CHAP. I.

ALL errour hath some appearance of truth ; it being impossible to believe a plain and undisguised falshood : but yet most men are so easie and credulous , so impatient of severe inquiries , or byassed by so many corrupt passions and interests , that they are too often imposed on by very slight appearances : And commonly the first and fundamental mistake is in a confusion of names , in a doubtful and ambiguous use of words , especially in matters of Religion , which depend upon Revelation , and must be judged by the publick and authentick Records of inspired men : for it happens too often in this Case , that men consider nothing but the sound of words , and from thence form such uncouth Idaeas of Religion , as are fitted to the meanness of their understandings , or gratifie their natural Genius and disposition , or are calculated to serve an interest : And thus the Gospel of our Saviour is defaced and obscured by affected Mysteries , and Paradoxes , and senseless propositions ; and Christ himself , who was the brightness of his Fathers glory , and the express image of his Person , who in the most plain and perspicuous manner declared the will of God to us , is represented with a thicker Vail upon his Face than Moses , and the glory of the second Covenant is much more obscured with a mist of words , than the first was with Types and Figures .

This will appear to any man , who shall observe , what strange interpretations are commonly made of those Texts of Scripture , especially in St. Pauls Epistles , wherein Christ is mentioned , what absurd propositions are built on them , what pernicious consequences drawn from them , to defeat the great ends of Christs appearing in the flesh .

I always took it for granted , that Christ and his Religion were very well agreed , but , if we believe some men , there is as irreconcileable a difference between the Religion of Christs Person , and of his Gospel , as between the Law and Grace : For the Gospel of Christ is as severe a despensation as the Law , which dooms all men to Eternal misery , who live not very innocent and vertuous Lives ; but the Person of Christ is all Grace , a meer refuge and Sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly .

Surely here must be a mistake somewhere ; for I am still of the mind , that the Person of Christ is not at odds with his Gospel ; and that the Person of Christ will save none whom his Gospel condemns ; or if Christ would save those , whom his Gospel condemns , viz. impenitent and incorrigible Sinners , I cannot imagine how men should know this without a particular Revelation , and I hope , they do not mean this by the private testimony of the Spirit to work assurance in them ; And yet we can think of no other way , since the Gospel is so silent in this matter : But it is easie to observe , where the mistake lies : for some men , where-ever they meet with the word Christ in Scripture , always understand by it the Person of Christ , and thus Faith in Christ , and hope in Christ , and the like Phrases , are expounded of a siducial relyance and recumbency on the Person of Christ for Salvation in contra-distinction to obedience to his Laws , which sets up a Religion of the Person of Christ in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel . And therefore the best way of rectifying this mistake , which sets the Person and the Gospel of Christ at such odds , is to examine the various significations of this name Christ in Scripture , which shall serve as an Introduction to what follows .

And first Christ is originally the name of an Office , which the Jews call the Messias or one anointed by God : for under the Law , their Prophets , Priests , and Kings , were invested in their several Offices by the Ceremony of anointing them with Oyl , which was typical of that divine Unction the Holy Jesus received at his Baptism , when the Spirit of God descended on him like a Dove . All those legal Unctions were accomplisht in Iesus of Nazareth , whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost , and with power , Acts 10. Verse , 38. which was his Consecration to the Mediatory Function , and vertually contained all those Offices of Prophet , Priest , and King , which are not properly distinct Offices in Christ , but the several parts , and different administrations of his Mediatory Kingdom .

His Preaching the Gospel ( which we commonly call his Prophetical Office ) was the exercise of his Regal Power and Authority , in publishing his Laws , and the conditions of Eternal Life . Hence the Gospel is so often called the Kingdom of Heaven , and our Saviour tells Pilate , that he was born to be a King , and the principal exercise of his Kingly Power in this World consists in bearing witness to the truth , Iohn 18. 37. that is , it was an Act of his Regal Power to Conquer errour and ignorance , to destroy the Kingdom of darkness by the brightness of his appearing , and to erect his Throne in the hearts and Consciences of men , by the power and evidence of truth ; which is a true spiritual Kingdom .

And he was a Kingly Priest , a Priest after the order of Melchizedec , who was King of Salem , ( the new Ierusalem which comes down from Heaven ) and Priest of the most high God . Hebr. 7. Verse 1. when he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin , he acted like a King . No man took his life from him , but he had power to lay it down , and he had power to take it again , in the 10th Chapter of St. Iohn's Gospel , and 18. Verse . Herein he differ'd from other Kings , that he laid the Foundation of his Kingdom in his own blood , purchas'd and redeem'd his Subjects by the Sacrifice of himself .

And that , to which we commonly appropriate the name of Regal Power , that authority he is invested with , to Govern his Church , to send his Spirit , to forgive sins , to dispense his Grace , and supernatural assistances , to answer Prayers , to raise the dead , and judge the World , and bestow immortal life on all his sincere Disciples , all this is the reward of his death and sufferings , and is therefore called his intercession , because like the intercession of the high Priest under the Law , it is founded on his expiation and Sacrifice . With his own blood he entred once into the holy place , having obtained eternal redemption for us . Hebrews 9. Verse 12. so that intercession signifies the Administration of his Mediatory Kingdom : the Power of a Regal Priest to expiate and forgive sins .

This is a true account of the nature of Christs Kingdom , and the method whereby it is erected . He first conquers the minds of men by the power of his Word and Spirit ; and reduces them into subjection to God ; and then he pardons their sins , and raiseth them into an immortal life by the expiation of his Sacrifice , and that Power and Authority , which is founded on it .

And this is the interpretation of the name Christ , which signifies a Mediatory King , immediately appointed by God to that Office , and consecrated to it by a Divine and Supernatural Unction . And thus the name Christ signifies in those places of Scripture , where Iesus is said to be the Christ , i. e. that Messias , whom God promised to send ; Which are so many and so obvious , that I need not name them .

Secondly , Though Christ is originally the name of an Office , yet it is used in Scripture to signifie the Person , who is invested with this Office : for the use of names being for distinction , and the Office of a Mediator , which is the first signification of the name Christ , being appropriate to Him , it might well serve for a proper name , when once it was known , who was the Christ . And therefore though before his designation to this Office was publickly owned , he was only called Iesus , the name given him by the Angel , before he was born ; yet , when by his resurrection from the dead , He was declared with power to be the Son and the Christ of God , Christ became as much his proper name , as Iesus was before . In the Gospels , which contain the History of his Life and Death , He is always called Iesus , because all this time it was disputed , whether he were the Christ or not ; but in the Epistles , which are directed to the Christian Churches , which were founded on this Faith , that Iesus is the Christ , he is as familiarly called Christ as Iesus , and oftentimes by both , Iesus Christ . For there can be no mistake in the Person , by what name soever he be called , whether it belong to his Office , or Nature , or circumstances of his Life and Fortune , if there be but One , to whom that name belongs .

Thirdly , Christ signifies the Gospel , and Religion of Christ , as Moses signifies the Writings , and Laws of Moses , and the Prophets , the Writings or Sermons of the Prophets ; in the 16. Ch. of St. Lukes Gospel , 29. Verse , They have Moses and the Prophets , let them hear them ; and in the 31. Verse , If they hear not Moses and the Prophets , neither will they be perswaded , though one rise from the dead . And there is nothing more usual in common speech , than to call any Laws , or Religion , or Philosophy , by the name of the first Authors : Thus in the 6. Chapter to the Galathians 15. Verse . In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth anything , nor uncircumcision , but a new Creature : that is , in the Gospel , and Religion of Christ , nothing is of any value to recommend us to the favour of God , but a new Nature , a holy and vertuous life : The Law preferr'd Circumcision before Uncircumcision , but the Gospel of Christ makes no such distinction ; but instead of those external signs requires the inward purity of heart . Thus in the second Chapter of the Ep. to Coll. 8. Verse ; Beware lest men spoil you through Philosophy , and vain deceit , after the traditions of men , after the Rudiments of the World , and not after Christ . Where after Christ is opposed to the traditions of men , and the Rudiments of the World , and therefore must signifie not the Person , but the Religion or Gospel of Christ , i. e. have a care , lest you be corrupted with the foolish opinions and superstitions of men , which are inconsistent with the Christian Philosophy , a plain contradiction to the Doctrine and Religion of Christ . And in the 6. Verse , As you have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord , so walk in him . i. e. obey the Doctrine of Christ , as you have been taught it by us , for so in the next Verse he calls it , Being established in the Faith , as you have been taught . The like we may see in the 4. Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians , 20 , 21. Verses , But you have not so learned Christ , if so be , you have heard him , and been taught by him , as the truth is in Iesus . Now what can learning Christ signifie ? but learning the Gospel of Christ . And how could the Ephesians , who never saw Christ in the flesh , be said to hear him , in any other sense , than as they heard his Gospel preacht to them , ver. 8. and to be instructed in him , as the truth is in Iesus ( for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies , not , as our Translators render it , being taught by him , but instructed in him ) must be expounded of his Religion , in its genuine and primitive simplicity , so as Christ taught it his Disciples , without the mixture of such corrupt and impure Doctrines , as the Gnostick Hereticks had taught under the name of Christianity . These I take to be very convincing allegations of the use of the name Christ , for his Doctrine and Religion .

Fourthly , It is acknowledg'd by all , that Christ sometimes signifies the Church of Christ , which is his body , the fullness of him , that filleth all in all : And thus we must understand those Phrases of being in Christ , engrafted into Christ , and united to Christ , which signifie no more than to be a Christian , One , who belongs to that Society , whereof Christ is the Head and Governour : thus it is used in the 12. Chapter of the Ep. to the Romans , 5. Verse . We being many are One Body in Christ , i. e. we are all but one Christian Society , which is the One Body of Christ . Thus Brethren in Christ , i. e. Christian Brethren , 1 Colossians . 2. Verse . And , if any man be in Christ , he is a new Creature : 2. Ep. to the Corinthians 5. Chapter 17. v. i. e. every sincere Christian is a new Creature , or , whoever professeth the Faith of Christ , and lives in Society with the Christian Church , hath obliged himself to live a new life : but of this more in its proper place .

Thus variously is the name Christ used in the Writings of the Apostles , which hath occasioned very great mistakes in some mens Divinity , who are very zealous to advance Christs Person to the prejudice and reproach of his Religion . Who , instead of those substantial duties of the love of God , and men , and an universal holiness of life , have introduced a fanciful application of Christ to our selves , and Union to him , set off with all those choice Phrases of closing with Christ , and embracing Christ , and getting into Christ , and getting an interest in Christ , and trusting , and relying , and rowling our Souls on Christ : And instead of obedience to the Gospel , and the Laws of Christ , have advanced a kind of Amorous and Enthusiastick devotion , which consists in a passionate love to the Person of Christ , in admiring his Personal excellencies , and perfections , fulness , beauty , loveliness , riches , &c. The Foundation of all which Riddles , and Mysteries , is , that these men make the Person of Christ almost the sole object of the Christian Religion , and whatever is spoken of Christ with respect to his Offices , his Laws , and his Religion , they understand of his Person , and personal excellencies . And therefore the design of this discourse is to reconcile the Person of Christ with his Religion , that men may not abuse themselves with a pretended devotion to our Saviour , while they contemn his Laws , and purposely defeat the great end of his coming into the World . And to that end I shall discourse on these following Arguments .

First , Of what use the consideration of Christs person is in the Christian Religion ; Secondly , What the Knowledge of Christ is ; Thirdly , Wherein our Union to Christ , and Communion with him consists ; Fourthly , Christs love to us , and our love to Christ .

CHAP. II. Of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion .

THE first thing to be stated is , of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion : For those men , who talk so much of the Person , and Personal excellencies of Christ frequently without any sense , and generally without any just ground from Reason or Scripture , are very clamorous , and alarm the World with strange jealousies and fears ; as if there were a party of men started up , who design to make Christ useless , and to reduce Religion to its first Natural State , which knew no Priest , nor Sacrifice , nor Mediator . A design , which , I profess , I am wholly a stranger to , as I believe all those are , who are so much charged with it ; The Foundation of my hope is that , which is the Foundation of the Christian Religion , the Sacrifice and Intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ . But I doubt not , it will appear in the Sequel , what the ground of these calumnies are , viz. that we are charged with making Christ useless , only because we dare not make his Laws and Religion so : And to prevent such scandals for the future , I shall lay the Foundation of all in this inquiry ; of what use the consideration of Christs Person is in the Christian Religion .

By the Person of Christ I mean , what all men ought to mean , who talk of Christs Person , viz. Christ himself , as every mans Person is himself : and the only proper consideration here is the greatness of his Person , who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God man , the Son of God , in whom his Soul was well pleased , who left the glories of an Eternal Throne to undertake the work of mans redemption ; and this suggests many useful considerations , which have a great influence upon Religion .

As first , This is a plain demonstration of Gods love to Mankind , that he sent so great and so dear a Person , as his only begotten Son , into the World to save Sinners . All Religion is founded on a belief of Gods Goodness , He that cometh to God must believe , that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them , that diligently seek him . Hebr. 11. 6. that is , must believe his Being and his Providence , that he loves , and takes care of good men ; for no man will serve God , who does not hope to be the better by it . And therefore every Religion had its proper demonstrations of Gods Goodness : Natural Religion was founded on those natural evidences of the Divine bounty and goodness in making and governing the World ; the Mosaick Religion on those miraculous deliverances , God wrought for Israel , and that particular providence , which watched over them : the Christian Religion , on the Incarnation , Death , and Resurrection of the Son of God ; a work of such stupendious love , that it is the wonder of Angels , and the astonishment , as well as praise of men . No man can doubt of Gods good will to Sinners , who sees the Son of God cloathed with our flesh , and dying as a Sacrifice for our sins ; this gives relief to our guilty fears , and does encourage us to retrieve our past follies by new obedience , that we have so great an assurance of God's goodness ; for he had nothing greater to bestow on us , than his Son ; And he that spared not his own Son , but delivered him up for us all , how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? 8 Rom. 32.

Secondly , This gives great reverence and authority to the Gospel , that it was preached by so great a Person , as the Son of God . Laws always partake of the fate and condition of the Law-giver ; the greater opinion we have of his Wisdom , and Reverence for his Person , the more sacred regard have we for his Laws ; and therefore Numa pretended , that he received his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria , to procure a greater veneration for them ; which was imitated by Lycurgus , and other Law-givers : thus God , who at sundry times , and in divers manners , spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets , hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son , whom he appointed Heir of all things , by whom also he made the Worlds . 1 Hebr. 1. 2. And his greatness and Authority gives an inviolable sanction and just reverence to his Laws . Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard , lest at any time we should let them slip ; for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast , and every ▪ transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward , how shall we escape , if we neglect so great Salvation , which at first began to be spoken by the Lord , 2. Hebr. 1. 2 , 3. To the same purpose is that Parable in Luke 20. 9. &c.

Thirdly , The greatness of his Person gives great authority to his example . He came to be our Prophet and our guide , to teach us by his Precepts and his life ; now we love to imitate great Persons , and none so great as he , who was the brightness of his Fathers Glory , and the express image of his Person . His example secures the honour and reputation of vertue , and gives us an evident demonstration , wherein the perfection of our nature consists ; for he lived up to the perfection of humane nature , and the only way to be perfect is to live , as he lived . Nay the greatness of his Person makes all the expressions of his love and goodness the more wonderful . That the Son of God should become man , that when he was rich , for our sakes he should become poor , that the great Lord of the Creation should become a Minister and Servant , that the Lord of life and glory should suffer and die : These are such expressions of love and goodness , as we can never fully imitate , because we can never be so great , as he was , but yet they powerfully convince us , how reasonable it is for us to stoop to the meanest offices of kindness , since we can never stoop so low , as the Son of God did , when he came down from Heaven , and took up his Lodging in the grave .

Fourthly , This assures us of the infinite value of his Sacrifice , and the power of his intercession : He was a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron , and his Sacrifice of a greater value than the bloud of Bulls and Goats : God cannot but be pleased , when his own Son undertakes to be a ransom , and to make atonement for Sinners , which is so great a vindication of Gods Dominion and Soveraignty , of the authority of his Laws , and the Wisdom and Justice of his Providence , that he may securely pardon humble and penitent Sinners without reproaching any of his Attributes . And we can reasonably desire no greater security for the performance of this Gospel Covenant , than that it was sealed with the bloud of the Son of God , which is such a confirmation of God's Covenant and Promise , as the World never had before ; Christ is the surety of a better Testament , Hebr. 7. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one who undertakes for the performance of it , and the security he gives us depends on thè vertue of his Priesthood and Sacrifice , and the power of his Intercession ; for so in Verse 21. the Apostle tells us , that God had confirmed the Priesthood of Christ by Oath , The Lord hath sworn and will not repent , Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec : And whereas other Priests died , and left their Priesthood to their Successors , He continueth for ever , and therefore hath an unchangeable Priesthood , and is able to save them to the uttermost , that come unto God by him , seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them . Verse 23 , 24 , 25. And who can desire a more powerful Mediator than the Son of God , to whom God hath given such signal demonstrations of his favour and acceptance by a voice from Heaven , and by the glory of his Miracles , and his Resurrection from the Dead ?

And that the vertue of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession depends very much on the greatness of his Person is plain from the Epistle to the Hebrews ; the design of which is to show , how much the Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ excels that of the Law , and the Foundation of all is laid in the first Chapter , where the Apostle discourses of his greatness and excellency , that he was the brightness of his Fathers glory , and the express Image of his Person ; the Heir of all things by whom he made the Worlds , exalted above all Angels , who hath an everlasting Throne and Scepter , and shall continue , when all other things moulder and vanish away .

But Fifthly , The Person of Christ is of no other consideration in the Christian Religion , than as it hath an influence upon the great ends of his undertaking , i. e. we must expect no more from Christ upon account of his Personal excellencies and perfections , than what he hath promised in his Gospel : He hath told us there , whatever he intends to do for us , and hath charged us to expect no more from him . Math. 7. 21. Not every one , that saith unto me , Lord , Lord , shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven , but he that doth the will of my Father , which is in Heaven . That is , you must not expect , that I will be better to you than my word , and receive you into the Kingdom of Heaven upon easier terms , than I have promised , I shall be moved with none of your flattering speeches , but how good and kind soever you may fancy me , unless you obey those Laws I publish in my Fathers name , I declare before hand , that I will disown you , when I come to judgment .

For indeed should he absolve and justifie those men , whom the Gospel condemns , that is , wilful and incorrigible Sinners , this were to disanul that Covenant which he had sealed with his bloud : Christ is the object of our Faith and Hope , only as he is our Saviour , and he is our Saviour in no other sense , than as he is our Mediator , and he mediates for us as our Priest , that is in vertue of that Covenant , which he hath sealed with his bloud , and therefore we have no reason to expect any thing from the Person of Christ , which is not contained in his Covenant , much less which contradicts it , for that would be in effect to renounce his Mediation , and to trust to the goodness of his nature : And let any man judg , whether this be not to set up a new Religion , which hath no Covenant , and no Promise ; for whatever we can expect from Christ by vertue of a Promise , is contained in the Gospel , and if we expect any thing else from him upon his Personal account , it is without a promise : which at best reduces us to the same state , in which the World was , before God had made an express revelation of his will , when all their hopes were founded on that natural perswasion they had of the divine Goodness , that Faith , which is the Foundation of Natural Religion , that God is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him . Hebr. 11. 6. thus these men trust in the Person of Christ without any Promise , nay ( which makes the case much worse ) in contradiction to the terms of that Covenant , which he sealed with his bloud : they quit his Promise and his Covenant , to rely and rowl upon his Person .

This is so very absurd at first sight , that I know no man will be so senseless , as to owne it in so many words , nor do I charge any man with it ; but I say , this is the natural interpretation of trusting in the Person of Christ , in his blood , and merits , and satisfaction , fulness , and alsufficiency , and of relying and rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation , and the like Phrases of a late date , in which some men place the whole mystery 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 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 See Ch. 1. concerning the significa . of the name Christ . 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 account with God , than ignorance , unless it be to aggravate their sins , and their condemnation .

SECT. II. Of acquaintance with the Person of Christ .

AFter this plain account wherein the Knowledge of Christ consists , the sum of which is , that to know Christ is to understand his Gospel , which contains all those revelations he made of God's will , it will be necessary to examine another notion of the Knowledge of Christ very distinct from this , which contains a greater secret , than at first one would imagine , and that is an acquaintance with the Person of Christ , which if we will believe some men , is the only fountain of saving knowledge .

I shall not envy the Author the glory of this discovery , and therefore shall honestly confess , where I had it , viz. in a Book Entitled , Communion with God the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost each Person distinctly . Written by Iohn Owen , D. D. And that I may not do this Author wrong , I must tell you , what he means by acquaintance with Christ's Person , an account of which we have in digression 2. pag. 87. of the excellency of Christ Iesus . Where he tells us , that Christ is not only the Wisdom of God , but made wisdom to us , not only by teaching us wisdom ( that is by the Doctrines he preached , and those revelations he hath made of God's will ) as he is the great Prophet of the Church , but also because by the knowing of him , we become acquainted with the wisdom of God , which is our wisdom . To which purpose he applies that Text , which speaks of the Doctrines and Revelations of Christ , to his Person . Coll. 2. 3. For in him dwell all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge . So that our acquaintance with Christ's Person , in this man's Divinity , signifies such a knowledge 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 : for so he adds soon after , that these properties of God ( his pardoning mercy , &c. ) Christ hath revealed in his Doctrine , in that revelation he hath made of God and his will , but the life of this knowledge lies in an acquaintance with his Person , wherein the express image and beams of this glory of his Father doth shine forth : that is , that these things are clearly , eminently , and savingly , only to be discovered in Iesus Christ ; as he explains himself . So that it seems , the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure discovery of the nature , and Attributes , and will of God , and the methods of our recovery ; we may thoroughly understand whatever is revealed in the Gospel , and yet not have a clear and saving knowledge of these things , unless we gain a more intimate acquaintance with the Person of Christ . This indeed advances the Person of Christ very much , but is no great commendation of his Gospel , and prophetick office : It sets up a new rule of Faith above the Gospel , viz. an acquaintance with Christ's Person , in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge .

But that you may better understand the whole mystery of this Acquaintance with the Person of Christ : I shall first show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person ; and secondly , show you what an unsafe way of arguing this is , and how prejudicial to the Christian Religion . First , to show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person . And I confess , I am very much beholden to this Author for acknowledging whence they fetch all their Orthodoxy , and Gospel Mysteries ; for I had almost pored my eyes out with seeking for them in the Gospel , and 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 . This is an argument well worth considering , and if this discourse should prove long ( as I fear it will ) I doubt not , but the usefulness of it will be a sufficient reward both to the Writer and Reader . And since I owe this discovery to Dr. Iohn Owen , I shall confine my self to his method , who in the place above-mentioned tells us , that the sum of all true wisdom and Digr. 2 ▪ Of the Excellency of Christ Iesus . p. 89 knowledge may be reduced to these three heads .

First , The knowledge of God , his nature and properties . Secondly , The knowledge of our selves with reference to the will of God concerning us . Thirdly , Skill to walk in Communion with God . In these three is summed up all true wisdom and knowledge , and not any of them is to any purpose to be obtained , or is manifested ; but only in and by the Lord Christ .

Where By is fallaciously added to include the Revelations Christ hath made , whereas his first undertaking was to show how impossible it is to understand these things savingly and clearly , notwithstanding all those Revelations God hath made of himself and his will by Moses , and the Prophets , and by Christ himself , without an acquaintance with his Person .

But to let that pass , I shall begin with the knowledge of God , his nature and properties ; and I shall not particularly examine every thing , he says , but principally take notice of those peculiar discoveries of the nature of God , which the World was ignorant of before , and of which Revelation is wholly silent , but are now clearly and savingly learnt from an Acquaintance with Christ's Person .

The light of nature and the works of Creation and Providence , and those manifold Revelations God hath made of himself to the World , especially that last and most perfect Revelation by Iesus Christ our Lord ; assure us , that God is infinite in all perfections ; that he is so powerful , that he can do whatever he pleases ; so wise , that he knows how to order every thing for the best ; so good , that he desires and designs the happiness of all his Creatures according to the capacity of their natures ; so holy , that he hath a natural love for all good men , and will not fail to reward them ; but hates all sin and wickedness , and will as certainly punish all obstinate and incorrigible Sinners ; but yet that he is very patient and long-suffering towards the worst of men , and uses various methods of kindness and severity to reclaim them , and is as ready to pardon them , when they return to their duty , as a kind Father is to receive an humble and penitent Prodigal : These properties of God are plainly revealed in the Scripture without any further acquaintance with the Person of Christ ; And had Christ never appeared in the World , yet we had reason to believe , that God is thus wise , and good , and holy , and merciful , because not only the works of Nature and Providence , but the word of God , assure us , that he is so : the Appearance of Christ did not first discover the nature of God to us , but only gave us a greater expression of God's goodness , than ever we had before : confirms us in the belief of what we had learnt before from nature , and Revelation , just as his Resurrection , which is an ocular demonstration of another life , confirms us in the belief of that blessed Immortality , he had promised ; and yet we could not have learnt this neither from the Person of Christ , had he not told us , for what ends he came into the World , as will appear more anon .

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 Jews , that he was a gracious and merciful God , pardoning iniquitiy , transgressions and sins . And those natural notions the 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 .

But yet the truth is , considering what these men mean by the love and pardoning Grace , and Justice , and Patience , and Long-suffering of God , I must acknowledge , that these properties could never have been discovered but by a too familiar acquaintance with Christ's Person ; for Nature and Revelation say nothing of them ;

As for Instance , he tells us , that in Christ ( that is in his death and sufferings Digr. 2. p. 93. for our sins ) God hath manifested the naturalness of this Righteousness ( i. e. vindictive justice in punishing sin ) unto him , in 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 suspition of injustice in it ) to remit injuries and offences , without exacting any punishment : And 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 . That part of justice , which consists in punishing offenders , was always lookt on as an Instrument of Government , and therefore the exacting or remitting punishment was referred to the wisdom of Governours , who might spare , or punish , as they saw reason for it , without being unjust in either , and therefore , had not one who pretends to so great and personal an Acquaintance with Christ said so , I should rather have thought , that God's requiring such a Sacrifice , as the death of Christ , for the expiation of our sins was not , because he could not do otherwise , but because his Infinite Wisdom judged this the best and most effectual way of dispencing his Grace :

But though this be a very terrible discovery of the naturalness of Gods righteousness or vindictive justice , yet he makes some amends for it in that comfortable discovery of his patience and long-suffering towards Sinners ; for Ibid. p. 95. now in Christ the very nature of God is discovered to be love and kindness : a happy change this from all justice to all love ! but how comes this to pass ? why the account of that is very plain : because the justice of God hath glutted its self with revenge on sin in the death of Christ , and so hence forward we may be sure he will be very kind , as a revengful man is when his passion is over ; for so he speaks very honourably of God , whatever discoveries were made of the Patience and lenity of God unto us , yet if it were not withal revealed , that the other properties of God , as his Iustice and Revenge for sin , had their actings also assigned them to the full , there could be little consolation gathered from the former . That is , he would not believe God himself , though he should make never so many promises of being good and gracious to Sinners , unless he were sure , that he had first satisfied his revenge , which indeed is such a Character of the Love and Patience of God , as we could never have understood , but from an intimate acquaintance with the Person of Christ . The sum of which is , that God is all love and Patience , when he hath taken his fill of revenge , as others use to say , that the Devil is very good , when he is pleased .

But however sinners have great reason to rejoice in it , when they consider the nature and end of God's Patience and forbearance towards them , viz. That it is Gods taking a course in his infinite wisdom and goodness , that we should not be destroyed notwithstanding Ib. p. 97. our sins . That as before the least sin could not escape without a just punishment , justice being so natural to God , that he cannot forgive without punishing ; so the justice of God being now satisfied by the death of Christ , the greatest sins can do us no hurt ; but we shall escape with a Notwithstanding our sins . This it seems we learn from an acquaintance with the Person of Christ , though his Gospel instructs us otherwise , that without holiness no man shall see God .

As for the Wisdom of God ( which is another property he instanceth in ) no doubt , but the Gospel of Christ makes great and glorious discoveries of it , but then this is not very consistent with those other discoveries of the nature of God : for if justice be so natural to God , that nothing could satisfie him but the death of his own Son , the redemption of the World by Christ may discover his justice , or his goodness , but not his Wisdom ; for Wisdom consists in the choice of the best and fittest means to attain an end , when there are more ways , than one of doing it .

But it requires no great Wisdom to chuse , when there is but one possible way : and whatever Wisdom there is in Gods redeeming the World by his own Son , the knowledge of it is wholly owing to the Revelations of the Gospel , not to such a fanciful acquaintance with Christ as these men talk of :

Thus you see what excellent discoveries of the Nature of God are owing to an acquaintance with the Person of Christ ; And the second thing we learn from hence is the knowledge of our selves , and that in respect of Sin , and in respect of Righteousness :

As for sin , the Gospel assures us , that God is an irreconcileable Enemy to all wickedness , it being so contrary to his own most holy Nature , that if he have any love for himself , and any esteem and value for his own perfections , and works , he must hate sin , which is so unlike himself , and which destroys the beauty and perfection of his Workmanship . For this end he sent his Son into the World to destroy the works of the Devil , and to reduce Mankind to their obedience , to their great Creator , to restore them to the uprightness and integrity of their natures , and thereby to a state of friendship with God : This was the end of his holy Laws and precious Promises , and exemplary Life , and meritorious Death , and glorious Resurrection , and powerful Intercession for us , to deliver us from the Power and Dominion of Sin , to make us first holy , as God is , and then to receive us into that Blessed place , where God dwells .

But now acquaintance with the Person of Christ makes just such a discovery of sin , as it did of the naturalness of God's Justice to him ; i. e. that the desert and demerit of sin is such , that it is impossible to make any atonement or satisfaction to the justice and wrath of God , but only by the Death of Christ , otherwise Christ had died in vain : that is , that God could not forgive it without full satisfaction , which nothing but the Death of Christ could make .

Thus we learn our disability to answer P. 110. the mind and will of God in all or any of the obedience he requireth : that is , that it is impossible for us to do any thing that is good , but we must be acted like Machines by an external force , by the irresistable power of the Grace and Spirit of God ; this I am sure is a new discovery ; we learn no such thing from the Gospel , and I do not see , how he proves it from an acquaintance with Christ .

But still there is a more glorious discovery than this behind , and that is , the glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and ordained ( I suppose he means by God ) is discovered in Christ , viz. for the demonstration of Gods vindictive P. 112. justice in measuring out to it a meet recompence of reward , and for the praise of God's glorious grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it . That is , it could not be known , how just and severe God is , but by punishing sin , nor how good and gracious God is , but by pardoning it , and therefore lest his justice and mercy should never be known to the World , he appoints and ordains sin to this end , that is Decrees , that men shall sin , that he may make some of them the Vessels of his wrath , and the examples of his fierce vengeance and displeasure , and others the Vessels of his mercy to the praise and glory of his free Grace in Christ : this indeed is such a discovery , as nature and revelation could not make . For nature would teach us , that so infinitely a glorious Being , as God is , needs not sin and misery to recommend his glory and perfections , and that so holy a God , who so perfectly hates every thing , that is wicked ; would not truckle and barter with Sin and the Devil for his glory . And that so good a God had much rather be glorious in the happiness , and perfection , and obedience of his Creatures , than in their sin and misery : and Revelation tells us the same thing , that as much as sin is for the glory of his vindictive justice , yet God takes no pleasure in punishing , delights not in the Death of a Sinner , but rather that he should return and live : that is , he had rather there were no occasion for punishing , than be made glorious by such acts of vengeance : and therefore though God be so holy as to punish incorrigible Sinners , and so merciful , as to forgive all true Penitents through our Lord Jesus Christ , yet he did not ordain , and appoint , and decree sin to this end : for vindictive justice and pardoning mercy are but secondary Attributes of the Divine Nature , and therefore God cannot primarily design the glorifying of them ; for that cannot be without primarily designing the sin and misery of his Creatures , which would be inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of his Nature . Thus Nature and Revelation teaches , though these men pretend to have learn't otherwise from an acquaintance with Christ .

Thus much for the knowledge of our selves with respect to sin , which is hid only in the Lord Iesus . But then we learn what our righteousness is , wherewith we must appear before God from an acquaintance with Christ . We have already learnt , 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 shall we do in this Case ? how shall we escape Hell , or get to Heaven , when we can neither expiate for our past sins , nor 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 , P. 117. 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 .

Now this is a mighty comfortable discovery , how we may be righteous without doing any thing that is good , or righteous . And I confess we could never have known this but by an acquaintance with his Person ; for his Gospel makes a different representation of it ; tells us expresly , that he is righteous , who doth righteousness , that without holiness no man shall see God : that the only way to obtain the pardon of our sins is to repent of them , and forsake them ; and the only thing that gives a right to the promises of future glory , is to obey the Laws , and imitate the example of our Saviour , and to be transformed into the nature and likeness of God : and though our obedience be not in every thing exact and perfect , if it be sincere , we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ , and by vertue of that Covenant of Grace , which he hath sealed with his blood , which admits of an Evangelical , instead of a strict legal perfection : such different discoveries doth an acquaintance with the Gospel , and with the Person of Christ , make .

The third part of our Wisdom is to Digr. 2. p. 119. 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 the Lord Iesus . 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 to 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. Iohn 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 light , as God is in the light , then have we fellowship one with another , and ( then ) the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins . Iohn 1. Ch. 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 acquaintance 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 to the expiation and righteousness of Christ for Salvation , without doing any thing our selves , we take care that God shall not be robbed of the glory of his free Grace by a competition of any merits and deserts of our own :

These are those great Gospel Mysteries and Soul-saving truths , which are learnt from an acquaintance with Christ's Person , which his Gospel is so silent in , or speaks so darkly and imperfectly of , that it was impossible to understand them , without being first acquainted with his Person . And that you may the better understand the whole design and contrivance of it , I shall put every thing into its just and natural order ;

God then from the beginning designed to glorifie his justice , and his mercy , and because there had been no occasion either to punish or pardon , unless man had sinned , he appointed and ordained sin for the glory of his vindictive justice and pardoning Grace : and accordingly ( since nothing can withstand the Decrees and appointments of God ) it pleaseth God that Man should sin ; but when he hath sinned he is extreamly displeased with it , and now his Justice must be satisfied ; for it is impossible for God to forgive the the least sin without a compleat and perfect satisfaction ; this falls hard upon those miserable wretches , whose ill fortune it was , without any faults of theirs , to be left out of the Roll of Election , and who have no way to satisfie the Divine Justice , but by their Eternal Torments ; by this it appears , how rigorously just God is , that he will never pardon the least sin , when he can serve his own glory by the misery and confusion of Sinners :

But this is but one part of the glory of God , to be just in punishing sin , the other is to shew mercy in sparing and rewarding the Sinner ; now here was the great difficulty , how God should be just , and merciful too , when Justice requires a full satisfaction , and mercy excludes all desert . For the demerit of sin being infinite , no Creature can expiate sin , but by enduring infinite , that is endless Torments ; and those who must be always miserable , can never be the subjects of God's mercy .

To unite these two extreams , and reconcile such contradictions , was a work of infinite Wisdom , as well as goodness ; And it was effected thus . God sends his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World to fulfil all righteousness in his life , and to make a full satisfaction for sin by his Death . For his blood being of infinite value ( as being the blood of the Son of God ) could expiate an infinite guilt , and so make a compleat satisfaction to Justice ; which is more glorified by the Death of Christ , than by the Eternal miseries of all the Sinners in the World , because it discovers the naturalness of Justice to God ( which is the Position to be maintain'd ) that he could not pardon without full satisfaction , that is , that he is so just , that he hath not one dram of goodness in him , till his rage and vengeance be satisfied ; which is I confess a glorious kind of Justice :

But now the Iustice and vengeance of God having their actings assigned them to the full , being glutted and satiated with the blood of Christ ; God may pardon as many and great sins , as he pleases , without fear of the least imputation of injustice : and now a glorious and more comfortable Scene of mercy begins to appear ; now God embraces Sinners , as a kind Father , and accounts them perfectly innocent in vertue of that satisfaction Christ hath made for their sins ; but this is not enough , the law of God must be fulfilled , as well as his justice satisfied , we must be righteous , as well as innocent , otherwise we may escape punishment , but can expect no reward ( though I confess , I should have thought , that Christ had satisfied for sins of omission , together with sins of Commission : and as by his satisfaction for our doing , what we ought not to do , we are reputed by God as having never done any thing amiss , so by his satisfaction for our neglecting what we ought to have done , we might by the same reason be reputed by God perfectly righteous , to have done all , that we ought , to have kept the whole Law , but it seems this was not sufficient ) and therefore as the satisfaction of Christ is imputed to us for the forgiveness of sins , so the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us to make us perfectly righteous ; and this makes the Grace of God perfectly free without any suspition of merit or desert in us .

And now God and Sinners may agree very well and walk comfortably together , for though they have guilt enough , and he Justice enough to destroy a World , yet there is no danger , since Christ hath satisfied Justice ; and though he be infinitely holy and pure , perfect light , and Sinners abominably filthy , yet there is no fear he should loath and abhor them , when they are Cloathed with the white and spotless Robes of Christs righteousness ; and they are so well acquainted now with the design of God to advance the glory of his free Grace in their Salvation , that they are very secure , that neither their past sins , nor present habitual impurities can do them any hurt : but they shall be saved with a notwithstanding their sins .

These are those fundamental Doctrines , with which these men have blessed the World from a pretended acquaintance with Christ's Person , which are so unlike the holy Religion of our Saviour , that for distinction sake , it ought to be called the Religion of Christ's Person , in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel .

And since we have discovered the Principles of this new Religion of Christ's Person , I cannot forbear inquiring briefly into the practical inferences from it , that we may at once view the grand Mystery of this Religion both in its principles and practice .

Now the practice of this Religion consists in accepting of Christ , and coming to him , and applying his merits and satisfaction , and righteousness to our selves , for pardon and justification ; and in those duties which are consequent upon such an Union and closure with Christ . For Christ having satisfied for our sins , and fulfilled the righteousness of the law for us , it is a plain and necessary consequence , that we have nothing to do , but to get an interest in the satisfaction and righteousness of Christ , that they may be imputed to us ; for he is very ignorant of Christ , who hopes that any thing else will avail him to Salvation .

Now that we may thus come to Christ and close with him , it is absolutely necessary , that we be sensible of our lost and undone condition out of Christ . How impossible it is for us to atone the wrath of God , or to have any righteousness of our own , which can bear the severe scrutiny of his justice ; and in a sence of this we must work our imagination and fancy into great terrours and agonies , and a dismal fear of the unsupportable wrath of God , and his natural and inexorable justice : this is the spirit of bondage , which we must lie under , before we can attain to the Spirit of Adoption : for we shall never value and prize Christ , and go to him for Salvation , till we are convinc't of our necessity of him , and driven to him by the threatnings and terrours of the Law ; and the promise of ease and rest , is made only to the weary and heavy laden ; and these only shall be satisfied , who hunger and thirst after the imputed righteousness of Christ .

And now being thus stung with sin , it is time for us to look up to Christ , as the Israelites did on the brazen Serpent , that we may be healed ; now we must begin to see his fulness and perfection and suitableness to the wants and necessities of our Souls , that he is our atonement and expiation , our wisdom and righteousness , all that we can desire or need .

And if it should so happen , that the sense of our sins and unworthiness makes us afraid to come to Christ , and apply him to our Souls , we must then have recourse to our acquaintance with the Person of Christ , to answer all our doubts , and quiet our Consciences . As for instance , Dost thou object I am a great Sinner , and will Christ save me ? the Answer is easie , whom did Christ come to save ? whom doth God justifie but the ungodly ? did he take our flesh upon him , and not our sins ? ballance all things together , your sins and Christs merits together , and the greatness of your sins should not so much discourage you from coming to Christ , as the greatness of his merits should encourage you to come to him . For where sin abounded , Grace did much more abound . Compare your distress and Christ's compassion together , your wants and Christ's fulness together , your unworthiness and Christ's freeness together , your desires and Christ's invitations together , your own weakness and Christ's strength together , Satan's objections and Christ's answers together ; and now if Christ do not prevail above all thy fears , thou art not worthy to be acquainted with him .

Nay further , if thou objectest , what Shepards sound Believer p. 80. have I to do with Christ ? why should he have to do with me ; who have such an unholy , vile , hard , blind , and most wicked heart ? ( the objection you see is full and home to the purpose , but mark the answer ) O! for the Lord's sake dishonour not the Grace of Christ , it is true , thou canst not come to Christ , till thou art laden , humble , and separated from thy sins — yet remember for ever , that no more sorrow for sin , no more separation from sin , is necessary to thy closing with Christ , than so much , as makes thee willing , or rather not unwilling , that the Lord should take it away ; and know , if thou seekest for a greater measure of humiliation , antecedent to thy closing with Christ , than this , thou showest the more pride therein , who wilt rather go into thy self to make thy self holy and humble , that thou maist be worthy of Christ , than go out of thy self unto the Lord Iesus to take away thy sin ; In a word , who thinkest , Christ cannot love thee , until thou makest thy self fair , and when thou thinkest thy self so ( which is pride ) wilt thou think otherwise of Christ .

And now the reason of all this is very plain from our acquaintance with Christ ; for he is our Physician , and therefore we must not think of healing our selves , but must go to him with all our Diseases and Sores about us , that he alone may have the honour of healing us . He is a Fountain set open for sin and for uncleanness , and therefore we must go to him with all our filthiness to be cleansed and washed , for if we be first clean , there is no need of a Fountain . He is all fulness , and therefore it is not fit we should carry any thing to him , as if he needed any thing from us . He is our Righteousness , and therefore if we have any , we must leave all our righteousness behind us , when we go to him . He is all beauty and loveliness , and therefore we must not carry any beauty to him , but receive it all from him ; So that all we have to do in this great work , is to go to Christ weary , and sick , and filthy , and naked , stript of every thing , but our sins and impurities , to receive ease and health , and fulness , and beauty from him . Christ is the gift of God , and therefore we must only receive him by the hand of Faith , and apply him to our Souls , and then what a blessed change and Metamorphosis is there presently made in us ! for though we continue as we were , yet we have all in Christ . We are now united to him , and made his Members and Spouse , and so have an interest in all his merits and fulness . * * Watson's Christs Loveliness . pag. 462. Christ saith to a believer with my body , yea with my blood I endowe thee , and a Believer saith to Christ , with my Soul I thee worship ( as if Christ and a Believer were marryed by the Liturgy . ) And now a Sinner may with the greatest confidence look Justice in the face , as being out of its reach . A Soul in Christ is actually united to him , and One with him , and being so , no sentence of condemnation can fall on him , but the same must light upon Christ himself , ( and who would desire to be more secure than Christ is ) as a Woman in marriage , though she owe never so many debts , yet the arrest doth not light upon her , but upon her Husband : O blessed priviledge ! and who would be afraid of running into debt with God , when he hath such a Husband to discharge all . And then how vile and impure soever men are , here is their comfort Watson's Christs Loveliness . p. 467. when they are marryed to Christ , this is their glorious priviledge , Christ's beauty and loveliness shall be put upon them ; his lilly whiteness shall be put upon the Saints . And to Crown all , when they are once thus engrafted into Christ , and made his Spouse , and Members of his body , they are secure to Eternity . For nothing Watson's Christian Character , p. 60. that ever was a Member , can be lost to Eternity ; for is Christ divided ? can he lose a Member of his body ? then his body is not perfect . No , no , fear not O ye Saints , neither sin , nor Satan , can dissolve your Union with Christ ( but what if sin should make them no Saints , would not that endanger the dissolveing of this Union ? ) For as the same Author sweetly reasons , if any branch be pluckt away from Christ , it is either because Christ is not able to keep it , or because he is willing to lose it ( and why not , because it will not stay ? ) he The Spiritual Vine . p. 167. is able surely to keep it , for he is strengthned with the Godhead , and he is not willing to lose it ; for why then should he shed his bloud for it . And as another great acquaintance of Christs speaks , Weakness ( that is no strength , no Grace , Shepards sincere Convert . p. 77. no nor so much as sense of poverty ) do not debar us from God's mercy , and the reason is very precious and convincing ; for the Husband is bound to bear with the Wife as the weaker Vessel , and shall we think God will exempt himself from his own Rules , and not bear with his weak Spouse . Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse , and make her fit for himself ; so that if she be not purged , and cleansed , and made fair and lovely , whose fault can it be but his own , and surely that can be no just reason for a divorce . Thus you see , what it is to come to Christ , and accept of him , and close with him ; the result of which is ( so far as I can understand it ) to be content to be saved by Christ without being either humble or holy , fair or beautiful , any otherwise , than as he is pleased to make us so , by his satisfaction for our sins , and the imputation of his righteousness to us .

Let us now consider what duties are consequent upon such a union and closure of the Soul with Christ , and they are consequential , conjugal affections . As first a mighty love for her Saviour , and head , and Husband : the Soul must be enamoured with the beauty , and loveliness , and preciousness of Christ , must form pleasant and charming ideas of him , and feel great ravishments and transports of passion for him : You must be sick of love to Christ , O ye Saints ! and let him lye as a bundle of Myrrhe always between your Breasts ; Christ is Watson's Christs Loveliness . p. 462. maximè diligibilis ( as the Schoolmen speak ) he is the very abstract and Quintessence of beauty , he is a whole Paradise of delight , he is the flower of Sharon enriched with orient Colours , and perfumed with the sweetest savour , O wear this flower not in your bosoms , but in your hearts , and be always smelling to it , and show your love to this lovely Saviour . You must delight in his embraces , and thirst after a more intimate acquaintance with him , you must never be satisfied one moment without him , but must follow him from one Ordinance to another , and never be satisfied unless you meet with Christ , and enjoy Communion with him in Ordinances : this is the Foundation of the Saints love to Ordinances , that there they meet with the beloved of their Souls , and enjoy the sweet caresses and endearments of his love ; there they hear of his beauty , and loveliness , and riches , and fulness , and alsufficiency , and though Evangelical truths will not down with a natural heart , such an one had rather hear some quaint point of some vertue or vice stood upon , than any thing in Christ , yet when the Grace of God hath altered him , than of all truths the truths of Christ savour best , those truths that come out of the mouth of Christ , and out of the Ministry concerning Christ , they are most sweet of all . Such sanctified Souls and Ears loath all dull , insipid , moral discourses , which are perpetually inculcating their duty on them , and troubling them with a great many rules and directions for a good life ; which he is pleas'd to call the quaint Points of Vertue and Vice ; for this is not to enjoy Christ in Ordinances , they go away from such entertainment without having met with the beloved of their Soul , without hearing any news from him , or having the least glympse of his beauty and perfections ; which is a plain contradiction to the nature and design of Ordinances , which are only for our enjoyment of Communion with Jesus Christ . That is , to unload our Consciences , and disburden our sins on him in our Confessions , and to beg of him the imputation of his righteousness to make us lovely , and to put our Souls into some raptures , and amorous passions to him , and to hear some good news from him by his Ministers , how much he loves us , and longs after us , how pittiful he is to us , ready to overlook all our miscarriages , and cover all our deformities with his own beauty and loveliness , and to take us to the enjoyment of himself , that where he is , we also may be , perpetually to behold his glory , and solace our selves in his love :

Secondly , another consequential conjugal Act is obedience to our spiritual Husband , a duty which few Wives care for , and the truth is , though the Gospel of Christ be very plain and express in exacting this from them , and inculcates it so much , that it savours too strong of a legal spirit and dispensation , yet it is very hard to find a proper place for it in this new Religion , or to deduce it from an acquaintance with Christs Person .

For this is not necessary at all to our coming to Christ , and closing with him , nay it is a great hindrance to it , for we must bring nothing to Christ with us , the marriage is consummated without it , and then we have less need of it than before ; for then we are adorned with the beauty of Christ , are holy with his holiness , we are delivered from the guilt of sin by his expiation , he must look to it to see the debt discharged , which he hath now taken upon himself , and we are righteous with his righteousness , which gives us an actual right to glory , and we need no righteousness of our own to save us , which were to suppose a defect in the righteousness of Christ ; so that , how obedience should come in , is hard to say . It is concluded on all hands by those , who are most intimately acquainted with the Person of Christ , that it is but a consequential duty , that which ought to follow our Espousals with Christ , and Justification by him , as a fruit and effect of it ; but yet the reason of it is not evident . Some tell us , that it is due upon account of gratitude and thankfulness to our Saviour , which I cannot so well understand , unless our righteousness and obedience be due to Christ in thankfulness to him for saving us without obedience and righteousness , which is just as broad as long , and we get nothing by the bargain . Especially considering that this is hardly reconcileable with that essential condition of accepting Christ , wherein these spiritual Espousals consist . Viz That the Soul consents to take Christ I. O. Communion . p. 63. 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 many more , with as fair colours and pretences , and as exact and regular proportions , and fanciful consequences , and artificial connexions ; I need not tell you , what use all our Allegorical Divines would make of this , who have the peculiar knack and gift of adapting every similitude and resemblance , to what purposes they please : We know how the Valentinians of old perverted all the passages of our Saviours Life and Death by such fanciful applications to confirm the doctrine of their Aeones , and the portentous production of their Gods , and to patronize all their vilest practices ; and if we allow of this way , I know not , why one mans fancy should not be admitted as well as anothers . But to shew how easily this acquaintance with Christ's Person may be made to serve different purposes , I shall oppose another Scheme of Religion , which is much more plainly deducible from an acquaintance with Christs Person , to what these men advance for the great Mystery of the Gospel , and the only spiritual Wisdom ; And thus I argue .

Since we see the Eternal Son of God leave his Fathers Throne , and condescend to come into the World in the nature and likeness of a man , we may certainly conclude , that it was upon a design of love and goodness ; for had he intended to destroy the World , he would have Cloathed himself with thunder and lightning , he would have appeared like himself with an awful and astonishing Majesty , and with all the terrible solemnities of vengeance and judgment , incircled with Legions of Angels , and with Clouds of smoak and fire : but we now see nothing dreadful in his looks , nor in his Conversation , he was made a Man , as we are , which argues a good will and kindness to humane Nature , he had all the sweetness of innocence , and an obliging goodness , that we have no reason to suspect any ill design under so charming and inviting an appearance , his miracles were great and glorious , but not frightful and astonishing , they surprized with wonder , not with terrour and fear : his Almighty Power was displayed and manifested in methods of love and kindness , in healing the sick , and dispossessing Devils , in feeding the hungry , and raising the dead , not in over-turning Kingdoms and Empires , or bringing fire from Heaven to consume his Enemies . From all this we may safely conclude , that he came upon an Embassy of Peace , to assure the World of Gods good will towards them , and to reconcile the differences between God and Men.

And when we consider further , that this Heavenly Embassador and Mediator is no less than the Eternal Son of God , by whom the Worlds were made , we may reasonably conclude , that he came upon no less design , than of universal goodness , for he can have no temptation to partiality , as being equally concerned in the happiness of all men , and we cannot imagine , why he should lay a narrower design of love in the redemption , than in the Creation of Mankind ; that when in the first Creation he designed all men for happiness , in this new and second Creation , he should design , and intend the happiness only of some few , which is to make him less good in redeeming , than in creating Mankind , though Creation cost him no more than the exercise of his power , but redemption the expence of his bloud : no sure , his goodness did not become less infinite and boundless , when he became man ; the design of his appearing was to restore Mankind to that honour , and happiness , and immortality , they had lost ; and to repair the sullied glory of the first Creation by making all things new again .

Thus when we consider the innocence and holiness of his life , that he was a great example of an unaffected piety towards God , and all the vertues of an innocent and useful Conversation with men , we may reasonably conclude , that his great design was to reform the debaucht manners of the World , to reduce Mankind to the obedience of God , to teach man how to live as well as talk , and to restore the practice of piety , and justice , of meekness , and humility , and an universal good will , which had been banished out of the World by the Hypocritical pretences of a more refined sanctity in washing hands and Dishes , in tithing Mint and Cumming , and such like pieces of legal and Ceremonial Righteousness ; But now our Saviour by his example as well as laws , taught us another Lesson , that as we lost our happiness at first by sin , so the way to regain the favour of God , and an immortal life , is by the practice of a sincere and universal righteousness . He came to be our example and guide to Heaven as well as our Mediator and Advocate , and therefore we must imitate his life , if we would enjoy the benefits of his Death and Intercession ; for so holy a Person can never be the Patron of Vice , nor an Advocate for impenitent and incorrigible Sinners .

When we remember , that Christ died as a Sacrifice and propitiation for sin , this gives us a great demonstration of Gods good will to us , how ready he is to pass by all our former sins , in that he hath appointed an atonement for us , and given no less person , than his own Son , for our ransom , which is the greatest assurance God could give us of his readiness to accept of true Penitents , and therefore the most powerful motive and encouragement to return to our duty .

And besides this , the death of Christ assures us , what the desert of sin is , and what will be the portion of all impenitent Sinners : for in that he required the death of his own Son to be an atonement for sin , he hath plainly declared , that all Sinners deserve to die , and that none shall escape this just Condemnation , but those , who are washed and purifyed in the blood of Christ : He will not pardon sin without a Sacrifice , nor accept of any other atonement , but the death of his Son , and accept of that for none , but those , who believe and obey the Gospel ; and if God did not think fit to save true Penitents without a ransom , where shall the Sinner and ungodly appear . So that though we do not pretend to understand the strict Philosophy of that atonement made by Christ , yet we may easily learn all that is useful and necessary for us to know ; that Christ's Death and Sacrifice for sin Seals the Covenant of Grace and pardon to all penitent and reformed Sinners , and seals the irrevocable decree of Reprobation against all others ; for that Covenant , which is sealed with the blood of so great and stupendious a Sacrifice , must needs be irrevocable and Eternal .

In the Resurrection of Christ from the dead , and his Ascension into Heaven , we have an ocular demonstration of the rewards of holiness and obedience , that for the innocence and purity of his life , and the humility and obedience of his Death , he is now exalted to the right hand of God , and cloathed with Majesty and Glory . That Power and Authority , he is now invested with , secures us of the prevalency of his intercession , of his constant care and providence over his Church , of the influences of his Grace , and the supply of all our spiritual wants , and of that glory and happiness , to which he will advance us at the last day .

All this we learn from an acquaintance with Christ's Person ( as these men call it ) and it were easie now to draw the whole plot and design of Christianity , to search into the deep Councils of God , and to discover those principles and motives , he was acted by , and the infinite Wisdom of the contrivance , and the true methods of a Sinners recovery by Christ , and what that homage and worship is , which we owe our Saviour .

As to make some short Essay of it . Those natural notions , which we have of God , acquaint us , that he is infinitely good , and the History of the Creation assures us , that God made the World to be an image and representation of his own glory and perfections , but especially Man , who was made after the image of God , and endowed with that Wisdom and Knowledge , and all those Principles of Piety and Vertue , which would have made him a living and active image of the Divine perfections . This was the glory and the happiness of his nature to know God , and to be like him , to praise and adore his great Benefactor , and to be inseperably united to him by those natural tyes of love and obedience . For nothing else can be the happiness of a reasonable Creature , but Conformity to the Divine Nature , which is the pattern and measure of all rational perfections and happiness . And therefore when Mankind apostatized from God , they miserably defeated the end of their Creation , and intercepted those natural Communications of the divine goodness , by making themselves unworthy and uncapable of them : and now we may easily imagine , how much a good God was grieved , and offended with this , not as a haughty and Imperious Prince would be with the miscarriages and rebellion of his Subjects , but as a kind Father is displeased and grieved for the disobedience of his Children , for their refractory and unmanageable temper ; not so much as an affront and contempt of his own Authority , but as it is a necessary cause of the ruine and misery of his Children , whose happiness he so passionately desires and designs .

This made the divine goodness so restlesly zealous and concerned for the recovery of Mankind ; various ways he attempted in former Ages , but

* * Of the Knowledge of Christ , p. 19. with little success , as I observed before : but at last God sent his own Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World to be the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls , to seek and to save that which was lost .

And that we may be able in some measure to comprehend the infinite Wisdom and goodness of this contrivance , and how well the means is fitted to the end , we must consider that the whole Mystery of the recovery of mankind consists only in repairing the Divine Image , which was defaced by sin ; that is in making all men truly good and vertuous . Sin is our apostasie from God , and doth as naturally make us miserable , as it makes us unlike the most happy Being . But holiness restores us to our Primitive State , to the perfect constitution of our Natures , and makes us good , and therefore happy , as God is .

And this was the great difficulty to perswade men to be good , to work upon the different tempers , and inclinations , and passions , of mankind , and to reduce them to the forsaken and untrodden paths of vertue : and though the laws and precepts , the great promises and threatnings of the Gospel confirmed by so many stupendious miracles , and by the resurrection of Christ from the Dead , have in themselves a mighty power to reform the World , yet the consideration of Christ's Person , of what he did , and suffered for us gives a peculiar force and energy to them .

Sin and guilt makes men fearful , and it makes them disingenuous , they are apt to distrust goodness or to abuse it : will either believe God implacable , which makes them desperate , because there is no hope of pardon ; or believe him to be fond and indulgent , which makes them saucy and presumptuous ; and to prevent both these extreams of superstition , which are such profest Enemies to a sincere and unaffected Religion , God sent his own Son into the World , and by the greatness of his Person , and the manner and circumstances of his appearance , did confute them both .

If guilt make us afraid of God as an angry and severe judge , behold here the distance taken in the Incarnation of the Son of God , who condescended to come down to us cloathed with our nature , as a mild and a gentle Prince , by all the methods of love and sweetness to reduce us to our Allegiance and subjection to God ; in him we see the good will of God to Sinners , here is a demonstration of condescending goodness , which stooped as low as earth , and did not disdain the nature and appearance of a man , nor the Conversation of Sinners , nor the shame of the Cross , nor the pale terrours and agonies of Death and the Grave .

And to remove all possible suspition concerning Gods love to Sinners , the Son of God dies as a Sacrifice for our sins , to make atonement for us , and with his blood Seals the Covenant of Grace and Pardon , and all the promises of Eternal life . And still to give us the greater security of the performance of all this , our dying and suffering Lord is raised again from the dead , and advanced to the right hand of power and Majesty to intercede for us .

Thus God deals with us after the manner of men , and to encourage us to return to our duty , hath given us all the security of our acceptance , that guilt it self ( though infinitely jealous and suspicious ) could desire : for what could we wish for more , than that God should send so great and so beloved a Person to us on an Embassy of Peace , than that the Son of God should be our propitiation and Advocate , our Lord and Judge , he who took our nature and our infirmities on him , who knows our weakness and our temptations , who died to expiate our sins , and is entred into the Holy of Holies to intercede for us in the vertue of his blood , and in the power of his glory , and the triumphs of his Conquests , and with a tender and compassionate sense of our infirmities .

But then on the other hand to cure our presumption , that we may not think God to be so easie , as to be reconciled to Sinners , and to their vices together ; the death of Christ upon the Cross assures us , what the merit is , and what the portion of sin shall be ; that all Sinners deserve to die , and shall certainly have their deserts without a sincere repentance and reformation of their lives ; for to expiate sin by death can signifie no less than this , that death is the proper recompence of sin , and therefore that those sins which are not expiated by the Sacrifice of Christ ( as none are , till we repent and reform ) shall certainly be expiated by the Death of the Sinner . Especially considering how holy our Priest and Sacrifice was , we cannot reasonably conceive , that he died , or that he intercedes for incorrigible Sinners . The Sacrifice of his Death extends no farther , than the example of his life , he was made manifest to destroy sin , and in him was no sin .

Now though I dare not be so bold as to say , what infinite Wisdom can do , yet it is not imaginable , how God could have contrived a more effectual way to reform the World , which contains so many powerful obligations , such forceable endearments , such ravishing charms ; which makes such a pleasant and inviting representation of God to the World , which so confirms our Faith , and encourages our hopes , and enflames our love , and awakens our fears , and excites our emulation , which doth even affect our senses with the arguments of Religion , and storm the lower and more bruitish faculties of our Souls , and captivate them to the love and obedience of Christ .

From hence it is easie to understand , what is the true method of a Sinners recovery by Christ , and what returns of love and gratitude we owe our Lord and Saviour . When we are so affected with all the powerful arguments to a new life , which are contained in his Incarnation , and life , and doctrine , and example , and miracles , and death , and resurrection , and Ascension into Heaven , and his Intercession for us , as to be sensible of the shame and folly of sin , and to be reconciled to the love and practice of true piety and holiness , then we partake in the merits of his Sacrifice , and find the benefit of his Intercession , and have a title to all the blessings , and promises of his Gospel : this was the design of Christ's coming into the World not to distract our guilty minds with the terrours of the Law , and the inexorable justice of God , not to bring us under a Legal dispensation of fear and bondage , but to encourage us to forsake our sins , and reform our lives , by all the endearments of love and goodness , and the lively hopes of a blessed Immortality , mixt with an awful regard and Reverence for God , who is a holy and righteous Judge , and an irreconcileable Enemy to all sin . This is such a method of converting Sinners , as is proper to the Person of Christ , and the manner of his appearance , which was not designed to cause tempests and Earthquakes in our minds , like the Thunder and Lightning from Mount Sinai , but to work a reformation in the World by more silent and gentle methods , and in more humane ways . If our Faith in Christ have reformed our lives , and rectified the temper and disposition of our minds , and made us sincere Lovers of God and goodness .

Though we are not acquainted with these artificial methods of repentance , have not felt the workings of the Law , nor the amazing terrours of Gods wrath , nor the raging despair of damned Spirits , and then all on a sudden ( as if we had never heard of any such thing before ) have had Christ offered to us to be our Saviour , and heard the woings and beseechings of Christ to accept of him , and upon this have made a formal contract and espousal with Christ , and such like working of a heated fancy , and religious distraction , though our conversion be not managed with so much art and method , and by so many steps and gradations , we are never the worse Christians for want of it . For indeed this must needs be the effect of ignorance , not of an acquaintance with Christ , which suggests so many encouraging considerations to return to God , as to a merciful and compassionate Father , and not to tremble at his presence , as a severe and inexorable judge .

And hence we learn , that the truest expression of love to our Saviour , is not some fond and amorous passions , but obedience to his Laws , and the greatest honour we can do him , is to imitate his example , and to express the power of his death and resurrection in the exemplary holiness of our lives ; for this best answers the end of his coming into the World , is the fruit of his intercession for us , and the greatest glory and ornament of his spiritual Kingdom .

Thus I have given you a brief Scheme and Hypothesis of Religion from an acquaintance with Christs Person ; and if they will owne this a safe way , to build Religion on an acquaintance with Christs Person , they must owne , what I have now discoursed , which is much more agreeable to the Person of Christ , and the design of his appearing , and more easily and naturally deduced from it , than their own wild and fantastical conceits . If they do not like this , I must advise them to quit this way , as the which will serve others as well as themselves , and let us all fetch our Religion from the plain Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel of Christ , not from any pretended Personal Acquaintance with him .

SECT. IV. How men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancies .

THere is a very obvious objection against this whole discourse , the answering of which will further discover the ill consequences of frameing such fanciful Idaeas of Religion from an acquaintance with Christ's Person ; And that is this , that though these men deduce their Religion from an acquaintance with Christ , yet there are no men , that so abound in Scripture proofs to confirm what they say , and therefore they do not lay the Foundation of their Religion on such uncertain conjectures ; and the truth is , if you consult these mens Writings , you shall find their Books stuffed with Scripture , or if you talk with them , their whole discourse is little else , but Scripture phrase : but that 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 learn't from his Gospel , had they not first grown acquainted with his Person . And then it is no wonder , if they can accommodate Scripture expressions to their own dreams and fancies . For when mens fancies are so posfest with Schemes and Idaeas of Religion , whatever they look on appears of the same shape and colour , wherewith their minds are already tinctured , like a man sick of the Jaundies , or that looks through a painted Glass , who seeth every thing of the same colour , that his eye or Glass gives it : all the Metaphors , and Similitudes , and Allegories of Scripture are easily applyed to their purpose ; and if any word sound like the tinkling of their own sancies , It is no less than a demonstration , that that is the meaning of the Spirit of God , and every little shadow and appearance doth mightily confirm them in their pre-conceived opinions . As Inenaeus observes of the Valentinians , that they used one Artifice or other to adapt all the speeches of our Saviour , and all the Allegories of Scripture male composito phantasmati , to the ill contrived sigment of their own brain : and thus the minds of men are abused with words and phrases , and the Scripture is prest to serve every new-fangled conceit in Religion .

The wildest and most extravagant opinions that were ever yet vented under the name of Religion , have pretended the authority of Scripture for their Patronage ; though any unprejudiced man would wonder , how the reading such places of Scripture should suggest such notions to them : but this is no wonder , when we consider that men first contrive their Religion ( as these acquaintances of Christ do ) and possess their Fancies throughly with their private opinions , and then read the Scripture with no other design , than to find something there to stamp Divinity on their own conceits . For it is easie to pervert the plainest sense , and by the help of a strong imagination to make any thing of any thing ; such men dote upon words and phrases , metaphors , and allusions , as best fitted for their purpose , they found their Religion on obscure Texts , or Mystical interpretations of plain Texts , and by the help of some arbitrary distinctions , and limitations , glosses , and paraphrases , by curtailing of Texts , or transplacing words and comma's , or separating a single sentence from the body of the discourse , make the Scripture speak their sense as plainly , as the Bells ring , what every boy will have them . Which is to deal with the Scripture ( as Irenaeus observes ) as if a man should take a Picture of the King which consisted of an artificial composition of precious stones , and transplace all these stones into another form , as suppose of an Ape , and then should perswade silly people , that that was the Kings Picture : At this rate we may find the Alcoran in the Bible , as well as make so many Books so different , and contrary to each other , from the various compasition of twenty four Letters . This is plain and evident at the first proposal to any intelligent Reader , but to put it out of all doubt , I shall give you some Instances of it , and show you how these familiar acquaintances of Christ ( and who may better make bold with him than they ) take the liberty to pervert his Gospel to serve their opinion .

There are two ways of expounding Scripture in great vogue among them . First , by the sound and clink of words and phrases , which is all some men understand by keeping a form of sound words . Secondly , when this will not do , they reason about the sense of Scripture from their own pre-conceived 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 :

First , they expound Scripture by the sound of words and phrases , that is , if they can find any words in Scripture , which chime to the tune of their private conceits , without ever considering the use of the words in those places where they are found , they clap their own sense on them , and then they serve for very solid and substantial proofs . I shall give you several instances of this way .

Thus when men are possest with the fancy of an acquaintance with Christs Person , then to know Christ can signifie nothing else , but to know his Person , and all his personal excellencies and beauties , fulness and preciousness , &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 Gods will to the World .

Thus when men have first learn't from an acquaintance with Christ to place all their hopes of Salvation in a Personal Union with Christ , from whom they receive the free Communications of Pardon and Grace , Righteousness and Salvation , what more plain proof can any man who is resolved to believe this , desire of it , than first Ep. Iohn 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life , and he that hath not the Son , hath not life . For what can having the Son signifie , but having an Interest in him , being made one with him ; though some will be so perverse as to understand it , of believing and obeying his Gospel ; but the phrase of Having the Son confutes that dull and moral interpretation , especially when we remember , that it is called being In Christ and abiding in him , which must signifie a very near Union between Christs Person and us , such as there is between two things , which are within one another , which makes all Christ ours , and us Christs .

Now it is self evident , that before we can thus be united to Christ , we must go to him , and therefore Faith , which is the Instrument of this Union , is very luckily called coming to Christ : from whence it is very evident , that to believe in Christ is to go to him for Salvation , which Metaphors of coming and going are a very intelligible explication of believing . But when the Soul is come to Christ , is this enough ? no surely , the Soul then must receive Christ , as Saint Iohn tells us , to as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the Sons of God . Iohn 1. 12. That Faith , which serves us for legs to go to Christ , must be a hand to receive him , and to apply all his merits and fulness and righteousness to our Souls ; and now when we have received him , we must embrace him in our arms too , as good old Simeon did , when he found him in the Temple , which is a little nearer Union ; as plainly appears from the example of the Patriarchs , who saw the promises afar of , and embraced them . Hebr. 11. 13. and now we have Christ , we must trust , and lean upon him , as we are often commanded , to trust in God , which signifies that Act of Faith , whereby finding and feeling our own weakness , as unable to support our selves , we do lean and rest on Christ , and if leaning be not enough , we may make a little more bold , and rowl on him , as appears from Psalne 37. 5. rowl thy ways on the Lord , as the Original Gal signifies , which is that Act of Faith , whereby we being laden with sin , and seeking ease , we at last discharge our Load , and cast it on Christ . And this is plain from the phrase of believing In Christ , and On Him . 1 Peter 2. 6. for what can that signifie , but leaning and rowling on Him , laying and building our selves on him , as on a Foundation . And now we have thus brought our Souls to Christ , we must commit them to his trust to take charge of them , and save them , and if they perish , it will be his fault , and he must give account of it . Thus Saint Paul did 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed , and I am perswaded , that he is able to keep that , which I have committed to him against that day . And now we must hide our selves in Christ from the fierce wrath and displeasure of God , as the Dove hides in the Rocks , Cant. 2. 14. O my Watson's Christs Loveliness . Dove in the Clefts of the Rocks . Christ's wounds are the clefts of the rocks , where this believing Soul , Christs Dove , hides it self . And besides this , a Rock is a Screne to shade off the heat , so Christ is called Isai. 32. 2. a shadow from the heat ; he shades a poor Sinner from the scorchings of Gods wrath . And then , We must fetch comfort too from Christ , as honey came out of the Rock , Deut. 32. 13. he made him suck honey out of the Rock , and oyl out of the stinty Rock , the honey of the Promise , and the oyl of gladness comes out of this blessed Rock ▪

But this is not enough yet ; for we must be cloathed with the Righteousness Idem . of Christ , as appears from that expression that we must put-on Christ ▪ Rom. 13. 14. Gal. 3. 27. which can signifie nothing else , but putting on Jesus Christ , that is his righteousness , as men put on a Garment to cover their nakedness , and to adorn them . And therefore Christ is resembled to a beautiful Robe . Isai. 61. 10. He hath covered me with the Robe Watson Ibidem . of Righteousness : His righteousness is a lovely Robe , no Robe of Gold or Ermin , wherewith Kings are invested , is so honourable as this . In this Robe we shine as Angels in Gods Eye ; The High Priests glorious Vestments , Exod. 28. 2. The Mytre , the Robe , the Ephod of gold , and the Breast plate of precious stones , did all but serve to set out the beautiful Robes of Christs righteousness , wherewith a Believer is adorned : thus if we would get the blessing , we must go to God , as Iacob did in the Robes of our Elder Brother , though I confess , this resemblance doth not very well please me ; for though Iacob was a good man , yet this looks like a cunning trick , to rob his elder Brother of the blessing , and to cheat his blind Father , and men must not think that God is thus to be impos'd upon . But however that be , this is plain , that when we are thus united to Christ , and made one with him , then all Christ is ours , as the Apostle tells us , All is yours , and you are Christs , and Christ is Gods : The merit of his Death is ours to free us from the guilt and punishment of our sins , and his Active obedience to the will of God , his Righteousness is ours for our justification , as is plain , in that he is called the Lord our Righteousness , and is said to be made unto us of God Righteousness . And as I. O. well observes , we are reconciled to God by the Death of his Son , and saved by his life , that is by the Righteousness of his life , which is made ours . Rom. 5. 10. And now what better proof can you desire for all this , if you will be contented with express words . Though I am very much of the Doctors mind , that we could never have discovered these mysteries clearly and savingly , had it not been for an acquaintance with Christs Person . No man would ever have dream't of such interpretations of Scripture , who had not been prepossest with the mysterious notion of a fanciful Union to Christ , and application of Christ to us : for here is no other proof of this , but words and phrases , separated from the body of the Text , and the design of the discourse , and like straglers pickt up , and listed into the service of their Hypothesis .

For indeed the whole mystery of this , and a great deal more stuff of this nature , consists in wresting metaphorical , and allusive expressions to a proper sense . When the Scripture describes the profession of Christianity , a sincere belief and obedience to the Gospel , by having Christ , and being in Christ , and coming to him , and receiving him , these men expound these phrases to a proper and natural sense , to signifie , I know not what unintelligible Union , and spiritual progress and closure of the Soul with him ; An Union of Persons , instead of an agreement in faith and manners . As will appear more hereafter .

Thus when they talk of our spiritual impotency , and inability to do any good thing ( for after all the noise they make about our coming to Christ , they mean being carryed thither with an Omnipotent and irresistible power ) they prove it wonderfully from our 〈◊〉 being dead in trespasses and sins , and therefore as a dead man can contribute nothing to his own Resurrection , no more can we towards our Conversion : which is true of natural Death , but will be hard to prove of a moral Death , which consists in the prevalency of vicious habits contracted by long custom ( which was the case of the Heathens , whom the Apostle there speaks of ) which do so enslave the will , that it is very difficult , though not impossible , for such persons to return to the love and practice of vertue : another argument of the like nature is , that we are said to be created to good works , and to become new Creatures , and therefore can contribute no more to it , than we did to our first Creation : and that we are born again , which signifies , that we are wholly passive in it : which were true indeed , if our being created to good works did signifie the manner and method of our Conversion , and not the nature of the new Creature , which is the true meaning of it ; that as in the first Creation we were created after the image of God , so we are renewed after his 1 image in the second ; which is therefore expresly called in other places the renewing and renovation of our minds .

When this way fails , they take another course with metaphors , and similitudes to make them serve their purpose , and that is , by considering all the properties and qualifications of those things Christ is compared to , and applying all , that will serve their turn , to Christ , without any regard to the end , for which they are used .

Thus the Kingdom of Heaven , that is the Gospel , is compared to a pearl of great price . Mathew 13. 46. This Pearl in some mens Divinity signifies Christ , and the excellency of Christ appears plainly in this comparison . For Watsons Christs Loveliness . other Pearls add no real worth to them , that wear them , but Christ this Illustrious Pearl doth , he makes us worthy with his worthiness . Excellently turned to serve their purpose ; though all that the Parable means is , that we should be as ready to part with all for the belief and profession of the Gospel , as other men are , to sell all they have to purchase a pearl of great value .

Thus Christ was prefigured by Mannah , Idem . Christs Loveliness . and this Mannah was of a circular figure , and this Circle was a figure of Christs perfection ; this was meat cooked and drest in Heaven , God himself prepared it , and then served it in , thus Iesus Christ was prepared and set apart of his Father to the blessed work of Mediatorship . And Mannah suited it self to every ones Palate , thus Iesus Christ suits himself to every Christians condition ; he is full of quickning , strengthening , comforting vertue . That is , he is what every man fancies him to be , relishes according to the gusto of their own palates : what precious discoveries are here of Christ ! and what irrefragable proofs for them ! Thus to proceed , Christ was resembled to a Rock , 1 Cor. 10. 3. Watson . ibidem . That Rock was Christ . And then he is a Rock for defence , and a Rock for offence , and a Rock for Comfort to screne us from the wrath of God , and to contain the honey of the promises . Christ is resembled by the brazen Serpent : now Watson's true brazen Serpent . brass being an inferiour metal signifies the meanness of his humanity , and it being a firm solid metal , it signifies the power of his Godhead , and though it shines , it doth not dazle the eyes , and so signifies the glory of the Godhead vailed with the Manhood : thus the brazen Serpent was made like a Serpent , but was no real Serpent , so Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh , but was no Sinner . The Serpent was lift up , so Christ was lift up in the acclamations of Angels , in the preaching of the Gospel , and upon the Cross , which the Pole was a Type of , and in our hearts by contemplating , admiring , loving him . And the Serpent was lift up to be lookt upon by the stung Israelites , which looking implyed a secret hope , they had of Cure , so if we do but look on Christ fiducially , we shall be cured of our sins . Never was there so happy a man in expounding Types ; never was any brazen Serpent half so subtil .

Thus as the same Author tells us , Christ is compared to a Vine , and that upon several accounts . The Vine of its self is weak , and must be supported and born up , so the Humane Nature of Christ Watson's Spiritual Vine . ( which it seems is represented by the Vine ) was of it self weak , and was fain to be supported , and underpropt by the Divine Nature . The Vine grows in the Garden , not in the Forest , thus Christ grows in the Garden of the Church , he is not known among the Heathen : but I should have thought it more grand to have said , that Christ this Spiritual Vine doth not find , but make a Garden , where ever he grows , since the Church owes its Being to him , not he to the Church ; thus the Vine communicates to the branches , and Christ shoots up his sap of grace into Believers , who are the branches of this Vine : And the Vine hath rare , delicious , fruit growing on it , and thus the promises are the Clusters of Grapes growing upon Christ the true Vine . And whereas other Vines bear but one sort of fruit , this spiritual Vine bears many , the fruit of justification , the fruit of sanctification , and the fruit of consolation . And the blood of Christ is the Wine of this Spiritual Vine , which chears the heart of man , as other Wine doth , as he excellently proves from an old Latin Catch , Curam metumque juvat dulci lydo solvere , that is let us drink away care , &c. and now what fine work might a prophane wit make with Scripture at this rate of expounding metaphors .

But still they have a fetch beyond all this , which consists in jumbling metaphors , and Allegories , and Types , and Figures , altogether , and proving one thing from another in a most wonderful manner .

As suppose a man would prove , that Christ is infinitely beautiful and lovely , this is a most easie thing to do , if you take the right method : for first , he is Watsons Christs Loveliness . Lovely in his Titles , he is the desire of all Nations , the Prince of Peace , the holy one of Israel , Elect and precious , these are most lovely Titles , which argue him to be very beautiful .

And then he is lovely in his Types too : he was typified by Persons most lovely : by Moses , and David , and Solomon , who were all lovely for one thing or other , either upon account of Natural beauty , or education , or office , or those great things done by them . But then he was typified by lovely things ; As by the Pillar of Cloud and Fire , which was most lovely to behold ; by the Mannah , which was very lovely too , because it was of a circular figure , and extraordinary meat , and suited to every ones Palate ; and by the mercy seat , and brazen Serpent , and Noahs Ark. Who can forbear being smitten with so lovely a Person ? Lovely as a Pillar of Cloud and fire , lovely as Noahs Ark , lovely as any Serpent , yea as a brazen Serpent ? But besides all these , Christ is resembled to a Rose , the Rose of Sharon , the Queen of flowers , and how lovely is this Rose . To a Vine , the noblest of Plants , and oh what lovely Clusters grow upon this Vine ! To a Corner stone , and oh how lovely and precious is this Stone ! to a Rock , and a River in a dry ground , and a rich treasure , and a beautiful Robe , and all these are lovely , ( and so should any thing have been , that had come in his way at that time ) and who can doubt after all this , but that Christ is the chiefest of ten thousands , yea that he is altogether lovely .

Thus if I had a mind to imitate these men , and prove that Christ is very powerful , as well as lovely , most of the same types and resemblances , would serve the turn . For he was prefigured by Moses , who did wonders in Aegypt ; He was typified by David ; who killed Goliah ; by Solomon ; who was the most powerful Prince in his days ; by the Pillar of Cloud and Fire , out of which God thundred upon the Host of Pharoah ; By the brazen Serpent , which had power to Cure the stung Israelites ; by Noahs Ark , which was certainly very strong , that it could resist all the force and power of the general deluge ; He is resembled to a Corner stone , which supports the whole building , to a Rock which is for offence , and defence , to a rich treasure , and riches all men know , are the Nerves and Sinews of Power , and he is most beautiful , and beauty is stronger than all the rest , and Conquers more than Sword or Fire .

Thus Christ is very rich ; for he is rich in Wisdom , and rich in beauty , and rich in strength , and power , rich in his Godhead , and rich in his Manhood ; and then do but add Husband to all this , and he is a rich and a powerful , and a beautiful Husband : thus Christ is Lovely , because he is rich and powerful , and he is powerful , because he is rich and lovely , and Rich , because he is powerful and lovely : and how is it possible these men should want proofs for any thing . And is there any need now to prove , that all this is the work of fancy and imagination , that it is nothing but phrase , and Religious tattle , the fruit of precarious Hypotheses , and of a pretended acquaintance with Christs Person ; for at this Rate it were easie to make any thing of any thing , to find out some pretty words , and phrases , and allusions , types , or Metaphors , to countenance all the feats of Enthusiasm , and the more godly Romances of Popish Legends . He who would be an honest Reader of Books , who hath no mind to turn every thing into Burlesque , ought carefully to distinguish between proper , and allusive , or metaphorical expressions , to consider the use of words and phrases , and the great variety of Dialects , and the peculiar Moods of speaking in every language , and in every age , and to urge Metaphors no further than their first intention , without which we may deal by all Authors , as these men deal by the Scripture , make them speak non-sence , or ( as they use to call them ) venerable Mysteries , and overthrow and contradict their own design : And this is their first way of expounding , otherwise called adulterating and debauching Scripture , by the sound of words .

Secondly , When this will not do , then they argue and reason about the sense of Scripture from their own preconceived notions and opinions of Religion , pretend to prove their own Scheme and fancies of Religion from the Scripture , but in truth prove the sense of the Scripture by its agreement with their own opinions ; which is such a trick , as the Papists have got , to prove the Authority of the Church from the Scripture , and the Scripture from the Church . I might give Instances of this in abundance , but I shall mention only some few , lest I tire my self , and my Reader .

Thus after all their talk of being justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness , there are a great many places of Scripture , which expresly tell us , that we are justified by Faith , have Remission of sins by Faith , have peace with God by Faith , are sanctified by Faith , are the Sons of God by Faith , have Eternal Life , and are saved by Faith : now how do you think shall all these Scriptures be reconciled to their notion of being justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness : for Faith certainly is not the Righteousness of Christ in their notion of it : why this is plain at first sight to these acquaintances of Christ . For when Faith is said to justifie , and save , &c. we must not understand this absolutely , that is , we must not understand this of Faith , considered as Faith , but we must understand it relatively , that Faith justifies , as it brings us to Christ , and makes us one with him , by whom we are justified : Faith apprehends the Righteousness of Christ , and the Righteousness of Christ justifies : now this distinction is plainly owing to their preconceived opinions , without which no man could ever have stumbled on 't : that when the Scripture saith , that Faith justifies , the meaning should be , that it justifies and saves instrumentally and relatively ( words which the Scriptures are unacquainted with ) that is , not as it is Faith , but as it apprehends the Righteousness of Christ ; which in plain words signifies , that Faith does not justifie ; though the Scripture so often says it does .

But now the Reason of this Interpretation is very plain ; for should Faith justifie , as our own Act , ( that is , as Faith ) it would be as bad as good works , and as perfectly irreconcileable with the free Grace of God : For had justification been promised to any thing wrought in us , or done by us , it had been of desert , not of Grace , of wages , not of mercy : if God had promised justification upon any work of ours , had said , we must bring so much humiliation , so much repentance , so much breaking of Spirit , so much Grace , so many Prayers , Alms-deeds , ( or so much Faith , as our own Act ) and then we should be justified , it would not have been of Grace , not of free mercy : though modest men , who are not so apt to dream of meriting by every thing they do , would have thought , that free Grace and Faith might have been easily reconciled , though Faith had justified , as our own Act , since the reward and recompence does so infinitly exceed the work that there can be no suspition of merit , and where there is no merit , the Reward is of Grace , and not of debt , whatever the condition of the promise be .

But this is past all doubt , when it is confirmed by a metaphor or two , of which there is great variety , some more apt than others : as for Instance : the vertue is not in Faith but in Christ , as appears in this , a Ring , which hath Watson Mystery the Lora Supper , p. 64. a precious stone in it , which will staunch blood , we say the Ring stauncheth blood , but the vertue doth not barely lye in the Ring , but in the stone in the Ring : so Faith is the Ring , Christ the precious stone , all that Faith does , is to bring home Christs merits to the Soul , and so it justifies : so that if you can but find out an improper and absurd form of speech in use among the vulgar , or if you can but invent one , as this Gentleman does , for I never met with this before ; it is a sufficient reason to expound Scripture , as improperly as unlearned men talk , or think ; or if you can but fancy Faith a Ring , and Christ a precious Stone , it is enough to answer all those places of Scripture , which speak of that legal and meritorious way of justification by Faith : And thus Faith justifies , as it is a receptive Grace : it is the receiving the Gold , that enriches , so Faith receiving of Christs merits , and filling the Soul with all the fulness of God , must needs be an enriching Grace : In the body there are Idem . p. 65. Veins , that suck the nourishment that comes into the Stomach , and turns it into blood and Spirits ; Faith is such a sucking Vein , that draws vertue from Christ , and therefore is called a precious Faith : Is not this very plain now to him , who understands the nature of our Union to Christ , which is like that of the Members of a natural body , and that we are saved by Christ , just as the body is nourished by the Stomach .

And now to make all clear , we may give a Philosophical account , why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification ; because it is a humble Ibidem . Grace , and gives the glory of all to free Grace . If repentance should fetch justification from Christ , a man would be ready to say , this was for my tears ( strange deserving Creatures these , who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears ) but Faith is humble , it is an empty hand , and what merit can there be in that ? doth a poor mans reaching out his hand , merit an Alms ? ( yes just as much as a few tears merit Heaven ) Faith is only a golden Bucket , that draws Water out of the well of life ; But why may not those , who are so apt to be conceited of merit , grow as proud , that they have a golden Bucket , as if the whole Well were their own .

Thus you see , how these men deal with the Scripture , and poor humble Faith , make what they please of them , to fit them to their purpose ; that Faith is sometimes feet to go to Christ , sometimes a hand to receive him , a mouth to feed on him , an eye to look fiducially on him , a Ring to hold this precious Stone , a Vein to suck justification out of the Spiritual Stomach ( which by the way is a very new conceit , for though Christ is called the head , I never before read , that he was the Stomach ) a Bucket to draw water out of this Well , Christ , though in this they are very civil to Faith , in making it a Golden Bucket ; whereas at other times they tell us , that Faith may be a sore and blear-eyed Leah , a shaking and Palsie hand , weak and bending Legs , and have all the infirmities that may be , and be never the worse neither as to the purpose of justification ; so that Faith had need be a very humble Grace , else it would take such language very ill from them .

Thus to give you but one instance more ; when these men are prest with those Scriptures , that urge the necessity of good works , and a holy life : that without holiness no man shall see God ; that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness , and ungodliness of men . That our acceptation with God depends upon a holy and vertuous life : that God is no respector of Persons , but in every Nation , he that feareth God , and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him . That except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ( those Immoral Hypocrites who plac't all their Righteousness in observing the Ceremonies of the Law without the purity of their hearts and lives ) we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven . That he who breaks one of the least of these Commandments , and teacheth men so ; shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven ( that is shall have no Inheritance there ) and he that doth , and teacheth them , shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven , that is shall be greatly rewarded , with many more of the like nature , which assert the absolute necessity of a holy life , and keeping the Commandments of God , to entitle us to his love and favour , and the rewards of the next life ; which perfectly overthrow their fundamental notion of justification by the righteousness of Christ ; the merits of whose death they say free us from the guilt of sin , and that punishment , which is due to it , make us as perfectly Innocent , as if we had never offended , and the righteousness of his life imputed to us , makes us righteous , so as to deserve a reward : gives us an actual title to glory : Now any one , who is not mightily acquainted with the Person of Christ , would think it a very hard task to reconcile this Doctrine of Justification by the imputation of Christs Righteousness without any thing of our own , with the necessity of a holy life , which the Scripture doth so expresly assert . But these men defie you , if you charge them with destroying the necessity of a holy life : And I wish with all my heart , that whatever the consequence of their Doctrines is , it may have no bad influence upon their lives .

For they tell us , that this Universal Obedience and good works ( a very suspicious word , which methinks these men should be afraid to name ) are indispensably Dr. Owen's Communion with Christ , Ch. 8. necessary from the Soveraign appointment and will of God , this is the will of God , even our Sanctification ; It is the will of the Father , and it is the will of the Son , I have ordained you , that you bring forth fruit . John 15. 16. and the appointment of the Holy Ghost . And then Holiness is one eminent and special end of the peculiar dispensation of Father , Son , and Spirit , in the business of exalting the glory of God in our Salvation ; It is the end of the Fathers electing love , he hath chosen us , that we should be holy , Eph. 1. 4. the end of the Sons redeeming love , who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity , and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works . Titus 2. 14. and of the Spirits sanctifying love , as any one would easily guess .

It is necessary to the glory of God , to the glory of the Father , to the glory of the Son , and to the glory of the Holy Ghost , whose Temple we are : and are not these men now mightily injured in being charged with denying the necessity of a Holy Life , who make it necessary upon so many accounts ? Is it not great pity , they should be so abused ? But the truth is , all this is not one syllable to the purpose ; for the question was about its necessity to Salvation , and if we be justified and saved without it , all this cannot prove any necessary obligation on us to the practice of it : God hath appointed and commanded obedience , but where is the sanction of this Law , will he damn those , who do not obey , for their disobedience , and will he save and reward those who do obey for their obedience , not a word of this ; for this destroys our justification by the Righteousness of Christ only : And if after all these commands , God hath left it indifferent , whether we obey or not , I hope such commands cannot make obedience necessary .

The Father hath elected us to be holy , and the Son redeemed us to be holy : but will the Father elect and the Son redeem none but those who are holy , and reject and reprobate all others ? doth this Election and Redemption suppose Holiness in us , or is it without any regard to it ? For if we be elected and redeemed without any regard to our own being holy , our Election and Redemption is secure , whether we be holy or not , and so this cannot make holiness necessary on our parts , though it may be necessary on Gods part to make us holy , but that is not our care .

Obedience and a holy life is for the glory of the Father , the Son , and holy Spirit : how so ? when the necessity of Holiness is so destructive to free Grace , which is the only glory God designs to advance by Christ . If this will not do yet Holiness is necessary to our honour , for it makes us like to God . Prophane men that they are ! as if the perfect Righteousness of Christ , his beautiful Robes , were not much more for our honour , and did not make us more like to God than the rags and patches of our own Righteousness : however if men prefer their lusts and interests before their honour , the necessity of holiness ceases .

But it is for Peace . What Peace I pray you ? Peace of Conscience ? Why then must we at last fetch our Peace and security from our own duties and graces ? Is not this to renounce Christ ? Miserable men that we are ! must we then I. O. Excellency of Iesus Christ . Digr. 2. p. 113. set about correcting our lives , amending our ways , performing duties required , and so follow after righteousness according to the Prescript of the law ? Why this is the course , wherein many men continue long with much perplexity , sometimes hoping , oftner fearing , sometimes ready to give quite over , sometimes vowing to continue ( their Consciences being no ways satisfied , nor righteousness in any measure obtained ) all their days ; After they have tired themselves perhaps in the largeness of their ways , they come at length with fear and trembling and disappointment to the conclusion of the Apostle , by the works of the Law no man is justified , and with David cry , that if God marks what is done amiss , there is no standing before him . And is this the way , in which we must seek for Peace ? is this the way to enjoy Communion with God by our own righteousness ? why doth not all our Wisdom of Ibidem p. 119. walking with God consist in our Acquaintance with Christ ? God is light and in him is no darkness at all , we are darkness , and in us no light at all . He is life , a living God , we are dead , dead Sinners , dead in trespasses and sins . He is holiness , and glorious in it , we wholly defiled , an abominable thing . He is love , we full of hatred , hating and being hated . Surely this is no foundation of agreement , or upon that of walking ( that is of Communion ) together : nothing can be more remote than this frame from such a condition . The foundation then of this peace ( that is of agreement and Communion with God ) is laid in Christ , hid in Christ , he , saith the Apostle , is our peace , he hath made peace for us ; he is the new and living way into the holy of holies . I am the way ( saith Christ ) and no man cometh to the Father , but by me ; he is the Medium of all Communication between God and us , in him we meet , in him we walk . So that if this Gentlemans memory had not failed him , he would never have told us in the 8. Chap. that holiness is necessary to our Peace and Communion with God : when a little before he had disclaimed this , as wholly useless to that purpose .

But however holiness is very useful to all the purposes of life : that it may be , and not necessary to Salvation : It serves for the Conviction of the Enemies of God . How so ? When it is not essentially necessary to his Friends ; And it is for the Conversion of others . Why so ? When men may be converted without it : It keeps the judgments of God from other men , as Ten good men would have preserved Sodom . But why cannot the righteousness of Christ do this more effectually , than the holiness of men ? But , It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of justified Persons : for they are accepted , and received into Friendship with an holy God , a God of purer eyes , than to behold iniquity , &c. and therefore they must cleanse and purifie themselves . What need of this ? When they are Cloathed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness which is the only foundation of our Communion with God , as you heard before .

But however holiness is necessary with respect to sanctification . We have in us a new Creature , 2 Cor. 5. 17. this new Creature is fed , cherisht , nourisht , kept alive , by the fruits of holiness ; to what end hath God given us new hearts , and new Natures ? 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 ? The phrase of this is admirable , and the reasoning unanswerable : for if men be new Creatures , they will certainly live new lives , and this makes holiness absolutely necessary by the same Reason , that every thing necessarily is , what it is , when it is ; but still we enquire after a necessary obligation to the practice of holiness , and that we cannot discover yet .

Well! But Holiness is necessary as the means to the end . This indeed is something to the purpose , but let us hear how : Though it be neither the cause , matter , nor condition of our justification ( mark the Hypothesis ) yet it is the way appointed of God for us to walk in for the obtaining Salvation , and therefore he that hath hope of Eternal Life , purifies himself , as he is pure , and none shall ever come to the end , who walketh not in the way , for without holiness it is impossible to see God . This I confess is all pertinent , and home to the purpose , but yet there are two little faults in it ; that it contradicts it self , and overthrows their darling opinions , which I can very well pardon , if he can : What ? the necessary way to Eternal Life , and yet neither the cause , matter , nor condition : at least you might allow the way to Eternal life to be the causa sine qua non , without which we shall never get thither ; and that in spight of all your distinctions will entitle it to the nature of a condition . But not to dispute about words , I am content it should only be a necessary way to Eternal Life : but what becomes of Christ then ? who is the only way , the truth and the life : is not the righteousness of Christ able to save us without an additional righteousness of our own ? doth the Active and Passive Righteousness of Christ both free us from guilt and punishment , and give us an actual right and title to glory ? and yet can we not be saved without walking in the ways of holiness ? what becomes of free Grace then ? is not this to eke out the righteousness of Christ with our own ? to make Christ our justifier , and our works our Saviour ?

Thus you see , how men wrest and pervert the Scripture to make it speak their sense , and justifie their darling opinions and fancies , though not always with the same success ; for some truths are so plain and stubborn , that they will not bend ▪ but must be broke into the most palpable absurdities and contradictions , before they can be fitted to their opinions , and then they agree like new Cloath in an old Garment , which makes the rent the wider .

It were easie to produce many more instances of this nature , but this is enough to show you how dangerous it is to pre-possess our fancies with some arbitrary notions in Religion , which naturally force men to pervert the Scriptures to make them speak the Orthodox language . To this we owe all those nice and subtle distinctions , which constitute the body of Systematical Divinity , which commonly have no other design , than to evade the force of Scripture , or to bribe it to speak on their side . The Authority of Scripture is sacred and inviolable , and it is dangerous to call that into question , whatever acquaintance men have with the Person of Christ ; but as Mr. Chillingworth observes of the Church of Rome , that to establish her Tyranny over mens Consciences , she need not either abolish or corrupt the holy Scripture ( which in regard of the numerous multitude of Copies dispersed through all places , translated into almost all languages , guarded with all solicitous care and industry , had been an impossible attempt ) but the more expedite way , and therefore the more likely to be successful , was to gain the opinion and esteem of the publick and authorized Interpreter of them , and the Authority of adding to them , what Doctrines she pleased under the title of traditions or definitions . Thus though their fancies and the Scripture agree no better , than the Church of Rome and the Scripture do , yet they may be both retained , so their opinions may but expound the Scriptures , and add such limitations , distinctions , glosses , &c. as are necessary to make them Orthodox .

The sum of all is , that to know Christ is not to be thus acquainted with his Person , but to understand his Gospel in 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 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 .