as at one time to take off every Letter of the Inscription at another only some and make new ones in the place and many more such things which those who are skill'd in the Art know that thereby Men who somewhat understand those things are often cheated the like may be said concerning Manuscripts several either wholly or in part are Spurious therefore several things ought to be observ'd and a great care used when we examine them wherein also are some certain Rules but not known to every one that goes about it and even some who know these Rules may happen to be grosly mistaken when they come to the Application these Truths known to those whose Genius and Practice hath qualified them to enter upon such Matters if at leisure I could enlarge upon but as there are so many particular cases which would require several instances for brevity sake I now shall forbear saying any more to 't and return to the point But suppose the Text was not in the Original as it is Socinians would not thereby get so great an advantage as they imagine if we had only that Text to prove the Holy Trinity they might boast indeed but we have others besides which were never questioned in the least as are that of our Saviour's Baptism where from Heaven the Father calls Jesus Christ his beloved Son and at the same time the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a Dove and can any thing in the World be more formal plain and positive than these words of our Saviour to his Apostles Matth. 28.19 To Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Certainly he who therein cannot read the Trinity must be desperately blind but I †The Blasphemous Socin Heresie Confuted elsewhere have given Reasons enough out of the Old and New Testaments to prove that Fundamental Article of our Religion about the most Holy Trinity which all the wicked endeavours of Hell and its Instruments cannot prejudice but the more to confirm what I already said upon the point I shall add what follows a place is remarkable Hear O Israel Deut. 6.4 the Lord our God is one Lord. Or as in the Original Jehovah our God Jehovah is one Twice the Lord and once our God the word our is joyn'd neither to the first the Father nor to the third the Holy Ghost but to the second Person our God who is become ours by taking our Humane Nature upon him and thus God is become Man may be in that prospect God said Gen. 3.22 Man is become as one of us That is as he of us who is to be Man or the Son as indeed the second Person is the Angel who went with and led them thro' the Wilderness that was made man this is not as some would have it to be understood as a distinction of the God of the Jews from the false Gods of the Gentiles for if this had been all therein intended the name of Jehovah needed not to have been repeated a second time and the words Jehovah our God is one had fully expressed the impiety of the Heathen for making themselves many Gods but this was to shew three Persons in that one Godhead for he that was the God of the Jews is as truly the God of the Gentiles so of both Jews and Gentiles therefore saith the Apostle Is he the God of the Jews only Rom. 3.29 Mark 12.26 out of Exod. 3.6 Is he not also of the Gentiles yea of the Gentiles also This manner of speech is by our Saviour used I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The name God is thrice in one God who Created Redeemed and Sanctified which Works of Creation Redemption and Sanctification are in Scripture in a special manner attributed the first to the Father the second to the Son and the third to the Holy Ghost Withall seeing the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob are not three but one and the same God something seeing Scripture saith nothing in vain must thereby be intended if it had been in relation to the Father Son and Grand-Son it would sufficiently have been express'd with once naming God as the God of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob but God being named thrice yet there being but one God it must needs relate to some Trinity therein which being not in the Nature can be Relative only to the three Persons of the Godhead For a greater confirmation of this let us read that Blessing which by God's immediate command Moses in God's own words appointed Aaron and his Sons to pronounce to the People Numb 6.24 25 26. we have it thus The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace The Lord or Jehovah is thrice named yet Jehovah being an Essential name of God in that sense there can be but one Jehovah seeing there is but one God yet since God saith and doth nothing in vain some reason there must be why in this place 't is thrice mention'd which we may find if with attention we read the Text the first Verse doth contain Attributes properly belonging to the Father as to bless and keep 't is proper for the Father to bless his Children and God the Father is specially call'd the Maker and Preserver of the Creatures as being chiefly stiled the Creatour therefore we read God created man Gen. 1.27 28. male and female and blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply here the Blessing answers Aaron's Prayer that God would bless so to be fruitful and multiply them what Aaron pronounc'd that God would keep and preserve them both generally and individually Besides that the Greek Etymology of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Father from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I keep or preserve shews plainly how a Father is he who preserves those whose Father he is so a Father of a Family keeps his whole Family and he who takes care of all is a common Father to all therefore the blessing The Lord bless and keep thee doth specially and properly belong to God the Father though it excludes none of the other two Persons of the most Holy Trinity The second Verse contains that which is particularly attributed to the Son as to make his face shine upon and be gracious unto them Exod. 33.14 The Face is a part of Humane Body but none of the Persons of the most Holy Trinity only the Son hath a Humane Body so 't is proper to the Son Now the Son is the Face and Image of the Father in whom only God is seen and visible we must remember how God said to Moses my face for so 't is i◠the Original shall go with thee and who is he that
Baptist no mention at all of them till after their Birth only John Baptist's was foretold not long before but not a word of any thing he did before he was Born 1 Cor. 10.4.9 as we read of Christ that He was the Rock that follow'd the People in the Wilderness that he was tempted by them c. And in what the Angel said to Zacharias of the Birth of a Son mention is made of our Saviour Luk. 1.16 by the name of the Lord God of the Children of Israel many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and who this Lord God is 't is imply'd in these words He shall go before him that is the Lord their God in the spirit and power of Elias Now that John Baptist went before the Lord Jesus To prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the way for our God that is the God of Israel it appears out of Isaiah Isai 40.3 compar'd with Malachy 4.6 fulfilled Matth. 3.3 Mark 1.3 Luke 3.4 John 1.23 Wherein we see how the four Evangelists take notice of the Prophecy and fullfilling thereof in relation to our blessed Saviour all which proves him to be true God by Nature and consequently that he had a Being before he was Born of the Virgin Upon this point the Harmony of two Prophets with the Evangelist is so considerable that some things more I must observe about it The true God of Israel speaks by Malachy chap. 3.1.7 10 11 12 14. c. and in a Chapter which is much to our purpose at several times calls himself The Lord of Hosts who is the same that ver 1. saith Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me This is a Prophecy about John Baptist Messenger to the Lord of Hosts before whom he was to prepare the way observe first he that speaks and will send is the Lord of Hosts he that is to be sent is his Messenger and he that is to come is the Lord of Hosts who speaks and will send his Messenger before me in Person not by Proxy We know John Baptist prepared the way not before God the Father of whom in Scripture we never read that he was to come into the World but before the Lord Jesus Christ his Son whose fore-runner he was therefore Jesus Christ is plainly the Lord of Hosts who is the true Eternal God who under the name of Shiloh and Messiah was to come and actually did few Months after John Baptist's Birth chap. 4.2 In the last Chap. is renew'd the promise of Christ's coming under the name of the Sun of Righteousness that should arise with healing in his wings and of John Baptist under the name of Elijah ver 5. Matth. 17.12 13. Luk. 1.16 before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord that is of Christ who call'd John by the name of Elias because said the Angel he shall go before him that is in the foregoing Verse The Lord God of Israel spoken of Christ whom John went before in the spirit and power of Elias that is with the same fervent Zeal which Elias was acted by and in that Spirit saith the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children Mal. 4.6 Which are the very words by the Angel spoken to Zacharias Malachy calls Christ who was to come Luk. 1.17 The Lord the Lord of Hosts a peculiar and proper Attribute of the Almighty and Eternal God and the Angel names him the Lord God of Israel Let to this the other Prophet's Testimony be joyn'd Isai 40.3.4 5. The voice of him that cryeth in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord c. which is Parallel to the other and by which John Baptist is design'd for unto himself he apply'd it he whose way he was to prepare Joh. 1.23 is call'd the Lord and our God that is of Israel at whose coming the glory of the Lord shall be revealed The Lord God of Israel was to come himself and when he was come his Glory was reveal'd the Son of God under the name of Jesus Christ came himself and when he came the Glory was reveal'd therefore Jesus Christ was the true God of Israel this Truth depends upon the Evidence of two Prophets and of an Angel as related by an Evangelist whereunto is joyned the Testimony of Zacharias who at that time as express'd was filled with the Holy Ghost out of all this it will appear that no Person was ever better designed nor his Titles more plainly describ'd than is in those places the coming in the Flesh of Christ the true Son of God and who he was Another place which I think doth Evidence Christ's Divinity Jo. 10.15 is this As the Father knows me even so know I the Father There is a great Emphasis in the words as and even which implies in the same manner nature and degree the comparison shews a parity in Persons or else it had been enough to have said the Father knows me and I know the Father If the Son knows the Father only in part then the Father knows the Son but in part which to assert is Impiety but if the Father knows the Son perfectly so the Son also knows the Father perfectly and as no finite Creature can perfectly know the infinite God so he that perfectly knows the infinite God must himself be infinite God such is the Lord Jesus his own Son When Thomas answered Jo. 20.28 My Lord and my God he answer'd him who spake to him that is Christ so then Thomas owned him for his Lord and his God he knew out of the Law and by what Christ had taught him that there is but one God Matth. 8.2 and 9.18 and 14.33 and 15.25 and 20.20 and 28.17 therefore he would not have called him his God and worshipped him as such if he had not believed him to be the true God of Israel To this I shall add that our Saviour who was no Friend to Idolatry suffered himself at several times as may be seen in the Margin to be Religiously worshipped that is as God and never hindred any from it but if he had not been God he would never have permitted any one to worship him as such So under the shape of a Man he had been by Abraham very long before Gen. 18.1 for we read how the Lord or Jehovah appeared to him in the plains of Mamre in ver 1. 't is positively said Jehovah but in 2 we read three men stood by him whereof one was the Lord attended by two Angels at which sight that Father of Believers bowed himself towards the ground and addressed his Speech only to one My Lord saith he if I have found favour in thy sight c. and by the Discourse that afterwards happened it plainly appears the same was the true Eternal God who promised Sarah should have a Son
Person of the Messiah are compared with the Office and Person of Melchisedec it denotes a difference between them for that which is like is not the same with that which 't is like unto The ancient Jews believed R. Menahem that by reason of the Wickedness of the first World Schechina with Enoch was returned up to Heaven whereby they own he was come down from thence as afterwards our Saviour himself declared it John 6. Gen. 12.7 As to Jehovah who in Canaan appeared unto Abraham according to the constant Tradition of the Jews it was Schechina for * Rakenat p. 43. col 4 Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 one saith it him Stephen call'd the God of Glory and Paul the Lord of Glory †Nachm in Gen. 15. Menahem in Thor. p. 16. Some of the Rabbies say this Apparition in Canaan to have been in the Night but the other after the Victory over the Kings happened certainly in the Day They § Menah and Nachmanid in Gen. 17.22 also say that the Lord who in Gen. 17. appeared to Abraham and instituted Circumcision did in his sight return up into Heaven this they * Bechai p. 89. call the Glory of God by the Name whereby they usually denote the Son of God Elsewhere I observed how the Son of God constituted the Judge of the World executed upon Sodom that terrible Judgment which †Rakenat f. 51. c. 4. one attributeth to Schechina Hereupon the 14th Canon of the Council of Syrmium called by Constantine is very considerable the Words are these Si quis illud quod c. If any one saith that what is written The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and Fire from the Lord out of Heaven is not to be understood of the Father and of the Son but affirms that he rained himself from himself let him be Anathema for the Lord the Son rained from the Lord the Father This Lord Jehovah the Son is the same who dwelt in the Ark between the Cherubims above the Mercy-seat Exod. 25.22 whence God communed with Moses but in the way of Mercy God never communes with Men but in and through his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus who as in the Old Testament was called Jehovah so in the New is simply and absolutely called Lord which is equivalent to the other for the Septuagint rendered the Hebrew Word Jehovah by the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord so that under the New Testament he had the same Name as under the Old 1 Chron. 13.6 hence it is that the Ark was called the Ark of the Lord or Jehovah This namely that Schechina dwelt in the Ark * Bechai in Thor. p. 9. c. 3 4. Numb 24.17 the Jews owned Balaam's Prophecy of the Messiah There shall come a Star out of Jacob c. Onkelos Jonathan Ben Vziel and Nachmanides explain it of the Schechina and Aben Ezra owns it to be the Opinion of many and tho' this be a Prophecy of what was to come yet still 't is of the same which was before in the Garden of Eden as already observed The clear Prophecy by Haggai of the Messiah's coming into the second Temple ch 2.7 8. or whilst the second Temple was yet standing I elsewhere enlarged upon which as we read in Drusius R. Akiba hath explained it of Christ and Jarchius hath said ch 12.1 that all should see Schechina conversing in the second Temple In Daniel mention is made of Michael the Great Prince understood of Christ and to be compared with Rev. 12.7 in whom is God's Name indeed for it signifies who is like unto thee thou mighty God which the wisest * Menah in Thor. p. 34. c. 2. Nachman in Exod. 3.2 and l. c. Rakenat p. 80. c. 2. Gen. 14.19 20. among the Jews do rightly interpret to be the Angel Revenger and Deliverer the Angel of God's Presence and in some place Nachmanides calls †Nachm in Exod. 14.19 Gen. 19.20 it the Glory of Schechina and speaking of the Angel of the Lord who went before the Camp of Israel and removed behind to be between them and the Egyptians whom he drowned he saith is the great Prince This is the same who having before appeared to Moses in the Bush was afterwards pleased to speak to him upon the Mount and the Words are remarkable The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai that is from Heaven whence afterwards to be made Flesh he came upon Earth in Judea which coming our Saviour doth mention at several times tho' one of these Jewish Doctors thought that the Angel of whom God said I send an Angel before thee c. was a created one and not the same Angel of the Covenant of whom when he was well pleased he said My Presence shall go with thee yet he owns that the Angel of God's Face had been with him but saith * Rakenat p. 120. c. 1. The glorious Presence of God Schechina was withdrawn for he thought God was still angry but Moses had already appeased him The Jews hold that the Law was given by the Mouth of Schechina upon Mount Sinai for as he brought the People out of Egypt which yet excludeth not the Father who brought them out by his Son so in the Wilderness he often spake to them chiefly upon this solemn Occasion The Truth is confirmed by Scripture Deut. 33.2 3. compared with Habak 3.3 Levit. 26.11 12. The Lord came from Sinai saith Moses and rose up from Seir unto them he shined from Mount Paran and he came with ten Thousands of Saints From his right Hand went a fiery Law for them And to shew him to be their Law-giver Prophet and Teacher he adds Yea he loved ihe People all the Saints are in thy Hand and they sat down at thy Feet every one shall receive of thy words compared with another place Levit. 26.11 12. And I will set my Tabernacle among you and I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People To shew his gracious condescension and how familiarly he would converse with them now this was a Prophecy for he spake in the future of things to come and this seems to relate only to the Jews but thanks be to God that now we may speak of it in the Preter-tense of a thing fulfilled on the behalf of Gentiles as well as of Jews which I affirm not out of my own Head but out of the Word of God And I heard a great Voice out of Heaven Rev. 21.3 behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and be their God Here is the Prophecy fulfilled in the very Words he who promised it in the Old Testament hath made it good in the New he is the same in both not in person in the Old and only by proxy in the New for here 't is said
God himself Psal 68.8 David witnesseth that Mount Sinai was moved or trembled at the presence of the God of Israel now certainly the Son is the Presence or Face of the God of Israel Heb. 12.26 v. 18. and he whose Voice then shook the Earth This is the same to whom in the same Psalm he saith Thow hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them which being compar'd with Ephes 4.8 shews it to have been spoken of Christ Now in the Tabernacle which was set up for the glory of God Schechina or the Son of God not only appeared sometimes but continually dwelt therein Levit. 9.23 24. chap. 1.1 Num. 1.1 Ex. 25.22 upon all occasions manifesting his Glory thence he rendered his Oracles and called unto Moses to speak unto him so that whensoever God spake unto Moses Aaron and their Successors ever it was from that place according to his own appointment R. Kimhi saith that according to the Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Schechina is always in the midst of the Congregation of Israel The Inscription over the Ark was this The Name of the Lord of Hosts sitteth among the Cherubims they call'd it the Glory of Israel Psal 4.22 therefore after it had been taken by the Philistines 't was said The Glory is departed from Israel Now by the Glory and Name of the Lord the * Bechai in Leg. p. 88 89. Masters of the Cabbala always understand the Messiah who is God the Face of God King David and the Mouth of Jehovah which to apply we must take notice of what John saith And we beheld his glory Joh. 1.14 the glory as of the only begotten of the Father chiefly in his Transfiguration He as said before Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 Hebr. 1.3 Matth. 19.28 25.31 is the God of Glory and the Lord of Glory also the brightness of the glory of the Father he hath in Heaven the Throne of his Glory By vertue of the Covenant made in Sinai between God and the People God in a most eminent way between the Cherubims dwelt among them as he continued to do after the Ark was lodged in the Temple he taught them either immediately by himself or by his Prophets provided for an delivered them from their Enemies and it hath been the constant Tradition of the understanding Jews †Bechai in Thor. p. 88 c. 4. that the Name of the God who dwelt in the Temple was the Schechina and as he ever was with Moses upon all occasions to help and strengthen him So after his Death he said to Joshua Josh 1.5 As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee as both a Prophet to guide and direct and as a King by his power to defend him If we may look back to the ground of this series of Divine Dispensations we must know that from Eternity God Father Son and Holy Ghost decreed to bring many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 as the Apostle calls it which the Son undertook to execute and so under the Old Testament he at several times and to several Persons declared and revealed this Will and Pleasure of God made and renewed the Promises but as the chief part of that great and glorious Design which all other means were to depend upon was the satisfaction to be given Divine Justice by the Death of the Mediator so other things before were only preparations and dispositions in order to 't to which purpose the Mosaical Law was instituted therefore as the execution was only at and after the Death of the Testator till which the Testament is of no force ch 9.9 10. so before that time under the Law was shed the Blood of Calves Goats Lambs c. instead of the Testator's till the fulness of the appointed time when that precious Blood was shed upon the Cross This I shall add how God's Covenant was for Glory and Eternity but the Law was a Medium or means as the Deliverance out of Aegypt to bring them into a Land where God in a most eminent and excellent way might dwell among teach and make himself well known to them in and by the Son who is the Wisdom and the Power of God about this the Psalmist well observes Ps 147.20 He hath not dealt so with any Nation As indeed he through the Spirit of God was so exact an observer of things relating to the Messiah whom according to God's promise he knew should come out of his Family that our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection referred his Disciples not only to the Law of Moses◠and to the Prophets but also to the Psalms Luke 24.44 to know the things concerning him for therein are spoken of his God-head Eternal Generation Covenant with the Father his Humanity Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven distribution of gifts among Men his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and his Victory over his Enemies All this I brought in to shew how according to the Doctrine of the Antient Jews the Schechina or Meniah was the Son of God had a Being and acted from the beginning not of the Gospel but of the World and thus in the Godhead they made a distinction of Persons And if Socinians will own the Lord Jesus to be the Christ then either with the antient Jews they must own him to have been and acted from the beginning of the Creation and so to have had a Being long before his Birth of the Virgin or else they must joyn with the Modern Jews deny him to be the Messiah and thus proclaim themselves to be no Christians nay Idolaters and such as neither know nor worship the true God for he that owns not and worshippeth not Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not own nor worship the true God but they plainly deny the Holy Ghost and in effect deny the Son which is very hard and unworthy Because the Son of God for our sake was pleased to take upon him our Humane Nature some Men unthankfully and impiously go about to strip him of his Divine On our behalf he humbled himself and for that some Men undervalue him as if their Eye was Evil because he is good We reckon several Ages of the Church whereof every one affords Demonstrations of the Son of God her Head's Presence and Actings for her The first is of her Birth and Childhood from the Creation to the Flood the second her first Infancy from the Flood to Moses when she began to gather a Youthful Strength by means of God's special Favour to and Presence among them in that signal and eminent way of the Son of God's dwelling in the Sanctuary which David calls Goings and Actings when he saith Ps 68.24 v. 7 8. They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my
't is spoken of the same two Persons whom the Name Lord belongs to The Father's Person is but one but the Father's and Son's Persons are two Persons yet but one Jehovah or Lord with this difference That as the Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son so the Son doth Administer and Execute all Judgment in the World commanding and making use of this Authority sometimes under the Name of the Angel before whom stood Joshua cloathed with filthy Garments Now that this Angel was really and truly God it appears by his commanding of his own Authority Joshua's filthy Garments to be taken away from him and by his saying to him Behold I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee which none but the true God can say or do for none can forgive sins but God alone which is a Phrase equivalent to this I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee this more and more appears out of what is contained in verses 6 and 7. And the Angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua thus saith the Lord of Hosts If thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge then thou shalt also judge my House and shalt also keep my Courts Who but the true God can speak after this manner And that no ground should be left to doubt of this Truth that same Angel calls himself the Lord of Hosts for the Angel of the Lord protested saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts as if he had said I who am the Lord of Hosts protest unto thee If thou wilt c. then I promise thee so and so c. this is the proper style of him who absolutely is Lord and Master of all Hence we may learn another thing which is that Joshua being the High-priest was a Type of Jesus Christ our High-priest in things pertaining to Salvation who as Peter saith His own self bare our sins which are the filthy garments spoken of by the Prophet in his Body 1 Pet. 2 24. and which by his Death having made a full Atonement for he was cloathed with change of Raiment or with his own Righteousness Heb. 1.3 And when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high But farther to prove his Divinity here I shall bring in two Arguments which no where else I made use of before The first is this All men that is meerly men and no more than men are Sinners but Christ is no Sinner therefore Christ is no meer man but more than a man According to Rules this Argument is in Mode and Figure and both of these Propositions can fully and unanswerably be proved out of God's Word As to the Major 't is made good in two ways first by positive Assertions secondly by Examples The first hath two Branches whereof one is That every man is originally a sinner by nature for human Nature is sinful and corrupt the other is That every man is an actual sinner for as said before as at first the Person infected the Nature so since the Nature hath infected the Persons for by one man sin entered into the world Rom. 5.12.24 and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned though not every one after the similitude of Adam's transgression and when David saith Psal 5.3 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me he meaneth it of all men as well as of himself for without any difference or exception Ephes 2.3 we are all children of wrath even as others As for the other part That every man is an actual sinner 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 't is plain for there is no man that sinneth not and Paul saith All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and another Apostle saith In many things we offend all wherefore in Scripture sometimes men are call'd by the Epithet of sinners and sinful But in Scripture the Holy Ghost is not satisfied to affirm every man to be a sinner but he therein gives Instances of and mentions the sins of the best and greatest Servants of God Adam's sin I shall not name which whole Mankind has cause to remember with a witness but I shall take notice of Noah's Drunkenness Gen. 9.21 chap. 19. chap. 12. and 20. chap. 26. chap. 43.15 Gen. 45.13 Exod. 4. Ps 106.33 James 5. Act. 15.39 of Lot's Drunkenness and Incest of the Mistrust and Dissembling of Abraham twice the like of Isaac of Joseph's learning to swear by the Life of Pharaoh with something of vanity in him when he said to his Brethren You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt of Moses's Refractoriness to obey God when he commanded him to go to the Children of Israel in Egypt and to Pharaoh and his Unadvisedness so Job's Impatience David's Adultery and Murther Solomon's Idolatry and that zealous Servant of God Elias was subject to like Passions as we are so Peter's Denyal Paul and Barnabas Falling out about no great Matter In few words every Servant of God had their Flaws and therefore in a way of defiance Solomon asketh Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Now I unquestionably proved every man to be a sinner Now must I prove the Minor Proposition of my Argument That the Lord Jesus is no sinner which to do is an easie task He never was nor is a sinner for though he assumed our human sinful Nature yet by the immediate working of the Holy Ghost which sanctified that part of the Substance of the Virgin out of which was form'd our Saviour's Body it was preserved from natural corruption wherefore the Apostle calls him Heb. 7.26 holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners And as he ever was free from Original so he never committed any Actual sin which made him defie the Jews thus Joh. 8.46 Heb. 4.15 Which of you convinceth me of sin None could for though he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin 1 Pet. 1.19 therefore the Apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish and without spot and in the next Chapter he adds who did no sin chap. 2.22 1 Joh. 3.5 neither was guile found in his mouth and in him was no sin saith another Apostle which Truth I look upon as undeniably proved And so from the Premises I may well conclude That seeing the Lord Jesus is a Man yet not a sinner he must needs be no meer Man but more than a Man and so God and Man if he had been a meer Man ut sic reduplicative he also had been a sinner but seeing he is not a sinner then he is not a meer Man In this case any consideration drawn from Angels is not pertinent for the question is only of Divine and Humane Nature not of the Angelical for He took not on him the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but he
prove further I shall go on And with the Apostle say Heb. 3.4 He that made all things is God that is truly and properly God of himself now in several places Scripture saith All things were made by the Word which Name John usually calls Christ by John 1.3.10 Colos 1.16 Heb. 1.2 The World was made by him which him or that Person Paul in two places speaking of this same point of Creation calls the Son of God by whom all things were made and by whom he made the Worlds and so all things therein for by the Expression All things in Heaven c. are understood all the Works of Nature the whole Work of the Creation But to elude the weight of the Argument which lies heavy upon them sometimes for they are apt to change and diversifie their Notions and are constant only in unhappy Contrivances how to wrest Scripture they say that the name Word signifies Reason and not the Person of Christ which Notion I * Answer to Lett. I. p. 29 30. elsewhere have spoken against but at other times when they are press'd and cannot deny it to belong to Christ then to shift it off they say the name Word is taken for his Prophetical Office but the Evangelist gives it for Christ's proper and personal Name for that very name is given him upon another account and in a different occasion when he was seen in his Glory and Majesty as a King at the Head of Heavenly Armies going to fight there 't is said his name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 ver 16. and in that place he is styled King of kings and Lord of Lords So 't is not in relation to his Prophetical Office for the state wherein he then appeared had been very improper he was a horse-back not to speak and teach but to fight so then the name is not given him upon the account of his Prophetical Office If this be a name of Office what 's the reason why none of the Prophets or Apostles who taught and preach'd God's Word were never call'd by the name the Word 't is often said that the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and other Prophets but never that Isaiah or any of them was the Word of the Lord and this Word now in question was the Son of God 2 Pet. 1.21 1 Pet. 1.11 Rom. 1.25 who came to and spoke by the Prophets for they saith an Apostle spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost who by the same is called The spirit of Christ which was in them I love to make use of Scripture when I answer the Devil and refute his Lies and of those who as Paul saith change the truth of God into a lie After our blessed Saviour's Example I say it is written We must not wonder if some Men go about to impose upon others their Lies for Truths seeing Satan whose Children Liars are had the face to lie to him whom he knew to be God Son of God when he said Luke 4.6 The power of all the kingdoms of the World is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it So we may say of his Children They bend their tongues like their bow for lies Jer. 9.3 but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth But to go on I must observe how the Lord absolutely and subjectively taken doth in Paul's stile ever imply the Person of the Lord Jesus So in John's stile the Name Word used in the same manner doth always signifie the same Person And our Saviour the Eternal Son of God call'd by the Names of Jehovah Lord God Son of God who at several times was in Human Shape seen by the Patriarchs and spoken of by the Prophets is the same who in the fulness of the Times was made Man in the Virgins Womb his Body by the Operation of the Holy Ghost having out of her Substance been therein form'd and preserved from natural human Corruption not that he was transubstantiated into Flesh for what is changed into another ceases to be what he was and begins to be what he was not but God can never cease to be what he is nor become what he was not But to return to the Name the Word when the words are the same and about the same Subject we may believe the Thoughts and the sense to be the same for the meaning is express'd by words In the first Chapter of John the Name God is eleven times in a true and proper sense made use of and in that whole Gospel nor in the whole New Testament can any instance be given that the absolute word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in the Singular be improperly taken but always properly so we must take the word in the usual and natural sense of the Scripture rather than in the improper and metaphorical of Socinians So when John saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God we must properly understand the Names Word and God the first of the Person the second of the Nature Here they would cavil with saying God is the Subject the Word the Predicate but certainly there being the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and none to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth the contrary but indeed the Exception is frivolous because essentialia praedicata sunt reciproca the essential Predicates are convertible if God be the Word the Word must be God Take notice how as by the Word God the true God is to be understood so when 't is said the Word was God 't is meant the Word was the true God They object he that is with one is not the same whom he is with so the Word must needs be one and God another but they will not take notice how the Evangelist saith not only that the Word was with God but also in the same Verse that the Word was God which is so plain as to need no Interpretation But to answer in the School way I say he is not the same formalitèr sub eodem conceptu formally and under the same Notion but in a different here are two Persons he who is and he whom he is with we confound not but distinguish the Persons the Word is essentially God tho' not relatively the Person of the Father They move every Stone if possible to serve their turn therefore as they would rob the Lord Jesus of having created the World so they go about to deprive him of preserving and upholding it for what is said of God's upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1.3 Colos 1.17 which in another place is thus By him all things consist which means thè same as the other yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original rendered by to uphold they would Translate to govern which is an idle nicety he that governs well doth uphold what he governs so that provided the thing remains we will not stand
God in the Sanctuary Where the Prophet speaks of the Son of God Who went up before his People in the Wilderness and at whose presence the Earth shook the Heavens dropped and Sinai it self was moved The third Age of the Church is from Moses to Christ's coming which was fill'd up with variety of considerable Dispensations And this fourth which is her present Age hath been is and shall be attended with very notable Periods began at the coming in the Flesh of the Son of God and it we may call her Manhood when the Food of Milk and Ceremonial Ordinances ceased and she began to be fed with strong and substantial Meat when the Manna discontinued and the true Bread came from Heaven to nourish us the Shadows yielded the place to the true Body and all legal Stars disappear'd at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness And this Age of the Christian Church shall continue till the last Day when the fifth Age shall begin never to have an end this shall be the Age of Perfection and of Eternal Glory He who now is the Head and King of the Church was so from the beginning and shall be such for ever Now the Apostle saith that Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 and the Saviour of the body and none else and that Body which was from the beginning of the World never was without a Head for without it it could not be a Body both to animate and rule it for that is the Head's Office according to that famous Prophecy of the Meisiah's Birth Mic. 5.2 in Bethlehem Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler of Israel To come forth Gen. 17.6 Gen. 25.25 and 38.28 signifies to be begotten and born either by the Father or by the Mother and unto me that is for me to reveal my Glory saith the Father who there speaks Now absolutely the King and Ruler of Israel is the God of Israel such is the Son I heretofore mention'd the Text in Zechariah 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations c. which affords matter of observation more than I took notice of at that time Here speaks the Lord of Hosts which is a Title never attributed to any but to the Essential Infinite and Eternal God The Lord of Hosts in the place declares he is sent a thing in Scripture never said of God the Father but in many places 't is asserted of God the Son and by the Son himself for how often doth our Saviour say that the Father sent him so that to be sent is a Property of the Son therefore the Son must be the Lord of Hosts here said to be sent And as to come answers to being sent so in consequence of that Mission the Lord saith I come Sing and rejoyce v. 10. O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord which was literally fulfilled after the Birth of the Son of God These words Lo I come are a confirmation and farther declaration of what David had said long before when God desired no more Sacrifice and Offering nor required Burnt-Offering Ps 40.6 7. nor Sin-Offering that is when the Ceremonial Law was drawing to an end Then said I the Son Lo I come and Christ declared He came from the Father and in the Father's Name As to the other part I will dwell in the midst of thee it was fulfilled at that time when John said of the Son The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 Let us admire at that Holy Scripture Harmony earthly Jerusalem was the Figure of the Church whose Head King Saviour and Preserver the Lord Jesus is and ever was For I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her v. 5. This coming of the Lord of Hosts shall not only be cause of Song and Joy to the Daughter of Zion but also many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that Day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of thee v. 11. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee This is a Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles at or a little after the time when the Lord of Hosts should come to dwell in Sion which was fulfilled when after the Son of God's coming into the Flesh and his dwelling among the Jews after his Death and Resurrection the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and the Christian Church formed Here we must take notice of how this Prophet Zechariah was one of the two whom God made use of to exhort and encourage the Children of Israel Ezr. 5.1 2. returned from the Babylonian Captivity to build the second Temple which was to stand till the coming of the Lord of Hosts and King of Zion as this Prophet calls him chap. 9.9 As also did Haggai the other Prophet who besides named him the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hosts that is the Presence of the Messiah Son of God was to fill with Glory the second Temple which at that time they were about building upon which account the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former the Lord Jesus who called it his House having with his Presence often sanctified it and been the chief glory thereof which soon after it lost by his Death when the Vail of the Temple was rent and about forty Years after the whole was quite destroyed by the Romans when according to our Blessed Saviour's Prophecy there was not one Stone left upon another that was not thrown down and what he said was attended with a Character and Evidence of his Divine Authority and infallible Truth in these Words Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away but most certainly shall be fulfilled This same Prophet in the next Chapter as indeed in many other places of his Vision doth yield Matter enough upon this point As in Job we read of Satan coming before God with malicious Insinuations against that Holy Man and to obtain leave to do him mischief so here we find the Angel of the Lord to judge between Joshua the High-priest and his Adversary Satan who appeared there to oppose and resist him This Angel of the Lord whom elsewhere I at several times have had occasion to speak of is the Lord himself for in the 2d verse 't is said And the Lord said unto Satan Zech. 3.1 2 the Lord rebuke thee O Satan Twice the Lord answers this other Expression And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 9.24 Brimstone and Fire from the Lord and certainly