something hard This is the Case for Christ to have taken our nature as it was in Adam while he stood cloathed in his Integrity and flood right in the sight of God had not been so much as when Adam was fallen and proclaimed Traitor As Bernard saith Quò pro me vilior eò mihi charior Domine Lord thou shalt be so much the more dear to me by how much the more thou hast been vile for me Here is Condescension indeed that Christ should stoop so low to take flesh and flesh wlth infirmities You know what King Ahasuerus did when he met with the passage in the Chronicles which laid open what good service Mordecay had done for him saith he What hath been done for this man and when he saw nothing was done he thinks presently of advancing him Hest 6. 3. Let us call to our selves and say What hath been done for this Jesus that hath done so much for my soul If nothing at all It is time to fall upon this duty and to think of some way to Testifie our thankfullnesse to Christ How shall we do it Christ is above we are not able to reach Him True but He hath members here on Earth though He be in Heaven He will take it as done to himselfe if ye do it to one of them Would you be thankfull to Christ be kind to his people Kings when they go their progresse and come to this and that Town and are presented with some summe of Money or piece of Plate the Present they receive to give the people content but they give away the thing to some of their Favourites So it is with Christ He giveth away the things ye tender him he taketh it well but he is content that his Children should have what you give He himselfe standeth in no need of what we can do but if we do it to his people he will accept it as if it was done to himselfe Matth. 25. 40. Therefore David maketh a full Confession of this Psal 16. 2 3. Thou art my Lord saith he my goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints on the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight You see what use may be made now of what was said of the Divine nature of Christ as he is called the Word what of his human nature as he is said to be made flesh and what followeth and what hath been said of the personall union of these two natures Ye may from hence take a view of one of the deepest The greatest mystery in the World is the Word made flesh Mysteries in all the World for it is one of the deepest in all Religions and the Christian Religion containeth such mysteries â—s the world cannot shew besides all the depths of the world are but shallow to the things of God Here is one of the deepest things of God The Word being made flesh There are three great Unions that are three great Mysteries the deepest of any that are The Substantiall union The Personall union The Mysticall union And this is one of them First The Substantiall union of three Persons in one 1. The Substantiall union Nature and one Substance So Father Son and holy Ghost make but One God Secondly There is the Personall union of two Natures 2. The Personall union in one Person So God and Man make but one Christ Thirdly There is the Union of Severall both Persons 3. The Mysticall union and Natures in one Mysticall body and so Elect Angels and Men and Christ together make but one Body whereof Christ is the Head Here are the three great Mysteries of Religion That I speak of is the second of these The Personall union In the first of these Divines use to observe that there is alius and alius but not aliud and aliud another Person but not another Thing The Father is Alius a Filio a distinct Person from the Son and the Son is Alius à sancto Spiritu a distinct Person from the holy Ghost but not a distinct Thing The Father Son and holy Ghost make but one Essence there is not aliud to be found in them In the Second is aliud but not alius a distinct Thing but not distinct Persons The Human Nature is a distinct thing from the Godhead and the Godhead a distinct thing from the Manhood but not a distinct person from the Manhood for God and Man make but one Person In the Third the Mysticall union there is both aliud and alius but not alienus There is distinct Things and distinct Persons the Angelicall Nature and Human Nature the persons of Believers and the Person of Christ but there is not alienus amongst them One of these are united to another in near relation they are not aliud one from another Though there be different things and different persons there is a union between them That is one thing that ye may learn from hence Secondly Ye may learn from hence a ground of that communication of Properties which is a very mysterious thing in Religion that which they call Communicatio Idiomatum a thing not so easily understood But by reason of this personall union of the two Natures in Christ there is a communication of Properties that is That which belongeth to the Manhood may be ascribed and given to Christ though denominated from the Godhead and that that belongeth to the Godhead may be denominated to Christ because it belongeth to the Manhood A man may truly say The Son of How the Son of Mary made the world and how the Son of God shed his blood Mary made the world Here Christ is denominated from his human Nature but it is Christ as God that made the world not Christ as the Son of Mary for he was not the Son of Mary till many thousand years after the world was made On the other side you may say The Son of God was crucified and shed his blood upon tâ—â— Crosse Here ye ascribe that to Christ under the denomination of the Son of God which belongeth to him as Man to shed his blood as God he hath none to shed But yet this may properly be said because the Person is both God and Man It is not without precedent in Scripture Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven Christ here when he conversed upon earth he said The Son of man was in heaven Why Because that Person was in heaven according to his Godhead and yet the Son of man denominated from the Godhead is said to be in heaven whereas nothing more certain that Christ-Man was upon earth and yet in heaven as God And so on the other side Act. 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood God hath no blood yet God is
no flesh be justified in his sight Compare that with Psal 143. 2. where it is said In thy sight shall no man living be justified No flesh saith Paul No man saith David So flesh is the whole man To clear this some Quaeries would be resolved Quaeries First whether Christ assumed the nature of man or 1. Whether Christ assumed the nature or person of Man the person of a man the whole man He did assume the soul as well as the body both under the tearm flesh And indeed unlesse he had assumed the whole man the whole man could not have been saved saith Damazen That which was not taken could not be healed If Christ had not taken the whole man He could not have saved the soul To the first Quaery Whether the nature of man or the person of man I answer The nature of man and not a single person Respons It will be dangerous to mistake here If Christ had onely He assumed the nature and not a single person taken the person of a man then there must have been two persons in Christ a person assuming and a person assumed Yea then that onely person which Christ assumed should have been advanced and saved He should have saved that person and no other if he had assumed the person of a man With us the soul and body being united make a person But in Christ the soul and body were so united as to have their subsistence not of themselves as in us but in the Godhead No sooner was the soul united in the body but both soul and body had subsistence in the second person in the Trinity So not the assuming of a person but the nature of a man common to all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve Therefore he took not the nature of the Angels but the seed of Abraham Hebr. 2. 16. Seed the first element of our nature before our persons come to have any subsistence Secondly Why did Christ take the nature of man Quaery 2 I answer That he might be a fit Mediator That lesson Why the nature of Man the Apostle giveth you Hebr. 2. 14. Because the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also took part Resp 2 of the same that through death he might destroy him that That he might be a fit Mediator had the power of death that is the Devill His taking the nature of man conduced to his being a Priest For if he had not been man he could not have died And that he might be a fit Prophet A Prophet will God raise up to you like to me saith Moses It was fit and convenient for them to have a man Prophet because they were not able to hear Angels unlesse they died And that he might be a fit King The head of one nature and members of another make a Monster Hebr. 2. 11. Both he that sanctifyeth and they that are sanctified are all of one nature Christ is of the same nature with those that are sanctified and governed by Him Thirdly The third Quaery is whether did Christ take Quaery 3 our nature in its Integrity and perfection as it was before Whether he took our nature as before the fall or as after the fall or our nature cloathed with infirmities as after the fall I answer He took our nature cloathed with infirmities as after the fall which is implied in the word Flesh There Respons 3 is a Reason certainly why the Holy Ghost rather chose to He took our nature as after the fall say Why the Word was made flesh then why the Word was made man because it is according to the phrase of Scripture when it would speak contemptibly of man and shew him to be the lowest Creature to call him flesh when it would set forth the weaknesse that man is subject to To give you one or two Instances instead of many Psal 56. 4. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me that is weak and infirm frail man what Flesh can do unto me And again Psal 78. 39. He remembreth that we are but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again So then the word was made flesh that is took not onely man's nature but man's infirmities which are expressed in that word flesh And that he did take our nature with the infirmities thereof appeareth by Isai 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows our infirmities 4. The fourth Querie is Whether Christ did take all the Quaer 4 infirmities of our flesh yea or no Whether Christ took all our Infirmities upon him I answer No. Our infirmities are of two sorts some penall and painfull infirmities others sinfull and culpable infirmities Those that are culpable and sinfull Christ did not take for the Prince of this world came and had nothing in Respons Ne ∣ gativè him But those that were penall infirmities those he took but not all of them neither for they are of two sorts either Sinfull infirmities Christ did not take nor Penall as Personall but Penall as Naturall Personall proper to some few men and women as to be inclined by birth to the Stone or Gout or Strangury or Leprosie or some other hereditary disease or Naturall common to all the sons and daughters of Adam as to be subject to pain and grief and sorrow and hunger and thirst and cold The former of these Christ did not take because they would have been impediments to him in his Function but the latter of these he did take 5. The fifth Querie is Why did Christ take these infirmities Quaer 5 implyed in the word flesh Why did Christ take these infirmities I answer For diverse ends which I will but name and have done He took these infirmities of our nature as well as the nature it self To shew the truth of his Humanity He Respons had a nature that could hunger and thirst even as other men 1. To shew the truth of his Humanity could He took them that he might sanctifie them to us Whatsoever Christ took that he sanctified Saith Luther Christ enriched poverty by becoming poor and glorified shame by enduring shame for us 2. He took our infirmities That he might set us an example of an holy life Had not 2. To give us an example of an holy life Christ been subject to passion he could never have set us an example of meeknesse or patience if he himself had not been liable to passion yet without sin Lastly He took 3. That we might have accesse to him with boldness these infirmities That we might confide the more in him and have accesse to him with boldnesse Consider him an High Priest that was subject to infirmities as well as our selves We have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points touched as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace Thus ye see
who is meant by the Word and what is meant by Flesh I now proceed to shew you in what sense the Word is said to be made flesh First We must remove a false sense then assert the true The Word was made flesh Take it in the phrase of Athanasius The Word made flesh by taking the Manhood into God not by converting the Godhead into Man his Creed Not by conversion of the Godhead into Man but by the taking of the Manhood into God Quod erat permansit quod non erat assumpsit They were wont to sing so in an antient Liturgy Christ remaineth without any change in him as God I speak according to the meaning of that old Aenigmaticall Verse Sum quod eram quod eram non sum nunc dicor utrumque It is said in the Person of Christ I am what I was to wit God still I was not what I am to wit Man I am called both to wit God-Man To clear it by the application of the Text The Word was made flesh Christ is called the Word particularly in reference to that internall word and conceptions that are in a man's heart Now if a man manifest his own conceptions What doth he do He assumeth a voice as it were and by that voice makes men to hear what his conception is This Word was that that it was before yet it was manifested in the flesh without any change of what he was Here ye have the false sense removed Let the true sense now be asserted The Word was made flesh that is He assumed the Human Nature into By assuming the human nature into the union of his Person the union of his person He that was God before from everlasting doth now take man into the unity of his Person onely there is this difference in it The phrase seemeth to import something more because it is said The Word was made flesh And that some Hereticks catch at because they say One thing cannot be made another without some Object change As at the marriage in Canaan water was made wine and then it ceased to be water so say they If the Word be made flesh it must cease to be the Word for it is now made another thing For Answer to this first There is no necessity of translating Answ 1 it Made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word became flesh So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 9. 20. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew saith Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I became So the Word became flesh by a voluntary assumption of the Manhood So then the Objection is waved for it lyeth wholly in the Translation The Word was made flesh Secondly Let the Translation stand yet it will not overthrow Answ 2 what hath been said because every thing that is made another is not infallibly changed it self Let us therefore distinguish of a Naturall change and a Civill change a Physicall change and a Politicall change When one thing indeed is made another by a Physicall change then it ceaseth to be what it was before as when the water was made wine But one person may be made another in a way of Politicall change and yet continue what it was before As When one that is invested with Titles and Royalties of an higher nature is pleased out of condescention to assume some lower Title to himself as When a Soveraign Prince is pleased to be made or created Knight of the Garter when an English Earl is made a Gentleman of Venice Here is the King made a Knight and the Earl a Gentleman and yet continue what they were They have assumed a lower dignity without disparagement to what they were before And some of our Kings have been made free of this City of London in some Companies and it was an honour to the Company not a disparagement to the Prince So it is with Christ He honored that Nature he assumed and not lost that Nature which he had Thus you see the meaning of this Clause The Word was made flesh Let us now see what Use may be made of it First We shall apply the whole Clause and then draw Use 1 some instances from particulars The whole Clause may be of use for the confutation of For Confutation of Hereticks many Hereticks Our Evangelist here aimed at the confutation of Hereticks when he writ this Gospel and this one Clause knocketh many of them in the head It hath been the lot of the Church of Christ to be alwaies conflicting more or lesse with that kind of men For the first three hundred years after Christ the great thing then was by Persecution but after God had stirred up Constantine the Devil leaveth playing the Lion and turned to the Fox what he could not obtain by force he now seeks by fraud and instead of Persecution raiseth up Heresies And look as now adaies that which should unite all Christians together namely the Lord's Supper which we therefore call the Communion is made the greatest matter of Contention in the world The Lutherans and Caâ—vinists fall out about Consubstantiation Lutherans and Papists about Transubstantiation The Lord's Supper is made a meer matter of quarrell by the subtlety of Satan So of old this Personall Union of which I have spoken all this while the two Natures God and Man in one Person was the great matter of division in the Churches of Christ Many Hereticks struck at this and this Text meeteth with many of them I shall instance in four but not trouble you long about them but a little is fit to be said that we may know what was done in former ages Great use is of Evangelicall History There is the Heresie of The Arians All confuted by this Clause The Apollinarians The Nestorians The Eutychians The Arians held That Jesus Christ was not true God 1. The Arians opinion confuted This Text calleth him the Word and maketh him a Person in the Trinity It saith The Word was with God and the Word was God and that Word was made flesh The Apollinarians acknowledge him to be God yea and 2. The Apollinarians opinion confuted Man too but they held That he took onely the Body of a Man not the Soul of a Man but they say His Divinity supplied the room of a Soul We interpret the word Flesh rightly for the whole human nature Therefore the Apollinarians are confuted here too The Nestorians grant him to be both God and Man but 3. The Nestorians opinion confuted then they say The Godhead made one Person and the Manhood another Person We interpret the word Made rightly according as it holdeth forth an Hypostaticall Union and remember what was said of Christ's assuming not the person of man but the nature of man That Heresie is then confuted Here is God and Man two Natures but one Person 4. The Eutychians opinion confuted The Eutychians held but one Person in Christ then they confounded the Natures They say That the Godhead
the fulnesse of the Godhead In him dwelleth all the fullnesse of the Godhead bodily Not a parcell but all and bodily that is either really If ye take body as it standeth in opposition to shadowes and figures then the Godhead is said to dwell in Christ bodily in opposition to the shadowes Under the law the body dwelt figuratively in the Ark and thence the glory of the Lord filled the house But now it dwelleth in Christ as the substance of all those shadowes It dwells in him bodily Or if ye take body as it sometimes signifieth person The Hebrewes were wont to put the soul for the whole person so many souls went down with Jacob into Egypt The Greeks were Gen. 46. 27. wont to put body for the whole person I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God present your bodies as a living sacrifice so then to dwell bodily is to dwell personally Now the fulnesse of the Godhead dwells personally in Jesus Christ because he was the second Person in the Trinity The Son of God as full of the Divinity as the Father himselfe was The fulnesse of the Godhead dwelt as truly in the Son as in the Father Now Sonship implieth Identity of nature As if it will not be tedious to you Four things go to make up a perfect Sonship There Four things make up a perfect Sonship must be 1. Similitude 2. Procession and Production 3. Life and 4. Identity If any of these be wanting A person cannot be said to be the son of another I say Similitude Procession Life Identity There is a likenesse between the whitenesse of the wall and the whitenesse of the snow but no sonship between them because there is no production The whitenesse of the wall doth not produce the whitenesse of the snow Fire begets fire Here is a production But the fire is not the son of the fire because here wanteth Life The body of a living Man breeds worms Here is a production and life but yet the worm is not the son of Man because here is no Identity of nature The worm hath not the nature of man There must be a Coherence in all these four which you find in Christ in reference to God the Father There is a similitude He is the expresse Image 1. Similitude 2. Procession of his Fathers person There is a procession For the Son proceedeth from the Father and is begotten of the Father from all eternity There is Life For the Son hath Life 3. Life 4. Identity in himselfe as himselfe saith And there is Identity of nature The very same essence with that of the Father And a greater Identity then between any man and his son That take along with you too Take Abraham and Isaac Isaac hath the same nature with Abraham But how the same The same in species not in Individualls The same in kind not the same Individuall nature For it is possible that the father may be saved and the son damned or the son saved and the father damned But now the Lord Jesus Christ is the same Individuall nature with the Father because but one Deity and one Divinity and one Essence and the same Person pertakes of the same Individuall substance Here is the first fulnesse The fulnesse of Divinity Secondly There is in Jesus Christ A fulnesse of sufficiency Secondly a fulnesse of sufficiency for the work of the Mediator-ship which he undertook as God-man That which Divines call the grace of unction They speak of a double grace that dwelleth in Christ The grace of union namely that favour by which the human Nature was united Personally to the Godhead Secondly The grace of unction namely that anointing with the holy Ghost which Christ-Man had who is therefore said to be annointed with the oyle of gladness above his fellowes There is therefore this fulnesse of sufficiency because there was a fulnesse of Divinity there is therefore this grace of unction because by that grace of union Christ is therefore annoynted because the Manhood is so united to the Divinity The nearer any thing commeth to the Cause the more it taketh of the Effect Fire is the cause of heat therefore the nearer a man stands to the fire the hotter he is the farther off the lesse he partakes of the influence of the fire The Human Nature having a union with the Godhead must needs partake of all grace Write the letters of the Alphabet upon a seal and then put that upon the wax the wax will bear the image of all the letters Here is the Divinity The Godhead falls upon as it were and takes to it self the whole Manhood and therefore the Manhood bears the impression of the whole Godhead as far as the Manhood is capable Now indeeed it was necessary there should be a fulnesse of sufficiency in Christ because as Mediator he had three great Offices to discharge and every one of them requireth a fulnesse without which he could not have gone through with his work Accordingly ye shall find A three-fold fulnesse in Christ as to his Offices a fulnesse of power in Christ as King a fulnesse of wisdom in Christ as Prophet and a fulnesse of righteousnesse in Christ as he was the Priest of his Church which three make up the fulnesse of Sufficiency There is in Christ as King a fulnesse of power That is 1. As King the fulnesse of Power it which he speaks of Matth. 28. 18. Jesus came and spake to them saying All power is given to me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and I will be with you to the end of the world Christ hath all power in Heaven and Earth yea and in Hell too Of the two former this place speaks All power is given to me in heaven He hath the Angels in heaven at his command and can send them out as an heavenly hoast to assist his people All power is given to him on earth over all the Princes in the world Therefore he is King of kings and Lord of lords And this he telleth his Apostles before he sent them to preach the Gospell to encourage them Preach to all Nations all Nations all Mankind All power in heaven and in earth is given to me Therefore go preach I am with you And as all power in heaven and earth is given to Christ as King of the Church so all power in Hell Ye have an expression that may haply bear this sense Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen And have the keys of hell and of death Christ hath the keyes of hell and can send whom he will thither and keep whom he will from thence The Keys argue Power It is a metaphor taken from Conquerors when they take a City they have the Keys thereof delivered into their hands in token the City is now at their command If Hell be here taken for the Grave
occasioned John as they say to write this Gospell wherein he asserteth the Godhead of Christ And so by the way occasionally yee see what use even Heriticks are made of to the Church of God We had lost this Gospell if Ebion and Cerinthus had not broached their heresies God suffereth desperate opinions to be vented for the purging of his owne Truth The Truth of God is compared to Silver The words of the Lord are pure yea as Silver tried in a furnace of Earth purified seven times Every corrupt opinion that cometh to be vented against any Truth of God that is a new furnace and the truth being cast into that furnace it cometh out the purer for it Purified seven times As it is with Passengers of quality and note were it not for some evill inveterate Currs in the street they might passe and never be observed the very barking of the Dogs maketh them to be noted So these evill inveterate Corrupt Hereticks by their barking have occasioned the taking notice of that truth of the Divinity of Christ Had not they barked John had not Written This was the occasion And this should incourage you to attention because the same Hereticks are with us now we have our owne Ebions and Cerinthusses to this day that deny the Divinity of Christ and say He had no being till he took it from the Virgin Mary Fourthly we come to the Scope of this Book which is to hold out the Divine nature of Christ as the object of our Faith to set forth Christ as the Sonne of God that we believe in Him so as to have Salvation by Him And This St. John telleth you to have been his aime Joh. 20. 31. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Sonne of God and that believing you might have Life through Him He desires to set forth Christ to us as our Redeemer and therefore laboureth so much both in the beginning of his Gospell and throughout to hold forth the Godhead and Divine nature of Christ That so it might appear that he is a sufficient Redeemer If He had not been God He could not have gon through with the purchase As the Eagle trieth her young ones by holding them against the beams of the Sun and if they be able to look upon them with a stedfast eye she owneth such So John bringeth his Readers to the Sun of the Divinity of Christ and such as will not acknowledge that are bastard-Christians and not Saints Fifthly One thing yet remaineth by way of preface which is the difference between this and the other Gospells which lieth especially in two things First whereas the three former Evangelists insist especially upon things done by Christ after John was cast into Prison and so principally relate the acts of Christ in the last year of his Ministry St. John taketh in here the acts of his two former years what Christ did and what Christ said before John was cast into Prison which the other touch but sparingly upon Secondly whereas the other Evangelists insist mainly upon what Christ did Saint John relateth especially what Christ said They are much more large in recording his Miracles John in recording his Sermons and Prayers as Chap. 15. Some Miracles indeed he relateth to us but they are such as wake may either for his Discourse with the Disciples or for his disputation with his Adversaries So still he seemed more to take notice of what Christ said then what he did I now prepare you to be attentive for I begin to close with the first Chapter and with these first words of the Chapter which are of so great importance That as I told you before they had a most extraordinary force upon Junius his spirit and besides upon one Numenius a Heathen Philosopher That falling upon this Gospell cried out in a kind of indignation This Barbarian saith he for so the Greeks call the Jews hath concluded more in a few lines than our great Philosophers have in all their Books He was so taken with the mystery of these words For they are words which the most quick-sighted Christian can be hardly able to see through And throughout I shall indeavour to make it as plain as God shall inable me Onely ye must not take it amisse if some things shall be left obscure Augustine saith I will not defraud those that are able to understand for fear of being irksome to them that are not able Do but think your selves at a feast When many guests are invited to a feast They are of severall Constitutions and like severall dishes But now Shall a man that seeth such a dish before him to which he hath no stomack presently rise from the Table No he will perhaps think with himselfe Other men may like this dish So it should be taken here Suppose something be too hard for thee it may perhaps be clear to another Paul is a debtor to the wise and to the unwise therefore let none arise and goe away but let every man expect his portion Do you hope that whatsoever difficult passages there are in the Scriptures yet there will be some full of Light and Comfort To close then with the first verse In the beginning was the Word and the Word was Text. with God and the Word was God YE have here the Subject and the Predicate which are laid down in three Propositions The subject in every proposition is the same the Word And there are in these three propositions three things predicated of this Word First an eternall existency and that in the first Proposition The Word was in the beginning Secondly a Personall Co-exsistency of Christ with the Father The Word was with God namely as a distinct person from God That is the second Proposition Thirdly a divine Essence The Word was God a distinct Person indeed therefore said to be with God but of the same Nature therefore said to be God Mysteries have more need of Adoration than Locution The first thing we are to understand is a discourse of the Subject of these three Propositions The Word And for the clearing of that three Quaeries we shall resolve First what Person is here meant by the Word Quarie 1 I answer clearly The second Person in the Trinity Of Respon whom ye shall find him called not onely by St. John Christ is called the Word by Iohn but by St. Luke and Paul too Jesus Christ is called by St. John The Word 1 John 5. 7. There are three that beare record in Heaven The Father the WORD the Holy Ghost Here the Word cometh in in the second place between the Father and the Holy Ghost to denote the second Person Revel 19. 13. He was cloathed in a vesture dipt in Blood and His Name is called the Word of God Neither is John the onely man that calleth Him so though by the way St. John himselfe above all the Apostles got the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John the
that thing is So Christ is the principall object of a Christians love and the more of Christ is in any person the more lovely Christ the principall object of a Christian's love that person is in a Christian's eyes The object that standeth most in the light is most seen and the Saint that hath most of Christ in him is most beloved by every one that is new-born when they come to discern that amiablenesse in him 3. The third thing that accompanieth this new-birth is 3. Victory over spirituall enemies Victory over spirituall enemies which doth exceedingly raise the priviledge of being born of God Victory over the world and victory over the devill ye have them both 1 Joh. 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcommeth the world It is true Regenerate persons may get many a blow and knock from the world and many times be foiled too and from the frowns and flatteries of the world a Saint may be worsted As it is when a thief setteth upon a man in the high-way and aimeth at his purse he may stand in his own defence and haply receive some wounds or blowes but yet the thief is not able to take his purse from him Here a man commeth off a conquerour though not without blows So Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world because in the issue Grace getteth the upper-hand Though he that is born of God may be conquered yet That which is born of God cannot be conquered It is not Whosoever is born of God but Whatsoever is born of God There is an Emphasis in that As a victory over the world attendeth this new-birth so a victory over the devill too 1 Joh. 5. 18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not He sinneth not so as to be touched by that wicked one Take them together that is He sinneth not against the holy Ghost sinneth not so as to be devillified He that is once a child of God never becomes a child of the devill That is the meaning of that That wicked one toucheth him not Not but that That wicked one the devill may annoy a Saint and foil him many times but not with that which the Schools call Tactus qualificativus such a touch as altereth the nature of a thing As for example Men that speak of the Philosopher's Stone they suppose it to have such a property in it as when it toucheth the metal it turneth it into Gold Such a property the Spirit of God hath upon the soul of man when it toucheth the soul it putteth a divine nature into it Now saith the Apostle The wicked one toucheth him not so as to alter him and to turn him into his own nature and make him as very a devill as himself which they that have sinned against the holy Ghost do Because even as very a devill as Satan is he that is once made partaker of the divine Nature cannot be touched so as to be made partaker of the diabolicall nature Secondly This may serve in the next place To undeceive 2. To undeceive carnall Professors carnall Professors that stand so much upon their faith and have no new birth to shew that say They have believed ever since they were born when as indeed no man can believe till he be born again There is an inseparable connexion between these two Faith and the New-creature the Evangelist John putteth them together To those that believe in his name who are born of God Wheresoever Christ is received by faith there he doth renew the soul as well as save it He bringeth with him plaisters that do not onely hide sin but heal it not onely cover it but cure it He bringeth with him not onely pardoning mercy but purging mercy and renewing grace And therefore it is in vain for men to call themselves believers if they be not new-born The Pleas of carnall Professors 1. They are baptized Some pleas indeed they have which I will briefly answer First They are baptized and therefore born again their baptism is the Laver of Regeneration That is all some have to shew Whether that place Tit. 3. 5. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of the new-birth and the renewing of the holy Ghost be meant primitively of Baptism yea or no may be disputed But I wave that Secondly Those that ascribe most efficacy to Baptism they say That Infants Elect and onely they do in baptism 2. They onely that are Elected receive Regeneration in Baptism receive a Regeneration But what kind of Regeneration whether Potential Habitual or Initial they know not not such as will serve their turn when they grow up to years for then they must have an Actuall and farther Regeneration before they can be saved Peter telleth us expresly that the outward washing with water saveth none there must go a farther work to that 1 Pet. 3. 21. Wherefore the baptism that now is answering that figure which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but a confident Demanding which a good conscience maketh to God saveth us also by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That no man can have that is not new born There cannot be a good conscience till there be a sprinkling of the blood of Christ For we are sprinkled from an evill conscience Heb. 12. 24. Now a man that is new-born when Satan putteth in a Plea against him he can put in his Answer against Satan's Bill he is able to plead Sincerity when he is accused of Hypocrisie and to make an apology for himself against the accusations of the Law If this satisfie not consider one or two places more to shew the vanity of this plea Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Baptism is what Circumcision was Baptism availeth not but a new Baptism availeth not without a new-birth creature Baptism without new-birth can bring no man to salvation One may be a kind of baptized Turk as there were circumcised Ellemits in Jerusalem that is Men circumcised in the flesh and yet Heathens in their dispositions Ezek. 18. 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions wherein ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel They must die unlesse there were a new spirit and a new heart within them Nothing but death without the new creature though an Israelite When men are beaten from this they fall to a second 2d Plea of carnall Professors plea and pretend to a New-birth Why Because they are not so bad as they have been some duties they neglected before but now perform them some errours they committed before but now abstain from them Therefore surely they are born of God To make Answer to this Plea we must know wheresoever Their Plea answered this new-birth
and Manhood make such a mixture as to produce a Third thing Here they are confuted by the right understanding of the Hypostaticall Union I will not perplex your understandings with these things onely see the care of the Church of God of old It met with all these sorts of Hereticks in four Adverbs the old Councills brought in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly to oppose the Arians that implyeth that Christ was true God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfectly to oppose the Sine Naturarum convulsione Apollinarians to shew he was perfectly Man consisting of a Soul and of a Body The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Undividedly to oppose the Nestorians to shew that his Natures were not divided And then the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unmixtly to Inconfusè oppose the Eutychians who so mingled the Natures as to make a third thing out of both We now come to what remaineth in the Particulars See what they will afford us First That which concerneth the Divinity of Christ the 1. The Wisdom and the Love of God to be admired Word what hath been said of that may serve to fill us all with admiration of the love and wisdom of our God in ordering so that his own Son the Second Person in the Trinity the Word should be made flesh for our salvation God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son Here is love indeed Hardly will a man part with an onely son yet God doth He spared not his own Son but gave him to death for us all And yet haply a man may have such a son that he careth not for But what saith the voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son And yet he so loved the world as to part with his beloved Son One may have a son that he loveth and yet be displeased with him as David was with Absolom but this Son did please the Father and yet this Son is given to die O the admirable love of God shining in this that the Second Person in the Trinity is set on work to procure our Redemption Though Reason could never have found out such a way yet when God hath revealed it Reason though but shallow can see a fitnesse in it because there being a necessity that the Saviour of man should be Man and an impossibility that any but God should save him and one Person in the Trinity being to be Incarnate It suiteth to reason that the first Person in the Trinity should not be the Mediator For who should send him He is of none and therefore could not be sent There must be one sent to reconcile the Enmity and another to give gifts to friends two proceeding Persons the Son from the Father and the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son accordingly the second Person which is the Son he is sent upon the first errand to reconcile man to God and the third Person the Holy Ghost he is sent to give gifts to men so reconciled So as to Reason it is a suitable and a very great congruity That God having made all things by his Word should now repair all things by his Word That as the word of the serpent deceived man and brought him to ruine so the Word of God should restore him and bring him to happinesse That he that was the middle person in the Trinity should become the Mediator between God and man That he that was the expresse Image of the Father's person should restore the Image of God defaced in man by his sins Men may be too curious in such Quaeries but where there is a bottom in the love of God we may safely lose our selves in the admiration of the wisdome of God in the Contrivance of the work of our Redemption That for the first Secondly From what hath been said of the word flesh 2. Here is both matter of Comfort and matter of Duty here as importing the human nature and the human nature cloathed with infirmities we may gather both matter of Comfort and matter of Duty First Matter of Comfort from each of the two branches from flesh as it importeth man-hood from flesh as it importeth infirmity of man-hood The Son of God hath taken our nature upon him that may Comfort men It is matter of Rejoycing to any man when he heareth his friend is preferred What is so neer to us as our owne nature Behold our nature is preferred by Jesus Christ to a union Our nature preferr'd by Christ to union in the Godhead in the Godhead Christ sitteth in Heaven with our nature and the same flesh that we have upon us onely glorified It is that which all the World cannot give a sufficient reason of why the same word in the Hebrew Rashar should signifie both flesh and good Tydings Divinity will give you a reason though Grammar cannot Christ's taking of flesh upon him was good Tydings to all the whole World therefore no wonder if one word signifie both Aboundance of comfort may be taken from hence to poor souls when they think God hath forgotten them To consider Is it likely that Christ that is man should forget Man now He is at the right hand of the Father cloathed in that nature that we have When we are troubled to think it is impossible God and man should ever be reconciled Let us consider that God and man did meet in Christ therefore it is possible we may meet What hath been may be again The two natures met in Christ therefore God may be reconciled to man yea they therefore met that God might be reconciled to man He was made Emanuell God with us that he might bring God and us together When a man is troubled to think of the Corruptions of his nature that is so full of defilement that it cannot be sanctified let him withall think that his nature is capable of sanctification to the full Christ received human nature which was not polluted his nature is the same Therefore that nature is capable of sanctification to the uttermost Many more comforts may be raised from this Consideration That he assumed flesh with the sorrows of it and the nature of it penall infirmities The consideration of that in generall may give some comfort to men because it letteth us see that Christ is able and willing to help us because he hath taken our infirmities Both these the Apostle holdeth out Hebr. 2. ult It is said In that he himself had suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted He is therefore able because himselfe hath been tempted As a Physitian that trieth the vertue of some soveraign Composition upon his owne body he is the better able to cure another with that Receit because he himselfe hath tried it Christ hath born our infirmities therefore he knoweth better how to support us under them I but is he willing yes His willingnesse may be collected from this That he hath taken our infirmities
said to purchase the Church with his blood because that Person which was God had blood to shed according to his human Nature though it was sanguis humanus yet it was sanguis Dei It was human blood yet the blood of that Person which was God as well as Man Now the ground of all this is that personall union The Word being made flesh Divines have laboured much to make this clear therefore have invented divers Comparisons I shall tell you of one or two of them They suppose a flaming fiery Sword here is a union of the metal and of the fire that are met together in this sword and therefore there may be a communication of the properties This fiery thing may be said to cut and this sharp thing may be said to burn because they are so united in one sword Or thus They suppose a man under two capacities one and the same man that hath skill in two Sciences suppose he is both a good Physitian and a good Lawyer Now one may in propriety of speech say This Physitian is a Lawyer and this Lawyer is a Physitian because both meet in one man A man may say This Physitian is a diligent follower of his Clyent 's businesse and this Lawyer is very good at curing his Patients Or thus A branch of a Vine is graffed into the stock of an Olive-tree and that so as it takes of each tree both the Vine-branch and the Olive bear according to their severall natures yet are in the union both of one tree but both Grapes and Olives grow upon it One may say This Vine beareth good Olives and this Olive-tree beareth good Grapes because united in one tree So it is in respect of the Manhood united to the Godhead This Son of Mary made the world and this Son of God shed his blood upon the Crosse But no more of this The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth I now go on to what remaineth And dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth properly Dwelling as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Tent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to dwell in a Tent or Tabernacle Then this Clause Dwelt amongst us is capable of a three-fold sense though as I suppose but one is here intended There is a Mysticall sense of these words a Spirituall sense a Civill sense First A Mysticall sense and according to that this 1. The Divinity of Christ dwelt in the human Nature phrase Dwelt amongst us is an amplification of the former The Word was made flesh and implyeth this That the Divinity of Christ dwelleth in the human Nature as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us the plurall number noteth the human Nature and implieth as diverse go this way especially the Greek Fathers and the Arabick and Syriack all give this sense of this place to intimate That the habitation or dwelling that Christ assumed to himself was not the Person of man but the Nature of man and therefore dwelt in us There is a place of Scripture that seemeth to favour this sense Col. 2. 9. where ye find it thus said In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily As if so be he should have said The Godhead dwelt in the body of Christ as in a tabernacle or tent which it had erected for its own habitation Dwelt and dwelt bodily Secondly There is a Spirituall sense of this Clause and 2. Christ dwelleth in us by his Spirit according to that the meaning is this Dwelt in us namely by his Spirit by influence from heaven and this way Cajetan goeth Lest men should suspect saith he because of what was said before The Word was made flesh that now we are to have none but fleshly communion with the Son of God Though It was made flesh yet he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us by his Spirit and conversed with us in that respect and this is implyed in the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We say not inter nos but in nobis If he had meant it of Christ's dwelling in the world he would have said Inter nos but he saith In nobis that implyeth a communication of himself to our inward man according to that sense which other Scriptures hold forth That Christ-Man dwelleth in our hearts by faith Ephes 3. 17. 2 Cor. 6. 16. God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Thirdly There is a third sense of these words that is a 3. By his conversing amongst us Civill sense Dwelt amongst us that is Conversed amongst us as one man converseth with another He took upon him the form of a servant and was in the likenesse of man and carried himself for about 33 years upon earth as a man This is his dwelling amongst us and that is the most proper sense in this place though there be a truth in all the former yet neither of them is here intended not the First which I call the Mysticall sense because the human Nature of Christ was not assumed like as a Tabernacle or Tent which is pitched for a while and then removed but as a Mansion The Divinity took up his habitation forever in the human Nature Christ now continueth and shall for ever as true Man as he was when he was born of the Virgin Mary In that place Col. 2. 9. the Apostle useth another word where he saith that all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily the word is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Tabernacle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Mansion and abiding place He so took the human Nature as never to lay it down again Therefore not as in a Tabernacle As for the Spirituall sense that cannot well be the meaning here Though it be true that Christ dwelleth in the hearts of his Saints and converseth with their spirits yet the Evangelist speaketh of some kind of habitation amongst men but this kind of habitation dwelling in our hearts was that which was usually in the Word from the beginning of the world so he dwelt amongst the Jewes for they were his beloved people long before he was Incarnate Besides this was ceased when the Evangelist wrote The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitavit in the Praeterperfect Tense If ye take it of Christ's conversing amongst men upon the face of the earth he did dwell amongst them so but he did not dwell amongst them at this time that was past but his dwelling in his Spirit amongst us that is not past Joh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him It remaineth therefore that the sense of this place is plainly thus not to seek into abstruse senses The