A Vindication, Instance 9
Inſt. 9. If Chriſt be a meer creature, then the Interceſſion of Chriſt is overthrown; for Chriſt if a meer man being in heaven, cannot know the ſtate of the Church in all places upon earth, therefore cannot intercede for it.
He reduceth this into the form of an Argument to little purpoſe but to fill up paper, after this manner.
That Doctrine which utterly overthrows the Interceſſion of Chriſt, brings in as it were another Goſpel;
But the Doctrine that makes Chriſt a meer creature, utterly overthrows the Interceſſion of Chriſt, Therefore
He grants the Major propoſition, but denies the minor, and complains for want of proof, in theſe words.
What? Muſt we again take your word for a proof? I wiſh a better, for there is no goodneſs in that; we have been too long troubled with the word (I ſay) inſteed of proof, &c.
Repl. This anſwer is much altered, it hath fallen under correction ſince it was firſt pteſented to me in the manuſcript; there was profane ſcurrility in it; wherein he ſhewed the tincture of his ſpirit: but I complained to one of his dear friends, who was too highly conceited of him, who gave him an Item of it, and ſo the words came to be changed, though there be harſhneſs enough without any juſt cauſe for it. His expreſſions did run thus.
We have already been troubled enough with the Prophet I ſay: Wherein he firſt breaks his reſt upon me. 2. He doth it in a profane way, abuſing that Evangelical Prophet Iſaiah, which abbreviated is written Iſay, whoſe perſon and name deſerve reverence, becauſe the honour of becoming the Pen-man of the holy Ghoſt was put upon him. Nor was there occaſion given him to ſport thus with the Prophets name, for I know not that any ſuch words can be found in my writing, as [I ſay] no nor yet the ſenſe of them; for I have not nakedly delivered any thing but there hath been either Scripture or Argument to inforce it; and in this very inſtance, viz. If Chriſt be a meer creature, then the interceſſion of Chriſt is overthrown; there is a reaſon to inforce it, which was thus; Becauſe a meer man being in heaven, could not know the ſtate of the Churches in all places upon earth, and therefore could not intercede according to the condition and neceſſity of the Churches: And though this reaſon was not confirmed with another, (which it ſeems he expected it ſhould have bin) yet it was not becauſe there was no good reaſon to be rendred, but becauſe I was in great ſtraits of time when I thought of, and wrote out that paper of Scripture and Arguments, and had not liberty to enlarge upon any thing, having not three hours to conſider of the thing; and becauſe I intended them to fall under the conſideration of more candid perſons; and becauſe I thought what I preſented, might eaſily be maintained from Scripture, if there ſhould be any conteſt.
Nor hath he invalidated the proof I brought for the ſtrengthning of this Argument, notwithſtanding his complaint of want of proof. Let it be conſidered what he ſaith.
What (ſaith he) have you learned to meaſure the knowledge of him who hath received the ſpirit without meaſure? Cannot he as man know in heaven what things are done on earth? Who told you ſo?
Repl. Theſe are ſtrange expreſſions to proceed from one that denyes the Deity of the Spirit equally, as he doth the Deity of Chriſt; and who makes both the Son, and the holy Ghoſt finite creatures; and who makes the Son the firſt and principall of all the creatures, and the Lord of all the reſt, yea God (in ſome ſence) to them all; and ſo the ſpirit himſelf is ſervant unto Chriſt, and Chriſt is his Lord, and in a kind his God.
The conradictions in this expoſtulation of his, What? have you learned to meaſure the knowledge of him who hath received the ſpirit without meaſure? in reference to the forementioned Tenents of his, are not a few.
His expreſſions ſeem to me to carry ſuch a ſenſe; 1. That Chriſts knowledge is ſo great that it is unmeaſurable, and conſequently infinite; and yet he himſelf but a creature; and conſequently finite, which is a contradiction. 2. That this knowledge of Chriſt came to be unmeaſurable, becauſe the ſpirit was given to him without meaſure, and yet the ſpirit himſelf is finite, and conſequently meaſurable according to him. And if the ſpirit were infinite, and his wiſdom infinite, (as indeed he is though he denye it) yet if Chriſt be a meer creature and wholely finite, as he holds, the maxime is infallible, that, quicquid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis; What ever thing is received is received according to the Capacity of that which doth receive it; and conſequently, when Chriſt who receives the Spirit is finite, he is not capable to receive any proportion of the ſpirit but what is finite, and be may meaſured; though the ſpirit were infinite. And ſo there is a double contradiction. 3. That this excellent knowledge of Chriſt, which he ſaith cannot be meaſured, was received by his receiving of the ſpirit; and yet Chriſt is greater, and more excellent then this ſpirit, and the Creator of him, and Lord and God unto him, which is an other contradiction.
Obj.
But he may plead for himſelf, and lay, that his words are wreſted; and that he demands of me, whether I have learned to meaſure the knowledge of him, &c?
Sol. Though I am not able to meaſure the knowledge of Chriſt (who received the Spirit) poſitively, ſo as to declare exactly what meaſure he received, and no more; yet I am able to meaſure the knowledge of Chriſt (which he had by the donation of the Spirit) negatively; I can ſay it was not unmeaſurable, it was not infinite.
But he bottoms this interrogation upon a Scripture, viz. John 3. 34. where he ſaith, that God giveth not his Spirit by meaſure to him; And he interprets it to be without meaſure, and by conſequence infinitely.
But he is miſtaken, for there is a compariſon betwixt Chriſt and John the Baptiſt, and other Miniſters of the Church, for they received the Spirit, and are limitted and ſtinted, and receive not all that they are capable of, and muſt have, but the Spirit is divided to them as it pleaſeth God; to one man is given Wiſdom, and to an other Knowledge, &c. 1 Cor. 12. 11. and Eph. 4. 7. and Rom. 12. 3. but to Chriſt is given the Spirit, not by meaſure, that is, not according to this meaſure; for Chriſt hath all theſe, and he hath the Spirit in perfection, and not imperfectly, as men here have; and he hath the whole as he is capable of, as man, but yet the whole is not infinite nor unmeaſurable: of which I have largely before ſpoken, and therefore ſhall not inlarge here.
It may be further ſaid by way of negation, that all the knowledge that Chriſt hath received as man by the donation of the Spirit, doth not inable him as man, and being in heaven, to know the ſtate of all Saints in all places on earth, unleſs it be by revelation from God immediately, and a new every moment: The reaſon is, becauſe as Chriſts body is confined to heaven, ſo his ſoul is confined to his body, and ſo the whole humane nature of Chriſt is confined to one place, and is not, neither can be preſent with one ſaint on earth, much leſs with all ſaints on earth; and without this preſence, there can be no knowledge; for Gods infinite knowledge is by his infinite preſence; but this hath alſo been ſpoken of before. And becauſe none can know the ſtate of ſaints but he that can know the heart of ſaints, but no creature doth this but he that made the heart, and gave to man knowledge, as the Scripture ſpeaks, Pſal. 94. 8, 9, 10. and this is God alone.
But he goeth on, and ſaith;
None but the man Chriſt Jeſus can intercede, it being abſurd to conceive that God can intercede, unleſs it might be conceived that God hath a ſuperiour: Now if the man Chriſt Jeſus doth intercede for his Church, he knows her ſtate; and why he may not know it by a communication of power from the Father, notwithſtanding he be not God and man in one perſon, is a riddle; for the unfolding whereof I would willingly plow with your heifer:
Repl. The act of Interceſſion doth belong to Jeſus Chriſt as man, and the reaſon is ſtrong which he renders; but the ability to intercede, ſeeing it muſt be for all ſaints, according to their particular conditions and neceſſities, doth appertain to Chriſt as God, and the validity of his interceſſion is bottomed there alſo.
And whereas he ſpeaks of a communication of power from the Father, to know the ſtate of the Church; if he mean by it any inherent power or vertue reſiding in Chriſt, but given by the Father, by which Chriſt is inabled by himſelf from time to time, to know all the hidden things, and deepeſt ſecrets, and the moſt inward thoughts and ways, and the moſt retired temptations and ſpiritual neceſſities of the Church it is impoſſible, for the reaſons before mentioned; and becauſe there is not a greater thing by which the excellency and glory of that infinite wiſdom of God himſelf can be diſcovered and made known then this, to penetrate the hearts, and diſcern the motions of the ſpirits of men; and becauſe the Lord himſelf by the Prophet Amos, reckons this, viz. the declaring unto man his thought, among the great, and proper, and peculiar works of God, which the creature cannot effect, whch require an infinite power, which no creature can be the ſubject of; in Amos 4. 13. For lo he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man his thought, &c. and then he concludes, the Lord, the God of hoaſt is his Name. And becauſe both God himſelf, and the Prophets, and holy men of God have attributed it to God alone, as hath bin proved before, and you may diſcern from Dan. 2. 11. that it is imprinted upon the very ſpirits and minds of the Heathen, to acknowledge a peculiarity in this thing to appertain to God. And becauſe its poſſible a like for the Father to communicate to the creature a power of being every where, as of knowing all things in all places, yea the moſt inſearchable things of all perſons without any perſonal preſence, where ſuch perſons and things are: And indeed it may as rationally and as truly be aſſerted, that God may communicate his own nature and eſſence, and all his attributes to the creature, as communicate this attribute of omniſcience, or inveſt man with a power of knowing of the ſtate of all ſaints, which is all one; for what is it that God cannot give a power to know, if he can give power to know the inclinations, hidden motions, ſecret workings, and abſtruſe actings of the ſoul and ſpirit? and if God can make the creature to know as much as himſelf knows, by communication, then he can make the creature a God by communication. And if we look into the way by which God himſelf comes to know theſe things, we ſhall be able to diſcern that this knowledge cannot be communicated, becauſe all things and perſons are of God, and from God, and they live, move, and have their being in him, therefore it is impoſſible but that he ſhould be acquainted with all their actings, motions, and ways; but this is communicable which is the cauſe of this knowledge of God. God cannot make perſons or things to have their ſubſiſtings and motions in the creature, and therefore he cannot communicate ſuch a power, and make it reſide in the creature, by which they may have ſuch a knowledge. The effect is no more communicable then the cauſe is communicable.
But if he meaneth by a communication of power from the Father to know the ſtate of the Church, nothing elſe but Gods revealing to Chriſt in heaven from time to time, the ſtate and condition of the Church, and of all ſaints, as he did to Daniel Nebuchadnezars Dream which was gone from him; this will be granted as poſſible in reference to the creature, but this is not properly a communication of power to the creature from the Father; but the manifeſtation of Gods Wiſdom and Power by the creature, and the creature is not the ſubject of it in which this wiſdom reſides, but God himſelf. But this is not ſutable to Chriſt, to ſay that what knowledge Chriſt hath in heaven of the affairs of the Church, and ſtate of the ſaints, is by Gods revelation; for this would make Chriſt a Prieſt of like imperfection which was in the high Prieſts, for they were capable of revelation alſo as well as Chriſt, if God had pleaſed to have manifeſted himſelf unto them in the diſcovery of the Churches wants; but it behoved Chriſt to be more excellent, to be a Prieſt not in weakneſs, but in ſtrength, and to be able to ſave to the utmoſt, and conſequently to have the ability of interceding in himſelf. For to be able to ſave by anothers ſtrength, is ſuch an ability as Paul ſpeaks of, when he ſaith, I am able to do all things through Christ ſtrengthning of me: ſuch ability is inability, it is to be unable rather then able in and of himſelf; as a child that is moved by the ſtrength of the arms of the Mother, or as a ſick man that is upheld in his walking; which makes nothing to the glory of Chriſt at all, but is a diſhonor to him: and hence it is that it was needful that Chriſt ſhould be God and man in one perſon, that he might be the ſubject of this power, and that he might by himſelf ſave us. Beſides, it is unſcriptural to ſay that the Father reveals the ſtate of the Church to Chriſt, and that Chriſt knows it not till then. Yea, it is repugnant to the Scripture, for it is ſaid Chriſt is he that ſearcheth the heart, &c. he knows, becauſe he ſearcheth, and not becauſe it is revealed to him.
But he paſſeth from this ninth Argument, under pretence to viſit my tenth, and yet ſaith never a word to it, but refers me to his anſwer to Matth. 28. 20. I am with you alwaies to the end of the world. But whether this be ſollidly or ſlightly done, I ſhall leave to the Reader to judge after I have preſented it to his view.
The tenth Argument or Inſtance was this;