Body of Divinity, Book 5 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of CHRISTS being Man.
NOw I am to shew in the next place that he was man.
Christ is set forth three wayes in the Scripture:
1. Christus in promisso, so the Patriarchs and Saints beheld him under the old Covenant, he was set forth unto Adam in the seed of the woman, Gen. 3. 15. to Abraham as the seed in whom all Nations are blessed, to Iacob as S…iloh, to Iob as Goel, to David as the Messiah, to Zachary, as the man whose name is the Branch, to Malachi as the Sunne of Righteousnesse with healing in his wings.
2. Christus in carne, 1 Joh. 14. 2 Tim. 3. 16.
3. Christus in Evangelio, Christ as he is discovered and set forth in the Gospel, that is the glasse wherein we behold the glory and excellency of Christ, 2 Cor. 3. 18. But I am now to speak of his Incarnation, or his being a true man.
1. He had the name of a man.
2. He came of the race of mankinde.Hominem factum fuisse Christum, docent Scripturae, dum primò eae ipsi tribuunt nomina quae naturam humanam designant, hominis Rom. 5. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 5. seminis mulieris, Gen. 3. 15. Filii hominis, Dan. 7. 13. Mat. 9 6. filii Abrahae, Matth. 1. 1. Davidis ibid. & Mariae Virginis, Isa. 7. 14. Matth. 1. 25. & cam deinde nobis per omnia similem factum fuisse, Heb. 2. 17. & 1. 15. Carni & sanguini communicasse, omnesque veri hominis proprietates habuisse praedicant Rivet. Disput. 13. de satisfactione Christi. Vide Matth 11. 19. & 12. 8. & 25. 31. & 34. 27, 30, 37, 44. & 26. 24. Fuit eisdem temporibus Iesus, sapiens vir, si tamen virum cum nomin…re fas est, erat enim mirabilium operum …ffector, & doctor hominum corum qui libenter quae vera sunt audiunt. Et mul…os quidom Iudaeorum, multos etiam ex gentibus sibi adjunxit. Christus hic erat. Hunc accusatione primorum nostrae gentis viroru…, quum …ila…us incrucem agendum esse decrevisset, non deserucrunt hi, qui ab initio cum dilexerunt. Apparuit enim …is tertia die iterum vivus, secundum quod divinitus inspirati Prophetae vel haec, vel alia de eo innumera miracula futura esse pradixerunt. Sed & in hodiernum diem, Christianorum, qui ab ipso nuncupati sunt, & nomen persevera… & genus. Josephus in Antiq. Non venit qui aberat, sed apparuit qui latchat. Venit universitatis Creator & Dominus: venit ad homines: venit propter homines: venit homo. Bern. Serm. 3. de adventu Domini.
He is called Man, 1 Tim 2. 5. Luk. 23. 47. The Son of man, Dan. 7. 13. Matth. 8. 20. & 16. 13. Mark 10. 45. Apoc. 1. 13. This the Scripture foretold before, in saying, That the seed of the woman should crush the Serpents head, and that in the seed of Abraham all Nations should be blessed; and that a branch should spring out of the root of I…sse: Therefore the Apostle saith, He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. And he that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God. More particularly Christ is called The Son of Mary, Luke 1. 31, 44. the holy Ghost goes further and shews of what Tribe he was, Heb. 7. 14. nay of what family, Rom. 1. 3.
2. He had the birth and growth of a man, he was conceived in the womb of his mother as a man, Luke 1. 31. He was born in the usual time as a man, Luk. 2. 7. swadled like a man, Luk. 2. 12. He grew up as a man both in respect of body and minde *The Papists say, Christs soul was presently replenished with all knowledge, as the Academicks hold, That the soul came from Heaven where it knew all things, and Discere is Reminisci.Luk. 2. 40, 52. and therefore he was a true man.
3. The same thing is proved evidently by the story of the Gospel, which ascribesMat. 26. 26. Mark 14. 8. John 2. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 24. to him the parts, the sufferings, the actions and affections that are peculiar to man. He had the essential parts of a man, a body, as it was written, A body thou hast given me, and they took his body from the crosse and laid it in a sepulchre, a soul Matth. 20. 28. & 26. 35, 38. Luke 23. 46. Iohn 10. 15. & 5. 21. Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom and Will which are proper to the reasonable soul are given unto him. He did dispute and reason. He had the integral parts of a man, asIsa. 7. 15. Luk. 2. 40. Luk. 24. 39. bones, flesh, hands and feet, They pierced his hands and his feet, A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. They crowned his head with a crown of thorns, and one of the souldiers thrust a spear into his side, and forthwith came out water and bloud, he lift up his eyes to Heaven, he kneeled on his knees and prayed, sure he was very man that had all the parts of a man.Heb. 4. 15. The general not personal infirmities, not madnes, blindness, lameness. Phil. 2. 7. He was found in shape, that is, in carriage and behaviour as a man, Iohn 1. 14. He dwelt amongst us, pitcht a Tent amongst us. Mark 13 5. He was heard concerning his fear. Joh. 4. 6.
4. He had the infirmities which accompany the whole nature of mankinde. He was Hungry, Matth. 4. 2. Thirsty, Iohn 4. 7. Wept, Iohn 11. 35. was Weary, he died, as other men do, giving up the Ghost, Iohn 19. 30.
5. He had the actions of a man, he sate down to meat, he drank of the fruit of the Vine, he sate upon the Well, he went from Iericho toward Ierusalem. He opened his mouth and taught them, he touched the Leaper, saying, I will be thou clean, he did sleep, He cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. So he took upon him the very nature of man, and was made in all things like unto us, but without sinne.
6. He had likewise the affections of a man, His soul was heavy to death, he sighed in his Spirit, he was straitned in his Spirit, and testified that one of them should betray him, he mourned and wept for Lazarus, he looked upon them angerly, he cried out, I thirst. Joy, Luk. 10. 21. Anger, Mark 10. 14. Grief, Mat. 26. 38. Love, Mark 10. 21. Ioh. 11. 5, 13. Zeal, Ioh. 2. 17. Fear, Heb. 5. 7. as in a man were found in him.
Now there are divers good Reasons why Christ was to be Man.
First, He was to be a Mediator, a middle person betwixt God and Man, and therefore was to take upon him mans nature, that he might familiarly converse with man, and acquaint them with the whole counsel of his Father, and therefore the Apostle saith, There is one Mediatour betwixt God and man, the man Christ I… sus. 1 John 14. 1 John 1. 1.And St Iohn, That which we have heard, and have seen, and have looked upon with our eyes, of the word of life. He must be man that he might converse with men and be subject unto their senses, and so was a fit person to interpose himself, and make concord betwixt God and man.
Secondly, He was to be man, 1. That he might satisfie Gods justice in sufferingValde inconveniens erat ut una nobilissimarum creaturarum à fine suo totaliter frustaretur: sed humana natura est una de nobilissimis creaturis: cum igitur tota corrupta fuerit per peccatum priorum parentum, & sic beatitudine privata, & indigna facta, ad quam possidendam fuerat instituta, conveniens …uit ipsam reparari. Reparatio verò …on poterat fieri nisi peccatum dimitteretur: non erat autem justum hoc fieri sine satisfactione. Quare oportuit pro peccato totius naturae …umanae satisfieri. Sed satisfactio decenter …ieri non poterat nisi ab …o qui debebat satisfacere & poterat; non debebat autem nisi homo qui peccaverat, nec poterat nisi Deus. Quaelibet creatura … ▪ totum suum esse debet D…o: nedum ut prae al…o satis facere possit, ac sic nulla creatura poterat pro homine satis f…cere; n… ipse per se, cum per peccatum redderetur indignus, sordes quippe tergere non valet manus quae lutum tenet. Quia ergo Deus summe …onus, & summe misericors est, Psal. 103. 8. decuit ut nulli negaret bonum misericordiae, cujus capax …ra…. Unde …m humana natura cecidisset, & tamen casus ejus reparabilis esset, decuit ut eam repararet Quia verò justitia ejus immutabilis est, Psal. 119. 142. cujus decretum est ut nunquam peccatum sine competenti satisfactione dimittatur, proculdubio decens fuit ut in humana natura institueret …um qui satisfacere sufficeret, quia hoc purus homo nequibat. Raim. Pug. Fid. parte tertia Dist. 3. cap. 5. for man the things which mans sins did deserve, and which were to be in…cted upon man according as it was threatned, In the day thou sinnest, thou shal… dye. Mans nature had sinned, mans nature must suffer for sin, that as by a man came sin, and so death, so by a man might come righteousnesse and the resurrection from the dead.
The Godhead was too strong to suffer, for it is not possible that the excellent Essence of God should endure or bear any punishment, any evil, any misery, without which yet mans sins could not be expiated; therefore did the Godhead cloath it self with flesh, that he might suffer in the humane nature, that which it was impossible it should suffer in that high and superexcellent nature.
The Manhood was too weak to bear and overcome in suffering, and to deserve by suffering. The Godhead was too strong to bear or suffer, wherefore the Godhead was to borrow weaknesse, as I may so say, of the manhood, and to lend power to it, that that great work might be done which could not be effected without a wonderfull concurrence of exceeding great weaknesse and exceeding great power.
The Justice of God required that the same nature should be punished that had offended, Rom. 8. 3. He could not else have suffered the penalty, Gen. …. 24. See Heb. 7. 27. & 9. 22. Without shedding of bloud there could be no expiation of s…; there must be active obedience performed in our stead to the Law, Gal. 4. 4, 5. else he could not have communicated to us. Union is the ground of Communion, Ephes. 1. 21. Titus 3. 4.
2. That he might honour and dignifie the nature of man, by advancing it farre above all Principalities and Powers, yea above every name that is named, and so God might declare his infinite and unsearchable grace to that frail and feeble nature which came of the dust, by making it the chief of all his workmanship and head over all: Therefore hath he attained by inheritance a more excellent name then Angels, being called the Sonne of God, in carrying, as I may term it, the humane nature to the Divine, that nature was exalted above all other natures. A woman of some place is dignified by matrimony with a King above all those that were her superiours before; so that now of all natures next to the Divine nature, the humane nature by being so nearly united to it, is become the most excellent and glorious nature. So God willing to shew the height and length, the bredth and depth of his love which passeth all understanding, hath thus glorified the seed of Abraham, even above the nature of Angels, for he took not the nature of Angels, but took the seed of Abraham.
Thirdly, This was done to foil, crush and confound Satan so much the more,It was foretold that he should be man, Gen. 3. 15. The seed of Abraham. in causing that nature which he envied, supplanted and polluted, to become so pure, perfect and glorious, and to triumph over him and lead him captive▪ and tread him under foot and make a shew of him openly. The Lord would punish Satan in his envy, and make him feel the effect of his power and goodnesse, in doing so very much against him by a man, to fulfill that, that The seed of the woman should crush the serpents head, and to cause him to fall from heaven like lightening before the second Adam, how much soever he gloried, as it were, in his conquest over the first Adam.
Last of all, The Lord pleased to do this for our greater consolation and assurance,Hebr. 2. 17, 18. that we might know without all doubt we should finde him a faithfull and a mercifull high-Priest. For in that he suffered temptation, he knows how to succour them that are tempted. Christ was to be a man of sorrow, and to have experience of infirmities,Christ took not the nature of man as in the state of inno▪ cency, or as glorified, but abased and compassed with infirmities, Isa. 53. 2. Rom. 8. 3. Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, said Dido in Virgil. None but a brother had right to redeem, Ruth 2. 20. see Iob 19. 25. By this means he was qualified, 1. To be a Priest, Heb. 5. 1. 2. A Prophet, Deut. 18. 15. 3. A King, Deut. 17. 15. that by bearing our sorrows he might be fitted to relieve and succour us in all our sorrows; for he that hath indured any misery himself, is made more tender in compassion, and more able in knowledge to afford comfort unto them that must after taste of the same afflictions. He knows the weight of sin, the intolerablenesse of Gods wrath, the violence of Satans temptations, and the trouble of being wronged and abused by men. We can bring no misery to him but what himself bare or the like, so now we are assured to finde him most pitifull to us, that for our sakes was content in our nature to be most afflicted. You see now that Christ was man, and why he was to be so.
Consider how he was made man, and that was wonderfully miraculous aboveThis was foretold, Isa. 7. 14. and fulfilled, Matth. 1. 22, 23. the course of nature and beyond the common custom, that he might be wonderfull in his entrance into the world, who was to be wonderfull in the course of his life. For he was not made of the seed of man by copulation as other persons are, but a Virgin did conceive and bring forth a Son. Mary descended by direct lineChrist is said to be a stone cut out without hands, Dan. 4. 34, 35. See Heb. 8. 2. & 9. 11. from David and Abraham, a mean and contemptible maiden whom no man regarded, because she was poor, she was a chosen vessel to be the Mother of our Saviour, and the holy Ghost did over-shadow her, and the power of the most High come on her to frame a man in her womb of her substance, as you have the Angel telling Ioseph in the first of Matthew, and Mary in Luke 1. 35. This was so done,There is a twofold nativity of Christ, one eternall and incomprehensible, as he is the Son of God: The other temporall and miraculous, as he is the sonne of man; both are contained, Gal. 4. 4. Caeterum ex matre sine patre nas…i, grandi hoc mysterio non carebat. Alioqui cur fuisset turpius patrem babere quam matrem, cum praestantior sit vir quam faemina? Sed nefas erat, ut homo quisquam diceretur ejus pater, qui patrem baberet Deum. Lod. Viv. de Veritate Fidei Christianae, l. 2. c. 10. The holy Ghost did as it were cast a cloud over her, to teach us that we should not search overmuch into the mystery of the Incarnation. Mr Perkins on the Creed. Christ was not begotten speru…atically nor of the substance of the holy Ghost, but operatively, by the power of the holy Ghost: He was the activum principium, as the Virgin Mary was the passivum principium. Descendens itaque de caelo sanctus ille Spiritus Dei, sanctam Virginem, cujus utero se insinuaret, elegit. At illa divino Spiritu bausto repleta concepit, & …ine ullo attactu viri repente virginalis uterus intumuit. Quod si animalia quaedam vento … aura concipere solere omnibus notum est, cur quisquam mirum putet, cum Spiritu Dei, …u… facile est quicquid velit; gravatam esse Virginem dicimus? Lact. Divin. Institut. l. 4. de vera Sapientia. Men have been generated four waies, saith Austin. 1. Without either man or woman, as Adam was. 2. Without woman, as Eve was. 3. Without man, as Christ was. 4. With man and woman, as all other men were.
1. (Say some of our Divines) To free the manhood from the stain of sin wherewith those are polluted which are begotten by carnal generation, though the holy Ghost could as easily have sanctified the substance of a man as of a woman, to frame of it the humane nature of Christ.
2. To shew the greatnesse of his love to man by transcending the course of nature for his restitution, and that the making of the second Adam might no lesse commend the power of God then the making of the first, for it is no more beyond the power of nature to produce a man of a Virgin, then to frame a man of the dust of the earth. This is a great mystery, God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3. 16. The second person did assume humane nature to it, so as these two make one person, Iohn 1. 14. Rom. 1. 3. The second person (I say) for it is not proper to say that the Divine nature was made flesh, but the second person, though the second person have the Divine nature in him and is God. For though God was made flesh, yet it was not the Divine nature in all the persons that was incarnated, but the very person of the Son subsisting in the Godhead.
The Schoolmen have divers curious questions,
1. Whether it was convenient for God to be incarnate.
2. Whether it was necessary for the repairing of mankinde, that the Word should be Incarnate.
3. Whether God should have been Incarnate, if man had not sinned. Aquinas part. 3. quaest. 1. Artic. 1, 2, 3.
That Christ should have come although man had not sinned, will scarce be made good. The Scripture acknowledgeth no other cause of Christs coming in the flesh but to save sinners, and redeem them who are under the Law, and so subject to the curse, Matth. 1. 21. & 9. 13. & 18. 11. Gal. 4. 5.
Christ was born of a Virgin, but such a one as was espoused to a man, Luke 1. 27. and that for these reasons.
1. To avoid the infamy and suspition of immodesty.
2. That her Virginity might be the better evidenced, viz. He bearing witnesse to whom it specially belonged to understand how things were, and who was most worthy to be beleeved in that matter.
3. That she might have a most intimate helper in bearing all other cares and troubles.
4. To represent our spiritual conjunction with Christ, for we are espoused to him, and yet we ought to be virgins, cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7. 1. see 2 Cor. 11. 2. Rev. 14. 4.
The place where Christ was born was Bethlehem, which signifies a house of bread, the best place for the Bread of life; and in Ephratah a most fruitfullMatth. 2. 1. Vide Scultet. Delit. Evang. cap. 10. Certè de vero natali Christi anno tot …rè sunt sententiae, quot Chronologi. Scultet. Delit. Evang. cap. 14. Vide plura ibid. In the year of the world (as among twenty eight differences we pitch upon with Luther and Lucidus) 3960. Dr. Prid. History. place.
In the year 3967. say some, others say it is uncertain in what year. In the 42 year of Augustus his reign.
For the monethmonth there is great difference also.
Epiphanius thinketh he was born in the 6th of Ianuary. Beroldus at the middle of September. Clemens Alexandrinus at the Spring-time. Others at the 25th of December.
Scaliger objects that the winter time was not fit for a Master of a Family to undertake so long a journey with his wife to be taxed; also that Shepherds are not wont in the night time to watch their flocks at that time of the year. Vossius de Natali Iesu Christi.
Dr Drake in his Chronology gives probable grounds why Christ was not born in December, but rather about August or September. God of purpose concealed the time of Christs birth, as he did the body of Moses, as well foreseeing how it would have been abused to superstition, had it been exactly known.
Interpreters indeed render the word foreign Vigilare or excubare, but it mayVide Grotium in Luc. 2. 8. & Montacut. Orig. Eccles. partem pr…orem p. 47, 48. & Appar. XI. Mr. Bryan on 1 Sam. 12. 16, 17. be better translated sub dio agere: It properly notes to live in the fields, as the original of the word shews, which agrees to the day-time, as well as to the night. In England (saith Vossius) we have travelled both before and after the Nativity of Christ.
For the day of our Saviours Nativity, it is not certain this was the day which we celebrate. Some learned Divines gather from the computation of the time when the Angel saluted our Lords Mother (being the sixth monethmonth, Luke 1. 26.) that this cannot be the day, though 'tis true the tradition is ancient.See Master Mo…k…ts Christmas The Christians grand Feast. pag. 10, 11, 12.
Scultetus thus concludes the fourteenth Chapter of his Delit. Evang. Tac…nte Scriptura taccamus & nos, & Christum servatorem in tempore natum adoremus, et si, in quo temporis puncto natus sit ignoramus.
A late Writer aWilhelmi Lan…i de Ann. Christ. l. 2. c. 2.saith that opinion of the Romans is true, which held that Christ was born on the 25 day of December, and undertakes to demonstrate it. As for the day, saith scaliger, Unius Dei est, non hominis de…inire.
This Jesus of Nazareth perfect God and man, is that Messiah promised of old. What ever was said of the Messiah was accomplished by him and him alone.
The first Christians beleeved in him, Luke 1. 68. Christ much instructed his Disciples in this great truth, Luke 24. 25, 26, 27, 44, verses. The Apostles proved this great doctrine, Acts 18. 24, 27. & 26. 22▪ 23. & 28. 23.
Arguments that prove this Jesus to be the Messiah.
All the times of exhibiting the Messiah delivered in the old Testament are expired, Acts 13. 32. See 1 Pet. 1. 10. The old Testament speaks of a twofold coming of Christ, in a state of humility, and glory: The Jewish Rabbins could not reconcile these two; the Talmudists distinguished of a twofold Messiah, Ben-Israel or Ben-Ephraim, and Ben-David. The Prophets speak not of several persons but of several states of one person. See Ezck. 37. 24.
Gen 49. 10. The power of ruling and authority of judging is departed from Iudah Scepter Regia potestas, Merc. Majestas Imper… Cun…us. They had no Kings in many years afore Christ.and hath been a long time, Therefore Shiloh (the Messiah) is come.
Hag. 26, 7. 9. The outward glory of the first Temple was greater, all the vessels of the first Temple were beaten gold, Dan. 5. 2, 3. of the second brasse; but Christ honoured the second Temple by his own Presence, Doctrine and Mira…les.
… Jews confesse that there were five things in which the latter Temple was in…ur to the former,After the captivity it was turned into a Commonwealth, Ephes. 2. 12. Whilst it was governed by their own Laws the Scepter continued. Shiloh, Christ, pacis & f…licitatis author, Mic. 5. 5. Ephes. 2. 14. Vide Raimundi pugionem, c. 4. p. 12.
First, Heavenly fire came down visibly on their Sacrifices. They had the Ark of the Covenant: The Cloud, a witnesse of the Divine presence. Urim and bNon dubium est epithetou Messias, attestant…bus & Chaldaeis Paraphrastis ambobus, Mercetus in loc. Vide Paul. Fag. …unotat. in Paraphras. Chald. Rivetum, Ainsw. & Cattw. in loc. Montac. Apparat. 2.Thummim: And lastly a succession of Prophets, which the latter Temple wanted. Rain. in loc. & de lib. Apoc. tom. 2. Praelect. 134, 135.
Dan. 9. 24, 26. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy City, to finish the transgression. That is, The time that the Jews were to live in their own land, and enjoy their own worship after their return out of Captivity.
We are wont to apply the seventh number to daies, that a perfect week should comprehend seven full daies. So Dan. 10. 2. Levit. 23. 15. The Prophecy cannot …e understood in this common and usual manner, so Seventy weeks rise but to Four hundred and ninety daies, within which space of time none of those things were consummated of which the Angell so specially prophesieth.
Weeks are also taken in Scripture for years not daies, so that every week makes seven ordinary years; so that phrase is used, Gen. 29. 47. Levit. 25. 8. So it is here taken by Interpreters generally, and they fill up the summe of Four hundred and fifteen years, in the space of which the God of heaven would work wonderfull things which the Angel Gabriel recites here particularly. Montac. Appar. 2.
By this the times of the Messiah are past, for when the Messiah came the Sacrifice was to cease, and there was a sealing up of the vision and Prophets, this is ceased; there is now no Vision nor Prophecy among the Jews.
Here only in Hebrew and twice here 25. & 26. verses, Messias cometh, a meer proper name, hence made famous, Iohn 1. 41. & 4. 25. Broughton on Dan. 9. 25.
Some Hereticks opposed Christs Deity.The highest Heresies have risen from misguided zeal. Arius upon detestation of Gentilisme, least he should seem to acknowledge more Gods then one, by confessing a coequality of Christs Divinity with his Father, denied the Deity, and Sabellius in detestation of Arius, fell into the other extream, and denied the distinction of Persons▪ Symmons.
Arius said Christ was an excellent creature, but not of the same substance with the Father.
Paulus Samosatenus, more fitly Semisathanas, held Christ was but a meer man; so did Ebion.
He was homo verus, but not homo merus, Augustine on 1 Iohn 1. A true man, but not a meer man: He was truly God, equal to the Father; and truly man, like to us in all things, sin only excepted.
Servetus a Spaniard burnt at Geneva in Calvins time, denied that Christ was Gods Sonne till Mary bore him. He said, Christ was not the eternal Son of God, but the Son of the eternal God.
If this be truly believed that Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of the world, it will work a resolution to cleave to Christ, though all the world forsake him, nothing will make us shrink from Christ though it cost us our lives, and all our comforts.
2. If we believe this because it is written in the Bible, in the Old and New TestamentQuemadmodum Iesu Christo, orbi revelato, & Gentibus exhibito secundum promissiones Patribus factas, exorti sunt statim Antichristi multi, qui se opponerent Dei excelso brachio, ac titulum & nomen sibi illud usurparent, quod Dei unigenito debebatur, ita etiam cum recens adhuc nasceretur, aut etiam paulò antequam de Virgine carnem sumpsisset, multi in Iudaea oriebantur, qui & novas religionum sectas instituerent, & se etiam pro Messia venditarent. Inter caeteros haeretici quidam, quod Baronius observat, regnanto Herode Idumaeo prodierunt, qui ipsum pro Messià in Scripturis praedicto, reputabant, cui regnum Israelis in aetenitatem promissum olim fuerat, eo quod secundum vaticinium Jacob, regnum in eo recesserat de Ju. a. Montac. Anal. Exercit. 3. Sect. 4. the word of truth, then we must forbear what the Word forbids, and give our selves to be ruled by him, and expect salvation from him according to the direction of that Word, then we will believe the whole Word, if we believe this which of all other parts of it hath least of sense and humane reason.
Some Hereticks opposed Christs manhood.
1. The Marcionites which held that Christ had not the true substance, but onlySome held that the God head was converted into the humane nature. The Marcionites thought that Christ took onelyonly a fantastical not a true body, God manifest in the flesh. 1 Tim. 3. 16. the semblance or shew of a man, alledging Phil. 2. 7. but there a true not counterfeit likenesse is understood, even as one man is like another, and Rom. 8. 3. similitude is not referred to flesh, but to sinful flesh, Iohn 1. The Word was made flesh, not by mutation, as the water was turned into wine, Iohn 2. 19. nor by confusion, by mingling the God-head and manhood together, but the second Person of the Trinity took a humane body and soul into his Divine Nature.
Secondly, The Manichees, which said, He had the true substance of man, but that he brought his body from heaven, alledging 1 Cor. 15. 47. and had it not by birth of the Virgin Mary, but that is spoken of the Person of Christ not of his manhood itself.
Thirdly, The Valentinians who held that Christ had an aerial body, and assumed nothing of Mary but only passed as thorow a chanel.
Fourthly, Apollinaris confessed the flesh of a man in him, but not the soul, butVide Spanhem. Dub. Evangel. part. 1. Dub. 30. Manichaeus Christum veram habuisse carnem negavit. Photinus purum fuisse hominem asseruit. Arius quoad divinam naturam Patri consubstantialem & aequalem non credidit. Sabellius Personam à Patre distinctam negavit. Apollinarius animam rationalem ei ademit. Nestorius Deum & hominem duplicem personam constituit. Eutyches divinam humanamque naturam confudit. Valentinianus non fatetur Christi corpus ex Virgine substantialiter sumptum, sed fingit de Coelo depositum. Fulgentius ad Transim. lib. 1. that this Deity was in staed of his soul. See Matth. 26. 39. The whole man must be redeemed, and in its own nature, the soul is the principal part of man, sinne specially adheres to it, and it is a true rule, What Christ did not assume he did not redeem.
Fifthly, The Ubiquitaries will have his manhood every where, and so they destroy the very being of his manhood. Each Nature retains their several essential Properties, and it is the property of the humanity to be contained in one place at once. The Papists also offer indignity to Christs manhood, in that they would have his body to be in divers places at once.
6. Others held his body impassible. His body was not immediately created by God, nor did he bring it from Heaven, but he was a man of our stock and nature, Heb. 2. 11, 16, 17. he is often called the Son of man.
7. The Jews look for a Messiah to come in outward pomp, yet some of theirSee of the Jews conversion. Mercer on Amos 9. 9. & 14. & on v. 20. of Obadiah. Capel. Spicil. ad Matth. 17. 3. & Joh. 3. 14. Drus. ad difficil. loca. Gen. 8. 1. Rabbins say In regio Messiae nihil mundanum aut carnale. By those Arguments, Iohn 5. 30. Acts 17. 2, 3. & 18. 28. Rom. 16. 26. one saith, many Jews have been convinced.
So you see what the Scripture tels of the Incarnation of Christ, and how he wasUnio importat conjunctionem aliquorum in aliquo uno. made of the seed of David according to the Prophecy that went before. Now we are to speak something of the Union of these two Natures.
They are united in a personal Union, such I mean, as that both Natures concurAquinas par. 3. quaest. 2. art. 9. Places of Scripture which speak of the Union of both Natures. John 1. 14. Col. 2. 9. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 2. 14, 16. Uniri hypostaticè Deum & hominem nihil est aliud, quam naturam humanam non habere propriam subsistentiam, sed assumptam esse à verbo aeterno ad ipsam verbi subsistentiam. Bellar. de Christo lib. 3. cap. 8. to the constituting of one individual Subsistence, as it is evident by this, that the works and sufferings proper to one of the Natures are ascribed unto the whole Person, which could not be truly affirmed, if both of these Natures were not conjoyned in one Person.
The Actions or Properties of the God-head and Manhood both could not be given to whole Christ, if the God-head and Manhood both do not constitute one Person of Christ.
For the second Person in Trinity did assume to it self that frail Nature so soon as ever it had a being, but had no personal Subsistence in it self, so that it personally subsists by vertue of its so close and near an Union with the Person of the Son, and so whole Christ might be the Sonne of God, and the God of Glory might be crucified, and the bloud of God might redeem us, and so whatsoever was done or suffered might be attributed to the whole Christ, the God-head being interessed into that which the Humanity did and suffered, because of this unspeakable Union betwixt them.
Union ordinarily and in things natural is the joyning together of two things by one common bond, but this Union is not so effected, but it is performed by the voluntary and powerful Act of the one of the things to be united, assuming and taking to it self the other after a manner incommunicable.Unionis istius modus talis est, ut …acta sit (quemadmodum habetur in actis Synodi Chalcedonensis) foreign, id est sine mutatione verbi, item foreign, id est, sine naturarum confusione, divisione & separatione, est enim arctissima ac prorsus indissolubilis. Ravan. Bibliotheca sacra ad verbum unio. From this Union of two Natures in one Person ariseth a kinde of speech or phrase peculiar to the Scriptures, called foreign, the communication of properties, when the property of one Nature is attributed to the whole Person denominated by the other Nature, as when Paul saith, Act. 20. 28. That God shed his bloud. 1 Cor. 2. 8. That the Lord of Glory was crucified. And when Christ saith Ioh. 3. 15. that he talking with Nicodemus was then in Heaven. Communicatio idiomatum ex unione orta non est alternata idiomatum infusio, aut permixtio in Naturis: Sed est modus alternationis idiomatum, naturarum propria alternatim tribuens, humana Deo, & divina homini Christo, non juxta utramvis, sed juxta illam naturam, cujus sunt propria. Sic Filius Dei factus est Davide ad Rom. 1. 3, Sed non secundùm utramvis naturam promiscuè: sed ut sequitur ibidem, secundùm carnem, Nempè secundum istius attributi capacem, sic pari passu Christus est immensus, insinitus, aeternus, at secundùm naturam perfectionis istius modi capacem, Deitatem scilicet. Barlow Excrcitat. 6. Vide plura ibid. Communicatio proprietatum à Scholasticis appellatur, non quòd unius naturae proprietas cum altera natura, sed potiùs utriusque naturae proprictates cum ipsa Persona communicentur: hoc est, de ipsa Persona tam unius quam alterius naturae Proprietates enuntientur. Sadeel de veritate humanae Naturae. There is also a communication of gifts, by reason of this personal union the humane Nature of Christ becomes enriched with excellent gifts and endowments, as Wisdome, Knowledge, Holinesse, yet finite, and of Dignity, the Manhood is exalted above all creatures whatsoever.
There have been many similitudes to make us conceive how God should becomeVide Thess. Theol. Salmur. part. 2. De duarum Christi naturarum Hypostat. unione. man, from iron thorowly fired, there is iron and fire too, of the soul and body which make one Person, of the Scion ingraffed in the Tree, of the Jewel in a Ring, of a Planet in its Orb, all which may something illustrate; but there is as much dissimilitude as similitude in them. Only there are these rules which are good to observe.
First, There are two Natures but not two Persons, Aliud & aliud, but not Alius Nestorius said Christ had two Persons. Eutiches makes the natures not to be two existing in one Person, but the manhood deified.& alius, as there are in the Trinity, it is a Union of Natures *A personal union, but not a union of persons. A Doctor in Divinity and a Frenchman, having read very learnedly concerning the Trinity, being much admired, and desired by his Auditors to publish the same for the common good, he was exceedingly puffed up thereby, and used this speech, O Iesule, Iesule, quantum hac quaestione confirmavi legem tuam & exaltavi: profectò si malignando & adversando vellem, fortioribus rationibus & argumentis s…irem illam infirmare & deprimendo improbare. Lord Jesus, how art thou beholding to me? if I had turned my wit against thee, how much hurt could I have done thee? and hereupon God struck him, and so took away his understanding that he could scarce learn the Lords Prayer and Creed of his own childe. Matth. Paris. Angl. Johan. 1201., yet not a natural but a supernatural and mystical Union.
Secondly, The Scripture expresseth it, 1 Iohn 14. The Word was made flesh, it was not turned into flesh as the water was made wine, not by any confusion, as if the Divine Nature were made the Humane, or the Humane the Divine. When we say the Divine Nature took our Humane Nature upon him, we must not think that that humane Nature consisting of a soul and body was one entire person, as it is in us, for though it was particular, yet it did not subsist of it self before the Union of the God-head to it.
Thirdly, This personall Union is inseparable, for when Christ appearedSo the holy Ghost appeared in a Dove. like man in the Old Testament that was n… an Incarnation, because separable.
Fourthly, By this means the Virgin Mary is truly called *See M. Downs Treatise. The blessed Virgin Mary is truly Deipara, the mother of God.Deipara the mother of God, so in Scripture she is expresly called The mother of the Lord, for she brought him who was God and Man, though she did not bring forth his Deity, the whole Person of Christ was the subject of conception and nativity, though not all that was in that Person.Sanctissimam Mariam Deiparam, foreign, Genetricem Dei profitemur contra Nestorium. Et ut…unque verum sit quod nonnulli observant, Leonem 1. Romanae urbis Episcopum, omnium principem, desertis verbis Deiparam, vel Dei matrem appellasse eam, rem tamen ipsam summâ cum veritate conjunctam agnoscentes eadem metipsa appellatione libenter utimur: non ta… tum quia Leo sic locutus est, sed quia diu ante Leonem Elizabeth eam ita compellabat. Montac. Apparat. 9.
Consider lastly, The end of this Incarnation, which is this, God and man becameEst incarnatio inchoativè & effectivè totius Trinitatis, sed appropriativè & terminativè solius Filii, ut si tres simul consuant vestem, ab uno tamen ex illis induendam. Mares. Colleg. Theol. loc. In qua ut sidentius ambularet ad veritatem, ipsa veritas Deus Dei Filius homine assumpto, non Deo consumpto, …andem constituit atque fundavit fidem, ut ad Deum iter esset homini per hominem Deum. Hic est enim Mediator Dei & hominum homo Christus Iesus. Sola est autem adversus omnes errores via munitissima, ut idem ipse sit Deus & homo, quo itur Deus, quâ itur homo. Aug. de civ. Dei, l. 10. c. 11. one in Person, that God and man might become one in the Covenant of Grace, Gal. 4. 4, 5. Before this, man was at as great a distance with God, as the apostate Angels, but now by this means as he is made sinne for us, so are we made righteousnesse by him, not that this benefit extends to all, but onelyonly to those men who are under the Covenant; and therefore Gal. 3. all the mercies which Abraham had are limited to a spiritual seed; therefore as the mystery is great for the truth, so for the comfort of it, and why should faith think it such an unlikely matter to adopt for his children when God hath united our nature to him?