other Creatures answer that end and with his Heart and utmost Endeavours promote his Glory and prevent any thing that tends to his Dishonour For want of which when 't is his Duty and in his Power so to do he becomes guilty of and makes himself accessary to the Crime Certainly neither Law nor any Judge ought to spare at all those Creatures who will not at all spare their Creatour The Emperour Theodosius decreed that after Death an Action might lawfully be commenced against a Manichee or a Donatist to render the Hereticks memory infamous C. Cod. 1.2 Tit. 5. de Haeret. Manic Leg. For if Traytors tho' in their Graves are yet branded in their Posterity who are deprived of State and Honor tho' the Father died unimpeached How much more reasonable is it that the same course should be taken in Matters of Religion a Care I confess highly commendable in a Christian Magistrate at least strictly to be practised against alive Socinians as dead Manichees Here I must not omit giving the University of Oxford their due Commendation for their Decree of 25th of November 1695. for appearing in their Station and justly condemning as false impious and heretical the Notions and Expressions of three infinite distinct Minds and Substances in the Trinity c. which some had taken upon themselves to speake and write for there are no more three infinite Minds and Substances I shall make use of the words in the Athanasian Creed then there are three Eternals three Incomprehensibles three Almighties three Infinites and three Gods which all are a meer Contradiction and Hierom was very cautious about acknowledging three Hypostases in the Deity because he thought the word to denote Substance for fear of owning three Substances but when I think of such I remember what I read of a Greek Philosopher who willing to abound in his own Sense would not be satisfied with the Definition or Description of Man given by others how 't is a Rational Animal but he scorning to follow the steps of others forged one of his own and said Man is a two footed Animal without Feathers whereupon another having pluckt off a Cock's Feathers brought it into his School and setting it before his Disciples said behold such a one's Man and so ridiculed the Philosopher Thus deserves to be any one who being wise only in his own Conceit doth affect singularity and in things of this nature leaves the good trodden way to follow his own by paths whosoever in defence of a Cause refuseth to take up Arms because once they were made use of by others either declares himself an Enemy to the Cause or else hath a mind to betray it in this case it may be said as that of an Army marching thorough an Enemies Country or towards an Enemy For Orders sake and by reason of the Danger no Soldier ought to straggle out of the way under pain of Death for every one that doth so ventures to be knockt in the Head and as much as in him lyeth hazardeth the whole so thus acting contrary to Rules and his own Safety it may well be supposed he doth so with a Design to desert the like may be said of stragglers in this Cause and Warfare As formerly so new in the Christian World we may say Christ is again crutified between two Malefactors the Socinian Blasphemy of one side and the Popish Idolatry on the other Yet now 't is worse than at his Death for one of the Malefactors was converted and became good but now they both are stark naught the one strikes at his Person and Grace the other chiefly at his Grace one sets up his Reason the other his Traditions above and in opposition to his Word the first believes worse but would seem to practise better the last believeth somewhat better but practiseth worse Socinians which hardly have any thing of Christianity besides the bare name are so puffed up with Pride and Self-conceit and do so much abound in their own Sense that they despise all Antient and Primitive Authority because indeed therein they find their own Condemnation I must say how the Consent and Belief of the Primitive Church in their Councils and Writings of their Doctors ought not to be heard against Scripture yet not to be slighted or rejected in things wherein they are Orthodox and when they agree with it They keep a great pother about Reason but they must explain themselves or else they do but leave things in a confusion we know every rational Man ought to be guided by Reason but even rational Men do often differ about it sometimes that which is Reason with one is a Nonsense with another but to bring a Carnal Reason to be a Judge in Spiritual Things 1 Cor. 2.11 14. is a very gross mistake for the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God and the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned if this Reason they mean in Matters of Religion it must be quite turned out for Scripture declares it in such things not to be a competent Judge But if by Reason they mean the Reason of things then I own nothing ought to be admitted that is contrary to it yet in this Sense no reasonable Man but will own Reason in very many things though in some more or less to be very lame and weak but perfect in nothing for considering the Perfection either of Parts or Degrees we all may be said to know nothing perfectly though Learning and Experience do come in to help us yet still something is wanting what one said well Nemo unquam omnes fefellit neminem unquam omnes fefellere never one Man deceived all nor ever all Men together deceived any one may with some alteration according to the diversity of the Subject be said here never as yet one Man knew all things neither did all Men ever know one thing so perfectly but that it might still admit of some additional Degree of Knowledge and Perfection yet I will suppose an unpossible thing that one Man should by strength of Reason know all things which is one of God's Attributes however when this Reason happeneth to be in competition with a Line or two of Revelation is not that Man according to true Reason bound to submit to it For my part I declare I shall ever prefer the Authority of one only Text of Scripture before all the Reason of the World whether laying in one Head or many and my Reason is that Scripture is the Word of an Infallible God when all and every Man in the World are fallible Alas how many things in the World are given for Reason which have only a shew and appearance of it Besides it must be granted there are things above Reason the most thinking and learned if not much self-conceited will by their own experience find this to
of acute Parts but a Sophister and consequently fit to perfect the Heresie which the other was broaching He with his Uncle went first to Geneva afterwards to Zurich at Basil he made acquaintance with Sebastian Castellio of whom he learned something in the Hebrew and Greek Languages and the * That Christ is merely Man and had no Being till his Incarnation Samosatenian Heresie His Uncle being dead in Zurich in 1562. the 37th of his Age at which time Faustus was 23 years old as soon as he heard of his death he went to the place to secure his Manuscripts which he had desired him to publish in due time for fear they should fall into other hands with these Faustus went into Italy where for about Twelve Years he lived about the Duke of Florence's Court whence he returned to Basil in 1574. the 35th of his Age and there lived Three Years thence he went into Transylvania about 1577. lastly into Poland in 1579. about the 40th of his Age where he made it his whole business to propagate his Uncles Opinions There he publish'd Castellio's Pelagian Dialogues about Predestination Election Free-Will and Faith with a Preface of his own under the Name of Felix Turpio which Book Arminians because it served their turns caused to be reprinted with Additions at Gouda in Holland in 1613. He also in the Year 1582. being in Cracovia published a Tract of his upon a part of the Seventh Chapter to the Romans wherein he endeavours to prove how in that place S. Paul speaks of himself not as being a regenerate Man and in that too he disguiseth his Name as the manner is among pestilent Heresiarks the more easily and safely to spread the Poyson and wound Souls with an unknown and invisible hand in that Book he calls himself Prosper Dysidaeus which answers to his true Name Faustus Socinus as also doth his other borrow'd Name of Felix Turpio for the three Latin Words Prosper Felix and Faustus signifie the same also the Words Dysidaeus Turpio and Socinus have the same signification the first is Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth filthy and deform so doth the Latin Turpio also the Italian Socinus from Sozzo Thus though his true and borrowed Christian Names be not proper for him because such a miserable Wretch may not be called happy yet his Sur-Names whether true or borrowed are to signifie his filthy hellish and monstrous Blasphemies Sozzo whence comes the Word Socinus as by him owned in the Names which in his Books he calls himself by in Italian signifies foul nasty filthy and here we may say conveniunt rebus nomina saepè suis for in his Opinions he was as impure a Man as ever was born of a Woman He lived in Cracovia in Poland whence towards the latter end of his Life he removed to a Country Town about Nine Miles distant called in Latin Luclavicia and in Polonish I think Luklow or Luklowiâ—z where he dyed in 1604. and of his Age 65. This I have been the more particular upon because he is look'd upon as the chief Promoter and Publisher of an Heresie which of all the rest amongst Christians is the most unworthy of the Name of Christ whereof it hath but the shadow and in some respect is worse than Heathenism makes way for Mahometism Judadaism and Atheism and under a false Notion of Piety laughs at despiseth and perverteth all Articles of our Faith and in short goes about to form a new Religion Hereunto I shall add only this how these Heresies had some other Followers which made some noise in the World George Blandrata of Saluzze and Paul Alciati of Milan both Italians and Physicians after Servetus's death and Gentilis's Recantation fled into Poland Bernard Ochinus a true Disciple of Socinus as the other two were of Gentilis who for some impure Dialogues of his had been expell'd out of Zurich and Basil all of them were in the Year 1565. banished out of Poland by reason of their Heresie Alciati went into Turky and embraced Mahometanism Ochinus into Moravia to the Anabaptists and Blandrata fled into Transylvania where by the Favour of one Francis David he was entertained as Physitian to the Prince this David differ'd from Socinus in that he denyed Jesus Christ should be adored or any Prayers to be made in his Name This is that hellish Covy of abominable and pernicious Fowl and that Generation of Vipers out of which sprung since and now more than ever many of the kind so that Den is like Babylon to speak in Scripture Language * Revel 18.2 become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird for the profane Deists and Atheists c. fall into them But that Poyson infected not only those fore-named Parts it also spread into Hungary and Germany nay as far as Heydelberg where one Neuserus with two or three more privately taught those Heresies yet at last boasted he had Seventy Five unanswerable Arguments against the Trinity but through the care of Prince Frederick III. the guilty being punished the Infection ceased there a Precedent for other Princes and States to follow And from such Wretches what else can be expected but Overturnings and Confusions in Church and State Thus having said something of the Persons We must name some of their â—hief Opinions and then speak of the Cause As to the first they have much confounded the whole Doctrine of Religion from first to last They believe that Man before his Fall was naturally mortal so God's threatning the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely dye was frivolous then that by the Light of Nature no Man can have the knowledg of God that Man before his Fall had no original Righteousness and that there is in us no original Sin as it imports Deformity of Nature They say there is in us free Will to that which is good that the Causes of Predestination are not in God but in Men and that he doth not predestinate to Salvation any particular and certain Person and that Predestination may be frustrated As to Providence they assert that God hath no fore-knowledg of Contingencies determinately but alternatively and as to most of these Matters of Grace and Providence they are agreed with Arminians Further they say that God could justly pardon our Sins without any Satisfaction that Christ by his Death did not satisfie for us but only obtained for us Power to satisfie for our selves by our Faith and Obedience that Christ dyed for himself that is not for his Sins but for the Mortality and Infirmities of our Nature which he took upon him Christ became not our High Priest nor immortal nor impassible before he ascended into Heaven that everlasting Death is nothing else but a perpetual Continuance in death or Annihilation that Eternal Fire is so called from its Effect which is the eternal extinction or reducing to nothing of the Wicked which shall be
of great Physicians and if your Honours be pleased but to mind this and in earnest go about it you may by the Grace of God find it within your reach and not to exceed your Skill and Power to heal it which I pray God to move and inspire you to go upon now when temporal Concerns are at this time as good as over And after you hitherto have been working for Men be pleased with minding God's Work and his Glory to make a happy end of this Session From the Bench you sit upon as Judges be pleased first to look down upon the Nation of one side you may see the generality of it over Head and Ears in corrupt Principles and evil Practices wallowing themselves in their great many and frequent Sins which cry loud to Heaven for Vengeance on the other side you may represent unto your selves a very small Number who upon their Knees mourn for all these Abominations and pray to God to avert his so justly deserved Judgments then I beseech you look up towards Heaven and observe God with Thunderbolts in one Hand and Mercies in the other speaking thus Hitherto with me Prayers have prevailed over Sins and withheld my Hand from striking down but now Mercy and Judgment lye ready chuse which you will have O for God's sake whose Hand is lifted up take pity on the Nation and as far as God will enable you purge wash and cleanse it from blasphemous Opinions and wicked Practices or else prepare for the heaviest Judgments for the slower Vengeance is a coming the harder it strikes when come and 't is a fearful thing both in this Life and that which is to come to fall into the hands of the living God when he is angry he overtakes Men Persons and Nations in every kind of Judgment Hosea 3.12 14. therefore saith God will I be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the House of Judah as rottenness and if that be not enough I will be unto Ephraim as a lyon and as a young lyon to the house of Judah Men must not make Cyphers of themselves and insignificant as if they were thus placed only for a sign or a shew like Blazing Stars and fiery Vapours in the Sky but rather to have wholsom Influences upon things below their sphere to answer the end of him who lodged them in those high Stations no true Friend can patiently suffer nor no loyal Subject quietly endure his Friend or Prince to be ill spoken of if he can help it And shall not Men do for God that which they do one for another but quietly hear him blasphemed and robbed of his due when they ought and can help it My Lords and Honourable I hope the Consideration of these things will as I hinted at first though I be in no publick Station either in Church or State clear me from Blame for the Freedom I now assume thus openly to appear and most humbly to address my self to you that is to what next to Sovereignty is greatest and most sacred among us which I may well call the supports of Monarchy two parts of three of the Legislative Power the supreme Court of Judicature and the Representatives of the whole Body of the Nation One thing indeed there is that needs something of an Apology I know how short Epistles are usual and proper especially when so highly address'd as this is which is long and may be tedious which if it be I humbly beg Pardon but I thought the Matter and Nature of the thing the Greatness and Nearness of the Evil the Danger of worse the present Necessity of a Remedy and several other weighty Circumstances attending the State we now are in might plead for an Excuse And as this is the first time that ever I appear'd in your sight in this Capacity and is like to be the last so about this important Matter I have longer than ordinary allow'd my self the liberty of speaking my mind to the full As I wish so hope this most humble Request for the Cause of the Lord Jesus shall not be in vain however I enjoy the satisfaction to have given in my Evidence for the Truth whereupon I call Heaven and Earth for a Record and by the Grace of God shall ever be ready to do 't again in a due and proper manner without being either ashamed or afraid to own and declare out of what Springs we draw these living Waters Acts 17.2 with S. Paul reasoning out of Scriptures though with a sorrowful Heart let it be spoken we have among us too many Men unconcerned who Gallio like care for none of those things Chap. 18.17 for they are very narrow hearted But I hope that what is wanting abroad as to Piety Virtue and Concernedness for the Honour of God shall by his Grace be found within your Walls till by your Care and Zeal that great and good Work be brought to its Maturity and full Perfection which that ye may be able to do I beseech the only wise God the Father of Lights from whom proceedeth every good and perfect Gift to endue you from above with both Wisdom which consists in choice and Prudence in Fore-sight that of two Goods you may chuse the greatest and of two Evils the least and fore-see the Advantages of doing him Service and Dangers for being wanting therein which is the earnest Desire and hearty Prayer of Right Honourable and Honourable Your Honours most humble and most obedient Servant J. GAILHARD THE PREFACE IT is indeed very sad in a Countrey where the Light of the Gospel hath so clearly shined to see the Enemies of Christ so brazen-fac'd as not only to Print and Publish but even at the Doors of both Houses of Parliament to Distribute their Books full of Blasphemies and no other Check put upon them but burning one Copy may be of Thousands dispersed abroad which Impunity is for them an Encouragement to continue in their Crime In Commendation of the Parliament of Scotland I must take notice of the Act which in one of their last Sessions was passed there against Blasphemy whereby not only they ratified the Twenty First of the first Session of Charles II. but also Enacted farther that whosoever in Discourse or Writing shall deny quarrel argue or reason against the Being of a God or any of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity or against the Authority of the Holy Scripture or Providence of God in Governing the World shall for the first time be Imprisoned till he hath in publick acknowledged the Offence For the second Offence Imprisoned and a Fine besides and for the third Death as obstinate Blasphemers For indeed Blasphemy and Idolatry by God's express Command ought to be destroyed out of the Land Every thing hath its proper Center heavy things go down and light fly up and since the Glory of God is the proper Center of Man for he was created to Honor and Serve him Why then doth he not as well as
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
Manhood of Christ for John was born before him wherefore it must be upon a nobler Account he pre-existed before John so he had another Being which not being Human nor Angelical must need be Divine according to which he was in the beginning of the World which concludeth for Eternity this Priority they interpret of Dignity not of Time we do not deny that in Gifts and Office Christ was much beyond John and suppose we should understand the Words preferred before me of a Dignity what will they say to the following Words for he was before me according to their Sense the meaning will be this he is preferred before me for he was preferred before me which is to prove the same by the same when will they give over destroying the Analogy of Faith tearing Scripture in pieces and pulling it over head and Ears to serve their Turn and their Ends If we consider Christ only as a Man John as to that time had the priority of Gifts for as he was conceived before the Body of Christ was so †Luke 1.15 he was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb as to his Office he exercised it before Christ did his for he went not about it till after he had been baptized by John after which he was forty Days in the Wilderness tempted of the Devil and he began his Ministry ‖ Matt. 4.12 after he heard that John was cast into prison wherefore this before me must be taken in some other Sense than relating to Gifts and Office for this would not sufficiently commend God's great Love towards us if only he had endued his Son with excellent Qualities as doth perfectly his not sparing but delivering him up to be put to Death for us his own Son whom in four places the ‖ John 1.14 18. chap. 3.16 18. Evangelist calls God's only begotten Son it is to be taken notice of that John doth not say he is preferred before me because he is but because he was before me Why should he make use of the Preterimperfect-Tense but to denote the time when Christ was preferred before him so that he was before John when he was made so eminently Excellent his Office was put upon him when thirty Years old but he had long before been endued with those heavenly Qualities which he was invested with and there was never a part of Christ's Life wherein that Son of God was not more Excellent than John so his Office could not be the Cause of his being so highly preferred above John The next Verse makes the matter plainer of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace wherein John doth attribute unto Christ a priority of Cause as of Dignity for he thereby owneth that whatsoever Excellency is in him and others is derived from the Fulness of Christ as the Stream is from the Spring the Fulness was in Christ first and thence John and others received it wherefore he is said to be before John as the Head-Fountain is before that which flows out of it How then could that be that John and every one else he meaned when he said we all had received of Christ's Fulness and Grace for Grace before he had taught baptised with the Holy Ghost or done any Miracle This is explained in the next Verse for the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ the Lord being the sole Dispenser of Grace and of Truth no wonder if we all for the present and in time past received all we have out of his Fulness now this Fulness is not only in one but in all kinds * Colos 1.19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell not excepted the Fulness of the Godhead †chap. 2.9 for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily But how can this agree with their Opinions For if Grace and Truth hath not been bestowed by Christ till after he had preached and revealed it How could John Baptist and others before they heard Christ preach receive it if Christ was a meer Man he could not communicate Grace before he was born to those that were before him wherefore he must need have some other Way and Capacity to do 't namely according to his Divinity which Truth if unreasonable Men would but own and give God Glory and not wander against Scripture after their own Fancies and Imaginations this would set all things at Right here because like a drowning Man they are content to lay hold upon any thing that lays in their way out of the thirtieth Verse they object that John calls him a Man we never denied Christ to be a Man in which respect he was after John but we also own him to be the Word God according to which he was before him We read of Angels under Man's shape by Abraham and Lot received into their House they were both Angels and Men but under a different Notion not Angels as Men otherwise all Men would be Angels not Men as Angels for thus all Angels would be Men wherefore they were Angels in one respect and Men in another Somewhat after this manner John calls our blessed Saviour sometimes God and sometimes Man that is now after one Nature then after the other for the Person of the Lord Jesus is both God and Man To prove Christ's Eternity we make use of a third place in the same Gospel * John 8.58 Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am the words are very plain upon the occasion of Christ's saying that Abraham rejoyced to see his day which the Jews interpreting of a real Vision they objected an apparent Contradiction thou art not fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham for they inferred that if Abraham had seen his days then he had seen Abraham who lived so long before and so they look'd upon 't as an impossible thing but he confirms what he had said with these words before Abraham was I am they fell into a Rage and took up Stones to cast at him for they had a right Notion of what he aimed at in his Discourse namely to raise himself above all the Men in the World amongst them they lookt upon Abraham whom they boasted to call their Father to be the Chief and they believed none under God was greater than he wherefore after he had said if a man keep my saying he shall never see death they grew mad against him and presently said Abraham is dead so are the Prophets and so asked him Whom makest thou thy self they concluded it could be no less than God whereby it appears how all along they had a true apprehension of his meaning though they were enraged at it and could not hear it It is a wonder to see how Socinians go about to corrupt and tear this Text all to pieces with their vain Sophistry indeed the place is so close upon them that they will leave nothing unattempted
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