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

For first, Holiness is not necessary to our Union to Christ; ¹and therefore can be no necessary sign of it: We are united to Christ […] we are holy, an unholy man may be ⟨p. 532⟩united to Christ; and how can Holiness be the only sure mark of our Union to Christ? They tell us, That Holiness doth necessarily follow Union: But no man knows how long it may be before it follows; yet all this, while such a person is united to Christ, at least this gives evidence but to one part of the question, an holy life is an evidence of a man in Christ; but the want of it is no evidence, that a man is not in him: This mark may be rejected by any one, who hath no mind to it: Nay, secondly, according to these mens principles we cannot tell, whether we be holy or not, till we know, whether we be in Christ or not, our Union to Christ must be an evidence of our Holiness, not our Holiness an evidence of our Union; till we are united to Christ, we can do nothing to please God: The best actions of christless men are but Splendida peccata, glittering impieties, appearing fair, but odious to God, because the person who does them is out of Christ: Our persons must be first accepted in Christ, and then our services; we cannot judge of Holiness by the external performance of any duties, nor by the inward sense of our minds; but must first know, whether we be in Christ, whether our persons be accepted in him, before we can tell, whether ⟨p. 533⟩any thing we do be good: And this is a plain demonstration, that Holiness cannot be an evidence of our Union to Christ, because we must first know our Union, before we can know that we are holy.

For first, Holiness is not necessary to our Ʋnion to Christ; ¹and therefore can be no nec•ssary sign of it: We are united to Christ 〈…〉 we are holy, an unholy man may be ⟨p. 532⟩united to Christ; and how can Holiness be the only sure mark of our Ʋnion to Christ? They tell us, That Holiness doth necessarily follow Union: But no man knows how long it may be before it follows; yet all this, while such a person is united to Christ, at least this gives evidence but to one part of the question, an holy life is an evidence of a man in Christ; but the want of it is no evidence, that a man is not in him: This mark may be rejected by any one, who hath no mind to it: Nay, secondly, according to these mens principles we cannot tell, whether we be holy or not, till we know, whether we be in Christ or not, our Ʋnion to Christ must be an evidence of our Holiness, not our Holiness an evidence of our Ʋnion; till we are united to Christ, we can do nothing to please God: The best actions of christless men are but Splendida peccata, glittering impieties, appearing fair, but odious to God, because the person who does them is out of Christ: Our persons must be first accepted in Christ, and then our services; we cannot judge of Holiness by the external performance of any duties, nor by the inward sense of our minds; but must first know, whether we be in Christ, whether our persons be accepted in him, before we can tell, whether