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CHRISTOLOGIA
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CHRISTOLOGIA
Or
A Declaration Of The Glorious Mystery Of The Person of Christ--God and Man:
With The Infinite Wisdom, Love, And Power Of God In The Contrivance And Constitution Thereof;
As Also, Of The Grounds And Reasons Of His Incarnation;
The Nature Of His Ministry In Heaven;
The Present State Of The Church Above Thereon;
And The Use Of His Person In Religion:
With An Account And Vindication Of The Honour, Worship, Faith, Love, And Obedience Due Unto Him, In And From The Church.
by
John Owen
CLICK FOR
CHAPTER 10
The Principle of the Assignation of Divine Honour unto the Person of Christ, in both the Branches of it; is Faith in Him.Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it.
CHAPTER 11
Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it.
CHAPTER 12
The Person of Christ the Great Repository of Sacred Truth
RETURN TO | Table Of Contents, Prefatory Note, The Preface |
| Chapters 1, 2, 3 | | Chapters 4, 5, 6 | | Chapters 7, 8, 9 |
GO TO | Chapters 13, 14, 15 | | Chapter 16 | | Chapters 17, 18 | | Chapters 19, 20 |
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ."
Philippians 3:8.
CHAPTER 10
The Principle of the Assignation of Divine Honour unto the Person of Christ, in both the Branches of it; is Faith in Him.

THE principle and spring of this assignation of divine honour unto Christ, in both the branches of it, is faith in him. And this has been the foundation of all acceptable religion in the world since the entrance of sin. There are some who deny that faith in Christ was required from the beginning, or was necessary unto the worship of God, or the justification and salvation of them that did obey him. For, whereas it must be granted that "without faith it is impossible to please God," which the apostle proves by instances from the foundation of the world, Heb. 11-- they suppose it is faith in God under the general notion of it, without any respect unto Christ, that is intended. It is not my design to contend with any, nor expressly to confute such ungrateful opinions--such pernicious errors. Such this is, which--being pursued in its proper tendency-- strikes at the very foundation of Christian religion; for it at once deprives us of all contribution of light and truth from the Old Testament. Somewhat I have spoken before of the faith of the saints of old concerning him. I shall now, therefore, only confirm the truth, by some principles which are fundamental in the faith of the Gospel.

  1. The first promise, Gen. 3: 15--truly called "Prooteuangelios"--was revealed, proposed, and given, as containing and expressing the only means of delivery from that apostasy from God, with all the effects of it, under which our first parents and all their posterity were cast by sin. The destruction of Satan and his work in his introduction of the state of sin, by a Saviour and Deliverer, was prepared and provided for in it. This is the very foundation of the faith of the church; and if it be denied, nothing of the economy or dispensation of God towards it from the beginning can be understood. The whole doctrine and story of the Old Testament must be rejected as useless, and no foundation be left in the truth of God for the introduction of the New.

  2. It was the person of Christ, his incarnation and mediation, that were promised under the name of the "seed of the woman," and the work he should do in breaking the head of the serpent, with the way whereby he should do it in suffering, by his power. The accomplishment hereof was in God's sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the fulness of time, made under the law, or by his manifestation in the flesh, to destroy the works of the devil. So is this promise interpreted, Gal. 3: 13; 4: 4; Heb. 2: 14-16; 1 John 3: 8. This cannot be denied but upon one of these two grounds:

    (1.) That nothing is intended in that divine revelation but only a natural enmity that is between mankind and serpents. But this is so foolish an imagination, that the Jews themselves, who constantly refer this place to the Messiah, are not guilty of. All the whole truth concerning God's displeasure on the sin of our first parents, with what concerneth the nature and consequence of that sin, is everted hereby. And whereas the foundation of all God's future dealing with them and their posterity is plainly expressed herein, it is turned into that which is ludicrous, and of very little concernment in human life. For such is the enmity between mankind and serpents--which not one in a million knows any thing of or is troubled with. This is but to lay the axe of atheism unto all religion built on divine revelation. Besides, on this supposition, there is in the words not the least intimation of any relief that God tendered unto our parents for their delivery from the state and condition whereinto they had cast themselves by their sin and apostasy. Wherefore they must be esteemed to be left absolutely under the curse, as the angels were that fell--which is to root all religion out of the world. For amongst them who are absolutely under the curse, without any remedy, there can be no more than is in hell. Or,

    (2.) It must be, because some other way of deliverance and salvation, and not that by Christ, is here proposed and promised. But, whereas they were to be wrought by the "seed of the woman" if this were not that Christ in whom we do believe, there was another promised, and he is to be rejected. And this is fairly at once to blot out the whole Scripture as a fable; for there is not a line of doctrinal truth in it but what depends on the traduction of Christ from this first promise.

  3. This promise was confirmed, and the way of the deliverance of the church by virtue of it declared, in the institution of expiatory sacrifices. God in them and by them declared from the beginning, that "without shedding of blood there was no remission;" that atonement for sin was to be made by substitution and satisfaction. With respect unto them, the Lord Christ was called "The Lamb of God," even as he took away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of himself, John 1: 29. For we "were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," 1 Pet. 1: 19. Wherein the Holy Spirit refers unto the institution and nature of sacrifices from the beginning. And he is thence represented in heaven as a "Lamb that had been slain," Rev. 5:6--the glory of heaven arising from the fruits and effects of his sacrifice. And because of the representation thereof in all the former sacrifices, is he said to be a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," Rev. 13:8. And it is strange to me that any who deny not the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, should doubt whether the original of these sacrifices were of divine institution or the invention of men. And it is so, amongst others, for the reasons ensuing:

    (1.) On the supposition that they were of men's finding out and voluntary observation, without any previous divine revelation, it must be granted that the foundation of all acceptable religion in the world was laid in, and resolved into, the wisdom and wills of men, and not into the wisdom, authority, and will of God. For that the great solemnity of religion, which was as the centre and testimony of all its other duties, did consist in these sacrifices even before the giving of the law, will not be denied. And in the giving of the law, God did not, on this supposition, confirm and establish his own institutions with additions unto them of the same kind, but set his seal and approbation unto the inventions of men. But this is contrary unto natural light, and the whole current of Scripture revelations.

    (2.) All expiatory sacrifices were, from the beginning, types and representations of the sacrifice of Christ; whereon all their use, efficacy, and benefit among men--all their acceptance with God--did depend. Remove this consideration from them, and they were as irrational a service, as unbecoming the divine nature, as any thing that reasonable creatures could fix upon. They are to this day as reasonable a service as ever they were, but that only their respect unto thee sacrifice of Christ is taken from them. And what person of any ordinary understanding could now suppose them a meet service whereby to glorify the divine nature? Besides, all expiatory sacrifices were of the same nature, and of the same use, both before and after the giving of the law. But that all those afterwards were typical of the sacrifice of Christ, the apostle demonstrates at large in his Epistle unto the Hebrews. The inquiry, therefore, is, whether this blessed prefiguration of the Lord Christ and his sacrifice, as he was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, was an effect of the wisdom, goodness, and will of God, or of the wills and inventions of men. And let it be considered, also, that these men, who are supposed to be the authors of this wonderful representation of the Lord Christ and his sacrifice, did indeed know little of them--or, as the assertors of this opinion imagine, nothing at all. To suppose that those who knew no more of Christ than they could learn from the first promise which, as some think, was nothing at all-- should of their own heads find out and appoint this divine service, which consisted only in the prefiguration of him and his sacrifice; and that God should not only approve of it, but allow it as the principal means for the establishment and exercise of the faith of all believers for four thousand years; is to indulge unto thoughts deviating from all rules of sobriety. He that sees not a divine wisdom in this institution, has scarce seriously exercised his thoughts about it. But I have elsewhere considered the causes and original of these sacrifices, and shall not therefore farther insist upon them.

  4. Our first parents and all their holy posterity did believe this promises or did embrace it as the only way and means of their deliverance from the curse and state of sin; and were thereon justified before God. I confess we have not infallible assurance of any who did so in particular, but those who are mentioned by name in Scripture, as Abel, Enoch, Noah, and some others; but to question it concerning others also, as of our first parents themselves, is foolish and impious. This is done by the Socinians to promote another design, namely, that none were justified before God on the belief of the first promise, but on their walking according to the light of nature, and their obedience unto some especial revelations about temporal things-- the vanity whereof has been before discovered. Wherefore, our first parents and their posterity did so believe the first promise, or they must be supposed either to have been kept under the curse, or else to have had, and to make use of, some other way of deliverance from it. To imagine the first is impious--for the apostle affirms that they had this testimony, that they pleased God, Heb. 11: 5; which under the curse none can do--for that is God's displeasure. And in the same place he confirms their faith, and justification thereon, with a "cloud of witnesses," chap. 12: 1. To affirm the latter is groundless; and it includes a supposal of the relinquishment of the wisdom, grace, and authority of God in that divine revelation, for men to retake themselves to none knows what. For that there was in this promise the way expressed which God in his wisdom and grace had provided for their deliverance, we have proved before. To forsake this way, and to retake themselves unto any other, whereof he had made no mention or revelation unto them, was to reject his authority and grace.

    As for those who are otherwise minded, it is incumbent on them directly to prove these three things

    (1.) That there is another way--that there are other means for the justification and salvation of sinners--than that revealed, declared, and proposed in that first promise. And when this is done, they must show to what end--on that supposition--the promise itself was given, seeing the end of it is evacuated.

    (2.) That upon a supposition that God had revealed in the promise the way and means of our deliverance from the cures and state of sin, it was lawful unto men to forsake it, and to retake themselves unto another way, without any supernatural revelation for their guidance. For if it was not, their relinquishment of the promise was no less apostasy from God in the revelation of himself in a way of grace, than the first sin was as to the revelation of himself in the works of nature: only, the one revelation wag by inbred principles, the other by external declaration; nor could it otherwise be. Or,

    (3.) That there was some other way of the participation of the benefit of this promise, besides faith in its or in him who was promised therein; seeing the apostle has declared that no promise will profit them by whom it is not mixed with faith, Heb. 4: 2. Unless these things are plainly proved--which they will never be--whatever men declaim about universal objective grace in the documents of nature, it is but a vain imagination.

  5. The declaration of this promise, before the giving of the law, with the nature and ends of it, as also the use of sacrifices, whereby it was confirmed, was committed unto the ordinary ministry of our first parents and their godly posterity, and the extraordinary ministry of the prophets which God raised up among them. For God spake of our redemption by Christ by the mouth of his holy prophets from the beginning of the world, Luke 1: 70. No greater duty could be incumbent on them, by the light of nature and the express revelation of the will of God, than that they should, in their several capacities, communicate the knowledge of this promise unto all in whom they were concerned. To suppose that our first parents, who received this promise, and those unto whom they first declared it, looking on it as the only foundation of their acceptance with God and deliverance from the curse, were negligent in the declaration and preaching of it, is to render them brutish, and guilty of a second apostasy from God. And unto this principle--which is founded in the light of nature there is countenance given by revelation also. For Epoch did prophesy of the things which were to accompany the accomplishment of this promise, Jude 14; and Noah was a preacher of the righteousness to be brought in by it, 2 Peter 2: 5--as he was an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, in himself, Heb. 11: 7.

  6. All the promises that God gave afterwards unto the church under the Old Testament, before and after giving the law--all the covenants that he entered into with particular persons, or the whole congregation of believers--were all of them declarations and confirmations of the first promise, or the way of salvation by the mediation of his Son, becoming the seed of the woman, to break the head of the serpent, and to work out the deliverance of mankind. As most of these promises were expressly concerning him, so all of them in the counsel of God were confirmed in him, 2 Cor. 1: 20. And as there are depths in the Scripture of the Old Testament concerning him which we cannot fathom, and things innumerable spoken of him or in his person which we conceive not, so the principal design of the whole is the declaration of him and his grace. And it is unprofitable unto them who are otherwise minded. Sundry promises concerning temporal things were, on various occasions, super added unto this great spiritual promise of life and grace. And the enemies of the person and mediation of Christ do contend that men are justified by their faith and obedience with respect unto those particular revelations, which were only concerning temporal things But to suppose that all those revelations and promises were not built upon and resolved into, did not include in them, the grace and mercy of this first promise--is to make them curses instead of blessings, and deprivations of that grace which was infinitely better than what, on this supposition, was contained in them. The truth is, they were all additions unto it, and confirmations of it; nor had any thing of spiritual good in them, but upon a supposition of it. In some of them there was an ampliation of grace in the more full declaration of the nature of this promise, as well as an application unto their persons unto whom they were made. Such was the promise made unto Abraham, which had a direct respect unto Christ, as the apostle proveth, Gal. 3 and 4.

  7. Those who voluntarily, through the contempt of God and divine grace, fell off from the knowledge and faith of this promise, whether at once and by choice, or gradually through the love of sin, were in no better condition than those have been, or would be, who have so fallen off or should so apostatize from Christian religion after its revelation and profession. And although this proved, in process of time, both before and after the flood, to be the condition of the generality of mankind, yet is it in vain to seek after the means of salvation among them who had voluntarily rejected the only way which God had revealed and provided for that end. God thereon "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways," Acts 14: 1 "winking at the times of their ignorance"--not calling them to repentance, chap. 17: 30; yea, he "gave them up unto their own hearts lust, and they walked in their own counsels," Ps. 81: 12. And nothing can be more derogatory unto the wisdom and holiness of God, than to imagine that he would grant other ways of salvation unto them who had rejected that only one which he had provided; which was by faith in Christ, as revealed in that first promise.

  8. From these considerations, which are all of them unquestionable principles of truth, two things are evident.

    (1.) That there was no way of the justification and salvation of sinners revealed and proposed from the foundation of the world, but only by Jesus Christ, as declared in the first promise.

    (2.) That there was no way for the participation of the benefits of that promise, or of his work of mediation, but by faith in him as so promised. There was, therefore, faith in him required from the foundation of the world; that is, from the entrance of sin. And how this faith respected his person has been before declared. Now, faith in him as promised for the works and ends of his mediation, and faith in him as actually exhibited and as having accomplished his work, are essentially the same, and differ only with respect unto the economy of times, which God disposed at his pleasure. Hence the efficacy of his mediation was the same unto them who then so believed, as it is now unto us after his actual exhibition in the flesh.
But yet it is acknowledged, that--as unto the clearness and fulness of the revelation of the mystery of the wisdom and grace of God in him- -as unto the constitution of his person in his incarnation, and therein the determination of the individual person promised from the beginning, through the actual accomplishment of the work which he was promised for--faith in him, as the foundation of that divine honour which it is our duty to give unto him, is far more evidently and manifestly revealed and required in the gospel, or under the New Testament, than it was under the Old. See Eph. 3: 8-11. The respect of faith now unto Christ is that which renders it truly evangelical. To believe in him, to believe on his name, is that signal especial duty which is now required of us.

Wherefore the ground of the actual assignation of divine honour unto the person of Christ, in both branches of it, adoration and invocation, is faith in him. So he said unto the blind man whose eyes he opened, "Believest thou on the Son of God?" John 9: 35. And he said, "Lord, I believe; and he worshipped him," verse 38. All divine worship or adoration is a consequent effect and fruit of faith. So also is invocation; for "How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?" Rom. 10: 14. Him in whom we believe, we ought to adore and invocate. For these are the principal ways whereby divine faith does act itself And so to adore or invocate any in whom we ought not to believe, is idolatry.

This faith, therefore, on the person of Christ is our duty; yea, such a duty it is, as that our eternal condition does more peculiarly depend on the performance or nonperformance of it than on any other duty whatever. For constantly under those terms is it prescribed unto us. "He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him," John 3: 36. Wherefore the nature and exercise of this faith must be inquired into.

There is a faith which is exercised towards those by whom the mind and will of God is revealed. So it is said of the Israelites, "They believed the Lord and Moses," Exod. 14: 31; that is, that he was sent of God, was no deceiver--that it was the word and will of God which he revealed unto them. So 2 Chron. 20: 20, "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." It was not the persons of the prophets, but their message, that was the object of the faith required. It was to believe what they said, as from God--not to believe in them as if they were God. So it is explained by the apostle, Acts 26: 27, "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest." He believed that they were sent of God, and that the word they spake was from him; otherwise there was no believing of them who were dead so many ages before.

And this is all the faith in Christ himself which some will allow. To believe in Christ, they say, is only to believe the doctrine of the gospel revealed by him. Hence they deny that any could believe in him before his coming into the world, and the declaration of the mind of God in the gospel made by him. An assent unto the truth of the gospel, as revealed by Christ, is with them the whole of that faith in Christ Jesus which is required of us.

Of all that poison which at this day is diffused in the minds of men, corrupting them from the mystery of the Gospel, there is no part that is more pernicious than this one perverse imagination, that to believe in Christ is nothing at all but to believe the doctrine of the gospel; which yet, we grant, is included therein. For as it allows the consideration of no office in him but that of a prophet, and that not as vested and exercised in his divine person, so it utterly overthrows the whole foundation of the relation of the church unto him, and salvation by him.

That which suits my present design, is to evince that it is the person of Christ which is the first and principal object of that faith wherewith we are required to believe in him; and that so to do, is not only to assent unto the truth of the doctrine reverted by him, but also to place our trust and confidence in him for mercy, relief, and protection--for righteousness, life, and salvation--for a blessed resurrection and eternal reward. This I shall first manifest from some few of those multiplied testimonies wherein this truth is declared, and whereby it is confirmed as also with some arguments taken from them; and then proceed to declare the ground, nature, and exercise of this faith itself.

As unto the testimonies confirming this truth, it must be observed of them all in general, that wherever faith is required towards our Lord Jesus Christ, it is still called believing "in him," or "on his name," according as faith in God absolutely is every where expressed. If no more be intended but only the belief of the doctrine revealed by him, then whose doctrine soever we are obliged to believe, we may be rightly said to believe in them, or to believe on their name. For instance, we are obliged to believe the doctrine of Paul the apostle, the revelations made by him, and that on the hazard of our eternal welfare by the unbelieving of them; yet that we should be said to believe in Paul, is that which he did utterly detest, 1 Cor. 1: 13, 15.

For the places themselves the reader may consult, among others John 1: 12; 3: 16,18,36; 6: 29, 35, 41; 7: 38, 39; Acts 14: 23; 16: 31; 19: 4; 24: 24; 26: 18; Rom. 3: 26; 9: 33; 10: 11; 1 Peter 2: 6; 1 John 5: 10, 13. There is not one of these but sufficiently confirms the truth. Some few others not named may be briefly insisted on.

John 14: 1, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." The distinction made between God and him limits the name of God unto the person of the Father. Faith is required in them both, and that distinctly: "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." And it is the same faith, of the same kind, to be exercised in the same way and manner, that is required; as is plain in the words. They will not admit of a double faith, of one faith in God, and of another in Christ, or of a distinct way of their exercise.

Wherefore, as faith divine is fixed on, and terminated in, the person of the Father; so is it likewise distinctly in and on the person of the Son: and it was to evidence his divine nature unto theme which is the ground and reason of their faith--that he gave his command unto his disciples. This he farther testifies, verses 9-11. And as unto the exercise of this faith, it respected the relief of their souls, under troubles, fears, and disconsolations: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." To believe in him unto the relief of our souls against troubles, is not to assent merely unto the doctrine of the gospel, but also to place our trust and confidence in him, for such supplies of grace, for such an exercise of the acts of divine power, as whereby we may be supported and delivered. And we have herein the whole of what we plead. Divine faith acted distinctly in, and terminated on, the person of Christ--and that with respect unto supplies of grace and mercy from him in a way of divine power.

So he speaks unto Martha, John 11: 25-27, "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?" Whereunto she answers "Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God." His person was the object of her faith; and her belief in him comprised a trust for all spiritual and eternal mercies.

I Shall add one more, wherein not only the thing itself, but the especial ground and reason of it, is declared, Gal. 2: 20--"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." That faith he asserts which is the cause of our spiritual life--that life unto God which we lead in the flesh, or whilst we are in the body, not yet admitted unto sight and enjoyment. Of this faith the Son of God is both the author and the object; the latter whereof is here principally intended. And this is evident from the reason and motive of it, which are expressed. This faith I live by, am in the continual exercise of, because he "loved me, and gave himself for me." For this is that which does powerfully influence our hearts to fix our faith in him and on him. And that person who so loved us is the same in whom we do believe. If his person was the seat of his own love, it is the object of our faith And this faith is not only our duty, but our life. He that has it not, is dead in the sight of God.

But I hope it is not yet necessary to multiply testimonies to prove it our duty to believe in Jesus Christ--that is, to believe in the person of the Son of God, for other faith in Christ there is none; yet I shall add one or two considerations in the confirmation of it.

1st, There is no more necessary hereunto--namely, to prove the person of Christ the Son of God to be the proper and distinct object of faith divine--than what we have already demonstrated concerning the solemn invocation of him. For, saith the apostle, "How they call on him in whom they have not believed" Rom. 10: 14. It holds on either side. We cannot, we ought not, to call on him in whom we do not, we ought not to believe. And in whom we do believe, on him we ought to call. Wherefore, if it be our duty to call on the name of Christ, it is our duty to believe in the person of Christ. And if to believe in Christ be no more but to believe the doctrine of the Gospel which he has revealed, then every one whose doctrine we are obliged to believe, on them we ought to call also. And on this ground, we may call on the names of the prophets and apostles, as well as on the name of Jesus Christ, and be saved thereby. But whereas invocation or prayer proceedeth from faith, and that prayer is for mercy, grace, life, and eternal salvation; faith must be fixed on the person so called on, as able to give them all unto us, or that prayer is in vain.

2dly, Again, that we are baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, and that distinctly with the Father, is a sufficient evidence of the necessity of faith in his person; for we are therein given up unto universal spiritual subjection of soul unto him, and dependence on him. Not to believe in him, on his name--that is, his person--when we are so given up unto him, or baptized into him, is virtually to renounce him. But to put a present close unto this contest: Faith in Christ is that grace whereby the church is united unto him-- incorporated into one mystical body with him. It is thereby that he dwells in them, and they in him. By this alone are all supplies of grace derived from him unto the whole body. Deny his person to be the proper and immediate object of this faith, and all these things are utterly overthrown--that is, the whole spiritual life and eternal salvation of the church.

This faith in the person of Christ, which is the foundation of all that divine honour in sacred adoration and invocation which is assigned unto him, may be considered two ways.

First, as it respects his person absolutely; Secondly, As he is considered in the discharge of the office of mediation. First, In the first sense, faith is placed absolutely and ultimately on the person of Christ, even as on the person of the Father. He counts it no robbery herein to be equal with the Father. And the reason hereof is, because the divine nature itself is the proper and immediate object of this faith, and all the acts of it. This being one and the same in the person of the Father and of the Son, as also of the Holy Spirit, two things do follow thereon.

  1. That each person is equally the object of our faith, because equally participant of that nature which is the formal reason and object of it.

  2. It follows also, that in acting faith on, and ascribing therewithal divine honour unto, any one person, the others are not excluded; yea, they are included therein. For by reason of the mutual inbeing of the Divine persons in the unity of the same nature, the object of all spiritual worship is undivided. Hence are those expressions of the Scriptures, "He that has seen the Son, has seen the Father; he that honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father, for he and the Father are one." And to clear our present design, three things may be observed from hence; namely, that the divine nature, with all its essential properties, is the formal reason and only ground of divine faith 1st, That the Lord Christ is not the absolute and ultimate object of our faith, any otherwise but under this consideration, of his being partaker of the nature of God--of his being in the form of God, and equal unto him. Without this, to place our faith in him would be robbery and sacrilege; as is all the pretended faith of them who believe not his divine person.
2dly, There is no derogation from the honour and glory of the Father- -not the least diversion of any one signal act of duty from him, nor from the Holy Spirit--by the especial acting of faith on the person of Christ; for all divine honour is given solely unto the divine nature: and this being absolutely the same in each person, in the honouring of one, they are all equally honoured. He that honoureth the Son, he therein honoureth the Father also.

3dly, Hence it appears what is that especial acting of faith on the person of Christ which we intend, and which in the Scripture is given in charge unto us, as indispensably necessary unto our salvation. And there are three things to be considered in it.

(1st,) That his divine nature is the proper formal object of this faith, on the consideration whereof alone it is fixed on him. If you ask a reason why I believe on the Son of God--if you intend what cause I have for it, what motives unto it--I shall answer, It is because of what he has done for me, whereof afterwards. So does the apostle, Gal. 2: 20. But if you intend, what is the formal reason, ground, and warranty whereon I thus believe in him, or place my trust and confidence in him, I say it is only this, that he is "over all, God blessed for ever;" and were he not so, I could not believe in him. For to believe in any, is to expect from him that to be done for me which none but God can do.

(2dly,) That the entire person of Christ, as God and man, is the immediate object of our faith herein. The divine nature is the reason of it; but his divine person is the object of it. In placing our faith on him, we consider him as God and man in one and the same person. We believe in him because he is God; but we believe in him as he is God and man in one person. And this consideration of the person of Christ--namely, as he is God and man--in our acting of faith on him, is that which renders it peculiar, and limits or determines it unto his person, because he only is so;--the Father is not, nor the Holy Spirit. That faith which has the person of God and man for its object, is peculiarly and distinctly placed on Christ.

(3dly,) The motives unto this distinct acting of faith on his person are always to be considered as those also which render this faith peculiar. For the things which Christ has done for us, which are the motives of our faith in him, were peculiar unto him alone; as in the place before quoted, Gal. 2: 20. Such are all the works of his mediation, with all the fruits of them, whereof we are made partakers. So God, in the first command, wherein he requires all faith, love, and obedience from the church, enforced it with the consideration of a signal benefit which it had received, and therein a type of all spiritual and eternal mercies, Exod. 20: 2, 3. Hence two things are evident, which clearly state this matter.

[1st,] That faith which we place upon and the honour which we give thereby unto the person of Christ, is equally placed on and honour equally given thereby unto the other persons of the Father and the Holy Spirit, with respect unto that nature which is the formal reason and cause of it. But it is peculiarly fixed on Christ, with respect unto his person as God and man, and the motives unto it, in the acts and benefits of his mediation.

[2dly,] All of Christ is considered and glorified in this acting of faith on him;--his divine nature, as the formal cause of it; his divine entire person, God and man, as its proper object; and the benefits of his mediation, as the especial motives thereunto.
This faith in the person of Christ is the spring and fountain of our spiritual life. We live by the faith of the Son of God. In and by the actings hereof is it preserved, increased, and strengthened. "For he is our life," Col. 3: 4; and all supplies of it are derived from him, by the acting of faith in him. We receive the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, "by the faith that is in him," Acts 26: 18. Hereby do we abide in him; without which we can do nothing, John 15: 5. Hereby is our peace with God maintained--"For he is our peace," Eph 2: 14; and in him we have peace, according to his promise, John 16: 33. All strength for the mortification of sin, for the conquest of temptations--all our increase and growth in grace depend on the constant actings of this faith in him.

The way and method of this faith is that which we have described. A due apprehension of the love of Christ, with the effects of it in his whole mediatory work on our behalf--especially in his giving himself for us, and our redemption by his blood--is the great motive thereunto. They whose hearts are not deeply affected herewith, can never believe in him in a due manner. "I live," saith the apostle, "by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Unless a sense hereof be firmly implanted in our souls, unless we are deeply affected with it, our faith in him would be weak and wavering, or rather none at all. The due remembrance of what the blessed Lord Jesus has done for us, of the ineffable love which was the spring, cause, and fountain of what he so did--thoughts of the mercy, grace, peace, and glory which he has procured thereby are the great and unconquerable motives to fix our faith, hope, trust, and confidence in him.

His divine nature is the ground and warranty for our so doing. This is that from whence he is the due and proper object of all divine faith and worship. From the power and virtue thereof do we expect and receive all those things which in our believing on him we seek after; for none but God can bestow them on us, or work them in us. There is in all the acting of our faith on him, the voice of the confession of Thomas, "My Lord and my God."

His divine person, wherein he is God and man, wherein he has that nature which is the formal object of divine worship, and wherein he wrought all those things which are the motives thereunto, is the object of this faith; which gives its difference and distinction from faith in God in general, and faith in the person of the Father, as the fountain of grace, love, and power.

Secondly, Faith is acted on Christ under the formal notion of mediator between God and man. So it is expressed, 1 Peter 1: 21, "Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." And this acting of faith towards Christ is not contrary unto that before described, nor inconsistent with it, though it be distinct from it. To deny the person of Christ to fall under this double consideration--of a divine person absolutely, wherein he is "over all, God blessed for ever," and, as manifested in the flesh, exercising the office of mediator between God and man--is to renounce the gospel. And according unto the variety of these respects, so are the acting of faith various; some on him absolutely, on the motives of his mediation; Some on him as mediator only. And how necessary this variety is unto the life, supportment, and comfort of believers, they all know in some measure who are so. See our exposition on Heb. 1: 1-3. Sometimes faith considers him as on the throne; sometimes as standing at the right hand of God; sometimes as the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Sometimes his glorious power, sometimes his infinite condescension, is their relief.

Wherefore, in the sense now intended, he is considered as the ordinance, as the servant of God, "who raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory." So our faith respects not only his person, but all the acts of his office. It is faith in his blood, Rom. 3: 25. It is the will of God, that we should place our faith and trust in him and them, as the only means of our acceptance with him--of all grace and glory from him. This is the proper notion of a mediator. So is he not the ultimate object of our faith, wherein it rests, but God through him. "Through him have we access by one Spirit unto the Father," Eph. 2: 18. So he is the way whereby we go to God, John 14: 6; see Heb. 10: 19-22. And this so is faith in him; because he is the immediate, though not the ultimate, object of it, Acts 26: 18.

This is that which renders our faith in God evangelical. The especial nature of it ariseth from our respect unto God in Christ, and through him. And herein faith principally regards Christ in the discharge of his sacerdotal office. For although it is also the principle of all obedience unto him in his other offices, yet as unto fixing our faith in God through him, it is his sacerdotal office and the effects of it that we rest upon and trust unto. It is through him as the high priest over the house of God, as he who has made for us a new and living way into the holy place, that we draw nigh to God, Heb. 4: 14-16, 10: 19-22; 1 John 1: 3.
,br> No comfortable, refreshing thoughts of God, no warrantable or acceptable boldness in an approach and access unto him, can any one entertain or receive, but in this exercise of faith on Christ as the mediator between God and man. And if, in the practice of religion, this regard of faith unto him--this acting of faith on God through him- -be not the principle whereby the whole is animated and guided, Christianity is renounced, and the vain cloud of natural religion embraced in the room of it. Not a verbal mention of Him, but the real intention of heart to come unto God by him, is required of us; and thereinto all expectation of acceptance with God, as unto our persons or duties, is resolved.

We have had great endeavours of late, by the Socinians, to set forth and adorn a natural religion; as if it were sufficient unto all ends of our living unto God. But as most of its pretended ornaments are stolen from the gospel, or are framed in an emanation of light from it, such as nature of itself could not rise unto; so the whole proceeds from a dislike of the mediation of Christ, and even weariness of the profession of faith in him. So is it with the minds of men who were never affected with supernatural revelations, with the mystery of the gospel, beyond the owning of some notions of truth--who never had experience of its power in the life of God.

But here lies the trial of faith truly evangelical Its steady beholding of the Sun of Righteousness proves it genuine and from above. And let them take heed who find their heart remiss or cold in this exercise of it. When men begin to satisfy themselves with general hopes of mercy in God, without a continual respect unto the interposition and mediation of Christ, whereinto their hope and trust is resolved, there is a decay in their faith, and proportionally in all other evangelical graces also. Herein lies the mystery of Christian religion, which the world seems to be almost weary of.


CHAPTER 11
Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it.

All holy obedience, both internal and external is that which we proposed as the second part of our religious regard unto the person of Christ. His great injunction unto his disciples is, "That they keep his commandments"--without which, none are so.

Some say the Lord Christ is to be considered as a lawgiver, and the gospel as a new law given by him, whereby our obedience unto him is to be regulated. Some absolutely deny it, and will not grant the gospel in any sense to be a new law. And many dispute about these things, whilst obedience itself is on all hands generally neglected. But this is that wherein our principal concernment does lie. I shall not, therefore, at present, immix myself in any needless disputations. Those things wherein the nature and necessity of our obedience unto him is concerned, shall be briefly declared.

The law under the Old Testament, taken generally, had two parts,-- first, the moral preceptive part of it; and, secondly, the institutions of worship appointed for that season. These are jointly and distinctly called the law.

Firstly, In respect unto the first of these, the Lord Christ gave no new law, nor was the old abrogated by him--which it must be if another were given in the room of it, unto the same ends. For the introduction of a new law in the place of and unto the end of a former, is an actual abrogation of it. Neither did he add any new precepts unto it, nor give any counsels for the performance of duties in matter or manner beyond what it prescribed. Any such supposition is contrary to the wisdom and holiness of God in giving the law, and inconsistent with the nature of the law itself. For God never required less of us in the law than all that was due unto him; and his prescription of it included all circumstances and causes that might render any duty at any time necessary in the nature or degree of it. Whatever at any time may become the duty of any person towards God, in the substance or degrees of it, it is made so by the law. All is included in that summary of it, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself". Nothing can be the duty of men but what and when it is required by the love of God or our neighbour. Wherefore, no additions were made unto the preceptive part of the law by our Saviour, nor counsels given by him for the performance of more than it did require.

In this regard the Gospel is no new law;--only the duties of the moral and eternal law are plainly declared in the doctrine of it, enforced in its motives, and directed as to their manner and end. Nor in this sense did the Lord Christ ever declare himself to be a new lawgiver; yea, he declares the contrary--that he came to confirm the old, Matt. 5: 17.

Secondly, The law may be considered as containing the institutions of worship which were given in Horeb by Moses, with other statutes and judgments. It was in this sense abolished by Christ. For the things themselves were appointed but unto the time of reformation. And thereon, as the supreme Lord and lawgiver of the Gospel Church, he gave a new law of worship, consisting in several institutions and ordinances of worship thereunto belonging. See Heb. 3: 3-6, and our explanation of that place.

Obedience unto the Lord Christ may be considered with respect unto both these;--the moral law which he confirmed, and the law of evangelical worship which he gave and appointed. And some few things may be added to clear the nature of it.

  1. Obedience unto Christ does not consist merely in doing the things which he requireth. So far the church under the Old Testament was obliged to yield obedience unto Moses; and we are yet so unto the prophets and apostles This is done, or may be so, with respect unto any subordinate directive cause of our obedience, when it is not formally so denominated from his authority. All obedience unto Christ proceeds from an express subjection of our souls and consciences unto him.

  2. No religious obedience could be due unto the Lord Christ directly, by the rule and command of the moral law, were he not God by nature also. The reason and foundation of all the obedience required therein is, "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me." This contains the formal reason of our religious obedience. The Socinians pretend highly unto obedience to the precepts of Christ; but all obedience unto Christ himself they utterly overthrow. The obedience they pretend unto him, is but obeying God the Father according to his commands; but they take away the foundation of all obedience unto his person, by denying his divine nature. And all religious obedience unto any who is not God by nature, is idolatry. Wherefore, all obedience unto God, due by the moral law, has respect unto the person of Christ, as one God with the Father and Holy Spirit, blessed for ever.

  3. There is a peculiar respect unto him in all moral obedience as Mediator.

    (1.) In that by the supreme authority over the church wherewith he was vested, he has confirmed all the commands of the moral law, giving them new enforcements; whence he calls them his commands. "This," saith he, "is my commandment, That ye love one another;" which yet was the old commandment of the moral law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Hence the apostle calls it an old and new commandment, 1 John 2: 7, 8.

    This law was given unto the church under the Old Testament in the hand of a mediator; that is, of Moses, Gal. 3: 19. It had an original power of obliging all mankind unto obedience, from its first institution or prescription in our creation; which it never lost nor abated in. Howbeit the church was obliged to have a respect unto it, as it was given unto them, "ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." See Mal. 4: 4. Hereon many things hard and difficult did ensue, which we are now freed from. We are not obliged unto the observance of the moral law itself, as given in the hand of that mediator, which gave it the formal reason of a covenant unto that people, and had other statutes and judgments inseparable from it. But the same law continueth still in its original authority and power, which it had from the beginning, to oblige all indispensably unto obedience.

    Howbeit, as the Church of Israel, as such, was not obliged unto obedience unto the moral law absolutely considered, but as it was given unto them peculiarly in the hand of a mediator--that is, of Moses; no more is the Evangelical Church, as such, obliged by the original authority of that law, but as it is confirmed unto us in the hand of our Mediator. This renders all our moral obedience evangelical. For there is no duty of it, but we are obliged to perform it in faith through Christ, on the motives of the love of God in him, of the benefits of his mediation, and the grace we receive by him: whatever is otherwise done by us is not acceptable unto God.

    They do, therefore, for the most part, but deceive themselves and others, who talk so loudly about moral duties. I know of none that are acceptable unto God, which are not only materially, but formally so, and no more.

    If the obligation they own unto them be only the original power of the moral law, or the law of our creation, and they are performed in the strength of that law unto the end of it, they are no way accepted of God. But if they intend the duties which the moral law requireth, proceeding from, and performed by, faith in Christ, upon the grounds of the love of God in him, and grace received from him--then are they duties purely evangelical. And although the law has never lost, nor ever can lose, its original power of obliging us unto universal obedience, as we are reasonable creatures; yet is our obedience unto it as Christians, as believers, immediately influenced by its confirmation unto the Evangelical church in the hand of our Mediator. For,

    (2.) God has given unto the Lord Christ all power in his name, to require this obedience from all that receive the Gospel. Others are left under the original authority of the Law, either as implanted in our natures at their first creation, as are the Gentiles; or as delivered by Moses, and written in tables of stone, as it was with the Jews, Rom. 2: 12-15. But as unto them that are called unto the faith of the Gospel, the authority of Christ does immediately affect their minds and consciences. "He feeds" or rules his people "in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God," Micah 5: 4. All the authority and majesty of God is in him and with him;--so of old, as the great Angel of God's presence, he was in the church in the wilderness with a delegated power, Exod. 23: 20-22: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared: beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak," &c. The name of God the Father is so in him- -that is, he is so partaker of the same nature with him--that his voice is the voice of the Father: "If thou obey his voice, and do all that I speak". Nevertheless, he acts herein as the Angel of God, with power and authority delegated from him. So is he still immediately present with the church, requiring obedience in the name and majesty of God.

    (3.) All judgment upon and concerning this obedience is committed unto him by the Father: "For the Father judgeth no man," (that is, immediately as the Father,) "but has committed all judgment unto the Son," John 5: 22; He "has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man," verse 27. And his judgment is the judgment of God; for the Father, who judgeth none immediately in his own person, judgeth all in him, 1 Peter 1: 17: "If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work." He does so in and by the Son, unto whom all judgment is committed. And unto him are we to have regard in all our obedience, unto whom we must give our account concerning it, and by whom we are and must be finally judged upon it. To this purpose speaks the apostle, Rom. 14: 10-12, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall conferee to God. So then every one of us shall glee account of himself to God." He proveth that we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, or be judged by him, by a testimony of Scripture that we shall be also judged by God himself, and give an account of ourselves unto him. And as this does undeniably prove and confirm the divine nature of Christ, without the faith whereof there is neither cogency in the apostle's testimony nor force in his arguing; so he declares that God judgeth us only in and by him. In this regard of our moral obedience unto Christ lies the way whereby God will be gloried.
Secondly, All things are yet more plain with respect unto institutions of divine worship. The appointment of all divine ordinances under the New Testament was his especial province and work, as the Son and Lord over his own house; and obedience unto him in the observance of them is that which he gives in especial charge unto all his disciples, Matt. 28: 18-20 And it is nothing but a loss of that subjection of soul and conscience unto him which is indispensably required of all believers, that has set the minds of so many at liberty to do and observe in divine worship what they please, without any regard unto his institutions. It is otherwise with respect unto moral duties; for the things of the moral law have an obligation on our consciences antecedent unto the enforcement of them by the authority of Christ, and there hold us fast. But as unto things of the latter sort, our consciences can no way be affected with a sense of them, or a necessity of obedience in them, but by the sole and immediate authority of Christ himself. If a sense hereof be lost in our minds, we shall not abide in the observance of his commands.


CHAPTER 12
The especial Principle of Obedience unto the Person of Christ; which is Love--Its Truth and Reality Vindicated.

THAT which does enliven and animate the obedience whereof we have discoursed, is love. This himself makes the foundation of all that is acceptable unto him. "If," saith he, "ye love me, keep my commandments," John 14: 15. As he distinguisheth between love and obedience, so he asserts the former as the foundation of the latter. He accepts of no obedience unto his commands that does not proceed from love unto his person. That is no love which is not fruitful in obedience; and that is no obedience which proceeds not from love. So he expresseth on both sides: "If a man love me, he will keep my words;" and, "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings," Verses 23, 24.

In the Old Testament the love of God was the life and substance of all obedience. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, thy mind and strength," was the sum of the law. This includes in it all obedience, and, where it is genuine, will produce all the fruits of it; and where it was not, no multiplication of duties was accepted with him. But this in general we do not now treat of.

That the person of Christ is the especial object of this divine love, which is the fire that kindles the sacrifice of our obedience unto him- -his is that alone which at present I design to demonstrate.

The apostle has recorded a very severe denunciation of divine wrath against all that love him not: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha," 1 Cor. 16: 22. And what was added unto the curse of the Law we may add unto this of the Gospel: "And all the people shall say, Amen," Dent. 27: 26. And, on the other hand, he prays for grace on all that "love him in sincerity," Eph 6: 24. Wherefore, none who desire to retain the name of Christian, can deny, in words at least, but that we ought, with all our hearts, to love the Lord Jesus Christ.

I do not so distinguish love from obedience as though it were not itself a part, yea, the chiefest part, of our obedience. So is faith also; yet is it constantly distinguished from obedience, properly so called. This alone is that which I shall demonstrate--namely, that there is, and ought to be, in all believers, a divine, gracious love unto the person of Christ, immediately fixed on him, whereby they are excited unto, and acted in, all their obedience unto his authority. Had it been only pleaded, that many who pretend love unto Christ do yet evidence that they love him not, it is that which the Scripture testifieth, and continual experience does proclaim. If an application of this charge had been made unto them whose sincerity in their profession of love unto him can be no way evidenced, it ought to be borne with patience, amongst other reproaches of the same kind that are cast upon them. And some things are to be premised unto the confirmation of our assertion.

  1. It is granted that there may be a false pretence of love unto Christ; and as this pretence is ruinous unto the souls of them in whom it is, so it ofttimes renders them prejudicial and troublesome unto others. There ever were, and probably ever will be, hypocrites in the church and a false pretence of love is of the essential form of hypocrisy. The first great act of hypocrisy, with respect unto Christ, was treachery, veiled with a double pretence of love. He cried, "Hail, Master! and kissed him," who betrayed him. His words and actions proclaimed love, but deceit and treachery were in his heart. Hence the apostle prays for grace on them who love the Lord Jesus "en aftharsiai"--without dissimulation or doubling, without pretences and aims at other ends, without a mixture of corrupt affections; that is, in sincerity, Eph 6: 24. It was prophesied of him, that many who were strangers unto his grace should lie unto him, Ps. 18: 44, "benei nechar jechachashu-li"--feignedly submit, or yield feigned obedience unto him. So is it with them who profess love unto him, yet are enemies of his cross, "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things," Phil. 3: 18, 19. All that are called Christians in the world, do, by owning that denomination, profess a love unto Jesus Christ; but greater enemies, greater haters of him, he has not among the children of men, than many of them are. This falsely pretended love is worse than avowed hatred; neither will the pretence of it stand men in stead at the last day. No other answer will be given unto the plea of it, be it in whom it will, but "Depart from me, I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity." Whereas, therefore, he himself has prescribed this rule unto all who would be esteemed his disciples, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," we may safely conclude, all who live in a neglect of his commands, whatever they pretend or profess, they love him not. And the satisfaction which men, through much darkness, and many corrupt prejudices, have attained unto in the profession of Christian religion, without an internal, sincere love unto Christ himself, is that which ruins religion and their own souls.

  2. As there is a false pretence of love unto Christ, so there is, or may be, a false love unto him also. The persons in whom it is may in some measure be sincere, and yet their love unto Christ may not be pure, nor sincere--such as answers the principles and rules of the gospel; and as many deceive others, so some deceive themselves in this matter. They may think that they love Christ, but indeed do not so; and this I shall manifest in some few instances.

    (1.) That love is not sincere and incorrupt which proceedeth not from- -which is not a fruit of faith Those who do not first really believe on Christ, can never sincerely love him. It is faith alone that worketh by love towards Christ and all his saints. If, therefore, any do not believe with that faith which unites them unto Christ, which within purifies the heart, and is outwardly effectual in duties of obedience, whatever they may persuade themselves concerning love unto Christ, it is but a vain delusion. Where the faith of men is dead, their love will not be living and sincere.

    (2.) That love is not so which ariseth from false ideas and representations that men make of Christ, or have made of him in their minds. Men may draw images in their minds of what they most fancy, and then dote upon them. So some think of Christ only as a glorious person exalted in heaven at the right hand of God, without farther apprehensions of his natures and offices. So the Roman missionaries represented him unto some of the Indians--concealing from them his cross and sufferings. But every false notion concerning his person or his grace--what he is, has done, or doth-- corrupts the love that is pretended unto him. Shall we think that they love Christ by whom his divine nature is denied or that those do so who disbelieve the reality of his human nature? Or those by whom the union of both in the same person is rejected? There cannot be true evangelical love unto a false Christ, such as these imaginations do fancy.

    (3.) So is that love which is not in all things--as to causes, motives, measures, and ends regulated by the Scripture. This alone gives us the nature, rules, and bounds of sincere spiritual love. We are no more to love Christ, than to fear and worship him, according unto our own imaginations. From the Scripture are we to derive all the principles and motives of our love. If either the acts or effects of it will not endure a trial thereby, they are false and counterfeit; and many such have been pretended unto, as we shall see immediately.

    (4.) That is so, unquestionably, which fixeth itself on undue objects, which, whatever is pretended, are neither Christ nor means of conveying our love unto him. Such is all that love which the Romanists express in their devotion unto images, as they fancy, of Christ; crucifixes, pretended relics of his cross, and the nails that pierced him, with the like superstitious representations of him, and what they suppose he is concerned in. For although they express their devotion with great appearance of ardent affections, under all outward signs of them--in adorations, kissings, prostrations, with sighs and tears; yet all this while it is not Christ which they thus cleave unto, but a cloud of their own imaginations, wherewith their carnal minds are pleased and affected. That is no god which a man hews out of a tree, though he form it for that end, though he falls down unto it and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, "Deliver me, for thou art my god," Isa.44: 17. The authors of this superstition, whereby the love of innumerable poor souls is depraved and abused, do first frame in their minds what they suppose may solicit or draw out the natural and carnal affections of men unto it, and then outwardly represent it as an object for them. Wherefore some of their representations of him are glorious, and some of them dolorous, escorting as they aim to excite affections in carnal minds. But, as I said, these things are not Christ, nor is he any way concerned in them.

    (5.) I acknowledge there have been great pretences of such a love unto Christ as cannot be justified. Such is that which some of the devotionists of the Roman Church have endeavoured rather to express out of their fancy than declare out of their experience. Raptures, ecstasies, self- annihilations, immediate adhesions and enjoyments, without any act of the understanding, and with a multitude of other swelling words of vanity, they labour to set off what they fancy to be divine love. But there wants not evidences of truth sufficient to defeat these pretences, be they ever so specious or glorious. For,

    [1.] As it is by them described, it exceedeth all Scripture precedents. For men to assume unto themselves an apprehension that they love Christ in another manner and kind, in a higher degree at least, and thence to enjoy more intimacy with him, more love from him, than did any of the apostles--John, or Paul, or Peter, or any other of those holy ones whose love unto him is recorded in the Scripture--is intolerable vanity and presumption. But no such things as these devotees pretend unto are mentioned, or in the least intimated concerning them, and their love to their Lord and Master. No man will pretend unto more love than they had, but such as have none at all.

    [2.] It is no way directed, warranted, approved, by any command, promise, or rule of the Scripture. As it is without precedent, so it is without precept. And hereby, whether we will or no, all our graces and duties must be tried, as unto any acceptation with God. Whatever pretends to exceed the direction of the Word may safely be rejected-- cannot safely be admitted. Whatever enthusiasms or pretended inspirations may be pleaded for the singular practice of what is prescribed in the Scripture, yet none can be allowed for an approved principle of what is not so prescribed. Whatever exceeds the bounds thereof is resolved into the testimony of every distempered imagination. Nor will it avail that these things amongst them are submitted unto the judgment of the church. For the church has no rule to judge by but the Scripture; and it can pass but one judgment of what is not warranted thereby--namely, that it is to be rejected.

    [3.] As it is described by those who applaud it, it is not suited unto the sober, sedate actings of the rational faculties of our souls. For whereas all that God requireth of us, is that we love him with all our souls and all our minds, these men cry up a divine love by an immediate adhesion of the will and the affections unto God, without any actings of the mind and understanding at all. Love, indeed, is the regular acting of our whole souls, by all their faculties and rational powers, in an adherence unto God. But these men have fancied a divine love for them whom they would admire and extol, which disturbs all their regular acting, and renders them of little or no use in that which, without their due exercise, is nothing but fancy. And hence it is that, under pretence of this love, sundry persons among them--yea, all that have pretended unto it--have fallen into such ridiculous excesses and open delusions as sufficiently discover the vanity of the love itself pretended by them.

Wherefore we plead for no other love unto the person of Christ but what the Scripture warrants as unto its nature; what the gospel requireth of us as our duty; what the natural faculties of our minds are suited unto and given us for; what they are enabled unto by grace; and without which in some degree of sincerity, no man can yield acceptable obedience unto him.

These things being premised, that which we assert is, that there is, and ought to be, in all believers, a religious, gracious love unto the person of Christ, distinct from, and the reason of, their obedience unto his commands;--that is, it is distinct from all other commands; but is also itself commanded and required of us in a way of duty.

That there is in the church such a love unto the person of Christ, the Scripture testifies, both in the precepts it gives for it and the examples of it. And all those who truly believe cannot apprehend that they understand any thing of faith, or love of Christ, or themselves, by whom it is called in question. If, therefore, I should enlarge on this subject, a great part of the doctrine of the Scripture from first to last must be represented and a transcript of the hearts of believers, wherein this love is seated and prevalent, be made, according to our ability. And there is no subject that I could more willingly enlarge upon. But I must at present contract myself, in compliance with my design. Two things only I shall demonstrate:

  1. That the person of Christ is the object of divine love;
    What is the nature of that love in us; what are the grounds of it, and the motives unto it, in them that do believe.

    In reference unto the first of these, the ensuing position shall be the subject of the remainder of this chapter.

    The person of Christ is the principal object of the love of God, and of the whole creation participant of his image. The reason why I thus extend the assertion will appear in the declaration of it.

    (1.) No small part of the eternal blessedness of the holy God consisteth in the mutual love of the Father and the Son, by the Spirit. As he is the only-begotten of the Father, he is the first, necessary, adequate, complete object of the whole love of the Father. Hence he says of himself, that from eternity he was "by him, as one brought up with him: and was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him," Prov. 8: 30--which place was opened before. In him was the ineffable, eternal, unchangeable delight and complacency of the Father, as the full object of his love. The same is expressed in that description of him, John 1: 18, "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father." His being the only-begotten Son declares his eternal relation unto the person of the Father, of whom he was begotten in the entire communication of the whole divine nature. Hereon he is in the bosom of the Father--in the eternal embraces of his love, as his only- begotten Son. The Father loves, and cannot but love, his own nature and essential image in him. Herein originally is God love: "For God is love," 1 John 4: 8. This is the fountain and prototype of all love, as being eternal and necessary. All other acts of love are in God but emanations from hence, and effects of it. As he does good because he is good, so he loveth because he is love. He is love eternally and necessarily in this love of the Son; and all other workings of love are but acts of his will, whereby somewhat of it is outwardly expressed. And all love in the creation was introduced from this fountain, to give a shadow and resemblance of it. Love is that which contemplative men have always almost adored. Many things have they spoken to evince it to be the light, life, lustre and glory of the whole creation. But the original and pattern of it was always hid from the wisest philosophers of old. Something they reached after about God's love unto himself, with rest and complacency in his own infinite excellencies; but of this ineffable mutual love of the Father and the Son, both in and by that Spirit which proceeds from them both, they had neither apprehension nor conjecture. Yet, as herein does the principal part (if we may so speak) of the blessedness of the holy God consist, so is it the only fountain and prototype of all that is truly called love;--a blessing and glory which the creation had never been made partaker of, but only to express, according to the capacity of their several natures, this infinite and eternal love of God! For God's love of himself--which is natural and necessary unto the Divine Being--consists in the mutual complacency of the Father and the Son by the Spirit. And it was to express himself, that God made any thing without himself. He made the heavens and the earth to express his being, goodness, and power. He created man "in his own image," to express his holiness and righteousness; and he implanted love in our natures to express this eternal mutual love of the holy persons of the Trinity. But we must leave it under the veil of infinite incomprehensibleness; though admiration and adoration of it be not without the highest spiritual satisfaction. Again, he is the peculiar object of the love of the Father, of the love of God, as he is incarnate--as he has taken on him, and has now discharged, the work of mediation, or continues in the discharge of it; that is, the person of Christ, as God-man, is the peculiar object of the divine love of the Father. The person of Christ in his divine nature is the adequate object of that love of the Father which is "ad intra"--a natural necessary act of the divine essence in its distinct personal existence; and the person of Christ as incarnate, as clothed with human nature, is the first and full object of the love of the Father in those acts of it which are "ad extra", or are towards anything without himself. So he declares himself in the prospect of his future incarnation and work, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth," Isa. 42: 1. The delight of the soul of God, his rest and complacency--which are the great effects of love--are in the Lord Christ, as his elect and servant in the work of mediation. And the testimony hereof he renewed twice from heaven afterwards, Matt. 3: 17, "Lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" as it is again repeated, Matt. 17: 5. All things are disposed to give a due sense unto us of this love of God unto him. The testimony concerning it is twice repeated in the same words from heaven. And the words of it are emphatical unto the utmost of our comprehension: "My Son, my servant, mine elect, my beloved Son, in whom I rest, in whom I delight, and am well pleased." It is the will of God to leave upon our hearts a sense of this love unto Christ; for his voice came from heaven, not for his sake, who was always filled with a sense of this divine love, but for ours, that we might believe it. This he pleaded as the foundation of all the trust reposed in him, and all the power committed unto him. "The Father loveth the Son, and has given all things into his hand," John 3: 35. "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself does," John 5: 20. And the sense or due apprehension of it is the foundation of Christian religion. Hence he prays that we may know that God has loved him, John 17: 23, 26. In this sense, the person of Christ is the "prooton dektikon"--the first recipient subject of all that divine love which extends itself unto the church. It is all, the whole of it, in the first place fixed upon him, and by and through him is communicated unto the church. Whatever it receives in grace and glory, it is but the streams of this fountain--love unto himself. So he prays for all his disciples, "that the love," saith he, "wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them," John 17: 26. They can be partakers of no other love, neither in itself nor in its fruits, but that alone wherewith the Father first loved him. He loveth him for us all, and us no otherwise but as in him. He makes us "accepted in the Beloved," Eph 1: 6. He is the Beloved of the Father "kath' exochen"; as in all things he was to have the preeminence, Col. 1: 18. The love of the body is derived unto it from the love unto the Head; and in the love of him does God love the whole church, and no otherwise. He loves none but as united unto him, and participant of his nature. Wherefore the love of the Father unto the Son, as the only begotten, and the essential image of his person, wherein the ineffable delight of the divine nature does consist, was the fountain and cause of all love in the creation, by an act of the will of God for its representation. And the love of God the Father unto the person of Christ as incarnate, being the first adequate object of divine love wherein there is anything "ad extra," is the fountain and especial cause of all gracious love towards us and in us. And our love unto Christ being the only outward expression and representation of this love of the Father unto him, therein consists the principal part of our renovation into his image. Nothing renders us so like unto God as our love unto Jesus Christ, for he is the principal object of his love,--in him does his soul rest--in him is he always well pleased. Wherever this is wanting, whatever there may be besides, there is nothing of the image of God. He that loves not Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha; for he is unlike unto God,--his canal mind is enmity against God.

    (2.) Among those who are in the image of God, the angels above are of the first consideration. We are, indeed, as yet much in the dark unto the things that are "within the veil." They are above us as unto our present capacity, and hid from us as unto our present state; but there is enough in the Scripture to manifest the adhesion of angels unto the person of Christ by divine love. For love proceeding from sight is the life of the church above; as love proceeding from faith is the life of the church below. And this life the angels themselves do live. For,

    [1.] They were all, unto their inexpressible present advantage and security for the future, brought into that recovery and recapitulation of all things which God has made in him. He has "gathered together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him," Eph 1: 10. The things in heaven, and things on earth--angels above, and men below- -were originally united in the love of God. God's love unto them, whence springs their mutual love between themselves, was a bond of union between them, rendering them one complete family of God in heaven and earth, as it is called, Eph 3: 15. On the entrance of sin, whereby mankind forfeited their interest in the love of God, and lost all love unto him, or anything for him, this union was utterly dissolved, and mutual enmity came into the place of its principle in love. God is pleased to gather up these divided parts of his family into one--in one head, which is Christ Jesus. And as there is hereby a union established again between angels and the church in love, so their adherence unto the head, the centre, life, and spring of this union, is by love, and no otherwise. It is not faith, but love, that is the bond of this union between Christ and them; and herein no small part of their blessedness and glory in heaven does consist.

    [2.] That worship, adoration, service, and obedience, which they yield unto him, are all in like manner animated with love and delight. In love they cleave unto him, in love they worship and serve him. They had a command to worship him on his nativity, Heb. 1: 6; and they did it with joy, exultation, and praises--all effects of love and delight- -Luke 2: 13, 14. And as they continue about the throne of God, they say, with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing," Rev. 5: 12. Their continual ascription of glory and praise unto him is an effect of reverential love and delight; and from thence also is their concernment in his gospel and grace, Eph 3: 9, 10; 1 Peter 1: 12. Nor without this love in the highest degree can it be conceived how they should be blessed and happy in their continual employment. For they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation," Heb. 1: 14. Were they not acted herein by their fervent love unto Christ, they could have no delight in their own ministry.

    We have not, we cannot have, in this world, a full comprehension of the nature of angelical love. Our notions are but dark and uncertain, in things whereof we can have no experience. Wherefore, we cannot have here a clear intuition into the nature of the love of spirits, whilst our own is mixed with what derives from the acting of the animal spirits of our bodies also. But the blessedness of angels does not consist in the endowments of their nature--that they are great in power, light, knowledge, and wisdom; for, notwithstanding these things, many of them became devils. But the excellency and blessedness of the angelical state consist in these two things:
    1st, That they are disposed, and able constantly, inseparably, universally, uninterruptedly, to cleave unto God in love. And as they do so unto God, so they do unto the person of Christ; and through him, as their head, unto God, even the Father.
    2dly, Add hereunto that gracious reflex sense which they have of the glory, dignity, eternal sweetness, and satisfaction, which arise from hence, and we have the sum of angelical blessedness.

    (3.) The church of mankind is the other part of the rational creation whereon the image of God is renewed. Love unto the person of Christ, proceeding from faith, is their life, their joy, and glory.
It was so unto the church under the Old Testament. The whole Book of Canticles is designed to no other purpose, but variously to shadow forth, to insinuate and represent, the mutual love of Christ and the church. Blessed is he who understands the sayings of that book, and has the experience of them in his heart. The 45th Psalm, among others, is designed unto the same purpose. All the glorious descriptions which are given of his person in the residue of the prophets, were only means to excite love unto him, and desires after him. Hence is he called "chemdat kol- hagohim", Hag.2: 7, "The Desire of all nations"-- he alone who is desirable unto, and the only beloved of the church gathered out of all nations.

The clear revelation of the person of Christ, so as to render him the direct object of our love, with the causes and reasons of it, is one of the most eminent privileges of the New Testament. And it is variously attested in precepts, promises, instances, and solemn approbations.

Wherever he supposeth or requireth this love in any of his disciples, it is not only as their duty, as that which they were obliged unto by the precepts of the Gospel, but as that without which no other duty whatever is accepted by him. "If," saith he "ye love me, keep my commandments," John 14: 15. He so requires love unto himself, as not to expect or approve of any obedience unto his commands without it. It is a great and blessed duty to feed the sheep and lambs of Christ; yet will not he accept of it unless it proceeds out of love unto his person. "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Feed my lambs," John 21: 15-17. Three times did he repeat the same words to him who had failed in his love towards him, by denying him thrice. Without this love unto him, he requires of none to feed his sheep, nor will accept of what they pretend to do therein. It were a blessed thing, if a due apprehension hereof did always abide with them that are called unto that work.

Hereunto does he annex those blessed promises which comprise the whole of our peace, safety, and consolation in this world. "He," saith he, "that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself unto him," John 14: 21; and verse 23, "My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." What heart can conceive, what tongue can express, the glory of these promises, or the least part of the grace that is contained in them? Who can conceive aright of the divine condescension, love, and grace that are expressed in them? How little a portion is it that we know of God in these things! But if we value them not, if we labour not for an experience of them according unto our measure, we have neither lot nor portion in the gospel. The presence and abode of God with us as a Father, manifesting himself to be such unto us, in the infallible pledges and assurances of our adoption--the presence of Christ with us, revealing himself unto us, with all those ineffable mercies wherewith these things are accompanied--are all contained in them. And these promises are peculiarly given unto them that love the person of Christ, and in the exercise of love towards him. Hereunto are designed the Gospel Gerizim and Ebal--the denunciation of blessings and curses. As blessings are declared to be their portion "who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity," Eph. 6: 24,--so those who love him not, have the substance of all curses denounced against them, even "Anathema Maranatha," 1 Cor. 16: 22. So far shall such persons be, whatever they may profess of outward obedience unto the Gospel, from any blessed interest in the promises of it, as that they are justly liable unto final excision from the church in this world, and eternal malediction in that which is to come.

It is evident, therefore, that the love of the church of believers unto the person of Christ is not a distempered fancy, not a deluding imagination, as some have blasphemed; but that which the nature of their relation unto him makes necessary--that wherein they express their renovation into the image of God--that which the Scripture indispensably requires of them, and whereon all their spiritual comfort do depend. These things being spoken in general, the particular nature, effects, operations, and motives of this divine love, must now be farther inquired into.

END of CHAPTER 10, CHAPTER 11 and CHAPTER 12

RETURN TO PAGE SECTION
CHAPTER 10
The Principle of the Assignation of Divine Honour unto the Person of Christ, in both the Branches of it; is Faith in Him.Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it.
CHAPTER 11
Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it.
CHAPTER 12
The Person of Christ the Great Repository of Sacred Truth
RETURN TO | Table Of Contents, Prefatory Note, The Preface |
| Chapters 1, 2, 3 | | Chapters 4, 5, 6 | | Chapters 7, 8, 9 |
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