our Nature had been an Eclipse of his Divine Glory Power and Greatness in laying it aside as it were to suffer in his humane Nature for our sakes that now the Father would so translate his humane Nature from that mean Estate and Condition to one more glorious that might better sute with his infinite Perfection and correspond with it But Secondly This Text most properly as it seems to me ought to be understood not of a Deprivation of Glory of the Divine Nature but only of the Exaltation of the humane Nature of Christ as if Christ should have said And now O Father glorify thou me in my humane Nature or glorify my humane Nature in taking of it into that Glory which my Divine Nature had with thee before the World was This I humbly conceive is meant by the words of our blessed Lord but take it in either sense it agrees with the Deity of Jesus Christ Secondly I come more particularly to answer the said Objections 1st Though as it is objected it may be concluded from the Words that because Christ begs this Glory of the Father therefore he had it not in actual Possession before Yet this is only respecting his humane Nature which opposes not the Truth of his Deity for though he was not yet supplied by it or glorified John 7.39 Yet he then had the Divine Nature and was in Union with it 2dly For any to say that that Glory which Christ had before the World was is only meant of God's Decree is an imposing on the Text that which it cannot bear for it doth not run parallel with 2 Tim. 1.9 because it is one thing to say that we are saved and called according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the World began and another thing to have Glory before the World began the one plainly shews that we were not actually called nor saved before the World was but were then in the purpose of God only and the other is positively spoken of the Glory that Christ had in actual Possession as the sense of the words import And I hope these are sufficient Answers to clear the Text of these Objections Objection to Coloss 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him First They say that this Scripture speaketh of Christ as a second or middle cause that God created all things by Jesus Christ Eph. 3.9 Answer First I do acknowledg that Jesus Christ is two ways to be considered 1st Essentially as he is God and so all things are of him and from him and created by him indifferently with other Divine Persons 2dly Personally as he is the second Person in the Godhead and so is he also in the Works of Creation for all things are of the Father by the Son through the Spirit 1 Cor. 8.6 John 1.3 Gen. 1.2 Psal 104.30 Eph. 2.18 For as the Father is of himself a Divine Subsistent so he worketh from himself and as the Son is of the Father so he worketh from the Father and as the Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son so he worketh from them both yet neither of them exist or work before each other in time but do naturally and necessarily work together for when we say the Son is the second Person in the Deity we grant the Father to be the first neither in time nor Excellency of Nature to the other Divine Persons but in respect to Preheminence according to his peculiar manner of Subsistence and incommunicable Property So also the Divine Persons have their Order or Preheminence of working according to their Order or Preheminence of Subsistence and incommunicable Property in the Divine Essence Secondly They say that all things in the Heavens and on the Earth are not used for all things simply and absolutely appeareth because the Apostle saith By him God hath reconciled all things in Heaven and on Earth and also in the words themselves it is not said the Heavens and the Earth were created by Christ but all things that are in the Heavens and on the Earth And the Sum of what they understand by the Text is that after God had raised Christ from the dead and had given Glory to him all the things both in the Heavens and on the Earth were by him reformed and reduced to another State and Condition in that he became the head of Angels and Men who before acknowledged God only for their Lord. Secondly To this I answer 1st That if we can reconcile the word Create in ver 16. so as that naturally its Signification doth import but one and the same thing with the word Reconcile in ver 20. then indeed there is some reason to acquiesce with them in their sense But as the words have different Significations so they signify to us different things 2dly Though reconciling all things to God by Jesus Christ whether in Heaven or in Earth must be understood in a limited sense yet there is not the same nor so good reason for all things that were created by Jesus Christ to be so considered For those all things that were reconciled were all things that were reconcileable by the Blood of the Cross whether in Heaven or in Earth and not all things absolutely in Heaven and in Earth for the evil Angels are not reconcilable but in ver 16. the case is much different and is to be understood simply and absolutely that by Jesus Christ all things were created for the words are positive By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and because we should not misapprehend the Apostle's meaning he explains himself more fully to us that they were all things both visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers And surely this cannot be meant of a Reformation or Renovation of all things in Heaven and Earth because the good Angels never wanted such Reformation neither were all Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers either of evil Angels that are invisible or of wicked Men on Earth then renewed or so reduced by Reformation as that Christ became their Head and was so acknowledged by them For though Christ became the Head of his own Church yet the World did not know him in such a manner as to own him for their Soveraign Lord and to yield true and sincere Obedience to his Laws for under the Conduct of Satan the Dragon Heathen Empire made head against Christ and all that professed his Holy Name And tho something may be said that in the Reign of Constantine the Great there was a mighty Reformation made in the Empire of the World yet this cannot answer the Import of the words For by him were all things already created they were not to make in future times but they were already done
needless for the Holy Ghost to frame the Body of our Lord or else that the Divine Nature of the Son of God was idle Will you grant then which by this your Reason must needs follow because Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost therefore God the Father was idle and not the prime Worker of this marvellous Conception What is here cited out of this learned Man sufficiently shews the Weakness of this Objection against the Deity of Jesus Christ CHAP. IV. Wherein is answered some Objections against the Scriptures that prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost OBjection to Matth. 28.19 Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost It cannot be rightly inferred that because the Holy Spirit is here ranked with the Father and the Son therefore he is equal to them by this account when the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.21 saith I charge thee Gr. I obtest before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without Prejudice doing nothing by Partiality joyning the elect Angels with the Father and the Son this would imply that the elect Angels are equal with the Father and the Son Answer There is not the same reason to imply from this of Timothy that the elect Angels are equal to the Father and the Son as there is for the Holy Spirit 's Equality with them from Matth. 28. For if we rightly consider these two Scriptures we may easily see that they are not Parallels but that the Holy Spirit and the elect Angels are joined together with the Father and the Son upon far different accounts the one are ranked together not as Equals with the Father and the Son but because they are ministring Spirits that have their Eyes on the Church of God and behold the Order and Discipline of it whose Work and Office is to attend upon it and be familiar about it 1 Cor. 11.10 Psal 34.7 Insomuch that we ought to be very careful of speaking or doing any unseemly thing that might hinder the Ministration of those blessed and Holy Spirits Now for this cause Paul exhorteth Timothy to observe those things as in the Presence of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Angels and therefore they are ranked together and not as Equals in Nature and Divine Worship for they refuse to assume that Glory which is peculiarly proper to God alone Rev. 22. So that this Text relates to the Inspection of Angels into the Obedience of the Saints in the way of which Protection is ministred to them by the Angels who are said to encamp round about those that fear the Lord Psal 34.7 Or else the Apostle shews by ranking these three together that the Angels are Witnesses to this Charge though in all things else they cannot be unless they could search the Heart and try the Reins And why may not the Apostle take them in as Witnesses as Moses did who called Heaven and Earth viz. God Angels and Men joining them as Witnesses against Israel that he had set before them Life and Death c. Deut. 30.19 But the Holy Spirit Matth. 28. is not ranked together with the Father and the Son only as a ministring Spirit or as one that beareth Witness together with them in any matter but to be equally honoured with them both for in this Ordinance of Baptism wherein we worship God in acknowledging what he hath done for us in order to Salvation we are commanded to ascribe it to the Father Son and Holy Spirit And there is reason for it For though the Father had accepted the Merits of his Son on conditions of true Faith and Repentance yet if the Holy Spirit had not undertaken to work these Conditions in us we had been lost so that we are obliged both from the Work it self and the Command of God to attribute the same Honour to the one as to the other and herein chiefly lies the Difference of this Text from that of Timothy because this commands Divine Worship to be given to the Holy Ghost together with the Father and the Son which declares his Divine Nature Objection to Isa 6.9 10. compared with Acts 28.25 26 27. To these two Scriptures I have met with Biddle's Objections stated and answered ready to my Hand by Mr. Estwick in his Confutation of Biddle's Confession of Faith Page 307. whose Words I shall prefer rather than my own Biddle In the one place the Lord said in the other the Holy Ghost therefore the Adversaries do conclude the Holy Spirit is the Lord. This arguing is very frivolous for at this rate I may conclude that Moses is the Lord compare Exod. 32.11 Israelites are called God's People ver 7. God calls them the People of Moses and Isa 65.1 I am found of them that sought me not Rom. 10.20 Isaiah is more bold and saith I was found of them that asked not after me therefore Isaiah is the Lord. God is said by his Power to save us 2 Tim. 1.8 9. Paul attributes the same to himself 1 Cor. 9.22 and to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.16 therefore Paul yea Timothy is God If the Adversaries say these things are otherwise ascribed unto the Lord than to the Men aforesaid I answer it is more than the Texts themselves hold forth which neither express nor intimate any such thing If they say that if not in these yet other Texts and the Nature of the thing it self doth sufficiently teach it I reply that I can make the same Answer touching the Lord and his Holy Spirit but it is well that there is such an Intimation in the Texts themselves for in the one the Lord spake to Isaiah in a Vision in the other That the Holy Ghost spake them by Isaiah to the Fathers These two are different since Isaiah only heard these Words in the Vision for had the Fathers been there why should God bid Isaiah go and tell them to the People Paul ascribes these Words to the Holy Ghost to intimate only that whatsoever was spoken in the Scripture was recorded by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and so spoken by him Answer Your Elusions to avoid the strength of the Argument are vain and your Examples taken out of the Scriptures are fallacia parium are unlike to this in hand Sometimes an Instrument speaks in the Name of the great God that sent him This is your Evasion therefore it must be so taken Isa 6. compared with Acts 28. this is a plain Fallacy Exod. 32. Moses calleth the Israelites God's People in Covenant with him and God calls them the People of Moses being under the Curse of the Law by reason of their Idolatry and because he was God's Instrument to bring them out of Egypt and to conduct them in the Wilderness it is apparent to every one and the Text holds it forth that they were otherwise God's People and otherwise the People of Moses he being a finite distinct and separate Substance from the
Angels but He took on Him the Seed of Abraham This is meant of his Incarnation as the 14th Verse which relates to this more fully shews and then if His assuming our Nature is put in opposition to his taking on Him the Nature of Angels it is a clear Demonstration that he preexisted his Incarnation in some other Nature than either of these And to imagine that the Holy Apostle who wrote by the Holy Ghost should affirm that the Son of God did not assume the Nature of Angels if he had before existed in it would be an Imputation of Absurdity to him yea to the Holy Ghost which is Blasphemy From all which it is apparent that Christ did not preexist his Incarnation in the Nature of Angels but as it must follow in the Divine Nature of God Secondly I come to prove the Deity of the Son of God by his Eternity First Scripture is John 1.1 In the Beginning was the Word First this Text is not to be understood of the preaching of the Gospel by Jesus Christ or John the Baptist for this was not a Mystery fit to be set as a frontice-piece to John's Book nor is there any such Intimation in the Words and therefore it preceded that beginning Secondly He speaks of that Beginning in which all Things were created ver 3. which shews that he did not only precede the preaching of the Gospel but the beginning of the Creation and therefore he was from all Eternity Second Scripture is Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and his Name shall be called Everlasting Father or Father of Eternity as is confessed by our Adversaries See Biddle's Confess Article 3. If we read ver 7. and compare it with Luke 1.31 32 33. we may see that this Text is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ and if he be the Author of Eternity he must Himself be Eternal Third Scripture is Col. 1.17 And he is before all things And so as that in ver 16. All things were created by Him in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible which could not be said of Christ unless he were the Eternal God existing from all Eternity Fourth Scripture is Rev. 1.17 18. Fear not I am the first and the last I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore This Scripture cannot be applied unto any other but Jesus Christ who was dead and is alive again for though it was the Angel that spake yet it was as representing the Person of Jesus Christ and therefore whatsoever he saith in his own Person must be applied to him and this is manifested in ver 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty And in ch 2.8 where the Angel speaks the same words but not in the same Person he did before saying And unto the Angel of the Church in Smyrna write These Things saith the First and the Last which was dead and is alive again Yea and in all the Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia he doth not only dictate them as from another but also the same Description that John gives of the Angel the Angel applies to the Son of God ch 2.18 So that these Words I am the First and the Last do relate unto Jesus Christ and as nothing can be first or preexist the Creation but the Divine Nature So our Lord Jesus Christ as being the first must preexist all things in the Nature of God Fifth Scripture to prove the Eternity of the Son of God is John 17.5 And now O Father glorify Thou me with thy own Self with the Glory which I had with Thee before the World was If the Son were in Glory with the Father before the World was he was then existing before Time and therefore from all Eternity Coessential with the Father Fifthly The Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is proved by his Works First from John 2.19 21. Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up But he spake of the Temple of his Body We read of many mighty Works that were wrought by the Holy Apostles but not in their own Names or by their own Power saith Peter Acts 3.12 Why look you so earnestly on us as though by our own Power or Holiness we had made this Man to walk And Moses for saying Must we fetch Water out of this Rock was shut out of the Land of Canaan Num. 20.12 19. For though God had given such power to Men yet he expected the Glory should be given to him alone as the Apostles did to Jesus Christ ver 16. And surely if our Lord Jesus had not been God equal with the Father in Nature he had offended in assuming that Power to Himself which is to be ascribed to none but God Who is said to have raised him the third Day Acts 10.40 So that the same Power which is ascribed to God the same doth our Lord Jesus assume unto himself and this demonstrates him to be of the same Nature Second Scripture is John 1.3 All things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made And therefore the Word or Son of God ver 14 18. is the Eternal God and Creator of all Things Third Scripture is Col. 1.16 17. For by Him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by Him and for Him And he is before all things and by Him all things consist It is not neither could it be said that all things were renewed by the Son of God for the good Angels had no need of it and the Devils were not neither were Men save only a select Number in part but not wholly renewed for this cannot be until our Bodies are raised up from the Grave and reunited unto our Souls Nay the whole Creation was never yet renewed but is groaning under the bondage of Corruption and waiting to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 c. And therefore this Scripture as it must of necessity be taken in its literal Sense so fully asserts the eternal Power and Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ that I know not how its Authority can be evaded for if all things were created and are upheld by him and that because as the Apostle gives the reason that he was before all things then he must be the eternal God Co-creator with the Father Fourth Scripture is Heb. 1.10 And thou Lord in the Beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens were the Works of thy Hands The word And connexes this Verse with the preceding Words and makes it relate to ver 8. as if we should read it thus But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And to the
through their Official Ministration and in all those 3 Scriptures Acts 17.29 Rom. 1.20 and Coloss 2.9 wherein Godhead is mentioned it must of necessity be understood of the Supream and Eternal Godhead only So that I see not the least reason why the corrupt Notions of our Adversaries should weaken our Faith in this Doctrine which is so clearly asserted in this as well as in many other Scriptures Objection to John 1.1 2 3 10. In the Beginning was the Word Nothing is here concerning Christ's being from Eternity since mention is here made of the beginning whereas a Beginning is opposite to Eternity Answ 1. If Christ were in the beginning of the Creation and so as that all Things were made by him ver 3. then he did preexist the Creation and it is not said he began to be in or with the Beginning but then he was which denotes his being before the Beginning and nothing could preexist the beginning of the Creation but God alone Secondly They say that the word Beginning is every where in the Scripture referred to the subject Matter which is here the Gospel which John undertook to describe as will appear if you compare this of John with Mark 1.1 Luke 1.2 chap. 3.23 where according to the Greek it ought to be rendred thus And Jesus was about thirty years of Age when he began c. Answer First Mark in chap. 1.1 declares unto us what he knew only from the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel 1st Hinting to that of John's Ministration and then immediately comes to Christ ver 9. Second Luke's beginning is said in ver 3. to be from the very first and he begins higher than Mark did and gives us an account of the Conception and Birth of John and then of Christ and after these that at Christ's Baptism he began to be about thirty years of Age or as they will have the Greek that he was thirty years of Age when he began viz. to preach the Gospel for so it must be understood so that as they say Beginning is to be referred to the subject Matter treated of And therefore Beginning in John 1.1 must not be limited to either of these but referred to its own proper subject Matter as the others were to theirs Now that this subject Matter to which it must be referred is not the Gospel as they affirm doth appear because he is speaking of the Creation of the World by the Word which is confessed by them to be Jesus Christ But here as they think they have a Salvo for though all Things are said to be made by him in the Beginning yet they say it is not simply and absolutely All but all Things belonging to the Gospel like that in 2 Cor. 5.17 All Things are become new And that the next words Without Him was not any Thing made that was made must be understood that all Things were not done by him for so the Greek will bear it as they say for though they acknowledg they were begun by him yet they were not brought to an issue by himself but by his Apostles in his Name and by his Authority and so not done without Him And they further object that it is not said that the World was created but made by him not that he made it but it was made by him as the second Cause and that the word World doth not only denote the Heaven and Earth but besides other Significations designeth either Mankind as the present place sheweth or the World to come as appeareth by Heb. 1.6 which they draw from chap. 2.5 and by chap. 10.5 which also they affirm to be spoken not of this World but of that which is to come since it 's said in chap. 8.4 For if he were on Earth he would not so much as be a Priest From all which they give us the sense of the words two ways First That Mankind was reformed and as it were made again by Christ because he brought Life and Immortality to Men who were lost and subject to Eternal Death 2 d. The latter Sense is That the World to come which we expect by Christ is by him made as to us as the same is said to become in respect of us although it be already present to Christ and the Angels To these I shall give particular Answers First All things that were made by Christ cannot be here understood of the all things of the Gospel but of the Creation of the World And this I shall endeavour to demonstrate by shewing the great difference between the Text of John and that of Paul to the Corinthians and how little relation they have to each other In 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore if any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature Old things are past away behold all things are become new The Words all things become new must of necessity imply a Renovation for tho the Graces of the Spirit are created in us yet the Man is not created but renewed and restored by them So that in the same Sense that the Man is a new Creature all things may be said to become new and this agrees with other Scriptures as in Ephes 2.8 9 10. That which is said to be by Creation in Christ Jesus is in Titus 3.5 by the Renewings of the Holy Ghost but in John 1.3 it is said that all Things were made by him which is not only a different mode of Speech to that of Paul but does imply a different thing for as I have shewed the words of Paul import a Restauration or Renovation of the Creature as they also do affirm but this of John hath peculiar relation to the Creation of the World 1st Because the words All Things are made by him are plain and positive and therefore it is dangerous and presumptuous to restrain their Sense to other Scriptures whose subject Matter is foreign to it and to impose such an uncouth Sense which cannot naturally be drawn from it and which is incoherent with other Scriptures that mutually concur with its plain and proper Sense as Coloss 1.16 to which place I may say something hereafter 2dly Those words All Things were made by him is meant of the Creation and not of the Gospel appears from ver 10 11. He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not c. Now to assert as they do That these words The World was made by him must be understood of Mankind that was reformed by Jesus Christ is a squeezing forth such a Sense as they cannot possibly bear and it is unusual and improper in such a form of Words to express the Reformation of Mankind and I do not know of any such absolute Text that asserts the new Creation or Gospel-Renovation but that there is some adjunct to explain it from the Creation of the World as to be created in Christ Jesus to become new or the
before So that I see not the least grounds wherefore they should impose such an unnatural sense upon the words but that they must of necessity be understood of the Creation of all things in Heaven and Earth by Jesus Christ And though they make this Exception that it is not said the Heavens and the Earth were created by him but only the things contained in them yet this omission cannot be an Exclusion of them nor hinder what is asserted in the Text but that it remains a sufficient proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ Objection to Heb. 1.10 This Author to the Hebrews doth not refer the Creation of Heaven and Earth unto Christ but only the abolishing of them Answer First I do affirm that the Creation of Heaven and Earth must of necessity be applied to Jesus Christ because the word and in the beginning of the Verse is a conjunctive word that joins this Verse to the Words going before which relate to the Son of God so that as in ver 8. we read But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever So also by virtue of the Conjunction with ver 10. it is proper to understand the Text as if the Apostle should instead of the word and have said But unto the Son he said Thou Lord in the Beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth c. And this Conjunction is put for the same purpose for in Psal 102.25 from whence this Text is taken there is none of it Secondly There can be no reason assigned wherefore the abolishing of the Heavens should only be referred to Christ when it is not by virtue of a Conjunction immediately annexed but of one annexed to the Creation of them which doth preceed and therefore that of the Creation is primarily to be referred to the Son of God Objection to those Scriptures wherein the Deity of Christ is proved from that Divine Worship and Adoration which is given to him Forasmuch as all the places that testify concerning Christ's divine Honour do also testify that this Divine Honour was given to him at a certain Time and for a certain Cause it is plain that the Divine Nature of Christ cannot thence be collected And whereas it is said Isa 42.8 I will not give my Glory to another it is meant as is presently added nor my Praise to graven Images God speaketh of them who have no Communion with him and to whom if any Glory and Honour be ascribed it redounded not to him But he saith not that he will not communicate his Glory with such a one as Christ which is dependent of him and subordinate to him for by this means no Diminution of his Glory is made since the whole is referred to him Answer First Though some places that testify concerning Christ's Honour do also testify that this Honour was given to him as at the time of his Exaltation and because he had a Name given him above every name Phil. 2.9 10. Yet the Divine Nature of Christ may be collected from his Divine Honour and Worship given to him For the time and cause of the Exaltation and Honour of Christ's humane Nature by Donation doth not hinder the truth of his Divine Essence from the Divine Honour ascribed to him because such Honour and Worship is not nor cannot be simply conferred on Christ as Man but by virtue of his Divine Person and this appears from what is already proved that God only is to be worshipped with Divine Worship even Him only who is God by Nature Secondly To Isa 42.8 they say That God's not giving his Gloty to another is an exclusion of Graven Images but they will not allow it as a total Exclusion of all others Answer It 's true that Graven Images are excluded and so also are all others whatsoever that are created Beings for the words themselves import that besides Graven Images he will not give his Glory to another viz. Nature nor Person So that even the Son himself if he had not an uncreated Existence subsisting in the Nature of God he would be excluded from Divine Glory and therefore the Divine Glory ascribed to him proves him to be a Divine Person As to the rest of those Scriptures that I have cited to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ by the Divine Honour and Adoration given to him I have not met with any that have assailed them and therefore I hope that no material Objection can be made against them CHAP. II. Wherein is answered some Objections that are inferred by our Adversaries from divers Texts of Scripture against the Deity of Jesus Christ OBjection from Mark 13.32 But of that Day and that Hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father From this Scripture some do conclude that Christ is not God because he knew not all things Answer The Humanity of Christ might not know all things until they were revealed by his Divine Person as it did not know of that Day nor Hour for the Divine Person had not yet revealed it and though the Humanity of Christ which is not the Divine Person of the Son but is only a part of Christ's Person is here called the Son yet this impedes not the Text of this Exposition for the Humanity of Christ is sometimes put for his Divine Nature John 13.13 Objection from Acts 2.36 Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ From whence is formed this Syllogism He that was made Lord by another he if he be a God was also made a God by another But Jesus of whom it is certain that he is a God was made Lord by God Therefore he was also made a God by him Answer This Syllogism may be confessed as it is reconcileable to the Human Nature of Christ for as he was Man he had a Name given him above every Name and a Lordship or Kingdom and Authority to execute Judgment and was called Lord Phil. 2.8 9. Isa 53.12 Joh. 17.27 29. And so also as he did officially minister the Power of God and was one to whom the Word of the Lord came he may be called God Joh. 10.35 36. Heb. 1.1 and in this Sense he may be said to be made a God by the Father but as this is not the proper or supream Godhead and Lordship of Christ because it is not natural nor essential so doth it not oppose his natural essential and supream Godhead and Lordship as he was God from all Eternity Objection from Colossians 1.15 where Christ is said to be the First-born of every Creature The First-born must always be contained in the number of them of whom except the Parents it is said to be the First-born and consequently Christ must be comprehended in the Number of Creatures whose First-born he is said to be Answer Christ's being the First-born of every Creature neither includes him