God have all the Angels to wait upon him and all the creatures at his command to go for him and to do for him what he appoints yet if he were not essentially present himself with all and in all he could not supply all with all good that they want for he could not see all and know all if he were not present in all if he did not fill all and if all did not live and move and had not being in him Therefore the Lord argues in Jer. 23. 24. from his filling all to his knowing all the words are these Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord and if this be so of God that he works all by his presence with all then it is so of Christ also and the words I will be with you though they may extend to actions of love and kindness and may comprise well dealing and doing good within them yet they do properly hold out the way and means in which Christ will be helpful to them he is with them alwaies to take notice of their condition and to apply himself thereto and Christ doth assure them that though he shall be bodily absent from them and in heaven yet in the eternal Spirit in the divine nature he is alwaies present with them In which sense he saith that he the Son of man though upon earth in his flesh was yet according to his diety in heaven John 3. 13. and chap. 17. 24. But he goes on and saith Jesus Christ is present with his Messengers and deals well with them when he doth instruct comfort strengthen and protect them and all these he doth in his absence by his Spirit whom the Father hath sent in his name John 14. 26. And he instanceth in instruction and saith Christ instructed his Apostles but not immediately for the Spirit saith he that came in Christs name and received of his was the instrument by which Iesus Christ did work And he cites Iohn 16. 13 14 15. for it Rep. I have shewed already that these operations of grace do not hinder the essential presence of Christ according to his Godhead with the Apostles but do rather imply it but he excludes it and saith he doth all these things in his absence by his Spirit Now though there be a truth in it that Christ being in heaven in flesh and absent from earth so far as respects the flesh doth effect all things by the Spirit yet it is not onely false but foolish in the sense that he intends it and in the words that he expresseth it in 1. I shall readily grant it in a sense that Christ works all by the Spirit and that there is an order of working among the persons in the Godhead and in this order the Father works by the Son and by the Spirit and the Son works from the Father and by the Spirit and the Spirit works from the Father and from the Son by himself and the Father is the person sending both the Son and the Spirit and the Son is the person sent from the Father and sending the Spirit with the Father and the Spirit is the person sent both from the Father and from the Son but it will not follow that therefore Christ though bodily absent is personally absent from his Messengers and instructs them not immediately by himself but onely by the Spirit For as it is said in Iohn 5. 17. by Christ of the Father My Father worketh hitherto and I work The Father worketh all things by the Son he made the world by the Son and he judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son that is by the Son he judgeth and manageth all things and not without him yet he worketh that cannot be denied though by the Son yea the very works that the Son worketh and all of them and none other but them the Father worketh the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and the Father and the Son are one in essence though two in personality and the Father and the Son work one thing the Father by the Son and the Son from the Father and the Son can do nothing of himself apart from the Father nor the Father any thing apart from the Son but by him as I have shewed at large in my former Treatise so it may be said of the Son and of the holy Ghost that the Son worketh hitherto and the holy Ghost worketh that is they work the same work the Son by the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost from the Son and the holy Ghost shall not speak of himself nor act of himself as saith the Scripture which he cites that is he shall not speak or work any thing apart from the Son but what he shall hear and see that shall he speak and do and the Son doth speak and act by him the same things and nothing else for the Son is in the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost in the Son and they are one in essence and therefore cannot be divided in operation but work the same things in such an order of working and to this the Scripture gives witness in 2 Cor. 3 17. The Lord is called the Spirit and the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Lord Christ how can this be Essentially the Lord Christ is the Spirit they are one Personally considered the Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord Christ and the Lord Christ is not the Spirit And Rev. 2. 1. to 6. compared with verse 7. In verse 1. to 6. Christ is the person that speaks to the Church and so to all the Churches and commands John to write but in verse 7. it is said he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches so that Christ speaks and yet the Spirit speaks and Christ and the Spirit are one in essence though two in persons and Christ spake to the Churches by the Spirit and the Spirit spake from Christ But they act and work together the same things and none other as the Father and the Son do so do the Son and Spirit and indeed Father and Son and Spirit are one in essence and one in operation the order of working onely excepted 1 John 5. 7. so that Christs instructing by the Spirit obstructs not Christs personal presence with the Disciples here upon earth though his body be in heaven And the sending of the Spirit both by the Father and by the Son are acts of counsel among the persons in the Godhead as hath been fully declared in reference to Christ who was sent of the Father and yet gave himself And the Spirit though sent when he cometh acteth not meerly as one sent according to the will of another but as himself willeth 1 Cor. 12. 11. so that his sending was by counsel with his own consent 2. In the sense that he asserts it that Christ in Heaven acts
by his Spirit I shall utterly deny it as that which both wants truth in it and is absurd as that which is neither consistent with Scripture nor reason nor congruous to his own Opinion for he takes away Christs immensity and ubiquity and puts it upon the Spirit to prevent Christs being in Heaven and on Earth at once and his filling of Heaven and Earth with his presence that he might not thereby be acknowledged God and yet he makes the Spirit to be universally present and so makes him more then a creature wherein he contradicts himself for his words are these Christ doth all these works in his absence by his Spirit therefore the Spirit is present for he supplies the defect of Christs presence and yet withall he saith The spirit which received of Christs was Christs instrument by which Jesus Christ did the work Therefore he is not God for God cannot be an instrument therefore he is but a creature wherein he crosseth himself So then what must not be yielded to in Christ least he should be God he yields to the Spirit whom he makes not God but a creature And in this he not only sets Christ below the Father whom he acknowledgeth to be God but he sets him below the Spirit whom he acknowledgeth but a creature and now Christ is neither God nor yet the first and chief of the creatures for the Spirit is more excellent then he for the Spirit can be present with all the Apostles in all the parts and Climats of the World at one time to instruct them comfort them c. and Christ is shut up in Heaven and cannot And this is contradictory to himself for he makes Christ the first of the creatures and the Maker of the rest and the Lord of them and he makes him a Spirit in his first existence and yet the Spirit that was made by him can be with all the Apostles and Disciples and Saints also and abide with them for ever and administer to them all good but Christ who is his Lord and Maker cannot O monstrous and senseless Opinion wherein God leaves him to be confounded But how contradictory to reason is this that the Spirit should be the instrument of Christ and so a creature inferiour to Christ and yet be present in all places in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and every where for where ever Saints be there the Spirit is Saints are in all these places The Spirit is one that bears witness in Heaven 1 Joh. 5. 7. Therefore there he is and he bears witness on Earth in the hearts of Believers in Rom. 8. 16. and therefore there he is And the whole Spirit dwels in every Saint for we do not read of any parts of the Spirit into which he is divided and if Saints be every where the whole Spirit is every where and such a boundless Essence is not competent to any creature it is that which God himself arrogates as proper to him do not I fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23. 24. whole God fils every place and the whole Spirit fils every Saint As bodies have their loca their places so Spirits all created ones have their ubi their some where out of which and beyond which they are not they are confined if they be not circumscribed but of the Spirit it is said whither shall I go from thy Spirit the Spirit is everywhere It is also extreamly repugnant to Scripture that the Spirit should be Christs instrument and consequently a creature and it is as gross as the denying of the Diety of Christ and his Heresie is multiplyed in this Assertion 1. An Instrument acts and works after the will of the principal efficient but the Spirit after his own will as himself pleaseth and therefore no instrument 2. The person by whom Christ wrought Miracles was no instrument but Christ according to his humane nature wrought Miracles by the vertue and power of the Spirit therefore he was no instrument Mat. 12. 28. Acts 10. 38. 3. He that was the uncture with which Christ was annoynted and became more excellent and glorious then all his fellows he that was the enrichment of Christ as man as a creature above all creatures that exalted him in eminency above all Angels c. was not any instrument inferiour to Christ but superiour to him as a creature but the Spirit was the uncture wherewith Christ was annoynted Act. 10. 38. and he received not the Spirit by measure as others did but beyond all measure Joh. 3. 34. whence he came to excell all his fellows Heb. 1. 9. 4. He that is the Spirit of God and is to God as the spirit of a man is to man he that alone knoweth the deep things of God and searcheth them that is hath deep full perfect knowledge of them he cannot be an instrument to Christ to take what Christ a creature as he makes Christ to be shews him and no more and to shew them to men but the Spirit is the Spirit of God and stands to God as the Spirit of a man stands to man and searcheth the deep things of God therefore cannot be an instrument to take from Christ and bring and shew to men And it is contrary to Scripture to make the Spirit a creature as if he be a creatures instrument as he would make him he must needs be 1. He is called God by the Apostles of Christ therefore he is God Act. 5. 3 4. compared together prove it in the 3. ver Peter saith to Ananias Thou hast lyed to the holy Ghost in the 4. vers he saith Thou hast lyed to God He makes the holy Ghost to be God for he shews the person against whom the sin was committed it was not man it was not any creature it did rise higher it was the holy Ghost he was God So that the holy Ghost and God are one and the same thing And 1 Cor. 3. 16. Paul makes him God in these words Know ye not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you This latter is the proof of the former because the Spirit of God dwels in you therefore saith the Apostle you are the temple of God here is no mention of Gods dwelling in them but of the Spirits dwelling in them if therefore the Spirit were not God the Argument of the Apostle were nought And by the Evangelist Luke in Act. 10. 3. 19 20. compared together he is called God in vers 3. it is said The Angel of God came in to Cornelius and commanded him to send men for Peter in vers 19. 20. it is said That the Spirit told Peter that he had sent those men to him and therefore he must go with them The men were sent upon the command of the Spirit therefore the Spirit was that God that sent the Angel and to be the Angel of the Spirit and the Angel of God is all one 2. He is called the God of Israel 2 Sam.
instrument 3. That whereas the Father and the Son are mentioned together they are made equall in manner of working and they are either both instruments or both principall Agents and Efficients for Paul was an Apostle by Jesus Christ and by God the Father and Jesus Christ hath the leading place In Rom. 11. 36. For of him and by him and to him are all things Here the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated by or through is attributed to God and he will say that the Father is meant and only the Father and we may observe two things 1. According to the truth of the thing the particles of and by are all one and that by doth not import any instrumentalness for God in no sense can be an instrument 2. According to the sense that he puts upon the particle by God is both the principall Agent because of him are all things and he is also the Instrument of all things for by him are all things Also in Heb. 2. 10. where the Creation is spoken of and attributed to the Father and not to the Son it is not attributed to him as something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as somthing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as of him but as by him The words are these It behoved him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to make the Prince and Captain c. Yet he will not say that the Father is an Instrument I shall not multiply places these Texts are sufficient to shew the absurdity and falseness of the gloss that he puts upon the prepositions of and by That which he asserts of the Fathers that they frequently call him Gods instrument and servant is true of Christ as the son of man according to his humane nature and they call him no other then the Prophet Isa 42. 1. which must he so understood In the next place after his Arguments where he placed his own strength for the proving of Christs instrumentalness in Creation he comes to consider my Argument against it which was this God could not make use of an instrument in the work of creating of the world To this he answers 1. This Assertion derogates from Gods al-sufficiency Is any thing impossible with God is any thing too hard for the Lord Rep. This Assertion as it is laid down with a reason to explain it is so far from derogating from Gods al-sufficiency that it is the magnifying of Gods al-sufficiency there is such an infinity of perfection in Gods al-sufficiency that it is incommunicable to the creature God cannot make another as sufficient as himself that is It is so transcendently excellent that no creature is capable of it And whereas he demands Is any thing too hard for God Is any thing impossible to the Lord he may receive this answer What-ever may be done by power God can do it because he hath sufficiency of power in himself to do it But that which cannot be done in the nature of the thing which implyes a contradiction if it were supposed to be done that is impossible with God or in it self rather as It is impossible for the most high God to make a God most high because God most high hath his being of himself and is uncreated and eternall and gives being to other things Therefore a created most high God carries a contradiction with it therefore is a thing not to be done and God cannot do it yet it argues not any weakness in God because he cannot do it 2. He saith I contradict my own testimony and he minds me of the time I remember saith he that in a Conference where I exercised both silence and patience to the glory of God since I received your paper you did affirm in the hearing of not a few that God might have made an Angel or some other creature at the first and by it have made all things Repl. I do remember that time he speaks of and so do some scores of persons as well as I will remember it while they live wherein he exercised not silence altogether for he spake at the last in the close of the conference it had been better he had been silent then to speak as he did for he asserted an untruth in those few words he did speak he uttered words to this purpose That it was strange to him that he should be brought upon the stage in so publick a way for holding such an opinion when he had not declared himself in a positive way at any time about it Which caused me to mind him of his first Sermon in which he broached his opinion in a positive way in this assertion That Christ is not the ultimate and last rest of Saints but the Father and that Christ was but the way to it Which if Christ be coessentiall with the Father is false therfore his assertion did deny by an undenyable consequence the coessentiality of Christ with the Father And at another time he publickly in his preaching speaking his opinion on John 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven said that he could not conceive how Christ being at that time on earth could be in heaven unlesse it were in respect of that knowledg which he had of the Father and the things of heaven or words to this effect In which he denyed the omnipresence of Christ and consequently the Godhead of Christ And yet in that short speech of his he would make fair weather of it and put a face upon it as if he were not the man he was taken for Concerning his patience not I alone but many others did judge it stupidity rather then patience for scarce any one that had had the spirit of a man could have been dumb and not open his mouth when he was so palpably called forth to appear in the cause It did certainly strike amazement in very many that knew he was there and yet could not hear him speak one word having so many strong invitations thereto Or if it were not stupidity it was cunning craftiness for he knew how to make advantage by being here and keeping silence and he could reserve himself in point of speaking to a more hopefull time and fairer opportunity in which he might by speaking propagate his opinion there was little hope of advantaging his cause at that time when there were so many to contradict him And yet he might feele mens pulses by being there and discern who were his friends and who his enemies and who might probably be wrought upon and who not But he saith it was to the glory of God that he exercised silence and patience But it was every to way the dishonor of God for if truth were in his tenent then he shamefully deserted it when he should have committed himself to God in the maintaining of it who ever opposed it And if Errour and Heresie were in his
he had a glory it was not any created glory for that consisted in dominion which was not til the world was and then what glory could it be but that which we contend for divine uncreated glory which holds forth him to be an uncreated and eternal being and by consequence to be the most high God But he brings reasons for his own tenent that whole Christ is a creature from this Text of John and attempts the overthrow of my assertion of Christs Deity which I contend for from this Text. 1. Saith he If Christ were equall with the Father why doth Christ direct his prayer to his Father There had been no need nor can cause be shewed why he should supplicate to his Father and not act relyance on the Godhead Repl. I have rendred reasons for it in my former Treatise in my reply to his fift argument which was this He that acteth with dependance on another is a creature but whole Christ acteth with dependance To which I referre the reader because it is largely discussed there and it is a tedious unpleasing thing to multiply repetitions though he delights himselfe too much therein yet lest that Treatise should not be at hand I shall satisfie the Reader thus far It behooved the Godhead in the person of the Son to be veyled for this was the Sons emptying of himselfe but not so the Godhead in the person of the Father therefore the Son acts not dependance upon the Godhead that dwelt in himself in the person of the Son or as it was in himself but as it was in the Father 2. He saith We do not use to pray but praise for things we have if we know that we have them Now Christ could not want the highest glory in any sense if he were a person in the Trinity coequall with the Father especially not be without it with the Father nor in heaven in any sense whatsoever as by the clouding darkning or obscuring of it therefore the glory which he had with the Father was not the highest glory but a glory proceeding from the highest and by consequence Christ was but a creature Repl. It is true that the highest glory he being a person in the Trinity coequall with the Father could not be separated from him for it follows the divine essence and cannot be divided from it but it might be and indeedwas obscured and clouded not to the Father nor to the Son himselfe for the Father saw it and gave witnesse to it and so did the Son and comprehended it fully but to the creature it was darkned and obscured and but some small beams and rayes of it appeared the Son was incarnate or in flesh but the glory of the Son appeared not in flesh in fulnesse of lustre like the glory of the Son but the form of God in the Son was veyled and hidden in the form of a servant Now Christ prayes that that essentiall divine glory might be manifested in flesh that he the Son in flesh might appear in glory when he should come to heaven as he did before he took flesh that as the Godhead was hidden in the manhood so the manhood might be glorified with the Godhead that the flesh might be taken up into the fellowship of the glory of the Divinity by the shining forth and breaking out of the glory of the Divinity in the flesh 3. It appears saith he that the glory which he had with the Father was not divine or the highest glory because it was to be communicated Glorifie me O Father with that glory c. Now the highest glory being infinite could not be given or communicated to the humane nature which was finite and so uncapable of it c. Repl. Though the divine glory cannot be communicated to humane nature so as that it should be inherent in the humane nature yet it may gloriously shine forth upon it and appear in it which it did not before yea by reason of the hypostaticall union betwixt the divine nature and the humane nature the glory of the divine nature becomes the glory of the whole person so as that when the glory of the Son shines forth in its greatest strength in the flesh it may be predicated and asserted of the man Christ that he is glorified with the glory which the Son had with the Father before the world was Because the man Christ is the same person with the eternall Son of God Thus all the Scriptures which I drew witness to that Jesus Christ is the true God and the most high God notwithstanding all his endeavours to suffocate their testimony and his attempts by violence to silence them that they should not speak what they would speak yet they have with open mouth with one consent given glory unto Christ by witnessing to his Godhead and to his coessentialness and to his coequality with the Father I shall conclude my Vindication of them with these words Let God be true in what he hath testifyed of his Son in Scripture and every man that opposeth let him be a lyer My next undertaking must be the defence of the Arguments which I produced and drew up from Scripture by which I attempted to prove the destructivenesse of the Doctrine which he holds making whole Christ a creature to the true Gospel and oppositeness of it to the Scripture in many main points and truths of it My Assertion was That the doctrine which makes Christ a meer creature brings in as it were another Gospel and destroyes the true Gospel in many parts thereof and brings in another Scripture in many main points He cals this a reason against his doctrine of Christ a meere creature and so it is not onely to shew the falsenesse of such doctrine but also to discover the horridnesse and hideousness of the doctrine that all might be warned of it and with fear and trembling may decline it But he wisheth him to be Anathema that holds any such doctrine that destroyes the Gospel or the Scripture and falls upon the examination of the instances or Arguments which I produced to confirme that generall reason Therefore because he is so confident that his doctrine will not prove such and because he hath possessed the people that though there should be a mistake in it on his part yet it is not so dangerous as I would make it and that the salvation of mens soules is not so nearly concerned in it as I would have men to conceive and that Christ is never a whit less a sufficient Saviour though but a creature and that it is enough to beleeve unto Salvation that Christ is Lord viz. made Lord and that God raised him from the dead by which means persons have become lesse solicitous what doctrine they entertain they see it hath a specious shew and conceive it will not prove destructive though it should prove false therefore I think it expedient to fortifie my position which respects the oppositenesse of this doctrine of his both
sence like man that he should repent Those whom he thus loveth he loveth to the end that is he cannot cast off whom he hath chosen For these councells of grace concerning these persons being without respect either to good or evill in the persons themselves Rom. 9. 11. The good or evill that followed them in such persons could neither confirme them nor overturne them because they stand upon this basis the immutable and unchangable Will of God not upon the uncertain and wavering creature and hence it came to passe that when one means of effecting them viz mans own righteousnesse proved ineffectual God to shew his firmenesse in his Councels found out other means to accomplish them by viz. the righteousnesse of another and therefore gave Christ John 3. 16. 2. Though sinne did not could not overturn the Decree of life yet it broke the Covenant of life and so overthrew that visible state of life in which the elect were whom God had chosen and so brought them into a dreadfull visible state of death though not into a final miserable state because of Gods election Sin altered the state of elect persons though it altered not Gods thoughts concerning them so that it might be said he that was before in the state of salvatiō is now through sin in the state of condemnation though it cannot be said that God will because of sin now damn that person whom his thought and purpose was to have saved Rom. 3. 11. Destruction and misery is in their paths and ver 23. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death passed over all men because all had sinned 3. Sin having overthrown the Covenant of life and glory and brought men into the state of death all hope and expectation of life was together with it taken away and nothing but a fearfull expectation of death and condemnation It is said of Adam when he had sinned that he hid himself from God when God came into the Garden as one that expected no good from Cod. We read of the condition of the elect before deliverance that through fear of death they were all their life subject to bondage This is to be interpretend in reference to their consciences which tormented them with the representations of death but this will be granted that Christ came to satisfie the conscience and quiet it but not to satisfie God 4. Though the election of God stand sure and the sove of God could not be broken off yet the amity and friendship of God was brought to an end and wrath was manifested instead of love and God instead of prosecuting his Decree of life prosecutes the breach of the Covenant of life which was violated by sin and ratifies the threatning which was this thou sbalt surely die and doth unfold the curse in it and open it in some part of its latitude which was shut up under these generall words thou shalt die Gen. 3. 16. to 20. And Ephes 2. 3. Elect person are called Children of wrath as well as the reprobate they are in one state till deliverance come And 1 Thes 1. 10. Jesus is said to deliver us from wrath to come Now wrath is not a passion in God as I have shewed but it is Gods righteousnesse conflicting with and prosecuting sinne viz. the first sin in the violation of the Covenant of of life and all after sins also And such which sinne are accursed Gal. 3. 10. that being the sentence of the Law is the sentence of God whose the Law is so that God as a Judge prosecuting sinne on the Lawes behalf is represented unto us 5. If God must be a righteous and just God and faithfull and true God he must be even he himself the prosecutor of the Elect notwithstanding his Decree of life and glory in which he had comprehended them wherein his goodnes freely wrought from all eternity towards them because God had threatned and must not reverse it least he suffer in his truth least his word be falsified which was that Adam transgressing his Commandement should surely die and the law saith That that soule that sins shall die His truth therefore binds him to it God must be true and every man a liar that contradicts him in that which he speaks And the Apostle Paul speaks of some persons That knew the judgement of God that they that commit such things are worthy of death He had mentioned many sins which men committed and brings in the knowledge that they had of the demerit of such sins against them that such sins were worthy of death and that it might not be thought that they judged these sins worthy of death through the working of their consciences only the Apostle shews that they had the knowledge of the judgement of God and that thence it was that they judged these sins worthy of death Now the judgement of God is according to righteousnesse therefore Justice presseth God on to a prosecuting where ever sin is 6. Though God because he hath chosen some to life will not suffer them to perish but will bring them to life everlasting and though he love them so well that to save them he will give Christ to them and for them as from John 3. 16. is manifest he doth yet in the giving of Christ he will have such respect to his justice and to his truth that neither of them may be violated or wronged Hereto the Apostle gives witnesse Rom. 3. 25 26. God hath saith he set forth Christ to declare his righteousnesse that he might be just and the justifier of them that beleeve in Jesus God had regard to both these in sending and setting forth Christ that he might justifie those that he had chosen and had brought to faith and that he might be just in so doing because the sinne that such had commited or participated in was worthy of death by Gods owne dome therefore God minds both that goodness and righteousnesse might be exalted together in the same Christ So in Gal. 3. 10. 13. God had an eye to his truth when he gave Christ it was written in the Law that he that continued not in all things contained there was accursed and because no man did continue in all things written there that God in the Law might be true Christ whom Gods electing love gave to the elect became accursed for them Christ therefore died not for any such end as to ratifie the doctrine which he had brought from the Father for by his miracles he gave sufficient witnesse thereto nor is this made the end of Christs dying any where in Scripture but it was to appease God and to fulfill righteousnesse 7. Gods laying the sinnes of the Elect upon Christ Isa 53. 6. was in order to satisfaction to God It was not only done to assure us that in mercy they are taken away from us that we might not fear
horrours of the reprobate in hell And if so are not both the one and the other that wrath of God which God poures into the soul because of sinne which he prosecutes against men are they not punishments for sin from God is not Gods righteousnesse therein revealed against sin the truth of God in the threatning fulfilled which did reach to both Elect and Reprobate And if so how can God remove them from the Elect through Christ without satisfaction given by Christ and yet suffer them to lie upon the Reprobate without palpable unrighteousnesse and untruth when the threatning viz. Thou shalt dye the death extended to all mankinde in Adams loynes without exception 7. How may Scripture come to be eluded and the strength and force of it infringed in all other cases if plain pregnant places of it may be evaded after this manner as when it is said God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation that is to be one that appeaseth God Rom. 3. 25. and by Christ we have received the attonement Rom. 5. 11. that is we have received God attoned to us for all the offerings in the Law were to attone God to men that had sinned if such an answer may be taken and may passe God doth in these expressions condescend to mans infirmity who thinks God to be angry and had need to be appeased and reconciled how easie would it be to wrest and pervert all Scripture By this that hath been represented it appears that some satisfaction to God is necessary to be given by Christ and the contrary doctrine is dangerous and desperate and overthrows our justification for if God be not satisfied for our sins they are not pardoned and we are yet in our sins and this doctrine that thus oppugnes Christs satisfaction doth deny Christ to have bought us for if he payed not any price to God for us I am sure he paid none to the divel nor to any other enemy for he conquered them by force and power and might and paid not any price to them therefore it utterly overthrows Christs purchase of the Elect and yet which is much to be lamented this doctrine spreads very much and corrupts very many Q. 2. The second thing that I promised to speak to is this that seeing some satisfaction must be given to God in reference to a trespasse committed and an offence taken and a threatning given out upon supposition and afterward inflicted upon the perpetration of such an evill what satisfaction it is that is necessarie whether any satisfaction will serve or whether it must be a proportionable satisfaction Sol. 1. It cannot be denyed but that God is the soveraigne Lord over all and hath none above him to appoint him or to enjoyne him to give rules and laws to him how he ought to walk towards the creature none can limit or restraine him or set bounds unto him but his will which is always holy and just and good is the rule that he acts by and he doth whatsoever pleaseth him Ps 115. 3. further then he sets bounds to himself he cannot be bound up to any thing or by any one and further then he restrains and limits himself he cannot be restrained and limited by any other Therefore he might at the first if it had pleased him have pardoned sin without satisfaction or he might have accounted that for satisfactiō which himself would accept for satisfaction be it more or lesse and so the blood of bulls and goats might have satisfied as well as the blood of a man and the blood of a meer man such as my Antagonist would have Christ to be as well as the blood of Christ who is God and man but this comes not home to the point for we are to consider what satisfaction is now necessary not what might at first have been accepted of 2. Satisfaction that will now be admitted of and accepted is satisfaction according to the Law that holds proportion to it for the Law is Gods Law which flowed from Gods righteousnesse and holinesse and in which and to which God hath limited himself and bound up himself so that God must deny his own Law and his own Truth righteousnesse and holinesse that is in it if he do in the least kind wave that satisfaction that it requires Now the law to Adam which compriseth all his posterity was Thou shalt not eat c. for if thou do eat thou shalt surely dye that soul that sins shall dye and cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do the same Therefore the satisfaction could not have been lesse then death or lesse then the curse of the Law what ever that evil is that is understood by death or by the curse 3. What ever that evill is that reprobated persons doe or shall endure upon whom the curse of the law is laid and the death threatned lighteth because they were in Adams loynes when he fell under the threatning of death and because they continued not in all things written in the Law and so incurred the curse I say what ever the anguish torture and torment is either in mind or body which such persons pass or must pass abide or mustabide under at present or hereafter the like punishment in all degrees without any abatement have the Elect merited and deserved being in the same state and condition with the Reprobate being equally in the loynes of Adam with him and not abiding any more then he did in all things written in the Law and if there be deliverance for the Elect and the Law in the death and curse of it be not laid nor doth light upon them but satisfaction is made in Christ for them then it must be a proportionable satisfaction that must be given to God in reference to which God doth remit such pains of hell such everlasting destruction and perdition and doth release the Elect from them that is Christ must suffer the whole and the full of that which either any or all the Elect have deserved and from which they are acquitted and discharged in Christ Christ must satisfie as far as the guilt of all and every of the Elect extends to which is as great as the light of the Reprobate and so Christs sufferings in one kind or other must be equivalent to the eternal damnation of all the Elect from which they are discharged by his sufferings equivalent unto those exquisite torments which the damned in hell do or shal suffer which the Elect had merited as well as they The consequence of this is that Christs sufferings were not the sufferings of a meer man for had Christ been but a meer man his sufferings for all the Elect could not have been proportionable to their guilt demerit For the righteous God which without respect of persons had laid all men under the same curse and wrath because of the same sin and guilt which without difference all were under
and destroying of them that saints may be kept and preserved sound and incorrupt in the faith or at least may be recovered out of errors into which they have fallen I shall give some few hints of these four particulars 1. Of the cause of Errors how they come to spring 2. Of the growth of Errors how theâ— come to spread 3. Of the cure of Errors what ought to be done to heal the persons of them and to destroy the Errors in them 4. Of the preservatives against errors when they are rife and not easily cured where they have taken root and how Christians may be kept untainted and undefiled of them 1. The causes of Errours are many by which meanes it comes to pass that many are leavened with them 1. There are many Apostate Christians who have put away a good conscience and concerning faith they have made shipwrack of it as the Apostle speaketh 1 Tim. 1. 19. and in Gods just Judgement it comes to pass many times that these have a Spirit of errour let lose upon them and these as the false Prophets and false Apostles of old go about as seducers and deceivers and say that they have dreamed and they have received a word from the Lord and they utter lyes and falsehoods in the name of the Lord these have a dextrous way of insinuation to ingratiate themselves among the people and to steale away their hearts from their sound and powerful Pastors and Teachers as the false Apostles bewitched the people and alienated their affections from the Apostles of Christ These serve not the Lord Jesus as the Apostle Paul speaketh Rom. 16. 17. but their own bellies and for filthy lucre sake make merchandize of the souls of the poore people 2. There are many persons of great parts and gifts and of unsanctified hearts and spirits these are apt to be puffed up with pride and to fall into the snare and condemnation of the divel 1. Tim. 3. 6. These are ambitious of glory and would fall under observation for singularity These are seldom wise to sobriety these have bin wont to abound in notions and conceptions to be greatly extravagant therein and Satan hath commission given unto him to enter into them to work effectually in them and by them they become notable instruments in his hands and he is a lying spirit in their hearts and tongues and these have the art and skill of putting off corrupt and adulterate Doctrine as if it had Gods touch and stamp upon it by the sharpness and acuteness of the parts and wits of these simple and more unwary Christians come to be beguiled 3. Many of the people are weake and injudicious and have not a good root of knowledge in them they do not know things in the reasons and causes of them but have received the notion of the truth without the ground of it they have not a deep insight but a superficiall knowledge onely and have seen the out side but know not the mistery within and so it comes that with every wind of Doctrine they are shaken Eph. 4. 14. through the slight of men and cunning craftiness for it is easy to present things with another face while persons look not after that which is within and the fraud and falshood comes not to be discerned for the net and the snare is not in sight and that which is specious is only presented 4. Many persons are ambitious after knowledge that they may increase it and are wholy given as the Athenians to understand news so they to understand Doctrine to arrive at higher notions and conceptions nor for the honour of God nor in affection to the truth but to furnish themselves unto discourse and to increase their repute and so they become swift in hearing and quick in receiving any new Doctrine and God gives them up to strong delusions that they may believe lyes 2 Thes 2. 10 c. who neither seek nor receive the truth in the love of it that they may be saved but that they may be praised 5. Persons that have a real inplantation into Christ and those that have onely a visible and formal inplantation but want a true ingraftment they live together not only in the world but in the Church of Christ also and are under some droppings and waterings of external enjoyments and have a name to live and yet are truly dead and the honour and praise of those that are saints indeed are put upon them Now God that discernes betwixt the sheep and the goats and seperates betwixt them and he also who unmaskes hypocrites and pluckes the vizard off from them he that can distinguish betwixt the natural complexion in his own people and the paintings of others who pretend to him but are none of his he in his providence brings an houre of temptation both upon the one and other he tryes them both with the wind of false Doctrine and heresie and for this end he doth it that they which are approved may beâ—e manifest and that the hypocrisie of the rest may be made detected that himself may have glory in his own and that the others may ly under shame 1 Cor. 11. 19. And the Apostle John saith they went out from us because they were not of us which is appliable to false Doctrine and error and heresie they left the truth and those that adhered to it and they went out after error 6 Many persons forsake or never put themselves in to that order which Christ hath appointed for Saints to walk in in which they might be watched over and so kept by which meanes they are in a state as sheep without shepheards and when the Wolfe commeth they become a prey for the shep are not able through weakness and simplicity to defend themselves if there be no shepheard to provide for their safety and poor weak well meaning Christians are less able sheep will fly from danger though that doth not save â—hem alwayes but Saints many times mistrust no evill and so decline not the danger The Apostle declares how he himself watched for the space of three yeers with many teares to prevent this evill of the flock being devoured by Wolves and he calls the Elders of Ephesus together and gives them this charge that they would take heed to themselves and to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made them overseers to feed the Church of God that is with sound incorrupt doctrine and he renders this reason because after his decease grievous Wolves should enter in not sparing the flock and men of perverse minds amongst themselves Acts 20. 28 29 30. And it is to be observed that such persons how wise soever how holy soever they do professe to be and really may be who cast off Ordinances and Churches and Ministry and say there are now no Pastours nor Teachers nor flocks committed to them as in Primitive times there were and so withdraw themselves from the vigilancie of
Son in flesh that being preached to the world and received by faith becomes the seed of all piety and godliness by which we are begotten to God and are made partakers of the Divine nature This mystery of Christ revealed forms Christ in the hearts of those to whom it is revealed This Doctrine known and believed changeth men into the same image that as the eternal Son of God in flesh is become man-like so they after they have acknowledged it by faith are made God-like for therein is the rich grace and glorious mercy of the Lord revealed The love of the Father is transcendent in glory in giving such a Son who is the express image of himself and the same God essentially with himself And the love of the Son is superlative and above all the conceptions of the sons of men in giving himself when it is rightly understood that this Self whom he gives is God blessed for ever This truth believed works astonishment and the soul is ravished with the thoughts of it But the other viz. God's giving a Creature for us and a Creature 's giving it self for us is a lowe business in comparison of this nor can the heart be so confirmed in apprehension of the love of God nor can it be so inflamed with love to God but this mystery as the Apostle lays it down quickens faith love and heightens them which graces are the chariots to carry the soul out to all godliness and honesty The consequence of which is Whoever denies this mystery denies and destroys godliness and in so doing denies and destroys the Gospel which is called by the Apostle doctrine which is after godliness 1 Tim. 6. 3. Tit. 1. 1. And this is of weighty consideration to all those that acknowledge Christ to be God and yet hold it not very dreadful in those that do gainsay it but account them Saints and godly persons which they cannot groundedly do while the evidence of this text is against them which saith Great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh And if they acknowledge the truth of this text then this text will stare them in the face while they cry up the godliness of such who do oppose it Where is their godliness if this mysterie which they acknowledge not be the mysterie of godliness If godliness be the fruit of this doctrine rightly understood received if it grow upon the tree of this truth and they hew down this tree destroy this truth in the opinion which they hold doth not the fruit fall with it Godliness is cut down with the tree out of which it grows it is plucked up with the root that bears it What can be said against this Me thinks every tongue should be silent hence-forward that subscribes to this text Great is the mystery of goliness God manifest in the flesh c. But enough hath been spoken of this to convince any one that loves the Truth and will open his eyes to receive it I shall now undertake the maintaining of such Arguments or Instances as he calls them which I produced to shew the repugnancie of his Doctrine to the Gospel and to the Scripture and discover the weakness and unsoundness of the Answers that he gives The first Argument or Instance was Instance 1. If Christ be but a meer creature and not God then the giving of Divine worship and honour and service to a meer creature is lawful and warrantable which yet is everywhere forbidden in reference to any creature but is practised unto Christ Rev. 5. 12 13 14. and would be idolatry if Christ were not God He puts this Instance into form To give Divine worship honour and service to a meer creature is contrary to the Scripture To give Divine worship honour and service to Christ is not contrary to but by the warrant of Scripture Therefore Christ is not a meer creature He answers to the Major Proposition and distinguisheth of Divine worship honour and service First he saith All worship and honour which of right belongs to any creature is in some sence divine God being the principal author and ultimate centre thereof Rom. 13. Eph. 6. 7. Rep. But he might as truely say Every warrantable action that a man performs is divine because it hath God for the principal Author and ultimate Centre that is it hath God's command for the beginning of it and God's glory for the end of of it But by such distinguishing he confounds what ought to be distinguished he makes Divine worship and Civil worship to be the same thing because God is the principal Author and ultimate Centre of them both but these two have ever been distinguished by our Writers and made opposite species of Worship Therefore it was very frivolous for him to look upon Divine Worship in that sence 2. He saith But if you mean in the strictest sence that worship honour and service which is peculiar to the most high God then I shall say with you that it is Idolatry and contrary to the Scriptures to give it to any creature whatsoever Rep. The controversie betwixt us and the Papists is what Worship is peculiar to God and what is not peculiar but may be given to a creature And we assert against them that all Divine worship and honor is peculiar to God and none of it communicable to any meer creature But he tells us of some Divine worship which is peculiar and of some that is not peculiar For the better understanding of this Truth let it be looked into what Divine Worship is and what the grounds thereof are Divine Worship is that Observance in which we are carried directly and immediately to God in doing those things that directly bring honour to him and glorifie him in Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful c. 2 Cor. 8. 5. They first gave themselves up unto the Lord and then to us according to the will of God The ground of this Worship or Observance is that excellencie of God which in his sufficiencie and efficiencie shines forth It is not one attribute or perfection in God that is the formal and adequate cause and reason of Divine Worship but it is the concurrence of all infinite perfections and excellencies Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and full of truth c. Therefore it is that sometimes one attribute in God is said to ingender homage and worship Psal 130. 4. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared And sometimes another Heb. 12. 28 29. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire And Divine worship is the acknowledgement of the infinite Majestie Truth Wisdom Goodness Glory of the blessed God Divine Worship hath been wont to be divided into Natural worship and Instituted worship Natural worship flows from the very knowledge of God if it
be right and true though there were no Law to impose any such thing upon men and it conststs in faith and love and fear and hope and thankfulness and in praying unto God and hearing what God the Lord will say to them for of these such who have a right knowledge of God will soon be convinced Psal 9. 10. They that know thy Name will trust in thee And hereto also doth belong some natural external acts and postures of the body which do hold forth the reverence and homage of the minde as the bowing of the knees and prostrating of the body before God Instituted worship is certain mediums or means ordained by the will of God for the putting forth and exercising of natural worship viz. faith love hope fear c. which are inward acts of the minde and graces whereby we gratifie God and honour him and belong to Natural worship This Instituted worship consists in Ordinances and Services of God's own appointment in which the Natural worship of faith hope fear c. are acted and by which they are promoved Having shewed what Divine Worship is and the grounds and kindes of it it remains that I declare that all Divine Worship and not some alone as he asserts is peculiar to God and not to be given to any creature that is no more then a creature 1. That which is limited and restrained by Go to God alone in the first and second Commandment and inhibited and forbidden to be given to any other that must needs be peculiar to God alone But all divine worship both natural and instituted together with the postures that do attend them as applied to divine worship are limited and restrained by God to God onely and prohibited to be given to any other Therefore it must needs be proper and peculiar to God For what else is the sense of those two Commandments Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. but an injunction of the having and exercising such divine Graces and Affections upon and towards God above and a submitting to divine directions and instructions from God in reference to the means of worship and to him alone All that hath been written and preached by the most approved looks this way They say naturall worship is forbidden in the one and ordained worship in the other and he that gives the natural to any but the true God sets up and makes to himself another God beside him and he that sets up or submits to any formes of worship without the dictate or warrant of the true God commits Idolatry against the true God 2. That which Christ doth appropriate to God that must needs be peculiar to him But Christ doth appropriate divine worship to God alone Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Therefore divine worship is peculiar to God and may not be given to any other That which the Devil required of Christ was prostration or bowing his body to the ground before him in a Religious way as for his heart and the faith of it and love or it and fear of it and affections of it in any kind or the intention of those affections he mentions them not requires them not nor could he know whether they were given to him or no nor in what degree and measure but the outward homage onely in the inclination of the body to the earth in a religious way and Christ yeelds not to it but repels him with the Scripture which he fetcheth from Deut. 6. 13. or from Chap. 10. 20. or from Chap. 26. 10. for I find no other that Christ can allude to and Expositors do direct to the two former but in none of them is it said Him onely shalt thou serve nor is it applyed to external adoration but our Saviour an infallible expositor doth extend it to religious postures and outward homage in a spiritual way and doth restrain it to God alone 3. That which the Apostle condemned in the Galatians while they were heathen that cannot be allowable in Christians But the doing of Religious service or giving religious or divine worship to them which by nature are not Gods is the thing that the Apostle condemns in the Galatians while they were Heathens Gal. 4. 8. Therefore it is not allowable in Christians The Heathens when they worshipped stocks and stones and works of the hands of the Workman they did it relativè not terminative that is they worshipped the highest being in these and did not terminate and end their worship in these but used these as helps in that worship which they directed to the most High God whom they knew not and carried their worship through these to him as from Acts 17. 23. compared with 25. 29. will appear They worshipped Idols of silver and gold and graven stone yet they knew that those Idols made by mens hands were not God but there was an unknown God whom they worshipped in such Images Yet this worship was accounted by the Apostle a doing service to them which by nature are not Gods and was condemned And this intermediate service which was not terminated in the thing served will not be allowed as belonging to any other but to him who is essentially God and by nature God 4. That which neither the Angels nor the most eminent Saints on earth durst accept though tendred to them because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper onely to him that ought not to be given to any creature but is peculiar to God But divine Religious worship manifested in the outward prostration of the body was a thing that the Angels and the most eminent Saints durst not accept of because they were but creatures but directed it to God as proper to him alone Therefore divine Religious Worship ought not to be given to any meer creature but is peculiar to God There are many Scriptures which serve to confirm that which can in reason onely be questioned in this Argument viz. Whether all divine Religious worship though intermediate and in the lowest degree was rejected by Angels and Saints as undue to them and as proper to God for this purpose see Act. 10. 26. where may be found that Adoration with the body which did proceed from the estimation of the mind though Cornelius that tendred it knew Peter to whom he tendred it neither to be God nor Christ nor had he that esteem of him nor did he terminate that worship which he gave him upon him for he was better instructed but through him looked at God yet the thing was evil that he did and undue to Peter or to any meer man whatever and was therefore rejected by Peter upon that ground and account Stand up said he for I my self am also a man as if he should have said I am not God but a man a meer man and nothing more therefore it is not proper to adore me thus