Nature but would also deprive Rulers of their chief Glory which is to assert and vindicate the Honour and Service of God and by their Authority to suppress whatsoever is contrary to 't But to turn to the Text the Author saith we ought to prove two things pag. 69. first That meer Errours of the Vnderstanding are evil-Works which by the Grace of God I hope to do but knowing their Cavilling Humour we must clear the way before us The Understanding being the Spring and proper Seat of Theorical Errours it had been fit for him to have said what he meaneth by the word meer whether a transient false Speculation or an immanent such a one as goes no farther but stops there in the Mind This last doth affect only the Party and it making sometimes but a slight Impression is in time forgotten but the first produceth ill Effects for it passes into the Heart where it settles and thence breaks out Now I say that these meer Errours of the Understanding are evil Works The Understanding is the Judgment-Seat of the Soul where whatsoever comes into it is examined and there Judgment passed whether it be true or false And as the Will follows the last Dictate of the Intellect so thence it passes into the Will and is either received as good or rejected as evil when the first as commonly 't is then the Affections seated in the Heart or Will are engaged When we say the Errours of the Understanding are evil Works by Works we do not mean what is generally opposed to Thoughts for all Man's Actions are distinguished into Thoughts Words and Deeds or Works now the Understanding hath its Works and Operations as well as the other Faculties of the Soul or Members of the Body but in another manner and of a different Nature to represent this we use to say that Man hath a working Head and his Brains are at work In this sense we say that Errours of the Understanding are evil Works such is the black List by our Saviour spoken of Mark 7.21 22. Out of the heart of men proceed evil Thoughts Adulteries Fornications Murthers Thefts Covetousness Wickedness Blasphemy c. all these are evil Works and all come from within and Blasphemy which is the great thing in question is named and Heresie another great Evil which we justly charge Socinians with Gal. 5.20 is reckoned among the Works of the Flesh Such workings are in Mind and Heart In heart ye work wickedness saith David Ps 58.2 These are evil Works punishable by the Magistrate according to the Text of the Romans which we now are upon and both Blasphemy and Heresie are certainly Matters of Irreligion which to punish as also Idolatry doth bind the Christian as it did the Jewish Magistrate and he is as much obliged to execute Justice upon as against Adulteries Fornications Murthers Thefts and other Wickednesses already mention'd Now to close up this Head I say that as meer Errours in the Understanding are evil Works it necessarily follows that those who be guilty thereof are Evil-doers all we can do for those who will deny this is in the words of the Roman Poet to wish them mentem sanam in corpore sano a sound Mind in a sound Body The second thing he would have us to prove is this that the Apostle means such here that is as hold Fundamental Errors and are guilty of Blasphemy Heresie and Idolatry else it were not to the purpose for these are the things in question and do own profess and practise it for else no Man being a searcher of the Heart and Mind knows what passes therein and so may not Punish but for what comes within his certain knowledge therefore there ought to be Informations and Proofs drawn out of Overt Acts as Words Discourses Writings and the like the Apostle saying here that the Ruler is a Minister of God a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth Evil and not adding in Civil Matters which had been necessary if he intended to have restrained it only to such or else he had not sufficiently expressed his Mind but seeing he simply saith Vpon him that doth Evil Can any thing forbid us to believe and affirm he meant doing Evil in things pertaining to God as well as to Men And is it not an abominable thing for them to exclude things of Religion and to make Limitations where God hath made none Therefore if God hath appointed the Magistrate to punish all that do Evil for the word him being indefinite doth generally comprehend all that do so and hath not said against his Neighbour or against the Publick Good why should we not understand it in any kind that deserves Punishment and consequently in Religious Matters as well as those of the Civil Society What he saith that this relates only to Civil Matters because of these words Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same is not to the purpose as it will appear somewhat lower We are not so sawcy as they to limitate it only to Matters of Religion and not also extend it to those of a Civil Nature for we own it relates to both Temporal and Spiritual things Here the Apostle from verse 1 to 7. inclusively upon three Motives exhorted to Obey the Superiour Powers First Hope of Reward Second Fear of Punishment and Third for Conscience sake in case the other two could not prevail and though he doth not so plainly mention the Duty of Rulers yet he insinuates how they ought to Reward Good Works and Punish Evil ones Now to Command and to Obey are two Relatives and if Actively or Passively we must Obey in all Just and Lawful things as are not against but for the Honour and Glory of God as are all of a truely Religious Nature then the Magistrate may command all that are such and by Penalties compel Men to Obey in things relating to Religion as well as to Civil Society and if he may make Laws to force Men to be Just one to another much more hath God Authoriz'd him by Law to force them to give God his due and not rob him of his own as more immediately and in a special manner are things belonging to Religion for in the Text Obedience is commanded to be yielded out of a Principle of Conscience verse 5. and for fear of Damnation verse 3. both which certainly relate to Religion When God gave Moses the Decalogue he divided it into two Tables whereof the first immedily related to him as being Matters of Religion as the second did to the Civil Society and were not the breakers of the first Table punished as those of the second Or is it reasonable to think that God took care of Man's Concern and wholly neglected his own so that in this World they might offend him and go unpunished what kind of Encouragement would this have been to all manner of Impiety
the highest degree and nothing in 't but what I do or can prove and leave it to be judg'd of by the Reader and withal I solemnly declare as in the Presence of God that I do not write out of any Self-end or Worldly Consideration whatsoever but meerly out of Conscience Love to the Truth for the Honour of God and the Cause of the Lord Jesus for 't is our Duty as we are Christians to abhor all that 's said or done against our Saviour and to look upon all that do so to be Enemies to God and Seducers of Souls Christ is the Object of my Faith the Ground of my Hope and the Desire of my Soul God's Nature and Essential Attributes I intend by the Grace of God to begin with which Nature is Spiritual for Joh. 4.24 saith our Blessed Saviour God is a Spirit therefore Moses gave the People this strict Warning Deuter. 4.15 Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb Ex. 20.4 c. therefore make not any likeness of him of any thing that is in Heaven above in the earth below or in the water under the earth upon this Account God doth more than once expostulate thus Isa 40.18 and 46.5 To whom then will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him But against this sprung up a sort of Hereticks called Anthropomorphites because unto God they really and properly appropriated the Shape and Members of Human Body when they should know how such things are improperly spoken of him only thereby to condescend to our weak Capacities and to signifie some of his Proprieties or some special thing he doth effect as Eyes and Ears to denote his Omniscience his Hands his Power c. For all this Socinians have not been ashamed to give God a Body thus * Conrad Vorstius de Deo Attrib p. 210. one of them saith Caeterùm nihil vetat c. Nothing forbîds us to attribute a Body to God if we take the word Body in a larger Signification There hath also been another kind of Hereticks called Anthropopathites because unto God they appropriated Human Passions and thought they were really so in him a thing so much against the Analogy of Faith so absurd and unworthy of God which is to affirm there are actually in God Afflictions Disturbances and Commotions as are Anger Grief to repent c. which is improperly said to condescend to our Weakness and make us understand the Effects of Justice Power Mercy and Wisdom of God upon the Creature and not any such Affections upon him which in our Nature are Effects of Frailty and Imperfections What God speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 improperly and after the manner of Man must by us be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a manner becoming and worthy of God however one of their greatest * Crellius de Deo Attrib pag. 321 323. Men saith That the Passions in Scripture attributed unto God are certain Stirrings and Motions of his Will yet so that when he is said to be grieved angry and to repent such unpleasant things without do not so affect and trouble him but that he still continues in that Eternal Pleasure which he enjoys in himself Though he be not so brazen-fac'd as to deprive God of the Pleasure he hath in himself yet he would insinuate as if he really was moved stirred and disturbed at some things this he farther adds about Grief Est affectio c. There is in God a displeasing Sense and Affection arising out of this That his good Actions through the Fault of others have a most unworthy Success What sort of impious Notions of God are these Sometimes in Scriptures are such improper Expressions as ought not literally to be taken or else Contradictions and Absurdities would follow a thing not without Blasphemy to be thought of the Spirit of God who is the Author of infallible Truth by whose Direction they were written This I could out of the Word in several Cases give Instances of but now shall do 't only in one which is that of a Prosopopoeia or Fiction of Persons as we read in the Prophecy where here and there are several Flowers of Divine Rhetorick Hear O heavens and give ear O earth Heaven and Earth have properly no Ears Isa 1.2 so cannot hear but this is a figurative manner of speaking and as they cannot hear so one would think it to be in vain to speak to inanimate things without Soul and Understanding yet God in his infinite Wisdom thinks it fit to use that way which Men who are not wiser than God may not gainsay Also thou son of man Ezek. 36.1 saith God to his Prophet prophesie unto the mountains of Israel and say Ye mountains of Israel hear the word of the Lord and somewhat lower the word is also directed to the hills to the mountains to the rivers to the valleys ver 4. c. Certainly this is not literally to be understood no more is it when Members of the Body or Passions of the Soul are attributed unto God These Opinions of Members and Passions in God do overthrow his Simplicity which is an Essential and Incommunicable Attribute of Divine Nature whereby 't is free from all manner of real Composition which is that whereby out of several really different things a thing is really made one whereof Philosophers assign many kinds as of Matter and Form Thus a Man consists of Soul and Body Then of Subject and Accident as is Colour upon a Wall or Learning in a Man the third is of Act and Power as in every Creature which may be made what it is not and cease to be what it is Another is of the Genus and the Difference properly so called as when a generical Nature is added to a Difference which reduces it to a certain Species or Kind The last is a nice one called of Esse and Essentia or of Being and Essence when a thing is said to be by her Essence But in God are none of all these for all that is in God is God himself This making God subject to Passions doth also overthrow another Attribute of his Nature namely his Immutability for if sometimes he be pleased sometimes angry and at other times grieved he ceases to be what he was before and becomes what he was not which is to father Changeableness upon the Unchangeable God with whom is no changeableness Jam. 1.17 neither shadow of turning Who is such in his Nature which always is Immortal Eternal In his Place for ever he fills up all things and never goes out of himself But to be short these Passions in God overthrow his perfect Happiness Self-sufficiency and Independency which all are Essential Attributes of the Godhead What an Impiety then is it for Socinians to shoot at so high a Mark as God is But they
Intercession which is the other part of it and though Paul saith that Rom. 8.34 Christ is at the Right-Hand of the Father where he maketh Inetercession for us yet one without giving any reason to the contrary which is their Magisterial way of deciding Controversies saith Christ in Heaven only improperly doth intercede for us So of him they would make only an improper and figurative Intercessour But we mean not that Intercession of his to be with Tears and upon his Knees as in the Days of his Humiliation when he was upon Earth but he offers our Prayers to God and by vertue of his Merits makes them acceptable to the Father therefore our Prayers to God we offer in the Name and by the Merits and Mediation of the Lord Jesus They in every thing to shew themselves against him Joh. 2.19 and 10.17.18 though in several places he saith that he can and will raise himself and others from the Dead yet when we say he raised himself by his own Power they laugh at and ridicule it for saith Socinus * Disp de unius fil exist quid enim c. what doth more deserve to be laught at as more contrary to Truth or can seem or be so than to say * Resp ad nov Monst that he who is Dead can call himself again to Life And that wicked Scoffer his Disciple Smalcius like another Lucian doth bluntly declare It is a Fable to say that Christ manifested any Power in his Resurrection which as it is false so it destroys it self and in the †part 2. c. 21. fabula est c. p. 216. Racov. Cat. 't is thus They are extremely mistaken who say that Christ raised himself from the Dead But they think it not enough for them to strick at him in his Grave for they pursue him after his Resurrection they say * Ostorod instit c. 41. Immediately after his Resurrection his Body was not Immortal only after it was taken up into Heaven So saith Socinus himself †De stat prim Hom. c. 8. p. 203. The Body of Christ attain'd to Imortality and Glory only after it had been carried up to Heaven This is not grounded upon any Reason only screw'd out of their shallow Brains and rotten Hearts Nay they pursue him into Heaven it self and amidst his Glory they would have it to cease from being a true Humane Body for there they strip him of Flesh and Blood without which it cannot be a true Humane Body for this reason that he would be Imperfect and Defiled if he had any Blood Whereupon they would misapply the Apostles saying Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Whereby are meant the Corrupt Affections of Humane Nature so they who therein indulge themselves are wholly govern'd by live and die in them shall not be saved As to the Body I say 't is true Corruptible Flesh and Blood as now we have shall not go into Heaven but not so when Corruption shall have put on Incorruption 't is a different Body as to the quality not as to the substance But our Saviour hath the same Body he had upon Earth in the Grave and after his Resurrection with this difference that now 't is an Immortal Incorruptible and Gloryfied Body Socinians make a Dispute about the Duration of Christ's Kingdom for they affirm it will last no longer than the World's end for saith one * Ostorod l. c. 6. n. 2. Civibus hujus Regni salutem c. Salvation Glory and Joy shall be given the Citizens of this Kingdom when this Spiritual Kingdom shall come to an end which is directly against those Texts Luk. 1.33 wherein 't is said he shall Reign over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end and I will Establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever 2 Sam. 7.13 Dan. 2.44 and 7.14 again that Kingdom shall never be destroy'd further his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroy'd As this Kingdom had no beginning so it shall have no end when I say it had no beginning I mean not as to the Administration for in that sense it had but I mean as to the Right and Title for from Eternity the Father appointed him to be a King He had a Glory before the World was he also had at that time if so we may call Eternity a People given him for in him the Father hath chosen us before the Foundation of the World and he began to exercise his Royal Authority over his Subjects as soon as they began to be So this Kingdom of his he had before he was Born of the Virgin but than that King had only Divine Nature though in that sense he was not King as God for therein he had submitted to the Father but as soon as God was made Man Humane Nature became Partner of this Royal Authority to this effect he answered Pilate's question whether he was a King thou says that I am a King to this end was I Born John 18.37 Psal 5.1 2 3 and 20 1 9. and for this cause came I into the World Under the Old Testament believers call'd him their King and their God and as such pray'd unto him and he was born King of the Jews and by the Wise Men adored for such The time of Christ's Kingdom hath three several Periods the first from Adam to Moses Second from Moses to his birth of the Virgin And the third from his birth to the World's end Matth. 2.2 Zechar. 9.9 Rev. 7.17 yet then this Kingdom shall not cease for to all Eternity he shall rule over his People in that State of Glory for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne between the Father and the Holy Ghost shall feed them and lead them unto living Fountains of Waters The Kingdom shall be the same Rev. 7.17 but with a different administration the believers shall not then as now they are be governed by his Word no more Promises nor Threatnings no Pains nor Rewards no defending against Enemies for there shall be none As to matters of Grace though Scripture takes away from Man all Power and Disposition by Nature to do Good and what is acceptable to God yet in that State wherein he is but a slave of Satan sold under Sin who cannot cease from Sin they allo a free-will and power to fullfil the Law for they say though * Racov. Ca. p. 197. commonly in Men by Nature the strength to do what God requires be but small yet the Will to do those things is naturally in every one Farthermore †Smalc de perfect justit although by reason of the infirmity of the Flesh it be very difficult for a Man to come really to that perfection of doing what God requires yet 't is not altogether impossible But he goes further for he affirms it
Christian World Sixthly Not only they will not confine themselves within the bounds of the received Faith by the Primitive Church but do forge new Articles of Faith and cannot forbear giving ill language revilings and lies Seventhly they despise and contemptuously reject the Testimonies and Witnesses of the Doctors of the Primitive Church against all rules of decency and modesty Eighthly they take upon themselves peremptorily and magisterially to blame and condemn all Christian Protestant Churches as if they knew nothing and were nothing which in them is an effect of rashness and pride Ninethly not only they cannot forbear opposing the fundamental Principles of Christian Religion but also will not abstain from Impieties Blasphemies and abominable Expressions against the most Holy Trinity the Divinity of the Son of God who is the God of the Christians against his Incarnation c. as it hath already been plainly demonstrated such detestable things the Apostles never did against the Idols of the Gentiles for we read how the Town-Clerk of Ephesus said to the People Acts 19.37 ye have brought hither these Men which are neither Robbers of Churches nor yet Blasphemers of your Goddess the Apostles were for destroying Idolatry but therein they behaved themselves with a Christian Prudence and Modesty though in a good cause thus Paul calmly upon the account of the Altar to the unknown God Chap. 17.23 said to the Athenians whom ye ignorantly Worship him declare I unto you disputed with good arguments not with injuries according to the rule he gives his Disciple 2 Tim. 2.24.25 the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all Men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves But Lastly they are Wise in their own conceit setting up for the sole competent judges of all Controversies when alass that Reason of theirs which they so much trust to doth often fail and deceive them is very uncertain and proves a blind guide whereof I shall now give a considerable instance and therein shew their unreasonableness for calling themselves Vnitarians for the oneness of God lies in the Unity of Nature not of Persons Now I come to them and say Our Doctrine consists with it self for one of the Reasons why we confess Christ to be God is because we know there is but one true God but yours contradicts it self because ye make two Gods of different Natures when there is no true God but he that is such by Nature so if there is but one God there must be only one Divine Nature and none is God but he who hath that Divine Nature and if we worship those who by Nature are not Gods we worship false Gods and are Idolaters To make Gods of several Natures is meer Polytheism and Plurality of Gods which Scripture is so much against but to have several Persons yet of one and the same Nature doth not make many Gods so that when we affirm there is but one Divine Nature we assert the Oneness of God whilst they with affirming there are two Gods of different Natures destroy that Unity which consists in the Essence or Nature and therefore the Name Vnitarians which they call themselves by is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abusively taken they make one God by Divine Nature and another with a human Nature a great Absurdity which to any rational man must appear to bring in many Gods so multiplicity of Gods which without cause they would father upon us is justly fastned upon them Besides let it be taken notice of what kind of God they would make our Saviour to be a God not born but made a God by office and favour not by nature a God who had a beginning and shall have an end and at last be stripp'd of his Divinity a God who is not the first and shall not be the last who hath not made Heaven and Earth which the Apostle after a Prophet gives as a Character of the true God a God not such by Nature Acts 17.24 Jerem. 10.11 13. which Paul opposes to the true God an improper a metaphorical a dependent and without Blasphemy let it be said a Mock-god made by degrees like the Popish Wafer-god a God of about 1700 Years standing such a God they make our Saviour to be who is over all Rom. 9.5 God blessed for ever which is to make a God no God and as much as in them lies to ridicule the Godhead a God who hath not his Being of himself and is not the Author of being to the Creature which all are absurd Contradictions But I elsewhere abundantly proved our Saviour and Lord to be of the same Nature with the Father by an eternal generation Is it not very absurd and contradictious to give one the Essential Attributes of Divine Nature yet deny him Divine Nature which is inseparable from those Attributes so that where the Nature is there the Attributes must also be and where the Attributes so must also the Nature 'T is very strange that this people look upon 't as a thing impossible for God to communicate his Nature to one whom they own to have received Divine Knowledge Wisdom Power and that Divine Worship is his due which are proper Attributes of Divine Nature not really distinct but inseparable from it When men pay honour to a Person they first of all in their mind must be satisfied how in that Person is some Excellency and Dignity which deserves it and this leads them upon this account to make their Heart and Affections willing to entertain a singular Veneration for that person Hence in the third place arises a desire and resolution by some outward acts to express the inward disposition to the Glory and Honour of that Person and to let other men see and know it Now to have first such a Notion of a meer Creature such they affirm our Lord to be then in the heart to receive such impressions of rendring honour to such a person and lastly by some outward act to declare it this I say is perfect Idolatry for 't is to do for the Creature all that can be done for the Creator who unto himself alone hath reserved that Religious Worship for 't is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Out of this it appears how their Opinion sets up Polytheism and Idolatry for to affirm two Persons of different Nature is certainly to make two different Gods and wholly to destroy the Unity of the Godhead for as they own a Plurality of Persons so they do a Plurality of Natures how then can they find the Oneness of God and wherein will they make it consist Neither can they wash off the charge of Idolatry for rendring to Christ whom they say to be a meer Man and a Creature the Worship due to the most high God which to maintain they sink deeper into the mire for by one Idolatry they would defend another and by one false
the Heathen and Persecuting Emperors from the Idolatry and Superstition of the Romish Church so from the attemps of Socinians and other Hereticks whatsoever either in time past or present and will for that which is to come to the great Comfort and Assurance of his People Now having vindicated that 1 John 5.7 and given Reasons for its being part of and belonging to the Chapter Genuine as are the rest I think my self engag'd to do one thing more which is to clear another Text of the false and improper Interpretation they would put upon 't John 10.30 't is this I and my Father are one * Answer to the I. Letter P. 35 36. elsewhere I have said enough towards it but to make the matter more plain and clear it being so excellent a Text I shall add something more to 't There our Saviour speaking of his Father comparatively with himself saith they both are one with the Pronoun Possessive my as he twice calls him in the foregoing Verse ver 27 28. he therein speaks of his Sheep and saith I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my hand Observe first how he calls them his Sheep for he by his Death purchased them then as he speaks Truth unto them he will give Eternal Life and is eternal Life the gift of any but of God alone Can any one but God give Eternal Life Yet Christ gives it so certainly that they shall never perish here by the by is an unanswerable Proof against the pretended Apostasy of Saints and the infallibility of this gift of Eternal Life he confirms by an Argument drawn out of his own power for neither shall any Man pluck them out of his Hand But because to a People who lookt upon him as a meer Man ver 29. this might seem too high and unlikely he gives a convincing Reason my Father which gave them me is greater and stronger than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand Pray observe the equality of Power between him and the Father expressed in the very same words none shall â—uck them out of my Hand and none is able to pluck â—em out of my Father's Hand Now that he spake of God his Father and that they understood it so it appears out of verse 33. and because that unbelieving People might happen to have ask'd him how it is that thou â—akest thy Hand as strong as God's Hand Or as in â—hat verse it 's expressed That thou being a Man makest by self God For they well understood his meaning â—e gives them for a Reason the equaliy in power of â—is with the Father's in these words I and my Father â—re one One God of one and the same Nature and Power which must needs be Divine seeing no Man is â—ble to resist and overcome it between Man and Man â—one so strong but he may happen to meet with a stronger than himself but no such thing in relation to God In the God-head is Oneness of Nature and distinction of Persons the Persons of the most holy Trinity are really distinct one from another not by any Essential but by some Personal Attribute I know the Idle and not in the least pertinent Solution they would give of the Text namely they are â—ne in Consent but this is neither the Scope of our Saviour's words nor is it the true and proper sence of the place That there is a full and perfect Agreement between God the Father and his Son the Lord Jesus â—one doth question what the Father willeth the Son willeth also and what the Son willeth the Father willeth likewise so in every thing they are of one Will and Mind which by the the by as I said elsewhere argues Oneness of Nature But that this is not the meaning of our Saviour's words 't is plain enough out of the place if it had been only so the Jews never would have call'd it Blasphemy nor taken up Stones to Stone him they well knew how the Law of God requir'd a Conformity of Man's Will with God's and that the Creatures Duty and Happiness consists in yielding Obedience to God's Commands A Harmony between God's Will and Man's is a kind of Perfection in the Creature and not Blasphemy no more than 't was Blasphemy in Paul to say Rom. 7.16 I consent unto the law that it is good Therefore our Saviour highly meant more than a consent when he said I and my Father are one for the question was not about a Consent but about a Divine Power and Nature which the Jews interpreted that he being a Man made himself God which the Lord Jesus did not gainsay but explains it thus ver 36. I said I am the Son of God So if the Question had been only about Oneness of Consent the Jews would never have about it made so much noise as they did But I find my self by degrees engag'd in these Fundamental Matters farther than I intended at first yet for all this I must not draw off rather go on and here add some things to strengthen what I said in other places and more and more to make matters clear I shall by the Grace of God fill up some more Leaves to prove and explain a Subject so excellent in its self and so necessary to be known that the Apostle makes it his Prayer not only for the Philippians Phil. 1.9 but also for all Believers That our love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment for our Love and Obedience to God with our Zeal for his Glory and Service must be according to true and sound Knowledge hence it is that of Faith the Mother of all Christian Graces Knowledge is the first part and God sets a Brand with a dreadful threatning upon those who want it Isai 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that form'd them will shew them no favour God in Scripture having said nothing in vain but all things therein being written for our Instruction and strengthening of our Faith we must not about our Disputes against Socinians omit a kind of proof therein contain'd which though it be not the clearest yet much to our purpose may be learn'd out of it In the Old Testament in three ways besides that of Vrim and Thummim God communicated with and spake to his People by the Prophets in Dreams and Visions which last though elsewhere we said something about it when we mention'd several Apparitions yet we now shall add that to Gideon Judg. 6.11 12 14. One in two several verses call'd the Angel of the Lord but in another the Lord himself for 't is said The Lord lookt upon him appear'd and spake indeed like the Lord God and said go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites have I
made Man 't was very proper for him to appear in that Figure even before he was manifest in the flesh for though at that time he was not actually so yet was accounted to be such because in time to come he was so to be made Man according to the first promise after the fall Gen. 3.15 the Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head not the Seed of Man immediately though called Abraham's and David's Seed but mediately in the Womans Seed immediately for he was made a Man by the Womans not by the Mans Seed his Body was formed our of her Substance without the help of any Man so that she might properly according to the Flesh be call'd his Mother but no Man might properly be named his Father for in that respect he had none Luke 3.23 for Joseph was but a supposed Father to him and David was his Father only in her who had been derived from him he hath a Father namely God but upon the account of another Generation and God the Father in a most authentick way from Heaven more than once hath declared and owned him to be his Son that is as he came from Heaven there lies the ground of that Sonship God the Father never call'd him Son of Man but his own beloved only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased Now in the manifestation of his Glory because Divine Nature hath in the Person of the Son mediately been united with humane Nature and so God in the Person of the Son appearing like Man he appears in a Nature which is his own because the Son assumed it and God whether essentially taken or for the Person of the Father never did or doth in the way of Mercy and Favour manifest himself but in the face of Jesus Christ Mediatour God and Man as there is no access unto God but in and thorough him and as 't is now so it was ever from the very beginning wherefore he is call'd the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and this is the reason why God manifested himself under the shape of a Man to shew how in the Person of the Son who took upon him that Nature he is reconciled to Mankind and of old the Son appeared in that likeness to signify how in that Nature he would make our peace with and reconcile us 〈◊〉 God the Apostle speaking of Christ's Incarnation â—alls it he was made like unto Men the word like there denotes truly and really a Man Philip. 2.7 this is to prove his Humanity but how much stronger terms doth he use to prove his Divinity when he saith who heing in the form of God the form is the Nature whether of a Person or of a Thing for 't is that which gives it a Being so that expression signifies that Christ is and was such as God himself and therefore God for there is none in all parts like to God but God himself but what he adds in the same verse doth highly confirm the truth he thought it not robbery to be equal with God his being equal with God not by robbery demonstrates it was his due and own right Now this point we intend to conclude with John's Vision for if the former Visions agree with this and if this relates to the Son of God who was God and before his Incarnation appeared in his Divine Glory in the likeness of a Man then with him we may well affirm he had a Being and a Glory with the Father before the World was That Christ the eternal Son of God and Redeemer of the World is that Glorious God and Person who shewed his beloved Disciple this Vision in the Isle of Patmos where he had by the Emperour Domitian been confin'd as he saith for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 1.9 is so clear that I think the adversaries themselves being the judges there is no ground left to doubt of it to what I already said about it I shall add what followeth This revelation is of Jesus Christ as we learn it out of the first line of the first Chapter it being as the Title of the Book that is the Lord Jesus revealed it unto John V. 13.14 who gives a glorious description of him I saw one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a Garment down to the Foot and girt about the Paps with a Golden Girdle his Head and his Hairs were white like Wool as white as Snow and his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire These last words of the description are almost the same but altogether to the same purpose with what we read of the Ancient of days who did sit Dan. 7.9 whose Garment was white as Snow and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wool his Throne was like the fiery Flame now the adversaries cannot deny but that by the ancient of days is mean'd the true eternal God so he whose description St. John makes with the same attributes as Daniel gives of him must needs be the same but the Apostle continues the description thus V. 13.15 and his Feet like unto fine Brass as if they had burned in a Furnace and his Voice as the sound of many Waters again let this latter and first part of the description about the clothing and girdle of Gold be compared with Daniel's Vision already quoted and by this comparing Scripture with Scripture we shall find out the truth how in both places the same is described and so if Daniel saw the God of Israel the true God by nature he whom John saw is such which we shall know better and better if we read in the last Verse of Chap. 4. what the four Beasts and twenty four Elders said to him that sat upon the Throne thou art worthy to receive Glory and Honour and Power And if that Verse we compare with the 12. of 5. Chap. which is the following we shall find these words worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing So that we must conclude the Lamb to be the same Lord spoken of before I mean the same in nature and to the Lamb is rendered the same Honour and Worship as is to the Lord with the same Attributes which is expressed with some enlargement and in more words than in the foregoing Chapter but by whom is this Divine Honour rendered unto the Lamb 't is expressed in the foregoing Verse Rev. 5.11 and I beheld and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands which last words seem to be taken out of Daniel's Vision Dan. 7.10 to shew how all this was rendered to one and the same and I say that the sameness of Worship doth argue for the sameness of Nature we find the
commanded his own Soldiers and Servants for we read in several places how the Lord Jesus with speaking the Word to Diseases Winds and to Devils he rebuked them so that they could do no otherwise but to obey which proves his Divine Power and so his Divine Nature for none but God hath a Divine Power Upon this ground after the miraculous Work of curing the Impotent Man who had been sick 38 Years there our Lord compares his miraculous Works to his Father's when he said John 5. My Father works hitherto and I work The word my in the place is very emphatical to shew that his Works and the Father 's were wrought by the same Divine and Infinite power which meaning they understood well enough whence upon good grounds they concluded he had said God was his Father in a strict and proper sense and made himself equal with God In another place we read of some of the ten Men that were Lepers whom the Lord Jesus had cured Luk. 17.15 who when he saw that he was healed returned back and with a loud voice glorified God he turned back to Christ the great Physician to give him Thanks and Praises v. 16. and worship him upon his Knees for we must look upon him in that posture since our Saviour told him Arise go thy way v. 19. And by that Act he paid him a Divine Honour and by comparing v. 18. with v. 15. we shall find Christ to be the God whom the Man glorified for the Evangelist's and the Lord's Words are the same tend to the same purpose and the Object of the Glory given is the same There are not found said the Lord that returned to give glory to God that is to me who healed them save this stranger Farther to go on upon the matter let us observe how the Apostle speaking of Christ by his Name Jesus saith We have a great High-priest that is past into the Heavens Heb. 4.14 Jesus the Son of God The last words are put in to give us a proper and distinguishing Character of the Person whom he speaks of as indeed in the place this is added to make a difference between Jesus Christ our Blessed Saviour and the Jesus he had nam'd before v. 8. whereby he meaned Joshua for in Greek 't is the same as Joshua in Hebrew and here we see plainly how the Name Son of God proper to Christ doth distinguish him not only from Joshua Son oâ— Nun but from every other Man in the World as being his proper Name tho' never so good or great in God's Favour We must know that Joshua in bringing into Canaan the Children of Israel was the Type of Christ's bringing God's People into the Heavenly Land of Promise therefore in relation to that Office his Name was changed by Moses Numb 13.16 for his Name before was Oshea We must also take notice how those two great Servants of God had two several shares and acted two different parts which both parts thereby Typified were perform'd by the Lord Jesus their Antitype for Moses brought the People out of Egypt but introduced them not into the Land of Promise which Joshua did yet brought them not out of Egypt but our Blessed Saviour is the Author and will be the finisher of both our Deliverances from the bondage of Sin the Curse of the Law and from the power of Hell and also he will lead us into Heaven and Glory for he who hath began in and for us that good Work will perfect it to him upon a surer ground we may apply what Naomi said of Boaz Ruth 3.18 He will not be in rest until he have finish'd the thing Now when we are upon the Name Joshua Jesus or Saviour I am put in mind of that excellent place generally granted to be spoken of the Messiah whom none but Jews will deny to be Jesus Christ Isa 63.1 I am mighty to save 't is absolutely said mighty of himself not through the help of any one else v. 3. For in the place he saith I alone have trodden the Wine-press and of the people there was none with me No meer Man ever spoke after this rate for there as God he by the Mouth of the Prophet speaks of himself with this compare Zephaniah 3.7 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save One Saviour and that in both a mighty one Now mark how in a very different stile the great Apostle Paul speaks of himself I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me such a manner of speaking the Lord Jesus never used but it seems Paul doth point at the quoted place of the Prophet when he saith that Christ is able to save to the uttermost them who come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 Here is a might to save not only in part or only some but fully and to the uttermost therefore the Name Jesus was given him by the Angel Thou shalt call his Name Jesus Mat. 1.21 for he shall save his people from their Sins His People that is the Israel of God for they are not all Israel Gal. 6.16 Rom. 9.6 which are of Israel Now the Lord Jesus is not only said to be a Saviour which in his capacity of Mediator may be called his proper Name so that every one may know whom we mean thereby This is the Character of God Isa 43.11 I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour For in that absolute way in Scripture none but God is so call'd but also in the Abstract Christ is said to be Salvation for he is the spring of it Neither is there Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 which yet Socinians would lodge in every Man who can be saved if he will but in the Word God and Saviour go often together and as to the thing are never asunder and as Christ is Saviour so he is God St. John who better than all Socinians knew who God is and who Christ is in his Writings doth often joyn God and Christ when he commended God's Love to us he meaned certainly the true God by Nature of him he saith 1 John 3.16 Thereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us None but the Patripassian Hereticks will say That God the Father laid down his Life for us but God the Son hath as in the next Chapter he thus explains it In this was manifested the Love of God towards us chap. 4.9 because God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him so the God who laid down his Life for us is the only begotten Son of God Who as is said in the next Verse Was sent to be the propitiation for our sins v. 10. this was the end of his coming and thus the laying down of his Life was a propitiatory Sacrifice of himself for our sins St. Paul saith Now
concernment to be known that in one and the same chapter 't is thrice mentioned and in every one of those Verses 't is applied to Christ who is directly pointed at in these words This was he of whom I spake and he it is who coming after me and this is he of whom I said ver 34 Now the Testimony or Record is this is the son of God by Nature not by Grace for if only in this last relation it had been unneccessary for therein had been no preference for John was such and this is the plain Result of the Circumlocution by him used before he cometh after me and he is preferred before me of which he giveth the reason for he was before me Here is a Comparison between John and Christ wherein Christ hath the preference not because he came after but because he was before John let the Dignity be contained in the words he is preferred still the reason of it is that though he came after yet he was before him do not to come after and to be before relate to time For here the words relate to their Birth now we must believe that in these two Phrases he comes after me and he was before me there is Truth Reason good Sense and no Contradiction in the same respect he cannot be said to come after and be before but it must be in a different one which is this and if they can let them assign another he comes after me into the World as ver 10. that is he was born after me which is the plain Truth for the Angel Gabriel Luk. 1.36 six Months after Elizabeth had Conceived foretold the Virgin Mary our Saviour's Birth so that according to the usual Course of Nature the Lord Jesus was born six Months after John and in that sense he came after him But how was he Born before him seeing in relation to his Temporal Generation he was after It must be in regard of a Generation of another kind for no Man hath or can have but one Natural Generation and can be born but once what else then may it be but an Eternal one by vertue of which Christ in his time was before John For saith John he was not is before me to shew how the question is about time And if in one sense Christ had been but six Months before John as he was born six Months after then in that sense we may well conclude for hundreds and thousands of Years and so to Eternity Our blessed Lord and Saviour to give an Example and to condescend to the frailty of our Nature thereby to draw Men to himself by degrees was lowly and humble yet without any prejudice to his Right which when questioned he maintained and upon several occasions asserted though sometimes to the danger of his Life He could tell the Jews Joh. 6.38 ch 8.14.23 I came down from heaven and though I bear record of my self yet my record is true for I know whence I came and whither I go 'T is a special Prerogative of God to bear Record of himself again Ye are from beneath I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world And as he told them ch 10.38 that if they believed not his word yet they should believe his works which were so Glorious and Miraculous and clear Demonstrations of his Divine Nature and Power he said that Lazarus's Sickness was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Son of God simply and absolutely is God in that case he spake of himself for by raising Lazarus as he did from the Dead he thereby was Glorified and he that was Glorified was God Son of God for as there was but one Glory so there was but one God Glorified This verse ought to be compared with the 40. where Christ said to Martha Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldst see the glory of God That is his own Glory by her Brother's Resurrection which he was just upon going to essect so in the other case of the Man that was Blind from his Birth he said to his Disciples that He was born blind chap. 9.3 that the work of God should be made manifest in him Which happened when he by his own Divine Power gave him his Sight and was thereby Glorified as God We must observe how the Son of God absolutely taken as 't is here is God as well as the Son of Man is Man And the Lord Jesus doth explain the first part for the glory of God by the last that the Son of God be glorified which shews it to be the same or equivalent Thus in another place our Saviour interprets the Phrase making himself God chap. 10.33.36 by saying I am the Son of God with calling himself Son of God in his and their Sense he certainly thereby made himself God which they called Blasphemy but he deny'd it to be so though he owned he had call'd himself God and in the very sense that they had taken it Because our Lord sometimes call'd himself Son of Man they would take advantage of it but when he did it was to point at the Promise made to our first Parents that the Woman's Seed should bruise the Serpent's Head and to teach Men how they ought to look upon him as being that same Seed who was come not to conquer Kingdoms as at that time the Jews fancied but to execute the Promise of bruising the Serpent's Head Joh. 10.36 when he called himself Son of Man he spoke the truth but he thereby denied not that he was the Son of God for sometimes he call'd himself by that Name and to confirm this great and fundamental Truth there stands upon record and shall to the Worlds end the famous Confession of Peter in his and of all the Apostles Name upon a solemn occasion Thou art the Son of the Living God a truth which came not out of his own Head or out of any humane Principle but was from Heaven immediately revealed unto him namely that Jesus Christ was by Office the Messiah and by Nature the true Son of the living God Now if he had been Son of God only by deputation there had been no need of Revelation but at that time 't was necessary to let Men know how he is such by Nature and to refute the wrong Notions which the Jews had of our Saviour God thought fit to inform them better with declaring his Divinity and this is one of those Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luk. 8.10 which the Lord Jesus said to his Disciples It was given unto them to know wherein he plainly declared how in and after his teaching in Religion were Mysteries not to be known but by the Gift of God and Revelation And I think he was a competent Judge of such things and when he call'd himself Son of God he could also tell whether or not he was so which to
to leave others in the natural State of sin And as in the Work of Creation so in that of Redemption the Three Persons of the most Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost agreed about the Means conducing to that End The Father was to send his Son Jesus Christ Epes 3.4 in whom he hath chosen us before the foundation of the World The Son to come purchase and work Salvation for us and the Holy Ghost to apply that Purchase and make it effectual In order to this the whole Administration of this great and Glorious Work was committed to the Son Acts 10.36 Heb. 1.2 Matt. 28.18 Joh. 5.19 who thereby was made King and Lord of all and Heir of all things so all power was given him in Heaven and in Earth Hence it is that what things soever the Father doth those also doth the Son likewise Nay in this he is so fully and absolutely Plenipotentiary that the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son This Office of Mediatour and Saviour he from the Creation of the World began to administer it in the Royal part as executing Judgment upon the Wicked and saving his People sometimes by Angels at other times by himself in the shape of a Man Also his Prophetical Office even before the Flood 2 Pet. 2.5 1 Pet. 1.11 by Noah called a Preacher of Righteousness and afterwards by all the Prophets in whom his spirit was Thus from the beginning of the World he hath every where from Abel to Abraham and in Egypt the Wilderness c. been Ordering Ruling and Governing his Church and the whole World which he continues to do and will till after the last Judgment Day when having gotten all his Elect together he will introduce them into everlasting Glory all this by his own Power And this is such a work as infinitely exceedeth all Humane and Angelical Strength and Wisdom so that none but a Divine Power can perform it therefore he that doth it till all his Enemies be brought under his Feet and fully overcome must need be true Essential and Eternal God Who but he who is the true God by Nature can Baptize with the Holy Ghost John 6.33 But John Baptist according to the Testimony he had from Heaven bare witness that Christ doth as he actually did his Apostles according to the promise he made to them And in the same place John Baptist bare record that this is the Son of God Acts 2. chap. 1.5 John 1.33.34 Luk. 7.28 John 1.27 and 3.30.31 Why to call him thus if he was not really such Hereby he shews that vast difference between the Lord and himself of whom our Saviour said Among those that are born of Women there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist who in several places made himself a meer nothing in comparison of the Lord Jesus and here by the name Son of God he is distinguished from all Men John never call'd himself nor no Man else Son of God only this Jesus Christ and none else is the Son of God with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a but the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsemet this very same which that he is is so certain a truth that our Lord owned it before the Council of the Chief Priests and Scribes who were not so blind as Socinians are or would seem to be for though our Saviour had spoken to them not so plainly Luke 22.69 yet this meaning they understood well Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Though he called himself Son of Man yet the last words made them to conclude that he made himself the Son of God and consequently God for none but the proper Son of God can sit on the right hand of the Power of God therefore they all presently asked him Art thou then the Son of God which was a Natural Consequence of what he had said and the Particle then is a Note of inference which our Saviour owned in these words ye say that I am That is plainly I am and ye are not mistaken which they call'd Blasphemy so would Socinians have said if they had been there for now they do so set their Hand and Seal Mark 14.64 to his Condemnation for Blasphemy and consequently that he was justly put to Death for it when truely properly and in the sense which the Jews took it he made himself Son of God which as much as in them lies is To crucifie the son of God a-fresh Heb. 6.6 and put him to an open shame Hitherto though I had occasion to do 't I have taken no notice of the Opinion of those who say St. John's Gospel to have been written by Cerinthus for 't is such a nonsensical untruth and so absurd a Forgery that I ever thought it not worth minding In John's time the Heresiark Cerinthus denyed our Saviour's Divinity which that Gospel proves as often fully and plainly as any Book whatsoever in the the New Testament as indeed that Apostle did write it a purpose to prove it and thereby to confute the Impious Heresie of that Instrument of Satan as he declares it when he saith These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God Joh. 20.3 and that ye might have life through his name To say a proof is against a thing when 't is visibly for it gives a just cause to put the question whether he or they who said so knew what they said But Drowning Men will lay hold on any thing that comes into their Hand Besides 't is a great Impiety to make a Blasphemous Heretick Author of an Holy Gospel generally owned to be Canonical and Inspired by the Holy Ghost This Holy Gospel doth confound the Enemies of our blessed Lord and Saviour's Divinity therefore they so often would have been nibbling at it not one chapter but affords strong proofs of it For not to mention here those several places out of which we have drawn strong Arguments for it How many things to confirm it did the Lord Jesus speak therein from the time of his eating the Passover till he was taken that was but short which he took to prepare his Disciples for that separation which by his Death was to follow comforting them with telling what he would and could do for them I shall take notice of that only wherein he speaks of that high point of his Divine Glory by a mutual Glorification between the Father and him Joh. 13.31 32. Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him but this is not all for if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself This indeed were a Blasphemy for a meer Creature to speak after this manner here is a perfect Equality of Glory they glorifie one another and are glorified one in another God shall glorifie him not without but