But yet, although we may call on God in and by the name of any divine person, or enumerate at once each person, (w rpiag ayla api$,aou~ /I'svri, rptag iv hi ovo^Mart dpi6ficvfi£vr], Epiphan. Ancorat., viii. 22,) it doth not follow that we may make a request in our prayers unto one per- son, and then immediately repeat it unto another ; for it would thence follow, that the person unto whom we make that request in the second place, was not invocated, not called on, not equally adored with him who was so called on in the first place, although the divine nature is the object of all religious invocation, which is the same in each person. Wherefore, in our divine invocation, we may name and fix our thoughts distinctly on any person, according as our souls
THE PREFACE. 23
are affected with the distinct operations of each person in grace towards us.
For what concerns, in the third place, the ascription of divine honour, in adoration and invocation, unto the person of Christ; it is that which they principally contended for, and argued fi'om, in all their writings against the Arians.
Evidences of infinite wisdom in the constitution of the person of Christ, and rational discoveries of the condecencies therein, unto the exaltation of all the other glorious properties of the divine nature, are also treated of Herein we consider the incarnation of the Son of God, with respect unto the recovery and salvation of the church alone. Some have contended that he should have been incarnate, had man never fallen or sinned. Of these are Rupertus, lib. iii., De Gloria et Honore Filii Hominis; Albertus Magnus, in iii. distinct. 10, a. 4; Petiiis Galatinus, lib. iii. cap. 4; as are Scotus, Halensis, and others, whom Osiander followed. The same is affirmed by Socinus concerning the birth of that man, which alone he fancied him to be, as I have elsewhere declared. But I have disproved this figment at large. Many of the ancients have laboured in this argument, of the necessity of the incarnation of the eternal Word, and the condecen- cies unto divine wisdom therein. See Irenseus, lib. iii. cap. 20, 21 ; Eusebiu.?, Demonst. Evangel., lib. iv. cap. 1-4, &c. ; C}T.il. Alexand., lib. V. cap. 7, lib. i. De Fide ad Regin. ; Chrysostom, Homil. x. in Johan., et in cap. 8, ad Rom. Serm. 18; Augustine, De Trinit., lib. xiii. cap. 13-20; Leo, Epist. 13, 18, Sermo. de Na,tivit. 1, 4, 10; Basil, in Psal. xlviii. ; Albinus, lib. i. in Johan. cap. 1 1 ; Damascen., lib. iii., De Fide, cap. 15, 19; Anselm, quod Deus Homo, lib. duo. Guil. Parisiensis, lib. Cur Deus Homo. Some especial testimonies we may produce in confirmation of what we have discoursed, in the places directed unto. There is one of them, one of the most ancient, the most learned, and most holy of them, who hath so fully delivered his thoughts concerning this mystery, as that I shall principally make use of his testimony herein.
It belonged unto the wisdom and righteousness of God, that Satan should be conquered and subdued in and by the same nature which he had prevailed against, by his suggestion and temptation. To this purpose that holy v/iiter speaks, (lib. iii. cap. 20,) which, because his words are cited by Theodoret, (Dial, ii.,) I shall transcribe them from thence, as free from the injuries of his barbarous translator : "Hvc^eev 01)1/ '/.aOojg TposcpaiiLiv rhv av&pomov ru) ©i-w, u yap fj^ri avOpoj'Troc sviK'/idsv rov avri-TTaXov rou av&pujToxj^ ovz av diy.aiMg htzriQri 6 s-^6phg,,'7rdXiv ri, si ixr\ 6 Qshg sSoiprjffaro r-yji/ acurripiav, ohz av (iiZaioig syj>i[JAV a\JTr,v, ymA h iJj'(\ (Suvy)- VM&ri 0 avl)poj':Tog tOj Qsui oux uv ri8uv{']()7i /xBraSy^sTv rrig d(pdapGlag. 'Eon yap rov ,as(s!r'/jv roij ©soy ts xai dvl)pu}-7ruv, didr/jg Idiag Tphg s-/.a.rspo-jg oi-AiiorriTOg
24 THE PREFACE.
sig (piXiav xoci 6/ui>6voioi,v rovg a/jy(poripoug guvocyaysTv. Words plainly divme*. an illustrious testimony of the faith of the ancient church, and expressive of the prmcipal mystery of the Gospel ! " Wherefore, as we said before, he united man unto God. For if man had not over- come the adversary of men, the enemy had not been justly conquered; and, on the other hand, if God had not given and granted salvation, we could never have a firm, indefeasible possession of it ; and if man had not been united unto God, he could not have been partaker of immortality. It behoved, therefore, the Mediator between God and man, by his own participation of the nature of each of them, to bring them both into friendship and agreement with each other." And to the same purpose, speaking of the wisdom of God in our redemption by Christ, with respect unto the conquest of the devil: (lib. v. cap. 1 :) " Potens in omnibus Dei Verbum, et non deficiens in sua justitia,, justfe etiam ad versus ipsam conversus est apostasiam, ea quae sunt sua redimens, ab eo, non cum vi, quemadmodum ille initio dominabatur
nostri, ea quae non erant sua insatiabiliter rapiens Suo igitur
sanguine redimente nos Domino, et dante animam suam pro anima nostra, et carnem suam pro carnibus nostris," &c. Again divinely : " The all-powerful Word of God, no way defective in righteousness, set himself against the apostasy justly also ; redeeming from him (Satan, the head of the apostasy) the things which were his own — not with force, as he bare rule over us, insatiably making rapine of what was not his own — but he, the Lord, redeeming us with his own blood, giving his soul for our soul, and his flesh for ours, wrought out our deliverance." These things are at large insisted on in the ensuing discourse.