that of the Apostle â—om 4.17 God calleth these things that be not as though they were And by that very word the Angels were made as every other Creature was not as by an Instrument for the particle by is not a sign of an Instrument but of an order in the Creation Rev. 19.13 To our purpose notable is that place his name is called the word of God which makes it appear that the name word of God is appropriated to and appliable to none but him as a Person if the name belongs to him then also the thing as indeed every where in Scripture the Word Father and Holy Ghost are distinguished one from another so John calls him the Word before he was made flesh and before the Creation Herein we may observe Socinians to be worse than Aâ—â—ians who owned Christ to have been from the time of the Creation when they would have him to have been only from that of his Birth But he was in the form of God before he took upon him the form a Servant he existed before Phil. 2.6 7. as indeed before his Incarnation he governed his people was with them in the Wilderness gave them meat and drink for he was the Manna and the Rock out of which they had Water he was the Angel whom God promised to send before them and before his being made flesh he reconciled regenerated preserved and interceded for his people if this be true as certainly it is according to Scripture why should he not have been in the beginning of the Creation and have had a hand in it For there is the same reason for all these if he existed but one year before his Incarnation then we may conclude for a hundred and thousands and so to Eternity upon the same ground on which he existed before he was man it could not be according to his humanity for no man can be said to be before he is but in a different respect from that whereby he is nothing can resolve this difficulty or reduce this impossibility into an act but owning him as he is the Eternal Son of God who when all things are said to be made and created is himself said to be begotten Notwithstanding the clearness of this Truth they use all means to darken it first against the 1. and 3. v. all things were madâ— by him in the beginning say they of the state of the Gopel but nothing more false if we â—â—â—sider every word and the scope of the 〈…〉 was in the beginning simply said without 〈◊〉 relation to this or that but absoluâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 beginning of all things then the Evangelist will have us to look higher when he addeth the word was with God And if Christ was in the beginning of the Gospel then he was in the beginning of the world for as I observed before the Gospel was preached in the beginning of the world and immediately after the Fall the Messiah was promised but as the design of St. John is to assert Christ's divinity he doth it by degrees as first In the beginning was the Word then He was with God and so to go higher he saith He was God and to shew it farther he comes to the effect namely the Creation of the world All things were made by him c. Secondly they would darken v. 10. the world was made by him whereby they understand the world to come but they forge ambiguities where there is no cause for it here is the world with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any Epithet and thus it is usually taken for the work of Creation and they ought to give a reason why in this place the word world should have a rare and unusual signification and why the Evangelist should bring in ambiguous terms in a thing which he designeth to make plain and clear Neither are there instances that the name world signifies an age or a world to come which is as absurd as if one would say this world signifieth this Life and suppose world meaneth life to come as to enjoy it and to be in Heaven denote the same it would follow that Christ made Heaven which is part of the work of Creation If the Evangelist by the world was made by him had meant only a new Creation or renewing of the old he would have added something to shew it is not to be understood of the old Creation but there is nothing to that purpose on the contrary he could not more plainly have said that the World spoken of is the same as was made by the word So the Apostle saith positively and absolutely The world was made by him but they say it was not made by him but only renewed in this sence they would have these Texts to be understood He lighteth every man that cometh into the world and he is Saviour of the world but as every man is not inlightened and saved by him for the world knew him not it must be understood say they that he doth what he can to save and renew the world but they ought to know there is a great difference between giving Christ the title of Saviour of the world and saying He renewed the world saved and enlightned every man in the world after this manner we might say John Baptist Paul and every Apostle renewed the world in as much as they desired and laboured after that it might be so yet it would not sound well to say the world was made by John and the Apostles which must be inferred from thence if to make the world be only to do what one can to have it renewed The world was made by him expresseth two things the Thing anâ— the Cause the Thing the world was made the Cause by the Word and if the first proposition be true so is the second Now an effect is visibly seen out of this assertion the world was made Another text to prove the Creation of the World by Christ is this The first born of every Creature Colos 〈◊〉 15 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or domiâ—â—ons or principalities or powers â—ll things were created by him and for him This place is clear and full whence we draw this he who is the first born of every Creature is in time before every Creature not that he should thereby be reckoned among the Creatures only he therein is 〈◊〉 a metaphore dâ—noted to be first of all that in 〈◊〉 things he may 〈◊〉 the preeminence and not 〈…〉 accounted of the same kind with others for 〈…〉 not first created but first born Ye◠〈◊〉 the first born as to be the only begotten and he may also be called a Creature according to the Flesh and as he is a man but not according to the Spirit The reason given why Christ is so called 't is this for by him were all things created which shews plainly that Christ is not
which saith Acts 14.15 Chap. 17.24 26. in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth which is certainly the same as created so God made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things that are therein And God that made the world and all things therein Again and hath made of one blood all Nations of Men c. So he is a great stranger to Scripture who denies to Make the World and to Create the World not to be the same so seeing this shift cannot hold they betake themselves to another which is that God made the world by Christ as aâ—â— instrumental cause but that sort of men will go about overturning Heaven and Earth rather than to depart from their damnable opinions for what can they ground upon this instrumentality of Christ For the preposition by signifieth no such thing as it appears out of the following places Gal. 1.1 Eph. 1.1.1 Cor. 1.9 Rom. 11.36 Heb. 2.10 Paul an Apostle not of men nor by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father And Paul an Apostle of Jesus by the will of God Also God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Elsewhere for of him and through or by him and to him are all things Furthermore for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things c. No sign in these or many more places of the word by signifying any instrumental Cause God by whom are all things Colos 1.17 never made the world by and instrument but by his word who not only in Dignity but also in nature and time is before all things The adversaries cannot upon any rational grounds prove that the Apostle meant the world to come but we want no good reasons to shew how the Creation of the world is to be understood for first 't is neither the idiom of the Jews nor the stile of Scripture by the world to understand the future for out of these words of verse 10. And thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth Heb. 1.10 out of Psal 102.25 and the heavens are the work of thine hands I see no cause why the Creation of the world should not be understood rather than the beginning of the Gospel the ancient earth rather than the new one and the old Heavens rather than the new The more because when the Apostle intends to speak of the world to come he plainly saith it when he speaks of those that have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Chap. 6.5 Chap. 2.5 So he doth when he saith unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come So when he hath a mind to say a thing he well knows how to express it Moreover if he had said in the present he males not in the praeter tense he might have left some thing more of liberty thereby to understand the future for speaking in the time past he shews how he doth speak of those ages which the praeter tense doth fit better than the future Furthermore the worlds or ages in the plural is more proper for ancient times than for that which is to come for this world hath had several ages and shall continue to have till the last day but after that the world to come shall last for ever and be all Eternity without end And when Scripture doth by the name world signifie the future not only it doth add a distinction as whosoever shall for Christ's sake leave all Mark 10.29 30. Luke 18.30 shall in the world to come have life everlasting But also ever speaketh in the singular number the reason is because this world hath several ages and that which is to come shall have but one Besides I must say how the Apostle understands the world which God already had made and not that which he was to make by his Son that which was made had a being but that which was to be made had none so we must conclude he spoke of things that were and not of that which was not Now that the Lord Jesus as principal and efficient cause made the world and so that the word beginning is to be understood of the Creation it appears out of this Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son which our Saviour represented before by the parable of the Vineyard and the Husbandmen Maâ—â— â—1 33 This Son he hath appointed heir of all things by whom he made the worlds Angels are called only God's Ministers but Christ is called the Son the first begotten not made upon which account the Author of the Epistle affirms the Son reaâ—lâ— and truly to be God and proves it out of Psal 45.6 7. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And this the Apostle still speaking of the same proves by his having created the world v. 10. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the sound dation of the earth Observe how the word beginning is meant of the Creation of the world which is attributed to the Son 't is added and the heavens are the works of thine hands which must necessarily be understood in a literal sence of the Creation of the world and not of the new Creation of things by the Gospel out of what follows v. 11. They shall perish c. and be changed c. This shall be the fate of the natural world which cannot be said of the work of Regeneration or new Creation The word was in the beginning 1 Joh. 1.1 which is the same with from the beginning as expressed by the same Apostle that is of the time of the Creation when things began to be made that is from Eternity by these phrases before the world was and before the Foundation of the world the first born of every Creature that is before any thing was created Col. 1.15 16. as appears by the reason given in the next words For by him were all things created c. For he could not be before himself and had created himself which is absurd In the place 't is explained he is before all things in time or dignity because the maker is always in time before the thing which he made This head we shall conclude with the following Text 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him Here the Apostle upon the occasion of eating things offered unto Idols saith that an Idol is nothing in the world though it be called God as many things are called Gods and Lords yet in reallity are not so the names of God and Lord do properly belong only to the true God whom he here opposeth to things falsely
they do penetrate one another for they most perfectly and infinitely know and love one another now Love is an earnest desire of Union so then they be most intirely united The Apostle makes the necessary difference of the Three on Earth he saith they agree in One but of the Three in Heaven he saith they are One. Moreover either one knows something which the other doth not or loves something which the other doth not love or can do something which the other cannot do or not if the former how are they God For God knows and can do all if the last then not only they have one Will but also one Mind one Power one Knowledg one Love Now let Man think upon several Natures of the same kind which mutually do penetrate themselves and by a mutual inclination do embrace and unite themselves inseparably and have the same Thoughts Will and Action doth not all this conclude for one and the same Nature And that there is no difference but in some manner of Existing which because they are such are distinct one from another without Confusion all which from Oneness of Will leads to Oneness of Essence for the Will of God is not a thing different from his Nature Another Text wherein the most holy Trinity is demonstrated and not only may be read but also be heard and seen is that about our Saviour's Baptism where the Father speaks from Heaven and calls him his Son Christ the Son is baptized and the Holy Ghost appears in the shape of a Dove if Men do believe Scripture this they must believe to be true S. Austin lookt upon this Text as a strong and convincing Proof of that divine and essential Truth Vade ad Jordanem c. saith he Go to the River Jordan and there thou shalt find the holy Trinity and be convinced of the Verity thereof Besides these we have a Cloud of other Witnesses to prove this Truth where the Three Persons are mentioned under their proper Names and first * Acts 2.22 23. This Jesus being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost the Three Persons are plainly named Again the same Jesus Christ was declared †Rom. 1.3 4. to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Elsewhere the same Apostle saith ‖ Tit. 3.4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ And in another place ‡ Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts by the word God is meaned the Person of the Father * Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offereth himself without spot to God Furthermore †Ephes 2.18 Through him Christ we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father Our blessed Saviour himself out of his own sacred Mouth doth plainly and positively speak to this purpose when he saith * John 14.16.17 I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter the Father I the Son and the comforter whom he calls the Spirit of Truth are Three Persons which in the next Chapter †Chap. 15 26. is by him repeated But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth One Text more I shall bring to confirm this * 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God that is the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all And in the Text of another Apostle †1 Pet. 1.2 are contained the Workings of the Three Persons in the Trinity Elect according to the fore knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ As the New Testament is full of Proofs to confirm this holy Doctrine for indeed these Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation are more clearly and fully therein related so out of the Old Testament we have enough to confute the Enemies of this Truth and because we look upon Socinians in their Principles to be a sort of Jews and as well as they Blasphemers against our holy and blessed Saviour so we will bring such Arguments against them as we would if we were disputing against unbelieving Jew◠only a few Texts out of many We begin with the Book of Genesis Chap. 1. wherein is contained a relation of the History of the Creation which is a Work common to the Three Persons of the Trinity and though we may not look upon it as the clearer upon the matter yet in it is Light enough to shew the Truth we now assert I shall say nothing of the Name God under that of Elohim which already we have spoken of as representing the plurality of Persons in the most holy Trinity but we may say that though the Name God was there which it is not in the singular and taken for the Person of the Father yet the Son had a hand in the act of Creation for it is God said here is the word which is the proper Name of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ who in Scripture especially by S. John is so often called by that Name the Word God saying and speaking is that which made the World We read God said when any thing was created which being compared with what is spoken by John * John 1.3 All things were made by him that is the Word the Person of Jesus Christ for actiones sunt suppositorum acting is proper to Persons and without him was not any thing made that was made now that Word God said is that which created every thing so then here is the Person of the Son but we also find the Person of the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.2 the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters by his acting represented by motion to cherish give life and motion to things as a Hen doth when sitting upon her Eggs for the word in the Original signifies such a thing This sense is given by a competent Interpreter †Psal 33.6.9 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host thereof by the breath of his mouth Here we can read distinctly the Lord if it were to be understood only of the first Person about which there is no dispute the Word and the Breath or Spirit this though it be clear I could set in a greater Light with comparing it with other places which I now forbear to do because I shall have occasion to make use of them in some other branch of my Discourse Another Text is this * Isai 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him besides the Person that speaks namely the Father here we have the Son under the name
a high way for our God Beyond all doubt this is spoken of John Baptist for he applieth * John 1.23 it to himself and if we want other Witnesses Matthew †Chap. 3.3 will serve for one and Zacharias as recorded by S. Luke ‖ Chap. 1.76 for another now I take it to be as unquestionable that John was the fore-runner of Christ who is the same Lord God for whom he prepared the way Further that in this place of Isaiah Christ is the same Lord God that was to come it appears by the description therein made of him He will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him behold his reward is with him and his work before him v. 10. The Miracles he wrought by his own Power upon the sick blind dumb lame dead commanding Wind and Sea and the Devils themselves which observed him did convincingly demonstrate him to be the Lord God if any doubt should remain 't is clear'd v. 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather the lambs with his arm the comparison of the Shepherd and Sheep our Saviour doth much insist upon and several * John 10. times gives himself the Name of Shepherd and S. Paul calls him †Heb. 13.20 the great shepherd of the sheep and by another ‖ 1 Pet. 2.25 Chap. 5.4 the shepherd of our souls and the chief shepherd This being his great Atrribute as Head of the Church and Mediatour his Person must necessarily be designed by the Prophet who to him attributeth the words feeding and gathering the Person here spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah called Lord God is the same mentioned by another who calls him king of Zion and of Jerusalem and as he speaks of the same as Isaiah doth so he speaks to the same †Zech. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy king comes unto thee both Prophets speak of the same Person 's coming to the same place he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass these very words of the Prophet are quoted upon the occasion of our Saviour's entering into Jerusalem * Matth. 21.4 5. and applyed unto him as indeed this same Prophet speaks in several places which I mention in this Discourse of Christ the Son of God as of the great and mighty God Chap. 2. calls him Lord of Hosts sent by the Lord of Hosts to the Nations who was to come and dwell in thee O Daughter of Zion who was to speak peace unto the heathen and his dominion to be even from sea to sea and unto the ends of the earth Ch. 9.10 that was to be sold for Thirty pieces of Silver which were given for the Potters Field Chap. 11.12 13. and that was to pour upon the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication that same Spirit which was in the Prophet is call'd the spirit of Christ 1 Pet. 1.11 or the Holy Ghost by whom they were moved 2 Pet. 2.21 so Chap. 13.7 the Lord of Hosts calls him his fellow did the Lord of Hosts ever call any meer Man his Fellow my Companion that is united to me in Substance equal with me in Power Thus God doth honour Christ in this Name to shew the Unity of Essence and the Union of the Will of the Father and of the Son the Mediator who is in the same Verse called my shepherd which is spoken of Christ for unto himself he applyeth it Matth. 26.31 Before we fall upon examining other Texts of the Old Testament to prove the essential Names of God to belong to his Son the Lord Jesus we must compare some places of both Testaments to shew how many things belonging to God are applyed unto Christ as first that just now quoted of Isaiah a Isai 40.3 The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord or Jehovah b Luke 1.76 John 1.23 applyed one to John Baptist the other to Jesus Christ there called the Lord This is another c Isai 6 1 2 3 9 10. I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple above it stood the Seraphims and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory this in the d John 12.40 41. Gospel is applyed to the Son Again e Isai 8.13 14. Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall be for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem applyed unto Christ f Luke 2.34 Rom. 9.33 1 Pet. 2.8 David saith g Psal 45.6 Thy throne O God is for ever and ever which is applyed unto Christ h Heb. 1.8 But unto the Son he saith thy throne O God is for ever and ever The same Royal Prophet saith i Psal 68.17 18. The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is amongst them as in Sinai in the holy place thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also all which is applyed k Eph. 4 8. unto Jesus Christ So is this l Ps 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand applyed to the Son m Matth. 22 44. We read in the Prophet n Isai 45.23 I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth that unto me every knee shall bow which is attributed unto Christ o Rom. 14.11 Phil. â—2 10 Of old saith David p Ps 102.25 hast thou laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands which is by the Apostle q Heb. 1.10 declar'd to be meant of the Son r Isai 44.6 Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts I am the first and I am the last Our blessed Saviour saith the same of himself Å¿ Rev. 1.17 and 22.13 God Almighty t Ps 26.2 and 7.9 doth try the reins and the heart and our glorified Saviour saith u Rev. 2.23 I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts God saith x Zech. 12.10 and Rev. 1.7 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced the same whom they have pierced saith he will pour the Spirit of Grace which none but the true God can do which is applyed to our Saviour And again another scripture saith they shall look on him whom they pierced y John 19.37 they never pierced God
he seemed not to be born on Earth but rather fallen from Heaven having neither beginning of Days nor ending of Life but made like unto the Son of God whereof he was a Type shewing these Attributes to be more proper to and true of the Son of God which cannot be otherwise understood then thus either that the Son of God hath such a Nature as doth by no means come and is derived from earthly and carnal Parents without beginning or end and so eternal to all eternity such as is divine Nature or else that both Natures of Christ divine and human are denoted human without Father upon Earth divine without Mother in Heaven and either overthrows the imaginary Notion of Socinus of Father according to the Flesh This must not be understood of the Priesthood about which the Question is not but about his Origine and Genealogy he is said to be without Father or Mother not but that he had some only there is no mention nor description made of it for the Greek word without Genealogy signifieth not the Genealogy it self but the description of it besides that the words without beginning of Days or ending of Life may by no means be applyed to the Priesthood wherefore he is said to have no beginning of Days not but that he had but is brought in as if he had not to answer him whose Type he was Days and Life are not referred to a Priesthood but to a Being a Person an Existence and Life the beginning or ending whereof absolutely no mention is made at all so then in this place the Comparison is not about the Priesthod but about the eternal Person of Christ for Christ's Priesthood had a beginning as is expressy set down in Scripture * Heb. 5.5 6. For he glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto him thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as he saith also in another place Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec So then in that sense it cannot properly be applyed to Christ 't is frivolous to say as if it were to be understood of any Family for the Apostle absolutely speaks of beginning of Days not of a Priesthood to speak absolutely of a Beginning and of a beginning of a Family are two things and that is to wrest the Apostle's sense and meaning and make him say a thing which he never intended We don't deny but that the Apostle speaks of the Priesthood of Melchisedec and of Christ's but it must be owned he also speaks of other things as of Melchisedec's being King of Righteousness King of Salem King of Peace c. and his being without beginning of Days or ending of Life relates to his Person and Life for no mention is made of his Birth or of his Death though both besel him but from the Eternity of his Person the Apostle inferreth the Eternity of his Priesthood So then when the Lord Jesus is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Person of Melchisedec the two last are not to be understood of his temporal Generation and Birth of the Virgin for two Evangelists have written his Genealogy but of his eternal Generation and of this speaks the Prophet †Isai 53.8 Who shall declare his generation An Expression equivalent to this no Man can it is eternal incomprehensible When our Saviour was born of the Virgin he was born in time ‖ Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come as Scripture calls it Now this Parallel between the Type and Anti-Type Melchisedec and Christ doth not run upon our Saviour's Birth according to the Flesh and about his human Nature but about something higher his Divinity wherefore the Apostle in the place where he saith Melchisedec to be without Father c. doth ascend higher saying * Heb. 7.3 but made like unto the Son of God The more â—o prosecute this Argument we must say how Christ in his Childhood even in the Womb was God for he is Immanuel God with us from the Virgins Womb the thing is clear out of this that God being not Flesh but Spirit can have no carnal only spiritual Sons the true Birth makes the true Sons and this is of two sorts those that are born of the Flesh are carnal those of the Spirit are spiritual for saith Christ Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit now to be born of the Flesh is to be born of a carnal Seed as to be born of the Spirit is to be born of a spiritual Seed wherefore Peter †Pet. 1.23 24 25. mentioneth two Seeds one corruptible the other incorruptible that of the Flesh as Grass withereth away the spiritual endureth for ever If then Christ was born of the Spirit as not long before we took notice the Adversaries would have him to be because he is said to have been conceived by the Holy Ghost then that Birth of Christ would be spiritual but not according to the Flesh 'T is not without cause that when Scripture speaks of our Blessed Saviour in several places it makes a restriction according to the Flesh and an Opposition to 't according to the Spirit thus 't is in the fore-quoted places Rom. 1.3 4. and Chap. 9.5 thus The word was made flesh the Word and Flesh do signifie two different Principles distinguished and in opposition one to another So the Apostle saith * 1 Pet. 3.18 Chap. 4.1 Christ was put to death in the Flesh but quickened in the Spirit and again He hath suffer'd for us in the flesh that is in his human Nature then in him is a Nature in which he suffer'd not and 1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh In one and the same Subject are two different Natures divine signified by the word God and humane by the Flesh What mean those words of S. Peter * Acts 2.30 31. how God had sworn unto David That of the fruit of his loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ and that his Flesh did not see corruption but to shew that in Christ was another Being different from that according to the Flesh according to which he was not David's Son Thus S. Paul as already quoted said God sent his Son in likeness of sinful Flesh there is a difference between being Son of God and being in the likeness of sinful Flesh And elsewhere †Ephes 2.15 Colos 1.22 Heb. 5.7 Ch. 10.20 Having abolished in his Flesh and You hath be reconciled in thâ—â—body of his Flesh again Who in the days of his Flesh and Through the vail that is to say his Flesh that visible Vail did hide some invisible thing Now I say it were in vain in Scripture to see so often mention made of Christ's Flesh if there was in him no other thing as the ground of the Distinction thus when we speak
false gloss of theirs put upon the Words to pervert the Sense ‖ Prov. 8.23 the Son of God speaking of himself under the Name of Wisdom saith I was from the beginning the meaning of the Word is there well expressed in two several ways though but to one and the same end I was in the beginning or ever the earth was where it is very plain that the word Beginning is understood before the Earth was and in the first part of the same 't is said I was set up from everlasting then by the word Beginning is meaned from Everlasting for indeed before the beginning of the World it was Eternity this I am sure doth not agree with the false gloss of the beginning of the Gospel No more do the following our Saviour speaking of Adam and Eve saith * Matth. 19.4 8. He which made them at the beginning made them male and female and somewhat lower †John 8.44 from the beginning it was not so and our Evangelist saith he the Devil was a murtherer from the beginning Furthermore ‖ Heb. 1.10 Thou Lord in the beginning hath laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thine hands and elsewhere where Christ is spoken of * 1 Joh. 2.13 ye have known him that is from the beginning and in the same Epistle †chap. 3.8 the devil sinneth from the beginning Now I ask Are these Texts with others I could produce to be understood of the beginning of the Gospel or of the World Nay the Gospel is not of so late a Date as they would have it to be for if we may believe ‖ Gal. 3.8 Paul it was preached unto Abraham that Word which in time was made Flesh was in the beginning when the World was made so not to be understood when he took our Human Nature seeing he was long before even before Abraham and to take it of the beginning of the Gospel as they do the Sense must be this in the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was altogether unbecoming the Wisdom of the Spirit of God 't is said in the Praeter-Tense was with God not hath been the word was hath its weight to shew that he began not to be in the beginning but that he was already and shall continue to Eternity without ceasing or interruption according to the place before quoted this day have I begotten thee this Day of Eternity for with God there is no Time nor Succession it cannot be said of our Saviour's Birth which happened so long after but there the Holy Ghost pointed to Eternity which is ever present that in that Psalm Eternity is meaned the subject Matter doth demonstrate for the Question is about him in whom we must put our Trust and Confidence which ought to be * Jerem. 17.5 in God alone now God's Duration is no Time but Eternity which is an intire and continual perfect possession of an endless Life or an Infiniteness not successive but permanent wherein three things are to be consider'd First no Beginning Secondly it hath no End Thirdly admits of no Continuation 't is free from any Succession the two former are agreed on but the third they Dispute but as God and Eternity are the same for nothing in God but what is God himself so God were not whole for that Eternity is not whole which is subject to a continual Succession Fourthly God were divisible as is a continual Succession which hath several Parts and Fifthly it would admit access and recess as doth every Succession This I set down as necessary to understand what Eternity which we now speak of is Now again to our Text in the beginning I say that though it had been before instead of in their perverseness in going about to make Scripture subservient to their ill Opinions and Designs and not to make it the Rule thereof as they ought to do in endeavouring to find out the true meaning of it yet still they would have endeavoured to pervert the true Sense but what is here said in is the Description made of God's Eternity expressed by the word before * Isa 43.13 yea before the day was I am he the Gospel is the †Luke 2.10 good tidings of great joy of Christ's the Lord being come and what could the Evangelist have done better than to set in the very front and beginning of his Gospel how when Christ was announced that he had been as indeed he was at the time of the first Promise made of the Messiah when the Gospel was preached and declared to our first Parents ‖ Gen. 3.15 the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent's head If by the word Beginning is to be understood the Time when the Gospel was preached it makes the thing very doubtful Matthew begins it from the Birth of Christ Luke from the Conception of St. John Baptist and Mark from the time when John began to preach Paul from Christ's first preaching and Peter from the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit cam◠upon the Apostles so that it would be very uncertain which of these Beginnings is meaned by the Evangelist for there is nothing in the Text to determine it every one of these is attended with some incongruity as to say that Christ was when he was born or when he preached or that he was fifty Days after his Resurrection I can find no proper or good Sense in any of these nor in the other which they declare for and 't is that when John began to preach which was on the thirtieth of his Age or thereabouts and between him and Christ there was but six Months difference which being so inconsiderable what need then why the Evangelist should say Christ was when he was past twenty nine And when there was no ground to doubt of it doth this become the Wisdom of the Apostle inspired by the Holy Ghost Is it fit to say and cry out as John did I am sent to prepare the way for the coming of one that is already come * Joh. 1.26 that standeth among you whom you know not and whom he doth point at when he saith ver 29. this is the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world to speak thus Doth it become one who hath the right use of his Reason Besides it cannot be supposed the time when John began first to preach here to be understood for he saith the Word or Christ was before he mentioneth any thing of John's Being or Preaching for he speaks of him but in Verse 6th but in the very first he saith the word was he could not say John had preached before he had said he was but this needeth no longer being insisted upon Another Text we make use of is this * Joh. 1.15 he that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me this precedency may not be understood literally of the Birth and
that is against Reason nor Christian that is against Scripture nor peaceable that is against the Church for they speak against Reason Scripture and the general Consent of the Church If their Exposition be true Christ might and would have said Glorifie me with the Glory which thou hast decreed for me before the World was then he had said nothing but what every Believer may say how that before the World was God fore-ordained them to the Glory which they shall enjoy at the last day so might every one else say before the World was I was fore-ordained to have Wife Children Lands Offices c. nay according to their opinion at the same time when Christ asked that Glory he had it if to be appointed thereunto be to have it and if he had it why should he ask for it If Christ had said nothing but this And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self it had sufficiently declared the Sense of our Adversaries without saying any thing of the Glory which he had with him so with thine own self they explain to be in Heaven as if he had said in thy House but if that had been Christ's intention he would have said Glorifie me in Heaven but since he expresses himself otherwise and makes mention of the Glory which he had with the Father before the World was if we can believe he well knew what he would have and was able to express his Thoughts then we must say he had very good cause for all he said Now we shall proceed to some other of his Attributes Christ's Omnisci he knows all things Omniscience and perfect Knowledg and Wisdom ‖ Rom. 16.27 which belongs to God alone whereby God in a divine manner understands himself and every thing else doth also belong to the Son who saith to the exclusion of all Creatures * Mat. 11.27 No man knows the Son but the Father neither knows any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him And †Rev. 19.12 no man knoweth his name but himself thus he hath a perfect knowledg of his Deity and of every thing else even of the most contingent whereby the true God is distinguished from all and every Creature this also belonged to the Lord Jesus as he sometimes foretold his Disciples and in the case ‖ Mat. 21.2 of the Ass and Colt and * Luk. 22.10 13. of preparing the Passover and to Peter †John 21 19. the manner of his Death and all the Prophets being acted by his Spirit foretold things to come that holy Spirit ‖ Ch. 16.13 14. shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you and ‡ Rev. 13.10 the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesie And to make this the more excellent and conspicuous he attributes unto himself that which no body will deny to belong unto God alone * Psal 7 9. and 26.2 1 Sam. 16.7 The righteous God tryeth the heart and reins the Heart is unsearchable to any but to God alone Thou even thou only saith Solomon †1 Kings 8 39. knowest the hearts of all the children of men but Christ doth attribute it to himself ‖ Rev. 2.23 I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and ‡ John 2.24 25. he knoweth all men and what was in man and needed not that any 〈◊〉 should testifie of man for * Mat. 9 4 he knew the thoughts of the Scribes and †〈◊〉 12.25 the thoughts of the Pharisees 〈◊〉 ‖ John 16.19 be knew the desires of his disciples withal â‚ Chap. 6.64 and Chap. 18.4 he 〈◊〉 from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him he knew all things that should come upon him and in few words he know all things Christ is present every where Christ's Omnipâ—esence which argueth his Immensity and Infiniteness which elsewhere I have spoken of whereunto I may add how though absent in the Body he saw * Joh. 1.48 49. Nathanael under the Fig-tree whereupon he call'd him the Son of God the King of Israel a Title which Scripture gives the only true God and also he affirmeth this when he saith †Chap. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven by the Son of Man he meaneth himself who if we must believe was in Heaven when to Nicodemus he spoke these words upon Earth which cannot be understood of his Humanity which he assumed in the Virgin 's Womb but of his Divinity which alone is infinite But here they take exception and say that by to be in Heaven is meaned only to know and understand heavenly things according to Paul's saying * Phil. 3.20 and Ephes 2.6 Our conversation is in Heaven The Conversation of pious Men in Heaven is said in opposition to worldly mindedness when they were said to be quickned in Christ and as expressed to fit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus they say not to be in Heaven but in and with Christ in heavenly things †Colos 3.3 Our life is hid with Christ in God We do not intend to prove the Divinity of Christ barely because one who is upon Earth is said upon any account to be in Heaven but out of this that Christ is said not only to be descended from Heaven and is again to go up and out of this that though he be come down from Heaven he is still there whence we may well conclude for his Omnipresence Now to descend from Heaven upon Earth and to ascend from Earth to Heaven are spoken of Christ only as to his Person and thereby is meaned his coming upon Earth There is such another place ‖ Eph. 4.9 to the same purpose about ascending and descending This we must say that whilst Christ in his human Nature was on Earth with his divine he filled the Heavens Elsewhere he explains it as to places Mat. 18.20 and 28.20 Christ's Almightyness Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am As to time For I am with you always unto the end of the world The Lord Jesus is also almighty Omnipotency which is an infinite Power incommunicable to any Creature for all are uncapable of it Christ applyes it to himself when he saith * Rev. 1.8 he is the Almighty I have already shewed how every thing in that Verse Christ speaks of himself only I shall add how the same Name is given him in several other places of the Book We give thee thanks Ch. 11.17 O Lord God Almighty which art and was and art to come which are the same Expressions used in that v. 8. and what is the reason of the Thanksgiving 't is in the latter end of this same Verse Because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned so who
as a demonstration of what he was and a proof of his Divinity which was the same question between him and the Jews as is now between us and the Socinians who though they impiously deny him to be true God by Nature yet must own him to be a very rational Man for indeed his works made him equal with the Father therefore he saith My Father worketh hitherto John 5.17 19.33.34 36. and I work and to the end they should not mistake his meaning as if the Father did work as God and he only as Man to shew there was no disparity between his Father's works and his own he affirmeth That whatsoever the Father doth that also doth the Son likewise and though John was a great man among them and had born witness to the Truth how he was the Son of God wherein by the by more and more to shew who he was and that he wanted no such evidences as being far above them he declared But I receive not testimony from man but these things I say that ye may be saved He said it only out of compassion and to condescend to their weakness for he had a more considerable Evidence I have saith he greater witness than that of John and what 's that the works which the father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the father hath sent me And upon all occasions he doth appeal to these works John 10.32 37 38. Many good works have I shewed you from my father for which of those works do ye stone me And a few verses lower he offereth to be judged by his works If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the works And to shew how all this tended to prove his Divinity he saith at the latter end of the verse That ye may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him And even when he was alone with his Disciples after he had eaten the Passeover he taketh notice how their not believing his works was a sign that they hated both him and the father And those very works which thorough hardness of heart and unbelief they would not be convinced by should at last be evidences to condemn them John 15.22 24. For if I had not come and spoken unto them they had had no sin but now they have no cloak for their sin and If I had not done among them the works which no other man did they had not had sin O the works of Christ though sometimes they are not attended with a convincing shall at last have both a convincing and condemning power against those who refuse to own him to be one with the Father and the Father to be in him and he in the Father equally with him God blessed for ever Now these works are of several kinds attributed to Christ first in general what things so ever the Father doth Joh. â— 19 these also doth the Son likewise This is absolutely and simply said without any limitation and restriction whatsoever and of whatsoever nature they be and this he doth without any let or opposition to hinder him according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself all things without exception Phil. 3.21 Then divine works are in particular attributed to the Son as Election for the Elect at the last day to be gathered from the four Winds Matth. 24 31. from one end of Heaven to the other are called his Elect and Election is an act immanent so are also the acts transient which are of two sorts First of Nature Secondly of Grace Of Nature it is double either Creation or Providence which is Preservation Creation is an incommunicable work of God the power whereof he never imparted to any Creature but 't is proper to Christ who hath been declared the Son of God with power in those works that are truly divine and proper only to God as Creation is Isal 44.24 Job 9.6 7 8. c. I am the Lord that maketh all things by my self which Job testifieth in several particulars and this is given as a characteristical mark to distinguish the true God from all false Gods Jer. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens But that very same distinguishing character is by the Apostles attributed unto the Lord Jesus All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made John 1.3 This is asserted first by an universal absolute Affirmative All things were made by him then by an universal absolute Negative vers 10 Without him was not any thing made that was made According to all rules nothing can be more positively and clearly exprest than this is all things even the world that knew him not and what other world 's there are Heb. 11.3 for the worlds were framed by the word of God in which place the name word is the same as by St. John is used to signifie the Son of God who is also called the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 Psal â—36 5 Colos 1.16 and by his Power and Wisdom made the Heavens yea and all things visible and invisible under which two heads are comprehended all things whatsoever Bodies and Spirits such as Angels and to shew an harmony between the Old and New Testaments in that as well as in this about the work of Creation the name word is made use of Psal 33.6 for by the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and to shew how all the three Persons of the Holy Trinity had a hand in 't 't is added and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Gen. 1. This relates to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixit God said and it was so and the name Word is by St. John interpreted to be the true God even personally Now as in Genesis and in the Psalm God made all by his Word so in John all things were made by the word and as in the Psalm 't is expresly said Psal 33.6 by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made in a literal not allegorical Sence why should it not in John be understood of the natural created and not of spiritual things Since he speaks of things in the Creation long before not of things to be made hereafter at the preaching of the Gospel so that of Gen. 1. and Psal 33. with John 1. are three Texts parallel relating to the same thing Now the same manner of expression deuoteth the same thing The word used in the Creation was not Corporal because before there was any Creature but spiritual and so God and that word was not directed to Angels but to things themselves for God called them by his word that they should be whereunto answereth
a Creature but the Author of all Creatures so that he is their Father rather than their Brother and he by whom all things are created must needs be in time and dignity before all and he is called the image of the invisible God not for publishing and preaching the Gospel for that the Apostles had common with him but because the Son is so like the Father that he who seeth the Son seeth the Father and he is the image of the Father not as he is the Son of Man but as he is the Son of God Neither must this be restrained to Angels and Men because those two kinds do not contain every Creature and certainly if it be granted that every rational Creature was made by him we may easily conclude of all the rest the more because 't is universally expressed of every Creature The sixteenth verse doth explain and much enlarge upon the foregoing and doth first universally and absolutely affirm the whole work of Creation to be the work of Christ then makes a distribution as things in Heaven and in Earth of what nature rank and degree soever and this mention of things in Heaven and of things in Earth here expressed sheweth how the Apostles intention is to speak of the first Creation and not of the second this last or renovation doth not comprehend all things that are in Earth but the first doth Wherefore this last is not spoken of in this place and tho elsewhere the word Creation be understood of the new and Spiritual Creation Ephes 3.9 it doth not follow it must be so here for there it is spoken of the revelation and predication of the Gospel which cannot be proved to be here the scope of the place where is to be seen not only the word to Create or Creation but also the things created are expressed as clearly as may be Furthermore it cannot be denyed but by invisible things as Thrones Dominions c. are meant Angels which were created with or before the World that is very long before Christ his appearing in the Flesh but I find no where in Scripture that since the first Creation they were renewed or created again The good Angels needed it not for they were never defiled the bad ones are not for they continue as bad and wicked as ever so 't is very strange that amongst the Creatures renewed by Christ they reckon the Devils themsēlves and who besides them could ever have thought that in Scripture the bare word Creature signifies a new Creature to Create to Create a New This is not at all the stile of the word of God wherein we believe the Apostles spoke with a design to be understood and not to clog their Writings with Ambiguities to cause doubts and difficulties for on the contrary here he makes things as intelligible as can be to remove scruples as when he saith all things that are in Heaven were by him Created for fear there should be some doubt about it he explains it with the words visible and invisible for in the Heavens are visible things as Sun Moon Stars and also invisible as Angels Now there is no doubt but the Apostle in that commendation he gives of Christ aimeth chiefly to shew his Dignity and Excellency as being first born of every Creature but the Socinians go about robbing him of that Prerogative for 't is spoken generally of every Creature without exception but say they not so only of every new Creature yet the Lord doth excel above every Creature good or bad high or low and is Lord over all If they say Christ is the first born of every Creature only as it is a new Creature then it must be said the Apostle is to blame for omiting the word new though so necessary to understand his meaning which is no better than as much as in them lies to ridicule the Apostles word how he is the first born of every Creature in as much as every Creature is subject to his Dominion for every thing is subjected to him thus far as God hath subjected every thing unto him But seeing they own Christ to be in time before every new creatures what shall they say of some who before his birth of the Virgin were new Creatures seeing 'tis he that made them all If thus under the New Testament we must conclude it to have been so under the Old for they could not be such except they were so made by him Now as the Apostle begins this verse so he endeth it by him were all things created and all things were created by him that is to confirm this Truth beyond all ground of doubting of it in the same verse he doth twice set it down and in the same words with a most important addition last of all that as all things were created by so for him not as means and a medium but as an efficient and final cause to him Psal 136.5 saith the Psalmist that by wisdom made the Heavens 't is not said in but by wisdom as a Person and efficient Cause for as such is the Son of God represented under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. where the Attributes therein mentioned belong to a person the work of creating the Heavens is a distinguishing Character of the true God by nature from false Gods Idols Psal 96.5 all the Gods of the nations are Idols but the Lord made the heavens And Christ is the power of God 1. Cor. 1.24 and the wisdom of God by whom the world was created Let this be added to prove this truth God by his Son made also the Worlds Heb. 1.2.10 and this Text being joyned with the two foregoing doth afford this Conclusion he by whom God made the world by whom he made all things and by whom he made the worlds certainly was before the world before all things and before the worlds now God by his Son Jesus Christ made the world all things and the worlds therefore his Son Jesus Christ was before the world before all things and before the worlds and so Eternal The words of this place are as plain absolute and extensive as of the others and because some sophistical distinction of the word world might happen to be invented therefore to prevent it he saith worlds in the plural thereby to cut off the ground of any distinction as of this world and that world and it seems to leave no place for the distinction by Socinians of the old and of the new world the original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ages wherein are contained all times and temporal things wherein the world and all things in it are comprehended But here as in other places they must bring in their own imaginations for they will have only the new not the old world to be understood though the Apostle speaking absolutely leaves no ground for such notions and to cavil they say that to Make and to Create are different things contrary to the stile of Scripture
met and fell down at his feet and worshiped him but he though he had excellent gifts and great authority by his office yet he refused it and this he gave for a reason I my self also am a man that is such a thing is not to be offered any man yet we must not believe Cornelius to have been so besotted as to have taken him for God but he thought he might do so to such an extraordinary man Chap. 14.13 14 1â— Paul and Barnabas seeing how the people of Lystra would have done Sacrifice they presently rent their cloaths running and crying Sirs why do you do these things Their reason was we are also men Rev. 19.10 hence we conclude how no man ought to be worshiped Now we shall speak of Angels John a person of no mean gifts fell at the Angels feet who was a Minister of God and of Christ to worship him surely he took him not to be God for he could not but know the contrary but may be he thought he might pay him that respect but whatsoever he thought he did amiss therefore the Angel highly rejected it when he said see thou do it not Chap. 2â— 9 and gave his reason for 't for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus and not satisfied with this directed him to the object of worship and adoration worship God and this not only once but twice for it happened a second time We have demonstrated how the true God is alone to be worshiped now we must shew how Christ is religiously to be worshiped and consequently he is the true God which last expressions now when I remember put me in mind of that excellent place wherein he is called the true God which but in few words I will take notice of 1 John 5.20 we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and oternal Life The Relative this is refered to Jesus Christ not only as the nearest but also as the Subject Orationis spoken of besides that with St. John 't is usual by Eternal Life to signifie the Lord Jesus and here the true God and Eternal Life are spoken of one and the same Subject Now when the Lord is here called true God it cannot be said metaphorically or improperly but as to his nature the reason it this none is ever called the true God specially with the Article but in relation to his Essence Now to prove that the religious worship belonging to the only true God is appropriated to christ we have several places out of Scripture some do it in general and others in the particulars whereof there are several branclies Of the first Order is this let all the Angels of God worship him quoted out of the Psalm Upon these two unshaken pillars Heb. 1.6 Psal 37.7 I mean the testimonies of a Prophet and of an Apostle stand these two great Truths First how the person whom the Angels here called God's for so the Apostle doth explain the word are commanded to worship is the true Essential God or to make use of the name which the Adversaries do commonly bring in namely the God of Israel Secondly that the person to be worshiped by Angels is the Lord Jesus Christ the first assertion is the Prophet's the second is the Apostle's out of which both we may surely conclude how the Lord Jesus is the true Essential God of Israel To examine well this we shall first begin with the words of the Original that is the Psalm whence they are drawn and afterwards the Application made of them in the Gospel To remove the weight of this argument which lie's so heavy upon them and finding they cannot deny the Application to belong to Christ the Adversaries would not have the words to be understood of the true God of Israel but certainly they ought to be related to him that is named in the next verse but one before namely the Lord of the whole earth for indeed in this Psalm wherein is described the Majesty of God's Kingdom no other person is spoken of but that God whose Kingdom it is Now that the God of the whole Earth is Jehovah the God of Israel it appears out of Scripture wherein the attribute of Lord of the whole Earth is given to the true God by nature amongst others take these few Josh 3.11 Zechar. 14 and 6 5. Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan And these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth Again these are the four spirits of the Heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth Micah 4.12 The very same expression is found in another Prophet I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth I shall add that considerable place where the Prophet for the comfort of the Gentiles prophesied of what a large extent their Church should be and speaks of their deliverance heaping several glorious titles upon him that was to be the Author thereof which no doubt had a relation to the Messiah who was to effect it Among other names therein given that of God of the whole earth is one Isa 3â— â— For thy maker is thine husband the Lord of hosts is his name and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole â—arth shall he be casted all these glorious names belong to one and the same I need not to shew that the Prophecies about the deliverance and calling of the Gentiles do relate to Christ Psal 2.8 who was to have the heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession And this Title of Lord of the whole earth is by the Psalmist in another place rendred by a great King over all the earth Psal 47.2.7 and the King of all the earth all to signifie tho same thing and person the Kingdom of Christ the Messiah I think this is enough to prove how the God of Israel and the Lord of the whole Earth is the same as Israel made a part of the Earth so he that was God of the whole Earth must need be the God of Israel so 't is the same in this Text for no where in Scripture that title is given to any but the true God Yet they are so obstinate in their opinions that Socinus himself who though he will not have Christ to be the King of Israel yet being forced by the strength of this reason he seems content that the Lord Jesus should be here called the Lord of the whole Earth but if the argument should lie upon this he would want no Cavils to elude the force of it for that wretch is so damnably bent against the glory and honour of our Saviour that in whatsoever he writes about him Acts 8.23 there appears
Essentially exclusively not to Son and Holy Ghost but to Idols and Creatures the word Father is here taken for God as 't is when said one God and Father of all and Abba-Father Ephes 4.6 Rom. 8.15 Also the Father of Spirits The words our Father are often taken for our God and Lord In those places the word Father is said relatively not to the Son Heb. 12.9 Matth. 10.21 29. Luke 30.32 John 14.13 Chap. 3.13 but to men whose Father God is The things in the Lord's Prayer asked and prayed for are asked of the Son as well as of the Father as the coming of his Kingdom the forgiveness of our Sins whence saith our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do And the words which are in Heaven do belong to the Son as to the Father and the Holy Ghost too as appeareth out of Psal 139.7 8. and Matth. 3.16 Nay as we said before the Son is called the everlasting Father And if we consider the Etymology of the word which in the Original signifieth to preserve all things we shall find he is a Father indeed by whom all things are upheld and preserved which the Holy Spirit within us beareth witness unto when our heart laying under the sense of some trouble or mercy doth on a sudden by means of an Ejaculatory Prayer either in thoughts words or both poure it self before him begging for help or giving thanks breaking out upon occasion into these or the like expressions Lord Jesus have pity on me or Lord Jesus make me thankful Thus I through the grace of God have under those several heads brought in proofs for our blessed Lord and Saviour's divinity of many more which Scripture affords I shall take notice but of few wherein he is properly and truly called God which to assert is the main drift of the word as it is the foundation of the whole Gospel for it was absolutely necessary he should be God by nature or else any man might have preached taught prayed given good example and made intercession as well as Christ and if he came into the world and dyed only to teach us good doctrine and give us good example he had done for us no more than the Apostles and Martyrs who taught good doctrine and gave good example so might as well be called our Mediators and Saviours If this had as they say been the whole work of the Mediator our redemption had been no hard matter to be performed But I say that his threefold office of Mediatorship Prophecy Kingship and Priesthood demonstrate him to be true Essential God for none of the three could perfectly have been performed but by a God himself As to the Prophetical to enlighten the understanding and effectually to turn the heart as to the Regal to defend Believers against the Power of Satan and as to the Priestly to obtain forgiveness of Sins favour of God and glory none of these could be obtained but by him who is infinite as in Power so in Nature there is an infinite distance between God who is infinite and every finite Creature no proportion between Infinite and Finite Scripture owneth nothing but God to be higher than Angels now Christ is higher and above all Angels Besides that the necessity of satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice doth argue a necessity for Christ to be God for the satisfaction could not have been adequate as it ought to be except he was God and this divinity in him doth prove the plurality of persons in the God-head which is the whole of the difficulty alledged against the most holy Trinity Certainly the great design of the Apostles and others was to preach Christ to be truely and really God Son of God whereby their Ministry was exalted this was the foundation they were to build upon Acts 8.37 The Eunuch must make this Confession I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God before he could be baptized so did every one else being converted to the Faith this in our Religion is the first thing to be known and preached thus Paul after his Conversion Chap. 9.20 the first thing he did was to preach that Christ is the Son of God for that was the great question the Jews denyed him not to be Man Son of Man but he went about to convince them how also he was God Son of God and he was by Nature God as certainly as by nature he was Man Wherefore he would raise the thoughts of the Corinthians from the consideration of Christ's humanity to that of his Deity when he saith 2 Cor. 5.16 though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more after the flesh but according to the spirit not in the humane but in the divine nature according to which he is called by the glorious names of the holy one Act. 3.14 15. 1 Cor. 2.8 and the just the prince of life and the Lord of glory our Blessed Saviour who when he was in the world had so often declared himself to be the Son of God in a proper sense after his Ascension when he had a full possession of that glory as it were to confirm from Heaven what he had declared upon Earth in the Revelation he made to that disciple of his who doth so eminently bear witness of his divinity 1 Joh. 4.14 15. when he saith we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and not otherwise I say on that occasion the Lord Jesus from Heaven proclaims himself to be Son of God in the letter to the Angel of the Church in Thiatira with this glorious description Rev. 2.18 compared with chap. 1.14 15. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass Tho his enemies would not hear him upon earth during the time of his humiliation when through his Passive Obedience he was about performing the first part of his Priestly Office to satisfie divine Justice and make expiation for our sins I think now they should when he speaks from Heaven whence he exercises his Royal Office I know well enough how what I say about his satisfying Divine Justice through his death doth not affect his enemies who deny he hath given satisfaction for us but what can his intercession on in Heaven which is the second part of his Priesthood be grounded upon but his own merits through his Sufferings and Death he thereby hath payed our Debts and by vertue of that payment he asks we should be released but that point I intend not to meddle with in this place In the New Testament the name Saviour is as proper to him as that of Christ as indeed that of Jesus the same with Saviour was given him by the Angel and
was the Creator of all which is the reason given in the next verse why he calls him the first born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in carth And which is more at the later end of the verse all things were created by him and for him He created all things for himself which may not be said of any Creature for if he were a Creature he had been before himself And if we desire a farther explanation we have it in the following verse heb 1.2.6 and he is before all things And if we compare this place with another we shall find a sweet harmony in both he is called God's Son Col. 1.13 yea his dear Son in the first in both Creatour or maker of the World saith the last by whom also God made the worlds As to Creation so as to preservation for one saith by him all things consist and the other by him all things are upheld and the phrase in the Colossians the first born of every Creature is in the Epistle to the Heb. interpreted by this appointed heir of all things That is to be Lord of every Creature or whole Creation the first born is the Heir and Lord The Elder Brother or First Born is loco parentis Heb. 12.13 as a Father and so in the same Epistle behold I and the children which God hath given me Now the reason is clear and the consequence obvious Christ is before all things because all things were created by him upon which account he calls himself the beginning of the Creation of God That is the efficient cause which expressions are both joyned together as being of the same importance the beginning and first born from the dead Rev. 3.14 Col. 1.13 that is the efficient cause of the Resurection from the Dead These two places out of Colos and Heb. ought to be lookt upon as parallel one with another Now by the Son of Gods or the word 's making the worlds we have an eminent Testimony of his Eternal Godhead and Power for saith the Apostle he that made all things is God Heb. 3.4 So since all things were made by the Son he must be God Here I must take notice of their cavil against the place where it is said God made the world by his Son they would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom to be taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom as if God had made them for his Son for his sake which is a down-right corruption of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not with an accusative to signifie propter but in the Genitive which never denoteth a final but always an efficient cause In the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by is used about 600 times with a Genitive Cafe and in no one may be rendred propter for and so cannot be here and suppose it could yet it would be against the constant use of the word for which some particular reason ought to be given why such a sence should be admitted for which there is none in this place it also must be taken notice of how the case is not the same where Things as where Persons are spoken of What now I am by the grace of God entering upon is to shew how our Blessed Saviour had a real being before he was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin and my reasons shall be drawn out of the 6. chap. of St. John's Gospel where the matter conducing to our purpose is spoken of at large â—â—r Christ doth in several places thereof speak of his being come from Heaven and shall begin with the last verse wherein he discourseth upon the point because it will by degrees lead us back to the rest Joh. 6.6 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before which words he spoke of himself to remove the offence which what he said about the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood had given many of his disciples for he saith his words are not literally or corporally but spiritually to be understood for he was to leave the Earth and go up into Heaven where he was before out of which words we may easily conclude how Christ was in Heaven before he was upon earth this seems to be clear But however they will not agree to it Vers 32.33 38 50.51 Ver. 41.42 first they cavil about the place saying that by where he was before Heaven is not meant when in this very chapter no less than five times he saith he came down from Heaven which the Jews took special notice of and murmured at which truth our Saviour had before declared to Nicodemns and No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man Joh. 3.13 which is in Heaven so that although in this verse the word Heaven be not named yet is so plainly described that there is not the least ground left for any one to doubt of it either for his Disciples or others for what need of his naming again that which he named so many times before There is a Text parallel with this Joh. 16.28 which doth explain it I came forth from the father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father To say he shall ascend up where he was before and to return to the place whence he came is it not the same and had he not declared at several times that his Father is in Heaven And if any doubt should remain 't is wholly cleared by the execution and when the thing was fulfilled at his ascension for while they beheld he was taken up Acts 1.9 and a cloud received him out of their sight But this not serving their turn but by these Texts being pincht to the quick to hold out they take another way which is figuratively to explain the words where he was before and wrest their proper signification into a Metaphor that is Christ in his mind and thoughts conversed in Heaven being taken up in Meditation with those heavenly mysteries that are there which were so present unto him that although he was upon Earth yet he might be said to be in Heaven this indeed is a way of perverting the sense of Scriptures but not a fair one But if so our Saviour would have spoken in the present is and not in time past was for as they say he continually was taken up with such thoughts if continually then not discontinued when at that time he discoursed with them But the word before doth import a relative opposition between the time wherein our Saviour was in Heaven and that when he spoke upon Earth besides that actually and really he was upon Earth when they make him to have been in Heaven meerly in Thoughts and Meditation which holds no proportion between his being in Heaven and upon Earth so then Christ
was really in Heaven before he came down upon Earth and as he really and actually ascended up into it so he really and actually descended from thence upon Earth here are two terms a quo and ad quem as he could not go up to Heaven but from the Earth so he could not come down upon the Earth but from Heaven and is there the least ground in the whole Chapter to think Christ's intention was to entertain them with his having been in Heaven in Idea and Meditation when his design was to shew how what he had said of being the Author of Resurrection and Life and the manner of it by means of eating his flesh was a thing not to give them offence nor impossible Considering what he was originally from Heaven therefore not to be considered as a meer man but such a one as was far more divine and powerfull than any man They finding this will not do yet to dispute the ground as long as they can they forged in a Dream for otherwise it cannot be a very strange adventure that Christ was in Heaven before he was upon Earth seemeth undeniable therefore because they dare not give him the lye they would mince the matter thus how Christ between his Birth and Death and before he preached went up into Heaven where for a while he remained to be better instructed by the Father in the things which he was to teach mankind after which he came down again but there is not the least ground but only fancy for it The Evangelists do give us an account of most passages of Christ's Life and how could they all four have forgotten this which is one of the most important that might have befallen him in that kind The Evangelists Matthew and Luke in their four first Chapters relate many things belonging to that time as not only his birth but also his Circumcision on the eighth day and his being carryed to the Temple to be presented to the Lord received by Simeon spoken of by Anna a Prophetess adored by the Wise Men carryed into Egypt his return to Nazareth his being found in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors asking them questions his being subject to Joseph and Mary baptized of John tempted in the Wilderness c. and not one word about this pretended ascension How came it that he was not missed by any This they would to have been in imitation of Moses whom God called up to the Mount That it was so with Moses we read in the word but nothing like it of our Saviour And when God is silent our mouth should be stopped and nothing allowed to fancy or imagination besides when Moses was called up the people had publick notice given them of it and by God's command he took Aaron's Sons and Seventy of the Elders all the people saw the glory of God upon the Mount and when Moses came back all Israel saw him with his face shining none of which things can be said of this pretended Ascension of christ's whereof there are no witnesses not so much as any of his Disciples as he had in his Trassiguration which three Evangelists give an exact account of Which though important yet not so considerable as this which could not be performed without a great Miracle whether he had been carryed up only in Soul for then his Soul had been separated from the Body so death must have followed or whether in Body and Soul the Body could not have been sustain'd in the Air without a Miracle And during that time where were his Disciples This certainly should have made a great Gap in the History of his Life which we cannot perceive in any of the Evangelists no nor in those that have written his Life from his Birth to his Death Resurrection and Ascension St. Luke saith of the Gospel he had written how he had made a Treatise of all that Jesus begun both to do and to teach Yet not a word of this Acts 1.1 as indeed there was no necessity for Christ to go up to Know as they say his Father's Will which might have been communicated unto him as to Moses John Baptist without going up to Heaven in case he had not known it but he knew it before At his Baptism the Heavens were opened unto him the Father had highly owned him the Holy Ghost was descended upon him so that he return'd from Jordan full of the Holy Ghost Luke 4.1 wherefore there was no need of his going and so the Cause ceasing so must the Effect so that also it had been preposterous after what happen'd in his Baptism for him to have gone up into Heaven upon such an Errand Besides that we are assured he enter'd but once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 Hereby we see how if we were willing to take it that sort of Men would be ready to put upon us every Suggestion of theirs for an Argument every Argument for a Law yea and every Dream for a Revelation Tho' our Saviour here calls himself Son of Man and not Son of God it doth not in the least prejudice what we say for if he had call'd himself Son of God it had been a begging of the Question for they would not own him to be such And this sheweth the better the Oneness of the Person when there is a Communication of the Idioms when in the Person that which is proper to one Nature is spoken of the other Christ according to the Flesh was never in Heaven before his Ascension but according to the Spirit that is his Divine Nature he was Here our blessed Saviour calling himself Son of Man may allude to with intent to make Men take notice of what is spoken of himself by the Prophet Dan. 7.13 14. I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion c. This is an exact Prophecy of his Ascension One thing more they have to say and 't is the Example of Paul's having been caught up to the third Heaven but must it from what hath happen'd to Paul 2 Cor. 12.2 follow that the same must needs have befaln the Lord Jesus That indeed we read of Paul therefore we ought to believe but of Christ we read no such thing Yet for all that we never read that either Paul was from Heaven or came down as we read it of Christ very often Paul speaks of that with the greatest modesty in the World for fear he should seem to exalt himself but our Lord without any ambiguity or fear that Men would think he takes too much upon himself doth speak loud highly declares and often proclaims himself to be the Son of God equal with him sent by the
Father descended from Heaven where he is again to return c. This he owned openly and when he had said to the man sick of the Palsie Thy sins are forgiven thee some of the Scribes having said within themselves This man blasphemeth Christ called evil these Thoughts of theirs Mat. 9.4 Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts Another place in this same Chapter already mention'd Joh. 6.38 and to our purpose is this I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me The words taken in their natural signification are plain enough and admit of no difficulty Christ speaks of himself what Heaven is we know 't is as his natural place whence he came down into a state of Humiliation in taking upon him our human Nature the End of his coming down was to do his Father's Will not his tho' we must not think that when he did his Father's Will he acted any thing against his own for whatsoever he did and suffer'd was voluntarily as he had said long before by the Prophet I delight to do thy will Psal 40.5 6 7. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire Then said I Lo I come And when the Will of his Father was executed and the Work he gave him to do finish'd he went back if we may so say home again into Heaven The Difficulty then lies not in the words but about the sence Christ who spoke the words is true tho' every sence that is attempted to be given to the words be not true yet a true sence there is He makes mention of his Person and of his Flesh his Person is that which came down from Heaven his Flesh is that which was formed in the Virgins Womb that indeed did not come from Heaven however he speaks of his Flesh and Blood to intimate his Death and that Life which he promiseth to those that eat his Flesh He procureth it in two ways by Merit or Impetration and by Efficacy or Application The Merit by his Death consists in the Dignity of the Person which suffer'd it the Application and Efficacy in the Spirit which is in the Person By the Opposition he makes between himself and the Manna he sufficiently declares that he really came down from Heaven The Adversaries would have the coming down from Heaven to signifie no more than to proceed from God which to confirm they make use of some Texts as when our Saviour asked the Chief Priests whence was the Baptism of John Matth. 21.25 was it from Heaven or of Men Thus every good and perfect Gift is said to be from above and to come down from the Father of light Again This Wisdom descendeth not from above Thus John saith Jam. 1.17 3.15 Rev. 21.2 he saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven But none of these places is to the purpose for they are about Things and the Question is about Persons Scripture makes no dissiculty to say that Things whereof God is immediate Author come down from Heaven there being no danger to say so but it never saith it of Persons In the Word of God none besides Father Son and Holy Ghost and Angels none tho' never created or born in so eminent a manner is said to be come down from Heaven neither Adam nor Eve nor Isaac the Son of a Special promise and whose Birth considering the age of Abraham and of sarah was very extraordinary But that Christ came down from Heaven in a manner different from what is expressed in those places it appeareth out of the fore-quoted place What and if ye shall see the Son ascend up where he was before whereby is implied that he was in Heaven before he came down from it which he confirmeth in that other place No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven whereof the sence is made known by the design of Christ who speaking to Nicodemus about being born again and Regeneration saith If I have told you earthly things and of such as are done in earth which by your own experience you may see and know yet ye believe me not how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things that is such as are or be done in Heaven which ye neither can know of your selves nor by any one else but by me for I have been in Heaven and none else Besides that if what the Adversaries say in their sence were true it would follow that Christ is said to be come down from Heaven either in relation to his Person or to his Office As to the first it cannot well be said I mean as to his miraculous Conception or else the same might have been said of John Baptist who only by a Divine Power was born of an old and barren Mother an Angel having foretold his Birth and given his Name before-hand yet he far from saying he came or descended from Heaven speaks quite the contrary of himself when he affirms this of Christ John 3.31 He that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is tarthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from Heaven is above all And further Christ may not be said to be come down from I seaven upon the account of his miraculous Conception no neither by reason of his being born without the help of Man for this may also be said of Adam born not only without the help of Man but of Woman also yet for all that he is never said to be come down from Heaven on the contrary he is said to be of the Earth in opposition to Christ 1 Cor. 15.47 The first man is of the earth caâ—thy the second man is the Lord from Heaven As to the Office of Christ it is certainly from Heaven in that sence but it followeth not that because the Office is the Person must be so for neither 〈◊〉 whose Baptism was from Heaven nor none of the Prophets or Apostles were ever said to be descended from Heaven Now according to this Opinion of theirs Christ would have had no Advantage over the Manna which was every day miraculously created and rained upon the People yet our Saviour takes this Preference over the Manna John 4.31 33. that he was come down from Heaven the Manna not so Why doth our Lord deny that Manna was come down from Heaven but that himself was the Bread of God which came down from Heaven Our Lord's words I came down from Heaven to do the will of him that sent me do certainly contain more than barely I am created by the wonderful Counsel and Power of God herein he speaks as would an Embassador sent by his Prince wherefore the words imply first that Christ was in Heaven 2dly That he was sent from thence 3dly To do the Will and perform the Work of him that sent him And if it had not been in
this sence the Jews would not have murmur'd as they did as indeed there had been no cause for it And we do not in the least perceive he goes about to shew they were mistaken to give his words such as sence but on the contrary he goeth on to confirm what he had said according to the sence they gave it and that without any ambiguity but plainly and downright tho' he knew he thereby did run into a great danger Matth. 13.55 56 John 6.42 for the Jews did not know how to reconcile what they knew of him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Is not his Mother called Mary and his Brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas and his Sisters are they not all with us How then can he say I am descended from Heaven To have his Extraction from thence and be equal with God this made them look upon him as a Blasphemer who according to their Laws was to be stoned They allow'd him to be a very extraordinary man who had done such things as had never been done before among them but to hear him say he was come down from Heaven as his natural place that they could not endure Yet we must take it to be true since neither he nor the Evangelist ever denied it They were so pleased with the Miracle of the five Barley Loaves and two small Fishes that they would have taken him by force and made him a King and after he was gone they could not be at rest till they again had found him out and then he said they follow'd him only out of love to their Belly because they had eaten and were filled whereupon out of his earnest desire for their good he takes occasion to exhort them to mind not that Meat that perisheth but that which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man said he shall give unto you And then he presseth the Argument and shews how he and none else can give it and in order to 't declareth first who he is namely the Son of God whom he calleth his Father four times then addeth V. 40.44 45 45. he is from God afterwards he attributes unto himself a quickening Power and to give everlasting Life for he doth not say he that believeth in God but on me neither doth he say God V. 47. but I will raise him up at the last day Could the Father have more highly and stately spoken of himself V. 40. or assumed a greater Power than he doth whereby we see this he saith to draw Men not to the Father but to himself as the Spring of Eternal Life whereby he insinuates himself to be such a one as is far more potent and excellent than Man upon which account he is truly and properly said to be come down from Heaven or else he had not answerd the Jews Objection to the purpose Which 't is very unworthy for any one to say This matter we shall conclude with one Argument more out of these words I came forth from the Father and am come into the world John 16.28 again I leave the world and go to the Father Where is the Father In Heaven Where is the World On Earth So then Christ was with the Father in Heaven before he was in the World on Earth This last Text I joyn with the two foregoing being to the same purpose because a threefold Knot is not easily untied The words are so clear V. 29. that thereupon his Disciples said Lo now speakest thou plainly 'T is to be wish'd every one was of their opinion as there is cause for it V. 30. By this we believe said they that thou camest forth from God This they said themselves and the Lord saith so of them They have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou didst send me But neither Socinus nor none of his Kidney can say and prove that they believed not there was a Divine Nature in Christ They explain the words I came forth from the Father only to signifie that Christ was a Man sent from God upon some special Errand just as he sent his Disciples into the World 1 Joh. 4.1 or as false Prophets are said to be gone into the world We know the Faith of his Apostles was weak but true and was encreased by degrees they sometimes doubted of things as may be Christ's Resurrection but this doth not argue that there was no Faith in them for there was tho' staggering and imperfect which our Saviour strengthened and themselves were sensible of when they said unto him Lord increase our Faith which we read so actually effected in Thomas who more than any one else doubted of this Resurrection that at last he gave an authentick Testimony of his Faith concerning it when he called him my Lord and my God and before that time Peter in their name had given eminent evidence of their Faith about him when he said John 6.68 69. Lord to whom shall we go Thou hest the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God After so solemn a Declaration how dare any man say his Disciples did not believe any thing of Divine Nature in him As to his Disciples he sent them into the World but he dwelt upon Earth but his Father sent him upon Earth when himself was in Heaven And this we may say that as the Disciples were with Christ before he sent them so he was with the Father before he sent him As to the false Prophets they were gone out into the World but whence Out of the Charch John 2.15 of whom 't is said before They went out from us but they were not of us One thing more I shall observe upon this Text that if Christ really ascended up into Heaven as he did unquestionably after his Resurrection so he really descended from thence before his Incarnation and if he descended then he was before he descended this as said just before his Disciples believed literally not in a Metaphor or Figure and that they well understood his meaning our Saviour confirms when he saith v. 31 Do ye now believe and what That I came from the Father and must return to him and that I know all thing which none but God can Here I must give a general and necessary Warning against Socinian far-fetch'd and false glosses Indeed if admittance be given to all their Allegories there can be no room left for literal and proper sence So the deliverance out of Egypt possession of Canaan carrying into Captivity shall not be Matters of Fact and we may doubt whether there was ever a Noah a Flood or an Ark such men as Aaron Moses Joshua for 't is possible to turn all these into Allegories We know in Scripture there are some but to turn every thing into 't is a great Abuse When a Text expresses plainly a literal sence we must not trouble our heads
to screw it up into an Allegory nor when the Discourse is doctrinal and the words in it usual proper and suited to the things intended to be expressed this indeed is what Peter calls a resting the Scriptures to their own destruction The later part of the Verse doth explain the first for the words signifie Christ's Ascension into Heaven they were spoken upon the occasion of Christ's instructing encouraging and disposing his Disciples to that Separation which was suddenly to happen by his Death after which tho' he shewed himself alive by many infallible Proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God yet he conversed not with them in the same manner as before his Passion Acts 1.2 Now this occasion which they were spoken upon sheweth how he discoursed about leaving the World going to his Father and ascending into Heaven which reaily and visibly happen'd forty days after his Resurrection By these Expressions which were familiar with him of going up or ascending to the Father he signified the same thing and tho' the Father doth fill up Heaven which is his Throne and Earth his Footstool yet in Scripture he is said to sit and dwell in Heaven as in his home Joh. 14.2 wherefore our Saviour calls Heaven his Father's House Now as this later part of the verse signifieth Christ's Ascension from the Earth to the Father so the first signifieth his coming down from Heaven upon Earth Again the Opposition which is seen between both parts as I came forth from the Father with and go to the Father and I am come into the World with again I leave the World do shew that if to come from the Father doth denote to be sent from Heaven to Earth by the Father so to go to the Father signifieth the contrary to that namely to go from Earth up to Heaven to the Father Christ leaving the World is gone to the Father and going to the Father he hath left the World wherefore to go to the Father and leave the World are the same So likewise Christ coming forth from the Father came into the World and coming into the World he came forth from the Father And these two kinds of Expressions signifie the same thing Chap. 13.3 and as he was come from God so he went to God This coming from the Father and coming into the World do imply first a sending as the Lord declareth it John 8.42 I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me And then something posterior to the Mission and as it were belonging to the execution thereof for if one should ask Wherefore came Christ into the World it would be well answer'd to say Because the Father sent him So that he who is sent must come from him that sent him to the place whereunto he is sent Then the words I came from the Father must be understood of the execution of the sending rather than the sending itself It is a wrong sence given as to apply them to a divine production I came from the Father that is I am miraculously produced by the Father This Exposition doth confound things that are different for none can be sent before he hath a Being but that 's produced which hath no Being Production is before Sending Thus the words must signifie that Christ return'd to the place whence he came and ascended into that whence he descended before This he went about to inculcate into the Mind of the Jews in the opposition he makes of his Origin with theirs Ye are from benedth V. 23. I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world but from the Father not from Earth but from Heaven He was not in the World by a natural necessity but voluntarily and by a determined counsel he came into 't as Embassador from his Father to reveal unto Men the Doctrin and Means of Salvation and for Judgment Chap. 9.39 For judgment am I come into this world and all the while he was here even very betimes he minded what he came about Unto his Mother after she found him in the Temple and asking him Why hast thou thus dealt with us he answer'd How is it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business Luke 2.48 49. So that he continued upon Earth till that was over before which time he would not go back John 17.4 but before his departure he declar'd I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do whereupon he returned back to his Father from whom he was come before leaving Earth a place so disproportionate and inferiour to Heaven whence he had his extraction and consequently unworthy to contain him any longer This Reason he gives his Disciples whose Heart upon his declaring he was about leaving of them had been fill'd with Sorrow how it was not just he should always be among those that had used him so unworthily and withal it was expedient for them that he should go away or else the Comforter Chap. 16. â— 7. who was to be with them after his departure would not come After all that hither to hath been said may not I ask concerning the method and carriage of the Adversaries Is it fair about these fundamental points to turn the whole Scripture into an Allegory and make the Spirit of God never to speak properly to force upon and wrest out of the Word of God such Sences and Expositions as are contrary to the scope of the Spirit to the Deigns of the holy Writers and to the Analogy of Faith and if this cannot serve the turn to screw up and work their Bâ—â—ing how to contrive and forge an imaginary After son of Christ into Heaven about the 〈◊〉 of his Ministry and consequently a ceasing â—â—wn from thence after it yet at the same time deny that true and real descending of â—is upon Earth which is so much and so often assorted in Scripture which is as good as to say Tho' Truth and Scripture do not bear it yet we I now how to supply it of our own Flectere si nequco saperos Ae eroma movebo Now to strengthen what I have said to prove our Lords Divinity before I proceed to answer Objecting I shall add what followeth upon the forementioned Head of the Angel in the Old Testament I mean the increated Angel whose Person in appearance is Man in office Angel in nature God the second Person of the most holy Trinity I shall somewhat insist upon a most notable place and much to our purpose though I already said something about it for I can not willing to lay aside a strong and very useful weapon because I made use of it before for when once it hath been try'd we are the surer of and may better depend upon it On the occasion of the abominable Idolatry of the golden Calf God refused to go up
sweet harmony between the Old and New Testaments about Christ's governing his Church under both as to Names as well as to Things for he is called Captain of the Lord's Host as in the fore-quoted place and God is a man of war and Lord of hosts is one of God's Titles not only 1 Sam. 1.1 but in a hundred places more So Christ is in the New Testament called the Captain of our salvation Exod 15.3 Heb. 2.10 to be compleated in Heaven whereof the Promised Land was a Type This Angel the People were commanded to take care not to provoke him yet they did In this case the Question may be put to our Socinian Rabshakehs which in another God did concerning Sennacherib 2 Kin. 19.22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and the same Answer return'd Even against the holy one of Israel So here if it be asked Whom did the Children of Israel provoke tempt and limit in the Wilderness the Psalmist will say Psal â—8 40 41 56. God the holy one of Israel and the most high God compared with Psal 95. c. And if of St. paul we ask Whom did the People tempt in the Wilderness he will answer They tempted Christ 1 Cor. 10 9. compared with Heb. 3.9 for there he speaks of Christ as Son of God it may not be understood that Christ was tempted after he was born of the Virgin Mary tho' after his Baptism he was by the Devil in the Wilderness which indeed may point at the Temptation by the People in the Wilderdess which we read of in the old Testament However I say that Temptation after the coming out of Egypt which was so long before he was born cannot be meaned of any thing after his Birth yet if Scripture saith truth Christ was by the People tempted in the Wilderness the same Person tho' not in the same Nature which he took afterwards Now the Person of the Word in his divine nature existed before he was made Flesh or else how was it possible it should be tempted at that time So I can see nothing to the contrary but that we may well conclude the Lord Jesus Son of God to be the Angel that went before them whom they were forbidden to provoke and the most high God the holy one of Israel whom they tempted and provoked he is called the Angel of God's Presence or of God's Face for the Lord said to Moses Mypresence shall go Exod 33.14 It donoteth a distinct Person in the Godhead from him whose Angel and whose Face he is We must understand where the Angel was God was present because that same Angel and Person was God and what in v. â—â— is named Presence in v. 18 't is called Glory to be compared with what John saith And we beheld his glory Chap. 1.14 as the glory of the only begotten of the Father He also is called the Angel of the Covenant for 't is plain how the Covenant of Grace between God and man is grounded only in Christ and none else Isa 63.9 for Scripture saith in him we are chosen and adopted and only by him we shall be saved This Truth that the Angel who went before the People was the true God the Spirit of God hath judged so important and necessary to be known that at several times and in many places he declared it Among others the following is very considerable if we mind time place and the very words compared together I send an Angel before thee saith the Lord Psal 68.7 8. and David O God when thou wentest before thy people when thou didst march through the wilderness compared with that before quoted of the Church in the Wilderness and the same who went before the People is by the Psalmist in the same place called God the God of Israel of whom v. 18 't is said Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive c. for here is certainly a Prophecy of Christ's Ascension as to that purpose this place is quoted by St. Paul Ephes 4.8 9 10. for indeed here mention is made of the Figure and Type namely the Ark as we see in the words of v. 1 2 taken out of Numb 10.35 when the Ark was setting forward and of the Antitype the truth and body of the Type Jesus Christ and upon good ground namely that of Ephes 4 many are of opinion that this is a triumphant Psalm of our Saviour's Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven for David who was a Prophet as a King and knew himself in some things to be a Type of the Messiah among things relating to his Kingdom used to mix and comprehend some belonging to Christ which is the chief scope of the Psalm So Jah Jehovah God and Lord are to be understood of the Angel or Christ for as a little before we observed the Deliverance out of Egypt leading through the Wilderness and bringing into the Land of Promise was a Figure of the great Salvation of God's People and of the deliverance of the Church which is the proper work committed unto the Son of God the Lord Jesus as King Head and Preserver of it When David speaks of ascending he acts not the Part of an Historian but of a Prophet and this is of an Ascension joyned with a Triumph and leading of Captives which doth not belong to that of Sinai Neither do we read any where that God ascended into Heaven from Sinai but Christ having obtained victory over Death the Grave and all his and our Enemies went up to Heaven which cannot be said of the Ark But the Ascension here spoken of as Paul to the Ephesians doth interpret it relateth to him who descended first into the lower parts of the earth that is to Christ who ascended far above all Heavens that he might fit all things if we may take an Apostle's Interpretation of a Prophet and it was Christ's or the Son of God's Voice that shook the Earth or Mount Sinai as we may read it Heb. 12.26 Before I leave this matter to what I said upon another Text which is much to our purpose about this Angel concerning Jacob I shall farther add how the same person that appeared unto him was in the shape of a man There wrestled a man with him Gen. 32.24 2ly That same when Jacob was about blessing Joseph's Children Gen. 48.16 he called an Angel The 3d thing is That he is expresly said to be God Lord of Hosts by Hosea for the Prophet speaking of Jacob said He had power with God upon the occasion of his wrestleing and added Yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial Hos 12.3 4 5. So hence it appears how the Person who at Bethel appeared to him when he fled from the Face of his Brother Esau Gen. 28.13 compared with Chap. 35.1
must never attempt to pry into this is a Mystery which most humbly and with an awful reverence we ought to adore and believe without any farther enquiry into it because God hath revealed it it is so namely that the Son not the Father nor the Holy Ghost was made Flesh In Religion there are several other things which we do simply believe tho it be impossible for our Reason to comprehend them as the Infiniteness Immensity and Eternity of God whereof the former is every where within and without the greatest and least things So is that union of both Natures in one Person incomprehensible Thus that which is spoken of the divine Essence may be attributed to the three Persons but to be understood of things which of themselves are competent to the nature of the Creatour Almightiness Eternity and such-like Attributes but not so in the things which belong to the Essence only upon the account of one Person for such things belong only to that Person for whose sake they are spoken of the Essence as the Incarnation of the Son the Voice of the Father from Heaven and the appearing of the Holy Ghost under the shape of a Dove We know how the Works ad extra or outward are undivided and common to the three Persons always excepting that wherein they destroy the proper Attributes of the Persons Thus the Son and Holy Ghost not the Father are sent the Son not the Father nor Holy Ghost was made Flesh tho' the Father and Holy Ghost had a hand in the Incarnation for the Angel said Luk. 1.35 The power of the highest shall overshadow thee and the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Prov. 9.1 Rev. 21.3 and Wisdom whereby the Son is represented hath builded her House otherwise called the Tabernacle of God So then the work of the Incarnation is common to the three Persons but in the effect is terminatively only in the Son When the Apostle speaks of the Mystery of our Salvation in the adorable and incomprehensible Incarnation of the Son of God or his taking â—ur human Nature he saith 1 Pet. 1.12 Exod. 25.20.22 which things the Angels desire to look into alluding to the two Cherubims on the Mercy Seat towards which their Faces were as desirous to see into 't In th Tabernacle was the Ark and above upon the Art was the Mercy Seat as the most holy part of he whole for there God met with Moses and from thence he communed with him all which was disposed according to God's own appointment for the Mercy Seat was a Type of Jesus Christ in whom and by whom alone God doth neet and commune with Men in the way of Mercy and as the Ceremonial Law was as a School-master to bring us to Christ as to him that was the end of the Law so all Figures and Prophecies aimed at him After God had sent all his Servants and he would have no more Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices then he sent his only Son to offer up himself a Sacrifice unto him for Sin This most holy and blessed Son by the Mouth of the Prophet David long before his coming said Lo I come to do thy will Psal 40.6 7. Heb. 10.7 9. O God He knew the Will of God and declared he would come to do 't The words contain a particular emphasis different from any thing of that nature express'd in Scripture When the Prophets foretold Josiah's Birth 1 Kin. 13 2. Isa 44. 45. and Cyrus's Empire they are not introduced as saying any thing themselves only one was to be born the other to be holden and supported because at that time they were not But here the Son of God speaks as one who then was in being and as a person who delighted to execute his Father's Will as he effectually did both actively and passively and this he declared when come Joh. 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and when upon the approach of the Hour wherein that Will was to be Joh. 12.27 his Soul was troubled he said For this cause came I unto this hour and when the bitter Cup which caused in him some Horror was put into his hand Luk. 22.42 he said Not my will but thine be done Let these words in the Evangelists with those in the Psalm be compared anâ— there will appear such a divine harmony as wiâ— convince they both came out of the same Persâ—â— only with this difference that in the Psalmis seen a steddy resolution such as became a divine Person and in the Gospel something of human Frailty the reason is because the first is expressed by a Prophet inspired by his Spirit and the last by himself in the days of his Flesh However coming is meant of a Person who pre-existed before that coming and in the time of the Prophecy And the circumstances oâ— God's having no more pleasure in Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings and his saying Lo I come which preceeded his coming do demonstrate in him a Choice and Resolution which is the act of a Person as the quoted place out of St. Peter's doth denote Christs coming into the World to be such a Mystery as the Angels so excellent and knowing Creatures desire to know and look into But I return to my Answer to their Objections These things being seriously considered will afford matter enough to answer and refute the Cavils of the Enemies to this Truth Before I proceed farther in answering some more Objections of theirs I think it will not be amiss for me because they make a scandalous Exception against that common place of the Apostle which proves the most holy Trinity There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost To add something more to what in the beginning I said about it They say it is wanting in some Greek Copies and in the Syriack but through the Fraud of the Arrians as saith Jerome and Erasmus Praefat. in Epist Can. whom Socinians would seem to appeal unto confesseth it to be in the most ancient Manuscripts of Brittany Spain and Rhodes and it is clear out of the Connexion of the Text V. 4 5 6. that it cannot be taken away without making a palpable breach and interruption of the sense for he hath just before spoken of God the Father of Christ and of the Spirit and to agree with what he saith v. 8 there are three that bear witness in Earth there must also be three that bear record in Heaven there must be Witnesses in Heaven as there are in Earth the three in Earth agree in one the three in Heaven are one We read it quoted by * Ad Theoph. lib. 1. in disp contra Aâ—rium in Conc. Nic. Athanasius so doth †Contra Varimadum Idacius so * Contra Arrian Fulgentius also it is quoted before the times of Athanasius in the Controversie against the Arrians
Man 1 Pet. 3.4 which in the following Verse is explained of Christ's dwelling in us by faith and elsewhere the same Apostle calls Union and Relation between Christ and the Church a great Mystery Eph. 5.32 which our Reason cannot comprehend without a Revelation This made David say Psal 119.169 O Lord give me understanding according to thy word and not according to my Reason or natural Capacity and blessed is he whom thou teachest out of thy law Psa 94.12 not out of his shallow Brains Our blessed Saviour's saying he that eateth my flesh Joh. 6.16 and drinketh my blood contains Doctrines not obvious to Reason that eating and drinking with Christ's dwelling in us is so true that we may not doubt of it for the word saith it but how and the manner of it as well as our dwelling in Christ and he in us is above Reason to understand wherefore Scripture hath revealed it to be by Faith but that People will believe nothing but what they can give Reason for when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Colossians the Gospel and Doctrine of Salvation were certainly revealed yet still he calls it a Mystery the mystery of God Col. 2.2 3. and of the Father and of Christ and in the following Verse he gives an instance of it in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge That thing is so he gives it as Matter of Faith by us to be believed but how it is and how all these Treasures are hid in him 't is for us a mysterious thing Every Nation whether Jews or Gentiles in matter of Religion had Mysteries so Christians have theirs and in particular that of the Incarnation which the Apostle calls a great one beyond all Dispute and Comparison and besides all this surely there are great Mysteries in Religion God whose infinite Nature and Attributes are the Ground of all Religion is the greatest Mystery of all and most incomprehensible for this Reason the Trinity and Incarnation are great Mysteries and above Reason tho' not contrary to 't These Doctrines indeed contain great Difficulties but no Contradictions which theirs do as to set up a Metaphorical and Figurative God secondary subordinate a Creature to be God by Office not by Nature a God but of 1700 standing and this Creature God to be worshipped is not this downright Idolatry Herein we must go no farther than Scripture leads us for fear of going out of our Depth and losing our selves in the deep things of God many more things to our purpose I could say upon this Matter but for the present have no time nor place left to do 't But to come to a Conclusion of the whole and main Subject to all that hath been said I shall add this out of the Prophet where the Husband of the Church of the Gentiles that were to be call'd to communion with Christ is said to be the Lord of hosts Isa 54.5 the holy one of Israel the redeemer and the Lord of the whole earth In the whole Bible the true God of Israel never assumed unto himself higher names than these are nor ever did effect a greater outward work than to redeem his Spouse Now out of several places in the New Testament it doth appear how Christ is the Husband and Redeemer of the Church which he is said to have purchased with his own blood Act. 20.28 Eph. 5.25 and to have loved it and have given himself for it Thus this Prophecy is plainly fulfilled in Christ who is the Person therein described with those glorious Names and Attributes altogether incommunicable even the Enemies themselves being the Judges to any meer Man or Creature whatsoever Moreover every house is builded by some man Heb. 3.4 but he that built all things is God Nay the World and the Church were built by Christ and by whom also all things were created in the beginning and made of nothing and tho' we would grant which we do not to Socinians that that which is spoken of the Creation of the World is to be understood of the new Creation or Regeneration yet this very same doth import and require as Divine and Infinite a Power as doth the Creation of the World and if we may so say something more than to make something out of nothing here is no opposition nothing to hinder but to bring Light out of Darkness Good of Evil to drive away Darkness Blindness and Ignorance out of the Mind to remove perverse and corrupt Affections out of the Will and incline it to Good to change the stubborn and violent Passions of a Heart desperately wicked and deceitful above all things I say to create a new Heart and renew a right Spirit is every jot as great if not a greater Work than the Creation of the World which Christ by his own Power having done and doing it every day Day is an illustrious and ought to be an undisputable Proof of his Deity which is confirmed as by his Names and Attributes so by his other works and by that divine and glorious worship due and rendered unto him not on Earth only but chiefly in Heaven equally with the Father by the four Beasts the Elders and Millions of Angels who upon their Knees if I may so say for 't is written They fell down saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour Rev. â— 11 12 13 14. and glory and every creature which is in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Amen But if after all these Enemies of Christ do refuse to joyn their Voice in this Heavenly Concert to give him Glory one day when they shall appear before him who is to judge the Quick and the Dead and he puts Questions to them concerning their impious disowning of him like the Man that came in without the Wedding-Garment Mat. 22.12 they shall be speechless they shall have nothing to say for themselves no more than the Sadduces and Pharisees for as then in the time of his humiliation no man was able to answer him a word v. 46. much more when he doth appear in his Glory shall his Enemies Mouths be stopped Luke 13.17 and all his adversaries ashamed as we read they were tho' now they be never so shameless and brazen-faced yet at last they certainly shall be confounded FINIS Books Printed for Rich. Wellington at the Lute in St. Paul ' s-Church-yard 1. THE Works of that Excellent Practical Physitian Dr. Thomas Sydenham wherein the List of acute Diseases are treated of after a new Method but also the safest and shortest way of Curing most Chronical Diseases Translated by John Pechey of the College of Physitians 2. A Discourse upon the Nature and Faculties of Man in several Essays with some Considerations upon the Occurrences of Humane Life By Tim. Nurse Gent. 3. A general History of the Diseases of Children Collected by the most eminent Practical Authors by John Pechey of the College of Phsitians 4. The Family Physitian being a choice Collection of Approved and Experienced Remedies to cure all Diseases incident to Humane Bodies useful in Families and serviceable to Country People By George Hartman Phylo Chymiâ—t Author of the Preserver and Restorer of Health Servant to Sir Kenelm Digby till he died