accordingly pouring down on his head the whole curse and all those dreadful punishments which are threatened in it against sin for the curse followeth sin as the shadow the body whether it be sin inherent or sin imputed even as the blessing follows righteousness whether it be righteousness inherent or righteousness imputed But Fifthly He that did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner was God-man Christ participates of both natures being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man God-man such a Mediator sinners needed no Mediator but such a one who hath interest in both parties could serve their turns or save their souls and such a one is the Lord Jesus he hath an interest in both parties and he has an interest in both natures the God-head and the man hood The blessed Scriptures are so express and clear in these points that they must shut their eyes with a witness against the light that can't see Christ to be God man to be God and man I shall first speak something of Christ as he is God Now here are fathomless depths and bottomless 1 Pet. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies to look wishly and intently as the Cherâ—biâ—â—s of old look'd into the Mercy-Seat Exod. 25. 18 19 It signifie prying into a thing over-veiled and hidden from â—ight to look as we say wishly at it as if we would look even through it bottoms if I may so speak here are stupendious and amazing mysteries astonishing and confounding excellencies such as the holy Angels themselves desire to pry into God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dwelling in accessible light 1 Tim. 6. 16. Here are such beauties and perfections that had I as the Poet speaks a hundred tongues a hundred mouths and a voice of steel yet I could not sufficiently describe them Nevertheless give me lieve to say something concerning our Lord Jesus Christ who is one eternal God with the Father and with the Holy Ghost I might produce a cloud of witnesses in the case but it is enough that we have the Authority of the sacred Scriptures both in the Old and New Testament confirming of it and therefore I shall lay down some proofs or demonstrations of the eternal Godhead of Christ which I shall draw out of the blessed Scripture This is a point of high concernment that Christ is God so high as whosoever buildeth not upon this buildeth upon the Sands This is the rock of our Salvation The word was God Concerning John 1. 1. this important point consider First That the Godhead of Christ is clearly asserted and manifested both in the Old and New Testament Take a taste of some of those many Scriptures which might be cited Isa 43. 10. 11 12. That ye may know Compare these Scriptures of the Old Testament with these in the New Heb. 1. 2 3. 1 John 1. 7. Aâ—s 4. 12. Eph. 4. 8. Râ—m 9. 30. Jer. 33. 23. Psal 6. 68 18 19 20. and believe and understand that I am he I even I am Jehovah and besides me there is no Saviour And Isa 41. 21. 22 23 24 25. There is no God else besides me A just God and Saviour there is none besides me Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else To me every knee shall bow In Jehovah have I righteousness In Jehovah shall the seed of Israel be justified Compare this with Rom. 14. 10 11. And the Socinians may as safely conclude that there is no other God but Jesus Christ as they may conclude that there is no God but God the Father from the seventeenth of John But they and we ought to conclude from these Scriptures that Jesus Christ is not a different God from the Father but is one and the same God with him so he is called The mighty God The everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. Take a few clear places out of the New Testament as that in Rom. 9. 5. Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever more Christ is here himself called God blessed for ever So Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Who is it that shall appear at the last day in the clouds but Christ who is called the great God and our Saviour God blessed for ever saith Paul to the Romans The great God saith Paul to Titus 1 John 5. 20. And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life Phil. 2. 6. He was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God And Coloss 2. 9. In him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily John 20. 28. My Lord and my God 1 Tim. 3. 16. God manifested in the flesh To which of Heb. 1. 1. the Saints or Angels did God say at any time thou art my Son The Heir of all things the illustrious brightness of my Glory and lively character of my person Thy Throne oh God is for ever and ever and all the Angels of God shall worship thee Certainly he who is Gods own proper natural consubstantial coessential only begotten Son he is God where ever this Sonship is there 's the Deity or the Divine Essence Now Christ is thus Gods son therefore he is God What the Father is as to his nature that the Son must also be now the first person the Father of Christ is God whereupon he too who is the Son must be God also A Son always participates of his Fathers essence there is betwixt them evermore an Identity and oneness of nature if therefore Christ be Gods Son as is most evident throughout the Scripture he is then he must needs have that very nature and essence which God the Father hath insomuch that if the second person be not really a God the first person is but equivocally a Father These Scriptures out of the Old and New Testament are so evident and pregnant to prove the Godhead of Christ that they need no illustration yea they speak so fully for the Divinity of Christ that all the Arians and Socinians in the world do but in vain go about to elude them But Secondly Let us ponder seriously upon these Scriptures John 3. 13. And no man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven v. 31. He that cometh from above is above all he that cometh from Heaven is above all John 8. 23. Ye are from beneath I am from above John 16. 28. I came forth from the Father and am come into the world and again I leave the world and go to the Father Now from these blessed Scriptures we may
were called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Now concerning the passive obedience or suffering of Christ I would present unto you these conclusions First That the sufferings of Jesus Christ were free and voluntary and not constrained or forced Austin saith that Christ did suffer quia voluit quando voluit quomodo voluit Joh. 10. 17. I lay down my life ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Gal. 2. 20. Who gave himself for me Christs sufferings did rise out of obedience to his Father Joh. 10. 18. This Commandement have I received of my Father and Joh. 18. 11. The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it And Christs sufferings did spring and rise out of his love to us who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. so Ephe. 5. 25. As Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it And indeed had Christs sufferings been involuntary they could not have been a part of his obedience much less could they have mounted to any thing of merit for us Christ was very free and willing to undertake the work of mans Redemption when he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and Offerings thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me Then said I Hâ—b 1â— 5. Lo I come to do thy Will O God It 's the expression of one overjoy'd to do the Will of God So Luk. 12. 50. I have a Baptisme to be Baptised with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished There was no power no force to compel Christ to lay down his life therefore it is called the offering of the body of Jesus Heb. 10. 10. Nothing could fasten Christ to the Cross but the golden link of his free Love Christ was big of love and therefore he freely opens all the pores of his body that his blood may flow out from every part as a precious Balsom to cure our wounds The heart of Christ was so full of love that it could not hold but must needs burst out through every part and member of his body into a bloody sweat Luk. 22. 44. At this time it is most certain that there was no manner of violence offered to the body of Christ no man touched him or came near him with Whips or Thorns or Spears or Lances Though the Night was cold and the Ayre cold and the Earth on which he kneeled cold yet such a burning love he had in his breasts to his people as cast him into a bloody sweat 'T is certain that Christ never repented of his sufferings Isa 53. 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied It is a Metaphor that alludes to a Mother who though she hath had hard labour yet doth not repent of it when she sees a Child brought forth So though Christ had hard Travel upon the Cross yet he doth not repent of but thinks all his sweat and blood well bestowed because he sees the Man-child of Redemption is brought sorth into the world He shall be satisfied the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies such a satiating as a man hath at some sweet repast or banquet And what do's this speak out but his freeness in suffering But here some may object and say that the Lord Jesus Obj. when the hour of his sufferings drew nigh did repent of his Suretyship and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his sufferings Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and that three times over Math. 26. 39 42 44. Now to this Objection I shall Answer first more generally Answ and secondly more particularly First in the general I say that this earnest prayer of his doth not denote absolutely his unwillingness but rather sets out the greatness of his willingness for although Christ as a man was of the same natural affections with us and desires and abhorrences of what was destructive to nature and therefore did fear and deprecate that bitter cup which he was ready to drink yet as our Mediator and Surety and knowing it would be a Cup of Salvation to us though of exceeding bitterness to himself he did yield and lay aside his natural reluctancies as Man and willingly obeyed his Fathers will to drink it as our loving Mediator as if he should say O Father whatsoever becometh of me of my natural fâ—ar or desire I am content to submit to the drinking of this Cup thy Will be done But Secondly and more particularly I Answer that in these words of our Lord there is a two-fold voice 1. There is vox naturâ— the voyce of nature Let this Cup pass from me 2. There is vox officii the voyce of his Mediatory office 〈…〉 less not as I will but as thou wilt The first voyce 〈◊〉 this Cup pass intimates the velleity of the inferiour part of his Soul the sensitive part proceeding from unnatural abhorrency of death as he was a Creature The latter voyce Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt expreâ—â— the full and free consent of his will complying with the will of his Father in that grand everlasting design of bringing many Sons unto glory by making the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. It was an Argument of the truth of Christ his humane Nature that he naturally dreaded a dissolution He owed it to himself as a Creature to desire the conservation of his being and he could not become unnatural to himself For no man ever yet hated his own Flesh Ephe. 5. 29. Phil. 2. 8. But being a Son he learned submission and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross that shameful cruel cursed death of the Cross the suffering whereof he owed to that solemn Astipulation which from everlasting passed between his Father and himself the third person in the blessed Trinity the Holy Ghost being witness And therefore though the Cup was the bitterest Cup that ever was given man to drink as wherein there was not death only but wrath and curse Yet seeing there was no other way left of satisfying the justice of his Father and of saving Sinners most willingly he took the Cup and having given thanks as it were in those words The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Never did Bridegroom goe with more chearfulness to be Married to his Bride than our Lord Jesus went to his Cross Luk. 12. 20. Though the Cup that God the Father put into Christs hand was bitter very bitter yea the bitterest that ever was put into any hand yet he found it sweetned with three Ingredients 1. It was but a Cup it was not a Sea 2. It was his Father and not Satan that mingled it and that 〈◊〉 in all the bitter Ingredients that were in it 3. It was a gilt not
desertion Christ is not to be looked upon simply as he is in his own person the Son of the Father in whom he is always well pleased but as he standeth in the room of Sinners Surety and Cautioner Math. 3. 17. Mark 1. 11. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Christ spake these words that thereby he might draw the Jews to a serious consideration and a nim adversion of his death and passion which he underwent not for his own but for our sins Pet. Gal. lib. 8. c. 18. pag 343. paying their debt in which respect it concerned Christ to be dealt with as one standing in our stead as one guilty and paying the debt of being forsaken of God which we were bound to suffer fully and for ever if he had not interposed for us There is between Christ and God 1. An eternal Union natural of the person 2. Of the God-head and Man-hood 3. Of Grace and Protection In this last sense he means forsaken according to his feeling Hence he said Not my Father my Father but my God my God which words are not words of complaining but words expressing his grief and sorrow Our Lord Christ was forsaken not only of all Creature comforts but that which was worse than all of his Fathers favour to his present apprehension left forlorne and destitute for a time that we might be received for ever Christ was for a time left and forsaken of God as David who in this particular was a type of Christs suffering cryed out Psal 22. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from my help He was indeed really forsaken of God God did indeed leave him in respect of his sense and seeling So was Christ truly and really forsaken of God and not in colour or shew as some affirm Athanasius speaking of Gods forsaking of Christ saith All things were done naturally and in truth not in opinion or shew Though God did still R liâ—quâ—t Deâ—s dum nâ—n pâ—â—â— â—aâ—h Tâ—â—uâ—â—n continue a God to David yet in Davids apprehension and feeling he was forsaken of God Though God was still a God to Christ yet as to his feeling he was left of God to wrestle with God and to bear the wrath of God due unto us Look as Christ was scourged that we Ambrose might not be scourged so Christ was forsaken that we might not be forsaken Christ was forsaken for a time that we might not be forsaken for ever Fevardentius absolutely denies that Christ did truly complain upon the Cross that he was forsaken of God Fevarden pag â—73 Con 〈…〉 and therefore he thus objecteth and reasoneth If Christ were truly forsaken of God it would follow that the Hypostatical Union was dissolved and that Christ was personally separated from God for otherwise he could not be forsaken To what he objects we thus reply first If Christ had been totally and eternally forsaken the personal union must have been dissolved but upon this temporal and partial rejection or dereliction there followeth not a personal dissolution or general dereliction But secondly As the Body of Christ being without life was still Hypostatically united to the God-head so was the soul of Christ though for a time without feeling of his favour the dereliction of the one doth no more dissolve the Hypostatical Union than the death of the other If life went from the body and yet the Deity was not separated in the personal consecration but only suspended in operation So the feeling of Gods favour which is the life of the soul might be intermitted in Christ and yet the Divine Union not dissolved Thirdly Augustine doth well shew how this may be August lib de 〈◊〉 divin when he saith Passio Christi dulcis fuit divinitatis somnus That the passion of Christ was the sweet sleep of his Divinity like as then in sleep the soul is not departed though the operation thereof be deferred so in Christs sleep upon the Cross the God-head was not separated though the working power thereof were for a time sequestred Look as the Elect Members of Christ may be forsaken though not totally or finally but ex parte in part and for a time and yet their Election remain firm still the same may be the case of our head that he was ex parte de relictus only in part forsaken and for a time always beloved for his own Innocency but for us and in our person as our pledg and Surety deserted There are two kinds of dereliction or forsaking one is for a time and in part so the Elect may be and so Christ was forsaken upon the Cross another which is total final and general and so neither Christ nor his Members never was nor never shall be forsaken Christ in the deepest anguish of his soul is upheld and sustained by his Faith My God my God whereby he sheweth his singular confidence and trust in God notwithstanding the present sense of his wrath But how can Christ be forsaken of God himself being God Quest for the Father Son and Holy-Ghost are all three but one and the same God Yea How can he be forsaken of God seeing he is the Son of God and if the Lord leave not his Children which hope and trust in him how can he forsake Christ his only begotten Son who depended upon him and his mighty power First By God here we are to understand God the Father Answ 1 the first person of the blessed Trinity according to the vulgar and common rule when God is compared with the Son or holy-Holy-Ghost then the Father is meant by this title God not that the Father is more God than the Son for in dignity all the Three Persons are equal but they are distinguished in order only and thus the Father is the first Person the Son the Second and the holy-Holy-Ghost the Third Secondly Our Saviours complaint that he was forsaken Answ 2 must be understood in regard of his humane Nature and not of his God-head although the God-head and Man-hood were never severed from the first time of his Incarnation but the God-head of Christ and so the God-head of the Father did not shew forth his power in his Man-hood but did as it were lye a sleep for a time that the Man-hood might suffer Thirdly Christ was not indeed utterly forsaken of Answ 3 God in regard of his humane Nature but only as it were forsaken that is Although there were some few minutes and moments in which he received no sensible consolations from the Deity yet that he was not utterly forsaken is most clear from this place where he flees unto the Lord as unto his God My God my God as also from his Resurrection the third day Fourthly Divines say that there are six kinds of dereliction Answ 4 or forsakings 1. By dis-union of person and 2. By loss of grace and 3. By diminution and weaknings of grace and 4. By want of assurance
enjoyned in the first Commandement and against trusting in man is there a curse denounced But Christ Jer. 17. 5. v. commands us to believe in him John 14 1. Ye believe in John 1. 12. God believe also in me John 3. 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life vers 36. He that believeth in the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 6. 47. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life The same respect that Christians give unto God the father they must also give unto the son believing on him which is an honour due only to God other creatures men and Angels may be believed but not believed on rested on this were to make them Gods this were no less than Idolatry Secondly loving of Jesus Christ with all the heart commanded above the love nay even to the hatred of father mother wife children yea and our own lives Luk 14. 26. He who is not disposed where these loves are incompatible to hate father and all other relations for the love of Christ can be none of his I ought dearly and tenderly to love father and mother the Law of God and nature requiring it of me but to prefer dear Jesus Phil. 3. 7 8. Master Brad. Acts and Mon. Fol. 1492. who is God blessed for ever before all and above all as Paul and the primitive Christians and Martyrs have done before me your house home and goods your life and all that ever you have saith that Martyr God hath given you as love tokens to admonish you of his love to win your love to him again Now will he try your love whether you set more by him or by his tokens c. when Relations or life stand in competition with Christ and his Gospel they are to be abandoned hated c. But Secondly all outward worship is due to Christ as First Dedication in Baptism is in his name Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the name by that right initiating them and receiving of them into the profession of the service of one God in three persons and of depending on Christ alone for salvation Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is the consecrating of them unto the sincere service of the sacred Trinity Secondly Divine invocation is given to Jesus Christ 2. Ponderâ— upon these Scriptures 2 Cor. 12. 8. 9. 1 Thes 1. 1. 2 Thâ—s 1. 1 2. 2 Cor. 1. 2. Acts 7. 59. Stephen calls upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit 1 Cor. 1. 2. All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Thes 3. 11. God himself and our father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you Ephe. 1. 2. Grace be to you and peace from God our father and from our Lord Jesus Christ It is the Saints Character that they are such as call on the Lord Jesus Acts 2. 21. Acts 9. 14. But Thirdly Praises are offered to our Lord Jesus Christ Rev. 5. 9. And they sung a new song saying Thou arâ— worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation vers 11. And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels This is taken out of Daniel cap. 7. 10. whereby the glory and power of God and Christ is held forth they being attended with innumerable millions of Angels which stood before the fiery throne of God c. round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands vers 12. saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Vers 13. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever here you have a Catholick confession of Christ's divine nature and power All the creatures both reasonable and unreasonable do in some sort set forth the praises of Christ because in some sort they serve to illustrate and set forth his glory Here you see that Christ is adored with religious worship by all creatures which doth evidently prove that he is God since all the creatures worship him with religious worship we may safely and boldly conclude upon his Deity Here are three parties that bear a part in this new song 1. The redeemed of the Lord and they sing in the last part of the 8. verse and in the 9. and 10. verses Then 2. The Angels follow verse 11. and 12. in the third place all creatures are brought in joyning in this new song verse 13. That noble company of the Church Triumphant and Church Militant sounding out the Praises of the Lamb may sufficiently satisfie us concerning the divinity of the Lamb. But Fourthly Divine adoration is also given to him Mat. 4. Mark 1. 40. Luke 5. 12. So that he touched Christ his feet as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not kneeled as the word is translated Mark 1. 40. This Leper came to know Christ was God 1. by inspiration 2. by the miracles which Christ did 8. 2. A Leper worshipped him Mark saith he kneeled down and Luke saith he fell upon his face He shewed reverence in his gesture Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean He acknowledged a divine power in Christ in that he saith he could make him clean if he would This poor Leper lay at Christ's feet imploring and beseeching him as a dog at his master's feet as Zanch de Red. renders the word which shews that this Leper look'd upon Christ as more than a Prophet or a holy man and that believing he was God and so able to heal him if he would he gave him religious worship he doth not say to Christ Lord if thou wilt pray to God or to thy father for me I shall be whole but Lord if thou wilt I shall be whole He acknowledges the Leprosie curable by Christ which he and all men knew was incurable by others which was a plain argument of his faith for though the Psora or scabbedness may be cured yet that which is called Lepra Physicians acknowledg incurable for if a particular Cancer cannot be cured much less can an universal Cancer as Avicen observes Mat. 2. 11. Though the wise men
though all this might seem to cross both Nature and Grace both Reason and Religion yet Abraham was willing to obey God in this also and to do what he commanded Gen. 22. so David was a man after Gods own heart which fulfilled all his Wills as the original runs in Acts 13. 22. And it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth that they walked in all the Commandements and Ordinances of the Lord c. Luk. 1. 6. 1 Thes 2. 10. Ye are Witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe 13thly Universal Obedience speaks out the strength of our love to Christ and the reality of our friendship with Christ Joh. 15. 14. Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you That Child shews most love to his Father that observes all his precepts and that Servant shews most love to his Master that observes all his Masters commands and that Wife shews most love to her Husband that observes all he requires in the Lord So here c. 14thly Universal Obedience will give most peace rest quiet and comfort to the Conscience Such a Christian will be as an eye that hath no Mote to trouble it as a Kingdom that hath no Rebel to annoy it as a Ship that hath no leak to disturb it Psal 119. 165. Great peace have they which love thy Law and nothing shall offend them But 15thly Mans holiness must be conformable to Gods Holiness Ephe. 5. 1 2. Be ye followers of God as dear Children Math. 5. 48. Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect Now God is Righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works and so ought all to desire and endeavour to be that would be saved 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he who hath called you is Holy so be ye also holy in all manner of Conversation v. 16. because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy But 16thly The holiness of a Christian must be conformable to the holiness of Christ Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Now Christ was holy in all things It behoveth us said he to fulfill all Righteousness And this should be the care of every one that professeth himself to be Christs to endeavour to be holy as Christ was holy 1 John 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself to walk even as he walked But 17thly Servants must obey their earthly Masters not in some things only but in all things to wit that are just and lawful Tit. 2. 9. Exhort Servants to be obedient to their own Masters and to please them well in all things What Master will be content that his Servant should chuse how far forth he will observe and do those things which he doth require of him much less may we think that such arbitrary and partial performances will please that God who is our Heavenly Master 18thly The promises of mercy both spiritual and temporal are made over to universal obedience 1 King 6. 12 13. Deut. 28. 1 2 3 Ezek. 18. 21 22 27 28. turn to all these promises and dilate on them c. 19thly One sin never goes alone as you may see in the falls of Adam and Eve Lot Abraham Noah Jacob Joseph Job David Solomon Peter Ahab Judas Jeroboam one sin will make way for more as one little Thief can open the door to let in many great ones Satan will be sure to nest himself to lodge himself in the least sins as Birds nest lodge themselves in the smallest branches of the Tree and there he will do all he can to hatch all manner of wickedness A little wedge makes way for a greater so do little sins make way for greater 20. The reasons of turning from sin are universally binding to a gracious soul There are the same reasons and grounds for a penitent man's turning from every sin as there is for his turning from any one sin do you turn from this or that sin because the Lord hath forbid it why upon the same ground you must turn from every sin for God has forbid every sin as well as this or that particular sin there is the same Authority forbidding or commanding in all and if the Authority of God awes a man from one sin it will awe him from all c. But 21stly One sin allowed and lived in will keep Christ and the Soul a-sunder As one Rebel one Traytor hid and kept in the House will keep a Prince and his Subject a-sunder or as one stone in the Pipe will keep the water and the Cistern a-sunder So here But 22dly One sin allowed and lived in will unfit a person for suffering as one cut or one shot in the shoulder may hinder a man from bearing a burden will he ever lay down his life for Christ that can't that won't lay down a Lust for Christ But 23dly One sin allowed and lived in is sufficient to deprive a man for ever of the greatest good One sin allowed and wallowed in will as certainly deprive a man ōf the blessed Vision of God and of all the treasures pleasures and delights that be at God's right hand as a thousand One sin stript the fallen Angels of all their glory and one sin stript our first Parents of all their dignity and excellency Gen. 3. 4 5. One flye in the box of prccious Oyntment spoyls the whole box One Thief may Rob a man of all his treasure one Disease may deprive a man of all his health and one drop of Poyson will spoyl the whole glass of Wine and so one Sin allowed and lived in will make a man miserable for ever One Mill stone will sink a man to the bottom of the Sea as well as a hundred 't is so here But 24thly One Sin allowed and lived in will eat out all peace of Conscience as one string that jars Will spoyl the sweetest Musick so one sin countenanced and lived in will spoyl the musick of Conscience One Pyrate may Rob a man of all he has in this world But 25thly and lastly The Sinner would have God to forgive him not only some of his sins but all his sins and therefore 't is but just and equal that he should turn from all his sins If God be so faithful and just to forgive us all our sins we must be so faithful and just as to turn from all our sins The Plaister must be as broad as the Sore and the Tent as long and as deep as the Wound It argues horrid Hypocrisie damnable folly and wonderful impudency for a man to beg the pardon of those very sins that he is resolved never to forsake c. Object But it is impossible for any man on Earth to walk in all God's Statutes to obey all his Commands to do his will in all things to walk according to the full bredth of Gods Royal Law Sol. I Answer there is a two-fold walking in all the
that appertains to him alone to be able to bring in an everlasting Righteousness and to make reconciliation for Iniquity Dan. 9. 24. It is by Christ alone That they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be Ecclâ—s 11 9. cap 12. 14 Matth. 1â— 14. cap. 18. 2â— Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 1â— 10. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. Heb 9. 27. cap. 13. â—7 1 Pet. 4. 5. justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13. 39. Now from the active obedience of Christ a sincere Christian may form up this third plea as to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O! blessed God thou knowest that Jesus Christ as my Surety did perform all that active obedience unto thy holy and righteous Law that I should have performed but by reason of the in-dwelling power of sin and of the vexing and molesting power of sin and of the captivating power of sin could not There was in Christ an habitual righteousness a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the Law for 1 Pet. 1. 19. he is a Lamb without spot and blemish the Law could never have required so much righteousness as is to be found in him and as for practical righteousness there was never any aberration in his thoughts words or deeds Hâ—b 7. 26. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me John 14. 30. The Apostle tells us That we are made the Righteousness of God in him he doth emphatically add that clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 21. in him that he may take away all conceit of inherence in us and establish the Doctrine of imputation As Christ is made sin in us by imputation so we are made righteousness in him by the same way Augustines place which Beza cites is a most full Commentary God the Father saith he made him to be sin who know no sin that we might be the Righteousness of God not our own and in him that is in Christ not in our selves and being thus justified we are so Righteous as if we were Righteousness it self O! holy God Christ my Surety hath universally kept thy Royal Law he hath not offended in any one point yea he hath exactly and perfectly kept the whole Law of God he stood compleat in the whole will of the Father his active obedience was so full so perfect and so adaequate to all the Laws demands that the Law could not but say I have enough I am fully satisfied I have found a Ransom I can ask no more Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or transient but permanent and constant it was his delight his meat and drink yea his Heaven to be still a doing the will of his Father Assuredly whilst our Lord Joh. 4. 33 34. Jesus Christ was in this world he did in his own person fully obey the Law he did in his own person perfectly conform to all the holy just and righteous commands of the Law Now this his most perfect and compleat obedience to the Law is made over to all his Members to all Believers to all sincere Christians it is reckoned to them it is imputed to them as if they themselves in their own persons had performed it All sound Believers being in Christ as their head and Surety the Laws righteousness is fulfilled in them legally and imputively though it be not fulfilled in them formally subjectively inherently or personally sutable to that of the Apostle That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us mark not by us but in us for Christ in our Nature Râ—m 8 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza well tenders 〈◊〉 legis that the right of the Law might be fulfilled in us hath fulfilled the right of the Law and therefore in us because of our communion with him and our ingrafting into him God hath condemned sin the flesh of his Son that all that which the Law by a right could require of us might be performed by him for us so as if we our selves had in our own persons performed the same The Law must have its right before a Sinner can be saved we cannot of our selves fulfil the right of it But here 's the comfort Christ our Surety hath fulfilled it in us and we have fulfilled it in him Certainly whatsoever Christ did concerning the Law is ours by imputation so fully as if our selves had done it Do's the Law require obedience saith Christ I will give it Do's the Law threaten Curses saith Christ Math 3 15. cap. 5 17 18 they shall be borne The precept of the Law saith Christ shall be kept and the promises received and the punishments endured that poor Sinners may be saved Our Righteousness and Title to eternal life do indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christs active obedience to us there must be a perfect obeying of the Law as the condition of life either by the Sinner himself or by his Surety or else no life which doth sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the imputation of Christs active obedience to us the Sinner himself being altogether unable to fulfil the Law that he may stand Righteous before the great and glorious God Christs fulfilling of it must necessarily be imputed to him in order to righteousness There are two great things which Jesus Christ did undertake for his redeemed ones the one was to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all their sins Now this he did by his Blood and Death the other was to yield most absolute conformity to the Law of God both in nature and life by the one he has freed all his Redeemed ones from Hell and by the other he has qualified all his Redeemed ones from Heaven This is my Plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Lord I accept of this plea as honourable just and righteous Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Secondly As Jesus Christ did for us perform all that active obedience which the Law of God required so he did also suffer all those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the Law of God in which respect he is said 2 Cor. 2. 22. To be made sin for us 1 Pet. 2. 24. Himself to bear our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Phil. 2. 8. To humble himself and to become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Gal. 3. 13. To be made a Curse an Exceration for us Ephe. 5. 2. To give himself for us an Offering and Sacrifice unto God Heb. 9. 15. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which
being without sin could neither by Indignation displease his Father nor by Desperation destroy himself So that if you consider either the adjuncts of Hell or the effects then I say we do remove all them as far off from the holy soul of Christ as Heaven is from Hell or the East from the West or darkness from light c. Thirdly Consider the punishment it self Now concerning this we say That our blessed Saviour as in himself he bare all the sins of the Elect. So he also suffered the whole punishment of body and soul in general that was due unto us for the same which we should have endured if he had not satisfied for it and so consequently we affirm that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of Gods wrath and so in soul entred into the torments of Hell for us sustained them and vanquished them One spaking in honour of Christs passion saith Cum iram Dei Calvin in Math. 2â— 39. sibi propositum videret When he saw the wrath of God set before him presenting himself before Gods tribunal loaden with the sins of the whole world it was necessary for him to fear the deep bottomless pit of death Again Calvin in Math. 27. 46. saith the same Author Cum species Christo objecla est c. Such an object being offered to Christs view as though God being set against him he were appointed to destruction he was with horror affrighted which was able an hundred times to have swallowed up all mortal Creatures but he by the wonderful power of his spirit escaped with Victory What dishonour was it to our Saviour Christ saith another to suffer that which was necessary for Fulk in Act 2. Sect. 11. our Redemption namely that torment of Hell which we had deserved and which the Justice of God required that he should endure for our Redemption Or rather what is more to the honour of Christ then that he vouchsafed to descend into Hell for us and to abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer Eternally and what may rather be called Hell then the anguish of soul which he suffered when he being yet God complained that he was forsaken of God O Sirs this we need not fear to confess that Christ bearing our sins in himself upon the Cross did feel himself during that combat as rejected and forsaken of God and accursed for us and the flames of his Fathers wrath burning within him so that to the honour of Christs Passion we confess that our blessed Redeemer refused no part of our punishment but endured the very pains of Hell so far as they tended not neither to the derogation of his Person deprivation of his Nature destruction of his Office c. Here it may be query'd whether the Lord Jesus Christ underwent the idem the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone or only the tantundem that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto To which I Answer That in different respects both may be affirmed The punishment which Christ indur'd if it be considered in its substance kind or nature so 't was the same with that the Sinner himself should have undergone but if it be considered with respect to certain circumstances adjuncts or accidents which attend that punishment as inflicted upon the Sinner so 't was but equivalent and not the same The punishment due to the Sinner was death the curse of the Law upon the breach of the first Covenant now this Christ underwent For Gal. 3. 13. he was made a Curse for us The adjuncts attending this death were the Eternity of it Desperation going along with it c. These Christ was freed from the dignity of his Person supplying the former the sanctity of his Person securing him against the latter therefore in reference unto these and to some other things already mentioned it was but the tantundem not the idem but suppose there had been nothing of sameness nothing beyond equivalency in what Christ suffered yet that was enough for it was not required that Christ should suffer every kind of Curse which is the effect of sin but in the general accursed death Look as in his fulfilling of the Law for us it was not necessary that he should perform every holy duty that the Law requireth for he could not perform that obedience which Magistrates or Married persons are bound to do It s enough that there was a fulfilling of it in the general for us So here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was lyable unto but if he shall undergoe so much as may satisfie the Laws threatnings and vindicate the Law-giver in his Truth Justice and Righteous government that was enough Now that was unquestionably done by Christ But some may object and say How could Christ suffer Obj. 1 the pains of the second death without dis-union of the Godhead from the Man-hood for the God-head could not dye Or what interest had Christs God-head in his humane sufferings to make them both so short and so precious and satisfactory to Divine justice for the sins of so many Sinners especially when we consider that God cannot suffer I Answer It followeth not that because Christ is United Answ 1 into one Person with God that therefore he did not suffer the pains of Hell for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his body for the Union of his Person could have preserved him from sufferings in the one as well as in the other and neither God Angels nor Men compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work but his own free and unspeakable love to Man-kind as himself declares Joh. 10. 17. Therefore my Father Isa 53. 12. Psal 40. 7 8. Heb. 10. 9 10. loves me because I lay down my life ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self If Christ had been constrained to suffer then both men and Angels might fear and tremble but as one saith well Voluntas Bernard sponte morientis placuit Deo The willingness of him that dyed pleased God who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man But secondly I Answer from 1 Joh. 3. 16. Hereby Answ 2 perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us The person dying was God else his person could have done us no good The Person suffering must be God as well as man but the God-head suffered not As if you shoot off a Cannon in the bright ayr the ayr suffers but the light of it suffers not Actions and passions belong to persons Nothing less then that person who is God-Man could bear the brunt of the day satisfie Divine justice pacifie Divine wrath bring in an everlasting Righteousness and make us happy for ever But Thirdly I answer thus Albeit the passion of the humane Nature could not so far reach the God-head of Christ that it
and shall for ever be There never was nor shall be time wherein God could not say of himself I am 5. It implyes That there is no succession of time with God And 6. It implyes that he is a God Every creature is temporary and mutable no creature can say Ero qui ero I will be that I will be that gives being to all things In short the reason why God nameth himself I AM THAT I Am or will be that I will be is because he is the being of beings subsisting by himself as if he should say I am my being I am my essence my existence differeth not from my essence because I am that I am and as I am so will I be to all eternity the same yesterday to day and for ever There is no shadow of chage no variableness at all in me Now this Glorious Name is given to Jesus Christ Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning In this verse you have a clear and pregnant proof of Christs Deity and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty This kind of speaking is taken from the Greek Alphabet in which Language John wrote this Book A called Alpha by them being their first letter and O which they call Omega the last The sence is I was before all creatures and shall abide for ever though all creatures should perish or I am he from whom all creatures had their beginning and to whom they are referred as their uttermost end Christ in calling of himself Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end and that absolutely doth therein assume unto himself absolute Perfection Power Dominion Eternity and Divinity which is and which was and which is to come Christ assumeth all those Epithetes here to himself by which John ver 4. described God and what wonder is it if Christ who is God doth take to himself what ever is due to God The Almighty this is another Epithete proper to God which Christ also taketh to himself shewing that he is the true eternal and omnipotent God in all things equal and coessential with the Father and the Holy Ghost This being the seventh argument which John makes use of to prove the Deity of Christ is three times repeated He is the first and the last which is was and is to come and the Almighty and therefore he is without a peradventure God eternal for so Jehovah saith of himself I the Lord the first and the last I am he I am the first and I am the last Isa 41. 4. cap 44. 6. Gen. 17. 1. and besides me there is no God I am God Almighty But Christ doth challenge as due to himself all these Divine Attributes therefore he is Jehovah that one eternal and omnipotent God with the Father and the Holy Ghost O the Stateliness and Majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ what an excellent and stately person is he there being not a property attributed to God but is agreeable to Christ Every word in this Rev. 1. 8. Is a proper Attribute of God He is infinite in Power soveraign in Dominion and not bounded as creatures are And that this is clearly spoken of Christ is most evident not See Rev. 21. 6. and cap. 22. 13. only from the scope John being to set out Christ from whom he had this Revelation but also from the eleventh and seventeenth verses following where he gives him the same Titles over again or rather if you please Christ speaking of himself taketh and repeateth the same Titles Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Yesterday that is the time past before his coming in the flesh To day while in the flesh And for ever that is after The same aforetime in time and after time Jesus Christ the same that is unchangeable in his essence promises and doctrine Jesus Christ was always the same and is still the same and will abide for ever the same as being one self same God and one self same Mediator as well in the Old as in the New Testament John 8. 58. Jesus said unto them verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am Mich. 5. 1. According to my Divine nature which is from everlasting before Abraham was I am I who according to my humanity am not above fifty years old according to my Divine Nature am eternal and so before Abraham and all the creatures I have a being from all eternity and so before Abraham was born and therefore as young as you take me me to be in respect of my age here I may well have seen and known Abraham though he died above two thousand years since But The third name or Title which denotes the Essence of God is Elohim which signifies the persons in the Essence 'T is a name of the plural number expressing the Trinity of persons in the unity of Essence and therefore it is observed by the learned that the Holy Ghost beginneth the story of the Creation with this plural name of God joyned with a Verb of the singular number as Elohim Bara Dii oreavit the mighty Gods or all the Gen. 1. 1 2. three persons in the Godhead created So Gen. 3. 22. And Jehovah Elohim said behold the man is become as one of us 't is a holy irrision of man's vain affectation of the Deity God upbraids our first parents for their vain affectation of being like unto him in that ironical expression Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil meaning that by his sin he was become most unlike him This name Elohim by which God expresseth his nature denotes the power and strength of God to shew us that God is strong and powerful and that he can do great things for his people and bring great desolations and destructions upon his and his people's enemies O Sirs God is too strong for his strongest enemies and too powerful for all the powers of Hell Though Jacob Isa 41. 10 13 14. a worm in his own eyes and in his enemies eyes yet Jacob need never fear for Elohim the strong and powerful God will stand by him and help him Now this name is also attributed unto Christ 45. Psal 6. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre Thy throne O God Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Thy throne O Gods Elohim it fignifies the Trinity of persons in the unity of Essence as I have before noted the Prophet directs his speech not to Solomon but to Christ as is most evident by the clear and unquestionable Testimony of the Holy Ghost Heb. 1. 8. But unto the Son he saith thy throne O God is for ever and ever a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom Christ is called God not by an excellency only as the Angels Psal 8. 5. compared with Heb. 2. 6 7 8. Psal
82. 16. are nor by office and Title only as Magistrates are called Gods nor catachrestically and Ironically as the Heathen Gods are called nor a diminutive God inferiour to the Father as Arrius held but God by nature every way co-essential co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost Hold fast all truth but above all hold fast this glorious truth that Jesus Christ is God blessed for ever The Eourth name or Title which denotes the Essence of God is El Gibbor The strong and mighty God God is not only strong in his own Essence but he is also strong in the defence of his people and it is he that giveth all 2 Chron. 16. 9. strength and power to all other creatures There are no men no powers that are a match for the strong God Now this Title is also attributed to Christ Isa 9. 6. El Gibbor the strong God the mighty God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying God doth also signify strong he is so strong that he is almighty he is one to whom nothing is impossible Christ's name is God for he is the same Essence with God the Father this Title the mighty God fitteth well to Christ who hath all the names of the Deity given to him in Scripture and who by the strength and power of his God-head did satisfie the justice of God and pacifie the wrath of God and make peace and purchase pardon and eternal life for all his Elect. The Fifth name or Title which denotes the Essence of God is El Shaddai God omnipotent or all-sufficient he wanteth nothing but is infinitely blessed with the infinite Gen. 17. 1. perfection of his glorious being by this name God makes himself known to be self-sufficient all-sufficient absolutely perfect certainly that man can want nothing who hath an all-sufficient God for his God he that loseth his all for God shall find all in an all-sufficient God Mat. 19. â—9 Esau had much but Jacob had all because he had the Gen. 33. 9. 11. God of all Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia what are Riches Honours Pleasures Profits Lands Friends Augustin This name Shaddai belongeth only to the God-head and to no creature no not to the humanity of Christ yea millions of worlds to one Shaddai God Almighty God All-sufficient This glorious name Shaddai was a noble bottom for Abraham to act his faith upon though in things above nature or against it c. He that is El Shaddai is perfectly able to defend his Servants from all evil and to bless them with all spiritual and temporal blessings and to perform all his promises which concern both this life and that which is to come Now this name this Title Shaddai is attributed to Christ as you may clearly see by comparing Gen. 35. 6 9 10 11. and Gen. 32. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. with Hosea 12. 3 4 5. That Angel that appeared to Jacob See my Treatise on Closet-Prayer opening that Gen. 3â— and that 12. Hâ—s pag. 48 49 50 51. where you haâ—e four Arguments to prove that Jesus Christ is the Angel the man that is there spoken of c. was Christ the Angel of the Covenant Mark you shall never find either God the Father or the Holy Ghost called an Angel in Scripture nor was this a created Angel for then Jacob would never have made supplication to him but he was an uncreated Angel even the Lord of Hosts the almighty God who spake with Jacob in Bethel He that in this divine story is said to be a man was the Son of God in humane shape as is most evident by the whole narration The Angel in the Text is the same Angel that conducted the Israelites in the Wilderness and fought their battels for them Exod. 3. 2. Act. 7. 30. 1. Cor. 10. 4 5 9. even Jesus Christ who is stiled once and again the Almighty Rev. 1. 8. cap. 4. 8. In this last Scripture is acknowledged Christ's Holiness Power and God-head Ah Christians when will you once learn to set one Almighty Christ against all the mighty ones of the world that you may bear up bravely and stoutly against their rage and wrath and go on chearfully and resolutely in the way of your duty The sixth name or Title is Adonai my Lord. Though this name Adonai be given sometimes analogically to creatures yet properly it belongs to God above this name is often used in the old Testament and in Mal. 1. 6. it is used in the plural number to note the mystery of the holy Trinity If I be Adonim Lords where is my fear some derive the word Adonai from a word in the Hebrew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies judicare to judg because God is the Judg of the world others derive it from a word which signifies Basis a foundation intimating that God is the upholder of all things as the foundation of a house is the support of the whole building Now this name is given to Christ Dan. 9. 17. Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for Adonai the Lord Christ sake Daniel pleads here no merits of their own but the merits and mediation of the Messias whom God hath made both Lord and Christ So Aâ—â—s 2. 36. Luk. 1. 4â— cap. 2. 11 12. Heb. 1. 13. Psal 110. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine Enemies thy footstool Christ applies these words to himself as you may see in that Mat. 22. 24. Jehovah said that is God the Father said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 La-adoni unto my Lord that is to Christ sit thou at my right hand sit thou with me in my Throne it notes the Math. 28. 13. John 3. 35. advancement of Christ as he was both God and man in one person to the supremest place of power and authority of honour and heavenly glory God's right hand notes a place of equal power and authority with God even that Epâ—â— 1. 21. Heb. 1. 3. Luk. 22. 69. he should be advanced far above all principallity and power and might and dominion Christs reign over the whole world is sometimes called The right hand of the Majesty and sometimes the right hand of the power of God until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool This implies 1. That Jesus Christ hath ever had and will have enemies even to the end of the world 2. Victory a perfect Conquest over them Conquerours used to make their enemies their foot-stool Those proud enemies of Christ who now set up their Crests face the heavens and strut it out against him even those shall be brought under his feet 3. It implies ignominy the lowest subjection Sapores King of Persia overcoming the Emperour Valerian in battel used his back for a stirrup when he got upon his horse and so Tamberlane served Bajazet 4. The foot-stool is a piece of State and both raiseth and easeth him that
let it slip out but Scripture addeth this hint too where it speaketh of the bosom as the place of secrets Prov. 17. 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of iudgment speaking of a bribe Prov. 21. 14. A gift in secret pacifieth Anger and a reward in the bosom expiateth wrath Here is secret and bosom all one as gift and reward are one So Christ lyeth in the fathers bosom this intimateth his being conscious to all the father's secrets But Thirdly as the Attribute of God's omniscience is asscribed to Christ so the Attribute of God's omnipresence is ascribed to Christ Mat. 18. 20. where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them and chap. 28. ult I am with you alway even to the end of the world he is not contained in any place who was before there Prov. 8. 22. Jâ—h 1. 1. 3. was any place and did create all places by his own power whilst Christ was on earth in respect of his bodily presence he was in the bosom of his father which must be understood Jâ—â— 1. 18. 2. â—oh 3. 13. 2. Psal 139. 7 8 9 10 11. of his divine nature and person he did come down from heaven and yet remained in heaven Christ is universally present he is present at all times and all places and among all persons he is repletively every where inclusively no where Diana's Temple was burnt down when she was busie at Alexander's birth and could not be at two places together but Christ is present both in paradise and in the wilderness at the same time ubi non Greg. in Ezâ— â—â— m. 8. Aug. m diâ— c. 29. where two are sitting together and conferting about the Law there is Shâ—inah the diâ—ine Majesty among them Grâ—tiâ—â— on Mat. 18. 20. est per gratiam adest per vindictam where he is not by his gracious influence there he is by his vindictive power Empedocles could say that God is a circle whose center is every where whose circumference is no where the poor blind heathens could say thar God is the soul of the world and thus as the soul is tota in toto tota in qualibet parte so is he that his â—ye is in every corner c. To which purpose they so portraied their Goddess Minerva that which way soever one cast his eye she always beheld him But Fourthly as the attribute of God's omnipresence is ascribed to Christ so the Attribute of God's omnipotency is ascribed to Christ and this speaks out the God head of See Colâ—s 1. 16 17. Psal 102. 26. compared with Heb. 1. 8. 10. Joh. 1. 10. Christ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Mat 28. 18. John 5. 19. What things soever the father doth these also doth the son Phil. 3. 21. he is called by a metonymy the power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. He is the almighty Rev. 1. 8. He made all things Joh. 1. 3. He upholds all things Heb. 1. 3. He shall change our vile body saith the Apostle that it may be like unto his glorious body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. ult Now from what has been said we may thus argue He to whom the incommunicable properties of the most high God are attributed he is the most high God but the incommunicable properties of the most high God are attributed to Christ ergo Christ is the most high God But Fifthly Christ's eternal deity coequality and consubstantiality with the father may be demonstrated from his divine works The same works which are peculiar to God are ascribed to Christ such proper and peculiar such divine and supernatural works as none but God can perform Christ did perform As 1. Election the Elect are called his Elect Mat. 24. 31. Joh. 13. 18. I know whom I have chosen Joh. 15. 16. I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain vers 19. But I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you 2. Redemption 1 Thes 1. ult Gal. 3. 13. Rom. 6. 14. cap. 8. 1. Luk. 1. 68-80 O Sirs none but the great God could save us from wrath to come none but God blessed for ever could deliver us from the curse of the Law the dominion of sin the damnatory power of sin the rule of Satan and the flames of hell ah friends these enemies were too potent strong and mighty for any mere creature yea for all mere creatures to conquer and overcome none but the most high God could everlastingly secure us against such high enemies 3. Remission of sins Mat. 9. 6. The son of man hath power to forgive sins Christ here positively proves that he had power on earth to forgive sins because miraculously by a word of his mouth he causes the Palsey-man to walk so that he arose and departed to his house immediately Christ he forgives sin authoritatively Preachers forgive only declaratively as Nathan to David the Lord hath put away thine iniquity I 2 Sam. 12. 7. John 20. 23. have read of a man that could remove mountains but none but the man Christ Jesus could ever remit sin All the persons in the Trinity forgive sins yet not in the same manner The Father bestows forgivness the Son merits forgivness and the Holy Ghost seals up forgivness and applies forgivness 4. The bestowing of eternal life Joh. 10. 28. My sheep hear my voice and I give unto them eternal life Christ is the Prince and principle of life and Colos 3. 3 4 2. therefore all out of him are dead whilst they live eternal life is too great a gift for any to give but a God 5. Creation Joh. 1. 3. All things were made by him and vers 10. The world was made by him Colos 1. 16. By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in the earth visible and invisible Now the Apostle telleth Just Mart. quoteth two Greek verses out of Pyâ—hagoras to prove there is but one God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. saith Pythagoras If any will assume to himself and say I am God except only one let him lay such a world as this is to stake and say this world is mine then I will believe him not otherwise Heb. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not propter quem as Gretius would evade the Text For whom he made the worlds but peâ— quem by whom so the Apostle to put it out of all doubt putteth them together Câ—los 1. 16. All thiâ—gs were creaâ—ed by him and for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you He that huâ—â—t all things is God Christ built all things ergo Christ is God The Argument lyeth fair and undeniable The all things that were created by Christ Paul reduceth to two heads visible and invisible but Zanchius addeth a
Adam we were ruined by the second Adam we must be repaired The Rom. 5. 12. humane nature was to be redeemed therefore it was necessary that the humane nature should be assumed The Law was given to man and the Law was broken by man and therefore it was necessary that the Law should be fulfilled by man But Secondly that by this means the justice of God might be satisfied in the same nature which had sinned which was the nature of man Angels could not satisfie divine justice because they had no bodies to suffer the brutish sensible creatures could not satisfie the justice of God because they had no souls to suffer the sensible creatures could not satisfie divine justice because they had no sense to suffer therefore man having body soul and sense must do it for he had sinned in all and he could suffer in all Secondly there are reasons both in respect of God and in respect of our selves why Jesus Christ should be God and God-man also and they are these five First that he might be a meet Mediator between God and man Christ's office as Mediator was to deal with God for man and to deal for God with man Now that he might be sit for both these transactions for both parts of this office he must partake of both natures That he might effectually deal with God for man he must be God If a man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him saith Eli to his sons 1 Sam. 2. 25. And that he might deal for God with man he must be man He must be God that he may be fit to transact treat and negotiate with God and he must be man that he may be fit to transact treat and negotiate with man when God spake unto Israel at Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law the people were not able to abide that voice or presence and therefore they desired an Internuncius a man like themselves who might be as a Mediator to go betwixt God and them Exod. 20. 18 19. Now upon his very ground Exod. 20. 18. besides many others that might be mentioned it was very requisite that Jesus Christ should be both God and man Heb. 12. 18. that he might be a meet Mediator to deal betwixt God and man Jesus Christ was the fittest person either in that upper or in this lower world to mediate between God and us There was none fit to umpeire the business between God and man but he that was God-man Job hit the nail when he said Neither is there any days-man betwixt Job 9. 33. us that might lay his hand upon us both There was a double use of the days-man and his laying his hand upon them 1. To keep the dissening parties asunder lest they should fall out and strike one another 2. To keep them together and compose all differences that they might not depart from each other the Application is easie man is not fit to mediate because man is the person offending Angels are not fit to mediate for they cannot satisfie divine Justice nor pacifie divine wrath nor procure our pardon nor make our peace nor bring in an everlasting righteousness upon us God the father was not fit for this work for he was the person offended and he was as much too high to deal with man as man was too low to deal with God The holy Ghost was not fit for this work for 't is his work to apply this Mediation and to clear up the believers interest in this Mediation So then there is no other person fit for this office but Jesus Christ who was a middle person 'twixt both that he might deal with both Christ could never have been fit to be the Mediator in respect of his office if he had not first been a middle person in respect of his natures for saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one but God is one A mediator is not a mediator of one that is of one party but is always of two differing parties to unite them not of one that is 1. Not of one person because mediation implies more persons than one it necessarily supposes different parties betwixt whom he doth mediate Christ to speak after the manner of men lays his hand upon God the father and saith O blessed father wilt thou be at peace with these poor sinners wil◠thou pardon them and wilt thou lift up the light of thy countenance upon them if thou wilt then I will undertake to satisfie thy justice and to pacifie thy wrath and to fulfil thy royal Law and to make good all the wrong they have done against thee And then he layeth his hand upon the poor sinner and saith sinner art thou willing to be changed and renewed art thou willing to come under the bond of the covenant art thou willing to give up thy heart and life to the guidance and government of the spirit then be not discouraged for thou shalt certainly be justified and saved 2. Not of one nature the Mediator must necessarily have more natures than one he must have the divine and humane nature united in his single person or else he could never suffer what he was to suffer nor never satisfie what he was to satisfie nor never bring poor sinners into a state of reconciliation 2 Cor 5. 19 20. with God and 't is farther observable that the Text last cited saith God is one viz. as he is essentially considered and therefore as so he cannot be the Mediator but Christ as personally considered he is not of one that is not of one nature for he is God and man too and therefore he is the only person that is fitted and qualified to be the Mediator and 't is observable that when Christ is spoken of as Mediator his Manhood is brought in that nature being so necessary to that office 1 Tim. 2. 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Jesus Christ was God and man as man he ought to satisfie but could not as God he could satisfie but ought not but consider him as God and man and so he both could satisfie and ought to satisfie and accordingly he did satisfie according to what was prophecied of him Dan. 9. 24. He did make reconciliation for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness He did not begin to do something and then faint and leave his work imperfect but he finished it and that to the glory of his father John 17. 4. I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And 't is good to observe the singularity and oneness of the person mediating not many not a few not two but one Mediator between God and man there was none with him in his difficult work of Mediatorship but he carried it on alone though there are many Mediators among men yet there is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
one only Mediator betwixt Isa 63. 3. I confess the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is given to Moses in that Gal. 3. 19. but Moses was but a typical Mediator and you never find that Moses is called a Mediator in a way of redemption or satisfaction or paying a Ransom for so dear Jesus is the only Mediator so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us used in that 1 Tim. 2. 5. Heb. 8. 6 7. 8. Heb. 9. 14 15. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. God and men and 't is as high folly and madness to make more Mediators than one as 't is to make more Gods than one There is one God and one mediator betwixt God and men for look as one husband satisfies the wife as one father satisfies the child as one Lord satisfies the servant and on sun satisfies the world so one Mediator is enough to satisfie all the world that desire a Mediator or that have an interest in a Mediator The true sence and import of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mediator is a middle person or one that interposes betwixt two parties at variance to make peace betwixt them Though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mediator be rendred variously sometimes an Umpiere or Arbitrator sometimes a messenger betwixt two persons sometimes an interpretor imparting the mind of one to another sometimes a reconciler or peace-maker yet this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth most properly signifie a Mediator or a midler because Jesus Christ is both a middle person and a middle officer betwixt God and man to reconcile and reunite God and man This of all others is the most proper and genuine signification of this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ is the middle that is the second person in the Trinity betwixt the Father and the Holy Ghost He is the only middle person betwixt God and man being in one person God-man and his being a middle person fits and capacitates him to stand in the midst between God and us And as he is the middle person so he is the middle officer intervening or interposing or coming between God and man by office satisfying God's justice to the full for man's sins by his sufferings and death and maintaining our constant peace in heaven by his meritorious intercession Hence as one observes Jesus Christ is Gerhard a true Mediator is still found in medio in the middle He was born as some think from Wisd 18. 14. about the middle of the night he suffered in the middle of the world that is at Jerusalem seated in the middle of the Heb. 11. 12. earth he was crucified in the midst between the two John 19. 18. thieves he died in the air on the cross in the midst between heaven and earth he stood after his Resurrection John 20. 19. in the midst of his Disciples and he has promised that where two or three are gathered together in his name he Mat. 18. 20. will be in the midst of them and he walks in the midst Rev. 2. 1. of the seven golden candle-sticks that is the Churches And he as the heart in the midst of the body distributes Ephe. 4. 15 16. spirits and vertue to all the parts of his mystical body Thus Jesus Christ is the Mediator betwixt God and man middle in person and middle in office And thus you have seen at large what a meet Mediator Jesus Christ is considered in both his natures considered as God-man But Secondly If Jesus Christ be not God then there is no spiritual nor eternal good to be expected or enjoyed If Christ be not God our preaching is in vain and your hearing is in vain and your praying is in vain and your believing is in vain and your hope of pardon and forgivness by Jesus Christ is in vain for none can forgive sins but a God Mark 2. 7. John 3. 16. John 10. 28. 2 Tim. 4. 8. James 1. 12. 1 Pet. 5. 4. v. Rev. 3. 21. Rev. 2. 11. Christ hath promised that believers shall never perish he hath promised them eternal life and that he will raise them up at the last day he has promised a Crown of Righteousness he has promised a Crown of Life he has promised a Crown of glory he has promised that conquering Christians shall sit down with him in his throne as he is set down with his father in his throne He has promised that they shall not be hurt of the second death And a thousand other good things Jesus Christ has promised but if Jesus Christ be not God how shall these promises be made good If a man that hath never a foot of Land in England nor yet worth one groat in all the world shall make his will and bequeath to thee such and such houses and Lands and Lordships in such a County or such a County and shall by Will give thee so much in Plate and so much in Jewels and so much in ready money whereas he is not upon any account worth one penny in all the world certainly such Legacies will never make a man the richer nor the happier None of those great and precious promises which are hinted at above will signifie any thing if Christ be not God for they can neither refresh us nor chear us in this world nor make us happy in that other world If Christ be not God how can he purchase our pardon procure our peace pacifie divine wrath and satisfie infinite justice A man may satisfie the justice of man but who but a God can satisfie the justice of God will God accept of thousands of Micah 6. 7. Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl or the first-born of thy body for the sin of thy soul Oh? No he will not he cannot that Scripture is worthy to be written in letters of Gold Acts 20. 28. Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you over-seers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood This must needs relate to Christ and Christ is here called God and Christ's blood is called the blood of God and without a peradventure Christ could never have gone through with the purchase of the Church if the blood he shed had not been the blood of God This blood is called God's own blood because the son of God being and remaining true God assumed humane flesh and blood in unity of person by this phrase that which appertaineth to the humanity of Christ is attributed to his Divinity because of the union of the two natures in one person and communion of properties The Church is to Christ a bloody Spouse an Acheldama or field of blood for the could not be redeemed with silver and gold but with 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. the blood of God so it is called by a communication of properties to set forth the incomparable value and vertue thereof But Thirdly if
nourish but they cannot heal others can enrich buâ— they cannot secure others can adorn but cannot advance all do serve but none do satisfie they are like a beggars coat made up of many pieces not all enough either to beautifie defend or satisfie but there is enough in a suffering Christ to fill us and satisfie us to the full Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him Look as the worth and value of many pieces of Silver is to be found in one piece of Gold so all the petty excellencies that are scattered abroad in the creatures we to be found in a bleeding dying Christ yea all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth is epitomized in him that suffered on the Cross nec Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolen a man cannot hyperbolize in speaking of Christ and heaven but must entreat his hearers as Tully doth his readers concerning the worth of L. Crassus ut majus quiddam de iis quam quae scripta sunt suspicarentur 3. De oratore that they would conceive much more than he was able to express certainly it is as easie to compass the heavens with a span and contein the sea in a nut-shell as to relate fully a suffering Christ's excellencies or heaven's happiness O sirs there is in a crucified Jesus something proportionable to all the straits wants necessities and desires of his poor people He is bread to nourish them and a garment to John 6. 5 6 37. Rev. 13. 14. Mat. 9. 12. Isa 9. 6. Heb. 2. 10. Act. 5. 31. cover and adorn them a Physician to hâ—al them a Counseller to advise them a Captain to defend them a Prince to rule a Prophet to teach and a Priest to make attonement Act. 7. 37 38. Heb. 2. 17 18. cap. 4. 15 16. 2 Cor. 11. 2. Isa 9. 6 7. John 20. 17. Isa 28. 16. Rev. 22. 16. Eph. 1. 22 23. for them an Husband to protect a Father to provide a Brother to relieve a Foundation to support a Root to quicken a Head to guide a Treasure to enrich a Sun to enlighten and a Fountain to cleanse Now what can any Christian desire more to satisfie him and save him to make him holy and happy in both Worlds Shall the Romans and other Nations highly value those that have but ventur'd to lay down their lives for their Countrey and shall not we highly value the Lord Jesus Christ who hath actually laid down his life for his sheep I have John 10. 11 15 17. read of one who walking in the fields by himself of a sudden fell into loud cries and weeping and being asked by one that passed by and over-heard him the cause of his lamentation I weep saith he to think that the Lord Jesus Christ should do so much for us men and yet not one man of a thousand so much as mind him or think of him Oh what a bitter Lamentation have we cause to take up that the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered so many great and grievous things for poor sinners and that there are so few that sincerely love him or that highly value him most men preferring their lusts or else the Toys and Trifles of this world above him But Fifthly let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ work us all into a gracious willingness to embrace sufferings for his sake and chearfully and resolutely to take up his Cross Mat. 16. 24. and follow him did Christ suffer who knew no sin and shall we think it strange to suffer who know nothing but sin shall he lie swelthering under his father's wrath and shall we cry out of men's anger was he crowned Godfrey of Bullen first King of Jerusalem refused to be crowned with a Crown of Gold saying that it became not a Christian to wear a Crown of Gold where Christ for our salvation had worn a Crown of thorns with thorns and must we be crowned with rose-buds was his whole life from the cradle to the cross made up of nothing but sorrows and sufferings and must our lives from the cradle to the grave be filled up with nothing but pleasures and delights was he despised and must we be admired was he debased and must we be exalted was he poor and must we be rich was he low and must we be high did he drink of a bitter cup a bloody cup and will no cups serve our turns but cups of consolation Let us not think any thing too much to do for Christ nor any thing too great to suffer for Christ nor any thing too dear to part with for such a Christ such a Saviour that thought nothing too much to do or too grievous to suffer that so he might accomplish the work of our Redemption He left heaven for us and shall not John 1. 18. we let go this world for him he left his father's bosom for us and shall not we leave the bosoms of our dearest Relations Psal 45. 10 11. Mat. 10. 37. for him he underwent all sorts of sufferings for us let us as readily encounter with all sorts of sufferings for him Paul was so inur'd to sufferings for Christ that â— Cor. 12. 10. 2 Cor. 11. 23 to verse 28. he could rejoice in his sufferings he gloried most in his chains and he looked upon his scars buffetings scourgings stoneings for Christ as his greatest triumphs And how ambitious were the primitive Christians of Martyrdom in the cause of Christ and of late in the times of the Marian Persecution how many hundreds chearfully and willingly laid down their lives mounting Eliah-like to heaven in fiery charriots And oh how will Christ own and honour such Christians at last as have Rev. 3. 21. not set on others but exposed themselves to hazards losses and sufferings for his sake as those brave souls who Rev. 12. 11. loved not their lives unto the death that is the despised their lives in comparison of Christ they exposed their Heb. 11 33 to 39. cap. 10. 34. bodies to horrible and painful deaths their temporal estates to the spoyl and their persons to all manner of shame and contempt for the cause of Christ in the days of that bloody persecutor Dioclesian the Christians shewed certatim Ploâ—iosa in certamina ruebatur c. Sulpitius as glorious power in the faith of Martyrdom as in the faith of Miracles the valour of the patients and the savageness of the persecutors striving together till both exceeding nature and belief bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers In all Ages and Generations they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted Gal. 4. 29. them that have been born after the spirit and the seed of the serpent have been still a multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a poor silly maid sitting in a wilderness compassed about with hungry
fundamental guilt no no but he was made sin by imputation and law-account he was our Surety and so our sins were laid on him in order to punishment And to prefigure this all the iniquities of Gods people were imputed to their sacrifice though they were not inherently his own as we read Levit. 16. 21 22 Aaron shall put all the iniquities of all the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins upon the head of the Goat and the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities and why then should it seem strange that the perfect righteousness of our sacrifice and surety though it be not our own inherently should be imputed to us by the Lord and made ours Frequently and seriously consider that the word answering this imputing is in the Hebrew Chashab and in To impute in the General is to acknowledg that to be another's which is not indeed his and it is used either in a good or bad sense so that it is no more than to account or reckon It is the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us and accepted for us by which we are judged righteous the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the summ as the learned say comes to this That though the words in the general signifie to think to reason to imagine c. yet very frequently they are used to signifie to account or reckon by way of computation as Arithmeticians use to do so that it is as it were a judgment passed upon a thing when all reasons and arguments are cast together And from this it is applied to signifie any kind of accounting or reckoning and in this sence imputation is taken here for God's esteeming and accounting of us righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to reckon or account 't is taken by a borrowed speech from Merchants reckonings and accounts who have their debt-books wherein they set down how their reckonings stand in the particulars they deal in Now in such debt-books Merchants use to set down whatever payments are only made either by the debtors themselves or by others in the behalf of them an example whereof we have in the Epistle to Philemon vers 18. where Paul undertakes to Philemon for Onesimus if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee any thing put that on my account that is account Onesimus his debt to Paul and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus which answers the double imputation in point of justification Psal 32. 1 2. that is of our sins to Christ and of Christ's satisfaction to us both which are implyed 2 Cor. 5. 21. He made him to be sin for us that is our sins were imputed to him that we might be the righteousness of God in him that is that his rightcousness might be imputed to us The language of Jesus Christ to his father seems to be this Oh holy Father I have freely and willingly taken all the debts and all the sins of all the believers in the world upon me I have undertaken to be their pay-master to satisfie thy justice to pacifie thy wrath to fulfil thy Law c. and therefore Loe here I am ready Psal 40. 6 7 8. Heb. 10. 4 5 6 7 8 9. to do what ever thou commandest and ready to suffer whatsoever thou pleasest I am willing to be reckoned a sinner that they may be reckoned righteous I am willing to be accounted cursed that they may be for ever blessed I am willing to pay all their debts that they may be set at liberty I am willing to lay down my life that John 10. 11 15 17 18. Rev. 20. 6. they may escape the second death I am willing that my soul should be exercised with the most hideous Agonies that their souls may be possessed of heaven's happinesses Oh what wonderful wisdom grace and love is here manifested that when we were neither able to satisfie the penalty of the Law or to bring a conformity to it that then Christ should interpose and become both redemption and righteousness for us Now from the imputed righteousness of Christ a believer may form up this fifth plea as to all the ten Scriptures Eâ—cles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18. 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27. cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4. 5. in the margent that refer to the great day of account Oh blessed God thou hast given me to understand that the mediatory righteousness of Christ includes first the habitual holiness of his person in the absense of all sin and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and requisite qualities Secondly the actual holiness of his life and death by obedience By his active obedience he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the Law and by his passive obedience his voluntary sufferings he satisfied the penalty and commination of the Law for transgressions That perfect satisfaction to divine justice in whatsoever it requires either in way of punishing for sin or obedience to the law made by the Lord Jesus Christ God and man the Mediator of the new Covenant as a common head representing all those whom the father hath given to him and made over unto them that believe in him This is that righteousness that is imputed to all believers in their Justification and this imputed righteousness of thy dear son and my dear saviour is now my plea before thy bar of Justice Imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of damnation is a perfect obedience conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every son and daughter of Adam in his own person Now imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth it is obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually performed to the very utmost Iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for righteousness and he hath fulfilled the Law in the humane nature to the intent that it might be fulfilled in the same nature to which it was at first given and all this he hath expresly done in all their names and on all their behalfs that believe in him That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in them Rom. 8. 3 4. It is as if our dear Lord Jesus had said oh blessed father this I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead and room of all those that have ventured their souls upon me that they may have a righteousness which they may truly call their own and on which they may safely rest and in which they may for ever glory Isa 45. 24 25. Now it will never stand with the unspotted holiness justice and righteousness of God to reject this righteousness of his son or that plea that is bottomed upon it Oh the matchless happiness of believers who have so
of the East who saw Herod in all his Royalty and Glory worshipped not him yet they fell down before Christ No doubt but that by divine instinct they knew the divinity of Christ hence they worshipped him not only with civil worship as one born King of the Jews but with divine worship which was it 's like the outward gesture of reverence and kneeling and falling down for so the Greek words signifie Is it probable that they would worship a young babe that by reason of his infancy understands nothing except they did believe some divine thing to be in him and therefore not the Chrysostom childhood but the divinity in the child was worshipped by them certainly if Christ had been no more than a natural child they would never have undertaken so long so tedious and so perillous a journey to have found him out principally considering as some conceive they themselves were little inferiour to the Kings of the Jews It is uncertain what these wise men who were Gentiles knew particularly concerning the mystery of the Messias but certainly they knew that he was something more than a man by the internal Revelation of the spirit of God who by faith taught them to believe that he was a King though in a cottage and a God though in a cradle and therefore as unto a God they fell down and worshipped him c. But Fifthly when Jesus Christ was declared to the world God did command even the most glorious Angels to worship him as his natural any coessential son who was begotten from the days of Eternity in the unity of the God-head for when he brought in his first-begotten and only-begotten son into the world he said And let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 6. The glorious Angels who refuse divine honour to be given to themselves see thou do it not saith the Angel to John wen John fell Rev. 19. 10. cap. 22. 9. at his feet to worship him I am thy fellow servant c. yet they give and must give divine honour unto Christ Phil. 2. 9. The Manhood of it self could not be thus adored because it is a creature but as it is received into unity of person with the Deity and hath a partner agency therewith according to its measure in the work of Redemption and Mediation All the honour due to Christ according to his divine nature was due from all eternity and there is no divine honour due to him from and by reason of his humane nature or any perfection which doth truly and properly belong to Christ as man He who was born of Mary is to be adored with divine worship but not for that reason because he was born of Mary but because he is God the coessential and eternal Son of God From what has been said we may thus argue He to whom Religious worship is truly exhibited is the most high God But religious worship is truly exhibited unto Christ Ergo Christ is the most high God But Seventhly Christ's Eternal Deity may be demonstrated 7. Neveâ— did any mere creature challenge to himself the honour due to God but miscarried and were confounded witness the Angels that God cast out of heaven 2 Pet. 2. 4. And Adam that he cast out of Paradise â—â—n 3. 22 23 24. And Herâ—d whom the Angel smote with a fatal blow Act. 12. 23. And those several Popes that we reaâ— of in Ecclesiastical stories therefore had Jesus Christ been but a mere creature divine justice woâ—â—d have confounded 〈◊〉 for making himself a God from Christ's oneness with the Father and from that claim that Jesus Christ doth lay to all that belongs to the father as God Now certainly if Jesus Christ were not very God he would never have laid claim to all that is the father's as God The Ancients insist much upon that Joh. 16. 15. All things that the father hath as God are mine the father hath an eternal God-head and that is mine the Father hath infinite power and wisdom and that is mine the father hath infinite majesty and glory and that is mine the father hath infinite happiness and blessedness in himself and that is mine saith Christ The words are very emphatical having in them a double Universality 1. All things there is one note of Universality 2. Whatsoever there is another note of Universality we saith Christ there is nothing in the father as God but is mine All that the father hath is mine the father is God and I am God the father is life and I am life for whatsoever the father hath is mine John 10. 30. I and my father are one we are one eternal God we are one in consent will essence nature power dominion glory c. I and my father are one two persons but one God he speaketh this as he is God one in substance being and Deity c. As God he saith I and my father are one but secundum formam servi in respect of the form of a servant his assumed humanity he saith John 14. 28. My father is greater than I John 10. 37. If I do not the works of my father believe me not vers 38. But if I do though ye believe not me believe the works c. The Argument of it self is plain No man can of himself and by his own power do divine works unless he be truly God I do divine works by my own power yea I do the works of my father not only the like and equal but the same with the father Therefore I am truly God neither deserve I to be called a Blasphemer because I said I was one with the father 1 John 5. 7. And these three are one one in nature and essence one in power and will and one in the act of producing all such actions as without themselves any of them is said to perform Look as three Lamps are lighted in one chamber albeit the Lamps be divers yet the lights cannot be severed so in the Godhead as there is a distinction of persons so a simplicity of nature From the Scriptures last cited we may safely and confidently conclude that Christ hath the same divine nature and Godhead with the father they both have the same divine and essential Titles and Attributes and perform the same inward operations in reference to all creatures whatsoever To make it yet more plain compare John 17. 10. with John 16. 15. All things that the father hath are mine John 16. 15. Father all mine are thine and thine are mine John 17. 10. That is whatsoever doth belong to the father as God doth belong to Christ for we speak not of personal but Essential Properties Christ doth lay claim to all that is natural to all that belongs to the father as God not to any thing which belongs to him as the father as the first person of the blessed Trinity All things that the father hath are mine This he speaketh John 1. 16. v. in the person
of the Mediator because of his fulness we all receive grace for grace and herein sheweth the unity of Essence in the holy Trinity and community of Power Wisdom Sanctity Truth Eternity Glory Majesty such is the strict union of the persons of the blessed Trinity that there is among them a perfect communion in all things for all things that the father hath are mine And let thus much suffice for the proof of the Godhead of Christ Concerning the Manhood of Christ let me say that as he is very God so he is very man 1 Tim. 2. 5. The man Christ Jesus Christ is true man but not mere man verus sed non merus The word is not to be taken exclusively as denying the Divine Nature Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both God and man sometimes denominated from the one nature and sometimes from the other sometimes called God and sometimes man yet so as he is truly both and in that respect fitly said to be a Mediator betwixt God and men having an interest in and participating of both natures This Title THE SON OF MAN is given to Christ in the New Testament four score and eight times The design being not only to express a man according to the Syrian Dialect then used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bar Nosho nor only to express Christ's Humanity who was truly man in all things like unto us sin only excepted nor only to intimate his humility by calling himself so often by this humble name but also to tell us to what a high honour God hath raised our nature in him and to confute their Imaginations who denied him to be very Man Flesh Blood and Bones as we truly are and who held that whatever he was and whatever he did and whatever he suffered was only seeming and in appearance and not real and to lead us to that original promise the first that was made to Mankind The seed of the woman shall bruise Gen. 3. 15. the serpent's head that so he might intimate saith Epiphanius that himself was the party meant intended and foretold of by all the Prophets who was to come into the world to all nations in the world Jews and Gentiles originally a like descended of the woman who both had a like interest in the woman and her seed though the Rom. 3. 1 2. Jews did and might challenge greater propriety in the seed of Abraham than the Gentiles could but they having been a long time as it were God's Favourites a selected People a chosen Nation did wholly appropriate Exod. 19 6. 1 Pet. 2. 9. the Messias to themselves and would endure no co-partners nor that any should have any right title or interest in him but themselves and therefore they would never talk otherwise than of the Messias the King of Israel the son of David never naming him once the light of the Isa 42. 6. Isai 3. 6. Isai 63. 5. Gen. 3. 15. Luk. 3. 23. to the end Gentiles the expectation of the Gentiles the hope and desire of the eternal hills the hope of all the ends of the earth the seed of the woman the son of man as descending from Eve extracted from Adam and allied unto all Mankind And it is observable that the Evangelist Luke at the story of Christ's Baptism when he was to be installed into his Ministry and had that glorious testimony from Heaven deriveth his Pedigree up to the first Adam the better to draw all men's eyes to that first promise concerning the seed of the woman and to cause them to own him for that seed there promised and for that effect that is there mentioned of dissolving the works of Satan And as that Evangelist giveth that hint when he is now entring this quarrel with Satan even in the entrance of his Ministry so doth he very frequently and commonly by this very Phrase give the same intimation for the same purpose no sooner had Nathaniel proclaimed him the son of God John 1. 49. Nathaniel answered and said unto him Rabbi thou art the son of God thou art the king of Israel but he instantly titles himself THE SON OF MAN vers 51. not only to shew his humanity for that Nathaniel was assured of by the words of Philip who calls him Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph vers 45. but also to draw the thoughts of the hearers to the first promise and to work them to look for a full recovery of all that by the second Adam which was lost in the first Though the gates of Heaven were shut against the first Adam by reason of his fall yet were they open to the second Adam vers 51. And he saith unto him verily verily I say unto you This double Asseveration verily verily puts the matter beyond all doubt and controversie hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man the Jacob's He alludes to Jacob's Ladder Gen 28. 12. v. Ladder the Bridg that joyneth Heaven and Earth together as Gregory hath it This 51. vers doth greatly illustrate Christ's glory and farther confirm believers saith that Christ is Lord of Angels even in his state of humiliation and hath them ready at his call as he or his people shall need their service to move from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth This Title THE SON OF MAN shews that the Son of God was also the son of man and that he delighted to be so and therefore doth so often take this Title to himself THE SON OF MAN Now concerning the Manhood of Christ the Prophet plainly speaks Isa 9. 6. Vnto us a child is born and unto us a son was given Parvulus a child that noteth his humanity Filius a son that noteth his Deity parvulus a child even man of the substance of his mother born in the Mat. 1. 25. world filius a son even God of the substance of his father begotten before the world Parvulus a child behold Prov. 8. 22. to the end Luk. 2. 7. his humility she brought forth her first born Son and wrapped him in swadling-cloaths and laid him in a manger Filius a son behold his dignity when he bringeth in his first begotten son into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him to prove that he was Heb. 1. 6. v. man 't is enough to say that he was born he lived he died God became man by a wonderful unspeakable and unconceivable union Behold God is offended by man's affecting and coveting his wisdom and his glory for that was the Devil's temptation to our first parents ye shall Gen. 3. 5. be as Gods and man is redeemed by God's assuming and taking his frailty and his infirmity man would be as God and so offended him and therefore God becomes man and so redeemeth him Christ as man came of Acts 17. 31. Isa 7. 14. the race of Kings As man he shall judg the world