A55299:178
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ, and our union and communion with him by Edward Polhill ..., Esquire.
London: printed for Ben. Foster, 1675
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
By the one we have a Title to God's Kingdom, by the other a Meetness for it; it being such as no unclean thing can enter into the same. And what colour of Repugnancy is there between these two? and how doth the one make the other useless? Both are useful to the Believer, and both in Harmony between themselves; Obedience is so far from being needless, that it is a necessary consequent upon Justification by Christ's Righteousness. St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans first treats of Justification, and then of Sanctification as a consequent thereupon. Good works (as our Church tells us in the 12th Article) are the Fruits of Faith and follow after Justification. To me it is unimaginable, that the holy Spirit, which is procured by Christ's Righteousness, and before whose inspiration (as our ⟨p. 155⟩Church tells us in the 13th. Article) works done are not pleasant unto God, should inspire unjustified persons to Obedience; nay, had it not been for Christ's Righteousness, the holy Spirit, I verily believe, would no more have touched in the least holy motion upon Men than upon Devils. I shall close this Point with the Authors own words: Christ's Satisfaction was for sins of Omission and Commission, and by it we are reputed by God as having done nothing amiss; and as perfectly righteous, to have done all, to have kept the whole Law, pag. 60. and yet I hope the Author doth not esteem Holiness needless; though I cannot tell, how Christ's imputed Righteousness (whereof his Satisfaction is a part) should make any man more than perfectly righteous.
However Holiness is necessary with respect to Sanctification. 1We have in us a New Creature, which is fed, cherished, nourished, kept alive by the fruits of Holiness: God hath not given us new Hearts to kill them in the womb, or to give them to the Old Man to be devoured, as Dr. Owen hath it: The phrase of this is admirable, and the reasoning unanswerable; if men be new Creatures, they will certainly live new Lives: ⟨p. 156⟩