them nor worship them he excluded every Creature from a capacity of receiving divine Honours whatsoever was capable of being represented by any figure or image if it was worshipped was an Idol the Creature represented was so as well as the representation and invisibility as well as any other attribute is ascribed to the true God as a peculiarity whereby we might know him to be the only proper object of our Worship by both these precepts our Saviour is perfectly shut out from being the subject of Divine Honours as he is suppos'd by the Socinians to be a God in subordinacy to his Father and as he is a Creature and capable as other Creatures be of being represented by a material Image which is wholly inconsistent with a true Divinity For tho' the Socinians allow our Saviour to be the Son of God in a peculiar manner by reason of his being begotten in the Womb of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost or as they call it by the influence of Almighty God this does not at all put him out of the rank of the Creatures nor does that Glory and Honour and Immortality which they suppose his Father to have adorned him with after his resurrection make him a God who was before a Man for all these things are reserved too in a just proportion for all such as die in the true Faith of Christ by which they too in their turns must necessarily be Gods tho' because their proportion of honour is suppos'd inferiour to that of Christ they must be Gods of an inferiour rank and quality but this Collation of dignity effects nothing at all and the Socinian distinction between a God made by the supreme God and a God made by Men comes to nothing at all The Poets Divinity in that point is better and more rational than theirs Qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus Non facit ille Deos Qui rogat ille facit He who represents a Divine face in gold or marble makes it not a God but he who prays to it makes it such So if God render the body of our Lord never so illustrious that makes him not a God but the presenting of Humane supplications to him makes him one so that Christ by that means comes to be a God made so by Man as well as any other Idol whatsoever is therefore according to the Socinians own principle Christ being a meer Man if he be prayed to must be an Idol There can be no true God but He who is the Creator of all things nor does it lye within the reach of omnipotence it self to make a Creature a Creator therefore either Christ must be the Creator of all things or else he cannot be true God He remains a meer Creature still and all those adorations presented to him by the Christian World are notorious and damnable Idolatry The common notion of Idolatry confirms this so S. Cyprian tells us according to the notion he had of it Idololatria committitur cum Divinus honor alteri datur Idolatry is then committed when that Honour which belongs to God is given to another Gregory Nazianzen gives us this definition of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idolatry is a transposition of divine worship from the maker to the thing made from God the Creator of all things to the Creature Therefore so long as our Saviour is really but a Creature which he must be if he be not the eternal God so long all that Worship paid to him according to this antient notion is Idolatry Now let a Socinian if he please impeach those of the Roman Communion as Idolaters we 'l agree with him and we really believe them to be so but there 's no Argument which can properly be made use of against that Church to convince them of Idolatry by reason of their praying to Angels or departed Saints from which practice they have been sufficiently and undeniably proved to be Idolaters but the same will hold good against these The strength of all Arguments against Rome lying in that That they transfer the Honour only due to the Creator to a Creature which is as true of all those who pay divine Worship to our Saviour if he be no more than a Creature The Gods who have not Created all things who have not Created Heaven and Earth shall perish from the earth and from under the Heaven as we alledged from the Prophet before but according to the Socinians our Lord did not make the Heaven and the Earth Therefore tho' they say he is True God at the same time they say He is not The true God He must be one of those Gods which must so perish A conclusion which our Adversaries either must deny or fairly renounce all their pretences which indeed are but weak at best to Christianity Divine Honours cannot be lawfully offered or Prayers lawfully presented to any created Being but upon supposition of some defect in the Creator for a positive Command from him to that purpose could it be suppos'd would not be enough for a Divine Command open and plain cannot make that which in its own nature is Evil to be good things morally good or evil are eternally so and that from that consideration that their moral goodness or illness flows from their agreement with or contradiction to the Divine Nature Now what was once contradictory to the divine Nature God himself cannot make agreeable to it because He cannot change his own Nature which yet must be if that which being abstractedly considered was a sin against him should now under the same abstracted consideration 1 Tim. 3.16 be no longer so therefore we are sure God himself cannot command any thing that is morally evil but diverting that â—orship which belongs to the Creator of all things from him to his own Creature let that Creature be what it will is morally evil it 's Idolatry therefore God cannot command it therefore he cannot give or have given Christians any positive or open Command to Worship our Saviour if he be a meer Creature because that 's translating that Worship due only to the true God to the Creature To suppose any defect in the Creator is blasphemous if there can be yet any just reason or apparent necessity of Mens addressing themselves to any Being which is but their fellow Creature for the attainment of that for which they were wont to apply themselves only to the supreme Being or Creator before it must be asserted but where there is all Perfection concluded to reside in that Sovereign Being to whom it 's granted on all hands that Divine Worship is due there 's no kind of necessity that we should apply our selves to any Intermedial Power or go round about when we may have a direct access to the throne of grace While we own Christ to be the True God as his Father is of the same eternal Nature whatsoever obliges us in our necessities to call upon the True God obliges to call upon
our Saviour himself He and his Father were One that it was He whom Saint Thomas upon a sufficient Conviction declared to be his Lord and his God that according to Saint Paul He is God over all blessed for ever and that according to the same Apostle He being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet took upon himself the Form of a Servant for our sakes These proofs I explain'd enlarged upon and vindicated them from their Sophistry who would have them look'd upon as proofs insufficient of the Divinity of the Son of God We prov'd the same thing then by those Actions done by himself and in his own Name during his converse upon Earth and done by his Apostles in His Name after his Ascension into Heaven For instance from his passing insensibly through the multitude who led him to the brow of an Hill designing to cast him headlong down from thence From his making the Souldiers who came with Judas to seize him to fall down with barely answering them what they desired and in the kindest and most satisfactory manner From his commanding Lazarous in his own Name to come forth of his Grave after four days burying From his Apprehension of virtue going out of him to heal the Woman with the bloody Issue tho' only touching the Hem of his Garment From his calling those that were weary and heavy laden with their sins to come to him and promising them rest for their Souls upon so doing From his Forgiving sins in an authoritative manner his searching the Heart trying the Reins and according to Saint Peter Knowing all things From his Promising and sending the Holy Ghost and giving it first of all with his Breath opening the Understanding of the Disciples and sending them abroad with a Commission equivalent to that which himself had received from his Father and in conclusion from his Disciples Baptising Preaching and doing Miracles wholly in his Name and by Faith in him From this Head we proceeded to prove our Doctrine that Christ was God equal with his Father from the Faith of the Primitive Church where we confin'd our selves in our Disquisition principally to those Fathers who wrote before the starting of the Arrian Controversie So for the Greek Church we gave you an account of what Clemens the Roman Bishop in his Epistles to the Corinthians of what Saint Ignatius Bishop of Antioch in his several Epistles of what Justine Martyr in his two Apologies and in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew and Irenaeus in his books against Heresies and Clemens Alexandrinus in his Admonition to the Gentiles and in his Stromata and what Origen in his books against Celsus furnishes us with in evidence of our Saviour's Divine Nature Then for the Latin Church we gave you the sence of what Tertullian St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage Arnobius and Lactantius have written from whence we descended to Creeds framed by Gregory Thaumaturgus by Felix the first of that name Bishop of Rome by the First and Second Councils at Antioch summoned on the account of Paulus Samosatenus and the Circular Epistle of the Latter from the circular Letters of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and so from the Epistle and Creed of the Nicene and Constantinopolitane general Councils with the remarkable suffrages of Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperor and Eusebius of Caesarea one much suspected of Arrianism himself but a famous Writer of Church-History Having done with this we prov'd last of all that no true Divine Worship was due to any meer Creature or could be paid to any such without Idolatry That true Divine Worship yet was paid to our blessed Lord by his Apostles and first Followers without Idolatry therefore that our Saviour in consequence could be no meer Creature Thus far we had proceeded and concluded all our works of that nature at an end and our selves at liberty to prosecute our intended discourse farther But Ill Men taking advantage of that Liberty now indulged them a Liberty always fruitful of Errors and Innovations give us yet more Work and a necessary care to prevent that Poyson they scatter from spreading too far amongst those who profess Christianity in these Nations And here we have two mighty Pretenders to Piety and Reason One of which undertakes the Patronage of long exploded Arrianism the Other of the more refined Socinianism and both with old Arguments and it may be some new Finenesses attack the Divinity of our Saviour It 's no small happiness that such Men take up such different Opinions to maintain for by that means One is somewhat of an Antidote against the Other and by these differences between themselves in so weighty a matter Wise and Considerate Christians will learn to believe neither of them As for what our Socinian pleads considering what we asserted in the beginning of our Discourse viz. That Jesus Christ our Saviour is the Son of God which We with all sound Christians understood in a natural sence and that that very Notice inferr'd a co-essentiality of the Son with the Father as it does among Men where the Son is of the same Nature with the Father which begets him we thought we had reason but the Socinians have found us out a way of Filiation or Sonship of being the begotten nay the Only begotten Son of God without any such Essential Relation thus the Racovian Catechism speaking concerning the Original of Christ's being called or being the Son of God tells us He is so First Because He was conceived of the Holy Ghost and being born of a Virgin without the concurrence of a man he had no other Father but God and this Wissowatius in his note upon that passage tells us ought to be observed as the first reason mentioned in Scripture why Christ is the Son of God in opposition to those who found that relation upon his eternal Generation of his Father Secondly Christ says the Catechism is the Son of God because as He himself teaches us He was sanctified by the Father i. e. He was separated from the rest of mankind in a singular manner and besides the perfect holiness of his Life furnished with Divine Wisdom and Power Cat. Raco sect 4. c. 1. p. 24. He was employed by the Father to execute the Office of an Ambassadour with a supreme Authority among Men Thirdly Christ was the Son of God because He was rais'd from the Dead by God and so begotten of him again by this means becoming like God in Immortality and Fourthly Christ is the Son of God because He is invested by God with supreme Authority and Command over all things Our Country man Lushington a great Patron of Socinianism in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews On the Hebrews c. 1. p. 23. reckons up the grounds of Christ's being the Son of God to the same number He 's the Son of God says He First by his Conception Secondly by his Function Thirdly by his Institution being
to the Jews of whom we acknowledge that they had no such distinct notions of the Trinity as we by the Gospels assistance have at present but yet both among Jews and Gentiles he was declar'd by other names than that of God the Father and if according to our common Logical notions Relatives do mutually suppose or remove one another if Jesus Christ was not really and actually the Son of God pre-existent to his incarnation the name of Father could not properly have been apply'd to the supreme God nor he be preach'd to the World under that character so that in fine we conclude that the preaching of God the Father to the World was no part of the Mystery of Godliness Nor is it properly so to say that God the Father was believ'd on in the World for that too was nothing newly effected by the appearance of our Saviour the World in general from its first original believ'd there was a God if there were any who from those apprehensions they had of the existence of a God set themselves to live virtuously as considering that God under the notion of a knowing and severe Judge and one capable of rewarding men according to their works such Persons believ'd in God according to our own sense when we repeat the Creed Now that some did thus believe before our Saviour's appearance in the flesh is unquestionable all those who liv'd religiously before the promulgation of the Mosaic Law did thus believe in God and are some of them remembred as the great Heroes of Faith in the beginning of the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews If then this were a Mystery it was of a very ancient standing and discovered long before the coming of Christ The application of the particulars thus far failing we have some reason to believe that neither will the last agree any better to that imposed sense He was received up in glory or into glory Here our adversaries flie to God's will again so confounding God and God's will as if they were not to be considered as distinct but this we have consider'd before where we observed that contradiction the Gospel met with in the World As to God the Father where or when or how or by whom was he receiv'd up in glory the holy Scriptures give us no intimation of his having descended at any time from Heaven to Earth and He that 's receiv'd up into glory ought to be so receiv'd by some Being superior to himself which a Socinian knows God the Father cannot have now as the Apostle teaches us He that descended Eph. 4.10 is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things but God the Father never that we hear of in Scripture descended therefore God the Father who ever of himself was surrounded with infinite glory never was by any receiv'd up into glory And thus have we shown the vanity of those glosses which the Socinians and others have fixt upon this Text we shall now show to whom the particulars in the Text do properly and unquestionably belong And here since Scripture makes it very plain that the whole method of serving God in an acceptable manner is laid down by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That as himself tells us He is the Way the Truth John 14.6 and the Life and no man comes to the Father but by him The whole mystery of Godliness or of true Christian Religion can consist in nothing but what refers to him who is the author of it that is the blessed Jesus concerning whom and whose doings and sufferings for us there is nothing reveal'd in the Gospel or in the foregoing prophecies but what 's mysterious He was indeed God manifest in the flesh God blessed for ever yet for the sake of wretched Sinners descending to Earth and taking our Nature upon him being cloth'd with flesh and all those incumbrances and infirmities attending upon a mortal state sin onely excepted He is that eternal Word which was in the begining with God nay that Word that was God John 1.1.14 and that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us as we learn from St. John Now if Christ really was God the most opinionative of the Socinians would conclude the Text plain enough for that Christ was certainly and literally made flesh but if we cannot read this Text of the Apostle truly without inserting the word God And Smalcius one of the great promoters of the Socinian heresie declares Smalc de verbo incarnato c. 18. Nos Graecum textum Vulgatae longe esse anteponendum censemus is vero habet Deum in carne esse manifestatum We look upon the Greek Text as far to be preferr'd before the Vulgar Latine and the Greek reads it God was manifest in the flesh and if neither the Gospel nor the will of God nor God the Father can properly or truly be said to be made flesh and yet God was manifest in the flesh then that Jesus who was truly and literally cloth'd with our flesh must be that God the farther proof of Christ's real and eternal Divinity belongs to another place but his true and indisputable humanity is the first plain and most obvious assertion of the Apostle here This same blessed Jesus was as plainly justified in the Spirit since not onely the miracles he did justified him in the sight of all Mankind and prov'd that he could be no cheat or Impostor as the Jews were willing to have him thought but at the time of his Baptism by John in Jordan while he was praying the Heaven was open'd and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him and a voice came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son Luke 3.21 22. in thee I am well pleas'd Now the Holy Spirit would not in so open a manner have descended on him who had pretended to that relation to Allmighty God which really never belong'd to him Therefore John the Baptist makes a right inference from that descent I saw says he Joh. 1.32 the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode upon him And I knew him not v. 33 34. but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God Our Lord himself makes it one of his last instructions to his Disciples that when the Comforter that Holy Spirit whom he would send should come he should amongst other things convince the world of righteousness because He the blessed Jesus went to his Father and the world should see him no more c. 16. v. 8. 10 14. and that that Holy Spirit should glorifie him for he should receive of his and shew it to men And thus effectually that Sacred Spirit when he was so plentifully according to promise pour'd out
taken away but strongly confirm'd the necessity of obedience to God's Laws whether written or natural which was as we have before observ'd the general intent of Religion and agreeable to those notions the World commonly had of it Since for the better carrying on this end Mysteries are so very advantageous to religion as to make Men have reverend apprehensions of it upon account of its incomparable Excellencies in its causes and effects and upon account of the weakness and shallowness of their own understandings since all these particulars are true it 's likewise absolutely necessary that the Christian the onely true Holy pure Religion should be built upon such a foundation as might appear to all Men upon the strictest inquiry beyond all doubt or controversie Mysterious inexplicable incomprehensible Nor could it be an impertinent labour to clear this truth because it totally ruines all the pretences of the Socinians that after the Revelation once made of the great fundamentals of our Faith there could remain nothing of so obscure a nature but that we by the pure strength of our own reason might be able to comprehend it In short that though it be true that Scripture as sufficient for that purpose is and ought to be the sole rule of Faith yet reason ought to be the rule of Scripture Reason as it now stands loaded with all the miserable consequences of sin reason so blind as without the extraordinary light of holy Scriptures to be wholly unable to lead a Man to Eternal life it obviates their assertions that the true ancient Catholick Interpretation of this and other Texts of Scripture that speak of the eternal Divine nature of the Son of God or of that glorious Trinity subsisting in the Father Son and Holy Ghost is false and unreasonable meerly because it introduces an unintelligible incarnation and unity of the Divine and Humane nature in Christ a Mysterious co-essentiality of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost c. notwithstanding all those glorious revelations God has made of himself in Scripture For if it be certainly true that Religion in it's general notion cannot subsist unless built upon a mystick foundation and that therefore Christian Religion in particular cannot subsist without it then it will follow that the continuing Mystick nature of the great Articles of our Faith can create no prejudice in any person whatsoever against our Religion on their account since especially it will remain impossible to draw any genuine consequences from those mysteries but what will be so far from impeaching that they will strongly confirm and re-inforce all those duties relating to God or man which are laid upon us by the natural or written Law and it will follow farther that the Socinians themselves by their endeavours to level all the Articles of our Faith the great saving principles of the Gospel to impair'd reason or by endeavouring to leave Christiany naked of all Mysteries do what in them lies to disannul all the Religion of Christians to take away all the use and advantage of the Gospel leaving the world so involv'd in Atheism or in meer Deism at this time very little to be preferr'd before the other Having done now with the positive assertion our next work is with all exactness and humility to consider the illustration of this Proposition in the severals laid down by the Apostle which altogether afford us the whole sum and substance of the Gospel for all that glad tydings sent from Heaven to Earth for the comfort of mankind consists in this That for their sakes to procure their Salvation God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the world receiv'd up into glory all which particulars tho' the full prosecution of the first be all our present task are incomprehensible mysteries yet as well worth our enquiring into as the Apostles writing them who without doubt would never have laid the weight of piety or godliness or true Religion upon those grounds had they not been worth our looking into or their truth worth our vindicating from all the attacks of prejudiced opinionative or haeretical men It 's true a late author tells us Naked Gospel p 34. c. 1. l. 20. That to dispute concerning a Mystery and at the same time to confess it a mystery is a contradiction as great as any in the greatest mystery the expression is worth our remark for the boldness and absurdity it contains It 's bold not to say impious to insinuate so broadly in a discourse where Christianity's concern'd that all great Mysteries are made up of or at least contain contradictions what have we then nothing at all Mysterious in Scripture what 's that love between the blessed Jesus and his Spouse the Church so admirably character'd in the book of Canticles can our Author find nothing Mysterious in all those adumbrations of ineffable love or can he easily give us a Catalogue of the Contradictions there the real Contradictions I mean for things that are of no mysterious nature at all on any other account may seem to contain somewhat contradictory but seeming contradictions are not real Can he fathom every thing relating to Daniel's weeks Men of a great deal of learning industry and sobriety have taken a great deal of pains to explain the mystery of them and have scarce yet given the world satisfaction were not the Vision mysterious it would be more easily clear'd but because it is not must it therefore be contradictious to it self or to make a yet closer instance the nature of a God can He or any Socinian make it comprehensible to humane understandings or else will the very notion of a God imply a contradiction He must be a very new fangled Son of the Church of England who will assert that but why must it imply a contradiction to dispute or discourse about or to enquire into a confest mystery That God was manifest in the flesh is true we believe that every circumstance relating to his Incarnation as laid down in Scripture is true according to the genuine and common interpretation of such words whereby these circumstances are express'd we believe too That as they are true we may dispute about them and clear them from all that Sophistry whereby some subtle men would fain baffle us out of them is no uncouth or irrational opinion yet after all we take the whole account of this Incarnation as laid down in Scripture to be a very great mystery But where lyes the Contradiction either in believing it a mystery or in defending it as such This truth that God was manifest in the flesh is as before intimated that upon the literal truth of which the whole Salvation of mankind depends How he should have been so is to all mankind mysterious and incomprehensible yet may we without any contradiction explain defend prove and draw inferences from it Hear what a Bishop of our own a genuine
knew every thing past present and to come clearly and fully in himself His humane nature lived not onely in a strict friendship but in a close and compleat union with the God-head and therefore felt no Convulsions or ecstasies no violent emotions of his rational faculties nor was he confin'd to time or place or common rules and methods but as the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him so he deliver'd Oracles to Mankind at all times as he himself pleas'd for God did not give the Spirit to him by measure Job 3.34 Thus inspir'd David publishes that Eternal Decree Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance Ps â— 7 8. and the utmost part of the earth for thy possession which could never be true in respect of David who never acquir'd so vast an Empire as is there promised but it was really acquir'd by our Saviour who by his holy Gospel subdued the Vniverse and made all Mankind partakers of that redemption wrought for them by himself And so Saint Paul preaching Christ to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia tells them That the promise made to their Fathers God had fulfilled to them their Children having rais'd up Jesus again as it is written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13.32 33. and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews proves his Superiority to Angels by that Argument For to which of the Angels said God at any time Hebr. 1.5 Thou art my Son c. And again to prove the mission and authority of Christ having said before That no man takes the Priestly honour to himself but he that is call'd of God as was Aaron he pleads So Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest Heb. 5.4 5. but he that said unto him Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee and so we are certain of the due application of the Prophecy which we shall dilate on farther in another place Such again was that of David in the Person of Jesus afterwards to appear in the World Psal 40.6 7 8. Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou open'd intimating by that the inefficacy of all those legal and typical Sacrifices which the Jews and in imitation of them others had been us'd to for if these Sacrifices could have avail'd for the taking away of Sin they had no longer been types and shadows but things of a real and substantial excellency which since they were not Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not requir'd Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Hebr. 10 5-10 O my God yea thy Law is within my heart And thus this Prophecy is apply'd by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews onely with that difference that whereas the Psalm has it Mine ear hast thou open'd according to the Hebrew the Apostle follows the translation of the Septuagint and renders it a Body hast thou prepared for me the sense amounting still to the same for as the Hebrews according to the Law made a Servant their own for ever by opening their ears or boring them Exod 21 6. so God made his Son Jesus obedient as a Servant by preparing him a body which was open'd too and fastened to the cross as the Servants ear in boring to the posts of the door Nor was that less plain or considerable The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stool The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Psal 110 1-4 Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The first part of this our Saviour who undoubtedly knew its true meaning assumes to himself and confounds the Pharisees by asking them that Question That whereas it was expected the Messias should be the Son of David yet David calls him Lord Matth. 22 41-45 How could he be his Lord and his Son too which was a mystery inexplicable to those who had meer carnal and mean notions of the Messias but a difficulty which when they got over it would not be so very hard to believe him humble and despicable as he appear'd to be the very Messias they look'd for For if he who was David's Lord and indeed God blessed for ever could condescend so low as to be David's Son it could not be strange that he who was David's Son should stoop lower yet and appear in the form of a servant The latter part of this prediction relating to a Priest is by the Writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews apply'd to Jesus Hebr. 7 17-21 as a proof of the legitimacy and eternity of his Priesthood Of the same authority is that 〈◊〉 18 〈◊〉 â—â— The Stone which the builders refus'd is become the head of the corner this is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes which not to mention the Jewish fable of such a stone being reall met withall in the building of the second Temple which had by several been thrown aside as useless yet afterwards by miracle was found fit for the joyning of the corners of the building our Saviour makes use of to convince the Jews of their folly and obstinacy in refusing to own him in his great Mediatorian office and to let them see that their contempt of Him could be no prejudice to his sacred dignity and Honour but that he who was now thought too inconsiderable to be of any use to the Jews one of the smallest of the Nations Matth. 21.42 43 44. should afterwards appear great enough to joyn Men of all Countries and Nations together in one Sacred bond and to crush all his Enemies in dreadful ruines for so he adds on repetition of those before quoted words Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder And this advancement and dilatation of Christ's power St. Peter justly takes notice of from the same Psalm in the case of the Cripple newly cured Acts 4 9 10 11 12. If we be this day examin'd of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole Be it known to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified whom God raised from the dead even by Him does this Man stand before you whole This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the Corner Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved That of Isaiah is wholly extraordinary and as I hinted
consider His declarations of Himself and his Apostles declarations concerning Him in the New Testament which we shall find of such a nature as may sufficiently prove the Divinity of the Son of God and here we 'l begin as Enjedine a subtle and industrious Unitarian does with that of S. Matthew where having given us an account of the Angels charge to Joseph concerning his espoused wife then with child by the power of the Holy Ghost he tells us that in all this that of the Prophet was fulfilled Behold a Virgin shall be with child Matth. 1.23 and shall bring forth a Son and they shall call his name Immanuel which is being interpreted God with us this the Evangelist quotes from Isai 7.14 Here Enjedine makes the Evangelist a very impertinent Writer alledging Old Testaments-texts upon every little hint tho' never so far from the purpose which argues very little reverence for an inspired Writer He tells us The name Immanuel could not signifie that Christ was God because the Prophet where he names him says he was sometime to be born that he should eat butter and honey that he should sometime be ignorant of the difference between good and bad c. therefore he could not be God but all these things were and were necessarily true of him as he was Man since he assumed a real and not a fantastick body We know he was born in the fulness of time taking flesh of the Virgin Mary that what was the dyet of other infants in those parts of the world was his too that it might be evident to all the world he had assumed a real body like other men in every thing but sin We believe his Humane Body grew and increas'd as that of other men and that rational Soul joyned with his body by which he was a true Man had its advances in understanding tho' at a greater and more early rate than others all this we believe and yet Christ might be God and God with us for all this For the reality of his Humanity was not any prejudice to the truth of his Divinity he was perfect Man and no less perfect God Our adversary questions farther whether the name Immanuel be here given to Christ or not because he finds him no where else called by that name But neither was there any reason for that this prophetical name being chiefly designed to signifie his Nature Enjed. in locum as Christ was to signifie his Office and since 't is certain the name does belong to some body for it 's not put there for nothing either it belongs to Christ or that Author ought to have named some body to whom it did belong but he is silent in that matter therefore we conclude it belongs to the Son of God He alledges farther that supposing the name Immanuel be the name of Jesus in the Text it signifies no more than that God was in and with him as he was with other of his Prophets but that 's impertinent since the name doth not import that God was in or with him but that upon his Incarnation God was with us i. e. God did then assume flesh and appear to and come among us which could not be unless he were God He tells us Moses might as well have been called Emmanuel while he converst with the Israelites and the Ark of God especially since the Israelites expected to be saved by it and upon its being brought into the field the Philistines cryed out God is come into the Camp but was Moses conceived of the Holy Ghost was the Ark of God really a living Saviour God might have given them what names himself pleas'd but we no where find that he gave them this which shews that he designed to appropriate this name wholly to his own Son when he should send him into the world that under that very state of exinanition or humiliation we should see him we should know how great a Being converst with us What else he objects is absurd even to ridiculousness viz. That many since that time have born the name of Immanuel and yet we never took them for gods as several Emperours of Constantinople and many private men among the rest Immanuel Tremellius as he instances a learned Protestant of later years He might as well have proved that because several Jews and others have been called Moses and yet none of them were Lawgivers to Israel therefore Moses the Son of Amram was no such Legislator or that because there were several Jews who bore the name of Josua or Jesus who were not the Saviours of the world that therefore our Jesus was not so what signifies what name I or another fix upon my Son Or what 's more ordinary than for Men to baptize their children by Scripture-names without ever reflecting on or knowing the meaning of those names But where God gives a name and where the Spirit of God interprets it neither the Name nor the Interpretation can be insignificant nor is it so here but being by the Prophet of old assign'd to by the Evangelist here applyed to the Son of God it sufficiently teaches us that He was God eternal even God with us In the next place we may consider that Command of our Saviour himself to his Apostles when he gave them their Commission for executing their Apostolical Functions Matth. 28.19 Go ye and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Where the Son and the Holy Ghost being set equally with the Father as the objects of our Baptismal Faith either prove to us their certain equality or seem of a very dangerous import ready to impress upon us false notions of the Deity and to make us think those really equal whom we see by Christ himself joyned together without any particular mark of distinction or inequality when indeed they are not But this were to represent the Evangelist under a very ill Character I shall not insist upon that in this place that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are here named as three distinct Beings and one as much and really a person as the other Enjed. Wolzogenius in loc which the Socinians deny of the Holy Ghost but shall only take notice of those evasions they make use of for here they tell us That we may as well infer from that of the Apostle concerning the Israelites 1 Cor. 10.2 That they were all Baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea that Moses was the most high God as that Christ was God from this command of Mens being baptized in his name We know well enough that to be baptized into Moses is to be initiated into that Church which is governed by that Law given by God to Moses and that to be baptized into Christ is to be entred into that Church which receives God's Law as delivered by Christ but where in any divine precept do we find God the Father and
Moses and the Holy Ghost linked together as if there were an equality among them We are told indeed by Wolzogenius that that passage after the Israelites having gone through the red Sea is a parallel Exod. 14.31 Having seen that great work which God had done upon the Aegyptians having drowned them while themselves were safe we are told the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord or in the Lord as your Margin reads it and in his servant Moses but that 's indeed no parallel for there 's distinction enough made between God and Moses one is the Lord the other but the servant but there is no such distinction in the Text no servant no intimation of an inferiority but only the order of nature followed and the Father put before the Son and both before the Holy Ghost which proceeds from both Then whereas Enjedine tells us That to be baptised into Moses was not to believe that Moses was the most high God and consequently That to be baptised into the name of the Son of God is not to believe any such thing of him he forgets that to be baptised into the name of the Father is to declare our belief of His being the most high God by his own confession yet that belief is the very Character by which those Hereticks distinguish themselves from us whom they call Trinitarians and if that be own'd our baptising in the name of Christ must infer our acknowledgment of his Divinity since the Father and the Son are joyned together in the same expression and we are baptised alike and as much into the name and belief of one as of the other But they would prove that Christ is not here made equal with his Father because S. Paul afterwards ranks him but with himself and others as in his reproof of the Corinthians for saying 1 Cor. 1.12 I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ Here indeed they confess there is a real superiority in Christ to any of these mentioned with him That acknowledgment was inevitable But farther tho' the Apostle condemn the Corinthians for calling themselves by his name or the name of any of his fellow labourers yet he approves their calling themselves by the name of Christ for so he tells them with respect to Creatures and their circumstances 2 Cor. 3.22 23. All are theirs whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours but then he changes his stile and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods and so he was the Messiah the Anointed sent by God into the world In conclusion they tell us that these words were never designed as a formulary of Baptism which they prove because there is no account in Scripture particularly in the History of the Acts of any baptised by this form but will they assert there was no form at all no significant words made use of in the administration of that ordinance that would be to leave the meaning of the outward Ceremony uncertain and to take away the Sacramental nature of baptism if there were any words used either they must allow these or assign some other which none that I know of have attempted It 's true they say the Eunuch only declared to Philip before his Baptism Acts 8.37 that He believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God and there was no need of more Philip questioned not his belief of a God He was a Jewish Proselyte and if he owned the Son-ship of Christ he would by consequence believe whatsoever should be revealed to the world by him But we read not of any words used by Philip in the act of baptising him they say this silence proves the words in the Text we are treating of were not used I say no but Christ's particular institution being very well known and his disciples using to obey his commands S. Luke's silence infers that Philip used those very words so instituted otherwise the Evangelist would have taken notice of some other and thus after all God the Father Son and Holy Ghost being joyn'd together in the words of institution in Christian Baptism without any mark of inferiority these words prove the Son of God to be God equal with his Father The next place we shall insist upon is that remarkable beginning of S. John's Gospel In the beginning was the Word John 1.1 2 3. and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made where we have these two great men Erasmus and Grotius agreeing with us That they are an unanswerable argument of the Divinity of the Son of God who yet are apt enough to betray that article of our Faith by weakning other considerable evidences of the same truth As for the person here meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word the Socinians themselves as far as I can find excepting the Annotator on the Racovian Catechism acknowledge that it is the Son of God to tell all their discourses for the eluding the force of this Text would be a work too tedious only this we may observe they tell us That whereas Moses begins his History of the Creation with a like expression to this of our Evangelist its rational to believe that the Evangelist here is only going to describe a second or a better Creation or rather the renovation of all things by Jesus Christ which had been ruined by the fall of our first parents which renovation of things began at the time of our Saviour's Incarnation and therefore the Evangelist means no more by that phrase In the beginning was the word but that Jesus Christ the word of God had a being when the Almighty God first set upon this work of re-creation or renovation of all things And that indeed the design of the Evangelist is only to obviate an objection that might be made on the behalf of John the Baptist who stood fair to have been taken for the Messias because he first entred upon his office and preached repentance and baptised which were truly Evangelical works whereas Christ himself lay hid and wholly undiscovered to the world But to my best apprehension there was very little need of all this care for tho' some such thoughts might have entred into Men's heads when they were all full of expectation of a Messias that John whose holy and severe life and whose very useful doctrine was generally known might be that Messias as we see by that message which the Jews sent to him from Jerusalem Art thou the Christ or Elias or that Prophet or who art thou tho' men might entertain some such thoughts the Evangelist represents John the Baptist as very careful to prevent any such dangerous mistakes therefore he not only answers negatively to their particular enquiries viz. That he was not
which cost him so much study so many fastings and earnest prayers to Almighty God and Schlichtingius pursues the fancy with a great deal of heat and violence Crellius joyns with it too so that this may pass for their general solution of the difficulty a difficulty which could never be found till they created it and with their mighty pretences to Reason and clear interpretations of difficult places shut all true Reason and clear Scripture-light out of doors It 's certain that the Evangelists mention nothing of this formal ascent into heaven and is it likely that they who set down all the circumstances of his birth to his very wrapping in swadling clothes and lying in a manger they who mention his flight into Aegypt his wandring from his parents his several ascents to Jerusalem his Transfiguration on mount Tabor a matter much less glorious and important his talk with Moses and Elias a very unnecessary discourse if he had learn'd all those things from God himself before is it likely that those who set down these things so punctually nay S. Luke himself of whom when it serves their turns they say that He was so inquisitive as to omit nothing of consequence wherein our Saviour was concern'd that these should omit so prodigious an Ascent into heaven as this which would naturally have conciliated so great an authority to his person and his doctrine and would have been very necessary too if he had been no more than a meer man Had there really been such an Ascent it would have been very improper in his younger years for besides the weakness and insufficiency of that age for the most divine speculations we are told plainly after that dispute of his with the Doctors and his return with and obedience to his parents Luke 2.52 that He encreased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and Man which must be false and ridiculous if he had been in Heaven before and had been fully instructed in all divine matters by God himself As for that second time allotted for this Ascent viz. immediately after his Baptism the Evangelists tell us plainly the design of his being led by the Spirit into the wilderness was that he might be tempted of the Devil Luke 4.2 Nay and as S. Luke asserts He was tempted by the Devil forty days this could not have been true had he been in Heaven any or all those days and whereas the Evangelist adds that in those days he did eat nothing and when they were ended he afterwards hungred this story must be both false and disgraceful too for how could he who had corporeally attained the glorious vision of the Almighty be so soon affected with the inconveniences of flesh and blood when we never find Moses tho' fasting as long several times complaining of any such hunger Or can we believe the Devil so very diligent and violent an enemy to Man's happiness would have given our Saviour so glorious a respite which in all probability too must have been so prejudicial to himself When the Socinians can shew us any thing like a proof of their dreams in God's word we 'l consider it till then we 'l entertain it only as a ridiculous not to say a blasphemous Romance and adhere to the natural and genuine interpretation of these words the Word was with God viz. that Jesus Christ or he who in his humane nature bore that name was from eternity actually existent in the presence and in the bosom of his father that therefore that Prayer of his was rational and intelligible Now O father glorifie thou me with thy self Joh. 17.5 with that glory which I had with thee before the world was This Prayer is intelligible enough according to the common Doctrine of the Christian Church that Christ had a being before the beginning of the world quit that sence and we have nothing but figure upon figure incoherent inconsistent and very profound Heterodoxy and nonsense And may we not fairly assert that old way of explaining such passages as these when the Evangelist in the continuance of his discourse says plainly and the Word was God That the Word was with God say they is as much as if the Apostle had said tho' he was unknown to the world he was very well known to God in his privacy and that 's very likely to be true if God be Omniscient that he knew his Son But if it be said He only knew him then it 's false for God himself had by his holy Angels before made him known to the blessed Virgin to his supposed father Joseph and to the Shepherds of Bethlehem and to the Wise Men of the East nay he was known to most of them by the name of the Son of God by the office of saving his people from their sins c. and good old Simeon in his Eucharistick song gives us a compleat Compendium of the Gospel Luke 2.31 33. and we are sure He knew the infant Jesus to be the salvation of God who was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of God's people Israel Here then we find the adversaries of our Faith wholly mistaken in the consequent gradation of the Evangelists they are yet engag'd in more difficulties but what methods do they fix upon to disengage themselves According to the ordinary acceptation of the words a man would be ready to conclude that the Evangelist meant as he said and that if the Word was God he was so indeed and therefore not simply a Creature or a meer Man but what may look very suspitiously it 's observable that those who are unwilling to own any such thing as a Mystery in the Objects of our Faith make every word in this beginning of S. John's Gospel Mysterious so by God we must understand Man or one that really is no more than a Man only honoured with the name of God as being his Deputy or Vicegerent or as the Psalmist speaks to Kings Psal 82.6 7. I have said you are Gods and all of you are children of the most high but ye shall dy like Men and fall like one of the Princes Well we allow it Princes are so styl'd there in a figurative sence because of their deputation from heaven and the derivation of their authority from thence And in David we have a King a Man after God's own heart but was ever any thing like this in this text spoken of him Would not the Author be impudently ridiculous who should preface a History of David's life thus In the beginning of the Israelitish Kingdom was David for so he really had a being as soon as ever Saul had any title to that kingdom and David was with God i. e. He was known only to him for God had cut out his Prophet Samuel a way to anoint him King unknown to Saul to prevent any jealousie in him of any such intended Heir to his Crown and Israel in general were as ignorant
but never yet did any inspired Writer call Holy Men Men converted from the vanities of this World from all the Lusts and Follies attending it never did they call such by the name of Worldly Men But is not this a very hard shift to chop and change so often in so very short a sentence Whereas if we believe as we ought that this Habitable World and all things therein were created at first out of nothing by the Son of God the sence will be easie enough that God the Son was in this World this World the Universal fabrick of which his own hand had made and yet the World so far as capable of sence and knowledge understood it not or were not able to distinguish between the Creator and a meer Creature That we should believe the Son of God made all things at first the Scripture seems to take a great deal of care for so S. Paul teaches us that God created all things by Jesus Christ Ephes 3.9 but much more fully Coloss 1.15 16. Where giving thanks to God the Father who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son he describes that Son thus He is the image of the Invisible God the first-born of every Creature for by him were all things created that were in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and the Author of the Epistle is acknowledged to apply that of the Psalmist to our Saviour Heb. 1.10 Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands A man would be apt to think these Texts were very plain and positive yet here too they 'l make their impious attempts for All things in heaven and in earth must mean only Angels and Men be it so how come the Angels to be renewed by the Word They will not say the fallen Angels were reduced to a state of Salvation S. Jude will contradict them there who tells us Jude v. 6. The Angels which kept not their first state but left their own habitation God hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day They cannot say the Good Angels were so restored or renewed for they were created absolutely happy and they had not lost that happiness and our Saviour himself asserts that He came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance that the Whole need not a Physician but those that are Sick The words then are as they sound to us they are general and whereas the Apostle particularises in Thrones and Dominions c. after those general words all things visible and invisible it 's only to supply us with an argument à Majori ad Minus that if even those superiour happy Beings who might seem almost to be above the rank of Creatures if they yet ow'd their first originals to the hand of the Son of God how much more may we conclude the visible or grosser parts of the Universe might owe their beginnings to his power Indeed the design of the Apostle is to set before our eyes in the beginning of his Gospel the wonderful Condescension of the Son of God on behalf of miserable sinners so to work in us a due fence of what we owe to so infinite a goodness and a forward readiness to accept Salvation from so all-sufficient a hand upon the terms propounded i. e. Faith and Obedience but what Topic could the Holy Pen-Man better begin his design with than from that of Christ's being God blessed for ever or from all eternity from his existing always in the glorious presence of his Almighty Father and being infinitely blest in himself as being One and equal with his Father for a compleat and every way perfect Vnion or Identity can only be between equals The Evangelist proves this eternal Greatness by that sufficient argument of his being the great and sole Creator of all things This God this Creator of all things appeared upon Earth where even those who were the Work of his hands were grown to that Blindness through the greatness of their Sins and the corruption of their natures that tho' the whole Creation long'd for the glorious day of his appearance Yet all the Worl'd seem'd utterly unable to discover him this glorious and eternal Word yet assumed Humane Nature that he might be Visible to the eye of the World and that he might be able to offer himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World that he might atone his Father's just anger and reconcile us to him by his own most precious blood To this end He underwent all the inconveniences ordinarily attending Mankind and it was a severe beginning of his debasement or humiliation for our sakes that whereas he honour'd the Nation of the Jews by being born among them and whereas out of particular commiseration for that poor lost people he made himself first known among them and Preach'd and did Miracles that they might the better understand him yet after all he came to his own but his own received him not i. e. the generality of that Nation rejected him but those who did receive him were empower'd by him to become the Sons of God they were so influenced assisted supported and dignified by his Sacred Spirit that they attained the Spirit of Adoption whereby they were able to cry Abba Father or to call upon God with that confidence and security which a dearly loved Son may have in an indulgent and well pleased Father He was such because that Holy Lamb to whom John the Baptist gave his testimony did really take away the Sins of the World and this Lamb whose nature and goodness was so little understood appear'd yet especially after his Resurrection when their minds were opened to his Disciples full of Grace and Truth they beholding his glory as the glory of the only Begotten Son of God such lustre would appear in him to the true believers eyes through the thick veil of his flesh and all the dismal clouds of his unparallel'd sufferings Now this glory which the Apostles saw in Christ must be somewhat capable of distinguishing him from others he might have appear'd as a Son of God at large in the same sense as all those who live piously are called the Sons of God but that would not at all have answer'd to what the Evangelist tells us his Glory made him appear i. e. the only begotten Son of God begotten of God in such a manner as never any meer Creature could be glorious in such a Manner as no meer Man was ever capable of but if he could be no Creature he could be nothing but God there being no Intermedial Essence between the Creator and the Creature If then it be the distinguishing Character of
may retort their question and ask Is it possible two should be exactly of one mind and yet not both of one nature I fear they 'l find no instances of that Friends may be said to be One Husband and Wife to be One Two People to be One but are they not all of a mortal nature and consequently capable of equal thoughts and apprehensions of things if therefore God the Father and Jesus Christ be One in their sence it must be by Identity of Vnderstanding and Will and Intention which cannot be but between Persons of equal nature therefore Christ must be partaker of the Divine Nature and therefore he must be God and so what he farther adds in his discourse with the Jews is easily intelligible and a strong confirmation of what we have laid down If I do the works of my Father believe not Me but believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him this passage if interpreted of unity of Will can be no where parallel'd and indeed it intimates a yet closer conjunction than that agreement This Union takes as much of the Subject on one part as on the other therefore if the father be every where and more peculiarly in the Son the Son is every where too and as peculiarly in the Father and therefore when Enjedine would make a shew of some parallel expressions of Christ's being in good Men and they in him he unluckily among other places hits on that of S. Paul where he speaks of Christ's dwelling in the heart by Faith Eph. 3.17 which indeed explains all the rest for Christ being a Meer Man as the Socinians say cannot any otherwise be united so to men as to be said to be in them but by Faith nor can good Men pious and holy Persons be in Christ otherwise than by Faith but sure it was never thought of that the Son of God was in his Father or his Father in him by Faith yet that must be said be it never so absurd or blasphemous if their appeal to that of our Saviour stand good That they all may be one as thou Father art in me Joh 17 21 22 23. and I in thee that they also may be one in us that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one here the unity between Christians or those who should believe in Christ must be that unity of mind consisting in mutual Love and Charity that Unity must be maintain'd by the vigour of their Faith but cannot that Unity between the Father and the Son be maintain'd without the same Faith If the expressions must be explain'd all one way it will then follow That God loves those who believe in his Son as well as he loves his Son for so it follows in the forecited place That they may be made perfect in one ver 23. and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast lov'd them as thou hast loved me but this would quite ruine all their pretences to an extraordinary reverence of the Person of Christ whom they pretend to prefer in all privileges infinitely before the Holiest of other men Indeed the Prayer of Christ imports only this He begs of his Father that Christians might be as closely united with respect to their mortal state and in proportion to it as he and his Father were in their immortal Nature and that believers should enjoy his presence as effectually to their advantage by their Faith in him as he enjoy'd the infinite glory and happiness of his Father by his Identity or Coessentiality with him and this is the greatest happiness they could wish for themselves or Christ for them The Jews then were not mistaken in the meaning of our Saviour when in saying He and his Father were one they thought he made himself God nor did they mistake him when they sought to kill him before because he said God was his Father Joh. 3.18 making himself equal with God For Christ's permission of any to worship him was a better interpretation of his words than all the glosses of the Socinians put together and as reason commonly teaches us to understand that the begetting Father and the begotten Son are both of one and the same Nature here so the same reason taught the Jews to apprehend that if Christ were the Son of God he then must be of the same nature with his Father which they who saw him in the form of a servant only thought as absurd and impossible as the Socinians do now if the Jews committed a mistake in their apprehensions of Christ's words nothing can possibly excuse either Christ himself or his Apostles from extreme unkindness since they would take no pains to rectifie a Mistake in all appearance involuntary a Care which might in probability have cured them of their unbelieving humour Let us then proceed farther to that Confession of the Apostle S. Thomas when he called our Saviour his Lord and his God Joh. 20.28 Where we may take some notice of the occasion of those words which was this Our Saviour to satisfie the world of his Resurrection and more particularly to satisfie his own Disciples in that point had appear'd to them in that body in which he suffer'd for them and all the World when the Disciples were assembled together their doors shut with a great deal of privacy for fear of the Jews there he blessed them his presence gave them an extraordinary occasion of joy the transports of which being over he blest them again breathed upon them so effectually as by that breath they received the Holy Ghost and with that that Commission and power which afterwards they were more particularly authorised to exert for the management of the Church During this gracious visit of his Master Thomas one of the twelve was absent afterwards returning to his company they joyfully assure him they had seen the Lord their words carry somewhat extraordinary in them they tell him not We have seen our Lord or thy Lord they use no limiting particle but speak positively and generally We have seen the Lord so giving him that title by which the Septuagint translate the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that it seems here given to Christ as elsewhere it is to him who by all is acknowledged to be the most high God emphatically and exclusively of all other Lords whatsoever But not to insist on this The report of his brethren to Thomas seem'd extremely incredible the Doctrine of the Resurrection tho' it was a thing which Jews had no reason to stumble at in general nor had the Disciples in particular for they had seen their Master raise Lazarus and the Son of the Widow of Naim and they had doubtless seen those holy bodies which arose from their graves upon the dreadful convulsion of nature when Jesus gave up the Ghost upon the Cross yet the
one towards another if we endeavour to promote one anothers Salvation by all those means which by Providence are put into our hands In this argument the Apostle makes use of such expressions as stumble the enemies of the Divinity of the Son of God very much and give them a great deal of pains to shift off and to evade so the form of God they determine to be nothing but a resemblance or representation of God in his Works Christ was in the form of God when he did those many wonderful works during his converse upon earth those Miracles importing somewhat of a divine power but what is there in this peculiar to our Saviour Moses might as well have been said to have been in the form of God since he too did a great many prodigious things and the Skies the Air the Waters the Earth seemed all as obedient to him as to our Saviour afterwards Elijah and Elisha might have receiv'd the same Character and the Apostles much more since Christ himself had promised them that they should not only do the same but greater miracles than he himself did yet Scripture never talks of these at any such rate as their being in the form of God If it be objected that Moses the Prophets mention'd and the Disciples after our Lord's Resurrection did indeed many and great Miracles but they were not done in their own names we acknowledge it but if our adversaries may be believed our Saviour was in the same circumstances for his Miracles were only done in the name of God and so were the Mosaic and Prophetic Miracles done If they 'l own that our Saviour did his Miracles in His own name they grant what they take so much pains to disprove for none can do a Miracle in his own name but he who has an inherent power in himself commanding all the parts of the Creation having no need of leave or assistance from any superiour Being but such a power is and only can be inherent in the most high God therefore if our Saviour had that power he was and is the most high God if he had not he 's in the same rank with other holy and good Men and any of them might have been instanced in as patterns of as great condescension and love to Souls as himself They criticise upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of God as if it signified only an outward shadow and appearance and therefore not the real divine essence and therefore whereas the Apostle makes mention afterwards of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of a Servant they are under a necessity of denying that that signifies his assuming humane nature tho' the words following are indeed an explication of these being in the form of a servant and being found in likeness of men are but explicatory one of another and so Schlicktingius owns it but upon what reason we know not upon that last phrase of being found in likeness of men he writes thus Figurâ i. e. non reipsâ sed apparenter externâ specie tantum in the form or figure of a Man that is not a Man indeed but only to outward appearance and to common view a Commentary to me unintelligible since they own Christ to have been a real man and nothing else the reason of their niceness here is only this They fear that if they own the form of a Servant signifies the humane nature of Christ then the form of God must signifie the divine nature of the same person which they cannot endure to hear of but the Fathers with one current interpret it so that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the essence of God so Theodoret on the place Gregory Nyssen Athanasius Chrysostome Theophylact c. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of a servant in the same sence so Theodoret Athanasius Paedagog l. 3. c. 1. Theophylact and Clemens Alexandrinus who cannot well be suspected of partiality in the case and this authority is much better than theirs who only assert the contrary arbitrarily and without reason That Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God they would have to signifie only this That he thought it not so great an advantage to be in the form of God or like him as to be obstinate in the retention of that likeness but would humbly quit it to be used and suffer like a servant and for this Enjedine runs to some phrases in Heliodorus his Aethiopic Romance where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rapina signifies as much if he interpret it rightly but that 's too modern an authority to interpret Scripture by and too slight a work to teach us how to understand the dictates of God's Holy Spirit After several Cavils they yield that to be like to God is to be equal to God but equality must be between distinct beings for none can be equal to himself We own it and say the Father and the Son are distinct persons but of one nature as Father and Son must be if their relation be real but if God the Father and God the Son be of one and the same Nature they must have one and the same Essence because two infinite Essences are a contradiction our Saviour being in the form of his Father and equal to his Father could not look on it as a crime or think it any Sacrilege or robbery to own that equality as he did by his expressions of himself and by those adorations he permitted to be paid to himself Here then was Love and Condescention indeed that He who was God equal with his father should assume to himself poor infirm servile flesh and blood and in that humble himself and be obedient to death even that scandalous and painful death on the Cross for our sakes This Passion and this Obedience was truly meritorious it intrinsically and in its own real value merited the redemption of all mankind it effectually and in its outward operation merited and procured the Salvation of all those that believe in him As a reward for this Humility and Obedience God has highly exalted the Humane Nature of his Son that 's enclosed in or substantially united to the Divine Nature and consequently partakes of all that bliss that eternal glory and happiness which the Deity it self enjoys by which means it comes to be lawful for Christians to worship Christ as Man tho' not as meer Man as well as as he is God a practice which could never be excused from being the greatest Idolatry in the World if there were no such union as will hereafter be proved in course For that exception to this Text that Jesus is the name of Man not of God and Christ the name of an Office it signifies the Anointed One the Messias and therefore cannot belong to the most high God it 's extremely impertinent they are not our Saviour's names as he is God but as he
futurae felicitatis aut singulari gloriae divinae pietatisque ardore complentur It is such an influence of God as by which our minds are fill'd either with a more plentiful knowledge of Divine things or with a more certain hope of eternal life and consequently with joy and a taste of future happiness or a peculiar heat of divine glory and piety this may look somewhat like cant but however it teaches us to ascribe this sacred influence to the most high God and to ascribe very great effects to this influence but these effects the breathing of the blessed Jesus had therefore there must either be two Holy Ghosts one the influence and Power of a meer man the other the influence or Power of the most high God or else the Power and influence of the most high God in its full force and vigor must be at the disposal of Christ and therefore he must be equal with the most high God since he bestows the same Divine Gift with the same power and efficacy and therefore he must be the most high God Thus have we animadverted on our Saviviour's own Actions while conversant upon Earth and have seen how far they contribute to the proof of his Divine Nature We may read the same in the Actions of his Apostles after his Ascension S. Peter makes his Speech before the feast of Pentecost to the Apostles and Brethren about filling that vacancy made in the Apostolical College by the miscarriage of Judas the Traytor A sufficient evidence this says Schlichtingius very truly that He had indeed received the Holy Ghost with effect when his Master breathed as before on Him and his Companions but there was yet a more plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them to come their Master had promis'd it and he took occasion on the most publick and solemn Occasion to fulfil it namely at the feast of Pentecost when Jerusalem was extremely full of Strangers from all parts The Apostles were no sooner endued with power from on high but presently they employ the Heavenly Gift and preach to purpose to the wondring multitude S. Peter's discourse is particularly upon record and in it after a severe and plain recollection of their great sin in crucifying the Lord of life and glory he gives them an account of their present miraculous gifts which he derives not from God the Father but assures them that Christ being exalted to the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he Acts 2.33 the same Christ had himself shed forth that which they then saw and heard thus the Holy Ghost proceeded equally from the Father and the Son the first promis'd it the last gave it but this was not all when the wounded multitude came to the Apostles with that weighty question Men and Brethren what shall we do Peter said unto them v. 37 38. repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ Was Jesus Christ then God or was he a meer Man or what 's the same a meer Creature We find no example of a meer man so honoured as that any should be baptised in his name S. Paul indeed tells the Corinthians that the Fathers the predecessors of Israel were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea 1 Cor. 10.2 meaning the Red Sea and that Cloud which parted them from the Aegyptians at first and afterwards covered the Tabernacle This is of the same import with that of being baptised into Christ and both signifie Gal. 3.27 being by virtue of a sacred Ordinance admitted into or made members of those Churches of which Moses in the name of God founded the one and Christ in his own name founded the other But we never read of any Sacramental Institution by virtue of which any should be baptised in the name of the Father and of Moses and of the Holy Ghost nor do we find any footsteps of Mens being circumcised in the name of Moses nor were the Israelites ever call'd by the name of Moses Christians yet bear the name of Christ to this day and justly since he did and suffered so much for them and they are baptised in his name 1 Cor. 1.13 it 's the Apostles argument against the dividing Corinthians And the Apostle tho' a chosen instrument in the hand of God for the conversion of the Gentiles tho' inferiour to none of the Apostles and therefore as holy as the holiest of meer men yet makes it a matter of satisfaction to himself with respect to the Corinthians that he had personally baptis'd so very few v. 14 15. lest any should have said he had baptis'd in his own name What the Apostle there writes is worth our more serious consideration That the Corinthians who believed were baptised in the name of Christ we need not doubt we see it was one of the first conditions of eternal Salvation propounded by S. Peter by Philip by Paul in the Jaylors case therefore not neglected here Why then should S. Paul be so well pleas'd on this account that He in person had not baptised them it seems an enquiry thus only and truly to be answer'd The Corinthians being naturally of a very fickle and dividing humour were desirous to have some considerable persons to Head and so to countenance their several Parties this humour made them catch so eagerly at the great names of Apollos and Cephas as well as of S. Paul himself this was very unhappy but when only Elders or Deacons of a common reputation and inferiour rank Vid. Clement Ep. ad Corinth Coc. t. 1. p. 154. Edit Lab. Cos. appear'd in the work of Baptising Converts their names made none ambitious to be called after them nor would it ever enter into any man's head that such should have baptised Christians in their own Names as it might have done had the principal Apostles been the general ministers of that Ordinance so S. Paul is very fearful here lest among a Capricious People his name should seem to stand in competition with that of his Master the Lord Jesus Christ He appears in this case as tender of Sacrilege or robbing Christ of his as he was of robbing the most high God of his Honour when at Lystra he rent his clothes for grief at that levity and madness whereby the Lystrians were moved to offer Sacrifices to him and Barnabas as if they had been Gods but there would not have been so great reason for this extraordinary sollicitude of the Apostle if Christ himself had not been of a Divine Nature or robbing Him equal to robbing the supreme God of his Honour and if it had been so great a crime for S. Paul an holy Man to encroach upon God's Honour by ascribing any thing of it to himself it could be no less a crime in our Saviour if he were but a meer Man a created Being tho' he were never so holy to appropriate any
originally in himself yet it implyes an absolute contradiction that he should be able to confer such an infinite Power upon a finite or a mortal Subject for that would be to setle a double Almightiness in the world of which one should not be Almighty or whereas Omnipotence is such an attribute as where-ever it resides it must constitute a True and Supreme God and whereas its such an attribute as cannot stand alone without a concurrent-infinity in every respect yet it may rest in a Subject neither God nor yet Supreme but in such a one as is still tho' highly exalted mortal in its own nature and capable of destruction or annihilation For if it depends only on God's Will that Christ's Body now exalted to the right hand of his Father is no more lyable to Death then had it pleased God he might have invested Moses or Elias or Enoch with this same Omnipotence as well as our Saviour and our Saviour is no more secure of the continuation of that Omnipotence he is at present possest of in himself than the good Angels are of continuing in their present state of bliss i.e. so long as the supreme God upholds them they are safe if He withdraw but for one moment they are as miserable as their fallen companions But the very thought of these things are absurd and blasphemous however not to be avoided without acknowledging the eternal Divinity of the Son of God For the farther evidence of this Truth we must look into the Faith of the Antient Church and see how this Doctrine that God was manifest in the flesh or that He who was manifest in the flesh was God the True the Supreme the most High God is asserted in it This inquiry we make not because we think Antiquity infallible nor because we imagine every opinion maintained by any Father of the Church ought to be an authentick prescription to us Where any of them have in any particular deviated from the sence of God's holy Word we value not their opinions a-whit the more for their being antient But this we must own that those who lived nearest the times of our Saviour and his Apostles had the best opportunities of knowing what they meant or how those who personally converst with them understood them as it 's easier for me who have seen and known my Father to learn from him what were the thoughts of my Grandfather or great Grandfather both which it may be my Father may have seen and converst with than to find out what particular Opinions were entertained by my Predecessors before the Conquest and so upwards Again where Scripture and Reason improved from thence give us a full evidence of any truth the concurrence and harmony of Antiquity with these evidences is of great weight and gives us a fair deduction of divine and necessary Truths thro' all ages and shews us how in spite of all the oppositions and artifices made use of by the enemies of Truth yet God has been pleased to preserve it entire and to derive it by various chanels down to us that we embracing and asserting the same Holy Faith may be partakers of the same eternal happiness with our predecessors Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors who have all dyed in the True Faith and fear of God on this consideration we shall by God's assistance give you a short account of the Primitive Faith in this particular Here then in due order of time We begin with that Clement remembred with Honour by S. Paul Phil. 4.3 as one of those fellow labourers of his whose names are in the book of life This Clement was afterwards Bishop of the Church of God in Rome on which account and by reason of his great eminence in the Church of God some of the Factors of that See have endeavoured to fasten several spurious writings upon him but the abuse was too gross to impose upon a learned world However of his we have one Authentick Epistle written in the name of the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth Conc. Gen. Lab. Cossart T. 1. p. 133. B. upon account of a violent Schism broken out in that Church to the great scandal of the Christian Religion and to the obstruction of the progress of the Gospel In this Epistle tho' nothing were purposely written on the subject we are now treating on yet there are some not obscure evidences of what opinion He and the Church of Rome in whose name he wrote had in those early days of our blessed Lord He calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a name very great and such as is no where given to any meer Man it 's designed here to illustrate the extraordinary dignity of our Saviour for by so setting him off the Apostolical writer enforces his argument upon the Corinthians to perswade them to Humility which would be an excellent foundation for Charity for tho' our Lord Jesus Christ were so great tho' he were the Scepter of the greatness of God yet he came not as he might in an assuming and lofty manner but with the greatest Humility and this argument S. Hierome in his commentary on the 52 of Isaiah and the three last verses according to our translation makes use of to the same purpose owning Clement for his Author but now if the Argument of these great Men was good it must necessarily follow that our Saviour had a Being and a glorious Being too before he was born of the blessed Virgin which Birth of his into a calamitous World has always been accounted one part of his Humiliation this Humiliation could not have been thought so considerable had he not been very great and happy before Christ could not have been so great and glorious antecedently to his Birth but He must have been God and therefore the True the most high God for there could be even in a Socinians account no more but One True God before the Incarnation of our Saviour You see my beloved people says the good Man what an example is set before you and if our Lord so humbled himself viz. if he descended from Heaven to earth for our sakes how humble should those be who take upon them the yoke of his Gospel Twice afterwards this same Holy Man concluding his period with Jesus Christ p. 137. C. adds To whom be glory and Majesty for ever and ever Amen The same expressions of praise he gives to God the Father several times p. 156. B. p. 144. B. p. 148. C. p. 160. C. D and what can we conclude from using such a Doxology indifferently to God the Father and to Jesus Christ his Son But that He understood them to be of one and the same nature both Infinitely Glorious both one proper object of praise and adoration And the same venerable Author speaking of the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob adds particularly of the last that from him descended all those Priests and Levites who serve at God's altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
whom we believe is the Son and Messenger of God who being the Word before had sometime appear'd in the resemblance of fire sometimes in the form of Angels now at last by the Will of God was made Man for the sake of mankind and for their sakes suffered whatsoever Jewish cruelty and malice could inflict upon him who while they own'd it was God the Creator and maker of all things who spake to Moses in the bush and yet He that there spoke was the Son the Angel the Messenger of God indeed they laid themselves open to that just reproof of our Lord that they neither knew the Father nor the Son We argue too from hence that if it were our Christ who appear'd to Moses in the Bush as Justine affirms and Scripture sufficiently evidences if it were our Christ what name soever he might be call'd by he then was pre-existent or had a real being before he was conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin therefore he could be no meer Man unless the Socinians can find out the way to satisfie the question of Nicodemus by asserting positively that a Man a meer Man may be born when he is old that he may literally enter again into his mothers womb and be born a-new and can prove it when they have asserted it He could be no Angel that 's denyed in Scripture the Apostle assures us Heb. 2.16 He took not upon him the nature of Angels a speech very idle if he had been an Angel originally if therefore he neither was a meer Man nor a created Angel he was and must be the supreme God Again the same Justine in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. p. 267. l. B. C. when Trypho urges him with his absurd assertion That Christ was God before all ages and yet had condescended to become Man Justine answers him The truth would not therefore be lost if he should fail in his proofs that Christ was the Son of the world's Creator and that he was God because however it had been foretold by the Prophets that he should be so but if I do not prove that He had a being before and then condescended to become Man and took flesh according to his Father's design and determination p. 275. dcinceps it 's only proper to conclude that I am a weak disputant not that he who bore that Character is not the Christ When Trypho afterwards bids him prove that there was or could be another God besides the maker of the Universe the Martyr stumbles not at the proposition but proceeds to prove the thing by that instance of the Lord before whom Abraham stood when the two Angels went forwards towards Sodom and falls again upon the forementioned instance of Christ speaking to Moses in the Bush by both which he proves that the Son is God as well as the Father is God and yet he asserts not two Gods but one God because if two or three Beings are partakers of one divine Nature they must of consequence be one God the divine Nature being indivisible and incapable of degrees or diminution After a large discourse with the Jew he tells him that in the several arguments he had brought he had sufficiently proved that Christ was Lord and God and the Son of God who had appear'd both as a Man p. 357. D. and as an Angel in the burning Bush and at the destruction of Sodom And Trypho all along looks upon him as engag'd in that design of proving Christ to be God not by a figure but in reality He concludes the Scriptures were very express in their evidence that that Christ who had suffered so much at the Jews hands was to be worshipped and was God had he not prov'd the last well that He was God to have asserted the first that he ought to be worshipped would have sounded very harshly in the ears of a Jew But even Trypho himself who thought it prodigious and incredible that God should be born and should condescend to become Man tho' none of the most tractable persons in the world was brought to Agrippa's condition by the zealous Martyr and almost perswaded to be a Christian About the same time lived S. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France one who had been a Hearer of blessed Polycarp who had been himself an Hearer of the Apostles He had certainly the advantage of knowing what was sound and true Doctrine with relation to our Saviour and that from very authentick hands his writings were originally Greek as himself was by Birth tho' employed to preach the Gospel in the parts of France but those Originals are almost all lost and we must necessarily content our selves with their Translation This excellent Father then tells us first what the general Faith of the Church is That the Church believes in one God Iren. adv Haer. l. 1. c. 2. the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth c. and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate for our Salvation and in the Holy Ghost who among other things has taught us that according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father every knee of things in Heaven and of things on Earth and of things under the Earth should bow to Jesus Christ our Lord our God our Saviour and our King and that every tongue should confess to him and this passage we have in the genuine original and it seems satisfactory enough as to the Faith of the French Church in those days and doubtless was look'd upon by him as the Faith generally embraced by all the true professors of Christianity C. 3. and indeed so he assures us in the following chapter of the same book That the Church spread through the whole world diligently maintains this Faith and observes it as exactly as if they all inhabited in one house they believe it as if they had all one heart and one soul and with a wonderful consent preach it as it were with one mouth We then are safe enough while we believe Jesus Christ to be God since holy Martyrs nay the whole Church of God believed the same truth so long since and making it a part of their publick Creed declared their judgment that so to believe was necessary to eternal Salvation Having afterwards told us what the Apostles have preached and how they have prov'd Him true and that there was no falshood in him he proceeds in the next chapter thus Therefore neither our Lord himself nor the Holy Ghost nor the Apostles would have called any one God absolutely and definitively unless he had really been true God nor would they have called any one Lord in his own person l. 3. c. 6. but only Him who is Lord of all things God the Father and his Son and so he proceeds to enumerate several Texts wherein the name of God and Lord is indifferently given to both the Father and the Son and elsewhere he teaches us c. 18.
bodies and yet be Angels or Spirits still much more must it be believed that God could do the same Thus still he prosecutes his Argument and all his care was to prove not that Christ was God for that was granted on all hands but that he was Man which some denyed upon that very ground because he was God without controversie Again in his book of Prescriptions against Hereticks De Praescrip p. 36. He lays down somewhat like the form of a Creed and agreeable to our own Where first he says They believed one God the World's Creator who produced all things out of nothing by his Word that Word his Son was called by the name of God variously seen by the Patriarchs always heard in the Prophets at last brought by the power and Spirit of God the Father into the womb of the Virgin Mary He took flesh of Her and was born of Her and so became the Man Jesus Christ c. Here we have our Saviour's Existence antecedently to his birth of the blessed Virgin not only asserted but declared as the general Doctrine and Tradition of the Catholick Church and that less than two hundred years after our Saviour's Passion and made use of as a Prescription against an Heretick Now Marcion if he had not been well assured that Tertullian asserted no more than what was the current Doctrine of the Catholick Church might easily have baffled all Tertullian's pretence to Prescription by shewing him that all the Christians of the former Age were utterly ignorant of his pretended Articles of Faith but we never hear of any such Reply made Tho' we have no reason to doubt but that the Hereticks of those ages were as earnest to maintain their Errors as those are who tread in their footsteps in this After this in the same book Tertullian reflects upon other capital Hereticks So he tells us that Cerinthus maintained fol. 41. that Christ was only of the seed of Joseph a meer Man without any Divine Nature He tells us again that Theodotus of Byzantium blasphemed Christ for He too brought in a Doctrine quâ Christum Hominem tantummodo diceret Deum autem illum negaret Wherein he taught that Christ was a meer Man and that he was not God that He was indeed born of a Virgin thro' the Holy Ghost fol. 42. otherwise He was only a Man no better than others but as his Goodness gave him a greater authority than others If Tertullian then took Theodotus to be an Heretick on account of this Doctrine it can scarce be doubted but he 'd have taken Socinus and his Partners for the same had they liv'd in those days and I find our Socinians doing so much right to this Theodotus as fairly to reckon him among the Patrons of their opinions If we go farther with Tertullian we find him assaulting the same Heretick Marcion again and arguing God's extraordinary goodness from that great Humiliation of himself to take humane nature upon him He concludes his argument at last with this Totum denique Dei mei penes vos dedecus Adversus Mar. l. 2. f. 68. sacramentum est Humanae salutis c. All that which in your opinion is so disgraceful to the God I believe in is the Seal of our Salvation God converst with Man that Man might learn to do those things that are divine God acted suitably with Man that Man might endeavour to act agreeably to God God was found in a mean state that Man might be exalted to the utmost He that despises such a God can hardly be thought to believe in God crucified In another book against the same Marcion he argues from the antient apparitions of Angels that Christ tho' God had a true and real body We will not yield to thee says he that Angels had only a fantastick body but those bodies they assumed had a true solid humane substance this elsewhere he makes good it follows If it were not hard for Christ to exert the true sence and action of a Man in imaginary flesh it was much easier to make true and substantial flesh as he was the Author and maker of it to be the subject of true common sence and action Thy God was fain to appear in an imaginary body l. 3. fol. 72. because he was not able to produce a real one But my God who without pursuing the common course of nature could make real flesh of Earth could have invested Angels with real bodies of any kind whatsoever For with a word He made the world of nothing and shaped it into so many various bodies as we see Then he tells us Angels had flesh truly humane and connate with the time they appear'd in because Christ only himself was to be flesh of flesh that by his Birth he might purifie ours that by his Death he might free us from the slavery of Death he rising again in that flesh in which he was born only that he might die Therefore He appear'd in a true body accompanied with Angels to Abraham but not a body that was born because it was not that body which was to die In consequence of this discourse which proves our Saviour's Pre-existence to his Birth fol. 73. he urges his Adversary with that name of Immanuel or God with us from whence proving the reality of his divine he regularly infers the equal reality of his humane nature If we proceed we find the same Father publishing his Faith in the beginning of his book against Praxeas He was an Heretick so far yet from believing Christ to be a Creature or a meer Man that he asserted it was God the Father who was born of the Virgin and crucified and Dead and that He was Jesus Christ In opposition to him the Father declares As we are instructed by the Holy Ghost Adv. Prax. fol. 144. which leads us into all truth We believe one God and that the Word is the Son of that one God who was begotten of him by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that he was sent by the Father into the Virgin and born of Her Man and God the Son of Man and the Son of God and called Jesus Christ This was then his Faith and with him Christ had a being before he was born into the World and was what we assert the Creator of all things Thus afterwards he tells us in the same book the Father is God fol. 147. the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and dilates upon and vindicates that truth He tells us that the Father is God Almighty and most high fol. 149. and that the Son justly claims the same titles and that the Father and the Son are one God and indeed c. 21.22 fol. 219 220. the farther proof of this is the general design of that book He confirms the same Doctrine in his Apology for Christianity against the Gentiles Besides these books he wrote one particularly concerning the
Trinity where among other things quoting the words of the Prophet Hosea I will not save them by my bow nor by horses Hos 1.7 nor by horsemen but I will save them by the Lord their God He infers from thence If God promises them Salvation in their God or by him and yet saves them only by Christ why should any Man be afraid to call Christ God since he is called so by his Father in Scripture Nay if the Father saves none but by God no man can be sav'd by God the Father who does not confess Christ to be God in and by whom God promises to give salvation whosoever acknowledges him to be God shall obtain Salvation in Christ De Trinit fol. 236. who is God whosoever acknowledges him not to be God shall not be sav'd by him With a great deal more to the same purpose In conclusion he takes notice of some who in those days argued at the Socinian rate That if Christ were God and Christ suffered Death then the Deity suffered death to which he answers appositely enough That if Christ had been only God and had dyed their conclusion had been true but Christ being man as well as God his Humanity suffer'd indeed but his Divine Nature was unprejudiced untouch'd Thus have we largely and impartially examined this Father about this Doctrine of Christ's being God and his assertions are so plain and direct and the Heresies he impeach'd in his writings of such a nature that they both concur exactly in the confirmation of the same that our Saviour was truly and really God equal with his Father and the most high God We have another glorious luminary of the same Church S. Cyprian that holy Martyr of Jesus Christ and the laborious Bishop of Carthage who as he was a great admirer of the writings of Tertullian so concurred with him in the same Doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ S. Cyprian then in his book of the vanity of Idols having setled that fundamental truth That there is only one God presently shews that our Saviour is God too this he would not have done had he judged the inference good that to believe Jesus Christ was God was to make two Gods He would not so soon contradict himself nor go about to set up a new Idol when he was endeavouring to exterminate the old Thus then He tells us That whereas the Jews a stubborn and rebellious people had long abus'd the Goodness of God God was resolved to call to himself from among the Gentiles a People that should shew forth better effects of his mercy than they did the Manager of this Goodness Cyprian de Idolor vanit Edit Ox. p. 15. Grace and Method was He who is the Word and Son of God who had been foretold by all the Prophets the enlightner and teacher of all Mankind This Son is the Power the Fulness the Wisdom the Glory of God He enter'd into the Virgin assumed flesh by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost God united with Man He is our God He is Christ who put on the nature of those Men whom He leads to his Father Christ would be what Man is that Man might be what Christ is In his second book of Testimonies against the Jews p. 34 35. he spends one whole chapter in heaping up such Scripture texts as before Socinian Commentaries were thought on were judg'd sufficient proofs that Christ was God In particular he insists on those passages of the 45 Psalm which are applied to our Saviour so directly by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 1 Joh. 5.7 That famous place There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one has been much controverted it seems to be a very plain text for the Trinity and consubstantiality or equality or sameness of nature in the Father Son and Holy Ghost but Criticks observe that this verse is wanting in several Copies of considerable Antiquity and Dr. Burnet in his account of the Library in Swisserland See his Lett. takes notice of its being wanting in several Manuscripts he had purposely examined yet after all our S. Cyprian much more antient than the eldest Manuscript he or any other Critical Writerâ— have yet given us an account of in his book of Church-unity quotes it as we read it iâ— our Bibles Socinus takes it for granted thâ— passage was inserted into the Bible by somâ— zealous Trinitarian who made use of anâ— fraud to advance their own Error S. Hiâ—rome who had found it wanting in somâ— Copies in his time which was about 400 years after Christ imputes the want of it more rationally to Arrian transcribers who finding themselves pinch'd with so plain a text when they could not answer it resolved to take it quite away This he signifies in a short Epistle to Eustochium printed formerly frequently in the Latin Bibles of late omitted as is observed by the learned Dr. Fell late Bishop of Oxford in his notes on S. Cyprian S. Cyprian by quoting the verse as we have it confirms S. Jerome's opinion and renders that of Socinus ridiculous for he quoted it before the Arrian Heresie was founded and that twice in his Works therefore could he have no such design as Socinus insinuates Yet S. Cyprian's opinion is that whosoever does not believe this Unity of the Father and the Son De Vnit Ec. p. 10â— as laid down in that Text does not believe the Law of God nor hold the Faith and Truth of the Father and the Son to his Salvation The â—ame S. Cyprian recommending Patience to Christians and that in a time when the â—aging Persecution made it extremely neâ—essary he advances it by the example of Christ for says He Jesus Christ Deus Dominus noster Our God and our Lord â—as taught us this virtue not only in his Words De bono Patientiae p. 213. â—ut in his Actions which he clears as Tertullian before him by his Descent from Heaven to earth assuming our nature and â—iffering in it Again in his account of â—he Council of Carthage held about those â—ho had been baptised by Hereticks among the suffrages of the Bishops there present Fortunatus Bishop of Thuchabore declares Jesus Christus Dominus Deus noster p. 233. c. 17 Dei Patris Creatoris filius Jesus Christ our Lord and God the Son of God the Father and Creator has founded his Church not upon Heresies c. 29.235 but upon a Rock The same title is given him by Euchratius Bishop of Thenâ— the same by Venantius Bishop of Tinisa a Confessor had not this been agreeable to the common sentiments of the Church in those days it would certainly have been the occasion of some contests and others would have observed and reflected on the incautiousness of their Collegues but we meet with no differences on this occasion therefore we rightly conclude they spoke agreeably to the Catholick
Doctrine S. Cyprian himself is mighty frequent in such passages so in his Epistle to Rogatianus he calls out Lord Jesus Christ our King and Judge and our God Ep. 3. p. 6. Ep. 11. p. 23. and what higher characters could be given him In his Epistle to his Presbyters and Deacons he encourages them to assiduity in Prayer by the consideration of having Jesus Christ our Lord and God our Advocate and Mediator Plebi Thibaeri p 123 125. p. 146 148. so again in his fifty first Epistle to Cornelius Bishop of Rome in his fifty eighth Epistle twice in h s sixty second to Januarius and others Christ is our Judge our Lord and our God so in his sixty third in his Epistle to Jubaianus concerning the invalidity of the Baptism of Hereticks He argues against that Baptism thus If any one says he can be truly baptis'd by Hereticks he may then by that Baptism obtain remission of sins if He obtain remission of his sins he is sanctified and is made the temple of God I ask then of what God if of the Creator he cannot be his temple because he believed not in him if you say of Christ neither can he be his temple Epist 73. p. 203. who denyes Christ to be God if you say he 's the temple of the Holy Ghost seeing the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are all One how can the Holy Spirit be pleas'd with him who is an enemy to both the Father and the Son Here the force of the Martyrs argument lyes only in the Identity of nature in â—he Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and the poyson of Heresie consists effectually in denying the Lord Jesus Christ to be God but he would not have argued thus had not the Divinity of Christ been the general and well known Doctrine of the Church p. 212. He uses the same argument again in his 74. Epistle to Pompey to name no more Now â—n conclusion who can imagine that a holy Martyr so great an enemy to Idolatry so careful to refute the vulgar Error of a â—lurality of Gods should yet so very frequently use such suspicious expressions as must needs make the World believe he â—wned Christ for God and consequently multiplied those Gods himself which he expos'd others so much for if the whole objection were not to be removed by that assertion that the Father was God and the Son God yet they were not two but one God an Identity of their nature necessarily inferring the Vnity of the God-head The same Africa affords us yet another Writer of great antiquity and learning Arnobius in his several books against the Pagan Religion in his first book reflecting upon several of their Gods he takes notice how much they were grieved that Christ should be worshipped by Christians and received for and esteemed as a God And whereas Pagans derided Christians Arnobius adver gentes l. 1. p. 21. Edit Leidensis for accounting him a God whom they owned to have been born a Man he retorts upon them that They were guilty of that crime but says He supposing all you object in that respect were true would not Christ on account meerly of those benefits he confers upon us deserve to be call'd and to be thought a God He argues from their own principles who thought every considerable Invention of any Man was enough to procure his being Deified as Bacchus for finding out the use of Wine Ceres for Bread Minerva for Oyl c. But in the mean time Arnobius openly enough acknowledges that Christians did receive Christ as God He speaks yet more plainly soon after Christ for his benefits ought to be called God Nay He really is God without any scruple or ambiguity and would you have us deny him Worship or disown his Government But will some angry Pagan cry out is Christ a God We answer he is God and a God of infinite Power too and which will more exasperate an infidel he was sent from the supreme King to us upon the greatest errand in the World Perhaps the Pagan being more enraged at this will demand a Proof of what we say there needs certainly no greater proof of Christ's Divinity than an exact examination of his actions If it be objected that He was a Magician and performed his mighty works only by unlawful arts Let them who object this shew us any of their Magicians who ever did any thing like what was done by Christ or if they have done any thing of a prodigious nature it has still been by invoking some other Being but Christ without any Helps without any Magick Rites or Observations did all he did by the power of his own Name and what was proper and agreeable to and worthy of a True God nothing he did was hurtful or mischievous but helpful saving and the kind effects of divine Bounty And was he Mortal was he only one of us at whose ordinary commands Weaknesses Sicknesses Fevers and all bodily Pains were gone at once Was he one of us l. 1. p. 27. c. whose very Look the Devils could not endure Was he a meer Man whose slightest touch could cure the bloody Issue whose hand could make Hydropick humours vanish who could make the Lame run the Wither'd Hand recover its motion the Blind to see nay those who were born without eyes to see the light Was He a meer Man at whose word the angry Seas laid down their rage the rugged Storms and Tempests sunk while He with a dry foot walkt upon the swelling billows and trod upon the Oceans back the waves themselves standing amazed at the prodigious action and humble nature submitting to her Founder And so he proceeds in a florid and pathetick stile by an induction of particulars and a relating of circumstances to prove that Christ must be True God and that all the Idols of the Heathen were none Again a little after he tells the Pagans Christ was the high God the God from the beginning a God sent from unknown kingdoms God sent by the Prince of all things to be the universal Saviour whom neither the Sun nor Stars if they have any sence nor the Governours nor Princes of this World nor those mighty Gods who assuming that terrible name affright poor mortal creatures were able to find out or so much as to guess what He was or whence He came at whose very look then when he was clothed with flesh p. 32. the universal fabrick trembled and fell into a sudden disorder Again Arnobius brings in the Pagans objecting If Christ was God why was He seen in the form of a Man Why was He put to Death as Men are to this he answers Was there any other way whereby that invisible power which had no Corporeal Substance could suit it self to the World or be visibly present in the assemblies of mortal Men than by assuming a covering of solid matter which might be a proper object whereon Men might fix
our God and to serve Him only We know it 's the common practice of all Professors of Christianity and allowed by our Adversaries to worship our Saviour to adore and pray to him as God We think our selves and the Socinians acknowledge that we may do thus without being guilty of Idolatry therefore our Saviour must be the Supreme God the maker of all things c. therefore He and his Father must be One God and so neither the first nor second Commandment at all trespassed upon in those Adorations We find the worship of Images or any false Gods condemn'd as Idolatry frequently in God's Word We find Holy Men refusing to 〈◊〉 worshipped there and Angels themâ— forbidding any signs of Adoration to be offered to them because they would not trespass upon a Law so notorious both in Scripture and in Nature and this we have spoken off before A Socinian will own that our Saviour knew his Father's Will as well as either Holy Men or Angels that He was as careful to Honour his Father in performing his Will as either of them that He who came to die for the sins of Men in what sense soever would never tempt them to commit Sin Yet we find him allowing that Worship offered to himself express'd by outward humility and prostration which yet was that very reverence which good Men and good Angels had refused as unlawful before Either this Worship was Idolatrous or it was not if it was our Saviour was no better than the Jews thought of him viz. A Cheat and an Impostor one who sought their ruine not their happiness therefore to be sure far enough from being that Messias whose title he pretended to If it was not Idolatry then the worshipping of our Saviour was not worshipping more Gods than one tho' he were worshipped under the notion of God therefore he must be the Supreme God all Divine Worship paid to any other Being being largely proved to be Idolatry before But we have no reason to believe that Men of extraordinary Goodness and Wisdom would ever have given us examples of Idolatry or that God would any way have allowed much less have commanded it That It 's fitting to be done the Racovian Catechism proves from that Joh. 5.22 23. The Father hath given all judgment or government to the Son that all should Honour the Son as they Honour the Father and again from that of the Apostle Phil. 2.9 10 11. Therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and thirds on earth and things that are under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father And tho' they are at a doubt whether there be any direct command to worship Him in Scripture yet when we read that of the Apostle Heb 1.6 Ps 97.7 When He brings his first-born into the World He says let all the Angels of God worship him or as our more immediate translation from the present Hebrew Text reads it Worship him all ye Gods and when according to the acknowledgment of Socinus himself in his dispute with Franciscus Davidis that passage Joel 2.32 Rom. 10.13 â—p 721. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved is applied justly to our Saviour by the Apostle these two passages together appear to be a command strong and forcible enough to oblige every one believing in Christ to call upon his name or to pray to him These are Commands enjoyning us to worship our Saviour even in his Humane Nature but if our Lord and his Father are one God then all those commands which enjoyn the worshipping of one God are so many commands equally obliging us to worship Jesus Christ but supposing a Positive Precept wanting in the case before us tho' we are not to look upon every private Action of a good Man as an obliging Precedent to us yet where we have a Cloud of Witnesses concurring in the case we may reasonably conclude that they would not have worshipped our Saviour so continually meerly to lead us into Error nor would Angels have agreed with them in the practice nor would our Saviour himself have passed them by without a reproof Yet frequently as we find Adorations paid to our Saviour when upon Earth We never find any dissatisfaction in his words and actions Joh. 11.33 He groan'd for the stubbornness and obduracy of Jewish Hearts for their prodigious resolutions not to own him tho' drawing them all with the sacred cords of love and miraculous goodness he wept v. 35. to observe their inflexible and to themselves fatal temper He wept over Jerusalem Luk 19.41 on the dismal prospect of those calamities that wrath to the uttermost which was then hastning upon them Luk. 12.14 He reproved the Man who would needs have made him a temporary Judge or a Divider of Inheritances among them Luk. 22 2â— He reproved his Disciples for their contentions about their future grandeur and seems to check the Man who only called him good Master Mar. 10.17 as if the ascribing Goodness to one whom he took to be a meer Man was too near an encroachment upon the sacred character of the Supreme God And can we imagine he would be so tender in every such little particular and yet so very careless in those important affairs wherein the eternal interests of his followers would be concerned as long as the World endured This is very hard to believe yet that the Concern is so great the late Scribling Arrian owns when to the charge of Blasphemy imputed to his Party for denying the eternal Godhead of the Son and of the Holy Ghost he retorts that question upon us Vindication of Vnitarians p. 3. If you err do not you both blaspheme and commit Idolatry in worshipping the Son and the Holy Ghost as co-equal with the Father We must be guilty of both if they are not but for the Son we hope enough has been or shall be said to prove we are free from danger on that side To clear our own practice yet farther We 'l trace those footsteps our Adversaries themselves have trodden before us and make use of those instances they have laid together on this occaon So the Apostles pray to their Master Lord increase our Faith Luk. 17.5 a Petition of a strange nature to one that was no more than their fellow Creature and so far from any encouraging exaltation in the world that whereas the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests He the Son of Man had not so much as where to lay his head How could he give them Faith who could not as it seemed give himself security from worldly persecution but our Lord gives them no check for mislaying their Petition nor does he bid them seek to his Father
for our comfort the first Christians are free from any such folly and all the several sorts of Hereticks through all ages have freed them from any such Imputation They did nothing but what was agreeable to the Will of God They took care not to provoke him whom they knew to be a consuming fire to jealousie by setting up a meer Creature in competition with him The Christians in that time shew'd their extreme hatred of Idolatry in that all the allurements and terrors in the world could not possibly draw them to it in other instances If they would but have thrown a little Incense into the Fire burning on an Idols Altar If they would but have made the smallest condescension to some admired Heathen Deity they might have been blest both with Impunity and Rewards And sure it could be imputed to nothing but a ridiculously perverse humour to refuse all kinds of submission to Creature-Gods meerly because they were Creatures and yet at the same time themselves to Worship or Pray to a Creature of their own setting up We find not but that the Jews were more tractable and so more reasonable in the point when they had once gotten the gusto of Idolatry in the Golden Calf and had the fetters of religious Elders and Governors knock'd off their heels they stood out at nothing but were ready to worship any little Idol any of their neighbours recommended to them And other Idolatrous Nations the Romans in particular thought it but reasonable that when they had set up some Gods for themselves according to their own humours they should compile all the Divinities they could and secure themselves if not by the quality at least by the multiplicity of their Gods But when the Jews were once truly purged from their Idolatrous humours by severe and terrible Judgments they would never more at their utmost peril admit of the least umbrage of it And the converted Gentiles would have dyed a thousand deaths rather than have brought such a scandal upon Christianity as to have retained or advanced any thing that might have laid them open to the reproaches of the Jews or have seduced or perverted their Brethren We no where find the Apostles or any Apostolick men ever vindicating that Worship they offered to our Lord with that pretence that they went to him only as â— Mediator of Intercession as the Roman distinction is or that they might not press too rudely upon God without addressing in the first place to some Favourite servant We never find them arguing that they only Pray to Christ that He might pray for them tho' he always does so as being the sole Mediator between God and Man nor do they ever defend their Practice by that Allegation that they do not terminate their adorations upon Christ but upon his Father the contrary would easily have been prov'd against them from their own Writings Yet after all they were not Idolaters they did not give that Honour to a meer Creature which belonged only to the Creator therefore that Christ to whom they made their addresses was not a meer Creature Yet as he was Man He could be no more than a meer Creature therefore He was more than Man therefore He was God the true and Almighty God the great Creator of all things and thus have we made good our Argument that Jesus Christ was true God equal with his Father from that otherwise indefensible practice of Worshipping him or Praying determinately to him as the Giver of all good Gifts equally with his Father If he be own'd to be the One true God we can have no scruples no fears of offending upon us in Praying to him and expressing all the Signs of external religious adorations towards him If he be not own'd to be the One true God then there 's no argument which either a Socinian or any Other can bring to prove the lawfulness of Praying to him as God but it will equally serve either Papists in their praying to Images Saints or Angels or Pagans in Praying to their confest Idols and therefore the Socinians themselves fairly confess with respect to those Texts before-cited where Christians are known by that character of calling on the name of Christ That those Words do so comprehend all that divine Worship which is exhibited to Christ by his faithful people that they describe it by that one the most considerable part of it namely beging assistance from him in our Prayers Cum necesse sit eum cujus nomen invoces pro Deo competente sensu colere Since it 's necessary to Worship him as God in some fit sence whose name you call upon in Prayer but there is no other fit sence in which we can call upon him as God but that which makes him the true the eternal God Therefore if he may be called upon as God without Idolatry He must be that true that eternal God We have at last by God's assistance gone through these several heads of Discourse from which we propounded at first to prove That Jesus Christ the Son of God was God equal with his Father or the true the eternal God We have prov'd this from those several accounts of his Appearance and his Nature laid down in the Old Testament namely that it was He who appeared to and convers'd with Abraham before the fatal destruction of Sodom and that He there bore the name Jehovah the name of God incommunicable to any other That it was He whose Throne the Psalmist declared to be for ever and ever That it was He who laid the Foundations of the Earth and that the Heavens were the work of his hands after whose decay and perishing He yet should continue beyond the reach of time That Christ our Lord should be that Child that Son given us in time on whose shoulders the Government should be laid that He should be the wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace That He should be the Righteous Branch springing up to David whose name should be the Lord our Righteousness And finally that He the blessed Jesus should be that Ruler of Israel who should be born in Bethlehem Ephrata whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting We have proved the same assertion from those several Declarations our Saviour has made concerning himself and his Disciples afterwards concerning him in the New Testament as namely that of Saint Matthew of the Angel's prediction to Joseph to which the Evangelist applies the Prophecy that our Saviour Incarnate should be called Immanuel or God with us That of our Lord joyning himself in equal rank with his Father in the Institution of Baptism ordering it to be performed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost We have proved that our Saviour was that Word which was in the beginning which was with God which was God by whom all things were made visible and invisible in Heaven and upon Earth that according to
was really free with respect to us howsoever God the Son satisfied his Father's Justice to procure that Remission for us The last proof the Socinians alledge is that Parable of our Saviour's Matth. 18.23 c. The great business of our Saviour in that Parable is to urge Men to mutual Charity and Forgiveness of one another in case of any Trespasses by one committed against the other this he urges from the Greatness of that Remission which is made to us and the Smalness of the greatest Trespasses which can be committed against us in comparison of those Trespasses we are guilty of against God so the Argument amounts to this If God forgive us our ten thousand Talents a debt which we are utterly uncapable of ever discharging we ought to forgive our offending Brethren those hundred pence which it's possible they may be engaged in to us or those little inconsiderable Injuries they may have done us and for which on occasion they may be capable of making us a reasonable Compensation If it be urged that Forgiveness which we partake of is free we own it for it proceeds from one God without any other Motive but what proceeds from himself but the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are that one God therefore that Remission of our Sins which is given by the Father purchased by the Son and sealed by the Holy Ghost is with respect to us wholly gratuitous or free But to this they presently object At remissioni gratuitae nihil adversatur magis quam ejusmodi qualem Christiani vulgo volunt Satisfactio pretii aequalis solutio That nothing can be more contrary to the free Remission of Sins than such a Satisfaction as Christians generally talk of or a purchace of such a Remission at a just Price for say they when a Creditor is satisfied either by the Debtor himself or by some other in the Debtor's name it cannot be truly said That such a Creditor so satisfied hath freely forgiven his Debtor This Instance may be true but nothing to the purpose for if a Debtor pay not what he ows me Justice requires a legal Prosecution of that Debtor nor can that Justice with relation to the publick or my own private Concern be satisfied unless the Debtor be so prosecuted but if I considering the extreme necessity of the Debtor and the certain Ruine which must fall upon him if prosecuted do therefore contrive a way to satisfie the Justice of the Law that no ill Example be drawn from my remisness and withal to shew my Kindness and Compassion to the poor insolvent Person do by a second Hand but equally concerned convey so much to the Debtor as wherewith if he apply it as originally design'd he may discharge the Debt and so satisfie the eternal and immutable Law of Justice yet after all if the Debt be paid as when the Summ is truly and honestly laid down to the Creditor it is truly and legally paid then the Remission of that Debt is truly and properly call'd free Free because undeserv'd by the Debtor Free because the Debtor was in himself absolutely insolvent Free because this Method of Kindness was freely and without any adventitious or external Motive resolv'd on Free because the Person so assisted is discharg'd of the Debt as if the Payment had proceeded wholly and only from himself But in the mean time we may safely assert howsoever some may seem very shy in the matter what Socinus himself and after him Crellius so strongly oppose That God Vid. Crell in Grotium c. 4. p. 99. with a due and necessary regard to his own Justice could not pardon the Sins of Men without some satisfaction offer'd on their account nor is this to deny God's Omnipotence any more than it is to deny the possibility of Transubstantiation but it 's to vindicate and make good the true Notion we have of the Supreme God in whom Justice and Mercy are co-existent from Eternity and consequently the just distribution of Rewards and Punishments essential to him and whatsoever Men or Angels now do or ever have done whatsoever they shall or do receive in consideration of their Actions whatsoever by Guilt they are liable to and must suffer and whatsoever Effects infinite Mercy could have in respect to all or any of them all these things were present from Eternity with all Circumstances attending them in the Divine Mind so that no Methods nor Rules of God's dealing can now be changed without supposing God himself changeable concerning whom yet the Apostle assures us James 1.7 That with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Now all these things being necessarily true to make up the Idaea of an infinite God whatsoever Notion we have of Justice or Mercy consider'd abstractively or simply in their own Natures without any Object whatsoever on which they might be exercised the same Notions we must have of that infinite Mercy and Justice which is in God notwithstanding all the Variety in their Objects daily observable and all the most minute Circumstances attending them because all these Varieties and Circumstances were before God from Eternity and so coexistent with that Justice and Mercy essential to the Divine Nature and therefore can offer no reason why God should now or in time limit or dilate or change his eternal Judiciary or Merciful Determinations So if it be beyond the reach of Omnipotence for God to contradict himself then it 's beyond the reach of Omnipotence that the Effects of any Divine Attribute relating to Mankind should be frustrated or Sins being so direct a Contradiction to his holy Nature should go unpunished or Goodness so agreeable to his Nature and his revealed Will should go unrewarded The Socinians themselves confess as I shew'd you before that God cannot be injurious or do any wrong to any because he is perfectè justus perfectly or infinitely just but if God could without any satisfaction on the part of Man forgive all those Sins Man was guilty of and yet did not nor does forgive all but only some particular Persons for some will certainly be damn'd and it 's as certain that those who are damn'd were never pardon'd then while God extends his Mercy to some and those not the least but even the greatest of Sinners as St. Paul owns himself once was and punishes others for the same or it may be fewer or less aggravated Sins God must be very unmerciful and very injurious to those so punished unless we suppose arbitrary and irrespective Determinations of all things to be the most powerful efforts of Divine Goodness or Justice which few Persons of any tolerable sense will be persuaded to believe Besides could God forgive the Sins of Men without any Satisfaction offer'd on their behalf and yet not lay any Imputation on his own perfect Justice I know not how to prove that he is not injuâ—ious to all those from whom He requires Faith and that vigorous and persevering and
as well as Man all the difficulty vanishes at once his Person was more august his Power and Authority greater his Will uncontroulable his Holiness and Dignity incomparable Moses was but the Servant he the Lord and therefore without any Impeachment to the Fidelity and Honour of Moses he might reverse every Institution of his as he pleas'd since he as God was able of himself without any circumstantial Delay to give the World a more compleat and perfect Rule whereby humane Happiness and God's Glory the great ends of all divine Institutions might be more directly promoted the great work he undertook was proper to the Deity it self but superiour to any humbler Being this requiring so much the Satisfaction of God's Anger rais'd against a stupid sinful World cannot be suppos'd more easily brought about for the weight of God's Anger against Sin being insupportable to meer Flesh and Blood Help must of necessity be laid upon One mighty to save or else Mankind who had so long subsisted upon the lively Hope of a glorious Deliverance must have perish'd without Remedy at last and finally the Justification of our Faith Pardoning of our Sins and the bestowing upon us Everlasting Life are things compatible only with God yet really and properly ascribed to our Saviour therefore He must be God therefore He that was incarnate or made Flesh for our Salvation must be God But now if we observe the Nature of this great Work for which God was manifested in the Flesh we shall find it was wholly the effect of Immense Love and Pity to Mankind and of extraordinary Interest and Power with the great Father of all things therefore an Undertaking more peculiarly proper to God the Son than to any other Person in the Trinity Man's Redemption was an Effect of the Father's Love the Deity it self is Love the Design of saving such Sinners as should make use of Means to be offer'd in due time to that purpose was an Effect of Love the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost were all consenting in the Design from the Father as the beginning of Order must the first motions of Eternal Love and Goodness and Will take its Original not as if there were any Interstice of time between the Actions of Eternal Minds for Time can have no place or consideration in Eternity but we must speak of such things suitably to Humane Apprehensions by which kind of Expressions tho' our Idea's of God's Acts cannot be adequate or proportionable yet they may be true and safe so we speak of God the Father as propounding of God the Son as declaring his readiness to execute what 's propounded of God the Holy Ghost as consenting so to influence the Objects of Love and Mercy that neither the Proposal nor its Prosecution should be frustrated all these though the distinct Acts of Three distinct Substances are yet all one uninterrupted Act and Determination of one Infinite and Eternal God for where Infinity or Eternity or any other Attributes peculiar only to God are given to Three distinct Substances yet those Substances which are infinite howsoever really distinct must of necessity be inseparable therefore they must of necessity be One for be the Substances never so much distinct and never so perfect in themselves yet Vnity must follow upon Inseparability But according to our common way of speaking God the Father designing the greatest Goodness to Men could shew that Love and Pity to them by no other effectual Means than by giving them his onely Son the very relative Term of Father and Son implies the greatest Nearness and Love in the World and the kinder and more loving a Father is to his Son the greater of necessity must that Favour and Love be which can be content to part with a Relation so dear for the Advantage or Satisfaction of another hence God accepted it as an Effort of compleat Love and Obedience in Abraham that he had not with-held his Son his onely Son from him but was ready without any murmuring to sacrifice him at his Creator's Command and if our blessed Redeemer was the Son of God the Son of his Love the Son in whom he was well pleased the Apostle urges it home and excellently He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all Rom. 8.32 how shall he not with him give us all things the Gift of his Son was the greatest Effort of Tenderness that was possible therefore when Men had receiv'd that Gift from the Father's hand there could be no reason of doubting whether they should receive any thing else that was fit for God to bestow or for Man to receive Indeed when the Father had determined to express the greatest Love and Pity to his Creatures there did remain nothing else to be done but to send his Son into the World upon that Occasion for he was still to move so as not to impeach his Justice Justice could not be free and universal without Satisfaction in every respect Man was so soon as fallen a continual Criminal therefore Man was the Object of that irresistable Justice the acquitting him from the stroke of Justice was the effect of the greatest Love yet Justice not being perverted must be and was satisfied on that particular account therefore it must be and was satisfied by the grant of God the Son to put himself into a passible state and to suffer a Punishment equivalent to that due to Sinners and this could be effectually performed by none other but the only Son of God for The Redemption of trespassing Mankind from the stroke of Justice according to the Father's Intention required the most absolute Obedience the greatest Interest and the most extraordinary Compassion and Tenderness towards Mankind Now these things were all most naturally to be expected from the Son for Identity or Sameness of Will in God the Father is Command and Determination in God the Son is Submission and Obedience in God the Holy Ghost is Concurrence and Assistance Now if we consider the Severity of the Condition on which Man was to be redeem'd from sinking under Wrath to the utmost and without which it was impossible Man should be redeem'd at all if we reflect upon the weight of God's Displeasure due to Sin the infinite Power of the Being displeas'd the extream Provocations whereby it 's continually exasperated these Considerations must convince us that it required the greatest Obedience possible in the Undertaker such an Obedience as could be startled by no Difficulty diverted by no Temptation nor conquered by any Extremity it could engage with Of such an Obedience Isaac was a considerable Type who though so dear to his Father so vigorous and strong as he might have been able enough to have secured himself from the violent Zeal of his Aged Father though Nature must have had some Reluctance against Death against Death by the hand of his own Father by his hand from whom he had deserv'd all Kindness and Love by his
most incident to the Person who stands in the Relation of a Son therefore it was necessary that the Son of God should take upon him our Nature and pity us and plead for us that how deplorable soever our Condition might be in it self we might be in a Capacity of Eternal Salvation It was proper that He who first gave a Being to all things by his Power should when the Work of his hands was decay'd if he design'd Mercy for them rectifie their Disorders and resettle them in such a state as might in some measure answer the original Design of the Creation that our Saviour the Eternal Word of God was the Maker of all things we have formerly prov'd at large from the beginning of St. John's Gospel and several other Scripture Passages and it 's a Truth which even Arians themselves acknowledge In that first Creation as the wise Man observes Man was made upright Eccles 7.29 but he has now sought out to himself many Inventions were he but left a little to himself he would need no other Vengeance to be poured upon him but what he 'd soon draw down on his own Head but God in pity to him was pleased to determine otherwise but as we observ'd before though an inferiour Creature was able to bring one in a happy state before into a ruinous Condition as any little mischievous Agent may yet those Ruines so easily procured could not be so easily repair'd again We are taught in the History of the Creation that Man was created at first in the Image of God that was his Glory and Excellence beyond the other Members of the visible Creation but that Image of his Maker was miserably defaced in him by Sin the Blessed Jesus the Eradiation of God's Glory Heb. 1.3 and the express Image of his Person therefore the most proper to renew in Obedient Man the blotted Image he had at first created him in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Athanasius whom we may justly alledge now in a matter little controverted Athan. de Incar T. 1. p. 72. It was not in the power of any other but him who was the Image of the Father to create again or resettle that Image in Men. It 's true the Socinians would persuade us the original Image of God consisted in nothing but Dominion over his Fellow-Creatures but that Dominion over the Creatures could not answer that Perfection the Wise Man adverts to in Man's first Creation no more than we can prove Kings and Princes the more Perfect because of that Dominion God entrusts them with or that among Princes those who command the largest Empires should be the best and most compleat Men but the original Image of God in Man consisted in that Purity and Holiness which Man was adorned with in his first Creation and in that vast Wisdom and capacious Understanding whereby he knew every thing that was necessary to his own Happiness this Purity and Wisdom was ruined by his Fall and this our Saviour came effectually to restore by making such as believe in him new Creatures by which they are again renewed in Knowledge and in Righteousness Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 and true Holiness after the Image of that God who created them now when we speak of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Renewal of any thing we refer to somewhat that was before for that cannot be renewed now that never was formerly but if the Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness in the new Man be the Image of God at present and there was such Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness in Man before his Fall without which it could not be renewed by him who came to repair the ruines of that Fall then that Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness was originally the Image of God in which Man was created and we need not fly to Dominion as the sole Instance of God's Image in Man especially since his Dominion was no more an Image of God's Soveraignty than the Government of all Princes since has been an Image of that for God was Lord of all things Man was not and yet Princes as well as others have had their shares in the Mischiefs arising from Man's Fall though their Governments be as absolute as ever To this we may add that Regenerate Persons being ordain'd to that Title of the Sons of God it was most proper that he who was the Son of God by Nature should be their great Guide and Conducter to that Honour this we learn from St. Paul who laying down that mysterious Doctrine of God's Prescience and Predetermination as to the future state of Men Rom 8.29 tells us that whom God did foreknow he did also determine beforehand that they should be conform'd to the Image of his Son that he might be the First-born of many Brethren where by the way we may observe that those Persons who by this very Apostle are elsewhere said to be renewed according to the Image of God are here said to be conformed to the Image of his Son therefore the Image of God the Father and of God the Son are the same thing and those whose Image is the same must be One not metaphorically but really One our Lord became our Brother by assuming our Nature by submitting to all the Infirmities of Humanity Sin onely excepted and he was the kindest and the tenderest Brother who laid down his own sacred Life to restore a crue of wretched Prodigals to the embraces of their Father he envied not that where there were many Mansions repenting Sinners should be admitted to them but after his Death and Resurrection he ascended to his Father and our Father to his God and our God that he might prepare those very Mansions for those who believe in him Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we through the Mediation of his onely begotten Son should be called the Sons of God that I insert that on good reason will appear to any one who considers with the Apostle That Gal. 4.4 5. when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were in Bondage in general and that they might receive the Adoption of Sons this then was the reason of the incarnation of God the Son and the reason of his Sufferings we have from an equally authentic hand the Blessed Jesus by the grace of God Heb. 2.9 18. tasted death for every Man He was the Captain of our Salvation being made perfect thro' Sufferings is not ashamed to call us Brethren Forasmuch then as the Children are Partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life subject to Bondage wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a
shall not depart from Judah Page 241 Exod. 4.16 Moses a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his Prophet Page 343 7.1 Moses a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his Prophet Page 343 14.21 They believed in the Lord and in his Servant Moses Page 329 25.22 The Propitiatory or Mercy-seat Page 721 34.7 Forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Page 699 Levit. 16.12 13. Censer of Burning Coals in the Holiest Place Page 726 v. 16. To make an Atonement for the most Holy Place Page 725 2 Kings 3.26 27. King of Moab offering his Son Page 105 2 Chron. 30.18 19 20. Hezekiah's Prayer for the Vnprepared Page 603 Psalm 40.6 7 8. Sacrifice and Burnt-Offerings not desired Page 225 45.2 Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Page 314 82.6 7. I have said Ye are Gods Page 342 Isaiah 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born a Son is given Page 320 Jeremiah 23.5 6. I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch Page 321 Micah 5.2 Thou Bethlehem Ephrata c. Page 323 Haggai 2.8 The Glory of the Second House greater c. Page 753 Matth. 1.23 Thou shalt call his Name Emanuel Page 325 18.23 The Parable of the Debtors to their Lord. Page 651 28.18 All Power is given to me in Heaven and Earth Page 407 v. 19. In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Page 328 Luke 4.29 30. They led him to the Brow of the Hill Page 382 24.45 He open'd their Vnderstandings Page 395 John 1.1 In the beginning was the Word Page 332 3.13 No man hath ascended up into Heaven c. Page 337 5.23 The Father hath committed all Judgment c. Page 202 10.30 I and my Father are One. Page 354 10.34 35 36. Is it not written in your Law Page 558 17 21. That they all may be One as Thou c. Page 358 20.28 My Lord and my God Page 360 Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Page 524 Rom. 2.6 God will render to every Man c. Page 124 3.24 25 26. Justified freely by his Grace c. Page 649 703 8.19 20 21 22. The earnest Expectation of the Creature Page 490 9.5 Of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came Page 370 10.13 Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord c. Page 203 1 Cor. 1.14 15. Lest any should say I had baptized in my own c. Page 402 10.2 All were baptized into Moses c. Page 329 15.3 Christ died for our Sins Page 693 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Reconciling the World c. Page 648 719 12.7 8 9. For this cause I besought the Lord thrice Page 527 Gal. 3.19 In the hand of a Mediator Page 711 Philip. 2.5 11. Being in the Form of God c. Page 374 Col. 1.24 What was behind of the Afflictions of Christ Page 694 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing Page 505 Heb. 1.8 9 10. c. When he bringeth his First-Begotten c. Page 314 5.5 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Page 549 6.1 2. Leaving the Principles c. Page 184 8.4 If on Earth he should not be a Priest c. Page 733 c. 9. c. 10. Page 689 727 728. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for c. Page 87 1 Pet. 2.24 Bore our Sins in his own Body on the Cross Page 698. 3.18 He suffered for our Sins the just for the unjust Page 697 1 John 2.1 2. He is the Propitiation for our Sins Page 719 5.7 There are Three that bear Record in Heaven Page 458 v. 20. This is the True God and Eternal Life Page 205 ERRATA PAge 3. l. 5. after Salvation dele p. 5. l. 20. put a Period after Text. l. 30. after Attentatam d. ◠p. 6. l. 3. r. Wissowatius p. 130. in the Margent r. Serrarii p. 142. l. 19. r. seem'd p. 148. l. 31. r. Posterity p. 200. l. 14 r. One p. 209. l. 26. r. really and indeed p. 221. l. 7. r. Paradisiacum p. 239. r. this p. 139. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 149. l. 21. d. And. p. 289. l. 29. r. those p. 312. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Margent r. Sandii Hist Eccles Enucl p. 318. l. 6. r. for p. 332. l. 16. r. those p. 336. l. 25. r. Stranger p. 364. l. 29. r. at p. 413. l. 21. r. far p. 448. l. 20. r. Libraries p. 467. l. 22. r. Separation p. 492. l. 26. d. One p. 511. l. 10. r. deliver p. 539. l. 3. r. Lazarus p. 552. l. 31. in Marg. r. Epistolarum p. 602. l. 12. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 609. l. 13. r. Sacrifices p. 666. l. 1. he be p. 690. l. 29. r. Levitical p. 700. in Marg. r. Brixian l. 3. r. curing p. 704. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 720. l. 11. r. Catiline p. 752. l. 10. r. Administrator Several smaller Mistakes especially in the Pointing the Reader will easily observe and pass by or correct as fitting Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard TEN Sermons with Two Discourses of Conscience By the Lord Archbishop of York 4 to 's Sermon before the House of Lords Nov. 5. 1691. 's Sermon before the King and Queen on Christmass-Day 1691. 's Sermon before the Queen on Easter-Day 1692. Henrici Mori D. D. Opera omnia Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book 1606. concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4 to Dr Falkner's Libertas Ecclesiastica 8 vo 's Vindication of Liturgies Ibid. 's Christian Loyalty Ibid. Mr. Lamb's Fresh Suit against Independency Ibid. Mr. W. Allen's Tracts Ibid. Bishop Fowler 's Libertas Evangelica Ib. Jovian or an Answer to Julian the Apostate Ibid. Animadversions on Mr. Johnson's Answer to Jovian In Three Letters to a Country Friend Ibid. Turner de Angelorum Hominum Lapsu 4 to Mr. Raymond's Pattern of Pure and Undefiled Religion 8 vo 's Exposition on the Church-Catechism Ibid. Mr. Lamb's Dialogues between a Minister and his Parishioner about the Lord's Supper Ibid. 's Sermon before the King at Windsor 's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 's Liberty of Humane Nature stated discussed and limited 's Sermon before the King and Queen Jan. 19. 1689. 's Sermon before the Queen Jan. 24. 1690. Dr Hickman's Thanksgiving-Sermon before the Honourable House of Commons Oct. 19. 1690. 's Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Oct. 26. 1690. Dr Burnet's Theory of the Earth 2 Vol. Folio 's Answer to Mr. Warren's Exceptions against the Theory of the Earth 's Consideration of Mr. Warren's Defence 's Telluris Theoria Sacra 2 Vol. 4 to Bishop of Bath and Wells Reflections on a French Testament Printed at Bourdeaux 's Christian Sufferer supported 8 vo Dr Grove now Lord Bishop of Chichester his Sermon before the King and Queen June 1. 1690. Dr Hooper's Sermon before the Queen Jan. 24. 1690 1. Dr Pelling's Sermon before the King and Queen Dec. 8. 1689. 's Vindication of those that have taken the Oaths 4 to Dr Worthington of Resignation 8 vo 's Christian Love Ibid. Religion the Perfection of Man By Mr. Jeffery Ibid. Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man 12º The Fourth Edition Kelsey Concio de Aeterno Christi Sacerdot 's Sermon of Christ Crucified Aug. 23. 1691. Mr. Milbourn's Sermon Jan. 30. 1682. 's Sermon Sept. 9. 1683. An Answer to an Heretical Book called the Naked Gospel which was condemned and order'd to be publickly Burnt by the Convocation of the University of Oxford Aug. 19. 1690. With some Reflections on Dr Bury's new Edition of that Book to which is added a Short History of Socinianism by W. Nichols M. A. c. Two Letters of Advice I. For the Susception of Holy Orders II. For Studies Theological especially such as are Rational At the end of the former is inserted a Catalogue of the Christian Writers and Genuine Works that are Extant of the First Three Centuries By Henry Dodwell M. A. c.
the latter part of the verse for let us with Grotius by the mystery of godliness understand the Gospel as we commonly understand it and which we own does contain the mystery of godliness That the Gospel was preach'd by weak Men we own nay that our Saviour himself in his state of exinanition or in his humane nature appear'd weak and contemptible enough we own too but that the Gospel appear'd in the flesh or cloath'd with flesh which is the proper import of the Apostles phrase we deny as absurd That the Gospel was justified in or by the Spirit the miraculous effusions of that confirming the truth of the Gospel preach'd we may own well enough but that the Gospel was seen of Angels is scarce sence that it was never known before it had been declar'd by Men is false for the Angels could not be unacquainted with the several Prophecies of the old Testament concerning the Messias to come nor could they be so far to seek in the meaning of those Prophecies many of which they had been instrumental in delivering and the Angels themselves were indeed the first preachers of the Gospel So the Angel Gabriel tells Zacharias concerning the Son that should be born to him Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children Luke 1.16 17. and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The same Gabriel afterwards tells the blessed Virgin Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus v. 31 32 33. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his kingdom there shall be no end It was an Angel that appear'd to Joseph in a dream Matth. 1.20 21. and told him that his espoused wife was with child of the Holy Ghost And she shall bring forth a Son says he and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Again an Angel of the Lord tells the Shepherds who were watching their flocks by night Luke 2.10 11 13 14. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. To which Gospel a whole Choir of Angels subjoyned their Eucharistical Hymn Glory be to God on high in earth peace good will towards men These instances are enough to prove that Angels knew the Gospel before men preacht it not to mention their administring to our Saviour in the wilderness when entring on his prophetical Office and their publishing his resurrection the great confirmation of the Gospel before his Apostles had any apprehensions of it The Gospel was indeed preach'd unto the Gentiles and believ'd on in the World but it was far from being receiv'd in glory for it was scorn'd and derided and cruelly persecuted both by Jews and Gentiles the Devil raising all the powers in the world as far as possible for the extirpation of what was so great an enemy to his Tyranny the Gospel then will not answer all those particular marks set down in the Text. Neither yet are they applicable to God the Father as several of the Socinians would have them for to say God the Father was manifest in the flesh because his will was preach'd by Men who were but flesh and blood besides that such an assertion quits the Suppositum or Subject which was God the Father unless God and Gods will be one and the same thing which cannot be asserted It 's so uncouth an expression as is no where to be parallel'd either in Scripture or any Ecclesiastical Writer We read not any where that God the Father ever appear'd in the flesh or assum'd Humane nature nor did ever any dream of such a thing unless we recur to the ancient Patropassians so call'd because they believ'd it was really God the Father who being Incarnate suffer'd death on the Cross for the sins of Mankind but of that we have no foot-steps in holy Writ nor was the Deity it self ever made manifest in the flesh but in the flesh of the blessed Jesus Col. 2.9 in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily not in his doctrine as the Socinians would have it but in himself Vid. Schlicktin in loc and according to their own demands on the like occasion we would have them shew us some other clear place of Scripture wherein God the Father is said to be manifest in the flesh or to be manifest in Christ and the Apostles and then we may the better consent to their interpretation Again it 's as odd and unusual to say God the Father was justified in the Spirit for what need was there of any such justification his Eternal Power and Godhead were visible in the Universal fabrick of nature and all the Miracles done by our Saviour which Socinians refer to the influence of the Spirit were done that Men might know he was the promis'd Messias and those done by the Apostles after his ascent into Heaven carry'd along with them the same respect but we never heard of any publick declaration made by the Spirit for a more peculiar conviction of the World that the most High God was God indeed or the true God we may understand things thus as the Socinians say but we may a great deal better let it alone and not run into such interpretations of God's Word as we can neither reconcile to truth nor sense If we go farther the matter is not mended at all when we say God the Father was seen of Angels for what novelty was there in that had not they stood continually before his face from the instant of their first Creation or should we flie to God's will was not that known to his peculiar Ministers till such time as they came to learn it by the preaching of mortal men who can imagine so short a Text of Scripture and design'd to make known the greatest mystery in the world should lash out into such absolute impertinencies but to proceed God the Father was preach'd to the Gentiles but where he 's mention'd often doubtless as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in those Epistles written by the Apostles to their Gentile Converts but the Gospel it self is stil'd the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles pretend to preach nay to know nothing among their Converts but Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 2.2 and him crucified as St. Paul expresses himself if we must say God the Father was preach'd he was certainly preach'd most to the Antediluvian World by Noah and the elder Patriarchs or he was preach'd
deep ever to be made up It 's true when God himself was mention'd as the undertaker of so great a work even despairing man might entertain some dawning hopes but when they saw a poor Carpenter's Son one who had not so much as where to lay his head assume yet the glorious title of the world's Redeemer and Saviour their hopes slagg'd their almost grasped joys seem'd just vanishing into empty air When the Holy Ghost God too infinitely good and powerful and wise interpos'd and attended that humble Man with so much vigour and constancy that He by a thousand glorious actions and by a close and perpetual correspondence with Heaven visible even to vulgar eyes prov'd the entire Union that was between himself and his Father and that Sacred Spirit and justified himself in the thoughts of very aliens themselves who could not but acknowledge of a truth that for all his mean appearance and his scandalous Passion on the Cross He was the Son of God But could men have doubted still the happy Angels those purer and more discerning Spirits saw him too they saw him and knew him and ador'd him they saw their mighty Lord tho' veil'd in all the rags of poor mortality And tho' sin might have made a former breach between those blessed Spirits and polluted man yet now where their Lord loved they lov'd too and always look'd and always waited on him while he wrought the worlds redemption while he was so justified and so attended on divers gave up themselves absolutely to his service whom he lov'd and taught and protected and endued with miraculous knowledge eloquence and courage and sent them on that blessed errand to preach to the Gentiles the glad tydings of Salvation in his name They boldly undertook the work and tho' they had ignorance and prejudice and malice and cunning to contend with meer men contemn'd before but then inspired broke through all opposition and the forsaken Gentiles heard the gladsome sounds of peace and tho' there were too many enemies to their own good yet those laborious messengers of Heaven preached with that power and efficacy that men began every where to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Nay the more men of perverse minds cross'd the designs of that Gospel preach'd in the name of the Son of God the more those who believed in him were multiplied As for himself when he had finished that stupendous work and by his own Death had conquered Hell and Death He broke those fatal chains and rose again no more lyable to humane rage His Almighty Father who had viewed all the prodigious efforts of his Love to mankind with an ineffable complacency reach'd out his holy arm to receive that very humane Nature in which his beloved Son had done and suffered so much from him the chearful clouds were sent for a Chariot and he went upwards flying upon the wings of the wind while jâ—cund Angels those ministerial flames waited on his triumphs and taught his wondring followers what they were afterwards to expect from their Redeemer These are those mighty mysteries on which our most holy faith is built their truth however unintelligible to us is our security and the sincerity of our faith will necessarily show it self in an holy conversation and godliness The Verse I have explain'd then imports That without Controversie the Mystery of Godliness is great or in more words That the Basis or foundation of that Religion introduced into the World by the Doctrine of Christ's Gospel is indisputably and agreeably to the nature of Religion to Humane reason extremely profound and unintelligible To prove this we shall enquire Into the Vniversal agreement of all persons of what Religion soever That Mysteries are essential to Religion Whether our Saviour intended the entire abolition of all other Religions for the settlement of his own or rather to unite what was good in every distinct Religion into one and to sublime or perfect that so as it might tend most to God's glory and Man's happiness and whether that could be effected Men standing in their present corrupt state without the retaining of old or instituting of new Mysteries in his Religion What considerable advantages can accrue to Religion from those Mysteries it 's founded upon Then we must enquire into that Vniversal agreement of all persons whatsoever that Mysteries or some principles or circumstances of a more secret and abstruse nature are essential to all Religion But here to prevent all mistakes it must be remember'd That so much as concerns the practical part of Religion as contain'd in the Word of God is so clear and evident that the words of St. Paul are justly apply'd to them If they be hid they are hid to those that are lost whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should not shine upon them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. The words whereby all things necessary to be done toward the attainment of eternal life are exprest are such and so plain that the simplest Christian may understand them And that person who goes about to involve the practical duty of a Christian whether in respect of his communication with God or man in obscure and mysterious terms crosses the end of the Gospel which is to instruct the weakest understanding in an easie and intelligible way how to live godly righteously and soberly in this present evil world yet it must be acknowledged that even in relation to practice there are some apparent difficulties and notwithstanding all that plainness apparent in God's word a Man has a very hard task sometimes to distinguish between what 's lawful and what 's unlawful such cases are commonly known by the name of Cases of Conscience or such matters wherein so many arguments seemingly strong and plausible appear on both sides to the understanding that it knows not which way to act and all that hesitancy or doubtfulness arises onely from a fear of offending God These generally respecting Christian practice create a great deal of trouble frequently to very good Men for others are seldom troubled with such religious fears and these are sometimes by various and unusual circumstances rendred so very intricate that the wisest and most discerning Men are often at a loss to clear and resolve them to the Querent's satisfaction Here the Jews were order'd to have recourse to their Priests whose lips were suppos'd to preserve knowledge and the Priests when there was any thing of a more inextricable nature had the Vrim and Thummim to appeal to The Heathens had some emergent doubts as to matter of publick management of themselves which sometimes perplex'd them too and they had their imaginary wise Men the Priests attending their desecrated altars who would assume as if they had the art of resolving doubts those who profess Christianity have still a severer task in these matters as having no Oracle immediately to consult and having doubts more numerous and
For those rites continued will move the world to belive that the Messias is not yet come that the Faith so long profest in him as if he were come is vain that He who once pretended to that name only impos'd upon the world and was no better than a cheat and that therefore the Jewish Religion is and ought to be still in its full force Now this will appear very absurd and unreasonable to any one who has seriously weighed all those arguments brought to prove that Jesus Christ was the Son of the living God and therefore could be no Impostor and therefore must be that Messias he declar'd himself to be which being true it will follow that our Saviours coming must of necessity put an end to so much of the Jewish Law as was not co-incident with that of Nature and consequently not perpetually obliging That many of the Jews themselves ever look'd upon their Law as of a mutable nature in it self is proved sufficiently by Raymundus Martini in his Pugio fidei against the Jews and that it could never be more properly actually chang'd than by the Messias appears in him who proves from Jewish writers themselves that the Messias the King shall be greater than Moses nay greater than the ministring Angels and therefore the fittest for such a work and as he shews their own gloss in the Midrasch Koheleth upon that of Solomon Eccles 11.8 Pugionis fidei p. 3. dist 3. c. 20 tells us That every Law of all people whatsoever every Law that a man can learn in this world is all but vanity in comparison of the Law of the Messias Things of a less perfect and lasting nature must then vanish when that appears which is more perfect and eternal Whatsoever therefore crosses that end for which God sent his Son into the world and retains mysteries now altogether insignificant as being fully accomplished that cannot be pleasing to God and consequently the present Religion of the Jews cannot be the true Religion There are indeed some mysterious truths in which all Religions agree viz. The existence of a God his spirituality invisibility incomprehensibility c. they all agree That his Providence governs all things in the world however trifling and inconsiderable they may appear in the eyes of the world that He hears sees knows understands every thing tho' they know not how according to the objection of Atheists to reconcile such things to his want of eyes ears soul or any other parts which are all inconsistent with a spiritual being All agree together in granting the present state of Man very wretched and deplorable in looking upon him yet as capable of happiness provided a sutable mean for its procurement could be found out and in expectation of some proper help for that purpose These things being agreeable to the general sence of mankind and being the original reasons of mens putting themselves into a religious course must still be approved by every one and every one of these that Religion setled in the world by our Saviour and his Apostles does advance yet more plainly and confirm more strongly to the world And whatsoever mysterious truths it farther propounds they are all so far intelligible by every one as may serve sufficiently to confirm those first principles whatsoever is farther to be seen in them is what moves mankind to lay aside all brutish malicious and unmanly humour as the meditation upon that extraordinary love of God to mankind of God the Father in sending his only Son into the world to dy for it of God the Son in leaving the bosom of his blessed Father and in our nature and for our sake suffering that bitter and scandalous death upon the Cross of God the Holy Ghost in pursuing us continually with his influences and assistances and so working in us to will and to do according to God's good pleasure this meditation naturally runs into that Apostolical conclusion Joh. 4.11 if God thus loved us then ought we also to love one another If we contemplate our own monstrous demerits our aversion to every thing that is good our inclination to every thing that is evil and so offensive to God our ingratitude for mercies receiv'd our unfruitfulness under the means of grace and Salvation presented to us our natural enmity to God and goodness And if withal we seriously consider that all those forementioned favours are conferr'd on us in a state of obstinate enmity the inference is easie as our Lord has laid it down Matth. 5.44 That we should love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us If again we think on that wonderful mercy of God whereby for the merits of the blessed Jesus he 's pleased to forgive us our sins those natural bars between us and heaven the consequence we must of course draw from thence is that of the Apostle That we should be kind Eph. 4.32 tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Thus we see what excellent influence these very truths the nature and reasons of which are above the reach of our groveling minds may have upon us If we proceed and reflect upon the purity and holiness of that God with whom we have to do that he 's a Being who cannot endure sin who punishes it for its odious nature even in his dearest children all those mysteries reveal'd to us in the Gospel are so far by any fair consequence from perverting our minds that they give us all the motives imaginable 1 Pet. 1.15 that as he who has called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation A man may be a good heathen and yet a filthy Sodomite a through-pac'd Jew and yet be blind hard-hearted carnal but a man cannot be a true Christian but he 'l endeavour to avoid all appearance of evil Jude 2â— and to keep himself unspotted from the world he 'l live in a continual abhorrence of whatsoever may prejudice his soul or pollute his body and knowing that he is not his own James â—â— but that he 's bought with a price he 'l follow that advice he 'l endeavour to glorifie God in his body and in his spirit which are gods 1 Cor. 6. â—â— and to go no farther than what I had instanced in before a man that meditates on that account the Apostles and Evangelists have given us of the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh and on the ends and designs of such his appearance he 'l never spend his time idly about types and shadows when he is invited to embrace the substance he 'l study to conform himself to the Doctrine of the Gospel to be so far as belongs to a meer man a perfect imitator of all those excellent virtues so apparent in our Saviour during his converse with the world he 'l carefully avoid all
sin which was incapable of pardon from an offended God but upon the terms of the passion of his dearly beloved Son and will be throughly satisfied of the danger of such transgression by a rational assurance That if men sin wilfully after they have receiv'd the knowledge of the truth Hebr. 10.26 27. there remains now no more sacrifices for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries If then true Religion consist in worshipping God according to those revelations he has made of himself to the world and we cannot propound any reason to our selves why God should have made any such revelation of himself to us but only that when we have a rule we might have an example too then whatsoever religion that is whose most obscure and incomprehensible mysteries highly promote that excellent work of following our exemplar or growing up into an assimilation to God himself by endeavouring to be holy as our heavenly father is holy and perfect as he is perfect That Religion must certainly carry us by the surest ways to eternal happiness but such a Religion is that instituted by our Saviour in the Gospel therefore that 's a Religion above all others for the sake of such mysteries so profound but withal so very profitable and instructive to be embraced by all wise and considering Men. A due reflection upon those mysteries any Religion is founded upon with a just apprehension of the deficiency of our own reason in tracing them is a very proper means to create in mens minds a due and exact reverence for it Thus that very notion that we have of God's infinity of his dwelling in impenetrable darkness or in inaccessible light of the unsearchableness of his ways the incomprehensibility of his wisdom c. All these things make awful impressions upon mens souls and make them to fear before God and to reverence him and this God him self intended when by his Prophet he assured the Jews My thoughts are not your thoughts Isai 55.8 9. neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts This prodigious distance between the nature of God and Man was enough to overawe man on whose side there was so very great a disadvantage God's prohibition so often repeated to the Jews that they should not represent him to themselves by any figure or image whatsoever with the reason as frequently inculcated that they never had seen any thing which could look like any representation of him was to prevent that contempt which too much familiarity with superiors naturally produces for representing a God by any thing of a gross or material nature is apt to create as gross an Idaea of the Divinity it self in the mind of a Man and those once entertained produce a sawciness and familiarity not at all agreeable to that immense distance there is between a divine and a mortal Being Thus it 's observable that the Gentiles generally were upon several occasions extravagantly free with those Gods they worshipp'd Hence the Tyrians when Alexander the great besieged them chain'd the Image of Apollo to that of Hercules lest the God should leave them because one of their Citizens had had a melancholick dream forsooth that he designed to serve them such a slippery trick in their necessity So the Athenians clip'd off the wings of the Image of the goddess Victory lest she should fly away from them So Dionysius the elder of Sicily took off a golden mantle from the statue of Jupiter and put him on a woolen blanket with that scoffing reason that the blanket was fitter for all weathers being lighter in Summer and warmer in Winter So he took off the golden beard of Aesculapius with that Witticisme That it became not him to have so long a beard when his father Apollo had none It 's true these affronts were proper enough for those Idols to whom they were offer'd but they were very unbecoming those who offered them since they profest to believe that they were really gods so that they were not those Images or Statues which were abus'd but it was the true Divinity it self which they imagined resident in or about those Images And of this Inconvenience from material Images even of material Saints the Romanists are sometimes sensible witness that action of a Spanish Peasant who making his offering to the Image of the blessed Virgin and imagining she look'd not so kindly on him for it as he expected He very briskly told her she need not be so proud for He remembred she was but a sorry piece of timber the other day it was yet the more effectually to prevent such inconveniences that God appointed a part of the Tabernacle first and of the Temple at Jerusalem afterwards under the Sacred name of the Holy of Holies to be wholly inaccessible to any but the High Priest who bore an extraordinary Character among the Jews nor might He enter into it above once a Year and that with a great deal of respect and ceremony This made God to strike the men of Bethshemesh with so terrible a judgment for daring to pry into what God intended to keep secret 1 Sam. â— 19 and to strike Vzzah dead upon the place for presuming to do what was above his station and touch the Ark though it seem'd an action proceeding from a good zeal or a fear that the Ark the peculiar Symbol of God's presence among his People should have fallen to the ground 2 Sam. 6.9 but we may see what a terror that signal vengeance struck upon David himself and all his Company v. 10. and it 's observ'd of Pompey the Great that after He had been so bold as to look into the Holy of Holies upon his taking Jerusalem that though He saw nothing there nor offer'd any violence to any thing about the Temple but expressed a great deal of reverence towards the place and those that attended on it yet that God's judgments pursued him from that time that He prosper'd in little or nothing that He undertook all things from thence verging hastily to his final ruine So jealous is God of his honour so terrible to those who will be strugling to know what he would have kept secret from the World That great reverence which a due distance between God and the things belonging to him and Man creates is so well known in the World that wise Men have thought it convenient that there should be somewhat of a Mysterious Majesty in those who are God's representatives on earth which has taught the great Eastern Monarchs that prudent piece of state to shew themselves as seldom as possible to the People by which means the Vulgar not being capable of any diminutive thoughts of those whose weaknesses they are unacquainted with almost reverence their Kings as Gods and conclude no submissions can be
nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance so that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and manhood were joyn'd together in one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man c. With the Church of England agrees the Helvetic Confession Vid. Harmoniam Confessionum in notatis c. 3. that of the French Churches Artic. 6. the Scotch Confession Artic. 1. the Synod of Dort Artic. 8. the Synod of Czenger in Hungary in their own Argument against the Socinians and in Artic. 2. the Confession of Augsburg c. 1. of Strasbourg c. 2. the Saxon Confession exhibited to the Synod of Trent c. 1. that of Wittemberg Art 2. the Confession of the Prince Palatine Art 2. that of Bohemia Art 3. and 6. of Basil Art 1. and finally the Orthodox consent of all the Fathers with holy Scripture Artic. 2. c. 1. and it's observable that the authors and subscribers of all these Confessions imagine that they ground this particular Doctrine of the eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ upon Scripture so that they declare they either find it there in express terms or at least thought they drew it very naturally from thence and certainly they were not mistaken for let us reflect a little on the Commandments of the Old Testament there Israel received this charge Hear O Israel Deut. 6.4 Exod. 20.2 3. the Lord our God is one Lord I am the Lord thy God thou shalt have no other God before my face Observe what the Prophet adds to these precepts Remember says he to the same Israelites the former things of old Isai 46 9. for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me the same Prophet introduces Almighty God speaking thus I am the Lord Isai 42.8 that is my name and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images and this particularly in such a place where God is comforting his people with a description of the office power excellency of the Messiah and teaching all to rejoyce upon the certainty of his coming Our Saviour himself when he contested with the most subtle and powerful adversary in the world alledges this against him Matth. 4.10 get thee hence Satan when he had endeavoured to hire him to worship himself for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve This then of the Vnity of the supreme being and the incommunicability of divine worship to any other Being whatsoever seems very Authentick Doctrine and to be very well attested yet after all this to prevent that damning sin of Idolatry whereas S. Peter refus'd the adoration of Cornelius with that reason Acts 10.26 Stand up for I my self also am a man And the Angel who had shewn S. John all those wonderful Prophetick schemes refus'd the worship of that Apostle with those words Rev. 22.9 See thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the Prophets worship thou God yet the blessed Jesus He who being the Son of God at least in some sence should have been of all others the most careful for securing his fathers honour yet He tells the Jews that his father had committed all judgment to him Joh. 5.23 that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the father i.e. with the same kind of or with equal honour now every one will own that the Father is to be worshipped as the supreme Being or as the most high God therefore Christ there assumes to himself the glory honour or worship belonging to the most high God nor could this be strange in him who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 The same Jesus suffer'd himself to be worshipped without any reluctancy or prohibition of the worshippers He forbad not the wise men from the East Matt. 2.11 when they fell down and worshipped him and made their offerings to him nor did the blessed Virgin who doubtless knew what it was to be an Idolater reprove them for their misapplied adorations nor did the Angel Matt. 8.2 c. 9.18 who was their guide and director in their journey inform them of this error No more did Christ forbid the Leper who worshipp'd him nor the Jewish Ruler who beg'd his goodness for the healing of his daughter Nor his Disciples when by his power delivered from the storm Nor yet all the Disciples when after his resurrection they all came and held him by the feet and worshipp'd him c. 14.33 c. 28.9 now Scripture in all these places puts no difference between that worship that is given to Christ and that which the same persons generally render'd to the supreme God therefore they knew nothing but that he really was of the same nature with God nor could he be so kind or good or wise as he is character'd to us who could see so many guilty of so damning a sin as Idolatry which they must have been guilty of if they gave to him a meer Creature that sovereign worship which belong'd to the Creator without any reproof or check for it Now tho' this danger may seem to infer a great deal of necessity of knowing Christ to be the true God yet we may press it farther For S. Paul tells us in plain terms Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved where he is speaking of no other but our Lord Jesus Christ now this laid together with that other text Acts 4.12 that there is no salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved joyning these together as they assert the positive so they include the negative of equal truth that Without calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Salvation can never be attained but then it follows How shall they call on him in whom they have not believ'd v. 14. or in whom they have not had faith but Faith may not be fixt on any but on him who is the true God true Faith is only towards God Heb. 6.1 as the Apostle's phrase teaches us and the Socinians themselves in the very Text we are now upon would perswade us to believe that it was onely God the Father who was believed on in the World Heb. 11.6 because he onely was the proper object of Faith and we are told that without Faith it is impossible to please God but to imagine that any Faith can please God which is placed in any Being beside himself is foolish and absurd Yet whereas God declared by his Prophet of old Cursed be the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh flesh his arm and in his heart departeth from the Lord Jer. 17.5 Christ a little before his Passion bids his Disciples as they believed in God John 14.1
reputation but with as little success And indeed it was almost inconceiveable that a company of mean men looked upon generally with an evil eye should resolve to publish a parcel of notorious falsehoods which every man upon his own knowledge could have confuted and thereby have exposed themselves to the just fury of a deluded multitude it was inconceivable that so many in their writings and preachings could at such different times and such distant places agree together to put a sham upon mankind and to do it so coherently in it self and so agreeably to one another as it was apparent these men did Now in writing a History of immediate transactions there can be nothing fairer in the world than for men who are eye and ear witnesses of the things in question to compile the story and to publish it in their times who knew the same things whether they were true or false as certainly as themselves and an History so written that passes through such an age without reproof may justly pass for authentick nor can any meer humane testimony attain a greater certainty And where the subject of such a History is Divine where many things are declared beyond the reach of humane capacities where they are yet laid down so exactly agreeable to those things obvious to humane understandings and where there appears nothing disagreeable to the common expectances of the world nor to those best and fairest Idea's we have of the Divine Nature there the History grows it self divine and proves it self dictated by a Being superiour to all terrene defects such a History is the History of the Gospel and such an appeal to humane sence and knowledge and carryes such demonstrations of inspiration with it where we find God himself declaring by a voice from Heaven the nature of which the Jews from their ancient records must necessarily apprehend at the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist Luke 3.22 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased which voice as being design'd for the Introducing of our Saviour into the world was audible not only to John the Baptist but to others and when it was repeated at the transfiguration Matth. 17.5 it was audible to all those who accompanied him and John the Baptist himself of whose Commission the Jews seem'd very well satisfied declares John 1.33 34. He that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and I saw and bare record that this is that Son of God Now tho' the stubborn Jews seem not to have depended at all upon these declarations nor to have been by them convinced of the truth of what was asserted in them yet their acknowledging John the Baptist to have been a Prophet and their never denying the truth of these accounts as here set down are indeed very considerable proofs of their truth especially since nothing could represent them worse than relating such things as truth and describing them as incredulous and refractary still The Evangelical writers as they give us this account concerning voices from Heaven and the testimony of John the Baptist so they inform us of Christ himself that he owned and asserted his own original too so he tells Nicodemus a person of sence and curiosity as appears by his discourse with our Saviour God so loved the world John 3.16 that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting life Which declaration refers to himself he mentioning that sending of the Son of God as a thing now accomplished which title none assumed nor was it given to any before himself They tell us how justly he rebuk'd the Jews for charging him with blasphemy because he called himself the Son of God John 10.36 for the nature of those works he did openly in the world's view was a sufficient proof of his being sent by God since nothing less than a divine power and assistance could possibly effect such things as the Jews if they had not been resolved upon ruine could not but know But God was not wont to send such on his errands who puff'd up with pride would usurp great and improper titles to themselves or who would impose on the world by daring falshoods the Jews were not wholly irrational in thinking he deserved death for calling himself the Son of God if really he were not John 19.7 No Politicks yet could fairly give a toleration to open blasphemy But the Jews tho' very angry with him for calling himself by so august a name railed at him indeed and accused him and persecuted him but never went about to disprove him nay when he challeng'd them if they could to convince him of sin John 8.46 to shew any crime whatsoever that he had been guilty of they answered him only with an acquitting silence they were excellent at generals but the worst in the world at particulars and yet to be without sin was so extraordinary a quality as could be compatible only with one descending from Heaven Vnclean Spirits terribly sensible of his power frequently howsoever unwillingly confest him to be the Son of God Matth. 8.29 Mar. 3.11 and they were too much his enemies to acknowledge a thing so very disadvantagious to their own designs had it not been truth Nathanael a prudent and a pious man upon discourse with him easily confest Thou art the Son of God Joh. 1.49 thou art the King of Israel The disciples when they saw how with one word Jesus laid that storm which had threatned their destruction confest Matt 14.33 of a truth thou art the Son of God Humane power could not quell the loud and violent storms but he that made them could easily allay their fury The Roman Centurion who was his guard at his Crucifixion when he saw how at his giving up the ghost the earth quaked Matth. 27.50 54. the rocks rent the veil of the Temple was split in twain from top to bottom and the graves opened and long buried bodies arose from their heavy sleep could not but submit his faith to such prodigious visions and profess that truly this was the Son of God Nature was not wont to undergo such dreadful convulsions for the death of an inferiour person but when its great Creator suffer'd it was time to own its sympathetick pangs after these things it was no wonder to hear the Apostles declare Acts 3.13 36. That the God of their fathers had glorified his Son Jesus Christ and again That unto us God having raised up his Son Jesus Christ sent him to bless us in turning away every one of us from our iniquities But after all had either Jews or Romans prov'd as well as call'd Christ a deceiver before it must have been a very unordinary confidence in the Apostles to act over the baffled farce again and
and the worlds everlasting head and governour with respect to the time to come to be a David a man after God's own heart who should do all his will after David's natural death to be infinitely happy just compassionate Anointed by the sacred Spirit of God to have the greatest of those born of a woman his harbinger and by him acknowledged for a God tho' shaded from vulgar eyes by a cloud of humane frailty the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace yet a child a Son brought forth in the world and given to us To be born of a pure and spotless Virgin so Man yet the hopes of all the ends of the earth and of those that remain in the broad Sea and so God To be despis'd by the great and wise yet the great Center of Vnity for all the Nations in the World To be at once David's Son and David's Lord and seated at the right hand of God To terminate all material typical sacrifices in his own flesh and unlimited obedience yet to be own'd by God himself as his only begotten Son and heir to the government of all things To surpass their admir'd Moses as a Master his Servant in the Prophetick gift and an intimate familiarity with God To be the utter ruine of Idolatry that seed which should be the blessing and therefore the desire of all nations that seed which should break the head ruine the policy and Tyranny of that old Serpent the Devil To be a real and visible Man yet our Immanuel God with us which is the summ of all those Prophecies and Promises To be all these things is not consistent with a temporal Monarch whose breath is in his nostrils tho' all the nations in the World ador'd him The absolute conquest over prevailing wickedness the triumph over Death and Hell and all the obstacles of a blessed Immortality the redemption of a guilty world from impendent vengeance by a swift and entire obedience to the Almighty Will the making up that prodigious Chasme between an infinitely pure and holy Deity and a depraved and provoking world are thoughts and enterprises too vast and glorious to be undertaken by any child of Man therefore whosoever it was that all those mighty things should be accomplished in whosoever should be so infinitely beloved by Heaven and so prodigious a Benefactor to mankind must be according to those titles fixt upon him the Son of God his Son in a true literal sence and as such he may really be capable of doing more for us than we our selves can ask or think The blessed Jesus as I intimated before was not only the expectation of Israel but the desire of all nations and therefore promis'd to all nations in the forecited passages as well as them and tho' the Jews were not so good natur'd as to be very Communicative of their divine treasures yet the Gentiles who had their concerns in so just an hope had their predictions too and tho' not so clearly foresaw the approaching days of their Redeemer the elder Prophecies such as that to our first Parents in Paradise or that to Abraham might get abroad into the world the prophecies themselves being originally known to others as well as those whom they more immediately concern'd and that passage of Job I know that my redeemer liveth Job 19.25 26.27 and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and tho' after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another tho' my reins be consumed within me is a sufficient evidence that those who lived without the pale of Jacob's family were sensible of what they wanted and that their hopes were reasonable that those wants should be supplied and Balaam's predictions being heard by Moabites strangers to Israel were without all question taken great notice of by the heathen nations Hence arose the fame of the Sibylline Oracles talked of so much by antient writers and by what we find spoken of 'em by Tully De Divinat l. 2. and transcribed from them by Virgil sufficient to raise mens expectations and desires for some very great and happy event hence grew those common discourses of the Gods descending in humane shapes to converse with and instruct men Which shewed mens general apprehensions of the love of the Deity to mankind of the possibility of an Incarnation and the useful consequences it might have for the reformation of corrupt nature Hence that prophetick advice of Confutius the famous Chinese Philosopher who liv'd 550. years before our Saviour's birth tâ—â— Prince to be virtuous Huetii Demonstr Evang. Prop. 7. c. 32. for says he The actions of a good Prince ought to be agreeable to the Laws of God and Nature and he should not doubt but that when that expected holy One shall come his virtue shall then be as much honour'd as it was before while he lived and reign'd And I cannot but think it reasonable to conclude that Balaam's prophecy might be known there and better preserved by their learning so antient among them than in other places and that excited by that the wise Men came from thence to worship our Saviour at his birth especially since the length of a journey from thence seems most agreeable to Herod's calculation when to be sure of reaching the new born King He killed all the children in Bethlehem and its coasts Matth. 2.1 2 9 10. from two years old and under according to the time that he had diligently enquired of the wise men About our Saviour's time and before and after for a while a rumour was spread abroad every where that One should be born in Judea who should be the Vniversal Monarch as Suetonius in the life of Augustus and in that of Vespasian and Tacitus in the fifth book of his Histories tells us which fame Josephus the Jewish Historian laid hold on to flatter with Vespasian and to get his own liberty by perswading him the prophetick rumour pointed him out for the Roman Empire Here again That ever-living Redeemer that glorious child who should reduce the frame of Nature to so happy a condition after all the disorders it had suffered who should banish sin and wickedness That look'd for Holy One who should give virtue its due reward that Jewish native who should command the humble world must of necessity be concluded somewhat more than Man by the longing Expectants He must be God to effect such wonders and yet must be a Man to be a native of Judaea he must have humane nature to be born with into the world and to converse with men and to take away the very smallest footsteps and tracks of Sin he must at least be partaker of Divinity thus all the Prophecies both among Jews and Gentiles conclude in a necessity that the worlds Redeemer from that misery and those dangers it lay under must at least be the
the chief family of which the Priesthood belong'd came to be in some measure incorporated into the greater tribe of Judah if withal he take notice that tho' the regal power in the tribe of Judah ended with the Captivity of Babylon yet the Priesthood continued in the family of Aaron he may easily see the fulfilling of Jacob's words for we may see Aaron the first Patriarch of the Priestly family breaking out of his own into the tribe of Judah and marrying Elisheba the daughter of Aminadab and sister of Naashon of the tribe of Judah Exod. 6.23 which Aminadab and Naashon are particularly reckoned among David's predecessors by S. Matthew Matth. 1.4 by which means the Regal and Sacerdotal line were intermingled as well as the tribes were afterwards nor were such alliances altogether extraordinary for we find afterwards Jehoiada the high-priest marrying Jehoshabeath the sister of Ahaziah King of Judah 2 Chron. 22.11 of the house and lineage of David Now the Scepter is assign'd immediately to the hands of Judah the royalty being fully and entirely in the hand of that tribe without any competition either with the Benjamites or Simeonites part of which tribes stuck fast to Judah's interests after the revolt of the ten tribes but the Lawgiver is placed between his feet not according to the sence some affix to that phrase as if Jacob spoke modestly of the original birth of such Law-givers as if being between the knees were an equivalent to being born from the womb of such a one as it 's true it sometimes means but it signifies the Lawgiver shall be in his protection or within his jurisdiction and limits as a great Officer between the feet of the Sovereign on some solemn occasions or as the Bishop of Rome is said to have set the Archbishop of Canterbury between his feet at the Council of Lyons with that expression Includimus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam and so the Law-giver was continually within the proper bounds and limits of the tribe of Judah both before and after the Captivity of Babylon But as the Scepter departed from Judah at that Captivity so the legal expounder of sacred writings to the Jewish nation was taken away about the time of our Saviour's Incarnation the family of Aaron being then lighted and every one admitted to the high-priesthood who could give most money for that office and the Civil Government tho' under the title of Herod being a meer vassal to the Roman Empire When these things were both come to pass then Shilo the promis'd Messias came in whom those particular assurances to David were made good That out of his loyns the Messias should come In him the Royal and Priestly line were united he was legal Heir to both Houses he was a King and Priest for ever to whom the gathering of all Nations is and ought to be Luke 1.27 32.35 Now that the blessed Virgin was of the House and Lineage of David as well as Joseph we learn from Scripture and if the Tribe of Judah was exalted by the advancement of David to the Imperial Throne it was much more exalted and more adorable to the rest of the Tribes by the birth of Jesus the Saviour of the World and the King of all things both in Heaven and in Earth How Moses his word was made good of the Prophet to be rais'd up like to himself I show'd before that being made truth in the birth of Christ but it 's more compleat application belonging to our Saviour's manly age when he made himself publick and undertook to preach repentance to his obstinate Country-men But that of a Body hast thou prepar'd for me came to pass when the Angel's word was effected The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Luke 1.25 It was an immediate Divine power that gave a beginning and increase to that Sacred Body in the Virgin 's Womb nothing could be produced between Man and Woman as under the ancient curse and miserably corrupted and polluted in their natures that was fit for those great things at that time design'd for us for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean therefore a Virgin untouch'd by man was chosen for his habitation who was to redeem lost mankind and was overshadowed by the power of the Almighty Gen. 1.2 which did incubare in Virginem as the same Spirit is said to move upon the face of the Waters to cover it as the Bird covers her Eggs to make them prolifick as the word imports now a body so prepar'd and so inhabited as our Saviour's humanity was could not be but pure and undefiled since if a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit neither can a good Tree bring forth evil fruit the reasons of both their productions being the same Nor was it unreasonable he should be David's Lord though his Son according to the flesh whose birth was intimated by holy Angels whose Father was Almighty God himself and whose Kingdom was to endure from everlasting to everlasting all which circumstances rendred him infinitely more considerable to pure reason than ever David was nor could the humble manner of his entrance into the World be any just prejudice to his mighty title David was mean and inconsiderable too when God took him from attending on the Sheep-fold to feed his People Israel and the Prophet Zachary gives him notwithstanding his apparent meanness his due Honour Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Zach. 9.9 behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass He might then be a King still how despicable soever he appear'd to humane eyes and as a King according to the extent and proportion of his Empire might be Lord of David and of all the Kings upon Earth Isaiah had long since foretold he should be born of a Virgin and so in the event he was Mary his Mother was a Virgin even beyond the confutation of the malicious Jews it was to such a one the Angel was sent it was such a one who was according to his assurance to be overshadow'd by the Holy Ghost it was such a one who was to conceive and bring forth And the Evangelist openly declares of Jesus That when as his Mother Mary was espous'd to Joseph Matt. 1.18 before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost and of Joseph he asserts That he knew her not until she had brought forth her first born Son v. 25. and he call'd his name Jesus And whereas the Prophet had been ecstasi'd with joy at the knowledge of a Child a Son of so Divine a nature being given to his People when that Child was born indeed the Sacred
from heaven which all wise men have hitherto believed then the writers of the New Testament had no other way to prove their own inspiration but by agreement with the former lest the holy Spirit to whose conduct both pretended should seem inconsistent with himself or variable as mens humours could apprehend him It 's not now to be doubted but that our Saviour who knew what was in Man therefore all along gave just preventives of those Cavils which the malicious Jews could afterwards raise against him and therefore in his first Sermon upon the Mount he shews himself so far from evacuating what was in its own nature moral and perpetually obliging that he on the contrary clears it from all those putid glosses the Jewish readers or Rabbins had fixt upon it and whereas they had endeavoured to find as many starting holes from the severity of good Morals as the Jesuites of later years have done he gave his hearers the full sense and meaning of the Law that so by pretending to liberty from its rigours they might not run themselves into eternal woes and in plain terms lets them know that whereas they were ready simply to imagine the severities of the Scribes and Pharisees very extraordinary and meritorious they were infinitely deceived and that except their righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven Matth. 5.20 It was doubtless the full end and design of Moses and the Prophets to advance the honour of that God who employed them to make his Name and his Laws respected not only among the tribes of Israel but among all those nations to whose knowledge their writings were likely at any time to come who by the rationality and tendency of the Laws would certainly judge of the wisdom goodness and integrity of the Law-giver but when those Prophets and others had done their best their endeavours were mixt with so many failures and imperfections that sometimes they fell themselves a great way under God's displeasure as Moses by his infidelity and presumption at the rock The man of God that Prophesied against the Altar in Bethel by yielding to the lying suggestions of the old Prophet Jonah by his frowardness because of God's superseding his prophetical denunciation by his long suffering and mercy extended to penitent sinners c. And besides in all those services those holy Men perform'd they could claim no higher a title than that of undeserving servants for that they had only done what was their plain duty and in case of failure they were obnoxious to very severe penalties and Moses tho' he have that honourable character that he was faithful in all God's house it was but as a servant still and for a testimony of those things that were to be spoken after Heb. 3.5 6. But Christ as a Son over his own house took a more exact and effectual care in all things to promote the glory of his Father It 's natural for the Son to be more sollicitous in such cases than a mercenary servant who does what he does prompted both by a fear of punishment and an earnest expectation of reward above both which things a pious Son always lives and therefore whereas the rest always call God their Lord and King c. the blessed Jesus continually calls him his Father his heavenly father and by that relation he so stands in to the Almighty and by what he has done for us in taking our nature upon him and the consequences of that assumption he has procured the same privilege superiour to what was apprehended by those of old with assurance of being heard to say in our Prayers Our Father which art in heaven But to effect all this in relation to his Fathers honour and our good how many scorns abuses persecutions and barbarous cruelties did he undergo from wicked Men yet as freely as if he had been altogether unconcern'd so long as Men could but any ways be reduced to an acknowledgment of their errors and a serious repentance What he underwent so made him as Man the more fit to prescribe Laws to others who were likely to suffer extremely from the same foolish world for embracing those truths he delivered them as we always esteem an Humble man most fit to teach others humility and a Charitable man charity and a Patient man patience For tho' others may declaim as well in commendation of the same virtues and in reproof of the same vices yet the discourses of exemplary persons are justly expected to make the deepest impressions upon their hearers With this advantage our blessed Lord instructed every one that would receive his Doctrine in the ways of happiness he used all the allurements of irresistible Wisdom and unanswerable Reason all the motives of Mercy and Goodness to procure their attendance and obedience He set them a compleat pattern of obedience to God and of innocence and holiness in his converse and then gives that as a standing rule that his Disciples should follow his example and let their light shine before Men for that very end that others seeing their good works might glorifie their Father which was in Heaven But when the blessed Jesus design'd the reformation of a sinful World the nature of his Doctrine and the manner of its propagation was adapted rightly to so admirable an end And therefore whereas the wretched Heathen part of Mankind did infinitely dishonour their Creator whereas they exactly answer'd that account of the Apostle When they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful Rom. 1.21 22 c. but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkned they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and to four-footed Beasts and to creeping things they changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipp'd and serv'd the creature more than the Creator whence they were filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness malice envy c. Whereas this was their real condition infinite numbers of them by this means running head-long into everlasting damnation and yet the ill-natured Jews to whom the Oracles of God were at that time committed took no care for their recovery pleasing themselves onely with a fond conceit of their own righteousness crying to all the rest of Mankind Stand by your selves come not near us for we are holier than you Since they only talk'd of their being the people of God and boasted of his Temple studying more to proselyte Men to an outward Circumcision and a few empty Ceremonies than to real inward holiness and integrity since these very Jews did but abuse their own greater advantages and trample upon the most excellent and obliging part of the Law our Saviour rectified their Error by the dilatation of his own Doctrine and taking exact care to have it spread as far as humane guilt had extended before so
fellow Servant a Creature and order'd him to worship God i. e. the Supreme Being then that must be a Rule to Angels too and they might not adore or worship a Creature no more than the Apostle might therefore the Son of God was no Creature since they are commanded to worship him therefore He must be God for we know of no intermedial power between a Creator and a Creature We are to worship the Lord our God Mat. 4.10 and him onely are we to serve as our Saviour himself alledges but We are to worship the Son of God Angels are to do so too therefore the Son of God is God And since we are gotten into this first Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews we may add in evidence of our assertion that other quotation Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth Ps 102.25 and the Heavens are the work of thy hands Heb. 1.10 c. they shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail which Text is so home to the proof of the Divinity of the Son of God that Schlicktingius twists and winds himself every way to evade its force in his Commentary on the place and after all does but Magno conatu magnas nugas agere as the Comedian he makes a great stir to no purpose He finds fault with the Author of the Epistle If He says he design'd to perswade us Christ was the most high God why did he not say so without any farther circumstance the matter had been then past dispute But we suppose it is so plain as nothing can be more already it 's as plain as those words he 'd prescribe could have made it to All but men of perverse wits who wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction for if as He owns none but the Supreme God could be the Maker of Heaven and Earth and the Creation of Heaven and Earth be here by the Apostle ascribed to the Son then the inevitable consequence which the Heretick would have had laid down at first is that the Son is the Supreme God or God equal with the Father And whereas the main foundation of the Arrian and Socinian Heresie is as Sandius another of that tribe owns that there was a time when the Son was not if the Son of God was indeed the Creator of all things then he was before all things and consequently before time it self and so their foundation is apparently false for he that had a Being before time was must of necessity be Eternal But Schlicktingius would perswade us that of the whole Text produced by the Apostle onely the sence of the last words is to be referr'd to Christ and that it 's quoted onely to prove that the Dominion of Christ shall not expire but with the abolition of all things Schlicktingius in locum Quod Regni Christi quod nunc in terris administrat terminus cum inimicorum ejus omnium abolitione quos Coeli Terrae ruina involvet sit conjunctus are his words That the end of Christ's Kingdom which he administers in this World is joyn'd with the utter abolition of all his Enemies who shall be at once involv'd in the ruines of the Universe As for the first part of the quotation he makes it altogether impertinent but that the Apostle took the Text whole as it lay because he knew the Hebrews to whom he wrote were in no danger of interpreting the Creation of the World as referring to Christ whom they knew well enough to be no other than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer Man and no more and adds that had the Apostle design'd any more by that Text it had been altogether beside his purpose But here I conclude our Adversary mistook the Apostle's meaning wilfully which is this Writing to the Jews his first design is to convince them of the Messiahship of Christ whom they knew to be a Man they had seen evidences enough of that in what he did and suffer'd among them they had seen him crucified dead and buried so that they could not dream of his having onely a fantastick body being onely an apparition as some Hereticks afterwards asserted a phantasm or a Spirit had no flesh and bones as they saw him have The Hebrews were so certain of this that they would believe him to be no more than a Man a man weak and inconsiderable a perfect cheat pretending to the noble character of being their long expected Messiah but no way answering that Character having appear'd in no such glory as the Prophets had foretold and having wrought no deliverance for Israel according to their reasonable expectations Now to convince them of their Error he asserts Christ to have been the Son of God v. 2. He proves the Messiah was to be so from their own Books v. 5. He asserts Him to have been the express Image of God's Person the brightness of his glory the Vpholder of all things by his power v. 3. That the Messiah was to be so he proves from his superiority to Angels v. 6 7. Nay he asserts him to be God and proves the Messiah was to be so v. 8 9 10 c. In the Epistle afterwards he shews the accomplishment of the Legal Types in him with the excellency of his office in every respect particularly of his Priesthood the conclusion of all which to them is this That if the Types of the Law were accomplisht in him which they could judge of by comparing the Law with his Actions if He were the Son of God as himself asserted and proved he then could be no cheat how meanly soever he appear'd in the world but was capable of being the Messiah and having own'd himself to be so since he was incapable of deceit He really was that Messiah they expected and had wrought a Deliverance greater and more valuable than they dream'd of not only for them but for all the World and to make good this Truth the applying the Creation of all things to him was not impertinent God made the Worlds by his Son v. 2. of this Chapter Therefore he by whom the worlds were made had a being himself before they were made which is what St. John asserts of the Word which was God John 1.1 3. All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing made that was made all which consider'd it 's no wonder the Psalmist prescribed so to the Church Hearken O Daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy Father's house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty Psal 45.10 11. for he is thy Lord God and worship thou him He that was God was really and lawfully to be worshipped The next place I shall urge is that of the Prophet Isaiah Isai 9.6 Vnto us a
child is born unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and he shall be called Wonderful Counseller the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace That this was a Prophecy of the Messiah to come has never that I know of been doubted and it has been as universally apply'd to the blessed Jesus but that he should be called the mighty God and yet not be God would appear very strange The title of God is we know very well apply'd in Scripture to Angels to Princes to those to whom the Word of God was sent but none of these ever wore the name of the mighty God The mighty God here is emphatical and equivalent to the Almighty and the only God and that we should be the less doubtful of his meaning the same Son who is called the mighty God is called the everlasting Father or the Father of eternity the Father is as much as the Author or Commander of eternity which could not without absurdity be applyed to him who once was not or had no being himself The Chaldee paraphrast calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Messias living to eternity the name indeed is very proper to God the Father nor could it with any probability be applyed to the Son did not our Saviour himself solve the difficulty effectually when he tells us Job 10.30 I and my Father are one if they be One the same Epithets belong to both and yet that we may the less doubt to whom the whole text belongs Ephes 2.14 2 Thess 3.16 Heb. 7.2 this mighty God and everlasting Father is styl'd the Prince of Peace so the blessed Jesus is said to be our Peace to be the Lord of Peace and the just successor of that Priest of the most high God Melchizedech who was king of Righteousness and king of Peace Again the Prophet Jeremiah in that plainest Prophecy of his concerning the certain Advent of the Messias teaches us thus Jer. 23.5 6. Behold the days shall come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That name there too is applied to him which belongs to none but to the supreme God It 's the name as Ben Maimon assures us which signifies the Divine essence purely by its self without any respect to the Creatures now that the Divine Essence it self should be attributed to a meer Man is downright blasphemy but here it 's attributed to that Branch promised to David which all the antient Rabbins and the eldest Fathers of the Church interpret of the Messiah that Christ was the Messiah every one who receives the Gospel must acknowledge therefore Jesus the Messiah was God and so the Lord our righteousness If we farther compare this with that of the Prophet Isaiah Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Isai 45.24 25. 1 Cor. 1.30 and that again with that of the Apostle Christ Jesus is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption We shall find somewhat more attributed to Christ than lyes within the power of the holyest meer Man that ever was or could be in the world Israel is to be saved Man to be justified by him now let a Man be never so pure never so innocent if he be but a meer Man his Righteousness and Innocence is nor can be no more than may serve his own necessity it is what God requires at every one of our hands it 's true for ten righteous Men God would have spared Sodom but that was only temporally God's judgments might have been deferred for a while and yet the Sodomites have been damn'd at last But the Righteousness of Christ is meritorious and available on our account he is our righteousness and consequently by him and upon his account we are justified from the guilt and punishment of sin our sins being pardoned through his merits and for his sake and we instead of damnation being made Inheritors with the Saints in glory hence it comes to pass that we who are forbidden to glory in Man or in any child of man v. 31. because there is no help in them are allowed and encouraged to glory in the Lord and well we may since he may be and is our Righteousness therefore he whom we are allowed to glory in must be more than Man but he is no Angel therefore he must be God The last place I shall insist on is that of the Prophet Micah Micah 5.2 But thou Bethlehem Ephrata tho' thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting That this Text referred to the Messiah we are put beyond doubt by that of the Evangelist where he tells us that when Herod had demanded of the Jewish chief Priests and Scribes where Christ should he born they presently answered him it should be in Bethlehem of Judaea Math. 2.4 5 6. and bring this Text to prove their assertion the application then being certain we may observe how directly this Text contradicts the Arrian and Socinian Position They say there was a time when the Son was not the Prophet says his goings forth have been from of old from everlasting or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His goings out are from the beginning from the days of eternity if his goings forth were from eternity he himself was from eternity too if from eternity there was then no time wherein he was not therefore he was God for there 's nothing to which eternity can be truely attributed but God or if we should with some learned Men translate the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the East our Interpretation would not suffer at all it would then be his goings forth have been from the east from the days of old therefore he was or had a Being before the date of this Prophecy therefore he had a Being before he was born of the blessed Virgin therefore he was eternal therefore he was God I might have urged more passages out of the Old Testament but these may suffice to evidence that That Messias of whom the Prophets spoke was believed by them to be God as well as Man their Prophecies indeed were by that means the more obscure and unintelligible to the Jews who saw Christ frequently but they saw only his Humane Nature they understood no more of Him nor did they then expect their Messias should be God but only some great Man which they saw the blessed Jesus as to his outward appearance was not and therefore they pick'd a quarrel with him as guilty of Blasphemy Joh. 10.33 because he being a Man made himself God We come to
the Almighty that he has had a being from eternity that he is God that He has made all things and that there is nothing made but what is made by him that He has made the World that He has created all things visible and invisible whether in heaven or in the earth that He has founded the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands if all these things are the Characters of the most high God Our Saviour justly wears them all He was in the beginning before all things He was then with God He was God all things were made by him and nothing without him He made the World and all things in it whether visible or invisible c. therefore he was the most high God notwithstanding which exalted nature he was pleas'd to manifest himself in the flesh or to become flesh which could be no diminution of his eternal glory infinity being absolutely incapable of any such lessening The Godhead was not converted into flesh as the Athanasian Creed expresses it i. e. by taking our Nature the Son of God did not cease to be God but he took the manhood into God that which was limited and finite into that which was infinite Thus have I very largely insisted on this beginning of S. John's Gospel it being such a discourse as asserts the Divine Nature of the Son with the greatest clearness and the most of circumstance of all others and therefore the whole body of the Socinians level all their skill and strength against it knowing very well that a conquest here gain'd would go a great way to make them victorious in every quarter In the next place Our Saviour discoursing with the Jews who were always seeking occasion to quarrel both his words and actions when we may assure our selves that if he had but the discretion of an ordinarily prudent Man he would have spoken with the greatest caution in the World Joh. 10.30 He then tells them without any limitation or allay I and my father are one Schlicktin in locum Hoc Christi dictum ad essentiam trahere nugari est says Schlicktingius roundly It 's perfect fooling to infer an essential unity between the Father and the Son from these words of Christ Mirum est hunc locum urgeri à quibusdam Enjed. in locum ex eo velle eandem Patris Filii essentiam colligere says Enjedine It 's strange that some should urge this place and conclude from it that the Essence of God the Father and of God the Son is the same and he alledges Beza and Calvin and Bucer as all declaring that it 's no proof in the case but it 's not what Men of great names say or boldly assert but the reasons why they say so or so that we much respect and therefore we cannot overpass this particular Text. The Jews as we find in the verses before came about our Saviour and require he 'd tell them plainly whether He were the Christ or not The Question in it self was reasonable and might merit a direct answer and doubtless would have had it had it been propounded with that ingenuity and sincerity which became those who were prepared to receive the Gospel But our Saviour who knew the malice of the Question refers them to what he had said before and the wonderful Works which he had done among them They knew what the Prophets had foretold should be done by the Messias They saw what He did and They heard in whose name he pretended to do what he did it was easie for them to compare his present actions with the antient Prophecies and to find out whether there was any thing prejudicial to God's glory or Man's happiness in all those miracles he had done among them But they not being his Sheep nor submitting themselves to his conduct who was the Good Shepherd they had not Honesty or Prudence enough to examine and weigh things impartially and therefore stumbled at noon day They could not see how the Innocence of his life where they could convince him of no Sin how the purity of his Doctrine which he uttered so as never Man did before him how the greatness of his Miracles which were unquestionable and extremely kind did prove beyond contradiction of any but those who were wilfully mad that He could be no Impostor no Cheat as they imagin'd Had they been his Sheep they 'd have listned to him and have been safe for all those were so who followed him He would give them eternal life and no man could take them out of his hand for his Father who gave them him was greater than all Therefore no man could pluck them out of his hand but He and his Father were One therefore none could pluck them out of his hand therefore He too was greater than all This would seem to the natural consequence of the Words and it 's certain the Jews thought it was so for they presently took up stones to stone him i. e. to give him that death which was the peculiar punishment of the Blasphemer and such they took him for for when Christ reproached their baseness v. 33. and ask'd for which of his good works they stoned him they readily answer They stoned him not for a good work but for blasphemy because that He being a Man made himself God This they thought they concluded very reasonably because he had said I and my Father am One Well did our Saviour in his reply tell them they were mistaken that he meant no such thing by those words that his meaning only was that He and his Father were both of one mind exactly agreeing in that kind intention of preserving his Sheep from perishing did he make any such plea Not at all but he sharply reproves their folly in challenging him as a Blasphemer for those words and takes up an argument against them from that passage of the Psalmist I have said ye are gods v. 34 35 36. If he call them gods to whom the word of God came says our Lord and the Scripture cannot be broken say ye of hi◠whom the father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I sai◠I am the Son of God i. e. If earthly Princes deserve the name of Gods because they are God's Vicegerents or if Angels carry that name because they are the Ministers of God◠glory would not that title much more justly belong to the Son of God made flesh sanctified from the womb of his mother and sent from heaven to be the Saviour of the world he must then by the very force of this argument be greater than either the greatest of Men or the holiest of Angels but what middle Being is or can there be between Angelick substances and the Deity that should be above Angels and yet not God We 'l allow then that for Two to be One is often used for that unity or agreement of mind which our adversaries speak of but we
among other things tells us Isa 44.17 He that had just made the golden Image falls down and worships it and prays unto it and says Deliver me for thou art my God Doubtless the Engraver and Carver c. would readily plead for themselves they look'd upon their Images but as Symbols of a real Deity or places of residence for more Spiritual Beings or at most but as subordinate Gods yet all this will not excuse them from the charge of Idolatry for God first declaring of himself that He is the true God that He is the living God and an everlasting king Jer. 10.10 11. at whose wrath the earth should tremble and the nations should not be able to abide his indignation adds farther The Gods that have not made the heavens and the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens that 's then the characteristick or the test of a true God the making of the heavens and of the earth on which reason begin we our Creed with that I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth and whosoever it is who has not made Heaven and earth in that same sense in which the Prophet here speaks He 's an Idol and all those are guilty of Idolatry who put any confidence in him Vid Martial l. 5. Epig. 8. Suet. in Domit. c. 13. And such were Caligula and Domitian those proud Emperours who knew not how to sit down with an inferior title to that Domini Deique nostri of our Lord and our God and very Heathens themselves thought this was assuming divine Honours to themselves and such as were no way becoming mortal men But I know the Socinians allow those who are made Gods by Men to be Idols but those who are made by Almighty God himself are not so Neque enim unus ille deus falsos deos facit homines hoc faciunt says Schlicktingius for he who is the one supreme God does not make false Gods they are only Men who do so hence according to them Kings and Princes are true Gods because they are constituted by God himself to represent his own person to the world but to this we answer never King upon earth but only such as those before-named Caligula or Domitian pretended to such a name nor were there ever any but sordid Parasites and flatterers who offer'd to call them their Lords and their Gods Alexander the Great himself tho' foolish and ambitious to be called the Son of Jupiter yet could not but expose their baseness who complyed with his mad fancy when he saw the blood trickling from a wound he had received and ask'd them whether that were like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Homer made to fall from his Gods They allege on their own behalf that passage in the Psalmist Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal 45.6 which say they is there spoken of Solomon which we as positively deny and are assured they can never prove God by his Prophets is not wont to tell downright falsehoods as he must do if this were to be so applyed for which way shall we make it out that Solomon's Throne was everlasting when all the glories of it sunk in his immediate Successor which way shall the Sceptre of his kingdom be made a right Sceptre whose immediate Successor and several after him have that character in Scripture that they did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord What great and terrible things were those which were done by the sword of peaceable Solomon who was to be no man of blood no conqueror o◠what worship do we ever read was paid by Pharaoh's daughter or any other of his numerous wives and concubines to Solomon and the Holy Ghost directly applies these words to Jesus Christ the Son of God without the least mention of Solomon Beside this then they have no Text which looks like any thing of ascribing those names My Lord and my God to any created being whatsoever and when they have said all they can Christ himself must be an Idol to Thomas and to all those who own him at any time to be their Lord and their God if it be not He who has made the Heavens and the Earth according to the Letter Princes may be Metaphorical Gods but they are not set up for humane Adorations Men and Angels are to adore the Son of God therefore he 's no Metaphorical God and we need beg no pardon for saying it 's not in the power of an Almighty God to create or make a true or an eternal God or another being Almighty as himself it 's Nonsence to talk of Monarchs subordinate one to another or of Monarchs co-ordinate with one another in the same territory and it 's plain nonsence to tell us Christ is a subordinate God to his Father or that there can be two supreme Gods over all blessed for ever Therefore when the Apostle calls his master My God and my Lord his meaning must be that the Son of God is the true God one God coessential co-eternal with his Father From hence then we proceed to Rom 9.5 Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is God over all blessed for ever Amen The character here is very high the Text plain and it may justly be concluded those must adventure very boldly who can elude its force If we look into the occasion of the words we there find the Apostle expressing an extraordinary affection to his Countrey-men being willing to become a curse for his brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh whose condition he commiserates the more because of those extraordinary privileges they had before enjoyed for there is no greater aggravation of misery than to have made a great many fair steps towards happiness and to have fallen short of it at last These privileges they had enjoyed were extraordinary they were Israelites so God's proper or peculiar inheritance beyond all other nations whatsoever To them pertained the adoption or they were adopted to be the Sons of God and are called so in the Old Testament to them appertain'd the glory of God's peculiar presence among them owning them for his people and delivering them gloriously with a mighty hand and stretched out arm from their cruel enemies To them belonged the Covenants the two Tables written with the Finger of God himself the giving of the Law that Law Moral Political and Ceremonial which made their Religious Ordinances their Civil Government and their Manners far superiour to those of all other Nations to them belonged the service of God the only true external form or method of worship and the Promises for all the Prophets among those severe menaces they denounced against Israel for their Sins yet always brought the Promises of a Messias a Redeemer to come to comfort them their 's were the Fathers all those Men so eminent for their favour with God such as Abraham Isaac
Jacob Moses Joshua Samuel David and all the rest of the Prophets Of them came Jesus Christ according to the flesh that particularising of his deduction from them according to the flesh intimates plainly enough that according to somewhat else he had another Original he was not wholly of the Jews This the Socinians are forced to own because of that entire story of our Saviour's Conception by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the blessed Virgin To shew how great this privilege was the Apostle adds that this Jesus Christ who came of the Jews according to the flesh was God over all blessed for ever but that they might avoid the force of this Text they would fain â—ly to one of their ordinary shelters a variâ—us reading but there 's no such thing in any of the original Copies and Versions if there be any which intimate such a thing are little to be regarded Then they would fain alter the Pointing which if allow'd would do them little service but there is no ground for allowing that In locum Enjedine pleads that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blessed used by the Apostle here is never applyed any where in Scripture to any but only God the Father for this he alledges that of the same Apostle concerning the Gentiles that they worshipped the Creature more than the Creator Rom. 1.25 who is over all blessed for ever But if it be true that Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God was the Creator of all things as it seems to be his instance turns against himself and methinks it follows as well that if the title of God above all blessed for ever belongs only to the supreme God for that he means when he speaks of its belonging only to God the Father then the Son of God to whom it 's given here should be the supreme God for it is no less than Sacrilege and Blasphemy to attribute a title so peculiar to the Sovereign to any one who really and in his own Nature is not the Sovereign God Others of the Socinian Tribe cannot see or take no notice of this peculiar usage of the expression as if it belong'd only to God the Father they acknowledge that Christ as Made God is above all Men and Angels above all Principalities and Powers nay above all things whatsoever only 1 Cor. 15.27 He 's not above him who put all things under him This the Apostle asserts This we own but withal we assert that our Saviour as Man in that body in which he humbled himself to the Death of the Cross for Man is thus exalted above all things and thus as Man he is the head of his Church as God we say not that he 's superiour to his Father but that he is equal to him he is of the same Nature with his Father and therefore is God over all blessed for ever as his Father is Now that He who is thus God over all blessed for ever should condescend to take our Nature upon him was an effect of infinite Love and pity to all mankind that he should condescend to take this humane Nature of any one of the Jewish Nation was the greatest Honour that could possibly be done to that Nation We see how Towns and Countreys strive for the Honour of being the birth-places of great Men and they have been frequently not a little jealous of one another on that account nay Scripture it self makes such a thing a considerable advantage in that of the Prophet concerning the Messias as alledged by the Chief Priests and Scribes to Herod And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah Matt. 2.6 for out of thee shall come a Governour who shall rule my people Israel the present Hebrew reads it tho' thou be little among the thousands of Judah The birth of such a one was enough to make the most inconsiderable place glorious miserable people then were they who had so great an honour confer'd on them and yet at last deny'd him who conferr'd it on them S. Paul gives this advice to the Philippians Phil 2 5-1â— Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of Man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to Death even to the Death of the Cross wherefore God also hath mightily exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father We might refer the matter to any who had no acquaintance with Christianity or with Scripture before and such a Man on reading these words would certainly conclude that he who carries here the name of Christ Jesus was described as every way equal with God the Father whosoever that might be and that we may understand such a conclusion would be just and rational we may look into the occasion of the words The Apostle is perswading the Philippians here to Unity Love and Peace and particularly to a mutual care and sollicitude for the good and happiness of one another urging them not altogether to employ themselves upon their own private or publick inward or outward Interests but to allow some charitable thoughts towards the Salvation of others Gal. 6.2 to snatch them as firebrands out of the fire agreeably to what he elsewhere advises them to i. e. that they should bear one anothers burdens this kind care he urges them to from the example of him in whom they believed and whose servants they profest themselves to be Who tho' eternally and immutably blest in himself yet out of that infinite love he had to perishing mankind was pleased to take humane nature upon him that in that humane nature he might suffer to atone his Father's displeasure against Sin and Sinners and procure everlasting Salvation for as many as should believe on him that to be of this charitable temper would be much to our advantage he proves by this consideration That God the Father was so highly pleas'd with this action of his Son that he raised even that humane nature in which he suffered to the highest glories and sanctified that very name which his Son assumed as Man and as the Messias to be above every name to be admired reverenced adored by all created beings whatsoever which adorations could only be rendered just and reasonable by that intimate and indissâ—luble union between that humane natuâ—◠〈…〉 eternal God-head If God then so exalâ—â—â—â—â—sus Christ on account of his compassion and tenderness for us he likewise will exalt us if we be kind and tender hearted
not at all careful upon this matter He does them frequently too many to be registred but all in his own name He Wills this and He Commands the other thing to be done so the Winds the Waves the various Distempers afflicting Mankind the Devils themselves tremble at and obey his Word the Dead rise at the hearing of his Voice every thing he speaks is powerful and authentick yet no Praying before no making use of his Father's name no more notice taken of him in the operation than as if the Father and the Son had stood in no kind of relation to one another Nay even in the case of Lazarus which if any must carry the face of an exception We see our Saviour praising his Father indeed for his readiness to hear him yet expressing himself so only for their sakes that were by Joh. 11.43 but afterwards speaking to him in the Mandatory stile and only in his own name bidding him come forth Now from this carriage of our Saviour we must either conclude him to have been One with his Father and so whatsoever honour came to himself must also by so doing come to his Father or else we must conclude him a careless ambitious sacrilegious Person one ready to rob God of his Honour to take all opportunities of assuming that to himself which belong'd to God for that 's plain he did because he permitted those on whom he wrought Miracles to offer the same adorations to him which belong'd to the most high God which never any Man tho' never so holy had admitted of before Here then we are reduced to a necessity either of saying with the blaspheming Jews that He had a devil and only by his power wrought all his miracles and that Almighty God either for want of power to hinder him or out of design to have Mankind deluded and abus'd to their own ruine permitted him to do so many wonderful works Or else that the blessed Jesus was really that holy meek just eternal Son of the eternal God that he assumed no more to himself than what really belong'd to him therefore that he had really power in himself and originated from himself to do whatsoever he pleased therefore that he was God the true the most high God That we may be the better assured that his Power was so innate and inherent we may observe that whereas his Apostles after his ascent did many miracles and those of an extraordinary nature so that Aprons and Handkerchiefs brought from the body of S. Paul and the very shadow of S. Peter carried a healing power with them yet there was nothing in all that equal to what hapned to our Saviour upon the Woman's cure of her bloody Issue who had but touched the hem of his garment The Apostles utterly disown'd the working any cures by any power of their own therein they acted modestly and piously but on the contrary our Saviour ascribes the miraculous cure done upon the woman only to Himself he takes notice of his garment and by it of himself being touch'd and that at such a time as a croud of people thronged him and he says not that his Father's power or the hand of God or any thing of that nature was gone out to cure her But says he Luk. 8.46 somebody hath touch'd Me for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me and it 's recorded of him before that the whole multitude sought to touch him Luk. 6.19 for there went virtue out of him and healed them all Now tho' we know well enough that nothing but his humane nature and the accidents attending that were the objects of common sense yet we know withal that meer flesh and blood tho' it be never so pure and innocent has no inherent power by a distant or a mediate touch to cure any distempers or to be sensible of such a cure wrought by any Passion in themselves The Kings and Queens of England have often cured that disease from thence sencelesly named the Kings Evil by a touch the effect is wonderful indeed but we never heard of those Kings or Queens pretending they were sensible of any virtue passing out from them for the cure of the Patient nor have any that have pretended to the sanative faculty yet dream'd of any such thing as a self-originated power in themselves to that purpose the King the Prophet the Physician touches but God only heals this inherent Power then in Christ was derived from that Union betwixt his divine and humane Nature that enabled him in every respect to bear our sins and to carry our infirmities so that from him as from an inexhaustible fountain all the health both of our bodies and souls is derived but such a fountain can nothing but God be therefore He is God We said the Health of Souls is derived from Him as from its fountain or original a meer Man may be an instrument in God's hand to help forward the salvation of a Soul his Prudence Learning Industry Charity may by God's assistance conduce in a great measure to that excellent end but Man of himself can do nothing in the case Our Saviour here makes that just Invitation to Mankind Matt â—1 28 as from himself Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest it 's not come to God or come to my Father but come to Me but it would be intolerable Presumption not to say Blasphemy to use such an invitation if coming to Christ were not an equivalent to coming to God and the Father He that sees me sees my Father says our Lord for I and my Father are one he that comes to me comes to my Father for my Father gives rest to Souls weary and heavy laden with sin and so do I My Father does so not by any adventitious or precarious but by his own inherent and essential Power and so do I. No Apostle no Prophet ever used such language only the Son of God and his blessed Father and the Holy Ghost can say as of himself Come to me I will give you rest And well may He pretend to give rest to the labouring Soul who can authoritatively from himself forgive sins a thing which our Saviour frequently does in the Gospel The mentioning of that action gives us a strange representation of the stubborn senceless obstinacy of the Jewish nation our Saviour when the Man sick of the Palsie was brought to him for cure says to him Matt. 9.2 Son be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee and to Mary Magdalen when at His feet Luk 7.48 thy Sins are forgiven thee We cannot doubt but this was spoken as for the good of the persons to whom they were applyed so for the good of those who stood by for these things were not spoken in a corner Now the Pharisees stumbled upon a question proper enough on the occasion v. 49. who is this that forgiveth sins also So the Scribes on
be the power of God a virtue flowing out of or from the Supreme Deity under this Notion we may rationally assert that this Holy Spirit can be commanded no way but by the Supreme God himself none else can promise it none can give it for if the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets much more certainly must the Spirit of God be subject to him it subsisting wholly in him and being according to our Adversaries one of those qualifications necessarily in the Supreme God Granting all this if our Saviour was a meer man as they say he could not possibly command this Sacred Spirit this Spirit so much superiour to mankind tho' considered as no more than a meer Appendage to the Almighty Yet our Saviour seems to employ this Spirit as he will that 's no wonder if the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost tho' three persons be all one God That exact concurrence in their eternal wills taking away all difficulties Thus when the Lord met with his Disciples and shew'd them the necessity of things happening with relation to himself as they did then He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Luk. 24.45 this opening their understandings did not consist barely in explaining some particular Texts to them they were yet but very dull and slow of understanding in themselves and tho' they had heard a thousand Texts authentically explain'd they might have continued very inapprehensive still Nor is it an usual manner of speech to say when a man explains any Author to others that he opens their understandings he may open the meaning of such or such Books or Passages very well yet those who hear him may not improve in their intellectuals this opening their understandings therefore argued some force upon their minds some extraordinary Energy of the Spirit within them whereby their natural and inveterate Dulness went off and they had more of spriteliness and vigour in their Souls than formerly they seem'd as Slaves with their fetters knockt off nimble and active and therefore more capable of apprehending any thing offered to them than formerly This was the first beginning to fit them for that great work they were in a few days to engage in it was to make them capable of satisfying themselves gradually in the Truth and Reason of those things which they were afterwards to preach to the world abroad and which they were compleatly fitted for by the following extraordinary effusions of that Holy Spirit upon them The first operations of it upon them then were gentle and easie but it was the operation of that Sacred Spirit only and of that Spirit as ordered by the blessed Jesus by which their understandings were thus opened We may agree to this the more easily if we consider that Promise Christ makes to his Disciples after this Behold I send the promise of my father upon you Luk 24.49 but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem untill you be endued with power from on high The Father promises it but I send it Now this uses not to be a task for a man to make good the Promises of God it 's out of his power especially if the Promise be to be made good in some particular wherein God has a more peculiar interest Is my Spirit my breath none then can give it to another tho' my Spirit be not originally my own but breathed into me by an Almighty Creator Is the Holy Ghost the Breath the Spirit the Influence of God none then can dispose of it from him and the rather because it is originated in him and must be one with him it was then a strange presumption in our Lord to take upon him the making good Gods Promises to others since if he were no more than a Man He promised what was not in his power and pretended to make up some defects in his veracity who was the God of Truth and Truth it self But our Saviour went farther yet for making a visit once to his Disciples after his Resurrection His Blessing being bestowed he gives them a Commission of an extraordinary nature As my Father hath sent me even so send I you i. e. Job 20.21 As my Father sent me to reform the World so I send you to caâ—ry on that same work and as my Father's mission of me gave me a sufficient authority to do those things necessary to so great an end so my sending you gives you as great and unquestionable authority in proportion to those things which are laid on you this intimates that Christ had power to send men to govern and manage his Church as his Father had and in the same degree for if our Saviour was only his Father's Ambassador to them and so inferiour to him that sent him this had been an extravagant vanity it was never heard that an Ambassador from a King or Emperor pretended to send another Envoy from himself with such kind of expressions as these As my master the King has sent me so send I you nor are Princes wont to entrust their Agents with any such Power and the Credentials of such sub-ambassadors would appear very ridiculous to all those to whom they should be sent But from this Commission our Lord proceeds And when he had said this He breathed on them and said unto them ver 22. Receive ye the Holy Ghost Spiritus Sanctus est virtus seu efficacia à Deo in homines manans iisque communicata quâ eos ab aliis segregat suis usibus consecrat say the Socinians in the Racovian Catechism The Holy Spirit is a virtue or efficacy flowing from God upon men from the True the Supreme God they mean and communicated to them by which he separates such men from others and consecratâ— them to his own use If it be the efficacy or Power of the Supreme God how comes one whom they suppose to be a meer Man to confer it with his breath It was given afterwards by the laying on of the Apostles hands they gave it not by any virtue inherent in them but where they laid on their hands God sent it and that in different manners and proportions as he judged fit for the Receivers whose fitness the Apostles knew nothing of Our Saviour bestows it with his breath It must therefore be his own therefore he must be the Supreme God for in this action our Saviour did not mock his Disciples as Schlicktingius confesses CaetechismeÌ„ Rac. sect 6. c. 6. but he did certainly separate them by this action from the rest of the world and consecrated them peculiarly to his own service and this at the appointed time they engaged in according to his orders In the forementioned Catechism when they ask what the gift of the Holy Spirit is the answer is Est ejusmodi Dei afflatus quo animi nostri vel uberiore rerum divinarum notitiâ vel spe vitae eternae certiore atque adeo gaudio ac gustu quodam
thing of that glory belonging to the supreme God to himself Yet if he were a meer Man we find him strangely guilty in this point for as before his Passion he requires of his Disciples that they should believe in him as after his Passion he joyns himself with the Father and with the Holy Ghost in the institution of Baptism without any difference at all so after his Ascension into heaven he seems to take all care possible to confirm such an opinion in his Apostles and followers as according to which they must treat him as the Supreme God for when our Saviour bids his Disciples have Faith in God Mat. 11.22 doubtless he would not lay that injunction upon them if Faith so placed had not a sanctifying power for such Faith is sufficient to make men Holy and acceptable in the sight of that God with whom they have to do But when the same Jesus appears to S. Paul in his journey to Damascus he tells him He had appear'd to make him a Minister and Witness of what he had seen Acts 26.16 17 18. Delivering him from the people and from the Gentiles to whom he designed to send him that he might open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which were sanctified by Faith which was in Him Here then besides Christ's assuming to himself a sovereign and universal power of delivering his servants from all dangers of Commissioning them for the most weighty Work in the World of enabling them to open the Eyes of those that heard them and to turn them from darkness to light all which are the effects of a power truely Divine only He in plain terms asserts that that Faith which is in him sanctifies those that have it exclusively of all other Faith whatsoever for by his words it appears that forgiveness of sins and an everlasting inheritance are only attainable by that Faith and again the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews reckons Faith in God Heb. 6.1 among the fundamentals of our Religion these things laid together will oblige us to conclude either that there are two kinds of justifying Faith or such as may render men holy and acceptable in the sight of God or else which is true that Faith in the most high God and in Jesus Christ is one and the same thing fixt upon one and the same inseparable Object and so saving and sanctifying to all them that have it and S. Paul in the fore-cited Chapter of the Acts having shew'd what help Christ promised him in prosecution of his discourse declares he received his help from God whereby he was enabled to bear that witness Christ had assured him He would help him in therefore God and Christ were all One or the Son of God and his Father were one Supreme God That there was this Identity of nature between the Son of God and his Father will appear farther from that account S. Peter gives to the People of the Cure wrought upon the poor Criple at the beautiful gate of the Temple where reproving them and telling them they had killed the Prince of life a very strange title by the way to be given to a meer Man and such as can be parallel'd in no Author Sacred or Profane He adds And his Name Acts 3.15 16. through Faith in his Name has made this Man strong whom ye see and know yea the Faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all here again the Name of Christ and Faith in his Name are both set in the highest rank and whatsoever was before profest to be done in the Name of the True God was now done in the Name of Christ Moses and the Prophets appeal'd still in all things to the name of the most high God and I doubt if Gehazi when he laid his staff upon the Shunamite's child's face had commanded it in the name of his Master to arise or if his Master afterwards had done as much in his own name they would both have lost their labours the case was otherwise here S. Peter's word to the Criple was ver 6. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk the Cure was immediately effected the people wondered They assert the glory of the Miracle only to the Name of Christ Acts 4.9 â—â— and they repeat their assertion to the High Priest and the rest of the Members of the Jewish Council Had not the name of Christ been powerful enough to effect the greatest miracles it had been a foolish presumption in them to have appeal'd to it the Priests of Baal would not have appear'd more silly in their violent addresses to their paltry Idol nor the Sons of Sceva in calling over those possest with evil Spirits the name of Jesus whom Paul preached Had their invocation fail'd it would have exposed all that Religion they pretended to advance to the common scorn and contempt of all mankind but that Sacred Name prevail'd those Miracles which had formerly been perform'd in the name of the most high God were now perform'd in the name of the Son of God God did not and could not give his glory to another for he had before declared he would not therefore that Jesus the Son of God in whose name this astonishing Cure was wrought was really the most high God It may perhaps be objected that All power was given to Christ after his Resurrection by virtue of which he could give his own name that virtue and authority by which such mighty Miracles as these might be performed We answer to this it 's true our Lord did tell his Apostles that all Power was given to him in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 and He told them so after his Resurrection but it does not therefore follow that he was not possest of such an universal power before his body was rais'd from the grave he adds no word intimating that this power was now invested in him and not sooner for He might very well forbear to inform his Disciples of it till he came to his state of exaltation commencing from his being raised from the dead But allowing what such Objectors would have that there was no such Power given him or that He never had such Power till his Resurrection They and All know the Philosophical Axiome is of universal truth Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis Whatsoever is received is received according to the capacity of the receiver and Volkelius tells us in plain terms De verâ Relig. l. 3. c. 20. p 106. that after his Resurrection the body of Christ was of mortal nature and no otherwise partaker of immortality than by the will of his Father Now if this be true tho' God Almighty be able of and from himself to give an universal Power as having it inherent
〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 144. A. of him was Jesus Christ so far as concerned his flesh of him were the Kings Princes and Leaders of Judah where it 's observable that nameing our Saviour He says of him that He was of Jacob according to the flesh by a particular phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to or so for as concerned in the flesh but of the Princes and Levites deduction from that Patriarch he speaks only in the common way now this particular way of expressing himself in relation to Christ must have been very impertinent had it not been designed to shew the difference there was between the manner of Christ's Descent and Theirs for never was such a thing said of any meer Man by any Writer in the world that He was born of such and such Parents according to the flesh as it would look ridiculously to say David was the Son of Jesse according to the flesh the very phrase intimates some different origination according to some other nature Rom. 1.3 4 whatever it be and the Apostle uses the same expression in the same distinguishing sence So elsewhere S. Clement calls our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word used by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews and by us translated Heb. 1.3 the brightness of God's glory properly enough or it might be render'd a beam from the body of his glory from which expressions the Antients generally collected that Christ must be co-eternal with his Father so S. Chrysostome tells us the Son is call'd the brightness of the glory of his Father as always existing in the Father as brightness always is in Light for the light cannot be without brightness nor brightness without light so the Son cannot be without the Father nor the Father without the Son for he is begotten of his Essence before all time and is always with him to the same purpose but more largely speak Theodoret Gregory Nyssen Theophylact c. and S. Clement to shew his meaning to be the same with that of the Author to the Hebrews proceeds in a large citation out of that Chapter from whence we have before evidently prov'd the eternal Divinity of the Son of God Besides this unquestionable Epistle of Clement which we have almost entire there 's a Fragment of another written by the same excellent person to the same Corinthians not so generally own'd indeed but of very great antiquity being taken notice of by S. Hierome and before him by Eusebius Conc. T. 1. p. 181. the very first words of which give us a full proof of the doctrine we now assert Brethren says the Writer We ought to think concerning Jesus Christ as concerning God as concerning the Judge both of the quick and the dead If we must think of Christ as of God we must think and believe that he is God for so we think always of the Supreme Being But these passages are sufficient from an Author of so great antiquity From him we shall proceed to the next Greek Father Blessed Ignatius Bishop of Antioch One who had seen Christ himself in the flesh who is reported by some to have been that Child whom our Saviour took in his arms Mark 9.36 who conversed frequently with the Apostles He left several Epistles behind him to several Churches full of excellent advices and truly savouring of an Apostolical Spirit and temper In Him we meet with many evidences of his belief that Jesus Christ the Son of God was the real the True God So in the very first words of his first Epistle to the Church of Smyrna He begins Epist ad Smyrn Edit Voss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I glorifie Jesus Christ who is God he is with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the God with an article the want of which the Socinians so frequently cavil at in Scripture that Article is certainly exclusive of all other Gods The Son he is the only True God the Father is the same True God not two Gods but two persons and one God or one Deity this is a plain passage and needs no descant upon it In the conclusion of his Letter to Polycarp then Bishop of the Church of Smyrna the same who is called the Angel of the Church of Smyrna by S. John in the Revelations who dyed afterwards a Martyr for the truth he gives Polycarp this salutation I pray that Grace may be always with thee in Jesus Christ our God Ad Polyc. he neither prefixes nor subjoyns any thing to the words that might allay the sence or make it ambiguous it is an entire sentence and as clearly owns that He thought Jesus Christ was God and that he wrote to another who had the same Faith in that respect with himself So that the real Deity of the Son of God was no strange Doctrine in those days In the Inscription of his next Epistle to the Ephesians He stiles that Church predestinated from the beginning Ad Ephes or before all worlds to everlasting glory according to the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God where he plainly makes the Father and Jesus Christ one God to which blessed Jesus he ascribes the same character of an absolute Deity with his Father So again in the beginning of the Epistle it self he tells the Ephesians they bore an honourable reputation and justly gained by their Faith and Love in Jesus Christ our Saviour being imitators of God and re-enflamed or revived by the blood of God An expression like that of S. Paul to the Elders of the same Church when he tells them God had made them overseers of that Church Act. 20.28 which he had purchased with his own blood Now we cannot with any propriety of speech call any blood the blood of God unless it be really his and it cannot be his as he is God therefore he must have assumed some such nature as wherein his blood might be shed which might and did come to pass by his taking our nature but our Nature being substantially united to that which was before eternal and Divine and so God and Man being but one Christ when Christ as Man shed his most precious blood for our sakes that blood was properly and truely called the blood of God or God's own blood But we meet with yet plainer evidence in the same Epistle so I take those words of his to belong to Christ Nothing lies hid from the Lord that is the common title of our Saviour in all Apostolical writings but even our most secret things are near to him Let us then do all things as if He lived in us that we may be his Temples and He may be God in us which also he is and will appear before our faces for which reasons we justly love him I the more readily apply this which argues Omniscience to Christ and is no more than what Scripture openly ascribes to him as I have formerly shew'd because soon
after he earnestly asks that Question Wherefore then are not we all wise embracing the knowledge of God which God is Jesus Christ and presently after asking the Apostle's question Where is the wise Man where is the disputer where is the glorying of those who were reputed men of Vnderstanding He subjoyns For our God Jesus the Christ was conceived of Mary according to divine order of the seed or line of David by the Holy Ghost I durst now appeal to all Mankind whether they would not conclude that whosoever should speak of any Being whatsoever at this rate would not be thought to account the Person he spoke of in such broad terms Real God and whether a good rational Deist would not conclude that if He so spoken of were no more than a meer Creature He who should so speak of him ought not to pass at least for a Borderer upon Idolatry For it 's rationally expected that in such weighty matters Mens Words should be the proper interpretation of their Thoughts and not pester'd with dubious or uncertain or unintelligible phrases In the same Epistle he calls our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God appearing humanely or in the same manner as men do clothed with flesh and blood and endued with a rational soul which is but another way of expressing the Text God was manifest in the flesh Would you then have his pre-existence as God before he was conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin our Ignatius asserts that too in his Epistle to the Magnesians Ad Magnes p. 33 34. viz. That He was with his Father before all time and in the end or in the fulness of time at last he appear'd and afterwards There is one God who manifested himself by his Son Jesus Christ who is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his eternal word agreeably to S. John in the beginning of his Gospel Again in his Epistle to the Trallians and twice in the Inscription of his Epistle to the Romans He gives the title of God to our Saviour nay of our God and toward the end of that Epistle He begs of the Romans that they would not go about to hinder his Martyrdom then at hand no Permit me says he earnestly to be an imitator of the sufferings of Christ my God and again Ad Romanos p. 60. he calls him My God twice over in the subsequent two or three lines The Prophets frequently reflect upon it as Idolatry to say to an Image thou art my God and I am not yet convinced by any Socinian argument that it is not Idolatry to say the same to any created Being whatsoever At best the Apostles themselves and those eminent Apostolical men if our Lord be no more by nature than a meer man must needs be condemned of extreme imprudence and uncharitableness who when they might as well have express'd their minds otherwise would yet make choice of such words as were â—nly apt to deceive and impose upon Men â—o give them false notions of God and Jesus Christ and either make them Idolaters at â—â—st or at least very near borderers upon it Words that are figurative may be easily misunderstood by very good Men in ordinary cases as we see his Companions concluded S. John should never die only from our Saviour's words to S. Peter If I will that He tarry till I come what is that to thee How much more dangerous then must such Words be especially when continually used in matters of the greatest weight It were easie to give more of the same nature from Ignatius his Epistles if we 'd meddle with those spurious or interpolated but we need no such precarious assistances The next of the Fathers of the Greek Church in order of time is Justine commonly stiled the Martyr because he dy'd such for his obedience to the Faith of Christ He liv'd about one hundred and forty years after the birth of our Saviour I shall not go about to prove the Divinity of our Saviour out of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Exposition of Faith printed as his among his Works tho' it would afford us a great deal because the credit of it is doubtful and learned men think they have reason to believe our Justine was not the Author of it I shall therefore only examine what 's of unquestionable authority in him In his Apology for the Christians presented to the Roman Senate Apolog. 1. p. 44. l. D. among other things he tells them The names of Father and God and Creator and Lord and Master are not the proper names of God but names derived from his Works and those favours he has extended towards Men but his Son who alone is properly called his Son the Word who was with him and begotten of him before all creatures because in the beginning God created and adorned all things by him was called Christ he being anointed and God beautifying every thing by him here then we have what the Evangelist had taught us before literally understood and confirmed That the Word was in the beginning with God and that by him all things were made the holy Martyr thought of no figure or ambiguity in the discourse The same Martyr in his second Apology for the Christians presented to Antoninus Pius the Roman Emperour in asserting the Justice and Reason of that Faith in Christ which He and his Christian brethren profest lays down a clear proof of Christ's being God and consequently of the reasonableness of their service to him in giving an account of that burning Bush which Moses saw and out of which he heard a voice for at that time when Moses as he was feeding his Father-in-law's sheep was ordered to go into Egypt and to bring out from thence the people of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Christ spoke to him out of the bush under the resemblance of fire and bids him loose his shooes off his feet and attend him and receiving abundance of strength and courage from that Christ with whom he discours'd He went down and glorious and terrible with a thousand miracles led that people from their bondage Apolog. 2. p. â—5 l. B. The Jews themselves confess says he that it was that God whose name was unknown or unutterable who then discoursed with Moses but the Martyr himself says it was our Christ therefore if the Martyr's opinion were true Our Christ is the Lord Jehovah the most high God The Martyr urges his argument yet farther with reflections upon the Jewish incredulity That Angel which spoke to Moses out of the burning bush said to him I am that God the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob the God of thy Fathers Go down therefore into Egypt and lead forth my people A Socinian himself will own that that Name was never due to any but to the most high God tho' they fly to figures there too We urge this says the Father only that we may prove that that Jesus Christ in
That our Lord is called Immanuel by the Prophet as cited by S. Matthew or God with us that we might not think he was Man only but that we might know he was God too If then Christ was God as well as Man his Divine Nature being mentioned in contradistinction to his humane Nature Irenaeus cannot mean that He who was really a Man was only metaphorically God but that he was as really and essentially God as He was Man which is what we believe With Irenaeus agrees Clemens of Alexandria who thus teaches the Gentiles in his Admonition to them We are the rational Creatures of God the Word so he calls our Saviour after the Evangelist S. John Admon ad Gent. p. 5. l. D. by whom we pretend to Antiquity because God the Word was in the beginning but because the Word was from above He was and is the divine original of all things but since He has now taken upon him the name of Christ a name suitable to his power and which was sanctified of old I call him a new song This refers to his former Allegorical discourse wherein he endeavours to describe every thing under terms proper to Harmony or Musick This Word then this Christ who was at first in God was both the cause of our original existence and of our well-being But now this Word himself has made himself manifest to men who alone is both God and Man the cause of all our good by whom we being taught to live well are sent from hence to eternal life for according to that inspired Apostle of our Lord the Grace of God hath appear'd to all men teaching them that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live godly righteously and soberly in this present world looking for the glorious coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This is the new song that manifestation of God the Word who was in the beginning and before all things and now shines brightly out to us He appear'd but lately who was our Saviour before He who is appear'd in him who is because the Word was with God and that Word by which all things were made makes his appearance as a Master that Word which as a Creator gave us life in our first formation appearing now as a Master or Teacher has taught us to live well that hereafter as God he may bestow upon us eternal life Thus far that very learned Father and his whole discourse does so plainly teach us the Pre-existence of our Saviour before his Conception in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and consequently his Divine Nature in his eternal being with the Father that the most ignorant person in the World may plainly understand what the Faith of this Writer was Thus afterwards speaking of John Baptist the forerunner of our Saviour he tells them John taught men to be prepared for the presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God the Christ Afterwards speaking of that care our Saviour took to have the Gospel preached he adds The Lord did not effect so great work in so short a time without a sacred care He was despised in appearance but adored indeed being a Purifyer a Saviour and extremely kind The Divine Word being really most manifest God and put into an equal rank with the Lord of all things for as much as he was his Son and the Word was in God Ibid. p. 68. l. D. he was neither disbelieved when he was first preached nor was he unknown or unacknowledged when assuming the presence of a Man and being made flesh he managed the saving design of his assumed Humanity Again speaking to those who are blind with sin and folly under the person of Tiresias that blind Thebane Wizzard and inviting such to believe in Christ he speaks thus If thou wilt thou too shalt be initiated into these Mysteries and join in the Choir of blessed Angels about the unbegotten the never to be destroyed the only true God God the Word assisting in the same Hymn with us He is eternal the only Jesus or Saviour the great High-priest of God who is the Father p. 70. L D. he intercedes for Men and he perswades them to goodness I shall instance but in one passage more in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where having cited that of the Psalmist Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place c. at large He thus descants upon it The Prophet says He in my opinion here briefly describes the true Gnostick or the man of true knowledge to us and by the bye David shews us that our Saviour is God for he calls him the face of the God of Jacob who brought us glad tidings and taught us of or concerning the Spirit therefore the Apostle calls the Son the Character of the glory of God Him who taught the truth concerning God and who represented to us that God and the Father was one only and Almighty whom none could know but the Son Stromat l. 7. p. 733. C. and He to whom the Son shall reveal him That God is but one appears by those who seek the face of the God of Jacob whom our God and our Saviour characterises as the only God and father of Good Here then we have the Father true and real God the Son true and real God and yet but one God and this is that Faith which we preach To Clemens I shall only add his Scholar Origen for the Greek Church a man of extraordinary eminence in his time who in his third Book against Celsus that great adversary of the Christian Religion reflecting upon the vanity of Heathen Gods and their incapacity to help those that depend on them he tells Celsus that upon this very reason because there is no help in false gods it 's a sure Rule among Christians that no man should trust in any being as God except only in Jesus Christ and a little after whereas Celsus objects against us so often that we believe Jesus consisting of a mortal body to be God and imagine our selves very pious in so thinking he answers Let those who accuse us know that He whom we know and believe to be God of old and to be the Son of God he is of himself the Word the Wisdom and the Truth and that even that mortal body and reasonable Soul which he assumed by its Communication and Unity and Mixture with the Word or with his divine nature arose to so great a height as to be God i.e. his humane and his divine nature make by a substantial or essential union one God and that I give no false interpretation to his words here will appear by what I shall allege afterwards It 's all along the humour of Celsus then when he speaks in the Person of a Jew and when he speaks in his own Name and Person to reproach the Christians with the irrationality of their Religion on that particular account that they owned Christ as
afterwards might raise them to see himself indeed and what He was before He was made flesh The passages are enow and plain enough to shew us what Origen thought true Doctrine concerning the Son of God our Saviour Upon the whole what a silly and impertinent adversary was Celsus throughout a large discourse written only to expose Christianity to contempt and hatred to make a continual noise about the impossibility of our Saviour's being God and what a shallow and ignorant advocate was Origen for Christianity to write so many books principally to prove the Faith of Christians rational in this point when in the mean time if we may believe our Socinian Adversaries the Christians in those early ages believed no such thing nor ever dream'd of Christ's being any more than a meer Man Men who intend to do any service to the cause they undertake or to procure themselves any reputation by their writings use to consider what and who it is they write for or against but it 's meer childs play for a Man to set himself up a thing of clouts that he may throw stones at it to knock it down while another takes as much pains to keep it standing Certainly Celsus knew better what he oppos'd and was sufficiently convinced that the Christians did really believe Christ was God We saw before that the Author of the Dialogue called Philopatris among Lucian's understood the Christians so and Pliny who liv'd before either of our Disputants who had by his office of Proconsul great opportunities of knowing what tenets the Christians maintain'd who had often examined them with tortures and punish'd them with Death it self for their supposed obstinacy in their errors He too understood the Christians in the same manner and therefore in that account he gives the Emperor Trajane of them among other things he takes notice of their Coetus antelucani their meetings before day-break which they were forc'd to for the better securing themselves from the Pagan furies in which meetings among the rest of their religious rites they did Carmen Christo ut Deo canere They presented their Prayers or sung Hymns to Christ as God but this Heathens themselves would have accounted a bold mocking heaven had not they believed he was God indeed whom they so worshipped as God from which Gerrhard Vossius in his Commentary on that Epistle of Pliny as also Rittershusius conclude Vià ad Calcem Epistolarum Plinianarum Edit Hackianae That tho' the Heathen world looked upon our Lord as a Sophister only and a cheat yet the Christians always acknowledged him to be God Vossius tells us the very name of Hymns intimates that they belonged to God for so he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a hymn is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Psalm to God and never used otherwise except once or twice in poetical writings and refers us to Eusebius who from a nameless Author Historiae Eccles l. 5. c. 27. but about the Age wherein Irenaeus liv'd takes notice of many Psalms and Hymns composed from the beginning by Faithful Brethren who in those compositions declared Christ the Word of God to be God Thus the Writings of Heathens themselves and of such who have been the greatest enemies of Christianity have been by Divine Providence preserved to give unanswerable evidence to those truths which some false pretenders to Christianity have endeavoured to explode and to satisfie us of our consent with those antient Saints and Martyrs in the most weighty particulars of our Holy Religion We have now done with the Greek we come next to the Latin Fathers And here we must in the first place take notice of Tertullian a Man of vast abilities and most acute in his reasonings and whom Schlichtingius esteems almost the Parent of our Doctrine concerning the Trinity he 's the eldest Writer we have in the Latin Language and very plain in the case before us Tertullian then in his book de Patientiâ Tertul. de Pat. Edit Par. 1545. p. 3. for an example of Patience recommends to us our dear Redeemer Nasci se Deus in utero patitur matris c. God suffers himself to be born in the womb of his Mother and waits for his birth Being born He endures gradually to grow up being grown up He 's not ambitious to be taken notice of but even debases himself and is baptised by his own servant and repels the Tempters assaults only with his Word So He who had resolved to clothe himself with flesh had yet nothing of Humane impatience about him Here we see he calls our Saviour God positively and makes a great use of that notion of his being so Thus again in his book de Carne Christi written against Marcion who was so far from denying Christ to be God that he fell into a contrary error and would believe he was nothing else but God that the Flesh he assumed was a meer Phantasme a Body in appearance but nothing at all in reality and so all the actions he did all the sufferings he underwent were only seeming actions and seeming sufferings and no more and a principal reason he pitched upon for his opinion was this He thought the Birth or nativity of God was an impossibility but why should Marcion pitch upon this fancy if he had not known that all the professors of Christianity took Christ to be God Or why should any trouble themselves to reconcile God's being clothed with flesh to a possibility when the best method to have confuted Marcion as before we observ'd in the case of Origen would have been to have prov'd that our Saviour was so far from having only the outward appearance of a Man that he was really a meer Man and nothing else But says Tertullian to this Sed Deo nihil est impossibile nisi quod non vult De Carne Christi p. 8. c. But nothing is impossible to God but what 's disagreeable to his Will Let us consider then if it were his Will to be born for if he would he certainly could be so In short if God would not have been born neither would he have appeared as a Man on any account for who would not have thought him born into the World had they seen him in the form of a Man Therefore if he would not be a Man he would not seem so for it signified nothing to those that saw him whether He really was a Man or not since by seeing him they concluded he was so But whereas Marcion objected He denyed God could be converted into Man so as to be born and to be incorporated with flesh because He that is Eternal must also necessarily be Vnchangeable Tertullian makes this a peculiarity of the Divine nature which sets it higher than any thing created that whereas created Beings upon a change lose their former nature God does not so but is God still tho' he be clothed with flesh and argues that if Angels of old could assume real
their eyes What mortal Creature could have seen or discover'd him if he had come down to earth in his own original Nature or such as he is in his Divinity Therefore he took upon him the form of a Man that he might be seen and look'd upon that he might speak and teach and perform all those things for which he was sent into the World And whereas He dyed as a Man p. 37. it 's true his Humane Body was fastned upon the Cross but his Divine Nature was incapable of suffering his Body only suffer'd and that for the Salvation of those very Wretches by whose cruelty he suffer'd The same Author reflecting upon the curiosity of the Heathens because they would not believe what they did not understand asks them a great many questions about the Originals or natural causes of several things in the World which puzled them in those and confound us their posterity in these days He wonders then that they should deride Christians because they cannot explain all the Mysteries of their Religion and own their inabilities in the case when They were so much to seek in those ordinary cases Our concerns are mysteries indeed Et ideo Christus licet nobis invitis Deus Deus inquam Christus hoc enim saepe dicendum est ut infidelium dissiliat dirumpatur auditus c. Therefore Christ who is God in spite of all your opposition that Christ I say who is God for that must be repeated often to scourge the ears of Infidels speaking by God's command in the form of a Man Adv. gent. l. 2. p. 85. knowing the blindness of humane understandings and the weakness of our apprehensions forbad us to be curious or inquisitive into matters so far removed only ordering us to direct our thoughts and souls to him who is the original of all these things What advice Arnobius gives his Pagans in pursuance of this discourse would be very proper for our Socinians among whom a modest opinion of their own Natural strength and an humble supposition of God's superior Wisdom would cure that Incredulity they are at present guilty of Arnobius soon after lays down this Truth That none can save Souls but an Almighty God nor is there any who can give them long life or perpetuity but only He who is himself immortal and perpetual and uncircumscribed by any boundaries of time Yet this work of saving souls he ascribes to the Son of God Adv. Gen. l. 2. p. 87. therefore according to his sentiments the Son of God is that immortal all powerful and unbounded God To all these evidences I shall only add one of Lactantius the Scholar of the forecited Arnobius who endeavouring to reconcile the worship which the Christians paid to the Father and the Son to those adorations which they acknowledg'd only to belong to one God writes thus Instit l. 4. c. 29. p. 445. Ed. Hack. Where we say the Father is God and the Son is God we do not say they are different Gods nor do we separate them one from another for neither can the Father be divided from the Son nor the Son from the Father for the Father in a relative sence cannot be named without the Son nor the Son be begotten without the Father Since then the Father makes the Son relatively and the Son the Father they have both one Mind one Spirit one substance only the Father is as an exuberant Spring the Son as a stream flowing from it the Father is as the Sun in the firmament the Son as the rays beaming from that Sun who because he is dear and faithful to his Father can no more be separated from him than the stream from the Spring or beams from the body of the Sun for the water of the fountain is in the stream and the light of the Sun in those rays which issue from it And this is plain and pertinent enough And thus have I gone thro' the Writings of those first Fathers who are of the greatest Name and Reputation for their learning and piety in the Churches of God I have examin'd on this account only such Men as lived before the Arrian controversie was on foot so that they cannot be suspected of partiality in the case and either we must believe these Men knew very well what was the General Belief of Christians in those earliest ages or they did not if they did not understand what the Catholick Faith really was we are all strangely in the dark and the Socinians are no more capable of giving an account of the Faith of the primo-primitive Church in contradiction to what we now assert than we are in agreeance to it nay there lye all the presumptions in the World against them in the point for all the Writers extant afterwards with an almost Vniversal consent are directly against them So that unless the true Christian Faith were entirely lost about the time of the great Nicene Council the Socinians must of necessity acknowledge that the Christian Church generally believ'd that Christ was true and real God Nor can they secure themselves even among the several Heretical Clans of those ages for though they own Artemon and Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus and Arrius and Aëtius c. for great and very Orthodox Men and the sole Pillars of truth in those times yet neither did Artemon agree with Paulus nor Paulus with Photinus nor Photinus with Arrius or he with Aëtius and the same Writers call our Socinians sometimes by the name of Samosatenians sometimes of Photinians sometimes of Arrians and Semi-Arrians yet really they agree exactly with none of them as might easily be prov'd by comparing their opinions together Now if Artemon and Paulus and Photinus and the rest were such very great Men in all respects and such careful preservers of the true Apostolical Faith in those things wherein they agree with the Socinian sentiments why should not we believe they used as exact a care and were as certainly in the right in those particulars wherein they differ'd from them for doubtless such Good Men would not admit of any Errors in any points of weighty and important concern Those Men certainly must presume very much upon their own infallibility who tho' they are at odds among themselves will admit of none to be in the right but such who and where they agree with them in the most singular and paradoxical opinions But if on the other side we admit that these Fathers I have quoted on this occasion had real opportunities of knowing the General Sentiments of the Christian Church in their days and that they really did know them the result of that acknowledgment will be this either they were honest and faithful deliverers of the same Catholick Faith down to us or they were not if they were not honest and faithful in delivering down the true Faith in their Writings then holy and zealous Martyrs and devout Confessors must have proved themselves a pack of impudent
cheats and notorious villans in that they have left us such accounts of that Faith whereby Salvation must be attain'd as can only serve to cheat and abuse their Readers and lead them into unreasonable and damnable Errors They only laid so many snares in their unhappy Writings for the ruining mens Souls and their wicked designs have had but too too fatal effects upon the World Now all this is very hard to believe of Men who converst with the inspired Apostles some of whom had that glorious power of working Miracles confer'd upon them some laid down their Lives with the greatest joys and triumphs for the sake of their blessed Master and the rest were ready to have done so whensoever Providence should have summoned them to that fiery tryal It 's hard to believe that such Men could be betrayers or corrupters of the Faith in its most Essential Articles If these Fathers were honest and faithful in their Writings and set down there only what were their real thoughts as became honest and good Men if they defended Christianity against its subtle and powerful enemies with a just Industry and Integrity then in what I have alledged from them we have a faithful and honest account of what the Antient Church believed concerning the Nature of the Son of God and we have reason to satisfie our selves and to give praise to God who has still afforded us so much light as that we can agree with the Eldest and most Apostolical Churches in that saving truth That the Son of God who in fulness of time took upon him our flesh is really God equal with his Father If any should enquire Why I only make use of those Fathers who lived before the Nicene Council The reason is because they are less to be suspected by those we have to do with as having no interest in those Controversies which were afterwards managed by particular Persons with a great deal of heat and eagerness Besides the Socinians are sometimes apt to boast that the most antient Fathers are on their side whereas they 'l freely own the Principal Writers afterwards are against them not but that several did undertake the Patronage of the Arrians and their accomplices after the Council of Nice but their Writings are gone and they ly there at the mercy of their Adversaries Not only the Socinians themselves are apt sometimes to Appeal to the Ante-Nicene Fathers but several Great Men such as Erasmus Grotius Petavius and others are apt to yield this to them therefore it was proper in the first place to give a true account of the first Writers whose Doctrines others afterwards did but repeat and illustrate Our Church principally recommends to us the Doctrine that 's nearest to the fountain head that agreeing best with the fountain it self from which it is derived that is the Word of God Now the Socinians sometimes would fain put in for an Interest with these Antient Writers Vid. Epist intermutuas Ruari Zwickeri in Ruari Epist centuriá primâ and Zwicker particularly in his Irenicum Irenicor tho' he was very far himself from agreeing with his brethren in all particulars Yet upon better consideration they are loth to depend upon that authority of the Fathers knowing too well that they must be cast by their verdict Therefore their great Patriarch Socinus himself in his answer to Vujekus the Polonian Jesuit who had written a book on purpose to prove the Divinity of Christ where Vujekus presses him with the Authority of the Fathers answers thus That the perpetual and universal consent of the whole World is of the less weight against Divine Testimonies tho' obscure when those things which are the subjects of that consent evidently oppose reason and common sence But here we may say That truth can never be so entirely lost that the whole World should always desert it but where Scripture-expressions are obscure the perpetual consent of the whole World about their sence would be incomparably the best interpretation of those obscurities and it 's very hard to believe that the whole World should perpetually agree in what 's against reason and common sence A great number have embraced the Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation but we know that neither All nor the greatest part of the World embraced it nor was it held perpetually by any and tho' we may allow Socinus to have been a man of great Reason yet we may allow those who held the contrary Opinion to His to have been as Rational as himself and perhaps on a strict scrutiny it may appear contradictious to reason and common sence to assert that our blessed Saviour was no more than a meer Man But in short Socinus never troubles himself to deny those Authorities the Jesuite had ramassed from the Fathers nor to answer them but makes use of one Herculean Argument against them all for first he tells us It can't be said the whole doctrine or the greatest part of the doctrine of the antient Church was opposite to the Socinians or agreeable to the Doctrine of their Adversaries for there were many whose Writings are now wholly lost whose opinions therefore we cannot judge of and many there were who never wrote any thing at all and they might be of a contrary mind to those whose Writings we still have and they were infinitely more numerous That the Arrian Heresie was once spread far and wide favoured by Princes confirmed by Councils and almost generally entertained tho' afterwards by degrees it vanish'd therefore says He our Adversaries need not boast of that universal and perpetual consent of the Church whether it were real or verbal for which was the true Church and where it was was for several ages disputable Itaque haec Authoritatum testimoniorum ex Patribus Conciliis congeries nullas vires habet praesertim vero adversum nos qui ab istis Patribus Conciliis quae extant nos dissentire non dissitemur Socinus contra Vujekum ad classem argum 7 c. 9. p. 618. Therefore this heap of Authorities from Fathers and Councils is of no force especially against us who freely own our dissent from those Fathers and Councils which are yet extant Nor can it ever be prov'd by the Writings of any of our Party that they did either assert or believe that those who wrote before the Nicene Council whose works are extant were of our mind tho' they were as little of the mind of our Adversaries as of ours This now is plain dealing and more ingenuous by far than wresting a few sentences contrary to the Writers minds only to amuse the ignorant with an empty shew of Antiquity But more plainly yet Socinus soon after confesses that the extant Fathers differed from his Party in that they assert That Christ or the Son of God had a Being of the substance of his Father before the worlds creation that he had often appear'd to the Fathers under the Old Testament nay that that one God his
and express words that our Saviour is no God at all either à parte ante with respect to the time past or before his Incarnation or à parte post with respect to the time to come or after his Incarnation but only a meer glorified Man or they must agree with us that He is God eternal equal with his Father as true and as real God as ever he was true and real Man and this is what those antient Fathers did certainly agree with and in all those passages I have quoted from them they must believe so or be absolutely inconsistent with themselves and all those who were their successors soon after in the Government of the Church of Christ must have strangely mistaken them and their opinions which yet is not so likely as it is that modern Writers should misunderstand them Now how their immediate Successors nay and their Contemporaries understood them will appear the better by a short view of the dealing of publick Councils and such as were approv'd by them with respect to the Samosatenian and Arrian Heresies in which it's observable That Gregory Bishop of Neo-Caesarea commonly called Thaumaturgus among other things gives us a Confession of Faith said by Gregory Nyssen to have been dictated to him in a Vision leaving that circumstance in suspence the sum of his Confession amounts to this Concil T. 2. p. 841. There is one God the Father of the living Word of essential Wisdom and Power and of an eternal Character the perfect begetter of him that was perfect the Father of the only begotten Son There is one Lord God of God God alone of him who alone is God the Character and Image of the Deity the Word working in us comprehending the contexture of all things and the power which made the universal Creation the true Son of the true Father invisible of him who was invisible incorruptible of him who was incorruptible immortal of him who was immortal and eternal of him that was eternal This confession of his Faith was express enough to our purpose and but necessary for that time when Samosatenianisme was springing forth and making way for more Heretical Innovators in the Faith About the same time was a Council called at Antioch where Paulus of Samosata was then Bishop whose Doctrine was in that agreeable with our Socinians that He held That Christ was a meer Man Concil T. 1. p. 844. that He had no Being before his Conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary and that He acquired the name of the Son of God by his good works and extraordinary righteousness In that Council then met at Antioch these Doctrines of Paulus were condemned and Anathematized this was about the year of our Lord 264. very early and by the concurrence of a number of Bishops in the condemnation of that Doctrine and that when there were no Roman Emperors nor other great secular Men to countenance them is a sufficient proof that Socinian Doctrine as now it is Samosatenian Heresie as then it was was not then approved of in the Church In their Synodical Epistle to Paulus thus they declare No man hath known the Father but the Son and He to whom the Son has revealed him Ibid. but we confess and preach That this Son is begotten the only begotten Son the Image of the invisible God the first-born of every Creature the Wisdom and Word and Power of God existing before all ages not in his Fathers foreknowledge but real God in his own Essence the Son of God so declared both in the Old and in the New Testament whosoever then fights against this truth and declares the Son of God not to have been God before the foundations of the World and who says that to believe and confess or to preach that the Son of God is God is to introduce two Gods we look upon such a Man to be without the pale of the Church and all Catholick Churches consent with us in this opinion Then they proceed to prove what they assert by several Texts of Scripture the greatest part of which we have considered before About the same time Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria answered Ten Questions propounded to him by Paulus Ibid. p. 857 wherein he maintained the same Doctrine of the Eternity and Consubstantiality of the Son of God Certainly these would not have not only declared their own opinions freely but appeal'd to Universal Judgment if they had thought it possible that they could have been confuted but Paulus offers at no such thing that we can hear of Paulus condemn'd by the first Council of Antioch renounced his Heretical opinions but soon return'd to his vomit again and undertook their vindication this Apostasie of his made a very great number of Bishops meet at Antioch a second time they look'd on the Controversie as of so great importance that even in the reign of Aurelian a cruel persecuting Emperour they thought it necessary to meet to crush so dangerous and fundamental an Error In that Council Paulus and his Doctrine are unanimously condemned again there Malchion a Presbyter disputing with Paulus tells him That Jesus Christ of God the Word and an humane body which was of the seed of David was made one no longer subsisting in a Divided but in an Vnited state In their Synodical Epistle not entirely extant they complain of Paulus as denying Christ to have descended down from Heaven Concil T. 1. p. 899. Baluzii Nova colloctio Concil p. 19 20 21 22. and for affirming him to be wholly from earth In some other fragments of the same Epistle omitted by Eusebius the Synod speaks thus Neither God who was clothed in an humane body was in that body free from humane passions neither was his humane body empty of Divine Power that Power which was in that body and by virtue of which that Humane body wrought those wonderful works Here then we have a body of Pious and Learned Men representing a great part of the Eastern Church concurring in the condemnation of those opinions which the Scholars of Socinus have lately reviv'd To these we may add for the Western Church the suffrage of Foelix the first of that name Bishop of Rome in a small fragment of an Epistle written by him about those controversies as the matter evinces to the Clergy of Alexandria the fragment is extant in the Apologetick of S. Cyril of Alexandria against the Eastern Bishops in the first General Council at Ephesus and it 's to this effect As for the Incarnation of the Word and our Faith in that point We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ Concil T. 1. p. 912. who was born of the Virgin Mary that He is the eternal Son of God and the Word and not a Man assumed by God that there might be another beside himself for the Son of God did not take humanity upon him for that end but being perfect God he also became perfect Man being Incarnate of the Virgin
When the Arrian Controversie was on foot Alexander Bishop of Alexandria condemned it in a Synod of almost an hundred Bishops who all concluded the Doctrine of Arius a perfect Innovation not at all consistent with the Faith of the Universal Church what Arius asserted we have in Alexander's circular Epistle viz. That God was not always a Father but that there was a time wherein he was not the Father that the Word of God was not always but had its original as other Creatures out of nothing for He that is God framed or made him who had no Being out of what had no Being Therefore there was a time when he was not c. Of these Heterodox assertions of Arius Alexander in that Epistle gives us a confutation and that strong and pithy and such as being drawn from plain texts of Scripture could never have been oppos'd had not there lived in elder ages some who were able to study out as perverse glosses for positive texts as the Socinians do now a-days But that 's not all what Alexander insists upon is the disagreement of these positions with the Churches antient Faith so he first stiles the Arian Heresie a fore-runner of Anti-Christ and properly enough After this He says they were Apostates such as had fallen off from the Faith of the Church and delivered such Doctrines as were no way consonant to Scriptures Whoever heard such things before says He or who is there who hearing them now Socratis Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 6. Edit Val. would not be amazed and stop his ears that they might not be defiled with hearing such abominable stuff That there had been many Heresies before but this the worst of all the rest and making the nearest approaches to Anti-Christianism Thus Alexander in his circular Epistle But Alexander must have been equally silly and impudent to have written in this manner to all the Bishops of the Church when his business was to satisfie them of the reasons of his proceedings against Arius and his Accomplices and when he was to countermine the stratagems and interests of Eusebius of Nicomedia a subtle and powerful adversary If the Doctrine of the Son's co-eternity and co-essentiality with his Father had not been the receiv'd and well known Doctrine of the Church for the whole design of his elaborate Epistle had been blasted had but his Brethren the Bishops or any part of them retorted upon him that Arius taught no new Doctrine but what had been held even from our Saviour's time and generally taught in all Christian Congregations but we find nothing of this kind offer'd at and Alexander himself going off the stage of the world at last with the reputation of a very wise and a very good Man Eusebius of Nicomedia then makes a considerable party for his Client Arius and supports and encourages him to resolution in his Opinions this made the Controversie grow hot and obliged Constantine the Great who desired by all means to preserve the Peace of the Church to call that famous General Council at the City of Nice in Bithynia to determine at once the Arian and the Paschal Controversie the Emperor himself in his Letter to Alexander and Arius by Hosius of Corduba seems to be very indifferent in the Controversie his indifference was enough to give life and vigour to the Eusebian or Arian party yet all would not do for notwithstanding the Emperors indifferency and Eusebius his industry and activity upon fairly debating the matter of 318. Fathers which made up that Assembly there were only Five who refused to subcribe the condemnation of Arius Eusebius of Caesarea the Church Historian seem'd to hesitate a little at first but after mature deliberation subscribed and gave an account of his Subscription and the reasons of it to his own Diocese of Caesarea wherein he gives them a Copy of that Creed himself had drawn up wherein he declared He believed in God the Father Almighty Creator of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Word of God God of God light of light life of life the only begotten Son the first-born of every Creature begotten of God the Father before all ages by whom all things were made who for our Salvation was made flesh and convers'd among Men Thus Eusebius Socratis l. 1. c. 8. this he declares to have been always his Faith and therefore he could safely subscribe to that Form propos'd in the Council it self and so he did and he declares that He willingly subscribed those Anathema's propounded against Arius because they particularly forbad the use of such words with which Scripture was unacquainted of which several which he there instances in were in the Arian Formulary or Confession The Nicene Council it self in their Synodical Epistle declares the opinions and expressions of Arius so uncouth and blasphemous c. 9. that the Council could scarce have patience to hear them that He had yet unhappily seduced two Bishops with his impious Heresie whom they therefore had excommunicated with Arius himself The Emperor Constantine in his Epistle to the Church of Alexandria on the conclusion of the Council tells them Ibidem that Arius and his Companions had blasphemously contradicted Scriptures and our Holy Faith that when three hundred and eighteen Bishops had setled the Faith according to God's Word only Arius seduced by the Devil refused to submit to it he advises them to embrace that Faith which God himself had delivered that all should return to their dear Brethren from whom that instrument of the Devil had separated them And thus the whole Controversie came at last to rest in the determinations of entire Councils These particular persons Alexander Eusebius and Constantine had called the Arrian opinion Apostasy a seduction from the true Faith a subserviency to the Devil disagreeable to God's Word c. the Councils gave their positive Determinations and Confessions of Faith suitably oppos'd to those encroachments men in those days made upon the true Catholick Faith Thus the second Council at Antioch before mentioned gives us this Confession of Faith with respect to our Saviour We confess our Lord Jesus Christ begotten of his Father according to the Spirit before the Worlds born in the last days of the Virgin according to the flesh one Person of the Heavenly Divinity and of humane flesh united whole God even with his body but not God according to his body whole Man even with his Divinity but not according to his Divinity wholly adorable even with his body but not adorable according to his body entirely adoring God himself even with his Divinity but not adoring him according to his Divinity wholly uncreated even with his body but not uncreated according to the body wholly created even with his Divinity but not created according to his Divinity wholly consubstantial with God even with his body but not consubstantial with God in his body and wholly consubstantial with Man even with his Divinity but
not consubstantial with Men in his Divinity c. Where it 's observable those Fathers use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consubstantial 50. years and more before the Nicene Council and Eusebius of Caesarea in his before-cited Epistle to his Diocese owns it was an expression used by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forhesii Inst Theol Hist l. 1. c. 4. by some antient Bishops and Writers a thing either not observed or strangely forgotten by some modern Authors This Confession of the Antiochian Council was confirm'd in the Synodical Epistle of the Council of Constantinople afterwards and so made theirs The Council of Nice gives us this Creed We believe in God the Father Almighty maker of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God begotten of his Father and the only begotten i. e. of the substance of his Father God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made both that are in heaven and those that are on the earth who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was made flesh and became Man After the Council of Constantinople the second General Council reduced that of Nice to that Form which we now make use of in the Communion Service A Confession of Faith so full and so plain that so long as that 's retain'd and faithfully believed the Socinian Heresie can never get any considerable advantage against us the consideration of which has occasioned some late struglings of an heretical party to get that Creed as well that called the Athanasian expunged out of our Liturgy To this agrees Their Council-book sent to the Bishop of Rome and other Italian Bishops assembled together at Rome and to the same agreed before them Athanasius that great standard of the true Faith against the Arians in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exposition of the Faith extant among his other works and to the same we may joyn that excellent Confession of Faith appointed to be used on particular days in our Liturgy under the name of the Athanasian Creed sound and orthodox but not of so great Antiquity And thus have we shewn at large what the Doctrine of the Primitive Church was with respect to our Saviour's divinity long before the Bishops of Rome pretended to the mighty name of the Universal Bishop or could carry on any ambitious design by altering the Faith every where receiv'd in the Church this Primitive Faith is what the Church of England and with her all the Body of the reformed Churches hold as I shew'd before and which even the Church of Rome it self dares not attack nor shall the gates of Hell ever prevail against it Amen And thus have we done with our fourth evidence of the real Divinity of the Son of God viz. the Faith of the Primitive Church We proceed to the Fifth and last which we propounded to that purpose and we shall now prove that Jesus Christ is true and perfect God from that common and every way approved practice of adoring and presenting our Prayers to him This adoring and praying to Christ is a duty so properly incumbent on all persons who hope for Salvation through his name that the Socinians themselves in the Racovian Catechism in answer to that question Quid sentis de iis Hominibus qui Christum nec invocandum nec adorandum censent Catech. Racov. l. 6. c. 1. p 92. What think you of those men who conclude that Christ is neither to be called upon nor worshipped they thus reply Since those are certainly Christians who acknowledge Jesus to be the Christ or that heavenly King of an Holy people and therefore worship him in a Divine manner and scruple not to call upon his name on which account we formerly described Christians as such who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it 's easie to understand that those who will not do so are not yet Christians tho' they may otherwise profess the name of Christ and pretend to adhere to his Doctrine In this we have the Great Prophets of that Party declaring how essential praying to Christ is to Christianity and this their witness is true but in the mean time we cannot but sverely reflect upon their Impudence who will first make us believe that our blessed Saviour is no more than a meer Man and then would perswade us either that we ought or may call upon him in our Prayers or Worship him but that we may have the fairer view of their folly and madness in this particular we shall lay down this Argument All that Divine Worship is Idolatry which is paid to any Being but him who is the true God None of that Divine Worship is Idolatry which is paid to Jesus Christ Therefore Jesus Christ is the true God Where by Divine Worship we mean that Worship either inward or outward which by the Laws of God or nature is ascribed and appropriated to the supreme Being The true God then is that supreme or sovereign Being and by Idolatry I mean such an application of that true Divine Worship belonging to the supreme Being to any Creatute or created Being as is forbidden by the first or second Commandment in the Decalogue from whence alone the true notion of Idolatry or regular and properly applyed Divine Worship can be taken I assert then That all that Divine worship which is paid to any Being besides the true God is plain Idolatry the excellency of nature in any of those things which may be the Objects of our adorations make no difference or abatement of guilt in the case He 's as much an Idolater who worships a wise Man or a great publick Benefactor or a Man Deified as he who worships a stock or a stone and he breaks the holy Commandment as notoriously who pays those adorations to a good Angel which belong to Almighty God as he that pays them to the Devil for the noblest Created Being in the Universe is no more able to answer the true ends of all Divine Worship than the most contemptible Creature we can cast our eyes on and God expresses as great a jealousie of his own honour when it 's taken from him to be given to the purest of his Creatures as when it 's misapplyed in a grosser manner When God commands Israel what the Law of Nature must necessarily have prescribed before Not to have any other Gods before his face he made no Reservation of any right of appointing another God to himself but excluded all other Deities were they made or subordinate or co-ordinate or under what character soever they might be made the objects of our Worship And when He requir'd they should not make to themselves any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing either in heaven above or in earth beneath or in the waters under the earth that they should not bow down to
Catechism asserts there 's no plain command in the whole Old Testament for our praying to God the Father tho' the position be notoriously false only this we 'l joyn with them in That we have no command to pray to Christ as he is a meer Creature but we are forbidden it in the first and second Commandments But we are bound to pray to him as He and his Father are One not by agreement of Will or by the Son 's entire submission to the Father but by agreement or Identity of Nature Otherwise the Will of all deceas'd Saints the Will of all holy Angels is wholly submissive to and the same with the Will of God therefore they might as lawfully be prayed to as our Saviour if a meer sameness of Will and not of Nature were enough to found Divine Worship as offered to any other Being but the Supreme God upon But when Socinus comes to speak of the necessity â—f Praying to Christ he runs off from the matter in hand to that of acknowledging hat Kingdom and Power and Government given to him by his Father which acknowâ—edgment as he concludes infers a necessiâ—y of Praying to Him But this is an Argument far fetch'd and very impertinent â—oth the foundation and superstructure is â—alse Christ in his Humane Nature is the head of the Church in his Humane Nature he has the Government of it in his hands in his Humane Nature all power in Heaven and in Earth is his own but none of these things are his meerly as he is Man or as he is a Creature but that Humane or Created Nature of Christ is made capable of those things of which in its own Nature it was absolutely incapable by its entire Union with and subsistenee in the Godhead Without owning this our Prayers to Christ as those offer'd by the Church of Rome to Saints or Angels are meer mock devotion For if Christ before his Ascension into Heaven had no Existence but in a Body in meer flesh and blood then after his Ascension he likewise had no existence but in the same Body if he existed in the same Body he could be partaker of no other qualifications but such as are incident to a Body for if his natural Body could be partaker of such qualifications as a natural body was not capable of it could be no longer the same body he was rais'd with but another and that no natural body If he still existed in Heaven in that same body he rose and ascended with and it was not changed to or for another no attributes wholly or essentially Divine could be truely or properly ascribed to him therefore Christ could not be Almighty which Infinite Power or Almightiness yet is absolutely necessary in him who has all Power given to him both in heaven and earth and who is able to do every thing that can tend to their good or to God's glory for them that ask him Christ in his Natural Body cannot know all things without which Universal Knowledge yet it 's impossible he should suit all grants to the necessities of Petitioners or be assistant to those who lie under a natural incapacity to address themselves to him otherwise than in their thoughts and inward wishes Christ in his Natural Body cannot be Omnipresent he cannot be in more places than one for natural bodies are and must be circumscribed by Time and Place otherwise they lose their natures and become God for only God can exist without those circumscriptions of Time and Place which Omnipresence yet is indispensably necessary to every one who can receive Petitions offered to him in several quarters of the World at once If now the Socinians will deny these things to be inconsistent with a Natural Body if they 'l assert that a Created body may be Almighty that it may know all things that it may be every where present they must introduce a new and yet unheard of Philosophick and Theologick Scheme and to little purpose If they 'l say these things are needless to our Saviour's natural body for that he may read all the wants of Petitioners in all parts of the World at one view in the Essential glory of his Father that 's the Roman plea and every whit as rational on behalf of their Saint and Angel-worship They can see all the wants of their humble supplicants in the glasse of the Trinity as they tell us They say too that God reveals to Saints and Angels to whom Papists make their Prayers all those things their Devotoes pray to them for If the Socinians joyn with them and say God so reveals every thing to Christ We answer them both that this is to set God upon a needless work and indeed to make the Supreme Being in effect inferior to his Servants and to his Son for those are the greatest Persons to whom the last Appeal is made those inferiour who are imployed in carrying or presenting Petitions to another if then the Supreme God make it his business to present the Supplications of Petitioners to his own Son he takes upon him that inferiour Office If he present them to his Son that his Son may grant and perform them it argues a natural Impotency in himself to answer such Petitioners and consequently a superiority in the Son whereby he 's able to grant and to do for his servants what God the Father could not If the Socinians will have us believe in respect of Omnipotence that Christ only represents our wants to his Father and that it 's his Fathers Power alone which answers and acts for us it will follow then that God has not given him all Power in Heaven and in Earth whosoever has that Power can do all things in and of himself if Christ cannot do all things in and of himself he has not that Power if He want that Power for what reason should we pray to him and not rather immediately to Almighty God especially since this Man Christ Jesus died for us that in his own blood he might open to us a new and a living way whereby we might have access with boldness to the throne of Grace If we may go directly thither what should we trouble our selves with applications to a subordinate Power as for the Mediatory Office of our Saviour so far as He 's concern'd in it according to Socinian Principles he 'l mediate continually for Us and all Believers in general terms whether we make any supplications to Him or not The result of all then is this ether Christ is not Almighty nor All-knowing nor Present every where and consequently cannot be the proper Object of our Adorations and Prayers and therefore all such Adorations offered to Him must be scandalous and Idolatrous or else our Lord must be present every where Know and be able to Do all and every thing and so their Catechism teaches us in the chapter before quoted for it says All Power is given him as before that his Power and Efficacy is great
tho' it were an inward grace a strengthning of the Soul which they requir'd of him Again when the Disciples were with him on ship-board and during his quiet sleep just sinking by the violence of an angry tempest they in a fright wake their Master and cry out to him Lord save us we perish Mat. 8.25 If our Saviour was a meer Man the Disciples acted with much less sence than Jonah's Mariners who every one in the storm called upon their Gods for help and summoned sleeping Jonas not to save them by His Power but to joyn with them in calling upon his God For was it ever heard before that when a Ship was just sinking or running upon a rock the ship's Crew ran to some poor ignorant Passenger to beg their security from him The Mariners tho' convinced that he was an extraordinary Person made no such application to Saint Paul in a parallel danger it 's God alone who can command the Seas and Winds his permissive Word makes them ruffle the Universe and put Nature into a Consternation the same Word lays them still as in their first Originals ere uncorrupted Nature knew any thing terrible or dangerous In the case before us our Saviour answered them not as that King of Israel did the Woman If the Lord help thee not what can I do But He arose and rebuked the Winds and the Sea and there was a great calm Nature in its greatest hurry own'd his Divine Authority only his Disciples stumbled upon the Question ver 27. What manner of Man is this that even the Winds and the Sea obey him They talked like Men beside themselves with Fear they called upon him for Help as if they had believed him to be God they reflected upon that Deliverance he had given them as if he had been no more than Man but he takes no notice of any error they were in in their first Devotions but by his Mercy encouraged them to do the same again upon a like occasion What the Disciples did here in a storm at Sea that Saint Stephen the first Martyr for Christianity did in a more violent storm of Persecution on Land for when he came to his last Agonies when it was the proper season for a good Man to exert the utmost vigor of his Faith and Charity then for himself and with respect to his own Soul he prays Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The frequent expiring Ejaculation of Holy Saints and Martyrs after him Compare now this with that assertion of the wise Man concerning Death Eccles. 12 7. Then shall the Dust return to Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and the consequence will be either that our Lord Jesus Christ was the great Author or Creator and Giver of the Rational Soul or else that this Holy Martyr then when filled in an extraordinary manner with the Holy Ghost in his extreme hours when commonly Mens apprehensions of futurity are most Clear and Rational talk'd in a very Impertinent and sinful manner to devote his Soul to him who could have no right to it if he were a meer Creature and to forget his God Franciscus Davidis would have us believe here that Stephen did not call upon Jesus Christ but upon God the Father and that we should translate the expression O thou Lord of Jesus receive my Spirit but this Socinus has strongly confuted tho' upon their common Principle of our Saviour's being a meer Creature Franciscus undertakes the much more rational part However here his subterfuge is nothing worth It was Jesus the Son of God He who bore that proper name of Jesus from his Circumcision for whose sake Stephen was now persecuted to Death by the malicious Jews it was the same Jesus whom he saw at the right hand of God when the Heavens opened to give him such a view of future Glory prepared for Martyrs as might support and encourage him under his sufferings it was to him therefore that Stephen applyed himself and sitted himself for a glorious and happy Exit by that admirable Resignation But neither did Saint Stephen stop there but as the utmost effort of a dying Martyr's Charity He adds this to his former ejaculation ver 60. Lord lay not this sin to their charge He certainly designed exemplary Charity in this and to imitate his dying Saviour who prayed his Father to forgive his Murderers for they knew not what they did But the Martyr's enemies would have had little reason to have admir'd his Charity had he presented his Prayers for them to one who had no power to forgive them and the Jews would be as ready now to make the Objection as heretofore Who can forgive sins but God only And if God to whom vengeance belongeth in whose sight the Death of his Saints is precious would certainly avenge the blood of his Saints and Martyrs upon their Persecutors to what purpose was it to pray to him to forgive them who not being the most high God himself could have no Power to forgive those who had sin'd against the most high God so as to give them any security but above all He could never have hoped for any acceptance at the hand of God in any Petition whatsoever had he now in his last extremity been guilty of Idolatry Saint Paul had been made partaker of extraordinary Revelations had been snatch'd up into the third heavens where he had seen and heard things not lawful for a Man to utter 2 Cor. 1â— 7 8 9. indeed things unspeakable lest He should have been exalted above measure thro' the abundance of those Revelations there was given to him a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him This was a very severe humiliation and Saint Paul was sensible of it and at first as appears by the Text very uneasie under it Saint Paul knew well enough that the best remedy for all calamities was Prayer that Prayers presented to the true God with a sincere heart could not return unfruitful but Saint Paul presently applyes himself to Christ For this cause I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me says he and He said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness By the Lord here the Socinians themselves understand our Lord Jesus and therefore alledge this Text as a proof of Pious Mens praying to Christ Now had Saint Paul prayed to Christ for Assistance and Relief in such a case where only the Supreme God could really help him if that Christ were a meer Creature then such a Prayer must be Idolatrous and such Service be called Idolatry wherein the Creature was rather worshipped than the Creator and Christ a Creature must as Lucifer of old have endeavoured to set himself up for a rival God and prosecute a separate Interest of his own and manage and assist his servants in a way of opposition to the most high God and
so he must have Graces of his own and Strength of his own to employ for the use of his own Devotoes for so Saint Paul tells us that Christ referred him not to the Grace of God or to the strength of God for security from the violence of Satan but tells him My Grace and my Strength are sufficient for thee therefore there could be no need of applying himself to any other Now if Saint Paul were in this case guilty of Idolatry all those who follow the pattern of Saint Paul must incur the same guilt but he was not guilty therefore neither were his Imitators guilty of it The Socinians in proof of the lawfulness of Praying to Christ allege farther Saint Paul's joyning him with God the Father in his own Prayer with respect to the Thessalonians to whom he 's there writing â— Thess 3.11 Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto You where he takes for granted that the Father and the Son are both Co-partners in the same directing power and therefore he equally Petitions them both for guidance in his design of visiting the Thessalonians What the Apostle himself did in a Letter sent to Believers for their instruction in matters concerning their Salvation we need not doubt but they 'd be very apt to follow him in so that either this Praying to Christ was lawful and reasonable in it self or else the Apostle must be concluded to have it in his mind only to abuse those he wrote to and to draw them by his extraordinary influence upon them into Sin for a sin it must be to make any meer Creature the Vltimate Object of our Prayers and Devotions That the Apostle in this passage does so is indisputable if at least it's own'd that He makes God the Father such an Object for he joyns them together puts no mark of Inferiority or Subordinacy upon Jesus Christ but what he begs of the Father the same He begs of the Son in one continued expression And the Apostle frequently does the same thing in those Salutations he sends to the several Churches where He wishes them Grace Mercy and Peace equally from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Grace Mercy and Peace are all divine and spiritual Gifts as in possession of the Father so in possession of the Son else it would be very impertinent to Petition them equally for it and of very ill consequence for it would easily bring such a notion into Mens heads as that some created Being might have a power of giving Gifts of a Spiritual nature as well as the Supreme God and that it might be lawful in our most serious Devotions to joyn him who alone is God with one who is no more than a Creature to set them in a rank as equal as words would allow and to conclude a Prayer to the great Creator of all things insufficient to procure any good from him unless it were backt and strengthned by the joyned formality of an Address to a dependent Creature But we need not so much insist on this particular since the same Socinians as a vindication of Prayers addrest to our Saviour take notice of that piece of Religious Worship as being made the very Characteristick or distinguishing note of Christians So Ananias answers the Command of Going to visit and baptize the newly converted Saul Acts 9.14.21 He hath authority from the chief Priests to bind all that call on thy Name And when Saul first began to preach Christ at Damascus all Men ask'd with amazement if it was not He who had lately destroyed all that called upon the name of Christ that is all who believed in him So that it seems from hence that to believe in Christ and to call upon him were used as reciprocal terms every one who believed in Christ would call upon him or Pray to him every one who pray'd to him must believe on him for as the Apostle elsewhere argues How shall they call on him or pray to him in whom they have not believ'd So again St. Paul inscribes his first Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. â— to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ i. e. to all Christians for whose general use and instruction he wrote that Epistle as well as for the Corinthians And the same Christians are described as such 2 Tim. 2.22 who call upon the name of the Lord with a pure Heart These are the evidences drawn by the Socinians themselves out of Scripture to prove the practice of Christians in the very infancy of the Church and they are sufficient for that purpose Now that Those who accompanied with our Lord himself during his converse upon Earth or that those Apostles who were guided by the extraordinary influences of the Holy Ghost or that those first Christians who took the â—oke of Christ upon them when the Gospel was certainly preached to them in its original simplicity that all these should be guilty of abominable Idolatries and that when the Apostles themselves were originally Jews who had an irreconcileable aâ—ersion to any thing that look'd in the least â—ike Idolatry and that our Saviour himâ—elf should have so little regard for his Disâ—iples as to let them commit a gross sin â—f a damning nature without any check or â—eproof that that Holy Spirit which was â—romised to believers on purpose that He might guide them into all truth that both these should so very early not only permit but encourage and perswade men to commit Idolatry and all this at a time when they pretended to promote the Salvation of Souls and when it was notoriously known to all Mankind that Idolatry was a Sin irrational in it self and detestable in the sight of God that the one part should commit and the other promote Idolatry under such circumstances is absolutely incredible They had the Pagan World at that time to reform The Apostles were all willing to spend and be spent to carry on that glorious and merciful work at the utmost hazard of their lives the great and crying sin of the Gentile world was their Idolatry that of which St. Paul particularly took notice with grief and anger among the Athenians but it had been a strange method of reforming an Idolatrous World by advancing the same practice without any other correction but only a variation of the Object as if Praying to a Man had not been as great an Error as Praying to a Genius or the Sun or some other bright Star or an Ox or any other Creature Such things would have rendred the Gospel foolishness with a witness among the Gentiles and none would have wondered that Christ should have culled out poor ignorant Fishermen and other illiterate persons to be the first Preachers since such a senceless Method of procedure was only fit for such dull and unthinking Creatures to prosecute But
by God appointed the Heir of all things Fourthly by his Resurrection thus He but our New Undertaker to render these things the more plausible has given us a new set or Division of the reasons why Christ is called the Son of God The title of the Son of God says he is in Scripture founded upon these Five things Two that are taken from his two-fold birth the one out of the Womb of the Virgin by the Operation of the Holy Ghost the other out of the Womb of the Earth by his Resurrection which makes him undoubtedly the Natural Son of God his only begotten Son Thoughts on Sherlock's vindication of the Trinity p. 4 5. his own or his proper Son Three other which are drawn from his Offices the First Because he is that Prophet whom his Father has sanctified and sent into the World with an extraordinary Commission Secondly Because he is the great High-Priest immediately called to that Office by God himself the Third Because He is the King whom God has exalted to a Supreme Power both in Heaven and in Earth Now these Reasons thus multiplied tho' we should allow them all True yet they come not up to the matter in hand It 's true Christ really is the Son of God by reason of his Conception by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin but supposing with the Socinians that the Holy Ghost is not a Person but only the influence of Almighty God there is not enough in that Birth so miraculous as it is to give our Saviour the title of the Son of God distinctly and exclusively of all others Dr. Heylin tho' far enough from denying the eternal Deity of Christ yet seems very willing to rest in this Reason that He is called the only begotten Son of God purely upon it or because He 's the beloved Son in whom He is well pleased or his loved Son or the Son of his Love and approves of Maldonat's opinion that the beloved Son and the only begotten Son are terms Reciprocal but the mistake is apparent for tho' Isaac be called the only begotten Son of Abraham it does not argue that He was the sole engrosser of his love the contrary is apparent from Abraham's carriage in the case of Ishmael when he took the necessity of turning Him and his Mother out of doors so grievously Gen. 21.11 and when upon God's promising him a Son by Sarah who should be heir of his blessings the tender Father yet beg'd that Ishmael might also live in his sight Gen. 17.18 i. e. be partaker of God's Favours and extraordinary Blessings too Besides that Isaac is called Abraham's only begotten Son in contradistinction to Ishmael Isaac was the only begotten Son with respect to God's Promise and as being the only Son of the free Woman and properly enough yet we see by course of Nature Abraham had more Sons than Isaac therefore Isaac was not Abraham's only begotten Son in a sence so eminent as our Lord is called the Only begotten of the Father Heylin on the Creed p. 168. the Father having no other Son begotten by himself but Christ But tho' sometimes Men do love an Only Child at an extraordinary rate yet it 's not â—lways nor necessarily so for Love beâ—ng sometimes guided by Reason and Obeâ—ience being the only rational ground of â—aternal Affection several Children may â—e as obedient as One and therefore several may as rationally be loved as One in an exâ—raordinary manner But farther Neither is our Saviour's Conception by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin so very great a Miracle as to set our Saviour on that account so far above every Creature for as Doctor Pearson well observes Pearson on the Creed p. 107. Adam the first Man was made immediately by the hand of God no humane faculty concurring at all and Adam is therefore called the Son of God by the Evangelist now there cannot be a Power so much greater requir'd to give a Man a being in the Womb of a Virgin than to frame him at first out of a Piece of Earth as to make so great a distance necessary as is between the First and the Second Adam for Jesus Christ our Second Adam must be the Son of God in so peculiar a manner as must make him infinitely Superiour to any other Creature he being design'd to exercise such a Power as no other Creature could possibly be capable of We allow then our Lord's Birth and Conception to have been one ground of his being the Son of God but not the first it 's no where called so in Scripture nor is it sufficient to fix him in that supereminent station wherein our Faith is fix'd upon him The second reason of his Filiation is yet much more Deficient viz. his Resurrection or raising from the Womb of the Earth for we find none called the Son of God in Scripture on that Reason that our Saviour was rais'd from the dead we know if we look upon him as rais'd from the Dead by his own Power as indeed He Joh. 2.19 John 10.17 18. and He only was as himself asserts that affords us a great difference between Him and all other Persons but utterly destroys the Socinian ground of his being called the Son of God But for such troublesom passages as these I find a remarkable saying of Smalcius which shews us the whole mystery of their avoiding the force of plain Scripture and it 's this speaking of Christ's being called God he proceeds When we find it declared in Scripture not only once or twice but very often and very plainly that God was made Man considering that this is a Proposition absurd wholly contrary to right Reason and full of Blasphemy against God we believe it must be a great deal better to find out some mode of speaking according to which one may say this concerning God than to interpret things simply and according to the Letter that is to say the Socinians have resolved not to regulate their Opinions by the Scripture but to reduce the Scripture to their Opinions this however is plain dealing and a sufficient warning to read their Discourses with the greater Caution and Intention of mind But if the Socinians make use of this Art by their own Confessions in matters of the clearest nature and so often repeated we cannot doubt but they 'l rather pitch on some unknown Figure to elude those Texts which imply our Saviour's raising himself from the Dead than own his Vnity with his Father in the same Essence or Nature whereby both the assertion that Christ rais'd himself and that He was rais'd by his Father from the dead are so easily reconcil'd But allowing them their own fancy if our Saviour was not rais'd from the Dead by any Power of his Own but only by that of his Father and yet was called the Son of God on account of his Resurrection then all those who shall rise from the
Dead before that great day must be called the Sons of God in the same sence as our Saviour is and consequently our Savour cannot on account of such Resurrection be so the Son of God as to be his only begotten Son exclusively of all others tho' that title be so exclusive in it's own nature As for the three Reasons of his being called the Son of God derived from his Offices it 's true in the first place that God has sanctifyed our Saviour and sent him into the World but so he sanctified Jeremy and so he sanctified John the Baptist and the last in particular he sent into the World with an extraordinary Commission i. e. to Preach the glad tidings of Salvation and to prepare the way of the Lord against his publick appearance which Employs were both wholly extraordinary but as for that descent of the Holy Ghost upon him whereby say they he was anointed to his Office without measure there was no particularity eminently distinguishing Him in that from his own Apostles upon whom the Spirit descended in a visible manner at the feast of Pentecost and fitted them so for the same Office of Preaching and every way promoting the Salvation of Mankind Indeed we no where find the Apostles called the Sons of God on account of their being baptised with the Holy Ghost and with fire but we see our Saviour is declared the Son of God in whom he is well pleased on that occasion but he was own'd by the same title at his Transfiguration too when there was no effusion of the Holy Ghost therefore there was some peculiarly eminent reason for giving our Lord this Title which could not be applied on any account to any other Person If we reflect on the second ground of Christ's being called the Son of God which is because He is our Great High-Priest and so constituted by God himself our Author's proof of it is very strange viz. from that passage of the Psalmist Thou art my Son Heb. 5.5 this day have I begotten thee quoted by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews for tho' those Words are there repeated as well as in the first Chapter of that Epistle yet it 's not in a different Sence or to a new purpose but the Apostle there speaking of our Saviour's Priesthood and the greatness and excellency of that Office undertaken by him tells us no Man takes this Honour to himself but He that is called of God as was Aaron Now the Apostle shews that our Saviour had such a Call as well as Aaron for his Father who said to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee shewed his Propriety in his Son and his Love to him by those words so that it could not be strange that his Father should lay so great an Honour upon him But then his title to the Priesthood it self is founded on that Thou art a Priest for ever ver 6. after the order of Melchisedec so then the Son-ship of Christ is antecedent to his Priestly Office and He was made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec because He was the Son of God and not called the Son of God because He was our High-Priest As for the last reason why our Saviour is called the Son of God viz. Because he is exalted to the Supreme Power over all things and so is our King Hab. 1.5 which he proves again from the same words as quoted in the same Epistle to the Hebrews There yet again the same truth occurs that Christ was the Son of God before He entred upon his Kingly Office for by Him God made the worlds and our Saviour never had a being but that at the same time he was the Son of God but if God by Him made the Worlds ver 2. as the Apostle says and he could not be our King before the Worlds were made We who are a part of these Worlds being those Creatures over whom he was to be King then he was the Son of God before he was our King and therefore could not be his Son on that account Besides if we should allow all these things the whole grant would be useless for Christ is called as before we observed the only begotten Son of God in an eminent and distinguishing manner above all others but if upon account of his Offices Prophetical Priestly or Regal Christ be called the Son of God then all those who exercise the same Functions in the world may upon the same reason lay claim to the same title for of some of them we know the Psalmist says They are Gods and they are all the children of the most high but if they can all justly lay claim to the same Title then there 's nothing peculiar to our Saviour included in that being the Son the only begotten Son of God which yet the very Title it self imports All these Reasons then not being sufficient to give our Saviour the Title of the only begotten Son of God in a manner so super-eminent to all other Creatures and their Originals particularly to Angels who are of a Spiritual Nature and are called the Sons of God There must remain some other ground for our Saviour's being so called and that is his eternal generation of the Father which puts him into such a Relation to his Father as no other creature can possibly pretend to We have prov'd that the whole of his Five Precedent Reasons do not fill up the Idea or make good the full meaning of those terms wherein Christ is called the only Begotten Son of God his Beloved Son or his own Son for if I am Born of my Mother but not Begotten in his own Image by my reputed Father tho' my reputed Father were able after Death to raise me to Life again tho' he were able to confer upon me all the Authority in the Universe yet all this will be so far from giving Me justly the Title of my Father's only-begotten Son tho' perhaps he never had any other that by all these Reasons together I should be a putative Son but really no more related to my supposed Father than our Saviour was to Joseph the Husband of the blessed Virgin when before her Espousals he was begotten in her by the Power of the Holy Ghost Nay should we admit of the very unphilosophical Hypothesis of Ruarus Quid in eo absurdi si spiritum Dei venas in virginis uterum descendentes emulsisse atque ex sanguine coagulato Embryonem formasse dicam non aliter atque id fit spiritu in masculo semine latente Ruarus ad Mersennum Epistola Centur. 1. Num. 56. p. 262. the most modest of the Socinian tribe all would be too little to make good this glorious Idea of the only begotten Son of God But his eternal Generation answers all and makes our Saviour as properly the Only Begotten Son of his Heavenly Father as I or any other Lawful Son is the only begotten of his
Father when he has no more and the Union yet between the eternal Father and the eternal Son is of a closer and more levelling kind than any thing inferiour nature can afford Our New Author indeed challenges us Cum Scriptoribus de generatione animaelium haec comparentur Nos Dei virtutem in Virginis uterum aliquam substantiam creatam vel immisisse aut ibi creasse affirmamus ex quā juncto eo quod ex ipsius Virginis substantiâ accessit verus homo generatus fuit Aliàs enim homo ille Dei filius à conceptione nativitate propriè non fuisset Sic Smalcius de vero naturali Dei filio c. 3. Ruarus ab ipso uterque à veritate quantum distat if we believe this eternal Generation to prove it expresly contain'd in Scripture and then to prove this Eternal Generation the true Basis or Foundation of his glorious Title of the Only Begotten Son of God As if clear Consequences from plain Premises were not a demonstrative proof of any thing to Men who pretend to Reason and a capacity of discoursing Rationally which is indeed nothing but drawing Consequences plain or obscure from agreeable Premises Or for an instance as if when I find God call'd a Spirit and I know a Spirit is Invisible I might not conclude God tho' a Spirit to be invisible unless I found Invisibility it self distinctly and separated from the Notion of a Spirit attributed to him somewhere in Scripture Now if all these Proofs I have laid down before have proved that our Saviour had a Being before he was Conceived in the Womb of the Virgin which we think to be proved beyond contradiction and if our Adversaries will but allow that Dictate of Common sence that He who really is my Son is my Son as soon as he has a Being or if He be not my Son then He never can be my Son otherwise than by Adoption and so Christ can never be the only begotten Son of his Father because all those who Believe in and Obey God are his Sons by Adoption too if they 'l but allow this then Christ must have been the Son of his Father before such time as he was Conceived in the Virgins Womb because he had a Being before that Conception If Christ had a Being before his Conception it must have been as a Spirit but Spirits do not generate one another therefore he must have had a Being from the beginning of the World If then we fall in with the Arrians and say God created his Son the Word first out of nothing and then created all other things by Him we contradict Scripture which positively assures us that in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and all that in them is and therefore rested the seventh day but God could not rest the Seventh Day nor do all he had to do in Six Days if he wrought more than Six Days but He must have worked before the beginning of the Six Days if he made the Word before he made any thing else and we have the Six Days Work summ'd up authentically by Moses but no account there of the Creation of the Word before the Creation of Matter If he were not Created before Matter then he could not Create all things as the Arrians pretend If therefore He had a Being it must have been from all eternity but he was not Created from eternity for whatsoever is Created must have a Beginning but he was begotten of his Father as the Scriptures assure us if therefore he were Begotten and not Made and Begotten before the beginnings of the World He could be Begotten of nothing but of the Substance of his Father there being no other Substance for him to be originated from and therefore must be eternal because the Substance of his Father is and cannot be otherwise than eternal This being true it would be meer folly not to fix his Sonship more peculiarly in this eternal Generation for He that is Begotten by a Father must be his Son and he that is Begotten from eternity must be a Son from eternity Therefore Christ who was Begotten of his Father from eternity must be the Son of his Father from eternity which was the thing to be demonstrated If yet a Socinian will stumble at the Vnion of the Humane with the Divine Nature as if it were an impossibility or against reason let Him resolve us fairly how the Vnion is made between a rational and immortal Soul of a Spiritual and an heavy and unactive Body of an Earthly Nature We are all convinced they are so joyned together but those subtle Springs whereby an Immaterial Soul actuates a Material Body are hitherto indiscernible by the sharpest Eye of impair'd Reason why then should we conclude it impossible for the Divine and Humane Nature to be united together unless it be united in a way more intelligible than our Souls and Bodies For tho' our Souls are of a Spiritual Nature they are infinitely inferiour to the Nature of Almighty God and being that Constitutive part of Humane Nature by which Man is a Rational Creature it might seem an easie task for us to find out how that Soul we reason by should be united to that Body we reason in But since we are so far to seek in this matter may we not reasonably conclude God has hidden this from our Eyes to moderate and humble our unruly Fancies to keep us from prying into things that are too high for us and to convince us that many things wherein we are more immediately concerned not being a whit the less True tho' we understand them not we ought to believe that some things may be True with respect to God of which yet we are able to give our selves no considerable account And so we may satisfie our selves that our Saviour spoke plain truth when he said I and my Father are One meaning thereby an Essential Vnity between his Father and Him because tho' he were at the time of his speaking so a true Man invested with real flesh and blood yet He was God before he was Man the Word of God before he was made flesh and dwelt among us and was God when He was Man his Divine Nature not being prejudiced by his assuming Flesh and Blood by that Divine Nature he was One essentially with his Father and his Humane assumed Nature being in his Divine Nature as a finite is contained in an infinite there could be but One Person at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God-Man our Saviour and Redeemer I take the more notice of this particular which I had insisted on before because our new Assertor of Socinianism would perswade us that if we duely examin'd these Words of our Saviour on this occasion spoken to the Jews when they charged him with Blasphemy because in his former expressions He had made himself God tho' indeed he were but a Man we should quit all arguments drawn from thence the words are these
Jesus answered them John 10.34 35 36. Is it not written in your Law I said ye are Gods if he called them Gods unto whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God This says our Adversary Thoughts on Sh. p. 2. agreeably to those he follows proves That our Saviour calls himself God or the Son of God upon the same grounds on which others are called Gods in Scripture to wit because the Father has sanctified him i. e. Christ is God or the Son of God in the same sence that Magistrates Good or Bad are called so which certainly is a very great Honour to our Saviour But if we examine these Words with that Care we ought we shall find that our Saviour by alleging that God had sanctified him and sent him into the world does two things First he distinguishes himself from those called Gods by that Sanctification and Mission which He had and They had not for he affirms no such thing of them unless our Author will infer it from that of the Word of God coming to them but all those to whom the Word of God comes are not sanctified presently by that nor are all those sanctified to whom God imparts any thing of his Power for the management of the World some sufficiently proving the contrary Nor will it be easie to prove Sanctification and Anointing to be one and the same thing upon that reason Nay if we admit of Heinsius's Criticism Heinsius in Aristarcho sac in locum the case will be yet worse for he would have those words to whom the Word of the Lord came be translated Against whom the Prophetick Burden or the threatning Word of God was denounced and indeed the Original will bear it well enough now we may fairly conclude that Divine Menaces against sinners do not sanctifie them so that the comparison between our Saviour and those Gods mentioned in the text does not lye in their being both sanctified But secondly our Saviour teaches us that He was First Sanctified and then Sent into the World now He could not be sanctified before he had a being but he was sanctified before he was sent into the World He was sent into the world as soon as he was Conceived in the Womb of his Mother so Every one is sent into the World as soon as he has a Being in the World but he has a Being in the World as soon as he 's Conceiv'd therefore our Saviour was Sanctified before his Conception and therefore he had a Being before his Conception in the Womb of the Virgin this is what the Socinians deny but the answer to this evidence is not so easie After this tho' our new Writer would have our Saviour to argue as indeed he does from the Less to the Greater that if They were Gods much more He yet he has not observ'd that our Saviour gives himself the Title only of the Son of God but to be the Son of God is less than to be God absolute or without restriction but our Saviour should have given himself yet some Superiour Name if he intended to prove himself Superiour indeed to those whom the Psalmist calls Gods in the cited place and so indeed he did as the Jews understood him they knew well enough that those Gods were only call'd so by a Figure and had our Saviour plainly told them that he meant only Figuratively when by calling God his Father he made himself the Son of God and by saying He and his Father were One He made not himself God their anger against him would have very much abated since in that sence very Ill Men might have pretended to the Title but they understood that our Saviour made himself really equal with that One Supreme God whom they worshipped and according to their thoughts his Sanctification and Mission into the World by God if He were his Father set him infinitely above those Figurative Gods to whom the Father might have communicated some Authority or Power but had neither Sanctified them nor sent them with any extraordinary pretences into the World and our Saviour was so far from going about to elude their anger by a shifting or ambiguous answer as Smalcius a Socinian says he did when he told the Jews before Abraham was I am that he exasperates them the more by alledging the works he did as an evidence that the Father was in Him and He in Him Joh. 10 3â— upon which they go about to seize him but in vain From the whole we conclude directly contrary to what our Socinian Writer asserts that since our Lord declared nothing concerning Himself and his own nature to the Jews but what was necessary for them to know and yet did declare to them such things as made it evident to them that he ascribed a Nature truely and literally divine to Himself Therefore it was necessary the Jews and with them all the rest of Mankind should know that Christ was really and truly God not Metaphorically as Magistrates nor by participation of God's Holiness as Good Men are made Partakers of the divine Nature but essentially and eternally as his Father And thus have we in some measure made good our second Proposition that the blessed Jesus appearing in our Nature was God equal with his Father or really and truely God as well as real Man We proceed to shew How it came to be necessary that to effect our Salvation God and particularly God the Son should assume our nature to himself That God the Son did really take our Nature upon him we have largely proved That God especially in such extraordinary cases does nothing but what 's necessary we may conclude for tho' God be a Free and uncontrouled Agent yet infinite Wisdom can act nothing that 's unnecessary or indifferent whether it be done or no Our business therefore will be to enquire into the Ends and Designs of our Saviour's appearing in the flesh from whence we shall be the better able to apprehend the necessity of such his appearance Sermon of the Nat. p. 247. Our Church in her Homily upon the Nativity of our Saviour teaches us That the end of our Saviour's coming in the flesh was to save and deliver his people to fulfil the Law for us to bear witness unto the truth to teach and preach the Word of his Father to give light unto the World to call sinners to repentance to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden to cast out the Prince of this World to reconcile us in the body of his flesh to dissolve the works of the Devil and last of all to become a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World What 's contain'd in these and what other Ends may be assigned for our Saviour's Incarnation I shall lay down
and published in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him and by this means all those who were not wilfully blind might easily discover that the Lord whom they expected was come Our Saviour by these particular actions got a mighty advantage against Pharisaick Prejudices and evidenc'd his own glory and their shame at the same instant As all ages had shew'd some on whom the Devil had exercised a more particular Power so among the Jews there had been several instances of the same nature and as they had a certain knowledge of the miserable state of those who were so troubled so pious Men among the Jews had had particular recourse to Almighty God that God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob interceding by their Prayers for Mercy and relief for those so visited they who were brought up in the methods of True Religion applyed not themselves to Charms or Magick Arts to get a victory over him who was the Inventor and Promoter of such Arts as the Gentile world did but they applied themselves to their own God whose Mercy and Power they were well acquainted with and of whom they knew all the Powers of darkness stood in awe and it please God often to hear the Prayers of such pious Persons on behalf of those Demoniacs and to cast those Fiends out of them this dealing of that God who had planted true Religion among them by Moses gave a continual evidence to the Divinity of that Religion those ejections of Devils being effected not by the loose devotions of an impious Rabble but by the humble and incessant applications of such who lived in punctual obedience to the Law and justified its holy nature by their lives and conversations these our Saviour takes notice of when the Pharisees reproach'd him with casting out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils when in return to their scandalous Objection he asks them Matth. â—2 27 If I by Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom then do your Children cast them out And from thence carries on an argument to convince them of the falseness of their objection Now if it were true that pious Men among the Jews did by devout Prayers to God cast out Devils and by so doing confirm their Religion because it was certain God would not hear the Prayers of those who should have separated from a Religion of his own Institution if this were so then since Christ liv'd himself in a compleat Obedience to the same divine Law in an Obedience so absolute that he could challenge all his quick-sighted Adversaries to convince him of sin and while he liv'd in such Obedience did the same things with those whom they supposed Holy and Good Men then it must necessarily follow that Christ acted as religiously as They cast out Devils by the same means and acted by the same divine Power as those holy men among themselves did Had he indeed gone about to seduce them from the Service of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob they might justly have exclaim'd against him but he referr'd all the glory of what he did to the same God and appeal'd to him as his Father therefore they could not upon any just reason condemn him as acting by any unlawful ways while they admired their own Children for those very things for which they pretended to condemn Him From this he proceeds to a farther Argument in his own vindication The Devil indeed is strong and powerful and where he gets possession is very Hardly removed If he pretends on foolish Exorcisms to quit his hold it 's but to delude the Ignorant and Credulous and to return at his own pleasure if he be not for that illusion He cannot be stronger than himself therefore He cannot cast out Himself but the Devil is really and frequently cast out and that so as not to be able to return to his former Mansion when he pleases therefore he must be cast out by one really stronger than himself but there is no Being more Powerful than the Prince of Darkness 1 Tim 3.16 except only that God who created him therefore it must be by the strength of that great God that He was cast out Now that our Saviour frequently cast out Devils nay that the very Disciples who followed him and who acted only by a Power delegated from him cast out Devils was plain to the Eyes of all Men therefore both the Master and the Disciples cast out Devils by a Power truely Divine for as our Saviour urges them How can one enter into a strong man's house Matth. 12.29 and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man which He that does must be stronger than He and then He will spoil his goods Thus were those captious Adversaries of their own happiness baffled and thus was the Glory of our blessed Saviour encreas'd for by this means being in the outward Communion of the Jewish Church and asserting the Honour of the same God whom they worshipp'd it must appear plain beyond Contradiction that He really came from God that he was the Anointed of God That Messias upon whose comeing both They and their Fathers had for many ages built their hopes The frequency then of the Devils exercising his Tyranny at that time upon mens bodies gave our Saviour the more frequent opportunities of exerting his own Divinity and so the Devil himself that great Enemy of his appearance was the great Evidence of the truth of that appearance and that by those very means by which he hoped principally to obstruct those benefits flowing from his Appearance so numerous Rebels starting up in several quarters of the Kingdom give a well-arm'd Prince the greater opportunities of becomeing more Absolute than before by those very methods whereby they hoped to have shaken off his Yoke and to have set up a Government according to their own fancies To this Consideration might perhaps be added that this great prevalency of the Infernal Powers about the time of our Saviour's appearance was one certain evidence of that fulness of time in which the Messias was to be revealed since it was a great evidence of the general Deluge of Wickedness which then had overflowed the World so that it was full time for the Son of God to interpose with his Power lest God's anger should have consign'd a generally infected World to his Revenge who waited for it and began to domineer in it as his own but We find the Devil not at all satisfied with those disorders he created in the Bodies of Men but that he was much more Tyrannical over their Souls their better their immortal Part there it was the Image of their great Creator was impress'd there he loved to Tyrannize and as far as possible to deface that glorious original Image and He prevail'd but too effectually The Devil had seduced a great part of the World entirely from the Service of the Creator to himself the worst of Creatures He had set up his own Altars in
our Saviour himself gave it a yet much stronger Confirmation in that he came and demanded Baptism of John and with this particular reason For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Matth. 3 15. Now though I doubt not but our Saviour had a further respect in his submitting to John's Baptism yet I question not but he really meant that that Baptism ought to be regarded as a part of the righteousness of the Law though it were no where prescribed by the Law therefore we may be sure He would not have fail'd in his Obedience to any thing which really was a part of that Law but again neither would he have been exemplary in his Obedience either to the one or to the other had not the Latter had a just and reasonable Foundation in the Former and the Former an authentic and truly obligatory Foundation in the Will of God He shew'd himself too resolute an Enemy to the generality of groundless Traditions any way to teach others to set a greater value on them than they deserv'd Had he altogether slighted it as a thing of no value or of no authority it had been impossible for all the Miracles in the World to have conquer'd those very reasonable Prejudices the Jews must have taken up against him and his Doctrine for having an infallible Assurance that the Law given from Mount Sinai was really Divine and having suffer'd so deeply for their contempt of it as Divine they could only have look'd upon one who came to impeach it though attended with never so many Miracles as an Impostor permitted by Almighty God to tempt them and to make tryal of their steady Obedience to his Law and they had been waâ—n'd of this long before by Moses Deut. 13.1 2 3. If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet or that Dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Now our Saviour being himself God and acting in such a manner as could not but proclaim his own Divinity and being taken notice of by the Jews as so doing they had a great deal of reason to stand upon their guard and had he shewn an open or a secret Contempt of what they knew was Divine that Diâ—honour by such an action accrueing to the God of their Fathers would have made them oppose him justly and to have concluded it impossible that such an Innovator could have been from God much less that he could have been the Son of God But our Saviour's business was by glorifying his Father to draw Mankind to a sense of their own Good and therefore he came not to abolish the Law or to destroy the Law but to fulfil it that is to shew that relation the very slightest Ceremonies in it had to himself and that great design upon which he came into the World to accomplish every thing it related to and to do and to suffer such things as might make all considering Persons plainly apprehend that whatsoever was Typical and Ceremonial in the Law was really consummated in himself at whom onely all such Types and Ceremonies pointed and therefore that it would be unreasonable to expect any other Person on whom their Import was to be terminated While therefore our Lord took this mighty care the more he exalted the Obligation of the Mosaic Law the more exemplary he was in Obedience to it the more reason the Jews had to believe that he could have no ill design upon them and the more justly could he reproach them with that That he honoured his Father Joh. 8.49 but they dishonoured him there was not an Iota or tittle of the Law could or should pass away till all were fulfilled and as to his part in the work he could justly challenge any of them to convince him of Sin and they though malicious and captious enough had nothing to answer to the challenge Indeed they had some Dreams of their own empty and troublesome Traditions which they taught and for their sakes slighted the Moral and perpetually obliging Duties laid upon them these our Saviour cast a just contempt upon and frequently and sharply reprov'd them for and he did so the rather to shew the world what a difference they ought to put between the Institutions of God and the weak and unreasonable Inventions of Men. Now the Yoke of these Jewish Traditions extreamly galling the Necks of the vulgar Jews upon whom their Law-Expounders lov'd to lay heavy Burdens such as themselves would not put so much as one of their fingers to support we find upon several occasions they were ready to receive the Messias with open arms to endeavour to take him by force and to make him a King and to welcome him to Jerusalem with their loud Hosannaes nor could the Chief-Priests and domineering Pharisees without a great deal of malicious Industry manage thâ—se who long'd for Liberty to their own turn Those who were overaw'd and therefore durst not murmure aloud knew well enough they were under the hands of worse than their old Aegyptian Task-Masters and therefore it could be no wonder they should be ready to close with every one whom they thought capable of asserting them into Liberty and yet though their Imperious Task-Masters determined concerning them that that People who knew not the Law were accurs'd that People were not so ignorant but that had they observ'd our Saviour either breaking the Law himself or persuading others that it was lawful for them to do so they would have taken Publick notice of it and at least when they saw Jesus a Prisoner to his implacable Enemies and the great loss they were at for Witnesses against him they would soon have come in and laid him open to his Judges as a Criminal deserving the severest Usage Our Saviour had taken upon him the Office of an Expositor of the Law the People easily found the difference between Him and their common Instructers Matth. 7.29 for he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes he cast away the putid Pharisaic Glosses and he laid open their true Import and Meaning We cannot reasonably question but that among Christ's numerous crowd of Auditors there were at that time as we find frequently afterwards some Scribes and Pharisees or if there were none what he deliver'd was not in a Corner and therefore doubtless they had a full account of what he preach'd but we no where find any offer at a refutation of what he deliver'd in his Sermon on the Mount That Exposition of the Law which he there gave was a perfect Test whereby himself was afterwards to be
good their Assertion That there was no need of Satisfying God's Justice on the behalf of Sinners and therefore that all what our Saviour did or suffer'd was not of a satisfactory Nature and from hence too they endeavour to confirm their Heretical Opinion That our Saviour was not God equal with his Father for that Truth being throughly cleared all the Socinian Chain of Heterodoxies is broken and comes to nothing But They say Christians generally think that Christ suffered proportionably for our Sins Ca◠Rac. §. 6. c. 8. p. 145. or that He underwent Punishments equivalent to what we Sinners should have undergone and that by the Merit of his Obedience he made a compleat compensation for our Disobedience but this Opinion say they is fallax erronea admodum perniciosa it is fallacious and erroneous and of very dangerous Consequence and this they assert upon these grounds Because such an Opinion is not founded upon clear Scriptures and then Because it is repugnant to the Rules of right Reason and when they come to discourse of its not being founded upon Scripture the great ground they go upon is Because the Scriptures testifie that God remits the Sins of Men freely Now this we assert as well as they and are infallibly assured that it 's only by Grace by free and unmerited Grace on our part that we are saved and when we remember that it has been proved by unanswerable Arguments that our Saviour is the Son of God that He is God himself and that He when there was no help left for guilty Mankind according to the eternal purpose of his Will came down from Heaven to Earth and took our Nature upon him only that by what he did in that Nature he might procure our eternal happiness when we consider his eternal Father as acting in agreement with him and for his Son's sake forgiving miserable Sinners and the One willing and the other doing and suffering so much on our accounts when it was impossible we should have any Motives in our selves that might serve to excite so immense a Goodness when we remember all these things we cannot but say that as many of us as have our Sins forgiven have them freely forgiven God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost all concurring jointly in the Pardon and all the Motives procuring that Pardon proceeding wholly from the Deity it self And this Truth will receive yet more light by considering the Import of those very Texts which the Socinians in their Catechism bring to make good their own Opinions so they prove the free Pardon of Sin from that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them we need not here take any notice of another gross Error founded by them upon this Text viz. That by the Death and Obedience of Christ God was not reconciled to the World for he never was angry with it but the World was reconciled to God the World having foolishly forsaken him and being altogether alienated from him by Sin not to reflect any further directly on that Position we find by the Text now cited that God does not impute the Trespasses of those who believe to them but why only because they are reconciled to him in Christ not because he passes by their Trespasses purely on account of his own Will or because of his immediate Love to the Trespassers but it is for the sake of Jesus Christ their Trespasses must have stood imputed to them had they not been reconciled in him but if he particularly procured the Reconciliation of Sinners to his Father then it 's plain enough they were incapable of making any such Reconciliation for themselves and so could not procure the Remission or the non-Imputation of their Sins the reason of which could be no other than their want of Merit for had they had any inherent Merits of their own to plead the same infinite Justice which was concern'd to punish their Sins was equally concern'd to reward their Merits but if the want of Merit hinder'd their procuring their own Reconciliation there must have been some Merit in Christ which was able to effect it and that Merit must have been exhibited on our account and that Merit supplying the Sinners defect must have been satisfactory to divine Justice which otherwise must have fallen upon Sinners while they had no better deserving to plead on their own accounts but if God reconcile the World to himself in Christ and Christ be One eternal God co-essential with his Father what 's done by One is done by the Other and so though the Son merited at his Father's hand the Sinner's pardon yet the Sinner is freely forgiven of God the Son freely interposing between him and Divine Justice and freely concurring in the same Pardon of his Trespasses Again the Socinians prove the Freedom of God's Grace or Favour to us by that Rom. 3.24 25. Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God here we own Free Grace or Pardon or Justification which signifie all the same thing with respect to this passage is plainly and clearly set forth but still this free Pardon or Justification is the consequence of that Redemption wrought for us by Jesus Christ that Redemption is effected by the offering of his Blood that Blood which is of a propitiatory or atoning Nature our Faith in or our certain belief of the infinite value of which Blood is necessary to procure us any good by it but neither would that Faith of ours be necessary nor would that Blood be so intrinsecally valuable if it were no way meritorious nor could Redemption be wrought for us if there were no Price paid on that account for a Prince is not said to redeem a guilty Prisoner when he sets him at liberty without any ransome but he is said to redeem the Prisoner who pays down that Price or undergoes that Penalty which is set on the Criminal's head so our Saviour paid that Price which was set on our Heads without Blood there could be no Remission therefore he gave his Blood for us without Punishment for Sins there could be no acquittal of Justice therefore he suffered to the loss of his Life beside those unknown Sorrows as the Ancient Church has stiled them which his innocent Soul underwent on our account But after this Redemption effected this Propitiation offer'd the Remission of Sins follow'd Now the Punishment of Sins being the effect of Justice and the Remission of them the effect of Mercy this Redemption-Price paid down satisfied Justice and made way for Mercy and therefore that Price so paid down was meritorious and meritorious for us who had no Merits of our own therefore this Remission
the bringing the Son of God to Death who had so terribly over-aw'd and baffled him before were the utmost reach of Hell's impetuous Malice yet that very Death of his gave the infernal Tyrant that fatal Blow which he strove by that very Prosecution to put off that mighty Wound which Hell with all its Stratagems and Strugglings can never recover and this great Event the vanishing of that thick Darkness at that very Instant of his Expiration which before when Nature's Lord was in his Agonies cover'd the Face of the whole Earth the terrible Convulsions of the Earth the Dissolution of mighty Rocks the Rending of the Temples Vail and long buried Saints starting from their Graves as if at that very Instant of their Saviour's Death all the Chains of that King of Terrors had been broke at once with that great Event all these mighty Wonders seem'd to sympathize Now if with these greater and more inexpressible Sufferings we consider all the rest which our Saviour's Life was obnoxious to from his Cradle to his Tomb and withal reflect with due reverence upon the dignity of the Sufferer the distance may not seem so immoderately great as the Socinians would have us believe between the Satisfaction given and the Necessities of those it was given for But further we are to consider that the Eternity of that Death Adam's Sin had laid him open to did not proceed from the nature of the Sin it self for no Crime infinite in its own Nature can proceed from a finite Being but the Eternity of that Penalty annex'd to Sin in Man arises from the absolute Infinity of that God against whom he sinn'd and whose Anger when irreversible must be eternal from a respect to that infinite Goodness and Justice essential to him whereby he had conferred such mighty Benefits upon Man and laid so very reasonable Duties upon him which yet Man had ingratefully slighted and abused Now if the greatness of the Penalty arise from the greatness or immensity of the Being offended then the Greatness and Value of the Satisfaction tender'd in lieu of that Penalty arises from the same Consideration viz. the greatness of that God it 's offer'd to and accepted by and as we believe God to be infinitely Wise and therefore not to be impos'd upon so as with Glaucus in the Poet to exchange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of the greatest consideration for Trifles Gold for Brass so we reasonably conclude That God understands the true Value of that Satisfaction offer'd to Justice in the Sufferings of his Son we are assured that he has accepted of what his Son has done on our behalf therefore we are assured too that what he has so acted for us was and is equivalent to those Punishments we ought as Sinners to have undergone for the Satisfaction of eternal Justice Our Adversaries indeed would persuade us That if we insist so much on the Dignity of the Person suffering we must suppose that Christ suffer'd for our Sins as he was God or in his divine Nature which Supposition would be blasphemous and the Conclusion impossible but by their leave we neither mean nor pretend to any such thing We know and assert that Immortality cannot die and that the Deity cannot suffer yet we believe that He who was and is true God did both suffer and die but we know He that was God took upon him the Nature of Man and therefore though he could not nor did die as God yet that Humane Nature which he assum'd both could and did suffer and die and by that Suffering and Death among other Proofs evidenc'd the Reality of his being Man as well as he demonstrated his Divinity by his continual Words and Actions But now let us consider God condescending to take upon him our Nature that very Condescension alone is of infinite weight we look upon it as a very meritorious piece of Humility for a Soveraign Prince to take upon him the Habit of a Beggar only to procure good for some miserable undeserving Wretches the Athenians therefore long celebrated the glorious Memory of their last Monarch Codrus who put on the ignoble Arms of a private Centinel meerly that he might die by the hands of those Enemies who had been forewarn'd by an Oracle not to kill him by which private Habit assum'd he procur'd the safety of his Country but we never admire much the Humility or Condescension of that Beggar who wears Rags because he has no richer Habits to put on Now had the Son of God taken upon him a Royal Grandeur had he been wrapt in purple ador'd by all Mankind in his Cradle worn the Imperial Crown even in his Infancy or had he taken any other Methods we could fancy to our selves which might have render'd him considerable to the World yet this had been an infinitely greater Humiliation than for a Cyrus or an Alexander or a Trajan or a Constantine or a Tamerlane to have taken upon him the Person of the most contemptible Wretch in the World and for the noblest End It cannot well be questioned whether it was possible for God to take into his Own an Humane Nature or not Humanity it self being the product of his own Eternal Power was as all other parts of the Creation wholly at his command and though God's assuming a Body might be suppos'd enough of it self to render that Body immortal yet we may reasonably be assured that he could make it according to his own good Pleasure liable to Death as well as other Humane Bodies were but the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature being so close and absolute the Humane Nature howsoever submitted to Mortality must contract an infinite Honour and Dignity from thence but after all the Condescension is not a whit the less that he who is God should assume that mortal Nature nor is his Love less admirable who should assume it for our sake or who should stoop so low purely to make up that breach that was between his Father and Mankind but if to this Condescension we add a due consideration of those many Calamities or extreme Sufferings this Humane Nature was all along obnoxious to if we consider the Son of God as he was Man always in a state of Persecution and that carried on by various Degrees to the utmost Extremity and then recollect again that Honour it had contracted from that close and inseparable Union there was between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ such Sufferings in such a Person must be acknowledg'd infinitely meritorious and consequently capable of atoning or satisfying for infinite Guilt though such Sufferings were not Eternal as those of sinful Men are or ought to have been for it 's not necessary that the Satisfaction given for Humane Sins should be of the same kind as if Divine Anger could have been averted by no Method but that of the Lex talionis or like for like but that the Redemption-Price paid for the guilty Prisoner should be of
equal value to those Injuries done by that Prisoner to him to whom that Redemption-Price is paid down as if I take up Goods or Silver Coin of any one for which I my self am wholly insolvent and another undertakes for me to discharge the Debt the Creditor will scarce take it ill if he paid to the full in Gold or Jewels for that Silver or those Goods he had given credit for though the Debt be not paid in kind Cat. Rac. §. 6. c. 8. p. 146. But say They it 's ordinary to say That one Dâ—â—p of Christ's Blood was enough to wash away the Sins of the whole World therefore God must be very unjust to exact so extraordinary Sufferings at the hand of his Son that he should shed so much of his Blood and die at last and so pay a Price for Man's Sin so much greater than necessary We might easily answer this Cavil by saying that an Argument drawn against an Article of Faith meerly from an Hyperbolical Expression is altogether invalid nor is the Christian Church in general bound to answer for every passionate Expression which one of her Sons may use But we may consider further that whereas the reason of the Bloody Sacrifices offer'd by Men in former Ages was to signifie to the World that an Expiation was to be made for the World's Sins and to keep up their hopes and expectations of it and whereas we are assured in God's Word that without Blood there is no Remission though the shedding one Drop of the Blood of the intended Sacrifice be as real Blood-shedding as the drawing out of all is and though one Drop of that Blood of the Sacrifice had as much Virtue and Efficacy in it as the whole Mass could be thought to have yet that was not all that was aim'd at for the Blood of the Sacrifice was so to be shed as that Death might naturally follow on that Action which was not likely to follow on the shedding one or only a few Drops and without this Death the Beast was not fit for Sacrifice so much Blood being required as was necessary to sprinkle on several things in agreeance with which the Blood of Christ too is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.24 the Blood of sprinkling The Blood then shed of old represented somewhat Expiatory but not as it was the Blood of an Animal but as it was the Blood of such a Creature sacrificed on the Altar to that God who was to be atoned so though the Blood of our Saviour in every Drop of it as shed for us was of an infinite Worth yet the Worth of that Blood with respect to us depended on his being Sacrificed or made an Offering for Sin which he could not have been had not his Life been taken away by the pouring out of his Blood before for as we easily apprehend that the fairest Beast design'd for Sacrifice by Men if yet it dy'd alone or accidentally was no Sacrifice but that to make it such it was necessary the Priests should make it bleed to Death So had our Saviour's Humane Nature submitted only to the common Rules of Mortality or fallen by a natural Death he had been no Offering no Sacrifice to God but he really was a Sacrifice and is own'd as such in Scripture therefore his Blood too was to be shed and that so far as to put an end to his Humane Life or the Union between his Rational Soul and his Mortal Body so that the extraordinary Sufferings of our Saviour take not away from the Worth of his Blood in it self but his Blood could have had no effect upon us for the washing away of our Sins had it not been the Blood of our Sacrifice our Propitiation as well as it was the Blood of the Son of God and therefore we own with all Humility and Thankfulness the Goodness of our Lord in offering up himself a Sacrifice for Sin on our account by permitting those Powers to kill him which he could have destroy'd with one revenging Word Nor can we less acknowledge the Goodness of his and our Father who was pleased to accept of that Propitiation for our Sins his Son's Satisfaction for our Debts which he was no way oblig'd to but by the Concurrence of the Divine Love and Goodness of the Father and the Son from all Eternity But from this Doctrine of Christ's making Satisfaction to his Father for our Sins they draw a very unhappy Consequence for they tell us Quod Hominibus fenestram ad peccandi licentiam aperiat aut certè ad socordiam in pietate colenda invitet c. That it gives Men an open Liberty to sin or at least gives them great encouragement to Slothfulness in the Duties of Religion for if Christ has satisfied for all our Sins then we are free from all obligation to any punishment for Sin and therefore there can be no Conditions reasonably propounded to us by virtue of which we should be free from those Punishments or it 's unreasonable that God should still make Practical Holiness a Condition of our Salvation when Christ by his Death has fully satisfied his Fathers Wrath with respect to all our Sins past present and to come This Charge would be very heavy if it were true but would they consider those very Texts they endeavour to confirm this Objection by they would easily see how they confound themselves and slander that Holy Doctrine The Apostle tells us of Jesus Christ Tit. 2.14 That he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works All this we stedfastly believe 2 Cor. 5.15 And that Christ died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our Sins Gal. 1.4 that he might deliver us from this present evil World Eph. 5.27 That he might present his Church to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish We believe Heb. 9.14 that our Lord offer'd himself without spot to God that he might purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and that we are redeemed from our vain conversation not with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot and from all these things we conclude That our Saviour's Sufferings for us were originally design'd to free us both from the Punishment and Guilt of Sin and therefore as we look up to our Saviour as our Priest and our Sacrifice so we acknowledge him to be our Prophet and our King our Instructer and our Governour that he has been our Instructer in all Ages by his Messengers Prophetical and Apostolical and those to this day lawfully entrusted with the
Dispensation of his Word and Sacraments that he is that great and glorious King in perpetual Obedience to whose Commands we are oblig'd to live and without Obedience to whose Commands perform'd according to our ability we certainly merit Eternal Punishment and this power over us as a Prophet and a King we doubt not took its Original from that Sacrifice he offer'd for our Sins in the fulness of time but on account of the certainty of which Rev. 13.8 he was effectually that Lamb slain from the beginning of the World Well then our Saviour in his Suffering paid a sufficient Price to satisfie for the Sins of all Mankind to atone God's anger against them as Sinners and to prevent their eternal Damnation but these Advantages accrueing from his Priesthood and his Sacrifice can only be participated in by those who submit to his Instruction and his Government he purchas'd that Interest in us at a dear rate and the Connexion between the one and the other is indissoluble He therefore that would reap any Benefit from the Sufferings of our Saviour must obey his Directions submit to his Laws do his Will he who acts so must certainly be very perfect in all Religious Duties therefore those who are eternally saved by Christ's Death must as far as possible be perfect in all Religious Duties therefore the true genuine Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction must infer a necessity of Practical Holiness not destroy it thus we see when God appointed the brazen Serpent to be set up in the Wilderness for the relief of those who were bitten by fiery Serpents that brassy Representation had a power sufficient annex'd to it to heal all that were hurt but if any bitten Israelite out of an obstinate humour would not have cast his eyes upon the brazen Serpent though the Serpent had been just over his head he would have dy'd by the Wound because the Condition on which alone the Cure was to be had was annex'd to the appointment of that Serpent viz. that the wounded Person should look up to it Or let us take our view of the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction from another place then we shall find Faith as an originally necessary Condi ion of receiving any Benefit by it and Faith to be true must as necessarily work by Love for if I am cast into Prison as a Debtor and another out of pity to my deplorable state go and discharge all my Debts and receive an entire acquittance of all such Debts for me and in my name this is Love and Kindness and sufficient in the case in the Judgment of all Rational Men but if after all this done and the Acquittance shew'd me and attested I 'll not believe one word of all the matter and to prove I do not believe will continue a Prisoner still though always complaining of the sadness of my own Condition my Friend did enough for me but what am I the better my Incredulity makes my state and condition still as sensibly lamentable as before so whereas by Adam's Transgression all Men are brought into a state of Guilt and all stand as Prisoners under the hand of God justly incens'd against us and are such Debtors to his Justice as unless that Debt be discharg'd by or for us we must be eternally miserable Our blessed Saviour assured of our Insolvency has by himself satisfi'd his Father's Anger he has discharg'd that Debt we stand engaged in to Heaven his whole Gospel is a sufficient Evidence of what he has done for us in it we are acquitted by God the Father from those Punishments we were liable to for the sake of his Son and the truth of that Gospel has through all Ages been sufficiently attested to the World but if after all this we all turn Socinians if we will not believe that our Saviour has really extended any such Goodness towards us and to prove that we do not believe it we slight all those Rules of Holy Living which are given us and resolve with the rebellious Citizens in the Gospel that we will not have this Man to reign over us that we will not submit to his Laws nor acknowledge his Soveraignty his Satisfaction is ineffectual to us and though we groan under never so deep a sense of our natural Misery we can reap no good from that we must therefore believe in our Saviour we must believe him able willing and really to have satisfied his Father for our Debt we must believe that by virtue of that Satisfaction so made He 's able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God in and by him We must believe he 's really able to Teach us and that he certainly has a Right to Command us and when we sincerely believe all these things and that as it was one great end of our Lord's offering himself for us to free us from the Punishment so it was another to free us from the Slavery of Sin so that we should not obey it in the Lusts thereof it will be impossible that we should indulge our selves in Sin nay we cannot confirm the Truth of our profest Faith or make it credible to the World that we really Believe what we pretend to do unless we endeavour as he that has called us is holy so to be our selves holy in all manner of conversation Let those then who talk so freely of the Doctrine of our Lord's Satisfaction who would persuade us that it 's so irrational and pernicious to believe any such thing find out any Arguments from their own Scheme of Doctrine which may serve to enforce Practical Holiness more vigorously than what we have delivered if they can Will They tell us we are oblig'd to it out of pure Gratitude to Heaven bcause God is pleased to forgive us our Sins past freely and to confirm that free Pardon to us by the Death of his Son as if he meerly dy'd a kind of Martyr for that Truth which they make almost the sole end of all our Saviour's Sufferings Gratitude it 's true may operate powerfully upon a generous Soul but the most generous of all would be willing to understand the nature of that Obligation they have to be so grateful and the reasons of it We are then obliged by God's free pardoning of our Sins how do we know he has done so By the Testimony of Scripture that Word of God which is sufficient to instruct us to Eternal Life Well we own Scripture does inform us That our Sins are freely pardoned by God and we should build very confidently on that evidence did not those we have to do with teach us a great deal of Diffidence and show us that such Passages of Scripture are capable of very different Interpretations and that when we think we have a very clear proof of this or another Particular when we come to scan things accurately by our own Reason we find we have none at all for the same Scripture which tells us we are freely pardoned
Mankind are eternally damn'd we conclude their Damnation is the effect of infinite Justice and that they have no more than they deserve and whereas all those who believe in Christ have their Sins pardoned and are eternally saved we believe that the consequence of the same infinite Justice for since Christ has really satisfied for our Sins and his Father has accepted it for us and the Will of God the Father and of God the Son being eternally the same so that the Satisfaction and the Acceptance were of eternal Determination God could not evidence that Justice to us but by making good that Original Contract or Agreement and so by bestowing Pardon and eternal Happiness on all those who believe in his Son and the same Justice is as much evidenc'd in the condemnation of the Wicked because the Satisfaction offer'd by Christ being sufficient to atone for all Sins upon condition that all Sinners believe in him who has so satisfied that sleight put upon the Condition or the Unbelief of the greater part of Mankind exposes them justly to Divine Vengeance as even common Reason teaches us The Socinians tell us as if they were the Privadoes of Heaven that God's Mercy and Justice are both moderated by his Wisdom and Goodness as if they needed somewhat of Limitation or Restraint but why should Justice and Mercy be moderated or governed by Wisdom and Goodness more than Wisdom or Goodness should be managed by Justice or Mercy God's Attributes do not superintend one another but they are all infinite concentred in one infinite Being therefore all equal and no more capable of interfering one with another than God can be supposed capable of disagreeing with himself and whereas we are taught by those Men of Reason that that Justice which is exercised in punishing Sinners is called in Scripture God's Severity his Anger and his Fury if we allow it will they say that Severity in God or Anger or Fury are unjust We know those words are generally understood in an ill sense Severity among Men can admit of no more favourable Character than that of Summum Jus or extremity of Law which is thought to be Summa injuria or extremity of Injustice and Anger and Fury in Men are generally taken for vicious Excesses and such as till a Man can govern or conquer he 's not look'd upon as any extraordinary proficient in Vertue but we hope there are no such vicious Excesses in God therefore such words are made use of only according to Mens Capacities to shew us how very angry God is with Sin and Sinners and yet no more than Justice in consistence with Mercy will allow and to strike a just Aw and Terror upon Men then they who will avoid breaking such or such a Law out of Fear of the Indignation of the Law-giver whose superiour Power and Authority may render him formidable may much more be afraid of breaking the Laws of that God whose Anger is irresistable and whose Justice is inevitable and though there be neither Justice nor Mercy in punishing the Innocent or in acquitting the Guilty yet there is no trespass upon either in pardoning the Guilty when the Innocent Freely and Voluntarily takes that Guilt upon himself especially when the Quality of that Innocent so offering himself is such that the same degree of Punishment or Punishment as heavy falling upon him cannot possibly bring eternal Ruines upon Him as it would upon inferiour Offenders as we often see among meer Men some of so strong and vigorous a Constitution that the same Pains shall scarce disorder them which bring present Death to those of feebler Tempers And if it were no Injustice for the Jewish High-Priests by God's immediate Command to transfer the Crimes of themselves and the People upon the Heads of those Beasts they offer'd in Sacrifice for Sin which Translation of their Guilt they signified by laying their Hands upon the Head of the intended Sacrifice Exod. 29.10 which Beasts were really innocent yet then died for Mens Sins not as in their own nature expiatory Vid. Oughtram de Sacrificiis l. 1. c. 22. but as referring to the Sacrifice of Christ which alone was so in it self then neither was it Injustice in God to lay upon Christ the Iniquity of us all and by so doing to expiate our Sins in earnest though the same Blessed Jesus were Holy Harmless and Vndefiled as we are sure he was Nor indeed could any thing but what was truly innocent be substituted to suffer for the Guilty since otherwise its native Crimes must have needed Expiation whence among other Reasons I conclude Humane Sacrifices abominable to God because all were Sinners and one Sinner could not reasonably atone for another which was no Exception to the Sacrifice of Christ But our Adversaries have their artificial Glosses whereby to put off the plainest Evidences of Scripture that assert His Satisfaction for our Sins for when we are told that our Saviour Died for us that He laid down his Life for Sinners c. they allow no more to be signified by it than this That Christ was a Sacrifice for us in the same manner as former Sacrifices were for those who offered them so that as those Sacrifices were never look'd upon as any Compensation for the Sins of the Offerers neither could that of Christ be a Compensation for theirs for whom he offered himself only his Offering Himself so seems like the others as a certain Condition on which Remission of Sins should be granted But if common Sense may be our Guide the Difference must be very great between this of Christ and all former Sacrifices offer'd by the Jews as generally the Antitype is accounted of a superiour Nature to the Type for tho' Remission of Sins were granted to the Offerer upon his Sacrifice being offer'd yet it was not upon account of that Sacrifice offered but upon account of the Sincerity and Obedience of the Offerer and that respect his Sacrifice had to the Death of the Messias yet to come for though Beasts were innocent there was nothing meritorious in their being sacrificed their Sufferings being involuntary and themselves in a corrupt and insensible state because there was nothing in the ancient Holocausts considerable but their relation to the Messias therefore they were offer'd continually from their first Institution to the time of our Saviour's Death but when the Messias was once come and had offer'd himself knowingly and voluntarily for Sin the former Sacrifices were all effectually to cease and our Lord to offer himself no more than once therefore there must be something extraordinary in that one Sacrifice which was not in others and once offering of that must be more than equivalent to all the former that really and effectually in it self expiating Sin which the others did not and this the Apostle himself urges when he tells us Heb. 9 9â— 11 12. That the Jewish Tabernacle was a figure for the time then present in which were
return to their Obedience to him and he is said to reconcile the World to himself in his Son because He in concert with his Son determined on that means of Pardon and Remission to be granted to Sinners which Sinners themselves could never have pitched on and because Man was naturally backward to his own good but God ever seeking it Yet when we consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a word of Ecclesiastical use and signifying particularly such a Reconciliation as is of Penitents to the Church by which for their Crimes they had been before excommunicated We look upon our Saviour as our great High-priest making that Peace for us and as Penitents are not required to forgive the Church which they have offended but the Church kindly forgives them though Offenders so the World reconciled to God do not forgive God or restore God to their Favour but God by the Sacrifice and Intercession of their High-priest forgives them and restores them to his Favour to which end the Doctrine of Reconciliation i.e. the Doctrine of Repentance is committed to God's Ministers and we 2 Cor. 5.19 20. as Ambassadours from Christ entreat Men that they would be reconciled to God that is that they would turn every one from the Wickedness of their Ways and so be re-instated in his Favour It might seem not very easie to pervert the meaning of Scripture when it calls our Saviour a Propitiation for our sins so St. John 1 Joh. 2.1 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he is the Propitiation or the propitiatory or atoning Sacrifice for our Sins and again In this is Love not that we loved God 4.10 but that he loved us and sent his Son a Propitiation for our sins and so St. Paul Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood c. Now would I fain be satisfied what is the Benefit of our Faith in the Blood of Christ a Faith peculiar extraordinary and indispensibly necessary to Salvation if the shedding of that precious Blood had no effect with relation to atoning or satisfying God's Displeasure justly exprest against our Sins That Christ's Blood had a real intrinsic Value it would look somewhat harshly to deny yet it was not necessary it should have any such Worth to render it capable of confirming the new Covenant mutual Compacts made among the Ancients with the Solemnity of a Sacrifice depended not at all on any inherent worth in the Blood of that Sacrifice nay Cataline's Conspiracy though confirm'd with Humane Blood was not so confirm'd because Humane Blood was of a greater value in it self than that of other Creatures but that by joining at first in so horrid an Action they might desperately conclude it to no purpose to stand out at any Wickedness whatsoever but our Saviour's Blood is particularly preferred in its Worth to Silver and Gold and any corruptible Riches whatsoever therefore must be in it self of infinite or transcendent Worth and that infinite Worth could not but effect some mighty good for us on account of which we were to depend on that Blood nor could the Blood of our Redeemer or his Sufferings be less Satisfactory because God is said to have given him for so he might though our Lord's Humiliation was voluntary the perfect agreement of the Divine Will in the Father and the Son neither detracting from the Father's Bounty nor the Son's Willingness or Freedom so Isaac who was a Type of our Saviour must have been able to have resisted his aged Father when he was preparing to sacrifice him but he did not imitating the Antitype in that very particular of being led as a Lamb to the slaughter yet Isaac's Willingness did not hinder but that had the Solemnity gone on as begun he would have been his Father Abraham's Sacrifice or his Gift to Almighty God as would Jephtha's Daughter too notwithstanding her ready complyance with the Import of her Father's Vow But it 's objected That the Covering of God's Ark appointed to be made by Moses according to the Pattern in the Mount is called the Propitiatory Exod. 23.22 which we translate the Mercy-seat the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same Title by St. Paul affixt to our Blessed Saviour the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was certainly in its original Signification no more than what answered to its position about the Ark that is a Covering or that which clos'd it up on the Top translated by the Word which signifies a Propitiatory on account of that immediate Residence which God promised to keep there from the Cherubims placed on which Covering he gave Answers to the Petitions of his Supplicants thence called emphatically That God who dwelt between the Cherubims from whence it may appear that when the Apostle applies that Word to our Lord of whom that Propitiatory or Mercy-seat was always accounted a Type he means that the Man Christ Jesus was the peculiar Residence of the Deity or as he expresses himself that Person in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily from which Body of his God himself gave his answers of Mercy and Compassion to Mankind and this must necessarily have been if he inform'd his Disciples rightly when he told them He and his Father were One and that whosoever had seen Him had seen his Father also The Socinians seem very willing to own that our Saviour's Passion serv'd to expiate our Sins Cat. Rac. §. 6. c. 8. p. 153. Cum Joannes eum Propitiationem pro Peccatis nostris appellat significat per eum Peccata nostra expiari when St. John calls him the Propitiation for our Sins he means that our Sins are expiated by him but nothing can expiate Sins but what is satisfactory for Sins or what bears that Punishment for Sinners which Sinners themselves should have born hence Expiation is often explained by Satisfying so the Beasts offer'd in Sacrifice were put to death to intimate the Demerits of the Offerers who ought to have died for their own Transgressions hence those Offerings made for the Sins of Men were stiled Expiatory or Purging not as if the Beasts offer'd by Men to Almighty God had any thing expiatory in themselves but they were call'd so on account of that relation they had to the great Sacrifice of our Saviour which really did what they only shadowed out i. e. made a sufficient Satisfaction for the Sins of the World otherwise why should the Apostle tell us that it 's impossible the Blood of Bulls and of Goats should put away Sin since they were appointed by God himself to be sacrificed as expiatory for Sin but that their whole Effect depended on their relative Nature and their Praesignification of that glorious Offering to be made for Men at last it had been only to put a Sham upon miserable Wretches to tell of expiating their Sins by those Means by
habitual Obedience yet he stopt upon none of these Considerations but was for ought we can find by the Sacred Story as ready to be offered as his Parent was to offer him now such a kind of Obedience cannot reasonably be expected from any but a Son nor from any but the best of Sons such was Isaac but as the Burden the Son of God undertook was infinitely greater than what Isaac was concerned in the Eternal Determination of Heaven in respect of Man infinitely harder to comply with so it required a Son more Powerful more Obedient more united with his Father than any Earthly Son could be with the most obliging Earthly Parent therefore there being that Eternal Unity of Will between God the Father and God the Son it was impossible there should be the least Reluctance in the Son against what was resolv'd on for the rescue of Sinners from the Wrath to come and therefore that declining the terrible Hour which appears in his Prayer before his being seiz'd on by the Jews was purely the Effect of Humane Nature necessarily infirm but clearly understanding the Terror of the approaching Conflict and therefore shewing the result of the purest Flesh and Blood yet without Sin Again when we reflect on the Relation between a Father and a Son as it 's very close so their mutual Loves and Affections must needs be very extraordinary and tender this is observ'd and expected among earthly Parents and Children and it's what Nature commands and Religion so far as true obliges to this then must be much more eminent between God the Father and the Son and so our Lord himself teaches us The Father loveth the Son and as the greatest evidence of that intense Love John 3.35 he has given him all things into his hand he asserts the same again The Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that he doth 5.20 which is an Expression of the greatest Intimacy and Unity the same Jesus declares that his Father hears him always 11.42 and the Palmist in the Person of the Father speaking to the Son says Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession and on assurance of this Christ when he reproves St. Peter for using his Sword against those who came to take him tells him he could pray to his Father and he should presently send him more than twelve Legions of Angels from all which Circumstances we may be assured that the Interests of an infinitely Obedient Son with an infinitely Loving Father must be infinite therefore whereas Mens Sins were infinitely odious and that Vengeance infinite which was by consequence to fall upon Men for those Sins there was nothing but an infinite Interest that could possibly by any means whatsoever divert that Vengeance and this infinite Interest was proper to God the Son that is to such a Son as was at Unity nay was One with his Father from whence it is that we are taught by the Rules of Christianity and a Socinian himself will scarce contradict it to present all our Prayers to God in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ so whereas our Lord teaches his Disciples Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name John 14.13 14. that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son if ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it 16.23 26. he afterwards varies thus In that day ye shall ask me nothing Verily verily I I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Hitherto ye have askt nothing in my Name ask and ye shall receive that your Joy may be full which two Texts compared together shew the absolute Prevalency of the Name of the Son of God with our Heavenly Father and the absolute and indissoluble Union of the Father and the Son so that it may properly and without any thing like a Contradiction be asserted that what One does the Other does and what the Father grants for the Son's sake that the Son grants nor can any thing of an Heavenly Nature be granted to Mankind but by the Deity so united in it self by which Consideration all inferiour Intercessors between God and Man are excluded from being in themselves the Objects of our Religious Adorations because there can be no such adequate Unions of Persons between them nor any such absolute Power or immediate Interest in such inferiour Beings as there can be no reasonable Competition of Interests between a Son adopted out of Commiseration and an onely begotten and universally loving and obedient Heir as then the Interest of a Son with the Father was necessary for Humane Redemption so it was necessary that God the Son particularly should assume our Nature to do and suffer for us in such a measure as we might be redeem'd upon acceptance of the proper Conditions from Eternal Destruction Finally the Tenderness of the Son oft-times shews it self when the Gravity and just Severity of a Father seems inexorable to an Offender yet even then when the Father seems of himself and otherwise would be inflexible to the Criminal he is pleas'd to see the Tenderness of his Son and will frequently encourage and accept of his Intercession so if we may compare small things with great our Heavenly Father deals with us in respect of the Intercession of his Son and though Justice cry'd out for Vengeance against Sinners he was particularly well pleased when he saw Him cloth'd with Flesh for accomplishing that great Work of Mercy and Goodness he was pleas'd at his Interposition between the Criminals and impendent Punishment and since the Divine Nature was wholly incapable of flexible Affections nothing but unbounded Love Mercy Justice c. concentring in it the Apostle teaches us that our incarnate Lord our great High-priest was such an One as could be affected with our Infirmities Heb. 5.7 8 9. could have compassion on the Ignorant and of them that are out of the way who in the days of his flesh when he offer'd up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Though he were a Son yet he learned Obedience by the things which he suffer'd and being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that believe the Assumption of our Nature created in him a sympathetic Tenderness of Humane Infirmities as appear'd by his Tears over Jerusalem and at the Grave of Lazarus yet he was free from all Sin in those condescending Tears of his now he that had such extraordinary Compassion for miserable Sinners could not but exert the utmost of his sacred Interests on their behalf and make a free access for them to the Throne of Grace where such Obedience Interest and Compassion being indispensibly necessary for our Good and those Qualifications being naturally
merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the Sins of the People or to atone for them i. e. to reconcile God to People that had sinned for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted There remains nothing more on this Subject to be done but to draw a practical Inference or two from our Apostolical doctrine that God was manifest in the flesh or that He who really and eternally was God took upon him humane Nature for the Salvation of Mankind From hence we should learn a just Admiration of that transcendent Love and infinite Compassion extended to us by God the Father in sending by God the Son in being sent to and condescending to come among us Words are too weak to express the mighty debt of Gratitude we are engaged in to Heaven on that account only Actions may in some measure express our Acknowledgments let us not conceit our selves exempt from the Condition of the rest of Mankind We lost our original Innocence we were precluded from Paradise from tasting the Tree of Life by Cherubims and a flaming Sword whan could we then hope for We were created happy we forfeited it too too easily what could we afterwards pretend to But God however provok'd by the eternal Intercession of his Son had reserv'd Mercy for us therefore he allow'd Mankind a time and space of Repentance Repentance was the sole possible Condition of Eternal Happiness Repentance invalid yet and unfruitful in it self had it not been render'd acceptable by the Blood of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World the Truth of what I do assert in this particular appears from the Song of the four Beasts and the twenty four Elders when they adored this Lamb of God and prais'd him in the name of the Saints Thou wast slain Rev. 5.9 and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation those so redeemed from all parts include all Persons dying in the true Faith of God from the beginning of the World some of whom we find mentioned and prais'd for our Example in the Eleventh to the Hebrews and therefore when St. John afterwards gives us an account of those who received the Seal of God on their Foreheads he first reckons up 144000 of the Tribes of Israel a certain for an uncertain Number but after them he tells us he saw a great multitude 7.9 14. which no man could number of all nations and kindred and people and tongues who stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and with Palms in their hands of whom and what they were when the Apostle enquired of one of the Elders he received this Answer these are they which came out of great Tribulation and have wash'd their Robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb now this numberless Number of happy Souls mark'd by Heaven for its own represents all those walking and dying in the Fear of God through all Ages for Tribulation was the Characteristic of a pious Man before God was manifest in the Flesh as well as afterwards but they had all their Robes wash'd in the Blood of the same Lamb therefore that Blood was effectual for Man's Salvation and render'd all their Religious Performances of which Repentance was a chief acceptable in the sight of God before such time as it was actually and openly shed upon the Cross That Mankind might be apprehensive of their Duties and be as certain in their Repentance as they had been in their Miscarriages God who had given them all the Providential Encouragements possible to serve him faithfully and willingly was pleased to send his Messengers from time to time to call them to Repentance so Enoch by the transcendent Holiness of his Life which doubtless was accompanied with as edifying Instructions preach'd Repentance to a World even so early grown old in Sin so Noah for an Hundred Years together preach'd Repentance to a perishing Generation after the Renewal of the World again from that Stock purposely preserv'd in the Ark Prophets and Holy Men were frequently inspired by Heaven and sent through the World on the Reforming that too rarely successful Errand nor were they so wholly confin'd to Israel the Lot of God's own Inheritance but that they sometimes deliver'd Messages to the adjacent Gentiles so Obadiah to Edom Jonah and Nahum to Nineveh c. this was certainly an Effect of wonderful Compassion that a God so justly offended at Humane Crimes should have any respect to them or use so many Methods of bringing them to a Sense of their own Errors and that Misery attending them but what measure did those Messengers meet with the same with those Servants in the Parable whom their Lord sent to the Husbandmen to receive of the fruits of his Vineyard some were beaten some wounded some murder'd all slighted and disregarded Yet to evidence his Love further God when he observed how unsuccessful his Ambassadours had been He sent his Son the Conclusion was rational they will reverence my Son but the Event was contrary even that Son by foolish Husbandmen was cast out of his own Vineyard and cruelly murder'd And was not that senseless Barbarism too much was it not too much to affront Mercy so notoriously would we thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise that we are ill would it become those now who call themselves Christians to trample under foot the blood of the Gospel-Covenant to crucifie to themselves afresh the Lord of Life and to put him once more to an open shame Did he come down from Heaven to Earth from Glory to Misery to save us and shall we be so much Fools as having a Prize put into our Hands not to have Hearts to make use of it shall we refuse to be saved by him nay shall we not Love him shall we not Admire him shall we not Adore him shall we not obey him in all things shall we not be ready to suffer all that Hell and wicked Men can invent to our prejudice rather than forsake his Truth or dishonour his Gospel Reason would teach us these things for they who have received the greatest Favours ought to repay them with the greatest Gratitude but alas we generally discourse to senseless Walls or try our Charms on deaf Adders for who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed The Leopard may sooner change his Spots or the Negro his Skin than those who are inured to Wickedness be persuaded to relinquish it by the most cogent Arguments in the world but how base and ridiculous does it look that Holy Men of old could live upon God's Promises of redeeming them that in confidence of his Veracity in a full and strong Faith in his Goodness they could account themselves but Pilgrims and Strangers here on Earth and by religious Lives and
Actions prove to the World they were in quest of a better Countrey and yet We who have seen the Performance of those Promises they depended on their Obscurities all cleared their Certainty vindicated We who are beset with such a Cloud of Witnesses cannot cast aside every Sin and the Weight that does so easily oppress us and run with Joy the Race that 's set before us Were we Bond-slaves to Hell and has the Son of God struck off our Chains and Fetters and do we love them still is Light come into the World and can we love Darkness rather than Light were we all liable to eternal Vengeance and has our Lord redeemed us with his own most precious Blood from the dismal strokes of that Vengeance and shall we not believe in him that has alone trod the Wine-press of his Father's Wrath for us We were Sinners we were Enemies we were foolish and obstinate Enemies yet the Son of God that great Shepherd of the Sheep came to seek and to save that which was lost and can we be his Enemies still who was so much our Friend I 'm sure whatever corrupt Nature may tempt us to it would be wretched Policy in us to reject what he has done for us the wicked Husbandmen kill'd their Lord's Son indeed but it was to their own Confusion the rebellious Citizens refus'd to have their rightful King reign over them but it was to their Destruction the First or Primary End of our Saviour's Coming was that Men might be saved but if Men foolishly neglect that End there is a Secondary Design in it that those who still continue in Sin may be without Excuse that they may have nothing to plead for themselves at the great Day but that the Justice of his Wrath against Sin and Sinners may appear to Men and Angels Where an Ambassadour of Peace is sent and slighted the Dignity of the Ambassadour aggravates the Contempt the Apostle therefore having in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews demonstrated the Dignity of Christ and proved his pre-eminence to Men and Angels who yet after the several Methods God had formerly taken to reveal himself had in those latter days spoken himself to the World makes this rational Deduction from all Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we hear in the name of Christ Heb. 2.1 2 3. for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience receiv'd a just Recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirm'd to us by them that heard him If we repent not at his Call if we submit not to his Admonitions nor lay hold on his Grace we must not please our selves with empty Dreams of entring into his Rest there remains now no more Sacrifice for Sins His indeed is sufficient to those who believe in and obey him but for those who obey not the Truth there remains nothing but Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to every Soul that doth Evil let his State and Condition be what it will this Wo I hope all those who profess Christianity will endeavour to avoid and that all those who name the Name of Christ that glorious saving Name will depart from Iniquity If our Saviour be the Son of God if he be God himself infinite and eternal and yet humbled himself and took upon him the Form of a Servant for our Redemption if it were absolutely necessary that he who undertook so great a Work should be real God as well as real Man or else must have sunk in that prodigious Attempt it behoves all those who expect Salvation by his Name to adhere to this Doctrine to believe in Christ as he is set forth to us in Sacred Writ that is as God co-equal and co-essential with his Father I would to God the Caution were needless There were some Hereticks in the Ancient Church who would needs maintain our Lord was not true Man had only a phantastical Body but not real Flesh and Blood as we have others as it were to ballance them would assert our Saviour was a meer Man and no more that he was not real God nor his Love to us nor his Undertakings for us so great as we are ready to conclude God's Blessing upon the Labours of the Governours of the Church in those days crusht the growing Heresies and they bequeath'd to us a Faith undeprav'd unchanged nor had the Trent-Conventicle an Opportunity to propound their additional Articles of Faith till besides the Eastern Churches God was pleased to raise up Men in these Western parts of the World of extraordinary Piety and Learning and Industry who had rescued the genuine Christian Faith from Fraud and Obscurity to give it us so as the Ancient Christians had left it without Additions or Alterations by which Cares they prevented the malignant Designs of the Roman Church but as the Devil will always be sowing his Tares of Heresies and Falshoods among the good Wheat of Divine Truths so with the Reformation of Religion besides the bloody Severities of Romish Bigots several of the ancient Heresies were reviv'd and particularly that which denied the Eternal Divinity of the Son of God which as it walk'd about formerly under several Names so it has of late though as the Presbyterians and Independents the other day in spite of former Feuds are pleased to give themselves the painted Title of Vnited Brethren so those wretched Hereticks however at odds among themselves agreed in the gay Name of Vnitarians under which Name Turks and Jews come as well and properly as they if they could be true to their own Principles They unite indeed all in that one impious Error in denying the Divinity of our Saviour a Heresie detestable to every sober and intelligent Christian a Heresie proper only to introduce Deism and Sadducism and to thrust true Evangelical Christianity out of doors This all those who love their Religion ought to oppose and declare against with as much Zeal and Care and more than they would against the foulest Errors of the Roman See for though there are so many Falsities and Absurdities propounded to us in that Communion yet there 's nothing flies so directly in the face of Almighty God as this it 's Folly enough to believe the Bishop of Rome Christ's universal Vicar upon Earth but it 's a greater Stupidity to believe that Christ himself is no more truly and originally God than that pretended Vicar it 's Idolatry to pray to Saints or Angels and to make them the ultimate Object of our Adorations it 's greater yet to make a meer Man the Object of the same Devotions and to suppose him a made God and capable of doing every thing for us we beg at his hands though he were no more but a Creature as others at his first existence it 's Madness to believe that
Saints or pious Men may have a Surplusage of Merits such as may not only serve themselves and their own Necessities but accommodate others who were defective in themselves but it 's yet a greater Madness to believe that the Son of God had no Merits and was able to purchase no Pardon for our sins by his Sufferings or that by dying for our Sins he was unable to satisfie his Father's Displeasure against Sinners the Mischief and Falshood of such Opinions I have proved at large in the former parts of this Discourse yet God in his Wisdom and for the Tryal of those who can adhere stedfastly to the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus is pleased to permit these Errors to be divulged and defended and propagated with a mischievous Diligence by Men of mighty Names and Interests who presuming upon the present Indulgence assume boldly to vent and spread those Poisons they were forc'd to conceal within their own Breasts before Time was when by the just Judgment of God upon the Laodicean Temper of the generality of Christians Arianism got strength and clouded all the native Glories of the Church of God it was then when as St. Hierome says the World stood in amaze to see it self grown Arian at once God grant the Plague of Socinianism be not permitted to infect the Church of England with as fatal a Success that those Damnable Heresies wherein the Lord who bought us is denied gain not among us too many Proselytes and Patrons too they have indeed their oyly Words their plausible Arguments their extraordinary pretences to Morality and extremity of Confidence yet could they never hope to prevail did they not observe the extream Debauchery and Loosness of the Age they consider the Principles of solid Religion as generally slighted the lazy Humours of Men as little careful to enquire into the Nature of Doctrines propounded but ready either to sink into down-right Atheism or to take up with the first Scheme of Religion that may come to hand Men aim more at eminence in what they abusively call Wit than at serious Piety and therefore subtil watchful Hereticks pretend only to reduce Religion to the Rules of Reason i. e. of their own Reason who have started so many Impieties though the Reason of all Mankind beside themselves appear in contradiction to them as if a company of Opinators who neither value their own nor others Souls were to fix their particular Sentiments as the only Standards of Sense and Truth when indeed they have only the Fucus of Sophistry to make a shew of easily observ'd by those who stand upon their watch and are willing to be certainly convinced of the Truth of things before they entertain them There are others besides Papists who are only Wolves in Sheeps clothing and by how much the more venerable Name they assume to themselves by so much the more dangerous they are Every Man is ready to stand upon his guard if he fears being attacqu'd by a Roman Priest or by a pragmatick Jesuit but who would suspect that any of those who pretend to Tenderness of Conscience and a superfineness in Religious matters should blaspheme God the Son or God the Holy Ghost who would imagine that those who dare call themselves Sons of the Church of England nay Attendants at her Altars Hers who particularly declares against these very Heresies in those Articles they are oblig'd to subscribe and to defend should so affront their Sacred Mother and go about to seduce her Children from her sound and wholesome Doctrines But if Apostolick times could be pester'd with such False Teachers we may expect worse Measure upon whom the Ends of the World are come but above all what can be more astonishing than that those who pretend so great Good Will to our Sion should charge the Practice of our Church in praying equally to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and proposing the Creeds of Constantinople and that call'd by the Name of St. Athanasius as guilty of Popery and those things as Reliques of that Idolatrous Religion Popery is a hated name and those who would have any thing hated need to fix nothing more odious upon it but if it be Popery to believe that our Saviour is the Son of God that he is God that by his Sufferings he has satisfied for our Sins and now sits at the right-hand of his Father making Intercession for our Sins God grant we may live and die in that Faith since our Case is such take heed how you hear or what you read let none deceive you with vain Words you have heard and read the Truth and if now or hereafter We or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than what we have preached in this particular Let him be accursed and again Let him be accursed Amen FINIS A TABLE OF THE Principal Heads IN THIS DISCOURSE THE Design of the present Discourse Page 1 Socinian Endeavours to change the Text answered Page 4 A Mystery what Page 12 Doctrines may be Mysterious tho' revealed Page 13 Humane Reason enquired into as used in Religious Matters 1. It s original Excellence Page 19 2. It 's very much impair'd by Man's Fall Page 21 3. It 's yet sufficient to convince us of a general Necessity of Religion Page 25 4. Well employ'd it meets with Divine Assistance Page 32 5. By Exercise it grows more knowing and comprehensive Page 38 6. Yet it 's not compleat till the Future Life 's attain'd Page 44 Deductions from thence 1. God's Goodness to be admired because it continues us a discursive Faculty useful towards Salvation Page 47 2. We should use our Reason in Matters of Religion with all Humility and Sobriety Page 55 The Necessity of Enquiring into our Lord's Divinity no breach upon that Humility or Sobriety Page 63 The Text further explained and The Mystery of Godliness prov'd not applicable to the Gospel or God's revealed Will. Page 66 Not applicable to God the Father Page 68 The true Meaning of the Text with the subsequent Instances laid down and applied to our Saviour Page 73 And Paraphrased Page 79 I. The First Position then laid down That the Foundation of Christianity is indisputably Great and Mysterious and that prov'd necessary 1. By the World's universal Agreement that Mysteries both fundamental as to Faith and externally essential as to Rites are necessary in Religion Page 83 Rites among the Jews mystical by God's Appointment Page 94 Those of the Gentiles the same naturally Page 96 The first Design and Mystery of Sacrifices Page 98 The Devil imitating God and why Page 107 Sacrifices yet not believed sufficient to appease Heaven by any Intrinsic but only by a Relative Virtue Page 108 Our Saviour intended not the Abolition of every thing Mysterious in Religion Page 113 Mens Sentiments about the true Ends of Religion before our Lord's Incarnation enquir'd into Page 114 Those of the Jews Ibid. Those of the Gentiles Page 119 The Ends of Religion
how depraved By the Jews Page 127 Sadducees what and their Opinions Page 129 Essenes what Page 131 Pharisees what and how character'd by Jews Page 133 By the Gentiles Page 140 Their Philosophers what Ibid. Things essential to Religion unchangeable Page 145 Therefore the Law of Regular Nature neither changed by Moses nor our Saviour nor any thing as essential added to them Page 148 And therefore Mysteries not taken away either in Faith's Foundation or Symbolical Rites Ibid. Advantages of Religion founded on Mysteries 1. From them Men learn the Imperfection of their own Reason Page 160 2. Fundamental Mysterious Truths the distinguishing Characters between several Religions Page 168 3. Mysteries in Religion create a due Reverence for it Page 177 The Conclusion from all That Mysteries are essential to Christianity as well as to any other Religion Page 190 It 's then Essential to Salvation to know Christ is God Page 193 Scripture conclusive of it Page 201 II. Jesus Christ was truly and properly the Son of God Page 209 This prov'd 1. By the Promises and Predictions concerning his Birth c. Page 219 Several instanced in Page 221 c. Christ expected by the Gentiles Page 234 2. By the Manner and Circumstances of his Birth Page 237 3. By the Doctrines of himself and his Minister Page 259 The gentle and peaceful yet prevailing Nature of his Doctrine Page 267 Scripture prov'd the Word of God to Deists Page 283 God necessarily perfect in all his Attributes Page 287 His Love in particular Page 289 Which obliges him to reveal his Will to those intelligent Creatures from whom he expects Obedience to it Page 294 Scripture such a Revelation of his Will and has all requisites in it Page 299 III. Jesus Christ the Son of God was God equal with his Father Page 309 Prov'd 1. By the Old Testament Page 311 The first Chapter to the Hebrews occasionally cleared Page 315 2. By the New Testament Page 324 3. By Actions done by himself in Person or in his Name Page 381 By himself while on Earth Ibid. By his Apostles in his Name Page 400 4. By the Faith of the Ancient Ante Nicene Church Page 409 Fathers alledged Greek Clemens Romanus Page 411 Ignatius Antiochenus Page 415 Justine Martyr Page 420 Irenaeus Lugdunensis Page 425 Clemens Alexandrinus Page 427 Origen Page 430 Latin Tertullian Page 439 St. Cyprian Page 447 Arnobius Page 452 Lactantius Page 457 Zwicker alledges Socinus rejects the Ante Nicene Fathers Page 462 Why the Fathers suppose a Difference between God the Father and God the Son Page 466 The Confessions of the Ante Nicene Councils Page 470 The Judgments of Eusebius and Constantine the Great Page 477 5. By the generally allowed Practice of Praying to our Saviour he is prov'd true God Page 481 Vnder this Head is prov'd 1. That all Worship terminating on any but the One True God is Idolatry Page 483 The Ancient Notion of Idolatry Page 486 Vnitarians divided about Worshipping our Lord. Page 496 Their Vindication reflected on Page 515 2. That Christians worshipping our Lord are no Idolaters Page 518 Therefore our Lord is True God Page 536 The Summary of the precedent Discourse Ibid. The Filiation of the Son of God enquired into Page 541 The Racovian Lushington's Account and that of Thoughts on Sherlock c. prov'd insufficient Page 542 Therefore a Necessity of Eternal Generation Page 550 IV. It was necessary that God the Son should be Incarnate Page 562 1. That he might destroy the Works of the Devil Page 563 He was Tyrannical over Mankind 1. With respect to their Bodies Page 566 Possessions by the Devil not bodily Diseases Page 567 The Devil permitted to possess Bodies 1. For Tryal of Faith and Patience and to excite the greater Longings for a Messias Page 573 2. For the Glory of the Incarnate Son Page 577 2. He was Tyrannical over Mens Souls corrupting them 1. With false Interests Page 583 2. Violent and unreasonable Prejudices Page 588 3. Prodigious and unaccountable Laziness Page 592 A Second Reason why the Son of God was Incarnate 2. That he might repeal the Mosaic Law by a just Authority Page 595 The Law of Moses though Divine yet repealable prov'd 1. By its general Import it being wholly Typical and referring to somewhat Future Page 601 2. The Ceremonial Law was not essential to the Being or Well-being of a Church Page 610 3. God always put a great Difference between the Ceremonial and the Moral Law Page 617 Hence necessary that the Repealer should be equal with the first Maker of that Law Page 625 3. The Son of God was Incarnate that in our Nature He might fulfil the whole Law for us and give us a compleat Example of Holiness and Obedience Page 632 God's Mercy not diminished by what Christ merited or suffered on our behalf Page 639 Crellius his Notion of Infinite Justice considered Ibid. Justice in God no hindrance to his Mercy and vice versâ Page 645 Christ's Sufferings Proportionable or Equivalent to our Demerits necessary Page 646 Satisfaction consistent with free Remission Page 652 Christ not necessarily to suffer Death Eternal his Temporary Sufferings sufficient and equivalent to what was our Due Page 658 Why so much of Christ's Blood shed as to procure his Death Page 666 Our Lord's Satisfaction no Encouragement to Sinners Page 668 But a greater Encouragement and Obligation to Holiness than the Socinian Hypothesis Page 674 Confest by the Defender of the Unitarians Page 676 Christ a Real and Effectual Sacrifice for us Page 688 Christ's Obedience in his Exinanition not necessary but on our account Page 707 His Sacrifice Expiatory Page 722 Compleated before his Ascension Page 724 His Dying for our Sins prov'd positively Page 731 From the Circumstances of that Death Page 738 Otherwise His inferiour to the Sufferings of Martyrs Page 739 God the Son therefore necessarily the World's Redeemer because that Redemption was 1. An Effect of the greatest and Divinest Love Page 758 2. It required the greatest Interest in God the Father and the greatest Tenderness toward Mankind Page 761 3. He who made all things was fittest to restore them Page 767 The Image of God not founded in Dominion of Man over his Fellow Creatures Page 768 The Conclusion of all in two Practical Inferences 1. We learn from the whole to admire God's wonderful Love and Compassion in condescending so far to us as to be Incarnate and to die for us Page 772 2. We ought to adhere constantly to that Faith by which we believe Jesus Christ our Lord to be the Eternal Son of God true God himself and the Propitiation for our Sins Page 778 Places of Scripture more particularly Explained and Vindicated GEnesis 3.1 2 3 4. Cain and Abel's Sacrifice Page 98 3.15 I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman Page 607 18.2 Abraham stood still before the Lord. Page 311 32.28 Jacob wrestling with the Angel called Israel Page 313 49.10 The Sceptre
so to believe also in Him But now if without believing in Christ eternal life and happiness cannot be obtain'd and that be saving Faith which is fix'd on Him and if we be reasonably commanded to believe in him and yet true saving Faith cannot be fix'd in any but in God alone then it will follow that Christ must be God the true the Supreme God and it will follow too that it 's indispensibly necessary that all Men should know he is God that they may know in whom it is that they believe that he is the proper object of Divine Faith and able to answer all the expectations of Faith For otherwise as a proposition may in it self be true and yet I may be a lyer when I swear it is true because I know nothing of its being so So though Christ may be in himself the true God yet I am an Idolater for worshipping him as the true while I know not that he is indeed the true God And St. Paul acquits not the Athenians of Idolatry in consecrating an Altar to the unknown God tho' that God unknown to them was the same God whom he preach'd unto them Nor will that of the Apostle St. John be easily avoided where having before told us We know that the Son of God is come 1 John 5.20 and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in Jesus Christ he subjoyns This is the true God and Eternal Life These words if we interpret them as they lie and they seem to have no figure or Hyperbole or foreign relation in them may pass for a very plain Text to prove that it concerns no less than our Eternal Salvation to know that Jesus Christ is the true God and this Interpretation gives the clearer reason and stronger Emphasis to his following rule v. 21. Little Children keep your selves from Idols If then our Lord's design was to procure Man's everlasting Salvation a right and certain knowledge of that on which Eternal Life depends cannot be impertinent to our Lord's design And if to worship God according to his declared Will be the purpose of every one that embraces Christianity exclusively of all other Religions he that thinks it necessary in his worship to distinguish between these respects due to a meer Creature and those Honours belonging to the Creator cannot miss his purpose or lose his labour and He who by solid proofs drawn from clear and pertinent places of Scripture makes his Faith in this particular rational cannot easily incur any extraordinary danger though without so doing he may incur a fatal hazard and thus we come to a direct discourse on that Particular where these things will be more fully considered Having concluded the first words of this Verse Without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness to signifie to us the concurrence of the Christian Faith with the Worlds general vogue in relation to Religion and that Mysteries great and obscure are very necessary to the perpetuation of that Faith and rend'ring it venerable among conceited and presuming disputants it cannot be unuseful to discourse on the first instance the Apostle makes use of to illustrate the Mystery of Godliness or of the Christian Faith viz. God's manifesting himself in the flesh or appearing and showing himself to humane eyes cloth'd in humane nature for though God manifests himself a thousand several ways in his works of Creation and Providence where his Truth Justice Mercy Power Wisdom c. are notoriously evident to diligent observers yet all these manifestations of himself are at a distance and such as though they give us a very fair Idea of divine Goodness as in himself yet conduce little to Humane happiness while Men reflect upon themselves as miserably degenerate from that original excellency they were created in and as such who have extremely abus'd all those evidences of God's power and influence upon the World which have been given for restraining them within due bounds and making them submissive to a superiour Law such reflections teach Men to look upon themselves as in a ruinous state fit subjects for eternal displeasure and of themselves wholly incapable of satisfying divine justice or retrieving forfeited happiness and upon God onely as a severe Judge and powerful revenger of whom they could onely conclude that he would vindicate his own honour upon those that injured it and punish those to extremity who had not duly improved those overtures of himself which he had made in his visible works What Man in such a case might wish for is easie enough to conjecture He that 's falling down a precipice would bless the Hand that would save him from death and he that 's going immediately to execution would be overjoy'd to hear of a pardon so would almost despairing wretched sinful Man do wish for some proportionable power to interpose between himself and vengeance But such a power onely could be in God and yet so great a benefit could be procur'd for Man onely by such an adequate satisfaction to God's anger as could be given by a Man Here Humane conceptions were entirely at a loss the universal imperfection of their nature they plainly understood and so the impossibility of meer humane satisfaction they easily found it was no created being it was no mere man though strengthened by Divine assistance nay it was none of those pure and happy Spirits who attend on celestial Ministrations that could stem that prodigious tide of immense wrath therefore God himself must interpose but how Infinity should be confin'd how He who grasp'd the Universe in his hand should stoop from Heaven for the sake of those who had affronted his goodness before how He should condescend to assume Humanity the necessary Medium of peace were Mysteries too great for Man to fathom and Hopes too large for guilty souls to please themselves with but what was so very obscure to Man was plain and easie to the Almighty and when the time of his redeem'd was come when he look'd and there was none to help Isay 63.4 5. and wondred that there was none to uphold then his own arm brought salvation to the World It was then in that absolute fulness of time when sins and miseries and anger were at the height and all things seem'd inevitably running to eternal destruction that God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law from those burdens and that death to which they were enslav'd to stop the fatal final sentence then ready to be past God himself was so made manifest in the flesh In relation to which great action we shall assert That Jesus Christ the Messias appearing in our Humane nature or cloth'd with flesh and blood was really the Son of God That the same blessed Jesus was God equal with his Father or really and truly God as well as real Man That it was necessary that
to effect our Salvation God and particularly God the Son should assume our nature to himself We shall make some deductions from these Considerations We assert then That that Man call'd Jesus Christ and reputed the Messias or the Saviour of the World who appear'd in our nature was really indeed the Son of God It 's he whose Genealogy we have in Scripture descended according to the flesh from the Royal Line of the House of Judah the true and legal Heir of David's sacred Family whose birth into the World as it was mean and despicable so it was very publick and unquestionable We find his actions set down at large in the Gospels and Him according to their history a Man of a blameless life and conversation and of inexpressible condescenscions and goodness we observe him going about and doing good the proper character of a great Person in the Country of Judaea healing Diseases casting out Devils forgiving Sins and that not by a precarious or surreptitious power but by a really supreme inherent Authority of his own We meet with him afterwards accus'd by Jews condemn'd by Romans and according to their Law crucified between two Thieves on Mount Calvary buried by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus rais'd again in a stupendious manner conversant among several Persons who were his Companions and admirers before talking eating and drinking with them forty days together and afterwards in publick view lifted up above the Clouds beyond the utmost reach of humane Eyes this Man call'd Jesus Christ by the Writers of all these things was really the Son of God He that would recommend a new discovery to the World gives a considerable advantage to its reputation by the extraordinary worth and merit of the Author and therefore whereas the Gospel or the glad tidings of salvation were the newest and most glorious discovery the World was capable of and though the most welcome to a declining Age yet with all the most incredible it was incumbent upon the first divulgers of it to recommend it upon the wisdom and power of its founder The reputed wise Men of old to render them more venerable to the multitude were wont to derive the first Originals of their great Benefactors from the Gods But never was any benefit conferr'd on any place or Person by the kindest Patron which could stand in competition with that which the blessed Jesus conferr'd on the whole World therefore never could any such publick Benefactor be with equal reason deriv'd from Heaven with him From thence therefore the inspired Writers deduce his Pedigree too as well as from David and tell us boldly that that great Man whose praises they celebrate in their Writings was indeed the Son of God which they assert not in a Metaphorical sense as the Psalmist calls Rulers and Governours Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and ye are all of you Children of the most high As the Angels are stil'd by God himself in his question to Job Whereupon are the foundations of the Earth fastened or who laid the corner stone thereof When the Morning stars sang together Job 38.6 7. and all the Sons of God shouted for joy as believers are stil'd by the Evangelist As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 1 Joh. 3.2 And again Beloved we are now the Sons of God But the holy Writers make him the Son of God in a plain literal sense as Seth is call'd the Son of Adam being begotten of him as Isaac of Abraham as Solomon of David or as we generally understand the word in our common expressions of the nearest Relations declaring him so the Son of God begotten of his father before all worlds in contradistinction to creation But it would not have been enough to satisfie the world in the truth of that extraordinary original for them to assert it for tho' men value great discoveries according to the credit of their Authors yet the weight and greatness of the discoveries make them nice and curious in their disquisitions about them that they may not be impos'd on for how wretched a disappointment would it have been for a whole world to be big with the violent expectation of a Saviour to be throughly sensible of their own necessity to have a company of men boldly publish to them that the expected Saviour was really come and qualified suitably to those wonderful expectations they had of him and yet to find nothing but a sham or an imposture at last a Bar-cozbi the Son of a ly instead of a Barcochab the Star that should have risen in Jacob as the unhappy Jews were deluded at last In such a case Men are wont to look for clear and uncontroulable evidences of the authority of the discoverer and had not God himself afforded such to the world in relation to the descent and original of our Saviour it would scarce have been reconcileable to infinite justice to have condemn'd the world for not believing on him Nor would Almighty God have made use of those effectual means to satisfie humane doubts had he not himself judged it highly rational that those creatures of his for whom he intended so great a good should receive entire satisfaction in the truth and nature of that good bestow'd In the evidences of his being the Son of God lay all the strength and weight of his Doctrine and the validity and efficacy of that Repentance preach'd by the Apostles in his name had he after all those glorious pretences been one of an inferior rank there never had been so great an Impostor in the world as Christ nor such frontless cheats as his Apostles nor such abused besotted bewitched Creatures in Nature as the Christians in all ages have been Therefore to vindicate both their own Credit and that of their Master the Evangelists in their writings first appeal to the common knowledge of those who liv'd at the same time that Christ convers'd on earth at which time had what they published been false it would certainly have been quickly confuted by the interested Jews and Romans For the Jews who saw themselves expos'd under the characters of the most obstinate and ingrateful infidels in the world and the Romans who saw themselves traduced as tools in the hands of their own vassals to carry on the most barbarous and unreasonable cruelties would certainly have vindicated themselves to the utmost against their slanderers could they have found any flaws in those things they delivered yet the Jews never went about to deny the existence of Jesus the supposed Son of Joseph nor the reality of those mighty works perform'd by him but rather to shew the possibility of all those things tho' Jesus were not the Messias wherein they were easily baffled and the Gentiles endeavoured to confront his Miracles by the pretended wonders wrought by Simon Magus and Apollonius Thyanaeus and so to depretiate the Messiah's
Obedience uninterrupted and universal at least it must be said He 's very unkind for He who can forgive and as Socinus asserts does forgive all our Sins without any Satisfaction tender'd to his Justice might as well forgive us without putting us to the trouble of informing our Minds or regulating and restraining our Actions for we cannot easily give any reason why he should exact such Duties of us as Conditions of our Salvation when if it pleas'd him he could give us Salvation without any Conditions at all If it be objected that He has declared otherwise in his reveal'd Will and it's Justice in him to be true to his own Declarations that Plea again reduces all to perfect Arbitrariness and he will be irrespectively Merciful merely because he will be Merciful and he will be irrespectively Vindictive merely because he will be so which things seem somewhat to contradict our common notion of Justice That it does suum cuique tribuere give to every one what 's due and proper to him We believe more safely that God lays those Duties which yet we are unable to perform in that perfect manner we ought upon us that they might be as continual Remembrancers to us of that Satisfaction which he really requires at our hands for could we perform all God's revealed Will without any failure either in Time or Circumstance God's Justice would be otherwise satisfied and employ'd wholly in distributing Rewards among us but since when we take the utmost pains our Duties are either at one time or other essentially or circumstantially sinful therefore we our selves ought to conclude some such Satisfaction necessary as may make up for our unavoidable defects and since we are assured by God's Word that One has undertaken that Work who was every way capable of performing it we are obliged in gratitude to so great a Benefactor to endeavour after all that Holiness and Perfection how little soever it is that we are capable of and we are oblig'd to do it for our own sakes because it 's no way reasonable those should be Partakers of any benefit from Christ's Satisfaction who do not perform those Conditions upon which only that Satisfaction can be any ways beneficial to us To this we may add yet further That if God can forgive Sinners without Satisfaction made for their Sins without any derogation from his Justice how merciful soever God may seem to Mankind yet he seems wholly to have forgotten all that Mercy with respect to the fallen Angels for if no Satisfaction was needful for Sin why could not their Maker forgive their Transgressions too without it as well as Men's there might have been a thousand Means doubtless found out to confirm a Covenant of Grace with them as well as that of the Death of Christ to confirm the same Covenant with Men but it seems God would not so forgive them though he could they could offer no Satisfaction for themselves therefore they are eternally and immediately damn'd these Conclusions are necessary and inevitable from Socinian Principles but in themselves are detestable and damnable But what the Socinians fail to effect by God's Word they make no doubt of making good by dint of Reason in which they look upon themselves as wholly invincible Here then they assert That if Christ have made Satisfaction for us and that suitable to our Necessities then Christ must have suffer'd the pains of Eternal Death because Mankind by Sins were liable to such Eternal Death but here we may observe that they fasten upon that single Instance of Christ's Sufferings viz. his Death in the matter of Satisfaction for Sinners onely whereas our Lord was a continual Sufferer on that account from his first Condescension to take our Nature upon him to his Crucifixion and I make no question but what he underwent when he bore humane Infirmities when he was in that bitter Agony in the Garden when he cry'd out upon the Cross My God My God why hast thou forsaken me I make no question but his Sufferings in those Instances were much greater than what he underwent in Death it self and so the very Story of his Passion represents things in relation to those latter Scenes of his Life on Earth for what prodigious Cause must we imagine there was that he declar'd to Peter and the Sons of Zebedee Matth. 26.38 My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Soul is compass'd round about or even overwhelmed with Sorrow for so the Original imports In his Agony in the Garden what through a clear Apprehension of that dreadful Task he was then to set about more immediately what with the Fervour and Earnestness of his Prayers to his Father either that if it were possible that Cup that bitter Cup he was then to drink might pass from him or that what he was then suffering might be truly effectual to that great End for which he suffer'd Luke 22.44 his Sweat was as if it had been great drops of blood falling down to the ground the Terror of his instant Sufferings to that Flesh and Blood he had assumed as well as the Strength of his Enemies and the greatness of the Conflict he was then engaged in might be the occasion of that stupendous Sweat for experience tells us that Fear opens the Pores of the Body and emits as grumous Sweats as the most earnest Intention whatsoever of the Body or the Mind and the Angel appearing to Christ in the Garden and strengthening him seems more necessary with respect to those Terrors ready to seize on Flesh and Blood engaged in mighty Sorrows and oppressing Woes than meerly to re-inforce that Earnestness in Prayer which the greater the Danger is so long as the Soul is consistent with it self will naturally be the more earnest and importunate for Assistance or Deliverance His Sufferings yet seem to work more violently upon him when he comes to that bitter Cry My God My God why hast thou forsaken me why dost thou seem to hide thy Face from me and to leave me wholly to the barbarous Cruelties of wicked and malicious Men the Complaint was more natural and carried with it a greater Emphasis when proceeding from that Son of God that onely that beloved Son in whom he was well pleased so far his holy Soul seems to be upon the rack but when he receives his last bitter Draught and owns the mighty work as well as the Types and Predictions relating to him were finished the Storms that ruffled him before seem to sink into a Calm and he breath'd out his Sacred Life with those charming eruptions of unbounded Love Father forgive them Luke 23.34 for they know not what they do and those full expressions of absolute Satisfaction in what he had undergone Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit v. 46. Our Lord's Sufferings ended there and there with his dying Breath he rais'd to himself the first Trophies of his glorious Victories for though