explains the Words of the Psalmist when he saith God hath rais'd up Jesus again Acts 13.33 as it is also written in the Second Psalm Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and he may from hence be fitly term'd as he is the first-born from the dead and the first-fruits of them that slept yet he can no more be call'd the Only-begotten Son of God for this Reason than the First-born of a numerous Issue can be said to be all the Children or the First-fruits the whole Crop For it is evident from many Places of Scripture that the Church shall be also rais'd to a Glorious State and those very Terms the First-born and the First-fruits are us'd to assure us of it and on this Account they are call'd the Children of God by our Blessed Saviour who saith Luke 20.35 36. They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more For they are equal unto the angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection Now what difference soever there was between the Perfections of Adam and Christ as Man or between the Glory he was rais'd to and that which the Saints shall have hereafter this cannot properly distinguish his Relation to God the Father from theirs For tho' a First-born who hath many Brethren should have a greater Inheritance than all of them and a Right of Dominion too as the Ancient Patriarchs had over the whole Family yet he cannot justly be call'd the Only Son for these or any other Advantages he might have above the rest Christ is therefore call'd the Son of God chiefly in respect of his Divine Nature and so the Ancient Jews understood this Term as it was applied to the Messias Therefore upon Occasion of Christ's calling God his Father it is said The Jews sought the more to kill him Joh. 5.18 because he not only had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own or his proper Father making himself equal with God Jesus was now generally look'd upon as the profess'd Messias because John the Baptist had given a Publick Testimony concerning him which was confirm'd on all Occasions by his Disciples and had been confess'd by himself Therefore the Jews having a Notion of that Eminent Relation which the Messias had to God the Father as his Eternal Son when they heard our Saviour mention God as his Father put a very different Sense upon these Words from what they would have done from another Person and because they did not believe him to be the Christ they interpreted them to his Disadvantage For tho' they themselves were ready to say upon Occasion Joh 8.41 We have one Father even God yet they accounted such an Expression from our Saviour to be Blasphemy and attempted several times to put him to Death for it And this was the pretended Crime for which he was at last condemn'd For the High-Priest having not such Witness against him as he desired Mat. 26.63 c. put an Oath upon him to tell him whether he were the Christ the Son of God to which when our Saviour had intimated his Consent the High-Priest rent his cloaths saying he hath spoken blasphemy and asking the judgment of the council concerning it they all pronounced him to be guilty of death But the Disciples believing that he was the Christ did also acknowledge him to be the Son of God in the Sense before-mention'd in several Confessions which they made to him But I shall now only take notice of such as were attended with some Remarkable Circumstances which will help us to understand the Meaning of them When our Lord had done two Miracles together walking himself with Peter upon the Sea in a Tempest and causing the Wind to cease on the sudden Mat. 14.33 so soon as he was come into the ship the disciples and others that were with them came and worshipped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God By which Words it appears they acknowledg'd him to be God because they gave him Divine Worship at the same time And if they had committed a Mistake in these Things there is no question but our Saviour would have corrected it in them The like Adoration was also given to Christ by the Man who was born blind Joh. 9.38 so soon as he understood from him that he was the Son of God But nothing is more Remarkable to this Purpose than Martha her Confession who when our Saviour had ask'd her Joh. 11.25 c. whether she believ'd him to be the Resurrection and the Life that is that he could by his own Power raise Men from the Dead to Life again and that Faith in him would save them from Death and make them Partakers of Everlasting Life she answers him Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world So that this Confession did imply as much in her Opinion as that Christ was Omnipotent and the Great Object of a Divine and Saving Faith And in that she saith the Son of God which should come into the world this supposes it was formerly believ'd the Messias should be such a Person There are several other Testimonies in the Gospel to this Purpose but I shall add but one more from St. John himself which gives a great Confirmation to all the rest who speaking of the Signs which Jesus did saith These are written Joh. 20.31 that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name These Words Jesus is the Christ the Son of God are certainly meant of his being God as well as Man because many Signs done by him did plainly prove it And in this Chapter the Apostle mentions two of them namely our Saviour's Appearing two several times in a miraculous manner to his Disciples the latter of which Appearances drew that Confession from St. Thomas My Lord and my God And it is Remarkable that immediately after these Words and Christ's Answer to them the Apostle adds many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God which Words have no doubt a particular Respect to Thomas his Confession as those which follow have to our Saviour's Answer to him For Christ having said to Thomas Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed The Apostle tells us how far this Blessing goeth even to Eternal Life in these Words and that believing ye might have life through his name And indeed the Occasion of St. John's writing this Gospel and the Arguments that are every where contain'd in it do sufficiently
Mr. HOWARD's SERMON Preach'd Before The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of the City of LONDON AT THE Cathedral Church of St. PAVL upon Trinity-Sunday Anno Dom. 1700. Levett Mayor Jovis 20 die Junii 1700. Annoque Regni Regis Willielmi Tertii Angliae c. Duodecimo THIS Court doth Desire Mr. Howard to Print his Sermon Preach'd on Trinity-Sunday last before the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of this City at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's Goodfellow The TRINITY Asserted A SERMON PREACH'D BEFORE The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of the City of LONDON AT THE Cathedral Church of St. PAVL upon Trinity-Sunday Anno Dom. 1700. By JOHN HOWARD M. A. Rector of Marston-Trussel in Northamptonshire LONDON Printed for J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry 1700. To the Right Honourable Sir Richard Levett Lord-Mayor of the City of London My LORD IN Obedience to the Order I receiv'd from your Lordship and the Court of Aldermen I have now Publish'd the Sermon lately preach'd before you with the Addition of some Things which through the Straitness of my Time were then omitted and do most humbly present it to your Lordship I should not have thought it fit for Publick View after so many Excellent Discourses as have been printed within a few Years in Defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity neither would I have ventur'd to preach to such an Auditory upon so Great and Venerable a Mystery if the Time to which I was confin'd by a Particular Providence had not requir'd it But as that Providence will I hope Justifie me in Choosing such a Subject so the Authority of your Lordship and your Honourable Brethren will Vindicate me in Publishing my Discourse upon it I pray God convince those Vnhappy Men in our Days who have deserted the Faith they were baptized into and deny the Lord that bought them for I am sure a meer Man could never do it that they may escape the Destruction he hath threaten'd to them And that the same God would continually bless your Lordship and give Success to your Pious Endeavours to suppress Error and Wickedness in an Age and Place that need all your Authority and Zeal to that End is also the hearty Prayer of My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble and Faithful Servant John Howard 1 JOHN V. 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one BEFORE I speak to the Doctrine contain'd in these Words it will be necessary to say something towards the removing an Objection that hath been made against them as if they were not a Genuine Part of this Chapter because they are omitted in some Greek Copies In Answer to which It might be enough to satisfie unprejudic'd Men to say that they are in the Best and most Ancient Greek Manuscripts and have been constantly retain'd in the Vulgar Latin as several worthy Authors assure us and they might more easily be left out in some Copies by an Oversight in the Transcribers than fraudulently inserted into others Yet because it hath been said by some who would have the World think so that this Verse was added in Opposition to the Arians I must say farther that this could not be De Vnit Eccles because we find it quoted by St. Cyprian before â—rius his Time And indeed the Orthodox as they had no need to do this having the Scripture so plainly and fully on their side in many other Places so they must have ventur'd such an Hazard in it as no wise Men would expose themselves to For the Detection of such a Forgery which they would have Reason enough to fear would have done a great Injury to their Reputation and to a Cause which they valued more than their Lives It is therefore more Reasonable to suppose that the Arians raz'd this Verse out of such Copies as they could come by for their desperate Cause did more need the miserable Supports of Fraud and Sacrilege and the Men were fitter for the Practice of them Socr. Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 32. And some of the Ancients complain of their corrupting several Places of Scripture and particularly of this Epistle and there is no Expression in it they could take more Offence at than this Hist Tripart l. 12. c. 4. though there are several others that plainly condemn them and their impious Doctrines Besides these Testimonies the Verse it self doth I think sufficiently assert its Right to this Place by the Agreement it hath with the foregoing and following Verses The Apostle's main Design in this Chapter is to prove that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God that is the Eternal Son of God of the same Nature with the Father as well as Man as I shall prove in the following Discourse and this he doth by the Witnesses mention'd at the 6 7 and 8 Verses But the Water and the Blood in two of those Verses whether we understand them literally as they came out of our Saviour's Side when his Body was pierc'd upon the Cross or in a figurative Sense for his Holiness and Sufferings can prove no more than the Truth of his Human Nature nor the Spirit that is join'd with them if it be meant of his Soul which he yielded up to the Father upon the Cross as some understand it And if we take it for the Spirit of God as it was given to our Saviour in an extraordinary measure it doth not necessarily prove any more than the Excellency of his Person as a Man and that he was highly in Favour with God the Father Though there are other Things to be said indeed concerning the Spirit that infallibly prove the Divinity of Christ which will more properly be spoken of him as he is mentioned in my Text. Now if nothing more had been said by the Apostle in this Place than what is asserted concerning these Three Witnesses in the 6 and 8 Verses they would have afforded us but a dark Proof at the best of what he mainly intends but his adding Three more at the 7th Verse puts the Matter out of all doubt I might further shew the Agreement between this and the other two Verses and how Defective the Sense of this Place will be without it but I hope what hath been said already is sufficient to prove the Divine Authority of these Words and I am so far from thinking the worse of them for the Violence done to them by sacrilegious Hands in some ancient Copies that I cannot but have a greater Veneration for them in that they have suffer'd a kind of Martyrdom in that Glorious Cause which they assert In speaking to these Words I shall I. Endeavour to shew you what these Three are that are here mentioned II. Give some Account of the Record they bear concerning the Messias I. I shall endeavour to shew you what these Three are in the following Particulars 1. Every One of these is the Great and Most High God 2. They are not
so many different Names of the same Person but Three Subsistences or Persons really distinct from one another 3. I shall shew what Relation they have to each other 4. I shall prove that these Three are One God 1. Every One of these is the Great and Most High God 1. The Father is so but I need not say any thing to prove this because it is acknowledged by those who deny the Trinity that all the Glorious Titles Perfections and Works of the Deity are attributed to him and that to him belongs Divine Honour and Worship from his Creatures That he is an Infinite and Eternal Being Glorious in Holiness and Fearful in Praises a God of all Power and Might Truth and Righteousness Wisdom and Goodness in a word that of Him and through Him and to Him are all Things Therefore I proceed 2. To speak of the Word or the Son who also is God in the same Sense with the Father as will abundantly appear to all unprejudiced Men from the Names by which he is call'd the Perfections ascrib'd to him the Works he is said to do and the Honour and Worship which all Intelligent Creatures are requir'd to give him in the Holy Scriptures 1. The Names he is called by as the Name of God Jehovah the Son of God and the Word The Name of God is very frequently given to Christ both in the Old and New Testament The Psalmist speaking of him Ps 49.6 says Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever and the Prophet Isaiah calls him the mighty God Isa 9.6 St. Thomas plainly owns his Divinity in these Words Joh. 20.28 My Lord and my God When St. Luke says of the Jews they stoned Stephen calling upon God Acts 7.59 and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit he teaches us that Jesus is the God he prayed to And St. Paul in exhorting the Elders of Ephesus to feed the Church of God Acts 20.28 which he hath purchased with his own Blood doth assure us that the same Person who shed his Blood for us upon the Cross is the God of the Church Rom. 9.5.1 Tim. 3.16.1 Joh. 5.20 This Apostle tells us also of Christ that he is over all God blessed for ever and that God was manifest in the Flesh And St. John affirms of him that he is the true God Now if it be said of one or two of these Places that the word God is not in some ancient Copy or Version this Omission might easily happen through the Mistake of a Transcriber and ought not to be accounted any Prejudice to those Places seeing they are entire in all other Copies And tho' some object that the Name of God is given to Magistrates in the Scripture and therefore doth not prove the Divinity of Christ they ought to see that it is applied to him after a very different manner and with such Distinctions as cannot belong to any Creature For what Christian durst ever call a Magistrate my God as St. Thomas calls our Saviour or say he is God blessed for ever or the true and mighty God as the Scripture terms him The Name Jehovah which is the incommunicable Name of the Great God is also given to him Those Words Psal 102.25 Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands are applied to Christ Heb. 1.10 and yet the same Person of whom they are spoken is called Jehovah no less than seven or eight times in that Psalm The Prophet Isaiah speaking of Christ and his Forerunner saith Chap. 40.3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make strait in the desart a high-way for our God There is no question but the Person whose Way John the Baptist who is here meant by him that cries in the wilderness was to prepare was Christ the Son of God therefore it is he whom the Prophet calls not only our God but the Lord that is Jehovah in the 2d and 5th Verses of that Chapter But the Prophet Jeremiab is yet more express when speaking of the Messias as a righteous branch and a King that should descend from David Chap. 23. he says Ver. 6. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness A Place sufficient one would think of it self to satisfie any that Christ is the True and Eternal God were it not obscur'd a little by the Repetition of it with some difference Chap. 33.16 where it is in our Translation This is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness And some Interpreters understand it in the same Sense as if this Name was applied here to Jerusalem or the Church and from hence some conclude it is not the incommunicable Name of God and that nothing more is said of Christ in the Place before-mentioned than of the Church in this Now how well the Words in the Original will bear that Interpretation I shall not determine but I think they are very capable of another which hath been also given them by some Learned Men namely this And he who shall call her that is Jerusalem before-mention'd is the Lord our Righteousness And tho' there is some difference in the Hebrew between this and the other Place yet the Authors of the several Learned Versions taking the Sense to be the same in both do not only apply this to the Messias but render it in the same Words as they do the other with very little Alteration in any of them And if we allow of that Interpretation which applies this Name to Jerusalem yet it can belong to it no otherwise than as the Church hath a Relation to him and is Interested in his Righteousness who is properly call'd by it The Name of the Son of God as it is given to Christ and is to be understood of his Only-begotten Son as he is sometimes call'd is a further Proof of his Divinity For this denotes a more Eminent Relation than that which belongs to his Human Nature either from his Conception or his Resurrection from the Dead For tho' he was conceiv'd by the immediate Power and Operation of the Holy Ghost and for this Reason is sometimes call'd the Son of God yet we cannot say he had much the Advantage of Adam in this who by the same efficient Cause was formd out of the Dust of the Ground as Christ was of the Substance of the Virgin and therefore Adam is call'd the Son of God in a peculiar Sense distinct from that Relation which other good Men have to him Luke 3.38 The Holy Angels have also the same Relation to God for this Reason who made them eminently Partakers of his own Nature and constituted them in a State of Happiness and Immortality And tho' our Saviour was made the Son of God in another Respect by his Resurrection from the Dead as Saint Paul
prove this Truth For this Gospel was written by him at the Request of the Elders of Ephesus and other Christians as we are assur'd from good Authority in Opposition to the Ebeonites and Cerinthians who denied the Divinity of our Saviour and whosoever reads it may see the Apostle makes it his main Business to assure the World that he is God This he affirms at the very beginning of his Gospel and records many of our Saviour's Sayings by which he asserted it and several of his chief Miracles by which he prov'd it that are omitted by the other Evangelists And if this appears to have been his chief Design in this Gospel as certainly it was who can doubt of his Meaning in the Place before-mention'd which is near the Conclusion of it where he saith These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God Now this with the other Citations which I mention'd before will clear the Sense of those Expressions in this Chapter of my Text Ver. 1. Ver. 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God And who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God that they assert him to be God as well as Man And therefore this is the Doctrine which the Apostle proves in the following Verses as I said before and I hope have now made it more evident to you The last Name which I shall mention as given to Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 render'd the Word under which Name St. John saith Chap. 1.1 that he was in the beginning that is before the World was created as appears not only from the same Expression us'd in that Sense in the first Chapter of Genesis but because all things are said to be made by him ver 3. which supposes he was before them and because Time began with the Creation of the World therefore the Word which was before it must be Eternal And the Apostle here expresly affirms that the Word was God and that this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and was the only-begotten of the father v. 14. the same person whom John the Baptist bare witness of namely Jesus Christ as in the following Verses And the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is understood of a Divine Person who together with God the Father made the World was well known amongst the Jews as appears from many Places in the Chaldae Paraphrase where the Word is added to explain the Sense more fully when there is only God or Lord in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Bishop of Worcest Vindic. of Trin. p. 128. and it is render'd by such a Term as several Learned Men assure us is us'd there to signifie the Word only in the Sense of a Person And I think any indifferent Reader would understand it of a Personal Word in many if not all those Places wherein it is found and particularly in these It is said in that Paraphrase Gen. 6.6 It repented the Lord with his word that he had made man upon the earth Then shall the word of the Lord be my God Gen. 28.21 Ex. 19.17 Lev. 26.46 Deut. 1.30 Moses brought forth the People to meet the Word of God These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between his word and the children of Israel The word of the Lord your God which goeth before you he shall fight for you according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes The word of the Lord the God is a consuming fire Deut. 4.24 Chap. 31.6.8 Job 42.9 10 12. a jealous God The word of the Lord thy God will go before thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee The word of the Lord accepted the face of Job And the word of the Lord turn'd the captivity of Job c. So the word of the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning Now to be chosen by Jacob as his God to meet his People to be a Party in a Covenant between himself and them to conduct his People and fight for them to accept of Job's Person to turn his Captivity to bless and enrich him and to be a consuming Fire a jealous God do all suppose a Person and some of them plainly assert that he is God The ancient Jews therefore who had a great Veneration for this Paraphrase and were oblig'd to read it constantly with the Hebrew Text did believe from these and many other Places in it that there was a Divine Substance called the Word by whom God made the World So Philo the Jew speaking of God the Father of all mentions another Divine Person Quaest Solut. De Agricult whom he calls the Word and his Only-begotten Son by whom he made the World From whence we may conclude that St. John first received the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Jews and he speaks so briefly of it at the Beginning of his Gospel because it was commonly known to them Tho' it is true also that many of the Heathens had receiv'd the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Second Person in it either from ancient Tradition or the Scriptures which were read by several Learned Men amongst them But Plato was especially noted for it therefore when Amelius who was one of his Followers read this Gospel of St. John he challeng'd this Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it was taken from Plato But there is no Reason to think he receiv'd a Notion from any Heathen which he knew was better understood by the Jews and was well acquainted with those Places of Scripture upon which it was grounded Now St. John doth not only call Christ the Word in that Place and in my Text but mentions him also as the Word of Life at the beginning of this Epistle and speaking of him Rev. 19.13 he saith His name is called the word of God Neither is St. John the only Writer of the New Testament who applies this Name to Christ but St. Luke seems to use it in the same Sense Luke 1.2 when he speaks of the Apostles as eye-witnesses and ministers of the word for that Word of which they were Eye-witnesses was our Lord himself And this Sense of that Place is more probable because St. Peter uses the same Expression with respect to Christ and saith of himself and the other Apostles that they were eye-witnesses of his majesty 2 Pet. 1.16 And in the Epistle to the Hebrews this Divine Word is mention'd and the Omniscience of God attributed to him The word of God is quick and powerful Heb. 4.12 and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart That is he perfectly sees the
State of our Souls knows all our Thoughts distinguishes between what is good and evil in them he can awaken our Consciences to feel Remorse for Sin and work what Change in us he pleases And then it follows Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open'd unto the eyes of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning whom we speak or with whom our present Business is and that is Christ who is the Subject of this latter part of the Chapter and mention'd as well before as after these Verses I have read to you 2. The Perfections of God are ascrib'd to the Word or the Son Some of these I have occasionally mention'd in speaking to those Names which are given to him in Scripture and therefore shall now speak more briefly to them His Eternity was hinted to under the Name of the Word at the beginning of St. John's Gospel and the Name Jehovah doth also imply it but there are several Expressions more full and plain to this Purpose Isa 9.6 Rev. 1.8 17. The Prophet Isaiah calls him the everlasting father and he himself saith I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending which is and which was and which is to come And again I am the first and the last the same which God saith of himself Isaiah 44.6 I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God So Christ asserts his Eternity Joh. 8.58 when he saith Before Abraham was I am where he uses the very Term by which God made himself known to the Israelites Ex. 3.14 which denotes his Eternity This appears also from those Places in the Gospel where Christ saith he came from God from Heaven c. The Infinity of Christ is also asserted by himself when he saith Mat. 18.20 Chap. 28.20 Joh. 3.13 Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them When he tells his Disciples I am with you alway even unto the end of the world and when he affirms No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven where we are plainly taught that at the same time Christ was upon Earth he was also in Heaven and therefore fill'd all Places And it is remarkable that he here calls himself the Son of Man to assure us that he who was Man was also the Eternal and Infinite Son of God and so was one and the same Person in two so distinct Natures The Omnipotence of God which we had Occasion to take Notice of in our Saviour before is attributed to him by the Apostle Heb. 1.3 who saith he upholds all things by the word of his power and plainly intimated in that Promise of Christ Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name Joh. 14.13 that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son For he must have all Power who can do whatsoever his People shall desire Yea he hath expresly told us Rev. 1.8 that he is the Almighty His Omniscience of which we had before a remarkable Proof out of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he is called the Word of God is also attested by St. John where he saith of some of our Saviour's Followers Joh. 2.24 25. that Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man It is acknowledg'd by St. Peter in these Words Lord Joh. 21.17 thou knowest all things It is affirm'd by St. Paul when he saith In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 Rev. 2.23 and it is asserted by himself in these Words I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works In a word he hath all the Perfections of God the Father for he saith All things that the father hath are mine Joh. 16.15 So that the Essence the Attributes and the Glory of God do belong to him And St. Paul assures us Col. 2.9 that in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily None can deny that Christ is meant in this Place for the Apostle is speaking of him here for many Verses together He mentions his Name several times and immediately before these Words And it is evident that they ascribe all the Perfections of the Deity to Christ as plainly as any can do The Word bodily indeed that is here added is capable of different Interpretations but whether we take it for wholly and entirely as it may well be meant or essentially and personally because it was usual with the Greeks as it is with us to call a Person a Body it doth not only confirm what was said before but denotes the hypostatical Union of the Divine and Human Nature in Christ Or if we will allow it to be only meant in the Body or together with it though in this Sense it adds nothing to the Character of his Divinity before given yet it can detract nothing from it On the account of these Perfections in Christ Col. 1.15 he is call'd the Image of the invisible God the Brightness of his Father's Glory Heb. 1.3 and the express Image of his Person Phil. 2.6 he is said to be in the form of God and equal with him 3. The Works of God are also attributed to the Son He tells us himself that what things soever the father doth these also doth the Son likewise Joh 5.19 And as it is said in the beginning of St. John's Gospel that he made all things so the Apostle affirms that God made the Worlds by him Heb. 1.2 not as an instrumental but a principal efficient Cause The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there render'd the Worlds properly signifies Ages but because Time was created together with the World and it is the Measure of all material things therefore it is sometimes us'd siguratively for the World the Creation of which is ascrib'd to Christ again Ver. 10. in these Words Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands The Sense of which Place is express'd more fully and particularly by St. Paul when he saith Col. 1.16 17. By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist The Works of Providence are also his for he is said to uphold all things Heb. 1.3 and this he could not do without infinite Wisdom and Power to supply every Creature with what is necessary to maintain its Being He forgives sins against God Luk. 5.21 which none but God
can do as the Scribes and Pharisees argued truly tho' they misapplied it with respect to our Saviour To these Things I might add the Miracles wrought by him which did also attest his Divinity because he did them by his own Power the raising himself from the dead sending the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples and enabling them to do the same miraculous Works as he himself had done 4. We are to give Divine Worship to the Son the same that is due to the Father Our Saviour in saying to his Disciples Ye believe in God Joh. 14.1 believe also in me doth teach them that he is an Object of Faith and Worship equally with God the father and tells them that all men should honour the son Chap. 5.23 as they honour the father The same is requir'd of the Angels too Heb. 1.6 in those Words which the Apostle quotes out of the Psalms Let all the angels of God worship him And yet that is an Eternal Law which our Saviour mentions Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Therefore to say nothing of the Apostles refusing Worship several times from others because they were but Men when St. John through some Mistake went about to worship an Angel that spake to him two several times Rev. 19.10 Chap. 22.8 9. he charges him strictly not to do it because he was but the Servant of God and the best of Creatures even Christ himself in his Human Nature is no more and referrs him to the true and only Object of Worship which is God But we read of many worshipping our Saviour upon different Occasions without any Prohibition from him and amongst others his own Disciples did it both before and after his Resurrection yet they received not the least Check for it neither did our Saviour at any other time caution them against it or give them any Hint that he was displeas'd with it tho' he did ever most freely instruct warn and reprove them as there was Cause for it And can it be said our Saviour was less zealous for the Honour of God than the Angel that appeared to St. John Or was there a Dispensation granted to the World to worship a Creature during our Saviour's Ministry which was not allow'd either before or after it No the Adversaries to the Doctrine of the Trinity have a Fetch beyond this That Christ was made God and is therefore to be worshipp'd But what is made cannot be truly God because Eternity doth necessarily belong to his Nature and whatever is made is a Creature and Servant to him that made it and therefore is not to receive Divine Worship as the Angel argues But our Saviour being the True and Eternal God as well as Man did not only suffer such Worship to be given to him but hath taught us that it is a General Duty as was said before and therefore when St. Stephen had a Vision of him a little before his Death Acts 7.59 60. he kneeled down and pray'd to him to receive his Spirit and to forgive his Murderers I have now said what I thought necessary to prove the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour and have been the larger and more particular upon it because the Belief of the Trinity doth mainly depend upon this Proof I shall therefore be very brief in speaking to what follows 3. The Holy Ghost is also the Great and Most High God as appears by the very same Arguments which prove the Divinity of the Word or Son before-mention'd taken from the Names Properties Works and Worship of God 1. The Names of God are given to him He is called God by St. Peter Acts 5.3 4. speaking to Ananias in these Words Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God And by St. Paul when he saith 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you Which Words plainly shew that the Spirit or the Holy Ghost is that God which dwells in his People Yea the incommunicable Name Jehovah is also given to him Numb 12.6 God saith If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream But this Lord or Jehovah is to be understood of the Holy Ghost as appears from the Words of St. Peter 2 Pet. 1.21 The prophecy came not in old times by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2. The Properties or Perfections of God are ascrib'd to him as his Eternity Heb. 9.14 where it is said Christ offered himself to God through the eternal spirit His Infinity is suppos'd in those Words of the Apostle Rom. 8.9 Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his For that Spirit which may be in all Men must be every where present And that the Holy Ghost is so the Psalmist also intimates when he says Ps 139.7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence His Omniscience is asserted also by St. Paul in these Words 1 Cor. 2.10 The spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 3. The Works of God are attributed to the Holy Ghost for Job saith by his spirit he hath garnished the heavens Job 26.13 and the Psalmist that by him he hath made all the host of them Ps 33.6 And our Saviour intimates Mat. 12.28 that he cast out devils by his power as well as his own To which I might add if it were necessary his inspiring the Prophets appointing Bishops and other Ministers in the Church enduing many of them with miraculous Gifts sanctifying our Souls adopting us to be the Children of God c. 4. The Worship of God is also given to him St. Paul calling him to witness what he is about to say Rom. 9.1 doth acknowledge his Omniscience and perform an Act of Divine Worship to him And he prays to Him together with the Father and the Son in that Blessing which concludes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians and so makes the Three Persons of the Trinity equally Objects of Divine Worship as every Christian doth also by receiving Baptism in their Names I have now shew'd you that every One of these Three mention'd in my Text is the Great and Most High God and the Proofs I have cited for that Purpose are so plain and convincing that many who were not willing to own the Doctrine of the Trinity and yet could not resist the Evidence of these and other Scriptures to the same Purpose have thought that these Terms the Father Son and Holy Ghost were but so many several Names to signifie the