Jews in his Nature and Power with making a parallel between the Father and himself the more because he useth not a pronoun relative but possessive not the Father but my Father my father worketh hitherto and I work not the Father that is a Common Father as God is to all but my Father in a most special and true manner who hath communicated his nature unto me Now that equality with the Father he on another account doth insist upon but he doth not in the least go about to shew that he made not himself equal with the Father which certainly he would have done if it had not been true and only a mistake in them and thereby he could have calmed their rage on the contrary he speaks to confirm this equality of his with the Father upon the account of his divine power manifested in his works one whereof upon occasion was the restoring the impotent Man that had the infirmity for 38 years to the use of his Limbs and perfect Health which none could deny to have been done by a divine Power Now none but God can have a power equal with God for God's power is infinite but that of any Creature is finite and so there is no equality between finite and infinite this equality of Power and Working is here clearly demonstrated For what things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise That is the Father doth nothing but what the Son doth also and this he instanceth in the case of raising the dead which none but a Divine and Infinite Power can Effect For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will That is without exception he can do what he will now 't is an Attribute of God Psal 115.3 and 135.6 to do what it pleaseth him in Heaven in Earth and in the Sea Because the Jews believed not our Saviour to be more than a Man he in the exercise of his Prophetical Office went often about both in his Discourses and Works to insinuate into them that he was God and in this place he presses it much upon them both by what I already said and by what he addeth in v. 22. The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son and the end which in so doing the Father and he in declaring it proposed unto themselves is this that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father as the Son in Nature and Power is equal with the Father so he ought equally to be honoured or worshiped as the Father is and this Divine Honour is so equally due to both that he which honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father for the Father cannot and will not be honoured that is worshiped without him for honour rendred unto God is the same as religious worship The Son must be honoured in the same nature manner and degree as the Father is One would think this to be plain and clear enough beyond all exception yet they Cavil thus the word as doth not import an equal honour but only a likeness and this they go about to confirm out of two places the first is every man that hath this hope in him 1 Joh. 3.3 1 Pet. 1.15 purifieth himself even as he is pure the other is but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation We answer first in the Text of Peter the word as is not sicut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but secundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a Preposition not an Adverb The word as doth not always signifie a similitude but some times is a Particle of Causality thus in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.14 the glory as of the only begotten That is because he is the only begotten of the Father So in another place 2 Cor. 3.18 We all are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the same spirit of the Lord. Sometimes the word like signifies equality 2 Pet. 1.1 thus the like precious faith not only of similitude but of the same nature equally precious In the two objected places and in our Text there are indeed duties expressed but different in that of John here 't is in relation to God in the others as to our selves the first doth regard the worship of God the other holiness in our selves in our Text a parity and equality is implied which is not in the others the difference of the sense is grounded upon two things First of the scope of the spirit of God in those places Secondly of the Analogy of Faith To know the scope of the Text we now are upon one must go back to verse 18. the cause of the Jews hatred and seeking to kill our Saviour was because he made himself equal with God which he to shew they had no cause to take exceptions against it as we said before proves it by an equality of power in raising the Dead and of judging the world As to this last he goeth further for he saith the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto him but what doth all this aim at The scope is to the end that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father God the Father will have all men to honour his Son as they honour him without any difference because his Son is equal with him and this affirmative is strengthned with a negative for he that honoureth not the Son Josn 14.1 honoureth not the Father so that to honour one is to honour the other and one cannot well honour the Father except he equally honoureth the Son this is the true sense of the place We ought to honour the Son in the same sense and manner as we must believe in him that is as much and as well as we are to believe in the Father that is to put our whole trust and confidence in the Son as in the Father so all the honour both in quantity and quality which we render to the Father must be given to the Son Now as to the Analogy of Faith that is that this sense doth not contradict but well agree with other Scriptures it appears out of this the Great Commandment and Duty of Man is as our Saviour saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matth. 22.37 Mark 10.27 with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength None but the true God the God of Israel is so to be loved obeyed and honoured And is not our Blessed Saviour thus to be beloved and honoured Love is the true Ground of honour We ought to love Christ before all things that are near and dear unto us Matth. 10.37 38 39. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me◠is not worthy of me he
by the Prophet was foretold should come to his Temple how the Temple is the place for Adoration and the Lord of the Temple is to be adored and the worship proper for God is due to him We are equally baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost for in the words of the Institution and form of Administration there is no other difference but of order the names are jointly used without any sign of distinction as to Nature or Power all three are therein called upon there being in them an equal Majesty and Authority I read how in the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21.22 the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it yet but one Temple as they are but one God But that men were in the practice as by the institution they ought to be baptized in the name of Christ it appears out of what Peter said to the new Converts be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 2.38 where we see he takes notice only of Jesus Christ not to exclude either Father or Holy Ghost but strongly to insinuate into their minds and hearts how Christ was their God Lord and Saviour which to Preach and perswade was his great end and this he would have them to make open profession of in their being baptized in his name whereby he shews the necessity and comprehensiveness of Christ's name used in the administration of that holy Sacrament and the end thereof is for the remission of sins that is to obtain pardon of sins yea and to receive the gift of the holy ghost So when the Centurion's family was baptized Acts 10.43 chap. 19.5 1 Cor. 1.13 't is said only they were baptized in the name of the Lord. The name signifies the authority of the Lord which in this case Paul was so much concerned for upon the occasion of the contentions that were among the Corinthians which makes him so sharply expostulate with them were ye baptized in the name of Paul This point must needs be one of the highest importance in our Religion seeing he is so earnestly concerned as to say I thank God I baptized none of you c. and he gives his reason for 't lest any should say I baptized in my name Whence we may conclude that to baptize in the name of Christ is one of the most fundamental points of Christian Religion and I think it a rule and practice highly commendable in those Churches where in baptism the word name is prefixed before every one of the three persons thus I baptize thee in the name of the Father in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost distinctly pronounced to prevent the abuse of some wretched Socinians which by reason of the affinity which in some Languages the words name and none or not have do confound them and to baptize in the name of the Father not of the Son not of the Holy Ghost Then it is Essential in baptism to have it administred in the name of the Son as well as of the Father wherefore John who by reason of this office is called Baptist did it not in his own name on the contrary declared himself but a Minister when he pointed at Christ and said I indeed baptize you with water but he that comes after me and is mighter than I he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and with fire as if he had said his Servant can administer only the outward sign but the thing and grace signified he alone can give Hence I conclude that Christ in our being baptized in his name is by us therein worshiped as our God equally with the Father Here they make a difficulty because 't is said the Fathers were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud but that signifieth not to be baptized in the name and authority of Moses but to be settled in the faith to be given to Gods word spoken by the Ministery of Moses Exod. 14.31 Joh. 5.45 46. so they are said to have believed the Lord and his Servant Moses Thus our Saviour saith Moses in whom ye trust and believe so they have Moses and the Prophets that is the Law and Doctrine of Moses When God saith a thing tho but once we ought to believe him as if he had confirmed it many times because in some places things are said which seemed to have been left out in others Another particular is we hope and trust in Christ Matth. 12.21 We hope in Christ Isa 11.10 Rom. 15.12 Ephs 1.12 13. 1 Cor. 15.19 in his name and in his name shall the gentiles trust as it had been Prophesied of long before in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people to it shall the Gentiles seck hope and trust in him for mercy As 't is by St. Paul explained in him shall the gentiles trust among others such were the Ephesians for saith the Apostle to them That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ if we must believe the same Apostle not only in this life but also in another to come we must and do hope in Christ or else we are of all men most miserable that is we cannot he happy except we hope in Christ for indeed that hope is the ground of all our Comforts and in that hope whereby we manifest our dependency upon him we own him to be he from whom we expect all manner of help and relief in our necessities for in him are all our Springs we hope in him for all and from him we expect all manner of good and therein we worship him as the Author and Fountain of all the good we receive and hope for now to trust in him is not only our duty but also our blessedness and happiness Psal 2.12 for blessed are all they that put their trust in him which is spoken of Christ the Messiah Now if he was a meer man far from being Blessed they would be Cursed for a dreadful Curse is thundred against any that trusteth in man Thus saith the Lord cursed be the man that trusteth in man Jerem. 17.6 and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. These three several expressions signifie the same and go together for to depend upon the Arm of Flesh for Wisdom Strength and Help is to must in Man and whosoever trusteth in Man his heart departeth from the Lord it is incompatible to trust in God and in Man and the heart is not to be divided one of the two it must adhere to for to both it is impossible Wherefore in this same place as we see a Curse against Man-Trusters so there is a blessing for those who trust in God verse 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Here again we meet with detestable Socinus and his jugglings God saith he proclaimeth a Curse
express Image of the Father's Person because in him through that eternal Generation is expressed the whole Person and Glory of the Father for which Image of God he is called the First-born of every Creature that is begotten before there was any Creature and so from Eternity as in the Form and Nature of God to be equal with God who otherwise hath not and owneth none equal to himself 2 Sam. 7 1â— In these high and divine matters Men must not presume beyond what is written and revealed in Gods Word nor wrest the Delign of the Spirit of God or force an unusual and contrary sense to the words of the Text but we ought to keep our selves within the bounds of that holy reverence which becomes us in the contemplation of the Majesty of God In these very things Hierom as said before was very cautions about acknowledging three Hypostases in the Deity because he thought the word to denote substance When God was upon withdrawing the Spirit of Prophecy from among his People Chap. 4.4 he by Malâ—câ—y the last of the Prophets commands them to remember the law of Moses his servant So now when the Apostles immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost ceased so long since men should wholly acquiesce to the sound Doctrine which those Servants of his Son Jesus left for our use and instruction wherein we learn how God hath revealed himself and communicated his own infinite fulness unto his Creatures in all of them immediately by his own Son first in the creation of all things secondly in their providential disposal and rule thirdly in the revelation of his Will and Ordinances fourthly in the communication of his Spirit and Grace in none of which is the Person of the Father otherwise represented unto us than in and by the Person of the Son for the whole end of the Gospel is 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Tim 6.10 1 â—oâ—n 4.12 to give knowledge of the glory of God in the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ that is the glory of the 〈◊〉 visible God whom no man hath seen Now in that forenamed Prophecy of Malachy the same Chapter and two last Verses the coming of the 〈◊〉 which had often been prophesied of before is again promised yea of the Lord himself who then was and had been from all Eternity but was to come only at such a time which is called the great and dreadful day of the Lord for against the appearing and long before of that Sun of Righteousness all those Stars the Prophets were to disappear one only excepted like the Morning-star before the rising of the Sun Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord By whom the Lord Jesus is meant as John Baptist is by Elijah so called because he came in the spirit and power of Elias for both were endow'd with a fervency of Spirit which made them spare neither Kings nor People And the Evangelist makes use of the words of the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children Luke 1.17 compared with Matt. 11.14 Mark 9.11 12 13. That same Lord whose coming with such Concomitants as great and dreadful was Jehovah himself the God of Israel whose words tho' in his state of humiliation were so conspicuous glorious and great as he in one particular said himself to the man out of whom he had cast a Legion of Devils Return to thine own house Luk. 8.39 and shew what great things God hath done unto thee And the Evangelist who in the beginning of the Verse relateth Christ's words to the man doth in the latter end of the same declare what the man did And he went his way and published throughout the whole City how great things Jesus had done unto him he did it in the same words how great things only instead of God he said Jesus so that Jesus was the God that had done great things unto him This was in the Land of Judah where no other God but the true God of Israel was own'd and worshipped so the Lord Jesus was that same God whom the Father from Heaven calls his Son which is the Name mentioned Phil. 2.9 that is above every name and this name more excellent than any given the Angels Heb. 1.4 he hath obtained by inheritance not by favour according to what saith the Apostle for the name by him designed is that of Son of God Thou art my Son with the exegetical adjunct of his generation This day have I begotten thee Acts 13.33 which words Paul doth apply to the Lord Jesus This day of Eternity after the manner of time spoken in relation to God with whom are no parts of time as with Men past present and to come With God are not days but only one day which had no beginning and shall have no end It was never said to any Angel personally upon his own account Thou art the Son of God much less with the reason of the appellation This day have I begotten thee so in that place the Apostle doth not speak of the general Name of a Son but of the particular appropriation thereof unto the Lord Jesus upon his own account When the Apostle saith he is the first-born the thing it self is not meant of being the first begotten but the Dignity and Privilege that attended it Psal 89.27 Thus God saith of David I will make him my first-born explained in the later part of the Verse higher than the Kings of the carth Thus among Men one may say I will make such a one my First-born or my Heir which is the Privilege attending the Birth-right This is Christs Title by Nature and not by Office anointing was a Ceremony used to make and declare a King but that anointing made him not a Man for he was so before So the Lord Jesus was God before he was Christ CHAP. XI Some Animadversions upon a Book called Christianity not Mysterious WHAT I said somewhat before concerning Reason puts me in mind of a thing I promised about the middle of my Discourse namely to take notice of a Book with the Title of Christianity not mysterious wherein the Author undertakes to shew there is nothing in the Gospel or in our Religion against or above Reason And tho' I have hardly any room left yet to be as good as my word I must briefly say something to it We agree with him against all human Authority contrary to the Word and own Scripture to be the only competent Judge and allow of our Reason as long as it draweth out of that Spring and not otherwise Let us be sincere and avoid Ambiguities there is true and sound Reason whereof the Word of God is the right and standing infallible Rule for the Will of God is the measure of all Truth and Equity and our Reason to be Reason indeed must be guided by that or else it doth deviate from the Rule There is also that
their Chappel Doors also Men were sent thither to watch who went in and out to give an account of it And if we well look into the thing in hand we may find it is like to be of ill and troublesom Consequence for the Party in question is of a Nation which when once they have been in possession of a thing will willingly never part with but for ever lay a claim to 't when this Man is gone his Successor will according to their Maxim never fail to pretend to Two Chappels and this will be a Precedent for other foreign Popish Ministers to lay claim to Two for if one hath it why not another Which may happen to engage us in some Difficulties Besides that here common People love not to see unnecessary Popish Monuments and God knows whether or not at one time or other may not into their Head come some fancy of being rude besides those are Meeting-places for Papists to plot against the Government which Inconveniencies I humbly conceive it were both Piety and Prudence betimes to prevent and upon this Motive only with Submission to Superiors I speak of it though Blasphemy be the thing I now chiefly aim against Yet both Idolatry and Blasphemy are the two greatest Abominations of all in the sight of God for which he destroyed the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and overturned the Assyrian Babylonian and other great Empires And to come home to the Toleration of those Two transcendent Wickednesses among others I think we may chiefly attribute the cause of the heavy Chastisements which make the Nation uneasie and he is very blind that doth not see and insensible that takes no notice of both I mean Sin and Chastisement and I most humbly beseech God to avert from us that terrible Threatning by his Prophet for at least we are as bad as those whom 't is directed to Isai 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed What a matter of unexpressible Grief is it for true Christians to see in a Nation an Incorrigibleness under great and many Judgments as we read enumerated by the Prophet and withal the greatest of all a Hardness of Heart as if the Anvil should say to the Hammer strike as often and as hard as thou wilt Amos 4. from 6. to 12. I will never be the softer Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord Men will consider neither God's Work nor his Word the Dispensations of his Providence nor his Ordinances the Workings of God nor the Words of Men the Prophet's Counsel is worth following by every one in his station Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Lament 3 40. In comparison of the utter Destruction of Jerusalem and Judah our Chastisements here are but like Whips instead of those with Scorpions but let us have a care lest we hear Isai 5.25 for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still We have been threatned with Insurrections and Invasions the danger is not over we have Enemies at home and one potent crafty and faithless at our Doors a Nation as bitter hasty Habak 1.6 and insolent as ever the Chaldeans were God hath made use of them to chastise others and so they are a Rod in his hand when he pleases against us and besides I tremble at the reading of this Threatning Zech. 11.6 for I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land saith the Lord but lo I will deliver the men every one into his neighbours hand and into the hand of his late King who very likely would prove a tearing and furious Lion broke loose out of his Den full of Hatred and Vengeance However we must fear God more than them for 't is usual when Men fear any thing more than God that very same thing doth befal them and if they walk contrary unto God Levit. 26.28 then saith the Lord I will walk contrary unto them also in fury which Fury is a consuming Fire and knowing therefore the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 saith S. Paul out of a consideration of a Judgment to come we would persuade men who generally act out of fear of Punishment more than out of love to that which is good If Men should hold their peace the stones Luke 19.40 saith our blessed Saviour would immediately cry out for God never wants Instruments but can and doth fit them for his Work and never leaves himself without Witness We read how he rebuked Balaam for his iniquity 2 Pet. 2.16 the dumb ass speaking with mans voice forbad the madness of the prophet much more doth God make use of Men whom he hath endu'd with Reason and the knowledg of himself and of his Grace whom he will have not to halt between two opinions if Christ be God follow him if he be not follow him not To deny the most holy Trinity and our Saviour's Divinity is as much as in a Man lieth to go about to pull our Religion up by the very root and quite to overthrow it Yet Men are concerned to know that Religion is the Basis and Foundation that bears up and supports the Civil Government The true Church of God shall at last be seen truly to uphold the State seeing the World it self stands and shall continue only till the Number of the Elect be filled up and then it will come to an end in the mean while without Rewards and Punishments no Society whether Civil or Ecclesiastical can stand any long time Seeing the most holy Godhead it self is stricken at all are concerned to know who are the detestable Wretches that made themselves guilty of so impious an Attempt The Devil hath his Instruments of several sorts which concur with him in that wicked Work those Achans the Troublers of our Israel are some among us which upon the account of Novelty Acts 17.21 always like the Areopagites in Athens spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing Others out of a vain Glory or Affectation of Singularity and Self conceit of Learning Others whom the Father of Lies hath disposed ever to oppose the Truth Some others that have been perverted by the Conversation and Books of such Seducers wherein that Poyson as I hope I made it clear is through Sophistry spread in a specious shape and plausible manner and to suffer such Books stuffed with Blasphemies to be imported and here printed and sold publickly is dangerous and against Law Others of a bold and confident Spirit are ready to own any thing and some others out of different Motives but all out of ill Principles But withal here we have a Generation of Men openly allow'd who as much as their Predecessors are violent and bitter Enemies to the Lord Jesus I mean the Jews who are used not to be wanting in their endeavours to
same place of Exod. v. 15. God whom we ought to believe saith this is my name for ever which elsewhere he confirmeth p Isai 42. â— I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another So then that Name God accounts to be his Glory and that Name he would not give the Angel we have spoken of before in whom God said was his Name except he was his true Son and partaker of his Nature this is by another Prophet q Jer. 16.21 confirmed I will cause them to know mine hand and my might and they shall know that my name is the Lord and by another r Hos 12.5 even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial what follows is worthy of a most serious consideration Å¿ Psal 83.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth so then if God speaks truth Jehovah is his Name alone and of none else Another Prophet is not silent upon the matter t Amos 5.8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and makes the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his name One thing more I add how after the People had seen the Fire of the Lord fall upon Eliah's Sacrifice and consume it and all round about they fell on their faces and said the Lord be is the God 1 Kings 18.38 39. the Lord he is the God Who after these plain and convincing Evidences can be so much a Child of the Devil I mean a Lyar as to deny the Name Jehovah to be God's proper Name and consequently deny Christ who is Jehovah to be the true natural God By Jehovah and Jah is primarily denoted the Essence proper only to God whereby God is understood to have his Being of himself and to be efficient principle in a way of Excellency of all other Beings and the Name was not altogether unknown before Moses for in that place v Exod. 6.3 the Question is not properly or formally about the Word but the Thing as of the Unchangeableness of the Divine Truth and of the Deliverance of his People The Jewes are so scrupulous about the Word that they would not have it pronounced but with some change of Letters they impiously give a magical Virtue to the Characters whereunto they attribute all Miracles done by our Saviour the Name Schaddai signifying God's Self-sufficiency is also incommunicable but 't is of Attribute as the other of Nature They cannot deny that Christ or the Son is called Jehovah wherefore they betake themselves to another Shift which is to deny the Name to be incommunicable for say they it is attributed to Angels and to other things as unto the Mount where Abraham would have sacrificed his Son to Jerusalem and unto the Ark As to the first 't is not to be understood of any created Angel but of that Angel whom we proved to be God truly and properly whom the Name doth belong unto in a proper sense When spoken of the forenamed things 't is not to be taken as a Name but as a Commendation Testimony Sign and a Symbol as if one should say There John liveth there James reigneth by a kind of Metonimy used in human things when the thing contained is put for the containing as to the Ark when Moses saith q Num. 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered he doth not speak to the Ark a material Creature unable to hear and of it self to move but to Jehovah who had his Seat in it Of this we can have no surer Interpreter than David who saith r Psal 132 8. Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the ark of thy strength the Prayer is directed to God not to the Ark which were Idolatry the Ark doth neither rise nor return but after the manner of Men it is attributed unto God So in another place Å¿ Ps 68.1 Let God arise let his enemies be scattered besides these words of Moses were spoken when the Ark was upon a motion or at rest wherefore it had been improper to say to the Ark Rise when 't was going on and Rest when it was fixed so it must be to God who had appointed it there to manifest his special Grace or Glory Thus the Name Jehovah is consider'd either relatively or absolutely the first when joyned with some thing as we said of Jerusalem and of the Ark not to be absolutely but relatively understood as Jerusalem the City wherein Jehovah dwelleth God's Worship was tyed to the Ark for there as promised he spoke with Moses t Exod. 25 22. Levit. 16.2 1 Sam. 4 4 the second when God takes that Name to himself u Exodus 20.2 I am Jehovah or the Lord thy God and x Isai 42.8 Whose name is Jehovah the Lord of hosts Thus Moses and People say in their Song y Exodus 15.3 Jehovah is his name and that according to the Etymology which is as said from a word that signifies is hath been and herein we can agree with Crellius shall be which properly denoteth the Essence not generally but specially an infinite eternal Being existing of it self Now this figurative way of speaking in this kind is often used in Scripture whereof the following Text * Psal 24.5 6. is a considerable Instance This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob where Jacob is put for the God of Jacob to seek the Face is a Duty relating to God not to Jacob or any Man pressed upon us in the Word for the Psalmist not being satisfied to have said Psal 105.3 4. Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord he addeth this Command reiterated Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore 'T is then a Duty which God requireth of us for he saith * Psal 27.8 Seek ye my face and the obedient and dutiful Soul answereth My heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Hence it appeareth how this religious Duty to seek the Face is not directed to Jacob but to the God of Jacob who in the latter end of the foregoing Verse is named the Lord God of our salvation Thus after this figurative way of speaking the Name Jehovah is spoken of the Mount and of the Ark which are Jehovah no more than Jacob was and therefore when God's most holy Name is concerned Men must not be so rash as to fancy and vent their profane Notions and attribute unto any Man or other Creature whatsoever that which God hath reserved as proper to himself Tertullian tells the Heathens how their Philosophers called the Maker of the World by the Name the Word Second The Word which agrees with what S. John saith * John 1.3
the meaning of a Text and we give an Interpretation different from theirs this Interpretation of ours ought to be grounded upon some other place of Scripture and we have reason from them to expect the like for neither they nor we must be Judges in our own Cause and Scripture ought to be explained by Scripture But a great general Fault in them is to force a sense upon the words that is contrary to the scope of the place and to the Analogy of Faith and to give unusual Meanings and different from the whole course of Scripture as we made it appear in several places and yet give no good reason for it nay sometimes none at all They must pardon us if we have no such implicit Faith as to take their bare word though they boast never so much of their strength of Reason We now know better than to approve of the old Saying Magister dixit ergo verum the Master said so therefore 't is true indeed in relation to our great Lord and Master we agree to 't but not so when 't is apply'd to any Man or Sect whatsoever We see by experience how commonly in these things one Depth calleth to another and when once Men are fall'n in into a wrong way the longer they go in the farther from the true one Hence it is that Errors in Judgment are attended with others in Practice That People that think they know all will also believe they can do all things as they are of opinion nothing is or can be above their natural Reason so out of Self-Love and Conceit they will easily be perswaded that nothing is beyond their natural strength Thus as they can easily know what God is so as easily they can do what he commands and such Pharisees will not question but that they may fulfil the Law they can repent and believe if they please for all such Free-Willers are of that mind yet of so many Instances I shall bring but one wherein the word of God doth confute and confound them indeed 't is one if not the main about Mens ordering their Carriage and Conversation in the whole course of their Life 't is called Steps for as we are Pilgrims and Passengers in this World so our Actings therein are in Scripture expressed by Walking Now our Adversaries will say their Actions are guided by their Reason against which I bring two Evidences without exception Father and Son both great Men and both in several things Types of Christ the Son of God for David saith * Psal 37.23 The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord And Solomon declares †Prov. 16.9 A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Reason indeed subservient to Revelation and guided by Faith is a good Companion but postponing or putting first last and last first and altering the order of things is in these contrary to true Religion The Prophet knew better than so when he said ‖ Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps But these Matters of Grace I elsewhere discussed somewhat at large A Plea for Free grace against Free-will wherefore now I shall not engage in it Only in relation to what a little before I spoke about Comparisons I shall say how though we must lay no stress upon them in Matters of this nature nor screw up Consequences for divine from human things by reason of an infinite disproportion between them Yet notwithstanding that Disparity to convince some sorts of Men even among those natural things God hath not left himself without Witness in relation to the great Mystery about God the Father and God his Son grounded upon a Comparison drawn from the Sun and its Beams First the Sun in relation to the Beam is of it self and the Beam of the Sun so is the Father of himself and the Son of the Father Secondly as the Sun in order of Nature is before the Beam but in time they both are co-existent so is the Father in order of Nature before the Son though in Existence both co-eternal Thirdly as the Sun without Diminution or Division of its Substance or change in its Nature produceth the Beams so is the Son begotten of the Father Fourthly as the Sun cannot be seen but by the Beam no more can the Father but by and in the Son Fifthly as the Beam is never separated from the Sun nor can the Sun be without the Beam no more can the Son be from the Father nor was the Father ever without the Son Sixthly as the Beam is distinguished from the Sun so that the Sun is not the Beam nor the Beam the Sun so it is between the Father and the Son Notwithstanding the infinite Disparity in it this Comparison I have chosen as the most sit and proper to illustrate that adorable incomprehensible and incomparable Mystery after what the Apostle said of it when alluding to the Sun he calls the Son * Heb. 1.3 The brightness of his Fathers Glory The next thing I am to do is to shew how true divine and incommunicable Attributes do also belong to him CHAP. VII Essential Divine Attributes belong to Christ OF God's Attributes some are Negative as Infifinite Independent Immortal Unchangeable c. which remove from God all manner of Imperfection and though these teach not what he is yet they teach what he is not others are Affirmative as Eternal Almighty All-knowing c. these are not so strong as the others because they represent Things but imperfectly other Attributes there be as Wisdom Goodness Mercy Justice c. which in some Degree God is pleased to impart unto the Creature but these I intend not to speak of only of those that are essential and incommunicable to the Creature and this Rule must be laid that whensoever any of these Attributes are in Scripture given to God essentially taken they are attributed to Christ because he is essentially God as I hope is sufficiently proved But before I proceed something in general may be spoken about Divine Attributes The Attributes of God are those Proprieties whereby he makes himself known unto us and shews the Difference that is between him and the Creature these Attributes in God are not as Attributes in the Creatures for they are no Qualities nor Accidents nor Things different from the Essence or from one another according to the Rule that nothing is in God but what is God himself God's Infiniteness and Eternity are God Infinite and Eternal wherefore because we cannot comprehend God's Infiniteness Eternity Simplicity c. we say we cannot comprehend his Essence and Nature The Knowledge that is in us comes in by Parts and Degrees How then can we know one Attribute of God as may be his Simplicity and Absoluteness which hath no Parts For it doth not consist of any Genus and Difference Substance and Accident Power and Act
a gall of bitterness as well as the bond of iniquity with a slight and contempt of his person the Man that Man this Man Man in every case and all this to lose no occasion of robbing him of his Divinity 2 Kings 49.27 and Isai 3.28 this calls to my mind God's words against Sennacherib another great Blasphemer which by the Lord might have been applied to Socinus I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me And let all his Sectators remember what the Apostle saith Jud. 14.15 behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him that is Christ when he cometh to judge the world Another thing here to be taken notice of is this that in verse 5. where the Lord Jehovah is called the Lord of the whole Earth it must be spoken of one and the same person for if they had been two different the copulative particle and had not been omitted after the words Psal 37.5 the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord there should have been and at the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth the first words of the verse do sufficiently denote the Lord of the whole Earth to be the God of Israel Jehovah named just before at whose presence only and of none else the hills melted like wax hereunto answereth that place psal 11.7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob whereby the interpretation of this now in hand is confirmed and the God of Jacob is put instead of the Lord of the whole earth in both which places the repetition of the word Presence is very Emphatical which joyned with what I observed before and with the words the scope and the thing it self do all together fully shew here is but one person spoken of which is confirmed more and more because in what follows the Prophet speaks but of one as in the singular number vers 6.7 8. as thus the Heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory and worship him all ye Gods Also because of thy judgments whereby it appears 't is spoken of one and not of two but rather than to yield they will sooner give Christ whom otherwise they would rob of any thing he hath but his humane nature which they cannot do because they must have an Historical Faith or else may be they would and reduce him to nothing I say they chuse rather to give Christ that title and exclude God Jehovah from being the Lord of the whole earth than to own Christ to be Jehovah so what they do is not out of kindness they only give him that which they think the least to rob him of what they account to be the chief though indeed it be the same Again the words of verse 7. do farther confirm this Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of Idols therefore worship him all ye Gods For who is opposed to graven Images and Idols but he that is by nature the true God And who is religiously to be worshiped but the true God Jehovah And who but he who is the God of Gods is to be adored by all Gods vers 9. This is confirmed out of verse 9. Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods The first part contained a proper attribute of the true God namely the highest or most high God for saith David Psal 33.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Is not this the same as to be Lord over all the earth So that both to be Jehovah and Lord over all the earth are attributed only to one and if he be the only most high upon the earth none but he is Lord over all the earth The latter part of the verse doth afford a reason and a very good one why all Gods and Angels ought to worship him because he is for exalted above all Gods No less than six times he is in this Psalm called Jehovah which cannot well be denied to be the same with God of Israel One thing more I shall say as to this Psalm which with the foregoing and following contain an exhortation to all Creatures with and without life to sing and rejoyce before the Lord and why for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth which none that hath any sence can deny to be a Prophesie of Christ's coming to judge the world which he speaks of himself When the Son of man shall come in his glory Matth. 25.31 and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Then indeed in that divine and glorious State being attended and worshiped by all millions of Angels he shall reign fill with joy the hearts of his people and perform the other things contained in this Psalm He that is to do all this if we believe the Psalmist is the Lord Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ if we must give faith to the Apostle Now we must draw nearer to the words of the Apostle who is to be believed as well as the Prophet preferably to Socinians who being not able to deny it own that Angels ought to worship Christ One would think they at last would yield to the Truth and give glory to God Phil. 2.7 8 c. but no such thing for they say they may worship him as a man and not upon the consideration of any divinity in him only upon the account of his Humiliation and Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross upon which account he was highly exalted But pray whence doth arise the value and merit of that Humiliation and Obedience but from the divinity of the person which underwent it If he had been a meer man it had been no very great matter no more than what many more could have done A King 's only Son sacrifices himself for the safety of a whole Kingdom some among the ordinary people might have done the like but that which raiseth the merit of the thing is not his being a man for any man else therein is equal with him but 't is the Royal Blood running in the Veins of the young Prince which doth make the act so meritorious and so considerable so if I may continue a lame comparison so defectuous to represent what I have a mind the Blood which our Saviour shed upon the Cross doth not receive its unexpressible value for coming out of the Veins of a Man but because it is the blood of God wherewith he hath purchased his Church Acts 20.28 Neither was the Obedience yielded
Essentially exclusively not to Son and Holy Ghost but to Idols and Creatures the word Father is here taken for God as 't is when said one God and Father of all and Abba-Father Ephes 4.6 Rom. 8.15 Also the Father of Spirits The words our Father are often taken for our God and Lord In those places the word Father is said relatively not to the Son Heb. 12.9 Matth. 10.21 29. Luke 30.32 John 14.13 Chap. 3.13 but to men whose Father God is The things in the Lord's Prayer asked and prayed for are asked of the Son as well as of the Father as the coming of his Kingdom the forgiveness of our Sins whence saith our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do And the words which are in Heaven do belong to the Son as to the Father and the Holy Ghost too as appeareth out of Psal 139.7 8. and Matth. 3.16 Nay as we said before the Son is called the everlasting Father And if we consider the Etymology of the word which in the Original signifieth to preserve all things we shall find he is a Father indeed by whom all things are upheld and preserved which the Holy Spirit within us beareth witness unto when our heart laying under the sense of some trouble or mercy doth on a sudden by means of an Ejaculatory Prayer either in thoughts words or both poure it self before him begging for help or giving thanks breaking out upon occasion into these or the like expressions Lord Jesus have pity on me or Lord Jesus make me thankful Thus I through the grace of God have under those several heads brought in proofs for our blessed Lord and Saviour's divinity of many more which Scripture affords I shall take notice but of few wherein he is properly and truly called God which to assert is the main drift of the word as it is the foundation of the whole Gospel for it was absolutely necessary he should be God by nature or else any man might have preached taught prayed given good example and made intercession as well as Christ and if he came into the world and dyed only to teach us good doctrine and give us good example he had done for us no more than the Apostles and Martyrs who taught good doctrine and gave good example so might as well be called our Mediators and Saviours If this had as they say been the whole work of the Mediator our redemption had been no hard matter to be performed But I say that his threefold office of Mediatorship Prophecy Kingship and Priesthood demonstrate him to be true Essential God for none of the three could perfectly have been performed but by a God himself As to the Prophetical to enlighten the understanding and effectually to turn the heart as to the Regal to defend Believers against the Power of Satan and as to the Priestly to obtain forgiveness of Sins favour of God and glory none of these could be obtained but by him who is infinite as in Power so in Nature there is an infinite distance between God who is infinite and every finite Creature no proportion between Infinite and Finite Scripture owneth nothing but God to be higher than Angels now Christ is higher and above all Angels Besides that the necessity of satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice doth argue a necessity for Christ to be God for the satisfaction could not have been adequate as it ought to be except he was God and this divinity in him doth prove the plurality of persons in the God-head which is the whole of the difficulty alledged against the most holy Trinity Certainly the great design of the Apostles and others was to preach Christ to be truely and really God Son of God whereby their Ministry was exalted this was the foundation they were to build upon Acts 8.37 The Eunuch must make this Confession I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God before he could be baptized so did every one else being converted to the Faith this in our Religion is the first thing to be known and preached thus Paul after his Conversion Chap. 9.20 the first thing he did was to preach that Christ is the Son of God for that was the great question the Jews denyed him not to be Man Son of Man but he went about to convince them how also he was God Son of God and he was by Nature God as certainly as by nature he was Man Wherefore he would raise the thoughts of the Corinthians from the consideration of Christ's humanity to that of his Deity when he saith 2 Cor. 5.16 though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more after the flesh but according to the spirit not in the humane but in the divine nature according to which he is called by the glorious names of the holy one Act. 3.14 15. 1 Cor. 2.8 and the just the prince of life and the Lord of glory our Blessed Saviour who when he was in the world had so often declared himself to be the Son of God in a proper sense after his Ascension when he had a full possession of that glory as it were to confirm from Heaven what he had declared upon Earth in the Revelation he made to that disciple of his who doth so eminently bear witness of his divinity 1 Joh. 4.14 15. when he saith we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and not otherwise I say on that occasion the Lord Jesus from Heaven proclaims himself to be Son of God in the letter to the Angel of the Church in Thiatira with this glorious description Rev. 2.18 compared with chap. 1.14 15. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass Tho his enemies would not hear him upon earth during the time of his humiliation when through his Passive Obedience he was about performing the first part of his Priestly Office to satisfie divine Justice and make expiation for our sins I think now they should when he speaks from Heaven whence he exercises his Royal Office I know well enough how what I say about his satisfying Divine Justice through his death doth not affect his enemies who deny he hath given satisfaction for us but what can his intercession on in Heaven which is the second part of his Priesthood be grounded upon but his own merits through his Sufferings and Death he thereby hath payed our Debts and by vertue of that payment he asks we should be released but that point I intend not to meddle with in this place In the New Testament the name Saviour is as proper to him as that of Christ as indeed that of Jesus the same with Saviour was given him by the Angel and
that Certainty is not grounded upon the clearness of our perceiving as upon the mainness of the Evidence confirmed by a continual Experience Now natural Reason is fitted for natural Things but for supernatural it must be supernaturally endowed And besides Ideas a due temper and application of the Mind are required But about divine things besides what is in us there ought to be a Rule in them which is Revelation this is the medium or middle between Eye and Object without which in spiritual things we can see nothing till the Lord openeth our Eyes When an Army of Syrians had compassed Dothan to take Elisha his Servant seeing so many Horses and Chariots was afraid till at the Prayer of the Prophet the Lord opened the Eyes of the young man 2 Kings 6.15 16 17. then and not before he saw the mountain full of Lorses and chariots of fire round about Elisha These Heavenly Armies cannot be seen by a meer natural Eye it must be enlightned from above As we cannot know a thing of which we have no Idea so we must have a true one to make a right Judgment of it or else we go upon a wrong bottom and it still remains a Mystery to us The true Notion we ought to have of a Mystery is this namely something that is hidden from our Knowledge and above our Reason see what a false Idea a learned and rational man a Master of Israel Nicodemus had of Regeneration as we shall see somewhat lower it was a very necessary and truly rational thing to believe in Christ Joh. 7.48 yet Have any of the Rubers and Pharisees believed on him Those men in their way wanted not Reason God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.27 hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise The greatest commendation of Mans Reason is to call it Wisdom yet it is confounded about spiritual things for this very thing our Saviour rejoyced in spirit and gave his Father Thanks for revealing the Mysteries of salvation unto Babes which the wise and prudent of the World could not understand for want of this Revelation Luke 10.21 Wherefore when God will have his People to know him he saith not their Reason and Mind shall know me but I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord Jer. 15.7 This Knowledge is not an effect of their Reason but the Gift of God The right Judgment of a thing doth sometimes depend upon so many different circumstances that a mistake in one of them doth much alter the thing and so pervert the Judgment besides that our Understanding being often disturbed through Passion and Prejudice it thereby lyeth under great mistakes If so in natural and temporal things how much more in spiritual and eternal wherein the disproportion between the Understanding and Object is infinitely greater Yet that sort of People make no difference in reasoning about the Word of God and human Writings with them it is all one to judge of God or of Men and their Reason they make the Judge of both This is to set up a Tribunal which God will never allow of to inquire after and examine his ways and works Job 33.13 when he giveth no account of any of his Matters that is he is not bound tho' sometimes out of his gracious Condescension he be pleased to do 't But once for all I must warn those Men who so much dote upon their own reason to have a care lest that very same thorough a just Judgment of God doth to them as to others prove fatal for they glory too much in it Absalom's Hair was his Pride and it became his Halter Jezebel delighted in painting her Face which as she thought made her full of Charms but a while after it was washed off with her own Blood Herod's Robes were glorious when he sat upon his Throne to make a Speech to the People but very soon after they were full of Worms whereby he was eaten up They who trust to and glory in their Reason have cause to fear some such end or other will befall them But we rely on the word of God and depend upon the Gospel as it is a promise of Grace and must endeavour to conform to it as it is the rule of Life All he saith Sect. 2. and Chap 1. doth not concern us who hold the Doctrines of the Gospel not to be contrary to true and sound Reason in his Philosophical Notions he consounds himself that is in the whole first-Section and 4th Chapter thereof As to his Ideas or Evidences Experience which is a good reason though not always for it falls sometimes sheweth how every Man hath not the same Idea or Notion of this or that thing and that which is Evidence to one is not to another then he goeth upon a false Supposition as if the Devil thorough his Suggeitions and the Corruptions of our Heare did not sometimes darken our Light deceive our Mind pervert our Judgment and over-rule our Affections 't is so in worldly things much more in Spiritual thus thorough their vain Sophistry they would set up this Reason as an independant and infallible Judge in Man and so overthrow whatsoever Scripture in so many places declareth of the Blindness Darkness and Ignorance of our Understanding and of the Perverseness Corruption and Stubbornness of our Heart The Texts he quoteth Pag. 47 48. are true and good but he should go further and own Christ to be true God not only in his Works but also in his Nature he sometimes hath some good and true things like Grains to make Chaff Currant thus Pag. 49 50. he condemns those that say the New-Testament to be written without any Order or Scope but only as Matters came into the Heads of the Apostles which is a Socinian Tenet yet he there seems to be against it The Physical Impotency to understand the Mysteries of Religion is not absolute but 't is all one as if it was so without the Help of Grace as a blind Man cannot see a dumb speak a dead Man perform any Vital Action as of himself but if God pleases he shall be restored to his Sight Speech and Life There is a moral Impotency to understand Matters and Mysteries of Religion we have a Mind but dark blind and ignorant can a blind Man see tho he hath Eyes a deaf hear tho he hath Ears a dumb speak tho he hath a Tongue a dead Man act tho he hath Organs as Hands and Feet no if he had but a Dead-Palsie Men by Revelations are not endued with new Faculties but these old Faculties are enabled to act which they could not before God gives a new Heart a new Spirit new Thoughts new Affections His Discourse of Sect. 3. Chap. 2. is all out of the Purpose the things he speaks of are Natural and unnecessary as how Rain is formed in the Air but Matters of Religion are Spiritual and necessary Matters of Election