84 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
tion be made of them unto the understandings of men. Dissolve the knot, centre, and harmony in the most beautiful composition or structure — and every part will contribute as much unto the deformity and ruin of the whole, as it did before unto its beauty and consistency. So is it with every doctrine — so is it with the whole system of evangelical truths. Take the person of Christ out of them, dissolve their harmony in relation thereunto — whereby we no longer hold the Head in the faith and profession of them — and the minds of men cannot deliver them from an in-econcilable difference among themselves. Hereon some of them are immediately rejected, and some of them corrupted ; for they lose their native light and beauty. They will neither agree nor consist any where but in Christ. Hence it is that no instance can be given of any, who, from the original of the Christian religion, rejected the divine person of Christ, and preserved any one evangelical truth besides, pure and uncoiTupted. And I do freely confess, that all which we believe concerning the holy Trinity, the eternal counsels of God, the efficacy of the mediation of Christ, his satisfaction and merit, the way which we own. of the sanctification, justification, and salvation of the church — are to be esteemed fables, as the Socinians contend, if what we believe concerning the person of Christ be so also.
2. Hence it is that the knowledge and profession of the truth, with many, is so fruitless, inefficacious, and useless. It is not known, it is not understood nor beUeved — in its relation unto Christ ; on which account alone it conveys either hght or power to the soul. Men profess they know the truth ; but they know it not in its proper order, in its harmony and use. It leads them not to Christ, it brings not Christ unto them ; and so is lifeless and useless. Hence, oft-times, none are more estranged from the life of God than such as have much notional knowledge of the doctrines of the Scripture. For they are all of them useless, and subject to be abused, if they are not improved to form Christ in the soul, and transform the whole person into his likeness and image. This they will not effect where their relation unto him is not understood — where they are not received and learned as a revelation of him, with the mystery of the will and wisdom of God in him. For whereas he is our life, and in our living unto God we do not so much live as he liveth in us, and the life which we lead in the flesh is by the faith of him — so that we have neither principle nor power of spiritual life, but in, by, and from him — whatever knowledge we have of the truth, if it do not effect a union between him and our souls, it will be lifeless in us, and unprofitable unto us. It is learning the truth as it is in Jesus, which alone reneweth the image of God in us : Eph. iv. 21-24. Where it is otherwise — where men have notions of evan-
THE EFFICACY OF HIS OFFICE DERIVED FROM IT. 85
gelical truths, but know not Christ in them — whatever they pro- fess, when they come really to examine themselves, they will find them of no use unto them, but that all things between God and their souls are stated on natural light and common presumptions.
CHAPTER VII.
Power and Efficacy Communicated unto the Office of Christ, for the Salvation of the Church, from his Person.
It is by the exercise and discharge of the office of Christ — as the king, priest, and prophet of the church — that we are redeemed, sanctified, and saved. Thereby doth he immediately communicate all Gospel benefits unto us — give us an access unto God here by grace, and in glory hereafter; for he saves us, as he is the mediator between God and man. But hereon an inquiry may be made — whence it is that the acts and duties of this office of Christ, in their exercise and discharge, should have such a power and efficacy, with respect unto tlieir supernatural and eternal ends; for the things which depend upon them, which are effected by them, are all the principal means of the glory of God, and the only concernments of the souls of men. And this, I say, is his holy, mysterious person; from thence alone all power and efficacy is derived, and transfused into his offices, and into aU that is due in the discharge of them.
A truth this is, of that importance, that the declaration and demonstration of it is the principal design of one entire book of the holy Scriptures, viz., of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle unto the Hebrews. That the glorious excellency of the person of Christ doth enable him, in the discharge of his offices, to accomplish those ends, — which none other, though vested with the same offices, could, in the exercise of them, attain unto — is the sum and substance of the doctrinal part of that discourse. Here, therefore, we must a little fix our meditations— and our interest calls us thereunto. For if it be so, it is evident that we can receive no good, no benefit, by virtue of any office of Christ, nor any fruits of their exercise, without an actual respect of faith unto his person, whence all their life and power is derived.