to screw it up into an Allegory nor when the Discourse is doctrinal and the words in it usual proper and suited to the things intended to be expressed this indeed is what Peter calls a resting the Scriptures to their own destruction The later part of the Verse doth explain the first for the words signifie Christ's Ascension into Heaven they were spoken upon the occasion of Christ's instructing encouraging and disposing his Disciples to that Separation which was suddenly to happen by his Death after which tho' he shewed himself alive by many infallible Proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God yet he conversed not with them in the same manner as before his Passion Acts 1.2 Now this occasion which they were spoken upon sheweth how he discoursed about leaving the World going to his Father and ascending into Heaven which reaily and visibly happen'd forty days after his Resurrection By these Expressions which were familiar with him of going up or ascending to the Father he signified the same thing and tho' the Father doth fill up Heaven which is his Throne and Earth his Footstool yet in Scripture he is said to sit and dwell in Heaven as in his home Joh. 14.2 wherefore our Saviour calls Heaven his Father's House Now as this later part of the verse signifieth Christ's Ascension from the Earth to the Father so the first signifieth his coming down from Heaven upon Earth Again the Opposition which is seen between both parts as I came forth from the Father with and go to the Father and I am come into the World with again I leave the World do shew that if to come from the Father doth denote to be sent from Heaven to Earth by the Father so to go to the Father signifieth the contrary to that namely to go from Earth up to Heaven to the Father Christ leaving the World is gone to the Father and going to the Father he hath left the World wherefore to go to the Father and leave the World are the same So likewise Christ coming forth from the Father came into the World and coming into the World he came forth from the Father And these two kinds of Expressions signifie the same thing Chap. 13.3 and as he was come from God so he went to God This coming from the Father and coming into the World do imply first a sending as the Lord declareth it John 8.42 I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me And then something posterior to the Mission and as it were belonging to the execution thereof for if one should ask Wherefore came Christ into the World it would be well answer'd to say Because the Father sent him So that he who is sent must come from him that sent him to the place whereunto he is sent Then the words I came from the Father must be understood of the execution of the sending rather than the sending itself It is a wrong sence given as to apply them to a divine production I came from the Father that is I am miraculously produced by the Father This Exposition doth confound things that are different for none can be sent before he hath a Being but that 's produced which hath no Being Production is before Sending Thus the words must signifie that Christ return'd to the place whence he came and ascended into that whence he descended before This he went about to inculcate into the Mind of the Jews in the opposition he makes of his Origin with theirs Ye are from benedth V. 23. I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world but from the Father not from Earth but from Heaven He was not in the World by a natural necessity but voluntarily and by a determined counsel he came into 't as Embassador from his Father to reveal unto Men the Doctrin and Means of Salvation and for Judgment Chap. 9.39 For judgment am I come into this world and all the while he was here even very betimes he minded what he came about Unto his Mother after she found him in the Temple and asking him Why hast thou thus dealt with us he answer'd How is it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business Luke 2.48 49. So that he continued upon Earth till that was over before which time he would not go back John 17.4 but before his departure he declar'd I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do whereupon he returned back to his Father from whom he was come before leaving Earth a place so disproportionate and inferiour to Heaven whence he had his extraction and consequently unworthy to contain him any longer This Reason he gives his Disciples whose Heart upon his declaring he was about leaving of them had been fill'd with Sorrow how it was not just he should always be among those that had used him so unworthily and withal it was expedient for them that he should go away or else the Comforter Chap. 16. â— 7. who was to be with them after his departure would not come After all that hither to hath been said may not I ask concerning the method and carriage of the Adversaries Is it fair about these fundamental points to turn the whole Scripture into an Allegory and make the Spirit of God never to speak properly to force upon and wrest out of the Word of God such Sences and Expositions as are contrary to the scope of the Spirit to the Deigns of the holy Writers and to the Analogy of Faith and if this cannot serve the turn to screw up and work their Bâ—â—ing how to contrive and forge an imaginary After son of Christ into Heaven about the 〈◊〉 of his Ministry and consequently a ceasing â—â—wn from thence after it yet at the same time deny that true and real descending of â—is upon Earth which is so much and so often assorted in Scripture which is as good as to say Tho' Truth and Scripture do not bear it yet we I now how to supply it of our own Flectere si nequco saperos Ae eroma movebo Now to strengthen what I have said to prove our Lords Divinity before I proceed to answer Objecting I shall add what followeth upon the forementioned Head of the Angel in the Old Testament I mean the increated Angel whose Person in appearance is Man in office Angel in nature God the second Person of the most holy Trinity I shall somewhat insist upon a most notable place and much to our purpose though I already said something about it for I can not willing to lay aside a strong and very useful weapon because I made use of it before for when once it hath been try'd we are the surer of and may better depend upon it On the occasion of the abominable Idolatry of the golden Calf God refused to go up
to the end we may know the Truths of God we must be taught them of God now as all Promises are Yea and Amen in Jesus Christ so are all and every Truth of the Gospel in him which to understand we must be taught by him and by the Holy Ghost Eph. 4.21 2 Cor. 3.6 for the letter alone killeth but the spirit giveth life It is very strange yet true that Socinians will trust and depend upon their own Reason notwithstanding the Advice of wise Solomon given them long ago Lean not unto thine own understanding Prov. 3.5 which is the Seat and Center of Reason for if Men have any thing of Reason there it lays as to natural things but as to supernatural it is derived out of Scriptures whereupon our Holy Religion is grounded therein is nothing useless and needless yet still something is mysterious either as to Matter or in the Manner wherein it is spoken and 't is this which God hath given us for our continual Exercise in this World therefore he requireth we should inquire intoâ—t with all possible Diligence and utmost Endeavours and they who fall into that course do and will by Experience upon frequent reading of the Word daily find new Lights new Discoveries and new cause of Admiration which thorough Grace from above are the Fruits of their Obedience and Industry as there is nothing unnecessary superfluous and useless and that for all sorts of Christians whether weak or strong so the the right consideration of the Matter the Words Order Contexture the Design of the Holy Ghost in them do instruct us of and guide us in our Duty towards God whereof the parts are various large great and wonderful upon this account saith David Ps 119.96 Thy commandment is exceeding broad because it contains the whole Revelation of God unto us which is full of infinite Wisdom in the whole Frame and Order of it and as the Revelation in the Word is from God so is the Understanding of that Revelation that is the reasn why Men should not as some do perplex themselves to find out the Grounds and Suitableness of some things in the New-Testament with others in the Old when they should know how 't is not in their Power to know the heighth depth length and breadth of God's Infinite Wisdom therein contained when may be the Holy Ghost aimeth at such things as they cannot dive into who by degrees openeth Man's Eyes more and more to know things necessary for them for as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 3.2 He feeds us first with milk then with meat when we are able and strong enough to bear it for as another Apostle saith New-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.2 that they may grow thereby and thus till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 And those Men who in these things rely upon the Strength of their own Reason I may well compare to these little Babes who being not able to feed themselves lay Hand into their Milk wherewith they do not feed but only slubber themselves or to that Child that would not have the Nurse to hold him tho' he wants strength of himself to go if the Hand that bears him up doth but hold off then he is gone and sure to fall So 't is of any one that trusteth to his Understanding and leaneth upon his own Reason 't is a bruised Reed that will go into his Hand and pierce it Wherefore God's sends us to the law Isa 8.20 and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them for their Light doth come from the word yet not all at once but by degrees and in their several Kinds all which as the Apostle saith worketh that one and the self-same spirit 1 Cor. 12. dividing to every man severally as he will and let us know never so much out of Scripture there is still more to be learned Ought not this to convince Men that it doth contain Mysteries The Apostle directs us to think soberly Rom. 12.3 not to allow our Fancy and curious Speculations to go beyond the bounds of a becoming Sobriety in things above us which Scripture doth both command and commend and is very much suitable unto right Reason Now the rule of that Sobriety is positively fully and unalterably given thus Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those which are revealed unto us Deur 29 2â— and to our children In those things Divine Revelation must be the measure and rule of our Knowledge the contrary is an effect of Pride Vanity and Presumptuousness forbidden in Scripture not to 〈◊〉 above that which is written which if Mâ—n obey 1 Cor. 4.6 it will bring them to Certainty and Truth whereof the contrary leads them into all kinds of Error But to conclude this for I must no longer insist upon 't as I never intended fully to answer it only to take notice of it on my way as to the point of Reason see how foolish in these things Man is and how confounded his â—eason by the Example of Peter an Elect of God a Disciple dear unto Christ The Lord Jesus comes to him to wash his Feet but he presently said John 13.5 6 7. Thou shalt never wash my feet but our Saviour answering If I wash thee not thou host no part in me Peter soon goes to another Extream first he would not have Christ to wash him at all but now he would be washed every where not only the feet but also hand and head too but our Saviour shews him Reason why he ought to suffer himself to be guided and not to take upon him to direct his Lord and Master in what he was to do he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet Now the cause of this wandring and error of Peter is expressed v. 7. namely his Ignorance What I do thou knowest not now Where was his Reason at that time For certainly he was unreasonable to be of a different Mind from his Saviour and till he submitted unto his Will the like we may say about these things unto those who fancy themselves so rational and would set up their blind and lame Reason for a competent Judge Reason is always striving and always at a loss all our Reason hath to do is to be guided by Scripture and to own it to be the infallible word of God all beyond this is the work of Faith for Christ is an object not to be known naturally or by natural Reason and the obligation to know Christ and believe in him springs and ariseth only from a positive Command superadded unto the Law of Nature If St. Paul speaks Truth Col. 1.27 Christ in us is a mystery considering the manner whereby he is in us therefore the Image of the new Man in us is called the hidden and inner
found alive at the last Day They would have Christ's Incarnation to be against Reason and Scripture they deny him to be truly God the like of the Holy Ghost That there is in One God no Trinity of Persons and that the Old Testament is needless for Christians c. All these and other Blasphemies are found in the Works of Socinus in the Racovian Catechism whereof Smalcius is the Author of Ostorodius Crellius Wolkelius Vaydovius c. but we shall by the Grace of God insist only upon some of their greatest Blasphemies Now to the Cause Matters of this high Nature and fundamental Concernment to our Holy Religion must not be prostituted to the captious scanning of Men of corrupt Minds nor the ways of God be made layable to the Judgment of Men rather humbly to be adored with Submission of Mind and Obedience of Faith to the Revelation declared in God's Word and herein we ought the more to be sober and cautious that we know Errors to be link'd together and to have a dependency one upon another he that strikes at the Grace of the Lord Jesus will afterwards make no Conscience to fly out against his Person he who denies him to be a Prophet will soon disown him to be a King and a Priest for as one Depth calls to another so an Arminian can easily become a rank Pelagian and Socinian Wherefore 't is necessary at the very beginning to oppose Errors defend every inch of ground against such as will daily grow worse and worse as do the * James 1.8 double-minded men that are for their own more than for the Truth 's Interest for they are unstable in all their ways and the more Hands orderly employed the better is the Effect like to be This Consideration makes me to appear amongst those who heretofore did and now do oppose false Teachers who not only privily but also in publick bring in again those damnable Heresies which of old Truth and Learning exploded and baffled out of the World The Divinity of Christ was the Stumbling-block to the Jews who could not endure to hear him call himself the Son of God absolutely and without limitation and thereat were enraged which made 'em take up Stones to cast at him John 8.59 and also at another time Chap. 10.31 the Doctrines about the Holy Trinity and the Person and Deity of Christ do stand and fall together In our Saviour's time it began to be oppos'd by the Jews and since from time to time continu'd to be so by the Devil's Instruments raised to that same purpose and within the last Age revived by the fore-named Blasphemers against the Rock of the Church which is built on the Confession that Christ is the Son of the living God not by any special Favour or any such Restriction for then there would be only a gradual difference between his and our being Sons of God but he is simply the Son of God yea his only begotten Before we enter upon this important Matter some things to clear the state of the Question must be premised so that we must shew wherein we agree before we speak of that wherein we differ as to the first this Foundation must be laid there is a God the Cause of all the Effect of none who hath made all and is made by none who hath given all things their Being and hath his own of himself This is not denyed so I shall not go about to prove it the Light of Nature the Book of Scripture and the Testimony of Conscience do sufficiently convince Men of it The next thing is what God is He being infinite cannot be defined but imperfectly described only according to what he hath in his Word revealed of himself how he is infinite independent self-sufficient eternal unchangeable But such is the blindness of some Mens Judgments or the Perverseness of their Hearts that they will cavil at the Nature Names Attributes and Works of this eternal and infinite Being But about this fundamental Truth our Faith must be directed by the Revelation which God hath made of it in his holy Word herein Men must not follow their own fancy for * 〈◊〉 Mat. 〈…〉 no man knoweth the father but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him Now the sum of this Revelation in the Word is that God is One that this One God is Father Son and Holy Ghost that the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son the Son of the Father and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of the Father and of the Son and that they are distinct one from another in respect of this their mutual Relation by this Rule we must be guided how to know believe worship love fear and obey him that is the Father One true God the Son One true God and the Holy Ghost One true God to be believed worshiped and obeyed Now for our Edification and further Instruction thâ—â— Doctrin admits of some Enlargement and Explanation to prevent undue Notions of God which by reason of the Blindness and Ignorance we are naturally involv'd in our Minds are liable unto thus out of the Revelation that God is One we easily deduce he is so in respect of his Nature Essence or Godhead and how being Father Son and Holy Ghost he doth subsist in these Three distinct Persons thence also is derived the manner of their Subsistence what are their mutual respects to each other and such like things by a necessary Consequence from the Revelation Upon these Grounds were compiled the Nicene Athanasian and other Creeds or Articles of Faith in opposition to the Heresies of those Times for therein was explained the true Sense of Scripture about those matters which were wrested by the Enemies of the Truth and though the Orthodox Doctors and Councils to oppose the Error and lay open the Venom made use of some Words and Expressions which in so many Letters are not set down in the Word of God yet they were not to blame for they were drawn out of it by lawful and necessary Consequences Men may lawfully conceive in their Minds what is the nature of the Things or the sense of the Words according to the scope of the Spirit of God in the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and also as to the Analogy of Faith or else we are no better than Brutes So that if the chief Assertion contained in the Revelation be true so must also be whatsoever is therein included and in the Explication thereof drawn by a true and right Consequence Wherefore seeing God hath declared Father Son and Holy Ghost to be One God it necessarily follows they are One in Nature because therein only they can be One And this is the ground of any other Unity and seeing it is also declared they are Three it must be explained of three distinct Persons or Subsistences wherein only it is possible they can be Three The Revelation is clear there is One God this God is
Surely no man that hath any regard to God can say or think that in so serious a matter God speaks to nothing if to some then either to Angels or to some other Creature not to Angels for they are not of God's Council nor to any other of the Creatures which had neither Soul nor Reason and the next Verse doth decide the thing * Vers 27. So god created man in his own image in the image of God created he him and not after the Image of Angels or of any other Creature neither did God speak to the Souls for as yet they were not created To what I said of Angels I shall add that this could not be spoken to them for they neither principally or instrumentally had any hand in the Creation of Man for they could not the Work of Creation requiring an infinite Power but it must be to the other persons of the most holy Trinity the Word and the Spirit As to the Enallage or that manner of speaking in the plural for Greatness sake we own it hath place in some Languages but we deny it ever was in the Hebrew Tongue in the Old Testament no Man no person in Authority no Priest no Judg no King ever spoke of himself in the plural Number Well hath the Prophet said †Isai 40.12 13.7 Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counsellor hath taught him But for any one Grotius not excepted to say that the plural Number is used for Greatness or Majesty sake is certainly to prevaricate in the Cause of God for as 't is contrary to the Idiom of the Hebrew Tongue so to the practice of all those former times and it is but a modern Use and Invention which so support some Men contrary to all true Reason have forged in their imagination Besides that in these latter times wherein the Use hath been introduced no Emperor King or Prince in any Language useth his Proper Name or Appellative in the plural Number We Leopolds Williams Henrys Emperors Kings c. but always in the singular Leopold William Emperour King Well though no Man of what rank soever spoke after that way we find God hath in other places as after Adam's Sin * Gen. 3.22 Behold the man is become as one of us not as I but one of us then there is more than One person for God speaks of himself of the Deity not of Angels whom he makes no comparison with when in the Transfiguration the Voice came from Heaven saying †Mat. 17.5 8. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased 't is observable the Apostles saw no Man save Jesus onely that it might appear it was not spoken of Moses or Elias but only of the Lord Jesus Another place there is also to the same purpose where upon the occasion of the building of the Tower of Babel †Gen. 11.6 7. The Lord said let us go down and there confound their language 't is not said I will but let us go â—â—wn in the plural Number as speaking of many which may not be understood of the Nature which is most singularly One but of the Persons Socinians say to this that though out of this we could prove Plurality yet we must not conclude for a Trinity but the Cavil is vain for 't is enough that the Name of God is in Scripture attributed only to Three Father Son and Holy Ghost to infer a Trinity and 't is well known how Three is the first Number of the plural Hence Hebrews and Greeks do distinguish the plural Number from the dual neither do we read of any more Terms or Words than two of divine Emanations namely of the Son by Generation and of the Holy Ghost by Procession Our second kind of Arguments consists of those Texts of Scripture which do expresly declare a Trinity as is that when our blessed Saviour sends his Apostles to * Mat. 28.19 baptize the Nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Hence the Son and Holy Ghost are proved to be Persons because we are distinctly baptised in their Name to baptise in one's Name is to make him disciple or initiate and bring him under the Discipline of him in whose Name he is baptized now if the Father in whose Name we are baptized be a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost be because in every circumstance we are baptized in their Name as well as in the Fathers And observe it is not said in the Name of God whereby the Essence only might absolutely be taken but of the Father Son and Holy Ghost to shew that relative Equality which is between the Persons that have but one and the same Nature In this Text our blessed Saviour with his own Mouth declared the Trinity Another place very plain and positive to our purpose is this * 1 John 5.7 There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one Here the Trinity of Persons and Unity of Essence are so clear that the Adversaries have nothing to say but first to call in question the Verse as if it had been inserted because it is not in some Greek Copies out of which the Enemies of the Truth did formerly take it away but we have it in so many others even before the Council of Nice in Cyprian's time that there is no just ground left to doubt of its being true and authentick which place was by Athanasius made use of against Arrius In this Text the Apostle doth treat of confessing and believing Jesus Christ to be the Son of God which he to confirm doth bring in the Article of the holy Trinity whereof he is the second Person and to any one that doth seriously consider the sense and scope of the place it will appear how without that Verse there would be a breach in that part of the Chapter to bear a proportion of Three that bear witness in Heaven with the Three that bear it on Earth Their next Cavil upon this place is upon the latter part of the Verse and these three are one that is say they not in Nature but in Mind and Consent which is as absurd as if one would say when Scripture affirms * Deut. 6 4. Mark 12.29 O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord the meaning is only the Consent of many Wills but doth not this Oneness of Will argue a Unity of Essence For how can there naturally and essentially be one Will and Consent if there be not one Essence and Nature How can it essentially be one Will if there be not one but many divine Natures Rather there shall be many different Gods whose different Wills shall oppose one another than the which nothing can be more absurd Again either those Persons are finite or infinite if finite then they have not divine Nature which is infinite if infinite then
they do penetrate one another for they most perfectly and infinitely know and love one another now Love is an earnest desire of Union so then they be most intirely united The Apostle makes the necessary difference of the Three on Earth he saith they agree in One but of the Three in Heaven he saith they are One. Moreover either one knows something which the other doth not or loves something which the other doth not love or can do something which the other cannot do or not if the former how are they God For God knows and can do all if the last then not only they have one Will but also one Mind one Power one Knowledg one Love Now let Man think upon several Natures of the same kind which mutually do penetrate themselves and by a mutual inclination do embrace and unite themselves inseparably and have the same Thoughts Will and Action doth not all this conclude for one and the same Nature And that there is no difference but in some manner of Existing which because they are such are distinct one from another without Confusion all which from Oneness of Will leads to Oneness of Essence for the Will of God is not a thing different from his Nature Another Text wherein the most holy Trinity is demonstrated and not only may be read but also be heard and seen is that about our Saviour's Baptism where the Father speaks from Heaven and calls him his Son Christ the Son is baptized and the Holy Ghost appears in the shape of a Dove if Men do believe Scripture this they must believe to be true S. Austin lookt upon this Text as a strong and convincing Proof of that divine and essential Truth Vade ad Jordanem c. saith he Go to the River Jordan and there thou shalt find the holy Trinity and be convinced of the Verity thereof Besides these we have a Cloud of other Witnesses to prove this Truth where the Three Persons are mentioned under their proper Names and first * Acts 2.22 23. This Jesus being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost the Three Persons are plainly named Again the same Jesus Christ was declared †Rom. 1.3 4. to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Elsewhere the same Apostle saith ‖ Tit. 3.4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ And in another place ‡ Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts by the word God is meaned the Person of the Father * Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offereth himself without spot to God Furthermore †Ephes 2.18 Through him Christ we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father Our blessed Saviour himself out of his own sacred Mouth doth plainly and positively speak to this purpose when he saith * John 14.16.17 I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter the Father I the Son and the comforter whom he calls the Spirit of Truth are Three Persons which in the next Chapter †Chap. 15 26. is by him repeated But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth One Text more I shall bring to confirm this * 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God that is the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all And in the Text of another Apostle †1 Pet. 1.2 are contained the Workings of the Three Persons in the Trinity Elect according to the fore knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ As the New Testament is full of Proofs to confirm this holy Doctrine for indeed these Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation are more clearly and fully therein related so out of the Old Testament we have enough to confute the Enemies of this Truth and because we look upon Socinians in their Principles to be a sort of Jews and as well as they Blasphemers against our holy and blessed Saviour so we will bring such Arguments against them as we would if we were disputing against unbelieving Jew◠only a few Texts out of many We begin with the Book of Genesis Chap. 1. wherein is contained a relation of the History of the Creation which is a Work common to the Three Persons of the Trinity and though we may not look upon it as the clearer upon the matter yet in it is Light enough to shew the Truth we now assert I shall say nothing of the Name God under that of Elohim which already we have spoken of as representing the plurality of Persons in the most holy Trinity but we may say that though the Name God was there which it is not in the singular and taken for the Person of the Father yet the Son had a hand in the act of Creation for it is God said here is the word which is the proper Name of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ who in Scripture especially by S. John is so often called by that Name the Word God saying and speaking is that which made the World We read God said when any thing was created which being compared with what is spoken by John * John 1.3 All things were made by him that is the Word the Person of Jesus Christ for actiones sunt suppositorum acting is proper to Persons and without him was not any thing made that was made now that Word God said is that which created every thing so then here is the Person of the Son but we also find the Person of the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.2 the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters by his acting represented by motion to cherish give life and motion to things as a Hen doth when sitting upon her Eggs for the word in the Original signifies such a thing This sense is given by a competent Interpreter †Psal 33.6.9 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host thereof by the breath of his mouth Here we can read distinctly the Lord if it were to be understood only of the first Person about which there is no dispute the Word and the Breath or Spirit this though it be clear I could set in a greater Light with comparing it with other places which I now forbear to do because I shall have occasion to make use of them in some other branch of my Discourse Another Text is this * Isai 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him besides the Person that speaks namely the Father here we have the Son under the name
of his Servant of his elect in whom his Soul delighteth whereby none may deny the Lord Jesus to be understood and the Holy Ghost or Spirit Nothing better than this can quadrate with the History of our Saviour's Baptism ‖ Matth. 3.16 And in another place of the same Prophet †Iâ—al 6.3 when he saw the Vision and heard that Trisagion or holy holy holy which long after was also heard by John * Rev. 4 8. that three-fold repetition of God's Name compar'd with the proper Hypotheses of the antient Jews ' that it signified three things in God is adapted to the Trinity of Persons in S. John's Vision we have some enlargement as to the Lord Jesus represented by the Lamb for the same Twenty four Elders and Four Beasts * Rev. 5.8 9 13. fell down before the lamb and sung a new song and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea paid the same Worship to the Lamb as to him that sitteth on the Throne Again the same Prophet †Isai 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me this to be understood of Christ as applyed Luke 4.18 and of the Holy Ghost by the anointing for he was anointed with the Oyl of Gladness that is the Graces of the Spirit These Three are also to be read amongst the last Words of David * 2 Sam. 23.2 saying The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and the Word was in my tongue here is the Lord the Word and the Spirit To the same purpose speaks another Prophet †Hagg. 2.5 according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth among you the Father with the Word his Son and his Spirit made a Covenant with Israel There are several other Texts in the Old Testament of the Nature of One which I already made use of I mean of the thrice holy wherein the Name of God or Lord is thrice repeated I own I have such a persuasion of the infinite Wisdom of God as to believe there is nothing at all in his Word but what there is a particular reason for it to be in and in this belief of mine I am confirmed by what our blessed Saviour saith in earnest and with a strong Asseveration †Matt. 5.18 Verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled and I am sufficiently satisfied that though through the Infirmity of our Nature in the Ignorance of our Mind we cannot apprehend the Causes of many things in the Word of God yet therein is nothing without a Cause So out of that Principle I dare say God meaneth something when in the Blessing which he prescribed to be pronounced to the People the Lord's Name is thrice in it thus * Numb 6.24 25 26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and when God speaks unto Moses he dictates what he was to speak to the Children of Israel when he was come to them in his Name that is The Lord God of your Fathers one would have thought this had been enough but no for he addeth †Exod. 3.15 The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob it was the same God yet thrice named So when the Law is given he saith ‖ Exod. 20.5 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God once Lord and twice God which is the same so in another place the * Psalm 136.1 2 3. Psalmist exhorteth thrice to give thanks to whom unto the Lord unto the God of Gods to the Lord of Lords One more I shall quote and 't is this †Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King Why thrice and no more Surely God aims at something for as he doth nothing so he saith nothing in vain these things are not in by Chance and seeing with a full assurance I believe according to Revelation a Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature Why should not I also believe that these things relate to it Now if one would seriously attend upon these quoted places and compare them with others of the same kind may be God would impart upon the Matter greater Discoveries than I for the present am able to give only this I shall add how the Name Jehovah called in Greek Tetragrammaton because it originally consists only of four Letters signifieth both God's Self-existence for the Root whence 't is derived doth denote to be and also his Eternity for it contains all times to come present and past one out of the two first Letters draws the Words beginning and to live and the third having a Vertue of copulating or joyning together is for Love whereby is denoted the Holy Ghost as by the two before are Father and Son and because the second Letter h is twice in he would have both Natures in the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity to be meaned tho' I have nothing to say against these mysterious Interpretations which may be well grounded yet we build not our main Arguments thereupon however knowing that essential and incommunicable Holy Name to confist of three different Letters I can see nothing to hinder me from believing that that same Nature is communicated to Three Persons and as the same Letter is twice in it doth signifie Two Natures in One Person especially it falling upon the Second Letter relating to the Second Person of the most blessed Trinity and as God is the Author of the Name Why may not he in his Infinite Wisdom therein denote some Mystery This I take to be Rational Here I must not omit for Proof of this great Truth to bring in our Creed called the Apostolical as an Evidence I meddle not with the others for the Adversaries will not own them though they ever were by better more Learned more Pious and Sound in all Ages than they are or I doubt can be I know the World hath afforded some Men who out of a vain-glory and to seem to be something through a tryal of their Parts have attempted to enervate with their Criticisms the Strength and Orthodoxy of these Creeds but as to this Socinians themselves can except against it no more than they do against the written Word of God whence this is extracted Father Son and Holy Ghost are all Three named in the Creed and as the Word God is expressed when joined with the Father so 't is understood of Son and Holy Ghost thus I believe in God his only begotten Son and I believe in God the Holy Ghost for to them it also doth belong and as there we profess to believe in that is to
him they Worship This very Name of Michael is given to the Messiah ‖ Dan. 12.1 and at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people which is a Prophecy of Christ's coming wherein he is called El Michael and the Great Prince to this Emmanuel relates what the Evangelist says of the Word that is Christ how being made Flesh he dwelt among us is not this the same as God with us And this not obscurely for he adds * Joh. 1.14 and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father he not only had Glory but is called Lord of Glory before his Ascension into and Glorification in Heaven and for certain the Name of Lord or King of Glory is proper to the true essential God if David †Psal 24.10 speaks Truth now this dwelling of God is not said to be in but with Men which doth import a Person living and conversing with Men fully expressed in the following Text ‖ Rev. 21 3. Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God all this done not by proxy but in Person 't is said God himself so that great and infinite God whom the Heavens of Heavens cannot contain chose our Human Nature to dwell in as in a Tabernacle whereof the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a Type as the Temple was afterwards we know there was a Vail this the Apostle alludeth to when he saith * Heb. 10.20 thorough the vail that is to say the flesh so that his Body and Human Nature is the place he chose to dwell in and that same Nature is as a Vail to qualify that Glory which no Man could behold for as the People could not behold Moses his Face when he came from God so that it was necessary he should put on a Vail How then could Man have beholden the Glory and Brightness of the Son of God and how could he have dwelt amonst and conversed with them except he had put on the Vail of his Flesh We must then necessarily conclude he was El the Mighty God before he was Immanuel God with us As to that great incomprehensible and adorable Mystery of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity whereby the Divine and Human Natures were mediatly and the Person immediatly united to the Nature 't is to be observed that 't is not by a Consubstantial Union such as the Three Persons of the most Holy Trinity are united one with another neither is it a Substantial Union only by Essence and Vertue as the Essence of Christ is present with every thing not by a presence of Grace only not Physical as Form and Matter are united not as one Friend is united to one another as the Soul of Jouathan was knit with the Soul of * 1 Sam. 18.1 David not mystical only or in the same manner as Christ dwelleth in Believers not Sacramental as Christ is in the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper but 't is a Personal Union and that without any Change of or in the Divine Person without a renting of the Natures against the Nestorians or Confusion of the same against the Eutychians also without any Change and Separation Now I am upon this high Mystery of the Incarnation by the Evangelist expressed in these words the word was made flesh I shall take notice of some few things doth not the expression which is parallel with this †1 Joh. 4.2 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh mean that Christ the Word was in being before he was made Flesh or came in the Flesh and that this Being was according to the Spirit which in Scripture is opposed to the Flesh and that he had a spiritual Existence before he took our human Nature signified by the word Flesh for according to Scripture Flesh signifies human Nature so to be made Flesh to assume human Nature let one place serve instead of many ‖ Gal. 2.16 by the works of the law shall no flesh that is no Man be justified The Son of God was first afterwards he was manifested as to make use of a Comparison in a thing which admits none in matters of God's Decrees the Decree is before the Declaration of it for the Decree is from all Eternity but the Declaration only in time what is said of Christ * Gal. 4.4 that he was made of a woman is considerable for it implies that he was made Man and took upon him our Nature not out of the Substance of any Man but only of a Woman his Body was formed in the blessed Virgin 's Womb without any help of Man so he became Man only by the Woman's side but he was Son of God before he was made of a Woman and he must need have had a Being before he was sent forth he was with God before God sent him which is opposed to his appearing and being manifested to the World * 1 Joh. 1 2. we shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us he was with the Father existed and had a Being before he was manifested unto us dwelt and pitched his Tabernacle among us it is observable out of that place where it is said of our blessed Saviour †Heb. 2.16 he took on him the seed of Abraham the word took in the Original signifies also to take and lay hold or caught hold as he did of sinking Peter to save him from drowning so he caught hold of Mankind when it was ready to sink Against this they say there can be no such Union of Divine and Human Nature in one Person but that such an Union is not unpossible it may be illustrated out of the Union of our Soul with our Body which are of two different Natures spiritual and material invisible and visible immortal and mortal and tho' we cannot conceive the Reason it ought to be no Prejudice neither can we conceive the manner of their Union which yet is true and certain we most certainly believe some things to be tho' we do not at all comprehend the manner of it and altho' there be an infinite disproportion between God and Man yet that is no just Prejudice against the Union of Divinity with Humanity with harbouring such Notions Men do too much measure God by themselves who because they are evil are not capable of so much Goodness and out of Pride are apt to say so much Condescention becomes not God but God knows better than we what becomes him and what we cannot comprehend of him we ought to admire and adore God's Ways are not like our Ways nor his Thoughts like our Thoughts and tho' he condescends never so low yet is ever sure of his Greatness which nothing can take away from him This Humiliation or
he seemed not to be born on Earth but rather fallen from Heaven having neither beginning of Days nor ending of Life but made like unto the Son of God whereof he was a Type shewing these Attributes to be more proper to and true of the Son of God which cannot be otherwise understood then thus either that the Son of God hath such a Nature as doth by no means come and is derived from earthly and carnal Parents without beginning or end and so eternal to all eternity such as is divine Nature or else that both Natures of Christ divine and human are denoted human without Father upon Earth divine without Mother in Heaven and either overthrows the imaginary Notion of Socinus of Father according to the Flesh This must not be understood of the Priesthood about which the Question is not but about his Origine and Genealogy he is said to be without Father or Mother not but that he had some only there is no mention nor description made of it for the Greek word without Genealogy signifieth not the Genealogy it self but the description of it besides that the words without beginning of Days or ending of Life may by no means be applyed to the Priesthood wherefore he is said to have no beginning of Days not but that he had but is brought in as if he had not to answer him whose Type he was Days and Life are not referred to a Priesthood but to a Being a Person an Existence and Life the beginning or ending whereof absolutely no mention is made at all so then in this place the Comparison is not about the Priesthod but about the eternal Person of Christ for Christ's Priesthood had a beginning as is expressy set down in Scripture * Heb. 5.5 6. For he glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto him thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as he saith also in another place Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec So then in that sense it cannot properly be applyed to Christ 't is frivolous to say as if it were to be understood of any Family for the Apostle absolutely speaks of beginning of Days not of a Priesthood to speak absolutely of a Beginning and of a beginning of a Family are two things and that is to wrest the Apostle's sense and meaning and make him say a thing which he never intended We don't deny but that the Apostle speaks of the Priesthood of Melchisedec and of Christ's but it must be owned he also speaks of other things as of Melchisedec's being King of Righteousness King of Salem King of Peace c. and his being without beginning of Days or ending of Life relates to his Person and Life for no mention is made of his Birth or of his Death though both besel him but from the Eternity of his Person the Apostle inferreth the Eternity of his Priesthood So then when the Lord Jesus is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Person of Melchisedec the two last are not to be understood of his temporal Generation and Birth of the Virgin for two Evangelists have written his Genealogy but of his eternal Generation and of this speaks the Prophet †Isai 53.8 Who shall declare his generation An Expression equivalent to this no Man can it is eternal incomprehensible When our Saviour was born of the Virgin he was born in time ‖ Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come as Scripture calls it Now this Parallel between the Type and Anti-Type Melchisedec and Christ doth not run upon our Saviour's Birth according to the Flesh and about his human Nature but about something higher his Divinity wherefore the Apostle in the place where he saith Melchisedec to be without Father c. doth ascend higher saying * Heb. 7.3 but made like unto the Son of God The more â—o prosecute this Argument we must say how Christ in his Childhood even in the Womb was God for he is Immanuel God with us from the Virgins Womb the thing is clear out of this that God being not Flesh but Spirit can have no carnal only spiritual Sons the true Birth makes the true Sons and this is of two sorts those that are born of the Flesh are carnal those of the Spirit are spiritual for saith Christ Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit now to be born of the Flesh is to be born of a carnal Seed as to be born of the Spirit is to be born of a spiritual Seed wherefore Peter †Pet. 1.23 24 25. mentioneth two Seeds one corruptible the other incorruptible that of the Flesh as Grass withereth away the spiritual endureth for ever If then Christ was born of the Spirit as not long before we took notice the Adversaries would have him to be because he is said to have been conceived by the Holy Ghost then that Birth of Christ would be spiritual but not according to the Flesh 'T is not without cause that when Scripture speaks of our Blessed Saviour in several places it makes a restriction according to the Flesh and an Opposition to 't according to the Spirit thus 't is in the fore-quoted places Rom. 1.3 4. and Chap. 9.5 thus The word was made flesh the Word and Flesh do signifie two different Principles distinguished and in opposition one to another So the Apostle saith * 1 Pet. 3.18 Chap. 4.1 Christ was put to death in the Flesh but quickened in the Spirit and again He hath suffer'd for us in the flesh that is in his human Nature then in him is a Nature in which he suffer'd not and 1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh In one and the same Subject are two different Natures divine signified by the word God and humane by the Flesh What mean those words of S. Peter * Acts 2.30 31. how God had sworn unto David That of the fruit of his loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ and that his Flesh did not see corruption but to shew that in Christ was another Being different from that according to the Flesh according to which he was not David's Son Thus S. Paul as already quoted said God sent his Son in likeness of sinful Flesh there is a difference between being Son of God and being in the likeness of sinful Flesh And elsewhere †Ephes 2.15 Colos 1.22 Heb. 5.7 Ch. 10.20 Having abolished in his Flesh and You hath be reconciled in thâ—â—body of his Flesh again Who in the days of his Flesh and Through the vail that is to say his Flesh that visible Vail did hide some invisible thing Now I say it were in vain in Scripture to see so often mention made of Christ's Flesh if there was in him no other thing as the ground of the Distinction thus when we speak
of Man's Body 't is to distinguish it from the Soul so of his Soul to distinguish it from the Body for though in one Man there be Soul and Body yet the Soul is not the Body nor the Body the Soul So in Christ though he be but one Person yet that Person consisteth of divine and human Natures one expressed by Spirit the other by flesh a necessary Distinction to make us know which Nature in him is spoken of for they ought not to be confounded each having its proper Attributes But as their way of arguing is altogether Cavils and Sophistries so they would put a false Gloss upon our Saviour's fore-quoted words That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh c. as if he were speaking of that which is naturally done but Christ's Conception and Birth is supernatural but see what a wrong Principle they go upon for the Conception by the Spirit they reckon to be natural as if the Spirit of God bestowed upon us in a spiritual Generation or Regeneration was natural to us when 't is a supernatural Gift of divine Grace Now seeing the Lord Jesus according to the Flesh is not born of any spiritual but a carnal Matter he is not properly born as of a Seed and so may not be called Son of God according to the Flesh though through the Operation of the Spirit he was born of fleshly Matter But that one may properly be said to be born of the Spirit 't is not enough to have the Holy Ghost be the Author of his Birth but also he must be born of spiritual Seed to the end there may be a Proportion betwen a spiritual and a carnal Birth or else if to have one to be properly born of God it be enough for God to create a carnal Seed then it would follow that all things which at first were created out of the Earth and Water through a Production of Seeds by God might be said to be properly born of God which is absurd so that after that manner Christ may not be said to be properly born of God and be his Son The Knowledg of this matter is of so high a Concernment that I must somewhat more enlarge upon 't Socinians would have Christ to be truly and properly Son of God according to the Flesh because say they God acted the part of a Man but we say how to the end one may in point of Generation act the part of a Man it is not enough to afford any matter of Generation but it is necessary it be out of his own Substance for if he affords another and foreign Matter that which is born may upon the account of such Matter by no means be called his Son nor be said to be born of such a one because he is not of his own Matter and Substance neither may he be accounted to be true Father to one so born he that is not born of the Flesh and Blood of a Man may not be called such a Man 's proper Son Certainly if a Woman should beget a Son of anothers and not of her own Substance she might not be called his true Mother for she communicated nothing unto him By the same reason one may not be called a true Father who is Author of Generation not of his own Body and Substance but of another's to be a true Son one must be begotten not only by the Father but also of the Father by the Father efficiently and of the Father in some manner materially that is either of the Father 's own Substance or out of that which is derived therefrom Hence it appears how in the Generation of Christ according to the Flesh the Father acted not properly the part of a Man because he communicated not his own Substance but made use of that of another wherefore Christ may not according to the Flesh be properly and absolutely called Son of God but only secundum quid and in some respects as Adam by God formed out of Clay is indeed called * Luke 3.38 Son of God but improperly for he was not begotten in the manner of a Son so Christ according to the Flesh must not properly be called Son of God not being begotten of God's Substance in the manner of a Son to be properly a Father is not to supply the part of a Father as Socinians say but really to beget of his own Substance or else he may not properly be called such a one 's Son Our Saviour indeed as to his human Nature is properly Mary's Son because begotten of her Substance but in this Generation of Christ God supply'd indeed the part of a Man as much as relateth to the absolute Generation of a Man but not as to the Generation of a Son so that in relation to God it may be called a Production rather than a Generation A Man by God's Will may be made of nothing or of any matter but a Son being a Relative to the Father with whom he hath a Consanguinity and Unity of Blood he must be formed of the very Substance of his Father To say that God created a new Matter in the Virgin 's Womb is to talk at random without the least ground for it in Scripture neither was it necessary for God could out of the Virgins Blood have caused a perfect Generation of a Man Wherefore we conclude that since Christ is called God the Father's proper and own Son he must be begotten of God the Father 's own and proper Nature and Substance Hence we do also infer that the Name of Son of God signifies some essential thing in Christ and not an Office and Dignity as appeareth out of the Acts †Acts 8.37 I believe saith the Eunuch that Jesus Christ is the Son of God for if to be Christ and Son of God signifieth the same thing then the words would contain this Tautology that Christ is Christ but upon this solemn occasion of his being about to be baptised in answer to what Philip had said that he is to be baptized in the Name of Christ so he must make a declaration that he believes in Christ and of what he believes him to be namely the Son of God so that the Name Son is not the Name of an Office as that of Christ but the Name of the Person that exerciseth that Office as good as if he had said This Jesus Christ whom thou hast preached to me is not to be consider'd only as the Son of the Virgin Mary who dyed and was crucified but also as the Son of God who liveth for ever To be Christ and to be the Son of God is not the same thing but different relations the Sonship hath a relation to a Father as the Patornity hath to a Son but the relation of the word Christ is either to God who * Heb. 1.9 anointed him or to the Church over which †Zech. 9.9 he is made King So then according to the formal Reason Son of God
understand how the Person therein spoken is from Eternity as 't is plainly expressed by * Prov. 8.21 22 24 25. Solomon when bringing the same Person to speak under the Name of Wisdom saith the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before his works of old I was set from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was when there was no depths when there was no fountains with water and before the mountains were settled I was brought forth that is before there was any Creature now that Christ is the Wisdom of the Father †1 Cor. 1.30 who of God is made unto us wisdom c. no Man ought to doubt of Another Text to prove this Eternity is one of the Names whereby the Prophet calls Christ when he fore-telleth his Birth in the place which we had occasion to speak of before ‖ Isa 9.6 the everlasting Father here is Eternity in the very Spring he not only is Everlasting but is the Father of Eternity it-self in the abstract A farther Proof we draw out of another Prophet who speaking of the place where the Messiah was to be born saith Micha 5.2 Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting Upon the occasion of knowing the place where Christ should be born the * Matt. 2.4 5 6. Evangelist saith how all the Chief Priests and Scribes quoted this very place to Herod so that as certainly as he was to be born and was actually born there as certainly his goings forth have been from of old from Everlasting this Prophecy was made several hundreds of years before his Birth yet at that very time he was said to have gone forth from of old what is to be understood by this from of old he there explains it thus from everlasting the Hebrew word signifieth from the Days of Eternity whence we may surely conclude that the Person spoken of in that place namely the Lord Jesus hath been and is from Eternity here two goings or comings forth be expressed one passed from of old from everlasting the other to come out of thee Bethlehem shall he come forth c. Daniel calls him the antient of days which is the very same Name in ver 13. of the same Chapter given the True God of Israel whether taken Essentially or Personally whereby is denominated the true everlasting God Now out of the New Testament on my way I shall take notice of the place where he is called * Colos 1.15 the first born of every creature which as the Adversaries would have it doth not include him amongst the Creatures rather it declares him not to be a Creature if he was not made with the Creatures in time then he was before all Creatures were made that is from Eternity for he that was before all Creatures is not created so he was first born because born before any Creature was far from being a Creature he is the Creatour for he created all things as anon we shall have occasion to shew Before I go on this I must say how Socinus's unhappy Design and great Mistake is to interpret Scripture meerly by Criticisms upon the words without any regard to the scope of the place or the analogy of Faith thus he searches into all the Senses that they are possibly capable of till he can find one though never so forced to serve the Opinion he is prepossessed of and before hand though never so contrary to the plain and natural Sense of the place In the Preface to his Explication of the first of John's Gospel he owns not wihtout Vanity how his Interpretation is new quorum verus sensus c. the true Sense of which words saith he seems to have been hid from all the Expositors that ever were extant how proudly is this to applaud himself as if he alone had known God's mind as if the Spirit of God had not assisted but departed from all Good and Learned Men for 1500 years after Christ this is an over-affected singularity of his to turn all into Allegories such shifts to defend a Cause do declare it to be bad for 't is only to preserve it from sinking and if once a Man hath leave to suppose what he pleases then he may prove what he will of this now I shall give but one Instance if by the word beginning which we read in John 1.1 we must as he doth contrary to all particulars of the Text and the scope of the Evangelist understand the beginning of the Gospel then according to this way of explaining by the word beginning which we read in Gen. 1.1 we may understand not the beginning or Creation of the World but of the beginning of the Mosaical Dispensation and so the Creation of Heaven and Earth to be the Institution of the Jewish Religion and so several other things of the same Nature this misinterpretation of Holy Scripture is very injurious to 't and dangerous for after such Notions and Fancies no Error though never so absurd can want one pretence or other to set up against the scope of Texts and Anology of Faith But now we must go on * Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the word saith St. John in that beginning the Word was with God and in the same beginning the same Word was God it being granted that Christ is signified by the name Word that the Word is God the Eternity of Christ may easily and naturally be understood by the Word Beginning it appears how the Evangelist's Design is to assert the Divinity of Christ wherewith he abruptly begins his Gospel under that name he speaks of him in the fourteen former Verses of his first Chapter and then mentions it no more he saith nothing of his Birth nor of any Circumstance of its Time Place or Person but barely when where what he was and what he did this is plain enough if some Men of perverse Judgment had not thorough vain Deceit and Cavils gone about to darken and wrest that Truth By this beginning of time is here as in other parts of Scripture when spoken without limitation understood the beginning of the World it having here as I observed before the same Signification as in the first Verse of the Book of Genesis in the beginning God created c. and that this is the meaning of this place it appears out of the second and third Verses in the second is repeated what is said in the first the same was in the beginning with God upon what occasion was he then with God Certainly about the Work of Creation for ver 3. it is said All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made and what I say is the meaning of the word Beginning I can make it appear out of Scipture and that what they say to reduce it only to the beginning of the Gospel is a
Essentially exclusively not to Son and Holy Ghost but to Idols and Creatures the word Father is here taken for God as 't is when said one God and Father of all and Abba-Father Ephes 4.6 Rom. 8.15 Also the Father of Spirits The words our Father are often taken for our God and Lord In those places the word Father is said relatively not to the Son Heb. 12.9 Matth. 10.21 29. Luke 30.32 John 14.13 Chap. 3.13 but to men whose Father God is The things in the Lord's Prayer asked and prayed for are asked of the Son as well as of the Father as the coming of his Kingdom the forgiveness of our Sins whence saith our Lord Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do And the words which are in Heaven do belong to the Son as to the Father and the Holy Ghost too as appeareth out of Psal 139.7 8. and Matth. 3.16 Nay as we said before the Son is called the everlasting Father And if we consider the Etymology of the word which in the Original signifieth to preserve all things we shall find he is a Father indeed by whom all things are upheld and preserved which the Holy Spirit within us beareth witness unto when our heart laying under the sense of some trouble or mercy doth on a sudden by means of an Ejaculatory Prayer either in thoughts words or both poure it self before him begging for help or giving thanks breaking out upon occasion into these or the like expressions Lord Jesus have pity on me or Lord Jesus make me thankful Thus I through the grace of God have under those several heads brought in proofs for our blessed Lord and Saviour's divinity of many more which Scripture affords I shall take notice but of few wherein he is properly and truly called God which to assert is the main drift of the word as it is the foundation of the whole Gospel for it was absolutely necessary he should be God by nature or else any man might have preached taught prayed given good example and made intercession as well as Christ and if he came into the world and dyed only to teach us good doctrine and give us good example he had done for us no more than the Apostles and Martyrs who taught good doctrine and gave good example so might as well be called our Mediators and Saviours If this had as they say been the whole work of the Mediator our redemption had been no hard matter to be performed But I say that his threefold office of Mediatorship Prophecy Kingship and Priesthood demonstrate him to be true Essential God for none of the three could perfectly have been performed but by a God himself As to the Prophetical to enlighten the understanding and effectually to turn the heart as to the Regal to defend Believers against the Power of Satan and as to the Priestly to obtain forgiveness of Sins favour of God and glory none of these could be obtained but by him who is infinite as in Power so in Nature there is an infinite distance between God who is infinite and every finite Creature no proportion between Infinite and Finite Scripture owneth nothing but God to be higher than Angels now Christ is higher and above all Angels Besides that the necessity of satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice doth argue a necessity for Christ to be God for the satisfaction could not have been adequate as it ought to be except he was God and this divinity in him doth prove the plurality of persons in the God-head which is the whole of the difficulty alledged against the most holy Trinity Certainly the great design of the Apostles and others was to preach Christ to be truely and really God Son of God whereby their Ministry was exalted this was the foundation they were to build upon Acts 8.37 The Eunuch must make this Confession I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God before he could be baptized so did every one else being converted to the Faith this in our Religion is the first thing to be known and preached thus Paul after his Conversion Chap. 9.20 the first thing he did was to preach that Christ is the Son of God for that was the great question the Jews denyed him not to be Man Son of Man but he went about to convince them how also he was God Son of God and he was by Nature God as certainly as by nature he was Man Wherefore he would raise the thoughts of the Corinthians from the consideration of Christ's humanity to that of his Deity when he saith 2 Cor. 5.16 though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more after the flesh but according to the spirit not in the humane but in the divine nature according to which he is called by the glorious names of the holy one Act. 3.14 15. 1 Cor. 2.8 and the just the prince of life and the Lord of glory our Blessed Saviour who when he was in the world had so often declared himself to be the Son of God in a proper sense after his Ascension when he had a full possession of that glory as it were to confirm from Heaven what he had declared upon Earth in the Revelation he made to that disciple of his who doth so eminently bear witness of his divinity 1 Joh. 4.14 15. when he saith we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and not otherwise I say on that occasion the Lord Jesus from Heaven proclaims himself to be Son of God in the letter to the Angel of the Church in Thiatira with this glorious description Rev. 2.18 compared with chap. 1.14 15. These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass Tho his enemies would not hear him upon earth during the time of his humiliation when through his Passive Obedience he was about performing the first part of his Priestly Office to satisfie divine Justice and make expiation for our sins I think now they should when he speaks from Heaven whence he exercises his Royal Office I know well enough how what I say about his satisfying Divine Justice through his death doth not affect his enemies who deny he hath given satisfaction for us but what can his intercession on in Heaven which is the second part of his Priesthood be grounded upon but his own merits through his Sufferings and Death he thereby hath payed our Debts and by vertue of that payment he asks we should be released but that point I intend not to meddle with in this place In the New Testament the name Saviour is as proper to him as that of Christ as indeed that of Jesus the same with Saviour was given him by the Angel and
by †De Vnit Eccles Cyprian and also by Tertullian Ignatius c. This Text doth so well agree with that of the Evangelist to baptize all Nations in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which it doth allude unto that none may doubt but it was suggested by the same Spirit and the name word particular to St. John doth sufficiently witness how those lines together with the rest came out of his Pen Non unus sed unum saith one of the fore-quoted Fathers Not one Person sed unum c. one Nature not only the unity of Testimony as they are three distinct Witnesses not only the unity of Consent and Will but also of Nature as I and the Father are one Joh 10.30 which the Jews understood very well for thereupon they accused him of Blasphemy and took up Stones to have cast at him the reason they give for 't is this Because thou being a man V. 33. makest thy self God In few words we cannot be baptized in the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost except the names of these three equal in Authority Dignity and Essence be called upon on our behalf and as I observed before 't is unlawful to be baptized in the name of any man The Israelites were baptized by the Worâ—â— or Ministry or as the Syriack hath it in the Hand of Moses but not in his Name Before we leave off these Objections against the most adorable Trinity for the better understanding of the matter I shall speak some few words more for indeed the point is of so high a concernment and affords such a plenty and variety of Discourse that we can never say enough of what is to be known in the case Tho' as we said they be the same in Essence yet they differ first in personal Names as Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly in their Order Father first as the Spring then Son thirdly Holy Ghost Thirdly In their manner of Operation the Father doth act of himself the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both Gal. 4.4 John 14.26 15.26 so the Son is sent by the Father the Holy Ghost from both Father and Son but we never read the Father was sent So there is a difference in the outward Works for tho' they be common to the three Persons yet Creation is properly attributed to the Father Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the Holy Ghost Thus these three Persons have every one their personal unity in number they are distinguish'd yet are but one God in number of Essential and natural unity wherefore in God are not three Beings three Infinites or three Things Yet they object the names of Trinity Personality and Essence were not heard of before the Apostles time nor the Doctrin of the Trinity I answer to the first that tho' the Names were not yet the Things were and Words are to signifie Things that there is one God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit as it appears out of the places quoted to prove the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost which here I need not to repeat and if the things be true why should Men dispute about words which do not in the least prejudice the Analogy of Faith on the contrary do explain and confirm it As to the Second I say that the Doctrin of the Trinity was mentioned of old as I proved it already out of several places of Scripture the Question is not about the Father but the Son concerning whom is the clear Testimony of Psal 2 whose coming as Jehovah and God of Israel for the Prophet speaks to Israel when he calls him your God was foretold Behold Isa 35 4 5. Mat. 11.4 5. Psal 51.10 11. your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you which is applied unto Christ Of the Holy Ghost mention is made by David and in other places but that which under the Old Testament was under a Vail is clearly revealed under the New for the Persons are plainly named and their number expressed as in the places already made use of not only in the Baptism of our Saviour but in his Commission given his Apostles to baptize c. which as I shewed is unlawful to be done in any man's name As there is truth in Jesus so this is the truth of his Gospel which also hath in conformity thereunto been the sense of the general Orthodox Councils and of the Doctors of the Primitive Church however this must be said that tho' this Mystery of the holy Trinity be expressed in Scripture yet 't is such a one as exceedeth our understanding and capacity Again they say In most places of Scripture 't is said there is but one God and that this God is the Father of Jesus Christ I answer The Name God when properly spoken and of the true God is taken either essentially for Divine Nature or personalty for some of the Persons when taken in the first sense it doth not exclude but include the Persons only it is set down in opposition to Idols and false Gods which by Nature are not Gods the things absolutely spoken of the Oneness of God do not at all prejudice the Persons which are that onely God hence it is that not only the Father but also Son and Holy Ghost are called God In this Essential sense are taken the places they quote out of the Old and New Testament as for instance Mark 2.7 Luk. 5.21 that of Mark and of Luke which among others they make use of Who can forgive sins but God only The word God belongs to the Essence yet that power doth belong to the Son as to the Father for there Christ assumeth it to himself which same power is also attributed unto the Holy Ghost Receive ye the Holy Ghost John 20.21 22. whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them When the word God is to be understood personally then there is a note of distinction joyned to know what Person is spoken of whether Father Son or Holy Ghost What we say of the word God the same we affirm of the name Father which doth not always signifie the first Person but also the Nature and three Persons Thus when God is said to be Father of all and in the Lord's Prayer we call him Our Father when we cry Abba Father c. in all Texts of that nature Father Son and Holy Ghost are understood As to the Particle besides me sometimes used it excepts nothing within tho' every thing without the Deity or that hath not the Divine Nature But one of the Arguments which most of all they ground themselves upon is this Joh. 17.3 And this is eternal life to know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ They would have Christ to be excluded from being the only true God which they restrain only to the Father but herein they are much
assert the Distinction of Persons but because they are distinct Persons it doth not follow that there is not one and the same Essence of the three Persons and that they are not one only God Father Maker and Preserver of all and out of the Texts they produce they cannot make out what they intend how the Father and the Son are never contain'd together under the Name of God for the Persons are distinguish'd where Scripture speaketh Relatively of God and doth oppose or compare them or describe their Proprieties Further they object they have distinct Essences whose workings are distinct but Father's and Son's workings are distinct therefore their Essences are so But we say the major Preposition is to be understood of Operations ad extra or outward for if whilst one doth work the other ceaseth then the Essences are distinct but as to the inward workings there is no distinction or difference of Essences far from it that the Generation of the Son and the Procession of the Holy Ghost do confirm the unity of Essence for by the Generation one and the same whole Essence of the Father is communicated unto the Son and by this same reason there is but one and the Essence of both Now the Minor Proposition speaketh of inward Operations and this Omonimy or Ambiguity of Terms brings in four Termini in the Argument contrary to Rules but if one and the same kind of Operations be understood then one of the Propositions is false the major is understood of those ad imra the minor of those ad extra and in the case of the Incarnation there are two terms to be consider'd a quo from whom and ad quem to or in whom tho' as thus it be terminatively in the Son yet a quo or originatively it is the work of the whole Trinity Another Argument of theirs is this the Essence unbegotten and begetting is not the same with the Essence begotten and not begetting but the Essence of the Father is unbegotten yet hath begotten the Son but the Son 's is begotten yet nor begetting therefore the Essence of the Father is not the same with that of the Son This Argument is borrow'd from the Arrians whereof the minor Preposition is false namely that the Essence of the Son is begotten the Names begotten or not begotten do not belong to the Essence but shew an Hypostatical or Personal Difference Should the Essence beget it would either beget it self and so should be begotten of it self so it would make many different Essences of the Godhead whence would follow many Gods Moreover as in natural things not the Essence but the compositum doth beget so in divine things the Person begets and is begotten which yet is not a vain Relation seeing it is not constituted without the Essence Now if it were true that the Divine Essence doth beget one could say either the Son doth beget or deny the Son to have the Divine Essence Again They say Two or three distinct Persons have so many distinct Essences for the distinction of Essences doth follow that of Persons so then Father Son and Holy Ghost being three distinct Persons they have three distinct Essences but the first Preposition is true only in natural not in Divine things besides they are in a mistake when they think there is no real Distinction except the things do differ in an Essential Number when there are several things that differ in the thing and definition which yet in Essence and Number are but one Here by the by I say the words like and likeness when a Comparison is made between the Persons is not convenient to be used but equal and equality which indeed containeth a likeness but something above Another thing I shall add here how some things are properly spoken of the Essence which also are properly spoken of the Persons for 't is properly said of the Essence and of the Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost that they are Spirit and Holy for the word Spirit is spoken of as common and essential John 4.24 God is a Spirit properly and personally of the Son Christ declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1.4 Heb. 9.14 â—Pet 3 18. and who thorough the Eternal Spirit offereth himself and elsewhere Christ was put to death in the flesh but quickned in the spirit So of the Father and Holy Ghost also to be holy is an Attribute of the Essence yet in particular and properly in Scripture attributed to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Upon this Matter one thing more I shall take notice of how Adjectives in the Plural may be attributed to God by reason of the Number of Persons and Substantives in the Singular only upon account of the Essence Further they object Christ hath a Father who is the God of Christ but the Father hath no God call'd his therefore Father and Son are distinguished in Essence the major they prove out of our Saviour's Word I ascend unto my Father and to your Father unto my God and to your God and my God my God why hast thou forsaken me I answer Christ hath a common Father and God with us in as much as the word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and in as much as the Man Jesus Christ is Mediator between God and Man yet so as in his Mediatorship he is true Man so he is true God This Discourse being intended for his Brethren he begins with the Profession he makes to own them as his Brothers Go to my Brethren all which to be understood of the Nature which the Brotherhood doth relate to and tho' the Father continueth such in relation to what the Son was when the Word was with God yet in the Birth and Incarnation the Father remaineth what he was God is the Father of all Flesh but not in the same manner and sense as he is the Father of the word in Scripture 't is declared in what sense and on what side they are Brethren to the only begotten Son of God Colos 1.18 I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren but he said before I am a Worm and no Man Psal 22.6 Christ is by the Apostle call'd the First-born amongst many Brethren also because the First-born from the Dead Furthermore they say if Christ when he speaketh of God stould mean also himself he would include himself in the mention he makes of God but he doth not but maketh a difference between himself and God whom he calls the true God so in the Apostolical Writings God and Christ are spoken of asunder which places I quote in the Margin c. John 3.16 and 17.3 d. Rom. 16.23 1 Tim. 6.13 14 15 16. 1 Cor. 15.24 Col. 1.3 Eph. 4.5 1 Thes 1.2 3 9 10. to shew we omit none of them So say they he not joyning himself with God sheweth he is not the same with God thus the name God absolutely taken belongeth only
express Image of the Father's Person because in him through that eternal Generation is expressed the whole Person and Glory of the Father for which Image of God he is called the First-born of every Creature that is begotten before there was any Creature and so from Eternity as in the Form and Nature of God to be equal with God who otherwise hath not and owneth none equal to himself 2 Sam. 7 1â— In these high and divine matters Men must not presume beyond what is written and revealed in Gods Word nor wrest the Delign of the Spirit of God or force an unusual and contrary sense to the words of the Text but we ought to keep our selves within the bounds of that holy reverence which becomes us in the contemplation of the Majesty of God In these very things Hierom as said before was very cautions about acknowledging three Hypostases in the Deity because he thought the word to denote substance When God was upon withdrawing the Spirit of Prophecy from among his People Chap. 4.4 he by Malâ—câ—y the last of the Prophets commands them to remember the law of Moses his servant So now when the Apostles immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost ceased so long since men should wholly acquiesce to the sound Doctrine which those Servants of his Son Jesus left for our use and instruction wherein we learn how God hath revealed himself and communicated his own infinite fulness unto his Creatures in all of them immediately by his own Son first in the creation of all things secondly in their providential disposal and rule thirdly in the revelation of his Will and Ordinances fourthly in the communication of his Spirit and Grace in none of which is the Person of the Father otherwise represented unto us than in and by the Person of the Son for the whole end of the Gospel is 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Tim 6.10 1 â—oâ—n 4.12 to give knowledge of the glory of God in the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ that is the glory of the 〈◊〉 visible God whom no man hath seen Now in that forenamed Prophecy of Malachy the same Chapter and two last Verses the coming of the 〈◊〉 which had often been prophesied of before is again promised yea of the Lord himself who then was and had been from all Eternity but was to come only at such a time which is called the great and dreadful day of the Lord for against the appearing and long before of that Sun of Righteousness all those Stars the Prophets were to disappear one only excepted like the Morning-star before the rising of the Sun Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord By whom the Lord Jesus is meant as John Baptist is by Elijah so called because he came in the spirit and power of Elias for both were endow'd with a fervency of Spirit which made them spare neither Kings nor People And the Evangelist makes use of the words of the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children Luke 1.17 compared with Matt. 11.14 Mark 9.11 12 13. That same Lord whose coming with such Concomitants as great and dreadful was Jehovah himself the God of Israel whose words tho' in his state of humiliation were so conspicuous glorious and great as he in one particular said himself to the man out of whom he had cast a Legion of Devils Return to thine own house Luk. 8.39 and shew what great things God hath done unto thee And the Evangelist who in the beginning of the Verse relateth Christ's words to the man doth in the latter end of the same declare what the man did And he went his way and published throughout the whole City how great things Jesus had done unto him he did it in the same words how great things only instead of God he said Jesus so that Jesus was the God that had done great things unto him This was in the Land of Judah where no other God but the true God of Israel was own'd and worshipped so the Lord Jesus was that same God whom the Father from Heaven calls his Son which is the Name mentioned Phil. 2.9 that is above every name and this name more excellent than any given the Angels Heb. 1.4 he hath obtained by inheritance not by favour according to what saith the Apostle for the name by him designed is that of Son of God Thou art my Son with the exegetical adjunct of his generation This day have I begotten thee Acts 13.33 which words Paul doth apply to the Lord Jesus This day of Eternity after the manner of time spoken in relation to God with whom are no parts of time as with Men past present and to come With God are not days but only one day which had no beginning and shall have no end It was never said to any Angel personally upon his own account Thou art the Son of God much less with the reason of the appellation This day have I begotten thee so in that place the Apostle doth not speak of the general Name of a Son but of the particular appropriation thereof unto the Lord Jesus upon his own account When the Apostle saith he is the first-born the thing it self is not meant of being the first begotten but the Dignity and Privilege that attended it Psal 89.27 Thus God saith of David I will make him my first-born explained in the later part of the Verse higher than the Kings of the carth Thus among Men one may say I will make such a one my First-born or my Heir which is the Privilege attending the Birth-right This is Christs Title by Nature and not by Office anointing was a Ceremony used to make and declare a King but that anointing made him not a Man for he was so before So the Lord Jesus was God before he was Christ CHAP. XI Some Animadversions upon a Book called Christianity not Mysterious WHAT I said somewhat before concerning Reason puts me in mind of a thing I promised about the middle of my Discourse namely to take notice of a Book with the Title of Christianity not mysterious wherein the Author undertakes to shew there is nothing in the Gospel or in our Religion against or above Reason And tho' I have hardly any room left yet to be as good as my word I must briefly say something to it We agree with him against all human Authority contrary to the Word and own Scripture to be the only competent Judge and allow of our Reason as long as it draweth out of that Spring and not otherwise Let us be sincere and avoid Ambiguities there is true and sound Reason whereof the Word of God is the right and standing infallible Rule for the Will of God is the measure of all Truth and Equity and our Reason to be Reason indeed must be guided by that or else it doth deviate from the Rule There is also that
which is called Reason but is not really so meerly human subject to Error a meer Chimera and Fancy of Man's shallow Brains according to this natural Reason Men willing thereby to judge of spiritual things to speak in Paul's words professing themselves to be wise become sools far from being rational are unreasonable and have forfeited their reason for Scripture opposeth human Reason to divine Man's Wisdom to God's as may be seen in the places quoted in the margin 1 Cor. 1.18 19 to 30. Chap. 2.4 5 6 13 14. Jam. 3.15 which I desire the Reader to peruse and a little lower I shall have occasion to mention And another Apostle speaks of this human Wisdom or Reason for the rational man is the wise man in opposition to the divine with a witness when he saith This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish but true Wisdom the Lord giveth Prov. 2.6 Jam. 1.5 and If any lack wisdom let him ask of God We do not destroy our Reason when we submit and make it subordinate to Scripture for human must depend upon divine Reason or else 't is blasphemously to deny there is more of and better Reason in God than in Man so we must own there is in God more of good Reason than in us wherefore Reason is not independently to be lodged in our weak Brains but in the Wisdom of God in his Word Thus our Reason is not to be the Rule of Faith for 't is so apt to fail to be misled and imposed upon but the Spirit of God speaking in Scripture and to our Spirits is not so we are said to be the Epistle of God 1 Cor. 3.3 written not with Ink or any human and natural thing but with the Spirit of the living God It is strange that whilst this man doth so much plead for Reason he is so unreasonable in some things he saith as par 4.5 that after he hath justly taken away an infallible Authority from a Council or a Pope that is from a collective Body and a company of Men yet he would lodge it in every single man in his shallow Brain mine and any ones else We own 't is every man's Duty and Concern to enquire and exercise his Reason about Faith and Religion but to make either depend upon his Reason is to build upon the Sand to make the infallible depend upon the fallible and confound matters of Faith with those of Fact But to the end we may know what we speak of 't is necessary to say something about Reason the thing most excellent in Man for he thereby is made to differ from meerly sensitive and vegetable Creatures and it gives him a denomination for from Reason he is called reasonable from his noblest part reasonable Soul which as School-men say is Man's forma informans and makes him to be what he is Now Reason is seated in the Understanding which is the superiour part of the Soul and the Judgment-seat of all things offered to her consideration there to be examined whether true or false which is the Object of the Operation of the Understanding as Good or Evil is that of the determination of the Will But how these Objects come into the Mind Intellect or Understanding which are the same this is the usual order about it which God hath setled in Nature First The Objects that are outward are offered to the Organ of the Sense as may be the Eye of seeing the Ear of hearing c. which communicates it to the Sense whence they pass into the Imagination and thence are convey'd into the Mind which is the Receiver and Looking-glass of all Forms for as the Hand is called the Instrument of Instruments so is the Intellect the Form of Forms and can understand all things intelligible by means of the Brain the Organ of it Tho' upon the present occasion this matter ought to be handled more Theologically than Philosophically however something must be said in relation to this as the Organs of Sense for instance that of Seeing receive Objects either by emission or intromission of visual beams a Dispute in Philosophy not proper here to be meddled with but 't is certain it receives them so doth the Understanding Objects conveyed into it whether by means of intelligible or intentional Species 't is not to our purpose no more than whether they be there objectively or subjectively as an Ens rationis or real as are Sciences But this must be known that in Man are the Intellect a Faculty of the Soul Science an Habit of that Faculty and Knowledge an Act proceeding from the Faculty through the Habit. The working of the Understanding is done successively and through many Acts which some Philosophers reckon to be eight in number that may well be reduced under three the first is the receiving and apprehending of the Objects the second is the working of the Mind to reduce into order and dispose those Objects into a good form and this is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason the third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ratiocinative Discourse or a working and motion of the Mind from one to another whence ariseth the right Understanding and as it were the Decree and Sentence about the thing This is the natural order in these matters Now hence let us conclude some things Reason is Knowledge upon true grounds and herein we must see how far we may trust our Reason according to the Rule in Philosophy Nihil cadit sub intellectu quod non fucrit prius sub sensu Nothing comes under the Intellect but what before hath been under the Sense And since the Organs are often deceived by the Objects the Senses by the Organs the Imagination by Senses it is a rational consequence to say that the Mind may also thereby happen to be imposed upon from the very first step In the case of Seeing three things are necessary the thing that seeth the thing seen and the medium or help without which no seeing the Eye is the seer but if blind it cannot see neither can it see except there be something to be seen then the medium is the light which helps us to see for in the dark Objects cannot be discerned also there ought to be a proportionable distance between Organ and Object a Man cannot from the Street see a Pin upon the top of a Steeple because it is too remote Our Mind is the Eye of the Soul and tho' Reason feated in it hath Objects offered it cannot rightly judge without the medium even about natural things else how could there among Men who all have a rational Soul be so many different and contrary Judgments about the same things The reason of our Mind must be grounded upon the reason of the thing which is that whereby the thing is so We say why is it day The reason is good because the Sun is up for that is the cause of the day so
manner of Conversion without a revelation in the Word are incomprehensible as our Saviour saith to Nicodemus in point of Regeneration The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof John 3.8 but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the spirit observe the blockishness of a Doctor and Master of Israel in Spiritual things Can a Man enter the second time into his mothers womb and be born v. 4. Where was his reason all this while several such things we read of the Disciples whereof I shall give but one Instance about the Resurrection Mark 9.10 They questioned one with another what the rising from the dead should mean Nay they were in that gross Ignorance till after our Saviour's Resurrection Joh. 20.9 yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead wherefore he upbraided them with their unbelief Mark 16.14 and hardness of heart and indeed they were no better till he opened their understanding Luke 24.45 that they might understand the Scriptures In his Page 81. his Conclusion is false that neither God nor his Attributes nor Eternity are Mysteries to us But certainly the smite cannot know the Infinite but as much and in such a degree as the Infinite is pleased to communicate himself as no Day light but what the Sun doth communicate and that more or less according as 't is done in a dark Room one sees only proportionably to the Light that 's brought in so in a Spiritual Light and Life 't is only as God is pleased to reveal and as Man is capable to receive the word alone is a dead Letter but the Spirit doth quicken it as it was in the Apostles the word they had heard from Christ was quickned by the Holy Ghost when he came upon them which in them caused a wonderful Alteration and made them quire another sort of Men Divine things cannot be comprehended for want of an Adequate Notion there is to be a Proportion between the Knower and the thing known so our Reason without Revelation apply'd by the Inward Teaching of the Spirit can no more know the Nature of God and his Attributes than a little Bottle hold in all the Water of the Sea To know things we must know their Essence and Nature as to God we by the Light of Nature may know there is one but what he is must be reveal'd and 't is usual when we speak of any thing to have a Definition or Description of it What is a Man a rational Animal What is God an infinite Being describ'd by his Attributes Almighty Eternal Independent c. Concerning the Infiniteness and some other Attribute of God's David owneth his Ignorance when he saith Such knowledge is too wonderful for me Psa 139.6 it is high I cannot attain to it And no wonder seeing in the same Psalm he so much admires the formation of his Body in the Womb when he saith he was fearfully and wonderfully made v. 14 15 16. If any one pretends he can know more than the Prophet David let him speak and stretch his Reason further than he could his Son Solomon was of the same Mind both as to Bodily and Spiritual things when he saith As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child Prov. 11.5 even so thou knowest not the works of God who makes all These times of Ignorance are over now say Socinians we have Men more knowing and wiser than David and Solomon But if it be so of the formation of our natural Body how much more of the work of Regeneration within us which our Saviour as said before compared to the blowing of the Wind that such things are we know and feel but understand not the manner Thus we know that Gold Silver and other Metals are form'd under Ground for we draw them out of the Earth's Bowels but the manner and how they are formed we cannot tell so these are hidden secret and mysterious things unto us much more are supernatural He goeth upon a Mistake as if we thought Matters of Religion to be Mysteries after the Revelation which makes them cease to be Mysteries which they were before so 't is in him labour in vain Pag. 91. When a Prophecy is fulfill'd it ceaseth to be a Prophecy and becomes a History The strength of his Argument lays herein that those things once revealed are no longer Mysteries But we must know how some things are wholly revealed and others but in part it is true we must yield an Obedience of Faith that the thing is so as that the Son of God was made Man that there are three Persons in the Godhead God having revealed it we are fully perswaded it is so but the manner and how we are in the dark about it is incomprehensible by and unconceivable to us and beyond the power of our Nature to know it yet as much as is necessary t is revealed here I cannot avoid taking notice how the Man unworthily compares the Mysteries of our holy Religion with the Tricks and Cheats of the Heathens Page 99. and what If what in their false Worship they called Mysteries there were Cheats as we own doth it follow it must be so in our Religion Theirs was Idolatry and Superstition but ours is Holy and Divine then after this Rule because they had false Gods we must have none at all and so must be as bad as they the Devil who is God's Ape and in imitation of God's Church hath set up a Synagogue for himself hath his Drudges and Bondslaves to serve him must not God's People adore him and because there is a false Worship must there be no true one Thus for Men who so much pretend to Reason 't is a very unreasonable Inference to say that because the Heathens in their Matters of Idolatry had Tricks which they call'd Mysteries therefore the Mysteries of our Holy Religion must be Cheats and Tricks Such comparisons are odious and unworthy to be used by any who call themselves Christians Then if Mystery does relate sometimes to the Matter and sometimes to the Manner certain Points of our Religion as the Trinity Eternal Generation of the Son Procession of the Holy Ghost were a Mystery before they were reveal'd it follows That the Revelation was necessary to make them known unto us and that it was not in the Power of our Reason to know them without Revelation so they were above it and thus tho' the thing be re-reveal'd so that we must believe it yet still there are some things that be unreveal'd and above our Capacity He would have every thing after the Revelation to cease to be a Mystery in Religion but as I said some things are not wholly reveal'd because 〈◊〉 full Revelation is not necessary to our Salvation and within this Limitation is to be
doubt with an Intent to pull it down if they can and so to set up an Idol of their own that is their Reason against Revelation or Scripture and thus to go a whoring after their own Inventions without any Measure and Bounds all our Understanding and Reason in Religious Matters should be guided by Revelation for saith David Psal 119.1 9. Give me understanding according to thy word not according to my Reason except that word be a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Path we are sure to go astray and deviate from the Rule and miss the Mark hence spring those seeming Contradictions which arise from the shallow ness of Man's Brains and not from the Repugnancy of things which sometimes makes them fight against the Man in the Moon as their fancy suggests to them to go out of the Road so by Attempts to explain things they entangle them the more and so what themselves call Strength of Wit and Reason others upon better Grounds look upon 't as effects of a distemper'd Imagination for they think to have engrossed and monopolized to themselves all Wit and Learning as for us about these Controversies we follow the Method of Aopollor who shew'd not by the strength of his own Reason Act. 1â— 28 but by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ and thereby mightily convinced the Jews for he was mighty in Scriptures Socinians would seem to refer themselves to be judged by Scripture and Reason as Papists by Scripture and Tradition but the reason of one as the Tradition of the other is a devourer for Reason of one side as Tradition on the other do swallow up Scripture which tho' first named is with them last minded and signifieth least as indeed they both would make of it a stalking Horse and subservient one to his Tradition and the other to his Reason and these would set up for the only Rational Men in the World and whatsoever doth no come up to them they hastily call Nonsense and Contradiction after which Rate the Holy Spirit of God in Scripture is liable to their Censure and shall be as he is by some of them charged with Contradiction yet we know Truth doth not gainsay it self the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth his word the word of Truth for so saith he who is Truth it self These Imaginary Contradictions arise not out of the things themselves but out of the Perverseness of Man's Heart and Blindness of their Judgment which as the Apostle says prompts them to wrest Scripture unto their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 such are not the learned and steady in the Truth as some Men in the World account themselves to be but the unlearned and unstable as the Apostle calls them so we may in the Prophet's Words say they are not valiant for the truth Jerem. 9.3 There is a great Difference between gross Contradictions to our Reason and barely being above it that is not having any distinct Conception of the Nature of things in a clear Idea which is a full and evident Perception of it Of two contrary Propositions if one be true the other must necessarily be false according to the rule of Contraries but no such thing as this is to be found in any part of Scripture consequently we may conclude how the great Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation therein contain'd are true not to be cavilled at by Humane Reason for what is infinite is above our Comprehension no Duration without Succession which is not to be found in an infinite and Eternal Being that existeth of himself yet that Eternity we cannot understand only by parts of time as past present and to come which imply Duration and Succession the reason is because it exceeds our Capacity The way to obviate and prevent any seeming Contradictions in Scripture is first to observe the Analogy of Faith in some places God to condescend to our weak Capacity doth attribute unto himself Humane Passions as Anger Wrath Fury to repent and Members of Man's Body as the Eye Hand Arm c. yet thereupon we must not say God is subject to our Passions like the Antropopathites or hath a Body like the Antropomorphites because we are taught in Scripture God is a Spirit and unchangeable so the second thing to be observ'd is the Scope of the place of many Instances I shall bring but this the blind and dumb both spake and saw Matth. 12.22 Here is a seeming Contradiction if the Blind sees then he is not blind if the Dumb speaks he is not dumb but let the Scope of the place be consulted and it will set things at right and therein we find how a Man blind and deaf was miraculously cur'd by our Saviour so that he who before was blind and deaf both spake and saw having recover'd his Sight and Hearing What he saith Page 138 doth not belong to us for we are not for an implicite Faith we are not against but searching into and examining the Grounds of our Religion but withal say all that Examination will signifie nothing except it be given us from above to understand therefore 't is beyond our Reason Our Religion is not of Works but of Faith which this Opinion of theirs about Reason destroyeth Faith is a strong Perswasion grounded and built not upon Reason but upon God's gracious and special Promise infused into us by the Holy Ghost wherefore in several places of Scripture 't is called the immediate Gift of God for though Faith comes by the Word yet the Application thereof wherein it doth chiefly consist is the immediate and effectual working of the Spirit The several Objections as brought in by him Page 142 143 45 46 have but little in them as I could easily demonstrate if I had but time and room enough I shall take notice of what he saith about the latter end of Page 146. Now Reason is from God as well as Revelation but he must know that Reason is corrupt but Revelation not so when Reason was whole yet it deviated but Revelation is always the same the Light of Reason thorough Sin is become Darkness and a Guide that hath and doth commonly if not constantly err Here he would give us a sound reason which is so no more than a sound Nature Pag. 148. How often doth God in the Old-Testament and Christ in the New complain that People could not hear and understand what was said to them and what he saith to them in the last quoted Page how slowly must the Gospel have moved at the beginning if those that were to preach it had been obliged to qualifie themselves is insignificant 't is known they were immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost and Heaven qualified them not they themselves for if Humane Reason be fallible in natural much more in super-natural things There are many dark and mysterious Passages of God's Providence which our Reason nor any Humane thing can understand whereof Scripture affords many Instances
and of these we may say as of a Watch the several pieces of which being asunder seem to be insignificant but put them together in their due place they are of good use and commend the Art of the Maker when he hath shewed us what it is good for which before we could not know of our selves Thus one or few acts of divine Providence are Mysteries to us which we cannot dive into nor understand till God hath manifested them to us What would all the Humane Reason in the World say of the Command which Abraham received to sacrifice his own Son in all appearance it was a murther and a barbarous and unnatural one too for a Father to destroy his own Son God's Will to try his Faith and Obedience was a Secret As Job's Afflictions for a trial of his Patience and to make him in Ages to come an Example of it Joseph's being cast in Prison for so good an Act as to refuse committing Adultery with his Master's Wife would puzzle the Brains and Reason of any Man who believes God to be just and pure if by the several things which the same wife Providence brought to pass God had not made his design known which David saith was to try him Ps 105.19 the word of the Lord tried him So God's command to the Prophet Hosea to take unto him a Wife of Whoredoms when the Lord is a most holy God That the Son of God who is just harmless undefiled separate from Sinners should by Blasphemers be accused of condemned and executed for Blasphemy and this by the determinate Counsel and fore-knowledge of God is that which doth transcend the poor weak frail Understanding of Man tho' never so much screwed up or his Reason put to the rack I am sure David a Prophet as well as a King speaks of himself to that purpose about the Prosperity of the Wicked in this World so foolish was I Psal 73.22 16 17. and ignorant I was as a beast before thee and when I thought to know this it was too painful for me too hard for me to understand until I went into the sanctuary of God No Humane Reason only Divine Revelation could make it intelligible Whoso is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord that is Psal 107.43 from 40. the Wisdom from above not the Humane can teach us to understand God's Gracious Dispensations especially in the wise Government of his Church which to Humane Reason is passed understanding as concerning God's Works and Thoughts of which David saith O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep which if we may believe him Ps 92 5 6. a bruitish man knows not neither doth a fool understand this With Admiration and Exclamation he saith it and so deep that Humane Reason cannot fathom it without Revelation Heavenly Light maketh some know and understand but the Bruitish the Fool and Wicked doth not and cannot for want of this Divine Grace and when they would find to measure Divine Mysteries with the Line of this Reason then they become Fools so to them these things still continue to be Mysteries This Author is one of those whom the Prophet speaks of Psal 64.5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter for at first he concealed his Name whether out of Fear or Modesty he knows best but now in his second Edition he pulled off the Vizzard and hath his Name at length how he came by that Encouragement deserves as I think to be inquired into by those that are more than I immediately concerned I agree with him when he speaks the Truth as thus how the Converted Jews would still retain some of the Levitical Ceremonies as may be seen Act. 15. and therein might happen to be too much Compliance as with the Gentiles who brought in some of the Heathenish Rites and that Remisness in some afterwards made those things a part of Christianity it self thus they degenerated from the Simplicity of the Gospel by means of self and worldly ends Hence we see how from Page 165 till 172 he takes Advantage upon account of Ceremonies and such foolish or selffish Priestcraft as he calls it But after all do this Socinian People think to monopolize to themselves and be sole Masters of all good Sense and Reason surely others among the Antients and now are as rational as they why should not their Wisdom and Reason seeing they make it to be natural differ from Wisdom and Reason that is Spiritual From hence I am sure St. Panl makes not only a difference but also a great Opposition between them for saith he We speak not in the words of humane wisdom but which the Holy Ghost teacheth and God hath revealed them that is the Doctrines of the Gospel unto us by his Spirit and as 't is not the Wisdom or Reason of Man which the same Apostle in the same Epistle Ch. 3.19 calls foolishness with God but the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom 1 Cor. the whole Ch. c. And where this Spirit of God is not pleased to teach the Truth of the Gospel that remains hidden all the Reason in the World cannot understand it 2 Cor. 4.33 and we know it is hid to some to them that are lost among whom are some of the most learned and wise in the World endued with as much Natural Reason and great Parts as any of our Adversaries yet this natural Reason cannot comprehend it I go farther and say that some of these things of God remain still Mysteries and if not wholly yet in part are hidden even to those who have the Spirit of God because by reason of the weakness of their Nature they are not capable and 't is above their reach to understand it first as to God's Nature to us it is incomprehensible because infinite behold the heaven 1 Kings 8.27 Compar'd with Job 11.7 8 9. and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee nor Reason comprehend So in his Attributes his greatness is unsearchable and his understanding is infinite so are his Works both of Power and Providence Wisdom Mercy and Justice far above the reach of Humane Reason as to be seen in Job in the Psalms and other parts of Scripture and let one Text of Job serve for all great things doth he God Psal 145.3 Ps 147.5 Job 37.5 which we cannot comprehend and to apply this to our present purpose we own that the Doctrines of the Gospel necessary to be known both as to the Substance and to the Declaration are clear and perspicuous but still there are some as to the Difficulties which learned Men and Doctors do study to understand which they can never rightly do without a special Assistance of the Spirit of God for 't is he and he alone that can lead us into all Truth for if of our selves we cannot understand the plainest much less the hardest wherefore
expressed in Scripture the omission whereof is look't upon as a most heinous sin deserving the heaviest judgments see what character is given of those who neglect it The workers of iniquity have not called upon God Psal 53.4 'T is such a sin as deserveth no less than the wrath of God Pour out thy wrath upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy name And as for me Psal 79.6 saith David in another place and all that truely fear God with him I give my self unto prayer Psal 109.4 So that the best commendation under the Old and New Testaments that can be given of a man is what the Lord said to Ananias of Paul Acts 9.11 Behold he prayeth and how good a success Cornclius his prayers were crowned withall the Angel declared it unto him thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God Chap. 10.4 And it would prove a long work for one to demonstrate the necessity and excellency of that duty which I may say doth in some respect include every other thing which men owe God and hence we may conclude what a transcendent Eminency there is in Christ no less than his divinity seeing he is the proper object of a duty to be rendered to the only true God Unto the Lord Jesus as his due it is ascribed in the two branches thereof namely Prayer and Praise by Prayer we ask of Christ or of God through Christ the things we want and by Praise or Thanksgiving we return him thanks for what we received Call upon me in time of trouble Psal 50.15 I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me wherein both parts are contained how many Prayers doth that chosen Vessel Paul put up to God and to Christ and how often in his Epistles doth he give thanks With us Prayer and Adoration differ not formaly only as to the Manner Order and like Circumstances but are the same in Nature diversified only according to occasion but still remaining the same as to the Essence Eyes Hands and Hearts not being lifted up upon any thing under Heaven where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father Socinians do thus distinguish between Adoration and Invocation the first signifieth only a reverent bowing to any one the last includeth a religious suing for help that is to be performed even by all Angels as being commanded and necessary but this only by men voluntarily yet lawful and expedient the ground of the first in Christ is Majesty as Power is of the last Thus they always clip one thing or other of his Prerogatives as if Men and Angels were not equally bound to adore and worship him for where we find let all the Angels of God worship him there 't is also written let all men honour the Son even as they honour the Father and men are as well commanded to act their part as Angels are to do theirs The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original to worship is in the New Testament no where used but for the Religious Worship due to God alone and when 't is mentioned as done unto any but God it is remembred as their Idolatry as Rev. 13.12 15. or to forbid it as chap. 19.10 and 22.9 So the worship which God commanded Angels to render his Son is Religious by Virtue of his Authority which alone can make 〈◊〉 worship Religious Christ at his very first coming into the world and not only after his Assension was a fit object of adoration Now out of Scripture we prove how Christ was called upon and prayed to Acts 7.59 they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit He calls him Lord and God he was not the only one that called upon him though the circumstance of his being a dying when no help in men makes it very considerable many others called upon him for this description is made of Christians and Believers Acts 9.13.14 that they called upon him Thus Ananias Lord he hath authority Saul from the chief Priests to bind all that call on thy name all that made a profession of the Gospel Most of his Epistles Paul begins with wishing Grace Peace and Mercy not only from God the Father but also from the Lord Jesus Christ and often the same Epistles he concludeth thus the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all which is nothing else but to call upon him for Favour and Mercy for whosoever wisheth any one Grace and Peace from Christ thereby prayeth to Christ to bestow grace and favour upon such an one 2 Cor. 12.8 9. and in plain and clear terms he called upon and prayed to Christ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness This is to speak as God doth not only Paul called upon the Lord Jesus but saith there were some in every place that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 1.2 to whom all as to the Church in Corinth he directed his Epistle And no wonder if they who are desirous of their spiritual wellfare do call upon the name of the Lord for he is so rich unto all that call upon him that he hath entailed Salvation upon the performance of that duty which I speak not as of my self Rom. 10.12 13. Acts 2.21 but two Apostles will be bound for it For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved saith one And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved saith another Joel 2.32 and both have a Prophet for security of what they say Now Prayer is a religious duty to be directed to none but to God all this is example But the reason is this he without whom we cannot call upon the Father must also be called upon but the Father we cannot call upon without Christ John 14.6 because none can come unto the Father but by him and he is the way But here is a command besides Chap. 16.24 hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ask and ye shall receive There is a place in Scripture where three parts of worship due to Christ Acts 22.16 are contained and now saith Ananias unto Paul why tarriest thou be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord in all three is the name of the Lord the first and last are plain but Faith is mean't by washing away sins which are washed when forgiven now our sins are forgiven when we are justified through faith in Christ Chap. 26.18 or when we are sanctified by faith that is in him Against this 't is argued out of the Preface of the Lord's Prayer our Father that there 't is spoken of the Father exclusively to the Son But in that place as in several others the word Father is not taken Personally but
to the Father I answer the name of God is taken either personally namely as he begets and as he is begotten and thus the Son is distinguished from the Father and upon this account the Apostle speaks of them separately Christ is distinguished from God both in Person and Office not in the Godhead or Essence or else the name is absolutely simply Rom. 8.31 32. 1 Tim. 1.1 1 John 5.20 Joh. 14.1 and essentially taken when the Question is about the Godhead then as to the Deity the Son is not distinguished from the Father as when Christ saith there is none good but God he doth not exclude himself from being good 't is as if he had said unto the Man if thou believest me to be good for so thou callest me thou must also believe me to be God for none is good but God and this was to have the Man to look upon him to be God Again When our Saviour saith Vnto God all things are possible and that God is able out of Stones to rise Children unto Abraham when the Apostles in their Salutations name first God and our Father and then the Lord Jesus Christ 't is no good Consequence to say that the Son is not of the same Nature with the Father for the Name of God is therein attributed unto the Father as the Spring and first in order of the Deity then the Son is proposed as Mediatour to lead us unto God for we are led by Christ unto the Father to worship and adore him together with the Father for he saith Ye believe in God believe also in me thereby shewing we ought to render unto him the same things we render to the Father wherefore in several places we read how when the Name Father is added yet that of God is immediately put before when generally something is taught which belongeth to Father Son and Holy Ghost then having named the Father the Mediatour is mention'd to breed in us Hope and Comfort thus the same Apostle opposeth one God to Idols where Christ is not excluded for immediately in the same Verse he declareth who that one God is namely the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things 1 Cor. 8.6 Ephes 4.5 6. and we by him thus in another place he saith there is one God as there is one Baptism Christ in whose Name we are baptized is not excluded from that oneness of Godhead Joh. 14.6 and because he would come to the Mediatour he very fitly nameth the Father to whom as the Head of the Deity there is no approach without the Mediator so by the Name Father is represented God essentially offended by Mankind and by the Son and Christ that Person of the adorable Trinity who hath undertaken to make our Peace and reconcile us unto God he is the way the truth and the life and none can come to the father but by him So when we read the word God we must not separate the Father nor the Son because the Divinity of the Father and of the Son is but one and the same Moreover they object the Father is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself hath all of himself and acts of himself but the Son is not God of himself he is from the Father himself he saith he came from the Father and the Father sent him to this I answer They go upou a wrong Principle for they would have this to be of one self or of another to import a different Essence or Nature for even in created things that which is begotten is ever of the same Nature with that which hath begotten but by reason of Imperfection these are one only in Species but God the Father and the Son may not be said to be one in Species or Kind because thus they would make two Gods What they add how in Divine things he that begetteth and he that is begotten are not one either in Essence or Species because Men and Angels are called Sons of God which are not one with God either in Nature or Kind is very frivolous for 't is certain they are call'd Sons of God upon a very different account from that on which Christ is so call'd None is ever call'd God's own and proper Son only begotten come from the Bosom of the Father for unto which of the Angels or Men said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 this day have I begotten thee and again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son Moreover they are mistaken to think that to be of another is to be of a different and inferiour Nature indeed he who receiveth not all but out of favour only part of what another hath may be said to be inferiour to him of whom he receiveth but he not so who hath all that another hath not by favour but by Nature and Generation They are farther much mistaken when they deny Christ simply and absolutely to be God of himself for he must need be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a being or Essence of himself Life of himself Holy of himself Power of himself is good of himself Light of himself Truth of himself Wisdom of himself Righteousness of himself Perfect of himself and Glory of himself which all are Attributes of the Deity and to whom they belong So doth also Divine Nature all which Attributes were by the antient Orthodox Doctors of the Church and after them by the eminent Instruments of Reformation owned to be the Right and Property of the Son of God grounding themselves upon the Authority of Scripture in several Places especially that of 1 John 5.20 by me already quoted we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life If we look upon the Son of God as he is from Eternity begotten of the Father and as he is the second Person on such an account we own the Son to be from the Father seeing he is true Son but if we consider him as God he is altogether self God and God of himself for the Divinity is wholly unbegotten and of her self knoweth of no beginning and needs not to borrow of others what it hath of it self and if to the Son one would attribute a Begotten and formed Essence this is from the Father to make a second God Lastly Many of the Places which the Adversaries do heap up do speak of Christ's Office of Mediator which they improperly misapply to his Divine Nature for though Christ's Humane Nature hath no Personality but is upheld by the Divine Person yet that upholding doth not confound the Natures otherwise Passion and Death might be attributed to Divine Nature On this Matter they form other Arguments grounded upon false Suppositions as sometimes they would have Father Son and Holy Ghost to be three Spirits and the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding
to be Essential Differences when to speak of three Spirits in the Godhead is as good as to say there are three Gods 1 Cor. 8.4 whilst Scripture saith there is none other God but one who hath his Being from himself and from none else for we must say of every God so called which is not such by Nature Hosea 8.6 what the Prophet saith of the Calf of Samaria the workman made it therefore it is not God and 't is a right Consequence for nothing can be God that is made by another So then to talk of three Spirits in the Godhead is to set up three Gods for God as our Saviour saith absolutely is a Spirit and when we say Spirit we understand his Nature for a Spirit is a Spiritual Substance and being thus they go on still upon their Suppositions they would have the words unbegotten begotten and proceeding to be essential Differences and not personal as they are so other times they would have the Son because he is of the Father not to be one God with the Father who existeth of himself and so not to be the one true God because he hath a Being from another but we must distinguish between the being of Essence and that of the Person the first the Son hath of it self and the second of the Father They farther object he that is Mediator with the God of Israel is not the God of Israel himself for if it were so three Absurdities say they would follow the first God would be inferiour to himself 2dly God would pray to himself 3dly the Party offended shall be Mediatour with himself but to the first we answer Tho' God be Mediator it followeth not he is inferiour to himself for tho' upon the account of the Office he that is a Mediator be inferiour to him whom he intercedeth with yet he is not thereby inferiour in Nature for even among Men one Equal doth intercede with his Equals As to the second the Son prayeth to God for us according to his Humane Nature tho' we exclude not the Divine from interceding for it belongs to it in as much as it is the Eternal Will of the Son that the Father would by reason of his Sacrifice receive us into Favour the Prayers and Submission belong to Humane Nature but the Divine maketh them effectual both Natures being united in one Person The Divine was united with the Humane mediately in the Person of the Son but the same Person was immediately united to Humane Nature As to the third it were absurd indeed if the Party offended was Mediator when there is but one Person offended but where several Persons are offended there is no Absurdity if by their common Consent one of those offended Persons offereth satisfaction for the Offender and to reconcile and in this Case it could not be otherwise for it was required that the Reconciler should be God and 't is but a Cavil to say that he with whom the Son is not Mediator could not be reconciled and that the Son was not Mediator with himself or with the Holy Ghost but only with the Father for first not only he is reconciled and appeased by the Mediator with whom the Son performeth the Office of Mediator but also they that are joyn'd and about it agreed with him wherefore seeing in every thing the Will of Father Son and Holy Ghost be agreed it followeth that through the Merit and Satisfaction of the Mediator the Father being fully satisfied the Son and Holy Ghost are so too I add as to the second it is not absurd as they think that the Son should be Mediator with himself for the Son of God doth the Office of Mediator in both Capacities for as God being one with the Father he receiveth us into Favour and as he is Mediator according to both Natures so as he is God manifested in the Flesh by reason of his Merit and Satisfaction we are received into favour and although this being received into favour be common to Father Son and Holy Ghost yet the Mediator is said to intercede for us with the Father who is consider'd as the Spring of all Divine Counsels and Operations who being willing that the Son should satisfie for our Sins and that by vertue of that satisfaction our Sins should be forgiven it is not possible for the Son to will and do otherwise to this purpose makes what the Apostle saith about our being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and what the Evangelist writeth he that hath my commandments 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20 21 and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him John 14.21 23. to the same effect doth tend what is said in another place of Christ who when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high So then the Son is appeased Heb. 3.3 and forgiveth our sins receiveth us into favour and giveth us Eternal Life upon the account of his own satisfaction The Father Son and Holy Ghost do the same by reason of the satisfaction given by the Son In the mean while in relation to the Son who for his own sake receiveth us t is call'd his Will in relation to the Father 't is call'd Mediation or Intercession therein the Will of the Son in order of the Person and Divine Working doth follow the Will of the Father Hence it appeareth how they do ill to confound the Divine Nature of Christ under his Office of Mediator as such according to his Humane Nature he pray'd to the Father and taught us a form of Prayer that we should call upon the Father through the Mediator yet he thereby never intended to exclude or deprive himself of his own Due or Right there is no Contradiction to worship the Father in the Face and thorough the Intercession of the Mediator for we worship the Father not in his Person only but of the whole Nature and Christ in John 5.22 as in the form of Baptism proposeth himself to be worshipped for Adoration is not confined in the Person of the Father only They say If the Father be greater than Christ then he is not God equal with the Father but Christ saith John 14.28 the father is greater than I Therefore is not God equal with the Father in this place Christ speaketh not of his Divine Nature but of his Office the Father doth send and the Son is sent and though he be less as to his Humanity he is equal in relation to his Divinity Wherefore I answer Christ is less than his Father in respect to his Humane Nature which he assumed with the Infirmity thereof Sin excepted for he was hungry weary sorrowful and the like and we read he wept tho' never that he laughed but before that Assumption of the Flesh he had a Being of another Nature which can be no