' " At Paulus ait Rom. v. 12, In Adamo, etc Non habetur eo loco, In Adamo omnes
peccdsse ; vcrum in Grssco vei'ba sunt \ip' S, quae passim interpretes reddunt Latine, in quo, quae tamen redtU possuut per particulas quoniam aut quatenus, ut e locis simili- bus. Rom. viii. 3, Phil. iii. 12, Heb. ii. 18, 2 Cor. v. 4, videre est. Apparet igitur neque ex hocloco extrui posse peccatum originis."
OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHrjST. 1 69
sin of that one man whereby death entered on the world and passed on them all, I wonder how our catechists could once imagine that this exception against the translation of those words should enervate the argument from the text for the proof of all men's guilt of the first sin, seeing the conviction of it is no less evident from the words if rendered according to their desire.
And this is the sum of what they have to offer for the acquitment of themselves from the guilt and stain of original sin, and for answer to the three testimonies on its behalf which themselves chose to call forth; upon the strength whereof they so confidently reject it at the entrance of their discourse, and in the following question triumph upon it, as a thing utterly discarded from the thoughts of their cate- chumens. What reason or ground they have for their confidence the reader will judge. In the meantime, it is sufficiently known that they have touched very little of the strength of our cause, nor once mentioned the testimonies and arguments on whose evidence and strength in this business we rely. And for themselves who write and teach these things, I should much admire their happiness, did I not so much as I do pity them in their pride and distemper, keeping them from an acquaintance with their own miserable con- dition.
CHAPTER VII.
Of the person of Jesus Christ, and on what account he is the Son of God.
MR riddle's fourth CHAPTER.
Ques. How many Lords of Christians are there, hy way of distinction from that one Ood ?
Ans. Eph. iv. 5.
Q. Who is that one Lord ?
A. 1 Cor. viii. 6.
Q. How was Jesus Christ horn?
A. Matt. i. 18; Luke i. 30-35.
Q. How came Jesus Christ to he Lord, according to the opinion of the apostle Paul ?
A. Rom. xiv. 9.
Q. What saith the apostle Peter also concerning the time and manner of his being made Lord ?
A. Acts ii. 32, 33, 36.
Q. Did not Jesus Christ approve himself to be Ood by his miracles ; and did he not those miracles hy a divine nature of his own, and because he was Ood him- self? What is the determination of the apostle Peter in this behalf?
A. Acts ii. 22, x. 38.
Q. Could not Christ do all things of himself ; and was it not an eternal Son of Ood that tookjlesh upon him, and to whom the human nature of Christ ivas personally united, that wrought all his works ? Answer me to these things in the words of the Son himself.
A. John V. 19, 20, 30, xiv. 10.
170 VINDICI.E EVANGELIC^.
Q. WTiat reason doth the So7i render why the Father did not forsake him and cast him out of favour? Was it because he ivas of the same essence with him, so that it was impossible for the Father to forsake him or cease to love him?
A. John viii. 28, 29, xv. 9, 10.
Q. Doth the Scripture account Christ to be the Son of God because he was eternally begotten out of the divine essence, or for other reasons agreeing to him only as a man ? Rehearse the passages to this purpose.
A. Luke i. 30, 32, 34, 35; John x. 36; Acts xiii. 32, 33; Rev. i. 6; Col. i. 18; HeTi. i. 4, 5, V. 5; Rom. viii. 29.
Q. What saith the Son himself concerning the prerogative of God the Father above hitn ?
A. John xiv. 28; Mark xiii. 32; Matt. xxiv. 36.
Q. What saith the apostle Paul ?
A. 1 Cor. XV. 24, 28, xi. 3, iii. 22, 23
Q. Howbcit, is not Christ dignified, as with the title of Lord, so also with that of God, in the Scripture ?
A. John XX. 28.
Q. Was he so the God of Thomas as that he himself in the meantime did not acknowledge another to be his God ?
A. John XX. 17; Rev. iii. 12.
Q. Have you any passage of the Scripture where Christ, at the same time that he hath the appellation of God given to him, is said to have a God?
A. Heb. i. 8, 9.
EXAMINATION.
The aim and design of our catechist in this chapter being to de- spoil our blessed Lord Jesus Christ of his eternal deity, and to substi- tute an imaginary Godhead, made and feigned in the vain hearts of himself and his masters, into the room thereof, I hope the discovery of the wickedness and vanity of his attempt will not be unacceptable to them who love him in sincerity. I must still desire the reader not to expect the handling of the doctrine of the deity of Christ at large, with the confirmation of it and vindication from the vain sophisms wherewith by others, as well as by Mr B., it hath been opposed. This is done abundantly by other hands. In the next chapter that also will have its proper place, in the vindication of many texts of Scripture from the exceptions of the Racovians. The removal of Mr B.'s sophistry, and the disentangling of weaker souls, who may in any thing be intricated by his queries, are my present intendment. To make our way clear and plain, that every one that runs may read the vanity of Mr B.'s undertaking against the Lord Jesus, and his kicking against the pricks therein, I desire to pre- mise these few observations : —