in such a manner as to leave the matter in doubt we must own that even this would have been a great Imprudence in St. Paul to advance so far as this forasmuch as by this means he would have ruined the work of his Ministry This is a convincing Argument to any one never so little acquainted with the great Prudence of St. Paul how well he was perswaded of the Divinity of Jesus Christ Consider we in the second place Christ's humbling and emptying of himself But made himself of no reputation as our English Translation renders what in the Original is He emptied himself I make no question but it hath appeared strange to some that I have so long insisted on the Glory of our Saviour on a Day solemnized in memory of his Humiliation But they will be satisfied by considering the Mystery they have heard explained It is the Mystery by way of Eminence it is the Mystery that sets off all all other Mysteries 't is the Mystery without which the Christian Religion would contain no Mystery at all For if we consider it independently from the Divinity of Jesus Christ we shall find our Religion to contain nothing that is Great or Sublime The whole of it will only amount to this That a Teacher comes to instruct men by exact Morality and by a perfect example with regard to those Virtues we ought to practise in our lives but against whom there are some things to be objected with respect to those Virtues that are of use at the point of death What a mean Idea would they fain give us of Christ and his Religion St. Paul in this case would have been quite besides the matter in saying Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness We know that our Apostle uttered himself thus by way of opposition to other Mysteries particularly to the Mysteries of Paganism and by a more special manner in opposition to the Mysteries of the Great Diana Goddess of the Ephesians where Timothy made his abode In this City the ordinary Cry was Great Great is Diana of the Ephesians In opposition to which the Cry of St. Paul is Great great is the mystery of godliness yea without controversy great is the mystery of godliness What reason was there for all this a do For all these positive Assertions if Jesus Christ be no more than a meer man But I very well apprehend St. Paul when I consider that Christianity presents us a God manifested in Flesh for without all controversy this is a great Mystery the greatest that ever was heard of by men This is that which ennobles the Christian Religion and 't is from this Spring she derives all her Glory There is nothing in our Holy Religion which does not become precious and admirable by the general influence of this great Mystery Can any one therefore justly accuse us for having too long insisted on the Glory of our Lord seeing it is also the entire Glory of our Religion But that which altogether justifies our Method herein is That this day is properly Consecrated to the Thankfulness we owe to God for his infinite Love in sending his Son into the World and in delivering him up to Death after having clothed him with our Nature To this purpose it is of absolute necessity for us to know the price and value of this Present The greater it is the greater must be our Thankfulness If Jesus Christ be no more than a man I dare boldly say that his sending of him is not the greatest favour God hath bestowed upon us This supposed we see little reason why the Gospel should insist so strongly and emphatically upon this Divine Charity Why doth it tell us of the riches of grace of the exceeding excellent riches of grace in Jesus Christ Why doth it tell us that God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son That God recommends his love unto us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us Surely if Jesus Christ be no more than a mere Man yea if he were no more than an Angel the Point would never bear these Expressions put but the name of Man where Christ is spoken of and you 'll be fain to own that these passages have no sense at all God hath so loved men that he sent a man to hinder them from perishing What is it such an unparallel'd instance of Charity for God to send one Man to save so many Millions of Men This would have been no more than if he had given a straw for to save them surely there is no such transcendent Love in all this God hath to that degree recommended his Love to us that he hath sent a Man to Dye for us Where is the wonder in all this where shall we look for this high recommendation of the Divine Love If instead of a Man it were an Angel or some other Creature far more Glorious yet would it not have bulk enough to fill up all these Passages 'T is no such great matter to form a Creature on purpose to shew so many Millions of men the way to Life And yet the Scripture prompts us to conceive of the Love of God as of a thing that merits the Admiration of Men and Angels Except therefore we take it for granted that our Redeemer is God we are at a loss how to make any sense at all of these Texts of Scripture But no sooner have we admitted this Mystery but we find that nothing indeed can be conceiv'd so great as is this Love of God We find that the sending of Jesus Christ is the grace by way of excellence we perceive that the Scripture hath not said too much of it and we confess in a word that it is impossible for us to make any answerable return for this infinite Mercy of God by any other way than by an infinite Acknowledgment were we capable of it We have therefore spoke things suitable to the Day by confirming you in your perswasion of the Divinity of our Saviour for by this means we have powerfully excited your grateful Acknowledgment Yea we may say that we have handled the Second Point in treating of the First so that there remains nothing in a manner for us to say upon these Words of St. Paul yet he humbled or emptied himself We had proposed to our selves to make you sensible of the Greatness of our Saviour's Love in Emptying himself for us To compass this our intent we have been oblig'd to measure both ends of this Mystery we have drawn our Line from that end which was farthest from us the least sensible and most unknown I mean we have begun with the Eternal Glory of Jesus Christ from which we must now pass to the other end or extremity and consider what Jesus Christ is become he became man he humbled himself to the Death There is no need of insisting long upon this second Extremity it is a thing known to us we know what it is to
it self but uniting personally with the Man Jesus it appropriated to it self all the Infirmities of this Second Nature and it is true to say That God emptied himself that he was made man that he shed his Blood It would be matter of trouble to us should you believe that the Divinity of Jesus Christ passed through all these Degrees of Abasement No this is impossible it is of the Essence of God always to continue God Jesus Christ is in this respect the same yesterday and to day and for ever He has therefore only emptied himself by entring into Union with an Infirm and Mortal Man in such a manner as that the two Natures constitute only one Person much after the same manner as the Soul and Body united by the Bonds of Life make only one Person This Explication which we have thought necessary doth not hinder but that there remain still many Wonders in the Mystery of the Incarnation It is always true that the Word hath emptied it self It is always true that our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ hath found the Secret to be made Man and to humble himself for us We have in this Mystery two great Motives to Gratitude the Birth and Death of Jesus Christ The Child is born to us the Son is given to us we celebrate in one and the same Day two great Festivals Christmas and Easter It is our duty to solemnize them by a redoubling of our Zeal one only of these Mysteries claims all our Thankfulness What shall we do for a God who was willing for our sakes to live after the manner of men The Eternal Word which had no need of us hath emptied himself for to make us happy O Adorable Word Thou hadst not the same concern for the Angels that have left their Station Thou hast not clothed thy self with their Nature though more excellent than ours but hast honoured our Earth in taking it upon thee Our merciful Redeemer was willing to pass through the Womb of a Virgin there to take upon him Flesh like ours What shall we render to God for so great a Favour Let us take the Cup of Blessing and glorifie God in the Language of Angels Glory be to God on high Let us glorifie him as much as is possible for us Could we speak to the Angels as they spake to the Shepherds we would repeat to those Blessed Spirits the Words which they themselves have taught us This day a Child is born to us Glory be to God in the highest We cannot sufficiently glorifie him here on Earth do ye therefore help us to glorifie him If we be not able to render unto our Saviour all the Glory that is due unto him for his Birth what shall we say with respect to his Death which we have this Morning celebrated It was much in him to be born for us but it is much more to die for us What! have our hearts nothing to say on occasion of this Death Sure had they been dumb or insensible as to the Mystery of the Incarnation shall not the Death of Christ put life into them What can have any power over you if this Death can make no Impression upon you Pray what will be able to move you What will be able to engage you to serve God if this do not But I don't consider that I am speaking to those who for the most part have been entertain'd at the Lord's Table If all that Funeral Furniture wherewith he appears in the Eucharist if these Sacred Symbols which convey as it were the Death of Jesus Christ into your very Bowels have not been able to move your Hearts no Sermon will be of force enough to stir them In this case your heart must be altogether insensible so that Words can have no effect upon it We may suppose therefore that before your entring into this place you have fill'd your Souls with that double Solemnity to which this Day invites you and that after having seriously meditated the Birth and Death of our Saviour you have put your selves into a State of Repentance you have put on your Wedding Garments to go to meet your Bridegroom We must also suppose that you have renewed your Repentance in approaching to this Holy Table It is a hard thing so nearly to behold what our Blessed Lord hath done for us without being pierc'd and penetrated thereby At this happy meeting of your Heart with the Mercy of God you have bewailed your Sins and have promised a more holy Conversation for time to come We cannot believe that since that happy Moment you have chang'd your thoughts you are still the same and your Piety still preserves all its heat for otherwise what would be comparable to your Inconstancy what in two hours time to change your most solemn Vows and Promises into Perjuries this is scarce possible We suppose therefore that you are still in that good state even in that state of Repentance wherein you were when you communicated The only thing that still remains for us to do is to exhort you to persevere in these holy Motions We do not expect that you will always feel the same Unction or that you will be always in the same Recollection such a state is not consistent with our Frame nor with those different kinds of life to which Providence hath tied us But nothing can hinder you from performing your Promises you may live and live like Christians Were you engaged in ways of living that were inconsistent with the Spirit of our Holy Religion I would conjure you presently to quit those Professions wherein you could not be saved We must live 't is true but 't is more necessary we should be saved What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world if at the same time he loseth his own soul I can't think that amongst those that hear me there is any person whose Profession is directly contrary to Salvation but yet it is but too too visible that most Professions have their Rocks and their Dangers Snares rain down upon all the Children of Men as the Holy Spirit speaks All of you as many as are here apprehend well enough what I would say to morrow or the next day for I dare not say this day will meet with these dangers the occasions in which you have been formerly worsted will present themselves again Then be sure to call to mind your Promises to God this Day Represent this Holy Table to your Spirit recall the Solemnity of this Day be faithful to the Lord and pay your Vows to the most High We will not here run over the several Vertues to which his Service engageth you but we can do no less than specifie those to which St. Paul exhorts the Philippians upon occasion of our Lord's Example who when he was God did notwithstanding so abase himself as to be made Man yea to that degree as to die the Death of the Cross The two Vertues that are most dazling in
that it might appear that these Saints were but Men. Elijah stretcheth himself upon the child three several times and cries to the Lord. Elisha not being able to do any thing by the Ministry of his Servant comes himself into the room where the Child was The Prophet lyes upon the Child and puts his Mouth to the Childs Mouth and his Eyes upon the Childs Eyes and his Hands upon the Childs Hands trying to restore Life and Heat to the Child but for all this the desired Effect doth not follow he goes up and comes down and after having several times stretched himself upon the Child at last by the Blessing of God the Child begins to shew some signs of Life Was this the way our Saviour took to raise the Dead Being touched with Compassion for the Widow of Naim whose only Son was carried forth to be buried our Saviour saith to the Dead Mar. 5.41 Young Man arise and that word did the thing without any more ado neither said he more in raising to Life the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue but Damsel arise and Lazarus was raised with this word Lazarus come forth There is no need to insist upon the Resurrections wrought by the Disciples of our Lord for they being performed in his Name were to be attributed only to the Efficacy of his Virtue Besides these particular Resurrections which prove the Omnipotence of our Lord we ought also to consider that he attributes to himself the Resurrection of all Believers All he did here upon Earth was but a Scantling of what he shall do one day by commanding Death to give up her dead after that their dissipated Dust hath been carried by the Wind to the utmost Corners of the Universe He that believes in me saith he hath eternal life and I will raise him at the last day Is this the Stile of a Creature Pursuant to this Promise several times repeated in the Gospel St. Paul saith to the Philippians as if he would prove to them that Christ is equal to God his Father that Jesus Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them conform also to his glorious Body by that power whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 See here the Omnipotence of our Saviour exprest with the greatest plainness that may be In the second place I asserted that Christ had created the World He hath created all that we see and all that we do not see for he is the Creator both of Angels and Men the Creator of all things without him nothing was made that was made Let us make use of St. Paul's Expressions For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth Col. 1.16 visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him These words are so full and strong and are alone sufficient to prove that our Lord is equal in power with his Father The last Attribute wherewith we evince the equality which St. Paul attributes to our Saviour or rather which our Saviour attributes to himself is that of Mercy We can no sooner have any little knowledge of the Mystery of our Redemption by Jesus Christ but we must acknowledge that our Redeemer is merciful in a manner that doth not belong to any but God Was it not he himself think we to whom Moses said The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious Exod. 33. 34. This great Lawgiver had a desire to see God I beseech thee said Moses shew me thy glory and God's answer was I will make all my goodness pass before thee where by the way we may observe to our great comfort that the Lord intimates to us that his Goodness is his great Glory And afterwards he informs Moses that no Man can look God in the Face Thou shalt see my back parts saith he but my face shall not be seen What may be the meaning of this Expression The Interpreters are generally agreed that this signifies that God cannot be seen but by and in his Works and that the Mysterious Reasons of his Conduct are not discerned Thus far this Explication is plausible enough but yet this is not enough except they comprehend in these his Works the Works of Grace Indeed those are chiefly here intended I will make all my goodness pass before thee Wherein I pray consists all the goodness of God Why it is all concentred in the Mystery of the Death of Christ When Moses had a glimpse of this Infinite Goodness when the Crucified Jesus was pourtray'd before the Eyes of Moses then it was that he cry'd out saying The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth And indeed who would not do as much at the view tho a distant one of the Mercy of the Son of God who being in the Form of God nevertheless emptied himself Christ's Mercy alone is sufficient to demonstrate him to be the true God God only is good in that manner because he who said to our Lord Good master what shall I do to have eternal life did not comprehend this Truth Our Lord saith to him Why callest thou me good There is none good but God thou who dost not know that I am God why dost thou call me good Yet our Lord who very well knew his own Rights gives himself that Title I am the good shepherd saith he in the Tenth Chapter of St. John according to the Principle of our Saviour himself it might have been told him Why dost thou call thy self good there is none good but God but knowing very well what he was he made himself equal with God in goodness The whole Gospel is full of the Traces of that Mercy which our Saviour hath exercised in chief You have already seen this in that he pardons sins not as Ministers do by way of Declaration but as God by an absolute and independent Authority The manner of St. Paul's wishing Grace is also an evident proof of this Truth Grace be unto you and peace from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ This is the common Seal of St. Paul's Epistles by which he renders an Authentick Witness to our Saviour's Divinity The Christians who had been Educated in the Jewish Religion and thereby accustomed to hear nothing more frequently spoken of than the Blessing the Peace and the Grace of God could not understand it otherwise An Apostle would have been better advis'd than to wish them Grace proceeding elsewhere than from God This Grace alone is sufficient for us The Scripture never tell us of the Grace of Angels or of Men. Where is there any mention made in form of wishing the Grace of Abraham or that of Moses or St. Peter or St. Paul The Church lives only by the Grace of God insomuch that this Salutation The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you is an
this Example are Humility and Charity O how happy would this Day prove might it see these two Virtues reigning in your Souls We are naturally proud and I don't know from whence that hardness and insensibility comes that we have for our Neighbour for even Nature inspires us with more Charity than appears in our Lives Proud Souls come and humble your selves in the presence of the Child Jesus he who is God was made Man that ye who are but mortal men might be persuaded to become like God Resemble him in his Humility not in his Glory He hath condescended to put himself in a Condition wherein he might be imitated It was the Crime of our First Parents That they would be as God Be satisfied ye Posterity of Adam at present it is a Vertue to be willing to resemble God Humble your selves as he humbled himself who being God was made Man He hath as you see run through infinite spaces to put himself within reach of us From Glory he hath stept down into Nothing You need not travel far to arrive at Annihilation you have no more than a step to take your Nature hath plac'd you almost on the same Level with Nothing You need only well to view and contemplate your selves and precisely keep your selves to the Idea of what you are and you 'll acknowledge that you want little of being Nothing Retire into your own Bosom set aside the Usurpations of Self-love and then tell us what you find over and above It may be your heart will bear you up against all this by repeating to you some advantages you possess as of Birth Wit Goods Employments but all this doth not much remove you from Nothing My design is not in the least to offend the Distinction which Providence it self hath established by the Variety of its Administration I have a consideration for Births Wit Merit and Employs But it were to be wished that those who have these Advantages did not glory in them and might be throughly perswaded that their Elevation doth not raise them much above Nothing Come hither and take a view of him who is infinitely above you he was God and yet was willing to become Man for this purpose he took his Birth from the Womb of a poor and humble Virgin Be not asham'd to enter into the Stable where he was born go thither to learn Humility For if you don't become like this little Blessed Child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven If the example of the Birth of our Saviour be not sufficient to humble you follow him to Golgotha where you will see an example of the most Transcendent Humility conceivable When we think of a Crucified Jesus we cannot imagine how so much Pride should be amongst Christians For shame let them no longer call themselves the Disciples of a Crucified God Should we judge of the Character of their Master by the Quality of their Manners we would take him to have been some Proud and Self-conceited Philosopher whereas indeed he was a Crucified God Do you ever seriously consider this O ye Christians You are top-full of Pride and yet believe that there is no Salvation for you but by imitating a Master who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross O let us remember for whose sake our Lord hath thus Humbled himself and we shall see what a model of Charity we have to imitate 'T is for men that our Saviour was made Man 't is for the Redemption of men that this God-man died And pray what are these men Why Dust and Ashes miserable Sinners O surpassing Charity O Depth of Riches The Lord God Merciful and Gracious abundant in Goodness What shall we say No words are able to reach such a Love as this And indeed God requires actions rather than words Love for Love Let us Love God as he hath Loved us We cannot do that for him which he hath done for us let us Love him at least with all our strength as he hath Loved us according to the unbounded largeness of his great Compassion Let us Love those whom God hath recommended to our Charity what can we say against them that hinders us to exercise this Virtue towards them They have offended us And what then Had they done us nothing but Good it would not be Charity to Love them Charity consists in this That we Love our Enemies as God hath Loved us us I say that were his Enemies Let us Forgive as God Forgives us exercise also your Charity in distributing to the Poor according to your Ability God who was Sovereignly Rich made himself Poor for our sakes Let us have compassion on those Poor which our Lord hath left with us to prove the Love we bear to him O the happy Christmas this will prove to us in case we can but resolve to practice Humility and Charity For after that we shall have been made conformable to our Blessed Lord by the practice of these two Virtues we shall have a share in his Glory which is the Crown of them Amen The Second Discourse PHILIP II. 6. Who being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God WE know that the Scripture often speaks of God as of man but it never speaks of man as of God the reason whereof is very evident for the Divine Nature being wholly Spiritual it was but necessary that the Holy Spirit should clothe it with some sensible Representations to the end that entring our Souls by the assistance of these Colours it might make a deeper impression upon them This is done without any danger forasmuch as the Scripture doth elsewhere unfold these Metaphors Or if there be any danger in it with regard to the simpler sort of People 't is only this of falling into an Error which hath no influence upon Divine Worship Hence it is that Scripture makes no difficulty at all to speak of God as of a man but never doth it speak of man as of God For indeed to what purpose should this be So forc'd a Metaphor would be of no use at all and would darken the Stile of the Holy Ghost instead of making it more Intelligible Neither is this the worst that is in it for by this means we should be in danger of taking man for God which is the most dangerous of all other mistakes whatsoever God is too Jealous of his own Glory to set a Creature on equal ground with Himself and he is too much concerned for our Salvation to put us to the Hazard of such a Mistake We find also that the Scripture only bestows very plain encomiums upon the very greatest of men Moses is an emphatical Instance of this After the Death of that glorious Lawgiver and Commander all the Panegyrick God bestows upon him is compriz'd in these words Moses my servant is dead This was enough for a man Josh 1.2 God took care to hide the Body of this Great Law-giver for fear
possessing one and the same Nature the one is suppos'd to have done what the other did Proceed we to the seventh Chapter where we meet with an Emphatical Proof of the Eternity of Christ The Apostle there teacheth us that Melchisedec is the true Portraiture of our Lord in this Type I find a King of righteousness and of Peace and so far the Resemblance is exact for we know that Righteousness and Peace kiss and embrace each other in the Original But consider we those other Lineaments that compose the Type He was without Father without Mother without descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life This according to the Letter cannot be said of any Man if Melchisedec was a Man he had Father Mother Descent beginning of Days and end of Life but nothing of all this is found in the Scripture where not the least mention is made of the Family nor of the Birth nor of the Death of Melchisedec which is very strange forasmuch as the Holy Ghost hath given us the Genealogy of many Persons much less considerable how comes it to pass that it hath neglected to give us these particulars concerning the great Melchisedec Why the reason is plain his Design was to represent to us a Portraiture that might resemble our Lord Being made like the Son of God saith our Author The Holy Ghost on purpose suppresseth the Birth and Death of Melchisedec to the end that this Illustrious Unknown might the better represent the Eternity of the Son of God who is without beginning of days as he is without end of life In the 9th Chapter we find a new Proof of the Eternity of our Saviour Heb. 9.14 It is said that Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself to God What is this Eternal Spirit here mention'd It is not the Soul of our Lord that is now here called the Eternal Spirit Besides the Soul of our Lord was a part of the Sacrifice it self whereas the words speak of the Nature that offers and not of that which is offer'd Neither is it the Holy Ghost the Third Person in the Sacred Trinity he did not offer up our Saviour but he offer'd up himself it must therefore have been an other Nature which our Saviour here calls the Eternal Spirit The Godhead of Christ perform'd the Priest's Office here upon the Manhood predestinated to be the Victim for Mankind I refer also to this That Argument which the same Author draws from the Eternity of Jesus Christ to engage the Christians to persevere in his Doctrine Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever The Apostle by these words renews the Notion he had given them in the beginning of this Epistle where we have seen that he asserts the Eternity of Jesus Christ from a Text of the Old Testamnnt Indeed we find the Author had this Eternity in his eye throughout to the very end of the Epistle and 't is with reference to this that we must explain this Elogy of our Saviour which comprehends all distinction of Time past present and to come He is the same yesterday to day and for ever which answers to the Explication St. John gives us of the Eternity of the Father Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was Rev. 1.4 and which is to come And the very same Expression is attributed to Christ by St. John or rather our Saviour attributes it to himself in St. John's Revelation Rev. 1.8 I am Alpha avd Omega the Beginning and the End saith the Lord which is which was and which is to come the Almighty Who is it that speaks thus He of whom it is said in the verse foregoing Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him is the same who in the following Verse saith I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last For St. John having turned himself to see who it was whose Voice he heard saw Jesus Christ Our Lord therefore is Eternal Immensity is the Second Attribute by which our Saviour is present in all places at the same time If it were not so how could he make good the Promise made to his Disciples For where two or three are gathered together in my name Matt. 18.20 there am I in the midst of them It is very observable that this is the Language of God under the Old Law where we see that in several passages he promises to dwell amidst his People Think we that any one but the Son drust have spoke like the Father Besides I will take the boldness to say that as Grace displays it self in the Gospel the Son by promising his presence in all places saith yet more than the Father The Father assures his People that he will dwell amongst them and sometimes does even restrain this his Habitation to the compass of the Tabernacle They shall make me a Sanctuary saith he in Exodus and I will dwell in the midst of them But our Saviour extends his Promise to a much greater compass even to a wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them As if he had said That place wheresoever it be shall be to me a Jerusalem a Tabernacle a Sanctuary What can this import less than Immensity at a time when Grace overflows the whole Universe without any distinction of People In all parts of the World our Lord is present in the midst of the least Assemblies where his Name is called upon He is in all places at the same time he sees what is done there he hears all that is said there he blesseth those whom he will bless In a word he is in all places where he is call'd upon as God was in the Sanctuary of old It is well enough known that when our Saviour promiseth his presence he means a presence of his Virtue and Influences Immensity is not the proper subject of a Promise That which of its own Nature is present in all places is there whether he promise it or not but because our Lord doth promise a presence of Virtue in all places we have good reason to conclude that he is in all places This Conclusion is evident our Saviour could not act in all places if he were not in all places Now-a-days 't is maintain'd that we cannot conceive the Existence of God in any place but by some Divine Operations God is every where say they because he operates every where Say we the same of our Saviour he is every where because he acts every where For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them We need no more than common sense to convince us that if our Blessed Lord had no other Amplitude but that of his Human Nature he could never fulfil this great Promise But still to open a further Light to his Immensity we need only call to mind his Discourse with Nicodemus in the third of
St. John's Gospel No man hath ascended up to heaven but hothat came down from heaven Joh. 3.13 even the Son of Man which is in heaven He is discoursing with Nicodemus here on Earth and at the same time tells him he is in Heaven This can admit of no tolerable explication but by means of that Immensity whereby he fills heaven and earth These are the two Divine Attributes that are absolutely incommunicable to Creatures Let us next run over the other Attributes that are by some way of Analogy communicable to them but are possest by God in the highest degree of Absoluteness and Perfection I shall not say that our Saviour is Holy that he is Intelligent that he is Powerful and Merciful which are the four Attributes that remain to be examined Should we say no more than so all this may be attributed to Creatures We find amongst them Holiness Knowledge Power and Mercy No body can doubt but that if we make it evident that our Lord possesseth all these four Perfections as God doth you will be furnish'd with as many Demonstrations to evince the Divinity of our Saviour Our Saviour then is Holy but so as God is which we prove from a plain Text of Scripture The Prophet Isaiah tells us in his sixth Chapter that he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne amidst the Acclamations of the Seraphims who cried one to another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Would you know who this Lord or rather Jehovah is to whom they give the threefold Compellation of Holy St. John the Evangelist will resolve you who tells us in the twelfth Chapter of his Gospel that Isaiah spake of our Saviour Joh. 12 41. These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him Some have been of Opinion that Isaiah was condemn'd to Death because he had presum'd to say That he had seen him who was invisible This seem'd to be a meer piece of Blasphemy but what can be imagin'd more abominable than that which St. John tells us here if our Blessed Lord be not indeed the King the Lord of Hosts the Holy One of Israel Let us make no scruple to believe the Beloved Disciple who repos'd himself on the Breast of the Son of God Trust we the piercing sight of this Eagle who took so near a view of this glorious Son Rely we upon the Testimony of an Evangelist whose end in writing his Gospel was to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God It is he assures us that he whom the Seraphims with so much Humility adore crying to one another and saying Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts was no other than our Blessed Lord. We say further That he hath Knowledge also but as God He knows all that God knows Remember always that we speak of the Son of God We know that the Son of Man had a Knowledge which encreas'd by degrees and what is more that he did not know all things No man knows that hour saith he no not the Son of Man This is true of the Son of Man or of the Human Nature of our Saviour but the Son of God the Divine Nature in our Saviour knew that which the Son of Man knew not The Son of God knows all that God knows that is all things St. Peter tells us as much Lord saith he thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee This Knowledge is Universal and to take a view of it that way where with one cast of the Eye you may discover it to be the Knowledge of God we need only to observe that the Eyes of our Lord pierce to the very bottom of Man's Heart Thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee St. Peter's Heart was not the only Heart that was known to Christ All things were naked and open before him Lord thou knowest all things The Proposition is general The Scribes and Pharisees those Hypocritical Professors could not hide their most secret Thoughts from him this Truth appears from many passages of the Gospel To Cite only one place which by reason of its generality comprehends all the rest we need only take notice of what St. John saith towards the end of the Second Chapter of his Gospel But Jesus did not commit himself unto them saith he Joh. 2.24 25. because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man The Case here mentioned is not that of a Prophet to whom God discovers the Heart of some particular Man The Knowledge which the Gospel ascribes to our Saviour is Universal no Heart escapes him He knew what was in man A Knowledge that God in a most peculiar manner appropriates to himself in several places of the Old Testament I know my God 1 Chron. 29.17 Jerem. 17.10 that thou triest the heart said David towards the latter end of his Life I the Lord search the heart I try the reins saith he himself by the Mouth of the Prophet Jeremy Let us read to the end of the Verse Even continues he to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings 'T is God that speaks here and he speaks as God he speaks like himself Never did any Prophet speak thus And yet this is the very passage our Lord ascribes to himself in the Revelation speaking to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2.23 And all the Churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Words that make it evident that our Saviour declares expresly that it was himself that spake in Jeremy and that the Knowledge of the Heart of Man belongs to him in chief The Fifth Attribute whereby we learn to know the Divine Nature of Christ is his Power He is powerful but so as to be powerful as God he is the Almighty In Virtue of this power the Son doth all that the Father doth Joh. 5.19 What things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Doth the Father raise the Dead So doth the Son also he quickneth whom he will Doth the Father create the World The Son doth so likewise Which two instances shew us the extent of the Father's Power Indeed we cannot conceive any greater than that of restoring Life to the Dead and that of creating such a World as this is and yet both these belong to our Saviour In the first place he hath raised the Dead but have not others done the same Miracle Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament and the Disciples of our Lord in the New have not they also raised some that were Dead who for all that never pretended to be equal with God True it is that Elijah and Elisha each of them raised a Child to Life but with what pains do they work these Miracles God makes them sweat for it
of any service against the Divinity of Christ It is clear that these Words contain an opposition the opposite to true is false If the Father be called the only true God in opposition to the Son we easily see what follows It is true that there is an opposition in this place not between the Father and the Son but between the Father and whatsoever is falsly called God in the World And in this sense as it is said of the Father That he is the only true God we may also say of the Son that he is the only true God and so of the Holy Ghost because the Divine Nature which is indivisibly possess'd by these three Persons is indeed the only true God What remains now that can give us the least trouble what can be reasonably alledged against the Divinity of our Lord shall we object that he himself sometimes speaks of it with great reservedness It is very true that our Saviour with a great deal of caution and reservedness declared those Truths that were capable of setting the Jews against him The calling of the Gentiles may be one Instance for all Sometimes he wraps this Doctrine under the Vail of Parables sometimes he makes an Allusion to Histories wherein it seems that Grace was not shut up in the compass of one only People Truth can have no entrance into Souls full of darkness which as the Light of the Day comes after the Night is gone What would this Truth of the Calling of the Gentiles have produc'd if our Lord had preach'd it without any caution It would not have been believed and our Lord would have been put to death before his work had been done I speak as a Man We may say the same thing of our Saviour's Godhead which being such that the Jews could not bear the glory of it he discovers it by little and little to them he tries their hearts after that he had found by the manner of their reception of these Words I and my Father are one that it was not seasonable yet to declare this Doctrine he stops there and leads out the Thoughts of his Auditors to the Magistrates whom the Scripture calls Gods If we mind it our Lord doth not fully justifie thereby what he had said in these words I and my Father are one For never did any of the Magistrates speak at this rate what is more they never made themselves Gods nor equal with God The Scripture indeed calls them Gods but they never said they were equal with God Christ made himself God and for the justification of himself is contented to alledge the Example of the Magistrates The Case is plain our Saviour intends not to retract what he had said his Design only is to moderate the fury of the Jews Neither indeed were they fully satisfied with it they endeavour to lay hold on him but he escaped out of their hands Do we find him in this place saying That he is not God Not in the least he never said any thing that came near it Whereas indeed he ought to have said it positively and often to make his Doctrine of more efficacy to the Jews He very well knew that nothing was so offensive to them as Blasphemy and that he quite lost himself in their esteem by making himself God And yet for all this he always returns to it and frequently offers them the same occasion of offence Pray what may be the meaning of this has he no desire that his Doctrine should be received no body dare say so Why is it then that he so often toucheth the same Mystery It is plain as the Meridian Sun that nothing but the force of Truth engageth him to make himself equal with his heavenly Father He is not willing always to speak openly by a too free and open declaration of himself for in this case he would either have convinced all his Auditors or not If we suppose the first they would never have put him to death which would have been equally contrary to the Prophecies of old and to the Happiness of Mankind which stood in need of his Death If the latter they would have put him to death too soon he did need three or four years time wherein to accomplish his Work These Considerations oblige him to speak sparingly of and in part to conceal the glory of his Divinity On some occasions we find that he wholly restrains himself as in the 10th Chapter of St. John in others again he utters himself with great liberty as in the 5th Chapter of the same Gospel When there is nothing more for him to do but to die he frankly declares himself to be the Son of God I think we may say that he was the first Martyr for his own Divinity for it is upon this Declaration of his that the Jews unanimously cried out He is guilty of Death According to their Judgment he had uttered a horrid Blasphemy and by the Law deserved that Sentence should be pronounced against him How does he justifie himself of this Charge Doth he alledge that of the Magistrates or the Angels on this occasion doth he say That hel 's the Son of God because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost or because he had received the power of doing Miracles and of declaring the Truth Thus understood there was no Blasphemy in the Case and he ought if he had not been God to have set the Jews right by justifying himself in this manner But on the contrary he maintains to the last moments of his Life himself to be the Son of God in a sense which the Jews judged Blasphemy that is to say The Eternal Son of God for otherwise taken it could not be Blasphemy I shall only propound the two other Reflections tho indeed they be no less important than the former My Third Reflection is That the Doctrine I have here asserted and proved is the Doctrine of the Primitive Church This is so incontestably true that Socinus himself owns That from the first beginning of the Church Socin Epist 3. ad Radec Ab ipso ferme nascentis Ecclesiae initio tot Viros non minus Pietate quam Doctrinâ clarissimâ—â— tot Christi Sanctissimos Martyres ad eout nullus sit numerus eum alioqui grovissimum errorem secutoâ— fursse quod Christus sit unus ille Deus qui omnia creavit aut certe exillius substantia propria genitus there have been a great number of Learned Men Saints and Martyrs who believed that Jesus Christ was that God who created all things or that he was begotten of his own Substance This express Acknowledgment from an Adversary whose great interest it was to rid himself of the weight Antiquity would bear against him may very well pass for a strong Argument on an occasion where it doth not seem so proper to enter upon the Historical proof of it It hath already been shewed that the Primitive Church did believe the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour at