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

They prefer Christ above all; ¹and no wonder, all the Saints and Martyrs have done so; he is worthy of love in its height and tallest Statures: A Believer may love other things, but he loves Christ with a love more eminent and over-topping, such as is congruous for an Object so altogether lovely and desirable; he loves other things with reference ⟨p. 614⟩to Christ: But Christ for himself; his infinite excellency and perfection: He loves Ordinances, because they are the Banqueting-House of Christ; he loves the Gospel, because it is his Royal Charter; he loves his own Graces, because they are his love-tokens, and bear his Divine Image: After all, the great centre of his love is Christ himself. But, saith the Author, the foundation of their love to Christ, is a fond imagination, that he will save them by his Righteousness, without any Righteousness of their own, that he will be a refuge and sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly: To which I say, That I have before noted this to be as it is, a Popish Calumny, and without any just ground at all for it; when Grotius drew up such a kind of charge against the common Protestant Doctrine, as if it were enough to say, Credo justitiam Christi mihi imputari, as if there were no need of true Repentance or holy walking. Dr. Arrowsmith makes this return; Quam nollem haec à te dicta vel ficta potius, ²Hugo doctissime, cum nihil sit à praxi, nihil à sensu nostro remotius.³

They prefer Christ above all; ¹and no wonder, all the Saints and Martyrs have done so; he is worthy of love in its height and tallest Statures: A Believer may love other things, but he loves Christ with a love more eminent and over-topping, such as is congruous for an Object so altogether lovely and desirable; he loves other things with reference ⟨p. 614⟩to Christ: But Christ for himself; his infinite excellencie and perfection: He loves Ordinances, because they are the Banqueting-House of Christ; he loves the Gospel, because it is his Royal Charter; he loves his own Graces, because they are his love-tokens, and bear his Divine Image: After all, the great center of his love is Christ himself. But, saith the Author, the foundation of their love to Christ, is a fond imagination, that he will save them by his Righteousness, without any Righteousness of their own, that he will be a refuge and sanctuary for the wicked and ungodly: To which I say, That I have before noted this to be as it is, a Popish Calumny, and without any just ground at all for it; when Grotius drew up such a kind of charge against the common Protestant Doctrine, as if it were enough to say, Credo justitiam Christi mihi imputari, as if there were no need of true Repentance or holy walking. Dr. Arrowsmith makes this return; Quam nollem haec à te dicta vel ficta potius,