An Answer to William Sherlock, Chapter 2 – Chapter 3
CHAP. II.
THoſe men who talk ſo much of the Perſon of Chriſt, Mr. Sherlock.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.
What! without Senſe, Reaſon,Anſwer. and Scripture too? Alas, poor inconſiderable Creatures! What need ſuch ſtrong impetuous oppoſition be made againſt them? or how are ſuch men likely to alarm the World with fears? But for the thing it ſelf, I hope the Author deſigns not to make Chriſt uſeleſs; but what he doth towards it, in denying the Myſtical Union, let Biſhop Davenant ſay;Exp. in Col. Quicquid de obtentâ Gratiâ, ſanctificatione, de obtinendâ vitâ aeternâ homines ſperant, merum ludibrium & inſomnium eſt, ſi non ſint in Chriſto & Chriſtus in illis; jam verò Chriſtus in nobis & nos in illo ſumus, cùm vinculo Spiritûs & Fidei per Spiritum impreſſae in cordibus noſtris unimur huic capiti noſtro: What in denying Imputed Righteouſneſs, the Church of England tells at large, in the Homily touching the Salvation of Man; I ſhall quote but one paſſage: Christ is now the Righteouſneſs of all them that truly believe in him; he for them paid the Ranſom by his Death; he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life: ſo that now, in him and by him, every true Chriſtian man may be called a fulfiller of the Law; foraſmuch as that, which their infirmity lacked, Chriſt's Juſtice hath ſupplied; Which plainly implies a neceſſity of Imputed Righteouſneſs. What in bringing in internal Holineſs into Juſtification, the reverend Hooker ſaith, The Church of Rome, in teaching Justification by inherent Grace, doth pervert the Truth of Chriſt. There are other things, but I leave them to the Reader's obſervation in the After-diſcourſe.
All Religion is founded on a belief of God's Goodneſs: Mr. Sherlock.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.
The Chriſtian Religion is founded ſo, but dated much ſooner than the Incarnation;Anſwer. it was in Eſſence, though not in Name, under the old Teſtament: all along there hath been but one Faith, one Mediator, one Name under Heaven, one Foundation of Salvation: The Goſpel was preached to us, as well as unto them, Heb. 4.2. Through the grace of the Lord Jeſus we ſhall be ſaved even as they, Act. 15.11. They all drank of that ſpiritual rock that followed them, and that rook was Chriſt, 1 Cor. 10.4. He is that Petra, vnde omnes credentes ſalutem hauriunt, as one gloſſes on thoſe words: Salvation ſtreams from him yeſterday, to day, and for ever; he that will ſeek any other Fountain of Life, muſt be ſaved Platonicè or Catonicè; which to ſay, is to depreciate the Chriſtian Religion, and render it as cheap as any other.
He is our Saviour in no other ſence, than as he is our Mediator, Mr. Sherlock.and he mediates for us as our Prieſt, that is, in vertue of that Covenant which he ſealed with his blood.
He ſealed the Covenant with his Blood,Anſwer. but did not turn over his Mediatory Office to it; he mediates in vertue of his Blood and Merits, being not, as Socinus would have it, a meer Internuncial Mediator, but a Redeeming, atoning, and Reconciling one: He ratified the Covenant by his Blood, but ſo, that we have redemption through his blood, Eph. 1.7. peace through his blood, Col. 1.20. and cleanſing from ſin in his blood, 1 Joh. 1.7. Hence, as the learned Lubbertus hath obſerved, the Blood of Chriſt differs from other in a way of tranſcendent excellency; other blood hath been uſed in confirming Covenants, but Chriſt's confirms the Covenant, and beſides expiates and purges away ſin; There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jeſus, ſaith the Apoſtle, 1 Tim. 2.5. and how he mediates, the next Verſe tells us, Who gave himſelf a ranſom for all: The blood of Chriſt purges the Conſcience, ſaith the Apoſtle, Heb. 9.14. and then adds, foreign, For this cauſe he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that he might purge away our ſins. What the Author afterwards ſubjoyns, Theſe men truſt in the perſon of Chriſt, without any Promiſe, nay, in contradiction to it; they quit his Promiſe, and rely and roll upon his Perſon, is utterly denied, till proof be made of it. The good men oppoſed are far from believing, that they ſhall have any thing without a Promiſe; neither do they quit his Promiſe, when they rely upon his Perſon and Blood: And yet that Reliance is, as I have before ſhewed, a Faith far higher, than that dogmatical one which believes the Goſpel, and is diſtinct from Obedience. When the Author ſumms up the Terms of the Goſpel, only in believing and obeying, he falls ſhort, in omitting that Faith of Recumbency, required therein under the Command of Faith, which is more than a dogmatical Faith, and diſtinct from Obedience, which is the fruit, but no part thereof.