Christian Religion largely and satisfactorily shews if the Reader will be at the pains to peruse him 4 The inanimate creatures have some kind of impression of the Trinity upon them and one God in three Persons hath in a kind left his image and his resemblance upon them The Sun begets beams and rayes and from both these proceeds light and yet neither is the Sun before the beams nor the beams before the light that proceeds from them but in order onely and relation so far as the beams are begotten and the light proceeds but not in time which doth adumbrate the coeternity of the Three Persons So also there is the Fountain and there is the water that bubbles up which is as it were begotten of the Fountain and there is the stream that proceeds from both and these are at once in time for in the first moment that there is a fountain there is the bubling of water or the rising up or boyling of it and no sooner is the bubling but there is an issuing or proceeding of water the water runs from it if there be passage and yet in order the fountain is first the bubling is next and the proceeding of water is last but they are together in time And may it not be said that the impression of the Trinity is here but the character in which the Trinity is written in the book of the creatures is smaller and darker then that every one can read when yet things of the God-head some of them may more easily be spelled forth 5. Though we affirm that the Father creates and the Son creates and the Holy Ghost creates and that these three are three persons yet we do not hold that these three are three reall distinct Agents but one Agent For they are all of them but one thing but one God and so really but one Agent but this one Agent subsists divers ways in three persons as one God subsists divers ways in three persons and these persons are not another thing from that one God and so not another thing from that one Agent So that he goes upon a mistake while he disputes against three principall Agents As suppose there were one soul in three bodies moving them alike in all operations and acting by them these three bodies would not be three Agents but one Agent though all the bodies perform the work And if there be one God in three persons or which is all one subsisting three manner of ways yet the three manner of ways of subsisting doth not make three Gods nor three Agents But there is no similitude that will rightly and exactly and fully in all things hold forth the working of God in trinity of persons only some little crevice of light may be opened to give a little insight into this truth 6. Our Divines when they have confessed that God is known by the Creation but have denyed that God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are known thereby they have meant it of a demonstrative knowledge which of God men may arrive at but of the Trinity they cannot yet there may be some things that may shadow it out though very darkly 7. It is certain that that which is clearly seen of God in the Creation belongs to his Essence For the Apostle tels us so much Rom. 1. 20. his Godhead is seen things belonging to his Essence viz. his power his wisdome the liberty of his will his goodnesse holinesse and many more properties belonging to his Essence which are common to all the persons but those subsistantiall personall properties they are not by any visible characters to be discern'd But he objects against our Divines for saying God is known from the Creation but not Father Son and Holy Ghost and he objects against the reason that they render viz. That the efficient force and vertue by which the world was created belongs to the Essence of God and not to the personall subsistence his words are these Yet by their leave God is a Person all actions being proper unto persons therefore by their grant the work of creation holds forth but one Agent for it is not imaginable that if there were more then one principall Agent they should not all be equally discovered by the work Repl. I have answered unto this Gods being a Person and have declared that God rather imports essentiality then personality yet withall I have shewed that essence is never separated from person but subsists in it and if God be properly spoken of there the essence is meant as it subsists in three persons in Father Son and Holy Spirit Yet when it respects acting things without them these three persons act in that which is common to them all and wherein they are in one and not wherein they are distinguished and are three they act by the same essentiall property as power wisdome c. and these are one and the same in them all and so it is Gods work in Father Son and Holy Ghost and not the Fathers work alone and apart nor God the Sons work alone and apart nor God the Holy Ghost's work alone and apart nor yet the work of all these wherein they differ and are three distinct from each other but the work of all as they are one And the Father is no more discovered then the Son nor any one more then other but God in all is discovered So that he is upon a mistake when he speaks of three principall Agents that must be discovered in the work of creation For these persons that are work but one thing one being one God one reall Agent for the very thing that the Father acts the Son acts and the Holy Ghost acts and the power is one and the wisdome is one and the act is one Or suppose it were granted that there are three principall Agents yet there are not three Agents essentially distinct but personally only and so it comes all to one whether one say that there are three Agents that may be called principall or whether one say there is one principall Agent for the one Agent is in three persons and acts with some personall diversity and the three Agents are but one in essence and but one thing and act one thing and by one power therefore it is not materiall how it is expressed Agent as it relates to God may admit of the same distinction as is made when we speak of God Agent is considered either essentially or subsistentially Essentially and then there is but one as there is but one God Subsistentially and then there are three as there are three Persons But they do not differ really and essentially one from another as the Persons do not but onely in the manner of acting And Agent taken personally though they should be three yet need not be discovered each of them in the work because as they are essentially one so they work one individuall work by one individuall power and force and efficacy which is numerically the same
this is but poorly learned in Christianity It is easily answered that though the Apostles and Saints shall judg the world c. yet they are no where called the Judges of the World And their judging is Catacherstically and very improperly so called The Apostles more especially are said to judg the twelve Tribes or the World because as Paul speaks all shall be judged according to their Gospel Rom. 2. 16. and both Apostles and Angels do judg the World as Assessores as Peter Martyr saith Christus Apostolos Sanctos omnes cooptavit assessores They sit after the manner of Justices of the Peace upon the Bench and hear all and allow of all and approve of all and allow of all and consent to all and are Witnesses of Christs righteous proceedings and in no other sence can they be said to judg and what hath he gained by this and what doth his new discovery which he thought I never thought of amount to His distinction is to better purpose which he brings afterward of principal Judg and Deligate or Deputy Judg and yet it will not mar my Market as he imagines his words are In a sence it is true no creature can be Judg but God that is principal in Government God being both the Alpha and Omega of it deriving his power from none being the Original of all power And afterward he lays down two Propositions 1. That the most high God who is the Worlds principal Judg will not immediately but by a Delegate judg the World Acts 17. 31. John 5. 22. 1 Cor. 15. 28. 2. That Jesus Christ is subordinate Judg in reference unto God the supream Judg but superintendent in reference to the Saints Act. 10. 42. 3. 20. Mat. 16. 27. Joh. 5. 27. Rep. One distinction which hath been often given and is ordinary and familiar with Christians of no vast knowledg will satisfie the Propositions and answer all the Scriptures and reconcile all seeming differences The most high God who as Father Son and Holy Ghost in each person is the Worlds principal Judg and every person not excluding the other is so And Christ as he is the second Person in the Godhead as he is the Son and as he is equal with the Father is the Worlds principal Judg considered a part from the flesh which he hath now assumed the Father and the Holy Ghost not excluded And this I prove from Scripture Gen. 18. 26. The Person before whom Abraham stood was Christ the seconâ— Person in the Trinity not incarnate at that time and he is calleâ— Iehovah and Abraham calls him the Iudg of all the Earth And in Gen. 19. 24. he acted as a Judg he Jehovah the Son rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom from Jehovah his Father And in Isai 45. 22 23. Christ calls himself God and saith there is none else and saith that every knee shall bow to him that is in the day of Judgment as the Apostle an Expositor without exception holds forth in Rom. 14. 10 11. But Christ as considered in flesh being found in fashion as a man as he is Mediator betwixt God and man being both God and man in one Person is designed and ordained by the Father Son and Holy Ghost to judg the world in righteousness as from Act. 17. 31. he proves And so the Father Son and Holy Ghost judg no man but have committed all Judgment to the Son in flesh Ioh. 5. 22. and in the Son in flesh they judg and this Power and Honour hath he received as Mediator in flesh but when all enemies are subdued and judged then he shall deliver up this Kingdom and Power and Glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost the one true God who shall be all in all and the Son himself according to the flesh shall be subject And in this sence as Mediator in flesh he may be called a delegate Judg for that the humane Nature of Christ should be taken up into the fellowship of this Glory with the eternal Son this was by ordination As the Son in flesh had been humbled so the flesh with the Son must be exalted to this Glory Phil. 2. 9 10. And the Glory which Christ hath as Mediator is founded upon Christs sonship in this respect as Judg as in all other respects indeed in any other respect but as the Son he is not capable of being Judg for though whole Christ be Judg yet the natural right to it and ability to perform it is as he is the Son and that the whole in both Natures is Judg is of grace And can any rational man think that Christ a meer man should be able to judg the secrets of men if he were not God as wel as man so that that honor to judg as Mediator is given to him in flesh as declarative of that essential Power and Glory which he had as Son with the Father and Spirit from Eternity that all might honour the Son with the equal honour as the Father is honoured And whereas he saith That the Father is principal in Judgment and is the Alpha and Omega of it alluding to the place where the Father is so called why should not the Son be principal in Judgment with the Father being the Alpha and Omega of it seeing he also is so called in Scripture Thus I have followed him in all his Evasions and shifts and have unmasked his Answers and plucked off the fair Vizard that he had put upon them and have discovered the deceit and found fraud and falshood that was hid under them And I have vindicated the rest of the Scriptures that I alledged from his corrupt Interpretations that he put upon them and have confirmed the Arguments which I produced and they now abide in their strength and have removed and taken out of the way that which troubled their Testimony which they brought to the Godhead of Christ that they could not be heard by reason of the noise that his Answers made in mens ears Let it be considered from first to last what a poor weak feeble base mean contemptible dispiseable Christ Saviour Mediator Intercessor he makes this great God and our Lord Jesus to be and what a penurious defective lame and beggerly righteousness and satisfaction he brings unto us for our support and how shamefully and reproachfully he strips him robs him of the Honour and Glory in all things that is due unto him The worship which he must have can but amount to Reverence which is only due to one that hath the meer honour to come in the name of another which is all he grants to Christ for he denies him to be the ultimate object of worship and there is no intermediate object of worship which is not founded in the ultimate or last object and all that come in Gods name Moses and all the Prophets share with him upon that account in this reverence And he cannot be the object of faith at all according to him but a
of Answ There is great reason for it in this place of John for if it were not so the persons of the Father and of Christ would be confounded for the words run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Word was with God and the Word was God had there been an Article prefixed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God had it been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must have been translated and God was the Word and not the Word was God and then God the Word would have been confounded viz. God the Father of whom it is spoken that Chirst was with him would have been confounded with Christ for God with the Article affixed would have been in right translation the subject and the Word would have been the predicate and then it must have been rendred God was the Word and not the Word was God as it now runs according to the intention of the Holy Ghost whose design is by omission of the Article to manifest forth the distinction of the persons of the Father and Son in unity of Essence both are God yet the one is not the other The like omission of the Article we may observe in Joh. 4. 24. The words in Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is translated and truly because the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is left out before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is a Spirit whereas had the Article been affixed it had altered the Translation and it must have been thus rendred the Spirit is God or a Spirit is God and so the sense would be changed other instances there might be were they needful And this he might have observed from Beza had he been willing to have had his eyes opened As for the Gloss that he makes upon the words I confuted it formerly in part and have shewed in my other Treatise that by beginning the first part of time is meant and that the Verb or Particle was shews a preexistence before the beginning or before time was and not that Christ had his first existence then when the beginning was for the heavens and the earth had their existence then when time first was in the beginning of it and subsisted together with it as Moses records it but the Word was before it and so was eternal for nothing was before the beginning but eternity And whereas he makes this to be the sense of these words The Word was with God This Jesus Christ was a delight to the most high God and did converse with him restraining high God to the Father and excluding Christ it is but the venting of his own conceit in stead of Truth for God there is taken personally and not essentially as I have shewed before oftentimes and the meaning is the person of the Son was with the person of the Father from all eternity and was a delight before the world was founded as from Pro. 8. appears He was as one brought up with the Father from everlasting and was daily his delight But the sense that he puts upon the last words viz. and the Word was a God is the most gross of all and palpably corrupt viz. This Jesus Christ had power committed to him whereby he might represent the most High God And the reason which he renders doth not make it more tollerable viz. the name God is common to God and creatures for I have shewed that never any single person was called God absolutely without limitation and restriction And in this place it is said that Christ was God from the first that he was and he was when the beginning was and it is not said that he began to be when the beginning was therefore he was before and consequently he was God before and it will follow that he was God from eternity and not in regard of any power committed to him whereby he might represent the most high God for there was neither heaven nor earth when he was God over whom to exercise any power nor any creature to whom to represent God And I have shewed that power which he had was power in himself as life was in himself and was not neither could be power committed to him power in him being such as no creature was capable of by which he at first created and doth yet uphold the world Heb. 1. 3. And whereas he gives reasons from this text why Christ should not be the most high God viz. Because he is distinguished from God and God cannot be distinguished from himself he himself answers it by the mention which he makes of personality Christ is distinguished from God taken personally viz. for the Father from the person of the Father is Christ distinguished but not from God essentially taken nor from the essence of the Father for so he and his Father are one But he takes not upon him to answer us in this distinction and to overthrow it though he knows that our great strength lies in it but insteed of answering chargeth us to say that which we say not viz. that we call the Father God by way of eminency and disputes against this as inconsistent to that coequality which we hold and shelters himself under it But he wrongs us for we say the Son is called God as distinct from the Father but not by way of eminency they cannot both be eminent one above the other and yet coequal That which follows of The God and A God which he flies to as a reason why Christ is not the most high God I have answered before and need say no more of it After John 1. 1. Mat. 28. 20. was produced by me to prove the God head of Christ are these Lo I am with you alwaies unto the end of the world to which text he answers thus The meaning of the phrase I am with you c. is no more then this I will do you good whilest ye remain imployed in my work And he brings Jacob as the author of the interpretation Old Jacob saith he no bad interpreter is my Authour Gen. 31. 3. compared with Chap. 32. 9. in the one place God promiseth to be with him in the other place Jacob expounds it to be Gods dealing well with him Rep. This metaphorical presence in actions of grace and favours which he would have to be the sole meaning of the words I will be with thee doth not exclude the essential presence but doth rather include it for how is Christ able to do all good to his Apostles and Disciples in all places of the world and in all conditions and necessities in which they might be and at all times and yet not be essentially present with them If he can declare it let him declare it In the mean time that parallel place which he cites from Gen. 31. 3. compared with chap. 32. 9. is against him for God is inabled to do good to all and so to Jacob by his essential presence with all and in all and so with Jacob and in Jacob And though
God have all the Angels to wait upon him and all the creatures at his command to go for him and to do for him what he appoints yet if he were not essentially present himself with all and in all he could not supply all with all good that they want for he could not see all and know all if he were not present in all if he did not fill all and if all did not live and move and had not being in him Therefore the Lord argues in Jer. 23. 24. from his filling all to his knowing all the words are these Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord and if this be so of God that he works all by his presence with all then it is so of Christ also and the words I will be with you though they may extend to actions of love and kindness and may comprise well dealing and doing good within them yet they do properly hold out the way and means in which Christ will be helpful to them he is with them alwaies to take notice of their condition and to apply himself thereto and Christ doth assure them that though he shall be bodily absent from them and in heaven yet in the eternal Spirit in the divine nature he is alwaies present with them In which sense he saith that he the Son of man though upon earth in his flesh was yet according to his diety in heaven John 3. 13. and chap. 17. 24. But he goes on and saith Jesus Christ is present with his Messengers and deals well with them when he doth instruct comfort strengthen and protect them and all these he doth in his absence by his Spirit whom the Father hath sent in his name John 14. 26. And he instanceth in instruction and saith Christ instructed his Apostles but not immediately for the Spirit saith he that came in Christs name and received of his was the instrument by which Iesus Christ did work And he cites Iohn 16. 13 14 15. for it Rep. I have shewed already that these operations of grace do not hinder the essential presence of Christ according to his Godhead with the Apostles but do rather imply it but he excludes it and saith he doth all these things in his absence by his Spirit Now though there be a truth in it that Christ being in heaven in flesh and absent from earth so far as respects the flesh doth effect all things by the Spirit yet it is not onely false but foolish in the sense that he intends it and in the words that he expresseth it in 1. I shall readily grant it in a sense that Christ works all by the Spirit and that there is an order of working among the persons in the Godhead and in this order the Father works by the Son and by the Spirit and the Son works from the Father and by the Spirit and the Spirit works from the Father and from the Son by himself and the Father is the person sending both the Son and the Spirit and the Son is the person sent from the Father and sending the Spirit with the Father and the Spirit is the person sent both from the Father and from the Son but it will not follow that therefore Christ though bodily absent is personally absent from his Messengers and instructs them not immediately by himself but onely by the Spirit For as it is said in Iohn 5. 17. by Christ of the Father My Father worketh hitherto and I work The Father worketh all things by the Son he made the world by the Son and he judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son that is by the Son he judgeth and manageth all things and not without him yet he worketh that cannot be denied though by the Son yea the very works that the Son worketh and all of them and none other but them the Father worketh the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and the Father and the Son are one in essence though two in personality and the Father and the Son work one thing the Father by the Son and the Son from the Father and the Son can do nothing of himself apart from the Father nor the Father any thing apart from the Son but by him as I have shewed at large in my former Treatise so it may be said of the Son and of the holy Ghost that the Son worketh hitherto and the holy Ghost worketh that is they work the same work the Son by the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost from the Son and the holy Ghost shall not speak of himself nor act of himself as saith the Scripture which he cites that is he shall not speak or work any thing apart from the Son but what he shall hear and see that shall he speak and do and the Son doth speak and act by him the same things and nothing else for the Son is in the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost in the Son and they are one in essence and therefore cannot be divided in operation but work the same things in such an order of working and to this the Scripture gives witness in 2 Cor. 3 17. The Lord is called the Spirit and the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Lord Christ how can this be Essentially the Lord Christ is the Spirit they are one Personally considered the Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord Christ and the Lord Christ is not the Spirit And Rev. 2. 1. to 6. compared with verse 7. In verse 1. to 6. Christ is the person that speaks to the Church and so to all the Churches and commands John to write but in verse 7. it is said he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches so that Christ speaks and yet the Spirit speaks and Christ and the Spirit are one in essence though two in persons and Christ spake to the Churches by the Spirit and the Spirit spake from Christ But they act and work together the same things and none other as the Father and the Son do so do the Son and Spirit and indeed Father and Son and Spirit are one in essence and one in operation the order of working onely excepted 1 John 5. 7. so that Christs instructing by the Spirit obstructs not Christs personal presence with the Disciples here upon earth though his body be in heaven And the sending of the Spirit both by the Father and by the Son are acts of counsel among the persons in the Godhead as hath been fully declared in reference to Christ who was sent of the Father and yet gave himself And the Spirit though sent when he cometh acteth not meerly as one sent according to the will of another but as himself willeth 1 Cor. 12. 11. so that his sending was by counsel with his own consent 2. In the sense that he asserts it that Christ in Heaven acts
Christ being finite as he holds and measurable doth stint and limit and bring to a bound and to a measure all that he receives and indeed his humane nature that did receive the Spirit being finite was not capable of the Spirit without measure though the Spirit himself be without measure but it is an hyperbolical expression and the meaning is Christ had aboundance of the Spirit as he was man beyond all men and all creatures but no finite proportion of the Spirit will enable Christ as man to know by his own wisdom that resides in him all the works of all the Churches for none but the searcher of all hearts can do that because there are may hidden works of the heart Now this Searcher of hearts is God only therefore Christ is God But he goes on and saith Though Christ hath such a knowledge yet he is not the most high God for his knowledge is of another Joh. 5. 30. I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge c. Repl. I have already answered some parallel Scriptures to this in my former Treatise pag. 145. to which I refer the Reader I shall adde something out of Beza and Chemnitius and so pass over it I can do nothing of my self that is saith he meo unius arbitratu potentia vel voluntate à patre separata cum una eadem sit patris mea tum potentia tum voluntas ut essentia that is by my own single proper power or will separate and apart from the Fathers I can do nothing when as my Fathers will and power and mine are one and the same even as the Essence is one As I hear The Fathers shewing saith he and the Sons hearing do relate to one another that is nothing but the Fathers giving community of vertue and power and of the very Essence it self by generation from Eternity to the Son and the Sons hearing is nothing but the reception of it Or saith he it may respect the humane nature of Christ Christ as man acts nothing doth nothing apart from the will of his own Diety for though the Divine will and the humane be two wils in number yet they be not two but one in consent and agreement and so one with the Fathers will And Christ as man as he hears that is as the Father suggests to him so he judgeth which is true of the Divine will in Christ suggesting to the humane And Chemnitius in his Harmony interprets the Sons not doing any thing of himself to arise not out of the imbecillity of the Son but from the absolute and perfect identity of the Father and the Son in Essence and all essential properties and acts and the Sons hearing he expounds to be the Sons knowing together with the Father all things decreed in the secret Counsel of the Divinty or Divine Essence And without doubt the undivided operations of the Father and Son are pointed out As I hear I judge saith Christ and in Joh. 8. 15. I judge no man and ver 50. the Father seeketh and judgeth and yet in Joh. 5. 22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son These Scriptures cannot be reconciled better then to say they judge in one another the Father in the Son the Son in the Father they act undividedly the Father is in Christ in all Christs operations and the Son sees and hears and knows the Father and the things of the Father in himself He concludes his answer to this text of Rev. 2. 2. thus Though he alwayes knew all things necessary for the perfect discharge of his offices yet there was a time when he was excluded from the knowledge of the hour and day of judgement Mark 13. 32. But of that day and hour no one knoweth neither the Angels that are in heaven nor the Son unless the Father Therefore his knowledge was not formally of himself nor alwaies perfect Rep. This text of Mark is to be interpreted of Christ according to the humane nature as he is the Son of man for in that sense he is also called the Son without any addition 1 Cor. 15. 28. compared with 23. for Christs manhood is there spoken of for it is said Christ should first rise which as man he onely doth and then ver 28. he is called the Son which must refer to the same consideration of Christ as man And if it were otherwise that Son were alwaies taken for Son of God yet sometimes a thing is spoken of in one nature and must be understood in another Acts 20. 28. it is called the bloud of God but it is meant of the humane nature because considered as God Christ hath not any bloud And as the Son of man is higher then the Angels and knoweth more then the Angels having a more excellent anointment then they therefore the gradation is consistent and sutable enough neither the Angels nor the Son according to flesh which you will think more strange because he is wiser then the Angels And whereas he seems to limit it to the Father onely it must not be understood exclusively as shutting out Christ as he is the Son of God from eternity or as shutting out the Spirit for first if the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpreted by him unlesse and translated but be alwaies exclusive of all but the person mentioned then the Father would be excluded from knowing himself for Mat. 11. 27. the words run thus No one knoweth the Father unlesse the Son and so it is asserted of the Son no one knoweth the Son but the Father or unlesse the Father and so the Son is excluded from the knowledge of himself if the particle unlesse be alwayes exclusive which would be monstrous to be granted 2. It is manifest that the holy Ghost or Spirit of God knows the day and hour of judgement for it is said of him that he searcheth the deep things of God and this must be granted to be one of them 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. In which text it is to be observed that the exceptive particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless is to be found by which both Father and Son are excluded from knowing the things of God if we may believe him that this particle limits it only to him that is mentioned for the Spirit is onely mentioned 3. It is inconsistent to what is asserted of Christs knowledge Colos 2. 3. it is said that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him how then should he be ignorant of the day of judgement as he was the Son of God And John 5. 20. the Father sheweth the Son all things that himself doth that is in himself the Father shews all things now this is one thing that the Father doth he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world and this is shewed in Christs very essence which is the same with his Fathers and in Christs very will which is the same
their due And he mentions Prov. 30. 4. Who hath ascended up into heaven and descended c. Repl. Some conceive that Agur speaks of God in the persons of the Father and the Son whom he describes to ascend up into heaven and descend to give signes of his presence in both places and be every where and who gathers the winds in his fist and binds the waters in a garment and that he proposeth this as an hard question to his two friends Ithiel and Vcal Others conceive that Agur doth speak of man and that his interrogation is in the force and vertue of it a negation Who hath ascended c. that is no man can do such things as he mentions and that if his friends do know any that can effect such things let them declare what his name is and what his sons name is But they all understand it of ascending to the very place of heaven and not any that I have seen in the sense that he drives at nor doth either the text or context necessitate that this ascending should be a discovering of Gods hidden secrets for what then is descending As for Piscator I have never seen him upon the Proverbs and can say nothing to it He mentions Pauls rapture into the third heaven to be only a discovery of the things of God It 's somewhat presumptuous for him to determine when the Apostle himself durst not for whether he was in the body or out of the body he could not tell But if his rapture were not reall it was in vision and to the third heaven and paradise he went either really or in vision to the place he went that he might understand the thing But he quotes Grotius and Musculus and Bucer as Writers who understand ascending in a spirituall sense for penetrating the secrets of heaven I confesse some good Expositors do so interpret the word ascend but how it will quadrare and what adequateness there will be betwixt the sense they give to the word ascend and the sense they put upon the word descend I cannot understand However it be the concurrence of Expositors in the interpretation of ascending will avail him nothing in reference to the controversie betwixt him and me for it lies not in that word but in these words is in heaven whether they be literally to be understood or in respect of knowledge onely Expositors do not at all countenance his Metaphoricall sense he gives of those words but they fall upon the distinction of Natures and say Christ was in heaven according to the Deity but not in heaven according to the Humanity 3. He saith his sense is fitly conjoyned with the context Christ saith he reproves Nichodemus his unbeleef aggravating it from the certainty of the things spoken We speak what we know And then from the perspicuity in speaking If I have told you of earthly things that is either things that may or are necessary to be known in the earth Or else the words respect the manner of Christs holding them forth And ye beleeve not how can yee beleeve if I should tel you of heavenly things In this 13. verse you have a exclusion of all men Christ excepted from the knowledge of heavenly things Repl. All may be granted that he saith till he come to the 13. ver which is more probably an explication of the 11. ver We speak what we know and testifie what we have seen saith Christ Nichodemus and others might object against the certainty of those things that Christ asserted and might say The judgments and wayes of the Lord are unsearchable who hath known the mind of the Lord Who shall ascend into heaven for us to relate the mind of the Lord to us Unto this Christ answers No man hath ascended nor can ascend up to heaven to make discovery of the will of God of the deep things of God but the onely begotten Son he came from God and he ascends thither again and he hath seen and known and what he hath seen he declares and testifies and if you be not satisfied with that which the Son hath brought you from heaven who also ascends thither again it is an aggravation of your unbelief And unto this coherence there is a concurrence of Expositors in their witnesse The last Scripture is now to be discussed which he hath excepted against and laboured to disable that it might not speak that which I brought it to give witnesse to which was to justifie the deity of Christ and it is Joh. 17. 5. And now ô Father glorifie me with thine owne selfe with the glory I had with thee before the World was He gives his gloss to these words after this manner O thou Father who dost abound in kindness and art the Fountain of goodness the time being come of finishing my course in earth and returning to thy selfe glorifie me in Heaven who have emptied my selfe taking to me a naturall and mortall body and walking among men in forme of a servant and now being ready to humble my selfe to the death of the Cross in obedience to thee with that glory which I had in Heaven before the world was being then with thee as heir of all things clothed with Majesty and glory answerable to that high station wherein thy pleasure was to set me and to that great domminion wherewithall thou wast pleased to invest me And then he concludes that all lyes in darkenesse which I can fetch to countenance my opinion Repl. He knowes what is written in Rev. 22. 18 19. in terrour to those that add to the word of God I wonder therefore how he dare interpose words in this prayer of Christ according to his owne fancy and not fear and tremble 1. He inserts these words into the preface of Christs prayer Thou O Father who art the fountain of goodness And this he doth unnescessarily for in this prayer-of Christ there is no preface at all and why should be frame one this is not to interpret Scripture but it is plainly to add to it and it is done with a designe which makes it the worse for he would bring Christ in acknowledging the Father the sole fountain of goodnesse excluding himselfe as Son of the Father and excluding the Holy Ghost which is a false thing and full of injury to Christ who was so far from making such an acknowledgment that he thought it not robbery to be equall with God his assuming of equality with the Father was not counted robbery by himselfe 2. He inserts these words in the close of Christs prayer speaking of the glory Christ had with God he addes these words answerable to that high state wherein thy pleasure was to set me and to that great dominion wherewithall thou wast pleased to invest me These words wherein thy good pleasure was to set me and wherewithall thou wast pleased to invest me are not in the text nor is there any thing that lookes that way that might give him occasion to
extract them and present them as if there they might be found or something like them which will bear them nor doth he bring any other text to make it appear that such words are agreeable to the Analogie of faith But by this addition he makes Christ a meere creature a creature before he tooke flesh before the World was while he was with God And he makes the glory which he had to be a derived glory and given to Christ of meere grace and good pleasure Now this is most notoriously false as I have largely and amply proved in my former Treatise But this is the doctrine that fils his head and fils his heart and there is so much of this within him that he thinks every Scripture that he lookes upon contains it and therefore it is that he brings this Scripture speaking that which it speakes not But setting aside these additions for which he must give an account Be it that Christs prayer had this meaning I shall shew you what an inconsistency there is in these words to his opinion in two or three particulars 1. Supposing Christ before he tooke the Seed of Ahraham upon him to be a created soul made by and abiding with God be fore the rest of the creatures were made for this is his opinion how can Christ speake to God these words Who have emptied my selfe taking to me a naturall and mortall body If Christ were but a created soul could it be an act of his will and of his power to take to him a body did ever God leave any creature at liberty to do what he will to chuse or refuse at his pleasure that he should leave Christ this created soul as he makes him at liberty to take a body or not to take it and if not but that God commanded him to take it why doth he plead it with God for reward as if it had been done of courtesie Have any of the Angels when they have waited upon men a worke below them had liberty to plead with God after this manner And how could it be an act of his power to take to him a body he being but a created soul can a created soul build a body of nothing if by creation it be or build it out of a woman without the help of man if by generation it be as indeed it was and if not how comes Christ to plead it as some meritorious act I have emptied my selfe in taking to me a naturall mortall body If God prepared him a body why doth he say I emptied my selfe and tooke it So that here is absurdity enough in this if there were no more in reference to his opinion in these very words 2. If Christ were a created soul where was the Emptying to take a naturall and mortall body is there not an habitude and naturall propensenesse in the soul to be in the body is it not the soules perfection is not the soul imperfect without it is it any more then a part of the whole and with the body makes a perfect man and is this the condescention to be presented as an high piece of selfe denyall to be in a perfect state And doth the soul take the body any more then the body take the soul or doth not God take both and unite them here is neither Divinity nor Philosophy in this But it may be this emptying was in this that Christ a glorious soul tooke a naturall mortall body not a body glorified but vile by reason of a naturall corruptibility But 1. God prepared this body for him where was then this excellent piece of selfe denyall to take and accept of what God prepares though it were an abasing to him Saints tread in such steps of selfe denyall every day and it is but their duty 2. Men are and ought to be thankful to God for such naturall and mortall bodies and for every member thereof and Christ if but a created soul might well submit yea be thankfull that his soul was not as his body for it was of free-grace as he saith and I joyn with him in it if he were a created soul that he was so glorious a soul 3. Lazarus was called so far as concerned a naturall mortall body and further also to the like piece of self-denyall for his soul was in heaven and with God and made perfect with God and glorified with him and it must leave God and leave heaven and leave glory and come into a naturall mortall body again that must dye a second time yea into a sinfull tabernacle again and this must be done at the Command of Christ according to the will of God What self-denyall was this then if Christ's was so great when yet Christ was but only a glorified soul And Lazarus which was such yet might not Lazarus plead it This is another absurdity which follows from his own words upon his opinion Christ being but a created soul at the first with God 2. He makes Christ to ask of God the glory only which he had in heaven before the world was and indeed Christ asked no other but it Now this is not consistent with Christs being a created soul and a creature for it is manifest from the Scripture yea it is confest by himselfe in many places of his printed paper That Christ as a creature had greater glory by donation after his sufferings after his deep humiliation then ever he had as a creature before for that Heirship of all things and dominion and principality and height above all principality and that name above every name was the reward which God bestowed upon him in reference to the crosse which he bore and it was his highest glory as a creature therefore it is expressed in these words is made both Lord and Christ not restored to what he had but made and what a rewarding is that only to restore him to what he had at first Therefore seeing that Christ prayes here in John for the glory that he had with God before the world was and asked no more and seeing it is as evident that as a creature his greatest glory was not before his sufferings but after and was the reward of his sufferings it will necessarily follow that he prayes for divine glory to be restored and that as a creature he was not with God before the world was nor had glory as a creature 3. He saith and the Text saith that the glory that Christ asked of his Father was the glory before the world was but the glory which Christ had as a creature could not be the glory before the world was for he himselfe confesseth that that glory which he had as a creature consisted in heirship and dominion over the world but this heirship and dominion over the world was not nor could be before the world was it will therefore follow that either Christ was created without glory and had no glory till the world was created which is directly contradictory to the Text or if
he had a glory it was not any created glory for that consisted in dominion which was not til the world was and then what glory could it be but that which we contend for divine uncreated glory which holds forth him to be an uncreated and eternal being and by consequence to be the most high God But he brings reasons for his own tenent that whole Christ is a creature from this Text of John and attempts the overthrow of my assertion of Christs Deity which I contend for from this Text. 1. Saith he If Christ were equall with the Father why doth Christ direct his prayer to his Father There had been no need nor can cause be shewed why he should supplicate to his Father and not act relyance on the Godhead Repl. I have rendred reasons for it in my former Treatise in my reply to his fift argument which was this He that acteth with dependance on another is a creature but whole Christ acteth with dependance To which I referre the reader because it is largely discussed there and it is a tedious unpleasing thing to multiply repetitions though he delights himselfe too much therein yet lest that Treatise should not be at hand I shall satisfie the Reader thus far It behooved the Godhead in the person of the Son to be veyled for this was the Sons emptying of himselfe but not so the Godhead in the person of the Father therefore the Son acts not dependance upon the Godhead that dwelt in himself in the person of the Son or as it was in himself but as it was in the Father 2. He saith We do not use to pray but praise for things we have if we know that we have them Now Christ could not want the highest glory in any sense if he were a person in the Trinity coequall with the Father especially not be without it with the Father nor in heaven in any sense whatsoever as by the clouding darkning or obscuring of it therefore the glory which he had with the Father was not the highest glory but a glory proceeding from the highest and by consequence Christ was but a creature Repl. It is true that the highest glory he being a person in the Trinity coequall with the Father could not be separated from him for it follows the divine essence and cannot be divided from it but it might be and indeedwas obscured and clouded not to the Father nor to the Son himselfe for the Father saw it and gave witnesse to it and so did the Son and comprehended it fully but to the creature it was darkned and obscured and but some small beams and rayes of it appeared the Son was incarnate or in flesh but the glory of the Son appeared not in flesh in fulnesse of lustre like the glory of the Son but the form of God in the Son was veyled and hidden in the form of a servant Now Christ prayes that that essentiall divine glory might be manifested in flesh that he the Son in flesh might appear in glory when he should come to heaven as he did before he took flesh that as the Godhead was hidden in the manhood so the manhood might be glorified with the Godhead that the flesh might be taken up into the fellowship of the glory of the Divinity by the shining forth and breaking out of the glory of the Divinity in the flesh 3. It appears saith he that the glory which he had with the Father was not divine or the highest glory because it was to be communicated Glorifie me O Father with that glory c. Now the highest glory being infinite could not be given or communicated to the humane nature which was finite and so uncapable of it c. Repl. Though the divine glory cannot be communicated to humane nature so as that it should be inherent in the humane nature yet it may gloriously shine forth upon it and appear in it which it did not before yea by reason of the hypostaticall union betwixt the divine nature and the humane nature the glory of the divine nature becomes the glory of the whole person so as that when the glory of the Son shines forth in its greatest strength in the flesh it may be predicated and asserted of the man Christ that he is glorified with the glory which the Son had with the Father before the world was Because the man Christ is the same person with the eternall Son of God Thus all the Scriptures which I drew witness to that Jesus Christ is the true God and the most high God notwithstanding all his endeavours to suffocate their testimony and his attempts by violence to silence them that they should not speak what they would speak yet they have with open mouth with one consent given glory unto Christ by witnessing to his Godhead and to his coessentialness and to his coequality with the Father I shall conclude my Vindication of them with these words Let God be true in what he hath testifyed of his Son in Scripture and every man that opposeth let him be a lyer My next undertaking must be the defence of the Arguments which I produced and drew up from Scripture by which I attempted to prove the destructivenesse of the Doctrine which he holds making whole Christ a creature to the true Gospel and oppositeness of it to the Scripture in many main points and truths of it My Assertion was That the doctrine which makes Christ a meer creature brings in as it were another Gospel and destroyes the true Gospel in many parts thereof and brings in another Scripture in many main points He cals this a reason against his doctrine of Christ a meere creature and so it is not onely to shew the falsenesse of such doctrine but also to discover the horridnesse and hideousness of the doctrine that all might be warned of it and with fear and trembling may decline it But he wisheth him to be Anathema that holds any such doctrine that destroyes the Gospel or the Scripture and falls upon the examination of the instances or Arguments which I produced to confirme that generall reason Therefore because he is so confident that his doctrine will not prove such and because he hath possessed the people that though there should be a mistake in it on his part yet it is not so dangerous as I would make it and that the salvation of mens soules is not so nearly concerned in it as I would have men to conceive and that Christ is never a whit less a sufficient Saviour though but a creature and that it is enough to beleeve unto Salvation that Christ is Lord viz. made Lord and that God raised him from the dead by which means persons have become lesse solicitous what doctrine they entertain they see it hath a specious shew and conceive it will not prove destructive though it should prove false therefore I think it expedient to fortifie my position which respects the oppositenesse of this doctrine of his both
himself equality with God Joh. 5. 18. and in that they counted it blasphemy that he called himself the Son of God and judged him worthy to die for it they discovered their apprehensions of that title that it was too high for any creature and proper to the most high God alone 6. Satan also in tempting of him requires a proof of his son-ship unto God equall and equivalent to what he could demand for the manifestation of the very God-head it self and he must declare himselfe to be the Son of God by doing that which none but God could do These grounds I conceive are sufficient to bottom the first conclusion upon viz. that these two expressions or titles Son of God and God are in Scripture account equivalent to each other and do import when they are applyed to Christ a divine person and the second in the order of the Trinity The consequence of which is that who ever denyes the one denyes the other also and then if the God-head of Christ be denyed the Son-ship of Christ will be denyed also I shall now lay downe the 2d position and confirme it 2 Christ cannot be God any other way or under any other consideration but as he is the Son of God 1 He himselfe in his sense acknowledgeth the truth of this assertion for he grants a God-head of Christ and makes him a representative God and saith his God-head consists in soveraignty and dominion over all the creatures and he founds it upon Son-ship and saith the title Son of God holds forth superiority over all things and so he is God in that he is the Son of God but all amounts to no more but a creature God and a creature Son of God according to him Yet he concurrs with me in this proposition though in a different sense Christ cannot be God any other way then as he is the Son of God 2. Scripture gives testimony to it 1. The Apostle Paul declares to us that God was manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. that is God assumed the flesh of the Virgin God took the seed of Abraham God united our Nature with the Divine Nature God took it into fellowship and oneness with himself so as that God and man became one and the same person And this the Apostle calls a great mystery and founds all godliness upon it that is upon knowing it and believing it And so Christ comes to be God hath the Names Titles Attributes of God put upon him and the great works of God are called his works and the homage worship service faith fear and obedience that is due to God belongs to him Otherwise it could not have been that he that appeared in the form of a servant and was in fashion as a man and dwelt among us and whose mother was known who she was and was in all things like unto us sin excepted should be the God that made us and he in whom our life and breath and all our ways are but so it was that the great God emptied himself so far as to unite himself to us or us rather to himself and to dwell in our nature and made our nature to dwell in him and so he became one with us and made us that is our Nature one with him And so the Son of Mary is very God the most high God because God descended and was made flesh of a woman 2. There is a concurrence of witnesses in the sacred Scriptures that God took flesh but not God in the person of the Father nor God in the person of the Spirit but God in the person of the Son Joh. 1. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and this Word is neither the Father nor the holy Ghost but is distinguished from both 1 Joh. 5. 7. There are three that bear witness in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one that is one God But this one God in the person of the Word and not in any other person took flesh upon him The Father did not take Flesh but sent the Son to assume it Gal. 4. 4. God that is the Father sent forth his Son made of a woman Joh. 3. 16. God that is the Father so loved the world that he gave his own Son his onely begotten Son c. And all along in the new Testament the Son is said to be sent sometimes from God sometimes from the Father sometimes from heaven And of the Son it is said in Heb. 2. 14 that he took part of flesh and blood and vers 6. He took on him the seed of Abraham and of the Son it is said that he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is with the Father but he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a servant that is he took upon him our vile weak mortal dying nature and came in lowe state among us And indeed in this there is no difference betwixt us But who this Son of God is is the controversie The inference then must needs be this that Christ is not God any other way nor in any other sence but this The Son of God or which is all one God in the person of the Son assumed Humane nature unto him became Man by taking the flesh of the Virgin And this Son of God or God in the person of the Son made flesh is the Christ the Messiah that was promised to the fathers And Christ he is this flesh this seed of the woman assumed and this Son of God or God in the person of the Son united together into one person So that whoever denies Christ to be God denies that God in the person of the Son or which is the same that the Son of God took flesh came in our Nature and that God sent his Son into the world to take the seed of Abraham upon him and to come in flesh and so denies Christ to be God in the person of the Son or Christ to be the Son of God And so by an undeniable consequence such a person who denies the Godhead denies the Sonship and so destroys the true Christ and brings in a strange and a false Christ and another Gospel and another Scripture And this is the doctrine that the Apostle John speaks of 2 Joh. 7. which seducers preached who confessed not that Jesus Christ was come in the flesh the meaning is they confessed not that the Son of God or God in the person of the Son was come in the flesh for otherwise they knew that Jesus Christ the son of Mary was in the flesh and died and rose again But to confess that Jesus was the Son of God or God in the person of the Son was that which the Apostle pressed and withstood the contrary as Antichristian 1 Joh. 4. 14 15. And now give me leave to express my self to be one who stand amazed at the ignorance or inconsiderateness or I know not
scatter the clouds nor clear up their judgements Now Church admonition is the best expedient to bring them to repentance as the Apostle speaks of Hymeneus I have delivered him up to Satan saith he that he may learne not to blaspheme that is by denying a doctrine which he ought to have professed And so such scales of ignorance which were by sin contracted are by Church-censure removed many times Obj. But what if such persons be very holy in their lives and very profitable in their Communion must they notwithstanding undergo the censure of the Church Sol. 1. There is no holinesse but what flows from the doctrine of the Gospel rightly entertained and held by faith Therefore so long as they waver in the faith in points of great concernment and moment their holinesse must of necessity be waved also the Apostle saith Gal. 1. 7 8. Though I or an Angel from heaven bring any other Gospel and yet he means it of circumcision held by some as necessary to salvation let him be accursed 2. Such persons that are pertinacious in a corrupt opinion are evil leaven and their Communion cannot be so profitable as it is like to be hurtful to the fellowship to which they do belong 3. If they be Saints which do so greatly erre from the faith there ought to be so much the more compassion shewed to them and the greatest love and compassion that can be shewed lies in this to use the last remedy to them when other remedies fail and are ineffectual and it is the greatest cruelty to withhold any means which God hath sanctified for the healing of such as from Exod. 23. appears 5. What one Church of Jesus Christ doth this way in the execution of censure justly and according to rule all the Churches ought to ratifie for if such who are bound by any Church on earth be bound also in heaven then all the Churches in the world have not power to acquit or lose from it therefore in their walking towards such persons great or small they ought to confirme it by having no Communion nor fellowship with such that so such persons may come to see the miserable condition that they are in and may be ashamed and if any Churches or Christians should walk otherwise they sin against Christs ordinance and harden such persons in their sin and hinder their repentance and returning to the truth and will draw the blood of such souls upon their heads If this course were held with such who erre grossely and will not be healed it would awaken those who have left their first faith and are turned after fables and might recover them and would bring a trembling upon the rest that stand firme and unshaken and might preserve them from the like temptations and then there would be no cause for the interposing of the Magistrate which some do relish so evilly The fourth and last thing that I am to discusse is what the preservatives are by which persons may be kept in times in which errours are rife and the danger great in that respect 1. Let every person that pretends to saintship look to his implantation into Christ that it be right and true and that it be firme and sure and then it is to be hoped that he will abide in the Vine and the Vine in him and then he is more likely to stand fast in the faith for there is one that is able to keep him from falling and will keep him and if he fall he shall rise againe for there is one that is able to raise him and will raise him The greatest security of the Saints that they shall not depart from the faith is in their union and communion with Christ 2. Let persons commit themselves to God to be kept by him who can strengthen and settle and establish those that rest on him and wait for him while persons have leaned to their own understanding and have not looked up to the rock that is higher then they and come out of themselves and put their trust in him and begged his teaching and leading they have become vain in their thoughts and have erred from the truth 3. Let persons get a good root of knowledge within themselves and not attain onely to a generall knowledge of things but come up to a particular knowledge of them and know all things in the causes thereof so farre as Scripture gives light or as they have been taught for then though some other thing may be presented to them then what they have received yet the reasons of the things which they have beleeved will not be so soon answered in their souls If persons have but a forme of knowledge within them it is soon overturned 4. Let the love of the truth be laboured after as well as the knowledge of it for persons will be unwilling to relinquish that truth which they have found much sweetnesse in 5. Let the Scriptures be diligently searched into and perused and studied and let them be compared together and let Scripture intepret it selfe and let one Scripture give the sense of another Scripture when persons take up some one or two single scriptures and runne away with them without comparing them with other Scriptures they are led aside to error 6. Christians ought to take heed whom they hear what they hear and how they hear because of many Seducers and Deceivers that are gone abroad into the world and because there are many spirits of Antichrist who yet pretend to Christ 7. Christians ought to become wise unto sobriety and not to think of themselves above what is meet but to have humble and low thoughts of themselves for if once Christians be lifted up they readily fall in this snare of the Devill which is Error and Heresie 8. Christians ought to walk up to that light of truth that they have attained to because there is a promise belonging to such who will live in and practise the truths which they know John 7. 17. 9. Saints ought to consider that they have no more of the grace of faith then they hold of the doctrin of faith for they therfore beleeve because they have such a word of God to ground their belief upon if then they hold not that Word their belief will fall with it and then must needs be shaken as much in the grace of faith as they are in the ground of faith 10. Let them consider that there is no godlinesse but what grows out of the Gospel and springs from the truths of it if therefore the doctrine of grace in Christ be once overturned in the soule all godlinesse will be soon overturned with it 1 Tim. 6. 3. Tit. 1. 1. 11. Let them consider that if once they become unstable in the faith they become unstable in all their wayes for it is as when a tree is not firmly deeply and surely rooted in the earth but is loose in the ground it growes not flourisheth not nor is fruitful like to other
trees therfore saith Christ unlesse you abide in me that is firmly and surely hold me ye cannot bring forth fruit 12. Let all Christians take heed how they hold the truth in unrighteousnesse how they put away a good conscience in any thing and so tempt God lest God give them up to darknesse as a punishment of such an offence 13. Let every Christian joyn to some Church of Jesus Christ that walks closely with God in the truth that by the watchings of others he may be the better kept This is regular walking and God will be sure to blesse it 4 Let not any Christians run into temptations least God should leave them under the power of them and suffer them to be overcome of them but if they hear or read a doctrine that is contrary to what they received let them with much fear and trembling hear and read it and with much looking up to heaven for guidance let them be slow in entertaining that which is new strange to them and after much examination consultation and abundant confirmation out of Scripture let them do it If Saints will walk in this way the God of truth and grace will be with them they shall be kept unto salvation FINIS A TABLE of the Scriptures and Arguments formerly produced to prove the Deity of Jesus Christ and now vindicated and confirmed in the later Treatise ALSO Six other Arguments added shewing the dangerousness and destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine The first Scripture is Revel 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End page 15 The second Scripture is Joh. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God p. 29 The third Scripture is Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always unto the end of the world p. 35 The fourth Scripture is Rev. 2. 2. I know thy works c. p. 51 The fifth Scripture is Col. 1. 15. The first-born of every creature p. 61 The sixth Scripture is Col. 1. 16. By him were all things created p. 63 The seventh Scripture is Heb. 7. 3. Without father without mother without beginning of days and end of life made like unto the Son of God p. 90 The eighth Scripture is Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting p. 94 The ninth Scripture is Zech. 13. 7. Awake O sword against my Shepherd against the man that is my fellow p. 97 The tenth Scripture is Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven the Son of man that is in heaven p. 103 The last Scripture is Joh. 17. 5. And now O Father glorifie me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was p. 114 Arguments brought to prove the destructiveness of the contrary Doctrine Arg. 1. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and a false God p. 126 Arg. 2. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a strange and false Christ p. 137 Arg. 3. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Faith p. 149 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature brings in a false Baptism p. 158 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour p. 163 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature overturns godliness p. 168 Arguments formerly produced now vindicated and confirmed Argum. 1. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the object of Divine worship which yet according to Scripture is Idolatry Where the doctrine of Worship is discussed p. 173 Arg. 2 3. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature the object of faith and to make faith in a creature saving which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 205 Arg. 4. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a creature a sufficient Saviour which yet is repugnant to the Scripture 214 Arg. 5. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature Mediator which is contrary to the Scripture Where the doctrine of Christ's Mediatorship is discussed p. 225 Arg. 6. To make whole Christ a creature is to make the righteousness not of God but of a meer man to he imputed to believers which is against the Scripture p. 252 Arg. 7. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature authoritively able from himself to forgive sin which yet is contrary to the Scripture p. 262 Arg. 8. To make whole Christ a creature is to destroy the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction to God Where the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction is largely handled p. 285 Arg. 9. To make whole Christ a creature destroys the intercession of Christ p. 363 Arg. 10. To make whole Christ a creature is to disable Christ to protect defend save direct rule and govern his Church in all the world which yet is attributed to Christ c. p. 373 Arg. 11. To make whole Christ a creature is to make prayer to him vain and frivolous he being now in heaven and we on earth p. 377 Arg. 12. To make whole Christ a creature is to make a meer creature the Judge of the world which is repugnant to Scripture p. 384 Concerning Errours the rise growth cure and preservatives against them p. 397 FINIS