the bringing the Son of God to Death who had so terribly over-aw'd and baffled him before were the utmost reach of Hell's impetuous Malice yet that very Death of his gave the infernal Tyrant that fatal Blow which he strove by that very Prosecution to put off that mighty Wound which Hell with all its Stratagems and Strugglings can never recover and this great Event the vanishing of that thick Darkness at that very Instant of his Expiration which before when Nature's Lord was in his Agonies cover'd the Face of the whole Earth the terrible Convulsions of the Earth the Dissolution of mighty Rocks the Rending of the Temples Vail and long buried Saints starting from their Graves as if at that very Instant of their Saviour's Death all the Chains of that King of Terrors had been broke at once with that great Event all these mighty Wonders seem'd to sympathize Now if with these greater and more inexpressible Sufferings we consider all the rest which our Saviour's Life was obnoxious to from his Cradle to his Tomb and withal reflect with due reverence upon the dignity of the Sufferer the distance may not seem so immoderately great as the Socinians would have us believe between the Satisfaction given and the Necessities of those it was given for But further we are to consider that the Eternity of that Death Adam's Sin had laid him open to did not proceed from the nature of the Sin it self for no Crime infinite in its own Nature can proceed from a finite Being but the Eternity of that Penalty annex'd to Sin in Man arises from the absolute Infinity of that God against whom he sinn'd and whose Anger when irreversible must be eternal from a respect to that infinite Goodness and Justice essential to him whereby he had conferred such mighty Benefits upon Man and laid so very reasonable Duties upon him which yet Man had ingratefully slighted and abused Now if the greatness of the Penalty arise from the greatness or immensity of the Being offended then the Greatness and Value of the Satisfaction tender'd in lieu of that Penalty arises from the same Consideration viz. the greatness of that God it 's offer'd to and accepted by and as we believe God to be infinitely Wise and therefore not to be impos'd upon so as with Glaucus in the Poet to exchange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of the greatest consideration for Trifles Gold for Brass so we reasonably conclude That God understands the true Value of that Satisfaction offer'd to Justice in the Sufferings of his Son we are assured that he has accepted of what his Son has done on our behalf therefore we are assured too that what he has so acted for us was and is equivalent to those Punishments we ought as Sinners to have undergone for the Satisfaction of eternal Justice Our Adversaries indeed would persuade us That if we insist so much on the Dignity of the Person suffering we must suppose that Christ suffer'd for our Sins as he was God or in his divine Nature which Supposition would be blasphemous and the Conclusion impossible but by their leave we neither mean nor pretend to any such thing We know and assert that Immortality cannot die and that the Deity cannot suffer yet we believe that He who was and is true God did both suffer and die but we know He that was God took upon him the Nature of Man and therefore though he could not nor did die as God yet that Humane Nature which he assum'd both could and did suffer and die and by that Suffering and Death among other Proofs evidenc'd the Reality of his being Man as well as he demonstrated his Divinity by his continual Words and Actions But now let us consider God condescending to take upon him our Nature that very Condescension alone is of infinite weight we look upon it as a very meritorious piece of Humility for a Soveraign Prince to take upon him the Habit of a Beggar only to procure good for some miserable undeserving Wretches the Athenians therefore long celebrated the glorious Memory of their last Monarch Codrus who put on the ignoble Arms of a private Centinel meerly that he might die by the hands of those Enemies who had been forewarn'd by an Oracle not to kill him by which private Habit assum'd he procur'd the safety of his Country but we never admire much the Humility or Condescension of that Beggar who wears Rags because he has no richer Habits to put on Now had the Son of God taken upon him a Royal Grandeur had he been wrapt in purple ador'd by all Mankind in his Cradle worn the Imperial Crown even in his Infancy or had he taken any other Methods we could fancy to our selves which might have render'd him considerable to the World yet this had been an infinitely greater Humiliation than for a Cyrus or an Alexander or a Trajan or a Constantine or a Tamerlane to have taken upon him the Person of the most contemptible Wretch in the World and for the noblest End It cannot well be questioned whether it was possible for God to take into his Own an Humane Nature or not Humanity it self being the product of his own Eternal Power was as all other parts of the Creation wholly at his command and though God's assuming a Body might be suppos'd enough of it self to render that Body immortal yet we may reasonably be assured that he could make it according to his own good Pleasure liable to Death as well as other Humane Bodies were but the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature being so close and absolute the Humane Nature howsoever submitted to Mortality must contract an infinite Honour and Dignity from thence but after all the Condescension is not a whit the less that he who is God should assume that mortal Nature nor is his Love less admirable who should assume it for our sake or who should stoop so low purely to make up that breach that was between his Father and Mankind but if to this Condescension we add a due consideration of those many Calamities or extreme Sufferings this Humane Nature was all along obnoxious to if we consider the Son of God as he was Man always in a state of Persecution and that carried on by various Degrees to the utmost Extremity and then recollect again that Honour it had contracted from that close and inseparable Union there was between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ such Sufferings in such a Person must be acknowledg'd infinitely meritorious and consequently capable of atoning or satisfying for infinite Guilt though such Sufferings were not Eternal as those of sinful Men are or ought to have been for it 's not necessary that the Satisfaction given for Humane Sins should be of the same kind as if Divine Anger could have been averted by no Method but that of the Lex talionis or like for like but that the Redemption-Price paid for the guilty Prisoner should be of
habitual Obedience yet he stopt upon none of these Considerations but was for ought we can find by the Sacred Story as ready to be offered as his Parent was to offer him now such a kind of Obedience cannot reasonably be expected from any but a Son nor from any but the best of Sons such was Isaac but as the Burden the Son of God undertook was infinitely greater than what Isaac was concerned in the Eternal Determination of Heaven in respect of Man infinitely harder to comply with so it required a Son more Powerful more Obedient more united with his Father than any Earthly Son could be with the most obliging Earthly Parent therefore there being that Eternal Unity of Will between God the Father and God the Son it was impossible there should be the least Reluctance in the Son against what was resolv'd on for the rescue of Sinners from the Wrath to come and therefore that declining the terrible Hour which appears in his Prayer before his being seiz'd on by the Jews was purely the Effect of Humane Nature necessarily infirm but clearly understanding the Terror of the approaching Conflict and therefore shewing the result of the purest Flesh and Blood yet without Sin Again when we reflect on the Relation between a Father and a Son as it 's very close so their mutual Loves and Affections must needs be very extraordinary and tender this is observ'd and expected among earthly Parents and Children and it's what Nature commands and Religion so far as true obliges to this then must be much more eminent between God the Father and the Son and so our Lord himself teaches us The Father loveth the Son and as the greatest evidence of that intense Love John 3.35 he has given him all things into his hand he asserts the same again The Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that he doth 5.20 which is an Expression of the greatest Intimacy and Unity the same Jesus declares that his Father hears him always 11.42 and the Palmist in the Person of the Father speaking to the Son says Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession and on assurance of this Christ when he reproves St. Peter for using his Sword against those who came to take him tells him he could pray to his Father and he should presently send him more than twelve Legions of Angels from all which Circumstances we may be assured that the Interests of an infinitely Obedient Son with an infinitely Loving Father must be infinite therefore whereas Mens Sins were infinitely odious and that Vengeance infinite which was by consequence to fall upon Men for those Sins there was nothing but an infinite Interest that could possibly by any means whatsoever divert that Vengeance and this infinite Interest was proper to God the Son that is to such a Son as was at Unity nay was One with his Father from whence it is that we are taught by the Rules of Christianity and a Socinian himself will scarce contradict it to present all our Prayers to God in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ so whereas our Lord teaches his Disciples Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name John 14.13 14. that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son if ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it 16.23 26. he afterwards varies thus In that day ye shall ask me nothing Verily verily I I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Hitherto ye have askt nothing in my Name ask and ye shall receive that your Joy may be full which two Texts compared together shew the absolute Prevalency of the Name of the Son of God with our Heavenly Father and the absolute and indissoluble Union of the Father and the Son so that it may properly and without any thing like a Contradiction be asserted that what One does the Other does and what the Father grants for the Son's sake that the Son grants nor can any thing of an Heavenly Nature be granted to Mankind but by the Deity so united in it self by which Consideration all inferiour Intercessors between God and Man are excluded from being in themselves the Objects of our Religious Adorations because there can be no such adequate Unions of Persons between them nor any such absolute Power or immediate Interest in such inferiour Beings as there can be no reasonable Competition of Interests between a Son adopted out of Commiseration and an onely begotten and universally loving and obedient Heir as then the Interest of a Son with the Father was necessary for Humane Redemption so it was necessary that God the Son particularly should assume our Nature to do and suffer for us in such a measure as we might be redeem'd upon acceptance of the proper Conditions from Eternal Destruction Finally the Tenderness of the Son oft-times shews it self when the Gravity and just Severity of a Father seems inexorable to an Offender yet even then when the Father seems of himself and otherwise would be inflexible to the Criminal he is pleas'd to see the Tenderness of his Son and will frequently encourage and accept of his Intercession so if we may compare small things with great our Heavenly Father deals with us in respect of the Intercession of his Son and though Justice cry'd out for Vengeance against Sinners he was particularly well pleased when he saw Him cloth'd with Flesh for accomplishing that great Work of Mercy and Goodness he was pleas'd at his Interposition between the Criminals and impendent Punishment and since the Divine Nature was wholly incapable of flexible Affections nothing but unbounded Love Mercy Justice c. concentring in it the Apostle teaches us that our incarnate Lord our great High-priest was such an One as could be affected with our Infirmities Heb. 5.7 8 9. could have compassion on the Ignorant and of them that are out of the way who in the days of his flesh when he offer'd up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Though he were a Son yet he learned Obedience by the things which he suffer'd and being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that believe the Assumption of our Nature created in him a sympathetic Tenderness of Humane Infirmities as appear'd by his Tears over Jerusalem and at the Grave of Lazarus yet he was free from all Sin in those condescending Tears of his now he that had such extraordinary Compassion for miserable Sinners could not but exert the utmost of his sacred Interests on their behalf and make a free access for them to the Throne of Grace where such Obedience Interest and Compassion being indispensibly necessary for our Good and those Qualifications being naturally
were so cross to his own wishes lest Men should have been rouz'd from their dead sleep by such irrational and damnable insinuations and so have seen with horrour and amazement what Gods they worshipped Yet neither could the more sagacious part of Mankind be satisfied with these things they saw the distance between God and Man was too great to be made up by any typical or representing Sacrifices and that a compleat purity was far beyond the reach of meer humane nature therefore the Gentiles who had some sense of that weight which opprest them groan'd and long'd earnestly to be freed from the slavery of corruptions by some means sufficiently powerful to that end and so to be brought in to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God hence rose those frequent discourses of the Gods assuming Humane shapes coming down to earth and conversing with Men which though we find most frequently mention'd in Poetical Writings yet unquestionably had its foundation from those accounts in the Writings of Moses concerning the apparitions of Angels as particularly to Abraham and Lot and Jacob hence grew that prevailing rumour about the times of Augustus Caesar that an universal King should be born in Judaea to whom all other Monarchs should be forc'd to bow and who by wonderful means should make up the breach between God and man this too had a farther confirmation from the translation of the old Testament into the Greek Language and from some fragments of the true Sibylline Oracles not unknown to Tully or Virgil and from Balaam's predictions as plain as any Jewish Prophecy whatsoever which he being of another Nation would certainly acquaint his own Country-men with from whom it quickly might be spread over the whole World From some or all these Originals arose the Expectation of those Eastern Sages who no sooner saw that prodigious Star shining at Noon-day but they concluded that glorious Light which was to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of God's people Israel was then risen but though Men did generally apprehend the necessity of those things and lived in continual expectation of them yet how such things should be how such prodigious but excellent effects should ever be produced was a Mystery hid from all ages a dark obscure unfathomable abyss of Divine goodness and wisdom never offer'd to be explain'd to any because incomprehensible by all As it was the unhappiness of the Gentiles to be encombred with a great deal of Ignorance so it must follow that their Mysteries where clearest had but a very indirect aspect to their acknowledgments and expectations But the Jewish solemnities and predictions had a more exact and direct aim at the coming of the promis'd Messias their Prophets were more numerous their prophecies better attested and more commonly known and enquired into their Rites and Ceremonies all of Divine appointment and consequently not one of them insignificant or superfluous till they were vacated by the appearance of the Messias himself in and by whom they were unridled and accomplished Yet their Religion was Mysterious still to the most understanding Persons among them their prophecies tho' so much inquired into yet like a Book seal'd to them and they as unable to conceive how the Son of God should take upon him humane nature how he should put an end to all Typical Sacrifices though of never so Divine an Institution by offering himself one perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole World which so should really effect that mighty reconciliation which all other did but imperfectly hint at they were as unable to conceive of these things as a People who had long sate in darkness could have been as by their prejudices against him and their absurd fancies about him appear'd when no other Messias could serve their turn but some powerful temporal Prince rais'd up by the hand of God as Moses Joshua or the Judges of old had been to free them from the slavery they then lay under and once more to restore the Kingdom to Israel The result then of all is this that the World has known no Religion or Religious worship but what has had some circumstances and fundamentals too not obvious or easie to be understood either by the unthinking vulgar or by the more curious and inquisitive understandings it 's enough for my design if the World concur in that one principle That something may be necessary to be believ'd which yet no meer humane reason can comprehend Nay I may proceed farther and say That some points of faith are so very sublime that even revelation it self cannot make them intelligible to Men as Moses when he had seen the back parts of God the shadow or reflex of his glory was as far off comprehending his full glory as before and the Apostles when in their transfigured Master they saw a glorified body yet were unable to express what they saw but by very weak resemblances and S. Paul when ecstasied in the third heavens could no more compleatly comprehend the felicities or glorious visions of that place than he could before Since then natural reason led the Gentiles to believe mystick truths and God led his own people of Israel to the like from both together we may conclude That Religion it self cannot subsist without them and that those things which are called mysteries in Religion are not therefore to be rejected because they are mysteries indeed i. e. because every little pretender to sence cannot comprehend them And so we come to the second enquiry propounded in the beginning of this discourse and that is Whether our Saviour intended the entire abolition of all other Religions for the Settlement of his own or rather to unite what was good in every distinct religion into one and to sublime or perfect that so as it might tend most to God's glory and Mans happiness and whether that could be effected Men standing in their present corrupt state without the retaining of old or declaring of new Mysteries in his Religion where for our better satisfaction we must again examine these things What Sentiments Men generally had of the ends of Religion before our Saviours appearance in the world How far they had depraved or perverted those ends The reason of these enquiries will appear afterwards We enquire then what Sentiments Men generally had of the substance and ends of Religion before our Saviours appearance in the world And here if we would give Religion as it 's true a definition we may take it thus Religion is the worship of God in such a manner as is most agreeable to those revelations he has made of himself to the World this the Jews confirm The Author of the book Kosri or a Dialogue between the King of Cosar and Rabbi Isaac Sangar concerning Religion infers from a precedent discourse Libri Cosri pars 3. p. 234. That Men can have no access to God i. e. they cannot be admitted as true worshippers but
Jacob Moses Joshua Samuel David and all the rest of the Prophets Of them came Jesus Christ according to the flesh that particularising of his deduction from them according to the flesh intimates plainly enough that according to somewhat else he had another Original he was not wholly of the Jews This the Socinians are forced to own because of that entire story of our Saviour's Conception by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the blessed Virgin To shew how great this privilege was the Apostle adds that this Jesus Christ who came of the Jews according to the flesh was God over all blessed for ever but that they might avoid the force of this Text they would fain â—ly to one of their ordinary shelters a variâ—us reading but there 's no such thing in any of the original Copies and Versions if there be any which intimate such a thing are little to be regarded Then they would fain alter the Pointing which if allow'd would do them little service but there is no ground for allowing that In locum Enjedine pleads that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blessed used by the Apostle here is never applyed any where in Scripture to any but only God the Father for this he alledges that of the same Apostle concerning the Gentiles that they worshipped the Creature more than the Creator Rom. 1.25 who is over all blessed for ever But if it be true that Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God was the Creator of all things as it seems to be his instance turns against himself and methinks it follows as well that if the title of God above all blessed for ever belongs only to the supreme God for that he means when he speaks of its belonging only to God the Father then the Son of God to whom it 's given here should be the supreme God for it is no less than Sacrilege and Blasphemy to attribute a title so peculiar to the Sovereign to any one who really and in his own Nature is not the Sovereign God Others of the Socinian Tribe cannot see or take no notice of this peculiar usage of the expression as if it belong'd only to God the Father they acknowledge that Christ as Made God is above all Men and Angels above all Principalities and Powers nay above all things whatsoever only 1 Cor. 15.27 He 's not above him who put all things under him This the Apostle asserts This we own but withal we assert that our Saviour as Man in that body in which he humbled himself to the Death of the Cross for Man is thus exalted above all things and thus as Man he is the head of his Church as God we say not that he 's superiour to his Father but that he is equal to him he is of the same Nature with his Father and therefore is God over all blessed for ever as his Father is Now that He who is thus God over all blessed for ever should condescend to take our Nature upon him was an effect of infinite Love and pity to all mankind that he should condescend to take this humane Nature of any one of the Jewish Nation was the greatest Honour that could possibly be done to that Nation We see how Towns and Countreys strive for the Honour of being the birth-places of great Men and they have been frequently not a little jealous of one another on that account nay Scripture it self makes such a thing a considerable advantage in that of the Prophet concerning the Messias as alledged by the Chief Priests and Scribes to Herod And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah Matt. 2.6 for out of thee shall come a Governour who shall rule my people Israel the present Hebrew reads it tho' thou be little among the thousands of Judah The birth of such a one was enough to make the most inconsiderable place glorious miserable people then were they who had so great an honour confer'd on them and yet at last deny'd him who conferr'd it on them S. Paul gives this advice to the Philippians Phil 2 5-1â— Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of Man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to Death even to the Death of the Cross wherefore God also hath mightily exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father We might refer the matter to any who had no acquaintance with Christianity or with Scripture before and such a Man on reading these words would certainly conclude that he who carries here the name of Christ Jesus was described as every way equal with God the Father whosoever that might be and that we may understand such a conclusion would be just and rational we may look into the occasion of the words The Apostle is perswading the Philippians here to Unity Love and Peace and particularly to a mutual care and sollicitude for the good and happiness of one another urging them not altogether to employ themselves upon their own private or publick inward or outward Interests but to allow some charitable thoughts towards the Salvation of others Gal. 6.2 to snatch them as firebrands out of the fire agreeably to what he elsewhere advises them to i. e. that they should bear one anothers burdens this kind care he urges them to from the example of him in whom they believed and whose servants they profest themselves to be Who tho' eternally and immutably blest in himself yet out of that infinite love he had to perishing mankind was pleased to take humane nature upon him that in that humane nature he might suffer to atone his Father's displeasure against Sin and Sinners and procure everlasting Salvation for as many as should believe on him that to be of this charitable temper would be much to our advantage he proves by this consideration That God the Father was so highly pleas'd with this action of his Son that he raised even that humane nature in which he suffered to the highest glories and sanctified that very name which his Son assumed as Man and as the Messias to be above every name to be admired reverenced adored by all created beings whatsoever which adorations could only be rendered just and reasonable by that intimate and indissâ—luble union between that humane natuâ—◠〈…〉 eternal God-head If God then so exalâ—â—â—â—â—sus Christ on account of his compassion and tenderness for us he likewise will exalt us if we be kind and tender hearted
one towards another if we endeavour to promote one anothers Salvation by all those means which by Providence are put into our hands In this argument the Apostle makes use of such expressions as stumble the enemies of the Divinity of the Son of God very much and give them a great deal of pains to shift off and to evade so the form of God they determine to be nothing but a resemblance or representation of God in his Works Christ was in the form of God when he did those many wonderful works during his converse upon earth those Miracles importing somewhat of a divine power but what is there in this peculiar to our Saviour Moses might as well have been said to have been in the form of God since he too did a great many prodigious things and the Skies the Air the Waters the Earth seemed all as obedient to him as to our Saviour afterwards Elijah and Elisha might have receiv'd the same Character and the Apostles much more since Christ himself had promised them that they should not only do the same but greater miracles than he himself did yet Scripture never talks of these at any such rate as their being in the form of God If it be objected that Moses the Prophets mention'd and the Disciples after our Lord's Resurrection did indeed many and great Miracles but they were not done in their own names we acknowledge it but if our adversaries may be believed our Saviour was in the same circumstances for his Miracles were only done in the name of God and so were the Mosaic and Prophetic Miracles done If they 'l own that our Saviour did his Miracles in His own name they grant what they take so much pains to disprove for none can do a Miracle in his own name but he who has an inherent power in himself commanding all the parts of the Creation having no need of leave or assistance from any superiour Being but such a power is and only can be inherent in the most high God therefore if our Saviour had that power he was and is the most high God if he had not he 's in the same rank with other holy and good Men and any of them might have been instanced in as patterns of as great condescension and love to Souls as himself They criticise upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of God as if it signified only an outward shadow and appearance and therefore not the real divine essence and therefore whereas the Apostle makes mention afterwards of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of a Servant they are under a necessity of denying that that signifies his assuming humane nature tho' the words following are indeed an explication of these being in the form of a servant and being found in likeness of men are but explicatory one of another and so Schlicktingius owns it but upon what reason we know not upon that last phrase of being found in likeness of men he writes thus Figurâ i. e. non reipsâ sed apparenter externâ specie tantum in the form or figure of a Man that is not a Man indeed but only to outward appearance and to common view a Commentary to me unintelligible since they own Christ to have been a real man and nothing else the reason of their niceness here is only this They fear that if they own the form of a Servant signifies the humane nature of Christ then the form of God must signifie the divine nature of the same person which they cannot endure to hear of but the Fathers with one current interpret it so that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the essence of God so Theodoret on the place Gregory Nyssen Athanasius Chrysostome Theophylact c. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nature of a servant in the same sence so Theodoret Athanasius Paedagog l. 3. c. 1. Theophylact and Clemens Alexandrinus who cannot well be suspected of partiality in the case and this authority is much better than theirs who only assert the contrary arbitrarily and without reason That Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God they would have to signifie only this That he thought it not so great an advantage to be in the form of God or like him as to be obstinate in the retention of that likeness but would humbly quit it to be used and suffer like a servant and for this Enjedine runs to some phrases in Heliodorus his Aethiopic Romance where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rapina signifies as much if he interpret it rightly but that 's too modern an authority to interpret Scripture by and too slight a work to teach us how to understand the dictates of God's Holy Spirit After several Cavils they yield that to be like to God is to be equal to God but equality must be between distinct beings for none can be equal to himself We own it and say the Father and the Son are distinct persons but of one nature as Father and Son must be if their relation be real but if God the Father and God the Son be of one and the same Nature they must have one and the same Essence because two infinite Essences are a contradiction our Saviour being in the form of his Father and equal to his Father could not look on it as a crime or think it any Sacrilege or robbery to own that equality as he did by his expressions of himself and by those adorations he permitted to be paid to himself Here then was Love and Condescention indeed that He who was God equal with his father should assume to himself poor infirm servile flesh and blood and in that humble himself and be obedient to death even that scandalous and painful death on the Cross for our sakes This Passion and this Obedience was truly meritorious it intrinsically and in its own real value merited the redemption of all mankind it effectually and in its outward operation merited and procured the Salvation of all those that believe in him As a reward for this Humility and Obedience God has highly exalted the Humane Nature of his Son that 's enclosed in or substantially united to the Divine Nature and consequently partakes of all that bliss that eternal glory and happiness which the Deity it self enjoys by which means it comes to be lawful for Christians to worship Christ as Man tho' not as meer Man as well as as he is God a practice which could never be excused from being the greatest Idolatry in the World if there were no such union as will hereafter be proved in course For that exception to this Text that Jesus is the name of Man not of God and Christ the name of an Office it signifies the Anointed One the Messias and therefore cannot belong to the most high God it 's extremely impertinent they are not our Saviour's names as he is God but as he
most incident to the Person who stands in the Relation of a Son therefore it was necessary that the Son of God should take upon him our Nature and pity us and plead for us that how deplorable soever our Condition might be in it self we might be in a Capacity of Eternal Salvation It was proper that He who first gave a Being to all things by his Power should when the Work of his hands was decay'd if he design'd Mercy for them rectifie their Disorders and resettle them in such a state as might in some measure answer the original Design of the Creation that our Saviour the Eternal Word of God was the Maker of all things we have formerly prov'd at large from the beginning of St. John's Gospel and several other Scripture Passages and it 's a Truth which even Arians themselves acknowledge In that first Creation as the wise Man observes Man was made upright Eccles 7.29 but he has now sought out to himself many Inventions were he but left a little to himself he would need no other Vengeance to be poured upon him but what he 'd soon draw down on his own Head but God in pity to him was pleased to determine otherwise but as we observ'd before though an inferiour Creature was able to bring one in a happy state before into a ruinous Condition as any little mischievous Agent may yet those Ruines so easily procured could not be so easily repair'd again We are taught in the History of the Creation that Man was created at first in the Image of God that was his Glory and Excellence beyond the other Members of the visible Creation but that Image of his Maker was miserably defaced in him by Sin the Blessed Jesus the Eradiation of God's Glory Heb. 1.3 and the express Image of his Person therefore the most proper to renew in Obedient Man the blotted Image he had at first created him in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Athanasius whom we may justly alledge now in a matter little controverted Athan. de Incar T. 1. p. 72. It was not in the power of any other but him who was the Image of the Father to create again or resettle that Image in Men. It 's true the Socinians would persuade us the original Image of God consisted in nothing but Dominion over his Fellow-Creatures but that Dominion over the Creatures could not answer that Perfection the Wise Man adverts to in Man's first Creation no more than we can prove Kings and Princes the more Perfect because of that Dominion God entrusts them with or that among Princes those who command the largest Empires should be the best and most compleat Men but the original Image of God in Man consisted in that Purity and Holiness which Man was adorned with in his first Creation and in that vast Wisdom and capacious Understanding whereby he knew every thing that was necessary to his own Happiness this Purity and Wisdom was ruined by his Fall and this our Saviour came effectually to restore by making such as believe in him new Creatures by which they are again renewed in Knowledge and in Righteousness Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 and true Holiness after the Image of that God who created them now when we speak of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Renewal of any thing we refer to somewhat that was before for that cannot be renewed now that never was formerly but if the Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness in the new Man be the Image of God at present and there was such Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness in Man before his Fall without which it could not be renewed by him who came to repair the ruines of that Fall then that Knowledge and Righteousness and Holiness was originally the Image of God in which Man was created and we need not fly to Dominion as the sole Instance of God's Image in Man especially since his Dominion was no more an Image of God's Soveraignty than the Government of all Princes since has been an Image of that for God was Lord of all things Man was not and yet Princes as well as others have had their shares in the Mischiefs arising from Man's Fall though their Governments be as absolute as ever To this we may add that Regenerate Persons being ordain'd to that Title of the Sons of God it was most proper that he who was the Son of God by Nature should be their great Guide and Conducter to that Honour this we learn from St. Paul who laying down that mysterious Doctrine of God's Prescience and Predetermination as to the future state of Men Rom 8.29 tells us that whom God did foreknow he did also determine beforehand that they should be conform'd to the Image of his Son that he might be the First-born of many Brethren where by the way we may observe that those Persons who by this very Apostle are elsewhere said to be renewed according to the Image of God are here said to be conformed to the Image of his Son therefore the Image of God the Father and of God the Son are the same thing and those whose Image is the same must be One not metaphorically but really One our Lord became our Brother by assuming our Nature by submitting to all the Infirmities of Humanity Sin onely excepted and he was the kindest and the tenderest Brother who laid down his own sacred Life to restore a crue of wretched Prodigals to the embraces of their Father he envied not that where there were many Mansions repenting Sinners should be admitted to them but after his Death and Resurrection he ascended to his Father and our Father to his God and our God that he might prepare those very Mansions for those who believe in him Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us that we through the Mediation of his onely begotten Son should be called the Sons of God that I insert that on good reason will appear to any one who considers with the Apostle That Gal. 4.4 5. when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were in Bondage in general and that they might receive the Adoption of Sons this then was the reason of the incarnation of God the Son and the reason of his Sufferings we have from an equally authentic hand the Blessed Jesus by the grace of God Heb. 2.9 18. tasted death for every Man He was the Captain of our Salvation being made perfect thro' Sufferings is not ashamed to call us Brethren Forasmuch then as the Children are Partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life subject to Bondage wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a
reveal'd and consequently comprehensible enough by sound reason and certainly to be fathomed by discourse and sense Thus Schlicktingius in his disputation against the Doctrine of the Trinity oppos'd to Meisner a Lutheran Divine Schlicktin in Meisner de Trin. c. p. 70. Mysteria Divina non idcirco mysteria dicuntur quod etiam revelata omnem nostrum intellectum captumque transcendunt sed quod non nisi ex revelatione cognosci possint Divine Mysteries are not therefore call'd mysteries because they transcend our understanding after they are reveal'd but because they cannot be known without divine Revelation For what need is there of a Revelation if they are no more intelligible afterwards than they were before wherefore Humane reason may determine concerning divine Mysteries when they are once reveal'd nay it ought to do so for how should it give any credit to them unless it had first passed a judgment upon them And so soon as ever our reason has pass'd a true and uncorrupt judgment upon them it always finds those mysteries to be very true Thus He. Elsewhere he asserts that our ignorance of divine mysteries proceeds not from the corruption of our nature through the fall of Man but from the extraordinary sublime nature of those Mysteries Disput. pro Socino p. 101. 1 Cor. 15.51 De verâ Relig. l. 1. p. 344. and therefore after they are once reveal'd to us whether by God's word or by his Spirit Tantas habemus vires ut eas animo comprehendere valeamus we have so much strength of mind that we are able to comprehend them The same Doctrine he preaches in his Commentary on that of the Apostle Behold I shew you a mystery and Crellius speaks to the same effect But this reasoning is not such as should make us much admire our own faculties with respect to the mysteries of Religion It 's true indeed our reason may serve us so far as to convince us such or such a truth is reveal'd our eye sees it in that Book which we call the word of God our ear hears it therefore by discourse we conclude that that Truth stands so reveal'd there and our reason enables us to judge whether the revelation be authentick and fit for us to depend on or no. But according to their acknowledgment wretched man involv'd in sin could with all his wit and sense discover no remedy for his misery the more he discours'd with himself the more plainly he 'd find that He who had offended a Being wise knowing and powerful to punish could rationally expect nothing but punishment from one so offended Mercy could take little place in Man's thoughts in the case he could see reasons enough why he should be punish'd for his sin but no reason why he should be pardon'd since he had sinn'd God now had decreed a remedy for him but God's decree was secret and indiscoverable As man could not naturally feed himself with any reasonable hopes that such a remedy should be neither could he contrive how that remedy should be effected or by what means he an offender should escape the stroke of Justice since Mercy as well as justice must have some ground or reason to move upon the means then as well as the decree was hitherto mysterious Well Almighty God in his wonderful commiseration of humane weakness was pleas'd to promise somewhat comfortable to our first parents in the strength of which promise they were enabled to live tho' under the weight of those calamities sin had laid them open to God afterwards besides these extraordinary promises of the same nature made to the Patriarchs inspired several holy Men who spake as influenced by him and they foretold man's redemption by a Messias one that should be Anointed to that purpose Here then the mystery was reveal'd and what man before could not rationally have hoped for he was now assured of by God himself But did not the whole matter continue a Mystery still Nay was not the Mystery now more inscrutable than before Could Man give a reason or comprehend the matter in his Soul why an exceedingly provoked God should express such love or pity for those who had provoked him If they could have done so they might have done it as well before and consequently have concluded that tho' they had incensed God yet his wrath would certainly be atoned and therefore there was no need of a Revelation or after this Revelation could Man tell certainly what the meaning of this Messiah was They saw him sometimes described by the Prophets under all the glorious characters of a mighty King nay equall'd with God himself in his titles and in his name Sometimes they saw him character'd as very mean and contemptible as riding on an Ass instead of a triumphant Chariot as one who had no form nor comliness in him no beauty for which he should be desired nay despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Could common reason so easily discover what manner of person he should be in whom these particulars so seemingly contradictory should meet If so what made the Jews who had enjoyed a greater portion of divine light than the rest of the World what made them stumble so extreamly at the person of the Messias when he appear'd or think it so impossible to reconcile Prophecies so seemingly contradictory to one another were the Jews the only persons utterly deserted by reason or grown brutes on the suddain What shall we say to the existence of a God one supream Being who manages all things That there is a God tho' the Socinians deny it Nature and the various works of the Creation teach us for reason will perswade us that the Apostle speaks plain enough to that purpose when he makes it a reason why the Heathens should be inexcusable because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen Rom. 1.19.20 being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead This same existence of a God is reveal'd to us in Scripture but in the mean time we must own that by Scripture we really know no more of God than Nature and the works of Nature had discover'd before for that which may be known of God was visible in them as the forecited Text informs us nay had not Nature imprest upon our Souls some Idaeas of the divinity had not we been able to read his eternal power and Godhead in them all the revelations in Scripture would have appear'd very impertinent and unsatisfactory since all the discourse in it concerning God might easily have been interpreted into a religious fiction contriv'd meerly to get reputation to that Book of which God was the pretended Author But after Nature and revelation have done so much are we able to comprehend the nature of the Almighty is not every thing
deep ever to be made up It 's true when God himself was mention'd as the undertaker of so great a work even despairing man might entertain some dawning hopes but when they saw a poor Carpenter's Son one who had not so much as where to lay his head assume yet the glorious title of the world's Redeemer and Saviour their hopes slagg'd their almost grasped joys seem'd just vanishing into empty air When the Holy Ghost God too infinitely good and powerful and wise interpos'd and attended that humble Man with so much vigour and constancy that He by a thousand glorious actions and by a close and perpetual correspondence with Heaven visible even to vulgar eyes prov'd the entire Union that was between himself and his Father and that Sacred Spirit and justified himself in the thoughts of very aliens themselves who could not but acknowledge of a truth that for all his mean appearance and his scandalous Passion on the Cross He was the Son of God But could men have doubted still the happy Angels those purer and more discerning Spirits saw him too they saw him and knew him and ador'd him they saw their mighty Lord tho' veil'd in all the rags of poor mortality And tho' sin might have made a former breach between those blessed Spirits and polluted man yet now where their Lord loved they lov'd too and always look'd and always waited on him while he wrought the worlds redemption while he was so justified and so attended on divers gave up themselves absolutely to his service whom he lov'd and taught and protected and endued with miraculous knowledge eloquence and courage and sent them on that blessed errand to preach to the Gentiles the glad tydings of Salvation in his name They boldly undertook the work and tho' they had ignorance and prejudice and malice and cunning to contend with meer men contemn'd before but then inspired broke through all opposition and the forsaken Gentiles heard the gladsome sounds of peace and tho' there were too many enemies to their own good yet those laborious messengers of Heaven preached with that power and efficacy that men began every where to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Nay the more men of perverse minds cross'd the designs of that Gospel preach'd in the name of the Son of God the more those who believed in him were multiplied As for himself when he had finished that stupendous work and by his own Death had conquered Hell and Death He broke those fatal chains and rose again no more lyable to humane rage His Almighty Father who had viewed all the prodigious efforts of his Love to mankind with an ineffable complacency reach'd out his holy arm to receive that very humane Nature in which his beloved Son had done and suffered so much from him the chearful clouds were sent for a Chariot and he went upwards flying upon the wings of the wind while jâ—cund Angels those ministerial flames waited on his triumphs and taught his wondring followers what they were afterwards to expect from their Redeemer These are those mighty mysteries on which our most holy faith is built their truth however unintelligible to us is our security and the sincerity of our faith will necessarily show it self in an holy conversation and godliness The Verse I have explain'd then imports That without Controversie the Mystery of Godliness is great or in more words That the Basis or foundation of that Religion introduced into the World by the Doctrine of Christ's Gospel is indisputably and agreeably to the nature of Religion to Humane reason extremely profound and unintelligible To prove this we shall enquire Into the Vniversal agreement of all persons of what Religion soever That Mysteries are essential to Religion Whether our Saviour intended the entire abolition of all other Religions for the settlement of his own or rather to unite what was good in every distinct Religion into one and to sublime or perfect that so as it might tend most to God's glory and Man's happiness and whether that could be effected Men standing in their present corrupt state without the retaining of old or instituting of new Mysteries in his Religion What considerable advantages can accrue to Religion from those Mysteries it 's founded upon Then we must enquire into that Vniversal agreement of all persons whatsoever that Mysteries or some principles or circumstances of a more secret and abstruse nature are essential to all Religion But here to prevent all mistakes it must be remember'd That so much as concerns the practical part of Religion as contain'd in the Word of God is so clear and evident that the words of St. Paul are justly apply'd to them If they be hid they are hid to those that are lost whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should not shine upon them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. The words whereby all things necessary to be done toward the attainment of eternal life are exprest are such and so plain that the simplest Christian may understand them And that person who goes about to involve the practical duty of a Christian whether in respect of his communication with God or man in obscure and mysterious terms crosses the end of the Gospel which is to instruct the weakest understanding in an easie and intelligible way how to live godly righteously and soberly in this present evil world yet it must be acknowledged that even in relation to practice there are some apparent difficulties and notwithstanding all that plainness apparent in God's word a Man has a very hard task sometimes to distinguish between what 's lawful and what 's unlawful such cases are commonly known by the name of Cases of Conscience or such matters wherein so many arguments seemingly strong and plausible appear on both sides to the understanding that it knows not which way to act and all that hesitancy or doubtfulness arises onely from a fear of offending God These generally respecting Christian practice create a great deal of trouble frequently to very good Men for others are seldom troubled with such religious fears and these are sometimes by various and unusual circumstances rendred so very intricate that the wisest and most discerning Men are often at a loss to clear and resolve them to the Querent's satisfaction Here the Jews were order'd to have recourse to their Priests whose lips were suppos'd to preserve knowledge and the Priests when there was any thing of a more inextricable nature had the Vrim and Thummim to appeal to The Heathens had some emergent doubts as to matter of publick management of themselves which sometimes perplex'd them too and they had their imaginary wise Men the Priests attending their desecrated altars who would assume as if they had the art of resolving doubts those who profess Christianity have still a severer task in these matters as having no Oracle immediately to consult and having doubts more numerous and
wise and good man And if Greece which seems to be the world's glory for the learning and valour and the yet greater reputation of it's inhabitants could afford no better store of men who liv'd virtuously how meanly must we conclude the rest of the world was stock'd with them therefore Lucian that impious but witty scoffer at Christianity could not forbear lashing the Philosophers themselves who knew so much and exposing them to the world's contempt so in his Icaro-Menippus Menippus tells his friend a story of his being in heaven where among other considerables a Council of the Gods was call'd by Jupiter their supreme to discourse with them concerning the Philosophers and Jupiter tells the rest that the Philosopers were a race of Men lazie quarrelsome vain-glorious cholerick gluttonous silly proud abusive and in a word according to Homer 's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unprofitable burden to the Earth some of these call themselves Stoicks some Academicks some Epicureans some Peripateticks and by several other more ridiculous names these assuming to themselves the venerable character of Virtue they walk about with a supercilious and disdainful look a long reverend beard a starch'd habit but under all the most detestable manners in the World yet these wretches forsooth despise all the World beside themselves they talk lewdly and sillily of the Gods and getting a company of unexperienced youths about 'em they make a mighty noise of virtue and always commend sobriety and modesty among their followers and rail against wealth and pleasure but when they get once by themselves they gorge themselves without measure they indulge themselves in all manner of lust and are base enough to rake a kennel for a leaden farthing and what 's worse in them than all the rest when they themselves do nothing towards the good of mankind either privately or publickly when they are neither fit for the Wars abroad nor for consultations in private they are always accusing others and with bitter expressions and studied abuses Luciani ◠2. p. 208. c. they reproach and rail upon their neighbours and he 's the greatest man among them who is most noisy impudent and has the foulest tongue Had St. Paul and Lucian liv'd together though one were so holy the other so much an Atheist a Man would have thought they had agreed together in their accounts of the degeneracy of those who were accounted the wisest part of the World to these I may add Philostratus who giving us an account of a discourse between Apollonius Thyanaeus and Phraotes an Indian Prince he introduces the Prince reflecting upon Apollonius and his Companions thus I hear says he there are many among you who make Philosophy their trade to get by and putting it on like a Garment which they can as easily throw aside they bear themselves high upon an habit that belongs not to them and most certainly as common thieves who look upon themselves as sure of hanging whensoever they are catcht Philostrati vita Apollon l. 1. c. 12. are for a short life and a merry so these Philosophical rogues among you indulge their lusts and their guts and are the tenderest and most effeminate Creatures in the World and this I take to proceed from the defect of your Laws He that counterfeits the publick Coine dyes for it and so does he that cheats an Orphan or any thing of the like nature among you but as I am told there 's no Law among you that punishes Quacks in Philosophy who onely abuse and corrupt it nor is there any Magistrate appointed to take cognizance of them Thus far he By which we learn that as to the Divine Law where there is no Law there can be no transgression so in respect of worldly matters where there 's no Law there 's nothing but transgression and by the concurrence of all these so very plain testimonies we find that the ends of true Devotion in that part of the World which was without the pale of the Jewish Church was not onely perverted about the time of our Lord's appearance on Earth but it was worn out of memory and God so represented by Men that there seem'd to be no better way of approaching his nature than by an irresistible ingenuity in all manner of bruitish violence and extravagant wickedness Thus have we at large consider'd the ancient Maximes of Religion and seen wherein the World in general believ'd it to subsist and we have seen how far both Jews and Gentiles had declined from their own principles by the whole it will appear that the fulness of time was come in every respect that humane wickedness was grown to that height and consequently that great God whose eyes are purer than to behold sin so infinitely provoked that had not the blessed Jesus the Son of God interpos'd as great and universal a deluge of vengeance must have overspread the World as that of Water heretofore but withal it will appear as plain that notwithstanding all these abuses and depravations of Religion the foundation of it still stood good the Laws of God were as really believ'd to be holy just and reasonable and obedience to them as necessary among the Jews and Virtue and solid Honesty was as much commended tho' perfectly starv'd among the Gentiles as ever before it was the practice of what they so commended that so miserably fail'd among Men so that there was indeed no kind of necessity to extirpate the whole of all former Religions for the setling that of Christ but onely of a reformation of abuses and clearing the old foundation from all that rubbish from all those bryers and thorns that had overgrown it and there was need of reinforcing those duties appertaining to Religious converse whether with God or Men upon all sorts of persons with new and more forcible arguments than former Ages had offer'd that Men might re-entertain their first Love and do their first works so bringing forth fruits agreeable to repentance Therefore our Saviour professes of himself with respect to the whole Mosaic Law that he came not to destroy but to fulfil it i.e. to shew its whole design and intention to perform every part in his own Person Mat. 3.15 upon which reason he offer'd himself to John's Baptism though in its own nature but a deduction from or an appendix to the Law and when John made a modest refusal Jesus said to him Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness He came to fulfil it farther in suffering upon the Cross by which Sacrifice of his it being the end of the Law all Jewish Sacrifices were vacated the substance being once come the shadow could have no longer place in the World and consequently all those Ceremonies conducing to their Sacrifices had an end too So he fulfill'd whatsoever the Mosaic Law had prefigured to the Jewish people He came to teach Men the very comprehensive nature of the Law to show his
nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance so that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and manhood were joyn'd together in one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man c. With the Church of England agrees the Helvetic Confession Vid. Harmoniam Confessionum in notatis c. 3. that of the French Churches Artic. 6. the Scotch Confession Artic. 1. the Synod of Dort Artic. 8. the Synod of Czenger in Hungary in their own Argument against the Socinians and in Artic. 2. the Confession of Augsburg c. 1. of Strasbourg c. 2. the Saxon Confession exhibited to the Synod of Trent c. 1. that of Wittemberg Art 2. the Confession of the Prince Palatine Art 2. that of Bohemia Art 3. and 6. of Basil Art 1. and finally the Orthodox consent of all the Fathers with holy Scripture Artic. 2. c. 1. and it's observable that the authors and subscribers of all these Confessions imagine that they ground this particular Doctrine of the eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ upon Scripture so that they declare they either find it there in express terms or at least thought they drew it very naturally from thence and certainly they were not mistaken for let us reflect a little on the Commandments of the Old Testament there Israel received this charge Hear O Israel Deut. 6.4 Exod. 20.2 3. the Lord our God is one Lord I am the Lord thy God thou shalt have no other God before my face Observe what the Prophet adds to these precepts Remember says he to the same Israelites the former things of old Isai 46 9. for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me the same Prophet introduces Almighty God speaking thus I am the Lord Isai 42.8 that is my name and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images and this particularly in such a place where God is comforting his people with a description of the office power excellency of the Messiah and teaching all to rejoyce upon the certainty of his coming Our Saviour himself when he contested with the most subtle and powerful adversary in the world alledges this against him Matth. 4.10 get thee hence Satan when he had endeavoured to hire him to worship himself for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve This then of the Vnity of the supreme being and the incommunicability of divine worship to any other Being whatsoever seems very Authentick Doctrine and to be very well attested yet after all this to prevent that damning sin of Idolatry whereas S. Peter refus'd the adoration of Cornelius with that reason Acts 10.26 Stand up for I my self also am a man And the Angel who had shewn S. John all those wonderful Prophetick schemes refus'd the worship of that Apostle with those words Rev. 22.9 See thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the Prophets worship thou God yet the blessed Jesus He who being the Son of God at least in some sence should have been of all others the most careful for securing his fathers honour yet He tells the Jews that his father had committed all judgment to him Joh. 5.23 that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the father i.e. with the same kind of or with equal honour now every one will own that the Father is to be worshipped as the supreme Being or as the most high God therefore Christ there assumes to himself the glory honour or worship belonging to the most high God nor could this be strange in him who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 The same Jesus suffer'd himself to be worshipped without any reluctancy or prohibition of the worshippers He forbad not the wise men from the East Matt. 2.11 when they fell down and worshipped him and made their offerings to him nor did the blessed Virgin who doubtless knew what it was to be an Idolater reprove them for their misapplied adorations nor did the Angel Matt. 8.2 c. 9.18 who was their guide and director in their journey inform them of this error No more did Christ forbid the Leper who worshipp'd him nor the Jewish Ruler who beg'd his goodness for the healing of his daughter Nor his Disciples when by his power delivered from the storm Nor yet all the Disciples when after his resurrection they all came and held him by the feet and worshipp'd him c. 14.33 c. 28.9 now Scripture in all these places puts no difference between that worship that is given to Christ and that which the same persons generally render'd to the supreme God therefore they knew nothing but that he really was of the same nature with God nor could he be so kind or good or wise as he is character'd to us who could see so many guilty of so damning a sin as Idolatry which they must have been guilty of if they gave to him a meer Creature that sovereign worship which belong'd to the Creator without any reproof or check for it Now tho' this danger may seem to infer a great deal of necessity of knowing Christ to be the true God yet we may press it farther For S. Paul tells us in plain terms Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved where he is speaking of no other but our Lord Jesus Christ now this laid together with that other text Acts 4.12 that there is no salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved joyning these together as they assert the positive so they include the negative of equal truth that Without calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Salvation can never be attained but then it follows How shall they call on him in whom they have not believ'd v. 14. or in whom they have not had faith but Faith may not be fixt on any but on him who is the true God true Faith is only towards God Heb. 6.1 as the Apostle's phrase teaches us and the Socinians themselves in the very Text we are now upon would perswade us to believe that it was onely God the Father who was believed on in the World Heb. 11.6 because he onely was the proper object of Faith and we are told that without Faith it is impossible to please God but to imagine that any Faith can please God which is placed in any Being beside himself is foolish and absurd Yet whereas God declared by his Prophet of old Cursed be the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh flesh his arm and in his heart departeth from the Lord Jer. 17.5 Christ a little before his Passion bids his Disciples as they believed in God John 14.1
knew every thing past present and to come clearly and fully in himself His humane nature lived not onely in a strict friendship but in a close and compleat union with the God-head and therefore felt no Convulsions or ecstasies no violent emotions of his rational faculties nor was he confin'd to time or place or common rules and methods but as the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him so he deliver'd Oracles to Mankind at all times as he himself pleas'd for God did not give the Spirit to him by measure Job 3.34 Thus inspir'd David publishes that Eternal Decree Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance Ps â— 7 8. and the utmost part of the earth for thy possession which could never be true in respect of David who never acquir'd so vast an Empire as is there promised but it was really acquir'd by our Saviour who by his holy Gospel subdued the Vniverse and made all Mankind partakers of that redemption wrought for them by himself And so Saint Paul preaching Christ to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia tells them That the promise made to their Fathers God had fulfilled to them their Children having rais'd up Jesus again as it is written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13.32 33. and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews proves his Superiority to Angels by that Argument For to which of the Angels said God at any time Hebr. 1.5 Thou art my Son c. And again to prove the mission and authority of Christ having said before That no man takes the Priestly honour to himself but he that is call'd of God as was Aaron he pleads So Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest Heb. 5.4 5. but he that said unto him Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee and so we are certain of the due application of the Prophecy which we shall dilate on farther in another place Such again was that of David in the Person of Jesus afterwards to appear in the World Psal 40.6 7 8. Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou open'd intimating by that the inefficacy of all those legal and typical Sacrifices which the Jews and in imitation of them others had been us'd to for if these Sacrifices could have avail'd for the taking away of Sin they had no longer been types and shadows but things of a real and substantial excellency which since they were not Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not requir'd Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Hebr. 10 5-10 O my God yea thy Law is within my heart And thus this Prophecy is apply'd by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews onely with that difference that whereas the Psalm has it Mine ear hast thou open'd according to the Hebrew the Apostle follows the translation of the Septuagint and renders it a Body hast thou prepared for me the sense amounting still to the same for as the Hebrews according to the Law made a Servant their own for ever by opening their ears or boring them Exod 21 6. so God made his Son Jesus obedient as a Servant by preparing him a body which was open'd too and fastened to the cross as the Servants ear in boring to the posts of the door Nor was that less plain or considerable The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stool The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Psal 110 1-4 Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The first part of this our Saviour who undoubtedly knew its true meaning assumes to himself and confounds the Pharisees by asking them that Question That whereas it was expected the Messias should be the Son of David yet David calls him Lord Matth. 22 41-45 How could he be his Lord and his Son too which was a mystery inexplicable to those who had meer carnal and mean notions of the Messias but a difficulty which when they got over it would not be so very hard to believe him humble and despicable as he appear'd to be the very Messias they look'd for For if he who was David's Lord and indeed God blessed for ever could condescend so low as to be David's Son it could not be strange that he who was David's Son should stoop lower yet and appear in the form of a servant The latter part of this prediction relating to a Priest is by the Writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews apply'd to Jesus Hebr. 7 17-21 as a proof of the legitimacy and eternity of his Priesthood Of the same authority is that 〈◊〉 18 〈◊〉 â—â— The Stone which the builders refus'd is become the head of the corner this is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes which not to mention the Jewish fable of such a stone being reall met withall in the building of the second Temple which had by several been thrown aside as useless yet afterwards by miracle was found fit for the joyning of the corners of the building our Saviour makes use of to convince the Jews of their folly and obstinacy in refusing to own him in his great Mediatorian office and to let them see that their contempt of Him could be no prejudice to his sacred dignity and Honour but that he who was now thought too inconsiderable to be of any use to the Jews one of the smallest of the Nations Matth. 21.42 43 44. should afterwards appear great enough to joyn Men of all Countries and Nations together in one Sacred bond and to crush all his Enemies in dreadful ruines for so he adds on repetition of those before quoted words Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder And this advancement and dilatation of Christ's power St. Peter justly takes notice of from the same Psalm in the case of the Cripple newly cured Acts 4 9 10 11 12. If we be this day examin'd of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole Be it known to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified whom God raised from the dead even by Him does this Man stand before you whole This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the Corner Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved That of Isaiah is wholly extraordinary and as I hinted
may retort their question and ask Is it possible two should be exactly of one mind and yet not both of one nature I fear they 'l find no instances of that Friends may be said to be One Husband and Wife to be One Two People to be One but are they not all of a mortal nature and consequently capable of equal thoughts and apprehensions of things if therefore God the Father and Jesus Christ be One in their sence it must be by Identity of Vnderstanding and Will and Intention which cannot be but between Persons of equal nature therefore Christ must be partaker of the Divine Nature and therefore he must be God and so what he farther adds in his discourse with the Jews is easily intelligible and a strong confirmation of what we have laid down If I do the works of my Father believe not Me but believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him this passage if interpreted of unity of Will can be no where parallel'd and indeed it intimates a yet closer conjunction than that agreement This Union takes as much of the Subject on one part as on the other therefore if the father be every where and more peculiarly in the Son the Son is every where too and as peculiarly in the Father and therefore when Enjedine would make a shew of some parallel expressions of Christ's being in good Men and they in him he unluckily among other places hits on that of S. Paul where he speaks of Christ's dwelling in the heart by Faith Eph. 3.17 which indeed explains all the rest for Christ being a Meer Man as the Socinians say cannot any otherwise be united so to men as to be said to be in them but by Faith nor can good Men pious and holy Persons be in Christ otherwise than by Faith but sure it was never thought of that the Son of God was in his Father or his Father in him by Faith yet that must be said be it never so absurd or blasphemous if their appeal to that of our Saviour stand good That they all may be one as thou Father art in me Joh 17 21 22 23. and I in thee that they also may be one in us that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one here the unity between Christians or those who should believe in Christ must be that unity of mind consisting in mutual Love and Charity that Unity must be maintain'd by the vigour of their Faith but cannot that Unity between the Father and the Son be maintain'd without the same Faith If the expressions must be explain'd all one way it will then follow That God loves those who believe in his Son as well as he loves his Son for so it follows in the forecited place That they may be made perfect in one ver 23. and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast lov'd them as thou hast loved me but this would quite ruine all their pretences to an extraordinary reverence of the Person of Christ whom they pretend to prefer in all privileges infinitely before the Holiest of other men Indeed the Prayer of Christ imports only this He begs of his Father that Christians might be as closely united with respect to their mortal state and in proportion to it as he and his Father were in their immortal Nature and that believers should enjoy his presence as effectually to their advantage by their Faith in him as he enjoy'd the infinite glory and happiness of his Father by his Identity or Coessentiality with him and this is the greatest happiness they could wish for themselves or Christ for them The Jews then were not mistaken in the meaning of our Saviour when in saying He and his Father were one they thought he made himself God nor did they mistake him when they sought to kill him before because he said God was his Father Joh. 3.18 making himself equal with God For Christ's permission of any to worship him was a better interpretation of his words than all the glosses of the Socinians put together and as reason commonly teaches us to understand that the begetting Father and the begotten Son are both of one and the same Nature here so the same reason taught the Jews to apprehend that if Christ were the Son of God he then must be of the same nature with his Father which they who saw him in the form of a servant only thought as absurd and impossible as the Socinians do now if the Jews committed a mistake in their apprehensions of Christ's words nothing can possibly excuse either Christ himself or his Apostles from extreme unkindness since they would take no pains to rectifie a Mistake in all appearance involuntary a Care which might in probability have cured them of their unbelieving humour Let us then proceed farther to that Confession of the Apostle S. Thomas when he called our Saviour his Lord and his God Joh. 20.28 Where we may take some notice of the occasion of those words which was this Our Saviour to satisfie the world of his Resurrection and more particularly to satisfie his own Disciples in that point had appear'd to them in that body in which he suffer'd for them and all the World when the Disciples were assembled together their doors shut with a great deal of privacy for fear of the Jews there he blessed them his presence gave them an extraordinary occasion of joy the transports of which being over he blest them again breathed upon them so effectually as by that breath they received the Holy Ghost and with that that Commission and power which afterwards they were more particularly authorised to exert for the management of the Church During this gracious visit of his Master Thomas one of the twelve was absent afterwards returning to his company they joyfully assure him they had seen the Lord their words carry somewhat extraordinary in them they tell him not We have seen our Lord or thy Lord they use no limiting particle but speak positively and generally We have seen the Lord so giving him that title by which the Septuagint translate the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that it seems here given to Christ as elsewhere it is to him who by all is acknowledged to be the most high God emphatically and exclusively of all other Lords whatsoever But not to insist on this The report of his brethren to Thomas seem'd extremely incredible the Doctrine of the Resurrection tho' it was a thing which Jews had no reason to stumble at in general nor had the Disciples in particular for they had seen their Master raise Lazarus and the Son of the Widow of Naim and they had doubtless seen those holy bodies which arose from their graves upon the dreadful convulsion of nature when Jesus gave up the Ghost upon the Cross yet the
That our Lord is called Immanuel by the Prophet as cited by S. Matthew or God with us that we might not think he was Man only but that we might know he was God too If then Christ was God as well as Man his Divine Nature being mentioned in contradistinction to his humane Nature Irenaeus cannot mean that He who was really a Man was only metaphorically God but that he was as really and essentially God as He was Man which is what we believe With Irenaeus agrees Clemens of Alexandria who thus teaches the Gentiles in his Admonition to them We are the rational Creatures of God the Word so he calls our Saviour after the Evangelist S. John Admon ad Gent. p. 5. l. D. by whom we pretend to Antiquity because God the Word was in the beginning but because the Word was from above He was and is the divine original of all things but since He has now taken upon him the name of Christ a name suitable to his power and which was sanctified of old I call him a new song This refers to his former Allegorical discourse wherein he endeavours to describe every thing under terms proper to Harmony or Musick This Word then this Christ who was at first in God was both the cause of our original existence and of our well-being But now this Word himself has made himself manifest to men who alone is both God and Man the cause of all our good by whom we being taught to live well are sent from hence to eternal life for according to that inspired Apostle of our Lord the Grace of God hath appear'd to all men teaching them that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live godly righteously and soberly in this present world looking for the glorious coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This is the new song that manifestation of God the Word who was in the beginning and before all things and now shines brightly out to us He appear'd but lately who was our Saviour before He who is appear'd in him who is because the Word was with God and that Word by which all things were made makes his appearance as a Master that Word which as a Creator gave us life in our first formation appearing now as a Master or Teacher has taught us to live well that hereafter as God he may bestow upon us eternal life Thus far that very learned Father and his whole discourse does so plainly teach us the Pre-existence of our Saviour before his Conception in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and consequently his Divine Nature in his eternal being with the Father that the most ignorant person in the World may plainly understand what the Faith of this Writer was Thus afterwards speaking of John Baptist the forerunner of our Saviour he tells them John taught men to be prepared for the presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God the Christ Afterwards speaking of that care our Saviour took to have the Gospel preached he adds The Lord did not effect so great work in so short a time without a sacred care He was despised in appearance but adored indeed being a Purifyer a Saviour and extremely kind The Divine Word being really most manifest God and put into an equal rank with the Lord of all things for as much as he was his Son and the Word was in God Ibid. p. 68. l. D. he was neither disbelieved when he was first preached nor was he unknown or unacknowledged when assuming the presence of a Man and being made flesh he managed the saving design of his assumed Humanity Again speaking to those who are blind with sin and folly under the person of Tiresias that blind Thebane Wizzard and inviting such to believe in Christ he speaks thus If thou wilt thou too shalt be initiated into these Mysteries and join in the Choir of blessed Angels about the unbegotten the never to be destroyed the only true God God the Word assisting in the same Hymn with us He is eternal the only Jesus or Saviour the great High-priest of God who is the Father p. 70. L D. he intercedes for Men and he perswades them to goodness I shall instance but in one passage more in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where having cited that of the Psalmist Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place c. at large He thus descants upon it The Prophet says He in my opinion here briefly describes the true Gnostick or the man of true knowledge to us and by the bye David shews us that our Saviour is God for he calls him the face of the God of Jacob who brought us glad tidings and taught us of or concerning the Spirit therefore the Apostle calls the Son the Character of the glory of God Him who taught the truth concerning God and who represented to us that God and the Father was one only and Almighty whom none could know but the Son Stromat l. 7. p. 733. C. and He to whom the Son shall reveal him That God is but one appears by those who seek the face of the God of Jacob whom our God and our Saviour characterises as the only God and father of Good Here then we have the Father true and real God the Son true and real God and yet but one God and this is that Faith which we preach To Clemens I shall only add his Scholar Origen for the Greek Church a man of extraordinary eminence in his time who in his third Book against Celsus that great adversary of the Christian Religion reflecting upon the vanity of Heathen Gods and their incapacity to help those that depend on them he tells Celsus that upon this very reason because there is no help in false gods it 's a sure Rule among Christians that no man should trust in any being as God except only in Jesus Christ and a little after whereas Celsus objects against us so often that we believe Jesus consisting of a mortal body to be God and imagine our selves very pious in so thinking he answers Let those who accuse us know that He whom we know and believe to be God of old and to be the Son of God he is of himself the Word the Wisdom and the Truth and that even that mortal body and reasonable Soul which he assumed by its Communication and Unity and Mixture with the Word or with his divine nature arose to so great a height as to be God i.e. his humane and his divine nature make by a substantial or essential union one God and that I give no false interpretation to his words here will appear by what I shall allege afterwards It 's all along the humour of Celsus then when he speaks in the Person of a Jew and when he speaks in his own Name and Person to reproach the Christians with the irrationality of their Religion on that particular account that they owned Christ as
Catechism asserts there 's no plain command in the whole Old Testament for our praying to God the Father tho' the position be notoriously false only this we 'l joyn with them in That we have no command to pray to Christ as he is a meer Creature but we are forbidden it in the first and second Commandments But we are bound to pray to him as He and his Father are One not by agreement of Will or by the Son 's entire submission to the Father but by agreement or Identity of Nature Otherwise the Will of all deceas'd Saints the Will of all holy Angels is wholly submissive to and the same with the Will of God therefore they might as lawfully be prayed to as our Saviour if a meer sameness of Will and not of Nature were enough to found Divine Worship as offered to any other Being but the Supreme God upon But when Socinus comes to speak of the necessity â—f Praying to Christ he runs off from the matter in hand to that of acknowledging hat Kingdom and Power and Government given to him by his Father which acknowâ—edgment as he concludes infers a necessiâ—y of Praying to Him But this is an Argument far fetch'd and very impertinent â—oth the foundation and superstructure is â—alse Christ in his Humane Nature is the head of the Church in his Humane Nature he has the Government of it in his hands in his Humane Nature all power in Heaven and in Earth is his own but none of these things are his meerly as he is Man or as he is a Creature but that Humane or Created Nature of Christ is made capable of those things of which in its own Nature it was absolutely incapable by its entire Union with and subsistenee in the Godhead Without owning this our Prayers to Christ as those offer'd by the Church of Rome to Saints or Angels are meer mock devotion For if Christ before his Ascension into Heaven had no Existence but in a Body in meer flesh and blood then after his Ascension he likewise had no existence but in the same Body if he existed in the same Body he could be partaker of no other qualifications but such as are incident to a Body for if his natural Body could be partaker of such qualifications as a natural body was not capable of it could be no longer the same body he was rais'd with but another and that no natural body If he still existed in Heaven in that same body he rose and ascended with and it was not changed to or for another no attributes wholly or essentially Divine could be truely or properly ascribed to him therefore Christ could not be Almighty which Infinite Power or Almightiness yet is absolutely necessary in him who has all Power given to him both in heaven and earth and who is able to do every thing that can tend to their good or to God's glory for them that ask him Christ in his Natural Body cannot know all things without which Universal Knowledge yet it 's impossible he should suit all grants to the necessities of Petitioners or be assistant to those who lie under a natural incapacity to address themselves to him otherwise than in their thoughts and inward wishes Christ in his Natural Body cannot be Omnipresent he cannot be in more places than one for natural bodies are and must be circumscribed by Time and Place otherwise they lose their natures and become God for only God can exist without those circumscriptions of Time and Place which Omnipresence yet is indispensably necessary to every one who can receive Petitions offered to him in several quarters of the World at once If now the Socinians will deny these things to be inconsistent with a Natural Body if they 'l assert that a Created body may be Almighty that it may know all things that it may be every where present they must introduce a new and yet unheard of Philosophick and Theologick Scheme and to little purpose If they 'l say these things are needless to our Saviour's natural body for that he may read all the wants of Petitioners in all parts of the World at one view in the Essential glory of his Father that 's the Roman plea and every whit as rational on behalf of their Saint and Angel-worship They can see all the wants of their humble supplicants in the glasse of the Trinity as they tell us They say too that God reveals to Saints and Angels to whom Papists make their Prayers all those things their Devotoes pray to them for If the Socinians joyn with them and say God so reveals every thing to Christ We answer them both that this is to set God upon a needless work and indeed to make the Supreme Being in effect inferior to his Servants and to his Son for those are the greatest Persons to whom the last Appeal is made those inferiour who are imployed in carrying or presenting Petitions to another if then the Supreme God make it his business to present the Supplications of Petitioners to his own Son he takes upon him that inferiour Office If he present them to his Son that his Son may grant and perform them it argues a natural Impotency in himself to answer such Petitioners and consequently a superiority in the Son whereby he 's able to grant and to do for his servants what God the Father could not If the Socinians will have us believe in respect of Omnipotence that Christ only represents our wants to his Father and that it 's his Fathers Power alone which answers and acts for us it will follow then that God has not given him all Power in Heaven and in Earth whosoever has that Power can do all things in and of himself if Christ cannot do all things in and of himself he has not that Power if He want that Power for what reason should we pray to him and not rather immediately to Almighty God especially since this Man Christ Jesus died for us that in his own blood he might open to us a new and a living way whereby we might have access with boldness to the throne of Grace If we may go directly thither what should we trouble our selves with applications to a subordinate Power as for the Mediatory Office of our Saviour so far as He 's concern'd in it according to Socinian Principles he 'l mediate continually for Us and all Believers in general terms whether we make any supplications to Him or not The result of all then is this ether Christ is not Almighty nor All-knowing nor Present every where and consequently cannot be the proper Object of our Adorations and Prayers and therefore all such Adorations offered to Him must be scandalous and Idolatrous or else our Lord must be present every where Know and be able to Do all and every thing and so their Catechism teaches us in the chapter before quoted for it says All Power is given him as before that his Power and Efficacy is great
tho' it were an inward grace a strengthning of the Soul which they requir'd of him Again when the Disciples were with him on ship-board and during his quiet sleep just sinking by the violence of an angry tempest they in a fright wake their Master and cry out to him Lord save us we perish Mat. 8.25 If our Saviour was a meer Man the Disciples acted with much less sence than Jonah's Mariners who every one in the storm called upon their Gods for help and summoned sleeping Jonas not to save them by His Power but to joyn with them in calling upon his God For was it ever heard before that when a Ship was just sinking or running upon a rock the ship's Crew ran to some poor ignorant Passenger to beg their security from him The Mariners tho' convinced that he was an extraordinary Person made no such application to Saint Paul in a parallel danger it 's God alone who can command the Seas and Winds his permissive Word makes them ruffle the Universe and put Nature into a Consternation the same Word lays them still as in their first Originals ere uncorrupted Nature knew any thing terrible or dangerous In the case before us our Saviour answered them not as that King of Israel did the Woman If the Lord help thee not what can I do But He arose and rebuked the Winds and the Sea and there was a great calm Nature in its greatest hurry own'd his Divine Authority only his Disciples stumbled upon the Question ver 27. What manner of Man is this that even the Winds and the Sea obey him They talked like Men beside themselves with Fear they called upon him for Help as if they had believed him to be God they reflected upon that Deliverance he had given them as if he had been no more than Man but he takes no notice of any error they were in in their first Devotions but by his Mercy encouraged them to do the same again upon a like occasion What the Disciples did here in a storm at Sea that Saint Stephen the first Martyr for Christianity did in a more violent storm of Persecution on Land for when he came to his last Agonies when it was the proper season for a good Man to exert the utmost vigor of his Faith and Charity then for himself and with respect to his own Soul he prays Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The frequent expiring Ejaculation of Holy Saints and Martyrs after him Compare now this with that assertion of the wise Man concerning Death Eccles. 12 7. Then shall the Dust return to Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and the consequence will be either that our Lord Jesus Christ was the great Author or Creator and Giver of the Rational Soul or else that this Holy Martyr then when filled in an extraordinary manner with the Holy Ghost in his extreme hours when commonly Mens apprehensions of futurity are most Clear and Rational talk'd in a very Impertinent and sinful manner to devote his Soul to him who could have no right to it if he were a meer Creature and to forget his God Franciscus Davidis would have us believe here that Stephen did not call upon Jesus Christ but upon God the Father and that we should translate the expression O thou Lord of Jesus receive my Spirit but this Socinus has strongly confuted tho' upon their common Principle of our Saviour's being a meer Creature Franciscus undertakes the much more rational part However here his subterfuge is nothing worth It was Jesus the Son of God He who bore that proper name of Jesus from his Circumcision for whose sake Stephen was now persecuted to Death by the malicious Jews it was the same Jesus whom he saw at the right hand of God when the Heavens opened to give him such a view of future Glory prepared for Martyrs as might support and encourage him under his sufferings it was to him therefore that Stephen applyed himself and sitted himself for a glorious and happy Exit by that admirable Resignation But neither did Saint Stephen stop there but as the utmost effort of a dying Martyr's Charity He adds this to his former ejaculation ver 60. Lord lay not this sin to their charge He certainly designed exemplary Charity in this and to imitate his dying Saviour who prayed his Father to forgive his Murderers for they knew not what they did But the Martyr's enemies would have had little reason to have admir'd his Charity had he presented his Prayers for them to one who had no power to forgive them and the Jews would be as ready now to make the Objection as heretofore Who can forgive sins but God only And if God to whom vengeance belongeth in whose sight the Death of his Saints is precious would certainly avenge the blood of his Saints and Martyrs upon their Persecutors to what purpose was it to pray to him to forgive them who not being the most high God himself could have no Power to forgive those who had sin'd against the most high God so as to give them any security but above all He could never have hoped for any acceptance at the hand of God in any Petition whatsoever had he now in his last extremity been guilty of Idolatry Saint Paul had been made partaker of extraordinary Revelations had been snatch'd up into the third heavens where he had seen and heard things not lawful for a Man to utter 2 Cor. 1â— 7 8 9. indeed things unspeakable lest He should have been exalted above measure thro' the abundance of those Revelations there was given to him a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him This was a very severe humiliation and Saint Paul was sensible of it and at first as appears by the Text very uneasie under it Saint Paul knew well enough that the best remedy for all calamities was Prayer that Prayers presented to the true God with a sincere heart could not return unfruitful but Saint Paul presently applyes himself to Christ For this cause I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me says he and He said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness By the Lord here the Socinians themselves understand our Lord Jesus and therefore alledge this Text as a proof of Pious Mens praying to Christ Now had Saint Paul prayed to Christ for Assistance and Relief in such a case where only the Supreme God could really help him if that Christ were a meer Creature then such a Prayer must be Idolatrous and such Service be called Idolatry wherein the Creature was rather worshipped than the Creator and Christ a Creature must as Lucifer of old have endeavoured to set himself up for a rival God and prosecute a separate Interest of his own and manage and assist his servants in a way of opposition to the most high God and
Father when he has no more and the Union yet between the eternal Father and the eternal Son is of a closer and more levelling kind than any thing inferiour nature can afford Our New Author indeed challenges us Cum Scriptoribus de generatione animaelium haec comparentur Nos Dei virtutem in Virginis uterum aliquam substantiam creatam vel immisisse aut ibi creasse affirmamus ex quā juncto eo quod ex ipsius Virginis substantiâ accessit verus homo generatus fuit Aliàs enim homo ille Dei filius à conceptione nativitate propriè non fuisset Sic Smalcius de vero naturali Dei filio c. 3. Ruarus ab ipso uterque à veritate quantum distat if we believe this eternal Generation to prove it expresly contain'd in Scripture and then to prove this Eternal Generation the true Basis or Foundation of his glorious Title of the Only Begotten Son of God As if clear Consequences from plain Premises were not a demonstrative proof of any thing to Men who pretend to Reason and a capacity of discoursing Rationally which is indeed nothing but drawing Consequences plain or obscure from agreeable Premises Or for an instance as if when I find God call'd a Spirit and I know a Spirit is Invisible I might not conclude God tho' a Spirit to be invisible unless I found Invisibility it self distinctly and separated from the Notion of a Spirit attributed to him somewhere in Scripture Now if all these Proofs I have laid down before have proved that our Saviour had a Being before he was Conceived in the Womb of the Virgin which we think to be proved beyond contradiction and if our Adversaries will but allow that Dictate of Common sence that He who really is my Son is my Son as soon as he has a Being or if He be not my Son then He never can be my Son otherwise than by Adoption and so Christ can never be the only begotten Son of his Father because all those who Believe in and Obey God are his Sons by Adoption too if they 'l but allow this then Christ must have been the Son of his Father before such time as he was Conceived in the Virgins Womb because he had a Being before that Conception If Christ had a Being before his Conception it must have been as a Spirit but Spirits do not generate one another therefore he must have had a Being from the beginning of the World If then we fall in with the Arrians and say God created his Son the Word first out of nothing and then created all other things by Him we contradict Scripture which positively assures us that in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and all that in them is and therefore rested the seventh day but God could not rest the Seventh Day nor do all he had to do in Six Days if he wrought more than Six Days but He must have worked before the beginning of the Six Days if he made the Word before he made any thing else and we have the Six Days Work summ'd up authentically by Moses but no account there of the Creation of the Word before the Creation of Matter If he were not Created before Matter then he could not Create all things as the Arrians pretend If therefore He had a Being it must have been from all eternity but he was not Created from eternity for whatsoever is Created must have a Beginning but he was begotten of his Father as the Scriptures assure us if therefore he were Begotten and not Made and Begotten before the beginnings of the World He could be Begotten of nothing but of the Substance of his Father there being no other Substance for him to be originated from and therefore must be eternal because the Substance of his Father is and cannot be otherwise than eternal This being true it would be meer folly not to fix his Sonship more peculiarly in this eternal Generation for He that is Begotten by a Father must be his Son and he that is Begotten from eternity must be a Son from eternity Therefore Christ who was Begotten of his Father from eternity must be the Son of his Father from eternity which was the thing to be demonstrated If yet a Socinian will stumble at the Vnion of the Humane with the Divine Nature as if it were an impossibility or against reason let Him resolve us fairly how the Vnion is made between a rational and immortal Soul of a Spiritual and an heavy and unactive Body of an Earthly Nature We are all convinced they are so joyned together but those subtle Springs whereby an Immaterial Soul actuates a Material Body are hitherto indiscernible by the sharpest Eye of impair'd Reason why then should we conclude it impossible for the Divine and Humane Nature to be united together unless it be united in a way more intelligible than our Souls and Bodies For tho' our Souls are of a Spiritual Nature they are infinitely inferiour to the Nature of Almighty God and being that Constitutive part of Humane Nature by which Man is a Rational Creature it might seem an easie task for us to find out how that Soul we reason by should be united to that Body we reason in But since we are so far to seek in this matter may we not reasonably conclude God has hidden this from our Eyes to moderate and humble our unruly Fancies to keep us from prying into things that are too high for us and to convince us that many things wherein we are more immediately concerned not being a whit the less True tho' we understand them not we ought to believe that some things may be True with respect to God of which yet we are able to give our selves no considerable account And so we may satisfie our selves that our Saviour spoke plain truth when he said I and my Father are One meaning thereby an Essential Vnity between his Father and Him because tho' he were at the time of his speaking so a true Man invested with real flesh and blood yet He was God before he was Man the Word of God before he was made flesh and dwelt among us and was God when He was Man his Divine Nature not being prejudiced by his assuming Flesh and Blood by that Divine Nature he was One essentially with his Father and his Humane assumed Nature being in his Divine Nature as a finite is contained in an infinite there could be but One Person at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God-Man our Saviour and Redeemer I take the more notice of this particular which I had insisted on before because our new Assertor of Socinianism would perswade us that if we duely examin'd these Words of our Saviour on this occasion spoken to the Jews when they charged him with Blasphemy because in his former expressions He had made himself God tho' indeed he were but a Man we should quit all arguments drawn from thence the words are these
concluded that such Persons lie under some very unaccountable Prejudice against the Person of the Offerer or that Authority invested in him Such was the condition of the world in general at our Lord's appearance in our Nature they were all Prisoners to their greatest enemy to him who desired to be the eternal tormenter both of their Bodies and their Souls that Liberty he pretended to indulge them with was nothing but extreme Slavery the most base and unworthy of a rational Creature that possibly could be contrived like that wherein the Poet tells us Circe kept the Companions of Vlysses where they were turned to Wolves and Dogs and Swine the very tortures of which beastly state made some more fiery Souls conclude it was better by their own hands to disengage themselves from those weighty fetters they mourn'd in than endure so base a confinement To these our Saviour appeared that Sun of Righteousness came to them with healing in his wings Compassion to their wretched condition drew him from the bosome of his Father and made him manifest himself in the flesh The end of his descent was That whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life That all might believe in him He fully and clearly stated their own miserable condition before their eyes he shewed them the Strength and Malice of their Tyrant their own inability to get free from those Chains he had laid upon them his own readyness to be their Deliverer if they 'd but depend upon him for it and he gave all Men every day new Proofs that he was able to make good what he offer'd the Devil who was their Persecutor flying before him as a Wolf would before a generous Lyon or a Child before a Gyant Yet after all this our Saviour came even to his own as the Evangelist assures us and his own received him not Joh. 1.11 He came among them at that precise time which their Prophets had assigned to his advent He came when their Religion was almost vanished into Air and the Law of Moses of no more Authority among a company of nice Scribes and Pharisees than the whole Book of God was afterwards among the Schoolmen They look'd every day for his coming and could not avoid being sensible of their present wants But for all this the Devil had fill'd them with such ridiculous Jealousies of their Law and with such Prodigious Prejudices against the Person of Him they so long waited for that necessity it self could make but very few of them own or believe in him It 's true he appeared but in the form of a servant in a very mean and despicable state and the Jews being enslaved to a Foreign Power expected some mighty Monarch who should have broke the Roman fetters and have made Jerusalem sensibly superiour to all the Cities upon Earth Prejudice in the mean time shut their eyes so strongly that they could not see that He who was able to heal all manner of Distempers to quell the Ragings of a stormy Sea to drive whole Legions of Infernal Spirits before him with a Word notwithstanding the meanness of his outward garb might be able if he saw it good to effect all these mighty conquests they expected at his appearance as if his saving Power had depended only on the Greatness of his Retinue the Gayety of his Habit or the Grandeur of his Court The Gentiles had their Prejudices too they thought a Contemptible Man far too weak td baffle all those numerous Deities whose directions they had so long managed themselves by they concluded that one Crucified by the prosecution of his own Country Men one whose Disciples freely own'd his ignominious Death and seem'd proud of their Master's Cross whose Apostles pretended to no elaborate Eloquence to no niceties of Argument to no depth of Learning and yet would always be Preaching in their Master's name they concluded it impossible that such a One should be the World's Saviour that such Messengers should really be the authentick Ambassadors of Heaven tho' they too did numerous miracles in the name of Him they preach'd and without Learning baffled all the wit and arguments of their nimble Sophisters As if it were the outward appearance and not the inherent power and authority of a person that must effect the mighty work or as if compleat Liberty could not be worth a Man's acceptance unless it were given by a royal hand It must certainly be a strange ascendant which Hell had over mankind which could infatuate them so far and perswade such vast numbers to build their own eternal ruine upon such pitiful Objections The Devil infected Mens Souls about the time of our Lord's Incarnation with a Prodigious and unaccountable Laziness such as made them absolutely unready to contribute to their own happiness They saw themselves abus'd by those Gods they worshipp'd their Credulity impos'd on and their good Intentions perverted this they publickly declared They found themselves cheated with an empty shew of knowledge and caress'd by others like themselves for their Philosophick atchievements when indeed they were not able so much as to agree about the Supreme Good but fell into more than 300. different opinions about it tho' they accounted the atchievement of that good the great end of all Humane Actions This they could not but laugh at themselves They saw that notwithstanding their continual Declamations against unsociable Vices or notorious Immoralities their very Instructors themselves scarce deserved the names of Men by reason of their dissolute and irregular lives They found themselves irrecoverably addicted to all those very things which themselves branded as irrational and odious This they lamented and they seemed earnestly to wish for a remedy of all these evils but they were like the Clown in the ditch they 'd cry to Heaven for help but never went about to rescue themselves by Care and Industry from those Calamities they were involved in The Devil could well enough bear with all the Remonstrances of those who were sensible of the World 's deplorable state so long as Sloth had seized their Vitals and would permit them to go no further than empty Lamentations Nothing can render Men more ridiculous or contemptible than this Temper to their cruel Adversary the very Heathens could represent their ancient Hero's as Men of daring Spirits never giving themselves to ignoble Ease but travelling continually through the World to seek Adventures worthy of their Strength and Courage yet they could easily forget their own Examples and languish in a miserable slavery to Sin neither combate with their own Vices nor with the Temptations of the Devil they could not so much as find the way to Him who was able to assist them who could renew their languid Souls with a sprightly Vigour and make them by the influences of his sacred Spirit triumphant over all their in-born Corruptions the Blind were desirous to be led to him the Lame to be carried to him only those who were
try'd He could not reasonably refuse to stand to that Tryal but neither do we find that his Enemies ever went about to shew the Discrepancy between his Doctrines and his Practice and therefore when they thought to cajole him into their snares by a most malicious Complement they gave him indeed no more than a true and proper Character Master we know that thou art true Matth. 22.16 and teachest the way of God in truth neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the persons of men this Character was really his due whatsoever they meant by it and they who were unwilling to acknowledge their own Hypocrisie could never fairly go off from so remarkable a Testimonial If then the Blessed Jesus were so signally innocent He was above all other the fittest to assert and vindicate the Authority of his Father's Laws and this he carefully did and made his appeal to all those Laws without exception according as occasions offer'd themselves After all then if he would really put an end to the Ceremonial Law and yet maintain to the last his Character of Truth and Justice He must of necessity be the Son of God and God himself his Authority otherwise notwithstanding the mutable Nature of those Laws not being sufficient to bear him out in so great an Alteration Our Saviour was Incarnate That the Law of God as given to the Jews might in our Nature be fulfilled exactly and according to the Letter and so that he who fulfilled it might be a compleat example of Holiness and Obedience to us and how great an Undertaker this required we shall have hereafter Opportunities enough to understand Now when I lay down this reason by the word Law I understand whatsoever was given to the Jews whether Moral as confirming the Law of uncorrupted Nature or Political as relating to their Civil Government or Ceremonial as referring to their various Religious Rites both the last so far as they could concern the Practice of a private Person so that indeed the whole Law as given to the Jews contain'd in it whatsoever could have been expected from Adam had he retain'd his original Innocence or whatsoever humane Nature in its utmost perfection could possibly attain to Now that such a compleat Obedience should be expected from some One Partaker of humane nature was but reasonable when the great work of Man's Redemption was in hand for since Man created in all that Perfection his Nature was capable of had yet fall'n from that Obedience which was justly expected from him he being in a condition every way capable of performing it and by that fall of his had necessarily involv'd all those who should be deriv'd from him in all those Miseries attending the guilt of Sin and since the intent of God's Goodness was that from the Obedience of one man descended of the same flesh and blood many should be made righteous or be blessed with those Rewards attending upon Righteousness as the Apostle assures us it came to pass it was but just and reasonable that that Man from whom that righteousness was to descend to Mankind that that Man should compleatly make up that Character of the first Man when in Innocence which had he persever'd in as he ought his whole Posterity had been entirely happy and yet that task was abundantly greater for the second Adam our Lord Jesus Christ than it was for the first Adam our great Parent for Adam had no Corruption deriv'd down to him from his Original from whence it has been not impertinently question'd Whether before Sin enter'd into the World and Death by Sin He was liable to the common Rules of Mortality But our Saviour when he took Flesh of the Virgin took it up at such a time as Humane nature was sunk into its utmost depravation nor would an allowance of that Roman Foolery That the Blessed Virgin was born without any Original Sin or Guilt upon her help the matter For so long as she was descended from such Parents as had their share in the Corruption of Humane Nature her Freedom would not of consequence free every one who should be born of her but she being no way beyond other Women but only on account of her Practical Holiness our Lord as descended from her must be in all things like his Brethren liable to all the Inconveniences attending a Body certainly mortal for as for his being without Sin it depended on the Union of a Mortal to an Immortal Being the very nature of which superiour Being was more effectual than the Refiner's Fire on Gold or Silver purifying that otherwise corrupt Body it was united to and fortifying it against all that proclivity to Sin and easie succumbency to Temptation which the rest of Mankind was obnoxious to Nor was it any thing but such a coacting Omnipotence which could possibly have produc'd a clean thing out of an unclean or a Body without Sin out of that which was naturally sinful There is certainly such a state as that of Eternal Happiness but it is attainable only as the reward of Merit in a proper sense or as we ordinarily say it 's as Wages which he who faithfully performs his work deserves and may justly lay claim to as his own and therefore cannot be deny'd without Injustice as for instance whereas the condition of eternal Life is This do and live whosoever it is that performs the Condition and does what 's requir'd he has for so doing provided there be no circumstantial failure in the performance of the work a just and rightful claim to that eternal Life propounded and God himself could not be just should he deny the propos'd reward to such a One as should compleatly perform the Condition set before him Had Man continued in the state of Innocence he had had this proper claim of his own to eternal Happiness he might justly have claim'd it and could not without extremity of Injustice have been deny'd it but that eternal Happiness which we now expect is of Grace or it 's the free Gift of God which we as Sinners and such we are all without exception have no proper or inherent right to but it 's not the immediate free Gift of God as if he without any performance of incumbent duty on our part would bestow upon us an eternally glorious Inheritance for this would be as inconsistent with that infinite Justice which makes up the Idaea of the Supreme God as it would be to deny Wages or a Reward to him that had truly deserved it nor is it a free giving Man such an inward Ability to perform all the punctilio's of the Divine reveal'd Will as by which they might make a full compensation to Divine Justice for the original pravity of Nature and do all such things to the utmost as could be requir'd from the beginning to the end of Life for this were to alter the whole frame of Humane Nature and to give it in the present state of things an
farther than as it laid him open to Sufferings but only to his Death and Passion and the Preliminaries to them that absolute Innocence reigning in his Humane Nature rendering all those Sufferings to which Humane Nature alone was liable the more meritorious and that inexpressible Condescension of the Eternal Son of God to take our Nature upon him join'd with his consequent Sufferings made one entire sufficient Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World But to suppose as Socinians do that one great meaning of the Death of Christ was that God by that means might give Men a pledge of that Favour or Pardon he intended for them is idle those who had any thing of a true Notion of a God would have depended upon his Word authentically revealed without any such extraordinary Pledge those who had perverse Notions of him would take very little notice of such a Pawn given for the Argument would be very obvious to a Sceptic If God be such as some define him infinitely Wise Good Powerful True there 's no need of such extraordinary Methods to confirm Men in an opinion of his Veracity if he be of a different or less perfect Nature a thousand such Strategems can give us no sufficient reason of Confidence in him We find indeed the Ancients upon Leagues or Compacts between them offering Sacrifices to their Gods and with their Hands laid upon the Victim's Head calling their Gods to witness their Sincerity in such Leagues and making their solemn Protestations one to another to observe propounded Articles the design of that Ceremony seems to be onely to intimate the agreeing Persons serious Imprecation that their own blood might be shed in the same manner as that of the dying Victims in case they falsified that Contract then made but we can imagine nothing of this nature to have pass'd between God and man in the Death of Christ Men were so far consenting indeed as to shed the blood of Christ but far from promising Faith and Obedience to their God at the same time no they acted in plain defiance to those Revelations God had made of himself and those very Persons who pretended to the most immediate Dependance upon Christ had very little Confidence in him till such time as his Resurrection from the dead reconfirmed their fading Hopes and made them believe he was capable of being their Saviour and Redeemer But if at last it were necessary that Almighty God should so seal the assurance of his Pardon to Mankind a meaner Victim might have serv'd than that of his onely Son since nothing could possibly create in guilty Men a greater Diffidence in God's Mercy than so severe a procedure on so very slight and impertinent a Reason with that Son concerning whom he profest that he was well pleased with him After all the Socinians would flamm us off with a metaphorical Redemption the Consequence of which I fear must have been but a metaphorical Pardon of our Sins in spite of which we might still be really and properly damn'd St. Peter drawing the parallel between ours and a proper Redemption teaches us to believe that our Redemption is proper too forasmuch as we were not redeem'd with corruptible things as Silver and Gold the ordinary means of redemption for Criminals or Captives 1 Pet. 1.18 19. but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without Spot which precious Blood being of infinitely more value than Silver or Gold could and did effect as proper a Redemption for them for whom it was offer'd as the greatest Summs of Treasures paid down for their Ransom possibly could To convince us yet further of Christ's Satisfaction for our Sins the Scripture represents him to us as a Mediator but our Adversaries reply to this that Moses is called a Mediator too yet Moses never satisfied for the Sins of Israel to prove that Moses is so called they allege that of the Apostle That the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 yet it 's well known that Ancient Writers and Interpreters generally understand that Passage of Christ whom they certainly and truly conclude to have been that God more particularly appearing to the Israelites in their passage from Aegypt to Canaan and so he delivered the Law to them by his own power or with his own Hand as we may well express it the Decalogue the great binding part of the Law being written with the Finger of God as Moses informs us and so put into the Hands of Moses and the blessed Angels as ministring Spirits attending their Lord in the Solemnity and this Interpretation is not easily to be eluded But if by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mediatour we only understand with Suidas one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Peace-maker it then is applicable to Moses or to any other who goes between contending Parties to make up any quarrel or breach that may be between them But in this case we must always consider the Persons between whom matters are to be rectified their Natures and the nature of that Offence which may have caus'd a breach between them and he who undertakes such a Work had need to have a considerable Interest in both the Parties who are at odds for an Vndertaker in such a case who is liable to any exception on either side is like to mediate to very little purpose Now it 's no very hard Task to find Persons fit enough to take up quarrels between Men and Men all Men agreeing in one and the same Nature and Offences between them generally arising from both sides but that breach there is between God and man is not so easily made up their Natures are infinitely different one absolutely pure and unchangeable the other miserably corrupt and humourous man continually offending God continually obliging man proud haughty disdainful insensible God kind condescending essential Love and Goodness yet a Mediator such as should be able to procure Peace between God and man must have a very great Influence on both sides to which purpose it 's indispensibly necessary he should be compleatly Innocent Moses was uncapable of such a Mediation though he interceded for the People of Israel by his Prayers and was earnest and importunate with God to turn from that fierce Anger he had justly express'd against a stubborn and ungrateful Generation but Moses himself at the very time of his zealous Interposition for Israel was as other Men obnoxious to God's anger and felt the effect of it when for his Transgression at the Rock he was deny'd entrance into the Land of Canaan so that in effect he did no more than what 's particularly incumbent on God's Priests in all Ages i. e. to offer Prayers and Supplications for the People they live among and by such means to the utmost of their ability to stand in the Gap and to divert threatning Judgments from guilty Heads Our Saviour as necessity required was Holy
Harmless Vndefiled separate from Sinners one that needed not first to pray for Pardon for his own Sins and afterwards for the Sins of others and therefore he might be and is properly called the one Mediator between God and Man exclusively of all others 1 Tim. 2.5 as we are told in the same Text there is One God exclusively of all other Deities which could not be if Moses had been a Mediator of the same kind and in the same manner as Christ was and it 's further added of our Mediator That he gave himself a ransom for all which Moses never did and tho' in the heat of his charitable Zeal he was willing to have been blotted out of the Book which God had written that God by that means might have been reconciled to his People that Offer neither was nor could be accepted because it could be no Satisfaction to Divine Justice to punish one Sinner and on account of that punishment to pardon another for why should I pretend to satisfie that Justice on behalf of another which should it proceed severely would pass upon me without any such pretence but he who conscious of his own Innocence is secure from any legal Danger may with reason interpose vigorously for another In our present Case our Lord endeavours to put an end to that difference there is between God and Man arising from Sin God is the Supreme Law-giver and has in his own hand the uncontroulable Power of punishing Trespassers upon his Laws Man is the continual Transgressor having by that means wholly forfeited all pretences to Grace and Favour therefore his Case being it self desperate the Mediation begins on God's part our Lord not being stil'd the Mediator between man and God but between God and man the whole Mediation arising not from man's hopes but from God's mercy and goodness which found out the means of reconciling us to himself by his Son Perhaps a Socinian would find it difficult to give a satisfactory reason why seeing the first Covenant or that between God and Israel could be made by the Mediation of Moses and confirm'd with shedding the Blood onely of ordinary Victims the Evangelical Covenant managed by the Blessed Jesus a Person very much superiour to Moses could not be confirm'd with Blood of like Sacrifices as the former We 'll own freely the Covenant of the Gospel is a better Covenant the Promises in it more plain and numerous the Hope 's rais'd in Men by it stronger and more vigorous but all these things are accounted for in the Dignity of the Undertaker and why Christians should not confide in God upon the same terms on which the Jews did is not easie to determine I am sure they are generally represented as the most tractable Persons Besides this there appears a vast Difference between the Mediatorship of our Lord and Moses on these accounts our Saviour by virtue of his Mediatorial Power was able to remit sins was able to give eternal Life to Believers but Moses could do no such thing he was only a Suppliant to God for Pardon for Israel and Socinians will scarce allow he gave them so much as a Promise of Eternal Life throughout the whole Systeme of his Laws so that though we allow there ought to be some resemblance between the Type and the Anti-type yet we must allow a mighty distance between a Common Man and one on whom the Title of the Son of God his onely begotten Son was fixt and the resemblance must be between Circumstances capable of being represented and not between those which are incapable of it The Death and Passion of our Saviour as an external Accident attending his Humanity might be represented by the Death of those Creatures offer'd in Sacrifice frequently to God the Intercession of our Saviour with his Father for a sinful World by the Intercession of Moses for a sinful Nation but that Satisfaction by Christ given for Sinners to his Father's Justice was so great a thing as nothing could make any proportionable adumbration of it the Confession of the Peoples Sins over the Victim's head and laying their Iniquiries on the Head of the Scape-Goat as a devoted Creature might keep up somewhat of an Idaea of what the Messias was afterwards to do and suffer and the manner how but the Symbol was so dark that even the prophecy of Caiaphas pointing at the Anti-type made very little Impression upon the Jews and made them expect very little from Christ though they saw frequent evidences of his Divine Mission and his Death as a Person devov'd and made Sin as the Apostle expresses it for the safety of the Nation But there 's another Fetch as subtle as the rest that supposing a Mediator ought to partake of the Nature of both the Parties between whom he is to make peace yet this touches not our Saviour for his Mediatorship was only to be employ'd in reconciling men to God for so say they we find God reconciling the world to himself in Christ but there 's no mention of reconciling himself to the World supposing this assertion true is it therefore impossible that God should be angry with a sinful World If so how comes it to pass he sends so many Judgments particular and general upon Men Cities and Countries does he lay his Rod on Mens backs at randome without any displeasure against their Crimes or without any respect to their Demerits did he drown the old World without being angry with them burn Sodom and Gomorrha with their neighbouring Cities and yet not displeased with them these things are incredible That he was often angry with the People of Israel we find frequently attested in Scripture that as an evidence of his Anger he punish'd them severely too we meet with upon record there If he could be angry with the Sins of a particular People he may certainly be angry with the Sins of the whole World for Sin loses not its odious Nature by being more diffusive If God be angry with their Sins he must be angry with the Sinners too especially if they be active and obstinate in their Sins for tho' Man as created at first in the likeness or in the image of God be good yet Man wherein that sacred Image is defaced by Sin is odious and detestable a proper object of God's Displeasure and of himself incapable of avoiding it but if God may be displeased with Sin and Sinners and if his Nature being pure and his Laws holy just and good he must be so then he must be reconciled to Man or Man must be eternally miserable and though we find God frequently in Scripture calling upon Men to turn to Him as if all the Work lay on their hands yet he promises withal that He will turn to them Mal. 3.7 and those kind repeated Calls are only evidences that He who has a great deal of reason to be averse to it will yet be as ready to be reconciled to them as they can be to