TWO DISCOURSES Concerning the DIVINITY OF OUR SAVIOUR Whereunto are added some Articles subscribed by all the French Divines in or about London in Opposition to the SOCINIANS Translated out of French IMPRIMATUR March 22. 1692 3. Guil. Lancaster LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1693. To His Grace the Duke of Sconberg Marquess of Harwich Earl of Brantford Baron of Tays Count of the Holy Empire Lieutenant-General of His Majesty's Army and Colonel of the First Regiment of the English Guards My Lord DID the Fate of Books depend upon the Quality of the Persons to whom they are Dedicated I should be very secure that the two following Discourses would be kindly received because I have presum'd to put 'em under the Protection of one of the Greatest Persons that can be made choice of It is very well known My Lord that Your Illustrious Family has a long Succession of Ancestors whose Blood has been mixt with that of divers Princes and it is not long ago since we lost the Duke your Father in whose Air we saw all the Traces of so August a Pedigree He maintain'd the Glory of His Birth by all the Merit necessary to make a Hero So prudent in his Conduct that he never took a false Measure Indefatigably Vigilant Valiant and Couragious in Action these Great Qualities being joined to a Goodness that made Access to him always easy and a Piety that gave Example to our whole Church could not but render him the Object of our Admiration I know My Lord there is no need of looking farther than Your own Grandeur to find Matter for Your Praises So the Liberty I have taken to speak of the Duke Your Father was only to gain an opportunity of drawing Your Picture without offence to Your Modesty I am not ignorant that how great soever my Patron may be yet the Publick which judges of things as they are in themselves will not receive these Discourses more favourably upon that account But I have no farther design in the Choice than to manifest the Obligations I have to Your Grace for Your Bounty in affording me the Honour of Your Protection and to assure You that I am with a profound respect My Lord Your Graces Most Humble and Obedient Servant and Chaplain C. G. Lamothe To the READER I Doubt not but some People will think it strange that I should venture to Print any thing concerning the Divinity of our Saviour when such Excellent Sermons have been lately Publish'd upon the same Subject This seems to be so ill tim'd that I find my self oblig'd to say something in justification of my own Conduct When I saw this Truth defended by the best Pens in the Church of England I thought it the Duty of the French Ministers who are Refugees there to give some written proofs of the Constancy of their Faith in so important an Article And this Declaration of theirs cannot but carry some weight along with it whether we reflect upon their great number or consider that Religion was the Cause why they were Banished from their own Countrey It is indeed their Duty as far as in them lyes to Edifie a Nation that has receiv'd them with a Charity becoming the Primitive Ages of the Church and some proofs of their Constancy are likewise due to the Honour of their own Ministry Several Ill-designing People have endeavour'd to cast a Blemish upon them Some have done it in France with a design to make their Flocks which now are gone astray conceive an Aversion to their Ancient Pastors and others have thought by this means to gain Reputation to a Cause which they themselves are too much inclin'd to When I saw that the French Ministers in the clearing themselves of this Reproach were content to instruct their Auditors in the True Faith by their Sermons only whose Effects could not reach the Nation in which they have the Happiness to live I thought it my Duty to go farther and that I should not do a thing ungrateful to the Publick in Printing Two Discourses upon this Subject after having took Care that they should be Examin'd by my Brethren to the end it might appear That the Doctrine I Teach is that of our whole Body We whose Names are under-written being Appointed by the other French Ministers in England have Read these Two Discourses and have found them entirely Conformable to the Word of God and the constant Doctrine of the French Protestants Satur Minister of the Savoy Graveral Minister of the New French Church The 8th of March The First Discourse PHILIP II. 6 7. Who being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God But made himfelf of no Reputation IT is a very Judicious Observation which some Divines have made upon the Variety that appears throughout the whole Dispensation of the Gospel They have observ'd that Glory and Meanness were so mix'd in it that it seemed as if Providence had designed thereby to point out to us the two Natures of our Great Redeemer From his very Conception we are entertained with the view of a God-Man he was formed in the Womb of the poor Virgin Mary this speaks him Man But the Holy Ghost presides at his Conception this shews him to be more than Man His Birth is proclaimed by Shepherds but the Angels also bear a part in it His Infancy is persecuted by one King but ador'd by three others We find also according to Origen's Observation that amongst the Presents which these Kings or Wise-men offer'd to the Child Jesus there was Myrth for the Mortal Man and Incense for the Immortal God The whole Life of our Saviour represents to us a like mixture He undergoes a Temptation of Forty Days but he hath Angels to minister unto him he is hungry but he curseth the Fig-tree he falls asleep in the Ship but he commands the Storm to a Calm He weeps for his Friend Lazarus but calls him out of his Grave to life he dies but Nature seems to feel the Pangs of Death with him and the Third Day he riseth from the Dead You see there runs a continued Parallel between the Humiliation of Man and the Majesty of God in most of the Circumstances of our Saviour's Life that we may be assur'd of the Right which each of the two Natures hath to our belief of it This Observation is still more evident from the Opposition St. Paul purposely makes between these two Natures in several places At the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans he speaks of the Gospel of God concerning his Son here is the Divinity of Jesus Christ but then Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh there is his Humanity In the 9th Chapter of the same Epistle he saith That Christ came of the Father according to the Flesh but that he is over all God blessed for ever In the Epistle to the Galatians it is said that God sent his Son made
be a Man there is no need of any great Reasoning nor strength of Faith to contemplate this part of our Mystery We need only to consider our selves a little and to sum up all the infirmities of our Nature Hunger Thirst Weariness Pain Sorrow for all these our Saviour took upon him Yet is not this all he was willing to taste Death also which is as it were the Center to which all our infirmities tend and for an encrease of the Bitterness of this Cup he was willing to die a violent Death a Death accompanied with the most exquisite Pains and the utmost Shame Yet he humbled himself he emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross In a Word we see what this Humiliation of our Saviour is he is become what we are and as if the common infirmities of our Nature had not been sufficient for him he borrowed those which human Justice inflicts upon the very worst of Criminals Nevertheless he emptied himself O the vast distance there is betwixt the one of these ends and the other O the immense interval there is betwixt the Abasement of Jesus Christ and the Glory of his Eternal Deity St. Paul passeth from one Abyss to the other from the Abyss of Glory to an Abyss of Misery Who saith he being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God nevertheless he emptied himself What a Beauty there appears in this opposition This in my mind is one of those Eloquent strains in Scripture that we ought to dwell upon with admiration I speak of an Eloquence truly great and sublime which naturally riseth from the greatness of the things themselves and not from a pleasing cadence of pick'd words Nothing can be imagin'd to have more of this character in it than these words Nevertheless he emptied himself What is admirable in this expression would be lost and spoil'd should we go about to extend it by a more ample Explication St. Paul understood the sublime Character much better than our modern Preachers when they have got hold of a Mystery they endeavour to raise it and set it forth by the abundance of their words and bring in Rhetorick to the assistance of their Divinity Their Master did not do so I mean St. Paul who ought to be the Master of all Preachers He utters the greatest things conceivable almost without speaking and in one word lays open the deepest Mystery To count words we speak much more than this our Apostle but to weigh things we speak much less We deceive our selves if we think we are able by the help of words to give a greater Idea of the Mystery we purpose to explain in doing so we only take pains to fill the Ear without reaching the heart which requires but few words as reserving to her self the right of enlargeing upon her subject by Meditations and Reflections Let us give credit herein to the Searcher of hearts who often utter things by halves and the Holy men Inspired by him do sometimes only touch upon their subjects and leave the rest for the Heart to supply St. Paul in saying nothing of what he had seen and heard in the Third Heaven saith more than if he had made a long description of the Glory of the Blessed These are things saith he which it is not lawful for a man to utter See here Believer matter indeed to employ thy Meditation until thou thy self arrive to that Place of never-failing Bliss Our Holy Apostle observes much the same measures when he delivers himself on the Mysteries of Revelation and leaves a Mystery if I may say so in those Mysteries Not as if he would withhold ought of the Counsel of God from us for what he doth not say in one place he doth in another This is a kind of reservedness which honours the Mystery and gives a greater Idea of it What Exclamations what Figures would not an Orator of the World have made use of upon that which St. Paul delivers in the 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans concerning the Rejection of the Jews and the Calling of the Gentiles Whereas the Man of God wraps all up in these few words O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out He leaves the Believer in a deep contemplation on the brink of this Abyss This is Eloquence indeed We may perceive a Ray of this Divine Eloquence in the Expression of St. Paul now before us Nevertheless he emptied himself We will not go about to explain these Words for fear of lessening their force let them enter without attendance into your Hearts consider them in their genuine and natural Import I require nothing else of you save only that you would often say to your selves Nevertheless he emptied himself Christ is God Nevertheless he emptied himself This alone is enough to excite your admiration We have reason to question whether a Soul were it left to its choice would be willing to become incarnate in a Body subject to all our Infirmities Some Wise Men have frankly declar'd themselves That they would not become young again if it were in their power Probably the most part of men would not be of this Opinion especially those who have led a pleasant Life but if one should propose to them a Life of Thirty Four Years full of Miseries and to end at last by the Death of the Cross think you they would accept of a Life on these Terms A Soul would never consent to such an Incarnation and an Angel much less Return we to our Text Christ is God it was not an Human Soul it was not an Angel He is God he was God Nevertheless he emptied himself Creatures would be very unwilling to enter into Partnership with a Nature loaden with Infirmities and yet Jesus Christ the Creator was willing to empty himself An Abyss as impenetrable to Angels as it is to us Ye Angels ye are astonished to see that he hath done that which ye would not have been willing to do you cannot found the bottom of this Mystery you are as well as we on the brink of this Abyss you say as we do Oh Riches Oh Depth Christ is God Nevertheless he emptied himself He who was in the Beginning was willing to be made of a Woman in the fulness of time He who was rich became poor He who is Immortal hath shed his own Blood We make use of the express Terms of Scripture that we may not give the mind of Man the Liberty of making Oppositions now that might prove injurious to the Majesty of our Saviour He was made Man but he always continued to be God The Deity is unchangeable and was always Glorious even after that it had emptied
this Example are Humility and Charity O how happy would this Day prove might it see these two Virtues reigning in your Souls We are naturally proud and I don't know from whence that hardness and insensibility comes that we have for our Neighbour for even Nature inspires us with more Charity than appears in our Lives Proud Souls come and humble your selves in the presence of the Child Jesus he who is God was made Man that ye who are but mortal men might be persuaded to become like God Resemble him in his Humility not in his Glory He hath condescended to put himself in a Condition wherein he might be imitated It was the Crime of our First Parents That they would be as God Be satisfied ye Posterity of Adam at present it is a Vertue to be willing to resemble God Humble your selves as he humbled himself who being God was made Man He hath as you see run through infinite spaces to put himself within reach of us From Glory he hath stept down into Nothing You need not travel far to arrive at Annihilation you have no more than a step to take your Nature hath plac'd you almost on the same Level with Nothing You need only well to view and contemplate your selves and precisely keep your selves to the Idea of what you are and you 'll acknowledge that you want little of being Nothing Retire into your own Bosom set aside the Usurpations of Self-love and then tell us what you find over and above It may be your heart will bear you up against all this by repeating to you some advantages you possess as of Birth Wit Goods Employments but all this doth not much remove you from Nothing My design is not in the least to offend the Distinction which Providence it self hath established by the Variety of its Administration I have a consideration for Births Wit Merit and Employs But it were to be wished that those who have these Advantages did not glory in them and might be throughly perswaded that their Elevation doth not raise them much above Nothing Come hither and take a view of him who is infinitely above you he was God and yet was willing to become Man for this purpose he took his Birth from the Womb of a poor and humble Virgin Be not asham'd to enter into the Stable where he was born go thither to learn Humility For if you don't become like this little Blessed Child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven If the example of the Birth of our Saviour be not sufficient to humble you follow him to Golgotha where you will see an example of the most Transcendent Humility conceivable When we think of a Crucified Jesus we cannot imagine how so much Pride should be amongst Christians For shame let them no longer call themselves the Disciples of a Crucified God Should we judge of the Character of their Master by the Quality of their Manners we would take him to have been some Proud and Self-conceited Philosopher whereas indeed he was a Crucified God Do you ever seriously consider this O ye Christians You are top-full of Pride and yet believe that there is no Salvation for you but by imitating a Master who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross O let us remember for whose sake our Lord hath thus Humbled himself and we shall see what a model of Charity we have to imitate 'T is for men that our Saviour was made Man 't is for the Redemption of men that this God-man died And pray what are these men Why Dust and Ashes miserable Sinners O surpassing Charity O Depth of Riches The Lord God Merciful and Gracious abundant in Goodness What shall we say No words are able to reach such a Love as this And indeed God requires actions rather than words Love for Love Let us Love God as he hath Loved us We cannot do that for him which he hath done for us let us Love him at least with all our strength as he hath Loved us according to the unbounded largeness of his great Compassion Let us Love those whom God hath recommended to our Charity what can we say against them that hinders us to exercise this Virtue towards them They have offended us And what then Had they done us nothing but Good it would not be Charity to Love them Charity consists in this That we Love our Enemies as God hath Loved us us I say that were his Enemies Let us Forgive as God Forgives us exercise also your Charity in distributing to the Poor according to your Ability God who was Sovereignly Rich made himself Poor for our sakes Let us have compassion on those Poor which our Lord hath left with us to prove the Love we bear to him O the happy Christmas this will prove to us in case we can but resolve to practice Humility and Charity For after that we shall have been made conformable to our Blessed Lord by the practice of these two Virtues we shall have a share in his Glory which is the Crown of them Amen The Second Discourse PHILIP II. 6. Who being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God WE know that the Scripture often speaks of God as of man but it never speaks of man as of God the reason whereof is very evident for the Divine Nature being wholly Spiritual it was but necessary that the Holy Spirit should clothe it with some sensible Representations to the end that entring our Souls by the assistance of these Colours it might make a deeper impression upon them This is done without any danger forasmuch as the Scripture doth elsewhere unfold these Metaphors Or if there be any danger in it with regard to the simpler sort of People 't is only this of falling into an Error which hath no influence upon Divine Worship Hence it is that Scripture makes no difficulty at all to speak of God as of a man but never doth it speak of man as of God For indeed to what purpose should this be So forc'd a Metaphor would be of no use at all and would darken the Stile of the Holy Ghost instead of making it more Intelligible Neither is this the worst that is in it for by this means we should be in danger of taking man for God which is the most dangerous of all other mistakes whatsoever God is too Jealous of his own Glory to set a Creature on equal ground with Himself and he is too much concerned for our Salvation to put us to the Hazard of such a Mistake We find also that the Scripture only bestows very plain encomiums upon the very greatest of men Moses is an emphatical Instance of this After the Death of that glorious Lawgiver and Commander all the Panegyrick God bestows upon him is compriz'd in these words Moses my servant is dead This was enough for a man Josh 1.2 God took care to hide the Body of this Great Law-giver for fear
it self but uniting personally with the Man Jesus it appropriated to it self all the Infirmities of this Second Nature and it is true to say That God emptied himself that he was made man that he shed his Blood It would be matter of trouble to us should you believe that the Divinity of Jesus Christ passed through all these Degrees of Abasement No this is impossible it is of the Essence of God always to continue God Jesus Christ is in this respect the same yesterday and to day and for ever He has therefore only emptied himself by entring into Union with an Infirm and Mortal Man in such a manner as that the two Natures constitute only one Person much after the same manner as the Soul and Body united by the Bonds of Life make only one Person This Explication which we have thought necessary doth not hinder but that there remain still many Wonders in the Mystery of the Incarnation It is always true that the Word hath emptied it self It is always true that our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ hath found the Secret to be made Man and to humble himself for us We have in this Mystery two great Motives to Gratitude the Birth and Death of Jesus Christ The Child is born to us the Son is given to us we celebrate in one and the same Day two great Festivals Christmas and Easter It is our duty to solemnize them by a redoubling of our Zeal one only of these Mysteries claims all our Thankfulness What shall we do for a God who was willing for our sakes to live after the manner of men The Eternal Word which had no need of us hath emptied himself for to make us happy O Adorable Word Thou hadst not the same concern for the Angels that have left their Station Thou hast not clothed thy self with their Nature though more excellent than ours but hast honoured our Earth in taking it upon thee Our merciful Redeemer was willing to pass through the Womb of a Virgin there to take upon him Flesh like ours What shall we render to God for so great a Favour Let us take the Cup of Blessing and glorifie God in the Language of Angels Glory be to God on high Let us glorifie him as much as is possible for us Could we speak to the Angels as they spake to the Shepherds we would repeat to those Blessed Spirits the Words which they themselves have taught us This day a Child is born to us Glory be to God in the highest We cannot sufficiently glorifie him here on Earth do ye therefore help us to glorifie him If we be not able to render unto our Saviour all the Glory that is due unto him for his Birth what shall we say with respect to his Death which we have this Morning celebrated It was much in him to be born for us but it is much more to die for us What! have our hearts nothing to say on occasion of this Death Sure had they been dumb or insensible as to the Mystery of the Incarnation shall not the Death of Christ put life into them What can have any power over you if this Death can make no Impression upon you Pray what will be able to move you What will be able to engage you to serve God if this do not But I don't consider that I am speaking to those who for the most part have been entertain'd at the Lord's Table If all that Funeral Furniture wherewith he appears in the Eucharist if these Sacred Symbols which convey as it were the Death of Jesus Christ into your very Bowels have not been able to move your Hearts no Sermon will be of force enough to stir them In this case your heart must be altogether insensible so that Words can have no effect upon it We may suppose therefore that before your entring into this place you have fill'd your Souls with that double Solemnity to which this Day invites you and that after having seriously meditated the Birth and Death of our Saviour you have put your selves into a State of Repentance you have put on your Wedding Garments to go to meet your Bridegroom We must also suppose that you have renewed your Repentance in approaching to this Holy Table It is a hard thing so nearly to behold what our Blessed Lord hath done for us without being pierc'd and penetrated thereby At this happy meeting of your Heart with the Mercy of God you have bewailed your Sins and have promised a more holy Conversation for time to come We cannot believe that since that happy Moment you have chang'd your thoughts you are still the same and your Piety still preserves all its heat for otherwise what would be comparable to your Inconstancy what in two hours time to change your most solemn Vows and Promises into Perjuries this is scarce possible We suppose therefore that you are still in that good state even in that state of Repentance wherein you were when you communicated The only thing that still remains for us to do is to exhort you to persevere in these holy Motions We do not expect that you will always feel the same Unction or that you will be always in the same Recollection such a state is not consistent with our Frame nor with those different kinds of life to which Providence hath tied us But nothing can hinder you from performing your Promises you may live and live like Christians Were you engaged in ways of living that were inconsistent with the Spirit of our Holy Religion I would conjure you presently to quit those Professions wherein you could not be saved We must live 't is true but 't is more necessary we should be saved What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world if at the same time he loseth his own soul I can't think that amongst those that hear me there is any person whose Profession is directly contrary to Salvation but yet it is but too too visible that most Professions have their Rocks and their Dangers Snares rain down upon all the Children of Men as the Holy Spirit speaks All of you as many as are here apprehend well enough what I would say to morrow or the next day for I dare not say this day will meet with these dangers the occasions in which you have been formerly worsted will present themselves again Then be sure to call to mind your Promises to God this Day Represent this Holy Table to your Spirit recall the Solemnity of this Day be faithful to the Lord and pay your Vows to the most High We will not here run over the several Vertues to which his Service engageth you but we can do no less than specifie those to which St. Paul exhorts the Philippians upon occasion of our Lord's Example who when he was God did notwithstanding so abase himself as to be made Man yea to that degree as to die the Death of the Cross The two Vertues that are most dazling in
St. John's Gospel No man hath ascended up to heaven but hothat came down from heaven Joh. 3.13 even the Son of Man which is in heaven He is discoursing with Nicodemus here on Earth and at the same time tells him he is in Heaven This can admit of no tolerable explication but by means of that Immensity whereby he fills heaven and earth These are the two Divine Attributes that are absolutely incommunicable to Creatures Let us next run over the other Attributes that are by some way of Analogy communicable to them but are possest by God in the highest degree of Absoluteness and Perfection I shall not say that our Saviour is Holy that he is Intelligent that he is Powerful and Merciful which are the four Attributes that remain to be examined Should we say no more than so all this may be attributed to Creatures We find amongst them Holiness Knowledge Power and Mercy No body can doubt but that if we make it evident that our Lord possesseth all these four Perfections as God doth you will be furnish'd with as many Demonstrations to evince the Divinity of our Saviour Our Saviour then is Holy but so as God is which we prove from a plain Text of Scripture The Prophet Isaiah tells us in his sixth Chapter that he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne amidst the Acclamations of the Seraphims who cried one to another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Would you know who this Lord or rather Jehovah is to whom they give the threefold Compellation of Holy St. John the Evangelist will resolve you who tells us in the twelfth Chapter of his Gospel that Isaiah spake of our Saviour Joh. 12 41. These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him Some have been of Opinion that Isaiah was condemn'd to Death because he had presum'd to say That he had seen him who was invisible This seem'd to be a meer piece of Blasphemy but what can be imagin'd more abominable than that which St. John tells us here if our Blessed Lord be not indeed the King the Lord of Hosts the Holy One of Israel Let us make no scruple to believe the Beloved Disciple who repos'd himself on the Breast of the Son of God Trust we the piercing sight of this Eagle who took so near a view of this glorious Son Rely we upon the Testimony of an Evangelist whose end in writing his Gospel was to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God It is he assures us that he whom the Seraphims with so much Humility adore crying to one another and saying Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts was no other than our Blessed Lord. We say further That he hath Knowledge also but as God He knows all that God knows Remember always that we speak of the Son of God We know that the Son of Man had a Knowledge which encreas'd by degrees and what is more that he did not know all things No man knows that hour saith he no not the Son of Man This is true of the Son of Man or of the Human Nature of our Saviour but the Son of God the Divine Nature in our Saviour knew that which the Son of Man knew not The Son of God knows all that God knows that is all things St. Peter tells us as much Lord saith he thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee This Knowledge is Universal and to take a view of it that way where with one cast of the Eye you may discover it to be the Knowledge of God we need only to observe that the Eyes of our Lord pierce to the very bottom of Man's Heart Thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee St. Peter's Heart was not the only Heart that was known to Christ All things were naked and open before him Lord thou knowest all things The Proposition is general The Scribes and Pharisees those Hypocritical Professors could not hide their most secret Thoughts from him this Truth appears from many passages of the Gospel To Cite only one place which by reason of its generality comprehends all the rest we need only take notice of what St. John saith towards the end of the Second Chapter of his Gospel But Jesus did not commit himself unto them saith he Joh. 2.24 25. because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man The Case here mentioned is not that of a Prophet to whom God discovers the Heart of some particular Man The Knowledge which the Gospel ascribes to our Saviour is Universal no Heart escapes him He knew what was in man A Knowledge that God in a most peculiar manner appropriates to himself in several places of the Old Testament I know my God 1 Chron. 29.17 Jerem. 17.10 that thou triest the heart said David towards the latter end of his Life I the Lord search the heart I try the reins saith he himself by the Mouth of the Prophet Jeremy Let us read to the end of the Verse Even continues he to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings 'T is God that speaks here and he speaks as God he speaks like himself Never did any Prophet speak thus And yet this is the very passage our Lord ascribes to himself in the Revelation speaking to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2.23 And all the Churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Words that make it evident that our Saviour declares expresly that it was himself that spake in Jeremy and that the Knowledge of the Heart of Man belongs to him in chief The Fifth Attribute whereby we learn to know the Divine Nature of Christ is his Power He is powerful but so as to be powerful as God he is the Almighty In Virtue of this power the Son doth all that the Father doth Joh. 5.19 What things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Doth the Father raise the Dead So doth the Son also he quickneth whom he will Doth the Father create the World The Son doth so likewise Which two instances shew us the extent of the Father's Power Indeed we cannot conceive any greater than that of restoring Life to the Dead and that of creating such a World as this is and yet both these belong to our Saviour In the first place he hath raised the Dead but have not others done the same Miracle Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament and the Disciples of our Lord in the New have not they also raised some that were Dead who for all that never pretended to be equal with God True it is that Elijah and Elisha each of them raised a Child to Life but with what pains do they work these Miracles God makes them sweat for it
of any service against the Divinity of Christ It is clear that these Words contain an opposition the opposite to true is false If the Father be called the only true God in opposition to the Son we easily see what follows It is true that there is an opposition in this place not between the Father and the Son but between the Father and whatsoever is falsly called God in the World And in this sense as it is said of the Father That he is the only true God we may also say of the Son that he is the only true God and so of the Holy Ghost because the Divine Nature which is indivisibly possess'd by these three Persons is indeed the only true God What remains now that can give us the least trouble what can be reasonably alledged against the Divinity of our Lord shall we object that he himself sometimes speaks of it with great reservedness It is very true that our Saviour with a great deal of caution and reservedness declared those Truths that were capable of setting the Jews against him The calling of the Gentiles may be one Instance for all Sometimes he wraps this Doctrine under the Vail of Parables sometimes he makes an Allusion to Histories wherein it seems that Grace was not shut up in the compass of one only People Truth can have no entrance into Souls full of darkness which as the Light of the Day comes after the Night is gone What would this Truth of the Calling of the Gentiles have produc'd if our Lord had preach'd it without any caution It would not have been believed and our Lord would have been put to death before his work had been done I speak as a Man We may say the same thing of our Saviour's Godhead which being such that the Jews could not bear the glory of it he discovers it by little and little to them he tries their hearts after that he had found by the manner of their reception of these Words I and my Father are one that it was not seasonable yet to declare this Doctrine he stops there and leads out the Thoughts of his Auditors to the Magistrates whom the Scripture calls Gods If we mind it our Lord doth not fully justifie thereby what he had said in these words I and my Father are one For never did any of the Magistrates speak at this rate what is more they never made themselves Gods nor equal with God The Scripture indeed calls them Gods but they never said they were equal with God Christ made himself God and for the justification of himself is contented to alledge the Example of the Magistrates The Case is plain our Saviour intends not to retract what he had said his Design only is to moderate the fury of the Jews Neither indeed were they fully satisfied with it they endeavour to lay hold on him but he escaped out of their hands Do we find him in this place saying That he is not God Not in the least he never said any thing that came near it Whereas indeed he ought to have said it positively and often to make his Doctrine of more efficacy to the Jews He very well knew that nothing was so offensive to them as Blasphemy and that he quite lost himself in their esteem by making himself God And yet for all this he always returns to it and frequently offers them the same occasion of offence Pray what may be the meaning of this has he no desire that his Doctrine should be received no body dare say so Why is it then that he so often toucheth the same Mystery It is plain as the Meridian Sun that nothing but the force of Truth engageth him to make himself equal with his heavenly Father He is not willing always to speak openly by a too free and open declaration of himself for in this case he would either have convinced all his Auditors or not If we suppose the first they would never have put him to death which would have been equally contrary to the Prophecies of old and to the Happiness of Mankind which stood in need of his Death If the latter they would have put him to death too soon he did need three or four years time wherein to accomplish his Work These Considerations oblige him to speak sparingly of and in part to conceal the glory of his Divinity On some occasions we find that he wholly restrains himself as in the 10th Chapter of St. John in others again he utters himself with great liberty as in the 5th Chapter of the same Gospel When there is nothing more for him to do but to die he frankly declares himself to be the Son of God I think we may say that he was the first Martyr for his own Divinity for it is upon this Declaration of his that the Jews unanimously cried out He is guilty of Death According to their Judgment he had uttered a horrid Blasphemy and by the Law deserved that Sentence should be pronounced against him How does he justifie himself of this Charge Doth he alledge that of the Magistrates or the Angels on this occasion doth he say That hel 's the Son of God because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost or because he had received the power of doing Miracles and of declaring the Truth Thus understood there was no Blasphemy in the Case and he ought if he had not been God to have set the Jews right by justifying himself in this manner But on the contrary he maintains to the last moments of his Life himself to be the Son of God in a sense which the Jews judged Blasphemy that is to say The Eternal Son of God for otherwise taken it could not be Blasphemy I shall only propound the two other Reflections tho indeed they be no less important than the former My Third Reflection is That the Doctrine I have here asserted and proved is the Doctrine of the Primitive Church This is so incontestably true that Socinus himself owns That from the first beginning of the Church Socin Epist 3. ad Radec Ab ipso ferme nascentis Ecclesiae initio tot Viros non minus Pietate quam Doctrinâ clarissimâ—â— tot Christi Sanctissimos Martyres ad eout nullus sit numerus eum alioqui grovissimum errorem secutoâ— fursse quod Christus sit unus ille Deus qui omnia creavit aut certe exillius substantia propria genitus there have been a great number of Learned Men Saints and Martyrs who believed that Jesus Christ was that God who created all things or that he was begotten of his own Substance This express Acknowledgment from an Adversary whose great interest it was to rid himself of the weight Antiquity would bear against him may very well pass for a strong Argument on an occasion where it doth not seem so proper to enter upon the Historical proof of it It hath already been shewed that the Primitive Church did believe the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour at