" To make this appear, I shall consider that account which Dr Owen gives us of the personal graces and excellencies of Christ, which
THE PRECEDING DISCOUHSE. 337
in general consist in three things: — First, His fitness to save, from the grace of union, and the proper and necessary effects thereof Secondly, His fidness to save, from the grace of communion, or the free consequences of the grace of union. And, thirdly. His excellency to endear, from his complete suitableness to all the wants of the souls of men. First, That he is fit to be a Saviour, from the grace of union. And if you will understand what this strange grace of union is, it is the uniting the nature of God and man in one person, which makes him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost. He lays his hand upon God, by partaking of his nature ; and he lays his haAd on us, by par- taking of our nature : and so becomes a days-man or umpire between both. Now, though this be a great truth, that the union of the divine and human nature in Christ did excellently qualify him for the office of a mediator, yet this is the unhappiest man in expressing and pro\ang it that I have met with. For what an untoward repre- sentation is this of Christ's mediation, tiiat he came to make peace by la3ang his hands on God and men, as if he came to part a fray or scuffle: and he might as well have named Gen. i 1, or Matt. i. 1, or any other place of Scripture, for the proof of it, as those he mentions."
To what end it is that he cites these passages out of my discourse is somewhat difficult to divine. Himself confesseth that what is asserted (at least in one of them) is a great truth, only, I am " the unhappiest man in expressing and proving it that ever he met with." It is evident enough to me, that he hath not met with many who have treated of this subject, or hath little miderstood those he hath met withal; so that there may be yet some behind as unhappy as myself And seeing he hath so good a leisure from other occasions, as to spend his time in telling the Avorld how unhappy I am in my proving and expressing of what himself acknowledgeth to be true, he may be pleased to take notice, that I am now sensible of my ov/n unhappiness also, in having fallen under a diversion from better em- ployments by such sad and woful impcrtinencies. But being at once charged with both these misadventures, — untowardness in expres- sion, and weakness in the proof of a plain truth, I shall willingly admit of information, to mend my way of writing for the future. And the first reflection he casts on my expressions, is my calling the union of the two natures in Christ in the same person, the "grace of union;" for so he says, " If you would understand what this strange grace of union is." But I crave his pardon in not complying with his directions, for my company's sake. No man, who hath once con- sulted the writings of the ancients on this subject, can be a stranger unto %a^/g ivueiug, and " gratia unionis," they so continually occur in the writmgs of all sorts of divines, both ancient and modern. Yea, but there is yet worse behind ; for, " What an untoward representation
VOL. II. 22
338 A VINDICATION OF
is this of Christ's mediation, that he came to make peace by laying his hands on God and men, as if he came to part a fray or scuffle." My words are, " The uniting of the natures of God and man in one person, made him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost. He laid his hand upon God, by partaking of his nature, Zech. xiii. 7 ; and he lays his hand upon us, by partaking of our nature, Heb. ii. 14, 16: and so becomes a days-man or umpire between both." See what it is to be adventurous. I doubt not but that he thought that I had invented that expression, or at least, that I was the first who ever applied it unto this interposition of Christ between God and man ; but as I took the words, and so my warranty for the expression from the Scripture, Job ix. 33, so it hath commonly been applied by divines in the same manner, particularly by Bishop Usher (in his " Immanuel," pp. 8, 9, as I remember) ; whose unhappiness in expressing himself in divinity this man needs not much to bewail. But let my expressions be what they will, I shall not escape the unhappiness and weakness of my proofs; for " I might," he says, "as well have quoted Gen. i. 1, and Matt. i. 1, for the proof of the unity of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ, and his fitness thence to be a Saviour, as those I named," — namely, Zech. xiii. 7; Heb. ii. 14, 16. Say you so? Why, then, I do here undertake to maintain the personal union, and the fitness of Christ from thence to be a Saviour, from these two texts, against this man and all his fraternity in design. And at present I cannot but wonder at his confidence, seeing I am sure he cannot be ignorant that one of these places, at least, — namely, that of Heb. ii. 16,^is as much, as frequently, as vehemently pleaded by all sorts of divines, ancient and modern, to prove the assumption of our human nature into personal subsistence with the Son of God, that so he might be /kccvos (fit and able to save us), as any one testimony in the whole Scripture. And the same truth is as evidently contained and expressed in the former, seeing no man could be the " fellow of the Lord of hosts" but he that was pai'taker of the same nature with him; and no one could have the sword of God upon him to smite him, which was needful unto our salvation, but he that was partaker of our nature, or man also. And the mere recital of these testi- monies was sufficient unto my purpose in that place, where I designed only to declare, and not dispute the truth. If he yet think that I cannot prove what I assert from these testimonies, let him consult my " Vindicias Evangelicoe," where, according as that work required, I have directly pleaded these scriptures to tlio same purpose, insist- ing at large on the vindication of one of them ; and let him answer what I have there pleaded, if he be able. And I shall allow him to make his advantage unto that purpose, if he please, of whatever evasions the Socinians have found out to escape the force of that tes-