mediatory one generall the other speciall which some of late have devised but that he makes Intercession for all and every of them that are given unto him of the Father and only for them and that his Intercession is ever certain and effectuall as when he saith to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not and to all the Luke 2â— â—2 Joh. 14. 10. Apostles I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever And when we heare from Christ himselfe that according to the proper office of his Mediatorship he makes Intercession only for them that are given unto him of the Father we may conclude that in speciall manner he offered up himself a sacrifice to the Father for them only Other arguments are alleadged for confirmation of this truth which who list may reade at large in sundry Treatises of this matter â— but it would be too long to insist upon each particular therefore here I will breake off this controversie and proceede to that which followeth in this intended discourse CHAP. III. How Christ hath fulfilled the office of Mediatour or how he is the Mediatour of the New Testament IN the fulnesse of time the eternall Sonne of God took unto him our nature and became God and Man in one person that he might be an equall middle person between God and man The necessity of a Mediatour appeares in this that man is guilty and God true and righteous If man had continued in his integrity he had stood in no need of an expiation if God had been unrighteous in the passages of mans sinne there had been due unto him no just debt of satisfaction But seeing man created good but mutable did willingly and by voluntary choice transgresse that Law under the precepts whereof he was most justly created and unto the malediction whereof he was as necessarily and righteously subject if he transgressed and God was purposed not to suffer sinne to passe utterly unrevenged because of his great hatred thereunto and of his truth and the Law which he had established against it of necessity either God must execute the severity of his Law whereby the creature should everlastingly loose the fruition of him and he should likewise loose the service and voluntary subjection of his creature or some course or other must be found out to translate this mans sinnes on anothers person who may be able to beare them and to interest this mans person in that others righteousnesse which may be able to cover him Of necessity a Mediatour must be found out to stand between God and man who must have one unto whom and others for whom and in whose behalfe and somewhat wherewith to make satisfaction to offended justice In regard of God towards man he must be an officer to declare his righteousnesse and in regard of man toward God a surety ready to procure pardon and deliverance not by favour or request but by way of satisfaction He must be one with us in the fellowship of our nature passions infirmities and temptations that so he might the more readily suffer for us who in so many things suffered with us and one with God the Father in his divine nature that so by the vertue of his sufferings and resurrection he might be able both to satisfie justice to justifie our persons to sanctifie our nature to purifie and perfume our services to raise our dead bodies and to present us to his Father a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle He must be man pure and undefiled man that he might suffer it being no way fit that one having no communion with another should make satisfaction by suffering for anothers fault Man pure and undefiled otherwise he could not have satisfied for himself much lesse for them that had so grievously offended He must be man that he might have compassion on them that come unto God through him and pure and undefiled that his Sacrifice being pure and without spot might be acceptable and pleasing to provoked justice He must be God that he might beare the weight of Gods wrath without sinking under it be the King and Head of the Church defend his people against the enemies of their Salvation send forth his Spirit into the hearts of his redeemed and receive from them such divine worship as was due to so great and gracious a Saviour He must be man our neere kinsman that he might have right of redemption be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in all things like unto his brethren He must be God that by his death he might overcome death and him that had the power of death that is the devill free us from the guilt of sinne and curse of the Law and preserve his redeemed unto his everlasting Kingdome He must be God and man in one person and so of a middle condition between God and us in that both the natures of God and man doe concurre and are conjoyned in his person that he might joyne God and man in a firme and stable Covenant of friendship and reconciliation and be the root fountaine and beginning of supernaturall and spirituall being in whom the whole natâ—â—â— of mankind should be found in a more eminent sort then it was in Adam The horrour of sinne was so grievous the curse of the Law so terrible the price of redemption so great that a meeâ— creature could not take away the one or pay the other and that man might not fall away as he had done under the former Covenant our Mediatour who was the foundation of this new Covenant did assume our humane nature unto his divine person Therefore the eternall Sonne of God being ordained of the Father to this office of Mediatorship that he might intercede between God and man and joyne God and man in one did assume our nature into the unity of his person and was born of a woman that he might save and call sinners and redeeme them who were under the Law Gal. 4. 4. and shut up under the curse of the Law The second person in Trinity the Son of God by nature the Image of the Father by whom all things were made was made man that he might renew what was disordered by sinne and make us the sonnes of God by grace and adoption who were by nature the children of wrath it being fit our redemption should be wrought by the Sonne and sealed by the holy Spirit For whereas a double mission was necessary the one to reconcile the other to give gifts to reconciled friends the Father being of none sent his Sonne the first proceeding person to take our nature and make satisfaction the Father and the Sonne both send the Spirit the second proceeding person to seale up them that Christ hath redeemed by his bloud And who was fitter to become the Sonne of man then he that was by nature the Sonne of God who could be fitter to make us the Sonnes of God
by grace and adoption then he that was the Sonne of God by nature who fitter to repaire the Image of God decayed in us then he by whom at first man was made after the Image of God Thus Christ was a fit and equall middle person conjoyned by the bands of friendly society and peaceable agreement with both the parties God and men that he might be a Mediatour of reconciliation and peace betweene God and man He tooke unto him the sanctified nature of man that therein he might draw neere unto men and be the root of them that are sanctified and retained the nature of God that so he might not depart from God Here it is questioned according to which nature Christ is Mediatour whether as man only or as God and man That he is a Mediatour according to the concurrence of both natures in the unity of his person it is confessed by all for if he were not both God and man he could not mediate between God and man but whether he be a Mediatour according to both natures concurring in the worke of Mediation there be some that make question Our resolution is that Christ is Mediatour according to both natures the humane nature doing that which pertained to the humanity Bellar. de Christ lib. 5. cap. 7. § Potest tamen and the divine nature that which pertained to the divinity but the humane and divine both concurring to produce one act or work of Mediatorship As the divine and humane nature concurre to make one Christ so the acts of the divine and humane Plura principia ad operationem unam possunt concurrere Lun ibid. cap. 7. not 1. nature distinct in vertue and operation by co-operation concurre to make up the same work of Mediation Some of the works of Christ the Mediatour were the works of his humanity in respect of the thing done and had their efficacy dignity and value from his divinity in that they were the works of him that had the divinity dwelling bodily in him and some the works of his divinity the humane nature concurring only instrumentally as the remitting of sins the giving of the Spirit the raising of the dead and such like The works of Ministery the Sonne of God Iâ—n cont 2. l. 5. cap. 5. not 29. performed them in the nature of man It was the Sonne of God and Lord of life that died for us on the Crosse but it was the nature of man not of God wherein he died The works of Authority and power were all performed by the divine nature yet not without an instrumentall concurrence of the nature of man Christ suffered as man but the divine nature did support and sustaine the humane He died as man as God he overcame death conquered and rose againe as man he was made an offering for our sins the worth and value of the Sacrifice was from the divinity The two natures in Christ be distinct in their essence and Iâ—n Paral. lib. 3. in cap. 9. Hebr. properties and so in their operations that we must not imagine one action of both natures but as the natures be united in one person so the operations concurre to make up one work of a Mediatour Many chiefe necessary and essentiall acts concerning our Iun. animad in Bell. contr 2. l. 5. ca. 3. not 9 reconciliation with God are from the Deity of Christ as from the next proper immediate and formall beginning The Incarnation of Christ is from the Deity which did assume the humanity which when it was not could not assume it selfe The manifestation of God was a work truly divine from the humanity of Christ as an instrument from the Deity as the true cause Christ as Joh. 1. 18. Matt. 11. 27. man teacheth as an instrument and Christ the Word teacheth as Mediatour for he is not only Mediatour who supplyeth the roome of an instrument but the Deity did move the humanity as his instrument that is personally united and not as anothers Joh. 10. 18. To lay down his life passively belongs to the flesh to lay down his life or soule actively to the word The resurrection of Christ is Iun. ibid. cap. 6. not 1. Rom. 8. 34 and 4 25. Rom. 1. 4. Mar. 2. 10. Joh. 15. 26. and 16. 7. an essentiall part of our Redemption but Christ rose not by the propriety of his flesh but by the power of his Deity Christ as Mediatour performed many divine acts but the humanity alone cannot be the beginning of a divine act as Christ as Mediatour hath authority to forgive sins to send the holy Spirit not meritoriously alone as Bellarmine distinguisheth but efficiently to conjoyne us unto God and bring us to salvation Christ as Mediatour is the King and Head of his Church which dignity and office Meritum Meâ—â—ationâ—â— est Mediatio personae cannot agree to him that is meere man For the Head is to give influence of sence and motion unto the body and Christ gives supernaturall sence and motion unto his mysticall body and that both by way of efficiency and by way of disposition fitting us that an impression of grace may be made upon us He prepareth and fitteth men to the receipt of grace by the acts of his humanity A tâ—ta quidem Trinitate datur Spirituâ— sed ad personam Mediatoris haec actio terminatur quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he suffered death and dying satisfied Gods wrath removed all matter of dislike procured the favour and acceptation of God and so made men fit to receive the grace of God and to enjoy his favour He imparteth and conferreth grace by the operation and working of his divine nature it being the proper worke of God to enlighten the understandings of men and to soften their hearts If it be alleadged that there is nothing that one person of the Trinity doth towards the creatures but they all doe it and consequently that those things which Christ did in his divine nature pertained not to the office of a Mediatour being common to all the Persons The answer is though the action be the same and the worke done by them yet they differ in the manner of doing it For the Father doth all things authoritativè and the Son subauthoritativè as the Schoole-men speake that is the Father as he from whom and of whom are all things the Son as he by whom are all things not as â—y an instrument but a principall efficient And in this sort to quicken give life and to impart the Spirit of Sanctification to whom he pleaseth especially with a kind of concurring of the humane nature meriting desiring and instrumentally assisting is proper to the Son of God manifested in our flesh and not common to the whole Trinity As the second person in Trinity did assume our nature and not the Father or the holy Ghost and as Christ is the Head of the Church not the Father or the holy Spirit so he
doth give life and sence to the body and not the whole Trinity If the speciall Offices of Christ be considered severally much more if all of them be considered joyntly it will evidently appeare that both natures must necessarily concurre in the formall execution of them For he cannot worthily performe the office of the chiefe Doctor of the whole Church and heavenly Prophet nor execute the office of an eternall high Priest that is offer a Sacrifice truly propitiatory daily heare the prayers of all his people and present them before God nor exercise kingly power and authority in heaven and earth who worketh to the forme of meere humanitie or onely as he is man When in those offices there must be a divine excellencie and efficacie The end of personall union is the administration of his office Qualis substantia personae tâ—â— liâ— operatie qualis operatio talis substantia and the personall union of two natures in Christ had not been necessary unlesse both had concurred as a formall beginning to that worke For every agent necessarily worketh according to and by its forme whence it followeth either that the person of the Mediatour doth not consist of two natures or both natures of Christ as proper formes doe necessarily concurre to the proper works of a Mediatour because the proper operations must be conjoyned in one worke of a Mediatour as both natures are joyned and united in one person There is one God saith the Apostle and one 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus adding the man Christ to shew that in him were both natures that is he was God and man in one person and so a fit middle person or Mediatour And man may be taken personally not naturally it being most usuall to name the whole person of Christ from either 1 Cor. 2 â— nature as he is called the Lord of glory when his person is understood And so in this place the man Christ that is that person Iaâ— animad in Bell. contr l. 5. 6. 3. not 11 12. who hath that nature by which he is truly called man and of that appellation there may be divers weighty reasons more amongst the rest this that the Apostle would encourage us to put our trust and confidence in him as being our elder brother By voluntary dispensation Christ is Mediatour as God incarnate and not by nature as God And according to that dispensation Christ Joh. 17. 3 and 14. 1. 1 Joh. 2 1 2. is Mediatour to the Father who is personally called God sometimes in this respect and distinguished from Christ as Mediatour and Christ is our Advocate to the Father but never represented in Scripture praying to the Son or holy Spirit but the Father only which dispensation is carefully to be observed from which we must not depart upon any vain speculation which humane curiosity might suggest A Mediatour must be a middle person equally distant and equally drawing nigh to both parties betwixt whom he doth mediate Bellarm. de Christ l. 5. c. 2. §. Praeterâ—a Ille solus est verè medius inter Deum hominem cum utriusq naturam habeat And thus Christ God incarnate is a fit middle person for he draws as neare to the Father as God as to us as man and is as farre distant from God as he is man as he is from us as God and he comes as neare to the Father as he departeth from us and comes as neare to us as he doth to the Father But Christ as a just man is not so a middle person for he comes not so nigh to the Father as just as he doth to us as man nor is so farre distant from us as just as he comes nigh to us as man Then as Mediatour he should be joyned to the Father in will only but in nature dis-joyned and be distant from man not in nature but in quality only then should he be Mediatour not as substantially one with the Father but only as he is united to him in will If it be alleadged that if Christ be Mediatour as God incarnate then he is Mediatour to himselfe because he is God and then also he should differ from himselfe because a Mediatour is a middle person We answer it is not necessary a thing should differ from the Iun. ibid. cap. 5. not 1 3 5 15. extreames according to all that in respect whereof it is of a middle condition but it is sufficient if it differ in some thing from one and in some thing from another as is before explained So the Son of God incarnate by voluntary dispensation differeth not only from the Father and the holy Ghost but from himselfe as God only scil as man he differeth from himselfe as God and as God from himselfe as man The whole Trinity being offended with us for sin was to be pacified but the Scripture teacheth Christ was our Mediatour to the Father and we must silence our conceits and learne of God what to believe And assuredly if the Father be reconciled the whole Trinity is reconciled And further it may be added that he who according to absolute essence or nature is the partie offended may according to voluntary dispensation sustaine the person and doe the office of a Mediatour and so Christ was primarily a Mediatour to the Father for us and by consequence and secundarily to the whole Trinity and so to himselfe as God It is further objected if Christ be Mediator according to his divine nature then all three persons in Trinity be Mediatours but this is a meere deceit for the divine nature is taken essentially for the divine nature common to Father Son and holy Ghost or personally for the divine essence considered distinctly in the Father Son and holy Ghost In the latter sence we say Christ according to his divine nature is our Mediator as he was incarnate and did assume our nature unto his divine person and not the Father or the holy Ghost But then it will be said he was inferiour to the Father In office it is true by voluntary dispensation he is inferiour but in nature Iun. ibid. not 13. he is equall to the Father and nothing hinders but one equall to another in nature may by voluntary and free choice under-take Phil 2. 6 7. an office of inferiority Being in the forme of God he humbled himselfe The Scripture teacheth expressely that God the Father Joh. 1. 18. 3. 16. 3. 13. Rom. 5. 8. Ephes 1. 7. Col. 1. 14. 1 Joh. 1. 7. â— 1. 4. 10. Act. 20. 28. gave his only begotten Son to death for us and the only begotten or proper Son of God according to both natures and in both states is said to administer his office the property of either nature observed as also the only begotten Son of God is said to descend from heaven to earth for our sakes and to suffer death for us
flagging helps them in their sinking and falling upholds them Therefore also Gods right hand is called the right hand of Majestie Heb. 1. 3. and the right hand of power Luk. 22. 69. To sit properly betokeneth a site of body opposite to standing or moving but figuratively it signifieth to rest stay dwell inhabite rule or governe as Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seeke after that I may sit or dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life 1 King 1. 30. He shall sit upon my See Luke 24. 49. Ruth 1. 4. Matt. 23. 2. throne in my stead Prov. 20 8. A King that sitteth in the throne of judgement scattereth away all evill with his eyes Isai 16. 5. And in mâ—rcy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth To stand or sit at the right hand is an usuall phrase in Scripture By the former divers things are notâ—d First to resist oppose or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hinder the endeavours of any one Psal 109. 6. Let Satâ—n stand at his right hand scil to stay or hinder that it might not move to infringe or weaken his endeavours Zech. 3. 1. And he shewed me Ioshua the high Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him Secondly to assist defend protect against enemies and manifold Vid. 1 Chron. 6. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 16. 10. dangers whereunto men are subject He shall stand at the right hand of the poore to save him from those that condâ—mne his soule Psal 109. 31. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Thirdly they are said to stand at the right hand that obtaine the next degree of honour with him at whose hand they are said to stand Psal 45. 9. Vpon thy right hand did stand the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Queen in gold of O phyr For the second Great Kings and Princes doe set them at their right hands whom they specially love favour or honour and whom they mind to advance to the chiefe degrees of power and authority under them or to be as it were in their stead and in office to represent their person The King rose up to meet Bathsheba and bowed himselfe unto her and sate down on his Throne and caused a seat to be set for the Kings mother and she sate on his right hand Ad dextram Dei sedere est proximam post Deum potesta tem habere Verbum sedere Regni significat potestatem Hieron in Eph. cap. 1. 1 King 2. 19. To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Matth. 20. 21 23. By Christs sitting at the right hand of his Father is noted that great honour and glory plenitude of power and judiciarie office or dominion which God the Father hath given unto his Sonne after his manifestation in the flesh in his Nativity and justification by the Spirit in his Resurrection for then amongst other dignities he was received up into glory 1 Tim. 3. 10. It may be described the highest and supreme degree of Christs exaltation wherein he hath received of the Father excellent glory dignity power and dominion and is actually made the head of his Church and Lord and Ruler of all things both in heaven and earth Who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. 3. 22. He hath sâ—t him on his own right hand in the heavenly places farre above all principalities and power and â—ight and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 20 21 22. Thâ—u hast put all things in subjection under him he left nothing that is not yet put under him Heb. 2. 7 8 9. Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand Heb. 1. 13. which the Apostle expounds He must raigne till he hath put all enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15. 25. By this sitting at the right hand of the Father not the propriety of his humane nature but the exceeding glorious state of his person is signified We have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majestie in the heavens Heb. 8. 1. Set downe at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12. 2. His divine nature could not possibly receive any intrinsecall improvement or glory all fulnesse of glory essentially belonging thereunto but so farre forth as it was humbled for the administration of his office so farre it was re-advanced He emptied and humbled himselfe not by emptying and putting off his divine glory but by suffering it to be over-shadowed with the similitude of sinfull flesh and to be humbled under the forme of a servant and he is magnified at Gods right hand as he doth manifest and shew forth his divine glory in his humane nature which before was covered and shadowed therewith as with a vaile And how-ever we cannot say the Deity or divine nature was exalted in any other sense then by evident manifestation of it selfe in that man who was before despised and accused as a blasphemer for that he made himselfe equall with God yet by reason of the communication of properties from one nature to another in the unity of one person it is true that as God saved the world by his bloud and the Prince of life was crucified and the Lord lay in the Grave so God was at the right hand of Majestie exalted again The humane nature of Christ is most highly exalted as he hath obtained a new eminencie and dignity over all creatures which in respect of his humane nature he never had before he hath an ample and immediate claime to all that glory which might in the humane nature be conferred upon him This glory dignity and dominion Christ received from his Father according to his eternall decree and Covenant He sits at the right hand of his Father and from his Father he received his power authority and rule Christ is a King both by the providence and by the good will and immediate consecration of his Father The Father loveth the Sonne and hath given all things into his hand Ioh. 3. 35. He judgeth Dan. 7. 14. Matth. 11. 27. Joh. 17 2. no man but hath committed all judgement to his Sonne Ioh. 5. 22. that is hath entrusted him with the actuall administration of that power in the Church which originally belonged unto himselfe He hath made him to be Lord and Christ Act. 2. 36. and raised him up to sit on his throne ver 30.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel Christs naturall Kingdome doth belong unto him as God coeffentiall and coeternall with the Father Christs dispensatory Kingdome is his by donation as Mediatour Matt. 18. 19. Rev. 1. 1. Dedit autem haec Iesu Christo quatenuâ— Medâ—atori nou ut coessentiali filio Joh. 17. 5. Haec ordinem magiâ— docent quo Deus cognitioneâ— Ecclesiâ— impertit quam origiâ—em scientiâ— respeâ—â—â—ilii Act 5. 31. He hath ordained him to be a Iudge of quick and dead Act. 10. 4â— He hath appointed him over his own house Heb. 3. 2 6. He hath crowned him and put all things in subjection under his â—â—it Heb. 2. 7 8. He hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2. 9. Therefore he calleth him my King set up by him upon his own holy hill and that in the vertue of a solemne decree Psal 2. 6 7. Therefore to sit on the right hand of the Father doth not note glory and dominion properly divine which doth belong to the Sonne as coessentiall and coeternall with his Father and is his by nature but glory and dominion next unto that which is essentially divine which belongeth to Christ as Mediatour and which is his not by nature but by donation and unction from his Father being made the Head of his Church a Prince of Peace and King of Righteousnesse This glory and dominion was given unto Christ and so was not that eternall glory naturall and essentiall which he had with his Father before the foundations of the world This glory Christ had not before his ascension into heaven but the other as it is naturall so it was from everlasting Saint Paul and Peter doe construe it by raigning immediately over every creature till the Mysterie of our redemption shall be finished 1 Cor. 15. 25. Psal 110. 1. The setting Christ in the throne of Majestie Heb. 1. 3. and 8. 1. and 12. 2. at the right hand of the throne of God the making of him Christ and Lord Act. 2. 35 36. and 5. 31. It is not then Si sessionenâ— Christi non pro jure tantum regende ecclesiae sed pro ipso regnandi actu accipiamuâ— cooperatio illo de qua agitâ—r parâ— ipsius sessionis rectè voâ—â—bitur Mart. de person Christ p. 11 87. Psal 110. 1. Joh. 5 27. the might of divine soveraignty over the creatures which is given unto him for this doth so follow the nature of God that it is necessary with every person that hath this nature This the Son could not relinquish this he cannot be taken unto as which doth necessarily agree to him as God blessed for evermore What is it then A right of executing immediately and in a manner appropriate to this person the soveraigne dominion of God over every creature This soveraignty is given to the person of the Sonne both as God and man now ascended as God for it is a power which none that is a pure creature can take or execute As man because it is given him now ascended into heaven with his humane nature and is to be executed by him as man for his man-hood doth concurre as an instrument working with his God-head in the administration of it The meaning then of this phrase is not to be admitted to Neque per ejusdem essentiae communicationem neque per physicam aliquam transfusionem seâ— transitionem â—e subjecto in subjectum sed per solam ejusdem personae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equality to the divine nature for this Christ ever had as God and could not but have neither to be admitted into the divine blessednesse setledly to injoy it for Christ as God ever had and could not but have that essentiall beatitude Neither doth it import thus much That the humane nature of Christ is elevated to this honour that it may freely use the divine Attributes omniscience omnipresence omnipotency so as to become by them omniscient omnipresent omnipotent no lesse properly then the divine though after a manner farre otherwise the divine nature being thus by naturall necessity the humane being thus by union with the divine by gracious communication of these unto it with liberty to Non essendo sed habendo non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non per naturam sed per gratiam non in seipsa sed persona 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. use them for the perfecting of it selfe So that according to this opinion the humane nature of Christ is made omnipresent with the omnipresency of the divine nature not as a thing subjectively inhering in it but so really communicated with it that it is made truly omnipresent by it though the divine Attribute never goe forth of the nature of God in which as the proper subject they grant it immoveably inherent The ground of this errour is that they suppose upon the union of the two Vrsin tom 2. de lib Concord cap. 8. p. 598. Inseparabilis unio non inducit coextensionem duarum in Christo naturarum quippe quarum una finita est altera infinita Tâ—tâ— Christâ—â— sed non totum Christi est ubique Sicut caro habet immensitatem i. arctè câ—pulata est immenso verbo non minus verbum habet finitionem i. arctè unitum est carni fiaitae Martia de person pag 637. Dici de â—liquo requirit inesse ergo si verè praedicaâ—tur de humana natura verè etiam eideâ— inesse â—pâ—rtet sive per naturam sive per gratiam sive ut in subjecto primario sive secundariâ— natures in Christ a reall communication of divine Properties to follow as that the humane nature is made truly omnipotent or omniscient not by any confusion of Properties nor yet by any bare communion and concourse of it to the same effect each nature working that which belongeth to it with communion of the other but by a reall donation by which the divine omnipotency doth so become the omnipotency of the humane nature that it may work omnipotently with it no lesse then the divine nature doth it selfe But the union cannot cause the humane nature partake more in the Properties of the divine then it causeth the divine partake in the Properties of the humane Againe if a true and reall communication did follow of divine attributes it must needs be of all as eternity and infinitenesse seeing these are the divine essence which can no way be divided Beside in the union of soul and body which is personall the life of the soul is not communicated with the body but an effect of it only And to what end should created gifts serve when now more noble Properties doe enter Not to mention that infinite perfections cannot perfect finite natures no more then reasonable perfections can make perfect unreasonable creatures Finally this opinion maketh the divine Properties become instrumentary
every day impart unto his Church not as a materiall beginning but as an efficient In himselfe Christ shall ever have sufficiency and in respect of us perpetually redundance But the same wisdome and holinesse which Christ hath in himself he doth not infuse into us but he doth worke in us by his efficacie wisdome and holinesse answerable or proportionable in a sort Numb 11 25. With such gifts we are adorned as our head but not with so great 2 Pet. 1. 4. Christ is the annointed and doth annoint us but we are only annointed the redeemers of others we are not The fountaine of grace is in Christ alone the streame flowes to the faithfull but the streame is from the same fountaine though lesse then it Christ is annointed above his fellowes The things here compared are Gal. 4. 6. Psal 45 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chald. Plus seu amplius prae consortibus Vulg. prae particibus Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sym. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vox Gr. Heb sig participationem quamcunque rei alicujus pluribus communiâ— Heb. 7. 13. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 10. 21. Heb. 5. 13. 1 Cor. 9. 12. Christ and his fellowes and the meane wherein they are compared is the annointing for which the Lord is called Christ and we Christians together annointed not together annointing We are like to Christ and shall be liker unto him but equall in dignity we are not nor never shall be Concerning his office Christ hath no fellow he alone is Mediatour as concerning his person there is none in heaven or earth who dares to boast that he is the fellow of Christ But according to his humane nature the faithfull are his fellows whom he doth acknowledge for brethren Our union with Christ and the union of the humane nature with the Word differ in kind and in very deed but both these are freely effected of God and the one is like to the other although the one doe farre excell the other Christ is annointed as our head with most abundant grace we as his members in degree convenient for us The fulnesse of grace is of two sorts First in respect of the grace it selfe And secondly in respect of him that hath it The fulnesse of grace in respect of grace it selfe is then when one attaineth to the highest and uttermost of grace both quoad essentiam virtutem intensivè extensivè in the essence and vertue of it intensively and extensively that is when he hath it as farre forth as it may be had and to all effects and purposes whereunto grace doth or can extend it selfe as he is said to have life perfectly or the fulnesse of life that hath it not only in the essence but according to all the operations and acts of life sensitive intellectuall rationall spirituall and naturall This kind of fulnesse of grace is Tho. Sam. Tâ—eâ— par â— qu 7. Art 9. proper to Christ only The fulnesse of grace in respect of the subject or him that hath it is then when one hath grace fully and perfectly according to his estate and condition both intensively to the uttermost bound that God hath prefixed to them of such a condition and extensively in the vertue of it in that it extendeth to the doing and performing of all those things that may any way pertaine to the condition office or estate of such as are of his place and ranke Or we may say there is a fulnesse according to measure the fulnesse of a measure or vessell a fullnesse for themselves only a fulnesse of activity courage and resolution and so Luk. 1. 15. â— 55. Act. 6. 3. 1 King 7. 1â— John the Baptist Steven and others are said to be full of the holy Ghost of wisdome and understanding But fulnesse without measure like the fulnesse of light in the Sun or water in the sea which hath an unsearchable sufficiency and redundancy for the whole Church is proper to Christ alone So that as he was furnished with all spirituall endowments of wisdome judgement Eph. 4. 8. Isa 11. 2 61. 1. power love holinesse for the dispensation of his own office So from his fulnes did there run over a share and portion of all his graces unto his Church Certaine it is our Saviour from the very Col. 2. 3. Christ as man knows God more fully then all the creatures though not so fully as God is knowne of himselfe But the Apostle speaketh not of the man-hood of Christ only but of his whole person nor of his man-hood as in the time of his humiliation but of Christ now glorified In every age Christ had actually given him all such gifts as might fitly stand with the mysterie of his humiliation Luk. 2. 52. time that he tooke our nature was perfectly sanctified and received the Spirit above measure but the personall union did not endow the humane nature with the reall titles of the divine otherwise Christs strength as man should have been infinite from the wombe and his body should have been every where And it would be lesse unreasonable to say that his body is at this day infinite and his humane nature every where then that his wisdome or knowledge as man should have been infinite or as great whilst he was in the wombe as now it is If the divine nature did not communicate his infinity to the humane nor make the Son of God so compleate a man for strength or ability of body from the wombe as at thirty yeares he was what reason have we to imagine that our blessed Lord and Saviour did not as truly grow in wisdome and knowledge as he did in strength and stature of body Simple nescience can be no sin in any child nor in any man unlesse it be of those things which Tâ—â— fuit corpus unitum Dâ—â—tati quam anima Heb. 5. 8. Obedientiam didicit ex ijs quae passus est quam sc res ardua gravis sit in tam acâ—rba ignomâ—nâ—osa morte sufferenâ—a Deo parâ—re Mark 13 32. Maâ— 2â— â—9 he is bound to know but proficiency in wisdome and knowledge is to the Sons of men a praise-worthy perfection which must not be denied unto our Lord and Saviour in his infancy or his youth no more then he is to be robbed of any royall attributes now he is made King That he was without all staine of sin the most holy Sanctuary of the most holy and blessed God is stedfastly to be believed But that he had the same measure of knowledge at his circumcision which he had and gave proofe off when his Parents found him in the Temple or at his Baptisme as since his resurrection and ascension he hath this the Scripture testifieth not As man he was ignorant of the day of judgement which now in heaven he knowes as all other things pertaining to his office However therefore our Saviour had the habit of all knowledge from the beginning
yet he had not the act and use of it That which some See Maldonat in Luk. 2 40. Quod voluntatem concernit omnes virtutes taâ—e incrementum in ea accepâ—runt quale in creaturam cadere potest Jun. Thâ—ss Theolog. 29. answer that Christ by infused knowledge knew all things and after attained another kind of knowledge which they call acquisite is not so fit because knowledge acquired and infused of the same things is of the same nature and condition and two formes or qualities of one kind cannot be in the same subject The second thing implied in Christs sitting at the right hand of the Father is to be admitted into divine blessednesse setledly to enjoy it Christ as God ever had and could not but have that essentiall beatitude and that blessednesse which he receiveth as man is not to have end The good that is in an intellectuall nature is of two sorts the one of vertue the other of sweet joyfull and pleasing delight And though both these concurre sometimes as in the fruition of God in heaven wherein the perfection of vertue and fulnesse of joy and delight doe meet together yea and though every thing that is vertuous be delightfull yet it is not so much the height of vertue as of delight that is judged happinesse Now our Saviour Christ was joyned to God by the affection of vertue or justice and Vt mori corpus Christi potuit tamen cum unionem tum effâ—ctus quosdam Deâ—tatis participare Ita mori mortem suam derelinqui anima potuit tamen uniâ—ne sua hujus unionis effectis frui Can â—â—◠〈◊〉 lib. 12. cap. 1â— Maâ—donat in Mat. 26. Isa 5â— 4. Joh. 4 6. Hâ—b 4. 15. Joh. 14. 23. Prov. â—5 â—5 Chamier tom 2. lib 5. cap 20. Nullus comprehensor est obnoxius ulâ—â—s calamitatibus could not be devided or separated from him no not for a moment because he could not but love him feare him trust in him but by the affection that seeâ—eth pleasing content in enjoying those ineffable delights and pleasures that are found in God our Saviour as man might and was for a time divided from God Moreover our Saviour Christ in his life time here on earth so restrained and kept within the closet of his secret Spirit the happinesse that he enjoyed in seeing God that it should not spread farther nor communicate it selfe to the inferiour faculties of his soule or impart the brightnesse of it to the body but it was subject to misery and passion The godly in this life doe tast not only some hope of heavenly life but the first fruits of this heavenly joy The Church and every Saint is heaven the soule of the righteous is heaven Our Saviour was both viator and comprehensor blessed in this life with that blessednesse which is not to be had but in heaven but now our Saviour advanced on the right hand of God is admitted into that incomprehensible glorious setled blessednesse never to suffer the least ecclipse for one moment which doth communicate it selfe to C ham panst tom 2. lib 4. cap 4 and 5. Maâ— 17. 2. 1 Pâ—t 1. 11. Heb. 12. 2 Phil. 3. 21. Verè contrâ—stari dolere pati non potest cui divina â—eâ—tâ—tudâ— impassibilitas verè realiâ—er communicata fuit Vrsin Tom. 2. coâ—fâ—ss de person Christ pag. 407. all powers of soule and body that it is and shall remaine for ever incorruptible impatible immortall encreased with strength and nimblenesse shining with brightnesse and glory celestiall and divine Thirdly our Saviour Christ as man is taken to have prerogative before every other creature For this phrase of setting at his right hand noteth the preheminence of him as next to God himselfe that looke as one made a King hath a dignity above all persons named in his Kingdome Dukes Earles Lords So our Saviour taken up as man to this kingly dignity must needs be in preheminence before them It is no wonder for this nature essentially appertaineth to that person which made all these things visible and invisible Againe every person the nearer he is in conjunction of bloud to an earthly King the more he hath prerogatâ—ve Col. 1. 16 Joh. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 2 3. Revel 4 ult above others more dis-joyned so this created nature seeing it is made one personally with God by how much it is more nearely united by so much it is fit that it should have prerogative before others Not to speake that being heire of all things it is meet that he should be before all who are but parts of his inheritance and having more excellent endowments I meane created gifts than any other it is meet he should have the first place before all other Christ is set farre above all principality and power and might and domination which words are commonly understood of the Angels but the two first words may fitly be interpreted as names of excellency found in this present world For principalities and powers when they are put for angelical natures they are not termed so simply but with an addition to the place but these words put for humane excellencies we reade them simply without any thing added And this distribution of power named in this world and in that to come Ephes 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 principatus dicuntur Rom. 8 38. Luk. 12 â—â— Significat etiam turmas 1 Sam. 11. 11. Eph 3. 10 Sept. Job 1. 17. and 6. 1â— Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aq. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3 â— Col. 1. 16. Drâ—s praeter in Rom. 8. 38. Deod ibid. respecteth something in this enumeration fore-named the former these two first named the latter the couple following Fourthly Christ not only as God but as man hath power above Heb. 1. 2. every creature As Mediatour he hath received a power imperiall over every creature which is apparant in this that the Apostle saith Christ is so placed above all that all are subject under Ephes 1. 21. Heb. 2. 8 9. Matth. 28. 19. Duplex est Christi dominium 1. Essentiale quod ab aeterno habet commune cum Patre 2. Vicarium seu Mediatorium quod habet a Patre in cujus locum quasi succedit Camer in Heb. 1. 2. his feet To me is given all power in Heaven and earth that is power whereunto every creature is subject He speaketh of it as done because it was immediatly to be performed This person as God receiving by voluntary dispensation this honour from the Father that he should in an immediate and appropriate manner execute government over all creatures in heaven and earth the same person as man participating in this Kingly divine authority so farre that he should instrumentally concurre in executing all that judgement which Christ according to his divine nature did principally effect Though the Father and the Spirit have a right and soveraignty over the creature yet they doe not immediatly
execute this in such manner as the Sonne doth who hath received a right of executing immediatly and in a manner appropriat to his person the soveraigne dominion of God over every creature The Sonne by voluntary dispensation sent by the Father did emptie himselfe of exercising and shewing forth his right and dominion over every creature and the Father by voluntary dispensation doth resigne to the Sonne the immediate execution of all power over every creature till that time that all things be subdued under him This the Scripture doth lay downe as in regard of earthly powers Rev. 1. 5. they are subject for he is ruler of the Kings of the earth He hath this royall state written on his thigh as it were King of Kings Lord of Lords Rev. 19. 16. That he hath power over the Heb. 1. 4 6. col 2. 10. Angells is plaine both by the reverence they doe him and their obedience towards him Every knee boweth unto him the evill Angells yeeld signes of subjection either deceitfully to wrong ends or by force compelled though their state is such they cannot doe it religiously as the other And if Christ have power to send forth dispose of and imploy the Angells he hath power to take account how that he setteth them about is dischardged The evill Angells could not enter the Swine without his leave and they are subject to his judgement when the Saints shall judge the Angells what power hath Christ himselfe this way And as for the excellencies on earth they all receive their power from Christ and are at his dispose yea the Apostle saith He is crowned with glory and honour and all things are put under his feet Heb. 2. 7 8. Joh. 17. 2. Camer in Heb. 7 8. Par Ibid. Antithesis est inter Christi statuâ— sedentis aâ— dextram Patris expientu in cruce peccata nostra The Apostle speakes of that dominion which Christ received over all the creatures of God none excepted but if all things be subjected to the feet of Christ is not the humane nature every where No for the phrase in Scripture is not to be understood of subjection locall or corporall but imperiall sc that the man Christ is King of heaven and earth having all things subjected to his command This power and glory which Christ as man received is not infinite simply for then it should be the deity it selfe which he should not have had in the state of humiliation but the deity he had before not by habituall infusion but by personall union And if Christ by vertue of the hypostaticall union had received all fulnesse of the God-head that is all divine Properties as some interpret it it is not possible he should have received greater or more ample glory for greater then that which is infinite cannot be bestowed But the Scripture speaketh expressely that Christ as man was truly and really glorified or that he obtained that glory and Majesty which before he had not sc as man And if the humane nature be infinite or eternall of necessity the Incarnation of Christ and sitting at the right hand of the Father must be really the same if they be not abolished and the humane nature made equall unto if not the same with the divine The right hand of God absolutely considered must not so be interpreted as if it was all one with the phrase of sitting at the right hand of God For by the right hand of God is signified his power wisedome protection providence c. but by the other the exaltation of Christ and communication of Majesty and rule which he may exercise and shew forth every where without the omnipresence of his humane nature Neither are we to imagine that Christ hath all things or places or times so subjected to himselfe that he doth forth-with change their natures by this subjection Col. 1. 19. â— â— Vorst Deo placuerit in Christo â— per Christum iâ—habitare totam pleniâ—udinem be totam ecclesiam much lesse that he doth make them to be and not to be at the same time as to make all places to be one indivisible title or all times to be one point for so it should be divisible and indivisible the same and not the same together It is objected that the fulnesse of the God-head dwelleth bodily in Christ that is the whole essence Majesty and glory of God dwelleth in the humane nature And we are to conceive the person there spoken of sc the beloved Sonne as man as incarnate The reason is because the second person in Trinity the Sonne of Tota Dei plenitudo est universa Dei voluntas Majestas quatenus a nobis cognosci potest debet Id. Vrsin Vbi supra Pag. 601. Omnis plenitudo Deitatis inhabitat in Christo homine non sicut in alijs sanctu gratia tantum in habitationis seu assistentiae nec reali communicatione seu confirmatione seâ— reali unâ—one cum humanitare sic ut unitae sint duae naturae inseperabiliter personaliter 2 Cor. 6. 16. God absolutely considered hath all fulnesse not by voluntary dispensation but by naturall necessity in as much as the eternall Father never was nor could be without his eternall Sonne God with himselfe In Christ his person there is a threefold fulnesse the first fundamentall sc the fulnesse of the divine nature which doth personally dwell with that man-hood in Christ whence it comes to passe that this man is truly called God that is the manhood taken into fellowship of the selfe perfect and eternall person of the Sonne of God so that it is become as a part of his person The second is the fulnesse of office to which even Christ man is called For in regard of his humane nature now united to the second person he is man called to be the Christ of God that is annointed our Prophet Priest and King The third the fulnesse of created or habituall graces wherewith the soule of Christ is filled which are not divine properties for no created gift can be a Propertie divine but effects which the God-head worketh distinct from it as the soule giveth life to the body Now for the dwelling of all fulnesse in Christ man the latter two are in him subjectively the former that as the God-head doth dwell in Christ man not as in the Saints by relation of love and communion of the effects of it in grace nor as in the glorified Saints in regard of aboundant love manifested in the gift of glory nor any such simple cohabitation but it dwelleth in the manhood as with a nature which is taken to unity of person in the Sonne of God and so is through grace become of the substance of the second person So that Christ as man hath the second person of Trinity God with the Father and Spirit dwelling personally in it so that this manhood is essentially and substantially coupled with the deity in unity of one selfâ—-perfect and
eternall person Christ man is fitly called God and therefore in Christ man the God-head is said to dwell properly but Christ his humane nature may not be said to be God and therefore the God-head is not so fitly said to dwell in the humane nature as in the person denominated after it that is in Christ man It will be said if Christ rule in the midst of his enemies then it must follow that he is every where present But that is spoken of the person and not of the man-hood alone Psal 120. 2 and what is said of the person doth not necessarily belong to both natures And Christs dominion over all things doth not require his corporall presence with all things According to his divine nature he is every Joh. 8. 58. Christ in respect of his divine nature is every where present without addition and by the spirituall and effectuall presence of his body he entreth the soules and strengtheneth the hearts of all the faithfull by the power of his grace and truth of his promise Ephes 1. 22. Col. 2. 10. 1 Cor. 11. 3. Christ is the first-borne Col. 1. 18. Heb. 1. 2 4. and heire of all things 2 Cor. 4. 5. where present according to the effects of his providence wisdom power grace c. according to his humane nature he is essentially in heaven and now only in heaven but his dominion is over all things which doth not denote soveraignty power or omnipresence essentially divine but glory and Majesty next to divine as was said before The fift thing implied in Christs sitting at the right-hand of the Father is that in speciall he is the head of his Church The word Head is used sometime for one who in any kind is before or above other and in this large sence Christ is the Head of the Angels that is their ruler or governour one that is above them man is the Head of the woman Christ of man God of Christ But here it signifieth that Christ is so over his Church that he is in a more neare and communicative sort conjoyned with it as the head is with the body and members Looke as the King hath a more intimate and aimiable superiority over his Queen than over any other subjects so it is here in Christ our King whose dominion towards his Church who is his Spouse and Queen is more aimiably tempered and nearly affected then is his government over any other Christ hath taken the selfe same holy and spirituall nature with his Church standing as well of that which is outward and sensitive as of that which is inward and intellectuall The faithfull are united to him here by knowledge of faith and love such as Christ himselfe by his Spirit begettetâ— in them as hereafter by glorious light and love He doth communicate unto them that whole life of grace and glory which they have or shall receive direct and move them outwardly by his signifying will and inwardly by sending his Spirit which moveth with efficacy to that which he sheweth and followeth them with aides inward and outward least their faith should be prevailed against Though betwixt the faithfull and Christs naturall body there be a bodily distance yet the Spirit which commeth from Christ doth so joyne them with him that nothing commeth twixt him and them The same life of grace for kind which is in Christ is in every faithfull soule as fire Caro Christi noâ— vivificare dicitur quatenus pro mundi vitâ— data est fide a nobis manducatur hoc est per modum merite simul ejusmodi efficaciae quae Mediatoris personae propriè conveniat Regnat ubique Deus homo divina humana voluntaâ—e ac nutu Filius vivit propâ—â—r Patrem Joh 6. 57. Fâ—lius à Patre habet aeternam increatam vitam ut homo quoque ab codem beatam creâ—tam vâ—â—am habetiut Mediator vitam beatam nobis carnis suae troditione in mortem acquisivit divina sua virtue in nobis effccit Gal. 3. 14. See Field of the Church 1â— 5. cap. 16. Sobin art 3. de person Christ p. 316. Petimus ut Christus nobis velit dare spiritam idqueâ—am humana quam divina sua voluatate tamen non petimus ut secundum humanam naturam ab ipso procedat incorda nostra Sp S seu ut humana per ipsum operetur nam etiam processio Sp. S. operatio perâ—psum est proprium Dei talis opus alterum ad intra alterum ad extra sed ut etiam humana voluntate velit hanc operationem Dei tatis suae in nobis Heb. 1. 6. Ps 9. 7. Phil. 2. 10. Rò 14. 11. Isa 45. 23 Joh. 5. 22. Psal 2. 12. Joh. 3. 15 16 17 18 36. Joh. 6 29 12. 36. Joh. 14. 1. Rom. 15. 12. Mat. 12. 21. Act 7. 50 60. 2 Joh. 3. Rev. 1. 4 5. Ro. 1. 7. Syr. 1 Co. 1. 3. 2 Co. 1 2. Gal. 1. 3. Ephes 1. 2. 2 Tim. 1. â— kindled fire kindling is of the same nature And Christ having fulnesse of grace and glory for all his he cannot be but most ready to communicate with them every thing for their good Christ is the Head of his Church both as God and man our Mediatour For did not the divine nature which is the fountaine of all life naturall and supernaturall dwell with this man or humane nature we could not be enlightned or quickned by it He that eateth my flesh saith Christ hath life in him not that this nature of it selfe can doe these things but because the Deity dwelleth with it and by it as by an instrument joyned personally with it doth properly and efficiently worke these things The omnipotent power of creating spirituall graces is not in the humane nature nor the omnipotent actions which doth produce them doe or can proceed from the humane nature but they are in God only and from God in and with the humane nature working to the same effects according to its property Christs humane nature hath both understanding and will whereby he worketh and is an internall instrument united within the person of God the Son as a part of his person in a sort yea more neerly but these divine works which Christ the Mediatour worketh the chiefe vertue and action which properly effecteth them is in God not communicated really with the other nature though it doth worke them in this humane nature with it yea and by it as a most nearly conjoyned instrument which within the person of God the Son hath his proper actions concurring in an inferiour degree of efficiency to that which the divine nature properly and principally worketh God worketh graces Christ man worketh the same the divine nature createth them and infuseth them into this or that man through Christ man being as a common conceptacle or conduit-pipe The humane nature worketh them not by powerfull creating them but by taking away sin and the cause that so way
might be made for this promised Spirit by interceding Mediator-like for them and by willing the going of such graces from him as who is with God the Son but one worker though a distinct principle of working that is though distinct in nature yet the same person He therefore worketh them as his own workes from his owne power for Gods power is by unity of person made his the divine power not being without him as the power of another person then he is but being personally with him And those things which his humane nature worketh which are wrought after his humane nature the workes not of an humane but a divine person for though the nature according to which they are wrought be humane yet the person working is the person of the Sonne of God Hence it is that Christ-man doth give graces authoritativè effectivè yea according to humane action doth effect them in the highest degree that an instrumentall operation can effect any thing St Paul gives graces by laying on of hands with prayer ministerialiter not as his worke but as intreating it from God in Christ and signifying what God doth in Christ not from any power any way within his person but the power of another not as conjoyned with God as the body with the soule but as an instrument with God Christ the Head of his Church is over all to whom all things are subject He who must be a saving head to us there is great need he should be over all Could he not bind that strong one and cause him re-deliver his possession how should we ever be set at liberty Could he not dissolve the worke of Satan swallow up death create life and quickning in us our case were lamentable The sixt thing implied is That Christ God and man is the object of divine odoration Let all the Angels of heaven worship him All knees shall bow unto him All shall honour the Sonne as they honour the Father Yee believe in God believe also in me saith our Saviour In him shall the Gentiles trust So Steven called upon the Lord Jesus saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And the Apostles in the entrance of their Epistles desire grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ not the Lord of Jesus Christ as some Heretikes would corrupt the text and so in the shutting up of their Epistles The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 23. Gal. 6. 18. 2 Cor. 13. 13. Phil. 4. 23. 1 Thess 5. 28. 2 Thess 3. 18. Philem. v. 25. 2 Tim. 4 22. But some object that if adoration be due to Christ God and man then it will follow that the humane nature is omniscient and almighty which followeth not because that which is spoken of the concrete or whole person is restrained to the one nature which should not be The person adored or called upon is man but the humanity it selfe only or solely or in it selfe properly taken is not the proper subject or object of that worship Albeit we may and should adore the man Christ with divine worship yet may we not adore his man-hood or his flesh and bloud Because though the man Christ be God yet his man-hood is not God and by consequence not to be worshipped with that worship which is properly and essentially divine Againe if adoration agree to the humanity of Christ then may his humanity helpe and save us But the humanity of Christ cannot helpe and save us because omnis actio est suppositi whereas the humane nature of Christ is not suppositum None of those who defend the adoring of the humanity of Christ with divine worship doe well and warrantably expresse their opinion First Some of the Schoole-men have found none other respect Aquin. 3. q. 25. Art 2. wherefore the man-hood of Christ can be said to be adored except this that the flesh of Christ is adored by him who adoreth the word incarnate even as the Kings cloathes are adored by him who adoreth the King And thus they make the flesh of Christ to be adored only by accident Ego vero saith the Arch-bishop of De Rep. Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 12. n. 43. Spalato non puto à quoquam Regis vestimenta quibus est indutus adorari And why doth he that worshippeth the King worship his cloathes more then any other thing that is about him or beside him perhaps a Hawke upon his hand c. There is no more but the Kings owne person set by the worshipper to have any state in the worship and therefore no more worshipped by him Others devise another respect wherefore the man-hood of Christ may be said to be worshipped namely that as the divine worship agrees only to the God-head and not personis praecisè sumptis i. Fr. S. Clara Expos art confess Angl. art 28. sub ratione formali constitutiva personarum quae est relatio but only as these relations identificantur with the essence of the Godhead so the man-hood of Christ is to be adored Non per se praecisè sed prout suppositatur à Deo But if by suppositatur they meane as they must meane that the man-hood is assumed into the unity of the person of the Sonne of God for otherwise if they meane that the man-hood is made a person they are Nestorians that which they say cannot warrant the worshipping of the manhood with divine worship because the man-hood even after this assumption and hypostaticall union is still for all that a creature and a distinct nature from the God-head so that it cannot yet be said to be worshipped with divine worship Dr Field layeth out a third way for whiles he admitteth the phrase of the Lutherans who say not only concretively that the Of the Church lib. 5. cap. 15. man Christ is omnipotent but the humanity also he thus distinguisheth when we speake saith he of the humanity of Christ sometimes we understand only that humane created essence of a man that was in him sometimes all that that is implied in the being of a man as well subsistence as essence But this distinction is as if a man should say sometimes by blacknesse I understand blacknesse and sometimes the subject wherein it is together with the blacknesse it selfe An abstract is no more an abstract if it have a subsistence It is the tenet of the Schoole that though in God Aqu. â—qu 13. art 1. the concrete and the abstract differ not because Deus Deitas are the same yet in creatures whereof the man-hood of Christ is one they are really different For the concrete signifieth something compleat subsisting but the abstract such as humanity signifieth something not as subsisting but as that whereby something is Wherefore when some say the flesh of Christ is to be adored the speech is not proper but figurative because properly Polan Syntag. lib. 6. cap 16. the flesh secundum se is not adored because it is a creature but
God manifested in the flesh But here it is to be noted that the Scripture speaketh of worship which is graciously communicated of the Father to Christ as Mediatour and not simply of that which is given unto him as the only begotten Sonne of God As God Phil. 2. 9. Jâ—h 5. 26. hath exalted him so he hath graciously communicated this honour and dignity of worship unto him as God and man The adoration of Christ may be considered two wayes either as it doth respect Chemnit harm cap. 46. the essentiall properties of the God-head alone or the properties of both natures and the office of Christ If it respect the properties of the God-head alone adoration is predâ—cated of the person denominated from either or both natures and is understood to be true of that person according to the divine nature as the essential properties themselves are understood to be true of that persoÌ„ according to the divine nature But if adoration respect the properties of both natures and the office of Christ it is spoken of the person according Solmius art 3. de person Christ pag. 3. 6. to both natures and is understood to be true but the difference of both natures being kept For we aske blessings of Christ God and man in performing whereof we desire and understand that he doe what is proper to the Deity according to the Divine and proper to the humanity according to the humane nature For as the office so adoration respecting the office doth not take away the difference of natures that is doth not confound or equall the natures or the properties of the natures So we crave of God that he would intercede for us which he doth according to both natures because Intercession is the office of the whole person which parts in this office he performes one way according to his Deity another according to his humanity and so of the rest CHAP. IIII. How Christ doth bring his people into Covenant or fellowship with himselfe CHrist being appointed of the Father the King and Head of his Church and after a most excellent manner thereunto annointed and advanced of the Father and having subjects given unto him it cannot be but he must have his Kingdome and subjects He is a King as in personall right so in act He hath his Kingdome and territories wherein he exerciseth his regall power He is a King as to punish enemies so to feed and governe his people Joh. 17. 6. which are given unto him to be made obedient unto his Scepter The way whereby Christ enters upon his kingdome is ever by Conquest For though the soules of the Elect are his given by free donation purchased with a great price yet his enemies have Psal 68. 28. Rom. 8. 7 8 10. Joh. 3. 5 6. As for the works of the Spirit the fruits of faith c. if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the holy Ghost Hom. 2. part for W 〈…〉 s the first possession which must be cast out by strong hand and his people themselves by nature rebellious unwise disobedient untill they be subdued and brought into subjection High imaginations must be abated and proud rebellious lusts battered and beaten downe before Christ come to rule and reigne in the soule The conversion of the nations to the faith of Christ is made by an holy warre destruction and desolation wherein the King of kings fighteth against subdueth and bringeth under the disobedient which formerly did rise up against him But this wasting or desolation is not the losse of temporall life or spoiling of corporall goods or any outward desolation which is seen with the eyes or heard with the eares but a most happy desolation whereby pride and haughtinesse of minde is depressed and the minde lifted up to things above the power of the flesh is quelled and the Spirit doth gather strength the edge of vices is dulled and all kinde of vertue doth bud and blossome and where the flesh did rule the Spirit doth rule But what then doth Christ compell men to subject themselves unto him In no sort but of unwilling he makes them willing totally or throughly willing The people of Christ are free and Psal 110. 2. Exod. 35. 21. 2 Chro. 30. 8. Joh. 6. 45. Isai 55 5. 1 Chron. 28. 9. voluntary who offer themselves willingly unto the Lord and yeeld themselves unto his service Therefore they are said to come unto Christ to runne unto him to serve him with a perfect heart and a willing minde Men are gathered into the Kingdome of Christ by effectuall holy vocation whereby Christ doth not only invite them by his Word to repent and beleeve but by his Spirit doth assuredly bring 2 Tim. 1. 9. them unto himself or unto the participation of the Covenant of mercy Vocation according to the purpose of God is free not Rom. 8. 28. depending upon any precedent condition on our part required or whereby we are fitted or prepared to receive grace offered nor upon the good use of any naturall gift vouchsafed Justification is of grace by faith in Christ and so is Salvation but Vocation is of free grace without any condition at all It is not of him that Rom. 9. 16. willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy who of his rich mercy quickneth them that are dead in sinne and Eph. 2. 4 5. Isai 65. 1 2. Mat. 11. 25 26. saith Behold me to them that inquire not after him and hideth the great things of the Gospell from the wise and prudent but revealeth them unto babes according to that good pleasure of his will Thus Abraham was called when he served other gods Josh 24. 2. Act. 9. 6. Matt. 9. 9. and Paul when he breathed out threatnings against the Saints and Matthew when he sate at the receipt of custome The persons called into fellowship with Christ are all and only they that are given unto him of the Father To these Christ Mat. 11. 27. Rev. 3. 20. Joh. 10. 11 15 16. Joh. 17. 9 20. Joh. 10. 28. and 17. 2. revealeth the Father these open unto Christ and he commeth unto them for them he hath laid downe his life they shall heare his voyce for them he hath prayed that they might beleeve through the Word and unto them he will give eternall life The Subjects called in the Kingdome of grace or under the new Covenant are Jewes and Gentiles both neere and farre off but specially the Gentiles when the Jewes were broken off Matt. 8. 11 12. Act. 2. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem est quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constat enim praepâ—sitionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejusmodi adverbiis adjunctam saepè vacare taliâ— junt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 staâ—â— subitò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adbuc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semel Act. 17. 30. and 28. 28. and 13. 46 47. Rev. 5. 9. for a time Many shall come from the
for a nocent the question largely handled 284 285 c. It is not universally against equity for one to suffer the punishment of anothers sinne ib. That an innocent person may justly suffer for a nocent what is required 286. Intercession of Christ whether well distinguished into general and speciall 258. Intercession of Christ what it is 296. It is generall and particular heavenly and glorious 297. It is founded upon his satisfactory merits ibid. It implyeth three things 298. It is not reciprocall ibid. The benefits of it to the Church ibid. and 299. How the faithfull come to be subject to evil and misery Christ interceding for them ibid. Whether Christ prayeth for the absolute perseverance of beleevers or only upon condition 301. Invitations of God mans perversenesse only the cause why he answereth them not 343. Israel why called Iesurun 180. Judgement whether the will follow it 333 334. 335. the act of Judgement two-fold ibid. Justice of God cleered in requiring that of man fallen which he hath no power to doe 44. Justification cannot be by faith and workes as concauses â—o Justification is by faith alone not by that faith which is alone 73. K KIngs why specially to be prayed for 231. Kingdome of Christ he entreth alwayes on it by conquest 323. yet useth no compulsion 324. men are gathered into this Kingdome by vocation ibid. Knowledge of God begets in us a similitude of God 86. Christ saveth not as cleerely known but as sincerely acknowledged 33. L LAW called fiery why 101. and 124 The Law as given upon mount Sinai was a Covenant of grace proved at large 102 103 110. The Law never given without the Gospell nor the Gospell without the Law 102. The Law requireth faith as well as love and obedience 105. 106. c. The Law to be expounded according to the sense the prophets give of it 110. In the Law frequent mention of the Messiah 111. Faith in Christ commanded in the Law though more obscurely 113. Law and Gospell in what respects opposed 115 116 117 118 119 120 c. Law a double use of it 120. How it is said that the Law entred that sinne might abound 139. Whether the Law be abolished to them that are under the Covenant of grace p. 15. Learning of Christ what 334. Limbus patrum no such thing p. 30. yet the fathers before Christ had not that perfect state which now they have and we are presently possessed of p 35. Love of God toward the creature a double distinction of it 4. M MAny sometimes put for all 250. Mediatour the necessity of one 264. What an one the Mediatour must be ib. Why the second person was Mediatour rather then the first or third 266. According to which nature Christ was Mediatour ib. A Mediatour what 270. Whether Christ a Mediatour to himselfe ib. whether if Christ be a Mediatour according to his divine nature all the three persons be not Mediatours 271. Mediation of Christ three things to be considered in the acts of it p 28. How Christ hath performed the office of mediatioÌ„ 271. Meanes not vouchsafed to all and therefore neither the rest of the effects of Christs death 233. Measure what to doe a thing in Measure 310. Ministery of the Jewes and the end of it 138. Misery in man the occasion but no cause of Gods mercy towards him Messiah the times of the Messiah times of greater light 331. Moon a fit resemblance of the Church 147. Moses whether the Covenant of grace were manifested by him 93. The shining of his face what it signifyed 94. How and in what sense he was a mediatour 127 128 165. N NAtural gifts whether they may be so used that God will bestow supernaturall 237. Negations in Scripture imply not alwayes an absolute denyall p. 5 New what it signifieth in Scripture 194. A new song what ib. A new commandment what 195. New man what ib. New Testament abolisheth not the former but the former was fulfilled by the latter 29. Covenant of grace in what respect called a new Covenant or TestameÌ„t 195. Why it is called a Covenant and why a Testament 196. New Covenant when properly it began 196. New Testament published on a solemn day in the Assembly almost of all nations 197. New Testament the nature of it stands in three things 198. A description of it ib. The authority of it reason why God made it 199. New Covenant preferred much before the old though both of the same nature and from the same fountain 200. The promises in it assured by Father Son and holy Ghost 201. was stricken with all nations in opposition to the Jewes ib. made with some externally others internally 202 203. The prerogative of the new Covenant above the old 293 294 c. O OAth when the Saints bound themselves by oath to walk in all the statutes of the law what they meant 135. why God confirmed his promise to Abraham by oath 58 Obedience under what notion required in the Covenant 19. It is two-fold perfect and sincere 20. Obedience perfect is commanded though not rigidly exacted and why 21. It is in vain to think of entring into Covenant if not resolved to obey in all things ib. Obscurity in the knowledge of Christ under the Covenant of promise and the degrees of it and reasons p. 32 Old Testament what 92. difference betwixt the old Testament and new Old Testament abolished by the death of Christ in right not in act 196 P PAsseover when and to what purpose instituted 142 Peculiar people who 103 The Pedagogy of the Jewes illustrated largely by comparison of a Schoolmasters dealing with his Scholars 138 139 140. Perfection what it imports in Scripture phrase 75. A thing is said to be perfect three wayes 76 77 78 79. Prayers not to be made for all men 231. Christs praying for those that crucified him was of private duty not out of his office of Mediatour 259. some prayers suppose a condition in him for whom we pray some none 301 Personall union the end of it 269 To prepare the heart to seek God what 179 Preparations whether the spirit makes us come to God immediately or by some preparations going before 336. Nine conclusions concerning such preparations 337. c. This preparation is neither saving grace nor a thing betwixt nature and grace 339 Priesthood the end and use of it 138 141 R REading God may work by it when that preaching is not slighted 327 Reconciliation imports no change in God 293 Redemption universall redemption the controversie concerning it largely discussed 204. thorow the chapter and objections answered The deliverance we obtain by Christ is called Redemption and was made by the paying of a price 279 Religion for substance ever one and unchangeable 27 Remission of sin though certain yet lesse felt in the old Testament 35. Remission what 290. It is not repugnant to antecedent satisfaction ibid. Repentance how called for in the Covenant of grace 18. Necessary and
Serpent and his seed which worke and labour of love is typified in the blood of the Sacrifices executed in his crosse and passion The devill and all his instruments the Scribes and Pharisees and Romanes whom Christ calleth the children of the devill laboured mightily to bring him to the crosse supposing they had gotten full conquest when he was The very fight it selfe was triumph while the Devill â—an with all his might against Christ he killed himselfe Angry Bees stinging once make themselves drones forever So Satan laid in the grave but when they hoped to have vanquished him the Kingdome of darknesse was utterly overthrowne Sathan sin and death were conquered and taken captive and whatsoever might be brought against us was taken away as the least bill or scroale Col. 2. 14 15. 1 Ioh. 3. 8. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Christ was wounded in the heele but by the power of his divine nature he soon recovered of his wound being put to death concerning the flesh he was quickned by the Spirit and liveth through the power of God 2 Cor. 13. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 18. But by the wound he received he wounded his enemies irrecoverably he bruised the head of the Serpent which wound is deadly He spoyled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly And it is not improbable that in reference to this promise that Christ by his death should conquer and subdue the enemies of our Salvation he is said to be the Lamb slaine from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. For what can we understand by that phrase from the foundation of the world but froÌ„ the beginning which cannot note eternity which is without beginning for then from the beginning should be as much as before all beginning or without beginning But seeing the death of Christ to vanquish and subdue the enemies of our soule is published in this ancient and famous promise ever renowned in the Church of God in reference to it it may be said that he was slaine from the foundation of the world These words doe containe a manifest distinction betwixt the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent and a promise of assured victory to the seed of the woman over Sathan and all spirituall enemies to be administred according to the decree of God So we reade that the names of some are written in the booke of life from the foundation of the world Rev. 17. 8. that God hath saved some and called them with an holy calling not according to their workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given them in Iesus Christ before the times of the ages 2 Tim. 1. 9. that God hath from the beginning chosen some to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beliefe of the truth 2 Thes 2. 13. In all which passages that choosing writing and calling is to be understood which is taught in this famous promise whereunto they seeme to be referred For the phrase is from the beginning or the beginning doth sometimes note the time of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the constitution of the Iewish Church and its policie presently from the going out of Egypt as Psal 74. 2. Remember the Congregation which thou hast purchased of old LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies also the beginning of the dispensation of the Gospell preached of Christ himselfe for then a new manner of revelation of the Doctrine of the Gospell was brought in Luk. 1. 2. Also from the beginning is as much as from the beginning of the world from the foundation of the world or at least little after the beginning of the world Ioh. 8. 44. the devill is said to be a murderer from the beginning and to sinne from the beginning 1 Ioh. 3. 8. The word beginning absolutely and precisely put is taken one of these wayes but with an addition or restraint from the circumstances of the Text it imports some other beginning as of the preaching of the Gospell to this or that place or people or the like as Phil. 4. 15. 1 Ioh. 2. 7 8 23 24. But this phrase from the beginning never imports from eternity in any passage of Scripture and it is somewhat strange to interpret the beginning of duration by eternity which is essentially and absolutely without beginning of duration Now when the Apostle saith God hath chosen the Thessalonians from the beginning what can we understand thereby but God hath manifested some outward declaration of their election according to this famous promise made to Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman should breake the Serpents head Some would referre it to the time that the Gospell was preached amongst them or to the time of their effectuall calling but the word beginning precisely and absolutely put is never so taken neither can it be said that the Thessalonians were chosen as soon as the Gospell was first preached unto them for it may well be that it was often preached unto them before they believed nor from the beginning of their effectuall calling if as they would have it the faithfull persevering not simply the faithfull be the object of Gods Election Of the other Texts alleadged the same may be said unto which the foresaid answer can in no sort be fitted so that we may conclude in all the fore cited passages there is an apparant allusion to this grand ancient promise of mercy prclaimed immediately upon the fall setting forth a manifest difference betwixt the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent according to the election of God Besides in these words is implyed a Covenant consisting of a promise and stipulation made not internally alone with the heires of promise but externally administred offered unto and accepted of all the members of the Church viz. of Adam and Eve and all their posterity that were dedicated to God by them or did accept or receive the promise of mercy If no Covenant had been made there could have been no Church nor pleasing service tendered unto God If this Covenant had not been externally administred no unregenerate man could have been in the Church nor have communion in the ordinances of Religion But by vertue of this Covenant Cain as well as Abell offered Sacrifice unto God as a member of the Church and after his Sacrifice was rejected he heares from God If thou dâ— Gen. 4. â— 4. well shalt thou not be accepted which is a promise of the Covenant that tooke place after the fall for the former Covenant made no mention of mercy to be vouchsafed to the delinquent upon repentance nor of acceptance after transgression Of this Covenant there be two parts first a promise 2. a stipulation The promise is that God will pardon the sinnes of them that repent unfainedly and believe in his mercy which he doth truly promise to all in Covenant and effectually bestow upon them that be heires of the promise 2. The stipulation is
goe sin unpunished is simply the omission of a divine act the decree of God excepted not deficient or inconformable to any rule of Gods will but rather a peculiar exercise of divine mercy What absolutely God can will that he can justly will otherwise it might be that God can will a thing which is injust or that he can will injustly But it was possible for God to will to let sin goe unpunished it is not absolutely repugnant to his divine nature so to will If God cannot pardon sin without satisfaction Hae rationes tum demum locum obtinerent si ita Deâ— putaretur agere ex necessitate naturae ut solo naturae impetu citra omnem intellectum voluntatis actum ageret veluti ignis calefacit ex necessitate naturae Windel de mundo Sect. 2. c. 2. Lex agendi necessitas 1. naturae 2. congruentiae Illa per quam agens ita agit ut per naturam non possit non agere estque vel sine cognitione vel cum cognitione Ista per quam agens non potest non congruenter suae naturae agere then it is necessary that he punish sin by absolute necessity or sin presupposed it is of absolute necessity that it be punished but it is not of absolute necessity that sin be punished for then God should punish it alwaies in one manner and as much as he can as naturall agents worke whereas we see by experience that God doth differently punish the sins of men in this life the lesser offendors most the greater least many times ever so as their punishments might be increased Neither can it be said that the greatnesse of punishment in this life doth lessen their punishment in the life to come for the punishments of the life to come being eternall can carry no proportion with the punishments of this life Then it was of absolute necessity that Christ should suffer so many stripes and no more be forsaken just so long and no longer continue in his agony so many houres and neither more nor lesse Sciendum est non sequi injustum ex quavis negatione justi etiam posiâ—is â—isdem circumstantijâ— Non est perpetuum ut id quod justè fiat non nisi injustè omittatur The bounty of God to reward obedience is essentiall as well as justice to punish iniquity and if God punish iniquity by absolute and naturall necessity of necessity he must reward obedience if he punish iniquity without divine constitution he must reward obedience in the same manner God may inflict a more mild punishment then sin deserveth therefore at least he may leave some degree of sin unpunished as also it is lawfull for God to men equall in sin to grant pardon to one to punish another according to his deserts To give reward above merit is not contrary to justice if it be given of our owne nor to punish mercifully and lesse then the fault deserveth if it be a fault committed against our selves And it seemes as much repugnant to justice Sunt quaedam Dei proprietates quarum exercitium tum quoad actum tum quoad tempuâ— modum actus imo etiam quoad objecti determinationem pendet a libera ipsus voluntate Ex promissione jus aliquod acquiritur ei cui facta est promissio at comminatione apertius dunâ—axat declaratur meritum poenae in peccante jus puniendi in comminante Cum bonitas misericordia Dei non minus proprietas ejâ—â— sit quam justitia ac quamquam ex misericordia non â—gisset sed puniisset universos minimè eo mutabilis vel etiam immisericors potuerit dici similiter neque extra decreti considerationem mutabilem vel injustum dici potuisse quanquam ignovisset universis citra illam satisfactionem Quod is qui deliquit paenam meretur eoque punibilis est hoc ex ipsa peccati peccatoris ad superiorem relatione necessariò sequitur propriè naturale ut vero puniatur quivis peccator poena tali quae culpae respondeat non est necessarium simpliciter universaliter neque propriè naturale sed naturae satis conveniens Chamier panstrat Tom. 2. l. 5. c. 1â— Parker de desc l. 3. Sect. 56. Wotton de Reconcil l. 1 c 4. Vâ—ss respons ad Iud. Ravensperg cap. 28. Isa 53. 10. Psal 40. 8. Joh. 5. 19 30. to accept a surety as to pardon the punishment especially that the Son of God the party offended should take upon him our nature and make satisfaction for us And if God by absolute necessity must punish sin as it deserveth then it is simply impossible to renew the sinner by repentance or to annihilate him because then he doth not bear what punishmeÌ„t his sin doth call for from the hand of justice Justice is essentiall to God so is mercy bounty liberality but God sheweth mercy to whom he will doth good to whom he will freely not by absolute necessity only God hath obliged himselfe by righteousnesse of fidelity that is by promises and threatnings which must be fulfilled to doe this or that Sin though it hath an outward disagreement such as may be in a creature from the Creator yet it hath no inward positive repugnancy or contrariancy to Gods nature such as is betwixt fire and water for then should the divine nature inwardly in it selfe be worse for the being of sin and should necessarily nill it Sin is displeasing unto God he cannot approve it as good in it selfe but it is one thing to be displeased with or hate sin another to punish it of absolute and naturall necessity as it is one thing to approve obedience another to reward it of necessity It is most true that God doth not only hate but punish all sin but that he doth not by naturall necessity but by naturall congruity which may stand with the most free will of God determining to manifest his justice for the manifestation whereof the punishment of sin was necessary The hatred of sin and punishment thereof are joyned together as a free cause and effect not as a necessary cause and effect for God hateth sin at all times but punisheth it not ever but in his time or season But it is not materiall to dispute this matter in more words for seeing God hath determined that his justice shall take her revenge if by breach of Covenant she be wronged he cannot but punish sin according to its desert neither may he set us free from the same but so as wronged justice may receive satisfaction The decree of God is unchangeable and the sentence of God denounced against sin must stand firme for ever therefore punishment must be executed if the commandment be transgressed And the reasons of this decree be Omne agens quod agit naturaliter agit in objectum suae actionis naturaliter receptivum quare si punire esset naturale illa nimirum acceptatione quae secum sert necessitatem non possit actio
were all their life subject to bondage But when the Scripture nameth death generally it comprehends all that which God threatned in that sentence Thou shalt die the death that penall death which is the reward of sinne but not sinne it selfe which is penall only not sinfull Other mens debts are answered diverse wayes some answer them simply as redeemers some as sureties He that answers them as a suretie must pay the Heb. â— 6. same summe of money that the debtor oweth Now Christ is not only our Mediatour but our suretie Heb. 7. 22. and hence the mediation of Christ is called a propitiation Rom. 3. 25. 1 Joh. 2. 2. and the surety is of debt and justice to make full satisfaction because he hath voluntarily promised it and God the Father did in justice exact it Rom. 3. 24 25. and 8. 32. In the sufferings of Christ we must consider the circumstances and substance of his sufferings The circumstances as the person of the sufferer the cause of suffering and efficacy of the passion in which respect it was more then the Law required for the Law did not require that God should die nor that any one should die that had not finned nor such a death and of such efficacie as not only to abolish death but to bring in life and that by many degrees more excellent then that which Adam had lost but if we respect the substance of punishment it was that which the Law required which he paid of love free and voluntary and yet of justice Justice requireth the same summe of debt the dignity of Christs person nothing hindering and according to justice Christ made satisfaction As concerning the substance of punishment Christ suffered what was due to us but in the circumstances which pertained not to the substance of the debt some thing was pardoned to the dignity of the person In this stands the dignity of Christs person that he might be fit meritoriously to pay our debt so farre was it from freeing or acquitting him for any part of our debt He that knew no sinne was made sinne for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. Surely he hath born our griefes and carried our sorrowes Isai 53. 4. When the Scripture speakes so fully why should humane curiosity limit the sufferings of Christ as if they were not fully satisfactory but by divine acceptilation only Christ suffered not every particular punishment that every particular sinner meeteth withall but his passion was a common price payed at once for all his people satisfying justice for all their offences Rom. 5. 19. Heb. 10. 14. Rom. 8. 33. He bore our sinnes in his body upon the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. We are redeemed by his bloud Eph. 1. 7. The bloud of Christ cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Joh. 1. 6. Phil. 2. 8. Col. 1. 20. He hath made peace by the bloud Voss respons ad Iudic. Ravens cap. 6. Robert Loeus Examen Eccl. The saur effigiet veri Sabbath of the crosse Touching the punishments which Christ suffered they were not ordinary but beyond measure grievous bitter and unsupportable yea such as would have made any meere creature to sinke down under the burthen of them to the bottome of hell For he suffered grievous things from all the things in heaven earth and hell He suffered at the hands of God his Father and of men of Jewes of Gentiles of enemies insulting of friends forsaking of the Prince of darknesse and all his cruell and mercilesse instruments But whereas of the punishments of sinne some be sinnes and punishments both others punishments only and some common to the nature of man others personall growing out of some imperfection and defect in the vertue and faculty forming the body disorder in diet or some violence offered and some for sinne inherent others for sinne imputed Our Saviour Christ suffered the punishments that are only punishments and not sinne common to the whole nature of man not personall to this or that man the punishments of the sinnes of other men not his own and that of them that should breake off their sins by repentance not of them that would sin for ever if they might live for ever The whole life of our Saviour was a life of suffering but his speciall sufferings were those he endured in the Garden or upon the crosse In the Garden he was in an agony upon the crosse he was pressed with the weight of grievous and unsupportable evils His agony was that sorrow wherein his soule was beset round with heavinesse and feare even unto death Thus the Evangelists describe it He began to be sorrowfull and very heavy Matt. 26. 37 38. Then saith he to them scil Peter James and John My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy And saith unto them My soule is exceeding sorrowfull Mar. 14. 33 34. Joh. 12. 27. unto death Now is my soul troubled His soul was smitten with horrour that all powers and faculties for a time left their proper functions and did concurre to relieve nature in that extremity as when a man hath received some gashly wound the bloud doth at first retire to comfort the heart But this stay came not from any internall defect which had been sinfull but from an externall cause to wit the horrour which fell upon him as the wheeles of a Watch may cease from motion without any fault in them when they are stayed by the hand of the Artificer He feared also the stroke of the justice of God his Father sitting on the Tribunall or Judgement seat to punish the sins of men for whom he stood forth to answer this he feared as a thing impossible to be escaped in respect of the resolution and purpose of God his Father that by his satisfactory death and no other way man should be delivered And he declined everlasting destruction as a thing he knew he should escape without all doubt or uncertaintie of event though not without conflicting with the temptations of Sathan and the enduring of many grievous and bitter things These passions in Christ were most pure because he himselfe was most free from all taint of sin as if you put cleare water into a cleare glasse though you shake and stirre it never so much it will raise no mud The effects of this agony were two Earnest prayer and bloudie sweat Being in an agony he prayed more fervently He Luk. 22 44. fell on his face and prayed He prayed thrice the same words O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me neverthelesse Matt. 26. 39. not as I will but as thou wilt As the sense of nature and inferiour reason presented death and the ignominy of the crosse unto him as they are in themselves evill without the consideration of any good to follow he desired to decline them But as superiour reason considered them with all circumstances knowing Gods resolution to be such that the
faculties as it were to a finite nature The place where Christ fits at the right hand of his Father in respect of his Humanity is in heaven because where that is there it is also inwardly glorious in it selfe and hath in it self Luke 24. 51. Mark 16. 19. Hebr. 4. 14. Act. 1. 11. 1 â—eâ— 3. 22. as in a subject his power and worketh by that power within the spheare of it finitenesse not severally from the word but with it and in it He is at the right hand of God in the heavens Ephes 1. 20. in the highest places Heb. 1. 3 8. above Col. 3. 1. This his Soveraignty is a consequent following on his Ascension into Heaven Look as Kings are crowned in the chiefe Cities of their Kingdomes and keep their residence in their Palaces neere unto them so it was decent that our Saviour should be crowned in this heavenly Jerusalem and keep his residence as it were in his heavenly Mansion There Christ sitteth at the right hand of God where he appeareth for us where he maketh intercession for us But Christ appeareth for us in Heaven Heb. 9. 24. and 8. 4. and in Heaven he maketh request for us and from Heaven we 1 Thess 1. 10. Isai 66. â— expect the Lord Jesus Phil. 3. 21. God is infinite Heaven is his throne and the earth his footstoole but the humanity of Christ is finite and not every where present Christ is ascended above these visible heavens above them and without them but he sitteth at the right hand of the Father in the highest heavens above them not without them So the Cherubims were over the Arke Ephes 4. 9 10. Heb. 9. 5. of the Covenant and yet they stayed upon the Arke as the place Heaven is one thing heavenly glory another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 25. 21 22. Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est id quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coelo est Heb. 9. 23. Heb. 8. 4. Ita coelum dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mac. 3. 39. Job 22. 12. Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 16. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isai 33. 5. Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 20. corpora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 2. 6. Ephes 6. 12. and 2. 2. Joh. 3. 11 12. Ignat. Epist 11. Psal 68. 34. When a finite nature is in heaven it is not in earth Christ is not so supra omnes coelos ut sit extra illos non in eis extraterras tamen quia mundum bunc reliquit Eidem carni duplex isque contrarius existendi modus tribui non potest sc localis illocalis seu physicus hyperphysicus as earth and earthly misery Heb. 11. 13. Joh. 14. 2. But whilest we say Christ is in heaven his presence in earth in the Church in the midst of his enemies is not excluded For the same Christ who is man is also God and every where Christ in his body is in the heavenly and triumphant Church absent from the earth by his infinite Deity he is present together in the earthly militant and heavenly But concerning his Body we may truly conclude because he is in heaven therfore it is not every where for Christ cannot be said to be made every where in the heavens without a contradiction no more then to be made infinite within limited bounds of being This being taken for granted that heaven can signifie nothing but a place limited for the extent of it Christ as God and man hath power of rule over all things by the essence of his Deity he is every where by the essence of his humanity now he is in heaven but he ruleth every where by the ministeries of his domination Where as man at the right hand of the Father there he is said to be as man in respect of place and if where he sits as ruling there also he be in all places in his body he is also in his body out of his body then which nothing is more absurd Christ is received into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God by a mediatory action which he executeth according to both natures the word working what pertaineth to the word and the flesh what appertaineth to the flesh Christ is Mediatour as God and man and glory hath redounded unto him as God and man and living in this glory he ruleth and governeth his Church as God and man He ascended into Heaven in his humanity he sitteth at the right hand of God as Mediatour in respect of both natures he worketh together with the Ministers of the word by his divine and every where present efficacy The first thing implied by Christs sitting at the right hand of the Father is the filling of his humane nature with supernaturall gifts of knowledge power c. and whatsoever doth any way pertain to the administration of his office God his God hath annointed Psal 45. 7. Heb. 1. 9. him with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes In respect of us these gifts may be called infinite but simply they are not because they are things created the effects and works of the holy Spirit Joh. 3. 34. Isa 11. 2. Men sura est divisio quaedam donorum at in Christo plenissima copia ubertas Ephes 4. 7. Rom. 12. 3. 1 Cor. 12. 8 11. So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labor immensus Ov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dolor immensas Senecae dicuntur Joh. 1. 16. Non deplendo aliquidex ipsius neque immeâ—sitate neque dimensione sed implendo nostraÌ„ indigentiam ab ipso absolutely they are finite comparatively infinite He received the Spirit above measure that is the whole Spirit all the gifts of the holy Spirit in higher degree then any creatures men or Angels in full abundance That is said to be done in measure which is done sparingly moderately in proportion for he that gives bountifully or largely doth not measure or number what he giveth but powreth out copiously as we say from the full heape or with both hands And that which is plentifull aboundant full is said to be above measure not that simply and absolutely it is infinite but in comparison By that which is given and not by measure not that which is infinite but that which is whole and entire is signified And of his fullnesse we all receive grace for grace we so receive of his fulnesse that his sufficiency is no whit diminished our want is filled by him but his fulnesse is not emptied by us The Sunne is not greater if it be beheld of many not the lesse if of fewer the same is true of the righteousnesse of Christ imputed The Sunne doth not decay by motion an Angell is not wearied with the service of God Christ man is not wearied with the care of the Church nor his store and plenty wasted with that which he doth