[5.] That which principally differenceth evangelical holiness, VOL. m. 33
514 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV.
with respect unto the Lord Christ, from all natural or moral ha- bits or duties, and whereby he is made sanctification unto us, is, that from him, his person as our head, the principle of spiritual life and holiness in believers is derived; and by virtue of their union with him, real supplies of spiritual strength and grace, whereby their holiness is preserved, maintained, and increased, are constantly com- municated unto them. On the stating and proof hereof the whole difference about grace and morality doth depend and will issue : for if that which men call morality be so derived from the Lord Christ by virtue of our union with him, it is evangelical grace; if it be not, ib is either nothing or somewhat of another nature and kind, for grace it is not, nor holiness neither. And all that I have to prove herein is, that the Lord Jesus Christ is a head of influence, the spring or fountain of spiritual life, unto his church, — wherein I know myself to have the consent of the church of God in all ages; and I shall confine the proof of my assertion unto the ensuing positions, with their confirmation : —
1st. Whatever grace God promiseth unto any, bestoweth on them, or worketh in them, it is all so bestowed and wrought in, by, and through Jesus Christ, as the mediator or middle person between God and them. This the very notion and nature of his office of mediator, and his interposition therein between God and us, doth require. To affirm that any good thing, any grace, any virtue, is given unto us, or bestowed on us, or wrought in us by God, and not immediately through Christ; or that we believe in God, yield obedi- ence unto him, or praise with glory, not directly by Christ, — is utterly to overthrow his mediation. Moses, indeed, is called a mediator between God and the people. Gal. iii. 19, as he was an internuntius, a messenger to declare the mind of God to them, and to return their answers unto God ; but to limit the mediatory work of Christ unto such an interposition only is to leave him but one office, that of a prophet, and to destroy the principal uses and effects of his media- tion towards the church. In like manner, because Moses is called Xurpurrji, a saviour or redeemer. Acts vii. 85, metaphorically, with respect unto his use and employment in that mighty work of the deliverance of the people out of Egypt, some will not allow that the Lord Christ is a redeemer in any other sense, subverting the whole gospel, with the faith and souls of men. But, in particular, what there is of this nature in the mediation of Christ, in his being the middle person between God and us, may be declared in the ensuing assertions : —
(1st) God himself is the absolute VD&mie fountaiiX, the supreme efficient cause, of all grace and holiness; for he alone is originally and essentially holy, as he only is good, and so the first cause of
CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 515
holiness and goodness to otliers. Hence he is called " The God of all grace," 1 Pet. v. 10; the author, possessor, and bestower of it. " He hath life in himself," and quickeneth whom he pleaseth, John V. 26 ; " With him is the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9 ; as hath been declared before. This, I suppose, needs no farther confirmation with them who really acknowledge any such thing as grace and holiness. These things, if any, are among those "perfect gifts" which are "from above," coming down " from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning," James i. 1 7.
(2dly.) God from his own fulness communicates unto his crea- tures, either by the way of nature or by the way of grace. In our first creation God implanted his image on us, in uprightness and holiness, in and by the making or creation of our nature; and had we con- tinued in that state, the same image of God should have been com- municated by yiatural jyropagation. But since the fall and entrance of sin, God no more communicates holiness unto any by way of nature or natural propagation : for if he did so, there would be no necessity that every one who is born must be born again before he enter into the kingdom of God, as our Saviour affirmeth there is, John iii. 3, for he might have grace and holiness from his first nativity; nor could it be said of believers that they are "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," chap. i. 13, for grace might be propagated unto them by those natural means. It was the old Pelagian figment, that what we have by nature we have by grace, because God is the author of nature. So he was as it was pui^e, but it is our own as it is corrupt; and what we have thereby we have of ourselves, in contradiction to the grace of God. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and we have nothing else by natural propagation.