the meanest Production in Nature and may find a thousand things in themselves to baffle their Reason and therefore it must be very unfit to judge of the Divine Nature and Sibsseveral timesstence And if we observe what ways they take to evade those plain Scriptures before-mention'd we shall quickly see their Reason is not very formidable in Matters of Faith whatsoever it may be in other things For some of them they deny to be Scripture as they do these Words of my Text others they put such strain'd and foreign Interpretations upon and use such miserable Shifts to escape the Force of them that one would think they are passionately in love with Heresie that defend it at this rate But these Things have been answer'd to their Shame by several worthy Authors and I hope also to the Conviction of some of them Their Exception against the Word Person as applied to these Three in my Text is also impertinent For he to whom those Names Actions and Prerogatives before-mention'd do belong must be a Person tho' he were not call'd so in Holy Scripture Heb. 1.3 But the Father is there term'd a Person when the Son is call'd the express Image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Person and it 's hard if a Son who hath all the Perfections of his Father may not be call'd a Person too But whether these captious Men will or no the Scripture hath given him that Denomination with respect to his Divinity 2 Cor. 2.10 If I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Person of Christ Where the Apostle affirms that when he forgave or absolv'd a Penitent he did it in the Person of Christ that is in his Name as his Deputy and Representative who as God hath Power to forgive Sins From these Places there is Warrant for those Terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greek Fathers commonly us'd to signifie a Person in the Trinity And when we find them thus applied to the Father and the Son who can deny them to the Holy Ghost since the Glorious Properties and Works of the Deity are also ascrib'd to him Thus have I given you some Account of the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is discover'd to us in Holy Scriptures which hath been constantly believ'd and defended by the Churches of Christ in all Ages And seeing we have such Evidence from Scripture and so General a Consent for the Truth of this Doctrine we may with great Satisfaction believe and confess it And because our Faith in the Trinity is of the greatest moment to us as we are assur'd also from the Scripture and very much for the Honour of our Religion and the Author of it we ought zealously to defend it against those Antichrists in our Days as St. John calls them who deny the Father and the Son 1 John 2.22 2. I should now say something of the Record that these Three bear that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God But this will not require much Proof after that which hath been given oâ—â—â—â—ly concerning his Divine Nature and doth consist of Testimonies from the Three several Persons of the Trinity Therefore to these I shall only add That this is witnessed by them to the Saints and Angels in Heaven who have the Beatisick Vision of the Glorious Trinity and particularly of the Divinity of Christ united with his Human Nature It hath been attested from Heaven by the Voice of God the Father at our Saviour's Baptism and Transfiguration asserted by Christ himself several times who said also that he came from God and was one with him and manifested by the Holy Ghost when he descended upon Christ in a visible Shape at his Baptism and upon the Disciples in a miraculous manner according to our Saviour's Promise From whence it appears that as these Three are One in their Essence or Nature so also in their Testimony concerning the Messias which some think is only meant by those Words These Three are One But because they are true in an higher Sense as I have prov'd to you and the Words are in a General Form they ought chiefly to be understood of that and from hence an Unity in their Record or Testimony will necessarily follow The Holy Ghost doth also constantly give this Testimony in the Holy Scriptures and in his Effects upon the Hearts of his People Which may probably be meant of that Witness which he is said to bear in Earth at the 8th Verse of this Chapter and one of these Effects is afterwards mention'd Ver. 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself Let us therefore daily pray to God for this excellent Grace which will assure us of the Truth of such Doctrines as we cannot comprehend And that we may receive it together with an Improvement in all Divine Knowledge let us sincerely do all those Duties God requires of us and then he will certainly discover himself and the Mysteries of Salvation more to us Now to the Ever-blessed and Glorious Trinity the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Three Persons and One Eternal and Only Wise God be all Honour Praise and Dominion both now and for ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry Two Sermons by the Reverend Mr. John Howard THE True Interest of a Nation Or The Duty of Magistrates Ministers and People in order to the further Settlement and Prosperity of these Kingdoms A Sermon preach'd at the Assizes held at Buckingham July the 5th 1692. The Evil of our Days with the Remedy of it A Sermon preach'd at a Visitation at Ruthwel in Northamptonshire Octob. 12.1697 MR. Pool's English Annotations on the Whole Bible wherein the Sacred Text is inserted together with the various Readings and Parallel Scriptures c. In Two Volumes Folio The Works of the late Reverend Mr. Stephen Charnock In Two Volumes Iolio The Life of the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter with the History of the Times he lived in Written by himself and published by Mr. Matthew Sylvester In Folio Mr. Lorrimer's Apology for the Ministers who subscribed only unto the Stating of the Truths and Errors in Mr. Williams's Book from the Exceptions made against them by Mr. Trail Quarto His Remarks on Mr. Goodwin's Discourse Proving That the Gospel-Covenant is a Law of Grace And answering the Objections to the contrary c. Quarto Mr. Shower's Thanksgiving-Sermon on the Discovery of the Assassination-Plot April the 16th 1696. Quarto His Mourners Companion Or Funeral Discourses on several Texts The Second Edition In Two Parts Octavo His Sermons on Isaiah 55.7 8 9. God's Thoughts and Ways above ours especially in the Forgiveness of Sins Octavo His Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Nath. Oldfield Dec. 31. 1696. Octavo A Preservative against Deism Shewing the great Advantage of Revelation above Reason in the two Great Points Pardon of Sin and a Future State of Happiness With an Appendix in Answer to a Letter of A. W. against Revealed Religion in the Oracles of Reason Octavo A Discourse of the Nature and Necessity of Faith in Jesus Christ With an Answer to the Pleas of our modern Vnitarians for the Sufficiency of bare Morality or meer Charity to Salvation Octavo A Brief Discourse of Infant Baptism Twelves These Three last by the Reverend Mr. Nathanael Taylor The Whole Duty of Man Epitomiz'd for the Benefit of the Poor with select Prayers suited to every Petition In Twenty fours Price bound Six Pence
same Person Therefore to remove this Mistake and to give a farther Confirmation to the Truth I have been asserting 2. I am come to shew that these are not different Names of the same Person but Three Subsistences or Persons really distinct from one another And the very Design of the Apostle in this Place is enough to prove it for he brings them in as Three Witnesses of the Messias which Three Names cannot be in the Sense which is here intended So our Saviour speaking of the Father's Testimony concerning him Joh. 5.32 faith There is another that beareth witness of me and he afterwards tells his Hearers who he is in these Words The father himself which hath sent me Ver. 37. hath born witness of me And again Chap. 8.16 c. If I judge my judgment is true for I am not alone but I and the father that sent me It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witness of my self and the father that sent me beareth witness of me Chap. 16.32 And he further tells his Disciples Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scatter'd every one to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the father is with me We see therefore that the Father and the Son are Two distinct Persons and that the Holy Ghost is a Person distinct from both of them is evident from those Words of our Saviour John 14.16 17. I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth c. where Three Persons are distinctly express'd with different Actions belonging to each of them the Son prays the Father answers his Prayer and gives his Disciples another Comforter who shall always abide with them So these Three are express'd in the Form of Baptism the Apostolical Benediction and in several other Places of Scripture And it is absurd to think our Saviour requires us to be baptiz'd into Three Names and that the Apostle in blessing the Church would use Three Names with particular Distinctions to each of them if he intended but One Person 3. I proceed therefore to shew what Relation these Three Persons have to each other And as to the Father and the Son their very Names suppose that the One hath his Being from the Other not as if he were made by him for then he could not be Eternal and therefore not Truly God but as proceeding from him by Eternal Generation And hence he is called the Brightness of his Father's Glory the Word of God c. The Holy Ghost hath his Being both from the Father and the Son as eternally proceeding from them For our Saviour tells his Disciples Joh. 14.26 That he proceeds from the Father that he himself will send him and that the Father will send him in his Name Chap. 15.26 And St. Paul calls him the Spirit of Christ and of the Son Rom. 8.9 Therefore we have the same Reason to believe the Spirit proceeds from the Son Gal. 4.6 as from the Father As the Relation therefore between the Father and the Son is founded upon that Eternal Generation by which the Son hath his Being from the Father so the Relation of the Holy Ghost to them both is founded upon that Eternal Spiration whereby he hath his Being from them But what this Generation and this Spiration is as also the manner of each Person 's subsisting distinctly in the same Divine Nature I may say with the Prophet Isaiah who shall declare it Isa 53.8 4. I am to prove That these Three are One God And this is evident from all those Places of Scripture where God is said to be but One Deut. 6.4 Chap. 4.35 Isa 45.5 As Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. Vnto thee it was shew'd that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God there is none else besides him I am the Lord and there is none else there is no God besides me There is one God and Father of all Eph. 4.6 who is above all and through all and in you all c. To which we may add that our Saviour several times affirms that He and the Father are One and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him And as this Unity of the Godhead is so plainly asserted in Holy Scriptures so it is also taught by the Law of Nature for what is Infinite and Omnipotent can be but One for it is against the Nature of Infinity to be in more and if One can do all things there is no need of any other Therefore it was the Opinion of the wisest Heathens that there is but One God tho' they suffer'd the People who were fond of Superstitions to worship many Thus we see the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Nature is plainly asserted in many Scriptures so that it these Words of my Text had been quite lost through the Malice of Hereticks the Mistake of Transcribers or any other Accident the Doctrine contain'd in them would fully appear in the Places before-mention'd and many others For as often as the Scripture attributes to each of these Three the Names Properties Works or Worship of God it asserts them to be so many Divine Persons and where ever it affirms there is but One God it teaches us that these Three are One And therefore we may justly wonder so much Offence hath been taken by some Men at several Expressions in the Athanasian Creed as The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not Three Gods but One God c. These Expressions they are bold to charge with Contradiction and yet they cannot deny that the Scripture plainly asserts the same many times over and therefore they would do well to consider upon whom this Charge of Contradictions must light And their Boldness is the greater not only for the Plainness of Revelation in this Case and the Greatness and Excellency of the Subject so treated by them but because it is far above the Judgment of their Reason For a Man must understand the Nature of an Infinite Mind or Spirit and what is the true Notion of different Hypostases or Persons in that Nature before he can say it is a Contradiction to assert them Therefore they would better employ their Reason in finding out such Contradictions they are sit to judge of and I will put them in mind what looks very like one and that is to acknowledge the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and yet deny some Doctrines plainly deliver'd in them because they cannot understand the manner of those things that are asserted by them and tho' they say they do understand it yet this shews their Boldness and Ignorance the more when we know the wisest of them will be easily puzzl'd about
Mr. HOWARD's SERMON Preach'd Before The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of the City of LONDON AT THE Cathedral Church of St. PAVL upon Trinity-Sunday Anno Dom. 1700. Levett Mayor Jovis 20 die Junii 1700. Annoque Regni Regis Willielmi Tertii Angliae c. Duodecimo THIS Court doth Desire Mr. Howard to Print his Sermon Preach'd on Trinity-Sunday last before the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of this City at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's Goodfellow The TRINITY Asserted A SERMON PREACH'D BEFORE The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen of the City of LONDON AT THE Cathedral Church of St. PAVL upon Trinity-Sunday Anno Dom. 1700. By JOHN HOWARD M. A. Rector of Marston-Trussel in Northamptonshire LONDON Printed for J. Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry 1700. To the Right Honourable Sir Richard Levett Lord-Mayor of the City of London My LORD IN Obedience to the Order I receiv'd from your Lordship and the Court of Aldermen I have now Publish'd the Sermon lately preach'd before you with the Addition of some Things which through the Straitness of my Time were then omitted and do most humbly present it to your Lordship I should not have thought it fit for Publick View after so many Excellent Discourses as have been printed within a few Years in Defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity neither would I have ventur'd to preach to such an Auditory upon so Great and Venerable a Mystery if the Time to which I was confin'd by a Particular Providence had not requir'd it But as that Providence will I hope Justifie me in Choosing such a Subject so the Authority of your Lordship and your Honourable Brethren will Vindicate me in Publishing my Discourse upon it I pray God convince those Vnhappy Men in our Days who have deserted the Faith they were baptized into and deny the Lord that bought them for I am sure a meer Man could never do it that they may escape the Destruction he hath threaten'd to them And that the same God would continually bless your Lordship and give Success to your Pious Endeavours to suppress Error and Wickedness in an Age and Place that need all your Authority and Zeal to that End is also the hearty Prayer of My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble and Faithful Servant John Howard 1 JOHN V. 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one BEFORE I speak to the Doctrine contain'd in these Words it will be necessary to say something towards the removing an Objection that hath been made against them as if they were not a Genuine Part of this Chapter because they are omitted in some Greek Copies In Answer to which It might be enough to satisfie unprejudic'd Men to say that they are in the Best and most Ancient Greek Manuscripts and have been constantly retain'd in the Vulgar Latin as several worthy Authors assure us and they might more easily be left out in some Copies by an Oversight in the Transcribers than fraudulently inserted into others Yet because it hath been said by some who would have the World think so that this Verse was added in Opposition to the Arians I must say farther that this could not be De Vnit Eccles because we find it quoted by St. Cyprian before â—rius his Time And indeed the Orthodox as they had no need to do this having the Scripture so plainly and fully on their side in many other Places so they must have ventur'd such an Hazard in it as no wise Men would expose themselves to For the Detection of such a Forgery which they would have Reason enough to fear would have done a great Injury to their Reputation and to a Cause which they valued more than their Lives It is therefore more Reasonable to suppose that the Arians raz'd this Verse out of such Copies as they could come by for their desperate Cause did more need the miserable Supports of Fraud and Sacrilege and the Men were fitter for the Practice of them Socr. Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 32. And some of the Ancients complain of their corrupting several Places of Scripture and particularly of this Epistle and there is no Expression in it they could take more Offence at than this Hist Tripart l. 12. c. 4. though there are several others that plainly condemn them and their impious Doctrines Besides these Testimonies the Verse it self doth I think sufficiently assert its Right to this Place by the Agreement it hath with the foregoing and following Verses The Apostle's main Design in this Chapter is to prove that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God that is the Eternal Son of God of the same Nature with the Father as well as Man as I shall prove in the following Discourse and this he doth by the Witnesses mention'd at the 6 7 and 8 Verses But the Water and the Blood in two of those Verses whether we understand them literally as they came out of our Saviour's Side when his Body was pierc'd upon the Cross or in a figurative Sense for his Holiness and Sufferings can prove no more than the Truth of his Human Nature nor the Spirit that is join'd with them if it be meant of his Soul which he yielded up to the Father upon the Cross as some understand it And if we take it for the Spirit of God as it was given to our Saviour in an extraordinary measure it doth not necessarily prove any more than the Excellency of his Person as a Man and that he was highly in Favour with God the Father Though there are other Things to be said indeed concerning the Spirit that infallibly prove the Divinity of Christ which will more properly be spoken of him as he is mentioned in my Text. Now if nothing more had been said by the Apostle in this Place than what is asserted concerning these Three Witnesses in the 6 and 8 Verses they would have afforded us but a dark Proof at the best of what he mainly intends but his adding Three more at the 7th Verse puts the Matter out of all doubt I might further shew the Agreement between this and the other two Verses and how Defective the Sense of this Place will be without it but I hope what hath been said already is sufficient to prove the Divine Authority of these Words and I am so far from thinking the worse of them for the Violence done to them by sacrilegious Hands in some ancient Copies that I cannot but have a greater Veneration for them in that they have suffer'd a kind of Martyrdom in that Glorious Cause which they assert In speaking to these Words I shall I. Endeavour to shew you what these Three are that are here mentioned II. Give some Account of the Record they bear concerning the Messias I. I shall endeavour to shew you what these Three are in the following Particulars 1. Every One of these is the Great and Most High God 2. They are not
so many different Names of the same Person but Three Subsistences or Persons really distinct from one another 3. I shall shew what Relation they have to each other 4. I shall prove that these Three are One God 1. Every One of these is the Great and Most High God 1. The Father is so but I need not say any thing to prove this because it is acknowledged by those who deny the Trinity that all the Glorious Titles Perfections and Works of the Deity are attributed to him and that to him belongs Divine Honour and Worship from his Creatures That he is an Infinite and Eternal Being Glorious in Holiness and Fearful in Praises a God of all Power and Might Truth and Righteousness Wisdom and Goodness in a word that of Him and through Him and to Him are all Things Therefore I proceed 2. To speak of the Word or the Son who also is God in the same Sense with the Father as will abundantly appear to all unprejudiced Men from the Names by which he is call'd the Perfections ascrib'd to him the Works he is said to do and the Honour and Worship which all Intelligent Creatures are requir'd to give him in the Holy Scriptures 1. The Names he is called by as the Name of God Jehovah the Son of God and the Word The Name of God is very frequently given to Christ both in the Old and New Testament The Psalmist speaking of him Ps 49.6 says Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever and the Prophet Isaiah calls him the mighty God Isa 9.6 St. Thomas plainly owns his Divinity in these Words Joh. 20.28 My Lord and my God When St. Luke says of the Jews they stoned Stephen calling upon God Acts 7.59 and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit he teaches us that Jesus is the God he prayed to And St. Paul in exhorting the Elders of Ephesus to feed the Church of God Acts 20.28 which he hath purchased with his own Blood doth assure us that the same Person who shed his Blood for us upon the Cross is the God of the Church Rom. 9.5.1 Tim. 3.16.1 Joh. 5.20 This Apostle tells us also of Christ that he is over all God blessed for ever and that God was manifest in the Flesh And St. John affirms of him that he is the true God Now if it be said of one or two of these Places that the word God is not in some ancient Copy or Version this Omission might easily happen through the Mistake of a Transcriber and ought not to be accounted any Prejudice to those Places seeing they are entire in all other Copies And tho' some object that the Name of God is given to Magistrates in the Scripture and therefore doth not prove the Divinity of Christ they ought to see that it is applied to him after a very different manner and with such Distinctions as cannot belong to any Creature For what Christian durst ever call a Magistrate my God as St. Thomas calls our Saviour or say he is God blessed for ever or the true and mighty God as the Scripture terms him The Name Jehovah which is the incommunicable Name of the Great God is also given to him Those Words Psal 102.25 Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands are applied to Christ Heb. 1.10 and yet the same Person of whom they are spoken is called Jehovah no less than seven or eight times in that Psalm The Prophet Isaiah speaking of Christ and his Forerunner saith Chap. 40.3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make strait in the desart a high-way for our God There is no question but the Person whose Way John the Baptist who is here meant by him that cries in the wilderness was to prepare was Christ the Son of God therefore it is he whom the Prophet calls not only our God but the Lord that is Jehovah in the 2d and 5th Verses of that Chapter But the Prophet Jeremiab is yet more express when speaking of the Messias as a righteous branch and a King that should descend from David Chap. 23. he says Ver. 6. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness A Place sufficient one would think of it self to satisfie any that Christ is the True and Eternal God were it not obscur'd a little by the Repetition of it with some difference Chap. 33.16 where it is in our Translation This is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness And some Interpreters understand it in the same Sense as if this Name was applied here to Jerusalem or the Church and from hence some conclude it is not the incommunicable Name of God and that nothing more is said of Christ in the Place before-mentioned than of the Church in this Now how well the Words in the Original will bear that Interpretation I shall not determine but I think they are very capable of another which hath been also given them by some Learned Men namely this And he who shall call her that is Jerusalem before-mention'd is the Lord our Righteousness And tho' there is some difference in the Hebrew between this and the other Place yet the Authors of the several Learned Versions taking the Sense to be the same in both do not only apply this to the Messias but render it in the same Words as they do the other with very little Alteration in any of them And if we allow of that Interpretation which applies this Name to Jerusalem yet it can belong to it no otherwise than as the Church hath a Relation to him and is Interested in his Righteousness who is properly call'd by it The Name of the Son of God as it is given to Christ and is to be understood of his Only-begotten Son as he is sometimes call'd is a further Proof of his Divinity For this denotes a more Eminent Relation than that which belongs to his Human Nature either from his Conception or his Resurrection from the Dead For tho' he was conceiv'd by the immediate Power and Operation of the Holy Ghost and for this Reason is sometimes call'd the Son of God yet we cannot say he had much the Advantage of Adam in this who by the same efficient Cause was formd out of the Dust of the Ground as Christ was of the Substance of the Virgin and therefore Adam is call'd the Son of God in a peculiar Sense distinct from that Relation which other good Men have to him Luke 3.38 The Holy Angels have also the same Relation to God for this Reason who made them eminently Partakers of his own Nature and constituted them in a State of Happiness and Immortality And tho' our Saviour was made the Son of God in another Respect by his Resurrection from the Dead as Saint Paul
explains the Words of the Psalmist when he saith God hath rais'd up Jesus again Acts 13.33 as it is also written in the Second Psalm Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and he may from hence be fitly term'd as he is the first-born from the dead and the first-fruits of them that slept yet he can no more be call'd the Only-begotten Son of God for this Reason than the First-born of a numerous Issue can be said to be all the Children or the First-fruits the whole Crop For it is evident from many Places of Scripture that the Church shall be also rais'd to a Glorious State and those very Terms the First-born and the First-fruits are us'd to assure us of it and on this Account they are call'd the Children of God by our Blessed Saviour who saith Luke 20.35 36. They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more For they are equal unto the angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection Now what difference soever there was between the Perfections of Adam and Christ as Man or between the Glory he was rais'd to and that which the Saints shall have hereafter this cannot properly distinguish his Relation to God the Father from theirs For tho' a First-born who hath many Brethren should have a greater Inheritance than all of them and a Right of Dominion too as the Ancient Patriarchs had over the whole Family yet he cannot justly be call'd the Only Son for these or any other Advantages he might have above the rest Christ is therefore call'd the Son of God chiefly in respect of his Divine Nature and so the Ancient Jews understood this Term as it was applied to the Messias Therefore upon Occasion of Christ's calling God his Father it is said The Jews sought the more to kill him Joh. 5.18 because he not only had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own or his proper Father making himself equal with God Jesus was now generally look'd upon as the profess'd Messias because John the Baptist had given a Publick Testimony concerning him which was confirm'd on all Occasions by his Disciples and had been confess'd by himself Therefore the Jews having a Notion of that Eminent Relation which the Messias had to God the Father as his Eternal Son when they heard our Saviour mention God as his Father put a very different Sense upon these Words from what they would have done from another Person and because they did not believe him to be the Christ they interpreted them to his Disadvantage For tho' they themselves were ready to say upon Occasion Joh 8.41 We have one Father even God yet they accounted such an Expression from our Saviour to be Blasphemy and attempted several times to put him to Death for it And this was the pretended Crime for which he was at last condemn'd For the High-Priest having not such Witness against him as he desired Mat. 26.63 c. put an Oath upon him to tell him whether he were the Christ the Son of God to which when our Saviour had intimated his Consent the High-Priest rent his cloaths saying he hath spoken blasphemy and asking the judgment of the council concerning it they all pronounced him to be guilty of death But the Disciples believing that he was the Christ did also acknowledge him to be the Son of God in the Sense before-mention'd in several Confessions which they made to him But I shall now only take notice of such as were attended with some Remarkable Circumstances which will help us to understand the Meaning of them When our Lord had done two Miracles together walking himself with Peter upon the Sea in a Tempest and causing the Wind to cease on the sudden Mat. 14.33 so soon as he was come into the ship the disciples and others that were with them came and worshipped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God By which Words it appears they acknowledg'd him to be God because they gave him Divine Worship at the same time And if they had committed a Mistake in these Things there is no question but our Saviour would have corrected it in them The like Adoration was also given to Christ by the Man who was born blind Joh. 9.38 so soon as he understood from him that he was the Son of God But nothing is more Remarkable to this Purpose than Martha her Confession who when our Saviour had ask'd her Joh. 11.25 c. whether she believ'd him to be the Resurrection and the Life that is that he could by his own Power raise Men from the Dead to Life again and that Faith in him would save them from Death and make them Partakers of Everlasting Life she answers him Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world So that this Confession did imply as much in her Opinion as that Christ was Omnipotent and the Great Object of a Divine and Saving Faith And in that she saith the Son of God which should come into the world this supposes it was formerly believ'd the Messias should be such a Person There are several other Testimonies in the Gospel to this Purpose but I shall add but one more from St. John himself which gives a great Confirmation to all the rest who speaking of the Signs which Jesus did saith These are written Joh. 20.31 that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name These Words Jesus is the Christ the Son of God are certainly meant of his being God as well as Man because many Signs done by him did plainly prove it And in this Chapter the Apostle mentions two of them namely our Saviour's Appearing two several times in a miraculous manner to his Disciples the latter of which Appearances drew that Confession from St. Thomas My Lord and my God And it is Remarkable that immediately after these Words and Christ's Answer to them the Apostle adds many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God which Words have no doubt a particular Respect to Thomas his Confession as those which follow have to our Saviour's Answer to him For Christ having said to Thomas Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed The Apostle tells us how far this Blessing goeth even to Eternal Life in these Words and that believing ye might have life through his name And indeed the Occasion of St. John's writing this Gospel and the Arguments that are every where contain'd in it do sufficiently
prove this Truth For this Gospel was written by him at the Request of the Elders of Ephesus and other Christians as we are assur'd from good Authority in Opposition to the Ebeonites and Cerinthians who denied the Divinity of our Saviour and whosoever reads it may see the Apostle makes it his main Business to assure the World that he is God This he affirms at the very beginning of his Gospel and records many of our Saviour's Sayings by which he asserted it and several of his chief Miracles by which he prov'd it that are omitted by the other Evangelists And if this appears to have been his chief Design in this Gospel as certainly it was who can doubt of his Meaning in the Place before-mention'd which is near the Conclusion of it where he saith These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God Now this with the other Citations which I mention'd before will clear the Sense of those Expressions in this Chapter of my Text Ver. 1. Ver. 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God And who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God that they assert him to be God as well as Man And therefore this is the Doctrine which the Apostle proves in the following Verses as I said before and I hope have now made it more evident to you The last Name which I shall mention as given to Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 render'd the Word under which Name St. John saith Chap. 1.1 that he was in the beginning that is before the World was created as appears not only from the same Expression us'd in that Sense in the first Chapter of Genesis but because all things are said to be made by him ver 3. which supposes he was before them and because Time began with the Creation of the World therefore the Word which was before it must be Eternal And the Apostle here expresly affirms that the Word was God and that this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and was the only-begotten of the father v. 14. the same person whom John the Baptist bare witness of namely Jesus Christ as in the following Verses And the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is understood of a Divine Person who together with God the Father made the World was well known amongst the Jews as appears from many Places in the Chaldae Paraphrase where the Word is added to explain the Sense more fully when there is only God or Lord in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Bishop of Worcest Vindic. of Trin. p. 128. and it is render'd by such a Term as several Learned Men assure us is us'd there to signifie the Word only in the Sense of a Person And I think any indifferent Reader would understand it of a Personal Word in many if not all those Places wherein it is found and particularly in these It is said in that Paraphrase Gen. 6.6 It repented the Lord with his word that he had made man upon the earth Then shall the word of the Lord be my God Gen. 28.21 Ex. 19.17 Lev. 26.46 Deut. 1.30 Moses brought forth the People to meet the Word of God These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between his word and the children of Israel The word of the Lord your God which goeth before you he shall fight for you according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes The word of the Lord the God is a consuming fire Deut. 4.24 Chap. 31.6.8 Job 42.9 10 12. a jealous God The word of the Lord thy God will go before thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee The word of the Lord accepted the face of Job And the word of the Lord turn'd the captivity of Job c. So the word of the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning Now to be chosen by Jacob as his God to meet his People to be a Party in a Covenant between himself and them to conduct his People and fight for them to accept of Job's Person to turn his Captivity to bless and enrich him and to be a consuming Fire a jealous God do all suppose a Person and some of them plainly assert that he is God The ancient Jews therefore who had a great Veneration for this Paraphrase and were oblig'd to read it constantly with the Hebrew Text did believe from these and many other Places in it that there was a Divine Substance called the Word by whom God made the World So Philo the Jew speaking of God the Father of all mentions another Divine Person Quaest Solut. De Agricult whom he calls the Word and his Only-begotten Son by whom he made the World From whence we may conclude that St. John first received the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Jews and he speaks so briefly of it at the Beginning of his Gospel because it was commonly known to them Tho' it is true also that many of the Heathens had receiv'd the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Second Person in it either from ancient Tradition or the Scriptures which were read by several Learned Men amongst them But Plato was especially noted for it therefore when Amelius who was one of his Followers read this Gospel of St. John he challeng'd this Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it was taken from Plato But there is no Reason to think he receiv'd a Notion from any Heathen which he knew was better understood by the Jews and was well acquainted with those Places of Scripture upon which it was grounded Now St. John doth not only call Christ the Word in that Place and in my Text but mentions him also as the Word of Life at the beginning of this Epistle and speaking of him Rev. 19.13 he saith His name is called the word of God Neither is St. John the only Writer of the New Testament who applies this Name to Christ but St. Luke seems to use it in the same Sense Luke 1.2 when he speaks of the Apostles as eye-witnesses and ministers of the word for that Word of which they were Eye-witnesses was our Lord himself And this Sense of that Place is more probable because St. Peter uses the same Expression with respect to Christ and saith of himself and the other Apostles that they were eye-witnesses of his majesty 2 Pet. 1.16 And in the Epistle to the Hebrews this Divine Word is mention'd and the Omniscience of God attributed to him The word of God is quick and powerful Heb. 4.12 and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart That is he perfectly sees the