Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	flesh_n	sin_n	sinful_a	2,809	5	9.4946	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30929	Natural theology, or, The knowledge of God from the works of creation accommodated and improved, to the service of Christianity / by Matthew Barker ...	Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1674 (1674)	Wing B777; ESTC R20207	99,798	210

5. The Sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry Land And then addeth vers 7 8. To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your hearts Which words the Apostle quotes in Heb. 3. as referring to Christ Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a Servant c. But Christ as a Son over his House c. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your hearts That is the Voice of Christ vers 5 6 7. to whom the Psalmist had ascribed the Creation of the World And in Heb. 1. 10. the laying the Foundation of the Earth and the making of the Heavens is expresly attributed to Jesus Christ But I must not divert to that Controversie only to shew how the Creation of the World hath respect to Christ as its Creator not excluding the Father and the Holy Ghost for in all Works ad extrà they work as we say indivisim yet according to the order of their subsisting is the order of their working so all things are of the Father through the Son by the Spirit And the Creation of all things seems most properly to appertain to the second Person For he being the First and Immediate Off-spring of his Father it belongs to him to propagate and communicate of his Being in the things that are made which are therefore called the Off-spring of God As the Apostle quotes the Heathen Poet saying Acts 17. We are also his Off-spring And saith it also himself in the next words Forasmuch as we are the Off-spring of God And not onely Men but all created Beings may be stiled his Off-spring as they are the Finite Emanations of his Infinite Being Magne parens mundi As the Poet speaks of God And the Heathens therefore did stile God the great Father of the World Col. 1. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Jesus Christ is called by the Apostle the first-Born of every Creature or of all Creation So called as some conceive with respect to his Eternal Generation and the Creation that in time sprung from him He was brought forth by an Eternal Generation and then by him was the Generation of all the things of Time God communicated his Being Eternally and Infinitely to his Son and then by him communicates of his Being Finitely and in time to the Creatures His communication of himself to his Son is by an immanent Act wherein God did not go out of himself and so by him gave Being to the Creation in those Transient Acts wherein God doth work ad extra and goes out of himself Now what may Christians observe from hence 1. In general That the Creator of the World is also the Redeemer of it He that made all things is also the Restorer of all things The collapsed ruined World is put into his hand to raise and renew it that first made it As we read Heb. 1. 2. He is appointed Heir of all things by whom God made the Worlds He had an original Title to be Heir as Creator but hath a new Title given him as Redeemer and this he executes in the Government of the World 2. More particularly We may observe that it is the Infinite Creator of the World who hath cloathed himself with the flesh of Man and made it to subsist personally in himself Here we may behold this great Mystery Finiteness and In●inity Mortal and Immortality Divinity and Humanity the Creator and the Creature united in one Person As the Evangelist first speaks of Christ as the Creator of all things John 1. 3. and then as assuming our flesh vers 14. The Word that made all things afterwards spake and dwelt personally in humane flesh And Man's Nature being a System of the whole Creation he did in a manner cloath himself with it in his assuming our flesh As one of the Ancients to this purpose speaks Incarnatio est elevatio totius Universi in Divinam Personam Incarnation is the lifting up the whole Universe into Divine Person Which taken in a qualified sense is true And in assuming our flesh How many wonders do here meet together To see the Divine Nature stooping so low is one wonder to see the Humane Nature raised so high is another to see Man's sinful Nature assumed without sin is a third to see the Angelical Nature past by that stood nearest to God and Man's Nature assumed that stood farther off is a fourth to see the Creator assuming the Properties of a Creature which is to be finite passive dependent c. and the Creature assumed into the Properties of the Creator which is to be Infinite Almighty Omnipotent is a fifth c. So that God is hereby Humanified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas and Man as it were Deified as one speaks 3. We may further observe and that with great delight how it is the Creator of all things that is become the Head of the Church Which the Apostle suggests in Col. 1. 16. and vers 18. compared By him were all things created whether Visible or Invisible c. and he is the Head of the Body of the Church an Head not only by way of Government to rule over it but by way of Spiritual Union to influence it and dwell in it as the Head in the Body To see the Infinite Creator humble himself to look down upon his Creatures is taken notice of by the Psalmist as a great condescent Psal 113. 5 6. But to take any of them into a nearness into an oneness with himself is yet far greater He first came into a natural Union with us in assuming our Nature and into a legal Union with us by becoming our Surety and then comes into a mystical Union by making us Members of his Body through the Spirit And this Mystical Union is also set forth by a Marriage Union Ephes 5. 32. And is not this wonderful to see the Creator to match himself with a Creature and that not of the highest Order but with Man and not with him neither when at his best but when degenerated and corrupted Should we see a great King take a poor Maid from the Dunghil and match himself to her it could scarce be a shadow of this For our Maker to become our Husband as it is said Isa 54. 5. our Reasons cannot comprehend it Ambition it self can hardly aspire to such a thing And now what an honour is this to the Church to have such an Head and Husband and what security also to be under the Headship and Protection of the Creator of the World He that created all things can create Salvation for it when there is no visible matter or means out of which to bring it And he that gave Being to the first Creation can and will raise up and perfect his New Creation in his Church which he will effect by this Union it hath with himself as the Head thereof And the assurance hereof the Saints have