behold a doore was opened in Heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said Come up hit her and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter And immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one sate on the throne And round about the throne were foure and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw foure and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment And they had on their heads Crownes of gold c. The foure and twenty Elders fell downe before him that sate on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and cast their Crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created This praising of him that sate upon the throne was that wherunto the Author of the 103. Psalme did solemnly invite the heavenly powers long before S. Iohn had this vision For after he had said the Lord had prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdome ruleth over all it followes immediately Blesse the Lord yee his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkning unto the voice of his word Blesse yee the Lord all yee his hosts yee Ministers of his that do his pleasure Blesse the Lord all his workes in all places of his Dominion Blesse the Lord O my soule That which our Saviour saith of Abraham was in its measure true of this Psalmist he also saw the day of Christ the day of his glorious resurrection that day wherof it is said thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee and did rejoyce in soule to see it and his owne interest in it an assured hope of his inheritance in the heavenly Kingdome 5. But the vision of David to this purpose in that Psalme which amongst some few others beares the inscription of Michtam Davids Ieweler golden song as some would have it is most punctually cleare Keep me O God for in thee do I put my trust that is as the Chaldee explaines it In thy word have I put my trust or hope for salvation Psal 16. 1. and ver 2. I have said unto the Lord Adonai And againe ver 8. c. I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope But here the Eunuches question unto Philip will interpose it selfe Of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other I can no way brooke their opinion who thinke the Psalmist speakes all this in the person of Christ as his figure but rather in this as in many other Psalmes and in the two last forecited especially some passages there be which cannot be literally applyed but to the Psalmist himselfe others which cannot be applyed to any one but Christ that is to God or the word incarnate and the 9. verse My heart is glad c. containes a feeling expression of that joy or exultation of spirit which did possesse all the faculties both of Davids body and soule But what was the object of this his exultatiō or the ground of his joy He expresseth it ver 10. Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption But the same question here interposeth againe Doth he speak all this of himselfe or of some other Whatsoever may bee thought of the former clause of that verse thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell which as some think might be meant both of Christ and David though in a different measure most certaine it is that the later clause Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption was not literally meant of David much lesse fulfilled in him but literally meant of him alone and literally fulfilled in him alone whom David in spirit called Lord though he then foresaw he should truly be his sonne This undoubted truth we learne from S. Peter Acts 2. 29. Men and brethren let me freely speake unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loines according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soule was not left in Hell neither his flesh did see corruption And S. Paul Acts 13. 36 37. more fully and more punctually to our animadversions upon this later clause expounds it thus David after he had served his owne generation by the will of God fell on sleepe and was laid unto his Fathers and saw corruption But he whom God raised againe saw no corruption In this as in many other Psalmes the comfort which did arise from the sweet contemplations was Davids owne or the Psalmists who foresaw that great mystery whereof we now treat that the fountaine of their comfort was Christ or God incarnate who was to be raised from the dead David in this Psalme did rejoyce in heart that albeit he knew his nature to be like the grasse that withereth albeit he knew his soule should be divorced from his body yet this divorce he knew by faith should not be perpetuall that albeit he could not but expect his body his flesh and bones should rott in his sepulcher as the body and flesh of his forefathers to whom he was to be gathered had done yet he foresaw in spirit that even his body should at length be redeemed from corruption by the resurrection of that holy One whose body though separated for a time from his immortall soule was not to see or feele any corruption Finally though David and other Psalmists forecited if others they were did perfectly and explicitly foreknow that they were to die yet had they as true implicit beleife of that which our Apostle explicitly delivers Golos 3. 3 4. That their life was hid with Christ in God that when Christ who was their life should appeare they should also appeare with him in glory 6. To the former generall Quaere in what sense we are said by S. Iohn to be borne of God we answer that to be borne of God is all one with that of S. Peter to be borne of immortall seed but what is that immortall seed whereof S. Peter saith we are borne againe That in one word is the flesh and blood of the sonne of man who is also the sonne of God So hee himselfe instructs us Iohn 6. 53 54 55. Verily verily I say unto you except yee eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee have no life in you Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day For
had walked conferred and conversed with all the children of Israel that would come unto him in a more familiar manner then he had done with Moses himselfe in Egypt and in the wildernesse And though his body bee removed out of their sight and ours yet he dwelleth in his Church and walketh in it by his spirit These things saith hee that holdeth the seven starres in his right hand who walketh in the middest of the seaven golden Candlesticks Revel 2. 1. and 21. 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God God was said to walk with the children of Israel whilest the Tabernacle did remove or wander with them but not to dwel with them untill the building of the Temple Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt even to this day but have walked in a Tent and in a Tabernacle 2 Sam. 7. 6. But the same God doth now walk in the Church and dwell in his Church by his spirit and the Church shall dwell with him in his heavenly Temple 6. This prophecy of Ezekiel is one of that sort and rank before rehearsed Chapter 14. par 6 7. to wit a prophecy which was oftner to be fulfilled then once and after different measures in severall times It was to be fulfilled according to the ordinary scale of the literall sense and in the intention of the holy Ghost at this peoples returne from the Babylonish captivitie From that time Judah and Israel or Ephraim were not to strive or contend and thus we see it fulfilled unto the destruction of the Temple For though many of the severall Tribes of Israel did returne to their owne land successively or now and then yet al were instyled or indigitated by the name of Iudaei or Jews a good name untill they forfeited their interest in this promise And God did upon their returne◠〈…〉 amongst them that is his Temple wherein he did dwell as hee formerly had done in 〈◊〉 Temple Now this covenant which God did promise to make with Israel and Judah upon the delivery from the North Countrey and from all the Countryes wherein he had scattered them was to exceed the former covenant which he had made with their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt as appeareth Ier. 23. 5 6 7 8. And to exceed it not only in respect of benefits spirituall or the matter promised but in respect of the very forme and tenure of the Covenant it selfe Not that this deliverance was either in it selfe or in the Nations eyes greater then the former but that this covenant after it once beganne to be in esse was to continue for ever without interruption whereas the former Covenant was broken did expire or determine For during the time of the Babylonish Captivitie neither Judah nor Israel had either a wandring Tabernacle or standing Temple God did not dwell amongst them according to the native and literall meaning of that promise Levit. 26. 1◠But according to this Prophecy of Ezekiel God even their God was to dwell amongst them to have his Sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore But did this Sanctuary or Tabernacle there promised continue in the midst of them since that time yes it hath so continued and shall continue for evermore though not in the same kinde or quoad materiam yet by an aequivalency or more then aequivalency or by a spirituall and supereminent manner For when the second Temple begun to decay or become as a Carkasse or body without a soule the body of our Lord and Saviour Christ which he tooke from Abraham and David became the Temple of God and continueth to this day our Sanctuary or Sanctification it selfe And wee Heathens or Gentiles doe now know that the Lord hath sanctified Israel and that his Sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore 7. All those places wherein God promised to be their God all those sacred hymnes and prophecies which enstile him God even our God in the exquisite or sublime literall sense referre or drive to that point which we Christians make the foundation and roofe of our faith to wit that he was to be God with us or God in our nature or flesh God made man of the seed or stock of Abraham like us in all things sin excepted This new glorious Tēple was according to strict proprietie erected in medio Israel or in interiore Israel that is in one that was truely an Israelite the very Center or Foundation of Abrahams seed or of Iacobs posterity But being erected in the midst of Israel or in the seed of Abraham after this sense it was not erected only for the sonnes of Abraham or of Israel by bodily descent but all were to become true Israelites that should be united to this seed and worship God in this Sanctuary For in that Christ Jesus was the sonne of God he was more truely the Israel of God then Iacob had beene and all that are ingraffed into this Temple of God all that receive life from him are more truely the children of Israel than any of Iacobs sonnes were which refuse to be united to him CHAP. 21. That this peculiar manner of Gods presence with his people by signes and miracles was punctually foreprophecyed by the Psalmists BUt for God to dwell with this people or in the midst of them is a phrase not unbeseeming God even in their judgement who hold the Divine Majestie to be altogether incorporeall immaterially immense as many of the wiser and more sober Heathens did But in most of the Prophets in the booke of Psalmes especially many characters there be of the divine Majesties peculiar presence in his Church with this people or in the world which to any heathen either accurate Philosopher or elegant Poet would seeme more unseemely then a poore country mans petition of his owne drawing and penning to his Soveraigne Lord would be or then his speech would be if he were sent Embassador to a forraigne Prince Both speech and behaviour would in this case be rustick and his salutations such as would onely befit his honest or worshipfull Neighbours And thus most Prophets in the descriptions or displayes of Gods attributes speak of him if wee looke onely in the vulgar literall sense at the best but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scarce observing that decorum which an ordinary Courtyer would use to any greater Prince Yet may we not think that God did send such Embassadours to his people or appoint such Orators from him to them and from them to him as he had not enabled to speake in such manner as did become both himselfe and them And surely it is the fault or imperfection not of the Psalmists or other Prophets but of their Interpreters to make them speake of God
to be their enemie and he fought against them And so it is said that he was grieved forty yeares with that generation which he had delivered out of Egypt And both places were they to be limited only with reference to times past could not be meant of God otherwise then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a metaphoricall sense But as well that complaint of the Psalmist as this of the Prophet Esay were not meerely historicall but propheticall both to be fulfilled after a more exquisite sense in later ages For all Gods mercies and loving kindnesse to their Fathers were but as pledges or talents given by way of earnest for greater goodnesse and more tender mercies towards later generations so they would be thankfull for the former God whilest he was onely in the forme of God could not in strict proprietie of speech be troubled could not be grieved with compassion could not be wearied All those are passions or accidentall affections incident only to flesh and bloud or at least to natures subject to servitude and punishment But of God in our nature and forme of a servant all these patheticall complaints were most exactly accomplished Who was weake amongst his people and he not weakned by their weakenesse who amongst them did mourne and he not mourne with them who was afflicted in body or soule and he not partaker of their afflictions Of all those duties of Christian charitie or fellow-feeling of others infirmities practised by his Apostles and commended to us by them he by his practise and conversation set the most exquisite patterne more exquisite then any who was but man could have set For he was a man of sorrowes and infirmities to beare all our grievances He cured no bodily infirmitie though he cured many whose griefe untill the cure was wrought he did not suffer by exact and perfect sympathy And only by the anguish of his soule and spirit not Israel alone but all people throughout the world whoever found or hope to finde any must find rest and comfort to their soules and consciences Yet all this the wicked posterity of that wicked generation whose ingratitude towards the God of their Fathers did minister both matter of complaint and of prophecy to the Prophet Esay and the Psalmist no way regarded but requited all the paines trouble and affliction which he had undertaken for their poore brethrens bodily good and the comfort of all their soules with superaddition of those deadly griefes and sorowes which by the Romans help they brought upon him This God of Israel in former times had fought for them and had conducted them in the form of an Angell Ioshuah himselfe being but his deputy or under Cōmander But now that they have thus ungratefully requited him for all his loving kindnesse towards their Fathers whilst he was onely in the forme of God or did appeare in the garb or figure not in the substance of an Angell and for all the troubles and grievances undertaken by him for their good whilest he was in the substance of man and forme of a servant he at length became their Enemie and fought against them For as Visitors though farre absent do yet visite by their Commissaries so this God of Israell that Jesus whom the Jews had crucified being made King of Kings and Lord of Lords did judge Ierusalem and the Nation of the Iews by Vespasian and Titus as by his deputies It was he not they that in that great warre did overcome them As they had grieved him more then their Forefathers had done with whom he was grieved forty yeares in the wildernesse so they did remaine in the Land of their promised rest but forty yeares after his death and so they remained in farre worse case then their forefathers had done in the wildernesse and their posterity since have wandred throughout the world as unwelcome guests for almost these sixteene hundred yeares CHAP. 23. That God was to visite his Temple after such a visible and personall manner as the Prophet Ieremy in his name had done THe moderne Iew cannot deny that of the Prophet Ieremy chap. 7. ver 3 4. c. to be meant of God alone nor is he able to shew us how it was or could be otherwise fulfilled then of God incarnate or of God in the visible nature and substance of man-comming to visite his Temple Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Amend your waies and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Trust yee not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these And againe ver 8. Behold yee trust in lying words that cannot profit Will yee steale murther and commit adultery and sweare falsly and burne incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom yee know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say We are delivered to doe all these abominations Is this house which is called by my name become a denne of Robbers in your eyes Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord. To have denyed that God at this time did truly heare what this people said did truely see what they did did perfectly understand their secret thoughts had beene an errour much grosser and more dangerous then the errour of the Anthropomorphitae that is of such as imagined God by nature to have eyes eares and heart like man For that was but an heresie or transformation of the Deity the other was Epicurisme the worst and grossest errour wherewith the very heathen or Infidels were possest And so the Psalmist describeth it Psal 94. 7. Yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it Vnderstand yee brutish among the people and yee fooles when will yee be wise He that planted the eare shall he not heare he that formed the eye shall he not see c. 2. Sight and hearing were in those times as truly attributed to God as now they can be yet in a generall or transcendent not so exquisite so proper and formall a sense as the patheticall expression which the Prophet there used doth literally imply Behold even I have seene it saith the Lord. For certainely that implies a great deale more then by ordinary Catechismes or domestique instructions they could have learned thus much at the least that the Lord God himselfe who sent the Prophet to deliver this message The Lord God of Israel who neither slumbreth nor sleepeth would watch his oportunity unlesse they did amend these misdemenors to visit them and his temple not by a Prophet or deputed Commissary but in person and after as evident and visible a manner to flesh and blood as the Prophet had done but with farre greater power The Prophet had only meere spirituall power to protest against them no coërcive authority to punish the delinquents or to banish these abuses out of the Temple This case was
have it is most fitly resembled by the Word or representatiō of the mind or spirit which for its nature is more immortall then the light Yet this resemblance or any that can be taken from our intellection or secret conference betweene the spirit and soule of man within it selfe is in this point to omit others lame or defective that albeit the spirit or minde of man be immortall and as uncessant in his proper acts or operations as the Sunne is in sending forth light to this inferiour world yet our choysest thoughts or cogitations most internall and most spirituall vanish The mutuall conference betwixt our spirits and internall senses is not perpetuall and uncessant The reason whereof as the Philosopher teacheth is because the passive understanding whether the cogitative facultie or phantasie without whose continuall service or attēdance there can be no constant record or remembrāce of the Acts or instructions of the understāding is corruptible especially in its act or operation and subject to greater change and alterations then the lower regions of the aire albeit the minde or spirit be as cleare and constant as the Sunne But in the life to come when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and our inferiour faculties become immortall not only the proper acts or operations of the minde or spirit or of the active understanding but the apprehension also of what the minde or spirit suggests or their impressions upon the inferiour faculties of the soule shall be incorruptible uncessant and perpetuall And then no doubt our apprehensions of this great mystery comprehended under this name or title of the Word shall be more cleare and perfect to the most illiterate and meanest capacities this day living then in this life it is or hath beene to the most profound and subtlelest School-Divines which have most studyed the meaning of this mystery And yet under correction the full importance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as in this life may be had and ought to be had is either not so well conceived or not so well expressed by most Interpreters whether of the old or new Testament as it might have been if they had but taken notice of those severall places in both Testaments in which the sonne of God is instiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. 28. That the incarnation of the Word or of the sonne of God under this title was foreprophecyed by sundry Prophets with the exposition of some peculiar places to this purpose not usually observed by Interpreters ANother speciall reason besides the former mentioned why S. Iohn doth say The word was made flesh rather then the sonne of God was made flesh was because the incarnation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word was more expressely foretold than the incarnation of the sonne of God though one and the same person or party be so really meant and intended by the holy Ghost that the incarnation of the Word doth concludently inferre the incarnation of the only sonne of God But where then was the incarnation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foretold or foreshadowed It was I take it not only foretold but solemnely proclaimed by the Prophet Isaiah chap. 40. and the fulfilling of what he promised was declared by Iohn Baptist at our Saviours baptisme Iohn we know was the voice of the Cryer foreprophecyed ver 3. of that chapter and did perform his function as it was foretold he should in the wildernesse The chiefe contents of the cry or proclamation it selfe are two the first prepare yee the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a high way for our God This was fulfilled by Iohn Baptists preaching of repentance The burden of his preaching was repent for the Kingdome of God is at hand But the voice said againe whether to Isaiah or to Iohn Baptist or to both Cry and he said what shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower of the field The grasse withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grasse The grasse withereth the flower fadeth but the Word of our God shall stand for ever This was the effect or summe of that which Iohn Baptist was to proclaime Of the exact congruity betwixt Iohns doctrine and the Prophets prediction I have elsewhere to my remembrance treated Concerning the meaning of the Prophets words All flesh is grasse that is handled by most Interpreters Preachers in funeral sermōs especially Nor can there be a fitter Text for displaying the mortality and frailty of our Nature nor as some think for setting forth the excellency of preaching But to magnifie the word of God in generall as it is preached by us the unworthy ministers of it is in most mens interpretations indirectly to magnifie our selves or our calling which howsoever our persons bee is questionlesse honourable and so to bee esteemed by all good Christians Yet this excellency whether of the word preached or of Preachers was either no part or the least part of the Prophets meaning when he saith the word of the Lord endureth for ever For the true use and end of that prophecy Chap. 40. is exprest in the beginning of it Comfort yee comfort yee my people saith our God Speak yee comfortably to Ierusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned For shee hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sinnes But what comfort could it be to Jerusalem or to Gods people that the word of God which is preached to them endureth for ever when as they were but as the grasse which withereth The more the Prophet did magnifie the immortality of Gods word in this sense the more hee must have increased the sad remembrance of their own misery and mortality And however Isaias and other Prophets had preached the word of the Lord more plentifully and more powerfully in that age wherein he lived then it had been in any age before or in any age since excepting the times wherein Iohn Baptist and our Saviour and his Apostles lived on earth yet mortality and misery did still grow faster upon this people then it had done in any age before so fast for foure or five generations that this people became like grasse withering by degrees and at last to be rooted up The matter then of comfort which the Prophet there promiseth to Jerusalem was not in his time really exhibited but to be continually expected untill the word of the Lord which hee so magnifieth for its glory immortality should become visible to all flesh The comfort there prophecyed of did consist in the manifestation of that glory which he then foretold should bee revealed For whatsoever in that Chapter he uttered was not delivered by way of common place by ordinary catechisme of doctrine and uses but by the extraordinary spirit of prophecy The issue of his prophecy was that the state and condition of all flesh
since his resurrection and ascention he hath I shall crave pardon for making these or the like any points of my beleife If any man be otherwise minded I grudge him not the libertie of his opinion but will confesse my ignorance when he shall shew me any expresse Scripture or any deduction out of Scripture which shall not inferre aut nihil aut nimium 5 It sufficeth me to beleeve and know that my Lord was so qualified with all grace even whilst he lived in the forme of a servant that he was alwaies more ready to understand and comprehend whatsoever it pleased his heavenly Father to impart or signifie unto him then chrystall is to receive the light of the Sun or any glasse the shape of bodies which present themselves unto it and more ready withall to doe whatsoever he knew to be his Fathers will he should do then we are to eate when we are hungry or to drinke in the extremity of â—hrist There was in him even in his cradle a docilitie or capacitie both for learning and doing his fathers will truely infinite in comparison of other children yet this capacitie was actuated by degrees This I take it is as much as wee are bound to beleeve concerning his growth in wisedome and this wee cannot deny to be contained in the hypostaticall union of which we are without curiositie to say somewhat in the next place CHAP. 30. Of the hypostaticall and personall union betwixt the Word and the flesh or betwixt the sonne of God and the seed of Abraham THe manner of the union between the sonne of God and the seed of Abraham is a mystery that one of the blessed Trinity only excepted most to bee admired by all and least possible to be exactly expressed by any living man of all the mysteries whose beleefe we professe in this Apostles Creed And for this reason my former resolution to avoid all Schoole disputes about the relations in the Trinitie and each severall persons peculiar properties ties me to the like observance in this present point And in my yonger dayes I had a greater desire to learne more exquisite rules of Logick or other good arts out of School-disputes in these two kindes then can be found in the professors of such arts themselves then I have in these declining yeares to learne divinity from them 2. The particulars which the most subtile amongst the Schoole-Divines exhibite concerning the manner of the hypostaticall union are well summed up by the learned and judicious D. Field in whose computation they amount to more then I shall have occasion in this place to make use of and are withall of so high a pitch and straine as surmounts my aime or levell for this time which is only to shew how truly how justly how consonantly to the knowne rules of reason in other cases we Christians beleeve and acknowledge such a peculiar union between the sonne of God and the sonne of David that whilest the sonne of man was conceived borne crucified and raised from the dead the son of God likewise was conceived borne crucified c. Now for justifying these and the like expressions the sonne of God was conceived was borne was crucified c. whether we finde them in the Creed or in the Apostolick or Evangelical writings whence they issued into this Creed wee can have no better ground or fundamentall resemblance then that of Athanasius As the reasonable soule and flesh make one man so God and man make one Christ yet this illustration or expression of the manner of this mysticall union is excepted against by some great Divines and by Cardinall Bellarmine by name yet excepted against not as false or impertinent but as defective But if every resemblance of this or other sacred mystery which is any way defective were lyable to exception the Church should doe well to give a generall prohibition that no man should attempt to make any For all will come short of the mystery which we seeke to expresse by them or of so much of it as we shall know in that eternall Schoole It was the Cardinals fault to stretch Athanasius his expression further then he intended it or not to allot it a certaine extent within which it is most divinely true 3. The like comparisons sometimes hold firme and true only quoad veritatem non quoad mensuram according to the truth not according to the measure of the same truth As when we beseech our heavenly father to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us or when our Saviour enjoynes us to be mercifull as our heavenly father is mercifull the meaning is not that the measure of his mercies towards us should be but equall to our mercy or kindnesse towards men our fellow servants and yet the meaning of our Saviours injunction is that we must bee as truly mercifull and charitable towards others in some degree as God is infinitely mercifull towards all Sometimes the like comparisons are firme and true quoad veritatem quoad mensuram both according to the truth and the same measure of truth but not quoad modum at least not quoad modum specificum proximum sed quoad modum genericum aut remotum true they may be sometimes according to the same manner and yet not in all respects or according to the selfe-same particular manner And such is this comparison of Athanasius First it holds quoad veritatem unionis As it is not the meere inhabitation of the reasonable soule in the body but the peculiar union of these two parts which makes a man so is it not the internall presence or peculiar inhabitation of the Deity in the manhood but the true and reall union of these two natures which makes one Christ Infernall spirits may by Gods permission take up their lodgings in the bodies of men may be confined within them and use them as their instruments yet by such residence in them men neither become Divels nor divels men nor doe they make any one realitie or third thing in part or whole distinct from both 4. The former comparison doth not hold secundum omnem modum that is though the Godhead and humanity of Christ be as truly as properly and really united as the reasonable soule and the humane body are yet the manner of the union is herein different The reasonable soule and the body being two distinct natures each having their proper existence though imperfect and incompleat doe by their union make one perfect compleat nature Their union is made by physicall or naturall composition Now in all such unions or compositions each part ingredient must abate or lose somewhat there must be a mutuall fashioning or fitting of the one to the other But the Deitie or Godhead as it is all things else so it is fitnesse it selfe and cannot be fashioned or fitted to any creature as being not subject to any shadow of change or alteration The creatures may be fashioned or fitted to