St. John's Gospel No man hath ascended up to heaven but hothat came down from heaven Joh. 3.13 even the Son of Man which is in heaven He is discoursing with Nicodemus here on Earth and at the same time tells him he is in Heaven This can admit of no tolerable explication but by means of that Immensity whereby he fills heaven and earth These are the two Divine Attributes that are absolutely incommunicable to Creatures Let us next run over the other Attributes that are by some way of Analogy communicable to them but are possest by God in the highest degree of Absoluteness and Perfection I shall not say that our Saviour is Holy that he is Intelligent that he is Powerful and Merciful which are the four Attributes that remain to be examined Should we say no more than so all this may be attributed to Creatures We find amongst them Holiness Knowledge Power and Mercy No body can doubt but that if we make it evident that our Lord possesseth all these four Perfections as God doth you will be furnish'd with as many Demonstrations to evince the Divinity of our Saviour Our Saviour then is Holy but so as God is which we prove from a plain Text of Scripture The Prophet Isaiah tells us in his sixth Chapter that he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne amidst the Acclamations of the Seraphims who cried one to another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Would you know who this Lord or rather Jehovah is to whom they give the threefold Compellation of Holy St. John the Evangelist will resolve you who tells us in the twelfth Chapter of his Gospel that Isaiah spake of our Saviour Joh. 12 41. These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him Some have been of Opinion that Isaiah was condemn'd to Death because he had presum'd to say That he had seen him who was invisible This seem'd to be a meer piece of Blasphemy but what can be imagin'd more abominable than that which St. John tells us here if our Blessed Lord be not indeed the King the Lord of Hosts the Holy One of Israel Let us make no scruple to believe the Beloved Disciple who repos'd himself on the Breast of the Son of God Trust we the piercing sight of this Eagle who took so near a view of this glorious Son Rely we upon the Testimony of an Evangelist whose end in writing his Gospel was to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God It is he assures us that he whom the Seraphims with so much Humility adore crying to one another and saying Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts was no other than our Blessed Lord. We say further That he hath Knowledge also but as God He knows all that God knows Remember always that we speak of the Son of God We know that the Son of Man had a Knowledge which encreas'd by degrees and what is more that he did not know all things No man knows that hour saith he no not the Son of Man This is true of the Son of Man or of the Human Nature of our Saviour but the Son of God the Divine Nature in our Saviour knew that which the Son of Man knew not The Son of God knows all that God knows that is all things St. Peter tells us as much Lord saith he thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee This Knowledge is Universal and to take a view of it that way where with one cast of the Eye you may discover it to be the Knowledge of God we need only to observe that the Eyes of our Lord pierce to the very bottom of Man's Heart Thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee St. Peter's Heart was not the only Heart that was known to Christ All things were naked and open before him Lord thou knowest all things The Proposition is general The Scribes and Pharisees those Hypocritical Professors could not hide their most secret Thoughts from him this Truth appears from many passages of the Gospel To Cite only one place which by reason of its generality comprehends all the rest we need only take notice of what St. John saith towards the end of the Second Chapter of his Gospel But Jesus did not commit himself unto them saith he Joh. 2.24 25. because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man The Case here mentioned is not that of a Prophet to whom God discovers the Heart of some particular Man The Knowledge which the Gospel ascribes to our Saviour is Universal no Heart escapes him He knew what was in man A Knowledge that God in a most peculiar manner appropriates to himself in several places of the Old Testament I know my God 1 Chron. 29.17 Jerem. 17.10 that thou triest the heart said David towards the latter end of his Life I the Lord search the heart I try the reins saith he himself by the Mouth of the Prophet Jeremy Let us read to the end of the Verse Even continues he to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings 'T is God that speaks here and he speaks as God he speaks like himself Never did any Prophet speak thus And yet this is the very passage our Lord ascribes to himself in the Revelation speaking to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2.23 And all the Churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Words that make it evident that our Saviour declares expresly that it was himself that spake in Jeremy and that the Knowledge of the Heart of Man belongs to him in chief The Fifth Attribute whereby we learn to know the Divine Nature of Christ is his Power He is powerful but so as to be powerful as God he is the Almighty In Virtue of this power the Son doth all that the Father doth Joh. 5.19 What things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Doth the Father raise the Dead So doth the Son also he quickneth whom he will Doth the Father create the World The Son doth so likewise Which two instances shew us the extent of the Father's Power Indeed we cannot conceive any greater than that of restoring Life to the Dead and that of creating such a World as this is and yet both these belong to our Saviour In the first place he hath raised the Dead but have not others done the same Miracle Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament and the Disciples of our Lord in the New have not they also raised some that were Dead who for all that never pretended to be equal with God True it is that Elijah and Elisha each of them raised a Child to Life but with what pains do they work these Miracles God makes them sweat for it
the Divinity of our Lord and all those fogs and dark clouds are dissipated and you will meet throughout the whole New Testament neither contradiction nor Snare nor Blasphemy The Holy Ghost is always firm and unalterable in the execution of his designs he proposeth Jesus as the Object of Human Worship because he is God this solves the Contradictions this turns the pretended Snares into Arguments of Piety this changeth the Blasphemies into just and due applications of the Ancient Prophetical passages Were it not so the Holy Ghost would have taken a quite different method to instruct us it would have been so far from leading us on the brinks of the Precipice it would have kept us at the farthest distance from it in a thousand passages it would have said to us Take heed of taking Jesus Christ to be God But why say they should not the Holy Ghost speak magnificently of that Redeemer to whom we are so vastly obliged and whom Providence hath raised to such an extraordinary degree of Glory For that very reason say I the Holy Ghost ought to speak with more reservedness of the Glory of Christ The greater he is the more danger of his being taken for a God His very greatness makes us stand the more in need of Preservatives The Blessed Virgin is without doubt the most Glorious of all Women What hath the Holy Ghost done to prevent others from adoring her He hath to this end scarcely mentioned her in the Gospel Set but aside the History of the Birth of our Saviour where this glorious Virgin makes a necessary Personage we meet with her no more except it be on some few occasions where commonly she appears with some Circumstance or other proper to check the desire any one might have to worship her In the rest of the Scriptures there is not a word of the Blessed Virgin The Acts of the Apostles except what is said in the Chapter and the Epistles make no mention of her at all The reason of this silence is apparent It was necessary for to draw a Vail as it were over the Blessed Virgin lest the Christians might be tempted to worship her The more glorious she is the more need there is to take care to hide her The case would have been the same with our Divine Redeemer if he had not been God the excess of our Obligations to him and the Glory of his Exaltation oblig'd the Holy Ghost not to speak of him or at least seeing it was not possible to Preach his Doctrine without speaking of his Person to make use of such Expressions as might make it evident that he is not God It was necessary in most express terms and on several occasions to tell men This Jesus whom you worship is not God for all that I say it was of absolute necessity to declare this with the greatest clearness and plainess of Expression imaginable But instead thereof the Holy Ghost proposeth him to us as God without the least Caution or Preservative we believe we have prov'd this to you by most clear and self-evident places of Scripture which tho they were doubtful would for all that be of great force because whosoever acknowledges the Wisdom of the Holy Ghost easily perceives that he would never have deliver'd any thing like it concerning the Godhead of our Saviour if he had not been God indeed The Equivocal Expressions that had a favourable sense and a sense contrary to his Divinity would have been too dangerous in this Case The Wisdom of the Holy Ghost would never have thought fit to have made a Representation so proper to delude us what shall we say then of so many places where without any the least Equivocation we see the Divine Glory of Christ shining forth to us it is not one Text of Scripture fetch'd out of a Corner that we insist upon but there are a thousand such Passages scatter'd up and down the Bible which both in the letter and the sense of them assert the Divinity of our Saviour Neither can any thing be said in this Case but this that the Holy Ghost was willing to deceive us and if he hath deceived us it is an innocent Error and for which we shall not be responsible at the last day Yea the very Enemies of the Godhead of Christ leave Heaven-gate open to those that believe the same It cannot be denied say they but that there may be Salvation for those that worship the Man-god On the one hand it appears that they adore nothing but what is adorable for the very Enemies of Jesus Christ profess to adore him And on the other hand they are sensible that the Doctrine of his Divinity is sufficiently confirmed in Scripture at least to justify the belief of the Orthodox So that upon this account they do not doubt of their Salvation why then should any condemn them If they adore nothing but what is indeed adorable their Error will only be in Speculation If they believe nothing but what the Holy Ghost makes them to believe by his way of speaking concerning Christ conclude we this Reflection The Holy Ghost neither can deceive nor can be deceived it will be our Glory to follow him always for he cannot guide us but in the way of Truth The second Reflection upon the Difficulties that are made about this Mystery we have explained to you There are three sorts of Difficulties raised against this Doctrine of the Eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ Heart-difficulties Wit-difficulties and Scripture-difficulties By Heart-difficulties I understand that repugnance we find in our selves to receive revealed Truths with a ready and teachable frame of Heart this is that Temper the heart of Man hath received from the impressions of Sin whatsoever comes from Heaven is suspected tho indeed there be no other reason to suspect it save only this because it comes from Heaven The Experience of all Ages is but too notorious a proof of this sad Truth The most certain Revelation hath been disputed neither is there any thing so clear in Revelation that hath not been contradicted To prove this I will not expose to your view the profane Persons and Hereticks of the Ages past this scandalous Procession would only serve to afflict you Heaven saith it and this is sufficient for man to contradict it to doubt it to deny it It may be that considering the matter with more attention we shall find that men put themselves in an ill Humour against Revelation because they find in it those Moral Precepts that do not at all comport with the corruption of their heart They criticise the Doctrine that they may have a pretence to shake off the Yoke of its commands they controle the Precept to justify their Libertinism I make no question at all but that a part of those Clouds some Men meet with in the Mystery of the Divinity of Christ do proceed from the Vapours of a corrupt Heart They question the Glory of that God whom they have no
in such a manner as to leave the matter in doubt we must own that even this would have been a great Imprudence in St. Paul to advance so far as this forasmuch as by this means he would have ruined the work of his Ministry This is a convincing Argument to any one never so little acquainted with the great Prudence of St. Paul how well he was perswaded of the Divinity of Jesus Christ Consider we in the second place Christ's humbling and emptying of himself But made himself of no reputation as our English Translation renders what in the Original is He emptied himself I make no question but it hath appeared strange to some that I have so long insisted on the Glory of our Saviour on a Day solemnized in memory of his Humiliation But they will be satisfied by considering the Mystery they have heard explained It is the Mystery by way of Eminence it is the Mystery that sets off all all other Mysteries 't is the Mystery without which the Christian Religion would contain no Mystery at all For if we consider it independently from the Divinity of Jesus Christ we shall find our Religion to contain nothing that is Great or Sublime The whole of it will only amount to this That a Teacher comes to instruct men by exact Morality and by a perfect example with regard to those Virtues we ought to practise in our lives but against whom there are some things to be objected with respect to those Virtues that are of use at the point of death What a mean Idea would they fain give us of Christ and his Religion St. Paul in this case would have been quite besides the matter in saying Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness We know that our Apostle uttered himself thus by way of opposition to other Mysteries particularly to the Mysteries of Paganism and by a more special manner in opposition to the Mysteries of the Great Diana Goddess of the Ephesians where Timothy made his abode In this City the ordinary Cry was Great Great is Diana of the Ephesians In opposition to which the Cry of St. Paul is Great great is the mystery of godliness yea without controversy great is the mystery of godliness What reason was there for all this a do For all these positive Assertions if Jesus Christ be no more than a meer man But I very well apprehend St. Paul when I consider that Christianity presents us a God manifested in Flesh for without all controversy this is a great Mystery the greatest that ever was heard of by men This is that which ennobles the Christian Religion and 't is from this Spring she derives all her Glory There is nothing in our Holy Religion which does not become precious and admirable by the general influence of this great Mystery Can any one therefore justly accuse us for having too long insisted on the Glory of our Lord seeing it is also the entire Glory of our Religion But that which altogether justifies our Method herein is That this day is properly Consecrated to the Thankfulness we owe to God for his infinite Love in sending his Son into the World and in delivering him up to Death after having clothed him with our Nature To this purpose it is of absolute necessity for us to know the price and value of this Present The greater it is the greater must be our Thankfulness If Jesus Christ be no more than a man I dare boldly say that his sending of him is not the greatest favour God hath bestowed upon us This supposed we see little reason why the Gospel should insist so strongly and emphatically upon this Divine Charity Why doth it tell us of the riches of grace of the exceeding excellent riches of grace in Jesus Christ Why doth it tell us that God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son That God recommends his love unto us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us Surely if Jesus Christ be no more than a mere Man yea if he were no more than an Angel the Point would never bear these Expressions put but the name of Man where Christ is spoken of and you 'll be fain to own that these passages have no sense at all God hath so loved men that he sent a man to hinder them from perishing What is it such an unparallel'd instance of Charity for God to send one Man to save so many Millions of Men This would have been no more than if he had given a straw for to save them surely there is no such transcendent Love in all this God hath to that degree recommended his Love to us that he hath sent a Man to Dye for us Where is the wonder in all this where shall we look for this high recommendation of the Divine Love If instead of a Man it were an Angel or some other Creature far more Glorious yet would it not have bulk enough to fill up all these Passages 'T is no such great matter to form a Creature on purpose to shew so many Millions of men the way to Life And yet the Scripture prompts us to conceive of the Love of God as of a thing that merits the Admiration of Men and Angels Except therefore we take it for granted that our Redeemer is God we are at a loss how to make any sense at all of these Texts of Scripture But no sooner have we admitted this Mystery but we find that nothing indeed can be conceiv'd so great as is this Love of God We find that the sending of Jesus Christ is the grace by way of excellence we perceive that the Scripture hath not said too much of it and we confess in a word that it is impossible for us to make any answerable return for this infinite Mercy of God by any other way than by an infinite Acknowledgment were we capable of it We have therefore spoke things suitable to the Day by confirming you in your perswasion of the Divinity of our Saviour for by this means we have powerfully excited your grateful Acknowledgment Yea we may say that we have handled the Second Point in treating of the First so that there remains nothing in a manner for us to say upon these Words of St. Paul yet he humbled or emptied himself We had proposed to our selves to make you sensible of the Greatness of our Saviour's Love in Emptying himself for us To compass this our intent we have been oblig'd to measure both ends of this Mystery we have drawn our Line from that end which was farthest from us the least sensible and most unknown I mean we have begun with the Eternal Glory of Jesus Christ from which we must now pass to the other end or extremity and consider what Jesus Christ is become he became man he humbled himself to the Death There is no need of insisting long upon this second Extremity it is a thing known to us we know what it is to
they should make a Relick of it It was thought needful also to veil his Glory with an humbling expression that none might take him for God but for a Servant of God From which principle we may without hesitation conclude That if there be any Being which the Scripture equals with God that the same must needs be God This will be a demonstrative proof of the Divinity of Christ after we have shew'd you that the Scripture doth all along make him equal with God In our foregoing Discourse we have considered this Equality with reference to the Words of the Text only Our design now is to shew that it consists in all those Names those Attributes and that Worship which belong to the Divine Nature alone and yet are Communicated to our Saviour He is so call'd as his Father is and thus is he equal with God in his Names He is True God as his Father this is his equality in Attributes He is honoured as his Father and this is his equality as to Worship Follow me in these Three Points with your Attention Begin we with the Names Christ as well as his Father is called God John 1.1 The word was God Neither was it in time that our Saviour received this Name from the Beginning this Word was God Let no body tell us here that the Scripture hath allowed this name to Creatures as to Moses and to Magistrates These instances are of no force to elude the dint of our Argument from the Name of God Attributed to our Saviour For is there any thing of parity between examples wherein a glorious Creature is once called God by way of Comparison only and the Language of the New Testament which so often calls Christ God by way of perfect Equality But let us take a nearer view of these Examples It is said in Exodus that Moses entring upon his Call made difficulty to accept of it God to determine him to accept of the Commission told him I know that Aaron thy Brother can speak well he shall be thy spokesman unto the People Exod. 4.14 16. and he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God That is to say that as God inspires the Prophets to inform them what they are to say in his Name in like manner Moses was to communicate his thoughts or rather those of God to Aaron that so Aaron might propose them to the People Moses did that with regard to Aaron what God did with respect to the Prophets so that Moses was in stead of God to Aaron It is not simply said That Moses was God or that he was the God of the Israelites no nor the God of Aaron far from it it is only said that he was in stead of a God to Aaron and on this occasion only Hath this any the least resemblance with those places where our Saviour is called God And the same may be said of that Text where it is said See I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet Exod. 7.1 These words are but the sequel of the words before explain'd for if Moses with reference to Aaron discharged the place of God in communicating to him the Oracles of Heaven it is evident that Moses discharged the same Function with respect to Pharaoh to whom a part of these Oracles were sent We know that in the Publication of Oracles three sorts of Persons act their part God from whom they originally proceed the Prophet whom God commissionates therewith and the Person to whom they are addrest Whence it appears that God at the same time is the God of the Prophet by inspiring him and the God of the party to whom he causeth his will to be declar'd Moses could not be God with regard to Aaron but he must at the same time be so likewise with regard to Pharaoh because Aaron carried the word of Moses to Pharaoh The proof of this Interpretation may be found in that very place where it is said I have made thee a god to Pharaoh for it immediately follows and Aaron shall be thy prophet Exod. 7.1 2. thou shalt speak all that I command thee and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh And is it therefore said That Moses is God simply and absolutely Not in the least for this is distinctly limited I have made thee a God for this that is to say for this only this is plainly limited But our Lord is call'd God without the least determination of his Godhead by any Limitations whatsoever The word was God The Example of Magistrates is not a whit more to the purpose than that of Moses True it is that in the 82d Psalm they are called gods I have said ye are gods Psalm 82 This hath nothing common with that way of speaking wherewith this Name is given to our Saviour It is not said of any Magistrate in particular that he is God no not so much as once throughout all the Scripture It is only said concerning the Magistrates Ye are Gods That is to say that as Magistrates they are an Image of the Sovereign Judge So that you see that this also is limited it is not said of any Man nor of any Angel in particular and by way of absolute speaking that he is God And yet it is thus that Christ is called God This Word was God God hath redeemed his Church with his own blood God manifested in the flesh Nay what is more Christ is not only called God 1 John 5.20 but he is called the True God This is the true God and eternal life saith the Beloved Disciple Neither is he only called the True God but the Great God for so St. Paul stiles him Tet. 2.13 Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ We cannot but take notice here that in that short Epistle which St. Paul wrote to Titus our Saviour is called God at least four or five times How comes it to pass that St. Paul in so short an Epistle affects to call our Lord so often by the Name of God and Saviour For it is certain that as the heavenly Father is God by way of Principle so it is he whom the Scripture commonly calls God how is it then I say that St. Paul in this short Epistle bestows this Name three or four times upon our Saviour Without question there was some particular Reason for it for any thing I know it was this Because the Ministry of Titus was limited to the Isle of Crete Now we know this Island had a singular Veneration for Jupiter Jupiter that is to say in the Stile of Paganism The great God and the Saviour of Men. Many of these Christians the care of whose Souls were committed to Titus had been converted from this Idol to our Lord Jesus Christ that is to a living and true God St. Paul therefore in opposition to the erroneous
excellent proof of the Divinity of our Great Redeemer He is therefore as you see equal to his Father in Eternity in Immensity in Holiness in Power and in Mercy And what is the result of this Equality but this that our Lord possesseth the Attributes of the Divine Essence and enjoys the Honour that is incontestably due to that Essence This is the third Head whereby we prove that Jesus Christ is equal with his Father That which at first put us upon the Meditation of this Article is that Honourable Rank our Saviour holds in the Scriptures In that Sacred Book where every thing is in its proper place and where nothing that is created is made to go hand in hand with God and yet there we ever see the Son always join'd with his Heavenly Father Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost John 5.7 These are Texts where we see these three Adorable Persons rank'd in one Line St. Paul blesseth the Corinthians from the Son even as from the Father The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all A remarkable passage indeed where we find the Son even nam'd before the Father which yet we find also in many other passages But why is the order here inverted To make it appear Gal. 1.1 2. 2 Thes 2.16 say the Fathers that the order of names does not import a Subordination of different Natures The Father Son and Holy Ghost are only one Divine Nature and therefore it is that the Scripture sometimes placeth the Son above the Father Can we imagine that that Sacred Record would ever have committed such an absurdity if the Son had been no more than a Creature I appeal to any Man who hath in the least degree savour'd the Spirit of Scripture What think we of such a speech as this The Grace of Moses and the Love of God be with you all Or of this Joshua call'd to be a Leader of Israel not of Men nor by Man but by Moses Gal. 1.1 and by God or of this Now Moses and God comfort your Hearts I appeal to any one whether it be not prophane to talk at this rate and yet do but put the Name of Jesus Christ instead of Moses and we shall find all these passages word for word in the New Testament This is an observation rais'd from the Son 's being sometimes named before the Father but tho the Son had been continually plac'd in the second rank as indeed commonly he is yet the Argument for all that continues in its full force The Son would never have been join'd with the Father in the Scripture if the Son had been a Creature because he would have been infinitely inferior to him neither would the Scripture ever have suppress'd this distance by ranging the Father and the Son together in one Line and placing them on one and the same Throne Is not this to tell us plainly and openly that both of them possess the same undivided Nature This is the Honour the Holy Ghost hath given to the Son of God in the Scriptures See we now what Honour we Men ought to render to this Son who is our Master and Saviour Worship is as it were the shadow of the Godhead let us thereby take the height and elevation of the Lord we are to worship To this purpose let us lay this down for a Principle That the Glory of Adoration belongs to none but God alone Should I go about to prove this Truth from the Old Testament I should be fain to take in the Testimony of all the Prophets They have all of them in the most smart and lively terms express'd the Jealousie of God for any Divine Honours exhibited to Creatures We need but cast our Eyes upon the Old Testament to be fully convinc'd thereof It being indeed no other than a perpetual Commentary upon the First Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me There never was any the least variation or contest in this point Never did the Prophets patiently endure to see Men worship any other gods save him alone who hath created Heaven and Earth These Holy Men unanimously declare that to him alone belongs thâ— Glory of Adoration No Creature at all is to be worshipp'd neither Stars nor Plants nor living Creatures nor Men nor Angels Men indeed have sometimes been called gods as we have already taken notice Moses was instead of God to Aaron and Judges are called gods we also find this name given to Angels in some places but this name given by way of Metaphor doth not import Adoration Aaron did not adore Moses neither did Israel adore their Judges or the Angels for this is the glory of God only and he hath sworn he will not give his glory to another Neither hath this point of Divinity been alter'd under the New Testament It is none of those Mosaick Rites that were to cease as soon as the fulness of time was come God is always God and if we may so say he never was more God than he is at present or to soften the Expression he never more appear'd God than in the Manifestation of Grace Herein he hath made all his Goodness to pass before us and consequently he never more deserv'd to be only worshipped Shall we suppose then that under a Dispensation where by a new Effusion of Grace he hath deserved an accession to his former glory of Adoration that he is become unconcern'd for that glory whereof formerly he was so Jealous And to that degree as to set a Creature at his Right Hand A Creature plac'd on God's side is something that is contradictory Let us set every thing in its proper place God always abides alone in the Throne and the Creature at the foot of it But without having recourse to Reasoning which inform us that the glory of God is an unalienable Right and Possession the Holy Scripture assures us that under the Gospel as well as under the Law the glory of Religious worship belongs to God only We know the answer our Lord return'd to a Creature that would fain have been ador'd Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve This answer is good at all times The Apostles use the same Language as their Master they say in more places than one 1 Tim. 1.17 Rom. 16.27 Acts 14.15 To the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen When St. Paul sees Men about to worship the Creature he points them straight to the Living God We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God 'T is to him alone that your Homage of right is due When the Apostle represents to the Galatians the excess of that Corruption wherewith
they were infected before their Conversion Gal. 4.8 he tells them they served those things which by nature were no gods It is then according to St. Paul's Judgment a great Sin to serve that which is not God by Nature If therefore I find that St. Paul obligeth me to worship any Being I may have good reason according to the Opinion we have of him to conclude That this Adorable Being is God and God too by his Nature For it is not lawful for us to worship any Being save God alone Let us learn this from the Revelations that Book wherewith the Holy Ghost hath been pleased as it were to seal up the New Testament He that preacheth this Doctrine is an Angel one of those Spirits that are well inform'd how things are carried in Heaven I say it is an Angel that teacheth us that God alone is to be worshipped Rev. 22.9 St. John falls down to worship before the feet of the Angel See thou do it not saith he And why not for adds he I am thy fellow servant Conclude we then That whatsoever is bound to worship God cannot be an Object of Adoration Who then is it that we are to adore Worship God saith the Angel God only deserves the honour of Adoration under the New Testament as well as under the Old There is no solid Reasoning in the world if after having established this Principle I may not conclude thence that our Blessed Saviour is God with respect to one of his Natures seeing the Gospel makes it our Duty to worship him Will it be necessary to prove that this Adoration is a Worship practis'd and prescrib'd by the Apostles Why we need but open the Books of the New Testament and we shall meet with the Proof of it You will see the Apostles themselves and many other Believers worshiping the Lord without the least check from him or saying to them See thou do it not Let none wrangle here about the Word Adoration They take Jesus Christ for the Son of God and they adore him under that Notion He hath never rejected or disowned this Worship but hath received it as a Tribute due unto him We meet with a Character in the Stile of Sacred Authors which puts the Divine Adoration we owe to our Saviour out of the reach of any manner of Contradiction They are wont to interrupt their Stile by Doxologies to the Honour of God And the same they do to our Saviour and in the same Terms and that in several places 1 Pet. 4.11 Rev. 1.5 6. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen They are the words of St. Peter Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God even his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen As St. John expresseth himself in the beginning of his Revelation What are we to conclude from hence that the Apostles make use of these kind of Doxologies to the honour of Jesus but this That he is truly equal with his Father and that they honour him after one and the same manner Pursue we this Point a little farther and examine more particularly wherein this Adoration doth consist that so we may be the better inform'd what the Eminency of his Divine Nature is In the Chapter that hath furnish'd us with our Text we see that our Lord hath a Name above every Name Phil. 2.9 10. that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Thus it is that the Scripture Language expresseth the whole Universe of things All things must bend the Knee to Jesus which yet is not to be understood of those five Letters as if that Name did merit a more singular veneration than the other Names of our Saviour The Custom which hath been introduc'd of bowing themselves at the pronunciation of the Name of Jesus is not founded upon these words of St. Paul but only because the Christians thought it necessary to make this Mark of Respect the Test of their Belief in his Divinity So that indeed it is to his person that we owe the honour of Genuflexion Every thing must bow before our Lord He hath received a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow We have an excellent Explication of those words in those Passages of Scripture where we see that in our Christian Religion all things must be done in the Name of Jesus Nothing can be imagin'd greater than this Honour Christians are baptized in this Name they believe in this Name they work Miracles in this Name they are justified in this Name they meet together in this Name they pronounce their Deliberations in this Name they preach in this Name they suffer for this Name they pray in this Name they return Thanks in this Name and in one word to make use of the words of St. Paul Whatsoever they do in word or deed they do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus I demand therefore Whether ever any Creature was thus glorified in Israel Is it not notorious that the Name of God only was named amongst that People no other Name was heard of amongst them in their Church but the Name of God only They did not swear but by the Name of God they did not bless but in the Name of God they heard of no Deliverances but in the Name of God they glorified no other Name but that of God only What therefore must we conclude him to be whose Name must be celebrated under the New Covenant that is throughout all the Earth as the Name of God was under the Old Covenant that is to say in a very small Corner of the World The Father allows the Son to be glorified more than he himself hath been as it were to make an amends to the Son for his Subordination under which he appears with regard to the Father Whatever it be the Name of the Son holds a Sovereigh Rank and not that of a Prophet or Ambassador These Deputies do all things in the Name of the Sovereign who hath deputed them not in their own Wherefore since the Name of Christ is made use of every where it is an uncontestable Mark that he is Master that he is King that he is Sovereign yea that he is God blessed for ever Let no body reply here That all this was done in time I am not afraid to assert God can constitute no Sovereign in his Church because in doing so he must renounce the unalienable Right of his Nature which admits no Peer neither in Heaven nor on Earth But the Name of Jesus Christ hath been thus elevated because according to one of his Natures he is the Son This is a Mystery he himself opens to us when after having said in the 11th Chapter