the state and condition of the creature But supposing the three Persons in one Deity why should the Word be made flesh the Father and the Spirit excluded Certainly if we were to make choice of the Person reason would inform us that to be the natural son of man is more agreeable to the natural Son of God then to the unbegotten Father or to the proceeding Spirit The manner of his double birth would testifie the same truth begotten in the understanding of God from all eternity conceived in the womb of a Virgin in the fulness of time The nature of that sin which was the first motive of this descent seems to fasten a necessity upon the second Person of the Trinity it was a sin against the wisdom of God the tasting of the Tree of Knowledge Eritis sicut Dii scientes bonum malum and therefore fit it was to shew the large treasures of Gods mercy and the strictness of Gods Justice that the same wisdom offended should satisfie for the offence Foelix culpa quae talem habuit Redemptorem where is the wrong where is the injury when the party offended shall satisfie and therefore we will with humility retort Gods own words upon himself who upon the fall of man could say Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis so now upon the fall of God that is upon the descent of God we will say Ecce Deus quasi unus ex nobis If man lose the image of God as concerning Holiness and Sanctity wherein he was first created nothing can restore this image but that which gave the first impression If man cannot conform himself unto God then for an upshot and agreement between both necessary it is that God should consorm himself unto man Man lost Gods image God takes up mans image and this was most competent to that Person in the holy Trinity who as the Apostle describes him to the Hebrews was Splendor gloriae figura substantiae Patris Observe I beseech you the creation of man being made of the earth God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Breath if it were agreeable to Gods nature yet certainly proceeding from an intelligent Spirit it could not be bare breath but necessarily it must be accompanied with some word especially considering that in all other Creatures you shall finde the power of this word for God spake the word and they were created But here this word is concealed and therefore we may well suppose that there is some mystery concealed Behold then the first earnest of his Incarnation God intending a marriage between the Deity and the Humane Nature he takes the body of man as it were taking his wedding gloves breathes in them to extend them to warm them to sit them for himself at length puts them on Here now at length the word accompanies the breath the breath made us living souls the word shall make us quickning spirits breath gave us a natural life the word shall regenerate and give a new birth and thus by virtue of this breath by virtue of this word man hath a double root the first Adam and the second Adam taking sap from both he is Arbor arbor inversa he hath a root downward and a root upward he treads upon the earth and looks up towards heaven And thus God if ever intending the renewing of his Creatures sit it was that God should there begin where he did end Man was the last work of the Creation and therefore in man there must be the first beginning of renovation Incipiat ubi desitum est it is a rule in all works and here you shall finde it true by experience the last work is first perfected For the Word was made flesh But I would gladly demand of the Jews who do not acknowledge these mysteries either the Trinity or the Incarnation Why should God be so careful and curious in giving himself a Name a Name it is therefore ordained to make a difference in a multitude as many men of one kinde are distinguished by their names But the nature of God is one as the Sun is but one and therefore wants no name but the name of his own kinde Gods Name then as it imports no difference in his nature so it implies a distinction and difference of Persons in that one nature of the Deity This will better appear if you please to consider that great and ineffable Name of God the Name of four letters The first letter was Jod quod significat principium and doth undoubtedly betoken the Person of the Father The second was He quod vivere significat setting out the second Person as being life in himself though life by participation imparting life unto the Creatures for in him we live we move and have our being he is the Way the Truth and the Life The third letter was Vau quae vim apud Hebraeos habet Copulandi intimating the love of God proceeding from the Father and the Son whereby the Father and the Son are united The last letter it was the same with the second letter He twice repeated ut duas in filio fateamur naturas Dei Hominis And that you may conceive that this observation of the Name proceeds not from mans fancy and conjecture I pray give me leave to bring another Example to this purpose When God had tied himself unto Abraham as touching the promised seed in token hereof it pleased God to change the name of Abraham from Abram to Abraham by the addition of a letter so likewise of his wife from Sarai to Sarah by the substraction of a syllable and the addition of a letter Now you shall observe that this letter which was added to both their names it was indeed one and the same letter and it was a letter of Gods own Name the second letter of his Name that as the second Person was to be united to the nature of Abraham and Sarah so this letter given and received might serve as a pledge or an earnest to signifie that union Observe the phrase and style of Scripture Verbum Domini venit ad Isaiam venit ad Prophetas c. which form of speech to my understanding cannot be so well justified were it not that this word were a Person and that some certain manner of coming were proper and peculiar to this Person Why should God speak of himself after the manner and fashion of men I cannot disallow the opinion of our Divines that God speaking to mans understanding fit it was that he should descend to mans capacity but desiring that truth in Gods words might altogether appear I had rather apply them to an intended incarnation then to admit a bare figure in Gods words which happily to us might be some occasion of error Wherefore serve the groanings and cries of the Fathers Expectabo salutare tuum Domine Mitte quem missurus es Rorate Coeli desuper nubes pluanâ—… iustum
mysteries discovered by our Saint Iohn and secondly the Eagle renewes her age to betoken the long life of Saint Iohn or rather the eternity of such things as he prophesied in so much that it gave occasion to a false report for whereas Christ made only a supposition they conceived it as really true that Saint Iohn should not die and thus far indeed it proved true that he died not of a violent death as all the rest of the Apostles suffered Martyrdom but his Matyrdom it should seem was then when he did assist at the Passion of Christ and none other Apostle attended there but himself and no doubt but his then sorrow and grief might equall or rather exceed in virtue and power the Martyrdom of others And secondly that common fame and report of his not dying might thus far prove true that he died not in that age but lived to the beginning of the second Century being now very old as S. Hierome relates in his commentaries upon the Epistle to the Galatians when he could not goe of himself but was carryed by others to the Church or place of meetings he made no other Sermon but this Filioli diligite alterutrum quia praeoeptum Domini est si solim fiat sufficit it should seem being the beloved Disciple the love of Christ was so fastened and fixed in him that it made a repercussion and became an Echo and brake out into these termes of love Filioli my sons whom I so dearly love let not my love rest in you as singulars but impart it to each other that so you may be united and linked together in the Bonds and Chaines of love that as this love proceeds from Christ to me and from me to you so from you to each other among your selves that we may all lay hold on the Anchor of our hope Christ the Son of God who hath reconciled us to God notwithstanding our sins and transgressions I will now come directly to the Text which is the very keâ—…nell the marrow the Elixiâ—… of all Christian Religion and hath ever been received with the greatest admiration and astonishment and at the very naming of the words Christians were 〈◊〉 to bow and to express all possible honour and reverence The ineffable Trinity And the word was made flesh THe first word of my Text standing in the forefront and being a conjunction copulative gives me occasion to look back and mark the dependence wherein I dare boldly say that neither the large volumes of the Fathers nor the subtill and curious invention of the Schooles nor the deep and profoundest Divines can better unfold the mystery of this word then may be well gathered by the precedent and express words of this Evangelist onely here stands our weakness That as Moses having talked with God his countenance received that light that the Israelites could not behold the face of Moses so this our Apostle having leaned on the bosom and sucked out these mysteries he is now become Boanerges the son of Thunder rather astonishing the eare with wonder and amazement then distinctly informing the heart in things which are too high for the weak state and condition of man but I pray mark the first verse of this Chapter In principio erat verbum in the beginning was the word â—…ere is the eternall generation of this word not proceeding from Gods free will and election not supposing his determinate decree and purpose but a natural and a necessary generation equally existing with God in the moment of his eternity as the Sun and the light were together created the Soul and the understanding together infusect so is the generation of â—…his word equall in time and continuance with the deity Et verbum erat apud deum And the word was with God here is the distinction and relation of the Persons apud deum with God not as a property or quality not as an attribute or faculty but as a person distinctly existing and that by a different manner of generation from the Father Et deâ—… erat verbum And God was the Word here is the mutuall communication and participation of the deity for it is a property of the greatest good that it should be most fruitfull in his own kind and communicate it self in the largest and greatest manner now in the creatures we find some foot-steps of the deity as appears by their being moving order perfection but necessary it is that God should impart his own nature which nature though infinitely imparted yet still continuing infinite it can be but one and the same nature equally communicated to the three Persons three persons and one God If a man communicate his nature to his son this nature though still continuing the same in kind and condition yet must it differ in number in regard of the finitenesse of our nature the circumscription both of time and of place but it is otherwise with God for out of the infinite extent of his own nature one and the same deity the same in number the same in virtue and power is equally and totally imparted to the three persons in one blessed and undivided Trinity Thus much ad intra concerning the relation of Persons within themselves now ad extra in respect of the creatures it followes in the third verse of this Chapter Et verbo facta sunt omnia and without him nothing was made so that both inwardly and outwardly the deity of this Word appears inwardly in the coeternall existency and infinite participation of the Godhead and outwardly as together concurring in the creation framing and making of this world And having thus discovered the second person because we acknowledge another person in the deity take therefore the testimony of this second person concerning the third when the holy Ghost whom I shall send unto you from the Father the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father he shall give testimony of me John the 15. 16. 26. these are the mutuall testimonies of Persons in behalf of each other and hereunto I shall adde what the holy Catholick Church out of other texts of Scripture doth undoubtedly demonstratively and most necessarily conclude Verbum a word must necessarily imply intellectum an understanding to conceive this word this understanding being alwayes active the word must be of like continuance and eternity and being active as there was an eternall so is there a daily and continuall generation of this word Hodie genui te This word being naturall to the understanding it proceeds not from any voluntary or free election of God but from the necessity of his nature and according to his nature so is it begotten in a spirituall and most unspeakable manner being in the understanding answerable to the understanding and of like extent It can be no creature seeing by it all things were made and created and being in the understanding it must subsist of the same nature which nature being
the creatures and therefore it is only proper to the understanding and the will of God that only from them there should be a generation of the Son and a procession of the Spirit and so a difference of Peâ—…sons Some do here object against some termes which as they say are not to be found in Scripture but are only imposed by the Church and that is the word Trinity and the word Persons and that in a mysterie of this infinite high nature there should be no addition of mans wit and invention but we should tye our selves most strictly to the terms of Scripture seeing this mysterie so infinitly exceeds mans understanding To whom I return this answer Do ye think that what the Church shall determin in this and other mysteries that it proceeds from the wit and invention of man do you ascribe no more to the cloven tongues that fell upon the Apostles whereby they were replenished with Gods Spirit and which Spirit they did conferre upon others by imposition of hands by election or succession and do you stile all this by the wit and invention of man when I consider the determinations of the Church their form of divine Service their Canons their Discipline their religious Orders God knows I do verily believe that I do see more in them then the wit and invention of man and I think them to be the immediate dictates and directions of Gods Spirit But call them what you will for these words of Persons and Trinity truly I conceive them to be nothing but the translation of Scripture and I hope you will think translations very necessary for the Evangelists and the Apostles use the translations of the Septuagints in their quotations of the old Testament if then Christ shall prescribe the form of our Baptism to be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost and that we know there are no Accidences in God but all are Substances and distinct Substances surely I know not by what other term I should call Substances and distinct Substances but by the name of Persons and if these three Persons be one God and so the Scripture stiles them The word was with God and God was the word surely I know not with what other words to express it but by the name of Trinity or triunity So likewise those words of Schoolmen Deus intelligendo seipsum genuit verbum are not these words taken out of Scripture hodie genui te and thence they infer verbum in intellectu Thus without the determinations of the Church and unless due respect and reverence be given to the Church no Religion can subsist but will instantly fall to confusion Thus as our understanding begets a word and there is a mutuall love and correspondency between this understanding and this word so if God be said to beget a Son or a Word in a spirituall manner in his understanding and that from both proceeds the holy Ghost the Church must then necessarily conclude that they are severall and distinct Persons not that we should conceive them to be like the Persons of men with circumscription of time and of place in various and different formes but to be divine Persons all alike partaking of one infinite nature and what God hath revealed what the Church hath explicated that we believe desiring the same God by the inlightning of his Spirit to engender faith in our hearts to strengthen and increase it and what God hath reserved only for his own knowledge that not curiously to pry into but content our selves with such a measure and proportion of knowledge as he hath been pleased to impart remembring that the first Sin which gave occasion to all the mischieves and miseries which have befallen us it was the tasting of the Tree of knowledge whereby in stead of that great light which we aymed at whereby we should have knowledge like God indeed we had our eyes opened but it was to see and feel our own nakedness to our own confusion Yet to give some little information I will only make this instance If I should take out of a River severall Cups full of water I would ask what difference there were in these waters Surely none would appear in the nature but as they are distinct in severall Cups or Vessels which give them severall forms and severall dimensions and thus it is in all homogeneall bodies suppose I should insist in spirituall qualities as in Light certainly the difference would be less what then if I should insist in spiri's themselves which are not capable of dimensions yet still in respect of the finitness of their nature there would be some difference but if I should ascend to an infinit nature then there would be no difference in respect of the nature yeâ—… a difference there would be in respect of their different manner of subsisting as by generation procession c. Yet here we must take heed of curiosity and know the weakness of mans understanding that we cannot speak of God but after the manner of men and it is most probable that God should commit his secrets to the care and custody of his Church which may put them into such form and fashion of speech as may best beseem them rather then that particular spirits who are so apt to be misled with errors even in things of least moment should be left to their own inventions and expressions in the highest mysteries But how should the whole Deity be in every Person is it not true in all Homogeneall bodies Suppose the elements that where they are they are totally they carry their whole nature about them but this truth more especially appears in spirits for there is nothing so common and triviall in Schooles as this known principle Anima ubi est tota est tota in toto tota in qualibet parte totius But if this Deity be wholly imparted yet then how should it still remain whole and entire is it not proper to all spirituall qualities as Light Knowledge and the like that they should be communicated without any loss or diminution of themselves Here then at length consists the whole difficulty that the nature being imparted there should be no difference in number reason seeing the difficulty sees likewise the reason of the difficulty for her own further satisfaction for this in the creatures proceeds from the bounded finite and limited nature of the creatures which must be circumscribed both with time and with place and so make a difference in the number but if you will suppose this nature to be infinite as is the Deity then would it admit no difference as not in nature so not in number What I have hitherto written hath been according to the opinion of our best and most â—…earned Divines together with the acknowledgement of the whole Catholick Church to which I do believe a man may very safely subscribe for whatsoever is there related as
it lies in Gods power to unmake them and in every minute to reduce them to nothing and some wicâ—…ed men might a little distrust God but for the assurance of the continuance of Gods favors God is become man the Creator made a Creature both Natures now fastned and riveted together by an indissoluble knot of marriage which can never be broken and which serves as a great ingagement and assurance from God to preserve and continue his graces and blessings upon the works of his own hands whereof we have a pledge or earnest in Christ perfect God and perfect Man both Creator and Creature united in one Person never to be separated So I hope it plainly appears that as the Incarnation can be no dishonor to God so it tends to the great honor and settlement of the Creatures In speaking of the blessed Trinity I began with the beginning of S. Johns Gospel In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word Then for proof and assurance of this great mystery I ended with the end of S. Johns Gospel wherein he affirms that the world could not contain the books which might be written of Christs acts thereby intimating that the works and miracles that Christ wrought above natural power did most abundantly serve to confirm and justifie the works and mysteries which he taught above natural Reason And now that I come to the Incarnation of Christ where the invisible God becomes visible man it is strange how this our Apostle S. John alters his style for in his first Epistle Chap. 1. ver 1. speaking of God in our flesh he saith That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life So that he who speaking of the Deity of Christ like an Eagle soared aloft as it were out of sight even beyond all humane reason and understanding speaking now of the Humanity of Christ he descends so low to make it more manifest and palpable as he seems to fall beneath sense for that he calls all the senses of man to witness which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled and this in effect twice repeated whereby we may be the more assured of the truth of his Manhood As there was an eternal generation of this Word according to the Godhead so was there a Temporal birth of this Word in the fulness of time according to his Manhood for these two Mysteries though very different in themselves yet are they both very wonderful In the first you shall observe three Persons in one Nature in the second you have three Natures in one Person a Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Nature and a Trinity of Natures in a Unity of Person the Father the Son and the Spirit three distinct several and real Persons yet all subsisting in one undivided Essence of the Deity the Flesh the Soul and the Godhead three distinct and several Natures yet all subsisting in one undivided Person of Christ. How wonderful is the mercy of God that whereas our Saviour the second Person in Trinity was All-sufficient and happy in himself yet in commiseration of man man that had sinned in the root sinned in the bud when to our first-fathers guilt we had heaped up innumerable transgressions against the day of wrath he took up our nature and infirmities to satisfie for our sins to offer up himself as a propitiatory Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Men Angels and all other inferior created powers cannot any way satisfie for the least part of our guilt as not being able to be sufficiently thankful for their own beeing Sin is an infinite evil as being committed against an Infinite Majesty and therefore in the exact ballance of Gods Justice requires no less then an infinite Ransâ—…m or an infinite Punishment Righteousness and Justice pleaded against man that our sins were such as could not stand with his integrity freely to pardon Mercy and Peace put him in minde of his ancient love that as he had freely created man so now likewise in the bowels of compassion he should freely intend the Redemption of man And thus it was concluded in the High Court of Parliament in the highest Heavens that God himself Christ Jesus the second Person in Trinity should take our Nature upon him that as every act of his proceeding from his Deity the shedding of the least drop of his blood the trickling of one tear the suffering of one stripe the least temptation was of infinite value of infinite estimation so he alone was able to recompense for sin And thus it was fulfilled what was said by the Prophet Mercy and Truth have met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Here is the agreement and thus is God and man reconciled by the coming and Incarnation of our onely dear Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus When I consider the first sin the sin of the Angels I cannot conceive that such excellent Creatures in their own kinde understanding Natures intelligent Spirits should attempt such a foul offence against God as to ascend up to his Throne to take upon them Gods Majesty were there not some probability or likelihood to effect it I cannot say whether they had it by immediate infusion from God or to speak after the manner of men by some common fame or report that the Creator and Creature should be united in one Person or whether by the excellency of their own knowledge they did fitly gather that as the Creation was a work of Gods infinite love and as God was existent in every creature according to the infinite extent of his own nature so undoubtedly as an effect of that infinite love God should tie unto himself some creature by an infinite band namely by an hypostaticall union And this their Conceit gave some way and occasion to their pride and presumption as claiming and challenging that high prerogative above other creatures by virtue of their birthright But herein did appear the oversight and ignorance of the Angels for the creature was not to aspire to the height and dignity of the Creator but the Creator was to descend to the humility and baseness of the creature neither was God to be united to the Angelical nature though otherwise highest in order and condition but to descend lower to give a more undoubted token of that infinite love even to the humane Nature and Manhood mans Nature being the Centre in the midst of the Circumference a little Microcosin in whom all the creatures are united things sensible partake in his Body the intelligent Spirits are combined in his Soul and thus God taking the nature of man sits in the very midst of his creatures imparting himself infinitely to all so far forth as it may well stand with the truth of his Godhead and with