which saith Acts 14.15 Chap. 17.24 26. in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth which is certainly the same as created so God made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things that are therein And God that made the world and all things therein Again and hath made of one blood all Nations of Men c. So he is a great stranger to Scripture who denies to Make the World and to Create the World not to be the same so seeing this shift cannot hold they betake themselves to another which is that God made the world by Christ as aâ—â— instrumental cause but that sort of men will go about overturning Heaven and Earth rather than to depart from their damnable opinions for what can they ground upon this instrumentality of Christ For the preposition by signifieth no such thing as it appears out of the following places Gal. 1.1 Eph. 1.1.1 Cor. 1.9 Rom. 11.36 Heb. 2.10 Paul an Apostle not of men nor by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father And Paul an Apostle of Jesus by the will of God Also God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Elsewhere for of him and through or by him and to him are all things Furthermore for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things c. No sign in these or many more places of the word by signifying any instrumental Cause God by whom are all things Colos 1.17 never made the world by and instrument but by his word who not only in Dignity but also in nature and time is before all things The adversaries cannot upon any rational grounds prove that the Apostle meant the world to come but we want no good reasons to shew how the Creation of the world is to be understood for first 't is neither the idiom of the Jews nor the stile of Scripture by the world to understand the future for out of these words of verse 10. And thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth Heb. 1.10 out of Psal 102.25 and the heavens are the work of thine hands I see no cause why the Creation of the world should not be understood rather than the beginning of the Gospel the ancient earth rather than the new one and the old Heavens rather than the new The more because when the Apostle intends to speak of the world to come he plainly saith it when he speaks of those that have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Chap. 6.5 Chap. 2.5 So he doth when he saith unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come So when he hath a mind to say a thing he well knows how to express it Moreover if he had said in the present he males not in the praeter tense he might have left some thing more of liberty thereby to understand the future for speaking in the time past he shews how he doth speak of those ages which the praeter tense doth fit better than the future Furthermore the worlds or ages in the plural is more proper for ancient times than for that which is to come for this world hath had several ages and shall continue to have till the last day but after that the world to come shall last for ever and be all Eternity without end And when Scripture doth by the name world signifie the future not only it doth add a distinction as whosoever shall for Christ's sake leave all Mark 10.29 30. Luke 18.30 shall in the world to come have life everlasting But also ever speaketh in the singular number the reason is because this world hath several ages and that which is to come shall have but one Besides I must say how the Apostle understands the world which God already had made and not that which he was to make by his Son that which was made had a being but that which was to be made had none so we must conclude he spoke of things that were and not of that which was not Now that the Lord Jesus as principal and efficient cause made the world and so that the word beginning is to be understood of the Creation it appears out of this Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son which our Saviour represented before by the parable of the Vineyard and the Husbandmen Maâ—â— â—1 33 This Son he hath appointed heir of all things by whom he made the worlds Angels are called only God's Ministers but Christ is called the Son the first begotten not made upon which account the Author of the Epistle affirms the Son reaâ—lâ— and truly to be God and proves it out of Psal 45.6 7. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And this the Apostle still speaking of the same proves by his having created the world v. 10. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the sound dation of the earth Observe how the word beginning is meant of the Creation of the world which is attributed to the Son 't is added and the heavens are the works of thine hands which must necessarily be understood in a literal sence of the Creation of the world and not of the new Creation of things by the Gospel out of what follows v. 11. They shall perish c. and be changed c. This shall be the fate of the natural world which cannot be said of the work of Regeneration or new Creation The word was in the beginning 1 Joh. 1.1 which is the same with from the beginning as expressed by the same Apostle that is of the time of the Creation when things began to be made that is from Eternity by these phrases before the world was and before the Foundation of the world the first born of every Creature that is before any thing was created Col. 1.15 16. as appears by the reason given in the next words For by him were all things created c. For he could not be before himself and had created himself which is absurd In the place 't is explained he is before all things in time or dignity because the maker is always in time before the thing which he made This head we shall conclude with the following Text 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Here the Apostle upon the occasion of eating things offered unto Idols saith that an Idol is nothing in the world though it be called God as many things are called Gods and Lords yet in reallity are not so the names of God and Lord do properly belong only to the true God whom he here opposeth to things falsely
Coeternal he makes them Equal for them to say that the word being with God signifies that the word was known to God but not to Men doth them no good the knowledge of this doth comprehend the whole Mystery of our Redemption which the Son who is in the Bosom of the Father hath revealed unto us but to the thing if this imported no more but that Christ was known to the Father What could he thereby have more than we No Prerogative at all for before the Foundation of the World God knew us and We were present with him Christ was with the the Father that is had a real Existence did subsist in himself which cannot be said of us or of any Creature wherefore the Word must need have been before his Incarnation In the Third place 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God which is properly to be understood as is * 1 Joh. 5.20 that other place we are in him that is true in his Son Jesus Christ that is the true God and eternal life and elsewhere †Tit. 1.3 God hath in due time manifested his word through preaching which is committed to me according to the commandment of God our Saviour repeated Chap. 3.4 and Chap. 2. he is called †Tit. 2.12 Rev. 19.17 the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ and in another place he is named ‖ 1 Tim. 1.1 God our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ now this God Lord and Saviour is but One and this is Jesus Christ whose Apostle he owns himself to be and the Gospel he preached * Gal. 1.12 he was taught by the Revelation of Jesus Christ who again is called †1 Tim. 2.3 God our Saviour There must be special Cause why the words God and Saviour are so often joyned together and both attributed to One Person the Lord Jesus he is God as truly and really as he is Saviour which we hope the Adversaries will not have the confidence to deny him to be in the strictest Sense though otherwise they rob him of what they can he is then a Saviour by Office and God by Nature to save Men from the Dominion of Sin from the Curse of the Law from the Devil Death and Hell requires a true real Divine Power which none but a Divine Nature is or can be possessed of Moses was relatively called God and Cyrus God 's Anointed or Messiah but they were but Types of the great Deliverer Every one knows Moses was not God nor Cyrus the Messiah but to say Christ Jesus is called God though he be not is the effect of a brazen faced Impudence of an invincible Ignorance of the Mind or hellish Perverseness of the Heart as good as to conclude that because 't is said he is of God made unto us †1 Cor. 1.30 Wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption therefore he is neither nor God by Nature when he saith ‖ Joh. 15.5 without me you can do nothing which may not be said of Men. The Fourth Reason out of St. John is this * Joh. 1.3 all things were made by â—him and without him was not any thing made that was made certainly the Work of Creation doth evince the Eternity of the Word for the Workman must be before his Work and the Creator before the Creature now the Word being the Maker must need be before Mary here they would cavil and confine this making of Things within the Work of the New Creation or renewing of the Creature but the following Words without him was not any thing made that was made are universal and comprehend every thing Temporal or Spiritual Creation of the World or Regeneration of Men though we own the Creation of the World is the scope of the place compared with Coloss 1.15 All things were created by him and for him which doth appear out of ver 10. the world was made by him and God created all things by Jesus Christ Ephes 3.9 and to remove all grounds of Exception we have it in the Plural Number which doth include all †Heb. 11.3 the worlds were framed by the word of God Another Reason might be brought out of ver 14. of this same Gospel the word was made flesh but this we shall by the Grace of God bring in under another Head In Scripture we have several places which either do express or imply two Natures in the Person of our blessed Lord and Saviour the Prophet Isaiah doth among others afford us Two very considerable the first is this * Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel this affords several things seriously but now briefly to be thought upon this Prophecy is a sign given Ahaz King of Judah to Comfort him when the Kings of Israel and of Syria came up against him with a Promise that they should not prevail and that he might be confirmed and assured of the performance he is bidden to ask a Sign which he refusing to do gave for Reason he would not tempt God whereupon is made this Gospel-Promise which was performed at the time of the Conception and Birth of our blessed Saviour whose Mother was a Virgin and whose Name was Immanuel a Name given him at that time by the Prophet through God's own appointment and when the Angel delivered his Message to Mary he makes use of some of the Words of the Prophet * Luk. 1.31 thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son and shalt call his Name Jesus because he was to save his People and when the thing was fulfilled the Evangelist doth point at and quote this Prophecy adding the Interpretation of the Name ‖ Matt. 1.21 Immanuel God with us So there is no doubt to be made that this wholly and only related to our Saviour never any other Virgin did conceive and bring forth never was the Name Immanuel given any one else and cannot be wrested so as to be given to any Son to be born of Ahaz for some Reason which I presently shall produce Immanuel is God with a Divine Essence Christ is the Immanuel so we must conclude he hath the Divine Essence for God with us hath the Divine Essence and God with us is Immanuel the Name God is not spoken of Angels of no King or Magistrate of no Idols which are the several significations of the Word God used in Scripture wherefore he whom this Name is given to must be the true essential God and this same Evangelical Prophet in the next Chapter but one after this calls him by the Name used in this place and the Word El which makes the latter end of the Name doth not barely signify God but the Mighty God this Word makes part of that of Michael whose signification is who is like unto thee thou mighty God and he that beareth it is called * Jud. 9. Archangel Prince of Angels for Angels are called †Rev. 12.7 his and
he seemed not to be born on Earth but rather fallen from Heaven having neither beginning of Days nor ending of Life but made like unto the Son of God whereof he was a Type shewing these Attributes to be more proper to and true of the Son of God which cannot be otherwise understood then thus either that the Son of God hath such a Nature as doth by no means come and is derived from earthly and carnal Parents without beginning or end and so eternal to all eternity such as is divine Nature or else that both Natures of Christ divine and human are denoted human without Father upon Earth divine without Mother in Heaven and either overthrows the imaginary Notion of Socinus of Father according to the Flesh This must not be understood of the Priesthood about which the Question is not but about his Origine and Genealogy he is said to be without Father or Mother not but that he had some only there is no mention nor description made of it for the Greek word without Genealogy signifieth not the Genealogy it self but the description of it besides that the words without beginning of Days or ending of Life may by no means be applyed to the Priesthood wherefore he is said to have no beginning of Days not but that he had but is brought in as if he had not to answer him whose Type he was Days and Life are not referred to a Priesthood but to a Being a Person an Existence and Life the beginning or ending whereof absolutely no mention is made at all so then in this place the Comparison is not about the Priesthod but about the eternal Person of Christ for Christ's Priesthood had a beginning as is expressy set down in Scripture * Heb. 5.5 6. For he glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto him thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as he saith also in another place Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec So then in that sense it cannot properly be applyed to Christ 't is frivolous to say as if it were to be understood of any Family for the Apostle absolutely speaks of beginning of Days not of a Priesthood to speak absolutely of a Beginning and of a beginning of a Family are two things and that is to wrest the Apostle's sense and meaning and make him say a thing which he never intended We don't deny but that the Apostle speaks of the Priesthood of Melchisedec and of Christ's but it must be owned he also speaks of other things as of Melchisedec's being King of Righteousness King of Salem King of Peace c. and his being without beginning of Days or ending of Life relates to his Person and Life for no mention is made of his Birth or of his Death though both besel him but from the Eternity of his Person the Apostle inferreth the Eternity of his Priesthood So then when the Lord Jesus is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Person of Melchisedec the two last are not to be understood of his temporal Generation and Birth of the Virgin for two Evangelists have written his Genealogy but of his eternal Generation and of this speaks the Prophet †Isai 53.8 Who shall declare his generation An Expression equivalent to this no Man can it is eternal incomprehensible When our Saviour was born of the Virgin he was born in time ‖ Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come as Scripture calls it Now this Parallel between the Type and Anti-Type Melchisedec and Christ doth not run upon our Saviour's Birth according to the Flesh and about his human Nature but about something higher his Divinity wherefore the Apostle in the place where he saith Melchisedec to be without Father c. doth ascend higher saying * Heb. 7.3 but made like unto the Son of God The more â—o prosecute this Argument we must say how Christ in his Childhood even in the Womb was God for he is Immanuel God with us from the Virgins Womb the thing is clear out of this that God being not Flesh but Spirit can have no carnal only spiritual Sons the true Birth makes the true Sons and this is of two sorts those that are born of the Flesh are carnal those of the Spirit are spiritual for saith Christ Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit now to be born of the Flesh is to be born of a carnal Seed as to be born of the Spirit is to be born of a spiritual Seed wherefore Peter †Pet. 1.23 24 25. mentioneth two Seeds one corruptible the other incorruptible that of the Flesh as Grass withereth away the spiritual endureth for ever If then Christ was born of the Spirit as not long before we took notice the Adversaries would have him to be because he is said to have been conceived by the Holy Ghost then that Birth of Christ would be spiritual but not according to the Flesh 'T is not without cause that when Scripture speaks of our Blessed Saviour in several places it makes a restriction according to the Flesh and an Opposition to 't according to the Spirit thus 't is in the fore-quoted places Rom. 1.3 4. and Chap. 9.5 thus The word was made flesh the Word and Flesh do signifie two different Principles distinguished and in opposition one to another So the Apostle saith * 1 Pet. 3.18 Chap. 4.1 Christ was put to death in the Flesh but quickened in the Spirit and again He hath suffer'd for us in the flesh that is in his human Nature then in him is a Nature in which he suffer'd not and 1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh In one and the same Subject are two different Natures divine signified by the word God and humane by the Flesh What mean those words of S. Peter * Acts 2.30 31. how God had sworn unto David That of the fruit of his loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ and that his Flesh did not see corruption but to shew that in Christ was another Being different from that according to the Flesh according to which he was not David's Son Thus S. Paul as already quoted said God sent his Son in likeness of sinful Flesh there is a difference between being Son of God and being in the likeness of sinful Flesh And elsewhere †Ephes 2.15 Colos 1.22 Heb. 5.7 Ch. 10.20 Having abolished in his Flesh and You hath be reconciled in thâ—â—body of his Flesh again Who in the days of his Flesh and Through the vail that is to say his Flesh that visible Vail did hide some invisible thing Now I say it were in vain in Scripture to see so often mention made of Christ's Flesh if there was in him no other thing as the ground of the Distinction thus when we speak
that of the Apostle â—om 4.17 God calleth these things that be not as though they were And by that very word the Angels were made as every other Creature was not as by an Instrument for the particle by is not a sign of an Instrument but of an order in the Creation Rev. 19.13 To our purpose notable is that place his name is called the word of God which makes it appear that the name word of God is appropriated to and appliable to none but him as a Person if the name belongs to him then also the thing as indeed every where in Scripture the Word Father and Holy Ghost are distinguished one from another so John calls him the Word before he was made flesh and before the Creation Herein we may observe Socinians to be worse than Aâ—â—ians who owned Christ to have been from the time of the Creation when they would have him to have been only from that of his Birth But he was in the form of God before he took upon him the form a Servant he existed before Phil. 2.6 7. as indeed before his Incarnation he governed his people was with them in the Wilderness gave them meat and drink for he was the Manna and the Rock out of which they had Water he was the Angel whom God promised to send before them and before his being made flesh he reconciled regenerated preserved and interceded for his people if this be true as certainly it is according to Scripture why should he not have been in the beginning of the Creation and have had a hand in it For there is the same reason for all these if he existed but one year before his Incarnation then we may conclude for a hundred and thousands and so to Eternity upon the same ground on which he existed before he was man it could not be according to his humanity for no man can be said to be before he is but in a different respect from that whereby he is nothing can resolve this difficulty or reduce this impossibility into an act but owning him as he is the Eternal Son of God who when all things are said to be made and created is himself said to be begotten Notwithstanding the clearness of this Truth they use all means to darken it first against the 1. and 3. v. all things were madâ— by him in the beginning say they of the state of the Gopel but nothing more false if we â—â—â—sider every word and the scope of the 〈…〉 was in the beginning simply said without 〈◊〉 relation to this or that but absoluâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 beginning of all things then the Evangelist will have us to look higher when he addeth the word was with God And if Christ was in the beginning of the Gospel then he was in the beginning of the world for as I observed before the Gospel was preached in the beginning of the world and immediately after the Fall the Messiah was promised but as the design of St. John is to assert Christ's divinity he doth it by degrees as first In the beginning was the Word then He was with God and so to go higher he saith He was God and to shew it farther he comes to the effect namely the Creation of the world All things were made by him c. Secondly they would darken v. 10. the world was made by him whereby they understand the world to come but they forge ambiguities where there is no cause for it here is the world with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any Epithet and thus it is usually taken for the work of Creation and they ought to give a reason why in this place the word world should have a rare and unusual signification and why the Evangelist should bring in ambiguous terms in a thing which he designeth to make plain and clear Neither are there instances that the name world signifies an age or a world to come which is as absurd as if one would say this world signifieth this Life and suppose world meaneth life to come as to enjoy it and to be in Heaven denote the same it would follow that Christ made Heaven which is part of the work of Creation If the Evangelist by the world was made by him had meant only a new Creation or renewing of the old he would have added something to shew it is not to be understood of the old Creation but there is nothing to that purpose on the contrary he could not more plainly have said that the World spoken of is the same as was made by the word So the Apostle saith positively and absolutely The world was made by him but they say it was not made by him but only renewed in this sence they would have these Texts to be understood He lighteth every man that cometh into the world and he is Saviour of the world but as every man is not inlightened and saved by him for the world knew him not it must be understood say they that he doth what he can to save and renew the world but they ought to know there is a great difference between giving Christ the title of Saviour of the world and saying He renewed the world saved and enlightned every man in the world after this manner we might say John Baptist Paul and every Apostle renewed the world in as much as they desired and laboured after that it might be so yet it would not sound well to say the world was made by John and the Apostles which must be inferred from thence if to make the world be only to do what one can to have it renewed The world was made by him expresseth two things the Thing anâ— the Cause the Thing the world was made the Cause by the Word and if the first proposition be true so is the second Now an effect is visibly seen out of this assertion the world was made Another text to prove the Creation of the World by Christ is this The first born of every Creature Colos 〈◊〉 15 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or domiâ—â—ons or principalities or powers â—ll things were created by him and for him This place is clear and full whence we draw this he who is the first born of every Creature is in time before every Creature not that he should thereby be reckoned among the Creatures only he therein is 〈◊〉 a metaphore dâ—noted to be first of all that in 〈◊〉 things he may 〈◊〉 the preeminence and not 〈…〉 accounted of the same kind with others for 〈…〉 not first created but first born Ye◠〈◊〉 the first born as to be the only begotten and he may also be called a Creature according to the Flesh and as he is a man but not according to the Spirit The reason given why Christ is so called 't is this for by him were all things created which shews plainly that Christ is not
so called As for us we own but one God and one Lord whom he gives proper attributes unto the one God is the Father of whom are all things and we in him the one Lord is Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him for as all things are of him of whom all things are made so all things are by him by whom they are made so then as all things are by Christ he must be before all not only in dignity but also in time Out of this Text we learn first that as there being but one Lord even Jesus Christ doth not exclude God the Father from being Lord so there being but one God even the 〈◊〉 doth not exclude the Lord Jesus from being God also and the Apostle not only affirms that it is so but withall he sheweth how it is by means of the prepositions of and by here used all things are of God the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ all things have the same Principle and Cause but somewhat in a different manner all things are of the Father but by the Son which in the work of making all things sheweth a sort of distribution thereof in the way of it and such a kind of subordination if I may so call it between the two persons as if neither of them was precisely the adequate cause of all things but the person of one God by the person of one Lord and the person of one Lord of the person of one God for if all the same things were not of one God by one Lord but some of one God others of one Lord then the strength of the words of and by with the Order and Coherence between one Lord and one God would fall and so the assertion of one God would be false because there would be two equally first and immediate principles of all things than which nothing can be more contrary to Scripture and reason for the one God is he who is the Supreme Cause not of somethings only but of all and the one Lord is he by whom not only some but all things were and what all these things are it doth appear out of all the Texts I upon this point have made use of being compared together which can make the thing plain enough to any unbiassed and unprejudiced man If here Christ be excluded from being God by the same reason shall the Father be excluded from being Lord. But it seems nothing in the world can stop the boundless impiety of men who with their restrictions will as far as they can confine the Spirit of God within their own Sence for upon the Text they say by all things we are to understand only those which belong to the Church of Christ and to Christianity as such which is a meer invention of Socinus's Brain and not of Christ or of his Apostles However rather than to be mute something he will say that the word all can have no relation to those things that were before him that is before he was born of the Virgin wherein he goes upon his wrong principle as if he was not at all before he was born of Mary for though we own that according to the flesh Christ was not properly before he was born of her yet according to the Spirit he was as accordingly hath been sufficiently demonstrated and as to that Spiritual and Divine Being of his all things were made by him and he was Lord over all But this Dominion of Christ he is endeavouring to reduce not only within the time of our Saviour's being born of the Virgin but also within that of his Resurrection But therein he makes a confusion between Christ's purchased and his natural Dominions which ought well to be distinguished the first was indeed after his death and resurrection grounded upon our redemption as formerly the special Right and Dominion of God over the people of Israel was entailed upon his having delivered them out of the Egyptian bondage but tho he had not delivered them yet still he had been their Lord upon another and more ancient account thus before Christ redeemed us by his death he had a natural Dominion over all things he was our Lord because we were the work of his hands before he was our Lord by a special purchase for before he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant he was in the form of God Son of and equal with God 't is said indeed Rom. 14.9 that Christ both died and rose that he might be Lord both of the dead and living because there the question is about his acquired Dominion but in this place both are spoken of for Christ is opposed unto Idols upon the account of both his Dominions of which both the ground is contained in the words by whom are all things and all things are said to be by him not because he is Lord but rather he is Lord because all things are by him He is Lord of all Acts 10.36 The Apostle saith absolutely and without restriction of whom and by whom are all things yet they would have it reduced only to Christians as such Because 't is said to us but 't is not said of whom or by whom we have all things or all things are ours but barely and generally of whom and by whom are all things without any particular relation to Christians but this would follow that if according to the several relations we stand in we should have some things of one and others of another namely such as creatures such as men and such as Christians we would divide the supreme cause so that there should not be only one but many thus not only one God and one Lord but many quite contrary to what the Apostle saith Besides that if such a restriction be put upon the words one Lord by whom are all things the same must be layed upon the former one God of whom are all things whereby they shall presume upon the Father as well as upon the Son for there is the same reason for both so that both ought either generally or particularly to be taken which how presumptuous an attempt this is let any impartial man judge Not only the work of Creation but also that of divine Providence that is preservation and governing of the world is attributed unto Christ Colos 1 1◠this is of two kinds Ordinary and Miraculous the first spoken of when 't is said and by him all things consist for in the foregoing verse having said by him were all things created in this he addeth by him all things consist for he not only created but also preserveth all things and as 't is said else where all things are upheld by the word of his power Heb 1.3 in which place as in the foregoing is shewed how he who made the world doth also preserve the same the two go together and be inseparable and in the preservation of this world and works of Nature by him created
of the Godhead The Blasphemer was by God's immediate Command stoned to death by the whole Congregation Levit. 24.24 because as the Sin and Scandal were publick so was the Punishment to be and here the Law alloweth the Ecclesiastical Courts to proceed against Offenders in the Capital Cases of Heresy and Blasphemy Capital I call them for if in human Things Treason and Rebellion be so then fundamental Heresy and Blasphemy are such in those of a Divine Nature * Sir Tho. Ridley's View of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws p. 59. see the Margin against such is provided Sentence of Death which here hath actually been executed upon some thus one Bartholomew Legat for these Arian and Socinian Blasphemies was on the 18th of March in 1611. burnt in Smithfield and in the following Month of April Edward Wightman was for the same burnt at Litchfield Queen Elizabeth having heard of some of them in her time said She was grieved to hear she had such Monsters in her Kingdoms If Bishop Hall was now alive how much more cause would he have had to say Irem Sect. 23. hoc avo c. In this Age the Souls of Christians are seduced not only by Papists Anabaptists Antinomians and Pelagians sed per infernalem Socinianorum haeresim but by means of the hellish Heresy of Socinians Anti trinitarians New Arians we have cause here in England to fear the utmost and last Destruction of Christian Religion Let upon this account no just Cause be given to renew that Lamentation of Jeremiah the Law is no more chap. 2.9 least out of a just Judgment of God this should follow the Gospel is no more for us I tremble to think how at last God will with a witness take notice of those who now take no notice of him nor of his Concerns We read the Character of a wicked Man in the Person of Pharaoh Exod. 5.2 when he said Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Well saith God I will make thee know me before I have done with thee wherefore in Scripture by the Prophets especially by Ezekiel in so many places God's usual Stile when either he threateneth or executeth Judgments is this and they shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 30.19 chap. 20.26 he saith thus will I execute judgments in Egypt and they shall know that I am the Lord and sometimes these Punishments are inflicted to the end they might know that I am the Lord. God grant none in this Land for want of performing their Duty in his Station do provoke God in the way of Judgments to make them know he is the Lord who both acts and speaks with a strong hand Isa 8.11 Whether or not the Ecclesiastical Court hath in this occasion of Socinianism acted its part according to Laws I must not take it upon me but leave it for the World to judge but this I now do insist upon that whether or not it be done in conformity to Law the Magistrate is about it to be addressed to for in such cases he at last is to act his part as ever 't was practised by those Christian Emperours who upon the like occasion minded the Glory of God But here we must stop a little for fear of being thought to insinuate to our Superiours any thing relating to the Duty of their place which we are not so vain as to think of in the least but one of the Grounds we go upon is out of the Book called the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws began in the days of Henry VIII and continued in the time of Edward VI. under the Head of Judgment against Heresies these words are positive Tùm consumptis omnibus aliis remediis ad extremum ad Civiles Magistratus ablegetur puniendus Every other Remedy proving useless the obstinate Heretick must at last be sent to the Civil Magistrate to be punished De judiciis contra haereses c. 4. de contumacibus Haereticis and as to the point of Blasphemy in the first Chapter under that Head is pathetically expressed the detestableness of that most wicked and in some Sense unpardonable Sin in Chap. 2d quomodo sit punienda blasphemia 't is said sit igitur hoc à nobis constitutum ut haec execrabilis blasphemiarum impietas quà m primùm de eà ritè constiterit ab Episcopis nulla ratione toleretur sed eodem supplicio confixa sit quâ pertinax haereticorum insania plectitur c. wherefore we order thus that the execrable Impiety of Blasphemy assoon as the Bishops have found it out shall by no means be tolerated but shall suffer the same Punishment as is inflicted upon obstinate Hereticks the constiterit is not so much in relation to Blasphemy it self which is easily known when either things belonging to God as Infiniteness Eternity Unchangeableness Holiness c. are denied him and attributed to the Creatures or when things contrary to his Nature as to lye to deny himself c. are fathered upon him or when Men do curse him but the constiterit doth regard the Blasphemer and guilty Wretch when he is found out according to this Ridley in his View c. p. 35 36. Bishops are to take Cognizance inquire into and declare whether or not the Person or Persons be guilty of Blasphemy which being clear he or they are to be delivered into the Civil Magistrates hands but if through neglect or otherwise any of the Bishops happen not to act their Part but stop the Course of Justice certainly the Magistrate is to look into 't and do his Duty though others do not theirs 't is nothing but what is very Just that every Man's hand should be against those Ishmaels whose hand is against every Man As to the Laws I mentioned just before they were by the Excellent Persons named by the King collected and finished under Edward VI. the Pious Josiah of that Age and so were then received with great and general Approbation both Kings Father and Son by right of their Supremacy as we may see 't in both their Letters gave them a Character of Authority and if they were not passed into an Act the only Cause was the untimely Death of that young Prince who designed it and the Business had already been proposed in Parliament as we see 't out of these words of his Epistle to Archbishop Cranmer c. Cum vos triginta duos viros ad leges nostras Ecclesiasticas perlegendas componendas juxta vim formam effectum cujusdam Acti Parliamenti in tertio regni nostri anno c. So that there is something of a Parliament's Authority and if there be any thing wanting it lyeth in your Power to set a Parliamentary Stamp upon it especially those Heads that relate to the Divine Moral Law as do those about Heresy Blasphemy and Idolatry wherein God's
Father called God Son called God Holy Ghost called God and here the Enemies of Truth should begin their Opposition which is the true way and method yet they do not but they except against the Explication which only tends to farther Edifying and Instruction and quarrel with Words as Essence Trinity Persons c. Divine Nature is One yet common to Three in the Mystery of the Trinity we must learn the Truth the Height and Excellency thereof the Truth doth not depend upon our Apprehension and Understanding of it but upon the Consent of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and tho' under the first Men were more in the dark yet there was Light enough to make 'em believe it with humble Faith and Piety but under the last that Truth is clearly apparent 't is by * John 5.4 Faith only that we are enabled to overcome the World so †2 Cor. 5.7 we walk by faith and not by sight to shew our Religion is matter of Faith more than of Fact to be attained unto through Belief and not through Senses whose Object is visible and temporal but that of Faith is * 2 Cor. 4.18 spiritual invisible and eternal the holy Mystery of the Trinity cannot be comprehended by the Light of Grace nor of Glory much less by that of Nature Controvertes about Principles are more intricate and difficult than about Conclusions especially in things relating to God the Principal of all Beings and that for two Reasons the first because the infinite and incomprehensible Majesty of God doth far exceed our Understanding the second upon the account of the Blindness and Vanity of Man's Mind which either will not depend upon the Revelation without which we can never know things of that nature or else goes about with its wrong Notions to depravate it not so much as to the Words as in the Sense and Doctrine wherein Heresie doth consist Now as 't is a damnable Presumption in those who in these Matters do pervert the true Sense of the Word of God so I must say 't is a great Imprudence in those who undertake to refute them to abound in their own Sense leaving the trodden way and slighting Arguments made use of by the former Assertors of these Truths to set up new Notions and Hypotheses of their own which render those Points more abstruse and these new Lights of theirs instead of clearing make them darker instead of proving they do not so much as illustrate the matter the Proofs ought to be drawn out of the Revelation and in the Explanation thereof 't is no Shame nor Loss of Reputation to follow the Steps and Methods of Learned and Orthodox Men who went before and with great Success opposed Error and Blasphemy I do not hereby intend to deny a Man the liberty of making use of the Parts and Learning which God hath endued him with above others and improve them to a further Confirmation of the Truth but I would not have them to depart from the Foundation laid before them nor to exercise their wandring Thoughts about the adorable and incomprehensible Nature of God merely to affect Singularity and thereby to be applauded This very thing hath of late led if not tumbled some into strange and horrid Precipices which to avoid they more and more intangled themselves therein as hath well been observed by others 't is no good Consequence for such to say that if a Person be a Mind a Spirit and a Substance then Three Persons must be Three distinct Minds Spirits and Substances as distinct as Adam and Abel though not separate But the Error of the Hypothesis lies in this which openeth the false Ground thereof namely because Mind Spirit and Substance in their proper signification are absolute but Person in its proper signification is a relative Term because King William is King of England Scotland and Ireland must we argue that since a King is a Man an Animal a Substance therefore because of Three distinct substantial Kingdoms he is Three distinct Men Three distinct Animals and Three distinct Substances not so because Man Animal and Substance are Terms absolute but King is relative Suppose as one said before and to the purpose a Man were Dean of Pauls of Westminster and of Windsor should we thence conclude that since a Dean is a Man an Animal a Substance therefore because of Three distinct Deanaries he is Three distinct Substances I think not because Man Animal Substance are Terms absolute but Dean is relative It is very sad now to see the blasphemous Heresie of the Threetheites or of Three Gods revived among us by such as might do better in every well-order'd Christian State Idolatry and Blasphemy ought not to be tolerated but severely punished I know there are certain Terms to be explained in the Discussion of these Controversies especially in the Schools as may be Essence Existence Subsistence Substance Individuum Suppositum Hypostasis or Person wherein they agree and wherein they differ but I conceive they who writ for a publick good and would make these Points intelligible to most if not to all Readers might well avoid too far engaging in Metaphysical Notions I humbly conceive it were better because more profitablē in a Theological way to write and explain that which is most necessary to be understood according to the Pattern of Scripture and the Practice of the Orthodox Primitive Church and of its Doctors against Hereticks as we have it in the three Creeds which are a production of their universal Consent But for some Men herein thus far to indulge their fancy as to let it spatiate as much as it will and give it a full Latitude to wander and then express it self in such Terms as one of a Hundred Thousand can hardly understand the meaning thereof Nay upon reasonable grounds it may be doubted whether the Author doth well understand them this is only to intricate the Matter to puzzle the Reader and that which is worse to want a due respect for the Majesty of God whose Mysteries ought to be handled with an awful Reverence no Man may presume to know of him beyond what he hath been pleased to reveal himself for if we cannot well and perfectly know things created much less the Creator neither can the less comprehend the greater and if * Rom. 11.33 God's Judgments be past finding out much more is he himself Besides that this way of thus managing these Matters doth much prejudice the Cause and gives the Adversaries thereof ground to say of us They cannot among themselves agree how to defend it CHAP. II. Of Divine Essence HERETICKS Dispute against the Words Essence Trinity and Person used in the Primitive Church but sound Faith contendeth not about Words when the Truth of the thing is agreed upon Trinity is the abstract whereof three is the Concret expressed 1 John 5.7 as that of Jehovah and Lord signifie the Essence render'd by him * Revel 1.8 Which is
of his Servant of his elect in whom his Soul delighteth whereby none may deny the Lord Jesus to be understood and the Holy Ghost or Spirit Nothing better than this can quadrate with the History of our Saviour's Baptism ‖ Matth. 3.16 And in another place of the same Prophet †Iâ—al 6.3 when he saw the Vision and heard that Trisagion or holy holy holy which long after was also heard by John * Rev. 4 8. that three-fold repetition of God's Name compar'd with the proper Hypotheses of the antient Jews ' that it signified three things in God is adapted to the Trinity of Persons in S. John's Vision we have some enlargement as to the Lord Jesus represented by the Lamb for the same Twenty four Elders and Four Beasts * Rev. 5.8 9 13. fell down before the lamb and sung a new song and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea paid the same Worship to the Lamb as to him that sitteth on the Throne Again the same Prophet †Isai 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me this to be understood of Christ as applyed Luke 4.18 and of the Holy Ghost by the anointing for he was anointed with the Oyl of Gladness that is the Graces of the Spirit These Three are also to be read amongst the last Words of David * 2 Sam. 23.2 saying The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and the Word was in my tongue here is the Lord the Word and the Spirit To the same purpose speaks another Prophet †Hagg. 2.5 according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth among you the Father with the Word his Son and his Spirit made a Covenant with Israel There are several other Texts in the Old Testament of the Nature of One which I already made use of I mean of the thrice holy wherein the Name of God or Lord is thrice repeated I own I have such a persuasion of the infinite Wisdom of God as to believe there is nothing at all in his Word but what there is a particular reason for it to be in and in this belief of mine I am confirmed by what our blessed Saviour saith in earnest and with a strong Asseveration †Matt. 5.18 Verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled and I am sufficiently satisfied that though through the Infirmity of our Nature in the Ignorance of our Mind we cannot apprehend the Causes of many things in the Word of God yet therein is nothing without a Cause So out of that Principle I dare say God meaneth something when in the Blessing which he prescribed to be pronounced to the People the Lord's Name is thrice in it thus * Numb 6.24 25 26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and when God speaks unto Moses he dictates what he was to speak to the Children of Israel when he was come to them in his Name that is The Lord God of your Fathers one would have thought this had been enough but no for he addeth †Exod. 3.15 The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob it was the same God yet thrice named So when the Law is given he saith ‖ Exod. 20.5 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God once Lord and twice God which is the same so in another place the * Psalm 136.1 2 3. Psalmist exhorteth thrice to give thanks to whom unto the Lord unto the God of Gods to the Lord of Lords One more I shall quote and 't is this †Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King Why thrice and no more Surely God aims at something for as he doth nothing so he saith nothing in vain these things are not in by Chance and seeing with a full assurance I believe according to Revelation a Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature Why should not I also believe that these things relate to it Now if one would seriously attend upon these quoted places and compare them with others of the same kind may be God would impart upon the Matter greater Discoveries than I for the present am able to give only this I shall add how the Name Jehovah called in Greek Tetragrammaton because it originally consists only of four Letters signifieth both God's Self-existence for the Root whence 't is derived doth denote to be and also his Eternity for it contains all times to come present and past one out of the two first Letters draws the Words beginning and to live and the third having a Vertue of copulating or joyning together is for Love whereby is denoted the Holy Ghost as by the two before are Father and Son and because the second Letter h is twice in he would have both Natures in the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity to be meaned tho' I have nothing to say against these mysterious Interpretations which may be well grounded yet we build not our main Arguments thereupon however knowing that essential and incommunicable Holy Name to confist of three different Letters I can see nothing to hinder me from believing that that same Nature is communicated to Three Persons and as the same Letter is twice in it doth signifie Two Natures in One Person especially it falling upon the Second Letter relating to the Second Person of the most blessed Trinity and as God is the Author of the Name Why may not he in his Infinite Wisdom therein denote some Mystery This I take to be Rational Here I must not omit for Proof of this great Truth to bring in our Creed called the Apostolical as an Evidence I meddle not with the others for the Adversaries will not own them though they ever were by better more Learned more Pious and Sound in all Ages than they are or I doubt can be I know the World hath afforded some Men who out of a vain-glory and to seem to be something through a tryal of their Parts have attempted to enervate with their Criticisms the Strength and Orthodoxy of these Creeds but as to this Socinians themselves can except against it no more than they do against the written Word of God whence this is extracted Father Son and Holy Ghost are all Three named in the Creed and as the Word God is expressed when joined with the Father so 't is understood of Son and Holy Ghost thus I believe in God his only begotten Son and I believe in God the Holy Ghost for to them it also doth belong and as there we profess to believe in that is to
there was any difference the words for the first seem stronger than those for the last for to be in the form is more than to be in the likeness because forma dat esse rei a thing hath being from its Form or Nature but he gave sufficient and great demonstration of both Natures in him to those among whom he did converse Socinians would wrest the Text of Luke 1.3 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall over-shadow thee therefore that also which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God They would have the Particle therefore to signifie the Cause wherefore Christ was to be called the Son of God that is that miraculous Conception by the Holy Ghost but no such thing may be deduced 't is not the Cause but the Consequence or Inference which is signified by the words therefore and wherefore by which Particles we usually draw Conclusions from Premises whether they be Causes Effects or Signs or that which upon any other account whatsoever may be deduced therefrom And in this place out of the scope thereof it cannot be demonstrated out of any Circumstances that the Conception by the Holy Ghost is the true cause why Christ was to be called the Son of God 't is not upon the account of that manner of his Conception for then for that same cause either Christ would call himself or be called by others Son of God else the Angel's Prediction should prove false by which reason he rather should not be called than called the Son of God even according to their Principles which deny the Holy Ghost to be true God but the words of the Angel do import not that he should be called once or by some few Son of God but always and generally by all that should own him to be the Son of God Besides this Exposition of theirs they can bring no Example to confirm it for in abundance of places we read Christ to be called Son of God but find none at all wherein he is called Son of God according to the Flesh And the Angel doth not say therefore he may happen to be but absolutely and publickly declareth he shall be called wherefore seeing he no where is called Son of God according to the Flesh we may necessarily conclude he is not such in that sense to be called is sometimes really to be as in that Text * 1. John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God that is that we should really be owned and declared to be the Sons of God such as truly we are being adopted in Christ his true natural Son The word holy used gives a strong Evidence that Christ was to be called Son of God for a much better and higher reason than that he was to be born of a Virgin he shall be called Son of God because he is holy therefore not upon the account of the Flesh but by reason of his Holiness because the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin some holy thing was to be born of her that makes the Angel say Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God not as to the manner of Conception but as to the thing to be conceived though by the Angel it be not expressed how great was that Holiness we may well conceive it to be that highest and infinite Holiness as becomes the Son of God wherefore Isaiah in his Prophecy of him calls him as already observed the mighty God Elizabeth calls him Luke 1.43 her Lord the Angel calls him ‖ Chap. 2.11 Saviour Christ the Lord and Daniel * Dan. 9.24 He was anointed the most Holy Before the wise Men fell down and worshipped him which they were sent to do and to that purpose guided by a Star †Mat. 2.2 11. and according to the Prophecies ‖ Psal 72.10 offered him Gifts and Presents as to a King for under that Name his Birth was declared to them and promised therefore the Holiness of Christ is the Holiness of God and of him who is by Nature Lord and King The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and or also which follows therefore is not in vain but shews a Comparison and is related not to the word called but to be born and the sense is not only that word which from Eternity is born of God is Son of God but that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God because that eternal Son of God shall take human Nature and be born of thee And this is one of the things which the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin was to do namely that she should conceive without Man and conceive a Man him who from eternity is according to divine Nature the Son of God which could not otherwise be effected than with the Holy Ghost uniting human Nature which was to be formed out of her own Blood and Substance sanctified before and preserved from Sin and Corruption with the Person of the Son Men must not think there is in Scripture the least tittle or word without cause for the Holy Ghost doth and saith nothing in vain Another reason is the Angel saith Christ shall be called the Son not of the Holy Ghost but of God the Father Now if the manner of this Conception was the cause of his being called Son of God he should properly be the Son of the Holy Ghost not of the Father for he is said to be conceived by the Holy Ghost but they deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person yet actiones sunt suppositorum is a Rule in Philosophy and this Conceiving being an Act the Holy Ghost must be a Person for I defie them to shew any thing to be done but by a Person Scripture in the quoted place Rom. 1.3 the Question being about Christ's being the Son of God excludes the Flesh to attribute it to the Spirit but Socinians would have it according to both yet S. Paul's scope is to teach how he is Son of God according to the Flesh and how according to the Spirit as to the first he explains himself when he saith which was made of the seed of David as to be second he declareth his meaning when he saith he was declared Son of God with power whence we may conclude he saith Christ to be called and really be the Son of God not according to the Flesh but to the Spirit or else he had not sufficiently declared in what sense he is the son of God and 't is clear how he opposes the Flesh to the Spirit according to the first he was made of the Seed of David according to the last he was declared the Son of God Withal Scipture would have such a Son of God as is without Father c. such as Melchisedec no mention being made of his Father Mother or Genealogy
the meaning of a Text and we give an Interpretation different from theirs this Interpretation of ours ought to be grounded upon some other place of Scripture and we have reason from them to expect the like for neither they nor we must be Judges in our own Cause and Scripture ought to be explained by Scripture But a great general Fault in them is to force a sense upon the words that is contrary to the scope of the place and to the Analogy of Faith and to give unusual Meanings and different from the whole course of Scripture as we made it appear in several places and yet give no good reason for it nay sometimes none at all They must pardon us if we have no such implicit Faith as to take their bare word though they boast never so much of their strength of Reason We now know better than to approve of the old Saying Magister dixit ergo verum the Master said so therefore 't is true indeed in relation to our great Lord and Master we agree to 't but not so when 't is apply'd to any Man or Sect whatsoever We see by experience how commonly in these things one Depth calleth to another and when once Men are fall'n in into a wrong way the longer they go in the farther from the true one Hence it is that Errors in Judgment are attended with others in Practice That People that think they know all will also believe they can do all things as they are of opinion nothing is or can be above their natural Reason so out of Self-Love and Conceit they will easily be perswaded that nothing is beyond their natural strength Thus as they can easily know what God is so as easily they can do what he commands and such Pharisees will not question but that they may fulfil the Law they can repent and believe if they please for all such Free-Willers are of that mind yet of so many Instances I shall bring but one wherein the word of God doth confute and confound them indeed 't is one if not the main about Mens ordering their Carriage and Conversation in the whole course of their Life 't is called Steps for as we are Pilgrims and Passengers in this World so our Actings therein are in Scripture expressed by Walking Now our Adversaries will say their Actions are guided by their Reason against which I bring two Evidences without exception Father and Son both great Men and both in several things Types of Christ the Son of God for David saith * Psal 37.23 The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord And Solomon declares †Prov. 16.9 A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Reason indeed subservient to Revelation and guided by Faith is a good Companion but postponing or putting first last and last first and altering the order of things is in these contrary to true Religion The Prophet knew better than so when he said ‖ Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps But these Matters of Grace I elsewhere discussed somewhat at large A Plea for Free grace against Free-will wherefore now I shall not engage in it Only in relation to what a little before I spoke about Comparisons I shall say how though we must lay no stress upon them in Matters of this nature nor screw up Consequences for divine from human things by reason of an infinite disproportion between them Yet notwithstanding that Disparity to convince some sorts of Men even among those natural things God hath not left himself without Witness in relation to the great Mystery about God the Father and God his Son grounded upon a Comparison drawn from the Sun and its Beams First the Sun in relation to the Beam is of it self and the Beam of the Sun so is the Father of himself and the Son of the Father Secondly as the Sun in order of Nature is before the Beam but in time they both are co-existent so is the Father in order of Nature before the Son though in Existence both co-eternal Thirdly as the Sun without Diminution or Division of its Substance or change in its Nature produceth the Beams so is the Son begotten of the Father Fourthly as the Sun cannot be seen but by the Beam no more can the Father but by and in the Son Fifthly as the Beam is never separated from the Sun nor can the Sun be without the Beam no more can the Son be from the Father nor was the Father ever without the Son Sixthly as the Beam is distinguished from the Sun so that the Sun is not the Beam nor the Beam the Sun so it is between the Father and the Son Notwithstanding the infinite Disparity in it this Comparison I have chosen as the most sit and proper to illustrate that adorable incomprehensible and incomparable Mystery after what the Apostle said of it when alluding to the Sun he calls the Son * Heb. 1.3 The brightness of his Fathers Glory The next thing I am to do is to shew how true divine and incommunicable Attributes do also belong to him CHAP. VII Essential Divine Attributes belong to Christ OF God's Attributes some are Negative as Infifinite Independent Immortal Unchangeable c. which remove from God all manner of Imperfection and though these teach not what he is yet they teach what he is not others are Affirmative as Eternal Almighty All-knowing c. these are not so strong as the others because they represent Things but imperfectly other Attributes there be as Wisdom Goodness Mercy Justice c. which in some Degree God is pleased to impart unto the Creature but these I intend not to speak of only of those that are essential and incommunicable to the Creature and this Rule must be laid that whensoever any of these Attributes are in Scripture given to God essentially taken they are attributed to Christ because he is essentially God as I hope is sufficiently proved But before I proceed something in general may be spoken about Divine Attributes The Attributes of God are those Proprieties whereby he makes himself known unto us and shews the Difference that is between him and the Creature these Attributes in God are not as Attributes in the Creatures for they are no Qualities nor Accidents nor Things different from the Essence or from one another according to the Rule that nothing is in God but what is God himself God's Infiniteness and Eternity are God Infinite and Eternal wherefore because we cannot comprehend God's Infiniteness Eternity Simplicity c. we say we cannot comprehend his Essence and Nature The Knowledge that is in us comes in by Parts and Degrees How then can we know one Attribute of God as may be his Simplicity and Absoluteness which hath no Parts For it doth not consist of any Genus and Difference Substance and Accident Power and Act
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
name of his Spouse Psal 45.11 worship thou him As Christ is not God upon the account of any Office and Dignity so he is not to be worshiped by reason of any Office and Dignity here that which is cause for one is cause for the other no Office can make any one God who is not so so none ought to be adored but because he is God that is of the same nature and substance and not by communication of divine Power Dignity or Office for to give the Creature that which is due only to the Creator is meer Idolatry which the Apostle fathereth upon the Galatians Gal. 4.8 when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no Gods which they might have excused thus Though we did so to those that were not such by nature yet they were Gods by Office Dignity and Power but the Apostle as I said before blameth them for doing so unto those which by nature are not Gods Wherefore religious worship is due only to such as is God by nature seeing then divine worship is due to Christ as by and by I hope to prove it implies that Christ is God by his nature and certainly where the name of God and Son of God is absolutely attributed as it is to Christ it designs Nature more than Office or Dignity so that the word Lord so often and specially in the New Testament attributed unto Christ signifies in the strict sense the infinite and independent Dominion of the Lord Jesus over all his being from the Father is by generation not in relation to his Essence but to his person not absolutely but relatively as he is Son and if he be begotten it necessarily follows to be of the Essence or Nature of the Father which also shews the Eternity of that Generation These things I here repeat because when once that perswasion of Christ's being true Essential God is once setled in our minds then without any scruple or difficulty we may worship him else men are at a stand under fear of worshiping the Creature instead of the Creator who is God blessed for ever Before we prove that Christ is and ought to be worshiped with a religious worship for we speak of no other we intend to shew how the true essential God is alone to be worshiped and though to that effect several arguments might be drawn out of Scripture we shall in order thereunto examine only two one is this Isa 42.8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another This is a solemn declaration of the unchangeable God of Truth who having given that same glory unto Christ must infallibly conclude Christ to be the same Lord Jehovah with him Chap. 48.11 here the name and the glory of God do signifie the same for sometimes in Scripture the Name of God signifies his Nature when essentially taken and the Attributes of the person when personally taken never to be understood barely of a name when we love fear and serve God 't is not the Letters or a sound in the Air but either the nature or some of the persons of the Trinity But the truth of this here asserted that the name and glory of God signifie the same Isai 42.8 compared with Exod. 33.18 19. is elsewhere confirmed positively and absolutely how his glory God will not give to another whosoever he be But as Socinus doth not use to take the words of God as and in the sense he saith them so here he would make God speak otherwise than he doth for he never wants his limitations and therewith he limiteth the holy One the God of Israel God saith he doth not say I will not give my glory to another that is dependent upon and subordinate unto me such he makes the Lord Jesus but to graven Images But do not Images of God of Christ of Angels Apostles depend upon and are subordinate to God as to the Matter the form or making of them the designs of men and all upon the will of God Surely they do for every Creature whatsoever is subordinate to and depends upon his Maker and suppose God would chuse one Creature as may be an Angel or any Man or Woman and heap all the Treasures of his Glory upon such a one which he yet declares he will not do yet according to them he might do 't and not act against his solemn protestation that he will not do 't after this no Creature as a Creature can differ from God for they make God say he doth not intend to exclude any other wholly dependant upon and subordinate to him as is every Creature whatsoever thus after this the Effect shall be the same with the Cause because it depends upon it this new signification of the word another deserved well to have been confirmed by some example in that other place already mentioned which confirmeth this there is no mention of Images or any thing else barely I will not give my glory unto another which leaves no ground to Cavil about Images Thus they would make the strength of these words of God to vanish away and be resolved into this God will not give his Glory to Images but will give it to Angels and Men even to Satan and Antichrist the worst of them Then by the word to give they understand only to permit so if he giveth Money Bread Cloaths c. he only permitteth if to the word give leave had been joyned they might have pretended to something though there had been no sense thus with their altering the sense of words they would overthrow the use of languages and so coin one of their own which none but themselves shall understand and by those means teach all that went before to speak then here according to their interpretation contrary to what God declareth he will permit or give graven Images something of his glory if they do not believe it themselves others who did worship those Images will for they thought God had communicated to them something of his glory or else would not have look't upon them as worthy to be Religiously worshiped But to come to the thing since God in this place denyeth the permission for any one to have his glory much more doth he deny to give it himself to another and if from the beginning of the world he hath suffered the Devil to usurpe Divine Honour to himself and several Nations religiously to worship Images as 't is known he hath yet to neither he gave that glory of his and out of this appeareth the true sence of the Text that he will not permit for he hath permitted but not give his glory which he hath never given V. 6 7 But to come to the scope of the place 't is this God said it when he spoke of Christ as it appears by the two foregoing and following verses which may be perused therein he is spoken of in such a way and to
that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it Luke 14.26 Nay If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren yea and his own life he cannot be my disciple Is not this the manner of love which God requireth of us and doth not this lay upon us a duty to love Christ with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and with all our strength thus this honour is proper for and ought equally to be rendered to the Father and to the Son for all men ought to honour the Son as they honour the Father I hope the sense we give the Text is sufficiently proved how all men without distinction or exceptionare bound to honour the Son as they honour the Father and the manner is by our Saviour prescribed in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 Now I must shew how the Texts they bring against us cannot admit of the sense which ours doth because 't is contrary to the Scope of the Apostles and to the Analogy of Faith First to the scope for the end of both Apostles 1 Thes 4.7 Luk. 1.74 75. Psal 93.5 Heb. 11.6 Heb. 12.14 is to exhort Christians to study and labour after Purity and Holiness which they are called unto All that are adopted Children ought to walk in holiness because holiness becomes the house of God and as without faith 't is impossible to please God so without holiness no man shall see the Lord. This great and necessary duty I say the two Apostles in these Texts do exhort men to strive and labour after not as to attain to such a perfection of holiness as is in God which is impossible for any Man for all that we can desire is that we may be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.10 Mat. 5.48 and receive some degrees of it In the same sense is to be understood that other place Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect a duty we ought to study after because as much as we can we must be conformable unto God Secondly Such an interpretation would destroy the Analogy of Faith as contrary to the truth set down in other places of Scripture For though holiness be a communicable Attribute of God yet there cannot be so much as thought to be an equality between Purity and Holiness in God and those small portions he is graciously pleased to impart unto us Holiness is Essentially and Originatively in God nay Holiness is God infinitely and most simply holy and we are naturally unclean transgressors from the Womb conceived in Sin brought forth in Iniquity wallowing in our own Blood till God be pleased to wash and cleanse us to derive from himself and by his holy spirit to work some small degree of holiness in us God is most holy Luke 6.36 thrice Holy In the same sense we are commanded to be merciful as our Father also is merciful that is as far as God will be pleased to enable us we ought to follow and imitate that Pattern but not pretend or hope to arrive to the perfection of it which in both Mercy and Holiness were no less than Blasphemy wherefore such interpretations God's word doth abhor and in that place St. John saith not Every man that hath this hope hath purified in the Praetertense but in the Present purifieth himself to shew how he doth but aim at it and by degrees And St. Peter in the 16. v. explains the sense of the foregoing verse because it is written saith he be ye holy for I am holy he shews no equality or parity of holiness The word as which he used before he now renders by for as a motive and a cause why we ought to be holy Because God is holy To what I said before I shall now add at last how the word as doth in other places denote an equality as the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father John 10.15 which in the Greek word is taken for to love he equally knows and loves the Father with an Eternal and perfect Love as the Father knoweth and loveth him The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when spoken of the Father and the Son denote an equality not a similitude as the Father hath life in himself so hath the Son life in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original Now to understand the foregoing places of an equality Chap 5. 26. is not contrary to other Scriptures nor to the Analogy of Faith but doth tend to the glory of both Father and Son for the rule is most true in the Text now in question he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that sent him but he that honoureth the Son honoureth the Father also which is a natural inference out of the place But that people who pretend to honour the Father have taken a quite contrary way to do 't which is dishonouring the Son Joh. 8.49 as he said to the Jews I honour my Father and ye dishonour me with robbing him if they could of his divine Nature and Attributes when 't is most true that he that honoureth not the Son Chap. 5.23 Chap. 12. We are baptized in Christ's name honoureth not the Father and the Father beareth witness from Heaven that he is glorified in the Son Having thus proved in general that divine worship belongs to Christ we must now come to the places which demonstrate it in the particulars As first we are baptized in his name Baptism is a divine ordinance whereby being admitted to be members of Christ's mystical body we take an Oath of Allegiance to him whereby we own him to be our God and Redeemer this is the seal of the Covenant Now no Covenant is in force till it be passed the Seal this Seal in Baptism is not only instituted by Christ but also administred in his name and authority whereby it doth appear that this is his Right which Right of his Matth. 28.19 he would make use of when he commanded all Nations to be baptized in his name None but God can institute Sacraments for none but he can bestow the grace therein represented none but the Lord of the House hath right to make Laws in his House now the Church is God's House and seeing the preaching of the Word and administration of both Sacraments therein is done by Christ's authority and in his name he is thereby not only owned but also worshiped as God and Lord of it wherefore the Church is called Christ's own house Heb. 3.6 I find indeed there was a subordination between God and Moses this being but a Servant but the same subordination between God and Moses was between the Son of God and Moses as is now of all Ministers of the Gospel under Christ Mal. 3. ◠for he is the Lord of the Temple who
was the Creator of all which is the reason given in the next verse why he calls him the first born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in carth And which is more at the later end of the verse all things were created by him and for him He created all things for himself which may not be said of any Creature for if he were a Creature he had been before himself And if we desire a farther explanation we have it in the following verse heb 1.2.6 and he is before all things And if we compare this place with another we shall find a sweet harmony in both he is called God's Son Col. 1.13 yea his dear Son in the first in both Creatour or maker of the World saith the last by whom also God made the worlds As to Creation so as to preservation for one saith by him all things consist and the other by him all things are upheld and the phrase in the Colossians the first born of every Creature is in the Epistle to the Heb. interpreted by this appointed heir of all things That is to be Lord of every Creature or whole Creation the first born is the Heir and Lord The Elder Brother or First Born is loco parentis Heb. 12.13 as a Father and so in the same Epistle behold I and the children which God hath given me Now the reason is clear and the consequence obvious Christ is before all things because all things were created by him upon which account he calls himself the beginning of the Creation of God That is the efficient cause which expressions are both joyned together as being of the same importance the beginning and first born from the dead Rev. 3.14 Col. 1.13 that is the efficient cause of the Resurection from the Dead These two places out of Colos and Heb. ought to be lookt upon as parallel one with another Now by the Son of Gods or the word 's making the worlds we have an eminent Testimony of his Eternal Godhead and Power for saith the Apostle he that made all things is God Heb. 3.4 So since all things were made by the Son he must be God Here I must take notice of their cavil against the place where it is said God made the world by his Son they would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom to be taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom as if God had made them for his Son for his sake which is a down-right corruption of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not with an accusative to signifie propter but in the Genitive which never denoteth a final but always an efficient cause In the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by is used about 600 times with a Genitive Cafe and in no one may be rendred propter for and so cannot be here and suppose it could yet it would be against the constant use of the word for which some particular reason ought to be given why such a sence should be admitted for which there is none in this place it also must be taken notice of how the case is not the same where Things as where Persons are spoken of What now I am by the grace of God entering upon is to shew how our Blessed Saviour had a real being before he was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin and my reasons shall be drawn out of the 6. chap. of St. John's Gospel where the matter conducing to our purpose is spoken of at large â—â—r Christ doth in several places thereof speak of his being come from Heaven and shall begin with the last verse wherein he discourseth upon the point because it will by degrees lead us back to the rest Joh. 6.6 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before which words he spoke of himself to remove the offence which what he said about the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood had given many of his disciples for he saith his words are not literally or corporally but spiritually to be understood for he was to leave the Earth and go up into Heaven where he was before out of which words we may easily conclude how Christ was in Heaven before he was upon earth this seems to be clear But however they will not agree to it Vers 32.33 38 50.51 Ver. 41.42 first they cavil about the place saying that by where he was before Heaven is not meant when in this very chapter no less than five times he saith he came down from Heaven which the Jews took special notice of and murmured at which truth our Saviour had before declared to Nicodemns and No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man Joh. 3.13 which is in Heaven so that although in this verse the word Heaven be not named yet is so plainly described that there is not the least ground left for any one to doubt of it either for his Disciples or others for what need of his naming again that which he named so many times before There is a Text parallel with this Joh. 16.28 which doth explain it I came forth from the father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father To say he shall ascend up where he was before and to return to the place whence he came is it not the same and had he not declared at several times that his Father is in Heaven And if any doubt should remain 't is wholly cleared by the execution and when the thing was fulfilled at his ascension for while they beheld he was taken up Acts 1.9 and a cloud received him out of their sight But this not serving their turn but by these Texts being pincht to the quick to hold out they take another way which is figuratively to explain the words where he was before and wrest their proper signification into a Metaphor that is Christ in his mind and thoughts conversed in Heaven being taken up in Meditation with those heavenly mysteries that are there which were so present unto him that although he was upon Earth yet he might be said to be in Heaven this indeed is a way of perverting the sense of Scriptures but not a fair one But if so our Saviour would have spoken in the present is and not in time past was for as they say he continually was taken up with such thoughts if continually then not discontinued when at that time he discoursed with them But the word before doth import a relative opposition between the time wherein our Saviour was in Heaven and that when he spoke upon Earth besides that actually and really he was upon Earth when they make him to have been in Heaven meerly in Thoughts and Meditation which holds no proportion between his being in Heaven and upon Earth so then Christ
this sence the Jews would not have murmur'd as they did as indeed there had been no cause for it And we do not in the least perceive he goes about to shew they were mistaken to give his words such as sence but on the contrary he goeth on to confirm what he had said according to the sence they gave it and that without any ambiguity but plainly and downright tho' he knew he thereby did run into a great danger Matth. 13.55 56 John 6.42 for the Jews did not know how to reconcile what they knew of him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Is not his Mother called Mary and his Brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas and his Sisters are they not all with us How then can he say I am descended from Heaven To have his Extraction from thence and be equal with God this made them look upon him as a Blasphemer who according to their Laws was to be stoned They allow'd him to be a very extraordinary man who had done such things as had never been done before among them but to hear him say he was come down from Heaven as his natural place that they could not endure Yet we must take it to be true since neither he nor the Evangelist ever denied it They were so pleased with the Miracle of the five Barley Loaves and two small Fishes that they would have taken him by force and made him a King and after he was gone they could not be at rest till they again had found him out and then he said they follow'd him only out of love to their Belly because they had eaten and were filled whereupon out of his earnest desire for their good he takes occasion to exhort them to mind not that Meat that perisheth but that which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man said he shall give unto you And then he presseth the Argument and shews how he and none else can give it and in order to 't declareth first who he is namely the Son of God whom he calleth his Father four times then addeth V. 40.44 45 45. he is from God afterwards he attributes unto himself a quickening Power and to give everlasting Life for he doth not say he that believeth in God but on me neither doth he say God V. 47. but I will raise him up at the last day Could the Father have more highly and stately spoken of himself V. 40. or assumed a greater Power than he doth whereby we see this he saith to draw Men not to the Father but to himself as the Spring of Eternal Life whereby he insinuates himself to be such a one as is far more potent and excellent than Man upon which account he is truly and properly said to be come down from Heaven or else he had not answerd the Jews Objection to the purpose Which 't is very unworthy for any one to say This matter we shall conclude with one Argument more out of these words I came forth from the Father and am come into the world John 16.28 again I leave the world and go to the Father Where is the Father In Heaven Where is the World On Earth So then Christ was with the Father in Heaven before he was in the World on Earth This last Text I joyn with the two foregoing being to the same purpose because a threefold Knot is not easily untied The words are so clear V. 29. that thereupon his Disciples said Lo now speakest thou plainly 'T is to be wish'd every one was of their opinion as there is cause for it V. 30. By this we believe said they that thou camest forth from God This they said themselves and the Lord saith so of them They have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou didst send me But neither Socinus nor none of his Kidney can say and prove that they believed not there was a Divine Nature in Christ They explain the words I came forth from the Father only to signifie that Christ was a Man sent from God upon some special Errand just as he sent his Disciples into the World 1 Joh. 4.1 or as false Prophets are said to be gone into the world We know the Faith of his Apostles was weak but true and was encreased by degrees they sometimes doubted of things as may be Christ's Resurrection but this doth not argue that there was no Faith in them for there was tho' staggering and imperfect which our Saviour strengthened and themselves were sensible of when they said unto him Lord increase our Faith which we read so actually effected in Thomas who more than any one else doubted of this Resurrection that at last he gave an authentick Testimony of his Faith concerning it when he called him my Lord and my God and before that time Peter in their name had given eminent evidence of their Faith about him when he said John 6.68 69. Lord to whom shall we go Thou hest the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God After so solemn a Declaration how dare any man say his Disciples did not believe any thing of Divine Nature in him As to his Disciples he sent them into the World but he dwelt upon Earth but his Father sent him upon Earth when himself was in Heaven And this we may say that as the Disciples were with Christ before he sent them so he was with the Father before he sent him As to the false Prophets they were gone out into the World but whence Out of the Charch John 2.15 of whom 't is said before They went out from us but they were not of us One thing more I shall observe upon this Text that if Christ really ascended up into Heaven as he did unquestionably after his Resurrection so he really descended from thence before his Incarnation and if he descended then he was before he descended this as said just before his Disciples believed literally not in a Metaphor or Figure and that they well understood his meaning our Saviour confirms when he saith v. 31 Do ye now believe and what That I came from the Father and must return to him and that I know all thing which none but God can Here I must give a general and necessary Warning against Socinian far-fetch'd and false glosses Indeed if admittance be given to all their Allegories there can be no room left for literal and proper sence So the deliverance out of Egypt possession of Canaan carrying into Captivity shall not be Matters of Fact and we may doubt whether there was ever a Noah a Flood or an Ark such men as Aaron Moses Joshua for 't is possible to turn all these into Allegories We know in Scripture there are some but to turn every thing into 't is a great Abuse When a Text expresses plainly a literal sence we must not trouble our heads
first-born into the world let all the Angels of God worship him before he was set upon his Throne after his Ascension So the Command was antecedent to that Session of his upon the Throne in Heaven And this sitting at the right hand of God puts me in mind now to add something to what I said upon that Text and it is this how we and our Adversaries ought to consider the usefulness and importance of that Testimony Psal 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand for the confirmation of the Dignity and Authority of Christ the Messiah is evidenced by the frequent quotations of it in the New Testament as by our Saviour himself Matth. 22.42 by Peter in Acts 2.34 35 and by Paul in 1 Cor. 55.28 And Heb. 1.13 David was the Pen-man of the Psalm not about himself for him whom he therein doth treat of he calls my Lord as indeed the things therein spoken of belong not to him God did never swear unto David that he should be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek and the Jews knew well how David had nothing to do with the Priesthood as being not of the Tribe of Levi but of Judah We read That David was a King and a Prophet Jeremiah a Priest and a Prophet but the three Offices Prophet Priest and King never met in one Person but in the Lord Jesus CHAP. X. Objections Answer'd THough now and then on our way we refuted some of their Cavils yet now we must by the Grace of God come to the last part but one of our Discourse hear what they say against these Divine Truths and answer their chief Objections against the most holy Trinity the Divinity of Christ his eternal Generation c. As first They would have this Doctrin of the Trinity to be contrary to Reason Because it gives Turks and Jews an aversion against the Christian Religion But it must not be concluded that a Doctrin is contrary to Reason because some men by reason of the corruption of their Nature do not receive it When the Gospel was preached by our blessed Saviour and by his Apostles many refused to receive and believe it though it was very good and not contrary to Reason They that are Servants to their carnal Reason do not receive that which is above it and in this matter there are other Causes of the blindness and hatred of Jews and Turks Hereticks ought to be ashamed to joyn with Infidels to overthrow a Doctrin which in all Ages hath by general Consent been lookt upon as the Foundation of our Religion In four things they would have it to be contrary to Reason the first One is not Three yet say they we affirm God to be One yet Father Son and Holy Ghost to be God and yet the Person of the Son not to be that of the Father nor of the Holy Ghost The second A thing is or is not But say they you say the Paternity or Fatherhood really to be the same with the Essence and the Essence really with the Filiation therefore the Paternity is the same with the Filiation or Sonship and is not the same Thirdly By the Rule of the Tertium the things that are the same in another or in a third are the same among themselves Fourthly 'T is contrary to the Principle of the expository Syllogism which is this The Essence is the Father the Essence is the Son therefore the Father is the Son In these four things say they your Doctrin is contrary to Reason In answer to this First in general we say that such things as gainsay the Principles of true Reason are contrary to it but not those which exceed and are far above Reason Now things objected against by Antitrinitarians do neither fight against nor contradict Reason only are above it then these Principles or Rules are ill applied because they compare God the Author of Nature with natural things Now we answer in particular as to the First Axiom It is not overthrown inasmuch as there is no opposition according to the same thing nothing that is one as it is one and in the same respect may be called three but God is one in Nature and three in Persons the manner of subsisting doth distinguish the Persons but multiplieth not the Essence In the Second there is no Contradiction for the Paternity and Filiation are distinguished among themselves in one way and from the Essence in another it is only a modal distinction between Paternity and Filiation the least degree of distinction is between the thing and the manner of it between the Essence and the Paternity or Filiation wherefore Essence Paternity and Filiation are distinct but not different things We never said 'tis the same but 't is of the same and because they are of the same they differ not as thing and thing And if the Adversaries would argue thus the Father is the same with the Essence the Essence is the same with the Son therefore the Father is the same with the Son they would thereby conclude nothing against us for we affirm the Father and Son not at all to differ as to the Essence but the self-being of the Essence doth not conclude for the self-being of the Person wherefore we say it is and it is not in a different respect upon a different account As to the Third the Paternity and the Filiation are not the same with the Essence but Father and Son have the same Essence Now their Rule doth not here fit their Purpose for if they say Paâ—â—â—ity and Filiation are the same with or in the Essence it is incongruous for Paternity and Filiation are modes or manners of the thing that is in the Essence are not the same with the Essence because the thing and manner of it are not altogether the same But if they say Father and Son are the same in uno tortio inâ—â— third we agree they are the same in this third the Essence though not altogether As to the Fourth they are mistaken for this is no expository Syllogism for in that way of aâ—guing the middle term must be singular and incommunicable But here the term Essence is not simply but instead of an universal and is communicable so then the strength of the major Proposition lies in this Some who is or hath divine Essence is the Father Some that hath divine Essence is the Son Ergo if it be universally construed the proposition is false as thus Every one that hath the divine Essence is the Father or else they are meer particulars Besides that there are four terms for in the major the word Essence is unâ—erstood in relation to an active generation in the minor to a passive They would forge Contradictions where are none at all and the ground of their Error is that they would judge of an infinite Nature by a finite one when the reason of both is very different here the infinite Essence is individual
must never attempt to pry into this is a Mystery which most humbly and with an awful reverence we ought to adore and believe without any farther enquiry into it because God hath revealed it it is so namely that the Son not the Father nor the Holy Ghost was made Flesh In Religion there are several other things which we do simply believe tho it be impossible for our Reason to comprehend them as the Infiniteness Immensity and Eternity of God whereof the former is every where within and without the greatest and least things So is that union of both Natures in one Person incomprehensible Thus that which is spoken of the divine Essence may be attributed to the three Persons but to be understood of things which of themselves are competent to the nature of the Creatour Almightiness Eternity and such-like Attributes but not so in the things which belong to the Essence only upon the account of one Person for such things belong only to that Person for whose sake they are spoken of the Essence as the Incarnation of the Son the Voice of the Father from Heaven and the appearing of the Holy Ghost under the shape of a Dove We know how the Works ad extra or outward are undivided and common to the three Persons always excepting that wherein they destroy the proper Attributes of the Persons Thus the Son and Holy Ghost not the Father are sent the Son not the Father nor Holy Ghost was made Flesh tho' the Father and Holy Ghost had a hand in the Incarnation for the Angel said Luk. 1.35 The power of the highest shall overshadow thee and the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Prov. 9.1 Rev. 21.3 and Wisdom whereby the Son is represented hath builded her House otherwise called the Tabernacle of God So then the work of the Incarnation is common to the three Persons but in the effect is terminatively only in the Son When the Apostle speaks of the Mystery of our Salvation in the adorable and incomprehensible Incarnation of the Son of God or his taking â—ur human Nature he saith 1 Pet. 1.12 Exod. 25.20.22 which things the Angels desire to look into alluding to the two Cherubims on the Mercy Seat towards which their Faces were as desirous to see into 't In th Tabernacle was the Ark and above upon the Art was the Mercy Seat as the most holy part of he whole for there God met with Moses and from thence he communed with him all which was disposed according to God's own appointment for the Mercy Seat was a Type of Jesus Christ in whom and by whom alone God doth neet and commune with Men in the way of Mercy and as the Ceremonial Law was as a School-master to bring us to Christ as to him that was the end of the Law so all Figures and Prophecies aimed at him After God had sent all his Servants and he would have no more Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices then he sent his only Son to offer up himself a Sacrifice unto him for Sin This most holy and blessed Son by the Mouth of the Prophet David long before his coming said Lo I come to do thy will Psal 40.6 7. Heb. 10.7 9. O God He knew the Will of God and declared he would come to do 't The words contain a particular emphasis different from any thing of that nature express'd in Scripture When the Prophets foretold Josiah's Birth 1 Kin. 13 2. Isa 44. 45. and Cyrus's Empire they are not introduced as saying any thing themselves only one was to be born the other to be holden and supported because at that time they were not But here the Son of God speaks as one who then was in being and as a person who delighted to execute his Father's Will as he effectually did both actively and passively and this he declared when come Joh. 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and when upon the approach of the Hour wherein that Will was to be Joh. 12.27 his Soul was troubled he said For this cause came I unto this hour and when the bitter Cup which caused in him some Horror was put into his hand Luk. 22.42 he said Not my will but thine be done Let these words in the Evangelists with those in the Psalm be compared anâ— there will appear such a divine harmony as wiâ— convince they both came out of the same Persâ—â— only with this difference that in the Psalmis seen a steddy resolution such as became a divine Person and in the Gospel something of human Frailty the reason is because the first is expressed by a Prophet inspired by his Spirit and the last by himself in the days of his Flesh However coming is meant of a Person who pre-existed before that coming and in the time of the Prophecy And the circumstances oâ— God's having no more pleasure in Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings and his saying Lo I come which preceeded his coming do demonstrate in him a Choice and Resolution which is the act of a Person as the quoted place out of St. Peter's doth denote Christs coming into the World to be such a Mystery as the Angels so excellent and knowing Creatures desire to know and look into But I return to my Answer to their Objections These things being seriously considered will afford matter enough to answer and refute the Cavils of the Enemies to this Truth Before I proceed farther in answering some more Objections of theirs I think it will not be amiss for me because they make a scandalous Exception against that common place of the Apostle which proves the most holy Trinity There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost To add something more to what in the beginning I said about it They say it is wanting in some Greek Copies and in the Syriack but through the Fraud of the Arrians as saith Jerome and Erasmus Praefat. in Epist Can. whom Socinians would seem to appeal unto confesseth it to be in the most ancient Manuscripts of Brittany Spain and Rhodes and it is clear out of the Connexion of the Text V. 4 5 6. that it cannot be taken away without making a palpable breach and interruption of the sense for he hath just before spoken of God the Father of Christ and of the Spirit and to agree with what he saith v. 8 there are three that bear witness in Earth there must also be three that bear record in Heaven there must be Witnesses in Heaven as there are in Earth the three in Earth agree in one the three in Heaven are one We read it quoted by * Ad Theoph. lib. 1. in disp contra Aâ—rium in Conc. Nic. Athanasius so doth †Contra Varimadum Idacius so * Contra Arrian Fulgentius also it is quoted before the times of Athanasius in the Controversie against the Arrians
that Certainty is not grounded upon the clearness of our perceiving as upon the mainness of the Evidence confirmed by a continual Experience Now natural Reason is fitted for natural Things but for supernatural it must be supernaturally endowed And besides Ideas a due temper and application of the Mind are required But about divine things besides what is in us there ought to be a Rule in them which is Revelation this is the medium or middle between Eye and Object without which in spiritual things we can see nothing till the Lord openeth our Eyes When an Army of Syrians had compassed Dothan to take Elisha his Servant seeing so many Horses and Chariots was afraid till at the Prayer of the Prophet the Lord opened the Eyes of the young man 2 Kings 6.15 16 17. then and not before he saw the mountain full of Lorses and chariots of fire round about Elisha These Heavenly Armies cannot be seen by a meer natural Eye it must be enlightned from above As we cannot know a thing of which we have no Idea so we must have a true one to make a right Judgment of it or else we go upon a wrong bottom and it still remains a Mystery to us The true Notion we ought to have of a Mystery is this namely something that is hidden from our Knowledge and above our Reason see what a false Idea a learned and rational man a Master of Israel Nicodemus had of Regeneration as we shall see somewhat lower it was a very necessary and truly rational thing to believe in Christ Joh. 7.48 yet Have any of the Rubers and Pharisees believed on him Those men in their way wanted not Reason God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.27 hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise The greatest commendation of Mans Reason is to call it Wisdom yet it is confounded about spiritual things for this very thing our Saviour rejoyced in spirit and gave his Father Thanks for revealing the Mysteries of salvation unto Babes which the wise and prudent of the World could not understand for want of this Revelation Luke 10.21 Wherefore when God will have his People to know him he saith not their Reason and Mind shall know me but I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord Jer. 15.7 This Knowledge is not an effect of their Reason but the Gift of God The right Judgment of a thing doth sometimes depend upon so many different circumstances that a mistake in one of them doth much alter the thing and so pervert the Judgment besides that our Understanding being often disturbed through Passion and Prejudice it thereby lyeth under great mistakes If so in natural and temporal things how much more in spiritual and eternal wherein the disproportion between the Understanding and Object is infinitely greater Yet that sort of People make no difference in reasoning about the Word of God and human Writings with them it is all one to judge of God or of Men and their Reason they make the Judge of both This is to set up a Tribunal which God will never allow of to inquire after and examine his ways and works Job 33.13 when he giveth no account of any of his Matters that is he is not bound tho' sometimes out of his gracious Condescension he be pleased to do 't But once for all I must warn those Men who so much dote upon their own reason to have a care lest that very same thorough a just Judgment of God doth to them as to others prove fatal for they glory too much in it Absalom's Hair was his Pride and it became his Halter Jezebel delighted in painting her Face which as she thought made her full of Charms but a while after it was washed off with her own Blood Herod's Robes were glorious when he sat upon his Throne to make a Speech to the People but very soon after they were full of Worms whereby he was eaten up They who trust to and glory in their Reason have cause to fear some such end or other will befall them But we rely on the word of God and depend upon the Gospel as it is a promise of Grace and must endeavour to conform to it as it is the rule of Life All he saith Sect. 2. and Chap 1. doth not concern us who hold the Doctrines of the Gospel not to be contrary to true and sound Reason in his Philosophical Notions he consounds himself that is in the whole first-Section and 4th Chapter thereof As to his Ideas or Evidences Experience which is a good reason though not always for it falls sometimes sheweth how every Man hath not the same Idea or Notion of this or that thing and that which is Evidence to one is not to another then he goeth upon a false Supposition as if the Devil thorough his Suggeitions and the Corruptions of our Heare did not sometimes darken our Light deceive our Mind pervert our Judgment and over-rule our Affections 't is so in worldly things much more in Spiritual thus thorough their vain Sophistry they would set up this Reason as an independant and infallible Judge in Man and so overthrow whatsoever Scripture in so many places declareth of the Blindness Darkness and Ignorance of our Understanding and of the Perverseness Corruption and Stubbornness of our Heart The Texts he quoteth Pag. 47 48. are true and good but he should go further and own Christ to be true God not only in his Works but also in his Nature he sometimes hath some good and true things like Grains to make Chaff Currant thus Pag. 49 50. he condemns those that say the New-Testament to be written without any Order or Scope but only as Matters came into the Heads of the Apostles which is a Socinian Tenet yet he there seems to be against it The Physical Impotency to understand the Mysteries of Religion is not absolute but 't is all one as if it was so without the Help of Grace as a blind Man cannot see a dumb speak a dead Man perform any Vital Action as of himself but if God pleases he shall be restored to his Sight Speech and Life There is a moral Impotency to understand Matters and Mysteries of Religion we have a Mind but dark blind and ignorant can a blind Man see tho he hath Eyes a deaf hear tho he hath Ears a dumb speak tho he hath a Tongue a dead Man act tho he hath Organs as Hands and Feet no if he had but a Dead-Palsie Men by Revelations are not endued with new Faculties but these old Faculties are enabled to act which they could not before God gives a new Heart a new Spirit new Thoughts new Affections His Discourse of Sect. 3. Chap. 2. is all out of the Purpose the things he speaks of are Natural and unnecessary as how Rain is formed in the Air but Matters of Religion are Spiritual and necessary Matters of Election
to the end we may know the Truths of God we must be taught them of God now as all Promises are Yea and Amen in Jesus Christ so are all and every Truth of the Gospel in him which to understand we must be taught by him and by the Holy Ghost Eph. 4.21 2 Cor. 3.6 for the letter alone killeth but the spirit giveth life It is very strange yet true that Socinians will trust and depend upon their own Reason notwithstanding the Advice of wise Solomon given them long ago Lean not unto thine own understanding Prov. 3.5 which is the Seat and Center of Reason for if Men have any thing of Reason there it lays as to natural things but as to supernatural it is derived out of Scriptures whereupon our Holy Religion is grounded therein is nothing useless and needless yet still something is mysterious either as to Matter or in the Manner wherein it is spoken and 't is this which God hath given us for our continual Exercise in this World therefore he requireth we should inquire intoâ—t with all possible Diligence and utmost Endeavours and they who fall into that course do and will by Experience upon frequent reading of the Word daily find new Lights new Discoveries and new cause of Admiration which thorough Grace from above are the Fruits of their Obedience and Industry as there is nothing unnecessary superfluous and useless and that for all sorts of Christians whether weak or strong so the the right consideration of the Matter the Words Order Contexture the Design of the Holy Ghost in them do instruct us of and guide us in our Duty towards God whereof the parts are various large great and wonderful upon this account saith David Ps 119.96 Thy commandment is exceeding broad because it contains the whole Revelation of God unto us which is full of infinite Wisdom in the whole Frame and Order of it and as the Revelation in the Word is from God so is the Understanding of that Revelation that is the reasn why Men should not as some do perplex themselves to find out the Grounds and Suitableness of some things in the New-Testament with others in the Old when they should know how 't is not in their Power to know the heighth depth length and breadth of God's Infinite Wisdom therein contained when may be the Holy Ghost aimeth at such things as they cannot dive into who by degrees openeth Man's Eyes more and more to know things necessary for them for as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 3.2 He feeds us first with milk then with meat when we are able and strong enough to bear it for as another Apostle saith New-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.2 that they may grow thereby and thus till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 And those Men who in these things rely upon the Strength of their own Reason I may well compare to these little Babes who being not able to feed themselves lay Hand into their Milk wherewith they do not feed but only slubber themselves or to that Child that would not have the Nurse to hold him tho' he wants strength of himself to go if the Hand that bears him up doth but hold off then he is gone and sure to fall So 't is of any one that trusteth to his Understanding and leaneth upon his own Reason 't is a bruised Reed that will go into his Hand and pierce it Wherefore God's sends us to the law Isa 8.20 and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them for their Light doth come from the word yet not all at once but by degrees and in their several Kinds all which as the Apostle saith worketh that one and the self-same spirit 1 Cor. 12. dividing to every man severally as he will and let us know never so much out of Scripture there is still more to be learned Ought not this to convince Men that it doth contain Mysteries The Apostle directs us to think soberly Rom. 12.3 not to allow our Fancy and curious Speculations to go beyond the bounds of a becoming Sobriety in things above us which Scripture doth both command and commend and is very much suitable unto right Reason Now the rule of that Sobriety is positively fully and unalterably given thus Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those which are revealed unto us Deur 29 2â— and to our children In those things Divine Revelation must be the measure and rule of our Knowledge the contrary is an effect of Pride Vanity and Presumptuousness forbidden in Scripture not to 〈◊〉 above that which is written which if Mâ—n obey 1 Cor. 4.6 it will bring them to Certainty and Truth whereof the contrary leads them into all kinds of Error But to conclude this for I must no longer insist upon 't as I never intended fully to answer it only to take notice of it on my way as to the point of Reason see how foolish in these things Man is and how confounded his â—eason by the Example of Peter an Elect of God a Disciple dear unto Christ The Lord Jesus comes to him to wash his Feet but he presently said John 13.5 6 7. Thou shalt never wash my feet but our Saviour answering If I wash thee not thou host no part in me Peter soon goes to another Extream first he would not have Christ to wash him at all but now he would be washed every where not only the feet but also hand and head too but our Saviour shews him Reason why he ought to suffer himself to be guided and not to take upon him to direct his Lord and Master in what he was to do he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet Now the cause of this wandring and error of Peter is expressed v. 7. namely his Ignorance What I do thou knowest not now Where was his Reason at that time For certainly he was unreasonable to be of a different Mind from his Saviour and till he submitted unto his Will the like we may say about these things unto those who fancy themselves so rational and would set up their blind and lame Reason for a competent Judge Reason is always striving and always at a loss all our Reason hath to do is to be guided by Scripture and to own it to be the infallible word of God all beyond this is the work of Faith for Christ is an object not to be known naturally or by natural Reason and the obligation to know Christ and believe in him springs and ariseth only from a positive Command superadded unto the Law of Nature If St. Paul speaks Truth Col. 1.27 Christ in us is a mystery considering the manner whereby he is in us therefore the Image of the new Man in us is called the hidden and inner
to wrest it the Question is about Christ's Age the Jews would measure it by what appears of him and as he is a Man in which respect he denieth not what in their Sense they say about his Age but he will lead them farther and make them look higher and consider him for what he was as he had said to them from the beginning namely the Son of God sent by the Father to save the World To that purpose upon this occasion he mentions that his appearing unto Abraham in the plain of Mamre for 't is said the Lord appeared Gen. 18.1 2. and Abraham knew him among the two Angels in the shape of Men by his addressing himself to him paying the respect of bowing himself towards the Ground and calling him my Lord this Visit under the Figure of a Man whereby he gave him earnest and assurance how he would dwell among Men when of his Seed he would be made Flesh this I say was a notable means whereby Abraham saw his Day and rejoyced the Day of that Visit he saw with the Eye of his Body and the Day of his Incarnation with the Eye of Faith which our Saviour in this present Text of John lays not upon the Promise of his coming but upon his pre-existence unto his Incarnation Now contrary to this scope of the place Socinians do forge this to be the meaning according to a transposition they make of the Words I before Abraham be made say to you that I am that is Christ not considering that Abraham was long before and dead as the Jews said but then they go farther with his being made they understand Father of many Nations I shall say but very few words as to the Grammatical Construction for indeed the Matter and true Meaning is plainly this I was existed and had a Being before Abraham was born but was renders the Sense when be or is doth alter it because it being spoken of Abraham doth relate to time past and not to come * Gen. 17. ◠Abram had his Name changed into that of Abraham signifying a Father of Nations a Thousand and several Hundreds of Years before Christ yet they would have him to be such only after the coming of our Saviour into the World as if he had not been so before when Paul calls him the Father of us all believers They rise a Difficulty also about the word I am instead of I was which is an usual Enallage in Scripture when the present time is used for the praeterit or past and here there is a Reason for it which is this that the present Tense is more proper than the praeterit to represent God's permanent Being besides that the Evangelist useth the present least Christ should seem to speak of a non-perpetual of a discontinued and interrupted Being and Existence by reason of the several Opinions about him as if he was John Baptist raised from the dead Elijah Jeremiah or some other Now the use of the present Tense was very proper to remove all Grounds of entertaining such Thoughts and to signify a constant permanent and unchangeable Being in Scripture we have Instances of this how when God is described the Verb I am in the present Tense answers together to the Verb of the praeterit as Psal 90.2 and Prov. 8.24 25. this doth most properly express an uninterrupted and immutable Being which passeth not away such is God's such also is Christ's fully and unquestionably described in all Tenses which is much to our present purpose †Heb. 13.8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Abraham rejoyced at that Day when he invited and entertain'd in his House the Son of God under the shape of a Man for tho' there were three one of them he called my Lord and chiefly addressed himself to him Gen. 18. who promised of himself and in his own Name to give him a Son by Sarah shall I hide said the Lord from Abraham that thing which I do and afterwards communed with him surely Abraham was glad to see this day But when our Saviour saith before Abraham was I am he intended thereby to give himself some preference before Abraham the Name I am which on this occasion he makes use of is observable for it doth relate to that Name which God gave himself when he sent Moses into Egypt * Exod 3.14 Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I am hath sent me which Name is proper to God whereunto in the New Testament answers that of Alpha and Omega Rev. 18.11 and 12.13 which the Lord Jesus attributes unto himself and if he created the World that is made of nothing as by God's Grace we shall prove in its place Heb. 1.12 he must need have been before Abraham and as he made so he shall destroy or change it whether as to the Substance or only as to the Quality 't is not material to our purpose but whilst Heavens and Earth shall wax old and be chang'd 't is said of him but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail by these different Expressions one and the same thing namely his absolutely unchangable and eternal Existence is intended which being joyn'd with his other Attributes for our good may prevent all the Fears and answer all the Doubts of those that trust in him But let us take notice of the Injury which unworthily they attempt to put upon Christ as if he were only in Jest and to trick the Jews with not answering the thing in question which is about the time when Christ was whether or not before Abraham What he was Whether something more Excellent and more Antient than a Man The Jews Objection was very specious How could one whom they look'd upon a meer Man not fifty Years old have seen Abraham Well our Saviour answers directly to the Point that he was before Abraham but Socinians with their wicked Sophistry would unworthily make him shuffle the matter for instead of making him to answer how it could be that within such a vast distance of time he and Abraham could have seen one another they bring him only as mentioning the time when he was speaking to them to this purpose before Abram be Abraham that is the Father of many Nations I say unto you I am the Christ this quibbling Trick I would think they learned of Papists though I take Socinians capable to forge as bad as any Papists who in the case of the Malefactor upon the Cross with altering a Comma do quite alter the Sense our Saviour thus speaking to him verily I say unto thee * Luk. 23.43 to day thou shalt be with me in paradise but to settle their Purgatory instead of to day thou shalt be c. they would have it I say unto thee to day I would find to know what a cause Christ hath given them to pass such a Judgment upon him who ever used to answer to the purpose to the
Words and Mind of those whom he discoursed with What could in so serious a Matter and of so high a Concernment as this is to make him alter his method and differ from himself when his main Design was all along to make himself truly known for what he was yet here as much as in them lays they make him say nothing to the purpose of the Jew's Question and Objection as they attempt to rob him of his Divinity so they would of that Heavenly Wisdom Gentleness and Readiness to do good which ever appeared in his whole Carriage here not only they make him not to speak pertinently to the Question but also they so mangle his answer that Men cannot tell what to make of it Is the Etymology or Derivation of Abraham's Name to any purpose here The Jews look'd upon it as very absurd that Christ so young should have been in Abraham's time the Lord doth plainly and to the purpose answer before Abraham was I am and with this very strong Asseveration by him used only in Matters of the highest Concernment Verily verily I say unto you not once but twice Verily now we know him to be †Rev. 3.14 Amen Amen the true and faithful witness Their Brains are fruitful in idle Inventions for upon this place they say one thing more wherein Arminians joyn with them How this before Abraham was I am is to be understood of a Divine Constitution or Pre-ordination that is in the fore-sight and fore-knowledge of God Christ was before Abraham but not really so in Existence but Christ here saith not he was fore-ordained but that he was and existed I am we deny not Christ to have been fore-ordained for * 1 Pet. 1.20 Peter saith he was but we deny that to be the Ground of his Divinity or that in this place Christ saith so when the Question is about his Deity being pre-ordained of God is no Prerogative of Christ for it is †Rom. 8.29 common to all believers Is it not ridiculous for one to say he is older than others because he was fore-ordained of God before they were born This I shall conclude with one thing more I must say to it how our Saviour in this place saith clearly and positively before Abraham was I am the Jews understood how thereby he made himself to have been before Abraham which could not be upon that account of his human Birth our Saviour doth not go about to shew they were mistaken which if it had been the Evangelist would have spoken of on the contrary he did run the hazard of being stoned and indeed he not only is before Abraham but also ‖ Colos 1.17 before all things and Persons Adam not excepted One place more I shall speak of and then shall have done with this Head I am * Rev. 1.8 Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is which was and which is to come the Almighty As before Alpha there is no other Letter in the Green Alphabet which Language the Book is written in so before the Son of God there is nothing and as of all things that are Christ existed the first so he shall exist the last and herein the Metaphor doth exactly fit and is explained by the following words the beginning and the ending which though v. 4. be spoken of the Father yet it hinders not but is here attributed unto the Son neither is there any thing in the whole Verse but what is adapted to the Son as well as to the Father as to the Name Lord How often is the Son in the New Testament called by that Name As to the expressions which is which was and which is to come taken out of the * Isa 44.6 Prophet which are the explanation of the word Jehovah they belong to Christ as we have before proved the Name doth and so doth the Thing for in a place already quoted the Signification is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever he that is named Alpha the beginning and the first and which is may well be called he which was and he who is called Omega the end and the last may also be well called he that is to come which is properly and in a special manner spoken of Christ as it appears out of this †Heb. 10.37 yet a little while and he that shall come will come and this is spoken of him in ‖ Rev. 17. and 3.11 and 16.15 and 22.7 12 20. several places of this Book Besides that in this whole Chapter the Apostle's Design is to describe the Son not the Father as it doth appear by the foregoing and following Verses so 't is not likely he would in this v. 8. describe the Father only and seeing in this first Chapter he was to dispose the seven Churches to receive the Epistles by the Son to be directed to them with that Submission and awful Reverence as became them so to prepare their Spirits it was a due Course to make an ample and glorious Description of the Son for the Father doth not immediatly in his Person shew himself to or speak with Men but the Son doth therefore there is a kind of Necessity that he should make his own Description seeing therefore how the Words and the Things of the Description do belong to Christ why should not we say that the Description is adapted for him This Interpretation of ours is natural with the words and scope of the place it neither altereth taketh away or addeth thereunto as their Interpretation doth with wresting forcing and restraining it to the Person of the Father when the Son absolutely without any limitation or restriction calls himself Alpha and Omega beginning and ending first and last but it seems they would teach the Spirit of God how to speak though nothing can be said more fully and plainly than this is he doth not say only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 am but joyns the Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I so when in the several Epistles †Rev. 2.7.17.26 to him that overcometh he promises to give to eat of the tree of life and of the hidden manna Chap. 2.5.12.21 the white stone and the new name with power over the nations c. and * Chap. 22.17 the water of life freely to him that is thirsty he doth not send them to the Father but offereth it himself as to the †John 4.10 Woman of Samaria nay in his state of Humiliation he calls Men ‖ Chap. 7.37 38. to come to himself much more after his exaltation and glorisition But to conclude this Matt. 11.28 and at the same time shew how this is simply spoken of Christ not only in this 8 verse but also in the 11 and 17 it appears out of the 12 and 13 where he turned to see the voice that spake with him and in the midst of the seven Candleiticks he saw one like