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A41550 Serious advice to a preservative against the blasphemous heresie of Socinianism by J.G.G. Gailhard, J. (Jean) 1695 (1695) Wing G128; ESTC R25093 29,852 44

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of his Father he hath declared him which no body else could it must be God's only Begotten the reason is given in the beginning of the Verse no Man hath seen God at any time Shall not God's only Begotten Son receive and be Partaker of his Father's Nature If absolutely no Man hath seen God at any time he that hath seen and declared him must needs be God Though this Matter be so copious yet to keep my self within my narrow Bounds I shall to this Point add a few words more St. John saith that * 1 John 2.18 in his time there were many Antichrists and ‖ Chap. 4.1 many False Prophets were gone out into the World These Opposers of Christ were of two sorts some who denied Christ Jesus to be come into the World or in the Flesh that is That the Messiah which took up the whole Expectation of the Jews was not come for we know the Messiah and * John 4.25 Christ to be but one and the same Now those that confessed not Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah were Antichrists the Messiah was to come in the Flesh that is To take upon him our Humane Nature and become Man All Prophesies and Types under the Law in every Circumstance were fulfilled in the Person of the Lord Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and whosoever denied it was an Antichrist The second sort of Antichrists in St. John's time were those that as the Ebionites did then the Arrians since and now Socinians do own Christ to be a Prophet and a Saviour but would have him to be meerly a Man and only a Creature a Man they would not deny him to be but disowned him for a God Now against these the Apostle doth speak * 1 John 4.15 Whosoever shall confess saith he that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God So by the Rule of Contraries and the Stile of Scriptures we do infer that whosoever shall not confess that Jesus is in a true and a proper Sence the Son of God God dwelleth not in him nor he in God both which that is the Validity of this Inference and the Apostle's Position that Jesus is the Son of God do appear in the following Chapter * Chap. 5.9 10 11. He that believeth not that Christ is the Son of God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son For this is the Witness of God which is greater than the Witness of Men which he hath testified of his Son Wherein the Apostle relateth not only to the Time of our Saviour's Baptism when the Voice came from Heaven saying * Matt. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased but also to the Transfiguration when the Voice came out of the Cloud with the same words with this Addition * Chap. 17.5 Hear ye him which St. Peter takes special notice of when he saith For he Jesus Christ ‖ 2 Pet. 1.17 18. received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount Where the Apostle plainly declares That as the Voice came from God the Father so it was spoken of and to God the Son or else the distinction of Father and Son had been improper and superfluous God in the Voice calls him his Beloved Son the Apostle saith the Voice came from God the Father If there was not some special Energy and Signification in the word Father the Apostle would only have said that Christ received from God Honour c. but speaking of the Father and of the Son who are Relatives that shews the distinction of two different Persons of the Godhead This Voice was the Application to the Person of whom long before Psal 2. wherein the Kingdom of Christ was Prophesied of * Psal 2.7 The Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Yea such as David whose Son he was according to the Flesh in Spirit calls him Lord which place our Saviour makes use of against the Pharisees for after they had answered his Question Whose Son Christ was He much to his purpose asketh them * Matt. 22.42 43 44 45. If David then call him Lord How is he his Son This could not be in the Capacity of his Son for the Son is not Lord over the Father wherefore it must be upon some other account there was between them another Relation it could be no Humane one within such a distance of Time Hence is appears That if God doth so often and in so singular a manner call the Lord Jesus his Only Begotten Son in whom he is well pleased If God I say speaks Truth the Lord Jesus must be his Son not in that way of Favour and Grace only as Socinians would have it and as all his Elect are but in a stricter and essential Relation to beget is to communicate his Nature and Substance and in this Sence he is the only Begotten Son there is but one thus properly God's Son We have a Text which speaks plainly to the purpose and gives a right Interpretation of the Phrase the meaning whereof the Jews understood very well it is said * John 5.18 The Jews sought the more to kill him not only because he had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was his Father making himself equal with God So then when Christ called God his Father he meaned that he was equal with God the Jews say so the Evangelist doth not say they were mistaken and our Blesied Saviour * Ver. 19 21. the best Interpreter of the thing confirmeth they had a right Notion of the Matter for in the 19 and 21 Verses he affirmeth his Equality in Power with the Father For what things soever he doth these also doth the Son likewise For as the Father raiseth up the Dead and quickneth them so the Son quickneth whom he will This Equality in Power argueth an Equality in Nature for though God can do great and miraculous things by some Creatures yet still 't is the working of his own Power but God cannot bestow an Infinite Power upon a Finite and bound Creature which it is not capable of because it would imply a Contradiction An Infinite Power in Christ such as the Father hath doth in him import an Infinite Nature But at this time I must not suffer my self to be drawn too far into the Matter Well as we heard St. John calls Antichrist him that denies Christ to be the Son of God * 1 John 2.22 He is Antichrist that denies the Father and the Son Surely Father and Son must have the same Nature deny one and you deny both Who is a Liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ To what he calls Antichrists and Liars St. Paul giveth the
to feed their Flocks with Sound Doctrine and with the Sincere Milk of Truth to prevent the Wolves coming into their Sheep-folds which now are waiting for an Opportunity to enter in and tear * Ezek. 13.5 Let them go up into the Gaps and make up the Hedges for the House of God and use every one all possible endeavours with Watching and Preaching to prevent the Poison's creeping within their several Churches and strive with good Lives and Conversations to procure God's Blessing upon their Labours But in a special way to the Superior Clergy who have a great Hand in the Government of the Church and are dignified with Titles that the greater Power they have the more is and shall be required at their Hands when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shall appear I dare not to presume so far of my self as to think I am able to advise much less to prescribe any Methods that must be left to their Christian Prudence and to that Measure which God hath imparted to them of his Spirit However with Submission it will be well to begin at Home and every one see whither all be safe and sound within the Pales of their Jurisdiction and if there appears any signs of Leprosie and Plague without loss of time and in the most proper ways let them Purge Cleanse and Remove it and then use means conducing to keep it out and hinder its coming in Afterwards let them meet and joyn Heads together and be a mutual Help and take such wholsom and vigorous Resolutions as may by the Blessing of God root out and prevent the growing of those dangerous Weeds Let every one not only within his Precincts labour against the Distemper but also altogether strive to drive it out of the Land Let them use their Authority as far as it reacheth in Ecclesiastical things and wherein it falls short they may for help apply to the Civil Power and those amongst them whom God hath endued with sufficient Parts and Learning Let them in God's Name make use of those Weapons to fight against and batter down Error and Heresie to discourage and discountenance it in the Fautors and Professors thereof And speedily they must go about it for fear of coming too late for 't is too true and too publick how the Poison is gotten not only here and there up and down but also into our very Vitals I mean into the Vniversities Let them but be Real and Upright for God and our Saviour's Interest and trust God for a Success But at one time or other * Jer. 48.10 the Curse of God will light upon those that do his Work deceitfully or negligently Wherefore mind ye Christ if ye will have him to mind you be concerned for him and his Glory if you desire him to be concerned for you My next Address is to the Magistrate and Secular Power whither Supreme or Subordinate Legislative or Executive with all humble Respect in the present case to put them in mind of their Duty as they Rule for God who hath placed them in their Stations so at the Last and Terrible Day if not before he will call them to give him an account of their Administration he not only hath called but also preserves them in the Exercise of their Charge and keeps the most Unruly in Awe and Obedience under them As this he doth for them so he expects they shall do other things for him he hath put the * Rom. 13.4 Sword in their Hand which they bear not in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth Evil not only to maintain their own Authority but also and chiefly that of God for all Authority is originatively in him and but derivatively in them for in his Name and by Vertue of his Commission is all Jurisdiction and all Judgment to be executed They are the Keepers of both Tables to punish not only the Transgressors of the second but also those of the first not only Adulterers Thieves and Murtherers but also Profane Impious Idolaters and Blasphemers I do not say presently to Hang Draw and Quarter but let the Guilty be discountenanced and the Obstinate and Contumacious punished Herein let Christian Prudence be their Guide and the Law of the Land not without God's be the Rule whereby they will unnest our Atheistical Impious and Prophane Persons who do shelter themselves under Socinianism I am sure the Devil and all the Powers of Hell can raise no Opinions more Damnable and Blasphemous no more Destructive to the very Foundation of Faith and Salvation than to bring in amongst a Christian Society that which spares not but strikes at Divinity it self which offers to pull out of God's Bosom his only begotten Son who robs that very Son of God of his Nature and of that Glory which he had with the Father from all Eternity and undertakes to Annihilate that Holy and Blessed Spirit of God This indeed is to grieve him that comforteth us in all our Griefs and at once to overthrow the whole Mystery of our Redemption for if Christ be not God he hath not satisfied the Justice of God nor appeased his Wrath And thus our Faith is vain and we are still in our Sins for it was impossible for any Man meerly such to perform that great Work and overcome all our Enemies I say though God had strengthned him never so much for no Man could receive a greater Power than Humane Nature is capable of and God could not of a Man make a God because it implies a Contradiction Humanity being passible was a fit subject to suffer Pains due for Sin and the Curse of the Law but an Infinite Power was necessary to get the Victory over those Torments and over Death I say not only that Humane Nature alone could not perform this but I add That Angelical Nature more noble and perfect would have sunk under the Weight and Burthen of it These Errors we must look upon as Hellish and Prodigious Monsters as indeed they are but withall the Impudence and Shamelesness of those that are therewith infected is a great Aggravation they Glory in their Shame for with a bare and brazen Face they own and publish their Opinions which I could observe to my Grief and Amazement No Modesty in their Behaviour no sign of Piety in their Discourse no Check of Conscience they speak openly write publickly and boldly disperse their Erroneous Books and no Curb no Restraint put upon them they Poison the Souls and no body saith to them What doest thou We have the Ny s the Fer ns the Fr ks c. known for what they be we have here as I am informed one Crel us Nephew to that Infamous Socinian beyond Sea we have here some Fr ch Wretches who before they came over durst not own their Opinions for fear of Fire and Faggot yet here vent them with Liberty who if ever they went back would no
come to God but thorough him that is the way Hence it appears John 14.6 how none but a True and not a made God could be a Mediator between God and us If one Man sin against another 1 Sam. 2.25 saith Eli the Judge shall judge him But if a Man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him No meer Man can only he that is Lord God himself * Rom. 8.3 What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh is a place worthy to take up our Serious Thoughts This sheweth first the Law could not justifie us by reason of Weakness thorough the Flesh or Humane Nature which to remedy 't was necessary God should send his own Son to relieve this Weakness and Impossibility for that wherein our Nature thorough Frailty was wanting must be helped by Divine Nature Secondly This sheweth how this help came by means of God's own Son whom God sent into the World and by a Sacrifice for Sin effected that which was impossible for any Man whatsoever to do Now if they can let them find stronger and more proper Expressions to signifie Christ Jesus to be the True Proper Natural Son of God than these in Scripture God's own Son the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father in whom the Father is well pleased Can this be said of one that is a meer Man No nor of any Angel which is a nobler Creature For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 6 8. this day have I begotten thee And again when he bringeth the first Begotten into the World he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him He cannot be called the First Begotten in relation to a Temporal Generation for many other Sons of Adoption God had begotten long before Christ's appearing in the World but upon account of an Eternal take notice of what is added But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne 1 Tim. 1.1 Tit. 1.3 O God is for ever and ever not only here and in other places I already quoted he is called God but also St. Paul in two places gives him the name of God our Saviour he is God as certainly as he is our Saviour for in both places both are joyned together Now as when the Spirit of God doth in Scripture call him Man we ought to believe him to be a Man indeed so when he calls him God we must believe him to be God indeed for with St. Paul * Rom. 2.2 We are sure that the Judgment of God is according to Truth And immediately after his Conversion he began to preach the Gospel with this Fundamental Truth thereof namely That he is the Son of God Acts 9.20 And whosoever owns him not to be truly God gives God the Lye disowns him to be our Saviour and our Mediator for as the Mediator doth act the part of Man with God so with Men he is to perform the part of God he stands between two Extreams and reaches them both with filling the space though never so distant between them he immediately approacheth unto God whom he pacifieth towards Men and from him upon the account of his own Merit obtaineth for them all Gifts and Graces necessary to their Salvation All this none but a God can do for us But here I must stop for insensibly I am driven farther than I intended only few words I shall speak in relation to the most Holy and Blessed Trinity which they deny Divine Nature is most simply and singularly one yet in that one Essence are Three Persons distinguished in Number Order Manner of Acting and with Personal Names and Attributes And though the words Trinity and Persons be not in so many Letters set down in Scripture no more than the word Sacrament Symbole or Creed Lord's-Prayer c. Yet as we agree that these are contained in and deduced out of the Word of God so we may say of those now in question For Brevity sake I shall mention none of the several Proofs taken out of the Old Testament and pitch upon few of those out of the New The Baptism of the Lord Jesus doth afford a clear and strong Proof God the Father speaks * Matt. 3.16 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Christ the Son of God is Baptised The Spirit or Holy Ghost descended from Heaven like a Dove and lighted upon him Then the Apostles are commanded to * Chap. 28.19 Baptise in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost furely by any one that can reckon it will be found there are Three Hypostases or Persons for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred in relation to God the Father for the Son is said to be * Heb. 1.3 the express Image of his the Father's Person In the following Text we also find there ‖ John 14.16 17. I will Pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter the Father I and the Comforter there called the Spirit of Truth and in the next Chapter 't is said * Chap. 15.26 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father again here they be Three St. Paul also mentioneth them * 2 Cor. 13.14 The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The Love of God that is the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost This I shall conclude with that of another Apostle * 1 John 5.7 For there are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. I think from the word Three that of Trinity may well be derived Here is proved the Trinity of Persons and the Unity or Oneness of Essence or Nature The Trinity of Persons doth not multiply the Nature without any Contradiction a Subject may in one respect be one and manifold in another This is clear out of several Instances in Nature Man hath a Soul this Soul hath three several distinct Faculties the Mind Will and Memory the Mind is not the Will nor the Will the Memory these are three different Faculties yet but one Soul In the Sun are three things the Body the Light and the Heat of the Sun yet not many Suns yet only one A Father hath a Son the Father and the Son are two different Persons yet they have the same Nature and both are Men. There are many more such Instances which I now forbear to mention to shew how in created Substances Trinity or Multiplicity doth not destroy Unity so we may reasonably infer that in the Godhead the Trinity of Persons is no Prejudice to the Unity of Essence or Nature But for all this they will deny the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost the first I proved and I think 't
now he knew every thing * John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things saith Peter unto him ‖ Ch. 2.24 25. he knew all Men and needed not that any should testifie of Man for he knew what was in Man There was no Dissembling before him * Heb. 4.13 14. for all things are and were naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we are to do even Jesus the Son of God who when upon Earth knew ‖ John 6.70 and 13.11 which of the Twelve was a Devil for he knew who should betray him This Record he bears of himself and we know his Record is true * Rev. 2.23 All the Churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts All this is very plain In the Word of God our Saviour is declared to be Almighty for ‖ John 5.19 whatsoever things the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise and † Heb. 1.3 he upholdeth all things by the word of his Power In the fore-quoted place of Rev. 1. he calls himself the Almighty Christ Jesus is also present every where another Attribute of an Infinite Being * Matt. 18.20 Chap. 28.20 Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there I am in the midst of them and Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World But not only all these forenamed Attributes incommunicable to the Creature such is every meer Man are applied unto the Lord Jesus also Divine Works are as the Creation of the World ‖ John 1.3 All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Which St. Paul confirmeth * Colos 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones and Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him We know the Work of Creation is peculiar to God he never imparted it to any Creature for none is capable of it only an Infinite Being and Power can fill up an infinite distance between an ens and non ens a real Being and nothing between these two is an unpassable Gulf for any Creature an Abyss that can be filled up by no Man nor Angel To create is God's incommunicable Work the Name of Creator or Maker of something out of nothing belongs to God alone and seeing the World was created by the Word and that Christ is the Word that was made Flesh it followeth that Christ is God Heb. 1.2 God by his Son made the Worlds So he Rules and Preserves the World as in the fore-quoted place Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power He saith himself ‖ John 14.11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very Works sake He is one of the Elohim that created the World Gen. 1.1 It is also a Divine Work to raise Men from the Dead this also belongs to Christ for as the Father raiseth up the Dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom he will The words as and so do shew an Equality in the Acts our Saviour raised Jairus his Daughter Lazarus c. nay he raised himself by his own Power * John 10.18 I have Power to lay down my Life and take it up again Can any one but God give Eternal Life But ‖ Chap. 10.20 Christ gives his Sheep Eternal Life Who can forgive Sins but God only The Jews were in the Right according to their Primciples to call it Blasphemy because they believed him to be a meer Man and not God as he was * Mark 2.7 10. Why doth this Man thus speak Blasphemies who can forgive Sins but God only Whereupon immediately our Saviour to shew he was God said That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive Sins c. he proveth it with a Miracle The raising of the Dead and other Miracles done by the Apostles were not in their Names and by their Power as all Christs were * Acts 3.6 but in the Name and by the Power of Jesus of Nazareth Lastly Divine Worship and Honour is and ought to be rendred to our Saviour by Angels and Men and ‖ Heb. 1.6 let all the Angels of God worship him and * John 5.23 that all Men should Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father that is alike that signifies in the same Nature Manner and Degree but God declares ‖ Isa 42.8 he will not give his Glory to another Wherefore Christ must needs be the same as the Father of the same Nature and not a Titular God as they would make of him So they who deny him truly to be the Son of God in that are worse than the Devils which owned him to be such Matt. 8.29 which Truth hath been sealed with the Blood of Millions of Martyrs And to come to Particulars * John 3.15 16 we must believe in him we must ‖ Matt. 28.19 be Baptised in his Name and * Phil. 2.10 at his Name every Knee should bow If Christ were not God it were Idolatry to worship him yet our Blessed Saviour who was no Friend to Idolatry would not have suffered the Man in the Gospel to have worshipped him but far from forbidding he encouraged him to it and under what Notion as Son of God for he asked him ‖ John 9.35 36 37 38. Doest thou believe on the Son of God The Man answered Who is he Lord Christ replied Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee Can we desire a plainer Declaration that Christ is the Son of God and ought to be worshipped and if he were not the true Son of God of the same Nature it had been Idolatry and Blasphemy in Thomas to call him * John 20.28 My Lord and my God God foreseeing the Devil would raise his strongest Batteries against his Son who came to destroy the Works of the Devil which therefore would have cut him off in his very Cradle and stirred up the whole Malice of Earth and Hell and to Discredit his Doctrine that Father of Lies found Instruments that defamed his Person and said he was a Samaritan a Friend to Publicans and Sinners that had a Devil and did cast out Devils by Belzebub he was the Carpenter's Son such a Fellow as they knew not from whence he was a Seducer Deceiver and Impostor I say God fore-knowing all this provided sufficient Remedies and by his Holy Spirit in his Word gave such clear and full Evidences as none but those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds could doubt of or call to question this Truth of the Gospel * John 3.16 Chap. 1.18 That God sent his own Son into the World Moreover His only begotten Son which is in the Bosom
to be called is really to be so as of John Baptist Thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest Luke 1.76 shall really be so or else if he had not really been it had been a Lie Man was to have no hand in the Birth of that Child for the Virgin knew no Man it was to be a Production only of the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin and of the Power of the Highest overshadowing her Here we must draw a Curtain and a Door before this high Mystery yet we may say that to bring into the World one that should be meerly a Man there had been no need of this transcendent unspeakable and incomprehensible way If it was intended he should have been no more than a Man there had been no need of altering the usual Course of Generation as it was not in * Take notice of the difference Moses as a Servant Christ as a Son over his own House Heb. 3.5 6. Moses Elijah upon whom afterwards God poured his Spirit So if the Lord Jesus had been but a Man he might have been begotten of a Man and afterwards God might have bestowed his Spirit upon him in a higher measure than ever it had been upon any Man that went before but the overshadowing of the Highest was not in vain because God doth nothing in vain The Holy Ghost alone might have preserved him from Sin in his Conception but there had been no need of the overshadowing of the Highest Take notice how Christ is also called the Highest and the Great God Luke 1.76 Tit. 2.13 Let us compare the Cases between the Birth of John the Baptist of whom our Saviour saith thus * Luke 7.28 Amongst those that were born of Women there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist and that of the Lord Jesus In the first two things are remarkable the first That an Angel was sent to Announce his Birth The second That he should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mothers Womb all the rest was Natural and Common Chap. 1. Thy Wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a Son Here according to the usual Course of Nature a Child was to be born of a Husband and his Wife though Old yet the thing happened before to others but in the Person of Christ is a Child born of a Woman without Man The Angel said to Zachariah nothing of the Holy Ghost coming upon Elizabeth nothing of the highest overshadowing her as to the Virgin Mary And we know how never one Man or one Prophet spoke of another as John Baptist did of our Lord and Saviour he knew his distance the difference between them and his nothing in comparison with him * John 1.27 30 He that comes after me and whose Shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose the same was before me yet born six Months after him and before Abraham too though there were 42 Generations between them O that Pre-existence hath no Humane Foundation and can be attributed to nothing but to an Eternal Being he owneth he was not the Christ but he was sent before him to cry in the Wilderness Make straight the way of the Lord Jehovah Verse 34 and I saw and bare Record that this is the Son of God Wherefore upon occasion our Saviour saith of John Baptist He bare record of me unto the Truth Chap. 5.33 34. though I need no such thing for I receive not Testimony from Man however he bare Witness unto the Truth that I am the Son of God And indeed if to prove it there was but one or few such Texts and Particulars in Scripture about Christ some might happen to think there is room for Cavils and Exceptions but so many things and in so many several places being said to that purpose and all tending to confirm that Truth how he is True God and Only True Son of God there is no reasonable ground left to doubt of it ‖ 1 John 5.20 We know saith St. John that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is True even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the True God and Eternal Life Nothing plainer than that Jesus Christ is the True God Relatives ought to be applied to the next Scripture mentioneth four kinds of Generation the first by Father and Mother that is the Common The second without Father or Mother which is properly Creation so Adam was begotten and on this account called Son of God The third of a Father without Mother thus Eve was formed out of Adam's Rib But the fourth and more Miraculous is of a Mother without a Father thus our Blessed Saviour was born of a Woman without the help of Man But all these do relate only to a Temporal Generation but that of Jesus Christ Son of God in a strict Sence by the Father is Eternal Now the Office of Mediator required a Person that should be both God and Man to perform those things that were to be done in relation to both As for instance To Suffer and Die was the part of Humane Nature which the Divine is not capable of but to overcome Death and our Spiritual Enemies could not be effected but by a Divine Power And it also became the Majesty of God that the Mediator should be God which Majesty is so great that none but he that is intimate and equal with the Father could interpose between God and Man Angels themselves could and dared not undertake it for they stand in need of Christ Mediator and * Job 15.15 they are not Pure in God's sight which makes them hide their ‖ Isa 6.2 Face in his Presence now much less any Man only such Besides who but a God could destroy Sin appease God's Wrath overcome the Power of Satan and Death Natural and Eternal Who could make Expiation for Offences committed against an Infinite God but he that is Infinite himself By whose Intercession could God's Anger be pacified but thorough his that is his Beloved Son By whose Power could Satan and the whole Power of Darkness be overcome but by him that is stronger than all the Devils and Hell And who could conquer Death but he that hath destroyed him that hath the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 And as none but a God could deliver us from all these Evils under whose Power we were so none but a God could restore us to the Goods we had lost As first Who could have restored us to a perfect Righteousness but he that is Righteousness it self Who to God's Image Chap. 1.3 but he that is the express Image of his Person and the Brightness of his Glory Who could make us Children of God but he that is his Natural and only begotten and beloved Son Who could bestow upon us the Holy Ghost but he from whom the Holy Ghost proceedeth And who could give us Eternal Life but he that is Life it self And by whom could we