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

I know not of what moment this discourse is,¹ only the Author would seem to wrap the Doctor up in obscurity; but the Doctor hath expressed his mind in plain terms, pag. 182. his words are these: God sent Christ as a Mediator to do and suffer whatever the Law required at our hand; for that end & purpose, that we might not be condemned, ⟨p. 429⟩but accepted of God. This satisfies me, Christ our Mediator was made under the Law, under the command, and under the curse of it; he fulfilled the command of it by his active obedience, he bore the curse of it by his passive: This entire obedience of his, which fully answers the Law, is by God imputed to us; not as if we were Mediators, or had done it as Mediators; no, by no means, Christ is the great Actor of it, the Mediatorship is his own: But it is imputed to us so far as to justify us, and make us righteous before God; we were no efficients in it, but are mere recipients; and it is applied to us in order to our justification: It is not for us to reach the works of our Saviour; these are far above our Line, we must indeed lay down our lives for the Brethren, as St. John tells us: But what in a way of atonement and expiation of sin! No, it is too high for us so to do: Paul was not crucified for us, nor can any other Saint be, only we must, as we can, Procul ejus vestigia sequi, as Calvin expresses it, imitate him as far as our model goes: We must be conformed to the Death and Resurrection of Christ, Rom. 6. We must dye unto sin, and be alive unto God: But, after we have in our little resembled him, we must confess, ⟨p. 430⟩that the merit is only in him, not in us, we are but receivers, he is the great purchasor: But, saith the Author, it is strange that Christ should do whatever was required of us by virtue of any Law, when he was neither Husband, Wife, Father, Merchant, Soldier, Captain or Prince; and how could he discharge the duties of those relations which he was never in? To which, I answer, After this rate would the Socinians rob us of the satisfactory passion of Christ: For, say they, If Christ had satisfied for us, then he must have suffered all that we should have suffered; that is, eternal torments, which he did not: But one answer serves for both: Christ suffered the same which we should have suffered in the substantials and essentials of it, though not in the accidentals or circumstantials of it;