what I should disallow Phil. 1 9 10 19. I must choose what the Spirit approves and then prosecute what I have chosen with care hope desire and embrace what I attaine to with love and delight and in a word rest satisfyed with the love of the Father the grace of the Son and the communion of the Spirit as my al-sufficient and satisfactory portion for evermore Psal. 17. 15. Psal. 63. 5. Faith is that Grace which enables and enclines us upon the divine testimony of the Spirit to depend on Christ for righteousnesse and life according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace The divine Testimony of the Spirit is the true ground of justifying Faith but Historicall Faith which may be in Devils Jam 2. and Temporary Faith which may be in Reprobates Luke 8. are not truly grounded on the Testimony wisdome Authority Revelation or demonstration of the Spirit We read of a Revelation of flesh and blood Mat. 16. 17. And the demonstration and Revelation of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 4. 10. 14 15. Ephes. 1. 17. A man who hath nothing but sense and Reason in him may have an Historicall or a Temporary Faith but he who doth upon the divine Testimony of the Spirit beleeve that Iesus is the Christ he is born of God of the Spirit of God and hath the witnesse in himself 1 Joh. 5. 1. 6 10. For the regenerate and they only have a spirituall understanding in them to know him that is true when he is revealed unto them by the Spirit of truth 1 Joh. 5. 20. 1 Cor. 2 14 15. Deut. 29. 4. For the Demonstration of the Spirit is not understood by us untill we are renewed in the spirit of our mind so that we can look upon the Divine truths testifyed by the Spirit with a spirituall eye and discern them after a spirituall manner 1 Cor. 2. 14. And therefore the Testimony of the Spirit is not received but by our renewed Spirits Rom. 8. 16. Before we are Regenerate we receive divine truths only because we judge them reasonable or because we find them in the Scriptures and we beleeve the Scriptures upon an Humane Testimony and therefore only with an Humane not a Divine Faith But the Spirituall man beleeves all upon the testimony of the Spirit and doth constantly beg the direction of the good Spirit O thy Spirit is good saith David teach me lead me quicken me by thy Spirit Ps. 143. 10 11. Finally this good spirit discovers to a man before he beleeves 1. His want of Christ 2. The worth of Christ. His want of Christ by reason of 1. His hainous sins which are inexcusable damnable 2. His Spirituall wants which are innumerable 3. His present misery and slavery which are unspeakable unsupportable The worth of Christ because he is an All-sufficient Saviour and only Saviour the Spirit discovers the treasures of Free grace the mysteries of Divine Faith which even Angels admire the unsearchable riches of Christ the fulnesse of God able to satiate the soule with heavenly glorious everlasting happinesse and even infinite content Then the soule is convinced by the Spirit of God not onely of the truth but goodnesse of the Covenant made by God with man in Christ and that there are better things laid up for beleevers in Christ then any are or can be bestowed by Sathan upon his greatest Agents and dearest favourites the darlings of the flesh and world and upon this account the soule is perswaded by this demonstration of the spirit to close with Christ and deny itself to have no ability wisdome righteousnesse will of its own but to seek wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption in Christ. 1 Cor. 1. 30. In a word to deny its own will and take the will of Christ for its rule and compasse to do or suffer any thing for Christ to lose or sell all for him The good spirit perswades us 1. To prize Christ highly even above all the kingdomes of the world and glory of them 2. To beleeve in Christ stedfastly 3. To love Christ deerly better then our selves or dearest friends better then worldly treasures sensuall joy or any carnall contentments whatsoever 4. To follow Christ fully that we may enjoy him eternally as our Crown our happinesse our heaven And to this end and purpose to set up the word of God in our Consciences as our only rule for to direct us 1. In all points of Faith 2. In all parts of worship 3. In all passages of our life and conversation that we may cast out the world the Devil nay flesh and self and all to make roome for Christ. Now when the Spirit hath by its own evidence testimony authority wisdome and efficacy wrought Faith in the soule to carry it into the armes of Iesus Christ Christ doth bid it welcom embraces kisses it and takes this young beleever by the hand and puts him into his Fathers bosome And when we are thus brought to beleeve in Father Son and Holy Ghost then we are fitted and prepared to worship and obey all three glorious persons as one God blessed forever And therefore I may now proceed to speak of the worship of all three and then of our obedience to all three 2. This grand Mystery of Faith hath an effectuall influence into our Gospel-worship He takes the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost in vain and doth not make that Holy use which he should of the Titles Properties workes and Ordinances of all three who doth not with Knowledge Faith Reverence sincerity and spirituall joy worship all three for this is true Gospel-worship And therefore I would intreat my Reader diligently to consider what I have delivered in the fourth and fifth chapters of this Treatise concerning the divine Nature Titles Properties works of all three in order to worship for the glory of the thrice illustrious and yet single God head and then if he will study the scope of the first Table of the Holy Law of God and the substance of Gospel-worship he will acknowledge that every one who beleeveth in all three persons will find his Faith obliging and inclining him to worship al three glorious persons as one God blessed for ever 1. God the Father is to be worshipped under the Gospel as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in him I have touched this point already and because it is not much controverted by our grand enemies I shall not insist long upon it All the knowledge of God which we gain by the Scriptures of truth is revealed to us on purpose for our direction in the worship of God we must not worship God according to our own devices but according to that discovery which God hath made of himselfe to us in his Holy word not onely in respect of his divine nature as when our
some expressions that are negative The second person of the Trinity doth supply and performe all that an humane person can performe to the humane nature of Christ. Now to say that the Divine person of Christ doth supply the room of a Negation and do all that a Negation can do is to say it doth very little or nothing at all Finally some say that a person is completed by the Existence of its nature But it is cleare that a soule in the state of separation doth exist and yet that soule is not a Person nay never was a Person at the first instant of its creation or union And it will be most absurd to say that the humane nature was assumed by Christ and hypostatically united without or before the existence of that nature because it was united before it had any humane subsistence and consequently before it had any existence if that subsistence be nothing else but existence as these Discoursers suppose But it is high time to leave pursuing of these wanderers For it is cleare that Subsistence is a Positive and Substantial Mode because the most perfect manner of being which we expresse as well as we can when we say A Person doth subsist by it self without union unto or dependance upon any thing else for its sustentation nay that it is uncapable of any such union though it be for the present in a state of separation And therefore the Schoolmen usually say Quod subsistit per se nec est nec esse potest in alio ullo modo quia subsistere per se sumitur pro perfectissimo modo subsistendi per se. It is evident by what hath been said that even created persons are defined by their substance or nature which is in stead of a Genus when we define a Person in Concreto and when we speak oâ— the Formality of a Person we say it is a substantial mode and the most perfect manner of subsisting and therefore a created person is not completed by any quality or accident whatsoever Now if a created person be a substance and the Formality of a created person be substantial I have no ground to abstract a Divine Person from the Divine Substance or Essence because a Divine person cannot be separated from the Divine nature as the humane nature may be from an humane person and though a Praecisive abstraction doth not lay any ground either for a Rational negation or a reall separation yet if the Divine Nature be not considered and taken notice of in the description of every Divine Person men will be apt to conceive that the Divine Nature and Persons may be separated The Scripture doth not present any such abstract notion of the Father Son or Holy Ghost unto us but teaches us to consider them as Divine Persons that is Persons that have a Divine nature for else we should make a Trinity of Modes no Trinunity a Trinity without God or Godhead and give our adversaries cause to say what they have said without cause contrary to their own principles as well as ours Eâ— Trinitatem sine Deo for even they themselves acknowledge the first Person of the blessed Trinity to be God It is our wisest course therefore to describe every Person as a Divine Person as God and acknowledge all three Persons to be one and the same God according to the Scriptures For we must not only consider three Personalities but three Persons and the same single Godhead in all three Persons and all three Persons in the Godhead I must not treat of the first Person simply as a Father but as a Divine and Eternal Father as God the Father Rom. 15. 6. Ephes. 5. 20. Coloss. 2. 2. Joh. 17. 3. For God is to be so considered as he is to be worshipped by us and we are not to worship an abstract Personality without reference to the Godhead We must consider what is Common as well as what is Incommunicable we must treat of that which is Absolute as well as of that which is Relative and whilest we speak of a Trinity of Persons we must not forget the Vnity of the Essence that so we may not hold forth a Trinity of Modes without the Godhead or tempt weak heads to dream of a Trinity of Gods Judicious Mr. Calvin did not think fit to discourse much of Created Persons and therefore described none but a Divine Person and he would not adventure to abstract an uncreated Personality from the Divine nature in which every of the three uncreated Persons doth subsist In our most accurate definition of any created nature which we are best acquainted with we judge it reasonable to take in that which the nature defined hath common with other natures as well as that which is proper to it alone And certainly it is very fit in our description of every Divine Person to take in the Nature which is common to all three Persons and not only what is proper and peculiar to any one I call a Person saith Calvin a Subsistence in the Essence of God And then he descends to take notice of the Relation of a Divine Person to the rest of the co-essential Persons and his distinction from them by some incommunicable property It will be a very dangerous attempt then to treat of the Divine Persons in such abstract expressions as do only hold forth some curious notions about the relation of these persons to and distinction from one another without taking notice that all three Persons 〈◊〉 coeternall and coequall because coessential If we will discourse soberly of the Godhead we must speak of it as one single infinite perfection common to Father Son and Holy Ghost to all three and none other The single Godhead the whole Godhead is iâ— every single person and it is common to aâ— three in a singular and glorious way For the divine nature is not communicated to these Three as a Genus to its Species for it iâ— undivided and indivisible nor as a Speciâ—â— to its Individua for it is not multiplicable nor as a Totum or whole to its parts foâ— the Godhead hath no parts it is impartible and as hath been said indivisible nay the Godhead is not communicated so to any one Person as a created nature toâ— created person which may be separateâ— from a created subsistence for the Divinâ— Nature cannot possibly be separated from all or any one of the Divine Subsistenceâ— or Persons And therefore we must noâ— discourse of the Godhead in such a Notional way as if the Godhead did exist out oâ— the three Persons without any relative subsistence for that is clearly to dream of somâ— strange Absolute God who is neither Father Son nor Holy Ghost When we describe the Godhead according to our beâ— understanding we dare not abstract it from the three Persons but say that The Godhead is one single spiritual infinite Essence in which the Father Son and Holy Ghost
do subsist And when we describe a Divine Person it is absurd to abstract the Personality from the Divine Nature for how can you describe a Divine person if you do abstract his Personality from his Divinity Every single Person is God nay every single Person is the Godhead the Nature the Essence of God considered with that subsistence relation and propriety which is peculiar to that Person Every single Person is God of himself Deus non est per alind Deus Finally â—ake all the three Persons together and â—hey are nothing else but one God and â—hey are one God not Absolutely considerâ—d in his abstract nature but Relatively considered with those peculiar relations â—nd incommunicable properties whereby â—he three Persons are distinguished from one another When the name of God is â—aken Essentially or Commonly in Scripâ—ure we say it doth belong to all three Persons because it is spoken without any determination or restriction to any one particular person as Iohn 4. 24. God is a Spirit Mat. 4. 10. Mat. 19. 17. There is none good but God These places must needs be interpreted of all three Persons for it is certain that Christ did not by these speeches exclude himself or the Holy Spirit from being good or being worshipped And when the Name of God is taken personally or singularly in Scripture we say it is understood of one Person by a Synechdoche because though the other Persons may be excluded from what is proper and peculiar to any one Person because it is personal and therefore incommunicable yet they cannot be excluded from any thing that is essential because the same Divine essence is common to all Now the Title of God is essentiall and what hath been said of that is true of all Essential Titles and Attributes but Personal relations properties and actions are all peculiar as we shall shew at large in the next Chapter All that I need inferre from hence for the present is That when we describe the Divine nature we should not abstract it from the three Persons and when we describe a Divine Person we should not abstract him from the Divine Nature When the Scripture speaks of Created persons it doth not abstract the personality from the singular substance or nature When the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 1. 11. that thanks shall be given by many persons he doth not mean many personalities but many humane singular substances thanks should be given by a multitude of men particular men Actiones sunt suppositorum non suppositalitatum In like manner when we read that Christ is the Character of his Fathers person Heb. 1. 3. the word is Subsistence the meaning is not that the Son is the character or expresse image of the Fatherhood of the first Person for Christ doth not beget a Son as the Father doth but Christ is the image of the Subsistent that is of God the Father and not of the mere Subsistence or Personality as it is abstracted from the Divine Nature Jesus Christ hath two natures in one single person now that person is a Divine person the second person of the Godhead and if I describe the person of Jesus Christ I may abstract his person from his humane nature and not mention that nature which doth infinitely differ from his Divine person but I must not abstract the person of Christ from his divine nature because he hath no other then a divine person which cannot be separated from and should not be described without consideration and mention of the divine nature For this Second Person is not barely considered as a person or as a second person but as a divine person as the second person of the Godhead as the naturall coessential coequal coeternal Son of God as his own Son his first begottâ—â— Son his only begotten Son Rom. 8. 32. Ioh. 1. 14. And therefore he must be considered as God the true God God blessed for ever Ioh. 1. 1. 14. 18. Rom. 9. 5. 1 Ioh. 5. 20. and therefore he must be described as God 〈◊〉 himself for the Son is Iehovah as hath been proved and we are obliged to believe in the Son as well as in the Father Ioh. 4. â— Iesus Christ is one and the same God with the Father Now Papists and Socinians wiâ—â— both confesse that the Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself and therefore it will follow that the Son is God of himself If the Godhead of the Son were begotten and the Godhead of the Father unbegotten there would be two distinct Godheads in the Father and the Son the one begotten and the other unbegotten Take it thus theâ— in brief The second Person of the Godhead is the only begotten Son of God subsisting iâ— the unbegotten nature of God because he is the naturall and coessentiall Son of God the Father and therefore hath one and the same unbegotten nature with the Father the subsistence of the Son is begotten but the divine nature of the Son is unbegotten The Holy Ghost is an infinite Spirit coessential with the Father and the Son and not a mere Subsistence proceeding from both and yet he is distinguished from both by his personal relation and incommunicable property These grounds being laid for a foundation it is easie to build on and inferre 1. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are not mere Personalities but Divine Persons 2. A Divine Person is not a Quality or any other Accident but an infinite Substance subsisting after the most perfect and glorious manner that is or can be 3. The Divine nature being infinite doth contain all manner of perfection within it self both Absolute and Relative and therefore the relations which are between the Divine Persons are naturall perfect divine 4. The Divine Nature cannot be separated from all or any one of the Divine Persons 5. These three Divine Persons are one and the same God one Infinite Spirit and therefore they are Coessential Coequal Coeternal 6. These three Divine Persons are distinguished as shall be shewen in the next Chapter but cannot be divided or separated either from the Divine Nature or from one another because they do alâ— three subsist in the Divine nature and in one another for they have one and the same single and infinite nature and are one infinite Spirit the same omnipresent God 7. The word Subsistence is a consecrated word which as we find upon record in the holy Scripture is fit to be made use of when we speak of that Divine manner of being which the Father Son and Holy Ghost have in the Godhead and in one another The heathen Oratour could say Verbis consecratis utendum He meant words that were consecrated by the use and approbation of Classical Authors but I mean words consecrated by the Holy Ghost The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Subsistence and by way of Analogie PERSON hath many other significations but
Essence and his Essence is single uncompounded undivided indivisible it must needs follow that whatsoever is in God is God and God is as hath been often shewen one single infinite Perfection This is our first Principle and last Conclusion into which all our debates and by which all our doubts about this Argument may and ought to be resolved X. The Distinction between the Divine Nature and Persons may be considered 1. In respect of predication the Divine Essence is predicated of every Person because every one of the three Subsistences is God nay is the Divine Nature considered with this or that Personal Propriety and Relation respectively But one Person is not predicated of another the Father is not the Son nor is the Son the Father or the holy Ghost 2. In respect of Communication the Divine Nature is not onely communicable but communicated to all three Persons but it is of the Formal Reason of a Person to be incommunicable 3. In respect of Relation The Divine Nature doth indeed eminently containe all absolute and relative Perfection but the Formal Relations whereby the Persons are not onely distinguished from but opposed to one another cannot be Essential under that consideration because they are peculiar to the several Persons and not common to all three Persons as the Essence and Nature is Peculiar and distinctive Relations are not essential because the Persons who are relatively distinguished are not essentially distinguished The Divine Nature of the Father is not his Father-hood for if it were then every one of the three Persons would be God the Father all three Persons would be one Person which is a manifest Contradiction 4. In respect of Generation and Procession the Divine Essence doth not beget nor is it be gotten it doth not proceed and yet the Father doth beget the Son is begotten and the holy Ghost doth proceed the Person of Christ is begotten but his Divine Nature unbegotten 5 In respect of number the Persons are three the Divine Nature most simply single and singularly one 6. In respect of Order there is an Order to be observed amongst the Divine Persons the Father is the first Personal Principle the Son the second and the holy Ghost who is breathed forth by the Father and the Son is the third the Scripture saith there are three and doth commonly reckon them in that Order and we have no ground to reckon the holy Ghost before the Son because he proceeds from the Son but the Divine Nature being a single Vnitie and the first Vnitie is as uncapable of Order as it is of Number XI Notwithstanding all these and some other distinct Considerations I shall be bold to make this Peremptorie Determination The three Divine Subsistences are not really distinguished from the Divine Nature or Essence The Scripture saith Christ and his Father are one Ioh. 10. 30. and that all three are one 1. Iohn 5. 7. Essentially one and therefore really one I have said enough above to prove all three Persons to be essentially one The three Persons are one God subsisting with all possible Perfection Relative as well Absolute in one pure Act ex parte Rei The three Divine Persons do not differ from the Divine Nature as an humane Person doth from the humane Nature singularly considered for a singular humane Nature may be separated from an humane Person as is evident in the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour But the Divine Nature cannot subsist in alieno supposito the Nature of God cannot subsist in any other or any fewer then these three Persons who are one and the same God And therefore the Divine Nature doth not differ really from the Persons tanquam res à re as we say nor tanquam res à modo separabili they do not differ really either way nor do the Persons differ really that is realiter separabiliter from one another as shall be proved when we come to speak of the Distinction of the Divine Persons in the next Chapter XII The Distinction between the Divine Nature and three Divine Subsistences is not a groundlesse Conceit or a meer fiction of reason because it is grounded on the Word of God For our apprehension of God must be agreeable to that Divine Revelation which God hath vouchsafed us of himself in Scripture Now it is most clear and evident by what hath been said in this whole Discourse that the holy Scriptures teach us to conceive distinctly of some things in God which are not really distinguished in him And therefore Mr. Fry may do well to consider and retract that rash Censure which he passes upon this Doctrine of God when he saith that the Doctrine of three distinct Persons or Subsistences in the Godhead is a chaffie grosse Carnal and absurd Opinion in the Title and 22. page of his blasphemous book For this distinction is not onely grounded on a Phrase of Scripture but is eternal XIII The Distinction between the Divine Nature and Persons is an Eminent distinction I have told you above what we mean by that expression The Persons are the Essence of God and not any thing separated or divided from it every one of the three Persons is a Person of the Godhead nay every one of the three Persons is the Godhead considered with some particular property and relation and the Godhead being absolutely single we must conclude that the Divine Nature and a Divine Person is the same Essentiall Reall thing though they are Eminently distinguished by sundry considerations as hath been shewen But it is objected that every one of the three Persons is a Substance and if there be three substances subsisting in the Godhead under sundry Formal considerations then there will be three Divine Substances three Substantial Relations and Properties and therefore the Godhead will be compounded by these three Substances substantial properties and relations or else there will be three substantiall and formall Gods To this grand objection I make these few returns by way of answer 1. Every one of the three Persons is a Substance a Divine Substance but they are the same Divine Substance because they are the same God these three are one they are unum one divine substance one God they are all three divine Persons but they are Coessentiall Persons and Inessentiall persons of the same Godhead II. The peculiar relations do distinguish but they do not compound for they do not super add any new Entity much lesse any new Godhead because all these relations are Natural eternal and therefore they are God Absolute and Relative perfection in God are but one single perfection 1. The parts or extremes wherewith any thing is compounded must be really or at least Modally and Separably distinct for all created Natures and Persons being compounded are not only Modally but separably distinct 2. The parts compounding must be united by some efficient cause and one of the parts must be
Christ redeemes us according to the will of God and our Father Gal. 1. 4. Iohn 10. 17 â—8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as he hath chosen us Ephes. 1. 3 4 11. Much more might be said to this purpose but this may suffice It is now time to proceed to my next Point which is that 2. Divine Worship is due to the second Person of this Coessentiall Trinity to Jesus Christ our Lord and God There is but one immediate formall proper Adaequate and Fundamentall reason of Divine Worship or Adorability as the Schooles speak and that is the Soveraign Supreme singular Majesty independent and infinite excellency of the eternall Godhead There is a peculiar and singular esteeme Faith Love and Worship due to Father Son and Holy Ghost who are one God the only true God These three are the only Object of Religion and therefore the only Object of religious Adoration There is but one kind of Divine Worship that Worship and all degrees of it is due to this one God Father Son and Holy Ghost this truth is made good against the Papists as well as against the Socinians and divers others whom I need not name the Ubiquitists and Arminians by a cleare stating of the point in Controversie and invincible demonstrations to confirme the Truth First For the cleare stating of this Point we must look a little into the rise of this Controversie and consider how far it hath been discussed by Learned men and stated by such as are Orthodoxe and prudent men since the Socinians Ubiquitists and Arminians have endeavoured to make the question more perplexed and the truth more obscure The Papists are deeply engaged to prove that religious honour may be given to a Creature at least in some degree their distinctions are so well known that I need not to insist upon them Cardinall Perron exceeds them all for sophisticall distinctions which he who is at leisure may read in his fifth Book and twentieth Chapter of his Answer to King Iames. But Smiglecius being engaged against the Socinians states the Point right he distinguisheth between Christs Naturall Power as he is the Naturall and Coessentiall Son of God and his Delegated Power which he hath as Mediatour and concludes that Christ is to be worshipped as he is the Naturall Son of God with Divine Worship because his Naturall Power is his Divine Nature But saith he Christ is not to be worshipped in the second consideration with Divine Worship Doctor Rainolds in his Book de Idololatria Romana hath abundantly refuted all that the Papists bring to excuse their Idolatry and proves clearely that It is Idolatry to give Religious honour to any Creature I shall not therefore trouble my Reader with any set-dispute upon that Argument The Socinians tell us that The Father is the only Absolute Supreme Independent God but Christ is a Dependent and subordinate God And therefore may be worshipped as he is Mediatour with a Relative and subordinate Worship which they are not affraid to call Divine Worship But they confess that they worship the Father only as the supreme Cause the First Efficient and the last End But they worship Christ as the second or middle Cause of our Salvation and the intermediate end of Religion The ground and formall Reason of this subordinate Worship is as they conceive Christs mediatory Office the new subordinate Godhead and Lordship over us bestowed upon him for his obedience unto death which they say is the Mediate as his Exaltation is the Immediate Cause of this Subordinate glory The Arminians in their Apology and other writings endeavour to excuse and gratifie the Socinians for they deny that our grand Argument taken from the Divine Honour and Worship of Christ doth sufficiently prove his Nature to be Divine and Christ to be one God with his Father This Argument say they is not invincible and irrefragable nay they call it a leaden Argument because this Divine Honour is given to him by his Fathers gratification in time Some Lutherans are very much to blame in this Point for they say That the Divine Majesty Worship Glory Omnipotence Omnipresence of the Son of God are communicated to Christ as man but enough of that Divers Learned Orthodoxe Judicious Doctours of the Church have given the Enemy too much advantage by their unwary expressions in this Point and the vigilant Enemy hath taken that advantage and made a very vnhappy use of it to the great prejudice of Christianity Vno absurdo dato mille sequuntur Error parvus in Principio fit magnus in Fine I do therefore entreat the most accurate and nice Reader at his best leasure to read Iunius Chamier Polanus Polyander Pareus Camero Maccovius Cluto Beza Heidan Diest Zanchius Voetius Altingius and other sate Writers upon this Point who have observed every turn ward shift of the Enemy and have given a very faire account of all For the present State of the Question be pleased seriously to consider these plaine and weighty conclusions following 1. Divine excellency infinite Majesty and Perfection is the Formall and Adequate ground and reason of Divine Worship For by Divine Worship we do acknowledge and declare the Infinite Majesty Truth Wisdome Goodnesse and Glory of our blessed God We do not esteeme any thing worthy of Divine Honour and Worship which hath but a finite and created glory because Divine Honour is proper and peculiar to the only true God who will not give his glory to any other who is not God God alone is the Adequate Object of divine Faith Hope Love and Worship because these graces are all exercised and this worship performed in acknowledgement of his infinite perfection and independent excellency and therefore no such worship can be due to any thing below God But the most glorious and excellent Creatures are all below God and therefore that point is cleare 2. The Father Son and Holy Ghost are one and the same God as hath been proved in the fourth Chapter of this Treatise and therefore one and the same worship is due to all three because they are Coessentiall Coequall Coeternall they have one and the same divine nature excellency perfection and essentiall glory and therefore the same acknowledgement is due to all three both from men and Angels There is not one kind of divine honour due to the Father and another to the Son nor one degree of honour due to the Father and another to the Son for there can be no degrees imaginable in one and the same excellency which is single because infinite and what is infinite doth excell and transcend all degrees and bounds And if there be no degrees in the ground and Adaequate reason of Divine Worship there can be no ground or reason of a difference of degrees in the
Worship it selfe The Father and Son are one Iohn 10. 30. one in Power Excellency Nature one God and therefore are to be honoured with the same Worship Iohn 5. 23. All men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father every tongue must confesse that Iesus Christ who is man is God also and therefore equall to his Father And it can be no robbery no derogation to the Fathers honour for us to give equall honour to him and his coequall Son who subsists in the forme of God in the nature of God Phil. 2. 6 11. You see the Divine Nature the infinite Excellency of Iesus Christ is an undeniable ground of this coequall honour and therefore the Worship due to Christ as God the same God with his Father is the very same Worship both for kind and degree which is due to the Father 3. This Divine Honour was due to Iesus Christ before there was any creature to give him his due Christ was Adorable Worshipable that is worthy of Divine Worship before there was any man or Angel to adore to performe actuall Worship that Divine Worship which was due to him for his infinite excellency from all eternity 4. When Jesus Christ was declared to the world God did command even the most glorious Angels to worship him as his naturall and coessentiall Son who was begotten from the days of eternity in the unity of the Godhead For when he brought in his first-begotten and only begotten Son into the world he said And let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1. 6. 5. If man had never fallen never stood in any need of Christs blood yet all men would have worshipped the naturall and coessentiall Son of God as one and the same God with his Father and therefore with the same Divine Worship as soon as his Godhead had been sufficiently revealed to them from heaven or else that very neglect would have been their fall and ruine 6. The office of Christ his discharge of his office by his active and passive obedience and glorious benefits which we receive thereby are excellent motives to excite us to give that Divine Worship to Jesus Christ which is due unto him for his owne infinite excellency but his infinite excellency is the Formall Proper and Adaequate Ground Reason and Cause of all the Divine Worship which we performe to Iesus Christ and that for these reasons 1. Because if man had never fallen and Christ had never died for mans Redemption this Divine Worship had been due unto him for his infinite and eternall excellency as hath been proved 2. Because the Father and the Spirit are not Mediatours as Christ is and that Office which is not common to all three Persons cannot be the Prime Immediate Proper Formall cause Ground or Reason of that Divine Honour and worship which is due to all three as one God blessed for ever nay no Office whatsoever can be the proper cause of Divine Honour 3. Because this Divine Honour was due to Jesus Christ from all eternity before his Incarnation Passion c. and therefore this Divine Honour is not bestowed upon him as a reward of his Active or Passive obedience for no worship or thing can be before its Formall Cause 4. Because Jesus Christ is a Mediatour according to both Natures and therefore according to his humane nature as well as his Divine Nature but all the honour due to Christ according to his Divine Nature was due from all eternity and there is no Divine Honour due to him for and by reason of his humane nature or any perfection which doth truly and properly belong to Christ as man He who was borne of Mary is to be adored with Divine worship but not for that reason because he was borne of Mary but because he is God the Coessentiall and Eternall Son of God We must distinguish between the Materiall and Formall Object of worship 1. The Materiall Object of worship is Christ who is both God and man the Son of David the Son of Mary the Son of God the Mediatour and Saviour of his people from their sins 2. The Formall Object discovers to us the Prime Formall Adequate ground and reason of his Divine worship the Coessentiall and Eternall Son of God who is one and the same God with the Father and the holy Spirit he is worshipped for his infinite and Divine excellency Christ is worshipped as God with this Divine worship his Mediatory Office servile suffering cannot be the Prime and Immediate Foundation the ultimate and terminating object of divine worship due to the Father Son and holy Ghost and therefore we must conclude that the Formal Proper reason of the Divine worship due given to Jesus Christ our Mediatour is the divine nature infinite excellency of our Mediatour which alone is of it self for it self capable of Divine worship I should make a tedious digression if I should declare what great Cyrill of Alexandria Noble Athanasius the Ephesine Councell of old and very learned and accurate Writers of late have delivered upon this Argument with great dexterity and circumspection They would not be mistaken as if they did divide the two natures of Christ or remove any glorious adjuncts from the Eternall Word the second Person of the Godhead and yet desire you to put a difference between that which Christ assumed by the most free Decree of God and grace of Hypostaticall union And that which belongs to him as he is one God with the Father and the Holy Ghost Finally they intreat you to put a difference between the Gratious Motives to worship Christ and the Prime Formall Adequate Proper ground and reason of that worship as I have done and professe that they worship their whole Mediatour with one entire worship which is not mixed but purely Divine and therefore is not founded upon any Temporary Office Service Benefit nor any externall denomination or relation but upon his infinite Excellency his Eternall Godhead And if these considerations will not give men satisfaction I hope to satisfy them farther yet before I conclude this Chapter For the point is to me very clear and plain If Jesus Christ were worshipped as mediator so that his mediatory office or actuall mediation should be laid as the first foundation or assigned as the formall reason of our worship then this fourth argument which I am still improving and enforcing for the proofe of the point will plainly discover that the Mediation of Christ having respect to the humane nature will make the humane nature at least in part the ground reason and cause of this divine worship which I leave to all sober Divines to consider before they admit And it is farther to be considered that Jesus Christ as Mediatour doth condesend to an office and imployment which doth subject him to God as an Head The Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. And hence it is that
he is called the Servant of God in respect of that service which he was to performe as Mediator Isa. 42. 1. 2. 3. 4. Nothing is more cleare then that there are some offices to be performed by Christ as a Mediatour which cannot be performed by Christ as God because they do import some subjection as prayer unto God doth though it is true that Christ being the naturall Son of God doth intercede after an Authoritative manner We may for the farther clearing of this point resolve that grand question what the meaning of that request is when we say Lord Iesus pray for me the great doubt is whether this request be presented to Christ as God or as man The Answer is that if we look upon this Petition as a Duty performed by us This duty of Prayer is directed unto Iesus Christ as God for all Divine worship is due to God alone as hath been proved But if we look not upon the Duty of Prayer but the matter of this Prayer it is cleare that the busines which we recommend to Christ is to be performed by him as man for it is proper to him as man to pray to the Father yet because we desire him to intercede in an Authoritative way to the Father we do likewise request him to intercede as it becomes the Naturall and Coessensiall Son of God And therefore if we look upon the whole businesse of Intercession we conclude that he doth intercede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it becomes God-man because he is our Mediatour according to both Natures Divine and Humane But then we must remember to reserve what is proper and peculiar to each Nature for though we grant that there is a Communication of all properties belonging to both Natures unto the Person of Christ yet we must not attribute any thing to the humane nature which is proper and peculiar to the divine and it hath been undeniably proved that Divine worship is proper and peculiar to the Divine Nature 5. The Office of our Mediatour hath a special respect to Gods chosen people by Gods most free Decree but the relation and externall denomination arising from thence cannot be the Prime Fundamentall and Immediate Ground Formal reason or Adequate cause of Divine worship for if Christ had not been God he could not have been capable of that Office because nothing could satisfie the justice of God but the blood of God and what ever arises from the free Decree of God was not necessary in it selfe but sure I am Divine worship must be founded upon what is Absolutely necessary and Infinitely perfect and therefore not upon externall Relations or Denominations but upon the Godhead it selfe 6. The Actuall Mediation of Christ cannot be the Prime and Fundamentall ground of Divine worship for Christ was not only worshipable but worshipped with Divine Honour before he did actually mediate as God-man 7. The Office of our Mediatour is to bring us to himselfe his Father and holy Spirit as to one God blessed for ever in whom all our blessednesse doth consist and therefore our Faith doth not rest Simply and Finally in Christ as he is our Mediatour God and man but as he is one God with the Father and the holy Spirit For by the Ministry and Mediation of Christ as God-man we are brought to beleeve in God tht our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1. 21. Christ is God by Nature he is Mediatour by Institution by a voluntary and gratious dispensation unto which he did condescend for our salvation And upon this account learned Iunius told the subtile Samosatenian That Iesus Christ as Mediatour brings us to himselfe as God And Doctor Voetius saith that Christ as Mediatour is an Inferior cause in whose Name and by whose Mediaation we make towards God our chiefest good in whom we beleeve and whom we do worship and adore as the first cause and last end John 14. 6. And Christ is said to save them to the uttermost by his Intercession who come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. We worship Christ and pray unto him saith judicious Pareus as one God with the Father and the Spirit the only true God and this worship is Absolute and Divine for it is the Absolute worship of the Godhead But then we call upon God in the name of Christ because he is our Mediatour and we desire for to be heard for the satisfaction and intercession of that Person who is God-man But the Socinians conclude that if Christ be not to be worshipped with Divine Honour as Mediatour then there is only a Subordinate Honor and worship due unto him To which we answer that Christ may be considered four manner of wayes 1. According to his Godhead and Divine Person and it hath beene proved at large in this treatise that there is Divine Honour due unto the Godhead and Divine Person of Jesus Christ and this is his Essentiall infinite glory 2. Christ may be considered as Mediator according to both natures as God-man by a gracious condescension and personall union and so we say there is a Mediatory glory due unto him which is more illustrious in regard of its manifestation since the alteration of his condition from a state of Humiliation to a state of exaltation this glory doth out-shine all the glory of Saints Angels in Heaven but it is different from that Naturall and Essentiall glory which is common to Father Son and Holy Ghost as one God For that essentiall glory cannot be Communicated to the Humane nature no not since its Assumption and Christs exaltation This Mediatory Honour is very glorious because Christ sits as a King at the right hand of the Majesty on high and every one must confesse that our Royall Mediatour is not onely man but God also yet we must acknowledge that since the exaltation of our King the glory of his divine nature his essential glory is only more manifested wheras it was eclipsed before in the state of Humiliation and the humane nature assumed is only more perfected and not transubstantiated into the divine The Humane nature is stil a creature though it hath gained as much glory as it is capable of by the Grace of personal union and glory of exaltation and being a creature cannot be capable of divine and infinite perfection which is the Formall object of divine Adoration even as the divine nature of our Mediatour notwithstanding the personal union is not capable of any humane imperfection For there is a preservation and distinction of the two natures notwithstanding their intimate and inseparable union in one person The natures are united 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Church of old The actions performed by our Royall Mediatour flow from a double principle in this single person because this person doth consist of two natures and each nature performes its proper worke the divine nature doth what is divine and the humane
nature what is humane and therefore though the person be but one and the effect one yet there are two different actions of two different natures united in one person for producing of one and the same glorious effect and we are to give to each nature what is properly due unto it Finally the Kingdom which is administred by our Royall Mediatour God-man in a glorious way is but a dispensatory kingdom not his natural kingdome an inferiour and temporary kingdome not his Soveraigne essentiall eternall kingdome and therefore even in the very Administration of it our Mediatour God-man is in respect of order and that gratious dispensation unto which he condescended for our Salvation employed in a kind of Subordinate way and when he hath accomplished that work for which he undertook this Royall office he will refigne this Dispensatory kingdome and become subject as man and as head of that body which he hath purchased to his Father himself and the Holy Spirit as one God blessed for ever that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. For as we are Christs so Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. 23. in that safe sense and subordinate way which we have but even now declared that the Divinity of Christ which humbled and as it were emptyed itselfe in the Administration of this subordinate temporary and dispensatory kingdome yet with the preservation of its naturall and eternall Right may be more gloriously manifested by the full possession use and enjoyment of that naturall divine eternall kingdome which doth belong to Father Son and Holy Ghost For all three Co-essential and co-equal persons reign with the same power Majesty and glory in the unity of the divine Essence and common acts in all and over all infinitely and immutably from everlasting to everlasting although the naturall reign of Jesus Christ will not be so fully and gloriously manifested untill he hath resigned his dispensatory kingdome and brought all his Elect notwithstanding all their wants sins infirmities temptations tryals enemies safe to Heaven This dispensatory kingdom is administred principally by the God-head Instrumentally by the man-hood Absolutely and perfectly by the person of Christ acting in a divine way as God and humane way as man that the properties of each nature may be reserved as peculiar to each even whilest he doth mediate reigne and judge according to both and therefore divine honour is still reserved as proper and peculiar to the divine nature of our Mediator who is God-man in one person This definite and dispensatory kingdome is changeable terminable it did begin with the first foundation and will end with the perfection of the Church of God Christ was a Mediatour from all eternity in the Decree of God He was actually given to be a Mediatour as soon as necessity required he was manifested in the flesh in the fulnesse of time and will cease to be a King in this Mediatory and Dispensatory Kingdom when he hath finished his work and saved his Church Now nothing is more cleare then this that Christ is now subject to his Father in all respects in which he shall be declared to be subject when he gives up his Dispensatory Kingdom and we are not to worship Jesus Christ with divine Worship as he is subject to his Father but as he is equall to his Father as he is indeed one God with his Father and the holy Ghost 3 Christ may be considered as Head of that Body unto which he hath united himself and which he hath purchased with his dearest bloud and so we know Christ the Head and his body the Church make up one Christ mysticall The glory of Christ as an Head is exceeding great and is excellently described Ephes. 1. 20 21 22 23. Christ is set at Gods own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come And hath put all things under his feet gave him to bethe head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Now Christ mysticall the Head and body whole Christ mysticall is to be subjected to God when the Mediatory and Dispensatory Kingdom is resigned and therefore if you take Christ â—s the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 12. 12. for the Head and body for Christ mysticall we say that Head and Members are to be subject to Father Son and Holy Ghost as one God blessed for ever 4. Christ may be considered according to his humane nature and we are bold to say that there is an eminent and transcendent glory vouchsafed to the Humane Nature of Christ by the grace of Personall union and the glory of its Exaltation The glory of Christs divine Nature was more manifested but the humane Nature of Christ was fully perfected by his Exaltation and therefore the humane Nature was exalted in a peculiar sense No nature not the nature of the most glorious Angell was ever so highly preferred in these two respects 1. In respect of Personall union with the Godhead Acts 2 36. 2. In respect of Royall mediation between God and Man none but Christ the Son of Mary was ever so highly honoured as to be taken into the Society and fellowship of the Mediatory Office with the Son of God For there is but one Mediatour between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. who is God as well as man Nec honorem a nobis Deus nisi per Deum accipit But it is most evident that the humane Nature remaines a creature still even after its Assumption and Exaltation and therefore we hold fast our first conclusion That the divine and infinite excellency of the Coessentiall Son of God is the prime and fundamentall ground the formall reason and cause of that divine Worship which is due to our Mediatour Jesus Christ Jesus Christ our only Saviour by Doctrine merit and efficacy by confirmation and Communication True it is that the Majesty of God considered in it self is terrible it is a light not to be approached unto and therefore the Word was made man that we might have encouragement to come unto God not only by the mediation of a man full of grace and truth but by the mediation of him who is God blessed for ever because a meere man though free from corruption and filled with Grace could not by reason of such natural infirmities as are not sinfull performe the Office of a Foundation Head and Spouse in upholding quickning and preserving of his Church Act. 20 28. Ephes. 1. 23. 1 Thes. 1. 10. Heb. 9. 14. 15. That Jesus Christ and the holy Spirit are one and the same eternall God with the Father hath been proved at large in this Treatise and therefore divine Honour and Worship is due to Christ
much acquaintance do usually vent to the great dishonour of Christ and Christianity 2. That a meere man a very Creature is to be worshipped with divine Honour and therefore they are Idolators Master Fry must prove that he himselfe is to be worshipped with divine Honour also or else he cannot make good his proud assertions in his blasphemous Pamphlet or else he must say as David George did that Christ is not to be worshipped with divine Honour Now then the question is What respect is to be shewn or Communion ought to be held with blasphemous and Idolatrous Hereticks who are Seducers also and do zealously endeavour to poyson soules as it doth well become Apostatizing Renegadoes They who are acquainted with Ecclesiasticall Writers know what respect was shewne or Communion held with Arians and others who did deny the God-head of Christ though they did maintaine that Christ was to be worshipped with divine Honour I shall not tell long stories of Cerinthus Ebion Photinus Arius and their adherents but it is cleare and evident that the Arians were condemned because they were a pack of blasphemous and Idolatrous Hereticks Seducers Apostates upon the grounds which I shall presently relate and such as are above mentioned They did deny the divine nature of Christ and yet acknowledged that Divine worship was due unto him But I had rather produce proofs then tell-stories and therefore I shall give you the true grounds and reasons why they are rejected from Christian Communion and why even civill respect is denied to such who upon mature deliberation after more admotions then one deny the Godhead of Christ and the holy Ghost I shall begin with Christian Communion because that makes most for my purpose 1. These vaine men are rejected from Christian Communion for these reasons 1. Because they do not agree with Christians in the common unity of the Christian Faith for all who are come into the unity of the Faith are come into the knowledge of the Son of God Ephes. 4 13. And into the knowledge of the holy Ghost because these are the Baptismall Principles of the Doctrine of Christ. Acts 19. 2 3. Heb. 6. 1 2 4. Mat. 28. 19. Ioh. 14. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 1 4 12 13. 1 Cor. 12. 13. Eph. 4. 4 5 6. 2. They do not agree with Christians concerning the Adequate Object of Divine and Evangelicall Worship The Father Son and holy Ghost are the Adequate object of Divine and Evangelical worship of Divine Faith Hope Love 1. Iohn 5. 6 7. 2 Cor. 13. 14. Rev. 1. 4. 5. Mat. 28. 19. Ioh. 14 1 Ioh. 5. 23. Rom. 15. 30. 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. 1 Cor. 12. 6 8 11. They may well go joyn with Pagans Jews Mahumetans in worship who say that Christ is a meere man Mahomet did collect his Alcoran with great dexterity out of such common Principles as that he might take in Iews and Christians And Socinus he followed Mahomets inctructions he saith Arians and Calvinists may be both saved so they do but live morally Barlaeus saith that Jews may be very pious towards God in their Religion though they do deny and reject Jesus Christ as Videlius shews in his Book de Deo Synagogae And this as Barlaeus is pleased to call it is accounted the most accurate Divinity of the high flying Mercuries Beza in his Epistle to Petrus Statorius hath given our great wits a faire warning I have read of one Nuserus a Minister in the Palatinate who did first fall away to the Socinians and deny the Trinity and afterwards turned to the Turks and did solemnly profess himself to be a Mahumetan at Constantinople And the like is written by Authors of good credit concerning that Schole master who fell away to Judaisme and wrote Letters from Thessalonica that the reason why he went off from the Christian profession was because he could not digest the mystery of the Trinity We that are Christians worship the only true God Father Son and holy Ghost and therefore we must be true to our Religion and beware of such impostors who would seduce us to worship a meere man instead of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. My heart rises with just indignation against Mr Fryes blasphemous Pamphlet when I read there That according to his understanding of the word subsistence he may be said to be God too as well as Iesus Christ pag. 16. I know he will wrangle about the word subsistence but that word is found in Scripture and applyed unto the Father Heb. 1 3. and we read of the being or subsisting of the Son in the Forme that is the Nature of God he thought it not robbery to be equall with God Sure Master Fry ought to think it robbery to make himself equall with Christ in subsistence when Christ is equall to his Father and hath no humane but a divine subsistence only which doth uphold the humane nature which Christ hath assumed and all Christianity is built upon the divine subsistence of Christ God-man as hath been shewn and shall be yet more clearely manifested In like manner they that receive not the holy Ghost cannot be received by us whose happiness it is to beleeve adore obey the spirit as hath been shewn at large 3. They do not agree with Christians concerning the substance of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace Whatsoever we receive in point of Religion ought to be received upon the credit of all three Persons but more especially upon the Divine Testimony of the Spirit of Christ the holy and eternall Spirit sent down from heaven 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. 1 Corinth 2. 1 4 5 12. 13. They then who do reject the Spirit and deny his testimony to be divine because his nature as they blasphemously maintain is not divine do indeed reject both Testaments and therefore reject the whole Gospel and Covenant of Grace Moreover this Covenant is made by all three Persons for the Covenant doth containe the love of the Father the grace of Christ and the Communion of the holy Ghost The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ doth enter into Covenant to be our Father in the Lord Christ The Covenant is established upon the satisfaction and Righteousness of God-man and therefore they who deny the Godhead of Christ must rest upon their own righteousness and obedience for justification and salvation as the Socinians do and then Christ will profit them nothing because they overthrow the New Covenant and are fallen from Grace Gal. 5. 4 5. The Covenant is sealed with the bloud of Christ who is not only the Son of Mary but the natural Son of God This is the substance of the Gospel the same Person is God and man The Son of Mary is the true Messiah the Lord Christ the only Son of God equall to his Father the Head and Saviour of the Church
Epist. ad Ephes. cap. 5. lect 3. The same Divine worship is due to all three divine Perâ—ons There are no degrees in the Ground of Divine Worship Joh. 10. 30 Iohn 5. 23 Phil. 2. 6 11. * Adorabilitas est Attributum Dei absolutâ—â— sive essentialis proprietas Adoratio autem supponit aliquam creaturae actionem Deus sine Adorabilitate non est Deus fuit autem Deus ab aeterno sine actuali adoratione Vide Zanchium â—b 1. de incarnatione Voetium qu. An Christus quà mediator sit adorandus The difference beâ—ween the Motives to and Formall Reason of Divine worship Unicum tantum est Religionis religiosae Adorationis objectum unus nempe verus Deus Pater Filius Spiritus Sanct. Vide Molin in novitate Papis Riv. Dec. ad pri Praecept Omnis Ratio Formalis in Objecto naturâ prior est omni actione in objectum illud tendente passio Christi autem posterior est Adorabilitate imò ipsa adoratione filii Dei Maturam humanam assumpsit persona divina divinae suae naturae univit manet itaque unica Christi persona duabus constans naturis Totam Christi personam itaque adoramus non totum Personae natura enim assumpta est creatura totum Personae duas Christi naturas significat Vide Câ— DD. Prof. Leidensâ—â— Censura Confess Remonstr cap. 16. In adoratione objectum Formale causa propria seu Terminus ut Scholae loquuÌ„tur est divina tantum natura quae hujus cultus per se tantum est capax Vide Cyrilli Thesaur de Incarnat Unig c. 26. l. 2. in Joh. c. 92. Athan. contra Arrianos Orat. 5. Dialog 3. Humanitas Christi non adoratur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adoratio Mediatoris non resolvitur ultimò in munus Mediatorium sed in Deitatem Vide Professor Leid ubi supra cap. 16. D. Voetium de Adorat Christi p. 536. Pareum Irenic cap. 28. Cyrill ad Theodos de recta fide lib. 1. Zan. de 3. Elohim l. 3. cap. 12. The fourth Argument emprâ—ved enforced Vide Chamier Panstrat Tom. 2. lib. 1. c. 4 Junius Defens 2. de S. Trinitate Sect. 7. pag. 88 89 Christus est aequalis Patri secundu â—n Deitatem personamque divinam Christus ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lecundum voluntariam gratiae dispensationem Paâ—ri subjectus est pag. 100. propter certas causas se ulâ—rò demiserit salvo naturali jure ut Dispensative inferius regnum procuret per grâ—tiam Prayer directed unto Christ as God Vide D. Voetium de Adoratione Christi pa. 5 36. Distingue ipsam Petitionem Formaliter ut est actus noster à repetitâ Petitio dirigitur ad personam Mediatoâ—is ea terminatur in quâ Deitas habet se ut Ratio Formalis illius tendentiae seu motus cordis nostri in Christum Res Petita est actio Christi Mediatoris qua mediatoris agenda sc. secundum naturam humanâ—m quae est Immediatum precationis subjectum Christus est Deus Naturâ Mediator auteÌ„ instituto O eco nomico dispensatione voluntaria Nemo igitur Deum Patrem adit siâ—e mediatore ac ne Christum quidem cum idem sit Mediator Deus Junius de S. Trinitate Defens 2. pag. 114. D. Voet. De Adoratione Christi pag. 5 29. Christus non est objectum Formale fidei qua Mediator non est primum Efficiens ultimus finis sed est causa inferior tum Procataractica seu meritoria tum Instrumentalis hac ratione collator bonorum in cujus nomine per quem propter quem tendimus in summum bonum Deum sâ—l inque eum credimus in eum speramus eum colimus adoramus Joh. 14. 6. Pareus in Method Controv. ubique cap 31. Christ considered foure manner of ways 1. As God The Essential infinite Glory of Christ. As Mediatour Proprietates utriusque naturae toti Personae in concreto verè competunt Filius hominis qui est persona duabus constans naturis est omnipraesâ—ns aeternus adorabilis adorandus nempe secundum naturam divinam cujus haec sunt idiomata Adoramus Deitatem Incarnatam ipsa autem Deitas est proprium Absolutum divinae Adorationis Objectum Christus regnat secundum naturam divinam Principaliter secundum Humanam Instrumentaliter secundum personam denique Absolutissime in naturâ utraque qdsuum opus est consummantem Iunius de Trinitate Humanitati Christi nec per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communicata sunt Idiomata divina quia Idiomata diviâ—â— sunt ipsissima Deitas humanitas autem Christi non fit Deitas Christi nec per gratiam unionis nec per gloriam exalâ—â—tionis Humana enim natura charismata accepit gloriosa non Idiomata divina Vide Wendilin Christian. Theolog. lib. 1. cap. 16. Smiglec de monstris Novoâ—um Arian lib. 1. cap. 9. â—olan Syntag. lib. 2. cap. 31. Agit Christus secundum Humanitatem ut instrumentum assumptum in unitatem Personae Iunius de Trinitate Omnia inquit Paulus Ecclesiam compellans vestri sunt nimirum ut corporis vos autem Christi ut capitis Christus verò Dei ut Patris qui misit ipsum c. Una est Essentia Majestas gloria Dei Patris Christi secundum Christi Deitatem personamque divinam Pater tamen Christ caput est secundum dispensationem gratiae naturae humana in Christo veritatem Vide Junium de Sancta Trinitate Defens 2. Segmento septimo Nam si Dispensativum hoc Regnum nunquam traditurus esset nunquam Regni Naturalis uâ—sum PlenuÌ„ esset recepturus Iunius ubi supra segmento 12. p. 100 Judicium respectu vario commune est Sanctae Trinitatis Christi singulare Commune respectu communis principij agentis Patris Filij Spiritus Sancti singulare autem respectu Christi 1. Respectu Principalis termini secundùm naturam divinam illius 2. Respectu naturae humanae ut Instrumenti adunati in unitatem Personae ut ita dicam singularissimum Iun. de Trinitate pag. 98 99. Agit enim utraque forma cum alterius Communione quod proprium est verbo scilicet operante quod verbi est carne exequente quod carnis est Leo. Epist. 10. ad Flavianum Utraque natura suum confert divina quod divinum humana quod humanum est Wendelinus a Eph. 1. 5. 6 b Gen. 3. 15 Rev. 13 8. c Gal. 4. 4 5 d 1 Cor. 15. 28 1 Cor. 15. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est Apote lesma Personale Mediatoris Mat. 28. 18 19. collat cum Marc. 16. 15 16. est potestas subordinata Act. 2. 36. 1 Cor. 15. 25 27. Act. 5. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sive Omnipotentia est proprietas essentialis Dei. Vide Dr Alting Licet Pater major est donantis auctoritate tamen filius minor non est