SERMON IV.
SERM. IV.
The Fountain of Life.
May it be said of you, as of dying men, that you are not men and women for this world, that you are crucified and dead to it, Gal. vi . 14. that you are strangers in it? Heb . xi. 13, 14 .
(4.) If you keep Christ's word ; John xvii. 6. " Thine they were, " and thou gavest them me ; and they have kept thy word." By keeping his word, understand the receiving of the word, in its sanctifying effects and influences into your hearts, and your perseverance in the profession and practice of it to the end, John xvii. 17. " Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. " *
John xv. 7. " If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye " shall ask whatye will."
Blessed and happy is that foul upon which these blessed characters appear, which our Lord Jesus hath laid to close together, within the compass ofa few verses, in this xvii. chapter of John : These are the persons the Father delivered unto Christ, and he accepted from the Father, in this blessed covenant .
SERMON IV.
Opens the admirable Love of God in giving his own SON for us.
JOHN iii 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c .
YOU have heard of thegraciouspurpose and design of God, to recover poor sinners to himself by Jesus Christ, and how this design of love was laid and contrived in the covenant of redemption, whereof we lastspake.
Now, according to the terms of that covenant, you shall hear from this scripture, how that design was by one degree advanced towards its accomplishment, in God's actual giving or parting with his own Son for us: "God so loved the world, that " he gave," &c.
The whole precedent context is spent in discovering the nature and necessity of regeneration, and the necessity thereof is in this text argued and inferred from the peculiar respect and eye God had upon believers, in giving Christ for them ; they
only reaping all the special and saving benefits and advantages of that gift : "God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybeVOL . I.
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"gotten Son,thatwhosoeverbelieveth inhimshould not perish ."
In the words are to be considered.
1. The original spring or fountain of our best mercies, the love of God.
The love of God is, either benevolent, benefi cent, or complacential.
His benevolent love, is nothing else but his desire and purpose of saving and doing us good : fo his purpose and grace toJacob is called love, Rom. ix 13. " Jacob
" have I loved :" but this being before Jacobwas, could consist in nothing else but the gracious purpose of God towards him.
His beneficentlove, is his actual doing good to the per. fonsbeloved, or the bestowing the effects of his love upon us, according to that purpose.
His complacential love, is nothing else but that delight and satisfaction he finds in be holding the fruits and workings of that grace in us, which he first intended for us, and then actually collated or bestowed onus.
This love of benevolence, is that which I have opened to you, under the former head,God's compact with Christ about us, or his design to fave us on the articles and terms therein specified.
The love of beneficence, is that which this scripture speaks of; out of this fountain Christ flowed to us, and both ran into that of complacency; for therefore he both purposed, and actually bestowed Christ on us, that he might everlastingly delight, in be holding the glory and praise of all this reflected on himself, by his redeemed ones. This then is the fountain of our mercies.
2. The mercy flowing out of this fountain, and that is Christ : The mercy, as he is emphatically called, Luke i. 72.
The marrow, kernel, and substance of all other mercies. He gave his only begotten Son : This was the birth of that love, the like whereunto it never brought forth before, therefore 'tis expressed with a double emphasis in the text, the one is that particle ὕτω so; " he so loved the world;" here is afic without a ficut: How did he love it? Why, he fo loved it ; but how much, the tongues of angels cannot declare. And moreover, to enhance the mercy,he isstiledhis onlybegottenSon : to have givenaSonhadbeen wonderful; but to give an only begotten
Son, that is love unexpressible, unintelligible.
3.The objects of this love,or the persons to whom the eternal Love delivered Christ, and that is the [World.]
This must re.
* Hic igitur unigeniti nomen ἐμφατικον eft ad commend and am in nos amorisdivini vehemantiam. i. e. This strong epithet, of only begotten, is given, in order to heighten the exceeding greatness oftheloveofGodtowards us. Bulling, on this place.
SERM. IV.
The Fountain of Life. fpect the elect of God iuthe world, such as do, or shall actually believe, as it is exegetically expressed in the next words, "That " whosoever believes in him should not perish: " Those whom he calls the world in that, he stiles believers in this expression; and the word [World] is put to signify the elect, because they are scattered through all parts, and are among all ranksofmenin the world; these are the objects of this love: itisnotangels, butmen,that were so loved; he is called φιλάνθρωπος, a Lover, a Friend of Men, but never φιλάγΓελος, Οι Φιλόκερος, the Lover or FriendofAngels, or creatures of another species.
4. The manner in which this never-enough celebrated mercy flows to us, from the fountainofdivine love, and that is most freely and spontaneously. He gave, no the fold, or barely parted from, but gave.
Nor yet doth the Father's giving imply Christ tobemeerly passive ; for as the Father is here said to give him, fo the apostle tells us, Gal. ii. 20. That he gave himself, " who " loved me, and gave himfelffor me :" The Father gave him out of good will to men,and he as willingly bestowed himself on that service.
Hence the note is, Docr. That the gift of Christ is the highest and fullest mani festation of the love of God to sinners, that ever was made from eternity to them.
How is this gift of God to sinners signalized in that place of the apostle, 1 John iv. 10. " Herein is love; not that we loved
" God, but that he loved us, and sent hisSontobe the prop i " tiation for our fins ?" Why doth the apostle so magnify this gift in saying, "Herein is love," as if there were love in nothing else † ! May we not say, thattohaveabeing,a being among the rational creatures, therein is love ? To have our life carried fo many years like a taperinthe hand of Providence, through fo many dangers, and not yet put out in obscurity, therein is love ? To have food and raiment, convenient for us, beds to lie on, relations to comfort us, in all these is love ? Yea, but if you speak comparatively, in all these there is no love, to the love expressed in sending or giving Christ for us: These are great
mercies in themselves ; but compared to this mercy, they are all swallowed up, as the light of candles when brought into the
+God loves all his creatures; and among these he especially loves those he hath endowed with reason, and of those he loves more especially these who are members of the Only-begotten; and much more the Only-begotten himself. Aug. T. 9. on John.
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fun-shine. No, no, herein is the love, that God gave Christ for us. And it is remarkable, that when the apostle would shewus, in Rom. v. 8. what is the noblest fruit that most commends to men the root of divine love that bears it, he thews us this very fruit of it that I am now opening ; " But God faith he, commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us :" this is the very flower of that love.
The method into which I will cast this precious point, shall be this : (1.) To shew how Jesus Christ was given by the Father.
(2.)How that gift is the fullest and richest manifestation of the love of God that was ever made to the world.
(3.) And then draw forth the uses of it.
1. How was Jesus Christ given by the Father, and what is implied therein.
You are not so to understand it, as though God parted with his interest and propriety in his Son, when he is said to give him; he was as much his own as ever. Whenmen give, they transfer propriety to another ; but when God had given him, he was, I say, still as much his own as ever: but this giving of Christ implies, (1. ) His designation andappointmentunto death for us ; for so you read, that it was done " according to the determinate
" counselofGod," Acts ii. 23.
Look, as the lamb under the Law was separated from the flock, and set apart for a sacrifice ; though it were still living, yet it was intentionally, and preparativelygiven, and consecrated to the Lord: so Jesus Christ was, by the counsel and purpose of God, thus chosen, and set apart for his service and therefore in Isa. xlii. 1. God calls him his
Elect, or chosen One.
(2.) His giving Christ, implies a parting with him, or setting him(as the French hath it) at some distance from himself for a time.
There was a kind of parting betwixt the Father and the Son, when he came to tabernacle in our flesh so he expresseth it, John xvi . 28. " I came forth from the Father, and am come
" into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Fa- " ther."
This distance, that this incarnation, and humiliation set him at, was properly as to his humanity, which was really distant from the glory into which it is now taken up, and in respect of manifestation of delight and love,the Lord seemed to carry it as one at a distance from him.
Oh ! this was it that so deeply pierced, and wounded his foul, as is evident from that complaint,
Plal. xxii. 1 , 2. "My God,my God,why haft thou forsaken me ?
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The Fountain of Life.
" Why art thou fo far from the words of my roaring ? O my " God, I cry in the day-time,but thou he a rest not," &c.
(3.) God's giving of Christ, implies his delivering him into the hands of justice to be punished; even as condemned persons are, by sentence of law, given or delivered into the hands of executioners.
So Acts ii . 23. "Him, being delivered by the " determinate counsel of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
" hands have slain :" and so he is said, Rom. viii. 32. "To de- " liver him up to death for us all."
The Lord, when the time was come that Christ must suffer, did, as it were , fay, O all ye roaring waves, of my incensed justice, now swell as high as heaven, and go over his soul and body; sink him to the bottom ; let him go, like Jonah, his type, into the belly of hell, unto the roots of the mountains. Come all ye raging storms, that I have reserved for this day of wrath, beat upon him, beat him down, that he may not be able to look up, Psal. lx. 12. Go justice, put him upon the rack, torment him in every part, till all his " bones be out of joint, and his heart within him be melt- " ed as wax in the midst of his bowels," Psal. xxii. 14.
And yeassembly of the wicked Jews andGentiles, that have so long gaped for his blood, now he is delivered into your hands ; you are permitted to execute your malice to the full: I now loose your chain, and into your hand and power is he delivered.
(4.) God's giving of Christ, implies his application of him, with all the purchases of his blood, and setthng all this upon us, as an inheritance and portion, Johnvi. 32, 33. " My Father
" givethyou thetruebread from heaven; for the bread of God " is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to " the world." God hath given him as bread to poor starving creatures, that by faith they might eat and live.
And so he told the Samaritaness,Johniv. 10. " If thou knewest the gift of " God, and who it is that faith unto thee, Give me to drink,
" thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given " thee living water."
Bread and water are the two necessaries for the fupportof natural life ; God hath given Christ, you fee, to be all that, and more, to the spiritual life.
2. How this gift of Christ was the highest, and fullest manifestation of the love of God, that ever the world saw * : and this will be evidenced by the following particulars :
* God might have redeemed us in another way, (for I suppose 'tis opus liberi confilii) a free dispensation : but God so loved the word, i. e. he took this way, that we might love Christ as well as believe
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SERM. IV.
(1.) If you confider how near and dear Jesus Christ was to the Father; he was his Son, "his only Son," saiththe text; the Son of his love, the darling of his Soul; His other Self, yea, one with himself; the express image of his person ; the brightness of his Father's Glory : In parting with him, he parted with his own Heart, with his very bowels, as I may say. "Yet "to us a Son is given," Ifa. ix. 6. andsuchaSon as he calls "his dear Son," Col. i. 13. A late writer tells us, that he hath been informed, that in the famine in Germany, a poor family being ready to perish with famine, the husband madeamotion to the wife, to fell one of the children for bread, to relieve themselves and the rest : The wife at last consents it should be so; but then they began to think which of the fourshouldbe fold; and when the eldest was named, they both refused to part with that, being their first-born, and the beginning of their strength.
Well, thentheycameto the second,but could not yield that he should be fold, being the very picture and lively image of his father. The third was named,but that also was a child that best resembled the mother. And when the youngest was thought on, that was the Benjamin, the child of their old age; and so were content rather to perish altogether in the famine, than to part with a child for relief. And you know how tenderly
Jacob took it, when his Joseph and Benjamin were rent from him.
What is a child, but a piece of the parent wrapt up in another skin ? And yet our dearest children are but as strangers to us, incomparisonofthe unspeakabledearness that was betwixt the Father and Christ.
Now, that he should ever be content to part with a Son, and such an only One, is such a manifestation of love, as will be admired to all eternity. And then,
(2.) Let it be considered, To what he gave him, even to death, and that of the cross ; to be made a curse for us; to be the scorn and contempt of men; to the most unparalleled sufferings that ever were inflicted or born by any. It melts our bowels, it breaks our heart, to behold our children striving in thepangs of death: but the Lord beheld his Son strugglingunderagonies that never any felt before him. +He saw him falling to the ground, groveling in the dust, sweating blood, and amidst those agonies turning himself to his Father, and, with aheartrendingcry, beseeching him, "Father, if it be possible, let this believe in him.
He might have redeemed us so much in another way, but he could not oblige us so much in another way.
Man ton on Jude, p. 108.
Mr. Wall in his None but Christ.
† Christ's pain was forer than all pains put together.
Aquinas.
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The Fountain of Life.
"cup pass," Luke xxii. 42.
To wrath, to the wrath of an infinite God without mixture; to the very torments of hell was
Christ delivered, and thatbythehandofhisown Father.
Sure thenthatlove must needs want a name, which made the Father of mercies deliver his only Son to such miseries for us.
(3.) It is a special consideration to enhance the love of God in giving Christ, that in giving him he gave the richest jewel in his cabinet ; a mercy of the greatest worth, and most inestimable value.
Heaven itself is not so valuable and precious as Christ is: He is the betterhalfof heaven; and so the faints account him, Psal. Ixxiii. 25. "Whom have I inheavenbutthee?"
Ten thousand thousand worlds, faith one †, as many worlds as angels can number, and then as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all be the bulk ofa balance, to weigh Christ's excellency, love, and sweetness. O what a fairOne ! what an onlyOne ! what an excellent, lovely, ravishingOne, is Christ !
Put the beauty of ten thousand paradises, like the garden of Eden, into one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, allcolours, all tastes, alljoys, all sweetness, all loveliness in one ; O what a fair and excellent thing would that be ? And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths.
Christ is heaven'swonder, and earth's wonder.
Now, for God to bestow the mercy of mercies, the most precious thing in heaven or earth, upon poor sinners ; and, as great, as lovely, as excellent as his son was, yet not to account him too goodtobestowupon us, what manner of love is this!
(4.) Once more, let it be considered on whom the Lord bestowed his son : upon angels ? No,butuponmen. Upon man his friend? No, but uponhisenemies.
This is love ; and on this confiderationthe apostle lays a mighty weight, inRom. v.
8, 9, 10. " But God (faith he) commendeth his love towards "us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.- " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the " death of his son." Who would part with a son for the sake of his dearest friends ? butGodgave him to,and delivered him for enemies : O love unspeakable !
(5.) Lastly, Let us confiderhow freely this gift came from him : It was not wrested out of his hand by our importunity ; for we as littledefired as deserved it: It was surprising, pre- ‡ Chriftus et cælumnonpatiuntur hyperbolem.
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SERM. IV venting, eternal love, that delivered him to us : "Not that we " loved him, but he first loved us," I John iv. 19.
Thus as when you weigh a thing, you cast in weight after weight, till the scales break; fo doth God, one consideration upon another, to overcome our hearts, and make us admiringly to cry, what manner of love is this! And thus I have shewed you what
God'sgiving of Christ is, and what matchless love is manifested in that incomparable gift.
Next we shall apply this, in some practical corollaries.
Corollary 1. Learn hence, The exceeding preciousness offouls, and at what a high rate God values them, that he will give his
Son, his only Son out of his bojom, as a ransom for them.
Surely this speaks their preciousiness : God would not have parted with such a Son for small matters : all the world could not redeem them; gold and silver could not be their ransom ; so speaks the apostle, I Peter i. 18. " You were not redeeined with cor- " ruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precions
" blood of Christ."
Such an esteem God had for them, that, rather than they should perish,Jesus Christ shall be made am an, yea, a curse for them.
Oh then learn to put a due value upon your own fouls : do not fell that cheap, which God hath paidfo dear for : Remember what a treasure you carry about you ; the glory that you fee in this world is not equivalent in worth to it.
Matth. xvi. 26. " What shall a man give in exchange for his " foul ?"
Corollary 2. If God has given his own Son for the world, then it follows, that those for whom God gave his own Son,may warrantably expect any other temporal mercies from him.
This is the apostle's inference, Rom. viii. 32. " He that spared not " his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he
" not, with him, freely give us all things ?" And fo 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. "All is yours, for ye are Christ's. " i. e. They hold all other things in Christ, who is the capital, and most comprehensive mercy.
To make out the grounds of this comfortable deduction, let these four things be pondered, and duly weighed in your thoughts.
( 1. ) No other mercy you need or desire, is, or can be fodear to God, as Jesus Christ is: he never laid any other thing in his bosom, ashe did his Son.
As for the world, and the comforts of it, it is the dust of his feet, he values it not ; as you fee by his providential disposals of it; having given it to the worst of men.
" All the Turkish empire," saith Luther, " åsgreat and glorious as it is, is but a crumbwhichthe master
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" of the family throws to the dogs *."
Think upon any other outward enjoyment that is valuable in your eyes, and there is not so much comparison betwixt it and Christ, in the esteem of God, as is betwixt your dear children and the lumber of your houses, in your esteem.
IfthenGod has parted so freely from that which was infinitelydearerto himthanthese; how shall he deny these, when they may promote his glory, and your good ?
(2.)As Jesus Christ was nearer the heart ofGodthan all these ; so Christ is, in himself, much greater and more excellent than all of them: ten thousand worlds, and the glory of them all, is but the dust of the balance, if weighed with Christ.
These things are but poor creatures, but he is over all, God blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5. They are common gifts,but he is the gift of God, John iv. 10.
They are ordinary mercies, but he is The mercy, Luke i. 72.
As one pearl, or precious stone, is greater in value thantenthousand common pebbles. Now, if God has so freely given the greater, how can you suppose he should deny the lesser, mercies ? Will a man give to another a large inheritance, and stand with him for a trifle ? how can it be ?
(3 ) There is no other mercy you want, but you are entitled to it by thegiftofChrist : it is, as to right, conveyed to you with Christ.
So, in the fore-cited 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22, 23. " the world is yours, : yea, all is yours; for ye are Christ's." So 2 Cor. i. 20. " For " all the promises of God in Christ, in him they are yea, and in "him, amen."
With him he hathgivenyou all things, εις άπολαῦσιν, 1 Tim. vi. 17. richly to enjoy : the word signifies rem aliquam cum laetitia percipere, to have the sweet relish and comfort of an enjoyment.
So have we in all our mercies, upon the account of our title to them in Christ.
(4.) Lastly, If God has given you this nearer, greater, and all-comprehending mercy, when you were enemies to him, and alienated from him ; it is not imaginable he should now deny you an inferior mer. cy, when you are come into a state of reconciliation and amity with him.
So the apostle reasons, Rom. v. 8, 9, 10. "For if, " when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the " death of his Son ; much more being reconciled, we shall be
" saved by his life." And thus you have the second inference with its grounds.
Corollary 3. If the greatest love hath been manifested in giving Christ to the world, then it follows, that the greatest evil
* Totum Turcicum imperium, quantum quantum eft, mica tantum eft, quomPaterfamilias projicit canibus.
Luther.
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and wickedness is manifested in despising, lighting, and rejecting Christ.
It is sad to abuse the love of God manifested in the lowest gift of providence; but, to flight the richest discoveries of it, even in that peerless gift, wherein God commends his love in the most taking and astonishing manner ; this is sin with a witness.
Blush, Oheavens, and be astonished, O earth ; yea, be ye horribly afraid ! No guilt like this. The most flagitious wretches among the barbarous nations are innocent, in comparison of these.
But, are there any such in the world ? Dare any flight this gift of God ? Indeed, if mens words might be taken, there are few or none that dare do fo; but if their lives and practices may be believed, this, this is the fin of the far greater part of the christianized world.
Witness the lamentable stupidity and fupineness; witnessthecontempt of the gospel; witness the hatred and persecution of his image, laws and people.
What is the language of all this, but a vile esteem of Jesus Christ ?
And now, let me a little expostulate with those ungrateful fouls, that trample under foot the Son of God, that value not this love that gave him forth.
What is that mercy which you focontemnand undervalue ? is it so vile and cheap a thing as your entertainment speaks it to be ? is it indeed worth no more than this in your eyes ? Surely you will not be long of that opinion ! Will you be of that mind, think you, when death and judgment shall have thoroughly awakened you ? Oh, no : Then a thousand worlds for a Christ ! as it is storied of our crookbacked Richard, when he lost the field, and was in great danger by his enemies that pressed upon him; Ohnow, (said he), a kingdom for a horse ! Or thinkye, that any beside you in the world are of your mind ? you are deceived, if you think fo.
" To them that believe he is precious," through all the world, Pet. ii . 7.; and in the other world they are of a quite contrary mind.
Could you but hear what is faidofhim in heaven, in what a dialect the saved of the Lord do extol their Saviour ; orcouldyoubut imagine the self-revenges, the self torments, which the damned suffer for their folly, and what a value they would fetuponone tender of Christ, if it might but again be hoped for; you would fee that such as you are the only defpif ers of Christ *.
Beside, methinks it is astonishing, that you * Fy, fy, faith one, upon this condemned and foolish world, that will give fo little for Christ and salvation : Oh ! if there were but a free market proclaimedofChrift and salvation in that day, when the trumpet
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should despise a mercy in which your own souls are so dearly, so deeply, so everlastingly concerned, as they are in this gift of God.
If it were but the soul of another, nay, less, if but the body of another, and yet less than that, if but another's beast, whose life you could preserve, you are obliged to do it : but when it is thy self, yea, the best part of thy self, thine own invaluable foul, that thou ruinest anddestroyest hereby, oh, what a monster art thou, to cast it away thus ! What ! will you flight your own souls ? care you not whether they be saved, or whether theybedamned? is it indeed an indifferent thing with you which way they fall at death? have you imagined a tolerable hell ? is it easy to perish? are you not only turned God's enemies, but your own too ? Oh, fee what monsters sin can turn men and women into ? Oh, the stupifying, besotting, intoxieating power of fin ! But perhaps you think that all these are but uncertain sounds, with which we alarm you : it may be thine own heart will preach such doctrine as this to thee ; Who canaffure thee of the reality of these things ? why shouldst thou trouble thyself with an invisible world, or be so much concerned for what thine eyes never saw, nor didst ever receive the report from any that have seen them ?
Well, though we cannot now thewyou these things, yet shortly they shall be shewn you; and your own eyes shall behold them.
You are convinced and satisfied that many other things are real which you never saw: but be assured, That " if the word spoken by angels
" was stedfast, and every tranfgreffionanddisobedience receiv- " ed a just recompence of reward ; how shall we escape, if we
" neglect so great a salvation, which at first began to be spo- " ken to us by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that " heard him,God alsobearingthem witness ?" Heb. ii. 2, 3, 4.
But if they be certain,yet they are not near : it will be a long timebeforetheycome.
Poor soul ! how dost thou cheat thyself ? It maybe not by twenty parts so longatime as thy own fancy draws it forth for thee; thou art not certain of the next moment.
And suppose what thou imaginest : What are twenty or forty yearswhenthey are past ? yea, what are a thousand years to vast eternity ? Go trifle away afewdays more, sleep out a few nights more, and thenliedown in the dust ; itwillnotbe long
K 2 trumpet of God shall awaken the dead ; how many buyers would be there ? God send me no more happiness but that which the blind world (to their eternal woe) letteth flip through their fingers.
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SERM. V. ere the trump of God shall awaken thee, and thine eyes shall behold Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven, and then you will know the price of this fin.
Oh ! therefore, if there be any sense of eternity upon you, any pity or love for yourselves in you ; if you have any concernments more than the beasts that perish, despise not your own offered mercies, flight not the richest gift that ever was yet opened to the world; and a sweeter cannot be opened to all eternity.
SERΜΟΝ V.
Treats of CHRIST's WONDERFUL PERSON.
JOHN i. 14. And the Word was made Flesb, anddwelt among us, &c.
YOU have heard the covenant of redemption opened.
The work therein propounded by the Father, and consented toby the Son, is such as infinitely exceeds the power of any meer creature to perform.
He that undertakes to fatisfyGod, by obedience, for man's fin, must himself be God; and he that performs such a perfect obedience, by doing, and suffering all that the law required, in our room, must be man . These two natures must be united in one person, else there could not be a concourse or co-operation of either nature in his mediatory works.
How these natures are united, in the wonderful person of our Immanuel, is the first part of the great mystery of godliness * : A subject studied and adored by angels ! and the mystery thereof is wrapped up in this text.
Wherein we have, First, The incarnation of the Son of God plainly asserted.
Secondly, That assertion strongly confirmed.
(1.) In the assertion we have three parts.
1. The Person assuming, ὁΔόγος, the Word †, (i. e.) the se * The incarnation is the miracle of miracles ; a testimony against unbelievers, Ifa. vii. 14. and a document to believers.
None can declare his generation, Ifa. liii. 8.
Neither can any declare his incarnation, his name is secret, Judges xiii. 18. Wonderful, Ifa. ix.
6. A name that no man knoweth, viz. perfectly, but himself.
The Trinity is the greatest, the incarnation the next mystery, Nor ton's Orthodox Evangelist, p. 38 .
+ Word, a real substance,or person; and not a word, spoken or uttered.
Fulgent. Book I.
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The Fountain of Life . cond Person or Subsistent in the most gloriousGodhead, called the Word, either because he is the scope and principal matter, both of the prophetical and promissory word ; or because he expounds and reveals the mind and will of God to men, as verse
18. The only-begottenSonwhich is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared orexpounded him .
2. The Nature assumed, σάρξ, Fiem, (i. e.) the intirehuman nature; consisting of a true human foul and body.
For so this word σαρξ, in Rom. iii. 20. and the Hebrew word ב which answers to it, by an usual Metonomy of a part for the whole, is used, Gen. vi. 12.
And the word Flesh is rather used here, than Man, on purpose to enhance the admirable condescension and a basement of Christ ; there being more of vileness, weakness, and opposition to spirit in this word, than in that, as ispertinentlynoted by some.
Hence the whole nature is denominatedby that part, and called flesh.
3. The assumption itself, ἐγένετο, he was made ; not suit, he was, (as Socinus would render it, designing thereby to overthrow the existence of Christ's glorified body now in heaven) but fact us eft, it was made (i. e.)he took or assumed the true human nature (called slesh †, for the reason before rendered) into the unity of his divine person, with all its integral parts and essential properties ; and so was made, or became at rue and real man, by that assumption.
The apostle speaking of the fame act, Heb. ii. 16. uses another word, He took on him, ἐπιλαμβάνεται, fitly rendered he took on him, or he assumed : which assuming, though inchoative, it was the work of the whole Trinity, God the Father, in the Son, by the Spirit, forming or creating that nature ; as if three sisters should make a garment betwixt them, which only one of them wears: yet, terminative, it was the act of the Son only ; it was he only that was made flesh. And when it is said, he was made flesh, misconceive not, as if there were a mutation of the Godhead into flesh; for this was performed ||, " not by changing what
" he was, but by assuming what he was not," as Augustine well expresseth it. As when the scripture, in a like expression, faith, " He was made fin," 2 Cor. v. xxi.; and made a curse,
Gal. iii. 13. the meaning is not, that he was turned into fin, or † The Evangelist chose to use the word, Flesh, instead of Man, that it might the more appear how far the Word that was God, humbled himself, when he was made Flesh.
For there is manifestlymore ofVileness, and greater opposition to Spirit implied in the word Flesh than in the word Man .
Maccovius'sCommon Places.
|| Non mutando quod erat,fed affumendo quod non erat. Aug,
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SERM. V. intoacurse; no more may we think here theGodheadwas turned into flesh, and lost its own being and nature, because it is said he was made flesh.
This is the sum of the assertion .
(2.) This assertion [" that the word was made flesh"] is trongly confirmed. He "dwelt among us," and we saw his glory.
This was no phantasm, but a most real and indubitable thing.
For, ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, pitched his tent, or tabernacled with us. And we are eye-witnesses of it.
Paral lel to that, I John i. 1, 2,3. " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
" handled, of the Word of life, &c. declare we unto you."
Hence note, Doct. That Jesus Christ did really afssume the true and perfect nature of man, into a personal union with his divine nature, and still remains true God, and trueman, in oneperfonforever.
The propositioncontainsoneofthedeepest mysteries ingodliness *, 1 Tim. iii. 16. A mystery, by which apprehenfionis dazzled, invention astonished, and all expression swallowed up.
I fever the tongues of angels were desirable to explicate any wordofGod, they are so here. Great is the interest of words in this doctrine. We walk upon the brink of danger.
The least tread awry may ingulph us in thebogs of error. Aríus wouldhavebeen content, if the councilofNice would but have gratifiedhiminaletter, ομούσιος, and ομοιόσιος.
The Nestorians also defiredbut a letter, Θεοδόχος, θεοτόκος.
These seemed but fmallandmodest requests, but, if granted,had proved no small prejudice to Jesus Christ, and his truths. Idefiretherefore the reader would, with greatest attention of mind, apply himself to these truths.
It is a doctrine hard to understand, and dan- * The incarnation is God's work, whereby the Son of God,(according to the æœconomy of the divine counsel of the Father, of the Son, and of the holy Spirit) humbling and abasing himself, took from the Virgin Mary, by the power and efficacy of the holy Spirit upon her ; real, entire, perfect, holy Flesh ; yet so as that that Flesh had no proper subsistence without the Son of God, but was really borneandcarried about by him ; the two entire natures beingunitedamong themselves, without any change of the one into the other, without confusion, without division, and unfeparably, &r.
Whence is constituted the person of Christ, God-man.
Synepfis purioris Theo.
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The Fountain of Life. gerous to mistake. I am really of his mind that said , 'It is
'better not touch the bottom, than not keep within the circle:'
Melius eft nefcire centrum, quam non tenere circulum. He did assume a true human body ; that is plainly asserted, Phil. ii.
7, 8, &c. Heb. ii. 14, 16.
I none place it is called taking on him the feed of Abraham, and in the text, flesh. He did also assume atruehuman foul, that is undeniable by its operations, passions, and expiration at last, Matth. xxvi. 38. and xxvii. 50. And that both these natures make but one person, is as evident from Rom. i. 3, 4. " Jesus Christ was made of the " feed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the " Son ofGodwithpower, according to the Spiritofholiness,by " the resurrection from the dead." SoRom. ix. 5. "Of whom,
" as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all,God blef- " fed for ever. Amen."
But that you may have a found and clear understanding of this mystery, I will, (1.) Open the nature;
(2.) The effects; and (3.) The reasons or ends of this wonderful union .
First, The nature of this union.
There are three illustrious and dazzling unions in scripture: that of three persons in one God,
Thenatureofthe hypoftatical uni on opened.
Essentially. That of two distinct natures, and persons; by one spirit Mystically and this of two distinct natures inoneperson, Hypoftatically.
This is my task to open at this time: and, for the morediftinct andperspicuousmanagementthereof, I shall speak to it both negatively and positively.
1. Negatively. Think notwhenChrist affumedour nature, that it was united confubNot confubftantially. stantially, soasthethree persons in the God. head are unitedamongthemselves.
They all have but one and the fame nature and will; but in Christ are two distinct natures and wills, though but one person.
2.Nor yetthatthey are united Physically, Not physically as foul and body are unitedinone person: for death actuallydiffolves that; but this is indissoluble. So that whenhisfoul expired, andhisbodywasinterred,both foul and body were still united to the second Person as much as ever.
3.Noryetis it such a mystical union, as is between Christ and believers.
Indeed that is a Not mystically.
*Reason (faithone) can never shew itself more reasonable, than inceasing to reason about things which are above reason,
What so. everisconcealed from us that we are not to pry into.
But we are not to overlook what is plain and manifest.
Prosper.
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SERM. V. glorious union: but though believers are said to be in Christ, and Christ'in them,yet they are not onepersonwith him. They are not chrifted into Christ, or godded into God, as blasphemous Familists speak.
2dly, Positively.
But this assumption of which I speak, is that whereby the second person in the Godhead did take the human nature into a personal union with himself, by virtue. whereof the manhood subsists in the second person, yet without confusion, both making but one person, Θεάνθρωπος, or Immanuel, God with us.
So that though we truly ascribe a two-fold nature to Christ, yet not a double person + : For, the human nature of Christ never subsisted separately and distinctly, by any personal fubfistence of its own, as it doth in all other men, but from the first moment of conception, subsisted in union with the second person.
To explicate this mystery more particulary, let it be considered; First, The human nature was united to the second person miraculously and extraordinarily, being supernaturally framed.
in the womb of the Virgin, by the over-shadowing power of the Highest, Luke i. 34, 35. By reasonwhereofitmay truly, and properly be said to be the fruit of the womb, not of the loins of men, nor by man. And this was necessary to exempt the assumed nature from the stain and pollutionofAdam's fin, which it wholly escaped; inasmuch as he received it not, as all others do, in the way of ordinary generation, wherein original fin is propagated: but this being extraordinarily produced, was a most pure and holy thing, Luke i. 35. And indeed this perfect shining holiness, in which it was produced, was absolutely necessary, both in order to its union with the divine person, and the design of that union ; which was both to satisfy for, and to sanctify us. The two natures could not be conjoined in the person of Christ, had there been the least taintof finupon the human nature.
For God can have no fellowship with fin, much less be united to it. Or, supposing such a conjunction with our sinful nature, yet he being a finnerhimself, could never satisfy for the finsofothers; nor could any unholy thing
† The human nature is not, iδιοσύσταλος, subsisting of itself, nor did the human nature exist before it was assumed; but so soon as the flesh existed, it was the flesh of the Word of God. And so the person of Christ is one, in which there are two distinct things, but not two distinct persons. Greg. Naz. in Theodoret, Dialogue 2...
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" Such an High Priest therefore became us as is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," Heb. vii. 26. And such an one he must needs be, whom the Holy
Ghost produces in such a peculiar way, τὸἅγιον, that holy thing.
Secondly, As it was produced miraculously, so it was assumed integrally ; that is to lay, Christ took a compleat and perfect human foul and body, with all and every faculty and member pertaining to it. And this was necessary (as both* Austin and + Fulgentiushavewell observed) that thereby he might heal the whole nature of that leprosy of fin, which hath seized and infected every member and faculty.
Πάντα ἀνέλαβεν ίνα πάντα ἀγίαζη. " He assumed all, to sanctify all: " as Damafcen expreffeth it.
He designed a perfect recovery, by sanctifyinguswholly in foul, body, and spirit; and therefore assumed the whole in order to it.
Thirdly, He assumed our nature, as with all its integral parts, so with all its finless infirmities. And therefore it is said of him, Heb . ii. 17. " That it behoved him," κατάπάντα ὁμοιωθῆναι , according to all things (that is, all things uatural, not formally sinful ‡, as it is limited by the same apostle,Heb. iv. 15.) to be made like unto his brethren.
But here our divines do carefully distinguish infirmities into personal and natural.
Personal infirmities are such as befal particular persons, from particular causes, such asdumbness, blindness, lameness, leprosies, monstrosities, and other deformities.
These it was no way necessary that Christ should, nordidhe at all assume; but the natural Ones, such as hunger, thirst, weariness, sweating, bleeding, mortality, &c. which though they are not in themselves formally and intrinsically sinful; yet are they the effects andconsequents of fin.
They are so many marks, that sin hath left ofitselfupon our natures. And on that account Christ is said to be sent " in the likeness offinful flesh," Rom. viii. 3. Whereinthegracious condescension of Christ for us is marvelloufly sig- * Aug. de Givit. Dei. lib. 1o. cap. 27. p. 586.
+ Fulgent. ad Tra. 1. 1. p. 251.
Damafc. lib. 3. cap. 20.
‡ The natural pollution and original defilement of sin, which cleaves to human nature in general, could not infect the human nature of Christ, because the holy Spirit, according to his own manner of working, had made it absolutely undefiled and impeccable, ог, uncapable of committing sin: and such a perfect and finless nature itbehoved to be, in which our fins, with theirdefilement and guilt, were to be done away.
Trelc. Instit. p. 58.
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SERM. V. nalized, that he would not assume ourinnocentnature,as it was inAdambefore the fall, while it stood in all its primitive glory and perfection ; but after finhad quite defaced, ruined, and spoiled it.
Fourthly, Thehumannature is so united with the divine, as that each nature still retains its own essential properties distinct *. And this distinction is not, nor can be loft by that union. So that the two understandings, wills, powers, &c. viz.
The divine and human, are not confounded; but a line of distinction runs betwixt them still in this wonderful person.
It was theherefyofthe Eutychians, condemned by the council of Chalcedon, to affirm, that there was no distinction betwixt the two natures in Christ.
Against whom that council determined, that they were united ἀσυνοχύτως, without any immutation, or confusion.
Fifthly, The union of the two natures in Christ, as an infepa rable union; so that from the first moment thereof, there never was, nor to eternity shall be, any feparationofthem.
Doubt. If you ask how the union remained betwixt them, when Christ's human foul and body were separated from each other upon the cross ? Is not death the dissolution of union betwixt foul and body ?
Resolution. True, the naturalunionbetwixt his soul and body was diffolvedby death for a time, but this hypoftatical unionremainedeventhenas in tire and firm as ever : for, though his soul and body were divided from each other, yet neither of them from the divine nature .
Divines assist our conception of this mystery, by an apt illustration †. Am an that holds in his
* By this unionofthehumanwiththedivine nature, the human nature is not raised to the same perfection with the divine, nor changed into it, nor confounded with it; as if what is anyway peculiar to the divine, were communicated to the human nature; but that the one always did, anddotk, remain totally distinct from the other; the human, to wit, consisting ofa finite body, and ofa foul, the fame, as to substance and essential powers, with other mens .
Bradshaw on Justification, p. 79.
† Tolletus gives us a fine illustration of it : "Even as a man (fays " he) holding a sword sheathed, when he pleaseth, draws forth the " sword; but still holds that in one hand, and the sheath in the o ther, (and then sheaths it again, still holding it in his hand] : fo
" the Divine Person separated the soul from thehumanbody, as it
were a sword drawn out of its sheath, but still he held both ue " nited to himself; but by the resurrection he rejoined the soul to " the body, as when one puts the sword in the scabbard,"
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hand a sword sheathed, when he pleaseth, draws forth the sword; but still holds that i none hand, and the sheath in the other, and then sheaths it again, still holding it in his hand: fo when Christ died, his soul and body retained their union with the divine nature, though not (during that space) one with another.
And thus you are to form and regulate yourconceptions of this great mystery. Some adumbrations and imperfect fimilitudesofitmaybefoundinnature. Among which some * commend that union which the soul and body have with each other ; theyareofdifferent natures, yet both make one individual man.
Others + find fault with this, because both these united make but one compleat human nature; whereas, in Christ's person, there are two natures, and commend to us a more perfect emblem, viz. That of the Cyon and the tree or flock, which have two natures, yet make but one tree.
But then we must remember that the Cyon wants a root of its own, which is an integral part, but Christ assumed our nature integrally.
This defect is by others ‡ supplied in the Misletoe and the Oak, which have different natures ; and the Misletoe fubfifts in union with the Oak, still retaining thedifferenceofnature; and though making but one_tree, yet bears different fruits. And so much to the first thing, namely, the nature of this union.
Secondly, For the effects, or immediate results of this marvellous union, let these three be well considered.
The results of the hypostatical union.
1. The two natures being thus united in the person of the Mediator, by virtue whereof the properties of each nature are attributed, and do truly agree in the whole person; fo that it is proper to say, the Lord of glory was crucified, 1 Cor. ii. 8.; and the blood of God redeemed the Church, Acts xx. 28.; that Christ was both in heaven, and in earth at the fame time,
John iii. 13 .
Yet we do not believe that one nature doth transfuse or impart its properties to the other ||, or that it is proper to say
L2 * Justin Martyr.
+ Alex. Alex .
†Roberts of the covenant.
|| The properties of both natures maybe attributed to the whole person of Christ, in the concrete ; the Son of man, who is a Person confiftingoftwo natures, is every-where-present, is eternal, is adorable, that is, he is to be adored according to his divine nature, to which these properties (of omni-presence, eternity, praise-worthiness) are applicable: we adore indeed the Deity incarnate, but the Divinity itself is the only perfect object of our worship.
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SERM. V. the divine nature suffered, bled, or died ; or the human is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent; but that the properties of both natures, are to ascribed to the person, that it is proper to affirm any of them of him in the concrete, though not abitractly.
The right understanding of this would greatly assist, in teaching the true sense of the forenamed, and many other dark passages in the scriptures.
2. Another fruit of this hypostatical union, is the singular advancement of the human nature in Christ, far beyond and above what it is capable of in any other person *, it being hereby replenished and filled with an unparalleled measure of divine graces and excellencies ; in which respect he is said to be " a no in- " tedabove, or before his fellows," Psal. xlv. 8. and so becomes the object of adoration and divine worship, Acts vii. 59. This the Socinians oppugn with this argument : He that is worshipped with a divine worship, as he is Mediator, is not so worshipped as God; but Christ is worshipped as Mediator.
But we say, that to be worshipped as Mediator, and as God, are not opposite, but the one is necessarily included in the other ; and therein is farther included the ratioformalisfub qua of that divine religious worship.
3. Hence, in the last place, follows, as another excellent fruit of this union, The concourse and co operation of each nature to his mediatory works : for, in them, he acts according to both natures : the human nature doing what is human, viz. suffering, sweating, bleeding, dying; and his divine nature stamping all these with infinite value; and so both sweetly concur unto one glorious work and design of mediation.
Papists generally deny that he performs any of these mediatory works as God, but only as man; but how boldly do they therein contradict these plain scriptures ? See 2 Cor. v. 10., Heb. ix.
14, 15. And so much as to the secondthing propounded, viz. the fruits of this union .
Thirdly, The last thing to be opened is the grounds and reasons of this assumption. And we may say,
The reasons of the hypostatical union. touching that, (1.) That the human nature was not assumed to anyintrinsical perfection of the Godhead, not to make that human nature itself perfect.
The divine did not assume the human nature necessarily, but * The human nature being thus assumed above all other created natures, is, by virtue of this assumption, lifted up to the highest possible pitch of dignity; Heb. i. 4, 5, 6.
Bradshaw on Justification, P. 79.
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voluntarily; not out of indigence but bounty; not because it was to be perfected by it, but to perfect it, by causing it to lie as a pipe, to the infinite all-filling fountain of grace and glory, of which it is the great receptacle.
(2.)And so, consequently, to qualify and prepare him for a full discharge of his mediatorship, in the offices of our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Had he not this double nature in the unity ofhisperfon, he could not have been our Prophet: For, as God, he knows the mind and will of God, John i. 18., and iii. 13. ; and as man, he is fitted to impart it suitably to us, Deut. xviii. 15, 16, 17, 18., compared with Acts xx. 22 .
As Priest, had he not been man, he could have shednoblood; and if not God, it had been no adequate value for us *, Heb . ii. 17., Acts iii. 28.
As King, had he not beenman,he had been an heterogeneous, and so no fit head for us.
And if not God, he could neither rule nor defend his body the Church.
These then were the designs and ends of that assumption.
Use 1. Let all Christians rightly inform their minds in this truth offo great concernment in religion, and hold it fast against allfubtle adversaries, that would wrest it from them.
The learned Hooker observes, that the dividing of Christ's person, which is but one, and the confoundingofhis natures, which are two, hath been the occasion of those errors which have so greatly disturbed the peace of the church.
The Arians denied his deity, levelling him with other meer men. TheApollinariansmaimed his humanity.
The Sabellians affirmed, that the Father and holy Ghost were incarnated, as well as the Son ; and were forced, upon that absurdity,by another error, viz. denying the three distinct persons in theGodhead, and affirming they were but three names .
The Eutychians confounded both natures in Christ, denying any distinction of them.
The Seleufians affirmed, that he unclothed himself of his humanity when heafcended, and hath no human body in heaven. The Nestorians so rent the two names of Christ asunder, as to make two distinct persons of them.
But ye (beloved) have not so learned Christ .
Ye know he is (1.) True and very God ; (2.) True and very man; that, (3.)these two natures make but one person, being united inseparably ; (4.) that they are not confounded or fwallowedup
*He made satisfaction in his human nature ; but then the worth, the excellency, efficacy and application of that satisfaction flow from the divine nature. ames.Bell. Enerv, lib. 5.
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SERM. V. oneinanother,but remain still distinct in the person of Christ Hold ye the form of found words which cannot be condemned.
Great things hang upon all these truths. Oh suffer not a stone to be loosed out of the foundation.
Use 2. Adore the love of the Father, and the Son, who bidfo highforyourfouls, and at this rate were contentedyoushould be recovered.
1. The love of the Father is herein admirably conspicuous, who so vehemently willed our salvation, that he is content to degrade the darling of his soul to so vile and contemptible a state, which was, upon the matter, an undoing to him, in point of reputation ; as the apostle intimates,Phil. ii 7.
If two perfonsbe at a variance,and the superior,who also is the wronged person, begin to stoop first, and say, you have deeply wronged me, yea, your blood is not able to repair the wrongs you have done me: however, such is my love to you, and willingness to be at peace with you, that I will part with what is most dear tome in all the world, for peace-fake ; yea, though I stoopbelow myself, and seem, as it were, to forget my own relation andendearments to my own son, I will not suffer such a breach betwixt me and you.
John iii. 16. "God so loved the world, " that he gave his only begotten Son."
2. And how afstonishing is the love of Christ, that would make such a stoop as this to exalt us *! Oh, it is ravishing to think, he should pass by a more excellent and noble species of creatures, refusing the angelic nature,Heb. ii. 16., to take flesh ; and not to solace and disport himself in it neither, nor experience sensitive pleasures in the body: for, as he needed them not, being at the fountain-head of the highest joys, so it was not at all in his design, but the very contrary, even to make himself a subject capable of sorrows, wounds and tears †.
It was, as the apostle elegantly expresseth it, in Heb. ii. 9., ὅπως ὑπερ παντός γεύσηται θανάτε; that he might sensibly taste what relish death hath, and what bitterness is in those pangs and agonies. Now, oh that you would get your hearts suitably impressed and affected with these high expressures of the love both of the Father and Son ! How is the courage offome noble Romans celebratedinhiftory, for the brave adventures they made
* No body raises another lying low, without first stooping down, and bowing himself to the ground.
Nierom.
+The Son of God therefore took flesh, that he might be capable offufferinginhuman nature, what he could not have done in the divine, which is uncapable offuffering.
Theod.
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for the commonwealth ! but they could never sloop as Christ did, being so infinitely below him in personal dignity.
Use 3. And here infinite wisdom has also left a famous and everlasting mark of itself; which invites, yea, even chains the eyes of angels and men to itself *. Had there been a general council of angels, to advise upon away of recovering poor sinners, they would all have been at an everlasting demur and loss about it.
It could not have entered their thoughts (though they are intelligencers, and more sagacious creatures) that ever mercy, pardon, and grace, should find fucha way as this to issue forth from the heart of God to the hearts of sinners. Oh, how wisely is the method of our recovery laid ! so that Christ may be well called, " the power and wisdom of God," 1 Cor. i.
24.; forasmuch as in him the divine wisdom is more glorified than in all the other works of God, upon which he hath impressed it. Hence it is, that some of the schoolmen affirm,
(though I confefss myself unsatisfied with it) that the incarnation of Christ was in itself to glorious a demonstration of God's wisdom and power, and thereupon so desirable in itself, that though man had not finned, yet Christ would have been made man.
Use 4. Hence also we infer the incomparable sweetness of the Christian religion, thatsherus poorfinnersfuch a fair foundation to reft their trembling comfciences upon.
While poor distressed fouls look to themselves, they are perpetually puzzled.
That is the cry of a distressed natural conscience, Micah vi. 6.
" Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?" the Hebrew is םוחומיקא תכרכ how shall I prevent or anticipate the Lord ? and so Montanus renders it, in quo praeoccupabo Dominum ? Conscience fees God arminghimselfwith wrath, to avenge himself for fin ; cries out, Oh, how shall I prevent him ! if he would accept the fruit of mybody, (those dear pledges of nature), for the fin of my soul, he should have them.
But now we fee God coming down in Aesh, and so intimatelyunitingour flesh to himself, that it hath no propersubsistenceof its own, but is united with the divine person: hence it is easy to * It must surpass human, or even angelical understandings, to conceive, or, if conceived, to hope for such a deliverer : wherefore, ifafinner, sensible of the divine malediction due to his fins, were left to himself, by searching to find out such relief, the more he laboured in the search, the more would he throw himself headlong into a boundless abyss of horror and desperation.
Bradshaw on Justification, p. 74.
Kedem Antivertit, anticipavit, obvenit. Buxtorf.
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SERM. V. imagine what worth and value must be in that blood ; and how eternal love, springing forth triumphantly from it, flourishes into pardon, grace and peace.
Here is a way in which the finnermay fee justice and mercy kissing each other, and the latter exercised freely, without prejudice to the former.
All other consciences, through the world, lie either in a deep sleep in the devil's arms, or else are rolling (sea-sick) upon the waves of their own fears and dismal presages.
Oh, happy are they that have dropped anchor on this ground, and not only know they have peace, but why they have it !
Use 5. Of how great concernment is it, that Chriftshouldhave union with our particular persons, as well as with our common nature ?
For by this union with our nature alone, never any man was, or can be saved.
Yea, let me add, that this union with your natures, is utterly in vain to you, and will do you no good, except he have union with your persons by faith also.
It is indeed infinite mercy, that God is come so near you, as to dwell in your flesh ; and that he hath fixed upon such an excellent method to fave poor sinners. And hath he done all this ? is he indeed come home,even toyourowndoors, to seek peace ? doth he vail his unsupportable glory under flesh, that he might treat thee more familiarly ? and yet do you refuse him, and shut your hearts against him ? then hear one word, and let thine ears tingle at the found of it: Thy fin is hereby aggravated beyond the finof devils, who never finned against a mediator in their own nature ; who never despised, or refused, because, indeed, they were never offered terms of mercy, as you are .
And I doubt not but the devils themselves, who now tempt. you to reject, will, to all eternity, upbraid your folly for rejecting this great salvation, which in this excellent way is brought down, even to your own doors.
Use 6. If Jesus Christ has assumed our nature, then he isfenfibly touched with the infirmities that attend it, andfo hath pity
: and compaffionfor us, under all our burdens. And indeed this was one end of his assuming it, that he might be able to have compassion on us, as you read, Heb. ii. 17, 18., " Wherefore
" in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, " that he might be a merciful and faithful high-priest, in things
" pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the fins of the " people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted,
" he is able to fuccour them that are tempted." O what a comfort is this to us, that he who is our high priest in heaven, hath our nature on him, to enable him to take compaffionon us!
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Use 7. Hence we fee, to what a height God intends to build up the happiness of man, in that hehathlaidthefoundation thereof
Jo deep, in the incarnation of his own Son .
They that intend to build high, use to lay the foundation low.
The happiness and glory of our bodies, as well as fouls, are founded in Christ's taking our flesh upon him : for, therein, as in a model or pattern,God intended to shewwhat in time he resolves to make of our bodies ; for he will μετασχηματί ζειν, transform our vile bodies, and make them one day contormable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ, Phil. iii. 21.
This flesh was therefore affumedby Christ, that in it might be shewn, as in a pattern, how God intends tohonourand exalt it.
And indeed, a greater honour cannot be done to the nature of man, than what is already done, by this grace of union : Nor are our persons capable of higher glory, than what consists in their conformity to this glorious head.
Indeed the flesh of Christ will ever have a distinct glory from ours in heaven, by reason of this union ; for being the body which the Word assumed, it is two ways advanced singularly above the flesh and blood of all other men, viz . fubjectively, and objectively: Subjectively, it is the flesh and blood of God, Acts xx. 28., and so hath a distinct and incommunicable gloryofits own. And objectively, it is the flesh and blood which all the angels and saints adore.
But tho' in these things it be super eminently exalted, yet it is both the medium and patternofallthatglory which God designs to raise us to.
Use 8. Lastly, How wonderful a comfort is it, that he who dwells in our flesh is God ! What joy may not a poor believer make out of this ? what comfort one made out of it, I will give you in his own words, " I see it a work of God," faith he, that experiences are all loft, when summons of impro- "
" bat i on, to prove our charters of Christ to be counterfeit, are " raised against poor souls in their heavy trials.
But let me be 66 a sinner, and worse than the chief of sinners, yea, a guilty " devil, I am sure my well-beloved is God, and my Christ is God.
" And when I say my Christ is God, I have said all things, [ " can say no more.
I would I could build as much on this, "
" My Christ is God, asitwouldbear : I might lay all the world upon it."
God and man in one person, oh ! thrice happy conjunction !*As man,he is fullofexperimentalsense ofourinfirmities, wants, and burdens : and as God, he can support and supply them all.
The aspect of faith upon this wonderful person,how relieving, VOL . I.