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

Come with me, with me, my Spouse, as if he had said, that he would provide for her as a Spouse; and therefore she should come away with him: But, saith the Author, Personal virtues in the Husband were never settled on the Wife for a Jointure, by our Marriage to Christ; his personal excellencies cannot be made over to us. To which, I answer, the Righteousness of Christ cannot be made ours, so as to inhere in us: But it may be made ours by imputation; or if not, neither can his blood be imputed to us; and by consequence there can be no such thing as satisfaction or redemption through his Blood: But for the truth of imputed Righteousness, these men desire to appeal no further than the Articles or Marriage Covenant contained in the Gospel, beyond this they desire to claim nothing from ⟨p. 405⟩Christ their Husband and Saviour? But, saith the Author, A woman under covert is not liable to debts, but she is to crimes. I answer, Our debts are crimes, and that above Felonies; they are High-treasons against the God of Heaven; and if these fall not on our Husband Christ, they must fall upon us; and then who, where is the man that can stand before the Divine Tribunal? What room can there be for the least drop of mercy or forgiveness? Remarkable is the form, that in Anselms time was used in the Visitation of the sick, the weak man is there directed thus: Si Dominus Deus te voluerit judicare, dic Domine, mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi objicio inter me & tuum judicium, alitèr tecum non condendo; & si tibi dixerit, quia peccator es, dic Domine, mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi pono inter me & mea peccata: He was not to contend with God; but to put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between himself and God's Tribunal, and to put it between himself and his sins; unless our Husband had undertaken to discharge our debts, we could never have had any possibility of Salvation.

Come with me, with me, my Spouse, as if he had said, that he would provide for her as a Spouse; and therefore she should come away with him: But, saith the Author, Personal virtues in the Husband were never settled on the Wife for a Joynture, by our Marriage to Christ; his personal excellencies cannot be made over to us. To which, I answer, the Righteousness of Christ cannot be made ours, so as to inhere in us: But it may be made ours by imputation; or if not, neither can his blood be imputed to us; and by consequence there can be no such thing as satisfaction or redemption through his Blood: But for the truth of imputed Righteousness, these men desire to appeal no further than the Articles or Marriage Covenant contained in the Gospel, beyond this they desire to claim nothing from