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
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
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
is there is a farther thing then restraining grace there is holinesse of life Ephes 4. 24. That ye put on that new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Now holinesse goeth farther than to the abstaining from some evill and doing of some good Holinesse reacheth to the mortification of lust where there is a new man created after holinesse lust will be pursued not onely to imprisonment but to death The Woolf is not onely tied up but turned into a Lamb the Sow is not onely put into a pasture but changed into a Sheep A woolf tyed up doth not so much mischief as before a Sow in a pasture is not so swinish and filthy as when it walloweth in the mire but their natures still remain So it is in restraining grace their natures are the same if not some change in their conversation Where the new-birth is there is a change of the heart and a new nature wrought therefore men do duties with delight and constantly Men look at lusts now not as David did at Absolom but as Joab did at Absolom that I may use that comparison Asolom he rebelled ye know David and Joab they both set themselves against him but so as David though he could not but be displeased with Absolom's rebellion yet he carrieth affection towards him and desireth that the young man may be dealt gently withall On the other side Joab when he getteth an opportunity throweth dart upon dart and never 2 Sam. 18. 14. leaveth till he hath slain him So ye have many a man that hath some work of grace upon his heart that yet hath a months mind and longing after sin he would have his sin supprest as David would have Absolom but yet Absolom must live though a rebellious son Many would have sin supprest that it may not expose them to hell and damnation but all this while their sins must live But the new creature is carried out with hatred against sin therefore it is not content without its destruction Mortifie your earthly members saith the Apostle Such a sin saith the regenerate soul will have my death therefore I will have its death I will not be content till it be crucified with the lusts and affections thereof I shall now proceed to the 14 Verse Vers 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld the glory thereof as the glory of the onely begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth Heretofore the Evangelist having proved the Divinity of Christ's manifestation in the flesh and the glory of his Person in both Natures Jesus Christ he commeth now to tell us of his manifestation in the flesh and of the glory of his Person consisting of both Natures So as this Verse calleth to us for attention because it holdeth forth the Object of our faith the Person of Christ in both his Natures And certainly every soul that is married to Christ will be affected with his Person and therefore desirous to hear of that The difference between a wife and a harlot is The wife desires and loveth the husband's person therefore careth not for his tokens unlesse his person be enjoyed The harlot loveth the token and careth not for the person It is the property of the Spouse not to be content with the Love-tokens of Christ but with the Person of Christ And concerning him ye have four things laid down here First The Incarnation of Jesus Christ The Word was made flesh Secondly His Conversation on earth And dwelt amongst us Thirdly Here is a speciall manifestation of his glory And we behold his glory as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father Fourthly The singular Qualifications of his Person Full of grace and truth First I shall begin with the Incarnation of Christ in these words And the Word was made flesh A Clause out of which Bees may suck hony and Spiders may gather poison These words have been a stumbling-block to many Hereticks and on the other side a sure and strong hold to many Saints Some think that when the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen and had some Egyptians mixed with them at the same time the Scriptures are light to Saints darknesse to unbelievers Hebrewes drew wholesome waters out of the fountains and the Egyptians bloody water at the same springs and that it was dark to the Egyptians in the same house and light to the Hebrewes If so me-thinks It affordeth that which may lead us into the Consideration of this and the like places of Scripture Hereticks have darknesse and Believers light The one draweth bloody waters and the other wholesome waters out of the same Text of Scripture as ye shall hear in the application what use may be made of this Clause Apollinarius saith That because the Word was made flesh Therefore Christ took upon his flesh the body but not the soul of a man Three things are here to be declared to you First Who is meant by the Word Secondly What is meant by the Flesh Thirdly In what sense the word was made Flesh First The divine nature of Christ is in the Word Secondly The human nature of Christ The Flesh Thirdly The personall union The Word made Flesh These are mysteries by some more spoken of and lesse understood Things that we cannot be ignorant of without danger nor discourse of without all Reverence Things that no Eloquence of man can reach no soul of man apprehend in the full latitude of them Yet some thing we shall speak hereof by God's assistance First Who is here meant by the Word I answer the 1. By the Word is meant the second Person in the Trinity second person in the Trinity so called in that known place There are three that bear witnesse in Heaven the Father and the Word and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Joh. 5. 8. The same person that is called the word in the beginning of this Chapter is said to be with God I shall not speak of that because heretofore I have been large in it but come to the second Secondly What is here meant by Flesh Flesh signifieth 2. By Flesh is meant the whole man the whole man in diverse places of Scripture Man ye know consisteth of two parts which are sometimes called flesh and spirit and sometimes called soul and body Now by a Synecdoche either of these parts may be put for the whole sometimes the soul is put for the whole man As when it is said there were so many souls in the Act. 27. 37. Gen. 46. 27. ship with Paul And seventy souls went down into Egypt with Jacob sometimes flesh or body is put for the whole man Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you brethren by the Mercies of God offer up your bodies a living sacrifice That is offer up your selves And sometimes flesh which is the word in the Text Rom. 3. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall
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
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