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

What!¹ doth God glut himself with Revenge? or is he, as the Devil good when he is pleased? I tremble at the Expressions, and verily believe, that the Dr. would have laid down his neck upon the Block before he would have uttered them. Revenge or Vengeance in God is nothing but pure immaculate ⟨p. 50⟩Justice: Glutting with Revenge is an Expression fit for malicious Men, or for Devils rather, but not at all for God: God out of Christ is a consuming Fire, but in Christ a gracious Father, reconciling the World unto himself. Not that there is a change in the unchangeable One; but, according to his wise and gracious Decree, his Justice was satisfied in Christ, and through that Satisfaction his Love and Kindness sweetly stream out to Men: He that dares deny this must forfeit his Christianity. But if the Dr. did not utter these horrid words, may any such thing be drawn from him by consequence? This the Author would hint; for saith he, The Dr. speaks very honourably of God; Whatever, saith the Dr. discoveries were made of the Patience and Lenity of God unto us, yet if it were not withal revealed, that the other Properties of God, as his Justice and Revenge for sin, had their actings assigned them to the full, there could be little Consolation gathered from the former; That is, saith the Author, he would not believe God himself, though he should make never so many Promises of Grace to sinners, unless he were sure, that he had first satisfied his revenge. To which I answer, ⟨p. 51⟩Doth the Dr. by [Discoveries] intend Promises of Graces? No certainly: In his very entrance into the Discourse of Patience, he tells us his Design, viz. to prove, That the Glimpses of Patience shining out in works of Providence are exceedingly beneath the discovery of it which we have in Christ; and both before and after the words quoted, he gives Instances of Gods Goodness in the Rain & fruitful seasons, & he shows what kind of Patience he intends, that is, A not immediate punishing upon the offence, not a word or tittle of Promises: Neither is it at all imaginable that he could mean them; for he, who holds a necessity of Satisfaction, as the Dr. doth, could not so much as think one single thought of a Promise to be the object of his Faith, or indeed at all to be, without a crucified Christ, in whom God's Justice was satisfied.