted with the Doctrine and Religion I preach knows my Father also that is is thoroughly instructed in God's mind and will as he proves in the following Verses So that to know God is to understand the will of God concerning the Salvation of Mankind and to know Christ is to understand that Declaration he hath made of Gods will to the World i. e. the Gospel which he Preached which is therefore called the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4. 6. That is that glorious manifestation God hath made of himself to the World by Christ for the face of Christ signifies all that whereby he made himself known as a man is known by his face that is his Laws and Religion and Miracles whereby it appeared that he was the Son of God the great Prophet and Saviour of the World by all this the glory of God was manifested in which the Apostle alludes to that shining glory which appeared on the face of Moses when he came down from the Mount which was but typical of that bright and glorious manifestation God would make of himself by Christ. God was seen in Christ he that hath seen me hath seen my Father that is in plain words the will of God was fully declared to the World by Christ upon which account too as well as with respect to his divine Nature he is called the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his Person Hebr. 1. 1. those discoveries Christ hath made of God being a bright and glorious reflexion of the Nature and Attributes of God of his Eternal Wisdom and truth and holiness as true a representation of the divine nature and will as any Picture is of the person it represents It is plain that in this sense Christ is called the image of God 2 Cor. 4. 4. Lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which is the image of God should shine unto them Where Christ's being the Image of God comes in very abruptly unless we understand it in this sense that he is the Image of God with respect to the glorious Revelations of the Gospel which contain a true and faithful account of God's Nature and Will The result of all is this that God is the last and highest object of Religious and saving Knowledge i. e. that the only Knowledge necessary to the purposes of Religion is such a knowledge of God's Nature and Will as is sufficient to direct our actions and encourage our obedience and whereas God was formerly known by the light of nature and the works of Creation and Providence and those partial and occasional revelations of his will which he made to the World now the only true medium of knowing God is the Knowledge of Christ who came into the World to declare God to us He knows God best who is best acquainted with those Revelations Christ hath made of God's will i. e. who understands the Gospel in its full extent and latitude This is the meaning of that expression in Iohn 17. 3. This is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent i. e. the only way to Eternal Life is to know the nature and will of God and the only certain way of attaining to the knowledg of God is by knowing Christ whom God sent into the World to publish the Everlasting Gospel who hath made more perfect revelations of Gods will than ever the World had before and who alone hath brought life and immortality to light so that to know Christ is not meerly to know his Person which we can have no other knowledge of than what he hath been pleased to reveal to us but to be acquainted with the whole Doctrine of the Gospel in its native simplicity as he published it to the World which I observed before The Apostle calls this learning Christ and being instructed in him as the truth is in Iesus For when we speak of the Knowledge of Christ we must consider him as our Prophet and so to know Christ signifies to know his Gospel and to preach Christ is to preach his Gospel to expound all those rules of life and Articles of Faith which are contained in it whether they are concerning the nature of God or a future State or his own Nature and Office and Mediation Thus Philip preached Christ to the Samaritanes Acts 8. 5. which in Verse 12. is called preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Iesus Christ. That is the whole Doctrine of the Gospel This should make all considering men ashamed of those unreasonable and groundless clamours that Christ is not preached unless he be named in every sentence whether the argument require it or not as if preaching Christ were to be understood in a literal sense of preaching nothing but the name of Christ those preach Christ most who are careful to confirm men in the belief of the Gospel and of that great promise of immortal life who expound his Laws and the true nature and design of his Mediation for every part of the Gospel is part of the Knowledge of Christ and his Laws as principal a part as any because the design of the whole Gospel is to make us obedient to these Eternal Rules of Righteousness whereby we are transformed into the nature and Image of God and qualified for the happiness of Heaven There is indeed a larger notion of the Knowledge of God and Christ which includes the vertue and efficacy of this knowledge for the design of all Religious knowledge being the Government of our lives and actions how true soever our speculations are the Scripture brands all those as ignorant of God who do not love and reverence and obey him and though we be acquainted with the whole Doctrine of the Gospel unless we heartily believe it and obey all those Revelations Christ hath made we know him not Iohn 1. 2 3. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And Verse 4. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him And 1 Iohn 3. 6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him Not but that bad men may have as true a speculative knowledge of the nature and design of the Gospel as good men have but the meaning is that this is a knowledge which serves no end which wants life and sense and makes men no better than if they were perfectly ignorant and therefore is of no other
Body that whereas in former Ages the Church of God seemed to be confined to the Iewish Nation now it pleased the Father that Christ should be the Universal Shepherd and Bishop of Souls by him to reconcile all things to himself and this too is the meaning of that Phrase The fulness of him who filleth all in all therefore the Church is called his Fulness because he filleth all in all that is doth not confine his care and providence and the influences of his Grace to any one Nation or People but extends it to the whole World Thus the fulness of Christ signifies in Eph. 4. 13. Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the explication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a perfect man That is to that perfection of faith and knowledge which becomes the Christian Church For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the age and growth and stature of a man the fulness of Christ cannot so properly be understood of any thing as of the Christian Church This is all that I can find in Scripture concerning the fulness of Christ which either signifies the perfection of his Gospel or the Universality of his Church which is a plain demonstration of those mens skill in expounding Scripture who make this fulness a Personal Grace in Christ and apply it to every thing they can find or fancy in him All the furniture that he received from the Father by the Unction of the Spirit for the work of our Salvation The fulness of his Divine and Humane Nature the fulness of Love in Christ the fulness of habitual Grace fulness of Satisfaction fulness of Merit fulness of Power and Vertue a fulness of Iustification and a fulness of Sanctification which fulness I am sure hath confounded mens notions of Religion and made them look upon Christ only as a Fountain from whence they must drink grace and mercy and pardon justification and eternal life Let us now consider in what sense Christ is called our life and he is so called with respect to his Doctrine his Sacrifice and that Power he is invested with to raise us from the dead He is called Life with respect to his Doctrine because he preached the Word of Life and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel hence in Ioh. 1. 4. the Evangelist tells us In him was life and the life was the light of men That is he preached the Word of Life which enlightned the dark minds of men for it is not imaginable how Life should be light in any other sense than as this Word of Life which Christ preached enlightned their minds and dispelled all the Mists of Errour and Ignorance hence Christ tells his Disciples I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Ioh. 14. 6. that is I declare the true and only way to life and happiness and no man can throughly understand the will of God nor consequently be a true Worshipper of him without learning of me thus he calls himself the Bread of life Ioh. 6. with respect to the Doctrine he preached Vers. 33. and with respect to that Sacrifice he offered for the life of the World Vers. 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World Thus Christ is called our Life because he hath power and authority to bestow immortal life upon all his sincere Followers Ioh. 11. 26 27. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never dye That is he hath power to raise the dead and will actually raise all those who believe in him and reward them with eternal life To the same purpose our Saviour speaks in Ioh. 5. 25 26. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live for as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself That is he first raises those who are dead in sin to a new spiritual life by the power of his Doctrine then hath Authority to raise them to an immortal life This is the meaning too of that expression in Col. 3. 3 4. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory That is you profess your selves to be dead to this World in conformity to the death of Christ and though that immortal life which you expect to enjoy with Christ who is now risen again from the dead be at present concealed from your view yet when Christ who is the Author of eternal life and hath power to raise us from the dead shall appear the second time to judge the World then shall ye appear with him in glory So that when Christ is called our Life the meaning is that he hath published the Word of Life to us which contains the most express promises of a blessed Immortality and the most plain and easie directions how to attain it and that by his death he hath expiated our sins and confirmed all these promises to us and being risen from the dead himself hath now power to raise us We must not dream of fetching life from the Person of Christ as we draw water out of a Fountain but if we would live for ever with Christ we must stedfastly believe and obey his Gospel which is a Principle of a Divine life in us and then we may joyfully expect that when our Lord and Saviour comes again to judge the World he will raise us from the dead and reward our Faith and Patience and Obedience with Immortal Life Thus to proceed Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God which these men call Personal Graces too But I have already shewed you at large that Christ is the Wisdom of God with respect to those Revelations he made of Gods will The Gospel of Christ is the Wisdom and Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God that is the Doctrine of a crucified Christ as will appear from the verses before The Iews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them who are called both Iews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God The Jews were all for Signs and Miracles the Greeks were for curious Philosophical Speculations which might gratifie their inquisitive minds and therefore
the Gospel of Christ which is the way the truth and the life which directs us in the true way to life and happiness Which instructs us in our duty and furnishes us with all the motives and arguments to a good life and gives us the greatest assurance of our reward This Acquaintance with Christs Person which these men pretend to is only a work of fancy and teaches men the Arts of Hypocrisie it undermines the fundamental design of the Gospel makes men incurably ignorant and yet conceited of their own knowledge impertinent and endless talkers and insolent Censurers of all Mankind every Boy who is acquainted with these notions learns to despise the ignorance of his teachers as if they knew nothing of Christ and of the Mystery of the Gospel and now the Laws of Christ will not down with them this is moral and legal Preaching nothing appears wholesom and savoury to their palates but some Romantick descriptions of the beauty loveliness fulness and preciousness of Christ. But I hope hereafter they will see reason to believe that we are not such Strangers to Christ as they imagine but have a greater Reverence for him than to be so rude and unmannerly than to make so bold with his Person and with his Laws and are too honest to abuse the people with such dreams and fruitless speculations The wildness and distraction of these men makes me so much the more admire the Wisdom and the Honesty of our Church who in her publick Catechism hath been careful to prevent these cheats and delusions of fancy feeds her Children with wholesom and substantial food hath taught them a Religion without Art or Subtilty hath instructed them in the nature of their Baptismal Vow and those obligations it lays on them to a vertuous life hath taught them the Apostles Creed which contains those great and essential Articles of Religion which are the necessary Principles of Action hath given them a plain and easie explication of the Ten Commandments which are the rules of a good life hath taught them to pray to God and what the true design of our Saviours Institutions is without filling their heads with notions and Artificial Theories of Religion which serve only to make them giddy with a vain conceit of knowledge to talk ill and to live worse And now it is time to dismiss these acquaintances of Christ and if nothing will make them wiser to leave them to their own dreams and dotage only advising them that however they may indulge themselves in these choice speculations they would have a care of pretending any acquaintance with Christs Person for the neglect or contempt of his Laws lest they fare as ill as another of his acquaintance did Luke 19. 21. who argued from the severity of his temper and disposition to apologize for his own sloath and idleness for I feared Thee because thou art an austere man who takest up that thou layedst not down and reapest that thou didst not sow But it seems as great an acquaintance as he was he drew a very false conclusion when he hid his Talent in a Napkin as his Lord convinct him to his cost and it will be the same case though we argue from other Principles not from the severity but from the fondness and Indulgence of our Saviour from the merits of his Death or the Imputation of his Righteousness The safest way is to do what he bids us lest he be too hard for us at Reasoning and making Hypothesis But yet there is one thing more which I must take notice of that as when the Scripture speaks of the knowledge of Christ it includes not only the speculative part of knowledge which consists in true notions and opinions but the vertue and efficacy of this knowledge in the government of lives in transforming us into the likeness of our Lord and Saviour and and making us obedient to his Laws without which all our knowledge is but like a curious piece of painting an accurate Image and Picture without life or sence so these men talk also of an experimental knowledge of Christ the meaning of which is that this acquaintance with the Person of Christ warms and heats their fancies and moves their passions sometimes they find great breakings of heart they melt and dissolve into tears for their sins when they remember what their Lord suffer'd for them they see him hang upon the Cross and have all his agonies and dying groans in their Ears and then they Curse their sins that nailed him there and tremble at the thoughts of the Naturalness of Gods vindictive justice to him and feel all the horrours and agonies of damned Spirits at other times they are mightily ravisht with his love and charm'd and captivated with his beauty fancy they have him in their arms in the closest embraces they hear Christ call them by name and say to them as he did to that Woman in the Gospel thy sins are forgiven thee They are refresht and ravisht with his Comforts and the sweet Caresses of his love they see Christ adorning them with the beautiful Robes of his Righteousness owning them for his dearest Spouse and expressing all Conjugal affections to them now they tast and relish the sweetness of Christ which other men only talk of and have an experimental sense of his fulness to supply their wants of his Love in chearing their Souls of his beauty in adorning them they are all life and spirit which is a plain argument that now Christ hath taken up his abode with them This will fall under consideration in what follows at present I shall only say this that all this may be no more than the working of a warm and Enthusiastick fancy and no man ought to think himself ever the more experimentally acquainted with Christ unless he find the power of it in governing his life It is very desireable to have always such a quick and vigorous sense of the love of our dying Lord as may constrain us to live to him who dyed for us but without this we are still ignorant of him however we may be transported with these frantick raptures and exstasies of love and joy CHAP. IV. Of our Union to Christ and Communion with him SECT I. NExt to the knowledge of Christ there is not a greater Mystery than our Union to him and Communion with him on which as these men represent it are built all those wild and fanciful conclusions which so directly oppose both the Doctrines and practice of Christianity And therefore it is of great concernment to state this matter and to examine what is meant in Scripture by our Union to Christ and Communion with him for the Scripture does mention such a relation between Christ and Christians as may be exprest by an Union and those phrases of being in Christ and abiding in him can signifie no less And first I observe that those metaphors which describe the Relation and Union betwixt Christ and Christians do
of the Gospel if they understand any thing more by them than expecting to be saved according to the terms of the Gospel Covenant that is by believing and obeying the Gospel of Christ And certainly they must mean something more than this or else they raise a great noise and clamour in the World and confound mens minds with obscure and unscriptural phrases to no purpose as will appear more in what follows CHAP. III. Of the Knowledge of Christ. SECT I. THE happiness of Mankind consists in the Knowledge and Love of God who is the greatest and the best Being and therefore our good God who is never wanting to his own glory and the happiness of his Creatures hath taken care in all Ages by one means or other to make known himself and his will to the World In the first Creation of all things he left such visible impresses of his own Divine Wisdom and Power on the works of Nature and planted in the mind of man such a natural knowledge of himself that it was as easie to discover the first Author of all things as it is now for a well disposed eye to see the Sun when it shines And while man preserved his innocence God himself did not disdain to converse with him and to give him very present and sensible demonstrations of his Power and Providence In after Ages as Mankind grew more corrupt and declined to Idolatry God afforded good men the frequent apparitions of Angels who were the great Ministers of his Providence and to instruct the more degenerate part of Mankind he raised up some great examples and Preachers of Righteousness such as Enoch and Noah and Abraham and gave such plain and undeniable proofs of his acceptance of these men as might reasonably incourage others to imitate their examples He translated Enoch immediately to Heaven and preserved Noah and his Family in the Ark when he destroyed the rest of the World by a deluge of Waters which was a signal warning to that corrupt Generation while the Ark was preparing and a great example to Posterity he sent Lot out of the ruins of Sodom and made Abraham the Father of a great Nation which was a convincing argument how dear these good men were to God and what others might expect from him who would worship and fear him as they did But when the World would not be reformed by these single Examples God chose the Posterity of Abraham to be a publick and constant demonstration of his Power and Providence and care of good men For when God chose the Posterity of Abraham to be his peculiar people he did not design to exclude the rest of the World from his care and providence and all possible means of Salvation as the Apostle argues in Rom. 3. 29. Is he the God of the Iews only Is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also which argument if it have any force in it must prove Gods respect to the Gentiles before the preaching of the Gospel as well as since because it is founded on that natural relation God owns to all Mankind as their merciful Creator and Governour which gives the Gentiles as well as Jews an intrest in his care and providence This plainly evinces that all those particular favours which God bestowed on Israel were not owing to any partial fondness and respect to that people but the design of all was to encourage the whole World to worship the God of Israel who gave so many demonstrations of his power and providence For this reason God brought Israel out of Aegypt with great signs and wonders and a mighty hand when he could have done it with less noise and observation that he might the more gloriously triumph over the numerous Gods of Aegypt and all their enchantments and divinations and that he might be honoured on Pharoah and all his Host. For this reason he maintained them in the Wilderness at the constant expence of miracles fought all their Battles for them and many times by weak and contemptible means overthrew great and puissant Armies drove out the Inhabitants of Canaan and gave them possession of that good land I say one great and principal design of all this was to convince the World of the Majesty and Power of the God of Israel that they might renounce their foolish Idolatries and Country Gods and consent in the worship of that One God who alone doth wondrous things this account the Psalmist gives of it that God wrought such visible and miraculous deliverances for Israel to make his glory and his power known among the Heathen The Lord hath made known his Salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen Psalm 98. 2. That the Heathen might fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the Earth his glory i. e. that all Nations might worship God and all Kings submit their Crowns and Scepters to him Psal. 102. 15. that by this means they might be instructed in that important truth That the Lord is great and greatly to be praised that he is to be feared above all Gods for all the Gods of the Nations are Idols but he made the Heavens Psal. 96. 4 5. And as God set up the people of Israel as a visible demonstration to all the World of his power and providence so he committed his Laws and Oracles to them from whence the rest of the World when they pleased might fetch the best rules of life and the most certain notices of the divine will In such ways God instructed the World in former Ages by the light of Nature and the examples of good men and the Sermons of the Prophets and the publick example of a whole Nation which God chose for that very purpose But when long and sad experience had proved all these ways ineffectual to reform the World at last God sent his own Son into the World to make a full and perfect Declaration of his will to give the best rules of life and to encourage our obedience by the most express promises of a blessed Immortality This was one great design of Christ's appearing in the World to reveal and declare God to us Iohn 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him and in Math. 11. 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him That is God hath now committed unto Christ all the secret purposes of his Counsel concerning the Salvation of Mankind which were concealed from Ages None of the Prophets which lived before did so fully understand it nor have we any other certain way of knowing this but by the Revelation Christ hath made to us Thus in Iohn 14. 6 7. Iesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man
wherein these spiritual Espousals consist Viz 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 submit 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 walk't according to my own mind yet now I wholly give up my self to be ruled by thy Spirit But the mystery of this will appear in what follows for others make obedience necessary upon account of our participation of Christs fulness for this is one part of his fulness a power and ability to do the will of God and this proves that it will be so but makes it no otherwise necessary to us than as we are necessarily passive in it and this is all the Soul means in giving it self up to be ruled by the spirit of Christ to be passively not actively good to submit as needs it must to the irresistible working of the Divine Spirit and to obey when it can rebel no longer Thus Reader I have given thee an entire Scheme of a new Religion resulting from an acquaintance with Christ's Person in all its fundamental Principles and practices here is every jot and tittle of reason it is founded on or pretends to and the most obvious and easie connexion of one part with another whereby thou maist easily judge of the whole fabrick and contrivance and I think there needs no more to expose it to the scorn of every considering man who cannot but discover how inconsistent the Religion of Christ's Person and of his Gospel are this is that knowledge of Christ these men glory in as containing greater Mysteries and more Soul-saving truths than are revealed in the Gospel SECT III. How unsafe it is to found Religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ's Person HAving thus shewed you what that Religion is which these men pretend to learn from an acquaintance with Christ's Person it is time now to consider this way of Reasoning and shew you what an unsafe foundation it is to build any Religion on And first this is at best to build Religion upon uncertain conjectures or ambiguous and doubtful reasons for suppose men were wary and cautious in drawing conclusions from the Person of Christ which few of these men are yet what assurance can they have that their inferences are true Had we seen Christ in the flesh and been witnesses of the many miracles he wrought of his Death upon the Cross and his resurrection from the dead had he not acquainted us with the end and design of all this we might have guest and guest till we had been weary but it is great odds we had never guest right or at best could never have been secure we had We may understand necessary causes from necessary effects and necessary effects from necessary causes if we see a fire we know it burns something and if we see smoak we may safely conclude there is some fire but where the connexion of the effect with the cause is not necessary but arbitrary doth not depend upon the nature of things but the institution and appointment of free Agents we can understand no more of the design than the principal Agent is pleased to tell us This is the case here Christs coming into the World and all that he did and suffered for us is the pure effect of God's free Grace and the design of his unsearchable Wisdom and Council and therefore none can understand the reason and contrivance of this but he who lay in the bosom of his Father and those who learn from him so that whoever would understand the Religion of our Saviour must learn it from his Doctrine not from his Person because there is not a natural and necessary connexion between the Person of Christ and what he did and suffered and the Salvation of Mankind the Incarnation and Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ were available to those ends for which God designed them but the vertue and efficacy of them doth depend upon Gods institution and appointment and therefore can be known only by Revelation When we are acquainted by Christ for what end he came into the World and suffered and died and rose again we may discover the Wisdom and goodness of God in it in sending us such a Saviour and qualifying him in so excellent a manner for the work of our Redemption but we cannot safely draw any one conclusion from the Person of Christ which his Gospel hath not expresly taught because we can know no more of the design of it than what is there revealed And is it not intolerable presumption for men to mould and shape Religion according to their fancies and humours and to stuff it with an infinite number of Orthodox propositions none of which are to be found in express terms in Scripture but are only pretended to be deduced from thence by such imaginary consequences from some little hints and appearances of things Especially is not this unpardonable in those men who cry down reason for such a prophane and carnal thing as must not presume to intermeddle in holy matters and yet lay the foundation of their Religion and erect such glorious and magnificent Fabricks on nothing else but some little shews and appearances of Reason But the plain truth is this when men argue from the nature of God and his Works and Providences from the nature of Mankind and those eternal notions of good and evil and the essential differences of things that is when men argue from plain and undeniable Principles which have an immutable and unchangeable nature and so can bear the stress and weight of a just consequence this is carnal Reason but when men argue from fancies and imaginations which have no stable nature from some pretty Allusions and Similitudes and Allegories which have no certain shape nor form but what every mans fancy gives them this is sanctified and spiritual reason but why I cannot imagine unless that it so much resembles Ghosts and shadows which have nothing solid and substantial in them Secondly How dangerous this way of reasoning from an acquaintance with Christ's Person is appears in this that it will serve any mans turn who hath any quickness and vigour of fancy It is an easie matter at this rate to set up the trade of making new Hypotheses of Religion I have already given you one draught and Scheme of Religion from a pretended acquaintance with Christs Person and it were easie to present you with
it must be acknowledged that the Scripture doth attribute a Fulness to Christ and he is called Life and Righteousness the Power and Wisdom of God So that there is no dispute between us whether Christ have all fulness in him whether he be our Life and Righteousness the Wisdom and Power of God but the dispute is in what sense the Scripture attributes all this to Christ. 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 compleat and perfect declaration of the will of God and the most powerful Method of the Divine Wisdom for the reforming the World as it prescribes the only Righteousness which is acceptable to God and directs us in the only way to Life and Immortality Now to bring this controversie to an issue there cannot be a more effectual way than to examine those places of Scripture which speak of this matter and to learn their sense of it for if men be allowed to take Scripture phrases and put what sense they please on them we may quickly have as many different Religions as there are different fancies among men To begin then with the fulness of Christ and the first place in which we meet with it is in Iohn 1. 16. And of his fulness we all received and Grace for Grace Now what is meant by this fulness we may learn from Verse 14. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we behâ—ld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth So that this fulness which was in Christ is a fullness of Grace and truth and if we consult Ver. 17. we shall find that this Grace and Truth is opposed to the law of Moses The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. So that Grace and Truth signifie the Gospel which is a Covenant of Grace and is expresly called the Grace of God Titus 2. 11. and contains the most clear and perspicuous revelation of the Divine will in opposition to the Types and Shadows of the Law is Truth in opposition to Types and Figures This is the fullness 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 This fulness dwelt only in Christ and from him alone we receive it for none of the Prophets who were before him did so perfectly understand the will of God as he did No man hath seen God at any time but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him v. 18. That is no man ever before had so perfect a knowledge of the will of God which is here called seeing God because sight gives us the clearest evidence and the most perfect and particular knowledg but the Son of God who perfectly understood all his most secret Counsels hath perfectly declared the will of his Father to us And hence that fulness which we receive from Christ is explained by Grace for Grace And of his fulness we have received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. Grace for Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the repetition of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a preposition signifies only that abundance of Grace which is now manifested by the Gospel of Christ. There is indeed some difference about the sense of the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the ancient Fathers expound it by Vice as St. Austin pro Legis gratiâ quae praeteriit gratiam Evangelii accepimus permanentem pro umbris imaginibus veteris Instrumenti gratia veritas per Christum facta est That instead of the Grace of the law which is now past we receive the Grace of the Gospel which is constant and permanent and instead of the shadows and figures of the Old Testament we have Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ and thus Nonnas in his Paraphrase renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though this seems to be a forc'd sense for the Law is no where called Grace but Grace is expresly opposed to the Law in the next Verse but however this you see they agree in that by the fulness of Grace and truth they understand the Gospel that perfect Declaration which Christ hath made of Gods will to the World Now though every man in his wits must confess that this fulness was first in the Person of Christ as these men love to speak before he could communicate it to us that is that he first perfectly understood the will of God himself before he could declare it to others yet it is not this Personal fulness we are to attend to but the fulness and perfection of his Gospel from whence we must fetch the knowledge of the Divine Will for whatever fulness be in him the Revelations of the Gospel only communicate this fulness to us To the same purpose the Apostle discourses in the 2. Col. 9. 10. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and ye are compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled in him who is the Head of all principalities and powers For the understanding of which we must consider what is meant by that Phrase That in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Deity bodily which must be acknowledg'd to be an allusive and Metaphorical expression for God who is a Spirit cannot in a proper sense dwell bodily in any thing And therefore we must observe that the design of the Apostle in this Chapter is to perswade the Colosians to adhere to the Gospel of Christ not to be seduced either by Jews or Gnosticks who talkt very much in their canting phrase of the pleromata to corrupt the Religion of Christ with Jewish Ceremonies or Pagan Superstitions Ver. 16 17 18 19. and the principal argument he urges to this purpose is the perfection of the Gospel Revelation that in Christ that is the Gospel of Christ are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Ver. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is not in whom are hid as our translation renders it contrary to the sense of the place but in whom are all the hidden treasures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Wisdom and Knowledge that is who hath now revealed to us all those treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge which in former Ages were hidden from the World upon this he exhorts them to be firm and stedfast in the belief of the Gospel of Christ and obedience to it Ver. 6 7. To beware lest any man spoil them through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the Rudiments of the World and not