same place of Exod. v. 15. God whom we ought to believe saith this is my name for ever which elsewhere he confirmeth p Isai 42. â— I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another So then that Name God accounts to be his Glory and that Name he would not give the Angel we have spoken of before in whom God said was his Name except he was his true Son and partaker of his Nature this is by another Prophet q Jer. 16.21 confirmed I will cause them to know mine hand and my might and they shall know that my name is the Lord and by another r Hos 12.5 even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial what follows is worthy of a most serious consideration Å¿ Psal 83.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth so then if God speaks truth Jehovah is his Name alone and of none else Another Prophet is not silent upon the matter t Amos 5.8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and makes the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his name One thing more I add how after the People had seen the Fire of the Lord fall upon Eliah's Sacrifice and consume it and all round about they fell on their faces and said the Lord be is the God 1 Kings 18.38 39. the Lord he is the God Who after these plain and convincing Evidences can be so much a Child of the Devil I mean a Lyar as to deny the Name Jehovah to be God's proper Name and consequently deny Christ who is Jehovah to be the true natural God By Jehovah and Jah is primarily denoted the Essence proper only to God whereby God is understood to have his Being of himself and to be efficient principle in a way of Excellency of all other Beings and the Name was not altogether unknown before Moses for in that place v Exod. 6.3 the Question is not properly or formally about the Word but the Thing as of the Unchangeableness of the Divine Truth and of the Deliverance of his People The Jewes are so scrupulous about the Word that they would not have it pronounced but with some change of Letters they impiously give a magical Virtue to the Characters whereunto they attribute all Miracles done by our Saviour the Name Schaddai signifying God's Self-sufficiency is also incommunicable but 't is of Attribute as the other of Nature They cannot deny that Christ or the Son is called Jehovah wherefore they betake themselves to another Shift which is to deny the Name to be incommunicable for say they it is attributed to Angels and to other things as unto the Mount where Abraham would have sacrificed his Son to Jerusalem and unto the Ark As to the first 't is not to be understood of any created Angel but of that Angel whom we proved to be God truly and properly whom the Name doth belong unto in a proper sense When spoken of the forenamed things 't is not to be taken as a Name but as a Commendation Testimony Sign and a Symbol as if one should say There John liveth there James reigneth by a kind of Metonimy used in human things when the thing contained is put for the containing as to the Ark when Moses saith q Num. 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered he doth not speak to the Ark a material Creature unable to hear and of it self to move but to Jehovah who had his Seat in it Of this we can have no surer Interpreter than David who saith r Psal 132 8. Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the ark of thy strength the Prayer is directed to God not to the Ark which were Idolatry the Ark doth neither rise nor return but after the manner of Men it is attributed unto God So in another place Å¿ Ps 68.1 Let God arise let his enemies be scattered besides these words of Moses were spoken when the Ark was upon a motion or at rest wherefore it had been improper to say to the Ark Rise when 't was going on and Rest when it was fixed so it must be to God who had appointed it there to manifest his special Grace or Glory Thus the Name Jehovah is consider'd either relatively or absolutely the first when joyned with some thing as we said of Jerusalem and of the Ark not to be absolutely but relatively understood as Jerusalem the City wherein Jehovah dwelleth God's Worship was tyed to the Ark for there as promised he spoke with Moses t Exod. 25 22. Levit. 16.2 1 Sam. 4 4 the second when God takes that Name to himself u Exodus 20.2 I am Jehovah or the Lord thy God and x Isai 42.8 Whose name is Jehovah the Lord of hosts Thus Moses and People say in their Song y Exodus 15.3 Jehovah is his name and that according to the Etymology which is as said from a word that signifies is hath been and herein we can agree with Crellius shall be which properly denoteth the Essence not generally but specially an infinite eternal Being existing of it self Now this figurative way of speaking in this kind is often used in Scripture whereof the following Text * Psal 24.5 6. is a considerable Instance This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob where Jacob is put for the God of Jacob to seek the Face is a Duty relating to God not to Jacob or any Man pressed upon us in the Word for the Psalmist not being satisfied to have said Psal 105.3 4. Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord he addeth this Command reiterated Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore 'T is then a Duty which God requireth of us for he saith * Psal 27.8 Seek ye my face and the obedient and dutiful Soul answereth My heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Hence it appeareth how this religious Duty to seek the Face is not directed to Jacob but to the God of Jacob who in the latter end of the foregoing Verse is named the Lord God of our salvation Thus after this figurative way of speaking the Name Jehovah is spoken of the Mount and of the Ark which are Jehovah no more than Jacob was and therefore when God's most holy Name is concerned Men must not be so rash as to fancy and vent their profane Notions and attribute unto any Man or other Creature whatsoever that which God hath reserved as proper to himself Tertullian tells the Heathens how their Philosophers called the Maker of the World by the Name the Word Second The Word which agrees with what S. John saith * John 1.3
he together with the Father John 5.17 doth work hitherto Thus spiritual creatures are preserved in their Individuum and corporeal in their Species he gives Food raiment and other necessaries unto all disposes of Times and Seasons causes his Sun to shine sends rain c. without which concourse of his the world would soon come to an end and this is a kind of a second Creation The exercising of a miraculous Providence is a kind of work which manifest's Christ to be the true Essential God for such things are beyond and above the power of nature and a property of the true Lord God of Israel who only doth wonderous things and this our Saviour did shew upon some extraordinary occasions in matters of nature Psal 72.18 and also of grace As to the first when he changed water into wine rebuked the wind and the Sea gave the blind sight made the lame to walk Matth. 9.33 John 9. â—2 curing diseases healing distempers virtue daily issuing out of him which made people wonder and admire because such things had never been so seen in Israel nor since the world began and to say that a great Prophet is risen up among us and that God hath visited his people and the Gospels are filled up with such miracles which he did in all kinds and of what nature soever were their infirmities and diseases he cured them all and as Peter said was approved of God by miracles Acts. 2.22 wonders and signs And in this virtue and power of his own he gave others power to do the like But they whom he gave that power to exercised it not in their or any others but in his name Matth. 10 1. Mark 16.17 18. Luke 10.9 to shew how the power of working miracles was only in and from him in my name they shall cast out devils speak with new tongues c. And work miracles by my power and authority Thus the seventy disciples being again returned with joy said Luke 10.17 Lord even the devils are subject unto us thorough thy name Thus Peter having healed the lame man said to the people which ran greatly wondering why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness Acts. 3.12.16 we had made this man to walk men being so apt to look upon and fix on second causes and instruments he first goes about to remove those thoughts out of their heads he directs them to the cause of the miracle Christ's name thorough faith in his name hath made this man strong which in the next Chapter before the high Priest and Councel they solemnly declared Chap. 4 10. be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified by him doth this man stand here before you whole And in another place he said to a certain man Aeneas Chap. 9.34 Jesus Christ maketh thee whole Hereby I shew Christ to have been the spring of miracles which were done in his name as before he wrought them himself in his own name whereby his divinity is evidenced The disciples could not at all times work miracles but Christ could Lord said the man if thou wilt thou canst mare me clean Matth. 8 2. John 5.21 and he quickneth whom he will so he answereth the man I will be thou clean and immediately he was cleansed One thing more must be observed upon this how Christ did miracles for his own glory which is not lawfull to say of any man beâ—â—ase it belongeth to God alone Prov. 16.4 to make all things for himself Thus of the Lord Jesus after his first miracle 't is said John 2.11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory Thus he said himself that the sickness of Lazarus was yeor the glory of God John 11.4 Chap. 9.3 that the son of God might be glorified thereby And so was the man's being born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him that is that in giving him his sight he might therein be glorified As amongst miracles raising one from the dead is the most conspicuous so therein at several times the Lord Jesus highly manifested his own divine power but in none so much as when he raised himself for when he by himself had purged our sins Heb. 1.3 John 10.18 he not only rose again from the dead but also sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high No man said he taketh away my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again I see so much of Majesty in those words and they are spoken with so much assurance that therein I perceive the character of his divine Power and Nature I joyn them together for I take them to be inseparable here is the triumph of the Son of God Colos 2.14 15. when not only he hath blotted out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and nailed it to his Cross but also having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it for all his euemies and ours received their mortal wound and laid dead under his Cross the works of the devil 1 John 3.8 Hos 13.14 1 Cor. 15.54 55 56 c. that is sin he destroyed and invisibly Satan was crucified with him O death he was thy plagues O grave he was thy destruction he conquered them all and thereby death which is the last enemy is by his resurrection swallowed up in victory After his resurrection Peter asserted it to be impossible it should have been otherwise or that he should be holden of death Whence Paul exalteth the exceeding greatness of the mighty power of God Acts. 2.14 Ephes 1.19 20. Rom. 1.4 which was wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead which same efficacy is elsewhere attributed to the spirit of holiness that is to the divinity in the Son distinguished from his humanity all which agreeth with what our Saviour had foretold of the temple of his body John 2.19.21 destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again understood of the temple of his body he rose not to be but because he was God thus much as to matters of Nature But Christ doth also works of Grace all understood under the name of redemption which hath two parts impetration or purchase and application through his active and passive obedience he hath fullfilled the Law for us and redeemed us from the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law having fully satisfied his Justice and reconciled us unto him he hath obtained the pardon of our sins by a sufficient attonement he made for the same through his Death and sufferings He by the mouth of the Prophet shews what he is at the coming out of his
understood what St. Paul saith Act. 20.27 how he had not shunned to declare unto the Elders of the Church of Ephesus all the counsel of God that is as much as 't was necessary for them to know for certainly he was not acquainted with all the Counsels of God What the Author saith Pag. 108. is false for the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God were incomprehensible except by means of a Divine Revelation so that none understood them but they to whom God revealed them and those whom they were not reveal'd unto could not know much less comprehend them therefore they in themselves were above the Capacity of those who needed a Revelation to understand them and of those who understood them not for want of a Revelation yet some had their Reason but to no purpose a Divine Mystery is such a Secret as all the wits of Men cannot of themselves find out 't is the glory of God to conceal a thing Prov. 25.2 The Doctor 's Dialogue between the Doctor and his Parishioner P. 113 114. is but an insipid thing We do not say every thing in our Religion is a Mystery but only some things are as the manner of the Lord Jesus's Union with the Members of his Mystical Body which the Apostle calls a great mystery Certainly the whole Matter of Salvation before it was reveal'd was a Mystery but still some things therein remain a Mystery for alas what a vast difference there is between that we know and that which we are ignorant of for saith the Apostle Now we see thorough a glass darkly and we know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 10 12. but when that which is perfect is come then we shall see face to face then shall I know even as I am known They brag of Reason which with them is commonly Sophistry which Paul exhorteth to beware of The true reason is that which is grounded upon and consonant with God's word Colos 2.8 the true Rule of it but our Reason is naturally perverted unsound misled over-ruled by Sence Lust and Passion I must take notice of something the Man saith which I cannot avoid calling by the name of Impudence among other places in his Pag. 130. of the first Edition the Orthodox he calleth Ignorant and Perverse Men Cavillers and Deceivers which are his own and Gangs proper Attribute 4â—o Modo Proprium Propriissimum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These Huffs and Hectoring Champions for Reason against Faith and Revelation are like those whom the Prophet speaks of that walk in the light of their own sire and in the sparks that they have kindled But saith God Isa 50 1â— This shall ye have of mine hand ye shall lie down in sorrow for that very same thing Socinians will believe of God no more than the Works of Nature and their Reason will teach them but we must know more or else our Reason must be subject to and depend upon Creatures even in those things which do far exceed Sense and Reason thus also they make their Reason the standing Rule of their Faith yet Scripture calling Faith the Gift of God doth thereby imply it not to be grounded upon Humane Reason or any thing in Man we know Reason to depend upon the Information of Sense so what we hear feel smell and taste we reasonably believe to be and our Senses being convinced our Reason is easily perswaded now this Opinion of theirs makes our Religion to depend upon Senses not upon Faith thus against Scripture it must be said we live and walk by Sight and Sence and not by Faith so what our blessed Saviour said to Thomas were in vain John 20.29 Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed for indeed Faith is a stedfast and firm Perswasion of what God hath promised be it almost unpossible to be thought by Humane Reason But the Socinian doth as good as say what he hath not seen he will not believe which Infidelity of his might as well extend it self to the sensible and visible World as to the Invisible and that which is to come which all his Reason cannot see thus he might not believe there are such Cities as Constantinople and Rome because he hath not seen them for what Revelation is in Religion and Spiritual Things that same Relation is in Temporal and Worldly thus he will not believe that Asia produceth very delicious Fruit Africa Monsters the Sea Whales because he hath not been an Eye-witness After this rate he must not believe the former Ages of the World nor take any thing upon the relation of others much less must he believe the Spiritual World which is of another Condition and Nature nor the Influences of Heaven which being not sensible do exceed his Reason They profess not to believe the Mysteries in Religion because their Reason cannot understand them but there are such things as we cannot comprehend yet must believe them even for that same reason that we cannot comprehend them Infiniteness is an essential Attribute of God yet that Infiniteness which is God infinite is every way incomprehensible to me and my very Reason and Philosophy must acquiesce unto this for the very Heathens would erect an Altar to the unknown Act. 17.23 or incomprehensible God whom them worshipped In Humane and Civil Things Reason is the guide which God hath given Man for his Direction even in those that relate to his Salvation but in a subordinate way to Religion which as as far above Reason as Heaven is above the Earth 't is not contrary to but serveth to enlighten and sanctifie it after which Reason is of a great Use for then it can out of Scripture draw Inferences and Conclusions but if Reason be the standing Rule of Faith whereby we are saved what will become of so many in the World who are quite depriv'd of the Use of Reason Is there no way out of Bedlam into Heaven or is there no Salvation for those who have no natural Reason to ground Faith upon Again if we should know no more of God than natural Reason can suggest that Knowledge would be confined within very narrow bounds we believe a Trinity of Persons in an Unity of the Godhead because God himself hath revealed it and whatsoever is in God is Infinite and Incomprehensible in all these Matters without the Light of Revelation tho' with the whole help of Reason to speak in the Prophet's Words Ise 59.10 We grope for the wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noon-day as in the night for indeed our own Light is but Darkness But Socinians will admit of no such things in God because their Reason cannot conceive it but their Reason is natural and the Revelation thereof supernatural their Reason is finite and the Godhead infinite Can a Quart-Bottle hold all the Water of the Sea or the Blind see the Sun That People begin with undermining God's Altar no
of great Physicians and if your Honours be pleased but to mind this and in earnest go about it you may by the Grace of God find it within your reach and not to exceed your Skill and Power to heal it which I pray God to move and inspire you to go upon now when temporal Concerns are at this time as good as over And after you hitherto have been working for Men be pleased with minding God's Work and his Glory to make a happy end of this Session From the Bench you sit upon as Judges be pleased first to look down upon the Nation of one side you may see the generality of it over Head and Ears in corrupt Principles and evil Practices wallowing themselves in their great many and frequent Sins which cry loud to Heaven for Vengeance on the other side you may represent unto your selves a very small Number who upon their Knees mourn for all these Abominations and pray to God to avert his so justly deserved Judgments then I beseech you look up towards Heaven and observe God with Thunderbolts in one Hand and Mercies in the other speaking thus Hitherto with me Prayers have prevailed over Sins and withheld my Hand from striking down but now Mercy and Judgment lye ready chuse which you will have O for God's sake whose Hand is lifted up take pity on the Nation and as far as God will enable you purge wash and cleanse it from blasphemous Opinions and wicked Practices or else prepare for the heaviest Judgments for the slower Vengeance is a coming the harder it strikes when come and 't is a fearful thing both in this Life and that which is to come to fall into the hands of the living God when he is angry he overtakes Men Persons and Nations in every kind of Judgment Hosea 3.12 14. therefore saith God will I be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the House of Judah as rottenness and if that be not enough I will be unto Ephraim as a lyon and as a young lyon to the house of Judah Men must not make Cyphers of themselves and insignificant as if they were thus placed only for a sign or a shew like Blazing Stars and fiery Vapours in the Sky but rather to have wholsom Influences upon things below their sphere to answer the end of him who lodged them in those high Stations no true Friend can patiently suffer nor no loyal Subject quietly endure his Friend or Prince to be ill spoken of if he can help it And shall not Men do for God that which they do one for another but quietly hear him blasphemed and robbed of his due when they ought and can help it My Lords and Honourable I hope the Consideration of these things will as I hinted at first though I be in no publick Station either in Church or State clear me from Blame for the Freedom I now assume thus openly to appear and most humbly to address my self to you that is to what next to Sovereignty is greatest and most sacred among us which I may well call the supports of Monarchy two parts of three of the Legislative Power the supreme Court of Judicature and the Representatives of the whole Body of the Nation One thing indeed there is that needs something of an Apology I know how short Epistles are usual and proper especially when so highly address'd as this is which is long and may be tedious which if it be I humbly beg Pardon but I thought the Matter and Nature of the thing the Greatness and Nearness of the Evil the Danger of worse the present Necessity of a Remedy and several other weighty Circumstances attending the State we now are in might plead for an Excuse And as this is the first time that ever I appear'd in your sight in this Capacity and is like to be the last so about this important Matter I have longer than ordinary allow'd my self the liberty of speaking my mind to the full As I wish so hope this most humble Request for the Cause of the Lord Jesus shall not be in vain however I enjoy the satisfaction to have given in my Evidence for the Truth whereupon I call Heaven and Earth for a Record and by the Grace of God shall ever be ready to do 't again in a due and proper manner without being either ashamed or afraid to own and declare out of what Springs we draw these living Waters Acts 17.2 with S. Paul reasoning out of Scriptures though with a sorrowful Heart let it be spoken we have among us too many Men unconcerned who Gallio like care for none of those things Chap. 18.17 for they are very narrow hearted But I hope that what is wanting abroad as to Piety Virtue and Concernedness for the Honour of God shall by his Grace be found within your Walls till by your Care and Zeal that great and good Work be brought to its Maturity and full Perfection which that ye may be able to do I beseech the only wise God the Father of Lights from whom proceedeth every good and perfect Gift to endue you from above with both Wisdom which consists in choice and Prudence in Fore-sight that of two Goods you may chuse the greatest and of two Evils the least and fore-see the Advantages of doing him Service and Dangers for being wanting therein which is the earnest Desire and hearty Prayer of Right Honourable and Honourable Your Honours most humble and most obedient Servant J. GAILHARD THE PREFACE IT is indeed very sad in a Countrey where the Light of the Gospel hath so clearly shined to see the Enemies of Christ so brazen-fac'd as not only to Print and Publish but even at the Doors of both Houses of Parliament to Distribute their Books full of Blasphemies and no other Check put upon them but burning one Copy may be of Thousands dispersed abroad which Impunity is for them an Encouragement to continue in their Crime In Commendation of the Parliament of Scotland I must take notice of the Act which in one of their last Sessions was passed there against Blasphemy whereby not only they ratified the Twenty First of the first Session of Charles II. but also Enacted farther that whosoever in Discourse or Writing shall deny quarrel argue or reason against the Being of a God or any of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity or against the Authority of the Holy Scripture or Providence of God in Governing the World shall for the first time be Imprisoned till he hath in publick acknowledged the Offence For the second Offence Imprisoned and a Fine besides and for the third Death as obstinate Blasphemers For indeed Blasphemy and Idolatry by God's express Command ought to be destroyed out of the Land Every thing hath its proper Center heavy things go down and light fly up and since the Glory of God is the proper Center of Man for he was created to Honor and Serve him Why then doth he not as well as
in this Comparison of Persons all Things may be acceptable unto him but hence it doth not follow that Christ is not of the same Nature with the Father seeing they are not compared in relation to the Essenâ—â— but herein he doth condescend to their Capacity whom not owning his Deity he would by degrees bring to the knowledge thereof As to the use of the Name of God in Scripture the remaining Evidences are reduced under two kinds First In some the Name of God is absolutely taken for God the Father Secondly In others is added an exclusive Particle which is by some joyned with the Name of God and by others with the Things spoken of and attributed unto God Out of the first nothing may be deduced contrary to this Doctrine for in all those places by them quoted which anon we shall mention is a Comparison of the Persons wherein the Name of God is properly attributed to the Father upon the account of Order and Origin but 't is inconsequent to say that in every place where the Name of God is absolutely taken that is without Comparison of the Persons it is to be understood only of the Father for in several places where the Word God is indefinitely set down yet it is by no means to be reduced to the Father alone as to the other sort of Proofs wherein an exclusive Particle is expressed that exclusive Particle relates to the Creatures and to every thing which by Nature is not God whither they be things in Nature as Sun Moon and Stars which Heathens worshipped as Gods or else those which are Effects of Man's fancy and imagination such are several Idols by foolish Men worshipped as Gods wherefore seeing the True and Essential God is opposed to those which by Nature are not Gods it follows that by the Word God may well be understood Father Son and Holy Ghost likewise though sometimes mention be made only of One Person we must not take it as if thereby the other Persons were excluded but only that which by Nature is not God and that this is a right Interpretation it may well be proved out of several places of Scripture as for Instance when God saith by * Isa 43.11 the Prophet I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour and by another †Hos 13.4 For there is no Saviour besides me Here in the Adversaries Opinion Salvation is attributed to the Father but that the Son is not excluded it appears out of several places amongst the rest out of this ‖ Act. 4.12.10 Neither is there Salvation in any other that is in Jesus Christ who hath been crucified and we know Scripture doth not contradict it self and if out of the Prophet's one would exclude the Son he might as well out of this exclude the Father Again the Lord Jesus saith No man knows the Father but the Son now if all but the Son be excluded from knowing the Father as in the foregoing Text he would be excluded from being a Saviour so in this from knowing himself also the Holy Ghost would be excluded from knowing the Father though he be said To * 1 Cor. 2.10 search all things yea the deep things of God in this very same Sense Paul said ‖ Chap. 2.1 10. I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified he doth not thereby deny that he determined to know the Father and the Holy Ghost but he meaneth he knows nor owns no way of Salvation out of Christ and v. â—1 The things of God knows no man but the spirit of God but in other places we read how * Joh. 5.20 the Father knows the Son and the Son knows the Father and the Father shews the Son all things that himself doth hence we may conclude how the Apostle speaks exclusively only of Creatures not of the Son nor of the Holy Ghost CHAP. VI. Christ is True Natural Son of God by Eternal Generation BUT we must by the Grace of God come to another Head as Scripture gives Christ truly properly and essentially the Name of God so it doth give him that of Son of God the First we shewed already the Second whereby he is declared the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity we must now speak of as we observed that the Word God in Scripture is spoken in several Senses as the True God properly Angels and Magistrates improperly and * Judg. 9.2 l. 46. Idols †2 Cor. 4.4 the Devil and the ‖ Phil. 3.19 Belly abusively So here I must say how the Name Son of God admits of Three different Significations for God hath three sorts of Sons for all others are reduced under these three Heads the First is by Creation and Preservation which is a continued Creation for * Act. 17.28 in him we live and move and have our being thus Adam is called †Luke 3.38 Son of God and Men ‖ Gen. 6.2 Sons of God on this Account God is Father of all Creatures whether in Heaven as Angels nay of the Sun Moon Stars of the Birds of the Air and on Earth of all Men Beasts Plants c. and of Fishes under Water this in relation to Nature and in general to the whole Creation The Second kind of God's Sons or Children is by Adoption and Grace such are his Elect and People of these in a special manner God is called the Father In a Third way Scripture speaks of a Son of God and of none else thus the only begotten from all Eternity namely our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is not Son according to the first manner which being common to all Men would make no difference between him and others and bring him into a Croud of the whole Work of Creation neither is he Son of God upon the account of Grace and Adoption which they would have him to be but if he be by Adoption how can he be the Only Begotten Son seeing that through Grace God hath adopted so many adopted Sons once and before their Adoption were not Sons of God which cannot be said of the Lord Jesus that the time hath been when he was not Son of God all and every adopted Son of God were once * Ephes 2. dead in trespasses and sins and by nature children of wrath even as others once †Colos 1.13 under the power of darkness and ‖ Rom. 5.10 enemies to God none of which things may without Blasphemy be spoken or thought of the Lord Jesus He is called Son not by Creation for * Colos 1.16 all things were created by him and one cannot be Creatour and Creature nor by Adoption for †Ephes 1.5 in him we are adopted nor by any Dignity or Eminency over inferiour Creatures as are Angels for the ‖ Heb. 1.4 5. Apostle denies it nor also upon the account of a personal Vnion or Incarnation as he is called Son
of Man's Body 't is to distinguish it from the Soul so of his Soul to distinguish it from the Body for though in one Man there be Soul and Body yet the Soul is not the Body nor the Body the Soul So in Christ though he be but one Person yet that Person consisteth of divine and human Natures one expressed by Spirit the other by flesh a necessary Distinction to make us know which Nature in him is spoken of for they ought not to be confounded each having its proper Attributes But as their way of arguing is altogether Cavils and Sophistries so they would put a false Gloss upon our Saviour's fore-quoted words That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh c. as if he were speaking of that which is naturally done but Christ's Conception and Birth is supernatural but see what a wrong Principle they go upon for the Conception by the Spirit they reckon to be natural as if the Spirit of God bestowed upon us in a spiritual Generation or Regeneration was natural to us when 't is a supernatural Gift of divine Grace Now seeing the Lord Jesus according to the Flesh is not born of any spiritual but a carnal Matter he is not properly born as of a Seed and so may not be called Son of God according to the Flesh though through the Operation of the Spirit he was born of fleshly Matter But that one may properly be said to be born of the Spirit 't is not enough to have the Holy Ghost be the Author of his Birth but also he must be born of spiritual Seed to the end there may be a Proportion betwen a spiritual and a carnal Birth or else if to have one to be properly born of God it be enough for God to create a carnal Seed then it would follow that all things which at first were created out of the Earth and Water through a Production of Seeds by God might be said to be properly born of God which is absurd so that after that manner Christ may not be said to be properly born of God and be his Son The Knowledg of this matter is of so high a Concernment that I must somewhat more enlarge upon 't Socinians would have Christ to be truly and properly Son of God according to the Flesh because say they God acted the part of a Man but we say how to the end one may in point of Generation act the part of a Man it is not enough to afford any matter of Generation but it is necessary it be out of his own Substance for if he affords another and foreign Matter that which is born may upon the account of such Matter by no means be called his Son nor be said to be born of such a one because he is not of his own Matter and Substance neither may he be accounted to be true Father to one so born he that is not born of the Flesh and Blood of a Man may not be called such a Man 's proper Son Certainly if a Woman should beget a Son of anothers and not of her own Substance she might not be called his true Mother for she communicated nothing unto him By the same reason one may not be called a true Father who is Author of Generation not of his own Body and Substance but of another's to be a true Son one must be begotten not only by the Father but also of the Father by the Father efficiently and of the Father in some manner materially that is either of the Father 's own Substance or out of that which is derived therefrom Hence it appears how in the Generation of Christ according to the Flesh the Father acted not properly the part of a Man because he communicated not his own Substance but made use of that of another wherefore Christ may not according to the Flesh be properly and absolutely called Son of God but only secundum quid and in some respects as Adam by God formed out of Clay is indeed called * Luke 3.38 Son of God but improperly for he was not begotten in the manner of a Son so Christ according to the Flesh must not properly be called Son of God not being begotten of God's Substance in the manner of a Son to be properly a Father is not to supply the part of a Father as Socinians say but really to beget of his own Substance or else he may not properly be called such a one 's Son Our Saviour indeed as to his human Nature is properly Mary's Son because begotten of her Substance but in this Generation of Christ God supply'd indeed the part of a Man as much as relateth to the absolute Generation of a Man but not as to the Generation of a Son so that in relation to God it may be called a Production rather than a Generation A Man by God's Will may be made of nothing or of any matter but a Son being a Relative to the Father with whom he hath a Consanguinity and Unity of Blood he must be formed of the very Substance of his Father To say that God created a new Matter in the Virgin 's Womb is to talk at random without the least ground for it in Scripture neither was it necessary for God could out of the Virgins Blood have caused a perfect Generation of a Man Wherefore we conclude that since Christ is called God the Father's proper and own Son he must be begotten of God the Father 's own and proper Nature and Substance Hence we do also infer that the Name of Son of God signifies some essential thing in Christ and not an Office and Dignity as appeareth out of the Acts †Acts 8.37 I believe saith the Eunuch that Jesus Christ is the Son of God for if to be Christ and Son of God signifieth the same thing then the words would contain this Tautology that Christ is Christ but upon this solemn occasion of his being about to be baptised in answer to what Philip had said that he is to be baptized in the Name of Christ so he must make a declaration that he believes in Christ and of what he believes him to be namely the Son of God so that the Name Son is not the Name of an Office as that of Christ but the Name of the Person that exerciseth that Office as good as if he had said This Jesus Christ whom thou hast preached to me is not to be consider'd only as the Son of the Virgin Mary who dyed and was crucified but also as the Son of God who liveth for ever To be Christ and to be the Son of God is not the same thing but different relations the Sonship hath a relation to a Father as the Patornity hath to a Son but the relation of the word Christ is either to God who * Heb. 1.9 anointed him or to the Church over which †Zech. 9.9 he is made King So then according to the formal Reason Son of God
understand how the Person therein spoken is from Eternity as 't is plainly expressed by * Prov. 8.21 22 24 25. Solomon when bringing the same Person to speak under the Name of Wisdom saith the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before his works of old I was set from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was when there was no depths when there was no fountains with water and before the mountains were settled I was brought forth that is before there was any Creature now that Christ is the Wisdom of the Father †1 Cor. 1.30 who of God is made unto us wisdom c. no Man ought to doubt of Another Text to prove this Eternity is one of the Names whereby the Prophet calls Christ when he fore-telleth his Birth in the place which we had occasion to speak of before ‖ Isa 9.6 the everlasting Father here is Eternity in the very Spring he not only is Everlasting but is the Father of Eternity it-self in the abstract A farther Proof we draw out of another Prophet who speaking of the place where the Messiah was to be born saith Micha 5.2 Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting Upon the occasion of knowing the place where Christ should be born the * Matt. 2.4 5 6. Evangelist saith how all the Chief Priests and Scribes quoted this very place to Herod so that as certainly as he was to be born and was actually born there as certainly his goings forth have been from of old from Everlasting this Prophecy was made several hundreds of years before his Birth yet at that very time he was said to have gone forth from of old what is to be understood by this from of old he there explains it thus from everlasting the Hebrew word signifieth from the Days of Eternity whence we may surely conclude that the Person spoken of in that place namely the Lord Jesus hath been and is from Eternity here two goings or comings forth be expressed one passed from of old from everlasting the other to come out of thee Bethlehem shall he come forth c. Daniel calls him the antient of days which is the very same Name in ver 13. of the same Chapter given the True God of Israel whether taken Essentially or Personally whereby is denominated the true everlasting God Now out of the New Testament on my way I shall take notice of the place where he is called * Colos 1.15 the first born of every creature which as the Adversaries would have it doth not include him amongst the Creatures rather it declares him not to be a Creature if he was not made with the Creatures in time then he was before all Creatures were made that is from Eternity for he that was before all Creatures is not created so he was first born because born before any Creature was far from being a Creature he is the Creatour for he created all things as anon we shall have occasion to shew Before I go on this I must say how Socinus's unhappy Design and great Mistake is to interpret Scripture meerly by Criticisms upon the words without any regard to the scope of the place or the analogy of Faith thus he searches into all the Senses that they are possibly capable of till he can find one though never so forced to serve the Opinion he is prepossessed of and before hand though never so contrary to the plain and natural Sense of the place In the Preface to his Explication of the first of John's Gospel he owns not wihtout Vanity how his Interpretation is new quorum verus sensus c. the true Sense of which words saith he seems to have been hid from all the Expositors that ever were extant how proudly is this to applaud himself as if he alone had known God's mind as if the Spirit of God had not assisted but departed from all Good and Learned Men for 1500 years after Christ this is an over-affected singularity of his to turn all into Allegories such shifts to defend a Cause do declare it to be bad for 't is only to preserve it from sinking and if once a Man hath leave to suppose what he pleases then he may prove what he will of this now I shall give but one Instance if by the word beginning which we read in John 1.1 we must as he doth contrary to all particulars of the Text and the scope of the Evangelist understand the beginning of the Gospel then according to this way of explaining by the word beginning which we read in Gen. 1.1 we may understand not the beginning or Creation of the World but of the beginning of the Mosaical Dispensation and so the Creation of Heaven and Earth to be the Institution of the Jewish Religion and so several other things of the same Nature this misinterpretation of Holy Scripture is very injurious to 't and dangerous for after such Notions and Fancies no Error though never so absurd can want one pretence or other to set up against the scope of Texts and Anology of Faith But now we must go on * Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the word saith St. John in that beginning the Word was with God and in the same beginning the same Word was God it being granted that Christ is signified by the name Word that the Word is God the Eternity of Christ may easily and naturally be understood by the Word Beginning it appears how the Evangelist's Design is to assert the Divinity of Christ wherewith he abruptly begins his Gospel under that name he speaks of him in the fourteen former Verses of his first Chapter and then mentions it no more he saith nothing of his Birth nor of any Circumstance of its Time Place or Person but barely when where what he was and what he did this is plain enough if some Men of perverse Judgment had not thorough vain Deceit and Cavils gone about to darken and wrest that Truth By this beginning of time is here as in other parts of Scripture when spoken without limitation understood the beginning of the World it having here as I observed before the same Signification as in the first Verse of the Book of Genesis in the beginning God created c. and that this is the meaning of this place it appears out of the second and third Verses in the second is repeated what is said in the first the same was in the beginning with God upon what occasion was he then with God Certainly about the Work of Creation for ver 3. it is said All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made and what I say is the meaning of the word Beginning I can make it appear out of Scipture and that what they say to reduce it only to the beginning of the Gospel is a