that it could not reasonably be requir'd that a man should engage himself in the study of the whole Book of God if there were any thing positively asserted there the knowledge and understanding of which would be lost time as the studies of all impertinencies are But howsoever necessary these studies are if they are not prosecuted in a due manner i. e. with an humble sense of our own natural defects with a sober and submissive judgment and with all that modesty which becomes one who is desirous to learn they 'l prove but mischievous and make Hereticks Schismaticks or Atheists instead of knowing and improving orthodox Christians It 's true that nothing ought to be admitted into Religion which is contrary to reason but it must be understood which is contrary to reason in its primitive integrity for that which we call reason now we every one find extremely subject to mistakes and for me to measure those truths which are reveal'd by an infallible God by the standard of that sense or judgment which I know to be mistakeful and fallible is unreasonable with any sober discourser to extremity and it argues too great a pride in our low condition to imagine that because once we were made perfect that therefore we should in any respect continue so though we had sought out to our selves many inventions Many are deceived by their own vain opinion ver 24. says the Son of Syrach and nothing can certainly be more prejudicial to a Man in his disquisitions after truth than a great conceit of his own abilities to find it out God commonly blasts such fond pretenders to ingenuity and makes them take a great deal of pains only to procure infamy and perpetual disgrace to themselves Such mischiefs would be avoided yet Humane Reason have it's due use and esteem if the Apostles injunction were well obey'd that no man should think of himself more highly than he ought to think Rom. 12.3 but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith Men ought when they meet with any difficulties in divine Writings not to make their Reason the measure of Truth but to make Truth the measure of their Reason and rather to suspect their own apprehension of it than the weakness or ambiguity on the defectiveness of the authors assertions or expressions And so much for the use of Humane Reason in matters of Religion it 's a great blessing to us still tho' impair'd by sin and if soberly and modestly used will by divine assistance rise to a greater strength and vigour and be able to comprehend every day more and more of the mystery of Godliness till it comes in a glorifi'd state to comprehend every thing that can any way contribute to its consummate happiness Having gone thus far in the debate concerning the use of Humane Reason in matters of Religion and declared how careful we should be not to indulge our selves in vain and useless curiosities for the vindication of our selves as Christians we are to consider that a full proof of the Divinity of the Son of God is a task that comes under no reproof in the case That the blessed Jesus the great captain of our Salvation is God as well as Man that he is God of God light of light very God of very God as the Nicene Creed expresses it that he is perfect God not a factitious or an aequivocal God as some would have him but that He who is God the Son is infinite in all his Attributes God over all blessed for ever as God the Father is is Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae such an Article of our Christian Faith so essential to the Mystical Body of Christ that while it 's embrac'd the Church has a real Being when it 's laid aside the very Being of the Church expires at the same time It 's so necessary an Article of Faith that except a man keep it whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly for he that believes in such a Messias such a Saviour who is not God is really an Idolater as fixing his belief in one that is not able to save For Man's misery is too great to be reliev'd by any inferiour power and the blood of Bulls and of Goats might as well have serv'd for the expiation of Humane guilt as the sufferings of one who was a meer man and consequently could have no proper merit to plead for us no inherent power wherewith to assist us Some of those Hereticks who deny the Divinity of the Son of God have been so sensible of this that they have maintain'd and preach'd it in those Congregations where they have been concern'd That it 's as lawful to pray to the blessed Virgin or to any other Saint or any Angel as it is to pray to the Son of God and that all those are really guilty of Idolatry who make any such Prayers or Supplications to him Now tho other Socinians call these blasphemers on this account they are really injurious to 'em for if that which they all agree in be true viz. That Jesus Christ is not the most high God then whosoever worships him as God breaks the first and second Commandments as much as those of the Church of Rome do and are as notorious Idolaters as we shall hereafter have occasion to prove In quest then of the truth of this doctrine That Jesus Christ is the true God we are to bend our Reason and to meet and baffle those great pretenders to it with their own weapons and to prove to them that tho we think the mystery of godliness to be great as the Text asserts it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Chrysostom expresses it to be unexpressible and wonderful and incomprehensible yet we receive some considerable advantages from its being revealed for by that means we know the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the positive truth that he who appear'd in the flesh visible to humane eyes and so far humbled to atone for humane Crimes was really God hence to be ador'd by us hence able to perform the work he came about and to save to the utmost all those that come to the Father in and by him and this we firmly and stedfastly believe tho' we cannot comprehend the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the manner how so great a miracle of Mercy should be brought about and those proofs by any particulars whatsoever laid down of this truth using reason with that sobriety and modesty which we ought we may examine and try throughly and judge how far they come up to those things they are designed to make good and so our Faith it self may be rational and thence invincible tho' every particular of it be not intelligible to us in its full extent With relation to the Text then we assert That the Mystery of Godliness which the Apostle tells us is great cannot be apply'd to the several particulars laid down in
bodies and yet be Angels or Spirits still much more must it be believed that God could do the same Thus still he prosecutes his Argument and all his care was to prove not that Christ was God for that was granted on all hands but that he was Man which some denyed upon that very ground because he was God without controversie Again in his book of Prescriptions against Hereticks De Praescrip p. 36. He lays down somewhat like the form of a Creed and agreeable to our own Where first he says They believed one God the World's Creator who produced all things out of nothing by his Word that Word his Son was called by the name of God variously seen by the Patriarchs always heard in the Prophets at last brought by the power and Spirit of God the Father into the womb of the Virgin Mary He took flesh of Her and was born of Her and so became the Man Jesus Christ c. Here we have our Saviour's Existence antecedently to his birth of the blessed Virgin not only asserted but declared as the general Doctrine and Tradition of the Catholick Church and that less than two hundred years after our Saviour's Passion and made use of as a Prescription against an Heretick Now Marcion if he had not been well assured that Tertullian asserted no more than what was the current Doctrine of the Catholick Church might easily have baffled all Tertullian's pretence to Prescription by shewing him that all the Christians of the former Age were utterly ignorant of his pretended Articles of Faith but we never hear of any such Reply made Tho' we have no reason to doubt but that the Hereticks of those ages were as earnest to maintain their Errors as those are who tread in their footsteps in this After this in the same book Tertullian reflects upon other capital Hereticks So he tells us that Cerinthus maintained fol. 41. that Christ was only of the seed of Joseph a meer Man without any Divine Nature He tells us again that Theodotus of Byzantium blasphemed Christ for He too brought in a Doctrine quâ Christum Hominem tantummodo diceret Deum autem illum negaret Wherein he taught that Christ was a meer Man and that he was not God that He was indeed born of a Virgin thro' the Holy Ghost fol. 42. otherwise He was only a Man no better than others but as his Goodness gave him a greater authority than others If Tertullian then took Theodotus to be an Heretick on account of this Doctrine it can scarce be doubted but he 'd have taken Socinus and his Partners for the same had they liv'd in those days and I find our Socinians doing so much right to this Theodotus as fairly to reckon him among the Patrons of their opinions If we go farther with Tertullian we find him assaulting the same Heretick Marcion again and arguing God's extraordinary goodness from that great Humiliation of himself to take humane nature upon him He concludes his argument at last with this Totum denique Dei mei penes vos dedecus Adversus Mar. l. 2. f. 68. sacramentum est Humanae salutis c. All that which in your opinion is so disgraceful to the God I believe in is the Seal of our Salvation God converst with Man that Man might learn to do those things that are divine God acted suitably with Man that Man might endeavour to act agreeably to God God was found in a mean state that Man might be exalted to the utmost He that despises such a God can hardly be thought to believe in God crucified In another book against the same Marcion he argues from the antient apparitions of Angels that Christ tho' God had a true and real body We will not yield to thee says he that Angels had only a fantastick body but those bodies they assumed had a true solid humane substance this elsewhere he makes good it follows If it were not hard for Christ to exert the true sence and action of a Man in imaginary flesh it was much easier to make true and substantial flesh as he was the Author and maker of it to be the subject of true common sence and action Thy God was fain to appear in an imaginary body l. 3. fol. 72. because he was not able to produce a real one But my God who without pursuing the common course of nature could make real flesh of Earth could have invested Angels with real bodies of any kind whatsoever For with a word He made the world of nothing and shaped it into so many various bodies as we see Then he tells us Angels had flesh truly humane and connate with the time they appear'd in because Christ only himself was to be flesh of flesh that by his Birth he might purifie ours that by his Death he might free us from the slavery of Death he rising again in that flesh in which he was born only that he might die Therefore He appear'd in a true body accompanied with Angels to Abraham but not a body that was born because it was not that body which was to die In consequence of this discourse which proves our Saviour's Pre-existence to his Birth fol. 73. he urges his Adversary with that name of Immanuel or God with us from whence proving the reality of his divine he regularly infers the equal reality of his humane nature If we proceed we find the same Father publishing his Faith in the beginning of his book against Praxeas He was an Heretick so far yet from believing Christ to be a Creature or a meer Man that he asserted it was God the Father who was born of the Virgin and crucified and Dead and that He was Jesus Christ In opposition to him the Father declares As we are instructed by the Holy Ghost Adv. Prax. fol. 144. which leads us into all truth We believe one God and that the Word is the Son of that one God who was begotten of him by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that he was sent by the Father into the Virgin and born of Her Man and God the Son of Man and the Son of God and called Jesus Christ This was then his Faith and with him Christ had a being before he was born into the World and was what we assert the Creator of all things Thus afterwards he tells us in the same book the Father is God fol. 147. the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and dilates upon and vindicates that truth He tells us that the Father is God Almighty and most high fol. 149. and that the Son justly claims the same titles and that the Father and the Son are one God and indeed c. 21.22 fol. 219 220. the farther proof of this is the general design of that book He confirms the same Doctrine in his Apology for Christianity against the Gentiles Besides these books he wrote one particularly concerning the
Actions prove to the World they were in quest of a better Countrey and yet We who have seen the Performance of those Promises they depended on their Obscurities all cleared their Certainty vindicated We who are beset with such a Cloud of Witnesses cannot cast aside every Sin and the Weight that does so easily oppress us and run with Joy the Race that 's set before us Were we Bond-slaves to Hell and has the Son of God struck off our Chains and Fetters and do we love them still is Light come into the World and can we love Darkness rather than Light were we all liable to eternal Vengeance and has our Lord redeemed us with his own most precious Blood from the dismal strokes of that Vengeance and shall we not believe in him that has alone trod the Wine-press of his Father's Wrath for us We were Sinners we were Enemies we were foolish and obstinate Enemies yet the Son of God that great Shepherd of the Sheep came to seek and to save that which was lost and can we be his Enemies still who was so much our Friend I 'm sure whatever corrupt Nature may tempt us to it would be wretched Policy in us to reject what he has done for us the wicked Husbandmen kill'd their Lord's Son indeed but it was to their own Confusion the rebellious Citizens refus'd to have their rightful King reign over them but it was to their Destruction the First or Primary End of our Saviour's Coming was that Men might be saved but if Men foolishly neglect that End there is a Secondary Design in it that those who still continue in Sin may be without Excuse that they may have nothing to plead for themselves at the great Day but that the Justice of his Wrath against Sin and Sinners may appear to Men and Angels Where an Ambassadour of Peace is sent and slighted the Dignity of the Ambassadour aggravates the Contempt the Apostle therefore having in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews demonstrated the Dignity of Christ and proved his pre-eminence to Men and Angels who yet after the several Methods God had formerly taken to reveal himself had in those latter days spoken himself to the World makes this rational Deduction from all Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we hear in the name of Christ Heb. 2.1 2 3. for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience receiv'd a just Recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirm'd to us by them that heard him If we repent not at his Call if we submit not to his Admonitions nor lay hold on his Grace we must not please our selves with empty Dreams of entring into his Rest there remains now no more Sacrifice for Sins His indeed is sufficient to those who believe in and obey him but for those who obey not the Truth there remains nothing but Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to every Soul that doth Evil let his State and Condition be what it will this Wo I hope all those who profess Christianity will endeavour to avoid and that all those who name the Name of Christ that glorious saving Name will depart from Iniquity If our Saviour be the Son of God if he be God himself infinite and eternal and yet humbled himself and took upon him the Form of a Servant for our Redemption if it were absolutely necessary that he who undertook so great a Work should be real God as well as real Man or else must have sunk in that prodigious Attempt it behoves all those who expect Salvation by his Name to adhere to this Doctrine to believe in Christ as he is set forth to us in Sacred Writ that is as God co-equal and co-essential with his Father I would to God the Caution were needless There were some Hereticks in the Ancient Church who would needs maintain our Lord was not true Man had only a phantastical Body but not real Flesh and Blood as we have others as it were to ballance them would assert our Saviour was a meer Man and no more that he was not real God nor his Love to us nor his Undertakings for us so great as we are ready to conclude God's Blessing upon the Labours of the Governours of the Church in those days crusht the growing Heresies and they bequeath'd to us a Faith undeprav'd unchanged nor had the Trent-Conventicle an Opportunity to propound their additional Articles of Faith till besides the Eastern Churches God was pleased to raise up Men in these Western parts of the World of extraordinary Piety and Learning and Industry who had rescued the genuine Christian Faith from Fraud and Obscurity to give it us so as the Ancient Christians had left it without Additions or Alterations by which Cares they prevented the malignant Designs of the Roman Church but as the Devil will always be sowing his Tares of Heresies and Falshoods among the good Wheat of Divine Truths so with the Reformation of Religion besides the bloody Severities of Romish Bigots several of the ancient Heresies were reviv'd and particularly that which denied the Eternal Divinity of the Son of God which as it walk'd about formerly under several Names so it has of late though as the Presbyterians and Independents the other day in spite of former Feuds are pleased to give themselves the painted Title of Vnited Brethren so those wretched Hereticks however at odds among themselves agreed in the gay Name of Vnitarians under which Name Turks and Jews come as well and properly as they if they could be true to their own Principles They unite indeed all in that one impious Error in denying the Divinity of our Saviour a Heresie detestable to every sober and intelligent Christian a Heresie proper only to introduce Deism and Sadducism and to thrust true Evangelical Christianity out of doors This all those who love their Religion ought to oppose and declare against with as much Zeal and Care and more than they would against the foulest Errors of the Roman See for though there are so many Falsities and Absurdities propounded to us in that Communion yet there 's nothing flies so directly in the face of Almighty God as this it 's Folly enough to believe the Bishop of Rome Christ's universal Vicar upon Earth but it 's a greater Stupidity to believe that Christ himself is no more truly and originally God than that pretended Vicar it 's Idolatry to pray to Saints or Angels and to make them the ultimate Object of our Adorations it 's greater yet to make a meer Man the Object of the same Devotions and to suppose him a made God and capable of doing every thing for us we beg at his hands though he were no more but a Creature as others at his first existence it 's Madness to believe that
which made them employ a pert smatterer in Ignorance as their Hawker to disperse their new fangled Theology about the Countrey as if it were fit one employed so much in the dispose of Publick Charity should to keep the Ballance even between Heaven and Hell while he supports their Bodies pervert and poyson the Souls of the impertinently curious unthinking and injudicious part of Mankind If they have offered any new Reasons in defence of Errors Apparent rarae nantes in gurgite vasto it 's almost lost labour to hunt for them and the Quarry scarce worth stooping for when found It may be some may think those things considerable which He has reflected upon if so it's what He wished for presuming his Reflections might pass for a sufficient Refutation at least He hopes He has placed some things in so fair a Light that others may the more easily baffle their Novelties and secure the Foundations of our Christian Profession from the insolent attacks of Libertinism and prevailing Heresie If what the Author has done may be any way acceptable to the Pious and Learned World it will encourage Him to proceed farther and in due time to vindicate every Article of our Faith from the Insults of Socinians and Atheists and to offer them somewhat else wherein the Church of England is immediately concerned and which He hopes will do her no disservice however drooping her present Looks may be Otherwise He begs Pardon for what He has done already and will for the Future either Write better or leave that Work to those who are better able to defend the Cause If He has offered any thing New or Solid in vindication of our Antient Faith it will tend extremely to his Satisfaction If He have err'd in any Matter of weight He begs his Holy Mother's Pardon to the Censure of whose Lawful Governours He humbly submits All He has written and can conclude his Preface with nothing more apposite than that Petition of our Sacred Mother in her Litany From all false Doctrine Heresie and Schism from Hardness of Heart and Contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us IMPRIMATUR Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Henrico Episc Lond. à Sacris Domesticis Octob. 17. 1691. 1 Tim. 3.16 And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh IT 'S our business and design for the securing of those who shall read this discourse from damnable Errors for the glory of the eternal Son of God whose Divinity we find boldly impeach'd and blasphemously deny'd by a pestilent crew of subtle and insinuating Hereticks for the confirmation of that Faith in Christ which we profess and in which we hope to dye to encounter several of those Arguments thro' God's assistance which those enemies of Christianity assault the World with To which end it will be absolutely necessary to clear the sense of these words from those artificial clouds which some have endeavour'd to obscure them with and here we find the Socinians not so much disputing about the meaning of the first assertion without controversie great is the mystery of godliness as about the connexion of these words with the particulars following For if they can prove that the Incarnation of the Son of God is no part or member of our Faith or no mystery of our Religion they deprive us of one of the best and plainest Texts of Scripture for the maintaining of his Divinity Again if they can so bafflle all mysteries in Religion that nothing must be regarded but what can easily be comprehended by weak and corrupted reason our holy Religion stands upon a lower ground than the wretched Systems of Pagan Divinity and God must stand reprov'd himself if he speak any thing by inspired Prophets which the meanest person cannot fully and clearly understand In our entrance therefore on our intended discourse we must first remove these difficulties before we speak to the particulars And here we cannot but take notice that the Socinians generally profess abundance of respect for the Scriptures and seem to take a great deal of pains to assert their authority and it is upon the pretendedly genuine explication of that Word of God they build those Heretical Opinions with which they disturb the Church Socinus makes it a strange thing that any man professing Christianity should make any doubt of the authority of the books of the Old and New Testament Vid. Socin de author Scrip. op v. 1. p. 265. especially the last since the Writers of it were men of reputation and exactly acquainted with those things they writ about since the Writers were very well known since the books themselves are not corrupted or depraved and because there are no full or clear testimonies to be found that those books deserve not that credit we commonly give them Catech. Sect. 1. c. 2. The Racovian Catechism asserts the sufficiency of Scripture to make men wise to Salvation Eousque sunt sufficientia ut in rebus ad salutem necessariis iis solis acquiescendum est they are so sufficient to that great end that we ought to depend upon them only in matters of Salvation And for their assertion they add this among other reasons That it was not likely in so large a book and where so few things were absolutely necessary to Salvation Ibid. those very few things should not be fully laid down or that in a book where God had ordered so many things unnecessary he should have forgotten any thing that was absolutely necessary to Salvation And farther they avouch the integrity of Scripture that those holy Books are not corrupted or alter'd and that principally because they say it 's inconsistent with God's Providence and goodness to permit those writings in which he had declared himself and manifested his Will and shewed the way to eternal Salvation and which as such were immediately received and approved by all good men to permit such Writings to be any way corrupted besides that there were so many Copies of those Books transcribed at first in places so far distant one from another and they were translated into so many several languages presently that if any corruption or alteration had been attempted Ibid. c. 1. it had been impossible they should all have conspired in the same reading and therefore we may observe where the least change has been made the Copies disagree In this observation we close with them and by their own rule the better answer their cavil with this Text. For they tell us that some Copies read this Text not as we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God was manifest in the flesh but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was manifest in the flesh without any mention of God at all Erasmus was the first in this observation Grotius follows him and tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is wanting in the vulgar Latin Grot. in loc the Syriac and Arabic translations and that St. Ambrose takes no notice
at a full and plain satisfaction in these matters And here we are to call to mind our second Position relating to Humane Reason which teaches us that by the Fall humane reason is exceedingly impair'd and very much incapacitated for those great ends for which it was first bestow'd on Man and it 's plain that though our Saviour has appear'd though he has brought us the glad tydings of life and salvation in and by himself tho' he has taken the kindest care imaginable for the propagation of this Gospel we are still by birth the same naturally miserable and misunderstanding Creatures that we were before and therefore we are in some sence actually regenerate or born again in Baptism being in it born members of the Christian Church and so having a right to all Christian priviledges and it being a Symbol or sign of our new birth or resurrection from dead works to serve the living God yet after our Baptism our intellectuals are still the same poor weak and miserably foolish and hence it comes that Catechetical instructions in the principles of Christian Religion and frequent Sermons or exhortations to true piety and sincere goodness or dehortations from Sin and explications of hard and difficult expressions or doctrines in Scripture and vindications of divine truths from the assaults of Hereticks Schismaticks or Infidels and the refutation of those errors endeavour'd by such to be impress'd on the minds of Men all these things are absolutely necessary for advancing our knowledge in Divine Matters for keeping us from the paths of error and for teaching and shewing us how to live godly righteously and soberly in this present evil world And the more improvements we make according to these means of grace which we enjoy the more powerful assistances and encouragements we meet with from Heaven in our work as was before observ'd in our fourth Position concerning humane reason Yet after all we remain but on the positive side of those great truths laid down in Scripture we believe them firmly and stedfastly because we have an irrefragable and infallible testimony of their truth the veil that was upon the hearts of men is indeed taken away the types shadows and ancient Prophecies relating to the Messias are all made good in his appearance upon earth the way to life is made clear and according to right reason very easie and agreeable to those who endeavour to walk in it and Man so endeavouring is reconciled to God by the blood of his dear Son Jesus Christ and there is a nearer and more close Communion between God and man than heretofore all these things and the infinite love of God in them are now so plainly decipher'd that he who runs may read them But for the rational part of these things or what means an Almighty God could make use of to effect things so stupendous how that dismal distance between a pure Divinity and corrupt Mortality should be made up how God himself should stoop to man when man notwithstanding all his inordinate ambition could never rise to God how that strict communication between God and Man should be maintain'd c. All these things are such mysteries that its impossible for even Angelical Intellectuals to comprehend them fully since common reason will give us this maxim that Nothing but an infinite being can perfectly understand all the operations of an infinite being Therefore we have the Communion between God and Man still shadowed out to us in the Symbols of Bread and Wine consecrated into a clear representation of the body and blood of our Saviour to us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Nor can we believe whatsoever Grotius In tract An. semper sit communicand per Symbola a man of more learning than orthodoxy would perswade us to that we while we have the means and opportunities of communicating with one another and holding a close communion with God by participating of those Symbols which our Lord himself instituted to that very end and purpose can possibly communicate as well without them or that we may make at any time the Bread and Wine a Nehustan a sign of no account or value at all because perhaps it may have been abused to ill purposes by a factious or an Idolatrous Crew but not to insist upon that Tho' it be with S. Chrysostome and many other Antients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dreadful and tremendous Mystery and will be always so accounted by the most understanding and humble Christians there 's not an article of our Faith not one of the principal heads of the Apostles Creed which we so often repeat but it s a body of Mysteries Mysteries after all the pains of the most learned and pious men unintelligible otherwise than as to their positive truth by all mankind and more particularly those clauses concerning our blessed Saviour are so true so essential to our eternal salvation and yet so far above our reach that while we meditate on them seriously our Souls have nothing but miracles of power wisdom mercy and love in view but being known for such they all hold their miraculous nature still and can never be fully decipher'd either by Men or Angels and that we should yet be obliged stedfastly to believe these things though we cannot comprehend them will appear no way unreasonable if we consider these things belonging to the 3d. Inquiry which is What considerable advantages can accrue to Religion from those Mysteries it 's founded upon we consider in pursuit of this Query That by a due reflection upon the nature of such Mysteries as are really necessary and consequently of very great weight and importance men are brought to a due acknowledgment of the deficiency of their own reason they learn how weak and shallow all the utmost flights of wit and reason are when they come once to stand in competition with the results of infinite wisdom and unlimited understanding Men of the most presuming abilities find it very hard to unriddle ancient parables and to give a clear and evident explication of aenigmatical writings and figurative sentences and expressions the youthful Philistines Men without doubt of very brisk parts in their own esteem as we may conclude by their ready acceptance of Sampson's proposition faltred pitifully when they set their wits on work to expound his riddle and the Pharisaical Allumbradoes those men of light who like the modern Chineses concluded almost all the World blind except themselves when our Saviour put that Dilemma to them concerning John's Baptism viz. Whether it were from Heaven or of Men it confounded them so as all their mighty wisdom could never dis-intangle them if these things were difficult the fundamental Mysteries of Religion are much more so Men have attempted several ways to solve the appearances of Nature and some have made such ingenious researches after them and have laid down Hypotheses so very rational for the solution of difficulties in them that they have got themselves the applauding
perceive Well did this proceed from the difficulty and obscurity of what was preach'd No though he taught them in parables things not obvious to every one their unhappiness proceeded from another reason This Peoples heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Therefore he tried to open their eyes with miracles it being then but the dawn of the Gospel and men were not so easily wrought upon by clear reason and by earnest perswasion They were not the repeated tenders of mercy nor threats of eternal damnation that could convince them of the necessity of obedience to and belief of that Word which was Divine and Saving had not Miracles been exhibited such whose events they could give no account of to themselves or others in them therefore they could be content with that want of plainness which they knew not how to satisfie themselves with before The force and convincing power of Miracles lay indeed wholly in the inexplicability of their reason So long as Jannes and Jambres could work wonders in appearance parallel with those of Moses they believ'd him no Messenger sent from God but a cunning Jugler like themselves and how they wrought such surprizing wonders they knew well enough but when Moses had once out-reach'd the utmost of their skill they who thought themselves before unconquerable in jugling sleights and Magick skill presently acknowledged that the finger of God was there and began to tremble at what they had derided before so when he that spoke as never man spoke could by no other arguments convince the stubborn Jews that he was their long expected Messias He bids them believe him for his very works sake nay and indulges them so far as to allow John 15.24 that if he had not done among them the works which never man did they had had no sin And the Pharisees were very sensible what advantages accrued to the Apostle's doctrine by the miracles they did as appears by that question among them upon St. Peter's healing the impotent Man What shall we do to these men for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell at Jerusalem Acts 4.16 and we cannot deny it But we find not our Saviour upon every miracle he did presently giving the Jews an account how or by what power he did them but he left them to make their conclusions from what they saw And the Apostles upon their Examination before the Jewish Council onely answer If we this day be examin'd of the good deed done to the Impotent man by what means he is made whole be it known unto you all and to the whole people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified Acts 4.9 10. whom God rais'd from the dead even by him doth this man stand before you whole by which account they left them but in a maze of mystery and wonder more inextricable than before But if the unwonted cures of distempers the ejection of Devils the restauration of dead bodies to life could over-aw the most obstinate stubbornness how much more must the mysterious subjects of our faith the appearance of the Son of God in our nature his suffering death for our redemption his resurrection and ascension up into glory truths of a more sublime and incomprehensible nature and confirm'd too by those very astonishing miracles work men to a profound veneration of that Religion grounded upon them I 'le add that had it been possible for God so far to have laid aside his own immense glory that men might have seen it fully and with open face that they might have plainly read how all those wonders of love and mercy had been wrought it would have been altogether unfit since the pride of man would have been apt to trample upon and despise the known cause of the most unexpected productions It 's necessary then that the fundamentals of Christ's Religion should carry with them somewhat of that awful Majesty inherent in its founder nor is this wisdom of God in a Mystery to be laid open to scoffing Atheists or Men onely impertinently curious after novelties Pearles are not to be cast before Swine nor Holy things to Dogs The Christians in the primitive Church were very strict in this respect insomuch that the Gentiles objected it against them that they kept the very God they worship'd unknown to the rest of the World So Caecilius in Minutius Foelix very passionately What silly and absurd opinions says he do these Christians take up when they would perswade us that God whom they worship a something whom they can neither see themselves nor show to any body else does strictly examine the actions manners words nay the very inmost thoughts of Men And Maximus Madaurensis in a more submissive style speaks thus to the great St. Augustine Show me now at length O thou wisest of Men what God it is ye Christians claim as yours and whom ye own as present with you in your most private recesses as for us we expose our Gods to publick view and adore them and with offerings of Incense endeavour to reconcile them to us in the hearing of all the world The ancient Christians would neither discourse of the Mysteries of their Faith nor of their Sacramental Symbols before Ethnics who would then as the conceited Socinians do now deride every thing they could not understand So Lactantius speaking of the Resurrection a Doctrine which Christians ever own'd as a fundamental and which Heathens thought the most absurd and irrational principle in the World subjoyns at last This is that Doctrine of the Prophets which we Christians maintain this is our wisdom which Idolatrous pretenders to Philosophy contemn as vain and silly because we make it no subject of our publick disputations but God has commanded us that we should peaceably and silently lay up his secret in our hearts and consciences not pertinaciously wrangling with profane persons who violently oppose God and his religion not with a design to sift out the truth but to expose it to a publick scorn Nor ought the Mystery to be discover'd by us especially who denominate our selves from that faith Nay even those who were Converts to Christianity were but gradually enter'd into these things the Catechumeni and Energumeni being shut out of the Church so soon as the Sermon was done and not permitted to be so much as Spectators of the Sacramental Mysteries From what has been hitherto discours'd we may justly conclude That since Religion can have no part or interest ordinarily in the hearts of Men unless it be usher'd in by causes Mysterious supernatural or in their full extent incomprehensible Since our blessed Saviour by introducing his Gospel into the World has not
taken away but strongly confirm'd the necessity of obedience to God's Laws whether written or natural which was as we have before observ'd the general intent of Religion and agreeable to those notions the World commonly had of it Since for the better carrying on this end Mysteries are so very advantageous to religion as to make Men have reverend apprehensions of it upon account of its incomparable Excellencies in its causes and effects and upon account of the weakness and shallowness of their own understandings since all these particulars are true it 's likewise absolutely necessary that the Christian the onely true Holy pure Religion should be built upon such a foundation as might appear to all Men upon the strictest inquiry beyond all doubt or controversie Mysterious inexplicable incomprehensible Nor could it be an impertinent labour to clear this truth because it totally ruines all the pretences of the Socinians that after the Revelation once made of the great fundamentals of our Faith there could remain nothing of so obscure a nature but that we by the pure strength of our own reason might be able to comprehend it In short that though it be true that Scripture as sufficient for that purpose is and ought to be the sole rule of Faith yet reason ought to be the rule of Scripture Reason as it now stands loaded with all the miserable consequences of sin reason so blind as without the extraordinary light of holy Scriptures to be wholly unable to lead a Man to Eternal life it obviates their assertions that the true ancient Catholick Interpretation of this and other Texts of Scripture that speak of the eternal Divine nature of the Son of God or of that glorious Trinity subsisting in the Father Son and Holy Ghost is false and unreasonable meerly because it introduces an unintelligible incarnation and unity of the Divine and Humane nature in Christ a Mysterious co-essentiality of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost c. notwithstanding all those glorious revelations God has made of himself in Scripture For if it be certainly true that Religion in it's general notion cannot subsist unless built upon a mystick foundation and that therefore Christian Religion in particular cannot subsist without it then it will follow that the continuing Mystick nature of the great Articles of our Faith can create no prejudice in any person whatsoever against our Religion on their account since especially it will remain impossible to draw any genuine consequences from those mysteries but what will be so far from impeaching that they will strongly confirm and re-inforce all those duties relating to God or man which are laid upon us by the natural or written Law and it will follow farther that the Socinians themselves by their endeavours to level all the Articles of our Faith the great saving principles of the Gospel to impair'd reason or by endeavouring to leave Christiany naked of all Mysteries do what in them lies to disannul all the Religion of Christians to take away all the use and advantage of the Gospel leaving the world so involv'd in Atheism or in meer Deism at this time very little to be preferr'd before the other Having done now with the positive assertion our next work is with all exactness and humility to consider the illustration of this Proposition in the severals laid down by the Apostle which altogether afford us the whole sum and substance of the Gospel for all that glad tydings sent from Heaven to Earth for the comfort of mankind consists in this That for their sakes to procure their Salvation God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the world receiv'd up into glory all which particulars tho' the full prosecution of the first be all our present task are incomprehensible mysteries yet as well worth our enquiring into as the Apostles writing them who without doubt would never have laid the weight of piety or godliness or true Religion upon those grounds had they not been worth our looking into or their truth worth our vindicating from all the attacks of prejudiced opinionative or haeretical men It 's true a late author tells us Naked Gospel p 34. c. 1. l. 20. That to dispute concerning a Mystery and at the same time to confess it a mystery is a contradiction as great as any in the greatest mystery the expression is worth our remark for the boldness and absurdity it contains It 's bold not to say impious to insinuate so broadly in a discourse where Christianity's concern'd that all great Mysteries are made up of or at least contain contradictions what have we then nothing at all Mysterious in Scripture what 's that love between the blessed Jesus and his Spouse the Church so admirably character'd in the book of Canticles can our Author find nothing Mysterious in all those adumbrations of ineffable love or can he easily give us a Catalogue of the Contradictions there the real Contradictions I mean for things that are of no mysterious nature at all on any other account may seem to contain somewhat contradictory but seeming contradictions are not real Can he fathom every thing relating to Daniel's weeks Men of a great deal of learning industry and sobriety have taken a great deal of pains to explain the mystery of them and have scarce yet given the world satisfaction were not the Vision mysterious it would be more easily clear'd but because it is not must it therefore be contradictious to it self or to make a yet closer instance the nature of a God can He or any Socinian make it comprehensible to humane understandings or else will the very notion of a God imply a contradiction He must be a very new fangled Son of the Church of England who will assert that but why must it imply a contradiction to dispute or discourse about or to enquire into a confest mystery That God was manifest in the flesh is true we believe that every circumstance relating to his Incarnation as laid down in Scripture is true according to the genuine and common interpretation of such words whereby these circumstances are express'd we believe too That as they are true we may dispute about them and clear them from all that Sophistry whereby some subtle men would fain baffle us out of them is no uncouth or irrational opinion yet after all we take the whole account of this Incarnation as laid down in Scripture to be a very great mystery But where lyes the Contradiction either in believing it a mystery or in defending it as such This truth that God was manifest in the flesh is as before intimated that upon the literal truth of which the whole Salvation of mankind depends How he should have been so is to all mankind mysterious and incomprehensible yet may we without any contradiction explain defend prove and draw inferences from it Hear what a Bishop of our own a genuine
son of our sacred Mother the English Church says of this manifestation of God in the flesh How it was effected Vid. Montacut Norvic in Act. Mon. Eccles c. 1. par 39. p. 27. 1 Pet. 1.12 by what means made possible heaven and earth cannot understand nor deliver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was a mystery from the beginning the Angels understood it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be a mystery to eternity the Angels as yet can go no farther than their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to receive a glimmering of it as it were by the crany of a window or by the chink of a door and how shall we dare to enquire how it was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this question is indissoluble that inextricable Faith alone has power to resolve them both this we submissively agree to and therefore we enquire not how or in what manner God was made flesh any farther than some particulars relating to that Incarnation are plainly laid down in Scripture far be any such presuming curiosity from us only since the Apostle in the consequent parts of the Text has asserted that God was made flesh which according to the natural sound and common acceptation of such words in all languages and writers is that he who was made flesh or appear'd in the flesh was God since the Apostle has asserted the positive truth and has made it the first part of the great mystery of godliness and such a part as all the other particulars do but serve to prove and confirm We must assert too that this particular point or article of Faith that He who was made flesh for the Salvation of mankind was really God God properly so call'd the most high the eternal God blessed for ever not any made or subordinate God but the maker of all things in a word the true God exclusive of all created Beings whatsoever We assert that this is an Article of our Faith so true and so important that upon a true embracing it in the sence so laid down the Salvation of all men depends as much as upon believing in Christ the Son of God at all or on being neither impious nor blasphemers nor idolaters And therefore we assert farther that how great a mystery soever this may appear and it never ought to appear otherwise to enquire into and seek for all such Scriptures as may render it indisputable is neither impertinent to our Lord's design in being so incarnate nor is it fruitless to those who make it their business to inquire into such proofs nor is it dangerous to any who make that enquiry with due humility and care But on the contrary it 's very dangerous nay fatal as before not to enquire into it or not to be fully satisfied about it I know we have in this point more enemies than the meer Socinians some capital asserters of the Arminian tenets being desirous to give such a latitude to Religion as may take in all their friends are very willing to perswade us that it 's not very material or necessary to believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God is God of the same substance or nature with his father So Episcopius a man of great learning and ingenuity in his fourth book of Theological Institutions c. 34. Traitè sur la Divin de J.C.S. 1. c. 1. p. 10. c. the sum of whose plea amounts to this That the essence of Christian Religion consists not in meer contemplative knowledge but in practice and that it consists much more in obedience than in abstracted speculations on the Deity which tho' it be true enough has really no place here for can we call those principles meer or simple speculations which are so important that we our selves are or are not Idolaters accordingly as they are true or false If Christ be of the same substance with his Father or if which comes to the same end Christ be the supreme or sovereign God he ought to be adored in that quality and Socinians themselves cannot without impiety refuse to acknowledge him as such and to honour him under that name but if he be not so we cannot confound him with the Sovereign God without Idolatry The great concern here then is to avoid impiety or idolatry and by consequence those inquiries must be of a practical nature which are of so very great and extraordinary an importance Episcopius makes several vain attempts to shew That it is not at all essential to Salvation to know if Jesus Christ be God by an eternal generation or that being but a simple creature or which is the same a meer man like one of us he is called God upon account of his ministry for when he goes about to make us see that these are no fundamental inquiries in shewing us that those who believe Jesus Christ is a meer Creature may worship him without being guilty of Idolatry because they adore him not as he is man but as he holds the place of God as his Ambassador or Substitute this proof is imperfect and insufficient For to prove that these questions are impertinent or unnecessary it 's not enough to shew that Socinians without being Idolaters may worship him whom they believe to be no more by nature than a meer Man which supposition yet we shall in due time prove God willing to be false But he ought to shew withal that we without Idolatry may worship Jesus Christ as the supreme God as we really are taught to do by the Church of England tho' at the same time he really be not the sovereign God which seems to be a very hard if not an impossible task as I question not but hereafter it will more plainly appear At present I shall only touch upon an argument urged by Episcopius from a Topick very easily found out the reason then given by him why it is not necessary that we should believe Jesus Christ to be perfect or the true God is Quia nuspiam in Scripturâ id necessarium creditu esse asseritur nec per bonam nedum necessariam consequentiam ex eâ elicitur Because it 's a doctrine of which the Scripture no where affirms that it 's necessary to be believed nor can it be drawn from thence by any good much less by any necessary consequence And he goes on to shew that this argument ought to be of very great force among those of the reformation because they profess there 's nothing necessary to be believed but what 's either directly or in plain terms contained in Scripture or drawn from thence by very clear consequence the last indeed the sixth Article of the Church of England agrees with but what she thinks of his first assertion may very well be gathered from the second wherein she propounds this Doctrine as necessary to be believed The Son which is the word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one substance with the Father took man's
Moses and the Holy Ghost linked together as if there were an equality among them We are told indeed by Wolzogenius that that passage after the Israelites having gone through the red Sea is a parallel Exod. 14.31 Having seen that great work which God had done upon the Aegyptians having drowned them while themselves were safe we are told the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord or in the Lord as your Margin reads it and in his servant Moses but that 's indeed no parallel for there 's distinction enough made between God and Moses one is the Lord the other but the servant but there is no such distinction in the Text no servant no intimation of an inferiority but only the order of nature followed and the Father put before the Son and both before the Holy Ghost which proceeds from both Then whereas Enjedine tells us That to be baptised into Moses was not to believe that Moses was the most high God and consequently That to be baptised into the name of the Son of God is not to believe any such thing of him he forgets that to be baptised into the name of the Father is to declare our belief of His being the most high God by his own confession yet that belief is the very Character by which those Hereticks distinguish themselves from us whom they call Trinitarians and if that be own'd our baptising in the name of Christ must infer our acknowledgment of his Divinity since the Father and the Son are joyned together in the same expression and we are baptised alike and as much into the name and belief of one as of the other But they would prove that Christ is not here made equal with his Father because S. Paul afterwards ranks him but with himself and others as in his reproof of the Corinthians for saying 1 Cor. 1.12 I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ Here indeed they confess there is a real superiority in Christ to any of these mentioned with him That acknowledgment was inevitable But farther tho' the Apostle condemn the Corinthians for calling themselves by his name or the name of any of his fellow labourers yet he approves their calling themselves by the name of Christ for so he tells them with respect to Creatures and their circumstances 2 Cor. 3.22 23. All are theirs whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours but then he changes his stile and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods and so he was the Messiah the Anointed sent by God into the world In conclusion they tell us that these words were never designed as a formulary of Baptism which they prove because there is no account in Scripture particularly in the History of the Acts of any baptised by this form but will they assert there was no form at all no significant words made use of in the administration of that ordinance that would be to leave the meaning of the outward Ceremony uncertain and to take away the Sacramental nature of baptism if there were any words used either they must allow these or assign some other which none that I know of have attempted It 's true they say the Eunuch only declared to Philip before his Baptism Acts 8.37 that He believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God and there was no need of more Philip questioned not his belief of a God He was a Jewish Proselyte and if he owned the Son-ship of Christ he would by consequence believe whatsoever should be revealed to the world by him But we read not of any words used by Philip in the act of baptising him they say this silence proves the words in the Text we are treating of were not used I say no but Christ's particular institution being very well known and his disciples using to obey his commands S. Luke's silence infers that Philip used those very words so instituted otherwise the Evangelist would have taken notice of some other and thus after all God the Father Son and Holy Ghost being joyn'd together in the words of institution in Christian Baptism without any mark of inferiority these words prove the Son of God to be God equal with his Father The next place we shall insist upon is that remarkable beginning of S. John's Gospel In the beginning was the Word John 1.1 2 3. and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made where we have these two great men Erasmus and Grotius agreeing with us That they are an unanswerable argument of the Divinity of the Son of God who yet are apt enough to betray that article of our Faith by weakning other considerable evidences of the same truth As for the person here meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word the Socinians themselves as far as I can find excepting the Annotator on the Racovian Catechism acknowledge that it is the Son of God to tell all their discourses for the eluding the force of this Text would be a work too tedious only this we may observe they tell us That whereas Moses begins his History of the Creation with a like expression to this of our Evangelist its rational to believe that the Evangelist here is only going to describe a second or a better Creation or rather the renovation of all things by Jesus Christ which had been ruined by the fall of our first parents which renovation of things began at the time of our Saviour's Incarnation and therefore the Evangelist means no more by that phrase In the beginning was the word but that Jesus Christ the word of God had a being when the Almighty God first set upon this work of re-creation or renovation of all things And that indeed the design of the Evangelist is only to obviate an objection that might be made on the behalf of John the Baptist who stood fair to have been taken for the Messias because he first entred upon his office and preached repentance and baptised which were truly Evangelical works whereas Christ himself lay hid and wholly undiscovered to the world But to my best apprehension there was very little need of all this care for tho' some such thoughts might have entred into Men's heads when they were all full of expectation of a Messias that John whose holy and severe life and whose very useful doctrine was generally known might be that Messias as we see by that message which the Jews sent to him from Jerusalem Art thou the Christ or Elias or that Prophet or who art thou tho' men might entertain some such thoughts the Evangelist represents John the Baptist as very careful to prevent any such dangerous mistakes therefore he not only answers negatively to their particular enquiries viz. That he was not
equal value to those Injuries done by that Prisoner to him to whom that Redemption-Price is paid down as if I take up Goods or Silver Coin of any one for which I my self am wholly insolvent and another undertakes for me to discharge the Debt the Creditor will scarce take it ill if he paid to the full in Gold or Jewels for that Silver or those Goods he had given credit for though the Debt be not paid in kind Cat. Rac. §. 6. c. 8. p. 146. But say They it 's ordinary to say That one Dâ—â—p of Christ's Blood was enough to wash away the Sins of the whole World therefore God must be very unjust to exact so extraordinary Sufferings at the hand of his Son that he should shed so much of his Blood and die at last and so pay a Price for Man's Sin so much greater than necessary We might easily answer this Cavil by saying that an Argument drawn against an Article of Faith meerly from an Hyperbolical Expression is altogether invalid nor is the Christian Church in general bound to answer for every passionate Expression which one of her Sons may use But we may consider further that whereas the reason of the Bloody Sacrifices offer'd by Men in former Ages was to signifie to the World that an Expiation was to be made for the World's Sins and to keep up their hopes and expectations of it and whereas we are assured in God's Word that without Blood there is no Remission though the shedding one Drop of the Blood of the intended Sacrifice be as real Blood-shedding as the drawing out of all is and though one Drop of that Blood of the Sacrifice had as much Virtue and Efficacy in it as the whole Mass could be thought to have yet that was not all that was aim'd at for the Blood of the Sacrifice was so to be shed as that Death might naturally follow on that Action which was not likely to follow on the shedding one or only a few Drops and without this Death the Beast was not fit for Sacrifice so much Blood being required as was necessary to sprinkle on several things in agreeance with which the Blood of Christ too is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.24 the Blood of sprinkling The Blood then shed of old represented somewhat Expiatory but not as it was the Blood of an Animal but as it was the Blood of such a Creature sacrificed on the Altar to that God who was to be atoned so though the Blood of our Saviour in every Drop of it as shed for us was of an infinite Worth yet the Worth of that Blood with respect to us depended on his being Sacrificed or made an Offering for Sin which he could not have been had not his Life been taken away by the pouring out of his Blood before for as we easily apprehend that the fairest Beast design'd for Sacrifice by Men if yet it dy'd alone or accidentally was no Sacrifice but that to make it such it was necessary the Priests should make it bleed to Death So had our Saviour's Humane Nature submitted only to the common Rules of Mortality or fallen by a natural Death he had been no Offering no Sacrifice to God but he really was a Sacrifice and is own'd as such in Scripture therefore his Blood too was to be shed and that so far as to put an end to his Humane Life or the Union between his Rational Soul and his Mortal Body so that the extraordinary Sufferings of our Saviour take not away from the Worth of his Blood in it self but his Blood could have had no effect upon us for the washing away of our Sins had it not been the Blood of our Sacrifice our Propitiation as well as it was the Blood of the Son of God and therefore we own with all Humility and Thankfulness the Goodness of our Lord in offering up himself a Sacrifice for Sin on our account by permitting those Powers to kill him which he could have destroy'd with one revenging Word Nor can we less acknowledge the Goodness of his and our Father who was pleased to accept of that Propitiation for our Sins his Son's Satisfaction for our Debts which he was no way oblig'd to but by the Concurrence of the Divine Love and Goodness of the Father and the Son from all Eternity But from this Doctrine of Christ's making Satisfaction to his Father for our Sins they draw a very unhappy Consequence for they tell us Quod Hominibus fenestram ad peccandi licentiam aperiat aut certè ad socordiam in pietate colenda invitet c. That it gives Men an open Liberty to sin or at least gives them great encouragement to Slothfulness in the Duties of Religion for if Christ has satisfied for all our Sins then we are free from all obligation to any punishment for Sin and therefore there can be no Conditions reasonably propounded to us by virtue of which we should be free from those Punishments or it 's unreasonable that God should still make Practical Holiness a Condition of our Salvation when Christ by his Death has fully satisfied his Fathers Wrath with respect to all our Sins past present and to come This Charge would be very heavy if it were true but would they consider those very Texts they endeavour to confirm this Objection by they would easily see how they confound themselves and slander that Holy Doctrine The Apostle tells us of Jesus Christ Tit. 2.14 That he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works All this we stedfastly believe 2 Cor. 5.15 And that Christ died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our Sins Gal. 1.4 that he might deliver us from this present evil World Eph. 5.27 That he might present his Church to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish We believe Heb. 9.14 that our Lord offer'd himself without spot to God that he might purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and that we are redeemed from our vain conversation not with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot and from all these things we conclude That our Saviour's Sufferings for us were originally design'd to free us both from the Punishment and Guilt of Sin and therefore as we look up to our Saviour as our Priest and our Sacrifice so we acknowledge him to be our Prophet and our King our Instructer and our Governour that he has been our Instructer in all Ages by his Messengers Prophetical and Apostolical and those to this day lawfully entrusted with the
how depraved By the Jews Page 127 Sadducees what and their Opinions Page 129 Essenes what Page 131 Pharisees what and how character'd by Jews Page 133 By the Gentiles Page 140 Their Philosophers what Ibid. Things essential to Religion unchangeable Page 145 Therefore the Law of Regular Nature neither changed by Moses nor our Saviour nor any thing as essential added to them Page 148 And therefore Mysteries not taken away either in Faith's Foundation or Symbolical Rites Ibid. Advantages of Religion founded on Mysteries 1. From them Men learn the Imperfection of their own Reason Page 160 2. Fundamental Mysterious Truths the distinguishing Characters between several Religions Page 168 3. Mysteries in Religion create a due Reverence for it Page 177 The Conclusion from all That Mysteries are essential to Christianity as well as to any other Religion Page 190 It 's then Essential to Salvation to know Christ is God Page 193 Scripture conclusive of it Page 201 II. Jesus Christ was truly and properly the Son of God Page 209 This prov'd 1. By the Promises and Predictions concerning his Birth c. Page 219 Several instanced in Page 221 c. Christ expected by the Gentiles Page 234 2. By the Manner and Circumstances of his Birth Page 237 3. By the Doctrines of himself and his Minister Page 259 The gentle and peaceful yet prevailing Nature of his Doctrine Page 267 Scripture prov'd the Word of God to Deists Page 283 God necessarily perfect in all his Attributes Page 287 His Love in particular Page 289 Which obliges him to reveal his Will to those intelligent Creatures from whom he expects Obedience to it Page 294 Scripture such a Revelation of his Will and has all requisites in it Page 299 III. Jesus Christ the Son of God was God equal with his Father Page 309 Prov'd 1. By the Old Testament Page 311 The first Chapter to the Hebrews occasionally cleared Page 315 2. By the New Testament Page 324 3. By Actions done by himself in Person or in his Name Page 381 By himself while on Earth Ibid. By his Apostles in his Name Page 400 4. By the Faith of the Ancient Ante Nicene Church Page 409 Fathers alledged Greek Clemens Romanus Page 411 Ignatius Antiochenus Page 415 Justine Martyr Page 420 Irenaeus Lugdunensis Page 425 Clemens Alexandrinus Page 427 Origen Page 430 Latin Tertullian Page 439 St. Cyprian Page 447 Arnobius Page 452 Lactantius Page 457 Zwicker alledges Socinus rejects the Ante Nicene Fathers Page 462 Why the Fathers suppose a Difference between God the Father and God the Son Page 466 The Confessions of the Ante Nicene Councils Page 470 The Judgments of Eusebius and Constantine the Great Page 477 5. By the generally allowed Practice of Praying to our Saviour he is prov'd true God Page 481 Vnder this Head is prov'd 1. That all Worship terminating on any but the One True God is Idolatry Page 483 The Ancient Notion of Idolatry Page 486 Vnitarians divided about Worshipping our Lord. Page 496 Their Vindication reflected on Page 515 2. That Christians worshipping our Lord are no Idolaters Page 518 Therefore our Lord is True God Page 536 The Summary of the precedent Discourse Ibid. The Filiation of the Son of God enquired into Page 541 The Racovian Lushington's Account and that of Thoughts on Sherlock c. prov'd insufficient Page 542 Therefore a Necessity of Eternal Generation Page 550 IV. It was necessary that God the Son should be Incarnate Page 562 1. That he might destroy the Works of the Devil Page 563 He was Tyrannical over Mankind 1. With respect to their Bodies Page 566 Possessions by the Devil not bodily Diseases Page 567 The Devil permitted to possess Bodies 1. For Tryal of Faith and Patience and to excite the greater Longings for a Messias Page 573 2. For the Glory of the Incarnate Son Page 577 2. He was Tyrannical over Mens Souls corrupting them 1. With false Interests Page 583 2. Violent and unreasonable Prejudices Page 588 3. Prodigious and unaccountable Laziness Page 592 A Second Reason why the Son of God was Incarnate 2. That he might repeal the Mosaic Law by a just Authority Page 595 The Law of Moses though Divine yet repealable prov'd 1. By its general Import it being wholly Typical and referring to somewhat Future Page 601 2. The Ceremonial Law was not essential to the Being or Well-being of a Church Page 610 3. God always put a great Difference between the Ceremonial and the Moral Law Page 617 Hence necessary that the Repealer should be equal with the first Maker of that Law Page 625 3. The Son of God was Incarnate that in our Nature He might fulfil the whole Law for us and give us a compleat Example of Holiness and Obedience Page 632 God's Mercy not diminished by what Christ merited or suffered on our behalf Page 639 Crellius his Notion of Infinite Justice considered Ibid. Justice in God no hindrance to his Mercy and vice versâ Page 645 Christ's Sufferings Proportionable or Equivalent to our Demerits necessary Page 646 Satisfaction consistent with free Remission Page 652 Christ not necessarily to suffer Death Eternal his Temporary Sufferings sufficient and equivalent to what was our Due Page 658 Why so much of Christ's Blood shed as to procure his Death Page 666 Our Lord's Satisfaction no Encouragement to Sinners Page 668 But a greater Encouragement and Obligation to Holiness than the Socinian Hypothesis Page 674 Confest by the Defender of the Unitarians Page 676 Christ a Real and Effectual Sacrifice for us Page 688 Christ's Obedience in his Exinanition not necessary but on our account Page 707 His Sacrifice Expiatory Page 722 Compleated before his Ascension Page 724 His Dying for our Sins prov'd positively Page 731 From the Circumstances of that Death Page 738 Otherwise His inferiour to the Sufferings of Martyrs Page 739 God the Son therefore necessarily the World's Redeemer because that Redemption was 1. An Effect of the greatest and Divinest Love Page 758 2. It required the greatest Interest in God the Father and the greatest Tenderness toward Mankind Page 761 3. He who made all things was fittest to restore them Page 767 The Image of God not founded in Dominion of Man over his Fellow Creatures Page 768 The Conclusion of all in two Practical Inferences 1. We learn from the whole to admire God's wonderful Love and Compassion in condescending so far to us as to be Incarnate and to die for us Page 772 2. We ought to adhere constantly to that Faith by which we believe Jesus Christ our Lord to be the Eternal Son of God true God himself and the Propitiation for our Sins Page 778 Places of Scripture more particularly Explained and Vindicated GEnesis 3.1 2 3 4. Cain and Abel's Sacrifice Page 98 3.15 I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman Page 607 18.2 Abraham stood still before the Lord. Page 311 32.28 Jacob wrestling with the Angel called Israel Page 313 49.10 The Sceptre