to be only a Fellow-Creature with others or excludes him from the Deity First Because Christ cannot properly be said to be the First-born of every Creature by Creation for then it could not be said That All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made unless a Creature could preexist its own Creation and give it self a Being John 1.3 Secondly Christ's being call'd the First-born of every Creature cannot be understood of the natural Birth of some kind of Creatures not of Man for there was none created before Adam and Eve was the Mother of all Mankind and Cain was her first-born not Christ neither could he be the first-born of Angels for they do not propagate their kind Mark 12.25 1 Cor. 15.15 Thirdly Christ cannot be the first-born of every Creature in time preceeding all others in the new Creation by Regeneration unless he had existed in his humane Nature before the Patriarchs and Prophets of old and all the holy Men from the Foundation of the World But having spoken in the Negative I shall now endeavour to demonstrate how Christ may be called the first-born of every Creature 1st Christ may be said to be the first-born of every Creature from the Dead in like manner as he is called the first begotten of the Dead and became the first Fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 Rev. 1.5 2dly Christ may also be called the first-born of every Creature as preexisting every Creature in his Divine Nature like as the same Apostle expounds it in the following words ver 16 17. For by him were all things created and he is before all things and by him all things consist As if he should say the very reason wherefore I call him the first-born of every Creature is not because of Creation or natural Birth or spiritual by Regeneration but because he was before all things in respect of time and Creator of them So that it is clearly manifest there is no ground from this Text for any to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is either excluded from the true Godhead or included as a meer Creature amongst others by his being called the first-born of every Creature Objection from Rev. 3.14 where Christ is called the beginning of the Creation Answer This must not be understood as if Jesus Christ were the first of God's Creatures but that he was the first that gave being or beginning to the Creatures Rev. 22.13 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last Beginning here is the first by whom all things had their beginning and not the first of Creatures that had its beginning CHAP. III. Containeth Answers to divers of the Socinian Arguments against the Deity of Jesus Christ OBjection If the Divine Nature of Christ were God one with the Father and the Spirit then the Father and the Spirit would be incarnate Answer The Union of the Divine Persons being in Nature and Essence and not in Person or personal Properties one Person in the same Nature may be said more properly to be incarnate than another Objection If Christ have two Natures then not only that Person that did before exist is the Son of God but the holy Issue of the Virgin also so that that opinion would make two Sons of God and consequently two Persons in one Christ Answer Although the Divine Nature of Christ which preexisted his Incarnation be the Son of God yet the Issue of the Virgin coming out of the Loins of David and receiving its matter from Man cannot be naturally the Son of God but the Son of Man so that as Christ with respect to his Divine Nature is the natural Son of God so likewise though he was not generated after the common way of Mankind yet being deduced out of the same matter so far he is naturally the Son of Man But from hence I see no reason to conclude that there are two Sons of God or that Christ is two Persons for though the matter of Christ's Humanity would have made a distinct Person if it had been generated after the common way yet it was never so because it never had its Being but in Union with the Divine Nature when the Person of the Son was united to it and so together became the second Adam who was made a quickning Spirit in the one Person of Christ 1 Cor. 15.45 So that the Humanity of Christ was but a part of his Person and no distinct Person of it self for Christ took on him the form of a Servant only and not the Person Phil. 2.7 The Scriptures declare no such thing as two Persons but that he took our Nature which became a Person in the Divine Subsistence of the Son so that the Person of Christ was not a Compound of two distinct Persons together but the one Person of the eternal Son of God as it were clothed with Humanity for the whole Person of Christ viz. the Word and Flesh is represented to us as but one only begotten Son of God John 1.14 18. Objection Had Christ had a Divine Nature in being the eternal Son of God he needed not the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to furnish him with a humane Nature from a Virgin being himself able to produce it of her unless you will say that his own Divine Nature was in the mean while idle Answer Estwick on Biddle in page 208 209. answers this Objection he saith The Holy Ghost had no Efficiency or Casualty in the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour which was not common to the Trinity for as Father Son and Holy Ghost are inseparable touching the Divine Essence and Power of working so likewise are they inseparable in their Operations 'T is a common Comparison to illustrate this Truth Three Virgins do jointly make up a Garment for one of them only to wear so all the three Persons as one Cause did produce the humane Nature yet was it taken only into the Person of the Son of God Christ became Man not in regard of the Divine Nature simply which is common to Father Son and Holy Ghost but as it subsists in the Son of God 'T is true if we respect the ‖ The word Original must here be understood according to the Author's sense of the personal Preheminence of the Father according to his personal Subsistence in the Divine Nature and not in respect to Original of time Original of working there is a difference the Father as he is of himself and from no other so doth he work from himself not from the Son and the Son as he is from the Father so doth he also work from the Father but because there is no Distinction of the Persons in regard of the formal essential Principle of working it follows there is no Distinction or Separation of the Divine Persons in the work it self It was therefore both an absurd and blasphemous Inference and that as you say from our Principle either that it was
Christ saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them And Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World Jer. 23.24 Matth. 18.20 chap. 28.20 Psalm 139.7 to 14. Psalm 94.10 11. If any say that Christ means only that his Doctrine shall continue among the Faithful that congregate in his Name or as Ephes 3.17 To dwell in our Hearts by Faith viz. in his Doctrine It is answered That not simply his Doctrine as it is mixt with Faith in its abstract from inward feeling is here to be understood but some other presence of Christ with his People for he saith John 14.23 If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Where note that to such as have already received his Word by Faith in the love of it and keep it he hath promised a further Presence And what can it be but the inward sensation or feeling of his Love as sometimes we have Rom 5.1 to 6. tho at other times we have not Job 13.15 ch 23.8 to 11. But they may further say If this be the Presence of Christ you speak of it is not his personal Presence but by the Spirit which is called the Spirit of Faith that sheddeth the Love of God abroad in our Hearts To this I reply True it is not the personal Presence of Christ either as God-Man or of the Divine Person of the Son but as in and through the Spirit which will prove what is denied by them viz. That the Holy Spirit is God yea and the Son also For the Office of the Spirit is universal to all Saints throughout the World at the same instant time which is beyond the power of any finite Creature indeed Satan deceives the World but not by an infinite Presence at the same time in every place but by a finite personal going to and fro and walking up and down in it seeking whom he may devour being assisted by his evil Angels Job 1.7 1 Pet. 5.8 And as the Holy Spirit by his Office must be Omnipresent So also the Son as well as the Father is Omnipresent in and through the Spirit with the Saints in all places and in and with all Persons Places and Things whatsoever though not by the same Ministrations or Operations yet at the same instant Season and as the Father is Omnipresent in and through the Spirit so I see not the least reason why we should deny it to the Son but understand his Presence in the same sense seeing both are present in the Unity of the same Spirit For know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you As God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them And he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with the Father and the Son for the Holy Ghost is called The Spirit of our Father that speaketh in us and the Spirit of the Son sent forth into our Hearts crying Abba Father And the Spirit which is upon Christ shall not depart out of his Mouth nor out of the Mouth of his Seed nor of his Seed's Seed from henceforth and for ever and if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and by our Communion with the Holy Ghost we have Fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and are one in them and they will come and make their abode with us through that one Spirit whereby we are joyned unto the Lord. 1 Cor. 3.16 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Cor. 6.17 Mark 13.11 Matth. 10.20 Gal. 4.6 Isa 59.21 2 Cor. 13.14 1 John 1.3 John 17.21 chap. 14.23 And it is comfortable for us to believe that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World 1 John 4.4 Otherwise what may the Soul say when he is in trouble Surely I fear that notwithstanding the fulness of the precious Promises and the great Engagements of Christ to me that Christ and the Holy Spirit are far from me and are busied with other Saints and know not my Distress and therefore I may perish before they come to help me But blessed be God that hath laid help upon one that is Mighty Psal 89.19 who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7.15 that knoweth all our open and secret Wants Rev. 2.23 and makes Intercession for us And as for the Holy Spirit our Bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us that abides with us for ever though his Operations may sometimes cease when he is grieved by us 1 Cor. 6.19 John 14.16 So that the Holy Ghost is not as one that cometh but now and then to visit our Souls but he makes his constant abode in us and so is always ready to mortify and sanctify our vile Natures and make them meet to have Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Jo. 1.3 And this is a Christian's Mercy that as none is able to pluck him out of Christ's Hands so the greatest Corruptions are not able to withstand the powerful Sanctifyings of the Holy Spirit Satan may withstand an Holy Angel of God for his Fall doth not deprive him of the natural Power of an Angel but yet he cannot withstand Christ nor the Holy Spirit because of the Potency of their Nature John 10.28 and 30. Rom. 8.13 2 Cor. 10.4 to 7. Dan. 10.13 Jude 9. and we may say in this case as John did concerning the sealed Book Rev. 5. That none in Heaven nor on Earth nor under the Earth was found worthy besides the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem and sanctify the fallen Sons of Adam The Angels could not do it for they are beholden to Christ for their standing 1 Tim. 5.26 But blessed be God our Saviour for in him shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Tit. 2.10 Isa 45.25 To whom be Glory and Praise now and for evermore Amen So then if we ascribe and acknowledg the Work of Mans Salvation to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which are ranked together as the efficient Cause and therefore receive the Glory of it and seeing both the Father and the Son dwells in us in and through the Holy Spirit whose Office in his Omnipresence bespeaks his unlimited and infinite Nature I cannot conceive but that the great Unity of these three Subsistencies should be in Essence Secondly The Unity of the Holy Trinity is manifest from Isa 6.23 where the Seraphims cried one unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts agreeable to Rev. 4.8 Now here are three Holies viz. Holy Father Holy Son and Holy Ghost and though I do not lay the stress of the proof on the bare repetition of the word Holy yet doubtless it ecchoes to the Truth that is couched in this
most high God and as such cannot be separated from him And therefore to ascribe the Conception of Christ to the immediate Power of God is to attribute it unto God for all his Attributes are so many descriptive Appellations of him And therefore seeing that the Power of the Highest is the Highest himself and that the Holy Ghost is this Power which came upon Mary and overshadowed her then the Holy Ghost must be God And he cannot be otherwise understood for no created Spirit could produce a Child in the Womb of the Virgin Mary Secondly It appears that the Holy Ghost is God by the Works that our Lord Jesus accomplished by him First He was anointed with the Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel Luk. 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor c. With the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him Heb. 1.9 John 3.34 Secondly Jesus Christ cast out Devils by the Spirit of God Mat. 12.28 But if I cast 〈◊〉 Devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you Thirdly Our Lord Jesus offered up himself unto God through the Spirit Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Now if our Lord Jesus Christ have the same Nature in the Unity of Essence with God the Father why should he then attribute that Power by which he cast out Devils and performed his Ministerial Office in preaching the Gospel and offering himself a Sacrifice to God for us unto the Spirit if he were but a Creature For thus to exalt the Creature would much eclipse his own Power and Glorious Deity And therefore I cannot think that all those glorious Things should be attributed to the Holy Spirit unless he were a Divine Person subsisting in the Nature of God And forasmuch as God hath said that He will not give his Glory to another there cannot be any Colour of reason to deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost unless we deny the Deity of Jesus Christ And seeing that his Deity is so plainly proved that none can deny it if they open their Eyes to the Light of the Holy Scriptures and that the Deity of the Holy Ghost doth so naturally flow from it that none can reject the one without the other there is ground from hence as well as from the preceding Evidence of the Holy Spirit 's Deity to believe that he is a Divine Person in the same Nature and Essence together equal with God the Father and the Son Fifthly The Deity of the Holy Ghost is proved by the Divine Worship that is given to him As the Scriptures do demonstrate the Holy Spirit to be a Divine Person subsisting in the Nature of God so to worship God adequately aright we must include the Holy Spirit for whether we worship God indefinitely yet as the one Nature and Spiritual Substance of God is the Nature and Substance of each Person we therein do worship each Person or whether we worship a Person by peculiar Attributions proper to that Person yet as the one Nature and Substance of the Deity is the Nature and Substance of that Person we therein do worship the Deity So that we can neither exclude any one Person in the worshipping of the Deity or the Deity in the worshipping of any one Divine Person if we know what we worship John 4.22 ch 8.19 ch 14.7 8 9. But 1st To prove that the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped with Divine Worship I shall cite Matth. 28.19 Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost What is our being Baptized in the Name of the Holy Ghost but our Acknowledgment of our Faith in him and our yielding of due Obedience and Worship to him as well as to the Father and the Son 2dly The Holy Ghost is worshipped with Divine Worship Isa 6.1 2 3 8 9 10. compared with Acts 28.25 26 27. The Prophet saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple Ver. 2. About it stood the Seraphims Ver. 3. And one cryed unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory And the Lord bad the Prophet ver 9. Go and tell this People Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Now the same Lord that spake to the Prophet and was worshipped by the Seraphims is said to be the Holy Ghost in Acts 28. and from thence it appears that the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped with Divine Worship and therefore he is God CHAP. VI. Wherein is proved the Vnity of the Holy Trinity FOrasmuch as it is manifestly declared in the Holy Scriptures of Truth that there is but one God and that the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God it must then consequently follow that these three are but one God And first this is farther shewed and declared to us by our being Baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 for as these three are ranked together as Divine Persons so there is no reason to think that they should differ in their Nature seeing we ascribe the great work of Salvation to all of them And surely if Christ and the Holy Spirit were instrumental in our Salvation only as Creatures under God the Father they would not be ranked together with him as the efficient Cause For the Holy Angels though they are all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation yet are we not required in any Church-Ordinance to acknowledg their Service in honour to them Heb. 1.14 1 Cor. 11.10 For though we are exhorted to such a Holy Behaviour as that we might not prevent or disturb them in their Ministerial Work and Office yet the Glory of all is to be given to God alone viz. to Father Son and Holy Ghost and the reason to me is plain because the Angels are of a lower Nature otherwise it were not irrational to believe that if the Angels were equal in Nature to Christ and the Holy Spirit though lower in Office they should have a share proportionable in the Attributions of Protection and Salvation Besides the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are ranked together because these three only are Omniscient and Omnipresent Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Spirit For they created all things as hath been shewed and therefore they know all things He that teacheth Man Knowledg shall not he know And whither shall I go from thy Spirit c. Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence c. And
send Peace as a Token of the Promise of Peace which God had made in ver 23. 6thly To Ezck. 48.35 And the Name of the City from that Day shall be The Lord is there Which Scripture as well as those foregoing relates to the Presence and Appearance of God in some extraordinary manner in those places and therefore as the Name Jehovah hath no proper Relation to them so it hinders not the Proof of Christ's Deity by those several incommunicable Names of God that are positively given to him as proper Names Objection To those Scriptures that are brought to prove the Deity of the Son of God being such as relate to God in the Old Testament and are applied to Jesus Christ in the New What things are spoken of God under the Law may for another reason be spoken of Christ under the Gospel namely for the great and intimate Conjunction between God and Christ in respect of Dominion Power and Office that Christ hath obtained by the Donation of God Now if the Scriptures deliver the very same things of Moses Exod. 32.7 Acts 7.35 and of others that are elsewhere written of God himself when as neither Moses nor those others had so great Conjunction with God as intervened between him and Christ much more deservedly may those things which are primarily spoken of God be accommodated to Christ by reason of that most singular and strict Conjunction that is between them Answ First It 's true that that which is primarily spoken of God to have brought up Israel out of Egypt or to be their Deliverer is also spoken of Moses and of the Angel Acts 7.35 the same did God send to be a Ruler and a Deliverer by the Hands of the Angel which appeared to him in the Bush Yet how remote this is to the case in hand let the Reader judg for Moses we see plainly by the Text is put as the third cause of Israel's Deliverance out of Egypt as only an Instrument in the Hand of God through the Ministry of the Angel And this agrees with the Old Testament Exod. 33.1 2. And the Lord said unto Moses Depart and go up hence thou and the People that thou hast brought up out of the Land of Egypt And I will send an Angel before thee And Psal 77.20 Thou leddest thy People like a Flock by the Hand of Moses and Aaron But the Case is far different with respect to the Son of God for as in the Old Testament it is absolutely spoken of God so in the New it is positively applied to Jesus Christ without such Restrictions as it is to Moses c. And though Christ hath Preheminence of Dominion and Power c. above others by Donation yet respecting only the Gist of God to him there is no reason that those things that are absolutely spoken of God in the Old Testament should be so positively spoken of Christ in the New unless Regard were had to his Divine Essence Secondly Forasmuch as those things that are primarily spoken of God in the Old Testament are referred to Christ in the New as the proper Subject to whom they belong it is a plain Demonstration of Christ's Divine Essence for otherwise they could not be equally applied to each of them Thirdly If Christ's Supremacy in Dominion and Power were only by Gift of Deputation from God he should not bear the supream Glory equal with him for as it cannot consist with common Right so God will not part with his own Glory to invest a Creature with it equally with himself Isa 42.8 This may suffice here in Answer to those Objections as to the Dominion and Power of Christ received by Donation from the Father I shall speak more distinctly to it elsewhere Objection To Acts 20.28 To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood The Blood which is called the own Blood of God is in such a way of speaking and for such a Cause as the Prophet saith that he which toucheth the People of God toucheth the Apple of God's Eye and it is so called for the exceeding great Conjunction that is between them and as he is the Lamb of God Answer I cannot perceive wherefore either of these Scriptures that are brought as Examples should be an Impediment to the Text that it should not be understood of the Union of both Natures in the Person of Christ seeing there is not the word Own conjoyned with them which intimates the special Affinity and Relation of the Blood of Christ unto God but that the Blood of Christ is called the own Blood of God for the exceeding great Conjunction that is between them not as the Adversaries mean as I suppose of the official Power and Dignity of Christ in subordination unto God but as the Assumption of the humane Nature by the Divine Person of the Son did relate that Nature to the Divine Nature of God Objection To Phil. 2.6 Who being in the form of God thought it not Robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the Likeness of Men. This Equality of Christ with God is to be extended no further than as he was in the form of God But the form of a Thing as appeareth by the common Acceptation of the Word and by that following Clause He took upon him the form of a Servant and also from these words Mark 16.12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them is something visibly and outwardly apparent such as is neither the Essence nor Power of any Thing but only the Exercise and Demonstration of Power In the Exercise thereof and Demonstration of Divine Power whereby he did Miracles was Christ in the form of God and equal to God And when it is said But emptied himself or as our English Translation hath it made himself of no Reputation this implieth that if Christ had not emptied himself of that Divine Form he had thought it a Prey to be equal with God Which cannot without the Implication of a Contradiction or what is worse of Blaspemy be affirmed of God But Christ had thought it Robbery or a prey to have been equal with God in doing Miracles if he had not laid aside the Exercise and Demonstration of Divine Power and fallen into the Hands of his Adversaries as a weak and vulgar Man For unless he had done so he had disobeyed the Commandment of God and consequently thought his Divine Form to be a Prey not a Gift of God and that it was to be kept on for his own Glory and not put off for the Glory of God Answer First It 's true that this Equality of Christ with God is to be extended no further than as he was in the form of God but yet I do not hold with these Men That his being in the form of God is only the visible outward and apparent Exercise and Demonstration of Divine