Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the moral law and the covenants, from the…Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the…

It is disputed, whether, when any Angel appeared who was also God, that it was also the Son of God; so that in the Old Testament, the Father, and the Holy ghost never appeared, but the Son only; Austin thought it a question worth the deciding, when he spent a great part of his second book of the Trinity in handling of it. Many of the ancient Fathers thought that it was the Son only that appeared, so that all the apparitions which were to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses; the God that spake then, they understand to be the Son, and this was done they say, as a preludium to his Incarnation: But some of those Ancients give a dangerous, and false reason, which was, because they held, the Father only was invisible, and so apply unto the Father only that text, No man hath seen God at any time, so that they thought the Son might be seen, but not the Father, which passages, the Arians did greedily catch at afterwards.

It is disputed, whether, when any Angel appeared who was also God, that it was also the Son of God; so that in the Old Testament, the Father, and the Holy ghost never appeared, but the Son only; Austin thought it a question worth the deciding, when he spent a great part of his second book of the Trinity in handling of it. Many of the ancient Fathers thought that it was the Son onely that appeared, so that all the apparitions which were to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses; the God that spake then, they understand to be the Son, and this was done they say, as a preludium to his Incarnation: But some of those Ancients give a dangerous, and false reason, which was, because they held, the Father only was invisible, and so apply unto the Father only that text, No man hath seen God at any time, so that they thought the Son might be seen, but not the Father, which passages, the Arrians did greedily catch at afterwards.

But this is certain, the second Person is no more visible, or mutable then the first; only it may be doubted, whether all those administrations and apparitions which were by God in the Old Testament, were not by the second Person: indeed, in the New Testament, that voice from heaven, This is my well beloved Son, must needs be from the Father immediately: It hath been very hard to know when the Angel that appeared hath been a created one, or increated, the Son of God. Tostatus gives this rule, when the things communicated in Scripture, as done by an Angel, are of small consequence or belonging to one man, or a few men, then it is a created Angel; but if they be matters of great concernment, or belonging to many people, then it is by an increated Angel; he enumerates many examples, which are not to my purpose, neither may we be curious in determining of the former question. Let the use of this be to take heed, how we cry down this Law, which God hath so honoured, either by Doctrines, or Practises. We may live down the Law, and we may preach down the Law, both which are a reproach to it; and the Law is of such a perpetual, immutable obligation, that the very being of a sin is in this, that it is [Greek or Hebrew] a transgression of the Law, so that if there be no obligatory power of the Law, there can be no sin. If the Heathen thought political Laws, were the walls of a City, and it were no advantage to