An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

It was the saying of Nazianzen, ¹That there is one Consideration of the Deity, [Greek or Hebrew], and another [Greek or Hebrew]. Dr. Owen being to speak of the Grace of Christ the Mediator, did not consider the Excellencies of his Deity in it self or apart, nor the Excellencies of his Humanity singly and by it self; but the Excellencies of both Natures met in conjunction in the Person of the Glorious Mediator Jesus Christ: This must be a distinct Consideration from the other, or else what is the Hypostatical Union? What the [Greek or Hebrew], the Immanuel, or Word incarnate? What is that [Greek or Hebrew], or Communication of Properties, celebrated by Divines? How did God purchase his Church with his own blood? Act. 20.28. Or lay down his life for us? 1 Joh. 3.16. ⟨p. 234⟩which way was the blessed Virgin [Greek or Hebrew], as the ancient Council hath it? What is the Grace of Unction, or all those full Treasures of habitual Grace in the Humane Nature of Christ? And what are the opera [Greek or Hebrew], or operations of God-man the Great Mediator, who hath the Excellencies of both Natures in himself? This Consideration being therefore a distinct one, the Dr. shows, that Christ was white in his Deity and ruddy in his Humanity, which needed no more have been slighted, than such allusions common in the ancient Fathers; but the humour of exposing to scorn provokes to such things. The Doctor doth not, and, I am sure, will not own any such thing, as that the Person of Christ, as Mediator, is distinct from his Person as God-man; or that the Graces of Christ's Person, as Mediator, are distinct from his Person, as God-man. But, saith the Author, What personal Graces are there in Christ, as Mediator, which do not belong to him either as God or Man? To which I answer, The Grace of Union was not peculiar to either Nature in Christ, but common to both; the Humane Nature in him was only assumed, but the Divine and Humane ⟨p. 235⟩were both united; but saith the Author, Those excellencies would have belonged to him as God and man, whether he had been Mediator or not: To which I shall only say: That Christ should be God and man, and yet not Mediator is such an extrascriptural conceit, as I suppose never entered into the Doctors mind.