blessed saviour call'd an High-Priest in one Epistle And in his kind of Priest-Hood he was as much a Priest as ever Aaron was in his and he offered himself as really as ever any expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice were offer'd under the Law therefore his pretious Blood which was shed upon the Cross till Death intervened is so often mention'd in Scripture chap. 9.12 ver 14. By his own Blood he entered in once c. and the Blood of Christ which through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God even to Death Again Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ver 16. ver 26. Ephes 5.25 Acts. 20.28 thereby to save and sanctifie his Church for he loved it and gave himself for it and so hath purchased it with his own Blood which could not be done without a Sacrifice and a Priest there 's no true proper and real Effect without a true proper and real Cause As the Article of Christ's Satisfaction is one of if not the most Fundamental of our Salvation so the Holy Ghost hath in Scripture taken special care to confirm it in both Testaments Isaiah 53.10 read the whole chap. His Soul was made an Offering for sin saith Isaiah and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all thereby the Prophet alluding to the Ceremony of the scape Goat Asasel Levit. 16.21 1 Joh. 2.2 1 Pet 2.24 which was loaded with the Sins of the People so in several places of the Psalms c. in the New Testament he is said to be the Propitiation for our sins and who his own self bare our sins in his Body on the Tree with several others to the same Effect full and plain enough 2 Cor. 4.4 except to those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds Yet Smalcius as if once had not been enough * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 57.66 said elsewhere That Christ is Metaphorically and improperly called a Priest and that he never offered a true but only a metaphorical sacrifice Again 't is false that Christ upon Earth purged our sins therefore they utterly deny the Merit of our Saviour's Death and thus impiously would overthrow the Foundation of our Salvation whilest St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly demonstrate the Necessity Excellency and Efficacy of our Saviour's Sacrifice of himself for our Deliverance from God's Wrath the Curse of the Law and from Sin and Death Here I may shew an instance how far in an Impious way Men can go when God hath left them unto themselves These are the Words Et si nunc Vulgo c. * Racov. Cat. p. 177. And though now it be the Common Opinion of Christians that Christ by his Death hath deserved Salvation for us and fully satisfied for our sins yet that Opinion is Deceitful Erroneous and very Pernicious Where is that Fear of God Modesty Soundness and Humility which that worst sort of Men would in their Opinions and Expressions seem to pretend to But to omit so many other Evidences of their Blasphemous Writings I shall only add some Words of the same Smalcius †Exam. Err. 47.72 Christum nobis c. Christ hath not reconciled God to us nor when offended appeased him towards us God of himself and of his own Will is become favourable to Men without any ones Reconciliation Christ hath not obtain'd the Forgiveness of our sins by the shedding of his Blood for us So then with Paul we may say the Preaching of the Gospel is vain 1 Cor. 15.14.15.17 our Faith is also vain we are yet in our sins and the Apostles are found false Witnesses of God at one blow they with denying Christ's Satisfaction for us to Divine Justice would blast our whole Joy Comfort and Assurance in this Life and hope of Happiness in that which is to come 'T is certain that in the Work of Redemption to give and receive are Relatives for as a Man cannot properly be said to receive a thing except it be given him by another so no Man can properly be said to give except there be another to receive Thus in the Work of Redemption the price which Christ gives the Father receives it as Scripture saith Rev. 5.9 Ephes 5.2 Heb. 10.5.7.10 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Thou hast Redeemed us unto God through thy Blood and Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor Again Ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot The Blood of Christ and his Death by the Sacrifice of himself is the Meritorious Cause of our Redemption and Salvation This Gospel-Doctrine should not be scoffed at by Men who would pass for Christians yet thereby make Heathens of themselves in joyning with Heathens to mock God's Institutions of the Ceremonial Law which represented Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross let an Heathen who knew no better say †Cat. Distich de Morib l. 4. Stultitia est morte alterius Sperare Salutem 'T is a Folly to look for Salvation by another Man's Death but no Christian should say so I am apt to believe that Roman was not a meer stranger to the Custom of the Jews but as well as Ovid he might have read Moses's Books whereof the Translation by the Septuagint was then Extant and long before for by what that other in his Metamorphoses saith of the Flood of the Tower of Babel represented by the Gyants attempting to scale up to Heaven and some such other things we have ground to believe that he had read the Book of Genesis so might also Cato who though accounted a Wise Man by the World if he by the Verse of his already Quoted intended any thing against the Ceremonies of the Law about Sacrifices which represented that of the Messiah's Death whereby Salvation to Mankind was to be purchased according to the Prophecies of David Isaiah Daniel c. then we may reckon him to have been one of those whom Paul speaks of who professing themselves to be Wise became Fools Rom. 1.22 1 Cor. 1.23 24. so we may all others of his Opinion because as the Doctrine of the Messiah or Christ was to the Jews a stumbling Block so to the Greeks or Gentiles it was Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the Wisdom of God but we find Socinians to take part with those who barely are Jews and Greeks but not with them which are called so are more unexcusable than Cato and other Heathens who never had the Gospel-Light shining upon them as they have As they deny Christ's Satisfaction so wholly to deprive him of his Priestly Office they also would take away his
by the Word John 5.7 the Son must be Understood for Father and Son are relatives and as the Father is a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost yet they deny the most Holy Trinity asserted in Scriptures and confirm'd to have been the belief of the Whole Primitive Church as contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and in the Constantinopolitan wherein the others were Comprehended and owned in the Confession of Faith of all Christian Churches in the World which was and is still made the first Article of Faith of One God in Three Persons yet against these great Lights they impiously say * Catech. Racov. Sententiam eorum c. the Opinion of these who do Attribute Divine Nature unto Christ is contrary not only to sound Reason but also to the Word of God and they do grosly err who affirm that not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost are Persons in one Godhead and †Vorstius one saith the Arguments by the Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines made use of for the Eternal Generation of Christ are either Fallacious or Frivolous and * Smalcius ad nov monst part 2. c. 22. p. 198. another calls them Ratiunculae Nugatoriae Trifling words the same in another place affirms that †Exam. 100. Errâ—r Er. 26. Christ before his Resurrection was not perfectly Christ or Son of God or God And elsewhere that Christ's Divinity consists in his sitting at the Right Hand of the Father Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei est Christi divinitas I begin to tremble when I think of what I am just now entring upon but 't is fit they should be known in their own Colours Here with Horror read how Blasphemonsly those Hellish and Abominable Monsters as are Servetus Dudithius Socinus himself and several others of those wicked Men so much admir'd by Vnitarians writ of the most Holy and most Blessed Trinity they call it Monstrum Tricipitem Cerberum Tricorporem Gerionem Deum fictitium ac Sophisticum Idolum novum Fabulosam Chymeram humanum Commentum Diabolicam Idaeam Babelis Turrim of many more I shall add the following which makes the Pen drop out of my Hand The most adorable Trinity is call'd Blasphemum dogma ex imô orcô per Filium perditionis virtute Satanae gentium Ecclesiis obtrusum I am at a stand whether or not to put this in English which though it makes my Heart ake and defiles my Pen yet to the end every one which understands no Latin may abhor such transcendent Blasphemies I say The most Holy Trinity they call a Monster a three Headed Cerberus a Geryon with three Bodies a Forged and Sophistical God a new Idol a Fabulous Chymera a Human Invention a Devilish Idea a Tower of Babel a Blaspemous Doctrine by the Son of Perdition and power of Satan drawn out of the very bottom of Hell and obtruded upon the Church of the Gentiles After this Socinians must not find it strange if I who through God's Grace am a Christian do abhor and detest those Principles which do overthrow the Christian Religion to set up a new one of their own and if I cannot be much in Charity with those who are for such Impieties and Blasphemies Tho' what I have already said be too much yet to shew how they break all Rules and do more and more sink into the Mire and if not worse yet are as bad as the Devil himself for Non audet Stygius Pluio tentare quod audet Effraenis Socinus there they will not stop for he must run fast whom the Devil drives I shall upon the matter add one thing or two more out of their Hellish Writings one of them writing against one of his Adversaries takes an occasion to fall upon Austin * Dudiâ—h Epist ad Bezam in Socin Oper. Tom. 1. p. 525. Tuum tibi Augustinum c. I shall speak to thee of thy Austin For having said many things quite contrary to the Gospel he also hath Publish'd this Eostatical Fancy of three Gods they the first drunk of this Wine afterwards they made others drunken with it so to them is happen'd what usually befals Men who when their sight is troubl'd instead of one they see three or more The same in another place saith †Epist ad Petrum Carol p. 538. Tricipitem Ter geminum c. The Apostles never knew this three Headed and threefold God nor the whole Orthodox Church this is impudently to tell this lye who can without Indignation read such things Do such Miscreants deserve to breath God's Air What that Man saith * Socin Animadv 10. in assert Theol. Coll. posnan Socinus Subscribes to when he saith Deum quidem c. The whole Vniversal Church owns that there is one God but that it doth reverence Vnity in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity no Church of God may by any means own seeing 't is altogether a Humane Invention which Divine Truth doth every way speak against After this ever since our Saviour's days the Church hath been in Ignorance and Darkness nay in a great and damnable Error about these Fundamentals of our Religion but this is not all For as to our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation or the Son of God being made Flesh they impiously Ridicule and Revile it * Ostorod Instit c. 17. p. 96. One calls it Purum c. A meer Porgery of Superstitious Men. Then the Evangelists and Apostles by whose means the Holy Ghost convey'd those Divine Truths to us were Forgers of Lyes thus they set Hand and Seal to what said that Impious Pope Leon X. the Fable about Jesus Christ hath procur'd the Church great Riches Another calls that high and adorable Mystery †Smalc Refut Graveri de Incarnâ—t Dogma c. A most Monstrous Doctrine unworthy to be receiv'd by the Christian Church And the same in a direct opposition to what St. John saith The Word was made Flesh hath this * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 49. Verbum non est Caro factum the Word was not made Flesh and to say the contrary is an Error and that vile Man thinks he can say any thing against Christ and in opposition to Scripture for in the same Book he adds Christus c. Christ from his Birth was not full of Grace and Truth Again Christ at his Death ceased to be Son of God Error 50. and therein he calls it a Fable Tanta est Fabula c. So great is this Fable of the Vnion of two Natures also a Dream of old Women Somnium anile many more such Impieties I could quote but it makes my Heart sick and amaz'd thereat strikes me with Horror and makes the Pen drop out of my Hand About the Holy Ghost they hold three Fundamental Errors First They deny him to be God though in several places Scripture simply and absolutly calls him so Acts. 5.3 4. Peter said to Ananias
should take Mark with them But 't is fit I should say something in vindication of that Famous and first Christian General Council summon'd by a Christian Emperour now when by this occasion I am put upon it We must not wonder if some Heretick condemned by the Council such as Sabinus at that time the head Man of the Macedonian Heresy and now our Samaritan would reflect upon it but the account we have of the qualifications of those who were in the Council is much different and contrary to what he would insinuate there were Men of great Learning Piety Exemplary Life Wise Eloquent Sober Discreet Modest and of Courteous Behaviour some considerable for their sufferings and others respected for their great age and as that Assembly was notable for Quality so for number there being above 300 Bishops of which number were Paphnutins Spiridion Eusebius of Cesarea c. Men of great Fame with a vast number of other Divines with several Lay-Men good Philosophers to assist them therefore not so despicable as unworthily and falsly he would traduce it so consisted not of wrangling Greeks but if we may believe * Constant l. 3. Eusebius there were Divines out of Egypt Lybia Theboea Arabia Palestina Phoenicia Syria Cilicia Galatia Pamphilia Cappadocia Pontus Persia Asia and Phrygia one from Scythia and Hosius Bishop of Corduba in Spain much esteem'd by the Emperour also there were some from Macedonia Thracia as out of Achaia and Epirus This I mention not only to shew his want of Sincerity and Truth and that the Council was not contemptible as to the quality and number of Persons as he would make it but to demonstrate how weighty upon several accounts was Arius's condemnation by so Eminent an Assembly with the Emperour at the head who was a Pious and Wise Prince as his Carriage during the whole time of the Council declared him to be Besides that every one was allowed to say and defend his Opinion so things were not rashly carried on but seriously sifted and debated as for instance in the explanation of the word homoousius of the same substance which admitted of great debates wherein the cautious Eusebius Pamphilus appeared much it was agreed that the Son is of the Father but not part of the Father after all the Council at last by a free and unanimous consent agreed upon the Creed from the place call'd Nicene which was signed by no less then 318 Bishops well by that Council so lawfully assembled and after the debates which upon such occasions are usual was Arius and all of his Opinion Anathematized he in particular forbidden to go into Alexandria where he lived before and by the Emperour banish'd Now People may see what kind of Assembly was that famous Council which our present Samaritan would revile had it been Socinus's case as 't was Arius's he should have undergone the same Condemnation who in one point chiefly is worse than Arius who said our Saviour had by way of Creation a Being before the Virgin 's time and was the first of the Creatures which after Paulus Samosatenus Socinians deny The Council in their Synodical Epistle to the Church of Alexandria calls Arius's Tenets his impious opinions or rather madness and blasphemous expressions So do Socinian Heresies deserve to be call'd Here I shall add how the Council condemned not only the Heretick and his Opinions but also a Book of his call'd Thalia to shew how one of the ways to suppress Heresy is also to suppress Heretical Books after this came in the civil Authority and acted its part first the Emperour did upon the business write an excellent Letter to the Church of Alexandria and after into other parts also he ordered that if any of Arius's Books could be met with they presently should be burnt and farther declared that if any Person happened to have any of his Books and did not immediately produce and burn it he should upon his being found guilty presently suffer death and 't is to be observed how herein the Emperour acted in his civil Capacity and in the last Letter with no relation to the Council which he doth not so much as name And to carry on his Zeal farther Arius and Arians to make them more odious and detestable he branded them ordering they should be called Porphyrians from Porphyrius an impious and utter enemy to the Christian Religion herein we see a happy union between Church and State to punish and suppress Blasphemy and Heresy and when that wicked Man by means of intrigues had been readmitted into the Emperour's Presence upon condition to subscribe and swear to the determinations of the Council which both he did and thereupon thought all safe for himself from Man's side whom he had deluded and to have again been admitted into the Church God who cannot be deceived and will not be mocked executed Judgment upon him for the day before he should have been restored in Constantinople in a House of Office where he was gone to ease himself his Bowels fell out of his Body which before had been Judas's Punishment as being crushed to death by the fall of an House had been that of Corinthus So let all the Son of God's enemies be confounded if they will not be converted After their malicious aspersions cast upon Councils one must not wonder if they do what they can to abuse private Men 't is their ill nature which they neither can nor will part with they are in their element when they revile and speak ill of others and when Poison lies in the Heart Men must expect to see it break out what I now say of them I speak it out of my own experience witness their Apology and in one * The Grounds and Reasons of the Controversy concerning the Vnity of God of their late Pamphlets the Author is pleased to mention me in three places in the first pag. 15 he saith I reburnt Barth legat and goeth on thus it is a better Argument for that poor Man's seriousness in his religious perswasion then it is for the sincerity of Mr. Gailhard and the honour of Calvinism that he thirsts after the blood of Thousands He much pittieth that poor Martyr for the Socinian cause so no question but that tender heart of his doth poor Vanninus who was burnt for denying there is a God 't is pity Legat should suffer for his Religious Perswasion a very Religious Opinion to deny the most Holy Trinity with the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost why upon every account do they over-hand and shoulders bring in Calvin who is not concerned in our Dispute I did not so much as name him only to vindicate him from their false and slanderous aspersions how doth also my sincerity come in The matter of fact I related is plain enough and sincere too let them gainsay it if they can and because I say'd he was burnt for Socinianism is it a sufficient ground to entitle me to the name
Body he call'd by â—he name of the Temple whereby he seem'd to point at the Temple wherein God was said to dwell as if he had said this Body wherein I now dwell as formerly I did in the Temple you may and shall take and destroy as it happened when they Crucified him but this I give you for a proof of my Divinity so as to make you know who I am â—his same Body or Temple in three days I of my self and by my own Power will raise it up again that Body is â—ow Glorious in Heaven whilest there is on Earth neither Ark Tabernacle nor Temple At this time I have insisted upon the head of Visions which is one of the Classes out of which we draw Arguments for the Holy Trinity and Incarnation of the Son of God though they were more frequent under the Old Testament when those Holy Mysteries were not so plain as since they were made by the coming of our Lord and Saviour yet God in his Infinite Wisdom to confirm all that in that kind had been under the Law shew'd Abraham and his Posterity hath under the Gospel Transmitted to his Church thereby to shew an harmony between his Promises and the Execution thereof that Revelation to St. John Iown there are some proofs may be not so strong because not so plain as others for some do prove a Truth more directly and positively than others yet in the Word of God every kind of proof hath its use for God in his Infinite Wisdom hath thought fit therein to instruct us in several ways and methods if we had only Collateral and somewhat dark proofs we would not lay so great a stress thereupon but to the most positive and clear we join others to shew the excellent harmony that is in God's Word in asserting things in some places more in others less plainly for sometimes in one we find that which seem'd wanting in another but altogether they make the thing to be undisputably true This consideration moves me in the disputes we have against Socinans to draw up some Arguments which as yet I made no use of to prove and more and more demonstrate those great Truths of that kind the following is one 't is said of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of or for Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Aegypt Heb. 11.26 How is the reproach of Christ mentioned in relation to a time that was so long before his Birth in the place the Apostle saith it was by Faith now one that is not or that is a meer Man cannot be the Object of saving Faith for we believe in God not in Man therefore we must say Christ was in Moses's time and as then he was not a Man nor an Angel he must needs be God Moses whom a while after God so clearly communicated himself to and so familiarly conversed with knew well that Angel who afterwards was with him all along in the Wilderness who to him had appeared in the Bush to be God himself Existing at that time since he was with him and who in time to come under the name of a Prophet like himself was to be manifested in the Hesh the Messiah and Christ as to his Office and at that time God by Nature we must believe that Paul on that occasion mentioning Christ had cause for so doing which can be assigned to be no other than upon the account of his Deity before he had upon him taken our Humanity This Reproach of Christ another Apostle under the name of his Sufferings mentions as having of old been under the Eye and Prospect of the Prophets who saith he 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Inquired diligently searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow all which related to a coming of his in the Flesh but lookt upon him as having then another Being and Existence for by the Testimony of the same Spirit they knew the Messiah to come in their time to be God As to the word Reproach of Christ used by the Apostle we elsewhere have it in Scripture Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me The Reproaches Revilings and Blasphemies against God by wicked Men are fallen upon Christ for not only he hath born upon him David's Adultery and Murthers the Thefts and Robberies of the repenting Malefactor the Unbelief Persecution and Blasphemy of Paul as Peter's Denying Swearing and Cursing but also the Reproaches Mockeries Revilings and Injuries which Malice and Wickedness could invent fell upon him from his Baptism to his Death especially in the High-Priest's House in the Judgment Hall and upon the Cross when Hell was quite broke loose upon him They that passed by reviled him Matth. 27.39 40 41 42 43. wagging their heads saying if thou be the Son of God come down from the cross likewise the chief Priests mocking him with the Scribes and Elders said he saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him he trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God These last words contain the ground of all their malicious Blasphemies wherein Socinians would have joyned with the Jews and if for the Cause no doubt also for the Effect Were not these Reproaches against God whose Holy Name was Impiously made use of They Reproaching for trusting in God and for saying I am the Son of God which certainly is to reproach God but all these Blasphemies and wicked Reproaches fell upon Christ who was made the Object thereof thus was fullfill'd the Prophecy for David pointed at him when he said The Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me There are two undisputable proofs to shew how in that place the Psalmist speaks not of himself but of our Saviour one is in the beginning of the same Verse The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up to him applied the other is ver 21. Joh. 2.17 In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and if for this Truth we want another Evidence we have it at hand for even Christ pleased not himself but as it is written Rom. 15.3 The Reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me So then if Paul speaks truth in Moses's time there was that which may be call'd the Reproach of Christ then in some sense Christ was at that time and that might well be seeing he declared he was before Abraham Something more we must say about this the better to explain it we know Divine Nature to be impassible and out of the reach of any wrong on injury however those that impiously attempt to do 't are accounted to have effected it for what they could they have done towards it and in God's Eye are as
God himself Psal 68.8 David witnesseth that Mount Sinai was moved or trembled at the presence of the God of Israel now certainly the Son is the Presence or Face of the God of Israel Heb. 12.26 v. 18. and he whose Voice then shook the Earth This is the same to whom in the same Psalm he saith Thow hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them which being compar'd with Ephes 4.8 shews it to have been spoken of Christ Now in the Tabernacle which was set up for the glory of God Schechina or the Son of God not only appeared sometimes but continually dwelt therein Levit. 9.23 24. chap. 1.1 Num. 1.1 Ex. 25.22 upon all occasions manifesting his Glory thence he rendered his Oracles and called unto Moses to speak unto him so that whensoever God spake unto Moses Aaron and their Successors ever it was from that place according to his own appointment R. Kimhi saith that according to the Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Schechina is always in the midst of the Congregation of Israel The Inscription over the Ark was this The Name of the Lord of Hosts sitteth among the Cherubims they call'd it the Glory of Israel Psal 4.22 therefore after it had been taken by the Philistines 't was said The Glory is departed from Israel Now by the Glory and Name of the Lord the * Bechai in Leg. p. 88 89. Masters of the Cabbala always understand the Messiah who is God the Face of God King David and the Mouth of Jehovah which to apply we must take notice of what John saith And we beheld his glory Joh. 1.14 the glory as of the only begotten of the Father chiefly in his Transfiguration He as said before Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 Hebr. 1.3 Matth. 19.28 25.31 is the God of Glory and the Lord of Glory also the brightness of the glory of the Father he hath in Heaven the Throne of his Glory By vertue of the Covenant made in Sinai between God and the People God in a most eminent way between the Cherubims dwelt among them as he continued to do after the Ark was lodged in the Temple he taught them either immediately by himself or by his Prophets provided for an delivered them from their Enemies and it hath been the constant Tradition of the understanding Jews †Bechai in Thor. p. 88 c. 4. that the Name of the God who dwelt in the Temple was the Schechina and as he ever was with Moses upon all occasions to help and strengthen him So after his Death he said to Joshua Josh 1.5 As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee as both a Prophet to guide and direct and as a King by his power to defend him If we may look back to the ground of this series of Divine Dispensations we must know that from Eternity God Father Son and Holy Ghost decreed to bring many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 as the Apostle calls it which the Son undertook to execute and so under the Old Testament he at several times and to several Persons declared and revealed this Will and Pleasure of God made and renewed the Promises but as the chief part of that great and glorious Design which all other means were to depend upon was the satisfaction to be given Divine Justice by the Death of the Mediator so other things before were only preparations and dispositions in order to 't to which purpose the Mosaical Law was instituted therefore as the execution was only at and after the Death of the Testator till which the Testament is of no force ch 9.9 10. so before that time under the Law was shed the Blood of Calves Goats Lambs c. instead of the Testator's till the fulness of the appointed time when that precious Blood was shed upon the Cross This I shall add how God's Covenant was for Glory and Eternity but the Law was a Medium or means as the Deliverance out of Aegypt to bring them into a Land where God in a most eminent and excellent way might dwell among teach and make himself well known to them in and by the Son who is the Wisdom and the Power of God about this the Psalmist well observes Ps 147.20 He hath not dealt so with any Nation As indeed he through the Spirit of God was so exact an observer of things relating to the Messiah whom according to God's promise he knew should come out of his Family that our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection referred his Disciples not only to the Law of Moses◠and to the Prophets but also to the Psalms Luke 24.44 to know the things concerning him for therein are spoken of his God-head Eternal Generation Covenant with the Father his Humanity Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven distribution of gifts among Men his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and his Victory over his Enemies All this I brought in to shew how according to the Doctrine of the Antient Jews the Schechina or Meniah was the Son of God had a Being and acted from the beginning not of the Gospel but of the World and thus in the Godhead they made a distinction of Persons And if Socinians will own the Lord Jesus to be the Christ then either with the antient Jews they must own him to have been and acted from the beginning of the Creation and so to have had a Being long before his Birth of the Virgin or else they must joyn with the Modern Jews deny him to be the Messiah and thus proclaim themselves to be no Christians nay Idolaters and such as neither know nor worship the true God for he that owns not and worshippeth not Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not own nor worship the true God but they plainly deny the Holy Ghost and in effect deny the Son which is very hard and unworthy Because the Son of God for our sake was pleased to take upon him our Humane Nature some Men unthankfully and impiously go about to strip him of his Divine On our behalf he humbled himself and for that some Men undervalue him as if their Eye was Evil because he is good We reckon several Ages of the Church whereof every one affords Demonstrations of the Son of God her Head's Presence and Actings for her The first is of her Birth and Childhood from the Creation to the Flood the second her first Infancy from the Flood to Moses when she began to gather a Youthful Strength by means of God's special Favour to and Presence among them in that signal and eminent way of the Son of God's dwelling in the Sanctuary which David calls Goings and Actings when he saith Ps 68.24 v. 7 8. They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my
to leave others in the natural State of sin And as in the Work of Creation so in that of Redemption the Three Persons of the most Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost agreed about the Means conducing to that End The Father was to send his Son Jesus Christ Epes 3.4 in whom he hath chosen us before the foundation of the World The Son to come purchase and work Salvation for us and the Holy Ghost to apply that Purchase and make it effectual In order to this the whole Administration of this great and Glorious Work was committed to the Son Acts 10.36 Heb. 1.2 Matt. 28.18 Joh. 5.19 who thereby was made King and Lord of all and Heir of all things so all power was given him in Heaven and in Earth Hence it is that what things soever the Father doth those also doth the Son likewise Nay in this he is so fully and absolutely Plenipotentiary that the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son This Office of Mediatour and Saviour he from the Creation of the World began to administer it in the Royal part as executing Judgment upon the Wicked and saving his People sometimes by Angels at other times by himself in the shape of a Man Also his Prophetical Office even before the Flood 2 Pet. 2.5 1 Pet. 1.11 by Noah called a Preacher of Righteousness and afterwards by all the Prophets in whom his spirit was Thus from the beginning of the World he hath every where from Abel to Abraham and in Egypt the Wilderness c. been Ordering Ruling and Governing his Church and the whole World which he continues to do and will till after the last Judgment Day when having gotten all his Elect together he will introduce them into everlasting Glory all this by his own Power And this is such a work as infinitely exceedeth all Humane and Angelical Strength and Wisdom so that none but a Divine Power can perform it therefore he that doth it till all his Enemies be brought under his Feet and fully overcome must need be true Essential and Eternal God Who but he who is the true God by Nature can Baptize with the Holy Ghost John 6.33 But John Baptist according to the Testimony he had from Heaven bare witness that Christ doth as he actually did his Apostles according to the promise he made to them And in the same place John Baptist bare record that this is the Son of God Acts 2. chap. 1.5 John 1.33.34 Luk. 7.28 John 1.27 and 3.30.31 Why to call him thus if he was not really such Hereby he shews that vast difference between the Lord and himself of whom our Saviour said Among those that are born of Women there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist who in several places made himself a meer nothing in comparison of the Lord Jesus and here by the name Son of God he is distinguished from all Men John never call'd himself nor no Man else Son of God only this Jesus Christ and none else is the Son of God with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a but the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsemet this very same which that he is is so certain a truth that our Lord owned it before the Council of the Chief Priests and Scribes who were not so blind as Socinians are or would seem to be for though our Saviour had spoken to them not so plainly Luke 22.69 yet this meaning they understood well Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Though he called himself Son of Man yet the last words made them to conclude that he made himself the Son of God and consequently God for none but the proper Son of God can sit on the right hand of the Power of God therefore they all presently asked him Art thou then the Son of God which was a Natural Consequence of what he had said and the Particle then is a Note of inference which our Saviour owned in these words ye say that I am That is plainly I am and ye are not mistaken which they call'd Blasphemy so would Socinians have said if they had been there for now they do so set their Hand and Seal Mark 14.64 to his Condemnation for Blasphemy and consequently that he was justly put to Death for it when truely properly and in the sense which the Jews took it he made himself Son of God which as much as in them lies is To crucifie the son of God a-fresh Heb. 6.6 and put him to an open shame Hitherto though I had occasion to do 't I have taken no notice of the Opinion of those who say St. John's Gospel to have been written by Cerinthus for 't is such a nonsensical untruth and so absurd a Forgery that I ever thought it not worth minding In John's time the Heresiark Cerinthus denyed our Saviour's Divinity which that Gospel proves as often fully and plainly as any Book whatsoever in the the New Testament as indeed that Apostle did write it a purpose to prove it and thereby to confute the Impious Heresie of that Instrument of Satan as he declares it when he saith These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God Joh. 20.3 and that ye might have life through his name To say a proof is against a thing when 't is visibly for it gives a just cause to put the question whether he or they who said so knew what they said But Drowning Men will lay hold on any thing that comes into their Hand Besides 't is a great Impiety to make a Blasphemous Heretick Author of an Holy Gospel generally owned to be Canonical and Inspired by the Holy Ghost This Holy Gospel doth confound the Enemies of our blessed Lord and Saviour's Divinity therefore they so often would have been nibbling at it not one chapter but affords strong proofs of it For not to mention here those several places out of which we have drawn strong Arguments for it How many things to confirm it did the Lord Jesus speak therein from the time of his eating the Passover till he was taken that was but short which he took to prepare his Disciples for that separation which by his Death was to follow comforting them with telling what he would and could do for them I shall take notice of that only wherein he speaks of that high point of his Divine Glory by a mutual Glorification between the Father and him Joh. 13.31 32. Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him but this is not all for if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself This indeed were a Blasphemy for a meer Creature to speak after this manner here is a perfect Equality of Glory they glorifie one another and are glorified one in another God shall glorifie him not without but