now to grapple withal And this I hope I have in some measure done in one of the former Discourses Nor indeed do I see that it is any ways necessary to do more it being sufficient that God hath declared what he thought fit in this matter and that we do firmly believe what he says concerning it to be true though we do not perfectly comprehend the meaning of all that he hath said about it For in this and the like Cases I take an Implicite Faith to be very commendable that is to believe whatever we are sufficiently assured God hath revealed though we do not fully understand his meaning in such a Revelation And thus every man who believes the H. Scriptures to be a truly Divine Revelation does implicitely believe a great part of the Prophetical Books of Scripture and several obscure expressions in those Books though he do not particularly understand the meaning of all the Predictions and expressions contained in them In like manner there are certainly a great many very good Christians who do not believe and comprehend the Mysteries of Faith nicely enough to approve themselves to a Scholastical and Magisterial Judge of Controversies who yet if they do heartily embrace the Doctrines which are clearly revealed in Scripture and live up to the plain Precepts of the Christian Religion will I doubt not be very well approved by the Great and Just and by the infallibly Infallible Judge of the World III. Let it be further considered That though neither the word Trinity nor perhaps Person in the sense in which it is used by Divines when they treat of this Mystery be any where to be met with in Scripture yet it cannot be denied but that Three are there spoken of by the Names of Father Son and H. Ghost in whose Name every Christian is baptized and to each of whom the highest Titles and Properties of God are in Scripture attributed And these Three are spoken of with as much distinction from one another as we use to speak of three several Persons So that though the word Trinity be not found in Scripture yet these Three are there expresly and frequently mentioned and a Trinity is nothing but three of any thing And so likewise though the word Person be not there expresly applied to Father Son and H. Ghost yet it will be very hard to find a more convenient word whereby to express the distinction of these Three For which reason I could never yet see any just cause to quarrel at this term For since the H. Spirit of God in Scripture hath thought fit in speaking of these Three to distinguish them from one another as we use in common speech to distinguish three several Persons I cannot see any reason why in the explication of this Mystery which purely depends upon Divine Revelation we should not speak of it in the same manner as the Scripture doth And though the word Person is now become a â—erm of Art I see no cause why we should decline it so long as we mean by it neither more nor less than what the Scripture says in other Words IV. It deserves further to be considered That there hath been a very ancient Tradition concerning three real Differences or Distinctions in the Divine Nature and these as I said before very nearly resembling the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity Whence this Tradition had its original is not easie upon good and certain grounds to say but certain it is that the Jews anciently had this Notion And that they did distinguish the Word of God and the H. Spirit of God from Him who was absolutely called God and whom they looked upon as the First Principle of all things as is plain from Philo Judaeus and Moses Nachmanides and others cited by the Learned Grotius in his incomparable Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion And among the Heathen Plato who probably enough might have this Notion from the Jews did make three Distinctions in the Deity by the Names of essential Goodness and Mind and Spirit So that whatever Objections this matter may be liable to it is not so peculiar a Doctrine of the Christian Religion as many have imagined though it is revealed by it with much more clearness and certainty And consequently neither the Jews nor Plato have any reason to object is to us Christians especially since they pretend no other ground for it but either their own Reason or an ancient Tradition from their Fathers whereas we Christians do appeal to express Divine Revelation for what we believe in this matter and do believe it singly upon that account V. It is besides very considerable That the Scriptures do deliver this Doctrine of the Trinity without any manner of doubt or question concerning the Unity of the Divine Nature And not only so but do most stedfastly and constantly assert that there is but One God And in those very Texts in which these three Differences are mentioned the Unity of the Divine Nature is expresly asserted as where St. John makes mention of the Father the Word and the Spirit the Unity of these Three is likewise affirmed There are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are One. VI. It is yet further considerable That from this Mystery as delivered in Scripture a Plurality of Gods cannot be inferred without making the Scripture grosly to contradict it self which I charitably suppose the Socinians would be as loth to admit as we our selves are And if either Councils or Fathers or Schoolmen have so explained this Mystery as to give any just ground or so much as a plausible colour for such an Inference let the blame fall where it is due and let it not be charged on the H. Scriptures but rather as the Apostle says in another Case Let God be true and every Man a liar VIIthly and Lastly I desire it may be considered That it is not repugnant to Reason to believe some things which are incomprehensible by our Reason provided that we have sufficient ground and reason for the belief of them Especially if they be concerning God who is in his Nature Incomprehensible and we be well assured that he hath revealed them And therefore it ought not to offend us that these Differences in the Deity are incomprehensible by our finite understandings because the Divine Nature it self is so and yet the belief of that is the Foundation of all Religion There are a great many things in Nature which we cannot comprehend how they either are or can be As the Continuity of Matter that is how the parts of it do hang so fast together that they are many times very hard to be parted and yet we are sure that it is so because we see it every day So likewise how the small Seeds of things contain the whole Form and Nature of the things from which they proceed and into which by degrees they grow and yet we
SERMONS Concerning the DIVINITY and INCARNATION OF OUR Blessed Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry By JOHN late Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Br. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil and W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCV AN Advertisement TO THE READER THE following Sermons were preached several years ago in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry in London and being now revised and enlarged by the Author are here made publick The true Reason whereof was not that which is commonly alledged for Printing Books the importunity of Friends but the importunate clamours and malicious calumnies of Others whom the Author heartily prays God to forgive and to give them better minds And to grant that the ensuing Discourses the publication whereof was in so great a degree necessary may by his Blessing prove in some measure useful SERMON I. Concerning the Divinity of our B. Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry Decemb. 30th 1679. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth THESE words contain in them three great Points concerning our B. Saviour the Author and Founder of our Faith and Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here among us and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle amongst us he lived here below in this World and for a time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity whilst he appeared as a man and liv'd amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. I shall begin with the First of these his Incarnation as most proper for this Solemn Time which hath for many Ages been set apart for the commemoration of the Nativity and Incarnation of our B. Saviour The Word was made flesh that is he who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist St. John had so fully described in the beginning of this Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became Man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or human nature O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come that is to thee shall all men address their Supplications again The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together that is all men shall behold and acknowledge it and then it follows all flesh is grass speaking of the frailty and mortality of man And so likewise in the new Testament our B. Saviour foretelling the misery that was coming upon the Jewish Nation says Except those days should be shortned no flesh should be saved that is no man should escape and survive that great calamity and destruction which was coming upon them By the works of the Law says the Apostle shall no flesh that is no man be justified So that by the Word 's being made or becoming flesh the Evangelist did not intend that he assumed only a human Body without a Soul and was united only to a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers but that he became Man that is assumed the whole human Nature Body and Soul And it is likewise very probable that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Man to denote to us that the Son of God did assume our Nature with all its infirmities and became subject to the common frailty and mortality of human Nature The words thus explain'd contain that great Mystery of Godliness as the Apostle calls it or of the Christian Religion viz. the Incarnation of the Son of God which St. Paul expresseth by the appearance or manifestation of God in the flesh And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifested in the flesh that is he appeared in human Nature he became man or as St. John expresseth it in the Text The Word was made flesh But for the more clear and full explication of these words we will consider these two things First the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh namely the Word Secondly the Mystery it self or the nature of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us I. We will consider the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh and who is so frequently in this Chapter called by the Name or Title of the Word namely the eternal and only begotten Son of God for so we find him described in the Text The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. that is such as became so great and glorious a Person as deserves the Title of the only begotten Son of God For the explaining of this Name or Title of the Word given by St. John to our B. Saviour we will consider these two things First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word and what probably might be the Occasion why this Evangelist insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it Secondly The Description it self which is given of him under this Name or Title of the Word by this Evangelist in his entrance into his History of the Gospel I. We will enquire into the reason of this Name or Title of the Word which is here given to our B. Saviour by this Evangelist And what might probably be the Occasion why he insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it I shall consider these two things distinctly and severally First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word here given by the Evangelist to our B. Saviour And he seems to have done it in compliance with the common way of speaking among the Jews who frequently call the Messias by the Name of the Word of the Lord of which I might give many instances But there is one very remarkable in the Targum of Jonathan which renders those words of the Psalmist which the Jews acknowledge to be spoken of the Messias viz. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand c. I say it renders them thus The Lord said unto his Word sit thou on my right hand c. And so likewise Philo the Jew calls him by whom God made the World the Word of God and the Son of God And Plato probably
are entangled and that which men are pleased to call an explaining of it does in my apprehension often make it more obscure that is less plain than it was before which does not so very well agree with a pretence of Explication Here then I fix my foot That there are three Differences in the Deity which the Scripture speaks of by the Names of Father Son and H. Ghost and every where speaks of them as we use to do of three distinct Persons And therefore I see no reason why in this Argument we should nicely abstain from using the word Person though I remember that St. Jerome does somewhere desire to be excused from it Now concerning these Three I might in the first place urge that plain and express Text There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the H. Ghost and these three are one But upon this I will not now insist because it is pretended that in some Copies of greatest antiquity this Verse is omitted the contrary whereof is I think capable of being made out very clearly But this matter would be too long to be debated at present However that be thus much is certain and cannot be deni'd that our Saviour commanded his Apostles to baptize all Nations in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And that the Apostles in their Epistles do in their most usual form of Benediction join these Three together And it is yet further certain that not only the Name and Title of God but the most incommunicable Properties and Perfections of the Deity are in Scripture frequently ascribed to the Son and the H. Ghost one Property only excepted which is peculiar to the Father as he is the Principle and Fountain of the Deity that he is of himself and of no other which is not nor can be said of the Son and H. Ghost Now let any man shew any plain and downright Contradiction in all this or any other Difficulty besides this that the particular manner of the existence of these three Differences or Persons in the Divine Nature express'd in Scripture by the Names of Father Son aud H. Ghost is incomprehensible by our finite Understandings and inexplicable by us In which I do not see what Absurdity there is since our Adversaries cannot deny that many things certainly are the particular manner of whose existence we can neither comprehend nor explain Let us now see whether the Opinion of our Adversaries hath not greater Difficulties in it and more palpable Absurdities following from it They say that the Son of God is a mere Creature not God by Nature and yet truly and really God by Office and by Divine appointment and constitution to whom the very same Honour and Worship is to be given which we give to Him who is God by Nature And can they discern no Difficulty no Absurdity in this What no absurdity in bringing Idolatry by a back-door into the Christian Religion one main Design whereof was to banish Idolatry out of the World And will they in good earnest contest this matter with us that the giving Divine Worship to a mere Creature is not Idolatry And can they vindicate themselves in this Point any other way than what will in a great measure acquit both the Pagans and the Papists from the charge of Idolatry What no Absurdity in a God as it were but of yesterday in a Creature God in a God merely by positive Institution and this in opposition to a plain moral Precept of eternal obligation and to the fix'd and immutable Nature and Reason of things So that to avoid the shadow and appearance of a Plurality of Deities they run really into it and for any thing I can see into downright Idolatry by worshipping a Creature besides the Creator who is blessed for ever They can by no means allow two Gods by Nature no more can we But they can willingly admit of two Gods the one by Nature and the other by Office to whom they are content to pay the same Honour which is due to Him who is God by Nature Provided Christ will be contented to be but a Creature they will deal more liberally with him in another way than in reason is fit And do they see no absurdity in all this nothing that is contrary to Reason and good sense nothing that feels like inconsistency and Contradiction Do they consider how often God hath declar'd that he will not give his glory to another And that the Apostle describes Idolatry to be the giving service or worship to things which by Nature are no Gods Surely if Reason guided by Divine Revelation were to chuse a God it would make choice of one who is declared in Scripture to be the only begotten of the Father the first and the last the beginning and the end the same yesterday to day and for ever much rather than a mere Creature who did not begin to be till about seventeen hundred years ago I only propose these things without any artificial aggravation to their most serious and impartial consideration after which I cannot think that these great Masters of Reason can think it so easy a matter to extricate themselves out of these Difficulties The God of Truth lead us into all Truth and enlighten the minds of those who are in Error and give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth For his sake who is the Way the Truth and the Life And thus much may suffice to have said upon this Argument which I am sensible is mere Controversy A thing which I seldom meddle with and do not delight to dwell upon But my Text which is so very proper for this Season hath almost necessarily engaged me in it Besides that I think it a Point of that concernment that all Christians ought to be well instructed in it And I have chosen rather once for all to handle it fully and to go to the bottom of it than in every Sermon to be flurting at it without saying any thing to the purpose against it A way which in my opinion is neither proper to establish men in the truth nor to convince them of their Error I shall only at present make this short reflection upon the whole That we ought to treat the Holy Scriptures as the Oracles of God with all reverence and submission of mind to the Doctrine therein revealed And to interpret them with that candour and simplicity which is due to the sincere Declarations of God intended for the instruction and not for the deception and delusion of men I say we should treat them as the Oracles of God and not like the doubtful Oracles of the Heathen Deities that is in truth of the Devil which were contrived and calculated on purpose to deceive containing and for the most part intending a sense directly contrary to the appearing and most obvious meaning of the Words For the Devil was the first Author of Equivocation though the Jesuits
mere Critical skill in words without regard to the true Occasion upon which they were made and without any manner of knowledge and insight into the History of the Age in which they were written I should now proceed to the Second thing which I proposed to consider namely II. The Description here given of the Word by this Evangelist in his entrance into his History of the Gospel In the beginning says he was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made In which Passage of the Evangelist four things are said of the Word which will require a more particular Explication First That he was in the beginning Secondly That he was in the beginning with God Thirdly That he was God Fourthly That all were made by him 1st That he he was in the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning where speaking of Christ by the name of eternal life and of the Word of life That says he which was from the beginning Nonnus the ancient Paraphrast of St. John's Gospel by way of explication of what is meant by his being in the beginning adds that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without time that is before all time and if so then he was from all eternity In the beginning was the Word that is when things began to be made he was not then began to be but then already was and did exist before any thing was made and consequently is without beginning for that which was never made could have no beginning of its Being And so the Jews used to describe Eternity before the World was and before the foundation of the World as also in several places of the New Testament And so likewise Solomon describes the Eternity of Wisdom The Lord says he possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was When he prepared the Heavens I was there then I was with him as one brought up with him rejoicing always before him And so Justin Martyr explains this very expression of St. John that he was or had a Being before all Ages So likewise Athenagoras a most ancient Christian Writer God says he who is an invisible Mind had from the beginning the Word in himself 2ly That in the beginning the Word was with God And so Solomon when he would express the Eternity of Wisdom says it was with God And so likewise the Son of Sirach speaking of Wisdom says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with God And so the ancient Jews often called the Word of God the Word which is before the Lord that is with him or in his presence In like manner the Evangelist says here that the Word was with God that is it was always together with him partaking of his Happiness and Glory To which our Saviour refers in his Prayer Glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was And this being with God the Evangelist opposeth to his appearing and being manifested to the World v. 10. He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not that is he who from all eternity was with God appeared in the World and when he did so though he had made the World yet the World would not own him And this opposition between his being with God and his being manifested in the World the same St. John mentions elsewhere I shew unto you that eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 3ly That he was God And so Justin Martyr says of him That he was God before the World that is from all Eternity But then the Evangelist adds by way of Explication the same was in the beginning with God that is though the Word was truly and really God yet he was not God the Father who is the Fountain of the Deity but an Emanation from him the only begotten Son of God from all eternity with him to denote to us that which is commonly called by Divines and for any thing I could ever see properly enough the distinction of Persons in the Deity at least we know not a fitter word whereby to express that great Mystery 4thly That all things were made by him This seems to refer to the description which Moses makes of the Creation where God is represented creating things by his Word God said Let there be light and there was light And so likewise the Psalmist By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the breath of his mouth And so St. Peter also expresseth the Creation of the World By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were of old and the Earth made out of Water And in the ancient Books of the Chaldeans and the verses ascribed to Orpheus the Maker of the World is called the Word and the Divine Word And so Tertullian tells the Pagans that by their Philosophers the Maker of the World was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word or Reason And Philo the Jew following Plato who himself most probably had it from the Jews says that the World was created by the Word whom he calls the Name of God and the Image of God and the Son of God two of which glorious Titles are ascribed to him together with that of Maker of the World by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews In these last days says he God hath spoken to us by his Son by whom also he made the Worlds Who is the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his person And to the same purpose St. Paul speaking of Christ calls him the Image of the invisible God the first-born of every Creature that is born before any thing was created as does evidently follow from the reason given in the next words why he call'd him the first-born of every Creature for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things subsist From whence it is plain that by his being the first-born of every Creature thus much at least is to be understood that he was before all Creatures and therefore he himself cannot be a Creature unless he could be before himself Nay the Apostle says it expresly in this very Text in which he is called the first-born of every Creature or of the whole Creation that he is before all things that is he had a Being before there was any created Being he was before all Creatures both in Duration and in Dignity for so must he of necessity be if all things were made by him for as
made and consequently is without any beginning of Time for that which was never made could have no beginning of its Being Secondly That in that state of his existence before the Creation of the World he was partaker of the Divine Glory and Happiness And this I have shew'd to be the meaning of that expression and the Word was with God For thus our B. Saviour does explain his being with God before the World was And now O Father glorify me with thy own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Thirdly That he was God And the Word was God Not God the Father who is the Principle and fountain of the Deity To prevent that mistake after he had said that the Word was God he immediately adds in the next verse the same was in the beginning with God He was God by participation of the Divine Nature and Happiness together with the Father and by way of derivation from him as the light is from the Sun Which is the common illustration which the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church give us of this Mystery and is perhaps the best and fittest that can be given of it For among finite Beings it is not to be expected because not possible to find any exact resemblance of that which is infinite and consequently is incomprehensible because whatever is infinite is for that reason incomprehensible by a finite understanding which is too short and shallow to measure that which is infinite and whoever attempts it will soon find himself out of his depth Fourthly That all things were made by him Which could not have been more emphatically express'd than it is here by the Evangelist after the manner of the Hebrews who when they would say a thing with the greatest force and certainty are wont to express it both affirmatively and negatively as He shall live and not die that is he shall most assuredly live so here All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made that is he made all Creatures without exception and consequently he himself is not a Creature because it is evidently impossible that any thing should ever make it self But then if he be and yet was never made it is certainly true that he always was even from all Eternity All these Assertions are plainly and expresly contain'd in this description which the Evangelist St. John here makes of the Word and this according to the interpretation of these expressions by the unaminous consent of the most ancient Writers of the Christian Church Who some of them had the advantage of receiving it from the immediate Disciples of St. John Which surely is no small prejudice against any newly invented and contrary interpretation as I shall hereafter more fully shew when I come to consider the strange and extravagant interpretation which the Socinians make of this Passage of St. John which is plain enough of it self if they under a pretence of explaining and making it more clear had not disturb'd and darken'd it Now from this description which the Evangelist here gives of the Word and which I have so largely explain'd in the foregoing Discourse these three Corallaries or Conclusions do necessarily follow First That the Word here described by St. John is not a Creature This Conclusion is directly Against the Arians who affirm'd that the Son of God was a Creature They grant indeed that he is the first of all the Creatures both in Dignity and Duration for so they understand that expression of the Apostle wherein he is called the first-born of every Creature But this I have endeavoured already to shew not to be the meaning of that expression They grant him indeed to have been God's Agent or Instrument in the Creation of the World and that all other Creatures besides himself were made by him But still they contend that he is a Creature and was made Now this cannot possibly consist with what St. John says of him that he was in the beginning that is as hath been already shewn before anything was made And likewise because he is said to have made all things and that without him was not anything made that was made and therefore he himself who made all things is necessarily excepted out of the condition and rank of a Creature as the Apostle reasons in another Case He hath put all things under his feet But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted who did put all things under him In like manner if by him all things were made and without him was not any thing made that was made then either he was not made or he must make himself which involves in it a plain contradiction Secondly That this Word was from all Eternity For if he was in the beginning that is before any thing was made he must of necessity always have been because whatever is must either have been sometime made or must always have been for that which was not and afterwards is must be made And this will likewise follow from his being said to be God and that in the most strict and proper sense which doth necessarily imply his Eternity because God cannot begin to be but must of necessity always have been Thirdly From both these it will undeniably follow that he had an existence before his Incarnation and his being born of the B. Virgin For if he was in the beginning that is from all Eternity which I have shewn to be the meaning of that expression then certainly he was before his being born of the B. Virgin And this likewise is implied in the Proposition in the Text And the Word was made flesh viz. that Word which the Evangelist had before so gloriously described that Word which was in the beginning and was with God and was God and by whom all things were made I say that Word was incarnate and assumed a human Nature and therefore must necessarily exist and have a Being before he could assume humanity into an union with his Divinity And this Proposition is directly levelled against the Socinians who affirm our B. Saviour to be a mere man and that he had no existence before he was born of the Virgin Mary his Mother Which Assertion of theirs doth perfectly contradict all the former Conclusions which have been drawn from the description here given by St. John of the Word And their interpretation of this passage of St. John applying it to the beginning of the publication of the Gospel and to the new Creation or Reformation of the World by Jesus Christ doth likewise contradict the interpretation of this passage constantly received not only by the ancient Fathers but even by the general consent of all Christians for fifteen hundred years together as I shall hereafter plainly shew For to establish this their Opinion that our B. Saviour was a mere man and had no existence before his Birth they are forc'd to interpret
this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel quite to another sense never mention'd nor I believe thought of by any Christian Writer whatsoever before Socinus And it is not easie to imagin how any Opinion can be loaded with a greater and heavier prejudice than this is And this I should now take into consideration and shew besides the novelty of this interpretation and the great violence and unreasonableness of it the utter inconsistency of it with other plain Texts of New Testament But this is wholly matter of Controversy and will require a large Discourse by it self I shall therefore wave the further prosecution of it at present and apply my self to that which is more practical and proper for the Occasion of this Season So that at present I have done with the first thing contain'd in the First part of the Text viz. The Person here spoken of who is said to be incarnate namely the Word it was He that was made flesh I should then have proceeded to the Second thing which I proposed to consider viz. The Mystery it self or the nature of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us namely by assuming our Nature in such a manner as that the Divinity became united to a human Soul and Body But this I have already endeavoured in some measure to explain and shall do it more fully in some of the following Discourses upon this Text. I shall now only make a short and useful reflection upon it with relation to the Solemnity of this Time And it shall be to stir us up to a thankful acknowledgment of the great love of God to Mankind in the Mystery of our Redemption by the Incarnation of the Word the only begotten Son of God That he should deign to have such a regard to us in our low condition and to take our Case so much to heart as to think of redeeming and saving Mankind from that depth of misery into which we had plunged our selves and to do this in so wonderful and astonishing a manner That God should employ his eternal and only begotten Son who had been with him from all Eternity partaker of his Happiness and Glory and was God of God to save the Sons of men by so infinite and amazing a condescention That God should vouchsafe to become man to reconcile man to God That he should come down from Heaven to Earth to raise us from Earth to Heaven That he should assume our vile and frail and mortal nature that he might cloath us with glory and honour and immortality That he should suffer Death to save us from Hell and shed his blood to purchase eternal Redemption for us For certainly the greater the Person is that was employed in this merciful Design so much the greater is the condescention and the love and goodness expressed in it so much the more admirable That the Son of God should stoop from the height of Glory and Happiness to the lowest degree of abasement and to the very depth of misery for our sakes who were so mean and inconsiderable so guilty and obnoxious to the severity of his Justice so altogether unworthy of his grace and favour and so very unwilling to receive it when it was so freely offer'd to us for as the Evangelist here tells us He came to his own and his own received him not To his own Creatures and they did not own and acknowledg their Maker to his own Nation and Kindred and they despised him and esteemed him not Lord what is man that God should be so mindful of him or the Son of man that the Son of God should come down from Heaven to visit him in so much humility and condescention and with so much kindness and compassion Blessed God and Saviour of Mankind What shall we render to thee for such mighty love for such inestimable benefits as thou hast purchas'd for us and art ready to confer upon us What shall we say to thee O thou preserver and lover of Souls so often as we approach thy H. Table there to commemorate this mighty love of thine to us and to partake of those invaluable blessings which by thy precious bloodshedding thou hast obtained for us So often as we there remember that thou wast pleased to assume our mortal Nature on purpose to live amongst us for our instruction and for our example and to lay down thy life for the redemption of our Souls and for the expiation of our Sins and to take part of flesh and blood that thou mightst shed it for our sakes What affections should these thoughts raise in us What Vows and resolutions should they engage us in of perpetual love and gratitude and obedience to thee the most gracious and most glorious Redeemer of Mankind And with what Religious Solemnity should we more especially at this Time celebrate the Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God by giving praise and glory to God in the highest and by all possible demonstration of charity and good-will to men And as he was pleased to assume our Nature so should we especially at this Season put on the Lord Jesus Christ that is sincerely embrace and practice his Religion making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lUsts thereof And now that the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon the World we should walk as Children of the light and demean our selves decently as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envy And should be very careful not to abuse our selves by Sin and Sensuality upon this very consideration that the Son hath put such an honour and dignity upon us We should reverence that Nature which God did not disdain to assume and to inhabit here on Earth and in which he now gloriously reigns in Heaven at the right hand of his Father to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON II. Concerning the Divinity of CHRIST Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry January 6. 1679. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh I Proceed now to prosecute the third Corollary or Conclusion which does necessarily follow from the description which St. John in the beginning of his Gospel gives of the Word and which I have so largely explain'd in the foregoing Discourse And it was this That the Word here described by the Evangelist had an existence before his Incarnation and his being born of the B. Virgin This Assertion I told you is levelled directly against the Socinians who affirm our B. Saviour to be a mere man and deny that he had any existence before he was born of the Virgin Mary his Mother Which Position of theirs does perfectly contradict all the former Conclusions which have been so evidently drawn from the Description here given of the Word And not only so but hath forc'd them to interpret this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel in a very different sense from
have since made it a lawful way of lying which their Father of whom they learn'd it had not credit and authority enough to do And it deserves likewise to be very well considered by us that nothing hath given a greater force to the Exceptions of the Church of Rome against the H. Scripture's being a sufficient and certain Rule of Faith than the uncertainty into which they have brought the plainest Texts imaginable for the establishing of Doctrines of greatest moment in the Christian Religion by their remote and wrested interpretation of them Which way of dealing with them seems to be really more contumelious to those H. Oracles than the downright rejecting of their Authority Because this is a fair and open way of attacquing them whereas the other is an insiduous and therefore more dangerous way of undermining them But as for us who do in good earnest believe the Divine Authority of the H. Scriptures let us take all our Doctrines and Opinions from those clear Fountains of Truth not disturb'd and darkned by searching anxiously into all the possible Senses that the several words and expressions of Scripture can bear and by forcing that sense upon them which is most remote and unnatural and in the mean time wilfully overlooking and passing by that sense which is most obvious and easie to the common apprehension of any unbyass'd and impartial Reader This is to use the H. Scriptures as the Church of Rome have done many Holy and good men whom they are pleased to brand with the odious Name of Hereticks to torture them till they speak the mind of their Tormentors though never so contrary to their own I will now conclude this whole Discourse with a Saying which I heard from a great and judicious Man Non amo nimis argutam Theologiam I love no Doctrines in Divinity which stand so very much upon quirk and subtilty And I cannot upon this occasion forbear to say that those Doctrines of Religion and those Interpretations of Scripture have ever been to me the most suspected which need abundance of Wit and a great many Criticisms to make them out And considering the Wisdom and Goodness of Almighty God I cannot possibly believe but that all things necessary to be believ'd and practis'd by Christians in order to their eternal Salvation are plainly contain'd in the H. Scriptures God surely hath not dealt so hardly with Mankind as to make any thing necessary to be believ'd or practis'd by us which he hath not made sufficiently plain to the capacity of the unlearned as well as of the learned God forbid that it should be impossible for any man to be saved and to get to Heaven without a great deal of learning to direct and carry him thither when the far greatest part of Mankind have no learning at all It was well said by Erasmus That it was never well with the Christian World since it began to be a matter of so much Subtilty and Wit for a man to be a true Christian SERMON III. Concerning the Incarnation of CHRIST Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry December 21. 1680. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh THE last Year about this Time and upon the same Occasion of the Annual Commemoration of the Incarnation and Nativity of our B. Lord and Saviour I began to discourse to you upon these Words In which I told you were contained three great Points concerning our Saviour the Author and Founder of our Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here amongst us and dwelt among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle among us he lived here below in this World and for some time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his Humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity Whilst he appear'd as a Man and lived amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of Him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth I began with the first of these namely his Incarnation the Word was made flesh For the full and clear explication of which words I proposed to consider these two things I. The Person here spoken of and who it is that is here said to be incarnate or made flesh namely the Word And this I have handled at large in my two former Discourses upon this Text. I shall now proceed in the II. Second place to give some account of the nature and manner of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath thought fit to reveal and declare this Mystery to us The Word was made flesh that is He who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist hath so fully and clearly described in the beginning of his Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or Human Nature So that by the Word 's becoming flesh that is Man the Evangelist did not only intend to express to us that he assumed a human Body without a Soul but that he became a perfect Man consisting of Soul and Body united It is very probable indeed that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Humanity to denote to us the great condescension of the Son of God in assuming our Nature with all its infirmities and becoming subject to frailty and mortality for our sake Having thus explain'd the meaning of this Proposition the Word was made flesh I shall in a further prosecution of this Argument take into consideration these three things First I shall consider more distinctly what may reasonably be suppos'd to be implied in this expression of the Word 's being made flesh Secondly I shall consider the Objections which are commonly brought against this Incarnation of the Son of God from the seeming impossibility or incongruity of the thing Thirdly And because after all that can be said in answer to those Objections it may still appear to us very strange that God who could without all this circumstance and condescension even almost beneath the Majesty of the Great God at least as we are apt to think have given Laws to Mankind and have offer'd forgiveness of Sins and eternal life upon their Repentance for sins past and sincere tho imperfect obedience for the future I say it may seem strange that notwithstanding this God should yet make choice of this way and method of our Salvation I shall therefore in the last place endeavour to give some probable account of this strange and wonderful Dispensation and shew that it was done in great condescension to the weakness and common prejudices of Mankind and that when it is throughly consider'd it will appear to be much
is fit for God to do and that he needs not to take counsel of any of his Creatures what will best become him in this or any other Case Behold in this thou art not just I will answer thee that God is greater than man Why dost thou dispute against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters Thirdly If our Reason could get over this Difficulty and admit that God might become Man yet it seems very unsuitable to the Son of God and to his great Design of instructing and reforming Mankind to appear in so low and suffering a condition This to the Heathen Philosophers who as the Apostle tells us by Wisdom knew not God did not only seem unreasonable but even ridiculous So St. Paul tells us We says he preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness To think that so poor and mean a Man was fit to give Laws to Mankind and to awe the minds of men by the Authority of his Doctrine That One who was put to Death himself should be believed by others when he promised to them Life and Immortality in another World could not but appear very strange and unreasonable For Answer to this besides other excellent Reasons and Ends which the Scripture expresly assigns of our B. Saviour's Humiliation in his assuming our Nature with the frailties and miseries of it As that he might be a Teacher and an Example to us That by his bitter Passion he might make Expiation for sin and â—et us a pattern of the greatest meekness and patience under the greatest provocations and sufferings That having suffered so grievously himself he might know how to commiserate and pity us in all our temptations and sufferings That by death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and might deliver those who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to bondage I say besides all this it was of great use that the great Teacher and Reformer of Mankind should live in so mean and afflicted a condition to confront the pride and vanity of the World by this consideration that the Son of God and the very best man that ever was was a Beggar and had not where to lay his head And likewise to convince Men of these two great Truths That God may grievously afflict those whom he dearly loves and That it is possible for men to be innocent and contented in the midst of poverty and reproach and sufferings Had our B. Saviour appeared in the Person and Pomp of a great temporal Prince the influence of his Authority and Example would probably have made more Hypocrites and servile Converts but not have persuaded men one jot more to be inwardly holy and good The great Arguments that must do that must not be fetch'd from the Pomp and Prosperity of this World but from the great and eternal Recompences of the other And it is very well worth our observation that nothing puzzled Cesar Vaninus who was perhaps the first and the only Martyr for Atheism that ever was I say nothing puzzled him more than that he could not from the History of our Saviour's Life and Actions written by the Evangelists with so native a simplicity fasten upon him any probable imputation of a secular interest and design in any thing that he said or did No doubt but Vaninus before he made this acknowledgment had searched very narrowly into this matter and could he have found any colour for such an imputation he would have thought it sufficient to have blasted both Him and his Religion You may be pleased to consider further that it was the opinion of the Wisest Jews that the best men the Children of God who called God their Father were many times exposed to the greatest sufferings and reproaches for the trial of their faith and meekness and patience as we may see at large in the Wisdom of Solomon where speaking of the malice and enmity of the wicked to one that was eminently righteous he brings them in saying after this manner Let us lie in wait for the righteous because he is not for our turn he is clean contrary to our doings He upbraideth us with our offending the Law and objecteth to our infamy the transgressions of our youth He professeth to have the knowledge of God and he calleth himself the Child of the Lord He is grievous unto us even to behold for his life is not like other mens his ways are of another fashion We are esteemed of him as counterfeits he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness He pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed and maketh his boast that God is his Father Let us see if his words be true and what shall happen in the end of him For if the just man be the Son of God he will help him and deliver him from the hands of his Enemies Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture that we may know his meekness and prove his patience Let us condemn him to a shameful Death c. This is so exact a Character of our B. Saviour both in respect of the holiness and innocency of his Life and of the reproaches and sufferings which he met with from the wicked and malicious Jews who persecuted him all his life and at last conspir'd his death that whoever reads this Passage can hardly forbear to think it a Prophetical Description of the innocency and sufferings of the B. Jesus For He certainly in the most eminent manner was the Son of God being called by the Evangelist the only begotten of the Father Or if this was not a Prediction concerning our B. Saviour yet thus much at least may be concluded from it that in the judgment of the Wisest among the Jews it was not unworthy of the Goodness and Wisdom of the Divine Providence to permit the best Man to be so ill treated by wicked men And further that in their judgment the innocency and vertues of an eminently righteous man are then set off to the best advantage and do shine forth with the greatest lustre when he is under the hardest circumstances of suffering and persecution from an evil World Add to this likewise that the best and wisest of the Heathen Philosophers do frequently inculcate such Doctrines as these That Worldly Greatness and Power are not to be admir'd but rather to be despis'd by a wise man That men may be very good and dear to the Gods and yet liable to the greatest miseries and sufferings in this World That whoever suffers unjustly and bears it patiently gives the greatest testimony to Goodness and does most effectually recommend Piety and Vertue as things of greater value than the ease and pleasure of this present Life Nay further that a good man cast into the hardest circumstances of poverty and misery of reproach and suffering is the fittest person of all other to be the Minister and Apostle and