found alive at the last Day They would have Christ's Incarnation to be against Reason and Scripture they deny him to be truly God the like of the Holy Ghost That there is in One God no Trinity of Persons and that the Old Testament is needless for Christians c. All these and other Blasphemies are found in the Works of Socinus in the Racovian Catechism whereof Smalcius is the Author of Ostorodius Crellius Wolkelius Vaydovius c. but we shall by the Grace of God insist only upon some of their greatest Blasphemies Now to the Cause Matters of this high Nature and fundamental Concernment to our Holy Religion must not be prostituted to the captious scanning of Men of corrupt Minds nor the ways of God be made layable to the Judgment of Men rather humbly to be adored with Submission of Mind and Obedience of Faith to the Revelation declared in God's Word and herein we ought the more to be sober and cautious that we know Errors to be link'd together and to have a dependency one upon another he that strikes at the Grace of the Lord Jesus will afterwards make no Conscience to fly out against his Person he who denies him to be a Prophet will soon disown him to be a King and a Priest for as one Depth calls to another so an Arminian can easily become a rank Pelagian and Socinian Wherefore 't is necessary at the very beginning to oppose Errors defend every inch of ground against such as will daily grow worse and worse as do the * James 1.8 double-minded men that are for their own more than for the Truth 's Interest for they are unstable in all their ways and the more Hands orderly employed the better is the Effect like to be This Consideration makes me to appear amongst those who heretofore did and now do oppose false Teachers who not only privily but also in publick bring in again those damnable Heresies which of old Truth and Learning exploded and baffled out of the World The Divinity of Christ was the Stumbling-block to the Jews who could not endure to hear him call himself the Son of God absolutely and without limitation and thereat were enraged which made 'em take up Stones to cast at him John 8.59 and also at another time Chap. 10.31 the Doctrines about the Holy Trinity and the Person and Deity of Christ do stand and fall together In our Saviour's time it began to be oppos'd by the Jews and since from time to time continu'd to be so by the Devil's Instruments raised to that same purpose and within the last Age revived by the fore-named Blasphemers against the Rock of the Church which is built on the Confession that Christ is the Son of the living God not by any special Favour or any such Restriction for then there would be only a gradual difference between his and our being Sons of God but he is simply the Son of God yea his only begotten Before we enter upon this important Matter some things to clear the state of the Question must be premised so that we must shew wherein we agree before we speak of that wherein we differ as to the first this Foundation must be laid there is a God the Cause of all the Effect of none who hath made all and is made by none who hath given all things their Being and hath his own of himself This is not denyed so I shall not go about to prove it the Light of Nature the Book of Scripture and the Testimony of Conscience do sufficiently convince Men of it The next thing is what God is He being infinite cannot be defined but imperfectly described only according to what he hath in his Word revealed of himself how he is infinite independent self-sufficient eternal unchangeable But such is the blindness of some Mens Judgments or the Perverseness of their Hearts that they will cavil at the Nature Names Attributes and Works of this eternal and infinite Being But about this fundamental Truth our Faith must be directed by the Revelation which God hath made of it in his holy Word herein Men must not follow their own fancy for * 〈◊〉 Mat. 〈…〉 no man knoweth the father but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him Now the sum of this Revelation in the Word is that God is One that this One God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and of the Son and that they are distinct one from another in respect of this their mutual Relation by this Rule we must be guided how to know believe worship love fear and obey him that is the Father One true God the Son One true God and the Holy Ghost One true God to be believed worshiped and obeyed Now for our Edification and further Instruction thâ—â— Doctrin admits of some Enlargement and Explanation to prevent undue Notions of God which by reason of the Blindness and Ignorance we are naturally involv'd in our Minds are liable unto thus out of the Revelation that God is One we easily deduce he is so in respect of his Nature Essence or Godhead and how being Father Son and Holy Ghost he doth subsist in these Three distinct Persons thence also is derived the manner of their Subsistence what are their mutual respects to each other and such like things by a necessary Consequence from the Revelation Upon these Grounds were compiled the Nicene Athanasian and other Creeds or Articles of Faith in opposition to the Heresies of those Times for therein was explained the true Sense of Scripture about those matters which were wrested by the Enemies of the Truth and though the Orthodox Doctors and Councils to oppose the Error and lay open the Venom made use of some Words and Expressions which in so many Letters are not set down in the Word of God yet they were not to blame for they were drawn out of it by lawful and necessary Consequences Men may lawfully conceive in their Minds what is the nature of the Things or the sense of the Words according to the scope of the Spirit of God in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and also as to the Analogy of Faith or else we are no better than Brutes So that if the chief Assertion contained in the Revelation be true so must also be whatsoever is therein included and in the Explication thereof drawn by a true and right Consequence Wherefore seeing God hath declared Father Son and Holy Ghost to be One God it necessarily follows they are One in Nature because therein only they can be One And this is the ground of any other Unity and seeing it is also declared they are Three it must be explained of three distinct Persons or Subsistences wherein only it is possible they can be Three The Revelation is clear there is One God this God is
begetter and the begotten do sometimes differ in the genus sometimes in the species or kind in Divine Things they differ only in the modus or manner This Generation is without any Motion hath no beginning nor ending because he that begets and he that is begotten are Coeternal What we say of the Son may be affirmed of the Holy Ghost who is from the Father and from the Son by way of procession not as to the Nature but as to the Person for the Essence and Self-being of the Holy Ghost is just the same with that of the Father and of the Son he is Self-God Actually though not Originally Essentially though not Personally Now these Three Persons of the Godhead are distinguished by their Names Orders Attributes and Workings which Distinctions do not prejudice either the Unity or Simplicity of Essence for it is not composed of Persons which are not before it either in Time or Order but every one hath the whole Essence neither can the Persons be said to be composed of the Essence because it is not before the Persons neither doth the manner of subsisting induce any Composition into the Essence only a Distinction and is said to modificate not to multiply it Now the modus or manner is here improperly taken for commonly 't is posterior to the Subject it doth modifie But in this it is not so there is not in the Persons of the most Holy Trinity such a real Distinction as is between Things and Things for the Person is not a different Thing from the Divine Essence but 't is the very Essence with the manner of subsisting In some natural Things the manner of them is hard and sometimes impossible to be understood Can a Man upon sure Grounds find out how Grass and Corn grows How the Wind is formed Whence it comes and whither it goes and several such things in Nature we no ways doubt but that there are in the World those who pretend to know all things and pretend for most things to give Reasons such as they are But can a Man know how he himself was made and formed How his Soul came to be united to his Body This Ignorance in common Matters we daily see and feel to be in our selves and what must it be in those Spiritual and High Ones which are such as no Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard nor ever entered into the Heart of Man and which 't is impossible for the Wit of Man to conceive which Consideration should curb the Idle Curiosity of vain Men who as with a little short Line would with their shallow Brains fathom the bottomless and unsearchable Depths of these adorable Mysteries when with the Apostle * 2 Cor. 12.4 that was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable Words they should cry out †Rom. 11.33 O the depth that cannot be fathomed Yet to shew we are not altogether unacquainted with the Notions and Hypotheses of others about these Matters in a stammering manner let us say that the ‖ Psal 147 5. infinite Vnderstanding of God never is or was Idle and as it is his very Being so from all Eternity it ever was taken up and this Understanding of God being All in All it cannot meet with any thing but himself so it did understand and conceive it self as in a Looking-Glass a Man doth conceive and beget a perfect Image of his own Face so God in beholding and minding of himself doth in himself beget a most lively and perfect Image of himself and this in the Blessed Trinity is the Son of God who is called * Heb. 1 3. the perfect Image of God just as if we may use such Comparisons Wax upon a Seal hath the engraven Form of the Seal so the Son of God whom his Father hath begotten of his own Understanding is the very Form of his Father's Understanding and when one is seen the other is seen also as he saith to Philip †Joh. 14.9 he who hath seen me hath seen the Father and under the Name of Wisdom he saith when there were no Depths and before the Mountains were settled ‖ Prov. 8.23 24 25. I was brought forth And as in God's Essence there is an Understanding so there is * Isa 46.10 a Will and by this Will God according to his own Mind applies his Power where when and how he thinks good and as his Understanding doth so his Will everlastingly works upon himself as it hath no other Thing to work upon but it self it delighteth it self in the Infinite Goodness which it knoweth in it self and that Delight which God or his Will hath in its own Infinite Goodness produces a Subsistance in God which is the Holy Ghost and that mutual Love whereby the Father takes Delight in his Son which is his own Image conceived by his Understanding and the Son likewise rejoyceth in his Father now this Action of the Will when it is fulfilled is Liking and Love as when a Man looketh in a Glass if he smiles his Image doth so too and if it takes Delight in it it takes the same in him for they are both One and from these Two doth result the Third all Three are in One Face of One Face and but One Face Thus if we will make use of our Reason in these Mysterious and Incomprehensible Matters we must stutter and stammer wherefore the best is chiefly and only to stand to and depend upon the Revelation thereof that God hath made in his Word beyond which Men ought not to presume for in Matters of so High a Concernment to speak true and certain Things there is some Danger of the contrary Herein we can give no Examples because there is nothing like God we have no natural Grounds and Principles positively to prove these Truths all Comparisons from the Sun the Soul the Rain-bow a Triangle and of my speaking as I my Word and my Breath are Three several Things different one from another yet I am but One Man and such like lame Comparisons fall very short of Illustrating these Mysteries if we cannot understand how Original Sin is propagated in us seeing our Soul is not ex traduce begotten by Parents how much less can we comprehend that Infinite and Eternal Being of One God in Three Persons After this is it not Just that Men should own how the Trinity is a High Mystery which falls not under Senses and is infinitely above our Understanding rather to be believed than felt or understood whereof the Revelation ought to be the sufficient and only Rule as when Scripture saith * 1 Joh. 5.7 there are three in Heaven the Father the Word and Holy Ghost and these three are one I must not puzzle my Brain to know how this can be thus when the Apostle revealeth there is to be a Resurrection of the dead when some Men will say †1 Cor. 15.35 36. How are the dead raised up and with what body do
of his Servant of his elect in whom his Soul delighteth whereby none may deny the Lord Jesus to be understood and the Holy Ghost or Spirit Nothing better than this can quadrate with the History of our Saviour's Baptism ‖ Matth. 3.16 And in another place of the same Prophet †Iâ—al 6.3 when he saw the Vision and heard that Trisagion or holy holy holy which long after was also heard by John * Rev. 4 8. that three-fold repetition of God's Name compar'd with the proper Hypotheses of the antient Jews ' that it signified three things in God is adapted to the Trinity of Persons in S. John's Vision we have some enlargement as to the Lord Jesus represented by the Lamb for the same Twenty four Elders and Four Beasts * Rev. 5.8 9 13. fell down before the lamb and sung a new song and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea paid the same Worship to the Lamb as to him that sitteth on the Throne Again the same Prophet †Isai 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me this to be understood of Christ as applyed Luke 4.18 and of the Holy Ghost by the anointing for he was anointed with the Oyl of Gladness that is the Graces of the Spirit These Three are also to be read amongst the last Words of David * 2 Sam. 23.2 saying The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and the Word was in my tongue here is the Lord the Word and the Spirit To the same purpose speaks another Prophet †Hagg. 2.5 according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth among you the Father with the Word his Son and his Spirit made a Covenant with Israel There are several other Texts in the Old Testament of the Nature of One which I already made use of I mean of the thrice holy wherein the Name of God or Lord is thrice repeated I own I have such a persuasion of the infinite Wisdom of God as to believe there is nothing at all in his Word but what there is a particular reason for it to be in and in this belief of mine I am confirmed by what our blessed Saviour saith in earnest and with a strong Asseveration †Matt. 5.18 Verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled and I am sufficiently satisfied that though through the Infirmity of our Nature in the Ignorance of our Mind we cannot apprehend the Causes of many things in the Word of God yet therein is nothing without a Cause So out of that Principle I dare say God meaneth something when in the Blessing which he prescribed to be pronounced to the People the Lord's Name is thrice in it thus * Numb 6.24 25 26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and when God speaks unto Moses he dictates what he was to speak to the Children of Israel when he was come to them in his Name that is The Lord God of your Fathers one would have thought this had been enough but no for he addeth †Exod. 3.15 The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob it was the same God yet thrice named So when the Law is given he saith ‖ Exod. 20.5 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God once Lord and twice God which is the same so in another place the * Psalm 136.1 2 3. Psalmist exhorteth thrice to give thanks to whom unto the Lord unto the God of Gods to the Lord of Lords One more I shall quote and 't is this †Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King Why thrice and no more Surely God aims at something for as he doth nothing so he saith nothing in vain these things are not in by Chance and seeing with a full assurance I believe according to Revelation a Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature Why should not I also believe that these things relate to it Now if one would seriously attend upon these quoted places and compare them with others of the same kind may be God would impart upon the Matter greater Discoveries than I for the present am able to give only this I shall add how the Name Jehovah called in Greek Tetragrammaton because it originally consists only of four Letters signifieth both God's Self-existence for the Root whence 't is derived doth denote to be and also his Eternity for it contains all times to come present and past one out of the two first Letters draws the Words beginning and to live and the third having a Vertue of copulating or joyning together is for Love whereby is denoted the Holy Ghost as by the two before are Father and Son and because the second Letter h is twice in he would have both Natures in the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity to be meaned tho' I have nothing to say against these mysterious Interpretations which may be well grounded yet we build not our main Arguments thereupon however knowing that essential and incommunicable Holy Name to confist of three different Letters I can see nothing to hinder me from believing that that same Nature is communicated to Three Persons and as the same Letter is twice in it doth signifie Two Natures in One Person especially it falling upon the Second Letter relating to the Second Person of the most blessed Trinity and as God is the Author of the Name Why may not he in his Infinite Wisdom therein denote some Mystery This I take to be Rational Here I must not omit for Proof of this great Truth to bring in our Creed called the Apostolical as an Evidence I meddle not with the others for the Adversaries will not own them though they ever were by better more Learned more Pious and Sound in all Ages than they are or I doubt can be I know the World hath afforded some Men who out of a vain-glory and to seem to be something through a tryal of their Parts have attempted to enervate with their Criticisms the Strength and Orthodoxy of these Creeds but as to this Socinians themselves can except against it no more than they do against the written Word of God whence this is extracted Father Son and Holy Ghost are all Three named in the Creed and as the Word God is expressed when joined with the Father so 't is understood of Son and Holy Ghost thus I believe in God his only begotten Son and I believe in God the Holy Ghost for to them it also doth belong and as there we profess to believe in that is to
but Persons endued with Reason and as I said before to Persons it belongs to act The high Names of God's Own Son Only Begotten c. which in Scripture are given the Lord Jesus are not upon the account of his miraculous Conception in the Womb of the Virgin as Socinians would have it we confess therein God had a special Hand and it was effected in an extraordinary manner but this is not enough to entitle him to the Filiation which the Question is now about to distinguish him from all others in the World called Sons of God as anon we shall have occasion to speak of Adam had also a miraculous Birth yet the Names of Only Begotten and God's Own and Proper Son do not belong to him in Christ's Conception and Birth God did not concur materially but efficiently with his Power but not with his Substance seeing Christ as to the Flesh was not of any invisible Seed of God but of the †Rom. 1.3 Seed of David what Brothers he had are quite of another ‖ Rom. 8.29 Heb. 2.12 Order and Quality they are such not by Generation but by Regeneration by Adoption not by * 1 Job 1.12 1 Joh. 3.1 1 Pet. 1.23 Jam. 1.18 Nature as the Texts quoted in the Margin which may be perused do declare wherefore Christ is Son of God in another manner than men are so he is called the Image of God and the Character of his Person in a most different way from that whereby Adam is said to be made according to God's likeness As in Creatures 't is a perfection to beget their similes or that which is like unto themselves that may not be denyed God now as we cannot conceive a communicability of a Nature which is spiritual and ad intra but by the two Faculties of Understanding and Willing whose Operations are immanent so it may well be said that there can be but two Processions in God one by way of Intellection whereby the Son is begotten who is called the Word Wisdom and Image of the Father and the other by way of Volition whereby is breathed the Holy Ghost who for that reason is specially called Love and though the Son doth also understand himself yet he begets neither himself nor another for he understands himself not of a notional Intellection to generate which belongs only to the Father but with a notional one which is common to the Father and to the Holy Ghost This is said not to prove our Faith but only to demonstrate that what we believe is not contrary to Reason though it be above it for all these matters as I observ'd before and as all Orthodox and learned Men that writ upon them are agreed are to be grounded on Scripture rather than upon human Reason The chief part of our Comfort and Salvation lies in the Belief of this Doctrine for as in Christ is but one Person so there are two Natures whereby he is in a capacity of perfecting our Redemption which otherwise he could not be in we own he is called Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and by Excellency but besides he is also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved proper only begotten whereby he is distinguished from adopted Sons and by his being called Son of the living God distinguish'd from Elijab Jeremiah and such extraordinary Persons that had been in the World which concludeth his Consubstantiality with the Father for it had been a monstruous Generation if out of the Father's Bosom had come a Son of another Nature He that was to be born of a Virgin was to be called the Son of the Highest not by reason of a miraculous Conception as pretended by Crollius out of Maldonat the Jesuit but because of an eternal Generation chiefly as also by reason afterwards of a personal Union of both Natures for though upon that account he might also be call'd the Son of God yet that could not intitle him to be the only begotten because he is dear and beloved but he is dear and beloved because the only begotten of the Father Christ the first begotten in respect to adopted Brethren not because their Son-ship is of the same Nature with his but only thus far as Adoption imitateth Nature as Civilians say so their Adoption * 1 Pet. 1.23 and Regeneration is a kind of Imitation of his eternal Generation and to him belong all the Privileges of the First-born and is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the †Colos 1.17 18. Rev. 3.14 beginning of the Creature not passively but actively Christ is called the Beginning of the Creation of God or of all things by him created that is the beginner or the first efficient Cause of all Creatures according to a style used in Scripture when the Thing is set for the Person as when the Jewish Nation is called by the name of ‖ Rom. 4.9 Gal. 2.9 Circumcision the Act for the Agent and the Abstract for the Concret thus Christ is said of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that is he makes us wise unto Salvation makes us righteous for he is our Justifier Sanctifier and Redeemer thus he is often called * 1 John 2. and 4.2 the Popitation for our Sins and our Salvation for Propitiatour and Saviour Though there be an infinite difference between Christ's and human Generations yet herein they agree that it imports in him that is begotten a Communication of the Nature of the Begetter it is said of Adam †Gen. 5.3 that he begat a Son in his own likeness after his Image is this to be understood of a like Nature only and not of the same Undisputably he begat him out of his own Substance and his own Nature and no other he communicated unto him well represented by the words in his own likeness and after his image the word Likeness doth not shew any Disparity or Difference but an Equality and Sameness of Nature which here by the by I observe in relation to a thing I shall have occasion to mention about the Honour to be render'd unto Christ that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father for they would have it only to be like but not equal or the same when here Likeness is taken for Sameness and Equality Now as of Seth so we must say of Christ the Son of God as the other was of Adam for as Seth had not been Adam's Son except he were of the same Nature so Christ could not truly and properly be God's Son except he were of the same Nature with the Father Seth was begotten after his Father's Image that is of the same Nature and the Lord Jesus more strongly to shew the Sameness in Nature with the Father which he had in a more eminent way than ever Seth had his from Adam is not said to be after his Father's Image but in more noble expressive and lively Words said to be the express Image
there was any difference the words for the first seem stronger than those for the last for to be in the form is more than to be in the likeness because forma dat esse rei a thing hath being from its Form or Nature but he gave sufficient and great demonstration of both Natures in him to those among whom he did converse Socinians would wrest the Text of Luke 1.3 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall over-shadow thee therefore that also which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God They would have the Particle therefore to signifie the Cause wherefore Christ was to be called the Son of God that is that miraculous Conception by the Holy Ghost but no such thing may be deduced 't is not the Cause but the Consequence or Inference which is signified by the words therefore and wherefore by which Particles we usually draw Conclusions from Premises whether they be Causes Effects or Signs or that which upon any other account whatsoever may be deduced therefrom And in this place out of the scope thereof it cannot be demonstrated out of any Circumstances that the Conception by the Holy Ghost is the true cause why Christ was to be called the Son of God 't is not upon the account of that manner of his Conception for then for that same cause either Christ would call himself or be called by others Son of God else the Angel's Prediction should prove false by which reason he rather should not be called than called the Son of God even according to their Principles which deny the Holy Ghost to be true God but the words of the Angel do import not that he should be called once or by some few Son of God but always and generally by all that should own him to be the Son of God Besides this Exposition of theirs they can bring no Example to confirm it for in abundance of places we read Christ to be called Son of God but find none at all wherein he is called Son of God according to the Flesh And the Angel doth not say therefore he may happen to be but absolutely and publickly declareth he shall be called wherefore seeing he no where is called Son of God according to the Flesh we may necessarily conclude he is not such in that sense to be called is sometimes really to be as in that Text * 1. John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God that is that we should really be owned and declared to be the Sons of God such as truly we are being adopted in Christ his true natural Son The word holy used gives a strong Evidence that Christ was to be called Son of God for a much better and higher reason than that he was to be born of a Virgin he shall be called Son of God because he is holy therefore not upon the account of the Flesh but by reason of his Holiness because the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin some holy thing was to be born of her that makes the Angel say Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God not as to the manner of Conception but as to the thing to be conceived though by the Angel it be not expressed how great was that Holiness we may well conceive it to be that highest and infinite Holiness as becomes the Son of God wherefore Isaiah in his Prophecy of him calls him as already observed the mighty God Elizabeth calls him Luke 1.43 her Lord the Angel calls him ‖ Chap. 2.11 Saviour Christ the Lord and Daniel * Dan. 9.24 He was anointed the most Holy Before the wise Men fell down and worshipped him which they were sent to do and to that purpose guided by a Star †Mat. 2.2 11. and according to the Prophecies ‖ Psal 72.10 offered him Gifts and Presents as to a King for under that Name his Birth was declared to them and promised therefore the Holiness of Christ is the Holiness of God and of him who is by Nature Lord and King The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and or also which follows therefore is not in vain but shews a Comparison and is related not to the word called but to be born and the sense is not only that word which from Eternity is born of God is Son of God but that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God because that eternal Son of God shall take human Nature and be born of thee And this is one of the things which the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin was to do namely that she should conceive without Man and conceive a Man him who from eternity is according to divine Nature the Son of God which could not otherwise be effected than with the Holy Ghost uniting human Nature which was to be formed out of her own Blood and Substance sanctified before and preserved from Sin and Corruption with the Person of the Son Men must not think there is in Scripture the least tittle or word without cause for the Holy Ghost doth and saith nothing in vain Another reason is the Angel saith Christ shall be called the Son not of the Holy Ghost but of God the Father Now if the manner of this Conception was the cause of his being called Son of God he should properly be the Son of the Holy Ghost not of the Father for he is said to be conceived by the Holy Ghost but they deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person yet actiones sunt suppositorum is a Rule in Philosophy and this Conceiving being an Act the Holy Ghost must be a Person for I defie them to shew any thing to be done but by a Person Scripture in the quoted place Rom. 1.3 the Question being about Christ's being the Son of God excludes the Flesh to attribute it to the Spirit but Socinians would have it according to both yet S. Paul's scope is to teach how he is Son of God according to the Flesh and how according to the Spirit as to the first he explains himself when he saith which was made of the seed of David as to be second he declareth his meaning when he saith he was declared Son of God with power whence we may conclude he saith Christ to be called and really be the Son of God not according to the Flesh but to the Spirit or else he had not sufficiently declared in what sense he is the son of God and 't is clear how he opposes the Flesh to the Spirit according to the first he was made of the Seed of David according to the last he was declared the Son of God Withal Scipture would have such a Son of God as is without Father c. such as Melchisedec no mention being made of his Father Mother or Genealogy
all men knowing him to be one with the Father may honour the Son even as they honour the Father whereby he demonstrates himself to be God for divine honour belongs to none else for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve We must love honour and worship one person of the God-head as well as the other as we love God in the person of the Father so we must love God in the person of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an Athema 1 Cor. 16.22 Maran-atha He who loveth not the Son loveth not the Father and he who loves not the Holy Ghost loveth not the Father nor the Son Here I bring in point of worship the instance of love because without it no true worship We ought not to worship God otherwise than he hath declared in his word he that woshipeth not God the Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not worship God as he ought 't is not enough to worship God as God essentially but also he must be in the three persons for all three are the object of worship or else our Religion is vain and we are to look not only to the object but also to the order of worship the Father through the Son John 16. and by the Son to go to the Father and so by the means of the Holy Ghost we go to both for we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. â— 26 1 Cor. 12.3 but the spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us Neither can one say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost And in giving glory to God 't is not enough to glorifie him except it be in the three persons Father Son and Holy Ghost And the consideration of this Mistery of one God in three persons which ought to be our guide in worshiping that eternal and infinite Being ought to teach us modesty and humility which is so essential in our serving God to adore the incomprehensibility of these high things the Majesty of God and the Mistery of his Son 's being made Flesh and be made sensible of our weakness and then endeavour to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Here I cannot forbear inserting the words of two eminent Doctors of the Primitive Church Ambros de fid ad gratian lib. 1. cap. 5. Mihi impossibile est saith one generationis scire secretum mens deficit voxsilet non mea tantum sed Angelorum licet scire quod natus fit non licet discutere quomodo natus sit illud negare mihi non licet hoc quaerere metus 'T is impossible for me to know the secret of that Generation my understanding faileth me my mouth is stopt 't is lawful not only for me but also for Angels to know He is born but 't is not lawful to enquire how he is born that I cannot deny but I am afraid to search into this The other saith filium esse a deo patre immortali genitum novi sed quemadmodum ignoro spiritum ex co procedere scio Chrisost hom de incomprehens dei natura sed quemadmodum nescio I know the Son to be begotten of the immortal Father but in what manner I cannot tell I know the Holy Ghost to proceed from him but how I know not These being just come into my thoughts though they exactly are not belonging to the present part of our discourse yet being much to the purpose of the whole I here have set them down Indeed in things of that nature men ought to yield an obedience of Faith and believe unity of Nature and Trinity of Persons for numero deus impare gaudet so we must worship one God in three persons Our present purpose is to prove Christ to be true Essential Eternal God because the same worship due only to the true Eternal God is rendred unto him as anon we shall by the grace of God make it appear But now somethings must be premised which can contribute towards the better understanding of the point first Christ's enemies are not agreed in this particular one Valentinus Gentilis by us named in the beginning of this Discourse and some others do flatly deny Christ this Divine Worship because they disown him essentially to be God and no divine worship is to be rendred to the Creature which to do is Idolatry but Socinus said he is to be worshiped but with such restrictions as such a worship is all most no better than none at all They would have him to be worshiped only after his resurrection and that the resurection was the standing sign and true reason why one whom God raised from the dead should be worshiped but if this be true then the Son of the Widow of Sarepta of the Shunamite 1 Kings 17.22 2 Kings 4.34 c. Chap. 13.21 and of the dead man that having touched the bones of Elisha was revived under the Old Testament and the Son of the Woman of Naim and the daughter of Jairus Lazarus Dorcas and Eutichus under the New are to be worshiped according to this rule of theirs Wherefore some other cause than this must be assigned why Christ must be worshiped they say he ought to be so as he is Mediator we own that Christ Mediator is to be worshiped but that honour belongs to him in relation to his Deity for when God bringeth in the first born into the world Heb. 1.6 he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him he is called first begotten not in relation to his humanity for many were Children of God before his Birth but in respect to his eternal generation He is to be adored by Angels though he be not their Mediator when we adore Christ as Mediator 't is not in relation to his Office abstracted from his Deity but as he is true God In this sence the Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive as he did by the Angels Rev. 5.12 the Beasts and the Elders honour and glory and blessing because in his humane nature dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily Colos 2.9 The Ark was not worshiped but God in the Ark as not the Bush but God in the Bush not the ground which Moses stood upon but God in that place sanctified by his special presence and so in several other places of the Old Testament Indeed Christ is to be worshiped Phil. 2.7 though in the form of a Servant and made a little lower than the Angels though not as a Servant or as lower than the Angels by which all God would have him to be adored for no other cause but for his divine nature V. 6. the form of God whereby he shall remained equal with the Father in his state of humiliation As Angels are commanded to worship Christ so is the Church under the
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
that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it Luke 14.26 Nay If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren yea and his own life he cannot be my disciple Is not this the manner of love which God requireth of us and doth not this lay upon us a duty to love Christ with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and with all our strength thus this honour is proper for and ought equally to be rendered to the Father and to the Son for all men ought to honour the Son as they honour the Father I hope the sense we give the Text is sufficiently proved how all men without distinction or exceptionare bound to honour the Son as they honour the Father and the manner is by our Saviour prescribed in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 Now I must shew how the Texts they bring against us cannot admit of the sense which ours doth because 't is contrary to the Scope of the Apostles and to the Analogy of Faith First to the scope for the end of both Apostles 1 Thes 4.7 Luk. 1.74 75. Psal 93.5 Heb. 11.6 Heb. 12.14 is to exhort Christians to study and labour after Purity and Holiness which they are called unto All that are adopted Children ought to walk in holiness because holiness becomes the house of God and as without faith 't is impossible to please God so without holiness no man shall see the Lord. This great and necessary duty I say the two Apostles in these Texts do exhort men to strive and labour after not as to attain to such a perfection of holiness as is in God which is impossible for any Man for all that we can desire is that we may be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.10 Mat. 5.48 and receive some degrees of it In the same sense is to be understood that other place Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect a duty we ought to study after because as much as we can we must be conformable unto God Secondly Such an interpretation would destroy the Analogy of Faith as contrary to the truth set down in other places of Scripture For though holiness be a communicable Attribute of God yet there cannot be so much as thought to be an equality between Purity and Holiness in God and those small portions he is graciously pleased to impart unto us Holiness is Essentially and Originatively in God nay Holiness is God infinitely and most simply holy and we are naturally unclean transgressors from the Womb conceived in Sin brought forth in Iniquity wallowing in our own Blood till God be pleased to wash and cleanse us to derive from himself and by his holy spirit to work some small degree of holiness in us God is most holy Luke 6.36 thrice Holy In the same sense we are commanded to be merciful as our Father also is merciful that is as far as God will be pleased to enable us we ought to follow and imitate that Pattern but not pretend or hope to arrive to the perfection of it which in both Mercy and Holiness were no less than Blasphemy wherefore such interpretations God's word doth abhor and in that place St. John saith not Every man that hath this hope hath purified in the Praetertense but in the Present purifieth himself to shew how he doth but aim at it and by degrees And St. Peter in the 16. v. explains the sense of the foregoing verse because it is written saith he be ye holy for I am holy he shews no equality or parity of holiness The word as which he used before he now renders by for as a motive and a cause why we ought to be holy Because God is holy To what I said before I shall now add at last how the word as doth in other places denote an equality as the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father John 10.15 which in the Greek word is taken for to love he equally knows and loves the Father with an Eternal and perfect Love as the Father knoweth and loveth him The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when spoken of the Father and the Son denote an equality not a similitude as the Father hath life in himself so hath the Son life in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original Now to understand the foregoing places of an equality Chap 5. 26. is not contrary to other Scriptures nor to the Analogy of Faith but doth tend to the glory of both Father and Son for the rule is most true in the Text now in question he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that sent him but he that honoureth the Son honoureth the Father also which is a natural inference out of the place But that people who pretend to honour the Father have taken a quite contrary way to do 't which is dishonouring the Son Joh. 8.49 as he said to the Jews I honour my Father and ye dishonour me with robbing him if they could of his divine Nature and Attributes when 't is most true that he that honoureth not the Son Chap. 5.23 Chap. 12. We are baptized in Christ's name honoureth not the Father and the Father beareth witness from Heaven that he is glorified in the Son Having thus proved in general that divine worship belongs to Christ we must now come to the places which demonstrate it in the particulars As first we are baptized in his name Baptism is a divine ordinance whereby being admitted to be members of Christ's mystical body we take an Oath of Allegiance to him whereby we own him to be our God and Redeemer this is the seal of the Covenant Now no Covenant is in force till it be passed the Seal this Seal in Baptism is not only instituted by Christ but also administred in his name and authority whereby it doth appear that this is his Right which Right of his Matth. 28.19 he would make use of when he commanded all Nations to be baptized in his name None but God can institute Sacraments for none but he can bestow the grace therein represented none but the Lord of the House hath right to make Laws in his House now the Church is God's House and seeing the preaching of the Word and administration of both Sacraments therein is done by Christ's authority and in his name he is thereby not only owned but also worshiped as God and Lord of it wherefore the Church is called Christ's own house Heb. 3.6 I find indeed there was a subordination between God and Moses this being but a Servant but the same subordination between God and Moses was between the Son of God and Moses as is now of all Ministers of the Gospel under Christ Mal. 3. ◠for he is the Lord of the Temple who
of Man because manifested in the Flesh he is not called Son of God upon any such account or in any of these Senses as Socinians would have him 1 Job 4.14.15 for they cannot deny the Lord Jesus to be called God Son of God for that Name is given him in so many places of Scripture and herein they would seem to agree but not sincerely for they cavil about the manner and disagree as to the true Sense he is called Son of God by reason of an Eternal Generation by the Father wherefore he is called God's * Rom. 8.3 32. own and proper Son and †Joh. 3.16 only begotten Christ is from the Father by Generation and the Holy Ghost by Spiration to be from the Father by Generation is to be generated or begotten by the Father long before the fulness of times and his appearing in the Flesh God absolutely said to him ‖ Psal 2.7 thou art my Son this day have â—â—begotten thee this represented with Comparisons as when called * Prov 8. Wisdom for as Wisdom is produced by the Mind so is the Son by the Father and in the New Testament by the similitude of †Colos 1.15 an Image of 〈◊〉 Father's ‖ Heb 1.3 Person and of the brightness of his glory and of the inward * Job 1.1 Word in the Mind for as an Image is not every likeness but the express Effigie or Representation of that whereof it is the Image so the Son in his Essence and Essential Attributes is so much the express Image of the Father that * Joh. 14.9 whosoever sees him doth see the Father also as the brightness of the Beam is from the Sun so the Son is from the Father as Light from Light as equally the glorious Image of his Nature as a Letter doth exactly represent the Character out of which it is drawn thus the Son doth exactly represent the Father by whom he is begotten as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word is conceived by the Mind and remains in it so is the Son begotten by the Father and remains in him and as the Wisdom Image Brightness the Word are one thing from another so the Son is of the Father from the Father not as an Essence is from another but as a Person is from a Person because he is the Character or express Image of the Person of the Father all these in created Things are accidents but in the Son who is in himself and by himself they are essential hence appears how in this there is a true distinction of the Persons begetting and begotten So then Christ is called the Son of God not by reason of any gracious Communication of Existence or of Power but upon the account of a secret and incomprehensible Generation of the Father of his Essence for he is the true proper only begotten highly beloved Son of the Living God and the prepositive Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son frequently join'd to this Subject doth denote a Filiation or Sonship altogether of another kind from that of †Heb. 1.5 Angels or Men which can be no other than an essential one a True Son is begotten of the Essence of his Father but the Son of God is a True Son therefore he is begotten of the Essence of his Father Again the proper Son is said to be and is he that hath his proper Father now he is the proper Father who hath begotten his Son of his own Essence Farthermore the Only Begotten Son is only he that is begotten of the Substance of his Father which is demonstrated by the Opposition of natural and adopted Sons who are loved for the sake of the well beloved natural Son of God that Confession of Peter in the Name of the Disciples thou art not * Matth. 16.14 16 17. repeated John the Baptist nor Elias nor Jeremias who had been great in God's Favour nor none of the Prophets they were a meer nothing in Comparison of Christ but †Joh. 6.68 69. Ver. 17. thou art Christ the Son of the living God is not only in its true Sense approved of by our Saviour but he also there attributes it to Divine Revelation as of an incomprehensible Mystery Blessed art thou Simon Bar-â—â—â—as for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven Isaac as they object is called * Gen 23.2 and Heb. 11.17 Only Begotten Son but he is not absolutely so called but relatively secundum quid because he was the Only Begotten Son of Abraham by Sarah in a lawful Marriage and thereby made his only Heir to the exclusion of Ishmael whom he had before by Hagar he was Only Begotten Son in relation to the Promise which is expressed in the following Verse ‖ Heb. 11.18 of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called The excellency of Filiation is between those who differ in Degrees but here the Difference is greater than in the whole kind as Heb. 1.4 5. Isaac was a Type of Christ in relation to the Sacrifice but not of the Generation the Father hath begotten his Son thorough the Communication of his Nature and so of a true and proper Generation but not of a Physical or Natural such as Man's and of other animated Creatures but by a Supernatural whereby God begets according to the Truth of his Word for the more Excellent he is that begets so the more Excellent is the Generation as it appears by the Example of every thing that doth generate that which is esteemed a Perfection in natural Generation is in an infinitely most Eminent Degree attributed unto God as to beget that which is like unto himself and by the Communication of his Nature as to the thing it self the Generation besides its being asserted in the Word of God the secundity of God's Nature is a reason for it for it requites a Communication to several Persons according to that of the Prophet * Isa 66.9 shall I cause to bring forth and not bring forth or beget my self saith the Lord as if he had said shall I make others fruitful and be barren my self that in relation to the Son and to the Holy Ghost may be done in two ways after the manner of Spiritual Substances namely begetting the Son by a natural Intellection and by the same Will or Love breathing the Holy Ghost both consubstantial to himself and of the same Nature and Perfection distinguished amongst themselves and one from another only by their personalities and personal Attributes this consideration serves to demonstrate not only the Generation of the Son but also the Procession of the Holy Ghost and consequently the whole Trinity for Scriptures describe Son and Holy Ghost as existing of themselves as the Father working understanding witnessing sending c. taken not only passively which is of Things but actively which is of Persons for it belongs to none
different things thô pertaining to one and the same Subject or else every Lord were a God thus a Husband were a God unto his Wife because Sarah called Abraham her Lord the Lord of the unfaithful Servant were his God because he calls him his Lord the Lord of the Vineyard were the God of the Vineyard because called it's Lord and many more such Instances And I shall illustrate the thing by a trivial Saying among us A Servant may say his Master is Lord but not God at home The Text that saith * 1 John 2.22 23. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father these words do import how he that denyeth Jesus to be the Christ doth thereby deny the Son not that Christ and the Son do formally signifie the same in themselves but because to be Christ and Son of God do meet in one Person so that none but the Son of God is Christ and Redeemer of the World Withall after this Socinian way of arguing it would follow in this Text that the Names Christ Father and Son do signifie the same for here the Apostle offereth two Propositions the first He is a Lyar that denyeth Jesus to be the Christ the last He is Antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son The Adversaries make them both equivalent for in both is the same Object of denyal whence they infer that Christ and the Son are of the same signification but according to this Kule it may be concluded that Christ the Father and the Son signifie the same because in the first Proposition Christ is the Object of the denyal and in the last the Father and Son together Any one may see the Absurdity of such Consequences But because Christ to prove himself to be the Son of God speaks to the Jews about his Sanctification by the Father which Sanctification is the anointing spoken of by Peter †Acts 10.38 wherefore they would have that to be the cause of his being Son of God but if there was no other reason of that divine Filiation but the Sanctification and Anointing then the cause by the Angel given in ‖ Luke 1.35 Scripture were false So then Christ is called the Son of God not only upon the account of his extraordinary Birth and of his kingly Office as Socinus saith but for being of the same Nature and Essence with the Father which that Text of John 10. is not against for in that place our Saviour doth not give in the cause why he is Son of God but only goes about to refute the Slander of Blasphemy by the Jews cast upon him not by an Argument à pari taken from equal things but from the lesser to the greater He had said v. 30. I and my Father are one thereby expresly asserting his Consubstantiality and Oneness of Nature with the Father whereupon they took Stones to stone him because of that pretended Blasphemy in that he being man made himself God which Objection he answereth with an Instance from less to greater Thus if those are without Blasphemy called Gods who exercise a divine Office in their ruling and judging of Men much more and upon a better account may Christ the Messiab from eternity begotten by the Father and in time sent down from Heaven into the World be called God wherefore there is no Blasphemy nor have ye any just cause of stoning me because I said I am the Son of God one with the Father The Name Son of God relates to the eternal Generation by and Consubstantiality with the Father therefore not a Name of Office but of Nature and Person and the Names Christ and Son agree as to the material in one Person but not in the formal the Name Son is by reason of an eternal Generation and that of Christ upon the account of a temporal Anointing to an Office In the mean while we retain the proper and literal Sense of the word and not the metaphorical till we see cause to the contrary And this we leave for them to prove how because Magistrates by reason of their Office are called Children of the most high therefore not because of an eternal Generation and Coessentiality with the Father but for his Royal Dignity the Lord Jesus is called Son of God To be short we have other Texts to prove how the Name God's Son signifieth some essential thing in Christ as that heretofore quoted Christ was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh c. the Flesh signifies his Humanity as doth Declared the son of God according to the spirit of holiness his Divinity for we see * Dan. 9.24 To anoint the most holy doth denote by the most holy his divine Person and by to anoint his Office of Mediatour So we have that of the Angel to the Virgin The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God The Angel's meaning is that in Christ's Conception the Power of God was necessary to the end he that was to be born might be called Son of God but if that Name had related only to the Office and he that was to be invested with it had been a meer Man no need of that Power of the Spirit in the Conception now the Angel calls holy that which it Essential in Christ he was holy before he should be born and that essential holy thing is called the Son of God The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not that Man that was to be born not holy in the Concret but holy in the Abstract Withall seeing in Baptism the word Son doth not in Christ signifie his Office but his Nature for the Names Father and Holy Ghost do not denote any Office but Persons so in Christ it signifies his divine Nature not his Office All this may also be proved out of other Texts as this †John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. compared with ‖ Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all wherein God's Love towards the World and us is so highly comended which if it were only an Office laid upon Christ would come very short of that inflnite Love of God which as Paul saith * Ephes 3.19 18. Passeth knowledg and gives it the four Dimensions bredth length depth and height But to say that God spared not his own beloved and only begotten Son but deliver'd him to death this is Love indeed The same we may learn out of this Heb. 5.8 that though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered What Man is he that would sacrifice his Son to the Safety and Preservation of his Enemies Yet God hath done it
having exposed his Son out of his Bosom to all the Abuses which the Rage and Malice of Devils and Men could inven◠and to the shameful painful and cursed Death of the Cross Take notice how the same Apostle in the same Chapter having applyed the words of the Psalmist to the Lord Jesus * vers 5. thou art my Son he calls the time of these Sufferings †vers 7. thē days of his flesh to make a difference between his divine and human Natures and thus such a Son and in such a manner as his Name to distinguish him from all Men was never bestowed upon any Person in the singular Number Abraham as observed before was called God's Friend and Moses his Servant but to neither of them nor to any one else it was said Thou art my Son 't is said Christ was faithful to him that appointed him Heb. 3.2 3 4 5 6. and Moses also was faithful in all God's house but with what a vast difference Moses as a servant Christ as a Son over his own house which he had builded himself but he that built all things is God Thus much I could not forbear taking notice of those Texts tending to our main purpose and for Christ's Divinity But to return to the exceeding greatness of God's Love to us it would be extreamly lessen'd if Christ had been considerable only for his office and not for his Person but * Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ his own proper well beloved and only begotten Son dyed for us that Christ who according to Peter's confession is the Son of the living God which containeth two things first that Christ is the Messiab the second that he is the Son of the living God This they object * Heb. 5.4 5. Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Wherefore say they he is called Son in respect to his Office In answer we say if by these quoted Words Christ was constituted Mediator then he was constituted Mediator only after his Resurrection for after his Resurrection Paul said †Act. 13.33 God said thou art my Son this day c. Furthermore all that can be deduced out of these Words is this how Christ was by him that begot him called to the Office of Mediator which we grant but deny him only by these Words to have been constituted Mediator Rev. 13.8 for this day have I begotten thee do not contain the Institution of Christ's being a Mediator but a Declaration and Manifestation thereof he was a Mediator from the beginning being the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World he could have been no Mediator except he had a being and subsisted Out of all that hath been and many more things that might be said and of some others which by the Grace of God afterwards I shall add it may appear how to the Lord Jesus do truly and properly belong the Names proper to the Essential God as Jehovah Lord God Son of God God's Own Proper Only Begotten Son the Word how he was begotten from Eternity and in him is a Divine as there is a Human Nature c. Against their wresting the true Sense of the Scriptures which they are so much inclined apt and study to do we may consider how several Expressions therein do tend to condescend to our weakness and infirmity according to the Capacity of some of those whom they were spoken or written to or afterwards were to read them thus our Saviour said to the Jews ‖ Joh. 5.31 If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true and because John was in great esteem among them he appeals to the Testimony he had given of him That Argument was good with the Jews * Mat. 21.26 for all held John as a prophet however to shew he was above such things and that his due Glory depended not thereupon lest it should thereby suffer any Prejudice in their Opinion he said †John 5.34 41. I receive not testimony from man but these things I say that ye might be saved and I receive no honour from men like a tender Father he had compassion on them and would help their Weakness and Infirmity and relieve their Frailty but when his Right and Due were questioned then he expresseth himself in another manner for when the Pharisees had said unto him ‖ Chap. 8.14 Thou bearest record of thy self thy record is not true then upon such an occasion he is not wanting in asserting his divine Prerogative for he answer'd Though I bear record of my self yet my record is true for I know whence I came and whither I go He might bear record of himself and to strengthen his own Evidence he saith it is not single for he hath another infinitely above that of John for * Vers 16.18 compared with chap. 7.32 If I judge my judgment is true for I am not alone but I and the Father that sent me who beareth witness of me though as Peter said †Acts 10.38 He went about doing good yet his Right he asserted when called in question so no Consequence against his divine Nature Attributes or Actions is to be drawn out of his Humiliation when in the days of his Flesh out of his infinite Love and Compassion towards poor lost Sinners he earnestly did sollicit and as it were beseech Men to come to and believe in him for that was the proper Work of the day in the time of his Humiliation to bring about our Redemption so what himself or the Evangelists and Apostles spoke of him in that state of his ought not to be wrested or mis-applyed to derogate from that Glory and Honour which he had from and shall have to all Eternity 't is neither just nor fair to do it 't is an abominable Abuse of his Mercy and to turn the Grace of our God into Lasciviousness and detestable Unthankfulness Some things in Scripture of a certain Nature and attended with particular Circumstances as may be Types and Comparisons must not be pressed overmuch 't is enough they agree in the thing for which they are made use of or else they will fail though they agree in many things yet not in every thing it will be as when a Man blows his Nose if he presses too hard he will be in danger of squeezing Blood out of it So in things of the nature of those we now are upon we must not indulge our own Fancy or suffer our Minds to wander up and down and want the Reverence due to such holy Mysteries we may and must often part with our own Reason but never with the Revelation which that Reason though never so strong must be ruled by and therein the Analogy of Faith is to be observed Thus when between our Adversaries and us there happens a Dispute about
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-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
Manhood of Christ for John was born before him wherefore it must be upon a nobler Account he pre-existed before John so he had another Being which not being Human nor Angelical must need be Divine according to which he was in the beginning of the World which concludeth for Eternity this Priority they interpret of Dignity not of Time we do not deny that in Gifts and Office Christ was much beyond John and suppose we should understand the Words preferred before me of a Dignity what will they say to the following Words for he was before me according to their Sense the meaning will be this he is preferred before me for he was preferred before me which is to prove the same by the same when will they give over destroying the Analogy of Faith tearing Scripture in pieces and pulling it over head and Ears to serve their Turn and their Ends If we consider Christ only as a Man John as to that time had the priority of Gifts for as he was conceived before the Body of Christ was so †Luke 1.15 he was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb as to his Office he exercised it before Christ did his for he went not about it till after he had been baptized by John after which he was forty Days in the Wilderness tempted of the Devil and he began his Ministry ‖ Matt. 4.12 after he heard that John was cast into prison wherefore this before me must be taken in some other Sense than relating to Gifts and Office for this would not sufficiently commend God's great Love towards us if only he had endued his Son with excellent Qualities as doth perfectly his not sparing but delivering him up to be put to Death for us his own Son whom in four places the ‖ John 1.14 18. chap. 3.16 18. Evangelist calls God's only begotten Son it is to be taken notice of that John doth not say he is preferred before me because he is but because he was before me Why should he make use of the Preterimperfect-Tense but to denote the time when Christ was preferred before him so that he was before John when he was made so eminently Excellent his Office was put upon him when thirty Years old but he had long before been endued with those heavenly Qualities which he was invested with and there was never a part of Christ's Life wherein that Son of God was not more Excellent than John so his Office could not be the Cause of his being so highly preferred above John The next Verse makes the matter plainer of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace wherein John doth attribute unto Christ a priority of Cause as of Dignity for he thereby owneth that whatsoever Excellency is in him and others is derived from the Fulness of Christ as the Stream is from the Spring the Fulness was in Christ first and thence John and others received it wherefore he is said to be before John as the Head-Fountain is before that which flows out of it How then could that be that John and every one else he meaned when he said we all had received of Christ's Fulness and Grace for Grace before he had taught baptised with the Holy Ghost or done any Miracle This is explained in the next Verse for the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ the Lord being the sole Dispenser of Grace and of Truth no wonder if we all for the present and in time past received all we have out of his Fulness now this Fulness is not only in one but in all kinds * Colos 1.19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell not excepted the Fulness of the Godhead †chap. 2.9 for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily But how can this agree with their Opinions For if Grace and Truth hath not been bestowed by Christ till after he had preached and revealed it How could John Baptist and others before they heard Christ preach receive it if Christ was a meer Man he could not communicate Grace before he was born to those that were before him wherefore he must need have some other Way and Capacity to do 't namely according to his Divinity which Truth if unreasonable Men would but own and give God Glory and not wander against Scripture after their own Fancies and Imaginations this would set all things at Right here because like a drowning Man they are content to lay hold upon any thing that lays in their way out of the thirtieth Verse they object that John calls him a Man we never denied Christ to be a Man in which respect he was after John but we also own him to be the Word God according to which he was before him We read of Angels under Man's shape by Abraham and Lot received into their House they were both Angels and Men but under a different Notion not Angels as Men otherwise all Men would be Angels not Men as Angels for thus all Angels would be Men wherefore they were Angels in one respect and Men in another Somewhat after this manner John calls our blessed Saviour sometimes God and sometimes Man that is now after one Nature then after the other for the Person of the Lord Jesus is both God and Man To prove Christ's Eternity we make use of a third place in the same Gospel * John 8.58 Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am the words are very plain upon the occasion of Christ's saying that Abraham rejoyced to see his day which the Jews interpreting of a real Vision they objected an apparent Contradiction thou art not fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham for they inferred that if Abraham had seen his days then he had seen Abraham who lived so long before and so they look'd upon 't as an impossible thing but he confirms what he had said with these words before Abraham was I am they fell into a Rage and took up Stones to cast at him for they had a right Notion of what he aimed at in his Discourse namely to raise himself above all the Men in the World amongst them they lookt upon Abraham whom they boasted to call their Father to be the Chief and they believed none under God was greater than he wherefore after he had said if a man keep my saying he shall never see death they grew mad against him and presently said Abraham is dead so are the Prophets and so asked him Whom makest thou thy self they concluded it could be no less than God whereby it appears how all along they had a true apprehension of his meaning though they were enraged at it and could not hear it It is a wonder to see how Socinians go about to corrupt and tear this Text all to pieces with their vain Sophistry indeed the place is so close upon them that they will leave nothing unattempted
this sence the Jews would not have murmur'd as they did as indeed there had been no cause for it And we do not in the least perceive he goes about to shew they were mistaken to give his words such as sence but on the contrary he goeth on to confirm what he had said according to the sence they gave it and that without any ambiguity but plainly and downright tho' he knew he thereby did run into a great danger Matth. 13.55 56 John 6.42 for the Jews did not know how to reconcile what they knew of him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Is not his Mother called Mary and his Brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas and his Sisters are they not all with us How then can he say I am descended from Heaven To have his Extraction from thence and be equal with God this made them look upon him as a Blasphemer who according to their Laws was to be stoned They allow'd him to be a very extraordinary man who had done such things as had never been done before among them but to hear him say he was come down from Heaven as his natural place that they could not endure Yet we must take it to be true since neither he nor the Evangelist ever denied it They were so pleased with the Miracle of the five Barley Loaves and two small Fishes that they would have taken him by force and made him a King and after he was gone they could not be at rest till they again had found him out and then he said they follow'd him only out of love to their Belly because they had eaten and were filled whereupon out of his earnest desire for their good he takes occasion to exhort them to mind not that Meat that perisheth but that which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man said he shall give unto you And then he presseth the Argument and shews how he and none else can give it and in order to 't declareth first who he is namely the Son of God whom he calleth his Father four times then addeth V. 40.44 45 45. he is from God afterwards he attributes unto himself a quickening Power and to give everlasting Life for he doth not say he that believeth in God but on me neither doth he say God V. 47. but I will raise him up at the last day Could the Father have more highly and stately spoken of himself V. 40. or assumed a greater Power than he doth whereby we see this he saith to draw Men not to the Father but to himself as the Spring of Eternal Life whereby he insinuates himself to be such a one as is far more potent and excellent than Man upon which account he is truly and properly said to be come down from Heaven or else he had not answerd the Jews Objection to the purpose Which 't is very unworthy for any one to say This matter we shall conclude with one Argument more out of these words I came forth from the Father and am come into the world John 16.28 again I leave the world and go to the Father Where is the Father In Heaven Where is the World On Earth So then Christ was with the Father in Heaven before he was in the World on Earth This last Text I joyn with the two foregoing being to the same purpose because a threefold Knot is not easily untied The words are so clear V. 29. that thereupon his Disciples said Lo now speakest thou plainly 'T is to be wish'd every one was of their opinion as there is cause for it V. 30. By this we believe said they that thou camest forth from God This they said themselves and the Lord saith so of them They have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou didst send me But neither Socinus nor none of his Kidney can say and prove that they believed not there was a Divine Nature in Christ They explain the words I came forth from the Father only to signifie that Christ was a Man sent from God upon some special Errand just as he sent his Disciples into the World 1 Joh. 4.1 or as false Prophets are said to be gone into the world We know the Faith of his Apostles was weak but true and was encreased by degrees they sometimes doubted of things as may be Christ's Resurrection but this doth not argue that there was no Faith in them for there was tho' staggering and imperfect which our Saviour strengthened and themselves were sensible of when they said unto him Lord increase our Faith which we read so actually effected in Thomas who more than any one else doubted of this Resurrection that at last he gave an authentick Testimony of his Faith concerning it when he called him my Lord and my God and before that time Peter in their name had given eminent evidence of their Faith about him when he said John 6.68 69. Lord to whom shall we go Thou hest the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God After so solemn a Declaration how dare any man say his Disciples did not believe any thing of Divine Nature in him As to his Disciples he sent them into the World but he dwelt upon Earth but his Father sent him upon Earth when himself was in Heaven And this we may say that as the Disciples were with Christ before he sent them so he was with the Father before he sent him As to the false Prophets they were gone out into the World but whence Out of the Charch John 2.15 of whom 't is said before They went out from us but they were not of us One thing more I shall observe upon this Text that if Christ really ascended up into Heaven as he did unquestionably after his Resurrection so he really descended from thence before his Incarnation and if he descended then he was before he descended this as said just before his Disciples believed literally not in a Metaphor or Figure and that they well understood his meaning our Saviour confirms when he saith v. 31 Do ye now believe and what That I came from the Father and must return to him and that I know all thing which none but God can Here I must give a general and necessary Warning against Socinian far-fetch'd and false glosses Indeed if admittance be given to all their Allegories there can be no room left for literal and proper sence So the deliverance out of Egypt possession of Canaan carrying into Captivity shall not be Matters of Fact and we may doubt whether there was ever a Noah a Flood or an Ark such men as Aaron Moses Joshua for 't is possible to turn all these into Allegories We know in Scripture there are some but to turn every thing into 't is a great Abuse When a Text expresses plainly a literal sence we must not trouble our heads