as one says well that had been Virgo decipiet not concipiet rather a deceiving of us than a conceiving of him 2. That of the Valentinian revived lately in the Anabaptists who hold that he had a true body but made in heaven and sent into the Virgin here on earth and if so that had been virgo recipiet not concipiet rather a receiving than conceiving yet I cannot but wonder how confidently the Anabaptists tell us that the Flesh of Christ came down from heaven and passed through the Virgin Mary as water through a Conduit-pipe without taking any substance from her Their objections are raised out of these Texts 1. No man ascendeth into heaven but he that came down from heaven John 3.13 even the son of man which is in heaven I answer first this speech must be understood firstly in respect of the God-Head which may be said in some sort to descend in that it was made manifest in the Manhood here on earth 2. This speech may be understood truly of the whole person of Christ to whom the properties of each Nature in respect of the communication of properties may be fitly ascribed but this doth no way prove that this flesh which he assumed on earth descended from heaven 1 Co. 15.47 48 2. The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven heavenly I answer 1. This holds forth that Christ was heavenly-minded as sometimes he told the Jews you are from below I am from above you are of the World I am not of this World Christ was not worldly-minded or swayed with the lusts of the Flesh John 8.23 John 15.19 or any way earthly affected as sometimes he could tell his Apostles ye are not of the world so much more might he say of himself that he was not of this world but his Conversation was in heaven Or 2. This holds forth that Christ was heavenly or from heaven in respect of the glorious qualities which he received after his Resurrection and not in respect of the substance of his Body many glorious qualities was Christ endowed with after he was raised I shall not now dispute them which he had not before and in respect of these he might be called heavenly or from heaven 3. This holds forth that Christ also was in some sort heavenly or from heaven in his humane nature in that the humane nature was united to the divine and withal in that the humane nature was formed by the holy Ghost so John's Baptism is said to be from heaven though neither he nor the water wherewith he Baptized descended from heaven but because he received it from God who is in heaven Christ was conceived as you heard by the Holy Ghost and in that regard his generation was divine and heavenly or from heaven 2. In way of comfort and incouragement Christ was thus conceived that he might Vse 2 sanctify our conceptions as the first Adam was the root of all Corruption so is the second Adam the root of all sanctification Christ went as far to cleanse us as ever Adam did to defile us what were our very Conceptions defiled by Adam in the first place Christ takes course for this you see he is conceived by the Holy Ghost and he was not idle whilst he was in the womb for even then and there he eaâ—e out the Core of corruption that cleaved close to our defiled natures so that now God will not account evil of that nature that is become the nature of his own deare Son O the Condescentions of our Jesus O that ever he would be conceived in the womb of a Virgin O that he would run through the Contumelies of our fordid Nature that he would nor refuse that which we our selves in some sort are ashamed of Some think it a reason why the Anabaptists and some others run into such Fancies and deny this Conception of Christ only to decline those soul indignities as they take them for the great God of heaven to undergo but certainly this was for us and for our sakes and therefore far be it from us to honour him the less because he laid down his honour for our sakes no no let us honour him more and love him more the lower he came for us the dearer and dearer let him be unto us consider in all these transactions Christ was carrying on the great work of our salvation otherwise he had never been conceived never had assumed to his Person humane Nature never had been Man SECT III. Of the Duplicity of Natures in Christ Isa 9.6 Gal. 4.4 3. THe duplicity of Natures in Christ appears in that he was truly God and truly Man To us a Child is born saith the Prophet there is a Nature humane and he shall be called the Mighty God there is a Nature divine God sent his Son saith the Apostle therefore truly God and this Son made of a Woman therefore truly Man one would have thought this truth would never have come into controversie in our days but these are the last days and that may take off the wonder In the last days shall come perillous times 2 Tim. 3.1 Men shall resist the Truth c. In the last days I know there will be abundance of Truth revealed Zech. 12.8 The Knowledg of the Lorâ— shall be as the waters that cover the Sea and every Child shall be as David And the Book that was sealed must be opened Dan 12.4 and knowledg shaall be increased but Satan even then will be busie to sow his Tares as God is in sowing of his Wheat then is Satan active to communicate errors when he sees God begin to discover truths he hopes in the heat of the Market to vent his own wares and I believe this is one reason why now the Devil sets on foot so many dangerous errors that so he may prejudice the hearts of God's People in the receiving and entertaining of many Glorious truths But that we may not pass over such a Fundamental Error as this some saying with Martian that he is God but not man and others with Arrius that he is man but not God I shall therefore confirm this truth of the two Natures of Christ against the Adversaries of both sides And 1. That Christ is true God both apparent scriptures and unanswerable Reasons drawn from scriptures do plainly evince 1. The scriptures call him God In the beginning was the word and the word was with God Dan. 12.4 John 1.1 Heb. 1.8 John 20 28. Acts. 20.8 1 John 3.16 1 John 5.20 1 Tim. 3.16 and the word was God And unto the son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God and take heed to your selves and to all the flock To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood And hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his life for
person should be effected I must answer you with the Apostle Who is sufficient for these things Certainly these are the things which the Angels desire to stoop and look into It is an Inquisition fitter for an Angelical intelligence than for our shallow capacity 1 Pet. 1.12 and yet as Moses could not chuse but wonder though he must not draw nigh to the Bush burning with fire and not consumed so though we dare not draw too nigh to see this great sight How poor dust and ashes should be assumed into the unity of God's own person and that in the midst of those everlasting burnings the Bush should remain unconsumed Isa 33.14 and continue fresh and green for evermore yet what doth hinder but we may stand aloof off and wonder at it this is one piece of our duty to recite all the long-fore-passed acts and benefits of God as well as we may Scripture still going along that thereby we may admire and adore and express our Love and Thankfulness unto God For the untying of this Knot I cannot but wonder what a world of questions have been tossed in Schools As 1. Whether the union of the Word incarnate was in the Nature 2. Whether the union of the Word incarnate was in the Person 3. Whether the humane Nature was united to the Word by way of accident 4. Whether the union of the divine Nature be something cremated 5. Whether the union of the Word incarnate be the same with assumption 6. Whether the union of the two Natures of Christ be the chief of all unions 7. Whether the union of the two Natures of Christ was made by Grace 8. Whether it was convenient for the divine person to assume a created Nature 9. Whether a divine Person could assume the Nature humane 10. Whether more persons divine could assume one Nature humane 11. Whether it was more convenient that the person of the Son should assume humane nature than any other of the persons in the Godhead 12. Whether the humane nature was more assumptible by the Son of God than any other nature 13. Whether the Son of God did not assume the person of man 14. Whether the Son of God assumed the humane nature in all its Individuals or as abstracted from all Individuals 15. Whether the Son of God assumed a true Body Soul and all its Intellects 16. Whether the Son of God in respect of nature though not of time did first assume the Soul and then the Body of man 17. Whether the Son of God in humane nature assumed all the defects of the Body 18. Whether the Son of God assumed all the defects of the Soul of man 19. Whether by Virtue of this union those things which are agreeable to the Son of man may be predicated of the Son of God and e converso 20. Whether Christ be one or two and whether in Christ be one or two Wills one or more Operations These and many other like Questions are raised that in their discussions make up large Volums but I shall leave them all to the Schools In the explication of this union that which I shall insist on as the most necessary for our understanding is 1. The Union it self 2. The Effects or Benefits of it 1. For the Union it self we shall discuss 1. Of the sorts of Union and of what sort this is 2. Of the very thing it self wherein this union consists 3. Of the Scriptural Texts that confirm this union 4. Of the similitudes that hold sorth this union 5. Of the person assuming and of the nature assumed and of the reason of this way And of these as briefly as I may I would rather say much in a little than a little in much 1. Union is of divers sorts as natural and mystical accidental and substantial essential and integral But I shall pass these by and speak only of these sorts 1. When one of the things united is turned into the other as when a drop of water is poured into a vessel of Wine 2. When both the things united are changed in nature and essence as when the Elements are united to make mixt or compounded bodies 3. When there is no change of things united but the constitution of a third nature out of them both as is the union of the soul and body 4. When there is neither a change of natures united nor constitution of a third out of them both but only the founding setling and staying of the one of the things united in the other and the drawing of it into the unity of the personal being or subsistence of the other so the Branch of a Tree being put upon the stock of another Tree it is drawn into the unity of the subsistence of that Tree into which it is put and whereas if it had been set in the Ground it would have grown as a separate Tree in it self now it groweth in the Tree into which it is graffed and pertaineth to the unity of it and this kind of union doth of all others most perfectly resemble the personal union of the two Natures of God and man in Christ wherein the nature of man that would have been a person in it self if it had been left to it self is drawn into the unity of the divine person and subsisteth in it being prevented from subsisting in it self by this personal union and assumption 2. For the thing wherein this union of two natures consists we say that this union consists in that dependance of the humane nature on the person of the Word and in that communicating of the person or substance of the Word with the humane nature that is assumed so that it is an hypostatical or personal union that is such an union as that both natures do make but one person of Christ for the better understanding of this we must consider what the difference is betwixt Nature and Person and what makes an individual Nature to be a Person briefly thus To be this or that we say is an individual nature to be this or that in or for it self is a person or subsistence to be this or that in or for another is to pertain to the person or subsistence of another Now amongst those created things which are naturally apt to make a personal being or to subsist in and for themselves there is a very great difference for 1. Some things of this kind may become parts of another more entire thing of the same kind as we see in all those things wherein every part hath the same nature that the whole hath as every drop of water is water and being lest to it self it is a subsistence in it self and hath its quality nature and being in and for it self but if it be joyned to a greater quantity of water it hath now no being quantity nor operation but in and for that greater quantity of water into which it is poured 2. Other things of this kind cannot naturally put themselves into the
in all the Creatures not by Grace as in his People nor by Glory as in the Saints above but essentially substantially personally the humane nature being assumed into Union with the person of the Word Observe the passages he in whom that fulness dwells is the Person that fulness which doth so dwell in him is the Nature now there dwells in him not only the fulness of the Godhead but the fulness of the Manhood also for we believe him to be both perfect God begotten of the substance of his Father before all Worlds and perfect man made of the substance of this Mother in this World only he in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth is one and he in whom the fulness of the Manhood dwelleth is another but he in whom the fulness of both these natures dwelleth is one and the same Immanuel and consequently one and the same person in him i. in his person dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead and all the fulness of the Manhood In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily 4. For the similitudes that resemble or set forth this mystery many are given but for our better understanding let us consider these few The first is of the soul and body that make but one man as the soul and body are two distinct things and of several natures yet being united by the hand of God they make one Person so the Godhead and Manhood are two distinct things and of several Natures yet being united by the hand of God they make but one Person Indeed herein is the similitude defective first in that the Soul and Body being imperfect natures they concur to make one full and perfect nature of a man Secondly in that the one of them is not drawn into the unity of the substance of the other but both depend on a third substance which is that of the whole The second is of Light and Sun as after the Collection of and Union of the Light with the Body of the Sun no man can pluck them asunder nor doth any man call one part the Sun and another part the Light but both of them jointly together we call the Sun even so after the Union of Flesh with that true Light the Word no man doth call the Word apart to be one Son of God and the Son of Man another Son of God but both of them jointly together we call one and the self-same Christ I know in this similitude are mamy defectives Justin Martyr de recta confes de Coessent Trinit yet if hereby we be not altogether able to attain the truth of this great Mystery certainly we have herein a most excellent similitude which will greatly help and contentedly suffice the godly and moderate searchers of this divine truth The third is of a fiery and flaming Sword as the subsistences of the Fire and Sword are so nearly conjoyned that the operations of them for the most part concur for a fiery sword in cutting burneth and in burning cutteth and we may say of the whole that this fiery thing is a sharp piercing Sword and that this sharp piercing Sword is a fiery thing even so in the union of the two natures of Christ there is a communication of properties from one of them to the other as shall be declared if the Lord permit only this similitude is defective in this in that the nature of the Iron is not drawn into the unity of the subsistence of fire nor is the nature of the fire drawn into the Unity of the subsistence of Iron so that we cannot say this fire is Iron or this Iron is fire The fourth is of one man having two qualities or accidental natures as a man that is both a Physitian and a Divine he is but one person and yet there are two natures concurring and meeting in that same one Person so we may rightly say of such a one this Physitian is a Divine and this Divine is a Physitian this Physitian is happy in saving souls and this Divine is careful in curing bodies even so is Christ both God and Man and yet but one Christ and in that one Christ according to the several natures are denominations of either part as that this man is God and this God is man or that this man made the world and this God died upon the Cross but in this similitude is this deffect in that the different natures are accidental and not essential or substantial The fifth and last is of the Branch and Tree into which it is engraffed as suppose a Vine-branch and an Olive-tree now as this Olive-tree is but one but hath two different natures in it and so it beareth two kinds of fruit and yet between the Tree and the Branch there is a composition not hujus ex his but hujus ad hoc i.e. not of a third thing out of the two things united but of one of the two things united or adjoyned to the other even so Christ is one but he hath two different natures and in them he performs the different actions pertaining to either of them and yet between the different natures the Divine and Humane nature there is a composition not hujus ex his but hujus ad hoc not of a third nature arising out of these but of the humane nature added or united to the Divine in unity of the same person so that now we may say as this Vine is an Olive-tree and this Olive-tree is a Vine or as this Vine bears Olives and this Olive-tree bears Grapes so the Son of man is the Son of God and the Son of God is the Son of Man or this Son of Man laid the Foundation of the Earth and this Son of God was born of Mary and crucified by the Jews This similitude I take it is the aptest and fullest of all the other though in some things also it doth fail for the branch hath first a separate subsistence in it self and losing it after then it is drawn into the unity of the subsistence of that Tree into which it is implanted but it is otherwise with the humane nature of Christ it never had any subsistence of its own until it was united to the person or subsistence of the Son of God 5. For the person assuming and the nature assumed and for the reason of this way we say 1. That the person assuming was a Divine person it was not the Divine nature that assumed an humane person but the Divine person that assumed an humane nature and that of the three Divine persons it was neither first nor the third neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost that did assume this nature but it was the Son the middle person who was to be the middle one that thereby 1. He might undertake the mediation between God and us 2. He might better preserve the integrity of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead 3. He might higher advance man-kind by means of that relation which the
the honour done to the King redounds to the Crown upon his head not that we worship the Manhood alone as meerly a Creature but that we adore the person of Christ which consisteth of the Manhood and of the Godhead 6. That the Manhood hath an extraordinary measure without measure of habitual Graces poured into it in this he excels the very Angels for to them was given Grace only by measure but to the humanity of Christ was given Grace without measure even so much as a Creature is any ways capable of I know it is said that Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man Luk. 2.52 but this increase or growth in Wisdom is not to be understood in respect of the essence or extension of the habit for that he had from the beginning even from the first moment of his incarnation and he brought it with him out of the womb but in respect of the act and use of it or in respect of his experimental knowledg so he increased and not otherwise Never was there any but Christ whose Graces were no way stinted and that was absolutely full of Grace Divines tell us of a double Grace in Christ the one of union and that is infinite the other of unction which is all one with Grace habitual and that is in a sort infinite for howsoever it be but a finite and created thing yet in the nature of Grace it hath no limitation no bounds no stint but includeth in it self whatsoever any way pertains to Grace or that cometh within the compass of it The reason of this illimited donation of Grace bestowed on the Nature of man in Christ was for that Grace was given to it as to the universal cause whence it was to be derived unto all others he is the Fountain of Grace John 1.16 and of his fulness we receive Grace for Grace 3. For the Communication of the Properties It is a kind of phrase of speech peculiar to the Scriptures when the properties of either Nature of Christ considered singly and apart are attributed to the person of Christ from which soever of the natures they be denominated For the understanding of this observe 1. That words are either abstractive or concretive the former speaks the Nature of things the latter speaks the person that hath that nature as the God-Head and God the Man Hood and Man Holiness and Holy 2. Observe that abstractive Words noting precisely the distinct Natures cannot be affirmed one of the other we cannot say the God head suffered or the Man-hood created but we may truly say that God suffered and man created because the person which these concretive words imply is one and all actions passions and qualities agree really to the person though in respect somtimes of one nature and sometimes of another thus God purchased the Church with his own blood Acts. 20.28 John 3.13 not that the God-head shed blood but the person which was God and thus the Son of man talking with Nicodemus is said to be in Heaven not that the Man-hood was in Heaven while he was on earth but the person of the Son of Man Thus we may say that God was born of a Virgin and that God suffered and God was crucified not simply in respect of his God-head but in respect of his person or in respect of the humane nature which God united to himself because God here is a concrete word and not an abstract and signifieth the Person of Christ and not the divine nature of Christ And thus we may say that the Man Christ is Almighty Omniscient Omnipresent yet not simply in respect of its Man-hood but in respect of the Person which is the same God and Man or in respect of the divine nature of the man Christ Jesus for that here also Man is a concrete word and not an abstract and signifieth the whole person of Christ and not the humane nature but on the contrary we may not say that the God-head of Christ was born of a Virgin or suffered or was crucified nor may we say that the Manhood of Christ is Almighty Omniscient Omnipresent because the Godhead and Manhood are abstract words i.e. such words as note to us the two natures of Christ the one divine the other humane and not the person of Christ And this I think is the mind of Luther and his Followers and yet O wonder what a deal of objections are made to the multiplying of needless and fruitless contentions The Lutherans confess however they hold the ubiquitary presence of the humanity of Christ that his Body is only in one place locally If we ask them saith Zanchius * Zanchius in judicio de dissidio caenae Dominicae whether Christs body be every where they answer that locally it is but in one place but that personally it is every where now if they mean saith he that in respect of Essence his Body is finite and confined to one certain place but in respect of the being of subsistence or of his person it is infinite and every where they say the truth and there is no difference amongst us Happy are the Reconcilers of dissenting Brethren Vnto their Assembly mine honour be thou united 2. The Effects or benefits of this hypostatical union in respect of Christians are their spiritual union and communion with God and Christ 1. There is a spiritual union of Christians with God in Christ O the wonder of these two blessed unions first of the personal or hypostatical union secondly of this spiritual or mystical union in the personal union it pleased God to assume and unite our humane Nature to the Diety in this spiritual union it pleased God to unite the person of every Believer to the person of the Son of God This union is mystical and yet our very Persons natures bodies souls are in a spiritual way conjoyned to the Body and Soul of Christ Eph. 5.30 so that we are members of the Body of Christ and of the Flesh of Christ and of the Bones of Christ and as this conjunction is immediately made with his humane nature 2 Pet. 1.4 so thereby we are also united to the divine nature yea the person of the Believer is indissolubly united to the Glorious person of the Son God Now concerning this union for our better understanding observe these four things 1. It is a most real union it is not a meer notional and intellectual union that consists only in the understanding and without the understanding is nothing it is not an imaginary thing that hath no other being but only in the Brain no no it is a true real essential substantial union In natural unions I confess there may be more evidence but there cannot be more truth spiritual Agents neither have nor put forth less virtue because sense cannot discern their manner of Working even the Load-stone though an earthen substance yet when it is out of sight whether under the
us And we know that the Son of God is come This is the true God and eternal Life And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the Flesh 2. Unanswerable Reasons drawn from Scriptures prove him God Thus it appears 1. From those incommunicable properties of the Diety which are properly ascribed unto him He is eternal as God Rev. 1.17 He is infinite as God Mat 28.20 He is omniscient as God Mat. 9 4. He is omnipotent as God He that cometh from above is above all John 3.41 Phil. 3.21 Rev. 1.18 He is able to subdue all things unto himself He hath the keys of hell and death 2. From these Relations he hath with God as to be the only begotten Son of God John 1.18 The Image of the Father 2 Cor. 4.4 Col. 1.15 3. From those Acts ascribed to him which are only agreeable to the divine Nature as to be the Author of our Election John 13.18 To know the Secrets of our Hearts Ma. 9.4 To hear the prayers of his people John 14.14 To judge the quick and the dead John 5.22 And thus he creates as God John 1.4 He commands as God Mat. 8.26 He forgives as God Mat. 9.6 He sanctifies as God John 1.12 He glorifies as God John 10.28 4. From all those acknowledgments given to him by the Saints which are only proper unto God and thus he is believed on as God John 3.18 He is loved as God 1 Cor. 16.22 He is obeyed as God Mat. 17.5 He is prayed to as God Acts 7.59 He is praised as God Rev. 5.13 He is adored as God Heb. 1.6 Phil. 2.10 Surely all these are strong demonstrations and prove clearly enough that Christ Jesus is God But why was it requisite that our Saviour should be God I answer 1. Because none can save Souls nor satisfie for sin but God alone There is none saith the Psalmist that can by any means redeem his Brother or give a ransom for him Psal 49.7.15 but God will redeem my soul from the power of Hell 2. Because the satisfaction which is made for sin must be infinitely meritorious an infinite wrath cannot be appeased but by an infinite merit and hence our Saviour must needs be God to the end that his obedience and sufferings might be of infinite price and worth 3 Because the burden of God's wrath cannot be endured and run through by a finite Creature Christ therefore must be God that he might abide the burden and sustain the Manhood by his divine power 4. Because the enemies of our salvation were too strong for us How could any creature overcome Satan Death Hell Damnation Ah! this required the power of God there 's none but God that could destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil 2. As Christ is God so he is true man he was born as man and bred as man and fed as man and slept as man and wept as man and sorrowed as man and suffered as man and died as man and therefore he is man But more particularly 1. Christ had a humane body Heb. 10.5 Wherefore when he came into the world he said Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me And when the Apostles thought they had seen a Phantasm or a Spirit he said unto them Handle me and see because a Spirit hath no flesh and bones as you see me have Luke 24.39 Here 's a truth clear as the Son and yet O wonder Some in our times as Cochlaeus witnesseth do now avouch that he had but an imaginary body an aerial body a phantasm only in shew and no true body 2. Christ had an humane reasonable Soul My Soul is heavy unto Death said Christ Mat. 26.38 Luke 23.46 and again Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Surely saith Nazianzen either he had a Soul or he will not save a Soul The Arrians opposed this saying Christ had no humane Soul but only a living flesh because the Evangelist saith that the Word was made flesh but this is a Synechdoche John 1.14 very usual in Scripture to put the part for the whole and signifieth as much as that he had said the Word was made man I know some reasons are rendred why the Evangelist saith he was made flesh rather than he was made man as 1. To shew what part of Christ was made of his Mother not his Deity nor his Soul but only his flesh 2. To express the greatness of Gods Love who for our sakes would be contented to be made the vilest thing flesh which is compared to grass Isa 40.6 All flesh is grass 3. To shew the greatness of Chirsts humility in that he would be named by the meanest name and basest part of man the soul is excellent but the flesh is base 4. To give us some confidence of his love and favour towards us because our flesh which was the part most corrupted is now united to the Son of God 3. Christ had all the properties that belong either to the soul or body of a man nay more than so Christ had all the infirmities of out Nature sin only excepted I say the infirmities of our nature as cold and heat and hunger and thirst and weariness and weakness and pain and the like but I cannot say that Christ took upon him all our personal infirmities infirmities are either natural common to all men or personal and proper to some men as to be born lame blind diseased as to be affected with Melancholy Infirmity Deformity how many deformed Creatures have we amongst us Christ was not thus his Body was framed by the holy Ghost of the purest Virgins Blood and therefore I question not it was proportioned in a most equal symetry and correspondency of parts He was fairer than the sons of men his countenance carried in it an hidden vailed star like brightness saith Jerome which being but a little revealed it so ravished his Disciples hearts that at the first sight thereof they left all and followed him and it so astonished his enemies that they stumbled and fell to the ground So then he had not our personal infirmities but only our natural and good reason for indeed he took not upon him an humane person but only an humane nature united to the person of his Godhead But why was it requisite that our Saviour should be Man I answer 1. Because our Saviour must suffer and die for our sins which the Godhead could not do 2. Because our Saviour must perform obedience to the Law which was not agreeable to the Law-giver the Godhead certainly is free from all manner of subjection 3. Because our Saviour must satisfie the justice of God in the same nature wherein it was offended For since by man came death 1 Cor. 5 21. by man came also the resurrection of the dead 4. Because by this means we might have free access to the Throne of Grace and might
Jesus and he shall not bear his Name for nought believe in him and ye shall live with him in Glory O blessed news Men may talk what they will of this and that news every one gapes after it but there is no news so welcome to one even now ready to perish as to hear of a Saviour tell a man in his Sickness of one that will make him well again tell a man in Captivity of one that will rescue him and set him free again tell a man in Prison condemned to die of one with a pardon that will save his life and every one of these will say this is the best news that ever was heard O then if it be good tidings to hear of a Saviour where is only a matter of loss of life or of this Earth how much more when it comes to the loss of Heaven to the danger of Hell when our Souls are at stake and likely to be damned for evermore what glad tidings would that be to hear of one that could save our souls from that destroyer is not such a Saviour worth the hearkning after were not the birth of such a one good news O my soul ponder on these words as if an Angel seeing thee stand on the brim of Hell should speak to thee even to thy soul 2. Consider Jesus in his Conception no sooner the news heard but Christ is conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgins Womb this Conception is worthy our consideration what that the great God of Heaven should condescend so far as to take our Nature upon him and to take it in the same way and after the same manner as we do the Womb of the Virgin was surely no such place but he might well have abhorred it true but he meant by this to sanctifie our very Conceptions and to that purpose he is conceived in an holy manner even by the holy Ghost we must not be too curious to enquire after the manner of the holy Ghosts operation who therefore overshadowed the Virgin this is work for our hearts and not meerly for our heads humble Faith and not curious inquisition shall find the sweetness of this Mystery It was Davids Complaint Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me O my Soul this was thy case in thy very first being or beginning Psal 51.5 and hadst thou died in that condition the word is express that nothing defiled nor unclean shall enter into the City of Glory but here 's the remedy thy sinful Conception is sanctified by Christs holy Conception the holiness of thy Jesus serves as a Cover to hide thy Original pollutions from the eyes of God O consider this Jesus Christ was not conceived in vain he was not idle doing nothing whiles he was in his Mothers Womb he that from all eternity began he was then carrying on the great work of our salvation for us O consider this Conception thus till thou bring'st it near and close to thy soul till thou feelest some sweetness and power coming and flowing from Jesus in the Womb. 3. Consider the duplicity of Natures in Jesus Christ The Word was made Flesh John 1.14 no sooner was he conceived but he was God-Man Man-God he was perfectly framed and instantly united to the eternal Word God sent his Son there 's the Nature Divine made of a Woman there 's the Nature Humane Certainly great is this Mystery that the Word is made Flesh that the Son of God is made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 that a Star gives Light to the Sun that a Branch doth bear the Vine that a Creature gives being to the Creator that the Mother was younger than what she bear and a great deal lesser than what she contained Admire O my Soul at this but withal consider that all this was for us and our Salvation he was Man that he might die for us and he was God that his death might be sufficient to save us had he been Man alone not God he might have suffered but he could never have satisfied for sin he could not have been Jesus a Saviour of Souls and had he been God alone not Man he had not been of kin to our Nature offending and so he could not have satisfied the Justice of God in the same Nature wherein it was offended neither could he as God alone have died for Sin and the Decree was out that our Redeemer must die for Sin for without shedding of Blood there is no Remission and no shedding of Blood Heb. 9.22 no Passion could possibly befal the Godhead of Jesus Christ I shall not dispute the power of God whether he was able to lay down another kind of way of mans Redemption than by the Incarnation of the Son of God without controversie this was the Will of God and he appointed no other way because he would not O my Soul consider of this in relation to thy self he is God-man that he might suffer and satisfie for thy sins he is God-man that he might be able and fit most fully to finish the work of thy salvation as God he is able and as man he is fit to discharge the Office of Mediator as God he is able to bear the punishment of sin and as man he is fit to suffer for sin O the wisdom of God in this very way Mans Nature can suffer Death but not overcome it the Divine Nature can overcome death and all things but he cannot suffer it and hence there is a duplicity of natures in Jesus Christ O muse on this it is a matter worthy of thy serious consideration 4. Consider the real distinction of these two Natures in Christ As the unapproachable light of the God-head was put into the dim and dark Lanthorn of humane flesh so these two natures remained entire without any conversion commixion or confusion they were not as Wine and Water that become one by mixing there is no such blending the divine and humane nature they were not as Snow and Water that become one by dissolving of the Snow into the Water there is no such changing of the Humane Nature into the Divine or of the Divine Nature into the Humane Some say indeed that the God-head was more plentifully communicated with the Manhood after his Resurrection than now at his Conception but howsoever it did not then swallow up the Truth of his Manhood as a whole Sea would swallow up one drop of Oyl look as at first moment of his Conception he was God and man so these two Natures continued still distinct in substance properties and actions Why consider this O my soul in reference to thy self O ther 's comfort in this by this meanes thou hast now free access unto the Throne of Grace that thou mayest find help in thy necessities and as thou hast free access so thou mayest boldly draw near his Deity indeed confounds but his Humanity comforts faint and feeble Souls his Divine Nature amazeth but his
this faith accompanied with works observe but saith the Apostle when God bade him offer his son Jam. 2.23 compared with 21.22 did he not do it and was not that an exceeding great work surely his faith wrought with his works and by faith was his works made perfect 7. Who is the head both as undertaker and purchaser and treasurer upon whom this Covenant is established 2 Cor. 1.20 I answer Christ and none but Christ All the promises of God in him are Yea and Amen unto the glory of God by us This was very darkly held forth in the first manifestation of the Covenant to Adam but now in this second breaking forth of it it is very fully expressed and often repeated thus Gen. 12.3 Gen. 12 3 in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed and Gen. 18.18 Gen. 18.18 all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham and Gen 22.18 Gen. 22.18 See the same in Gen. 26.4 and 28.14 in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed In comparing these texts we have a clear understanding thereof in thee in Abraham shall all the families and nations of the earth be blessed but lest Abraham himself should be thought author of this universall blessing therefore is the explication in thee i. in thy seed Gal. 3 16 and this seed saith the Apostle very expressely is Jesus Christ now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ So then here is the sense out of thy posterity shall spring the Messiah by whom not only thy posterity but all the nations of the earth shall be blessed You may remember in the first promise Christ was called the seed of the woman but now the seed of Abraham Christ was the Son of Eve or if you will the Son of Mary and so the seed of the woman and Mary was a daughter of Abraham and so Christ and Mary and all upwards were of the seed of Abraham But where shall we find mention of the passion of Christ in this expressure of his Covenant to Abraham in the first manifestation it was included in that phrase of bruising his heel and surely this is essential to the covenant of grace in any overture of it some answer that this is thrice put on in the passage of this covenant with Abraham Gen. 15.17 first in the federal confirmation by the smâ—aking furnace and burning lamp that passed between those pieces of the sacrifice as the sacrifice was divided so was Christs body torn and as the smoaking furnace and burning lamp passed between the divided pieces so the wrath of God run betwixt as I may say and yet did not consume the rent and torn nature of Christ Gen. 17.10 11 2. In that federal confirmation by the sign of circumcision there could not be circumcision without shedding of blood and where God commands shedding of blood in any of his antient ordinances it doth certainly reach to the blood of Christ and his everlasting testament 3. In the resolved Sacrifice of Isaac which was a plain type of the death of Christ See it in these particulars 1. Isaac was Abraham's son his only son his innocent son Gen. 2â— 10 the beloved son of his Father and yet Abraham freely offers up his son so Christ was the son of God his only Son his innocent son like to us in all things sin only excepted and the beloved son of his Father this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and yet God more freely offers up his Son out of his own bosome 2. Abraham by Gods commission rose early in the morning to sacrifice his Son and the Jews by Gods permission rise early in the morning to condemn the Son of God and hence he is called the Hind of the morning Psa 22.1 compassed with dogs that hunted and pursued his life 3. Abraham must offer his Son upon the Mount the very Mount on which Solomon's Temple was built John 2.19 which typified the body of Jesus Christ Joh. 2.19 So God offered his Son upon the Mount if not on the same Mount as Augustine thinks yet on a Mount not far distant from it Golgotha was the very skirt of Moriah the one being within the gate of the City and the other not far without the very nearest to the City of all 4. Abraham first laid the wood on Isaac and then he laid Isaac on the wood so God first layes the Cross on Christ Joh. 19.17 18 He bearing his Cross went forth into a place called the place of a skul and then he layes Christ on the Cross there they crucified him saith John or there they bound him to the Cross and fastned his hands and feet thereto with nails 5. Isaac must be offered alone the servants must stay at the foot of the hill little knowing the business and sorrow in hand Isa 63.3 so Christ must tread the wine press alone the disciples fear and fly and little consider the agony of their Master 6. Abraham carries in his hand the sword and fire against his Son so God carries in his hand the sword and fire the sword signifying the Justice of God the fire his burning wrath against the sins of men and both these were bent against Christ in whom the justice of God is satisfied and the flame of his wrath extinct and quenched Gen. â—2 16 17 18. That this was a plain type of Christs passion is hinted at in the blessing that God speaks to Abraham after this tryal by my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son that in blessing I will bless thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed All believers are blessed in the death of Christ who was that seed of Abraham typified by Isaac Abrahams Son for as Abraham intended so God truely sacrificed his Son his onely Son to take away sin Thus far of the Covenant of promise as it was manifested from Abraham to Moses SECT IV. Of the Covenant of promise as manifested to Moses THe next breaking forth of this gracious Covenant was to Moses The revenging justice of God had now seized on mankind for many generations even thousands of years so that now it was high time for God in the midst of wrath to remember mercy and to break out into a clearer expression of the promise or Covenant of grace To this purpose the Lord calls up Moses to Mount Sinai and there of his infinite love and undeserved mercy he makes or renews his Covenant with him and the children of Israel I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage Exod. 20.2 thou shalt have no other gods before me For the right
I will live with you in this World and you shall live with me in the World to come O here was Blessed News Why this is Gospel pure Gospel this is the Glad Tidings Free Grace proclaims a Jesus and a Jesus is made up as it were all of Free-Grace O what Eternal Thanks do we owe to the Eternal God! If there had not been a Jesus to borrow that Expression made all of Grace of Grace it self we could never have had Dealing with God O how may we say with the Angels Glory to God Blessed be God for Jesus Christ But in this Conception of Christ are so many Wonders that e're we begin to speak them 1 Tim. 3.16 we may stand amazed Without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh Say Is it not a Wonder a Mystery a great Mystery a great Mystery without all Controversie that the Son of God should be made of a Woman even made of that Woman which was made by Himself Is it not a Wonder that her Womb then and that the Heavens now should contain Him whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Concerning this Conception of Christ I shall speak a little and but a little What Man can conceive much of this Conception which was a Conception without Help of Man Luke 1.35 Our greatest Light we borrow from the Angel who describes it thus The Holy-Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Out of these Words observe 1. The Agent or Efficient 2. The Fruit or Effect 1. The Agent or Efficient Cause of Christ's Conception is the Holy-Ghost This agrees with that Speech of the Angel to Joseph Matth. 1.20 That which is Conceived in her is of the Holy-Ghost Here it may be demanded why the Conception of Christ should be ascribed to the Holy-Ghost which is common to all the Actions in the Trinity I answer Not to exclude the rest but first to shew it was the free Grace of God which is often termed the Holy-Ghost 2. Because the Father and the Son effected it by the Holy-Ghost so was it his Work immediately and in a special manner Good reason have we to be thankful to all the Three Persons to the Father for ordaining this Garment to the Holy-Ghost for weaving it to the Son for wearing it to the whole Deity for cloathing us with it and making us Righteous by it Neither yet is the Holy-Ghost Christ's Father he did not beget Him he did not form Him he did not minister Matter from his own Substance whereof Christ was made but took a part of Humane Nature from the Virgin and of that he made the Body of Christ within her Away with all gross Opinions and old Heresies This Conception of Christ was not by any Carnal Effusion of Seminal Humour but by way of Manufacture i. by Handy-work or Operation or Virtue of the Holy-Ghost or else by the Energetical Command and Ordination of the Holy-Ghost whereby that part of the Virgin 's 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 Stain of Original Pollution 2. The Fruit or Effect was the Framing of Christ's Manhood in which we may observe the Matter and Manner 1. For the Matter Observe we the Matter of the Body and of the Soul of Christ 1. The Matter of the Body of Christ it was the very Flesh and Blood of the Virgin He was made of Woman saith the Apostle i. of the Flesh and Blood Gal. 4.4 Rom. 1.6 Substance of the Woman And He was made of the Seed of David saith the Apostle according to the Flesh otherwise He could not have been the Son of David according to the Flesh And if it be true which the Philosophers say That the Seed of the Man doth not fall into the Substance of the Child but only doth dispose the Seed of the Woman as a Workman frameth and disposeth his Work to make the same into the Form of a Man Why then I know not wherein the Conception of Christ should differ in the Matter at all from our Conception save only in the Agent or Worker of his Substance who was the Holy-Ghost 2. The Matter or Substance of the Soul of Christ was not derived from the Soul of the Virgin as a part thereof but it was made as the Souls of other Men be i. of nothing by the Power of God and so infused into the Body by the Hand of God But of these Things of His Body and Soul and Humane Nature we shall speak more largely in the next Section 2. For the manner of forming Christs humane Nature it was miraculous The Angel ascribes two actions to the Holy Ghost in this great work the one to come upon the Virgin the other to overshadow her by the first is signified the extraordinary work of the Holy Ghost in fashioning the humane Nature of Christ as it was said of Sampson Judg. 14.6 The spirit of the Lord came upon him i.e. the Holy Ghost inspired him with an extraordinary strength so the Spirit of the Lord came upon her i.e. the holy Ghost wrought in her in an extraordinary way As for instance in ordinary generation our substance and parts are framed successively by degrees as first the seminal humour becomes an Embryo then a body in organical then are fashioned the Liver Heart and Brain and then the rest one after another and it is at least forty days before the body of a Child be fully formed now it was otherwise with the Body of Christ for in the very instant of his conception he was made perfect in Body and Soul void of Sin and full of Grace in the very instant of his Conception he was perfectly framed and instantly united unto the eternal Word perfect God and perfect Man Surely this was extraordinary and this is the property of the Holy Ghost subito operari to work instantly and perfectly as soon as ever the flesh was conceived it was presently united Aug'l De fido ad Pet. c. 18. and made the flesh of the Son of God it was suddenly made perfectly made holily made The second action ascribed to the holy Ghost is adumbration or overshadowing of the Virgin this teacheth us that we should not search overmuch into this great Mystery Alas it is to high for us if the course of ordinary generation be a secret how past all comprehension is this extraordinary operation the holy Ghost did cast a shadow over the Virgin and withall a shadow over this Mystery why should we seek a clear light where God himself will have a shadow Chrys hom 5. I know the Word was made flesh saith Chrysostome but how he was made I know not 1. In way of confutation this word conception is the bane of divers heresies 1. That Vse 1 of the Manichee who held he had no true body if so
unity of any other thing and yet by the help of some forreign cause they may be united as the branch of a Tree of one kind which put into the ground would be an intire distinct Tree in it self may by the hand of a man be put into the unity of a Tree of another kind and so grow move and bear fruit not distinctly in and for it self but jointly in and for that Tree into which it is planted 3. Other things of this kind cannot by force of natural causes nor by the help of any forreign thing ever become parts of any other created thing or pertain to the unity of the substance of any such thing as the nature of man and the nature of all living things and yet by divine and supernatural working it may be drawn into the unity of the subsistence of any of the Persons of the blessed Trinity wherein the fulness of all being and the Perfection of all created things is in a more eminent sort than in themselves for though all created things have their own being yet seeing God is nearer to them than they are to themselves and they are in a better fort in him than they are in themselves there is no question but that they may be prevented and staid from being in and for themselves and caused to be in and for one of the divine persons of the blessed Trinity So that as one drop of water that formerly subsisted in it self if it be poured into a vessel containing a greater quantity it becomes one in subsistence with the greater quantity of water and as a branch of a Tree that being set in the ground and left to it self would be an intire and independant tree becomes one in subsistence with that tree into which it is grafted so the individual nature of man assumed into the unity of one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity it looseth that kind of being that naturally left to it self it would have had and it becomes one with the Person for now it is not in and for it self but hath got a new Relation of dependance and being in another But you will say all the Creatures in the world have their being in God and dependance on God and therefore all Creatures as well as Man may pertain to the Person or Subsistence of God I Answer it is not a general being in and dependâ—nce on God but a strict dependance on mans part and a Communicating of the subsistence on Gods part that makes up this union Hence we say that there are four degrees of the presence of God in his Creatures the first is his general presence whereby he preserves the substances of all Creatures and gives unto them to live and to move and to have their being Acts. 7.28 and this extends it self to all Creatures good and bad The Second degree is the presence of Grace whereby he doth not only preserve the substance of his Creature but also gives Grace unto it and this agrees to the Saints and Gods People on earth The third degree is the presence of glory peculiar to the Saints and Angels in heaven and hereby God doth not only preserve their substances and give them plenty of his Grace but he also admits them into his Glorious presence so as they may behold him face to face The fourth and last degree is that whereby the God-Head of the Son is present with and dwells in the Manhood giving unto it in some part his own subsistence whereby it comes to pass that this Manhood assumed is proper to the Son and cannot be the Manhood of the Father or of the Holy Ghost or of any Creature whatsoever And this is a thing so admirable and unspeakable that though we may find some similitudes yet there cannot be found another example hereof in all the World Hence it follows that in the Manhood of Christ consisting of Body and Soul there is a Nature only and not a Person because it doth not subsist alone as other men Peter Paul and John do but it wholly depends on the Person of the Word into the unity whereof it is received and this dependance of the humane nature on the person of the Word and the communicating of the Person or subsistence of the Word with the humane nature is the very thing it self wherein this union consists 3. For the Scriptural texts that confirm this Union you see the Well is very deep but where is the Bucket What texts of Scripture have we to confirm this wonderful Union of two Natures in one Person Amongst many I shall only cite these Mat. 16.13 16. When Christ asked his Apostles Whom do men say that I the Son of man am Simon Peter answered Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God Now if but one Christ then surely but one Person and if the Son of man be the Son of the Living God then surely there are two natures in that one Person Observe how the Son of man and the Son of God very Man and very God concenter in Christ as the Soul and the Body make but one man so the Son of man and the Son of God make but one Christ Rom. 1.3 4. Thou art Christ saith Peter the Son of the Living God So Paul speaking of Jesus the Son of God he tells us that he was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit 1. Made of the Seed of David of the substance of the Virgin who was Davids posterity 2. Declared to be the Son of God not made the Son of God as he was made the Son of Man but declared to be the Son of God The word in the Original signifies a Declaration by a solemn sentence or difinitive judgment I will declare the Decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son That which I point at he is the Son of David Psal 2.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his Manhood and he is the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his Godhead here be the two Natures but iâ—â—he words before these two natures make but one Son Jesus Christ our Lord and 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ry words themselves he is declared to be the Son of God he doth not say Som◠〈◊〉 two but his Son Jesus Christ first before and then after to shew unto us thâ—â—â—â—fore his making so after his making he is still but one Son or one person of the 〈◊〉 â—â—â—tinct natures subsisting Col. 2.9 To the same purpose is that same Text In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily by the union of the divine nature with the humane in the unity of his person the Godhead dwelleth in Christ as the Soul in the Body it dwelleth in him bodily not seemingly but really truly and indeed not figuratively and in a shadow as he dwelleth in the Temple not by power and efficacy as he dwells
table or behind a solid partition it stirreth the needle as effectually as if it were within view Shall not he contradict his sences that will say It cannot work because I see it not Oh my Saviour thou art more mine than my Body is mine my sense feels that present but so as that I must lose it but my faith so feels and sees thee present with me as that I shall never be parted from thee 2. It is a very near union You will say how near If an Angel were to speak to you he cannot satisfie you in this only as far as our understanding can reach it and the Creatures can serve to illustrate these things take it thus Whatsoever by way of comparison can be alledged concerning the combination of any one thing with another that and much more may be said of our union with Jesus Christ To give instance out of the Scripture see what one stick is to another being glewed together see what one friend is to another as Jonathan and David who were said to be woven and knit each one to other see how near the father and the child are how near the husband and the wife are 1 Cor. 6 17. 1 Sam. 18.1 Isa 62.5 see what union is between the Branches and the Vine the members and the head nay one thing more see what the the soul is to the body such is Christ and so near is Christ and nearer to the person of every true believer I live yet not I saith Paul but Christ liveth in me John 15.5 1 Cor. 12 12. Gal. 2.20 q. d. as the soul is to the body of a natural man that acts and enlivens it naturally so is Jesus Christ to my soul and body O there is a marvellous nearness in this mystical union 3. It is a total union i.e. whole Christ is united to the whole believer soul and body If thou art united to Christ thou hast all Christ thou art one with him in his nature in his name thou hast the same Image Grace and Spirit in thee as he hath the same precious Promises the same access to God by prayer as he thou hast the same love of the Father all that he did or suffered thou hast a share in it thou hast his life and death all is thine so on thy part he hath thee wholly thy nature thy sins the punishment of thy sins thy wrath thy curse thy shame yea thy wit and wealth and strength all that thou art or hast or canst do possibly for him It is a total union My beloved is mine and I am his whole Christ from top to toe is mine and all that I am have or can do for evermore is his 4. It is an inseparable union it can never be broken I will make saith God an everlasting Covenant with them Jer. 32.40 and I will not turn away from them to do them good I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is a glorious promise some poor souls may say True Lord thou wilt not turn away from me I know thou wilt not Oh but I fear I shall turn away from thee Oh alass I turn every day towards sin and Satan Nay saith God I will put my fear in their heart that thou shalt not turn away from me q. d. We shall be kept together for evermore and never be separated Hence Paul triumphantly challenges all enemies on earth or rather in hell to do their worst to break this knot Rom. 8.5 Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ shall tribulation Distress Famine Nakedness Peril or Sword Come all that can come and see if that blessed union betwixt me and Christ shall ever be broken by all that you can do Thus for this union 2. There is a spiritual communion with God in Christ Both these are the effects of Christs personal or hypostatical union first union to his person and then communion with his benefits union in proper speaking is not unto any of the benefits flowing to us from Christ we are not united to forgiveness of Sin Holiness Peace of Conscience but unto the person of the Son of God himself and then secondly comes this communication of all the benefits arising immediately from this union to the Lord Jesus that as Christ was Priest Prophet and King so we also by him are after a sort Priests Prophets and Kings for being made one with him we are thereby possessed of all things that are his as the Wife is of the wealth of her Husband now all things are yours saith the Apostle whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World c. Hitherto have we took a view of Christ in his Mothers Womb 1 Cor. 3 21.23 and O what marvails there Did ever womb carry such a fruit Well might the Angel say Blessed art thou amongst Women and well might Elizabeth say Blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb but the blessing is not only in conceiving but in bearing and therefore we proceed SECT VI. Of the Birth of Christ 6. THe birth of Christ now follows Now was it that the Son of Righteousness should break forth from his bed where nine months he had hid himself as behind a fruitful cloud this was the worlds wonder a thing so wonderful that it was given for a sign unto believers seven hundred and forty years before it was accomplished Isa 7.14 therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son A wonder indeed and great beyond all comparison that the Son of God should be born of a Woman that he who is the true Melchizedech without Father and without Mother must yet have a mother-Virgin that he that is before Abraham was should yet be born after Abraham a matter of two thousand years that he who was Davids Son therefore born in Bethlehem should yet be Davids Lord wonderful things are spoken of thee Heb. 7.3 O thou Son of God before he was born the Prophets sing the Sybils prophesie the Patriarchs typisie the Types foretel God promiseth and the Son of God performeth when he was born Angels run errands Gabriel brings tidings the glory of Heaven shines a Star displaies and wise men are the Heralds that proclaim his Birth But come yet a little nearer Let us go to Bethlehem as the Shepherds said and see this thing which is come to pass if we step but one step into his loding Heavens wonder is before our eyes now Look upon Jesus Luke 2.15 look on him as in fulness of time he carried on the great work of our Salvation here now you may read the meaning of Adams Covenant Abrahams promise Moses revelation Davids succession these were but vailes but now shall we draw aside the Curtains come take a view of the truth it self O wonder of wonders whom find we in this lodging a Babe in a Cratch a Mother-maid a
Humane Nature incourageth us to come unto him even after his Resurrection he was pleased to send this comfortable message to the sons of men Iohn 20.17 Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God now as long as he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called our God O the sweet fruit that we may gather of this Tree the real distinction of two Natures in Christ As long as Christ is man as well as God we have a motive strong enough to appease his Father and to turn his favourable countenance towards us here is our happiness that there is one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. 1.5 the Man Christ Jesus 5. consider the Union of the two natures of Christ in one and the same Person as he was the branch of the Lord and the fruit of the Earth so these two natures were tied with such a Gordian knot as sin hell and the grave were never able to untie yea though in the death of Christ there was a separation of the soul from the body yet in that separation the hypostatical Union remained firm unshaken and indissoluble in this Meditation thou hast great cause O my Soul to admire and adore wonderful things are spoken of thee O Christ he is God in a Person of a God-head so as neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost were made flesh and he is man in the nature of man not properly the Person the humane nature of Christ never having any Personal subsistence out of the God-head this is a mystery that no Angel much less man is able to comprehend we have not another example of such an Union as you have heard only the nearest similitude or resemblance we can find is that of the Branch and Tree into which it is ingraffed we see one Tree may be set into another and it groweth in the Stock thereof and becometh one and the same Tree though there be two natures or kinds of fruit still remaining therein so in the Son of God made man though there be two natures yet both being united into one Person there is but one Son of God and one Jesus Christ If thou wilt consider this great mystery of Godliness any further review what hath been said in the object propounded where this union is set forth more largely and particularly but especially consider the blessed effects of this union in reference to thy self as our nature in the person of Christ is united to the God-head so our persons in and by this Union of Christ are brought nigh to God Hence it is that God doth set his Sanctuary and Tabernacle among us and that he dwells with us and which is more that he makes us houses and habitations wherein he himself is pleased to dwell by his holy Spirit Ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said I will dewll in them and walk in them and I will be their God John 17 20 21 22 23. and they shall be my People 2. Cor. 6.16 Was not this Christs Prayer in our behalf I pray not for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me By reason of this hypostatical union of Christ Gal. 4.6 the Spirit of Christ is given to us in the very moment of our regeneration And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father and hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit As the members of the Body howsoever distinct amongst themselves and all differing from the head yet by reason of one soul informing both the head and members they all make one compositum or man so all believers in Christ howsoever distinct Persons amongst themselves and all distinct from the Person of Christ and especially from the Godhead which is incommunicable yet by one and the same spirit abiding in Christ Eph. 4.4 1 Cor. 6.17 and all his Members they become one there is one body and one spirit he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit O my Soul consider of this and in considering believe thy part in this and the rather because the means of this union on thy part is a true and lively faith faith is the first effect and instrument of the Spirit of Christ disposing and enabling thy soul to cleave unto Christ and for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith Eph. 3.14 17. 6. Consider the birth of Christ this man-God God-man who in his divine generation was the Son of God in his humane generation was born in a stable for the saving of the Children of men who were as the oxe and mule having no understanding It were a fruitful meditation to consider over and over that sweet resemblance of Christ being a Vine me-thinks I hear the Voice of my beloved Cant. 2.10 13. rise up my love the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs and the vine with the tender grapes gives a good smell arise my love my fair one and come away if Christ knocks at the door who will not awake and arise if Christ comes in view who will not look unto Jesus if Christ the Vine calls us to come see the vine with the tender grape who will not taste the goodness smell the sweetness and after a little taste of that goodness and sweetness that is in him who would not long after more till we come from the first fruits to the last-fruits of the Spirit even to those visions and fruitions of Christ in Glory Consider O my soul of this Vine till thou hast brought Christ near and close unto thy self Suppose thy heart the Garden wherein this Vine was planted wherein it budded blossomed and bare fruit suppose the holy Ghost to come upon thee and to form and fashion in thee Jesus Christ thus Paul bespeaks the Galathians my little Children of whom I travel in Birth again untill Christ be formed in you would not this affect would not the whole soul be taken up with this come receive Christ into thy soul or if that work be done if Christ be formed in thee O Cherish him I speak of the Spiritual birth O keep him in thy heart let him there bud and blossome and bear fruit let him fill thy soul with his Divine Graces O that thou couldst say it feelingly I live yet not I but Christ
liveth in me Gal. 2.20 O that this were the Issue of thy meditation on Christs Birth even whiles thou art going with the shepherds to Bethelem and there findest thy Saviour lying in a Cratch that thou wouldst bring him thence and make thy heart to be his Cradle I would not give a farthing for a meditation meerly on the History of Christ's Birth either draw vertue from him by feeling him within or thy meditation will be fruitless 7. Consider those few consequents after Christs Birth every action of Christ is our instruction here are many particulars but none in vain Christ is considered under much variety of notion but he is still sweet under all Is it possible O my soul that thou shouldst tyre thy self in the contemplations of Jesus Christ if one flower yield thee not pleasure or delight go to a second a third observe how the Bees gather honey after a while that they have sucked one flower they go to another so for a while observe the circumcision of Jesus Christ and suck there and gather some honey out of that flower Christ had never been Circumcised but that the same might be done to our souls that was done to his Body O that the same Christ would do that in us that was done to him for us Again observe Christs presentation in the Temple this was the Law of those that first opened the womb now Christ was the first-born of Mary and indeed the first-born of all Creatures and he was consecrate unto God that by him we might be consecrate and made holy and that by him we might be accepted when we are offered unto the Lord. Again observe Christs flight into Egypt though the infancy is usually most quiet and devoyd of trouble yet here life and toyle began together and see how speedily this comes after Christs dedication unto God Alas Alas We are no sooner born again then we are persecuted if the Church travel and bring forth a Male she is in danger of the Dragons streams Again observe Christ's return into Judea Mat. 15.25 he was not sent but to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel with them alone he was personally to converse in his Ministry in which respect he was called a Minister of Circumcision Rom. 15.8 And where should he be trained and shew himself but amongst them to whom God had sent him The Gospel first began there and as a preparation to it Christ now in his Childhood returns thither Again observe Christ Disputing with the Doctors in the Temple in his very non-age Christ gives a taste of his future proof see how early his divine graces put forth themselves In Him were hid saith the Apostle all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 all the treasures were hid in him and yet some of those treasures appeared very early betimes his wisdom in his very infancy is admired at nor is it without our profit for of God he is made wisdom unto us 1 Cor. 1.38 Again observe how he spent the remainder of his Youth in all his examples he meant our Instructions He went down with his Parents and was subject to them Lam. 3.27 he was not idely bred but serves his Generation in the poor way of a Carpenter It is every way good for a Man to bear God's Yoke even from his Infancy Christ is enured betimes to the hardship of life and to the strict observation of the Law both of God and Nature See O my Soul what a world of matter is before thee to consider of here is Jesus under many a Nation here 's the annuntiation of Jesus the conception of Jesus the duplicity of natures in Jesus the real distinction the wonderful union the nativity of Jesus together with some consequents after it Go over these with often and frequent thoughts give not over till thou feelest thy Heart begin to warm true Meditation is as the bellows of the Soul that doth kindle and inflame holy affections and by renewed and more forcible thoughts as by renewed and stronger blasts it doth renew and increase the flame SECT III. Of Desiring after Jesus in that Respect 3. LEt us desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our Salvation at his first coming or incarnation It is not enough to know and consider but we must desire Now What is desire but a certain Motion of the Appetite by which the Soul darts it self towards the absent good purposely to draw near and to unite it self thereunto The incarnation of Christ according to the Letter was the desire of Nations so the Prophet Hag. 2.7 I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come O how they that lived before Christ Desired after this coming of Christ Abraham Desired to see that day Two Thousand Years and more before it came it was the expectation of all the Patriarchs O when will that day come And surely the incarnation of Christ in the fruit or efficacy or application is or should be the Desire of all Christians There is merit and vertue in Jesus Christ in every passage of Christ in his conception incarnation in his birth and in those consequents after his birth now to make these ours that we may have our share and part and interest in them we must here begin O my soul do thou desire do thou seek to possess thy self of Christ set thy desire as the Needle point aright and all the rest will follow never will union be with the absent good but the Soul by Desire must first dart it self towards it True it is and pity it is Millions of Souls stand at a distance from Jesus Christ and why they have no desire towards him but O that my soul and thy soul whosoever thou art that readest would Desire O that we could Desire and long after him until we languish and be compelled to cry out with the spouse Cant. 2.5 Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with Apples for I am Sick of Love Is there not good reason for it What is there in Christ that is not Desirable view over all those excellencies of his conception of his two natures really distinguished and yet wonderfully united of his birth of those few consequents after his birth but above all see the fruit of all he was conceived that our conceptions might be sanctified he was the Son of man that he might suffer for us and the Son of God that he might satisfie divine justice he was God and Man in one person that we might be one with him Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bones Eph. 5.30 he was born of the Virgin that there might be a spiritual conception and birth of Christ in our Virgin-hearts or he was conceived and born that we might conceive the grace of Christ in our hearts and bring it forth in our lives What Are not these desirable things Never tell me of thy present
Saints now have or which the Saints shall have unto the end of the World it is to be conveyed through that flesh yea the Spirit it self dwells in it and is conveyed through it and therefore if they had so much Gospel-Spirit in the time of the Old Testament which indeed was rare how much more should we go to Christ as God in the flesh and look upon it as a standing Ordinance and believe perfectly on it 3. Faith must go and lye at the feet of Christ faith must fix and fasten it self on this God in our flesh some go to Christ and look on Jesus with loose and transient glances they bring in but flashy secondary ordinary actings of faith they have but course and common apprehensions of Jesus Christ Oh but we should come to Christ with solemn serious spirits we should look on Jesus piercingly till we see him as God is in him and as such a person thus and thus qualified from Heaven we should labour to apprehend what is the riches of this glorious mystery of Christ's Incarnation we should dive into the depths of his glorious actings we should study this mystery above all other studies nothing is so pleasant and nothing is more deep that one person should be God and Man that God should be man in our nature and yet not assume the person of a man that blessedness should be made a curse that Heaven should be let down into Hell that the God of the world would shut himself up as it were in a body that the invisible God should be made visible to sense that all things should become nothing and make it self of no reputation that God should make our nature which had sinned against him to be the great Ordinance of Reconciling us unto himself that God should take our flesh and dwell in it with all his fulness and make that flesh more Glorious than the Angels and advance that flesh into oneness with himself and through that flesh open all his councels and rich discoveries of love and free-grace unto the Sons of men that this Man-God God-Man should be our Saviour Redeemer Reconciler Father Friend Oh what mysteries are these no wonder if when Christ was born John 1.14 the Apostle cryes we saw his glory as of the only begotten Son of God noting out that at first sight of him so much glory sparkled from him as could appear from none but a God walking up and down the world O my soul let not such a treasury be unlookt into set faith on work with a redoubled strength surely we live not like men under this great design if our eye of faith be not firmly and stedfastly set on this O that we were but insighted into these glories that we were but acquainted with these lively discoveries Gal. 2.20 how blessedly might we live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us 4. Faith must look principally to the end and meaning of Christ as God coming in the Flesh Now what was the design and meaning of Christ in this The Apostle answers Rom. 8.3 Rom. 8.3 God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh to condemn sin in the Flesh i.e. God the Father sent into the World his eternal and only begotten Son whom in his eternal counsel he had designed to the Office of a Mediator to take away or abolish in the first place Original Sin Mark these two words he condemned Sin in the Flesh the first word condemned is by a Metonymy put for that which follows Condemnation namely for the abolishing of sin as condemned persons used to be cut off and to be taken out of the World that they may be no more so Christ hath condemned or abolished this Sin For the second word in the Flesh is meant that Humane Nature which Christ assumed he abolished sin altogether in his own nature and that Flesh of his being perfectly holy and the holiness of it being imputed unto us it takes away our guilt in respect of the impureness of our Nature also Some may object if this were so then were we without Original sin I answer the Flesh or the Nature which Christ took upon him was altogether without sin and by imputation of it we are in proportion freed from sin Christ had not the least spot of Original sin and if we are Christs then is this sin in some measure abolished and taken out of our hearts But howsoever the filth of this sin may remain in part yet the guilt is removed in this respect the purity of Christs Humane Nature is no less reckoned to us for the curing of our defiled Nature than the sufferings of Christ are reckoned to us for the remission of our actual Sins O my Soul look to this end of Christ as God in the Flesh if thou consider him as made Flesh and Blood and laid in a Manger think withal that his meaning was to condemn sin in our Flesh there flows from the Holiness of Christs Nature such a power as countermands the power of our Original sin and acquits and discharges from the condemnation of the same Sin not only the Death and Life but also the Conception and Birth of Christ hath its influence into our Justification Oh the sweet that a lively Faith may draw from this Head 4. The Encouragements to bring on Souls to believe on Christ Incarnate we may draw 1. From the excellency of this Object This very Incarnation of Christ is the Foundation of all other actings of God for us it is the very Hinge or Pole on which all turn it is the Cabinet wherein all the Designs of God do lie Election Redemption Justification Adoption Glorification are all wrapt up in it it is the highest pitch of the Declaration of Gods Wisdom Goodness Power and Glory Oh what a sweet Object of Faith is this I know there are some other things in in Christ which are most proper for some Acts of Faith as Christ dying is most proper for the pardon of actual sin and Christ rising from the dead is most proper for the evidencing of our Justification but the strongest purest Acts of Faith are those which take in Christ as such a Person laid out in all this Glory Christs Incarnation is more general than Christs Passion or Christs Resurrection and as some would have it includes all Christs Incarnation holds forth in some sort Christ in his fulness and so it is the full and compleat subject of our Faith or if it be only more comprehensive why then it requires more comprehensive Acts of Faith and by consequence we have more enjoyments of Christ this way than any other way Come poor Soul I feel I feel thy eyes are running to and fro the World to find comforts and happiness on Earth O come cast thy eyes back and see Heaven and Earth in one Object look fixedly on Christ Incarnate there is more in this than in all the variety
Blessed Object here is matter for it to work upon if thou canst possibly rejoyce in any thing at all O rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce Is there not cause read and spell what 's the meaning of the Gospel of Christ what is Gospel but Good spell or good tidings and wherein lies the good ridings according to its emency is it not in the glorious incarnation of the Son of God Luke 2.10.11 behold I bring you a Gospel so it is in the Original or behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all People for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. The Birth of Christ to them that have but touched hearts is the comfort of comforts and the sweetest balm and confection that ever was Oh my Soul what ailes thee Why art thou cast down and disquieted within me Is it because thou art a sinner why unto thee is born a Saviour his Name is Saviour and therefore Saviour because he will save his people from their sins Come then and bring out thy Sins and weigh them to the utmost aggravation of them and take in every Circumstance both of Law and Gospel and set but this in the other Scale that unto thee is born a Saviour surely all thy iniquities will seem lighter than vanity yea they will be as nothing in comparison thereof My Soul doth Magnifie the Lord said Mary and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1.46.47 Her soul and her spirit within her rejoyced at this Birth of Christ there is cause that every Soul and every Spirit should rejoyce that hath any interest in this Birth of Christ O my soul how shouldest thou but rejoyce if thou wilt consider these particulars 1. God himself is come down into the World because it was impossible for thee to come to him he is come to thee this consideration made the Prophet cry out Rejoyce greatly O thou Daughter of Zion Zâ—ch 9.9 shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is called a King and therefore he is able and he is thy King and therefore he is willing but in that thy King cometh unto thee here is the marvilous love and mercy of God in Christ Kings do not usually come to visit and wait upon their Subjects it is well if poor Subjects may come to them and be admitted into their Presence to wait on them O but see the great King of Heaven Earth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords stooping and bowing the heavens to come down to thee surely this is good tidings of great joy and therefore rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion A little joy is too scant and narrow for this news hearts should be enlarged the doors and gates should be set wide open for this King of Glory to come in as Balaam said of Israel God is with him and the shout of a King is amongst them Num. 23.21 so now may we say God is with us and the shout of a King is amongst us Rejoyce Zion Shout O Daughter of Jerusalem 2. God is come down in flesh he hath laid aside as it were his own Glory whilest he converseth with thee when God manifested himself as on Mount Sinai he came down in Thunder and Lightning and if now he had appeared in Thunder and Lightning if now he had been guarded with an innumerable Company of Angels all having their Swords of vengeance and justice drawn well might poor souls have trembled and have run into corners for who could ever be able to endure his coming in this way but lo poor Soul God is come down in flesh he hath made his appearance as a man as one of us and there is not in this regard the least distance betwixt him and us Surely this is fewel for joy to feed upon O why should God come down so sutably so lowly as in our nature if he would have thy poor soul to be afraid of him doth not this very design intend consolation to thy soul O gather up thy Spirit anoint thy heart with the Oyl of gladness see God himself is come down in flesh to live amongst us he professeth he will have no other life but amongst the Sons of men see what a sweet way of familiarity and entercourse is made betwixt God and us now he is come down in humane frailty 3. God hath took on him our Nature as a vast pipe to his Godhead that it may flow out in all manner of sweetness upon our hearts if God had come down in flesh only to have been seen of us Exod. 33.12 it had been a wonderful condescention and a great mercy if I have found favour in thy eyes said Moses shew me thy way that I may know thee but to come down in flesh and to come down in flesh not only to be seen but to dispatch the great business of our souls Salvation here 's comfort indeed with what joy should we draw water out of this well of salvation Surely the great reason of the shallowness of our Comforts shortness of our Hopes the faintness of our spirits the lowness of our Graces is from the not knowing or the not heeding of this particular Christ in flesh stands not for a Cypher but it is an Organ of life and grace unto us it is a fountain of comfort that can never run dry In this flesh there is laid in on purpose such a fulness of the Godhead that of his fulness we might receive in our measure grace for grace O my soul thou art daily busy in eying this and that but above all know that all the fulness God lies in Christ incarnate to be emptied upon thee this was the meaning of Christ taking on him flesh that through his flesh he might convey to thee whatsoever is in himself as God As for instance God in himself is Good and Gracious and Powerful and All-sufficient and Merciful and what not Now by his being in flesh he suites all this and conveyes all this to thee observe this for thy eternal comfort God in and through the flesh makes all his Attributes and Glory serviceable to thy soul 4. God in our Nature hath laid out the Model and Draught of what he will do unto all his Saints for ever humane nature was never so advanced before what to be glorified above the Angels to be united in a Personal union with the second person of the Godhead surely hence may be expected great matters here 's a fair step for the bringing of our Persons up to the enjoyment of God if God be come down in the likeness of man why then he will bring us up into the likeness of God look what was done to our nature in Christ the very same as far as we are capable shall be done to our persons in Heaven Think of it O my soul why hath God made flesh so
two but one person so must our natures and persons though at greatest distance from God be inseparably joyned and united to Christ and thereby also to God John 17.21 I Pray saith Christ that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us That union of Christs two natures we call a personal hypostatical union and this union of Christ with us we call a mystical and Spiritual union yet though it be mystical and Spiritual this hinders not but that it is a true real essential substantial union whereby the person of the believer is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God For our better understanding we may consider if you please of a threefold unity either of persons of one nature or of natures in one person or of natures and Persons in one spirit in the first is one God in the second is one Christ in the third is one Church with Christ our union unto Christ is the last of these whereby he and we are all spiritually united to the making up of one mystical body O what a priviledge is this a poor believer be he never so mean or miserable in the eye of the world yet he is one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father our fellowship is with the Father 1 John 1.3 and with his Son Jesus Christ every Saint is Christs fellow there is a kind of analogical proportion between Christ and his Saints in every thing if we take a view of all Christ what he is in his Person in his Glory in his Spirit in his Graces in his Fathers Love and in the access he hath to the Father in all these we are in a sort fellows with Christ only with this difference that Christ hath the preheminence in all things all comes from the Father first to Christ and all we have is by Marriage with Jesus Christ Christ by his union hath all good things without measure but we by our union have them only in measure as it pleaseth him to distribute But herein if we resemble Christ whether in his union with the Father or in his union of the two natures in one Person of a Mediator if by looking on Christ we come to this likeness to be one with Jesus Christ Oh what a priviledg is this had we not good warrant for so high a challeng it could be no less than a Blasphemous arrogance to lay claim to the Royal blood of Heaven but the Lord is pleased to dignifie a poor worm that every believer may truly say I am one with Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is one with me To sweeten this union to our thoughts I shall acquaint you with the priviledg flowing from it and let the same stir you up to conform Hence it is that Christ lives in us and that Christ both gives life and is our life When Christ which is our life shall appear Christ is to me to live and I live yet not I Col. 3.4 Phil. 2.21 Gal. 2.20 but Christ liveth in me There is a spiritual and natural life for the natural life what is it but a bubble a vapour a shaddow a dream a nothing but this Spiritual life is an excellent life it is wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ there is a world of difference betwixt the natural and the spiritual life and that makes the difference betwixt what I do as a man and what I do as a Christian as a man I have eyes ears motions affections understandings naturally as my own but as a Christian I have all these from him with whom I am spiritually one the Lord Jesus Christ as a man I have bodily eyes and I behold bodily and material things but as a Christian I have spiritual eyes and I see invisible and eternal things as it is said of Moses that he endured Heb. 11 27. as seeing him who is invisible as a man I have outward ears and I hear outward sounds of all sorts whether articulate or inarticulate but as a Christian I have inward ears and so I hear the voice of Christ and of Gods Spirit speaking to my soul as a man I have bodily feet and by them I move in my own secular wayes but as a Christian I have spiritual feet and on them I walk with God in all the wayes of his Commandments as a man I have natural affections and so I love beauty and fear pain and hate an enemy and I rejoyce in outward prosperity or the like but as a Christian I have renewed affections and so I loved goodness and hate nothing but sin and I fear above all the displeasure of my God and I rejoyce in Gods favour which is better than life Surely this is a blessed life and as soon as ever I am united to Christ why then I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me First Christ is conceived and then Christ is formed and then Christ is born and then grows in me to a blessed fulness Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you formation follows conception and travail implies a birth then after this we are babes in Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 1 John 2.14 Eph. 4.13 or Christ is as a babe in us from thence we grow up to strength of youth I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and at last we come to Gospel perfection even towards the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Is this all nay if my union be firm and Christ live in me why then I go on Rom. 6.8 Rom. 6.4 1. Col 3 1. Rom. 8.17 and in this condition I am dead with Christ and I am buried with Christ and I am alive again unto God through Christ and I am risen with Christ and I am glorified with Christ Nay yet more my sufferings are Christs Col. 1.24 and Christs sufferings are mine Rom. 8.17 I am in Christ an â—eir of Glory Rom. 8.17 and Christ is in me the hope of Glory Col. 12 7. O my Christ my life what am I or what is my Fathers house that thou shouldest come down into me that thou shouldest be conceived in the womb of my poor sinful heart that thou shouldest give my soul a new and spiritual life a life begun in Grace and ending in eternal Glory I shall not reckon up any more priviledges of this union me-thinks I should not need if I tell you of Grace and Glory what can I more Glory is the highest pitch and Christ tells you concerning it the Glory whicâ— thou gavest me John 17.22 I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Ah my brethren to be so like Christ as to be one with Christ it is near indeed O let us conform to Christ in this he is one with our nature in an hypostatical personal union let us
or spear is to be had in singular honour as the myrrhe that by incision of the Tree flows out is very precious yet that which drops out of its own accord is accounted as the first and choyce and as the Balsome which way soever it come is sweet yet that which falls of its own accord is held the most pure and odoriferous to this alludes that Apocryphal-saying in Ecclesiasticus I gave a sweet smell like Cinamon and I yielded a pleasant odour Ecclus. 24.15 like the best myrrhe the vulgar translates it thus Quasi Libanus non incisus vaporavi as the myrrhe-tree that is not cut I evaporated as if Christ should have said without any lanching cutting pruning out of meer love I poured out my blood upon the earth this is certain at this time no manner of violence was offered him in body no man touched him or came near him in a cold night for they were fain to have a fire within doors lying abroad in the air and upon cold earth he casts himself into a sweat of blood surely love is hot he had a fire in his breaâ— that melts him into this bloody sweat O wonderful Love 3. This may inform us of the Design of Christ in these very sufferings Christ weeps saith Bernard Bern. Serm. in Dom. palm not only in his eyes but in all his members that with the tears of his body he might wash and purifie his body which is the Church or Christ weeps blood that he might give us a sign of the enemies ruine sweat in sickness is as a Crisis or promising sign that Nature with all her force hath strove against the peccant humour and hath now overcome it so this bloody sweat is a blessed Crisis or argument of sin decaying and that the Lamb hath overthrown the Lion As Christ sometimes said Now is the Judgment of this World Joh. 12.31 32. now shall the Prince of this World be cast out and I if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all men unto me Thus far of Christ's passion before his apprehension And now we may suppose it about midnight the very time which Christ called the hour and power of darkness what followed from twelve till three at night Luke 22.53 we shall discover in the next Section SECT VI. Of Judas's Treason Christ's Apprehension binding and leading unto Annas BY this time the Traitor Judas was arrived at Gethsemani and being near the Garden-door Jesus goes to his Disciples and calls them from their sleep by an Irony as some think he bids them sleep on now and take their rest meaning if they could for danger Mat. 26.45 46. that now was near but withal he adds Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise let us be going behold he is at hand that doth betray me That it might appear he undertook his sufferings with choice and free election he not only refused to fly but he calls his Apostles to rise that they might meet his Murderers And now they come with Swords and Staves or as John adds Mat. 26.47 John 18.3 Ioh. 18.12 13. with Lanthorns and Torches and Judas going before them and drawing near unto Jesus to kiss him they took him and bound him and led him away to Annas first In this Period I shall observe 1. Judas's Treason 2. Christ's Apprehension 3. Christ's binding 4. Christ's leading to Annas one of the Chief Priests as to his first station 1. Judas's treason And while he yet spake behold a multitude and he that was called Judas one of the twelve went before them and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him Luke 22.47 This Traitor is not a Disciple only but an Apostle not one of the seventy but one of the twelve Augustine speaks of many offices of Love that Christ had done to Judas in especial manner he had called him to be an Apostle made him his Friend his Familiar caused him to eat of his Bread sit at his Table and to dip his hand in the Dish with him yea if his Tradition be true Jesus had delivered Judas often from death Aug. Serm 28. ad fratres and for his sake healed his Father of a Palsie and cured his Mother of a Leprosie and next to Peter honoured him above all other his Apostles Of this we are sure that he kissed him and washed his feet and made him his treasurer and his Almoner and that now Judas should betray Christ O how doth this add to the sufferings of Christ and to the Sin of Judas Behold a multitude and Judas in the front he went before them tam pedibus quam moribus in his presence and in his malice The Evangelist gives the reason of this that he might have the better opportunity to kiss him this was the sign he gave the rout whomsoever I shall kiss that is he lay hold on him he begins war with a Kiss and breaks the peace of his Lord by a Symbole of kindness Jesus takes this ill What Judas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss q. d. What Luke 22.48 dost thou make the seal of Love the sign of treachery What! must a Kiss of thy mouth be the Key of treason O what a friendly reproof is here By way of use It were well for the world saith Chrysostome especially for the Children of God that Judas were alone in this transgression that there were no more perfidious treacherous Persons in it besides himself But Oh! how fu l is the world of such miscreants Vse Vtinam Judas solus sic peccasset Chrys there was never yet an Abel but he had a Cain to murder him never yet a Moses but he had a Jannes and Jambres to resist him never yet a Joseph but he had unkind Brothers to envy him never yet a Samson but he had a Dalilah to betray him never yet a David but he had an Ahitophel to hurt him never yet a Paul but there was an Alexander to do him much evil nay it is well if in every assembly we meet not with a Judas in civill affairs how many are there that live and make gain by lying swearing cheating cozâ—ning selling away Christ and their own souls for a lesser matter than thirty pieces of Silver and in religious affairs how many secure and drowsie professors have we amongst us that salute Christ both by hearing the Word and receiving the Seals and yet in their lives and conversations they deny Christ They honour God with their lips Mat. 26.50 but their hearts are far away from him 2. For Christ's apprehension then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him They apprehended him whom the world cannot comprehend and yet before they took him he himself begins the inquiry and leads them into their errand he tells them that he was Jesus of Nazareth whom they sought this was but a Breath a meek and gentle word
not here but risen Mat. 28.6 as they said Come see the place where the Lord lay Others think it was to do their office of duty and service to Christ Jesus to make way for his body to pass out of the grave without any penetration of other Bodies for my part I adhere to these though we need not to exclude the former for the stone might be removed both that Christ might come forth and that the women might be convinc'd that he was risen again But as for the opinion of them who think the stone was not removed till after the resurrection that the body of Christ went through the grave-stone when he rose again it is without all warrant the very order of nature will not permiâ— that one body should pass through another without corruption or alteration of either We say two bodies cannot be together and at once in one proper place no more than one body can be together and at once in an hundred or a thousand places now that Angelical argument is full for this he is not here for he is risen he is not in the grave Mat. 28.6 for he is risen out of the grave he could not be in the grave and out of the grave at one and the same time But I mean not to dwell on controversial Points Mat. 27.52 53. 5. That Christ rose again accompanied with others and the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints wâ—ich slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many It may be the graves were opened when Christ was laid down in his grave yet the spirits came not into the dead bodies till Christ's Resurrection the Text iâ— plain that they came not out of their graves till Christ was raised Christ is the beginning saith the Apostle the first-born from the dead Col. 1.18 how the first-born I answer both in time and efficacy 1. In time he rose to eternal life the first of all men This was the sum of Paul's preaching that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead It is true indeed Acts 26.2 3. that Lazarus and fundry others rose before Christ but they rose to live a mortal life and to die again Christ was the first of all that rose to eternal life never any in the world rose before Christ in this manner 2. In respect of efficacy Christ rose first that by his power all the rest might rise there is in Christ's resurrection a reviving and a quickning vertue and herein is a main difference betwixt the Resurrection of Christ and the Resurrection of any other man the Resurrection of Abraham availes nothing to the resurrection of Isaâ—c or of Jacob but the resurrection of Christ availes to the resurrection of all that have believed or that shall believe in him is not Christ called a quickning Spirit how then should he but quicken all his members 1 Cor. 15.45 when a man is cast into the Sea and all his body is under water there is nothing to be looked for but present death but if he carry his head above the water there is good hope then of a recovery now Christ is the head unto his Church and therefore he being raised all his members must follow in their time no sooner did Christ arise but many of the bodies of the Saints arose not all that were dead but only some to shew the resurrection of all to come the time for the whole Churches rising being not yet till the great resurrection day It is a question what became of those bodies which now arose Some think they died again but it is more probable that seeing they rose to manifest the quickning vertue of Christ's resurrection that they were also glorified with Christ and as they rose with Christ arising so they ascended up into heaven with Christ ascending 6. That Christ rose again with a true perfect incorruptible powerful spiritual agile and glorious body 1. He had a true body consisting of flesh and blood and bone so he told his Disciples when they supposed him a Spirit Handle me Luke 24.39 and see said he for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have I know this body after his resurrection was comparatively a spiritual body yet for all that he never laid aside the essential properties of a true body as length and breadth and visibility and locality and the like he still keepeth these because they serve to the being of a true body 2. He had a perfect body however he was cut and bored and mangled before his death yet after his resurrection all was perfect Eusebius tells of one of the Children of the Machabees that were put to death for the profession of the Truth and when they cut off his members saies he I have received these from heaven and now I do give them unto the God of heaven and I hope I shall have them again Not a member of Christ was wanting not a bone out of joint but all was perfect 3. He had an incorruptible immortal body To this end saith the Apostle Christ both died and rose and revived and why revived but to shew that he rose never to die again The Apostle is yet more express Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Consonant hereunto is that of Christ I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen Rom. 14.9 Rom. 6.9 Rev. 1.18 And herein the body of Lazarus and the rest whom Christ raised differed from his for after they were raised they died again but Christ died no more 4. He had a powerful body Luther could say of the glorified Saints that they had a power so great as to toss the greatest mountains in the world like a Ball And Anselm hath an expression not much unlike that they have such a power Anselm lib. de simil cap. 52. as they are able to shake the whole earth at their pleasure How much more could Christ cause that great Earth-quake at the rising of his Body O it was powerful 5. He had a spiritual body it needed not to meat drink or refreshings as it did before it is true that the Disciples gave him a piece of a broiled fish Luk. 24.42 43 and of an honey-comb and he took it and did eat before them but this he did only to confirm their faith that he appeared solidly and not imaginarily he Ate out of power and not out of necessity even as the Sun sucks up thâ— water out of power but the earth out of want he Ate not as standing in need of food but to shew the truth of his being risen again as the Saints in heaven neither eat nor drink nor sleep nor have Magistrates nor Ministers but the Spirit of God is all in all to them so it was with
grace and mercy in Jesus Christ but he refuseth the offers he hears of the precious promises of God in Christ but he casts by all promises as things that are generally spoken and applyed by man but when the Lord comes in he speaks particularly to his very heart he meets with all his objections that he thinks this is the Lord and this is to me Thus Mary before heard the voice of an Angel and the voice of Christ woman why weepest thou it was a general voice no better title was then afforded but woman thou weepest like a woman O woman and too much a woman why weepest thou but now Christ comes nearer and he singles her out by her very name Mary Oh this voice came home he shewed now that he was no stranger to her he knew her by name as somtimes God spake to Moses thou hast found Grace in my sight I know thee by name so Christ speaks to Mary thou hast found grace in my sight I know thee by name Exod. 33..17 Why how should this voice be ineffectual Oh now it works now she knows Christ which before she did not and indeed this is the right way to know Christ to be first known of Christ But now saith the Apostle after that ye have known God and then he corrects himself Gal. 4.9 or rather are known of God for till he know us we shall never know him aright Now her dead spirits are raiâ—ed which before were benummed and no marvel that wi h a word he revive her spirits who with a word made the Wâ—rld and even in this very word shewed an omnipotent power The Gardiner had â—one his part â—aith one to making her all gâ—â—en on a sudden But even now her body seemed the hearse of her dead heart and her heart the coffin of her dead soul and see how quickly all is turned out and in a new world now Christ's resurrection is Mary Magâ—alens resurrection too on a sudden shâ— revives raised as it were from a dead and drooping to a lively and cheerful state â— She laid uâ—to him Rabboni which is to say Master As she was ravished with his voice so impatient of delay she takes his talk out of his mouth and to his first and only word she answered but one other Rabboni which is to say Master A wonder that in this verse but two words should pass betwixt them two but some give this reason that a sudden joy rouzing all her passions she could neither proceed in her own nor give him leave to go forward in his speech Love would have spoken but fear enforâ—ed silâ—â—ce hope framed words but doubt melts them in the passage her inward conceiâ—s served them to come out but then her voice trembled her tongue faultered her breath â—â—iled why such is the estate of them that are sick with a surfeit of sudden joyâ— her joy was so sudden that not a word more could be spoken but Rabboni which is to say Master Sudden joyes are not without some doubts or tremblings when Jacob heard that his son Joseph was alive Gen â—â— 26. Psâ—l 1.26.1 Acts 12.9 his heart fainted he was even astonished at so good a news when God restored the Jews out of captivity they could think of it no otherwise then as a dream when Peter was by an Angel delivered out of prison he took it only for a vision or apparition and not for truth when Christ manifested his resurrection to his Disciples Luke 24.41 it is said that for very joy they believed not their fears as it were kept back and questioned the truth of their joyes As in the Sea when a storm is over there remains still an inward working and volutation even so in the mind of man when its fears are blown over and there is a calm upon it there is still a motus trepidationis a motion of trembling or a kind of solicitous jealousie o what it enjoyes And this might be Mary Magdalens case though she suddenly answered Christ upon the first notice of his voice yet because the novelty was so strange his Person so changed his presence so unexpected and so many miracles were laid at once before her amazed eyes she found as it were a sedition in her thoughts her hope presumed best but her fear suspected it to be too good to be true and while these enterchange objections and answers she views him better but for the present cannot speak a word more save this Rabbony which is to say Master 5. For the consequents after this apparition Jesus saith unto her touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father John 20.17 but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God In these words we may observe a prohibition and a command the prohibition touch me not the command but go to my brethren and say unto them c. 1. Touch me not It seems Mary was now fallen at his sacred feet she was now ready to kiss with her lips his sometimes grievous but now most glorious wounds Such is the nature of love that it covets not only to be united but if it were possible to be transformed out of it self into the thing it loveth Mary is not satisfied to see her Lord nor is she satisfied to hear her Lord but she must touch him embrace his feet and kiss them with a thousand kisses Oh how she hangs and clings about his feet or at least how she offers to make towards him and to fall upon him but on a sudden he checks her forwardness touch me not What a mystery is this Mary a sinner touched him and she being now a Saint may she not do so much she was once admitted to anoint â—is head and is she now unworthy to touch his feet what meant Christ to debar her of so desired a duty she had the fiâ—st sight of Christ and heard the first words of Christ after his resurrection and must she not have the priviledg of his first embracing there is something of wonder in these words and it puts many to a stand and many an interpretation is given to take off the wonder I shall tell you of some of them though for my pâ—rt I shall cleave only to the last 1. Some think that Mary not only essayed to kiss his feet but to desire the fulfilling of the promise of the Spirit of Christ this promise Christ made to his Disciples at his last supper John 6.7 I will send you the Comforter and she expected it to be now performed after his resurrection to which Christ answered Quia nondum sanctum spiritum miserat ideo a tactu suo Mariam prohibebat dicens nondum ascendi in calem unde ipse per me spiritum sanctum ad vos mittet Cyril l. 12. in Joha c. 50. that he would not then give the Spirit unto her for that as yet he was
I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Christ is mine and mine in a peculiar manner there is a propriety with peculiarity my Lord and my God O the excellency of Faith this step goes beyond all the rest it is a blessed thing to have a true sight of God there is much Power in it but to see God in his glory Majesty greatness goodness as my God to see all the attâ—ibutes of God as those things that my soul hath an interest in to see Christ coming from the Father for me to be my redeemer to see Christ in whom all fulness dwells in whom the treasures of all God's riches are not only Christ dying as man but rising as God for me and my salvation John 20.29 to see Christ and then to lay hold on Christ and to say my Lord and my God O this is the work of precious saith and to this now is Thomas arrived in this confession of his my Lord and my God 2. Hereupon follows Christ's commendation and correction Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed In the first place Christ commends Thomas's saith because thou hast seen me thou hast believed q. d. thou seest me a man but considering how I am risen from the dead thou believest in me as God I commend thy faith but 't is a weak faith in respect of its rise now therefore to correct it I pronounce those blessed to all generations that when I am gone as in regard of my bodily presence yet they will believe in me blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed I am afraid of tediousness and therefore I shall not enlarge any more on this apparition SECT VIII Of Christ's apparition to some of his Apostles at the Sea of Tiberias John 21.1 THere is but one apparition more recorded by John after these things Jesus shewed himself again to the Disciples at the sea of Tiberias and on this wise shewed he himself In these apparitions the Evangelist useth one and the same method As in the former so here again is set down the time when the place where the persons to whom the manner how he appeared not one of these circumstances must be wanting to shew the evidence and certainty of his resurrection Ver. 21. 1. The time after these things after the three former apparitions he comes to a fourth and he concludes with this as therein making some mention of himself with which he concludes the whole book This is the Disciple which testifieth these things and wrote these things and we know his testimony is true 2. The place at the sea of Tiberias or at the lake Genezareth where he had called them to the Apostleship there now he appears to these Apostles they were at first fishers and now they are at their Calling upon the sea Christ standing on the shore 3. The Persons to whom he appears they were Disciples their names are in the next verse All Christ's apparitions were to the Disciples of Christ we read not that ever he shewed himself after his resurrection to any but to his followers he shewed himself openly not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead Act. 10.41 Acts 10.41 strangers to Christ must be no witnesses of Christ's resurrection and this was his meaning yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me Joh. 14.19 4. For the manner of his apparition on this wise shewed he himself Chrys hom 86. in Job 1. He shewed himself so it is in this verse twice repeated after these things Jesus shewed himself and in this wise he shewed himself Christ now was not seen or known to the bodily eye for his body was immortal unless by dispensation he condescended thereto I deny not but that glorified bodies are ever actually seen of bodies that are glorified but of mortal men who are yet in this vail of tears those glorious creatures cannot be seen actually except there be some peculiar and divine dispensation As the ayre is too subtile to be seen or as the Sun is too glorious for a weak eye to behold so are glorified bodyes too subtile too solendid for a mortal eye to pierce Mat. 1.43 Mat. 22.30 1 Cor. 15.44 our Saviour tells us that the bodyes of the Saints do shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father and that they are as the Angels And the Apostle tells us that their bodyes are spiritual bodies there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body now without dispensation we cannot see spiritual things And hence it is that when Christ shewed himself to the two disciples at Emmaus it is said that their eyes were opened Luke 24.31 they knew him he vanished out of their sight Mark first their eyes were opened why no question but their eyes were open before they did not walk with him and talk with him and sit with him and eat with him but their eyes were then opened ay but now their eyes were opened in another manner as it is said of Elisha's servant that at the prayers of Elisha The Lord opened the eyes of the young man 2 King 6.17 and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha in like manner their eyes were so opened that they knew Jesus And then 2. He vanished out of their sight in a strange unusual manner they lost his sight and they could not tell what was become of him in a moment he was invisible to them whose eyes he had opened it plainly shews that glorified bodies as corpulent and commensurable may be seen of mortals but as they are subtle and spiritual they cannot be seen actually without dispensation Christ appeared saith Damascene not by necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by his own free will not by the law of nature but by way of dispensation It was his meer condescension permission that he would shew himself at any time unto his Disciples 2. He shewed himself on this wise There were together Simon Peter and Thomas John 21.2 3 4 c. called Dydimus c. In the whole narration we may observe 1. The occasion and 2. The Apparition in the occasion we have a council among the Apostles what to do and 't is concluded they would go a fishing they did so though to no purpose for they fished all night but caught nothing In the Apparition 1. Christ is unknown ver 3. ver 4. He stood on the shore but the Disciples knew not that it was Jesus in this condition we have Jesus speaking and then working a Miracle ver 6. he bids them cast the net on the right side of the ship and then draw
Christs Resurrection and the coming down of the holy Ghost What was the meaning of this but to hold harmony and to keep correspondency with those memorable things as on the day of Pentecost fifty days after the feast of the Passeover the Israelites came to mount Sinai there received they the Law a memorable day with them and therefore called the feast of the Law so the very same day is accomplished that prophesie Out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 now was the promulgation of the Gospel called by James the Royal Law Jam. 2.8 as given by Christ our King and written in the hearts of his servants by this holy Ghost it seems to shadow out the great difference betwixt the Law and the Gospel the Law was given with terrour in lightning and thunder it discovers sin declares God's Wrath frights the Conscience but the Gospel is given without terrour there was no lightning and thunder now no no the holy Ghost slides down from heaven with grace and gifts and with great joy sits on the heads and in the hearts of his Saints 2. On the Jubilee or fiftyeth year was a great feast whence some observe that the Latines made their word Jubilo to take up a Merry Song though the word be derived from the Hebrew Jobel which signifies a Rams horn for then they blew with Rams horns as when they gathered the people to the Congregation they blew their Silver Trumpets There were many uses of this feast 1. For the general release of Servants 2. For the restoring of Lands unto their first owners who had sold them 3. For the keeping of a right chronology and reckoning of times for as the Greeks did reckon by their Olimpiads and the Latine by their Lustra so did the Hebrews by their Jubilees this falls fit with the proclaiming of the Gospel which is an act or tender of Gods most gracious general free pardon of all sins and of all the sinners in the World now was the sound of the Gospel made known unto all Acts 2.5 out of every Nation under heaven now was that spiritual Jubilee which Christians enjoy under Christ now was the remission published which exceeded the remission of the Jubilee as for as the Jubilee exceeded the remission of the Seventh year i.e. not only seven times but seventy times seven times Mat. 18.22 Lev. 23.17 20 3. On the day of Pentecost they offered the two wave-loaves called the bread of the first fruits unto the Lord. In like sort this very day the Lord of the harvest so disposing it the Apostles by the assistance and effectual working of the Spirit offered the first-fruits of their harvest unto the Lord Act. 2.41 for the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls We see the circumstance of time hath its due weight and is very considerable when the day of Pentecost was fully come then came the holy Ghost SECT VIII Of the persons to whom the holy Ghost was sent 2. FOr the persons to whom the holy Ghost was sent it is said to all that were with one accord in one place Act. 2.1 who they were it is not here exprest yet from the former chapter we may conjecture Acts 1.13 14. they were the twelve Apostles together with Joseph called Barsabas and the Women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and his brethren these all continued with one accord in one place for so was Christs command that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me This promise we read of in the Evangelists Act. 1.4 when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father John 15.26 even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he will testifie of me Luke 21.49 And behold I send the promise of the Father upon you but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until you be indued with power from on high It was the great promise of the Old Testament that Christ should partake of our humane Nature and it was the great promise of the New Testament that we should partake of his divine Nature he was cloathed with our flesh according to the former and we are invested with his Spirit according to the latter promise For this promise the Apostles and others had long waited and for the accomplishment they were now fitted and disposed 1. They had waited for it from the Ascention day till the feast of Pentecost he told them at the very instant of his Ascention that he would send the holy Ghost and therefore bid them stay together till that hour upon which command they waited Isa 28.16 and continued waiting until the day of Pentecost was fully come He that believeth shall not make hast saith Isaiah surely waiting is a Christian duty for the Vision is yet for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 but at the end it shall speak and shall not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry Well may we wait and wait for him if we consider how God and Christ have waited for us and our conversion and especially if we consider that the Comforter will come and when he comes that he will abide with us for ever But 2. John 14.16 As they waited for the Spirit so they were rightly disposed to receive the Spirit for they were all with one accord in one place Mark here the qualifications of these persons they were all with one accord c. To those that accord in the Spirit given where is nothing but discord jars divisions fractions there is no Spirit of God for the Spirit is the Author of concord peace unity and amity he is the very essential unity love and love-knot of the two persons the Father and the Son even of God with God and he was sent to be the union love and love-knot of the two natures united in Christ even of God with man and can we imagine that essential unity will enter but where there is unity can the Spirit of unity come or remain but where there is unity of Spirit verily there is not there cannot be a more proper and peculiar a more true and certain disposition to make us meet for the Spirit then that quality in us that is likest to his nature and essence and that is unity love concord do we marvel that the spirit doth scarcely pant in us Alas we are not all of one accord the very first point is wanting to make us meet for the coming of the holy Ghost upon us We see the persons to whom the holy Ghost was sent they were they that were together with one accord in one place SECT IX Of the manner how the holy Ghost was sent 3. FOr the manner how he was sent or how he came to these Apostles we may observe these
on the Lord Jesus Christ for some glorious manifestations of himself Come live up to the rate of this great mystery view Christ as entering into glory and thou wilt find the same sparkles of glory on thy heart O this sight is a transforming sight We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 even as by the spirit of the Lord. 2. Consider of Christ's Session at God's right hand no sooner was Christ entered into Heaven but he is brought before his heavenly Father and herein was the vision accomplished I saw in the night visions Dan. 7.13 14. and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of dayes and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a Kingdom This is that we call his Session at God's right hand a dominion was given him above all creatures yea a dominion above the Hierarchy of all the Angels O the glory of Christ at his first entrance into glory immediatly all the Angels fell down and worshipped him immediately his Father welcomed him with the highest grace that ever yet was shewen Psal 110.1 Come said he sit thou at my riâ—ht hand untill I make thy enemies thy footstool One sweetly observes that usually in the several parts of the performance of Christ's office either God is brought in as speaking to Christ or Christ is brought in as speaking to his Father thus when he chose him first to be our Mediator God speaks to Christ Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech and when Christ came to take upon him our nature Heb. 10.7 Psal 22.1 he spake to his Father Lo I come to do thy will a body hast thou prepared for me Again when Christ hung on the Cross he spakes to his Father Acts 13.33 Heb. 1.13 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me but when Christ rose again from the dead God spake to him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and when Christ ascended into heaven God spake to him Son sit thou down at my right hand This was the highest point of Christ elevated now was the prophesie accomplished He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high The Caldee Paraphrast reads it thus He shall be exalted above Abraham Isa 52.13 he shall be extolled more than Moses he shall be very high above the highest Cherubin and Saraphin O my soul meditate on this Session of Christ at God's right hand and thence draw down some vertue and sweetness into thy self what was Christ exalted had he a name given him above every name walk then as becomes those that have so glorious a Head O defile not that nature which in thy Christ was so highly honoured 1 Cor. 6.15 it was the Apostles arguing Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot so argue thou shall I take the Nature of Christ that Nature which he in his Person hath so highly glorified and make it in my Person the Nature of a Devil O my soul walk worthy of such a Lord unto all well-pleasing sith now he is in his Throne at God's right hand O kiss the Son honour the Son with divine worship reverence and submission submit chearfully and willingly to the Scepter of his Word bow to his Name as it is written At the Name the Person the Power the Scepter of Jesus Christ â—â—â—l 2.10 every knee should bow 3. Consider of the Mission of the holy Ghost no sooner is Christ inaugurated in his Throne Eph. 4.8 John 4.10 but he scatters his coin and gives gifts When he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men He gave gifts or the gift of gifts the gift of the holy Ghost If thou knewest the gift of God said Christ to the Samaritan woman John 7.39 that gift was the water of Life and that water of life was the spirit as John who knew best his mind gave the interpretation This speak he of the spirit O my soul consider of this princely gift of Christ such a gift was never before but when God gave his Son God so loved the World that he gave his Son and Christ so loved the world that he gave his spirit but O my soul consider especially to whom this Spirit was given Isa 9.6 Rom. 5.5 the application of the gift is the very soul of thy meditation Vnto us a Son is given said the Prophet and Vnto us the holy Ghost is given saith the Apostle And yet above all consider the reasons of this gift in reference to thy self was it not to make thee a Temple and Receptacle of the holy Ghost stand a while on this admire O my soul at the condescending glorious and unspeakable love of Christ in this it was infinite love to come down into our nature when he was incarnate but this is more to come down into thy heart by his holy Spirit he came near to us then but as if that were not near enough he comes nearer now for now he unites himself unto thy person now he comes and dwells in thy soul by his holy spirit O my soul thou hast many in-comes of the world though many are above thee yet many are below thee but Oh what little contentment hast thou in these outward things Come here 's that which will infinitely content thy vast desires Christ is in thee realy in thee by his Spirit will not this content the utmost capacity of an heart surely he is too covetous whom God himself cannot suffice if thou hast Christ thou hast all things and if thou hast the spirit of Christ thou hast Christ himself not notionally not by the habit of grace only but really essentially substantially by his Spirit it is the very spirit of Christ the spirit it self the holy Ghost it self in his own person that is united to thee and dwells in thee nor only comes he in person but he brings along with him all his Train hath he not endowed thee with some gifts hath he not divided a portion and measure to thee in thy place and calling take notice observe it and be thankfull if thou hast a gift of prayer of prophesie of wisdom of knowledge it comes and flows from this holy Spirit Vnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Eph. 4.7 1 Cor. 12.11 Or according to the measure of the spirit who is the gift of Christ. And all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will But besides a gift hath he not endowed thee with his grace hath he not planted in thy soul the habit the power the seed the spring the principle of grace hast thou not felt sometimes the excitings
in his Kingly but now he must be fully honoured in his Kingly office Rev. 11.15 now especially The Kingdoms of this world must become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and so he shall reign for ever and ever Certainly there is a difference betwixt Christ's reign before and his present reign at the day of judgment Christ hath a double Throne wherein he sits and reigns Rev. 3.21 To him that overcomes will I give to sit with me in my throne as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne That Kingly rule that Christ hath from his ascension is upon his Fathers Throne but the Kingdom that Christ shall have at the day of judgment and ever after it is the joynt reign of him with the Father he shall have a Throne himself and the Saints shall sit with him in his own Throne And now saith the Father John 5.22 Sit thou at my right hand q. d. sit on thy own Throne by me go on to judge the Nations I will not judge them but only in thee and by thee Lo I have committed all judgment unto the Son and do thou judge them until thou hast rewarded thy friends and made thine enemies thy footstool Mark He hath committed all judgment unto the Son the Father gives the Son a Commission wherein is written as it were these words My Son now is the time or season which I had put in my own power and my pleasure is 2 Pet. 3.10 13. that all the world shall be set on fire these heavens under thee shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up and I will have new heavens and a new earth wherein shall dwell righteousness go too then put on thy robes appear in thy glory empty thiâ— heaven of all those glorious spirits that are therein and let them wait on thee to thy judgment seat go pass thy doom upon all flesh and send reprobates to hell and bring up hither all thy Saints that they may live with thee and here behold thy glory for ever and ever Lo here is thy commission be gone and return no more hither until it be accomplished Christians I cannot but wonder at this joy and exultation in Heaven Vse and that we have so little or none of this on earth we say with cold lips and frozen hearts Thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven but if our prayers were real and fervent if we could but imitate those heavenly Citizens what longings would be in our hearts after Christ's coming how should we rejoyce at the very thoughts hereof Christ comforting his Disciples in respect hereof he speaks these words Luke 21.28 When these things begin to come to pass then look up said he and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh The fulness of our redemption is a ground of consolation all the spirits above are sensible of this God and Christ and the Angels and Saints rejoyce Rev. 12.19 Ver. 20. and again rejoyce The Spirit and the Bride say come and Christ himself saith Surely I come quickly O let us say Amen to it Even so come Lord Jesus SECT II. Of Christ coming to judgment 2. FOr Christ's coming to judgment no sooner Christ prepared and all in readiness but down he descends from his Imperial throne to the Judgment-seat In this passage I shall observe these particulars 1. He descends with his Train He comes with his Royal Attendants out of Heaven This is the glory of a Prince that hath so many Nobles waiting on him and this is the glory of Jesus Christ that when he comes to judge the world he shall have his Saints and Angels the glory of the creation to be his Attendants in that work Behold the Lord comes with mighty Angels 2 Thes 1.7 Jude 14. Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all Certainly a numberless number shall wait upon him Daniel tells us of a thousand thousand that this day Minister unto Christ A thousand thousands ministred unto him Dan. 7.10 and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him or if Heaven have more I believe Heaven will empty it self of all the Saints and all the Angels not one Spirit whether Saint or Angel shall stay behind when Christ descends Matth. 25.31 The Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him Oh what a glorious day will this be if one Sun make the morning Sky so glorious what a bright shining and glorious morning will that be when so many thousands of Suns shall shine over all our heads the glorious Body of our Christ surpassing them all in splendor and glory here 's a new Heaven of Sun and Stars such as this nether-world never saw Lo yond the Sun of righteousness with all his Morning-stars singing and shouting for joy Heaven now empties it self of all its created Citizens and cleaves asunder to make way for Christ and all his Train Matth. 24.29 2. In his descent through the Heavens he shakes the Heavens And the powers of the heaven shall be shaken The whole frame of Heaven most strong and immutable in its being and motion or the mighty bodies thereof most mighty in their substance lastingness motion and operation shall be shaken I know by the powers of heaven some mean the Angels who at this wonderful descent of Christ shall admire and move but I rather think the Heavens themselves are meant hereby whose very nature shall be moved Job 26.11 and shaken at that day At his nod the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished As yet they are Subject to vanity and therefore 't is no wonder if at the coming of Christ they tremble and are moved In this moving or shaking the Evangelists adds that the glorious lights of Heaven shall be altered Matth. 24.29 The Sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light Adventum Christi tantam lucem allaturam ut ea solis lunae splendor obscuretur Aretius in loc Certissimum autem diem judicii magna majestate sore ut rede sol luna dicantur obscurandi Aretius in loc Psal 50.3 and the Stars shall fall Many interpretations are given of this I am not for Allegories but rather conceive these things are real the very coming of Christ shall bring with him such a light that the splendor of the Sun and Moon shall be obscured this is most certain saith Aretius that both Sun and Moon shall really be darkened at that day it is the glory of his Majesty that will dazle those Candles 3. As he passes through the Elementary world a fire doth usher him Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very
to his Saints more then ever before In this respect might I say if any person in the Trinity receives more honour than other Christ should have most Rev. 5.13 every Creature which is in heaven heard I say blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever not only unto God but particularly to the Lamb for ever and ever It is true that God only and God fully and God immediately is all in all but doth that hinder that Jesus Christ is not also only fully and immediately all in all see how the Scripture joyns them together Rev. 21.22 23. which plainly argues that they may consist I saw no Temple in the City for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it and the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God does lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Now then as I have spoken of God so that I may speak of Christ and conclude all with Christ I assert this Doctrine that the glory of Christ which the Saints shall behold in Christ to all eternity is their all in all In the discussion of which I shall open these particulars 1. What is the glory of Christ 2. How the Saints shall behold his glory 3. Wherein is the comprehensiveness of this expression that the beholding of Christ is our all in all 1. What is the glory of Christ I answer that the glory of Christ is either humane or divine 1. There is an humane glory which in time was more especially conferred upon his manhood 2. There is an essential or divine glory which before time and after time even from everlasting to everlasting issueth from the God-head I shall speak to both these that we may rather take a view of Christ in those glories as we are able wherein he will appear to his Saints as their all in all to all Eternity 1. For his humane glory that is either in regard of his Soul or body for his Soul Christ was from the first instant of his conception full of glory because even then he received grace not by measure as we do but as comprehension he had the clear vision of God even as the Angels of heaven which arose from that hypostatical union of two natures at his first conception It is true that by the special dispensation of God the fullness of thy accompanying that glory was with-held from Christ in the time of his passion and the redundancy of glory from his soul unto his body was totally deferred until the exaltation of Christ but Christ no sooner exalted and set on the right hand of God but immediately the interruption of joy in his soul and the interception of glory from his soul to his body was altogether removed Then it was that his soul was filled with all joy solace pleasure which could possibly flow from the sight of an object so infinitely pleasing as is the essence Majesty and glory of God And then it was that his body was replenished with as much glory as was proportionable unto the most vast capacity of any creature not only his soul but his body is a glorious Creature it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a body of glory that is a most glorious body in it self And the spring of glory unto others ought not Christ to have suffered these things Luk. 24.26 and so to enter into his glory it is called his glory as if it were appropriated unto him as the most eminent subject and principal efficient of glory as if he had the monopoly of glory all the glory in heaven is in some sort his glory Surely Christ's manhood is exalted unto an higher degree of glory than the most glorious Saint or Angel ever was or shall be principalities powers mights and dominions fall short of his glory But some object that the mediatory office of Christ shall wholly cease and that the body and soul of Christ shall then be annihilated Indeed this was the opinion of Eutiches that the human nature of Christ should be changed or converted into the divine and thus he interprets that Scripture then shall the Son also himself be subject that God may be all in all what is this subjection saith he but a conversion of the Creature into the very substance 1 Cor. 15.28 or essence of the Creatour himself Vt ipsam subjectionem communicationem conversionem credat futuram creaturae in ipsam substantiam vel essentiam creatoris Aug. de Trinit lib. 1 c. 8. Aret. in loco Job 19.27 2 Thes 1.10 But we deny the interpretation the Son as man shall be subject and yet the manhood of Christ shall still remain it is true that his Mediatory office shall wholly cease but it follows not that therefore the manhood of Christ shall be converted or changed into the Deity there may be other reasons for the continuation of his human nature besides the execution of his Mediatory office As 1. That the lustre of his Deity might shine through his humanity and that thereby our very bodily eyes may come to see God as much as is possible for any creature to see him I shall see him saith Job not with other but with these same eyes 2. That the Saints may see how the power of an infinite God can conveigh the lustre of his Deity into a Creature upon this account I verily believe that Angels and Men will be continually viewing of Jesus Christ he shall come to be admired of the Saints he shall be admired as we have heard at the Judgment-day nor is that all but the Saints in heaven shall see with their eyes such excellencies in Christ as that they shall admire for ever I say for ever as much as they did at the first moment when they saw him here if we see any thing excellent we admire at first but after a while we do not so but in heaven there will be so much excellency in Christ that we shall admire as much to all Eternity as we did at the very first moment there will be no abatement in glory of our being taken with the sight of the glory in Jesus Christ 3. That Christ by his humanity may converse more freely and familiarly with his brethren in his Fathers house oh the intimacy that will be there betwixt Jesus Christ and his Christian Saints oh the mutual rejoycing and delight that will be there betwixt Jesus Christ and his dearest darlings as Christ from Eternity rejoyced in the habitable part of his Earth so will the Saints his habitable Earth to all eternity rejoyce in Christ the eye of the Saints in glory can never be off Christ as Mediator and God now the eye of the Saints in glory shall never be off Christ as God and Mediatour then Thus far of his human glory 2. For his Essential divine glory it is that
and destroys the sense as the Sun by its brightness darkens the eye and other things by mighty sounds bring deafness to the ear Paul indeed had a vision of glory but because his faculties were not glorified he was he knew not how whether in the body or out of the body whether alive or dead he did not know certainly the sight of the glory of the other world would amaze distract and destroy us if we had a sight of it as now we are but in heaven the eye shall have great pleasure in beholding the brightest light because it shall be advanced to the highest pitch of strength that may be 2. As the eye shall be glorified so it shall act in a glorified body and this will make the sight of the glory of Christ in stead of hurting us to leave upon us a more sweet enlivening and powerful impression By this means all the impediments that hinder the conveyance of divine influences from that heavenly object will be removed To illustrate this let the most excellent sight be set before a man that is defective in his bodily state and it doth not take him what should a sick man do with such things he makes nothing of the most pleasant gardens orchards buildings nor of the most glorious sights that are when he is sick they are but sick things to him and of none effect but in heaven the body shall be glorified and stript of all corruptions and imperfections so that there shall be no bar unto the influences of the glory of Christ which shall there be seen 3. As there shall be a glorified eye acting in a glorified body so it shall be acted by a glorified Spirit the eye is but the organ or instrument of sight and without the spirit would conveigh no more then a glass doth it is the Spirit of a man that gives life to vision it is the Spirit of a man that discovers things and sets them forth in their worth vertues ends now in heaven the spirit of men shall be glorified and enabled to perform all those offices in perfection so that when a man shall look on the man Christ Jesus by vertue of a glorified spirit he shall see more know more taste more than any other can As a man of understanding when he looks on a diamond or a wedge of gold he hath other apprehensions of it and a further touch upon his spirit then a beast or a child in a cradle hath so where the sight of the eye is acted by a glorified mind it takes in more from the sight of every thing which is to be seen unexpressibly more then what can be done here by the most sanctified Spirit in the World Now in these respects Christ's glorified body though it be the brightest visible thing in the Heaven of Heavens yet may it be the object of the eye of Saints for they shall have glorified eyes in glorified bodies and acted by their glorified spirits 2. There is a mental vision a sight of Christ by the eyes of our understandings and surely this exceeds the former the eye of the body is only on the body of Christ but the eye of the soul is on the body and soul on the Humanity and Deity of Jesus Christ This is the very top of heaven when Saints shall be illightned with a clear and glorious sight of Christ as God Divines usually call it Beatifical vision Quest But how shall Saints behold the glorious Essence or God-head of Christ Answ 1. Some say Christ as God or the God-head of Christ shall be known by the Humanity of Christ such a lustre of his Deity shall shine through his humanity as that thereby and by no other means shall the Essential glory of Christ appear 2. Others say That besides the Humanity of Christ there shall be a species representing the Divine Essence of Christ and a light of glory elevating the understanding by a Supernatural strength and that thereby the glorious Essence of Christ shall be discovered 3. Others say That the Divine Essence shall be represented to the glorified understanding not by Christs humanity nor by any species but immediately by it self yet they also require a light of glory to elevate and fortifie the understanding by reason of its weakness and infinite disproportion and distance from the incomprehensible Deity 4. Others hold that to the clear vision of Christ as God there is not required a sight of Christ's humanity as the first suppose nor a species representing the Divine Essence as the second suppose nor any created light elevating the understanding as the third suppose but only a change of the natural order of knowing It is sufficient say they that the Divine Essence be immediately represented to a created understanding which though it cannot be done according to the order of nature as experience tells us for so we conceive things as first having passed the sense and imagination yet it may be done according to the order of Divine grace I shall not enter into these Scholastical disputes 1 Cor. 13.12 Rev. 22.4 it is enough for a sober man to know that in heaven we shall see him face to face his Servants shall serve him and they shall see his face Quest His face what 's that I answer Answ 1. They shall see Christ as God of the same Essence with the Father and the holy Ghost and yet a distinct Person from them both they shall see the Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity they shall see how the Son is begotten of the Father and how the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son they shall see the difference between the generation of the Son and procession of the Spirit These are mysteries in which we are blind and know very little or nothing but in seeing his face we shall see all these 2. They shall see Christ at their first being or principle of all the good that is in the World they shall see how all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made they shall see all the good in the creature as flowing from Christ John 1.3 and as contained in the absolute perfection of Christ's Divine Nature they shall see in one Christ all the excellencies of all the creatures united which is indeed to see him in his eminency if there be any beauty riches honour goodness in any creature that is eminently transcendently and originally in Christ and that shall be seen 3. They shall see Christ in all his ways counsels decrees executions transactions from everlasting to everlasting that great business of Election and Reprobation will then be discovered it is an expression of Augustine They shall then see the reason why one is Elected and another Reprobated why one is rich and another poor they shall then see all the works that ever God did or that ever God will do it is not yet Six thousand years since
our hearts are as it were Seas of corruptions yet we must daily cleanse our selves of them by little and little Christ could not have been a fit Saviour for us unless first he had been sanctified neither can we be fit Members unto him unless we be in some measure purged from our sins and sanctified by his Spirit To this purpose is that of the Apostle I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that ye present your Bodyes a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God Rom. 12.1 In the Old Testament they did after a corporal manner slay and kill Beasts presenting them and offering them unto the Lord but now we are in a spiritual manner to crucify and mortifie the flesh with the affections and lusts all our inordinate passions all our evil affections of anger love joy hatred are to be crucified and all that is ours must be given up to God there must be no love in us but of God and in reference to God no Joy in us but in God and in reference to God no fear in us but of God and in reference to God and thus of all other the like passions O that we would look to Jesus and be like unto Jesus in this thing if there be any Honour any Happiness any Excellency it is in this even in this we are not fit for any holy duty or any religious approach unto God without sanctification 1 Thes 4.5 this is the Will of God saith the Apostle even your Sanctification All the commands of God tend to this and for the comfort of us Christians we have under the Gospel promises of sanctification to be in a larger measure made out unto us Zech. 14.20 21. In that day there shall be upon the Bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord yea every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be Holiness unto the Lord every Vessel under Christ and the Gospel must have written upon it Holiness to the Lord thus our spiritual services figured by the Ancient Ceremonial services are set out by a larger measure of holiness than was in old time it is a sweet resemblance of Christ to be holy Acts 4.27 for so he is stiled the holy Child Jesus he was sanctified from the womb and sanctified in the womb for our imitation for their sakes I sanctifie my self saith Christ that they also might be sanctified John 17.19 3. Christ the son of man is by nature the son of God so we poor sons of men must by Grace become the sons of God even of the same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 4.4 5 7. for this very end God sent his own Son made of a woman that we might receive the Adoption of Sons wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a Son then an heir of God through Christ This intimates that what relation Christ hath unto the Father by nature we should have the same by Grace by nature he is the only begotten Son of the Father and as many as received him saith John John 1.14 V. 12. to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name It is true Christ reserves to himself the preheminence Rom. 8.29 he is in a peculiar manner the first born among many Brethren yet in him and for him all the rest of the brethren are accounted as first borns Exod. 4.22 23. So God bids Moses say unto Pharoah Israel is my son even my first born And I say unto thee let my Son go that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy Son even thy first-born And the whole Church of God consisting of Jew and Gentile is in the same sort described by the Apostle to be the General Assembly and Church of the first-born enrolled in Heaven Heb. 12.23 Rom. 8.17 by the same reason that we are sons we are first-borns if we are Children then are we heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ O who would not endeavour after this priviledg who would not conform to Christ in this respect 4. Christ the Son of God was yet the Son of Man there was yet in him a duplicity of Natures really distinguished and in this respect the greatest Majesty and the greatest humility that ever was are found in Christ so we though sons of God must remember our selves to be but sons of men our priviledges are not so high but our poor conditions frailties infirmities sins may make us low who was higher than the Son of God and who was lower than the son of man as he is God he is in the bosom of his Father as he is man he is in the Womb of his Mother as he is God his Throne is in Heaven and he fills all things by his emmensity as he is man he is circumscribed in a cradle I mean a Manger a most uneasy Cradle sure as he is God he is cloathed in a robe of Glory as he is man he is wrapped in a few course swadling bands as he is God he is encircled with millions of bright Angels as he man he is in company of Joseph and Mary and the Beasts as he is God he is the eternal Word of the Father all-sufficient and without need as he is man he submits himself to a condition imperfect inglorious indigent and necessitous well let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men and being founded in fashion as a man he humble himself he that thought it no robbery to be equal with God humbled himself to become man we should have found it no robbery to be equal with Devils and are we too proud to learn of God what an intolerable disproportion is this to behold an humble God and a proud man who can endure to see a Prince on foot and his Vassal mounted shall the Son of God be thus humble for us and shall not we be humble for our selves I say for our selves that deserve to be cast down amongst the lowest Worms the damnedst Creatures What are we in our best condition here on earth had we the best natures purest conversations happiest indowments that accompany the Saints pride overthrows all it thrust proud Nebuchadnezzer out of Babel proud Haman out of the Court proud Saul out of his Kingdom proud Lucifer out of Heaven poor man how ill it becomes thee to be proud when God himself is become thus humble O learn of me saith Christ for I am meek and humble and lowly in spirit Math. 11.29 and you shall find rest unto your souls 5. The two natures of Christ though really distinguished yet were they inseparably joyned and made not