But he that shall consider what reflections are cast in this discourse on the necessity of satisfaction to be made vmto divine justice, and from whom they are borrowed; the miserable, weak attempt that is made therein to reduce all Christ's mediatoiy actings unto his kingly office, and, in particular, his intercession; the faint mention that is made of the satisfaction of Christ, clogged Avith the addition of igno- rance of the philosophy of it, as it is called, well enough complying with them who grant that the Lord Christ did what God was satis- fied withal, with sundry other things of the like nature ; will not be to seek whence these things come, nor whither they are going, nor to whom our author is beholden for most of his rare notions; which it is an easy thing at any time to acquaint him withal.
The second section of this chapter is tilled principally with excep- tions against my discourse about the personal excellencies of Christ as mediator; if I may not rather say, with the reflections on the glory
THE PKECEDING DISCOURSE. 827
of Christ himself. [As] for my own discoiirse upon it, I acknowledge it to be weak, and not only inconceivably beneath the dignity and merit of the subject, but also far short of what is taught and delivered by many ancient writers of the church unto that purpose ; and [as] for his exceptions, they are such a composition of ignorance and spite as is hardly to be paralleled. His entrance upon his work is (p. 200) as fol]oweth: — ■" Secondly, Let us inquire what they mean by the per- son of Christ, to which believers must be united. And here they have outdone all the metaphysical subtilties of Suarez, and have found out a person for Christ distinct from his Godhead and man- hood; for there can be no other sense made of what Dr Owen tells us, — that by the ' graces of his person' he doth not mean the ' glorious excellencies of his Deity considered in itself, abstracting from the office which for us, as God and man, he imdertook ; nor the outward appearance of his human nature, when he conversed here on earth, nor yet as now exalted in glory ; but the graces of the person of Christ, as he is vested with the office of mediation, — his spiritual eminency, comeliness, beauty, as appointed and anointed by the Father unto that great work of bringing home all his elect into his bosom.' Now, unless the person of Christ as mediator be distinct from his person as God-man, all this is idle talk ; for what personal graces are there in Christ as mediator which do not belong to him either as God or man? There are some things, indeed, which our Saviour did and suffered, which he was not obliged to, either as God or man, but as mediator; but surely he will not call the peculiar duties and actions of an office personal graces."
I have now learned not to trust unto the honesty and ingenuity of our author, as to his quotations out of my book ; which I find that he hath here mangled and altered, as in other places, and shall therefore transcribe the whole passage in my own words, p. 51 :^ " It is Christ as mediator of whom we speak ; and therefore, by the ' grace of his person,' I understand not, first, The glorious excellencies of his Deity considered in itself, abstracting from the office which for us, as God and man, he undertook; nor, secondly. The outward appearance of his human nature, neither when he conversed here on earth, bearing our infirmities (whereof, by reason of the charge that was laid upon him, the prophet gives quite another character, Isa. lii. 1 4), concern- ing which some of the ancients are very poetical in their expressions ; nor yet as now exalted in glory ; — a vain imagination whereof makes many bear a false, a corrupted respect unto Christ, even upon carnal apprehensions of the mighty exaltation of the human nature ; ^\•hich is but to ' know Christ after the flesh," — a mischief much improved by the abomination of foolish imagery. But this is that which I in- * Page 48 of this volume.
328 A VINDICATION OF
tend, — the graces of the person of Christ as he is vested with the office of mediation, his spiritual eminency, comehness, and beauty, etc. Now, in this respect the Scripture describes him as exceeding excel- lent, comely, and desirable, — far above comparison with the chiefest, choicest created good, or any endearment imaginable ; " which I prove at large from Ps. xlv. 2; Isa. iv. 2; Cant. v. 9, adding an explanation of the whole.
In the digression, some passages whereof he carps at in this section, my design was to declare, as was said, somewhat of the gloiy of the person of Christ. To this end I considered both the glory of his divine and the many excellencies of his human nature; but that which I principally insisted on was the excellency of his person as God and man in one, whereby he was meet and able to be the mediator be- tween God and man, and to effect all the great and blessed ends of his mediation. That our Lord Jesus Christ was God, and that there were, on that account, in his person the essential excellencies and properties of the divine nature, I suppose he will not deny; nor will he do so that he was truly man, and that his human nature was endowed with many glorious graces and excellencies which are pecu- liar thereunto. That there is a distinct consideration of his person as both these natures are united therein, is that which he seems to have a mind to except against. And is it meet that any one who hath aught else to do shoidd spend any moments of that time which he knows how better to improve, in the pursuit of a man's imperti- nencies, who is so bewildered in his own ignorance and confidence, that he knows neither where he is nor what he says? Did not the Son of God, by assuming our human nature, continuing what he was, become what he was not? Was not the person of Christ, by the communication of the properties of each nature in it and to it, a principle of such operations as he could not have wrought either as God or man, separately considered? How else did God " redeem his church with his own blood?" or how is that true which he says, John iii. 13, " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven?" Was not the union of the two natures in the same person (which was a property neither of the divine nor human nature, but a distinct inefftible effect of divine condescension, wisdom, and grace, which the ancients unanimously call the " grace of union," whose subject is the person of Christ) that whereby he was fit, meet, and able, for all the works of his mediation? Doth not the Scripture, moreover, propose unto our faith and consolation the glory, power, and grace of the per- son of Christ as he is " God over all, blessed for ever;" and his love, sympathy, care, and compassion as man ; yet all acting themselves in the one and selfsame person of the Son of God? Let him read the