310 A VINDICATION OF
give us from the gospel, seeing be hath told us we must learn our religion from his doctrine and not from his person) ; besides that it is liable unto innumerable exceptions in particular, which may easily be given in against it by such as have nothing else to do, whereas it makes no mention of the effectual grace of Christ and the gospel for the conversion and sanctification of sinners, and the necessity thereof unto all acts of holy obedience, — it is merely Pelagianism, and stands anathematized by sundry councils of the ancient church. I shall not, therefore, concern myself farther in any passages of this section, most of them wherein it reflects on others standing in competition for truth and ingenuity with the foundation and design of tbe whole ; only I shall say, that the passage of pp. 88, 89, — " This made the divine good- ness so restlessly zealous and concerned for the recovery of mankind; various ways he attempted in former ages, but with little success, as I observed before; but at last God sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world," — without a very cautious explanation and charitable construction, is false, scandalous, and blasphemous. For allow this author, who contends so severely for propriety of expressions, against allusions and metaphors, to say that the divine goodness was " rest- lessly zealous and concerned" (for, indeed, such is our weakness, that, whether we will or no, we must sometimes learn and teach divine things in such words as are suited to convey an apprehension of them unto our minds, though, in their application unto the divine nature, they are incapable of being understood in the propriety of their sig- nification, though this be as untowardly expressed as any thing I have of late met withal) ; yet what colour can be put upon, what excuse can be made for, this doctrine, that " God in former ages, by various ways, attempted the recovery of mankind, but with little success," I know not. Various attempts in God for any end without success, do not lead the mind into right notions of his infinite wisdom and omni- potency; and that God, by any way, at any time, attempted the recovery of mankind distinctly and separately from the sending of his Son, is lewdly false.
In the greatest part of his fourth section, entitled, " How men pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancy," I am not much concerned; save that the foundation of the whole, and that Avhich animates his discourse from first to last, is laid in an impudent calumny, — namely, that I declare that " our religion is wholly owing to an acquaintance with the person of Christ, and could never have been clearly and savingly learned from his gospel, had we not first grown acquainted with his person." This shameless falsehood is that alone whence he takes occasion and confidence to reproach myself and others, to condemn the doctrine of all the reformed chm-ches, and openly to traduce and vilify the Scripture itself I shall only
THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. ^ oil
briefly touch on some of the. impotent dictates of this great corrector of divinity and religion. His discom-se of accommodating Scripture expressions to men's own dreams, pp. 99-101, being such as any man may use concerning any other men on the hke occasion, if tbey have a mind unto it, and intend to have no more regard to their consciences than some othere seem to have, may be passed by. P. 102, he falls upon the ways of expounding Scripture among those whom he sets himself against, and positively affirms, " that there are two ways of it in great vogue among them: — First, By the sound and clink of the words and phrases ; which, as he says, is all some men understand by keeping a form of sound words. Secondly, When this will not do, they reason about the sense of them from their own preconceived notions and opinions, and prove that this must be the meaning of Scripture, because otherwise it is not reconcilable to their dreams; v/hich is called expounding Scripture by the analogy of faith."
Thus far he; and yet we shall have the same man not long hence pleading for the necessity of holiness. But I wish, for my part, he would take notice that I despise that holiness, and the principles of it, which will allow men to coin, invent, and publish such notorious untruths against any sort of men whatever. And whereas, by what immediately follows, I seem to be principally intended in this charge, as I know the untruth of it, so I have published some expositions on some parts of the Scripture to the judgment of the Christian world ; to which I appeal from the censures of this man and his coinpanions, as also for those which, if I live and God will, I shall yet publish ; and do declare, that, for reasons very satisfactory to my mind, I will not come to him nor them to learn how to expound the Scripture.
But he will justify his charge by particular instances, telling us, p. 102, " Thus when men are possessed with a fancy of an acquaint- ance with Christ's person, then to know Christ can signify nothing else but to know his person and all his personal excellencies, and beauties, fulness, and preciousness, etc. 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 God's will to the world." I would beg of this man, that if he hath any regard unto the honour of Christian religion, or care of his own soul, he would be tender in this matter, and not reflect with his usual disdain upon the know- ledge of the person of Christ. I must tell him again, what all Chris- tians believe, — Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God incarnate. The person of Christ is Christ himself, and nothing else; his personal excellencies are the properties of his person, as his two natures are united therein, and as he was thereby made meet to be