met and fell down at his feet and worshiped him but he though he had excellent gifts and great authority by his office yet he refused it and this he gave for a reason I my self also am a man that is such a thing is not to be offered any man yet we must not believe Cornelius to have been so besotted as to have taken him for God but he thought he might do so to such an extraordinary man Chap. 14.13 14 1â— Paul and Barnabas seeing how the people of Lystra would have done Sacrifice they presently rent their cloaths running and crying Sirs why do you do these things Their reason was we are also men Rev. 19.10 hence we conclude how no man ought to be worshiped Now we shall speak of Angels John a person of no mean gifts fell at the Angels feet who was a Minister of God and of Christ to worship him surely he took him not to be God for he could not but know the contrary but may be he thought he might pay him that respect but whatsoever he thought he did amiss therefore the Angel highly rejected it when he said see thou do it not Chap. 2â— 9 and gave his reason for 't for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus and not satisfied with this directed him to the object of worship and adoration worship God and this not only once but twice for it happened a second time We have demonstrated how the true God is alone to be worshiped now we must shew how Christ is religiously to be worshiped and consequently he is the true God which last expressions now when I remember put me in mind of that excellent place wherein he is called the true God which but in few words I will take notice of 1 John 5.20 we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and oternal Life The Relative this is refered to Jesus Christ not only as the nearest but also as the Subject Orationis spoken of besides that with St. John 't is usual by Eternal Life to signifie the Lord Jesus and here the true God and Eternal Life are spoken of one and the same Subject Now when the Lord is here called true God it cannot be said metaphorically or improperly but as to his nature the reason it this none is ever called the true God specially with the Article but in relation to his Essence Now to prove that the religious worship belonging to the only true God is appropriated to christ we have several places out of Scripture some do it in general and others in the particulars whereof there are several branclies Of the first Order is this let all the Angels of God worship him quoted out of the Psalm Upon these two unshaken pillars Heb. 1.6 Psal 37.7 I mean the testimonies of a Prophet and of an Apostle stand these two great Truths First how the person whom the Angels here called God's for so the Apostle doth explain the word are commanded to worship is the true Essential God or to make use of the name which the Adversaries do commonly bring in namely the God of Israel Secondly that the person to be worshiped by Angels is the Lord Jesus Christ the first assertion is the Prophet's the second is the Apostle's out of which both we may surely conclude how the Lord Jesus is the true Essential God of Israel To examine well this we shall first begin with the words of the Original that is the Psalm whence they are drawn and afterwards the Application made of them in the Gospel To remove the weight of this argument which lie's so heavy upon them and finding they cannot deny the Application to belong to Christ the Adversaries would not have the words to be understood of the true God of Israel but certainly they ought to be related to him that is named in the next verse but one before namely the Lord of the whole earth for indeed in this Psalm wherein is described the Majesty of God's Kingdom no other person is spoken of but that God whose Kingdom it is Now that the God of the whole Earth is Jehovah the God of Israel it appears out of Scripture wherein the attribute of Lord of the whole Earth is given to the true God by nature amongst others take these few Josh 3.11 Zechar. 14 and 6 5. Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan And these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth Again these are the four spirits of the Heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth Micah 4.12 The very same expression is found in another Prophet I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth I shall add that considerable place where the Prophet for the comfort of the Gentiles prophesied of what a large extent their Church should be and speaks of their deliverance heaping several glorious titles upon him that was to be the Author thereof which no doubt had a relation to the Messiah who was to effect it Among other names therein given that of God of the whole earth is one Isa 3â— â— For thy maker is thine husband the Lord of hosts is his name and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole â—arth shall he be casted all these glorious names belong to one and the same I need not to shew that the Prophecies about the deliverance and calling of the Gentiles do relate to Christ Psal 2.8 who was to have the heathen for his inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession And this Title of Lord of the whole earth is by the Psalmist in another place rendred by a great King over all the earth Psal 47.2.7 and the King of all the earth all to signifie tho same thing and person the Kingdom of Christ the Messiah I think this is enough to prove how the God of Israel and the Lord of the whole Earth is the same as Israel made a part of the Earth so he that was God of the whole Earth must need be the God of Israel so 't is the same in this Text for no where in Scripture that title is given to any but the true God Yet they are so obstinate in their opinions that Socinus himself who though he will not have Christ to be the King of Israel yet being forced by the strength of this reason he seems content that the Lord Jesus should be here called the Lord of the whole Earth but if the argument should lie upon this he would want no Cavils to elude the force of it for that wretch is so damnably bent against the glory and honour of our Saviour that in whatsoever he writes about him Acts 8.23 there appears
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
a Creature but the Author of all Creatures so that he is their Father rather than their Brother and he by whom all things are created must needs be in time and dignity before all and he is called the image of the invisible God not for publishing and preaching the Gospel for that the Apostles had common with him but because the Son is so like the Father that he who seeth the Son seeth the Father and he is the image of the Father not as he is the Son of Man but as he is the Son of God Neither must this be restrained to Angels and Men because those two kinds do not contain every Creature and certainly if it be granted that every rational Creature was made by him we may easily conclude of all the rest the more because 't is universally expressed of every Creature The sixteenth verse doth explain and much enlarge upon the foregoing and doth first universally and absolutely affirm the whole work of Creation to be the work of Christ then makes a distribution as things in Heaven and in Earth of what nature rank and degree soever and this mention of things in Heaven and of things in Earth here expressed sheweth how the Apostles intention is to speak of the first Creation and not of the second this last or renovation doth not comprehend all things that are in Earth but the first doth Wherefore this last is not spoken of in this place and tho elsewhere the word Creation be understood of the new and Spiritual Creation Ephes 3.9 it doth not follow it must be so here for there it is spoken of the revelation and predication of the Gospel which cannot be proved to be here the scope of the place where is to be seen not only the word to Create or Creation but also the things created are expressed as clearly as may be Furthermore it cannot be denyed but by invisible things as Thrones Dominions c. are meant Angels which were created with or before the World that is very long before Christ his appearing in the Flesh but I find no where in Scripture that since the first Creation they were renewed or created again The good Angels needed it not for they were never defiled the bad ones are not for they continue as bad and wicked as ever so 't is very strange that amongst the Creatures renewed by Christ they reckon the Devils themsēlves and who besides them could ever have thought that in Scripture the bare word Creature signifies a new Creature to Create to Create a New This is not at all the stile of the word of God wherein we believe the Apostles spoke with a design to be understood and not to clog their Writings with Ambiguities to cause doubts and difficulties for on the contrary here he makes things as intelligible as can be to remove scruples as when he saith all things that are in Heaven were by him Created for fear there should be some doubt about it he explains it with the words visible and invisible for in the Heavens are visible things as Sun Moon Stars and also invisible as Angels Now there is no doubt but the Apostle in that commendation he gives of Christ aimeth chiefly to shew his Dignity and Excellency as being first born of every Creature but the Socinians go about robbing him of that Prerogative for 't is spoken generally of every Creature without exception but say they not so only of every new Creature yet the Lord doth excel above every Creature good or bad high or low and is Lord over all If they say Christ is the first born of every Creature only as it is a new Creature then it must be said the Apostle is to blame for omiting the word new though so necessary to understand his meaning which is no better than as much as in them lies to ridicule the Apostles word how he is the first born of every Creature in as much as every Creature is subject to his Dominion for every thing is subjected to him thus far as God hath subjected every thing unto him But seeing they own Christ to be in time before every new creatures what shall they say of some who before his birth of the Virgin were new Creatures seeing 'tis he that made them all If thus under the New Testament we must conclude it to have been so under the Old for they could not be such except they were so made by him Now as the Apostle begins this verse so he endeth it by him were all things created and all things were created by him that is to confirm this Truth beyond all ground of doubting of it in the same verse he doth twice set it down and in the same words with a most important addition last of all that as all things were created by so for him not as means and a medium but as an efficient and final cause to him Psal 136.5 saith the Psalmist that by wisdom made the Heavens 't is not said in but by wisdom as a Person and efficient Cause for as such is the Son of God represented under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. where the Attributes therein mentioned belong to a person the work of creating the Heavens is a distinguishing Character of the true God by nature from false Gods Idols Psal 96.5 all the Gods of the nations are Idols but the Lord made the heavens And Christ is the power of God 1. Cor. 1.24 and the wisdom of God by whom the world was created Let this be added to prove this truth God by his Son made also the Worlds Heb. 1.2.10 and this Text being joyned with the two foregoing doth afford this Conclusion he by whom God made the world by whom he made all things and by whom he made the worlds certainly was before the world before all things and before the worlds now God by his Son Jesus Christ made the world all things and the worlds therefore his Son Jesus Christ was before the world before all things and before the worlds and so Eternal The words of this place are as plain absolute and extensive as of the others and because some sophistical distinction of the word world might happen to be invented therefore to prevent it he saith worlds in the plural thereby to cut off the ground of any distinction as of this world and that world and it seems to leave no place for the distinction by Socinians of the old and of the new world the original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ages wherein are contained all times and temporal things wherein the world and all things in it are comprehended But here as in other places they must bring in their own imaginations for they will have only the new not the old world to be understood though the Apostle speaking absolutely leaves no ground for such notions and to cavil they say that to Make and to Create are different things contrary to the stile of Scripture
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
be true even in natural things how much more in those of a spiritual and divine Nature which to Men's understanding are past finding out wherefore I affirm it to be but reasonable for them in such things to submit Reason to Faith which is a Mystery to our natural Reason 1 Tim. 3.9 so called by S. Paul Holding the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience when he was writing this Faith with its Object was clearly revealed yet still he then calls it a Mystery and I hope no Socinian dares say he knows the Nature of Faith better than that great Apostle did As for Scripture they pretend to own and do quote it so also could the Devil but mis-apply'd it Before him whom he knew to be the Son of God he could say it is written And as in the beginning of the Predication of the Gospel so in the renewing of the Truth of it by Reformation Tares sprung up with the Grain some Men would not order and regulate their Opinions according to Scripture but would bring it to be subservient to their Notions and of it to make a Nose of Wax to serve their turn hence it is that they wrest things that therein are so plain which if we believe Peter 2 Pet. 3.16 must be to their own destruction I know of no wrong the Son of God hath done them that in all their Writings they should so slightly speak of and so much below him Of late one S among others Page 20. saith of the Lord Jesus In that great Instance of Magnanimity he hath outdone all the mentioned Heroes of Greece and Rome he would seem to speak much in his Commendation but latet anguis in herbâ there is a Malice in the bottom to enervate the Truth of our Saviour's Life as if there were in 't some of the Tales and fabulous Accounts which are found in the Lives of the Heroes be mentions They would have him a Man and nothing more though upon all occasions even before that wicked Counsel of the Priests Scribes and Elders Matt. 26.63 64. being by the High Priest adjured in the Name of the Living God to tell whether he was the Son of God He owned himself to be which he would not have done if it had not been true and so had died to maintain a Lye which is the part of an Impostor and this Confession of his being Son of God was the very ground of his Accusation Condemnation and Execution we have a law John 19.7 said they and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God and at the time of his Death all their Revilings and Injuries against him did run upon this Matt. 27.40 43 54. If thou be the Son of God come down from the cross and he said I am the Son of God it had been very strange if he had suffered for saying he was that which he was not in the Sense he spoke it and they took it To deny this is to be worse than the very Heathens the Roman Soldiers for the Centurion and they that were with him having seen the things that were done said Truly this was the Son of God thereby pointing at the Cause of his Death as if they had said He was what he affirmed himself to be and what he dyed for that is Truly the Son of God What S. Paul saith in another Caese about the Resurrection Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought incredible with you that God should raise the dead We may say it in that of the Incarnation of the Son of God for if God attended by two Angels in the shape of Men Gen. 18. more familiarly to dine and converse with Abraham shewed how he could assume the Figure of a Man why might he not in time take upon him our humane Nature The Scripture being so full of Evidences that he could he would and hath done it But what can we say of People who deny it to be day though the Sun shineth never so brightly like the Philosophers Maid who being blind would not own it but said the Room she was in was dark this is the case of those in whom the God of this World hath so blinded the Minds that they cannot and their Hearts that they will not see I wish God may be pleased in this high Concern of his to stir up the Hearts of every one to act in his Station whether Civil or Ecclesiastical They which in this last Capacity are Men of Piety and Learning might out of Presses and Pulpits be very instrumental in asserting the Truth if they were pleased to consult with Scripture preferably before their own Reason for the Word of God being the Spring of right Reason will afford Reasons enough to confute and convince Blasphemy and Heresie Therein lies our strength about these Matters This ought to be the method and manner of those who engage in the Cause Let us all well observe what is said of Apollos who in this same Subject was concerned against an unbelieving and obstinate Nation Acts 18.24 that he was mighty in the Scriptures About these Controversies some thing hath already been attempted by Men otherwise of Learning and good Parts but upon the account of some Principles of theirs little good is herein to be expected from them Arminians I mean whom I look upon as not very sit to write against Socinians no more than Arminus would not write against Socinus though they were contemporary when I am reading Socinian Disputes I often in my way meet with Worstius Episcopius Bertius Curcelaeus and such others who favour them if not in all yet in too many things wherein they go hand in hand and they will mince the matter with them but if after what several Men have written heretofore some other Persons of Learning and sound in the doctrinal part of the XXXIX Articles would now appear as a Reverend and very able Prelate hath in some Points effectually done then it might be hoped through God's Blessing for us to see those impious and Heterodox Opinions justled out of doors to the Honour of God the Peace of his Church and clearing the Land of such a Generation as in some respect may be called worse than the Devils Matt. 8.29 Mar. 1.24 and 5.7 Luke 4.34 41. 8.28 Psal 119.126 who publickly owned the Lord Jesus to be the Son of God of the most high God the holy one of God whom they confessed to have the Power not only to command but also to torment and destroy them whilst these Men deny him truly to be such With David we must say It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law In the mean time though very sensible of my Weakness and Incapacity I presume to appear in publick trusting in him whose Cause we defend that he will make his Virtue perfect in our Weakness and with the gracious Influence of his holy
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
Father called God Son called God Holy Ghost called God and here the Enemies of Truth should begin their Opposition which is the true way and method yet they do not but they except against the Explication which only tends to farther Edifying and Instruction and quarrel with Words as Essence Trinity Persons c. Divine Nature is One yet common to Three in the Mystery of the Trinity we must learn the Truth the Height and Excellency thereof the Truth doth not depend upon our Apprehension and Understanding of it but upon the Consent of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and tho' under the first Men were more in the dark yet there was Light enough to make 'em believe it with humble Faith and Piety but under the last that Truth is clearly apparent 't is by * John 5.4 Faith only that we are enabled to overcome the World so †2 Cor. 5.7 we walk by faith and not by sight to shew our Religion is matter of Faith more than of Fact to be attained unto through Belief and not through Senses whose Object is visible and temporal but that of Faith is * 2 Cor. 4.18 spiritual invisible and eternal the holy Mystery of the Trinity cannot be comprehended by the Light of Grace nor of Glory much less by that of Nature Controvertes about Principles are more intricate and difficult than about Conclusions especially in things relating to God the Principal of all Beings and that for two Reasons the first because the infinite and incomprehensible Majesty of God doth far exceed our Understanding the second upon the account of the Blindness and Vanity of Man's Mind which either will not depend upon the Revelation without which we can never know things of that nature or else goes about with its wrong Notions to depravate it not so much as to the Words as in the Sense and Doctrine wherein Heresie doth consist Now as 't is a damnable Presumption in those who in these Matters do pervert the true Sense of the Word of God so I must say 't is a great Imprudence in those who undertake to refute them to abound in their own Sense leaving the trodden way and slighting Arguments made use of by the former Assertors of these Truths to set up new Notions and Hypotheses of their own which render those Points more abstruse and these new Lights of theirs instead of clearing make them darker instead of proving they do not so much as illustrate the matter the Proofs ought to be drawn out of the Revelation and in the Explanation thereof 't is no Shame nor Loss of Reputation to follow the Steps and Methods of Learned and Orthodox Men who went before and with great Success opposed Error and Blasphemy I do not hereby intend to deny a Man the liberty of making use of the Parts and Learning which God hath endued him with above others and improve them to a further Confirmation of the Truth but I would not have them to depart from the Foundation laid before them nor to exercise their wandring Thoughts about the adorable and incomprehensible Nature of God merely to affect Singularity and thereby to be applauded This very thing hath of late led if not tumbled some into strange and horrid Precipices which to avoid they more and more intangled themselves therein as hath well been observed by others 't is no good Consequence for such to say that if a Person be a Mind a Spirit and a Substance then Three Persons must be Three distinct Minds Spirits and Substances as distinct as Adam and Abel though not separate But the Error of the Hypothesis lies in this which openeth the false Ground thereof namely because Mind Spirit and Substance in their proper signification are absolute but Person in its proper signification is a relative Term because King William is King of England Scotland and Ireland must we argue that since a King is a Man an Animal a Substance therefore because of Three distinct substantial Kingdoms he is Three distinct Men Three distinct Animals and Three distinct Substances not so because Man Animal and Substance are Terms absolute but King is relative Suppose as one said before and to the purpose a Man were Dean of Pauls of Westminster and of Windsor should we thence conclude that since a Dean is a Man an Animal a Substance therefore because of Three distinct Deanaries he is Three distinct Substances I think not because Man Animal Substance are Terms absolute but Dean is relative It is very sad now to see the blasphemous Heresie of the Threetheites or of Three Gods revived among us by such as might do better in every well-order'd Christian State Idolatry and Blasphemy ought not to be tolerated but severely punished I know there are certain Terms to be explained in the Discussion of these Controversies especially in the Schools as may be Essence Existence Subsistence Substance Individuum Suppositum Hypostasis or Person wherein they agree and wherein they differ but I conceive they who writ for a publick good and would make these Points intelligible to most if not to all Readers might well avoid too far engaging in Metaphysical Notions I humbly conceive it were better because more profitablē in a Theological way to write and explain that which is most necessary to be understood according to the Pattern of Scripture and the Practice of the Orthodox Primitive Church and of its Doctors against Hereticks as we have it in the three Creeds which are a production of their universal Consent But for some Men herein thus far to indulge their fancy as to let it spatiate as much as it will and give it a full Latitude to wander and then express it self in such Terms as one of a Hundred Thousand can hardly understand the meaning thereof Nay upon reasonable grounds it may be doubted whether the Author doth well understand them this is only to intricate the Matter to puzzle the Reader and that which is worse to want a due respect for the Majesty of God whose Mysteries ought to be handled with an awful Reverence no Man may presume to know of him beyond what he hath been pleased to reveal himself for if we cannot well and perfectly know things created much less the Creator neither can the less comprehend the greater and if * Rom. 11.33 God's Judgments be past finding out much more is he himself Besides that this way of thus managing these Matters doth much prejudice the Cause and gives the Adversaries thereof ground to say of us They cannot among themselves agree how to defend it CHAP. II. Of Divine Essence HERETICKS Dispute against the Words Essence Trinity and Person used in the Primitive Church but sound Faith contendeth not about Words when the Truth of the thing is agreed upon Trinity is the abstract whereof three is the Concret expressed 1 John 5.7 as that of Jehovah and Lord signifie the Essence render'd by him * Revel 1.8 Which is
Upon the Account of our Salvation which by no means can be obtained without it let Arminians say on the contrary what they will For †John 17.3 this is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And who is he but ‖ 1 John 5.20 the Son of God the true God and eternal life We say Trinity or Triunity not Triplicity for this last implies a Composition of Three Parts Father Son and Holy Ghost are alius alius not aliud aliud other and other but not other thing and other thing Three distinct Persons but One and the same Nature we distinguish the Persons saith * De Trin. Vnit cap. 11. Austin but divide not the Deity or Essence they are not distinct Essentially for there is but one Essence but personally that is one Person is not the other the Father not the Son nor the Son the Father and the Holy none of the other two Peter Paul and John are not only distinct amongst themselves but also divided one from another so they are three Men though but one specifical Nature because created and finite but in an infinite Being 'tis otherwise Father Son and Holy Ghost though distinct yet not divided for there is but one numerical Nature the three are Consubstantial or Coessential in Nature Coeternal in Time and Coequal in Power The Knowledge of One God may be had by the Light of Nature but that of the Holy Trinity only out of Scripture for the one is according to Reason but the other above it two ways there are to know God the 1st Nature the 2d Revelation that is defectuous this is perfect to which God tied his Church which alone knoweth and calleth upon God according to what he manifested of himself in his Holy Word and thereby her Religion is different from that of all the rest of the World and there is no other saving way to come to God but by Christ whose Gospel is preached as the only Doctrine of Salvation and we must not have of God such Notions as our Fancy or natural Reason suggest unto us but such as he hath declared in his Word for he is a voluntary Cause of all whose Ways and Methods we ought to observe and be guided by in our Religion for †Ephes 1.11 v. 5. he works all things according to the counsel of his own will and according to the good pleasure of his will Yet this Holy Mystery is a stumbling-block unto the Jews and unto the Greeks foolishness and both look upon it as Heresie though if God's Word be the Word of Truth this as we hope to shew is certainly the True Sound Doctrine because grounded upon it though unsound Men will neither believe it nor consent about it to the Faith of the Primitive Church and Orthodox Doctors of all Ages nor to the Confessions of Faith of all Christian Reformed Churches as if the Spirit of God and of Truth was departed from them All to be only amongst Socinians Second Substances do exist only in the First Man in general existeth only in James John that are individual and Words are what Use makes them an Indivisible and most single Essence abstractively considered may and doth concretively exist in Three Persons no Man may well say that an infinite Essence doth not admit of three Modes or Manners of Subsistence but he only which fancies within his shallow and finite Intellect to understand perfectly an infinite Nature with her Modes of subsisting which to pretend to implieth Absurdity and Impiety And to affirm that to be One in relation to its Essence and many as to the Modes is no more contradictory than to say the same Man is real in respect of his Essence and modal as to his Subsistence wherefore they who would terminate an infinite Essence only to one manner of subsisting so that it may not be communicated to another Person either they understand not what an infinite Nature is or else misTake the meaning of the word Terminate or Confine which is not to prescribe limits for that an infinite Nature doth abhor but the meaning is that an Essence as may be the Father's is so the Father's Essence as may not be the Son 's in the same manner but it may be in a different way Upon this Matter it ought carefully to be observed how the Divine Essence is considered either Absolutely or Relatively to the manner of existing in respect to both the Father is of himself in relation to the first the Son also is of himself but as to the second he is from the Father so is the Holy Ghost of himself in respect to the first that is absolutely consider'd but as to the second he proceedeth from both Father and Son Wherefore the Father is absolutely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self God because both as to his Essence and as to his Person he is not from another but the Son and Holy Ghost are also Self God though not as to the Person the Son being begotten by the Father as the Holy Ghost proceedeth from both but as to the Nature because both are by that Essence which is not produced by another or depend upon another but that same which of it self and by it self doth exist from all Eternity the Three Persons have but One and the same Essence and they are not essentially distinstinguished The Son is from the Father by Generation not as to his Essence but in relation to his Person not absolutely as God but relatively as Son for the Son hath the same Nature and Substance as the Father Self God as he though not in the same manner the Father may not be called Essentiator if I may so say of the Son or Holy Ghost nor these Essentiated the Son is God of himself though not Son of himself the manner whereby theSon is said to be from the Father is in Scripture described by the word Generation which is nothing else but a Communication of one and the same Essence or Life that is Eternal and Indivisible as expressed Psal 2.7 and John 5. v. 26. which are not to be confounded with nor measured by physical Generation there being neither priority nor posteriority of Duration no mutation or passing from Power to Act from a not Being to a Being from a division and multiplication of Essence from a formal Reason of active and passive Generation from a dependency of him that is begotten upon him that hath begotten or from a greater to the lesser so there is no such Imperfections as are in Natural and Metaphysical in which are priority and posteriority of Nature though not of Time So there is no Consequence to be drawn out of one for the other thus though a natural begetter doth efficiently beget of himself materially from himself terminatively out of himself no such thing is to be conceived of this Generation of the Son of God for though in Human Things the
begetter and the begotten do sometimes differ in the genus sometimes in the species or kind in Divine Things they differ only in the modus or manner This Generation is without any Motion hath no beginning nor ending because he that begets and he that is begotten are Coeternal What we say of the Son may be affirmed of the Holy Ghost who is from the Father and from the Son by way of procession not as to the Nature but as to the Person for the Essence and Self-being of the Holy Ghost is just the same with that of the Father and of the Son he is Self-God Actually though not Originally Essentially though not Personally Now these Three Persons of the Godhead are distinguished by their Names Orders Attributes and Workings which Distinctions do not prejudice either the Unity or Simplicity of Essence for it is not composed of Persons which are not before it either in Time or Order but every one hath the whole Essence neither can the Persons be said to be composed of the Essence because it is not before the Persons neither doth the manner of subsisting induce any Composition into the Essence only a Distinction and is said to modificate not to multiply it Now the modus or manner is here improperly taken for commonly 't is posterior to the Subject it doth modifie But in this it is not so there is not in the Persons of the most Holy Trinity such a real Distinction as is between Things and Things for the Person is not a different Thing from the Divine Essence but 't is the very Essence with the manner of subsisting In some natural Things the manner of them is hard and sometimes impossible to be understood Can a Man upon sure Grounds find out how Grass and Corn grows How the Wind is formed Whence it comes and whither it goes and several such things in Nature we no ways doubt but that there are in the World those who pretend to know all things and pretend for most things to give Reasons such as they are But can a Man know how he himself was made and formed How his Soul came to be united to his Body This Ignorance in common Matters we daily see and feel to be in our selves and what must it be in those Spiritual and High Ones which are such as no Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard nor ever entered into the Heart of Man and which 't is impossible for the Wit of Man to conceive which Consideration should curb the Idle Curiosity of vain Men who as with a little short Line would with their shallow Brains fathom the bottomless and unsearchable Depths of these adorable Mysteries when with the Apostle * 2 Cor. 12.4 that was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable Words they should cry out †Rom. 11.33 O the depth that cannot be fathomed Yet to shew we are not altogether unacquainted with the Notions and Hypotheses of others about these Matters in a stammering manner let us say that the ‖ Psal 147 5. infinite Vnderstanding of God never is or was Idle and as it is his very Being so from all Eternity it ever was taken up and this Understanding of God being All in All it cannot meet with any thing but himself so it did understand and conceive it self as in a Looking-Glass a Man doth conceive and beget a perfect Image of his own Face so God in beholding and minding of himself doth in himself beget a most lively and perfect Image of himself and this in the Blessed Trinity is the Son of God who is called * Heb. 1 3. the perfect Image of God just as if we may use such Comparisons Wax upon a Seal hath the engraven Form of the Seal so the Son of God whom his Father hath begotten of his own Understanding is the very Form of his Father's Understanding and when one is seen the other is seen also as he saith to Philip †Joh. 14.9 he who hath seen me hath seen the Father and under the Name of Wisdom he saith when there were no Depths and before the Mountains were settled ‖ Prov. 8.23 24 25. I was brought forth And as in God's Essence there is an Understanding so there is * Isa 46.10 a Will and by this Will God according to his own Mind applies his Power where when and how he thinks good and as his Understanding doth so his Will everlastingly works upon himself as it hath no other Thing to work upon but it self it delighteth it self in the Infinite Goodness which it knoweth in it self and that Delight which God or his Will hath in its own Infinite Goodness produces a Subsistance in God which is the Holy Ghost and that mutual Love whereby the Father takes Delight in his Son which is his own Image conceived by his Understanding and the Son likewise rejoyceth in his Father now this Action of the Will when it is fulfilled is Liking and Love as when a Man looketh in a Glass if he smiles his Image doth so too and if it takes Delight in it it takes the same in him for they are both One and from these Two doth result the Third all Three are in One Face of One Face and but One Face Thus if we will make use of our Reason in these Mysterious and Incomprehensible Matters we must stutter and stammer wherefore the best is chiefly and only to stand to and depend upon the Revelation thereof that God hath made in his Word beyond which Men ought not to presume for in Matters of so High a Concernment to speak true and certain Things there is some Danger of the contrary Herein we can give no Examples because there is nothing like God we have no natural Grounds and Principles positively to prove these Truths all Comparisons from the Sun the Soul the Rain-bow a Triangle and of my speaking as I my Word and my Breath are Three several Things different one from another yet I am but One Man and such like lame Comparisons fall very short of Illustrating these Mysteries if we cannot understand how Original Sin is propagated in us seeing our Soul is not ex traduce begotten by Parents how much less can we comprehend that Infinite and Eternal Being of One God in Three Persons After this is it not Just that Men should own how the Trinity is a High Mystery which falls not under Senses and is infinitely above our Understanding rather to be believed than felt or understood whereof the Revelation ought to be the sufficient and only Rule as when Scripture saith * 1 Joh. 5.7 there are three in Heaven the Father the Word and Holy Ghost and these three are one I must not puzzle my Brain to know how this can be thus when the Apostle revealeth there is to be a Resurrection of the dead when some Men will say †1 Cor. 15.35 36. How are the dead raised up and with what body do
same place of Exod. v. 15. God whom we ought to believe saith this is my name for ever which elsewhere he confirmeth p Isai 42. â— I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another So then that Name God accounts to be his Glory and that Name he would not give the Angel we have spoken of before in whom God said was his Name except he was his true Son and partaker of his Nature this is by another Prophet q Jer. 16.21 confirmed I will cause them to know mine hand and my might and they shall know that my name is the Lord and by another r Hos 12.5 even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial what follows is worthy of a most serious consideration Å¿ Psal 83.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth so then if God speaks truth Jehovah is his Name alone and of none else Another Prophet is not silent upon the matter t Amos 5.8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and makes the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his name One thing more I add how after the People had seen the Fire of the Lord fall upon Eliah's Sacrifice and consume it and all round about they fell on their faces and said the Lord be is the God 1 Kings 18.38 39. the Lord he is the God Who after these plain and convincing Evidences can be so much a Child of the Devil I mean a Lyar as to deny the Name Jehovah to be God's proper Name and consequently deny Christ who is Jehovah to be the true natural God By Jehovah and Jah is primarily denoted the Essence proper only to God whereby God is understood to have his Being of himself and to be efficient principle in a way of Excellency of all other Beings and the Name was not altogether unknown before Moses for in that place v Exod. 6.3 the Question is not properly or formally about the Word but the Thing as of the Unchangeableness of the Divine Truth and of the Deliverance of his People The Jewes are so scrupulous about the Word that they would not have it pronounced but with some change of Letters they impiously give a magical Virtue to the Characters whereunto they attribute all Miracles done by our Saviour the Name Schaddai signifying God's Self-sufficiency is also incommunicable but 't is of Attribute as the other of Nature They cannot deny that Christ or the Son is called Jehovah wherefore they betake themselves to another Shift which is to deny the Name to be incommunicable for say they it is attributed to Angels and to other things as unto the Mount where Abraham would have sacrificed his Son to Jerusalem and unto the Ark As to the first 't is not to be understood of any created Angel but of that Angel whom we proved to be God truly and properly whom the Name doth belong unto in a proper sense When spoken of the forenamed things 't is not to be taken as a Name but as a Commendation Testimony Sign and a Symbol as if one should say There John liveth there James reigneth by a kind of Metonimy used in human things when the thing contained is put for the containing as to the Ark when Moses saith q Num. 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered he doth not speak to the Ark a material Creature unable to hear and of it self to move but to Jehovah who had his Seat in it Of this we can have no surer Interpreter than David who saith r Psal 132 8. Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the ark of thy strength the Prayer is directed to God not to the Ark which were Idolatry the Ark doth neither rise nor return but after the manner of Men it is attributed unto God So in another place Å¿ Ps 68.1 Let God arise let his enemies be scattered besides these words of Moses were spoken when the Ark was upon a motion or at rest wherefore it had been improper to say to the Ark Rise when 't was going on and Rest when it was fixed so it must be to God who had appointed it there to manifest his special Grace or Glory Thus the Name Jehovah is consider'd either relatively or absolutely the first when joyned with some thing as we said of Jerusalem and of the Ark not to be absolutely but relatively understood as Jerusalem the City wherein Jehovah dwelleth God's Worship was tyed to the Ark for there as promised he spoke with Moses t Exod. 25 22. Levit. 16.2 1 Sam. 4 4 the second when God takes that Name to himself u Exodus 20.2 I am Jehovah or the Lord thy God and x Isai 42.8 Whose name is Jehovah the Lord of hosts Thus Moses and People say in their Song y Exodus 15.3 Jehovah is his name and that according to the Etymology which is as said from a word that signifies is hath been and herein we can agree with Crellius shall be which properly denoteth the Essence not generally but specially an infinite eternal Being existing of it self Now this figurative way of speaking in this kind is often used in Scripture whereof the following Text * Psal 24.5 6. is a considerable Instance This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob where Jacob is put for the God of Jacob to seek the Face is a Duty relating to God not to Jacob or any Man pressed upon us in the Word for the Psalmist not being satisfied to have said Psal 105.3 4. Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord he addeth this Command reiterated Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore 'T is then a Duty which God requireth of us for he saith * Psal 27.8 Seek ye my face and the obedient and dutiful Soul answereth My heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Hence it appeareth how this religious Duty to seek the Face is not directed to Jacob but to the God of Jacob who in the latter end of the foregoing Verse is named the Lord God of our salvation Thus after this figurative way of speaking the Name Jehovah is spoken of the Mount and of the Ark which are Jehovah no more than Jacob was and therefore when God's most holy Name is concerned Men must not be so rash as to fancy and vent their profane Notions and attribute unto any Man or other Creature whatsoever that which God hath reserved as proper to himself Tertullian tells the Heathens how their Philosophers called the Maker of the World by the Name the Word Second The Word which agrees with what S. John saith * John 1.3
All things were made by him how they came to that knowledg I shall not be so positive as to determine but in the Verses father'd upon Orpheus the Creator of the World is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word so 't is in some of the antient Books of the Caldeans but we must draw out of purer Springs than these for our blessed Saviour the Son of God is in the New Tewament called 〈◊〉 the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word because as Speech of Word is the Production of the Mind so is the Son of his Father and as a Man declareth the meaning of the Heart by the Words of his Mouth so God * John 1.18 Heb. 1.2 revealeth his Will and Mind by his Son and because it is he whom the Father promised to Adam Abraham and Patriarchs to make his Promises of Salvation sure unto them The second Person is the Word of the Father begotten from all eternity by Communication of a personal Being from whom as from the Father proceeds the Holy Ghost Here the Word is not a thing such as Speech may be but 't is a proper Name of a Person in a Discourse it ever takes place of the Subject never of the Predicate 't is the Name * John 1.14 4. 13.16 Matth. 2.17 Rom. 14.2 1 Cor. 1.19 of the Son of God our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ he is called the Word in relation both to his Person and Office as to the first because he is from God's Mind and is the Image of the Father wholly representing the Father as to the Office because by him all things were made and he declares the Father's Will to Angels and to Men he is known in three Capacities as God as Man and as both in which last relation he is the Head of the Church as God and as to his absolute Essence and Being he is of himself as to the manner he is from the Father always he was is and ever shall be begotten for absolute Eternity hath no term before or after and is always whole without succession he is called not barely the Word but Word of Life * 1 Joh. 1.1 because it contains Life in himself for in him was Life †Joh. 1.4 and is the Author of Life in others Now it becomes an Historian such as S. John is who in his Gospel writes the History of Christ if he will write things clearly and in order and not make a Romance to set down the true and proper Name of the Person whose History he doth pen specially when the Name is not well know nor much in use or else he will seem to have a design of imposing upon the Reader To apply this to the matter in hand if S. John when he was about giving the World an account of the Life Actions and Sufferings of our Saviour had called him by a Name that was not his own and proper Name but metaphorical as Socinians would have it far from being acted by a real desire to inform his Readers he might be thought to have intended to mock and deceive them for if the Name the Word which had been unknown under the Old Testament and was not used till by him was only a figurative improper and borrowed Name then not to say worse the Evangelist had not acted the part of a true and judicious Historian for in such things the first to be known is the true Name of the Person whose History is written and certainly if ever he intended to have informed the Reader and had his Gospel read he had thereby fallen into the readiest way to prevent it for as soon as it had been found out that without Reason and Necessity the Author had with obtruse and intricate Names drawn a curtain over the first Line then presently the Reader would have laid aside the Book thus far goes the Opinions of these unreasonable Men which how injurious it is to the Evangelist I leave any rational Man to judge how ever we must say that seeing of the Four Evangelists John alone before he made any mention of the Name of Jesus Christ in his first Line calls him the Word and goes on till past the 14 Verse we must own there was special cause for it no less than Divine Inspiration for we find in that part of the Vision he had in the Isle of Patmos that he who sat upon * Rev. 19.11 13. the White Horse called faithful and true representing our blessed Lord and Saviour 't is said there his name is called the Word of God but Socinians make this Opposition and rise all this Dust because to rob him of what they can they would have him called the Word only because he hath declared us the Will of God that he hath done it is true but not the whole Truth But this relating to the first Chapter of John we shall have a farther occasion to speak to it let this be observed how the Name Word signifies a Substance not a Sound in the Air and also only the Divine Nature in Christ The Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord belongs and is proper to Christ to shew his absolute Dominion Third the Lord. the Septuagint rendered the Word Jehovah by this and so in the New Testament Evangelists and Apostles make use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify Jehovah which both are translated Lord it is taken either primarily and absolutely or secondarily and relatively in the first it signifies the infinite and independent Dominion by reason of Right and Extent as of Duration About this Socinians do mistake for they would have God's Dominion to be meaned when 't is with the Article and without it that of the Creatures but it appears how the Word when spoken of the Father hath sometimes the Article as Matth. 22.44 the Lord said unto my Lord and sometimes not as Mark 12.29 and when of the Son whom they would have to be a Creature it hath no Article say they but it hath John 20.28 so there is no reason to consider the Article in the Word but rather the Subject This Word against Socinus's Opinion is a Proper Name not an Appellative because in a strict Sense it is attributed unto God alone as in Deut. 6. Mark 12.29 The Lord our God is one Lord and elsewhere * 1 Cor. 8.6 to us there is but one God and Father of all and one Lord Jesus Christ c. and †Ephes 4.5 one Lord one Faith one Baptism God alone is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ‖ 1 Tim. 6.15 When soever the Name Lord and God be absolutely taken they are reciprocal with one true Lord one true God the word Lord in the Subject when joyned with God doth signify the True God as when Christ says * Matth. 4.7 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God the like Examples we have Gen 15.2 Isa 51.22 Mark 12.29 Joh. 20.28 which for brevities
't is not appellative or common but proper for if it were not so God would not absolutely be one for that is common which belongs to many and proper that which belongs only to one and the Name of one only thing must needs be proper since Scripture teaches us there is but one God the Name of God must needs be proper and farther when a Name doth of it self belong to one and to others in relation only to that same one it must be accounted to be that one 's proper Name thus the Name of God of it self belongs to God alone not in relation to any thing else but to others it belongs only in relation to the only True God and as the Word God spoken of the True God is as already said taken Essentially or personally so is the Name Father either for the Essence of God or for the first Person of the Trinity now the Person is taken either abstractively or concretively when we say the Word God is taken personally we do not mean abstractively or separately from but concretively or joyntly with the Essence so the Name Father is taken either essentially or personally in the first manner when in the Lord's Prayer we say our Father and personally when in the Creed we say I believe in God the Father Thus far we in these matters do agree with the Adversaries that there is but One God and that * Isai 42.8 he gives not his Name and Glory to another for to whom God doth communicate the Honor of his Name and Titles to the same he thereby imparts his Glory Now there is a Name of God proper and another appellative this is given to the Creatures and 't is either properly or figuratively in the first Sence the Word is not always to be understood to be the absolute Being but a relative one as when some Nation doth through Error and Idolatry name to herself some Divinity or other in this Sense God and People are relatives so the Name God taken in the predicament of Relation and not in that of Substance may properly be spoken of a Creature thus I speak properly when I say Chamos is the God of the Moabites and Malcom of the Ammonites but when I come to examine the Opinion of those Nations it is very true that they are the Gods of such Nations but 't is not true that they are Gods in Nature and Substance they are but erroneously look'd upon as Gods by such Nations so this is not a substantial and absolute Truth only Relative which the Adversaries may not affirm of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as being feigned and invented Gods between which the Word of God makes a difference †1 Thess 1.9 Ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God Now the figurative signification is when by reason of some likeness God's Name is attributed to some Creatures ‖ Psal 8. thus Angels are called Elohim and * Job 1.6 Sons of God by reason of the Excellency of their Nature Magistrates are called †Psal 82.6 Gods and Sons of God upon the account of the Dignity of their Office But here the Case is very different the question is Whether the Name of God be properly or improperly and figuratively attributed to the Son and to the Holy Ghost I mean the Name taken appellatively denoting in him that is so called the Divine Nature and Essence Socinians though they be brazen-fac'd enough yet not to that degree as to say that the Persons of the Son and Holy Ghost are called God only by way of Figure but they cavil that the Word signifies not a Nature but an Office so the proper signification of the Word they extend to Angels and Magistrates as if the Word God signified Governour Preserver and Benefactor c. but before their Heresy broke out no Man ever taught so then no Language gives that Sence to the Word for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifies the Nature for some accounted to be Gods are false ones * Gal. 4.8 which by nature are not Gods and Philosophers reckoned the Gods of the Heathens amongst the Animals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking and rational and the Hebrew Word Elohah doth certainly properly signify the Nature as being given to the supreme Being which is so called not relatively but absolutely when to the first Man the common Name is attributed he is not simply called Adam till that became his proper Name Now as to the Origin or Etymology of the Word 't is falsly deduced from the signification of governing helping and preserving but truly from the Notion of the word Worship and Adoration we must not think that our first Parents were so wanting in their Piety towards their Maker whom they worshipped so devoutly to call him by a common Name proper to Creatures as if afterwards it had been attributed to him by way of Excellency And is it likely that God had been so wanting in what related to his Honor as being himself the Author of the Hebrew Tongue the Knowledge whereof he infused into Adam and Eve as not to provide a Name proper to distinguish his own Nature For having instituted for himself a Religious Worship and Adoration he must need also have declared a proper Name incommunicable to any Creature whatsoever Now the Name of God is given the Son not only attributively †Joh. 1.1 the word was God and ‖ Rom. 9.13 Christ God blessed for ever but also subjectively * 1 Tim 3.16 God was manifested in the flesh and * Acts 20.28 God purchased his church with his own blood even in the Old Testament †Psal 97.6 7. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory c. Worship him all ye gods Now the Adversaries do confess that as often as the Name of God is spoken subjectively as they call it it signifies a Substance and Person but of God the Father of Christ still they own it signifies a Substance and Person of the Godhead but why only of the Father of Christ that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meerly their Opinion without any Proof As to that which they say about the Article in the Greek I shewed already it is an idle Distinction for out of some places of Scripture I shewed how the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the true God is sometimes with an Article and sometimes without as * 1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Thomas †Joh. 20.28 my Lord and my God he spoke to one whom he knew was to be worshipped with religious worship and he own'd it so yet Scripture commands and often repeats that the Lord our God alone is to be worshipped which our Saviour Christ confirmed * Mat. 4.10 with his own Mouth and Paul †Gal. 4.8 after him and
the Angel no less than twice doth direct to the true and only Object of worship when he said ‖ Rev. 19.10 and 22.9 worship God But this belonging to another Head I now shall proceed no farther in it Now to remove all improper and figurative meaning when the word God is attributed to Christ and to prove his Consubstantiality with the Father Scripture sets down Names and Epithets which not only distinguish him from and raise him above all and every Creature but also make him equal with God the Father Thus he is called l 1 John 5.20 the true God and m Tit. 2.13 Re. 19.17 the great God so n Rom. 9.5 God over all blessed for ever also o Jude 4. the only Lord God c. Hence the Name Jehovah is joyntly equally and comparatively given unto the Son as p Psal 2.11 12. serve the Lord with fear c. and q Isai 25.9 this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will rejoyce in his salvation Now comparatively or in a Parallel Christ is the same r Isai 8.13 14. Lord of Hosts which shall be for a Sanctuary a Stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel as confirm'd ſ Luke 2.34 and Rom. 9.32 Christ is he who being by the Right Hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost shed forth those Gifts we read of t Act. 2.3.4.33 and 't is the Lord God of Israel unquestionably the true God that promiseth u Joel 2.28 in the last days to pour out his spirit c. so 't is the same Lord God of Israel the Lord Jesus is the same who is first and last comparing x Isai 44.6 Isaiah with S. John y Rev. 1.17 The Son of God saith z Isai 48.12 16. He is sent from the Lord God and from his spirit after he had said v. 12. I am the first and also am the last So the Titles proper to the true God are given Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords as by God's Grace we shall shew when we speak about the Attributes So then the Son is true God as we observed before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Son of himself when we speak of the Son simply and without relation to the Father we properly call him Jehovah and self being for he hath it of himself but when consider'd relatively to the Father then we say he hath his Being from the Father the Son is by himself not of himself his Essence hath no Spring but his Person is from the Father the Essence is not communicated to the Son but only the manner of subsisting in the Essence when the Son is called God personally then he is not call'd the manner of subsisting but an Existence with the manner of being now the modus or manner is understood with the Essence because as the manner of Divinity is not Divinity it self so the mode of Essence is not Essence it self thus when he is called God personally 't is in the Concret not in the Abstract If Christ be not God by Nature he is not true God for nothing is really such but what is so by Nature The Adversaries say that those things which comparatively are called such in Scripture are truly such as Christ is called * Joh. 1.9 Chap. 18.1 the true light and the true vine though he be so called by way of a Metaphor But we do not deny how sometimes the Name true is appropriated to those things that are so called metaphorically but then the sense of the Metaphor doth not really belong to them for in every Metaphor there is true and false in the manner of it thus Christ is call'd the True Light for though in a metaphorical way he be a Light that is spiritually works the same Effect as a corporal Light doth bodily in the like manner he is called a True Vine because that the Metaphor is truly proper to him but here the question is not about the truth of Words taken metaphorically but properly for when the word True is joyn'd to those that are properly taken then it signifieth the very Nature of the thing so when the word true is joyned with that of God it necessarily signifies the Nature of God and whensoever the Name of True God is given any thing thereby is Divine Nature attributed to it This shews how Socinians do not own Christ to be the true God because according to Scripture there is but one true God they deny him to be that only true God When God is called the onely Maker of Heaven and Earth and the onely true God 't is not said only by way of Excellency as comparing God with the Creatures but we thereby exclude all others for in those places the only true God is opposed to false gods in relation to which he is not called true by way of Eminency but because it is the truth for they are true gods by no means and the true God is ever opposed to false gods and Idols wherefore called the Living God Psal 36.9 because saith David with thee is the fountain of Life He that is God only by Participation and not by Nature is not true God for Participation doth import a Likeness but Likeness of a thing is never the thing it self and if they would have Christ to be God only by Participation this in effect is to deny him to be true God that is to make him an improper and metaphorical God and after that way Men and Angels might be called true Gods which is not only Folly but also Blasphemy to say and think But they say if God and Angels be not true Gods then God doth mock when he calls them so but 't is no Mockery to give one some Name in an improper and figurative sense or else when Christ calls his Apostles * Matth. 5.13 14. The light of the world the salt of the earth and a City that is set on an hill he would have mock'd too so would Paul calling †1 Cor. 3.11 and Eph. 2.20 Christ a foundation and a chief corner stone Seeing the Apostles are not true Light only improperly and metaphorically and Christ a Stone figuratively they that are Gods only by Likeness and Communication and not by Nature are not Gods Every thing is called true as I hinted before according to its Nature a true Man true Gold true Silver from the Nature of Man Gold and Silver Now as to Christ can he be esteemed as a true God who first had a Being according to their Principles and was not God then was God and like the Popish Wafer God by degrees was God more and more till he came to a perfection of the Godhead and we may say was
it would follow that the Persons should make several Gods different in Number and Nature Secondly We say where the Name of God is absolutely used it doth not always as the Hereticks would have it signify the Name of One of the Persons but sometimes the Person and sometimes the Nature and herein lays their Mistake that they suppose the Name of God ever to be taken Personally and the Comparison is the cause of the Mistake for the infinite Essence is not multiplied as the finite now when the Name of God is taken for the Person either something is added which gives a Notion of the Person as when God is said * Act. 20.28 to have purchased the Church with his own blood which is understood of the Son or else the Persons are compared among themselves and then the Name of God is taken for the Person of the Father for because the Father is the Spring of the Godhead in relation to the Order and Origin of the Persons so in the comparison of the Persons the Name of God is by Excellency attributed to the Father especially where mention is made of the Mediator for whensoever Christ speaks himself or is spoken of as and in the Person of the Mediator he retains a middle degree between God and Man and then by the Name of God is understood the Father Thirdly When the Name of God is put instead of One Person and it signifies One Father then is thereby understood the Godhead which is common to Son and Holy Ghost who are Author and Maker of all Creatures for though the Son doth exercise the Office of Mediator yet he hath not thereby lost the Glory of the Divinity with the Father neither is his Essence inferiour or secondary to the Father's or his Godhead Essentiated Fourthly When God's Name without any personal Attribute or Comparison of one Person with the other is simply indefinitely and absolutely used then it signifies the Divine Nature and Essence which is Father Son and Holy Ghost One God Besides in these Texts of Scripture where the Name of God is mentioned in opposition to false Gods or Creatures it is by no means to be restrained to the Person of the Father only but is indefinitely spoken of Father Son and Holy Ghost as for instance if when the Law commands to adore One God the Father alone and not the Son is to be understood it would follow that the Son who is to be adored is another God likewise when God calls himself the God of Israel he by this mark distinguisheth himself from all false Gods How then might it be said of one Personal one whether Father or Son * 2 Sam. 7.22 Who is great as thou art who is like unto thee for several of the Arians who denied the Consubstantiality or the Sameness of Nature yet owned a likeness between Father and Son and in the Prophets where God's Name is absolutely taken often it addeth an universal Negative or Exclusive but if the Name of God belongeth only to the Father and if Father Son and Holy Ghost be but One God and Saviour and One Nature it will follow that Son and Holy Ghost are excluded from Things attributed unto God for 't is said of the True God of Israel that he is the only God and Saviour and that there is no other God besides and without him Moreover seeing the Father alone is One God and they own also the Son to be God and the Holy Ghost to be God though not that One God then it follows there are Three Gods which is Blasphemy These Things being premised do afford Matter of answer to their Sophistical Cavils against this Truth and so shew how the Word God absolutely used in Scripture is to be understood not only of the Father but also of the Son and Holy Ghost whence also appeareth the Mystery of these Doctrines one with another and they are so twisted that they stand or fall together So no wonder if under one Head we say somethings belonging to and spoken of in another here they form thus an Argument against us The God of Israel whom the Israelites ever adored is that One God whom the Law and the Prophets speak of but the Father of Christ is that One God mentioned in the Law and the Prophets therefore he is that One God but the Argument concludes nothing against us we altogether grant it the Father is the One God of Israel for we do not say that there is another God another Nature in the Father than that same which Law and Prophets call the only God and God alone and we on our part do Argue thus The God of Israel is One God but Christ is the God of Israel who appeared to the Fathers and by whose Spirit the Prophets being inspired spoke therefore Christ is that only God For there is in Christ no other Godhead no other Divine Nature than what is in the Father as the Father is One so is the Son One God and both together are One God in Nature But if the meaning of their Argument be that of the Three Persons of the Trinity only the Father not the Son nor Holy Ghost is the God of Israel then we deny their minor Proposition for out of Scripture the Son is the God of Israel whom they adored for not only under the Name of God they adored the Messiah whom they believed to be God but even they made a distinct mention of him in their Prayers as we read when Jacob blessed Joseph's Children God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life time to this day 3 the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless these Lads and this is spoken of the true antient Jews for as to those that believed not when our Saviour himself spoke to them who owned only the Father of Christ the Messiah for their God we may say they knew not the True God in a true manner seeing * Joh. 14.6 none comes to the Father but by the Son and †Mat. 11. none 〈◊〉 the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son 〈◊〉 veal him wherefore since they rejected the Son 〈◊〉 wanted the true Knowledge of the Father and 〈◊〉 stead of God the Father they adored the Idol 〈◊〉 their own heart wherefore when Jesus said to 〈◊〉 * Matt. 8.44 If I honour my self my glory is nothing 't is my Father that honoureth me whom you say to be your God he upbraids them with their Vain-glory who boasted to be the People of God but falsly by reason they owned him not to be God in the mean while against their aspersions he asserted his Glory because they look'd upon him as very much below Abraham and other Patriarchs he in his Capacity of Mediatour and as a Man owns a difference between him and God whom he declareth to be the Author of his Glory and he often mentioneth his Father to the end
of Man because manifested in the Flesh he is not called Son of God upon any such account or in any of these Senses as Socinians would have him 1 Job 4.14.15 for they cannot deny the Lord Jesus to be called God Son of God for that Name is given him in so many places of Scripture and herein they would seem to agree but not sincerely for they cavil about the manner and disagree as to the true Sense he is called Son of God by reason of an Eternal Generation by the Father wherefore he is called God's * Rom. 8.3 32. own and proper Son and †Joh. 3.16 only begotten Christ is from the Father by Generation and the Holy Ghost by Spiration to be from the Father by Generation is to be generated or begotten by the Father long before the fulness of times and his appearing in the Flesh God absolutely said to him ‖ Psal 2.7 thou art my Son this day have â—â—begotten thee this represented with Comparisons as when called * Prov 8. Wisdom for as Wisdom is produced by the Mind so is the Son by the Father and in the New Testament by the similitude of †Colos 1.15 an Image of 〈◊〉 Father's ‖ Heb 1.3 Person and of the brightness of his glory and of the inward * Job 1.1 Word in the Mind for as an Image is not every likeness but the express Effigie or Representation of that whereof it is the Image so the Son in his Essence and Essential Attributes is so much the express Image of the Father that * Joh. 14.9 whosoever sees him doth see the Father also as the brightness of the Beam is from the Sun so the Son is from the Father as Light from Light as equally the glorious Image of his Nature as a Letter doth exactly represent the Character out of which it is drawn thus the Son doth exactly represent the Father by whom he is begotten as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word is conceived by the Mind and remains in it so is the Son begotten by the Father and remains in him and as the Wisdom Image Brightness the Word are one thing from another so the Son is of the Father from the Father not as an Essence is from another but as a Person is from a Person because he is the Character or express Image of the Person of the Father all these in created Things are accidents but in the Son who is in himself and by himself they are essential hence appears how in this there is a true distinction of the Persons begetting and begotten So then Christ is called the Son of God not by reason of any gracious Communication of Existence or of Power but upon the account of a secret and incomprehensible Generation of the Father of his Essence for he is the true proper only begotten highly beloved Son of the Living God and the prepositive Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son frequently join'd to this Subject doth denote a Filiation or Sonship altogether of another kind from that of †Heb. 1.5 Angels or Men which can be no other than an essential one a True Son is begotten of the Essence of his Father but the Son of God is a True Son therefore he is begotten of the Essence of his Father Again the proper Son is said to be and is he that hath his proper Father now he is the proper Father who hath begotten his Son of his own Essence Farthermore the Only Begotten Son is only he that is begotten of the Substance of his Father which is demonstrated by the Opposition of natural and adopted Sons who are loved for the sake of the well beloved natural Son of God that Confession of Peter in the Name of the Disciples thou art not * Matth. 16.14 16 17. repeated John the Baptist nor Elias nor Jeremias who had been great in God's Favour nor none of the Prophets they were a meer nothing in Comparison of Christ but †Joh. 6.68 69. Ver. 17. thou art Christ the Son of the living God is not only in its true Sense approved of by our Saviour but he also there attributes it to Divine Revelation as of an incomprehensible Mystery Blessed art thou Simon Bar-â—â—â—as for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven Isaac as they object is called * Gen 23.2 and Heb. 11.17 Only Begotten Son but he is not absolutely so called but relatively secundum quid because he was the Only Begotten Son of Abraham by Sarah in a lawful Marriage and thereby made his only Heir to the exclusion of Ishmael whom he had before by Hagar he was Only Begotten Son in relation to the Promise which is expressed in the following Verse ‖ Heb. 11.18 of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called The excellency of Filiation is between those who differ in Degrees but here the Difference is greater than in the whole kind as Heb. 1.4 5. Isaac was a Type of Christ in relation to the Sacrifice but not of the Generation the Father hath begotten his Son thorough the Communication of his Nature and so of a true and proper Generation but not of a Physical or Natural such as Man's and of other animated Creatures but by a Supernatural whereby God begets according to the Truth of his Word for the more Excellent he is that begets so the more Excellent is the Generation as it appears by the Example of every thing that doth generate that which is esteemed a Perfection in natural Generation is in an infinitely most Eminent Degree attributed unto God as to beget that which is like unto himself and by the Communication of his Nature as to the thing it self the Generation besides its being asserted in the Word of God the secundity of God's Nature is a reason for it for it requites a Communication to several Persons according to that of the Prophet * Isa 66.9 shall I cause to bring forth and not bring forth or beget my self saith the Lord as if he had said shall I make others fruitful and be barren my self that in relation to the Son and to the Holy Ghost may be done in two ways after the manner of Spiritual Substances namely begetting the Son by a natural Intellection and by the same Will or Love breathing the Holy Ghost both consubstantial to himself and of the same Nature and Perfection distinguished amongst themselves and one from another only by their personalities and personal Attributes this consideration serves to demonstrate not only the Generation of the Son but also the Procession of the Holy Ghost and consequently the whole Trinity for Scriptures describe Son and Holy Ghost as existing of themselves as the Father working understanding witnessing sending c. taken not only passively which is of Things but actively which is of Persons for it belongs to none
David's Son for if only upon some borrowed account or accidental reason he were David's Lord as may be some Power and Dignity above him then Christ's Argument would quite loose its strength which wholly lies in this if he be his Lord how can he be his Son Upon some extraordinary account and relation it may happen that a Son may become a Lord over his Father but here Christ is certainly asserted to be Lord over David and in some sense 't is impossible for David to become Lord over Christ which can be upon no other account but of his divine Nature besides that he was David's Lord in David's time and before his Birth of the Virgin Mary His Son he was according to the Fâ—esh and his Humanity and his Lord according to the Spirit and his Divinity The Fourth Argument whereby Christ is proved to be God's natural Son is taken out of the Words whereby he declares himself to be such a Son as is one with the Father not any other way to be understood than by Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this the Jews took to be his meaning and for that same cause called him a Blasphemer and would have stoned him and thereupon our Saviour did not go about to shew they were mistaken though his Life was concerned on the contrary he used Arguments to make 'em believe he was so though to them it seemed incredible and blasphemous Chap. 5. And in another Text he affirmeth himself to be such a Son of God as is of an equal Power with and can do the same Works as the Father so that what things soever the Father doth this also doth the Son likewise the Son doth nothing without the Father nor the Father without the Son by reason of their Oneness of Nature and Equality of Poweâ— Though the Jews out of these words of his v. 7. My father works hitherto and I work concluded he made himself equal with God yet though they were offended at it and he thereupon did run the hazard of his Life though he never was so uncharitable as to give any one just ground of offence nor so rash as unnecessarily to venture his Life yet he would not deny his Equality with the Father but on the contrary with several Arguments he confirms it from v. 19. to 22. and this not to be understood of an Equality only in some respects for the Unity of natural Power and Operation argueth an absolute Equality and as in Power so in Nature * John 10.30 I and my Father are one and v. 38. you may by my works believe that the Father is in me and not only so but I in him as for greater confirmation * ch 14.10 repeated out of that place of John I and the Father are one Augustine's †Pereant vaniloqui mentis seductores c. words are to be taken notice of let vain and Seducers Arrius and Sabellius perish Christ said not I and the Father am one but I and the Father are one when I say one let the Arian take notice of it and what I say we are let the Sabellian mind it let not the Arian divide one nor the Sabellian take away are one we refer to Nature are to the diversity of Persons The Fifth Argument is taken out of the Lord Jesus his own words and we know him not only to be true but truth it self †John 14.6 though he beareth record * c. 8.14 of himself this is when in a legal way being asked by Caiaphas and ‖ Mat. 26.63 64. adjured by the living God to tell whether he be the Christ the son of God * Mar. 14.61 62. the Christ the son of the blessed he owned it and said Thou hast said I am For which Confession he was accused of Blasphemy and condemn'd to death for said they to Pilate †Joh. 19.7 We have a law and by our law he ought to dye because he made himself the son of God so he suffer'd for owning himself to be the Son of God which Confession of his S. Paul takes special notice of in the Charge he giveth his Disciple * 1 Tim. 6.13 the meaning is that he was the true natural Son of God or else it would not have been accounted a Blasphemy for any Jew to have called himself Son of God no more than God's People Abraham's Seed by virtue of the Promises and Privilege of the Covenant and Grace and God they call their Father John 8.41 yet thought not they were Blasphemers for that therefore Christ's Words they took in another that is in a strict and proper sense Indeed the High Priest's Question was a Snare laid for Christ for though they sought false Witnesses and many came yet their Witness did not agree together wherefore they sought to have something out of his mouth wherewith to accuse him The Question was amongst other things grounded upon what our Saviour had said of himself in the Fifth and Tenth Chapters of John whether he was of the same Nature with God and in Power equal with him which is the same as to be natural Son of God and of the same Essence which he having affirmatively answered unto and said he was thereupon having gained their Point they rent their Cloaths and said What need we any farther Witnesses and upon this very Confession he was accused condemned and executed Hence I ask Socinians Did Christ speak the truth when he said he was the Son of God one with him or of the same Nature and to him equal in Power I farther ask whether the High Priest and the rest did not well apprehend this to be the true meaning of his words If so as certainly both are true if Socinians had been in the place of the Jews they would have used him as they did and would do the like if ever it were in their power for some of them when they write and give a Character of our blessed Saviour's Person they seem to take a pleasure to say he was by the Senate or Council of Scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem condemned and executed for Blasphemy in that he had said he was the Son of God that he said so 't is most true out of John 10.36 but I ask again when the Lord said so did he speak the truth or not If the truth why do Men not believe him that is in the sense the Jews understood it true proper natural Son of God equal with God For this they took his meaning to be but if he was not what he owned himself to be then he must be supposed to have spoken a lye which is a Sin To such Blasphemers our blessed Lord speaks in defiance as once he did to the Jews * John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sin We know he suffer'd as a Blasphemer a Deceiver and a Transgressor but was he really so The Apostle saith †1 Pet. 3.18 He suffered the just
for the unjust as a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot It seems these Socinians set their Hand and Seal to his Condemnation the same Question as was between our Saviour and the Jews is now between Socinians and us he said he was Son of God equal and one with the Father which Socinians no more than Jews are willing to believe and do flatly deny in the sense for which he was condemned namely for calling himself the Son of God and making himself equal with God when the Devil himself was not so peremptory for he made it but questionable when at the time he tempted him he said if thou be the son of God yet at several other times those wicked Spirits owned him to be the Son of the living God But Socinians give him the lye when he doth several times call and suffer himself to be called Son of God in the true sense and contrary to that of Socinians Surely he who is the Truth would not have spoken against it nor allowed others to tell a lye Now 't is most certain that he calls himself Son of God not only in the fore-quoted place of John where he owns he calls himself the Son of God according to the sense which the Jews had given his words and had made himself God in opposition to man that is God by Nature which no man is but also in other places as when he asked the blind Man Dost thou believe in the Son of God Which he declared himself to be in whom the Man ought to believe and to worship him as he did and 't is certain that Men must believe in and worship the only true God Also Martha * Joh. 11.27 declareth she believes him to be the Christ the Son of God by a gradation from his Office to his Person for the Christ or Messiah which should come into the world The antient Jews according to several Prophecies believed the Messiah to be the true Son of God and God by Nature which that Second Psalm doth clearly prove among many others thou art my Son wherefore the Psalmist v. 10. exhorteth kings to be wise and the judges of the earth to be instructed and to serve the Lord with fear and to kiss the Son to kiss his Feet in token of Obedience and Submission lest he be angry and they perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little a little Wrath is sufficient to break the Heathens and the uttermost parts of the Earth and to dash them in pieces like a Potter's Vessel All this is spoken of him to whom 't is said Thou art my Son and in the latter end of the last Verse the Prophet declareth blessed are all that put their trust in him and Men are not to put their trust in any but in the true God by Nature in which sense Scripture sheweth how Christ is called God and Son of God not only in that positive Text I and the Father are one but also out of this other * John 8.19 Ye neither know me nor my Father for if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also because we are one and he that sees me seeth him that sent me because he is the express Image of him that sent him And all this is confirmed in that other notable place †John 12.45 ch 14.9 10 11. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father for I am in the Father and the Father in me this truth must needs be very important for 't is affirmed in one Verse and confirmed in the next which truth appears yet farther v. 7. If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him the reason must needs be this because ye have seen me and in the same Chapter to shew that Oneness and Sameness of his in Nature and Power with the Father he saith Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that I will do which for greater assurance and confirmation is repeated in the next Verse If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it I my self there being no need for you to go to any one else S. Paul speaking of the Mystery of Godliness * 1 Tim 3.16 whereof the first part is that God was manifest in the Flesh saith it is a great one by his Expressions the thing is unquestionable and most certain for he saith Without controversie great is the mystery of godliness but Socinians are of another mind for they make not only a great Controversie but give a flat denyal of God being manifest in the Flesh and one of them here among us hath lately reprinted and set his Name to a Book with this Title Christian Religion not mysterious as it were to give the Apostle the lye on which I intend by the Grace of God to make some few general Observations towards the latter end of my Discourse we must do our Duty tho others neglect theirs and endeavour out of Scripture to convince or confound the Enemies of the Truth who are suffer'd with bare face to sow their Tares and spread their Poyson and Blasphemies as if it be only a Problem and a disputable Case whether or not the Lord Jesus did justly or unjustly suffer for Blasphemy for having affirmed himself to be Son of God Good Lord what times are we come to and how great a Darkness is the Nation falling into after so much light And now we are upon the matter of Blasphemy let me observe how in Scripture there is enough said about it to prove Christ to be the Essential Son of God let the Etymology and Derivation of the word Blasphemy be what it will it is most certain that in Scripture * Rev. 13.5 6. it is used to express when any thing is said or done against God in his Nature or Attributes or when one doth assume and arrogate unto himself that which belongs to God alone in the first sense we read when Hezekiah heard the words of Rab-shakeh 2 Kings 19.3 6 22. he said This is a day of Blasphemy and God called it so within few Verses after The servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me and again whom hast thou blasphemed In the second sense the Jews called our blessed Saviour Blasphemer We stone thee not say they to him ‖ John 10.33 for a good work but for blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thy self God and so after his Confession before the Chief Priests they said ye have heard the blasphemy Wherefore if Blasphemy be against God truly and essentially taken may we not conclude the Lord Jesus to be truly essentially God He calls Blasphemy what the Jews had said against him * Mark 3.22 23. that be did cast devils by Beelzebub prince of devils the Evangelist lays upon occasion of the Abuses put upon him after he was brought before the High Priest †Luk. 22.65 And
and what John expresses thus the word was made flesh S. Paul calls it †1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh if by the word Flesh human Nature be meaned as certainly it is then this imports that God appeared made himself known and was manifest in assuming our human Nature and that the God that was thus made Flesh and was manifest is Christ Jesus the second Person of the Godhead who being in the Form that is in the Nature of God for the Nature is the being of a thing and the Form gives that Being well Jesus Christ in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God ‖ Phil. 2.6 7. because it was his right 〈◊〉 took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he was God before he was made in that likeness this is plain that a God became man he was made that which he was not yet ceased not to be that which he was That this God that was made Flesh and manifest in the Flesh and found in the likeness of men here is explained what we must understand by Flesh was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity is declared elsewhere * Rom. 8.3 God sending his own Son in likeness of sinful flesh All these representing Christ as God and as man doth clearly demonstrate him to be both God and man Another place there is much to our purpose 't is this †Rom. 9.5 of whom the Israelites as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever this restriction as concerning the Flesh doth imply that Christ came not from the Jews concerning some other thing this settles two Relations in Christ one according to the Flesh as expressed Acts 2.30 what must the other be Scripture usually doth oppose the Spirit to the Flesh and the Flesh to the Spirit so in Christ there must be a Principle that is spiritual or else this restriction according to the Flesh were frivolous and not pertinent one thing cannot be distinguished of it self a thing is in it self but one thing and Distinctions are between different things for no one thing doth differ from it self Now that as there is in Christ a principle concerning the Flesh and another according to the Spirit anon we shall by the Grace of God have occasion to speak of but now thus far we must say that as by the Flesh his Humanity is meaned so is his divine Nature by the Spirit for * 1 Joh. 4.24 2 Cor. 3.17 God is a Spirit The Text we now are upon is remarkable upon several accounts our blessed Saviour as 't is very well known was a Jew born of the Seed of Abraham of the Tribe of Judah and of the Family of David this is the Apostle's meaning when he saith of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came which doth necessarily imply he came not of them concerning some other thing in him the Pedigree of his Manhood was indeed derived from thence but it had been in vain there to have sought for another Genealogy of this Melchisedec The Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews how in him besides human Nature there was another for S. Paul who troubleth not his Readers with superfluous Expressions would not have added those words except in Christ had been another Nature or to what purpose say according to the flesh if he had been a meer man and herein chiefly lyes the Prerogative of the Jews that Christ who is God was born amongst them Their Priviledge doth not herein consist that Moses Joâ—huah Elijah John Baptist c. were born amongst them they all were but Men but that Christ was because he is God for this he addeth as the great reason and speaketh of his divine Nature who is over all God blessed for ever he saith not is called but is he is God over all the Fathers of the same stock thaâ— were born of the Jews before him or over all things whatsoever The words blessed for ever are in Scripture attributed to the true eternal God and even in our Saviour's time when the Jews said the blessed they meaned the true God Thus the High Priest asked the Lord Jesus †Mark 14.61 Art thou the Christ the son of the blessed which another Evangelist expresses thus ‖ Luke 20 70. Art thou the son of God In another place the same Apostle affords a convincing Proof of this Truth that in Christ are two Natures where he speaks of them thus * Rom. 1.3 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead Wherein S. Paul teaches in what respect Christ is the Son of God not according to the Flesh for thus he is the Son of man of the Seed of David but according to the Spirit of Holiness which is the Spirit of God's Nature and according to that Spirit he hath been declared to be the Son of God with Power Certainly the Opposition used by the Apostle sheweth he cannot be Son of God upon both accounts but only upon one for if he had been according to both Paul would have said declared the Son of God as to the Flesh and as to the Spirit and herein would have made no difference between the Son of God according to the Flesh and according to the Spirit for as it is contrary to * Rom. 9.5 Scripture to call the Lord Jesus God according to the Flesh for God and Flesh are opposite so 't is contrary to say Christ is Son of God according to the Flesh for by the same reason one is said to be Son of God by the same he may be call'd God as we see it both joyned †Psal 82.6 I have said ye are God's and all of you are children of the most high And we read where the Jews upbraided our Saviour ‖ Joh. 10.33 36. that he made himself God that is absolutely he renders the words thus I said I am the son of God Jesus Christ is said * Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. to be in the form of God and made in the likeness of men 't is not said Made in the form of God but being his being is related to God and made to man he was God but made man he was made in the likeness of men and form'd in fashion as a man certainly here are two Natures asserted divine and human whence we say that as by his Incarnation he was really man so as surely his being in the form of God signifies that he was really God before he became man as he was man after his being born of the Virgin Mary These Expressions conclude for both his Deity and Humanity and if
that of the Apostle â—om 4.17 God calleth these things that be not as though they were And by that very word the Angels were made as every other Creature was not as by an Instrument for the particle by is not a sign of an Instrument but of an order in the Creation Rev. 19.13 To our purpose notable is that place his name is called the word of God which makes it appear that the name word of God is appropriated to and appliable to none but him as a Person if the name belongs to him then also the thing as indeed every where in Scripture the Word Father and Holy Ghost are distinguished one from another so John calls him the Word before he was made flesh and before the Creation Herein we may observe Socinians to be worse than Aâ—â—ians who owned Christ to have been from the time of the Creation when they would have him to have been only from that of his Birth But he was in the form of God before he took upon him the form a Servant he existed before Phil. 2.6 7. as indeed before his Incarnation he governed his people was with them in the Wilderness gave them meat and drink for he was the Manna and the Rock out of which they had Water he was the Angel whom God promised to send before them and before his being made flesh he reconciled regenerated preserved and interceded for his people if this be true as certainly it is according to Scripture why should he not have been in the beginning of the Creation and have had a hand in it For there is the same reason for all these if he existed but one year before his Incarnation then we may conclude for a hundred and thousands and so to Eternity upon the same ground on which he existed before he was man it could not be according to his humanity for no man can be said to be before he is but in a different respect from that whereby he is nothing can resolve this difficulty or reduce this impossibility into an act but owning him as he is the Eternal Son of God who when all things are said to be made and created is himself said to be begotten Notwithstanding the clearness of this Truth they use all means to darken it first against the 1. and 3. v. all things were madâ— by him in the beginning say they of the state of the Gopel but nothing more false if we â—â—â—sider every word and the scope of the 〈…〉 was in the beginning simply said without 〈◊〉 relation to this or that but absoluâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 beginning of all things then the Evangelist will have us to look higher when he addeth the word was with God And if Christ was in the beginning of the Gospel then he was in the beginning of the world for as I observed before the Gospel was preached in the beginning of the world and immediately after the Fall the Messiah was promised but as the design of St. John is to assert Christ's divinity he doth it by degrees as first In the beginning was the Word then He was with God and so to go higher he saith He was God and to shew it farther he comes to the effect namely the Creation of the world All things were made by him c. Secondly they would darken v. 10. the world was made by him whereby they understand the world to come but they forge ambiguities where there is no cause for it here is the world with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any Epithet and thus it is usually taken for the work of Creation and they ought to give a reason why in this place the word world should have a rare and unusual signification and why the Evangelist should bring in ambiguous terms in a thing which he designeth to make plain and clear Neither are there instances that the name world signifies an age or a world to come which is as absurd as if one would say this world signifieth this Life and suppose world meaneth life to come as to enjoy it and to be in Heaven denote the same it would follow that Christ made Heaven which is part of the work of Creation If the Evangelist by the world was made by him had meant only a new Creation or renewing of the old he would have added something to shew it is not to be understood of the old Creation but there is nothing to that purpose on the contrary he could not more plainly have said that the World spoken of is the same as was made by the word So the Apostle saith positively and absolutely The world was made by him but they say it was not made by him but only renewed in this sence they would have these Texts to be understood He lighteth every man that cometh into the world and he is Saviour of the world but as every man is not inlightened and saved by him for the world knew him not it must be understood say they that he doth what he can to save and renew the world but they ought to know there is a great difference between giving Christ the title of Saviour of the world and saying He renewed the world saved and enlightned every man in the world after this manner we might say John Baptist Paul and every Apostle renewed the world in as much as they desired and laboured after that it might be so yet it would not sound well to say the world was made by John and the Apostles which must be inferred from thence if to make the world be only to do what one can to have it renewed The world was made by him expresseth two things the Thing anâ— the Cause the Thing the world was made the Cause by the Word and if the first proposition be true so is the second Now an effect is visibly seen out of this assertion the world was made Another text to prove the Creation of the World by Christ is this The first born of every Creature Colos 〈◊〉 15 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or domiâ—â—ons or principalities or powers â—ll things were created by him and for him This place is clear and full whence we draw this he who is the first born of every Creature is in time before every Creature not that he should thereby be reckoned among the Creatures only he therein is 〈◊〉 a metaphore dâ—noted to be first of all that in 〈◊〉 things he may 〈◊〉 the preeminence and not 〈…〉 accounted of the same kind with others for 〈…〉 not first created but first born Ye◠〈◊〉 the first born as to be the only begotten and he may also be called a Creature according to the Flesh and as he is a man but not according to the Spirit The reason given why Christ is so called 't is this for by him were all things created which shews plainly that Christ is not
name of his Spouse Psal 45.11 worship thou him As Christ is not God upon the account of any Office and Dignity so he is not to be worshiped by reason of any Office and Dignity here that which is cause for one is cause for the other no Office can make any one God who is not so so none ought to be adored but because he is God that is of the same nature and substance and not by communication of divine Power Dignity or Office for to give the Creature that which is due only to the Creator is meer Idolatry which the Apostle fathereth upon the Galatians Gal. 4.8 when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no Gods which they might have excused thus Though we did so to those that were not such by nature yet they were Gods by Office Dignity and Power but the Apostle as I said before blameth them for doing so unto those which by nature are not Gods Wherefore religious worship is due only to such as is God by nature seeing then divine worship is due to Christ as by and by I hope to prove it implies that Christ is God by his nature and certainly where the name of God and Son of God is absolutely attributed as it is to Christ it designs Nature more than Office or Dignity so that the word Lord so often and specially in the New Testament attributed unto Christ signifies in the strict sense the infinite and independent Dominion of the Lord Jesus over all his being from the Father is by generation not in relation to his Essence but to his person not absolutely but relatively as he is Son and if he be begotten it necessarily follows to be of the Essence or Nature of the Father which also shews the Eternity of that Generation These things I here repeat because when once that perswasion of Christ's being true Essential God is once setled in our minds then without any scruple or difficulty we may worship him else men are at a stand under fear of worshiping the Creature instead of the Creator who is God blessed for ever Before we prove that Christ is and ought to be worshiped with a religious worship for we speak of no other we intend to shew how the true essential God is alone to be worshiped and though to that effect several arguments might be drawn out of Scripture we shall in order thereunto examine only two one is this Isa 42.8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another This is a solemn declaration of the unchangeable God of Truth who having given that same glory unto Christ must infallibly conclude Christ to be the same Lord Jehovah with him Chap. 48.11 here the name and the glory of God do signifie the same for sometimes in Scripture the Name of God signifies his Nature when essentially taken and the Attributes of the person when personally taken never to be understood barely of a name when we love fear and serve God 't is not the Letters or a sound in the Air but either the nature or some of the persons of the Trinity But the truth of this here asserted that the name and glory of God signifie the same Isai 42.8 compared with Exod. 33.18 19. is elsewhere confirmed positively and absolutely how his glory God will not give to another whosoever he be But as Socinus doth not use to take the words of God as and in the sense he saith them so here he would make God speak otherwise than he doth for he never wants his limitations and therewith he limiteth the holy One the God of Israel God saith he doth not say I will not give my glory to another that is dependent upon and subordinate unto me such he makes the Lord Jesus but to graven Images But do not Images of God of Christ of Angels Apostles depend upon and are subordinate to God as to the Matter the form or making of them the designs of men and all upon the will of God Surely they do for every Creature whatsoever is subordinate to and depends upon his Maker and suppose God would chuse one Creature as may be an Angel or any Man or Woman and heap all the Treasures of his Glory upon such a one which he yet declares he will not do yet according to them he might do 't and not act against his solemn protestation that he will not do 't after this no Creature as a Creature can differ from God for they make God say he doth not intend to exclude any other wholly dependant upon and subordinate to him as is every Creature whatsoever thus after this the Effect shall be the same with the Cause because it depends upon it this new signification of the word another deserved well to have been confirmed by some example in that other place already mentioned which confirmeth this there is no mention of Images or any thing else barely I will not give my glory unto another which leaves no ground to Cavil about Images Thus they would make the strength of these words of God to vanish away and be resolved into this God will not give his Glory to Images but will give it to Angels and Men even to Satan and Antichrist the worst of them Then by the word to give they understand only to permit so if he giveth Money Bread Cloaths c. he only permitteth if to the word give leave had been joyned they might have pretended to something though there had been no sense thus with their altering the sense of words they would overthrow the use of languages and so coin one of their own which none but themselves shall understand and by those means teach all that went before to speak then here according to their interpretation contrary to what God declareth he will permit or give graven Images something of his glory if they do not believe it themselves others who did worship those Images will for they thought God had communicated to them something of his glory or else would not have look't upon them as worthy to be Religiously worshiped But to come to the thing since God in this place denyeth the permission for any one to have his glory much more doth he deny to give it himself to another and if from the beginning of the world he hath suffered the Devil to usurpe Divine Honour to himself and several Nations religiously to worship Images as 't is known he hath yet to neither he gave that glory of his and out of this appeareth the true sence of the Text that he will not permit for he hath permitted but not give his glory which he hath never given V. 6 7 But to come to the scope of the place 't is this God said it when he spoke of Christ as it appears by the two foregoing and following verses which may be perused therein he is spoken of in such a way and to
a gall of bitterness as well as the bond of iniquity with a slight and contempt of his person the Man that Man this Man Man in every case and all this to lose no occasion of robbing him of his Divinity 2 Kings 49.27 and Isai 3.28 this calls to my mind God's words against Sennacherib another great Blasphemer which by the Lord might have been applied to Socinus I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and thy rage against me And let all his Sectators remember what the Apostle saith Jud. 14.15 behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him that is Christ when he cometh to judge the world Another thing here to be taken notice of is this that in verse 5. where the Lord Jehovah is called the Lord of the whole Earth it must be spoken of one and the same person for if they had been two different the copulative particle and had not been omitted after the words Psal 37.5 the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord there should have been and at the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth the first words of the verse do sufficiently denote the Lord of the whole Earth to be the God of Israel Jehovah named just before at whose presence only and of none else the hills melted like wax hereunto answereth that place psal 11.7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob whereby the interpretation of this now in hand is confirmed and the God of Jacob is put instead of the Lord of the whole earth in both which places the repetition of the word Presence is very Emphatical which joyned with what I observed before and with the words the scope and the thing it self do all together fully shew here is but one person spoken of which is confirmed more and more because in what follows the Prophet speaks but of one as in the singular number vers 6.7 8. as thus the Heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory and worship him all ye Gods Also because of thy judgments whereby it appears 't is spoken of one and not of two but rather than to yield they will sooner give Christ whom otherwise they would rob of any thing he hath but his humane nature which they cannot do because they must have an Historical Faith or else may be they would and reduce him to nothing I say they chuse rather to give Christ that title and exclude God Jehovah from being the Lord of the whole earth than to own Christ to be Jehovah so what they do is not out of kindness they only give him that which they think the least to rob him of what they account to be the chief though indeed it be the same Again the words of verse 7. do farther confirm this Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of Idols therefore worship him all ye Gods For who is opposed to graven Images and Idols but he that is by nature the true God And who is religiously to be worshiped but the true God Jehovah And who but he who is the God of Gods is to be adored by all Gods vers 9. This is confirmed out of verse 9. Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods The first part contained a proper attribute of the true God namely the highest or most high God for saith David Psal 33.18 that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth Is not this the same as to be Lord over all the earth So that both to be Jehovah and Lord over all the earth are attributed only to one and if he be the only most high upon the earth none but he is Lord over all the earth The latter part of the verse doth afford a reason and a very good one why all Gods and Angels ought to worship him because he is for exalted above all Gods No less than six times he is in this Psalm called Jehovah which cannot well be denied to be the same with God of Israel One thing more I shall say as to this Psalm which with the foregoing and following contain an exhortation to all Creatures with and without life to sing and rejoyce before the Lord and why for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth which none that hath any sence can deny to be a Prophesie of Christ's coming to judge the world which he speaks of himself When the Son of man shall come in his glory Matth. 25.31 and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Then indeed in that divine and glorious State being attended and worshiped by all millions of Angels he shall reign fill with joy the hearts of his people and perform the other things contained in this Psalm He that is to do all this if we believe the Psalmist is the Lord Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ if we must give faith to the Apostle Now we must draw nearer to the words of the Apostle who is to be believed as well as the Prophet preferably to Socinians who being not able to deny it own that Angels ought to worship Christ One would think they at last would yield to the Truth and give glory to God Phil. 2.7 8 c. but no such thing for they say they may worship him as a man and not upon the consideration of any divinity in him only upon the account of his Humiliation and Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross upon which account he was highly exalted But pray whence doth arise the value and merit of that Humiliation and Obedience but from the divinity of the person which underwent it If he had been a meer man it had been no very great matter no more than what many more could have done A King 's only Son sacrifices himself for the safety of a whole Kingdom some among the ordinary people might have done the like but that which raiseth the merit of the thing is not his being a man for any man else therein is equal with him but 't is the Royal Blood running in the Veins of the young Prince which doth make the act so meritorious and so considerable so if I may continue a lame comparison so defectuous to represent what I have a mind the Blood which our Saviour shed upon the Cross doth not receive its unexpressible value for coming out of the Veins of a Man but because it is the blood of God wherewith he hath purchased his Church Acts 20.28 Neither was the Obedience yielded
was the Creator of all which is the reason given in the next verse why he calls him the first born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in carth And which is more at the later end of the verse all things were created by him and for him He created all things for himself which may not be said of any Creature for if he were a Creature he had been before himself And if we desire a farther explanation we have it in the following verse heb 1.2.6 and he is before all things And if we compare this place with another we shall find a sweet harmony in both he is called God's Son Col. 1.13 yea his dear Son in the first in both Creatour or maker of the World saith the last by whom also God made the worlds As to Creation so as to preservation for one saith by him all things consist and the other by him all things are upheld and the phrase in the Colossians the first born of every Creature is in the Epistle to the Heb. interpreted by this appointed heir of all things That is to be Lord of every Creature or whole Creation the first born is the Heir and Lord The Elder Brother or First Born is loco parentis Heb. 12.13 as a Father and so in the same Epistle behold I and the children which God hath given me Now the reason is clear and the consequence obvious Christ is before all things because all things were created by him upon which account he calls himself the beginning of the Creation of God That is the efficient cause which expressions are both joyned together as being of the same importance the beginning and first born from the dead Rev. 3.14 Col. 1.13 that is the efficient cause of the Resurection from the Dead These two places out of Colos and Heb. ought to be lookt upon as parallel one with another Now by the Son of Gods or the word 's making the worlds we have an eminent Testimony of his Eternal Godhead and Power for saith the Apostle he that made all things is God Heb. 3.4 So since all things were made by the Son he must be God Here I must take notice of their cavil against the place where it is said God made the world by his Son they would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom to be taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom as if God had made them for his Son for his sake which is a down-right corruption of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not with an accusative to signifie propter but in the Genitive which never denoteth a final but always an efficient cause In the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by is used about 600 times with a Genitive Cafe and in no one may be rendred propter for and so cannot be here and suppose it could yet it would be against the constant use of the word for which some particular reason ought to be given why such a sence should be admitted for which there is none in this place it also must be taken notice of how the case is not the same where Things as where Persons are spoken of What now I am by the grace of God entering upon is to shew how our Blessed Saviour had a real being before he was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin and my reasons shall be drawn out of the 6. chap. of St. John's Gospel where the matter conducing to our purpose is spoken of at large â—â—r Christ doth in several places thereof speak of his being come from Heaven and shall begin with the last verse wherein he discourseth upon the point because it will by degrees lead us back to the rest Joh. 6.6 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before which words he spoke of himself to remove the offence which what he said about the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood had given many of his disciples for he saith his words are not literally or corporally but spiritually to be understood for he was to leave the Earth and go up into Heaven where he was before out of which words we may easily conclude how Christ was in Heaven before he was upon earth this seems to be clear But however they will not agree to it Vers 32.33 38 50.51 Ver. 41.42 first they cavil about the place saying that by where he was before Heaven is not meant when in this very chapter no less than five times he saith he came down from Heaven which the Jews took special notice of and murmured at which truth our Saviour had before declared to Nicodemns and No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man Joh. 3.13 which is in Heaven so that although in this verse the word Heaven be not named yet is so plainly described that there is not the least ground left for any one to doubt of it either for his Disciples or others for what need of his naming again that which he named so many times before There is a Text parallel with this Joh. 16.28 which doth explain it I came forth from the father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father To say he shall ascend up where he was before and to return to the place whence he came is it not the same and had he not declared at several times that his Father is in Heaven And if any doubt should remain 't is wholly cleared by the execution and when the thing was fulfilled at his ascension for while they beheld he was taken up Acts 1.9 and a cloud received him out of their sight But this not serving their turn but by these Texts being pincht to the quick to hold out they take another way which is figuratively to explain the words where he was before and wrest their proper signification into a Metaphor that is Christ in his mind and thoughts conversed in Heaven being taken up in Meditation with those heavenly mysteries that are there which were so present unto him that although he was upon Earth yet he might be said to be in Heaven this indeed is a way of perverting the sense of Scriptures but not a fair one But if so our Saviour would have spoken in the present is and not in time past was for as they say he continually was taken up with such thoughts if continually then not discontinued when at that time he discoursed with them But the word before doth import a relative opposition between the time wherein our Saviour was in Heaven and that when he spoke upon Earth besides that actually and really he was upon Earth when they make him to have been in Heaven meerly in Thoughts and Meditation which holds no proportion between his being in Heaven and upon Earth so then Christ
sweet harmony between the Old and New Testaments about Christ's governing his Church under both as to Names as well as to Things for he is called Captain of the Lord's Host as in the fore-quoted place and God is a man of war and Lord of hosts is one of God's Titles not only 1 Sam. 1.1 but in a hundred places more So Christ is in the New Testament called the Captain of our salvation Exod 15.3 Heb. 2.10 to be compleated in Heaven whereof the Promised Land was a Type This Angel the People were commanded to take care not to provoke him yet they did In this case the Question may be put to our Socinian Rabshakehs which in another God did concerning Sennacherib 2 Kin. 19.22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and the same Answer return'd Even against the holy one of Israel So here if it be asked Whom did the Children of Israel provoke tempt and limit in the Wilderness the Psalmist will say Psal â—8 40 41 56. God the holy one of Israel and the most high God compared with Psal 95. c. And if of St. paul we ask Whom did the People tempt in the Wilderness he will answer They tempted Christ 1 Cor. 10 9. compared with Heb. 3.9 for there he speaks of Christ as Son of God it may not be understood that Christ was tempted after he was born of the Virgin Mary tho' after his Baptism he was by the Devil in the Wilderness which indeed may point at the Temptation by the People in the Wilderdess which we read of in the old Testament However I say that Temptation after the coming out of Egypt which was so long before he was born cannot be meaned of any thing after his Birth yet if Scripture saith truth Christ was by the People tempted in the Wilderness the same Person tho' not in the same Nature which he took afterwards Now the Person of the Word in his divine nature existed before he was made Flesh or else how was it possible it should be tempted at that time So I can see nothing to the contrary but that we may well conclude the Lord Jesus Son of God to be the Angel that went before them whom they were forbidden to provoke and the most high God the holy one of Israel whom they tempted and provoked he is called the Angel of God's Presence or of God's Face for the Lord said to Moses Mypresence shall go Exod 33.14 It donoteth a distinct Person in the Godhead from him whose Angel and whose Face he is We must understand where the Angel was God was present because that same Angel and Person was God and what in v. â—â— is named Presence in v. 18 't is called Glory to be compared with what John saith And we beheld his glory Chap. 1.14 as the glory of the only begotten of the Father He also is called the Angel of the Covenant for 't is plain how the Covenant of Grace between God and man is grounded only in Christ and none else Isa 63.9 for Scripture saith in him we are chosen and adopted and only by him we shall be saved This Truth that the Angel who went before the People was the true God the Spirit of God hath judged so important and necessary to be known that at several times and in many places he declared it Among others the following is very considerable if we mind time place and the very words compared together I send an Angel before thee saith the Lord Psal 68.7 8. and David O God when thou wentest before thy people when thou didst march through the wilderness compared with that before quoted of the Church in the Wilderness and the same who went before the People is by the Psalmist in the same place called God the God of Israel of whom v. 18 't is said Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive c. for here is certainly a Prophecy of Christ's Ascension as to that purpose this place is quoted by St. Paul Ephes 4.8 9 10. for indeed here mention is made of the Figure and Type namely the Ark as we see in the words of v. 1 2 taken out of Numb 10.35 when the Ark was setting forward and of the Antitype the truth and body of the Type Jesus Christ and upon good ground namely that of Ephes 4 many are of opinion that this is a triumphant Psalm of our Saviour's Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven for David who was a Prophet as a King and knew himself in some things to be a Type of the Messiah among things relating to his Kingdom used to mix and comprehend some belonging to Christ which is the chief scope of the Psalm So Jah Jehovah God and Lord are to be understood of the Angel or Christ for as a little before we observed the Deliverance out of Egypt leading through the Wilderness and bringing into the Land of Promise was a Figure of the great Salvation of God's People and of the deliverance of the Church which is the proper work committed unto the Son of God the Lord Jesus as King Head and Preserver of it When David speaks of ascending he acts not the Part of an Historian but of a Prophet and this is of an Ascension joyned with a Triumph and leading of Captives which doth not belong to that of Sinai Neither do we read any where that God ascended into Heaven from Sinai but Christ having obtained victory over Death the Grave and all his and our Enemies went up to Heaven which cannot be said of the Ark But the Ascension here spoken of as Paul to the Ephesians doth interpret it relateth to him who descended first into the lower parts of the earth that is to Christ who ascended far above all Heavens that he might fit all things if we may take an Apostle's Interpretation of a Prophet and it was Christ's or the Son of God's Voice that shook the Earth or Mount Sinai as we may read it Heb. 12.26 Before I leave this matter to what I said upon another Text which is much to our purpose about this Angel concerning Jacob I shall farther add how the same person that appeared unto him was in the shape of a man There wrestled a man with him Gen. 32.24 2ly That same when Jacob was about blessing Joseph's Children Gen. 48.16 he called an Angel The 3d thing is That he is expresly said to be God Lord of Hosts by Hosea for the Prophet speaking of Jacob said He had power with God upon the occasion of his wrestleing and added Yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us even the Lord God of hosts the Lord is his memorial Hos 12.3 4 5. So hence it appears how the Person who at Bethel appeared to him when he fled from the Face of his Brother Esau Gen. 28.13 compared with Chap. 35.1
take matter of Argument against us for they say thus The Doctrin of God ought to be taught according to Scripture but those Names are not to be found therein therefore not to be used I answer the major Proposition with a distinction If they mean it of the sence of Scripture we own we ought not to depart from it but if of the letter and bare words we deny it for in the Church is the gift of Prophecy and of explaining the word And whereas Hereticks are apt to wrest the sence and under variety of words to involve and disguise the Truth it is sometimes necessary to make use of new words to hit and refute their false glosses and interpretations in defence of the Truth As to the minor about the several words we say Scripture speaks of one God whence cometh Oneness or Vnity and Divinity is attributed to three Father Son and Holy Ghost hence is Trinity Jah and Jehovah signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him that is so from Esse we derive Essence all which words we are not Authors of but received them from the Primitive Church which by a publick consent used them almost from the Apostles time to these which they reject when themselves would bring in barbarian words to signifie their erroneous notions as God Essentiating and Essentiated Apostolical God Emphatical and articulated God Author and God Executor and the like Thus they make themselves really guilty of such things as unreasonably they would charge us with They must needs have a very great opinion of their own abilities seeing they would make us forbear the expressions used by the Church for so many Ages and impose their new-fangled words upon the World 'T is in them a blasphemous Impiety and a damnable Slander to charge us with bringing in new Gods under such words as are made use of to explain Scripture and they know well enough our meaning thereof as we so often explained it these different words do not change the sense so may not be called erroneous and tho' sometimes there be Variety in words and expressions the sense still remaineth the same so we do not consider them as Popish or Antichristian Forgeries Indeed they make a ridiculous Objection Jehovah the Essentiator Father is of the masculine Gender but Essence is of the feminine therefore not to be used But to say something to the purpose they must prove that in the nature of things according to the Rules of Grammar there is a difference of Sex Of the like nature is this no abstract Name signifieth a Substance but Trinity is an abstract Name therefore c. But the first proposition is false for when we call Deity or Divine Nature we understand a Substance seeing in God all things are Substance and no Accident So by the word Trinity we understand three Persons really subsisting 2 Sam. 23. We find David's mighty Men of Valour to be distinguished by three and three But as to their exception against the fore-named words once for all I say to them Tho' every Truth asserted be not in Scripture in so many Letters yet if it be therein implied and by a good and necessary consequence thence derived 't is to be esteemed the Word of God as if expressed because in it contained Thus Preaching is the Word of God because deduced out of it not as to the words but as to the sense hence it is that Preaching produces the effects attributed to the the Word as to quicken convert regenerate and sanctifie when sometimes in a whole Sermon few Sentences are repeated word by word And in several places of the New Testament the Evangelists and Apostles do quote out of the Old not in the very words but accoding to the sense and scope of the place upon such a ground our Translators do render the word Hypostasis by that of Person and so 't was among the Primitive Church which word we find used in the New Testament only four times thrice in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 1.3 Chap. 3.14 Chap. 11.1 and 2 Cor. 9.4 yet every where in a different sense Some few words more I shall add to answer some other Objections in order thereunto I say In the Deity there is an Essence which is but one in that Essence do subsist three Persons really distinguished one from another but only modally from the Essence which doth not make any fourth thing in the Godhead As there is but one Essence so these three Persons are but one God which Name God is spoken not only of the Essence but also of every one of the three Persons Vnity in relation to the Nature and Trinity in respect to the Persons One Essence there is without which there is no God but the three Persons are this one God in Essence who subsist in that Essence Father Son and Holy Ghost The Adversaries are in an Error when they think there is no real difference except there be some difference in number and Essence they would have a Thing and a Substance to be the same when that which differeth by reason of the definition from another doth also really differ from it God in one number and essence admitteth of no renting or division and they are not three bare Names the Essence doth not as the Genus contain three Species but it doth subsist in three Persons in which all and in every one is the same Nature and Godhead To own three Essences were to assert three Gods and we say that Father Son and Holy Ghost as to the Nature are of themselves tho' not as to the Personality for on this last account we own the Son to be from the Father and the Holy Ghost from both I say again how the Essence maketh no fourth thing in the Godhead as if the three Persons were derived from it as from a thing pre-existing or as if it being common to the three was really distinguished from the three these we never said but are against The Essence is wholly and entirely common to every Person these Persons do not proceed from the Essence but we say they from all Eternity subsist in the Essence and tho' we own a distinction between Essence and Persons yet they are not as a thing abstracted from the Essence The great difficulty arising about this is in the case of the Incarnation which is justly called The wisdom of God in a mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory The Son was incarnated or made Flesh took upon him our human Nature now the Father and Holy Ghost having the same Essence with the Son how were not they both incarnated We know the Person and not the Nature was incarnated but how the Nature which is wholly in the Son as wholly in the Father and in the Holy Ghost was not made Flesh 't is a Mystery that passeth all understanding This is one of the secret things that belong to God which we
must never attempt to pry into this is a Mystery which most humbly and with an awful reverence we ought to adore and believe without any farther enquiry into it because God hath revealed it it is so namely that the Son not the Father nor the Holy Ghost was made Flesh In Religion there are several other things which we do simply believe tho it be impossible for our Reason to comprehend them as the Infiniteness Immensity and Eternity of God whereof the former is every where within and without the greatest and least things So is that union of both Natures in one Person incomprehensible Thus that which is spoken of the divine Essence may be attributed to the three Persons but to be understood of things which of themselves are competent to the nature of the Creatour Almightiness Eternity and such-like Attributes but not so in the things which belong to the Essence only upon the account of one Person for such things belong only to that Person for whose sake they are spoken of the Essence as the Incarnation of the Son the Voice of the Father from Heaven and the appearing of the Holy Ghost under the shape of a Dove We know how the Works ad extra or outward are undivided and common to the three Persons always excepting that wherein they destroy the proper Attributes of the Persons Thus the Son and Holy Ghost not the Father are sent the Son not the Father nor Holy Ghost was made Flesh tho' the Father and Holy Ghost had a hand in the Incarnation for the Angel said Luk. 1.35 The power of the highest shall overshadow thee and the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Prov. 9.1 Rev. 21.3 and Wisdom whereby the Son is represented hath builded her House otherwise called the Tabernacle of God So then the work of the Incarnation is common to the three Persons but in the effect is terminatively only in the Son When the Apostle speaks of the Mystery of our Salvation in the adorable and incomprehensible Incarnation of the Son of God or his taking â—ur human Nature he saith 1 Pet. 1.12 Exod. 25.20.22 which things the Angels desire to look into alluding to the two Cherubims on the Mercy Seat towards which their Faces were as desirous to see into 't In th Tabernacle was the Ark and above upon the Art was the Mercy Seat as the most holy part of he whole for there God met with Moses and from thence he communed with him all which was disposed according to God's own appointment for the Mercy Seat was a Type of Jesus Christ in whom and by whom alone God doth neet and commune with Men in the way of Mercy and as the Ceremonial Law was as a School-master to bring us to Christ as to him that was the end of the Law so all Figures and Prophecies aimed at him After God had sent all his Servants and he would have no more Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices then he sent his only Son to offer up himself a Sacrifice unto him for Sin This most holy and blessed Son by the Mouth of the Prophet David long before his coming said Lo I come to do thy will Psal 40.6 7. Heb. 10.7 9. O God He knew the Will of God and declared he would come to do 't The words contain a particular emphasis different from any thing of that nature express'd in Scripture When the Prophets foretold Josiah's Birth 1 Kin. 13 2. Isa 44. 45. and Cyrus's Empire they are not introduced as saying any thing themselves only one was to be born the other to be holden and supported because at that time they were not But here the Son of God speaks as one who then was in being and as a person who delighted to execute his Father's Will as he effectually did both actively and passively and this he declared when come Joh. 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and when upon the approach of the Hour wherein that Will was to be Joh. 12.27 his Soul was troubled he said For this cause came I unto this hour and when the bitter Cup which caused in him some Horror was put into his hand Luk. 22.42 he said Not my will but thine be done Let these words in the Evangelists with those in the Psalm be compared anâ— there will appear such a divine harmony as wiâ— convince they both came out of the same Persâ—â— only with this difference that in the Psalmis seen a steddy resolution such as became a divine Person and in the Gospel something of human Frailty the reason is because the first is expressed by a Prophet inspired by his Spirit and the last by himself in the days of his Flesh However coming is meant of a Person who pre-existed before that coming and in the time of the Prophecy And the circumstances oâ— God's having no more pleasure in Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings and his saying Lo I come which preceeded his coming do demonstrate in him a Choice and Resolution which is the act of a Person as the quoted place out of St. Peter's doth denote Christs coming into the World to be such a Mystery as the Angels so excellent and knowing Creatures desire to know and look into But I return to my Answer to their Objections These things being seriously considered will afford matter enough to answer and refute the Cavils of the Enemies to this Truth Before I proceed farther in answering some more Objections of theirs I think it will not be amiss for me because they make a scandalous Exception against that common place of the Apostle which proves the most holy Trinity There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost To add something more to what in the beginning I said about it They say it is wanting in some Greek Copies and in the Syriack but through the Fraud of the Arrians as saith Jerome and Erasmus Praefat. in Epist Can. whom Socinians would seem to appeal unto confesseth it to be in the most ancient Manuscripts of Brittany Spain and Rhodes and it is clear out of the Connexion of the Text V. 4 5 6. that it cannot be taken away without making a palpable breach and interruption of the sense for he hath just before spoken of God the Father of Christ and of the Spirit and to agree with what he saith v. 8 there are three that bear witness in Earth there must also be three that bear record in Heaven there must be Witnesses in Heaven as there are in Earth the three in Earth agree in one the three in Heaven are one We read it quoted by * Ad Theoph. lib. 1. in disp contra Aâ—rium in Conc. Nic. Athanasius so doth †Contra Varimadum Idacius so * Contra Arrian Fulgentius also it is quoted before the times of Athanasius in the Controversie against the Arrians
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
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 the prejudice of this be guided by our own Reason which in such matters is but an ignis fatuus a false and deceitful Guide that will lead us to Rocks and Precipices that only must be our Rule which God hath revealed in his Word For an Instance Will not Human Reason suggest that if our Saviour instead of poor Fishermen unlearned and of no account in the World had called the Josephs of Arimathea the Nicodemus and men of good parts and of quality in the World the Gospel would hove gotten more ground and been more spread abroad in the World yet this is contrary to God's Method who hath hidden these things from the wise and prudent Mat. 11.25.26 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28 29 and revealed them unto Babes who hath chosen and called the foolish the weak and base things of the world to confound the wise and the mighty And why so first because so it seemed good in his sight secondly to the end that no flesh should glory in his presence Joh. 7.48 This confirmed by Experience for Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him So then to insist on this reason is no less than to arraign the Wisdom of God which no Man may or ought to do Farther some things there are taught by Philosophy of the Soul of the World of several things therein and of Man's Soul which to human Understanding appear to have no Truth in them yet in those things if upon the account of the Learning and Wit of those great Men we have a kind of esteem and reverence for their Opinions much more ought we to have a reverence for the Truth contained in God's Word and received by so many great and good Christians and suffer'd for by them in all Ages for never was any Divine Truth more universally and in all places and times received notwithstanding the opposition of some wicked men than the Mystery of the most holy Trinity As indeed not only the Offering and Preaching but also the whole Application of Salvation to be obtained in this and another Life do depend upon the truth of the holy Trinity because everywhere the Father works by his Son and this with the Father by the Holy Ghost which if we believe not we cannot have either the use or comfort of things relating to Salvation but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.10 12. and we have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 'T is then our Duty and Comfort to know the Father in the Son and both through the Holy Ghost for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God as Christ saith none knoweth the Father but the Son and to whom the Son will reveal him so John testifies that he that hath not the Son hath not the Father and Paul Mat. 11.27 1 Joh. 2.23 Eph. 2.12 that those that are without Christ are also without Hope and without God in the world 'T is said indeed how God at sundry times and in several manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets but the knowledge of him and of Salvation then was in the dark till the last days when he spoke unto Men by his Son When we hear of the salvation which God sent into the World then at the same time the Son and Holy Ghost are mention'd because without them there is none Among several other places in Scripture wherein this great work is spoken of and wherein we find the three Persons mention'd that is remarkable wherein the Apostle joyneth them together Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace All three are concerned so they were before salvation was actually effected long before when all was under Types and Figures 1 Pet. 1.11 12 compared with 2 Pet. 1.21 for by the spirit of Christ the Prophets prophesied of old so now in this great business the Son hath his part and the Holy Ghost his also As much as God hath been pleased to reveal unto us about this adorable Mystery we must study and enquire after but no farther where God is silent we must be so too and we ought to curb our Curiosity and Presumption and not to stretch our Brains to find out Proofs out of Comparisons with Sun Soul Rainbow Trees Triangle c. which are all lame and defective This I speak as to us who believe that high and incomprehensible Mystery upon God's Word wherein he hath revealed it unto us for as to the abominable wretches which out of Hell are broken loofe against it and not only make a Jest of and despise and hate it we must leave them to God if peradventure he will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. â—â— to the acknowledging of the Truth As to our blessed Saviour whom they go about to rob of that Glory and Honour which Scripture declares do belong to him and which therein he assumeth unto himself and whom they would make a meer Man a Creature and if I dare speak it without blasphemy an imaginary and a mock God acting the part of a God as an Actor doth upon a stage that of a Prince when he is not such In Scripture the Names of God absolutely attributed to none but unto the true God and that also in so many places of Scripture whereof many we already quoted and others not We have given instances of all the incommunicable Names of Divine Nature appropriated unto him also we made it appear how all Attributes proper to the true God and never communicated to the Creature do belong to Christ as do all divine works truly such why then should not all own him to be true God by Nature seeing essential Attributes are inseparable from the Essence The Oneness of which Essence with the Father he doth attribute unto himself explaining in what sense he calleth God his Father not by Adoption or Grace or meerly by reason of his assumption of our human Nature John 10.30 38. or by vertue of any Office and Dignity but because of his eternal Generation and Co-essentiality with the Father in which sense he saith I and the Father are one Chap. 1.14 3.16 Rom. 8.3 32. Mar. 14.33 and upon the account of this oneness of Nature he saith The Father is in me and I in him And this eternal Generation in one Essence is denoted in Scripture when called only begotten of the Father Gods own and proper Son the true Son of God yea such a Son as is Heir of all things and in opposition to Angels as the Son is to the Servants which Sonship and Generation is more clearly expressed when he is called the Brightness and