or any thing besides what a person or thing is for the present argueth imperfection which is clearly proved thus Whatsoever it is possible for a person or thing to be which at present he is not must needs be something which will either add unto his being and make it better or else take away from his being and so make it worse or else be a thing meerly indifferent and so of no concernment unto him at all So then if a man be capable of being any thing which yet he is not for the bettering of his condition it is a cleer case that his present condition or being is imperfect for he is as yet destitute of that which should add perfection unto him If he be capable of any thing or of being any thing which yet he is not to the making of his present condition worse here the case is yet more cleer that such a man's condition is not perfect For to be obnoxious to the deprivation or losing of any good which a man enjoyeth for the present manifestly argueth weakness and imperfection Thirdly and lastly If a man be capable of being any thing which yet he is not suppose it be without any relation at all to his condition either for the better or the worse yet this also plainly argueth imperfection For it supposeth that a man hath something hath a capacity which is a meer superfluity to him and doth him no good yea which he knoweth not how to improve for his good and this as apparently as either of the former argueth imperfection So that certain it is that if the nature and being of God be absolutely and infinitely perfect he must needs be a pure and meer act all in present and actual being whatsoever it is possible for him ever to be This most intire and compleat actuality of the Divine Nature and being is I presume saith Mr. John Goodwyn in his Book entituled Redemption Redeemed pag. 48. generally subscribed by all Reformed Divines God saith Zanchy is a most pure and most simple act and no wayes capable or in any possibility of being any thing more or less than what he is And from this actuality of God he infers both his absolute immutability and infinity of his perfection It is affirmed saith Peter Martyr as with one mouth of all that are godly that God is not changed in as much as this would be a certain sign as well of imperfection as inconstancy in him The reason why God is not changed nor capable of any change whatsoever is because he is a most pure absolute and compleat act i. e. he is for the present whatsoever it is possible in any respect for him to be So that notwithstanding his ownipotency it self he hath no power to make the least alteration or change in himself either in nature will or action Upon the account of this Authors credit who interesteth all the godly in the assertion and belief of God's unchangeableness and consequently of that perfect actuality which we assert I judge it needless to make any further levy of testimonies in this behalf CHAP. II. Of the Holy Trinity First the proof of it from the Scriptures Secondly the use of it AMongst the multitude of Scriptures holding forth the Doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the Divine Essence let it at present suffice to transcribe these Texts because I shall speak more about the Trinity hereafter in the Questions and Answers And God said Let us make man in our own Image after our likeness Gen. 1.26 And the Lord God said Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil Gen. 3.22 Go to let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one anothers speech Gen. 11.7 But none saith Where is God my Maker so they say it is in the Hebrew who giveth songs in the night Job 35.10 And one cryed unto another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth it full of his Glory Isa 6.3 And the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3.16 17. Go therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father he shall testifie of me Joh. 15.26 The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.13 For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the holy Spirit and these three are one 1 Joh. 5.7 Hence appeareth first the in being of one Person in another Joh. 14.10 11. 1 Joh. 1. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me Because a Person signifying both the essence and its relative property all the persons having one and the same Essence it followeth that in respect of the Essence one Person is in another Thus John saith there are three that is three distinct Persons in respect of their relative opposition adding withal that these three are one namely in respect of the sameness of the Essence And here we may see the reason of those words of Christ Joh. 8.19 If you had known me ye should have known my Father also He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Secondly That all the Persons are equal Who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 Joh. 5.18 Either the Persons are equal or else because every Person is God there would follow an inequality and consequently an inferiority in God which is inconsistent with his Perfection as I said before Thirdly That all the Attributes in that they flow from the Essence are true of every Person because every Person hath the whole Essence Fourthly That all the Attributes whether Relative Negative or Positive or if any other in that they proceed from the Essence are true of every Person because the whole Essence is in every Person The Father is Eternal the Son is Eternal the Holy Ghost is Eternal because the whole Essence is in every one of them yet there are not three Eternals but one Eternal because the Essence which is in them all is but one In like manner the Father is infinite the Son is infinite the Holy Ghost is infinite yet c. And so of all the rest Fifthly That all the works of God which concern the Creature i. e. whatsoever is besides God are wrought by all the Persons joyntly because the efficacy whereby they are what they are proceeds likewise from the Essence it self not from the manner of the Essence Moreover the knowledge of the Trinity is necessary to Salvation because saving Faith hath for its object God the Father
Son and Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ God-Man Note this No man is saved without the knowledge of the Father No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 No man is saved without the knowledge of the Son Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father 1 Joh. 2.23 He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Joh. 5.23 No man is saved without the knowledge of the Holy Ghost Now if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Joh. 14.17 God heareth none but such as call upon him in the Name of Christ None can call upon God in Christ but such as are taught and assisted by his Spirit We cannot Worship God aright without the knowledge of the Trinity As God the Father Son and Holy Ghost is of the object of Faith so is he of the object of Divine Worship Baptism is an act of Worship and sign of the Covenant but we are baptized into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 God hath committed all Judgment to the Son that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Joh. 5.23 Believers are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 The Lord of the Temple is worshipped in the Temple We worship the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity All Obedience is to be performed unto God the Father Son and Holy Ghost To him that elected us that gave Christ to redeem us that created us that brought Israel out of Egypt that in a word doth all for us is all obedience to be performed But God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and that as God the Father Son and Holy Ghost elected us gave Christ to redeem us created us c. Therefore unto God the Father Son and Holy Ghost is all obedience to be performed The plurality of Persons in the Trinity is of great use for the confirmation of the truth unto us John asserts that great Truth of Jesus Christ being the Son of God and Saviour of all them that believe not only from the testimony of one God but from the testimony of that one God who is three Witnesses for there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 1 Joh. 5.7 To the same purpose is the Argument Christ useth disputing against the Scribes and Pharisees proving the truth of what he had spoken concerning himself being the Light of the World because it was averred by the Father and him as two Witnesses 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 â—e beareth witness of me Joh. 8.17 18. The knowledge of the Trinity tends unto the Consolation of Believers Paul affectionately desirous that the hearts of the Colossians might be comforted sheweth two special means thereof viz. The acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father See Mr. Norton's Orthodox Evangelist p. 33 34. and of Christ with the full assurance of understanding and Brotherly-love Of God i. e. of God and of his Attributes of the Father i. e. of the Persons the first of which is the Father of Christ i. e. of his Person and Office so some without repugnancy to the Analogie of Faith or the words of the Text. Lastly The knowledge of the Doctrine of the Trinity is requisite to our Communion which as our Union is with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.13 Matth. 28.19 Though the perfect manner how one Person is of another is incomprehensible and unutterable in this life the perfect knowledge thereof being reserved unto glory yet so far hath God revealed himself unto us in his Word in this life as that we may and ought to attain unto some distinctness yea unto such distinctness as is held forth in the Scriptures of Truth which is the measure of Faith and not to rest in an implicite Faith concerning this Mystery of Mysteries Secret things belong to the Lord our God but these things which are revealed belong unto us and to our Children for ever Deut. 29.29 Upon which last words viz. To us and to our Children they say the Hebrew hath extraordinary Pricks to stir up our attention to the matter here spoken of To be wise above what is written is not wisdom but perilous sin and folly To be wise according to what is written is sobriety To be wise up to what is written though alas we have all great cause to cry God be merciful to us all herein is our Duty No where saith Augustine throughout the revealed Will of God is the truth sought out with greater labour no where is our finding out of the truth fruitfuller no where do we err with greater danger 1 Cor. 15.34 Some have not the knowkedge of God I speak this to your shame saith St. Paul To this agrees the saying of Dr. Hall in his Collections pag. 407 408. How to conceive of the Deity in our Prayers in our Meditations is both the deepest Point of all Christianity and the most necessary so deep that if we wade into it we may easily drown never find the bottom so necessary that without it our selves our services are prophane irreligious We are all born Idolaters naturally prone to fashion God to some form of our own whether of an humane body or of admirable light or if our mind have any other more likely and pleasing Image First then away with all these wicked Thoughts these gross Devotions and with Jacob burn all your strange Godds under the Oak of Shechem ere you offer to set up God's Altar at Bethel and without all mental representations conceive of your God purely simply spiritually as of an absolute being without form without matter without composition yea an infinite without all limit of thoughts Let your heart adore a spiritual Majesty which it cannot comprehend yet knows to be and as it were lose it self in his infiniteness Think of him as not to be thought of as one whose Wisdom is his Justice whose Justice is his Power whose Power is his Mercy and whose Wisdom Justice Power Mercy is himself as without quality good great without quantity everlasting without time present every-where without place containing all things without extent And
For the Apostle saith Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but he-took on him the Seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the People By all which it doth appear that he took flesh of the Virgin Mary I touch this matter the more because not long since I communed with some men who very confidently did affirm that the eternal Word did not take any flesh of the Virgin Mary And they also boasted that there were many Men and Women in England of their opinion concerning this matter For although they do grant that Christ as Man was really flesh yet they deny the matter of which it was made to be of or from the Virgin Mary but say that it was Heavenly matter viz. the Divine Nature was turned into Flesh in the Virgins Womb even as the Water at Cana was turned into Wine Joh. 2.7 Now I will by God's help in this ensuing Discourse demonstrate the falshood of this their Opinion for it denyeth Christ to be the true Son of David according to the flesh contrary to all these Texts Gen. 26.4 22.18 2 Sam. 7.12 Psal 132.11 Acts 2.30 all which prove him to be the true Son of David according to the flesh As also St. Matthew and St. Luke reckon his kindred and generation from Adam Abraham and David c. Moreover Christ came not only to die for our sins but also to be an example unto us and a perfect pattern of good living as shall be declared afterward more fully For how could he more set forth his exceeding love to us than in dying for us For greater love than this hath no man than to bestow his life saith Christ speaking of his own death Now the Deity suffered no infirmity or change which is impossible wherefore it was necessary that he should take our Nature upon him who came to heal our infirmities and to teach us to cure them through Faith in well-doing If he had taken them in any other nature then the example of his life would not have been teachable unto us for if he had been tempted in any other nature or died how could we learn to withstand the Devil and to overcome his temptations by Christ's example wherefore there was no way like this to redeem man He is Wisdom therefore he took the wisest way c. Now that you may the better understand these great Mysteries concerning God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 I will put that which I have said into Questions Answers that so through God's blessing you may see this great Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.15 and believe it As also add more to this that I have here said for your comfort by way of Vse and Application and so leave the Work to â—he blessing of God and your serious consideration CHAP. IV. Questions and Answers about God Quest WHat things are we to know concerning God Answ 1. What God is 2. What a God he is or how he is affected towards us Quest What is God A. God is an Essence Spiritual Incomprehensible Almighty Immortal Infinite Love it self Mercy it self Justice it self Holiness it self Purity it self Goodness it self Wisdom it self Long-suffering it self Bountifulness it self which is the Father who from all Eternity begat the Son Coeternal with himself and of the same substance with the Father and the Son not made nor created but begotten of the Father from all Eternity Joh 4.24 1 Tim. 1 17 Jam. 1.17 Acts 1.8 Jer. 23.24 1 Joh. 4.8 16. Exod. 34.6 7. Mat. 5 44. and the Holy Ghost proceeding from them both the Father and the Son the Creator and Conserver of all things the Redeemer and Sanctifier of the Elect. Which is no definition for he that is super-substantial and incomprehensible cannot be defined but such a description as sufficiently containeth all such things as in this life are necessary for us to know for the service of God and our Salvation Q. Is there one God only or whether be there more A. One only Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is One Lord. 1 Sam. 2 2 Isa 41.4 44.6 Mat. 12.32 And so 1 Cor. 8.4 We know that an Idol is nothing in the World and that there is no other God but One. And seeing the true God is most high Eph. 4.6 1 Tim â— 5. and most infinite actually therefore there can be no more but One God because there can be no more but one that is above all neither any more but one infinite And this one God is manifested to us by such testimonies as cannot deceive to wit by Miracles Prophesies and other things which by his Omnipotence may be done Q. How is God said to be One A. Neither by a genus nor species but in Essence and in Number or in regard of his Nature because there is one only Essence of God and that indivisible Q. Why doth the Scripture make mention of Elohim or Gods joyning that word as well with the plural as singular number A. Not to the end that it should make a multitude of Gods or divide the Essence but to distinguish the Persons because though there be one Person of the Father another Person of the Son and another of the holy Ghost yet the Father is not another thing or another God distinct from the Son and the holy Ghost the Son is not another thing or another God distinct from the Father and the holy Ghosh neither is the holy Ghost another thing or another God distinct from the Father and the Son because the Nature of God is but one and indivisible although the Father be one the Son another and the holy Ghost another And therefore they are not of divers Natures of another and divers Substance not conjoyned or knit together in one Substance as men which have one common essence not only of the like substance but of one and the same substance have the same Essence the same Eternity the same Will the same Operation the same Power and the same Glory Phil. 2.6 Q. How many wayes is the Name of God taken in Scriptures A. Two wayes properly for the Substance Essence and Nature and improperly Now it is taken properly or for the Essence when it is taken without the distinction of any one of the Persons as Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit where God is taken for the whole Essence of the Deity as is also the Name Jehovah Or else personally when there is joyned unto the Name of God the name of the Person as God the Father God the Son God the holy Ghost Or when the Father is opposed to the Son who is very God and the second Person in the Trinity as Rom. 7.25 I thank God by Jesus Christ So Rom. 8.3 the Father is called God the word Father
the third degree viz. the glorious Presence of God in Heaven with the Church Triumphant Heb. 12.22 Q. 2. If God be a Spirit Joh. 14.24 how then doth the Scriptures ascribe to him hands and feet and almost all the parts of a man sith Christ saith A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have c. A. This is to be understood Metaphorically as also by way of Analogy For like as men use to hold water in the hollow of their hand and also span with it even so the Lord albeit he is a Spirit or spiritual substance yet to help our infirmity speaketh to us as it were in our own language and saith he measureth Heaven with a span and holdeth the water in the hollow of his hand Isa 40.12 And as men see with their eyes and hear with their eares even so the Lord is said to do Psal 34.15 The eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his ears are open unto their Prayers The hand of the Lord hath driven out the Heathen Now a Spirit hath not hands eyes and ears c. Therefore when the Scriptures attribute these to God viz. hands eyes lips tongue nose heart head face and back-parts c. it is not to be understood litterally but in the second or third sense viz. Analogically or Allegorically that is another thing is meant as Gal. 4.24 As for Example his right hand signifieth his Power for David saith The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly the right hand of the Lord is exalted Psal 118.15 16. And his finger is compared to the Holy Ghost Luk. 11.20 But if I with the finger of God cast out Devils no doubt the Kingdom of God is come unto you compared with Matth. 12.28 But if cast out Devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you And thus I might shew how the rest might be applyed but for brevity sake I forbear Q. 3. How is God said to repent Gen. 6.6 sith other Scriptures say he is not as Man that he should repent or as the Son of Man that he should change his mind For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 A. Albeit God is said sometimes to be angry with us and sometimes pleased this doth not prove any change in God but when we break his Commandments and set light by his Promises and follow our corrupt wayes we are changed and not he We be mutable he is immutable for in him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 He is said to be pacified pleased when we turn from our evil ways so turn to him by true repentance See for this Jonah 3.9 Joel 2.12 Jer. 18.18 For when God is said to laugh at mens calamities and mock when their fear cometh Prov. 1.26 We are not by these and such-like sayings to think that God hath such Affections and Passions as be in Man for God hateth such as mock at his Messengers and despiseth his Word yea God abhoreth the scornful man but as those men that laugh at our calamities are the furthest off from helping of us out of it even so is God when he laugheth at our calamity See Prov. 1.26 27 28. So he is said Psal 44.23 to sleep Arise wherefore dost thou sleep O Lord Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercy sake vers 26. Now the Lord keepeth his Vineyard lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Isa 27.3 David saith He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth Psal 121.4 But this is to be understood Metaphorically as I said before as when he is said to awake it is meant his speedy coming to help us opposite to sleeping which is his delaying to come to help us And so when Moses is desirous to see his face and to speak with him face to face it must be meant of some high degree of his manifestation of Grace but not of Glory for so no mortal man can see his face and live No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 for he is invisible 1 Tim. 1.17 who only hath immortality dwelling in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see for he sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers That stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in That bringeth the Princes to nothing he maketh the Judges of the Earth as vanity To whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal saith the Holy One Isa 40.22 to the 26. For as St. Paul saith By these things we speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery even the hidden Wisdom which God ordained before the World unto our glory which none of the Princes of this World knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Now we have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit that is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words that man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. c. Now I have according to my measure given you my understanding of these great Mysteries of God and the Father and of Christ and of the Holy Ghost Col. 2.2 in as short and plain a method as I could for your information c. Now of that which hath been spoken as concerning God by me in this Treatise this is the summe That God is a Spirit Joh. 4.4 or spiritual substance or pure nature immutable invisible unsearchable filling Heaven and Earth Full of understanding of truth and righteousness of mercy and wisdom and all manner of goodness without beginning and without ending not created nor made and Maker of all things subject to nothing and governing all things knowing all things yea even the inward thoughts and intents of the hearts of men forgiving sins only to be honoured and called upon only hearing our prayers justifying and saving us of an almighty arm and majesty the Father unbegotten the Son begotten the Holy Ghost proceeding from them both as I have proved by the Word of God which cannot lye Now all these things as aforesaid be rightly applyed to the Father Son and Holy Spirit so that it plainly appeareth that to whomsoever these things may rightly be applyed he is God by Nature and not by Name only as they are Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like men c. But unto God the Father Son and
when your thoughts are come to the highest stay there and be content to wonder in silence and if you cannot reach to conceive of him as he is yet take heed you conceive not of him as he is not Neither will it suffice your Christian mind to have this awful and confused apprehension of the Deity without a more special and inward conceit of three in this one Three Persons in this one Essence not divided but distinguished and not more mingled than divided There is nothing wherein the want of words can wrong and grieve us but in this Here alone as we can adore and not conceive so we can conceive and not utter yea utter your selves and not be conceived yet as we may think here of one substance in three subsistences one Essence in three Relations one Jehovah begetting begotten proceeding Father Son Spirit yet so as the Son is no other thing from the Father but another Person or the Spirit from the Son Let your thoughts here walk warily the path is narrow the conceit either of three substances or but one subsistence is damnable Let me lead you yet higher and further in this intricate way towards the Throne of Grace All this will not avail you if you take not your Mediator with you if you apprehend not a true Manhood gloriously united to the Godhead without change of either Nature without mixture of both whose Presence whose Merits must give passage acceptance vigour to your Prayers Here must be therefore as you see thoughts holily mixed of a Godhead and Humanity one Person in two Natures of the same Deity in divers Persons and one Nature wherein if ever Heavenly Wisdom must bestir it self in directing us so to sever these apprehensions that none be neglected so to conjoyn them that they be not confounded O the depth of Divine Mysteries more than can be wondered at O the necessity of this high Knowledge which who attains not may babble but prayeth not Still you doubt and ask if you may not direct your Prayers to one Person of three Why not safely and with comfort What need we fear while we have our Saviour for our pattern O my Father if possible let this Cup pass and Paul everywhere both in thanks and requests but with due care in Worshipping all in one Exclude the other while you fix your heart upon one your Prayer is sin retain all and mention one you offend not None of them doth ought for us without all It is a true rule of Divines All their external works are common To sollicite one therefore and not all were injurious And if you stay your thoughts upon the sacred Humanity of Christ with inseparable adoration of the Godhead united and thence climbe up to the holy conceit of that blessed and dreadful Trinity I dare not censure I dare not but commend your divine method Thus should Christians ascend from Earth to Heaven from one Heaven to another If I have given your Devotions any light it is well the least glimpse of this knowledge is worth all the full gleames of Humane and Earthly skill But I mistake if your own heart wrought upon with serious Meditations under that Spirit of Illumination will not prove your best master After this weak direction study to conceive aright that you may pray aright and pray that you may conceive and meditate that you may do both and the God of Heaven direct you inable you that you may do all CHAP. III. Concerning Christ our Mediator I Will now by God's help prove by the holy Scriptures that the Eternal Word viz. the second Person in the Trinity took flesh of the Virgin Mary and so was made like unto his brethren in all things sin only excepted Heb. 2.17 4.15 For neither the Father nor holy Spirit took our nature upon them but Christ only For as by the first Adam came sin and death by sin even so comes grace and life by Jesus Christ Rom. 5. But here we must note how Christ took Man's Nature upon him Not by turning his Godhead into his Manhood but by assuming of his Manhood into his Godhead not by confusion or mixture of substance but by unity of Personâ— For as the reasonable Soul and fleshly body is one Man even so the Deity and Humanity is one Christ When I say Christ took our Nature upon him I mean not that he took our flesh only as some Hereticks have thought but the Soul of man also Forasmuch as he is no half-Saviour but a Redeemer both of Body and Soul for St. John saith The Word was made Flesh viz. by taking Man's flesh or Nature in union with the Word which is Christ And why he is called the Word I have already shewed and shall God willing do it again in the Questions and Answers about Christ in a place set for it therefore I pass it over here Quest But the Eutychians ask us Of what matter the flesh of Christ was made Or Did he not bring it out of Heaven Answ No truly for as the first Adams flesh was made of the Earth as it is written Gen. 2.7 Even so it is written Christ was made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 for he did not pass through her as Water through a Pipe but took part of her substance therefore the Prophet Isaiah saith There shall come forth a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse and a branch or blossome shall grow out of his roots Isa 9. Acts 13.23 And Solomon calleth him a Lilly and Rose Cant. 2.1 Now you know the Flower and the Rose taketh its nature of the root For as St. Paul saith As is the root such are the branches Rom. 11.16 17. Besides it was the Will of God that the same flesh that sinned should be punished as we may see an instance in Davids Child although David sinned in killing of Vriah yet it pleased God to spare Davids person from death and punish him in his flesh viz. his Child with death See 2 Sam. 12.14 Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that it born unto thee shall surely die Even so it was Adam that sinned but it pleased God to spare his person and punish him in his flesh viz. Christ For as St. Paul saith He was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 And as St. Peter saith The just suffered for the unjust 1 Pet. 1.18 3.18 See the comparison also betwixt the two Adams in Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous And thus as St. Paul saith He is flesh of our flesh Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same Heb. 2.14
cannot die 1 Tim. 1.17 for he only is without beginning and without end Q. 4. But although God as God cannot die yet cannot he change himself from a Creator to a Creature and so die A. No for saith the Holy Ghost Mat. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not Jam. 1.17 Neither is there any shadow of it Q. 5. Did Christ take our flesh and not our sin A. Yes for the Holy Ghost saith He was made like unto his brethren in all things sin only excepted Heb. 2.17 4.15 Q. 6. How could he take our flesh and not our sin also sith all other men partake of both A. All other men came from Adam and by Adam as a procreant cause Rom. 5.12 but Christ came from Adam but not by Adam viz. being made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 even as Eve was made of a Man Gen. 2. but not begotten as Cain and all other men are Matth. 1.18 Q. 7. How could Christ properly be the Son of Man and so the Son of David and of Abraham and Adam if he did not take the very flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary the Daughter of David as St. Luke in his third Chapter saith she was A. He could not for God had sworn with an oath to him That of the fruit of this Loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne Acts 2.30 Q. 8. If so whether then is not that Opinion heretical and damnable that denyeth Christ to be the true Son of David A. It is because there is no Eternal Salvation to be had in any other Acts 13.38 39. Q. 9. Whether if Christ had been a Creature only although an Angel or Man could he have overcome death A. No for as he was Man the Jews did destroy the temple of his body Joh. 2.19 but as God he raised it up again the third day as he told the Jews he would do Joh. 10.18 Q. 10. Whether if Death and the Grave had kept Christ Prisoner for ever could any have been saved A. No so St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. For then they which are asleep in Christ are perished Q. 11. Whether doth not this absurdity follow the Eutychian Opinion that if Christ be only God then he could not die as aforesaid if only Man then he cannot raise himself from the dead A. It doth unavoidably follow upon their Opinion Q 12. Whether such a Doctrine which by its natural consequences maketh the death and resurrection of Christ impossible or else in vain ought not to be abandoned by all Christians A. Yes doubtless it ought for it destroyeth the Faith of Gods Elect utterly if believed Q. 13. What must we do with those Brethren that are ignorant of these bad consequences as aforesaid A. Instruct them in the true Faith concerning Christ's death and resurrection Q. 14. But what must we do if they be obstinate and will not repent A. Then after the first and second admonition reject them Tit. 3.10 Q. 15. If Christ before he came from Heaven was of the uncreated substance of the Father their Essence being One then will it not follow that the Father was made flesh at well as the Sou sith you say it was the Essence that was made flesh not the Person of the Son took it into Personal Union as we with the Scriptures say he did Heb. 2.14 16. Q. 16. If it were possible for the uncreated substance to make it self into Flesh which by nature is a Spirit and spiritual substance Joh. 4.24 Then how could he receive nourishment from the Virgin as you say he did and grow in her womb Q. 17. If he be of the uncreated substance how could he grow in Wisdom as he did sith the uncreated substance is wisdom it self Prov. 8. Q. 18. If Christ be only of the uncreated substance then how could he be ignorant of the day of Judgment Mark 13.32 Q 19. If he was only of the uncreated substance then how could he be anointed by the Holy Ghost Luk. 4.18 Acts 4.27 Q. 20. If he be only of the uncreated substance then whose Will did he obey when he said Not my Will but thy Will be done Luk. 22.42 For the Essence is one in the Father and the Son Joh. 14.9 11. Q. 21. Why did Christ die as you say he did if he was only of the uncreated substance Did he die to satisfie himself viz. as God Answer fairly and do not now when you see all these gross absurdities follow your Opinion as the natural consequences of it say you cannot tell what he was before he was made flesh in the Virgins womb for then you worship you know not what Joh. 4.22 with the Samaritans and so you are Idolaters as they and the Athenians were Acts 17.22 23 c. Some Objections Object 1. Peradventure some may say These absurdities will follow upon your own Opinion as well as ours for you say he was God by Nature as well as we and there is but one God by Nature Gal. 4.8 Answ 1. Not so for we alwayes distinguish betwixt the Essence of the Son and the Person saying The Essence is one with his Father but not his Person therefore we say his Person was begotten not his Essence and we also say that his Person took Flesh of the Virgin Mary not the Essence and therefore it was the Person of the Son that was born of her not the Father nor the Spirit for although the Essence of the three be one yet the Persons be distinct as 1 Joh. 5.7 So that the Eternal Word the Son of God did never pray to his Father as I remember till he became our Mediator no more than the Holy Ghost doth pray to the Father which for himself you know he doth not but Christ did pray for himself which could not be for his Godhead but for his Manhood which is a Creature and therefore ought to perform homage to God the Creator For we alwayes distinguish betwixt the Natures which you deny therefore we say it was his Humane Nature that was ignorant of the day of Judgment for with his Divine Nature he knoweth all things Joh. 2.25 And by virtue of it he could and did forgive sins which two things viz. To search the heart and and to forgive sins none but God can do therefore we cannot conceive how he could become our Saviour and Mediator except he had these two Natures in one Person for if he had not took our Nature and so appeared before God in our stead bearing our sins in his own body as St. Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.24 And so St. Paul saith Was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 for else Justice could not have punished him 2. If he had been put to death in the flesh which we say only died which distinction you deny but we with St. Peter say he was put to death in the flesh but
12. If the Father Son and Spirit be all Creators of Heaven and Earth then are they God by Nature but they are all Creators of Heaven and Earth therefore God by Nature Gen. 1.16 2dly If they all know the thoughts and search the heart of man then are they God by Nature but they all do so therefore 3dly If they may all be ultimately sinned against then are they God by Nature but they may be so therefore 4thly If we may worship them with Divine Worship then are they God by Nature but we may worship them with Divine Worship therefore 5thly If we may be baptized in their Name then are they God by Nature but we may yea ought to be baptized in their Name therefore God by Nature Matth. 21.19 20. The reason is plain because we expect the remission of our sins in his Name into which we were baptized as also promise to worship him in Spirit and in Truth for God is a Spirit and therefore will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth Now albeit St. John saith speaking of Christ I and my Father are one Joh. 10.30 He doth not by this saying deny the three Persons for in that he saith we are he teacheth us that he and his Father be not one Person forasmuch as ARE cannot be spoken of one Person properly and in that he saith ONE he declared that he is of the self-same substance with his Father Oh the exceeding deepness and power of God's Word which is as a two-edged Sword for with these two syllables Are and One it confoundeth two Heresies viz. the Arrians and Patripâ—ssions and Sabellians which wrest that saying of Christ He that seeth me seeth the Father also Joh. 14. which must be understood of their Essence and not of their Persons as appeareth by these words I go to prepare a place for you saith Christ and if I go I will come again which plainly proves a distinction of the Person vers 2 3. If we may not believe St. John that there be three that bear record in heaven viz. the Father the Word and the Holy Ghosh and these three are one 1 Joh. 5.7 to be a Unity and Trinity as aforesaid then these absurdities will unavoidably follow That if the Father be both the Son and the Holy Ghost as he is if their Persons be one as well as their Essence is one which is indivisible Isa 44.6 I am and there is none besides me Then the Father was he which took our Nature upon him Heb. 2.16 the Father was tempted of the Devil he suffered hunger and thirst he was buffeted and and scourged of the Jews and put to death by wicked hands he also came down in the likeness of a Dove and also of fiery Tongues he begat himself he is greater than himself he sent himself into the World he gave himself a Seat at his own right hand he is the express Image of himself he is greater than himself But if our English Eutychians cannot see these things as aforesaid to be blasphemy against God the Father yet I hope you will see them to be great absurdities for they are the natural consequences of your Opinion for you say it was God that died in the likeness of Man and to prove this you wrest as you do other Scriptures Phil. 2.6 8. for you say He that was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal to God and you say He put himself in the likeness of Men and being found in fashion as a man he 〈◊〉 himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross wherefore God also hath highly exalted him c. Now if the Godhead was turned into flesh as Water was turned into Wine as you say it was and there can be but one God by Nature both you and we say and I hope believe then if the Father be that one God For to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8.6 Then I pray consider of your Opinion as also the bad consequences that depend upon it For if you shall still be obstinate and deny that the Eternal Word did ever take any flesh of the Virgin Mary into Personal Union with it self as we say it did but will still say and believe that the Eternal Word viz. God the Creator of Heaven and Earth did make himself a Creature viz. Man and so died for our sins Then how you can acquit your selves from being rightly called blasphemers of the Eternal God which is only Immortal and Immutable as I said before I cannot yet tell because of the reasons aforesaid c. Now forasmuch as I understand by some late Conferences I have had with our English Eutychians that they deny or at least doubt of God's Omnipresence and with the Anthropomorphites think of God as if he were some old Man sitting in some one place on a Throne as Kings use to do and so with the Papists and Socinians think that one may see from his right hand to his left as Dr. Owen saith in his Answer to Mr. John Biddles Catechism Now you may see by this how one Error begetteth another For first they deny the Divine Essence of the Eternal God to be Infinite Immense and as the Prophet Jeremiah saith To fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 And as Solomon saith The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him how much less this House which I have built 2 Chron. 6.18 But they not minding such Scriptures as these or else not understanding of them but reading some other Scriptures which speak of his coming down from Heaven to see Sodom c. Gen. 18 19 chap. As also because man was made in his Image and that he hath hands and feet c. Therefore they cannot tell how he should properly be a Spirit or Spiritual substance Joh. 4.24 and therefore cannot understand the blessed Trinity as I said before And indeed without this be granted the Trinity cannot be proved to be three Persons and yet but one God as we say and believe as aforesaid for although we distinguish the Persons in the Godhead yet we do not separate them because the Essence is Infinite and Omnipresent Psal 139.7 Whither shall I fly from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there Amos 9.2 3 4. And to give you one instance what we mean when we say they are distinct and not separated from the Essence of God we mean after this manner as when we-say there are three Faculties in the Soul of Man viz. Understanding Will and Memory now these three Faculties are distinct yet not separated from the Soul for the Soul acts wholly in these three yet not three Souls but one Soul even so is the Eternal Godhead in the Father Son and Spirit and yet but one God but this
Holy Spirit are these things only properly and truly applyed therefore they only are God by Nature 1 Joh. 5.7 There be three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding that we might know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal Life Little Children keep your selves from Idols vers 20 21. Now the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 c. CHAP. VIII Containing a brief Repetition of the present Discourse concerning the glorious Trinity and Person of Christ NOw because I would if possibly I could remove all doubtings about the Holy Trinity concerning their being three Persons and one God I will further add to what I have said some Arguments to prove that they are all three God by Nature that so I might satisfie some who must and will have their reason satisfied or else they will not believe it And because all the Opinions that I oppose in this Treatise as aforesaid seems to grant the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to be God by Nature Gal. 4.4 I will therefore take it pro confesso and reason with them by an Argumentum ad hominum And first for the better understanding of the honest and simple-hearted which peradventure may conscionably doubt whether the Son and Holy Ghost be God equal with the Father because of the late opposition that is made against it by the maintainers of the aforesaid Opinions I say I will go in this plain method and make a comparison betwixt the Father and the Son viz. as he is the Eternal Word Joh. 1.1 in several things that I find in Scripture concerning them and then I will apply these to the Holy Ghost also as you may see if you will for I hope you are not obstinate First Proposition The Father is a Spirit by Nature Joh. 4.24 therefore God Parallel to this the Son is a Spirit by Nature therefore God Proof from God's Word 2 Cor. 3.17 Propos 2. The Father is immutable therefore God Parallel to this the Son is immutable therefore God proof from God's Word Heb. 1.12 Prop. 3. The Father is invisible and immutable therefore God Parallel to this the Son is invisible and immutable therefore God Proof from Gods Word 1 Tim. 6.16 Prop. 4. The Father is everywhere present with his People therefore God Parallel to this the Son is everywhere present with his People therefore God Proof from God's Word Matth. 18.20 Prop. 5. The Father is full of understanding therefore God Parallel to this the Son is full of understanding therefore God Proof from God's Word 1 Cor. 1.30 Joh. 10.30 Prop. 6. The Father is Eternal therefore God Parallel to this the Son is Eternal therefore God Proof from God's Word Rev. 1.8 11. Prop. 7. The Father is the Maker of all things therefore God Parallel to this the Son is the Maker of all things therefore God Proof from God's Word Col. 1.16 Prop. 8. The Father governeth all things therefore God Parallel to this the Son governeth all things therefore God Proof from God's Word Joh. 5.17 Prop. 9. The Father knoweth all things therefore God Parallel to this the Son knoweth all things therefore God Proof from God's Word Matth. 9.4 Joh. 2.25 Prop. 10. The Father forgiveth sins therefore God Parallel to this the Son forgiveth sins therefore God Proof from God's Word Mark 2.10 Luk. 7.49 Prop. 11. The Father is to be prayed unto therefore God Parallel to this the Son is to be prayed unto therefore God Proof from God's Word Acts 7.50 9.6 Rom. 10.13 Prop. 12. The Father giveth what gifts he pleaseth therefore God Parallel to this the Son giveth what gifts he pleaseth therefore God Proof from God's Word Eph. 4.8 Prop. 13. The Father is Almighty therefore God Parallel to this the Son is Almighty therefore God Proof from God's Word Rev. 1.8 15. 3 4. Now to whomsoever all these things may be rightly applyed he is God by Nature but unto the Son as well as unto the Father may all these things be rightly applyed therefore the Son is God by Nature Joh. 10.30 Now all these may be applyed to the Holy Ghost also Proposition 1. The Father is a Spirit by Nature and not by Creation therefore God Even so also is the Holy Ghost therefore God Joh. 14 16 Chapters Prop. 2. The Father is Immutable therefore God Even so is the Holy Ghost therefore God Joh. 14.16 Prop. 3. The Father is Immutable and Invisible therefore God Even so is the Holy Ghost therefore God Joh. 14 15. Prop 4. The Father is everywhere present therefore God Even so is the Holy Ghost therefore God Psal 139.7 Prop 5. The Father is Eternal therefore God Even so is the Holy Ghost therefore God Gen. 1.2 Prop. 6. The Father is the Maker of all things therefore God Even so is the Holy Ghost therefore God Job 26.13 33.4 Psal 36.5 Prop. 7. The Father governeth the Church therefore God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore God Isa 63.11 Acts 13.2 8.26 Prop. 8. The Father knoweth all things therefore God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore God 1 Cor. 2.10 Prop. 9. The Father doth forgive sins therefore God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore God Mat. 28.19 20. Prop. 10. We may and ought to be baptized in the Name of the Father therefore he is God Even so we may and ought to be baptized in the Name of the Holy Ghost therefore he is God Matth. 28.19 20. Prop. 11. The Father giveth what spiritual gifts he pleaseth to the Church therefore he is God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore he is God 1 Cor. 12. Prop. 12. The Father sendeth whom he will to preach the Gospel therefore he is God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore he is God Acts 18.2 Prop. 13. The Father raiseth men from the dead therefore he is God Even so doth the Holy Ghost therefore he is God Rom. 8.11 Now to whomsoever all these things may rightly be applyed he is God by Nature But to the Holy Ghost as well as to the Father may all these things be rightly applyed therefore the Holy Ghost is God by Nature Now of that which hath been said concerning Christ's Divine Nature this is the sum For I have endeavoured in this Treatise to shew you in twenty Particulars that Christ is God by Nature And here I will repeat them all for your memory-sake The first is his Eternity 2. His Simplicity 3. His Immutability 4. His Invisibility 5. His Immensity 6. His Infiniteness 7. His Omnipotency 8. His Wisdom 9. His Goodness 10. His Love 11. His Grace 12. His Mercy 13. His
God is a Spirit and therefore will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And St. Paul saith That the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ bodily Col. 2.9 not locally but by personal Union and this is the proper object of all Gospel-worship as I have said before And it was so in the time of the Law for the Temple was God's dwelling-place Psal 76.2 there was the only place of God's publick Worship Ps 29.2 No Sacrifice might be offered in any other place Deut. 12.26 27. for there the Spiritual worshippers had by Faith a sight of God and communion with him by Christ Psal 63.2 68.24 Towards the Temple they were to look wheresoever they were 1 King 8.29 Therefore what the Temple was to them under the Law the same is Christ to us under the Gospel therefore as the true worshippers did not worship the Temple although the false did but God that dwelleth in the Temple even so we may not worship the Temple only viz. the Humane Nature of Christ but God in it for it is the Spirit that quickneth Joh. 6.53 54. And as there was in that Temple a Vail to go into the Holiest of all where God dwelt between the Cherubims even so it is now Heb. 10. We pass through the vail viz. the flesh of Christ into the Holiest if we are led thereby to worship that Godhead that dwelleth in it This is a right conception and true worship of God For the Humanity of Christ was to the Godhead as a back of mettle to a Crystal glass for look on such a glass in its pure substance and it is transparent put a back of mettle to it and it gives a beautiful reflex So if we take up conceptions of the Godhead in its pure Essence it is transparent if we consider of God as he is Infinite Almighty Immense Eternal what is this to the Creature or our comfort If we consider him in his Power Justice Wisdom Holiness Goodness and Truth what is this to us yea all these are against us as we are sinners But if we take up a conception of God in all his Attributes as they appear to us in Christ so they make a most comfortable reflex upon us In this Glass we behold the Glory of the Lord and are changed into the same similitude from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 In this Glass we behold that Wisdom by which we are instructed that Righteousness by which we are justified that Power by which we are preserved that Grace by which we are chosen and called that Goodness by which we are relieved and supplyed that Holiness by which we are transformed that Glory to the which we shall be conformed by all which it appeareth that our right apprehension and due conception of God must spring from the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ For no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Matth. 11.27 For the Saints in the Law meditated devoutly upon his coming in the flesh many Prophets and righteous Men saith Christ desired to see the things which you see and have not seen them Matth. 13.17 Luk. 10.24 and what were these things Surely it is God manifested in the flesh as appeareth by St. Luke Luk. 10.24 Now as Aaron the high Priest was chosen from amongst his brethren and not of a stranger Exod. 28.1 even so Christ the Antitype of Aaron was taken out of the Tribe of Judah which were his brethren according to the flesh Heb. 2.17 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah saith the Holy Ghost Heb. 7.14 And this is that which Moses said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from amongst his brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things Deut. 18.18 whatsoever he shall say unto you Acts 3.23 But notwithstanding all this the Eutychians deny that he was flesh of our flesh although the Holy Ghost saith it again and again both by the holy Prophets in the old Testament and the holy Apostles in the New for St. Paul saith We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 Now sith he was flesh as the Eutychians confess and yet deny him to be our flesh against all these faithful Witnesses as aforesaid I now desire them to tell me if they can what flesh it was sith St. Paul knew but four kinds of created flesh viz. one kind of flesh of Men another of Beasts another of Fish and another of Birds 1 Cor. 15.39 Now which of these will you chuse If neither of these I pray assign of what matter the flesh of Christ was made for we with St. Paul know no other than these four kinds of flesh Moreover Christ is figured out by Melchisedec and his Priesthood Heb. 7. for as he was a Priest and King even so was Christ also and as he was without Father and Mother even so was Christ viz. without Father in respect of his Humane Nature and without Mother in respect of his Divine Nature Now there is no knowing of God aright but in by and through Christ as I said before for in the works of Creation God is above us in his works of Providence a God without us in the Law a God against us in Himself a God invisible to us only in Christ he is Emmanual God manifested in our flesh God in us God with us and God for us therefore in Christ God is apprehended aright and there also worshipped aright 1 Joh. 2.23 Whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also Who is a lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the hrist he is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son vers 22. Now as the Eutichians err in their Opinion about Christ our Mediator even so they do about the Holy Trinity also for they do not rightly understand nor believe the Unity and Trinity spoken of 1 Joh. 5.7 Now if they be three they be three Operations or three Manifestations or three Subsistances but they be not the two former therefore the latter viz. three Subsistances for St. John saith The Word was with God and was God Joh. 1.1 Now where there is one and another with him there must needs be a distinction but St. John saith it is so therefore 2dly Where there is one sending and another sent there is a distinction But the Father sendeth and the Son was sent therefore a distinction Joh. 3.17.34 for God sent his Son into the World c. Again the Father and the Son send the Holy Ghost Joh. 14.16 't is another Comforter therefore a distinct Person both from the Father and the Son Now if these have all of them viz. the Father Son and Spirit Understanding and Will then they are Persons and not Qualities for no Qualities can have Understanding and Will see 1 Cor. 12. from ver 3. to
of the blessed Trinity is such a great Mystery that no earthly similitude will set it out plainly to our capacities But I pray consider the Vision of the three Men that appeared to Abraham Gen. 18. and the two that went to Lot Gen. 19. And there you may see although they be three Persons yet but one Lord and so called and worshipped of Abraham see chap. 18. and of the two that went to Lot after that they had told him their Message then he never called them Lords but Lord see Chap. 19.18 Which two were the Son and Holy Ghost which were sent by the Father Chap. 18.21 22. for the Father is said to send the Son and Spirit but he is never sent of them And thus you may see how Abraham saw Christ and was glad Gen. 18. compared with John 8.56 58 c. Quest How is God said to be present in all places at once Psal 95.2 6. 139.7 And also to fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 Answ There is a four-fold Presence of God mentioned in the Scriptures the first is his Presence with all his Creatures which we may call his general Providence whereby he preserveth all his Creatures substances and giveth unto them to live move and have a being and this extendeth it self to all his Creatures both good and bad Acts 17.28 The second degree is the Presence of Grace whereby he doth not only preserve the substance of all his Creatures but also giveth grace onto them this is to the Church of God on Earth The third degree is the Presence of Glory peculiar to the Saints and Angels in Heaven where they shall see God face to face The fourth degree is the Presence of the Godhead of the Son with the Manhood of Christ for in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 Now for the better understanding of this Mystery we must know that the Scriptures are to be taken four wayes at least some of them viz. first Historically secondly Analogically thirdly Allegorically and fourthly Morally As to instance in one of them for brevity sake Numb 21.9 And Moses made a Serpent and put it upon a Pole c. It hath these four significations the first is Historical it was a Serpent made 2dly Analogically it was lifted up so must Christ Joh. 3.15 3dly Allegorically that is another thing was meant by it as appeareth by Hezekiah's taking of it away and calling of it Nehushtan that is a piece of Brass 2 King 18.4 4thly Morally for they were to look upon it for their cure Even so must we look upon Christ by Faith as saith the Prophet Isaiah Look upon me and be ye saved all the ends of the Earth Now that he is present with all his Creatures to preserve their substances as I said before appeareth from Isa 40.12 Who hath measured the Waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the Mountains in scales the Hills in a ballance behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing vers 15. By which phrases is meant that he governeth and disposeth of them at his pleasure for neither the Sun could give his light to us nor the Fire heat all these will perish if he withdraw his Presence but a moment from them as also the Beasts of the Field for if he take away their breath they die Psal 104.28 29. Even as the body of a Man when the Soul is gone as St. James saith The body without the Spirit is dead For as St. Paul In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 As also certain of your own Poets have said For we are all his off-spring 1 Cor. 8.6 Obj. But sin maketh a separation betwixt us and God for what communion hath light with darkness and Christ with Belial Therefore he is not present with them c. A. This is not to be understood in the first degree viz. to preserve their substances as in Acts 17. but is meant in the second degree viz. his Grace with his Church on the Earth Joh. 14.23 If any man love me saith Christ he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him which is meant of his Grace and Love and his dwelling with them is by his Holy Spirit as appeareth by his answer to Judas which asked How is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World he had told him before vers 15. 17. If you love me keep my Commandments and 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 whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Thus you see how sin separateth us from God's Favour Grace and Spirit but not from his Presence as David saith Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or Whither shall I flye from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my bed in Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me And as Amos saith speaking of sinners Amos 9.2 Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them though they climb up to Heaven thence will I bring them down and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence c. For we must not imagine him to be contained in any one place saith the Prophet Jer. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord For as Solomon saith The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee how much less this House which I have built 1 King 8.27 And St. Stephen saith He dwelleth not in Tabernacles made with hands Acts 7. and yet he dwelt saith David betwixt the Cherubims And the Lord saith of Zion This is my rest for ever here will I dwell therefore saith the Prophet Blessed be the Lord out of Zion that dwelleth at Jerusalem Psal 135.21 Now this must be meant of his Grace or gracious Presence there and not his personal Presence for if so then he was not in Heaven at that time which I think no wise man will believe therefore when St. Paul saith Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord he means the beatifical Vision or face of God in glory which cannot be seen with these mortal eyes therefore he saith When we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 8. he meaneth in
natural and civil humanity in him and his very heart would bleed And this is the case with us by reason of our sins we are God's debtors yea bankrupts before him yet have we gotten a good Surety even the Son of God himself who to recover us to our former liberty was crucified and died for the discharge of out debt And therefore as the Prophet saith We should look upon him whom we have pierced and lament for him Look as the blood followed the nayls that were stricken through the blessed hands and feet of Christ so should the meditation of Christ's Passion be as nayles and speares to draw blood from our hands and hearts for our sins Secondly If thou doubtest where to see and find Christ crucified because the Prophet Zachary bids thee look on him Be advertised That he is set before thy face as nailed and fastened on a Cross wheresoever his Gospel is truly Preached in thine hearing for so the Apostle teacheth us Gal. 3.1 Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was discribed in your sight and among you crucified We must seek God's face in Christ who is the living form or most bright glory wherein we behold God himself and we must ever seek Christ's face in the Gospel if we find it not there we perish everlastingly 2 Cor. 4.3 4. We need not go to Crosses nay we must not go but to the Glass he hath himself appointed for us Note this word till And remember it that till such time as we come thus by Faith and Meditation of the Gospel we lie continually as poysoned by Satan that old Serpent and as stung to death Thirdly We learn to follow Christ in the pursuit and crucifying of our sins for so we are taught Gal 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof That is they endeavour to kill the Power of Sin in themselves by Repentance Prayer Fasting Meditation conference with the Saints and by avoiding all occasions of offence Fourthly we here learn in this president that seeing the Son of God was not only thus racked and crucified by men but also bare the Wrath of God in his Soul that therefore we must learn not to make so little account of sin as commonly we do Fifthly Whereas the Person crucified was the very Son of God it is manifest that the Love of God unto us in our Redemption is endless like the deep Sea without bank or bottom as it is testified Joh. 3.16 And if we shall not acknowledge this to be so our condemnation will be the greater Sixthly The Curse of God being here once and fully born of the Son of God not for himself but for his Elect It standeth not with God's Justice to lay any Curse on them they continuing in the Faith any more wherefore when they be afflicted their punishments are but temporary and not Curses but Crosses Chastisements which proceed not from Anger as it is to the wicked Isa 27.9 but from a most loving Father and so ever to be accounted Psal 103. Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Now I will here declare what his enemies did against him both Jews and Gentiles and of his Passions on the Cross what herein we be specially to observe First They stone him bot as many Malefactors were executed as Achan Josh 7. and Naboth 1 King 21.13 but for a greater reproach they Crucifie him and this was the most shameful death among the Jews Secondly They Crucifie him after much beating bleeding and fainting and so make his green-wounds again to lie open even before the Sun to his greater grief and pain If the Son of God is Crucified for us we must be content in like manner to part with all for his sake that we may possess him and follow his Example Thirdly They pierced his hands and feet according to the Prophesie of the Psalmist Psal 22.16 in those parts which are most lively and sensible and so the weight of his body was born up by hands and feet fastened to the Cross but not in that gross manner that blind Papists have imagined but the feet nailed assunder with two distinct nailes as Godly Antients have delivered Fourthly They gave him Vinegar and Gall to drink tempered with Myrrh Matth. 27.34 Some think to take away his senses and memory intoxicating as it were his brain Thus they hastened his death See Med. Jos Hall pag. 501. not having any respect at all of his Soul whether he died in peace and favour with God yea or nay Others think it was to hasten his death Howsoever it was every sinner here is to be advertised That it was and is he as well as the Jews tempers who hath tempered such a Cup of Poyson for Jesus Christ Fifthly They Crucifie him between two Thieves Matth. 27.38 for his greater shame whereby they testifie that they esteemed him no common sinner Isa 53.6 but the Captain of all Thieves and Malefactors So think thou thy self with Paul 1 Tim. 1.15 that thou art the greatest of all sinners Sixthly They all mocked him both Jews and Gentiles wagging their heads and speaking spiteful words against him Mat. 27.39 45. Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it up in three dayes save thy self And again He saved others let him save himself The Jews paid dearly for this mocking and for crying His blood be upon us and our Children For their Children abide under the heavy wrath of Almighty God for it unto this day Seventhly and lastly When the Lord Christ had made an end of all things and had given full satisfaction to his Father's Justice after all his wrestling with Satan and Sinners and after many Passions in Soul and Body He concludes all his wearisom fight with this Prayer immediately before his death Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luk 23.46 By his example he teacheth us to recommend our Spirits to the Father of Spirits Who can preserve any work so well as the crafts-master And shall not the faithful Creator of Souls do this more carefully than man In great dangers we commit our Jewels to our best Friends so do thou thy Soul unto Jesus Christ that thou mayest say with St. Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 I. know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day The Passion of Christ is a mirrour of all Vertues which are the more excellent for that they be set before us not in Rules and Doctrine but in his own holy Practice I shall name some of them in order The Prophet Isaiah names six Vertues or special Graces proper to Christ and communicates by him in some measure to all his Members Chap. 11.2 First The Spirit of Wisdom Secondly Of Judgment Thirdly of Counsel Fourthly of Fortitude Fifthly of Knowledge and Sixthly of the Fear of the Lord. First For Wisdom
five things which the first Temple had First The Appearing and Presence of God at the Mercy-Seat between the two Cherubims Secondly the Vrim and Thummim on the Brest-plate of the High Priest Thirdly The Inspiration of the Holy Ghost upon extraordinary Prophets Fourthly The Ark of the Covenant which was lost in the Captivity Fifthly Fire from Heaven to burn their Sacrifices And yet notwithstanding all this loss the same Prophet in the same Chapt. the 10th vers following assureth That the Glory of the last House should be greater than the first Because the Sacrifice of Christ at his coming should give Glory and Dignity to it And for that his Presence Preaching and Teaching in it gave it more Glory than the former five special Graces and Gifts of God did or could give unto the first Temple So I believe that Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Rom. 4.25 He died for our sins and rose again for our Justification 1 Cor. 15.3 4 14. Now I will speak of the manner of his Resurrection and the Use of it First The Lord Jesus being truly dead and buried rose again by his own Almighty Power as is often testified Joh. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again And so his Apostles Paul and Peter assure us he quickned himself by his own Spirit Rom. 1.11 1 Pet. 3.18 whereby he doth approve himself comfortable unto us to be the very Son of God as St. Paul noteth Rom. 8.4 saying He was declared mightily to be the Son of God touching the Spirit of Sanctification by the resurrection from the dead Secondly As touching the form he rose in or how his body was qualified I Answer Thar after his Resurrection his body was glorified richly yea most gloriously qualified with supernatural Graces His body was incorruptible and it was made a shining body a resemblance whereof some of his Disciples saw in the Mount and it was indued with Agility to move as well upward as downward as may appear by the Ascention of his Body to Heaven which was not caused by constraint or by any violent Motive but by a property agreeing to all bodies glorified Yet in the exaltation of Christ's Manhood we must remember two Caveats First he did never lay aside the Essential Properties of a true Body as length breadth thickness visibility locality or to be in one place at once and no more but keeping all this still because they serve for the Being of his Body Secondly We must remember that the gifts of Glory in Christ's Body are not infinite but finite for his Humane Nature being but a Creature and therefore finite could not receive infinite Graces c. Christ's Body is not Omnipotent and Infinite for this is to affirm he had no Humane Body and to make the Creature the Creator That it might appear unto his Disciples he had a glorious Body and was changed he was not alwayes in their presence but came often suddenly into their presence and once the doors being shut the doors giving place and being opened as saith * See Mr. Perkins upon the Creed pag. 275. Mr. Perkins they knew not how He that thickned the Water to walk on can cause Doors and Locks to give way unto his coming without any piercing or passing through them as Papists have imagined Finally That he had a true Body a real Body the very same wherein he suffered and not a feigned body as Hereticks have avouched is testified by many Arguments unto us he shewed some scars wounds and blemishes of his Passion in his Body now glorified as then remaining for the confirmation of men and to this end he conversed with men He did eat and drink often in the presence of his Apostles after his Resurrection The Use of this Article concerning Christ's Resurrection and of this Faith is this First The Resurrection of Christ is a publick testimony that he hath perfect Righteousness for all such as trust in him and if there had remained but one of our sins either unperfectly punished in him or not fully satisfied by him he could not assuredly then have risen from the death for where but one sin is there must be death Rom. 6.23 as God hath decreed Like as then the Father by delivering Christ to death hath indeed condemned our sins in Christ Rom. 8.3 so by raising him from death he hath absolved Christ from our sins and us in Christ 1 Cor. 15.17 Rom. 4.25 As our sins are condemned and punished in the death of Christ so our absolution and discharge is in his Resurrection Christ was given to death for our sins and raised again for our Justification Secondly The Believer is truly said to be dead to sin or to be dead with Christ because the vertue of Christ's death works effectually in his heart the death or sin and next to be buried with Christ into his death Rom. 6.2 3 4. because of the vertue which proceeds from Christ's burial to cause him so to bury sin that it never can rise up any more to be so stirring in him as it was before he came co Christ And lastly The Believer is as truly said to be risen with Christ Col. 3.1 because a special Vertue and Grace proceeds also from Christ's Resurrection to the believing heart to quicken it unto newness of life And this is that Grace which the Apostle desires more and more to feel and find to abound in himself when he desires to know Christ better and the vertue of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 wherefore we must imbrace Christ risen in the arms of our precious Faith and so apply him unto our hearts that we may sensibly feel vertue to come from him not only to crucifie our old Affections but also to stir up daily new holy and heavenly Affections in our hearts Col. 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above c. 1 Pet. 1.3 We art regenerate to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead As it was in the cure of the Woman that had the Bloody Issue so it is in the curing and quickning of sinners which are full of Bloody Issues all which must be stanched and cured by a certain vertue derived from Christ into them Mark 5.29 30. This is the Prayer Eph. 3.19 Thirdly The third fruit which is joyned with the second is the assurance of our perseverance in Grace and of our full victory against Sin and Death for they that are ingrasted into Christ by Faith and continuing therein unto death draw from him such a spiritual Life and Power as they shall never lose no not in the parting asunder of Soul and Body Rom. 8.38 Joh. 8.51 If any Man keep my Woad he shall never see death Fourthly The last benefit of his Resurrection is the resurrection of our bodies
The truth is this That good and bad shall rise again yet there is a great difference in the rising of the one and the other for the Godly shall rise by vertue of Christ's Resurrection and that to Eternal Glory But the Ungodly rise by the Power of Christ as he is a terrible Judge and to execute Justice on them Now to the Faithful Christ is said to be the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.16 Because as in the first Fruits of Corn being offered unto God the owner had an assurance of God's blessing on the rest So here by Christ's Resurrection the Believers have a Pledge of their own resurrection Now of his Ascention into Heaven Luke saith Acts 1.9 That he was taken up the meaning is this was done principally by the mighty Power of his Godhead and partly by the supernatural property of a glorified Body which is to move as well upward as downward without constraint or violence And thus Christ ascended into Heaven really and actually and not in appearance only And he went also locally by changing his place and going from Earth to Heaven so as he is no more on Earth bodily as we are now on Earth And whereas it may be doubted If he be so departed from us at touching hit bodily Presence how that may be true that he said he would be with us unto the end of the World Matth. 28.20 The Answer is He said also That he would leave the Word to go to the Father Joh. 16.28 wherefore he must be understood to speak by a distinction True it is he was before Abraham Joh. 8.85 and so is he with the Church to the Worlds end according to his Divine Nature in Majesty Grace Vertue Power and Effectual working of his Holy Spirit Joh. 17.11 14.16 17. 16.13 But his bodily Presence is in Heaven Secondly If any doubt further Whether the Natures be not thus severed if where the one it the other is not alwayes I Answer No For the Divinity which cannot be comprehended must of necessity out-reach and yet comprehend the Humanity and thereunto be personally united It is not alwayes that of two things conjoyned where the one is there must be the other also For the Sun and his beams are both joyned together yet they are not both in all places together for the body of the Sun is seated and carried only in his Celestial Orbe in the Heavens but his beames are here beneath on the Earth In those Holy Phrases then we must remember that as Learned Men speak the Properties of both Natures must be distinguished in Christ for in such places properties belonging to one Nature are ascribed unto the other because of the Hypostatical Union of both Natures in one Person And thus far for the sense of the words of this Article where we see briefly that Christ's Ascention is an Exaltation or a receiving up of his Humanity to fit in the highest Heavens till the glorious day of his Appearance in Judgment Heb. 1.3 Now I come to the use of this Faith First When I do thus believe the Ascension of Christ I do believe also all the Effects thereof and all the Holy Adjuncts appertaining thereunto namely these two principal which the Apostle specially mentioneth Eph. 4.8 12. First that when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive By Captivity I understand a multitude of Captives as the Psalmist doth Psal 68.19 By Captives here are meant the World the Flesh Sin Satan and Death it self and whatsoever Engins and Confederates these had against Christ in his Humiliation and his Members all their dayes on Earth He so triumphed over them all on his Cross Col. 1.12 but especially in his Ascension that howsoever they may fear us otherwhile and scar us to waken us from Security yet they shall never hurt us for Christ hath taken away their sting 1 Cor. 15.55 and hath pinioned their hands behind them as Captives and set us Free if we will come unto him when he calls us by his Gospel Wherefore if we refuse now his Call our state is the more dangerous See Mr Perkins upon the Creed pag. 285. A man lies bound hand and foot in a dark Dungeon and the Keeper sets open the Prison door takes off his Irons and bids him come forth If he refuse and say he is well may it not be said he is mad and who will pity him in that case This is the state of all impenitents and contemners of the Gospel Secondly It is said also That then he gave gifts to his Church as Kings do in their triumph and his gifts were those Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers for the planting of the Church and the Propagation of the same and for the gathering of his Elect to the Worlds end If these were Christ's principal blessings which Christ gave his Church in his Ascension and so richly and highly to be accounted as being destinate and sent for so great a Work as the building of the Body of Christ which is his Church on Earth Eph. 4.12 Then they do not believe rightly and truly the Ascension of Christ that so basely and vilely esteem the sacred Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel of Christ and the Administration of his Sacraments as Atheists and Papists and all carnal Gospellers do Thirdly Like as our Justification is ascribed unto his Resurrection and Merit of the same So our proceeding in Grace and Perseverance may truly be attributed to his Ascension to Heaven and Intercession there for us Joh. 17. And like as he could never have risen in that Body wherein he was accursed for us unless he had been acquitted and justified from all our sins so much less could he have Ascended into the highest Heavens if he had not been pure from all our spots imputed unto him His Ascension is a clear evidence of his Righteousness Joh. 16.9 10. and consequently of our Righteousness in him and by him for which these Articles are sweetly knit together for the confirmation of our Faith touching our free Justification by Christ Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Is God that justifieth who shall condemn It is Christ which died yea or rather which is risen again who is also at the right-hand of God and maketh request for us Wherefore ever remember to reject the Doctrine of Antichrist who teacheth that Christ by his Death did merit our Justification but we once Justified do further merit our Salvation Whereas thou feest here not only the beginning but also the continuance yea the accomplishment of the whole Work of our Salvation in our Vocation Justification Sanctification and Glorification is wholly and only to be ascribed to the merit of Christ Fourthly We receive also by his Ascension a confirmation touching our Ascension into Heaven for in believing the one we believe the other for the Head and Members must go together We be not now coldly to