before Men were Poetical Fiction Reason of State Gratitude Flattery or Superstition had no part here From everlasting to everlasting thou art God The Men that were worshipp'd whilst yet alive easily perceiv'd that they were no gods they were very sensible that the Divine Honours rendred unto them were no better than Robbery But saith St. Paul Jesus Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God in which words there is a tacite opposition to that Subordination which Paganism had establish'd amongst their gods They said that Jupiter was the Master and Lord Paramount of their gods there being none on equal ground with him St. Paul here insinuates that Jesus Christ is really greater than all the Pagan gods were even in the Conceit of those that were their Worshippers He is equal to God to that Great God who is the Soveraign Master and Lord of the Universe Besides these oppositions which the Apostle had an eye to in the words we are explaining it seems probable that he had a more particular regard to a matter wherein the Philippians were more particularly concern'd They conceiv'd it no small part of their Glory that their Countrey had produc'd Alexander the Great This Conqueror conceiv'd it was both his Glory and Interest to be worshipp'd as a god He would needs be thought the Son of Jupiter and not being content to have pillaged the Earth was desirous to carry his Usurpations to Heaven He knew well enough that the Quality he Arrogated to himself of being the Son of Jupiter was a true piece of Robbery The power of Truth oblig'd this False god to say during the pains he suffer'd by the Wound he had received from an Arrow That they would make him the Son of Jupiter but that he self well enough that he was but a Man The Philippians were fully acquainted with this Story St. Paul knew it and we may aver that he thought of it in presenting to the Philippians a Saviour who was really and truly God the true Son of the true God who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God All these oppositions are of great use to illustrate the Literal Sense we have explained It is time now to search into the Doctrine it contains which we shall do by considering it first in a Relative and then in an Absolute Sense In a Relative Sense it will be to purpose to know the Characters first of him who is here spoken of secondly of him who speaks and thirdly of those to whom it is spoken He concerning whom here is spoken was on the one hand the Pattern of an Absolute Humility and on the other a great Zealot for the Glory of God If we have cast our Eyes never so little upon the Gospel we shall find this to be a Truth altogether incontestable Our Lord Jesus himself hath given us a great and signal instance of the Humility which he recommends he washeth his Disciples Feet he suffers Injuries patiently he flees Honours On the other hand How nice and tender do we find him in cases where his Father's Glory was concern'd Doth he perceive that the Laws of God are made to truckle to the Traditions of Men With what force do we see him exaggerate this Affront If he sees Men prophane the House of God by changing it to a Market-place he does not think words sufficient to repress this Insolence he makes a Whip of Cords to lash these Prophane Wretches out of the Temple With this double Character which might be made out by many more passages of Scripture at what a rate think you would our Saviour have delivered himself if ever he had met with one that made himself a god This was a time wherein the Jews were not guilty of gross Idolatry and wherein Jerusalem had banish'd the Idols of other Nations so that our Lord had no occasion to declare against Idols but had he met with any what would not he have said Had he taken notice of any Man that arrogated to himself Divine Honours with what Zeal and Vehemence would he have confounded the Pride of that Usurper We know enough of the Spirit of our Lord on other occasions to justifie what we suppose of him What then ought we to conclude from this that he who was so Humble and so Zealous yet made himself equal with God Nothing can be said here that is consistent with Reason but to confess that he was really that for which he would that Men should take him Had not he been God and consequently equal to God his Father he would have been so far from affecting this Equality that he would have abhorr'd the least tendency that way Instead of speaking Magisterially he would always have exprest himself in the most humble stile imaginable to disabuse the People who by the Fame of his Miracles would have been tempted to take him for a God But we find his Conduct quite opposite to this he doth not think it any Robbery to be equal with God But how can this be if he be not God indeed What is become of his Humility What of his Zeal What of his Sincerity These three Virtues are the Sureties and Pledges for our Faith of the Godhead of Jesus Christ Who is it that writes this 'T is St. Paul that is to say in one word whatsoever can be conceiv'd of Zeal against attributing the Divine Glory to a Creature This Apostle met with several occasions to make himself known under this Character He strongly declares himself against Idolatry in several places In the Acts of the Apostles we find what a Reception he gave to those Divine Honours which the Lycaonians would needs force upon him he rents his Clothes runs in amongst them Crying out and saying Acts 14.15 Sirs why do you these things We are also men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God In the Seventeenth Chapter of the same Book we find that the Spirit of St. Paul was stirred in him at the sight of the Idols they worshipp'd at Athens Acts 17.16 In the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we find him thundring against Idolaters saying that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God Rom 1.23 25. into an image made like to corruptible man and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever This is enough to give us a taste of St. Paul's Spirit in this matter and to shew that he had the greatest horror for Idolatry Besides this he made it always his business to humble and abase the Creature that thereby the greater Glory might redound to the Creator and to remove all those things that might in the least serve to colour the Religious Worship of the Creature Yet for all this he speaks always most magnificently of Jesus Christ he makes him equal with the Soveraign God who hath created Heaven and
this Example are Humility and Charity O how happy would this Day prove might it see these two Virtues reigning in your Souls We are naturally proud and I don't know from whence that hardness and insensibility comes that we have for our Neighbour for even Nature inspires us with more Charity than appears in our Lives Proud Souls come and humble your selves in the presence of the Child Jesus he who is God was made Man that ye who are but mortal men might be persuaded to become like God Resemble him in his Humility not in his Glory He hath condescended to put himself in a Condition wherein he might be imitated It was the Crime of our First Parents That they would be as God Be satisfied ye Posterity of Adam at present it is a Vertue to be willing to resemble God Humble your selves as he humbled himself who being God was made Man He hath as you see run through infinite spaces to put himself within reach of us From Glory he hath stept down into Nothing You need not travel far to arrive at Annihilation you have no more than a step to take your Nature hath plac'd you almost on the same Level with Nothing You need only well to view and contemplate your selves and precisely keep your selves to the Idea of what you are and you 'll acknowledge that you want little of being Nothing Retire into your own Bosom set aside the Usurpations of Self-love and then tell us what you find over and above It may be your heart will bear you up against all this by repeating to you some advantages you possess as of Birth Wit Goods Employments but all this doth not much remove you from Nothing My design is not in the least to offend the Distinction which Providence it self hath established by the Variety of its Administration I have a consideration for Births Wit Merit and Employs But it were to be wished that those who have these Advantages did not glory in them and might be throughly perswaded that their Elevation doth not raise them much above Nothing Come hither and take a view of him who is infinitely above you he was God and yet was willing to become Man for this purpose he took his Birth from the Womb of a poor and humble Virgin Be not asham'd to enter into the Stable where he was born go thither to learn Humility For if you don't become like this little Blessed Child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven If the example of the Birth of our Saviour be not sufficient to humble you follow him to Golgotha where you will see an example of the most Transcendent Humility conceivable When we think of a Crucified Jesus we cannot imagine how so much Pride should be amongst Christians For shame let them no longer call themselves the Disciples of a Crucified God Should we judge of the Character of their Master by the Quality of their Manners we would take him to have been some Proud and Self-conceited Philosopher whereas indeed he was a Crucified God Do you ever seriously consider this O ye Christians You are top-full of Pride and yet believe that there is no Salvation for you but by imitating a Master who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross O let us remember for whose sake our Lord hath thus Humbled himself and we shall see what a model of Charity we have to imitate 'T is for men that our Saviour was made Man 't is for the Redemption of men that this God-man died And pray what are these men Why Dust and Ashes miserable Sinners O surpassing Charity O Depth of Riches The Lord God Merciful and Gracious abundant in Goodness What shall we say No words are able to reach such a Love as this And indeed God requires actions rather than words Love for Love Let us Love God as he hath Loved us We cannot do that for him which he hath done for us let us Love him at least with all our strength as he hath Loved us according to the unbounded largeness of his great Compassion Let us Love those whom God hath recommended to our Charity what can we say against them that hinders us to exercise this Virtue towards them They have offended us And what then Had they done us nothing but Good it would not be Charity to Love them Charity consists in this That we Love our Enemies as God hath Loved us us I say that were his Enemies Let us Forgive as God Forgives us exercise also your Charity in distributing to the Poor according to your Ability God who was Sovereignly Rich made himself Poor for our sakes Let us have compassion on those Poor which our Lord hath left with us to prove the Love we bear to him O the happy Christmas this will prove to us in case we can but resolve to practice Humility and Charity For after that we shall have been made conformable to our Blessed Lord by the practice of these two Virtues we shall have a share in his Glory which is the Crown of them Amen The Second Discourse PHILIP II. 6. Who being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God WE know that the Scripture often speaks of God as of man but it never speaks of man as of God the reason whereof is very evident for the Divine Nature being wholly Spiritual it was but necessary that the Holy Spirit should clothe it with some sensible Representations to the end that entring our Souls by the assistance of these Colours it might make a deeper impression upon them This is done without any danger forasmuch as the Scripture doth elsewhere unfold these Metaphors Or if there be any danger in it with regard to the simpler sort of People 't is only this of falling into an Error which hath no influence upon Divine Worship Hence it is that Scripture makes no difficulty at all to speak of God as of a man but never doth it speak of man as of God For indeed to what purpose should this be So forc'd a Metaphor would be of no use at all and would darken the Stile of the Holy Ghost instead of making it more Intelligible Neither is this the worst that is in it for by this means we should be in danger of taking man for God which is the most dangerous of all other mistakes whatsoever God is too Jealous of his own Glory to set a Creature on equal ground with Himself and he is too much concerned for our Salvation to put us to the Hazard of such a Mistake We find also that the Scripture only bestows very plain encomiums upon the very greatest of men Moses is an emphatical Instance of this After the Death of that glorious Lawgiver and Commander all the Panegyrick God bestows upon him is compriz'd in these words Moses my servant is dead This was enough for a man Josh 1.2 God took care to hide the Body of this Great Law-giver for fear
a time when the Church was yet in an Age of Innocence or to make use of an Expression of one of the Ancients When she was yet a Virgin in a time when the Saints confirmed their Preaching by Miracles in a time when Truth was ratified by the Seal of Martyrdom in a time when the Voice of the Apostles had but newly ceased from sounding in the Ears of the Members of it What therefore we take from a time so happily circumstanced must needs be of good alloy And may my Soul say I be with those Saints and those Martyrs who taught what they had but newly received from the Mouths of the Apostles themselves Is it possible that a sincere Christian heart should find any relish in the opposite Error which hath the concurring Testimony of the First Centuries against it and which never got into any Credit till after the Primitive Zeal being grown cold and Miracles ceased men began to be left to themselves I confess I have but an ill Opinion of a Doctrine which is supported by no other Foundation There we may find glittering Notions and ingenious Explications of the Scripture which may be apt to take with Minds that affect Novelties But when we consider that the Christian Religion is a Revelation transmitted by the Ministry of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we shall make no Difficulty to take their sense from an Age that we cannot suspect and we shall have very mean thoughts of those Innovators that have confidence enough to say as one of them doth The First Chapter of the Gospel of St. John was never well explain'd till I undertook it My last Reflection is concerning the small concern these Innovators have for the Peace of the Church They would fain have us believe them to be the Disciples of Charity and to hear them talk it should seem that this Virtue is no where to be found but amongst them I will not now enter into an enquiry whether under this plausible appearance they do not design more surely to introduce their Errors and whether after having made them ride Triumphant in the world they would not become instead of the innocent Lambs they seem now to be the most furious Persecutors of the Church To know what Judgment we ought to pass in this case we need only to call to mind the Cruelty of Arius his disciples But l' stop short here and am willing to believe that our Innovators that talk so much of Charity and Concord cherish nothing of this Spirit of Persecution However they must confess that they are none of the best practisers of Charity they know very well that they cannot endeavour the Propagation of their Opinions without troubling the Peace of mens Consciences and without setting Christians together by the Ears There is no need of any deeep consideration to perswade our selves that these are the natural consequences of the endeavours that would be employed to deprive the Christians of a Doctrine they have been possessed of above these Sixteen Centuries Why therefore should the Enemies of this Doctrine set themselves to be the cause of so much disorder There is but one only thing that could Authorise this their pretended Charity viz. If the Doctrine which we Teach and Believe were inconsistent with Salvation I must own that when we see a great multitude of Christians in danger of incurring Damnation we have good reason to say That it is much better to expose them to Temporal Dangers by propounding the Truth to them than to suffer so many Souls to perish by a Criminal Silence What them is it this consideration that animates and pusheth on our Innovators Not in the least they dare not say they are in fear for our Salvation whilst at the same time they set Heaven Gates wide open to all sorts of Hereticks to Mahometans and Heathens They I say who hide themselves in the Society of other Christians and desire nothing so earnestly as to be admitted to their Communion They own us to be in a state of Salvation and declare that we have retained all the Fundamental and Saving Points of Christianity Where is therefore the Charity of these rash Persons in undertaking to shake a Doctrine which cannot be attack'd with any success without filling the Consciences of men with Trouble and without shedding whole torrents of Christian Blood such a design as this cannot be the effect of any thing but Pride In a word Men have a mind to distinguish themselves by the novelty of their Opinions and to raise their own Glory by abasing that of Jesus Christ These who destroy the Temple of God God will destroy I tell you that more than the Temple is here Entreat we our dear Lord Jesus that it may please him to enlighten his Enemies and confirm us more and more in the belief of his Divinity To him even as to the Father and the Holy Ghost be Humour and Glory for ever Amen A Declaration of the Opinion of the French Ministers who are now Refugees in England about some Points of Religion in Opposition to the Socinians WE under written the Refugees French Ministers in England having understood by a Letter which my Lord the Bishop of London who at present is in Holland hath writ to Monsieur le Coq Counsellor in the Parliament of Paris and an Illustrious Confessor of the Truth the strange Reports that have been spread as if we were not sound in the Faith and particularly with relation to the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and Grace and the need there is to dissipate the same and being moreover perswaded that by this Explication of our Belief we shall perform a thing that will serve for the Edification and Consolation of our Brethren and will have its fruit if the Lord please especially in the Land of our Nativity after some Amicable and Brotherly Conferences we have had upon this matter in the presence of Monsieur le Coq we have all of us agreed to declare as we do in the Sincerity of our Hearts I. That we Believe the whole Scripture Divinely Inspir'd so that all Men are obliged to receive every thing therein Revealed with an entire Submission of Faith II. That we receive with Reverence and Submission whatsoever the Scripture teacheth concerning the Nature of God and his Attributes of his Spirituality Infiniteness Incomprehensibility Prescience even of Future Contingencies and of all others the said Scripture attributes to him III. That we Believe also what it delivers concerning the Trinity of Persons in one only Divine Essence and concerning the Incarnation of the Son according as the said Articles are set down in the VI. XIV and XV. of the Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches of France IV. That we hold also as an Article of our Faith That Jesus Christ by dying on the Cross hath not only left us an Example that we should follow his Footsteps but moreover that his Principal Design therein was