fulnesse which so doth dwell in him is the NATURE Now there dwelleth in him not onely the fulnesse of the Godhead but the fulnesse of the Manhood also for we beleeve him to be both perfect God begotten of the substance of his Father before all worlds and perfect Man made of the substance of his Mother in the fullnesse of time And therefore we must hold that there are two distinct Natures in him and two so distinct that they doe not make one compounded nature but still remaine uncompounded and unconfounded together But Hee in whom the fulnesse of the Manhood dwelleth is not one and hee in whom the fulnesse of the Godhead another but he in whom the fulnesse of both those natures dwelleth is one and the same Immauel and consequently it must be beleeved as firmly that he is but one Person And here wee must consider that the Divine Nature did not assume an humane Person but the divine Person did assume an humane Nature and that of the three Divine Persons it was neither the first nor the third that did assume this Nature but it was the middle Person who was to bee the middle one that must undertake this mediation betwixt God and us which was otherwise also most requisite aswell for the better preservation of the integrity of the blessed Trinity in the Godhead as for the higher advancement of Mand-kinde by meanes of that relation which the second Person the Mediatour did beare unto his Father For if the fulnesse of the Godhead should have thus dwelt in any humane person there should then a fourth Person necessarily have been added unto the Godhead And if any of the three Persons beside the second had been borne of a Woman there should have been two Sonnes in the Trinity whereas now the Sonne of God and the Sonne of the blessed Virgin being but one Person is consequently but one Sonne and so no alteration at all made in the relations of the Persons of the Trinitie Againe in respect of us the Apostle sheweth that for this very end f God sent his owne SON made of a woman that WE might receive the Adoption of SONS and thereupon maketh this inference Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a SON and if a SON then an HEIRE of God through Christ intimating thereby that what relation Christ hath unto God by Nature we being found in him have the same by Grace By Nature hee is g The only begotten Sonne of the Father but this is the high Grace he hath purchased for us that h as many as received him to them he gave power or priviledge to become the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his Name For although he reserve to himselfe the preeminence which is due unto him in a * peculiar manner of being i the first borne among many brethren yet in him and for him the rest likewise by the grace of adoption are all of them accounted as first-bornes So God biddeth Moses to say unto Pharaoh k Israel is my Sonne even my first-borne And I say vnto thee Let my sonne goe that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him goe behold I will slay thy sonne even thy first borne And the whole Israell of God consisting of Jew and Gentile is in the same sort described by the Apostle to be l the generall assembly and Church of the first borne inrolled in Heaven For the same reason that maketh them to be Sons to wit their incorporation into Christ the selfe-same also maketh them to be first-bornes so as how ever it fall out by the grounds of our common Law by the rule of the Gospell this consequence will still hold true m If children then heires heires of God and joynt-heires with Christ And so much for the SON the Person assuming The Nature assumed is the seed of Abraham Hebr. 2. 16. The seed of David Rom. 1. 3. The seed of the Woman Gen. 3. 15. The WORD n the second Person of the Trinity being o made FLESH that is to say p Gods own Sonne being made of a Woman and so becomming truly and really q The fruit of her wombe Neither did he take the substance of our nature only but all the properties also and the qualities thereof so as it might be said of him as it was of r Elias and the s Apostles that he was a man subject to like passions as we are Yea he subjected himselfe t in the dayes of his flesh to the same u weaknesse which we finde in our own fraile nature and was compassed with like infirmities and in a word in all things was made like unto his brethren sinne only excepted Wherein yet we must consider that as he took upon him not an humane Person but an humane Nature so it was not requisite he should take upon him any Personall infirmities such as are madnesse blindnesse lamenesse and particular kinds of diseases which are incident to some only and not to all men in generall but those alone which do accompany the whole Nature of mankinde such as are hungring thirsting wearinesse griefe paine and mortality We are further here also to observe in this our x Melchisedeck that as he had no Mother in regard of one of his natures so he was to have no Father in regard of the other but must be borne of a pure and immaculate Virgin without the helpe of any man And this also was most requisite as for other respects so for the exemption of the assumed nature from the imputation and pollution of Adams sinne For y sinne having by that one man entred into the world every Father becommeth an Adam unto his child and conveyeth the corruption of his Nature unto all those whom hee doth beget Therefore our Saviour assuming the substance of our Nature but not by the ordinary way of naturall generation is thereby freed from all the touch and taint of the corruption of our flesh which by that meanes only is propâ—gated from the first man unto his posterity Whereupon he being made of man but not by man and so becomming the immediate fruit of the wbome and not of the Loynes must of necessity be acknowledged to be z that HOLY THING which so was borne of so blessed a Mother who although shee were but the passive and materiall principle of which that precious flesh was made and the holy Ghost the agent and efficient yet cannot the man Christ Jesus thereby be made the Son of his a owne Spirit Because Fathers do beget their children out of their owne substance the holy Ghost did not so but framed the flesh of him from whom himself proceeded out of the creature of them both b the hand-maid of the Lord whom from thence all generations shall call blessed That blessed wombe of hers was the bride-chamber wherein the Holy Ghost did knit that indissoluble knot betwixt
his yearly rent which of it selfe would have been due although no default had been committed so the due payment of the yearly rent after the default hath been made is no sufficient satisfaction for the penalty already incurred Therefore our surety who standeth chargeable with all our debts as he maketh paiment for the one by his Active so must he make amends for the other by his Passive obedience he must first n suffer thē enter into his glory o For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect that is a perfect accomplisher of the work wch he had under takē through sufferings The Godhead is of that infinit perfection that it cannot possibly be subject to any passion He therefore that had no other nature but the Godhead could not pay such a debt as this the discharge whereof consisted in suffering and dying It was also fit that Gods justice should have bin satisfied in that nature which had transgressed and that the same nature should suffer the punishment that had committed the offence p For asmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devill and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage Such and so great was the love of God the Father towards us that q Hee spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all and so transcendent was the love of the Sonne of God towards the sonnes of men that he desired not to be spared but rather than they should lye under the power of death was of himselfe most willing to suffer death for them which seeing in that infinite nature which by eternall generation he received from his Father he could not doe he resolved in the appoynted time to take unto himselfe a Mother and out of her substance to have a body framed unto himselfe wherein he might r become obedient unto death even the death of the crosse for our redemption And therefore s when he commeth into the world he saith unto his Father A body hast thou fitted me Lo I come to doe thy will O God By the which will saith the t Apostle we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Thus we see it was necessary for the satisfaction of this debt that our Mediator should be Man but he that had no more in him than a Man could never be able to goe thorow with so great a worke For if there should be found a Man as righteous as Adam was at his first creation who would be content to suffer for the offence of others his suffering possibly might serve for the redemption of one soule it could be no sufficient ransome for those u innumerable multitudes that were to be x redeemed to GOD out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Neither could any Man or Angell be able to hold out if a punishment equivalent to the endlesse sufferings of all the sinners in the world should at once be laid upon him Yea the very powers of Christ himselfe upon whom y the Spirit of might did rest were so shaken in this sharp encounter that he who was the most accomplisht patterne of all fortitude stood z sore amazed and a with strong crying and teares prayed that b if it were possible the hour might passe from him c This man therefore being to offer one sacrifice for sins for ever to the burning of that sacrifice he must not only bring the d coals of his love as strong as death and as ardent as the fire which hath a most vehement flame but he must adde thereunto those everlasting burnings also e even the flames of his most glorious Deity and therefore f through the eternall Spirit must he offer himselfe without spot unto God that hereby he might g obtaine for us an eternall redemption The bloud whereby the Church is purchased must be h Gods owne blood and to that end must i the Lord of glory be crucified k the Prince and author of life be killed he l whose eternall generation no man can declare be cut off out of the land of the living and the man that is Gods owne fellow be thus smitten according to that which God himselfe foretold by his Prophet m Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered The people of Israell we reade did so value the life of David their King that they counted him to be worth n ten thousand of themselves how shall we then value the life of o Davids Lord p who is the blessed only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords It was indeed our nature that suffered but he that suffered in that nature q is over all God blessed for ever and for such a person to have suffered but one houre was more than if all other persons had suffered ten thousand millions of years But put case also that the life of any other singular man might be equivalent to all the lives of whole mankinde yet the laying down of that life would not be sufficient to doe the deed unlesse he that had power to lay it down had power likewise to take it up again For to be detained alwayes in that prison r from whence there is no comming out before the payment of the uttermost farthing is to lie alwaies under execution and so to disanull quite the plea of that full paymēt of the debt wherein our surety stood engaged for us And therefore the Apostle upon that ground doth rightly conclude that s if Christ be not raised our faith is vaine we are yet in our sinnes and consequently that as he must be t delivered to death for our offences so he must be raised again for our justification Yea our Saviour himselfe knowing full well what he was to undergoe for our sakes told us before hand that the Comforter whom he would send unto us should u convince the world that is fully satisfie the consciences of the sonnes of men concerning that x everlasting righteousnesse which was to be brought in by him upon this very ground Because I goe to my Father and ye see me no more For if he had broken prison and made an escape the payment of the debt which as our surety he took upon himselfe being not yet satisfied he should have been seene here againe Heaven would not have held him more then Paradise did Adam after he had fallen into Gods debt and danger But our Saviour raising himselfe from
soul an offering for sin hee shall see his seed saith the Prophet Esaias t A seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation saith his Father David likewise of him and he himselfe of himselfe u Behold I and the children which God hath given me VVhence the Apostle deduceth this conclusion x Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same He himselfe that is he who was God equall to the Father for who else was able to make this y new creature but the same z God that is the Creator of all things no lesse power being requisite to the effecting of this then was at the first to the producing of all things out of nothing and these new a babes being to be b borne of the Spirit who could have power to send the Spirit thus to beget them but the Father and the Sonne from whom he proceeded the same blessed Spirit who framed the naturall body of our Lord in the wombe of the Virgin being to new mould and fashion every member of his mysticall body unto his similitude and likenesse For the further opening of which mystery which went beyond the apprehension of c Nicodemus though a master of Israel we are to consider that in every perfect generation the creature produced receiveth two things from him that doth beget it Life and Likenesse A curious limmer draweth his own sonnes portraiture to the life as we say yet because there is no true life in it but a likenesse only he cannot be said to be the begetter of his picture as he is of his Son And some creatures there be that are bred out of mudde or other putrid matter which although they have life yet because they have no correspondence in likenesse unto the principle from whence they were derived are therefore accounted to have but an improper and equivocall generation whereas in the right and proper course of generation others being esteemed but monstrous births that swarve from that rule every creature begetteth his like nec imbellem feroces Progener ant aquilae columbam Now touching our spirituall death life these sayings of the Apostle would be thought upon d Wee thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that be dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe e God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sin hath quickened us together with Christ f And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath hee quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses g I am crucified with Christ Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved mee and gave himselfe for me From all which we may easily gather that if by the obedience and sufferings of a bare man though never so perfect the most soveraigne medicine that could be thought upon should have beene prepared for the curing of our wounds yet all would be to no purpose we being found dead when the medicine did come to be applyed Our Physitian therefore must not only be able to restore us unto health but unto life it selfe which none can do but the Father Son and holy Ghost one God blessed for ever to which purpose these passages of our Saviour also are to be considered h As the father hath life in himselfe so hath he given to the Son to have life in himselfe i As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me k I am the living bread which came downe from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world the substance whereof is briefly comprehended in this saying of the Apostle l The last Adam was made a quickening spirit An Adam therefore and perfect Man must he have been that his flesh given for us upon the Crosse might be made the conduit to convey life unto the world and a quickening spirit he could not have been unlesse he were God able to make that flesh an effectuall instrument of life by the operation of his blessed spirit For as himselfe hath declared m It is the Spirit that quickeneth without it the flesh would profit nothing As for the poynt of similitude and likenesse we reade of Adam after his fall that he n beg at a son in his owne liknesse after his image and generally as well touching the carnall as the spirituall generation our Saviour hath taught us this lesson o That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is spirit Whereupon the Apostle maketh this comparison betwixt those who are borne of that first man who is of the earth earthy and of the second man who is the Lord from heaven p As is the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also beare the image of the heavenly We shall indeed hereafter bear it in full perfection when q the Lord Jesus Christ shall change our base body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe Yet in the mean time also such a conformity is required in us unto that heavenly man that r our conversation must be in heaven whence we look for this Saviour and that we must s put off concerning the former conversation that old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse For as in one particular point of domesticall authority t the Man is said to be the image and glory of God and the Woman the glory of the Man so in a more universall maner is Christ said to be u the image of God even x the brightnesse of his glory the expresse image of his person and we y to be conformed to his image that he might be the first-born among those many brethren who in that respect are accounted z the glory of Christ We read in the holy story that God a tooke of the spirit which was upon Moses and gave it unto the seventy Elders that they might bear the burden of the People with him and that he might not beare it as before he had
was therefore commanded to be b made with Cherubims to shew that we come c to an innumerable company of Angels when we come to Iesus the Mediatour of the New Testament who as the Head of the Church hath power to d send forth all those ministring spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Lastly we are to take into our consideration that as in things concerning God the maine execution of our Sauiours Priesthood doth consist so in things concerning Man he exerciseth both his Propheticall office whereby he openeth the will of his Father unto us and his Kingly whereby he ruleth and protecteth us It was indeed a part of e the Priests office in the old Testament to instruct the people in the Law of God and yet were f they distinguished from Prophets like as in the new Testament also g Prophets as well as Apostles are made a different degree from ordinary Pastours and Teachers who received not their doctrine by immediate inspiration from heaven as those other h holy men of God did who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Whence Saint Paul putteth the Hebrewes in mind that God who i in sundry parts and in sundry manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Son Christ Jesus whom therefore he styleth k the Apostle as well as the high Priest of our profession who was faithfull to him that appointed him even as Moses was in all his house Now Moses we know had a singular preeminence above all the rest of the Prophets according to that ample testimony which God himself giveth of him l If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self knowne unto him in a vision and will speake unto him in a dream My servant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all mine house with him well I speake mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall be behold And therefore we finde that our Mediatour in the execution of his Propheticall office is in a more peculiar manner likened unto Moses which he himself also did thus foretell m The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me umto him ye shall hearken According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying Let me not heare againe the voyce of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I dye not And the Lord said unto me They have well spoken that which they have spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to passe that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Our Prophet therefore must be a man raised from among his brethren the Israelites n of whom as concerning the flesh he came who was to performe unto us that which the fathers requested of Moses o Speak thou to us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye And yet that in this also we may see how our Mediatour had the preeminence p when Aaron and all the children of Israel were to receive from the mouth of Moses all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai they were afraid to come nigh him by reason of the glory of his shining countenance so that he was faine to put a vaile over his face while he spake unto them that which he was commanded But that which for a time was thus q made glorious had no glory in respect of the glory that excelleth and both the glory thereof and the vaile which covered it are now abolished in Christ the vaile of whose flesh doth so overshadow r the brightnesse of his glory that yet under it we may s behold his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father yea and t we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord And this is daily effected by the power of the ministery of the Gospell instituted by the authority and seconded by the power of this our great Prophet whose transcendent excellency beyond Moses unto whom in the execution of that function he was otherwise likened is thus set forth by the Apostle u He is counted worthy of more glory then Moses in as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honour then the house For every house is builded by some one but he that built all things is God And Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as the Son over his owne house x This house of God is no other then the Church of the living God whereof as he is the only Lord so is he properly the only Builder Christ therefore being both the Lord and the y Builder of his Church must be God as well as Man which is the cause why we finde all the severall mansions of this z great house to carry the title indifferently of a the Churches of God and b the Churches of Christ True it is that there are other ministeriall builders whom Christ employed in that service this being not the least of those gifts which he bestowed upon men at his triumphant Ascension into heaven that c he gave not only ordinary Pastours and Teachers but Apostles likewise and Prophets Evangelists for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Which what great power it required he himself doth fully expresse in passing the grant of this high Commission unto his Apostles d All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Amen S. Paul professeth of himself that he e laboured more abundantly then all the rest of the Apostles yet not I saith he but the grace of God which was with me And therefore although f according to that grace of God which was given unto him he denieth not but that as a wise master-builder he had laid the foundation yet he acknowledgeth that they upon whom he had wrought were Gods building as well as Gods husbandry For who saith g
he is Paul and who is Apollo but ministers by whom you beleeved even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Two things therefore we finde in our great Prophet which do far exceed the ability of any bare Man and so do difference him from all the h holy Prophets which have beene since the world began For first we are taught that i no man knoweth the Father save the Son and hee to whomsoever the Son will reveale him and that k no man hath seen God at anytime but the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Being in his bosome he is become conscious of his secrets and so out of his own immediate knowledge enabled to discover the whole will of his Father unto us whereas all other Prophets and Apostles receive their revelations at the second hand and according to the grace given unto them by the Spirit of Christ Witnesse that place of S. Peter for the Prophets l Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THEM did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow and for the Apostles those heavenly words which our Saviour himselfe uttered unto them whilst he was among them m When the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himselfe but whatsoever he shall heare that shall he speake and he will shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you Secondly all other Prophets and Apostles can do more as hath been said but plant and water only God can give the increase they may teach indeed and baptize but unlesse Christ were with them by the powerfull presence of his Spirit they would not be able to save one soule by that ministery of theirs We n as lively stones are built up a spirituall house but o except the Lord doe build this house they labour in vaine that build it For who is able to breath the spirit of life into those dead stones but he of whom it is written p The hour is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live and again q Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Who can awake us out of this dead sleep and give light unto these blinde eyes of ours but the Lord our God unto whom we pray that he would r lighten our eyes least we sleep the sleep of death And as a blinde man is not able to conceive the distinction of colours although the skilfullest man alive should use all the art he had to teach him because he wanteth the sense whereby that object is discernable so s the naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned VVhereupon the Apostle concludeth concerning himselfe and all his fellow-labourers that t God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us Our Mediatour therefore who must u be able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him may not want the excellency of the power whereby he may make us capable of this high knowledge of the things of God propounded unto us by the ministery of his servants and consequently in this respect also must be God as well as Man There remaineth the Kingdome of our Redeemer described thus by the Prophet Esay x Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever and by Daniel y Behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of daies and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdome that all people nations languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not passe away and his kingdome that which shall not be destroyed and by the angel Gabriel in his ambassage to the blessed Virgin z Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Iesus He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David And he shall reigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his kingdome there shall be no end This is that new a David our King whom God hath raised up unto his b owne Israel who was in truth that which he was called the Son of Man and the Sonne of the Highest that in the one respect c we may say unto him as the Israelites of old did unto their David d Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh and in the other sing of him as David himself did e The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole So that the promise made unto our first parents that f the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head may well stand with that other saying of S. Paul that g the God of peace shal bruise Satan under our feet seeing h for this very purpose the Son of God was manifested i in the flesh that he might destroy the works of the Divel and still that foundation of God will remaine unshaken k I even I am the Lord and beside mee there is no Saviour l Thou shalt know no God but me for there is no Saviour beside me Two speciall branches there bee of this Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour the one of Grace whereby that part of the Church is governed which is militant upon earth the other of Glory belonging to that part which is triumphant in Heaven Here upon earth as by his Propheticall office he worketh upon our Mind and Understanding so by his Kingly he ruleth our Will and Affections m casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the