Expiation of his Blood And though Christ be the Eternal Son of God and the Natural Lord and Heir of all things yet God hath in this highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at or in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue some of all Nations Languages and Tongues shall confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father For when God exalts and magnifies himself or exalts his Son it does not and cannot signifie any addition or increase of their essential Greatness and Glory for neither the Father nor the Son can be greater than they are but yet God is exalted when his Greatness and Power is more visible and more universally acknowledged and adored and thus God has highly exalted his Son too by conferring the Mediatory Power and Kingdom on him as to shew this particularly but briefly This makes the Son more universally known acknowledged and adored The Notion and Belief of one God is Natural to Mankind that there are three Divine Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost in the Unity of the Godhead is not known by Nature but by Revelation There are some obscure hints and intimations of this even in the History of the Creation more plain in the Types and Prophesies of the Jewish Law which relate to the Messias and possibly this was more particularly explained in their Cabala which some learned men industriously prove contained this Mystery of the Trinity but all this while this Mystery was very obscure and the Glory of the Son little known in the World for though now we certainly know from the Exposition of Christ and his Apostles that the Prophets spake of Christ under the name of Lord and God and Jehovah yet all went in the Name of God But when Christ appeared in the World then God owned him for his Son this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Christ owned himself for the Son of God his only begotten Son and upon all occasions calls God his Father and that in such a distinguishing manner that the Jews understood him to mean that he was the Son of God by Nature and charge him with Blasphemy for making himself God He appealed to those mighty Works he did in his Father's Name to prove the Truth of what he taught them that he was indeed the Son of God But then God visibly owned him for his Son when he raised him from the dead and bestowed a Kingdom on him a Name which is above every Name as St. Paul tells us That he was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead And for this reason that of the Psalmist Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee is applied to the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead We deliver unto you glad tydings how that the promise that was made to the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same to us their Children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee Which it is plain does not signifie that God then first begot him for he owned him for his beloved Son long before at his Baptism and Christ calls himself his only begotten Son long before and the Socinians themselves attribute his Sonship to his miraculous Conception in the Womb of the Virgin and St. Paul we see expounds God's begetting him at his Resurrection by his being declared the Son of God by the Resurrection from the Dead which supposes he was his Son before and that not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Flesh for so he was the Seed of David but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Spirit of Holiness or his Divine Nature for so its opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proves it must signifie He was the only begotten Son of God from eternal Ages but the World did not fully know him to be so till God declared this by his Resurrection from the Dead and by bestowing a Kingdom on him and then he visibly appeared in the Glory and Majesty of the Son of God as if he had been begotten by him that day and this seems to be the meaning of our Saviour's Prayer And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with that glory which I had with Thee before the World was that is now publickly own me to be thy Son which I always was but was never yet sufficiently declared so to the World And therefore when he was raised from the Dead and advanced into his Kingdom which he was to administer not by Human Force and Power but by the Power of the Divine Spirit it was time to let the World know this great Mystery of a Trinity in Unity because each Divine Person has his distinct and proper part in this mysterious oeconomy and therefore he commands his Disciples to Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that is into the belief and worship of One God Father Son and Holy Ghost of which more presently But this is not all the Son is not only now made known and manifest to the World and publickly owned by his Father but he has a peculiar Authority invested in him distinct both from the Father and the Holy Spirit as he is a Mediatory King There being but One Supreme and Soveraign God Father Son and Holy Ghost who are but One Energy and Power but One Monarchy but One Maker and One Lord of the World in the Natural Government of the World there is no distinction of the Divine Persons no peculiar Offices and Administrations to distinguish them not one thing done by the Father another by the Son and a third by the Holy Ghost but the whole Trinity made and governs the World by One individual Operation and therefore the Creation and Government of the World is the Work of One God and therefore peculiarly attributed to the Father who is the Fountain of the Deity who is that Original Mind and Wisdom who made and who governs the World by his Son and holy Spirit so that in the Natural Government of the World the Son has no Kingdom of his own but reigns as One Supreme God with the Father and the Holy Spirit and all attributed to the Father as the beginning of Energy and Power But in the oeconomy of man's Salvation the Son has a Kingdom of his own which is peculiarly his administred in his Name and by his Soveraign Authority The Father is atoned by him and has committed to him all Power both in Heaven and in Earth He is made the Head of all Principalities and Powers which are now immediately subjected to him and must receive their Commands and
Personal Authority which is given him as the Son of Man as an Incarnate and Mediatory King And hath given him Authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man And therefore now it is given him to have Life in himself as the Father hath Life in himself The Father hath Life in himself as the Original Fountain of all Life by whom the Son himself lives all Life is derived from God either by eternal Generation or Procession or Creation and thus Christ hath Life in himself also in the new Creation he is the Fountain of Life he quickeneth whom he will he is the bread of life that came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye This is the Authority of his Mediatory Kingdom which he hath received from his Father that he hath Life in himself and hath Authority and Power to give Life to the World This is a Kingdom in a Kingdom the Mediatory Kingdom of the Son in the Natural Kingdom of the Father which restrains the Father's Justice dispenses his Grace and directs the Exercise of his Power in the Government of the World which though it be upon these accounts a Superiour Authority and therefore a high Exaltation of the Son yet it is no diminution to the Father The confessing Iesus Christ to be Lord is to the glory of God the Father 1. Because this Mediatory Kingdom is erected by the Father and by the Father given to the Son it is he who gave him this Authority because he is the Son of Man And therefore Christ every where owns that he was sent by God I am not come of my self I am come in my Fathers Name I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me I seek not my own will I seek not my own glory I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me Which Scriptures make up the fourth Argument in the History of the Vnitarians against Christ's being God because Almighty God doth all things in his own Name and by his own Authority but Christ comes in the Father's Name and does his will and seeks his glory Which proves indeed that he receives this Power from the Father that he fulfils his will and serves his glory in it but if he receive this Kingdom he has it and a very glorious Kingdom it is in some respects superiour to the Natural Government of God as it sets bounds to it But this only proves that he is not the Father but the Son and the King of God and this Authority being given him of the Father to reduce Mankind to their Obedience it is no lessening of the Fathers Authority from whom he receives this Mediatory Power 2. This can be no Diminution to the Father because he is his only begotten Son One God with himself the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his Person the Natural Heir of his Power and Greatness and the Natural Lord of the World As a Son he is by Nature equal to his Father but yet subordinate and therefore cannot be his Rival as a Son his advancement is the glory of the Father that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father and therefore it is no derogation to the Father though he commit to the Son a more glorious Authority then he exercises himself the Authority of a Mediatory Kingdom or Soveraign Grace which is a more glorious Authority to Sinners then Natural Justice and Dominion for all men know a Son must receive all from his Father and if the Father for wise Reasons of which more presently give the Son the more glorious Power it is the Father who is glorified in it As he is God the Eternal Son of God and One with the Father he is the proper Object of Religious Worship and therefore all those Divine Honours and Adorations which are paid him upon account of his Mediatory Kingdom and Power are no Injury to the Divine Nature as they would have been had God conferred this Power on a Creature which had been to give his glory to another which God detests and declares his abhorrence of and which all Arians and Socinians do who worship Christ believing him to be only a Creature or a meer Man The Command in Scripture to worship him and pay Divine Honours to him is a much better Argument to prove that he is God then to justifie the worship of any Creature which God universally prohibits and is a much greater Contradiction to the Principles of Natural Religion than a Trinity in Unity is to Natural Reason 3. To this we must add That his Kingdom is the Reward of his Obedience and Sufferings that is it is founded in the Expiation of his Blood Is an Authority to dispence that Grace and Mercy which he has purchased with his Blood so that his Kingdom and Power is founded in the most perfect submission to his Father is the Reward of his Obedience whereby he glorified his Father on Earth and therefore let his Power be never so great and glorious his receiving it from God as the Reward of his Obedience secures the Prerogative and Glory of the Father 4. Especially when we add That the Exercise and Administration of this Kingdom is not by way of any direct Authority and Power over God which would necessarily Eclipse the glory of the Father and make him subject to the Son but by way of Mediation and Intercession as an Advocate and High-Priest He first makes Atonement to God and reconciles him to Sinners does not command or over-rule but propitiate the Divine Justice and then Exercises a Soveraign Authority in forgiving sins in destroying his Enemies in governing Kingdoms and Empires in subserviency to his Spiritual Kingdom and at the last Day in judging the World 5. And therefore the time shall come when Christ shall deliver up this Kingdom again to the Father for it is not a Natural Kingdom and therefore must not last always no longer then till it has attained the ends for which it was erected when Mankind are reduced into Obedience to God when the Kingdom of the Devil is destroyed and the Devil and his Angels and all bad men cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second Death and good men raised out of their Graves and rewarded with Eternal Life that is when Christ has accomplished the work of his Mediation that there is no longer any need of a Mediator then the Mediatory Kingdom ceases Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father when he shall
things which is the Explication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begotten before the whole Creation and therefore no part of the Creation himself and by him all things consist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things were not only made by him but have their Subsistence in him as the Apostle tells us in God we live and move and have our being that this does not relate to the new Creation as the Socinians would have it is very plain For 1. in this Sense Christ if he were meer Man was not the first-born of every new Creature for I hope there were a great many new Creatures that is truly good and pious men before Christ was born of his Virgin Mother 2. Nor in this sense were all things in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers that is all the Orders of Angels created by him For the greatest part of visible things especially in the Apostles days when so little part of the World was converted to the Christian Faith were not new made by him and none of the invisible things were new made by him good Angels did not need it and he came not to convert fallen Angels but to destroy the visible Kingdom of the Devil in this World and to judge them in the next 3. Nor in this sense were all things made for him for he is a Mediator for God to reduce Mankind to their Obedience and Subjection to him and therefore when he has accomplished his Work of Mediation and destroyed all Enemies in the final Judgment of the World he shall deliver up his Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all of which more presently 4. And therefore the Apostle proceeds from his Creation of the Natural World to his Mediatory Kingdom which proves that he did not speak of that before And he is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the preheminence as the Maker of all things visible and invisible he is said to be before all things begotten of his Father before the Creation of the World as Head of the Church he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also the beginning the first who rose from the dead that he might be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first upon all Accounts before the Worlds and the first-born from the dead That he was God's Minister and Servant he proves by several Texts as that he was appointed or made which has the same sense by God the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession but here is a restriction to his being High-Priest and therefore no danger of Blasphemy though he be God for we may observe that though the Jewish High-Priest were but a man yet he was a Type of a High-Priest who is more than man even the Eternal Son and Word of God as some of the Learned Jews acknowledge for the Son of God is the only proper Mediator and Advocate with the Father as Philo Iudoeus often calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or High-Priest and shows that the Garments of the High-Priest were Figures of Heaven and Earth which seems to signifie that the Eternal Word which made the world is the true High-Priest And the Story Iosephus tells of Alexander looks this way that when Iaddus the High-Priest went out to meet him dressed in all his Pontifical Attire he approached him with great Reverence and Veneration and his Captains wondering at it he told them That that God who appeared to him and sent him upon that Expedition and promised him Victory and Success appeared to him in that very Habit. I am sure the Apostle distinguishes Christ from High-Priests taken from among men and makes his Sonship the Foundation of his Priesthood Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest which shows that it is no Servile Ministry but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee As he saith also in another place Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedec And what the Mystery of this Melchizedecian Priesthood was he explains 7 Hebrews that Melchizedec was first by Interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace Without Father without Mother without Descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God which is a Priest continually As for his next Quotation that Christ is Gods I know not what he means by it for there is no doubt but Christ is God's Son God's Christ God's High-Priest serves the ends and designs of God's Glory and what then therefore he is not God By no means he may conclude that therefore he is not God the Father because he acts subordinately not that therefore he is not God the Son His next Proof is that God calls him his Servant by the Prophet Isaiah but it is his Servant in whom his Soul is well-pleased which is the peculiar Character of his Son and is that very testimony which God gave to Christ at his Baptism by a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased His next Proof is that he humbled himself and became obedient which is all he cites but what does he prove from this that Obedience is part of his Humiliation And what then therefore he is not God because he voluntarily condescends below the Dignity of his Nature does he forfeit the Dignity of his Nature and yet this is the plain Case as the Apostle tells us in that place that He being in the form of God thought it not 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 men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. And this is a wonderful Proof that he is not God because being in the form of God that is being God he voluntarily condescended to the meanest and most servile state of Human Nature for the Salvation of sinners But the sting of all is behind that for this submission and obedience he was rewarded and exalted by God and a God is not capable of a reward or exaltation being Supreme himself and yet as it follows for this God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name Now it seems very strange to me that Christ's advancement to the supreme Government of the World should be made an Argument against his being God or the Eternal Son of God for is it fitting and congruous for God to make a meer Creature the Universal Lord and Soveraign of the World to advance a meer man above the most glorious Angels to be the Head of all Principalities and Powers which would be an Indignity to the Angelical
Nature is a meer Creature a fit Lieutenant or Representative of God in Personal or Prerogative Acts of Government and Power must not every Being be represented by one of his own Kind a Man by a Man an Angel by an Angel in such Acts as are proper to their Natures and must not God then be represented by One who is God Is any Creature capable of the Government of the world does not this require infinite Wisdom and infinite Power and can God communicate infinite Wisdom and infinite Power to a Creature or a finite Nature that is can a Creature be made a true and essential God if our Adorers of Reason can digest such Contradictions as these I hope they will never complain of Absurdities and Contradictions more A God without infinite Perfections is only a Titular and Nominal God and to say that Creatures may have all the Perfections of God is to say that God can make an infinite Creature which has a thousand times greater Contradictions than the most absurd Explication of the Trinity can be charged with for then a true and real God may be a Creature then the Divine Nature is not eternal but may be created then the Divine Nature is not numerically One but if the first God so pleased he could make a world of Gods as well as of Angels or Men. If then this Kingdom to which Christ is advanced cannot be administred without infinite Wisdom and Power then he is by Nature a God for otherwise all Power in Heaven and Earth could not have been committed to him because he was not capable of it could not administer it and would God choose a King who could not administer the Government of the World nor do any thing towards it And yet the Difficulty remains if he be by Nature the Son of God and the Natural Lord of the World how is he said to be exalted by God and to receive a Kingdom from him as the Reward of his Sufferings when he was already possessed of it ever since the Foundations of the World being the Natural Lord of all Creatures and therefore had no need to receive that which was his own or purchase what was his Natural Right by such mean and vile Condescensions as suffering Death upon the Cross. And therefore rightly to understand this we must consider the Nature of Christ's Kingdom that it is not meerly the Natural Government of the World but a Mediatory Kingdom God is the Supreme and Natural Lord of the World King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the only Ruler of Princes and while God governed the World only as its Natural Lord the Son had no distinct Kingdom of his own but in Conjunction with his Father For though there always were Three Divine Persons in the Godhead yet the Father being the Fountain of the Deity the Government of the World was administred in his Name But Mankind quickly Apostatized from God forfeited immortal Life corrupted their Manners and defaced the Image of God upon their Souls and the Government of God considered only as our Maker and Soveraign Lord could give no hope nor security to guilty sinners and this made a Mediatory Kingdom necessary to reconcile God and Men and to restore Man to the Integrity of his Nature and this Power and Dignity God bestowed upon his own Son who had the most right to it and was best qualified for it being the begotten Word and Wisdom of the Father but he must first become man and publish the Will of God to the World and make Expiation for Sin and then he should rise again from the dead and set down at the right hand of God And therefore we may observe that all this Power Christ is invested with is as Head of the Church God hath put all things under his feet and given him to be Head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness of him which filleth all in all That is he has made him the Governour of the whole World as Head of the Church For the Salvation of Mankind required the Government of the World to be put into his Hands that he might restrain the Power and Malice of wicked Spirits and destroy the Kingdom of Darkness and imploy good Angels in the Service and Ministeries of his Church as the Apostle tells us They are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation That the Government of this lower World might be administred by him with a peculiar regard and subserviency to the great ends of his Spiritual Kingdom For the Church of Rome is so far in the right that the Supreme Head of the Church must be Supreme in Temporals too in ordine ad spiritualia but their fault is they give this Power to a vicarious Head which is due only and can be administred only by Christ who is the true Supreme Head of all things to his Church The Government of Israel was a Type of this The Kingdom of Israel was originally a pure Theocracy God was their King and governed them almost as visibly by his Priest his Oracles his Judges whom he extraordinarily raised up as a Temporal King governs his Subjects But in time they grew weary of the Government of God and desired a King like other Nations upon which God tells Samuel They have not rejected thee but rejected me that I should not reign over them But yet he complies with their Desires in giving them a King and their King was peculiarly God's Anointed and God's King who ruled God's People and Inheritance by God's peculiar and delegated Authority for the Government of Israel did not cease to be a Theocracy when they had a King for they were God's People and Inheritance still but now the King was between God and the People whereas God governed them more immediately before And therefore as David was a Type of Christ so his Kingdom was typical of the Kingdom of Christ Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion which seems to have some aspect on David though it received its just Acomplishment in Christ and hence the Kingdom of the Messias is called the Throne of his Father David not that Temporal Kingdom which David governed for his Kingdom was not of this World but that of which David's Kingdom was a Type and Figure the Government of the Church who are God's People of whom the carnal Israel was a Type which he rules by a vicarious but a Soveraign Authority for God and in his name and stead This gives a plain account how God may give this Kingdom to his Son and that as the Reward of his Sufferings It may be a Gift because it is not a Natural Right for it is not a Natural Kingdom but erected by the Wisdom and Counsel of God for the Salvation of Sinners and it must be the Reward of his Sufferings because it is a Sacerdotal Kingdom which is founded in the
Orders from him as the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us when God bringeth in the first begotten into the World that is when God raised him from the dead and received him into Heaven to sit at his right hand he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him obey his Commands and be his Ministers and Servants The Holy Spirit is given by him he sends the Spirit to dwell in his Church which is his Body and to animate all the true and sincere Members of it He governs this lower World disposes of Kingdoms and Empires in subserviency to the ends of his Spiritual Kingdom He has the Power of pardoning sins of judging the World of raising the dead whom he pardons God pardons whom he condemns God condemns for the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son Should the Father judge the World he must judge as the Maker and Soveraign Lord of the World by the strict Rules of Righteousness and Justice and then how could any sinner be saved but he has committed Judgment to the Son as a Mediatory King who judges by the Equity and Chancery of the Gospel The Power indeed whereby he administers his Kingdom is the Power of the whole Trinity of Father Son and Holy Ghost for they being essentially One God have but one Energy and Power and therefore can never act separately and therefore the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is ascribed to God the Father God raised him from the dead to Christ himself as he tells the Jews Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up And I lay down my life that I may take it again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again And to the Holy Spirit If the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you Where God indeed is said to raise up Christ from the dead but it was by his Spirit and by the same Spirit he will raise us But yet this is the Kingdom of Christ because now the Administration and Exercise of this Power is committed to him and is as it were under his direction and influence The Natural Kingdom and Government of the World is peculiarly attributed to God the Father though the Son and Holy Ghost reign with him as one God because the Father is Original Mind and Wisdom and therefore the beginning of all Power and Energy As the Father begets the Son not the Son the Father and the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and Son not Father and Son from the Holy Ghost so the Son and Holy Ghost will and act with the Father not the Father with the Son and the Holy Ghost that is if we may so speak where there is but One individual Act and Energy the Father is the first Mover in the Sacred Trinity For reflex Wisdom that is the Son who is begotten Wisdom moves and acts at it is begotten by Original Mind and Wisdom who is the eternal Father as Christ himself tells us The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do for whatsoever things he doth these also doth the Son likewise And my Father worketh hitherto and I work But the Father is the Principle and Beginning of Action and therefore the Government and Monarchy must receive its Denomination from him that it is the Kingdom of the Father But now in the Mediatory Kingdom the exercise of the Divine Power is committed into the hands of the Mediator and is administred by the measures and terms of his Mediation The Power is not taken out of God's hands for that is impossible Father Son and Holy Ghost govern the World still by One individual Act and Power but as in the Natural Government of the World the Exercise of this Power begins with the Father so in this Mediatory Kingdom it begins with the Son and is directed by his Mediation that is God governs the World now not meerly as a Natural Lord by the Rules of Natural Justice but with respect to the Mediatory Power and Authority of his Son and to serve the ends of his Mediatory Kingdom Now the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Iudgment to the Son He hath power to save and to destroy whom he pardons God pardons whom he condemns God condemns all Petitions are put up to God in his Name all Blessings both temporal and spiritual are obtained from God in his Name that is it is the Name and Authority of Christ by which God now governs the World This is the Name God has given him which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father That Angels in Heaven move at his Command and obey his Power that Men on Earth worship God and expect all from him in his Name that evil Spirits tremble at his Name and yield to his Power and that all the World confess the Supreme and Soveraign Authority of the Son to the Glory of the Father who hath thus highly exalted him There can be no other meaning but this in what Christ tells his Disciples after his Resurrection from the Dead All Power is given unto me both in Heaven and Earth For unless it be some Power which he had not before as the Eternal Son of God how can it be said to be now given unto him and yet before in conjunction with and subordination to his Father he had all Power both in Heaven and Earth but then this Power was not in his own Name nor seated immediately in himself as his own Personal Authority but now the Son is immediately invested with this Power and Authority as a Mediatory King And this is the meaning of what he tells us As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself To have life in himself is to have the Power and Authority of bestowing Life as appears both from what goes before and from what follows As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the Son quickneth whom he will Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they-that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation This Power the Son always had as begotten of his Father from all Eternity and One God with him but he here speaks of a
have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all That is the Son shall no longer have a distinct Kingdom of his own but shall return to his Natural Subordination to his Father and reign with Father and the Holy Spirit One God blessed for evermore there shall no longer be any distinction between God and a Mediator but God shall be all in all This is the best Account I can give of that Kingdom which the Son receives from the Father and which he delivers up to the Father again and these Socinians must think themselves very great Wits or the rest of Mankind very great Fools who hope to prove that Christ is not God because he received a Kingdom when it is such a Kingdom as none but a God can receive or administer But to proceed 3. His next Argument is That Christ it not God because He is a Mediator between God and Men a Priest that appeareth in the Presence of God and intercedeth with him for men This he needed not have proved because all Christians own it only the Socinians make him a metaphorical Priest which indeed is no Priest But this I have answered already He is a Priest after the Order of Melchizedec King of Salem and Priest of God that is he is a Sacerdotal King and this Sacerdotal or Mediatory Kingdom proves him to be God not a meer Creature Advocate or Intercessor 4. His next Argument is That he receives Authority from God is sent by God came to do the will of God And this I have also already answered 5. His next Argument consists in applying such things to the Divinity of our Saviour as belong to his Humanity That he increased in Wisdom he should have added Stature too but that had been ridiculous because it had discovered the fallacy for to be sure Stature does not belong to a God and in favour with God and Men and why did he not add that he was born and was an Infant and Child and by degrees grew up to be a Man that he knows not the Day of Iudgment which he evidently speaks of himself as Man as all the ancient Fathers confess In St. Mark it is said But of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the Angels that are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father St. Matthew does not mention the Son Of that day and hour knoweth no man not the Angels of Heaven but my Father only Which shews that the Son in St. Matthew is included in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none or no man and therefore concerns him only as a man for the Father includes the whole Trinity and therefore includes the Son who seeth whatever his Father doth But of this more hereafter That he knew not where Lazarus was laid because he asks Where have ye laid him And yet this very Jesus knew without asking at a distance and some days before that Lazarus was dead which would tempt one to guess that he might know where they laid him too though it was decent to ask What his next Text refers to I know not For how the Father being always present with him to confirm that testimony he gave of himself by miraculous Powers proves that he is not God I cannot tell that he was tempted by the Devil proves that he was a Man but does not prove that he was not God and that he would not be called good by those who thought him no more than a man or that he took this occasion to instruct them what an infinite distance there is between the essential Goodness of the Divine Nature and the Goodness of Creatures I think does not prove that he is not God 6. His sixth Argument is to the same purpose That God giveth what and to whom he pleaseth he needs not the aid of any other he entreateth not for himself and his people he cannot die and deriveth his Power from none but himself But 't is certain that the Lord Christ could not himself without the praevious ordination of the Father confer the prime Dignities of Heaven or of the Church or any thing else if he pleases for he does nothing but what he sees his Father do he placed his safety in his Fathers presence and help he prayed often and fervently to the Father both for himself and for his Disciples He died and was raised from the dead by the Father After his Resurrection he had received of another that great Power which he now enjoyeth Now all this we grant and have answered already which partly refers to the oeconomy of the Incarnation and partly to his Natural Subordination to his Father But to give a more full and plain Answer and to prevent all such Objections for the future it will be necessary briefly to state this Matter also Now this Author is certainly so far in the right that the One Supreme God has all Authority and Power can need no help from any other can receive no Commands no Power from another has no need to pray to any other to intercede for himself or others can dispose of all things as he pleases and to whom he pleases accordingly this One Supreme God Father Son and Holy Ghost receives no Power or Authority from any other Being intercedes with no other Being stands not in need of the help of any other neither prays for himself or others to any other Being Well! but the Son prays to the Father interceeds with the Father receives Authority from the Father disposes of all things by his Father's Will What then then the Son is not the One Supreme God Why so He interceeds with no Creature receives Authority from no Creature c. nor from any God neither separated from himself for he is One God with the Father and the Holy Ghost that he interceeds with the Father proves indeed that he is a distinct Person from the Father not that he is not One God with him If each Divine Person be God none of them can interceed with or receive Authority from any separate Being for then there must be some separate God above them and then they are not the Supreme God but if there be Three distinct Divine Persons in the Godhead and an order and subordination between these Divine Persons I see nothing to hinder why One Person may not interceed with another and receive from another To show the fallacy of this I will frame another Argument exactly like it which may do our Socinians a kindness in helping them to a new Argument and who knows but that such great Wits as they are may make it a good one and it is this The One Supreme God is not and cannot be begotten of any other nor proceed from any other and therefore the Son who is begotten
cannot be for it is a debasement of the Divine Nature and a reproach to the Divine Wisdom as if God did not better know how to dispose of his Grace and Mercy than any Creature does For Creatures to pray to God for themselves or others as humble Supplicants is part of the Worship which Creatures owe to God but to intercede with the Authority of a Mediator is above the Nature and Order of Creatures and God can no more give this to any Creature than he can commit his own Soveraign Power and Authority to them But his own Eternal Wisdom can intercede with Authority for Original Mind and Wisdom must yield to the Intercessions of his own Eternal Wisdom which is not to submit to any Foreign Authority but to his own To proceed 7. His next Argument to prove that Christ is not God is this That Iesus Christ is in Holy Scripture always spoken of as a distinct and different Person from God and described to be the Son of God and the Image of God This we own and he has no need to prove it and this is a wonderful Argument to convince those who acknowledge Three distinct Persons in the Godhead to prove that Christ is not God because he is a distinct Person from the Father for so according to the Language of Scripture God signifies God the Father when he is distinguished from the Son and the Holy Spirit as all men grant and to say 'T is as impossible that the Son or Image of the One true God should himself be that One true God as that the Son should be the Father and the Image that very thing whose Image it is is meer Sophistry for if the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be the One true God they are the same One true God and yet the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father 8. His next Argument is from many Texts which expresly declare that only the Father is God Now this I confess would be a demonstration could he produce any one Text which asserts the Father only to be God in opposition to the Son and to the Holy Ghost for then the Father must signifie the Person of the Father in opposition to the Person of the Son and to the Person of the Holy Ghost but when the Father is called the Only true God only in opposition to all the false Gods which the world then worshipped there Father does not signifie personally but that One Godhead or Divinity of which the Father is the Source and Fountain and Original he being that Eternal and Original Mind which begets his own Image or Eternal Son and from whom and the Son the Holy Spirit proceeds in the Unity of the same Godhead When the Father is said to be the only true God and the One God that the Son and Holy Ghost are not hereby excluded from the Unity of the same Godhead is evident from those other Texts of Scripture which plainly teach the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost for if the Scripture teaches that the Son is God and the Holy Ghost God it can never separate the Father from his only begotten Son and Eternal Spirit and therefore the Dispute will issue here Whether the Scripture does teach the Divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit When the Father is called the only true God it must be in opposition to all those who were at that time worshipped for Gods in the World but were not true Gods and therefore when Christ calls his Father the only true God it could not be in contradistinction to himself and the Holy Spirit for they were not then distinctly worshipped And when St. Paul calls the Father the One God he expresly opposes it to the many Gods of the Heathens For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven the Sun and Moon and Planets and Deified men or in the Earth the several Elements Birds Beasts c. as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and One Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him where the One God and One Lord and Mediator is opposed to the many Gods and many Lords or Mediators which were worshipped by the Heathens These Texts indeed do plainly distinguish between the Father and Christ This is Life eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent And to us there is but One God the Father and One Lord Iesus Christ which is no more than what St. Paul teaches There is one God and One Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Iesus The One God and the One Mediator ought to be distinguished for the whole Christian Religion and the salvation of sinners depends upon this distinction but this does not exclude Christ from being One God with the Father though he have a distinct additional Glory of a Mediatory Kingdom I consider farther when the Father is called the One God and the only true God it can be understood only of those who are distinct and separated Gods from the Father and are not One God with him but it cannot exclude those who are united in the Unity of the same Godhead for they are but One God with the Father And this is plainly signified in the Title of the Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus which is God's peculiar Name under the Gospel as the Maker of Heaven and Earth was before for the Title of the Father does not exclude but includes the Son and therefore if it appears from Scripture that this Son is true and real God begotten of his Father from Eternity the Son at least must be included in this Character of the only true God His other Texts which he cites under this Head prove no more but that the Father of Christ is God not that Christ is not One God with the Father 9. He adds If Christ were indeed God as well as Man or as Trinitarians speak God the Son incarnate in an Human Nature it had been altogether superfluous to give the Holy Spirit to his said Human Nature as a Director and Guide for what other help could that Nature need which was One Person with as they speak God the Son and in which God the Son did personally dwell Now the account of this is plain and short for the whole Trinity is but One Energy and Power and the Divine Persons cannot act separately ad extra what the Father does that the Son does and that the Holy Ghost does by one individual Act as I have shown at large but the sanctification of all Creatures and such the Human Nature of Christ is is peculiarly attributed to the Holy Spirit and he might as well have asked Why the sanctification of the Church is ascribed to the Holy Spirit for the Church is the Body of Christ and Christ the Head from
is not meerly as he is the Son of God the second Person in the Trinity for so he is worshipped as One God with the Father and the Holy Ghost but as he is a Mediator or a Mediatory King as he has a Kingdom distinct from the Natural Kingdom of the Father as I have already shown so there is a worship proper to him as Mediator but the Holy Spirit has no distinct Kingdom and therefore no distinct Worship but is worshipped in the Unity of the Godhead and this required no new Command for he who knows that Father Son and Holy Ghost are One Supreme God must worship Father Son and Holy Ghost as One Supreme God 4. His next Argument is against a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead which he says is contrary to the whole Scripture which speaks of God but as One Person and speaks of him and to him by singular Pronouns such as I Thou Me Him His Proofs that the Scripture speaks of God as but One Person are very wonderful His first is that of Iob Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Will ye accept his Person will ye contend for God But surely to accept God's Person no more signifies the Personality of the Godhead than to accept the Person of a Man signifies his Human Person the Hebrew is his Face which is far from signifying a Person in the sense we say there are Three Persons in the Godhead To respect the Person of a Man is to do something for him which neither Law nor Justice nor Equity required not because he is a Person which every Man is but from some partial respect we have to his particular Person and therefore to accept the Person of God here signifies to speak wickedly for God which is an absurd and sensless thing as Iob represents it whether the Supreme God be One Person or Three for in this sense of Person One God can be but One Person The other Text that Christ is the express Image of God's Person is as little to the purpose for it is plain the Person of whom the Son is the express Image is the Person of God the Father and the Father indeed is but One Person As for his singular Pronouns they prove indeed that there is but One God as we all own not that there are not Three Persons in the Godhead For when the Scripture speaks of God without any particular respect to the distinction of the Persons it must speak but of One God because God is but One and singular Pronouns are most properly applied to One God As for what he objects That no Instance can be given in any Language of Three Persons whoever spoke of themselves or were spoken to by the singular Pronouns I Thou Me Him Thee it were sufficient to answer That there is no other Example in Nature neither of Three Persons who are essentially One and if the manner of speaking must be conformed to the Nature of Things there can be no other Instance of this way of speaking because there is no other Example of this Unity but all Languages speak of One in the singular Number and so the Scripture uses singular Pronouns of One God But this is not the Case for when God speaks of himself he does not speak of himself as Three Persons but as One God and therefore may say I and Me and when the Prophets speak of God or pray to him they pray to him as One God and therefore may say Thou and Him and Thee When Three Persons are One God God may speak of himself or we may speak of or to God either considered as Three Persons or as One God and though Three Persons require the Plural Number yet One God may speak of himself or be spoken to by singular Pronouns 5. He says Had the Son or Holy Ghost been God this would not have been omitted in the Apostles Creed And I say Had not the Son been God and the Holy Ghost God they would not have been put into the Apostles Creed no more than into the form of Baptism which is the original of the Apostles Creed That the Primitive Christians did believe the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost we are sufficiently assured from all the ancient Records of their Faith but there was no reason to express this in so short a Creed before the Arian and Socinian Heresies had disturbed the Church and indeed there was no need of it for the only Son of God must be by Nature God and the Spirit of God is as essentially God as the Spirit of a Man is essential to a Man He concludes That theirs the Socinians is an accountable and reasonable Faith but that of the Trinitarians is absurd and contrary both to Reason and to it self and therefore not only false but impossible The Faith of a Trinity in Unity I hope I have sufficiently vindicated already from Absurdity and Contradiction But it will be worth the while briefly to consider how accountable and reasonable the Socinian Faith is The Socinian Doctrine is That Christ who is called the Son the only begotten Son of God the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person is no more than a meer Man who had no Being till he was Conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and is called the Son of God because God formed him by an immediate Power in the Virgins Womb and raised him from the Dead and exalted him to his own right hand in Heaven and that the Holy Spirit is only the Power and Inspiration of God that is is either God himself or the Operation of his Power in Creatures This is their accountable and reasonable Doctrine and to show how very accountable and reasonable it is I come now to draw up my charge against it 1. That it ridicules the Scriptures 2. That it ridicules the whole Jewish oeconomy 3. That it ridicules the Christian Religion 4. That it justifies or at least excuses both Pagan and Popish Idolatries The Charge is full enough and I am contented it should pass only for big huffing words till I have proved it and then I hope it may pass for a just Return to the ridiculous Blasphemies of the Brief Notes and Brief History 1. That it ridicules the Scripture by putting either an absurd or a very mean trifling sense on it unworthy of the Wisdom of God by whom it was inspired and this I shall give some Instances of in their Expositions of Scripture which I find in the Brief History of the Vnitarians In the second Letter he takes notice of some Texts in the Old Testament which speak of God and in the New Testament are applied to Christ which we think a very good Argument to prove That Christ is that God to whom those Texts belong in the Old Testament for though possibly without such an Application we could not certainly have known that these Texts were
spoken of Christ yet the Authority of Christ and his Apostles who have made this Application is as good a Reason to believe that they were meant of Christ as to believe any other part of the Gospel Let us then consider how he answers such Texts What the Psalmist says Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed Thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to Christ But unto the Son he saith thy Throne O God c. To this he Answers In the Hebrew and in the Greek 't is God is thy Throne i. e. thy seat resting place establishment for ever If he had only said it may be so he had said right but it is false to say it is so For the Hebrew Elohim may be either the Nominative or the Vocative Case and so the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an Attick Vocative and so is used by the Septuagint 22 Psalm 1. ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And it is evident the Septuagint the Vulgar Latine the Chaldee Paraphrase the Syriack and Arabick Versions took it for the Vocative Case and thus the Christian Church has always understood it and this is the most natural Construction when it immediately follows a Pronoun which has no other immediate Relative Thy Throne O God that is O God thy Throne is for ever and ever And thus the Apostle must understand it To the Son he saith Thy Throne O God where O God must be referred to the Son and thy to God and the sense he gives of it is absurd and what we have no Example of in Scripture that God is a Throne God indeed is called a Rock a Fortress a high Tower which is expounded by a Deliverer but a Throne here signifies a Kingdom as is evident from the following words and to say that God is the Throne and the Kingdom of Christ is to Subject the Father to the Son for a King sits upon his Throne and governs his Kingdom The Apostle in the next Verse cites another glorious Testimony which God hath given to his Son And Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thine hands they shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a Garment and as a Vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail This is so plain a Testimony to the Divinity of our Saviour if these words be allowed to be applied by the Apostle to Christ that our Author is forced to deny it He says The Context has this sense And thou Lord that is and in another Text of the Psalms it is said Thou Lord which is certainly true if he had added but One word more viz. to the Son And in another Text of the Psalms it is said to the Son And thou Lord hast laid the Foundations of the Earth for so the Context requires us to supply it if we will make sense of it for the Apostle observes in what different Language God speaks of the Angels and to the Son Of the Angels he saith who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire but to the Son he saith thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And to the Son he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundations of the Earth But to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool This is easie and natural but to apply those words to the Father Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundations of the Earth c. is to break the whole Context is contrary to the Apostles design and no good sense can be made of it and this I think is to ridicule Scripture to make it Nonsense or very bad disturbed and incoherent sense when there is no need of it but to serve an Hypothesis which the Text was designed to confute He says Tho. Aquinas rightly acknowledged that the words of both these Texts may be understood of God only not of Christ but this is false as indeed he seldom cites any Author but he corrupts him for Thomas says this Text may be understood of either but if you understand it of the Father then by in the beginning you must understand the Son who he says is called the beginning Thou Lord in the beginning that is in or by the Son hast laid the Foundations of the Earth for he saw the Context required that these words should be applied to Christ but he thought it indifferent whether they were applied to him in whole or in part since both ways he is made the Creator of the World which answers the Apostles design and though I think Thomas was mistaken yet this makes nothing to our Authors purpose Thus what the Psalmist says of God Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received Gifts for Men St. Paul attributes to Christ. Here our Historian spends a great many words to no purpose about Christ's discent into the Grave and into Hell and his ascending into Heaven to fill all things or as he says it might be better rendred to fulfil all things that is all the Prophesies of himself and others concerning his Death and Ascension into the highest Heavens But how does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie all Prophesies or how does his Ascension into Heaven fulfil all Prophesies As for the Gifts given to men he says in the Psalms they are literally meant of God and of Christ only by way of Prophesie or rather of Emblem or Accommodation which he learnedly proves because the Gifts the Apostle speaks of were not given or received till about One thousand years after David 's time Now what of all this we readily grant that ascending on high the leading captivity captive the receiving gifts for men which the Psalmist speaks of were not the same with the Ascension of Christ into Heaven his leading captivity captive and giving Gifts to men but were Types and Figures of it but the single Question is Whether Christ be that God of whom the Psalmist says that he ascended on high c. if he be not St. Paul has abus'd us for he applies that to Christ which was not said of him if he be we have what we desire that Christ is God but this which was the only Question he says not one word to Men may be Types and Figures as David and others were of Christ and in this case what was said of David as a Typical Person may be applied to the Person of Christ but God himself can be no Type for the Type is always less perfect than the
Antitype and therefore whatever is said of God must belong to his Person and cannot belong to any other What God did under the typical State of the Law may be a Type and Figure of those more glorious things which we would do in Human Nature and thus his Triumphs and Victories over the Enemies of his Church which is by a Metaphor called his ascending on high since God who fills all places neither locally ascends nor descends was a Type and Figure of his real Ascension into Heaven after he had first descended into the lowermost parts of the Earth as the Apostle argues but if what the Psalmist says that God ascended on high c. received its accomplishment in the Ascension of Christ into Heaven Christ must be the God of whom the Psalmist speaks Thus what the Psalmist says of God Worship him all ye Gods or Angels the Apostle Attributes to Christ when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him To this our Author answers 'T is uncertain whether St. Paul had any respect to the words in the Psalm What when he cites the very words as a Prophesie of Christ How shall we then know when the Apostle has respect to the words he quotes But if he had he doth not quote the words of the Psalmist as if they were spoken of Christ but only declareth the Decree of God known to him by the Spirit for subjecting the Angels to Christ in the same words that the Psalmist had used upon another occasion But he proves this Decree of God by no other Revelation but the words of the Psalmist nor pretends any other and if that do'nt prove it we have no other But his Reason for this is admirable because they are words most proper to express that Decree for the Writers of the New Testament generally affect to speak in Scripture language which is an effectual Answer to all the Texts of Scripture quoted out of the Old Testament that the Apostles did not intend to prove any thing by them but only affected to speak in Scripture language but when the Apostle says this was spoken of Christ if it were not spoken of him I doubt he affected something worse than speaking in Scripture Language this is either to ridicule Scripture or give the lie to it let him choose which he likes best St. Paul applies that of the Prophet Isaiah I have sworn by my self which all acknowledge to be spoken by God unto me every knee shall bow to Christ. This our Historian says is Because Christ then and there at the last Iudgment holdeth the place of God representeth him and acteth by his Commission So men are said to appear before our Soveraign Lord the King when they appear at the Bar of his Iudges because the Iudges act in the King's stead and by his Commission But why does he confine this bowing the Knee to the last Iudgment St. Paul indeed gives this as one Instance of it but does not confine it to this but in the Epistle to the Philippians makes it as large as the Exaltation of our Saviour Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow and that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father This is what God says by the Prophet Every Tongue shall swear to me and St. Paul to the Romans Every Tongue shall confess to God And this shows that it is the Person of Christ to whom we must bow the knee it is the Name of Iesus at which every knee must bow and every Tongue must confess that Iesus Christ is the Lord. Now I suppose he will not say That we must confess the Judges to be the King or that we must bow to their Persons but to their Commission or that they represent the King wherever they are but only in the King 's Court. If then we must bow to the Person of Christ and confess him to be the Lord and this be an accomplishment of God's Oath unto me every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall swear then Christ is that God who in the Prophet Isaiah swore that every Knee should bow to him And the Prophet plainly describes who this God is to whom every Knee shall bow Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even to him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed in the Lord shall the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory And I suppose all Christians know who that Lord is who is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption by whom we are justified through Faith in his Blood And this is that God to whom every Knee must bow But he is a little mistaken also in his Law we are not said to appear before our Soveraign Lord the King because we appear before the Judges who act by the King's Commission for this is true only of the Court of King's Bench which is peculiarly the King's Court though other Judges act by the King's Commission also in the Kings Court we are said to appear before the King But now though Christ receive his Kingdom and Power from God and God is said to judge the World by him yet it is properly Christ's Iudgment Seat So St. Paul here calls it We shall all stand before the Iudgment-Seat of Christ and we must all appear before the Iudgment-Seat of Christ for the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Iudgment to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father which I explained before And therefore this being Christ's Court of which he is the Supream and Soveraign Judge to him we must bow our Knee that is he is that Lord of whom the Prophet Isaiah speaks The same Prophet tells us Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread And he shall be for a Sanctuary but for a Stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem This is evidently spoken of the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel And this St. Paul applies to Christ that the Jews did stumble and fall and were broken as the Prophet foretold at this stumbling Stone Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith the Faith of Christ but as it were by the Works of the Law for they stumbled at the stumbling-stone as it is written Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Where the Apostle joyns two Prophesies together the first that which I have already quoted