48 HONOUR DUE TO THE vine worship due unto him, but adds an effectual mo- tive unto it. He is therefore the immediate object of all duties of religion, internal and external. And in the dispensationof God towards us, none of them can be performed in a due manner without a respect unto him. This then in the first place is to be confirmed; name- ly, that all divine honour is due unto the Son of God incarnate, that is, the person of Christ. John v. 28. It is the will of the Father, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the -Son, honoureth not the Father that sent him." Some considerationson this divino testimony will confirm our position. It is of the Son incarnate, thatthe words are spoken; as all judgment was committed unto him by the Father, as he was sent by laina, ver. 22. that is, of the whole person of Christ in the exercise of his mediatory office. And with respect hereunto it is, that the mind of God is pe- culiarly revealed. The way whereby God manifested his will, that all men should thus honour the Son, as they honour the Father, is by committing all power, authority, and judgment unto him; ver. 20, 21, 22. "For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himselfloth:. and he will skew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Fa- ther raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Fa- ther judgeth no man; but bath committed all judgment unto the Son." Not that these things are the formal reason, and causeof the divine honour which is to be given him; but they are reasons of it, and motives un- to it, in that they are evidences of his being the Son of God. But it may be said, what need is there that the Fa- ther should so interpose an act of his will and sovereign pleasure, as to this honouring of the Son, seeing the sole cause and reason of this divine honour is the divine nature, which the Son is no less partaker of than the Father? I answer, (1.) He doth not in this command intend the honour and worship of Christ absolutely as God, but distinctly as the Son, which peculiar worship was not known under the Old Testament, but was now declared necessary in the committing all power, autho- rity, and judgment unto him. This is the honour whereof we speak. (2.) He Both it, lest any should PERSON OF CHRIST i conceive, that as he was note sent of the Father, and that in theform of a servant, this honour should not be due unto him., And the world was then far from think- ing that it was so, and many I fear are yet of the same mind. He is therefore to be honoured byus, according to the will of God, zaeva in like manner as we honour the Father. (t.) Withthe same honour; that is, divine, sa- cred, religious, and supreme. To honourthe Father with other honour, is to dishonour him. When men design to give glory and honour to Godwhich is not truly di- vine, it is idolatry. For this honour in truth is no- thing but the ascription of all infinitedivine excellencies untohim. Whereon when men ascribe untohim that which is not so, they fall into idolatry by the worship of their own imagination. So was it with the Israelites, when they thought to have givenglory to God, by mak- ing a golden calf whereon they proclaimed a feast unto JEHOVAH, Eared. xxxii.. 5.. And so was it with the heathens in all their images of God, and the glory which they designed to give ]rim thereby as the apostle declares, Rom. i. 23, 25. This is one kind of idola- try, as the other is, the ascribing unto creatures, any thing that is proper and peculiar unto God, any divine excellency. tad we do not honour God the Father, with one kind of honour, and the Son with another. That were not to honour the Son natas as we honour the Father, but in a way infinitely different from it. (2.) In the same manner, with the saule faith, love, re- verence and obedience, always, in all things, in all acts and duties of religion whatever. This distinct honour is to be given unto the person of . the Son by virtueof this command of the Father, though originally on the account of his oneness in nature with the Father. And our duty herein is pressed with the highest enforcement; " He thathonours not the Son, honours not the Father. He who denieth the Son (herein), bath not the Father: but he that acknowledg. eth the Son, hath the Father also," 1 John ii. 28. " For this isthe record, that God bath given unto us eternal life: and this life is in the Son. He that hath the Son, bath life, and he that bath not the Son, bath not life," chap. v. 11, 12. If we are wanting herein, whatever we pretend, we do not worship nor honour God at all. And there is reason to give this caution; reason to
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