The argument lieth fair and undeniable. The all things that were created by Christ, Paul reduceth to two heads, visible and invisible ; but Zanchius addeth a third branch to this distinction, and maketh it more plain by saying that all things that were made are either visible or invisible, or mixed — visible, as the stars and fowls and clouds of heaven, the fish in the sea, and beasts upon the earth ; invisible things, as the angels, they also were made; then there is a third sort of creatures which are of a mixed nature, partly visible in regard of their bodies, and partly invisible in regard of their souls, and those are men : Eph. ii. 9, ' Who created all things by Jesus Chiist ; ' Heb. i. 2, ' He hath, in these last days, spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath ap- pointed heir of all things ; by whom also he made the worlds.' This may seem somewhat difficult, because he speaketh of worlds, whereas we acknowledge but one ; but this seeming difficulty you may easily get over if you please but to consider the persons to whom he writes, which were Hebrews, whose custom it was to style God Rabboni, dominus mundorum, the Lord of the worlds. They were wont to speak of three worlds— the lower world, the higher world, and the middle world ; the lower world containeth the elements, earth and water and air and fire ; the higher world that containeth the heaven of the blessed ; and the middle world that containeth the starry heaven. They now being acquainted with this language, and the apostle writ- ing to them, he saith that God by Christ made the worlds — those worlds which they were wont to speak so frequently of. And whereas one scruple might arise from that expression in the Ephesians, ' God created all things "6y" Jesus Christ,' and this to the Hebrews, ^by wliom he made the worlds,' as if Christ were only an instrument in the creation and not the principal efficient ; therefore another place in this chapter will clear it, which speaketh of Christ as the principal efficient of all things: Heb. i., compare the 8th and 10th verses to- gether, ' To the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever ; ' then Christ is God. Then, ' And, Thou, Lord,' ver. 10, ' hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thy hands.' Namely ' thine,' that is, the Son, which he spake of be- fore. Christ is the principal efficient of the creation ; and in this sense it is said, ' By him were all things made,' not as by an instrument, but as by the chief efficient. [6.] The preservation and sustenfation of all things: Col. i. 17, ' By him all things consist.' They would soon fall asunder had not Christ undertaken to uphold the shattered condition thereof by the word of his power. All creatures that are made are preserved by him in being, life, and motion : Heb. i. 3, ' He upholdeth all things by the word of his power.' Both in respect of being, excel- lencies, and operations, sin had hurled confusion over the world, which would have fallen about Adam's ears had not Christ undertaken the shattered condition thereof, to uphold it. He keeps the world together, saith one, as the hoops do the barrel. Christ bears up all
God : et Ii/jli 6eb%, &c., saith Pythagoras, If any will assume to himself and say, I am God, except only one, let him lay such a world as this is to stake, and say, This world is mine ; then I'will believe him, not otherwise, Heb. i. 2, Ai Zv, not propter qnem, as Grotius would evade the text ' for ' whom he made the worlds, hut per quem, by whom ; so the apostle, to put it out of all doubt, putteth them together : Col. i. 16, ' All things were created by him and for him,' dl airrdv /cat eU avrbv.
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things, continuing to the several creatures their being, ordering and governing them, and this he doth by the word of his power. By this word he made the world, ' He spake, and it was done.' And by this word he governeth the world, by his own mighty word, the word of his power. Both these are divine actions, and being ascribed unto Christ, evidence him to be no less than God. Now from what has been said we may thus argue, he to whom those actions are ascribed, which are proper to the most high God, he is the most high God ; but such actions or works are ascribed to Christ, ergo, he is the most high God. But,
6. Sixthly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from that divine honour and loorship that is due to him, and hy angels and saints given unto him. The apostle sheweth, Gal. iv. 8, that religious worship ought to be performed to none but to him that is God by nature ; and that they are ignorant of the true God who religiously worship them that are no gods by nature ; and therefore, if Christ were not God by nature, and consubstantial with the Father, we ought not to perform religious worship to him.i Divine worship is due to the second person of this co essential Trinity, to Jesus Christ our Lord and God. There is but one immediate, formal, proper, adequate, and fundamental reason of divine worship or adorability, as the schools speak, and that is the sovereign, supreme, singular majesty, indepen- dent and infinite excellency of the eternal Godhead ; for by divine worship we do acknowledge and declare the infinite majesty, truth, wisdom, goodness, and glory of our blessed God. We do not esteem anything worthy of divine honour and worship which hath but a finite and created glory, because divine honour is proper and peculiar to the only true God, who will not give his glory to any other who is not God. God alone is the adequate object of divine faith, hope, love, and worship, because these graces are all exercised, and this worship per- formed, in acknowledgment of his infinite perfection and independent excellency ; and therefore no such worship can be due to any creature or thing below God. There is not one kind of divine honour due to the Father and another to the Son, nor one degree of honour due to the Father and another to the Son ; for there can be no degrees imaginable in one and the same excellency, which is single because infinite ; and what is infinite doth excel and transcend all degrees and bounds. And if there be no degrees in the ground and adequate reason of divine worshij), there can be no reason or ground of a difterence of degrees in the worship itself. The Father and the Son are one, John x. 30, — one in power, excellency, nature, — one God, and therefore to be honoured with the same worship, ' that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father,' John v. 23. Every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ, who is man, is God also, and therefore equal to his Father, Phil. ii. 6, 11, 12 ; and it can be no robbery, no derogation to the Father's honour, for us to give equal honour to him and his co-equal Son, who subsists in the form of God, in the natm-e of God. Thus