Conftitut. Audi verba Consti- C. 29. p. 242. Deci Who oppofeth and exalteth himfelf above all that is called God, or that is worhipped. So that he as God, fitteth in the temple of God, fhewing himfelf that he is God. Hear the exprefs Words of the Conftitutions. [The Bishop] is next after God, your earthly God, who has a right to be honour JO DEÒS, MT Orsed by you. For concern- ἀπολαύειν. πει γ τότε, જર And again. For if Aa ron because he declar'd to Pharaoh the Words of God from Mofes, is call'd an Prophet; and Mofes himfelf is call'd a God to Pharaoh, on account of his being at once a King and a High Priest; as God fays to him, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aa καὶ ὑμᾶς της μεσίτας was to dogs wegpiras νομίσητε, καὶ ὡς Θεὸς πε· CADŃJERTE; Aufculta, ergo, ait Petrus, ut fcias primo quod etiamfi multi funt Dii, ut dicis, Judæorum Deo fubditi funt; cui neque æqualis quifquam, neque major effe poteft: fcriptum eft enim quod ita dicat ad Judæos Moyfes Propheta, Dominus Deus vefter hic eft Deus Deorum, & Dominus Dominorum, Deus magnus; ita, etiamfi multi funt qui dicuntur Dii, unus eft tamen major omnium, Judæorum Deus, qui & Deorum Deus dictus eft. Neque enim quicunque dictus fuerit Deus, continuo Deus eft, Denique, & Moyfes Deus dicitur Pharaonis & certum eft eum hominem fuiffe: & Fudices Dii appellati funt; & conftat eos fuiffe mortales: Si mulacra quoque Gentium Dii appellantur, & ron thy brother shall be thy Prophet, why do ye not alfo esteem the Mediators of the Word to be Prophets, and reverence them as Gods? 41, 42, p. 512, 13. Hearken therefore, fays, Recogn, Peter, that thou mayft L. II. 5. know in the first place, that altho' there be many Gods, as thou faylt, they are fubject to the God of the Jews; to whom no one can be equal, much lefs greater: For it is written, that Mofes the Prophet fpake thus to the Jews, The Lord your God be is God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, the great God. MACcordingly, altho' there be many which are call'd Gods, yet is there one greater than all of them, the God of the Jews; who is also ftyl'd God of Gods. For every one that is ftyled God, is not prefently God. Lastly, even Mofes is called the God of Pharaob, and yet it is certain, he was but a Man. Judges alfo are styl❜d Gods; and yet 'tis evident, that they are mortal Men. The Idols of the Heathen are cailed Gods; and yet we H 3 omnes all know they do not really exift. A Being therefore may be call'd God in three refpects; either because he is truly fuch; or because he minifters to him that is truly fuch, and fo in honour of him that sent him, that his Authority may be compleat, he who is fent is called by the Name of him that fent him, &c. For if he had made Man Immortal from the beginning, he had made him a God. - That he may receive Immortality as a reward from him, and become a God. not At We are ready to blame him that we were made Gods at first. first we were made Men, and then at length are we made Gods. N. B. I cannot here but obferve how unfair Controverfie Writers are upon this Head, when inftead of fhewing that the word God, when afcrib'd to our Saviour, has the fame fignifica tion as when 'tis afcrib'd to the Father, and includes the fame infinite and unbounded Perfections, where the true difficulty of the Cafe lies; They only heap up a number of Teftimonies where he is barely fo call'd, as fure Demonstrations on the fide of Orthodoxy. No Christians ought to deny, or to doubt, of the Divinity of Christ, that that our Saviour is really God, or a God, especially to us, by the Appointment of the Father. But that he is the fame Being with, or equal to the Supreme God of the Univerfe, I wonder that any Chriftian, who reads and believes the Sacred and Primitive Writers of our Religion, can once fuppofe or imagine. Vid. Quæft. & Refponf. ad Orthod. Quest. CXLII. p. 490. Juft. Mart. ad Diogn. Epift. p. 501. Athanaf de Incarnat. p. 108. Clem. Alex. Strom. VII. p. 543. Eufeb. in Pfalm. p. 357, 424, 463, 50%, $34, 560. Matt. XXVI. 34. ARTICLE V. Jefus Chrift is the Holy One of God, a Being or Perfon of Supereminent and Divine Perfections, Knowledge, Power and Authority; and fo, far fuperior to all fubordinate Creatures, i. e. to all the Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels, Angels and Men, which are made fubject unto him. με πειράζετε; Αμίω λέγω σοι, ὅτι ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ, πριν αλέκτορα φωνήσαι, τρὶς ἀπαρvon ue. Vid. Mar. XIV. 30. Luc. XXII. 24. Joh. XIII. 28. Mar. Ι. 24. Οιδα σε τίς ει, ὁ ἅγ I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. Wherefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But Jefus did not commit himself to them, becaufe he knew all Men. And needed not that any mhould teftife of Man, for he knew what was in Man. Ο |