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
Spirit supply that which is wanting in us Herein I handle not only some things of the Controversie but also do in some measure bring in the doctrinal part which is a great help to the Elenctical and upon which indeed this last must be grounded for I writ not only to refute but also to instruct and afford a Preservative against the Poyson And tho' sometimes I bring in things which directly relate to the Jews yet they reach Socinians as well as Jews for both are Enemies the first indeed deny Christ to be the Messiah though the Antients owned him to be God and Socinians own him to be a Messiah but deny him to be true God I omit the Debate about the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and of the high Point of Christ's Satisfaction c. The Meditation on the most holy Trinity and the Lord Jesus his Divinity affording Matter enough to fill up these Sheets wherein I hope the Truth is cleared and confirmed and Errour refuted If the Reader findeth good by it as I pray God be may as it doth come from God so from first to last let him return the whole Praise and Glory to him whom alone it belongeth unto THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF the Persons of Head Socinians and of their Opinions page 1. Chap. II. Of Divine Essence p. 13. Chap. III. Of the Persons of the Godhead p. 16. Chap. IV. Of the Holy Trinity p. 22. Chap. V. Of Christ's Divinity p. 46. Chap. VI. Christ is true natural Son of God by Eternal Generation p. 84. Chap. VII Essential divine Attributes belong to Christ p. 138. Chap. VIII Works proper to God belong to Christ page 161. Chap. IX Worship proper and due to the true God belongs to Christ p. 185. Chap. X. The Socinians Objections answered p. 260. Chap. XI Animadversions upon a Book called Christianity not Mysterious p. 315. CHAP. I. Of the Persons of head Socinians and of their Opinions OUR blessed Lord and Saviour in his Parable * Mat. 13 of the Sower and the Tares doth plainly declare and forewarn us of what should befal his Church from his time which was that of her Birth unto the end of the World In general the Field is the World but in particular 't is his Church the Sower as he explains it is himself both in person and by means of the Labourers his Disciples and other Servants of his the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom and the true sound Doctrines thereof taught by his faithful Ministers but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one not only as to Persons but in relation to false Doctrines Errors and Heresies which whilst Men that ought to have watched slept Christ's Enemy which is the Devil took that opportunity for he loses none and in part through the fault of the Watchmen did his work This Mystery is by S. Paul represented under the notion and name of a Building whereof the Lord Jesus is the Foundation for saith he * 1 Cor. 3.11 12. other foundation can no man lay the wise and faithful Builders do upon that Foundation build Gold Silver and precious Stones but the unfaithful and mercenary are not content to raise a Superstructure of their own which is Wood Hay and Stubble but also attempt to overthrow the Foundation and in opposition to the City of God would build a Babel of their own yet I make no doubt but through God's just Judgment it will at last end in their Confusion as 〈◊〉 happeneth unto all that * Acts 5.39 be found even to fight against God Surely in the superlative degree they fight against God who reach and as far as they can do strike at divine Nature and at the Godhead it self which any one doth that speaks or writes against the holy Trinity of Persons or denies the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as Socinians do To what I said †Serious Advice to a Preservative against c. elsewhere of the Authors of such Blasphemies I shall add some few Circumstances of their Rise and Progress whereby it will appear how as the Devil at our Saviours coming into the World was very busie to use means and by Herod to destroy his Person so by the Scribes and Pharisees to oppose the Preaching and Progress of the Gospel Thus about the time when God dispersed Popish Errors Darkness and Ignorance and through a happy Reformation caused the Light of the Gospel again to shine the same Enemy to God and Mankind stirred up Instruments to stop the Work or at least to corrupt and hinder it from coming to its due perfection These hellish Instruments were Michael Servetus born in Artagon one of the Kingdoms of Spain who having past his Youth in Africa amongst Jews and Mahometans was infected with their Blasphemies and being come back into Europe did in 1525. write Books entituled The Divine Nature of Christ and the Errors of the Trinity c. that Wretch made such an abominable and hellish Comparison of the most adorable Trinity that I abhor to think on 't much more to set it down upon Paper He came to Geneva where neither the Writings of nor Conferences with Calvin could work upon him so that at last in the Year 1553. he there was put to death for Blasphemy and Sedition The next is Valentinus Gentilis of Cosenza in Italy◠who forged the Blasphemy of Three Gods and otherwise corrupted the Doctrin of the Vnity of Essence and Trinity of Persons This Man after Servetus's death was in the same Town put in Prison and recanted soon after he went away but returned to his Vomit for he again asserted it in publick and dispersed it in Poland and Suitzerland but being taken in the Canton of Bern in 1566. was there put to death Laelius Socinus Son to Marius Socinus a famous Lawyer of Siena came also to Geneva which at that time was the great place of refuge for those who went out of Italy and neighbouring Countries to forsake Popery where he was known to Calvin and thence he went to Zurich but Calvin having found him out did write him two sharp Letters one in 1552. the other in 1555. at Zurich he did but under the borrow'd Name of Martinus Bellius write something to shew how Servetus had unjustly been put to death In his Commentary upon the first Chapter of John he lays the Foundation of whole Socinianism which indeed is but a Chaos and Confusion of natural and spiritual Ignorance and a meer Contempt of the Word of God Zanchius was one of the first that refuted it This Loelius all the while he conversed with Zanchius never opened himself to him only seemed to propound him Questions according to the Schoolway to exercise his Parts but not to be positive so that indeed he imposed upon him and Melanchton so cunning was he not to discover his Opinions Bur his Nephew Faustus born in Siena in 1538. was a bolder Man
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
they do penetrate one another for they most perfectly and infinitely know and love one another now Love is an earnest desire of Union so then they be most intirely united The Apostle makes the necessary difference of the Three on Earth he saith they agree in One but of the Three in Heaven he saith they are One. Moreover either one knows something which the other doth not or loves something which the other doth not love or can do something which the other cannot do or not if the former how are they God For God knows and can do all if the last then not only they have one Will but also one Mind one Power one Knowledg one Love Now let Man think upon several Natures of the same kind which mutually do penetrate themselves and by a mutual inclination do embrace and unite themselves inseparably and have the same Thoughts Will and Action doth not all this conclude for one and the same Nature And that there is no difference but in some manner of Existing which because they are such are distinct one from another without Confusion all which from Oneness of Will leads to Oneness of Essence for the Will of God is not a thing different from his Nature Another Text wherein the most holy Trinity is demonstrated and not only may be read but also be heard and seen is that about our Saviour's Baptism where the Father speaks from Heaven and calls him his Son Christ the Son is baptized and the Holy Ghost appears in the shape of a Dove if Men do believe Scripture this they must believe to be true S. Austin lookt upon this Text as a strong and convincing Proof of that divine and essential Truth Vade ad Jordanem c. saith he Go to the River Jordan and there thou shalt find the holy Trinity and be convinced of the Verity thereof Besides these we have a Cloud of other Witnesses to prove this Truth where the Three Persons are mentioned under their proper Names and first * Acts 2.22 23. This Jesus being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost the Three Persons are plainly named Again the same Jesus Christ was declared †Rom. 1.3 4. to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Elsewhere the same Apostle saith ‖ Tit. 3.4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ And in another place ‡ Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts by the word God is meaned the Person of the Father * Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offereth himself without spot to God Furthermore †Ephes 2.18 Through him Christ we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father Our blessed Saviour himself out of his own sacred Mouth doth plainly and positively speak to this purpose when he saith * John 14.16.17 I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter the Father I the Son and the comforter whom he calls the Spirit of Truth are Three Persons which in the next Chapter †Chap. 15 26. is by him repeated But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth One Text more I shall bring to confirm this * 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God that is the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all And in the Text of another Apostle †1 Pet. 1.2 are contained the Workings of the Three Persons in the Trinity Elect according to the fore knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ As the New Testament is full of Proofs to confirm this holy Doctrine for indeed these Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation are more clearly and fully therein related so out of the Old Testament we have enough to confute the Enemies of this Truth and because we look upon Socinians in their Principles to be a sort of Jews and as well as they Blasphemers against our holy and blessed Saviour so we will bring such Arguments against them as we would if we were disputing against unbelieving Jew◠only a few Texts out of many We begin with the Book of Genesis Chap. 1. wherein is contained a relation of the History of the Creation which is a Work common to the Three Persons of the Trinity and though we may not look upon it as the clearer upon the matter yet in it is Light enough to shew the Truth we now assert I shall say nothing of the Name God under that of Elohim which already we have spoken of as representing the plurality of Persons in the most holy Trinity but we may say that though the Name God was there which it is not in the singular and taken for the Person of the Father yet the Son had a hand in the act of Creation for it is God said here is the word which is the proper Name of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ who in Scripture especially by S. John is so often called by that Name the Word God saying and speaking is that which made the World We read God said when any thing was created which being compared with what is spoken by John * John 1.3 All things were made by him that is the Word the Person of Jesus Christ for actiones sunt suppositorum acting is proper to Persons and without him was not any thing made that was made now that Word God said is that which created every thing so then here is the Person of the Son but we also find the Person of the Holy Ghost Gen. 1.2 the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters by his acting represented by motion to cherish give life and motion to things as a Hen doth when sitting upon her Eggs for the word in the Original signifies such a thing This sense is given by a competent Interpreter †Psal 33.6.9 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host thereof by the breath of his mouth Here we can read distinctly the Lord if it were to be understood only of the first Person about which there is no dispute the Word and the Breath or Spirit this though it be clear I could set in a greater Light with comparing it with other places which I now forbear to do because I shall have occasion to make use of them in some other branch of my Discourse Another Text is this * Isai 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him besides the Person that speaks namely the Father here we have the Son under the name
be by virtue of a natural Privilege and of a divine Prerogative which is the same he had over David Solomon's Father whose Lord he was the same he had over Abraham Pre-existence before Abraham was I am which could not be as to his Humanity wherefore in him there must be another ground namely his Divinity only therein can lay the advantage he had over them all Not only he was greater than all these but also than the Temple it self a place so eminently glorious by reason of God's immediate Presence in it that it was called not only Holy but the inner part of it was called the holiest of all into which none but the High Priest might enter and that only once a year not without Blood yet saith our Saviour Matt. 12.6 8. I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple which can be said of none but of God there he also calls himself Lord of the Sabbath not as Man but as God Temple and Sabbath the two holiest things in Israel The second Text is this * Isai 35.4 5. Behold your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you then the Eyes of the blind shall be open and the Ears of the deaf shall be unstopp'd which our Saviour applyeth to himself who when John's Disciples ask'd him †Matt. 11.3 5. Art thou he that should come or do we look for another Jesus answered them by this the blind receive their sight c. which were the Signes wherewith Isaiah had prophefied God would come these things he commands them to give John an account of wherein he lookt to the Prophet who foretold such things should be done by the Messiah whom in that place Isaiah calleth God when he saith God himself will come and save you which must not be understood of the Father for first we never read that God the Father came into the World to save us but that he sent his Son to do 't he that sends another in his place cannot properly be said to come himself Secondly there is an Energy in the word he himself whereby is meaned not that another in God's stead but God himself by himself would come and though God be said to come when he shews some gracious effect of his Power yet when he is said to send another 't is not to be understood in that same manner And tho Socinus denies him at that time to be God only that he was appointed hereafter so to be he is refuted by his being in that Text at that time call'd the God of Israel your God whom you worship The third Text is that wherein God saith * Mal. 3.1 Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple Now who that God is before whose face John prepared his way is clear enough that he spake of the Lord Jesus not of the Father's coming after him which he pointed at when he said †John 1 26 27 29.30 compared with Act. 13.24 There standeth one among you whom ye know not he it is that coming after me is preferred before me and to make it clearer he points directly at the Person of Christ for the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world which is he of whom I said after me comes a man which is preferred before me for he was before me Can there be a plainer Designation of a person than this To him alone by means of his Preaching he prepared the way and that which is remarkable our Saviour explains of himself the Text of Malachy This is he of whom it is written behold * Luke 7.27 I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee and the word my face in the Prophet he renders thy face that is of Christ so he quoteth the place not according to the Words but according to the Sense †Luke 1.76 Thou child saith Zechariah of John shalt he called the Prophet of the highest a high Name proper to God for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways it is then most certain that John prepared the way for him that was to come after him and to converse with and dwell among Men not the Father but Christ came after John therefore he is that God that sent his Messenger as in Malachy Socinus his Phrase is no where in Scripture to be read that God came in Christ he sent Christ his Son but came not in him the Father is said to be and dwéll in Christ not to come in Christ he sent him in his own Name Though Christ under the Name Word be called God absolutely * Joh. 1.1 and without any restriction in the same manner as the True God is absolutely called God without any thing to pretext an improper appellation and the repetition of the Word God in the same Signification doth sufficiently demonstrate it †1 Joh. 5.20 nay though he be not barely called God but the True God whence we must necessarily conclude he is true essential God Yet they would have the Father alone to be God and that when the Name of God is absolutely set down it is to be understood only of the Father not of the Son nor of the Holy Ghost so they conclude Father Son and Holy not to be One God to which purpose they wrest some Scripture out of the Old and New Testament which in due time we shall by the Grace of God take an occasion to answer but because the Adversaries use their utmost pernicious Endeavours to oppose these Truths we to make clear these most important Doctrines which our Faith is grounded upon must somewhat more enlarge upon it though we take notice of some things we said before or to the same purpose First We say God is a Name of the Divine Essence or Nature as Man is of Human Nature but whereof there is a different Reason from that of all Names of other Natures for all Individuals are asunder one from another their Nature according to the mental Notion is one but not really so wherefore in them Nature is the species or kind which is predicated and spoken of every singular and individual Person as James is a Man and of many too as Matthew John and Luke are Three Men but as in God the Essence is but One in number and not only in the mental Notion but also is really and most simply One though in Three Persons this Name of God is not predicated as a species of every Person but according to the priority or posteriority of their Origin and Order as thus the Father is God but unbegotten the Son God begotten the Holy Ghost proceeding from both Now if the Name God was as species spoken of the Persons
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
Manhood of Christ for John was born before him wherefore it must be upon a nobler Account he pre-existed before John so he had another Being which not being Human nor Angelical must need be Divine according to which he was in the beginning of the World which concludeth for Eternity this Priority they interpret of Dignity not of Time we do not deny that in Gifts and Office Christ was much beyond John and suppose we should understand the Words preferred before me of a Dignity what will they say to the following Words for he was before me according to their Sense the meaning will be this he is preferred before me for he was preferred before me which is to prove the same by the same when will they give over destroying the Analogy of Faith tearing Scripture in pieces and pulling it over head and Ears to serve their Turn and their Ends If we consider Christ only as a Man John as to that time had the priority of Gifts for as he was conceived before the Body of Christ was so †Luke 1.15 he was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb as to his Office he exercised it before Christ did his for he went not about it till after he had been baptized by John after which he was forty Days in the Wilderness tempted of the Devil and he began his Ministry ‖ Matt. 4.12 after he heard that John was cast into prison wherefore this before me must be taken in some other Sense than relating to Gifts and Office for this would not sufficiently commend God's great Love towards us if only he had endued his Son with excellent Qualities as doth perfectly his not sparing but delivering him up to be put to Death for us his own Son whom in four places the ‖ John 1.14 18. chap. 3.16 18. Evangelist calls God's only begotten Son it is to be taken notice of that John doth not say he is preferred before me because he is but because he was before me Why should he make use of the Preterimperfect-Tense but to denote the time when Christ was preferred before him so that he was before John when he was made so eminently Excellent his Office was put upon him when thirty Years old but he had long before been endued with those heavenly Qualities which he was invested with and there was never a part of Christ's Life wherein that Son of God was not more Excellent than John so his Office could not be the Cause of his being so highly preferred above John The next Verse makes the matter plainer of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace wherein John doth attribute unto Christ a priority of Cause as of Dignity for he thereby owneth that whatsoever Excellency is in him and others is derived from the Fulness of Christ as the Stream is from the Spring the Fulness was in Christ first and thence John and others received it wherefore he is said to be before John as the Head-Fountain is before that which flows out of it How then could that be that John and every one else he meaned when he said we all had received of Christ's Fulness and Grace for Grace before he had taught baptised with the Holy Ghost or done any Miracle This is explained in the next Verse for the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ the Lord being the sole Dispenser of Grace and of Truth no wonder if we all for the present and in time past received all we have out of his Fulness now this Fulness is not only in one but in all kinds * Colos 1.19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell not excepted the Fulness of the Godhead †chap. 2.9 for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily But how can this agree with their Opinions For if Grace and Truth hath not been bestowed by Christ till after he had preached and revealed it How could John Baptist and others before they heard Christ preach receive it if Christ was a meer Man he could not communicate Grace before he was born to those that were before him wherefore he must need have some other Way and Capacity to do 't namely according to his Divinity which Truth if unreasonable Men would but own and give God Glory and not wander against Scripture after their own Fancies and Imaginations this would set all things at Right here because like a drowning Man they are content to lay hold upon any thing that lays in their way out of the thirtieth Verse they object that John calls him a Man we never denied Christ to be a Man in which respect he was after John but we also own him to be the Word God according to which he was before him We read of Angels under Man's shape by Abraham and Lot received into their House they were both Angels and Men but under a different Notion not Angels as Men otherwise all Men would be Angels not Men as Angels for thus all Angels would be Men wherefore they were Angels in one respect and Men in another Somewhat after this manner John calls our blessed Saviour sometimes God and sometimes Man that is now after one Nature then after the other for the Person of the Lord Jesus is both God and Man To prove Christ's Eternity we make use of a third place in the same Gospel * John 8.58 Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am the words are very plain upon the occasion of Christ's saying that Abraham rejoyced to see his day which the Jews interpreting of a real Vision they objected an apparent Contradiction thou art not fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham for they inferred that if Abraham had seen his days then he had seen Abraham who lived so long before and so they look'd upon 't as an impossible thing but he confirms what he had said with these words before Abraham was I am they fell into a Rage and took up Stones to cast at him for they had a right Notion of what he aimed at in his Discourse namely to raise himself above all the Men in the World amongst them they lookt upon Abraham whom they boasted to call their Father to be the Chief and they believed none under God was greater than he wherefore after he had said if a man keep my saying he shall never see death they grew mad against him and presently said Abraham is dead so are the Prophets and so asked him Whom makest thou thy self they concluded it could be no less than God whereby it appears how all along they had a true apprehension of his meaning though they were enraged at it and could not hear it It is a wonder to see how Socinians go about to corrupt and tear this Text all to pieces with their vain Sophistry indeed the place is so close upon them that they will leave nothing unattempted
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
by our Saviour belonging only to his Humane Nature which may be due and necessary from one in nature and quality inferiour to another but it was also an undue and meerly voluntary obedience which may be rendred by an Equal and some times by a Superiour as we read when Joshua said Josn 10.12 13. Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the valey of Ajalon so the Sun stood he was obeyed but there is in it more than this the Sun of himself could not stand nor alter or stop his Course a Superiour power to do 't was required and indeed we find that in the beginning of the verse 't is said then spook Joshua unto the Lord in the day when c. Sun stand thou still so let it be spoken with that awful reverence and to an infinite Majesty in some kind we may see how in this case the Superiour was pleased to obey the Inferiour so we may say a sort of obedience may belong to Divine Nature as when God commanded the World should be created and it was performed by his Son of this nature is Christ's obedience as spoken of by the Apostle concerning Christ Phil. 2.6 7 8. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God he humbled himself This was a voluntary obedience for he was not humbled but humbled himself he was not made but made himself of no reputation thus the obedience is valued according to the dignity of the person which obeyeth To be in the form of God is to be God for forma dat esse rei the form is the nature of the thing and makes it to be what it is But what this man granted before he is now willing to take away when he would have this worship not to be terminated in Christ but from him to pass unto God so this is but a relative worship Thus Papists say they worship images but they are mistaken for though God hath exalted him it doth not follow that Adoration should be only Transitory and not fixed So God hath exalted the Kings of the Earth but the Civil Worship or respect rendered unto the King is rendred unto a Man but not in the capacity of a Man but is terminated in him as he is a King so when Christ Man is adored he is not so under the notion of Man but as he is God of the same nature with the Father and that he is in the Father and the Father in him the Father may well be worshiped in him and he in the Father but making them as they do to be of different natures I see no cause why they may not be worshiped asunder one from another which yet doth but rend and divide the object of our worship with this new as they call it way of worship to adore God in a Man But they must say what they understand by him for both the Prophet and the Apostle make use of the word Is it one or a different person named by them if the same then Christ is the one God if not the same then the Apostle hath not well explained the Prophet If in the Psalm Christ be not spoken of but only the God of Israel of a nature altogether different then in the Epistle the words are made use of to no purpose for therein the design is to prove how Christ must be worshiped by all Angels Now he doth not answer his purpose when to prove one who is not the God Israel ought to be adored he brings a Text which commands the Angels to adore him only who is the God of Israel a great disparagement indeed not only to the Author of the Epistle but to the Spirit of God which directed him he saith in that worship exhibited unto Christ the Lord Jesus represents the person of God the Father how as an Actor upon the Stage doth represent a King After this rate Christ with all the worship given him would be without blasphemy let it be spoken but a Stage God If to reign doth signifie the Kingdom of Christ why shall not also the name Jehovah who reigneth belong to his person If he hath the thing why should he not have the name also Christs Kingdom is therein described Jehovah is the King why should not Christ be Jehovah which if he be it must be properly for Christ nor no one else was ever figuratively called Jehovah and the Kingdom of Christ under the name of God is described then if Christ be not God Jehovah then 't is Jehovah that indeed doth represent Christ so he must be the Type of Christ thus they unavoidably run into absurdities but in very deed Christ doth not act the part of the Father but his own He doth act the part of three persons upon the account of his three several offices of a Prophet of a Priest and of a King he therein exerciseth his own office and not that of the Father he doth what belongeth to him and not to others Joh. 17.10 and as all things the Father hath are his so the Kingdom Throne Scepter Power Majesty Ministry and Subjects are all his if he received the Kingdom from the Father he received it as only begotten Son and Heir of all things not as of anothers but as his own wherefore he doth not reign as a Servant or a Minister of the Farther so then when he reigneth he doth not represent the Father's person but his own not as his Vicar or Lieutenant but as God equal with him The first part of the verse Matth. 1.20 Luke 2.9 13. Matth. 28.2 5. and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world sheweth how at his first coming into the world he was worshiped and served by Angels for his Conception Birth and Resurrection were published by Angels and then it demonstrates there are two persons one that bringeth the other that is brought in the one is the Father the other the Son the first commanding the last to be adored for he saith not worship me but him There is an Emphasis in the word first begotten simply spoken to be understood of every Creature Col. 1.15 for 't is very just he should be worshiped by Angels as his Creatures and indeed in Scripture I cannot find any truth more clearly and fully proved than this is he was worshiped not only by Angels but also by Devils Mark 5.6 7. the Legion in the Body of the man possessed But as we proved the Lord Jesus ought to be worshiped by Angels so we now must shew he ought to be by men and the place is this That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son John 5.23 honoureth not the Father that sent him To understand the place well we must go up higher and take notice how from verse 17. to 23. our Saviour speaks of his equality with the Father as well understood by the
and wrestled with him when coming from Lanban he had passed over the Ford Jabbock that same I say was God the Angel and the Lord of Hosts This happened when Jacob and his Family were going into Canaan whereof the possession had been promised him and his Posterity upon the very borders he is met by his Adversary his Brother Esau who had a pretence to that Inheritance and therefore came against him with a power which of himself he was not able to resist which made him afraid as we read v. 11 wherefore upon such a tryal to strengthen his Faith and make him lay hold the faster on the Promise 2 Cor. 1.20 he in whom all the promises are yea and Amen the Son of God Jesus Christ appeared unto him in the shape of a man because in his Seed were the Promises made but this man in appearance was God in effect and nature therefore Jacob did solemnly pray to him for his Blessing in the time of the wrestling and would not rest till he had blessed him which he obtained v. 29 and in remembrance of this Jacob called the name of the place Peniel because he had seen God face to face This solemn meeting with much Comfort and Thankfulness Jacob remembred when he blessed Joseph and his two Sons in these most remarkable words God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads The God of his Fathers the God that sed him all his life-time and the Angel which redeemed him from all evil is but one and the same And the Name Redeemer is proper to Christ the second Person of the holy Trinity All these are irrefragable Truths which Socinians can effectually say nothing against tho' out of the Rabbis or Jewish Doctors Writings they have been screwing up whatsoever they thought might serve their turn thus they were not ashamed to borrow Weapons from Christs sworn Enemies But before I leave off this Point about Angels whether the Creator or created ones for the glory of the Son of God I must say how tho' these be called Sons of God mighty in Power and excellent in created Glory yet when compared with God Job 15.15 4.18 Isa 6.3 John 12.40 't is said they are not pure in his sight and he chargeth them with folly and they cover their faces at the brightness of his glory as not being able nor worthy to look upon t. And that place about Divine Glory as I already observed we know to belong to our Saviour who is called Lord and King of Glory because all Glory is in and from him as its true Spring and proper Center Psal 24 compared with 1 Cor. 2.8 Hence it is that at his coming into the World all Angels were commanded to worship him which was performed in their attendance on his Birth proclamation of his Nativity and celebrating the Glory of God on that account and afterwards declaring his Resurrection and confirming his Ascension even ministring unto him after the Temptation and when he was in his Agony And whilst Angels are called God's Ministers who ought to worship Christ the Son as their Maker Vnto the Son he saith Thy throne O God is for ever and ever to shew that there is as much and as great a difference between the Son and Angels as there is between God and Angels between the Creator and the Creature for indeed in that same place the Heavens are said to be the work of his hands so no comparison to be made between the Son and Angels the noblest of all Creatures The Name Elohim absolutely used is never in Scripture given to any singular Angel or Man which is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Article by the Apostle given the Son so he is denoted by that Name as the true God by Nature And this same hath a Kingdom signified by the Royal Marks of a Scepter and a Throne whereunto Eternity is annexed for 't is for ever and ever whereby its duration or lasting is expressed so is his manner of administration with righteousness His scepter is a scepter of righteousness and to shew his preparation for that administration of his 't is said He loved righteousness and hated iniquity Now the Throne is not for the Servants but for the Son because the Kingdom thereby denoted is not theirs but his who indeed is graciously pleased to promise his Apostles that at the last day they shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel that is they shall participate only at the last day with him in his Kingly Power Mat. 19.28 and in some degree be made partakers of his Glory with an Interest in his Kingdom which he is pleased to give them in the mean time the Throne is not theirs but his Here I must take notice how for preventing many Errors rash and false Opinions 't is to be wished men would follow the Apostles Practise in this place who abounding in quotations gives us a Rule and an Example to do so for with comparing Scriptures one with another we come to be acquainted with God's Mind and Will in them for by what is spoken of Angels in one place and of the Son in another we are taught what to believe of him and of them They who follow not this Rule are apt to frame in their Heads hasty wrong and false notions about God's Mind especially in the matters we are now upon And what is it that gives the Throne of the Lord Jesus Unchangeableness and Eternity but his divine Nature The words of the Psalmist whence the Apostle draws his Argument do not belong to Solomon for the words O God do not relate to him nor these Thy throne is for ever and ever for he reigned but forty years nor to his Successors who went off the Stage at or about the time of the Babylonian Captivity We know how in some things Solomon was a Type of Christ but it doth not follow that every thing relating to the Antitype should belong unto the Type for 't is enough for the Type so to represent and shadow out the Lord Jesus that what the Prophet would teach concerning him should be spoken of the Type whereby he was represented for the Antitype is what the Spirit of God ever chiefly aimed at So tho the Type and Antitype agreed in some things in others there was a vast difference between them But that in this place the Apostle doth interpret those words of the Son of God Jesus Christ it appears out of v. 8 but unto the Son he saith Thy throne O God c. And 't is in that Party but vain and idle words to go about to perswade us that the Apostle did not say what he said and which is written for our instruction And with us they should take notice how it is said When he bringeth in his
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