SERM. to do it.

XXV.

ver. 28.

Luke 22. 42.

ver. 46.

But our blessed Saviour, although as being "God of God," He sometimes calls God His God; yet we never find that He prayed to God at all, as such, but only to the

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Father, for where it is said, according to our translation, Luke 6. 12. that He " continued all night in prayer to God," in the original it is ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ' in an oratory of God, in a place set apart for prayer. But wheresoever we read that He prayed, we still find that He directed Himself to the Matt.11.25. Father; as, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and John 11. 41. earth." "Father, I thank Thee, that Thou hast heard Me." ch. 12. 27. 'Father, save Me from this hour." "Father, glorify Thy name." "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from ch. 23. 34. Me." "Father, forgive them." "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." Which last words David directed unto God, but Christ to the Father; which, doubtless, was done on purpose, to shew the difference betwixt His and others praying: and that although as He was man, He might pray to God; yet being Himself also God, He prayed only to the Father, from whom He received His essence, and all He had; and for the same reason, never promiseth His disJohn 14. 16; ciples that He will pray to God, but that He will pray to the Father for them. And so He accordingly doth all along in that solemn prayer, John 17.

Ps. 31. 5.

16. 26.

But whensoever He undertook any great work, we never find that He prayed to the Father to do it, or to assist Him in it; but He always did it Himself, by His own power. Matt.12.28; He cast out devils by the Spirit, or the finger of God, that is, Matt. 8. 16. by His own Spirit, with His own finger; for He cast out

Luke 11.20.

Luke 7. 14. so.

Mark 9. 25. the spirits with His word. He only said to the devil, "I charge thee, come out of him," and he immediately did Thus He raised the young man that was dead, by sayMark 5. 41. ing, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise," and Jairus's daughter, saying, "Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise." Where by saying, "I charge thee," and "I say unto thee," He plainly shewed, that He did it Himself, by the power of His own word. Thus He made five loaves and two fishes Mark 6. 41. satisfy five thousand people; He only looked up to Heaven, and blessed, and His word did the work. Thus He caused Matt.21.19. the fig-tree to wither; He only recalled the word, whereby it was at first made to increase and fructify, by saying, "Let

.

no fruit grow on thee from henceforward for ever; and the tree presently withered away." Thus He restored the withered hand; He only said to the man, "Stretch forth Matt.12.13. thine hand, and it was restored whole like as the other." Thus He rebuked the winds and storms at sea, and they obey Him. He only said to the sea, "Peace, be still," and all was hush, "The wind ceased, and there was a great Mark 4. 39. calm." Thus He cured the man that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; He only touched his ears and tongue, saying, "Ephphatha, be opened, and his ears were Mark 7. 34. opened, and he spake plain." Thus He raised Lazarus; He

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44.

only said, Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came John 11. 43, forth." Thus indeed He did all His works; and therefore I shall instance in no more particulars, but that which gives light to all the rest; when He cured the leper, by saying,

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I will, be thou clean." For this shews that He could do Matt. 8. 3. what He would, only by willing it to be done, and so was truly omnipotent: this being the way whereby God useth to manifest and exert His omnipotence, in doing what He will, only by signifying by His Word, that He would have it so. Thus it was that He made all things at first. He only said, "Let there be light, and there was light." So all His Gen. 1. 3. works were then made. And seeing Jesus Christ wrought His works after the same manner, He thereby demonstrated Himself to be God; the same " Almighty God" that made the "world," as plainly as it was possible to be done.

But here I must not omit, that two of His works may seem to be done another way; but I must observe withal, that they were done so on purpose, that we might take the more notice of His Divine power in them. One was His curing the man that was born blind: for it is said, that Jesus spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind with the clay, and said, “Go John 9. 6. wash," &c. Here He used some means, but they were such as could never, of themselves, effect the end, but rather the [f. Auguscontrary, as being more likely to put out a man's eyes, than in Johanto make him see. But why then did He use them? I nem ad, doubt not but there was something wanting in this man's eyes from the first; either some of the tunicles, or humours,

tin. Tractat.

loc.]

SERM.
XXV.

ver. 24.

or the optic nerves; or something else that was necessary to make them fit organs for the sense of seeing: which our Saviour knowing, and not being willing to create any thing anew, He supplied what was so wanting, as He made man out of the dust of the ground. He took of the dust of the earth, and mingling it with His spittle, He anointed it upon the outside of the man's eyes, and by His Almighty word He turned so much of it as was necessary into the substance of that which was wanting, and ordered it into its proper place or places: and then He only bade the man wash the rest off in the Pool of Siloam, and he saw perfectly. Which was certainly as great an instance of His Divine power, as the formation of Adam out of the dust of the ground was.

The other is much of the same nature, His curing a man that could once see, but was made blind by some distemper Mark 8. 23. or accident. He spat on the man's eyes, for the same reason, doubtless, that He anointed the other's with the clay, because there was something wanting. But here nothing seems to be wanting but one or more of the three humours, which the spittle, being turned by His word into such humours, might be sufficient to supply. When He had thus spit on his eyes, and put His, hands upon him, He asked the man, if he saw aught? Not but that He Himself knew, but that the people might know from the man himself, how he now saw; who, looking up, said, “I see men as trees walking." He could see already; but every thing was represented to his sight in an inverted order, upside down; men seemed to walk upon their heads, with their legs, or lower parts upwards, like branches of trees. From whence we may infer, that our Lord had now put all things into the man's eyes that should be there, but they were not yet in their right place and order, to shew that He could order every thing, as He did in the creation, when and how He pleased. And if He had pleased, the man's eyes should have always continued so disordered, that every thing should have appeared to him in a posture just contrary to that it was really in. But when our Lord had thus sufficiently manifested that He could do what He would, He only put His hands again upon the man's eyes, and

then He saw every man clearly. All which could never Mark 8. 25. have been done by any other power than that by which the

world was at first made.

To these things we might further add, that as our Lord thus cured some by His touching them; so He cured others

Mark 6. 56.

ch. 8. 13.

by their touching Him. For "as many as touched Him Matt.14.36. And some He cured that Matt. 9. 21, were made perfectly whole." were at a great distance from Him; as the centurion's 22. servant, and the nobleman's son; whereby he plainly dis- John 4. 50, covered, that though the body He had assumed was only in 51. one place, yet His Divine essence and power was every where, reaching those which were far off, as well as those which stood just by His body, and touched it. And, by consequence, that He was both omnipotent and omnipresent too, which none but God ever was, or can be.

And therefore, He that was so, must needs be the living and true God.

But that which is most of all to be observed in this case, is, that although He saith, that He did His "works" in John 10. 25. His "Father's name," that all the glory of them might ultimately redound to Him from whom He received that Divine power by which He did them; yet it is never said He did any thing in the name of God, but in His own, to convince us that He had that power inherent in Himself, and so was the same God with the Father. For all His commands, and threats, and promises (such as none could perform but God) all run in His own name. He never saith, as Moses and the Prophets did, "Thus saith the Lord," but "Verily, verily, I say unto you." So He did all His works too in His own name, ascribing the glory of them to Himself, which He could never have done, if He had not been that Almighty God by whom they were wrought. Neither did He only act in His own name Himself, but He sent forth and empowered His disciples to do so too: and they accordingly did it. For when they came to Him again, they said, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us Luke 10. 17. through Thy name." Yea, one that did not follow Him, yet could cast out devils in His name. And He Himself Mark 9. 38. saith, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In My Mark 16.17, name shall they cast out devils: they shall speak with new 18.

XXV.

SERM. tongues: they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." And accordingly St. Acts 3. 6. Peter cured the lame man, by saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And St. Paul ch. 16. 18. cast the devil out of the damsel, by saying to the spirit, "I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." But certainly, Christ would never have required His disciples to act in His name, neither could they have performed such wonderful works by it, if His name had not been the same with the name of God, or if He had not been "one (as He saith in my text) with the Father.”

There are many other arguments which God hath laid before us in His Holy Word, to confirm us in the belief of this great truth, more, I think, than for any other article of our Christian faith. But I have here confined myself to that which He Himself refers us to in this place, drawn from the works He did; which I am confident no man can duly lay together, and consider without prejudice, as I have now endeavoured to do, but he must confess that Jesus Christ, who did them, was not a mere man, or any other finite creature, but that He was, and is, the one Infinite, Eternal, Almighty God, of the same wisdom, power, glory, and essence with the Father, the great Creator and Governor of the whole world. For I do not see how it was possible for the most High God to discover Himself and His Divine perfections to mankind, and so to demonstrate Himself to be God more plainly, than Jesus Christ hath done it by the works He wrought, and which He wrought for that very purpose, that we might never doubt, but firmly believe what He here asserts of Himself, saying, "I and the Father are one."

But all the while He did these works, He appeared to be a man, and really was so. It is true, the Word was then made flesh, and dwelt among us: but He was still the Word, the Eternal Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, so begotten of Him, as to be one with Him, one Jehovah, the Lord; who having, from the beginning of the world, made by Him, undertaken the redemption of fallen man, though Heaven and Earth be full of His glory, yet