mind to obey I have nothing to say against this first sort of Difficulties neither need I since no body dares put them in form why should I take up time to refute them I shall only say by way of Allusion Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Difficulties of the second Order are the Difficulties of Wit they attack the Divinity of our Saviour because they do not comprehend it their bounded understanding measures all Truths according to the extent of its own Conceptions and subjects to this Rule things that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor ever came into the heart of Man This Earth-worm will needs measure the Third Heaven what extravagance can be greater He cannot conceive how the Father the Son and Holy Ghost are God without making three Gods of them therefore there is no such thing Would not one think hearing a Man talk at this rate that he had an infinite understanding and that he comprehended all things in the Infinity of his Conception And yet we shall find that this presuming Wit doth not understand any thing perfectly no not so much as the Nature of the most common things He does not understand himself and tho every thing be a Mystery to him yet he cannot away with the Mysteries of Religion Yet this Enemy of the Mysteries of our Religion professeth a Mystery which is at least as inconceivable as any is in our Religion For he will make us believe That a Creature hath been invested with infinite Attributes that a Creature hath been made God in Knowledge Power and Glory Pray tell me what is a Mystery if this be not and an inconceivable one too The Creature turn'd God and the Finite turn'd Infinite the most incredible and contradictory thing in the World Our Mystery indeed asserts That God humbled himself but that this was by uniting himself personally with a Creature which he took to himself amongst Men and yet this very Man that makes so many Difficulties against the Incarnation tells us of a Man that is become God by a strange kind of Metamorphosis Thus they reject the Truth and instead thereof fill their Heads with Chimaera's The triumphant Raillery of the Prophane is That one is one and one is three and then making a show of their being fully persuaded of the Unity of God they suppose the Divinity of our Saviour sufficiently overthrown Who doubts that one is one and that one is not three this is true even in our Divine Arithmetick there are Three Persons three manners of Subsisting the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost We do not say That these Three Persons are but One Person that would be contradictory but we say That these Three Persons are in One Divine Essence Three are not One neither is One Three in the same respect there is a Trinity of Persons but an Unity of Nature But you cannot conceive how Three Persons can possess at the same time the same individual Nature what then I conceive it no more than you do but is it such a strange thing that God should be otherwise than we are otherwise than all the things we see otherwise than all that we can conceive He hath assur'd me That his Nature consists in Three Persons I believe it with Submission This ought to be the Temper and Behaviour of our Understanding in the Difficulties it meets with on this Mystery The Difficulties of the Third Order are the Difficulties of Scripture Men are asham'd to propose their Heart-difficulties for in so doing they would expose their own Corruption and nothing but a Spirit of Libertinism dares openly oppose its own Light to that of Divine Revelation They rather search for a plausible pretence in the Revelation it self several places of Scripture are heap'd to-together to compose a Cloud that may hinder the Glory of the Gospel from shining forth in its full Lustre At first those Texts are hunted for that prove Christ to be Man But pray what is this to the Question These Texts prove that he is Man we say so too yea cursed be he that saith that Jesus Christ is not Man We believe that by one of his Natures he was Man as we are but this does not hinder him from being God by his other Nature Man consists of Body and Soul can we prove from the Functions of his Body that he hath no Soul He Eats he Drinks he Sleeps therefore he hath nothing else but a Body This way of arguing is ridiculous consider this Man well and you 'll soon find by the operations of his Understanding that he hath a Soul as well as a Body This we might prove by the Example of all compounds This is enough we believe that our Lord Jesus is a Person compos'd of two Natures viz. of a Divine and Humane Nature he is Flesh and Blood he hath suffered tasted Death this shews him to be Man He prayed he worshipped he was ignorant of several things this shews he was Man But he formed the World he created the Angels he makes himself equal with his Heavenly Father this proves him to be God We readily admit the Passages of Scripture that rank him amongst Men neither dare we suppress those where he is call'd God To make our Doctrine to agree with the Scripture we must hold him to be God-man Our Adversaries prove from several Texts of Scripture that there is but one God all this is time spent in vain we are all fully persuaded that there is but one God Cursed be he that admits more than one God But say they you teach that the Father is God and that the Son is God we do so and in doing so we follow the Scripture but you don't hear us say That they are Two Gods they are Two Persons in one and the same God but not Two Gods But you say That Jesus Christ is equal with God the Father and Son therefore according to you are two Beings equal in Dignity doth not this imply a plurality of Gods since two equal Gods cannot be the same God This difficulty only proceeds from hence that they pretend to be ignorant of what we say upon the Mystery of the Trinity for supposing that the Father and the Son are only Two Persons or two manners of Subsisting in one and the same Being there is no room left for this Objection The Father and the Son these Two Persons are necessarily equal by such an Equality as does not thwart their Unity because they indivisiby possess the same Nature They insist further that the Father is called the only true God This is life eternal that they know thee the only true God John 17.3 and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent What would they infer from hence What that Jesus Christ is a God but that he is a false God A Christian ear cannot with patience hear such Blasphemy and yet they must come to this before they can make those words to be
excellent proof of the Divinity of our Great Redeemer He is therefore as you see equal to his Father in Eternity in Immensity in Holiness in Power and in Mercy And what is the result of this Equality but this that our Lord possesseth the Attributes of the Divine Essence and enjoys the Honour that is incontestably due to that Essence This is the third Head whereby we prove that Jesus Christ is equal with his Father That which at first put us upon the Meditation of this Article is that Honourable Rank our Saviour holds in the Scriptures In that Sacred Book where every thing is in its proper place and where nothing that is created is made to go hand in hand with God and yet there we ever see the Son always join'd with his Heavenly Father Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost John 5.7 These are Texts where we see these three Adorable Persons rank'd in one Line St. Paul blesseth the Corinthians from the Son even as from the Father The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God 2 Cor. 13.14 and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all A remarkable passage indeed where we find the Son even nam'd before the Father which yet we find also in many other passages But why is the order here inverted To make it appear Gal. 1.1 2. 2 Thes 2.16 say the Fathers that the order of names does not import a Subordination of different Natures The Father Son and Holy Ghost are only one Divine Nature and therefore it is that the Scripture sometimes placeth the Son above the Father Can we imagine that that Sacred Record would ever have committed such an absurdity if the Son had been no more than a Creature I appeal to any Man who hath in the least degree savour'd the Spirit of Scripture What think we of such a speech as this The Grace of Moses and the Love of God be with you all Or of this Joshua call'd to be a Leader of Israel not of Men nor by Man but by Moses Gal. 1.1 and by God or of this Now Moses and God comfort your Hearts I appeal to any one whether it be not prophane to talk at this rate and yet do but put the Name of Jesus Christ instead of Moses and we shall find all these passages word for word in the New Testament This is an observation rais'd from the Son 's being sometimes named before the Father but tho the Son had been continually plac'd in the second rank as indeed commonly he is yet the Argument for all that continues in its full force The Son would never have been join'd with the Father in the Scripture if the Son had been a Creature because he would have been infinitely inferior to him neither would the Scripture ever have suppress'd this distance by ranging the Father and the Son together in one Line and placing them on one and the same Throne Is not this to tell us plainly and openly that both of them possess the same undivided Nature This is the Honour the Holy Ghost hath given to the Son of God in the Scriptures See we now what Honour we Men ought to render to this Son who is our Master and Saviour Worship is as it were the shadow of the Godhead let us thereby take the height and elevation of the Lord we are to worship To this purpose let us lay this down for a Principle That the Glory of Adoration belongs to none but God alone Should I go about to prove this Truth from the Old Testament I should be fain to take in the Testimony of all the Prophets They have all of them in the most smart and lively terms express'd the Jealousie of God for any Divine Honours exhibited to Creatures We need but cast our Eyes upon the Old Testament to be fully convinc'd thereof It being indeed no other than a perpetual Commentary upon the First Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me There never was any the least variation or contest in this point Never did the Prophets patiently endure to see Men worship any other gods save him alone who hath created Heaven and Earth These Holy Men unanimously declare that to him alone belongs thâ— Glory of Adoration No Creature at all is to be worshipp'd neither Stars nor Plants nor living Creatures nor Men nor Angels Men indeed have sometimes been called gods as we have already taken notice Moses was instead of God to Aaron and Judges are called gods we also find this name given to Angels in some places but this name given by way of Metaphor doth not import Adoration Aaron did not adore Moses neither did Israel adore their Judges or the Angels for this is the glory of God only and he hath sworn he will not give his glory to another Neither hath this point of Divinity been alter'd under the New Testament It is none of those Mosaick Rites that were to cease as soon as the fulness of time was come God is always God and if we may so say he never was more God than he is at present or to soften the Expression he never more appear'd God than in the Manifestation of Grace Herein he hath made all his Goodness to pass before us and consequently he never more deserv'd to be only worshipped Shall we suppose then that under a Dispensation where by a new Effusion of Grace he hath deserved an accession to his former glory of Adoration that he is become unconcern'd for that glory whereof formerly he was so Jealous And to that degree as to set a Creature at his Right Hand A Creature plac'd on God's side is something that is contradictory Let us set every thing in its proper place God always abides alone in the Throne and the Creature at the foot of it But without having recourse to Reasoning which inform us that the glory of God is an unalienable Right and Possession the Holy Scripture assures us that under the Gospel as well as under the Law the glory of Religious worship belongs to God only We know the answer our Lord return'd to a Creature that would fain have been ador'd Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve This answer is good at all times The Apostles use the same Language as their Master they say in more places than one 1 Tim. 1.17 Rom. 16.27 Acts 14.15 To the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen When St. Paul sees Men about to worship the Creature he points them straight to the Living God We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God 'T is to him alone that your Homage of right is due When the Apostle represents to the Galatians the excess of that Corruption wherewith
of any service against the Divinity of Christ It is clear that these Words contain an opposition the opposite to true is false If the Father be called the only true God in opposition to the Son we easily see what follows It is true that there is an opposition in this place not between the Father and the Son but between the Father and whatsoever is falsly called God in the World And in this sense as it is said of the Father That he is the only true God we may also say of the Son that he is the only true God and so of the Holy Ghost because the Divine Nature which is indivisibly possess'd by these three Persons is indeed the only true God What remains now that can give us the least trouble what can be reasonably alledged against the Divinity of our Lord shall we object that he himself sometimes speaks of it with great reservedness It is very true that our Saviour with a great deal of caution and reservedness declared those Truths that were capable of setting the Jews against him The calling of the Gentiles may be one Instance for all Sometimes he wraps this Doctrine under the Vail of Parables sometimes he makes an Allusion to Histories wherein it seems that Grace was not shut up in the compass of one only People Truth can have no entrance into Souls full of darkness which as the Light of the Day comes after the Night is gone What would this Truth of the Calling of the Gentiles have produc'd if our Lord had preach'd it without any caution It would not have been believed and our Lord would have been put to death before his work had been done I speak as a Man We may say the same thing of our Saviour's Godhead which being such that the Jews could not bear the glory of it he discovers it by little and little to them he tries their hearts after that he had found by the manner of their reception of these Words I and my Father are one that it was not seasonable yet to declare this Doctrine he stops there and leads out the Thoughts of his Auditors to the Magistrates whom the Scripture calls Gods If we mind it our Lord doth not fully justifie thereby what he had said in these words I and my Father are one For never did any of the Magistrates speak at this rate what is more they never made themselves Gods nor equal with God The Scripture indeed calls them Gods but they never said they were equal with God Christ made himself God and for the justification of himself is contented to alledge the Example of the Magistrates The Case is plain our Saviour intends not to retract what he had said his Design only is to moderate the fury of the Jews Neither indeed were they fully satisfied with it they endeavour to lay hold on him but he escaped out of their hands Do we find him in this place saying That he is not God Not in the least he never said any thing that came near it Whereas indeed he ought to have said it positively and often to make his Doctrine of more efficacy to the Jews He very well knew that nothing was so offensive to them as Blasphemy and that he quite lost himself in their esteem by making himself God And yet for all this he always returns to it and frequently offers them the same occasion of offence Pray what may be the meaning of this has he no desire that his Doctrine should be received no body dare say so Why is it then that he so often toucheth the same Mystery It is plain as the Meridian Sun that nothing but the force of Truth engageth him to make himself equal with his heavenly Father He is not willing always to speak openly by a too free and open declaration of himself for in this case he would either have convinced all his Auditors or not If we suppose the first they would never have put him to death which would have been equally contrary to the Prophecies of old and to the Happiness of Mankind which stood in need of his Death If the latter they would have put him to death too soon he did need three or four years time wherein to accomplish his Work These Considerations oblige him to speak sparingly of and in part to conceal the glory of his Divinity On some occasions we find that he wholly restrains himself as in the 10th Chapter of St. John in others again he utters himself with great liberty as in the 5th Chapter of the same Gospel When there is nothing more for him to do but to die he frankly declares himself to be the Son of God I think we may say that he was the first Martyr for his own Divinity for it is upon this Declaration of his that the Jews unanimously cried out He is guilty of Death According to their Judgment he had uttered a horrid Blasphemy and by the Law deserved that Sentence should be pronounced against him How does he justifie himself of this Charge Doth he alledge that of the Magistrates or the Angels on this occasion doth he say That hel 's the Son of God because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost or because he had received the power of doing Miracles and of declaring the Truth Thus understood there was no Blasphemy in the Case and he ought if he had not been God to have set the Jews right by justifying himself in this manner But on the contrary he maintains to the last moments of his Life himself to be the Son of God in a sense which the Jews judged Blasphemy that is to say The Eternal Son of God for otherwise taken it could not be Blasphemy I shall only propound the two other Reflections tho indeed they be no less important than the former My Third Reflection is That the Doctrine I have here asserted and proved is the Doctrine of the Primitive Church This is so incontestably true that Socinus himself owns That from the first beginning of the Church Socin Epist 3. ad Radec Ab ipso ferme nascentis Ecclesiae initio tot Viros non minus Pietate quam Doctrinâ clarissimâ—â— tot Christi Sanctissimos Martyres ad eout nullus sit numerus eum alioqui grovissimum errorem secutoâ— fursse quod Christus sit unus ille Deus qui omnia creavit aut certe exillius substantia propria genitus there have been a great number of Learned Men Saints and Martyrs who believed that Jesus Christ was that God who created all things or that he was begotten of his own Substance This express Acknowledgment from an Adversary whose great interest it was to rid himself of the weight Antiquity would bear against him may very well pass for a strong Argument on an occasion where it doth not seem so proper to enter upon the Historical proof of it It hath already been shewed that the Primitive Church did believe the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour at
Ideas of their Education bestows upon Jesus christ these very same Names in Writing to Titus And this is as much as if he had said to the Christians of that Island Jupiter was a Usurper he in whom you have believed is the only Saviour and the true God If we had nothing else to say concerning the Name of God attributed to our Saviour in the Scripture we should believe our Argument already very strong to prove the Divinity of Christ Nothing is call'd God as he is but that which is really so He is called God simply and absolutely and if I may make use of an Expression popular indeed but intelligible I say he is called God in plain terms and without ifs or ands I make bold to use this Expression that the most simple may conceive my Meaning and make the Application themselves as they read the Scripture To add more strength to this Argument we need only to observe that the Name of Jehovah it self is given to Jesus Christ in the Scripture This great Name this Incommunicable Name which the Jews dare not so much as pronounce so worthy do they esteem it of all respect and veneration is notwithstanding given to Christ Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God Deut. 6.16 as ye tempted him in Massah These are the Words of Moses If we will believe St. Paul our Lord is this Jehovah whom the Israelites tempted Neither let us tempt Christ saith he as some of them also tempted 1 Cor. 10.9 Isa 40.3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of Jehovah They are the Words of Isaiah Let us consult the Evangelists to know the meaning of them and they will tell us That John the Baptist is the Voice crying in the Wilderness Matt. 3.3 Mark 1.3 Isa 54.5 and that Jesus Christ is that Jehovah whose way is prepared For thy Maker is thine Husband Jehovah of Hosts is his name and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole earth shall he be called Who is the Bridegroom and Husband of the Church St. Paul will inform us 2 Cor. 11.2 I am jealous over you saith he to the Corinthians with a jealousie of God observe that Expression for it was for Christ that St. Paul was jealous For I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you a chast Virgin to Christ I will save them by Jehovah their God they are the words of God by the mouth of the Prophet Hosea Hos 1.7 By whom is it that the Church is saved Who is it that is our Saviour and Redeemer We know that the New Testament most exprestly assures us in very many places that it is our Lord Jesus Christ It would be an easy matter to alledge several other Passages out of the Old Testament where the True God is most expresly spoken of which by the Writers of the New Testament are applied to Christ What think we can be the Design of these Holy Men herein if Jesus Christ be not indeed that True God In this case I make no difficulty to assert that they have deceived us most shamefully and that their Writings are no better than continual Blasphemies Pray what is Blasphemy if this be not to apply to a Creature what is due to the Creator only and to appropriate to a meer Man or even to an Angel those Oracles which the Holy Ghost hath dictated for the Honour of God alone What a monstrous Opinion is this the Consequences whereof turn the Holy Apostles into Blasphemers As for our part as long as we shall believe that they were not destitute of Common Sense nor of the Fear of God as long as we shall be persuaded over and above this That their Pens were guided by an Infallible Spirit we must be convinced that our Blessed Lord whom they call God either expresly or by application of the Prophetical Passages of the Old Testament was God indeed The Second Rank of our Proofs respects the Equality of Attributes and furnisheth us with a new Demonstration in favour of the Godhead of our Saviour Indeed if we find that the Scripture attributes to our Lord the very same things it appropriates to the Divine Essence will it not be manifest that Christ is God What is it to be God if it be not to have the Nature of God Now there is nothing that can be more easily prov'd than that our Lord hath the Properties of the Divine Nature and that in such a manner as belongs to God only I shall make choice of Six of the Divine Attributes to verifie my Argument Eternity Immensity Holiness Knowledg Power and Mercy The two first of these Attributes never were or can be attributed to any created Substance I mean Eternity and Immensity Having already in a former Discourse spoken of the Eternity of Jesus Christ it would be useless to insist any more upon it were it a Point of less consequence than it is Upon that account we esteem it our Duty to enliven your Faith by quoting the Sacred Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews In the first Chapter he presents them with a strong Motive of perseverance by the Description he gives them of the Majesty of our Lord whom he raiseth high above the Angels and to whom he ascribes Eternity by applying a Passage out of the 102 Psalm to him Psal 102.26 27. They the Heavens shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end To understand the true sense of this Oracle we must search for it at the Fountain-head I mean in the Psalm if self where we shall find it plainly signifies the Eternity of the Divine Nature not only Eternity to come but also that which is past We do not find that the Sacred Author hath added the least restriction to the words of the Text but attributes them in their whole and entire strength to Jesus Christ Our Saviour therefore is Eternal with regard to both sides of Eternity In runing over this Epistle we cannot silently pass over an Argument the Author insists upon in the Third Chapter to confirm Christians in their Perseverance by the Advantages which raise Christ far above Moses For this person was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath built the house Heb. 3.3 hath more honour than the house This way of reasoning amounts to nothing if it do not suppose our Saviour to be the Builder of the House But saith the Author in the Verse following He that built all things is God Jesus Christ therefore is God Nevertheless it appears that the Father also is the Builder of the House for it is said that Christ as Son is over the House of God But this is easily reconcil'd for the Father and the Son
they were infected before their Conversion Gal. 4.8 he tells them they served those things which by nature were no gods It is then according to St. Paul's Judgment a great Sin to serve that which is not God by Nature If therefore I find that St. Paul obligeth me to worship any Being I may have good reason according to the Opinion we have of him to conclude That this Adorable Being is God and God too by his Nature For it is not lawful for us to worship any Being save God alone Let us learn this from the Revelations that Book wherewith the Holy Ghost hath been pleased as it were to seal up the New Testament He that preacheth this Doctrine is an Angel one of those Spirits that are well inform'd how things are carried in Heaven I say it is an Angel that teacheth us that God alone is to be worshipped Rev. 22.9 St. John falls down to worship before the feet of the Angel See thou do it not saith he And why not for adds he I am thy fellow servant Conclude we then That whatsoever is bound to worship God cannot be an Object of Adoration Who then is it that we are to adore Worship God saith the Angel God only deserves the honour of Adoration under the New Testament as well as under the Old There is no solid Reasoning in the world if after having established this Principle I may not conclude thence that our Blessed Saviour is God with respect to one of his Natures seeing the Gospel makes it our Duty to worship him Will it be necessary to prove that this Adoration is a Worship practis'd and prescrib'd by the Apostles Why we need but open the Books of the New Testament and we shall meet with the Proof of it You will see the Apostles themselves and many other Believers worshiping the Lord without the least check from him or saying to them See thou do it not Let none wrangle here about the Word Adoration They take Jesus Christ for the Son of God and they adore him under that Notion He hath never rejected or disowned this Worship but hath received it as a Tribute due unto him We meet with a Character in the Stile of Sacred Authors which puts the Divine Adoration we owe to our Saviour out of the reach of any manner of Contradiction They are wont to interrupt their Stile by Doxologies to the Honour of God And the same they do to our Saviour and in the same Terms and that in several places 1 Pet. 4.11 Rev. 1.5 6. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen They are the words of St. Peter Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God even his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen As St. John expresseth himself in the beginning of his Revelation What are we to conclude from hence that the Apostles make use of these kind of Doxologies to the honour of Jesus but this That he is truly equal with his Father and that they honour him after one and the same manner Pursue we this Point a little farther and examine more particularly wherein this Adoration doth consist that so we may be the better inform'd what the Eminency of his Divine Nature is In the Chapter that hath furnish'd us with our Text we see that our Lord hath a Name above every Name Phil. 2.9 10. that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Thus it is that the Scripture Language expresseth the whole Universe of things All things must bend the Knee to Jesus which yet is not to be understood of those five Letters as if that Name did merit a more singular veneration than the other Names of our Saviour The Custom which hath been introduc'd of bowing themselves at the pronunciation of the Name of Jesus is not founded upon these words of St. Paul but only because the Christians thought it necessary to make this Mark of Respect the Test of their Belief in his Divinity So that indeed it is to his person that we owe the honour of Genuflexion Every thing must bow before our Lord He hath received a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow We have an excellent Explication of those words in those Passages of Scripture where we see that in our Christian Religion all things must be done in the Name of Jesus Nothing can be imagin'd greater than this Honour Christians are baptized in this Name they believe in this Name they work Miracles in this Name they are justified in this Name they meet together in this Name they pronounce their Deliberations in this Name they preach in this Name they suffer for this Name they pray in this Name they return Thanks in this Name and in one word to make use of the words of St. Paul Whatsoever they do in word or deed they do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus I demand therefore Whether ever any Creature was thus glorified in Israel Is it not notorious that the Name of God only was named amongst that People no other Name was heard of amongst them in their Church but the Name of God only They did not swear but by the Name of God they did not bless but in the Name of God they heard of no Deliverances but in the Name of God they glorified no other Name but that of God only What therefore must we conclude him to be whose Name must be celebrated under the New Covenant that is throughout all the Earth as the Name of God was under the Old Covenant that is to say in a very small Corner of the World The Father allows the Son to be glorified more than he himself hath been as it were to make an amends to the Son for his Subordination under which he appears with regard to the Father Whatever it be the Name of the Son holds a Sovereigh Rank and not that of a Prophet or Ambassador These Deputies do all things in the Name of the Sovereign who hath deputed them not in their own Wherefore since the Name of Christ is made use of every where it is an uncontestable Mark that he is Master that he is King that he is Sovereign yea that he is God blessed for ever Let no body reply here That all this was done in time I am not afraid to assert God can constitute no Sovereign in his Church because in doing so he must renounce the unalienable Right of his Nature which admits no Peer neither in Heaven nor on Earth But the Name of Jesus Christ hath been thus elevated because according to one of his Natures he is the Son This is a Mystery he himself opens to us when after having said in the 11th Chapter
possessing one and the same Nature the one is suppos'd to have done what the other did Proceed we to the seventh Chapter where we meet with an Emphatical Proof of the Eternity of Christ The Apostle there teacheth us that Melchisedec is the true Portraiture of our Lord in this Type I find a King of righteousness and of Peace and so far the Resemblance is exact for we know that Righteousness and Peace kiss and embrace each other in the Original But consider we those other Lineaments that compose the Type He was without Father without Mother without descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life This according to the Letter cannot be said of any Man if Melchisedec was a Man he had Father Mother Descent beginning of Days and end of Life but nothing of all this is found in the Scripture where not the least mention is made of the Family nor of the Birth nor of the Death of Melchisedec which is very strange forasmuch as the Holy Ghost hath given us the Genealogy of many Persons much less considerable how comes it to pass that it hath neglected to give us these particulars concerning the great Melchisedec Why the reason is plain his Design was to represent to us a Portraiture that might resemble our Lord Being made like the Son of God saith our Author The Holy Ghost on purpose suppresseth the Birth and Death of Melchisedec to the end that this Illustrious Unknown might the better represent the Eternity of the Son of God who is without beginning of days as he is without end of life In the 9th Chapter we find a new Proof of the Eternity of our Saviour Heb. 9.14 It is said that Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself to God What is this Eternal Spirit here mention'd It is not the Soul of our Lord that is now here called the Eternal Spirit Besides the Soul of our Lord was a part of the Sacrifice it self whereas the words speak of the Nature that offers and not of that which is offer'd Neither is it the Holy Ghost the Third Person in the Sacred Trinity he did not offer up our Saviour but he offer'd up himself it must therefore have been an other Nature which our Saviour here calls the Eternal Spirit The Godhead of Christ perform'd the Priest's Office here upon the Manhood predestinated to be the Victim for Mankind I refer also to this That Argument which the same Author draws from the Eternity of Jesus Christ to engage the Christians to persevere in his Doctrine Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever The Apostle by these words renews the Notion he had given them in the beginning of this Epistle where we have seen that he asserts the Eternity of Jesus Christ from a Text of the Old Testamnnt Indeed we find the Author had this Eternity in his eye throughout to the very end of the Epistle and 't is with reference to this that we must explain this Elogy of our Saviour which comprehends all distinction of Time past present and to come He is the same yesterday to day and for ever which answers to the Explication St. John gives us of the Eternity of the Father Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was Rev. 1.4 and which is to come And the very same Expression is attributed to Christ by St. John or rather our Saviour attributes it to himself in St. John's Revelation Rev. 1.8 I am Alpha avd Omega the Beginning and the End saith the Lord which is which was and which is to come the Almighty Who is it that speaks thus He of whom it is said in the verse foregoing Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him is the same who in the following Verse saith I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last For St. John having turned himself to see who it was whose Voice he heard saw Jesus Christ Our Lord therefore is Eternal Immensity is the Second Attribute by which our Saviour is present in all places at the same time If it were not so how could he make good the Promise made to his Disciples For where two or three are gathered together in my name Matt. 18.20 there am I in the midst of them It is very observable that this is the Language of God under the Old Law where we see that in several passages he promises to dwell amidst his People Think we that any one but the Son drust have spoke like the Father Besides I will take the boldness to say that as Grace displays it self in the Gospel the Son by promising his presence in all places saith yet more than the Father The Father assures his People that he will dwell amongst them and sometimes does even restrain this his Habitation to the compass of the Tabernacle They shall make me a Sanctuary saith he in Exodus and I will dwell in the midst of them But our Saviour extends his Promise to a much greater compass even to a wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them As if he had said That place wheresoever it be shall be to me a Jerusalem a Tabernacle a Sanctuary What can this import less than Immensity at a time when Grace overflows the whole Universe without any distinction of People In all parts of the World our Lord is present in the midst of the least Assemblies where his Name is called upon He is in all places at the same time he sees what is done there he hears all that is said there he blesseth those whom he will bless In a word he is in all places where he is call'd upon as God was in the Sanctuary of old It is well enough known that when our Saviour promiseth his presence he means a presence of his Virtue and Influences Immensity is not the proper subject of a Promise That which of its own Nature is present in all places is there whether he promise it or not but because our Lord doth promise a presence of Virtue in all places we have good reason to conclude that he is in all places This Conclusion is evident our Saviour could not act in all places if he were not in all places Now-a-days 't is maintain'd that we cannot conceive the Existence of God in any place but by some Divine Operations God is every where say they because he operates every where Say we the same of our Saviour he is every where because he acts every where For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them We need no more than common sense to convince us that if our Blessed Lord had no other Amplitude but that of his Human Nature he could never fulfil this great Promise But still to open a further Light to his Immensity we need only call to mind his Discourse with Nicodemus in the third of