doubt with an Intent to pull it down if they can and so to set up an Idol of their own that is their Reason against Revelation or Scripture and thus to go a whoring after their own Inventions without any Measure and Bounds all our Understanding and Reason in Religious Matters should be guided by Revelation for saith David Psal 119.1 9. Give me understanding according to thy word not according to my Reason except that word be a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Path we are sure to go astray and deviate from the Rule and miss the Mark hence spring those seeming Contradictions which arise from the shallow ness of Man's Brains and not from the Repugnancy of things which sometimes makes them fight against the Man in the Moon as their fancy suggests to them to go out of the Road so by Attempts to explain things they entangle them the more and so what themselves call Strength of Wit and Reason others upon better Grounds look upon 't as effects of a distemper'd Imagination for they think to have engrossed and monopolized to themselves all Wit and Learning as for us about these Controversies we follow the Method of Aopollor who shew'd not by the strength of his own Reason Act. 1â— 28 but by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ and thereby mightily convinced the Jews for he was mighty in Scriptures Socinians would seem to refer themselves to be judged by Scripture and Reason as Papists by Scripture and Tradition but the reason of one as the Tradition of the other is a devourer for Reason of one side as Tradition on the other do swallow up Scripture which tho' first named is with them last minded and signifieth least as indeed they both would make of it a stalking Horse and subservient one to his Tradition and the other to his Reason and these would set up for the only Rational Men in the World and whatsoever doth no come up to them they hastily call Nonsense and Contradiction after which Rate the Holy Spirit of God in Scripture is liable to their Censure and shall be as he is by some of them charged with Contradiction yet we know Truth doth not gainsay it self the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth his word the word of Truth for so saith he who is Truth it self These Imaginary Contradictions arise not out of the things themselves but out of the Perverseness of Man's Heart and Blindness of their Judgment which as the Apostle says prompts them to wrest Scripture unto their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 such are not the learned and steady in the Truth as some Men in the World account themselves to be but the unlearned and unstable as the Apostle calls them so we may in the Prophet's Words say they are not valiant for the truth Jerem. 9.3 There is a great Difference between gross Contradictions to our Reason and barely being above it that is not having any distinct Conception of the Nature of things in a clear Idea which is a full and evident Perception of it Of two contrary Propositions if one be true the other must necessarily be false according to the rule of Contraries but no such thing as this is to be found in any part of Scripture consequently we may conclude how the great Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation therein contain'd are true not to be cavilled at by Humane Reason for what is infinite is above our Comprehension no Duration without Succession which is not to be found in an infinite and Eternal Being that existeth of himself yet that Eternity we cannot understand only by parts of time as past present and to come which imply Duration and Succession the reason is because it exceeds our Capacity The way to obviate and prevent any seeming Contradictions in Scripture is first to observe the Analogy of Faith in some places God to condescend to our weak Capacity doth attribute unto himself Humane Passions as Anger Wrath Fury to repent and Members of Man's Body as the Eye Hand Arm c. yet thereupon we must not say God is subject to our Passions like the Antropopathites or hath a Body like the Antropomorphites because we are taught in Scripture God is a Spirit and unchangeable so the second thing to be observ'd is the Scope of the place of many Instances I shall bring but this the blind and dumb both spake and saw Matth. 12.22 Here is a seeming Contradiction if the Blind sees then he is not blind if the Dumb speaks he is not dumb but let the Scope of the place be consulted and it will set things at right and therein we find how a Man blind and deaf was miraculously cur'd by our Saviour so that he who before was blind and deaf both spake and saw having recover'd his Sight and Hearing What he saith Page 138 doth not belong to us for we are not for an implicite Faith we are not against but searching into and examining the Grounds of our Religion but withal say all that Examination will signifie nothing except it be given us from above to understand therefore 't is beyond our Reason Our Religion is not of Works but of Faith which this Opinion of theirs about Reason destroyeth Faith is a strong Perswasion grounded and built not upon Reason but upon God's gracious and special Promise infused into us by the Holy Ghost wherefore in several places of Scripture 't is called the immediate Gift of God for though Faith comes by the Word yet the Application thereof wherein it doth chiefly consist is the immediate and effectual working of the Spirit The several Objections as brought in by him Page 142 143 45 46 have but little in them as I could easily demonstrate if I had but time and room enough I shall take notice of what he saith about the latter end of Page 146. Now Reason is from God as well as Revelation but he must know that Reason is corrupt but Revelation not so when Reason was whole yet it deviated but Revelation is always the same the Light of Reason thorough Sin is become Darkness and a Guide that hath and doth commonly if not constantly err Here he would give us a sound reason which is so no more than a sound Nature Pag. 148. How often doth God in the Old-Testament and Christ in the New complain that People could not hear and understand what was said to them and what he saith to them in the last quoted Page how slowly must the Gospel have moved at the beginning if those that were to preach it had been obliged to qualifie themselves is insignificant 't is known they were immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost and Heaven qualified them not they themselves for if Humane Reason be fallible in natural much more in super-natural things There are many dark and mysterious Passages of God's Providence which our Reason nor any Humane thing can understand whereof Scripture affords many Instances
found alive at the last Day They would have Christ's Incarnation to be against Reason and Scripture they deny him to be truly God the like of the Holy Ghost That there is in One God no Trinity of Persons and that the Old Testament is needless for Christians c. All these and other Blasphemies are found in the Works of Socinus in the Racovian Catechism whereof Smalcius is the Author of Ostorodius Crellius Wolkelius Vaydovius c. but we shall by the Grace of God insist only upon some of their greatest Blasphemies Now to the Cause Matters of this high Nature and fundamental Concernment to our Holy Religion must not be prostituted to the captious scanning of Men of corrupt Minds nor the ways of God be made layable to the Judgment of Men rather humbly to be adored with Submission of Mind and Obedience of Faith to the Revelation declared in God's Word and herein we ought the more to be sober and cautious that we know Errors to be link'd together and to have a dependency one upon another he that strikes at the Grace of the Lord Jesus will afterwards make no Conscience to fly out against his Person he who denies him to be a Prophet will soon disown him to be a King and a Priest for as one Depth calls to another so an Arminian can easily become a rank Pelagian and Socinian Wherefore 't is necessary at the very beginning to oppose Errors defend every inch of ground against such as will daily grow worse and worse as do the * James 1.8 double-minded men that are for their own more than for the Truth 's Interest for they are unstable in all their ways and the more Hands orderly employed the better is the Effect like to be This Consideration makes me to appear amongst those who heretofore did and now do oppose false Teachers who not only privily but also in publick bring in again those damnable Heresies which of old Truth and Learning exploded and baffled out of the World The Divinity of Christ was the Stumbling-block to the Jews who could not endure to hear him call himself the Son of God absolutely and without limitation and thereat were enraged which made 'em take up Stones to cast at him John 8.59 and also at another time Chap. 10.31 the Doctrines about the Holy Trinity and the Person and Deity of Christ do stand and fall together In our Saviour's time it began to be oppos'd by the Jews and since from time to time continu'd to be so by the Devil's Instruments raised to that same purpose and within the last Age revived by the fore-named Blasphemers against the Rock of the Church which is built on the Confession that Christ is the Son of the living God not by any special Favour or any such Restriction for then there would be only a gradual difference between his and our being Sons of God but he is simply the Son of God yea his only begotten Before we enter upon this important Matter some things to clear the state of the Question must be premised so that we must shew wherein we agree before we speak of that wherein we differ as to the first this Foundation must be laid there is a God the Cause of all the Effect of none who hath made all and is made by none who hath given all things their Being and hath his own of himself This is not denyed so I shall not go about to prove it the Light of Nature the Book of Scripture and the Testimony of Conscience do sufficiently convince Men of it The next thing is what God is He being infinite cannot be defined but imperfectly described only according to what he hath in his Word revealed of himself how he is infinite independent self-sufficient eternal unchangeable But such is the blindness of some Mens Judgments or the Perverseness of their Hearts that they will cavil at the Nature Names Attributes and Works of this eternal and infinite Being But about this fundamental Truth our Faith must be directed by the Revelation which God hath made of it in his holy Word herein Men must not follow their own fancy for * 〈◊〉 Mat. 〈…〉 no man knoweth the father but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him Now the sum of this Revelation in the Word is that God is One that this One God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and of the Son and that they are distinct one from another in respect of this their mutual Relation by this Rule we must be guided how to know believe worship love fear and obey him that is the Father One true God the Son One true God and the Holy Ghost One true God to be believed worshiped and obeyed Now for our Edification and further Instruction thâ—â— Doctrin admits of some Enlargement and Explanation to prevent undue Notions of God which by reason of the Blindness and Ignorance we are naturally involv'd in our Minds are liable unto thus out of the Revelation that God is One we easily deduce he is so in respect of his Nature Essence or Godhead and how being Father Son and Holy Ghost he doth subsist in these Three distinct Persons thence also is derived the manner of their Subsistence what are their mutual respects to each other and such like things by a necessary Consequence from the Revelation Upon these Grounds were compiled the Nicene Athanasian and other Creeds or Articles of Faith in opposition to the Heresies of those Times for therein was explained the true Sense of Scripture about those matters which were wrested by the Enemies of the Truth and though the Orthodox Doctors and Councils to oppose the Error and lay open the Venom made use of some Words and Expressions which in so many Letters are not set down in the Word of God yet they were not to blame for they were drawn out of it by lawful and necessary Consequences Men may lawfully conceive in their Minds what is the nature of the Things or the sense of the Words according to the scope of the Spirit of God in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and also as to the Analogy of Faith or else we are no better than Brutes So that if the chief Assertion contained in the Revelation be true so must also be whatsoever is therein included and in the Explication thereof drawn by a true and right Consequence Wherefore seeing God hath declared Father Son and Holy Ghost to be One God it necessarily follows they are One in Nature because therein only they can be One And this is the ground of any other Unity and seeing it is also declared they are Three it must be explained of three distinct Persons or Subsistences wherein only it is possible they can be Three The Revelation is clear there is One God this God is
put our whole Trust and Confidence not only in the Father but also in the Son and in the Holy Ghost so thereby we own and declare them to be God as the Father and in the Lord's Prayer which is part of the Worship we render unto God though we name but One that is the Father yet we mean all for the Word is taken Essentially for Father Son and Holy Ghost and not personally only for the first Person because the whole Trinity are our Father in respect of Creation Preservation and Redemption for every such outward Work as said before is common to the Three Persons and so we address our Prayer to all Three Now I shall lay down some few Arguments to prove the Truth this is one he in whose Name we are Baptized is the True Eternal God but we are Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost therefore they Three are True Eternal God the major is clear for Baptism is a Covenant not with Man or any Creature but with God alone as it appears out of * 1 Pet. 3.21 Peter where Baptism is called a Stipulation or Answer of a good Conscience towards God Secondly They in whose Name we are Baptized do justify us but we are Baptized in the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost wherefore they justify us and consequently they be True Eternal God for none can justify but †Rom. 4.5 chap. 8.33 God alone Thirdly They who regenerate us are the True Eternal God but they in whose Name we are baptized do regenerate us Ergo They are the True Eternal God such as Father Son and Holy Ghost if they deny those in whose Names we are baptized to justify and regenerate us we prove it for the Washing in Baptism signifieth our Justification and Regeneration which is performed by those in whose Names we are baptized which is clear out of St. Paul's Words That ‖ Ephes 5.26 be Christ might sanctify and cleanse it the Church with the washing of water by the word and in another place He * Tit. 3.5 saved us by the washing of regeneration and another Argument is this they who save us are True Eternal God but Father Son and Holy Ghost do therefore they are the True Eternal God the major Proposition is proved out of the Prophet †Isa 45.15 17 21. O God of Israel the Saviour also Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation and I the Lord and there is no God else besides me a just God and a Saviour there is none besides me the Expression in the Name of the Father is observable for the Name signifies ‖ Malac. 1.6 Authority now because the Authority of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is but one and the same for we are equâ—lly baptized in their Name so the Dignity is the same if so then these Three Persons are but One God for none can have equal Dignity with the Father except he be God such a Dignity have the Son and Holy Ghost against this they object how the Fathers are said * 1 Cor. 10.2 to be baptized unto Moses but that 's not to the purpose 't is of a different Nature in that place the Design is to shew the Sacraments of the Jews to be the Types and Figures of ours but here the Question is about the Name and Authority whereby we are baptized they were baptized under the Ministery but not in the Name of Moses so now Ministers do baptize but not in their own Name or Authority CHAP. V. Of Christ's Divinity NOW I must come to the Third Classis of my Proofs out of Scripture namely those Texts which speak singularly of the Son as True Eternal God the like of the Holy Ghost As our Blessed Saviour from the beginning of the World to the time he was manifested in the Flesh was the Chief Object of Prophecies because in him through an eternal and unchangeable Decree was the Ground of the greatest of all outward God's Works for I look upon Redemption on some Account greater than Creation so from time to time God took care to renew and confirm the first gracious Promise of the Seed of the Woman under several Names of Shiloh Messiah Emmanuel the Branch c. and to describe him with several Names and Circumstances that when he was come there should be no just Cause to mistake or deny him to be he and the same and withal it was declared what he should be in his Person and do in his Office so also what he was before he came namely God by his Nature and Attributes all which after his Incarnation was so highly confirmed both by a farther Revelation and many Wonders but as †Luk. 2.34 he was set for a sign which should be spoken against so then he was opposed and so is now by the Enemies to his Person Offices and Doctrine but against such detestable Wretches he hath not left himself without Witnesses to make himself known to be what he really is even God blessed for ever wherefore our Saviour commands us to * John 5.39 search the Scriptures for they testify of him therein we shall find his Deity this course himself took when beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the Things concerning himself To this purpose the Word doth afford such a plenty and variety of Matter in such an essential Point of our Faith and so necessary to be known that indeed it would go near to run one into some Confusion except some Method be used to prevent it the Difficulty lays not in what to say but how to say it wherefore our Discourse and Arguments must be reduced under several Heads and Classes as may be Names Attributes Works and Worship of God Some Words used in this Matter are in Scripture as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Godhead which some would have to differ from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinity as cause an effect the first the Essence the last a Gift communicated though in Scripture they be synonimous and both translated Godhead in Scripture are also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistance or Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is others are derived as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three are derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trinity from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being or Existing come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essence St. John alone calls the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word and St. Paul alone or the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Character of the express Image of the Person of the Father Of the Names of God some signify the Essence as Jehovah Proved from the Names Jah Ehejah others the Attributes as Elehim Schaddai Adonai c. and in the New Testament 〈◊〉
name of his Spouse Psal 45.11 worship thou him As Christ is not God upon the account of any Office and Dignity so he is not to be worshiped by reason of any Office and Dignity here that which is cause for one is cause for the other no Office can make any one God who is not so so none ought to be adored but because he is God that is of the same nature and substance and not by communication of divine Power Dignity or Office for to give the Creature that which is due only to the Creator is meer Idolatry which the Apostle fathereth upon the Galatians Gal. 4.8 when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no Gods which they might have excused thus Though we did so to those that were not such by nature yet they were Gods by Office Dignity and Power but the Apostle as I said before blameth them for doing so unto those which by nature are not Gods Wherefore religious worship is due only to such as is God by nature seeing then divine worship is due to Christ as by and by I hope to prove it implies that Christ is God by his nature and certainly where the name of God and Son of God is absolutely attributed as it is to Christ it designs Nature more than Office or Dignity so that the word Lord so often and specially in the New Testament attributed unto Christ signifies in the strict sense the infinite and independent Dominion of the Lord Jesus over all his being from the Father is by generation not in relation to his Essence but to his person not absolutely but relatively as he is Son and if he be begotten it necessarily follows to be of the Essence or Nature of the Father which also shews the Eternity of that Generation These things I here repeat because when once that perswasion of Christ's being true Essential God is once setled in our minds then without any scruple or difficulty we may worship him else men are at a stand under fear of worshiping the Creature instead of the Creator who is God blessed for ever Before we prove that Christ is and ought to be worshiped with a religious worship for we speak of no other we intend to shew how the true essential God is alone to be worshiped and though to that effect several arguments might be drawn out of Scripture we shall in order thereunto examine only two one is this Isa 42.8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another This is a solemn declaration of the unchangeable God of Truth who having given that same glory unto Christ must infallibly conclude Christ to be the same Lord Jehovah with him Chap. 48.11 here the name and the glory of God do signifie the same for sometimes in Scripture the Name of God signifies his Nature when essentially taken and the Attributes of the person when personally taken never to be understood barely of a name when we love fear and serve God 't is not the Letters or a sound in the Air but either the nature or some of the persons of the Trinity But the truth of this here asserted that the name and glory of God signifie the same Isai 42.8 compared with Exod. 33.18 19. is elsewhere confirmed positively and absolutely how his glory God will not give to another whosoever he be But as Socinus doth not use to take the words of God as and in the sense he saith them so here he would make God speak otherwise than he doth for he never wants his limitations and therewith he limiteth the holy One the God of Israel God saith he doth not say I will not give my glory to another that is dependent upon and subordinate unto me such he makes the Lord Jesus but to graven Images But do not Images of God of Christ of Angels Apostles depend upon and are subordinate to God as to the Matter the form or making of them the designs of men and all upon the will of God Surely they do for every Creature whatsoever is subordinate to and depends upon his Maker and suppose God would chuse one Creature as may be an Angel or any Man or Woman and heap all the Treasures of his Glory upon such a one which he yet declares he will not do yet according to them he might do 't and not act against his solemn protestation that he will not do 't after this no Creature as a Creature can differ from God for they make God say he doth not intend to exclude any other wholly dependant upon and subordinate to him as is every Creature whatsoever thus after this the Effect shall be the same with the Cause because it depends upon it this new signification of the word another deserved well to have been confirmed by some example in that other place already mentioned which confirmeth this there is no mention of Images or any thing else barely I will not give my glory unto another which leaves no ground to Cavil about Images Thus they would make the strength of these words of God to vanish away and be resolved into this God will not give his Glory to Images but will give it to Angels and Men even to Satan and Antichrist the worst of them Then by the word to give they understand only to permit so if he giveth Money Bread Cloaths c. he only permitteth if to the word give leave had been joyned they might have pretended to something though there had been no sense thus with their altering the sense of words they would overthrow the use of languages and so coin one of their own which none but themselves shall understand and by those means teach all that went before to speak then here according to their interpretation contrary to what God declareth he will permit or give graven Images something of his glory if they do not believe it themselves others who did worship those Images will for they thought God had communicated to them something of his glory or else would not have look't upon them as worthy to be Religiously worshiped But to come to the thing since God in this place denyeth the permission for any one to have his glory much more doth he deny to give it himself to another and if from the beginning of the world he hath suffered the Devil to usurpe Divine Honour to himself and several Nations religiously to worship Images as 't is known he hath yet to neither he gave that glory of his and out of this appeareth the true sence of the Text that he will not permit for he hath permitted but not give his glory which he hath never given V. 6 7 But to come to the scope of the place 't is this God said it when he spoke of Christ as it appears by the two foregoing and following verses which may be perused therein he is spoken of in such a way and to