Spirit supply that which is wanting in us Herein I handle not only some things of the Controversie but also do in some measure bring in the doctrinal part which is a great help to the Elenctical and upon which indeed this last must be grounded for I writ not only to refute but also to instruct and afford a Preservative against the Poyson And tho' sometimes I bring in things which directly relate to the Jews yet they reach Socinians as well as Jews for both are Enemies the first indeed deny Christ to be the Messiah though the Antients owned him to be God and Socinians own him to be a Messiah but deny him to be true God I omit the Debate about the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and of the high Point of Christ's Satisfaction c. The Meditation on the most holy Trinity and the Lord Jesus his Divinity affording Matter enough to fill up these Sheets wherein I hope the Truth is cleared and confirmed and Errour refuted If the Reader findeth good by it as I pray God be may as it doth come from God so from first to last let him return the whole Praise and Glory to him whom alone it belongeth unto THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF the Persons of Head Socinians and of their Opinions page 1. Chap. II. Of Divine Essence p. 13. Chap. III. Of the Persons of the Godhead p. 16. Chap. IV. Of the Holy Trinity p. 22. Chap. V. Of Christ's Divinity p. 46. Chap. VI. Christ is true natural Son of God by Eternal Generation p. 84. Chap. VII Essential divine Attributes belong to Christ p. 138. Chap. VIII Works proper to God belong to Christ page 161. Chap. IX Worship proper and due to the true God belongs to Christ p. 185. Chap. X. The Socinians Objections answered p. 260. Chap. XI Animadversions upon a Book called Christianity not Mysterious p. 315. CHAP. I. Of the Persons of head Socinians and of their Opinions OUR blessed Lord and Saviour in his Parable * Mat. 13 of the Sower and the Tares doth plainly declare and forewarn us of what should befal his Church from his time which was that of her Birth unto the end of the World In general the Field is the World but in particular 't is his Church the Sower as he explains it is himself both in person and by means of the Labourers his Disciples and other Servants of his the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom and the true sound Doctrines thereof taught by his faithful Ministers but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one not only as to Persons but in relation to false Doctrines Errors and Heresies which whilst Men that ought to have watched slept Christ's Enemy which is the Devil took that opportunity for he loses none and in part through the fault of the Watchmen did his work This Mystery is by S. Paul represented under the notion and name of a Building whereof the Lord Jesus is the Foundation for saith he * 1 Cor. 3.11 12. other foundation can no man lay the wise and faithful Builders do upon that Foundation build Gold Silver and precious Stones but the unfaithful and mercenary are not content to raise a Superstructure of their own which is Wood Hay and Stubble but also attempt to overthrow the Foundation and in opposition to the City of God would build a Babel of their own yet I make no doubt but through God's just Judgment it will at last end in their Confusion as 〈◊〉 happeneth unto all that * Acts 5.39 be found even to fight against God Surely in the superlative degree they fight against God who reach and as far as they can do strike at divine Nature and at the Godhead it self which any one doth that speaks or writes against the holy Trinity of Persons or denies the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as Socinians do To what I said †Serious Advice to a Preservative against c. elsewhere of the Authors of such Blasphemies I shall add some few Circumstances of their Rise and Progress whereby it will appear how as the Devil at our Saviours coming into the World was very busie to use means and by Herod to destroy his Person so by the Scribes and Pharisees to oppose the Preaching and Progress of the Gospel Thus about the time when God dispersed Popish Errors Darkness and Ignorance and through a happy Reformation caused the Light of the Gospel again to shine the same Enemy to God and Mankind stirred up Instruments to stop the Work or at least to corrupt and hinder it from coming to its due perfection These hellish Instruments were Michael Servetus born in Artagon one of the Kingdoms of Spain who having past his Youth in Africa amongst Jews and Mahometans was infected with their Blasphemies and being come back into Europe did in 1525. write Books entituled The Divine Nature of Christ and the Errors of the Trinity c. that Wretch made such an abominable and hellish Comparison of the most adorable Trinity that I abhor to think on 't much more to set it down upon Paper He came to Geneva where neither the Writings of nor Conferences with Calvin could work upon him so that at last in the Year 1553. he there was put to death for Blasphemy and Sedition The next is Valentinus Gentilis of Cosenza in Italy◠who forged the Blasphemy of Three Gods and otherwise corrupted the Doctrin of the Vnity of Essence and Trinity of Persons This Man after Servetus's death was in the same Town put in Prison and recanted soon after he went away but returned to his Vomit for he again asserted it in publick and dispersed it in Poland and Suitzerland but being taken in the Canton of Bern in 1566. was there put to death Laelius Socinus Son to Marius Socinus a famous Lawyer of Siena came also to Geneva which at that time was the great place of refuge for those who went out of Italy and neighbouring Countries to forsake Popery where he was known to Calvin and thence he went to Zurich but Calvin having found him out did write him two sharp Letters one in 1552. the other in 1555. at Zurich he did but under the borrow'd Name of Martinus Bellius write something to shew how Servetus had unjustly been put to death In his Commentary upon the first Chapter of John he lays the Foundation of whole Socinianism which indeed is but a Chaos and Confusion of natural and spiritual Ignorance and a meer Contempt of the Word of God Zanchius was one of the first that refuted it This Loelius all the while he conversed with Zanchius never opened himself to him only seemed to propound him Questions according to the Schoolway to exercise his Parts but not to be positive so that indeed he imposed upon him and Melanchton so cunning was he not to discover his Opinions Bur his Nephew Faustus born in Siena in 1538. was a bolder Man
Coeternal he makes them Equal for them to say that the word being with God signifies that the word was known to God but not to Men doth them no good the knowledge of this doth comprehend the whole Mystery of our Redemption which the Son who is in the Bosom of the Father hath revealed unto us but to the thing if this imported no more but that Christ was known to the Father What could he thereby have more than we No Prerogative at all for before the Foundation of the World God knew us and We were present with him Christ was with the the Father that is had a real Existence did subsist in himself which cannot be said of us or of any Creature wherefore the Word must need have been before his Incarnation In the Third place 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God which is properly to be understood as is * 1 Joh. 5.20 that other place we are in him that is true in his Son Jesus Christ that is the true God and eternal life and elsewhere †Tit. 1.3 God hath in due time manifested his word through preaching which is committed to me according to the commandment of God our Saviour repeated Chap. 3.4 and Chap. 2. he is called †Tit. 2.12 Rev. 19.17 the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ and in another place he is named ‖ 1 Tim. 1.1 God our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ now this God Lord and Saviour is but One and this is Jesus Christ whose Apostle he owns himself to be and the Gospel he preached * Gal. 1.12 he was taught by the Revelation of Jesus Christ who again is called †1 Tim. 2.3 God our Saviour There must be special Cause why the words God and Saviour are so often joyned together and both attributed to One Person the Lord Jesus he is God as truly and really as he is Saviour which we hope the Adversaries will not have the confidence to deny him to be in the strictest Sense though otherwise they rob him of what they can he is then a Saviour by Office and God by Nature to save Men from the Dominion of Sin from the Curse of the Law from the Devil Death and Hell requires a true real Divine Power which none but a Divine Nature is or can be possessed of Moses was relatively called God and Cyrus God 's Anointed or Messiah but they were but Types of the great Deliverer Every one knows Moses was not God nor Cyrus the Messiah but to say Christ Jesus is called God though he be not is the effect of a brazen faced Impudence of an invincible Ignorance of the Mind or hellish Perverseness of the Heart as good as to conclude that because 't is said he is of God made unto us †1 Cor. 1.30 Wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption therefore he is neither nor God by Nature when he saith ‖ Joh. 15.5 without me you can do nothing which may not be said of Men. The Fourth Reason out of St. John is this * Joh. 1.3 all things were made by â—him and without him was not any thing made that was made certainly the Work of Creation doth evince the Eternity of the Word for the Workman must be before his Work and the Creator before the Creature now the Word being the Maker must need be before Mary here they would cavil and confine this making of Things within the Work of the New Creation or renewing of the Creature but the following Words without him was not any thing made that was made are universal and comprehend every thing Temporal or Spiritual Creation of the World or Regeneration of Men though we own the Creation of the World is the scope of the place compared with Coloss 1.15 All things were created by him and for him which doth appear out of ver 10. the world was made by him and God created all things by Jesus Christ Ephes 3.9 and to remove all grounds of Exception we have it in the Plural Number which doth include all †Heb. 11.3 the worlds were framed by the word of God Another Reason might be brought out of ver 14. of this same Gospel the word was made flesh but this we shall by the Grace of God bring in under another Head In Scripture we have several places which either do express or imply two Natures in the Person of our blessed Lord and Saviour the Prophet Isaiah doth among others afford us Two very considerable the first is this * Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel this affords several things seriously but now briefly to be thought upon this Prophecy is a sign given Ahaz King of Judah to Comfort him when the Kings of Israel and of Syria came up against him with a Promise that they should not prevail and that he might be confirmed and assured of the performance he is bidden to ask a Sign which he refusing to do gave for Reason he would not tempt God whereupon is made this Gospel-Promise which was performed at the time of the Conception and Birth of our blessed Saviour whose Mother was a Virgin and whose Name was Immanuel a Name given him at that time by the Prophet through God's own appointment and when the Angel delivered his Message to Mary he makes use of some of the Words of the Prophet * Luk. 1.31 thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son and shalt call his Name Jesus because he was to save his People and when the thing was fulfilled the Evangelist doth point at and quote this Prophecy adding the Interpretation of the Name ‖ Matt. 1.21 Immanuel God with us So there is no doubt to be made that this wholly and only related to our Saviour never any other Virgin did conceive and bring forth never was the Name Immanuel given any one else and cannot be wrested so as to be given to any Son to be born of Ahaz for some Reason which I presently shall produce Immanuel is God with a Divine Essence Christ is the Immanuel so we must conclude he hath the Divine Essence for God with us hath the Divine Essence and God with us is Immanuel the Name God is not spoken of Angels of no King or Magistrate of no Idols which are the several significations of the Word God used in Scripture wherefore he whom this Name is given to must be the true essential God and this same Evangelical Prophet in the next Chapter but one after this calls him by the Name used in this place and the Word El which makes the latter end of the Name doth not barely signify God but the Mighty God this Word makes part of that of Michael whose signification is who is like unto thee thou mighty God and he that beareth it is called * Jud. 9. Archangel Prince of Angels for Angels are called †Rev. 12.7 his and
Condescention is a wonderful Argument of God's Goodness which is the greatest Glory of Divine Nature this is cause of Thankfulness not of Cavils and Exceptions he knows what is best and fittest for him to do and wants not our Counsel had the Son of God appeared as a great Prince he probably would thereby have made more Hypocrites than real Converts and not so well persuaded Men to Holiness and Goodness for Arguments to do it must not be fetch'd from the Pomp and Prosperity of this World but from the great Rewards and Glory of that which is to come But before I leave this Point I must take notice of that place wherein the Apostle makes the Son of God upon his coming into the World speak thus Heb. 10.5 but a body hast thou prepared me the Body was prepared against his coming into the World and that prepared Body at his coming he took so then he was before the Body was prepared for him and before his coming into the World for nothing can be said to be sitted as the word implies in the Original for one who is not hence we conclude how the Son of God was before his Incarnation and had a Being but we now return to our Proofs The next place is of the same Prophet Isa 9.6 For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful Counsellour the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end c. I ask Is this appliable to any Son that was to be born of Ahaz For this is the same Person mentioned in the fore-quoted place and may be seen if compared together Observe how the different Expressions do denote different Natures the Child is for Humanity the Son for the Divinity the Child is born but the Son not born but given in relation to Human Nature he had a beginning and a progress he was a Child before he was a Man but the Son not so a Child is not before he be born but the Son had a being and did exist before he was given yet both united in one Person for the Child was not one Person and the Son another for all along the Prophet though he had named a Child and a Son speaks in the singular number his Shoulder his Name his Government as his Name is wonderful so is the manner of the Union these two Natures are in one Person without Confusion the Divine retained her Proprieties so hath the Human and yet these different Proprieties are so united in one Person that the Person may be called by the Name of both Natures Christ is God and Christ is Man in the Concret tho' in the Abstract it may not be said Divinity is Humanity nor Humanity Divinity they are united but without Confusion But to return to our Point there was never so many glorious Names joyned together to describe one Person as we find to be in this place to him alone they all belong because the Spirit of Truth saith so which if they were not properly his by right he would not give them Wonderful in his Name in his Nature in his Person in his Incarnation Wonderful every way Counsellour for he is the Wisdom of the Father without which the Only Wise God never doth any thing the Mighty God most proper to God and never in the singular number given any Creature * Isa 10.21 the remnant saith our Prophet shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God the true essential God the God of Israel is meaned in the place 't is such a Name as is made use of when in a most Eminent way God is described †Deut. 10.17 your God is God of Gods and the Cord of Lords a great God mighty and terrible And ‖ Nehem. 9.32 now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God and elsewhere * Jerem 32.18 the great the mighty God the Lord of hosts is his name and when the Question is to know who is the King of Glory the Answer is the Lord strong and mighty this High and Divine Name is here in the place aâ—â—â—ibuted to Jesus Christ the Son of God about whom is the Prophecy that which follows is no less considerable or incommunicable the everlasting Father or as 〈…〉 Father of Eternity nothing more Noble or becoming God can be said than to call him so nothing â—ut the True God is Eternal and nothing more propâ—â—â— to God than Eternity How can a Child or any meet mortal Man be called everlasting Father Now what can hinder us hence to argue thus the mighty God and everlasting Father is true God by Nature but Christ is such out of this place therefore Christ is true God by Nature Two things more are here said of this Son of God he is the Prince of Peace for by his Death he made our Peace with God and procured an inward Peace of Conscience and reconciled things in Heaven and on the earth he came into the World in time of universal Peace when the Roman Empire the greatest in the World fully enjoy'd it and for a Sign the Temple of Janus in Rome was shut up nay Herod and Pilate Luke 23.12 both his Enemies were before his death upon his account reconciled one to another Secondly 't is said of him The government shall be upon his shoulders and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end After the Father had said to him * Psal 2.7 8 9. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he promiseth to give him the Heathens for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for his Possession thou shalt break them with a Rod of Iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel whereunto agreeth another Scripture †Rev. 12 5. of the Man-child that was to rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron this he declared unto Pilate ‖ John 18.37 Rev. 11.15 Luke 1.33 I am a king to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world So then the kingdoms of this world are his and he shall reign for ever and ever and of his kingdom there shall be no end The New Testament doth also in several places demonstrate two Natures in the Person of Christ S. John having affirmed the Word to be God which relates to his eternal Generation he doth afterwards speak of his Incarnation when he saith * Joh. 1.14 The word that was God was made flesh that is the Person call'd the Word the Son of God took upon him our human Nature and so united two Natures divine and human in one Person for this Word is in the whole Chapter spoken of as of a Person acting making or creating coming all this is the Character of a Person
nor of Ens being and Essence and as to his Immensity or Infiniteness according to which he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly whole whole in himself whole in all whole in every one and whole out of all he is neither circumscrib'd defined by included in or excluded out of any place all these are past Understanding not only of Men but of Angels also Let those who pretend to know all Things and that to them nothing is a Mystery take notice of this Thus much in short of the incommunicable Attributes or as otherwise called of the first Order And as to those of the second and communicable to Creatures which yet must be well understood for a thing may be said to be imparted or communicated in two ways either when the same thing in Number and Species is imparted to another or when the same is by Analogy in likeness and proportion In the first way no propriety of God can be communicated to the Creature because all infinite and the same with the Nature but in the last in some measure and degree they are in as much as some Effects like unto his Attributes according to their Capacity come out of them The Attributes of this last sort may be reduced under these three Heads Mercy Wisdom and Power Mercy moveth and willeth Wisdom doth contrive and dispose and Power executes all three in God Infinite and Eternal all three to be found in the Son in the Works of Creation Preservation and Redemption in relation to the two first absolutely consider'd in his Divine Nature and to the last in both Divine and Human in the Capacity of Mediator wherein he is both God and Man for indeed the Office of Mediator required a Person that should be both to perform those things that were to be done in relation to both because to suffer and die was the part of human Nature which the Divine is not capable of but to overcome Death and our spiritual Enemies could not be effected but by a Divine Power withal it became the Majesty of God that the Mediator should be God for that Majesty is so great that none but one that is intimate and equal with the Father could interpose between God and Man Angels themselves could and dared not undertake it for they stood in need of Christ to be confirmed in their state of Integrity besides that they are not pure in God's sight much less any Man meerly such I ask Who but a God could destroy sin appease God's wrath overcome the Power of Satan with natural and eternal Death Who could make expiation for Offences committed against an Infinite God but he that is Infinite himself By whose Intercession could God's Anger be pacified but thorough him that is his beloved Son By whose Power could Satan and the whole Power of Darkness be overcome but by him that is stronger than all Devils and Hell And who could conquer Death but he that hath destroyed him who hath the Power of Death And as none but a God could deliver us from all these Evils under whose Power we were so none but a God could restore us to the Goods we had lost Who could have restored us to a perfect Righteousness but he that is Righteousness it self Who to God's Image but he that is the express Image of his Person and the Brightness of his Glory Who could make us Children of God but he that is his natural only begotten and beloved Son Who could bestow upon us the Holy Ghost but he from whom the Holy Ghost proceedeth And who could give us eternal Life but he that is Life it self And by whom could we come to God but thorough him that is the way Out of all this it appears how none but a True and not a made God could be a Mediator between God and us * 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another saith Eli the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him No meer Man can only he that is Lord God himself Divine Essence is necessarily attended with the Divine Attributes First Eternity and it being most simple they are not otherwise distinguished then after our manner of Conceiving so that out of the foregoing Evidences they must necessarily be attributed unto the Son and first Eternity having already proved Christ's Deity and his eternal Generation we have spoken many Things belonging to this Head Eternity is Indivisible as the begetting Power of the Father is Infinite so it hath a terminus an Object of Infinite Perfection namely his Son Coeternal and Coessential and because the Generation is from Eternity so is it true that the Son was continually and perpetually begotten for we must not say God was first God and then Father but without beginning always God and always Father and seeing he ever was Father he ever had a Son This Reason is much to our purpose and we could easily farther enlarge upon it yet in order to prove this Eternity we must draw Arguments out of Scripture without which in these Matters all our Reasons are no Reasons at all Both Testaments do abound in Proofs but out of many we shall make use of few First out of the Old and begin with the place where it speaks of Christ's Kingdom and of the Glory and Power thereof He saith * Psal 110.3 From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth the Meaning and Sence of the Words is thou art from Eternity Morning implies a Day and the first part of it too Day imports a Time which began with the Creation for before there was no Time all was Eternity now Christ whom here David calls his Lord is not said to have the Dew of his Youth from the Morning but from the Womb of the Morning that is before there was any Morning any Time at all for before any Creature be brought forth 't is in the Womb and what is the Womb of Time but Eternity which is the Day spoken of in another place †Psal 2. this day have I begotten thee with God there is no Time with Him all is one Day a Day of Eternity that saying so to him is not of a present Generation or Constitution but the Revelation of a Thing that was before wherefore in that same Verse it is called a Decree I will declare the decree 't is the declaration of the Decree not the time of it now all God's Decrees are Eternal without beginning consequently the Time therein mentioned is meaned of Eternity which the Psalmist's manner of speaking doth confirm more when in that first place he saith thou hast the dew of thy youth the Dew falls on the first part of the Morning so in that beginning of Time he had not his Birth or Childhood but his Youth not only existed but had his whole Strength and Vigour all this way of speaking is with condescending to our weak human Capacity to make us
Grave Victorious as coming from Bozrah in his glorious and red apparrel Isa 63.1 3. I that speak in righteousness mighty to save I have troden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me No Angel or any other Creature was joyned with him in that work so that with his own arm he hath gotten himself the Victory As to the applieation of that purchased redemption it cometh from him in every part thereof as Vocation Adoption Justification Sanctification which contain spiritual life and every other grace and at last Glorification which in Scripture are all attributed to the Lord Jesus all but the last are wrought in us by the ministery of the word which ministery himself instituted Ephes 4.8 11. by sending Ministers he doth continue it and with his blessing doth promote and according to his promise will do so to the end of the world Resurrection from death is followed with eternal life John 6.54 1 John 5.20 both attributed to Christ who is called the true God and eternal life for not only he give life but also he is life nay eternal life for whosoever hath him is sure of eternal life As to the great work of our effectual Calling and Conversion that we may answer the call he first openeth our understanding Luke 24.45 Acts. 16.14 as he opened the understanding of his disciples that they might understand the Scriptures After he openeth our hearts as he did the heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which are spoken by his Servants he also bestoweth all other means of grace upon us Acts. 5.31 Chap. 11.18 2 Cor. 7.10 Heb. 12.2 as repentance for he is a Prince and Saviour to give repentance to Israel such as is called repentance unto life and unto salvation without which we cannot be saved Faith also is his gift so intirely that he is called the Author and finisher of our Faith from him comes the beginning progress and perfecting of it this made his disciples aske him Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 John 1.16 what Love Charity Meekness Humility Temperance Sobriety Goodness Joy Peace c. are in us Of his fullness have we received it all 1 Cor. 1.30 Moreover he is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption In few words he is our all in all Psal 87.7 John 15.26 and in him are all our springs he gives the Holy Ghost ruleth governeth and preserveth his Church These few things more I must add how it is clear out of Scripture that he is true and eternal God who is the author of Salvation and eternal Life for this the Lord the King of Israel attributes to himself to be his redeemer â—â—a 44.6 Chap. 45.15.17.21 and 43. â—â— the Saviour of Israel by whom Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation no God else besides him a just God and a Saviour all this undisputably spoken of the true essential God Now Christ is the King of Israel John 1.49 Matth. 1.21 1 John 1.7 Heb. 12.24 Chap 9.15 16. Gal. 3.15 that saveth his people from their sins and his blood cleanseth us from all sin he is the mediator of the new Covenant of the new Testament being himself the Testator which the Apostle denyeth to be a man's Covenant these several places I quoted to shew how under the Old Testament the true Eternal God delighted to call himself the God the Saviour and the Redeemer of his people which being one of the works proper to God and not only being attributed but in a special and singular manner being applied to Christ who is no better known by any name than that of Saviviour of the world and in him Luke 1 4â— Acts 4.12 Res 1.7 as in her God and Saviour the spirit of Mary rejoyced because there is no salvation in any other for he is the Lord our God by whom the Lord doth save us This I say to me doth evidence how he who under the New Testament is by his proper name called Saviour or Jesus must be if not the same person at least of the same nature with him who under the Old was pleased at several times to call himself the Saviour and Redeemer of his people But now being upon the divine works of grace proper to the Lord Jesus I must not omit one highly considerable and most singularly proper to God which is to forgive sins which our blessed Lord appropriated unto himself Luke 7.48 Mark 2.5 when he said to the woman thy sins are forgiven and to the man sick of the Palse Son thy sins be forgiven thee whereat the Jews were so startled and offended as presently to say Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies who can forgive sins but God only In that thing they were in the right to say that none but God can forgive sins but in the other they were in the wrong not to believe Christ to be God if they had all had been set at rights and their prejudice removed wherefore to convince them how they were in an error and that he had not taken upon him as a man to pardon sins but as God he presently proved his divinity by a miracle and cured the man he who of himself could work a miracle had certainly power on earth to forgive sins And as he is a Prince and Saviour so he hath right to give forgiveness of sins Acts 5.31 certainly he declares himself true essential God when by his authority he forgives sins and giveth others power in his name to declare the same as he did Now if to what hath been said we add that he is the resurrection and the life John 20.23 John 11.25 Chap. 5.26 v. 21. Chap. 6.39.40 Phil. 3.20.21 and that he that believeth in him though he were dead yet shall he live seeing he hath life in himself and quickeneth whom he will also all the Father hath given him and every one that believeth in him he will raise up at the last day wherefore our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself All these and many more which for brevity's sake we omit are sufficient evidence to convince any in whom the God of this world hath hot blinded their minds that Christ is the eternal Son of God of the same nature but to unbelievers he saith if you will not believe me at least believe me for the works sake John 5.36.1 for the works I do bear witness of me but alas all men have not faith for faith is a gift of God CHAP. IX Worship proper and due to the true God belongs to Christ NOW Christ appropriateth to himself all these and many more works that belong only to the true God to the end that
a gall of bitterness as well as the bond of iniquity with a slight and contempt of his person the Man that Man this Man Man in every case and all this to lose no occasion of robbing him of his Divinity 2 Kings 49.27 and Isai 3.28 this calls to my mind God's words against Sennacherib another great Blasphemer which by the Lord might have been applied to Socinus I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me And let all his Sectators remember what the Apostle saith Jud. 14.15 behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him that is Christ when he cometh to judge the world Another thing here to be taken notice of is this that in verse 5. where the Lord Jehovah is called the Lord of the whole Earth it must be spoken of one and the same person for if they had been two different the copulative particle and had not been omitted after the words Psal 37.5 the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord there should have been and at the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth the first words of the verse do sufficiently denote the Lord of the whole Earth to be the God of Israel Jehovah named just before at whose presence only and of none else the hills melted like wax hereunto answereth that place psal 11.7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob whereby the interpretation of this now in hand is confirmed and the God of Jacob is put instead of the Lord of the whole earth in both which places the repetition of the word Presence is very Emphatical which joyned with what I observed before and with the words the scope and the thing it self do all together fully shew here is but one person spoken of which is confirmed more and more because in what follows the Prophet speaks but of one as in the singular number vers 6.7 8. as thus the Heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory and worship him all ye Gods Also because of thy judgments whereby it appears 't is spoken of one and not of two but rather than to yield they will sooner give Christ whom otherwise they would rob of any thing he hath but his humane nature which they cannot do because they must have an Historical Faith or else may be they would and reduce him to nothing I say they chuse rather to give Christ that title and exclude God Jehovah from being the Lord of the whole earth than to own Christ to be Jehovah so what they do is not out of kindness they only give him that which they think the least to rob him of what they account to be the chief though indeed it be the same Again the words of verse 7. do farther confirm this Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of Idols therefore worship him all ye Gods For who is opposed to graven Images and Idols but he that is by nature the true God And who is religiously to be worshiped but the true God Jehovah And who but he who is the God of Gods is to be adored by all Gods vers 9. This is confirmed out of verse 9. Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods The first part contained a proper attribute of the true God namely the highest or most high God for saith David Psal 33.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Is not this the same as to be Lord over all the earth So that both to be Jehovah and Lord over all the earth are attributed only to one and if he be the only most high upon the earth none but he is Lord over all the earth The latter part of the verse doth afford a reason and a very good one why all Gods and Angels ought to worship him because he is for exalted above all Gods No less than six times he is in this Psalm called Jehovah which cannot well be denied to be the same with God of Israel One thing more I shall say as to this Psalm which with the foregoing and following contain an exhortation to all Creatures with and without life to sing and rejoyce before the Lord and why for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth which none that hath any sence can deny to be a Prophesie of Christ's coming to judge the world which he speaks of himself When the Son of man shall come in his glory Matth. 25.31 and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Then indeed in that divine and glorious State being attended and worshiped by all millions of Angels he shall reign fill with joy the hearts of his people and perform the other things contained in this Psalm He that is to do all this if we believe the Psalmist is the Lord Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ if we must give faith to the Apostle Now we must draw nearer to the words of the Apostle who is to be believed as well as the Prophet preferably to Socinians who being not able to deny it own that Angels ought to worship Christ One would think they at last would yield to the Truth and give glory to God Phil. 2.7 8 c. but no such thing for they say they may worship him as a man and not upon the consideration of any divinity in him only upon the account of his Humiliation and Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross upon which account he was highly exalted But pray whence doth arise the value and merit of that Humiliation and Obedience but from the divinity of the person which underwent it If he had been a meer man it had been no very great matter no more than what many more could have done A King 's only Son sacrifices himself for the safety of a whole Kingdom some among the ordinary people might have done the like but that which raiseth the merit of the thing is not his being a man for any man else therein is equal with him but 't is the Royal Blood running in the Veins of the young Prince which doth make the act so meritorious and so considerable so if I may continue a lame comparison so defectuous to represent what I have a mind the Blood which our Saviour shed upon the Cross doth not receive its unexpressible value for coming out of the Veins of a Man but because it is the blood of God wherewith he hath purchased his Church Acts 20.28 Neither was the Obedience yielded
was really in Heaven before he came down upon Earth and as he really and actually ascended up into it so he really and actually descended from thence upon Earth here are two terms a quo and ad quem as he could not go up to Heaven but from the Earth so he could not come down upon the Earth but from Heaven and is there the least ground in the whole Chapter to think Christ's intention was to entertain them with his having been in Heaven in Idea and Meditation when his design was to shew how what he had said of being the Author of Resurrection and Life and the manner of it by means of eating his flesh was a thing not to give them offence nor impossible Considering what he was originally from Heaven therefore not to be considered as a meer man but such a one as was far more divine and powerfull than any man They finding this will not do yet to dispute the ground as long as they can they forged in a Dream for otherwise it cannot be a very strange adventure that Christ was in Heaven before he was upon Earth seemeth undeniable therefore because they dare not give him the lye they would mince the matter thus how Christ between his Birth and Death and before he preached went up into Heaven where for a while he remained to be better instructed by the Father in the things which he was to teach mankind after which he came down again but there is not the least ground but only fancy for it The Evangelists do give us an account of most passages of Christ's Life and how could they all four have forgotten this which is one of the most important that might have befallen him in that kind The Evangelists Matthew and Luke in their four first Chapters relate many things belonging to that time as not only his birth but also his Circumcision on the eighth day and his being carryed to the Temple to be presented to the Lord received by Simeon spoken of by Anna a Prophetess adored by the Wise Men carryed into Egypt his return to Nazareth his being found in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors asking them questions his being subject to Joseph and Mary baptized of John tempted in the Wilderness c. and not one word about this pretended ascension How came it that he was not missed by any This they would to have been in imitation of Moses whom God called up to the Mount That it was so with Moses we read in the word but nothing like it of our Saviour And when God is silent our mouth should be stopped and nothing allowed to fancy or imagination besides when Moses was called up the people had publick notice given them of it and by God's command he took Aaron's Sons and Seventy of the Elders all the people saw the glory of God upon the Mount and when Moses came back all Israel saw him with his face shining none of which things can be said of this pretended Ascension of christ's whereof there are no witnesses not so much as any of his Disciples as he had in his Trassiguration which three Evangelists give an exact account of Which though important yet not so considerable as this which could not be performed without a great Miracle whether he had been carryed up only in Soul for then his Soul had been separated from the Body so death must have followed or whether in Body and Soul the Body could not have been sustain'd in the Air without a Miracle And during that time where were his Disciples This certainly should have made a great Gap in the History of his Life which we cannot perceive in any of the Evangelists no nor in those that have written his Life from his Birth to his Death Resurrection and Ascension St. Luke saith of the Gospel he had written how he had made a Treatise of all that Jesus begun both to do and to teach Yet not a word of this Acts 1.1 as indeed there was no necessity for Christ to go up to Know as they say his Father's Will which might have been communicated unto him as to Moses John Baptist without going up to Heaven in case he had not known it but he knew it before At his Baptism the Heavens were opened unto him the Father had highly owned him the Holy Ghost was descended upon him so that he return'd from Jordan full of the Holy Ghost Luke 4.1 wherefore there was no need of his going and so the Cause ceasing so must the Effect so that also it had been preposterous after what happen'd in his Baptism for him to have gone up into Heaven upon such an Errand Besides that we are assured he enter'd but once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 Hereby we see how if we were willing to take it that sort of Men would be ready to put upon us every Suggestion of theirs for an Argument every Argument for a Law yea and every Dream for a Revelation Tho' our Saviour here calls himself Son of Man and not Son of God it doth not in the least prejudice what we say for if he had call'd himself Son of God it had been a begging of the Question for they would not own him to be such And this sheweth the better the Oneness of the Person when there is a Communication of the Idioms when in the Person that which is proper to one Nature is spoken of the other Christ according to the Flesh was never in Heaven before his Ascension but according to the Spirit that is his Divine Nature he was Here our blessed Saviour calling himself Son of Man may allude to with intent to make Men take notice of what is spoken of himself by the Prophet Dan. 7.13 14. I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion c. This is an exact Prophecy of his Ascension One thing more they have to say and 't is the Example of Paul's having been caught up to the third Heaven but must it from what hath happen'd to Paul 2 Cor. 12.2 follow that the same must needs have befaln the Lord Jesus That indeed we read of Paul therefore we ought to believe but of Christ we read no such thing Yet for all that we never read that either Paul was from Heaven or came down as we read it of Christ very often Paul speaks of that with the greatest modesty in the World for fear he should seem to exalt himself but our Lord without any ambiguity or fear that Men would think he takes too much upon himself doth speak loud highly declares and often proclaims himself to be the Son of God equal with him sent by the