the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac The better to know who this Angel is let us hear him speak himself to Jacob d Gen. 31.11 12 13. The angel of God saith Jacob spake unto me in a dream and what saith he I have seen all that Laban doth unto thee I am the God of Bethel where thou anointedst the pillar and where thou vowedst a vow unto me Surely this could be no created Angel The same it was that appeared unto Moses in the Bush mention'd by Stephen e Acts 7.35 by whose Hands Authority and Power Moses became Ruler and Deliverer of the People out of Egypt Now in the same Chapter Stephen saith v. 32. that he that appeared unto Moses in the Bush was the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and that same God he afterwards calls the angel which spoke to him in mount Sinai v. 38. To be short this is the Angel of the Lord which appeared unto Moses out of the Bush which is called Lord and God and calls himself f Exod. 3. â— 4 6. the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The Adversaries cannot deny this to be the true and proper Character of the true God Moreover this is the Angel promised to be sent before the People let us hear what a Character God gives of him * Exodus 23.20 21. Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him If this had been one of his created Angels would God have spoken of him after this manner Why God's Name in a most special manner more in him than in another Here his Name signifies his Nature and can any but the true essential God pardon Transgressions as it depends upon the Will of this Angel to do or not to do According to promise this same Angel appeared unto Joshuah under the Name of †Josh 5.14 15. captain of the host of the Lord and of him required the same humble Obedience as before he had received of Moses and this the Apostle doth point at * Heb. 2.10 when speaking of Christ he calls him the captain of our salvation of which the Deliverance out of Egypt was a Type and a Figure for he was the Rock †1 Cor. 10.4 that followed them in the Wilderness He is farther called ‖ Isai 63. the angel of God's presence God in him is present wheresoever he is because he is God but he there is also called their Saviour he saved them is there any Saviour besides the Lord Jesus the Son of God He also is called the Messenger * Mal. 3. â— or Angel of the covenant Is not God's Covenant with Men made in Christ Jesus Hath he not procured and published it It was to strengthen the Faith and confirm the Hopes of his People that God by the last of his Prophets doth so positively promise he shall come surely he then was and existed though he was not yet come The Prophet addeth whom ye delight in would to God this were true in every Christian but his Enemies can take no delight in him However it remains true that no Creature whatsoever could be this Angel and that seeing it was not the Person of the Father it must be that of his Son who is another himself and I think that to prove the Deity of the Messiah is to prove the plurality of Persons in the Godhead for as I said before Trinity imports the Divinity of the Son and the Divinity of the Son implys plurality of Persons in the Divine Nature This Angel under the shape of a Man attended by two Angels appeared unto Abraham * Gen. 18. and in the same place he is called the Lord or Jehovah and Man and behaved himself both as Lord and as Man and as both was received by Abraham Thus 't is neither impossible nor contrary to Scripture that God should in human Nature appear unto Men as then he did unto Abraham In his Promise to Abraham of a Son by Sarah and as to the Judgments upon Sodom he behaved himself as God as he did as Man in visibly walking discoursing having his Feet washed resting and eating and as herein by acting the true part of a Man he was a true Man so he was a true God for there he is six or seven times called Jehovah and five Adonai and he speaks like the Judg of the World in whose power it lyes to punish or pardon and the Adversaries can bring nothing against the Union of divine with humane Nature in the Person of Christ but what this Instance of the appearing can refute for indeed the personal Union of the divine with human Nature can be no better nor more plainly represented than by this Example and if this appearing was a sign and forerunner of Christ's dwelling and conversing among Men certainly it became him to be such as he then appeared namely God and Man Now that this was a foresight of his Incarnation our Saviour himself declares it * John 8.56 relating to this Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And upon the same account he upbraids them when he saith John 39.40 If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham but ye seek to kill me that did not Abraham for he never offered to kill as a Blasphemer that Man whom with two others he recieved into his House and who carryed himself as God on the contrary he all the while behaved himself towards him as being God and at that time the same Person that appeared unto Abrham is not only called the Lord v. 1. the Lord appeared unto Abraham but also the judg of all the earth v 25. a Property belonging to none but the true God and that Christ is to judg all the Earth it appears out of Acts 17.31 and 2 Cor. 5.10 as indeed the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorah was a figure of the Destruction of the World and of Christ's second coming The Father saith Christ hath committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 Here I shall add a Text which may have a place in another part of my Discourse 't is this God by the Prophet * Isai 40.9 10 11. speaks to Zion Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah Behold your God behold the Lord will come with strong hand c. here certainly by your God is meant the God of Israel for the God of Zâ—on of Jerusalem and of the Cities of Judah is the same with the God of Israel now who that Person is here called God it doth appear out of the scope of the place wherein the Prophet doth certainly speak of the coming of the Messiah who is Christ as 't is plain out of v. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way for the Lord make straight in the desart
him they Worship This very Name of Michael is given to the Messiah ‖ Dan. 12.1 and at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people which is a Prophecy of Christ's coming wherein he is called El Michael and the Great Prince to this Emmanuel relates what the Evangelist says of the Word that is Christ how being made Flesh he dwelt among us is not this the same as God with us And this not obscurely for he adds * Joh. 1.14 and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father he not only had Glory but is called Lord of Glory before his Ascension into and Glorification in Heaven and for certain the Name of Lord or King of Glory is proper to the true essential God if David †Psal 24.10 speaks Truth now this dwelling of God is not said to be in but with Men which doth import a Person living and conversing with Men fully expressed in the following Text ‖ 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 all this done not by proxy but in Person 't is said God himself so that great and infinite God whom the Heavens of Heavens cannot contain chose our Human Nature to dwell in as in a Tabernacle whereof the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a Type as the Temple was afterwards we know there was a Vail this the Apostle alludeth to when he saith * Heb. 10.20 thorough the vail that is to say the flesh so that his Body and Human Nature is the place he chose to dwell in and that same Nature is as a Vail to qualify that Glory which no Man could behold for as the People could not behold Moses his Face when he came from God so that it was necessary he should put on a Vail How then could Man have beholden the Glory and Brightness of the Son of God and how could he have dwelt amonst and conversed with them except he had put on the Vail of his Flesh We must then necessarily conclude he was El the Mighty God before he was Immanuel God with us As to that great incomprehensible and adorable Mystery of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity whereby the Divine and Human Natures were mediatly and the Person immediatly united to the Nature 't is to be observed that 't is not by a Consubstantial Union such as the Three Persons of the most Holy Trinity are united one with another neither is it a Substantial Union only by Essence and Vertue as the Essence of Christ is present with every thing not by a presence of Grace only not Physical as Form and Matter are united not as one Friend is united to one another as the Soul of Jouathan was knit with the Soul of * 1 Sam. 18.1 David not mystical only or in the same manner as Christ dwelleth in Believers not Sacramental as Christ is in the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper but 't is a Personal Union and that without any Change of or in the Divine Person without a renting of the Natures against the Nestorians or Confusion of the same against the Eutychians also without any Change and Separation Now I am upon this high Mystery of the Incarnation by the Evangelist expressed in these words the word was made flesh I shall take notice of some few things doth not the expression which is parallel with this †1 Joh. 4.2 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh mean that Christ the Word was in being before he was made Flesh or came in the Flesh and that this Being was according to the Spirit which in Scripture is opposed to the Flesh and that he had a spiritual Existence before he took our human Nature signified by the word Flesh for according to Scripture Flesh signifies human Nature so to be made Flesh to assume human Nature let one place serve instead of many ‖ Gal. 2.16 by the works of the law shall no flesh that is no Man be justified The Son of God was first afterwards he was manifested as to make use of a Comparison in a thing which admits none in matters of God's Decrees the Decree is before the Declaration of it for the Decree is from all Eternity but the Declaration only in time what is said of Christ * Gal. 4.4 that he was made of a woman is considerable for it implies that he was made Man and took upon him our Nature not out of the Substance of any Man but only of a Woman his Body was formed in the blessed Virgin 's Womb without any help of Man so he became Man only by the Woman's side but he was Son of God before he was made of a Woman and he must need have had a Being before he was sent forth he was with God before God sent him which is opposed to his appearing and being manifested to the World * 1 Joh. 1 2. we shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us he was with the Father existed and had a Being before he was manifested unto us dwelt and pitched his Tabernacle among us it is observable out of that place where it is said of our blessed Saviour †Heb. 2.16 he took on him the seed of Abraham the word took in the Original signifies also to take and lay hold or caught hold as he did of sinking Peter to save him from drowning so he caught hold of Mankind when it was ready to sink Against this they say there can be no such Union of Divine and Human Nature in one Person but that such an Union is not unpossible it may be illustrated out of the Union of our Soul with our Body which are of two different Natures spiritual and material invisible and visible immortal and mortal and tho' we cannot conceive the Reason it ought to be no Prejudice neither can we conceive the manner of their Union which yet is true and certain we most certainly believe some things to be tho' we do not at all comprehend the manner of it and altho' there be an infinite disproportion between God and Man yet that is no just Prejudice against the Union of Divinity with Humanity with harbouring such Notions Men do too much measure God by themselves who because they are evil are not capable of so much Goodness and out of Pride are apt to say so much Condescention becomes not God but God knows better than we what becomes him and what we cannot comprehend of him we ought to admire and adore God's Ways are not like our Ways nor his Thoughts like our Thoughts and tho' he condescends never so low yet is ever sure of his Greatness which nothing can take away from him This Humiliation or
to the Father I answer the name of God is taken either personally namely as he begets and as he is begotten and thus the Son is distinguished from the Father and upon this account the Apostle speaks of them separately Christ is distinguished from God both in Person and Office not in the Godhead or Essence or else the name is absolutely simply Rom. 8.31 32. 1 Tim. 1.1 1 John 5.20 Joh. 14.1 and essentially taken when the Question is about the Godhead then as to the Deity the Son is not distinguished from the Father as when Christ saith there is none good but God he doth not exclude himself from being good 't is as if he had said unto the Man if thou believest me to be good for so thou callest me thou must also believe me to be God for none is good but God and this was to have the Man to look upon him to be God Again When our Saviour saith Vnto God all things are possible and that God is able out of Stones to rise Children unto Abraham when the Apostles in their Salutations name first God and our Father and then the Lord Jesus Christ 't is no good Consequence to say that the Son is not of the same Nature with the Father for the Name of God is therein attributed unto the Father as the Spring and first in order of the Deity then the Son is proposed as Mediatour to lead us unto God for we are led by Christ unto the Father to worship and adore him together with the Father for he saith Ye believe in God believe also in me thereby shewing we ought to render unto him the same things we render to the Father wherefore in several places we read how when the Name Father is added yet that of God is immediately put before when generally something is taught which belongeth to Father Son and Holy Ghost then having named the Father the Mediatour is mention'd to breed in us Hope and Comfort thus the same Apostle opposeth one God to Idols where Christ is not excluded for immediately in the same Verse he declareth who that one God is namely the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things 1 Cor. 8.6 Ephes 4.5 6. and we by him thus in another place he saith there is one God as there is one Baptism Christ in whose Name we are baptized is not excluded from that oneness of Godhead Joh. 14.6 and because he would come to the Mediatour he very fitly nameth the Father to whom as the Head of the Deity there is no approach without the Mediator so by the Name Father is represented God essentially offended by Mankind and by the Son and Christ that Person of the adorable Trinity who hath undertaken to make our Peace and reconcile us unto God he is the way the truth and the life and none can come to the father but by him So when we read the word God we must not separate the Father nor the Son because the Divinity of the Father and of the Son is but one and the same Moreover they object the Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself hath all of himself and acts of himself but the Son is not God of himself he is from the Father himself he saith he came from the Father and the Father sent him to this I answer They go upou a wrong Principle for they would have this to be of one self or of another to import a different Essence or Nature for even in created things that which is begotten is ever of the same Nature with that which hath begotten but by reason of Imperfection these are one only in Species but God the Father and the Son may not be said to be one in Species or Kind because thus they would make two Gods What they add how in Divine things he that begetteth and he that is begotten are not one either in Essence or Species because Men and Angels are called Sons of God which are not one with God either in Nature or Kind is very frivolous for 't is certain they are call'd Sons of God upon a very different account from that on which Christ is so call'd None is ever call'd God's own and proper Son only begotten come from the Bosom of the Father for unto which of the Angels or Men said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 this day have I begotten thee and again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son Moreover they are mistaken to think that to be of another is to be of a different and inferiour Nature indeed he who receiveth not all but out of favour only part of what another hath may be said to be inferiour to him of whom he receiveth but he not so who hath all that another hath not by favour but by Nature and Generation They are farther much mistaken when they deny Christ simply and absolutely to be God of himself for he must need be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a being or Essence of himself Life of himself Holy of himself Power of himself is good of himself Light of himself Truth of himself Wisdom of himself Righteousness of himself Perfect of himself and Glory of himself which all are Attributes of the Deity and to whom they belong So doth also Divine Nature all which Attributes were by the antient Orthodox Doctors of the Church and after them by the eminent Instruments of Reformation owned to be the Right and Property of the Son of God grounding themselves upon the Authority of Scripture in several Places especially that of 1 John 5.20 by me already quoted we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life If we look upon the Son of God as he is from Eternity begotten of the Father and as he is the second Person on such an account we own the Son to be from the Father seeing he is true Son but if we consider him as God he is altogether self God and God of himself for the Divinity is wholly unbegotten and of her self knoweth of no beginning and needs not to borrow of others what it hath of it self and if to the Son one would attribute a Begotten and formed Essence this is from the Father to make a second God Lastly Many of the Places which the Adversaries do heap up do speak of Christ's Office of Mediator which they improperly misapply to his Divine Nature for though Christ's Humane Nature hath no Personality but is upheld by the Divine Person yet that upholding doth not confound the Natures otherwise Passion and Death might be attributed to Divine Nature On this Matter they form other Arguments grounded upon false Suppositions as sometimes they would have Father Son and Holy Ghost to be three Spirits and the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding
to be Essential Differences when to speak of three Spirits in the Godhead is as good as to say there are three Gods 1 Cor. 8.4 whilst Scripture saith there is none other God but one who hath his Being from himself and from none else for we must say of every God so called which is not such by Nature Hosea 8.6 what the Prophet saith of the Calf of Samaria the workman made it therefore it is not God and 't is a right Consequence for nothing can be God that is made by another So then to talk of three Spirits in the Godhead is to set up three Gods for God as our Saviour saith absolutely is a Spirit and when we say Spirit we understand his Nature for a Spirit is a Spiritual Substance and being thus they go on still upon their Suppositions they would have the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding to be essential Differences and not personal as they are so other times they would have the Son because he is of the Father not to be one God with the Father who existeth of himself and so not to be the one true God because he hath a Being from another but we must distinguish between the being of Essence and that of the Person the first the Son hath of it self and the second of the Father They farther object he that is Mediator with the God of Israel is not the God of Israel himself for if it were so three Absurdities say they would follow the first God would be inferiour to himself 2dly God would pray to himself 3dly the Party offended shall be Mediatour with himself but to the first we answer Tho' God be Mediator it followeth not he is inferiour to himself for tho' upon the account of the Office he that is a Mediator be inferiour to him whom he intercedeth with yet he is not thereby inferiour in Nature for even among Men one Equal doth intercede with his Equals As to the second the Son prayeth to God for us according to his Humane Nature tho' we exclude not the Divine from interceding for it belongs to it in as much as it is the Eternal Will of the Son that the Father would by reason of his Sacrifice receive us into Favour the Prayers and Submission belong to Humane Nature but the Divine maketh them effectual both Natures being united in one Person The Divine was united with the Humane mediately in the Person of the Son but the same Person was immediately united to Humane Nature As to the third it were absurd indeed if the Party offended was Mediator when there is but one Person offended but where several Persons are offended there is no Absurdity if by their common Consent one of those offended Persons offereth satisfaction for the Offender and to reconcile and in this Case it could not be otherwise for it was required that the Reconciler should be God and 't is but a Cavil to say that he with whom the Son is not Mediator could not be reconciled and that the Son was not Mediator with himself or with the Holy Ghost but only with the Father for first not only he is reconciled and appeased by the Mediator with whom the Son performeth the Office of Mediator but also they that are joyn'd and about it agreed with him wherefore seeing in every thing the Will of Father Son and Holy Ghost be agreed it followeth that through the Merit and Satisfaction of the Mediator the Father being fully satisfied the Son and Holy Ghost are so too I add as to the second it is not absurd as they think that the Son should be Mediator with himself for the Son of God doth the Office of Mediator in both Capacities for as God being one with the Father he receiveth us into Favour and as he is Mediator according to both Natures so as he is God manifested in the Flesh by reason of his Merit and Satisfaction we are received into favour and although this being received into favour be common to Father Son and Holy Ghost yet the Mediator is said to intercede for us with the Father who is consider'd as the Spring of all Divine Counsels and Operations who being willing that the Son should satisfie for our Sins and that by vertue of that satisfaction our Sins should be forgiven it is not possible for the Son to will and do otherwise to this purpose makes what the Apostle saith about our being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and what the Evangelist writeth he that hath my commandments 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21 and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him John 14.21 23. to the same effect doth tend what is said in another place of Christ who when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high So then the Son is appeased Heb. 3.3 and forgiveth our sins receiveth us into favour and giveth us Eternal Life upon the account of his own satisfaction The Father Son and Holy Ghost do the same by reason of the satisfaction given by the Son In the mean while in relation to the Son who for his own sake receiveth us t is call'd his Will in relation to the Father 't is call'd Mediation or Intercession therein the Will of the Son in order of the Person and Divine Working doth follow the Will of the Father Hence it appeareth how they do ill to confound the Divine Nature of Christ under his Office of Mediator as such according to his Humane Nature he pray'd to the Father and taught us a form of Prayer that we should call upon the Father through the Mediator yet he thereby never intended to exclude or deprive himself of his own Due or Right there is no Contradiction to worship the Father in the Face and thorough the Intercession of the Mediator for we worship the Father not in his Person only but of the whole Nature and Christ in John 5.22 as in the form of Baptism proposeth himself to be worshipped for Adoration is not confined in the Person of the Father only They say If the Father be greater than Christ then he is not God equal with the Father but Christ saith John 14.28 the father is greater than I Therefore is not God equal with the Father in this place Christ speaketh not of his Divine Nature but of his Office the Father doth send and the Son is sent and though he be less as to his Humanity he is equal in relation to his Divinity Wherefore I answer Christ is less than his Father in respect to his Humane Nature which he assumed with the Infirmity thereof Sin excepted for he was hungry weary sorrowful and the like and we read he wept tho' never that he laughed but before that Assumption of the Flesh he had a Being of another Nature which can be no
be true even in natural things how much more in those of a spiritual and divine Nature which to Men's understanding are past finding out wherefore I affirm it to be but reasonable for them in such things to submit Reason to Faith which is a Mystery to our natural Reason 1 Tim. 3.9 so called by S. Paul Holding the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience when he was writing this Faith with its Object was clearly revealed yet still he then calls it a Mystery and I hope no Socinian dares say he knows the Nature of Faith better than that great Apostle did As for Scripture they pretend to own and do quote it so also could the Devil but mis-apply'd it Before him whom he knew to be the Son of God he could say it is written And as in the beginning of the Predication of the Gospel so in the renewing of the Truth of it by Reformation Tares sprung up with the Grain some Men would not order and regulate their Opinions according to Scripture but would bring it to be subservient to their Notions and of it to make a Nose of Wax to serve their turn hence it is that they wrest things that therein are so plain which if we believe Peter 2 Pet. 3.16 must be to their own destruction I know of no wrong the Son of God hath done them that in all their Writings they should so slightly speak of and so much below him Of late one S among others Page 20. saith of the Lord Jesus In that great Instance of Magnanimity he hath outdone all the mentioned Heroes of Greece and Rome he would seem to speak much in his Commendation but latet anguis in herbâ there is a Malice in the bottom to enervate the Truth of our Saviour's Life as if there were in 't some of the Tales and fabulous Accounts which are found in the Lives of the Heroes be mentions They would have him a Man and nothing more though upon all occasions even before that wicked Counsel of the Priests Scribes and Elders Matt. 26.63 64. being by the High Priest adjured in the Name of the Living God to tell whether he was the Son of God He owned himself to be which he would not have done if it had not been true and so had died to maintain a Lye which is the part of an Impostor and this Confession of his being Son of God was the very ground of his Accusation Condemnation and Execution we have a law John 19.7 said they and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God and at the time of his Death all their Revilings and Injuries against him did run upon this Matt. 27.40 43 54. If thou be the Son of God come down from the cross and he said I am the Son of God it had been very strange if he had suffered for saying he was that which he was not in the Sense he spoke it and they took it To deny this is to be worse than the very Heathens the Roman Soldiers for the Centurion and they that were with him having seen the things that were done said Truly this was the Son of God thereby pointing at the Cause of his Death as if they had said He was what he affirmed himself to be and what he dyed for that is Truly the Son of God What S. Paul saith in another Caese about the Resurrection Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought incredible with you that God should raise the dead We may say it in that of the Incarnation of the Son of God for if God attended by two Angels in the shape of Men Gen. 18. more familiarly to dine and converse with Abraham shewed how he could assume the Figure of a Man why might he not in time take upon him our humane Nature The Scripture being so full of Evidences that he could he would and hath done it But what can we say of People who deny it to be day though the Sun shineth never so brightly like the Philosophers Maid who being blind would not own it but said the Room she was in was dark this is the case of those in whom the God of this World hath so blinded the Minds that they cannot and their Hearts that they will not see I wish God may be pleased in this high Concern of his to stir up the Hearts of every one to act in his Station whether Civil or Ecclesiastical They which in this last Capacity are Men of Piety and Learning might out of Presses and Pulpits be very instrumental in asserting the Truth if they were pleased to consult with Scripture preferably before their own Reason for the Word of God being the Spring of right Reason will afford Reasons enough to confute and convince Blasphemy and Heresie Therein lies our strength about these Matters This ought to be the method and manner of those who engage in the Cause Let us all well observe what is said of Apollos who in this same Subject was concerned against an unbelieving and obstinate Nation Acts 18.24 that he was mighty in the Scriptures About these Controversies some thing hath already been attempted by Men otherwise of Learning and good Parts but upon the account of some Principles of theirs little good is herein to be expected from them Arminians I mean whom I look upon as not very sit to write against Socinians no more than Arminus would not write against Socinus though they were contemporary when I am reading Socinian Disputes I often in my way meet with Worstius Episcopius Bertius Curcelaeus and such others who favour them if not in all yet in too many things wherein they go hand in hand and they will mince the matter with them but if after what several Men have written heretofore some other Persons of Learning and sound in the doctrinal part of the XXXIX Articles would now appear as a Reverend and very able Prelate hath in some Points effectually done then it might be hoped through God's Blessing for us to see those impious and Heterodox Opinions justled out of doors to the Honour of God the Peace of his Church and clearing the Land of such a Generation as in some respect may be called worse than the Devils Matt. 8.29 Mar. 1.24 and 5.7 Luke 4.34 41. 8.28 Psal 119.126 who publickly owned the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God of the most high God the holy one of God whom they confessed to have the Power not only to command but also to torment and destroy them whilst these Men deny him truly to be such With David we must say It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law In the mean time though very sensible of my Weakness and Incapacity I presume to appear in publick trusting in him whose Cause we defend that he will make his Virtue perfect in our Weakness and with the gracious Influence of his holy
but Persons endued with Reason and as I said before to Persons it belongs to act The high Names of God's Own Son Only Begotten c. which in Scripture are given the Lord Jesus are not upon the account of his miraculous Conception in the Womb of the Virgin as Socinians would have it we confess therein God had a special Hand and it was effected in an extraordinary manner but this is not enough to entitle him to the Filiation which the Question is now about to distinguish him from all others in the World called Sons of God as anon we shall have occasion to speak of Adam had also a miraculous Birth yet the Names of Only Begotten and God's Own and Proper Son do not belong to him in Christ's Conception and Birth God did not concur materially but efficiently with his Power but not with his Substance seeing Christ as to the Flesh was not of any invisible Seed of God but of the †Rom. 1.3 Seed of David what Brothers he had are quite of another ‖ Rom. 8.29 Heb. 2.12 Order and Quality they are such not by Generation but by Regeneration by Adoption not by * 1 Job 1.12 1 Joh. 3.1 1 Pet. 1.23 Jam. 1.18 Nature as the Texts quoted in the Margin which may be perused do declare wherefore Christ is Son of God in another manner than men are so he is called the Image of God and the Character of his Person in a most different way from that whereby Adam is said to be made according to God's likeness As in Creatures 't is a perfection to beget their similes or that which is like unto themselves that may not be denyed God now as we cannot conceive a communicability of a Nature which is spiritual and ad intra but by the two Faculties of Understanding and Willing whose Operations are immanent so it may well be said that there can be but two Processions in God one by way of Intellection whereby the Son is begotten who is called the Word Wisdom and Image of the Father and the other by way of Volition whereby is breathed the Holy Ghost who for that reason is specially called Love and though the Son doth also understand himself yet he begets neither himself nor another for he understands himself not of a notional Intellection to generate which belongs only to the Father but with a notional one which is common to the Father and to the Holy Ghost This is said not to prove our Faith but only to demonstrate that what we believe is not contrary to Reason though it be above it for all these matters as I observ'd before and as all Orthodox and learned Men that writ upon them are agreed are to be grounded on Scripture rather than upon human Reason The chief part of our Comfort and Salvation lies in the Belief of this Doctrine for as in Christ is but one Person so there are two Natures whereby he is in a capacity of perfecting our Redemption which otherwise he could not be in we own he is called Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and by Excellency but besides he is also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved proper only begotten whereby he is distinguished from adopted Sons and by his being called Son of the living God distinguish'd from Elijab Jeremiah and such extraordinary Persons that had been in the World which concludeth his Consubstantiality with the Father for it had been a monstruous Generation if out of the Father's Bosom had come a Son of another Nature He that was to be born of a Virgin was to be called the Son of the Highest not by reason of a miraculous Conception as pretended by Crollius out of Maldonat the Jesuit but because of an eternal Generation chiefly as also by reason afterwards of a personal Union of both Natures for though upon that account he might also be call'd the Son of God yet that could not intitle him to be the only begotten because he is dear and beloved but he is dear and beloved because the only begotten of the Father Christ the first begotten in respect to adopted Brethren not because their Son-ship is of the same Nature with his but only thus far as Adoption imitateth Nature as Civilians say so their Adoption * 1 Pet. 1.23 and Regeneration is a kind of Imitation of his eternal Generation and to him belong all the Privileges of the First-born and is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the †Colos 1.17 18. Rev. 3.14 beginning of the Creature not passively but actively Christ is called the Beginning of the Creation of God or of all things by him created that is the beginner or the first efficient Cause of all Creatures according to a style used in Scripture when the Thing is set for the Person as when the Jewish Nation is called by the name of ‖ Rom. 4.9 Gal. 2.9 Circumcision the Act for the Agent and the Abstract for the Concret thus Christ is said of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that is he makes us wise unto Salvation makes us righteous for he is our Justifier Sanctifier and Redeemer thus he is often called * 1 John 2. and 4.2 the Popitation for our Sins and our Salvation for Propitiatour and Saviour Though there be an infinite difference between Christ's and human Generations yet herein they agree that it imports in him that is begotten a Communication of the Nature of the Begetter it is said of Adam †Gen. 5.3 that he begat a Son in his own likeness after his Image is this to be understood of a like Nature only and not of the same Undisputably he begat him out of his own Substance and his own Nature and no other he communicated unto him well represented by the words in his own likeness and after his image the word Likeness doth not shew any Disparity or Difference but an Equality and Sameness of Nature which here by the by I observe in relation to a thing I shall have occasion to mention about the Honour to be render'd unto Christ that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father for they would have it only to be like but not equal or the same when here Likeness is taken for Sameness and Equality Now as of Seth so we must say of Christ the Son of God as the other was of Adam for as Seth had not been Adam's Son except he were of the same Nature so Christ could not truly and properly be God's Son except he were of the same Nature with the Father Seth was begotten after his Father's Image that is of the same Nature and the Lord Jesus more strongly to shew the Sameness in Nature with the Father which he had in a more eminent way than ever Seth had his from Adam is not said to be after his Father's Image but in more noble expressive and lively Words said to be the express Image
all men knowing him to be one with the Father may honour the Son even as they honour the Father whereby he demonstrates himself to be God for divine honour belongs to none else for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve We must love honour and worship one person of the God-head as well as the other as we love God in the person of the Father so we must love God in the person of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an Athema 1 Cor. 16.22 Maran-atha He who loveth not the Son loveth not the Father and he who loves not the Holy Ghost loveth not the Father nor the Son Here I bring in point of worship the instance of love because without it no true worship We ought not to worship God otherwise than he hath declared in his word he that woshipeth not God the Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not worship God as he ought 't is not enough to worship God as God essentially but also he must be in the three persons for all three are the object of worship or else our Religion is vain and we are to look not only to the object but also to the order of worship the Father through the Son John 16. and by the Son to go to the Father and so by the means of the Holy Ghost we go to both for we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. â— 26 1 Cor. 12.3 but the spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us Neither can one say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost And in giving glory to God 't is not enough to glorifie him except it be in the three persons Father Son and Holy Ghost And the consideration of this Mistery of one God in three persons which ought to be our guide in worshiping that eternal and infinite Being ought to teach us modesty and humility which is so essential in our serving God to adore the incomprehensibility of these high things the Majesty of God and the Mistery of his Son 's being made Flesh and be made sensible of our weakness and then endeavour to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Here I cannot forbear inserting the words of two eminent Doctors of the Primitive Church Ambros de fid ad gratian lib. 1. cap. 5. Mihi impossibile est saith one generationis scire secretum mens deficit voxsilet non mea tantum sed Angelorum licet scire quod natus fit non licet discutere quomodo natus sit illud negare mihi non licet hoc quaerere metus 'T is impossible for me to know the secret of that Generation my understanding faileth me my mouth is stopt 't is lawful not only for me but also for Angels to know He is born but 't is not lawful to enquire how he is born that I cannot deny but I am afraid to search into this The other saith filium esse a deo patre immortali genitum novi sed quemadmodum ignoro spiritum ex co procedere scio Chrisost hom de incomprehens dei natura sed quemadmodum nescio I know the Son to be begotten of the immortal Father but in what manner I cannot tell I know the Holy Ghost to proceed from him but how I know not These being just come into my thoughts though they exactly are not belonging to the present part of our discourse yet being much to the purpose of the whole I here have set them down Indeed in things of that nature men ought to yield an obedience of Faith and believe unity of Nature and Trinity of Persons for numero deus impare gaudet so we must worship one God in three persons Our present purpose is to prove Christ to be true Essential Eternal God because the same worship due only to the true Eternal God is rendred unto him as anon we shall by the grace of God make it appear But now somethings must be premised which can contribute towards the better understanding of the point first Christ's enemies are not agreed in this particular one Valentinus Gentilis by us named in the beginning of this Discourse and some others do flatly deny Christ this Divine Worship because they disown him essentially to be God and no divine worship is to be rendred to the Creature which to do is Idolatry but Socinus said he is to be worshiped but with such restrictions as such a worship is all most no better than none at all They would have him to be worshiped only after his resurrection and that the resurection was the standing sign and true reason why one whom God raised from the dead should be worshiped but if this be true then the Son of the Widow of Sarepta of the Shunamite 1 Kings 17.22 2 Kings 4.34 c. Chap. 13.21 and of the dead man that having touched the bones of Elisha was revived under the Old Testament and the Son of the Woman of Naim and the daughter of Jairus Lazarus Dorcas and Eutichus under the New are to be worshiped according to this rule of theirs Wherefore some other cause than this must be assigned why Christ must be worshiped they say he ought to be so as he is Mediator we own that Christ Mediator is to be worshiped but that honour belongs to him in relation to his Deity for when God bringeth in the first born into the world Heb. 1.6 he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him he is called first begotten not in relation to his humanity for many were Children of God before his Birth but in respect to his eternal generation He is to be adored by Angels though he be not their Mediator when we adore Christ as Mediator 't is not in relation to his Office abstracted from his Deity but as he is true God In this sence the Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive as he did by the Angels Rev. 5.12 the Beasts and the Elders honour and glory and blessing because in his humane nature dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily Colos 2.9 The Ark was not worshiped but God in the Ark as not the Bush but God in the Bush not the ground which Moses stood upon but God in that place sanctified by his special presence and so in several other places of the Old Testament Indeed Christ is to be worshiped Phil. 2.7 though in the form of a Servant and made a little lower than the Angels though not as a Servant or as lower than the Angels by which all God would have him to be adored for no other cause but for his divine nature V. 6. the form of God whereby he shall remained equal with the Father in his state of humiliation As Angels are commanded to worship Christ so is the Church under the
a gall of bitterness as well as the bond of iniquity with a slight and contempt of his person the Man that Man this Man Man in every case and all this to lose no occasion of robbing him of his Divinity 2 Kings 49.27 and Isai 3.28 this calls to my mind God's words against Sennacherib another great Blasphemer which by the Lord might have been applied to Socinus I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me And let all his Sectators remember what the Apostle saith Jud. 14.15 behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him that is Christ when he cometh to judge the world Another thing here to be taken notice of is this that in verse 5. where the Lord Jehovah is called the Lord of the whole Earth it must be spoken of one and the same person for if they had been two different the copulative particle and had not been omitted after the words Psal 37.5 the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord there should have been and at the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth the first words of the verse do sufficiently denote the Lord of the whole Earth to be the God of Israel Jehovah named just before at whose presence only and of none else the hills melted like wax hereunto answereth that place psal 11.7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob whereby the interpretation of this now in hand is confirmed and the God of Jacob is put instead of the Lord of the whole earth in both which places the repetition of the word Presence is very Emphatical which joyned with what I observed before and with the words the scope and the thing it self do all together fully shew here is but one person spoken of which is confirmed more and more because in what follows the Prophet speaks but of one as in the singular number vers 6.7 8. as thus the Heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory and worship him all ye Gods Also because of thy judgments whereby it appears 't is spoken of one and not of two but rather than to yield they will sooner give Christ whom otherwise they would rob of any thing he hath but his humane nature which they cannot do because they must have an Historical Faith or else may be they would and reduce him to nothing I say they chuse rather to give Christ that title and exclude God Jehovah from being the Lord of the whole earth than to own Christ to be Jehovah so what they do is not out of kindness they only give him that which they think the least to rob him of what they account to be the chief though indeed it be the same Again the words of verse 7. do farther confirm this Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of Idols therefore worship him all ye Gods For who is opposed to graven Images and Idols but he that is by nature the true God And who is religiously to be worshiped but the true God Jehovah And who but he who is the God of Gods is to be adored by all Gods vers 9. This is confirmed out of verse 9. Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods The first part contained a proper attribute of the true God namely the highest or most high God for saith David Psal 33.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Is not this the same as to be Lord over all the earth So that both to be Jehovah and Lord over all the earth are attributed only to one and if he be the only most high upon the earth none but he is Lord over all the earth The latter part of the verse doth afford a reason and a very good one why all Gods and Angels ought to worship him because he is for exalted above all Gods No less than six times he is in this Psalm called Jehovah which cannot well be denied to be the same with God of Israel One thing more I shall say as to this Psalm which with the foregoing and following contain an exhortation to all Creatures with and without life to sing and rejoyce before the Lord and why for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth which none that hath any sence can deny to be a Prophesie of Christ's coming to judge the world which he speaks of himself When the Son of man shall come in his glory Matth. 25.31 and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Then indeed in that divine and glorious State being attended and worshiped by all millions of Angels he shall reign fill with joy the hearts of his people and perform the other things contained in this Psalm He that is to do all this if we believe the Psalmist is the Lord Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ if we must give faith to the Apostle Now we must draw nearer to the words of the Apostle who is to be believed as well as the Prophet preferably to Socinians who being not able to deny it own that Angels ought to worship Christ One would think they at last would yield to the Truth and give glory to God Phil. 2.7 8 c. but no such thing for they say they may worship him as a man and not upon the consideration of any divinity in him only upon the account of his Humiliation and Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross upon which account he was highly exalted But pray whence doth arise the value and merit of that Humiliation and Obedience but from the divinity of the person which underwent it If he had been a meer man it had been no very great matter no more than what many more could have done A King 's only Son sacrifices himself for the safety of a whole Kingdom some among the ordinary people might have done the like but that which raiseth the merit of the thing is not his being a man for any man else therein is equal with him but 't is the Royal Blood running in the Veins of the young Prince which doth make the act so meritorious and so considerable so if I may continue a lame comparison so defectuous to represent what I have a mind the Blood which our Saviour shed upon the Cross doth not receive its unexpressible value for coming out of the Veins of a Man but because it is the blood of God wherewith he hath purchased his Church Acts 20.28 Neither was the Obedience yielded
by our Saviour belonging only to his Humane Nature which may be due and necessary from one in nature and quality inferiour to another but it was also an undue and meerly voluntary obedience which may be rendred by an Equal and some times by a Superiour as we read when Joshua said Josn 10.12 13. Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the valey of Ajalon so the Sun stood he was obeyed but there is in it more than this the Sun of himself could not stand nor alter or stop his Course a Superiour power to do 't was required and indeed we find that in the beginning of the verse 't is said then spook Joshua unto the Lord in the day when c. Sun stand thou still so let it be spoken with that awful reverence and to an infinite Majesty in some kind we may see how in this case the Superiour was pleased to obey the Inferiour so we may say a sort of obedience may belong to Divine Nature as when God commanded the World should be created and it was performed by his Son of this nature is Christ's obedience as spoken of by the Apostle concerning Christ Phil. 2.6 7 8. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God he humbled himself This was a voluntary obedience for he was not humbled but humbled himself he was not made but made himself of no reputation thus the obedience is valued according to the dignity of the person which obeyeth To be in the form of God is to be God for forma dat esse rei the form is the nature of the thing and makes it to be what it is But what this man granted before he is now willing to take away when he would have this worship not to be terminated in Christ but from him to pass unto God so this is but a relative worship Thus Papists say they worship images but they are mistaken for though God hath exalted him it doth not follow that Adoration should be only Transitory and not fixed So God hath exalted the Kings of the Earth but the Civil Worship or respect rendered unto the King is rendred unto a Man but not in the capacity of a Man but is terminated in him as he is a King so when Christ Man is adored he is not so under the notion of Man but as he is God of the same nature with the Father and that he is in the Father and the Father in him the Father may well be worshiped in him and he in the Father but making them as they do to be of different natures I see no cause why they may not be worshiped asunder one from another which yet doth but rend and divide the object of our worship with this new as they call it way of worship to adore God in a Man But they must say what they understand by him for both the Prophet and the Apostle make use of the word Is it one or a different person named by them if the same then Christ is the one God if not the same then the Apostle hath not well explained the Prophet If in the Psalm Christ be not spoken of but only the God of Israel of a nature altogether different then in the Epistle the words are made use of to no purpose for therein the design is to prove how Christ must be worshiped by all Angels Now he doth not answer his purpose when to prove one who is not the God Israel ought to be adored he brings a Text which commands the Angels to adore him only who is the God of Israel a great disparagement indeed not only to the Author of the Epistle but to the Spirit of God which directed him he saith in that worship exhibited unto Christ the Lord Jesus represents the person of God the Father how as an Actor upon the Stage doth represent a King After this rate Christ with all the worship given him would be without blasphemy let it be spoken but a Stage God If to reign doth signifie the Kingdom of Christ why shall not also the name Jehovah who reigneth belong to his person If he hath the thing why should he not have the name also Christs Kingdom is therein described Jehovah is the King why should not Christ be Jehovah which if he be it must be properly for Christ nor no one else was ever figuratively called Jehovah and the Kingdom of Christ under the name of God is described then if Christ be not God Jehovah then 't is Jehovah that indeed doth represent Christ so he must be the Type of Christ thus they unavoidably run into absurdities but in very deed Christ doth not act the part of the Father but his own He doth act the part of three persons upon the account of his three several offices of a Prophet of a Priest and of a King he therein exerciseth his own office and not that of the Father he doth what belongeth to him and not to others Joh. 17.10 and as all things the Father hath are his so the Kingdom Throne Scepter Power Majesty Ministry and Subjects are all his if he received the Kingdom from the Father he received it as only begotten Son and Heir of all things not as of anothers but as his own wherefore he doth not reign as a Servant or a Minister of the Farther so then when he reigneth he doth not represent the Father's person but his own not as his Vicar or Lieutenant but as God equal with him The first part of the verse Matth. 1.20 Luke 2.9 13. Matth. 28.2 5. and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world sheweth how at his first coming into the world he was worshiped and served by Angels for his Conception Birth and Resurrection were published by Angels and then it demonstrates there are two persons one that bringeth the other that is brought in the one is the Father the other the Son the first commanding the last to be adored for he saith not worship me but him There is an Emphasis in the word first begotten simply spoken to be understood of every Creature Col. 1.15 for 't is very just he should be worshiped by Angels as his Creatures and indeed in Scripture I cannot find any truth more clearly and fully proved than this is he was worshiped not only by Angels but also by Devils Mark 5.6 7. the Legion in the Body of the man possessed But as we proved the Lord Jesus ought to be worshiped by Angels so we now must shew he ought to be by men and the place is this That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son John 5.23 honoureth not the Father that sent him To understand the place well we must go up higher and take notice how from verse 17. to 23. our Saviour speaks of his equality with the Father as well understood by the
Essentially exclusively not to Son and Holy Ghost but to Idols and Creatures the word Father is here taken for God as 't is when said one God and Father of all and Abba-Father Ephes 4.6 Rom. 8.15 Also the Father of Spirits The words our Father are often taken for our God and Lord In those places the word Father is said relatively not to the Son Heb. 12.9 Matth. 10.21 29. Luke 30.32 John 14.13 Chap. 3.13 but to men whose Father God is The things in the Lord's Prayer asked and prayed for are asked of the Son as well as of the Father as the coming of his Kingdom the forgiveness of our Sins whence saith our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do And the words which are in Heaven do belong to the Son as to the Father and the Holy Ghost too as appeareth out of Psal 139.7 8. and Matth. 3.16 Nay as we said before the Son is called the everlasting Father And if we consider the Etymology of the word which in the Original signifieth to preserve all things we shall find he is a Father indeed by whom all things are upheld and preserved which the Holy Spirit within us beareth witness unto when our heart laying under the sense of some trouble or mercy doth on a sudden by means of an Ejaculatory Prayer either in thoughts words or both poure it self before him begging for help or giving thanks breaking out upon occasion into these or the like expressions Lord Jesus have pity on me or Lord Jesus make me thankful Thus I through the grace of God have under those several heads brought in proofs for our blessed Lord and Saviour's divinity of many more which Scripture affords I shall take notice but of few wherein he is properly and truly called God which to assert is the main drift of the word as it is the foundation of the whole Gospel for it was absolutely necessary he should be God by nature or else any man might have preached taught prayed given good example and made intercession as well as Christ and if he came into the world and dyed only to teach us good doctrine and give us good example he had done for us no more than the Apostles and Martyrs who taught good doctrine and gave good example so might as well be called our Mediators and Saviours If this had as they say been the whole work of the Mediator our redemption had been no hard matter to be performed But I say that his threefold office of Mediatorship Prophecy Kingship and Priesthood demonstrate him to be true Essential God for none of the three could perfectly have been performed but by a God himself As to the Prophetical to enlighten the understanding and effectually to turn the heart as to the Regal to defend Believers against the Power of Satan and as to the Priestly to obtain forgiveness of Sins favour of God and glory none of these could be obtained but by him who is infinite as in Power so in Nature there is an infinite distance between God who is infinite and every finite Creature no proportion between Infinite and Finite Scripture owneth nothing but God to be higher than Angels now Christ is higher and above all Angels Besides that the necessity of satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice doth argue a necessity for Christ to be God for the satisfaction could not have been adequate as it ought to be except he was God and this divinity in him doth prove the plurality of persons in the God-head which is the whole of the difficulty alledged against the most holy Trinity Certainly the great design of the Apostles and others was to preach Christ to be truely and really God Son of God whereby their Ministry was exalted this was the foundation they were to build upon Acts 8.37 The Eunuch must make this Confession I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God before he could be baptized so did every one else being converted to the Faith this in our Religion is the first thing to be known and preached thus Paul after his Conversion Chap. 9.20 the first thing he did was to preach that Christ is the Son of God for that was the great question the Jews denyed him not to be Man Son of Man but he went about to convince them how also he was God Son of God and he was by Nature God as certainly as by nature he was Man Wherefore he would raise the thoughts of the Corinthians from the consideration of Christ's humanity to that of his Deity when he saith 2 Cor. 5.16 though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more after the flesh but according to the spirit not in the humane but in the divine nature according to which he is called by the glorious names of the holy one Act. 3.14 15. 1 Cor. 2.8 and the just the prince of life and the Lord of glory our Blessed Saviour who when he was in the world had so often declared himself to be the Son of God in a proper sense after his Ascension when he had a full possession of that glory as it were to confirm from Heaven what he had declared upon Earth in the Revelation he made to that disciple of his who doth so eminently bear witness of his divinity 1 Joh. 4.14 15. when he saith we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and not otherwise I say on that occasion the Lord Jesus from Heaven proclaims himself to be Son of God in the letter to the Angel of the Church in Thiatira with this glorious description Rev. 2.18 compared with chap. 1.14 15. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass Tho his enemies would not hear him upon earth during the time of his humiliation when through his Passive Obedience he was about performing the first part of his Priestly Office to satisfie divine Justice and make expiation for our sins I think now they should when he speaks from Heaven whence he exercises his Royal Office I know well enough how what I say about his satisfying Divine Justice through his death doth not affect his enemies who deny he hath given satisfaction for us but what can his intercession on in Heaven which is the second part of his Priesthood be grounded upon but his own merits through his Sufferings and Death he thereby hath payed our Debts and by vertue of that payment he asks we should be released but that point I intend not to meddle with in this place In the New Testament the name Saviour is as proper to him as that of Christ as indeed that of Jesus the same with Saviour was given him by the Angel and
Surely no man that hath any regard to God can say or think that in so serious a matter God speaks to nothing if to some then either to Angels or to some other Creature not to Angels for they are not of God's Council nor to any other of the Creatures which had neither Soul nor Reason and the next Verse doth decide the thing * Vers 27. So god created man in his own image in the image of God created he him and not after the Image of Angels or of any other Creature neither did God speak to the Souls for as yet they were not created To what I said of Angels I shall add that this could not be spoken to them for they neither principally or instrumentally had any hand in the Creation of Man for they could not the Work of Creation requiring an infinite Power but it must be to the other persons of the most holy Trinity the Word and the Spirit As to the Enallage or that manner of speaking in the plural for Greatness sake we own it hath place in some Languages but we deny it ever was in the Hebrew Tongue in the Old Testament no Man no person in Authority no Priest no Judg no King ever spoke of himself in the plural Number Well hath the Prophet said †Isai 40.12 13.7 Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counsellor hath taught him But for any one Grotius not excepted to say that the plural Number is used for Greatness or Majesty sake is certainly to prevaricate in the Cause of God for as 't is contrary to the Idiom of the Hebrew Tongue so to the practice of all those former times and it is but a modern Use and Invention which so support some Men contrary to all true Reason have forged in their imagination Besides that in these latter times wherein the Use hath been introduced no Emperor King or Prince in any Language useth his Proper Name or Appellative in the plural Number We Leopolds Williams Henrys Emperors Kings c. but always in the singular Leopold William Emperour King Well though no Man of what rank soever spoke after that way we find God hath in other places as after Adam's Sin * Gen. 3.22 Behold the man is become as one of us not as I but one of us then there is more than One person for God speaks of himself of the Deity not of Angels whom he makes no comparison with when in the Transfiguration the Voice came from Heaven saying †Mat. 17.5 8. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased 't is observable the Apostles saw no Man save Jesus onely that it might appear it was not spoken of Moses or Elias but only of the Lord Jesus Another place there is also to the same purpose where upon the occasion of the building of the Tower of Babel †Gen. 11.6 7. The Lord said let us go down and there confound their language 't is not said I will but let us go â—â—wn in the plural Number as speaking of many which may not be understood of the Nature which is most singularly One but of the Persons Socinians say to this that though out of this we could prove Plurality yet we must not conclude for a Trinity but the Cavil is vain for 't is enough that the Name of God is in Scripture attributed only to Three Father Son and Holy Ghost to infer a Trinity and 't is well known how Three is the first Number of the plural Hence Hebrews and Greeks do distinguish the plural Number from the dual neither do we read of any more Terms or Words than two of divine Emanations namely of the Son by Generation and of the Holy Ghost by Procession Our second kind of Arguments consists of those Texts of Scripture which do expresly declare a Trinity as is that when our blessed Saviour sends his Apostles to * Mat. 28.19 baptize the Nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Hence the Son and Holy Ghost are proved to be Persons because we are distinctly baptised in their Name to baptise in one's Name is to make him disciple or initiate and bring him under the Discipline of him in whose Name he is baptized now if the Father in whose Name we are baptized be a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost be because in every circumstance we are baptized in their Name as well as in the Fathers And observe it is not said in the Name of God whereby the Essence only might absolutely be taken but of the Father Son and Holy Ghost to shew that relative Equality which is between the Persons that have but one and the same Nature In this Text our blessed Saviour with his own Mouth declared the Trinity Another place very plain and positive to our purpose is this * 1 John 5.7 There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one Here the Trinity of Persons and Unity of Essence are so clear that the Adversaries have nothing to say but first to call in question the Verse as if it had been inserted because it is not in some Greek Copies out of which the Enemies of the Truth did formerly take it away but we have it in so many others even before the Council of Nice in Cyprian's time that there is no just ground left to doubt of its being true and authentick which place was by Athanasius made use of against Arrius In this Text the Apostle doth treat of confessing and believing Jesus Christ to be the Son of God which he to confirm doth bring in the Article of the holy Trinity whereof he is the second Person and to any one that doth seriously consider the sense and scope of the place it will appear how without that Verse there would be a breach in that part of the Chapter to bear a proportion of Three that bear witness in Heaven with the Three that bear it on Earth Their next Cavil upon this place is upon the latter part of the Verse and these three are one that is say they not in Nature but in Mind and Consent which is as absurd as if one would say when Scripture affirms * Deut. 6 4. Mark 12.29 O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord the meaning is only the Consent of many Wills but doth not this Oneness of Will argue a Unity of Essence For how can there naturally and essentially be one Will and Consent if there be not one Essence and Nature How can it essentially be one Will if there be not one but many divine Natures Rather there shall be many different Gods whose different Wills shall oppose one another than the which nothing can be more absurd Again either those Persons are finite or infinite if finite then they have not divine Nature which is infinite if infinite then
they do penetrate one another for they most perfectly and infinitely know and love one another now Love is an earnest desire of Union so then they be most intirely united The Apostle makes the necessary difference of the Three on Earth he saith they agree in One but of the Three in Heaven he saith they are One. Moreover either one knows something which the other doth not or loves something which the other doth not love or can do something which the other cannot do or not if the former how are they God For God knows and can do all if the last then not only they have one Will but also one Mind one Power one Knowledg one Love Now let Man think upon several Natures of the same kind which mutually do penetrate themselves and by a mutual inclination do embrace and unite themselves inseparably and have the same Thoughts Will and Action doth not all this conclude for one and the same Nature And that there is no difference but in some manner of Existing which because they are such are distinct one from another without Confusion all which from Oneness of Will leads to Oneness of Essence for the Will of God is not a thing different from his Nature Another Text wherein the most holy Trinity is demonstrated and not only may be read but also be heard and seen is that about our Saviour's Baptism where the Father speaks from Heaven and calls him his Son Christ the Son is baptized and the Holy Ghost appears in the shape of a Dove if Men do believe Scripture this they must believe to be true S. Austin lookt upon this Text as a strong and convincing Proof of that divine and essential Truth Vade ad Jordanem c. saith he Go to the River Jordan and there thou shalt find the holy Trinity and be convinced of the Verity thereof Besides these we have a Cloud of other Witnesses to prove this Truth where the Three Persons are mentioned under their proper Names and first * Acts 2.22 23. This Jesus being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost the Three Persons are plainly named Again the same Jesus Christ was declared †Rom. 1.3 4. to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Elsewhere the same Apostle saith ‖ Tit. 3.4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ And in another place ‡ Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts by the word God is meaned the Person of the Father * Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offereth himself without spot to God Furthermore †Ephes 2.18 Through him Christ we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father Our blessed Saviour himself out of his own sacred Mouth doth plainly and positively speak to this purpose when he saith * John 14.16.17 I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter the Father I the Son and the comforter whom he calls the Spirit of Truth are Three Persons which in the next Chapter †Chap. 15 26. is by him repeated But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth One Text more I shall bring to confirm this * 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God that is the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all And in the Text of another Apostle †1 Pet. 1.2 are contained the Workings of the Three Persons in the Trinity Elect according to the fore knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ As the New Testament is full of Proofs to confirm this holy Doctrine for indeed these Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation are more clearly and fully therein related so out of the Old Testament we have enough to confute the Enemies of this Truth and because we look upon Socinians in their Principles to be a sort of Jews and as well as they Blasphemers against our holy and blessed Saviour so we will bring such Arguments against them as we would if we were disputing against unbelieving Jew◠only a few Texts out of many We begin with the Book of Genesis Chap. 1. wherein is contained a relation of the History of the Creation which is a Work common to the Three Persons of the Trinity and though we may not look upon it as the clearer upon the matter yet in it is Light enough to shew the Truth we now assert I shall say nothing of the Name God under that of Elohim which already we have spoken of as representing the plurality of Persons in the most holy Trinity but we may say that though the Name God was there which it is not in the singular and taken for the Person of the Father yet the Son had a hand in the act of Creation for it is God said here is the word which is the proper Name of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ who in Scripture especially by S. John is so often called by that Name the Word God saying and speaking is that which made the World We read God said when any thing was created which being compared with what is spoken by John * John 1.3 All things were made by him that is the Word the Person of Jesus Christ for actiones sunt suppositorum acting is proper to Persons and without him was not any thing made that was made now that Word God said is that which created every thing so then here is the Person of the Son but we also find the Person of the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.2 the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters by his acting represented by motion to cherish give life and motion to things as a Hen doth when sitting upon her Eggs for the word in the Original signifies such a thing This sense is given by a competent Interpreter †Psal 33.6.9 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host thereof by the breath of his mouth Here we can read distinctly the Lord if it were to be understood only of the first Person about which there is no dispute the Word and the Breath or Spirit this though it be clear I could set in a greater Light with comparing it with other places which I now forbear to do because I shall have occasion to make use of them in some other branch of my Discourse Another Text is this * Isai 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him besides the Person that speaks namely the Father here we have the Son under the name