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
Word and only begotten Son of God was changed into a Man which is not only impossible to be but impious to imagin Or else that the Son of God did assume our Nature and became Man by his Divinity being united to human Nature as the Soul is vitally united to the Body without either being changed into it or confounded with it or swallowed up by it as the Eutychian Hereticks fancied the human Nature of Christ to be swallowed up of his Divinity Which had it been so St. John had expressed himself very untowardly when he says The Word became flesh for it had been quite contrary and flesh had become the Word being changed into it and swallowed up by it and lost in it The only thing then that we can reasonably imagine to be the meaning of this expression is this that the Son of God assumed our Nature and united himself with it as our Souls are united with our Bodies And as the Soul and Body united make one Person and yet retain their distinct Natures and Properties so may we conceive the Divine and human Natures in Christ to be united into one Person And this without any change or confusion of the two Natures I say the Divinity united it self with human Nature For though flesh be only mentioned in the Text yet he did not only assume a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers upon a mistake of this and some other Texts of Scripture But he assumed the whole human Nature that is a human Soul united to a real and natural Body for so I have shewn the word flesh to be frequently used in Scripture not only for the Body but for the whole Man by an usual Figure of speech As on the other hand Soul is frequently used for the whole Man or Person So many Souls are said to have gone down with Jacob into Egypt that is so many Persons But this I need not insist longer upon our Saviour being so frequently in Scripture and so expresly said to be a Man which could with no propriety of speech have been said had he only assumed a human Body Nor could he have been said to have been made in all things like unto us sin only excepted had he only had a human Body but not a Soul For then the meaning must have been that he had been made in all things like unto us that is like to a Man that only excepted which chiefly makes the Man that is the Soul And the addition of those words Sin only excepted had been no less strange because a human Body without a Soul is neither capable of being said to have Sin or to be without it And this may suffice to have been spoken in general concerning that great Mystery of the Hypostatical as they that love hard words love to call it or Personal Union of the Divine and human Natures in the Person of our B. Saviour In the more particular explication whereof it is not safe for our shallow understandings to wade further than the Scripture goes before us for fear we go out of our depth and lose our selves in the profound inquiry into the deep things of God which he has not thought fit in this present state of darkness and imperfection to reveal more plainly and fully to us It ought to be thought sufficient that the Scripture speaking of the same Person Jesus Christ our B. Saviour doth frequently and expresly call him both God and Man Which how it can be so easily conceived upon any other Supposition than that of the Union of the Divine and human Natures in one Person I must confess that I am not able to comprehend Fifthly and lastly All this which I have shewn to be implyed in this Proposition the Word was made flesh does signifie to us the wonderful and amazing condescension and love of God to Mankind in sending his Son into the World and submitting him to this way and method for our Salvation and recovery The Word was made flesh What a step is here made in order to the reconciling of Men to God From Heaven to Earth from the top of Glory and Majesty to the lowest gulf of meanness and misery The Evangelist seems here to use the word flesh which signifies the meanest and vilest part of Humanity to express to us how low the Son of God was contented to stoop for the Redemption of Man The Word was made flesh Two terms at the greatest distance from one another are here brought together The Son of God is here expressed to us by one of his highest and most glorious Titles the Word which imports both Power and Wisdom Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God as the Apostle calls him And human Nature is here described by its vilest part flesh which imports frailty and infirmity The Word became flesh that is submitted to that from which it was at the greatest distance He who was the Power of God and the Wisdom of God submitted not only to be called but really to become a frail and miserable Man not only to assume our Nature but to put on all the infirmities and which is the greatest of all the Mortality of it And this is the great Mystery of godliness that is of the Christian Religion that God should be manifested in the flesh and become man with a most gracious and merciful design to bring man back again to God That he should become a miserable and a mortal man to save us from eternal death and to make us partakers of everlasting life That the Son of God should condescend to inhabit our vile Nature to wear Rags and to become a beggar for our sakes and all this not only to repair those dismal Ruins which Sin had made in it and to restore us to our former estate but to better and advance our condition and by degrees to bring us to a state of much greater perfection and happiness than that from which we fell And that he should become man on purpose that he might dwell among us and converse with us and thoroughly instruct us in our Duty and shew us the way to eternal life by his heavenly Doctrine and as it were take us by the hand and lead us in that way by the perfect and familiar Example of a most blameless and holy life shewing us how God himself thought fit to live in this World when he was pleased to become man That by conversing with us in the likeness and nature of man he might become a human and in some sort an equal and familiar an imitable and encouraging Example of innocency and goodness of meekness and humility of patience and submission to the Will of God under the forest afflictions and sufferings and in a word a most perfect Pattern of a Divine and Heavenly conversation upon Earth And that by this means we might for our greater encouragement in holiness and vertue see all that which the Law of God
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
more for our comfort and advantage than any other way which the wisdom of this World would have been apt to devise and pitch upon And in all this I shall all along take either the plain declarations of Scripture or the pregnant intimations of it for my ground and guide I. I shall consider more distinctly what may reasonably be supposed to be implied in this expression of the Word 's being made flesh namely these five things First The truth and reality of the thing That the Son of God did not only appear in the form of human flesh but did really assume it the Word was made flesh as the Evangelist expresly declares For if this had been only a Phantasme and Apparition as some Hereticks of old did fancy it would in all probability have been like the appearance of Angels mentioned in the old Testament sudden and of short continuance and would after a little while have vanish'd and disappear'd But he dwelt among us and convers'd familiarly with us a long time and for many years together and the Scripture useth all the expressions which are proper to signify a real Man and a real Human Body and there were all the signs and evidences of reality that could be For the Word is said to be made flesh and Christ is said to be of the seed of David according to the flesh and to be made of a Woman and all this to shew that he was a real Man and had a real and substantial Body For he was born and by degrees grew up to be a Man and did perform all such actions as are natural and proper to Men He continued a great while in the World and at last suffer'd and dy'd and was laid in the grave He did not vanish and disappear like a Phantasme or Spirit but he dyed like other Men And his Body was raised again out of the grave and after he was risen he conversed forty days upon Earth and permitted his body to be handled and last of all was visibly taken up into Heaven So that either we must grant Him to have had a real Body or we have cause to doubt whether all Mankind be not mere Phantasms and Apparitions For greater evidence no man can give that he is really clothed with and carries about him a true and substantial Body than the Son of God did in the days of his flesh It is to me very wonderful upon what ground or indeed to what end the Hereticks of old Marcion and others did deny the reality of Christ's flesh Surely they had a great mind to be Hereticks who took up so sensless an Opinion for no reason and to no purpose Secondly Another thing implyed in the Word 's being made flesh is that this was done peculiarly for the benefit and advantage of Men The Word was made flesh that is became Man for so I have shewn the word flesh to be often used in Scripture And this the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes very special notice of as a great grace and favour of God to Mankind that his Son appear'd in our Nature and consequently for our Salvation as it is said in the Nicene Creed who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate c. For verily says the Apostle He took not on him the nature of Angels but of the seed of Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not assume the Angelical Nature so our Translators understood the phrase but the word also signifies to take hold of a thing which is falling as well as to assume or take on him He did not take hold of the Angels when they were falling but suffered them to lapse irrecoverably into misery and ruine But he took hold of Human Nature when it was falling and particularly of the Seed of Abraham and by the Seed of Abraham that is by himself in whom all the Nations of the Earth were blessed he brought Salvation first to the Jews and then to the rest of Mankind The Apostle chuses to derive this Blessing from Abraham that so he might bring it nearer to the Jews to whom he wrote this Epistle and might thereby more effectually recommend the Gospel to them and the glad tidings of that great Salvation in which they had so peculiar an interest And it is some confirmation of the interpretation I have given of that expression he took not on him c. that the Evangelist uses the very same word for taking hold of one that was ready to sink For so it is said of St. Peter when he was ready to sink that Christ put forth his hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and caught hold of him and saved him from drowning And thus the Son of God caught hold of Mankind which was ready to sink into eternal perdition He laid hold of our Nature or as it is express'd in the same Chapter he took part of flesh and blood that in our Nature he might be capable of effecting our Redemption and Deliverance But it is no where said in Scripture not the least intimation given there that the Son of God ever shew'd such grace and favour to the Angels But the Word became flesh that is became Man He did not assume the Angelical Nature but was contented to be cloathed with the Rags of Humanity and to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh that is of sinful Man Thirdly This expression of the Word 's being made flesh may further imply his assuming the infirmities and submitting to the miseries of Human Nature This I collect from the word flesh by which the Scripture often useth to express our frail and mortal Nature The Son of God did not only condescend to be made Man but also to become mortal and miseraable for our sakes He submitted to all those things which are accounted most grievous and calamitous to human nature To hunger and want to shame and contempt to bitter pains and agonies and to a most cruel and disgraceful death So that in this sense also he became flesh not only by being cloathed with human nature but by becoming liable to all the frailties and sufferings of it of which he had a greater share than any of the Sons of men ever had for never was sorrow like to his sorrow nor suffering like to his sufferings the weight and bitterness whereof was such as to wring from him the meekest and most patient endurer of sufferings that ever was that doleful complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Fourthly In this expression the Word was made Flesh is likewise implyed the Union of the Divinity with Human Nature in one Person And this the Text expresseth in such words as seem to signifie a most perfect and intimate and vital Union of the Divine and human Natures of Christ in one Person The Word was made or became flesh Which what else can it signify but one of these two things Either that the eternal
had the same Notion from the Jews which made Amelius the Platonist when he read the beginning of St. John's Gospel to say this Barbarian agrees with Plato ranking the Word in the order of Principles meaning that he made the Word the Principle or efficient Cause of the World as Plato also hath done And this Title of the Word was so famously known to be given to the Messias that even the Enemies of Christianity took notice of it Julian the Apostate calls Christ by this Name And Mahomet in his Alchoran gives this Name of the Word to Jesus the Son of Mary But St. John had probably no reference to Plato any otherwise than as the Gnosticks against whom he wrote made use of several of Plato's words and notions So that in all probability St. John gives our B. Saviour this Title with regard to the Jews more especially who anciently call'd the Messias by this Name Secondly We will in the next place consider What might probably be the Occasion why this Evangelist makes so frequent mention of this Title of the Word and insists so much upon it And it seems to be this Nay I think that hardly any doubt can be made of it since the most ancient of the Fathers who lived nearest the time of St. John do confirm it to us St. John who survived all the Apostles liv'd to see those Heresies which sprang up in the beginnings of Christianity during the lives of the Apostles grown up to a great height to the great prejudice and disturbance of the Christian Religion I mean the Heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus and the several Sects of the Gnosticks which began from Simon Magus and were continued and carried on by Valentinus and Basilides Carpocrates and Menander Some of which expresly denied the Divinity of our Saviour asserting him to have been a mere man and to have had no manner of existence before he was born of the B. Virgin as Eusebius and Epiphanius tells us particularly concerning Ebion Which those who hold the same Opinion now in our days may do well to consider from whence it had its Original Others of them I still mean the Gnosticks had corrupted the simplicity of the Christian Doctrine by mingling with it the fancies and conceits of the Jewish Cabbalists and of the Schools of Pythagoras and Plato and of the Chaldaean Philosophy more ancient than either as may be seen in Eusebius de Preparat Evan. and by jumbling all these together they had framed a confused Genealogy of Deities which they called by several glorious Names and all of them by the general Name of Eons or Ages Among which they reckon'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Life and the Word and the only begotten and the Fulness and many other Divine Powers and Emanations which they fancied to be successively derived from one another And they also distinguished between the Maker of the World whom they called the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New And between Jesus and Christ Jesus according to the Doctrine of Cerinthus as Irenaeus tells us being the man that was born of the Virgin and Christ or the Messias being that Divine Power or Spirit which afterwards descended into Jesus and dwelt in him If it were possible yet it would be to no purpose to go about to reconcile these wild conceits with one another and to find out for what reason they were invented unless it were to amuse the People with these high swelling words of vanity and a pretence of knowledg falsly so called as the Apostle speaks in allusion to the Name of Gnosticks that is to say the Men of knowledge which they proudly assum'd to themselves as if the knowledge of Mysteries of a more sublime nature did peculiarly belong to them In opposition to all these vain and groundless conceits St. John in the beginning of his Gospel chuses to speak of our B. Saviour the History of whose life and death he was going to write by the Name or Title of the Word a term very famous among those Sects And shews that this Word of God which was also the Title the Jews anciently gave to the Messias did exist before he assumed a human Nature and even form all Eternity And that to this eternal Word did truly belong all those Titles which they kept such a canting stir about and which they did with so much senseless nicety and subtilty distinguish from one another as if they had been so many several Emanations from the Deity And he shews that this Word of God was really and truly the Life and the Light and the Fulness and the only begotten of the Father v. 5. In him was the Life and the Life was the Light of men and v. 6. And the Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not and v. 7 8 9. where the Evangelist speaking of John the Baptist says of him that he came for a witness to bear witness of the Light and that he was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light And that Light was the true Light which coming into the World enlightens every man And v. 14. And we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth And v. 16. And of his fulness we all receive c. You see here is a perpetual Allusion to the glorious Titles which they gave to their Aeons as if they had been so many several Deities In short the Evangelist shews that all this fanciful Genealogy of Divine Emanations with which the Gnosticks made so great a noise was mere conceit and imagination and that all these glorious Titles did really meet in the Messias who is the Word and who before his Incarnation was from all eternity with God partaker of his Divine Nature and Glory I have declared this the more fully and particularly because the knowledge of it seems to me to be the only true Key to the interpretation of this Discourse of St. John concerning our Saviour under the Name and Title of the Word And surely it is a quite wrong way for any man to go about by the mere strength and subtilty of his Reason and Wit though never so great to interpret an ancient Book without understanding and considering the Historical occasion of it which is the only thing that can give true light to it And this was the great and fatal mistake of Socinus to go to interpret Scripture merely by Criticising upon words and searching into all the senses that they are possibly capable of till he can find one though never so forc'd and foreign that will save harmless the Opinion which he was before-hand resolved to maintain even against the most natural and obvious sense of the Text which he undertakes to interpret Just as if a man should interpret ancient Statutes and Records by
by any thing that hath been said to contribute towards the putting an end to so unhappy a Controversy which hath troubled the World so long and raised such a dust that very few have been able to see clearly through it However I cannot dismiss this Argument without making some useful but very short reflection upon this great Doctrine of our Religion namely That the Son of God being made a Sacrifice for us and exposed to such bitter Sufferings and so cruel a Death for the Expiation of our Sins should create in us the greatest dread and detestation of Sin and for ever deter us from all wilful transgression and disobedience For if the guilt of our Sins was done away upon such hard terms and cost the dearly beloved Son of God so much sweat and blood then surely we ought to take great heed how by our renewed Provocations we renew his Passion and do what in us lies to crucify to our selves the Son of God afresh and to put him to an open shame If God did so terribly afflict the dearly beloved of his Soul for our sakes if the Son of God was so grievously wounded for our transgressions and so sorely bruised for our iniquities If so fearful a Storm of Vengeance fell upon the most innocent Person that ever was for our Sins then we have reason to take that kind and merciful admonition of the Son of God to Sinners to sin no more lest a worse thing if it be possible come upon our selves In this Dispensation of God's Grace and Mercy to Mankind by the Death of his Son God seems to have gone to the very extremity of things and almost further than Goodness and Justice will well admit to afflict Innocency it self to save the Guilty And if herein God hath expressed his hatred of Sin in such a wonderful way of love and kindness to the Sons of Men as looks almost like hatred of Innocency and his own Son This ought in all ingenuity and gratitude to our gracious Redeemer who was made a curse for us and loved us to that degree as to wash us from our Sins in his own Blood I say This ought to beget in us a greater displeasure against Sin and a more perfect detestation of it than if we had suffered the punishment due to it in our own Persons For in this Case we could only have been displeased at our Selves and our Sins as the just Cause of our Sufferings but in the other we ought to hate Sin as the unhappy occasion of the saddest Misfortune and sorest Calamities to the best Man that ever was and to our best Friend for our Sins and for our Sakes Since then the Son of God hath so graciously condescended to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted let us aspire as much as is possible to become like to Him Above all let us hate and avoid Sin as the only thing in which the Son of God would have no part with us though he was contented to suffer such bitter things to save us from the Defilement and Dominion of it from the Punishment and all the dismal consequences of it He had no Sin but God was pleased to lay upon him the iniquities of us all and to make his Soul an offering for Sin and to permit all that to be done to Him which was due to us He was contented to be sacrificed once for all Mankind that Men might for ever cease from that inhuman and ineffectual way of sacrificing one another whereby instead of expiating their guilt they did inflame it and by thinking to make Atonement for their Sins they did in truth add to the number and heinousness of them And let us likewise learn from this admirable Pattern to pity those that are in misery as Christ also hath pitied us and to save them that are ready to perish for His sake who came to seek and to save us that were lost Let us upon all occasions be ready to open our bowels of Compassion towards the Poor in a thankful imitation of his Grace and Goodness who for our sakes chose to be a Beggar that we for his sake might not despise the Poor but might have a tender regard and compassion to those whose Condition in this World does so nearly resemble that in which the Son of God thought it fittest for him to appear when he was pleased to become Man In a word Let us in the whole course and in all the actions of our lives shew forth the Vertues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light and hath raised up a mighty Salvation for us that being delivered from all our spiritual Enemies from Sin and all the Powers of darkness we might serve him who hath saved us walking in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives Now to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb that was slain To God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Unto him who hath loved us and washed from our Sins in his own Blood and whilst we were Enemies to Him loved us at such a rate as never any man did his Friend To Him who became Man that he might bring us to God and assumed our frail and mortal Nature that he might cloath us with Immortality and Life To Him who was pleased to dwell and live amongst us that he might teach us how to live To Him who dyed for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and lives for ever to make Intercession for us To Him be Glory and Dominion Thanksgiving and Praise to Eternal Ages Amen SERMON VI. Concerning the Vnity of the Divine Nature and the B. Trinity c. 1 TIM II. 5. For there is one God THE Particle for leads us to the consideration of the Context and Occasion of these words which in short is this The design of this Epistle is to direct Timothy to whom St. Paul had committed the Government of the Church of Ephesus how he ought to demean himself in that great and weighty Charge And at the beginning of this Chapter he gives direction concerning Publick Prayers in the Church that Prayers and Thanksgiving he made for all men and for all Ranks and Orders of men especially for Kings and all that are in Authority that under them Christians might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty And this he tells us was very suitable to the Christian Religion by which God designed the Salvation of Mankind and therefore it must needs be very acceptable to him that we should offer up Prayers and Thanksgivings to him in behalf of all men For this saith the Apostle is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth And then it follows in the next words
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