Christ had so understood it as he doth and reserved to God his own place of worship had made him his principal and ultimate object in worship he might as the less principal and intermediate object have worshipped the devil if he had pleased And this Text which he alledgeth of Mat. 4. if there had been none other would not have been of any force in this sence against it So that either Christ mistook the Scripture and alledged a Text that had not strength against worshipping of Satan or else he hath grosly mistaken the sense of the Scripture which Christ hath alleadged in giving liberty for intermediate worship to be given to him that is not God notwithstanding any thing contained in this Text. But because he keeps to generals and by that means resolves no scruple that may lie in the breasts of men about worship I shall descend to some particulars And first I shall speak of worship proper to God in the matter of it wherein he is wholly silent and then of worship proper in the manner of the performance 1. To believe or receive any report of spiritual things and matters of Faith which respect the soul proposed and presented as a truth to be rested in upon the meer credit and fidelity of the Testator or him that witnesseth it is a worship and an honour proper to God alone because God is he alone that cannot lye Tit. 1. 2. and it was the honour that Sarah by this Faith gave to God she judged him faithful that had promised Heb. 11. 11. 2. A Religious resting and depending for spiritual supply and help in spiritual works and streights is a worship and honour peculiar to God alone the reason is because there is no sufficiency of this kind in any creature but it is onely and wholly in God 2 Cor. 3. 5. Therefore the Prophet directs him that is in darkness and hath no light it is spoken of the souls darkness and distress to trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Isa 5. 10. 3. An acquiescence in the will of another whether it appear to be with us or whether it appear to be against us is an homage and an honour which is proper and peculiar to God alone 1 Sam. 3. 18 It is the Lord said Eli let him do what seemeth good in his eyes he submits quickly to that which was terrible to be thought of upon this account or ground It is the Lord to whom such subjection is due And Jesus Christ himself as man doth acquiesce and rest satisfied with the will of God which was bitter as death Not my will but thine be done And the obeying of the will of another for this sole reason because it is the will of that other when there is no other impulsive cause but that is honour peculiar and proper to God alone because his will and his alone is Essentially holy and just and good I consulted not with flesh and blood saith Paul when the will of God was revealed that he should teach him Gal. 1. 15 16. and Rom. 12. 2. 4. Praying as it is an act of Religion and then especially when it is for spiritual blessings is a worship which is proper to God alone because such a service simply considered in its nature doth imply a sufficiency of wisdom power and goodness in the person to whom we direct it in reference to which praying to any creature is accounted as praying to a god that cannot save and it is Idolatry in Scripture-reckoning Isa 45. 20. Jer. 1. 27. 5. Giving of praise and glory and thanks as it is an act of Religion is worship and honour due to God alone and not to be communicated to any creature because he is the root and fountain of all good to the creature the God of all Grace and mercy the God of blessing Therefore in Rev. 4. 9 10. 11 The four beasts and the four and twenty Elders they worship him that sate upon the Throne by giving praise to him and cast down their Crowns at his feet and say he is worthy to receive honour and glory because he had created all things And as in the time of the old Testament to offer Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to any but to the true God had been Idolatry which caused Paul Barnabas to run in with hast to stop them in the attempt of Sacrificing to them by telling them that they were but men like themselves so to offer the Calves of the Lips to offer praise to give Thanks in a Religious way is worship peculiar to God 6. To Swear or to appeal Solemnly in a religious way for Testimony in reference to any thing asserted for the truth of it is worship or honour that is proper to God and not to be given to any creature Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord and serve him and swear by his Name And it is reproved that some did swear by the Lord and by Malchom that is for joyning God and Idols together in the worship of an Oath and under that all other worship is comprehended 7. The use of a Lot in which persons that are at some controversie or are doubtful what to determine of a thing do give up themselves to receive the determination of it as the Lot being cast shall decide it it is a worship and an honour proper to God Prov. 16. 33 The Lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposition thereof is from the Lord. Therefore it was used with invocation or prayer to God wherein men do profess to receive the doome or sentence or judgement or decision from the Lord Act. 1. 24. 8. A receiving of and submitting unto prescribed forms and rules as mediums in and by which that natural worship of the heart which consists in faith and hope and love is exercised and declared is worship and honour proper and peculiar to God alone and forbidden in reference to any creature in the second Commandment for under the names of graven image invented forms and mediums of worship excogitated and minted in mens own brain or of any others prescribing that is not God are meant and indeed who knows what is pleasing to God and delightsome to him but himself therefore the progative is his to prescribe and it is peculiar honour for men to submit to what he doth prescribe The subjecting of the Conscience to Laws and Ordinances and Institutions and Directions is an honor not communicable to any creature but wherein God is alone not having any to share with him for the Conscience is over-awed by none but God gives account to none but God Rom. 2. 15 the Apostle proves the love of God to be written in the excusing and accusing which work manifestly declares a Law of God within because the Conscience is accountable to nothing but such a Law for there lies the strength of his Argument that there is such a Law within them 10. In external postures in Religious duties
heaven earth under the earth are represented by John in the service of blessing praising honouring glorifying the Father and the Son in like manner without any distinction they are not heard worshipping the Father through the Son but worshipping and honouring both Father and Son in like manner as two equals or as two coessential persons in the Godhead Yea lest it should be imagined that he that sitteth upon the Throne is the principal object of the worship and that the Lamb is the less principal subordinate and intermediate object of it because he is mentioned first and the Lamb is mentioned after him therefore vers 14. the four and twenty Elders are brought in in this vision worshipping him alone who liveth for ever and ever without the mention of any other though other persons are not excluded And who is this person that liveth for ever and ever It is Christ who gives himself this Title though it be his Fathers Title also Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for ever and ever So it is in the Greek and it concurs in words with this Text of Rev. 5. 14. 3. This distinction as he brings it and means it opens a door to the worshipping of men or Angels any that may be called God's representatives and which act among men in Gods Name for if that be the formal reason of worship given to Christ He is Gods Vice-Roy or Representative which are not Scriptural Titles but names of his own or others devising and he is one that acts in Gods Name then worship may be given to Moses Joshua the Prophets for Moses was in Gods stead to Aaron and to the people I have made thee a God to Aaron sairh the Lord to him Exod. 4. 16. And the Prophets came in Gods Name may they therefore be worshipped According to his Argument they may yea any person or thing that is a means by whom or by which God dispenseth himself to men in a Religious or spiritual way or by whom or which we come to God in worship may be an intermediate object of Religious worship and so we may worship our Ministers which go to God for us and from God come to us and we may worship the Scriptures and the Ordinances by which we have communion with God for these are intermediate things betwixt God and us in worship may they therefore be intermediate objects of worship Seeing he makes Christ such a god as other creatures are but more eminent then they such a god as Moses was as Magistrates and Judges were which carried Gods authority in the Offices upon them a god of the same kinde with them What reason can be rendered if Christ be worshipped upon that account why they also being such-like gods as he and coming with God's authority betwixt God and us should not be worshipped as intermediate objects upon the same account But this is very gross and makes his assertion concerning worshipping Christ as an intermediate object betwixt God and us very gross also 4. It is apparent that Christ both assumed and Saints and Angels have given to him that very worship and honour and service which is peculiar to the high God alone both for matter and for manner 1. Doctrines Institutions and Ordinances have been received submitted to upon the testimony and authority of Christ alone Mat. 5. 21 22. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24. 2. The Ordinances Institutions Laws and Rites of Moses were altered changed abrogated abolished by the Power and Lordship of Christ alone Acts 15. 28. 1 Cor. 12. 5. Heb. 3. 5 6. 3. Believers have rested trusted and depended upon Christ for spiritual help and supply of grace according to their needs Phil. 4. 13. and 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. a place worthy consideration and very convincing if rightly understood and duely weighed 4. Saints have acquiesced and quietly submitted and rested satisfied with the will of Christ and have given up themselves wholly to him to be disposed of according to his pleasure whether to do or to suffer Act. 9. 10. to 17. 2 Cor. 8. 5. 5. Religious praying or prayer for spiritual blessings as it is an act of Religion is a service and worship that hath been given to Christ Luk. 17. 5 the Disciples pray to Christ to increase their faith 2 Thess 2. 16 17 the Apostle Paul prayed to him and Hos 12. 4 Jacob of old time wept and made supplication to him 6. Praise also as it is an act of Religion hath been offered up to him 2 Pet. 2. 18. Jud. v. 24 25. Rev. 1. 6. 7. Swearing hath been by his Name Rom. 9. 1 Paul attests Christ flees to him as a witness and to his conscience let the place be weighed and it will â—ppear to be an Oath and that the words in Christ â—â— as much as by Christ Isa 45. 23. compared with Rom. 14. 11. Philip. 2. 10 11. And Rev. 10. 5 6 the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever and ever who created heaven and the things therein and the earth and the things that are therein and the sea and the things that are therein And who is this It is Christ to whom the Creation is attributed and to live for ever and ever is assumed by himself and he makes himself known by this attribute as I have shewed before from Rev. 1. 18. 8. In casting of the lot Christ was invocated for the disposing of it Acts 1. 24. That it was Christ whom they prayed to appears from hence 1. They call him Lord whom they pray to which is Christ's usual name in the New-Testament by which he was distinguished from the Father 2. To chuse an Apostle was Christ's proper work he chose the twelve Apostles and therefore must chuse him who must come in room and place of Judas who was one of the twelve and who fell from his Apostleship by transgression therefore they use it as an argument in their prayer Shew whether of these two thou hast chosen that he may take part oâ— this ministery from which Judas by transgression fell 3. Christ is the great Lord of the Church anâ— he ascended up on high that he might give these gifts to his Church Apostles Evangelists c. Eph. 4. 10 11. And he is the great Lord of all his Churches and administers all such things that respect the good of his Churches 1 Cor. 12. 5. 9. The conscience is subjected to Jesus Christ Eph. 6. 5 6 7 9. Masters and servants are enjoyned in this place by the Apostle to do their duties to each other with an eye to Christ and as the servants of Christ and as to the Lord and not to men and as having a Master in heaven with whom there is no respect of persons The Apostle would engage their consciences in the thing and therefore speaks so much of Christ and he could have laid no greater bond upon them if he had mentioned the Father See Col. 3. 22 23 24 where
the same bond is laid upon them with some change of words he presseth obedience upon servants with singleness of heart and urgeth them first with the fear of God in stead of mentioning Christ and afterward he fetcheth arguments from Christ as he had done in his other Epistle 10. Religious adoration was given to Christ with the body and never reprehended but accepted of by him Mark 5. 22. Luk. 17. 16. Joh. 11. 32. Mark 3. 11. Rev. 5. 8. Acts 7. 59 60. And if we have an eye to the manner of worship we shall finde that Christ required it and believers give it to him in such sort as the most high God can onely challenge it 1. An absolute and universal trust and confidence is put in Christ such as that he who is confessed to be the most high God can challenge no more and this both in the matters of the soul in reference to which he is called the hope of Israel Act. 28. 20. and the person in whom the Gentiles trust Rom. 15. 12. and also in matters of common providence Phil. 2. 19. I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus unto you shortly that is I trust that Christ will so mercifully order it that I shall send him and that all impediments will be taken away And if the providence of Christ doth extend to all things and that the homage of dependance be given upon this account what more can be said of the most high God 2. An absolute and full love is both required and given to Christ so that God even the Father can require no more Matth. 10. 37 He that loveth father or mother or son or daughter more then me saith Christ is not worthy of me But Luke expresseth it more fully Luk. 14. 36. He that doth not hate father and mother wife and children brethren and sisters yea and his own life for Christs sake from that dear respect he bears to Christ is not worthy of him And Christ would draw Peter up to a love above his necessary food Lovest thou me said Christ more then these The meat that was before him was meant the fishes that they were to feed on And the Spouse was sick of love Cant. 5. 8. And what greater proportion can the Father himself require then what Christ asked and what the Saints gave to him The Inference then must needs be this Christ is worshipped and honoured and served with the worship and honour and service not of an Intermediate object but of the Principal and Ultimate object and all such texts which give the same worship to the Son as to the Father do prove it And if it were not so men had need to look to their affiance and affection to Christ lest it should exceed and that they neither put their whole trust in Christ nor set their whole hearts upon him which would be due to him alone who is the high God and the principal and ultimate object of these motions of the soul So that this Doctrine of his doth call off the soul from being too much set upon Christ as if it were possible to minde him too much and affect him too dearly which should make all the true lovers of Christ to abhor it the more Object There is one knot yet to be untied before I pass off from this point of Worship It may be said Christ is to be worshipped as Mediator the Scripture is clear and manifest for it Phil. 2. 10 At the Name of Jesus every knee shall how here is worship due to Christ as exalted by the Father Now he was exalted as he was Mediator in reference to an Office that he had executed and being Mediator he is an intermediate object of worship for a Mediator is one betwixt God and men by which men come to God and as such an one Christ is worshipped Sol. As Christ is Mediator he hath a Lordship given to him in which respect he said to be made Lord as he is made Mediator and so there is worship belonging to him But it must be thus understood That as his Official Oeconomical and Mediatorly Lordship was founded in his Natural Essential Lordship as he was the Son of God and the most high God coessential with the Father as hath been proved before so the Worship which he receives as Mediator as King Priest and Prophet of his Church is founded not simply in or upon the Office but upon the Excellencie of the person that manageth the Office and if at all upon the Office it is because such an Office cannot be executed but by such a person who is the Son of God and very God For if it were possible to conceive how such a Mediatorly function could be performed by one that is not God Divine religious worship would not be due unto him upon that account It is the dignity of the Person that founds the Worship and the Work doth but quicken to it or becomes a motive the rather to perform such homage and worship to him to whom it is due upon another account upon another ground if that Work had never been Worship and honour and glory belonged to him as the second Person in the blessed Trinity as the Eternal Son of God and God and if over and above this glorious and ever to be honoured and adored person become Mediator it is the more readily and forwardly to be exhibited given As every mercie received from the Father of mercie becomes a further engagement to worship and serve this Father of mercies but the primitive ground is This Father of mercies is God otherwise all mercie without consideration of the excellencie of the person from whom it proceeds is not a right bottom to found worship upon Moses was a Mediator betwixt God and men and a Type of this our glorious Mediator Christ but Moses was but a Servant not a Son but a Creature not God and there was no religious worship nor honour that belonged to him in reference to that work because a meer creature performed it And if it be otherwise in reference to Christ that Christ as Mediator deserves to be worshipped the reason is because such a Mediatorship as Christ performed could not have been performed unless Christ had been God because to execute that Function requires the infinite power and wisdom of the Godhead And therefore Moses was the Type of that which Christ really and effectually and powerfully was Moses was internuncius one that went betwixt God and the people but Christ made the atonement and the peace being greater then Moses he being onely typically God but Christ really and truely God And though Christ be intermediate being Mediator yet he would not could not thence become an intermediate object of Worship unless because the same person though not according to both Natures is also the principal and ultimate object of of it which shews thus much That this Worship which Christ the Mediator had was due upon another account then his
to the Gospel and the testimony of other Scriptures with some further proofes not purposing at all to desert my former grounds which I confide in as much as ever but intending in my following discourse to free them from his evasions by which he would elude the strength of them And thus I argue Arg. 1. That doctrine that denyes and destroyes that one onely true God and brings in a strange and a false God that Doctrine destroyes the true Gospel and Scriptures and brings in another Gospel and Scriptures But this Doctrine of his that makes whole Christ a creature doth so Therfore c. The Major admits of no doubt because the Scripture is cleer that there is but one onely true God Deut. 6. 4. 1 Cor. 8. 6. The Minor must have proof and thus I confirm it If the one onely true God be both three and one three in Persons and one in Essence be Father Son and Spirit which are called three and yet are but one then that Doctrine which makes God to be but one and one viz. one in person and one in essence and makes the Father onely to be God excluding the Son and Spirit denyes and destroyes the true God and sets up a false God My proof for the Minor again for the Major is unquestionable is 1 Joh. 5. 7 9. There are three that bear witness in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one What will he answer to this Scripture He will not deny but that the three that are here spoken of the Father the Word and the Spirit are three persons for he hath granted it all along in his discourse that they are three distinct persons but the oneness of these three in essence is that which he denyes that they are one God is not yeilded by him because the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not found in one copy of the Greek But this answer may be given that in all other copies these words are found which renders that copy where they are wanting suspicious and the 9. verse makes it manifest that it is so for the three witnesses in the 7. ver are called the witness of one God in ver 9. if we receive the witness of man the witness of God is greater what witness of God is this it is the witness of the three that was spoken of in ver 7. which are said to be but one God And it is observable that the three witnesses on earth are said to agree in one ver 8. but those in heaven to be one it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ver 7. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ver 8. in all the most approved copies which the concurrence of ver 9. with ver 7. justifies as was said before However it be there is strength enough in this argument to them that grant the God-head of Christ they must confess whether they will or no that the true God is denyed and a false God brought in for if the Father be God and the Son be God and the Son be not the Father nor the Father the Son and yet there be not two Gods but one God then this one God is the Father and Son I do not exclude the Spirit but I speak to those who acknowledge Father and Son both of them to be God they must confess that they are both of them but one and the same God and then it comes to this that the true God is one in two and it is two in one according to their tenent that is one God in essence and two in persons or two persons in one essence the consequence of which is this they must conclude that whoever makes the essence to be one and the person to be but one the Father to be God and he alone to be God and the Son not to be God much less the holy Ghost such an one brings in a strange God and unscripturall God destroyes the true God which is Father and Son as themselves acknowledg yea and Spirit also as they will not deny And how then can any such person make the denying of Christ to be God a triviall errour not greatly consequential nor of such moment as to be so greatly contended for not fundamentall nor damnable though persisted in when as yet it is the denying of the onely God which is not Father alone but Father Son and Spirit But why should I contest with friends which confesse the Diety of Christ I am sorry there should be any occasion I will turn again upon the adversary Either Father and Son I exclude not the Spirit but I am pleading the Sons Godhead and not the Spirits and shewing the heinousness of the errour of denying it I say either the Father and the Son are the onely God or else there is no God at all for the Scripture saith Joh. 10. 30 that the Father and Christ are one in power which is an essentiall attribute and then they are one in essence and so one God and yet they are two distinct persons Joh. 8. 17. 18. It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witness of my self and my Father heareth witness of me If the Father and the Son be two distinct witnesses then they two are distinct persons for none can be witnesses but persons and two manifestations of the same person cannot be said to be two distinct witnesses nor would the proof which is fetcht from the law where the witnesses were distinct persons be sutable But he will confess this that the Father and Son are distinct persons and distinct witnesses also and if so he cannot with any face deny the other that they are one as well as two because Christ saith so in the above named place one viz. in power in essence in Godhead And indeed the very context where they are called two witnesses will witness that they are but one God the Jews reject his witness of himself such as they took him to be which was a meer man for the law alowed it not that any man should be admitted to bear witness of himself but he notwithstanding bears himself out by the law to be an adequate witnesse of himself but herein he hath recourse to that of himself which they saw not which they knew not as ver 14. shewes I know whence I came ye cannot tell whence I came He could not mean it of his soul for they could not look upon him without a soul and soul and body made but one man and notwithstanding both he would be an unadequate witness of himself But he means another thing distinct both from soul and body and from his manhood which might be a witness of him as man and this could be nothing but his Godhead and he joynes himself according to this with the Father as a distinct witness but the same God The result is then that the one true God though but one in essence yet
Son in flesh that being preached to the world and received by faith becomes the seed of all piety and godliness by which we are begotten to God and are made partakers of the Divine nature This mystery of Christ revealed forms Christ in the hearts of those to whom it is revealed This Doctrine known and believed changeth men into the same image that as the eternal Son of God in flesh is become man-like so they after they have acknowledged it by faith are made God-like for therein is the rich grace and glorious mercy of the Lord revealed The love of the Father is transcendent in glory in giving such a Son who is the express image of himself and the same God essentially with himself And the love of the Son is superlative and above all the conceptions of the sons of men in giving himself when it is rightly understood that this Self whom he gives is God blessed for ever This truth believed works astonishment and the soul is ravished with the thoughts of it But the other viz. God's giving a Creature for us and a Creature 's giving it self for us is a lowe business in comparison of this nor can the heart be so confirmed in apprehension of the love of God nor can it be so inflamed with love to God but this mystery as the Apostle lays it down quickens faith love and heightens them which graces are the chariots to carry the soul out to all godliness and honesty The consequence of which is Whoever denies this mystery denies and destroys godliness and in so doing denies and destroys the Gospel which is called by the Apostle doctrine which is after godliness 1 Tim. 6. 3. Tit. 1. 1. And this is of weighty consideration to all those that acknowledge Christ to be God and yet hold it not very dreadful in those that do gainsay it but account them Saints and godly persons which they cannot groundedly do while the evidence of this text is against them which saith Great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh And if they acknowledge the truth of this text then this text will stare them in the face while they cry up the godliness of such who do oppose it Where is their godliness if this mysterie which they acknowledge not be the mysterie of godliness If godliness be the fruit of this doctrine rightly understood received if it grow upon the tree of this truth and they hew down this tree destroy this truth in the opinion which they hold doth not the fruit fall with it Godliness is cut down with the tree out of which it grows it is plucked up with the root that bears it What can be said against this Me thinks every tongue should be silent hence-forward that subscribes to this text Great is the mystery of goliness God manifest in the flesh c. But enough hath been spoken of this to convince any one that loves the Truth and will open his eyes to receive it I shall now undertake the maintaining of such Arguments or Instances as he calls them which I produced to shew the repugnancie of his Doctrine to the Gospel and to the Scripture and discover the weakness and unsoundness of the Answers that he gives The first Argument or Instance was Instance 1. If Christ be but a meer creature and not God then the giving of Divine worship and honour and service to a meer creature is lawful and warrantable which yet is everywhere forbidden in reference to any creature but is practised unto Christ Rev. 5. 12 13 14. and would be idolatry if Christ were not God He puts this Instance into form To give Divine worship honour and service to a meer creature is contrary to the Scripture To give Divine worship honour and service to Christ is not contrary to but by the warrant of Scripture Therefore Christ is not a meer creature He answers to the Major Proposition and distinguisheth of Divine worship honour and service First he saith All worship and honour which of right belongs to any creature is in some sence divine God being the principal author and ultimate centre thereof Rom. 13. Eph. 6. 7. Rep. But he might as truely say Every warrantable action that a man performs is divine because it hath God for the principal Author and ultimate Centre that is it hath God's command for the beginning of it and God's glory for the end of of it But by such distinguishing he confounds what ought to be distinguished he makes Divine worship and Civil worship to be the same thing because God is the principal Author and ultimate Centre of them both but these two have ever been distinguished by our Writers and made opposite species of Worship Therefore it was very frivolous for him to look upon Divine Worship in that sence 2. He saith But if you mean in the strictest sence that worship honour and service which is peculiar to the most high God then I shall say with you that it is Idolatry and contrary to the Scriptures to give it to any creature whatsoever Rep. The controversie betwixt us and the Papists is what Worship is peculiar to God and what is not peculiar but may be given to a creature And we assert against them that all Divine worship and honor is peculiar to God and none of it communicable to any meer creature But he tells us of some Divine worship which is peculiar and of some that is not peculiar For the better understanding of this Truth let it be looked into what Divine Worship is and what the grounds thereof are Divine Worship is that Observance in which we are carried directly and immediately to God in doing those things that directly bring honour to him and glorifie him in Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful c. 2 Cor. 8. 5. They first gave themselves up unto the Lord and then to us according to the will of God The ground of this Worship or Observance is that excellencie of God which in his sufficiencie and efficiencie shines forth It is not one attribute or perfection in God that is the formal and adequate cause and reason of Divine Worship but it is the concurrence of all infinite perfections and excellencies Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and full of truth c. Therefore it is that sometimes one attribute in God is said to ingender homage and worship Psal 130. 4. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared And sometimes another Heb. 12. 28 29. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire And Divine worship is the acknowledgement of the infinite Majestie Truth Wisdom Goodness Glory of the blessed God Divine Worship hath been wont to be divided into Natural worship and Instituted worship Natural worship flows from the very knowledge of God if it
be right and true though there were no Law to impose any such thing upon men and it conststs in faith and love and fear and hope and thankfulness and in praying unto God and hearing what God the Lord will say to them for of these such who have a right knowledge of God will soon be convinced Psal 9. 10. They that know thy Name will trust in thee And hereto also doth belong some natural external acts and postures of the body which do hold forth the reverence and homage of the minde as the bowing of the knees and prostrating of the body before God Instituted worship is certain mediums or means ordained by the will of God for the putting forth and exercising of natural worship viz. faith love hope fear c. which are inward acts of the minde and graces whereby we gratifie God and honour him and belong to Natural worship This Instituted worship consists in Ordinances and Services of God's own appointment in which the Natural worship of faith hope fear c. are acted and by which they are promoved Having shewed what Divine Worship is and the grounds and kindes of it it remains that I declare that all Divine Worship and not some alone as he asserts is peculiar to God and not to be given to any creature that is no more then a creature 1. That which is limited and restrained by Go to God alone in the first and second Commandment and inhibited and forbidden to be given to any other that must needs be peculiar to God alone But all divine worship both natural and instituted together with the postures that do attend them as applied to divine worship are limited and restrained by God to God onely and prohibited to be given to any other Therefore it must needs be proper and peculiar to God For what else is the sense of those two Commandments Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. but an injunction of the having and exercising such divine Graces and Affections upon and towards God above and a submitting to divine directions and instructions from God in reference to the means of worship and to him alone All that hath been written and preached by the most approved looks this way They say naturall worship is forbidden in the one and ordained worship in the other and he that gives the natural to any but the true God sets up and makes to himself another God beside him and he that sets up or submits to any formes of worship without the dictate or warrant of the true God commits Idolatry against the true God 2. That which Christ doth appropriate to God that must needs be peculiar to him But Christ doth appropriate divine worship to God alone Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Therefore divine worship is peculiar to God and may not be given to any other That which the Devil required of Christ was prostration or bowing his body to the ground before him in a Religious way as for his heart and the faith of it and love or it and fear of it and affections of it in any kind or the intention of those affections he mentions them not requires them not nor could he know whether they were given to him or no nor in what degree and measure but the outward homage onely in the inclination of the body to the earth in a religious way and Christ yeelds not to it but repels him with the Scripture which he fetcheth from Deut. 6. 13. or from Chap. 10. 20. or from Chap. 26. 10. for I find no other that Christ can allude to and Expositors do direct to the two former but in none of them is it said Him onely shalt thou serve nor is it applyed to external adoration but our Saviour an infallible expositor doth extend it to religious postures and outward homage in a spiritual way and doth restrain it to God alone 3. That which the Apostle condemned in the Galatians while they were heathen that cannot be allowable in Christians But the doing of Religious service or giving religious or divine worship to them which by nature are not Gods is the thing that the Apostle condemns in the Galatians while they were Heathens Gal. 4. 8. Therefore it is not allowable in Christians The Heathens when they worshipped stocks and stones and works of the hands of the Workman they did it relativè not terminative that is they worshipped the highest being in these and did not terminate and end their worship in these but used these as helps in that worship which they directed to the most High God whom they knew not and carried their worship through these to him as from Acts 17. 23. compared with 25. 29. will appear They worshipped Idols of silver and gold and graven stone yet they knew that those Idols made by mens hands were not God but there was an unknown God whom they worshipped in such Images Yet this worship was accounted by the Apostle a doing service to them which by nature are not Gods and was condemned And this intermediate service which was not terminated in the thing served will not be allowed as belonging to any other but to him who is essentially God and by nature God 4. That which neither the Angels nor the most eminent Saints on earth durst accept though tendred to them because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper onely to him that ought not to be given to any creature but is peculiar to God But divine Religious worship manifested in the outward prostration of the body was a thing that the Angels and the most eminent Saints durst not accept of because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper to him alone Therefore divine Religious Worship ought not to be given to any meer creature but is peculiar to God There are many Scriptures which serve to confirm that which can in reason onely be questioned in this Argument viz. Whether all divine Religious worship though intermediate and in the lowest degree was rejected by Angels and Saints as undue to them and as proper to God for this purpose see Act. 10. 26. where may be found that Adoration with the body which did proceed from the estimation of the mind though Cornelius that tendred it knew Peter to whom he tendred it neither to be God nor Christ nor had he that esteem of him nor did he terminate that worship which he gave him upon him for he was better instructed but through him looked at God yet the thing was evil that he did and undue to Peter or to any meer man whatever and was therefore rejected by Peter upon that ground and account Stand up said he for I my self am also a man as if he should have said I am not God but a man a meer man and nothing more therefore it is not proper to adore me thus
So also in Rev. 19. 10. and chap. 22. 9. John fell at the Angel to worship him knowing him to be but an Angel and looking upon him only as one through whom he had found favor to have such things shewed him and as one superiour to him because an Angel as Rev. 32. 8. shews I fell down at the feet of the Angel that had shewed me these things it was upon this account that he fell down He was an Angel and had shewed such things to him he was not God nor Christ nor did John look upon him so and it was but an outward prostrating of his body before him arising from that reverent esteem that he had of him yet it was not accepted by the Angel but repelled and with this Argument repelled I am thy fellow-servant as indeed the highest creatures are and of thy Brethren that have the testimony of Jesus see therefore thou do it not worship God Whence it is apparent that the lowest degree of Religious divine Worship is too high for any creature 5. That wherein Gods glory lies and which he is so dear of that he will not give it to any other and which when it hath been given to another by his people hath stirred up his jealousie that must needs be proper and peculiar to God and is not to be given to any other below God But all divine religious worship is such a thing wherein Gods glory lies and of which God is so dear that he will not give it to any other but proves jealous presently if it be given Therefore all divine Religious worship is so proper and peculiar to God that it is not to be given to another The Scriptures that prove the Minor proposition which alone may be questioned are Isa 42. 8. I am the Lord that is my Name and my glory will I not give to another nor my praise to a graven Image This Glory which God will not give to any other is such worship which was wont to be given to a graven Image and which the children of Israel gave to the Calf in Horeb which was intermediate worship and was not terminated in the Calf but in God and yet God would not give that from him And when God gives the second Commandment in which he forbids to be worshipped through an Image and by Image any thing that may be thought of to represent him is meant as all confess that have been accounted Orthodox he mentions his jealousie which will arise in his best if such worship be tendred him he will count it as if the Image the creature the representative whatever it be were worshipped and not he and he will visit that sin upon the Fathers unto their children to many Generations By this time I hope it will be evident unto the Reader That all divine Religious worship is peculiar to God alone I shall now proceed to consider of the residue of his Answer He undertakes to shew difference betwixt the worship that is peculiar to God and all other worship His words are these That worship honour service which is peculiar to God differs from that which may be yeelded to a creature partly in the matter but wholly in the manner of it We must pray to God for all things we want and may pray to men for what they can give we must obey God and we must obey men who are set over us by God but we may not worship honour and serve men in the like manner as we do the most high God who is the principal and ultimate object of all worship honour and service his right thereto being onely of himself and he himself being the sole end thereof According to this sense is that command which our Saviour mentions Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Rep. In these Lines he hath multiplyed words but hath not increased knowledge he hath told us of a difference but hath not shewed us what it is he hath instanced in matter and manner but not declared wherein in what particulars in either he shewed reasons of a difference why it must be so God is first and last therefore none must be worshipped as he but the difference is yet in the dark I would intreat any one to fetch it out of his words if he can And if there be any light in his expressions that light is darkness yea blackness of darkness he hath said that God is the principal and ultimate object of all worship and so he leaves it and therein he opens a dore to all Popish Idolatry a man may worship a stock or a stone or any thing provided that God be the first and the last the principal and ultimate object in that worship that he gives thereto What would any Papist desire more at his hands A graven Image may be an object of his worship if it be not the principal object nor the ultimate but that he pass through it to God As for the difference in matter he mentioned it and then deserted it without giving the least hint what it is It had been needful that he should have pitched upon some act or acts of worship of which it might have been said This act is so proper and peculiar to God materially considered as that the like material act may not be performed to any that is not God But he foresaw that the giving of an instance herein would have lost the cause he pleads for for though he might have given instances many which might have held in reference to all other creatures yet not any that would hold in reference to Christ whom he makes but a creature therefore he is silent And though he gives instances of acts materially the same which are performed to God and men as praying obeying and saith the difference is in the manner of performing these acts yet he gives no satisfaction in reference to this diversity of manner And he mentions not the grounds of worship and honour and service wherein the root of the difference lies for the grounds are such upon which we worship God that because we meet not with them in any creature we have to do with therefore we neither dare give the same worship for matter or manner that we give to God to any creature But as if he had given light enough he concludes that Mat. 4. 10. must be understood according to that sense What sense means he He would have God to be the principal and ultimate object in all worship and that is enough according to him and being observed Christ might have worshipped the the devil for any other caveat that he enters against it I do not wrong him one whit for his words are That the command which Christ mentions in repelling Satan that tempted him to worship him Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve must be restrained to God as he is the principal and ultimate object onely and then if
the prostration of the body towards the earth and kneeling upon the knees towards the ground is homage and honour and worship peculiar to God O come let us fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker saith the Prophet in Psal 95. 6. And it s that which neither Angel nor men durst assume no nor admit of but repelled it and rejected it as undue and directed it to God Many more particulars there are respecting the matter of worship where God hath a peculiarity in point of right to worship and honour above the creature but some light is let in to such which might be groping in the dark by these I shall take in that light which Christ affords while I speak of the manner of worship and satisfie my self with that He sums up all the Commandments that respect God in these words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and serve him with all thy soul with all thy mind with all thy strength and might So that that which is peculiar in the manner of worship is the measure of performance such a measure ought not to be given to any creature as to God a person may be easily peccant in the excess in reference to the creature if he give all to the creature he gives too much but less then all is too little for God the utmost created height is due to God and peculiarly due to him and to none other 1. An absolute Faith and affiance and trust is due to God alone whatever the Subject-matter of it be because there is an absolute and an independent sufficiency in God alone to effect every thing therefore it is that which the Lord pronounceth a blessed thing Jer. 17. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is And the contrary the Lord pronounceth a cursed thing ver 5. Cursed be he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm A like place we have in Psal 146. 3 5. 2. An absolute and unbounded love is due to God alone because he is infinite in goodness and not to be given to any creature 1 Joh. 2. 15. Love not the world nor the things of the world c. Not the simple love but the mordinateness of the love of the world is forbidden but God himself is to be loved with all the strength of the heart Mat. 22. 37. 3. An absolute and unlimited fear is proper to God alone because he is the Soveraign Lord and to him it belongs to kill or to keep alive yea he can kill and cast into hell Luk. 12. 51. They are first taken off from fearing the creature and are afterwards put on to fear God Much more might be added if need did require At present let it satisfie the Reader that I have thus far opened the difference in the matter and in the manner betwixt the worship due to God and that which may be given to the creature which he left olded up in his Discourse about it I must now proceed to follow him in his Answer He concludes his Answer to the Maior with admiration his words are I wonder at the adjection Meer which you add to creature as if a creature in essence could be more then a meer creature or as if some creature might have as its right and due that honour worship and service which the Scripture doth appropriate to the most High God And then he determines Sure I am saith he creatures as creatures are excluded from sharing with God Rep. I wonder that he should make a wonder of that which himself is able to resolve according to the common Tenent which himself so lately held and if he cannot a child well bred of 8 or 10 years old can render a reason for it Christ is a creature and yet not a meer creature according to the flesh or as he is the son of Abraham he is a creature but according to the Spirit of Holiness or as he is the Son of God he is not a creature Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man or God manifested in the flesh a creature and yet created according to the divers natures that are in him Consider him in one of his natures as born of the Virgin as the son of Mary so he is a creature in essence and in that respect he is no more then a creature and is excluded from sharing with God in divine honour worship and service but consider him in both his natures consider the whole of him and then he is not a meer creature but he is more then a creature he is such a creature as that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Creator of all things and so he shares with the Father in divine honour but not as a creature though he be a creature for this person Christ is both God and a Creature After he had spoken to the Major he comes to consider of the Minor proposition viz. That divine worship and honour and service is by Scripture-warrant given to Christ Jesus His Answer is Sir it is granted that Jesus Christ is the intermediate object of divine worship honour and service being Gods Vice-Roy and acting among them in his Fathers Name which the Scripture you bring confirms But where the Scripture allows worship honour and service to be given to him as the principal and ultimate object thereof is not yet made to appear Rep. 1. This distinction of intermediate object in reference to any meer creature and principal and ultimate Object is unscriptural he cannot bottom it upon any Text in reference to divine and Religious prescribed worship 2. It is repugnant to Scripture-Testimony in reference to the whole of Christ whom the Father will have to be honoured as himself is honoured Joh. 5. 23. That all may honour the Son as they honour the Father The Father will have no honour which the Son hath not will have nothing in honour that is peculiar that may be accounted proper to him the Father will have no preeminence in worship above the Son but look in what manner he requires men to honour him he requires them to honour his Son and unless they do it he accounts not himself honoured If then the Father be worped as the principal ultimate object the Son must be worshipped as the principal and ultimate object else he is not honored as the Father is honored The honouring of the Father is made the pattern and the example of honouring the Son And if Christ should be but a creature if this be not Gods giving his glory to another when the like glory is given to him that is not God as to him that is God the like to the Son as to the Father and that according to the Fathers own designe and counsel Let him that hath understanding judge however it overthrows his distinction The place also that I alledged in Rev. 5. 12 13 14. which he saith confirms his distinction is fully against it for all creatures in
Mediatorship otherwise it would have been limited and restrained that that worship which is due to God who is the ultimate object of worship might have been discerned from it and the preeminence the Father hath above Christ in Worship would have been declared in Scripture And hence it follows that though Christ be an intermediate object of Worship yet he is the principal and ultimate object also The same person who is Man and Mediator is the Son of God the most high God Mediator in that nature also And if Religious Divine worship be given unto him as Mediator it is given unto him for the sake of the Divine Nature because he is the Son of God and God according to which nature apart considered from the Humane he is the ultimate object of worship but as considered with the Humane as Mediator he is the intermediate object of worship And though the Humane Nature be taken up into the fellowship as of the Godhead so of this honour and worship yet this worship is not due nor doth properly appertain to the Humane Nature And though the person be honoured with this Divine honour because of the Union yet it is for the sake of the Divine Nature and not for the sake of the Humane which beause it is not the principal and ultimate object of worship therefore that very worship and no less nor any other is given to Christ being thus intermediate or Mediator which is proper and peculiar to God alone who is the principal and ultimate object worship cannot separately and apart considered from the Divine Nature be any object at all no not an intermediate object of Religious Divine worship for then every creature that is a medium or a means by or through which God communicates himself to men and so is intermediate betwixt God and man should be an intermediate object of Divine worship which is directly repugnant to the Scripture and is greatly derogatory to God that the Manhood of Christ or the Humane Nature a part considered hath but the respect of an instrument in so glorious a work which was wrought by the efficiencie and infinite power wisdom of God I have been the larger in discussing this point of Worship because the right understanding of it will facilitate the discussing of the two next which follow which respect Faith in Christ He considers them together though I conceive they may well be distinguished from each other as different things But I shall follow him in his method Instance 2. If Christ be a meer creature then it is lawful and warrantable to believe in a meer creature which is against the tenour of the whole Scripture but it is commanded in reference unto Christ Joh. 14. 1. and salvation is annexed to it Joh. 3. 36. Instance 3. If Christ be a meer creature then faith in a meer creature can save man which is absurd and gross and contrary to the Scriptures for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3. and so was saving Unto these he opposeth two Propositions which the Scripture as he saith will warrant and will suffice for an Answer 1. That that faith which is needful to salvation hath a double object God and the man Christ Jesus Joh. 14. 1. which he saith the Scripture that I have quoted bears witness to as a truth 2. That that faith which is needful to salvation acts in a divers manner on God and on the Lord Jesus Christ Reply 1. Neither the Scripture that I have quoted nor any other bears witness to this That the man Jesus Christ as man is the object of faith The Person of Christ that is man is the object of faith but not as man And the place that he cites in Joh. 3. 14 15 proves it The Son of man shall be lifted up that whoever believes on him c. But there is in these words that which is called Idiomatum communicatio viz. that which is spoken in the concrete of Christ according to one Nature is transferred to another Natrue And the verse that immediately precedes viz. verse 13. declares thus much It is said that the Son of man is in heaven which at that time when Christ spake those words was impossible as Christ is the Son of man because Ubiquity or being everywhere at the same time is not compatible to any man as man but it was meant of the Person of Christ who is called the Son of man because he was truely man but according to the other nature that was in him viz. the Godhead according to which he was in heaven and on earth together because he fills both as God And Christ that did put that denomination Son of man upon himself in verse 13. continues it and under that title makes himself the object of faith but there is a translation of that which is proper to one nature to another nature to which it is not proper And indeed Christ as Mediator is an object of faith but it is not as he is man that he is the object but as he is God which is very clear for these Reasons 1. It is Christ as he is JEHOVAH that is the object of faith as it justifies and saves Isa 45. 24. compared with Rom. 14. 10 11. proves it Believers are brought in professing their faith in JEHOVAH which is Christ Surely shall one say in JEHOVAH have I righteousness and strength 1 Tim. 3. 10. God manifested in flesh is believed on in the world not Christ accordiâ—g to his Manhood 2. It is Christ as he is all-sufficient and able to save to the utmost that is the object of faith Heb. 7. 25. 2 Tim. 1. 12. But Christ as he is man is not all-sufficient and able to save to the utmost but as he is the Son of God and God Joh. 4. 25. 3. The man that trusteth in man is accursed by God's own sentence Jer. 17. 5. Therefore faith is not in Christ as he is man 4. God hath testified that all life is in his Son Joh. 5. 11. and faith must be where life is and nowhere else and therefore not in Christ as man for the Son of God is not man but God as hath been abundantly proved before And it is also said verse 12 He that hath the Son that is hath received him by faith Joh. 1. 12. hath life and he that hath him not hath not life And they are pressed to believe in the Son of God v. 13. that they may have eternal life 5. Christ himself saith Vpon this rock viz. this profession of faith that Christ is the Son of God he will build his Church Matth. 16. 16 18. Therefore Christ is the object of faith as he is the Son of God and not as he is man 6. If Christ as meer man and nothing more be the object of faith then any other man or creature whom God sends and by whom God speaks or acts may be the object of
trees therfore saith Christ unlesse you abide in me that is firmly and surely hold me ye cannot bring forth fruit 12. Let all Christians take heed how they hold the truth in unrighteousnesse how they put away a good conscience in any thing and so tempt God lest God give them up to darknesse as a punishment of such an offence 13. Let every Christian joyn to some Church of Jesus Christ that walks closely with God in the truth that by the watchings of others he may be the better kept This is regular walking and God will be sure to blesse it 4 Let not any Christians run into temptations least God should leave them under the power of them and suffer them to be overcome of them but if they hear or read a doctrine that is contrary to what they received let them with much fear and trembling hear and read it and with much looking up to heaven for guidance let them be slow in entertaining that which is new strange to them and after much examination consultation and abundant confirmation out of Scripture let them do it If Saints will walk in this way the God of truth and grace will be with them they shall be kept unto salvation FINIS A TABLE of the Scriptures and Arguments formerly produced to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ and now vindicated and confirmed in the later Treatise ALSO Six other Arguments added shewing the dangerousness and destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine The first Scripture is Revel 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End page 15 The second Scripture is Joh. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God p. 29 The third Scripture is Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always unto the end of the world p. 35 The fourth Scripture is Rev. 2. 2. I know thy works c. p. 51 The fifth Scripture is Col. 1. 15. The first-born of every creature p. 61 The sixth Scripture is Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created p. 63 The seventh Scripture is Heb. 7. 3. Without father without mother without beginning of days and end of life made like unto the Son of God p. 90 The eighth Scripture is Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting p. 94 The ninth Scripture is Zech. 13. 7. Awake O sword against my Shepherd against the man that is my fellow p. 97 The tenth Scripture is Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven the Son of man that is in heaven p. 103 The last Scripture is Joh. 17. 5. And now O Father glorifie me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was p. 114 Arguments brought to prove the destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine Arg. 1. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and a false God p. 126 Arg. 2. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and false Christ p. 137 Arg. 3. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Faith p. 149 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Baptism p. 158 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour p. 163 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature overturns godliness p. 168 Arguments formerly produced now vindicated and confirmed Argum. 1. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the object of Divine worship which yet according to Scripture is Idolatry Where the doctrine of Worship is discussed p. 173 Arg. 2 3. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature the object of faith and to make faith in a creature saving which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 205 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature a sufficient Saviour which yet is repugnant to the Scripture 214 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature Mediator which is contrary to the Scripture Where the doctrine of Christ's Mediatorship is discussed p. 225 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature is to make the righteousness not of God but of a meer man to he imputed to believers which is against the Scripture p. 252 Arg. 7. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature authoritively able from himself to forgive sin which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 262 Arg. 8. To make whole Christ a creature is to destroy the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction to God Where the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction is largely handled p. 285 Arg. 9. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the intercession of Christ p. 363 Arg. 10. To make whole Christ a creature is to disable Christ to protect defend save direct rule and govern his Church in all the world which yet is attributed to Christ c. p. 373 Arg. 11. To make whole Christ a creature is to make prayer to him vain and frivolous he being now in heaven and we on earth p. 377 Arg. 12. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the Judge of the world which is repugnant to Scripture p. 384 Concerning Errours the rise growth cure and preservatives against them p. 397 FINIS
Saviour or an unequal Saviour to Christ because Christ and not he is called a Saviour And is not Christ called both the blessed hope and the great God our Saviour Are not both titles put upon him as due to him And though they are used by the Apostle to distinguish the persons of Father and Son from each other when they are spoken of together yet both these are applyed to both persons and are proper to him alone that is the most high God But he saith Scripture doth prefer God in the work of salvation before our Lord Jesus Christ making him to be the principal Agent therein when it declares that the work of Christ in saving was from the purpose of God who appointed him for it from the precept of God who injoyned him to it and from the presence of God who assisted him in it Reply But where doth Scripture witness this of God the Father in reference to the whole of Christ He saith Scripture doth abundantly set forth all these but he doth not quote any one place for proof of them but would have us receive it upon his word That God purposed to save by Christ considered as David's and Mary's son considered according to his Manhood that God enjoyned him as such that God assisted him as such God being taken essentially and properly for Father Son and holy Ghost and not improperly and personally for the Father will be granted and it will be plentifully made out by Scripture but that the Father purposed without the Son and holy Ghost and commanded and enjoyned without the Son and holy Ghost and assisted without the Son and holy Ghost this is denied For as the Father without the Son and holy Ghost made not man but the Trinity sate in Councel Let us make man so it was in the work of Salvation it was an act of Councel The Father gave the Son and the Son gave himself emptied himself every Person concurred and wrought in the work so far as concerns efficiencie All decreed it all acted in it as one principal Agent and onely the Humanity of Christ was Instrumental And if we consider the Material and Meritorious cause of mens salvation God the Father or God in the person of the Father is far from being the Principal cause thereof for he is no cause at all for the Father took not flesh upon him nor was Mediator either of Satisfaction or Intercession he made not the Atonement but this was the Son's sole work he did all in it he was the person that was made of a Virgin and was made under the Law he was the person that was made flesh and manifested in flesh and hath a peculiar right in this respect to the denomination of Saviour And though all was acted and endured in and by the flesh that he assumed for he bare our sins on his body on the tree yea and in his soul also when he cried out My God my God c. in such manner yet if that flesh had not been supported by the Godhead of the Son which assumed it it would have been crumbled to dust and powder by that weight of wrath that lay upon it So that it was by the vertue and power of the Godhead that such actings and such sufferings were and all was accounted as done and suffered by the Son though the Son as the Son was not capable of it but by assuming flesh into the unity of his person and so it came to be reckoned as his work and it was in account as if the Lord of glory had been crucified and as if the blood of God had been spilt and the merit was from the excellencie of the person of the Son that did and suffered all But he further saith That the Scripture revealeth the Lord Christ to be in the work of salvation but an instrumental Saviour For this saith he see Tit. 3. 4 5 6. which puts it past all question But after that the kindness and love of God and our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. Reply Here is in these words of his First A bold assertion viz. That Scripture revealeth Christ to be but an instrumental Saviour Secondly A peremptory Conclusion that Tit. 3. 4 5 6. puts it out of question Thirdly A defective and insufficient probation or confirmation he alledgeth the words of the Text as if they did carry with them conviction of what he asserts in the very letter of them when as there is no such matter 1. Scripture is so far from revealing such a thing of Christs instrumentalness that it reveals the contrary to it in Heb. 1. 3. it is said That Christ by himself purged away our sins but of any instruments can it be said that by himself he doth any thing Doth an instrument act by himself that is by his own vertue and sufficiency and by himself that is without the power of the principal efficient Is an Instrument any thing out of the hand of the chief Agent Also in Heb. 7. 25. it is said That Christ is able to save to the utmost But is any Instrument able to save to the utmost Hath he the ability within himself So that it may be said of him that he is able What greater thing can be predicated of the principal efficient or chief Agent then that he is able to save to the utmost This is too high an expression for an Instrument And in Psal 89. 19 it is said of Christ whom David typified that God had laid help upon one that was mighty If Christ be onely but an Instrument what needs he to be mighty in himself for every Instrument if it be mighty through the might of another as the Rams horns were it is sufficient What needed the choice of a mighty one if the Saviour be onely instrumental The weaker the Instrument the more honour will the Principal Efficient have The excellencie of Power is known to be of God when the instrumental means is Weakness and Foolishness Why also could not the blood of Goats have cleansed the Conscience but the Blood of JESUS CHRIST God's Son was necessary if an Instrument may be a Saviour Doubtless a word of Institution would have made the one as effectual as the other But indeed there is no might that any creature-Instrument is capable to be recipient or the subject of that can save to the utmost because it requires an infinite power to conquer Sin and Satan Death and Hell to abolish these and to bring Life and Immortality to light to effect a first and second Resurrection for men who were to be saved Secondly The Scripture that he alleadgeth out of Titus 3. 3 4 â— hath no such thing engraven upon it as he produceth it for such that he that runs may read it
written there or he that reads may understand without questioning that whole Christ is but an Instrument For all that is asserted by the Apostle is that God the Father our Saviour saved through Christ our Saviour by the holy Ghost And what doth this hold out but the Order among the Persons in their working And when JEHOVAH saves by JEHOVAH their God doth this particle by import instrumentalness I have shewed the contrary Indeed the Manhood of Christ is made instrumental to the Godhead of Christ and to the whole Trinity in this great designe of the Father Son and holy Ghost to save men but it cannot in this place be applied to the Manhood because the Spirit is shed or given from the Father through Christ not as Man but as God as I have shewed in the other Treatise Instance 5. The 5. Instance he forms up into an Argument thus That Doctrine which makes the Mediator betwixt God and man to be a meer creature brings in as it were another Gospel destroyes the true Gospel in many of the parts of it c. in that it is against reason that the Mediator should be a creature because a meer creature is no way meet to be a Daysman for God because a Mediator must either partake of both God and man or of neither else he will be rather a party then a Mediator c. and in that it opposeth these Scriptures Mat. 1. 23. 1. Tim. 3. 16. Joh. 1. 14. But that Doctrine which denies Jesus Christ to be the most high God makes the Mediator betwixt God and man to be a meer creature Therefore I shall passe by all those lines in which he only trifles speaks not to the Argumnet or instance and mention only that which is materiall in way of answer To the Major and the first reason of it viz. A meer creature is no way meet to be a Daysman for God He answers thus This reason wants a reason to support it what should hinder saith he but the meere creature may be a Daysman or Mediator Is there any one work that belongs to his office that is impossible for a creature to perform notwithstanding divine assistance with him I dare saith he assert the contrary and am able to prove in whatsoever work you can instance in belonging to Christs Mediatorship that of himself he was not able to perform it unlesse by the assistance of another which he enjoyed and so is a compleat Mediator Rep. There are many things that may hinder that a meere creature cannot be a Daysman or Mediator for God 1. The disproportion that is betwixt God and a meere creature hinders which disproportion is infinite It is against Gods honor and glory that God should admit of a meer ceature-Daysman or Mediator It is as if a worm should be a Daysman or Mediator for a man or as if a begger should be a Daysman or Mediator for a King Nay there is not any thing to resemble it by among all the creatures and there would be too much honour put upon a meer creature if he should be Mediator or Daysman because a meer creature is infinitely below God but a Daysman should hold some kind of equality with the person for whom he is a Daysman For 1. The matter is committed to him that is a Daysman or Mediator 2. The person that commits the matter to the Daysman commits himself with it to him also 3. A Daysman is one that must judge betwixt now this is too low for God to admit of and too high for man or for any meer creature that it should be set â—n such a place 2. The impotency and infirmiiy of the creature hinders that it cannot be a â—meet Daysman for God For 1. No meer creature can attain unto a perfect knowledge of the trespasse and offence that is committed against God because it is infinite therefore no finite creature can search into it the person against whom it is committed being infinite makes it infinite and one of a finite knowledge cannot reach it it may be truly said that neither man nor Angel nor the Son of man himself as man knowes the greatnesse of mans sin for unlesse the greatnesse of God can be measured against whom it was committed the greatnesse of the sin cannot be known Now if it cannot be known by any meer creature then no meere creature can be a Daysman to consider of it 2. No meer creature can be sufficiently sensible of the great dishonour that was offered unto God and the great indignity and injury that was done against God when man sinned again him for what is all creature-sense to that infinite perception which God hath of the â—ffront done unto him and unlesse you could make the creature as God a creature cannot have the feeling of God and unlesse a creature had the infinite holinesse of God a creature cannot know how distastfull sin is unto God therefore a meer creature cannot be a Mediator or Days-man for God for he cannot sensibly enough consider of the transgression against God 3. No meer creature can make Proposalls that are proportionable in reference to Gods honour that was impaired by the sin of man that God might be no loser nor might receive any detriment by Mediation because no creature knowes how much the honor of God is impaired and if he did yet it would be beyond his power to offer honorable terms to God in reference thereto for a creature will act and move like a creature and all its Proposalls will be low and little and defective and short yea infinitely low short and like it self therfore a meer creature cannot be a meet Daysman for God because he will be sure to wrong him 4. The Mediator betwixt God and man is not of intercession onely but of satisfaction now no meer creature can give satisfaction for mens offences because offences are greater then can be conceived of the satisfaction must be like them that is must be greater then can be imagined by any creature therefore greater then can be given by any creature The Mediator is an undertaker to satisfie for what is past by paying the utmost farthing and to render man a new creature inclied and devoted to God who was before an enemie Now no meer creature can be such an undertaker because he cannot give a price sufficient nor work any such transformation in man but it belongs to him who made heaven and earth to do this These things are impediments why a meer creature cannot be a Daysman betwixt God and men there are things to be known and done which creatures as creatures are not capable of His daring therefore to assert the contrary shews rather his presumption then his wisdome or ability And whereas he saith that he is able to prove that Christ of himself was not able to perform any work belonging to his Mediatorship unlesse by the assistance of another which he enjoyed and so was a compleat Mediator