there is no miraculous opening of the Heavens nor the glorious Scene withdrawn to discover the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God Farther At the Name of Jesus is not every knee to bow of things in Heaven and things under the Earth Are not all the Angels to worship him So that since nothing is to be worship'd but God and Christ is to be worship'd it follows that Christ is God But to make a short Reflection on what has been said on this Argument There is no occasion to prove to the strict Followers of Socinus that Christ ought to be worship'd for they are as zealous Patrons of his Worship as they are artificial Underminers of his Divinity For Socin ad Praefat. Vujek p. 8. Edit 1624. Socinus expresly Excommunicates all those who denied our Saviour's Worship He declares that If Christ is not to be invok'd then is he Christ only in Name That such Praefat. ad Respons F. David a Notion is a manifest tendency to Judaism and to exalt Moses above Christ That Tom. 1. pag. 656. they who are against the Worship of Christ cannot be Christians because tho' they dare not openly yet do they really deny Jesus to be Christ. But that which made it necessary in this Argument to insist on the Worship due to Christ is the Position of the modern Socinians who finding how hard it was to reconcile the Worship of a God Made with the Divine Prohibitions against Idolatry have thrown off our Saviour's Worship with his Divinity I shall only quote the words of one of their own Party There are says he no acts of Worship Answer to Milbourne p. 50. requir'd to be paid to the Lord Jesus Christ but such as may be paid to a Civil Power to a Person in high Dignity and Office to Prophets and Holy Men and to such as are actually possest of the Heavenly Beatitudes But to proceed Secondly Christ or the Word is God because of his Co-partnership with God the Father in those Actions which could only be perform'd by his Substantial union with the Divine Nature These Actions are the Creation of the World the Inspiration of the Prophets the Exercising all power in Heaven and in Earth Raising the Dead out of their Graves Judging them according to their Works the Destruction of the World First Christ is God because of His Co-partnership with God the Father in the Creation of the World For to Create is an act proper to the Deity For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast He hath made the Earth by his Power he hath established the World by his Wisdom and hath stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion Nor had he any Creature to assist him in his miraculous Production for He is God even he alone he made Heaven and Earth But 't is very plain that all things were Created by Christ For all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not 'T is true the Socinians understand this Creation not of the Mosaick forming every thing out of Nothing but of the New Gospel-Creation by which the Reasonable World if we may so style it was put into a capacity of recovering its original Rectitude and Uprightness But this is a forc'd sence and quite different from what the ancient Fathers understood the words in Nay the very Arians themselves apply'd them to a proper Creation and to obviate the stress of them made Christ God's Instrument or subservient Power only in the Creation But as to the Socinian sence if Creation in these places is wholly Figurative and Metaphorical why may it not be so in the first Chapter of Genesis too Why may not the Creation of the visible Heavens and the Earth in the Old Testament be no more than the Foundation of the Jewish Common-wealth since it is own'd that by New Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness in the New no more is understood than a renew'd state of things under the Gospel Why should the darkness which was upon the face of the Earth signifie more than that State of spiritual Darkness which blinded the whole World before the Mosaick Law Why might not the Sun be the Law the great Guide of the Jews the Moon and the Stars the Laws and Directors of other obscurer Nations Why may not the Firmament amidst the Waters be the Jewish Polity struggling with oppositions as the Earth appearing out of the Waters the settlement of that State since Waters in Scripture-Language often denote Troubles And thus a new Face might be put upon the whole Scripture But farther to overthrow this novel and over-refin'd sence of Creation St. Paul remarks to the Colossians that By Christ were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they are Thrones and Dominions or Principalities or Powers Where it is to be observ'd first That All in Heaven and Earth things void of Reason and so not liable to Error or Sin and so uncapable of this New Creation were made by Christ Secondly That Dominions and Powers Angels whether Good or Bad were form'd by him But the Good had no need of this New Gospel-Creation They never stain'd those Robes of Glory with which they were made and so had no need to be washed by the bloud of the Lamb. The Bad as falling from the very Throne of God and descending cheaply and foolishly into Darkness contracted such a Guilt as the greatest Mercy of the Gospel could not reach And so were unfit Subjects for this New Creation Thirdly That it was the aim of this Epistle to oppose the Heresie of Simon Magus Menander and Basilides v. Epiphan p. 56. Edit Pet. â— whose Error it was That the World was made by the Angels To confront which S. Paul not only shews that Angels themselves were created and so could not be Creators but that they and the whole World were made by God and Christ and the Holy Spirit Three Persons and One God So that this place can never be understood of this New Creation or Gospel Renovation As Christ is God because he Created the World so is he God Secondly Because he Inspir'd the Holy Prophets For he by whom the Prophets spake was God For the Word which came by them was the Word of the Lord and the Scriptures which they wrote is said to be given by Inspiration of God For Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But he who speaks by the Holy Ghost speaks by the Spirit of God the Son as well as by the Spirit of God the Father 'T is true Schlictingius answers That the Holy Ghost is term'd the Spirit of Christ not because he proceeded from Christ but because he spake of Christ But in this sence the Holy Ghost might be call'd the Spirit
and if Christ is honour'd with such a Worship it follows that Christ must be truly God But nothing can be worship'd with Divine Worship but God himself For every act which signifies an Honour peculiar to God signifies also an Excellence which belongs to none but him and to ascribe Divine Honour to any Object is at the same time to attribute Divine Perfections to it The Command of worshiping the Lord our God and of serving him only was not a Temporary Command which as some pretend Volkel de ver Rel. l. 5. 6. 29. oblig'd purely under the Old Testament but is a standing Rule for Divine Worship under the Gospel as well as under the Law For our Saviour did not abrogate any Branch of the Law but what was meerly Typical But how could a Precept for Divine Worship be a Type What could it represent or figure out in the Evangelical Occonomy But 't is farther reply'd That in worshiping Christ we worship the Father by whom he was endued with such a Power and that this is the difference between the Worship of God and of Christ That the Worship of the former is circumscrib'd and bounded within Himself whereas that of the batter is only relative or as others term it God is worship'd as Jo. Lud. Wolzogen on Matth 4. 10. p. 189. the supreme cause of All things as the first Author of our Salvation but Christ only as the Means which God had appoinied to bring about that miraculous Work But this way of reasoning does not only conclude for the worshiping of Christ but of any other extraordinary Instrument of Man's Salvation The Apostles themselves on this account might have been ador'd as well as their Divine Lord and Master And St. Peter was not justly acquainted with the Privileges annex'd to his Apostleship when he reprimanded the devout Centurion for falling down at his feet and worshiping him The chief Objection which can be form'd against this Argument is That Angels have had Divine Smalc Hom. 1. in 1 Job Worship paid them by the Patriarchs and therefore Divine Worship may be given to others besides God To this the Orthodox Junius Piscator and others reply and even the Socinians themselves grant that these Angels were God or the Messias himself That he on some great design assum'd an Angelick Form as he did afterwards for Man's Salvation an Human Nature and therefore the paying of Divine Worship to Him was no alienation of it from God But upon a due enquiry it will appear that this is more than the Orthodox ought to have said or than the Socinians had reason to have allow'd For these Celestial Beings mention'd in Scripture if ever yet certainly were not always the Messias but sometimes at least as they are expresl Angels For as the Messias never took on him the Nature of Angels so neither did he in all these places of Seripture their Appearance For the Apostle St. Paul with a great deal of Elegance and equal Passion recommending the Virtue of Hospitality in allusion to these Texts of Scripture says That some of the Patriarchs in practising it had entertained Angels unawares But would not his Reason have had much more force as well as beauty if they had entertain'd God or the Messias himself unawares What cause had he to dissemble the dignity-of the Person who vouchsafed to visit these hospitable Roofs and do an injury if not to the Truth at least to his Subject But to return Why should this Veneration which was paid to the Angels be any thing more than a Civil Honour and Deference exprest indeed after an extraordinary manner on account of the greatness of the Persons and the glorious import of their Message So that from hence cannot be deduc'd any Worship due to Angels nor have we hence any reason to conclude that any thing is to be worship'd besides God alone As it is thus plain that God only is to be worship'd so is it equally so that Christ may be honour'd with Divine Worship For it is made part of the terms of Salvation to worship him â—â— for Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Where Lord can only be apply'd to our Saviour Jesus and not to God the Father since it agrees only to Him who in the former part of the Discourse was by the Apostle styl'd a stumbling stone and a rook of offence which cannot fute with God the Father who was own'd by all Nations without the least scruple And it is farther to be observ'd that these words are cited from the Prophet Joel where the word Lord is Jehovab God by Nature Being and Essence not a Creature invested with Divinity according to the new fancy of our Adversaries Secondly St. Paul ushers in most of his Epistles with this Prayer full of Charity Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christs combineing Jesus with God the Father which had been the highest injury to the former had the latter only been a Creature how exalted soever his Rank might have been to have jointly petition'd him to have given Grace and Peace to the Saints And tho' to this it is return'd That St. John in the Revelation might by the same reason be said to pray to the seven Spirits which were before the Throne of God and so have equal'd them with God Yet this objection will rather support our Reasons when we consider that by the seven Spirits are to be understood the Holy Ghost and its seven-fold Gifts as they are brancht out by the Prophet Isaiah into The Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledge of Piety and of Fear of the Lord. For otherwise why should St. John place any other Spirits between God and Christ Why should he omit the Holy Ghost the Giver of Grace and address himself to Angels who are but Ministring Spirits So that this instead of overthrowing what was before laid down will be a new Instance of joyning nothing with God but what is God Farther St. Stephen a Man full of Faith and the Holy Ghost recommends his departing Soul to our Saviour as equal to the Father of Spirits with this solemn Invocation Lord Jesus receive my Spirit And tho' to this it is reply'd That this act of St. Stephen ' s can be no Precedent to us because he saw the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God yet why should the sight or concealment of the object of our Adoration make it more or less adorable God tho' He is a God who hides himself who tho' He inhabits Regions of Eternal Light is invisible to our Eyes of Flesh yet is He still to be worship'd with the most humble Devotion And as long as we are convinc'd by Faith that Christ is ready to succour us in our Necessities and give us what we ask we have reason enough to Pray to Him tho'
of Abraham or of Lot as well as of Christ because he spake of them too Nay there is no Being so evil which is ever mention'd in Holy Writ but the ever-blessed Spirit might be said to be their Spirit according to this wild and uncouth Hypothesis St. Barnabas styles the Spirit of the Prophets the Spirit of God who should appear in the Flesh Justin Martyr says that the Prophets were not Self-inspir'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. 2. p. 76. Irenaeus against Marcion as expresly that it was Jesus Edit Sylburg lib. 4. c. 21. Advers Haeres p. 337. Edit F. Ardent Christ who spake to Abraham and Moses If it was God therefore who spake by the Prophets and Christ was Co-partner with God the Father in this speaking Christ must be God of the same Nature with the Father Thirdly Christ is God because of his Exercising all power in Heaven and in Earth For the Government of the World is a Branch of the Divine Prerogative He rules over all Kingdoms of the Earth He whose Name is Jehovah is the highest over all the Earth But Volkelius himself as refin'd an Author De Ver. Rel. Book 3. c. 21. as any that Party can boast freely owns that Christ exercises Jurisdiction over all things to use his own words which are contain'd not only in the vast compass of the Earth but also of the Heavens Christ therefore must be God Fourthly Christ is God because He is to raise the Dead from their Graves to Life and a new State For none but He who breath'd a living Soul into us can restore it None but One whose Understanding is infinite who knows every Atome of our Bodies every Dust and Particle which belongs to us He who is conscious what Dust appertains to each Body what Body to each Soul None but One whose Power is as unbounded as his Knowledge in regard of whom all Creatures must suffer and do what he will have them Who can summon and re-assemble our scatter'd Atomes from the Earth and from the Waves and reconcile our long estrang'd Parts to their ancient familiarity Whose Voice can awake the sleepers of Thousands of Years some to Peace and Joy but some to Misery and everlasting Contempt But Christ is the Person who must raise the Dead For the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live All that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Fifthly Christ is God because He shall Judge the World For it is necessary for him who shall Judge the World that he should be intimately acquainted with the Consciences of all Mankind that all their Thoughts should be laid naked and open to his view and that all the devices of their Hearts should be manifest to him But none besides God can have such a Knowledge as this for Lo he that declareth unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness the Lord the God of Hosts is his Name But Christ is ordain'd by God to be Judge of the Quick and Dead and to this end Christ both died rose and revived that he might be Judge both of the Dead and the Living and so for that reason must be God Lastly He who shall destroy and change the World who in the Prophet's Language shall roll the Heavens together as a Scrowl the Heavens which like a wide stretched Scrowl are written over with beauteous Characters by God's own hand he is God For this is one of the peculiar Actions of God that he shall destroy the Heavens For as a Vesture shall he change them and they shall be changed But Volkelius owns that our Saviour has such a power and that he shall roll them up together like a Scrowl and burn them And therefore on that account must be God which may be farther made out Secondly From the ill Consequences of the contrary Assertion For how open does the Socinian Christ lie to the Exceptions of the Jews or the more rational sort of Deists who own a God a Providence and a future State and to any who maintain the Unity of the Godhead yet deny the Divinity of Christ And is it not very sutable for the Jews to reason against Christianity from the Socinian Principles after this method We are convinc'd from Scripture that there is but one God we know that there is no other besides him or with him for Who is God save the Lord and who is a Rock save our God But now you introduce one Jesus as God who was neither God from Eternity nor by Nature and Essence This new this created God we look upon as a Fiction we can pay him no Homage no Adoration till we have renounc'd Moses and the Prophets and offer'd violence to the Principles of Reason and Natural Religion Farther our God has taught us by his Prophet Isaiah that He even he is the Lord and besides him there is no Saviour and this is spoken Prophetically with regard to the times of the Messias How then can we own this Jesus for our Saviour who is by Nature different from God We are commanded to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only How then may we worship and serve Jesus who is a God different from the God of Israel How can we give him equal Honour with the Lord Jehovah without provoking his Wrath and forcing him to repeat all those Inflictions on us which our Fathers justly suffer'd God has expresly declar'd that He withnot give his glory to another but by worshiping your Jesus is not God's Glory given 〈…〉 Object distinct from God The Scriptures solemnly inform us that God alone â—â—â—â—'s the Heart and the Reins and is conscious to all the Thoughts of Men If we as you do should apply these Actions to the Man Jesus we should be guilty of advancing a false God into the Throne of the Almighty and making a Creature rival the Deity Farther Has not God taught us to address to him alone in the time of our Distress and promis'd his succours to encourage our Prayers Can we then pray to your Jesus whom you your selves deny to be the true God of Israel The Scripture threatens that Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens Can we then honour him for God who was so far from making the Heavens and the Earth that he himself had no Being when they were form'd Or can God at the last Day be angry at us for not receiving and worshiping him as God who according to Scripture was to perish from the Earth and under the Heavens Lastly The Idea which we have and always had of God represents him to our Minds as present every where Omniscient and Almighty If therefore he who is offer'd to us
in pursuit of this universal Charity our Saviour according to * De Orat. St. Cyprian's pious Observation has taught us to say Our and not My Father only which art in Heaven that mindful of our divine and common Original and of that glorious dependance on which we stand related to God we might unite our Prayers for all those who bear the same illustrious Character of the Sons of God The Fifth Qualification of Prayer is That our Prayers ought to be short not abounding with an excess of Words For Prayer is the Language of the Heart rather than of the Tongue of the Affections more than of the Lips and great and rais'd Passions such as make up the most perfect Devotion are seldom attended with a copious fluency of Words For the Soul is too much employ'd within to love leisure to exercise it self about Flourish or tedious Harangue Of this concise Nature are most of the sacred Hymns and Prayers which are extant suitable to the Majesty of God for the most short is also the most solemn and stately Method of Address and agreeable to Mankind's Infirmities which hinder us from enlivening with a due Spirit a long and tedious Prayer Of this Nature are our Saviour's own Prayers one of the last of which in his Agony is so short and yet so pathetical that it seems according to the History to be accompany'd with more dropâ— of Blood than Words The Last Qualification in the act of Praying is Perseverance Persevereance not as the Messallians from the Apostle's Command in the Words of Praying always thought by an unbroken continuation of the acts of Prayer but by a constant Preparation for and Exercise of them as opportunities and freedom from other Duties demand For this is the Perfection not only of Prayer but of all Virtues Without this they are only faint efforts and attempts to please God which shall never be accepted of nor rewarded by Him But it has a most especial force in Prayer â— for if the Unjust Judge in the Gospel who neither fear'd God nor regarded Man yet granted the Widow's Petition mov'd purely by her resolute Perseverance how much more shall God who is the Just Judge of all Mankind and whose Goodness inclines Him to be kind and beneficent to His Creatures grant our Requests if we cry day and night to Him I tell you as the Gospel has it He will grant them speedily Humility therefore Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance are Qualifications necessary in the time of Prayer But there are Thirdly Qualifications necessary after we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual As First an observation of God's returns to our Prayers an eyeing the tendency of his Providence whether he does grant our Petitions or not especially as to spititual Concerns And there is an infallible Marâ—â— to measure our Success by for we may assuredly conclude That God has heard our Prayers as to Pardon of Sins for Instance if we find our solves free from voluntary Transgressions But if after our Prayers we are as much Sinners as over this is a sign that God has not heard our Petitions and that our Sins are not pardon'd and the fault must be our own because we did not truly repent of them before we pray'd for their Remission So that we must renew our Repentance as well as our Prayers and if the former is sincere and the latter duly qualify'd we shall certainly be successful Thus we may know that God has granted our Prayers as to spiritual Graces if we find our selves improv'd in Virtue after our Prayers otherwise the fault is our own we have not endeavour'd vigourously after Grace So that we must reinforce ouâ— Endeavours as well as our Prayers and if there is no deficiency on our part it is certain there will be none on God's for He is always more ready to Give than we to Pray He is prepar'd to prevent with his Blessings even our first Wishes for them and to reward our pious Desires even before they have time to cloath themselves with Words The Second Qualification after Prayer is a returning God Thanks for His Grants and Denials that is His Denials of temporal Advantages For this is often as great a Proof of His Fatherly Goodness and Concern for us as any of His most Merciful Indulgences 'T is a mysterious Method of Kindness which obliges us against our Wills and makes us happy in contradiction to our most passionate Desires depriving us of what would prove to us only a more agreeable Ruine a more pleasant and beautiful Destruction And how severe soever Disappointments may appear to us at first yet the event and close of Things will shew that we had good reason to be thankful to God for His crossing us in our Wishes and for visibly frustrating us in the success of our Prayers and we shall at last find the satisfaction of consigning our choice over to Omniscience and that God to use our Sauiour's familiar but expressive Words with some alteration when we pray'd for a 〈…〉 has given us a Fish and when we petition'd for Stone has blest us with Bread The Third Qualification after Prayer is a due Value of our great Privilege That we may pray to God For hole great is the Prerogative of a Christian that he â— may discourse and converse and prevail with God That there iâ— no difficulty of Access no doubt of Acceptation That there is no hinderance of his Entercourse with the Almighty but his own â—ins which are no longes Impediments but as far as they are persisted in and not broken off by true Repentance The Fourth Qualification is a learning by God's Denials to make fitter Addresses for the future For if my Prayer's are not granted there must be some fault in me Till that is amended Heaven will be 〈…〉 to my Petitions and neglect my most solomn Addresses Either I do not pray for what I ought or not after that manner which I ought therefore in the Language of the Psalmist my Words are only like the Chaff before the Wind and the Angel of the Lord will certainly scatter them The Fifth Qualification is Alms-giving For it is â—wet that we should express our Gratitude for God's Mercies by our Bounty to our Brethren which ask of us and need our relief This is all the Return we can make to Providence for the innumerable Bounties which it shatters upon us with open hands This is a kind of relieving our Saviour in his suffering Members and he tells us that he will look on it as if done to himself And there can be no greater Inducement for God to bestow temporal good things on us than if we consecrate a part of them to him by our Alms. We render him if I may so speak our Debtor and pardon the boldness of the Expression we may in some measure according to the Promises made to this Duty appeal to his Justice as well as to his