The Kings Bath, Section 9
This is that my Sonne.
Sect. 9.
THe first thing in the substance of the Fathers testimony,Christ that beloued Son. is, that relation which the Father acknowledgeth between himselfe and his Sonne. And first, whereas there seemes to be some difference in the Euangelists, (for Marke and Luke, chap. 3. 22. reade it in the second person, Thou art my Sonne:) to omit other answeres, for reconciliation it is most probable, that this voice was twice vttered: first, for Christs confirmation to his office, in the second person, which Marke and Luke record; and after for the confirmation of Iohn, and the faith of beleeuers, in the third person, This is he, Take notice of him. And this answere not onelyonly satisfies the Text, but the prophesies formerly wherein this voice was foretold, which runne in both persons. Psal. 2. 7. Thou art my Sonne: and Isa. 42. 1. Hee is my Elect, in whom my soule delighteth. By the Sonne of God is meant, 1. Sonnes by Creation, framed & made after Gods Image, in perfect holinesse and righteousnesse. Thus Adam was the sonne of God, Luk. 3. vlt. and the Angels, Iob 1. and Psal. 89. 6. 2. Sons by Profession only, who outwardly worship ye true God, but not in truth: as Gen. 6. 1. The sons of God saw the daughters of mē, &c. 3. Sons by Adoptiō, who being the children of wrath by nature, are by grace & fauour takē in to be the sons of God: thus eueryevery true beleeuer, led by the spirit, is the Son of God. Ro. 8. 14. As many as beleeue, to them hee gaue power to be ye sons of God. Christ is none of these waies the son of God: for although Christ, as the fountaine and head of our adoption, is called the chiefe among many brethren, yet is hee not adopted as we be. But he is the Son of God two wayes:
1. By nature, as God, begotten from all eternity of the substance of God, by an vnspeakable generation, (for who can tel his generation? Isa. 53. 8.) whereby God the Father communicated his whole Essence vntounto him: & thus hee alone is the Son of God, the onelyonly begotten Son, Ioh. 1. 14. We may adore this Son-ship, wee cannot search it out.
2. By grace of personall Vnion: and thus the man-hood of Christ, or Christ as man, is after a speciall manner the Sonne of God, because his man-hood was inseparably vnited to the Person of the Sonne of God. Luk. 1. 32. That holy thing which is borne of thee, shall bee called the Sonne of God. Neither had Christ (as man) any man to his Father; but the humane nature being framed of the holy Ghost, subsifted in the Deity, and so makes but one Person. And thus Christ both in respect of both his natures, and the Vnion of them, is the Sonne of God.
How is he begotten of the Father?Quest.
After an vnspeakable manner,Answ. much differing from humane generation, wee may conceiue no humane thing in it: 1. It was without any alteration of the Father, or passion in the Sonne. 2. Without any propagatiō of any part of the God-head, but by communication of the whole God-head of the Father to the Sonne. No naturall father communicates his whole Essence. 3. The Father begets the Sonne in himselfe, not forth of himselfe, as earthly Parents doe. 4. Naturall fathers are before their children in time; but the Father so begets the Sonne, as hee is not before in time, but in order, both being eternall.
Obiect. Psalm. 2. 7. This day begot I thee; therefore in time.
Answ. In the Sonnes begetting are two things to be considered: 1. The generation it selfe, which is eternall. 2. The manifestation of it, and this is in time, at his Incarnation and Resurrection. Of this the place is to be vnderstood, not of the former.
But Christ is foreign,Obiect. God of himselfe, and therefore not by generation.
Consider him in respect of his God-head,Answ. and he is God of himselfe as the Father and holy Ghost: but consider him in his Person, and so hee is the Sonne begotten of the Father, and not of himselfe: for the Father is a beginning to the rest of the Persons. And whereas the Athanasian Creed confesseth him God of very God; and the Nicen, Light of light, and very God of very God: the word (God) in both places must bee taken not essentially, but personally, namely, the Sonne of God begotten of the Father.
But the God-head of the Son is from the Father,Obiect. because the Sonne is God?
The God-head of the SonneAnsw. is not begotten of the Father, but the Person of the Sonne is begotten: for the God-head of the Sonne is without beginning as the Father is; but the Person of the Sonne is of the Father.
But the Son hauing the same Essence with the Father,Obiect. then the Father begetting the Sonne, the Sonne begets himselfe also.
Person begets Person,Answ. not diuine Essence begets diuine Essence: the Person of the Father begets the Person of the Sonne, but not the God-head of the Sonne.
If the Father and Sonne be one in Essence,Obiect. then the Sonne being incarnate, so is the Father also.
It is a weake argument,Answ. because Incarnation belongs not properly to the Essence, but to the person; or the diuine Essence of the Person of the Sonne became incarnate and tooke flesh, or if to the Essence, yet not absolute, but limited.
The whole diuine Essence isObiect. the Father: the Sonne is the whole diuine Essence; therefore the Sonne is the Father, not distinct or begotten.
There is an Homonymie inAnsw. the word (whole diuine Essence) which is taken either essentially and absolutely, as in the Proposition; or personally, limited to the second Person, as in the assumption: and therefore the reason is faulty, because of foure tearmes in it.
But if the Father beget theObiect. Sonne, then hee communicates either a part of his Essence, or the whole: but hee can doe neither; not a part, because it is indiuisible; not whole, for then he leaues none for himselfe.
The Father begetting,Answ. communicates his whole Essence, and yet retaines it wholly; as a candle giuing light to another, retaineth it wholly to it selfe.
If the Father begot the Son,Obiect. then either when the Son subsisted, or when he did not: if he did subsist, how could hee beget him? if he did not subsist, then he had a beginning.
The Father begot the SonneAnsw. subsisting: for generation and subsisting are in time together, or rather both from eternity; and in the Trinity there is nihil prius, or posterius in time. And thus also that obiection is stopt, that the Father begetting, must be before the Sonne begotten: for the Father is not in time before the Sonne, but in order.
But Christ is the first begotten,Obiect. and the first borne of many brethren, Rom. 8. 29. and Col. 1. 15. therefore he is not the onelyonly Sonne of God.
1.Answ. The word (Primogenitura) is sometimes a word of dignity, and not of order.
2. Christ is called▪ The first borne of eueryevery creature, because hee was begotten eternally before any creature.
3. He is called First borne, by a Metaphor and resemblance, being shadowed by the first borne in the old Testament, who were Heires and Priests in the family, and had double portions, &c. All which types were verified in Christ, who was first borne not of a few brethren in one family as they, but of many brethren in all Tribes and Families.
Christ was the Sonne of theObiect. holy Ghost, because he was conceiued by him.
No, because he was conceiued,Answ. not of the substance, but power of the holy Ghost. Againe, consider him either according to the flesh, so he was of the substance of the Virgin Mary, not of the holy Ghost: or according to his Deity, and so hee was of the substance of his Father, not of the holy Ghost. But the Article (he is that my Sonne) is not to be omitted, namely, that promised seed & Messias, on whom all the fathers eyes hauehave been fixed, whose day Abraham desired to see, on whom all the Patriarkes cast their hopes, whom all the Prophets with one mouth hauehave declared and poynted at, as with one finger: This is that my Son, whom ye hauehave already seene borne of a Virgin, Isa. 7. 14. Come out of Bethleem. Mic. 5. 2. Called out of Egypt. Hos. 11. 1. Out of Egypt hauehave I called my Sonne. This is he before whom Eliah hath prepared the way, Mal. 3. 1. that is, Iohn Baptist in the Spirit of Eliah. And as ye hauehave seen these things already, so expect the accomplishment of all other predictions concerning him, till he hath finished his course, & the whole worke of mans Redemption.
Is Christ thus peculiarly the Sonne of God?Vse 1. then note the wonderfull louelove of God and of Christ: God the Father setting his onelyonly Sonne separated from sinners, and higher then the heauens, among sinners, to receiue among them not only the badge of sin, but the curse of sin, wherein hee was cast lower then earth, and hell it selfe; that we might by him become the adopted sons of God: for this was the Fathers end, that we might be vnited to his naturall Son, and so to himselfe by him, and receiue our title of Son-ship. And what father that loued his son, would so debase him, that hee might take in some strāger, yea an enemy to be heire with him? And yet the louelove of God hath done thus for vsus.
Againe, the louelove of Christ is surpassing, and appeareth in his voluntary and extreme abasement, that he would be pleased from the height of his Glory, being Gods naturall Son, to become not onelyonly like, but lower then all other men in his life and death.
No man liuing euer was or can be so abased: for hee that is lowest of all, can fall but from one degree in earth to another: but Christ falls from the highest degree of the glory of heauen, to the very bottome of hell. What doth this infinite louelove call for at our hands, but returne of louelove for louelove? Shall we thinke any of his Commandements grieuous? shall we think much of any conditiō which God seeth fit for vsus, and Christ hath sanctifyed, be it neuer so base? shall we refuse the lowest abasement for his sake, seeing we cannot bee brought so low for him, as hee for vsus? Who art thou that professest louelove to Christ, and wilt not endure a word, a frowne of a superiour, a checke and rebuke for his sake and good conscience? Was Christs louelove such to thee? or, if it had, where had thy hopes and saluation been? Had he disdayned the frownes of his Father for thee, the rebukes and shame of the world, the cursed death to which hee voluntarily subiected himselfe, thou hadst bin layd for euer vnderunder the frownes of God the Father, and the curse of thy sin: and though thou seest that all the good of his abasement came to thee, thou wilt endure nothing for him: Ah, conforme henceforth thy louelove to his.
Secondly,Vse 2. heere is an excellent ground of comfort, that we hauehave a most perfect and all-sufficient Sauiour, not onelyonly the son of man, but the Son of God almighty. Ioh. 3. 16. God so loued the world, that he gaue his onelyonly begotten Son, that whosoeuer should beleeue in him, should not perish, but hauehave euerlasting life. All other sauiours were meere sonnes of men, Ioshua, the Iudges, Iephte, Samson, &c. And their deliuerances but temporall from the sonnes of men: but heere is an eternall Sonne of God, an heauenly Sauiour, and Saluation from all spirituall enmities, worthy the Sonne of God.
Hereupon, namely, the excellency and dignity of his Person, ariseth the excellency, price, and merit of his obedience, both actiue in fulfilling the law, and passiue, in satisfying the breach. For, being the naturall Sonne of God, he cānot but be very God, of the same substance and Godhead with the Father; vntounto which Diuine nature the humane being vnited, it receiueth an excellency and dignity aboue all created natures of men and Angels: for, to which of the Angels did he at any time say, Thou art my Sonne, Heb. 1. 5? And hence all his obedience must needs bee of infinite merit, the Person being so infinite: else could he not hauehave sustained the infinite burden of mans sin, nor appeased the wrath of his Father infinitly offended, nor in so short time hauehave made so full and perfect satisfaction, which must be of infinite worth and desert, nor hauehave vanquished so infinite enemies as sin, death, hell, and the deuill, nor hauehave purchased for vsus that infinite and eternall Crowne of righteousnes, vnlesse he had been Immanuel, God with vsus, and for vsus, blessed for euer.
Thirdly,Vse 3. If Christ be that true Sonne of God so declared by the Prophets, then wee are instructed,
1. To beleeue in him: for this is the Commaundement of GOD,1. Ioh. 3. 13. & Ioh. 14. 1. that we doe beleeue in the Name of his Sonne. Ye beleeue in God, beleeue also in me. And the reason is, because the Father and the Son are one. Besides, no creature can be the obiect of faith, which fixeth it selfe vponupon God, as Mar. 11. 22. HaueHave faith in God: which word (God) in the Creed is but once named, to note the vnity of essence, yet in vnderstanding is to be referred to all the three persons, in whome we beleeue, and in nothing else. And because we must beleeue in him, wee must pray not onelyonly by him as a Mediator, but vntounto him as God equal with the Father, into whose name we are baptized. Thus the Apostles prayed to him, Lord, increase our faith: and a Leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me cleane, Math. 8. 2. And often it is made a marke or note whereby all Christians are described, that they are such as call vponupon the name of the Lord Iesus Christ, Act. 9. 14. 1. Cor. 1. 2. In one word, whatsoeuer diuine worship is due to the Father, is due to this Sonne of God: Rom. 15. 12. In him the Gentiles shall trust, eueryevery knee shall bowe vntounto him: and Ioh. 5. 23. That all men might honour the Son, as they honour the Father.
2. We must esteeme and affect him as the Sonne of God, accounting him the chiefe of 10000. as the Church doth, to louelove and reuerence him aboue all other,Psal. 45. 2. saying, Thou art fayrer then the sonnes of men: If any man louelove not the Lord Iesus, let him be accursed, 1. Cor. 16. 22. Yea, account all things as losse and dung in comparison of him, hate father and mother, if need so require, in respect of him, and be so farre from being ashamed of him and his profession, as to acknowledge it the greatest honour to suffer in his cause, 1. Pet. 4. 13.
3. If Christ be the onelyonly naturall Sonne, then kisse the Son of God, Psal. 2. 12. 1. In token of subiection, as a kisse is if it be of an inferiour to a superiour: so Pharaoh said to Ioseph, All my people shall kisse thee, Gen. 41. namely, in token of subiection: so Idolaters are said to kisse their Idols, that is, to be subiect and deuoted vntounto them, 1. King. 19. 18. 2. In token of louelove & good will, if from a superiour or equal: thus the Saints must kisse one another with an holy kisse. And thus must eueryevery Christian kisse the Sonne of God, both in token of their homage and subiection, as also as a sure pledge of their louelove and faithfull affection towards him; especially wee must take his yoke vponupon vsus, stoope vnderunder his Scepter, and obserue whatsoeuer hee hath commanded vsus. Doe as the people promised Ioshua, chap. 1. 16. All that thou commandest vsus, wee will doe; whither thou sendest vsus, we will goe; whosoeuer rebell and will not obey thy words, let him die the death: and as Mary his mother said to the seruants, Whatsoeuer hee shall bid you doe, that doe.
Beloued Sonne.]
The English is too short for the Greeke, where we finde two articles, and it soundeth thus: This is that my Sonne, that my beloued, and such a beloued one, as on whom all a mans louelove is cast: for the word foreign, is commonly vsed of that which is but one, as of Isaac, Take now thy foreign (not foreign) thy onelyonly Sonne, thy beloued Sonne.
Christ is the proper obiectDoct. of Gods louelove, on whom all his louelove is cast, figured not onelyonly in Isaac, but in Salomon, 2. Sam. 12. 25. The Lord also loued him, and called his name Iedidiah, that is, the beloued of the Lord: Christ is the true Iedidiah, prophecied of Isa. 42. 1. Behold my Elect, in whom my soule delighteth. The Apostles expresse this louelove in sundry phrases: Ioh. 1. 18. The onelyonly begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father, hath declared him; that is, who is intirely and inwardly loued with such affection, as is due onelyonly to her who is to be layd in the bosome, who is thy best-beloued, thy heart, thy selfe. And hee is called Gods deare Sonne, Col. 1. 13.
1.Reasons. God loues him as himself, as being one with him: The Father & I are one, saith Christ; in nature, in essence, in will, in operation: looke with what louelove he loues himselfe, with the same he loues his Sonne, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and trueth.
2. Christ is capable of perfect and infinite louelove, as no creature is, and therefore is perfectly and infinitely loued of his Father: hence is it that the Father giueth him all that euer he hath, Mat. 28. 18. All power in heauen and in earth: hence he reuealeth and declareth his whole counsell to him, who from eternity hath coexisted and layd in the bosome of his Father, whereas all creatures are not capable of this knowledge.
3. Christ as Mediator, is most deare to his Father, and beloued as a sea or fountaine, from whose fulnesse louelove must be deriued to all other. Eph. 1. 6. He hath made vsus accepted in his Beloued: the head of the body must be filled with sense, and spirit, and life, because it must send these into all the members; so the Head of the Church. As the Apostle therefore saith, In him are the treasures of wisedome, so he is Gods store-house of louelove, whence all our supplies must be fetched.
Of consolation,Vse 1. 1. In respect of Gods affection. 2. Of Christs intercession. 3. Of our owne acceptation. The first, if God thus dearely louelove Christ the Head, he must needes dearely louelove the mēbers: whence Christ prayeth thus, Ioh. 17. 23. That the world may know, that thou louest them, as thou hast loued me, namely, with a fatherly and free louelove. What then if the child of God be in want, distresse, danger, death it selfe? God looking on him in Christ, cannot but pitty him: the wife and children cannot so pitty and helpe vsus, when they can weepe about vsus. Psal. 103. 13. Secondly, Christs intercession for vsus, must needes be powerfull and preuailing, because he therefore euer liueth to make requests for vsus: and being also euer loued, it must needes be fruitfull for vsus: he was heard in all things in the dayes of his flesh, and much more now in his glory. We see what great suits a Kings fauorite can carry away, as Ahashuerosh, because Hester found grace in his sight, would not deny her to the halfe of his Kingdome, and shee easily got her suit for her selfe, and all her people: But Christ shall not be denied the whole Kingdome, if he aske it for his Elect. Thirdly, hence comes in our boldnesse to come to God, in the name, and for the sake of Christ, in whom our persons and prayers finde acceptance: we in our selues being enemies to God, strangers from God and his couenant, hauing forfaited all, are by his mediation receiued into such fauour, as,Ioh. 16 23, 24, 26. Aske what wee will in his name, in faith and vnderstanding, and wee shall be speeders.
Of instruction,Vers. 2. in two things: 1. If God thought not his deare Sonne too deare for vsus,We must thinke nothing too deare for God, who thought not his Sonne too deare for vsus. but, although his whole louelove was cast on him, would not spare him, shall wee thinke any thing too deare for him? If benefits will binde, search heauen and earth, you shall not finde such a louelove, which is left with an admiration, Ioh. 3. 16. God so loued the world, &c. And oughtest not thou to giuegive vp thy soule, body, and life it selfe as a reasonable sacrifice for him? Oh the ingratitude of men, that are so farre from this, as that they will not part with a grain of their wealth, with a dram of their credit, nor with their base lusts! The proud will not depart from his pride, nor the drunkard with his drunkennesse, nor the froward with his malice and reuenge, for Christ, and much lesse from liberty, life, &c. And what is the reason? Men louelove their liues, their lusts, &c. and did not God louelove his Sonne more than thou canst louelove these? he set his whole louelove, euen an infinite louelove vponupon him, and yet hee gaue him to death for thee; and wilt thou doe nothing, suffer nothing for him? Wilt thou louelove hatefull things better than God, who loued not his dearest Sonne too well for thee?
2. If God so dearely loued Christ his Sonne,Motiues to stirre vp our louelove to Christ. so must we; we want no reasons or motiues thereunto: for first, hee loued vsus first not existing, yea resisting. Secondly, he hath declared his louelove by innumerable gifts of body and soule, yea by that inualuable gift of his owne bodie and soule. Thirdly, hee hath more to declare to vsus hereafter in greater things, which eye hath not seene, eare hath not heard: for hee will not be in heauen without vsus. Fourthly, God cannot louelove vsus, if wee louelove not his beloued Sonne. Can a father, who hath cast his whole affection on his childe, and worthily, endure that hee should be contemptuously entreated and despised? The sentence is passed, If any louelove not the Lord Iesus, let him bee accursed. Fifthly, the greatest reason of all, is the strait vnion and band between Christ and the Christian; he the foundation, wee the building coupled; he the roote, we the branches ingrafted; he the Head, we the body vnited; he the Husband, we the wife married: and hence is the communication betweene vsus in natures, goods, estates: he puts on our nature, to cloath vsus with his diuine nature; he put vsus in state of all his goods, wisedome, righteousnes, sanctification, and Redemption, yea giues vsus right to heauen, to earth, and the creatures; he takes on him our low estate, to aduance vsus to his glory; yea our troubles are his; in our wrongs he is wronged, and whatsoeuer is done to vsus of well or woe, hee takes it as done to himselfe, either to recompence or reuenge it. Now what an vnseemly and confused sight were it to behold the building falling off of the foundation, the branches seuering from the roote, the members cutting themselues from the head, and the wife suing for a diuorce, or at daggers with her husband?
Notes of our louelove to Christ are these:5. Notes of the louelove of Christ.
1. Often to thinke of him, and these thoughts bee deepe, large, frequent, which argues abundant affection in the soule: Often out of that abundance to speake of him, and neuer but to his glory: for, where we heartily louelove, we can willingly praise. Thus the louelove of God in Dauids heart filled his mouth and pen with often praises, Psal. 119. 164. Seuen times a day doe I praise thee. Thus the Spouse in the Canticles loued much, and praised much; My beloued is white, and ruddy, the fairest of ten thousand, chap. 5. 10. Yea, by this meanes bring others to be in louelove with him, as wee doe with our deare friends. Psal. 31. 23. O louelove the Lord; all ye his Saints. Cant. 5. 16. His mouth is as sweet things, he is wholly delectable: this is my welbeloued, and this is my louer, O daughters of Ierusalem.
2. To bee carefull to please and content him in all things: the man I louelove I will doe any thing wherby I may please him, I will abstain from yt which will offend and incense him. 2. Cor. 5. 9. We couet both at home and from home to be acceptable vntounto him. I will not forget his desire, his word, I will thinke the time short and well spent to do his requests. I will not imprison his louelove in my heart or mouth, but expresse it in my whole course and calling, as Peter was thrice enioyned to expresse his louelove to Christ in feeding his sheepe and lambes, Ioh. 21. 16.
3. LoueLove is bountifull: I will spare nothing for my friend; all I hauehave, is his to command and vse, because my selfe am: sincere louelove is communicatiue, and will be at cost for Christ: those that louelove Christ, first giuegive themselues to Christ, and then their gifts, their graces, their goods to the vse of Christ and of his members: sincere louelove is diligent, and will refuse no paines to please or pleasure the partie loued: what infinite paines will men (that louelove the world) take for an handfull of it? and such as louelove Christ, will refuse no paines to enioy, to glorifie him, as the Apostles and Martyrs, in whom we see how louelove ouercommeth all things, and the hardest paines is pleasure to it.
4. This Christian and holie louelove is ready to defend Christ: no man can endure to heare or see his friend abused; louelove carries a sympathy with it, that is, a fellow-feeling, causing ioy or griefe, to see his glory, Word, or Kingdom aduanced or hindred: it carries a godly zeale to Gods house, which consumed Dauid, Psalm. 69. 9. Paul and Barnabas, when GOD was dishonoured, were mooued, and rent their cloathes; and louelove to Christ makes a mā take to heart things against his name and honour: nay, it makes the Christian ready to suffer with Christ and for Christ, and accept of neuer so hard a conditiō with him. Much water cannot quench louelove, nor the flouds drowne it, Cant. 8. 6. Yea if all the world should forsake Christ, and sincere profession of him, sincere louelove would louelove the more, and die with him rather than deny him.
5. Now in his absence to louelove him in his image, in his seruants, because they louelove him; in his Word & Sacraments, which are his letters and pledges; in his gifts and graces, which are his louelove-tokens, and long to obtaine his presence: for the Spirit saith, Come: and the Bride saith, Come, yea euen to be sick of louelove after him, Cantic. 5. 8. Thus may wee trie our louelove of Christ, and shame our selues for want of it, and stirre vp our selues to grow vp in the image of God, who hath set his whole louelove vponupon him, and long after the day when wee also shall set our whole louelove vponupon him as he vponupon. vsus.