And as to what he closeth withal, that “Surely I will not
call the peculiar duties and actions of an office personal graces;” I
suppose that he knoweth not well what he intends thereby. Whatever he hath
fancied about Christ being the name of an office, Jesus Christ, of whom we
speak, is a person, and not an office; and there are no such things in rerum natura as the actions of
an office. And if by them he intends the actions of a person in the
discharge of an office, whatever he calls them, I will call the habits in
Christ, from whence all his actions in the performance of his office do
proceed, “personal graces,” and that whether he will or no. So he is a
“merciful, faithful, and compassionate high priest,” Heb. ii. 17, iv.
15, v. 2. And all his actions, in the discharge of his office
of priesthood, being principled and regulated by those qualifications, I do
call them his personal graces, and do hope that, for the future, I may
obtain his leave so to do. The like may be said of his other offices.