was any ceremony in all the world so honoured as this Baptisme of Christ was The ancient sacrifices of Gods institution were honoured by manifest signes of his gracious presence as by the fire which came from heauen continually to consume them the Arke was honoured with speciall signes of his glorious presence sitting betweene the Cherubims answering by Oracle and voice vnto cases propounded the Temple it selfe at Ierusalem at Salomons prayer and dedication was filled with the glory of God manifested in that cloud that filled the House of the Lord 1. Kin. 8. 10. and this cloud still watched ouer the Tabernacle Exod. 40. 34. But these were all but shadowes to this wherein the Lord did not cloud and vaile his presence or reueale his presence in some signe but the Diuine Maiesty manifested it selfe distinctly as we may say in person yea in the distinction of all the three Persons the Father testifying his delight in his deare Sonne the Sonne standing in Iordan and receiuing his Fathers testimony and the holy Ghost descending in the visible shape of a Doue From whence is notably grounded the doctrine of the blessed Trinity of persons in the Vnity of diuine essence because they be so really distinguished although they cannot bee separated But the word Trinity is not to be found in the Scriptures Yet the doctrine is if not according to the letter yet according to the sense Mat. 17. 5. In the transfiguration of Christ the Sonne standeth the Father by his voice witnesseth and the holy Ghost ouershadowes him in a cloud as heere by a Doue So Matth. 28. 19. Baptize them in the name not names to note the vnity of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost And 2. Cor. 13. 14. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the loue of God and the communion of the holy Ghost bee with you all Besides there is expresly the word three frō whence Trinity comes 1. Ioh. 5. 7. There be three that beare witnesse in heauen the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one So also Gal. 4. 6. God sent the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts Which is worthy to be by the way obserued as against sundry other damnable Heretikes so especially against the Iewes at this day who hold an indistinct essence in the Deity without distinction of persons and secondly against the wicked Arrians who deny the Sonne of God to bee begotten of the essence of the Father and to bee coeternall and coequall with him they hold him to be meere man onely borne without sin and receiuing the Spirit beyond measure and in all those places where he is called God they vnderstand it God by office not by nature as the Magistrate is called God and by this equiuocation they can deceiue the Magistrate and professe namely in this their sense that they verily beleeue him to bee God and yet meere man But this place and many other assume him into equall dignitie with the Father and holie Ghost as wee shall further see in the Fathers testimonie of him In the opening of the heauens consider 1. how they were opened 2. why they were opened For the former not the whole heauens but a part and that part ouer the earth where Christ prayed in the banke of Iordan and not to all the people of the earth but to those onely that were present with Christ were the heauens opened and therefore it is said The heauen was opened vnto him not as some say to Iohn but to Christ for so the phrase is vsed Act. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visae eis linguae i. supra eos The difficultie is in the manner Some think it was but an apparition in the aire because the densitie of the heauens as Philosophie teacheth cannot admit of any diuision in the same But this is vnlikely for in apparitions the eye is easily deceiued by thinnesse or thicknesse neerenes or remotenes light or darknesse of the parts of the heauens and clouds now God would not haue so notable a confirmation of Christs calling stand vpon the credit of a thing so liable to deceit as apparitions be Againe this was a miracle by which Christs office was exalted and therefore goes beyond nature and it is absurd to limit so transcendent a power within the rules and hedge of nature Others of the Fathers whom some Schoolemen follow think that there was no alteration in the heauēs to the bodily eye but it was a meer vision which none but Christ saw and that not with the eyes of his body but of his minde such a vision as Ezekiel and Steuen saw But this is not so for first to the eyes of Christs minde heauen was neuer shut Secondly Mark 1. 10. hee saw the heauens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clouen a word vsed in things really done and vsed of the rent garment Luk. 5. 36. and of the vaile of the Temple which was rent in twaine Thirdly the other signes were really and sensibly done the Spirits descending visible and the Fathers voyce audible and sensible which are things of greater difficultie to conceiue as wee shall see and visible and sensible were they not so much for Christs as for Iohns and the peoples confirmation that stood there It seemeth therefore to bee true that the heauen was sensibly diuided and rent in twaine euen as the earth was when Korah and his company were swallowed vp This is not vnreasonable to conceiue if wee consider that the Lord might well doe as much for his Sonne as he had formerly done for his seruants Henoch in his body as wel as in his soule was taken vp into heauen here either the heauens must diuide themselues or one body must pearce and penetrate another which euen glorified bodies cannot doe Eliah when Elisha prayed him that his spirit might be doubled on him answered thus Thou askest an hard thing yet if thou see me when I am taken from thee thou shalt haue it so 2. King 2. 11 12. and Elisha saw him when he was taken vp into heauen by a whirlewinde and consequently saw the heauens diuided to receiue his body now glorified in the act of translation When Christ had accomplished his whole ministery Act. 1. 9. while his Disciples beheld he was taken vp into heauen they did see the heauens opening themselues to receiue his glorious body and shall we think it absurd that according to the letter of the Scripture his Father should enter him into that ministery by a sensible opening of the heauens As easie it must bee for God to doe this as to make the Sunne stand still the Sea runne backe yea the Sea to diuide it selfe and stand like a wall for the defence of his people And that he thus did it is plaine because this serueth for the greater confirmation and glorie of the businesse in hand which aboue all other the Lord set himselfe to aduance commend to the world Now in the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himselfe and therefore not by generation Consider him in respect of his God-head and he is God of himselfe as the Father and holy Ghost but consider him in his Person and so hee is the Sonne begotten of the Father and not of himselfe for the Father is a beginning to the rest of the Persons And whereas the Athanasian Creed confesseth him God of very God and the Nicen Light of light and very God of very God the word God in both places must bee taken not essentially but personally namely the Sonne of God begotten of the Father But the God-head of the Son is from the Father because the Sonne is God The God-head of the Sonne is not begotten of the Father but the Person of the Sonne is begotten for the God-head of the Sonne is without beginning as the Father is but the Person of the Sonne is of the Father But the Son hauing the same Essence with the Father then the Father begetting the Sonne the Sonne begets himselfe also Person begets Person not diuine Essence begets diuine Essence the Person of the Father begets the Person of the Sonne but not the God-head of the Sonne If the Father and Sonne be one in Essence then the Sonne being incarnate so is the Father also It is a weake argument because Incarnation belongs not properly to the Essence but to the person or the diuine Essence of the Person of the Sonne became incarnate and tooke flesh or if to the Essence yet not absolute but limited The whole diuine Essence is the Father the Sonne is the whole diuine Essence therefore the Sonne is the Father not distinct or begotten There is an Homonymie in the word whole diuine Essence which is taken either essentially and absolutely as in the Proposition or personally limited to the second Person as in the assumption and therefore the reason is faulty because of foure tearmes in it But if the Father beget the Sonne then hee communicates either a part of his Essence or the whole but hee can doe neither not a part because it is indiuisible not whole for then he leaues none for himselfe The Father begetting communicates his whole Essence and yet retaines it wholly as a candle giuing light to another retaineth it wholly to it selfe If the Father begot the Son then either when the Son subsisted or when he did not if he did subsist how could hee beget him if he did not subsist then he had a beginning The Father begot the Sonne subsisting for generation and subsisting are in time together or rather both from eternity and in the Trinity there is nihil prius or posterius in time And thus also that obiection is stopt that the Father begetting must be before the Sonne begotten for the Father is not in time before the Sonne but in order But Christ is the first begotten and the first borne of many brethren Rom. 8. 29. and Col. 1. 15. therefore he is not the onely Sonne of God 1. The word Primogenitura is sometimes a word of dignity and not of order 2. Christ is called The first borne of euery creature because hee was begotten eternally before any creature 3. He is called First borne by a Metaphor and resemblance being shadowed by the first borne in the old Testament who were Heires and Priests in the family and had double portions c. All which types were verified in Christ who was first borne not of a few brethren in one family as they but of many brethren in all Tribes and Families Christ was the Sonne of the holy Ghost because he was conceiued by him No because he was conceiued not of the substance but power of the holy Ghost Againe consider him either according to the flesh so he was of the substance of the Virgin Mary not of the holy Ghost or according to his Deity and so hee was of the substance of his Father not of the holy Ghost But the Article he is that my Sonne is not to be omitted namely that promised seed Messias on whom all the fathers eyes haue been fixed whose day Abraham desired to see on whom all the Patriarkes cast their hopes whom all the Prophets with one mouth haue declared and poynted at as with one finger This is that my Son whom ye haue already seene borne of a Virgin Isa. 7. 14. Come out of Bethleem Mic. 5. 2. Called out of Egypt Hos. 11. 1. Out of Egypt haue I called my Sonne This is he before whom Eliah hath prepared the way Mal. 3. 1. that is Iohn Baptist in the Spirit of Eliah And as ye haue seen these things already so expect the accomplishment of all other predictions concerning him till he hath finished his course the whole worke of mans Redemption Is Christ thus peculiarly the Sonne of God then note the wonderfull loue of God and of Christ God the Father setting his onely Sonne separated from sinners and higher then the heauens among sinners to receiue among them not only the badge of sin but the curse of sin wherein hee was cast lower then earth and hell it selfe that we might by him become the adopted sons of God for this was the Fathers end that we might be vnited to his naturall Son and so to himselfe by him and receiue our title of Son-ship And what father that loued his son would so debase him that hee might take in some strāger yea an enemy to be heire with him And yet the loue of God hath done thus for vs. Againe the loue of Christ is surpassing and appeareth in his voluntary and extreme abasement that he would be pleased from the height of his Glory being Gods naturall Son to become not onely like but lower then all other men in his life and death No man liuing euer was or can be so abased for hee that is lowest of all can fall but from one degree in earth to another but Christ falls from the highest degree of the glory of heauen to the very bottome of hell What doth this infinite loue call for at our hands but returne of loue for loue Shall we thinke any of his Commandements grieuous shall we think much of any conditiō which God seeth fit for vs and Christ hath sanctifyed be it neuer so base shall we refuse the lowest abasement for his sake seeing we cannot bee brought so low for him as hee for vs Who art thou that professest loue to Christ and wilt not endure a word a frowne of a superiour a checke and rebuke for his sake and good conscience Was Christs loue such to thee or if it had where had thy hopes and saluation been Had he disdayned the frownes of his Father for thee the rebukes and shame of the world the cursed death to which hee voluntarily subiected himselfe thou hadst bin layd for euer vnder the frownes of God the Father and the
And after Prorsus eadem idololatria and Imò grauius peccant Papistae quà m Ethnici pag. 230. pag. 152. 153. c. Inter idololatriam gentium cultum sanctorum apud Pontisicios nihil interest and he concludeth Nec ouum ouo neque lac lacti similius quà m cultus sanctorum apud Pontisicios idolorum apud Ethnicos And Master White in his booke forenamed sect 5. parag 7. 8. prooueth that the Papists worship stocks and stones as the Gentiles did III. Master Perkins in a book of his owne setting forth not in few places hath the very words Refor Cath. 9. point Papists vnder new termes maintaine the idolatrie of the Heathen Popish idolatrie is a grosse as euer any was among the Heathen In the practice of a reformed Catholike Popish idolatrie exceeds the idolatrie of the Heathen In his Aduertisement to Romane Catholikes And the Popish Host is as abominable an idoll as euer was To whom Bucer in Psal. 115. accordeth saying thus of the Popish Church in worshipping of the Virgin Mary and the Saints En omnia facit quae olim idolis suis insana gentilitas IV. Adde one thing out of the Scriptures If Rome be called Egypt Sodom and Babylon then the idolatry of all these Heathenish places runs into it But the first is true therefore also the second Againe If it be a cage of vncleane birds and an habitation of diuels if any worse can be said of any Heathens Romish idolatrie shall not be the worst 3. Note that God the Father vttering so audible a voyce concerning his Sonne he will be knowne of vs not so much in his owne substance as in his Sonne nor by curious prying into the excellencie of his Maiestie as by sober attending to his voyce and Word And the many manners of Gods speaking vnto men all confirme the same sometimes hee is said to speake out of fire that none dare approach sometimes out of a darke cloud a cloud because out of mans reach and darke because if it were not so none might satisfie their curiositie in seeing any thing sometimes out of a whirlewinde a fierce creature which men are afraid of and sometimes out of the light but such as is inaccessible And good reason that such high and diuine knowledge should bee thus deliuered because being matters of faith they must be insensible and hee that commeth to God must beleeue not see neither is the eye of the body of such capacitie and piercing brightnes as to behold things of infinite and inuisible nature God in giuing the Law made a law against pryers and gazers and seuerely punished those that pryed into the Arke Those that despise the still voyce of God in the ministery shall neuer see God in Christ see him and feele him they shall in his power and iustice neuer in his fauour and loue who refuse the tender of his loue and gracious calling Againe no maruell if ignorance and Egyptiacall darknesse raigne in Popish countreyes where the voyce and Word of God must not be heard read or knowne Satan and his lims know where their strength lyeth and that the strength of his kingdome of darknesse standeth in ignorance and darknesse This is that my Sonne Sect. 9. THe first thing in the substance of the Fathers testimony is that relation which the Father acknowledgeth between himselfe and his Sonne And first whereas there seemes to be some difference in the Euangelists for Marke and Luke chap. 3. 22. reade it in the second person Thou art my Sonne to omit other answeres for reconciliation it is most probable that this voice was twice vttered first for Christs confirmation to his office in the second person which Marke and Luke record and after for the confirmation of Iohn and the faith of beleeuers in the third person This is he Take notice of him And this answere not onely satisfies the Text but the prophesies formerly wherein this voice was foretold which runne in both persons Psal. 2. 7. Thou art my Sonne and Isa. 42. 1. Hee is my Elect in whom my soule delighteth By the Sonne of God is meant 1. Sonnes by Creation framed made after Gods Image in perfect holinesse and righteousnesse Thus Adam was the sonne of God Luk. 3. vlt. and the Angels Iob 1. and Psal. 89. 6. 2. Sons by Profession only who outwardly worship y e true God but not in truth as Gen. 6. 1. The sons of God saw the daughters of mē c. 3. Sons by Adoptiō who being the children of wrath by nature are by grace fauour takē in to be the sons of God thus euery true beleeuer led by the spirit is the Son of God Ro. 8. 14. As many as beleeue to them hee gaue power to be y e sons of God Christ is none of these waies the son of God for although Christ as the fountaine and head of our adoption is called the chiefe among many brethren yet is hee not adopted as we be But he is the Son of God two wayes 1. By nature as God begotten from all eternity of the substance of God by an vnspeakable generation for who can tel his generation Isa. 53. 8. whereby God the Father communicated his whole Essence vnto him thus hee alone is the Son of God the onely begotten Son Ioh. 1. 14. We may adore this Son-ship wee cannot search it out 2. By grace of personall Vnion and thus the man-hood of Christ or Christ as man is after a speciall manner the Sonne of God because his man-hood was inseparably vnited to the Person of the Sonne of God Luk. 1. 32. That holy thing which is borne of thee shall bee called the Sonne of God Neither had Christ as man any man to his Father but the humane nature being framed of the holy Ghost subsifted in the Deity and so makes but one Person And thus Christ both in respect of both his natures and the Vnion of them is the Sonne of God How is he begotten of the Father After an vnspeakable manner much differing from humane generation wee may conceiue no humane thing in it 1. It was without any alteration of the Father or passion in the Sonne 2. Without any propagatiō of any part of the God-head but by communication of the whole God-head of the Father to the Sonne No naturall father communicates his whole Essence 3. The Father begets the Sonne in himselfe not forth of himselfe as earthly Parents doe 4. Naturall fathers are before their children in time but the Father so begets the Sonne as hee is not before in time but in order both being eternall Obiect Psalm 2. 7. This day begot I thee therefore in time Answ. In the Sonnes begetting are two things to be considered 1. The generation it selfe which is eternall 2. The manifestation of it and this is in time at his Incarnation and Resurrection Of this the place is to be vnderstood not of the former But Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉