the Gospel calls and presses upon men to come to Christ and therefore all Evangelical Duties because they are by infinite Wisdom framed in a perfect Symmetry to the Gospel must needs be not to say Cock-boats and Skullers but Divine Mediums and Conveyances to have us over to Christ without whom we cannot have any access to God or standing before him or power to do any thing in a spiritual and acceptable manner Sermons are to instruct us in our Duty not as if we could do any thing truly and spiritually as of our selves But that in the sense of our own weakness and impotencie we may be drawn to Christ the Wisdom and Power of God who can teach us inwardly and impower us by his Grace to do the Will of God In Prayer we are to have a sense of the Divine Majesty to worship him and express our trust in him But a true sense of the Divine Majesty tells us that we must not approach immediately thither without Christ our Mediator that our trust and other acts of Worship must find their acceptance only in and through Christ Sorrow for sin without coming to Christ and prizing him is so far from being repentance unto life that it drives a man down into the Black Gulf of horror and desperation The Nature of Religion is not now changed but only turned into such a Channel as is congruous to fallen man that all access and acceptance with God may be in a Mediator and all Grace and Glory may be from him Morality is a beauty and good in suo genere but because it sacrifices only to Reason and Reason cannot supply the room of a Mediator it must needs fall much below that Evangelical Religion which would have all transacted through a Mediator Sermons Prayers Confessions Humiliations are Divine Media But if we stay in the means and never arrive at the Mediator we pervert the means from their true end and fall short of that scope to which they were appointed possibly the phrase have over to Christ may to some have but a rough aspect yet the thing is as amiable as can be imagined its importance being no more than that the whole managery of Religion must be in and through a Mediator To conclude whether these men have transformed Religion disfigured the Gospel undermined the fundamental design of it misrepresented the ends of Christ's coming abused his Expiation Sacrifice Righteousness intercession to the patronage of Vice laid Snares to betray some men to a licentious life and to entangle others in endless troubles have under pretence of advancing the person of Christ banished his Religion out of the world I shall leave to the judicious Reader Narcissus the old Bishop of Jerusalem laboured a while under grievous accusations But at last providence brought forth his innocency as clear as the Light However good old Truths may be clouded and aspersed for a time yet sooner or later they will appear again in their lustre recommending themselves to the Consciences of all true Christians FINIS ERRATA's PAge the 6. line the 7. read pervert p. 11. l. 19. r. hearing p. 13. l. 10. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 36. l. 26. r. laugh at this Gal. p. 46. l. 25. r. righteous p. 61. l. 30. r. penality p. 80. l. 1. r. of immense Love p. 113. l. 6. r. adapt p. 204. l. 4. r. us really p. 234. l. 22. r. distinct from the Graces of his person p. 256. l. 13. notions p. 258. l. 16. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 258. l. 20. r. received his fulness p. 280. l. 21. r. trusted p. 290. l. 5. r. Faith p. 291. l. 27. r. inherent p. 299. l. last r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 319. l. 16. r. ascended p. 330. l. 22. r. concerning p. 399. l. 19. r. not essential p. 405. l. 19. r. contendo p. 409. l. last r. to make it our personal righteousness p. 431. l. 28. r. redupliâ—ative p. 471. l. 25. r. imperfect p. 484. l. 17. r. celeâ—â—â—â—ius p. 486. l. 1. r. they who come to Christ come in a sense p. 536. l. 16. r. and after in two pages unregenerate p. 539. l. 9. r. beyond nature p. 544. l. 28. r. appetibile
AN ANSWER TO THE Discourse OF Mr. WILLIAM SHERLOCK TOUCHING The Knowledge of Christ and our Union and Communion with Him By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esquire LONDON Printed for Ben. Foster and are to be sold by most Book-sellers in London MDCLXXV TO THE READER IN that excellent Piece the Soul of Man which is too great for this lower World and in the very Frame of it aspires after an Infinite Good the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or uppermost Room is the Vnderstanding and among all the Truths which are the Furniture thereof none are so rich as those Theological ones which are drawn out of the Golden Mines of Scripture Arts and Sciences are in comparison but the Poor of the Mind the Riches and Treasures of Knowledge lie in Evangelical Mysteries these out-shine the Sun and out-weigh the Earth They have the highest Certainty as coming down immediately from heaven and withall the noblest Tendency as leading us thither Infinite Truth is the Fountain and infinite Goodness the Center of them These when in their Lustre make a spiritual Day and derive such a pure Influence upon the Hearts and Lives of Men as moulds them into the Divine Image and thereby makes them meet for the bliss-making Vision in Heaven No sooner can these be under an Eclipse but there will be a Night and a Chaos of confusions the Path of Life and Happiness will be wrapt up in darkness black Legions of Errors and Corruptions will creep forth and pious Souls will wish for the day I mean for a fresh Illustration of Truths from that sacred Spirit which at first breahed them out into the World and after all the Clouds and dark Veils put upon them can bring them forth in their Oriency and true Glory These to Believers are as Pearls and sacred Jewels dearer than the Apple of their Eye nay than their own Souls They build upon them by Faith espouse them by divine Love lay them up in a pure Conscience distil the Vertue of them into a holy Life and if it were possible they would have none of the sacred Light put out nor the least Jot or Tittle of those Truths fall to the ground O what a rate did the famous St. Austin and others set upon God's special Effectual Grace How highly did the heroical Luther value the Point of Justification Jacente articulo Justificationis jacent omnia saith he as if a Christians All were in it When such Truths are violated Christians how meek soever in other things must earnestly contend and not give place no not for an hour here if ever Luther's pia sancta pertinacia is in season Not to stay any longer on the excellencies and great Concerns of Evangelical Truths which no tongue of Men or Angels is able fully to express I shall now speak a little touching Mr. Sherlock's Book When I read it I thought my self in a new Theological World Believers appearing without their Head for want of a Mystical Vnion strip'd and naked for lack of imputed Righteousness the full treasures of Grace in Christ which have supplied all the vessels of faith emptied out of sacred his person transfused into the doctrine of the Gospel as if according to Pelagius all Grace were in doctrine only The holy Spirit the great Origen of Graces and Comforts in its Illumination seems to be superfluous in its Testimony to Believers an Enthusiastical Fancy and in the work of Regeneration if any at most but a partial Co-cause parting stakes with the Will of Man Faith in Abel and Enoch lying as low as Natural Principles in Noah and Abraham raised up a little to particular Revelations but not so high as the Messiah In Christians standing off and at a distance from Christ its dear Object not daring to lay hold on or so much as touch him to draw any Vertue from thence As if Socinus had hit it right when he said Christi apprehensio merum commentum inanissimum somnium est The immutable Love of God the only Cement of the Church seems to be turned off from Persons to Qualities and towards Persons to be as variable as the fickle Will of Man is and yet he is immutable still he loves for the same Reason or as Socinus saith Non sine causa mutat The Pontifician Thesis touching Justification by inherent Righteousness seems to be revived a fresh and that in a way less tolerable than among the Romanists They though they would have inherent Righteousness come in for a share yet allow the Imputation of Christs passive Obedience but in the New Scheme inherent Righteousness takes up all the room and leaves none for imputed The Drollery and sarcastical Reflections in the Book are but the Cover of it within there is a dark Eclipse upon many excellent Truths which hitherto have been owned in the Churches of Christ and particularly in our own Among other Truths none have had a greater share of suffering than those two touching our Mystical Vnion with Christ and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us both which are to me very momentous The Mystical Vnion hath I suppose been generally received in the Church Indeed Gregory de Valentia once cavilled at it as if it were Mysterium Calvinisticum and yet he seems to own it when he saith Animum nostrum posse per fidem corpus Christi etiam ut in coelo existens atque adeo ut est extra Sacramentum manducare He that denies the Mystical Vnion cannot hold the head Jesus Christ from which all the body by joynts and bands hath nourishment ministred Col. 2.19 Take away that Vnion and Christ is a Head of no Influence the Joynts and the Bands which were made to convey divine Nutriture from him are but empty Titles and signifie no more than those Conduit-pipes do which are severed from the Fountain Again he that denies the Mystical Vnion must lose that piece of his Creed the Communion of Saints their Communion among themselves primarily depends on their Vnion with Christ the Head from whom the whole body is fitly joyned together and compacted as the Apostle tells us Eph. 4.16 All the Harmonies in the Body Mystical hang on its Vnion with the Head without this Believers could have no Communion one with another save in this only that they must all die one common death hy being severed from their Head The living Stones once off from their Foundation can hang no longer together in the spiritual Building but must totter down into a Chaos of Confusion Moreover he that denies the mystical Vnion must turn off the Believer from his true standing according to the Gospel the Believer is a man in Christ he is built on him as on a Foundation he subsists in him as the Branches do in the Vine he hath vital Influences from him as the Members have from the Head he is acted by his divine Spirit in all the pure ways to heaven and all this is his security his
and miss of Heaven And yet when he was in a more gentle humour he told the poor doubting soul that desire nay that a desire only to desire at two or three removes was enough But I am zealous so was Jehu and Paul while a Pharisee in persecuting the Church and therefore an universal religious well-governed zeal for God can be no sign of Grace But I am constant and persevere in godly courses so did the young man all these have I kept from my youth only he left Christ for the sake of his riches and so did not persevere But I do all with a good heart for God so thou mayst think of thy self and be deceived And if this be an objection let a man have what marks he will the objection will still be good and so all evidences signifie nothing for after all a man may be deceived in it and think he hath those marks when he hath them not There is a way that seemeth right to man but the end thereof is death thou mayst live so as to deceive thy self and others and yet prove an hypocrite as if because some men may think themselves good who are in a bad estate no man could ever be sure that he is in the right And thus farewel all evidences There is reason to administer comfort to wounded Souls from the lowest measures of Grace Answer and no less to pluck down the proud Plumes of Hypocrites from the inward and pure spirituality of Religion Our Saviour doth both he gave out gracious Promises to mourners and to the poor in spirit and he poured out woes upon the Pharisees and upon all the pomp of their external righteousness But saith the Author they do so magnifie the attainments of Hypocrites that a sanctified man can do no more than an Hypocrite and so all the evidences of Sanctification are spoiled But how so do they paint the Hypocrite fairer than he is Do they attribute to him a jot or tittle more than what is true No surely an Hypocrite may be no Drunkkard or Swearer he may escape the pollutions of the World that is gross sins and though he be not entangled therein again and so a Swine in his outward converses yet he may be such inwardly his inward parts may be wickedness and uncleanness He may live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet be foul within He may fast pray hear read the Scriptures and yet his heart not right in the sight of God He may have some kind of sorrow or repentance some kind of love to good men and yet like the foolish Virgins have no Oyl in his Lamp no true Grace with his profession He may have a notional knowledge and yet not be Sanctified by the Truth He may keep a Sabbath in the outward decorum of it and yet want the Spirit and Life of it a delight in the Almighty He may have some kind of zeal and some desires after Heaven and yet not of the right stamp He may presume that he hath a good heart and a godly course and be deceived in both all this is true Now one Truth cannot oppose another The truth which concerns the attainments of Hypocrites cannot oppose that which concerns the evidences of Sanctification The outward reformation is an evidence not meerly as it is outward but as it flows from Faith and a pure heart Fasting prayer hearing reading are evidences not meerly in opere operato in the work done but in the doing of them in a Spiritual manner Faith and Hope and holy Love being actuated therein Keeping the Sabbath is an evidence not meerly in the outward observation of it But when it is filled up with Duties spiritually performed Knowledge Zeal Repentance Love to good Men are Graces when of the right stamp but meer notion which swims in the brain is not that sanctifying Knowledge which influences Holiness into the Heart and Life Every heat upon a Religious account is not true Zeal but that celestial Fire which rightly inflames the heart for the glory of God Every sorrow or pressure from the Law is not true repentance but that which melts the heart into tears for the sinfulness of sin Every respect to good men is not the right love but that which flows out of love to God and points to the Divine Image in them Desires after Heaven may be a mark of a good Estate but then they must be such as are vertually Grace and issue out of poverty of spirit A man may think he hath a good heart and a godly course and be deceived therein yet it follows not that we must bid farewel to evidences an holy life issuing out of a pure heart will still be an evidence to him who hath it But after all this Mr. Sherlock it would be worth while to know how to distingush a regenerate from an unregenerate man and that he tells us may be done thus An unregenerate man let him go never so far do never so much yet he lives in some one sin or other This now is very strange What go never so far and do never so much and yet live in some one sin or other what live a blameless innocent honest smooth life and yet live in some one sin or other Yet suppose he did a regenerate man may be in captivity to the Law of sin And pray what 's the difference But then an ungenerate man cannot be poor in spirit and so carried out of all Duties to Christ That is if an unregenerate man do good he is conscious to himself that he doth it If he have a good heart he feels a good heart in himself and in all he doth and therefore feels not a want of all good which is true poverty of spirit So that according to this discourse the surest mark of a regenerate man is either to have no good in himself or if he have any to be mistaken and think he hath none either of which I think is a very odd sign of Grace But then an unregenerate man comes to Christ but he never gets into Christ never takes up his eternal rest and lodging in Jesus Christ only I thought coming had been believing and that believing would have done the business And if so God forbid that any man should be damned for want of that other Metaphor of taking up his eternal rest and lodging in Christ Men in distress of conscience that 〈◊〉 unregenerate men under such distress If they have comfort from Christ they are contented If Salvation from Hell by Christ they are contented and I think they have some reason then to be contented But Christ himself that is without Comfort and without Salvation contents them not Now to be contented with Christ without comfort and salvation is so far from being the mark of an unregenerate man that I am not yet satisfied that it is the mark of an unreasonable man An unregenerate man Answer let him go never so far do