160 Of the l(rjowledg of (jod the Father, ~ limply meant in both; but there is a manifefi difiincti~n between God the fa– BooK 1[1. ther and Chritr in thele two Titles Intended to them. ~', - Reajon 2. He is here let out [uch an One Lord, though holding an oppofition umo, yet withal as beareth Come femblance~ m a~1 oppofite way, With what the Heathens did conceive of their Lords numy m thetr [ubfervtency unto their ma– ny Gods; and we mufi fuppofe fome Analogy or Semblance here to hold. Only they affirmed that there were many Gods, and that there were many Lords; but to us there is but one God, and one Lord. And yet the parallel between both thus far holds, that as thefe Heathens fuppofcd, that thefe Lords they fancied were fuch, as were appointed by their Gods to govern the World under their luppofed Deities, lo we_ mufi think of Chritr, this one Lord, as under the Great God in an lntrrumenta\tty and Sublervtency unto thiS One God. And as a mid[l: bm,:ixt God and us, and in a perfeCl: oppofition to their many falle Gods and Lords, he makes this the Glory of the Chrifiian Religion, that they held but one Great and Sovereign true GOD, high above all Gods, as the Pfolmifl often ex– prdles it, whereas they made many, falily fo called. And that that Jelus Chrif'r whom we worlliip, is but One Lord, in defiance oftheir many Lords, whom they fancied to be Mediators and Agents between God and them, and as placed in the middle betwixt God and Men ; that was their Religion. And the Apofrle omvics them; We profels fuch an One Lord, who is an Vniverfal Lord over aU, and a McdiJtor betwixt ivlen and God alto. And for the verifying of this Notion, as thus fiated, I refer the Reader umo what a more Learned Hand harh writ, alledging this very Scripture to the lame purpofe I now do, for the confirmation of my Affenion. ' ThisditrinCl:ion (lays he) 'alfo, of Sovereign Gods and Demons, I lup– ' pofe our Apome alludes to, in 1 Cor. 8. 5· where he C1ith, Though there be 'many that be called Gods, whether in Heaven, or in Earth, as there be ' .stol 7roMo1, Gods many ; that is, Dii CttlejleJ, Sovereign Deities,"~"'..Vvo1 mMol, 'Lords m,my, i.e. oalf.U>V<S , .,)\j,lV/01, Demons, Prefidents of Earthly Things; 'yet to us Chrifiians, there is but One Sovereign God, the Father, of whom 'are all Things, and we to him ; that is, to whom, as Supream, we direCl: all 'our Services; and but '" ,_,;v&, one Lord Jefus Chrifi, intread of their ma– ' ny Mediators and Demons, :ii ~ -m -m>lifoc >~ ;_w.l< 8i .Xu-rii, by whom are all 'Things which come from the Father to us; and through whom alone we find 'accels to him : The Allufion, me-thinks, is palling elegant; and luch as I 'think, cannot be well underfiood, without this difiinCl:ion of Superior and !n– ' ferior Deitits, in tbe Theology of the Gentiles, they having a plurality in both 'forts, and we Chrifiians but one in each, as our Apofile affirmeth: There 'wants but only the Name of Demons, infiead ofwhich the Apofile puts Lords, 'and that for the Honour of Chrifi, of whom he was to infer, t, >Wv&, the 'Name of Chrifi, not to be polluted with the Appellation of an Idol; for his 'Apodojis mufi have been otherwife, t11 &i.I~J.kJV. Or may be, he alludes unto the ' Hebrew Name 'Baalim, which fignifies Lords: And thole Lords, I told you, ' were nothing elfe but Demons: for thus would Pa11l !peak in the Hebrew 'Tongue; There are c:::!'~., c:::!'~J/~ and c:::!'~., c:::!•M':>~t, manyGods,andmany 'Lords. Mr. Mede's Apojlacy of the latter Times, pag.13, dnd part of 14They had heard of one God, of whom are all Things, from the wifefi of their own Philo[ophers, but never of one Mediator between that God and them; they had fiumbled at this, in the Chrifiian Religion ; That they worlliip– ped a Man J efm railed from the Dead, asAtJs 17. 18, 31. when yetthemlelves held, that the Souls ofMen dead (:hough not rifen) were Mediators for them to their Gods, and thus imprecated them to imcrpofe for them. The Apofile there– fore, motr wtfely,and aptly, and motr elegantly,fets both thefe Religions together in a parallel Comparifon, and yet in oppofition of the one to the other; and lo maketh the falfe Notion of their Lords, thus far ferviceable, as to let in to thefe Heatheps Minds by a Similitudinary Glympfe, that, whereby thefe Hea– thens, at leafi confuledly, might underfiand and apprehend (if they would but refle{l:) what manner a Lord or Chrifi it was we Chrifiians believed and adored;
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