that this sacred Person which did this great Work with his own blood is very God But here we be also to observe that there is no Communication of the Essential Properties of these Natures but in the concrete only as Logicians speak not in the abstract as we may say truly and according to the Doctrine of Godliness that God died for us but we may not say therefore the Deity died for us And here beloved I will shew you once more why our Mediator must be very God and very Man and that these two Natures must thus admirably be united together and his Conception so pure First briefly for the first He must be very God First because he hath received a Charge from his Father which did require an infinite Power to wit by his Merits and Vertue to save the Elect or Believers for it was needful that his Price should over-prize our sins Secondly If he had not been very God he could not have overcome death Rom. 1.3 4. Thirdly for that it behoved him also to overcome and kill sin and death in us even in our Consciences Joh. 5.24 25. and to quicken us Rom. 8.11 by giving us the Spirit of Faith to apprehend all his Merits and to apply the same unto our selves Now who can give the Holy Ghost but God himself Luk. 11.13 Joh. 3.7 8. Lastly He was to loosen and destroy all the accursed works of Satan in us Secondly And for the second Point He must be very Man First that God might declare his unchangeable Justice and hatred of sin and his unspeakable Love and Mercy to the Elect the first he sheweth in punishing sin in his own Son the second he declareth in that he punisheth not our sins in out selves but in another Secondly That we might conceive rightly of the Brotherly Affection of our Mediator towards us and how that he which sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one Thirdly For that God had confirmed it with an Oath that the Messias should come of the loins of David Psal 133. 89. and of the Seed of the Woman according to the Gospel preached in the beginning in Paradise Gen. 3.15 Thirdly For the third Point This I believe and avouch briefly That Salvation could not have been obtained for Man unless the Nature of God and Man were united together in one Person First Because otherwise this work had not been performed by blood of the Son of God and so it had been insufficient for us Secondly Because the Humanity of Christ could never have born that punishment for sin Thirdly Salvation thus obtained could never have been maintained but that these Natures be thus knit together for that Christ is and must be the pledge of our Reconciliation for ever Psal 110.1 Matth. 22.44 Fourthly By this means we have as it were kindred with God in Jesus Christ who is become our Emmanuel God with us or God manifest in our flesh Matth. 1.1 Tim. 3.16 Fourthly For the fourth and last branch of the Question I say and believe that it was necessary our Lord and Saviour should be pure without the stain of sin in his Conception and that the Holy Ghost in this great Work did so provide First For that the most glorious and Divine Nature of God could never else be united unto the Humane Secondly For that a sinner could never have been accepted to make this Atonement or to offer up any Sacrifice for sin Thirdly For that he could not have Sanctified others unless he were the most Pure and the most Holy One of God in himself Heb. 2.11 10.9 10. Thus then the Lord Jesus Christ our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer hath taken to himself of the whole mass of mankind he took I say one Portion thereof and did perfectly sanctifie it by the power of the Holy Ghost and out of it derives perfect Holiness and Sanctification upon all his Elect by imputation of his Merits for their Justification and by his Holy Spirit working in them inherent Righteousness and Sanctification that so they may serve him continually in this life and for ever And here I will also shew you the use of this Article which we reason'd so much on in our Church-meetings when we were upon the Creed viz. I believe that he was crucified dead and buried All the Evangelists testifie with one accord that this was the form of his Execution he was crucified on a Cross and to fill him with pain his hands and feet were fastened with nayls unto the Cross Acts 3.18 Gal. 3.1 Phil. 2.8 And all this was done to accomplish God's Eternal Decree manifested before by the Prophets The brazen Serpent was a picture of this Numb 21 Joh. 3. For so he saith himself As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up that all that believe in him perish not but may have life everlasting And again Joh. 12.32 And when I shall be lifted up from the Earth I will draw all men unto my self Of this the Psalmist Prophesied saying They pierced my hands and my feet Secondly That we might in Conscience be resolved that Christ came under the Law Gal. 3.13 and suffered the Curse thereof for us and bare in his own Body and Soul the extremity of the Wrath of God for us And albeit other punishments were notes of God's Curse yet was the death of the Cross in a special manner above the rest accursed by vertue of a particular Commandment and special Word pronounced by God himself fore-seeing and fore-shewing what manner of Death Christ our Lord should die Thirdly The Apostle assureth us that in this form of Execution we may behold how Christ did undertake all the Malediction due unto all the Elect or Mankind himself for he saith Gal. 3 13. That he was made a Curse for us And again in the like prhrase 2 Cor 5. â—1 He was made sin for us By which manner or speaking we may not fear that any manner of reproach is offered the Son of God For both Sin and the Curse following are his by imputation Though in regard of himself he was no sinner yet as he was our Surety he became sin for us and consequently the curse of the Law for us in that the Curse every way due unto us by imputation and application were made his Instructions and Consolations which follow this Faith First We learn here with bitterness to bewail our sins for Christ suffered here the Wrath of God not for any offence that ever he committed but all for us and therefore just cause have we to mourn for our own sins which brought our Saviour to this low and base estate If a man should be so far in debt that he could not be freed unless the Surety should be cast into Prison for his sake nay which is more be cruelly put to death for his debt it would make him at his wits end if there were left but
five things which the first Temple had First The Appearing and Presence of God at the Mercy-Seat between the two Cherubims Secondly the Vrim and Thummim on the Brest-plate of the High Priest Thirdly The Inspiration of the Holy Ghost upon extraordinary Prophets Fourthly The Ark of the Covenant which was lost in the Captivity Fifthly Fire from Heaven to burn their Sacrifices And yet notwithstanding all this loss the same Prophet in the same Chapt. the 10th vers following assureth That the Glory of the last House should be greater than the first Because the Sacrifice of Christ at his coming should give Glory and Dignity to it And for that his Presence Preaching and Teaching in it gave it more Glory than the former five special Graces and Gifts of God did or could give unto the first Temple So I believe that Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Rom. 4.25 He died for our sins and rose again for our Justification 1 Cor. 15.3 4 14. Now I will speak of the manner of his Resurrection and the Use of it First The Lord Jesus being truly dead and buried rose again by his own Almighty Power as is often testified Joh. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again And so his Apostles Paul and Peter assure us he quickned himself by his own Spirit Rom. 1.11 1 Pet. 3.18 whereby he doth approve himself comfortable unto us to be the very Son of God as St. Paul noteth Rom. 8.4 saying He was declared mightily to be the Son of God touching the Spirit of Sanctification by the resurrection from the dead Secondly As touching the form he rose in or how his body was qualified I Answer Thar after his Resurrection his body was glorified richly yea most gloriously qualified with supernatural Graces His body was incorruptible and it was made a shining body a resemblance whereof some of his Disciples saw in the Mount and it was indued with Agility to move as well upward as downward as may appear by the Ascention of his Body to Heaven which was not caused by constraint or by any violent Motive but by a property agreeing to all bodies glorified Yet in the exaltation of Christ's Manhood we must remember two Caveats First he did never lay aside the Essential Properties of a true Body as length breadth thickness visibility locality or to be in one place at once and no more but keeping all this still because they serve for the Being of his Body Secondly We must remember that the gifts of Glory in Christ's Body are not infinite but finite for his Humane Nature being but a Creature and therefore finite could not receive infinite Graces c. Christ's Body is not Omnipotent and Infinite for this is to affirm he had no Humane Body and to make the Creature the Creator That it might appear unto his Disciples he had a glorious Body and was changed he was not alwayes in their presence but came often suddenly into their presence and once the doors being shut the doors giving place and being opened as saith * See Mr. Perkins upon the Creed pag. 275. Mr. Perkins they knew not how He that thickned the Water to walk on can cause Doors and Locks to give way unto his coming without any piercing or passing through them as Papists have imagined Finally That he had a true Body a real Body the very same wherein he suffered and not a feigned body as Hereticks have avouched is testified by many Arguments unto us he shewed some scars wounds and blemishes of his Passion in his Body now glorified as then remaining for the confirmation of men and to this end he conversed with men He did eat and drink often in the presence of his Apostles after his Resurrection The Use of this Article concerning Christ's Resurrection and of this Faith is this First The Resurrection of Christ is a publick testimony that he hath perfect Righteousness for all such as trust in him and if there had remained but one of our sins either unperfectly punished in him or not fully satisfied by him he could not assuredly then have risen from the death for where but one sin is there must be death Rom. 6.23 as God hath decreed Like as then the Father by delivering Christ to death hath indeed condemned our sins in Christ Rom. 8.3 so by raising him from death he hath absolved Christ from our sins and us in Christ 1 Cor. 15.17 Rom. 4.25 As our sins are condemned and punished in the death of Christ so our absolution and discharge is in his Resurrection Christ was given to death for our sins and raised again for our Justification Secondly The Believer is truly said to be dead to sin or to be dead with Christ because the vertue of Christ's death works effectually in his heart the death or sin and next to be buried with Christ into his death Rom. 6.2 3 4. because of the vertue which proceeds from Christ's burial to cause him so to bury sin that it never can rise up any more to be so stirring in him as it was before he came co Christ And lastly The Believer is as truly said to be risen with Christ Col. 3.1 because a special Vertue and Grace proceeds also from Christ's Resurrection to the believing heart to quicken it unto newness of life And this is that Grace which the Apostle desires more and more to feel and find to abound in himself when he desires to know Christ better and the vertue of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 wherefore we must imbrace Christ risen in the arms of our precious Faith and so apply him unto our hearts that we may sensibly feel vertue to come from him not only to crucifie our old Affections but also to stir up daily new holy and heavenly Affections in our hearts Col. 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above c. 1 Pet. 1.3 We art regenerate to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead As it was in the cure of the Woman that had the Bloody Issue so it is in the curing and quickning of sinners which are full of Bloody Issues all which must be stanched and cured by a certain vertue derived from Christ into them Mark 5.29 30. This is the Prayer Eph. 3.19 Thirdly The third fruit which is joyned with the second is the assurance of our perseverance in Grace and of our full victory against Sin and Death for they that are ingrasted into Christ by Faith and continuing therein unto death draw from him such a spiritual Life and Power as they shall never lose no not in the parting asunder of Soul and Body Rom. 8.38 Joh. 8.51 If any Man keep my Woad he shall never see death Fourthly The last benefit of his Resurrection is the resurrection of our bodies
one another as he gave us Commandment and we receive remission of sins by this Faith See Acts 26.15 16 17 18. where Christ saith to St. Paul I send thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me So that Jesus Christ is God and Man in one Person for none can forgive sins but God none can be the primary and proper object of Faith but God Faith being a part of divine moral Worship for we give honour to him in whom we believe None can be a Mediator between God and Man but he that is God and Man in one Person none can offer a Sacrifice to God for the sin of man so as to procure peace and purity of Conscience but Jesus Christ who is God and Man in one Person God of the substance of his Father begotten before the World and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World perfect God and perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting * See the Creed of Athanasius Joh. 1.1 2 3. Rom. 1.3 Gal. 4.4 Prop. 3. Jesus Christ as God-Man is our Saviour he united our Nature to his Divine Nature he was born of the Virgin Mary he kept the Law and fulfilled all Righteousness and then suffered Death for us as Man he died and by the power of his Godhead he was raised again that we might be justified by faith in him see Rom. 4.24 25. so that we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Eph. 1.7 Hence St. Paul desireth to know nothing among the Corinthians save Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.1 2. Our Communion with God is by faith in the Son of God see Phil. 2.1 1 Joh. 1.3 The life which I now live in the Flesh saith St. Paul I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 So that Christ is the object of divine Worship Acts 7.59 Rev. 5.12 Of that hope which is saving and maketh not ashamed Col. 1.27 Rom. 5.5 of our sincere and greatest love 1 Cor. 16.22 of our absolute service and divine faith Rom. 14.9 18. Joh. 14.1 Oh the excellency of Jesus Christ to a believing Soul Mr. Calvin reprehends those as highly injurious to miserable Souls who by calling of God the object of Faith simply in the mean while omit Christ without whom there can be no Faith nor Access to God c. See Calv. Institut lib. 2. sect 4. Prop. 4. We in order of nature not of time believe first in Christ and by Christ in God As the Apostle Peter teacheth speaking of Christ who verily saith he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the World but was manifested in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that your Faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.20 21. So that Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by him Joh. 14.6 He is the Mediator as the Apostle teacheth his Son Timothy 1 Tim. 2.5 For saith he there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Extreams come not together but by their midst from the nature of a just God unto a Sinner God in Christ is a tender Father out of Christ a consuming fire Man's way to God is by the Man-God for Christ as the Redeemer is the Mediator not the ultimate object of Faith for by Christ we believe in God Beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I beseech you to consider the destructive and damnable nature of Heresie which is contrary to these Propositions which I have laid down and proved from the Holy Scriptures Heresie it denyes God it denyes his Essence it denyes the Trinity of Persons it denyes the Lord Jesus Christ it denyes his two Natures the Divine Nature whereby he is God the Humane Nature whereby he is Man it denyes his Personality whereby the two Natures subsist in one Person it denyes the object of saving Faith of Divine Worship it denyes satisfaction made by Christ unto the Father it denyes Remission of Sin Justification Adoption Sanctification and the hope of Glorification in a word what truth doth it not deny O the destructive and damnable nature of Heresie The Apostle charges the Corinthians but with one Heresie in the 15th Chapter How say some among you saith he that there is no resurrection of the dead But behold what are the natural consequences thereof how many Heresies doth that one Heresie let in or is the root of First If there be no resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen 2. If Christ is not risen then is your preaching vain 3. and your faith is also vain 4. yea and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not 5. For if the dead rise not then is not Christ risen 6. And if Christ be not risen your faith is vain and you are yet in your sins 7. Then they which are faln asleep in Christ are perished 8. If in this life we have only hope we are of all men most miserable Therefore 4thly Miserable will be the end of those that bring into the Church of Christ damnable Heresies they will bring upon themselves in so doing swift destruction the Apostle Jude pronounceth a Woe upon them and tells us v. 11 12 13. that they have gone in the way of Cain and in the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Kore that they are spots in their Feasts of Charity Clouds without Water Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever So likewise the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 2.9 17. shows that the false Teachers shall be reserved unto the day of Judgment to be punished And the Apostle Paul also sets forth the punishment of Antichrist and all his Adherents because saith he they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned that loved not the Truth but had pleasure in Unrighteousness 2 Thess 2.9 10 11 12. It will be good for us therefore to take heed for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God for our God is a consuming fire See Heb. 10.31 l2. 29 Yet Fiftly it is lamentable to think that Heresie should have such success in the World for is
is subjectively communicated to the Humanity of Christ but only the Humane Nature was assumed of the Son of God into the same Person Heb. 2.16 Q. What is the Personal Vnion in Christ A. It is that whereby the Person of the Son of God being a Person from all Eternity existing did assume the most pure Nature of Man wanting all personal existing of its own into the unity of his Person and made it his own the properties of each Nature being preserved Or as Paul defines it Col. 2.9 whereby in Christ doth dwell all the fulness of the Godhead bodily whereof we have a manifest resemblance in the union of the Soul and the body And therefore the Apostle doth well call it a great Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 Q. How is this Union made A. Without all confusion Without all conversion of one Nature into another indivisibly inseparably The difference of the Natures by no means being taken away by the union but rather the propriety of either Nature being saved and joyned together or concurring into one Person and one subsisting as the Calcedon Synod speak in the History of Evagrius lin 2. cap. 4. And from that time that the Word did assume our Humane Nature he never left it no not in his death And to this purpose make these Verses I am that I was not I was that I am now both am I called Thou knowest me not except thou know me subsisting of both Natures See Mr. John Tombes his Exposition upon the Calcedon-Council concerning the two Natures in Christ asserted in his Book intituled Emmanuel or God-man Sect. 15. Q. By what testimonies will you prove that the Divine and Humant Nature in Christ did joyn together in one and the same Person A. Isa 7.14 9.6 Luk. 1.35 That which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Joh. 1.14 And the Word was made Flesh not by Sacramental-union in which respect Christ was said to be a Rock not by confusion of the Natures nor by commutation as Water is turned into Wine Joh. 2.14 but by assuming the flesh into the unity of this Person The Voice of God speaketh thus of Jesus Christ the Son of Mary This is my beloved Son Matth. 3.17 He that descended is even the self-same that ascended above all Heavens that he might fill all things Eph. 4.10 God sent his Son born of a Woman Gal. 4.4 Q. Why is it necessary that Christ should be both God and Man in one and the same Person A. 1. To die end he might reconcile God and Man or that he might make God and Man one 2. That he might be a fit Mediator between God and Men 2 Tim. 2.5 Heb. 8 6 by reason of his Participation and Affinity with them both 3. That he might reconcile God unto us by his death which if he had been God alone he could never have suffered if only Man he could never have overcome 4. That the work of Redemption performed in the flesh of the Son might become of sufficient price for sin whereby God that infinite good was offended For although certain actions do properly proceed from the Divine Nature and some are done by the Humane Nature yet all of them do equally receive their price and worthiness from the Divine Nature So the flesh of Christ hath power to quicken because it is the flesh of that Person who is God the obedience of the Man Christ doth Justifie because it is the obedience of that Person who is God the blood of Christ redeems the Church because it is the blood of God Acts 20.28 Q. What is the Communication of Properties A. It is such a manner of Predication whereby those things which be proper to Natures are indifferently attributed to the Person of Christ which is but one and that because Christ in his two Natures is both to wit perfect God and perfect Man to whom therefore these things are truly and indeed attributed as well those which are proper to God as those which be proper to Man Therefore it is well and truly said God or else the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary suffered was crucified and God purchased unto himself the Church with his own blood 1 Cor. 2.8 Acts. 20.28 Not simply principally and by himself as he is God but by accident and in another respect or in regard of another thing because that which is proproper to one Nature namely to be conceived born crucified to die is not attributed to his Divinity but to the Person taking the name of one namely of the Divine Nature For this word the Son of God or God which is the subject of the Proposition is the concrete and not the abstract and signifieth not the Divine Nature but the Person who is God and Man Therefore it is well said The Son of Man or Christ-Man is Eternal Almighty All-present saveth raiseth the dead giveth Eternal Life And Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven both in respect of the Union seeing that the self-same Person is both Man and God for as God by reason of the unity doth account those things which belong to the Humane Nature proper to himself so as he is Man by reason of the union doth account those things which belong to the Divine Nature to be proper to it self and also because the Son of Man is a word concrete which signifies the Person of Christ being but one consisting of the Divine and Humane Nature and therefore whole Christ is every where present but not all that is in Christ On the contrary it is wickedly said That the Divinity of Christ was born of the Virgin suffered death and that the Humanity of Christ is Eternal every where present Almighty for the Divinty is a word abstract which simply signifieth the Divine Nature in Christ which is most free from all manner of sufferings Now the Predication of divers Natures by reason of the Hypostatical or Personal Union is of no force but in those things which are signified as whole and perfect for as we do not use to say the Body is the Soul or the Man is the Soul so neither do we say this God Christ is the Body of Christ or the Soul of Christ but only God is Man Q. Is the communication of Properties verbal only or real A. It is a true and real speech because the Person of whom by the trope Synechdoche as well the Divine as the Humane either names of Proprieties or Effects are indifferent and equally affirmed containeth all those things in it self truly and indeed which do agree to very God and very Man those things which be Divine as he is God those also which be Humane as the same is Man but not in respect of both Natures but according to the one and the other For then should be brought in the Eutychian Heresie of the confounding of the Natures or Properties and it should cease
of the blessed Trinity is such a great Mystery that no earthly similitude will set it out plainly to our capacities But I pray consider the Vision of the three Men that appeared to Abraham Gen. 18. and the two that went to Lot Gen. 19. And there you may see although they be three Persons yet but one Lord and so called and worshipped of Abraham see chap. 18. and of the two that went to Lot after that they had told him their Message then he never called them Lords but Lord see Chap. 19.18 Which two were the Son and Holy Ghost which were sent by the Father Chap. 18.21 22. for the Father is said to send the Son and Spirit but he is never sent of them And thus you may see how Abraham saw Christ and was glad Gen. 18. compared with John 8.56 58 c. Quest How is God said to be present in all places at once Psal 95.2 6. 139.7 And also to fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 Answ There is a four-fold Presence of God mentioned in the Scriptures the first is his Presence with all his Creatures which we may call his general Providence whereby he preserveth all his Creatures substances and giveth unto them to live move and have a being and this extendeth it self to all his Creatures both good and bad Acts 17.28 The second degree is the Presence of Grace whereby he doth not only preserve the substance of all his Creatures but also giveth grace onto them this is to the Church of God on Earth The third degree is the Presence of Glory peculiar to the Saints and Angels in Heaven where they shall see God face to face The fourth degree is the Presence of the Godhead of the Son with the Manhood of Christ for in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 Now for the better understanding of this Mystery we must know that the Scriptures are to be taken four wayes at least some of them viz. first Historically secondly Analogically thirdly Allegorically and fourthly Morally As to instance in one of them for brevity sake Numb 21.9 And Moses made a Serpent and put it upon a Pole c. It hath these four significations the first is Historical it was a Serpent made 2dly Analogically it was lifted up so must Christ Joh. 3.15 3dly Allegorically that is another thing was meant by it as appeareth by Hezekiah's taking of it away and calling of it Nehushtan that is a piece of Brass 2 King 18.4 4thly Morally for they were to look upon it for their cure Even so must we look upon Christ by Faith as saith the Prophet Isaiah Look upon me and be ye saved all the ends of the Earth Now that he is present with all his Creatures to preserve their substances as I said before appeareth from Isa 40.12 Who hath measured the Waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the Mountains in scales the Hills in a ballance behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing vers 15. By which phrases is meant that he governeth and disposeth of them at his pleasure for neither the Sun could give his light to us nor the Fire heat all these will perish if he withdraw his Presence but a moment from them as also the Beasts of the Field for if he take away their breath they die Psal 104.28 29. Even as the body of a Man when the Soul is gone as St. James saith The body without the Spirit is dead For as St. Paul In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 As also certain of your own Poets have said For we are all his off-spring 1 Cor. 8.6 Obj. But sin maketh a separation betwixt us and God for what communion hath light with darkness and Christ with Belial Therefore he is not present with them c. A. This is not to be understood in the first degree viz. to preserve their substances as in Acts 17. but is meant in the second degree viz. his Grace with his Church on the Earth Joh. 14.23 If any man love me saith Christ he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him which is meant of his Grace and Love and his dwelling with them is by his Holy Spirit as appeareth by his answer to Judas which asked How is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World he had told him before vers 15. 17. If you love me keep my Commandments and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Thus you see how sin separateth us from God's Favour Grace and Spirit but not from his Presence as David saith Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or Whither shall I flye from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my bed in Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me And as Amos saith speaking of sinners Amos 9.2 Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them though they climb up to Heaven thence will I bring them down and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence c. For we must not imagine him to be contained in any one place saith the Prophet Jer. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord For as Solomon saith The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee how much less this House which I have built 1 King 8.27 And St. Stephen saith He dwelleth not in Tabernacles made with hands Acts 7. and yet he dwelt saith David betwixt the Cherubims And the Lord saith of Zion This is my rest for ever here will I dwell therefore saith the Prophet Blessed be the Lord out of Zion that dwelleth at Jerusalem Psal 135.21 Now this must be meant of his Grace or gracious Presence there and not his personal Presence for if so then he was not in Heaven at that time which I think no wise man will believe therefore when St. Paul saith Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord he means the beatifical Vision or face of God in glory which cannot be seen with these mortal eyes therefore he saith When we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 8. he meaneth in
is a Spirit as the Papists think even so albeit the Saints bodies are called Heavenly doth that prove that the original Matter they were made of came from Heaven You will surely say No. Even so say I of the body of Christ For the main design of the Apostle in all this Chapter was to prove the Resurrection of the dead as appears by vers 13. But if there be no Resurrection of the Dead then is not Christ risen And vers 17. If Christ be not raised your Faith is vain you are yet in your sins then they also which are faln asleep in Christ are perished And vers 22. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive c. Now where there are divers Opinions they may be all false there can be but one true and that one Truth oft-times must be fetched by piece-meal out of divers branches of contrary Opinions c. For although the Lord hath made all Nations of one blood and commanded them to seek the Lord Acts 17.30 yet if you divide them into thirty parts saith Mr. Perkins nineteen of them be Heathens and Pagans then there remains but eleven and of these five be Turks and Mahometans then there remains but a sixth-part of the thirty and of these six How few do believe in God aright God knows they be very few as for the twenty four parts of the thirty they do not own Christ to be their Saviour no not so much as in Profession as to the other six-parts it is true they all confess him to be the Son of God and in some sense their Saviour also Yet so as by some of their Opinions they by just consequence deny him either in his Divine Nature or in his Humane or else in the Union of Natures and so by consequence deny the true Christ and of them that do profess him to be both Davids Lord and Davids Son also yet of them how few do love him and keep his Commandments Luk. 6.46 Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say The Lord grant for his Sons sake that I and you may be of those Sheep that will hear the Voice of the true Shepherd and so follow him and will not follow a stranger Joh. 10. Where shall I begin to wonder at thee O thou Divine and Eternal Peace-maker the Saviour of Men the Anointed of God the Mediator between God and Man in whom there is nothing which doth not exceed not only the conceit but the very wonder of Angels who saw thee in thy Humiliation with silence and Adore thee in thy Glory with perpetual Prayers and Rejoycings Thou wast for ever of thy self as God of the Father as the Son the Eternal Son of an Eternal Father not later in Beginning not less in Dignity not other in Substance begotten without diminution of him that begat thee while he communicated wholly to thee which he retained wholly in himself because both were Infinite without inequality of Nature without division of Essence when being in this estate thine infinite Love and Mercy to desperate Mankind caused thee O Saviour to empty thy self of thy Glory that thou mightest put on our shame and misery Wherefore not ceasing to be God as thou wert thou beganst to be what thou wast not viz. Man to the end thou mightest be a perfect Mediator betwixt God and Man which were both in one Person God that thou mightest satisfie and Man that thou mightest suffer that since Man had sinned and God was offended thou which wert God and Man mightst satisfie God for Man None but thy self which art the Eternal Word can express to us this great Mystery how God should be manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up into Glory and we in him c. CHAP. X. Containing the use of the whole Treatise NOw as aforesaid I will further add to that that I have said something by way of Vse and Application and so leave the whole to the blessing of God and your serious Consideration Vse 1. Concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God 1 Tim. 3.16 we must know that it is a great Mystery and therefore here observe First Who is Incarnate The second Person in Trinity First for that God by him created Man and therefore by him must we be recreated and redeemed Secondly for that he is the Essential Image of God to restore the Image of God lost in Adam So this I believe the whole Godhead is not incarnate Joh. 1.14 Luk. 1.35 nor any Person but the Son the Person of the Son I say subsisting in the Godhead Secondly This I must say and believe that he was a perfect Man in every respect like to Adam sin only excepted subject to all unblameable and general infirmities which appertain to the whole Nature of Man as Passions of Body and Mind Thirdly This I must believe and avouch that it was necessary that he should become Man first to satisfie God in that Nature we offend Secondly for that not one else could fulfil Righteousness which the Law required of us but he Thirdly for that our Redeemer must die for our sins Fourthly He must be a Mediator and make Requests and speak to God and Man for Reconciliation Man before the Fall could speak to God face to face but now he cannot nor may not come neer but in the face and favour of Christ whose face is to be found in the Gospel Duties which follow this Faith First Draw near to Christ and cleave unto him for we see he is come near us and become our Emmanuel Isa 7. Secondly Here is a Patern and President for us of unspeakable Humility Psal 22. Isa 53. Phil. 2.6 7. There is a secret Pride in all the Sons of Adam till God change their hearts and this Pride the less we discern it the more it is and the more we discern it the less it is This I observe touching this Incarnation of Christ That his Conception by the work of the Holy Ghost was wonderful for it was done in the Womb of the Virgin that albeit he took of her very flesh which came of sinful Adam yet was the flesh of Christ I mean his Humane Nature Body and Soul without sin To prevent that original corruption which comes to Mankind by natural Propagation the great Wisdom of God provided That his Incarnation should be by the immediate work of the Holy Ghost without any natural Generation or Means of Man on Earth or Angels in Heaven or Earth Heb. 2.14 I proceed on to speak of the Birth of Christ He was born of the Virgin Mary and of the Union of Natures Divine and Humane in this one Person This I believe indeed for so did the Patriarchs and Prophets of old because of the Divine Oracles which God gave them concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God Gen. 3.18