Contradiction to the most self-evident Sentiments of humane Understanding But some may say If such Passages as these are so generally to be overlook'd in the Business of Religion why then did God cause them to be recorded in the sacred Scripture I answer that it may as well be asked why God made so many sorts of small and as we think useless Insects to live upon the Earth since we know not what Benefit they are of to the World Doubtless God who does nothing in vain made them for some great Ends though our short-sighted Understanding cannot perceive what those excellent Ends of his are Even so likewise will his Wisdom be manifested some way or other by what to us is yet hard to be understood in Scripture And though we are ignorant of the true meaning of many of the most obscure and doubtful Parts thereof yet the Ends and Purposes of God in causing them to be written either are or shall in due time be accomplished In the mean time we ought to magnify that manifest Goodness of God who hath communicated to Mankind such a number of plain and evident Precepts as will be fully sufficient for Salvation if we carefully observe them All are concern'd in the Business of Life Eternal therefore hath God given us Laws sutable to our common Capacities The Gospel of Christ was preach'd to the Poor which intimates that the Glad-tidings of Salvation did not consist of unintelligible Mysteries but of such plain and evident Notions as did fit the Understandings of the lowest People Of Faith and Reason There are a sort of People in the World of several false Perswasions who when they can no longer maintain their Errors against the Power of true Reason fly to Faith as their last Refuge and tell us that 't is by Faith only that we are made able to overcome the World 1 Joh. 5. 4. And that therefore 't is necessary for Men to believe what yet they cannot comprehend To this I answer That Faith indeed is the chief Duty of the Christian Religion because 't is the Belief of God's Promises and Threatnings that does ingage Mankind to the Obedience of his Precepts Few I doubt would be religious were there no Fear of Hell nor Hopes of Heaven 'T is said that all things are possible to him that believes Mark 9. 23. which in other Words imports that no Difficulty nor Hazard how great soever shall be able to stop them in their Christian Race And in this Sense it only is that Faith is said to be the Victory that overcometh the World But though 't is only a firm Perswasion of the Truth of God's Promises and Threatnings that inspires the Faithful with Courage to overcome and conquer the Temptations not only of the Devil but of the Lusts of this World too yet this is no Argument that therefore we must assent to that which we see no Reason to believe for then we might be every whit as liable to believe things false as things that are true Wherefore it behoves us to be very watchful and circumspect in avoiding false Principles for Error of any kind will rather make us Slaves to the Devil than enable us to overcome and conquer him As therefore thou oughtst to imbrace Truth wheresoever thou dost find it so be as ready to relinquish Errors when by carefully examining into Religion thou hast discovered them to be such for 't is in every respect as Heroick an Act of Faith to believe our selves in the wrong when we really are so as 't is to adhere stedfastly to a Truth undoubted Know then that no kind of Faith can be true that is certainly unreasonable for the Light of Nature is as much God's Law as Divine Revelation and none must ever think that God's Law can contradict it self Right self-evident Reason is the only Touchstone that Men have to distinguish Truth from Error and 't is the Agreement even of Scripture with this Reason that makes us know it to be the Word of God 't is not our Forefathers saying so but the exact Concurrence of the Witness of our Spirit and that Testimony And though some would perswade us not at all to trust to Reason in Matters of Religion yet 't is observable that those very Men that exclaim most against it are yet necessitated to give Reasons of their own to prove if 't were possible that your Reason is not to be relied on and certainly that Guide must needs be most safe whom the whole World in some kind or other do find it so necessary to follow Of the true Nature of Religion 'T is certain that the Laws of Religion are design'd by God for the only Good of Mankind he forbids some things and commands others only because the one is prejudicial to Man's Well-being and the other is absolutely necessary to his Peace and Happiness In order then to the true Happiness of this Life there is required a sutable way of living even such as respects the Universal Good of the whole Kind which in short is that which Men call a Life of Holiness or a Life perfectly free from every kind of Injustice or Mischief both to one's self and others And as for the Heavenly State that is a State of perfect Goodness and Purity and 't is impossible that any one can take delight in that Divine kind of Life hereafter which he hated here And for that Reason could the Wicked be admitted into Heaven yet then would they be unhappy by reason that there none of those base and ignoble Pleasures would be found which their corrupted Minds on Earth did love and admire 'T is then only a good Life on Earth that can fit us for the Heavenly Inheritance Now this Goodness of Life so necessary to Man's both present and future Bliss does not consist in Speculation but in Practice Belief is of no other Use than as it enacts Obedience and that 's the Reason that the Day of Judgment is represented as taking no notice of the Opinions but of the Practices of Men. Have you fed the Hungry Have you clothed the Naked Have you visited the Sick Mat. 25. 36. At that great Solemnity the Inquiry will not be What had you in the World or what did you profess but what good Deeds have you done therein how has your Care been to promote the Universal Good of rational Beings Have you renounced the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life 1 John 2. 26. and lived soberly and righteously and godlily in this present World Tit. 2. 12. and done justly and loved Mercy and walked humbly with God Mich. 6. 8. Now if 't is the Goodness of our Practice that is the one thing necessary to Salvation then the disbelieving either a few doubtful or else a few unreasonable Opinions can never be dangerous Let us then as to the Point now under Examination ask our selves but this one Question Will the Belief of the Doctrine
Now they must impose strangely upon their own Understandings that can unrequired by the Gospel believe him to be truly God even Infinite in all Perfection of whom 't is said so plainly that whatever Power and Dignity he has is given him by another Christ not God because God and He are plainly distinguished This Consideration alone of it self is a very strong Argument to prove our Lord Christ not to be really and truly God since he is every where spoken of as a Person that differs as much from God as a noble Subject differs from his Prince or King Thus 't is said of him that God anointed him Acts 10. 38. That he offered himself up to God Heb. 9. 14. That God raised him from the Dead Acts 2. 24. That he was exalted by God Acts 2. 33. That he ascended to God Joh. 20. 17. That he sits at God's right Hand Acts 7. 56. That God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Eph. 4. 32. That he hath redeemed us unto God by his Blood Rev. 5. 9. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ hath put all things under his Feet Eph. 1. 22. I might collect a very great Number of other Places that speak to the very same purpose all which do evidently demonstrate that the true God is not Jesus Christ for if Jesus were sent of God and raised up from the Dead by God and sits now at God's right Hand c. then 't is plain that there is as great a Difference between the true God and him as there is between a Prince and him whom he is said to honour or imploy 'T would be strangely absurd for a Man to affirm that God can be sent of God that God can pray to God that God can ascend to God that God can sit at God's right Hand and that God shall deliver up the Kingdom to God that God may be all in all He that can believe this possible is fitted for the Reception of the most ridiculous and absurd Errors that were ever found in the World Of that Account which the Scriptures give of the Person of Christ As from what has been said before it appears very plainly what kind of Person Christ our Lord is not so 't will be likewise necessary to shew what the Scriptures do declare concerning him as to what he is Now if we consider well the general Scope and Tendency of those sacred Writings we shall perceive very plainly that Christ or the Messiah according to the Promises was really to be of the same Nature with them which he came to redeem that as by Man came Death so by Man might come also the Resurrection of the Dead 1 Cor. 15. 'T was by the Seed of the Woman that the Serpent's Head was bruised Gen. 3. 15. To Abraham the Promise was made that in him and in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Gen. 28. 14. Moses tells the Children of Israel that the Lord their God should raise up unto them a Prophet like unto him Deut. 8. 15. Of this Man's Seed namely David 's saith St. Paul hath God raised up unto Israel a Saviour Jesus Acts 13. 23. In the Fulness of time God sent forth his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. From all which Places 't is manifest that as to the personal Nature of Christ he is the same as were those humane Ancestors from whom he did lineally descend In all things he was like unto his Brethren except in being a Sinner Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 4. 15. And accordingly we find him almost every where mentioned by that plain Denomination and Term of A MAN Ye seek saith he himself to kill me A MAN who hath told you the Truth which I have heard of God Joh. 8. 40. After me cometh A MAN that is preferred before me Joh. 1. 30. Jesus of Nazareth A MAN approved of God by Wonders and Signs which God did by him Acts 13. 38. He hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by THAT MAN whom he hath ordained Acts 17. 31. There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men THE MAN Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. But THIS MAN because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Heb. 2. 7. But THIS MAN after he had once offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down at the right Hand of God Heb. 10. 12. I could name a Multitude of others but I think it is needless Now to me 't is strange that any should so much as imagine that the believing and asserting of Christ to be truly an humane Person should derogate from his true Honour and Dignity when the Gospel does so frequently assert him to be such whereas on the contrary 't is not said so much as once that he is God most high or that he is one of that sacred Three which do constitute or make up the true Godhead These Unscriptural Titles are derived only from the meer Opinions and Traditions of either deceived or deceiving Men whose Eyes the God of this World hath blinded so that they cannot see or discern the Truth The Primitive Confessions concerning Christ were Not that Jesus our Lord was God equal to the Father in all kind of Divine Perfections nor that he was God of the Substance of his Father as he was Man of the Substance of his Mother as some have taught in after-times All that those first Confessions do contain was this that he was the Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World This was the Faith of Martha She said unto him Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God that should come into the World John 11. 27. This was St. Peter 's Faith Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16. This was the Eunuch's Faith I believe that Christ is the Son of God Acts 8. 37. This was the Faith of the Mariners Of a Truth thou art the Son of God Mat. 14. 33. And the Faith of Nicodemus was We know thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him John 3. 2. St. Paul is also said to preach Christ in the Synagogues that he was the Son of God Acts 9. 20. He is said also to testify to the Jews not that Jesus was God but that Jesus was the Christ Acts 18. 5. We have seen and do testify saith St. John that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World 1 Joh. 4. 14. Here 's no Trinity in Unity nor God-man nor Hypostatical Union so much as mentioned nor any other of those hard and cramping Names with which the Church of God has been since perplex'd The undoubted Faith on which the Salvation of all Christians does depend Is no other than this These things saith St. John are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing ye might
have Life through his Name Joh. 20. 31. If we confess with our Mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our Heart that God raised him from the Dead we shall be saved Rom. 10. 9. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 Joh. 4. 15. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God 1 Joh. 5. 5. These are a plain Account of that Faith which now is indispensably required of every Christian in relation to Christ The Scripture no where injoins us to believe on pain of Damnation either that Jesus is God most High or that he is indeed both God and Man or that he was Eternally begotten of the Father It only teaches us thus much concerning him that the Man Christ Jesus is the Mediator between God and Men 2 Tim. 2. 5. That he is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2. 2. That it pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself Col. 1. 20. That there is no Salvation in any other Acts 4. 12. That he appears now in the Presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. And that he shall judg both Quick and Dead at the latter Day Acts 10. 42. These are Fundamentals so plain and so undoubted that all Christians do universally agree in the Profession of them as they likewise would do in all other Truths were nothing but what is really such imposed on the Faith of Believers Of the transcendent Dignity of Jesus Christ And now although from what has been said hitherto it be plainly evident that the Godhead does consist but of one Divine Person only even the Father of Christ and that Jesus called otherways in Scripture the Son of God is no other than an humane Person yet 't is plain also that he is not a common Man but the chief and most transcendently Excellent of all humane Beings yea in Dignity above even the Angels For as his Conception in the Womb of a Virgin was miraculous so were his Life and Actions a Wonder He made a perfect Conquest both of Death and the Devil and in that great Instance of Magnanimity has out-done all the renowned Heroes both of Greece and Rome And unto which of the Angels said God at any time Sit thou on my right hand but to this Dignity is Jesus exalted Heb. 1. 13. God has crowned him with Glory and Honour Heb. 2. 9. And anointed him with the Oil of Gladness above his Fellows Heb. 1. 9. Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. 3. 22. He is ascended into Heaven in a triumphant manner and as he now sits there at God's right Hand in Glory so at the last Day shall he come down from thence to judg Mankind with such a surprizing Majesty as shall amaze and confound the World 'T is doubtless impossible for any humane Understanding to conceive or Tongue to express this most excellent Man's transcendent Dignity his Greatness must needs be very extraordinary who is thus set even above the Angels is the Head of every Man and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth 1 Pet. 3. 22. 1 Cor. 11. 3. Rev. 1. 5. And now if to those foregoing Considerations we add that of his most admired Love to us sinful Mortals in making Peace for us by the Blood of his Cross Col. 1. 20. and in undergoing with invincible Patience all those Indignities and Miseries which did befal him in this the Course of that glorious Work of his the opening for Men a new and living way to the Regions of Bliss The Consideration of this I say added to that other of his most transcendent Glory and Power ought evermore to raise up in us that Veneration which is sutable to such most wonderful Instances of unconceivable Majesty and Heroick Affection Yet it is not any way justifiable to honour Christ falsly As the Glory of God is not to be advanc'd by Falshood so neither can we truly honour Christ by Lies he desires no such thing at our Hands neither at the last Day will he reward us for affirming him to be that which indeed he is not they only give true Honour to Christ who own him for the undoubted Messiah or the Son of God and do stedfastly both believe and obey his Gospel As for the other vain and ungrounded Opinions of Men concerning him they no ways conduce to the Glory of our Blessed Redeemer 'T is said indeed that we should honour the Son as we honour the Father Joh. 5. 23. But that word AS does not import an equal Honour no more than it does import an equal Holiness and Purity when we are commanded to purify our selves AS he is pure 1 John 3. 3. And AS he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. Besides the word Honour is of a doubtful Import and doth often-times signify only Obedience as is evident from Ephes 6. 1 2. where by honour thy Father and Mother is clearly signified obey your Parents And accordingly Dr. Clagget in his Paraphrase on the Place makes it to be an honouring the Son with the same Faith and Obedience implying that we are as much bound to believe and obey the Gospel of Christ in the New Testament as we are the Law of God recorded in the Old that since he is made Judg of the World to be certain he will not suffer the Breach of his own Laws to go unpunished Doubtless we ought to be as careful of ascribing to Christ those Glories which are his as we are to give to God Almighty that Honour which essentially belongs to himself and no Man can think or speak too honourably of his Redeemer so long as he no ways does thereby rob God the Father of that truly Divine Honour which is his indispensible Due Our Lord who sought not his own Glory John 8. 50. will give us no Thanks for such Honours as do naturally derogate from his Father's Dignity but such is their Honour who make the Son to be God for then since but one Person can be truly God they do assert by Consequence that the Father is not so God has indeed highly exalted Jesus his beloved Son and has given him a Name above every Name and has put all things under his Feet But when all things are said to be thus put under him 't is manifest that he himself is excepted that did put all things under him 1 Cor. 15. 27. So that notwithstanding the great and mighty Dignities to which God hath exalted Christ yet he has still reserv'd to himself this most supreme Royalty of being the God and Head of Christ God hath given him indeed a Kingdom but when the Intent of this Government of his is accomplish'd he shall again resign it back that so God in that after-state of Eternity may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.
mighty Salvation for us out of the House of his Servant David Luke 1. 68 69. A general Rule for answering all Objections Having considered and answered the principal Objections urged in favour of the Doctrine which asserts Jesus Christ to be truly God in opposition to that of his being only the Man who is the Mediator between God and Men 1 Tim. 2. 5. or that which asserts that none is God but the Father of Christ 't will be needless to confute those other little Objections which still remain since when the chiefest Strength that does uphold an Error is overthrown 't is not in the Power of some little Props to maintain and support it nevertheless lest the Minds of some should thereby be perplex'd I here lay down one general Rule by which all other Objections may be easily refuted and that is this If any Principle in Religion be true by the greater and by the plainer Number of Evidences it can never be false by a few in number or by them that are dark and doubtful If then the Arguments to prove the true God to be only the Father of Jesus Christ are more in number and plainer to be understood than those are which are objected in favour of the contrary you need then only to reply thus that the Proofs that make for it are more both in Number and Weight than those that are against it and that therefore 't would be unpardonable to suffer such Trifles to unsettle and shake your Faith Suppose a Man objects against the Doctrine of God's being but one in Person this Text Let us make Man Gen. 1. 26. and endeavour to prove from thence that God is more than one in Person is it reasonable to suffer this to alter your Judgment when for that one Passage Vs urged in favour of the Belief of more Persons than one you have ten thousand that mention God to be but only one in such Terms as these I thou me he his And as for the Terms of we they them c. they are not mentioned in Scripture so much as once as applied to God alone If every single Objection that is started should be admitted to be of Authority sufficient to invalidate the best and clearest Proofs or if every hard and doubtful Passage in Scripture were enough to overthrow all them that are clear and plain then all true Religion would soon be at an end for some plausible Exceptions may be made against the chiefest and plainest Truths in Religion otherwise so many false and erroneous Opinions would not have obtained that Authority that they have in the World Indeed when we are told plainly that we are in an Error and Arguments truly considerable are at the same time offered to undeceive us we ought then to suffer our selves to be convinc'd for if what is thus urged carries with it so much clear Evidence as makes it undoubted the changing then of our Opinions will not only be reasonable but very honourable too since nothing is more ignoble and base than to be a Slave to Error from which not any thing in this World but Truth can free us Of the true Notion of the Holy Ghost 'T is plain from the general Analogy of true Faith grounded on Scripture-Evidence that the Holy Ghost is no distinct Person subsisting of himself for then 't is clear that our Lord could not be the Son of him who is now called God the Father or the first Person in the supposed Trinity since 't is plain that the Virgin Mary's Conception was occasioned by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost Luke 1. 35. which all Trinitarians acknowledg to be the third Person and not the first 'T is expresly said that that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1. 20. And that she was with Child by him Mat. 1. 18. Wherefore 't is evident from these additional Words and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Luke 1. 35. that the Holy Ghost is only that Divine and Invisible Power of God by which he works his Will and Pleasure in the World and by Consequence that God and the Spirit of God are no more two distinct Persons than Man and the Spirit of Man are for to the one the other is compared in the sacred Scripture 1 Cor. 2. 11. And as the Members of Man's Body do secretly and wonderfully obey the Dictates of his Will or Mind so and much more so do all Creatures act and are commanded by the Almighty Power of God's Divine and most Wise Will and Pleasure When therefore all the elect People of God are said to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost it must be understood of that new Temper and Inclination of Mind which God by his Divine and Invisible Power does work or cause in Men. When he powerfully raises up in them holy Thoughts and excites in their Minds new Desires he is then truly said to sanctify them by his Spirit And when Men wilfully reject those Motions to Goodness which God by his Power does raise up in them they are then truly said to resist and grieve and quench his Spirit And whereas the Spirit is said to receive and to be sent from whence some would infer its distinct Personality 't is replied that these are but improper Expressions such as are before noted to be spoken of God and Christ they are Words fitted to our dull Apprehensions rather than to the true Nature of the Spirit it self even as God is represented as having the Actions and Passions of a Man and to come down from Heaven when yet we know that he is already every where though our mortal Eyes have not Powers fitted to perceive him He that filleth all things can no ways be capable of moving out of his Place Such Expressions as these therefore are plainly improper and must not be understood literally or as at first sight they seem to express The CONCLVSION TO what has been said on this Subject I will only add this one solemn Protestation that as what I here offer is grounded on the Dictates only of plain and positive Scripture and the most evident and perfect Reason as I humbly judg So the Design of this its Publication is the alone Glory of God Almighty and the Church's Peace which no ways can be establish'd firmly but on the Foundations of Truth And though I am sensible the Work is not perform'd with that Exactness as to be in every part without Reproof yet I am satisfied that in the main I have therein managed the true Cause of God and Religion Nevertheless I have a secret Distrust within me that what I here offer will not be kindly received for my best Indeavours must not expect to find better Success than did those of my blessed Lord and Master who though he spake as never Man spake and confirmed his Doctrine with such Miracles as did demonstrate him to be a Teacher sent of God yet was believed on but by a few The Praise of Men was then generally much more belov'd than the Praise of God Joh. 12. 43. And I doubt the Case is still the same Men now seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ Phil. 2. 21. They that love Riches will hardly run the hazard of losing any temporal Preferment for the sake of Truth Others will be averse from acknowledging themselves in a Mistake who before have been honoured with the Repute both of Orthodox and Learned Men and those who have been long prepossess'd with the contrary Perswasion will hardly relinquish it though the best of Reasons be offered to convince them of their Error In short the Religion of Mankind generally is but a Self-righteousness a Law rather of their own making than of God's appointing There are but very few that in all things do either live or believe as the Gospel directs them the whole World does for the most part prefer some senseless Humour before sacred Truth and that immortal Bliss to which it would conduct them THE END