happy as to hit upon the right But in the mean time till this can be done 't is certain that that can never be the right Sense which contradicts the clearest and the plainest parts of the Bible as well as the greatest and most certain Evidences of humane Understanding The general Current of the Scripture declares plainly that Christ or the Messiah was derived from the Seed of Abraham that he was the Son of David that he was made of a Woman Wherefore 't is self-evident that in a literal Sense he could never be the Maker of the World whose true Ancestors were humane Persons and who was born or whose Being did first begin to be some thousands of Years after the World was made All Scriptures therefore that affirm Christ to be the Maker of the World and to be the Maker of all things must be supposed to speak figuratively and are no ways to be understood in their literal Sense and Meaning In all such Cases as this is 't is safer to say that we cannot understand truly in what Sense these Scriptures are to be taken than it is to conclude that they mean that which other more numerous and plain Places of Scripture as well as Reason do make to be impossible Of the two Natures of Jesus Christ When we urge those Scriptures which say that Christ has a God above him that he could do nothing of himself that he knew not of the Day of Judgment that he died to redeem Mankind The Opposers reply that this is meant only as to his Manhood or humane Nature but not as to his Divine Nature for as he was God none was his Superiour he had all Power essentially in himself knew all things and was truly immortal I answer If Christ had really two Natures in him so that thereby he had been truly God as well as Man the Person thus constituted or made up of two such Natures could never have died according to his humane Nature if by his Divine Nature he had been truly God too for how could he in Person have been mortal in one Capacity if he had been on the contrary immortal in another He also could not possibly have been ignorant in one Capacity of what he knew in another nor could he have wanted any kind of Power if in any of his Capacities he had had all Power essentially in himself one Capacity must needs have supplied the Defects of the other especially the stronger of the weaker Of Christ his being the Son of God 'T is objected that as Christ Jesus our Lord was begotten by God on the Body of the Virgin so he must necessarily be God of the Substance of his Father as he was Man of the Substance of his Mother In Answer to this I say that when the Angel saluted the Virgin with the Glad-tidings of her being designed to be the Mother not of God but of the promised Messiah he told her that the Holy Ghost should come upon her and the Power of the Highest should overshadow her and that therefore that holy thing which should be born of her should be called the Son of God Luke 1. 31 35. Now in the Relation of this Message these following Particulars are remarkable First That Jesus our Lord is the Son of God's Power only and not of his Person the Power of the Highest shall over shadow thee 'T was of the Woman only that he was made Gal. 4. 4. He was not generated as some think out of his Father's Substance and so by Consequence was the Son only of his miraculous and Almighty Power Secondly It is not said that therefore he shall be the natural Son of God in that Sense as one Man is the natural Son of another but therefore he shall be called the Son of God or he shall so be and be so reputed because in this one particular Instance God was to him instead of a Father not a Father in the way that Men are Fathers to their Children but a Father in respect of the Virgin 's receiving a Power from God thus in an uncommon manner to conceive in her self a Son of Joseph and David Ver. 31 32. From what has been said I think it appears plainly that Christ his being God of the Substance of his Father is an ungrounded Conceit The Generation of our Lord Jesus may be better accounted for another way for God the Almighty Architect and most-wise Contriver of the Creation has reserv'd to himself a Power to alter the Course of Nature whensoever he pleases and as of a Rib taken out from the side of Adam he made a Woman so by the same omnipotent Power he did enable a Virgin Woman to conceive a Son If God had Power out of mere Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham Mat. 3. 9. we ought not to think it incredible that in this miraculous manner he should out of the Posterity of Abraham raise up this Seed so wonderfully to be the World's Redeemer Of the Power by which Christ did Miracles Some I find are strongly perswaded that none but a Person truly God could do those wonderful Works that Christ did To such I answer that a Man who is no God can do things that are miraculous when God gives him a Power to perform them This is evident in those which Moses did and in those also which were wrought by the Apostles The Works of Christ indeed were extraordinary yet not done by a Power inherent in himself but by a Power derived from God for himself tells us that all Power was given unto him both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28. 18. He was a Man approved of God saith the Apostle by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him Acts 2. 22. This Power God did bestow on Christ to be only an Evidence of his being the true Messiah Rabbi saith Nicodemus We know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these things that thou dost except God be with him Joh. 3. 2. The Works saith Christ which the Father hath given me to finish the same Works that I do bear witness of me Joh. 5. 36. His Works were an evident Proof that he was no Impostor but a true and most wonderful Prophet yet still he is said to be but a Man a Man whom God was with a Man by whom God did Wonders Of the Incomprehensibleness of God's Nature Some object that we must not think to comprehend the infinite Nature of God nor understand fully every Particular that does relate to his Divine Perfections for God is Incomprehensible and may for ought we know be that which yet we cannot plainly understand him to be namely three in Person though but one in Essence I answer Some of God's Divine Perfections are self-evident and 't is impossible that we can be mistaken therein We are infallibly certain that he must be Immense in Person Almighty in Power and most Wise in Knowledg And although we cannot know what
is truly God is him only who is the Father of Jesus Christ 'T is undeniably evident from the Old Testament that the God of Israel or the Lord of Hosts is the only true God for thus it is written Thou art God and thou alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth 2 Kings 19. 15. There is none like thee neither is there any God besides thee 2 Chron. 17. 20. Thou art God alone Psal 86. 10. Besides me there is no God Isa 44. 6. I am God and there is none else Isa 46. 9. Thou shalt know no other God but me Hos 13. 4. Now as this is plain beyond Contradiction so do all Christians generally acknowledg that the God here mentioned was him only who afterwards was called the Father of Jesus Christ And in the New Testament no Truth is more fully and plainly express'd than this is thus says our Lord himself Father This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God Joh. 17. 1 3. The same do his Apostles affirm Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 3. With one Mind and one Mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15. 6. We give Thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 1. 3. He shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. 15. 24. Therewith bless we God even the Father Jam. 3. 9. To us there is but one God the Father 1 Cor. 8. 6. Now it is impossible that any one Article of the Christian Faith can be more fully and plainly express'd in Scripture than this is the Words can be understood in no other Sense than what at the first sight they do plainly signify and they give the most satisfying Answer that can be given to any one that shall ask who God is namely that he is only that most Divine Person who is the Father of Jesus Christ And if in this case plain Scripture is not to be relied on I see not of what great Use our Bibles can be to us Yet this so plain and evident Truth is commonly denied For a very great Number of professed Christians do notwithstanding believe that in the Godhead there be indeed more Persons than only one and that Jesus Christ the Son of God is God also as well as his Father But of this Error the former Arguments are sufficient to convince them for if none be God but the Father of Christ then cannot the Son be truly God also since he in no Sense whatever can be said to be the Father of Christ that is of himself And certainly if Men would resolve faithfully to make use but of common Sense and common Honesty they could not but be convinced of the Absurdity of this Opinion by only reading so often as they do in the New Testament of Jesus Christ his being the Son of God for how can he be God himself who truly is no other than the Son of God If he be the Son only then 't is plain that he is not the Father also who alone is God for 't is impossible according to the Notion we have of Sons for any Being whatever to be the Son of himself No understanding Man when at any time he hears mention made of the Son of a King is so idle in his Imagination as to believe that thereby is meant the King who is his Father he certainly then must be very sensless who can think that by the Son of God is any ways meant God that is God most high Christ not the true God because he himself has a God above him 'T is also evident beyond Contradiction that our blessed Lord cannot be truly God since both he himself and his Apostles do very plainly acknowledg that he has a God above him for instance My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. I ascend to my God and to your God Joh. 20. 17. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God Rev. 3. 12. The Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 3. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knows I lie not 2 Cor. 11. 31. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you the Spirit Eph. 1. 17. Therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy Fellows Heb. 1. 8 9. These Texts are very plain and need no Interpretation to make them be understood Now if our Lord Christ have thus a God above him then 't is evident if any thing in the World be so that he himself is not God most high Christ not God because what he does is by a Power received from God This Truth Christ himself does plainly declare I can saith he of my own self do nothing Joh. 5. 30. All Power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28. 18. When the Multitude saw his Miracles they marvelled and glorified God who had given such Power unto Men Mat. 9. 8. Now these things can in no tolerable Sense be said of him that is truly God for he that is God most High hath essentially in himself all kind of Divine Dignity and Excellency and cannot without the highest of Blasphemies be in any Sense said to receive them of another But of our Lord it is recorded that he neither said nor did any thing especially in the Work of our Redemption but what he was commanded to say and do by his Father I have not spoken of my self saith he but the Father which sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say and what I should speak Joh. 12. 49. Is he able to save the World To this Power he was raised by God Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. 31. Can he give Power to Believers to become the Sons of God This Power he also has received Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Joh. 17. 2. Has he Power to raise from the dead Even this Power also he did receive As the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself Joh. 5. 26. Has he Power to judg the World 'T is God that does enable him to do this This is he that was ordained of God to be Judg of Quick and Dead Acts 10. 42. I can do nothing of my self as I hear I judg Joh. 5. 30. Moreover 't is thus said The Glory which thou hast given me I have given them Joh. 17. 22. I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me Luke 22. 29. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ hath put all things under his Feet Eph. 1. 17.
24 25 28. Answers to the principal Objections made against the Vnitarian Doctrine AND now tho from what has been already said no Man whose Understanding is not inslaved by the Tyranny either of Self-conceit Interest or Education can doubt of so great a Truth as this is namely that no personal Being whatever besides the Father of Christ is God most High as also that other Branch thereof that Jesus our Lord as to his Nature is the same with them whom he came to redeem Yet since there have been many Objections raised against it I will endeavour as briefly as I can to give them such reasonable Answers as shall make these Truths beyond Exception Of the Names of God given to Christ Some object that Christ of necessity must be God since in several Places of Scripture he is expresly called by the Name of God I answer a God he undoubtedly is and a mighty God too according to the way of Expression used in those antient times in which those were called Gods who either represented God's Person or acted in his Name and by his Authority but he is not God Almighty When the Jews did accuse him for making himself God he thus vindicates his Innocence If saith he they are called Gods to whom the Word of God came Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God John 10. 35 36. Christ had as good a Right to this Title as any of the rest if not a better and therefore it could be no Blasphemy to appropriate the same to himself had he done so but they lied for he did not do it he only said that he was the Son of God calling God his Father Of the Mediation of Jesus Christ Others object that if Christ were not God as well as Man he could not have been a fit Mediator between God and Man since in such a Case say they he ought no way to be exactly the Person concern'd A fit Mediator between God and Man must neither be only God nor only Man but one who by Nature is between these two even God as well as Man I answer 'T is not necessary that a Mediator should be of such a middle Nature nor does the Scripture any where assert it There is always supposed in the Work of Reconciliation one offended another offending and a third not concern'd in the Quarrel interposing to make Peace between them Now in this Sense Christ though but a Man was a very fit and proper Mediator Had he been God he had been the Party offended had he been a sinful Man he had been one of that Party that gave the Offence but being a Man perfectly righteous he therefore was fit to intercede between God and Sinners That Christ is our Mediator is plain and evident and 't is as plain that he is only a Man and not both God and Man as some assert There is saith the Scripture one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2. 5. And 't is most wonderful that in a Matter so manifestly evident Men should dare to impose upon the World another Faith or be induc'd to believe contrary to so plain and evident a part of God's Word Of the Oneness of God and Christ Others object that Christ Jesus must needs be God because 't is said I and my Father are one John 10. 30. And again There be three that bear Record and these three are one 1 Joh. 5. 7. To these I answer that though 't is said they are one yet 't is not said what one they are 't is not said they are one God This is only the ungrounded Assertion either of some easy-minded or else of some heedlesly bold and daring Men. Doubtless by that Passage 1 John 5. 7. is meant that these three are one as to the Record which they are there said to bear they perfectly agree in that Witness which they give concerning Jesus his being truly the Christ as the foregoing Verses do plainly intimate As for that other Passage John 10. 30. 't is plain that the Oneness there meant is a Mystical or Moral and not a Natural Oneness And 't is doubtless explained by John 17. 11. where our Saviour prays that his Disciples might be one as he and his Father were one that they saith he may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us v. 21. which denotes an Oneness only in the same mutual Affection for Believers can be one in no other Sense but this and look what Oneness there ought to be between one true Believer and another the same Oneness there is between Christ and God an inward Intimacy like that between real Friends of whom 't is usual to say they are all one one in Heart and one in Mind as those in Acts 4. 32. are said to be Of the Equality of God and Christ Some object that Christ must be God as well as his Father because 't is said that he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2. 6. To this I answer that Christ himself hath told us that his Father is greater than he John 14. 28. Hence 't is plain that if the Son be any ways equal to the Father yet 't is really but in some Particulars for were the Son equal to the Father in every Respect then 't were impossible for the Father to be greater than he Whence 't is clear that the Son cannot be equal to the Father in all things though in some things he may For instance as God can save Believers so this also Christ can do but this Power of Christ is not an essential but a derived Power Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him John 17. 2. These are our Saviour's own Words and 't is plain that he from whom he receives the Power must in Power be superiour unto him he is not therefore Almighty and so by Consequence not God most High as the Objection would suppose Of Christ's being the Maker of the World Some object that Christ is said to be the Maker of the Worlds Heb. 1. 2. and that all things were made by him Joh. 1. 3. and therefore say they he of necessity must be God Eternal I answer many things are spoken of Christ figuratively as he is called a Way a Door a Vine and the Bread in the Sacrament is said to be his Body Now these as those likewise which affirm him to be the Maker of the World are Figurative or Mystical Expressions in which one thing is said to signify another as the Old Creation to set forth the New There are in the Scripture many dark and difficult Passages hard to be understood as St. Peter expresses it 2 Epist 3. 16. which are doubtless true in some Sense or other could we be so
own Practice was according to his Doctrine I bow my Knee saith he to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3. 14. and in many other Places God or the Father not Christ is mentioned as the alone Object of Divine Adoration and Petition And 't is worth nothing that Christ himself whose Example and Footsteps we should follow prayed always to his Father and never did so much as once petition any other Person of the supposed Trinity And as to Thanksgiving 't is plainly said to be the Will of God that we should do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God and the Father by him Col. 3. 17. And in another Place we are commanded to give Thanks always unto God and the Father in the Name of Jesus Christ Eph. 5. 20. And accordingly we read in a great number of Places in the New Testament how the Apostles gave God Thanks through Jesus Christ Jesus our Lord is said in Scripture to appear in the Presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. to be an Advocate for Sinners 1 Joh. 2. 1. To make Intercession for the Saints Rom. 3. 34. To be the Mediator between God and Men 1 Tim. 2. 5. The Minister of the new Covenant Heb. 8. 6. All which proves him to be the Person that pleads our Cause that solicites our Acceptance the great Transactor and Manager of all Affairs between God and us but it no ways intimates any Divine Worship due to himself And indeed should we put Christ instead of the true God and make him the alone Object of Divine Prayer and Thanksgiving in whose Name then shall we approach the Throne of Grace and by whom shall we render Thanks to God who shall be our Intercessor our Advocate our Mediator For my part I know but of one Mediator and that 's the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. and he only is the Mediator between us Men and the one true God whom I before have proved to be only the Father of Jesus Christ To make our Lord Christ therefore the Object of our Divine Addresses is as much as in us lies to deprive him of his Mediatory Office which also by Consequence is to deny him to be the Son of God even the Beloved in whom alone we are accepted Eph. 1. 6. Yea and by this we deny also the Godhead of the Father in whose stead we do by this Means place Christ than which there can be nothing in this World that is more truly Antichristian See 1 John 2. 22. Now from the aforegoing Arguments 't is evident that whatever the Sense of the objected Places are yet they cannot mean that which the Objector intends since in vastly more numerous and plain Places the Scriptures make God and not Christ to be the alone Object of our Divine Addresses Of the Novelty of the Vnitarian Doctrine Some object against the Doctrine of God's being but one in Person the Novelty thereof that 't is but of Yesterday in comparison to that which asserts a Trinity which is they say of at least 1600 and odd Years standing I answer that the Objector is greatly mistaken for can that be a new Doctrine which has the greatest and the most plain part of the Scripture for its Foundation The Doctrine of God's being but one in Person is in the former part of this Work proved to be expresly and plainly contain'd both in the Old and New Testament and by Consequence must needs be as antient as the Scriptures are The long Continuance of the contrary Doctrine if it were as antient as the Objectors affirm is yet no Argument of its real Truth We read that soon after the good Wheat was sown the Enemy began to sprinkle Tares in the Field Mat. 13. 25. And the Mystery of Iniquity began to work even in St. Paul's time 2 Thess 2. 7. So that 't is no wonder that some Errors as suppose this of the Trinity be almost of equal standing to the greatest Truths for where God has a Church the Devil always has a Chappel 'T is not the long or short Continuance of any Doctrine as to its Profession that makes it authentick but that Foundation of Reason and Scripture on which it is built A Tenet is not therefore true because of its long or general Belief if at the same time it contradicts Self-evidence and the general Current of the sacred Scriptures Of Scripture-Mysteries Some object that much of the Scripture is mere Mystery and therefore since all Scripture is the Object of our Faith we must sometimes believe things which we cannot comprehend I answer if we are to believe Mysteries when clearly revealed yet it does not from thence follow that therefore we must believe Impossibilities and Contradictions A just God can never lay on us a necessity of submitting to those Terms and Conditions of Salvation which we cannot possibly understand Hence it follows that such obscure Mysteries as evidently do contradict other plain Truths do no ways concern us so long as we are in the dark as to their true Sense and Meaning When a Mystery is plainly express'd in Scripture as when 't is said a Virgin did conceive a Son or that all Men shall rise again or that Christ shall judg the World and no other plain Scripture contradicts it neither is it contrary to humane Reason we are then to believe it tho it may be above our Understanding to conceive which way the Power of God should enable a Virgin to conceive or in what manner our scattered Dust shall be recollected and revived or how our blessed Saviour can be made fit for so great a Work as an Universal Judg. But if some Places in Scripture had said these things but others more numerous and plain had affirmed the contrary or had it contradicted any self-evident Principle of Reason we might then have rejected the Belief thereof as safely and with as good Authority as we now do that of the Popish Transubstantiation which by the way is as expresly contain'd in Scripture as is that of the Trinity But for Mysteries of a more doubtful Nature such as want the Qualifications before express'd they can no ways oblige our Faith so long as their true Meaning lies hid in Obscurity of Expression There will be a time when all secret things shall be revealed and all hidden things shall be brought to light for which we must wait with Patience and not pretend as some do to explain even what is most hard and difficult by such Notions as are purely unintelligible for this is but the more to confound their Minds which were at a loss before 'T is true if any Man can rationally explain a Mystery he then does good Service both to God and Man but this we are infallibly certain is never done when the Sense that is given of a doubtful Place of Scripture is contrary not only to the general Current of the rest of the Word of God but is also a