the Sacrifice of Christ's Death and the several kinds of them typical of the various Effects and Vertues of Christ's Death we learn every where in the New Testament which I believe is the true meaning of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world not meerly slain in God's Decree for what God has decreed shall be done is not therefore said to be done before it is done but this Lamb was slain in Types and Figures from the foundation of the world ever since the fall of Adam in those early Sacrifices which were offered after the Fall which were typical of the Sacrifice of Christ for God had then promised that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head and for my part I must profess I know no Principle of Natural Reason that teaches us to offer the Blood of Beasts in Sacrifice to God and therefore must think the Sacrifices of Beasts to be an Institution Now that a Human Priesthood and the Sacrifices of Beasts were not acceptable to God in themselves the Apostle to the Hebrews sufficiently proves and I would desire some of our Learned Reasoning Socinians as they think themselves honestly to tell me what account they can give of this Jewish Priesthood and Sacrifices which is becoming God why should God be propitiated by a man subject to the same sins and infirmities and very often guilty of them that other men are why innocent Beasts must die to expiate the sins of men when the Apostle tells us that it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin And yet if there were no more in it then God's meer appointment and institution I do not see but the Jewish Priesthood and Sacrifices might have been as effectual as any other I think they are so far in the right and consistent with their own Principles that as they own Christ to be no more than a Man so they make him only a metaphorical Priest and his Death a metaphorical Sacrifice for a meer man can be no more than a metaphorical or typical Priest and Sacrifice but then the difficulty is how Christ is the Antitype to the typical Priests and Sacrifices of the Law if he be but a metaphorical Priest and Sacrifice himself for the Antitype ought to be that in truth and reality which the Type is a Figure of and though they were typical yet they were true and proper Priests and Sacrifices and made a true and proper Expiation for sin as far as they reached and therefore one would think should typifie not a metaphorical but a true Priest and Sacrifice though of a more excellent and perfect Nature This is easily accounted for if we allow the Divine Word to be Incarnate and to be our Priest and Sacrifice but without this the Jewish oeconomy is a most absurd and unaccountable Institution Thirdly Socinianism ridicules the Christian Religion that is makes it a very mean and contemptible Institution which I shall shew in a few words The Fundamental Mystery of the Christian Religion is the stupendious Love of God in giving his own Son his only begotten Son for the Redemption of Mankind This our Saviour lays great stress on God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life By this one would have thought that Christ had been the Son the only begotten Son of God before he gave him as Isaac who was a Type of Christ was Abraham's Son before he offered him at God's Command for that it is the Argument of Love when we part with what we have and what is dear to us but this is not the Case if Socinianism be true God did not give us any Son he had before but made an excellent Man whom he was pleased to call his only begotten Son though he might have made as many such only begotten Sons as he pleased and him he gave for us that is made a Man on purpose to be our Saviour God's love indeed in redeeming sinners is very great be the means what they will but his love in giving his only begotten Son for our Redemption which our Saviour fixes on as the great demonstration of God's love is not so wonderful if this giving his Son signifies no more than making a Man on purpose to be our Saviour In the next place the Apostles mightily insist on the great love of Christ in dying for us and his great humility in submitting to the Condition of Human Nature and suffering a shameful and accursed Death even the Death of the Cross. Ye know the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Iesus who 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 be humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. Now supposing Christ to be but a meer man who had no Being before he was born of the Virgin who knew nothing of his own coming into the World nor for what end he came whose undertaking was not his own voluntary choice but God's appointment where is the great love where is the great humility of this How did he become poor for our sakes who was never rich Yes says our Historian he could have lived in the greatest splendor dignity and plenty He that could multiply the loaves and fishes and the wine at the wedding of Cana need not have wanted any Comforts of life Right if he can prove that God would have enabled him to work Miracles to have made himself rich and great and to have ministred to Secular Pomp and Luxury if he had so minded but he being a meer Creature could work no Miracles nor to any other ends or purposes than God pleased and therefore if by God's Decree he was to live a mean life here and dye an accursed death and he was made for this purpose he neither ever was rich nor ever could be rich and therefore did not make himself poor for our sakes He could not by the Constitution of God have done otherwise than he did if he would be the Saviour of Mankind and therefore if he was not rich before he came into the World and voluntarily chose his Poverty for us I do not understand the great Grace of his becoming poor for he never was rich nor ever could be in this World Thus what is that humility our Apostle so highly commends in our Saviour for suppose his being in the form of God signifies no more than being made like
hold the true Catholick Faith and that the Faith of the Athanasian Creed is that Catholick Faith which is necessary to Salvation 1. As for the first of these I would desire him to consider that though without Holiness no Man shall see God yet no Man is saved by his good Works but by Faith in Christ to say that we shall be saved by Holiness and good Works without Faith in Christ is to assert the Merit of good Works ten thousand times more than ever Papists themselves did The meritorious Works of Popery serve only instead of Penance to keep them out of Purgatory or to shorten their time there they serve instead of that Temporal Punishment which absolved and penitent Sinners must undergo for those sins the Eternal Punishment of which is remitted not for their own meritorious Works but for the merits and expiation of Christ but he who expects to be saved for his good Works without Faith in Christ attributes such a merit to good Works as redeems him from the Wrath of God and the Eternal Punishments due to Sin and purchases Eternal Rewards for him which is somewhat more than the Church of Rome pretends to especially since whatever merit they attribute to good Works they ascribe wholly to the Merits of Christ whose Merits alone have made our good Works meritorious which is very honourable to our Saviour and very Orthodox Divinity in comparison with those who think good Works such meritorious things whatever their Faith be and if he considers this twice I suppose he will confess that Faith in Christ the true Catholick Faith is necessary to Salvation 2. Nay it is necessary before all other things to our Salvation because it is necessary to Baptism which alone puts us into a state of Salvation For he that believes and is baptized shall be saved but he that believes not shall be damned All Christians must confess that there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby Men can be saved but onely the Name of Christ that Faith in Christ in adult Persons is necessary to Baptism that Baptism alone incorporates us into the Body of Christ and puts us into a state of Salvation and therefore that neither Jews nor Turks nor Heathens none but believing and baptized Christians are in a state of Salvation how morally vertuous soever their Lives may be Whoever does not confess this makes nothing of the Covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ nothing of his Sacrifice Priesthood and Intercession makes the Christian Religion nothing but a new and more perfect Sect of Philosophy than either Jews or Heathens taught before whose Condition yet is as safe as the Condition of Christians if they live according to the knowledge they have Our Author then must either renounce the Christian Religion or confess the true Catholick Faith or a true Faith in Christ is before all other things necessary to Salvation because this is that which puts us into a state of Salvation by Christ without which no Man can be saved according to the terms of the Gospel 3. If Faith in Christ be necessary to Salvation I suppose all Men will grant it must be the true Faith in Christ not a false and heretical Faith for that is equivalent to Infidelity there seems to be little difference between not believing in Christ at all and not believing what we ought to believe of him and the belief of which is necessary to Salvation for if we do not believe that of Christ which is necessary to Salvation we may as well believe nothing and then to be sure it concerns us to hold the Catholick Faith whatever that be 4. That the Faith of the Holy Trinity is that true Christian Faith which is necessary to Salvation appears from the Form of Baptism itself for we are baptised in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that is into the Faith and Worship of the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity which is the Substance of the Athanasian Creed This is the Baptismal Faith and that certainly is necessary to Salvation if any Faith be Now when we consider that Baptism is our solemn Dedication to God and Admission into Covenant with him to be dedicated to the Son and Holy Ghost in the same manner in the very same act and same form of words whereby we are dedicated to the Father were they not One Supream and Soveraign God with the Father would make any considering Man abhor the Christian Religion as the most open and bare-faced Idolatry as joyning Creatures with God in the most solemn Act of Religion that of dedicating Men to His Worship and Service But not to insist on that now our Author may hence learn that to believe in Father Son and Holy Ghost is necessary to Salvation because it is the Faith of Baptism and if that Exposition which the Athanasian Creed has given of this Faith be the true Catholick Doctrine then that is necessary to Salvation and therefore the Creed begins very properly with asserting the necessity of holding the Catholick Faith if we will be saved which must be as necessary to Salvation as it is to be Christians Which Faith except a Man keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly By keeping this Faith whole and undefiled must be meant if any thing be meant that a Man should believe and profess it without adding to it or taking from it If we take from it we do not keep it whole if we add ought to it we do not keep it undefiled and either way we shall perish everlastingly A Man of ordinary Sense and Candor would have said that to keep this Faith whole and undefiled signified not to corrupt the Faith either by adding to it or taking from it for whatever we add or whatever we take away which does not alter the Essentials of our Faith the Faith remains whole and undefiled still But this would have spoiled his notable Remarks both as to adding and taking away First for adding What if an honest plain Man because he is a Christian and a Protestant should think it necessary to add this Article to the Athanasian Creed I believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be a Divine Infallible and Compleat Rule both for Faith and Manners I hope no Protestant would think a Man damned for such addition And if so then this Creed of Athanasius is at least an unnecessary Rule of Faith That is to say it is an addition to the Catholick Faith to own the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith As if it were an addition to the Laws of England to own the Original Records of them in the Tower For the Catholick Faith is what we are to believe the Rule of Faith is that Book or Writing wherein this Catholick Faith is to be found and upon the Authority of which we must believe it and therefore what the Catholick Faith is
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
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