^ So tliat he touched Christ his feet, as the word'yowirerw;' signifies; not kneeled, as the word is translated, Mark i. 40. This leper came to know Christ was God, 1. By in- spiration ; 2. By the miracles which Christ did.
164 Christ's eternal deity proved.
shall be whole.' He acknowledges the leprosy curable by Christ, which he and all men knew was incurable by others, which was a plain argument of his faith ; for though the psm^a or scabbedness may be cured, yet that which is called lepra physicians acknowledge incurable ; for if a particular cancer cannot be cured, much less can a universal cancer. As Avicenna^ observes: Mat. ii. 11, ' Though the wise men of the east, who saw Herod in all his royalty and glory, worshipped him not, yet they fell down before Christ.' No doubt but that by divine instinct they knew the divinity of Christ, hence they worshipped him, not only with civil worship, as one born king of the Jews, but with divine worship ; which was, it is like, the outward gestui'e of reverence, and kneeling, and falling down, for so the Greek words signify. Is it probable that they would worship a young babe, that by reason of his infancy understands nothing, except they did believe some divine thing to be in him ? and therefore not the childhood, but the divinity in the child, was worshipped by them, [Chrysostom.] Certainly if Christ had been no more than a natural child, they would never have undertaken so long, so tedious, and so perilous a journey to have found him out ; principally, considering, as some conceive, they themselves were little inferior to the kings of the Jews. It is uncer- tain what these wise men, who were Gentiles, knew particularly con- cerning the mystery of the Messiah ; but certainly they knew that he was something more than a man, by the internal revelation of the Spirit of God, who by faith taught them to believe that he was a king though in a cottage, and a God though in a cradle ; and there- fore as unto a God they fell down and worshipped him, &c. But,
[5.] Fiftlily, When Jesus Christ luas declared to the world, God did command even the most glorious angels to worship him, as his natural and co-essential Son, ivhowas begotten from the days of eternity, in the unity of the Godhead; for, when he brought in his first-begotten and only-begotten Son into the world, he said, ' And let all the angels of God worship him,' Heb. i. 6, — the glorious angels who refuse divine honour to be given to themselves : ' See thou do it not,' saith the angel to John, when John fell at his feet to worship him, ' I am thy fellow-servant,' &c., Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 9 ; yet they give, and must give, divine hon- our unto Christ, Phil. ii. 9. The manhood of itself could not be thus adored, because it is a creature, but as it is received into unity of person with the Deity, and hath a partner agency therewith, according to its measure in the work of redemption and mediation. All the honour due to Christ, according to his divine nature, was due from all eternity ; and there is no divine honour due to him from and by reason of his human nature, or any perfection which doth truly and properly be- long to Christ as man. He who was born of Mary is to be. adored with divine worship ; but not for that reason, because he was born of Mary, but because he is God, the co-essential and eternal Son of God. From what has been said we may thus ai'gue, He to whom religious worship is truly exliibited, is the most higli God. But religious wor- ship is truly exhibited unto Christ, ergo, Christ is the most high God. But,
7. Seventhly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from Christ's
Christ's eternal deity proved. 165
oneness luWi the Father, and from that claim that Jesus Christ doth lay to all that belongs to the Father, as God A Now, certainly, if Jesus Christ were not very God, he would never have laid claim to all that is the Father's, as God. The ancients insist much upon that : John xvi. 15, ' All things that the Father hath,' as God, ' are mine.' The Father hath an eternal godhead, and that is mine ; the Father hath infinite power and wisdom, and that is mine ; the Father hath infinite majesty and glory, and that is mine ; the Father hath infinite happi- ness and blessedness in himself, and that is mine, saith Christ. The words are very emphatical, having in them a double universality. [1.] ' All things : ' there is one note of universality ; [2.] ' Whatsoever : ' there is another note of universality. Well, saith Christ, there is nothing in the Father, as God, but is mine, ' All that the Father hath is mine ; ' the Father is God, and I am God ; the Father is life, and I am life ; for whatsoever the Father hath is mine : John x. 30, ' I and my Father are one ;' Ave are one eternal God, we are one in consent, will, essence, nature, power, dominion, glory, &c., ' I and my Father are one ; ' two persons, but one God. He speaketh this as he is God, one in substance, being, and deity, &c. As God, he saith, * I and my Father are one ;' but, secundum formam servi, in respect of the form of a servant, his assumed humanity, he saith, John xiv. 28, ' My Father is greater than I :' John x. 37, ' If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not:' ver. 38, 'But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works,' &c. The argument of itself is plain. No man can of himself, and by his own power, do divine works, unless he be truly God ; I do divine works by my own power, yea, ' I do the works of my Father ;' not only the like and equal, but the same with the Father. Therefore I am truly God ; neither deserve I to be called a blasphemer, because I said I was one with the Father ; 1 John V. 7, ' And these three are one,' one in nature and essence, one in power and will, and one in the act of producing all such actions, as without themselves any of them is said to perform. Look, as three lamps are lighted in one chamber, albeit the lamps be divers, yet the lights cannot be severed ; so in the godhead, as there is a distinction of persons, so a simplicity of nature. From the scriptures last cited we may safely and confidently conclude that Clirist hath the same divine nature and godhead with the Father, that they both have the same divine and essential titles and attributes, and perform the same inward operations in reference to all creatures whatsoever. To make it yet more plain, compare John xvii. 10 with John xvi. 15. ' All things that the Father hath are mine,' John xvi. 15 ; ' Father, all mine are thine, and thine are mine,' John xvii. 10. That is, whatso- ever doth belong to the Father, as God, doth belong to Christ ; for we speak not of personal but essential properties. Christ doth lay claim to all that is natural, to all that belongs to the Father, as God, not to anything which belongs to him as the Father, as the first person of the