guilty as if they had done it Now in Moses's time the Son of God in his human Nature either in Soul or Body could not be sensible of any Reproaches for he then had it not actually but according to Scripture there are two Bodies of Christ his Natural which he took long after and the Mystical which at that time was in being the Church is this Mystical Body From Eternity the Son of God had his Commission to be Head of the Church thereby to bring many Sons into Glory this Commission after the beginning of the World he began to execute in the Exercise of his Royal and Prophetical Offices with ruling and disposing things for the good of his Church the Father having put into his hands and made over to him the whole Administration of that Occumenical Kingdom he is the King spoken of Psal 2.6 set upon the holy hill of Sion who rules over and preserves his People from the Attempts of their Enemies and taught them by the Prophets in whom his Spirit was and this mediately and actually till the time came when himself was to perform the Work of Mediation and Redemption in the passive part thereof which was his Priestly Office in offering himself a Sacrifice and shedding his precious Blood for a proper satisfaction to Divine Justice and Remission of Sins This was the part of human Nature to suffer but all the while before the Work was going on not by means of human Soul and Body which at that time he had not how then could the Mystical Body the Church live and be acted if there had been no Head and how there be a Head if there had been no Being Seeing then there could be no such Body without a Head and that no Man nor Angel could be that Head who then but a God could be it Therefore all the while before the Incarnation Divine Nature in the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity was acting in the ordering and delivering his People out of the Flood out of Sodom out of Egypt and punishing their Enemies as we see them opposed in the Persons of Abel and Cain of Noah and his Family to the rest of the World of Shem and Ham of Lot and those of Sodom and in this Text of his Church under the Name of People of God in opposition to the Egyptians as the Apostle opposes the afflictions of the people of God unto the pleasures of sin in Egypt which Moses might have enjoyed when called Son of Pharaoh's Daughter and the Reproach of Christ to the Treasures in Egypt Scripture doth in several places certifie That Christ is the Head of the Church Eph. 5.23 but he who now is the Head of the Church was ever so before or else there would have been two Heads of the Church which is as absurd as 't is monstrous to talk of a Body with two Heads Therefore as there was a Body of the Church from the beginning of the World so from that time hath Christ been the Head of that Body and at that time he was as sensible of Injuries done to his Members as we read he was after his Ascension when he from Heaven said to Saul Acts 9.4 5. why persecutest thou me that is the Members of his Mystical Body for his Natural one was far enough out of his reach Here with a sad heart I must say how since the Lord Jesus's Ascension he never was more reproached or suffered more than now we have a Generation of Men who with the Rebels spoken of in the Gospel say Luke 19.14 Ps 22.6 We will not have this man to reign over us as much as in them lies they would make him a reproach of men and despised of the people and would as the Prophet speaks make him again a man of sorrow acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 despised and rejected of men The Jews when upon Earth depriv'd him of his Life and Socinians now when he is in Heaven would strip him of the Dignity of his Person that chiefly consists in his Divinity which they would rob him of and because they cannot understand that high Mystery they will not believe it so against what the Apostle saith they walk by sense not by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 Is it a reasonable Consequence to say a thing is not because they cannot comprehend it as if because I am not able to know well how Bread which hath neither Life Heat or Motion can preserve my Life and Vital Faculties procure heat and enable me to move I should cast it off They also attempt to reproach Christ in his Person so in his Offices of Mediator he came to destroy sin and save Sinners to seek and save that which was lost he came to destroy the Devil's Work Heb. 7.27 9.14 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 4.25 Gal. 2.20 and that 's Sin this hath been the Way and Means to save Sinners which was effected as Scripture saith by making himself an offering for sin by being made sin for us though he knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him with being deliverd for our offences with loving us and giving himself for us Yet all this they daily speak and blaspheme against as already we have abundantly demonstrated Before I proceed farther to what I formerly said against their denying that there are any Mysteries in Religion or above the reach of human Reason this I shall add That there are Mysteries in the Work of Creation as we read in the 37 38 39 40 and 41 Chapters of Job how many intricate and mysterious things therein which Job a knowing Man and who had his Reason about him could not answer and calls them things too wonderful for him Job 42.3 which he knew not And chap. 5.9 't is said of God which doth great things and unsearchable And chap. 9.10 which doth great things past finding out yet presumptuously these Men will be searching into those unsearchable things and pretend they can find those things that are past finding out But if there be unknown Mysteries in the Creation of the World why then should there be none of the Wisdom of God in the Redemption of it There are in Nature such mysterious Puzlings as can sometimes as much stagger some Mens Faith of God's creating the World as that of the most Holy Trinity and Incarnation can shake the Faith of others about the Redeeming it yet 't is as certain that God redeemed the World as that he created it And as God hath let us see so much of the Creation as to convince us he made us of nothing and when we were nothing so in the Work of Redemption he hath shewed us he redeemed us when we were lost with clear and sufficient Evidences of his Power Wisdom and Mercy and what therein he hath revealed we ought to believe as our Saviour said to Thomas about his Resurrection Be not faithless Joh. 20.27 Luk. 8.50 but believing
prove further I shall go on And with the Apostle say Heb. 3.4 He that made all things is God that is truly and properly God of himself now in several places Scripture saith All things were made by the Word which Name John usually calls Christ by John 1.3.10 Colos 1.16 Heb. 1.2 The World was made by him which him or that Person Paul in two places speaking of this same point of Creation calls the Son of God by whom all things were made and by whom he made the Worlds and so all things therein for by the Expression All things in Heaven c. are understood all the Works of Nature the whole Work of the Creation But to elude the weight of the Argument which lies heavy upon them sometimes for they are apt to change and diversifie their Notions and are constant only in unhappy Contrivances how to wrest Scripture they say that the name Word signifies Reason and not the Person of Christ which Notion I * Answer to Lett. I. p. 29 30. elsewhere have spoken against but at other times when they are press'd and cannot deny it to belong to Christ then to shift it off they say the name Word is taken for his Prophetical Office but the Evangelist gives it for Christ's proper and personal Name for that very name is given him upon another account and in a different occasion when he was seen in his Glory and Majesty as a King at the Head of Heavenly Armies going to fight there 't is said his name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 ver 16. and in that place he is styled King of kings and Lord of Lords So 't is not in relation to his Prophetical Office for the state wherein he then appeared had been very improper he was a horse-back not to speak and teach but to fight so then the name is not given him upon the account of his Prophetical Office If this be a name of Office what 's the reason why none of the Prophets or Apostles who taught and preach'd God's Word were never call'd by the name the Word 't is often said that the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and other Prophets but never that Isaiah or any of them was the Word of the Lord and this Word now in question was the Son of God 2 Pet. 1.21 1 Pet. 1.11 Rom. 1.25 who came to and spoke by the Prophets for they saith an Apostle spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost who by the same is called The spirit of Christ which was in them I love to make use of Scripture when I answer the Devil and refute his Lies and of those who as Paul saith change the truth of God into a lie After our blessed Saviour's Example I say it is written We must not wonder if some Men go about to impose upon others their Lies for Truths seeing Satan whose Children Liars are had the face to lie to him whom he knew to be God Son of God when he said Luke 4.6 The power of all the kingdoms of the World is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it So we may say of his Children They bend their tongues like their bow for lies Jer. 9.3 but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth But to go on I must observe how the Lord absolutely and subjectively taken doth in Paul's stile ever imply the Person of the Lord Jesus So in John's stile the Name Word used in the same manner doth always signifie the same Person And our Saviour the Eternal Son of God call'd by the Names of Jehovah Lord God Son of God who at several times was in Human Shape seen by the Patriarchs and spoken of by the Prophets is the same who in the fulness of the Times was made Man in the Virgins Womb his Body by the Operation of the Holy Ghost having out of her Substance been therein form'd and preserved from natural human Corruption not that he was transubstantiated into Flesh for what is changed into another ceases to be what he was and begins to be what he was not but God can never cease to be what he is nor become what he was not But to return to the Name the Word when the words are the same and about the same Subject we may believe the Thoughts and the sense to be the same for the meaning is express'd by words In the first Chapter of John the Name God is eleven times in a true and proper sense made use of and in that whole Gospel nor in the whole New Testament can any instance be given that the absolute word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in the Singular be improperly taken but always properly so we must take the word in the usual and natural sense of the Scripture rather than in the improper and metaphorical of Socinians So when John saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God we must properly understand the Names Word and God the first of the Person the second of the Nature Here they would cavil with saying God is the Subject the Word the Predicate but certainly there being the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and none to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth the contrary but indeed the Exception is frivolous because essentialia praedicata sunt reciproca the essential Predicates are convertible if God be the Word the Word must be God Take notice how as by the Word God the true God is to be understood so when 't is said the Word was God 't is meant the Word was the true God They object he that is with one is not the same whom he is with so the Word must needs be one and God another but they will not take notice how the Evangelist saith not only that the Word was with God but also in the same Verse that the Word was God which is so plain as to need no Interpretation But to answer in the School way I say he is not the same formalitèr sub eodem conceptu formally and under the same Notion but in a different here are two Persons he who is and he whom he is with we confound not but distinguish the Persons the Word is essentially God tho' not relatively the Person of the Father They move every Stone if possible to serve their turn therefore as they would rob the Lord Jesus of having created the World so they go about to deprive him of preserving and upholding it for what is said of God's upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1.3 Colos 1.17 which in another place is thus By him all things consist which means thè same as the other yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original rendered by to uphold they would Translate to govern which is an idle nicety he that governs well doth uphold what he governs so that provided the thing remains we will not stand
go further and blasphemously deny God's Omnipresence and consequently his Infiniteness and Immensity Now God is present every where first by his Essence 1 Kings 8.27 for thereby he fills up all things the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him And whither shall I go from thy spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whither shall I flee from thy presence c. God is also every where by his Knowledge Heb. 4.13 for nothing is hidden from it for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do God is also every where by his Power and Operation 1 Cor. 12.6 for he worketh all in all Yet for all these a Socinian * Crellius de Deo p. 278. Author denies God to be every where for he would not have him to be amidst filthy and defiled things as if his Holiness was thereby in danger of being defiled But I ask is the Sun less pure or is it stain'd for shining upon Filth and Dunghills or is it thereby infected God they would confine in Heaven which indeed is the Chief Seat of his Glory and as the Word saith Is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And as God in his Glory is in Heaven Isa 66.1 in his terrible Justice is in Hell so in Earth he is both in his Mercy and Justice Thus he is every where God's Eternity they dare not openly to deny but the Nature of it they very much corrupt for God's Eternity is his own Existence which is necessary and by reason of most supreme Perfection cannot not be Vorstius in not ad Thes 7. disp de Deo therefore what one of the worst of Men writes is false Inanis Logomachia c. It is an idle dispute about words for any one to deny Eternity to be the same with eternal time for Time is a Contingent and Duration but Eternity doth denote a necessary and unmeasur'd Duration therefore Crellius runs upon as bad ground when he saith That God's Eternity hath Parts when it is altogether indivisible and seeing God's Eternity is God himself Eternal it admits of no Accident and therein is no Priority nor Posteriority as 't is in time As to God's Omniscience they would confine it within certain Bounds for saith one of them * Crellius cap. 24. p. 202. 't is not extended unto things which cannot be known by Nature So he denies the Determination of future Contingents And †Praelect Theol. p. 547. alibi Socinus though he owns a Divine Prediction of some things to come yet will not attribute it to God's Prescience but only to a Divine Decree But their abominable Impieties about these Matters are plainly and abundantly to be seen in * Protest Anti-Vorst pag. 361 362. one of their Authors whose Book King James caused to be burnt here by the Hangman Against the Author and Book he published something of his own and did write to the States General to turn him out of his Place of Divinity-Professour at Leyden and to banish him for he knew it to be the Duty of Princes to suppress Blasphemy and punish Blasphemers He made an Extract written with his own Hand of some of this Man 's blasphemous Impieties and sent it to his then Ambassador in Holland by him to be presented to the said States-General Vorstius p. 112. as we find them among his Works one of which is his giving God a Body as already mention'd The 2d is this Non satis igitur p. 232. c. They who affirm God both in Essence and Will wholly to be unchangeable want a due circumspection Further p. 237. nusquam Scriptum legimus c. We read no where God's Substance to be simply Insinite but many things there are which seem to have a contrary sense Another is this Magnitudo nulla c. No Magnitude is actually infinite therefore God himself is not There are three things more of the same Stamp observed by that King p. 308 441 171. one about the Determination of future Contingents from Eternity Another for a general Science of God without the special one of things to come And the last is That many things may happen in the World without God's Fore-knowledge Thus those Wretches do meddle not only against the Persons of the Godhead but also against the Nature and Attributes of it But the Orthodox and Learned King James to suppress Blasphemy and Heresie burnt the Books that contain'd it for besides that of Vorstius he caused that of Bertius for the Apostasie of Saints also to be burnt whence we may infer That if the Authors had been within his Dominions he would have punish'd them And some Years after the Racovian Catechism which is the Socinian Gospel was by the Parliament condemn'd to be burnt They write and act against the Three Persons both singly and jointly first against the Father with denying him to have been such from Eternity for they affirm he had no Son from Eternity without which he could not properly nor actually be a Father thus by a new Relation of Paternity in time he was made that which he had not been from Eternity Secondly against the Son by denying his Divinity and Eternal Generation which is the Foundation of Christian Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 and other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Not that he is a meer Man for the Church of God is not built upon Man Matt. 16.18 but that He is the Son of the living God For upon that Truth which Peter made solemn Confession of he said Vpon this rock that I truly and properly am the Son of the Living God I will build my Church wherefore the Apostle calls him the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 Thirdly Against the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Personality they also deny tho' Scripture appropriates to him as I shew'd elsewhere and somewhat lower shall speak of the Names Attributes Works and Worship proper to the only True God We know that in Scripture the Name Holy Ghost and Spirit of God are sometimes improperly taken for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost or for the Vertue of God but withal when 't is properly spoken which happens often then it signifies the Third Person of the most Holy Trinity therefore he is represented as the Father's and Son's Ambassadour whose secret Councils he knows and by whom he is said to be sent and so Faithful one that he speaks not of himself but what he hears that he speaks and he is called the Comforter Paraclete and Advocate to signify a Person and not a Vertue But as those Blasphemers are not satisfied to prevaricate against every Person of the most Holy Trinity separately they also do 't together and jointly against the Three for though the Word of God affirms that in the Unity of Nature there are Three Named the Father the Word and Holy Ghost where
c. far from being the effects of Justification that without them there can be no Justification that is they are the cause of it as * Smalc ibid. one of them is not ashamed to write Tho Scripture in so many places saith that Christ's passive obedience was for us is imputed to us and we thereby are justified Isa 53.5 6. 1 John 1.7 Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.19 Galat. 3.13 for he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Also the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin so in other Texts quoted in the Margin Yet for all this these Wretches with a brazen-face do thunder against this Holy Doctrine as †Socin de servat l. 4. absurd impious forged and contrary to Divine and Human Reason yea so filthy and execrable that he believes since the beginning of the World there was not a more pernicious errour And that Man's †Socin de justif p. 77. Ephes 2.8 Ibid. Heb. 2.10 Chap. 12.2 Disciple impiously calls it an Imposture of Satan But they go further and say God justifieth Man for his Obedience and own Righteousness for saith the * Smalc Heresiark to be justified of God is nothing else but to be declared just which must necessarily be when the Precepts whatsoever they be of the Law he hath given are kept Thus Men need not seek in God for what they have in themselves for which they would make him accountable to them but they sink deeper and deeper into the mire for Faith which the Apostle calls the Gift of God with an exclusion and that not of your selves they affirm God not to be the only cause of seeing Man of himself by strength of his own Will may receive it for thus he goes on out of what hath been said it appears what is in Man the cause and foundation of his Faith namely the love and desire to do Good and to avoid Evil And as they overturn all Divine Means of our Salvation so that pernicious Man would strike hard as the Captain of it and the Author and Finisher of our Faith Isa 63.3 And in that great Work which he alone hath effected for he hath troden the Wine-Press alone and of the People there was none with him yet blasphemously he would therein make a Tool and Instrument of him for he saith †Socin cont Wiekum c. 4. 1 Cor. 1.3 Heb. 5.9 1 Cor. 6.20 and 7.23 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 Ephes 5.2 but we must not so trust in Christ Man as if he were the Author of our Happiness that is the first and only cause but only as in the second and instrumental so not the principal efficient meritorious cause yet Paul in his Epistles wishes equally Grace and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ whom all other inferiour causes do depend upon For he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him all this confirm'd by the many Glorious Titles given him in Scripture and in plain words we by Paul twice in the same words are said to be Bought with a Price which Christ himself paid for he gave himself a ransom for all whom he laid down his Life for and that was the end of his coming into the World he came to give his Life a Ransom for many and he hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God Several other things in the word there are to this purpose but this is full and plain enough When according to several places in Scripture we say we are justified by Faith laying hold upon Christ and thereby applying his Merits unto us that wise modest and humble Man calls it merum humanum commentum c. * Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 11. Esphes 2.8.9 Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 12. a meer invention of Men and a most vain dream this and many more things he saith but proves none no Scripture to confirm what he saith What the word doth attribute only to God's Mercy to his free gift Faith and not to Works least any Man should boast he doth to Man's honesty ex probitate 't is Man's probity that makes him believe the Gospel but to shew how they stumble at nothing they say that an unbeliever and unregenerate Man can do good Works which positively they affirm certum est c. †Smalc cont frantz disp 1. de bon Oper. 't is certain that an unregenerate man by nature and his reason can do good works but how can they be good except there be a good Principle a good Matter a Right manner and a good End which are the four necessary Circumstances to denominate a good Act if but one of these be wanting it may not be called a good Work besides that every one of these parts must be within a due degree whereof the want makes the Action defective and so hinders the goodness and perfection of it besides that what good of any kind is in us it comes from God for saith the Apostle God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure how can an unregenerate and unbeliever do good works and acceptable to God seeing Scripture assures how without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11.6 they also would have our Conversion and Regeneration which is God's proper Work to be in Man's Power when alas the second Creation is no more than the first that is not at all within the Sphere of any Man's Activity for 't is altogether incommunicable to the Creature As they meddle with every material thing in Religion so they spared not the Sacraments whereof first and in general they deny the necessity of Precept and as of means which God hath appointed to convey divine Graces to us which to affirm saith †cont frantz disp 9. p. 422. Smalcius is fabulous and worse in another place per sacramenta c. to say * Exam. 100. Err. err 93. that by the Sacraments grace is convey'd to men is next degree to Blasphemy How soon would they turn Blasphemy upon us if ever they had the upper hand In particular of Baptism they say that the Doctrine of Baptism is not a fundamental or necessary article of Faith but such as Christian piety may consist without and concerning which every one may abound in his own sense †Socin disp de bapt c. 17. nay ipsissimam falsitatem c. * Smalc exam err 100. Err. 9. 'T is falshood it self to say that Christ hath under pain of losing Eternal Life tyed men to the use of them we do not say they are absolutely necessary for God is not tyed to means but they are Ordinances of God's own Appointment which he hath tyed us to as means conducing to bring us to the end of our Salvation and is it not a
thing went otherwise when Emperours and other Men of Authority in the World became Christians then they became Nursing Fathers to the Church defended and maintained it against her Enemies by Arms against those who therewith assaulted it and by Councils against those who would have undermin'd her Doctrines And so it ought now to be against those who impiously Blaspheme that God whom the Christian Church ever own'd and worship'd whereunto the Adversaries agree for saith * Tom. 1. Sol. Scrup. 30. ad eum p. 327. Socinus Constat Justinum c. It is certain that Justin and Irenaeus had a different Opinion from what we have of the Person of Christ Therefore Men who willfully recede from such Fundamental and Universal Truths and Blaspheme there-against may very well be restrain'd and punish'd and by an Argument ad Hominem here upon the matter I return Socinus's own words upon himself for saith he †Epist ad Mart. Vadovit The Heresiarcks who raise Seditions and in promoting their Heresies mind only their own conveniencies ought most severely to be used as those whose Fault and Vice lieth not in the Vnderstanding but in the Will He farther adds How the Heresiarcks whose Frailty lies only in the Mind ought to be dealt with as furious Men and out of their Senses because though they be pity-worthy yet when found to do mischief are restrain'd and though these like the others may be pity'd yet if need requires their endeavours to propagate their Doctrine ought to be suppress'd even if otherwise it cannot be done with Bonds and Imprisonment That is in plain English if they had the Power in their hand thus they would use those who differ from them and by them are call'd Hereticks so upon themselves they pass a Sentence of Condemnation This Coercive Power at several times hath by the Magisttrate been made use of it was for an instance when several Bishops of the East met together to get Paulus Samosatenus an Heresiarck well known to Socinus remov'd from bis Bishoprick of Antioch for his Heresy and addressed to the Emperour Aurelian who effected it But to go much beyond the time of Christian Emperours we have a remarkable example of what is the Duty and ought to be the Care of Princes and Governours to make use of the Power which God hath put into their hands to promote his Glory and suppress all that is contrary to it Dan. 3.29 Nebuchadnezzar's Decree which he made after Shadrach and his two Companions had miraculously been deliver'd from the fiery Furnace that every not only Person but Nation and People that should speak any thing amiss or as it is in the old Translation Blaspheme against the God of Shadrach should be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill If this Heathen King would not leave Blasphemy unpunish'd but mov'd by God's Spirit made a Law and appointed a Punishment for such Transgressours much more ought all who profess the Christian Religion take care to see such Impieties suppress'd or else as their Knowledge and Charge is greater if therein they be wanting they are in danger of suffering double Punishment What Treason is in Humane things that in some kind Blasphemy is in Divine for as Treason is against the King's Person or Government so Blasphemy is against God's Nature or his Works now as Treason is justly punish'd so there is a Punishment due to Blasphemy But to come to other things I say that for all their pretences to Piety and Vertue their Principles lead quite to the contrary and what I am going to say though there was nothing else can bring it home upon them here I positively charge them by means of some of their damnable Opinions to encourage Vice Prophaneness Immorality with all manner of Wickedness and this by the Grace of God I can make good so that it shall stick and let them wash it off as they can They are for the Mortality of the Soul after Death like the Body they would have her to be uncapable of Pleasure or Pains she neither acts nor is acted by but is asleep together with the Body till the Resurrection-Day to this purpose speaks * Epist 5. ad Volk So. Epist 3. ad Dudith p. 507. Socinus which was †Def. Puccii ad Resp Soc. tom 2. Oper. Soc. p. 264.267 Fr. Puccius's Charge against him Non me latet c. saith Puccius I know that thou deniest the Immortality of the Souls of those who are not Christians in the Resurrection so with the Epicureans thou believest the Impious Doctrine that the Souls dye with the Body and are both Annihilated by Death We use to say sins are linck'd together and go by couples so one Errour draws into another thus by a good consequence they deny there is now a Triumphing Church consisting of the Souls of those who enjoy God's presence when Scripture saith Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit Rev. 14.13 that they may rest from their labours Upon this Subject Calvin hath written an excellent Treatise call'd Psychopannichia about the condition of Souls after this Life to be seen at the beginning of his Opuscula's which I refer the Reader to not to trouble my self with refuting the Dream of the Soul falling asleep after Death till the Resurrection They also deny that there shall be a Hell being for a total Annihilation that is after Judgment the Wicked shall be reduc'd to nothing as if they had never been then no Torments for them to suffer upon this †Epist 3. ad Dudith nec de Immortalitate animae c. Socinus speaks plain enough I don't believe that any where in the whole Old Testament any clear mention is made either of the Immortality of the Soul or of any other Life Here is your Saducee but what 's become of the Soul after Death Solomon speaks to the purpose Then shall the dust that is the Body Eccles 12.7 return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it now in God's presence is fullness of joy and at his right-hand pleasures for evermore Psalm 16.11 Certainly the Soul when 't is with God in that special manner must feel Joy and Comfort but Socinians are of a contrary Opinion for they affirm * Smalc Err. 100. Err. 81. Err. 98. Animae Sanctorum c. The Souls of Saints after Death feel nothing and enjoy nothing Nay they deprive them of the blessed Vision of God for he adds The Souls of Saints do not see God before the Day of Judgment yet Scripture speaks of a place of Ease and Rest call'd Abraham's Bosom and though Parables be not Argumentative Luke 16.22 25. yet they are Illustrative to make us understand as far as we are able a thing that is and that same place without any Parable our Saviour calls Paradise when speaking to the repenting Malefactor
chap. 23.43 with a strong Asseveration he saith Verily to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Which is evidence of his commanding Power there hereupon the words of an antient Doctor are remarkable * Hilar. lib. de Trin. p. 77. Habes conquerentem ad Mortem Relictum se esse quia Homo est Habes eum qui moritur profitentem se in Paradiso Regnare quia Deus est Thou hast him complaining to be forsaken at his Death because he is Man thou hast him who dying declares he Reigns in Paradise because he is God for none but God the King of Heaven hath Right and Power to dispose of places in Paradise When Paul saith He hath a desire to depart and to be with Christ He therein declares Phil. 1.23 how when God's Servants are departed this Life they are with Christ in Heaven a place of Joy and Comfort That there is a Hell we by the Grace of God shall prove it out of Scripture but before I must follow the charge how to make the Soul insensible after Death and the total Annihilation which is plain denial of Hell do take out of most part of the World all manner of Vertue and open a wide Door to all sort of Licentiousness Immorality and Wickedness for if the greater part of the World be as they are contain'd in their Duty more out of Fear of Punishment than love to Vertue what then will not the Covetous Ambitious Unclean Revengeful c. Men and Women dare to do to satisfie their several Passions if once they are persuaded that after this Life no Punishment shall be inflicted upon them for all their Wickednesses Are not Thoughts of Impunity an encouragment for them to commit Crimes For the fear of a Judgment and Torments to come are a Curb upon and Terror to the Wicked as we read that Paul's reasoning of Judgment to come made Felix tremble Acts. 24.25 After this rate they will fear nothing from God after Death and being free from the terrors of Hell's Torments their only care shall be how to avoid the Justice of Men which they can more easily do than that of God who cannot be imposed upon as Men are if they can but hide themselves from Man's Eye they will think they are safe enough 1 Cor. 15.32 and say Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die However let them do what they can to free Men from the Thoughs of Hell yet I defie them to free them from the Terrors of an Evil Conscience Such false Teachers who would persuade others that there shall be no Hell can hardly be able to persuade themselves of it no doubt but they wish it were so neither God nor Hell Acts. 24.15 Scripture saith There shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust After Resurrection shall follow Judgment for the Dead shall rise to come to Judgment which shall pass upon all both Just and Unjust certainly that Judgment and Sentence shall be executed upon both and as for some it will be Eternal Life so by the Rule of Contrarles for others 't will be Eternal Death for as Felicity shall be Eternal so shall Misery be The Word of God speaks of Hell and of Heaven of Goats and Sheep Reprobate and Elect as we read in the description of that Judgment made by our Saviour where mention is made of an everlasting fire and the Eternity of those Torments for Soul and Body Matth. 25.41 Mark 9.45 46. Matth. 13.42 chap. 25.41 are expressed by a worm that never dieth and a fire that never shall be quench'd and a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Hence we see First there are after this Life Torments prepared for the Wicked for the Devil and his Angels for his Children Secondly those Torments are great being represented by what can be conceived and expressed to be most painful as is Fire with a mixture of Combustible Matters to make it more fierce therefore call'd Rev. 19.20 A lake of fire burning with brimstone which the beast and false Prophets were cast alive into Whether it will be a material Fire we may not well determine for we must not presume beyond what is written but a fire it is for in many places God's word calls it so Matth. 18.8 Thirdly Those Torments shall be eternal for Scripture saith it and we must not pretend to be wiser and know more or better than God who in the fore-quoted places calls it An everlasting fire that shall never be quenched Jude 7. 't is elsewhere call'd eternal Fire suffering the vengeance of eternal Fire otherwise called Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power and 't is to last to all Eternity for 't is said that the beast and the false prophet with the wicked shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever which latter words plainly shew the continuation without intermission of those Torments and besides Scripture we have reason for it if the joys of Heaven be Everlasting so must the Torments of Hell be now both the justice and Truth of God which are two unshaken Pillars require that there be a continuation not annihilation of the wicked for is it not just that the Soul and Body which together sinn'd against God should also together suffer the pains due to Sin there must be an adequate punishment for offences against an infinite Eternal Majesty but the finite Creature cannot intensively suffer an infinite Torment therefore must extensively that is of an infinite duration and whether or not the fire be Material the wrath and curse of God can supply it with Fewel for ever and ever now that there is a judgment to pass and be executed upon all I am sure it is the Apostles doctrine when he saith for we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 that every one may receive the things done in his Body whether it be good or bad the same Reason there is for bad as for good and our Saviour speaks home when upon account of the Resurrection of the last day he saith they that have done good shall out of their graves come forth to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation but damnation is not Annihilation John 5.28 29 and can men be so impious as to think that the threatning of Hell is but a scare Crow a forged Tale or the Man in Clouts Another errour of theirs about Resurrection is this that the same Bodies which are buried shall not raise the question is not about the quality but about the Substance which shall be the same but of different quality God say they will give Spiritual ones instead of those we had here which is a forgery wholly destructive to the Resurrection of the dead one of the Articles of our Faith for if there be
nothing and the like according to that Spirit they little care what interpretations they make of God's Word which thus they impiously make a stalking Horse of to their wandring Thoughts and for sinister ends of their own namely as they and our modern Socinians here say to improve theit Parts promote Learning and make 〈◊〉 discoveries that is in plain English they may be prophane at God's own cost if they have a mind to improve their parts let them make choice of other matters as Philosophy Mathematicks and of what other humane Arts and Sciences they please and not for their Pride and Vain Glory to prophane God's Field and therein sow their own Tares and to make Religion and the Church subservient to their Evil intents and purposes Another thing they do as may be seen in most of their late Pamphlets which indeed is neither fit nor decent is often to commend themselves and bring in others who speak well of them but it had been much better not to have brought themselves under a necessity to need Begging or Borrowing such Certificates of their good behaviour This puts me in mind of what our Saviour said to the Pharisees ye are they who justify yourselves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts Luke 16.15 'T is true there hath been some who may be out of a Principle of Charity and a Spirit of meekness would have invited them out of their Errours but these are so far gone in that way as to stand in need to make some kind of Apology for themselves yet that method of gentleness is ill bestowed upon Men of an obstinate and stubborn Spirit and hitherto hath proved uneffectual for by the abuse of the thing they are grown Haughtier and Prouder so that sometimes they make their own Panegyrick as I * P. 27. observed in the Vindication of the Epistle and preface to my Book And in a place of the mock Apology against me one of them saith one †P. 20 21. of our Learn'd Bishops doth not think the Vnitarians would dishonour Christ only they think that to make him equal with the Father is a disparagement to Almighty God Such a passage may be though I do not remember to have read it yet I am apt to believe with passing thorough their hands it hath gotten a tincture of Socinianism but what makes those Men so busy as to decide that to make the Son equal with the Father is a disparagement to God Almighty when the same in several Texts of Scripture quoted elsewhere makes him his equal Zech. 13.7 and in one place calls him my fellow and in many Texts of the New Testament Christ makes himself equal with the Father But let me warn those who have a favourable Opinion of them to have a care of what they Write for thereby we see how apt they are to take Advantage of any thing so every stroke of a Charitable Pen they would use as an Argument of their good and sincere intentions and of their being in the Right for as they make of it a Trade to wrest Scriptures so they do the Writings of others which I have a particular cause to take Notice of because I said that some Arminians went Hand in Hand with Socinians presently as well observed by * In his Letter to Dr. Edwards Mr. Lobb and in the †P. 12. remarks on a Paper sent by some Eminent Presbyterians to the Congregational c. They lookt upon 't with a multiplying Glass and would bring under their Banners not only almost all the Church but half of the Presbyterians c. Which in my Answer to the two Letters I take Notice of as of their want of sincerity and to speak plainly I now may call it one of their Tricks which they are so full of As indeed in their whole Carriage one may easily perceive it for it hangs altogether and in the bottom it appears in their Doctrines and Practices so contrary to Faith and to the Rules of the Universal Church besides the Self-Conceitedness and Pride of their Pen-Men who despise all that are not of their Mind and with Blasphemy deride true Religion and to that purpose make use of lies and Calumnies but when hard press'd are reduced to pityful shifts their zeal for Christ and Gospel Truths which as much as they are able they pervert may be look'd upon as meer Hypocrisy and in defence of their Errours they shew a great hardness of Heart and disingenuity and as they betray the Truth so spare not those who defend it against them and load them with invectives full of gall and bitterness which is an effect of Passion so contrary to the Meekness and Moderation which they would seem to pretend to as we find Socinus doing against Puccius whom he sharply upbraids * Epist 〈…〉 â—â—lith 〈◊〉 1. P. 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 much relying upon his Opinions which exactly was Socinus's Original and inherent Sin the extraordinary care also which he took to publish and every where to disperse his Works argues in him no small Vanity and Ambition as for his Passion when he disputed which then he could not command so well as at other times we have the Evidence of a familiar Friend of his in these words * Squarcial Epist ad Socin Scio non suspicor c. I do not guess at but know thine immoderate hate in dispute how often have I warned thee when thou wast about disputing or wrangling concerning light matters and disturbing all things with the greatest Clamourousness This Man who against the proper and natural sense of Scriptures would force his own upon them †Assert posnan 10. in oper Soc. p. 510. to fill up his measure doth scornfully speak of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds received by the Universal Church but what need we go so far backward as Socinus's time for these things when now among us we have a fresh Evidence of that Spirit of theirs in a late * The Charitable Samar Pamphlet how unworthily doth that Scribler speak of the Council of Nice which saith he was principally Composed of a pack of wrangling contentious Grecians Men bred up in Controversy all their Life and perpetually quarrelling one with another all this he saith gratis and as his own deluded Opinion that among them there might have been some such ones I will not dispute but he cannot say all were so that Council was summon'd by a great and Christian Emperour Constantine who was present and upon that account things must be thought to have been managed with good order besides that what he saith is not to be purpose the question being not about their Temper but about the Matters lying before them Acts 15.39 a cause is never the worse in it self for the frailties of those that own it may any one disparage the Gospel preach'd by Paul and Barnabas because they fell out and parted about a thing of no moment whether or not they
't is spoken of the same two Persons whom the Name Lord belongs to The Father's Person is but one but the Father's and Son's Persons are two Persons yet but one Jehovah or Lord with this difference That as the Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son so the Son doth Administer and Execute all Judgment in the World commanding and making use of this Authority sometimes under the Name of the Angel before whom stood Joshua cloathed with filthy Garments Now that this Angel was really and truly God it appears by his commanding of his own Authority Joshua's filthy Garments to be taken away from him and by his saying to him Behold I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee which none but the true God can say or do for none can forgive sins but God alone which is a Phrase equivalent to this I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee this more and more appears out of what is contained in verses 6 and 7. And the Angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua thus saith the Lord of Hosts If thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge then thou shalt also judge my House and shalt also keep my Courts Who but the true God can speak after this manner And that no ground should be left to doubt of this Truth that same Angel calls himself the Lord of Hosts for the Angel of the Lord protested saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts as if he had said I who am the Lord of Hosts protest unto thee If thou wilt c. then I promise thee so and so c. this is the proper style of him who absolutely is Lord and Master of all Hence we may learn another thing which is that Joshua being the High-priest was a Type of Jesus Christ our High-priest in things pertaining to Salvation who as Peter saith His own self bare our sins which are the filthy garments spoken of by the Prophet in his Body 1 Pet. 2 24. and which by his Death having made a full Atonement for he was cloathed with change of Raiment or with his own Righteousness Heb. 1.3 And when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high But farther to prove his Divinity here I shall bring in two Arguments which no where else I made use of before The first is this All men that is meerly men and no more than men are Sinners but Christ is no Sinner therefore Christ is no meer man but more than a man According to Rules this Argument is in Mode and Figure and both of these Propositions can fully and unanswerably be proved out of God's Word As to the Major 't is made good in two ways first by positive Assertions secondly by Examples The first hath two Branches whereof one is That every man is originally a sinner by nature for human Nature is sinful and corrupt the other is That every man is an actual sinner for as said before as at first the Person infected the Nature so since the Nature hath infected the Persons for by one man sin entered into the world Rom. 5.12.24 and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned though not every one after the similitude of Adam's transgression and when David saith Psal 5.3 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me he meaneth it of all men as well as of himself for without any difference or exception Ephes 2.3 we are all children of wrath even as others As for the other part That every man is an actual sinner 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 't is plain for there is no man that sinneth not and Paul saith All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and another Apostle saith In many things we offend all wherefore in Scripture sometimes men are call'd by the Epithet of sinners and sinful But in Scripture the Holy Ghost is not satisfied to affirm every man to be a sinner but he therein gives Instances of and mentions the sins of the best and greatest Servants of God Adam's sin I shall not name which whole Mankind has cause to remember with a witness but I shall take notice of Noah's Drunkenness Gen. 9.21 chap. 19. chap. 12. and 20. chap. 26. chap. 43.15 Gen. 45.13 Exod. 4. Ps 106.33 James 5. Act. 15.39 of Lot's Drunkenness and Incest of the Mistrust and Dissembling of Abraham twice the like of Isaac of Joseph's learning to swear by the Life of Pharaoh with something of vanity in him when he said to his Brethren You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt of Moses's Refractoriness to obey God when he commanded him to go to the Children of Israel in Egypt and to Pharaoh and his Unadvisedness so Job's Impatience David's Adultery and Murther Solomon's Idolatry and that zealous Servant of God Elias was subject to like Passions as we are so Peter's Denyal Paul and Barnabas Falling out about no great Matter In few words every Servant of God had their Flaws and therefore in a way of defiance Solomon asketh Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Now I unquestionably proved every man to be a sinner Now must I prove the Minor Proposition of my Argument That the Lord Jesus is no sinner which to do is an easie task He never was nor is a sinner for though he assumed our human sinful Nature yet by the immediate working of the Holy Ghost which sanctified that part of the Substance of the Virgin out of which was form'd our Saviour's Body it was preserved from natural corruption wherefore the Apostle calls him Heb. 7.26 holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners And as he ever was free from Original so he never committed any Actual sin which made him defie the Jews thus Joh. 8.46 Heb. 4.15 Which of you convinceth me of sin None could for though he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin 1 Pet. 1.19 therefore the Apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish and without spot and in the next Chapter he adds who did no sin chap. 2.22 1 Joh. 3.5 neither was guile found in his mouth and in him was no sin saith another Apostle which Truth I look upon as undeniably proved And so from the Premises I may well conclude That seeing the Lord Jesus is a Man yet not a sinner he must needs be no meer Man but more than a Man and so God and Man if he had been a meer Man ut sic reduplicative he also had been a sinner but seeing he is not a sinner then he is not a meer Man In this case any consideration drawn from Angels is not pertinent for the question is only of Divine and Humane Nature not of the Angelical for He took not on him the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but he
upon that perversly contriv'd Notion Their third Error about the Holy Ghost is to deny him to be the only sufficient cause of our Conversion and Regeneration tho' as said before he be call'd the Spirit of Regeneration John 3.5 and our Regeneration is by our Saviour call'd to be born of the Spirit but Socinians who mostly cross Scriptural Truths are of another mind for saith one quod c What Frantzius saith * Smalc cont Frantz disp 8. that the Holy Ghost alone by his Virtue and Operation doth all these viz. the inward assent to God's Word our Conversion to God the knowledge of Christ and Faith in him is false How easily do that People give one the lye that same saith that our Regeneration may not be call'd the work of God alone but it depends upon Man's Will and Acting So that great work of Conversion is divided between God and Man whereof all the advantage is made to be on Man's side for Man hath the Negative Vote he may receive or reject but God not so thus Man's Salvation is at his own command Thus far we have spoken of the Nature †Volkel de Creat Morosov cont Smiglec Attributes and Persons of the Godhead now as to God's Works Him they deny to have made the World out of nothing but of a Matter without Form which is to bring into Divinity the Materia prima of Philosophers but I ask did that Matter exist before the Creation of the World If so then it was from Eternity for in Scripture to be before the World and to be from Eternity are Synonimous and signifie the same and this is to joyn in Opinion with those who hold the World to have been Eternal which is a parte ante to match God's Eternity and also to make it Eternal a parte post This also strikes at his Almightiness as if he could not have made something out of nothing which properly is Creation I elsewhere discoursed abundantly against their over boldly presuming upon God's Word with submitting it to their Fancies by them mis-called Reason When they consult it 't is not with an intent thereby to be guided and submit their Judgment to its Decision but only with wresting it and forcing unusual and not natural Senses to make of it a Stalking-horse and to serve their wrong Ends and herein they are so self-conceited and so much abound in their own sense as to reject the help of other Mens Learning Labour and Industry For saith their * Socin Tom. 1. p. 344. Master Non attendendum est c. We must not mind what Men teach and believe or what heretofore they taught and believed whatsoever or how many soever they are or have been What a pride is this Neither Prophets nor Apostles or Evangelists excepted though immediately inspired of God and elsewhere he would scorn to own any Judge of Controversies whether single Man or such a body of Men as the Church is which certainly God in these Matters hath left some Authority with according unto his Word but he is of another mind when he saith Quod quaeris c. †Epist 3. ad And. Dudith To what you ask who is to be the Judge of Controversies about Holy Things I answer without us there is no need of another Judge than God and Christ This in plain terms is to make themselves the sole Judges for God and Christ speak to us by the Prophets and Apostles Their Endeavours of reconciling Jews Mahometans and other Anti-Trinitarians to the Christian Religion with removing what therein gives them offence tho' never so much to the Overthrowing of the Fouudation thereof is a clear Evidence of their setting up themselves as Judges in those Matters If they had gone about to convert them it had been very well and Christian-worthy but not so when for sinister Ends of their own they would only mince and trim with them Scripture we Christians call the Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice Now in Obedience and Regard to God and according unto sound Reason to the directive and decisive Authority of this Rule we who are so fallible ought to submit our Judgments to and yield Obedience of Faith 'T is very unreasonable to make every one's Reason a Judge in Matters of Religion thus there shall be so many Men so many Judges yet in the World are so many ignorant unlearned carnal prepossess'd with Prejudices blind wordly obstinate wicked and deprived of the Spirit of God here is a great Number and Diversity of Judges but how can they be Judges of things which they do not understand about these Matters another Errour of theirs is That they would not have the Doctrines of Faith to be drawn by Consequences out of Scripture for say they it requires Reason which all are not capable of therefore say I we do not allow every one to draw those Consequences Neither is their Argument good because though Reason be necessary to Knowledge yet 't is not as if it were the Foundation but as 't is the Instrument of knowledge therefore the Word is not Preach'd to Children to meer Naturals and Mad People besides that the Light not of Nature but of Grace is the Principle of this Knowledge of Divine Matters which the Unlearn'd as well as the Learned do Understand not by the Light of Natural Reason but of Divine Revelation Now I say that a Conclusion well deduced from premises is also true because virtually contained in the premises and 't is most certain that in the Word several great Truths are proved by deduced Consequences as is one of the Fundamental Articles of our Faith Matth. 22.31 32. Out of Exod. 3.6 Matth. 22 44 45. Out of Psal 110.1 1 Cor. 2.13 the Resurrection of the Dead so our Saviour proves his Divinity so doth Paul and many more such things and Scripture we must compare with Scripture for according to the saying quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant for that which is darker or seems so in one place will appear clearer and plainer in another comparing saith Paul of himself spiritual things with spiritual But here upon the point of Holy Scripture I must not omit to take Notice of the Blasphemous expressions of one of their great Men and a stiff stickler for his Master Socinus's Opinions * Smalc Exam. 100. Err. err 16. Christians ought little to care what the Prophets say of the Worship of one God according to this we must not mind what Prophets say though never so Important as is the thing in question the Worship of one God so there is a door made open for Idolatry and a breach of the first precept of the Law but those setters forth of strange Gods affirm we may Worship one who by Nature is not God not supreme nor independent but I intend by the Grace of God to speak more at large of this in another place of my discourse but the Man would not have us
to be possible for a Man after the knowledge of the Truth never to Sin for saith he * Resp ad frantz disp 6. de bon oper thes 43. 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 neither Scripture nor sound Reason nor any thing else hinders but that he who Sinn'd before may come to that degree of perfection as never to Sin hereafter This is to set up a Perfection in this life and freedom from Sin whilest Scripture doth abundantly affirm that there is no Man that Sinneth not that after the knowledge of the Truth and after Conversion in many things we offend all even the best all are under Sin Rom. 3.23 and all have Sinn'd and come short of the Glory of God One said well †Remigius in Cens Act. Synod Caris c. Go. tescal vivere absque peccato c. To live without Sin in the World belongs not to the state of the present Life but to the happiness of that which is eternal during our Life some Canaanites are still left to be Thorns in our Sides and the best Men have a Thorn in the Flesh So that freedom from Sin is certainly part of the Glory of God which in this World no Man whatsoever can attain unto and to pretend to 't is the Sin of the Devil and of our first Parents namely Pride and an Ambitious desire to be like God and equal with God their steps do Socinians follow who though they would seem to be great Enemies to Popery they in matters of Grace in every thing are a bad and in some worse than Papists By this principle of theirs they also make Salvation an easy thing though the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.18 Jerem. 13.23 the Righteous is scarcely saved and the Prophet 't is no more possible for them to do good that are used to do evil then 't is for the Ethiopian to change his Skin or for the Leopard his Spots There is a natural impossiblity by reason of Sin reigning in every Reprobate and dwelling in every Believer 1 John 1.8 wherefore we are commanded daily to pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses for indeed if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us The Orthodox Doctrines about the Sacraments Faith Justification and in sew words every Article of our Holy Religion they more or less do depravate thus they set up a new one of their own making as it hath plainly been demonstrated by several Protestant Divines They set up two ways of Salvation one under the Old Testament the other under the New We own there are several ways to Hell yet there is but one and that strait too Heb. 10.20 leading to Heaven which is the new and living way which he Christ hath consecrated for us thorough the Vail that is to say his Flesh This in Substance though under different Circumstances was for his People under the Old as 't is under the New Testament The whole Church of God though consisting of Jews and Gentiles is but one Church so there is but one Head Lord and Saviour and so but one way to Salvation Now that Church God Christ hath purchased with his own Blood that is by the Merits of his Death Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth the Messiah Jesus Christ to be a propitiation thorough Faith in his Blood for his People under the Old as under the New Testament and we are justified by his Blood Chap. 5.9 Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.20 Heb. 10.19 Also we have Redemption thorough his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins Withal he hath made peace thorough the Blood of his Cross And the boldness we have to enter into the Holiest it is by the Blood of Jesus So then under both Testaments Men are justified and saved by Vertue of the Death of Christ Mediator and thorough Faith in him as 't is at large expressed Heb. 11. whether to come with the Jews Acts 4.12 or already come with Christians for the Apostle's words are full plain and general neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Yet this clear truth they will not yield to for saith * Smalc cont frantz disp 4. thes 8. one of them what Frantzius Writes that the Ancients believed in Jesus to come and thorough that Faith were justified ought to be reckon'd among the grossest errours Justification by Faith was never profered to Men before the coming of Christ neither was it promised that Man should be justified by Faith yet Abraham was justify'd by Faith Gal. 3.6 for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness wherein did he believe God Not only in the promise that his Posterity should be very numerous but also chiefly at the promise that the Messiah should come out of his Seed Gen. 12.3 and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed which was a renewing of the Promise made to our first Parents of the Woman's Seed which then God fixed in Abraham's Family now this Seed of his in whom all the Families of the Earth should be blessed is what Abraham believed and that Faith of his concerning it was to him accounted for Righteousness and there is no doubt to be made but that God who so familiarly conversed with him as with a Friend for so Scripture calls him Isai 41.8 in a special manner revealed to him the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh for it was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity who at several times under the name of an Angel and in the shape of a Man appeared to Abraham who as our Lord saith rejoyced to see his day with the Eye of Faith that day or time when he appeared in the Flesh which Abraham who lived so long before did see not as actually present but as to come and that Faith whereby Abraham believed in a Saviour to come he was justify'd by and as he is called the Father of all them that believe so all believers must have the same Faith which he had Ephes 4.5 for there is but one Faith and one Lord which imports one and the same object of that Faith only with this difference upon the account of time that Abraham believed in him that was to come and we in him who is already come Now to the later part of what Smalcius saith that there is no promise that Man should be justified by Faith I say if it be not by Faith it must be by Works for there is no middle but seeing St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Romans doth so positively exclude Works not only those of the Law but also those call'd Evangelical with the same Apostle we must conclude Man to be justified by Faith without Works but they are thorough paced Rom. 3.28 for regeneration and other good works Love Invocation Obedience Hope Charity
them This calling and Ordination was from hand to hand to pass to after Ages for the things that thou hast heard of me Acts 6.6 2 Tim. 2.2 1 Tim. 5.22 saith the same Apostle among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also and upon this account he gives him a Caution to lay hands suddenly on no man till after a due examination about the Doctrine whether sound and a competent knowledge to teach and a strict inquiry about Morals a Good Life and Conversation Moreover doth not the word positively affirm 1 Cor. 12.28 Ephes 4.11 that God hath set some in the Church First Apostles Prophets Teachers c. again he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers So in the Church there is a Ministry by way of Office which no Man may take upon himself but he who is lawfully call'd to 't The Church is God's House who is the God of order therefore to prevent confusion and usurpation therein he hath appointed not only the spiritual bread and food for his Children but also the Stewards and Ministers who are to distribute it And verily verily I say unto you he that enterreth not by that Door into the Sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a Thief and a Robber Thus 't is visible enough how dangerous to the Church are Socinian Principles seeing they tend to ruin her Doctrine and allow every one a liberty to give God's Word what Interpretations they think fit also to set up any one for Ministers of the Gospel and thus to destroy the Order and Oeconomy which God hath setled in it whence Confusion will necessarily follow About these things and in all Disputes concerning Religion we ought to have a rule to go by and that is Scripture well explained and understood that is according to the true signification of the Words and Sense in the Original the scope of the Place and the analogy of Faith this rule must be true and certain which cannot be as long as every one is allowed to turn it to his own Sense and private Interpretation * Jonah Schlich ting in Symb. Epist ad loct p. 3. One of their Authors in his Exposition of the Creed saith that 't is most ancient and most simple and from the beginning no Man doubted but that it contained the Apostolical Doctrines But he saith not enough for that Creed must be received not only as to the words but also in the sense wherein the primitive Church took it It is very unreasonable in them to go about setting up their own private Opinions over and above and to the prejudice of the publick and universal ones 't is too much to abound in their own sense and to despise the general consent of the primitive Church as if excepting a number of Hereticks all the World had been blind and in darkness till Socinus came so before there was not nor is there now any true Church but of their own Sect they refuse to joyn with those who went before because say they they were fallible yet they would have us to joyn with them so 't is but reasonable for us to ask them to prove their infallibility it argues a great pride in them that in matters of Religion even as to the Fact which cannot be proved meerly by the light of Reason they will not in the least submit to the judgment of others who are witnesses of the times yet take upon themselves to frame a new Religion make new Articles of Faith and set up for Judges whether or not at their pleasure to receive or reject matters of Faith and the Doctrines hitherto received by the Universal Church 't is true they have been cunning enough to enlarge much the pales of their Society therein to receive more Men and of all sorts to that effect Socinus's System is compiled of a Rapsody of complicated Heresies therefore to avoid the name of Innovator he saith nullum c. †Apolog. Epist ad Martin Vadovit In my publick writings I asserted no doctrine which before my coming hither into Poland had not been owned by others in this Kingdom or elsewhere Yet his Uncle Laelius who had been his Teacher and whose Opinions he defended in the Preface of his Explication of the 1st Chap. of John's Gospel declares his Interpretation to be new the true sense whereof saith he had been mistaken by all Expositors that were before 'T is true that generally most of his Heresies were broach'd before him whereunto his Uncle and he after added some few things and thereunto gave a new form which to give a greater Authority unto he saith how * Epist ad Squarcilupum Tom. 1. p. 382. in what he had written in answer ad palaeo-logum de Magistratu he owned no other Master or Teacher but God and Scripture besides his Vncle Laelius dead long before or rather some few Writings or Annotations of his this in the same place he also extends to the universal knowledge of Divine Things And tho he owns there be still some things which he might learn yet hitherto he met with none therein able to teach him And this Man who seems to scorn to learn any thing of others hath forged and fram'd a new Body of Divinity and squeezed what he could out of his Brains that very same he publish'd and would have us to believe as Divine Truths as if to the exclusion of the whole Church he had been constituted the only true Interpreter of God's Word however this must be said that to gain more Men to himself he allowed others the same liberty he took to Interpret Scriptures as they pleased yet he insinuates how in his Interpretations are the fitter rules for them to go by and to please many Men about this they give leave to bring in commodam Interpretationem as they call it that is not the truest but most to their purpose the easiest most commodious or convenient under which cloak they wrest it to a contrary sense and in matters of Salvation Socinus is so complacent as to say that though one believeth things contrary to Scripture Tom. 1. p. 502. as to believe some things therein to be forbidden or commanded which are not he is thereby in no danger of being deprived of Salvation or excluded from Heaven Yet Men should know how the Gospel and Christian Religion is a Depositum a thing given in trust whereof the Ministers are the keepers for saith the Apostle to his Disciple 1 Tim. 6.20 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust 't is then a thing delivered to not invented by thee not thine own but Christ's 't is not of thy contrivance but like a Steward thou hast received it and must dispose of it not according to thine own fancy but according to the rule prescribed thee without any alteration But as their Principles
new ones 'tis no Resurrection of the old ones but a Creation of new ones * Smalc exam 100 Err. Err. 88.89 Corpora haec c. said one these bodies which now we have we do not believe they shall rise from the dead but that God will give us others Which make him add that †Exam. 157. err Err. 103. after the Resurrection we shall be like unto God Job 19.25 26 27.1 Cor. 15.53 54. V. 43. as to the Bodies but Job whom I will believe sooner than him saith though Worms destroy his body yet in his flesh he shall see God and his Eyes shall behold and not another and Paul affirms this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortallity The same body that was buried shall rise again for in the fore quoted place the Apostle saith it is Sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power so he still speaks of the same and as the bodies that shall be alive at the coming of our Saviour shall be changed only as to the quality in substance remaining the same as express'd in the word 2 Cor. 5.1.4 so shall the Bodies at that time lying in their graves c. thus we see it shall be the same in substance only a change in the quality for 't is just that the same Body which for the cause of Christ was upon Earth exposed to ignominy Phil. 3.21 should with him be glorified in Heaven 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. and that the bodies of Wicked men who sinn'd against God and deserv'd Punishment should suffer it according to what the Apostle saith But take notice of the Blasphemy in the Acts M. S. of their Racovian Assembly Conference animadvertendum est c. men must take notice how Christ and his Apostles were in some manner forced to comply with the Opinions of men which then were prevailing as it appears plainly enough by the parable of the rich Man and of Lazarus for to be tormented in hell or be in Abraham's Bosom are only fictions like those which the Poets writ of Ixion Sysiphus and Tantalus as if Christ and his Apostles had brought upon us as Truths of the Gospel The Fables of the Heathen Poets that only the pious are to live forever Smalc disp de baptism is it not drawn out of Scriptures which do comfort only Believers with the Promises of Eternal Life Now if hence we infer that the wicked shall not live forever 't is not to be attributed unto us but to Holy Scripture the like of the Death and Destruction of Devils cannot we hence well conclude that they shall be reduced to nothing but how this is to be therein in our judgment every one may abound in his own sense the like must be said of the Torments of Devils and Wicked Men we know that Eternal Life promised the Godly is a Blessed Life which alone is worthy to be called Life whilst the Pains and Torments that take away the Happiness of Life both in this World and that which is to come are in several places of Scripture well known call'd Death comparatively They farther teach that the pious men who died before Moses knew neither †Catech. Rac. c. 11. de proph munere Christ Christ nor * Volkel l. 4. c. 3. and l. 3. c. 11 his Salvation that indeed †Crell de deo God forgave their Sins and gave them Eternal Life * Rac. c. 5. q. vi volk 1.3 c. 11. yet without any promise thus according to them men were saved without a Saviour and without Faith for no promise no Faith furthermore they say that †Racov. c. 5. q. 3. and c. 19. sub sin Heb. 11.8 9 14 15 16. Eternal Life and the Holy Ghost were unknown to Moses's Law thus they were without Faith without hopes of a better Life and without inward joy and assurance in the Holy Ghost yet the law contained promises of a Messiah to come not only Temporal but also Spiritual and Eternal the Seed of Abraham especially that according to the promise had a share in the promises made to him renewed to * Socin l c. ad quest utrum fides ista c. Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise now they had Faith and thereby desired a better Country than that they came from that is as the Apostle calls it an heavenly one They farther say that by the Covenant of Moses neither was the Messiah promised nor were they commanded to believe in Christ to come But let this chiesly be taken notice of * multa poterant many things might be said by the prophets which the people was not bound to believe there are too many more such erroneous things which it would prove too tedious to relate and upon occasion I could abundantly produce but they are nauseous and so for the present shall say no more about it Thus far have I Characterized the Socinian spirit and drawn it in its own Colours which I hope may thorough God's Blessing open the Eyes of People to see the cloven foot and make men with just indignation to abhor the Devil and his Works yet after all this 't is wonderful to find how a number of People have been so bewitched as to receive for doctrines such impieties and blasphemies but sometimes in his just judgment God as the Apostle saith doth send a strong delusion that men should believe a lye 2 Thess 2.10.11 however there was a great opposition against this Sect when at first it began to appear especially after Socinus's publishing his wicked Book de Servatore one Covet a Protestant Minister in Paris was the first that answered it in and about Poland where he went to settle Zarnovecius Volanus and others in those parts and elsewhere did write against him The assertions of the Colledge of Posen de Trino uno Deo compiled by Eutropius came out in opposition to his Heresies but that which is very remarkable is this that in Poland all the reformed Churches of three several Confessions namely the Bohemian Helvetick and Augustan or Lutheran Unanimously joined together and declared against those damnable Heresies and in the year 1570. came to that famous agreement called of Sandomir from the place where it was transacted and afterwards confirm'd in several other Synods of theirs as at Posen in the same year at the general one at Cracow in 1573. in the particular one of Xansens and of Wlodislaw afterwards in the general of Petricovia in 1578. in the general of Wlodislaw in 1583. and at Thorn in 1595. in the Preface before the Articles of those several Synods are these expressions * Syntagmaa Confes fidei p. 283. Nos qui in Poloniae regno c. We who in the Kingdom of Poland have rejected the Idolatry of Anti-Christ and all Heresies contrary to the Apostical Creed and to those of Nice
thing another as falfe They say that before the coming of Christ such * Wolzog. in Matt. 4.10 p. 189. Worship was lawfully and justly rendered to Angels who represented God's Person but that Worship was rendred only to one Angel no created one whom in my former Book I sufficiently proved to be the Son of God The same Author affirms * In Joh. 5.23 That every Man that is sent representing the Person of him who sent him ought to receive that honour due to him that sent After this the Prophets and Apostles sent by God and by Christ ought to have been Worshiped with the same Worship due to the most high God which cannot be deny'd to be Idolatry yet these People would pretend to abhor Papists for their Idolatry which is properly when the Worship due to God alone is paid to the Creature whereby one God is divided into many and as Papists to excuse their Idolatry towards Saints and Images idly distinguish the manner of it under different Names according to the different Objects so do Socinians with their Relative Notions of dependent and independent of high and most high God what by them is mention'd of John's falling before the Angel to Worship him we may look upon 't as a Flaw in him as the denial of Christ was in Peter therein to forbid us the Worship of Angels for we read how the Angel surpris'd at it with a sudden as it were Exclamation as happens at a great trouble of Mind rejected it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See thou do it not Now as this Opinion of the Socinians doth agree with that of Papists who say they worship not the Saint or Image but Relatively to God or God in 't so Socinians say the Adoration is due to Christ not of it self but by accident not terminatively but transittively the Worship passes from him to the Father whom they Worship in Christ just as Papists do God and the Saint in the Image This Opinion of Socinians doth also agree with that of the Heathens about their half or Semi-Gods Gods of an inferiour Orb for besides those made Gods they owned a supreme one and above all the rest Thus the Socinian Divinity agrees with that of Pagans and Gentiles as if I had time I might easily demonstrate not only out of Cicero Seneca Lucian Celsus c. but also out of Lactantius Augustin and other Christian Writers This Opinion of theirs doth also overthrow the Christian Faith for what is to embrace the Christian Faith 1 Thess 1.9 but to be turn'd to God from Idols to serve the living and true God The Gospel which Paul and Barnabas preached to the People of Lystra is this We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God Acts. 14.15 which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein which they say Christ made not Mark here the Question was about the worship which those Heathens would have rendered to the Apostles Farther Socinian Idolatry is directly opposed to the first Precept Matth. 6.24 chap. 2.16.17 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me And induces Men to serve two Lords and two Masters which Scripture saith no Man can do In Hosea we read that God said Thou shalt call me Ishi my Husband and no more Baali my Lord though a fit and proper name to call God by who is Lord and Master over all for his absolute Dominion is extended over all his Works The Reason why he would no more be call'd by that name is because it had been abused and prophaned being given to Creatures and attributed to Idols for our Lord is a jealous God and will not have his Name and Glory communicated to Creatures which he abhorr'd therefore he declar'd in that same place And I will take the names of Baalim out of her mouth Before I leave off this point I shall in a few Words take notice how nice in the Primitive Church Men were about the Unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons When the Heresies there against appeared abroad this very thing about Arrius's time was like to have made a great breach between the Greek and Latin Churches which through Athanasius's Piety Care and Prudence was prevented The Controversie was about the Greek word Hypostasis and the Latin one Persona The Latins suspected the Greek word might signifie Essence and Substance which had brought in the Heresie of the Tritheists of three Gods for thus three Essences had made three Gods on the other side the Greeks thought by the Latin word to be meant only a Relation and Office and not truly a Person which had been a meer Relative distinction but nothing real in 't thus the Doctrine of the Trinity had been overthrown and so Sabellianism which saith that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one Person had been brought in but in the Synod of Alexandria Athanasius having to remove all suspicion from both sides proposed that the words Hypostasis and Persona might indifferently be used in both Churches it was agreed unto and Peace settled thereby God grant we may here see the like upon the Foundation of Truth to the Confusion of Heresie that with a bare face now walks up and down which in the Prophets words we may say to Thou hast a whore's Forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed Jer. 3.3 but God in his due time will make it so and explode it hence out of what Solomon saith Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16.18 and a haughty Spirit before a fall we may modestly infer that if not a whole downfal at least a fall of that Sect is near at hand towards which we hope there is some steps for never more proud injurious and vile Language than what we read in their former and latter Books the same Spirit from first to last reigning therein Nay when the Parliament was about setting a Curb upon and restraining them still they went on and Published their Pamphlets and had the confidence to have their Socinian Notions in Print distributed among the Honourable Members at the Door of the House of Commons to whom therein they would have prescrib'd how to draw up their Bills and that most impertinently in Scriptural Phrases Did any one ever see Bills and Acts of Parliament drawn up so This is a perfect mixture of Socinianism and Quakerism which tended as I think to get opportunities thereby to wrest our Laws as they do God's Word Here again I must take notice of the * Charitable Samaritan late Pamphlet wherein one may see confirm'd what I said before about their endeavouring to wrest Scriptures for from p. 16 to 22 the Author's aim is to make them uncertain and dubious in all the Texts therein mention'd so when it shall serve their turn they will of any one else He there brings it in p. 20. as being his Friend Mr. Firmin's Opinion who understood neither
made Man 't was very proper for him to appear in that Figure even before he was manifest in the flesh for though at that time he was not actually so yet was accounted to be such because in time to come he was so to be made Man according to the first promise after the fall Gen. 3.15 the Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head not the Seed of Man immediately though called Abraham's and David's Seed but mediately in the Womans Seed immediately for he was made a Man by the Womans not by the Mans Seed his Body was formed our of her Substance without the help of any Man so that she might properly according to the Flesh be call'd his Mother but no Man might properly be named his Father for in that respect he had none Luke 3.23 for Joseph was but a supposed Father to him and David was his Father only in her who had been derived from him he hath a Father namely God but upon the account of another Generation and God the Father in a most authentick way from Heaven more than once hath declared and owned him to be his Son that is as he came from Heaven there lies the ground of that Sonship God the Father never call'd him Son of Man but his own beloved only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased Now in the manifestation of his Glory because Divine Nature hath in the Person of the Son mediately been united with humane Nature and so God in the Person of the Son appearing like Man he appears in a Nature which is his own because the Son assumed it and God whether essentially taken or for the Person of the Father never did or doth in the way of Mercy and Favour manifest himself but in the face of Jesus Christ Mediatour God and Man as there is no access unto God but in and thorough him and as 't is now so it was ever from the very beginning wherefore he is call'd the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and this is the reason why God manifested himself under the shape of a Man to shew how in the Person of the Son who took upon him that Nature he is reconciled to Mankind and of old the Son appeared in that likeness to signify how in that Nature he would make our peace with and reconcile us 〈◊〉 God the Apostle speaking of Christ's Incarnation â—alls it he was made like unto Men the word like there denotes truly and really a Man Philip. 2.7 this is to prove his Humanity but how much stronger terms doth he use to prove his Divinity when he saith who heing in the form of God the form is the Nature whether of a Person or of a Thing for 't is that which gives it a Being so that expression signifies that Christ is and was such as God himself and therefore God for there is none in all parts like to God but God himself but what he adds in the same verse doth highly confirm the truth he thought it not robbery to be equal with God his being equal with God not by robbery demonstrates it was his due and own right Now this point we intend to conclude with John's Vision for if the former Visions agree with this and if this relates to the Son of God who was God and before his Incarnation appeared in his Divine Glory in the likeness of a Man then with him we may well affirm he had a Being and a Glory with the Father before the World was That Christ the eternal Son of God and Redeemer of the World is that Glorious God and Person who shewed his beloved Disciple this Vision in the Isle of Patmos where he had by the Emperour Domitian been confin'd as he saith for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 1.9 is so clear that I think the adversaries themselves being the judges there is no ground left to doubt of it to what I already said about it I shall add what followeth This revelation is of Jesus Christ as we learn it out of the first line of the first Chapter it being as the Title of the Book that is the Lord Jesus revealed it unto John V. 13.14 who gives a glorious description of him I saw one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a Garment down to the Foot and girt about the Paps with a Golden Girdle his Head and his Hairs were white like Wool as white as Snow and his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire These last words of the description are almost the same but altogether to the same purpose with what we read of the Ancient of days who did sit Dan. 7.9 whose Garment was white as Snow and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wool his Throne was like the fiery Flame now the adversaries cannot deny but that by the ancient of days is mean'd the true eternal God so he whose description St. John makes with the same attributes as Daniel gives of him must needs be the same but the Apostle continues the description thus V. 13.15 and his Feet like unto fine Brass as if they had burned in a Furnace and his Voice as the sound of many Waters again let this latter and first part of the description about the clothing and girdle of Gold be compared with Daniel's Vision already quoted and by this comparing Scripture with Scripture we shall find out the truth how in both places the same is described and so if Daniel saw the God of Israel the true God by nature he whom John saw is such which we shall know better and better if we read in the last Verse of Chap. 4. what the four Beasts and twenty four Elders said to him that sat upon the Throne thou art worthy to receive Glory and Honour and Power And if that Verse we compare with the 12. of 5. Chap. which is the following we shall find these words worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing So that we must conclude the Lamb to be the same Lord spoken of before I mean the same in nature and to the Lamb is rendered the same Honour and Worship as is to the Lord with the same Attributes which is expressed with some enlargement and in more words than in the foregoing Chapter but by whom is this Divine Honour rendered unto the Lamb 't is expressed in the foregoing Verse Rev. 5.11 and I beheld and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands which last words seem to be taken out of Daniel's Vision Dan. 7.10 to shew how all this was rendered to one and the same and I say that the sameness of Worship doth argue for the sameness of Nature we find the
Body he call'd by â—he name of the Temple whereby he seem'd to point at the Temple wherein God was said to dwell as if he had said this Body wherein I now dwell as formerly I did in the Temple you may and shall take and destroy as it happened when they Crucified him but this I give you for a proof of my Divinity so as to make you know who I am â—his same Body or Temple in three days I of my self and by my own Power will raise it up again that Body is â—ow Glorious in Heaven whilest there is on Earth neither Ark Tabernacle nor Temple At this time I have insisted upon the head of Visions which is one of the Classes out of which we draw Arguments for the Holy Trinity and Incarnation of the Son of God though they were more frequent under the Old Testament when those Holy Mysteries were not so plain as since they were made by the coming of our Lord and Saviour yet God in his Infinite Wisdom to confirm all that in that kind had been under the Law shew'd Abraham and his Posterity hath under the Gospel Transmitted to his Church thereby to shew an harmony between his Promises and the Execution thereof that Revelation to St. John Iown there are some proofs may be not so strong because not so plain as others for some do prove a Truth more directly and positively than others yet in the Word of God every kind of proof hath its use for God in his Infinite Wisdom hath thought fit therein to instruct us in several ways and methods if we had only Collateral and somewhat dark proofs we would not lay so great a stress thereupon but to the most positive and clear we join others to shew the excellent harmony that is in God's Word in asserting things in some places more in others less plainly for sometimes in one we find that which seem'd wanting in another but altogether they make the thing to be undisputably true This consideration moves me in the disputes we have against Socinans to draw up some Arguments which as yet I made no use of to prove and more and more demonstrate those great Truths of that kind the following is one 't is said of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of or for Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Aegypt Heb. 11.26 How is the reproach of Christ mentioned in relation to a time that was so long before his Birth in the place the Apostle saith it was by Faith now one that is not or that is a meer Man cannot be the Object of saving Faith for we believe in God not in Man therefore we must say Christ was in Moses's time and as then he was not a Man nor an Angel he must needs be God Moses whom a while after God so clearly communicated himself to and so familiarly conversed with knew well that Angel who afterwards was with him all along in the Wilderness who to him had appeared in the Bush to be God himself Existing at that time since he was with him and who in time to come under the name of a Prophet like himself was to be manifested in the Hesh the Messiah and Christ as to his Office and at that time God by Nature we must believe that Paul on that occasion mentioning Christ had cause for so doing which can be assigned to be no other than upon the account of his Deity before he had upon him taken our Humanity This Reproach of Christ another Apostle under the name of his Sufferings mentions as having of old been under the Eye and Prospect of the Prophets who saith he 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Inquired diligently searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow all which related to a coming of his in the Flesh but lookt upon him as having then another Being and Existence for by the Testimony of the same Spirit they knew the Messiah to come in their time to be God As to the word Reproach of Christ used by the Apostle we elsewhere have it in Scripture Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me The Reproaches Revilings and Blasphemies against God by wicked Men are fallen upon Christ for not only he hath born upon him David's Adultery and Murthers the Thefts and Robberies of the repenting Malefactor the Unbelief Persecution and Blasphemy of Paul as Peter's Denying Swearing and Cursing but also the Reproaches Mockeries Revilings and Injuries which Malice and Wickedness could invent fell upon him from his Baptism to his Death especially in the High-Priest's House in the Judgment Hall and upon the Cross when Hell was quite broke loose upon him They that passed by reviled him Matth. 27.39 40 41 42 43. wagging their heads saying if thou be the Son of God come down from the cross likewise the chief Priests mocking him with the Scribes and Elders said he saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him he trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God These last words contain the ground of all their malicious Blasphemies wherein Socinians would have joyned with the Jews and if for the Cause no doubt also for the Effect Were not these Reproaches against God whose Holy Name was Impiously made use of They Reproaching for trusting in God and for saying I am the Son of God which certainly is to reproach God but all these Blasphemies and wicked Reproaches fell upon Christ who was made the Object thereof thus was fullfill'd the Prophecy for David pointed at him when he said The Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me There are two undisputable proofs to shew how in that place the Psalmist speaks not of himself but of our Saviour one is in the beginning of the same Verse The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up to him applied the other is ver 21. Joh. 2.17 In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and if for this Truth we want another Evidence we have it at hand for even Christ pleased not himself but as it is written Rom. 15.3 The Reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me So then if Paul speaks truth in Moses's time there was that which may be call'd the Reproach of Christ then in some sense Christ was at that time and that might well be seeing he declared he was before Abraham Something more we must say about this the better to explain it we know Divine Nature to be impassible and out of the reach of any wrong on injury however those that impiously attempt to do 't are accounted to have effected it for what they could they have done towards it and in God's Eye are as
To believe is what the Gospel requires of us thus Christ said to Jairus believe only In Matters of Salvation is on our part required an Obedience of Faith for as the Apostle saith We walk not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Col. 2.2 4.3 or by senses but by faith So when Scripture saith We must acknowledge the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ we ought to believe there is such a Mystery for so Paul calls it after the Revelation of Christ and of the Gospel and 't is a damnable Presumption to bring these Truths of God under the Scrutiny of human Reason and submit them to it and reject them when that poor blind corrupt and unsound Reason cannot understand them 't is a most false Inference to say I understand neither the Trinity nor the Incarnation therefore there is no such thing as if I should say I cannot understand what God is therefore there is no God my Reason cannot understand the Infiniteness and Eternity of God therefore God is neither Infinite nor Eternal I do not apprehend the design of God's Wisdom therefore no such thing in him He permits Evil and because I cannot comprehend his Reason for it must I blasphemously say he is wicked These are such impertinent Conclusions that any Novice in the Philosophy or Divinity Schools would hiss out I would hear by what Authority I may set up my Reason as Judge over that which is so much above it and which I do not well know All these Wanderings of Men I say can conclude nothing except they prove their Understanding to be infallible and infinite What to fathom these great Depths of God with the very short Line of humane Reason this is an intolerable Self-conceitedness If at first when Watches were made one who never saw one neither understood the Watch-Maker's design seeing the several Pieces asunder upon a Table would have said This is of no use and good for nothing had not such a one deserv'd to be laugh'd at as a shallow Pate void of good Sense and Reason Yet 't is transcendently more foolish for any one to say his Reason must judge whether what God hath revealed be true or not O the nonsensical silly shallow Brains of some Men As in another place of this Discourse 't is observed how God said that he would dwell in the thick darkness Ps 97.2 and that clouds and darkness are round about him so 't is to shew how Men must not attempt to pry into 't for they cannot see the great dark mysterious and incomprehensible things of God 1 Sam. 6.19 Let the dreadful Punishment inflicted upon the Bethshemites for looking into the Ark of the Lord serve for a Warning to all who make themselves guilty of the like Attempts 'T is also faid That God dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6.16 which tends to keep men from meddling too far and presumptuously attempting to look into the secret and glorious things of God beyond what he hath revealed But Socinians pretend to be clear-sighted enough to see through that thick darkness and to be strong-sighted enough with the Eye of their humane Reason stedfastly to look on the Infinite Glorious and Unaccessible Majesty of God and as it were to stare him in the face but they should know how in this sense no man shall see his face and live After this rate these all-knowing Men may happen to attempt giving a Description of Heaven which according to their Principles is a thing not above their Reason to do or beyond the reach of their Capacity so no Mystery to them Thus they shall go beyond Paul and know more than he who though he was caught up to the third heaven into Paradise yet saith 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell and there he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter We would desire Socinians whom as they say nothing in Religion is a Mystery unto and who think their Reason can and may know that which others say they neither can nor may know because they are Mysteries I say we would desire them to give the World an account of what that Paradise is and what are the unspeakable words which Paul hearâ— there and which it was not lawful for such a Man as St. Paul to utter But once for all to come to the Jugulum Causae to the very heart of the point in all Matters ' of Religion we must have a fixed Law and Rule to be guided and judg'd by which Rule must be backt by an infallible or Divine Authority to stand to which is our Case against Papists who would have the Authority or the Reason of the Church to be that same Rule as Socinians more unreasonably would have every private Man's Reason to be it which as occasion shall serve can by Fancy or Interest under the name of Reason be wrested and by assed so that Reason so apt to be blinded and imposed upon cannot be the Law for there is no reason why one Man should be guided and directed by the Opinion of another if he hath no Commission from God proved by Miracles for the wisest of Men may happen to be blinded by Ignorance as the best corrupted by Interest and Lust After this Men will never stand to any thing but will quickly run into thousands of Confusion Superstition and Idolatry both in respect of God and of his Worship Without a true Divine Rule and that 's only God's Word no certainty of the true Knowledge of God and of his Worship for all the Precepts of Nature are doubtful and uncertain for they must be drawn from long Observations of Nature it self great strength of Reasoning deep skill in Philosophy and so many other dependencies and circumstances that 't is almost impossible to find a Man endow'd with all such necessary Qualifications So then to depend upon one's natural Reason as a Guide to Salvation is to trust upon a bruised Reed on which if a Man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it but if we trust in God's Word which is the Word of Truth the Holy Ghost will thereby in order to Salvation make all safe and sure to us whilst he leaves those who abound in their own sense to do so still and those who will not understand what they will not believe to continue in their Ignorance Unbelief and Wilfulness as for us Scripture is our Rule Now Scripture speaks of the Son of God long before his Incarnation as of a Person Acting Punishing Delivering c. an unanswerable proof that he then Existed or else he would not have acted for Modum essendi sequitur modus operandi none can Act except he be which as observed could not be in his Humane Nature Now in the Word of God we read no such thing of the greatest and best Men as Moses Elias John
God in the Sanctuary Where the Prophet speaks of the Son of God Who went up before his People in the Wilderness and at whose presence the Earth shook the Heavens dropped and Sinai it self was moved The third Age of the Church is from Moses to Christ's coming which was fill'd up with variety of considerable Dispensations And this fourth which is her present Age hath been is and shall be attended with very notable Periods began at the coming in the Flesh of the Son of God and it we may call her Manhood when the Food of Milk and Ceremonial Ordinances ceased and she began to be fed with strong and substantial Meat when the Manna discontinued and the true Bread came from Heaven to nourish us the Shadows yielded the place to the true Body and all legal Stars disappear'd at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness And this Age of the Christian Church shall continue till the last Day when the fifth Age shall begin never to have an end this shall be the Age of Perfection and of Eternal Glory He who now is the Head and King of the Church was so from the beginning and shall be such for ever Now the Apostle saith that Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 and the Saviour of the body and none else and that Body which was from the beginning of the World never was without a Head for without it it could not be a Body both to animate and rule it for that is the Head's Office according to that famous Prophecy of the Meisiah's Birth Mic. 5.2 in Bethlehem Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler of Israel To come forth Gen. 17.6 Gen. 25.25 and 38.28 signifies to be begotten and born either by the Father or by the Mother and unto me that is for me to reveal my Glory saith the Father who there speaks Now absolutely the King and Ruler of Israel is the God of Israel such is the Son I heretofore mention'd the Text in Zechariah 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations c. which affords matter of observation more than I took notice of at that time Here speaks the Lord of Hosts which is a Title never attributed to any but to the Essential Infinite and Eternal God The Lord of Hosts in the place declares he is sent a thing in Scripture never said of God the Father but in many places 't is asserted of God the Son and by the Son himself for how often doth our Saviour say that the Father sent him so that to be sent is a Property of the Son therefore the Son must be the Lord of Hosts here said to be sent And as to come answers to being sent so in consequence of that Mission the Lord saith I come Sing and rejoyce v. 10. O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord which was literally fulfilled after the Birth of the Son of God These words Lo I come are a confirmation and farther declaration of what David had said long before when God desired no more Sacrifice and Offering nor required Burnt-Offering Ps 40.6 7. nor Sin-Offering that is when the Ceremonial Law was drawing to an end Then said I the Son Lo I come and Christ declared He came from the Father and in the Father's Name As to the other part I will dwell in the midst of thee it was fulfilled at that time when John said of the Son The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 Let us admire at that Holy Scripture Harmony earthly Jerusalem was the Figure of the Church whose Head King Saviour and Preserver the Lord Jesus is and ever was For I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her v. 5. This coming of the Lord of Hosts shall not only be cause of Song and Joy to the Daughter of Zion but also many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that Day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of thee v. 11. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee This is a Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles at or a little after the time when the Lord of Hosts should come to dwell in Sion which was fulfilled when after the Son of God's coming into the Flesh and his dwelling among the Jews after his Death and Resurrection the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and the Christian Church formed Here we must take notice of how this Prophet Zechariah was one of the two whom God made use of to exhort and encourage the Children of Israel Ezr. 5.1 2. returned from the Babylonian Captivity to build the second Temple which was to stand till the coming of the Lord of Hosts and King of Zion as this Prophet calls him chap. 9.9 As also did Haggai the other Prophet who besides named him the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hosts that is the Presence of the Messiah Son of God was to fill with Glory the second Temple which at that time they were about building upon which account the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former the Lord Jesus who called it his House having with his Presence often sanctified it and been the chief glory thereof which soon after it lost by his Death when the Vail of the Temple was rent and about forty Years after the whole was quite destroyed by the Romans when according to our Blessed Saviour's Prophecy there was not one Stone left upon another that was not thrown down and what he said was attended with a Character and Evidence of his Divine Authority and infallible Truth in these Words Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away but most certainly shall be fulfilled This same Prophet in the next Chapter as indeed in many other places of his Vision doth yield Matter enough upon this point As in Job we read of Satan coming before God with malicious Insinuations against that Holy Man and to obtain leave to do him mischief so here we find the Angel of the Lord to judge between Joshua the High-priest and his Adversary Satan who appeared there to oppose and resist him This Angel of the Lord whom elsewhere I at several times have had occasion to speak of is the Lord himself for in the 2d verse 't is said And the Lord said unto Satan Zech. 3.1 2 the Lord rebuke thee O Satan Twice the Lord answers this other Expression And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 9.24 Brimstone and Fire from the Lord and certainly
took on him the seed of Abraham The following Argument is also in mode and figure 't is thus all Goodness is Essentially in God alone but Jesus Christ is Essentially good therefore he is Essentially God The Major Proposition I thus explain by Essentially is meant Primarily Originally and in its Nature God is Independently sole good in and of himself and is the Author of all Goodness Metaphysicians among the Proprieties entis of a Being which by a Virtual Reciprocration do result from and are converted with the ens or being reckon three by them called Incomplexe or spoken without disjunction to distiguish them from the Complexe which are attended with a disjunction The three are Vnum one which implies a Negation of a Division for ens when multiplied ceases to be one Verum true is the second which imports a relation to the Mind as Bonum good which is the third doth to the Will Now if according to this every created Being is one true and good in its self how much more transcendently must it be so with the ens entium Being of Beings as the Philosopher calls the first Cause of all that is God infinite who is Essentially One True and Good But because the question is now about the last and that Goodness of his is so fully and universally known in this place I shall say no more to demonstrate it Therefore I come to the proof of my Major namely That all Goodness is Essentially in God alone and to be short out of so many Texts of Scripture I shall bring but one which is home and to the purpose the words are our Saviour's Matth. 19.17 There is none good but one that is God Essentially and absolutely meant what goodness there is in the Creature being all derived from him This I take for granted and so come to prove my assumption how Christ is Essentially Good If all things that the Father hath be his as he saith they are then certainly that Divine Attribute Essential Goodness is included and as he hath the Nature so the inseparable Attribute of that Nature è converso if the Attribute then the Nature Of Divine Goodness there are two Proprieties one that it is diffusive and communicative of it self the other that 't is most desirable In two ways God doth communicate his Goodness first inwardly which Communication is natural and necessary whereby God the Father hath from all Eternity by Generation communicated his Nature and manner of Subsisting unto his Son and both to the Holy Ghost by spiration The Second way is Free and Voluntary whereby God hath communicated his Goodness unto his Creatures which makes David to say Psal 119.68 Acts 10.38 Thou art good and doest good Thus Peter observes about our Saviour that he went about doing good Now this Goodness of God hath in several ways been communicated to his Creatures as in the Creation and Preservation of the World in the work of Incarnation Adoption and Eternal Happiness in every one of which relating to Salvation our Saviour hath been an Efficient and Meritorious Cause and hath together with the Father communicated his Natural Divine Goodness in these several branches or kinds thereof first in Grace whereby God in himself is altogether lovely and therein doth favour and benefit his Creatures The second is Love whereby God takes pleasure in what he likes doth it good and unites it unto himself this love the word speaks of Joh. 3.16 when it saith God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And doth not Scripture say also that his Son Ephes 5.25 Ephes 3.19 Jo. 15.13 1 Joh. 4.8 gave himself for us and this love of his for us is so great that the Apostle saith It passeth all knowledge and greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends In few words God is love Furthermore Mercifulness is another branch of God's Goodness exalted in so many places of Scripture that I take it to be unnecessary to insist upon 't And was not Christ all along full of tender Mercies and Compassions towards poor sinners which among his own unbelieving Nation got him the Name of a Compassionate and merciful Nature and all the rich Graces of the Father as Paul calls them are conveyed to us in by and with Christ Lastly God's Patience is another part of his Goodness which is highly commended in Scripture and O the wonderful Meekness Forbearance and Patience of Christ who by the Preaching of his Gospel doth invite sinners to Repentance and as it were doth beseech them to be reconciled unto God and though by too many he be slighted and rejected yet he still waiteth That same in several places of Scripture is the Character given of him and in part for that Meekness Gentleness and Patience he is called a Lamb. But to come to the second Attribute of Goodness 't is what in its Nature is appetibile desirable or what all desire We know the Summum bonum the supreme good is Summoperè appetibile Supremely desirable but can any in Heaven or Earth be more desirable than the Lord Jesus who is the chiefest among ten thousand Songs 5.10 ver 16. Hagg. 2.7 and altogether lovely called the desire of all Nations This demonstrates him Essentially to have in him that Divine Goodness which is inherent to and inseparable from Divine Nature and consequently to be Essentially God Before I leave off this I must answer an Objection which might happen to be made against this great Truth of Christ's being essentially good 't is drawn out of the same Chapter which already I have made use of wherein the Lord speaks to one who came to him for Counsel about his Salvation and by him as a Prophet to be taught the way to Heaven Good Master said he What good thing shall I do that I may have Eternal Life The first part of our Saviour's Answer was Why callest thou me good As if he disproved his calling him so but that was not the Lord 's Meaning who denies not himself to be good for he saith not I am not good or thou art mistaken to call me so but he lays hold upon that occasion to teach the Man that he is God As if he had said Thou ownest me to be good and so I am but that 's not enough thou must also believe me to be God because there is none good but one that is God the meaning is essentially good and of himself and seeing in that sense Christ is good he must needs be God and that 's the same Argument which here I prosecute thus it runneth Thou shouldest not call me good except also thou be perswaded that I am God These two Propositions are convertible God is essentially good and he who is essentially good is God So if in that sense Christ be good then he is God The Hammer of the Word Jer. 23.29 for so 't is
upon the word only they ought to take notice of a thing material to our purpose how their Notion doth not consist with the scope of the place for there the Apostle speaks not of Christ's Kingdom but of his Person call'd the brightness of the Glory and the express Image of the Father's Person Colos 1.19 so in that other A pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell 't is not spoken of the Doctrine but of the Person of Christ That sort of Men first do what they can to wrest God's Word which abominably they generally do in the Texts about Christ's Satisfaction and almost in every other Point but when they see that cannot do they fly in the Face of Holy Writers Thus * Schlichtingius one of them upon the words But a Body hast thou prepared me saith how these words the Apostle quoted not to his purpose Non necesse c. 'T is not necessary to believe that the Author in his quotation of the words had any regard unto their proper sense but had quoted them only because they were joined with others that were to his purpose Which in him is not only an ignorance of the Scope of the place but also a Reflection upon the Apostle as if he had not well known what he said and wherefore as if he at that time had not been Inspired of God which is both Prophaneness and Impiety However they cannot deny him to have been a very Rational Man but they will be for Deism or Natural Religion in opposition to Revelation If seriously and impartially we look upon Socinians we may about the things in question well compare them with the Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees that were in our Saviour's and his Apostles days as being acted by the same Evil Spirit as they were and equally full of Gall and Bitterness against the Person Honour and Doctrine of our Lord whom upon all occasions these do as the others did undervalue taking him for a meer Man and consequently for a Lyar and Impostour when he called himself true God Son of God in Power equal with the Father and one with him Thus Impiously the Jews call'd him a Samaritan who had a Devil a Seducer a Deceiver a Malefactor and a Blasphemer The Pharisees were full of Pride and Self-Conceit would pass for the only Good Knowing Wise Men in the World sat in Moses's Chair nam'd themselves his Disciples said of those who were not of their Opinion about Jesus Christ This People who knows not the law are cursed How did they use the blind-born Man when to them he spoke good Sense and Reason Thou wast altogether born in sin Joh. 9.34 and doest thou teach us Implying as if they were not born in sin but were Pure and Holy Likewise Socinians pretend to a Pharisaical Righteousness they were not born in sin for they say there is in them no Original Sin and they pretend they can in this World attain to such a Perfection as not to Sin also with the Sadducees they deny the Resurrection of the Dead at least of the Wicked so of the Good too as to the Body The Scribes and Pharisees could not deny the mighty and miraculous Works of our blessed Lord for they were Matters of Fact done not in a Corner but in many several places and in the presence of Thousands of People nay in their Council they confess'd it and said What do we For this man doth many miracles John 11.47 They could not deny their Senses but were in their Judgments convinc'd of it yet their Hearts would not be wrought upon by reason of a desperate Obstinacy but it was prepossess'd with Rage and Malice and would not yield to the Truth nor give Glory to God This is the very Case of Socinians they cannot deny the Supreme Divine Power which the Lord Jesus exerted in so many of his Actions nor absolutely deny him to be God they cannot convince him of Lye nor of any Sin They cannot be ignorant of the Testimony which more than once from Heaven the Father gave of him neither the Record which John bare of him nor that which upon several occasions he gave of himself as to his Divine Nature and Power this they cannot deny but will not confess it and hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness whereupon we must say they are worse than the Rulers Elders Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees who upon the account of a Miracle done by Peter and John by the Power of our Saviour and in his Name said we cannot deny it Joh. 4.16.14 and they could say nothing against it but Socinians speak against it and the Truth Satan hath so filled the Heart of some of them that though they cannot deny God's Essential Names and Attributes Divine Works and Worship to belong to him yet will not own him to be true God and by Nature which is the only true God in opposition to Idols and Creatures which by Nature are not God's Gal. 4.8 But their Hearts are so perverse and set against him that notwithstanding those lights of the Truth they will not be convinced They cannot deny that Christ did cast out Devils but rather that to give him Glory for it with the Jews they wiâ—â— forge in their Heads and Impiously say he cast them out by Beelzebub for such Cavils and Wrestings they never want which helps them to speak and write against the known Truths Julian being over taken with a signal Judgment could in 't perceive Christ'â— Hand which made him cry out Thou hast overcome 〈◊〉 Galilean Though his rage could not suffer him to own he had been in the wrong and will Socinians waiâ— till they feel such a stroke of Christ's avenging Hand aâ— did the Apostate and some of their Ring-Leaders Out of these and many things more it appears how to Socinians chiefly belongs the Apostle's Saying of those who wrest some things in Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The serious consideration of this engages the same Apostle to give those whom he writes to this necessary warning Ye therefore beloved v. 17. seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Errors of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness A most seasonable Caution in these as well as in those Times The Society of such which too often proves an occasion of falling into their abominable Heresies we also ought to avoid and this I speak not of my self but have an Apostle's Warrant for it and such a one as made it his chief business plainly and fully to assert the Divinity of the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord 2 John 10.11 If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Cor. 5.11 And Paul forbids us
concernment to be known that in one and the same chapter 't is thrice mentioned and in every one of those Verses 't is applied to Christ who is directly pointed at in these words This was he of whom I spake and he it is who coming after me and this is he of whom I said ver 34 Now the Testimony or Record is this is the son of God by Nature not by Grace for if only in this last relation it had been unneccessary for therein had been no preference for John was such and this is the plain Result of the Circumlocution by him used before he cometh after me and he is preferred before me of which he giveth the reason for he was before me Here is a Comparison between John and Christ wherein Christ hath the preference not because he came after but because he was before John let the Dignity be contained in the words he is preferred still the reason of it is that though he came after yet he was before him do not to come after and to be before relate to time For here the words relate to their Birth now we must believe that in these two Phrases he comes after me and he was before me there is Truth Reason good Sense and no Contradiction in the same respect he cannot be said to come after and be before but it must be in a different one which is this and if they can let them assign another he comes after me into the World as ver 10. that is he was born after me which is the plain Truth for the Angel Gabriel Luk. 1.36 six Months after Elizabeth had Conceived foretold the Virgin Mary our Saviour's Birth so that according to the usual Course of Nature the Lord Jesus was born six Months after John and in that sense he came after him But how was he Born before him seeing in relation to his Temporal Generation he was after It must be in regard of a Generation of another kind for no Man hath or can have but one Natural Generation and can be born but once what else then may it be but an Eternal one by vertue of which Christ in his time was before John For saith John he was not is before me to shew how the question is about time And if in one sense Christ had been but six Months before John as he was born six Months after then in that sense we may well conclude for hundreds and thousands of Years and so to Eternity Our blessed Lord and Saviour to give an Example and to condescend to the frailty of our Nature thereby to draw Men to himself by degrees was lowly and humble yet without any prejudice to his Right which when questioned he maintained and upon several occasions asserted though sometimes to the danger of his Life He could tell the Jews Joh. 6.38 ch 8.14.23 I came down from heaven and though I bear record of my self yet my record is true for I know whence I came and whither I go 'T is a special Prerogative of God to bear Record of himself again Ye are from beneath I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world And as he told them ch 10.38 that if they believed not his word yet they should believe his works which were so Glorious and Miraculous and clear Demonstrations of his Divine Nature and Power he said that Lazarus's Sickness was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Son of God simply and absolutely is God in that case he spake of himself for by raising Lazarus as he did from the Dead he thereby was Glorified and he that was Glorified was God Son of God for as there was but one Glory so there was but one God Glorified This verse ought to be compared with the 40. where Christ said to Martha Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldst see the glory of God That is his own Glory by her Brother's Resurrection which he was just upon going to essect so in the other case of the Man that was Blind from his Birth he said to his Disciples that He was born blind chap. 9.3 that the work of God should be made manifest in him Which happened when he by his own Divine Power gave him his Sight and was thereby Glorified as God We must observe how the Son of God absolutely taken as 't is here is God as well as the Son of Man is Man And the Lord Jesus doth explain the first part for the glory of God by the last that the Son of God be glorified which shews it to be the same or equivalent Thus in another place our Saviour interprets the Phrase making himself God chap. 10.33.36 by saying I am the Son of God with calling himself Son of God in his and their Sense he certainly thereby made himself God which they called Blasphemy but he deny'd it to be so though he owned he had call'd himself God and in the very sense that they had taken it Because our Lord sometimes call'd himself Son of Man they would take advantage of it but when he did it was to point at the Promise made to our first Parents that the Woman's Seed should bruise the Serpent's Head and to teach Men how they ought to look upon him as being that same Seed who was come not to conquer Kingdoms as at that time the Jews fancied but to execute the Promise of bruising the Serpent's Head Joh. 10.36 when he called himself Son of Man he spoke the truth but he thereby denied not that he was the Son of God for sometimes he call'd himself by that Name and to confirm this great and fundamental Truth there stands upon record and shall to the Worlds end the famous Confession of Peter in his and of all the Apostles Name upon a solemn occasion Thou art the Son of the Living God a truth which came not out of his own Head or out of any humane Principle but was from Heaven immediately revealed unto him namely that Jesus Christ was by Office the Messiah and by Nature the true Son of the living God Now if he had been Son of God only by deputation there had been no need of Revelation but at that time 't was necessary to let Men know how he is such by Nature and to refute the wrong Notions which the Jews had of our Saviour God thought fit to inform them better with declaring his Divinity and this is one of those Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luk. 8.10 which the Lord Jesus said to his Disciples It was given unto them to know wherein he plainly declared how in and after his teaching in Religion were Mysteries not to be known but by the Gift of God and Revelation And I think he was a competent Judge of such things and when he call'd himself Son of God he could also tell whether or not he was so which to