214 VINDICIyE EVANGELICiE.
provino- the deity of Christ that it abundantly confirms it. And this is mentioned, John v. 19-23. This Christ hath by nature, (2.) By collation of gifts, honour and dignity, exaltation and glory, upon him as mediator, or in respect of that office which he humbled him- self to undergo, and for the full execution whereof and investiture [wherejwith glory, honour, and power were needful; which is men- tioned. Matt, xxviii. 18, Phil. ii. 9, 1 Cor. xv. 27: which is by no means derogatory to the deity of the Son ; for inequality in respect of office is well consistent with equality in respect of nature. This Christ hath by grace. Matt, xxviii. 18, Christ speaks of himself as tho- roughly furnished with authority for the accomplishing of the work of mediation which he had undertaken. It is of his office, not of his nature or essence, that he speaks. Phil. ii. 9, Christ is said to be exalted ; which he was in respect of the real exaltation given to his human nature, and the manifestation of the glory of his divine, which he had with his Father before the world was, but had eclipsed for a season. 1 Cor. xv. 27 relates to the same exaltation of Christ as before.
4. It is false that Christ doth not ascribe the divine works which he wrought to himself and his own divine power, although that he often also makes mention of the Father, as by whose appointment he wrought those works, as mediator: John v. 17, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;" verse 19, " For what things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son;" verse 21, " For as the Father rais- eth up the dead, and quickeueth them, even so the Son quickeneth Avhom he will." Himself wrought the works that he did, though as to the end of his working them, which belonged to his office of me- diation, he still relates to his Father's designation and appointment.
And this is the whole of our catechists' plea from reason and Scripture against the deity of Christ. [As] for the conclusion, of the superfluousness and needlessness of such a divine nature in the Mediator, as it argues them to be ignorant of the Scriptures, and of the righteousness of God, and of the nature of sin, so it might ad- minister occasion to insist upon the demonstration of the necessity which there was that he who was to be mediator between God and man should be both God and man, but that I aim at brevity, and the consideration of it may possibly fall in upon another account, so that here I shall not insist thereon.
Nextly, then, they address themselves to that which is their proper work (wherein they are exceedingly delighted), — namely, in giving in exceptions against the testimonies produced for the confirmation of the truth under consideration, which they thus'enter upon: —
Q. Bat they endeavour to assert the divine nature of Christ from the Scrip- tures.
A. They endeavour it, indeed, diverse ways; and that whilst they study either to
DEITY OF CHRIST PROVED, ETC. 215-
evince out of certain scriptures what is not in tiiem, or whilst they argue per- versely from those things which are in the scriptures, and so evilly bring their business to pass.^
These, it seems, are the general heads of our arguments for the deity of Christ; but before we part we shall bring our catechists to another reckoning, and manifest both that what we assert is expressly contained in the Scriptures, and what we conclude by ratiocination from them hath an evidence in it which they are not able to resist. But they say, — •
Q. What are those things which they labour to evince concerning Christ out of the Scriptures, tuhich are not contained in them?
A. Of this sort is, as they speak, his pre-eternity ; which they endeavour to con- firm with two sorts of scriptures: — I. Such as wherein they suppose this pre- eternity is expressed ; 2. Such as wherein, though it be not expressed, yet they think that it may be gathered from them.*
TJiat we do not only " suppose," but have also as great an assurance as the plain, evident, and redoubled testimony of the Holy Ghost can give us of the eternity of Jesus Christ, shall be made evident in the ensuing testimonies, both of the one sort and the other, especially by such as are express thereunto ; for in this matter we shall very little trouble the reader with collections and arguings, the matter inquired after being express and evident in the words and terms of the Holy Ghost himself. They say, then, —
Q. Which are those testimonies of Scripture which seem to them to express his pre-eternity ?
A. They are those in which the Scripture witnesseth of Christ that he was in the beginning, that he was in heaven, that he was before Abraham, John i. 1, vi. 62, viii. 58.^
Before I come to the consideration of the particular places pro- posed by them to be insisted on, I shall desire to premise one or two things; as, —
1. That it is sufficient for the disproving of their hypothesis con- cerning Christ if we prove him to have been existent before his incarnation, whether the testimonies whereby we prove it reach ex- pressly to the proof of his eternity or no. That which they have undertaken to maintain is, that Christ had no existence before his conception and birth of the Virgin ; — which if it be disproved, they do not, they cannot, deny but that it must be on the account of a