trates, who are only God's vicegerents and ministers, are called gods, as ye know they are in your own law, how can ye accuse Me of blasphemy, for calling Myself the Son of God? How truly may I be called by that name, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world?" Where we may observe, He doth not say "whom God," but "whom the Father hath sanctified, and whom He sent into the world;" who therefore was before, otherwise He could not have been sent hither. We may likewise observe here, that whereas He had before said, "That He and the Father are One;" He here saith, that He had said, "He was the Son of God." From whence it appears, that, in the language of our Saviour, to be the Son of God, and to be one with the Father, is the same thing, even to be God Himself, "the living and true God;" as the Jews understood Him, not only in this, but in another parallel place, where it is said, "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, be- John 5. 18. cause He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also, that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." Because He called Himself the Son of God, or said, God was His Father, the Jews concluded, that He made Himself equal to God. But they could never have raised such an inference from thence, unless it had been the received opinion among them, that none can be truly called the Son of God, but he must needs be equal to God, or of the same nature with Him; and by consequence, that wheresoever Jesus is called the Son of God, as He often is, the meaning according to the common use of the phrase at that time was, that He was poovaios, of the same nature or substance with the Father, and so equal to Him. And that He really is so, He in the next place proves from the works He did; for immediately after the words before spoken of, He saith, "If I do not the works of My ver. 37, 38. Father, believe Me not; but if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Where we may again observe, first, that what He had before signified, by saying, that He was the Son of God, and one with the Father, and so truly God, as the Jews rightly understood Him; He expresses the same thing here, by saying, that the Father is XXV. SERM. in Him, and He in the Father, which is the highest and clearest expression that can be, of the unity of their essence, or of their being one and the same God; so that although their persons be distinct, yet they are reciprocally in one another; which could not be, if their essence was not one and the same in both. 5; Luke 7. 21, 22. But that which I would chiefly observe here, is, that our Saviour appeals to His works, as an undeniable argument and demonstration of His Divine power and Godhead, that He and the Father are One. "Though ye do not believe Me," saith He, "believe the works:" as if He had said, though ye do not believe Me upon My own word, yet believe your own eyes; ye see what I do, such things as none can do but God: which therefore are of themselves sufficient to convince you of the truth of what I said; even, “That I and the Father are One;" as He said also to Philip, "BeJohn 14.11. lieve Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works' sake." Thus He refers Matt. 11. 4, the messengers of John the Baptist to the works He did, as a clear proof that He was the Christ, the Son of God, without His telling them that He was so. And He doth not only John 5. 36; assert, that the works He did bare witness of Him, but that their testimony was such as made those who did not believe in Him, inexcusable before God. "If I had not," saith He, "done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen" (My works) "and hated both Me, and My Father." pearing among them as a mere man, in a mean condition, did not expect they should take His bare word for it, that He was God. But when He had done such works before their eyes, which no mere man ever did, or could do, none but one that is of infinite power; they were now without all excuse that did not believe Him to be God, one with the Father, as His works plainly shewed Him to be. 10. 25. ch. 15. 24. He ap This therefore is that, which I shall now, by His assistance, undertake to prove. It is true, we who already believe what He said to be true, having His word for it, need not any other arguments to persuade us of it. Howsoever, for the further confirmation of our faith, and for the greater conviction of those who do not believe in Him, it will be of great use to shew, that the works which Jesus Christ did, while He was upon earth, do plainly demonstrate Him to be the one living and true God, of one, and the same nature, glory, power, and all Divine perfections with the Father, who made, and governs the whole world. For which purpose we shall first consider, what works He did, and then how He did them. Luke 17.12, Luke 14. 2, Matt. 8. 15; Matt. 9. 22. ch. 9. 33. Mark 7. 35. 10. 46. The works which our Saviour did upon earth, whereby to shew forth His Godhead, as they are recorded in the Holy Gospels, were not only many, but of several sorts and kinds. The most common and ordinary, were His curing diseases Matt. 8. 3; and distempers in men's bodies; particularly the leprosy, 14. the palsy, the dropsy, the fever, the bloody issue, the with- Matt. 9. 2. ered hand, the dumb, the deaf, that had also an impediment 3. in his speech, the blind, two blind men together, and one John 4. 52. that was born blind, a woman that was bowed together, and ch. 12. 13. could in nowise lift up herself, the man who had his ear cut off, the impotent man that had an infirmity thirty-eight ch. 8. 25 ; years, the centurion's servant that was ready to die. These Matt. 9.30; are particularly named; but it is said, that He healed all John 9.1, 7. manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the Luke 13.11, people, that great multitudes followed Him, and He healed ch. 22. 51. them all. So that when great multitudes came to Him, Luke 7. 2. having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, Matt. 4. 23; and many others, He healed them. And besides those that ch. 12. 15. had bodily distempers, they brought to Him many that were 19.2; 21.14. possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His ver. 28. word, particularly two in the country of the Gergesenes, ch. 17. 18. the woman of Canaan's daughter, a man's son, the man in Mark 1. 23. the synagogue, and him that dwelt among the tombs. 20. 34. 13. John 5.5, 9. ch. 15. 30; Matt. 8. 16. ch. 15. 22. ch. 5.2, 3. Matt.14.25; John 6. 19. Mark 4.39. Matt.17.27. ch. 14. 19, "five 9, 10. Moreover, He walked on the sea. He rebuked and stilled Matt. 8. 26; the winds and storms there. He shewed His power over the fishes, in the great draught that was taken, and in the fish that brought money to pay His tribute. He fed "five 21; John'6. thousand men, besides women and children," with ch. 15. 34, loaves and two fishes," and "four thousand" with "seven 36, 38. John 2.7, 10. loaves and a few little fishes." He turned water into wine. Matt.21.19. ch. 9. 18, He caused the fig-tree to wither away with His word, and 25; Mark 5. raised three dead persons to life again, the ruler's daughter, Luke 7. 12, the widow's son at Nain, and Lazarus. 35, 41. 14. John 11.43. SERM. John 2. 24, To all which, we may add, that He did not only foretell many things to come, but He searched into men's hearts, Matt. 9. 4. and could tell them what they thought. He knew all men, and what was in them. He knew all things. He told what Nathaniel was in his heart, and where he had been before he came to Him. He told the woman of Samaria all things that ever she did. He told His disciples that Lazarus was dead, before any one had told Him so. He 25. ch. 16.30; 21. 17. ch. 1.47, 50. ch. 4. 29, 39. ch. 11. 14. 2, 3. told them where there was an ass tied, and the owner willMatt. 21. ingly let them take her away, only upon their saying, “The Lord hath need of her." He told them where they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water, and what kind of room he would shew them, where He might eat the Passover with them. And when He called His Apostles, He Matt. 4. 19, only said to them, "Follow Me;" and they immediately left Luke 5. 27, all and followed Him. Luke 22. 10, 11. 20; 9.9; 28. John 21. 25. ch. 20. 31. Besides these that are particularly recorded, "There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," as an eye-witness saith. "But these are written, that we might believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." And these certainly are, in all reason, sufficient to convince any man of it; for none could do so many, and such miracles as these, but the eternal Son of God Himself, of the same essence and power with the Father, the Creator and Governor of all things. As for the number, they were more than any one, or all the Prophets had done before: Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, are recorded to have done most, but all theirs put together, were not so many as He did in three years and a little more; much less were they like to His, or any way comparable to them: many of theirs were works of judgment, His were all works of mercy and goodness, all for the good and benefit of mankind, not so much as one to the prejudice of any. We do not read of any distemper, except Naaman's leprosy, cured by the Prophets; but there was no sort of distemper but what He cured. None of the Prophets ever cast out devils, but no devil could stand beMark 5. 9. fore Christ, not a whole legion of them together, whereby He shewed His power over Hell itself, which none ever had but God. The like power He shewed also over the water, by turning it into wine, by walking upon it, and disposing of the fishes in it, as He pleased; over the air, by laying the winds and storms; over the fruit of the earth, by making five barley-loaves satisfy above five thousand people: over the plants and trees, by causing the fig-tree to wither; over men's bodies, by healing all diseases they were subject to; over men's wills, by inclining the Apostles to come at His call, and the owner of the ass to send her to Him, upon His sending for her: to which we may also add, the people's Matt.21.12. going out of the temple, upon His driving, without any civil authority. And He shewed His power over death itself, by raising the dead to life. Indeed, He plainly shewed, that He had both perfect knowledge of, and absolute power over all things that are: nothing came amiss to Him, nothing was too hard for Him, nor one thing harder than another; all things were alike easy to Him; He cured the man that was born blind, as easily as if he had been but newly made so. But as the man himself said, "Since the world began, John 9. 32. was it not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind." No mere man, be sure, ever did, or could do it; none but Almighty God Himself: but He did it, and by that and all His other works demonstrated Himself to be Almighty; that He could do whatsoever He would, which is the great prerogative of God, incommunicable to any creature. Wherefore, as the Samaritans believed in Him, because He had told the woman all that she ever did, and John 4. 39. the disciples, because He knew all things, how much more ch. 16.30. cause have we to believe Him to be the Almighty God, the great Creator and Governor of the world, seeing He did not only know all things, but could do all things, and alter the course of nature whensoever He pleased! And therefore upon that account, He might well say, "Though ye believe [John 10. not Me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe, 38.] that the Father is in Me, and I in Him;" or as it is in my text, "That I and the Father are one.' Especially if we consider withal, His way and manner of doing these works. When Moses and the Prophets undertook any thing extraordinary, being conscious to themselves that they could not do it of themselves, they prayed to God |