heaven earth under the earth are represented by John in the service of blessing praising honouring glorifying the Father and the Son in like manner without any distinction they are not heard worshipping the Father through the Son but worshipping and honouring both Father and Son in like manner as two equals or as two coessential persons in the Godhead Yea lest it should be imagined that he that sitteth upon the Throne is the principal object of the worship and that the Lamb is the less principal subordinate and intermediate object of it because he is mentioned first and the Lamb is mentioned after him therefore vers 14. the four and twenty Elders are brought in in this vision worshipping him alone who liveth for ever and ever without the mention of any other though other persons are not excluded And who is this person that liveth for ever and ever It is Christ who gives himself this Title though it be his Fathers Title also Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I live for ever and ever So it is in the Greek and it concurs in words with this Text of Rev. 5. 14. 3. This distinction as he brings it and means it opens a door to the worshipping of men or Angels any that may be called God's representatives and which act among men in Gods Name for if that be the formal reason of worship given to Christ He is Gods Vice-Roy or Representative which are not Scriptural Titles but names of his own or others devising and he is one that acts in Gods Name then worship may be given to Moses Joshua the Prophets for Moses was in Gods stead to Aaron and to the people I have made thee a God to Aaron sairh the Lord to him Exod. 4. 16. And the Prophets came in Gods Name may they therefore be worshipped According to his Argument they may yea any person or thing that is a means by whom or by which God dispenseth himself to men in a Religious or spiritual way or by whom or which we come to God in worship may be an intermediate object of Religious worship and so we may worship our Ministers which go to God for us and from God come to us and we may worship the Scriptures and the Ordinances by which we have communion with God for these are intermediate things betwixt God and us in worship may they therefore be intermediate objects of worship Seeing he makes Christ such a god as other creatures are but more eminent then they such a god as Moses was as Magistrates and Judges were which carried Gods authority in the Offices upon them a god of the same kinde with them What reason can be rendered if Christ be worshipped upon that account why they also being such-like gods as he and coming with God's authority betwixt God and us should not be worshipped as intermediate objects upon the same account But this is very gross and makes his assertion concerning worshipping Christ as an intermediate object betwixt God and us very gross also 4. It is apparent that Christ both assumed and Saints and Angels have given to him that very worship and honour and service which is peculiar to the high God alone both for matter and for manner 1. Doctrines Institutions and Ordinances have been received submitted to upon the testimony and authority of Christ alone Mat. 5. 21 22. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24. 2. The Ordinances Institutions Laws and Rites of Moses were altered changed abrogated abolished by the Power and Lordship of Christ alone Acts 15. 28. 1 Cor. 12. 5. Heb. 3. 5 6. 3. Believers have rested trusted and depended upon Christ for spiritual help and supply of grace according to their needs Phil. 4. 13. and 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. a place worthy consideration and very convincing if rightly understood and duely weighed 4. Saints have acquiesced and quietly submitted and rested satisfied with the will of Christ and have given up themselves wholly to him to be disposed of according to his pleasure whether to do or to suffer Act. 9. 10. to 17. 2 Cor. 8. 5. 5. Religious praying or prayer for spiritual blessings as it is an act of Religion is a service and worship that hath been given to Christ Luk. 17. 5 the Disciples pray to Christ to increase their faith 2 Thess 2. 16 17 the Apostle Paul prayed to him and Hos 12. 4 Jacob of old time wept and made supplication to him 6. Praise also as it is an act of Religion hath been offered up to him 2 Pet. 2. 18. Jud. v. 24 25. Rev. 1. 6. 7. Swearing hath been by his Name Rom. 9. 1 Paul attests Christ flees to him as a witness and to his conscience let the place be weighed and it will â—ppear to be an Oath and that the words in Christ â—â— as much as by Christ Isa 45. 23. compared with Rom. 14. 11. Philip. 2. 10 11. And Rev. 10. 5 6 the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever and ever who created heaven and the things therein and the earth and the things that are therein and the sea and the things that are therein And who is this It is Christ to whom the Creation is attributed and to live for ever and ever is assumed by himself and he makes himself known by this attribute as I have shewed before from Rev. 1. 18. 8. In casting of the lot Christ was invocated for the disposing of it Acts 1. 24. That it was Christ whom they prayed to appears from hence 1. They call him Lord whom they pray to which is Christ's usual name in the New-Testament by which he was distinguished from the Father 2. To chuse an Apostle was Christ's proper work he chose the twelve Apostles and therefore must chuse him who must come in room and place of Judas who was one of the twelve and who fell from his Apostleship by transgression therefore they use it as an argument in their prayer Shew whether of these two thou hast chosen that he may take part oâ— this ministery from which Judas by transgression fell 3. Christ is the great Lord of the Church anâ— he ascended up on high that he might give these gifts to his Church Apostles Evangelists c. Eph. 4. 10 11. And he is the great Lord of all his Churches and administers all such things that respect the good of his Churches 1 Cor. 12. 5. 9. The conscience is subjected to Jesus Christ Eph. 6. 5 6 7 9. Masters and servants are enjoyned in this place by the Apostle to do their duties to each other with an eye to Christ and as the servants of Christ and as to the Lord and not to men and as having a Master in heaven with whom there is no respect of persons The Apostle would engage their consciences in the thing and therefore speaks so much of Christ and he could have laid no greater bond upon them if he had mentioned the Father See Col. 3. 22 23 24 where
Beza that is When as the self-same Lord Jesus had said a little before Me you shall not have alwayes and was to ascend a little after it is apparent that there must be a distinction respecting the maner and way of Christs presence and absence in body he is absent but in vertue he is wholly most present in which vertue he doth communicate himself and all his things really in a spiritual way by faith unto us Here is not one Word of the Spirit of God but of the vertue and power of Christ in which he is present which cannot be the vertue of his body or of his Humane Nature in which he was so far absent for none of that could extend so far unless conveyed by that which was present viz. the divine Nature which is present everywhere and conveyes vertue from whole Christ to believers The next Scripture which he invades and labours to overthrow is Rev. 2. 2. I know thy works whence I infer Christs Godhead because otherwise at such distance he could not know all their works But he answers with Intergatories of admiration because of the absurdity which he pretends to apprehend in it His words are these What could he not Is any thing too hard for the Lord Could the Prophet Elisha know at a very great distance what the King of Syria said in his Bed-chamber and yet cannot Christ know at a distance He hath the Spirit viz. Wisdom and power c. given him without measure Joh. 3 34. and therefore can know beyond what we can conceive Rep. When our Lord Jesus Christ tels the Churches that he knows their works his scope is not to discover to them what knowledge he had by revelation from the Father but it was to make them sensible what quick sharp piercing eye-sight he himself had and what a vaste incomprehensible understanding and knowledge he had for the comfort of all true Saints and for the terror of all Hypocrites in all the Churches and this is maniffest from 23. ver of the same Chapter had he but read the Chapter over he would not have admired at me viz. at my collection but at his own Answers I will kill her children saith Christ with death and all the Churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reines and hearts c. In these words we may observe first what a knowledge it is that Christ hath of the works and wayes of the Church and what it is he knows it is an inward penetrating knowledge it is of the most unsearchable parts it is of the most hidden works it is of the works of the hearts and reines of men Secondly how Christ came by this knowledge not by any discovery that any other made to him but by and from himself he hath this knowledge it is a knowledge which he hath in himself it is his own knowledge I search the hearts and the reines Thirdly for what end Christ declares this his exquisite and perfect knowledge of all things in man which he hath in himself that all the Churches may know who he was what an one he was more observant of all secret wickedness then they were aware of that they might fear tremble more in reference to the eye of Christ then they did before Fourthly what this science or knowledge of Christ doth denotate and demonstrate Christ to be no less then the most high God for the most high God doth assume power and perfection of searching and trying hearts and reines to himself as his own proper prerogative which none is enabled to challenge in Jer. 179 10. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it as if he should have said None can know it But then he excepts himself I the Lord search the heart and try the reines that is I alone do it and yet Christ attributes this high Divine transcendent knowledge to himself and with such suitable words as if Christ were the person speaking in Jeremie or as if the person speaking in Jeremie spake also in the Revelation as if one and the same person spake in both places for they challenge one the same thing the close of the speech in both places is the same and it shews that one and the same God speaks in both places if not one and the same person And now if Mr. Knowles have any ingenuity in him he will open his eyes and lie under the conviction of this Text unless he have sold himself to be deluded and to seduce others It appears by what hath been presented that he cannot evade the strength of this Text of Rev. 2. 2. and the collection made there-from with his instance of Elisha who knew what the King of Syria spake in his Bed-chamber which was done not by any wisdome that was in him but by the revelation of God but Christs knowledge was not such was not from an other but from and in himself But he rests not in that but flies to the Spirit which he saith was given unto him beyond all measure Joh. 3. 34. But what is this Spirit which was given to him which made him thus wise that he could know all the works of the Churches This Spirit is in his opinion but a creature he called him but very lately Christs instrument and his whole scope in his Book is to shew that the Father alone is God the most high God therefore according to him the Spirit is but a creature And shall Christ have all this help from a creature to know all the works of the Churches Doth the Spirit himself know all the hidden workings of the hearts of all Churches and of all Saints There are works of the hearts and reines doth the Spirit know them if he be but a creature The Scripture tels us that none can know them but God Psal 26. 2. 139. 23. and Jer. 11. 20. Chap. 20. 12. But he saith the Spirit is not God therefore cannot know such things therefore by the gift of him Christ cannot come to know such things And how comes the Spirit being but a creature to know more then Christ and to be Christs instructor when Christ is the chief of all the creatures and a God in wisdom and strength in comparison of them according to his opinion is not here an inconsistency which doth always attend falshood Nor can the Spirit without measure be given to Christ if the Spirit as he asserts be but a creature for then himself is measured being finite and not infinite and must be given in measure therefore by the gift of him Christ cannot know all things Yea further it may be said though the Spirit were infinite as indeed he is infinite and is good whatever he weakly and sinfully asserts to the contrary yet Christ being but a creature as he desperately argues he cannot be given without measure for things are received according to the capacity of that which doth receive and not above it and so
with his Fathers and Christ may read all the decrees of the Father in himself in his own wisdome and will And he is called the wisdome of the Father and the admirable counsellour 1 Cor. 1. 24. Esay 9. 6. And the Disciples attributed to him the knowing of all things John 16. 30. and John 21. 17. 4. It is inconsistent to the place which he cites that Christ should be absolutely ignorant of the day and hour of judgement to the context on every hand for Christ had told all the forerunners of it the things that should precede and something that should follow the temper of men of that age when it should be the security that should be in the world at that time he himself was to be the person that must come as Judge and he was to depart and then to come and he was to appoint every one his work till he come till the very day and hour of his coming the parable declares so much and could he then be ignorant of the day and hour it is against sense and reason Christ then had knowledge of the very precise time of judgement and yet he had not knowledge he saith so himself how is it to be understood as he was the Son of man according to the man-hood he had not the knowledge thereof but as he was the Son of God he had the knowledge thereof Col. 1. 15. was next produced by me to prove the eternal generation of Christ by it But he had perverted the true sense of it before he came to it and made use of it to serve his own purpose by it while he was pleading for that unchrist-like doctrine which he had received and was ingaged to maintain it And in this place he only tels me he had spoken to it and with a scornful jeere prayes me to consider it again and by my next to let him hear what part thereof it is in which Christs eternal generation may be seen Rep. In this text of Col. 1. 15. Christ is called the first born of every creature and his eternal generation was meant by it which I have proved already in my other Treatise and shall yet again manifest it 1. First-born is not the same with first created 1. because it cannot be proved by Scripture that Christ was created at all therefore not that he was first created 2. In the beginning he was but no mention of any beginning that he had 3. There is expresse mention that heaven and earth were first created for in the beginning they were created and before the beginning nothing was created 4. Christ was born according to the flesh but he was not the first-born but in fulnesse of time was born therefore in reference to his humanity and as he was the seed of the woman he is not called first-born 5. First born and first-begotten are termes equivalent and point at one and the same thing viz. or some person that did perform such an act as begetting of Christ 6. First-born first-begotten and only-begotten are alike congruous and may equally so far as concerns the truth of the thing be attributed to Christ so that whatever is the meaning of such titles or names there is a peculiarity therein to Christ and Christ hath therein no fellows and so it can neither be applyed to creation nor to ordinary and temporary generation for it cannot be said that Christ was onely created nor onely generated and begotten nor onely born for there were numerous creatures created and innumerable generated in the ordinary way But Christ was alone so begotten and so born of God as none else were 7. Christ speaks of himself that which none other can speak but he God possessed me in the beginning of his way before his workes of old possessed me how As Eve possessed Cain for the word is one in the original and it is rendred gotten and indeed he must be begotten so the Lord possessed Christ got Christ begot Christ in the beginning of his way and when was that beginning in the beginning of the world no it was before his works of old or ever the earth was and the earth was the first together with the heavens in the beginning yet Christ was before not in the beginning of the creation but in the begininng of Gods way now Gods way was from everlasting therefore Christs going forth hath been from of old from everlasting Mich. 5. 2. his decrees were from everlasting and God was ever working therefore it is explicated verse 23. I was set up from everlasting in the beginning the one interprets the other the beginning of Gods way is from everlasting Thus I have found eternal generation in these words first born and in his next let him evade it if he can I shall now come to the consideration of Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created c. and John 1. 3. All things were made by him and without him was made nothing that was made In answer to which he thinks he hath acted his part gallantly but let us hear what it is that he saith He puts the Scriptures into an argument after this sort He by whom all things were made is the most high God but all things were made by Jesus Christ therefore Jesus Christ is the most high God He grants the major in reference to the principal agent but denies it in reference to an instrumental agent And saith he asserts Jesus Christ to be onely an instrumental agent in the creation of the world Rep. I have already in many places of my other Treatise because he often harps upon Christs instrumentalnesse to the Father in creating all things confuted this assertion yet if he have any thing to say in the defence of it I am willing to discusse it with him And he produceth four reasons for the confirming of his position I shall try the strength of them 1. The book of the creatures speaks onely of one first cause and principal agent of all things of a Trinity of persons in unity of essence as principal agents in the work of creation the whole creation is silent Rep. 1. If the book of the creatures were wholly silent yet if the book of the Scriptures be not silent we are to attend the book of the Scriptures if the book of the creatures would have taught us all things that we ought to believe concerning God what need had there been of the book of the Scriptures 2 The book of the creatures doth teach many things which we understand not from them the defect is in us not in it we are dul in apprehending and slow of heart in beleeving what the book of the Scriptures doth teach us therefore may not conceive aright what the book of the Creatures doth teach us 3 The heathen Philosophers from the principles of Reason have acknowledged a Trinity of Persons in the unity of Essence as Morneus a French Lord in that exquisite piece of his called The truenesse of
certainly known So our High Priest Jesus Christ is without beginning of dayes or end of life Repl. This answer is too light and frothy in a subject so serious It was not mine intent or designe and he knows it very well to make Melchisedech God nor any of the persons of the Godhead nor yet to make a quaternity of persons but to make Christ God to whom that in truth belongs which in type only and in a figure mystically is attributed to Melchisedech Moses and David speak of Melchisedech as if he had been one who had glided down out of heaven and come from above and had again soon after conveyed himself thither for there is not any mention at all made of his birth or death of his father or mother or kindred or when he became Priest nor when he laid down his Priesthood And the Apostle saw the mysterie in it and that it behoved him so to be described and set out that he might be a Type of Christ both of his Person and Priesthood And therefore when he makes use of him as a Type to set out Christ by he describes him to be without father and so was Christ as he was man and without mother and so was Christ as he was God having no beginning of dayes nor end of life nor had Christ according to his divine Nature considered either beginning or end of dayes but acording to his humane he had both and both of them described and well known by all that are versed in Scripture-story and the Apostle knowing these things in expresse words makes Melchisedech the Type of him discerning that the Holy Ghost in concealing these things of him had made him so and intended him to be so as these words import Made like unto the Son of God for he is described saith Beza as if he had neither been mortall man nor had been born of a mortall woman which because it could by no means agree with any meer man born of men therefore the Apostle saith that he is peculiarly the figure of that one only begotten Son of God and that it was so intended by the Holy Ghost Now then the strength of the Argument fetch'd from this Scripture lies here First Melchisedech is a Type of Christ that is without controversie Secondly He is a Type in these things mentioned of him Without father without mother without beginning of dayes and end of time Otherwise in vain doth the Apostle mention these things of Melchisedech but as a type for in truth it was not so of Melchisedech And it appears by the scope of the Apostle which was to interpret the words of David A Priest after the order of Melchisedech therefore it was necessary for him to set forth what Melchisedech was in his person and in his office and in his person he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Without father without mother not in truth but they are not mentioned and so it is as if it had been so and that in type he might be so and therein resemble the Son of God that in truth was so Thirdly Melchisedech being only a type in these things of Christ it was not necessary that he should be such in truth but only in a figure mystically as indeed he was not but it was necessary that Christ should be so in truth being the Anti-type that is being the substance of that which Melchisedech was but a shadow of therefore in John 1. 17. it is said that the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ That is there were many shadows in the law of Moses but Christ came and fulfilled them and was the truth of them We read of David that he said of himselfe They pierced my hands and my feet they gave me vineger and gall to drink which really were not done to David but mystically and in a figure as David was the type of Christ but these things were really done to Christ and in truth were fulfilled in Christ So the bloud of buls and calves and of such beasts which were sacrificed and offered they took away sin cleansed away the guilt and brought pardon and purged the conscience and brought peace but none of these did so in truth but mystically in type only as they shadowed out and pointed at the sacrifice of Christ and at his bloud but the bloud of Christ really and in truth did take away sin did clense the conscience did bring remission peace Heb. 9. 9 12 13 14. More instances might be given but indeed there is evidence enough in the very nature of a type and antitype There is a mystery in the type and there is the impletion or fulfilling of the mystery in the Antitype or the thing of the mystery is to be seen in the Antitype But enough of this unless he had said more to impugne it I now come to consider of his answer to Pro. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was To this he thus answers And gives this sense The Lord who is Possessour of heaven and earth obtained or created me when he began to worke before his antient workes And I was set up or annoynted to have the dominion of all things and that from everlasting that is from the beginning before the earth was Repl. The word indeed signifies to obtain or to possess which is sometimes done by creation and so when heaven and earth were created they were possessed by God or as he saith God was Possessour of them But in this place it is an obtaining or possessing as is done by generation I gave an instance in Eve in reference to Cain I have gotten a man it was by a begetting or generating there and in this place it is so also Christ is called the onely begotten of the Father and here in ver 24. Christ the wisdome of God declares how he was possessed viz. as a Son that is brought forth by a woman travelling in which Christ is said to be born and is called the first-born to exclude creation and that it might be by generation and the act of the Father in communicating the divine essence to the Son is called after the manner of men that it may be better conceived of a begetting or generating suteable to which is the Hebrew word Amun v. 30. which signifies a child nursed nourished brought up with a father and such was Christ which is thus expressed to hold forth his generation and not creation for when God created Adam he created him a man but Christ is represented as a child to shew how he was begotten and it is added that Christ was his Fathers delight and a sport before him for so it is in the Hebrew and this is humanitùs dictum is is spoken after the manner of Fathers who take dear delight in the childe that comes out of their
this That doctrine which denyes and destroyes that one only true Christ and brings in a strange and a false Christ that doctrine destroyes the true Gospell and Scriptures and brings in another Gospell and Scripture in a main point of it But this doctrine of his which makes Christ a creature doth thus therefore this doctrine brings in another Gospell and Scripture in a main point of it The Major is so void of controversie that it will not be stuck at but the Minor will be denyed and therefore must be confirmed That doctrine that denyes Christ to be the proper Son of God and makes Christ to be onely the Son of man that doctrine denyes and destroyes that one only true Christ and brings in a strange and a false Christ but this doctrine of his doth thus therefore this doctrine of his denyes and destroyes that onely true Christ and brings in a false Christ and strange to Scripture The Major will again passe without exception but proofe will be required for the Minor And I confirme it thus That doctrine which takes Christs God-head from him that doctrine denies Christ to be the proper Son of God and makes him to be meerly the son of man But this doctrine of his which makes Christ to be a meere creature and nothing more takes Christs God-head from him Therefore this doctrine of his denyes him to be the proper Son of God and makes him to be meerely and only the son of man The Major wil now only be in question for the Minor is without question true if God-head be taken in a proper sense as I have taken it in my arguing with him all along For the proofe then of the Major proposition I shall present and make out two things 1. that these two things God and Son of God are all one in reference to Christ therefore whoever teacheth any doctrine against the one viz. that Christ is not God teacheth doctrine against the other viz. that Christ is not the Son of God 2. Christ cannot be God any other way or under any other consideration but as he is the Son of God 1. God and Son of God are all one thing in reference to Christ my meaning is not that the termes are confounded for the word God respects the essence more properly and subsisting in a person and the words Son of God respect the second person in the Trinity as distinguished from the Father and the holy Ghost subsisting in the Godhead But my meaning is that where ever the one is expressed the other is implyed and that a divine person subsisting in the Godhead is meant evermore and in the order of existing and working the second person for proofe of this consider these following particulars 1. Christ himself confounds these two God and Son of God by using them promiscuously John 10. 33. 36. In ver 33. the Jewes said they stoned him because he blasphemed and said he was God Christ repeats their words and blames them for charging him with blasphemie because he said he was the Son of God ver 36. those were not their expressions but Christ makes them their expressions therefore in a sense they were one and the same thing and Son of God was as much as God else Christ had both extenuated their fault spoken untruly of them But in truth and deed Christ said of himself neither the one nor the other in express words but said he and his Father were one ver 30. and if the Son of God did not import as much as God their collection in their own words that he made himselfe God in making himselfe one with the Father was more naturall in reference to Christs words then as Christ repeated them For the Father is God and not the Son of God and when Christ said he and his Father were one they might rather conclude that Christ made himselfe God then that he made himself the Son of God unless the Son of God were also God and so Christ might be the Son of God and yet one in Godhead with the Father 2. The Apostle John 1 Joh. 5. 20. makes the Son of God and the true God to be all one in reference to Christ You are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ and this true one this Son Jesus Christ this very person is the true God As if the Apostle should have said when I speak of the Son of God I would have you to know whom I mean by him I do not mean a man a meer creature and nothing else but I mean a person that is the true God 3. The Apostles in their professions of faith if they do agree therein and I suppose none will say that they do disagree therein do make these two to be one and the same thing The Apostle Peter professeth his faith in these words I beleeve that thou art Christ the Son of the living God But the Apostle Thomas in these words My Lord and my God Peter beleeved him to be the Son of God Thomas beleeved him to be very God and very Lord yea his God and his Lord in an applicative way and Christ doth not look upon one as two low for him nor upon the other as too high for him but upon both as professions of their true faith in him he tells Peter that upon the rock of such a profession he would build his Church and he puts a blessing upon all those that shall beleeve as Thomas beleeved his slowness only to beleeve depending upon sight excepted 4. The grounds whereupon the followers of Christ have some of them stiled him the Son of God and others of them have stiled him God are alike and high enough all of them to cause them to entitle him God Nathaneel sees his omnipresence and omniscience when Christ told him before Philip called thee I saw thee under the fig tree and he glorifies him with the title of Son of God Thou art the Son of God Thomas discerns his omnipotence in raising himself from the dead according as he had foretold destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three dayes and he attributes the name of God to him My Lord and my God Had Thomas apprehended Christ to have been passive in the resurrection and raised meerly by the power of the Father and not his own why should he denominate him God upon this occasion and not rather put that crown upon the Father that raised him if the Father only and not the Son wrought in it 5. The high Priests and Scribes and Pharisees thought it to be blasphemy alike in Christ when he made himself the Son of God and made God his natural Father as when he made himself God as they truly collected from those words of his I and my Father are one Compare Joh. 5. 18. with Joh. 10. 31 33. and the truth of this wil appear And they made account when he stiled himself the Son of God that he therein assumed to
be right and true though there were no Law to impose any such thing upon men and it conststs in faith and love and fear and hope and thankfulness and in praying unto God and hearing what God the Lord will say to them for of these such who have a right knowledge of God will soon be convinced Psal 9. 10. They that know thy Name will trust in thee And hereto also doth belong some natural external acts and postures of the body which do hold forth the reverence and homage of the minde as the bowing of the knees and prostrating of the body before God Instituted worship is certain mediums or means ordained by the will of God for the putting forth and exercising of natural worship viz. faith love hope fear c. which are inward acts of the minde and graces whereby we gratifie God and honour him and belong to Natural worship This Instituted worship consists in Ordinances and Services of God's own appointment in which the Natural worship of faith hope fear c. are acted and by which they are promoved Having shewed what Divine Worship is and the grounds and kindes of it it remains that I declare that all Divine Worship and not some alone as he asserts is peculiar to God and not to be given to any creature that is no more then a creature 1. That which is limited and restrained by Go to God alone in the first and second Commandment and inhibited and forbidden to be given to any other that must needs be peculiar to God alone But all divine worship both natural and instituted together with the postures that do attend them as applied to divine worship are limited and restrained by God to God onely and prohibited to be given to any other Therefore it must needs be proper and peculiar to God For what else is the sense of those two Commandments Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. but an injunction of the having and exercising such divine Graces and Affections upon and towards God above and a submitting to divine directions and instructions from God in reference to the means of worship and to him alone All that hath been written and preached by the most approved looks this way They say naturall worship is forbidden in the one and ordained worship in the other and he that gives the natural to any but the true God sets up and makes to himself another God beside him and he that sets up or submits to any formes of worship without the dictate or warrant of the true God commits Idolatry against the true God 2. That which Christ doth appropriate to God that must needs be peculiar to him But Christ doth appropriate divine worship to God alone Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Therefore divine worship is peculiar to God and may not be given to any other That which the Devil required of Christ was prostration or bowing his body to the ground before him in a Religious way as for his heart and the faith of it and love or it and fear of it and affections of it in any kind or the intention of those affections he mentions them not requires them not nor could he know whether they were given to him or no nor in what degree and measure but the outward homage onely in the inclination of the body to the earth in a religious way and Christ yeelds not to it but repels him with the Scripture which he fetcheth from Deut. 6. 13. or from Chap. 10. 20. or from Chap. 26. 10. for I find no other that Christ can allude to and Expositors do direct to the two former but in none of them is it said Him onely shalt thou serve nor is it applyed to external adoration but our Saviour an infallible expositor doth extend it to religious postures and outward homage in a spiritual way and doth restrain it to God alone 3. That which the Apostle condemned in the Galatians while they were heathen that cannot be allowable in Christians But the doing of Religious service or giving religious or divine worship to them which by nature are not Gods is the thing that the Apostle condemns in the Galatians while they were Heathens Gal. 4. 8. Therefore it is not allowable in Christians The Heathens when they worshipped stocks and stones and works of the hands of the Workman they did it relativè not terminative that is they worshipped the highest being in these and did not terminate and end their worship in these but used these as helps in that worship which they directed to the most High God whom they knew not and carried their worship through these to him as from Acts 17. 23. compared with 25. 29. will appear They worshipped Idols of silver and gold and graven stone yet they knew that those Idols made by mens hands were not God but there was an unknown God whom they worshipped in such Images Yet this worship was accounted by the Apostle a doing service to them which by nature are not Gods and was condemned And this intermediate service which was not terminated in the thing served will not be allowed as belonging to any other but to him who is essentially God and by nature God 4. That which neither the Angels nor the most eminent Saints on earth durst accept though tendred to them because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper onely to him that ought not to be given to any creature but is peculiar to God But divine Religious worship manifested in the outward prostration of the body was a thing that the Angels and the most eminent Saints durst not accept of because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper to him alone Therefore divine Religious Worship ought not to be given to any meer creature but is peculiar to God There are many Scriptures which serve to confirm that which can in reason onely be questioned in this Argument viz. Whether all divine Religious worship though intermediate and in the lowest degree was rejected by Angels and Saints as undue to them and as proper to God for this purpose see Act. 10. 26. where may be found that Adoration with the body which did proceed from the estimation of the mind though Cornelius that tendred it knew Peter to whom he tendred it neither to be God nor Christ nor had he that esteem of him nor did he terminate that worship which he gave him upon him for he was better instructed but through him looked at God yet the thing was evil that he did and undue to Peter or to any meer man whatever and was therefore rejected by Peter upon that ground and account Stand up said he for I my self am also a man as if he should have said I am not God but a man a meer man and nothing more therefore it is not proper to adore me thus
Father and I are one ver 10. Beleevest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father is in me and that we are one God Therefore seeing ye believed in the Father believe in me also The fourth instance comes now next to be considered of which is this Instance 4. If Christ be but a meer creature then a meer creature is the Saviour of men saving them with a mighty and eternal salvation as the Scripture speaks but this is against the whole current of the Gospel which speaks of God our Saviour Tit. 2. 10 13. And in many other places In answer to this he saith Against this your instance I shall level this assertion which will be sufficient to discover its weakness and confute it That to affirm Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of men without God or equal with God is contrary to the current of the whole Scripture which doth distinguish God from Christ in the work of Salvation calling him a Saviour as distinct from Christ 1 Tim. 1. 1. where God is said to be our Saviour and the Lord Jesus Christ to be our hope and in the Text you alledge and elsewhere frequently Rep. To level one assertion against another is to level Arguments by way of opposition not to answer Arguments by way of satisfaction Yea it is to evade answering by objecting And it is a slie and crafty way of answering when there is a knot which is difficult and perhaps impossible to be untyed in any Scripture or Argument to pass it over with silence and onely propose somewhat which may trouble and perplex the truth in it or the mind rather of him that reads it Thus he did in his Answer to the two last Instances and now again he runs to these fig-leaves to cover the nakedness of his Tenent from that shame which this Argument or Instance enforced with so uncontroulable a Scripture would cast upon it But I shall inforce the Scripture alleadged by me conceiving it will carry conviction along with it to the hearts of such who shall duely perpend and consider it and afterwards shew the weakness of his assertion In this Scripture of Tit. 2. 10 11 13. the Apostle speaks of Christ all along in v. 10. he calls the doctrine of the Gospel the Doctrine of our Saviour God So it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they may adorn the Gospel of our Saviour God in v. 11. he speaks of the same God Christ for by the grace of God he means the Gospel of grace or the Doctrine of Grace which he had in the former verse called the Doctrine of our Saviour God This Doctrine or Gospel hath appeared unto all men in ver 13 he stiles Christ the blessed hope which is elsewhere made the title of God Rom. 15. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 21. And he puts the denomination of the great God and our Saviour upon Christ It is not a great God without an article as he alleadged to evade the strength of Joh. 1. 1. But it is the great God with an Article This Text I presented among the Scriptures which I produced and it was the third in order but he passed over it then promising to speak to it when he should give in his answer to another Paper and here he takes no notice of it neither What may be the reason but because he is not able to present any thing which can clould and darken the bright evidence of it for it witnesseth two things with great clearness 1. That Christ is God great God the great God or that one great God 2. That Christ though he be man as well as God yet he is Saviour chiefly and especially as he is God and not as he is man For considered as God he is able to save to the utmost As he is man there are actions done by him and sufferings born by which men are saved but the vertue force efficacie and valour of both the one and other are as he is God And he saveth with the Father as the principal efficient Isa 45. 21. I am a just God and a Saviour and there is none beside me This is the person that took flesh that thus speaks It is cleer from Rev. 14. 10 11 that it is Christ but the Father is not excluded and the meaning is there is none other God that saves but what Christ is Because the Father and Christ and the Spirit are one principal efficient that saves It is further confirmed Hos 1. 7. I will save them by Jehovah their God it is the speech of Jehovah the Father concerning Jehovah the Son whom he calls their God and promiseth them to save by him And it must not be understood that this salvation is instrumentally effected because it is said I will save them by c. For the titles given to the person by whom the Father will save do shew that he is not an instrument Is Jehovah their God but an instrument in saving Is one Jehovah instrumental to another or is it onely the order of working betwixt the Father and the Son Are there two Jehovahs and both of them our God Moses tells Israel Jehovah our God is our Jehovah for Essence one though two in persons Deut. 60. 4. The order then betwixt the persons is onely to be observed and acknowledged not any superiority or inferiority in working But let me consider his assertion To affirm Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of men without God or equal with God is contrary to the current of Scripture Thus he But against what expressions of mine is this assertion levelled I have affirmed that whoever saves must be God therefore Christ because he saves must be God But where have I said that Christ saves without God To save as God and to save without God are these two one thing Or are they not rather repugnant and contrary to one another But suppose as it must needs be that by God he means the Father I have not asserted that Christ saves without the Father by way of efficiency but the Father saves by the Son Christ Jesus and the Son saves from the Father But I assert them to be equals in saving notwithstanding this order betwixt them for it is but one God that saves though in diversity of persons and this one God cannot be superiour and inferiour to himself And all the confirmation that he himself gives of his own Position is this That God in Scripture is distinguished from Christ in the work of Salvation and he quotes 1 Tim. 1. 1. where God is said to be our Saviour and the Lord Jesus is onely said to be our hope But this hath no strength in it for in Tit. 1. 4. God hath not the title of Saviour given unto him when he is mentioned with Christ but hath the relative title of Father onely given him but Christ is called Saviour and is distinguished from God by that name Is therefore God viz. the Father less a
have denied him to be God in his pardoning of mens sins His third Scripture is Acts 5. 30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins Hence he collects that Christ received from another his power of forgiving sins Rep. This Scripture seems to favour his opinion more then any that he hath alledged and it hath the most seeming strength in it for his purpose But this answer may be returned unto it Christ doth fall under a double consideration in Scripture he may be looked upon absolutely as the Son of God and second person in the Trinity as Jehovah and as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very God or he may be looked upon relatively as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God man as â—mmanuel God with us or in our nature as God manifest in the flesh and as sent into the world and executing the office of Mediator If he be considered in the former acception he is essentially Lord and that one Law-giver in all the creatures are the works of his giver hands and subject to him and every transgression and sinne that is committed is against him and it belongs to him with the Father and the holy Ghost who are one God with himself to pardon sinne to acquit from the guilt and to deliver from the curse thereof because he can turn away his wrath and hath power over all plagues and can save from them and so he receives no power to forgive sins but it belongs to him and cannot be separated from his Godhead but is naturally essentially and eternally his But if he be considered in the latter acception then many things are derived to him as the office of Mediatorship and a Lordship and the name Saviour is given him upon that account which is a name above every name of the Creatures and Prince and Captaine of our salvation is a name put upon him and belonging to him in this sense it is given to him to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Now it must be understood as I have expressed in my former Treatise that the giving of these things doth not deny any intrinsecall or inward perfection which Christ hath but rather supposeth it and it must be granted that Christ to whom these things are given according to his due nature hath all his perfection without the gift of these and that these are but declarative and serve to manifest that essentiall riches and glory which he had with the Father from eternity and that his naturall Dominion and Lordship which cannot be separated from his Deity is that which founds such donations and gifts which are too high for any creature and would carry away Divine glory from him who is God if they should be given to any meere creature and they are to be exercised by the help of the Godhead of Christ else they could not be acted by him as being too great for any man or meere creature Indeed the humanity hath fellowship with the Godhead in the glory of the having and executing these things and to the manhood it is glory derived which was not before but to the Deity of Christ it is glory manifested and declared only More particularly It is given to Christ as Mediator to dispense pardon of sin and it belongs to his Priest-hood to do it The Priests of the Law they did it externally and ministerially figuratively and typically they pronounced clean and unclean so farre as concerned the flesh but Christ did it and doth it effectually and spiritually pronouncing and discharging the conscience from all sinne and what was the reason of this difference They did it as men therefore in weaknesse and could speak but were not able to effect what they spake but Christ did it as the Sonne of God yea as the eternall Son of God as the Apostle testifies Heb. 7. 3. So that the very Priest-hood of Christ that it might be effectuall in the works of it and this of pardoning of sin was one of them was founded in the eternall Son-ship of Christ and therein lay this ability and power to performe the works of it and principally this work of remitting sinnes So that though the way of dispensing pardon be given to Christ yet the power of dispensing was not given but is as ancient as his Son-ship therefore he erres in his inference which he fetcheth from this Text of Acts 5. 31. When he saith that he received from another his power of forgiving sins For it was not power that he received but the way of exercising of it It is acted in the flesh as Mediator even since Christ came in the flesh and now the Son of man forgives sinnes that is the person that is man and the son of man forgives but not as he is man or the son of man but as he is God and the Son of God For though it may be said that the Mediator pardoneth sin efficiently as well as Meritoriously as Priest yet it cannot be said that the whole of the Mediator doth it but the divine nature alone acts in it It may be said of a man who consists of soul and body that he meditateth but it cannot be said of the whole of man that he meditateth but of the minde only It may also be said of of him that he walketh but it is to be understood of his body only and not of his minde yet because of the union betwixt body and soul both of them making but one man what either doth is attributed to the whole So it is with Christ our Mediator he bore our sinnes as man only for the God-head could not suffer he purged away our sinnes as God-man for the man-hood acted and the God-head merited he pardoned sin as God only because he is supream Lord only as he is God yet the Mediator doth all these that is he that is both God and man doth them but in this different way he doth them And so it appears that still he is the principall in this work of forgiving sins because he doth it as God and that this gift which respects not the power it self of dispensing but the way only of dispensing doth adde nothing to the intrinsicall perfection of Christ but is manifestive of that inward essentiall glory which he had with the Father before any beginning was which was vailed by Christs assuming flesh and yet manifested in flesh by acts which were too high for flesh of which nature this of pardoning sin was one The conclusion is this the work of forgiving sin is high and glorious proper and peculiar and suitable to this great and most high God Jesus Christ the Mediatorly the way of dispensing it is below this excellent person Christ who is not only the son of the highest but the highest and it was the humbling and debasing and emptying
and destroying of them that saints may be kept and preserved sound and incorrupt in the faith or at least may be recovered out of errors into which they have fallen I shall give some few hints of these four particulars 1. Of the cause of Errors how they come to spring 2. Of the growth of Errors how theâ— come to spread 3. Of the cure of Errors what ought to be done to heal the persons of them and to destroy the Errors in them 4. Of the preservatives against errors when they are rife and not easily cured where they have taken root and how Christians may be kept untainted and undefiled of them 1. The causes of Errours are many by which meanes it comes to pass that many are leavened with them 1. There are many Apostate Christians who have put away a good conscience and concerning faith they have made shipwrack of it as the Apostle speaketh 1 Tim. 1. 19. and in Gods just Judgement it comes to pass many times that these have a Spirit of errour let lose upon them and these as the false Prophets and false Apostles of old go about as seducers and deceivers and say that they have dreamed and they have received a word from the Lord and they utter lyes and falsehoods in the name of the Lord these have a dextrous way of insinuation to ingratiate themselves among the people and to steale away their hearts from their sound and powerful Pastors and Teachers as the false Apostles bewitched the people and alienated their affections from the Apostles of Christ These serve not the Lord Jesus as the Apostle Paul speaketh Rom. 16. 17. but their own bellies and for filthy lucre sake make merchandize of the souls of the poore people 2. There are many persons of great parts and gifts and of unsanctified hearts and spirits these are apt to be puffed up with pride and to fall into the snare and condemnation of the divel 1. Tim. 3. 6. These are ambitious of glory and would fall under observation for singularity These are seldom wise to sobriety these have bin wont to abound in notions and conceptions to be greatly extravagant therein and Satan hath commission given unto him to enter into them to work effectually in them and by them they become notable instruments in his hands and he is a lying spirit in their hearts and tongues and these have the art and skill of putting off corrupt and adulterate Doctrine as if it had Gods touch and stamp upon it by the sharpness and acuteness of the parts and wits of these simple and more unwary Christians come to be beguiled 3. Many of the people are weake and injudicious and have not a good root of knowledge in them they do not know things in the reasons and causes of them but have received the notion of the truth without the ground of it they have not a deep insight but a superficiall knowledge onely and have seen the out side but know not the mistery within and so it comes that with every wind of Doctrine they are shaken Eph. 4. 14. through the slight of men and cunning craftiness for it is easy to present things with another face while persons look not after that which is within and the fraud and falshood comes not to be discerned for the net and the snare is not in sight and that which is specious is only presented 4. Many persons are ambitious after knowledge that they may increase it and are wholy given as the Athenians to understand news so they to understand Doctrine to arrive at higher notions and conceptions nor for the honour of God nor in affection to the truth but to furnish themselves unto discourse and to increase their repute and so they become swift in hearing and quick in receiving any new Doctrine and God gives them up to strong delusions that they may believe lyes 2 Thes 2. 10 c. who neither seek nor receive the truth in the love of it that they may be saved but that they may be praised 5. Persons that have a real inplantation into Christ and those that have onely a visible and formal inplantation but want a true ingraftment they live together not only in the world but in the Church of Christ also and are under some droppings and waterings of external enjoyments and have a name to live and yet are truly dead and the honour and praise of those that are saints indeed are put upon them Now God that discernes betwixt the sheep and the goats and seperates betwixt them and he also who unmaskes hypocrites and pluckes the vizard off from them he that can distinguish betwixt the natural complexion in his own people and the paintings of others who pretend to him but are none of his he in his providence brings an houre of temptation both upon the one and other he tryes them both with the wind of false Doctrine and heresie and for this end he doth it that they which are approved may beâ—e manifest and that the hypocrisie of the rest may be made detected that himself may have glory in his own and that the others may ly under shame 1 Cor. 11. 19. And the Apostle John saith they went out from us because they were not of us which is appliable to false Doctrine and error and heresie they left the truth and those that adhered to it and they went out after error 6 Many persons forsake or never put themselves in to that order which Christ hath appointed for Saints to walk in in which they might be watched over and so kept by which meanes they are in a state as sheep without shepheards and when the Wolfe commeth they become a prey for the shep are not able through weakness and simplicity to defend themselves if there be no shepheard to provide for their safety and poor weak well meaning Christians are less able sheep will fly from danger though that doth not save â—hem alwayes but Saints many times mistrust no evill and so decline not the danger The Apostle declares how he himself watched for the space of three yeers with many teares to prevent this evill of the flock being devoured by Wolves and he calls the Elders of Ephesus together and gives them this charge that they would take heed to themselves and to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made them overseers to feed the Church of God that is with sound incorrupt doctrine and he renders this reason because after his decease grievous Wolves should enter in not sparing the flock and men of perverse minds amongst themselves Acts 20. 28 29 30. And it is to be observed that such persons how wise soever how holy soever they do professe to be and really may be who cast off Ordinances and Churches and Ministry and say there are now no Pastours nor Teachers nor flocks committed to them as in Primitive times there were and so withdraw themselves from the vigilancie of
trees therfore saith Christ unlesse you abide in me that is firmly and surely hold me ye cannot bring forth fruit 12. Let all Christians take heed how they hold the truth in unrighteousnesse how they put away a good conscience in any thing and so tempt God lest God give them up to darknesse as a punishment of such an offence 13. Let every Christian joyn to some Church of Jesus Christ that walks closely with God in the truth that by the watchings of others he may be the better kept This is regular walking and God will be sure to blesse it 4 Let not any Christians run into temptations least God should leave them under the power of them and suffer them to be overcome of them but if they hear or read a doctrine that is contrary to what they received let them with much fear and trembling hear and read it and with much looking up to heaven for guidance let them be slow in entertaining that which is new strange to them and after much examination consultation and abundant confirmation out of Scripture let them do it If Saints will walk in this way the God of truth and grace will be with them they shall be kept unto salvation FINIS A TABLE of the Scriptures and Arguments formerly produced to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ and now vindicated and confirmed in the later Treatise ALSO Six other Arguments added shewing the dangerousness and destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine The first Scripture is Revel 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End page 15 The second Scripture is Joh. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God p. 29 The third Scripture is Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always unto the end of the world p. 35 The fourth Scripture is Rev. 2. 2. I know thy works c. p. 51 The fifth Scripture is Col. 1. 15. The first-born of every creature p. 61 The sixth Scripture is Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created p. 63 The seventh Scripture is Heb. 7. 3. Without father without mother without beginning of days and end of life made like unto the Son of God p. 90 The eighth Scripture is Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting p. 94 The ninth Scripture is Zech. 13. 7. Awake O sword against my Shepherd against the man that is my fellow p. 97 The tenth Scripture is Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven the Son of man that is in heaven p. 103 The last Scripture is Joh. 17. 5. And now O Father glorifie me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was p. 114 Arguments brought to prove the destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine Arg. 1. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and a false God p. 126 Arg. 2. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and false Christ p. 137 Arg. 3. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Faith p. 149 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Baptism p. 158 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour p. 163 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature overturns godliness p. 168 Arguments formerly produced now vindicated and confirmed Argum. 1. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the object of Divine worship which yet according to Scripture is Idolatry Where the doctrine of Worship is discussed p. 173 Arg. 2 3. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature the object of faith and to make faith in a creature saving which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 205 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature a sufficient Saviour which yet is repugnant to the Scripture 214 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature Mediator which is contrary to the Scripture Where the doctrine of Christ's Mediatorship is discussed p. 225 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature is to make the righteousness not of God but of a meer man to he imputed to believers which is against the Scripture p. 252 Arg. 7. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature authoritively able from himself to forgive sin which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 262 Arg. 8. To make whole Christ a creature is to destroy the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction to God Where the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction is largely handled p. 285 Arg. 9. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the intercession of Christ p. 363 Arg. 10. To make whole Christ a creature is to disable Christ to protect defend save direct rule and govern his Church in all the world which yet is attributed to Christ c. p. 373 Arg. 11. To make whole Christ a creature is to make prayer to him vain and frivolous he being now in heaven and we on earth p. 377 Arg. 12. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the Judge of the world which is repugnant to Scripture p. 384 Concerning Errours the rise growth cure and preservatives against them p. 397 FINIS