Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v2

Of the I(no'Wledg, of yod the Father, ~God who had afore exifl:ed: The Man (l fay) fpeaks them of himfelf, utters Bo ° K I!. the~ in his own Name, without any Limitation, or Caution, for being mifl:aken: ~ He, this Man, cloth thereby difl:inguifh himfelf from all his Fellow-Creatures. Thcfe things were fo fl:upendouOy fl:range, that they made the carnal Jew wild, and mad, and in a rage, and to cry out upon him, that he blafjhemed ; and ever and anon to take up Stones to fl:one him withal: and althougn they had believed that he was the .5/1ej]iah, whom they expeCted ; yet fuch things as thele they ne– ver could have imagined fhould have agreed ro rho Perfon of Chrifl:, whom they expeCted : They judg'd he took upon him infinitely, beyond the Elevation, and Proportion of the Mejjiah himfel£ And therefore, John 10. 24. They having mily at firfl: ask'd him fomewhat leriou(]y, Tell m plainly if thou be the Chrijl: And he as plainly tells them fo, that he was: yet frames his Anfwerup in fuch dcfcription of hirnfelf, as the Chrifl:, that he was one Wtth God; as that thereapon, the next Word he hears from them, is, Thou blaJJhemejl, verf. 33· - Yea, and in the 6tb Chapter, thofe that were his Difciples; that is, fuch as were a coming on to believe on him, were for fuch fl:range R.iddles as thefe, ut– terly put of: as John 6. 61. And yet there, or unto them, fuch was his Zeal, to allerr this his Perfonal Union between the Son ofGod,and that Man JefiJS, whole Mouth was the utterer ofit ; that he fpeaks yet more fl:rangely, Doth thh offind JOIIl What ifJ'o" fee the Son ofMan afeend where he wm before .2 And there is no oth~r Foundation, or Ground for fuch a Speech as that; no other refpeCl: could bearJ.'< but this his Perfonal Union, as the realon ofit; Why we ktow hi< Mother, and· lirethrw, f.1y they: And where then could this Man be before? Nay, to encreafe the Wonder yet more, he had [aid to Nicodemlfl, Tohn 3· 13. Avd no Man hath afcended "P to Heaven, but he that came down front Heave11, even the Son of Ma11 which h in Heaven : that is, who is now in Heaven at this prelenr. When as yet they law him as a Man, circumfcribed with local Bounds on Earth, even as any other Man is, within the Verge ofa poor feamle!S Coat. And thele things he lo !peaks ofhimfelf, in difiinCl:ion from the whole Creation ofGod, as proper, and peculiar to him; laying them therein in a rank infinitely below himfelf: yea alfo as one equal to God his Father; and,asfuch, diflinct from him; and yet is a Son ofMan that utters it. Although confider him as meer Man, it could not be he 01ould have fo fpoken ; the Things f:1id, will not bear fuch Words. And it is among other Demonfirations of this Truth, 2nd alfo was one ofthe main Ends of God's ordaining this Perfonal Union, to declare; to the End,that Men might hear 1vith their EdrJ, and fee with their Eyu, (as John, ) the Original difl:inClion ofthe Father, and his Son, as difl:inCl: Perfons in the Deity : which was that which was, and bad been, among the Perfons from Eternity, afore Chrifl took our Nature, in that it was confidently held forth by a Man, who being become one Pcrfon with the Son, could, and durfl: C1y, and appeal to his Works, to ju· fiify it; which were fo fl:upendouOy miraculous, that his Father (afore whom, and to his Face he fpeaks it all) mufl: be acknowledged to have concurred with him in; and fo thereby tefiified that he lpake T rutb in this: whilfi yet this Man ut ten it in the Name ofa Perfon that was not meer Man, but alfo God, Son of God. For this Man cloth before, and after, upon this DoCtrine of his, work his Miracles ; fuch, as no meerMan ever did : and God fuffered him fo to talk, did bear it, and let him go on, and affifi him therein, or elfe he could not have done them. As John 10. 37, 38. IJI do not the Work of my Fatber, believe me not; Bnt ifI do; thoHghJe believe 1101 me, believe the Work ; th"t ye 1li4J /znow, and believethat the Father h in me, and I i11 him. And \then he had done all thefe things, to afcend up to Heaven, and fit down at God's right Hand; this, I lay, is at once a Confirmation ofthefe two, the greatefi Truths: 1. The difl:inllion of the Perfons of the Father, and the Son, though one God. As alfo, 2. That this lorry Man that fpeaks it, was one in Perfon with the Son ofGod: And if there had been no other End ofthis Incarnation of Perfonal Union, than to declare and manifefl: the firfl: ofthefe,it had been worth it; which by fo great an Evidence could never have.been manifefied. And

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