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
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
account to be call'd such a Man's Son yet not be his proper Son thus an adopted though he excel never so much above the rest yet that can never make him to be a proper Son To refute some Cavils of theirs one thing more we are again to take notice of upon this matter how the the word God is in Scripture sometimes taken essentially for the most holy Trinity and sometimes personally for one of the Persons as when 't is said * Acts 20.28 God hath purchased his church with his own blood which is meaned our Saviour the second Person of the Godhead In the first sense must be understood those places of Scripture wherein 't is said The name of the Lord is one and there is none besides him there is but one God and others to the same purpose to shew the Oneness of the Nature which as well as they we do affirm but as to teach well one must distinguish well so for want of observing this Rule that which is spoken of the Essence of God they mis-apply it to the Persons and so make a Confusion between things to be distinguished We already proved how the Unity of Nature doth not take away the Trinity of Persons nor the Plurality of Persons destroy the Unity of Nature which Mistake of theirs doth also hold in the Mystery of the Incarnation or of the Word being made Flesh and about our Saviour's Person in whom they confound the Natures so that which is spoken of his Humanity they mis-apply to his Divinity The second Argument whereby Christ is proved to be God's natural Son is drawn from the word only begotten which for greater confirmation is attributed to Christ in several * John 1.18 places wherefore in Scripture Christ is called the Son of God to shew he is the only begotten for that 's the signification of the word and †Heb. 1.2 vers 5. Paul's interpretation of it for he saith Such is the Son to whom only God saith Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and other places of Scripture By the words God's only begotten Son do all mean Christ only The Adversaries would have him to be called so only in a special manner above the rest as we already have taken notice of in the instance about Isaac whereunto here we shall add that of Solomon which also they made use of called say they * Prov. 4.3 only begotten in the sight of his mother but they must not go about to impose upon us for in the original the word begotten is not in but only which in our Bibles is according to the sense of the place explained by beloved only beloved one may be the only yet not only begotten Son when of many Children one alone is remaining and the rest are dead as to Isaac we already observed he was the only begotten in relation to Sarab by Promise but Christ is so called God's only begotten Son that it was never said to any one else Thou art my Son c. whence we may conclude him so to be God's Son as to be the only begotten of him that is according to his Nature in the word he is properly and absolutely called the only begotten * John 1.14 We beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is not comparative as only denoting a likeness but as Chrysostomus observes well is expressive of the truth as being really as if one willing to describe a Royal State and Carriage of a King should say as that is in a manner becoming and proper for a King and farther the Evangelist addeth v. 18. The only begotten son which is in the besom of the Father he hath declared him where Christ is called the only begotten 〈◊〉 it being his own proper Name signifying how besides him there is no true natural Son of God again ‖ John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and * 1 John 4.9 God sent his only begotten son into the world See what a care the Spirit of God hath taken to confirm and make that Truth known how Christ is properly and absolutely God's only begotten Son now he is absolutely only begotten that is not only so called lookt upon and loved as such but that is really so and indeed we know our blessed Saviour is call'd †Joh. 20.17 Brother of his Disciples and of ‖ Heb. 2.17 Believers but not in a proper and strict sense The relation of Brotherhood hath a great latitude for among the Jews Persons belonging to any branch of a Family to a Tribe or to any of the Tribes were call'd Brethren * Gal. 1.19 James and John were call'd the Lord's Brothers and in another sense our Saviour calls †Mat. 12.50 his brother his sister and his mother whosoever shall do the will of God He is our Brother in that he hath taken upon him our human Nature all Men are Brothers in human Nature but Adoption cannot be the ground of his as 't is of our being call'd the Sons of God he is never called adopted as we are neither can he be adopted with us seeing we are adopted in him we are the Branches of the wild Olive-Tree that have been grafted in him who is the true natural Olive-Tree and thereby are become Members of his mystical Body How can our blessed Saviour be called God's only begotten Son if he be not partaker of the same Nature And the more to enforce this in that sâ—â—e Chapter and Verse John 18. 't is added which is in the bosom of the Father can he be in and from the Bosom of the Father and not be of the same Nature All other Children of God are made but this is begotten and only begotten none but he is properly begotten Our Third Argument is taken out of our Saviour's Question to the Pharisees * Mat. 12.41 41 4â— 44. What think ye of Christ whose son is he they say unto him the son of David he saith unto them how then doth David in spirit call him Lord By this way of arguing he shewed how in him besides human Nature there was another namely the divine according to which he by no means might be called David's Son but David's Lord which to the Pharisees proved an unanswerable Argument for upon this same 't is positively said v. 46. and no man was able to answer him a word one would think this should also stop the mouth of Socinians Indeed there the Lord proposeth the Question about the Nature of Christ or the Son whose natural Son he was Whereunto the Pharisees returned an imperfect Answer for only they said he was the Son of David but the Lord Jesus out of Scripture which they could not deny concluded that since he was by David's confession his Lord he must in him have another Nature besides human according to which he might not be called
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
unto the Son of Man this could not be the Father and if any doubt should remain 't is cleared ver 17 18. for St. John having known him fell at his Feet he said not as the Angel see thou do not but he said to him fear not I am he that liveth and was dead which cannot be spoken of the Father who never died and these words I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end are spoken * Rev. 21.6 again and all the general Words spoken asunder in this Book are together repeated I am Alpha and Omega Chap. 22.13 the beginning and the end the first and the last and here as they began so they will end for they will own Christ to be the first because say they he is the first that shewed Men the way of Salvation But did not the Prophets and John Baptist before Christ was manifested and preached the Gospel shew Men the way of Salvation Which way did Patriarchs Prophets and Miartyrs go to Heaven and could be saved if they had not known the way to Salvation before Christ began to preach the Gospel And were not after his Ascension many things conducing to the way of Salvation declared by his Apostles If he be the first only because he first taught Men the way to Glory and Immortality he being the last as well as the first must also be the last to enter into it which how false it is let the Enemies themselves be the Judges There is one thing more material to prove the Eternity of Christ which I must not omit for as what I have said proves him to have been before Abraham and other Patriarchs so what remains will shew him to have been before the World it self the words are plain * 1 John 17.5 And now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world began Our blessed Saviour never spoke to Men any thing but the Truth much more to his Father but most of all upon this occasion when he was about leaving the World and going to him there is a Glory which Christ desired should be made known to all namely that of the Gospel which is called the glorious Gospel and this Glory of Christ was effected in the Preaching thereof all the World over Paul alone published it †Rom. 15.19 from Jerusalem into Illyricum the Gospel certainly tended to the Glory of God the Father's Mercy being highly revealed therein and of this he saith I have glorified thee on the earth and as he had glorified the Father making known his Name and Glory unto Men which before had never been done to that degree this work which the Father had given him to do being over he now speaks for himself and now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self To be glorified with God is to be glorified with the same Glory which he hath in Heaven with God in the Bosom and at the Right Hand of the â—ather with an equal Majesty and Honour with the Father served by innumerable Legions of Angels which is a Glory unknown to the World this is a Glory which the Son of God had before the World was This Stile of Scripture before the World was signifies Eternity for there was nothing created before the World seeing in the beginning God created Heaven and Earth and every thing therein contained but John saith not in the beginning the Word was made or began to be but was had his being consequently eternal for beyond the beginning of the World there is nothing but Eternity time began at the Creation I say if Christ had a Glory with the Father before the World was then Christ was before the World for a Glory he could not have except he had a Being but here Christ says he had a Glory with the Father before the World was and we believe he speaks Truth therefore Christ was before the World this cannot be understood of Human Nature which he took only in time long after the World was created therefore it must be spoken of a Divine Nature for before the Creation of the World there was nothing but God Notwithstanding this positive Truth they give our blessed Saviour the lye and say he had no real Glory before the World was but only by a Decree and Appointment he was ordained to have a Glory Good Lord When will this People let the Son of God have his own They go about to rob him wholly or in part of every thing he hath Christ says not the Glory which thou didst decree or ordain for me but which I had was in possession of and enjoyed To have a title to and be in possession of a thing are two very different things we defie them even to give any instance how to have absolutely taken signifies to be appointed to have if after this rate Men allow their Fancies such a latitude as to forge new and unusual Significations to the words of Christ we can be sure of nothing Whensoever any one is absolutely said to have a thing it implys him to be at the same time for he that is not can have nothing 't is true we are said * 2 Cor. 5.1 Heb. 10.34 to have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens and to have in heaven a better and an induring substance Believers are indeed said to have such things but when are they said so certainly not before the World was nor before they were themselves but after they are What is said also * 2 Tim. 1.9 of the grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began makes nothing against us 't is one thing to have something given us and another actually to have it the first is the act of the Giver the second of the Receiver we have not now really that which is given us till after we received it one may have a Place in Reversion which may be he shall never have Lands may be given me by a Will which I cannot be laid to have till I am actually in possession thereof as it never was heard of that any one gave any thing before he was so none can receive any thing before he is besides in the Text now in question 't is not simply said that Grace was given us but given us in Christ Jesus now this Grace is so given us in Christ that he must have it before he can communicate it unto us so then we cannot be said to have a thing when we have it not though we be appointed to have it These two things are different Who may say that Paul was an Apostle of Jesus Christ had Faith in Christ Charity and brotherly Love when he was an Unbeliever Contra rationem nemo sobrius cont scripturam nemo Christianus cont Ecclesiam nemo pacificus a Blasphemer and Persecuter To Socinians we may apply this Saying No Man may be called sober
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
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
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
express Image of the Father's Person because in him through that eternal Generation is expressed the whole Person and Glory of the Father for which Image of God he is called the First-born of every Creature that is begotten before there was any Creature and so from Eternity as in the Form and Nature of God to be equal with God who otherwise hath not and owneth none equal to himself 2 Sam. 7 1â— In these high and divine matters Men must not presume beyond what is written and revealed in Gods Word nor wrest the Delign of the Spirit of God or force an unusual and contrary sense to the words of the Text but we ought to keep our selves within the bounds of that holy reverence which becomes us in the contemplation of the Majesty of God In these very things Hierom as said before was very cautions about acknowledging three Hypostases in the Deity because he thought the word to denote substance When God was upon withdrawing the Spirit of Prophecy from among his People Chap. 4.4 he by Malâ—câ—y the last of the Prophets commands them to remember the law of Moses his servant So now when the Apostles immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost ceased so long since men should wholly acquiesce to the sound Doctrine which those Servants of his Son Jesus left for our use and instruction wherein we learn how God hath revealed himself and communicated his own infinite fulness unto his Creatures in all of them immediately by his own Son first in the creation of all things secondly in their providential disposal and rule thirdly in the revelation of his Will and Ordinances fourthly in the communication of his Spirit and Grace in none of which is the Person of the Father otherwise represented unto us than in and by the Person of the Son for the whole end of the Gospel is 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Tim 6.10 1 â—oâ—n 4.12 to give knowledge of the glory of God in the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ that is the glory of the 〈◊〉 visible God whom no man hath seen Now in that forenamed Prophecy of Malachy the same Chapter and two last Verses the coming of the 〈◊〉 which had often been prophesied of before is again promised yea of the Lord himself who then was and had been from all Eternity but was to come only at such a time which is called the great and dreadful day of the Lord for against the appearing and long before of that Sun of Righteousness all those Stars the Prophets were to disappear one only excepted like the Morning-star before the rising of the Sun Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord By whom the Lord Jesus is meant as John Baptist is by Elijah so called because he came in the spirit and power of Elias for both were endow'd with a fervency of Spirit which made them spare neither Kings nor People And the Evangelist makes use of the words of the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children Luke 1.17 compared with Matt. 11.14 Mark 9.11 12 13. That same Lord whose coming with such Concomitants as great and dreadful was Jehovah himself the God of Israel whose words tho' in his state of humiliation were so conspicuous glorious and great as he in one particular said himself to the man out of whom he had cast a Legion of Devils Return to thine own house Luk. 8.39 and shew what great things God hath done unto thee And the Evangelist who in the beginning of the Verse relateth Christ's words to the man doth in the latter end of the same declare what the man did And he went his way and published throughout the whole City how great things Jesus had done unto him he did it in the same words how great things only instead of God he said Jesus so that Jesus was the God that had done great things unto him This was in the Land of Judah where no other God but the true God of Israel was own'd and worshipped so the Lord Jesus was that same God whom the Father from Heaven calls his Son which is the Name mentioned Phil. 2.9 that is above every name and this name more excellent than any given the Angels Heb. 1.4 he hath obtained by inheritance not by favour according to what saith the Apostle for the name by him designed is that of Son of God Thou art my Son with the exegetical adjunct of his generation This day have I begotten thee Acts 13.33 which words Paul doth apply to the Lord Jesus This day of Eternity after the manner of time spoken in relation to God with whom are no parts of time as with Men past present and to come With God are not days but only one day which had no beginning and shall have no end It was never said to any Angel personally upon his own account Thou art the Son of God much less with the reason of the appellation This day have I begotten thee so in that place the Apostle doth not speak of the general Name of a Son but of the particular appropriation thereof unto the Lord Jesus upon his own account When the Apostle saith he is the first-born the thing it self is not meant of being the first begotten but the Dignity and Privilege that attended it Psal 89.27 Thus God saith of David I will make him my first-born explained in the later part of the Verse higher than the Kings of the carth Thus among Men one may say I will make such a one my First-born or my Heir which is the Privilege attending the Birth-right This is Christs Title by Nature and not by Office anointing was a Ceremony used to make and declare a King but that anointing made him not a Man for he was so before So the Lord Jesus was God before he was Christ CHAP. XI Some Animadversions upon a Book called Christianity not Mysterious WHAT I said somewhat before concerning Reason puts me in mind of a thing I promised about the middle of my Discourse namely to take notice of a Book with the Title of Christianity not mysterious wherein the Author undertakes to shew there is nothing in the Gospel or in our Religion against or above Reason And tho' I have hardly any room left yet to be as good as my word I must briefly say something to it We agree with him against all human Authority contrary to the Word and own Scripture to be the only competent Judge and allow of our Reason as long as it draweth out of that Spring and not otherwise Let us be sincere and avoid Ambiguities there is true and sound Reason whereof the Word of God is the right and standing infallible Rule for the Will of God is the measure of all Truth and Equity and our Reason to be Reason indeed must be guided by that or else it doth deviate from the Rule There is also that
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