DISSERTATION III. 266 the usual and peculiar honour paid to Roman emperors werepro- stration ti ; suppose the emperor Constantine and his Son possessed a completeequal share in the empire, and suppose Caius a com- mon soldier had offended Constantine the father; then his son puts on the garments of a common soldier, makes a visit to' Caius in the army, and promises him to become a Mediator with his Father to reconcile him to the offending soldier Caius. Upon this view Caius falls prostrate, andpays the son imperial honours, and intreats him to fulfil this work of mediation, or gives him thanks for what he has done in it : He also addresses Constan- tine the father with prostration, or imperial hor. urs, but come&., in the name of his son, and for his sake is admitted into favour. The son here receives imperial honour because he is still emperor, which is the foundation of it ; yet the honour is but mediatorial and subordinate, because the design of it is to draw near to the Father by the Son. Constantine the father always receives im- perial honours from Caius, which are ultimate and supreme, for he sustains the dignity and majesty of empire. The Son, though equal in the empire, yet receives mediate honours, be- cause he condescends to be a Mediator : And yet the man- ner in which Caine pays these mediate honours, viz. prostra- tion, is supreme and imperial, or skews the sett to be an em- peror too. Thus the divine nature, as subsisting in God the Father, receives only supreme and ultimate honour from us sinners : But God, as vested with human nature, or the man Jesus united to godhead, receives mediatory honours, because the design of our address to him is to reconcile us to 'God the Father : Yet these mediatory honours are divine, and paid to him in a religious manner, so as at the same time to acknowledge his communion in the divine nature, and his oneness with God the Father. The person of Christ is partaker of religious and divine honours, supreme, if you consider the foundation of them, but mediate or subordinate, if you considerthe design of them. I am very unwilling, in writing on this sacred subject of di- vine worship, to oppose so great and excellent a defender of the divinity of Christ as Doctor Waterland. He utterly denies, indeed, all mediate or subordinate worship, yet let it be noted that he allows Christ to be worshipped under the character and office of Mediator; but since as Mediator he is God as well as man, he maintains it is divine worship is paid him under all his offices. He is a divine Mediator, a divine Priest, a divine Pro- phet, a divine King; and so. our worship rf him never wants its proper object, never moves from its proper foundation, but re- mains constantly the same. Our worship of Christ as a Medi- ator does ?tot hinder us from considering him as Godat the same time, any more than our considering the Father as King, Judge,
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