since his resurrection and ascention he hath I shall crave pardon for making these or the like any points of my beleife If any man be otherwise minded I grudge him not the libertie of his opinion but will confesse my ignorance when he shall shew me any expresse Scripture or any deduction out of Scripture which shall not inferre aut nihil aut nimium 5 It sufficeth me to beleeve and know that my Lord was so qualified with all grace even whilst he lived in the forme of a servant that he was alwaies more ready to understand and comprehend whatsoever it pleased his heavenly Father to impart or signifie unto him then chrystall is to receive the light of the Sun or any glasse the shape of bodies which present themselves unto it and more ready withall to doe whatsoever he knew to be his Fathers will he should do then we are to eate when we are hungry or to drinke in the extremity of â—hrist There was in him even in his cradle a docilitie or capacitie both for learning and doing his fathers will truely infinite in comparison of other children yet this capacitie was actuated by degrees This I take it is as much as wee are bound to beleeve concerning his growth in wisedome and this wee cannot deny to be contained in the hypostaticall union of which we are without curiositie to say somewhat in the next place CHAP. 30. Of the hypostaticall and personall union betwixt the Word and the flesh or betwixt the sonne of God and the seed of Abraham THe manner of the union between the sonne of God and the seed of Abraham is a mystery that one of the blessed Trinity only excepted most to bee admired by all and least possible to be exactly expressed by any living man of all the mysteries whose beleefe we professe in this Apostles Creed And for this reason my former resolution to avoid all Schoole disputes about the relations in the Trinitie and each severall persons peculiar properties ties me to the like observance in this present point And in my yonger dayes I had a greater desire to learne more exquisite rules of Logick or other good arts out of School-disputes in these two kindes then can be found in the professors of such arts themselves then I have in these declining yeares to learne divinity from them 2. The particulars which the most subtile amongst the Schoole-Divines exhibite concerning the manner of the hypostaticall union are well summed up by the learned and judicious D. Field in whose computation they amount to more then I shall have occasion in this place to make use of and are withall of so high a pitch and straine as surmounts my aime or levell for this time which is only to shew how truly how justly how consonantly to the knowne rules of reason in other cases we Christians beleeve and acknowledge such a peculiar union between the sonne of God and the sonne of David that whilest the sonne of man was conceived borne crucified and raised from the dead the son of God likewise was conceived borne crucified c. Now for justifying these and the like expressions the sonne of God was conceived was borne was crucified c. whether we finde them in the Creed or in the Apostolick or Evangelical writings whence they issued into this Creed wee can have no better ground or fundamentall resemblance then that of Athanasius As the reasonable soule and flesh make one man so God and man make one Christ yet this illustration or expression of the manner of this mysticall union is excepted against by some great Divines and by Cardinall Bellarmine by name yet excepted against not as false or impertinent but as defective But if every resemblance of this or other sacred mystery which is any way defective were lyable to exception the Church should doe well to give a generall prohibition that no man should attempt to make any For all will come short of the mystery which we seeke to expresse by them or of so much of it as we shall know in that eternall Schoole It was the Cardinals fault to stretch Athanasius his expression further then he intended it or not to allot it a certaine extent within which it is most divinely true 3. The like comparisons sometimes hold firme and true only quoad veritatem non quoad mensuram according to the truth not according to the measure of the same truth As when we beseech our heavenly father to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us or when our Saviour enjoynes us to be mercifull as our heavenly father is mercifull the meaning is not that the measure of his mercies towards us should be but equall to our mercy or kindnesse towards men our fellow servants and yet the meaning of our Saviours injunction is that we must bee as truly mercifull and charitable towards others in some degree as God is infinitely mercifull towards all Sometimes the like comparisons are firme and true quoad veritatem quoad mensuram both according to the truth and the same measure of truth but not quoad modum at least not quoad modum specificum proximum sed quoad modum genericum aut remotum true they may be sometimes according to the same manner and yet not in all respects or according to the selfe-same particular manner And such is this comparison of Athanasius First it holds quoad veritatem unionis As it is not the meere inhabitation of the reasonable soule in the body but the peculiar union of these two parts which makes a man so is it not the internall presence or peculiar inhabitation of the Deity in the manhood but the true and reall union of these two natures which makes one Christ Infernall spirits may by Gods permission take up their lodgings in the bodies of men may be confined within them and use them as their instruments yet by such residence in them men neither become Divels nor divels men nor doe they make any one realitie or third thing in part or whole distinct from both 4. The former comparison doth not hold secundum omnem modum that is though the Godhead and humanity of Christ be as truly as properly and really united as the reasonable soule and the humane body are yet the manner of the union is herein different The reasonable soule and the body being two distinct natures each having their proper existence though imperfect and incompleat doe by their union make one perfect compleat nature Their union is made by physicall or naturall composition Now in all such unions or compositions each part ingredient must abate or lose somewhat there must be a mutuall fashioning or fitting of the one to the other But the Deitie or Godhead as it is all things else so it is fitnesse it selfe and cannot be fashioned or fitted to any creature as being not subject to any shadow of change or alteration The creatures may be fashioned or fitted to
be more or lesse capable of his presence or participation But this participation in what degree in what manner or measure soever it be had includes no physicall composition or confusion of natures Thus much Athanasius to prevent all captious exceptions against this similitude had sufficiently expressed in the place forecited though he be God and man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the manhood into God One altogether not by confusion of substance but by unitie of person 5. Some Philosophers there are and have been who although they grant a Physicall composition of matter and forme in man yet they deny the reasonable soule the intellectuall part at lest to be the forme of man or any part of the Physicall compound which in their Philosophy is prerequired to the constitution of man not any proper part of his essence or nature That visible live-substance wherein the reasonable soule during her pilgrimage here on earth doth reside as in a walking prison is in these mens Philosophy or Divinity as formally distinguished by its meer organical faculties or bodily senses from all other living sensitive creatures as any of them is from another And they are distinguished each from other only by the peculiar manner of the senses or modification of their organicall faculties The reasonable soule or faculty of reason is in this opinion rather the Crowne or Diadem whereby man excells all other creatures as their King or Governour then the Physicall forme whereby he is formally or specifically distinguished from them According to this opinion there should be in one and the same man two distinct compleat natures one bodily physicall compound indued with sense and subject to mortality another rationall and immortall And these two natures make one man not by physicall composition or union of matter and forme but by a peculiar subordination of the sensitive Creature unto the rationall or of sense unto reason as true as firme and reall as the subordination of life is to sense or bodily mixture is unto life or vegetation but not by the same manner of subordination If Athanasius his philosophy were of this mould his comparison would be true quoad modum however leaving the examination of this opinion to the Schooles let us examime his comparison quoad veritatem mensuram 6 Such Philosophers as grant the reasonable soule to be a forme truely physicall and an incompleat part of mans nature do not for the most part affirme that it is propagated from the parents of our bodyes but created by God as the soule of the first man was And yet even these men who deny the reasonable soule to be ex traduce do not avouch that only the bodily part or flesh of man is conceived but the whole man who consists of a reasonable soule aswell as of a body The full and perfect conception of every living thing includes not only a preparation of the bodily substance for receiving the foule but besides this the unition of the foule whether sensitive only or reasonable with its proper body And seeing the proper nature of man consists especially in reason there can be no perfect conception of man as man untill the reasonable soule be seated in and united unto the bodily substance fitted or organized for it Whether that bodily substance were before this union endued with sense or no is not much pertinent to the point now in hand However Philosophers may dispute that case this position is proper and philosophicall Man doth beget man and woman conceives man although the reasonable soule which is the principall part of man do not take its originall or beginning of being either from the man that begets him or from the woman that conceives and brings him forth but immediately from GOD. 7 This assertion likewise is Christian and Theologicall The blessed Virgin did truely conceive and bring forth Christ Jesus God and man the sonne of God and the sonne of David albebeit the Divine nature which is the excellency of Christ did not take beginning from her but was from all eternitie without beginning yet not united to the manhood till the conception wrought by the holy Ghost in the Virgins womb though both assertioÌ„s be most true yet the grouÌ„d of this theologicall assertion is more perspicuous and firme then the ground of the philosophers assertion wherewith it is paralleld Wee Christians may give a better reason of our faith and forme of doctrine then the Philosophers can give of their opinion or manner of phrase in this point First in the conception of ordinary or meere men the bodily substance or the materiall part hath a distinct existence of its owne before it be united unto the reasonable soule and the reasonable soule likewise hath a proper existence at least in order of nature if not of time precedent to its vnion with its body Nor is the union so perfect as to make simply but one existence of both It is actually one potentially two and in the dissolution of body and soule they are actually severed there is not then so much as coexistence or existence of the one in the other But neither the substance which the sonne of God took from the blessed virgin nor the reasonable soule which was united unto it had any proper existence before their union with the divine nature The bodily substance assumed by his divine person was a part of the blessed virgines individuall nature and had its whole existence in her before its assumption but by the assumption it hath existence wholly in him not as a part but as an Appendix to his divine person That which the Philosophers or Schoole Divines say concerning the creation of the reasonable soule and its union with mans body is more remarkably true of Christs humane soule The reasonable soule say the Philosophers infundendo creatur et creando infunditur is created by infusion and is infused by creation Christs reasonable soule was not in order either of time or nature first created then assumed sed assumendo creabatur et creando assumebatur it was created whilest it was assumed and it was assumed whilst it was created Whether it were united to the body or flesh from the first moment of their assumption is an extravagant to this assertion The substance likewise which our blessed Saviour tooke from his mother was not either in order of time or of nature first conceived or prepared by any praeviall dispositions for the divine natures habitation in it and then assumed sed inter assumendum concipiebatur et inter concipieâ—dum assumebatur it was conceived by assumption and assumed in or by its conception 8. The next branch of this inquiry is what is meant when wee say the fruit of the Virgins womb was assumed by the Sonne of God This forme of speech imports thus much at the least that the son of God or the divine nature in his person
behold a doore was opened in Heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said Come up hit her and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter And immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one sate on the throne And round about the throne were foure and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw foure and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment And they had on their heads Crownes of gold c. The foure and twenty Elders fell downe before him that sate on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and cast their Crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created This praising of him that sate upon the throne was that wherunto the Author of the 103. Psalme did solemnly invite the heavenly powers long before S. Iohn had this vision For after he had said the Lord had prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdome ruleth over all it followes immediately Blesse the Lord yee his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkning unto the voice of his word Blesse yee the Lord all yee his hosts yee Ministers of his that do his pleasure Blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion Blesse the Lord O my soule That which our Saviour saith of Abraham was in its measure true of this Psalmist he also saw the day of Christ the day of his glorious resurrection that day wherof it is said thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee and did rejoyce in soule to see it and his owne interest in it an assured hope of his inheritance in the heavenly Kingdome 5. But the vision of David to this purpose in that Psalme which amongst some few others beares the inscription of Michtam Davids Ieweler golden song as some would have it is most punctually cleare Keep me O God for in thee do I put my trust that is as the Chaldee explaines it In thy word have I put my trust or hope for salvation Psal 16. 1. and ver 2. I have said unto the Lord Adonai And againe ver 8. c. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope But here the Eunuches question unto Philip will interpose it selfe Of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other I can no way brooke their opinion who thinke the Psalmist speakes all this in the person of Christ as his figure but rather in this as in many other Psalmes and in the two last forecited especially some passages there be which cannot be literally applyed but to the Psalmist himselfe others which cannot be applyed to any one but Christ that is to God or the word incarnate and the 9. verse My heart is glad c. containes a feeling expression of that joy or exultation of spirit which did possesse all the faculties both of Davids body and soule But what was the object of this his exultatiō or the ground of his joy He expresseth it ver 10. Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption But the same question here interposeth againe Doth he speak all this of himselfe or of some other Whatsoever may bee thought of the former clause of that verse thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell which as some think might be meant both of Christ and David though in a different measure most certaine it is that the later clause Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption was not literally meant of David much lesse fulfilled in him but literally meant of him alone and literally fulfilled in him alone whom David in spirit called Lord though he then foresaw he should truly be his sonne This undoubted truth we learne from S. Peter Acts 2. 29. Men and brethren let me freely speake unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loines according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soule was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see corruption And S. Paul Acts 13. 36 37. more fully and more punctually to our animadversions upon this later clause expounds it thus David after he had served his owne generation by the will of God fell on sleepe and was laid unto his Fathers and saw corruption But he whom God raised againe saw no corruption In this as in many other Psalmes the comfort which did arise from the sweet contemplations was Davids owne or the Psalmists who foresaw that great mystery whereof we now treat that the fountaine of their comfort was Christ or God incarnate who was to be raised from the dead David in this Psalme did rejoyce in heart that albeit he knew his nature to be like the grasse that withereth albeit he knew his soule should be divorced from his body yet this divorce he knew by faith should not be perpetuall that albeit he could not but expect his body his flesh and bones should rott in his sepulcher as the body and flesh of his forefathers to whom he was to be gathered had done yet he foresaw in spirit that even his body should at length be redeemed from corruption by the resurrection of that holy One whose body though separated for a time from his immortall soule was not to see or feele any corruption Finally though David and other Psalmists forecited if others they were did perfectly and explicitly foreknow that they were to die yet had they as true implicit beleife of that which our Apostle explicitly delivers Golos 3. 3 4. That their life was hid with Christ in God that when Christ who was their life should appeare they should also appeare with him in glory 6. To the former generall Quaere in what sense we are said by S. Iohn to be borne of God we answer that to be borne of God is all one with that of S. Peter to be borne of immortall seed but what is that immortall seed whereof S. Peter saith we are borne againe That in one word is the flesh and blood of the sonne of man who is also the sonne of God So hee himselfe instructs us Iohn 6. 53 54 55. Verily verily I say unto you except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee have no life in you Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day For
my flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him That is meat and drink indeed which nourisheth us not to a bodily but to a spirituall and immortall life which presupposeth an immortall seed Unto all these ends and purposes to our new birth to our nourishment and growth in spirituall life the flesh and blood of the Word or son of God were consecrated by his sufferings upon the crosse and by his resurrection from the dead He was according to his humane nature both the Priest appointed to obtaine these blessings and to award them ex officio and withall the sacrifice by whose participation they are really and actually conveyed unto all that doe or shall inherit the immortality of soule and body 7. But if his flesh and blood be the seed of immortalitie how are we said to be borne againe by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Is this word by which we are borne the same with that immortall feed of which wee are borne It is the same not in nature but in person May we not in that speech of S. Peter by the word understand the word preached in to us by the ministers who are Gods feeds men In a secondary sense we may for we are begotten and borne againe by preaching as by the instrument or meanes yet borne againe by the eternall word that is by Christ himselfe as by the proper and efficient cause of our new birth Thus much S. Peters word is that place will inforce us to grant according to the letter For having before declared that the word of God by which we are born againe doth live and endure for ever he thus concludes and this is the word which by the Gospell is preached unto you 1. Pet. 1. 25. 8. The Gospell it selfe taken in the largest sense is but the declaration of the Evangelists and Apostles upon the propheticall predictions concerning the incarnation the birth the death the resurrection and ascension of Christ And Christ himselfe who was put to death for our sinnes and raised againe for our justification is the word which we all doe or ought to preach The Gospell written or preached by us cannot be that word which by the Gospell is preached unto us This Word in the literall assertive sense can bee no other then the eternall word or sonne of God made flesh and consecrated in the flesh to be the seed of immortalitie And if wee take the Gospell not according to the outward letter or bark but for the heart or substance of the Gospell or for the glad tidings of life which is the primitive signification of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gospell that is no other then the Word made flesh or manifested in the flesh To this purpose saith our Evangelist or rather the Angell of the Lord Luke 2. 10. Feare not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people this is no more then the Prophet saith all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord for unto you is borne this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Lord he was long before and this Lord was made flesh before that day wherein he was borne but first manifested in the flesh upon that day and manifested to be the Saviour of all people or all flesh some eight dayes after yet not then compleatly made Christ untill his resurrection Againe the Gospell in its prime or principall sense is no other or no more then the great mystery of godlinesse which was inwrapt in the volume of Moses and the Prophets but not revealed or unfolded untill the word was made flesh was circumcised in the flesh and made King and Christ Without controversie saith S. Paul 1. Tim. 3. 16. great is the mysterie of godlinesse God was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seene of Angels preached unto the Gentiles beleeved on in the world received up into glory All these testimonies put together amount to this point that the sonne of God manifested in the flesh was that Word which in S. Peters language is preached by the Gospell And if we doe not preach this word unto our hearers if all our sermons doe not tend to one of these two ends either to instruct our Auditors in the articles of their Creed concerning Christ or to prepare their eares and hearts that they may be fit auditors of such instructions we doe not preach the Gospell unto them wee take upon us the name of Gods Ambassadors or of the ministers of the Gospell more then in vaine 9. Besides all these testimonies and others that might bee alleaged all most undoubtedly true in the literall assertive sense that the mystery of godlinesse or the joyfull tidings which Abrahams seed did expect should consist in the union betweene the eternall Word or sonne of God and our flesh we have a most lively character or prefiguration though not assertive in the originall word designed by the wisedome of God to expresse the preaching of the Gospel or joyfull embassage of our everlasting peace For one and the same word in the originall doth signifie flesh and the preaching of glad tidings unto all people or flesh without variation of any radicall letter but only of grammaticall moode or declension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the use of the originall language doth properly signifie flesh that is men or creatures indued with life or sense and being the root or primitive is not a verb but a noune The first verbe that is formed of it doth signifie as much as the Latine nunciavit or nunciare to bring or deliver a message and is alwayes used for some good or joyfull message and in peculiar for the preaching of the Gospell which is the joyfull message 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to omit other places it is thus used Ierem. 20. 15. Cur sed be the man that brought tidings to my Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying a man child is borne unto thee making him very glad And in the forecited 40. of Isaiah ver 9. O Sion that bringest good tidings get thee up into the high mountain◠O Ierusalem that bringest good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift it up be not afraid say unto the cities of Iudah behold your God And in the 61 of Isaiah ver 1. which is the very place wherein the preaching of the Gospell by our Saviour himselfe is foreprophecyed that which S. Luke expresses chap. 4. ver 18. by preaching the Gospell to the poore is in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evangelizatum pauperes Now that flesh and preaching of glad tidings to all flesh should be signified by one and the same originall word no grammarian can easily give any reason It falls not within the compasse of their Etymologies or derivations there is not here a primitive and derivative
order and ranke in such a manner as he is not of theirs 3 The resolution of the second Quaere depends upon another more questioned point which I have no minde to dispute and lesse to be tyed to other mens conjectures or voluntary determinations of it without warrant of Scripture or any certaine deductions from it warrantable by reason The point questionable is briefely this whether the humane soule of our blessed Lord was infused into his body immediately upon his conception which as the sacred Text to my apprehension imports was in a moment and immediately upon the blessed Virgins assent unto the Angels message If at the same instant or moment of time the humane soule was inspired into his body the Word was not made flesh before he became man If otherwise the holy seed did after the conception grow by degrees into a live sensitive reasonable substance though neither after the same manner nor by the same meanes yet according to the same measure of time as other Infants do The case is unquestionable that the sonne of God or the Word was made flesh before he was made man For he was not made man before the inspiration or creation of the reasonable soule but even from the very first moment of his conception the Womans seed was hypostically united to the Word or sonne of God The flesh and blood which he tooke of the blessed Virgin became the flesh and blood of the sonne of God from the first moment of their assumption Nor can this opinion be justly charged with any suspition of errour or other difficultie as conteyning nothing which is not exactly parallel to that which wee beleeve concerning the union of his body with the Divine nature in his person after his body was separated from his soule His body in that interim of separation or of its rest in the grave was as truely the body of the son of God as it had beene whilst it was living His soule likewise was as truely the soule of the sonne of God during the divorce as it was whilst it retayned union with its body And whether the blood which was shed from his most pretious body on the Crosse were gathered againe into his veines a point not to be pryed into by mortall men or how ever it pleased him or his heavenly Father to dispose of it yet I think I may say that not a drop of it but remaines unto this day the true blood of the sonne of God it lost no union nor degree of union with his divine person it still retaines the power and efficacy of cleansing or sanctifying our nature 4 Some I know there be who think all others to speake and think unworthily of Christ unlesse they grant that his soule was not only infused into his body in the first conception of it but that it was withall endued with all manner of knowledge which Hee afterwards had Yet to binde any man to beleeve or acknowledge either of these the latter especially is to lay more upon us then God hath in his written Word or in the booke of his Creatures tyed us unto if so these men will give us leave to use the spectacles of reason in reading either booke For if our blessed Saviour during all the time he was in his mothers womb had the perfect use of sense and reason his condition of life had beene more wearisome then in any part of his pilgrimage here on earth it was for he was as mortall and as subject to sad impressions in the womb as he was in the strength of his age and death had beene more welcome to him then such close imprisonment if the excercise of reason or Contemplation had beene as free there as it was when he was endued with libertie of sense and locall motion The only reason I can conceive any man should pretend either for the infusion of the reasonable soule into his body at the first conception or that the reasonable soule whether then or at the time wherein other infants become capable of it shouâ—d be endued with such a measure of actuall or explicite knowledge whilst he was in his mothers womb as afterwards it was must be grounded on the hypostaticall union betweene the womans seed and the word of God But if any reason thus grounded could infer either part of the premisses it would aswell inferre that his knowledge as man should have beene infinite from his conception This I think no Christian wil affirme for the personall union of the divine nature with the humane doth not endow it with the reall titles of the divine Otherwise Christs strength as man should have beene infinite from the womb and his body should have beene every where And it would be lesse unreasonable to say that his body is at this day infinite and his humane nature every where then that his wisdome or knowledge as man should have beene infinite or as great whilst he was in the womb as now it is If the divine nature did not communicate his infinity to the humane nor make the sonne of God so compleat a man for strength of ability of body from the womb as at thirtie yeares he was it exceedeth the bounds of my capacitie to imagine what reason those men have for their opinion who think our blessed Lord Saviour did not as truely grow in wisdome and knowledge as he did in strength or stature of body The Scripture is alike literall for both Luk. 2. 52. Iesus increased in Wisdome and stature and in favour with God and man I make no question but that such as deny his growth in wisdome do this out of a religious feare lest they should speake or conceive any thing of Christ which might be thought either to derogate from his greatnesse or from his goodnesse This feare or zealous care is in the generall very good but hath small ground in this particular For were it either well grounded or well guided it would rather teach us not to deny that Jesus did grow in wisdome and goodnesse then to be peremptory in contradicting others which hold the affirmative Simple nescience can be no sinne in any Child nor in any man unlesse it be of those things which he is bound to know But proficiency in wisdome and knowledge is in the sonnes of men a praise worthy perfection which I should be as unwilling to deny unto my Lord and Saviour in his infancy or his youth as to rob him now of any royall attributes since he was made King That he was without all staine of sinne the most holy Sanctuary of the most holy and blessed God from the womb I stedfastly beleeve but that he had the same measure oâ— knowledge at his circumcision at his presentation in the Temple which he had and gave proofe of when his Parents found him in the Temple disputing with the Doctors or no greater measure of this knowledge at his baptisme then he then had or as great as his baptisme as
was to be partaker of flesh and bloud as we sonnes of men are So the Apostle teacheth Heb. 2. 14. For asmuch theâ— as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devill This participation of flesh bloud with his brethren is but an expression of the assumption Verely saith the Apostle ver 16 he tooke not hold of the Angels but he tooke hold of the seede of Abraham The meaning of these expressions as likewise of the originall word is that albeit the Angels were created by him yet were they not so assumed or so united to his person as the seede of Abraham was and is Nor is he partaker of their nature or of any other nature besides after such a peculiar manner as he is of the humane nature by assuming the seed of Abraham Some Schoole Divines and followers of Aquinas will have the former similitude of Athanasius to consist especially in this that as the reasonable soule doth use the body of man so the divine nature of Christ doth use the manhood as its proper united instrument Every other man besides the man Christ Jesus every other creature is the instrument of God but al of them such instruments of the divine nature as the axe or hammer is to the artificer which worketh by them The most puissant Princes the mightiest Conquerors which the world hath seene or felt could grow no higher in titles then Attilas or Nebuchadnezzar did Malleus orbis et flagellum Dei hammers or scourges of God to chastise or bruise the Nations But the humanity of Christ is such an instrument of the divine nature in his person as the hand of man is to the person or partie whose hand it is And it is well observed whether by Aquinas himselfe or no I remember not but by Viguerius an accurate summist of Aquinas summes that albeit the intellectuall part of man bee a spirituall substance and separated from the matter or bodily part yet is the union betwixt the hand and intellectuall part of man no lesse firme no lesse proper then the union betweene the feet or other organicall parts of sensitive Creatures and their sensitive soules or mere Physicall formes For the intellectuall part of man whether it be the forme of man truely though not merely physicall or rather his essence not his forme at all doth uâ—e his owne hand not as the Carpenter doth use his axe that is not as an externall or separated but as his proper united instrument Nor is the union betweene the hand as the instrument and intellective part at the Artificer or Commander of it an union of matter and forme but an union personall or at the least such an union as resembles the hypostaticall union betweene the divine and humane nature of Christ much better then any materiall union wherein Philosophers or Schoole Divines can make instance 9. These and the like speculations are neither unpleasant nor unprofitable if so the Reader will not restraine the former similitude of Athanasius only to this kinde of union But after what manner to what speciall purposes or what peculiar services the manhood of Christ is the instrument of his divine nature as the ancient for the most part unanimously affirme by Gods assistance in other Articles following or in the mysticall union betwixt Christ and his members Thus much in this place and for the present may suffice that the personall union betweene the divinity and manhood of Christ though it be in it selfe more admirable then comprehensible or expressible is more proper and firme then any union which can be made by mixture by confusion by composition or compaction of severall natures into one But what Athanasius meant in that expression of taking the manhood into God may if I mistake not to my present purpose which is only to lay the general grounds of these communications of properties which Divines whether antient or moderne obserue betweene the divine and humane nature of Christ be yet further explicated by answering the maine objection that can be made against Athanasius his similitude or these illustrations of it 10. Some haply will object and it is all I think that can be objected against us that as wee are such is our flesh such is our bloud We are by nature men and our flesh and bloud is by nature only humane or the flesh and bloud of men but if the flesh and bloud whereof the sonne of God is partaker bee as truely his as our flesh and bloud is ours shall they not be such as he is that is flesh and bloud truely divine not humane This must in no wise be granted otherwise the sonne of God should not be as the Apostle avoucheth hee is partaker with us of the same flesh and bloud The flesh and bloud which he assumed and was partaker of are as truely humane as mans flesh bloud are and of the selfe same nature that mans flesh and bloud are of And of such flesh he was to be as truely as properly partaker as we are And yet it is necessary that the same flesh and bloud which he assumed be as truely and as properly the flesh and bloud of the sonne of God who is by nature God blessed for ever as our flesh is the flesh or our bloud the bloud of the sonnes of men Otherwise albeit the flesh and bloud assumed by him had been as truely and as properly humane flesh and bloud as ours is yet could not the son of God have beene as true and proper a partaker of humane flesh and bloud as wee sonnes of men are For no party or person can as truely and really participate with another in that which is not his owne by as perfect right as it is the others who is partaker of it with him So then the flesh and bloud of our Saviour Christ was truely and properly Caro humana non divina sanguis humanus non divinus not divine but humane flesh and bloud and yet withall as truely and properly Caro Dei and Sanguis Dei the flesh and bloud of God as it was caro humana sanguis humanus humane flesh and humane bloud more properly the flesh and bloud of God then the flesh bloud of man For eveÌ„ the whole humanity of Christ aswell the reasonable soule as the flesh was and is the humanity of the son of God God saith the Apostle Acts 20. 28. hath purchased the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his owne proper bloud Now if the Church be Gods owne not by creation only but by true purchase then the bloud by which hee purchased it was as truely his owne as our bloud or any thing within us or without us which we can owne is ours But was it Gods owne bloud after the selfesame manner or measure that our bloud is ours It was not in every respect or
then enough to prove the party so peccant to be a false Prophet Besides those predictions which are common to all men whilest they have the ordinary gift of memory discretion or vnderstanding there be predictions peculiar to severall Arts or Faculties which come somewhat neerer to the nature of Prophecies properly so called but well examined fall further short of them then they goe beyond the former presages or predictions of ordinary wise or discreet men 2. A man of ordinary skill in Astronomy able by his owne or others skill to foretell the set times of the Eclipses whether in the Sunne or Moone might easily gaine the reputation of a Prophet or a Southsayer amongst barbarous illiterat people yet no civill Nation will account men thus farre skilfull to be extraordinarily learned much lesse for coelestiall Prophets Hippocrates or Galen so they had bin disposed to play the Mountebanks might have gotten a better opinion amongst the vulgar or their Patients then they had of themselves or their owne skill for both of them could and did discover the nature of such diseases and alterations ensuing in mens bodies as the wisest men then living but not so good Physitians as they were could not guesse at aright much lesse distinctly foresee Yet neither of these two famous Physitians for ought I can learne did take upon them to interpret the aspects or motions of the Starres after such a manner as many meaner Physitians since their time have done So farre were they from challenging the name or title of Prophets or Southsayers that they did not take upon them to foretell what the secret motions or dispositions of their Patients bodies whether alive or dead did presage either to private men or to publique States Yet to foretell strange events to come by observing the alterations in mens living bodies or by the Anatomy of them dead is in any reasonable construction more congruous and facile then to foretell the successe of warre or politique projects by anatomizing dead brutish Creatures or by inspection of their intralls This later skill many in times past amongst the Heathens have professed and have had the reputation of Augures or Southsayers But albeit their predictions in this subject might for the most part prove true which I doe not beleeve yet all this was not sufficient to purchase the just title of Prophets or Diviners it only argues some deeper insight in ominous forewarnings or portendments as Hippocrates and Galen had in medicinall presages above ordinary men That there may be a peculiar skill or dexterity of conjecture concerning the peculiar signes of times whether by interpretation of dreames of prodigies of Comets or the like is a point not worth the debating in Divinity That this skill were it granted to be much greater then the Professors of it in what kinde soever arrogate unto themselves doth amount to the nature of a true Prophecie or divination properly so called all true Divines must deny 3. That skilfull Physitians may truly presage the certaine issue of some diseases setled or growing as of the life and death of their Patients farre beyond the capacity of vulgars and to the admiration of men otherwise more learned then themselves is not doubted by any man of vnderstanding But all wherein they exceed others not skilled in Physick is this that their art and experience enables them to discerne the working or first projects of causes Physicall or seminall Originalls of alterations in mens bodies much sooner and with more dexterity then men without skill or experience in their art can doe But so a well experienced though illiterate Gardiner will distinguish severall hearbs or simples at the first peeping out of the mold wherein they were hid much better then a meere contemplative Artist which hath pored oftner and longer upon Mathiolus Dioscorides or other Herbalists then the most industrious Gardiner hath done on his plots shall be able to distinguish them after a moneths growth Yet will not the cunningest Gardiner though a contemplatiue Herbalist withall take upon him to tell what seedes have beene sowne by another of his profession so long as they lie hid in the ground Nor will the most skilfull Physitian unlesse conceipt of his skill farre exceede his wit or understanding adventure to foretell what diseases in particular shall befall men for the present in perfect health for any one or more of the next seaven yeares to come Astrologers for ought I can say against their profession may truly foretell or give a happy guesse at such events as usually follow upon the apparition of Comets But I never heard of any Astrologer that could prognosticate at what time in what degree of altitude longitude or latitude any Comet before its appearance should be seene neither whether there should be any Comets at all the next five yeares to come much lesse if any appeare what course it shall observe I dare not deny all artificiall or experimentall skill in the interpretation of dreams but none of this profession I presume will be so bold to foretell what his Neighbour shall dreame of in the severall nights of the next moneth or to recall his dreames to minde if happily hee have forgotten them There was more true Divinity in that briefe reply of the Chaldean Astrologers or supposed Diviners unto Nebuchadnezzars unreasonable demand Dan. 2. v. 10. then in all their professed Art of Divination The Chaldeans spake to the King O King live for ever tell thy servants the dreame and wee will shew the interpretation The King answered and said to the Chaldeanâ— The thing is gone from me if yee will not make knowne unto me the dreame with the interpretation thereof yee shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a Dunghill The Chaldeans answered before the King and said There is not a man upon the Earth that can shew the Kings matters Therefore there is no King Lord nor Ruler that asked such things at any Magitian Astrologer or Chaldean And it is a rare thing that the King requireth and there is none other that can shew it before the King except the Gods whose dwelling is not with flesh Dan. 2. ver 4. 5 10 11. In this last clause onely they failed For that God which revealed Nebuchadnezzars dreame and the interpretation thereof unto Daniel was to be God with us to have his dwelling in our flesh 4 However they knew by light of nature and of reason that it was but one and the same skill to tell or retrive matters of this nature past that is whereof they had no hint or notice either from their owne senses or from Historie or tradition and to foretell things contingent or not determined in their comprehensible causes Now to foretell things of this nature any Future that falls not out by the constant and observable course of nature or which hath no dependence on any visible cause already attempting its effect though so secretly as none but a perfect Artist can
to be their enemie and he fought against them And so it is said that he was grieved forty yeares with that generation which he had delivered out of Egypt And both places were they to be limited only with reference to times past could not be meant of God otherwise then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a metaphoricall sense But as well that complaint of the Psalmist as this of the Prophet Esay were not meerely historicall but propheticall both to be fulfilled after a more exquisite sense in later ages For all Gods mercies and loving kindnesse to their Fathers were but as pledges or talents given by way of earnest for greater goodnesse and more tender mercies towards later generations so they would be thankfull for the former God whilest he was onely in the forme of God could not in strict proprietie of speech be troubled could not be grieved with compassion could not be wearied All those are passions or accidentall affections incident only to flesh and bloud or at least to natures subject to servitude and punishment But of God in our nature and forme of a servant all these patheticall complaints were most exactly accomplished Who was weake amongst his people and he not weakned by their weakenesse who amongst them did mourne and he not mourne with them who was afflicted in body or soule and he not partaker of their afflictions Of all those duties of Christian charitie or fellow-feeling of others infirmities practised by his Apostles and commended to us by them he by his practise and conversation set the most exquisite patterne more exquisite then any who was but man could have set For he was a man of sorrowes and infirmities to beare all our grievances He cured no bodily infirmitie though he cured many whose griefe untill the cure was wrought he did not suffer by exact and perfect sympathy And only by the anguish of his soule and spirit not Israel alone but all people throughout the world whoever found or hope to finde any must find rest and comfort to their soules and consciences Yet all this the wicked posterity of that wicked generation whose ingratitude towards the God of their Fathers did minister both matter of complaint and of prophecy to the Prophet Esay and the Psalmist no way regarded but requited all the paines trouble and affliction which he had undertaken for their poore brethrens bodily good and the comfort of all their soules with superaddition of those deadly griefes and sorowes which by the Romans help they brought upon him This God of Israel in former times had fought for them and had conducted them in the form of an Angell Ioshuah himselfe being but his deputy or under Cōmander But now that they have thus ungratefully requited him for all his loving kindnesse towards their Fathers whilst he was onely in the forme of God or did appeare in the garb or figure not in the substance of an Angell and for all the troubles and grievances undertaken by him for their good whilest he was in the substance of man and forme of a servant he at length became their Enemie and fought against them For as Visitors though farre absent do yet visite by their Commissaries so this God of Israell that Jesus whom the Jews had crucified being made King of Kings and Lord of Lords did judge Ierusalem and the Nation of the Iews by Vespasian and Titus as by his deputies It was he not they that in that great warre did overcome them As they had grieved him more then their Forefathers had done with whom he was grieved forty yeares in the wildernesse so they did remaine in the Land of their promised rest but forty yeares after his death and so they remained in farre worse case then their forefathers had done in the wildernesse and their posterity since have wandred throughout the world as unwelcome guests for almost these sixteene hundred yeares CHAP. 23. That God was to visite his Temple after such a visible and personall manner as the Prophet Ieremy in his name had done THe moderne Iew cannot deny that of the Prophet Ieremy chap. 7. ver 3 4. c. to be meant of God alone nor is he able to shew us how it was or could be otherwise fulfilled then of God incarnate or of God in the visible nature and substance of man-comming to visite his Temple Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Amend your waies and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Trust yee not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these And againe ver 8. Behold yee trust in lying words that cannot profit Will yee steale murther and commit adultery and sweare falsly and burne incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom yee know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say We are delivered to doe all these abominations Is this house which is called by my name become a denne of Robbers in your eyes Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord. To have denyed that God at this time did truly heare what this people said did truely see what they did did perfectly understand their secret thoughts had beene an errour much grosser and more dangerous then the errour of the Anthropomorphitae that is of such as imagined God by nature to have eyes eares and heart like man For that was but an heresie or transformation of the Deity the other was Epicurisme the worst and grossest errour wherewith the very heathen or Infidels were possest And so the Psalmist describeth it Psal 94. 7. Yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it Vnderstand yee brutish among the people and yee fooles when will yee be wise He that planted the eare shall he not heare he that formed the eye shall he not see c. 2. Sight and hearing were in those times as truly attributed to God as now they can be yet in a generall or transcendent not so exquisite so proper and formall a sense as the patheticall expression which the Prophet there used doth literally imply Behold even I have seene it saith the Lord. For certainely that implies a great deale more then by ordinary Catechismes or domestique instructions they could have learned thus much at the least that the Lord God himselfe who sent the Prophet to deliver this message The Lord God of Israel who neither slumbreth nor sleepeth would watch his oportunity unlesse they did amend these misdemenors to visit them and his temple not by a Prophet or deputed Commissary but in person and after as evident and visible a manner to flesh and blood as the Prophet had done but with farre greater power The Prophet had only meere spirituall power to protest against them no coërcive authority to punish the delinquents or to banish these abuses out of the Temple This case was
dwelleth in him is the expresse image of him as he is man he is the Tabernacle or Temple of the living God The inference is our Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yee are the Tēples of the living God at God hath said I will dwel in thē and walk in thē and I will be their God and they shall be my people Our Evangelist S. Iohn Revel 21. 3. exegetically dilates the former testimonies of Moses and the Prophets a great deale further thē S. Paul here doth I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes And there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shal there be any more paine for the former things are passed away But this mortalitie must put on immortality and our corruptible flesh become incorruptible before this last clause of S. Iohns prophecy can be literally fulfilled in us or begin to beare date in esse And before this happy change of our mortall bodies none of those other prophecies Exod. 29. Levit. 26. Ezek. 37. shall be finally accomplished albeit all of them have beene already fulfilled in differēt measure manner both according to the literall and mysticall sense For God hath dwelt and doth dwel more properly in the man Christ Iesus then at any time he did in the Tabernacle or Temple These were in their times the seats of Gods peculiar presence of the manifest appearances of his divine Maiestie from which all the blessings upon Israell or Abrahams posteritie by bodily descent were derived after such a manner as the visible light in this inferiour world is derived from the body or sphaere of the sunne Yet such as were partakers of these blessings all the particular Synagogues through the land of Iury did not by this participation of his presence in the Temple or Tabernacle become Temples or Tabernacles of the God of Israel these were never conceived to be or instyled the seat of his rest or of his peculiar presence But since the Word was made flesh since the seed of Abraham was made the Temple of the living God every particular Church truely Christian becomes a more proper seat of Gods peculiar presence then the materiall Temple in its glory and splendour was and farre more communicative of all blessings spirituall to every true particular member of them Every individuall or particular man who is incorporated into this Church and made a living member of it doth by the participation of that Spirit which dwelleth in it become a true Temple or Tabernacle of the living God Whosoever truely beleeves in Christ whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood Christ who is the prototypon and true temple of God doth dwell in him and he in Christ he is in God and God in him after a more peculiar manner then either the patriarks or Prophets were in God or God in them But this peculiar manner of Gods dwelling in us by faith and wee in him hath his peculiar place in other principall Articles of the Creed or in the Treatise of the Sacrament concerning the mysticall union betwixt Christ and his members The next Quaere which in this Section offers it selfe to be discussed and must be the Title of the next Chapter is briefly this CHAP. 27. Why S. John doth rather say the word was made flesh then the sonne of God was made flesh albeit the sonne of God and the word denote one and the same person TO this Quaere some judicious Divines make answer that the second person in Trinitie was at least implicitely knowne unto some heathen Philosophers under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long before his incarnation and longer before S. Iohn wrote his Gospell Now it is not improbable that those heretiques which did call the Divinity of Christ in question against whose heresie the Evangelist did put in that Caveat in the beginning of his Gospell at the least such as were in danger to be seduced by them were to his knowledge better versed in the writings of Plato and Trismegist then in Moses and the Prophets And men naturally both conceive and imbrace the truth with more facility when it is delivered unto them in termes whereunto they have been inured Now such as were well read in Plato or Trismegist or would be willing to read them could not be ignorant of an eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called the sonne of the eternall minde or essence And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word or image of the eternall minde was not in their apprehension meerly notionall or representative only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word or reason or however we expresse it truly operative the invisible cause or maker of all things visible Unto these the like prenotions which the heathen Philosophers had of an eternall Father in his eternall sonne S. Iohn in the judgement of some great Divines did purposely apply himselfe and frame his expressions to their capacity whom he sought to reclaime or to instruct Nor is it either unusuall or unbeseeming the Apostles themselves to alter both the matter and forme of speech according to the diversity of the parties whom they seeke to reforme S. Paul did not dispute with the Athenians after the same manner he did with the Jews nor did he instruct the Hebrew converts in the same language or forme of catechisme which he used amongst the Gentiles S. Iohn then in the conjecture of the former ancient Divines did make the 〈◊〉 advantage of the prenotions which the heathens had of this truth which S. Paul did from the inscription of the Athenian Altar that God saith hee whom yee ignorant by worship him declare I unto you But did these harmelesse speculations of these Philosophers require any such reformation from S. Iohn as the Athenians superstitious worship did from S. Paul Sure their followers were to bee better catechized in this truth then they had been or could be by any Philosophy their best speculations though in themselves true were to their Professors altogether fruitlesse and as I take it without any prenotion or expectance that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word by which they acknowledge all things were made should be made visible in our flesh should exhibit a more exquisite representation of the divine nature and essence in the microcosme or little modell of mans body then had beene exhibited in the making and governing this great universe They knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was truly God without beginning but they did not either adore him as God neither did they adore their eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God or by him All this they were to learne from S. Iohn for this is a mystery which farre surpasseth the capacitie of man to conceive or comprehend without
after every manner his owne so as our bloud is ours yet his owne by a more proper more full and soveraigne title then our bloud is any way ours 11. Our flesh and bloud may be said to be our owne in two respects either as it is a part of our nature or an appertinence of our person In this last respect the fruit of the Virgins womb was the sonne of Gods own substance the flesh and bloud which hee tooke from her were his after a more exquisite manner or in a fuller measure of the same manner then our flesh and bloud are our owne Or if wee would speake the language of Philosophy her selfe rather then of Philosophers or of such as professe themselves to be her followers though ofttimes as wee say a farre off Our flesh our bloud our limbes are said to be our owne not so much or not so properly as they are parts of our nature as in that they are either parts or appurtenances of our persons That which is immediately next or linkt unto our person is by a more peculiar and soveraigne right our owne then any things whatsoever besides wee do possesse or are Lords of be it Lands goods or servants For whatsoever we possesse being not thus annexed unto our persons are but externalls their possession is communicable their propertie may be so alienated as others may make as good use of them as wee doe A man may be wronged in every thing that is his owne whereof he is by just title possessed but the wrongs done to a man in externalls doe not touch him so neerely as the wrongs done to his person or to any part or appurtenance of it 12. That there is a true and reall distinction betweene the natures and the persons of men or betweene things which are our owne by union of nature or by union unto our persons may thus be gathered Every part of our nature is eyther a part or an appurtenance of our person but every part or appurtenance of our person is not a part of our nature A man may suffer grosse personall wrong without paine or dammage to any part of his nature without losse of any commoditie that could be made of that wherein he suffered wrong it being in it selfe considered uncapable of wrong As in case some joynt or part of a mans body be dead and withered irrecoverably deprived of sense of paine of vitall motion it thereby ceaseth to be a part of the humane nature but it therefore ceaseth not to be an appendance or an appurtenance of his person He that should disfigure mangle or otherwise handle such a dead number any otherwise then the party whose it is were willing to have it handled doth wrong his person in a higher degree than if hee mangled or maymed his live goods or cattell and yet however he handle it he puts the living party to no paine is being as it is supposed no naturall or sensible part of his body nor could it have yeelded any commodity though it had been cut off before it was disfigured Offēces of this nature are not to be valued according to the excellency of the physicall complexion or constitution of the bodily part wounded or contumeliously handled but according to the excellency or dignity of the partie whose flesh or substance it is that is wounded or abused whether it be an entire live part of his nature or an appendix only to his person as being a joynt or member in part maymed or deprived of sense before Generally whether we speake of mens actions or sufferings undertaken for our behoofe to the losse of bloud or limbes we are not to value the one or other so much according to the physicall propertie or naturall worth of the member lost or damnified as according to the dignity of the person which voluntarily undertaketh such hard services for us And thus wee are to rate aswell the indignities and paines which our Saviour suffered in body by the Jews or Roman soldiers as the anguish of his soule in that great conflict with the powers of darknes neither according to the excellencie of his bodily constitution or exquisite purity of his soule but according to the inestimable dignity of his divine person of which aswell his immaculate soule as his undefiled bodie were no naturall parts but appurtenances only 13 Lastly that proper bloud wherewith God is said to have purchased the Church was the bloud of the sonne of God the second person in Trinity after a more peculiar manner then it was the bloud either of God the Father or of God the holy ghost It was the bloud of God the Father or of God the holy Ghost as all other creatures are by common right of creation and preservation It was the bloud of God the son alone by personall union If this sonne of God and high Priest of our soules had offered any other sacrifice for us then himselfe or the manhood thus personally united unto him his offering could not have beene satisfactory because in al other things created the Father and the holy Ghost had the same right or interest which the sonne had hee could not have offered any thing to them which were not as truely theirs as his Onely the seede of Abraham or fruit of the virgins womb which he assumed into the Godhead was by the assumption made so his owne as it was not theirs his owne by incommunicable propertie of personall union By reason of this incommunicable propertie in the womans seede the sonne of God might truely have said unto his Father Lord thou hast purchased the Church yet with my bloud but so could not the man Christ Jesus say unto the sonne of God Lord thou hast payd the ransome for the sinnes of the world yet with my bloud not with thine owne SECT 4. Of the conception and birth of our Lord and Saviour the sonne of God of the circumcision of the sonne of God and the name IESUS given him at his circumcision and of the fulfilling of the types and prophecyes concerning these mysteries CHAP. 31. The aenigmaticall predictions concerning Christs conception unfolded by degrees THat the predictions of the prophets which the Jew acknowledgeth for sacred are of divine infallible authority that according to many of these propheticall praedictions God in the person of the sonne was to become man the eternall word was to be made flesh that is to have our flesh and nature so united unto him that whilest our flesh and nature was conceived and brought forth the sonne of God was also conceived brought forth whilst the man Christ Jesus did suffer in the flesh the sonne of God did also suffer This is the briefe summe or extract of all that hath in this Treatise beene delivered This is the foundation of faith as Christian the radicall article of Christian Theologie It followes in our Apostles Creede that this only sonne of God Christ Iesus our Lord was conceived by the holy Ghost and