properties also must needs remain entire to either nature and as a man hath his soule and body both united and inconfused Ita multo magis Christus habens divinitatem cum corpore habet utraque permanentia non confusa so much more Christ having his divinity united with our flesh hath them both remaining intire and inconfused for that rule can never be disproved Confundens proprietates essentiales confundit naturas confound the naturall or essentiall properties of any things and you take away the nature of the things And therefore in that one and selfe-same subsistence of Christ there must needs be a divine and a Joâ— 10.17 humane nature a divine and a humane wisdome a divine and a humane will and so of all other properties of each nature they must be as well inconfused as indivisible Fourthly inseparable 4. Inseparable because the natures are so inseparably united that the humane nature can never be separated from the divine person that assumed it and therefore when Christ dyed subtraxit visionem sed non solvit unionem the soule parted from the body Psal 16.10 When Christ dyed and body and soul were parted the Godhead parted from neither but the Deity was separated from neither as Leo saith but as a tree cut in twaine the sun cannot be cut but that it may still shine on either part so the body and soule of Christ being parted the Deity was still united unto them both and could never be separated from the manhood after hee had once assumed the same into the unity of his person Fifthly substantiall 5. Substantiall because he is a true and perfect man whose being is no accident but a substance Sixthly It is ineffable 6. Ineffable so absolutely perfect and so exceedingly mysticall that it can never be perfectly declared by any man for though the Fathers sought by many examples and similitudes That the mannet of the uniting of the two natures is ineffable to expresse and to illustrate the same as by the union of the body and soule of a Branch ingrafted into a tree of a fiery iron and such like yet all come too short for the full expressing of this inexplicable mystery And therefore Saint Bernard compareth this ineffable mystery of the uniting of these two natures unto that incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity and so indeed that of the Trinity is the greatest and this of the incarnation is like unto it far exceeding mans capacity rather most faithfully to be beleeved Psal 77.19 then too curiously to be searched into because God hath overshadowed this mistery with his own vaile that wee might not presume 1 Sam. 6.19 with the men of Bethshemesh to look into this Ark of his least for our curiosity we be smitten as they were Or least whilst we make too strict a scrutiny to finde out the depth of this mystery we forfeit that small and weak knowledge which by divine bounty is bestowed upon us and therefore what we cannot comprehend by reason we should apprehend by faith because as Heinsius saith Omnia in Deo supra rationem nihil supra fidem The mysteries of our religion are to be beleived by faith rather then to be searched out by reason though many things may be above the reach of reason yet nothing beyond faith Nam quicquid solus Deus potest facere sola fides potest credere For whatsoever God alone can do faith alone can beleeve the same and faith is the compendium of our salvation and humane wisdome the cheifest obstacle of the same Therefore indeed it should be our cheifest care to keep our selves within the limits of Faith because I find the Creed of blessed Athanasius concerning the Incarnation of the son of God to be pure and clear from all Errour and heresie whatsoever I shall here insert the same 1 It is necessary saith he unto eternall salvation Joh 3.36.6.40 1 Joh. 4.3 Heb. 2.16 that whosoever will be saved do beleive rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 This then is the right faith Joh. 1.1 Luke 24.39 that wee beleeve and confesse that our Lord Jesus Christ the son of God is God and man 3 He is God Joh. 1.14.18 Prou. 8.22.23.25.30 Luk. 1 35. Gal 4.4 1 Joh. 5.20 of the substance of his Father begotten before the world man of the substance of his mother Born in the world Perfect God Perfect man of a reasonable soul human flesh subsisting Luke 24.39 Mat. 26.38 Joh. 5.17.14.18 Equall to the Father according to his Divinity Inferiour to the Father according to his Humanity 4. Who though he be God and man yet he is not two but one Christ One not by converting of the divinity into flesh Hebr. 2.14.16 Damasc l. 3. Orthod fidei c. 3. Concil Chalc. Act. 20. but by assuming of the humanity into God One altogether not by conversion of the substance but by unity of the person For as the reasonable soul and flesh are one man so God and man is one Christ 5. Who suffered for our Salvation Went down to Hell The third day rose again from the dead Rom. 4 25. Phil 2.8 Psal 16.10.116.3 1 Cor. 15.17 Acts. 1.11 Psal 110.1 2 Tim. 4.1 Ascended into Heaven He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge the quick and dead 6. At whose coming all men shall rise with their bodyes and shall give an account of their own deeds 1 Thes 4.16 1 Cor. 15.52.53 Mat. 12.36 Rev. 20.12 Dan. 12.2 Joh. 5.28.29 Mar. 16.16 Heb. 11.6 2 Thes 1.8.9 And who have done good shall go into life eternall but who have done evill into everlasting fire 7. This is the Catholike Faith which except every one do faithfully and firmely beleeve hee cannot be saved Many other points of great moment I might here shew unto you as the effects and benefits of the hypostaticall or personall union of the two natures Oftentimes it comes to pass that by reason of the personall union of the two natures each one of them doth interchangeably take the concrete or compounded names each of other in predication Acts 20.38 the communicating of the properties which is nothing else but a form of speech whereby those things are spoken sometimes of the whole person of Christ which indeed are proper to either one nature and not to the other yet by reason of the strictness of this personall union whatsoever may be verified of either of those natures the same may be truly spoken of the whole person from whethersoever of the natures it be denominated but that to write or speak all that I might of this point would inlarge this Treatise into a great volume Joh. 3.13 1 Cor. 2.8 That it is impossible for any one man to expresse all the particulars of Christ his incarnation and that indeed the wit and learning of any one man
should be conceived without the helpe of man Saint Luke doth most plainly and fully declare unto us saying The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Luk 1.35 the Power of the highest shall overshadow thee which words are not to be understood so as if he were begotten spermaticâ—s per concubitum by any carnall effusion of seminall humour as Jansenius seemeth to imagin nor of the Essence or substance of the Holy Ghost as some hereticks have sayd for so the Holy Ghost being God should have begotten him not man but God Quia omne generans generat sibi simile because every begetter begets his like and that which is borne of the Spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he was conceived by way of Manufacture that is by the handy worke or operation or by the vertue of the Holy Ghost whereby the Virgin did conceive as Justin Martyr saith Just Martyr Apol. 2 pro. Christianis Aug. Ser. 3 de temp or else by the energeticall command and ordination of the holy Ghost as Saint Augustine saith or by the Benediction and blessing of the holy Ghost as Saint Basil saith Basil ser de nativitate whereby that part of the Virgins blood or seed whereof the body of Christ was to be framed was so cleansed and sanctified that in it there should be neither spot nor staine of originall pollution and then was so composed and framed that it became a perfect Christ and though the substance and parts of other men in ordinary generation be framed successively by degrees for the seminall humour first becomes an Embryo then a body in-organicall then are the Liver heart and Brain fashioned and then the rest one after another perfected and it is at least forty dayes before the body of any Child in the wombe be fully formed That Christ was conceived a perfect man in the first moment of his conception yet Christ in the very instant of his conception Quoad perfectionem partium non graduum in respect of the perfection of all parts was made a perfect man in body and Soule void of sin and full of Grace and so in a moment Totam naturam humanam uniendo formavit formando univit he was perfectly framed and instantly united unto this eternall Christ because it is the property of the Holy Ghost subito operari to worke instantly and perfectly And therefore When wee consider how wonderfully and inexplicably Christ was made flesh how a star gave light unto the Sun a branch did bear the Vine a Creature gave being unto the Creatour how the Mother was younger then what shee bare and a great deale lesser than what shee contained and how this Child was suddenly perfectly and holily made without the helpe of man wee may well say with the Apostle 1 Tim. 3.16 that great is the Mystery of Godlinesse and we should say with Saint Augustine Rem credo modum non quaero I do most faithfully beleeve the matter but I will not curiously search into the manner of his Conception Tertull. de resur carnis Quia ratio facti est potentia facientis ideo considerans autorem tollo dubitationem Moreover touching the end and finall cause of this his extraord nary and miraculous Conception it was Christ was conceived of a Virgin that he might be free from all sin That he might be pure and free from all Originall sin because it was requisite that hee which should save sinners should be himselfe free from all sin For this end his Mother was sanctified with the fullnesse of Grace with overshadowing of the Holy Ghost and with the Inhabitation of the son of God and therefore Saint Bernard saith That shee was Mariam non libido impregnaviâ— sed fides Sine pudore foecunda sine gravamine gravida sine dolore puerpera great with Child without breach of Chastity a Mother and yet a Mayde a woman and yet escaping the Curse of all Women for the Law had accursed them all Vrigins Luke 1.25 Gâ—n 3.16 because they were barren and the marryed wives because they should bear in sorrow but the blessed Virgin escaped both Quia virgo genuit dolorem non sensit for that shee conceived without sin and was delivered without paine as Saint Augustine sheweth by the example of the Sun that shines through a Glasse and yet breaks it not and of the fire that Moses saw in the bush and yet consumed it not but whether she felt any paines or not I cannot tell only this wee may be sure of that the greatnesse of her joy and gladnesse to bring forth such a son might well swallow up the greatest pain and greif and as she conceived a Virgin so she continued a Virgin as all the most judicious writers have affirmed for it is neither piety to speake nor Reason to thinke that Joseph being so just and so godly man as the holy Scriptures do testifie of him and being eighty yeares old when he was espoused unto Mary That the blessed Virgin continued a Virgin as Epiphanius saith should have any desire to know her whom he knew did bear his Saviour or that shee especially should yeeld to the desire of any man after shee had conceived and brought forth a God 2. Of the matter whence Christ his flesh was composed Rom. 1.3 Secondly Touching the matter from which the flesh of Christ was formed Saint Paule saith he was made of a woman that is of the flesh and blood and substance of his Mother and so he saith That hee was made of the Seed of David Heb. 4.15 and therefore it must needs follow that he was made in all things like unto his brethren sinne only excepted for the seed of the parents is the first matter and substance whereof the man is made And if it be true what Aristotle and the Philosophers do affirm That we take the substance of our flesh from our mothers that Semen patris in substantiam faetus non cadit sed ad menstruum mulieris se habet tanquam artifex ad artificium the seed of the man doth not fall into the substance of the Child but doth so dispose the seed of the woman as a workman frameth and disposeth his worke to make the same into the forme of man as this is most probable to be true although Galenus and most Physitians say the contrary then have we no reason at all to thinke that hee tooke not all the whole nature because he had another Worker to dispose and to frame the same substance into the forme of man yea seeing hee had a far more excellent Agent to worke the same then any seed of man can be and because the effect is ever better Ibi potior effectus ubi nobilior est causa where the cause is more excellent Reason it self sheweth that we have no reason to think that he was defective in any thing that pertained
to the perfection of humane Nature or of the naturall properties of the same And therefore seeing hee was made of a woman as all other men be differing only in the manner of his conception or in the Agent and worker of his Substance it is most apparent that he assumed all our humane nature What Christ assumed because the whole nature of man that is both body and Soule was to be redeemed for that both body and Soule were captivated unto satan but the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost Mat. 18.11 therefore he must consist both of body and soule for seeing the Divine pity was content to deliver all it behoved the Divine Majesty to assume all Fulgent l. 1. de mysterio redemp ad Trasim That Christ had a true humane body Gen 3.15.22.18 Luke 24.39 saith Fulgentius and more particularly that hee had a true and perfect humane body it may be easily proved for when the Apostles thought that they had seen a Phantasme or a spirit hee sayd unto them handle mee and see because a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have Besides it may be proved by the uniform consent of all Orthodox antiquity as the great Councill of Chalcedon that had in it 630 Bishops the Councill of Lateran the Councill of Toledo Fulgentius in his second booke Basil in l. de hum Christi gener Aug. de Trin. l. 13 c. 18. Beda in 11 Luc. l 4. c. 48. De persona Christi Saint Basil Saint Augustine Tertullian in his booke De carne Christi venerable Bede and diverse others whose pithy sayings and unanswerable arguments to prove this point I could here alledge But above all the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.4 used by Saint Paul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Evangelist which signifie to take our nature upon him and to be made flesh if they be well and truly understood do make it most apparently plaine that the Sonne of God took unto himselfe personally the true nature of man and the very substance of his Mother Luke 1.31.42 Heb. 2.14 for the Apostle doth not say factus de muliere sed factus ex muliere made in a woman but made of a woman Gorrham super Galat. as Nicolaus de Gorrham well observeth and therefore though Christ had his Principium formale his formall beginning from the Holy Ghost yet it is most certain that hee had his Principium materiale his whole matter and substance from the body of his mother And as hee had a true humane body so hee had a perfect reasonable Soule That Christ had a true reasonable soule Mat. 26 38. Luke 23.46 for the testimonies of the Scriptures are most plain herein As my Soul is heavy unto death and again Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Also the whole School of Divinity did ever teach the same truth for Nazianzen saith Quod non assumpsit non salvabit either hee had a soule or he will not save a soule and Saint Augustine saith Totum suscepit ut totum liberaret verbum Aug. de tempore Ser. 145. Christ took all upon him that is both body and soule that he might save them both And so you see that Christ had not Ideam humanae naturae An imaginary patterne of humane nature as some in these our dayes would have it but the whole nature of man In uno individuo consisting both of body and soule That Christ was subject to all our humane frailties which are without sin Moreover As Christ had all the parts of a true and perfect man so he had all the propertyes that do concern mans nature or do belong either to the soule or to the body of man as length breadth thicknesse understanding will affection c. And all other infirmities that wee have sin only excepted Why he undertook our infirmities Ambros in Luc l. 10. c. 22. And it was requisite saith Saint Ambrose Vt infirmitates nostras susciperet That he should take upon him our infirmities First To demonstrate the truth of his assumed humanity Secondly To strengthen and under-prop the weaknesse of our declining Faith and yet here wee must distinguish and understand that those infirmities which are not sinfull are either Personall or naturall Those that are Personall we say not That Christ took no personal infirmities upon him that he took for though many of us be affected with maladies infeebled with infirmities and disfigured with deformities yet the body of Christ being framed by the Holy Ghost of the purest Virgin blood was proportioned in most equall Symmetry and correspondency of parts and therefore he was speciosus forma prae filijs hominum fairer then the sons of men wholy pure more pure then the body of Absolon 2 Sam. 14.25 in whom there was no blemish so Cassiodorus saith Forma ejus lactei coloris de core illuxit Cassidor in Psa◠45. insigni statura prae-eminuit his body of the best composed stature did excell all other men Christ of a ravishing beauty and so Saint Hierom saith that his countenance carryed hidden and vayled in it a star like shining brightnesse which being but a little revealed it so ravished his Disciples hearts that at the first sight thereof Mat. 19.27 Joh. 18.6 they left all and followed him and it so astonished his enemies that they stumbled and fell to the ground But now those that are naturall or common infirmities That Christ took upon him all naturall common infirmities Heb. 2.17.4.15 Damasc de fide Orthodoxa l. 3. c. 20. Discipulus in ser de temp we affirm that he had them in all things like unto us for we confesse saith Damascen that Christ took all the naturall passions of man which are without sinne and Discipulus saith that every man was subject unto twelve naturall defects and infirmities wherof saith he our Saviour Christ hath undergon ten of them and hath suffered the same Luke 22 43. even as we do First Cold Secondly Heat Two infirmities incident to every man and denyed by no man to be in Christ Mat. 21.18 Thirdly Hunger as when he came to the fig-tree and would have eaten Joh. 4.7 c. 19. 28 Fourthly Thirst As when he asked Drink of the woman of Samaria Fifthly wearinesse Joh. 4.6 As when hee sate by the well side to rest him Sixthly Weaknesse and paine Mat. 27.32 Joh. 19.17 as when he was not able to bear his cross any further Seventhly Heavinesse and sorrow Mat. 26 38. Luke 16 41. as when his soule was heavy unto death Eighthly Shamefastnesse Mar. 6.6 and admiration as when hee marvelled at the infidelity of the Jewes Ninthly Feare Heb. 5.7 as when his Father heard him in that which hee feared Tenthly Anger Mat. 21.12 as when he drove the Buyers and sellers out of the Temple These are the ten
Psal 115.3 dwelling in the Heavens that none can attain unto and this the very Heathens knew full well Vide Naâ—â—ell p. 54. Ita etiam allusit Plutarchus in Iside de theologia Aegyptiâ—rum Vide Job c. â—2 Psal 18.9.11 when Orpheus speaking of God could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot see him because he is compassed about with darkness and Damascius the Platonist speaking of the wise men of Egypt saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they call the first beginning of all things darknesse unknown darknesse passing all our understanding answerable to that place of the Psalmist He made darknesse his secret place and all to this end to shew that he cannot be seen or comprehended by us Quia secundum essentiam in cognitus secundum Majestatem immensus because his Majesty is immeasurable and his being is unconceivable Thalas apud Paulinum Presbyt Job 28 24 saith Thalassus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he is every where and seeth every thing when as nothing can see him and as the sun is in it self most visible so is God in himselfe most intelligible Why the nature of God is not to be comprehended by the understanding of man and therefore that the sun dazeleth the eye and God the understanding it is from the abundance of glory in both in respect of our weakness to see and insufficiency to apprehend so that our defect of knowledge in the Nature of God is not so properly from the Excellency of the Object as from the deficiency of the Faculty John 1 18. our understanding being too narrow to comprehend the incomprehensible Essence of the God-head as whatsoever is finite must needs be too short either to reach or to fathom that which is infinite 1 Tim. 6.16 Wherefore God dwelling in that light of Glorious Excellency and inaccessible Glory which no eye of humane Reason can approach or enter into Psal 144 3. we not being able to comprehend him in a full Knowledge have some apprehensions of him by a divine faith for it hath pleased him in his word revealed unto us to reveale himselfe so far as our weake capacity can conceive him and that by giving himself as you have heard many Names Titles Attributes to shew what a one he is who being a most simple essence void of al composition not subject to any accident or quality useth in the Scriptures to entitle himselfe by many qualities the which we must so understand that whatsoever he is whether Good Wise Powerfull c. he is the same by Essence not by quality Now although God cannot be defined 1. Because he is immense and his Essence unknown unto us 2 Because as Aristotle saith Aristot Topicor l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the definition of any thing is the expression of what it is in its own nature and virtue and so we cannot possibly shew what he is yet some way he may be described and therefore his description according to Phylosophy is on this wise God is an eternall minde or intelligence The description of God according to Philosophy sufficient in himselfe to all felicity most good and the cause of good in nature The description of God according to the rules of Divinity But Divinity hath taught us a more full and ample description of him which is in this sort God is an Essence spirituall intelligent Eternall infinite different from all the creatures without body parts or passions incomprehensible most perfect in himself immutable Omnipotent of exceeding wisdome and goodnesse just true chast mercifull bountifull most free wroth and angry without sin Or thus God is a Spirit in and of himselfe Joh. 4.24 Exod 3.14 Exod. 24.16 1. Tim. 1.11 Mat. 5.48 Gen. 17.1 1. Tim. 1.17 Mal. 3.8 1. King 8.27 Psal 139.1 to 13. Rev. 4.8 Heb. 4.13 Rom. 16.27 Isa 6.3 Deut. 32 4. Exod. 34.6 Nancelius l. 1. infinite in being Glory Blessednesse and perfection all-sufficient Eternall Unchangeable Incomprehensible every where present Almighty knowing all things most wise most holy most just most mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth We finde three speciall wayes of expressing what he is first by way of Negation by removing from him what we find in the creatures as when we say and affirme him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Immortall Invisible Incorporeall Immoveable Infinite Unchangeable and so forth And because Dionys de calest hierarch c. 2. as Dionysius the Areopagite saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Negations are true in God but affirmatives are not alwayes agreeable to him therefore this is the best part of our knowledge of him as S. Augustine saith when we know rather what he is not then what he is Secondly By way of perfection by way of affirmation and perfection as when we doe analogically and in respect of certaine similitudes ascribe unto God the best and most excellent things that can be found in any of the creatures whatsoever and so we say he is Great Strong Faire Mercifull Just c. So Hermes saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is an indefatigable Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the highest King of Kings and a most good God and Thales Milesius calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most ancient uncreated God Cicero in Tuscul 1. Lactan. lib. 2. cap. 5. And Cicero so well as he could defined himâ— in manner following Deus meus est vis quaedam soluta libera segregata ab omni concretione mortali omnia sentiens movens ipsaque praedita motu sempiterno God is a certain intelligence or spirit free and ready separated from all mortall mixture or concretion knowing and moving all things and having in himself an eternall motion and Plato defineth God to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Phoedone a divine God-head immortall and good and wise and understanding of one and the same manner indissoluble having himself alwaies after the same way and most like unto himself And in another place he saith that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The cheifest good the shape or Idea of the cheifest good the King of all kinds and of that invisible and inaccessible place that none can attaine unto the maker of the Sun beyond all substance the beginning of the Universe from whom are all the beings and substances that are knowne to be But we must remember as I said before that all these Definitions and many more beside can give us no true knowledge of the Essence of God because it is wholy incomprehensible Solus Deus est altissimus S. Aug. in lib. de mor. Eccles quo altius nihil est Only God is most high above whom there is nothing higher and besides the Philosophers say that Definition may wholy specifie the Proportion of a thing or his Kind Quality Difference or some Peculiar accident all which severall things are not to be found in God which is the
Jewes themselves were willing to rejoyce for a season as our Saviour witnesseth yet Christ needed not to receive testimony from man Joh. 5.36 because hee had a greater Witnesse then that of John even the Father himself which sent him hee bare witnesse of him and with an audible voice hee proclaimed the same twice from Heaven Mat. 3.13.17 saying first at the river Jordan and then on Mount Thabor Matth 17.5 That hee was his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased So that these are sufficient witnesses Quia dicta Jehovae dicta pura Because the words of the Lord are pure words as the Psalmist saith And lastly That Christ appeared diverse times before his incarnation Christ himselfe confirmes this truth unto us by those manifold apparitions that hee made before his incarnation For it is most certain that hee appeared and conferred with the Fathers in the visible forme and shape of man Et praestantissimi theologorum dicunt quotiescunque Deus immortalis hominibus apparuit Petrus Cunaeus de re pub Heb. l. 3. c. 3. p. 406. apparuisse personam secundam id est filium quod sane ab illis recte existimatum est saith Cunaeus the most excellent Divines do say That whensoever the immortall God hath appeared unto mortall man it was the second person of the Trinity that is the son of God Christ Jesus that did appeare which in truth is most rightly said of them in the judgement of that learned man and therefore it is not improbable nor to any men incredible that he assumed upon him the forme and shape of man when hee created man and so made him not only in his own Image which he had as God That Christ diverse times assumed the form of a man before he was made man that is in holinesse and true righteousnesse but also like unto himselfe in respect of that forme and shape which he then assumed and which hee intended to be made himselfe thereafter And this may be collected out of Moses where he saith Gen. 3 8. That Adam heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden For God as he is a God hath neither voice to speake nor feet to walke but assuming the forme and shape of a man he did both walke and talke with him and in respect of this bodily presence of God the man did specially seek to hide himself among the trees of the Garden when hee heard his voice and not before But to Abraham it is apparent that he appeared Gen. 18.13.20 vers 25. First In the Plaine of Mamre for Moses saith not only that the Lord talked with Abraham but hee saith also that Abraham calleth him The Judge of all the world which can be ascribed to none but Christ which is the Judge of quick and dead Secondly It is the opinion of some that he appeared unto Abraham in his returne from the conquest of the four Kings for though some of the ancient Iewes in their idle fancies have imagined him to be such a person Illegitimus as is much derogatory to the Majesty of so glorious a Priest and such a super-excellent King because he is only named by Moses Hiâ—ron in Epist ad Evagrium Petrus Cunaeus de repub Heb. l. 3. c. 3. p. 396. without any mention of his Discent and saint Hierome with divers others old and new writers of good esteem in the Church of Christ do reject the judgement of one which in Saint Hieroms time did say that Melchisedech which met Abraham and blessed him was the Son of God and though some of our latest Divines have imagined him to be Sem the son of Noah yet some learned men agree with him in Saint Hierome That Melchisedeck was the son of God whose name he doth not set downe and whose arguments to confirme his speech he doth neither relate nor confute that it is most probable unto them and most agreeble to the Apostles mind that hee was none other then Jesus Christ the Son of God First Because the Apostle saith Heb. 7.7 That hee was greater then the Patriarch Abraham who is sayd to be the Father of the Faithfull which Epithete with the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do sufficiently shew him to be Divinioris cujusdam naturae of a far more excellent and diviner nature then Abraham was Secondly Because the Apostle going to speake of this Melchisedeck saith Heb. 5.11 That hee had many things to say concerning him which were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to be explained which certainly he would never have said had hee not understood this Melchisedech to have been some excellent and ineffable person Thirdly Because the Apostle saith not whose death is not mentioned by Moses for so he might be dead though his death is not spoken of but he saith that David testifieth of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he liveth to shew the difference betwixt this Priest and those Leviticall Preists which dyed yea they say he can be none other then Christ because he was of an endlesse life or else the similitude doth not hold that Christ was of an endlesse life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the likenesse of Melchisedech Heb. 7.3 Fourthly Because he saith That this Melchisedech was like unto the son of God even as Nebuchadnezzar saith Dan. 3.25 That the fourth man which walked with the three children in the fiery furnace was like unto the son of God so here the Apostle saying that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the son of God meaneth that hee assumed a body of the same likenesse and habit and countenance as afterward he meant to unite personally unto himselfe Fifthly Heb. 7.2 Because Abraham did give unto him Tythe of all as perceiving under that visible forme and shape of man an invisible Deity to subsist to whom Tythe is only due and everlastingly due because he is an Everlasting Priest Sixthly Because all they which do affirm this Melchisedech to be either Shem or any other King of Salem and a mortall man Fateri coguntur ea omnia quae de illo Apostolus dixit etiam Messiae convenire are compelled to confesse that all those things which the Apostle speaks of Melchisedeck do very wel agree with Christ And therefore they say that this Melchisedeck was no mortall man but the immortall son of God which assuming this visible shape did appear unto Abraham and offered as a Type of our blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine unto him after his victory over his enemies And it may be that our Saviour had respect hereunto when he said Joh. 8.56 that Abraham saw his day and rejoyced that is Not onely with the eyes of faith as all the rest of the Patriarchs and Prophets did but also in a visible shape which he assumed like unto that whereunto hee was afterward to be united But that man which wrestled with Jacob was none
Apostle Who being in the forme of God tooke upon him the forme of a servant saith It is a wonder to think why some are afraid to say that Christ had two Natures when as the Apostle saith that he had two formes and the great oecumenicall Councill of Chalcedon left this confession unto all potesterity Concil Calced Act. 5. in Symb. fidei Confitemur in novissimis diebus filium Dei unigenitum in duabus naturis inconfuse immutabiliter indivise inseparabiliter agnoscendum nunquam sublata differentia propter unionem We confess that the only begotten son of god which came in the last days to be incarnate is now to be acknowledged to be to subsist of two natures that is Divine humane inconfusedly immutably inseparably and undividedly united together and that the differences or disjunction of these natures is never to be abolished and taken away by reason of the union of the same And here wee must observe That the two natures do make but one person in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that although this eternall son of God was so made flesh that is a perfect man of the seed of David as that still each nature remaineth intire and inconfused yet wee must not imagine that hee is therefore two sons or two persons as Nestorius thought but that he is one only person consisting of both these natures so that he in whom the fulnesse of manhood dwelleth is not one and he in whom the fulnesse of the Godhead another but he in whom the fulness of both those two dwelleth is one and the selfe same Christ that is one Christ one person and here wee must consider that the divine Nature did not assume an humane person but the divine person did assume an humane nature The son of God assuming into the unity of his person that which before hee was not and yet without change for so must God still be remaining that which he was And so Gregory Nazianzen saith Permansit quod erat assumpsit quod non erat Nazian Orat. 3 de Theolog. Hee remained what he was and he assumed what he was not because Christ was made flesh Non deposita sed seposita Majestate not by cancelling or laying away but as it were by concealing and laying aside for a time the most glorious appearance of his divine Majesty Emyssen hom 2 de nativiatte as Eusebius Emyssenus doth most excellently declare and the Poet as wittily saying That which hee was he is yet once was not That which he is a nature hee hath got Fitz. Jeffrey p. 17. More then hee had and yet he still retaines That which hee had and having both remaines But one and though hee tooke one nature more Yet is he but one person as before This truth of the union of these two natures may be confirmed by the holy scriptures The unity of Christ his person most clearly proved from Scriptures for when Christ asked his Apostles Whom do men say that I the son of man am Saint Peter answered that hee was Christ the son of the living God therefore hee is but one person because Saint Peter confesseth the son of man to be the son of the living God Mat. 16.13.16 And the Angell said unto the Virgin Luke 1.35 That holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall be called the son of God therefore hee is but one person because hee which was born of the Virgin was and is none other but he that is truly called Joh 20.31 and is the true son of God and Saint Paul speaking of Christ as hee was the eternall son of God Rom. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his Godhead and as he was the Son of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his manhood yet doth he not say of his sons as of two 1 Joh. 1 1. c 2. v. 22. Chap. 3. v. 16. Chap. 4 v 3. but of his son made and declared to be his son to shew unto us That as before his making so now after his making he is still but one son one person of the two distinct natures subsisting And this is confessed by all antiquity All our Creeds and all antiquity confesseth the same truth touching the unity of Christ his person for in the Apostles Creed we say that we beleeve in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord which was conceived of the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary and therefore he is but one person because hee which is said to be the only son of God is said also to be born of the Virgin Mary and in the Creed of Athanasius it is said That although Christ be both God and man yet he is no more twain but one Christ and that not by confounding of the substances but by the unity of person that is by the uniting of both natures into one person Concil Calced Concil Nicen. Si quis non confitetur carnisecundum subsistentiam unitum Dei Patris verbum anathema sit Also the third Councill of Ephesus the Councill of Lateran and all the ancient Orthodox Fathers as Justin Martyr Irenaeus Saint Basil saint Nazianzen saint Damascen saint Hillary saint Ambrose saint Hierome saint Augustine and the rest of them have most truly and learnedly confessed this truth that although Christ hath two natures yet do these two make but one person one son of God one Saviour of men So that this we may safely say and must firmly hold that as the distinction of the Persons in the Holy Trinity hindreth not the unity of the nature of the God-head although every person intirely holdeth his own incommunicable property so neither doth the distinction of the two Natures in our Mediator any way crosse the unity of his person although each nature remaineth entire in it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and retaineth the properties agreeing thereunto without any conversion composition commixion or confusion Now for the clearer understanding of this point we say that the understanding of these two natures is 1. Inconvertible 2. Indivisible 3. Inconfused 4. Inseparâ—ble 5. Substantiall 6. Ineffable Frst Inconvertible 1 Inconvertible Because neither the diâ—ine Nature is turned into the humanity â—â—r the humanity into the Deity Secondly Indivisible 2. Indivisible Because the natures are so united into one person that they can never be separated unlesse we divide the person of Christ which is most hereticall 3. Inconfused Thirdly Inconfused Because the natures remain still intire without confounding either their Essence or their properties or their wills or any other operations whatsoever therefore we do affirm that in Christ there are two Natures How the properties of each nature do remain intire and inconfused to each nature two Wills two Naturall proprieties operations intire and unmixed that we may not confound them with Eutyches for sith the natures are neither confused nor transfused each into other the