The Plain Mans Senses Exercised to Discern Good and Evil, Chapter 3
CAP. III. Errors against the Deity of the Son of God. They be three in this Chapter, (namely) 1. That Christ being of his Fathers most intimate Counsel, is a mighty God, (not almighty God) above all appellative Gods, 1 Cor. 8.5. 2. That to make Christ co-equall to his Father, is to make another, or a false Christ, an Idoll-Christ, or two Gods, (as much as in us lieth.) 3. That the better part of Christs Person, is man, there being but a graduall difference between Him, and Moses, and us. Lond. Test. p. 7.
THe scope of these Errors is to deny Christ to be God, and to make him a meere Man, greater than ordinary men, but not equall to his Father, in respect of Godhead.
Against all which, I oppose, as an undoubted truth, that this Doctrine, (namely) That Christ the Son of God, Doctr. is true God, equall, and of the same Nature, Power, and Eternity with the Father, far above all created Natures, God blessed for ever.
This is confirmed by many evident testimonies of Scripture.
First, He is in Scripture expresly called God, Jehovah, the moct high God, Isa. 9.6. Ʋnto us a Son is given, his name shall be called Wonderfull, the mighty God; The Child that was borne, the Son that was given, is the mighty God, the everlasting Father. The Jewes charged Christ with Blasphemy, because he said, that God was his Father, making himself equall with God, John 5.18. And because that thou being a Man, makest thy selfe God, John 10.3. The force of their reason is this, that the naturall Son of God is God, equall with God, as the naturall Son of a Man is Man, equall,Mat. 16.16. and of the same substance with his Father. So Isa. 7.8. The Virgins Son is called Immanuel, Mat. 1.23.(which being interpreted) is, God with us. God begotten of his Father from all Eternity, and with us by taking our flesh of the Virgin. Christ is called GOD properly, and absolutely in his Nature by the Apostle. Rom. 9.5. That same Christ which came of the Father, as concerning the Flesh, he is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
The Apostle there doth distinguish in Christ two Natures, God and Man, and as truly as he is man of the seed of David, so truly he is God over all blessed for ever. Again, it is said, that Christ Jesas being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equall with God, Phil. 2.6. If he were but a Man, it were robbery in the highest decree to make himself equall with God. God is wronged and robbed of his Majesty and Glory, when any Creature shall make himself Gods equall. Lastly,Col. 2.9. In Christ dwells all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily, that is, personally in the flesh of Christ; he does not say (as one well observes) foreign,D. Pridcaux Fascic. p 76. Divinitatis, as if he were homo Divinus, and no more, but foreign, Deitatis, the Godhead it self, and therefore he is Deus summus, the most high God. Of those places of Scripture, this is the summe and substance. Jesus Christ the Virgins Son, is the mighty God, the Son of God, equal with God, God with us, God over all, not a petty-God, but God over all,1 Tim. 3.16. who thought it no robbery to be equall with God, God manifest in the Flesh, yea, all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwels in him.
Secondly, Our Divines prove the Son to be true God by comparing the Old Test, with the New; for what the Old Testament speaks of Jehovah, which is God, the New Testament applies to Christ: As for example, Numb. 21.5. The people spake against God, and against Moses, with Psal. 95.9. O come let us worship, and kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God, ver. 6, 7. Your Father, saith God, tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty yeares. This Paul applieth to Christ, 1 Cor. 10 9. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted, and were destroyed of Serpents, Numb. 21.6. Therefore Christ is Jehovah. Again, Psal. 45.6. God the Father speaketh to God the Son, thus, Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever: This is applied to Christ, Heb. 1.8 Unto the Son he saith, Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a Scepter of Righteousnesse is the Scepter of thy Kingdome. Againe, Isaiah saith, cap. 41.4. I the Lord am the first, and with the last I am he. This is also applied to Christ, Rev. 1.17.Rev. 21.6. Feare not, I am the first and the last.
Lastly, In Isaiah 6.1. The Lord is presented to the Prophet in great majesty: I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high, and lifted up, &c. This is applied to Christ, John 12.41. These things, said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Now what things were they that Isaiah then said? See Isa. 6.9, 10. He said, Make the heart of this people fat, and their eares heavy, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, &c. These very words are repeated by S. John, cap. 12.39, 40. and applied to Christs obstinate, unbelieving hearers, They could not believe, because Isaiah said, he hath blinded their eyes, and hardned their hearts, &c. Consider, When did Isaiah say these things? When he saw his glory, and spake of him, (that is) Christ the Lord of glory.
Thirdly, Christs works are the works of a God, none could do them, but he that is God.
First, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made: John 1.3.Col. 1.15, 16. Heb. 1.13. He made the World, and he supports the World, He upholds all things by the word of his power. He that made the World is God: so saith the Apostle, Heb. 3.4. Every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God.
Secondly, He forgives sins; Who can forgive sins but God onelyonly? Yet so doth Christ, therefore he is God, Mark 2.7, 9, 10.
Thirdly, He understood the thoughts of men. Mark 2.8. Iesus perceived in his spirit, that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason you these things in your hearts? It seemes they uttered not their thoughts, yet Christ knew them. And when the Scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, it is said, that he knew their thoughts Luke. 6.8. It is the Property of God alone to know and search the heart; The heart of man is deceitfull above all things, who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reines, even to give to every man according to his wayes, Jer. 17.10. Therefore Christ is very God, for all the Churches shall know (saith he Rev. 2.23.) that I am he which searcheth the reines and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works.
Fourthly, he giveth the holy Ghost, which none can doe but God,Acts 2.33. Joh. 15.26. I will send the Comforter unto you from my Father; when he ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive, and gave gifts unto men, even the Gift of the holy Ghost, Acts. 1.8. with Ioh. 7.39.
Fifthly, what should I speak of his miraculous works, performed by his own Power,Mark 9.18. Word and Will: He raised the dead, commanded the devills to come forth of them that were possessed; Rom. 1.4.At his word the winde and the Seas are calme, they obey him: He did this by his owne Power. Yea, he giveth this power unto others, Mark 16.18. They shall cast out Devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up Serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, &c. Men receive the gift of miracles from God, but no man can bestow it upon others.
These are the works of Christ, of which we may say as himself doth. John 15.24. I have done among them the works which none other man did: For can any but God create the World? Forgive Sins? Search and try the Hearts? Give the Holy Ghost? Work Miracles by his owne will and word? Christ doth all this, therefore he is the Almighty God.
Fourthly, Christ is worshipped as God, and that by the Commandement of the Father.Phil. 2.10. 1 Pet. 3.22. Acts 7.59. Heb. 1.6. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the World, he saith, Let all the Angels of God worship him: How great is he, to whom the Angels must perform worship and service?John 20.28. Thomas the Apostle doth adore him, saying unto him, My Lord and my God. And they are blessed that do in like manner acknowledge him for their Lord and their God. Now God doth not communicate his worship to any, to whom he doth not communicate his Nature. My glory will I not give to another, Isa. 42.8. No creature is capable of worship, because it cannot be God. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onelyonly shalt thou serve, said Christ to the Devil, Mat 4.10. The Angel that was imployed to shew S. John the Revelation, refused to be worshipped, saying, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow-servant, worship God, Rev. 22.8. Christ is worshipped as God, therefore he is very and true God.
Much more might be said to this purpose; but this is enough to make you detest and abhorre those forementioned Lies and Blasphemies, (namely) that Christ is a Mighty God, not Almighty, that there is but a graduall difference between Him, and Moses, and Us, and that he is not equal with the Father, &c.
For if he be God, then he must needs be Almighty, because God is not weak; and seeing he is God, he must needs be equall with God the Father, for in the Unity of Essence there can be no inequality.
And what hath the Heretick to say against this fundamentall truth? Sect. 2
To make Christ equall with his Father (saith he) is to make a False Christ, or an Idoll-Christ, or Two Gods, Obj. it implieth Polytheosie, or Apotheosie (that is) many Gods, or a Man-God.
1. To the intent you may have your selves exercised to discern both good and evil, in this great mystery: Answ. In Christ there be two Natures,you must carefully consider in Christ, two distinct Natures, God and Man, retaining their distinct properties: The properties belonging to man are not swallowed up in the Godhead, nor the properties of the Godhead communicated to the Manhead.
2. That these two Natures are united in one Person, Christ is not divided into two persons, but the Son of Man is taken into the subsistence of the second Person in Trinity, and so God and Man are not Two, but One Christ.
This distinction is not the invention of Mans Braine,1 One Assuming. 2 The other Assumed but the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost, which doth distinguish in Christ, two Natures, Flesh and God-head; Rom. 1.3, 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the Flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of Holinesse, (that is, according to his Divine Nature.) So Rom. 9.5. Paul doth distinguish in Christ two Natures, one Humane Flesh, of the seed of the Father, of whom as concerning the Flesh, Christ came. But hath he any other Nature? Yes, He is also God over all blessed for ever. Christ according to the Flesh is the Son of David, but according to the Spirit of Power, He is the Son of God; He is of the Jewes in one respect; He is not of the Jewes, but God over them, in another respect. Note how punctually the Scripture doth distinguish between the Person assuming, and the Nature assumed, Heb. 2.16. He took not on him the Nature of Angells, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. The Son of God remaining God, took on him the seed of Abraham: He saved what he took, He saved not the Angells that fell, because he took not their Nature; So Phil. 2.7. He being equall with God, took upon him the forme of a Servant, and was made in the likenesse of Men, very Man, as we are in all things, sin onelyonly excepeed.
Now that these two Natures are united in one Person of Immanuell, The union of these two Natures. John 1.14. Mat. 1.16. Gal. 4.4. Col. 2.9. 1 Tim. 2.5.is also evident by those Scriptures, which Teach that the Word was made Flesh; made Flesh, (that is) he became man of a reasonable Soule, and humane Body, not by changing the God-head, but by assuming the Man-head. In which respect, he is said to be born of his Mother, and made of a woman. And the fulnesse of the God-head to dwell in him bodily, it does not dwell by way of Influence or Gifts, but bodily (that is personally conjoyning two Natures in one and the same Person, which is that one Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus. The Holy Ghost sanctified the seed of the Virgin, and united it to the person of the eternall Son of God: Whereupon it is said, Luke 1.35. That hat holy Thing, which shall be borne of thee, shall be called the Son of God. The Son that is borne of the Virgin, is the Son of God, by birth; and why? because of this union; and so the Virgin is called, the Mother of our Lord; Now she cannot be the Mother of God in any other respect, but onelyonly because the Child of her Body was united and made one with the Son of God: otherwise there should be two Persons, and two Sons, one of the Virgin Mary, and another of God: But the humane Nature being assumed into the Person of the Son of God, and being prevented from any personall subsistency in it selfe, doth not make a new Person, but onelyonly addeth a new Nature to the old Person, so making one Christ, God and Man: Even as we see one Tree to be set into another, and it groweth in the Stock thereof, but hath no subsistency of its owne, save onelyonly in the Stock and Root of that Tree, into which it was Graffed: yet there be two Natures, and two kindes of Fruit upon one Stock: so in Christ,Bishop Usher, Sum. p. 165. though there be two Natures, yet both being united into one person, there is but one Son of God, and one Christ.
This Truth is heedfully to be remembred and kept, because the confounding of the Natures, which are two, and the dividing of the Person, which is but one, hath been the occasion of the most grosse Mistakes and Errors in this Article of our Christian Faith, as is noted by Mr. Hooker; Eccl. Pol. lib 5. Sect. 54.Foure principall Heresies there are (as he hath well observed, and succinctly laid together) which have in these things withstood the Truth; Arrians, by bending themselves against the Deity of Christ. Apollinarians, by maiming and mis-interpreting that which bolongeth to his humane Nature; Nestorians, by renting Christ asunder, dividing him into two Persons; The followers of Eutiches, by coufounding in his Person those Natures, which they should distinguish: Against these, there have been foure most famous antient generall Councells; the Councel of Nice, to define against Arrians; against Apollinarians, the Councell of Constantinople; The Councell of Ephesus against Nestorians; against Euthichians, the Chalcedon Councell: In foure words, foreign, Truly, perfectly, indivisibly, distinctly; the first applied to his being God, the second to his being Man, the third to his being of both One, and the fourth to his still continuing in that One: Both, within the compasse of which foure heads, I may truly affirme, that all Heresies which touch but the person of Christ, whether they have risen in these latter dayes, or in any age heretofore, may be with great Facility, brought to confine themselves, the Christian beliefe confirmed, and the foresaid Heresies confuted.
According to this Rule you must diligently observe in Scripture, Ʋse. 1 what things are ascribed unto Christ in respect of his
Divine Nature.
Humane Nature.
Whole Person.
By doing whereof we shall escape many mistakes and Errors, we shall understand many passages of Scripture, which seem to crosse each other. And how the workes wrought in our Flesh, are counted the workes of the whole person, and so meritorious to our salvation.
As for Example,Christs person. Christ is David's Son, and David's Lord: He is the Son of Mary, yet the God, and Maker, and Saviour of Mary. He is the Man that was never in Heaven, and yet in Heaven, when he spake on Earth; Joh. 3.13. No man hath Ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in Heaven. Christ sayes, My Father is greater than I: and yet he is equall with G…d, Isa. 9.6.one with his Father. Christ is that Son borne to us in time, and yet the mighty God, the everlasting Father, without beginning of dayes, &c. If it be demanded how these things can stand together? your distinction tells you, because he is both God and Man in one Person, therefore his name is wonderfull, he is the Son of Mary and of David, as he is Man, and Davids Lord, and Maries Maker, in respect of his Godhead: He is equall with his Father, as touching his Godhead, inferiour to the Father, as touching his Man-head, &c. as in Athanasius's Creed it is expressed.
Thus touching the person of Christ, it clears up our understandings, so that we can say, those things which seem to crosse each other, are true in him, because some things are proper to him, and ascr…bed to him, as he is God, as when he saith, Rev. 1.8. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty: Here is omnipotency, and eternity ascribed unto him. Againe, other things are proper to him, as Man, as that he was borne, and dyed, 2 Cor. 13.4.and Crucified through weaknesse, &c.
Againe, Sect. 3 it makes us discerne Good and Evill touching the Office and Actions of Christ, how Christ is Mediator,Christs Offi…e. secundùm utramque Naturam; As for Example, 1 Cor. 2.8. It is said, they Crucified the Lord of Glory, the Jewes could not Crucifie God, yet because they Crucified that Man which was one with God, they are said to Crucifie the Lord of Glory. So Act. 20.28. it is said, that God purchased the Church with his owne blood: God hath no blood, yet the blood of Christ was the blood of God, because that Man whom they Crucified, was one Person with God. Thus the Scripture distinguisheth, 1 Pet. 3.18. He was out to death in the Flesh, but quickned by the Spirit; Christ suffered death, not in the Divine, but in the Humane Nature, yet it is said to be the blood of God, because that Man which was Crucified, was one with the second Person in the Deity. By vertue of this union of two Natures into one Person, it comes to passe, that those things, which are proper to each Nature apart, being severally considered, are applyed to whole Christ, the Mediatour. As that he is the Man, that is Gods fellow, Zach. 13.7. Jer. 23.6. Rev. 1.5. Phil. 2.8.He is called the Lord our Righteousnesse. He is the Resurrection and the li…e. He washed our Sins in his owne Blood; And, he became obedient unto Death, even the Death of the Crosse, &c. The works of each Nature, are the works of the whole Person: The obedience of Christ performed in his humane Nature, is the obedience of whole Christ.
It is true indeed, the Properties of the Divine Nature in Christ, are not given to the Humane, nor the Properties of the Humane Nature to the Divine, as it cannot be said that the Divine Nature was athirst, or Weary, or Wept, or Dyed; Neither can it be said, that the Humane Nature is Omnipotent, or Creator of the World, or Omniscient, or Present in all places at once, &c. yet that which is proper to one Nature, is spoken of the whole Person: thus the Person which is God and Man, Dyed and Rose againe, and is Omnipotent, and knoweth all things, &c. even as a Man is said to Understand, to Believe, to Repent, &c. yet his Hand and his Foot doe not understand, but the intellectuall part of the Soule, as it is operative in such a part of the Body; howbeit such Knowledge is ascribed to the whole Man, because the Hand and Foot are parts of that Man, which doth understand: Againe, when a Man is killed, the Soul is not killed, yet the Man is said to be killed, because of the union of Soul and Body into one Person of a Man: So it is in this Mysterie; Hence our Divines conclude, that Mediatoris opera sunt foreign, they are the workes of God-Man, having in them something of God, and something of Man; as that of John 10.18. I lay downe my life of my selfe, I have power to lay it downe, and I have power to take it up againe. In that Christ hath a life to lay downe, it is Humane; But in that he hath power to take it againe, that is Divine, and the reason is, Quia illa persona ea omnia in se verè & reipsa continet, que Deo vero, & vero Homini competunt (that is) because the Person of Christ doth really containe in it selfe all the properties, which belong to a true God, and a true man. And seeing God hath honoured our Nature to be the flesh of the Son of God, and hath made it his owne inseparable Habitation; we cannot now conceive, how God should without Man, either exercise Divine Power, or receive Divine Praise: For man is in both an Associate of Deity, because he is that Man, of whom God himselfe is a part; To be the Way, the Truth, and the Life; to be our Wisdome, Righteousnesse, Sanctification, Resurrection; to be the Peace of the World, the Hope of the Fathers, the Heire of all things, to be that suprean Head, unto whom all power both in Heaven and Earth is given: These are titles above the Dignity and worth of any meer Man, yet true of Christ; even in that he is Man, but Man with whom Deity is personally joyned, of both which Natures, there is a co-operation often unto the same effect, and an Association alwaies.
By this Doctrine of two Natures joyned in one Person, you see it comes to passe, that some Actions are ascribed to Christ, as God, because his Deity alone is the well-spring, from which they flow. Some things, as Man, because they issue from his meer humane nature. Some things joyntly, as both God & Man, because both Natures concurre as Principles thereunto; and so Christ is truly said in that respect, to work both as God and as Man to one and the same effect, sometimes by Co-operation, alwayes by an undivided Association, as hath been shewed.
There is yet a further benefit in this Doctrine, (namely to answer most Doubts, and to decide most Questions about the Person of Christ, I will instance onelyonly in two principall Objections of the Adversary.
It is said in 1 Cor. 15.28. Obj. 1: [When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himselfe be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.] When he hath delivered up his mediatory Kingdome to his Father, the Son shall remain still subject unto him. How then is he equall to his Father.
I answer, (The Son himselfe) in that capacity, Answ. wherein he hath hitherto reigned, shall be subject, (that is) Christ in his exalted and glorified Man-head, shall be subject; for in that Nature Christ hath been established King of the whole world, especially of his Church, to gather and govern it, and to destroy every enemy of its salvation: So the Apostle teacheth, Ephes. 1.20, 21, 22. God set him at his owne right hand in heavenly places, far above all Principalitie and Powers, and Might, and Dominion, and every name that is named, not onelyonly in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church, with 1 Pet. 3.22. By the Resurrection of Jesus, who is gone into Heaven, and is on the right hand of God, Angels, and Authorities, and Powers, being made subject unto him. You see that Christ risen from the dead, is set above all things that can be named, God onelyonly excepted, which did put all things under him, ver. 27.1 Cor. 15.27. Acts 17.31. for we may not think that the Father, by bestowing the office of a King upon the Son, hath dispossessed himself of his soveraigne Dominion. But when this exalted Son of God hath judged the World, and shall have finished his work in bringing of his Elect to glory, then this King himselfe shall surrender up that King ship, which hitherto he hath exercised by the Ministry ofMen, Angels, Word, and Ordinances, and God shall reigne immediately over his Church, in a manner altogether new, (namely) by himself, without outward meanes, without ministry of Men or Angels, &c.
Thus we may gather in what kind the Son shall be subject unto God that gave him that power,How Christ shall be subject to his Father. 1 Cor. 15.28. by the reason that here is rendered of such his subjection, which is this, That God may be all in all, that is, when Christ shall have brought his worke to an end, and all former Administrations of his kingdome cease, then shall God be all in all; (that is) then shall God communicate himselfe, his light, life, blessednesse, love and glory to his Church in a most glorious, sweet, unutterable, immediate Communion, which indeed will not a whit disanull Christs kingdome, but only change that manner and forme thereof into a more sublime and perfect one.
Hence I conclude, First, looke into what capacity the Son was exalted to raigne over all; in the same capacity shall he be subject to make way for a new and more excellent manner of raigne over the Church; But the Son as Son of man, was raised and exalted to Rule, as is aforesaid, therefore the same Son, in the same capacity, in that assumed Nature (togehter with his Body, the Church, and his manner of governing it) shall be subject to make way to that new and unspeakably glorious way of Gods immediate communicating himselfe to his Elect throughout all eternity.
Secondly, I conclude with the words of Paraeus, in loc. Sicut filius tradit regnum Deo, & Patri, sic etiam subjicietur Patri, non exuendo naturam, aut potentiam divinam, sed deponendo partes mediator is, & mutando praesentem sui regni statum, ut immediatè ipse cum Patre & Spiritu Sancto in aeternum regnet, that is, look in what respect Christ shall deliver up the Kingdome to his Father, in the same respect shall he be subject to his Father, (namely) not by putting his Divine Nature, or Power, but by ceasing to reign as Mediator, changing the present way and state of his Kingdome into a better, wherein he, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, shall immediately rule and dwell in the glorified Saints for evermore. This I take to be the plain meaning of that hard place of Scripture.
Their other Objection is this, The Son received Power, Obj. 2 Honour, and Kingdome from the Father, and therefore he is not God equall with the Father.
He received Power as Mediator, not as God: Answ. 1 Such expressions do note unto us the order and distinction between the Person in the Trinity, and that ministration, which, as Mediator, he was to perform. Acts 2.36. Let the whole house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ. In which words, you see who it is that received Power and Lordship: it is that Jesus, whom they crucified; in that capacity his Father is greater than he, John 14.28. but they do not note a diversity of Natures, in which respect the Father and the Son are one, John 10 30.
Note diligently, Answ. 2 there is a double giving and receiving from the Father, one by Grace,Hocker l 5.8.54. the other by naturall generation and communication of his Divine Nature. By the gift of Eternall Generation, Christ hath received of the Father one and the self-same Subjstance, which the Father hath of himselfe unreceived of any other,…am 1.17. Heb. 1.3. foreign. (for he is the Father of lights) Christ is God by being of God, Light by issuing out of Light: This Divine Nature Christ hath common with his Father, not bestowed by way of benevolence and favour (so the Manhead of Christ doth receive, and is inferiour to the Godhead) but received of the Father by that wonderfull and eternall generation; so that in the Trinity there is alius atque alius, non aliud atque aliud, divers Persons, but not of different Substances; and so the Son remaining in the Father, and not divided from him, is God equall with his Father.
All things which Christ hath received by grace,Christ did receive of his Father two wayes. Iohn 3.35. we ought to apply to the Manhead of Christ; amongst which the first and chiefest gift is the personall Ʋnion, because there can be no greater grace shewed to man, than that God should vouchsafe to unite Mans Nature to the Person of his onelyonly begotten Son. By means of which the Father loveth the Son, as Man,John 5.26. and hath given all things into his hand. As the Father hath life in himselfe, the Son in himselfe hath life also by the gift of the Father. This receiving by Favour, that which we had not by Nature, doth shew an inferiority in the Receiver: But that other receiving by naturall and eternall Generation, notes a community of Essence in both, and so an equality. Ʋse. 2
From this Doctrine of the Godhead taking Flesh, you have the true ground of Christs merits to save us; if he were but a meer Man, all the obedience he could perform, were no more than what is due to the Law, and therefore could not redound to the profit of others, much less could it satisfie for our offences, seeing it was due to the Law, though the offence had never been done: whereas now by this Union of both Natures in one Person, the obedience of Christ performed in the Manhead is become of infinite merit,1 Pet. 1.19. as being the obedience of God. It behoved Christ to be Man, that he might suffer death; He must also be God, that he might be able to beare and over. come the punishment of sinne: Mans Nature can suffer death, but not overcome it: The Divine Nature cannot suffer death, but can overcome all things; And he must be God and man in one person,1 Cor. 13.4. that the sufferings performed in the humane Nature, might be of value, and efficacy to save.
Lastly, Ʋse. 3 hence you may see, what ground we have of Accesse unto God here by Prayer, & of hope to stand before him with boldnesse in his glorious kingdome; the ground of both is the same, (namely) that rich grace of God, wherein he hath vouchsafed to unite mans Nature unto his owne person, was a singular Act of love both to Jesus, as he is the Son of man, (for the Father loveth the Son, John 3.16. Iohn 4.35.whom he hath made so nigh unto himselfe) and to the rest of mankinde, because under the shadow of his wing, we draw nigh to God, and can call him Father; Christ is united unto God, and we unto Christ; For which cause he is not ashamed to call us Bretheren. Heb. 2.11. Heb. 11.16.And God is not ashamed to be called their God. Having therefore boldnesse to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Iesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated to us, through the vaile, that is to say, his flesh: And having (one of our kind) an high Priest over the house of God (who is able to make us welcome,Heb. 10.19, 20, 21. and to present us without spot unto his Father) Let us draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Christ hath carried our flesh into Heaven,Heb 6.20. he is the fore-runner for us entred, he hath thereby made way for after-comers to enter also. It was the high Priests priviledge under the Law, that he alone might enter into the holy of Holies; but that Priviledge is now made comon to all Believers, by this new and living way, (namely) his flesh, or his humane Nature. The best way to bring man unto God is, that God should become man, that men by the bands of Nature with him might be helped up to the bands of Grace, with God:2 Cotinth 3. you are Christs, and Christ is Gods, saith Paul, as if he had said, because you are Christs, therefore you are Gods, the way to come to God is by comming to the man Christ, this he calls a new and living way, because Christ liveth for ever to help them all to heaven, who seeke unto God in that way; Like Elias Chariot; so is Christs man-head and sufferings; get up here by faith in him, and he will carry you up to God in heaven.
And when we are entred, we shall without Terrour make good our standing there, and behold the Majesty of God: God is a consuming fire to the Sinners in Sion; Isa. 33.14.and the Hypocrites they dare not behold his face, but the Man Christ Iesus doth dwell in those everlasting burnings: he is like the Bush that burned, yet was not consumed; and they that are Christ's shall see the face of God, and live. There shall be no more Curse, 1 John 3.2: Rev. 22.3, 4.but the Throne of God, and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. The first linke of this happy Communion with God, is the Union of the Manhead unto Deity; the second is the uniting of the Church to Christ, Christ is one with God, and we are one with Christ, who does therefore bring us unto God to be one with him for evermore, as shall be fully declared in the next Chapter.