258 THE ARIAN INVlTtli TO ORTHODOX FAITH. ship, if the scripture itself did not not seem to leadme to it, by the following considerations : I. The worship of the complex person of our Lord Jesus Christ is represented as an appointed worship, and that* partly as a honour bestowed upon him by the Father; by way of re- compence for his sufferings ; Phil.. ii. 9. Therefore God bath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Now the pure godhead of Christ never did or could suffer ; that is and always was worthy of our religious worship, had it never assumed human nature, had Christ never been obe- dient to the death, and never redeemed us. But the human nature may become part of the complex object of worship, by the appointment and gift of the Father, partly upon the account of its sufferings. The man was first united to godhead with this very view and design that he should suffer and die ; and as his union to godhead renders him capable of religious honour, so his sufferings and death may be appointed in the counsels of God to lead the way'to his actual enjoyment of it, or to some higher degrees of it. II. It is the MediatorChrist Jesus who is worshipped under his character as Mediator. , Now this office or character includes his hurtan nature as well as his divine Nay, it has a peculiar, respect to his humannature, as St. Paul tells Timothy, for there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus ; 1 Tim. ii. 5. The honour is paid to the Lamb that Was slain in the midst of the throne ; and the heavenly spirits worship him because he has fulfilled the office of a Me- diator, and redeemed them to God with his blood ; Rev. v. 9. The man Jesus is appointed the Judge of the world ; Acts xvii. 31. and all men are therefore obliged to honour him as they honour the Father, because he is the Son of man ; that is, the Messiah, with a connotation of his manhood ; John v. 23, 27. It is as Mediator we are to believe or trust in him, and to call . upon him i It is as God-man and Mediator, that dying Stephen committedhis soul to him, for he saw him with his eyes. Christ requires us to believe on him as the means, or method of obtaining salvation : Now it is not his pure godhead, but the person God- man who has purchased salvation, andwho is exalted to bestow it, and therefore we must trust in this person, and call upon him under this character as God-man. III. The very actions and sufferings of his human.nature * t use the word "partly" to whew, that the man Jesus in union with god- head, might he appointed to be adored at his incarnation or before, and yet he might havea further claim to it given him upon his death and resurrection, and thus it may be void, " Therefore God path highly exalted him ;" Phil. D. 9,--11. even as Jesus was beloved of God always, and yet he himself says, " Therefore lothmy Father love me, because I lay down my life and take it apin ;" John. x. d7.
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