never thirst if we be naked he will cloath us with the Robes of his Virtue and the Garments of his Righteousness Psal 45.8 Gen 27.27 which smell of Myrh Alloes and Cassia and are like the smell of a pleasant Field which the Lord hath blessed if we be simple or ignorant he 's our Wisdom to instruct us if we be sinful he 's our Righteousness to save us if we desire to be holy he is our Sanctification to bless us Acts 3.26 in turning us away from our Iniquities Tit. 2.14 and purifying to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works if the Devil tempt and allure us to sin he is the Captain of our Salvation who has not only in a great measure countermanded Satan's Commission but dissolv'd his Authority 1 Joh. 3.8 Now as all sincere Believers are thus abundantly supply'd with all things needful and convenient an hundred fold in this Life and in the World to come Life everlasting Luk. 18 3â— So on the Contrary All the pompous Delights of this visible World tho' they be seemingly never so specious or profitable unless they be sanctified to us by the Grace of Christ's holy Spirit instead of being a Comfort and Blessing they will become our Plague and Punishment In like manner all our Wisdom Righteousness Learning c. which are not deriv'd from this Fountain and purified by the Bloud of Christ are but as a menstruous Cloth or filthy Rags and neither pleasing to God nor beneficial to our Selves as might be instanc'd if 't were needful in many Particulars Those outward Accomplishments may indeed make us appear Great but can never make us Good They may puff us up with Pride and Self-conceit but they seldom or never make men more holy and vertuous John 15.5 Without Christ we can do nothing but by the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit we are enabl'd to do all things 2 Cor. 9.8 Our Sufficiency is of him and we must ascribe all our holy Performances not to any Endeavours of our own but to the Riches of God's Grace in Christ And whatever we do that is Holy or Vertuous 't is no more We but Christ who by the Power and Presence of his Holy Spirit dwelleth and worketh in Us. In a Word We hold all that we have in Capite from him and 't is the best Tenure too We are his by Purchase he has paid a dear Price for us and therefore how dear and precious should he be to us We are Oblig'd to forsake all and follow him Matth. 19.27 1 Cor. 6.19 20. This is the most effectual Plea against Satan's Stratagems that we are not our own for we are bought with a Price and therefore intirely at his not our own Disposal This is that seasonable Expedient which will vanquish this and all other Enemies even our Faith in Jesus Christ God and Man in the same Person 6 And Lastly This Point of Doctrine duly consider'd will remind us of the State and Condition of other Men as well as our Selves Has God set such an inestimable Value upon Mens Souls as to purchase 'em at so dear a Price Could nothing less then the Bloud of the eternal Son of God pay a sufficient Ransom for the Redemption of them How should we then respect honour and indulge Christ's Humane Nature in the poorest and meanest of his Servants And since Good has been pleas'd to think us worthy of so much Care and Indulgence we 've Reason to use all possible Endeavours to keep these precious Jewels pure and unspotted both in our selves and others Have we contracted such an honourable Alliance with and do we stand so nearly related to the holy Trinity and our fellow Christians by the Vnion of our Nature to the Person of Christ How then should our Thoughts Desires Dispositions Words and Actions be conformable to the Nature Laws and Dignitie of such Relations How should we be afraid to submit to any thing that 's base or ignoble lest we reflect Dishonour upon God and that Nature of ours which he has so much dignified by his Incarnation Let us therefore indeavour as we are oblig'd both in Duty and Interest in every Iustance and Circumstance of our Lives to be and to do good to avoid all things evil in themselves and of evil Report That we may thereby glorifie God in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are his This would prove the most certain Expedient to bring this excellent Religion of the Holy and Eternal Jesus into Repute and Credit with those that differ from us and by our hearty Compliances with all its reasonable Constitutions we cannot fail both of the present and future Rewards which spring and flow from it Thus I have treated distinctly on the first Branch of this great Mystery of Man's Redemption and herein Particularly of the Names and Natures of Christ and that wonderful Vnion of 'em both in the same Person I have alleg'd several important Reasons why the Saviour of the World should be God why he should be Man and why God and Man in the same Person of Christ I have consider'd those special Advantages and Priviledges resulting from this heavenly Doctrine with the peculiar Influences which it should have upon the Lives and Practices of all Christians God Almighty give us all Grace so to believe these Truths faithfully and practice them conscientiously That the whole frame and contexture of our Lives may be truly conformable to the Kingdom and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IV. Of the Offices of Christ in general BY discoursing of the Offices of Christ and the Manner of their Administration we may understand more particularly the great End and Design of our Saviour's coming into the World And the many great things which he has done and suffer'd for the Redemption and Happiness of lost Mankind The Name of Christ as we noted before is a Title which imports Office and Dignity The Name Christ imports his Offices 'T is a Greek word in the Original and answereth to the Hebrew Messiah both which signifie our Anointed Saviour Historians tell us that 't was an ancient Custom in the Easten part of the World to Anoint their Public Officers Kings and Prophets especially with material Oyl denoting and symbolizing thereby the liberal and plentiful Effusion of extraordinary Endowments such as might qualifie them for and presignifie the hopeful and happy success of their Administrations But our Christ the eternal Son of God coming into the World to manage that great and important Office of Mediatour between God and Man must be sanctified Christ's unction differ'd from all others and set a part in a more peculiar manner than any of the Ancients were For they were only anointed with material Oyl but he was Sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost they were set apart by Men but he was confirm'd by the Father in this Office they were invested with Authority and Ability
we wilfully despise or dishonour that high and holy Name whereby we are call'd God's Honour in Christ our anointed Saviour is a Prerogative He 's exceeding jealous of and therefore whosoever shall arrogate that Glory to themselves or substract that Obedience which is due to the Eternal Son of God shall certainly feel the Power of his God-head We 've a great many sad Instances upon Record of God's Justice and Vengeance on purpose to deter us from the like Offences How conspicuous are the tragical Memoirs of the fallen Angels of Herod Pontius Pilate Judas and many others who would have set themselves in God's stead What shall I tell you of the whole Jewish Nation that derided betray'd condemn'd and Crucified the Lord of Life Not one of all these could flie from Justice but suffer'd the severest Punishments in proportion to their Crimes for their wretched Prophaneness Cruelty and Irreligion What might I add of the later Hereticks as Arrius Nestorius Eutyches Servetus c. whose Lives and Deaths are and shall be for ever infamous to all Posterity Seing therefore that God will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and that he will by no means endure that his Glory should be given to another And seing we have such a Cloud of Witnesses before us who have suffered by the Contempt and Neglect of his Worship it stands us in hand to be very prudent and circumspect in our Demeanor and Deportment towards him lest we wilfully blaspheme his Name derogate from his Glory abuse and trample upon his Word and Sacraments despise his Servants neglect our Duties transgress his just and reasonable Commands or continue in any one unlawful Act of Sin or Disobedience unrepented of unreform'd 'T is our Saviour's own Rule and confirm'd by every day's Experience Ioh. 2. Ep. â— He that loveth God will keep his Commandments And what heinous Ingratitude as well as Disobedience must we Christians be guilty of if we make not our Lives the Transcript of his Divine and Excellent Doctrine and with the highest Expressions of Love Joy and Thankfulness recognize his inconceivable Goodness and Mercy to the Children of Men. But if on the contrary we should render him evil for good and hatred for good-will this Abuse and Contempt of his Grace and Clemency shall not be able to escape the just Resentments of his Wrath and Vengeance And judge what a miserable Condition those poor Wretches will be in who not only trample under foot the Son of God but have so disregarded the Sanctions of his Laws and the Charitable Tenders of his Grace and Goodness that Salvation it self cannot save them Thus much concerning our Saviour's God-head I have been the longer about it because the Devil has been more sedulous in his Endeavours to corrupt and undermine this than any other Article of our Christian Faith Which every Man will readily grant that has the least Acquaintance with Ecclesiastical History and Decrees of Councils Wherefore no Person of any Candor or Christianity can think my Time or Pains mis-imploy'd and mis-spent in explaining and confirming this Article of our Faith wherein the Excellency and Dignitie of the Person of the Son of God and our own present and eternal Welfares are so Emimently concern'd CHAP. III. Of our Saviour's Manhood THis is another Fundamental Article of our holy and excellent Religion The Humane Nature of Christ constder'd that the Eternal Son of God became true and real Man for our sakes That he assum'd the Humane Nature into the reality of his Person tho' in a manner most incomprehensible And yet he was fully invested with it and precisely at the time appointed of the Father and predicted by the Prophets was really conceiv'd in the Womb and born of the Virgin Mary He was made that he might be a perfect Man not begotten of the Seed and Substance of the Woman as all other Men are differing from Vs only in the Miraculous Conception by the Power of the Holy Ghost And 't was necessary that it should be so that he might be free from all sin Himself especially since He came to suffer for Ours For indeed all other Men being conceiv'd by natural Generation must needs be tainted with the Guilt and Stain of Adam's first Sin which has been thus transmitted to and propagated by his miserable Posterity But tho' Christ the Eternal Son of God was conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost yet he was made of the Flesh of the Virgin Gen. 3.15 Gen. 22.18 Mat. 1.1 otherwise he could not have been what he really was The seed of the Woman the seed of Abraham the seed of David Besides this was absolutely necessary to qualifie him for nor could he've been otherwise capable of that Mediatorship whereby he was to procure and establish a Peace between God and Man Thus he took our Nature and therefore no Starry Substance as the Marcionites cerdonians and Manichaean Hereticks vainly dream'd nor yet a Spiritual or Elementary Body as Valentinus and others conjectur'd And tho' those several Heresies were censur'd and exploded by the Decrees of Councils in the four first Centuries yet there 's still a Spawn of those Errours amongst us And therefore for the Conviction of those that have espous'd them and to confirm others in the stedfast Belief of this important and saving Truth I shall make it fully evident That our Lord Jesus Christ did not only assume our Flesh but our whole Nature That is 1st Arguments for it A true Humane Body and a rational Humane Soul 2dly He suscepted in that real Body and reasonable Soul all the Properties and Infirmities of both First he took our whole Nature Christ assum'd a real humane body viz. I A real Humane body figur'd and circumscrib'd as ours which had all the Parts and Members of a true Body compounded of Flesh and Blood was visible and tangible did eat drink sleep encrease in strength and stature sensible of pain and want and was at last subject to a conspicuous Death for the conviction of the obstinate and unbelieving World The Holy Scripture has confirm'd and fortified this Truth with variety of Arguments for Christ is said to be of the Seed of Abraham the Seed of Isaac Rom. 1.3 Rom. 9.5 the Seed of Jacob and particularly of the Seed of David For Christ saith the Apostle expresly descended from David and the Fathers according to the Flesh And again when the sulness of time was come Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a woman c. and in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 Eph 4.16 that he might condemn Sin in the flesh by which means he became the Head of his Body the Church For asmuch then as we are partakers of Flesh and Bloud He also likewise himself took part of the same Heb. 2.9 that he might tast Death which he could not otherwise have done for every Man and therefore he took not on him the Nature of
Second and Last Adam from the First 1 Cor. 15.22 45. Lastly That General Name of Christians His Name Christ whence we are call'd Christians comprehends all his other Titles by which we are distinguisht from all other Religions in the World is deriv'd from his Name Christ In which all the Names and Appellations attributed to him in holy Scripture are eminently comprehended CHAP. II. Of our Saviour's God-head HAving treated thus distinctly of the Quid Nominis Of Christ's Divine Nature of the Names and Titles of Christ for the prevention of all future Mistakes which might occur concerning ' em We shall proceed to discourse in the next Place of our Saviour's Divine Nature which being an Article of our Christian Faith is most demonstratively evinc'd from Scripture the Truth whereof will evidently appear in these following Particulars As 1st Arguments for it He is dignified with the same Titles and Appellations equal with God the Father which I 've hinted before and is often stil'd in Scripture The great God The true God The Lord Jehovah The Son of God and the only begotten Son of God From whence we must necessarily infer That our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God as the Father is and hath the same Nature Essence Will and Power with him 2dly The same Attributes and Properties of God are frequently ascrib'd to him For he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 6.8 and doth clearly discern all the Thoughts and Imaginations of Men. Heb. 13.8 He was from Eternity without beginning and shall continue to Eternity without end Mat. 28.20 By the Immensity of his Power and Presence He is Omnipotent and Omnipresent Joh. 1.3 Col. 1.16 Mat. 8.25 Joh. 0.19 All the Works of the Deity as the Works of Creation Providence Sanctification Illumination Justification and the Remission of Sins are attributed to Him All the Creatures even the most boisterous and unruly the most malignant and Rebellious contrary to their Natures and against their Wills did obey his Commands All the Miracles done by Him were real Demonstrations of his Divinity and to them he appeals to evict the reality of His Godhead Ioh. 14.11 Believe me saith he that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very Works sake And in his Answer to John the Baptist's Disciples Mat. 11.3 4 5 6. Go saith he and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see the blind receive their sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up c. The only Argument which he made use of at that Time to convince 'em That he was the true Messiah and Saviour of the World 3dly Divine Worship and Honour are every where given unto him Ioh. 3.16 Acts 7.55 59. Matth. 28.18 Phil. 2.9.10 For in him we Believe to him we Pray in his Name we are Baptiz'd and God has given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of fesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth 4thly We have the undeniable Testimony of God himself and the concurrent Suffrage both of Good and Bad Angels to confirm us in the belief of this important and saving Truth Matth. 3.17 and 1.27 Mark 5.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen ad Locum In him saith the Apostle dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily that is really and substantially See to this Purpose Col. 2.9 1 Tim. 3 1◠Heb. 1.3 8. 1 John 5.20 Hence 't is fully Evident from the undoubted Testimony of holy Scripture that Christ is God truly and properly so call'd even one and the same God co-essential co-equal and co-eternal with the Father Thus the Doctrine of our Saviour's Divinity Equality and Consubstantiality with the Father being sufficiently evicted and consirm'd We shall now seriously apply this Point by considering what Influence this saving Doctrine should have upon the Lives and Practices of Men. And 1st We may learn from the Consideration of our Saviour's God-head and the Excellency of his Divine Nature What Influence this Doctrine should have upon Practice what Honour Respect and Reverence is due to him Even the same Homage is to be given and the same Adoration to be paid joyntly and equally to the Father and the Son For all men should honor the Son Ioh. 5.23 1 Ioh. 2.23 even as they honor the Father And whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father Again the eternal Son of God is not only preser'd in Scripture to Abraham Moses David c. but to the holy Angels themselves being much better Heb. 1.4 5 6. and having a more excellent Name then they and therefore he saith let all the Angels of God worship him These Considerations lay a sure Foundation for our Duty do justifie our Practice in worshipping our Lord and may exceedingly animate and encourage us to be faithful and zealous devour and constant in all the Instances of Prety and Religion For we 've full Assurance from the Premisses that our blessed Redeemer knoweth all our Necessities and he neither wants Will nor Power to save supply and bless us to the uttermost if we Believe in Worship and Obey him 2dly Hence we may be encourag'd to have Recourse unto Christ and be comforted in all the Straits and Difficulties of this Life and hereon we may ground our stedfast Hope that God for his sake will supply all our Wants with the Abundance of his Grace and Favour Ioh. 3.16 Rom. 8.32 For he that gave us his only begotten Son will not be unwilling to bestow whatever to his Wisdom shall appear needful and convenient for us Seing then we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Heb. 4.14 16. let us hold fast our Profession and come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need 3dly Let us always bear in Mind those important Obligations the great Majesty of Heaven and Earth has laid upon us in sending his own Son into the World to mediate a Peace for us that we who were Enemies by wicked works should be reconcil'd unto Him Col. 1.21 How should this consideration affect our hearts with a passionate Sense of his Goodness How should we Love him who has been so exceeding gracious and meeciful to us What thankful Acknowledgements with our Mouths and what a dutiful Observance in all our Actions do such wonderful Expressions of Majesty and Mercy deserye and require from us And lastly Let our Faith and Hope c. in the eternal Son of God be sounded in Humility of all which more fully in the following Chapters with a Suitable Behaviour and awful sense of Mind most becoming his gracious yet dreadful Presence And therefore 4thly We should be extrèmely careful above all things lest
by the Power and Efficacy of Christ's Mediatorship to God's Grace and Favour He has broken the Shackles of Universal Guilt subdues and destroys all his and our Enemies rescues us from the slavery and dominion of Sin and Satan has taken away the Sting of Death and does effectually revoke that fatal Curse by which we were exil'd from Paradise and bound over to everlasting Punishment And having by the immense Sactifice of his precious Bloud paid so dear a Price for our Redemption all our Debts are now fully discharg'd God's Anger appeas'd his Justice satisfied an eternal Peace between Heaven and Earth fully ratified and all true Believers in Christ are reinstated in a Condition of Hope and an undoubted capacity of being for ever happy 3 The Sun of Righteousness thanks be to our gracious God is risen upon our Horizon Luk. 1.78 79. Isai 60.1 diffusing his pleasant Light and saving Influences over the whole Body of the Creation dispelling by his radiant Beams the Nignt and dark Clouds of Ignorance and Errour which before his coming had over-spread the face of the whole Earth Christ is the Way John 14.16 the Truth and the Life He keeps his Residence in and exerts his Power in the defence and protection of all pious Souls he enriches his Members with that pure and perfect Wisdom which is from above and kindles Charity Joy and Comfort in their Hearts by the powerful Influence and Operation of his Grace and Spirit he raises their Affections above transitory Things and does inspire and qualifie 'em with such holy and heavenly Dispositions as will sweeten and sanctifie all the Cross Providences which are incident to them in this Life and will finally advance them to and put 'em in Possession of a State of ravishing and uncompounded Pleasures at God's right hand for evermore 4 Christ Jesus the righteous governs his Church with perfect Love and Clemency preserves his Servants in Peace and safety and 't is impossible saith Irenaeus to recount the number of those great things which are done thro' the World by the Wisdom Power and Goodness of Christ for the Succour of the Nations and the Salvation of Mankind For as he liv'd so he died and rose again for us to cure all our Maladies and to restore us to a more happy condition than we lost by the Fall and defection of the first Adam And now to our unspeakable comfort he is sitting in Majesty and triumph at the right hand of God of which more fully afterwards pleading his infinite Merits and interceding power fully with the Father for us That all these Blessings and Priviledges and many more than we can either conceive or think of may be seasonably applied for the comfort and Benefit of all true Believers Hence we proceed 3dly The Application of this Point importing its influence upon Practice To the Application of this Point and shall consider what Influence this important and saving Doctrine should have upon the Lives and Practices of Men. And 1 This is a Subject which may ravish our Souls with Joy and Wonder A Mirrour which the holy Angels delight in and desire to contemplate God and Man in the Person of Christ was the hope and expectation of the Fathers whom the Patriarchs fore-saw and rejoyc'd at and whom the Prophets in such magnificent streins did predict and presignifie whose presence makes glad the City of our God But the perfect understanding of this Mystery transcends all Humane Knowledge and in this Valley of Ignorance we can but attain to a small measure of it His Name is Wonderful and who can understand it Councellor and who can find it The mighty God and who can comprehend it How he being God should be begotten of God and yet but one God still Or how he could be born of a Woman without a Man and she continue still a Virgin That Almighty God out of the Virgin Earth created man and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life was indeed a great Miracle But that a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son that was both God and Man was far greater That God without a Woman should form Eve out of Man was a strange Wonder but 't was much more prodigious that a Woman without a Man should bring forth a Son that was both God and Man For Iron to swim above the Water a Fountain to flow out of a dry Jaw-bone an Ass to speak an old Woman to Conceive Manna to be rain'd down from Heaven a wither'd Rod to yield both Blossoms and Fruit Rivers to flow from a flinty Rock Waters to be turn'd into Bloud Ravens to feed a Prophet Jordan to turn his stream backward the Red Sea to be divided c. These are Miracles to be extremely admir'd But in the Incarnation of our blessed Redcemer we 've a greater Miracle than all these for a Maid is made the Mother of God a great Sphere is drawn into the Center the great God of Heaven and Earth was conceiv'd in the narrow Womb of a Virgin This is indeed a Miracle which humane Reason's not able to comprehend Miraoulum Mirabiliter Miraculosum 1 Tim. 1.15 And therefore saith the Apostle 't is a faithful saying That Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners We may as well doubt of the reality of our Being and Existence as suspect the Truth of it This is the Lord 's doing and 't is marvellous in our Eyes Man is naturally inquisitive after Curiosities and very desirous to know strange Accidents Now here 's a Subject for the most contemplative Curiosity to be exercis'd about A Mystery indeed and the more we pry into it the more miraculous we find it The more we know of it the more we shall be inflam'd with the desire of comprehending it and shall be still more and more happy in the improvement of this excellent Knowledge Si Christum discis nihil est si caeâ—era nescis Si Christum c All other Wisdom without the Knowledge of God in Christ is as bad if not worse than Ignorance it self For tho' with the wisest Solomon we could understand all the secrets of Nature the several Motions and Influences of the Stars all the Intrigues and Policies of State all the Mysteries of Traffick Arts and Sciences and whatever can be imagin'd to be within the reach of humane Understanding Yet without the saving Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ all our Wisdom is but Foolishness and to no purpose Let the Son of God therefore made Man for our sakes become the Subject of our devoutest Meditations 1 Cor. 2.2 The Holy Apostle determin'd to know nothing else and I am sure 't is both our Interest and Duty to concur with him in this Opinion We read in the Gospels that Christ was sometimes in the Cratch sometimes in the Garden sometimes in the Synagogue sometimes in Egypt sometimes at Jerusalem sometimes at a Marriage sometimes amongst Publicans conversant with