with it from Eternity This Expression doth not comport with an Eternal Divinity But of the Human Nature he faith That Jesus Christ took it upon him that being a thing which was done in Time saving this only the Opposition is exact Our Blessed Saviour is as truly God as he is Man The Word Form in this place includes the Nature whose Form it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Term St. Paul useth here whence is derived the Name of the Anthroponorphites of old They were so called because they attributed a Human Form to God The Form say we not meer Appearances only They believed that God really had a Body Eyes Ears Hands and Passions and in a word that he was the Original of our Nature So true it is that the Word Form doth not always imply meer Appearances But that which must determine the Sgnification of it is as we have already observed the sense St. Paul put upon it in the Sequel If you demand why he makes use of this word instead of saying simply Being God for would not this have been much more explicite than to say Being in the Form of God I might answer that it would be an unjust piece of Criticism to desire a precise knowledge why a Sacred Author makes use of one word rather than another But without being reduc'd to this Answer we have one more exact to the Question We can inform you why St. Paul saith of Jesus Christ That he was in the Form of God rather than that he was God 1ly Because indeed he was God by way of Image he is the Image of the Invisible God saith St. Paul he is the Brightness of his Glory the Express Image of the Person of God his Father The Father as you see possesseth his Godhead by way of Principle Source and Original whereas the Son hath his Divinity by way of Emanation Derivation and by way of Image He is a perfect and a living Image of the Living God Were it permitted me to express my self in any other Language but that of the Scripture I would say with Tertullian God of God Light of Light or with St. Gregory Bishop of Neocaesarea surnamed Thaumaturgas The true Son of a True Father Invisible from the Invisible Incorruptible of the Incorruptible Immortal of the Immortal Eternal of the Eternal These Famous Doctors liv'd before the Nicene Council so that we cannot accuse these Expressions for being the Fruit of the Violence or Superstition of the following Centuries We have alledged these Fragments of pure Antiquity only to shew by these what kind of Image the Word of God is Now forasmuch as he is God in this manner it was very proper and natural for St. Paul to say Who being in the form of God The Second Reason why the Apostle expresseth himself thus is Because by the Form of God which he attributes to our Saviour Jesus Christ he insinuates somewhat more than the meer Divine Nature for this Word denotes the Majesty and if I may so speak the Pomp and Glory of the Divine Nature We shall be convinced of this Truth if we will make use of the Light which the other Member of the opposition affords us To be in the Form of a Servant and in the Likeness of Man implies not only to be possessed of the Human Nature but to be clothed with those Infirmities which constitute the External Form as it were thereof So that we see that St. Paul when he saith that our Saviour was in the Form of God he would thereby not only intimate to us that Christ was God but that he had the Appearance and the Majesty of a God surrounded with Glory worshipped by the Angels disposing of the Creatures being in this state he was willing to be made Man and to expose himself to our Infirmities The word Form made use of in both the Members of the oppositions serves only to make it the more Express and Emphatical The third Proposition is That Jesus Christ did not think is Robbery to be equal with God This Proposition hath two parts the first is He did not think it Robbery that is he did not judge it to be any Usurpation and as we conceive that there is a Figure call'd Diminution in these words when God saith in the Third Commandment that he will not hold him Guiltless instead of saying that he will hold him guilty in a high degree that taketh his Name in vain In like manner we say that St. Paul when he saith that our Saviour did not think it Robbery saith in effect that he lookt upon it as a most just thing to make himself equal with God The second part of the Proposition is To make himself equal with God Jesus Christ stands upon equal ground with his Father it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things equal with God which may be was not exprest thus in the plural number without a particular design even to teach us that Jesus Christ is Essentially equal in all things with God For tho to speak properly there are no different things in God and that his Essence is most perfectly one and simple yet our way of conceiving of it doth multiply it We commonly imagine that the Attributes of God are very different things St. Paul intending to teach us that our Saviour was perfectly equal with God saith that he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God that is not only in Holiness in Power in Goodness in Glory but in whatsoever else is the Root and Bottom of the Divine Nature Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily The plural number therefore seems very Emphatical in this place Join we now both these Members of the Proposition together again And then considering it thus whole and entire it imports thus much That our Lord who was fully acquainted with his own Rights made no difficulty to equalize himself with God He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God which is the most Natural and Literal Explication of the words of St. Paul On what occasion did our Saviour thus express himself concerning the Glory of his Divine Nature Some very Orthodox Interpreters make St. Paul say That Jesus Christ would not have thought it Robbery to be equal with God which affords a meaning somewhat different from that of the ordinary Version which saith That Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God Both these meanings the one as well as the other suppose the Divinity of Jesus Christ But we see no necessity to depart from our Version and so much the less because it changeth nothing in the Original The sense it offers us and which we have pursued engageth us to shew on what occasion our Lord Jesus Christ attributes to himself an Equality with God To reduce our selves to some compass we will confine our Discourse to the one half of a Chapter of the Gospel In which little compass we shall meet
of St. Matthew Matt. 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father he adds to shew that he had received this Power because he was the Eternal Son of God And no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son We shall have occasion once more to speak of this matter But we proceed now to a more particular enquiry wherein the Worship we owe to Jesus Christ our Lord doth consist There is no question but that Genuflexion and bowing of the Body are comprehended in the sense of these words but they extend yet further they signifie all the Worship we owe to the Godhead This is the Signification they have in the Prophets whence they are taken I have sworn by my self that unto me every knee shall bow Isa 45.23 saith God by the Prophet Isaiah All the kinds of Adoration are express'd in this manner of speaking Prostration of the Body humiliation of Soul and even the total Annihilation of Man All this is due to our Lord. I will not insist upon the Bowing or Prostration of the Body because that is the least part of Worship and to speak properly is no more than a sign and a variable one too of the true Adoration for we may adore without kneeling The Church of old prayed standing for some time So that we shall add no more concerning the Adoration of the Body save only this that we owe our Body to Jesus Christ as to that God who hath created it As for the Soul which is the true Principle of Worship let us conceive all the ways whereby it is capable of adoring God all these she owes to our Saviour Jesus Christ This is that we must prove by Scripture that we may not assert any thing with relation to this Mystery without the information of this Infallible Guide Sacrifice and Trust or Confidence honour God as Sovereign In Sacrifice we offer all to God in Trust and Confidence we expect all from him Under the Old Law God reserv'd this double Honour to himself there was no Sacrificing but to him no trusting or confiding but in him All this is transferr'd to our Saviour As to Sacrifice we cannot now look for any other than that of Prayer since the time of Bloody Sacrifices is ceased The Sacrifice of Prayer is much more worthy of God than the Blood of the Ancient Sacrifices This new Sacrifice we owe to our Lord. St. Stephen dies after having offer'd up this Sacrifice to our Saviour Lord Jesus receive my Spirit cry'd that first Martyr It was with this Sacrifice that St. Paul began his Christian Race For Ananias in declaring to him what he was to do in order to obey him who had stopt him on his way to Damascus saith Acts 11.16 Why tarriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins by calling on the name of the Lord. The entrance of the Proselites into the Jewish Church was by Circumcision by Baptism and by Sacrifice Circumcision was now ceased so that there remained nothing necessary for St. Paul's admittance but Baptism and Sacrifice and accordingly he is baptized and for his Sacrifice he calls upon the Name of the Lord. This piece of Worship is so essential to Christianity that the Christians are described in several places by those that call upon the Name of the Lord. The time is come that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved Acts 2.21 Joel 2.31 1 Cor. 1.2 Words quoted from the Prophet Joel and apply'd to our Saviour In Joel they plainly belong to God And what did St. Peter and St. Paul think of when they apply'd them to our Lord if he be not God St. Peter upon occasion of the Pentecostal Miracle saith that that was a fulfilling of the words of Joel And St. Paul to shew the necessity of the preaching of the Gospel grounds his Discourse upon these words Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10.13 14. How then saith he shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher This therefore shews at the same time that we are to call upon Jesus Christ and to call upon him as God Confidence or Trust is the Second Branch of Divine Worship God and God alone was the Hope of Israel the Hope of David the Hope of all the Saints under the Old Law Not because God at that time did not make use of any means to deliver his People for it is plain there were Temporal Deliverers there were Moses's Gideon's David's but forasmuch as these were only Instruments in the hand of God they lifted up their eyes to the first Cause of their Deliverances and therefore said to God Thou alone art my Trust and my Rock If our Lord Jesus had only been a second Cause in the Work of our Redemption had he been no more than a Creature sent to save us we need not make any difficulty to say There would have been no more ado about him than about those Deliverers of old neither would the Name of our Saviour appear every where with that Divine Magnificence as it doth in the Gospel Why how is it that the Gospel Honours Christ neither more nor less than God was honour'd under the Old Law Christ is the Hope of the New Israel See what the Apostle saith in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 15.12 There shall be a root of Jesse c. and in him shall the Gentiles trust He is therefore the Hope and Confidence of the Gentiles he is the Hope of all Christians If in this life only we have hope in Christ 1 Cor. 15.19 1 Tim. 1.1 saith St. Paul we are of all men most miserable Christ is called our Hope Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour and of the Lord Jesus Christ our Hope So St. Paul begins his Epistle to Timothy Elsewhere Christ is called the hope of Glory or the glorious Hope Let us add to this Col. 1.27 all those passages which enjoyn us to place our Faith in Jesus Christ and all those that forbid us to put our confidence in the Creature and we shall have a demonstration capable to convince us That our Lord and Saviour is God Blessed for ever Why is all this honour put upon him Why because he is God we have no other reason there can be no other reason for it We Sacrifice to him because he is God we put our confidence in him because he is God This reason is contained in the words of St. Paul Wherefore God hath given him a name above every name That is as much as to say Phil. 2.9 because Jesus Christ is God and because he hath emptied himself for this complicated Cause a name above every name hath been given unto him We must
of a woman Here we have the Son of God and the Son of a Woman and in the Epistle to Timothy God was manifest in the Flesh But there is no Passage where this Opposition is more distinctly set forth than that which we have made choice of on a day set aside by the Church for a Memorial of our Saviour's Humiliation Who being in the Form of God saith St. Paul though it no Robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation or Emptied himself as the word in the Original signifies The design of these words was to oblige the Philippians to Humility and Charity There could be nothing of greater force to engage them to the practice of these two Vertues than the Example of Jesus Christ They knew what pass'd when our Saviour wash'd his Disciple's Feet Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet ye also ought to wash one anothers feet For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you Verily verily I say unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord c. This Principle being incontestably admitted by the Philippians St. Paul could not alledge a more pressing Motive to establish amongst them a Spirit of Humility and Charity than was that of the Example of our dear Lord where both these Vertues appear with so much lustre Let therefore saith the Apostle this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he emptied himself and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men These words furnish us with two great Subjects for our Meditation the Glory of the Eternal Divinity of Jesus Christ and his Emptying of himself in his Incarnation In order to a thorough Explication of the words which concern the Divinity of our Saviour we must first consider the Literal Sense and then search as far as the weakness of our Understanding will permit into the Doctrine therein contain'd The Literal sense of these words presents us with three Propositions The First is That Jesus Christ was before that he was made man The Second That he was in the form of God before ever he was in the form of man The Third That he thought it no robbery to be equal to his heavenly Father These are the Three Propositions St. Paul expresseth here very clearly The First is That Jesus Christ was before that he became Man Who saith St. Paul being or as it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the form of God did empty himself or was made man That which is not cannot abase it self or become Man A Truth which is proved at the very Proposal of it It would be hard to guess wherein the Soundness of St. Paul's Reasoning did consist if Jesus Christ had not existed before he was born of the Virgin Mary This way of arguing can have no Foundation but this That Christ passed from one Condition to another from a State of Glory to a State of Abasement and in so doing hath set an Example wherein a mixture of Humility and Charity invite or rather force Christians to an Imitation A Doctrine truly worthy of St. Paul But what sense shall we make of it if it be not true that our Saviour before his Birth of the Blessed Virgin was not in a more Glorious State than was that which he entred upon by his Nativity Should we allow our selves to suppose that Jesus Christ began to exist by his Conception in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin could we in this case be able to say That he humble himself to that degree as to be willing to be born after the manner of Men Humility consists in stepping down lower Now that which is not cannot descend nor consequently humble it self He was therefore before that he emptied himself by his Temporal Nativity This is a Truth so clearly asserted in Scripture that the opposite Error cannot be entertained by any but those who either openly or secretly reject the Authority of that Divine Book I will not go about to quote all the Passages we find there to prove the Pre-existence of our Blessed Saviour the number of them is so great that it would take up too much of our time Nevertheless for confirmation of the Proposition we are about we shall put you in mind that Jesus Christ himself declares that he was come down from Heaven and that he was in Heaven before ever he ascended thither This Pre-existence will appear very evidently by a Set of gradual Proofs drawn from the Scriptures concerning it Our Blessed Saviour was before John the Baptist tho he as his Forerunner was born before him Hear we the Deposition of this Illustrious Witness John 1.30 This is he of whom I said After me cometh a man who is preferred before me for he was before me Nay what is more our Saviour was in Moses his time who was so many Ages before John the Baptist for is it not said That the Isralites contemporary with that great Law giver did tempt Christ Neither let us tempt Christ saith our Apostle as some of them also tempted 1 Cor. 10.9 10. and were destroyed of Serpents When Moses refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter and forsook the Court of Aegypt to follow the Divine Call the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews informs us Heb. 11.26 that in so doing he preferr'd the reproach of Christ before the treasures of Egypt Let us go further still and we shall find that our Blessed Lord was before Abraham John 8.58 Verily verily I say unto you Before Abraham was I am This was a very emphatical Testimony to the Jews who look'd upon this Patriarch as the first Stock of their Nation Let us go back as far as Noah and we shall find that our Saviour was at that time also according to the Testimony of St. Peter who tells us That Jesus Christ preached to the spirits that were disobedient in the time of Noah ◠Pet. 3.19 So long since Jesus Christ took care of Sinners Neither must we stop here for if we look back to the beginning of the World John 1.1 Col. 1.17 we shall find our Saviour assisting there In the beginning was the word He is before all things Indeed how could it be otherwise but that he must have been at the beginning of the world since the world ows its Creation to him Without him was not any thing made that was made I was brought forth when yet there were no depths John 1.3 Prov. 8.24 25 nor fountains abounding with water Before the Mountains were setled before the hills was I brought forth As the Wise King introduceth our Saviour speaking in the 8th Chapter of the Proverbs Neither must we conclude from all these
Earth What therefore can St. Paul's Thoughts be in speaking thus Must we not look upon him to be the most imprudent of all Men in making our Saviour so great in case he be not God At this rate we must not leave to our Apostle not so much as common Sense We are agreed that he abhors the Religious Worship of the Creature and at the same time own that he sets the Creature upon the Altar This therefore engageth us to declare either that St. Paul was a Mad-man or that Jesus Christ was indeed God blessed for ever Neither will the Enemies of his Divinity be ever able to justifie the Apostle's Wisdom by saying that the Man whom he makes so great was not an ordinary Man Let him be an Angel let him be more than the Angels if he be a Creature he is infinitely below God Let us conceive a Creature as glorious as it is possible for any Creature to be there will still be an infinite difference between it and the Creator We cannot without the greatest imprudence say of it that it is equal to the Creator it would be utterly absurd to make a God of this Creature however advanced or dignify'd This is the Honour put upon St. Paul by those who affirm that this Jesus whose Glory he exalts so extreamly was no more than a meer Creature And whom doth this St. Paul speak to To the Philippians that is to Christians that had been either Jews or Heathens how untowardly did our Apostle go about to confirm them in their Vocation if Jesus Christ had not been God He hath to do with People who were apt enough to take offence at this Truth These Christians that before had been Jews were perswaded from their Infancy that it was a Crime of the highest Nature for any man to make himself equal with God They had been Instructed that for a like piece of Insolence the chief of the Angels had lost himself together with his whole Faction This was the very Creature that of all others was nearest to God and yet because he aspir'd to a greater nearness he was cast headlong into the Bottomless Pit They knew that the First Man fell into disfavour with his Creator for having affected to be as God They had been conversant in the Writing of the Prophets where they had been informed that God detests nothing more than Pride which made Man forget the meanness and lowness of his Nature Amongst other passages they had not forgot the Description the Prophet Isaiah makes of the King of Babylon Isa 14.12 How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning c. For thou hast said in thine heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God c. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high yet shalt thou be brought down to hell The Exhortations of the Prophets against Idolatry had made such an Impression on the Spirit of the Jews at the time that St. Paul writ this Epistle that there was no Sin which they did more abhor and detest than this We know what happen'd when Pilate undertook to put some Shields into the Temple of Jerusalem they were sain to take them away from thence because the People were offended to see the Faces of the Roman Caesars upon them Herod also having Erected Trophies in that Holy Place could not appease the Tumult but by shewing them that no Human Figure was found in them It is notorious also what happened when Herod had the Boldness to place an Eagle over the Gate of the Temple History is full of the Effects of the Tenderness of the Jews with respect to Idolatry at the Time of the Birth of Christianism We must here distinguish the Times for it is certain that in the time of the Prophets the Jews as by a Spirit of Contradiction run mad after Idols Neither did they begin to be wise in this Point till after the ceasing of the Prophets It is no less incontestable that the most of the Christians of Philippi had in their Education been made very sensible of any thing that approacht to the Worship of the Creature What therefore could be St. Paul's meaning in proposing to them a Jesus who makes himself equal with God if indeed Jesus had not been God This was a Capital Error and would have been the ready way to make the Christians to return to the Synagogue whence they were come forth If we will but allow our Apostle to have had any tolerable remainder of Sense and Understanding we must own that the Fear of incensing them to the utmost would have made him suppress what he saith of our Saviour if so be he had not been God if he had not really been that which the King of Babylon pretended to be We add this word because it is very probable that St. Paul in our Text made an Allusion to this Description wherein Isaiah represents a King whom he calls by way of derision Star of the Morning and who after having made himself like to the most High is sorely against his Will hurl'd down to the Grave It was a piece of manifest Robbery for this proud Monarch to take so soaring a flight I will shew you saith St. Paul who is the true Morning-Star truly equal with God and the very true God and who notwithstanding all these Transcendent Advantages humbled and emptied himself and that voluntarily It is no other than Jesus Christ who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Return we now to the second Order of Christians to whom St. Paul writes these were the Converted Heathens who had renounced the multitude of their Gods They had been made asham'd of a Plurality injurious to the Supream Lord of the Universe and they had suffer'd themselves to be persuaded that this God all alone was possest of the whole Glory of the Deity Themselves are become the Adversaries of the Religion they had forsaken they are astonisht to think how formerly they could believe a plurality of gods they deride the Error that communicates the Divinity to many Beings and those foolish Genealogies that furnish Saturn and Jupiter with Children Let somebody tell us now what is become of St. Paul's Wisdom to speak to a People of this Temper of a Son of God of a Jesus equal with God Would not they have stop'd his Mouth with some such return as this You plunge us into the same Errors whence you your self have so lately retrieved us You have made us Christians by perswading us that there is but One God we have believed it and now you come and violate this inculcated Unity I appeal to any Rational man whether any thing less than the invincible strength of Truth could have allowed St. Paul to deliver any thing like the Divinity of Jesus Christ He formerly asserts it though indeed if he had only spoken of it