Phil. ii. 10. the object of divine worship. I do not in proof of this ART. urge the inftances of thofe who fell down at Christ's feet II. and worshipped him, while he was on earth; for it may be well anfwered to that, that a prophet was worshipped with the civil refpect of falling down before him, among the Jews; as appears in the hiftory of Elijah and Elifha: nor does it appear that those who worshipped Christ, had any apprehenfion of his being God; they only confidered him as the Meffias, or as fome eminent prophet. But the mention that St. Luke makes in his Gofpel, of the difci- Luke xxiv. ples worshipping Chrift at his afcenfion, comes more home 52. to this matter. All thofe falutations in the beginning and conclufion of the Epiftles, in which grace, mercy, and peace are wished from God the Father, and the Lord Jefus Chrift, are implied invocations of him. It is alfo plain, that it was to him that St. Paul prayed, when he was under the 2 Cor. xii. temptations of the Devil; as they are commonly under- 8, 9. food; Every knee must bow to him: the angels of God wor- Heb. i. 5. fbip bim: all the bofts in heaven are reprefented in St. Rev. v. 8. to John's vifions as falling down proftrate before him, and the end. worshipping him as they worship the Father. He is propofed as the object of our faith, hope, and love; as the perfon whom we are to obey, to pray to, and to praife; fo that every act of worship, both external and internal, is directed to him as to its proper object. But the inftance of all others that is the cleareft in this point, is in the laft words of St. Stephen, who was the first martyr, and whofe martyrdom is so particularly related by St. Luke: he then in his laft minutes faw Chrift at the right hand of God; and in his laft breath he worshipped him in two fhort prayers, that are upon the matter the fame with thofe in which our blessed Saviour worshipped his Father on the Crofs; Lord Acts vii. Jefus, receive my fpirit: Lord, lay not this fin to their charge. From this it seems very evident, that if Chrift was not the true God, and equal to the Father, then this Protomartyr died in two acts that feem not only idolatrous, but also blafphemous; fince he worfhipped Chrift in the fame acts in which Chrift had worshipped his Father. It is certain, from all this deduction of particulars, that his human nature cannot be worshipped; therefore there must be another nature in him, to which divine worship is due, and on the account of which he is to be worshipped. 59, 60. It is plain, that when this religion was firft publifhed, together with thefe duties in it as a part of it, the Jews, though implacably fet againft it, yet never accufed it of idolatry; though that charge of all others had ferved their purposes the beft, who intended to blacken and blaft it. Nothing II. ART. Nothing would have been fo well heard, and so easily apprehended, as a juft prejudice againft it, as this. The argument would have appeared as ftrong as it was plain : and as the Jews could not be ignorant of the acts of the Chriftian worship, when fo many fell back to them from it, who were offended at other parts of it; fo they had the books, in which it was contained, in their hands. Not-withftanding all which, we have all poffible reafon to believe that this objection against it was never made by any of them, in the firft age of Chriftianity: upon all which, I fay, it is not to be imagined that they could have been filent on this head, if a mere man had been thus proposed among the Chriftians as the object of divine worship. The filence of the Apoftles, in not mentioning nor anfwering this, is fuch a proof of the filence of the Jews, that it would indeed difparage all their writings, if we could think, that, while they mentioned and anfwered the other prejudices of the Jews, which in comparison to this are fmall and inconfiderable matters, they should have paffed over this, which must have been the greatest and the plau- . fibleft of them all, if it was one at all. Therefore, as the filence of the Apoftles is a clear proof that the Jews were filent alfo, and did not object this; and fince their filence could neither flow from their ignorance, nor their undervaluing of this religion; it feems to be certain, that the first opening of the Chriftian doctrine did not carry any thing in it that could be called the worshipping of a creature. It follows from hence, that the Jews muft have understood this part of our religion in fuch a manner as agreed with their former ideas. So we muft examine thefe: they had this fettled among them, that God dwelt in the cloud of glory, and that, by virtue of that inhabitation, divine worThip was paid to God as dwelling in the cloud; that it was called God, God's Throne, bis Holiness, bis Face, and the Light of bis Countenance: they went up to the Temple to worthip God, as dwelling there bodily, that is fubftantially, fo bodily fometimes fignifies, or in a corporeal appearance. This feems to have been a perfon that was truly God, and yet was diftinct from that which appeared and spake to Mofes; for this feems to be the importance of these words: Behold, I fend an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, xxiii. 20. and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared: beware of bim, and obey bis voice, provoke bim not; for be will not pardon your tranfgreffions; for my name is in bim. words do plainly import a perfon to whom they belong'; and yet they are a pitch far above the angelical dignity. So that Angel muft here be understood in a large fenfe, for Exod. These one II. one fent of God; and it can admit of no fenfe fo properly, ART, as, that the eternal Word, which dwelt afterwards in the man Christ Jefus, dwelt then in that cloud of glory. It was alfo one of the prophecies received by the Jews, that the Hag. ii. 9. glory of the fecond Temple was to exceed the glory of the first. The chief character of the glory of the firft was that inhabitation of the divine prefence among them; from hence it follows that fuch an inhabitation of God in a creature, by which that creature was not only called God, but that adoration was due to it upon that account, was a notion that could not have fcandalized the Jews, and was indeed the only notion that agreed with their former ideas, and that could have been received by them without difficulty or oppofition. This is a ftrong inducement to believe that this great article of our Religion was at that time delivered and understood in that fenfe. If the Son or Word is truly God, he must be from all eternity, and muft alfo be of the fame fubftance with the Father, otherwife he could not be God; fince a God of another fubftance, or of another duration, is a contradiction. The laft argument that I fhall offer is taken from the beginning of the Epifile to the Hebrews: to the apprehending the force of which, this must be premised, that all those who acknowledge that Chrift ought to be honoured and worshipped as the Father, muft fay that this is due to him either because he is truly God, or because he is a perfon of fuch a high and exalted dignity, that God has upon the confideration of that appointed him to be fo worshipped. Now this fecond notion may fall under another diftinction; that either he was of a very fublime order by" nature, as fome angelical being, that though he was cream" Arian. rated, yet had this high privilege beftowed upon him or ?? "that he was a prophet illuminated and authorized in fo" "particular a manner beyond all others, that, out of a re-"> gard to that, he was exalted to this honour of being to be"> worshipped." One of these must be chosen by all who do not believe him to be truly God: and indeed one of these was the Arian, as the other is the Socinian hypothefis. For how much foever the Arians might exalt him in words, yet if they believed him to be a creature made in time, fo that once he was not; all that they said of him can amount to no more, but that he was a creature of a fpiritual nature; and this is plainly the notion which the Scripture gives us of angels. Artemon, Samolatenus, Photinus, and the Sociniaus in our days, confider our Saviour as a great prophet and lawgiver, and into this they refolve his dignity. Iu oppofition to both thefe, that Epiftle II. ART. Epiftle begins with expreffions that are the more fevere, because they are negative, which are to be understood more ftrictly than pofitive words. Chrift is not only preferred to angels, but is fet in oppofition to them, as one of Heb. i. 4, another order of beings. Made fo much better than angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than 5, they. For unto which of the angels faid be at any time, Thou 6, art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he faith, And let all the 7, angels of God worship him. Of the angels be faith, Who maketh bis angels fpirits, and bis minifters a flame of fire. 8, But unto the Son be faith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and 10, ever. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning haft laid the foun Chap. ii. 16. dation of the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy 12, bands. Thou art the fame, and thy years fhall not fail. 13, But to which of the angels faid be at any time, Sit on my 14. right band, till I make thine enemies thy footflool? Are they. not all miniftering Spirits, fent forth to minifler for them who fhall be beirs of falvation? This oppofition is likewife carried on through the whole fecond chapter; one paffage in it being moft exprefs to fhew both that his nature had a fubfiftence before his incarnation, and that it was not of an angelical order of beings, fince he took not on him the nature of angels, but the feed of Abraham. Thus in a great variety of expreffions, the conceit of Chrift's being of an angelical nature is very fully condemned. From that the writer goes next to the notion of his being to be honoured, because he was an eminent prophet; on which he Chap. iii. 1. enters with a very folemn preface, inviting them to confider the Apoflle and High-friest of our profeffion: then he compares Mofes to him, as to the point of being faithful to him who had appointed him. But how eminent foever Mofes was above all other prophets, and how harshly foever it must have founded to the Jews to have stated the difference in terms fo diftant as that of a fervant and a fon, of one who built the house, and of the boufe itself; yet we fee the Apostle does not only prefer Chrift to Mofes, but puts him in another order and rank; which could not be done according to the Socinian hypothefis. From all which this conclufion naturally follows, that if Chrift is to be worshipped, and that this honour belongs to him neither as an angel, nor as a prophet, that then it is due to him because he is truly God. The fecond branch of this Article is, that he took man's nature upon him in the womb of the bleed Virgin, and of ber fubftance. This will not need any long or laboured proof, fince the texts of Scripture are fo express, that no II. thing but wild extravagance can withstand them. Chrift ART, was in all things like unto us, except his miraculous conception by the Virgin: he was the Son of Abraham and of David. But among the frantic humours that appeared at the Reformation, fome, in oppofition to the fuperftition of the Church of Rome, ftudied to derogate as much from the bleffed Virgin on the one hand, as the had been over-exalted on the other: fo they faid, that Christ had only gone through her. But this impiety funk so soon, that it is needlefs to fay any thing more to refute it. The third branch of the Article is, that these two natures were joined in one Perfon, never to be divided. What a perfon is that refults from a clofe conjunction of two natures, we can only judge of by confidering man, in whom there is a material and a fpiritual nature joined together. They are two natures as different as any we can apprehend among all created beings; yet these make but one man. The matter of which the body is compofed does not fubfift by itself, is not under all thofe laws of motion to which it would be fubject, if it were mere inanimated matter; but by the indwelling and actuation of the foul, it has another fpring within it, and has another courfe of operations. According to this then, to fubfift by another, is when a being is acting according to its natural properties, but yet in a conftant dependance upon another being; fo our bodies fubfift by the fubfiftence of our fouls. This may help us to apprehend how that as the body is ftill a body, and operates as a body, though it fubfiffs by the indwelling and actuation of the foul; fo in the perfon of Jefus Chrift the human nature was entire, and fill acted according to its own character; yet there was fuch an union and inhabitation of the eternal Word in it, that there did arife out of that a communication of names and characters, as we find in the Scriptures. A man is called tall, fair, and healthy, from the ftate of his body; and learned, wife, and good, from the qualities of his mind: fo Chrift is called holy, harmless, and undefiled; is faid to have died, rifen, and afcended up into heaven, with relation to his human nature he is also faid to be in the form of God, to have created all things, to Phil. ii. 6. be the brightness of the Father's glory, and the exprefs image Heb. i. 5. of bis perfon, with relation to his divine nature. The ideas that we have of what is material and what is spiritual, lead us to diftinguifh in a man thofe defcriptions that belong to his body, from thofe that belong to his mind; fo the different apprehenfions that we have of what is created and uncreated, must be our thread to guide us into Col. i. 16. |