out him we can do nothing,' John xv. 5. And he alone understands divine truth, who doth it, John vii. 17. There is not therefore any one text of Scripture which presseth our duty unto God, that we can so understand as to perform that duty in an acceptable manner, without an actual regard unto Christ, from whom alone we receive ability for the performance of it, and in or through whom alone it is accepted with God. 3. All the evidence of divine spiritual truth, and all the foundation of our real interest in the things whereof it is a declaration, as to benefit, advantage, and comfort, depends on their relation unto Christ. We may take an instance in one article of divine truth, which seems to be most disengaged from any such relation, namely, the resurrection of the dead. But there is no man who rightly believes or comprehends this truth, who doth it not upon the evidence given unto it, and example of it in the person of Christ rising from the dead. Nor can any man have a comfortable expectation, or faith of an especial interest in a blessed resurrection, (which is our whole concern in that truth, Phil. iii. 11.) but by virtue of a mystical union unto him as the head of the church that shall be raised unto glory. Both these the Apostle insists upon at large, 1 Cor. xv. So is it with all other truths what ever. Wherefore all divine supernatural truths, revealed in the Scripture, being nothing but the declaration of these counsels of God, whose foundation was laid in the person of Christ; and whereas they are all of them expressive of the love, wisdom, goodness, and grace of God unto us, or instructive in our obedience and duty to him, all the actings of God towards us, and all ours towards him, being in and through him alone. And whereas all the life and power of these truths, all their beauty, symmetry, and harmony in their union and conjunction which is expressive of divine wisdom, is all from him, who, as a living Spirit diffused through the whole system, both acts and animates it, all the treasures of truth, wisdom, and knowledge may be well said to be 'hid in him.' And we may consider some things that ensue hereon. (1.) Hence it is that those who reject the divine person of Christ, who believe it not, who discern not the wisdom, grace, love, and power of God therein, do constantly reject or corrupt all other spiritual truths of divine revelation, nor can it otherwise be. For they have a consistency only in their relation unto the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh; and from thence derive their sense and meaning. This being removed, the truth in all other articles of religion immediately falls to the ground. An instance hereof we have in the Socinians. For although they retain the common notions of the unity and existence of the divine nature, which are indelibly fixed on the minds of men, yet is there no one truth that belongs peculiarly unto Christian religion, but they either deny it, or horribly deprave it. Many things concerning God and his essential properties; as his immutability, immensity, prescience, they have greatly perverted. So is that fulfilled in them which was spoken by Jude the Apostle, ver. 10. They speak evil of the things which they know not; and what they do know naturally, as brute beasts, in them they corrupt themselves.' So they do in the things mentioned, whereof there are natural notions in the minds of men. But of evangelical truths, which they know not, they speak evil, and deride them. The holy Trinity they blaspheme; the incarnation of the Son of God they scorn; the work of his mediation in his oblation and intercession, with the satisfaction and merits of his abedience and suffering, they reject. So do they whatever we are taught of the depravation of our natures by the fall, of the renovation of them by the Holy Ghost; and unto all other articles of our faith do they offer violence to corrupt them. The beginning of their transgression or apostacy is in a disbelief of the divine person of Christ. That being rejected, all other sacred truths are removed from their basis and centre; that which gives them their unity and harmony. Hereon they fluctuate up and down in the minds of men, and appearing unto them under various deceiving colours, are easily misapprehended or disbelieved. Yea, there can no direct proper representation 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 irreconcilable 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 one instance can be given of any who, from the original of Christian religion, rejected the divine person of Christ, and preserved any one evangelical truth besides, pure and uncorrupted. 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 believed in its relation unto Christ, on which account alone it conveys either light 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 an 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 evangelical truths, but know not Christ in them, whatever they profess, 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. CHAP. VII. POWER AND EFFICACY COMMUNICATED UNTO THE OFFICE OF CHRIST FOR THE SALVATION OF THE CHURCH FROM 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, gives 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 their 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 all 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, namely, of the epistle of Paul 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 meditation; 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. God gave of old both kings, priests, and prophets unto the church. He both anointed them unto their offices, directed them in their discharge, was present with them in their work, and accepted of their duties. Yet by none of them, nor by all of them together, was the church supernaturally enlightened, internally ruled, or eternally saved, nor could it so be. Some of them, as Moses in particular, had as much power, and as great a presence of God with him, as any mere man could be made partaker of. Yet was he not in his ministry the saviour of the church, nor could he be so any otherwise than typically and temporally. The ministry of them all was subservient unto that end, which by its own power it could not attain. It is evident, therefore, that the redemption and salvation of the church do not depend merely on this, that God hath given one to be the king, priest,and prophet of the church, by the actings of which offices it is redeemed and saved; but on the person of him who was so given unto us, as is fully attested, Isa. ix. 6, 7, 8. This must be declared. Two things were required in general unto the person of Christ, that his offices might be effectual unto the salvation of the church, and without them they could not so have been. And they are such as that their contrivance in the constitution of one and the same person, no created wisdom could reach un |