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.
Analogy of Faith and the most general Scope and Design of the Holy Scriptures that is to say that Christ was before Abraham and before the World c. in the Fore-ordination Decree and Counsel of God as in very Deed St. Peter interprets them when he saith thus of Christ that he verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifest in these lust times 1 Pet. 1. 20. Of the Satisfaction that Christ made to God Some argue thus That if Christ had not been God the Sacrifice he offered or the Satisfaction he made for Sinners would not have been of that Infinite Worth which was necessary to satisfy the Infinite Justice of an offended God I answer The Holy Scriptures do not any where declare this Doctrine but on the contrary they tell us that as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life Rom. 5. 18. In which Words are contained the whole Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ and they imply thus much only that God was so infinitely well pleased with the unspotted Righteousness of his Son that for his sake he entred into a new Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind wherein he did engage himself to be still their God and to afford them new Means of becoming his People Thus did God in Infinite Mercy take all Men again into Favour for the sake of one perfectly righteous Person as in infinite Justice he had before included all Men under Suffering for their first Father's Sin and Transgression So that as by Man came Death the Punishment due to the Breach of the first Covenant so by Man came also the Resurrection from the Dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. All which was not the Effect of any equivalent Price which by Christ was given to God but of the Righteousness or Obedience which he perform'd to his Father's Command for as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Rom. 5. 19. Had Christ given to God or made in our stead such a Satisfaction as had been equivalent to the Transgressions of all Men in order to redeem them how then could Eternal Life be the free Gift of God How then could we be saved by Free Grace and how could our Sins be said to be forgiven for Gift and Grace and Forgiveness are not proper terms where an Equivalent hath been received In the Scripture 't is said indeed that Christ hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. That our Peace is made through the Blood of his Cross Col. 1. 20. That we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. But it speaks not so much as one Word of an Equivalent But is it not said say some that we are bought with a Price 1 Cor. 6. 20. And that the Son of Man has given his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. I answer These are but improper Expressions and are of the same Nature with those which attribute Hands and Eyes and Ears to God which only imply that such Acts are done by God which Men usually perform by these bodily Parts Even so Christ is said to ransom us and to buy us with a Price because by his Means we do receive Benefits equivalent to what they do who are set free from any kind of Misery and Bondage by the Payment of a Price to them in whose Bondage they are I shall as a Close to what I have to say on this Head add that the Justice of God spoken of is satisfied in a manner different from that which the Adversary supposes that is to say the Justice of God is satisfied in the certain Punishment of Adam's Transgression Adam was commanded not to eat of the forbidden Fruit on pain of Death This Command he transgressed and 't is evident that the Punishment was accordingly inflicted for Adam died and all his Posterity do die likewise Now when the Penalty is thus inflicted 't is plain that Justice is satisfied and God in Equity can require no more but had not Christ obtained the Favour to restore us to Life after the Punishment was thus inflicted there had then been an End of Mankind for ever From hence 't is apparent how idle their Fancy is who imagine Christ suffered what all Mankind should have suffered in order to free them for ever from suffering the same For 't is plain beyond Contradiction that we are not freed from Death the Punishment due to that first Transgression for we all die God does exact the Forfeiture of every one of us and by Consequence his Justice as to that Offence is satisfied in all its Demands But this say some is false for Hell was our Due as well as Death and from that Christ has freed every one that will believe I answer 'T is strange that Christ should free Believers from one part of the Punishment and not from the other The Scriptures no where reveal this Secret and for that Reason we need not believe it Hell is the Punishment which is due to the Breach of the second Covenant and not of the first now neither has Christ freed us from this by any thing that he has done and suffered for us He by his Righteousness did indeed procure for us a new Covenant and this new Covenant of Grace proposes Life and Pardon on condition that we will believe its Promises sincerely endeavour to obey its Precepts and repent of Sin and they are truly the Breakers of this Covenant who live in a continued Course of Disobedience thereunto and die at last in final Impenitence Now for such Sinners as these there does remain no Sacrifice Christ never died for the Redemption of such and by Consequence can no ways be said to suffer in their stead Of the Object of Divine Worship Some object that Jesus must be God because 't is recorded that his Name in the most Primitive Times of the Gospel was called upon see Acts 9. 14. and 22. 16. I answer 'T is difficult to understand rightly what is there meant by Calling on his Name This is certain that the Scripture no where injoins us to make Christ the Object of Divine Worship it does rather expresly intimate the contrary Our Lord forewarns his Disciples not to ask any thing of him after his Ascension but bids them ask the Father in his Name Job 16. 23 24 26. And when our Lord taught his own Disciples to pray he bids them say Our Father which art in Heaven Mat. 6. 9. He does not direct them to say O Christ hear us He tells the Samaritan Woman that in the following times the true Worshippers should worship the Father Joh. 4. 23. 'T was the Doctrine of St. Paul that in every thing by Prayer and Supplication we should let our Requests be made known unto God Phil. 4. 6. And his